In one
of our walks we entered the barricade around the Hotel de Ville, and
were beginning to make a close examination of a mitrailleuse, when a
soldier (beg his pardon, _un citoyen membre de la Garde Nationale_)
warned us away from the weapon. The densest crowd of Communists was
along the Rue de Rivoli and in the region of the Colonne Vendome,
where some of the principal barricades were being erected. But even
here, not only were the stores open as usual, but the military were
doing their work in the midst of piles of trinkets exposed for sale
on the pavement by the shopwomen. The order to destroy the Column
was issued before we left, but not executed until later. I have no
reason to suppose that the shopwomen were any more concerned while
the Column was being undermined than they were before. To complete
the picture, not a policeman did we see in Paris; in fact, I was
told that one of the first acts of the Commune had been to drive
the police away, so that not one dared to show himself.

An interesting feature of the sad spectacle was the stream of
proclamations poured forth by the Communist authorities. They
comprised not only decrees, but sensational stories of victories over
the Versailles troops, denunciations of the Versailles government,
and even elaborate legal arguments, including a not intemperate
discussion of the ethical question whether citizens who were not
adherents of the Commune should be entitled to the right of suffrage.
The conclusion was that they should not. The lack of humor on the
part of the authorities was shown by their commencing one of a rapid
succession of battle stories with the words, "Citoyens! Vous avez
soif de la verite!" The most amusing decree I noticed ran thus:--

"Article I. All conscription is abolished.

"Article II. No troops shall hereafter be allowed in Paris, except
the National Guard.

"Article III. Every citizen is a member of the National Guard."

We were in daily expectation and hope of the capture of the city,
little imagining by what scenes it would be accompanied. It did not
seem to my unmilitary eye that two or three batteries of artillery
could have any trouble in demolishing all the defenses, since a
wall of paving-stones, four or five feet high, could hardly resist
solid shot, or prove anything but a source of destruction to those
behind it if attacked by artillery. But the capture was not so easy
a matter as I had supposed.

We took leave of