tachments
sent by neighboring sections, is entrenched in the Palais-Royal, and
Henriot, spreading the report that the rich sections of the center have
displayed the white cockade, send against it the sans-culottes of the
faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marceau; cannon are pointed on both
sides.--These loaded cannon must not be discharged; the signal of
civil war must not be given; it is simply necessary "to forestall
the consequences of a movement which could be only disastrous to
liberty,"[34147] and it is important to ensure public order. The
majority, accordingly, think that it is acting courageously in refusing
to the Commune the arrest of the Twenty-two, and of the Ministers,
Lebrun and Claviere; in exchange for this it consents to suppress its
commission of Twelve; it confirms the act of the Commune which allows
forty sous a day to the workmen under arms; it declares freedom of entry
into its tribunes, and, thanking all the sections, those who defended
as well as those who attacked it, it maintains the National Guard on
permanent call, announces a general federation for the 10th of August
following, and goes off to fraternize with the battalions in the
PalaisRoyal, in battle array against each other through the calumnies
of the Commune, and which, set right at the last moment, now embrace
instead of cutting each other's throats.

This time, again, the advantage is on the side of the Commune. Not only
have many of its requirements been converted into decrees, but again,
its revolutionary baptism remains in full force; its executive committee
is tacitly recognized, the new government performs its functions, its
usurpations are endorsed, its general, Henriot, keeps command of the
entire armed force, and all its dictatorial measures are carried out
without let or hindrance.--There is another reason why they should
be maintained and aggravated. "Your victory is only half-won," writes
Hebert in his Pere Duchesne, "all those bastards of intriguers still
live!"--On the evening of the 31st of May the Commune issues warrants of
arrest against the ministers Claviere and Lebrun, and against Roland and
his wife. That same evening and throughout the following day and
night, and again the day after, the Committees of Supervision of
the forty-eight sections, according to instructions from the
Hotel-de-ville[34148] study the lists of their quarters,[34149] add
new names to these, and send commissaries to disarm and arrest the
s