union of the July monarchy with the bourgeoisie. On the steps of the
building Louis Blanc proclaimed the Republic, February 24,1848. From
September 4, 1870, to February 28, 1871, the hotel was the seat of the
"government of the national defense," and from March 19 to May 22, 1871,
that of the pretended "Committee of public safety" of the Communists. On
May 24 it was burned by its savage defenders, many of whom happily
perished in the flames.

The Place de l'Hotel de Ville is so modernized that it retains nothing of
the Place de Greve but its terrible historic associations. Among the many
fearful executions here, it is only necessary to recall that of Jean
Hardi, torn to pieces by four horses (March 30, 1473) on an accusation of
trying to poison Louis XI.; that of the Comte de St. Pol (December 19,
1475), long commemorated by a pillar; those of a long list of Protestants,
opened by the auto-de-fe of Jacques de Povanes, student of the University,
in 1525; that of Nicholas de Salcede, Sieur d'Auvillers, torn to pieces by
four horses in the presence of the king and queens, for conspiracy to
murder the Duc d'Anjou, youngest son of Catherine de Medici. More terrible
still was the execution of Ravaillac (May 27, 1610) murderer of Henri IV.

"The executioner cut off his hand with an ax, and threw it and the
murderous knife into the fire. His breasts, his arms and his legs were
torn with pincers, and boiling oil and melted lead poured into the open
wounds. He was then dismembered by four strong horses, which pulled for no
less than an entire hour. They dismembered only a corpse. He expired,"
says L'Estoile, "at the second or third pull." When the executioner had to
throw the limbs into the fire that the ashes, according to the sentence,
might be flung to the winds, the whole crowd rushed on to claim them.
"But," adds the same chronicler, "the people rushed on so impetuously that
every mother's son had a piece, even the children, who made fires of them