Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-08

tionary spasms. The secret societies of
the republicans made ardent partisans
among the real people. Blood flowed in
the streets, yet the word manifestation
was not known. Paris knew only riots,
riots red with blood, not bought or sold on
either side. Then came, with the fall of
the commune, the disarming of the peo-
pie, the disbanding of the national guard.
deprived of its militia, overawed and pow
erless against new quick-fring guns, the
revolutionary spirit of the capital was
broken Boulangism itself would have
been powerless without a new weapon to
combat the apathy of the people. Enthu-
siasm was dead, in the triumphant satis-
faction of democratic tastes, and no reac-
uonary movement could be strong enough
to revive it. Thanks to Boulangism how
ever, a new element was introduced into
practical politics. "Tricked'' enthusiasm
was found to do almost as well as real en-
thusiasm. 1t amused the people. 1t re-
posed upon the great tales of the past.
The people of Paris are rising. They are
yelling in the streets. Remember the COM
muner
Rose With BOu1anEer.
With Boulanger the Partisan "camelo-
tage'' ros. to the institution which it re-
mains today playing a decisive part in
elections and popular disturbances. Thanks
to sacred battalion" of 300 camelots, the
Boulaug iSts had days when a little more
decision would have made history. Three
hundred men, twelve squadrons Of twenty
four men each, commanded by windy
whiskered "chef d equipe." the men at two
francs each, the chef at four francs. and
the king of the camelots at twenty francsi
Monsieur Paulus. present rival of Ma
poleon Hayard, has just been recounting
his souvenirs of those good days. u was
only boy then, and played the part Of
renfant de pauvres gems. We followed
Boularger all through his electoral cam
paign of the Somme. When there would be
q crowd around his carriage 1 would jump
on the step. The general would stop and
caress me and tell me to say to my parents
they must not despair, that soon times
would be better, and then he would kiss me
again, amid the frantic cheers Of every
body. Why. people wept"'
Another veteran camelot tells how the
money moved at certain moments. An,
we amused ourselves in those days. One
time a gang of us-each drunken than the
other-broke into the Hotel de TUnivers to
see the brave general. Much Disguised.
General Boulanger sent In his place Mon
sieur N de c., one of his most aristo-
cratic lieutenants / don't know what crazy
idea got into the head of one camelot, but
all at once he sprang at the young swell
and kissed him. with his arms around him,
crying, 'Tiensl I love your And all the
rest of US did the same thing, until he gave
US fifty francs to go away. Money was
nothing. I saw one camelot, the treasurer
of our group. his pockets swelied out with
silver and gold pisces. He would throw it
into the crowd by the handful We fought
for it. Some got paid five times in one
day"
Fair Weather Manifestations.
1T is raining tonight There will be moth
irg"' Mayor Bailly used to say during the
bloodiest periods of the great French revo-
luton. True 1t was then, 1t is much
truer today. Without fine weather you
can have no manifestation" on the Paris
streets. "Oh, the radiant atmosphere, all
pink with summer It would be a calamity
to stay at home" says the good Paris bour-
geois. 1t is his Sunday rest. Too economi-
cal to pay for matinee, too unpretentious
to own bicycle. not knowing where to go,
he goes to see the manifestation" He only
wants to see He has no intention to yell.
But the crowd comes bowling, half-tipsy
workingmen, all ready for a spree, led by a
handful of humorous cameiots. The noise
intoxicates the good bourgeois.
What" his conscience says, these hon.
est workingmen are rot afraid to tell their
opinion, and shall /, who belong to a higher
class, stand back in silence? Not on your
life" So he Is caught. First he walks be-
other type of good thing is the Partisan
who may be depended on to 'rebuke the
violence of the police" He is a dignif1ed
citizen, who would not even yell The
camelotS, when grabbed by the police
never strike back. but only wiggle pitifully
The humane bourgeois always falls into the
trap. What" he cries to the police, ARE
you not ashamed to brutalze man like
tkat?" The police answer: What is that to
you?" To which he replies: ''Brutes"
Whereupon the policeman lets go of the
camelot to collar him instead. BY this time
the crowd has increased wonderfully. Safe
In the crowd, the camelot cries out against
police brutality. Down with the police!'
Cows" Dirty hoots" "Spiesy' "Assas-
s1ns!' And so the manifestation" grows.
The day of the funeral of the late Presi-
dent Faure 1 happened to stand just behind
one of the great men of the prefecture OF
the police. Here and there were cries and
pushings. here and there the police struck
the crowd with their fiat, sheathed cutlasses
the police don't know how to hustle any
more. You ought to have seen them under
the empire" Just then NJ Milevoye was
arrested, followed by a noisy crowd OF
"manifestants," who might easily have res
cued him. Disguised with their cowardice
he added: But 1T makes no difference
II the police don't know how to hustle the
crowd, the crowd don't know how to mani
fest"
Only Come to See.
The truth is that the police can do about
what they please with the crowd, because
the crowds enthusiasm is no longer to act
but only to see. If, for example, the police
desire to reduce a manifestation to the
strict minimum of its own forces by depriv.
ing 1t of the aid of the real crowd 1t is only
necessary to mass squads of police in the
wrong places. Then all the badauds, all the
nose-in-air fraternity, all the sightseers
hurry TO those places
What is it?'' rs 1t here they are going
to pass?" THE papers said the contrary. .
That's all right; the papers have been
bribed by the project" 1T must be here
Look at the policei' Evidently 1t is here
Chouettei We have a good placer And
while the poor imbeciles are waiting the
'.manifestants,' cheated also. yell alone
along another street.
The police do not fear the crowd; that Is
to say, the crowd, unarmed can do no harm
in the oid-fashioned, bloody way. Yet to
manifest is to stir up opinion; and the
ability to make the people manifest is pow.
err. Therefore. the government of the re.
public itself has often made secret advances
to men like Hayard and Paulus The kine
of the eameIots who has his own pride. ali:
ways answered disdainfully that they could