THE ESCAPE OF THE COMMUNISTS FROM NEW CALEDONIA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4208, 15 September 1874, Page 3

THE ESCAPE OF THE COMMUNISTS FROM NEW CALEDONIA.

(Prom The Times.) One of the authors of the articles ire have published under the title “ Palis Communists in New Caledonia,” describes his escape in company with some others from Peninsula Duoos : “ Had it been possible to keep the secret as to the means which enabled us to effect our escape from New Caledonia, probably the same means might have heeu employed by a few among mu - unfortunate companions. That was the thought, above all, which led us to preserve on that score such absolute silence ; hut the Press, by its indefatigable activity, and the Drench administration, by the process of investigation which it undertook, having succeeded in unveiling the principal facts, there can no longer he any harm in entering into more minute details. As regards myself, I entertain a great pleasure in being able publicly to express my gratitude to Messrs. Jonrde, Ballit-re, and Bastien, who came, at the peril of their lives, to drag us out of the most frightful, exile, and it is to express this sentiment that I have a desire to relate what they did for us. “ The Peninsula Ducos, where we were detained, and where we—M. Rochefort, M. Pain, and myself—lived under the same thatched roof, is a hilly neck of laud, which forms one of the sides of the harbor of Noumea ; attached to the mainland by a very narrow isthmus, it throws itself out to a length of about two miles towards the reefs which encircle New Caledonia with a continuous belt, broken only by a few passes. At the south it is separated from the town of Noumea by an arm of the sea of about eight miles. By land the passage is forbidden and stopped by fortified works, and by an encampment of Marine Infantry, which occupies the whole surface of the isthmus. All vessels are prohibited., coming within 1000 yards of the shore ; at night the whole harbor is closed to egress. Numerous hands of overseers, armed with revolvers and chassepots, make continual rounds in the fortified centre, and have orders to fire on all nocturnal pedestrians. Sentinels stationed all along the heights command all landing-places, and the means of guarding the prisoners is completed by the rounds which steam sloops make night and day round the peninsula and in the harbor. In spite of that masterly organisation, we never gave up the hope of some day escaping. Even the complete failure of two successive attempts which we tried the one before leaving Prance, and the other more than a year ago from the Peninsula Ducos had not damped our ardour or discouraged us. We were resolved to go on till success should recompense our efforts, and we did but little else in the leisure forced on us by exile but concoct, without intermission, plans more or less practicable. A terse Italian proverb says, ‘ The prisoner and the lover must succeed, as they are always thinking of their aim ; whereas the gaoler and the jealous are not always on their guard.’ Our constant reflections had fully satisfied us that the only means presenting likely chances of success was to place ourselves in communication with one of the English vessels trading with the colony, and to get taken on hoard the day of its sailing away ; but how to arrive at it, and through whom to risk those negotiations ? That was the problem. We sought to solve it without seeing too easy a solution, when in the month of February last I received, at Ducos, a visit from M. Jourde. Luck so had it that he was in the class of the simple banished, and as such authorised to reside in liberty at Noumea. I plainly put the question to him, as I could with a tried friend. Judge of my surprise and of my pleasure when he said to me, ‘ It is on that score that I came here : I think only of escaping, but I will not leave alone. Before the end of the month it will be done.’ “ In the first days of March, in fact, all was arranged. A three-masted English vessel, of 400 tons burthen, the P.C.E., was in the harbor, and was to sail for the East. M. Jourde, by means of a trusted intermediary, placed himself in communication witli the captain who commanded it, and, after some days of hesitation, futile journeys, and negotiations, the latter undertook to ship six passengers, whose names and character remained unknown to him, on condition that these passengers should pay their passage in advance, with a bonus on their arrival in Australia. Further than this, the captain was not to trouble himself as to how these mysterious passengers would reach his vessel, and, in order to avoid any difficulty with his crew, he was to appear vexed at finding them in the hold after his leaving the port. “ The P.C.E. was in harbor, at least seven miles from where we lived inside the fortifications. To change anchorage could not bo done without exciting suspicions. To accomplish such a long journey by swimming was next to impossible. The difficulty, therefore, still remained; but M. Jourde undertook to remove it at all risk by promising to come during the night preceding the sailing and take us up in a boat at a point of an inlet situated two or throe yards from our shore. He was to be assisted in that perilous enterprise by two others, ‘simply banished,' MM. Balliere and Bastien, who also lived at Noumea, and wllo coidd also have started for Australia easily and without danger, but who would not go alone. “ What we had to do was very simple; it implied simply leaving our home, without exciting any suspicions, gaining the islet at the hour previously arranged—by swimming-, if necessary; by wading through the water if the tide was not top high. The 19th of March was the great day. By seven o’clock at night wo had left our hut, and we had taken up our position in the brushwood that we might not be delayed by any ill-timed visit. As soon as night had quite fallen we divested ourselves of our clothing and glided towards the sea. We were enabled to reach it without accident; but as we were entering the water, a ‘round’ arrived on the towing-path. We distinctly heard their idiotic conversation, and, by well straining the eyes, we could distinguish them. Luckily the moon had not yet risen. The fishes, overcome with heat, were on all sides leaping .over the phosphorescent water; their noise drowned any we might have made. We remained motionless, only keeping our heads slightly above water in order to breathe. The ‘ round ’ passed without seeing us. “We at once resumed our journey towards the islet. It was long and difficult ; the bottom of the sea over which we wore passing, the one behind the other, was uneven and rough. Now we put our foot on a sea hedgehog, which maimed it with its prickly points, or else one was thrown by the tide against the rocks of coral, sharp and keen as daggers. In spite of these small obstacles, after an hour’s effort, our limbs wounded and bleeding, but without serious consequences, and without having been compelled to swim, we arrived at the rendezvous named. “ Our impatience had brought ns in advance of our time. We had to wait three-quarters of an hour, which to us appeared three centuries. Holding on to the points of the rooks, we endeavored to penetrate the immense darkness which extended in front of us, hoping to find the boat ; but we contemplated nothing but darkness, and in the distance the light of the Isle of Nou, fixed on us aa a motionless eye. All of a sudden we could distinguish a rustling as on the surface of the waters, a slight noise of oars, a black spot nearing us ! Was it a‘round?’ Was it our friends’boat ? At all risks wo threw ourselves into the* water in order to join them. It was they. Wo were in the boat in a moment; we silently exchanged a shako of the hands, put on the clothes which had been brought us, and were on our way to the P. C. E.

