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.
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