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diff --git a/14194-0.txt b/14194-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..026a790 --- /dev/null +++ b/14194-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16502 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14194 *** + +[Illustration: _EMPEROR NAPOLEON I._] + + + + +FRANCE + +IN + +THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + +1830-1890 + + +BY ELIZABETH WORMELEY LATIMER + +AUTHOR OF "SALVAGE," "MY WIFE AND MY WIFE'S SISTER," "PRINCESS +AMÉLIE," "FAMILIAR TALKS ON SOME OF SHAKESPEARE'S COMEDIES," ETC. + + + + +NOTE + +The sources from which I have drawn the materials for this book are +various; they come largely from private papers, and from articles +contributed to magazines and newspapers by contemporary writers, +French, English, and American. I had not at first intended the +work for publication, and I omitted to make notes which would have +enabled me to restore to others the "unconsidered trifles" that +I may have taken from them. + +As far as possible, I have endeavored to remedy this; but should +any other writer find a gold thread of his own in my embroidery, +I hope he will look upon it as an evidence of my appreciation of +his work, and not as an act of intentional dishonesty. + +E. W. L. + +SEPTEMBER, 1892. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER + I. CHARLES X. AND THE DAYS OF JULY + II. LOUIS PHILIPPE AND HIS FAMILY + III. LOUIS NAPOLEON'S EARLY CAREER + IV. TEN YEARS OF THE REIGN OF THE CITIZEN-KING + V. SOME CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1848 + VI. THE DOWNFALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE + VII. LAMARTINE AND THE SECOND REPUBLIC + VIII. THE COUP D'ÉTAT + IX. THE EMPEROR'S MARRIAGE + X. MAXIMILIAN AND MEXICO + XI. THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS AT THE SUMMIT OF + PROSPERITY + XII. PARIS IN 1870,--AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER + XIII. THE SIEGE OF PARIS + XIV. THE PRUSSIANS IN FRANCE + XV. THE COMMUNE + XVI. THE HOSTAGES + XVII. THE GREAT REVENGE + XVIII. THE FORMATION OF THE THIRD REPUBLIC + XIX. THREE FRENCH PRESIDENTS + XX. GENERAL BOULANGER + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + EMPEROR NAPOLEON I + CHARLES X + LOUIS PHILIPPE, DUKE OF ORLEANS + DUCHESSE DE BERRY + QUEEN MARIE AMÉLIE + LOUIS PHILIPPE, "THE CITIZEN KING" + ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE + LOUIS NAPOLEON, "THE PRINCE PRESIDENT" + DUC DE MORNY + EUGÉNIE + EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN + EMPEROR NAPOLEON III + EMPRESS EUGÉNIE + JULES SIMON + JULES FAVRE + MONSEIGNEUR DARBOY, ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS + PRESIDENT ADOLPH THIERS + LÉON GAMBETTA + COMTE DE CHAMBORD + PRESIDENT JULES GRÉVY + PRESIDENT SADI-CARNOT + GENERAL BOULANGER + + + + +FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. + +1830-1890. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER I. + +CHARLES X. AND THE DAYS OF JULY. + +Louis XVIII. in 1815 returned to his throne, borne on the shoulders +of foreign soldiers, after the fight at Waterloo. The allied armies +had a second time entered France to make her pass under the saws +and harrows of humiliation. Paris was gay, for money was spent +freely by the invading strangers. Sacrifices on the altar of the +Emperor were over; enthusiasm for the extension of the great ideas +of the Revolution had passed away; a new generation had been born +which cared more for material prosperity than for such ideas; the +foundation of many fortunes had been laid; mothers who dreaded +the conscription, and men weary of war and politics, drew a long +breath, and did not regret the loss of that which had animated +a preceding generation, in a view of a peace which was to bring +wealth, comfort, and tranquillity into their own homes. + +The _bourgeoisie_ of France trusted that it had seen the last of the +Great Revolution. It stood between the working-classes, who had no +voice in the politics of the Restoration, and the old nobility,--men +who had returned to France full of exalted expectations. The king +had to place himself on one side or the other. He might have been +the true Bourbon and headed the party of the returned _émigrés_,--in +which case his crown would not have stayed long upon his head; or +he might have made himself king of the _bourgeoisie_, opposed to +revolution, Napoleonism, or disturbances of any kind,--the party, +in short, of the Restoration of Peace: a peace that might outlast +his time; _et après moi le déluge!_ + +But animals which show neither teeth nor claws are seldom left in +peace, and Louis XVIII.'s reign--from 1814 to 1824--was full of +conspiracies. The royalty of the Restoration was only an ornament +tacked on to France. The Bourbon dynasty was a necessary evil, even +in the eyes of its supporters. "The Bourbons," said Chateaubriand, +"are the foam on the revolutionary wave that has brought them back +to power;" whilst every one knows Talleyrand's famous saying "that +after five and twenty years of exile they had nothing remembered +and nothing forgot." Of course the old nobility, who flocked back to +France in the train of the allied armies, expected the restoration +of their estates. The king had got his own again,--why should not +they get back theirs? And they imagined that France, which had +been overswept by successive waves of revolution, could go back +to what she had been under the old régime. This was impossible. +The returned exiles had to submit to the confiscation of their +estates, and receive in return all offices and employments in the +gift of the Government. The army which had conquered in a hundred +battles, with its marshals, generals, and _vieux moustaches_, was +not pleased to have young officers, chosen from the nobility, receive +commissions and be charged with important commands. On the other +hand, the Holy Alliance expected that the king of France would +join the despotic sovereigns of Russia, Austria, and Prussia in +their crusade against liberal ideas in other countries. Against +these difficulties, and many more, Louis XVIII. had to contend. +He was an infirm man, physically incapable of exertion,--a man +who only wanted to be let alone, and to avoid by every means in +his power the calamity of being again sent into exile. + +He placed himself on the side of the stronger party,--he took part +with the _bourgeoisie_. His aim, as he himself said, was to _ménager_ +his throne. He began his reign by having Fouché and Talleyrand, men +of the Revolution and the Empire, deep in his councils, though he +disliked both of them. Early in his reign occurred what was called +the White Terror, in the southern provinces, where the adherents of +the white flag repeated on a small scale the barbarities of the +Revolution. + +The king was forced to put himself in opposition to the old nobles +who had adhered to him in his exile. They bitterly resented his +defection. They used to toast him as _le roi-quand-même_, "the +king in spite of everything." His own family held all the Bourbon +traditions, and were opposed to him. To them everything below the +rank of a noble with sixteen quarterings was _la canaille_. + +Louis XVIII.'s favorite minister was M. Decazes, a man who studied +the interests of the _bourgeoisie_; and the royal family at last made +the sovereign so uncomfortable by their disapproval of his policy +that he sought repose in the society and intimacy (the connection is +said to have been nothing more) of a Madame de Cayla, with whom +he spent most of his leisure time. + +Before the Revolution, Louis XVIII. had been known sometimes as +the Comte de Provence, and sometimes as Monsieur. Though physically +an inert man, he was by no means intellectually stupid, for he +could say very brilliant things from time to time, and was very +proud of them; but he was wholly unfit to be at the helm of the +ship of state in an unquiet sea. + +He had passed the years of his exile in various European countries, +but the principal part of his time had been spent at Hartwell, +about sixty miles from London, where he formed a little court and +lived a life of royalty in miniature. Charles Greville, when a +very young man, visited Hartwell with his relative, the Duke of +Beaufort, shortly before the Restoration. He describes the king's +cabinet as being like a ship's cabin, the walls hung with portraits +of Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, Madame Elisabeth, and the dauphin. +Louis himself had a singular habit of swinging his body backward +and forward when talking, "which exactly resembled the heavings +of a ship at sea." "We were a very short time at table," Greville +adds; "the meal was a very plain one, and the ladies and gentlemen +all got up together. Each lady folded up her napkin, tied it round +with a bit of ribbon, and carried it away with her. After dinner we +returned for coffee and conversation to the drawing-room. Whenever +the king came in or went out of the room, Madame d'Angoulême made him +a low courtesy, which he returned by bowing and kissing her hand. +This little ceremony never failed to take place." They finished +the evening with whist, "his Majesty settling the points of the +game at a quarter of a shilling." "We saw the whole place," adds +Greville, "before we came away; they had certainly shown great +ingenuity in contriving to lodge so great a number of people in +and around the house. It was like a small rising colony." + +Louis XVIII. was childless. His brother Charles and himself had +married sisters, princesses of the house of Savoy. These ladies were +amiable nonentities, and died during the exile of their husbands; but +Charles's wife had left him two sons,--Louis Antoine, known as the +Duc d'Angoulême, and Charles Ferdinand, known as the Duc de Berri. +The Duc d'Angoulême had married his cousin Marie Thérèse, daughter +of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. Their union was childless. The +Duc de Berri had married Marie Caroline, a princess of Naples. +She had two children,--Louise, who when she grew up became Duchess +of Parma; and Henri, called variously the Duc de Bordeaux, Henri +V., and the Comte de Chambord. + +All Louis XVIII.'s efforts during his ten years' reign were directed +to keeping things as quiet as he could during his lifetime. He +greatly disapproved of the policy of the Holy Alliance in forcing +him to make war on Spain in order to put down the Constitutionalists +under Riego and Mina. The expedition for that purpose was commanded +by the Duc d'Angoulême, who accomplished his mission, but with +little glory or applause except from flatterers. The chief military +incident of the campaign was the capture by the French of the forts +of Trocadéro, which commanded the entrance to Cadiz harbor. + +The Duchesse d'Angoulême, that _filia dolorosa_ left to languish +alone in the Temple after her parents and her aunt were guillotined, +had been exchanged with Austria for Lafayette by Bonaparte in the +treaty of Campo-Formio; but her soul had been crushed within her +by her sorrows. Deeply pious, she forgave the enemies of her house, +she never uttered a word against the Revolution; but the sight +of her pale, set, sad face was a mute reproach to Frenchmen. She +could forgive, but she could not be gracious. At the Tuileries, +a place full of graceful memories of the Empress Josephine, she +presided as a _dévote_ and a dowdy. She could not have been expected +to be other than she was, but the nation that had made her so, +bore a grudge against her. There was nothing French about her. No +sympathies existed between her and the generation that had grown +up in France during the nineteenth century. Both she and her husband +were stiff, cold, ultra-aristocrats. In intelligence she was greatly +the duke's superior, as she was also in person, he being short, +fat, red-faced, with very thin legs. + +The Duc de Berri was much more popular. He was a Frenchman in character. +His faults were French. He was pleasure-seeking, pleasure-loving, +and he married a young and pretty wife to whom he was far from +faithful, and who was as fond of pleasure as himself. + +The Duc de Berri was assassinated by a man named Louvel, Feb. 13, +1820, as he was handing his wife into her carriage at the door of +the French Opera House. They carried him back into the theatre, +and there, in a side room, with the music of the opera going on +upon the stage, the plaudits of the audience ringing in his ears, +and ballet-girls flitting in and out in their stage dresses, the +heir of France gave up his life, with kindly words upon his dying +lips, reminding us of Charles II. on his deathbed. + +As I have said, Louis XVIII.'s reign was not without plots and +conspiracies. One of those in 1823 was got up by the Carbonari. +Lafayette was implicated in it. It was betrayed, however, the night +before it was to have been put in execution, and such of its leaders +as could be arrested were guillotined. Lafayette was saved by the +fact that the day fixed upon for action was the anniversary of his +wife's death,--a day he always spent in her chamber in seclusion. + +It may be desirable to say who were the Carbonari. "Carbone" is +Italian for charcoal. The Carbonari were charcoal-burners. The +conspirators took their name because charcoal-burners lived in +solitary places, and were disguised by the coal-dust that blackened +their faces. It was a secret society which extended throughout +France, Italy, and almost all Europe. It was joined by all classes. +Its members, under pain of death, were forced to obey the orders +of the society. The deliverance of Italy from the Austrians became +eventually the prime object of the institution. + +Lafayette, during his visit to America in 1824, expressed himself +freely about the Bourbons. "France cannot be happy under their +rule," he said;[1] "and we must send them adrift. It would have been +done before now but for the hesitation of Laffitte. Two regiments +of guards, when ordered to Spain under the Duc d'Angoulême, halted +at Toulouse, and began to show symptoms of mutiny. The matter was +quieted, however, and the affair kept as still as possible. But +all was ready. I knew of the whole affair. All that was wanted +to make a successful revolution at that time was money. I went +to Laffitte; but he was full of doubts, and dilly-dallied with +the matter. Then I offered to do it without his help. Said I: 'On +the first interview that you and I have without witnesses, put +a million of francs, in bank-notes, on the mantelpiece, which I +will pocket unseen by you. Then leave the rest to me.' Laffitte +still fought shy of it, hesitated, deliberated, and at last decided +that he would have nothing at all to do with it." + +[Footnote 1: Vincent Nolte, Fifty Years in Two Hemispheres.] + +Here the gentleman to whom Lafayette was speaking exclaimed, "If +any one had told me this but yourself, General, I would not have +believed it." + +Lafayette merely answered, "It was really so,"--a proof, thinks +the narrator, how fiercely the fire of revolution still burned +in the old man's soul. + +The last months of Louis XVIII.'s life were embittered by changes +of ministry from semi-liberal to ultra-royalist, and by attempts +of the officers of the Crown to prosecute the newspapers for +free-speaking. He died, after a few days of illness and extreme +suffering, Sept. 15, 1824, and was succeeded by the Comte d'Artois, +his brother, as Charles X. This was the third time three brothers +had succeeded each other on the French throne. + +Charles X. was another James II., with cold, harsh, narrow ideas +of religion, though religion had not influenced his early life +in matters of morality. He was, as I have said, a widower, with +one remaining son, the Duc d'Angoulême, and a little grandson, the +son of the Duc de Berri. His two daughters-in-law, the Duchesse +d'Angoulême and the Duchesse de Berri, were as unlike each other +as two women could be,--the one being an unattractive saint, the +other a fascinating sinner. + +Charles X. was not like his brother,--distracted between two policies +and two opinions. He was an ultra-royalist. He believed that to the +victors belong the spoils; and as Bourbonism had triumphed, he wanted +to stamp out every remnant of the Revolution. Constitutionalism, +the leading idea of the day, was hateful to him. He is said to have +remarked, "I had rather earn my bread than be a king of England!" +He probably held the same ideas concerning royal prerogative as +those of his cousin, the king of Naples, expressed in a letter +found after the sack of the Tuileries in 1848. + +"Liberty is fatal to the house of Bourbon; and as regards myself, +I am resolved to avoid, at any price, the fate of Louis XVI. My +people obey force, and bend their necks; but woe to me if they +should ever raise them under the impulse of those dreams which sound +so fine in the sermons of philosophers, and which it is impossible +to put in practice. With God's blessing, I will give prosperity +to my people, and a government as honest as they have a right to +expect; but I will be a king,--and that _always!_" + +Charles X. was on the throne six years. He was a fine-looking man +and a splendid horseman,--which at first pleased the Parisians, +who had been disgusted with the unwieldiness and lack of royal +presence in Louis XVIII. His first act was a concession they little +expected, and one calculated to render him popular. He abridged +the powers of the censors of the Press. His minister at this time +was M. de Villèle, a man of whom it has been said that he had a +genius for trifles; but M. de Villèle having been defeated on some +measures that he brought before the Chamber of Deputies, Charles +X. was glad to remove him, and to appoint as his prime minister +his favorite, the Prince de Polignac. Charles Greville, who was +in Paris at the time of this appointment, writes: "Nothing can +exceed the violence of feeling that prevails. The king does nothing +but cry; Polignac is said to have the fatal obstinacy of a martyr, +the worst courage of the _ruat coelum_ sort." + +[Illustration: _CHARLES X._] + +Six months later Greville writes: "Nobody has an idea how things +will turn out, or what are Polignac's intentions or his resources." +He appeared calm and well satisfied, saying to those who claimed the +right to question him, that all would be well, though all France +and a clear majority in the Chambers were against him. "I am told," +says Charles Greville, "that there is no revolutionary spirit abroad, +but a strong determination to provide for the stability of existing +institutions, and disgust at the obstinacy and the pretensions of +the king. It seems also that a desire to substitute the Orleans +for the reigning branch is becoming very general. It is said that +Polignac is wholly ignorant of France, and will not listen to the +opinions of those who could enlighten him. It is supposed that +Charles X. is determined to push matters to extremity; to try the +Chambers, and if his ministers are beaten, to dissolve the House +and to govern _par ordonnances du roi_." This prophecy, written +in March, 1830, foreshadowed exactly what happened in July of the +same year, when, as an outspoken English Tory told Henry Crabb +Robinson, in a reading-room at Florence: "The king of France has +sent the deputies about their business, has abolished the d----d +Constitution and the liberty of the Press, and proclaimed his own +power as absolute king." + +"And what will the end be?" cried Robinson. + +"It will end," said a Frenchman who was present, "in driving the +Bourbons out of France!" + +During the last months of Charles X.'s reign France made an expedition +against the Dey of Algiers, which was the first step in the conquest +of Algeria. The immediate object of the expedition, however, was to +draw off the attention of a disaffected nation from local politics. +An army of 57,000 soldiers, 103 ships of war, and many transports, +was despatched to the coast of Barbary. The expedition was not +very glorious, but it was successful. Te Deums were sung in Paris, +the general in command was made a marshal, and his naval colleague +a peer. + +The royalists of France were at this period divided into two parties; +the party of the king and Polignac, who were governed by the Jesuits, +looked for support to the clergy of France. The other party looked +to the army. Yet the most religious men in the country--men like M. +de la Ferronays, for example--condemned and regretted the obstinacy +of the king. + +Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, on whom all eyes were fixed, +was the son of that infamous Duke of Orleans who in the Revolution +proclaimed himself a republican, took the name of Philippe Égalité, +and voted for the execution of the king, drawing down upon himself +the rebuke of the next Jacobin whose turn it was to vote in the +convention, who exclaimed: "I was going to vote Yes, but I vote +No, that I may not tread in the steps of the man who has voted +before me." + +Égalité was in the end a victim. He perished, after suffering great +poverty, leaving three sons and a daughter. The sons were Louis +Philippe, who became Duke of Orleans, the Comte de Beaujolais, and +the Duc de Montpensier. One of these had shared the imprisonment +of his father, and narrowly escaped the guillotine. + +Louis Philippe had solicited from the Republic permission to serve +under Dumouriez in his celebrated campaign in the Low Countries. +He fought with distinguished bravery at Valmy and Jemappes as +Dumouriez's aide-de-camp; but when that general was forced to desert +his army and escape for his life, Louis Philippe made his escape +too. He went into Switzerland, and there taught mathematics in a +school. Thence he came to America, travelled through the United +States, and resided for some time at Brooklyn. + +In 1808 he went out to the Mediterranean in an English man-of-war +in charge of his sick brother, the Comte de Beaujolais. The same +vessel carried Sir John Moore out to his command, and landed him at +Lisbon. Louis Philippe could not have had a very pleasant voyage, +for the English admiral, on board whose ship he was a passenger, +came up one day in a rage upon the quarter-deck, and declared aloud, +in the hearing of his officers, that the Duke of Orleans was such a +d----d republican he could not sit at the same table with him.[1] + +[Footnote 1: My father was present, and often told the story] + +There used to be stories floating about Paris concerning Louis +Philippe's birth and parentage,--stories, however, not to be believed, +and which broke down upon investigation. These made him out to +be the son of an Italian jailer, exchanged for a little girl who +had been born to the Duke of Orleans and his wife at a time when +it was a great object with them to have a son. The little girl +grew up in the jailer Chiappini's house under the name of Maria +Stella Petronilla. There is little doubt that she was a changeling, +but the link is imperfect which would connect her with the Duke +and Duchess of Orleans. She was ill-treated by the jailer's wife, +but was very beautiful. Lord Newburgh, an English nobleman, saw +her and married her. Her son succeeded his father as a peer of +England. After Lord Newburgh's death his widow married a Russian +nobleman. Chiappini on his death-bed confessed to this lady all he +knew about her origin, and she persuaded herself that her father +must have been the Duke of Orleans. She took up her residence in the +Rue Rivoli, overlooking the gardens of the Tuileries, and received +some small pension from the benevolent royal family of France. She +died in 1845. + +But whoever the mother of Louis Philippe may have been, she whom +he and Madame Adélaide looked up to and loved as though she had +been their second mother, was Madame de Genlis. In her company +Louis Philippe witnessed, with boyish exultation, the destruction +of the Bastile. To her he wrote after the great day when in the +Champ de Mars the new Constitution was sworn to both by king and +people: "Oh, my mother! there are but two things that I supremely +love,--the new constitution and you!" + +On Christmas Day, 1809, he married at Palermo the Princesse Marie +Amélie, niece to Marie Antoinette, and aunt to the future Duchesse +de Berri. + +No breath of scandal ever disturbed the matrimonal happiness of +Louis Philippe and Marie Amélie. They had a noble family of five +sons and three daughters, all distinguished by their ability and +virtues. I shall have to tell hereafter how devotion to the interests +of his family was one cause of Louis Philippe's overthrow. + +In 1814, when Napoleon abdicated at Fontainebleau; Louis Philippe +left Palermo, attended only by one servant, and made his way to +Paris and the home of his family, the Palais Royal. He hurried +into the house, and in spite of the opposition of the concierge, +who took him for a madman, he rushed to the staircase; but before +he ascended it he fell upon his knees, and bursting into tears, +kissed the first step before him. + +This was probably the most French-like thing in Louis Philippe's +career. He was far more like an Englishman than a Frenchman. Had +he been an English prince, his faults would have seemed to his +people like virtues. + +Of course the son of Égalité could be no favorite with the elder +Bourbons; but he soon became the hope of the middle classes, and +was very intimate with Laffitte the banker, and with Lafayette, +who, as we have seen, were both implicated in conspiracies seven +years before the Revolution of 1830. He was for many years not +rich, but he and the ladies of his house were very charitable. +Madame Adélaïde, speaking one day to a friend[1] of the reports +that were circulated concerning her brother's parsimony, said,-- + +"People ask what he does with his money. To satisfy them it would +be necessary to publish the names of honorable friends of liberty +who, in consequence of misfortunes, have solicited and obtained +from him sums of twenty, thirty, forty, and even three hundred +thousand francs. They forget all the extraordinary expenses my +brother has had to meet, all the demands he has to comply with. +Out of his income he has furnished the Palais Royal, improved the +_apanages_ of the House of Orleans; and yet sooner or later all +this property will revert to the nation. When we returned to France +our inheritance was so encumbered that my brother was advised to +decline administering on the estate; but to that neither he nor +I would consent. For all these things people make no allowances. +Truly, we know not how to act to inspire the confidence which our +opinions and our consciences tell us we fully deserve." + +[Footnote 1: M. Appert, chaplain to Queen Marie Amélie.] + +[Illustration: _LOUIS PHILLIPPE_. (_Duke of Orleans_.)] + +It is not necessary in a sketch so brief to go minutely into politics. +Prince Polignac and the king dissolved the Chambers, having found the +deputies unwilling to approve their acts, and a few days afterwards +the king published his own will and pleasure in what were called +_Les Ordonnances du Roi_. One of these restricted the liberty of +the Press, and was directed against journalism; another provider +new rules, by which the ministry might secure a more subservient +Chamber. + +As we have seen, these _ordonnances_ even in foreign countries +spread dismay. The revolution that ensued was the revolution of +the great bankers and the business men,--the _haute bourgeoisie_. +In general, revolutions are opposed by the moneyed classes; but +this was a revolution effected by them to save themselves and their +property from such an outbreak as came forty years later, which +we call the Commune. The working-classes had little to do with +the Revolution of 1830, except, indeed, to fight for it, nor had +they much to do with the Revolution of 1848. It was the moneyed +men of France who saw that the resuscitated principles of the old +régime had been stretched to their very uttermost all over Europe, +and that if they did not check them by a well-conducted revolution, +worse would be sure to come. + +On July 26, 1830, the _ordonnances_ appeared. The working-classes +seemed to hear of them without emotion; but their effect on all those +who had any stake in the prosperity of the country was very great. +By nightfall the agitation had spread in Paris to all classes. King +Charles X. was at Saint-Cloud, apparently apprehending no popular +outbreak. No military preparations in case of disturbances had been +made, though on the morning of the 26th the Duc d'Angoulême sent +word to Marshal Marmont to take command of the troops in Paris, +"as there might be some windows broken during the day." + +The next morning trouble was begun by the journeymen printers, +who, as the newspapers on which they worked had been prohibited, +were sent home from their printing-offices. Before long they were +joined by others, notably by the cadets from the Polytechnic School. +Casimir Perrier and Laffitte were considered chiefs of the revolution. +The cry was everywhere "Vive la Charte,"--a compendium that had +been drawn up of the franchises and privileges of Frenchmen. M. +Thiers, then young, counselled moderation in the emergency. + +On July 28 the tricolored flag was again unfurled in Paris,--those +colors dear to Frenchmen, who had long hated the white flag, which +represented in their eyes despotism and the rule of the Bourbons! +The National Guard (or militia) was called out, and the populace +began erecting barricades. + +It is surprising how rapidly in an emergency a barricade can be +formed. A carriage or two is overturned, furniture is brought out +from neighboring houses, a large tree, if available, is cut down, +and the whole is strengthened with paving-stones. By night all +Paris had become a field of battle. + +In vain Marshal Marmont had sent courier after courier to Saint-Cloud, +imploring the king and his ministers to do something that might allay +the fury of the people. No answer was returned. The marshal went +himself at last, and the king, after listening to his representation +of the state of Paris, said calmly: "Then it is really a revolt?" +"No, sire," replied Marmont; "it is not a revolt, but a revolution." + +As soon as the idea of ruin broke upon the royal household, everything +at Saint-Cloud became confusion and despair. The Duchesse de Berri +wanted to take her son, the Duc de Bordeaux, into Paris, hoping +that the people would rally round a woman and the young heir to +the throne. Some implored the king to treat with the insurgents; +some to put himself at the head of his troops; some to sacrifice +the _ordonnances_ and the most obnoxious of his ministers. + +The Parisian mob by this time had its blood up. It fought with any +weapons that came to hand. Muskets were loaded with type seized in +the printing-offices. At the Hôtel-de-Ville, Laffitte, Lafayette, +and other leading men opposed to the policy of Charles X. were +assembled in council. + +The troops at first fought in their king's cause bravely, but without +enthusiasm. Subsequently the Duke of Wellington was asked if he +could not have suppressed the revolution with the garrison of Paris, +which was twenty thousand men. He answered, "Easily; but then they +must have been fighting for a cause they had at heart." + +The fight continued all the night of the 28th, bloody and furious. +By morning the soldiers were short of ammunition. As usual, the +Swiss Guard was stanch, but the French soldiers faltered. About +midday of the 29th two regiments went over to the insurgents. + +Two peers were at this juncture sent to negotiate with the royal +family. The ministers, with Polignac at their head, went out also +to Saint-Cloud. "Sire," said one of the negotiators, "if in an +hour the _ordonnances_ are not rescinded, there will be neither +king nor kingdom." "Could you not offer me two hours?" said the +king, sarcastically, as he turned to leave the chamber. The envoy, +an old man, fell on his knees and seized the skirt of the king's +coat. "Think of the dauphine!" he cried, imploringly. The king +seemed moved, but made no answer. + +In Paris, Marmont, whose heart was with the insurgents, endeavored +nevertheless to do his duty; but his troops deserted him. On learning +this, Talleyrand walked up to his clock, saying solemnly: "Take +notice that on July 29, 1830, at five minutes past twelve o'clock, +the elder branch of the Bourbons ceased to reign." + +The Louvre was taken, and the Tuileries. There was no general pillage, +the insurgents contenting themselves with breaking the statues of +kings and other signs of royalty. + +One of the most obnoxious persons in Paris was the archbishop. The +mob fought to the music of "Ça ira." with new words:-- + + "C'est l'Archevêque de Paris + Qui est Jésuite comme Charles Dix. + Dansons la Carmagnole; dansons la Carmagnole, + Et ça ira!" + +There were deeds of heroism, deeds of self-sacrifice. deeds of +loyalty, deeds of cruelty, and deeds of mercy, as there always +are in Paris in times of revolution. By nightfall on the 29th the +fighting was over. It only remained to be seen what would be done +with the victory. The evening before, Laffitte had sent a messenger +to Louis Philippe, then residing two miles from Paris, at his Château +de Neuilly, warning him to hold himself in readiness for anything +that might occur. Lafayette had been made governor of Paris, and +thus held in his hand the destinies of France. Under him served +an improvised municipal commune. + +By this time Prince Polignac had been dismissed, and the Duc de +Montemart had been summoned by the king to form a more liberal +ministry. Everything was in confusion in the palace. The weary +troops, who had marched to the defence of Saint-Cloud when the +struggle in Paris became hopeless, were scattered about the park +unfed and uncared-for. + +The king, having at last made up his mind to yield, sent the envoys +who had been despatched to him, back to Paris, saying: "Go, gentlemen, +go; tell the Parisians that the king revokes the _ordonnances_. +But I declare to you that I believe this step will be fatal to +the interests of France and of the monarchy." + +The envoys on reaching Paris were met by the words: "Too late! +The throne of Charles X. has already passed from him in blood." + +The king, however, confident that after such concessions the revolt +was at an end, played whist during the evening, while the Duc +d'Angoulême sat looking over a book of geography. At midnight, +however, both were awakened to hear the news from Paris, and then +Charles X.'s confidence gave way. He summoned his new prime minister +and sent him on a mission to the capital. The Duc d'Angoulême, +however, who was opposed to any compromise with rebels, would not +suffer the minister to pass his outposts. The Duc de Montemart, +anxious to execute his mission, walked all night round the outskirts +of Paris, and entered it at last on the side opposite to Saint-Cloud. +The city lay in the profound silence of the hour before day.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Louis Blanc, Dix Ans. Histoire de trente heures, 1830.] + +The question of who should succeed Charles X. had already been +debated in Laffitte's chamber. Laffitte declared himself for Louis +Philippe, the Duke of Orleans. Some were for the son of Napoleon. +Many were for the Duc de Bordeaux, with Louis Philippe during his +minority as lieutenant-general of the kingdom. "That might have been +yesterday," said M. Laffitte, "if the Duchesse de Berri, separating +her son's cause from that of his grandfather, had presented herself in +Paris, holding Henri V. in one hand, and in the other the tricolor." +"The tricolor!" exclaimed the others; "why, they look upon the +tricolor as the symbol of all crimes!" "Then what can be done for +them?" replied Laffitte. + +At this crisis the poet Béranger threw all his influence into the +party of the Duke of Orleans, and almost at the same moment appeared +a placard on all the walls of Paris:-- + + "Charles X. is deposed. + A Republic would embroil us with all Europe. + The Duke of Orleans is devoted to the cause of the Revolution. + The Duke of Orleans never made war on France. + The Duke of Orleans fought at Jemappes. + The Duke of Orleans will be a Citizen-King. + The Duke of Orleans has worn the tricolor under fire: he + will wear the tricolor as king." + +Meantime, early on the evening of the 29th, Neuilly had been menaced +by the troops under the Duc d'Angoulême, and Madame Adélaïde had +persuaded her brother to quit the place. When M. Thiers and the +artist, Ary Scheffer, arrived at Neuilly, bearing a request that +the Duke of Orleans would appear in Paris, Marie Amélie received +them. Aunt to the Duchesse de Berri and attached to the reigning +family, she was shocked by the idea that her husband and her children +might rise upon their fall; but Madame Adélaïde exclaimed: "Let +the Parisians make my brother what they please,--President, _Garde +National_, or Lieutenant-General,--so long as they do not make +him an exile." + +Louis Philippe, who was at Raincy (or supposed to be there, for +the envoys always believed he was behind a curtain during their +interview with his wife and sister), having received a message from +Madame Adélaïde, set out soon after for Paris. The resolution of +the leaders of the Revolution had been taken, but in the Municipal +Commune at the Hôtel-de-Ville there was still much excitement. +There a party desired a republic, and offered to place Lafayette +at its head. + +At Saint-Cloud the Duchesse de Berri and her son had been sent off +to the Trianon; but the king remained behind. He referred everything +to the dauphin (the Duc d'Angoulême); the dauphin referred everything +to the king. + +The dauphin's temper was imperious, and at this crisis it involved +him in a personal collision with Marshal Marmont. In attempting +to tear the marshal's sword from his side, he cut his fingers. At +sight of the royal blood the marshal was arrested, and led away as +a traitor. The king, however, at once released him, with apologies. + +When the leaders in Paris had decided to offer the +lieutenant-generalship of France to Louis Philippe during the minority +of the Duc de Bordeaux, he could not be found. He was not at Raincy, +he was not at Neuilly. About midnight, July 29, he entered Paris on +foot and in plain clothes, having clambered over the barricades. +He at once made his way to his own residence, the Palais Royal, +and there waited events. + +At the same moment the Duchesse de Berri was leaving Saint-Cloud with +her son. Before daylight Charles X. followed them to the Trianon; and +the soldiers in the Park at Saint-Cloud, who for twenty-four hours +had eaten nothing, were breaking their fast on dainties brought +out from the royal kitchen. + +The proposal that Louis Philippe should accept the +lieutenant-generalship was brought to him on the morning of July +30, after the proposition had first been submitted to Talleyrand, who +said briefly: "Let him accept it." Louis Philippe did so, accepting +at the same time the tricolor, and promising a charter which should +guarantee parliamentary privileges. He soon after appeared at a +window of the Hôtel-de-Ville, attended by Lafayette and Laffitte, +bearing the tricolored flag between them, and was received with +acclamations by the people. But there were men in Paris who still +desired a republic, with Lafayette at its head. Lafayette persisted +in assuring them that what France wanted was a king surrounded +by republican institutions, and he commended Louis Philippe to +them as "the best of republics." This idea in a few hours rapidly +gained ground. + +By midday on July 30th Paris was resuming its usual aspect. Charles +X., finding that the household troops were no longer to be depended +on, determined to retreat over the frontier, and left the Trianon +for the small palace of Rambouillet, where Marie Louise and the King +of Rome had sought refuge in the first hours of their adversity. + +The king reached Rambouillet in advance of the news from Paris,[1] +and great was the surprise of the guardian of the Château to see +him drive up in a carriage and pair with only one servant to attend +him. The king pushed past the keeper of the palace, who was walking +slowly backward before him, and turned abruptly into a small room +on the ground floor, where he locked himself in and remained for +many hours. When he came forth, his figure seemed to have shrunk, +his complexion was gray, his eyes were red and swollen. He had +spent his time in burning up old love-letters,--reminiscences of +a lady to whom he had been deeply attached in his youth. + +[Footnote 1: All the Year Round, 1885.] + +The mob of Paris having ascertained that the fugitive royal family +were pausing at Rambouillet, about twelve miles from the capital, +set out to see what mischief could be done in that direction. The +Duchesse de Berri, her children, and the Duc d'Angoulême were at the +Château de Maintenon, and the king, upon the approach of the mob, +composed only of roughs, determined to join them. As he passed out of +the chateau, which he had used as a hunting-lodge, he stretched out +his hand with a gesture of despair to grasp those of some friends +who had followed him to Rambouillet, and who were waiting for his +orders. He had none to give them. He spoke no word of advice, but +walked down the steps to his carriage, and was driven to the Château +de Maintenon to rejoin his family. + +The mob, when it found that the king had fled, was persuaded to +quit Rambouillet by having some of the most brutal among them put +into the king's coaches. Attended by the rest of the unruly crowd, +they were driven back to Paris, and assembling before the Palais +Royal, shouted to Louis Philippe: "We have brought you your coaches. +Come out and receive them!" Eighteen years later, these coaches +were consumed in a bonfire in the Place du Carrousel. + +At the Château de Maintenon all was confusion and discouragement, +when suddenly the dauphine (the Duchesse d'Angoulême) arrived. +She, whom Napoleon had said was the only man of her family, was in +Burgundy when she received news of the outbreak of the Revolution. +At once she crossed several provinces of France in disguise. Harsh +of voice, stern of look, cold in her bearing, she was nevertheless +a favorite with the household troops whose spirit was reanimated +by the sight of her. + +From Rambouillet the king had sent his approbation of the appointment +of the Duke of Orleans as lieutenant-general during the minority +of Henri V. Louis Philippe's answer to this communication so well +satisfied the old king that he persuaded the dauphin to join with +him in abdicating all rights in favor of Henri V., the little Duc +de Bordeaux. Up to this moment Charles seems never to have suspected +that more than such an abdication could be required of him. But +by this time it was evident that the successful Parisians would +be satisfied with nothing less than the utter overthrow of the +Bourbons. Their choice lay between a constitutional monarchy with +Louis Philippe at its head, or a renewal of the attempt to form +a republic. + +The populace, on hearing that the abdication of the king and of the +dauphin had been announced to the Chamber of Deputies, assembled +to the number of sixty thousand, and insisted on the trial and +imprisonment of the late king. Hearing this, the royal family left +the Château de Maintenon the next morning, the king and the Duchesse +d'Angoulême taking leave of their faithful troops, and desiring +them to return to Paris, there to make their submission to the +lieutenant-general, "who had taken all measures for their security +and prosperity in the future." + +During the journey to Dreux, Charles X. appeared to those around +him to accept his misfortunes from the hand of Heaven. The Duchesse +d'Angoulême, pale and self-contained, with all her wounds opened +afresh, could hardly bring herself to quit France for the third +time. Her husband was stolid and stupid. The Duchesse de Berri +was almost gay. + +Meantime old stories were being circulated throughout France +discrediting the legitimacy of the Duc de Bordeaux, the posthumous +son of the Duc de Berri. He had been born seven months after his +father's death, at dead of night, with no doctor in attendance, +nor any responsible witnesses to attest that he was heir to the +crown. Louis Philippe had protested against his legitimacy within +a week after his birth. There was no real reason for suspecting his +parentage; nobody believes the slander now, but it is not surprising +that in times of such excitement, with such great interests at +stake, the circumstances attending his birth should have provoked +remark. They were both unfortunate and unusual. + +Charles X. was the calmest person in the whole royal party. He +was chiefly concerned for the comfort of the rest. The dauphine +wept, her husband trembled, the children were full of excitement +and eager for play. Charles was unmoved, resigned; only the sight +of a tricolored flag overcame him. + +He complained much of the haste with which he was escorted through +France to Cherbourg; but that haste probably insured his safety. +At Cherbourg two ships awaited him,--the "Great Britain" and the +"Charles Carroll;" both were American-built, and both had formed +part of the navy of Napoleon. + +The day was fine when the royal fugitives embarked. In a few hours +they were off the Isle of Wight. For several days they stayed on +board, waiting till the English Government should complete arrangements +which would enable them to land. They had come away almost without +clothes, and the Duchesses of Angoulême and Berri were indebted for +an outfit to an ex-ambassadress. The king said to some of those +who came on board to see him, that he and his son had retired into +private life, and that his grandson must wait the progress of events; +also, that his conscience reproached him with nothing in his conduct +towards his people. + +After a few days the party landed in England and took up their +abode at Ludworth Castle. Afterwards, at the king's own request, +the old Palace of Holyrood, in Edinburgh, was assigned him. There +was some fear at the time lest popular feeling should break out +in some insult to him or his family. To avert this, Sir Walter +Scott, though then in failing health, wrote in a leading Edinburgh +newspaper as follows:-- + +"We are enabled to announce from authority that Charles of Bourbon, +the ex-king of France, is about to become once more our fellow-citizen, +though probably only for a limited space, and is presently about to +inhabit the apartments again that he so long occupied in Holyrood +House. This temporary arrangement has been made, it is said, in +compliance with his own request, with which our benevolent monarch +immediately complied, willing to consult in every way possible +the feelings of a prince under pressure of misfortunes, which are +perhaps the more severe if incurred through bad advice, error, or +rashness. The attendants of the late sovereign will be reduced +to the least possible number, and consist chiefly of ladies and +children, and his style of life will be strictly retired. In these +circumstances it would be unworthy of us as Scotchmen, or as men, +if this unfortunate family should meet with a word or a look from +the meanest individual tending to aggravate feelings which must +be at present so acute as to receive injury from insults, which +in other times would be passed over with perfect disregard. His +late opponents in his kingdom have gained the applause of Europe +for the generosity with which they have used their victory, and +the respect which they have paid to themselves in their moderation +towards an enemy. It would be a great contrast to that part of +their conduct which has been most generally applauded, were we, +who are strangers to the strife, to affect a deeper resentment +than those concerned more closely. Those who can recollect the +former residence of this unhappy prince in our Northern capital +cannot but remember the unobtrusive, quiet manner in which his +little court was then conducted, and now, still further restricted +and diminished, he may naturally expect to be received with civility +and respect by a nation whose good will he has done nothing to +forfeit. Whatever may have been his errors towards his own subjects, +we cannot but remember in his adversity that he did not in his +prosperity forget that Edinburgh had extended him her hospitality, +but that at the period when the fires consumed so much of our city, +he sent a princely benefaction to the sufferers.... If there be +any who entertain angry or invidious recollections of late events +in France, they ought to remark that the ex-monarch has by his +abdication renounced the conflict, into which perhaps he was engaged +by bad advice, that he can no longer be an object of resentment +to the brave, but remains, to all, the most striking example of +the instability of human affairs which our unstable times have +afforded. He may say, with our own deposed Richard,-- + + 'With mine own hands I washed away my blame; + With mine own hands I gave away my crown; + With my own tongue deny my sacred state.' + +"He brings among us his 'gray, discrownèd head,' and in a 'nation +of gentlemen,' as we were emphatically termed by the very highest +authority, it is impossible, I trust, to find a man mean enough +to insult the slightest hair of it." + +Charles X. was greatly indebted to this letter for the cordiality +of his reception at Edinburgh, where he lived in dignified retirement +for about two years; then, finding that the climate was too cold +for his old age, and that the English Government was disquieted +because of the attempts of the Duchesse de Berri to revive her +son's claims to the French throne, he made his way to Bohemia, +and lived for a while in the Castle of Prague. At last he decided +to make his final residence in the Tyrol, not far from the warm +climate of Italy. It is said that as the exiled, aged king cast +a last look at the Gothic towers of the Castle of Prague, he said +to those about him: "We are leaving yonder walls, and know not to +what we may be going, like the patriarchs who knew not as they +journeyed where they would pitch their tents."