“ The great harbor was crossed without incident, but as we approached the port we sighted all at once on our right a long-boat belonging to a ‘round,’ which was advancing straight in our direction. To try and escape by fast rowing was out of the question. _ After a moment’s hesitation, we agreed to direct ourselves straight towards the ‘ round,’ ready, if necessary, to be. the first to hail them ; but, seeing onr movements, and taking us for officers out on a pleasure party, she passed quietly. The sky was cloudy, a squall was passing and was drenching us with rain. We were well pleased at that unexpected help which so opportunely presented itself to mask our whereabouts, but we recollected there was another effect it would have, less assuring—that of hiding surrounding objects and of muddling the port into one thick mist. It was impossible to recognise exactly the position of the P.C.E. We certainly saw a black mass, which ought to be the English three-master, but she might also turn out to be one of the two vessels belonging to the Government, and between which she was at anchor. All was lost if we hailed one of those vessels, or if we were caught sight of by their watch. It was useless thinking of remaining stationary in full harbor, where fresh ‘ rounds ’ would pass every minute. We decided to run the risk of a mistake and to near the black mass. “ She gave no signs of life ; we rowed round her ;we passed under her. It was impossible to know with certainty it was the P.C.E. The night was so thick that we . could neither distinguish the figure-head fore nor the name aft. But the absence of any sentinels sufficed to assure us that it was no man-of-war ; all probabilities were in favor of its being the P.C.E. We caught hold of the rope which hung at the port, and M. Balliere ran up it. A minute afterwards he came to tell us that we had not mistaken ourselves, that all slept on hoard, and that we had only to get on board. This we did with a sincere satisfaction, at the same time sending, by a shove off, the boat about its business. Pain was still pouring in torrents. We glided without being seen by anyone into the captain’s cabin. Wo found in him a regular English, salt-water tar, with a fresh color and sandy heard, whose countenance pleased us. He did not know at all with whom he had to do, as on our asking him, with an eagerness quite natural, if he thought he should be able to set sail at break-of-day, he replied that he hoped so, but without appeariug to attach much importance to the matter. To us it was all-important : our disappearance might he made known from one moment to another. We therefore resolved to make a clean breast of it and to tell him who we were, and proceed to a formal introduction. This excellent man at once became perfectly cordial towards us, and promised ,to do all lie could to sail the earliest hour possible. One circumstance tended to achieve his conquest. One of us, in looking over an old illustrated periodical which lay on the table, found a portrait of M. Henri Rochefort engraved, and showed it to the captain, who at once compared the copy with the original, and declared it very like, and from that time, quite satisfied as to our identity, assured us ho was with us—he, his vessel, and his crew. It is only fair here to protest against an allegation made by several newspapers. It is said that the captain, on hearing our names, had threatened to disembark us, and had demanded an amount not inconsiderable under pressure of those threats. That account is absolutely false ; nothing of the kind occurred. The captain loyally performed, without in any way changing its conditions, the engagement he had entered into without ever knowing us, and he never ceased conducting himself as a perfect gentleman. To appreciate his devotion, it must he borne in mind that he exposed himself to two years’ imprisonment and to a disagreement with his owners, whoso interests in New Caledonia are considerable. But to tell the truth without reserve, I think that an inherent desire to play a trick upon the unsupportahle colonial administration, with which the captain had had dealings, and as a consequence broils, was not without its weight in the kindnesses and attentions he bestowed on us. “ However that may be, he at once conducted us to a place of safety below deck, locking ua in, in order that, his crew might not see us, and thereby commit an indiscretion. Night passed away. At daylight the pilot arrived, and she set sail without accident. Unfortunately, there was no breeze, and the P. C. E. hardly moved. After having in vain tried to get out by the southern passage, the pilot proposed again anchoring and waiting for a breeze to get up. It required great decision on the part of the captain before he would attempt the northern passage. Slowly, almost insensibly (we were going scarcely at one knot) did she ride out. At noon we were near the reefs, and two hours later we had left them behind us. “ The pilot left, the captain came to release us. One can imagine with what voluptuousness our lungs were dilated in once more breathing unfettered the fresh air of the Pacific. “At sunset , we began to lose sight of the summits of New Caledonia, and seven days later the P.- C. E. put us on shore at Newcastle, about sixty miles from Sydney. ' “ Luck had been propitious with us up to the end, for we had run 900 miles iu seven days, a distance which sailing vessels take a month to perform. “ We have learnt since, by letter sent from Noumea after we left, that at four o’clock in the afternoon our escape was made known, and all the vessels in the harbor were searched by platoons of marine infantry and overseers, with charged guns. “The Ellen Morris, which we saw on her arrival at Sydney, was subjected to such au armed visit. It appears that these gentlemen were in a state borderiug on madness, which they did not seek *to dissemble. They, however, dared not follow us, and contented themselves by sending a steam gun sloop to cruise round the island 'and reefs, doubtless with a view to see if we were not lurking thereabouts. To sum up, they showed themselves, as regards ourselves, about as apt jailors as they proved brilliant officers in the course of the last disastrous war.”