ost ardent supporters. To him is to
be attributed in particular the demand for the carrying into execution
the decree relating to the hostages. On this point here is Urbain's
proposal, copied from the _Official Journal_ of the 18th May:--"I demand
that either the Commune or the Committee of Public Safety should decree
that the ten hostages in our custody should be shot within twenty-four
hours, in retaliation for the murders of our cantiniere and of the
bearer of our flag of truce, who were shot in defiance of the law of
nations. I demand that five of the hostages should be executed solemnly
in the centre of Paris, in presence of deputations from all the
battalions, and that the rest should be shot at the advanced posts in
presence of the soldiers who witnessed the murders. I trust my proposal
will be agreed to." By this proposal Urbain has linked his name to the
horrible crime committed on the hostages. Latterly he was a member of
the military committee, and his ability served well the cause of the
insurgents. He was condemned by the court-martial of Versailles to hard
labour for life, September 2, 1871.

XIV.

THE DEVASTATIONS OF PARIS.

The following is the way in which the fires were prepared:--In some
instances a number of men, acting as _avant-courriers_, went first,
telling the inhabitants that the Quarter was about to be delivered to
the flames, and urging them to fly for their lives; in other oases, the
unfortunate people were told that the whole city would be burnt, and
that they might as well meet death where they were as run to seek it
elsewhere. In some places--in the Rue de Vaugirard, for instance--it is
asserted that sentinels were placed in the streets and ordered to fire
upon everyone who attempted to escape. One incendiary, who was arrested
in the Rue de Poitiers, declared that he received ten francs for each
house which he set on fire. Another system consisted in throwing through
the cellar doors or traps tin cans or bottles filled with petroleum,
phosphorus, nitro-glycerine, or other combustibles, with a long sulphur
match attached to the neck of the vessel, the match being lighted at the
moment of throwing the explosives into the cellar. Finally, the
batteries at Belleville and the cemetery of Pere la Chaise sent
destruction into many quarters by means of petroleum shells.

Eudes, a general of the Commune, sent the following order to one of his
officers:--

"Fire on the Bourse, the Ban