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Angoulême.] + +On reaching the Baths of Töplitz, where the waters seemed to agree +with him, and where he wished to rest awhile, he found it needful +to "move on," for the house he occupied had been engaged for the +king of Prussia. The cholera, too, was advancing. The exiled party +reached Budweiz, a mountain village with a rustic inn, and there +it was forced to halt for some weeks, for the Duc de Bordeaux was +taken ill with cholera. It was a period of deep anxiety to those +about him, but at last he recovered. + +After trying several residences in the Tyrolese mountains, to which +the old king had gone largely in hopes that he might enjoy the +pleasures of the chase, the exiled family fixed its residence at +Goritz towards the end of October, 1836. The king was then in his +eightieth year, but so hale and active that he spent whole mornings +on foot, with his gun, upon the mountains. + +The weather changed soon after the family had settled at Goritz. +The keen winter winds blew down from the snow mountains, but the +king did not give up his daily sport. One afternoon, after a cold +morning spent upon the hills, he was seized at evening service +in the chapel with violent spasms. These passed off, but on his +joining his family later, its members were struck by the change +in his appearance. In a few hours he seemed to have aged years. +At night he grew so ill that extreme unction was administered to +him. It was an attack of cholera. When dying, he blessed his little +grandchildren, the boy and girl, who, notwithstanding the nature of +his illness, were brought to him. "God preserve you, dear children," +he said. "Walk in paths of righteousness. Don't forget me.... Pray +for me sometimes." + +He died Nov. 6, 1836, just one week after Louis Napoleon made his +first attempt to have himself proclaimed Emperor of the French, +at Strasburg. + +He was buried near Goritz, in a chapel belonging to the Capuchin +Friars. In another chapel belonging to the same lowly order in +Vienna, had been buried four years before, another claimant to the +French throne, the Duc de Reichstadt, the only son of Napoleon. + +On the coffin of the ex-king was inscribed,-- + +"Here lieth the High, the Potent, and most Excellent Prince, Charles +Tenth of that name; by the Grace of God King of France and of Navarre. +Died at Goritz, Nov. 6, 1836, aged 79 years and 28 days." + +All the courts of Europe put on mourning for him, that of France +excepted. The latter part of his life, with its reverses and +humiliations, he considered an expiation, not for his political +errors, but for the sins of his youth. + +As he drew near his end, his yearnings after his lost country increased +more and more. He firmly believed that the day would come when his +family would be restored to the throne of France, but he believed +that it would not be by conspiracy or revolt, but by the direct +interposition of God. That time did almost come in 1871, after +the Commune. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LOUIS PHILIPPE AND HIS FAMILY. + +Louis Philippe, after accepting the lieutenant-generalship of the +kingdom, which would have made him regent under Henri V., found +himself raised by the will of the people--or rather, as some said, +by the will of the _bourgeoisie_--to the French throne. He reigned, +not by "right divine," but as the chosen ruler of his countrymen,--to +mark which distinction he took the title of King of the French, +instead of King of France, which had been borne by his predecessors. + +It is hardly necessary for us to enter largely into French politics +at this period. The government was supposed to be a monarchy planted +upon republican institutions. The law recognized no hereditary +aristocracy. There was a chamber of peers, but the peers bore no +titles, and were chosen only for life. The dukes, marquises, and +counts of the old régime retained their titles only by courtesy. + +The ministers of Charles X. were arrested and tried. The new king +was very anxious to secure their personal safety, and did so at a +considerable loss of his own popularity. They were condemned to +lose all property and all privileges, and were sent to the strong +fortress of Ham. After a few years they were released, and took +refuge in England. + +There were riots in Paris when it was known that the ministers +and ill-advisers of the late king were not to be executed; one +of the leaders in these disturbances was an Italian bravo named +Fieschi,--a man base, cruel, and bold, whom Louis Blanc calls a +_scélérat bel esprit_. + +The _émeute_ which was formidable, was suppressed chiefly by a +gallant action on the part of the king, who, while his health was +unimpaired, was never wanting in bravery. "The king of the French," +says Greville, "has put an end to the disturbances in Paris about +the sentence of the ministers by an act of personal gallantry. At +night, when the streets were most crowded and agitated, he sallied +from the Palais Royal on horseback, with his son, the Duc de Nemours, +and his personal _cortège_, and paraded through Paris for two hours. +That did the business. He was received with shouts of applause, +and at once reduced everything to tranquillity. He deserves his +throne for this, and will probably keep it." + +The next trouble in the new reign was the alienation of public +favor from Lafayette, who had done so much to place the king upon +the throne. He was accused by one party of truckling to the new +court, by the other of being too much attached to revolutionary +methods and republican institutions. He was removed from the command +of the National Guard, and his office of commander-in-chief of +that body was abolished. + +All Europe becomes "a troubled sea" when a storm breaks over France. +"I never remember," writes Greville at this period, "days like +these, nor read of such,--the terror and lively expectation that +prevails, and the way in which people's minds are turned backward and +forward from France to Ireland, then range exclusively from Poland +to Piedmont, and fix again on the burnings, riots, and executions +that are going on in England." + +Meantime France was subsiding into quiet, with occasional slight +shocks of revolutionary earthquake, before returning to order and +peace. The king was _le bon bourgeois_. He had lived a great deal +in England and the United States, and spoke English well. He had +even said in his early youth that he was more of an Englishman +than a Frenchman. He was short and stout. His head was shaped like +a pear, and was surmounted by an elaborate brown wig; for in those +days people rarely wore their own gray hair. + +He did not impress those who saw him as being in any way majestic; +indeed, he looked like what he was,--_le bon père de famille_. +As such he would have suited the people of England; but it was +_un vert galant_ like Henri IV., or royalty incarnate, like Louis +XIV., who would have fired the imagination of the French people. +As a good father of a family, Louis Philippe felt that his first +duty to his children was to secure them a good education, good +marriages, and sufficient wealth to make them important personages +in any sudden change of fortune. + +At the time of his accession all his children were unmarried,--indeed, +only four of them were grown up. The sons all went to _collège_,--which +means in France what high-school does with us. Their mother's +dressing-room at Neuilly was hung round with the laurel-crowns, +dried and framed, which had been won by her dear school-boys. + +The eldest son, Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans, was an extraordinarily +fine young man, far more a favorite with the French people than his +father. Had he not been killed in a carriage accident in 1842, he +might now, in his old age, have been seated on the French throne. + +One of the first objects of the king was to secure for his heir +a suitable marriage. A Russian princess was first thought of; but +the Czar would not hear of such a _mésalliance_. Then the hand of an +Austrian archduchess was sought, and the young lady showed herself +well pleased with the attentions of so handsome and accomplished a +suitor; but her family were as unfavorable to the match as was the +Czar of Russia. Finally, the Duke of Orleans had to content himself +with a German Protestant princess, Hélène of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +a woman above all praise, who bore him two sons,--the Comte de +Paris, born in 1838, and the Duc de Chartres, born a year or two +later. + +The eldest daughter of Louis Philippe, the Princess Louise, was +married, soon after her father's elevation to the throne, to King +Leopold of Belgium, widower of the English Princess Charlotte, and +uncle to Prince Albert and to Queen Victoria. The French princess +thus became, by her marriage, aunt to these high personages. They +were deeply attached to her. She named her eldest daughter Charlotte, +after the lamented first wife of her husband. The name was Italianized +into Carlotta,--the poor Carlotta whose reason and happiness were +destroyed by the misfortunes of her husband in Mexico. + +The second son of Louis Philippe was the Duc de Nemours,--a _blond_, +stiff young officer who was never a favorite with the French, though +he distinguished himself in Algeria as a soldier. He too found it +hard to satisfy his father's ambition by a brilliant marriage, +though a throne was offered him, which he had to refuse. He then +aspired to the hand of Maria da Gloria, the queen of Portugal; +but he married eventually a pretty little German princess of the +Coburg race. + +The third son was Philippe, Prince de Joinville, the sailor. He +chose a bride for himself at the court of Brazil, and brought her +home in his frigate, the "Belle Poule." + +The charming artist daughter of Louis Philippe, the Princess Marie, +pupil and friend of Ary Scheffer, the artist, married the Duke of +Würtemberg, and died early of consumption. Her only child was sent +to France, and placed under the care of his grandmother. Princess +Clémentine married a colonel in the Austrian service, a prince +of the Catholic branch of the house of Coburg. Her son is Prince +Ferdinand, the present ruler of Bulgaria. + +The marriage of Louis Philippe's fifth son, the Duc de Montpensier, +with the Infanta Luisa is so closely connected with Louis Philippe's +downfall that it can be better told elsewhere; but we may here +say a few words about the fortunes of Henri, Duc d'Aumale, the +king's fourth son, who has proved himself a man brave, generous, +patriotic and high-minded, a soldier, a statesman, an historian, +patron of art, and in all these things a man eminent among his +fellows. He was only a school-boy when a tragic and discreditable +event made him heir of the great house of Condé, and endowed him +with wealth that he refuses to pass on to his family, proposing +at his death to present it to the French people and the French +Academy. + +The royal family of the house of Bourbon was divided in France into +three branches,--the reigning branch, the head of which was Charles +X.; the Orleans branch, the head of which was Louis Philippe; and +the Condé branch, the chief of which, and its sole representative +at this period, was the aged Duke of Bourbon, whose only son, the +Prince d'Enghien, had been shot by order of Napoleon. + +This old man, rich, childless, and miserable, had had a romantic +history. When very young he had fallen violently in love with his +cousin, the Princess Louise of Orleans. He was permitted to marry +her, but only on condition that they should part at the church +door,--she to enter a convent for two years, he to serve for the +same time in the French army. They were married with all pomp and +ceremony; but that night the ardent bridegroom scaled the walls +of the convent and bore away his bride. Unhappily their mutual +attachment did not last long. "It went out," says a contemporary +memoir-writer, "like a fire of straw."[1] At last hatred took the +place of love, and the quarrels between the Prince de Condé (as +the Duc de Bourbon was then called) and his wife were among the +scandals of the court of Louis XVI., and helped to bring odium +on the royal family. + +[Footnote 1: Madame d'Oberkirch.] + +The only child of this marriage was the Duc d'Enghien. The princess +died in the early days of the Revolution. Her husband formed the +army of French _émigrés_ at Coblentz, and led them when they invaded +their own country. On the death of his father he became Duke of +Bourbon, but his promising son, D'Enghien, was already dead. The +duke married while in exile the princess of Monaco, a lady of very +shady antecedents. She was, however, received by Louis XVIII. in +his little court at Hartwell. She died soon after the Restoration. + +In 1830 the old duke, worn out with sorrows and excesses, was completely +under the power of an English adventuress, a Madame de Feuchères.[1] +He had settled on her his Château de Saint-Leu, together with very +large sums of money. Several years before 1830 it had occurred to +Madame de Feuchères that the De Rohans, who were related to the +duke on his mother's side, might dispute these gifts and bequests, +and by way of making herself secure, she sought the protection +of Louis Philippe, then Duke of Orleans. She offered to use her +influence with the Duke of Bourbon to induce him to make the Duc +d'Aumale, who was his godson, his heir, if Louis Philippe would +engage to stand her friend in any trouble. + +[Footnote 1: Louis Blanc.] + +The relations of the Duc de Bourbon to this woman bore a strong +resemblance to those that Thackeray has depicted between Becky +Sharp and Jos Sedley. The old man became thoroughly in fear of +her; and when the Revolution broke out later, he was also much +afraid of being plundered and maltreated at Saint-Leu by the +populace,--not, however, because he had any great regard for his +cousin Charles X., with whom in his youth he had fought a celebrated +duel. Impelled by these two fears, he resolved to escape secretly +from France, and so rid himself of the tyranny of Madame de Feuchères +and the dangers of Revolution. + +He arranged his flight with a trusted friend; it was fixed for +the day succeeding Aug. 31, 1830,--a month after the Revolution. +That evening he retired to his chamber in good spirits, though +he said good-night more impressively than usual to some persons +in his household. The next morning he was found dead, hanging to +one of the _espagnolettes_, or heavy fastenings, of a tall French +window. The village authorities were summoned; but although it +was impossible a man so infirm could have thus killed himself and +though many other circumstances proved that he did not die by his +own hand, they certified his death by suicide. The Catholic Church, +however, did not accept this verdict, and the duke was buried with +the rites of religion. + +There was certainly no proof that Madame de Feuchères had had any +hand in the murder of the old man who had plotted to escape from +her, and who had expressed to others his dread of the tyranny she +exercised over him; but there was every ground for strong suspicion, +and the public lost no time in fastening part of the odium that +attached to the supposed murderess on the king, whose family had +so greatly benefited by her influence over the last head of the +house of Condé. She retained her ill-gotten wealth, and removed +at once to Paris. She had been engaged in stock operations for +some time, and now gave herself up to them, winning enormous sums. + +The new throne was sadly shaken by these events, added to discontents +concerning the king's prudent policy of non-intervention in the +attempted revolutions of other countries, which followed that of +France in 1830 and 1831. The next very interesting event of this +reign was the escapade and the discomfiture of the young Duchesse +de Berri. + +About the close of 1832, while France and all Europe were still +experiencing the after-shocks which followed the Revolution of +July, Marie Caroline, the Duchesse de Berri, planned at Holyrood +a descent upon France in the interests of the Duc de Bordeaux, +her son.[1] Had he reigned in consequence of the deaths of his +grandfather and uncle, Charles X. and the Duc d'Angoulême, the +duchess his mother was to have been regent during his minority. +She regretted her inaction during the days of July, when, had she +taken her son by the hand and presented him herself to the people, +renouncing in his name and her own all ultra-Bourbon traditions +and ideas, she might have saved the dynasty. + +[Footnote 1: Louis Blanc and papers in "Figaro."] + +[Illustration: MARIE CAROLINE FERDINANDE LOUISE, DUCHESSE DE BERRY. +Née à Naples, le 5 Novembre 1798.] + +Under the influence of this regret, and fired by the idea of becoming +another Jeanne d'Albret, she urged her plans on Charles X., who +decidedly disapproved of them; but "the idea of crossing the seas +at the head of faithful paladins, of landing after the perils and +adventures of an unpremeditated voyage in a country of knights-errant, +of eluding by a thousand disguises the vigilance of enemies through +whom she had to pass, of wandering, a devoted mother and a banished +queen, from hamlet to hamlet and from château to château, appealing +to human nature high and low on its romantic side, and at the end of +a victorious conspiracy unfurling in France the ancient standard of +the monarchy, was too dazzling not to attract a young, high-spirited +woman, bold through her very ignorance, heroic through mere levity, +able to endure anything but depression and _ennui_, and prepared to +overbear all opposition with plausible platitudes about a mother's +love."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Louis Blanc, Histoire de Dix Ans.] + +At last Charles X. consented to let her follow her own wishes; +but he placed her under the guardianship of the Duc de Blancas. +She set out through Holland and the Tyrol for Italy. She travelled +_incognita_, of course. Charles Albert, of Sardinia, received her +at Turin with great personal kindness, and lent her a million of +francs,--which he borrowed from a nobleman of his court under pretence +of paying the debts of his early manhood; but he was forced to +request her to leave his dominions, and she took refuge with the +Duke of Modena, who assigned her a palace at Massa, about three +miles from the Mediterranean. A rising was to be made simultaneously +in Southern France and in La Vendée. Lyons had just been agitated +by a labor insurrection, and Marseilles was the first point at +which it was intended to strike. + +The Legitimists in France were divided into two parties. One, under +Chateaubriand and Marshal Victor, the Duc de Bellune, wished to +restore Henri V. only by parliamentary and legal victories; the +other, favored by the court at Holyrood, was for an armed intervention +of the Great Powers. The Duc de Blancas was considered its head. + +The question of the invasion of France with foreign troops was +excitedly argued at Massa. The duchess wished above all things to +get rid of the tutelage of M. de Blancas, and she was disposed to +favor, to a certain extent, the more moderate views of Chateaubriand. +After endless quarrels she succeeded in sending off the duke to +Holyrood, and was left to take her own way. + +April 14, 1832, was fixed upon for leaving Massa. It was given out +that the duchess, was going to Florence. At nightfall a carriage, +containing the duchess, with two ladies and a gentleman of her +suite, drove out of Massa and waited under the shadow of the city +wall. While a footman was absorbing the attention of the coachman +by giving him some minute, unnecessary orders, Madame (as they +called the duchess) slipped out of the carriage door with one of her +ladies, while two others, who were standing ready in the darkness, +took their places. The carriage rolled away towards Florence, while +Madame and her party, stealing along under the dark shadow of the +city wall, made their way to the port, where a steamer was to take +them on board. + +That steamer was the "Carlo Alberto," a little vessel which had +been already used by some republican conspirators, and had been +purchased for the service of Marie Caroline. It had some of her +most devoted adherents on board, but the captain was in ignorance. +He thought himself bound for Genoa, and was inclined to disobey +when his passengers ordered him to lay to off the harbor of Massa. +However, they used force, and at three in the morning Marie Caroline, +who was sleeping, wrapped in her cloak, upon the sand, was roused, +put on board a little boat, and carried out to the steamer. She +had a tempestuous passage of four days to Marseilles. The steamer +ran out of coal, and had to put into Nice. At last, in a heavy sea +which threatened to dash small craft to pieces, a fishing-boat +approached the "Carlo Alberto," containing some of the duchess's +most devoted friends. With great danger she was transferred to +it, and was landed on the French coast. She scrambled up slippery +and precipitous rocks, and reached a place of safety. But the delay +in the arrival of her steamer had been fatal to her enterprise. +A French gentleman in the secret had hired a small boat, and put +out to sea in the storm to see if he could perceive the missing +vessel. His conduct excited the suspicion of his crew, who talked +about it at a wine-shop, where they met other sailors, who had their +story to tell of a lady landed mysteriously a few hours before at a +dangerous and lonely spot a few miles away. The two accounts soon +reached the ears of the police, and Marseilles was on the alert, +when a party of young men, with their swords drawn and waving white +handkerchiefs, precipitated their enterprise, by appearing in the +streets and striving to rouse the populace. They were arrested, as +were also the passengers left on board the "Carlo Alberto,"--among +them was a lady who deceived the police into a belief that she was +the Duchesse de Bern. + +Under cover of this mistake the duchess, finding that all hope +was over in the southern provinces, resolved to cross France to +La Vendée. At Massa she had had a dream. She thought the Duc de +Bern had appeared to her and said: "You will not succeed in the +South, but you will prosper in La Vendée." + +She quitted the hut in which she had been concealed, made her way +on foot through a forest, lost herself, and had to sleep in the +vacant cabin of a woodcutter. The next night she passed under the +roof of a republican, who respected her sex and would not betray +her. She then reached the château of a Legitimist nobleman with +the appropriate name of M. de Bonrecueil. Thence she started in +the morning in a postchaise to cross all France along its public +roads. + +She accomplished her journey in safety, and fixed May 24, 1832, as +the day for taking up arms. She made her headquarters at a Breton +farm-house, Les Meliers. She wore the costume of a boy,--a peasant +of La Vendée--and called herself Petit Pierre. + +On May 21, three days before the date fixed upon for the rising, +she was waited upon by the chiefs,--the men most likely to suffer +in an abortive insurrection,--and was assured that the attempt would +fail. Had the South risen, La Vendée would have gladly joined the +insurrection; but unsupported by the South, the proposed enterprise was +too rash a venture. Overpowered by these arguments and the persuasions +of those around her, Marie Caroline gave way, and consented to +return to Scotland with a passport that had been provided for her. +But in the night she retracted her consent, and insisted that the +rising should take place upon the 3d of June. She was obeyed; but +what little prospect of success there might have been at first, +was destroyed by the counter-order of May 22. All who rose were at +once put down by the king's troops, and atrocities on both sides +were committed. + +Nantes, the capital city of La Vendée, was hostile to the duchess; +in Nantes, therefore, she believed her enemies would never search +for her. She took refuge there in the house of two elderly maiden +ladies, the Demoiselles Duguigney, where she remained five months. +They must have been months of anguish to her, and of unspeakable +impatience. It is very possible that the Government did not care +to find her. She was the queen's niece, and if captured what could +be done with her? To set her free to hatch new plots would have +been bitterly condemned by the republicans; to imprison her would +have made an additional motive for royalist conspiracies; to execute +her would have been impossible. Marie Caroline, however, had solved +these difficult problems by her own misconduct. + +Meantime the premiership of France passed into the hands of M. +Thiers. A Jew--a Judas--named Deutz, came to him mysteriously, +and bargained to deliver into his hands the Duchesse de Berri. +Thiers, who had none of the pity felt for her by the Orleans family, +closed with the offer. Some years before, Deutz had renounced his +Jewish faith and pretended to turn Christian. Pope Gregory XVI. +had patronized him, and had recommended him to the Duc de Berri as +a confidential messenger. He had frequently carried despatches of +importance, and knew that the duchess was in Nantes, but he did not +know her hiding-place. He contrived to persuade her to grant him an +interview. It took place at the Demoiselles Duguigney's house; but +he was led to believe that she only used their residence for that +purpose. With great difficulty he procured a second interview, in +the course of which, having taken his measures beforehand, soldiers +surrounded the house. Before they could enter it, word was brought +to the duchess that she was betrayed. She fled from the room, and +when the soldiers entered they could not find her. They were certain +that she had not left the house. They broke everything to pieces, +sounded the walls, ripped up the beds and furniture. Night came +on, and troops were left in every chamber. In a large garret, where +there was a wide fireplace, the soldiers collected some newspapers +and light wood, and about midnight built a fire. Soon within the +chimney a noise of kicking against an iron panel was heard, and +voices cried: "Let us out,--we surrender!" + +For sixteen hours the duchess and two friends had been imprisoned +in a tiny hiding-place, separated from the hearth by a thin iron +sliding-panel, which, when the soldiers lit their fire, had grown +red hot. The gentleman of the party was already badly burned, and +the women were nearly suffocated. The gendarmes kicked away the +fire, the panel was pushed back, and the duchess, pale and fainting, +came forth and surrendered. The commander of the troops was sent +for. To him she said: "General, I confide myself to your honor." +He answered, "Madame, you are under the safeguard of the honor +of France." + +This capture was a great embarrassment to the Government. Pity +for the devoted mother, the persecuted princess, the brave, +self-sacrificing woman, stirred thousands of hearts. The duchess +was sent at once to an old château called Blaye, on the banks of +the Gironde, the estuary formed by the junction of the Dordogne +and the Garonne. Tradition said that the old castle had been built +by the paladin Orlando (or Roland), and that he had been buried +within its walls after he fell at Roncesvalles. + +In this citadel the Duchesse de Berri was confined, with every +precaution against escape or rescue; and the restraint and monotony +of such a life soon told upon a woman of her character. She could +play the heroine, acting well her part, with an admiring world +for her audience; but "cabined, cribbed, confined" in an old, +dilapidated castle, her courage and her health gave way. She was +cheered, however, at first by Legitimist testimonies of devotion. +Chateaubriand wrote her a memorable letter, imploring her, in the +name of M. de Malesherbes, his ancestor who had defended Louis XVI., +to let him undertake her defence, if she were brought to trial; but +the reigning family of France had no wish to proceed to such an +extremity. The duchess had not come of a stock in which all the +women were _sans reproche_, like Marie Amélie. Her grandmother, Queen +Caroline of Naples, the friend of Lady Hamilton and of Lord Nelson, +had been notoriously a bad woman; her sister, Queen Christina of +Spain, had made herself equally famous; and doubts had already been +thrown on the legitimacy of the son of the duchess, the posthumous +child of the Duc de Berri. The queen of France, who was almost a +saint, had been fond of her young relative for her many engaging +qualities; and what to do with her, in justice to France, was a +difficult problem. + +To the consternation and disgust of the Legitimists, the heroine +of La Vendée dropped from her pedestal and sank into the mire. +"She lost everything," says Louis Blanc,--"even the sympathy of +the most ultra-partisans of the Bourbon dynasty; and she deserved +the fate that overtook her. It was the sequel to the discovery of a +terrible secret,--a secret whose publicity became a just punishment +for her having, in pursuit of her own purposes, let loose on France +the dogs of civil war." + +In the midst of enthusiasm for her courage and pity for her fate, +rose a rumor that the duchess would shortly give birth to a child. +It was even so. The news fell like a blow on the hearts of the +royalists. If she had made a clandestine, morganatic marriage, she +had by the law of France forfeited her position as regent during +her son's minority; she had forgotten his claims on her and those +of France. If there was no marriage, she had degraded herself past +all sympathy. At any rate, now she was harmless. The policy of +the Government was manifestly to let her child be born at Blaye, +and then send her to her Neapolitan home. + +Her desire was to leave Blaye before her confinement. In vain she +pleaded her health and a tendency to consumption. The Government +sent physicians to Blaye, among them the doctor who had attended +the duchess after the birth of the Duc de Bordeaux; for it insisted +on having full proof of her disgrace before releasing her. But +before this disgrace was announced in Paris, twelve ardent young +Legitimists had bound themselves to fight twelve duels with twelve +leading men of the opposite party, who might, if she were brought +to trial, injure her cause. The first of these duels took place; +Armand Carrel, the journalist, being the liberal champion, while +M. Roux-Laborie fought for the duchess. The duel was with swords, +and lasted three minutes. Twice Carrel wounded his adversary in +the arm; but as he rushed on him the third time, he received a +deep wound in the abdomen. The news spread through Paris. The prime +minister, M. Thiers, sent his private secretary for authentic news +of Carrel's state. The attendants refused to allow the wounded +man to be disturbed. "Let him see me," said Carrel; "for I have +a favor to ask of M. Thiers,--that he will let no proceedings be +taken against M. Roux-Laborie." + +Government after this became anxious to quench the loyalty of the +Duchesse de Berri's defenders as soon and as effectually as possible. +The duel with Armand Carrel was fought Feb. 2, 1833; on the 22d +of February General Bugeaud, commander of the fortress of Blaye, +received from the duchess the following declaration:-- + + Under the pressure of circumstances and of measures + taken by Government, I think it due to myself and to my + children (though I have had grave reasons for keeping my + marriage a secret) to declare that I have been privately + married during my late sojourn in Italy. + (Signed) MARIE CAROLINE. + +From that time up to the month of May the duchess continued to +make vain efforts to obtain her release before the birth of her +child. It had been intimated to her that she should be sent to +Palermo as soon afterwards as she should be able to travel. + +The Government took every precaution, that the event might be verified +when it took place. Six or seven of the principal inhabitants of +Blaye were stationed in an adjoining chamber, as is the custom +at the birth of princes. + +A little girl having been born, these witnesses were summoned to +the chamber by Madame de Hautfort, the duchess's lady-in-waiting. +The duchess answered their questions firmly, and on returning to +the next room, her own physician declared on oath that the duchess +was the lawful wife of Count Hector Luchesi-Palli, of the family +of Campo Formio, of Naples, gentleman of the bedchamber to the +king of the Two Sicilies, living at Palermo. + +This was the first intimation given of the parentage of the child. +A mouth later, Marie Caroline and her infant embarked on board a +French vessel, attended by Marshal Bugeaud, and were landed at +Palermo. Very few of the duchess's most ardent admirers in former +days were willing to accompany her. Her baby died before it was +many months old. Charles X. refused to let her have any further +care or charge of her son. "As Madame Luchesi-Palli," he said, +"she had forfeited all claims to royal consideration." + +A reconciliation, however, official rather than real, was patched +up by Chateaubriand between the duchess and Charles X.; but her +political career was over. She was allowed to see the Duc de Bordeaux +for two or three days once a year. The young prince was thenceforward +under the maternal care of his aunt, the Duchesse d'Angoulême. The +Duchesse de Berri passed the remainder of her adventurous life in +tranquillity. Her marriage with Count Luchesi-Palli was apparently +a happy one. They had four children. She owned a palace in Styria, +and another on the Grand Canal at Venice, where she gave popular +parties. In 1847 she gave some private theatricals, at which were +present twenty-seven persons belonging to royal or imperial families. +Her buoyancy of spirit kept her always gay. One would have supposed +that she would be overwhelmed by the fall we have related. She +was good-natured, charitable, and extravagant. She died leaving +heavy debts, which the Duc de Bordeaux paid for her. Her daughter +Louise, sister of the Duc de Bordeaux, married the Duke of Parma, +who was assassinated in 1854. Their daughter married Don Carlos, +who claims at present to be rightful heir to the thrones of France +and Spain. She died in 1864, shortly after the Count Luchesi-Palli. +The Duchesse de Berri, who in her later years became very devout, +_d'après la manière Italienne_, as somebody has said, wrote thus +about his death:-- + +"I have been so tried that my poor head reels. The loss of my good +and pious daughter made me almost crazy, but the care of my husband +had somewhat calmed me, when God took him to himself. He died like +a saint in my arms, with his children around him, smiling at me +and pointing to heaven." + +The duchess died suddenly at Brussels in 1870, aged seventy-one. +"And," adds an intensely Legitimist writer from whom I have taken +these details of her declining years, "had she lived till 1873, she +would have given her son better advice than that he followed."