The Tuileries burnt for three days, and ten days afterwards the ruins blazed forth anew near the Pavillon de Flore.  Not only did the devouring fire threaten to destroy inestimable treasures, but on Monday a number of men carrying slow matches, and led by a man named Napias-Piquet, made all their preparations to set fire to several points of the museum of the Louvre, and two of the guardians were shot.  This Napias-Piquet threatened to make of the whole quarter of the Louvre one great conflagration.  He was taken and shot, and in his pocket was found a note of his breakfast of the preceding day, amounting to 57 francs 80 centimes.

THE LOUVRE.—­The preservation of the museum was due to the strong masonry, and the thick walls of the new portion of the building, on which the raging flames could make no impression.  But it ran other risks:  when the troops entered the building, they planted the tricolour on the clock pavilion, which served as an object for the insurgents’ aim.  It was immediately removed, however, when this was perceived.  It was generally believed that the galleries of the Louvre contained all their art treasures.  This was not the case; prior to the first siege the most precious of the contents had been carefully packed and conveyed to the arsenal of Brest, where they safely reposed, but many very admirable works remained.

MINISTRY OF FINANCE (Treasury).—­On the 22nd of May, the official journal of the Commune published a note declaring that the certificates of stock and the stock books (grand livre) would be burnt within forty-eight hours.  The Commune was annoyed at the publicity given to this note, and a violent debate took place in its council in consequence.  On this occasion Paschal Grousset uttered the following:—­

“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.”

[Illustration:  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 Ferre 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.