The Paris Commune. By W. P. Fetridge. (New York :
Harper.)— Mr. Fetridge was in Paris from March 6 till after the capture of the city by the Versailles troops, and occupied himself in collecting facts diligently. Facts were very hard to get at, or rather to distinguish from non-facts, during the siege, Frenchmen of all classes and characters having a perfect genius for inventing. Much after correction has there- fore been necessary, and has apparently been given by the anther. If he had sorted his first mass of information a little more, and given us a third instead of the whole, it would have been bettor. Among many strange things, nothing is stranger than the details of the extraordinary vacillation which allowed the insurrection first to gain power. We read, for instance, that when the horses were attached to the cannon at Montmartre, "men, women, and children caught hold of the bridles of the horses, and the artillerymen, not wishing to run over them, desisted in their attempt to make a passage." They begin in Paris by being so very chary about hurting anybody, and end by being so reckless. The engravings after photographs of French celebrities and of members of the Commune are the best thing in the book. It is interesting to read that when Rochefort was arrested, Madame Tussand [ Mr. Fetridge must mean the firm of Tassaud, for the venerable lady he mentions has ceased to live], hearing of his arrest, sent an agent immediately to Versailles, and made a very liberal offer to the Government for his clothes."
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