Barricades have been erected once more in Paris. The Govern-
ment decided on Monday to arrest M. Rochefort, and on Monday lie was seized as he was entering a public meeting in Belleville. He submitted quietly, and recommended his followers to abstain from violence ; but his sub-editor, M. Gustave Floureus, a person of some scientific repute, much wealth, and extreme opinions, called on the crowd to rescue him, fired a pistol, arrested the com- missary, and declared himself " in permanent insurrection." His followers fled before the mounted police, but all Tuesday the state of Paris was most alarming, groups of workmen building barricades of omnibuses, cabs, and such like, and in one instance at least defending them. The troops were confined to their barracks, and the work of repression was confided to the police and the Garde de Paris, who are accused of excessive severity. No muskets were used, but the barricades were carried at the sword's point ; all crowds were dispersed, and all who resisted either beaten or, according to the Gaulois, run through by the long swords of the Garde. On Friday all seems to have been quiet ; but the incessant collisions with the police and their severity have not soothed the real workmen, who as yet have not taken much part in the rioting. Note, as curious facts, that there has been no riot anywhere but in the suburbs, where the Government must win ; that the old centres of danger, the Tuileries, the Legislative Hall, and the Hotel de Ville have not been menaced, and that no crowd has yet exceeded two or three thousand strong.
Previous page
