The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-17
Grandfather of Ham
Fish Was Sec'y of State
During Commune
BY AL DEUTsCH

to Paris at the time Of the Com
mune Of 1871, fills dark and hith-
erte little known page of the Com
munes history. His part was in
every respect as despicable as that
played by Ambassadors Welles and
Caffery in the recent revolutionary
struggles Of the Cuban masses.
! Washburne's official dispatches to
his chief, Hamilton Fish grand
father Of the Red-baiter, Congress
man Hamilton Fish. Jr) who was
the then U. S. Secretary of State.
reveals him as a liar, braggart.
hypocrite, and a participant in the
murder of thousands of heroic
workers-in other words, the perfect
type Of an imperislist American
ambassador,
Throughout the Commune, Wash
burne was the only foreign diplo-
mat who retained his Headquarters
at Paris instead of moving to YER
sailles, where the reaetionary Theirs
government was seated He was
granted every privilege by the Com
munards during their rule Of II
days; every request he made was
promptly and courteously granted
by them. But nowhere in his dis
patches does he give credit the
Commune for its treatment of him;
he took it as matter of course.
The Communards reposed their
faith in him throughout, and sll the
while he with his entire staff was
acting as a spy agency and aid of
the Theirs crowd in Versailles, and
in the last bloody days helped to
turn over the Paris defenders to
the eXecntioners.
Although, even in his dispatches
he was forced to admit that Paris
under the Commune was peaceful
enough for him to take frequent
and leisurely carriage rides through
the entire city, in perfect safety,
he continually referred to the Com
mune as IAN orgy of crime, in
cendiarism, cruelty and blood" His
official dispatches land his two
column "Recollections') repeats
every piece of gutter gossip in
vented against the Commune, but
sedulously avoids any news that he
, knew from first-hand contact to
be true that might reflect on the
: reactionaries. When the Commune
was at the peak of its power, and
Paris most peaceful, he spared no
effort to pave the way for U. S.
intervention by false reports and
"anticipations" of destruction of
property of American residents in
Paris.
The unsurpassed courage of the
Communards in fighting to the
death against inSurmountable odds
is thus depicted in his dispatch to
Fish MAY az, IBID: 1.-THE fight
continues The firing was ter
rife all last night. We can see
from the top of the legation build
ing that the red flag [Washburne's
emphasisl, that hated emblem of
assassination and pillage, anarchy
and disorder, still flies from the
Tuilleries and from the Ministry OF
Marine. The insurgents are evid-
emily making a desperate resist
anee."
His communication and later ae-
counts contain not a word of
sympathy or admiration for the
forty thousand proletarians who
bravely went to their death in de-
Tense Of their class, but there are
pages of sentimental SOLDERING de-
tails of the execution Of the
counter-reyelutionary archbishop of
Paris. Contrast this cold, SNUG
account of this coWardly attack and
mass-murder with the touching
concern for the house of Theirs,
which was burned down by bitterly
reSentful workers in venting their
hate Of the murderer who was even
then moving down their husbands
sisters and brothers. 1t serves as
a monumental piece Of unconscious
irony:
THE work of the demolition
Of the house of Mr.. Theirs in the
Place st. George progresses (Nay
16th) The hatred and rage of
the Commune against the chief
of the executive power surpasses
all bounds. The inSurreetionist
Journal Official of this morning
has another decree in relation to
the subject, providing that all
linen found in the house should
be sent to the hospitals; that all
the objects Of art and valuable
books should be sent to the Pub
Lie Library and National Mus
Gums; that the furniture should
be sold at public auction after
being exposed in the sales-rooms,
and that the products of the
sales should go to the widows and
orphans of the victims of the
war [enlpllasis naine,-A. d., and
the same destination should also
be given to the proceeds of the
materials of the house; and lastly
that upon the site of the hotel
Of the parricide shall be estab-
lished public square. Mr..
Theirs had lived in this house for
nearly half century, and it was
there that he composed his great |
works and prepared the speeches
which he had delivered at the
French tribune, and there he had |
received the most celebrated poll
tical persons and savants of the
age. There he had gathered the
rarest works of art, books and |
mass, that were to be found in
all Europe. Such vandalism is
without parallel in the history of
civilization" Emphasis mine. -
| A. d.