The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-29

church architecture. and a general dis
position appeared to break away from
the trammels of recent conventional
preparation for the work OF the second
Napoleon, the Caesar Augustus follow
ing the greater Caesar, who found his
Rome of brick, and left il of marble.
New. streets, lined with sumptuous
dwellings, shot through the city in all
directions. The city area was now
doubled. and its population increased
from /, 200, 900 TO 1,sU0, goo. Whatever may
be thought of Louis Napoleons char
acter or ambitions, his work for Paris
was real. The modern era OF the city
in his reign was fairly eStablishA.
Paris but ill-requited the splendor
conferred upon her by her second en-
peror. and seized upon the moment
when the state was distracted by I'M
successful war TO inaugurate new
attempt at revolution as serious and
bloody as any which had gone before
it. On the 18th of September. 1870. the
Germans took possession of the heights
on the left bank of the Rhine The
strength of the besiegers amounted 10
240 coo men. Within the city and De
hind it's elaborate fortifications General
Trochu marsbaled an army of 100000
men. Yet the inconstant populace, the
usual absence of discipline among the
hasty levies of a citizen soldiery. the
outbreak of open revolt in the city IN
October, the increasing Generalization
of the besieged. the failure of the
armies in the south and west to CO.
operate, the pressure of actual famine
upon the vast population within the
city, the failure of every attempt at
sortie. left Paris at last no choice but
surrender Gan. q and IS. 1SID. The
whole civilized world had watched the
progress of the siege, and when the
fall of the Cit. was announced the
sympathies of the war were for the
moment forgotten in the generous riv-
airy of other cities to send food 10 the
starving thousands of Paris.
Paris, however, was not yet through
with her troubles. The Germans en-
tered Paris on March l. The confusion
which attended this event was SelZed
upon as the moment for establishing
the commune, and the siege OF Paris py
Germans was followed by the siege OF
Paris by Frenchmen- The instruction
broke out on March Is in the attempt
of President Theirs to remove some
cannon which the seditious national
guard had posted on the heights or
Montmartre, and for nearly Two
months remained in possession or the
city. At last, on May q, Sunday
morning MacMahon fought his way into
the city, and then from barricade 10
barricade, until, on Friday, in the final
assault on Beheville, the last strong
hold of the red republicans, was car
ried. Those days when MacMahon, IN
the name of the government, was
wrestling the city inch by inch from
the hands of the desperate MANAGES
who had seized il, probably have hau
no equal in history for the atrocities
committed. Many of the most olstin-
N "a
archbishop of Paris; Bonjean, the pres
ident: magistrates, journalists, wealthy
citizens, whose only crimes were their
Importance and influence-had been
seized and held as hostages. lnfurlateu
creatures broke into the prisons ana
shot down these helpless victims IN
cold blood. Cases of petroleum were
distributed among the mob, and Dy
them used in carrying out deliberate
plan of burning the city. The Hotel
de Vile, St. Louis Palais de Justice.
the Tuileries, the Rue de Rivoli and
many other places, some of them mod
ern and some associated with the ven
cradle past, were burned. Barrels OF
gunpowder were placed in the noble ca
thedral of Notre Dame and many other
buildings, preparatory to the appllca-
ton of the torch. All that saved the
city from complete destruction was the
victory of the government troops at
Pere lie Chaise, May 2S. If the struggle
were bloody, the vengeance of the gov
eminent was also bloody. The inSur-
gents taken in arms, men and women,
were snot down in their tracks; many
others were condemned 10 death, many
TO transportation for life, and many 10
the states prisons.
Such was the bloody baptism of the
third republic, which has long since
passed its majority and outlived any !
Of it's predecessors of the century. Paris |
for q time remained mourning for her
fallen greatness, her unsightly ruins
testifying 70 the struggle by which the |
crushed. Yet the lesson. though Sc
we're, was necessary. Paris must learn !
that. though the capital, she was not |
the nation; that the day had gone by |
when a city or a single population |
could defy the will of the whole nation
Her buildings have long since been re- |
scored For a time the government |
made its headquarters at Versailles,
put in 1879 the last survivors OF the I
commune were released, and the cham
)ers once more quietly took up their
quarters within the city. For the TWEEN
y years following. substantial peace
has reigned. Political changes nave
1ften been noisy, but bloodless- Conf
ience and prosperity have long since
-easserted themselves: new genera
ion has supplanted the old, and, as
never before, the city is the Mecca of
he tourists, the recognized capital OF
he world of art and literature, of dress
and manners.