re inspired the regular army at Versailles
with a spirit of revenge, which led them on entering Paris to lose
all self-possession, so that they dealt with the insurrection brutally
and without discrimination."

It would be curious to trace the history of the various members
of the Council of the Commune. A few have been already alluded
to; but the majority came forth out of obscurity, and their fate
is as obscure. Eight were professional journalists. Among these
were Rochefort, Arnould, and Vermorel. Arnould was probably the
most moderate man in the Commune, and Vermorel was one of the very
few who, when the Commune was at its last gasp, neither deserted
nor disgraced it. He sprang on a barricade, crying: "I am here, not
to fight, but to die!" and was shot down. Four were military men,
of whom one was General Eudes, a draper's assistant, and one had
been a private in the army of Africa. Five were genuine working-men,
three of whom were fierce, ignorant cobblers from Belleville; the
other two were Assy, a machinist, and Thiez, a silver-chaser,--one
of the few honest men in the Council. Three were not Frenchmen,
although generals; namely, Dombrowski, La Cecilia, and Dacosta,
besides Cluseret, who claimed American citizenship. Rochefort was the
son of a marquis who had been forced to write for bread. Deleschuze
was an ex-convict. Blanqui had spent two thirds of his life in
prison, having been engaged from his youth up in conspiracy. He
was also at one period a Government spy. Raoul Rigault also had
been a spy and an informer from his boyhood. Megy and Assy were
under sentence for murder. Jourde was a medical student, one of the
best men in the Commune, and faithful to his trust as its finance
minister. Flourens, the scientist, a genuine enthusiast, we have
seen was killed in the first skirmish with the Versaillais. Felix
Pyat was an arch conspirator, but a very spirited and agreeable
writer. He was elected in 1888 a deputy under the Government of the
Third Republic. Lullier had been a naval officer, but was dismissed
the service for insubordination.

To such men (the best of them wholly without experience in the
art of government) were confided the destinies of Paris, and, as
they hoped, of France; but their number dwindled from time to time,
till hardly more than fifty were left around the Council Board, when
about two weeks before the downfall of the Commune twenty-two of
this remainder resigned,--some because they co