a battery in Pere la Chaise, planted on
the spot made famous by a celebrated passage in "Le Pere Goriot,"
in which Balzac describes Rastignac, on the eve of finally selling
himself to Satan, as standing and gazing down on Paris, to conquer
a high place in which is to be his reward. The observer who saw
the city from the same spot on the 26th of May, 1871, says,--

"Beneath me lay stretched out like a map the once great and beautiful
city, now, alas! given over a prey to fire and sword. I could see
smoke rising from many a heap of ruins that but a few short hours
before had been a palace or a monument of art. It was impossible,
however, to decide what buildings were actually burning, for a
thick, misty rain had set in, which prevented my seeing distinctly.
In my descent I passed the place where the body of Dombrowski was
lying. He had been shot from behind, and the ball had passed through
his body. At the gate of the cemetery I found a man waiting for
me with news that Belleville was to be our _rendezvous_. Words
cannot paint the spectacle that Belleville presented. It was the
last place left, the only refuge remaining; and such an assemblage
as was collected there it would be difficult to find again. There
were National Guards of every battalion, _Chasseurs Federes_ in
their wonderful uniform,--a sort of cross between Zouave, linesman,
and rifleman,--_Enfants Perdus_ in their green coats and feathers
(very few of these were to be seen, as they had no claim to quarter,
nor did they expect any), _Chasseurs a Cheval_ of the Commune, in
their blue jackets and red trousers, leaning idly against the gates
of their stables, _Eclaireurs de la Commune_ in blue, Garibaldians in
red, hussars, _cantinieres_, sailors, civilians, women, and children,
all mixed up together in the crowded streets, and looking the picture
of anxiety. In the afternoon about four o'clock we were ordered to
mount and to escort 'ces coquins,'--as the officer called a party
of prisoners. They were forty-five gendarmes and six _cures_, who
were to be shot in the courtyard of a neighboring building. We
obeyed our orders and accompanied them to their destination. I was
told off to keep back the crowd. The men about to die, fifty-one
in all, were placed together, and the word was given to fire. Some
few, happier than the rest, fell at once, others died but slowly.
One gendarme made an effort to escape but was shot through the
stomach, and fell, a hideous objec