Paris under the Commune Part 25

"I think that it was more just to change the law than to violate it.

The ballot gave birth to the Commune, and in completing itself without it, the Commune commits suicide. I will not be an accomplice in the fault."

We understand that; it is quite enough to be an accomplice in the crime.

"I am so convinced of this truth, that if the Commune persist in what I call an usurpation of the elective power, I could not reconcile the respect due to the rote of the majority with the respect due to my own conscience; I shall therefore be obliged, much to my regret, to give in my resignation to the Commune before the victory.

"_Salut et Fraternite_.

"FeLIX PYAT."

"Before the victory" is exquisitely comic! But, carried away by the desire of exhibiting the wit of which he is master, Monsieur Felix Pyat fails to perceive that his irony is a little too transparent, that "before the victory" evidently meant "before the defeat," and that consequently, without taking into account the excellent reasons given in his letter to the president of the Commune, we shall only recollect that rats run away when the vessel is about to sink. But this time the rats must remain at the bottom of the hold. Tour colleagues, Monsieur Pyat, will not permit you to be the only one to withdraw from the honours, since you have been with them in the strife. Not daring to fly themselves, they will make you stay. Vermorel will seize you by the collar at the moment you are about to open the door and make your escape; and Monsieur Pierre Denis,[68] who used to be a poet as well as a cobbler, will murmur in your ear these verses of Victor Hugo[69], which, with a few slight modifications, will suit your case exactly:--

"Maintenant il se dit: 'L'empire est chancelant; La victoire est peu sure.'

Il cherche a s'en aller, furtif et reculant.

Reste dans la masure!"

"Tu dis: 'Le plafond croule; ils vont, si l'on me voit, Empecher que je sorte.'

N'osant rester ni fuir, tu regardes le toit, Tu regardes la porte.

"Tu mets timidement la main sur le verrou; Reste en leurs rangs funebres!

Reste! La loi qu'ils ont enfouie en un trou Est la dans les tenebres.

"Reste! Elle est la, le flanc perce de leurs couteaux, Gisante, et sur sa biere Ils ont mis une dalle. Un pan de ton manteau Est pris sous cette pierre.

"Tu ne t'en iras pas! Quoi! quitter leur maison!

Et fuir leur destinee!

Quoi! tu voudrais trahir jusqu'a la trahison Elle-meme indignee!

"Quoi! n'as-tu pas tenu l'ech.e.l.le a ces fripons En pleine connivence?

Le sac de ces voleurs ne fut-il pas, reponds, Cousu par toi d'avance?

"Les mensonges, la haine au dard froid et visqueux, Habitent ce repaire; Tu t'en vas! De quel droit, etant plus renard qu'eux Et plus qu'elle vipere?"

And Monsieur Felix Pyat will remain, in spite of the thousand and one good reasons he would find to make a short tour in Belgium. His colleagues will try persuasion, if necessary--"You are good, you are great, you are pure; what would become of us without you?" and they will hold on to him to the end, like cowards who in the midst of danger cling to their companions, shrieking out, "We will die together!" and embrace them convulsively to prevent their escape.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 68: A writer in the _Vengeur_.]

[Footnote 69: For translation, see Appendix 7.]

LXV.

An anonymous writer, who is no other, it is said, than the citizen Delescluze, has just published the following:--

"The Commune has a.s.sured to itself the receipt of a sum of 600,000 francs a day--eighteen millions a month."

There was once upon a time a French forger, named Colle, celebrated for the extent and importance of his swindling, and who possessed, it was said, a very large fortune. When questioned upon the subject, he used to answer: "I have a.s.sured to myself a receipt of a hundred francs a day--three thousand francs a month."

Between Colle and the Commune there exists a difference, however: in the first place, Colle affected a particular liking for the clergy, whose various garbs he used frequently to a.s.sume, and the Commune cannot endure _cures_ and secondly, while Colle, in a.s.suring himself a receipt of three thousand francs a month, had done all that was possible for him to do, the Commune puts up with a miserable eighteen millions, when it might have ensured to itself a great deal more. It is astounding, and, I may add, little in accordance with its dignity, that it should be satisfied with so moderate an allowance. You show too much modesty; it is not worth while being victorious for so little. Eighteen millions--a mere nothing! Your delicacy might be better understood were you more scrupulous as to the choice of your means. Thank Heaven! you do not err on that score. Come! a little more energy, if you please. "But!" sighs the Commune, "I have done my best, it seems to me. Thanks to Jourde,[70]

