[233] "General Enterprise of Parisian Sweeping.—The repression must equal the crime. These are the means by which this result will be arrived at. The members of the Commune, the chiefs of the insurrection, the members of the committees, courts-martial and revolutionary tribunals, the foreign generals and officers, the deserters, the assassins of Montmartre, La Roquette, and Mazas, the pétroleurs and the petroleuses, the ticket-of-leave men, are to be shot. Martial law must be applied in all its rigour to the journalists who have placed the torch and the chassepot in the hands of fanatic imbeciles. A part of these measures have already been put into practice. Our soldiers have simplified the work of the courts-martial of Versailles by shooting on the spot; but it must not be overlooked that a great many culprits have escaped chastisement."—Le Figaro of the 8th June.
[234] Report of the General Appert, table i. pp. 215, 262.
[235] Report of the Captain Guichard, Enquête sur le 18 Mars, vol. iii. p. 313.
[236] The Journal des Débats estimated that "the losses by the party of the insurrection in dead and prisoners reached the figure of 100,000 individuals."
[237] In the Figaro of the 8th June—the same number which contained the plan of massacre—might be read, "We have received the following letter from M. Louis Blanc:—
"'To Monsieur Philippe Gille.
"'Sir,—I read in an article signed by you that the honest Republican party has the right to expect a protestation from me against the abominations of which Paris has been the theatre and the victim. This observation surprises me.
"'What honest man could, without lacking self-respect, believe himself obliged to warn the public that incendiarism, pillage, and assassination horrify him? I esteem myself enough to judge that, on my part, a declaration is perfectly useless.
"'When, too, public indignation is so legitimate and so great, are you aware, sir, that in the tribunals the silence of the assistants is obligatory; so true is it that the duty of everybody is to remain silent when the judge is about to speak. Receive, sir, the assurance of my regard.
"'Louis Blanc.'"