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Mémoire de la Duchesse d'Angoulême.] + +Without following the ins and outs of politics during the first ten +years of Louis Philippe's reign, which were checkered by revolts, +_émeutes_, and attempts at regicide, I pass on to the next event +of general interest,--the explosion of the "infernal machine" of +Fieschi. + +It was customary for King Louis Philippe to make a grand military +promenade through Paris on one of the three days of July which +during his reign were days of public festivity. On the morning of +July 28, 1835, as the clock struck ten, the king, accompanied by +his three elder sons, Marshals Mortier and Lobeau, his ministers, +his staff, his household, and many generals, rode forth to review +forty thousand troops along the Boulevards. At midday they reached +the Boulevard du Temple. There, as the king was bending forward +to receive a petition, a sudden volley of musketry took place, +and the pavement was strewed with dead and dying. Marshal Mortier +was killed, together with a number of officers of various grades, +some bystanders, a young girl, and an old man. The king had not been +shot, but as his horse started, he had received a severe contusion +on the arm. The Duke of Orleans and the Prince de Joinville were +slightly hurt. Smoke came pouring from the third-story windows of +a house (No. 50) on the Boulevard. A man sprang from the window, +seized a rope hanging from the chimney, and swung himself on to +a lower roof. As he did so, he knocked down a flower-pot, which +attracted attention to his movements. A police agent saw him, and +a national guard arrested him. He was in his shirt-sleeves, and his +face was covered with blood. The infernal machine he had employed +consisted of twenty-five gun-barrels on a stand so constructed that +they could all be fired at once. Happily two did not go off, and +four burst, wounding the wretch who had fired them. Instantly the +reception of the king, which had been cold when he set forth, changed +into rapturous enthusiasm. He and his sons had borne themselves +with the greatest bravery. + +The queen had been about to quit the Tuileries to witness the review, +when the door of her dressing-room was pushed open, and a colonel +burst in, exclaiming: "Madame, the king has been fired at. He is not +hurt, nor the princes, but the Boulevard is strewn with corpses." +The queen, raising her trembling hands to heaven, waited only for +a repetition of his assurance that her dear ones were all safe, +and then set out to find the king. She met him on the staircase, +and husband and wife wept in each other's arms. + +The queen then went to her sons, looked at them, and touched them, +hardly able to believe that they were not seriously wounded, and +turned away, shuddering, from the blood on M. Thiers' clothes. +Then, returning to her chamber, she sent a note at once to her +younger boys, D'Aumale and Montpensier, who were with their tutors +at the Château d'Eu. It began with these words: "Fall down on your +knees, my children; God has preserved your father." + +Of course the Legitimists, and likewise the Republicans, were accused +of inspiring the attempt of Fieschi. The trials, that took place +about six months later, proved that the assassin Fieschi was a +wretch bearing a strong resemblance to our own Guiteau. + +The funeral ceremonies of the victims of the infernal machine were +celebrated with great pomp. The affair led to a partial reconciliation +between the new Government and the Legitimist clergy; it led also +to certain restrictions on the Press and an added stringency in +the punishment for crimes of the like character. + +On Jan. 31, 1836, the trial of the prisoners took place before +the Peers. The crowd of spectators was immense. There were five +prisoners, but the eyes of the spectators were fixed on only three. + +The first was a man under-sized, nervous and quick in his movements. +His face, which was disfigured by recent scars, had an expression +of cunning and impudence. His forehead was narrow, his hair cropped +close, one corner of his mouth was disfigured by a scar, his smile +was insolent, and so was his whole bearing. He seemed anxious to +concentrate the attention of all present on himself, smiled and +bowed to every one he knew, and seemed well satisfied with his +odious importance. + +The second was an old man, pale and ill. He bore himself with perfect +calmness. He seated himself where he was told to sit, and gave no +sign of emotion throughout the trial. + +The third was utterly prostrated by fear. + +The first was Fieschi; the second was called Morey; the third was +a grocer named Pepin. + +The two last had been arrested on the testimony of Nina Lassave, +who had had Fieschi for her lover. The life of this man had been +always base and infamous. He was a Corsican by birth, and had been +a French soldier. He had fought bravely, but after his discharge he +had been imprisoned for theft and counterfeiting. He led a wandering +life from town to town, living on his wits and indulging all his +vices. He had even succeeded in getting some small favors from +Government; but finding that he could not long escape punishment +for crimes known to the police, he undertook, apparently without any +especial motive, the wholesale murder of king, court, and princes. + +During his imprisonment his vanity had been so great that the officers +of the Crown played upon it in order to obtain confessions and +information. + +The only witness against Morey was Nina Lassave, who insisted that, +Fieschi having invented the murderous instrument, Morey had devised +a use for it, and that Pepin had furnished the necessary funds +for its completion. + +I give Louis Blanc's account of Fieschi's behavior on his trial, +because when foreign nations have reproached us for the scandal +of the license granted to the murderer of President Garfield on +his trial, I have never seen it remarked that Guiteau's conduct +was almost exactly like that of Fieschi. + +"With effrontery, with a miserable kind of pride, and with smiles +of triumph on his lips, he alluded to his victims with theatrical +gesticulations, and plumed himself on the magnitude of his own +infamy, answering his judges by ignoble buffooneries, playing the +part of an orator, making pretensions to learning, looking round +to see what effect he was producing, and courting applause. And +some of those who sat in judgment on him _did_ applaud. At each +of his atrocious vulgarisms many of the Peers laughed, and this +laugh naturally encouraged him. Did he make a movement to rise, +voices called out: 'Fieschi desires to say something, Monsieur le +Président! Fieschi is about to speak!' The audience was unwilling +to lose a word that might fall from the lips of so celebrated a +scoundrel. He could hardly contain himself for pride and satisfaction. +His bloody hand was eager to shake hands with the public, and there +were those willing to submit to it. He exchanged signs with the +woman Nina who was seated in the audience. He posed before the +spectators with infinite satisfaction. What more can we say? He +directed the proceedings. He prompted or browbeat the witnesses, +he undertook the duties of a prosecuting attorney. He regulated the +trial.... He directed coarse jokes at the unhappy Pepin; but reckless +as he was, he dared not meddle with Morey. He had no hesitation in +accusing himself. He owned himself the worst of criminals, and +declared that he esteemed himself happy to be able to pay with +his own blood for the blood of the unhappy victims of his crime. +But the more he talked about his coming fate, the plainer it was +that he expected pardon, and the more he flattered those on whom +that pardon might depend." + +The trial lasted twelve days, and very little was elicited about +the conspiracy,--if indeed there was one. Suddenly Pepin, whose +terror had been abject, rallied his courage, refused to implicate +Morey or to make revelations, and kept his resolution to the last. + +One of the five prisoners was acquitted, one was condemned to a +brief imprisonment, and Morey, Pepin, and Fieschi were sent to +the block. Up to almost the last moment Fieschi expected pardon; +but his last words were to his confessor: "I wish I could let you +know about myself five minutes from now." + +On the scaffold Morey's white hair elicited compassion from the +spectators. Pepin at the last moment was offered a pardon if he +would tell whence the money came that he had advanced to Fieschi. +He refused firmly, and firmly met his fate. + +The next day the woman who had betrayed her lover and the rest was +presiding at a café on the Place de la Bourse, having been engaged +as an attraction! + +After these horrors we turn with relief to some account of good +and noble women, the ladies of Louis Philippe's family. + +After the murderous attempt of Fieschi the king lived under a continual +expectation of assassination. He no longer walked the streets of +Paris with his cane under his arm. When he drove, he sat with his +back to the horses, because that position gave less certainty to +the aim of an assassin. It was said that his carriages were lined +with sheet-iron. He was thirteen times shot at, and the pallid +looks of the poor queen were believed to arise from continual +apprehension. Her nerves had been shaken by the diabolical attempt +of Fieschi, and she never afterwards would leave her husband, even +for a few days. She stayed away from the deathbed of her daughter, +the Queen of the Belgians, lest in her absence he should be +assassinated. + +Neuilly was the _home_ of the family, its beloved, particular retreat. +The greatest pang that Louis Philippe suffered in 1848 was its +total destruction by rioters. The little palace was furnished in +perfect taste, with elegance, yet with simplicity. The inlaid floors +were especially beautiful. The rooms were decorated with pictures, +many of them representing passages in the early life of the king. +In one he was teaching mathematics in a Swiss school; in another he +was romping with his children. His own cabinet was decorated with +his children's portraits and with works of art by his accomplished +daughter, the Princess Marie. The family sitting-room was furnished +with the princesses' embroidery, and there was a table painted +on velvet by the Duchesse de Berri. The library was large, and +contained many English books, among them a magnificent edition of +Shakspeare. The park enclosed one hundred acres. The gardens were +laid out in the English style. A branch of the Seine ran through +the grounds, with boat-houses and bath-houses for the pleasure +of the young princes,--and in one night this cherished home was +laid in ruins! + +[Illustration: _QUEEN MARIE AMÉLIE._] + +"All is possible," said Louis Philippe to a visitor who talked +with him at Claremont in his exile, "all is possible to France,--an +empire, a republic, the Comte de Chambord, or my grandson; but one +thing is impossible,--that any of these should last. _On a tué +le respect_,--the nation has killed respect." + +Queen Marie Amélie was born in Naples in 1782. Her mother was a +daughter of Maria Theresa, and sister to Marie Antoinette. This lady +was not one who inspired respect, but she had some good qualities. +She was a good mother to her children, and had plenty of ability. +Of course she hated the French Revolution, and everything that +savored of what are called liberal opinions. Her career, which +was full of vicissitudes and desperate plots, ended by her being +dismissed ignominiously from Naples by the English ambassador, +and she went to end her days with her nephew at Vienna. + +Marie Amélie used sometimes to tell her children how she had wept +when a child for the death of the little dauphin, the eldest son +of Louis XVI., who, before the Revolution broke out, was taken +away from the evil to come. She was to have been married to him +had he lived. When older, she had an early love-affair with her +cousin, Prince Antoine of Austria; but he was destined for the +Church, and the youthful courtship came to an untimely end. When +she first met her future husband, she and her family were living in +a sort of provisional exile in Palermo. The princess was twenty-seven, +Louis Philippe was ten or twelve years older, and they seem to have +been quite determined to marry each other very soon after their +acquaintance began. It was not easy to do so, however, for the +duke, as we have seen, was at that period too much a republican +to suit even an English Admiral; but the princess declared that +she would go into a convent if the marriage was forbidden, and +on Dec. 25, 1809, she became the wife of Louis Philippe. + +No description could do justice to the purity and charity of this +admirable woman; and in her good works she was seconded by her +sister-in-law, Madame Adélaïde, and by her daughter. + +"The queen," her almoner tells us, "had 500,000 francs a year for +her personal expenses, and gave away 400,000 of them." "M. Appert," +she would say to him, "give those 500 francs we spoke of, but put +them down upon next month's account. The waters run low this month; +my purse is empty." An American lady, visiting the establishment +of a great dressmaker in Paris, observed an old black silk dress +hanging over a chair. She remarked with some surprise: "I did not +know you would turn and fix up old dresses." "I do so only for +the queen," was the answer. + +The imposture, ingratitude, and even insolence of some of Marie +Amélie's petitioners failed to discourage her benevolence. For +instance, an old Bonapartist lady, according to M. Appert, one day +wrote to her:-- + + MADAME,--If the Bourbons had not returned to France, for the + misfortune of the country, my beloved mistress and protectress, + the Empress Marie Louise, would still be on the throne, and + I should not be under the humiliating necessity of telling you + that I am without bread, and that the wretched bed on which I + sleep is about to be thrown out of the garret I inhabit, because + I cannot pay a year's rent. I dare not ask you for assistance, + for my heart is with my real sovereign, and I cannot promise + you my gratitude. If, however, you think fit to preserve a life + which, since the misfortunes of my country, has been full of + bitterness, I will accept a loan. I should blush to receive a + gift. + + I am, Madame, your servant, C. + +When this impertinent letter was handed to the almoner, the queen +had written on it: "She must be very unhappy, for she is very unjust. +A hundred francs to be sent to her immediately, and I beg M. Appert +to make inquiries concerning this lady's circumstances." + +In vain the almoner remonstrated. The only effect of his remonstrance +was that the queen authorized him to make her gift 300 francs if +he found it necessary. When he knocked at the door of the garret +of the petitioner, she opened it with agitation. "Oh, Monsieur!" +she said, "are you the Commissioner of Police come to arrest me +for my outrageous letter to the queen? I am so unhappy that at +times I became deranged. I am sorry to have written as I did to a +princess who to all the poor is good and charitable." For answer, +M. Appert showed her her own letter, with the queen's memorandum +written upon it. "There was no lack of heartfelt gratitude then," +he says, "and no lack of poverty to need the triple benefaction." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LOUIS NAPOLEON'S EARLY CAREER.--STRASBURG, BOULOGNE, HAM. + +There is a theory held by some observers that the man who fails in +his duty to a woman who has claims upon his love and his protection, +never afterwards prospers; and perhaps the most striking illustration +of this theory may be found in the career of the Emperor Napoleon. +Nothing went well with him after his divorce from Josephine. His +only son died. The children of his brothers, with the exception +of Louis Napoleon, and the Prince de Canino, the son of Lucien, +were all ordinary men, inclined to the fast life of their period; +while the descendants of Josephine, honored and respected, are +now connected with many European thrones. + +The son of Napoleon, called by his grandfather, the Austrian emperor, +the Duc de Reichstadt, but by his own Bonaparte family Napoleon +II., died at Vienna, July 22, 1832. The person from whom, during +his short, sad life, he had received most kindness, and to whom, +during his illness, he was indebted for almost maternal care, was +the young wife of his cousin Francis, the Princess Sophia of Bavaria, +who in the same week that he died, became the mother of Maximilian, +the unfortunate Emperor of Mexico, who, exactly thirty-five years +after, on July 22, 1867, was shot at Queretaro. + +The Emperor Napoleon had made a decree that if male heirs failed +him, his dynasty should be continued by the sons of his brother +Joseph. Lucien, the republican, was passed over, as well as his +descendants; and Joseph failing of male heirs, the throne of France +was to devolve on Louis, king of Holland, and his heirs. Joseph +left only daughters, Zénaide and Charlotte. Louis Bonaparte when +he died, left but one son. + +Louis Bonaparte was nine years younger than his brother Napoleon, +who by no right of primogeniture, but by right of success, was +early looked upon as the head of the family of Bonaparte. He assumed +the place of father to his little brother Louis, and a very +unsatisfactory father he proved. Louis was studious, poetical, +solid, honorable, and unambitious. His brother was resolved to +make him a distinguished general and an able king. He succeeded +in making him a brave soldier and a very good general; but Louis +had no enthusiasm for the profession of arms. He hated bloodshed, +and above all he hated sack and pillage. He had no genius, and +crooked ways of any kind were abhorrent to him. When a very young +man he fell passionately in love with a lady, whom he called his +Sophie. But his brother and the world thought the real name of +the object of his affection was Emilie de Beauharnais, the Empress +Josephine's niece by marriage. This lady became afterwards the wife +of M. de La Vallette, Napoleon's postmaster-general, who after +the return of the Bourbons in 1815, was condemned to death with +Ney and Labédoyère. His wife saved him by changing clothes with +him in prison; but the fearful strain her nerves suffered until +she was sure of his escape, unsettled her reason. She was not sent +to an asylum, but lived to a great age in an _appartement_ in Paris, +carefully tended and watched over by her friends.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Jerrold's Life of Napoleon III.] + +But whether it was with a Sophie or an Emilie, Louis Bonaparte fell +in love, and Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter of Josephine, gay, +lively, poetical, and enthusiastic, had given her heart to General +Duroc, the Emperor Napoleon's aide-de-camp; therefore both the young +people resisted the darling project of Napoleon and Josephine to +marry them to each other. By such a marriage Josephine hoped to +avert the divorce that she saw to be impending. She fancied that +if sons were born to the young couple, Napoleon would be content +to leave his throne to the heir of his brother Louis, whom he had +adopted, and of his step-daughter, of whom he was very fond. But +Louis would not marry Hortense, and Hortense would not have Louis. +At last, however, in the excitement of a ball, a reluctant consent +was wrung from Louis; then Hortense was coerced into being a good +French girl, and giving up Duroc. She and Louis were married. A more +unhappy marriage never took place. Husband and wife were separated +by an insurmountable (or at least unsurmounted) incompatibility of +temperament. Louis was a man whose first thought was duty. Hortense +loved only gayety and pleasure. He particularly objected to her +dancing; she was one of the most graceful dancers ever seen, and +would not give it up to please him. In short, she was all graceful, +captivating frivolity; he, rigid and exacting. Both had burning +memories in their hearts of what "might have been," and above all, +after Louis became king of Holland, each took opposite political +views. Louis wanted to govern Holland as the good king of the Dutch; +Napoleon expected him to govern it in the interests of his dynasty, +and as a Frenchman. The brothers disagreed most bitterly. Napoleon +wrote indignant, unjust letters to Louis. Hortense took Napoleon's +side in the quarrel, and led a French party at the Dutch court. + +Intense was the grief of Louis and Hortense, Napoleon and Josephine, +when the eldest son of this marriage, the child on whom their hopes +were set, died of the croup at an early age. Hortense was wholly +prostrated by her loss. She had still one son, and was soon to +have another. The expected child was Charles Louis Napoleon, who +was to become afterwards Napoleon III. + +Soon after Louis Napoleon's birth, King Louis abdicated the throne +of Holland. He said he could not do justice to the interests and +wishes of his people, and satisfy his brother at the same time. +He retired to Florence, where he lived for many years, only once +more coming back to public life, viz., in 1814, to offer his help +to his brother Napoleon, when others were deserting him. + +Napoleon was very fond of Hortense's little boys, though in 1811 +he had completed his divorce, had married the Austrian archduchess, +and had a son of his own. + +Louis Napoleon has left us some fragmentary reminiscences of his +childhood, which have a curious interest. + +"My earliest recollections," he says, "go back to my baptism, and I +hasten to remark that I was three years old when I was baptized, in +1810, in the chapel at Fontainebleau. The emperor was my godfather, +and the Empress Marie Louise was my godmother. Then my memory carries +me back to Malmaison. I can still see my grandmother, the Empress +Josephine, in her _salon_, on the ground floor, covering me with +her caresses, and, even then, flattering my vanity by the care +with which she retailed my _bons mots_; for my grandmother spoiled +me in every particular, whereas my mother, from my tenderest years, +tried to correct my faults and to develop my good qualities. I +remember that once arrived at Malmaison, my brother and I were +masters to do as we pleased. The empress, who passionately loved +flowers and conservatories, allowed us to cut her sugar-canes, +that we might suck them, and she always told us to ask for anything +we might want. + +"One day, when she wished to know as usual, what we would like +best, my brother, who was three years older than I, and consequently +more full of sentiment, asked for a watch, with a portrait of our +mother; but I, when the empress said: 'Louis, ask for whatever +will give you the greatest pleasure,' begged to be allowed to go +out and paddle in the gutter with the little boys in the street. +Indeed, until I was seven years old it was a great grief to me to +have to ride always in a carriage with four or six horses. When, +in 1815, just before the arrival of the allied army in Paris, we +were hurried by our tutor to a hiding-place, and passed on foot +along the Boulevards, I felt the keenest sensations of happiness +within my recollection. Like all children, though perhaps even +more than most children, soldiers fixed my attention. Whenever at +Malmaison I could escape from the _salon_, I was off to the great +gates, where there were always grenadiers of the Garde Impériale. +One day, from a ground-floor window I entered into conversation +with one of these old _grognards_ who was on duty. He answered me +laughing. I called out: 'I know my drill. I have a little musket!' +Then the grenadier asked me to put him through his drill, and thus +we were found, I shouting, 'Present arms! Carry arms! Attention!' +the old grenadier obeying, to please me. Imagine my happiness! I +often went with my brother to breakfast with the emperor. When +he entered the room, he would come up to us, take our heads in +his hands, and so lift us on the table. This frightened my mother +very much, Dr. Corvisart having told her that such treatment was +very bad for children." + +The day before the Emperor Napoleon left Paris for the campaign +of Waterloo, Hortense carried her boys to the Tuileries to take +leave of him. Little Louis Napoleon contrived to run alone to his +uncle's cabinet, where he was closeted with Marshal Soult. As soon +as the boy saw the emotion in the emperor's face, he ran up to +him, and burying his head in his lap, sobbed out: "Our governess +says you are going to the wars,--don't go; don't go, Uncle." "And +why not, Louis? I shall soon come back." "Oh, Uncle, those wicked +allies will kill you! Let me go with you." The emperor took the +boy upon his knee and kissed him. Then, turning to Soult, who was +moved by the little scene, he said, "Here, Marshal, kiss him; he +will have a tender heart and a lofty spirit; he is perhaps the +hope of my race." + +After Waterloo, the emperor, who passed one night in Paris, kissed +the children at the last moment, with his foot upon the step of +the carriage that was to carry him the first stage of his journey +to St. Helena. + +After this, Hortense and her boys were not allowed to live in France. +Protected by an aide-de-camp of Prince Schwartzenberg, they reached +Lake Constance, on the farthest limits of Switzerland. There, after +a while, Queen Hortense converted a gloomy old country seat into a +refined and beautiful home. A great trial, however, awaited her. +King Louis demanded the custody of their eldest son, and little +Napoleon was taken from his mother, leaving her only Louis. Louis +had always been a "mother's boy," frail in health, thoughtful, +grave, loving, and full of sentiment. + +Hortense's life at Arenenberg was varied in the winter by visits +to Rome. Her husband lived in Florence, and they corresponded about +their boys. But though they met once again in after years, they +were husband and wife no more. Indeed, charming as Hortense was to +all the circle that surrounded her, tender as a mother, and devoted +as a friend, her conduct as a wife was not free from reproach. She +was a coquette by nature, and it is undeniable that more than one +man claimed to have been her lover. + +After a while her son Louis went for four years to college at +Heidelberg. Mother and son never forget the possibilities that +might lie before them. When the Italian revolution broke out, in +1832, Hortense went to Rome, both her sons being at that time in +Florence with their father. Although the elder was newly married +to his cousin, the daughter of King Joseph, both he and Louis were +full of restlessness, and caught the revolutionary fervor. They +contrived to escape from their father's house and to join the +insurgents, to the great displeasure of both father and mother; +but they were fired by enthusiasm for Italian liberty, and took +the oaths as Carbonari. + +King Louis and Queen Hortense were exceedingly distressed; both +foresaw the hopelessness of the Italian rising. Queen Hortense went +at once to Florence to consult her husband, and it was arranged that +she should go in pursuit of her sons, inducing them, if possible, +to give up all connection with so hopeless a cause. But before she +reached them, the insurgents, who seem to have had no fixed plan +and no competent leader, had come to the conclusion that Bonapartes +were not wanted in a struggle for republicanism; they therefore +requested the young men to withdraw, and their mother went after +them to Ancona. On her way she was met by her son Louis, who was +coming to tell her that his brother was dead. There has always been +mystery concerning the death of this young Napoleon. The accredited +account is that he sickened with the measles, and died at a roadside +inn on his way to Ancona. The unhappy mother went into that little +town upon the Adriatic with her youngest son; but she soon found +that the Austrians, having come to the help of the Pope, were at +its gates. Louis, too, had sickened with the measles. She hid him +in an inner chamber, and spread a report that he had escaped to +Corfu. She had with her an English passport for an English lady, +travelling to England with her two sons. She was obliged to substitute +a young Italian, who was compromised, for her dead son; and as +soon as Louis could rise from his bed, they set out, meeting With +many adventures until they got beyond the boundaries of Italy. +Under cover of their English passport they crossed France, and +visited the Château of Fontainebleau, where the mother pointed out +to her son the scenes of his childhood. + +The death of the Duc de Reichstadt in July, 1832, caused Louis +Napoleon to consider himself the head of the Napoleonic family. +According to M. Claude, the French Minister of Police, he came on +this occasion into Paris, and remained there long enough to dabble +in conspiracy. + +After spending a few months in England, mother and son went back +to Arenenberg, where they kept up a close correspondence with all +malcontents in France. The Legitimists preferred them the house of +Orleans, and the republicans of that period--judging from their +writings as well as their acts--evidently believed that Louis Napoleon, +now head of the house of Bonaparte, represented republican principles +based on universal suffrage, as well as the glories of France. + +One fine morning in October, 1836, Louis took leave of his mother +at Arenenberg, telling her that he was going to visit his cousins +at Baden. Stéphanie de Beauharnais in the days of the Empire had +been married to the Grand Duke of that little country. Queen Hortense +knew her son's real destination, no doubt, for she took leave of him +with great emotion, and hung around his neck a relic which Napoleon +had taken from the corpse of the Emperor Charlemagne when his tomb +was opened at Aix-la-Chapelle. It was a tiny fragment of wood, +said to be from the True Cross, set beneath a brilliant emerald. It +seems possible that this may have been the little ornament found +on the neck of the Prince Imperial after his corpse was stripped +by savages in Zululand. + +With this talisman against evil, and with the wedding-ring with +which Napoleon had married Josephine, upon his finger, Prince Louis +Napoleon set out upon an expedition so rash that we can hardly bring +ourselves to associate it with the character popularly ascribed +to the Third Emperor Napoleon. + +His plan was to overturn the government of Louis Philippe, and +then appeal to the people by a _plébiscite_,--_i. e._, a question +to be answered yes or no by universal suffrage. This same plan +he carried out successfully several times during his reign. + +He went from Arenenberg to Baden-Baden,[1] where he made his final +arrangements. Strasburg was to be the scene of his first attempt, +and at Baden-Baden he had an interview with Colonel Vambéry, who +commanded the Fourth Regiment of Artillery, part of the Strasburg +garrison. + +[Footnote 1: Louis Blanc, Dix Ans.] + +Louis Blanc, the republican and socialist historian, writing in +1843, speaks thus of Louis Napoleon:-- + +"Brought up in exile, unfamiliar with France, Louis Bonaparte had +assumed that the _bourgeoisie_ remembered only that the Empire +had curbed the Revolution, established social order, and given +France the Code Napoléon. He fancied that the working-classes would +follow the eagle with enthusiasm the moment it appeared, borne, +as of old, at the head of regiments, and heralded by the sound of +trumpets. A twofold error! The things the _bourgeoisie_ in 1836 +remembered most distinctly about Napoleon were his despotism and his +taste for war; and the most lasting impression of him amongst the +most intelligent in the working-classes was that whilst sowing the +seeds of democratic aspiration throughout Europe, he had carefully +weeded out all democratic tendencies in his own dominions." + +But though Louis Blanc is right in saying that the evil that Napoleon +did, lived after him in the memories of thinking men, it is also +true that those born since the fall of the Second Empire can have +no idea of the general enthusiasm that still lingered in France in +Louis Philippe's reign, round memories of the glories of Napoleon. +Men might not wish him back again, but they worshipped him as the +national demigod. After Sedan he was pulled down literally and +metaphorically from his pedestal; and the old feelings about him +which half a century ago even foreign nations seemed to share, +now seem obsolete and extravagant to readers of Lanfrey and the +books of Erckmann-Chatrian. + +Even in 1836, when Louis Napoleon in secret entered Strasburg, +he was surprised and disappointed to find that those on whom he +had counted to assist him in making the important "first step" in +his career, were very doubtful of its prudence. He had counted on +the co-operation of General Voirol, an old soldier of the Empire who +was in command of the Department in which Strasburg was situated; but +when he wrote him a letter, in the most moving terms appealing to +his affection for the emperor, the old general not only declined to +join the plot, but warned the Prefect of Strasburg that mischief was +on foot, though he did not mention in what quarter. The Government +in Paris seems, however, to have concluded that it would be best to +let a plot so very rash come to a head. There was a public singer, +calling herself Madame Gordon, at Baden, who flung herself eagerly +into the conspiracy. Louis Napoleon on quitting Arenenberg had +expected to meet several generals of distinction, who had served +under his uncle, at a certain trysting-place between Arenenberg +and Strasburg. He waited for them three days, but they never came. +He then resolved to continue his campaign without their aid or +encouragement, and entered Strasburg secretly on the night of Oct. +28, 1836. The next morning he had an interview with Colonel Vambéry, +who endeavored to dissuade him from his enterprise. + +Vambéry's prudent reasons made no impression on the prince, and +he then promised his assistance. Having done so, Louis Napoleon +offered him a paper, securing a pension of 10,000 francs to each +of his two children, in case he should be killed. The colonel tore +it up, saying, "I give, but do not sell, my blood." Major Parquin, +an old soldier of the Empire, who was in the garrison, had been +already won. On the night of the prince's arrival the conspirators +met at his lodging. + +Three regiments of infantry, three regiments of artillery, and +a battalion of engineers formed the garrison at Strasburg. The +wisest course would have been to appeal first to the third regiment +of artillery; but other counsels prevailed. The fourth artillery, +whose adhesion to the cause was doubtful, was chosen for the first +attempt. All depended upon the impression made upon this regiment, +which was the one in which Napoleon had served when captain of +artillery at Toulon. + +The night was spent in making preparations. Proclamations were +drawn up addressed to the soldiers, to the city, and to France; +and the first step was to be the seizure of a printing-office. + +At five o'clock in the morning the signal was given. The soldiers +of the fourth regiment of artillery were roused by the beating of the +_assemblée_. They rushed, half-dressed, on to their parade-ground. +Louis Napoleon, whose fate it was never to be ready, was not prompt +even on this occasion; he was finishing two letters to his mother. +One was to be sent to her at once if he succeeded, the other if +he failed. + +On entering the barrack-yard he found the soldiers waiting, drawn +up in line. On his arrival the colonel (Vambéry) presented him to +the troops as the nephew of Napoleon. He wore an artillery uniform. +A cheer rose from the line. Then Louis Napoleon, clasping a gilt +eagle brought to him by one of the officers, made a speech to the +men, which was well received. His cause seemed won. + +Next, followed by the troops, but exciting little enthusiasm in +the streets of Strasburg as he passed along them in the gray dawn +of a cloudy day, Louis Napoleon made his way to the quarters of +General Voirol. The general emphatically refused to join the movement, +and a guard was at once set over him. + +Up to this moment all had smiled upon the enterprise. The printing +of the proclamations was going rapidly on, the third regiment of +artillery was bringing out its guns and horses, and the inhabitants +of Strasburg, roused from their beds, were watching the movement +as spectators, prepared to assist it or to oppose it, according +as it made its way to success or failure. + +The prince, and the troops who supported him, next marched to the +barracks of the infantry. On their road they lost their way, and +approached the barracks in such a manner that they left themselves +only a narrow alley to retreat by, in case of failure. + +On the prince presenting himself to the guard, an old soldier of +the army of Napoleon kneeled and kissed his hand, when suddenly +one of the officers, who had his quarters in the town, rushed upon +the scene with his sword drawn, crying: "Soldiers, you are deceived! +This man is not the nephew of the Emperor Napoleon, he is an +impostor,--a relative of Colonel Vambéry!" + +This turned the tide. Whilst the soldiers stood irresolute, the +colonel of the regiment arrived. For a few moments he was in danger +from the adherents of the prince. His own soldiers rushed to his +rescue. A tumult ensued. The little band of Imperialists was surrounded, +and their cause was lost. + +Louis Napoleon yielded himself a prisoner. One or two of the +conspirators, among them Madame Gordon, managed to escape; the rest +were captured. + +News was at once sent by telegraph to Paris; but the great wooden-armed +telegraph-stations were in those days uncertain and unmanageable. +Only half of the telegram reached the Tuileries, where the king and +his ministers sat up all night waiting for more news. At daybreak +of October 30 a courier arrived, and then they learned that the +rising had been suppressed, and that the prince and his confederates +were in prison. + +Meantime the young officer in charge of Louis Napoleon's two letters +to Queen Hortense had prematurely come to the conclusion that the +prince was meeting with success, and had hurried off the letter +announcing the good news to his mother. + +How to dispose of such a capture as the head of the house of Bonaparte +was a great puzzle to Louis Philippe's ministers. They dared not +bring him to trial; they dared not treat him harshly. In the end +he was carried to Paris, lodged for a few days in the Conciergerie, +and then sent off, without being told his destination, to Cherbourg, +where he was put on board a French frigate which sailed with orders +not to be opened till she reached the equator. There it was found +that her destination was Rio Janeiro, where she was not to suffer +the prince to land, but after a leisurely voyage she was to put +him ashore in the United States. + +As the vessel was about to put to sea, an official personage waited +on the prince, and after inquiring if he had funds enough to pay his +expenses on landing, handed him, on the the part of Louis Philippe, +a considerable sum. + +On reaching Norfolk, Virginia, the prince landed, and learned, to +his very great relief, that all his fellow-conspirators had been +tried before a jury at Strasburg, and acquitted! + +He learned too, shortly afterwards, that his mother was very ill. +The shock of his misfortune, and the great exertions she had made +on his behalf when she thought his life might be in danger, had +proved too much for her. Louis Napoleon recrossed the ocean, landed +in England, and made his way to Arenenberg. He was just in time to +see Queen Hortense on her death-bed, to receive her last wishes, +and to hear her last sigh. + +After her death the French Government insisted that the Swiss +Confederacy must compel Louis Napoleon to leave their territory. +The Swiss refused, repaired the fortifications of Geneva, and made +ready for a war with France; but Louis Napoleon of his own free will +relieved the Swiss Government from all embarrassment by passing +over into England, where it was not long before he made preparations +for a new attempt to overthrow Louis Philippe's government. + +He lived quietly in London at that period, visiting few persons +except Count D'Orsay at Gore House, the residence of Lady Blessington, +and occupying himself a great deal with writing. He had already +completed a Manual of Artillery, and was engaged on a book that +he called "Les Idées napoléoniennes." Its principal "idea" was +that France wanted an emperor, a definite head, but that she also +needed extreme democratic principles. Therefore an empire ought to +be founded on an expression of the will of the people,--in plain +words, on universal suffrage. The mistake Napoleon III. made in +his after career, as well as in his "Idées napoléoniennes," was in +not perceiving that an empire without military glory would become +a pool of corruption, while vast military efforts, which would +embroil France with all Europe, would lose the support of the +_bourgeoisie_. "In short," as Louis Blanc has said, "he imagined +a despotism without its triumphs; a throne surrounded by court +favorites, but without Europe at its footstool; a great name, with +no great man to bear it,--the Empire, in short, _minus_ its Napoleon!" + +During the months that Louis Napoleon passed in London he was maturing +the plot of a new enterprise. He was collecting round him his adherents, +some of them Carbonaro leaders, with whom he had been associated in +Italy. Some were his personal friends; some were men whose devotion +to the First Napoleon made them ashamed to refuse to support his +nephew, even in an insurrection that they disapproved; while some +were mere adventurers. + +Very few persons were admitted to his full confidence; the affair +was managed by a clique, "the members of which had been previously +sounded; and in general those were set aside who could not embark +in the undertaking heart and hand." + +By all these men Louis Napoleon was treated as an imperial personage. +To the Italians he stood pledged, and had stood pledged since 1831, +that if they helped him to ascend the throne of France, he would +fight afterwards for the cause of Italy. This pledge he redeemed +at Solferino and Magenta, but not till after some impatient, rash +Italians (believing him forsworn) had attempted his assassination. + +In vain he was advised to wait, to let Louis Philippe's Government +fall to the ground for want of a foundation. He had made his decision, +and was resolved to adhere to it, not fearing to make that step +which lies between the sublime and the ridiculous. + +The attempt had been in preparation ever since Louis Napoleon had +arrived in England. There were about forty of his adherents living +in London at his expense, awaiting the moment for action. What form +that action was to take, none of them knew.[1] It was resolved to +make the movement in the month of August, 1840. The prince calculated +that the remains of his great uncle, restored by England to France, +being by that time probably on their way from St. Helena, public +enthusiasm for the great emperor would be at its height, and that +he would have the honor of receiving those revered remains when +they had been brought back from exile by Louis Philippe's son. +Besides this, the garrisons of northern France happened at that +moment to contain the two regiments whose fidelity he had tampered +with at Strasburg four years before. + +[Footnote 1: In this account I am largely indebted to the interesting +narrative of Count Joseph Orsi, an Italian banker, Prince Louis +Napoleon's stanch personal friend.] + +Of course there were French agents of police (detectives, as we +call them) watching the prince in London; and this made it necessary +that he should be very circumspect in making his preparations. A +steamer, the "Edinburgh Castle," was secretly engaged. The owners +and the captain were informed that she was chartered by some young +men for a pleasure-trip to Hamburg. + +On Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1840, the "Edinburgh Castle" came up the Thames, +and was moored alongside a wharf facing the custom-house. As soon as +she was at the wharf, Count Orsi, who seems to have been the most +business-like man of the party, shipped nine horses, a travelling +carriage, and a large van containing seventy rifles and as many +uniforms. Proclamations had been printed in advance; they were +placed in a large box, together with a little store of gold, which +formed the prince's treasure. + +At dawn all this was done, and the "Edinburgh Castle" started down +the river. At London Bridge she took in thirteen men, and at Greenwich +three more. At Blackwall some of the most important conspirators +came on board. The boat reached Gravesend about two o'clock, where +twelve more men joined them. Only three or four of those on board +knew where they were going, or what was expected of them. They +were simply obeying orders. + +At Gravesend the prince was to have joined his followers, and the +"Edinburgh Castle" was at once to have put to sea, touching, however, +at Ramsgate before crossing the Channel. Those on board waited +and waited, but no prince came. Only five persons in the vessel +(one of whom was Charles Thélin, the prince's valet) knew what +they were there for. + +For some time the passengers were kept quiet by breakfast. Then, +having no one at their head, they began to grow unruly. Those in +the secret were terribly afraid that the river police might take +notice of the large number of foreigners on board, especially as +the vessel claimed to be an excursion-boat, and not a petticoat +was visible. It was all important to catch the tide,--all important +to reach Boulogne before sunrise on the 5th of August, when their +friends expected them. But no prince came. + +Major Parquin, who had been one of the Strasburg conspirators, was +particularly unmanageable; and late in the afternoon he insisted +on going ashore to buy some cigars, saying that those on board +were detestable. In vain Persigny and Orsi, who in the prince's +absence considered themselves to be in command, assured him that to +land was impossible; Parquin would not recognize their authority. +The rest of the story I will tell in Count Orsi's own words. He +wrote his account in "Fraser's Magazine," 1879:-- + +"The wrath of the major was extreme. There was danger in his anger. +I consulted Persigny on the advisability of letting him go on shore, +with the distinct understanding that he should be accompanied by +me or by Charles Thélin." + +The truth, it may be suspected, was that Parquin was drunk, or +that, having suspected the object of the expedition, he had some +especial object in going ashore, which he would not reveal to his +fellow-conspirators. + +"Persigny," continues Count Orsi, "consented to the idea, and Parquin +and I got into the boat. The vessel was lying in the stream. Thélin +was with us. As we were walking to the cigar-shop, the major remarked +a boy sitting on a log of wood and feeding a tame eagle with shreds +of meat. The eagle had a chain fastened to one of its claws. The +major turned twice to look at it, and went on without saying a +word. On our way back to the boat, however, we saw the boy within +two yards of the landing-place. The major went up to him, and looking +at the eagle, said in French, 'Is it for sale?' The boy did not +understand him. 'My dear Major,' I said, 'I hope you do not intend +to buy that eagle. We have other things to attend to. For Heaven's +sake, come away!' 