of sand on the seashore, the stars in the heavens, but do not, in
your wildest dreams, attempt to enumerate the newspapers that have seen
the light since the famous day of the 18th of March. Felix Pyat has a
journal, _Le Vengeur_; Vermorel has a journal, _Le Cri du People_;
Delescluze has a journal, _Le Reveil_; there is not a member of the
Commune but indulges in the luxury of a sheet in which he tells his
colleagues daily all the evil he thinks of them. It must be acknowledged
that these gentlemen have an extremely bad opinion one of the other. I
defy even the _Gaulois_ of Versailles--yes, the _Gaulois_ itself--to
treat Felix Pyat as Vermorel treats him, and if it be remembered on the
other hand what Felix Pyat says of Vermorel, the _Gaulois_ will be found
singularly good-natured. Napoleon cautioned us long ago "to wash our
dirty linen at home," but good patriots cannot be expected to profit by
the counsels of a tyrant. So the columns of the Commune papers are
devoted to the daily and mutual pulling to pieces of the Commune's
members. But where will these ephemeral sheets be in six months, in one
month, or in a week's time perhaps? The wind which wafts away the leaves
of the rose and the laurel, will be no less cruel for the political
leaves. Let us then, for the sake of posterity, offer a specimen of what
is--or as we shall soon say, what was--the Communalist press of to-day.
Be they edited by Marotteau, or Duchesne, or Paschal Grousset, or by any
other emulator of Paul-Louis Courier, these worthy journals are all much
alike, and one example will suffice for the whole.

[Illustration: VERMESCH (PERE DUCHESNE).[72]]

First of all, and generally in enormous type, stand the LATEST NEWS, the
news from the Porte Maillot where the friends of the Commune are
fighting, and the news from Versailles where the enemies of the country
are sitting. They usually run somewhat in this style:--

"It is more and more confirmed that the Assembly of Versailles is
surrounded and made prisoner by the troops returned from Germany.
The generals of the Empire have newly proclaimed Napoleon: the
Third, Emperor. After a violent quarrel about two National Guards
whom Marshal MacMahon had had shot, but had omitted to have cooked
for his soldiers, Monsieur Thiers sent a challenge to the Marshal,
by his two seconds. These seconds were no other than the Comte de
Chambord and the Comte de Paris. Marshal MacMahon chose