Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1886-07-04

Palals d'lndustrlc, with their little
pettlcoats thrown over their faces.
shot rs petr0leuSes by Versailles sol
dlers. saw Il man torn from his
carriage and killed by IL hundred
deadly bayonet thrusts. | saw hun
drcds and hundreds of communists
fuslladed and buried in trench
near the river Seine. saw every
snb-licutenant of the army of France
armed with the power to arrest, try
and execute citizens, and this after
the fight was over. have read the
death DEGREES and the DEGREES of cx-
lie that for five years followed the
communist uprising.
do not believe that the commun-
lists burned or attempted to burn
Paris. ! believe that the whole pc
troleum story comes from an absurd
scare.
The war of the commune was to
the Great Revolution what the mad
raid of John Brown was to our civil
war. 1t was the first electric burst
from the overcharged clouds. 1t
will ultimate in the adoption of all
the great principles for which the
commune contended.
The commune was composed of
the scholars and thinkers of France.
1t was a band of patriots. If it had
in it the mad element Of fanaticsm,
it may be excused. II oppressed L.
Dor classes looked to it for 9liet, ii
mas but natural. If fanaticism and
disorder enrolled themselves to fight
under its banner, it was because it
was the first and only flag where
they might enlist. If poverty, dis
tress and desperation looked to it
for change, it was but rational
The history of the commune is
written by its enemies. Like all lost
causes, it will be misrepresented.
What there was of good in it will be
suppressed. What there was of bad
will be exaggerated.
The effort of an eye-w witness, at
this time and in these columns, is
but feeble effort at stemming the
tide and current OF opprobrlum run
ming against the communists of
Paris. Nearly all the press of Eng
land and America, nearly every pull
pit in Christendom, has denounced
the commune. The press has thun-
dered its anathemas against it, and
the throne of God has been bonn
barded from every Catholic and
Protestant priest and preachers
desk with unstinted censure.
Why the Roman Church should
do so may guess. Why the Prot
estant should | do not understand.
This little fragmentary scrap of
observation may be gathered up for
history, and may help to swell the
protest that in the interest of truth
may sometime be made.
TO the facts of which | speak ]
bear testimony Of living witness.
OF this commune | was a part. /
helped to build the barricade at the
Place de POpera. 1t was begun by
woman in purple frock, and a
lad of perhaps fourteen years of age.
The rule was that every passer-by
should add a stone from the Belgian
pavement of which the boulevard
was made. | made occasion to pass
often. From my window in the
Hotel de Hollande, rue de la Paix, |
saw the bloody fight of the Place de
POpera. At this barricade | saw
this woman bring water, load the
guns, and bear away the empty ones,
and when the soldiers of the com
mune were beaten off, saw this
purple -gowned amazon, with dis
heveled hair and bloody arms, alone
defend the ramparts that she had
aided to raise until she was stabbed
to death with bloody bayonets.
rode to two midnight sorties
with Dombrowski. and | break tasted
with Ockelowitz in the Place Ven
dome, for the Americans had the
universal pass with the officers and
soldiers of the commune. | treated
regiment of Vilette 10 a half-cask
of red wine. 1t was cheap, and |
was paid in hearing them cheer the
toast | gave them in bad French
"The Two Republics the Republic
of France and the Grand Republic
of America.