Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-01-05
ASTORYOF BLOOD.
DY NJ. E. BRADDoE.
CHAPTER vIL-CoNriNUEp.


general slain and there gallant leader
sacrificed, little gain one day only DO be
counterbalanced by greater loss the next,
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-revolt
at Montmartre-t through all this time of
wild fears and wilder hopes the Red Flag
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 favorite
newspaper in which, for two sous, he may
read words that burn like Vitriol, sentences
that sound Ike the Kissing OF vinegar flung
upon white-hot iron? The Rad Flag finds
some pretty strong language for the express
sion Of its opinions about William, and
Bismarck, and MoItke, and the hOrdes of
black helmets yonder; but this language is
mild as compared with the venom which it
splits upon 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-iR the first
hour of reverse; the general who kept the
flower OF the French army locked up within
the walls Of beleaguered city, tied hand
and foot, when they pining to be up and do
ing, hungerng for the fray, eager to fling
themselves into the teeth of the foe, to cut
their way to liberty or 10 death, only to
hand them over to the enemy like flock OF
sheep when he found that his imperiallst
game was played OFT, and the stakes lost
irretrieyably.
At last came that which seemed the
clowning humiliation, a capitulation which,
10 the soul of the PATRIOTS was more shame
full than that of Sedan, more irreparable
than STasburg, more fatal than Metz. Paris
surrendered her forts and opened her gates
to the invader; France gave up her prov
nces, and pledged herself to the payment
Of q mOnstrous indemnity The flag Of the
Gcrmanic Confederation floated above Mont
Valerien, and the Guard of the Emperor Of
Germany detiled along the Avenue of tie
Grand Armee to encamp in the Champs
EyseeS. Dark and mOurnlul was the aspect
of Paris on that never-to-be-fOrCOtten day.
The populace held themselves aloof from
the region occupied by the invaders, as from
the scene Of a pestilence. Those who came
as captOr5 were as prisoners in the conquer
ell 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 flood
swept back, the Partisan Qdmh was seen
pursuing the rcar-guard Of Ni;iam's sol
diery, burning perfumes on r2d-hot shovels,
as if to purify the ar after the passage of
some loathsome beast.
Unhapply for Paris there were worse
enemies than William and his squ1re-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. Illus
bands and fathers FASTENED TO rejojn their
families, prOvincalS 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 fer the most part an armed
mob, demoralisel by idlenssS, by drink. b.
the teaching of handful OF rabid Republic
cans, the master-Sp,riss of Beleville and
MOntmartre.
Too soon The storm burst. There is no
darker day in tie history of France than
,hs 18Th Cf March 1871, on which Paris
found itself given over To horde Of which
it knew neither the strength nor the malig-
nifty, but from which it feared the worst
HideOus faces, which in peaceful times Turk
in the depths of u city, showed themselves
in the open day, at every street corner irony
Oh the lips and menace in the eye. A day
which began with the seizure of the cannon
ut Chaumont and Montmarire by the Com
munaras, and the dcsertion Of the troops of
the Line to the insurgents, ended with the
murder of Generals Lgcomte and Clement
Thomas, and the withdrawal Of the govern
nent and the royal troops TO Versailles.
When night fell Paris was abandoned to
new power, which called itself Cen raj
Committee Of the Federation; and it SEEM
ed that two hundred and fifty battalions Of
the National GGard had become Federals.
khey were for the most part Federals with
out knowing why or wherefore. They knew
rs little of the chiefs who were to command
them as that doomed city upon which they
were too soon TO 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 disorgonized and
abandoned city; and on the 10Th of March
began the great orgy of the commune, the
rule Of blood and fire. The offal Of Journal
ism, the scum Of the goals, sat in the seat OF
judgment. Rgault, Ferre, Eudes, Serizier
-BlaNDulSterS, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 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 roted in the Hotel dc Vile;
they held their obscene orgies in palaces, in
churches, in the public offices, and the gaOls.
when the innocent and the noble were Ian
gushing in 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, all enthusiastic be-
lever in Communism and In International
1t seemed as if this new reign meant regen-
Grafton. lie was revolted by the murder of
the two generals, but he saw in that crime
the work of q military mob. He knew but
little Of the men who were now at the helm.
Assy, one of the best of them, had protested
against the violence of his colleagues, and
had been flung into prison. Flourens, the
beloved of Beleville, was killed in skrm-
ish with the Versaillais, while the Cum
lnune was still young. Hard for man OF
intellect and honor TO believe in the scum
OF humanity which now ruled at the Hotel
Gle Vile, and strutted in tinsel and feathers,
like mountebanks at q fair. But CASTOR