The following is the way in which the fires were prepared:—In some instances a number of men, acting as avant-courriers, went first, telling the inhabitants that the Quarter was about to be delivered to the flames, and urging them to fly for their lives; in other oases, the unfortunate people were told that the whole city would be burnt, and that they might as well meet death where they were as run to seek it elsewhere. In some places—in the Rue de Vaugirard, for instance—it is asserted that sentinels were placed in the streets and ordered to fire upon everyone who attempted to escape. One incendiary, who was arrested in the Rue de Poitiers, declared that he received ten francs for each house which he set on fire. Another system consisted in throwing through the cellar doors or traps tin cans or bottles filled with petroleum, phosphorus, nitro-glycerine, or other combustibles, with a long sulphur match attached to the neck of the vessel, the match being lighted at the moment of throwing the explosives into the cellar. Finally, the batteries at Belleville and the cemetery of Père la Chaise sent destruction into many quarters by means of petroleum shells.
Eudes, a general of the Commune, sent the following order to one of his officers:—
“Fire on the Bourse, the Bank, the Post Office, the Place des Victoires, the Place Vendôme, the Garden of the Tuileries, the Babylone Barracks; leave the Hôtel de Ville to Commandant Pindy and the Delegate of War, and the Committee of Public Safety and of the Commune will assemble at the mairie of the eleventh Arrondissement, where you are established; there we will organize the defence of the popular quarters of the city. We will send you cannon and ammunitions from the Parc Basfroi. We will hold out to the last, happen what may.
“(Signed) E. EUDES.”
The insurgents had collected a considerable quantity of powder in the Pantheon, and when the Versailles troops obtained possession of the building the officer in command at once searched for the slow match, and cut it off when it had not more than a yard to burn!
Instructions were given to the firemen not to extinguish the fires, but to retire to the Champ de Mars with the pumps and other apparatus. Whenever a man attempted to do anything to arrest the conflagration he was fired at. The firemen, who had arrived from all parts, even from Belgium, and honest citizens who joined them, worked to extinguish the fires amid showers of bullets. At the Treasury the labours of these men were four times interrupted by the violent cannonading of the insurgents.
The fire broke out at the TUILERIES on Tuesday evening. When the battalions at the Arc de Triomphe and at the Corps Législatif had silenced the guns ranged before the Palace, the insurgents set fire to it, and threw out men en tirailleur to prevent anyone from approaching to subdue the flames.
At the same moment an attempt was made to set fire to the MINISTRY OF MARINE, in obedience to an order given to Commandant Brunel, which was thus worded:—“In a quarter of an hour the Tuileries will be in flames; as soon as our wounded are removed, you will cause the explosion of the Ministry.” It was Admiral Pothuau, the minister himself, who, at the head of a handful of sailors, set the incendiaries to flight, Brunel along with them. They also arrived in time to prevent any damage being done to the BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE.
The struggle was terrific during the night; the insurgents, who had sought refuge in the Ministry of Finance, after the taking of the barricade in the Rue Saint-Florentin, increased the fury of the flames by firing from the windows, and discharging jets of petroleum at the soldiers.
On Wednesday morning the battle had become fearful. Towards ten o’clock columns of smoke rose above Paris, forming a thick cloud, which the sun’s rays could not penetrate. Then, simultaneously, all the fires burst forth: at the CONSEIL D’ETAT, at the LEGION OF HONOUR, at the CAISSE DES DÉPÔTS ET CONSIGNATIONS. at the HÔTEL DE VILLE, at the PALAIS ROYAL, at the MINISTRY OF FINANCE, at the PREFECTURE DE POLICE, at the PALAIS DE JUSTICE, at the THÉÂTRE LYRIQUE, in the Rue du Bac, the Rue de Lille, the Rue de la Croix-Rouge, Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, in a great number of houses in the Faubourgs Saint-Germain and Saint-Honoré, in the Rue Royale, and in the Rue Boissy d’Anglas. Not many hours later, flames were seen to arise from the Avenue Victoria, Boulevard Sébastopol, Rue Saint-Martin, at the Château d’Eau, in the Rue Saint-Antoine, and the Rue de Rivoli.