ools
to those who can use them;' but he forgets that it will not do for a
socialistic regime such as we would establish, because it is exactly
those that cannot use the tools who wish to be treated as if they could.
If they had intelligence enough to use the tools, they would have lifted
themselves out of their humble, unsatisfactory positions without any
aid. Rossel is no doubt a better strategist than I am, and I do not in
the least mind his letting me know it, but if Dombrowski or Bergeret was
'Delegate for War,' Rossel would have been in prison or shot a fortnight
ago."

"For," continued Cluseret, "Bergeret especially thinks himself a
heaven-born general. He shows well on horseback, because, I believe, he
began life as a stable-lad: so did Michel Ney; but then, Michel Ney
served his apprenticeship at fighting, while Bergeret became a
compositor, a chef-de-claque, a proof-reader, and, finally, a traveller
for a publishing firm. All these are, no doubt, very honourable
occupations, but they are scarcely calculated to make a good general.
Still, you should see him: he wears his sash as your officers wear
theirs when on duty; he would like the people to mistake it for the
grand-cordon of the Legion d'Honneur; and his staff is more numerous
than that of the late Emperor. You should go and dine at the
head-quarters of the military governor of Paris; I am sure you would be
very welcome. Marast at the Palais-Bourbon in '48 was nothing to it. If
the Commune lasts another three months there will be servants in livery,
gold lace, and powder, like in your country. At present, Bergeret has to
put up with attendants in faultless black.

"Personally," he went on, "I am not fighting for Communism, but for
Communalism, which, I need not tell you, is quite a different thing. I
fail to see why Paris and Lyons should be judged incapable of managing
their own municipal affairs without the interference of the State, while
other great provincial centres are considered capable of doing so. The
English Government does not interfere with the municipal affairs of
London on the plea that it is the capital, with those of Manchester on
the plea that it has inaugurated a policy of its own, any more than it
interferes with those of Liverpool, Leeds, or Bristol. Your
lord-lieutenants of counties are virtually decorative officials,
something different from our prefects and our sub-prefects, and your
Home Secretary has not a hundredth part of the p