University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

Page 18 text:

10 THE REDWOOD Swiss Guards in the corridors, who continued faithful to their duty till the last. After completely destroying the beautiful furnishings of the pal- ace, the mob set fire to it, and glee- fully watched it burn, even preventing the firemen from extinguishing it or stopping its spread. While all these scenes of carnage and pillage were being enacted, a deputa- tion appeared from the self-elected municipality, or Commune, and order- ed that the Assembly should immedi- ately declare the dethronement of the King under threat of summary punish- ment if they refused to do so. It was proposed that the people should be called upon to elect a National Con- vention to draw up a new Constitution, and in the meantime, the King should be deprived of all his powers. A new ministry was inaugurated, and now we have the spectacle of an insurrectionary municipality, composed of barely more than one-half of the Sections of Paris, forcing its demands upon the Assem- bly of the nation, and sending out its decrees to all the people. The Commune, by its show of force, dominated the Assembly. Roland was restored to the ministry and Danton was elected as one of his associates. The Commune, or Common Council of Paris as it was now called, managed everything about the city in its own way. The Commune favored the Giron- dins heretofore, but now they had lost favor, and a bitter war sprang up be- tween the Commune and the Commit- tee of Twenty-one, composed mainly of Girondins and Peuillants. This Committee practically ruled the As - sembly, and it was now a fight between these two powers. (To be continued.)

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THE REDWOOD and they decided to take matters into their own hands. The Sections, sitting at the Hotel de Ville, in chambers near the municipal government, resolved on seizing the supreme power. Their leaders, the in- surrectionary Directory, composed of Santerre, Lazouski, and other revolu- tionists, laid all the plans for the ris- ing of the tenth. Danton, one of the later leaders, was the military genius of the rising. Mandat, the commander of the Na- tional Guard, knew of this rising, and placed what few faithful troops he had, in position around the Tuilleries. The municipal government, on hearing of his dispositions, sent for him, and ask- ed him the reason of it, demanding that he remove the troops. He refus- ed, and was dismissed. As he was passing through the corridors of the Hotel de Ville, he was seized by the outposts of the Sections and dragged into their midst. Here he was disgrac- ed and his command given to San- terre. As he was leaving, a crowd of ruffians around the hotel mocked him, and ended by cruelly murdering him. Thus perished the only person on whom the King could rely for his preserva- tion. There appears an undercurrent of deceit in the conduct of Petion. He favored the insurrectionists, and at the same time tried to allay the fears of the King, regarding the Revolution. Santerre provided him with a guard to make it appear that he was not act- ing in his official capacity, and to make it seem that the Revolution was a true one. Danton, Santerre, and Camille Des- moulins assisted in the arrangements for the Tenth. At midnight the tocsin, or alarm-bell, was rung, and next morning Petion was made a prisoner at the Hotel de Ville, and then the mob proceeded to atack the Tuilleries. Meanwhile the insurrectionary Coun- cil of the Sections, demanded that the Council General of the municipality should resign. The Council General, greatly alarmed at the course events were taking, did so hurriedly. It must be remembered that the insurrection- ary Commune comprised only twenty- eight of the Sections of Paris. At the Tuilleries, the King was ad- vised to seek shelter in the hall of the Assembly. His Swiss Guards and twelve battalions of the National Guards were still on duty. When the crowd appeared, the National Guards refused to fire upon them, but the Swiss remained faithful. When the Assembly heard the firing, it immedi- ately demanded of the King that he should order them to retire. He did so, but many of the Swiss did not hear the order, being in the corridors and galleries of the palace. The National Guards took advantage of the order and escaped. The mob, enraged at the killing of some of their members, and finding all resistance gone, broke into the grounds and murdered every one that could be found, especially the

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®Ij£ mmm ffllfoto F. BUCKLEV McGURRIN WAS on Parnassus. All the Seasons sat To part tke world in four, Each one to take unto herself a land Which more than any else, would feel her hand With gentle pressure on its brow, and in its ear her voice. The first to speak was Winter, chilly-eyed In azure-golden hair, For marble brow a crown — My realm shall be That numbed land beside the Baltic sea, Where faintly howls the timber- wolf across the snowy waste. And I, said Summer, full-lipped, darksome maid, With figure half defined, My kingdom I would have that sun-kissed shore, Where reigned the Caesars : Italy, whose store Of blossoms and of purple hills the world will not surpass. Autumn, the auburn-haired, with figure full And rounded breast, desired The blue-hazed woods and restless, white-capped lakes Of ripened Canada. Her choice she takes, And now remains but one to choose — a slender creature, Spring. My heart is lost, she said with starry eyes, That loved, And I must go To where I lost it. Let me bide — no queen — Among the hills that call to me, their green With poppies starred; in California! There I lost my heart. 11