VII. (Page 229.)
“And now he thinks: ‘The Empire is tottering,
There’s little chance of victory.’
Then, creeping furtively backwards, he tries to slink away.
Remain, renegade, in the building!
“‘The ceiling falls,’ you say! ‘if they see me
They will seize and stop me as I go,’
Daring neither to rest nor fly, you miserably watch the roof
And then the door,
“And shiveringly you put your hand upon the bolt.
Back into the dismal ranks!
Back! Justice, whom they have thrust into a pit,
Is there in the darkness.
“Back! She is there, her sides bleeding from their knives,
Prostrate; and on her grave
They have placed a slab. The skirt of your cloak
Is caught beneath the stone.
“Thou shalt not go! What! Quit their house!
And fly from their fate!
What! Would you betray even treachery itself,
And make even it indignant?
“What! Did you not hold the ladder to these tricksters
In open daylight?
Say, was the sack for these robbers’ booty
Not made by you beforehand?
“Falsehood, Hate, with its cold and venomous fang,
Crouch in this den.
And thou wouldst leave it! Thou! more cunning than Falsehood,
More viperous than Hate.”
VIII. (Page 231.)
JOURDE.
Jourde certainly occupied one of the most difficult offices of the Commune, for he had to find the means to maintain the situation, but as the Ministry of Finances is burnt, no documents can be found to show the employment he made of the funds which passed through his hands. On the 30th of May, when he was arrested, disguised as an artizan, with his friend Dubois, he had about him a sum of 8070 francs in bank notes, and Dubois 3100 francs; making a total sum of 11,170 francs between the two. A part of Jourde’s cash was hidden in the lining of his waistcoat; he declared that it was the only sum taken by him out of the moneys belonging to the state, thus clearly proving that he had been guilty of embezzlement.
The amounts declared to have been received by Jourde form a total of 43,891,000 francs, but as the expenses amount to 47,000,000 francs, it is clear there is a deficiency of 3,309,000. Notwithstanding this fact, all the payments were made up to the 29th of May. It is, then, certain that other moneys were received by Jourde, and as he says that cash has been refused from some unknown persons who offered to lend 50,000,000 francs on the guarantee of the picture gallery of the Louvre, the suggestion comes naturally to the mind that the 3,309,000 francs may have been produced by the sale of valuables in the Tuileries. Jourde was sentenced by the tribunal of Versailles to transportation beyond the seas.