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 assured 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 assured 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 assume, and the Commune cannot
endure _cures_ and secondly, while Colle, in assuring 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 tw