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The building of the Hotel-de-Ville, such as we now see it, swept away a whole section of the city. In 1830, passers along the street could still see the turnstile painted on the sign of a wine-merchant, but even that house, its last asylum, has been demolished. Alas! old Paris is disappearing with frightful rapidity.
It was Félix Pyat, it was said, who laid a train of gunpowder to blow up the Invalides, while another member of the Commune served out explosives. On the night of May 24, the Hôtel-de-Ville was in flames. The smoke, at times a deep red, enveloped everything; the air was laden with the nauseous odors of petroleum.
We now arrive at the Hôtel-de-Ville, Place de Grève; the first stone of this interesting and venerable pile was laid in 1533, but was not completely finished until 1606, in the reign of Henry IV. The style of architecture is that which the French call La Renaissance des Arts, it is rich, rather heavy, and has an antique appearance; it is exactly according to the taste which prevailed in the 16th century, and was brought into vogue by Italian architects.
We did not go at that moment to the Hotel-de-Ville, whither a large part of the crowd betook itself by way of the quays, and where the Republic was again proclaimed; but returned to the Place de la Concorde, where some thousands of people still remained. Everybody was looking very animated and very pleased.
The five men thus nominated and chosen to be rulers of France were Lamartine, Crémieux, Ledru-Rollin, Garnier-Pagès, and Arago. Meantime in the Hôtel-de-Ville the mob had set up another provisional government under Socialistic leaders, and the first thing the more genuine provisional government had to do was to get rid of the others.
General Douai has taken the Church of the Trinity, and is marching upon the Mairie in the Rue Drouot. "Generals Cissey and Vinoy are advancing towards the Hôtel-de-Ville and the Tuileries. MAY 24th. "The Generals, desiring to treat the city with lenity, withheld any attack upon public monuments in which the insurgents had taken up positions. This morning they carried the Place de la Concorde.
On March 17, about three weeks after the departure of the king, a great Socialist demonstration was made in Paris. Large columns of men marched to the Hôtel-de-Ville, singing the old revolutionary chant of "Ça ira."
So soon as you have arranged everything for their landing, hasten to the Parliament and to the Hôtel-de-Ville; there explain all that has passed, and say that on my arrival in the capital I will communicate my reasons for what I have done, of which the justice will be at once apparent."
The extremest men were chosen in every quarter of the city, and formed what was called the Council of the Commune. It held its sittings in the Hôtel-de-Ville, and consisted at first of eighty members, seventy of whom had never been heard of in Paris before. Its numbers dwindled rapidly, from various causes, especially in the latter days of the Commune.
Indeed, it was hard for peaceful citizens to know under whom they were to range themselves. The Government had left the city. One or two of its members were still in Paris, but the rest had rushed off to Versailles, protected by an army forty thousand strong, under General Vinoy. A species of Government had, however, formed itself by the morning of March 19 at the Hôtel-de-Ville.
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