the most ridiculous stories, the falsity of which was evident to the plainest common sense, and which could not escape the intelligence of M. Rochefort, were published in his journal, and kept up the popular excitement (12th, 15th, 19th, 26th, 27th, and 28th of April; 6th and 7th of May).  It was in this manner that the pretended Pontifical Zouaves were brought upon the scene, with emblazoned banners, which were seized by the soldiers of the Commune (18th and 19th of April, 8th and 10th of May); that the Government of Versailles was furnished with war material given by, or purchased from the Prussians (27th and 28th of April, 6th and 17th of May); that it was again accused of making use of explosive bullets (18th and 19th of May), and of petroleum bombs (20th of April, and 2nd, 5th, 17th, and 19th of May); and that the best-known and most respected generals had been guilty of the grossest acts of cruelty and barbarity.  Incitement to civil war (2nd and 26th of April and 14th and 24th of May) followed, as did also the oft-repeated accusation against the Government of wishing to reduce Paris by famine; indescribable calumnies directed against the Chief of the Executive Power (2nd, 16th, 20th, and 30th of April, and 8th of May), against the minister, the Chambers (16th of April and 14th of May), and the generals (12th, 16th, and 26th of April).  The director of the Mot d’Ordre then finding that men’s minds were prepared for all kinds of excesses, started the idea of the demolition of M. Thiers’s house by way of reprisal (6th of April); he mentioned the artistic wealth which it contained.  He also referred to the dwellings of other ministers.  He returned persistently to this idea, and on the 17th of May he invited the people, in the name of justice, to burn off-hand that other humiliating monument which is styled the History of the Consulate and of the Empire—­in short, he insists on the execution of these acts of Vandalism.  He did not call for the destruction of the Column Vendome, but approved of the decree.  He demands the destruction of the Expiatory Chapel of Louis XVI. (20th of April), and suggests the seizure of the crown jewels, which were in the possession of the bank (14th of April).  In short, M. Rochefort, having entered upon a road which must naturally lead to extremes, finally arrives at a proposition for assassination.  In the same way as he pointed out to the demolishers the house of M. Thiers, and to the bandits released by the Commune the treasures of the Church, so he points out to the assassins the unfortunate hostages.

A few days before the end of the reign of the Commune he judged it prudent, “seeing the gravity of events,” to suspend the publication of his journal and to quit Paris.

He was arrested at Meaux.  It was the “Meaux de la fin,"[113] said a friend and fellow-writer.