FAIR PLAY FOR THE COMMUNISTS.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR")
SIR,—In the midst of a brief snatch of holiday, beneath a perfect sky, in front of a perfect sea, I am haunted by the thought of the butcheries carried on in Paris in the name of Order and Religion and Property, and of the pledge given by Lord Enfield, amidst the cheers of the House:of Commons, that the Communists would not be considered as ordinary political refugees. God forbid that I should palliate the murder of the hostages, though it should never be forgotten that it only took place on that dread Wednesday when the Versailles troops ceased to give quarter to their prisoners. Of.-the original seizure of the hostages indeed—the clerical ones, at all events— Talleyrand would have said that it was more than a crime,—it was a fault. Rome may make use of the civil power to avenge the martyrdom of its clerics ; it never interferes to prevent it. Every fresh martyr is clear gain to it in spiritual power. Best of all is it when a doubtful living friend can be turned into such a martyr. I do not wish to be un- charitable, but I feel certain that a thrill of joy filled and will fill tens of thousands of Romanist hearts when theylearned or shall learn that the Archbishop of Paris, the presumptuous opponent of infallibility at the Council, has washed out that sin with his blood. How deserted by his co-religionists was the Archbishop during his captivity, Eng- lish observers have borne witness ; nor have we heard of any one serious effort made on behalf of those in power to rescue him from his fate. Those who sentenced him to death simply did Rome's work. Stricken with judicial blindness, they added folly to their crime.
I do not ask, I say distinctly, for immunity towards any who took part in or made themselves responsible for the slaughter of in- nocent victims,—nay, not for one who can be proved to have joined in any act of incendiarism involving the loss of innocent life. But from this to refusing the right of asylum to the so-called Communists as such there is the widest difference ; and deeply do I regret that England should not have anticipated the noble example set to it by the Swiss Government, in declaring that each individual case should be inquired into on its merits, and those refugees only should be delivered up who should be involved in a charge of ordinary crime. Say what we may, the Commune has been during nearly a quarter of a year a de facto government. During nearly the whole of that time, it fulfilled all the ordinary duties of a government in time of war, affording both to persons and property, as a rule, strict and efficient protection, so that never was the city freer from ordinary crime, whilst to foreigners in particular, the most singular latitude of action and speech—witness the letters of English newspaper correspond- 't—was allowed. (It is only since the restoration of " Order " that foreigners' lives have begun to be again in. danger.) Moreover, let it not be forgotten that twenty of its: members resigned before its real reign of terror began. Are those twenty to be held accountable for the very excesses in which they
refused to participate? Is M. Beslay, for instance, the so-called, Patriarch of the Commune, a man full of years, of experience,.
respected by all, who threw up his office as financial de- legate because the Bank of France had been broken into, to- be treated as an assassin ? Or take the instance of one of - two brothers, the only men connected with the Commune with whom I am personally acquainted,—M. Elie Reclus, who was. appointed to the charge of the National Library. Among all the- French gentlemen I know I find it difficult to think of one more- thoroughly a gentleman than M. Elie Reclus,—one more courte- ous in his manners, more high-toned in purpose, more mild in feeling. He has spent his life in labours for the benefit of the working-classes. I never knew a Frenchman more devoid of national vanity or national selfishness. More fortunate than he, his better known brother, Elisee, whose name will be fouudi attached in the pages of the Deux Mondes to many most valuable- and interesting articles, was taken a prisoner at the commence- ment of the siege, while quarter was still shown by Versailles.. Is M. Elie to rank as a criminal because he did not fall at the- proper time into the hands of his enemies?
But there is an additional reason why England should carefully abstain from mixing herself up with the Versailles work of exter- mination. The words attributed to Prince Bismarck in a conver- sation with Mr. Washbarne :—" Let the Commune go on, and all the revolutionists of the world will make their rendezvous there.. When the assembly will be complete, the trap will be shut, and very fortunate will be those who escape," seem to me to be- authenticated by the facts,—aye, and to light them up with a- more lurid glare than even that of the flames of the Tuileries. Up. to a certain time the Prussians did allow everybody to enter Paris, declaring that the doings of the Commune were no affair of theirs._ At a certain moment they prevented every one from escaping,—the- trap was shut. The long delays of M. niers are explained in like- manner. It is idle—the event shows it—to attribute them to any spirit of moderation, to any merciful consideration for the capital._ Throughout them all, be it remembered, not one attempt at con- ciliation was listened to, still less set on foot. Coldly and deliberately, as I firmly believe, hostages, the helpless, the friends. of the Government were left to the Commune to wreak its will on.. They were the bait, and the trap was left to fill.
Let England have nothing to do with the dark and bloody deeds of these restorers of order on the Continent. Let her shores, be free to every refugee, call himself what he may,—Bonapartiat, Republican, Legitimist, Orleanist, Communist, — who is not personally involved in crime. The most dreadful punishment that can possibly be inflicted on all Communists who are not criminals- will be the recollection of the horrors committed and the horrors. provoked at the last, by those who shared with them the name.— I am, Sir, &c.,
[Our correspondent is, as we believe, quite mistaken in his fact.- We have explained the position really taken by the British. Government in the "News of the Week."—En. Spectator.]
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