Since the 1st April, scenting the coming storm and professing the same horror for blows as Panurge, Félix Pyat had attempted to leave Paris, sent in his resignation as member of the Executive Commission to the Council, and declared his presence at Versailles indispensable. The Versaillese hussars making the sortie too perilous, he had condescended to stay, but at the same time assuming two masks, one for the Hôtel-de-Ville, the other for the public. In the Council, at the secret sittings, he urged violent measures with the vivacity of a wild cat; in the Vengeur he held forth pontifically, shaking his grey hairs, saying, "To the ballot-box, not to Versailles!" In his own paper he had two faces. Did he want the suppression of the journals, he signed "Le Vengeur;" did he want to cajole, he signed Félix Pyat. The defeat of Asnières struck him again with fear, and anew he looked out for a loophole. The resignation of Rogeard opened it. Under the shelter of this pure name Félix Pyat slipped in his resignation. "The Commune has violated the law," wrote he. "I do not want to be an accomplice." And, to debar himself from any return to the Council he involved the dignity of the latter. If, said he, it persisted, he would be forced, to his great regret, to send in his resignation "before the victory."
He had counted on stealing away as from the Assembly of Bordeaux; but his roguery disgusted the Council. The Vengeur had just blamed the suppression of several reactionary papers demanded many and many a time by Félix Pyat. Vermorel denounced this duplicity. One member: "It has been said here that resignations would be considered as treason." Another: "A man must not leave his post when that post is one of peril and of honour." A third formally demanded the arrest of Félix Pyat. "I regret," said another, "that it has not been distinctly laid down that resignation can only be tendered to the electors themselves." And Delescluze added, "Nobody has the right to withdraw for personal rancour or because some measure does not chime in with his ideal. Do you then believe that every one approves what is done here? Yes; there are members who have remained, and who will remain till the end, notwithstanding the insults hurled at us. For myself, I am decided to remain at my post, and if we do not see victory, we shall not be the last to fall on the ramparts or on the steps of the Hôtel-de-Ville."
These manly words were received with prolonged cheers. No one's devotion was more meritorious. The habits of Delescluze, grave and laborious, his high aspirations, alienated him more than any other from many of his colleagues, light-headed idlers, prone to personal bickerings. One day, weary of this chaos, he wanted to resign. It sufficed to tell him that his withdrawal would be very prejudicial to the cause of the people to persuade him to remain, and await, not victory—as well as Félix Pyat he knew that impossible—but the death that fecundates the future.
Félix Pyat, so lashed from all sides, not daring to snap at Delescluze, turned round upon Vermorel, whom for all argument he called "spy;" and as Vermorel was a member of the Commission of Public Safety, accused him in the Vengeur of putting out of the way evidence accumulated against him at the prefecture of police. This member of the leporide species called Vermorel "bombic." Such was his mode of discussion. Under the veil of literary refinement lurked the amenities of Billingsgate. In 1848, in the Constituante, he called Proudhon "swine;" and in 1871, in the Commune, he called Tridon "dunghill." He was the only member of this Assembly, where there were workmen of rude professions, who introduced ribaldry into the discussions.
Vermorel, replying in the Cri du Peuple, easily floored him. The electors of Félix Pyat sent him three summations to remain at his post: "You are a soldier; you must stay in the breach. It is we alone who have the right to revoke you." Ferreted out by his mandatories, threatened with arrest by the Council, this Greek chose the lesser danger, and re-entered the Hôtel-de-Ville in mincing attitude.
Versailles was jubilant at these miserable triflings. For the first time the public became acquainted with the interior of the Council, its infinitesimal coteries, made up of purely personal friendships or antipathies. Whoever belonged to such a group got thorough support, whatever his blunders. Far more; in order to be allowed to serve the Commune, it was necessary to belong to such a confraternity. Many sincerely devoted men offered themselves, tried democrats, intelligent employés, deserters from the Government, even Republican officers. They were overweeningly met by some incapable upstarts of yesterday, whose devotion was not to outlast the 20th May. And yet the insufficiency of the personnel and the want of talent each day became more overwhelming. The members of the Council complained that nothing was getting on. The Executive Commission did not know how to command, nor its subordinate how to obey; the Council devolved power and retained it at the same time, interfered every moment with the slightest details of the service; conducted the government, the administration, and the defence like the sortie of the 3rd April.
FOOTNOTES:
[122] Seventy-three communes have more than 20,000 inhabitants; 108 have from 10,000 to 20,000; 309 from 5000 to 10,000; 249 from 4000 to 5000; and 581 from 3000 to 4000. There are then only 1320 communes having more than 3000 inhabitants, 800 at most that possess any political life.
[123] Vesinier, Cluseret, Pillot, Andrieu (1st arrondissement, Louvre); Pothier, Serraillier, J. Durand, Johannard (2nd, Bourse); Courbet, Rogeard (6th, Luxembourg); Sicard (7th, Palais-Bourbon); Briosne (9th, Opéra); Philippe, Lonclas (12th, Reuilly); Longuet (16th, Passy); Dupont (17th, Batignolles); Cluseret, Arnold (18th, Montmartre); Menotti Garibaldi (19th, Buttes-Chaumont); Viard, Trinquet (20th Ménilmontant).