'Why not? I _will_ have it. Ask him what he asks +for it.'" + +The major paid a sovereign for the eagle, and this unlucky purchase +was the cause that endless ridicule was cast on the expedition. It +has always been supposed that the eagle was one of the "properties" +provided for the occasion, and that it was intended to perch on the +Napoleon Column at Boulogne. It may well be supposed that this is +not far from the truth, and that Major Parquin had the eagle waiting +for him at Gravesend. Eagles are so very uncommon in England that +it is unlikely that a boy, without set purpose, would be waiting +with a tame one on a wharf at Gravesend. The unfortunate bird became +in the end the property of a butcher in Boulogne. + +By six P. M. the party in the "Edinburgh Castle" grew very uneasy; +the prince had not arrived. Count Orsi took a post-chaise and drove +overland to Ramsgate, where Count Montholon (Napoleon's fellow-exile +at St. Helena) and two colonels were waiting the arrival of the +steamer. Only one of these gentlemen had been let into the plot, and +Montholon was subsequently deeply wounded by having been excluded. + +About dawn, when this party had just gone to bed, the "Edinburgh +Castle" steamed up to the beautiful Ramsgate pier; but it was already +the hour when she should have been off Boulogne. + +A second time Louis Napoleon had damaged his chances and risked +his friends by his want of punctuality. He had not taken proper +precautions as to his mode of leaving London. He found that the +police were on the alert, and it was late in the day before he +contrived to leave his house unseen. He might have made more exertion, +but he had quite forgotten the importance of the tide! + +What was now to be done? Four hours is the passage from Ramsgate +to Boulogne. It would not do to arrive there in broad daylight. +They dared not stay at Ramsgate. It became necessary to put to +sea, and to steam about aimlessly till night arrived. The captain +and the crew had to be told the object of the expedition, the van +had to be opened, and the arms and uniforms distributed. This was +done after dark, and no light was allowed on board the steamer. + +At three o'clock A. M. of Aug. 6, 1840, the "Edinburgh Castle" +was off Wimereux, a little landing-place close to Boulogne. The +disembarkation was begun at once. The steamer was ill provided +with boats. She had but one, and could only land eight men at a +time. This was one of the many oversights of the expedition. + +At five A. M. the little troop, clad as French soldiers, marched up +to the barracks at Boulogne. The gates were thrown open by friends +within, and the prince and his followers entered the yard. The +reason why it had been so important to reach Boulogne twenty-four +hours earlier, was that a certain Colonel Piguellier, who was a +strong republican, was sure to be against them. Some French friends +of the prince, who were in the secret, had therefore invited Colonel +Piguellier to a shooting-party on the 4th, the invitation including +one to pass the night at a house in the country; but by the evening +of the 5th he had returned to his quarters in Boulogne. + +At the moment of the prince's entrance, with his little troop, +into the yard of the barracks, the soldiers of the garrison were +just getting out of their beds. The few who were already afoot +on different duties were soon made to understand who the prince +was, and what his party had come for. At the name of Napoleon they +rushed up to the dormitories to spread the news. In a short time +all the men were formed in line in the barrack-yard. + +The prince, at the head of his little troop, addressed them. His +speech was received with enthusiasm. At that moment Colonel Piguellier, +in full uniform, appeared upon the scene. One of the prince's party +threatened to fire on him with a revolver. His soldiers at once +took his part. It was the affair of Strasburg over again. + +In vain, threats and promises were urged upon the colonel. All +he would say was: "You may be Prince Louis Napoleon, or you may +not. Napoleon, your predecessor, overthrew legitimate authority, +and it is not right for you to attempt to do the same thing in +this place. Murder me if you like, but I will do my duty to the +last." + +The soldiers took the side of their commander. Resistance was of no +avail. The prince and his party were forced to leave the barracks, +the gates of which were shut at once by Colonel Piguellier's order. +The only concession the prince had been able to obtain was that +he and his followers should not be pursued by the troops, but be +left to be dealt with by the civil authorities. + +The failure was complete. The day before, a party of the prince's +friends had been at Boulogne on the lookout for his arrival; but +when they found he did not come, they had left the city. All that +remained to be done was to attempt to save the prince. He was almost +beside himself. Apparently he lost his self-command, and men of +more nerve and experience did with him what they would. + +He and his party reached the sea at last. The National Guard of +Boulogne began firing on them. The prince, Count Persigny, Colonel +Voisin, and Galvani, an Italian, were put into a boat. As they +pushed off, a fire of musketry shattered the little skiff, and +threw them into the water. Colonel Voisin's arm was broken at the +elbow, and Galvani was hit in the body. The prince and Persigny +came up to the surface at some distance from the land. Colonel +Voisin and Galvani, being nearer to the shore, were immediately +rescued. Count Orsi says that as the prince swam towards the steamer, +still fired on by the National Guard stationed on the heights, a +custom-house boat headed him off. But in Boulogne it was reported +and believed that he was captured and brought to land in a bathing +machine. + +The prisoners were tried by a royal decree. No one was sentenced +to death, but the prince, Count Montholon, Count Persigny, Colonel +Voisin, Major Parquin, and another officer were sent to the fortress +of Ham, on the frontier of Belgium, where they occupied the same +quarters as Prince Polignac and the other ministers of Charles X. +had done. Count Montholon, four months after, made piteous appeals +to be let out on parole for one day, that he might be present when +the body of Napoleon was brought back to the capital. + +The prince passed five years in prison, reading much, and doubtless +meditating much on the mistakes of his career. Many plans of escape +had been secretly proposed to him, but he rejected all of them, +fearing they were parts of a trap laid for him by the authorities. +It has always been believed, however, and it is probably true, that +Louis Philippe would have been very willing to have the jailers +shut their eyes while Louis Napoleon walked out of their custody, +believing that the ridicule that had attended his two attempts at +revolution had ruined his chances as a pretender to the throne. + +During the years Louis Napoleon was imprisoned at Ham, he received +constant marks of sympathy, especially from foreigners. He was known +to favor the project of an interoceanic canal by the Nicaragua +route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Government +of Nicaragua proposed to him to become president of a company that +would favor its views, expressing the hope that he would make himself +as great in America by undertaking such a work, as his uncle has +made himself by his military glory. + +The illness of his father in Florence gave Prince Louis Napoleon +a good reason for asking enlargement on parole from the French +Government. Louis Philippe was willing to grant this; but his ministers +demurred, unless Louis Napoleon would ask pardon _loyalement_. +This Louis Napoleon refused to do; and having by this time managed +to extract a loan of £6,000 from the rich and eccentric Duke of +Brunswick, he resolved to attempt an escape. + +Here is the story as he told it himself when he reached England. +The governor of Ham, it must be premised, was a man wholly +uncorruptible. He was kind to his prisoner, with whom he played +whist every evening, but he was bent on fulfilling his duty. + +This duty obliged him to See the prince twice a day, and at night +to turn the key upon him, which he put into his pocket. + +The fortress of Ham forms a square, with a round tower at each of +the angles. There is only one gate. Between the towers are ramparts, +on one of which the prince daily walked, and in one corner had made +a flower-garden. A canal ran outside the ramparts on two sides; +barracks were under the others. Thélin, the prince's valet, was +suffered to go in and out of the fortress at his pleasure. On the +23d of May, 1845, Thélin went to St. Quentin, the nearest large +town, and hired a cabriolet, which was to meet him the next day at +an appointed place upon the high-road. The prince's plan depended +on there being workmen in the prison, and he had been about to +make a request to have his rooms papered and painted, when the +governor informed him that the staircase was to be repaired. The +day before the one chosen for the attempt, two English gentlemen, +probably by a previous understanding, had visited the prisoner, +and he asked one of them to lend his passport to the valet Thélin. + +"Very early on the morning of May 25th, the prince, Dr. Conneau, +and Thélin were looking out eagerly for the arrival of the workmen. +A private soldier whose vigilance they had reason to dread had +been placed on guard that morning, but by good luck he was called +away to attend a dress parade. + +"The workmen arrived. They proved to be all painters and masons,--which +was a disappointment to the prince, who had hoped to go out as +a carpenter. But at once he shaved off his long moustache, and +put over his own clothes a coarse shirt, a workman's blouse, a +pair of blue overalls much worn, and a black wig. His hands and +face he also soiled with paint; then, putting on a pair of wooden +shoes and taking an old clay pipe in his mouth, and throwing a +board over his shoulder, he prepared to leave the prison. He had +with him a dagger, and two letters from which he never parted,--one +written by his mother, the other by his uncle, the emperor. + +"It was seven o'clock by the time these preparations were made. +Thélin called to the workmen on the staircase to come in and have +a glass of wine. On the prince's way downstairs he met two warders. +One Thélin skilfully drew apart, pretending to have something to +say to him; the other was so intent on getting out of the way of +the board carried by the supposed workman that he did not look in +the prince's face, and the prince and Thélin passed safely into +the yard." + +As he was passing the first sentinel, the prince let his pipe fall +from his mouth. He stooped, picked it up, and re-lighted it +deliberately. + +"Close to the door of the canteen he came upon an officer reading +a letter. A little farther on, a few privates were sitting on a +bench in the sun. The concierge at the gate was in his lodge, but +his attention was given to Thélin, who was following the prince, +accompanied by his dog Ham. The sergeant, whose duty it was to +open and shut the gate, turned quickly and looked at the supposed +workman; but a movement the prince made at that moment with his +board caused him to step aside. He opened the gate: the prince +was free. + +"Between the two drawbridges the prince met two workmen coming +towards him on the side his face was exposed. He shifted his board +like a man weary of carrying a load upon one shoulder. The men +appeared to eye him with suspicion, as if surprised at not knowing +him. Suddenly one said: 'Oh! it is Berthon;' and they passed on +into the fortress." + +The prince hastened with Thélin to the place where the cabriolet +engaged the day before was waiting for them. As Louis Napoleon +was about to fling away the board he had been carrying, another +cabriolet drove by. As soon as it was out of sight, the prince +jumped into his own, shook the dust off his clothes, kicked off +his wooden shoes, and seized the reins. The fifteen miles to St. +Quentin were soon accomplished. The prince got out at some distance +from the town, and Thélin entered it alone, to exchange the cabriolet +for a postchaise. The mistress of the post-house offered him a +large piece of pie, which he thankfully accepted, knowing that it +would be a godsend to his master. A woman, whom they had passed +upon the highway on entering the town, took Thélin aside and asked +him how he came to be driving with such a shabby, common man that +morning; for Thélin was well known in the neighborhood. + +Before he rejoined the prince with the pie and the postchaise, Louis +Napoleon had become very impatient. Seeing a carriage approach, +he stopped it, and asked the occupant if he had seen anything of a +postchaise coming from St. Quentin. The traveller proved afterwards +to have been the prosecuting attorney of the district (_le procureur +du roi_). + +It was nine in the evening when the prince, Thélin, and the dog +Ham were safely in the carriage. They reached Valenciennes at a +quarter to three A. M., and had to wait more than an hour at the +station for the train. The prince had discarded his working clothes, +but still wore his black wig. The train arrived at last. By help of +the Englishman's passport the prince safely crossed the frontier, +and soon reached Brussels. Thence he went by way of Ostend to London. + +He was not in time to see his father, who died in Florence before he +could get permission from the German States to cross the continent. + +All the French papers treated his escape as a matter of no consequence. +Immediately on reaching London, he wrote a letter to Louis Philippe, +pledging himself to make no further attempt to disturb the peace +of France during his reign. He probably judged that the end of +the Orleans dynasty might be near. + +His escape from prison was not known until the evening. Dr. Conneau +gave out that he had been very ill during the night, but under the +influence of opiates was sleeping quietly. The governor insisted +on remaining all day in the sitting-room, and finally upon seeing +him. In the dim light of the sick chamber he saw only a figure, +with its face turned to the wall, covered up in the bed-clothes. + +At last he became suspicious. Thélin's prolonged absence seemed +unaccountable. A closer examination was insisted on, and the truth +was discovered. Nobody was punished except Dr. Conneau, who suffered +a few months' imprisonment. + +[Illustration: _LOUIS PHILLIPE_. ("_The Citizen-King._")] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TEN YEARS OF THE REIGN OF THE CITIZEN KING. + +Besides the affairs of the Duchesse de Berri, of Louis Napoleon, +of Fieschi and his infernal machine, and difficulties attending +on the marriage of the Duke of Orleans, the first ten years of +Louis Philippe's reign were full of vicissitudes. France after a +revolution is always an "unquiet sea that cannot rest, whose waters +cast up mire and dirt." Frenchmen do not accept the inevitable +as Americans have learned to do, through the working of their +institutions. + +One of the early troubles of Louis Philippe was the peremptory +demand of President Jackson for five million dollars,--a claim +for French spoliations in 1797. This amount had been acknowledged +by the Government of Louis Philippe to be due, but the Chambers +were not willing to ratify the agreement. In the course of the +negotiations the secretary of General Jackson, having occasion to +translate to him a French despatch, read, "The French Government +_demands_--" "Demands!" cried the general, with a volley of rough +language; "if the French Government dares to _demand_ anything +of the United States, it will not get it." + +It was long before he could be made to understand the true meaning +of the French word _demande_, and his own demands were backed with +threats and couched in terms more forcible than diplomatic. The +money was paid after the draft of the United States for the first +instalment had been protested, and France has not yet forgotten that +when she was still in the troubled waters of a recent revolution, +she was roughly treated by the nation which she had befriended at +its birth. + +The greatest military success in Louis Philippe's reign was the +capture of Constantine in Algeria. So late as 1810 Algerine corsairs +were a terror in the Mediterranean, and captured M. Arago, who was +employed on a scientific expedition.[1] In 1835, France resolved +to undertake a crusade against these pirates, which might free the +commerce of the Mediterranean. The enterprise was not popular in +France. It would cost money, and it seemed to present no material +advantages. It was argued that its benefits would accrue only to +the dynasty of Louis Philippe, that Algeria would be a good +training-school for the army, and that the main duty of the army +in future might be to repress republicanism. + +[Footnote 1: About the same time they took prisoner a cousin of +my father, John Warner Wormeley, of Virginia. He was sold into +slavery; but when tidings of his condition reached his friends, +he was ransomed by my grandfather.] + +In 1834, a young Arab chief called Abdul Kader, the son of a Marabout +of great sanctity, had risen into notice. Abdul Kader was a man +who realized the picture of Saladin drawn by Sir Walter Scott in +the "Talisman." Brave, honorable, chivalrous, and patriotic, his +enemies admired him, his followers adored him. When he made his +first treaty with the French, he answered some doubts that were +expressed concerning his sincerity by saying gravely: "My word +is sacred; I have visited the tomb of the Prophet." + +Constantine, the mountain fortress of Oran, was held, not by Abdul +Kader, but by Ahmed Bey, the representative of the sultan's suzerainty +in the Barbary States. The first attack upon it failed. The weather +and the elements fought against the French in this expedition. +General Changarnier distinguished himself in their retreat, and +the Duc de Nemours showed endurance and bravery. + +From the moment of that repulse, popular enthusiasm was aroused. +A cry rang through France that Constantine must be taken. It was +captured two years later, after a siege in which two French +commanders-in-chief and many generals were killed. Walls fell, +and mines exploded; the place at last was carried by assault. At +one moment, when even French soldiers wavered, a legion of foreign +dare-devils (chiefly Irishmen and Englishmen) were roused by an English +hurrah from the man who became afterwards Marshal Saint-Arnaud. With +echoing cheers they followed him up the breach, the army followed +after them, and the city was won. + +Louis Philippe had been raised to power by four great men,--Lafayette, +Laffitte, Talleyrand, and Thiers. Of these, Laffitte and Lafayette +retained little influence in his councils, and both died early +in his reign. In 1838 died Talleyrand,--the prince of the old +diplomatists. The king and his sister, Madame Adélaïde, visited +him upon his death-bed. Talleyrand, supported by his secretary, +sat up to receive the king. He was wrapped in a warm dressing-gown, +with the white curls he had always cherished, flowing over his +shoulders, while the king sat near him, dressed in his claret-colored +coat, brown wig, and varnished boots. Some one who was present +whispered that it was an interview between the last of the _ancienne +noblesse_ and the first citizen _bourgeois_. Rut the old courtier +was touched by the intended kindness, and when the king was about +to go away, he said, half rising: "Sire, this honor to my house +will be gratefully remembered in the annals of my family." + +Deep and true was the grief felt for the loss of Talleyrand in +his own household; many and bitter have been the things said of +his character and his career. He himself summed up his life in some +words written shortly before his death, which read like another +verse in the Book of Ecclesiastes:-- + +"Eighty-three years have rolled away! How many cares, how many +anxieties! How many hatreds have I inspired, how many exasperating +complications have I known! And all this with no other result than +great moral and physical exhaustion, and a deep feeling of +discouragement as to what may happen in the future,--disgust, too, +as I think over the past." + +A writer in "Temple Bar" (probably Dr. Jevons) speaks of Prince +Talleyrand thus:-- + +"On his private life it would be unfair to pass judgment without +taking into consideration the turbulence and lawlessness, the immorality +and corruption both social and political, which characterized the +stormy epoch in which he was called to play a very prominent part. +If he did not pass through it blameless, he was less guilty than +many others; if his hands were not pure, at least they were not +blood-stained; and it is possible that, as Bourienne, who knew +him well, says: 'History will speak as favorably of him as his +contemporaries have spoken ill.'" + +The summer of 1840 seemed peaceful and serene, when a storm burst +suddenly out of a cloudless sky. It was a new phase of that Eastern +Question which unhappily was not settled in the days of the Crusades, +but has survived to be a disturbing element in the nineteenth century. +Two men were engaged in a fierce struggle in the East, and, as usual, +they drew the Powers of the West and North into their quarrel. + +Sultan Mahmoud, who had come to the throne in 1808, had done his +best to destroy the power of his pashas. He hated such powerful and +insubordinate nobles, and after the destruction of the Mamelukes +in 1811, he placed Egypt under the rule of the bold Macedonian +soldier, Mehemet Ali, not as a pasha, but as viceroy. In course +of time, as the dominions of Sultan Mahmoud became more and more +disorganized by misgovernment and insurrection, Mehemet Ali sent +his adopted son, Ibrahim Pasha, with an army into Syria. Ibrahim +conquered that province and governed it far better than the Turks +had done, when he was stopped by a Russian army (1832), which, +under pretence of assisting the sultan, interfered in the quarrel. +An arrangement was effected by what is called the treaty of +Unkiar-Thelessi. Ibrahim was to retain the pashalik of Syria for +his life, and Russia stipulated that no vessels of war should be +allowed to pass the Dardanelles or Hellespont without the consent +of the sultan. + +Mehemet Ali, who was anxious above all things to have his viceroyalty +in Egypt made hereditary, that he might transmit his honors to his +brave son, cast about in every direction to find friends among +European diplomatists. Six years before, he had proposed to England, +France, and Austria a partition of the sultan's empire. "Russia," +he said, "is half mistress of Turkey already. She has established +a protectorate over half its subjects, who are Greek Christians, +and where she professes to protect, she oppresses instead. If she +seizes Constantinople, there is the end of your European civilization. +I am a Turk, but I propose to you to inaugurate a crusade which +will save Turkey and save Europe. I will raise my standard against +the czar; I will put at your disposal my army, fleet, and treasure; +I will lead the van; and in return I ask only my independence of +the Porte and an acknowledgment of me as an hereditary sovereign." +This proposition was promptly declined. It was renewed, in 1838, +in a modified form, but again England, France, and Austria would +not listen to the viceroy's reasoning. Mehemet Ali became a prey +to despair. + +Sultan Mahmoud meantime was no less a victim to resentment and +anxiety. He hated his enforced subservience to Russia, and above +all he hated his great subject and rival, Mehemet Ali. With fury +in his heart he watched how, shred by shred, his great empire was +wrenched away from him,--Greece, Syria, Servia, Algiers, Moldavia, +and Wallachia. Little remained to him but Constantinople and its +surrounding provinces. Russia, all-powerful in the Black Sea, could +at any moment force him to give up to her the key of the Dardanelles. +Among the Turks (the only part of his subjects on whom he could rely) +were many malcontents. Fanatic dervishes predicted his overthrow, +and called him the Giaour Sultan. He had destroyed Turkish customs, +outraged Turkish feelings, and by the massacre o the Janissaries, +in 1826, he had sapped Turkish strength. He now began in his own +person to set at nought the precepts of the Koran. All day he worked +with frenzy, and at night he indulged himself in frightful orgies, +till, dead drunk, he desisted from his madness, and was carried +by his slaves to his bed.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Louis Blanc, Dix Ans.] + +In the early months of 1839 Mahmoud made quiet preparations to +thrust Ibrahim Pasha out of Syria; and in June a great battle was +fought between the Egyptians and the Turks on the banks of the +Euphrates, in which Ibrahim Pasha, by superior generalship, wholly +defeated the Turkish commander, Hafiz Pasha. + +Sultan Mahmoud never heard of this disaster. He died of _delirium +tremens_ the very week that it took place, and his son, Abdul Medjid, +mounted his throne. Ibrahim Pasha immediately after his victory +had made ready to threaten Constantinople, when despatches from +his father arrested him. Mehemet wrote that France had promised +to take the part of Egypt, and to settle all her difficulties by +diplomacy. + +Meantime the new sultan, or his vizier, having offended the Capitan +Pasha (or Admiral of the Fleet), that officer thought proper to +carry the ships under his command over to Mehemet Ali. + +It was a proud day for the viceroy when the Turkish ships sailed +into the harbor of Alexandria. This defection of the fleet so +discouraged Abdul Medjid that he offered his vassal terms of peace, +by which he consented to Mehemet's hereditary viceroyalty in Egypt, +and Ibrahim Pasha's hereditary possession of the pashalik of Syria. + +But the Great Powers would not consent to this dismemberment of the +Turkish Empire. A fierce struggle in diplomacy took place between +France and England, which might have resulted in an open rupture, +had not Louis Philippe and Marshal Soult (then Minister for Foreign +Affairs in France) been both averse to war. The old marshal had +seen more than enough of it, and Louis Philippe felt that peace +alone could strengthen his party,--the _bourgeoisie_. Mehemet Ali, +his rights and his wrongs, seem to have been entirely overlooked +in the tempest of diplomacy. + +After some weeks of great excitement the Five Great Powers agreed +among themselves that Mehemet Ali should become the Khedive, or +hereditary viceroy, of Egypt, but that he must give up Syria. To +this he demurred, and the allied troops attacked Ibrahim Pasha. +Admiral Sir Charles Napier bombarded his stronghold, St. Jean d'Acre, +and forced him into submission. The triumph of Lord Palmerston's +policy was complete; as Charles Greville remarked: "Everything +has turned out well for him. He is justified by the success of +his operations, and by the revelations in the French Chambers of +the intentions of M. Thiers; and it must be acknowledged he has +a fair right to plume himself on his diplomacy." + +After the death of Talleyrand, only M. Thiers remained of the four +great men who had assisted Louis Philippe to attain supreme power. +M. Thiers was not insensible to the advantage it would be to his +History of the Consulate and Empire, if he could add to it a last +and brilliant chapter describing the restoration to France of the +mortal remains of her great emperor. Therefore in the early part +of 1840, before any disturbance of the _entente cordiale_, he made +a request to the English Government for the body of Napoleon, then +lying beneath a willow-tree at Longwood, on a desolate island that +hardly seemed to be part of the civilized world. Lord Palmerston +responded very cordially, and Louis Philippe's third son, the Prince +de Joinville, in his frigate, the "Belle Poule," attended by other +French war-ships, was despatched upon the errand. Napoleon had died +May 5, 1821. For almost twenty years his body had reposed at St. +Helena. With the Prince de Joinville went Bertrand and Gourgaud, +who had been the Emperor's companions in captivity. + +The coffin was raised and opened. The face was perfect. The beard, +which had been shaved before the burial, had apparently a week's +growth. The white satin which had lined the lid of the coffin had +crumbled into dust, and lay like a mist over the body, which was +dressed in a green uniform, with the cocked hat across its knees. + +The corpse was transferred to another coffin brought from France, and +was carried over the rough rocks of St. Helena by English soldiers. +All the honors that in that remote island England could give to her +former captive were respectfully offered; and early in December, +1840, news arrived in Paris that the "Belle Poule" had reached +Havre. + +This was sooner than her arrival had been looked for, and at once +all Paris was in a scramble of preparation. Laborers and artists +worked night and day. The weather was piercingly cold. Indeed, no +less than three hundred English were said to have died of colds +contracted on the day of the funeral procession. + +The body was landed at Courbevoie from a flat-bottomed barge that +had been constructed to bring it up the Seine. Courbevoie is about +two miles from the Arch of Triumph, which is again nearly the same +distance from the Place de la Concorde. + +Between each gilded lamp-post, with its double burners, and beneath +long rows of leafless trees, were colossal plaster statues of Victory, +alternating with colossal vases burning incense by day, and inflammable +materials for illumination by night. Thus the procession attending the +body had about five miles to march from the place of disembarkation +to the Invalides, on the left bank of the Seine. The spectators began +to assemble before dawn. All along the route scaffoldings had been +erected, containing rows upon rows of seats. All the trees, bare and +leafless at that season, were filled with freezing _gamins_. All +the wide pavements were occupied. Before long, rows of National +Guards fringed the whole avenue. They were to fall in behind the +procession as it passed, and accompany it to the Invalides. + +The arrival of the funeral barge had been retarded while the authorities +hastened the preparations for its reception. When the body of Napoleon +was about to re-land on French soil, "cannon to right of it, cannon +to left of it, volleyed and thundered." The coffin was received +beneath what was called a votive monument,--a column one hundred +feet in height, with an immense gilded globe upon the top, surmounted +by a gilded eagle twenty feet high. Banners and tripods were there +_ad libitum_, and a vast plaster bas-relief cast in the "Belle +Poule's" honor. + +The coffin, having been landed, was placed upon a catafalque, the +cannon gave the signal to begin the march, and the procession started. +The public was given to understand that in a sort of funeral casket +blazing with gold and purple, on the top of the catafalque, twenty +feet from the ground, was enclosed the coffin of the Emperor; but +it was not so. The sailors of the "Belle Poule" protested that the +catafalque was too frail, and the height too great. They dared +not, they said, attempt to get the lead-lined coffin up to the +place assigned for it, still less try to get it down again. It was +consequently deposited, for fear of accident, on a low platform +between the wheels. + +First came the gendarmes, or mounted police, with glittering brazen +breastplates, waving horse-hair crests, fine horses, and a band +of trumpeters; then the mounted Garde Municipale; then Lancers; +then the Lieutenant-General commanding the National Guard of Paris, +surrounded by his staff, and all officers, of whatever grade, then +on leave in the capital. These were followed by infantry, cavalry, +sappers and miners, Lancers, and Cuirassiers, staff-officers, etc., +with bands and banners. Then came a carriage containing the chaplain +who had had charge of the body from the time it left St. Helena, +following whom were a crowd of military and naval officers. Next +appeared a led charger, son of a stallion ridden by Napoleon, and +soon after came a bevy of the marshals of France. Then all the +banners of the eighty-six departments, and at last the funeral +catafalque. + +As it passed under the Arch of Triumph, erected by Napoleon in +commemoration of his victories, there were hundreds in the crowd +who expected to see the Emperor come to life again. + +Strange to say, the universal cry was "Vive l'empereur!" One heard +nowhere "Vive le roi!" + +The funeral car was hung with purple gauze embroidered with golden +bees. As I said, the coffin of the Emperor was suffered to repose +upon a gilded buckler supported by four golden caryatides; but it +was, as the sailors would have said, "stowed safely in the hold." + +The catafalque was hung all over with wreaths, emblems, and banners. +It had solid gilded wheels, and was drawn by eight horses covered +with green velvet, embroidered with gold bees; each horse was led +by a groom in the Bonaparte livery. At the four corners of the car, +holding the tassels of the pall, rode two marshals, an admiral, +and General Bertrand, who had shared the captivity of the Emperor. +Count Montholon was not suffered to leave his imprisonment for the +occasion, though he also had been a companion of the Emperor at +St. Helena. Around the catafalque marched the five hundred sailors +of the "Belle Poule," headed by their captain, the Prince de +Joinville,--slender, tall, and dark, a very naval-looking man. +He was supposed to be intensely hostile to England, and only to +be kept in check by a strong hand. Then came all the Emperor's +aides-de-camp who were still living, and all the aged veterans in +Paris who had served under him. This was the most touching feature +of the procession. Many tears were shed by the spectators, and a +thrill ran through the hearts of eight hundred thousand people as +the catafalque creaked onward, passing under the arch which celebrated +Napoleon's triumphs, and beneath which at other times no carriage +was allowed to pass. But enthusiasm rose to the highest point at the +sight of the veterans in every kind of faded uniform,--Grenadiers +of the Guard, Chasseurs, Dragoons of the Empress, Red Lancers, +Mamelukes, Poles, and, above all, the Old Guard. "Vive la Vieille +Garde!" shouted the multitude; "Vive les Polonais! Vive l'empereur!" + +The funeral was a political blunder. It stirred up the embers of +Napoleonism. Ten years later they blazed into a consuming fire. + +The procession passed through the Place de la Concorde, beneath +the shadow of the obelisk of Luxor, which of old had looked on +triumphs and funeral processions in Egypt; then it crossed the +Seine. On the bridge were eight colossal statues, representing +prudence, strength, justice, war, agriculture, art commerce, and +eloquence. + +The statues along the Champs Elysées were Victories, each inscribed +with the name of some Napoleonic battle. Great haste had been required +to get them ready. At the last moment Government had had to order +from certain manufactories pairs of wings by the dozen, and bucklers +and spears in the same way. All night the artists had been fixing +these emblems on their statues. A statue of Marshal Ney, which +had been ordered among those of the other marshals, was found to +be, not of colossal, but of life size. It had to be hurriedly cut +into three parts. The deficiency in the torso was concealed by +flags, and the "bravest of the brave" took his place on a par with +his comrades. + +On the steps of the Chamber of Deputies was a colossal statue of +Immortality, designed for the top of the Pantheon, but pressed +into service on this occasion, holding forth a gilded crown as if +about to place it on the coffin of the Emperor. + +At the gate of the Invalides was another genuine statue, Napoleon +in his imperial robes was holding forth the cordon of the Legion +of Honor. This statue had been executed for the Pillar at Boulogne +commemorative of the Army of England. It was surrounded by plaster +statues of the departments of France, and was approached through a +long line of marshals, statesmen, and the most illustrious of French +kings, among them Louis XIV., who would have been much astonished to +find himself rendering homage to a soldier of barely gentlemanly +birth, born on an island which was not French in his time. + +The coffin was borne by sailors into the Chapelle Ardente at the +Invalides. "Sire," said Prince de Joinville to his father, "I present +to you the body of the Emperor Napoleon." + +"I receive it in the name of France," replied the king. + +Then Marshal Soult put the Emperor's sword into the king's hand. +"General Bertrand," said the king, "I charge you to lay it on the +coffin of the Emperor. General Gourgaud, place the Emperor's hat +also on the coffin." + +Then began the appropriate religious ceremonies, and during the +following week the public were admitted to view the coffin as it +lay in state in the Chapelle Ardente. The crowd was very great. +Women fainted daily, and many were almost pressed to death against +the gilded rails. + +After all, there was little to see. The coffin was enclosed in a +sort of immense cage to keep it from intrusion, the air was heavy +with incense, and the light was too dimly religious to show anything +with distinctness. + +A splendid tomb has since been erected to Napoleon in the Chapel +of the Invalides, where he rests under the care of the war-worn +soldiers of France. Few now can be living who fought under him. +Not a Bonaparte was at his funeral; the only one then upon French +soil was in a prison. + +Napoleon sleeps where in his will he prayed that his remains might +rest,--on the banks of the Seine. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SOME CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1848. + +After the signing of the treaty of 1841, which restored the _entente +cordiale_ between France and England, and satisfied the other European +Powers, Louis Philippe and his family were probably in the plenitude +of their prosperity. The Duke of Orleans had been happily married; +and although his wife was a Protestant,--which was not wholly +satisfactory to Queen Marie Amélie,--the character of the Duchesse +Hélène was so lovely that she won all hearts, both in her husband's +family and among the people. + +On the occasion of the _fêtes_ given in Paris at the nuptials of +the Duke of Orleans, in 1837, the sad presage of misfortune that +had accompanied the marriage festivities of Marie Antoinette was +repeated. One of the spectacles given to the Parisians was a sham +attack on a sham citadel of Antwerp in the Champ de Mars. The crowd +was immense, but all went well so long as the spectacle lasted. +When the crowd began to move away, a panic took place. The old and +the feeble were thrown down and trampled on. Twenty-four persons +were killed, the _fêtes_ were broken up, and all hearts were saddened +both by the disaster and the omen. + +One part of the festivities on that occasion consisted in the opening +of the galleries of historical paintings at Versailles,--a magnificent +gift made by the Citizen King to his people. + +I have spoken already of the storming of Constantine. No French +success since the wars of the Great Napoleon had been so brilliant; +yet the Chamber of Deputies, in a fit of parsimony, reduced from +two thousand to eleven hundred dollars the pension proposed by +the ministers to be settled on the widow of General Damremont, +the commander-in-chief, who had been killed by a round shot while +giving orders to scale the walls. At the same time they voted two +hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the year's subsidy to the +theatres of Paris for the amusement of themselves and their +constituents. + +Algeria proved a valuable school for soldiers; there Lamoricière, +Changarnier, Cavaignac, Saint-Arnaud, Pélissier, and Bugeaud had +their military education. Louis Philippe's three sons were also +with the troops, sharing all the duties, dangers, and hardships +of the campaign. + +By the end of 1847 Abdul Kader had retired to a stronghold in the +mountains, where, seeing that his cause was lost, he tendered his +submission to the Duc d'Aumale, then governor of Algeria. The offer +was accepted. Abdul Kader surrendered on an understanding that he +should be conducted to some Mohammedan place of refuge,--Alexandria +or St. Jean d'Acre. But this stipulation was disregarded by the +French Government, whose breach of faith has always been considered +a stain on the honor of Louis Philippe and his ministers. The Duc +d'Aumale vehemently remonstrated, believing his own word pledged +to the Arab chieftain. Abdul Kader, his wives, children, servants, +and principal officers were taken to France, and for five years +lived at Amboise, where some of the subordinate attendants, overcome +by homesickness, committed suicide. In 1852 Louis Napoleon, who +possibly had a fellow-feeling for captives, restored Abdul Kader to +liberty, who thereupon took up his residence at Damascus. There he +subsequently protected a large number of Christians from massacre, +sheltering them in his house, and giving them food and clothing. He +afterwards removed to the island of Ceylon, where, as everywhere +else, he won "golden opinions" by his generous behavior. + +Meantime, while France was in some respects in the full tide of +prosperity, great discontent was growing up among the working-classes, +reinforced by the worthless class, always ready for disturbances. In +May, 1839, Barbès led an _émeute_ in Paris which might have proved +formidable. His attempt opened with a deliberate murder, and there +was considerable fighting in the streets for about twenty-four +hours. Barbès was condemned to death. The king was desirous to +spare him, and yielded readily to the prayers of his sister, for +whom an opportunity of interceding for him was obtained by the +good offices of Lamartine. + +The _émeute_ of Barbès was regarded with disfavor by more experienced +conspirators, but secret societies had introduced organization +among the workmen. Moreover, they were led by the _bourgeoisie_ +with a cry for parliamentary reform, which at that period was the +supposed panacea for every kind of evil. + +The king was not popular. He was not the ideal Frenchman. He was +a Frenchman of the _épicier_, or small grocer, type. As a _bon +père de famille_ he was anxious to settle his sons well in life. +They were admirable young men, they deserved good wives, and as +far as grace, beauty, and amiability went, they all obtained them; +but up to 1846 not one of them had made a brilliant marriage. This +good fortune Louis Philippe hoped was reserved for his two younger +sons,--D'Aumale and Montpensier. + +The Duke of Orleans was the most popular of the king's sons. Handsome, +elegant, accomplished, and always careful in his toilet, he was a +thorough Frenchman,--the approved type of an aristocrat with liberal +sympathies and ideas. He was born at Palermo in 1810, and did not +come to France till he was four years old. He had an excellent +tutor, who prepared him for his _collège_. There he took his place +entirely on a par with other boys, and gained several prizes. All +Louis Philippe's sons were sent to public schools. + +The duke afterwards prepared for and entered the Polytechnic, which +is said to demand more hard study than any other school in the world. +He made his first campaign in Africa in 1835, and afterwards served +with distinction in the early part of that one which resulted in +the retreat from Constantine; but before Constantine was reached, +a severe illness invalided him. He was a liberal in politics, the +sincere friend of the working-classes, and was on intimate terms +with men of letters, even with Victor Hugo, in spite of his advanced +opinions. He was a patron of art and artists. Some beautiful +table-pieces that he had ordered, by Barye, are now in the gallery +of Mr. W. S. Walters, of Baltimore, they not having been completed +when he died. His wife charmed every one by her good sense, grace, +and goodness. They had had four years of happy married life, and +had two little sons, when, in July, 1842, the duchess went for +her health to the baths of Plombières, in the mountains of the +Vosges. Her husband escorted her thither, and then returned to +Paris, on his way to attend some military manoeuvres near Boulogne. + +As he was driving out to Neuilly to make his _adieux_ to his family, +the horses of his carriage were startled by an organ-grinder on the +Avenue de Neuilly. The duke, who was alone, tried apparently to +jump out of the carriage. Had he remained seated, all would have +been well. He fell on his head on the _pavé_ of the broad avenue, +breaking the vertebral column. + +He was carried into a small grocer's shop by the way-side, where +afterwards a little chapel was erected by his family. Messengers +were sent to the Château de Neuilly, and his father, mother, and +sisters, without bonnets or hats, came rushing to the spot. He +lived, unconscious, for four hours. A messenger was despatched +at once to bring his wife from Plombières. She had just finished +dressing for dinner, in full toilet, when the news reached her. +Without changing her dress, she started instantly for Paris, but +when she reached it, her husband was in his coffin. + +When his will was opened, it was found to contain an earnest exhortation +to his son that, whether he proved "one of those tools that Heaven +fits for work, but does not use," or ascended the French throne, +he "should always hold in his heart, above all things, love to +France, and fidelity to the principles of the French Revolution." + +Here is the poor Queen Amélie's account of the death of her son, +written to a dear friend four days after:-- + +"My Chartres,[1] my beloved son, he whose birth made all my happiness, +whose infancy and growing years were all my occupation, whose youth +was my pride and consolation, and who would, as I hoped, be the +prop of my old age, no longer lives. He has been taken from us in +the midst of completed happiness, and of the happiest prospects of +the future, whilst each day he gained in virtue, in understanding, +in wisdom, following the footsteps of his noble and excellent father. +He was more than a son to me,--he was my best friend. And God has +taken him from me!... On the 2d of July he and Hélène left for +Plombières, where the latter was to take the baths. He was, after +establishing her there, to come back and spend a few days at the +camp of St.-Omer, there to take command of an army corps, which +was intended to execute great military manoeuvres on the Marne, +and which had been the object of his thoughts and employments for +a year past. Accordingly, on the 9th he returned from Plombières, +and came to dine with us at Neuilly, full of the subject of the +elections, and talking of them with that warmth of heart and intellect +which was apparent in all he did. Next day--my _fête_ day--he came, +contrary to his usual custom, with an enormous bouquet, telling +me it was given in the name of the whole family. He heard mass, +and breakfasted with us. He was so cheerful. He sat beside me at +dinner. He got up, drank my health with much vivacity, and made +the band play a particular tune,--in my honor, as he said. Who +would have thought that this was the last time this dear child +was to show me so much affection! On the 11th he again returned +to dinner with us, much occupied all the time with the camp and +the elections.... + +[Footnote 1: It was his first title before his father came to the +throne. His mother always continued to use it.] + +"On the 12th he arrived about four o'clock in his country suit. We +conversed together about the health of Hélène, which was a subject +of anxiety, about Clémentine's marriage, which he earnestly desired; +about the elections and many other subjects, the discussion of +which he always ended with the refrain: 'In short, dear Majesty, +we finish as usual by agreeing in all important particulars.' And +it was very true. + +"After dinner we took a turn in the park, he and Victoire, Clémentine, +D'Aumale, and I. Never had he been so gay, so brilliant, so +affectionate. He spoke to me of his arrangements for the troops, +of the time when the king was to go with us to Ste.-Menehoulde, of +the time that he would spend there, and of his own daily occupations. +He looked forward to giving his father a representation of the +battle of Valmy. I gave him my arm, saying: 'Come, dear prop of +my old age!' And the next day he was to be alive no longer! + +"We returned to the drawing-room a little late. A great many people +had arrived. He remained with us talking until ten o'clock, when +on going away he came to bid me good-night. I gave him my hand, +and said: 'You will come and see us tomorrow before going away?' +He replied: 'Perhaps so.' + +"On the next day, July 13, about eleven o'clock, we were about +to get into the carriage to go to the Tuileries. As I followed +the king to the red drawing-room, I saw Troussart, the commissary +of police, with a terrified countenance whispering something to +General Gourgaud, who made a gesture of horror, and went to speak +in a low voice to the king. The king cried out: 'Oh, my God!' +Then I cried: 'Something has happened to one of my children! Let +nothing be kept from me!' The king replied: 'Yes, my dear; Chartres +has had a fall on his way here, and has been carried into a house +at Sablonville.' Hearing this, I began to run like a madwoman, +in spite of the cries of the king and the remonstrances of M. de +Chabannes, who followed me. But my strength was not equal to my +impulses, and on getting as far as the farm, I was exhausted. Happily +the king came up in the carriage with my sister, and I got in with +them. Our carriage stopped. We got out in haste, and went into the +_cabaret_, where in a small room, stretched upon a mattress on +the floor, we found Chartres, who was at that moment being bled.... +The death-rattle had begun. 'What is that?' said the king to me. I +replied: '_Mon ami_, this is death. For pity's sake let some one +fetch a priest, that my poor child may not die like a dog!' and +I went for a moment into a little side room, where I fell on my +knees and implored God from my inmost soul, if He needed a victim, +to take me and spare so dear a child.... + +"Dr. Pasquier arrived soon after. I said to him: 'Sir, you are +a man of honor; if you think the danger imminent, I beseech you +tell me so, that my child may receive extreme unction.' He hung +his head, and said: 'Madame, it is true.' + +"The _curé_ of Neuilly came and administered the sacrament while +we were all on our knees around the pallet, weeping and praying. +I unloosed from my neck a small cross containing a fragment of the +True Cross, and I put it into the hand of my poor child, that God +the Saviour might have pity on him in his passage into eternity. +Dr. Pasquier got up and whispered to the king. Then that venerable +and unhappy father, his face bathed in tears, knelt by the side +of his eldest son, and tenderly embracing him, cried; 'Oh that +it were I instead of thee!' I also drew near and kissed him three +times,--once for myself, once for Hélène, and once for his children. +I laid upon his lips the little cross, the symbol of our redemption, +and then placed it on his heart and left it there. The whole family +kissed him by turns, and then each returned to his place.... His +breathing now became irregular. Twice it stopped, and then went +on. I asked that the priest might come back and say the prayers +for the dying. He had scarcely knelt down and made the sign of +the cross, when my dear child drew a last deep breath, and his +beautiful, good, generous, and noble soul left his body.... The +priest at my request said a _De profundis_. The king wanted to +lead me away, but I begged him to allow me to embrace for the last +time my beloved son, the object of my deepest tenderness. I took +his dear head in my hands; I kissed his cold and discolored lips; +I placed the little cross again upon them, and then carried it +away, bidding a last farewell to him whom I loved so well,--perhaps +too well! + +"The king led me into the next room. I fell on his neck. We were +unhappy together. Our irreparable loss was common to us both, and +I suffered as much for him as for myself. There was a crowd in that +little room. I wept and talked wildly, and I was beside myself. +I recognized no one but the unhappy Marshal Gérard, the extent of +whose misfortune I then understood.[1] After a few minutes they +said that all was ready. The body had been placed on a stretcher +covered with a white cloth. It was borne by four men of the house, +attended by two gendarmes. They went out through the stable-yard; +there was an immense crowd outside.... We all followed on foot +the inanimate body of this dear son, who a few hours before had +passed over the same road full of life, strength, and happiness.... +Thus we carried him, and laid him down in our dear little chapel, +where four days before he had heard mass with the whole family." + +[Footnote 1: Marshal Gérard was then mourning for his son.] + +The death of the Duke of Orleans was the severest blow that could +have fallen on Louis Philippe, not only as a father, but as head +of a dynasty. The duke left two infant sons,--the Comte de Paris +and the Duc de Chartres. The former is now both the Orleanist and +Legitimist pretender, to the French throne. + +In the early part of 1845 Louis Philippe, who had already visited +Windsor and been cordially received there, was visited in return at +his Château d'Eu by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, accompanied +by Lord Aberdeen, then English Minister for Foreign Affairs. The +king's reception of the young queen was most paternal. He kissed +her like a father, and did everything in his power to make her +visit pleasant. Among the subjects discussed during the visit was +the question of "the Spanish marriages." + +The unfortunate Queen of Spain, Isabella II., was just sixteen years +old; her sister, the Infanta Luisa, was a year younger. Isabella +was the daughter of a vicious race, and with such a mother as she +had in Queen Christina, she had grown up to early womanhood utterly +ignorant and untrained. One of her ministers said of her that "no +one could be astonished that she had vices, but the wonder was +that she had by nature so many good qualities." Jolly, kindly, +generous, a rebel against etiquette, and an habitual breaker of +promises, she was long popular in Spain, in spite of a career of +dissoluteness only equalled by that of Catherine of Russia. + +In 1846, however, she had not shown this tendency, and in the hands +of a good husband might have made as good a wife and as respectable +a woman as her sister Luisa has since proved. + +There were many candidates for the honor of Queen Isabella's hand. +Louis Philippe sent his sons D'Aumale and Montpensier to Madrid to +try their fortunes; but England objected strongly to an alliance +which might make Spain practically a part of France. The candidature +of the French princes was therefore withdrawn. + +A prince of the Catholic branch of the Coburgs was then +proposed,--Prince Ferdinand, who made subsequently an excellent +king-consort in Portugal; but to him France objected, as too nearly +allied to the English Crown. Finally the suitors were reduced to +three,--the queen's cousin Enrique (Henry), a rough sailor of rather +radical opinions and turbulent ways; the Comte de Trepani, a Neapolitan +prince, a man of small understanding; and another cousin, Don Francisco +d'Assis, a creature weak alike in mind and body, whom it was an +outrage to think of as fit mate for a young queen. England was +willing to consent to the queen's marrying anyone of these princes, +and also that the Duc de Montpensier should marry the Infanta Luisa, +provided that the queen was first married and had had a child. All +this was fully agreed upon in the conference at Eu. But Christina, +the queen-mother, who had been plundering the Spanish treasury till +she had accumulated an enormous fortune, offered, if Louis Philippe +would use his influence to prevent any inquiry into the state of +her affairs, to further his views as to the Duc de Montpensier. + +It seems more like a scene in the Middle Ages than an actual transaction +in our own century, that at midnight, in a Spanish palace, a dissolute +Italian dowager and a French ambassador should have been engaged +in coercing a sovereign of sixteen into a detested marriage. As +morning dawned, the sobbing girl had given her consent to marry +Don Francisco, and the ambassador of Louis Philippe, pale from +the excitement of his vigil, left the palace to send word of his +disgraceful victory to his master. The Duc de Montpensier, who was +in waiting on the frontier, soon arrived in Madrid, and Isabella +and Luisa were married on the same day; while M. Guizot, who was +head of the French Government, and Louis Philippe excused their +breach of faith to the queen of England by saying that Queen Isabella +_was_ married before her sister, though on the same morning. + +Isabella at once banished her unwelcome husband to a country seat, +and flung herself headlong into disgraceful excesses. + +Queen Victoria was greatly hurt by the treachery displayed by Louis +Philippe and his minister, and doubtless, as a woman she was deeply +sorry for the young queen. Louis Philippe not only lost credit, +popularity, and the support he derived from the personal friendship +of the Queen and the Prince Consort of England, but he obtained no +chance of the throne of Spain for his son by his wicked devices; +for Queen Isabella, far from being childless, had three daughters +and a son. The latter, subsequently Alfonso XII., married, in spite +of much opposition, his lovely cousin Mercedes, daughter of the +Duke and Duchess of Montpensier. She died a few months after her +marriage, so that no son or grandson of Louis Philippe will be +permitted by Providence to mount the Spanish throne. + +The affair of the Spanish marriages, the quarrel it involved with +Queen Victoria, and the loss to Louis Philippe of personal honor, +had a great effect upon him; he became irritable and obstinate, +and at the same time weak of will. + +Troubles multiplied around him. Things with which he had nothing +whatever to do increased his unpopularity, and the secret societies +kept discontents alive. Everything that went wrong in France was +charged upon the king and the royal family. + +One of the great families in France was that of Choiseul-Praslin. +The head of it in Louis Philippe's time was a duke who had married +Fanny, daughter of Marshal Sébastiani, an old officer of Napoleon +and a great favorite with Louis Philippe. The Duc de Praslin had +given in his adhesion to the Orleans dynasty, while so many old +families stood aloof, and was in consequence made an officer in +the Duchess of Orleans' household. The Duc and Duchesse de Praslin +had ten children. The duchess was a stout, matronly little woman, +rather pretty, with strong affections and a good deal of sentiment. +Several times she had had cause to complain of her husband, and +_did_ complain somewhat vehemently to her own family; but their +matrimonial differences had always been made up by Marshal Sébastiani. +The world considered them a happy married pair. + +After seventeen years of married life a governess was engaged for +the nine daughters, a Mademoiselle Henriette de Luzy. She was a +Parisian by birth, but had been educated in England, had English +connections, and spoke English fluently. She was one of those women +who make a favorable impression upon everyone brought into personal +contact with them. Soon the children adored her, and it was not +long before the duke had come under the same spell. The duchess +found herself completely isolated in her own household; husband +and children had alike gone over to this stranger. The duchess +wrote pathetic letters to her husband, pleading her own affection +for him, and her claims as a wife and a mother. These letters no +doubt exasperated the duke, but we read them with deep pity for +her whose heart they lay bare. + +It is to be understood that there was apparently no scandal--that +is, scandal in the usual sense--in the relations between the duke +and Mademoiselle de Luzy. She had simply bewitched a weak man who +had grown tired of his wife, and had cast the same spell over his +children; and she had not the superiority of character which would +have led her to throw up a lucrative situation because she was +making a wife and mother (whom doubtless she considered very +unreasonable) extremely unhappy. + +At last things came to such a pass that Madame de Praslin appealed +to her father, insisting on a legal separation from her husband. +The marshal intervened, and the affair was compromised. Mademoiselle +de Luzy was to be honorably discharged, and the duchess was to +renounce her project of separation. Mademoiselle de Luzy therefore +gave up her situation, and went to board in a _pension_ in Paris +with her old schoolmistress. Madame de Praslin went to her country +house, the magnificent Château de Vaux, where she herself undertook +the education of her children; but in their estimation she by no +means replaced Mademoiselle de Luzy, whom from time to time they +visited in company with their father. + +In the middle of the summer of 1847 it was arranged that the whole +family should go to the seaside, and they came up to Paris to pass +one night in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré at the Hôtel Sébastiani. +Like most French establishments, the Hôtel Sébastiani was divided +between the marshal and his daughter, the old marshal occupying one +floor during the winter, the duke and duchess, with their family, +the one above it, while the servants of both establishments had +their sleeping-rooms under the roof. The house was of gray stone, +standing back in a yard; the French call such a situation _entre +cour et jardin_. The duke had been in Paris several times during the +previous week, and had occupied his own rooms, where the concierge +and his wife--the only servants left in the house--had remarked +that he seemed very busy. + +It was afterwards reported in the neighborhood, but I do not think +the circumstance was ever officially brought out, that the police +found subsequently that all the screws but one that held up the +heavy tester over the bed of the duchess, had been removed, and the +holes filled with wax; it is certain that the duke partly unscrewed +the bolt that fastened the door of her dressing-room. + +On the evening of the family's arrival in Paris, the father and +children went in a carriage to see Mademoiselle de Luzy. She told +the duke that she could get a good situation, provided the duchess +would give her a certificate of good conduct; and the duke at parting +promised to obtain it for her. + +The whole family went to bed early, that they might be ready to +start for the seaside betimes upon the morrow. The children's rooms +were in a wing of the building, at some distance from the chambers +of their father and mother. The concierge and his wife slept in +their lodge. Towards one o'clock in the morning they were awakened +by screams; but they lay still, imagining that the noise came from +the Champs Elysées. Then they heard the loud ringing of a bell, +and starting from their bed, rushed into the main building. The +noise had proceeded from the duchess's chamber. They knocked at +the door, but there was no answer, only low moans. They consulted +together, and then roused the maid and valet, who were sleeping in +the attic chambers. Again they knocked, and there was no answer. +The valet then went to the duke's room, which looked upon the garden +and communicated with the dressing-room of the duchess by a balcony +and window as well as by the door. The duke opened the door of +his chamber. He was in his dressing-gown. When he heard what was +the matter, he went at once through the window into the duchess's +chamber. There a scene of carnage unparalleled, I think, in the +history of murder met their eyes. The duchess was lying across +her bed, not yet quite dead, but beyond the power of speech. There +were more than forty wounds on her body. She must have struggled +desperately. The walls were bloody, the bell-rope was bloody, and +the floor was bloody. The nightdress of the duchess was saturated +with blood. Her hands were cut almost to pieces, as if she had +grasped the blade of the knife that killed her. The furniture was +overturned in all parts of the room.[1] + +[Footnote 1: We were then living near the Hotel Sébastini. The +excitement in the neighborhood the next morning is indescribable.] + +At once the valet and the concierge ran for the police, for members +of the family, and for a doctor. The duke retired to his dressing-room. +One of the gentlemen who first arrived was so sickened by the sight +of the bloody room that he begged for a glass of water. The valet +ran for the nearest water at hand, and abruptly entered the duke's +dressing-room. He had a glass with him, and was going to fill it +from a pail standing near, when the duke cried out: "Don't touch it; +it is dirty;" and at once emptied the contents out of the window, +but not before the valet had seen that the water was red with blood. +This roused his suspicions, and when all the servants in the house +were put under arrest, he said quietly to the police: "You had +better search the duke's dressing-room." + +When this was done there could be no more doubt. Three fancy daggers +were found, one of which had always hung in the chamber of the +duchess. All of them were stained with blood. The duke had changed +his clothes, and had tried to wash those he took off in the pail +whose bloody water he had thrown away. Subsequently it was conjectured +that his purpose had been to stab his wife in her sleep, and then +by a strong pull to bring down upon her the heavy canopy. The bolt +he had unscrewed permitted him at dead of night quietly to enter +her chamber. + +The police were puzzled as to how they ought to treat the murderer. +As he was a peer of France, they could not legally arrest him without +authority from the Chamber of peers, or from the king. The royal +family was at Dreux. The king was appealed to at once, and immediately +gave orders to arrest the duke and to summon the peers for his +trial. But meantime the duke, who had been guarded by the police +in his own chamber, had contrived to take poison. He took such +a quantity of arsenic that his stomach rejected it. He did not +die at once, but lingered several days, and was carried to prison +at the Luxembourg, where the poison killed him by inches. He died +untried, having made no confession. + +His son, who was very young at the time of his parents' death, +married an American lady when he grew to manhood. It was a long +courtship, for the young duke's income went largely to keep in +repair his famous Château de Vaux, where Fouquet had entertained +Louis XIV. with regal magnificence. Finally a purchaser was found +for the ancestral seat; and relieved of the obligations it involved, +the duke married, and retired to his estates in Corsica. + +As to Mademoiselle de Luzy, she was tried for complicity in the +murder of the duchess, and acquitted. There was no evidence whatever +against her. But popular feeling concerning her as the inciting +cause of the poor duchess's death was so strong that by the advice +of her pastor--the Protestant M. Coquerel--she changed her name and +came to America. She brought letters of introduction to a family +in Boston, who procured her a situation as governess in Connecticut. +There she soon after married a Congregational minister. + +It seems hard to imagine how such a tragedy could have borne its +part among the causes of Louis Philippe's downfall; but those who +look into Alison or Lamartine will see it set down as one of the +events which greatly assisted in bringing about the revolution of +February. Mobs, like women, are often swayed by persons rather +than by principles. + +It was believed by the populace that court favor had prevented +the duke from going to prison like any common criminal, and that +the same influence had procured him the poison by which he escaped +a public execution. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE DOWNFALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. + +As I said in the last chapter, everything in the year 1847 and during +the opening weeks of 1848 seemed unfavorable to Louis Philippe. +Besides the causes of dissatisfaction I have mentioned, there was +a scarcity of grain, there were drains on the finances, there was +disaffection among the National Guard, and hostility among the +peers to the measures of the Ministry. Then came the conviction +of M. Teste, a member of the Cabinet, for misappropriating public +funds. Even private affairs seemed turned against the royal family. +Madame Lafarge murdered her husband, and it was said that the court +had attempted to procure her acquittal because she was connected +with the house of Orleans by a bar-sinister. A quarrel about an +actress led to a duel. The man wounded was a journalist who was +actively opposed to the king's Government. It was hinted that the +duel was a device of the court to get him put out of the way. But +the greatest of the king's misfortunes was the death of his admirable +sister, Madame Adélaïde, in January, 1848. She had been all his life +his bosom friend and his chief counsellor. She died of a severe +attack of influenza. + +In a letter from the Prince de Joinville to the Duc de Nemours, +found in the garden of the Tuileries in February, 1848, among many +valuable documents that had been flung from the windows of the +palace by the mob, the situation of things at the close of 1847 +and the beginning of 1848 is thus summed up by one brother writing +in confidence to another:-- + +"The king will listen to no advice. His own will must be paramount +over everything. It seems to me impossible that in the Chamber of +Deputies at the next session the anomalous state of the government +should fail to attract attention. It has effaced all traces of +constitutional government, and has put forward the king as the +primary, and indeed sole, mover upon all occasions. There is no +longer any respect for ministers; their responsibility is null, +everything rests with the king. He has arrived at an age when he +declines to listen to suggestions. He is accustomed to govern, +and he loves to show that he does so. His immense experience, his +courage, and his great qualities lead him to face danger; but it +is not on that account the less real or imminent." + +Then, after further summing up the state of France,--the finances +embarrassed, the _entente cordiale_ with England at an end, and the +provinces in confusion,--the prince adds: "Those unhappy Spanish +marriages!--we have not yet drained the cup of bitterness they +have mixed for us to drink." + +In this state of things the opposition party was divided into liberals +who wished for reform, and liberals who aimed at revolution. For +a while the two parties worked together, and their war-cry was +Reform! There was little or no parliamentary opposition, for the +Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies were alike virtually +chosen by the Crown. The population of France in 1848 was thirty-five +millions; but those entitled to vote were only two hundred and +forty thousand, or one to every one hundred and forty-six of the +population, and of these a large part were in Government employ. +It was said that the number of places in the gift of the Ministry +was sixty-three thousand, every place, from that of a guard upon +a railroad to that of a judge upon the bench, being disposed of +by ministerial favor. + +The plan adopted to give expression to the public discontent was +the inauguration of reform banquets. To these large crowds were +attracted, both from political motives and from a desire in the +rural districts to hear the great speakers, Lamartine and others, +who had a national renown. Many of the speeches were inflammatory. +The health of the king was never drunk on these occasions, but +the "Marseillaise" was invariably played. + +Seventy-four of these banquets had been given in the provinces, +when it was decided to give one in Paris; and a large inclosed piece +of ground on the Rue Chaillot, not far from the Arch of Triumph, +was fixed upon for the purpose. This banquet was to take place on +Tuesday, Feb. 22, 1848. Until Monday afternoon opinions seemed +divided as to whether it would be suffered to go on. But meantime the +city had been crammed with troops, and the sleep of its inhabitants +had been broken night after night by the tramp of regiments and the +rumble of artillery. Monday, February 21, was a beautiful day, +the air was soft and genial, the streets and the Champs Elysées +were very gay. Scarcely any one was aware at that time that it +was the intention of the Government to forbid the banquet; but +that night the preparations made for it were carted away by order +of the liberal leaders, who had been warned of the decision of the +authorities, while at the same time every loose paving-stone that +might help to erect a barricade was, by orders from the police, +removed out of the way. + +When morning dawned, a proclamation, forbidding the banquet, was +posted on every street-corner. The soldiers were everywhere confined +to their quarters, the windows of which were stuffed with mattresses; +but to residents in Paris the day seemed to pass quietly, though +about noon the Place de la Madeleine was full of men surrounding +the house of Odillon Barrot, the chief leader of the opposition, +demanding what, under the circumstances, they had better do. In the +Place de la Concorde, troops were endeavoring to prevent the crowd +from crossing the Seine and assembling in front of the Chamber of +Deputies. In order to break up the throng upon the bridge, a heavy +wagon was driven over it at a rapid pace, escorted by soldiers, who +slashed about them with their sheathed swords. At the residence +of M. Guizot, then both Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign +Affairs, a large crowd had assembled and had broken his windows; +but the rioters were dispersed the Municipal Guard and the Police. + +In the afternoon, on the Place de la Concorde, a party of men and +boys, apparently without leaders, contrived to break through the +troops guarding the bridge, and began to ascend the steps of the +Chamber of Deputies. Being refused admission to the hall, they +proceeded to break windows and do other damage. Then a party of +dragoons began to clear the bridge, but good-humoredly, and the +people were retiring as fast as they might, when a detachment of the +Municipal Guard arrived. The Municipal Guard was a handsome corps +of mounted police, the men being all stalwart and fine-looking. They +wore brazen helmets and horse-tails and glittering breastplates, +but they were very unpopular, while the National Guards were looked +on by the rioters as their supporters. The Municipal Guards, when +they came upon the bridge, began treating the crowd roughly, a +good many persons were hurt, and an old woman was trodden down. At +this the crowd grew furious, stones were thrown, and the soldiers +drew their swords. Before nightfall there was riot and disorder all +over Paris. Towards dusk the _rappel_--the signal for the National +Guard to muster--had been beaten in the streets, and soon many +soldiers of that body might be seen, escorted by men in blouses +carrying their guns, while the National Guards, unarmed, were shouting +and singing. + +All Tuesday, February 22, the affair was a mere riot. But during +the night the secret societies met, and decided on more formidable +action. + +The next morning was chilly and rainy, very dispiriting to the +troops, who had bivouacked all night in the public squares, where +they had been ill-provided with food and forage. The coats and +swords of the students at the Polytechnic had been removed during +the night, to prevent their joining the bands who were singing the +"Marseillaise" and the "Dernier Chant des Girondins" under their +windows. + +Meantime barricades had been raised in the thickly populated parts of +Paris, and successful efforts had been made to enlist the sympathies +of the soldiers and the National Guard. + +During the early hours of Wednesday, the 23d, reports of these +disaffections succeeded each other rapidly at the Tuileries, and +a council was held in the king's cabinet, to which the queen and +the princes were invited. The king spoke of resigning his crown, +adding that he was "fortunate in being able to resign it." "But +you cannot abdicate, _mon ami_," said the queen. "You owe yourself +to France. The demand made is for the resignation of the Ministry. +M. Guizot should resign, and I feel sure that being the man of +honor that he is, he will do so in this emergency." + +M. Guizot and his colleagues at once gave in their resignations. +The king wept as he embraced them, bidding them farewell. Count +Molé was then called in and requested to form a ministry. Before +he could do so, however, things had grown worse, and M. Thiers, +instead of Count Molé, was made head of the Cabinet. He insisted +that Odillon Barrot, the day before very popular with the insurgents, +must be his colleague. The king declined to assent to this. To put +Odillon Barrot into power, he said, was virtually to abandon the +policy of his reign. + +But before this matter was decided, there had occurred a lamentable +massacre at the gates of the residence of M. Guizot, the Minister for +Foreign Affairs. The building had been surrounded by a fierce crowd, +composed mainly of working-men from the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Some +confusion was occasioned by the restlessness of a horse belonging +to an officer in command of a squad of cavalry detailed to defend +the building. The leader of the mob fired a pistol. The soldiers +responded with a volley from their carbines. Fifty of the crowd were +killed. The bodies were piled by the mob upon a cart and paraded +through Paris, the corpse of a half-naked woman lying conspicuously +among them. The sight everywhere woke threats of vengeance. + +The king, when he heard of this, yielded. Odillon Barrot was associated +with M. Thiers, and Marshal Bugeaud was placed in command of the +military. + +M. Thiers' foible was omniscience; and to Bugeaud's amazement, +amusement, and indignation he insisted on inspecting his military +plans and giving his advice concerning them. Happily the marshal's +plans met with the approval of the minister, and the commander-in-chief +went to his post; while Odillon Barrot, accompanied by Horace Vernet, +the painter, went forth into the streets to inform the insurgents +that their demand for reform had been granted, that the obnoxious +ministers had been dismissed, and that all power was made over +to himself and to his colleagues. + +Marshal Bugeaud found everything in wild confusion at the War Office; +but was restoring order, and had marched four columns of troops +through Paris without serious opposition, when he received orders +from M. Thiers that not another shot was to be fired by the soldiers. +The marshal replied that he would not obey such orders unless he +received them from the king. The Duc de Nemours therefore signed +the paper in the name of his father, and soon afterwards a new +proclamation was posted on the walls:-- + +Citizens! An order has been given to suspend all firing. We are +charged by the king to form a ministry. The Chamber is about to be +dissolved. General Lamoricière has been appointed Commander-in-Chief +of the National Guard. Messieurs Odillon Barrot, Thiers, Lamoricière, +and Duvergier de Haurannes are ministers. Our watchwords are,--Order, +Union, Reform! + + (Signed) ODILLON BARROT. + THIERS. + +This proclamation may be said to have been the beginning of the +end. The soldiers were disgusted; supporters of the monarchy lost +heart; the secret societies now felt that the game was in their +hands. By that time barricades without number, it was said, had +been thrown up in the streets. The suburbs of Paris were cut off +from the capital. During the previous night, arms had been everywhere +demanded from private houses; but in obtaining them the insurgents +endeavored to inspire no unnecessary terror. One lady in the English +quarter was found kneeling by the bedside of her dying child. When +a party of armed men entered the chamber they knelt down, joined +their prayers to hers for the soul that was departing, and then +quitted the room in silence, placing a guard and writing over the +door in chalk: "Respect this house, for death is here." + +By nine o'clock on Wednesday morning the troops, disgusted by the +order which forbade them to defend themselves, reversed their arms +and fraternized with the people, the officers sheathing their swords. + +A little later, Odillon Barrot, who supposed himself to be the +people's favorite, rode along the Boulevard to proclaim to the +rioters that he was now their minister, and that the cause of reform +was assured. He was met with cries of "Never mind him! We have no +time to hear him! Too late, too late! We know all he has to say!" +About the same time the École Militaire was taken; but a guard +_en blouse_ was posted to protect the apartments of the ladies +of the governor. The fight before the Palais Royal occurred about +noon. The palace, which was the private property of Louis Philippe, +was sacked, and many valuable works of art were destroyed. + +The royal family were sitting down to breakfast about midday when +a party of gentlemen, among them M. Émile de Girardin, made their +way into the Tuileries, imploring the king to abdicate at once +and spare further bloodshed. Without a word, Louis Philippe drew +pen and paper towards him and wrote his abdication. Embracing his +grandson, the little Comte de Paris, he went out, saying to the +gentlemen about him: "This child is your king." + +Through the Pavillon de l'Horloge, the main entrance to the Tuileries, +came a party of dragoons, leading their horses down the marble +steps into the gardens. The victorious blouses already filled the +inner court, the Place du Carrousel. The royal family, slenderly +attended, followed the king. The crowd poured into the Tuileries +on the side of the Carrousel as the royal family quitted it through +the gardens. + +In the Place de la Concorde, beneath the old Egyptian obelisk which +had witnessed so many changes in this troubled world, they found +two cabs in waiting. The king and queen entered one, with several +of the children. Into the second stepped the Duchesse de Nemours, +the Princess Clémentine, and an attendant. Some persons in the +crowd who recognized them, cried out: "Respect old age! Respect +misfortune!" And when an officer in attendance called out to the +crowd not to hurt the king, he was answered: "Do you take us for +assassins? Let him get away!" + +This, indeed, was the general feeling. Only a few persons ventured +to insult the royal family. The coachmen, however, drove off in such +haste that the Spanish princess, Luisa, Duchesse de Montpensier, +was left alone upon the sidewalk, weeping bitterly. A Portuguese +gentleman gave her his arm, and took her in search of her husband's +aide-de-camp, General Thierry. With several other gentlemen, who +formed a guard about her, they passed back into the garden of the +Tuileries, where M. Jules de Lasteyrie, the grandson of Lafayette, +took possession of the duchess and escorted her to his own house. +From thence, a few days later, he forwarded her to the coast, where +she rejoined her husband. + +When the king quitted the Tuileries he was urged to leave behind +him a paper conferring the regency on the Duchess of Orleans. He +refused positively. "It would be contrary to law," he said; "and I +have never yet done anything, thank God! contrary to law." "But what +must I do," asked the duchess, "without friends, without relations, +without counsel?" "_Ma chère Hélène_," the king replied, "the dynasty +and the crown of your son are intrusted to you. Remain here and +protect them." + +As the mob began to pour into the palace after the king's departure, +the duchess, by the advice of M. Dupin, the President (or Speaker) +of the Chamber, set out on foot to cross the bridge nearest to +the palace, and to reach the Palais Bourbon. She held her eldest +son, the Comte de Paris, by the hand; her youngest, who was too +small to walk, was carried by an aide-de-camp. Beside them walked +M. Dupin, the Duc de Nemours, and a faithful servant. They left +the Tuileries in such haste that they failed to give orders to +the faithful Garde Municipale, who would have suffered the fate +of the Swiss Guard in 1792, had not National Guards in the crowd +assisted them to change their conspicuous uniforms and to escape +out of the windows. + +During the first half hour after the invasion of the palace a great +deal of money and many other valuables disappeared; but after that +time it was death to appropriate anything, even if it were of little +value. + +Soon the gardens of the Tuileries were white with papers flung +from the windows of the palace, many of them of great historical +value. A piece of pink gauze, the property, probably, of some +maid-of-honor, streamed from one of the windows in the roof and +fluttered across the whole building. The crowd, in high good humor, +tossed forth livery coats, fragments of state furniture, and papers. +The beds still stood unmade, and all the apparatus of the ladies' +toilet-tables remained in disorder. In one royal bed-chamber a +man was rubbing pomade with both hands into his hair, another was +drenching himself with perfume, a third was scrubbing his teeth +furiously with a brush that had that morning parted the lips of +royalty. In another room a man _en blouse_ was seated at a piano +playing the "Marseillaise" to an admiring audience (the "Marseillaise" +had been forbidden in Paris for many years). Elsewhere a party of +_gamins_ were turning over a magnificent scrapbook. In the next +room was a grand piano, on which four men were thumping at once. +In another, a party of working-men were dancing a quadrille, while +a gentleman played for them upon a piano. At every chimney-piece +and before every work of art stood a guard, generally ragged and +powder-stained, bearing a placard, "Death to Robbers!" while at the +head of the Grand Staircase others stood, crying, "Enter, messieurs! +Enter! We don't have cards of admission to this house every day!" +While the cry that passed through the crowd was: "Look as much as +you like, but take nothing!" "Are not we magnificent in our own +house, Monsieur?" said a _gamin_ to an Englishman; while another +was to be seen walking about in one of poor Queen Amélie's state +head-dresses, surmounted by a bird-of-paradise with a long tail. + +At first the crowd injured nothing, even the king's portraits being +respected; but after a while the destruction of state furniture +began. Three men were seen smoking in the state bed; some ate up +the royal breakfast; and the cigars of the princes were freely +handed to rough men in the crowd. + +Meantime in the Chamber of Deputies the scene was terrible. M. +Dupin, its president, lost his head. Had he, when he knew of the +king's abdication, declared the sitting closed, and directed the +Deputies to disperse, he might possibly have saved the monarchy. +But the mob got possession of the _tribune_ (the pulpit from which +alone speeches can be made in the Chamber); they pointed their guns +at the Deputies, who cowered under their benches, and the last +chance for Louis Philippe's dynasty was over. Odillon Barrot, who +had come down to the house full of self-importance, notwithstanding +his reception on the Boulevards, found that his hour was over and +his power gone. + +M. de Lamartine was the idol of the mob, though he was very nearly +shot in the confusion. Armed insurgents crowded round him, clinging +to his skirts, his hands, his knees. Throughout the tumult the +reporters for the "Moniteur" kept their seats, taking notes of what +was passing. + +The Duchess of Orleans found the Chamber occupied by armed men. She +was jostled and pressed upon. A feeble effort was made to proclaim +her son king, and to appoint her regent during his minority. She +endeavored several times to speak, and behaved with an intrepidity +which did her honor. But when Lamartine, mounting the tribune, +cast aside her claims, and announced that the moment had arrived +for proclaiming a provisional government and a republic, she was +hustled and pushed aside by the crowd. + +She was dressed in deep mourning. Her long black veil, partly raised, +showed her fair face marred with sorrow and anxiety. Her children +were dressed in little black velvet skirts and jackets, with large +white turned-down collars. Soon the crowd around the tribune, beneath +which the duchess had her seat, grew so furious that her attendants, +fearing for her life, hurried her away. + +In the press and the confusion the Duc de Nemours and her two children +were parted from her. The Comte de Paris was seized by a gigantic +man _en blouse_, who said afterwards that he had been only anxious +to protect the child; but a National Guard forced the boy from his +grasp, and restored him to his mother. The Duc de Chartres was +for some time lost, and was in great danger, having been knocked +down on the staircase by an ascending crowd. + +At last, however, the little party, under the escort of the Duc +de Nemours, who had disguised himself, escaped on foot into the +streets, then growing dark; and finding a hackney-coach, persuaded +the coachman to drive them to a place of safety. The Duc de Chartres +was not to be found, and his mother passed many hours of terrible +anxiety before he was restored to her arms. + +Very strange that night was the scene in the Champs Elysées. They +were filled with a joyous and triumphant crowd in every variety of +military costume, and armed with every sort of weapon. Soldiers alone +were unarmed. They marched arm-in-arm with their new friends, singing, +like them, the "Marseillaise" and "Mourir pour la Patrie." In the +quarter of the Champs Elysées, where well-to-do foreigners formed a +considerable part of the population, there was no ferocity exhibited +by the mob. The insurgents were like children at play,--children on +their good behavior. They had achieved a wonderful and unexpected +victory. The throne had fallen, as if built on sand. Those who +had overturned it were in high good-humor. + +A French mob at the present day is very different. It has the modern +grudge of laborer against employer, it has memories of the license +of the Commune, and above all it has learned the use of _absinthe_. +There is a hatred and a contempt for all things that should command +men's reverence, which did not display itself in 1848. + +May I here be permitted to relate a little story connected with +this day's events? I was with my family in Paris during those days +of revolution. Our nurse,--an Englishwoman who had then been with us +twenty-five years, and who died recently, at the age of ninety-eight, +still a member of our family,--when we returned home from viewing +the devastation at the Tuileries, expressed strongly her regret +at not having accompanied us. She was consoled, however, by an +offer from our man-servant to escort her down the Champs Elysées. +They made their way to the Place du Carrousel, at the back of the +palace, where a dense crowd was assembled, and the good lady became +separated from her protector. The National Guard and the servants +in the palace had just succeeded in getting the crowd out of the +rooms and in closing the doors. This greatly disappointed our good +nurse. She had counted on seeing the interior of the king's abode, +and above all, the king's throne. She could speak very little French, +but she must in some way have communicated her regrets to the crowd +around her. "Does Madame desire so much to pass in?" said a big +man in a blouse, girt with a red sash, and carrying a naked sword; +"then Madame _shall_ pass in!" Thereupon he and his followers in +the front rank of the crowd so bepummelled the door with the hilts +of their swords and the stocks of their muskets that those within +were forced to throw it open. In marched our dear nurse beside her +protector. They passed through room after room until they reached +the throne-room; there she indicated her wish to obtain a relic of +departed royalty. Instantly her friend with the bare sword sliced +off from the throne a piece of red velvet with gold embroidery. +She kept it ever after, together with a delicate china cup marked +L. P.; but the cup was much broken. "You see, dears," she would +say to us, "there was lots of things like these lying about, but +there were men standing round with naked swords ready to cut your +head off if you stole anything. So I took this cup and broke it. +It was not stealing to carry off a broken cup, you know." And she +would add, when winding up her narrative: "Those Frenchmen was +so polite to me that they did n't even tread on my corns." + +That night there was a brilliant conflagration in the Carrousel. It +was a bonfire of those very carriages which eighteen years before +the mob had brought in triumph to Louis Philippe from the stables +of Charles X. at Rambouillet. + +All the next day not a newspaper was to be had. The "Presse," indeed, +brought out a half sheet, mainly taken up in returning thanks to two +compositors "who, between two fires," had been "so considerate" as +to set up the type. But their consideration could not have lasted +long, for the news broke off abruptly in the middle of a sentence +on the first page. Events worked faster than compositors. + +By noon on Friday, February 25, the entire population of Paris +was in the streets. From the flags on public offices, the blue +and white strips had been tom away. On that day--but on that day +only--every man wore a red ribbon in his button-hole. Many did so +very unwillingly, for red was understood to be the badge of Red +Republicanism. + +On the Boulevards the iron railings had been tom up, and most of +the trees had been cut down. They were replanted, however, not +long after, to the singing of the "Marseillaise" and the firing of +cannon. For more than a week there was a strange quiet in Paris: +no vehicles were in the streets, for the paving-stones had been +torn up for barricades; no shops were open; on the closed shutters +of most of them appeared the words "Armes données," Everywhere a +paintbrush had been passed over the royal arms. Even the words +"roi," "reine," "royal," were effaced. The patriots were very zealous +in exacting these removals. Two _gamins_ with swords hacked patiently +for two hours at a cast-iron double-headed Austrian eagle. + +Change (small money, I mean) was hardly to be had in Paris. For +a month it was necessary, in order to obtain it, to apply at the +Mairie of the Arrondissement, and to stand for hours in a _queue_. +Other money could be had only from the bankers in thousand-franc +notes. Shopping was of course at an end, and half Paris was thrown +out of employment. Gold and silver were hidden away. + +Louis Philippe and his family drove in their two cabriolets to +Versailles. There they found great difficulty in getting post-horses. +Indeed, they would have procured none, had there not been some +cavalry horses in the place, which were harnessed to one of the +royal carriages. About midnight of their second day's journey they +reached Dreux. There Louis Philippe found himself without money, +and had to borrow from one of his tenants. He had left behind him +in his haste three hundred and fifty thousand francs on a table +in the Tuileries. + +The Provisional Government, which was kept well informed as to +his movements, forwarded to him a supply of money. At Dreux the +king's party was joined by the Duke of Montpensier with news that +the king's attempt to save the monarchy by abdication had failed. + +The old man seemed stupefied by his sudden fall. Over and over +again he was heard to repeat: "Comme Charles X.! Comme Charles X.!" +The next day, travelling under feigned names, the royal party pushed +on to Evreux, where they were hospitably received by a farmer in +the forest, who harnessed his work-horses to their carriage. Thence +they went on to their own Château d'Eu. The danger to which during +this journey they were exposed arose, not from the new Government +at Paris, but from the excited state of the peasantry. + +After many perils and adventures, sometimes indeed travelling on +foot to avoid dangerous places, they reached Harfleur on March +3. An English steamer, the "Express," lay at the wharf, on which +the king and queen embarked as Mr. and Mrs. William Smith. The +following morning they were off the English coast, at Newbern. +They landed, and proceeded at once to Claremont, the palace given +to their son-in-law, Leopold of Belgium, for his lifetime by the +English Parliament. + +The government set up in Paris was a provisional one. The members +of the Provisional Government were many of them well known to the +public, and of approved character. No men ever had a more difficult +task before them, and none ever tried with more self-sacrifice to +do their duty. + +The measures they proposed were eighteen in number: + + 1. The retention of the tricolor. + 2. The retention of the Gallic cock. + 3. The sovereignty of the people. + 4. The dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies. + 5. The suppression of the Chamber of Peers. + 6. The convocation of a National Assembly. + 7. Work to be guaranteed to all working-men. + 8. The unity of the army and the populace. + 9. The formation of a Garde Mobile. + 10. The arrest and punishment of all deserters. + 11. The release of all political prisoners. + 12. The trial of M. Guizot and his colleagues. + 13. The reduction of Vincennes and Fort Valérien, still held by the + troops for the king. + 14. All officials under Louis Philippe to be released from their oaths. + 15. All objects at the Mont de Piété (the Government pawn-broking + establishment) valued under ten francs, to be restored. + 16. All National Guards dismissed under preceding Governments to be + reinstated. + 17. The million of francs expended on the court to be given to disabled + workmen. + 18. A paternal commission to be nominated, to look after the interests + of the working-classes. + +The institution of the Garde Mobile was a device for finding employment +for those boys and young men who formed one of the most dangerous +of the dangerous classes. + +It is easy to see how tempting these promises were to working-men; +and yet the better class among them mourned their loss of steady +employment. The Revolution of 1848, though it was not originated +by the working-classes, was made to appear as if it were intended +for their profit; and that indeed was its ruin, for it was found +impossible to keep the promises of work, support, parental protection, +etc., made to the Parisian masses. The _bourgeoisie_, when they +recovered from their astonishment and found that the stone they +had set rolling under the name of reform had dislodged their own +Revolution of 1830, and the peasants of the provinces, when they +found that all the praise and all the profits were solely for the +working-men of the capital, were very far from satisfied. + +As to the upper classes, their terror and dismay were overwhelming. +Everything seemed sliding away under their feet. Many women of rank +and fashion, distrusting the stability of the king's government, had +for some time past been yearly adding diamonds to their necklaces, +because, as one of them exclaimed to us during this month of February: +"We knew not what might happen to stocks or to securities, but +diamonds we can put into our pockets. No other property in France +can be called secure!" + +And yet Paris soon resumed its wonted appearance. Commerce and +shopping might be impossible in a city where nobody could make +change for two hundred dollars, yet the Champs Elysées were again +gay with pedestrians and carriages. All favorite amusements were +resumed, but almost all men being idle, their great resource was +to assemble round the Hôtel-de-Ville and force Lamartine to make +a speech to them. + +On Saturday, March 4, all Paris crowded to the Boulevards to witness +the funeral _cortège_ of the victims. There were neither military +nor police to keep order; yet the crowd was on its good behavior, +and strict decorum was maintained. There were about three hundred +thousand persons in the procession, and as many more on the sidewalks. +As they marched, mourners and spectators all sang the Chant of the +Girondins ("Mourir pour la Patrie") and the "Marseillaise." + +Two things distinguished this revolution of February from all other +French revolutions before or after it,--the high character and +self-devotion of the men placed at the head of affairs, and the +absence of prejudice against religion. The revolution, so far from +putting itself in antagonism with religious feeling, everywhere +appealed to it. The men who invaded the Tuileries bowed before +the crucifix in the queen's chamber. Priests who were known to be +zealous workers among the poor were treated as fathers. _Curés_ +blessed the trees of liberty planted in their parishes. Prayers for +the Republic were offered at the altars, and in country villages +priests headed the men of their congregations who marched up to +the polls. + +[Illustration: _ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE._] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +LAMARTINE AND THE SECOND REPUBLIC.[1] + +[Footnote 1: For the subject-matter of this chapter I am largely +indebted to Mrs. Oliphant's article on Lamartine in "Blackwood's +Magazine."] + +The Provisional Government hastily set up in France on Feb. 24, 1848, +consisted at first of five members; but that number was afterwards +enlarged. M. Dupin, who had been President of the Chamber of Deputies, +was made President of the Council (or prime minister); but the real +head of the Government and Minister for Foreign Affairs was Alphonse +de Lamartine. He was a Christian believer, a high-minded man, by +birth an aristocrat, yet by sympathy a man of the masses. "He was +full of sentimentalities of vainglory and of personal vanity; but +no pilot ever guided a ship of state so skilfully and with such +absolute self-devotion through an angry sea. For a brief while, +just long enough to effect this purpose, he was the idol of the +populace." With him were associated Crémieux, a Jew; Ledru-Rollin, +the historian, a Red Republican; Arago, the astronomer; Hypolite +Carnot, son of Lazare Carnot, Member of the Directory, father of +the future president; General Casaignac, who was made governor of +Algeria; Garnier-Pagès, who a second time became, in 1870, member +of a Provisional Government for the defence of Paris; and several +others. + +The downfall of Louis Philippe startled and astonished even those +who had brought it about. They had intended reform, and they drew +down revolution. They hoped to effect a change of ministry: they +were disconcerted when they had dethroned a king. There were about +thirty thousand regular troops in Paris, besides the National Guard +and the mounted police, or Garde Municipale. No one had imagined +that the Throne of the Barricades would fall at the first assault. +There were no leaders anywhere in this revolution. The king's party +had no leaders; the young princes seemed paralyzed. The army had +no leader; the commander-in-chief had been changed three times +in twenty-four hours. The insurgents had no leaders. On February +22 Odillon Barrot was their hero, and on February 23 they hooted +him. + +The republicans, to their own amazement, were left masters of the +field of battle, and Lamartine was pushed to the front as their +chief man. + +I may here pause in the historical narrative to say a few words +about the personal history of Lamartine, which, indeed, will include +all that history has to say concerning the Second Republic. + +The love stories of the uncle and father of Alphonse de Lamartine +are so pathetic, and give us so vivid a picture of family life +before the First Revolution, that I will go back a generation, and +tell them as much as possible in Lamartine's own words. + +His grandfather had had six children,--three daughters and three +sons. According to French custom, under the old régime, the eldest +son only was to marry, and the other members of the Lamartine family +proceeded as they grew up to fulfil their appointed destinies. +The second son went into the Church, and rose to be a bishop. The +third son, M. le Chevalier, went into the army. The sisters adopted +the religious life, and thus all were provided for. But strange to +say, the eldest son, to whose happiness and prosperity the rest +were to be sacrificed, was the first rebel in the family. He fell +in love with a Mademoiselle de Saint-Huruge; but her _dot_ was +not considered by the elder members of the family sufficient to +justify the alliance. The young man gave up his bride, and to the +consternation of his relatives announced that he would marry no +other woman. M. le Chevalier must marry and perpetuate the ancestral +line. + +Lamartine says,-- + +"M. le Chevalier was the youngest in that generation of our family. +At sixteen he had entered the regiment in which his father had +served before him. His career was to grow old in the modest position +of a captain in the army (which position he attained at an early +age), to pass his few months of leave, from time to time, in his +father's house, to gain the Cross of St. Louis (which was the end +of all ambitions to provincial gentlemen), and then, when he grew +old, being endowed with a small provision from the State, or a +still smaller revenue of his own, he expected to vegetate in one +of his brothers' old châteaux, having his rooms in the upper story, +to superintend the garden, to shoot with the _curé_, to look after +the horses, to play with the children, to make up a game of whist +or tric-trac,--the born servant of everyone, a domestic slave, +happy in his lot, beloved, and yet neglected by all. But in the +end his fate was very different. His elder brother, having refused +to marry, said to his father: 'You must marry the Chevalier.' All +the feelings of the family and the prejudices of habit rose up in +the heart of the old nobleman against this suggestion. Chevaliers, +according to his notions, were not intended to marry. My father +was sent back to his regiment, and his marrying was put off from +year to year." + +Meantime, the idea of marriage having been put into the Chevalier's +head, he chose for himself, and happily his choice fell on a lady +acceptable to his family. His sister was canoness in an aristocratic +order, whose members were permitted to receive visits from their +brothers. It was there that he wooed and won the lovely, saint-like +mother of Alphonse de Lamartine. + +The elder brother, as he advanced in life, kept up a truly affecting +intercourse with Mademoiselle de Saint-Huruge. She was beautiful +even in old age, though her beauty was dimmed by an expression +of sadness. They met every evening in Mâcon, at the house of a +member of the family, and each entertained till death a pure and +constant friendship for the other. + +No wonder that when the Revolution decreed the abolition of all +rights of primogeniture, and ordered each father's fortune to be +equally divided among his children, that M. le Chevalier refused +to take advantage of this new arrangement, and left his share to +the elder brother, to whom he owed his domestic happiness. In the +end, all the property of the family came to the poet; the aunts and +uncles--the former of whom had been driven from their convents--having +made him their heir. + +Madame de Lamartine had received part of her education from Madame +de Genlis, and had associated in her childhood with Louis Philippe +and Madame Adélaïde. But though the influence of Madame de Genlis +was probably not in favor of piety, Madame de Lamartine was sincerely +pious. In her son's early education she seems to have been influenced +by Madame de Genlis' admiration of Rousseau. Alphonse ran barefoot +on the hills, with the little peasant boys for company; but at +home he was swayed by the discipline of love. He published nothing +till he was thirty years of age, though he wrote poetry from early +youth. His study was in the open air, under some grand old oaks on +the edge of a deep ravine. In his hands French poetry became for +the first time musical and descriptive of nature. There was deep +religious feeling, too, in Lamartine's verse, rather vague as to +doctrine, but full of genuine religious sentiment. As a Christian +poet he struck a chord which vibrated in many hearts, for the early +part of our century was characterized by faith and by enthusiasm. +Scepticism was latent, but was soon to assert itself in weary +indifference. "As yet, doubt sorrowed that it doubted, and could +feel the beauty of faith, even when it disbelieved." + +From 1820 to 1824 Lamartine was a good deal in Italy; after the +death of an innocent Italian girl, which he has celebrated in touching +verse, he married an English lady, and had one child, his beloved +Julia. He was made a member of the French Academy, and Charles X. +had appointed him ambassador to Greece, when the Revolution of 1830 +occurred, and he refused to serve under King Charles's successor. + +In 1832, partly for Julia's health, he visited the Holy Land and +Eastern Europe. Poor little Julia died at Beyrout. On the father's +return he published his "Souvenirs of his Journey." Books descriptive +of Eastern countries were then rare, and Lamartine's was received +with enthusiasm. + +In 1833 Lamartine began his political career by entering the Chamber +of Deputies. Some one said of him that he formed a party by himself,--a +party of one. He pleaded for the abolition of capital punishment, +for the amelioration of the poorer classes, for the emancipation +of slaves in the colonies, and for various other social reforms; +but he was never known as a republican. + +In 1847 he published his "Histoire des Girondins," which was received +by the public with deep interest and applause. It is not always +accurate in small particulars, but it is one of the most fascinating +books of history ever written, and has had the good fortune to be +singularly well translated. Alexandre Dumas is said to have told +its author: "You have elevated romance to the dignity of history." + +When the revolution of February, 1848, broke out, Lamartine, being +unwell, did not make his way on the first day through the crowds +to the Chamber of Deputies, nor did he go thither on the second, +looking on the affair as an _émeute_ likely to be followed only +by a change of ministry. But when news was brought to him which +made him feel it was a very serious affair, he went at once to the +Chamber. On entering, he was seized upon by men of all parties, +but especially by republicans, who drew him into a side-room and +told him that the king had abdicated. He had always advocated the +regency of the Duchess of Orleans in the event of Louis Philippe's +death, in place of that of the Duc de Nemours. The men who addressed +him implored him, as the most popular man in France, to put himself +at the head of a movement to make the Duchess of Orleans regent +during her son's minority, adding that France under a woman and +a child would soon drift into a republic. Lamartine sat for some +minutes at a table with his face bowed on his hands. He was praying, +he says, for light. Then he arose, and after saying that he had +never been a republican, added that _now_ he was for a republic, +without any intermediate regency, either of the duchess or of Nemours. +With acclamations, the party went back into the Chamber to await +events. + +We know already how the duchess was received, and how a mob broke +into the Chamber. A provisional government was demanded, in the +midst of indescribable tumult; and by the suffrages of a crowd of +roughs quite as much as by the action of the deputies, a provisional +government of five members (afterwards increased to seven) was +voted in, the names being written down with a pencil by Lamartine +on the spur of the moment. The five men thus nominated and chosen +to be rulers of France were Lamartine, Crémieux, Ledru-Rollin, +Garnier-Pagès, and Arago. + +Meantime in the Hôtel-de-Ville the mob had set up another provisional +government under Socialistic leaders, and the first thing the more +genuine provisional government had to do was to get rid of the +others. + +Lamartine says of himself that he felt his mission was to preserve +society, and very nobly he set himself to his task. When he and his +colleagues reached the Hôtel-de-Ville, where the mob was clamoring +for Socialism and a republic, a compromise had to be effected; +and thus Louis Blanc, the Socialistic reformer, came into the +Provisional Government. It was growing night, and the announcement +of this new arrangement somewhat calmed the crowd; but at midnight +an attack was made on the Hôtel-de-Ville, and the new rulers had to +defend themselves by personal strength, setting their backs against +the doors of the Council Chamber, and repelling their assailants +with their own hands. But the Press and the telegraph were at their +command, and by morning the news of the Provisional Government was +spread all over the provinces. "The mob," says Lamartine, "was +in part composed of galley slaves who had no political ideas in +their heads, nor social principles in their hearts, and partly +of that scum which rises to the surface in popular commotions, +and floats between the fumes of intoxication and the thirst for +blood." + +Lamartine was not a great man, but it was lucky for France, and +for all Europe, that at this crisis he succeeded in establishing +a provisional government, and that he was placed at its head. But +for him, Paris might have had the Commune in 1848, as she had it +in 1871, but with no great army collected at Versailles to bring +it to subjection. + +From such a fate France was saved by the energy and enthusiastic +patriotism of one man, to whom, it seems to me, justice in history +has hardly yet been done. "Lamartine was not republican enough +for republicans; he lost at last his prestige among the people, +and from personal causes the full sympathy of his friends; and his +star sank before the rising sun of Louis Napoleon." Mrs. Oliphant +also says of him,-- + +"In the midst of his manifold literary labors there happened to +Lamartine such a chance as befalls few poets. He had it in his +power, once in his life, to do something greater than the greatest +lyric, more noble than any verse. At the crisis of the Revolution +of 1848, chance (to use the word without irreverence) thrust him, +and no other, into the place of master, and held him for one supreme +moment alone between France and anarchy,--between, we might almost +say, the world and another terrible revolution. And then the +sentimentalist proved himself a man. He confronted raving Paris, +and subdued it. The old noble French blood in his veins rose to +the greatness of the crisis. With a pardonable thrill of pride +in a position so strange to a writer and a man of thought, into +which, without any action of his own, he found himself forced, +he describes how he faced the tumultuous mob of Paris for seventy +hours almost without repose, without sleep, without food, when +there was no other man in France bold enough or wise enough to +take that supreme part, and guide that most aimless of revolutions +to a peaceful conclusion,--for the moment, at least. It was not +Lamartine's fault that the Empire came after him. Long before the +Empire came, he had fallen from his momentary elevation, and lost +all influence with his country. But his downfall cannot efface the +fact that he did actually reign, and reign beneficently, subduing +and controlling the excited nation, saving men's lives and the +balance of society." + +The seventy hours at the Hôtel-de-Ville to which Mrs. Oliphant +alludes were passed by Lamartine in making orations, in sending +off proclamations to the departments, in endeavoring to calm the +excited multitude and to secure the triumph of the Republic without +the effusion of blood. The revolution _he_ conducted was, if I may +say so, the only _respectable_ revolution France has ever known. +Nobody expected it, nobody was prepared for it, nobody worked for +it; but the whole country acquiesced in it, and men of all parties, +seeing that it was an accomplished fact, gave in their adhesion +to the Second Republic. + +There were five great questions that came up before the Provisional +Government for immediate solution,-- + +The relation of France to foreign powers. + +The enlargement of the army. + +The subsistence of working-men out of employment. + +The property and safety of the exiled royal family. + +And, above all, how to meet these expenses and the payment of interest +on national bonds, due the middle of March, with assets in the +treasury of about twenty-five cents in the dollar. + +These questions were all met by the wonderful energy of Lamartine +and his colleagues, seconded by genuine patriotic efforts throughout +France. + +Lamartine had taken the foreign relations of the new Republic into +his own hands; and so well did he manage them that not one potentate +of Europe attempted to interfere with the internal affairs of France, +or to dispute the right of the French to establish a republic if +they thought proper. But although Lamartine's policy was peace, +he thought France needed a large army both to keep down communism +and anarchy at home, and to show itself strong in the face of all +foreign powers. The army of France in January, 1848, had been about +three hundred thousand men, of whom one hundred thousand were in +Algeria; by May it was five hundred thousand, not including the +Garde Mobile, which was of Lamartine's raising. It is well known +how fiercely boys and very young men fought when any occasion for +fighting was presented in the streets and at the barricades; all +business being stopped in Paris, thousands of these were out of +employment. Lamartine had them enrolled into his new corps, the +Garde Mobile. Their uniform at first was a red sash and a workman's +blouse. They were proud of themselves and of their new position, +and in May, by dint of discipline, they were transformed into a +fine soldierly body of very young men, who several times rendered +important help to the Government in maintaining the cause of order. +The National Guard was broken up until it could be reorganized, +and so was the Garde Municipale. + +But how to feed the multitude? Two hundred thousand mechanics alone +were out of employment in Paris, besides laborers, servants, clerks, +etc. It was proposed to establish national workshops in Louis Philippe's +pretty private pleasure-grounds, the Parc des Monceaux. The men applying +for work were enrolled in squads; each squad had its banner and its +officers, and each man was paid on Saturday night his week's wages, +at the rate of two francs a day,--the highest wages in Paris at that +time for an artisan. There was no particular work for them to do, +but the arrangement kept them disciplined and out of mischief, though +at an enormous cost to the country. At the Palace of the Luxembourg +Louis Blanc was permitted to hold a series of great labor meetings,--a +sort of Socialist convention,--and to inveigh against "capitalists" +and "bloated bondholders" in a style that was much more novel then +than it is now. Lamartine greatly disapproved of these Luxembourg +proceedings; but he argued that it was better to countenance them +than to throw Louis Blanc and his friends into open opposition +to the Government. Louis Blanc was a charming writer, whose views +on social questions have made great progress since his day. His +brother Charles wrote a valuable book on art. He himself wrote a +"History of the Revolution" and the "History of Ten Years,"--that +is, from 1830 to 1840. He bitterly hated Louis Philippe and the +_bourgeoisie_, and yet his book is fair and honest, and the work of +a gentleman. He was almost a dwarf, but his face was very handsome, +clean-shaved, with bright eyes and brown hair. I may remark _en +passant_ that not one of the members of the Provisional Government +wore either a beard or a moustache. + +One of the first things the Provisional Government did was to decree +that the personal property of the Orleans family should not be +confiscated, but placed in the hands of a receiver, who should +pay the king and princes liberal allowances till it became certain +that their wealth would not be spent in raising an army for the +invasion of France. + +Louis Philippe lived only two years after reaching England. They +were apparently not unhappy years to him. He sat at the foot of +his own table, and carved the joint daily for his guests, children, +and grandchildren. He dictated his Memoirs, and talked with the +greatest openness to those who wished to converse with him. + +The Duc d'Aumale was head of the army in Algeria, and governor-general +of the colony, when the Revolution broke out. Here is the address +which he at once published to his soldiers and the people, and +with which the whole of his after life has been consistent:-- + +Inhabitants of Algeria! Faithful to my duties as a citizen and a +soldier, I have remained at my post as long as I could believe my +presence would be useful in the service of my country. It can no +longer be so. General Cavaignac is appointed governor-general of +Algeria, and until his arrival here, the functions of governor-general +_ad interim_ will be discharged by General Changarnier. Submissive +to the national will, I depart; but in my place of exile my best +prayers and wishes shall be for the prosperity and glory of France, +which I should have wished still longer to serve. + + H. D'ORLÉANS. + +The greatest problem which demanded solution from the Provisional +Government was how to make twenty-five cents do the work of a dollar. +The first Minister of Finance appointed, threw up his portfolio +in despair. Lamartine refused to sanction any arbitrary means of +raising money. At last, by giving some especial privileges and +protection to the Bank of France, and by mortgaging the national +forests, a sufficient sum was provided for immediate needs. The +people, too, throughout the provinces, made it a point of honor to +come forward and pay their taxes before they were due. The priests +preached this as a duty, for the priests were well disposed towards +the Revolution of 1848. Lamartine had put forth a proclamation +assuring priests and people that his Government was in sympathy +with religion. + +In the Provisional Government itself there were two, if not three, +parties,--the party of order, headed by Lamartine; the Socialists, +or labor party, headed by Louis Blanc; and the Red Republicans, or +Anarchists, headed by Ledru-Rollin. The latter was for adopting +the policy of putting out of office all men who had not been always +republicans. Lamartine, on the contrary, said that any man who +loved France and desired to serve her was not incapacitated from +doing so by previous political opinions. + +Elections for a Constitutional Assembly, which was to confirm or +to repudiate the Provisional Government, were held on March 24, and +the new Assembly was to meet early in May. Meantime all kinds of +duties and anxieties accumulated on Lamartine. The Polish, Hungarian, +Spanish, German, and Italian exiles in Paris were all anxious that +he should espouse their causes against their own Governments. He +assured them that this was not the mission of the Second French +Republic, whatever might have been that of the First, and that +the cause of European liberty would lose, not gain, if France, +with propagandist fervor, embroiled herself with the monarchical +powers. A deputation of Irishmen, under Smith O'Brien, waited upon +him to beg the assistance of fifty thousand French troops in Ireland, +"to rid her of the English." Lamartine peremptorily refused, saying: +"When one is not united by blood to a people, it is not allowable to +interfere in its affairs with the strong hand." Smith O'Brien and +his followers, deeply mortified, repaired at once to Ledru-Rollin's +Red Republican Club, where they were loudly applauded, and Lamartine +condemned. + +Meantime there were disturbances everywhere. Men out of employment, +excited by club orators, were ready for any violence. At Lyons they +destroyed the hospitals and orphan asylums, out of mere wantonness. + +One afternoon Lamartine received news that the soldiers at the +Invalides, dissatisfied with General Petit, their commander, had +dragged him to the street, placed him on a cart, and were carrying +him thus around Paris. On foot he rushed to the rescue, trusting +to his powers of haranguing the multitude; but luckily the general +had been released before his arrival. There is but one step from +the sublime to the ridiculous. We smile at the spectacle of the +ruler of France rushing on foot, through dim streets, after a cart +he could not find. General Petit was that officer of the Old Guard +whom Napoleon had embraced when he took leave of his beloved corps +at Fontainebleau. Lamartine re-established him as commander at +the Invalides, and the mutiny was put down. + +On the night of the first day of the Provisional Government, a mob +having demanded that the red flag of Communism should be substituted +for the tricolor, Lamartine replied,-- + +"Citizens! neither I nor any member of the Government will adopt +the Drapeau Rouge. We would rather adopt that other flag which is +hoisted in a bombarded city to mark to the enemy the hospitals +of the wounded. I will tell you in one word why I will oppose the +red flag with the whole force of patriotic determination. It is, +citizens, because the tricolor has made the tour of the world with +the Republic and the Empire, with your liberties and your glory; +the red flag has only made the tour of the Champ de Mars, dragged +through the blood of citizens." + +Muskets in the crowd were here levelled at the speaker, but were +knocked up by the more peaceable of his hearers. + +There was soon great discontent throughout the departments because +of the imposition of a land-tax; but as Lamartine said truly, farmers +would have found war or the triumph of Red Republicanism more expensive +still. + +On March 17, about three weeks after the departure of the king, a +great Socialist demonstration was made in Paris. Large columns of +men marched to the Hôtel-de-Ville, singing the old revolutionary +chant of "Ça ira." Ledru-Rollin, in the fulness of his heart, seeing +these one hundred and twenty thousand men all marching with some +discipline, said to his colleagues in the Council Chamber: "Do +you know that your popularity is nothing to mine? I have but to +open this window and call upon these men, and you would every one +of you be turned into the street. Do you wish me to try it?" + +Upon this, Garnier-Pagès, the Finance Minister, walked up to +Ledru-Rollin, and presenting a pistol, said: "If you make one step +toward that window, it shall be your last." Ledru-Rollin paused +a moment, and then sat down. + +The object of the demonstration was to force the Provisional Government +to take measures for raising and equalizing wages, and providing +State employment for all out of employ. The main body was refused +admittance into the Hôtel-de-Ville, but a certain number of the +leaders were permitted to address the Provisional Government. To +Ledru-Rollin's and Louis Blanc's surprise, they found that half +of these leaders were men they had never seen before, more radical +radicals than themselves,--that revolutionary scum that rose to +the surface in the Reign of Terror and the Commune. + +A sense of common danger made Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc unite +with their colleagues in refusing the demand of the deputation that +the measures they advocated should be put in force by immediate +decrees. Lamartine harangued them; so did Ledru-Rollin and Louis +Blanc; and at last the disappointed multitude, with vengeance in +their hearts, filed peaceably away. + +A month later, April 15, another outbreak was planned. The chief +club leaders wished it to be headed by Ledru-Rollin and Blanqui,--the +latter a conspirator in Louis Philippe's time. But Ledru-Rollin +refused to serve with Blanqui, having discovered from documents +in his office (that of Minister of Justice) that Blanqui had once +been a Government spy. "Well, then," said the club leaders, "since +you decline to be our chief, you shall to-morrow share the fate +of your colleagues." Ledru-Rollin, after a terrible night of +vacillation, resolved to throw himself on Lamartine's generosity. +He went to him at daybreak and told him of the impending danger. +At once Lamartine sent him to call out the National Guard, while +he himself summoned the Garde Mobile. The National Guard had been +reorganized; but there were no regular soldiers in Paris,--they had +been sent away to satisfy the people. The commander of the National +Guard, however, refused to let his men be called out on the occasion; +and Lamartine, on hearing this, went to the Hôtel-de-Ville alone. But +help came to him from an unexpected quarter. General Changarnier, +who had been appointed ambassador to Berlin, called at Lamartine's +house to return thanks for his appointment. Madame de Lamartine +told him of the danger that menaced her husband, and he repaired +at once to the Hôtel-de-Ville. There he found only about twelve +hundred boys of the Garde Mobile to oppose the expected two hundred +thousand insurgents. He drew his Garde Mobile into the building, +and prepared to stand a siege. There from early morning till the +next day Lamartine remained with Marrast, the Mayor of Paris. He +says that he harangued the mob from thirty to forty times. The other +members of the Government remained in one of the public offices. With +much difficulty the National Guard, whose organization was not yet +complete, was brought upon the scene. The procession of the insurgents +was cut in two, the commander of the National Guard employing the +same tactics as those which the Duke of Wellington had used a week +earlier, when dealing in London with the Chartist procession. The +result was the complete discomfiture of the insurgents. + +A few days afterwards the members of the Provisional Government +sat twelve hours, on thrones erected for them under the Arch of +Triumph, to see Gardes Mobiles, National Guards, troops of the +line, and armed workmen, file past them, all shouting for Lamartine +and Order! It was probably the proudest moment of Lamartine's life; +in that flood-tide of his popularity he easily could have seized +supreme power. + +All through the provinces disturbances went on. The object of the +Red Republicans had at first been to oppose the election of the +National Assembly. So long as France remained under the provisional +dictatorship of Lamartine and his colleagues, and the regular troops +were kept out of Paris, they hoped to be able to seize supreme +power, by a _coup de main_. + +The National Assembly was, however, elected on Easter Day, and +proved to be largely conservative. The deputies met May 4,--the +anniversary of the meeting of the States-General in 1789, fifty-nine +years before. Its hall was a temporary structure, erected in the +courtyard of the Palais Bourbon, the former place of meeting for +the Chamber of Deputies. There was no enthusiasm in the body for the +Republic, and evidently a hostile feeling towards the Provisional +Government, which it was disposed to think too much allied with +Red Republicanism. + +Two days after the Assembly met, the Provisional Government resigned +its powers. To Lamartine's great chagrin, he stood, not first, but +fourth, on a list of five men chosen temporarily to conduct the +government. Some of his proceedings had made the Assembly fear +(very unjustly) that he shared the revolutionary enthusiasms of +Ledru-Rollin. + +It was soon apparent that ultra-democracy in France was not favored +by the majority of Frenchmen. The Socialists and Anarchists, finding +that they could not form a tyrant majority in the Assembly, began +to conspire against it. While a debate was going on ten days after +it assembled, an alarm was raised that a fierce crowd was about +to pour into its place of meeting. Lamartine harangued the mob, +but this time without effect. His day was over. He was received +with shouts of "You have played long enough upon the lyre! _A bas_ +Lamartine!" Ledru-Rollin tried to harangue in his turn, but with +no better effect. The hall was invaded, and Lamartine, throwing +up his arms, cried, "All is lost!" + +Barbès, the man who led an _emeute_ in 1839, and whose life had +been spared by Louis Philippe through the exertions of Lamartine, +led the insurgents. They demanded two things,--a forced tax of +a milliard (that is, a thousand million) of francs, to be laid +on the rich for the benefit of the poor; and that whoever gave +orders to call out the National Guard against insurgents should +be declared a traitor. "You are wrong, Barbès," cried a voice from +the crowd; "two hours' sack of Paris is what we want." After this +the president of the Assembly was pulled from his chair, and a new +provisional government was nominated of fierce Red Republicans,--not +red enough, however, for the crowd, which demanded Socialists and +Anarchists redder still. By this time some battalions of the National +Guard had been called out. At sight of their bayonets the insurgents +fled, but concentrated their forces on the Hôtel-de-Ville. This +again they evacuated when cannon were pointed against it, and the +cause of order was won. + +General Cavaignac, who had just come home from Algeria, was made +War Minister, and the clubs were closed. Louis Blanc was sent into +exile. The Orleans family, which had been treated considerately +by Lamartine, was forbidden to return to France. + +The Assembly was now dissolved, and a new Chamber of Deputies was +to be chosen in June. Among the candidates for election was Prince +Louis Napoleon. He had already, in the days of Lamartine's +administration, visited Paris, and had replied to a polite request +from the provisional Government that he would speedily leave the +capital, that any man who would disturb the Provisional Government +was no true friend to France. Now he professed to ask only to be +permitted to become a representative of the people, saying that he +had "not forgotten that Napoleon, before being the first magistrate +in France, was its first citizen." + +Then cries of "Vive l'empereur!" began to be heard. Louis Napoleon's +earliest "idea" had been that France needed an emperor whose throne +should be based on universal suffrage. To this "idea" he added +another,--that it was _his_ destiny to be the chosen emperor. + +No one in these days can conceive the hold that the memory of the +First Napoleon had, in 1848, on the affections of the French people. +That he put down anarchy with an iron hand was by the Anarchists +forgotten. He was a son of the Revolution. His marches through +Europe had scattered the seeds of revolutionary ideas. The heart +of France responded to such verses as Béranger's "Grand'-mère." In +vain Lamartine represented the impolicy and unfairness of proscribing +the Orleans family while admitting into France the head of the house +of Bonaparte. Louis Napoleon was elected deputy by four departments; +but he subsequently hesitated to take his seat, fearing, he said, +that he might be the cause of dissension in the Assembly. + +The deputies from Paris were all Socialists, but those from the +departments were frequently men of note and reputation. The country +members were nearly all friends to order and conservatism. + +The first necessary measure was to get rid of the national workshops. +On June 20, one hundred and twenty thousand workmen were being paid +daily two francs each, only two thousand of whom had anything to +do, while fifty thousand more were clamoring for admission. + +Of course any measure to suppress the national workshops, or to +send home those who had come up to Paris for employment in them, was +opposed by the workmen. It was computed that among those employed, +or rather paid, by the State for doing nothing, were twenty-five +thousand desperate men, ready for any fight, and that half this +number were ex-convicts. The Government had nominally large forces +at its command, but it was doubtful how far its troops could be +relied on. + +On June 22, 1848, at nightfall the struggle began. By morning half +Paris was covered with barricades. It was very hard to collect +troops, but Cavaignac was a tried soldier. He divided his little +force into four parts. It was not till the evening of the 23d that +hostilities commenced, and at the same time General Cavaignac was +named by the Assembly dictator. This inspired confidence. Cavaignac +was well supported, and acted with the greatest energy. The +street-fighting was fiercer than any Paris had ever seen, and no +real success was gained by Cavaignac till the evening of the 24th, +after twenty-four hours of hard fighting. That success was the +storming of the church of Sainte Geneviève (called also the Panthéon) +and the destruction of its walls. But still the fight went on. +Many generals were wounded. Cavaignac used his cannon freely, and +even his bombs. It was night on June 26 before the troops could +be pronounced victorious, and then they had not stormed the most +formidable of the barricades,--that of the Rue du Faubourg +Saint-Antoine. Says Sir Archibald Alison,-- + +"But ere the attack on this barricade commenced, a sublime instance +of Christian heroism and devotion occurred, which shines forth +like a heavenly glory in the midst of these terrible scenes of +carnage. Monseigneur Affre, archbishop of Paris, horror-stricken +with the slaughter which for three days had been going on, resolved +to attempt a reconciliation between the contending parties, or +perish in the attempt. Having obtained leave from General Cavaignac +to repair to the headquarters of the insurgents, he set out, dressed +in his pontifical robes, having the cross in his hand, attended +by his two chaplains, also in full canonicals, and three intrepid +members of the Assembly. Deeply affected by this courageous act, +which they knew was almost certain death, the people, as he walked +through the streets, fell on their knees and besought him to desist; +but he persisted, saying, 'It is my duty; a good shepherd giveth +his life for the sheep.' At seven in the evening he arrived at the +Place de la Bastille, where the fire of musketry was extremely warm +on both sides. It ceased on either side at the august spectacle, +and the archbishop, bearing the cross aloft, advanced with his two +priests to the foot of the barricade. A single attendant, bearing +a green branch, preceded the prelate. The soldiers, seeing him +advance so close to those who had already slain bearers of +flags-of-truce, approached in order to give him succor in case of +need; the insurgents, on their side, descended the barricade, and +the redoubtable combatants stood close to each other, exchanging +looks of defiance. Suddenly a shot was heard. Instantly the cry +arose of 'Treason! Treason!' and the combatants, retreating on +either side, began to exchange shots with as much fury as ever. +Undismayed by the storm of balls which incessantly flew over his +head from all quarters, the prelate advanced slowly, attended by +his chaplains, to the summit of the barricade. One of them had +his hat pierced by three balls, but the archbishop himself, almost +by a miracle, escaped while on the top. He had descended three +steps on the other side, when he was pierced through the loins by +a shot from a window. The insurgents, horror-struck, approached +him where he fell, stanched the wound, which at once was seen to +be mortal, and carried him to a neighboring hospital. When told +that he had only a few minutes to live, 'God be praised!' he said, +'and may He accept my life as an expiation for my omissions during +my episcopacy, and as an offering for the salvation of this misguided +people.' With these words he expired." + +As soon as the archbishop's death was known, the insurgents made +proposals to capitulate, on condition of a general pardon. This +Cavaignac refused, saying that they must surrender unconditionally. +The fight therefore lasted until daybreak. Then the insurgents +capitulated, and all was over. + +No one ever knew how many fell. Six generals were killed or mortally +wounded. Ten thousand bodies were recognized and buried, and it is +said that nearly as many more were thrown unclaimed into the Seine. +There were fifteen thousand prisoners, of whom three thousand died +of jail-fever. Thousands were sent to Cayenne; thousands to the +galleys. This terrible four days' fight cost France more lives +than any battle of the Empire. + +The insurrection being over, and Cavaignac dictator, the next thing +was for the Assembly to make a constitution. This constitution was +short-lived. A president was to be chosen for four years, with +re-election as often as might be desired. He was to be elected by +universal suffrage. He was to have a salary of about one hundred +and twenty-five thousand dollars per annum, and he was to have +much the same powers as the President of the United States. + +There were two principal presidential candidates,--Prince Louis +Napoleon, who had taken his seat in the Assembly; and Cavaignac, +who had the power of Government on his side, and was sanguine of +election. The prince proclaimed in letters and placards his deep +attachment to the Republic, and denounced as his enemies and slanderers +all those who said he was not firmly resolved to maintain the +constitution. + +The result of the election showed Louis Napoleon to have had five +and a half millions of votes; Cavaignac one and a half million; +Lamartine, who six months before had been a popular idol, had nineteen +thousand. + +[Illustration: _LOUIS NAPOLEON._ (The Prince President.)] + +An early friend of Louis Napoleon, who seems to have been willing +to talk freely of the playmate of her childhood, thus spoke of +him to an English traveller. + +"He is," she said, "a strange being. His mind wants _keeping_. +A trifle close to his eyes hides from him large objects at a +distance.... The great progress in political knowledge made by +the higher classes in France from 1815 to 1848 is lost on him. +When we met in 1836, after three years' separation, I was struck +by his backwardness in political knowledge. Up to 1848 he never +had lived in France except as a child or a captive. His opinions +and feelings were those of the French masses from 1799 to 1812. +Though these opinions had been modified in the minds of the higher +classes, they were, in 1848, those of the multitude, who despise +parliamentary government, despise the pope, despise the priests, +delight in profuse expenditure, delight in war, hold the Rhine to +be our national frontier, and that it is our duty to seize all +that lies on the French side. The people and he were of one mind. I +have no doubt that the little he may have heard, and the less that +he attended to, from the persons he saw between 1848 and 1852 about +liberty, self-government, economy, the supremacy of the Assembly, +respect for foreign nations, and fidelity to treaties, appeared +to him the silliest talk imaginable. So it would have appeared +to all in the lower classes of France; so it would have appeared +to the army, which is drawn from those classes, and exaggerates +their political views." + +"The prince president is romantic, impulsive, and _bizarre_," said +one of his officials to the same English gentleman, "indolent, vain, +good-natured, selfish, fearing and disliking his superiors;... +he loves to excite the astonishment of the populace. As a child +he liked best bad children,--as a man, bad men." + +But one good quality he had pre-eminently,--no man was ever more +grateful for kindness, or more indulgent to his friends. + +Such was the man, untried, uneducated in French politics, covered +with ridicule, and even of doubtful courage, whom the voices of +five and a half millions of French voters called to the presidential +chair. It was to the country Louis Napoleon had appealed, to the +rural population of France as against the dangerous classes in the +great cities. Paris had for sixty years been making revolutions +for the country; now it was the turn of the provincials, who said +they were tired of receiving a new Government by mail whenever it +pleased the Parisians to make one. Paris contained one hundred and +forty thousand Socialists, besides Anarchists and Red Republicans. +With these the rural population had no sympathy. Louis Napoleon was +not chosen by their votes, nor by those of their sympathizers in +other great cities. His success was in the rural districts alone. + +His election was a great disappointment to the Assembly, and from +the first moment the prince president and that body were antagonistic +to each other. The president claimed to hold his powers from the +people, and to be in no way under the control of the Assembly; +the Assembly was forever talking of deposing him, of imprisoning +him at Vincennes, and so on. + +Immediately after his election the prince president found it very +difficult to form a cabinet. After being repulsed in various quarters, +he sent a confidential messenger to Lamartine, asking him to meet him +by night on horseback in a dark alley in the Bois de Boulogne. After +listening to his rival's appeal for assistance in this emergency, +Lamartine frankly told him that for various reasons he felt himself +to be not only the most useless, but the most dangerous minister a +new Government could select. He said, "I should ruin myself without +serving you." The prince seemed grieved. "With regard to popularity," +he answered, with a smile, "I have enough for both of us." "I know it," +replied Lamartine; "but having, as I think, given you unanswerable +reasons for my refusal, I give you my word of honor that if by +to-morrow you have not been able to win over and to rally to you +the men I will name, I will accept the post of prime minister in +default of others." + +Before morning the prince president had succeeded elsewhere; but +he retained a sincere respect and regard for Lamartine, who after +this incident fades out of the page of history. He lived a few +years longer; but he was oppressed by pecuniary difficulties, from +which neither his literary industry, nor the assistance of the +Government, nor the subscriptions of his friends, seemed able to +extricate him. Several times Milly, the dear home of his childhood, +was put up for sale by his creditors. It was more than once rescued +on his behalf, but in the end was sold. + +Lamartine was buried with national honors; but among all the chances +and changes that have distracted the attention of his countrymen +from his career, he does not seem to have received from the world +or the French nation all the honor, praise, and gratitude that +his memory deserves. + +Louis Napoleon, who had all his life dreamed of being the French +emperor, though he took care to repudiate such an idea in all his +public speeches, had not been president of the Republic six weeks +before he read a plan for a _coup d'état_ to General Changarnier, +who utterly refused to listen to it. + +We need not here dwell on the struggles that went on between the +prince president and the Assembly, from December, 1848, to November, +1851. It is enough to say that the Chamber, from being the governing +power in France, found itself reduced to a mere legislative body +much hampered by the mistrust and contempt of the Executive. Its +members of course hated "the Man at the Élysée," or "Celui-ci," +as they called him. The Socialists hated the Assembly even more +than they hated the president. The army was all for him. The +_bourgeoisie_ were thankful that under his rule they might at least +find protection from Socialism and anarchy. + +From the election of Prince Louis to the _coup d'état_ in December, +1851, there were four serious _émeutes_ in Paris, and once the +city was in a state of siege. It was estimated that to put down +the smallest of these revolts cost two hundred thousand dollars. + +Foreign nations were too busy with their own affairs in 1848 to +have time to meddle with the Government of Louis Napoleon,--indeed, +Russia and Prussia were much obliged to him for keeping out the +Orleans family, whom they by no means wished to see on the French +throne. + +One thing that Louis Napoleon did to gain favor with the country +party caused great indignation among genuine republicans, and, +indeed, throughout Europe. This was the part he took against the +Republic of Rome. + +Pio Nono, having been elected pope in 1846, had started on his +career as a liberal pontiff and ruler; but before 1848 he had +disappointed the expectations of all parties, and had fled from +Rome to Gaeta, where Ferdinand, king of the Two Sicilies (commonly +known as King Bomba) had also taken refuge. Lamartine, at the time +his power ceased, had been fitting out a French army to lend help +to the Romans if they should be attacked by the Austrians, and if +need were, to protect the pope, who before his flight was supposed +to be opposed to Austrian domination. Louis Napoleon ordered General +Oudinot, who commanded the French forces, to disembark his troops at +Civita Vecchia, and either to occupy Rome peaceably, or to attack +the revolutionists. A battle was fought, and the French worsted; +but they ended by gaining the city and holding it, putting down +the Roman republicans, and handing the city over to Austrian and +papal vengeance on Pio Nono's return. + +The new president, anxious to strengthen his popularity in the +provinces, made several tours. Everywhere, as the nephew of his +uncle, he was received with wild enthusiasm. He was not a man to +captivate by his manners on public occasions, neither was he a +ready speaker; but he looked his best on horseback, and above all, +there was in his favor, among the middle class of Frenchmen, a +very potent feeling,--the dread of change. + +As a deputy, before his election by the country as its president, +he used to sit in the Chamber silent and alone, pitied by some, and +neglected by all. Silence, indeed, was necessary to his success, for, +"silent and smoking, he matured his plans." One of the first things +he did when he became president was to attempt to get possession of +all papers in the archives concerning his conduct at Strasburg +and Boulogne. + +There had been a new Assembly elected. It had few of the old republican +leaders in it, but the Left and the Right and half the Centre were +opposed to the prince president. The Left in the French Chamber +means the Red Republicans; the Right, those members who are in +favor of monarchy; the Centre, the Moderates, who are willing to +accept any good government. + +One of the objects of this Assembly, which foresaw that a _coup +d'état_ might be at hand, was to get command of a little army for +its own protection. It appointed as commander of this force General +Changarnier, with whom the prince president had recently quarrelled, +and designated four of its members, whom it called _quoestors_, to +look into all matters relating to its safety. + +The constitution was to be revised by this Assembly. Nobody cared +much about the constitution, which had not had time to acquire any +hold on the affections of the people, and Louis Napoleon had recently +acquired popularity with the turbulent part of the population of Paris +by opposing a measure calculated to restrict universal suffrage, and +to prevent tramps, aliens, and ex-convicts from voting at elections. +The prince president, who wanted, for his own purposes, as large +a popular vote as possible, was opposed to any restrictions on +the suffrage. + +Such was the condition of things on Nov. 26, 1851, when Louis Napoleon +summoned the principal generals and colonels of the troops in and +around Paris to meet him at the Élysée. At this meeting they all +swore to support the president if called upon to do so, and never +to tell of this engagement. They kept the secret for five years. + +Meantime the Assembly on its part was hatching a conspiracy to +overturn the president and send him to a dungeon at Vincennes; +while all who refused to support its authority were to be declared +guilty of treason. + +The three men called the generals of the Army of Africa,--namely, +Cavaignac, Changarnier, and Lamoricière,--were opposed to the prince +president. They were either Republicans or Orleanists. + +Thus the crisis approached. Each party was ready to spring upon +the other. Again France was to experience a political convulsion, +and the party that moved first would gain the day. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE COUP D'ÉTAT. + +"In voting for Louis Napoleon," says Alison, "the French rural +population understood that it was voting for an emperor and for +the repression of the clubs in Paris. It seemed to Frenchmen in +the country that they had only a choice between Jacobin rule by +the clubs, or Napoleonic rule by an emperor." So, though Louis +Napoleon, when he presented himself as a presidential candidate, +assured the electors, "I am not so ambitious as to dream of empire, +of war, nor of subversive theories; educated in free countries +and in the school of misfortune, I shall always remain faithful +to the duties that your suffrages impose on me," public sentiment +abroad and at home, whether hostile or favorable, expected that +he would before long make himself virtually, if not in name, the +Emperor Napoleon. Indeed, the army was encouraged by its officers +to shout, "Vive l'empereur!" and "Vive Napoleon!" And General +Changarnier, for disapproving of these demonstrations, had been +dismissed from his post as military commander at the capital. He +was forthwith, as we have seen, appointed to a military command +in the confidence of the Assembly. + +By the autumn of 1851 Louis Napoleon had fully made up his mind +as to his _coup d'état_, and had arranged all its details. He had +five intimates, who were his counsellors,--De Morny, De Maupas, +De Persigny, Fleury, and General Saint-Arnaud. + +[Illustration: _DUC DE MORNY._] + +De Morny has always been reputed to have been the half-brother of +Louis Napoleon. In 1847 he lived luxuriously in a small _hôtel_ +in the Champs Elysées, surrounded by rare and costly works of art. +He had then never been considered anything but a man of fashion; +but he proved well fitted to keep secrets, to conduct plots, and +to do the cruellest things in a jocund, off-hand way. + +Saint-Arnaud's name had been originally Jacques Le Roy. At one +time, under the name of Florival, he had been an actor in Paris +at one of the suburban theatres. He had served three times in the +French army, and been twice dismissed for conduct unbecoming an +officer. His third term of service for his country was in a foreign +legion, composed of dare-devils of all nations, who enrolled themselves +in the army of Algeria. There his brilliant bravery had a large +share in securing the capture of Constantine. He rose rapidly to +be a general, was an excellent administrator, a cultivated and +agreeable companion, perfectly unscrupulous, and ready to assist +in any scheme of what he considered _necessary_ cruelty. Fleury, +who had been sent to Africa to select a military chief fitted to +carry out the _coup d'état_, found Saint-Arnaud the very man to +suit the purpose of his master. Saint-Arnaud was tall, thin, and +bony, with close-cropped hair. De Morny used to laugh behind his +back at the way he said _le peuple souvérain_, and said he knew +as little about the sovereign people as about the pronunciation. +He spoke English well, for he had lived for some years an exile +in Leicester Square,--the disreputable French quarter of London; +this accomplishment was of great service to him during the Crimean +War. + +De Maupas had been a country prefect, and was eager for promotion. +Louis Napoleon converted him into his Minister of Police. + +Fleury was the simple-hearted and attached friend of his master. + +De Persigny, like Saint-Arnaud, had changed his name, having begun +life as Fialin. + +These five plotted the _coup d'état_[1]; arranged all its details, +and kept their own counsel. + +[Footnote 1: De Maupas, Le Coup d'Etat.] + +The generals and colonels in garrison in Paris had been sounded, +as we have seen, in reference to their allegiance to the Great +Emperor's nephew, and by the close of 1851 all things had been made +ready for the proposed _coup d'état_. + +A _coup d'état_ is much the same thing as a _coup de main_,--with +this difference, that in the political _coup de main_ it is the +mob that takes the initiative, in the _coup d'état_ the Government; +and the Government generally has the army on its side. + +Louis Napoleon and his five associates were about to do the most +audacious thing in modern history; but no man can deny them the praise +awarded to the unjust steward. If the thing was to be done, or, in +the language of Victor Hugo, if the _crime_ was to be committed, +it could not have been more admirably planned or more skilfully +executed. + +The world, to all appearance, went on in its usual way. The Assembly, +on December 1, 1851, was busy discussing the project of a railroad +to Lyons. That evening M. de Morny was at the Opéra Comique in +company with General Changarnier, and the prince president was +doing the honors as usual in his reception-room at the Élysée. His +visage was as calm, his manners were as conciliatory and affable, +as usual. No symptoms of anything extraordinary were to be seen, +and an approaching municipal election in Paris accounted for the +arrival of several _estafettes_ and couriers, which from time to +time called the prince president from the room. When the company +had taken leave, Saint-Arnaud, Maupas, Morny, and a colonel on +the staff went with the prince president into his smoking-room, +where the duties of each were assigned to him. Everything was to be +done by clock-work. Exactly at the hour appointed, all the African +generals and several of their friends were to be arrested. Exactly +at the moment indicated, troops were to move into position. At so +many minutes past six A. M. all the printing-offices were to be +surrounded. Every man who had in any way been prominent in politics +since the days of Louis Philippe was to be put under arrest. + +By seven o'clock in the morning all this had been accomplished. +The Parisians awoke to find their walls placarded by proclamations +signed by Prince Louis Napoleon as President, De Morny as Minister +of the Interior, De Maupas as Prefect of Police, and Saint-Arnaud +as Minister of War. + +These proclamations announced,-- + + I. The dissolution of the Assembly. + II. The restoration of universal suffrage. + III. A general election on December 14. + IV. The dissolution of the Council of State. + V. That Paris was in a state of siege. + +This last meant that any man might be arrested, without warrant, +at the pleasure of the police. + +Another placard forbade any printer, on pain of death, to print +any placard not authorized by Government; and death likewise was +announced for anyone who tore down a Government placard. + +Louis Napoleon followed this up by an appeal to the people. He said +he wished the people to judge between the Assembly and himself. +If France would not support him, she must choose another president. +In place of the constitution of 1848 he proposed one that should +make the presidential term of office ten years; he also proposed +that the president's cabinet should be of his own selection. + +Louis Napoleon had entire confidence that all elections by universal +suffrage would be in his favor. He had just made extensive tours in +the provinces, and had been received everywhere with enthusiasm. + +Thus far I have given the historical outline of the story; but if +we look into Victor Hugo's "Histoire d'un Crime," and disentangle +its facts from its hysterics, we may receive from his personal +narrative a vivid idea of what passed in Paris from the night of +Dec. 1, 1851, to the evening of December 4, when all was over. + +Roused early in the morning by members of the Assembly, who came +to announce the events of the night, Victor Hugo, to whom genuine +republicans who were not Socialists looked as a leader, was, like +all the rest of Paris, taken completely by surprise. One of his +visitors was a working-man, a wood-carver; of him Hugo eagerly +asked: "What do the working-men--the people--say as they read the +placards?" He answered: "Some say one thing, some another. The +thing has been so done that they cannot understand it. Men going +to their work are reading the placards. Not one in a hundred says +anything, and those who do, say generally, 'Good! Universal suffrage +is reestablished. The conservative majority in the Assembly is +got rid of,--that's splendid! Thiers is arrested,--better still! +Changarnier is in prison,--bravo!' Beneath every placard there +are men placed to lead the approval. My opinion is that the people +will approve!" + +At exactly six that morning, Cavaignac, Changarnier, Lamoricière, +Thiers, and all those who had lain down to sleep as cabinet ministers +of the prince president, were roused from their beds by officers of +cavalry, with orders to dress quickly, for they were under arrest. +Before each door a hackney-coach was waiting, and an escort of two +hundred Lancers was in a street near by. Resistance seemed useless +in the face of such precautions, but Victor Hugo and his friends were +resolved upon a fight. They put their official scarves as deputies +into their pockets, and started forth to see if they could raise +the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. But their friend the wood-carver had +told them truly,--there was neither sympathy nor enthusiasm in +the streets for the constitution that had fallen, the deputies +who had been placed under arrest, nor for violated political +institutions. + +In vain they appealed to the people in the name of the law. The +mob seemed to consider that provided it had universal suffrage, +and that the man of its choice were at the head of affairs, it +had better trust the safety of the nation to one man than risk the +uncertainties that might attend the tyranny of many. + +The frantic efforts made that day by Victor Hugo and a few other +deputies of the Left to rouse the populace are almost ludicrous. +Victor Hugo, no doubt, was a brave man, though a very melodramatic +one, and he seems to have thought that if he could get the soldiers +to shoot him,--_him_, the greatest literary star of France since +the death of Voltaire,--the notoriety of his death might rouse +the population. + +Here is one scene in his narrative. He and three of his friends, +finding that the Faubourg Saint-Antoine gave no ear to their appeals, +and for once was disinclined to fight, decided to return home, +and took seats in an omnibus which passed them on the Place de la +Bastille. + +"We were all glad to get in," says Victor Hugo. "I took it much +to heart that I had not that morning, when I saw a crowd assembled +round the Porte Saint-Martin, shouted 'To arms!'... The omnibus +started. I was sitting at the end on the left, my friend young +Armand was beside me. As the omnibus moved on, the crowd became +more closely packed upon the Boulevard. When we reached the narrow +ascent near the Porte Saint-Martin, a regiment of heavy cavalry +met us. The men were Cuirassiers. Their horses were in a trot, +and their swords were drawn. All of a sudden the regiment came +to a halt. Something was in their way. Their halt detained the +omnibus. My heart was stirred. Close before me, a yard from me, +were Frenchmen turned into Mamelukes, citizen-supporters of the +Republic transformed into the mercenaries of a Second Empire! From +my seat I could almost put my hand upon them. I could no longer +bear the sight. I let down the glass, I put my head out of the +window, and looked steadily at the close line of armed men. Then +I shouted: 'Down with Louis Bonaparte! Those who serve traitors +are traitors!' The nearest soldiers turned their faces towards +me, and looked dazed with astonishment. The rest did not stir. +When I shouted, Armand let down his glass and thrust half his body +out of his window, shaking his fist at the soldiers. He too cried +out: 'Down with all traitors!' Our example was contagious. 'Down +with traitors!' cried my other two friends in the omnibus. 'Down +with the dictator!' cried a generous young man who sat beside me. +All the passengers in the omnibus, except this young man, seemed +to be filled with terror. 'Hold your tongues!' they cried; 'you +will have us all massacred.' The most frightened of them let down +his glass and shouted to the soldiers: 'Vive le Prince Napoléon! +Vive l'empereur!' The soldiers looked at us in solemn silence. +A mounted policeman menaced us with his drawn sword. The crowd +seemed stupefied.... The soldiers had no orders to act, so nothing +came of it. The regiment started at a gallop, so did the omnibus. +As long as the Cuirassiers were passing, Armand and I, hanging +half out of our windows, continued to shout at them, 'Down with +the dictator!'" + +This foolhardy and melodramatic performance was one of many such +scenes, calculated to turn tragedy into farce. + +Meantime, from early morning the hall of the representatives had +been surrounded by soldiers with mortars and cannon. As the deputies +arrived they were allowed to pass the gates, but were not permitted +to enter their chamber. Their president, or Speaker, M. Dupin, was +appealed to. He said he could do nothing; it was hopeless to resist +such a display of force. At last the representatives, becoming, +as the soldiers put it, "noisy and troublesome," were collared +and turned out into the street. One by one the most excited were +arrested. The remainder decided to go to the High Court of Justice +and demand a warrant to depose and arrest the prince president. +But they could not find the judges; they had hidden themselves +away. When at last they succeeded in discovering the place where +they were sitting, the police followed closely on their track, +and the judges were forced to shut up their court and march off, +under a guard of soldiers. + +The representatives then decided to go to the Mairie of the Tenth +Arrondissement, and there reorganize into a legislative body. They +were nearly all members belonging to the Right, but they were as +indignant as the Left at the outrage. + +They formed into a column, marching two and two abreast; but the +Left would not march with the Right, so they proceeded in two parallel +columns, one on each side of the way. Arrived at the Mairie, they made +Jules de Lasteyrie, Lafayette's grandson, president _pro tempore_, and +proceeded to pass a decree deposing Louis Bonaparte. Scarcely was this +done when a battalion of cavalry arrived, and the legislators soon +perceived that they were prisoners. After a great deal of altercation +with the soldiers, they were marched off to a barrack-yard on the +Quai d'Orsay. + +When all this was reported to De Morny, he remarked: "It is well; +but they are the last deputies who will be made _prisoners_,"--meaning +that any others would be shot. + +It was half-past three when the deputies were locked into the +barrack-yard. The December day was cold and frosty, the sky overcast. +The first thing they did was to call the roll. There were two hundred +and twenty of them, out of a total membership of seven hundred +and fifty. Among them were many of the best and most conservative +men of France. There was Jules Grévy, the future president (M. +Thiers was already in prison); Jules de Lasteyrie; Sainte-Beuve, +the great critic; Berryer, the great lawyer; the Duc de Luynes, +the richest man in France; and Odillon Barrot, the popular idol +at the commencement of the late revolution. De Tocqueville was +there, the great writer on America; General Oudinot, and several +other generals; the Duc de Broglie, great-grandson of Madame de +Staël; Eugène Sue, the novelist; Coquerel, the French Protestant +preacher; and M. de Rémusat, the son of that lady who has given +us her experiences of the court of the First Napoleon. + +For two hours the deputies remained in the open air; then they were +transferred at dark to the third story of a wing of the barracks. +They found themselves in two long halls, with low ceilings and dirty +walls, used as the soldiers' dormitories. They had no furniture but +some wooden benches. M. de Tocqueville was quite ill. The rooms +were bitterly cold. An hour or so later, three representatives, who +had demanded to share the fate of their colleagues, were brought +in. One of these was the Marquis de La Vallette, who had married +Mrs. Welles, a very beautiful and fascinating American lady. + +Night came. Most of the prisoners had eaten nothing since morning. +A collection of five francs apiece was taken up amongst them, and +a cold collation was provided by a neighboring restaurant. They +ate standing, with their plates in their hands. "Just like a supper +at a ball," remarked one of the younger ones. They had very few +drinking-glasses. Right and Left, having been reconciled by this time, +drank together. "Equality and Fraternity!" remarked a conservative +nobleman as he drank with one of the Red Republicans. "Ah," was +the answer, "but not Liberty." Eight more prisoners before long +were added to their number, and three were released,--one because +he was eighty, one because of his wife's illness, and one because +he had been accidentally wounded. At last, sixty mattresses were +brought in, for two hundred and twenty-five men. They had no blankets, +and had to trust to their great-coats to keep them from the cold. +A few of them went to sleep, but were roused at midnight by an +order that their quarters must be changed. They were taken down +by parties to all the _voitures cellulaires_ (or Black Marias) +in Paris. Each deputy was put into a separate cell, where he sat +cramped and freezing for hours. It was nearly seven A. M., December +3, before these prison-vans were ready to start. + +Some went to the great prison of Mazas, some to Vincennes, some +to Fort Valérien. At Mazas they were treated in all respects like +criminals, except that they were not allowed a daily walk,--a privilege +the knaves and malefactors obtained. Two deputies only were favored +with beds,--M. Thiers and another elderly man. M. Grévy had none, +nor the African generals, the ex-dictator Cavaignac among them. + +Such of the members of the Left as were not in prison spent December +2, 3, and 4 in endeavoring to assemble and reorganize the remains +of the Assembly; but the police followed them up too closely. + +A few barricades were raised, and the first man killed on one of +them was named Baudin. He threw away his life recklessly and to no +purpose; but it is the fashion among advanced republicans to this +day to decorate his grave and to honor his memory with communistic +speeches. He was rather a fine young fellow, and might have lived +to do the State some service. + +By the night of December 3 there was a good deal of commotion in +the city. Two days of disorganization, idleness, and excitement +had made workmen more inflammable than when they remained passive +under the appeals of Victor Hugo. The remainder of the story, so far +as it concerns the uprising and massacre in the streets of Paris, +I will borrow from the experience of an American eye-witness; but +first I will tell what happened to the African generals imprisoned +at Mazas. + +On the night of December 3 the station of the great railroad to +the north was filled with soldiers. About six o'clock the next +morning two _voitures cellulaires_ drove up, each attended by a +light carriage containing an especial agent sent by the police. +These vehicles, just as they were, were rolled on to trucks, and +the train moved out of the station. There were eight cells in each +_voiture cellulaire_; four were occupied by prisoners, four by +policemen. It was bitterly cold, and in the second of the prison-vans +the police, half frozen, opened the doors of their cells and came +out to walk up and down and warm themselves. Then a voice was heard +from one of the prisoners. "_Ah, ça_, it is bitterly cold here. +Could n't one be allowed to re-light one's cigar?" At this another +voice called out: "_Tiens!_ is that you, Lamoricière? Good morning!" +"Good morning, Cavaignac," replied the other. Then a third voice +came from the third cell. It was that of Changarnier. "_Messieurs +les Généraux_," cried a fourth, "do not forget that I am one of +you." The speaker was a _quoestor_ of the Chamber of Deputies, a +man charged with the safety of the National Assembly. The generals +who had spoken, and Bedeau, who was in the next van, were, with the +exception of Bugeaud, the four leading commanders in the French +army. The other four prisoners were Colonel Charras, General Le +Flô, Baze the _quoestor_, and a deputy, Count Roger (_du Nord_). +At midnight they had been roused from sleep and ordered to dress +immediately. "Are we going to be shot?" asked Charras, but no answer +was vouchsafed him. They were put into the _voitures cellulaires_, +each knowing nothing of the presence of the others; even the police +who were in charge of them, had no idea what prisoners they had in +custody. After this recognition between the generals, they were +permitted to come out of their cells and walk up and down the van +to warm themselves, taking care, however, that they were not seen +at liberty by the special agents in the carriages attending on +each van. + +On reaching Ham, the former prison of Louis Napoleon, Cavaignac, +whom he had succeeded as ruler of France, was put into his former +chamber. "Chassez croissez," said De Morny, when the report was +made to him. + +December 4, the last day of the struggle, was by far the most terrible. +Louis Napoleon, in spite of many benefits which France and the world +owe him, will never be cleansed from the stain that the outrages of +that day have left upon his memory. It may be said, however, that +the details of the _coup d'état_ were left to his subordinates, +and that probably both success and infamy are due in large part +to the flippant Morny. + +It was a cold, drizzling day. Such barricades as had been built +were very slimly defended, and with no enthusiasm. The insurgents +were short of ammunition, nor did the troops attack them with much +vigor. In fact, the soldiers were but few, for all were being +concentrated on that part of the Boulevard where strangers do their +shopping and eat ices at Tortoni's. The programme for that day +was not fighting, but a massacre. + +The American gentleman whose narrative I am about to quote, says,-- + +"On December 3 there was more excitement in the streets than there +had been on December 2. The secret societies had got to work. The +Reds were recovering from their astonishment. Ex-members of the +National Assembly had harangued the multitude and circulated addresses +calculated to rouse the people to resistance. On the 4th there was +not much stirring. The shops were closed. I went into the heart +of the city on business, where I soon found myself in the midst +of a panic-stricken crowd. The residents were closing their doors +and barricading their windows. Some said the Faubourgs were rising; +some that the troops were approaching, with cannon. + +"Hearing there were barricades at the Porte Saint-Denis, I pushed +directly for the spot. The work was going on bravely. Stagings had +been torn from unfinished houses, iron railings from the magnificent +gateway; trees were cut down, street sheds demolished; carts, carriages, +and omnibuses were being triumphantly dragged from hiding-places +to the monstrous pile. There were not very many men at work, but +those who were engaged, labored like beavers. Blouses and broadcloth +were about equally mixed. A few men armed with cutlasses, muskets, +and pistols appeared to act as leaders; soon a search was made +in neighboring houses for arms. I was surprised to see how many +boys were in the ranks of the insurgents. They went to work as if +insurrection were a frolic. I shuddered as I thought how many of +them would be shot or bayoneted before night fell. The sentiments +of the spectators seemed different. Some said, 'Let them go ahead. +They want to plunder and kill: they will soon be taught a good +lesson.' Others encouraged the barricade-makers. One man, hearing +that I was an American, said with a sigh, 'Ah, you live in a true +republic!' + +"After remaining two hours at this barricade, and seeing no fighting, +I turned on to the Boulevard. There, troops were advancing slowly, +with loaded cannon. From time to time they charged the people, who +slipped out of the way by side streets, as I did myself. Coming +back on the Boulevard des Italiens, I found the entire length of +the Boulevards, from the Porte Saint-Denis to the Madeleine, filled +with troops in order of battle. In the novelty and beauty of the +scene I quite lost sight of danger. At one time they chased away +the crowd; but soon sentinels were removed from the corners of the +streets, and as many spectators as thought proper pressed on to +the sidewalks of the Boulevard.... Opposite to me was the Seventh +Lancers,--a fine corps, recently arrived in Paris. Suddenly, at +the upper end of the line, the discharge of a cannon was heard, +followed by a blaze of musketry and a general charge. The spectators +on the Boulevard took to flight. They pitched into open doors, +or loudly demanded entrance at the closed ones. I was fortunate +enough to get into a neighboring carriage-way, through the grated +_porte-cochère_ of which I could see what was going on. The firing +was tremendous. Volley after volley followed so fast that it seemed +like one continued peal of thunder. Suddenly there was a louder +and a nearer crash. The cavalry in front of me wavered; and then, +as if struck by a panic, turned and rushed in disorder down the +street, making the ground tremble under their tread. What could +have occurred? In a few minutes they came charging back, firing +their pistols on all sides. Then came a quick succession of orders: +'Shut all windows! Keep out of sight! Open the blinds!' etc. It +seemed that unexpected shots had been fired from some of the windows +on the soldiers, from which they had suffered so much as to cause a +recoil. The roll of firearms was now terrific. Mortars and cannon +were fired at short-range point-blank at the suspicious houses, which +were then carried by assault. The rattle of small shot against windows +and walls was incessant. This, too, was in the finest part of the +Boulevard. Costly houses were completely riddled, their fronts were +knocked in, their floors pierced with balls. The windows throughout +the neighborhood were destroyed by the concussion of the cannon. Of +the hairbreadth escape of some of the inmates, and of the general +destruction of property, I need not speak. The Government afterwards +footed all the bills for the last. The firing continued for more +than an hour, and then receded to more distant parts of the city; +for the field of combat embraced an area of several miles, and there +were forty thousand troops engaged in it. As soon as I could do +so with safety, I left my covert, and endeavored to see what had +happened elsewhere. But troops guarded every possible avenue, and +fired on all those who attempted to approach any interdicted spot. +I noticed some pools of blood, but the corpses had been removed; in +a cross-street I saw a well-dressed man gasping his life away on +a rude stretcher. Those around him told me he had six balls in +him. In the Rue Richelieu there was the corpse of a young girl. +Somebody had placed lighted candles at its head and feet. When I +reached the parts of the town removed from the surveillance of +the soldiers, I noticed a bitter feeling among the better classes +for the day's work. The slaughter had been amongst those of their +own class, which was unusual. The number slain was at first, of +course, exaggerated, but it was with no gratifying emotions that +we could reduce it a few hundreds. It was civil war,--fratricide. +I reached home indignant and mournful." + +Victor Hugo says of the massacre: "There were no combatants on +the side of the people. There could not be said to have been any +mob, though the Boulevard was crowded with spectators. Then, as +the wounded and terrified rushed into houses, the soldiers rushed +in after them." + +Tortoni's was gutted; the fashionable Baths of Jouvence were torn +to pieces; one hotel was demolished; twenty-eight houses were so +injured that they had next day to be pulled down. Peaceful shopkeepers, +dressmakers, and English strangers were among the slain,--an old man +with an umbrella, a young man with an opera-glass. In the house +where Jouvin sold gloves there was a pile of dead bodies. + +The firing was over by four P. M. It has never been known how many +were massacred. Some said twenty-five hundred, some made it five +hundred, and almost every person killed was, not a Red combatant, +but an innocent victim. + +Thus Louis Napoleon made himself master of Paris. The army was +all for him, the masses were apathetic, the rural population was +on his side. A few weeks later a _plébiscite_ made him emperor. + +The _coup d'état_ having succeeded, most Frenchmen gave in their +adhesion to its author. It remained only to dispose of the prisoners. +Without any preliminary investigation, squads of them were shot, +chiefly in the court-yard of the Prefecture of Police. All deputies +of the Left were sent into exile, except some who were imprisoned +in Algerine fortresses or sent to Cayenne,--the French political +penal colony at that period. + +Victor Hugo remained a fortnight in hiding, believing, on the authority +of Alexandre Dumas, that a price was set upon his head. He gives +some moving accounts of little children whom he saw lying in their +blood on the evening of the massacre. His chief associates nearly +all escaped arrest, and got away from France in various disguises. +Their adventures are all of them very picturesque, and some are +very amusing. + +Several of the eight prisoners at Ham suffered much from dampness. +Lamoricière, indeed, contracted permanent rheumatism during his +imprisonment. He begged earnestly to be allowed to write to his +wife, but was permitted to send her only three words, without date: +"I am well." + +On the night of January 6, the commandant of the fortress, in full +uniform, accompanied by a Government agent, entered the sleeping-room +of each prisoner, and ordered him to rise and dress, as he was +to be sent immediately into exile under charge of two agents of +police detailed to accompany him over the frontier. Nor was he +to travel under his own name, a travelling _alias_ having been +provided for him. At the railroad station at Creil, Colonel Charras +met Changarnier. "_Tiens, Général!