“It was at three o’clock that this fearful fire burst forth. A shopkeeper of the PALAIS ROYAL, M. Emile Le Saché, came forward in all haste to offer his services. A Communist captain, or lieutenant, threatened to fire on him if he did not retire on the instant; he added that the whole quarter was going to be blown up and burned. In the teeth of this threat, however, two fire-engines were brought to the Place, and were worked by the people of the neighbourhood. It was four o’clock. No water in the Cour des Fontaines. But some was procured by a line of people being placed along the passage leading from the Cour d’Honneur, who passed full buckets of water from hand to hand.
“A ladder was placed against the wall for the purpose of reaching the terrace of the Rue de Valois. The insurgents proved so true to their word that the people were forced to renounce the attempt at saving the entire pavilion. Fire and smoke burst forth from three windows just above the terrace. In the midst of the balls showered from the barricade at the corner of the Rue de Rivoli, they succeeded in extinguishing the fire on that side. At five o’clock M. O. Sauve, captain in the commercial service, with a handful of brave workmen, got a fire engine into the Cour d’Honneur, and thus saved a great quantity of pictures, precious marbles, furniture, hangings, etc. Here another line of people was formed for the carrying of buckets, but unfortunately water ran short: the pipes had been cut, the wretches had planned that the destruction should be complete. At seven o’clock M. Bessignet, jun., hastened there with four Paris firemen, but already the Pavilion, where the flames were first apparent, was entirely consumed.
“On the arrival of the firemen they used every effort to prevent the fire communicating itself to the apartments of the Princess Clothilde; it had already reached the façade on the side of the Place. Here, too, all the fittings and ornaments of the chapel were saved.
At last, at seven o’clock, the soldiers of the line arrive. ‘Long live the line!’ is shouted on all sides. ‘Long live France!’ Signals are made with the ambulance flags. Help is come at last!
“Those present now regard their position with more coolness, and use every effort to combat the fire, pumping from the roofs and upper storeys of the neighbouring houses. The fire continues, however, increasing and spreading on the theatre side. Here is the greatest danger. If the theatre catch light, all the quarter will most probably be destroyed. They then determine to avail themselves of the water appliances of the theatre to stay the progress of the flames. This is. rendered more difficult and dangerous by the continuous firing from the Communists installed in the upper story of the Hôtel du Louvre. M. Le Sache mounts on the roofs, with the principal engineer, to conduct this movement. They are compelled to hide out of the way of the shower of balls coming from the Communists.
“At ten o’clock the companies from the quarter of the Banque, the 12th battalion of National Guards, arrive. The Federals are put to flight. Thereupon thirty sapeurs-pompiers of Paris came at full speed and succeed in mastering the remaining fire. An hour sooner and all could have been saved.”
Hôtel de Ville.
THE HOTEL DE VILLE.—The Hôtel de Ville was set on fire by order of the Committee of Public Safety at the moment when the entry of the troops caused them to fly to the Ecole des Chartes, which was thus saved, and whence they fled to the Mairie of Belleville. Five battalions of National Guards—the 57th, 156th, 178th, 184th, and the 187th—remained to prevent any attempt being made to extinguish the fire. Petroleum had been poured about the Salle du Trône, and the Salle du Zodiaque, which were decorated by Jean Goujon and Cogniet; in the Galerie de Pierre, in which were paintings by Lecomte, Baudin, Desgoffes, Hédouin, and Bellel; in the Salon des Arcades, in the Salon Napoléon, in the Galerie des Fêtes, and in the Salon de la Paix, which contained works of Schopin, Picot, Vanchelet, Jadin, Girard, Ingres, Delacroix, Landelle, Riesener, Lehmann, Gosse, Benouville and Cabanel. It is not only as a fine specimen of architecture that the Hôtel de Ville is to be regretted, but as the cradle of the municipal and revolutionary history of Paris, as well as for the vast collection of archives of the city, duplicates of which were at the same moment a prey to the flames at the Palais de Justice.
Foreign Office.
THE PREFECTURE OF POLICE was set fire to by the Communal delegate Ferré and a band of drunken National Guards.
THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE, thanks to the prompt arrival of the soldiers, has been partially spared. The damage done, however, is very great. In the SALLE DES PAS-PERDUS several of the grand arches that support the roof have fallen in, and many of the columns are lying in ruins on the pavement. The Cour de Cassation and the Cour d’Assises are entirely destroyed. The conflagration was stopped, when it reached the Cour d’Appel and the Tribunal de Première Instance.