The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1892-07-15
ASTORYOF BLOOD.
BT N. Z, BRADDoN.
CHAPTER VII. CONTINUED.


general slain and there q gallant leader
sacrificed, little gain one day only to be-
counterbalanced by greater loss the next,
q threatened revolution, Flourens and his
crew strutting, booted and spurred on the
tables in the Hotel de Vile, little explosions
of popular feeling at Belleville, semi-reyolt
at MOntmartre-t through all this time of
wild fears and wilder hopes the Red Fla1
has been boldly unfurled in the face Of
Paris, and has managed TO pay its contribu.
tors. When bread and meat are so dear.
who would stint himself of his fayorite
newspaper, in which, for two sous, he may
read words that burn like vitrlol, sentences
that sound like the Kissing of vinegar flung
upon whlte-hot ironP The Red Flag finds
some pretty streng language for the express
sion of its opinions about William, and
! Bismarck, and Moltke, and the hOrdes Of
black helmets yonder; but this language is
mild as compared with the venom Which it
splits Ipon the Empire that is vanshed-the
Man Of Sedan the Man Of Metz, the En-
perOr who surrendered Empire and army
all that could be surrendered-in the first
hour of reverse; the general who kept the
flower of the French army locked up within
the walls of a beleaguered city, tied hand
and foot, when they pning to be up and do
Ing hungering for the fray eager to fling
themselves into the teeth of the foe to cut
their way to liberty or to death, only to
hand them over to the enemy like u flock of
sheep when he found that his imperlaliSt
game was played out, and the stakes lost
irretrieyably.
At last came that which seemed the
browning humiliation, n capitulatiOn which,
to the soul of the patriots, was more shame
full than that of Sedan, more irreparable
than Strasburg, more fatal than Metz. Paris
surrendered her forts, and opened her gates
to the invader; France gave up her prov
inces, and pledged herself to the payment
of monstrous indemnity. The flag of the
Germanc Confederation hOated above Mont
Valerien, and the Guard of the Emperor Of
Germany defled along the Avenue Of the
Grand Armee TO encamp in the Champs
Elysees. Dark and mOurntul was the aspect
of Paris on that never-to-be-fOrgOtten day.
The pOpuace held themselves aloof frem
the region occupied by the invaders, as from
the scene of q pestilence. Those who came
as captorS were as prisoners in the conquer
ed city. The theatres were closed, and
Paris mourned in gloom and silence for the
ruin Of France. And on the morning OF de-
parture, when, after an occupation Of only
twenty-fOur hours, the barbarOus food
swept back, the Partisan gdmht was seen
pursuing the Tearguard of Williams sol
diery, burning perfumes on red-hOt shovels,
as If to purify the air after the passage Of
some loathsOme beast.
Unhappily for Paris there were worse
enemies than William and his sQuare-heads
lurking in the background, enemies long
suspected and feared, and now to be reveal
ed In all their power for evil.
With the opening Of the gates began an
emigration Of the respectable classes. Ius
bands and fathers fastened to rejoin their
families, prOvinclals returned to their prov
inces-one hundred thousand of the Ma
tiOnal Guard, good citizens, brave, loyal, de
voted to the cause of order, are said to have
left Paris at this time. Those who remain
ed behind were for the most part an armed
mob, demoralised by idleness, by drink, by
the teaching of handful Of rabid Republic
cans, the master-sprlss Of BelleVlle and
Montmartre.
Too soon the storm burst. There Is nc
darker day In the history of France thar
this 18Th Of March 1871 on which Paris
found Itself giVec over TO horde Of which
1t knew neither the strength nor the malig.
nifty, but from which it feared the worst
HideOus faces, which In peaceful times urb
in the depths Of city, showed themselves
In fha oman dow az avnry etroot oor,,nr irnn,
Oh the lips and menac3 in the eye. A day
which began with the seizure of the cannon
at Chaumont and Montmartre by the Com
munards, and the desertion Of the troops Of
, the Line to the insurgents, ended with the
murder Of Generals Lecomte and Clement
Thomas and the withdrawal Of the govern
| ment and the royal troops to Versailles
When night fell Paris was abandoned TO
new power, which called itself Central
Committee of the Federation; and it seem
ed that two hundred and fifty battalions of
the National Guard had become Federas.
They were for tho most part Fcdcras with.
out knowing why or wherefore. They knew
as little Of the chiefs who were to command
them as that doomed city upon which they
were too soon 10 establish reign Of ignO-
miny and terror But the Central Com
mittec, sustained by the international and
Its powerful organization, was strong
enough to command in n disorganized and
abandoned city; and on the 10Th Of March
began the great orgy Of the commune, the
rule Of blood and fire. The Offa Of journal
ism, the scum Of the goals, sat in the seat Of
judgment. Rlgaut, Ferre, Eudes, Serzer
s-Blanbulsters, Hebertistes-thc were now
The masters Of Paris They held the prisons;
they commanded the National Guard. They
made laws and unmade them; they drank
and smoke and rioted in the Hotel de vile;
they held their obscene orgies In palaces, in
churches, In the public Offices, and the gaols.
when the Innocent and the noble were lam
gushing in a shameful bondage, waiting
for too probable death. There were those
who asked whether William and Bismarck
would not have been better than these.
For CASTOR MOrtemar, an enthusiastic be-
lever in Communism and in International,
| It seemed as il this new reign meant regen-
Grafton. He was reyoted by the murder Of
the two generals, but he saw in that crime
the work Of a military mob. He knew but
little Of the men vino were now at the helm.
Assy, one Of the best Of them, lad protested
against the violence Of his colleagues, and
had been flung into prison Fiowens the
beloved Of Beileylle, was killed in sklrm-
ish with the YersaiIais, while the Cum
mune was stiH young. Hard for man Of
intellect and honor TO believe in the scum
Of humanity which now ruled al the Hotel
de Vile, and strutted in tinscl and feathers,
like mountebanks at q fair. But Castor
nad faltn IN the cause II he doubted the men.
That red rag flying from the pinnacles,
where the tricolCr had 50 lately hung, was,
10 his mind, symbol Of mans equal rights,