“I blame those who inserted the note in question, but I demand that measures may be taken for the destruction of all such documents belonging to those at Versailles, the day that they shall enter Paris.”
Court of the Louvre, from Place Du Carrousel
The Library is completely destroyed. More than 90,000 volumes are burnt. Rare editions, Elzevirs, precious MSS., coins, and unique collections, priceless treasures, are irrevocably lost.
The building forms one of the most striking ruins in Paris. Citizen Lucas, appointed by Ferré to set the Ministry on fire, did his task well. The conflagration, which lasted several days, began in the night of the 23rd of May. Not only was every part soaked with petroleum, but shells had also been placed about the building, and burst successively as the fire extended. Scarcely anything remains of the huge pile but the offices of the Administration of Forest Lands, which are almost intact. A considerable number of valuable documents were saved, but the quantity was very small in comparison with the immense collection accumulated since the beginning of the century. Four times was the work of salvage interrupted by the insurgents. Not a single book in the library has escaped; and this library contained almost the whole of the enormous correspondence of Colbert, the minister, forming no less than two thousand volumes.
Palais Royal.
The PALAIS ROYAL.—The palace itself alone is destroyed; the galleries of the THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS are preserved. The Constitutionnel published the following account of the conflagration;—