COMMUNE DE PARIS 169 and prepared to press on with the divisions of the right and left, advancing and gradually concentrating their forces in the direction of the east of Paris, toward the last important strongholds of the commune, at the h6tel de ville and the chateau d'Eau. Meanwhile the insurgents, gradually falling back, had recourse to that method of combined defence and re- venge which gave the last days of this insur- rection a terrible feature unknown to any pre- vious revolution or civil war, however des- perate. Organized incendiarism began, and fires broke out in every quarter of Paris. On the bodies of dead insurgents were found orders directing the burning of whole districts, and others directing the destruction of public build- ings. All through Tuesday smaller fires had been set; and now, on Wednesday morning, just as the preparations we have noticed were complete, the Tuileries was discovered to be in flames ; and hardly was this known before the Palais Royal, a whole side of the rue Roy- ale, and then the distant hotel de ville itself, were found to be burning also. A panic spread through the city, among the national troops as well as the people ; extravagant rumors as to the intended destruction of all Paris by fires kindled with petroleum spread abroad ; and now began a day perhaps the most terrible ever seen in the French capital since the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The national troops, already greatly embittered by the obstinate resistance of the commune, and now excited beyond control by the attempt of the insur- gents to render their victory useless, and, as it seemed, to destroy the city, began a series of arrests and executions which soon passed all bounds of even apparent justice, and be- came a slaughter of all who chanced to fall under the slightest suspicion. It was only necessary that a man or woman should be pointed at as petroleur or petroleuse ; they were shot down without inquiry or mercy. Houses were searched and those hidden in them were brought into the streets and killed. Many entirely innocent shared the fate of the leaders like Vermorel and Rigault, both of whom fell by these summary executions. A court martial was established in the centre of the city, but even for those who were brought before it there was in most cases only a hur- ried form of trial. New fires were continually lighted, either by concealed incendiaries, of whom many were taken with the implements for the work in their hands, or by petroleum bombs from the barricades and the districts still in possession of the communists. During this week of conflagrations there were con- sumed or partially burned, besides a great number of private houses, the palais de justice, the prefecture of police, the palace of the legion of honor, the theatre of the Porte St. Martin, the grenier <V abondance, several churches, many large mercantile establishments and minor public buildings; all this besides the more important conflagrations at the hotel de ville, the Tuileries, and the Louvre. As though the events we have related were not enough to make this day (the 24th) sufficiently terrible, there occurred before its end a mas- sacre which has left the darkest stain on the career of the commune. It has already been stated that the archbishop of Paris and nume- rous other prominent men had been arrested and confined as hostages for communists in the hands of the national troops. They were now in the prison of La Roquette. In accordance with an order of the commune, they were taken from their cells at 8 o'clock on Wednes- day evening, and shot by a file of soldiers in the courtyard of the prison. During the whole of Wednesday, in spite of the distraction caused by the fires, the troops had steadily continued the manoeuvres by which they were gradu- ally closing around the last insurgent strong- holds. Around the burning hotel de ville the communists contested every step of ad- vance with desperate bravery. It was late on Wednesday night before the building, then in flames in four places, was at last abandoned. On the left bank of the Seine the resistance was still more obstinate, and it was only on Thursday afternoon that the Versailles soldiers succeeded in driving the insurgents from their last strong position on the Buttes-aux-Cailles, after the bloodiest contest since the entry into the city. Still fighting, the communists fell back to the manufactory of the Gobelins, which they set on fire. Here was their last desperate defence on this side of the river. Prisoners in their hands were forced to man the barricades, and afterward were shot down after freedom had been scoflingly prom- ised them. After a violent struggle the Ver- sailles troops gained possession of the whole district, and with it of the last contested spot on the left bank. Forts Bicetre and Ivry, the only fortresses still held by the commune, were also taken on Thursday. On the right bank the troops were pressing upon the faubourg St. Antoine, and after a hard struggle the place de la Bastille was taken on Friday, and the in- surgents of the district forced back to the cemetery of Pere la Chaise. On the right bank, too, the chateau d'Eau, the chief de- fence of the quarter of Belleville, remained. Throughout Thursday and till Friday morning it was still untaken, and it was defended with a valor befitting its importance as one of the final strongholds. At last the insurgents gradually gave way, and, still fighting, re- treated eastward through the streets toward the Buttes de Chaumont, where they had a formidable battery. The quarter of Belleville showed itself the firmest in resistance and the last to yield of all. Every point was fiercely contested as the fight went on, and the Ver- sailles troops forced their way only step by step. Friday night came, and the quarter was still in the communists' power, though the na- tional army, forming now almost a half circle, pressed in upon it, and the guns of their bat-
