The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-08-04
I:::S:|!Stge!y9fRulJo Jones:
IN <A&sS@ Our First NawlHero.
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first fruit in the massacre of Sept. 2
Among the incidents of this terrible day
was one that demonstrates at once the
calm nerve of Paul Jones and the esteem
in which he was held by the French popu-
lace.
About 10 in the morning of the I'd de
tachment of The Civil Guard, under q
| Sergeant, made a "domiciliary visit to
the door of his house in TourmOn street
and asked Madame Auberene if there
were any ariStocratS in the dwelling. The
good woman heSitated, but finally told
them that an Admiral, who was a Cheva-
lier of the Grand Order of Military Merit,
| lived there.
The Sergeant was about to enter the
| house when Jones, having heard the col
! loQuy at the door, came down the stairs
with his belt and side-armS on and the
| ieweled Grand Star of the Order glittering
on his breast
Without ceremony, he confronted the
Sergeant in the doorway, saying: Il am
the man; | am the Chevalier. What do
you wish with me7"
What is your manner" asked the Ser
Ceant in command
My name is Paul Jones, at your serv-
ice"
"Oh, you are the great American Com
mOdorc7"
Il was once an American Commodore;
but now am a Vice-AdmiraI OF the Rus
sian Navy on furlough."
You are the one who commanded the
Bon Homme Richard and took the Eng
liSh ship
The same, Sergeant, at your service"
Very well, then, sir; we wish you
nothing but good morning and long life,
said the Sergeant, and they went away.
All day long the streets of Paris re
sounded with fusilladeS and sbrieks and
all the horrors of rapine and massacre.
But the mob crazy as they were. respect
ed the ho1lCa pf Ta,,I 10 aScaI
to 60 out, but Madame Aubergne per-
suaded him to stay in. Early the next
morning Marion came TO see him and re-
lated to him the sanctuary history of
the day before. This time he offered but
little comment. His only phrase re-
corded Of this interview is:
We'll, you have unleashed the dogs OF
hell at last. Don't dream that you can
muzzle them again. They did not de
your YOU yesterday, but they will to-
morrow"
The eth of September, 1892, the Legislative
Assembly of France began its last regular
session. This session was continued by
recesseS from time TO time until the 20th,
when the Assembly dissolved to make
way for its terrible successor the National
Convention which organized the next day.
In this last session the Assembly in
vited the Executive and judicial Depart
ments to participate, one representative
of each being entitled TO all the privileges
Of members except that OF voting. Barere
appeared as the representative OF the Judi
ciary, Carnot OF the War Department,
NerGniaud of the Foreign Office, Admiral
Kersaint of the Navy, etc, and as if in
hooking irony, Cambon appeared in be-
half of the Royal Household, all the mem
bers Of which were at that moment be-
hind bars in the Temple.
The first order Of this extraordinary seS-
sion was to receive the reports of the diff
ferent Departments as 10 their operations
since the conVocation Of the Assembly
Oct. l. 1891. When the turn of the Judi
ciary came, BareTe, presenting as the
others had bulky manuscript report,
moved that the reading be dispensed with
as it was late in the day-about p. m =
and asked that the Assembly indulge him
opportunity for a few remarks on the state
of judicial administration ard its probab Bile
immediate future.
He began by congratulating the Assem-
bly, on the good progress made in the path
of liberty during its year of existence, and
complimented it on its good Judgment in
passing, without further action, the deSti-
MES of France over to the new Conven-
ton to assemble in a fortnight.
Then he remarked that, as a member of
the highest judicial tribunal in the State
and the chosen representative of the De-
partment of Justice, it would i'll become
him to say word that might influence
passion or inSugate violence, of which
deplora bic instances had already been
seen With this exordium he went on to
deprecate the excuses of Sept. 2, and to
express the hope that the New Conven-
ton, with it's enlarged powers and it's
more direct contact with the problems of
public safety, would prove able to pre-
vent recurrence of such scenes.
At this everyone, even Carnot and
Cambon who were always closest to- him,
was stupefied with amaZement. What
did he mean, men asked one another.
Everyone had regarded the massacre of
Sept. as the natural response of the in
furiated populace TO his sentiments ut
tered from the portico of the Palace OF
Justice, Aug. 20; had regarded its fusil-
ladies' and it's shrieks as the necessary
echoes of his Bloody Grafton" Yet here
he was, within 10 days, and with the
words of that gospel of murder still hot on
his lips. preaching peace, order and good
will. Who could comprehend it, Who