who throws Law into the shade, and to Dereure,[71] the shoemaker --Financier and Cobbler of La Fontaine's Fable--I pocket daily the gross value of the sale of tobacco, which is a pretty speculation enough, since I have had to pay neither the cost of the raw materials nor of the manufacture. I have besides this, thanks to what I call the 'regular income from the public departments,' a good number of little revenues which do not cost me much and bring me in a good deal. Now there's the Post, for instance. I take good care to despatch none of the letters that are confided to me, but I manage to secure the price of the postage by an arrangement with my employes. This shows cleverness and tact, I think. Finally, in addition to this, I get the railway companies to be kind enough to drop into my pockets the sum of two millions of francs: the Northern Railway Company will supply me with three hundred and ninety-three thousand francs; the Western, with two hundred and seventy-five thousand; the Eastern, three hundred and fifty-four thousand francs; the Lyons Railway Company, with six hundred and ninety-two thousand francs; the Orleans Railway, three hundred and seventy-six thousand francs. It is the financial delegate, Monsieur Jourde, who has the most brains of the whole band, who planned this ingenious arrangement. And, in truth, I consider that I have done all that is in my power, and you are wrong in trying to humiliate me by drawing comparisons between myself and Colle, who had some good, in him, but who was in no way equal to me." My dear, good Commune, I do not deny that, you have the most excellent intentions; I approve the tobacco speculation and the funds drawn from the public service money, in which you include, I suppose, the profits made in your nocturnal visits to the public and other coffers, and your fruitful rounds in the churches. As to the tax levied on railways, it inspires me with an admiration approaching enthusiasm. But, for mercy's sake, do not allow yourself to stop there. Nothing is achieved so long as anything remains to be done.

You waste your time in counting up the present sources of your revenues, while so many opportunities remain of increasing them. Are there no bankers, no stock-brokers, no notaries, in Paris? Send a few of these honest patriots of yours to the houses of the reactionaries. A hundred thousand francs from one, two hundred thousand francs from another; it is always worth the taking. From small streams come great rivers. In your place I would not neglect the shopkeepers' tills either, or the money-chests of the rich. They are of the _bourgeoisie_, those people, and the _bourgeois_ are your enemies. Tax them, _morbleu!_ Tax them by all means. Have you not all your friends and your friends' friends to look after? Is it false keys that fail you? But they are easily made, and amongst your number you will certainly find one or two locksmiths quite ready to help you. Take Pilotel, for instance: a sane man, that!

There were only eight hundred francs in the escritoire of Monsieur Chaudey, and he appropriated the eight hundred francs. Thus, you see, how great houses and good governments are founded. And when there is no longer any money, you must seize hold of the goods and furniture of your fellow-citizens. You will find receivers of stolen goods among you, no doubt. They told me yesterday that you had sent the t.i.tiens and Paul Veroneses of the Louvre to London, in order to be able to make money out of them. A most excellent measure, that I can well explain to myself, because I can understand that Monsieur Courbet must have a great desire to get rid of these two painters, for whom he feels so legitimate and profound a hatred. But, alas! it was but a false report. You confined yourselves to putting up for sale the materials composing the Column of the Place Vendome; dividing them into four lots, two lots of stone and cement, and two lots of metal. Two lots only? Why! you know nothing about making the best of your merchandise. There is something better than stone and metal in this column. There is that in it which a number of silly people used to call in other times the glory of France. What a pretty spectacle--when the sale by auction is over--to see the buyers carrying away under their arms--one, a bit of Wagram; another, a bit of Jena; and some, who had thought to be buying a pound or two of bronze, having made the acquisition of the First Consul at Arcole or the Emperor at Austerlitz. It is a sad pity that you did not puff up the value and importance of your sale to the bidders. Your speculation would then have turned out better. You have managed badly, my dear Commune; you have not known how to take advantage of your position. Repair your faults, impose your taxes, appropriate, confiscate! All may be yours, disdain nothing, and have no fear of resistance; everyone is afraid of you. Here! I have five francs in my own pocket, will you have them?

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 70: Jourde occupied the position of financial Minister under the Commune Government. He is well-educated, and is said to be one of the most intellectually distinguished of the Federal functionaries. He is a medical student, and said to be twenty-seven years of age. See Appendix 8.]

[Footnote 71: A working cobbler, and member of the International Society, which he represented at the Congress of Bale. He occupied a post on the _Ma.r.s.eillaise_ newspaper, became a Commissary of Police after the fourth of September, and took part on the popular side in the outbreak of the thirty-first of October. He was deprived of his office by General Trochu's government, and appointed one of the delegates for justice, by the authorities of the Commune.]

LXVI.

"The social revolution could end but in one great catastrophe, of which the immediate effects would be--

"To make the land a barren waste:

"To put a strait jacket upon society:

"And, if it were possible that such a state of things could be prolonged for several weeks--

"To cause three or four millions of human beings to perish by horrible famine.

"When the Government shall be without resources, when the country shall be without produce and without commerce:

"When starving Paris, blockaded by the departments, will no longer discharge its debts and make payments, no longer export nor import:

"When workmen, demoralised by the politics taught at the clubs and the closing of the workshops, will have found a means of living, no matter how:

"When the State appropriates to itself the silver and ornaments of the citizens for the purpose of sending them to the Mint:

"When perquisitions made in the private houses are the only means of collecting taxes:

"When hungry bands spread over the country, committing robbery and devastation:

"When the peasant, armed with loaded gun, has to neglect the cultivation of his crops in order to protect them:

"When the first sheaf shall have been stolen, the first house forced, the first church profaned, the first torch fired, the first woman violated:

"When the first blood shall have been spilt: