Note 219 — Chapter XXXII
Eleanor Marx Aveling translation
The Count de Mun said (Enquête sur le 18 Mars, vol. ii. p. 276), "When they were shot, they all died with a kind of insolence which cannot be attributed to a moral sentiment" (the sentiment of the executioner, Monsieur de Mun, no doubt), "and can only be attributed to the resolution to come to an end by death rather than live by working." It is true that MacMahon had said (p. 28), "They seemed to think they were defending a sacred cause, the independence of Paris. In their intentions some of them may have been of good faith." Who is more odious, he who believes he is killing an "insolent," or he who knows that he is killing a martyr?