FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90  
91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   >>   >|  
ef of Legion. (Italian.) Pugno, Music-manager at the Opera-house. (Italian.) Romanelli, Manager of the War Offices. (Italian.) Rozyski, Surgeon of the 144th Battalion. (Pole.) Rubinowicz, Surgeon of the Marines. (Pole.) Syneck, Surgeon of the 151st Battalion. (German.) Skalski, Surgeon of the 240th Battalion. (Pole.) Soteriade, Surgeon. (Spaniard.) Thaller, Under Governor of the Fort de Bicetre. (German.) Van Ostal, Commandant of the 115th Battalion. (Dutch.) Vetzel, Commandant of the Southern Forts. (German.) Wroblewski, General Commandant of the Southern Army. (Pole.) Witton, Surgeon of the 72nd Battalion. (American.) Zengerler, Surgeon of the 74th Battalion, (German.)] [Footnote 24: The Prussians and the Commune, see Appendix 3.] XX. Who can help being carried away by the enthusiasm of a crowd? I am not a political man, I am only an observer who sees, hears, and feels. I was on the Place de l'Hotel de Ville at the moment when the names of the successful candidates were proclaimed, and the emotion is still fresh upon me.[25] There were perhaps a hundred thousand men there, assembled from all quarters of the city. The neighbouring streets were also full, and the bayonets glittering in the sun filled the Place with brilliant flashes like miniature lightning. In the centre of the facade of the building a platform was erected, over which presided a statue of the Republic, wearing a Phrygian cap. The bronze basso-relievo of Henry IV. had been carefully hidden with clusters of flags. Each window was alive with faces. I saw several women on the roof, and the _gamins_ were everywhere, hanging on to the sculptured ornaments, or riding fearlessly on the shoulders of the marble busts. One by one the battalions had taken up their position on the Place with their bands. When they were all assembled they struck up the Marseillaise, which was re-echoed by a thousand voices. It was grand in the extreme, and the magnificent hymn, which late defeats had shorn of its glory, swelled forth again with all its old splendour revived. Suddenly the cannon is heard, the voices rise louder and louder; a sea of standards, bayonets, and human heads waves backwards and forwards in front of the platform. The cannon roars, but we only hear it between the intervals of the hymn. Then all the sounds are confounded in one universal shout, that shout of the vast
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90  
91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Surgeon

 

Battalion

 
German
 
Commandant
 

Italian

 

Southern

 

thousand

 

cannon

 

voices

 

louder


bayonets
 

assembled

 

platform

 

gamins

 
fearlessly
 
riding
 

sculptured

 

erected

 

ornaments

 

building


hanging

 

Republic

 

statue

 

wearing

 

bronze

 

relievo

 

carefully

 

shoulders

 

Phrygian

 

presided


window

 
hidden
 

clusters

 

backwards

 

forwards

 

standards

 

confounded

 

universal

 

sounds

 

intervals


Suddenly

 

revived

 

struck

 

facade

 

Marseillaise

 

echoed

 

position

 
battalions
 

swelled

 

splendour