it has become the pretext for all sorts of extortions and intimidations. For that reason we infinitely prefer seeing the Commune make requisitions on the churches rather than on merchants and manufacturers."
The Moniteur, of Versailles, made the following comment
on the above article:
"Where did M. Rochefort learn that the crucifixes
carved by Bouchardon, and the sacred vessels chased by
the most celebrated artists, were swindled, as he elegantly
puts it, out of the dying, by working on their fears?
When Philippe-le-Bel, after his victory of Mons-en-Puelle,
Louis XIII, after the glorious combats of Pont-de-Suse,
Condé, Turenne, and Luxemburg, whom the Parisians
proudly named the Decorator of Notre-Dame, enriched
our temples with their voluntary offerings, or with standards
taken from the enemy, was their conduct caused by
terror or cheating? And if those recollections do not
touch M. Rochefort, let him at least respect in those works
of art, so admirably executed, the glory of the artists.
The handicraftsman has also his glory, often more durable
than that of conquerors, pretended legislators, and self-called
politicians; he transmits it to posterity in the masterpieces
which, if a painter, he has fixed on canvas; if a
sculptor, he has created from the shapeless block of marble;
or, if a goldsmith, he has hammered or chiselled out with
delight. In the name of industry and its glorious inheritance,
respect at least those so-called treasures of the
churches, which are, in reality, only magnificent works of
art, and which, at least, unlike those carefully preserved
in the cabinets of celebrated collectors, are open to all.
Democrats, respect democratic art, which, perhaps, the
Christian religion alone has placed at the service of the
poor as well as of the rich."
