Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish
Sir: Events are marching apace. The election of members of the commune was proclaimed with great ceremony at the Hotel de Ville on Tuesday afternoon last. It was a great popular demonstration. All the national guards were invited to be present. At about four o’clock they commenced to arrive from every direction drums beating and flags flying. Upon a platform in front of the hotel there was placed a large square table, which was surrounded by some members of the “comité central” in citizens’ dress, and many officers of the national guard, all distinguished by a red scarf. The proceedings are opened by a display of flags, by repeated salvos of artillery, followed by great applause and cries of “Vive la commune!” “Vive la république!” &c. The Place de l’Hotel de Ville is densely packed with the national guard. At a given moment the soldiers place their caps upon the point of the bayonet and raise their muskets in the air. M. Ranvier, the president of the central committee, read to the multitude the list of members elected to the commune. Two other members of the committee then stepped forward and made brief speeches, which were received with loud cries of “Vive la commune!” The military bands placed at the foot of the balcony then struck up the Marseillaise, the Chant du Depart, and the Gèrondèus, the entire assemblage joining in the chorus. The ceremony of the proclamation of the commune having been finished, all the battalions which had been massed upon the place of the hotel defiled before the balcony to the cry of “Vive la commune!” The scene was extraordinary. More than one hundred thousand persons were present at the ceremony. All the windows of the neighboring houses were well filled with spectators, the barricades were covered with people, and the gamins perched themselves in all the trees of the avenue Victoria.
The commune having thus been proclaimed, it met for the first time on Tuesday evening in the hall of the municipality of the Hotel de Ville. In contempt of all that has been insisted on by all liberal people, and by all journals of every shade of opinion, opposed to the régime of the empire, that the sittings of all representative bodies should be public, [Page 319] or, at least, there should be a full publication of the journal of their proceedings, the meeting of the commune was in secret, and although there are rumors of great dissensions in the body, no one outside knows what actually took place. The Nouvelle République, which perhaps may be considered a semi-official organ of the commune, intimates: First. That the sittings of that body will not be public. Second. That there will not be a tribune. Third. That there will be no published report of its sittings, but only a daily publication of its decrees. To-day the government of the commune seems to be fairly installed. There is no longer any “Journal Officiel de la Française,” but it appears to-day as the “Journal Officiel dela Commune de Paris.” This journal makes the official announcement that the committee central has remitted its powers to the commune of Paris, and that organization issues an address to the inhabitants of the city. It claims, in the first instance, as I had supposed it would, that the vote of the 26th instant sanctioned the revolution of the 18th of March. It denounces the government at Versailles as criminal, and proclaims the work it is about to undertake. Already it has commenced issuing its decrees, the first of which abolishes the conscription, and declares that no military force other than the national guard shall be created or introduced into Paris; and further, that all able-bodied citizens shall be enrolled for service in that body. The second decree exempts tenants from the payment of rent for the last nine months, and, if perchance any rent has been paid during that period, it is to be applied as a credit on future payments. All leases are canceled at the will of the tenants for the period of six months from the date of the decree. Notices to quit are to be extended on demand of the tenant for a period of three months.
The journal of the commune this morning contains an announcement of the organization of the commissions of the commune, ten in number, and among them is one of foreign relations, of which the somewhat notorious Delescluze is the chairman. There is also the ominous commission of public safety, and then there are the commissions of justice, of military affairs, of finance, of subsistence, and what is termed the “commission executive.” Independent of these commissions the Paris journal states that a central sub committee, composed of twelve persons, has been formed at the Hotel de Ville. It also says that General Cluseret is a member of that committee, and that it will have jurisdiction of all accusations of treason against the republic. The article published in the Journal Officiel, the organ of the committee central, on Tuesday last, recommending all persons to murder the Duke d’Aumale and other princes, merely because they belong to families connected with royalty, did not seem to excite any great degree of horror, as people are beginning to look upon all these incitations to violence and to murder as matters incident to the present state of things here.
The commune may be said to be complete masters in Paris to-day, as there is no force to oppose them. The barricades are beginning slowly to disappear. The insurgents are getting possession of all the public places and public institutions. The general post-office of Paris has at last fallen, and a member of the commune has taken possession of the direction of that bureau. The result will probably be that the government at Versailles will not permit mails to come into Paris. I shall not intrust anything more of importance to the post-office here. I am sorry to say I cannot see any improvement in the situation. Matters must grow worse from day to day. A placard has already been put up in the quarter of Montmartre informing the public that certain commissioners have been named to receive the denunciations of citizens suspected to [Page 320] be in complicity with the government at Versailles. This is probably the commencement of that system of denunciation which will soon fill the prisons of Paris. Mr. McKean was at the prefecture yesterday, and found an enormous crowd of well-dressed persons there, all of whom were looking for friends who had been arrested and spirited away.
Colonel Hoffman was at Versailles yesterday, and I shall go out there to-morrow.
I have, &c.,