_" he cried, "is that you? I am +travelling under the name of Vincent." "And I," replied Changarnier, +"am called Leblanc." Each was placed with his two police agents +in a separate carriage. The latter were armed. Their orders were +to treat their prisoners with respect, but in case of necessity +to shoot them. + +The journey was made without incident until they reached Valenciennes, +a place very near the frontier line between France and Belgium. +There, as the _coup d'état_ had proved a success, official zeal +was in the ascendency. The police commissioner of Valenciennes +examined the passports. As he was taking Leblanc's into his hand, +he recognized the man before him. He started, and cried out: "You +are General Changarnier!" "That is no affair of mine at present," +said the general. At once the police agents interposed, and assured +the commissioner that the passports were all in order. Nothing +they could say would convince him of the fact. The prefect and +town authorities, proud of their own sagacity in capturing State +prisoners who were endeavoring to escape from France, held them +in custody while they sent word of their exploit to Paris. They at +once received orders to put all the party on the train for Belgium. + +Charras was liberated at Brussels, Changarnier at Mons, Lamoricière +was carried to Cologne, M. Baze to Aix-la-Chapelle. They were not +released at the same place nor at the same time, Louis Napoleon +having said that safety required that a space should be put between +the generals. + +[Illustration: _EUGÉNIE._] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE EMPEROR'S MARRIAGE. + +A plébiscite--Louis Napoleon's political panacea--was ordered Dec. +20, 1851, two weeks after the _coup d'état_, to say if the people +of France approved or disapproved the usurpation of the prince +president. The national approval as expressed in this _plébiscite_ +was overwhelming. Each peasant and artisan seemed to fancy he was +voting to revive the past glories of France, when expressing his +approval of a Prince Napoleon. The more thoughtful voters, like M. +de Montalembert, considered that the _coup d'état_ was a crushing +blow struck at Red Republicanism, Communism, the International +Society, and disorder generally. + +For a while the prince president governed by decrees; then a new +legislative body was assembled. Its first duty was to revise the +constitution. The republican constitution of 1850 was in the main +re-adopted, but with one important alteration. The prince president +was to be turned into the Emperor Napoleon III., and the throne +was to be hereditary in his family. + +After the passage of this measure it was submitted by another +_plébiscite_ to the people. The _plébiscite_ is a universal suffrage +vote of yes or no, in answer to some question put by the Government +to the nation. The question this time was: Shall the prince president +become emperor? There were 7,800,000 ayes, and 224,000 noes. + +When the news of this overwhelming success reached the Élysée, +Louis Napoleon sat so still and unmoved, smoking his cigar, that +his cousin, Madame Baiocchi, rushing up to him, shook him, and +exclaimed: "Is it possible that you are made of stone?" + +Having thus secured his elevation by the almost universal consent +of Frenchmen, the new emperor's next step was to insure his dynasty +by a marriage that might probably give heirs to the throne. He +chose the title Napoleon III. because the son of the Great Napoleon +had been Napoleon II. for a few days after his father's abdication +at Fontainebleau in 1814. The next heir to the imperial dignities +(Lucien Bonaparte having refused anything of the kind for himself +or for his family) was Jérôme Napoleon, familiarly called Plon-Plon. +He was the only son of Jérôme Bonaparte and the Princess Catherine +of Würtemberg. But Prince Napoleon, though clever, was wilful and +eccentric, and made a boast of being a Red Republican; moreover, +his father's Baltimore marriage had made his legitimacy more than +doubtful,--at any rate, Louis Napoleon was by no means desirous +of passing on to him the succession to the empire; and being now +forty-four years old, he was desirous of marrying as soon as possible. + +When a boy, it had been proposed to marry him to his cousin Mathilde, +and something like an attachment had sprung up between them; but +after his fiasco at Strasburg he was no longer considered an eligible +suitor either for Princess Mathilde or another cousin who had been +named for him, a princess of Baden. Princess Mathilde was married +to the Russian banker, Prince Demidorff; but when Louis Napoleon +became prince president, he requested her to preside at the Élysée. + +The new emperor, or his advisers, looked round at the various +marriageable princesses belonging to the smaller courts of Germany. +The sister of that Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern whose selection for +the throne of Spain led afterwards to the Franco-Prussian war, was +spoken of; but the lady most seriously considered was the Princess +Adélaïde of Hohenlohe. She was daughter of Queen Victoria's half-sister +Feodora; and to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, as heads of the +family, the matter was referred. A recent memoir-writer tells us of +seeing the queen at Windsor when the matter was under discussion. +The queen and her husband were apparently not averse to the alliance, +hesitating only on the grounds of religion and morals; but it is +doubtful how far the new emperor went personally in the affair. +His inclination had for some time pointed to the reigning beauty +of Paris, Mademoiselle Eugénie de Montijo. + +This young lady's grandfather was Captain Fitzpatrick, of a good old +Scottish family, which had in past times married with the Stuarts. +Captain Fitzpatrick had been American consul at a port in southern +Spain. He had a particularly charming daughter, who made a brilliant +Spanish marriage, her husband being the Count de Teba (or Marquis +de Montijo, for he bore both titles). The Montijos were connected +with the grandest ducal families in Spain and Portugal, and even +with the royal families of those nations. + +The Count de Teba died while his two daughters were young, and they +were left under the guardianship of their very charming mother. +The elder married the Duke of Alva; the younger became the Empress +Eugénie. + +Eugénie was for some time at school in England at Clifton. She +was described by those who knew her there as a pretty, sprightly +little girl, much given to independence, and something of a tom +boy,--a character there is reason to think she preserved until +it was modified by the exigencies of her position. + +Mr. George Ticknor, of Boston, frequently mentioned Madame de Teba +to his friends as a singularly charming woman. In 1818 he wrote +home to a friend in America: + +"I knew Madame de Teba in Madrid, and from what I saw of her there and +at Malaga, I do not doubt she is the most cultivated and interesting +woman in Spain. Young, beautiful, educated strictly by her mother, a +Scotchwoman,--who for this purpose carried her to London and kept +her there six or seven years,--possessing extraordinary talents, and +giving an air of originality to all she says and does, she unites +in a most bewitching manner the Andalusian grace and frankness to a +French facility in her manners and a genuine English thoroughness +in her knowledge and accomplishments. She knows the chief modern +languages well, and feels their different characters, and estimates +their literature aright. She has the foreign accomplishments of +singing, painting, playing, etc., joined to the natural one of +dancing, in a high degree. In conversation she is brilliant and +original, yet with all this she is a true Spaniard, and as full +of Spanish feelings as she is of talent and culture." + +Washington Irving, in 1853, thirty-five years later, writing to +his nephew, speaks in equal praise of Madame de Teba. + +"I believe I told you," he says, "that I knew the grandfather of +the empress, old Mr. Fitzpatrick. In 1827 I was in the house of his +son-in-law, Count Teba, at Granada, a gallant, intelligent gentleman, +much cut up in the wars, having lost an eye and been maimed in a +leg and hand. Some years after, in Madrid, I was invited to the +house of his widow, Madame de Montijo, one of the leaders of _ton_. +She received me with the warmth and eagerness of an old friend. She +claimed me as the friend of her late husband. She subsequently +introduced me to the little girls I had known in Granada, _now_ +fashionable belles in Madrid." + +In some lines of Walter Savage Landor, Madame de Montijo was addressed +as a "lode-star of her sex." + +The Marquis de Montijo had been an adherent of Joseph Bonaparte +while the latter was king of Spain, and his eye had been put out +at the battle of Salamanca. He was a liberal in politics, and his +house was always open to cultivated men. + +Such was the ancestry of the beautiful young lady who, tall, fair, +and graceful, with hair like one of Titian's beauties, was travelling +with her mother from capital to capital, after the marriage of her +sister to the Duke of Alva, and who spent the winters of 1850, +1851, and 1852 in the French capital. Mademoiselle Eugénie had +conceived a romantic admiration for the young prince who at Strasburg +and Boulogne had been so unfortunate. Her father had been a stanch +adherent of Bonaparte, and she is said to have pleaded with her +mother at one time to visit the prisoner at Ham and to place her +fortune at his disposal. + +This circumstance, when confided to the prince president, disposed +him to be interested in the young lady. She and her mother were +often at the Élysée, at Fontainebleau, and at Compiègne. Mademoiselle +de Montijo was a superb horsewoman, and riding was the emperor's +especial personal accomplishment. On one occasion they got lost +together in the forest at Compiègne, and then society began to +make remarks upon their intimacy. + +The emperor was indeed most seriously in love with Mademoiselle +de Montijo. It is said, on the authority of M. de Goncourt, that +in one of their rides he asked her, with strange frankness, if +she had ever been in love with any man. She answered with equal +frankness, "I may have had fancies, sire, but I have never forgotten +that I was Mademoiselle de Montijo."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Pierre de Lano. La Cour de L'Empereur Napoléon III.] + +Such a project of marriage was not approved by the emperor's family, +it was not favored by his ministers, and the ladies of his court +were all astir. + +At a ball given on New Year's Day, 1853, by the emperor at the +Tuileries, the wife of a cabinet minister was rude and insulting +to Mademoiselle de Montijo. Seeing that she looked troubled, the +emperor inquired the cause; and when he knew it, he said quietly: +"To-morrow no one will dare to insult you again." There is also +a story, which seems to rest on good authority, that a few weeks +before this, at Compiègne, he had placed a crown of oak-leaves on +her head, saying: "I hope soon to replace it with a better one."[2] +Like the Empress Josephine, she had had it prophesied to her in +her girlhood that she should one day wear a crown. + +[Footnote 2: Jerrold, Life of Napoleon III.] + +The day after the occurrence at the ball at the Tuileries, the +Duc de Morny waited on Madame de Montijo with a letter from the +emperor, formally requesting her daughter's hand. + +The ladies, after this, removed to the Élysée, which was given to +them, and preparations for the marriage went on apace. + +In less than a month afterwards Eugénie de Montijo was empress of +France. + +Here is the emperor's own official announcement of his intended +marriage:-- + +"I accede to the wish so often manifested by my people in announcing +my marriage to you. The union which I am about to contract is not +in harmony with old political traditions, and in this lies its +advantage. France, by her successive revolutions, has been widely +sundered from the rest of Europe. A wise Government should so rule as +to bring her back within the circle of ancient monarchies. But this +result will be more readily obtained by a frank and straightforward +policy, by a loyal intercourse, than by royal alliances, which often +create false security, and subordinate national to family interests. +Moreover, past examples have left superstitious beliefs in the +popular mind. The people have not forgotten that for sixty years +foreign princesses have mounted the steps of the throne only to see +their race scattered and proscribed, either by war or revolution. +One woman alone appears to have brought with her good fortune, and +lives, more than the rest, in the memory of the people; and this +woman, the wife of General Bonaparte, was not of royal blood. We +must admit this much, however. In 1810 the marriage of Napoleon I. +with Marie Louise was a great event. It was a bond for the future, +and a real gratification to the national pride.... But when, in +the face of ancient Europe, one is carried by the force of a new +principle to the level of the old dynasties, it is not by affecting +an ancient descent and endeavoring at any price to enter the family +of kings, that one compels recognition. It is rather by remembering +one's origin; it is by preserving one's own character, and assuming +frankly towards Europe the position of a _parvenu_,--a glorious title +when one rises by the suffrages of a great people. Thus impelled, as +I have been, to part from the precedents that have been hitherto +followed, my marriage is only a private matter. It remained for me +to choose my wife. She who has become the object of my choice is +of lofty birth, French in heart and education and by the memory of +the blood shed by her father in the cause of the Empire. She has, +as a Spaniard, the advantage of not having a family in France to +whom it would be necessary to give honors and dignities. Gifted with +every quality of the heart, she will be the ornament of the throne, +as in the hour of danger she would be one of its most courageous +defenders. A pious Catholic, she will address one prayer with me +to Heaven for the happiness of France. Kindly and good, she will +show in the same position, I firmly believe, the virtues of the +Empress Josephine." + +The State coaches of the First Empire were regilded for the occasion, +the crown diamonds were drawn from the hiding-place where they +had lain since Louis Philippe's time, and were reset for the lady +who was to wear them, while her apartments at the Tuileries were +rapidly prepared. + +The emperor was radiant. He had followed his inclination, and now +that his choice was made, it seemed to receive universal approval. +The London "Times" said: "Mademoiselle de Montijo knows better the +character of France than any princess who could have been fetched +from a German principality. She combines by her birth the energy +of the Scottish and Spanish races, and if the opinion we hold of +her be correct, she is, as Napoleon says, made not only to adorn +the throne, but to defend it in the hour of danger." + +The Municipal Council of Paris voted six hundred thousand francs +to buy her a diamond necklace as a wedding present. Very gracefully +she declined the necklace, but accepted the money, with which she +endowed an Orphan Asylum. + +The wedding-day was Jan. 29, 1853. Crowds lined the streets as the +bride and her _cortège_ drove to the Tuileries, where they were +received by the Grand Chamberlain and other court dignitaries, who +conducted the bride to the first _salon_. There she was received by +Prince Napoleon and his sister, the Princess Mathilde, who introduced +her into the _salon_, where the emperor, with his uncle, King Jérôme, +surrounded by a glittering throng of cardinals, marshals, admirals, +and great officers of State, stood ready to receive her. Thence, at +nine o'clock, she was led by the emperor to the Salle des Maréchaux +and seated beside him on a raised throne. The marriage contract +was then read, and signed by the bride and bridegroom and by all +the princes and princesses present. + +The bride wore a marvellous dress of Alençon point lace, clasped +with a diamond and sapphire girdle made for the Empress Marie Louise, +and she looked, said a beholder, "the imperial beauty of a poet's +vision." The emperor was in a general's uniform. He wore the collar +of the Legion of Honor which his uncle the Great Emperor used to +wear. He wore also the collar of the Golden Fleece that had once +belonged to the Emperor Charles V. + +The civil marriage being concluded, the imperial pair and the wedding +guests passed into the theatre, where a _cantata_, composed by +Auber for the occasion, was sung. The empress, robed in lace and +glittering in jewels, seemed, says an eye-witness, to realize the +picture presented of herself in the composer's words:-- + + "Espagne bien aimée, + Où le ciel est vermeil, + C'est toi qui l'as formée + D'un rayon de soleil."[1] + + [Footnote 1: + Ah, beautiful Spain, + With thy skies ever bright, + Thou hast formed her for us + From a ray of sunlight.] + +When the _cantata_ had been sung, the Grand Master of the Ceremonies +conducted the bride, as yet only half married, back to the Élysée. + +The next morning all Paris was astir to see the wedding procession +pass to the cathedral of Notre Dame. Early in the morning the emperor +had repaired to the Élysée, where, in the chapel, he and the empress +had heard mass, and after making their confession, had partaken +of the Holy Communion. There were two hundred thousand sightseers +in Paris that day, in addition to the usual population. + +The empress wore upon her golden hair the crown that the First +Napoleon had placed upon the head of Marie Louise. The body of +the church was filled with men,--ambassadors, military and naval +officers, and high officials. Their wives were in the galleries. +As the great doors of the cathedral were opened to admit the bridal +procession, a broad path of light gleamed from the door up to the +altar, adding additional brilliancy to the glittering scene. Up +the long aisle the emperor led his bride, flashing with the light +of jewels, among them the unlucky regent diamond, which glittered +on her bosom. After the Spanish fashion, she crossed her brow, +her lips, her heart, her thumb, as she knelt for the nuptial +benediction. The ceremony over, the archbishop conducted the married +pair to the porch of the cathedral, and they drove along the Quai +to the Tuileries. + +The first favor the empress asked of her husband was the pardon +of more than four thousand unfortunate persons still exiled or +imprisoned for their share in the risings that succeeded the _coup +d'état_. + +When Washington Irving heard of the marriage, he wrote: "Louis +Napoleon and Eugénie de Montijo,--Emperor and Empress of France! +He whom I received as an exile at my cottage on the Hudson, she +whom at Granada I have dandled on my knee! The last I saw of Eugénie +de Montijo, she and her gay circle had swept away a charming young +girl, beautiful and accomplished, my dear young friend, into their +career of fashionable dissipation. Now Eugénie is on a throne, +and the other a voluntary recluse in a convent of one of the most +rigorous Orders." This convent is near Biarritz, where the nuns +take vows of silence like the monks of La Trappe.[1] The empress +when at Biarritz never failed to visit her former friend, who was +permitted to converse with her. + +[Footnote 1: Saturday Review, 1885.] + +The beautiful woman thus raised to the imperial throne[2] was a +mixed character,--not so perfect as some have represented her, +but entirely to be acquitted of those grave faults that envy or +disappointed expectations have attributed to her. Her character united +kind-heartedness with inconsideration, imprudence with austerity, +ardent feeling with great practical common-sense. Probably the +emperor understood her very little at the time of his marriage, and +that she long remained to him an enigma may have been one of her +charms. With the impetuosity of her disposition and the intrepidity +that had characterized her girlhood, she found it hard to submit +to the restraints of her position, and the emperor had occasion +frequently to remonstrate with her on her indifference to etiquette +and public opinion. It was not until after her visit to Windsor +in 1855 that she could be induced to establish court rules at the +Tuileries, and to prescribe for herself and others, in public, a +strict system of etiquette. But in her private hours, among her +early friends, in the circle of ladies admitted to her intimacy, +the empress was less discreet. Her impressions were apt to run +into extremes; she indulged in whims like other pretty women; yet +she was never carried by her romantic feelings or her enthusiasm +beyond her power of self-control. Though careless of etiquette in +private life, whenever a great occasion came, she could act with +imperial dignity. + +[Footnote 2: Pierre de Lano.] + +Although she often experienced ingratitude, she was always generous. +She was as ready to solicit favors and pardons as was the Empress +Josephine. Sometimes she was even sorely embarrassed to find arguments +in favor of her _protégés_. "_Ah, mon Dieu!_" she cried once, when +pleading for the pardon of a workman, "how could he be guilty? +He has a wife and five children to support; he could have had no +time for conspiracy!" + +As a wife she was devoted, not only to the public interests of her +husband, but to his personal welfare. She was constantly anxious +lest he should suffer from overwork; and her little select evening +parties, which some people found fault with, were instituted by +her with the chief object of amusing him. + +Ben Jonson makes it a reproach against a lady of the sixteenth century +that she would not "suffer herself to be admired." No such reproach +could be addressed to the Empress Eugénie. Few women conscious of +their power to charm will fail to exercise it. In the case of an +empress,--young, lively, of an independent and adventurous spirit, and +very beautiful,--all who approached her thought better of themselves +from her apparent appreciation of their claims to consideration; +and, indeed, in her position was it not the duty of the successor +of Josephine to be gracious and charming to everybody? + +Unfortunately the ladies who most enjoyed the intimacy of the Empress +Eugénie were foreigners. She seems to have felt a certain distrust +of Frenchwomen; and considering the ingratitude she often met with +from those she served, it is hardly surprising that she preferred +the intimacy of women who could not look to her for favors. + +One of the ladies most intimate with the empress was the wife of +Prince Richard Metternich, the Austrian ambassador. This lady seems +to have had personal and political ends in view, and to have succeeded +in inducing the empress to adopt and further them. That she was a +dangerous and false friend may be judged from a speech she made +when remonstrated with for countenancing and encouraging a project, +favored by the empress, of making a promenade in the forest of +Fontainebleau with her court-ladies in skirts which, like those +in the old Scotch ballad, should be "kilted up to the knee." "You +would not have advised your own empress," it was said to her, "to +appear in such a garb." "Of course not," replied the ambassadress; +"but _my_ empress is of royal birth.--a real empress; while yours, +_ma chère_, was Mademoiselle de Montijo!" + +Brought up in private life, not early trained to the self-abnegation +demanded of princesses, the Empress Eugénie did not bring into her +new sphere all the _aplomb_ and seriousness about little things +which are early inculcated on ladies brought up to the profession +of royalty. The career for which she had formed herself was that +of a very charming woman; and one secret of her fascination was +the sincerity of the interest she took in those around her. She +loved to study character, to see into men's souls. She loved to +be adored, while irresponsively she received men's homage. She +especially liked the society of famous men, and when she was to +meet them, she took pains to inform herself on the subjects about +which they were most likely to converse. + +That Queen Victoria loves her as a sister and a friend, is a testimony +to her dignity and goodness; and we have her husband's own opinion +of her, published on her fête-day, Dec. 15, 1868, after nearly +sixteen years of marriage. The emperor had under his control a +monthly magazine called "Le Dix Décembre," in which he often inserted +articles from his own pen. The manuscript of this, in his own +handwriting, was found in 1870 in the sack of the Tuileries. He +omits all mention of his wife's Scotch ancestry, neither does he +allude to her school-days in England. He speaks of her as a member +of one of the most distinguished families in Spain, extols her +father's attachment to the house of Bonaparte, and tells how she and +her sister were placed at the Sacré Coeur, near Paris, declaring that +"she acquired, we may say, the French before the Spanish language." +He goes on to speak of her, not as the leader of a giddy circle of +fashion in Madrid, as Washington Irving describes her, but as the +thoughtful, studious young girl, with a precocious taste for social +problems and for the society of men of letters; and he adds that after +her marriage her simple, natural tastes did not disappear. "After her +visit to the cholera patients at Amiens," he says, "nothing seemed +to surprise her more than the applause that everywhere celebrated +her courage. She seemed at last distressed by it.... At Compiègne," +he also tells us, "nothing can be more attractive than five o'clock +tea _à l'impératrice_; though," he adds slyly, "sometimes she is +a little too fond of argument." + +Assuredly she filled a difficult place, and filled it well; but +the court of the Second Empire was all spangles and tinsel. It +was composed of men and women all more or less adventurers. It was +the court of the _nouveaux riches_ and of a mushroom aristocracy. +There were prizes to be won and pleasures to be enjoyed, and it +was "like as it was in the days of Noë, until the flood came, and +swept them all away." + +In the midst of the crowd that composed this court the emperor and +the empress shine out as the best. Both wanted to do their duty, +as they understood it, to France. Whether it was the emperor's +fault or his misfortune, is still undecided; but, with one or two +exceptions, he was able to attach to himself only keen-witted +adventurers and mediocre men. Among the women, not one who was +really superior rose above the crowd. The empress led a giddy circle +of married women, as in her youth, according to Washington Irving, +she had led a giddy circle of young girls. + +The two most able men among the emperor's advisers were his own +kinsmen,--Count Walewski, who died in 1868, and the Duc de Morny, +a man calm, polished, socially amiable, and so clever that Guizot +once said to him: "My dear Morny, you are the only man who could +overturn the Empire; but you will never be foolish enough to do +it." By his death, in 1865, Louis Napoleon was bereft of his ablest +adviser. + +Persigny, or Fialin, had been the close personal friend of the +emperor in his exile, and took a prominent part in the abortive +expedition to Boulogne. In his youth he had led a disreputable +life, and was not a man of great intellect, but he was presumed +to be devoted to his old comrade. His friendship, however, had not +always a happy effect upon the fortunes of his master. In 1872 he +made a miserable end of his adventurous life, after having turned +against the emperor in his adversity. + +Fleury was another personal friend of Louis Napoleon, and was probably +his best. The prince president had distinguished him when he was +only a subaltern in the army. He had enlisted in the ranks, and +had done good service in Algeria. In the emperor's last days of +failing health he loved to keep Fleury beside him; but the empress +was jealous of her husband's friend, and used her influence to +have him honorably exiled to St. Petersburg as French ambassador. +This post he occupied when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, so +that he could be of little help to his master. + +Saint-Arnaud had been made a marshal and minister of war, in spite +of having been twice turned out of the French army. + +M. Rouher had charge of the emperor's financial concerns, and Fould +was a man who understood bureau-work, and how to manipulate government +machinery. + +Whoever might be the emperor's ministers, this little clique of +his personal adherents--De Morny, Persigny, Saint-Arnaud, Fleury, +Rouher, and Fould--were always around their master, giving him +their advice and sharing (so far as he allowed anyone to share) +his intimate councils. + +The members of the Bonaparte family were an immense expense to the +emperor, and gave him no little trouble. They were not the least +thirsty among those who thronged around the fountain of wealth and +honor; and their importunate demands upon the emperor's bounty led +to a perpetual and reckless waste of money. The empress frequently +remonstrated with her husband in regard to his lavish largesses +and too generous expenditure. Contrary to what has been generally +supposed, she was herself orderly and methodical in her expenditures +and accounts, always carefully examining her bills, and though by +the emperor's express desire she always expended the large amount +annually allowed her, she never exceeded that sum. + +Unhappily, the revived imperialism of Louis Napoleon was not, like +Legitimacy, a _cause_, but to most persons who supported it, it +was a speculation. Adherents had therefore to be attracted to it +by hopes of gain, and all services had to be handsomely rewarded. + +The emperor's policy in the early years of his reign may be said +to have been twofold. He wanted to make France increase in material +prosperity, and he wished to have money freely spent within her +borders. He set on foot all kinds of improvements in Paris, and +all kinds of useful enterprises in the provinces. Work was plenty; +money flowed freely; the empire was everywhere popular. But the +government of France was the government of one man; and if anything +happened to that one man, where would be the government? There +seemed no need to ask that question while France was prosperous +and Paris gay. France under the Second Empire was quieter than +she had been for any eighteen years since the Great Revolution; +and for that she was grateful to Napoleon III. + +His foreign policy was still more successful. "The Empire is peace," +he had early proclaimed to be his motto. At first the idea of a +Napoleon on the throne of France had greatly terrified the nations; +but by degrees it seemed as if he really meant to be the Napoleon +of Peace, as his uncle had been the Napoleon of War. He took every +opportunity of reiterating his desire to be on good terms with +his neighbors. With respect to England, those who knew him best +asserted earnestly that he had always been in sympathy with the +country that had sheltered him in exile. Count Walewski, whom he sent +over as ambassador to London, was very popular there. He attended +the funeral of the Duke of Wellington in his official capacity, +and in return for this courtesy England restored to the French +emperor his uncle's will, which had been laid up in Doctor's Commons +with other wills of persons who had died on English soil. Russia +was haughty to the new emperor; but the other courts of Europe +accepted him, and most of them did so with considerable alacrity; +for was he not holding down Socialism and Internationalism, which +they dreaded far more than Napoleonism, and by which they were +menaced in their own lands? + +The great perplexity of the new emperor was his relation to Italy. +He and his brother had taken the oaths of a Carbonaro in that country, +in 1831. It is not to this day certain that his brother did not die +by a Carbonaro's knife, rather than by the measles. Be that as +it may, Louis Napoleon knew that if he failed to keep his promises +as to the liberation of Italy, assassination awaited him. + +How he endeavored to reconcile his engagements as a Carbonaro with +his policy as the French emperor belongs less to the historical +gossip of France than to that of Italy. So too the history of the +Crimean War seems to belong _par excellence_ to that of Russia. It +was undertaken by England and France as allies, joined afterwards +by a Sardinian army under General La Marmora, by the Turkish troops +under Omar Pasha, and by an Egyptian contingent; but as we are +now engaged on the personal history of the emperor and empress, +I will rather here tell how Napoleon III., having formed a camp +of one hundred thousand soldiers at Boulogne, on the very ground +where his uncle had assembled his great army for the invasion of +England, decided to ascertain, through his ambassador in London, +if it would be agreeable to Prince Albert to visit that camp and +see the manoeuvres of his army. Finding that the invitation would be +acceptable to the prince, he addressed him the following letter:-- + + July 3, 1854. + +MON FRÈRE,--Your Royal Highness knows that putting in practice +your own idea, and wishing to carry out to the end the struggle +with Russia that we have begun together, I have decided to form an +army between Boulogne and St. Omer. I need not tell your Highness +how pleased I should be to see you, and how happy I should be to +show you my soldiers. I am convinced, moreover, that personal ties +will strengthen the union so happily established between two great +nations. I beg you to present my respectful homage to the queen, +and to receive this expression of the esteem and sincere affection +I have conceived for you. + +With this, _mon frère_, I pray God to have you in his holy keeping. + + NAPOLEON. + +The prince accepted the invitation, addressing the emperor as "Sire +et mon frère." The queen entirely approved the visit, and Baron +Stockmar predicted much advantage from it, "inasmuch," he said, +"as the good or evil destiny of the present time will directly and +chiefly depend upon a rational, honorable, and resolute alliance +between England and France." + +Prince Albert met the emperor at Boulogne, Sept. 4, 1854. The Duke +of Newcastle, who was in attendance on Prince Albert, wrote to a +friend that tears stood in the emperor's eyes when he received +his guest as he stepped upon French soil; and the prince wrote +that evening to the queen:-- + +"The emperor has been very nervous, if we are to believe those who +stood near him and who know him well. He was kindly and courteous, +and does not look so old nor so pale as his portraits make him, and +is much gayer than he is generally represented. The visit cannot +fail to be a source of great gratification to him.... I have had +two long talks with him, in which he spoke very sensibly about the +war and the _questions du jour_. People here are sanguine about +the results of the expedition to the Crimea, and very sensitive +about the behavior of Admiral Sir Charles Napier." + +The prince adds in his letter, the same evening:-- + +"The emperor thaws more and more. This evening after dinner I withdrew +with him to his sitting-room for half an hour before rejoining his +guests, in order that he might smoke his cigarette,--in which +occupation, to his amazement, I could not keep him company. He +told me that one of the deepest impressions ever made on him was, +when having gone from France to Rio Janeiro and thence to the United +States, and being recalled to Europe by the rumor of his mother's +serious illness, he arrived in London directly after King William's +death, and saw you going to open parliament for the first time." + +Subsequently the prince tells the queen,-- + +"We discussed all topics of home and foreign policy, material and +personal, with the greatest frankness, and I can say but good of what +I heard.... He was brought up in the German fashion in Germany,--a +training which has developed a German turn of mind. As to all modern +political history, so far as this is not Napoleonic, he is without +information; so that he wants many of the materials for accurate +judgment." + +Dickens, who was at Boulogne on this occasion, thus tells of Prince +Albert's arrival:-- + +"The town looks like one immense flag, it is so decked out with +streamers; and as the royal yacht approached yesterday, the whole +range of the cliff-tops was lined with troops, and the artillerymen, +matches in hand, stood ready to fire the great guns the moment +she made the harbor, the sailors standing up in the prow of the +yacht, the prince, in a blazing uniform, left alone on the deck for +everybody to see,--a stupendous silence, and then such an infernal +blazing and banging as never was heard. It was almost as fine a +sight as one could see, under a deep blue sky." + +While the guest of the emperor, Prince Albert expressed to him +the queen's hope that they should see him in England, and that she +should make the acquaintance of the empress. + +The prince, an excellent judge of character, in a subsequent memorandum +concerning his impressions, says,-- + +"The emperor appeared quiet and indolent from constitution, not +easily excited, but gay and humorous when at his ease. His French +is not without a little German accent, and his pronunciation of +German is better than of English.... He recited a poem by Schiller +on the advantages to man of peace and war, which seemed to have made +a deep impression upon him, and appeared to me to be not without +significance with reference to his own life. His court and household +are strictly kept and in good order, more English than French. +The gentlemen composing his _entourage_ are not distinguished by +birth, manners, or education. He lives on a familiar footing with +them, although they seemed afraid of him. The tone was rather that +of a garrison, with a good deal of smoking.... He is very chilly, +complains of rheumatism, and goes early to bed, takes no pleasure +in music, but is proud of his horsemanship." + +Speaking again of the emperor's lack of information as to the history +of politics, Prince Albert says:-- + +"But he is remarkably modest in acknowledging these defects, and +in not pretending to know what he does not. All that relates to +Napoleonic politics he has at his finger's ends. He also appears to +have thought much and deeply on politics, yet more like an amateur +politician, mixing many very sound and very crude notions together. +He admires English institutions, and regrets the absence of an +aristocracy in France, but might not be willing to allow such an +aristocracy to control his own power, whilst he might wish to have +the advantage of its control over the pure democracy." + +The emperor closely questioned the prince about the working of +the English government and the queen's relations to her ministers. +Prince Albert writes,-- + +"He said that he did not allow his ministers to meet or to discuss +matters together; that they transacted their business solely with +him. He seemed astonished when I told him that every despatch went +through the queen's hands and was read by her, as he only received +extracts made from them, and indeed appeared to have little time +or inclination generally to read. When I observed to him that the +queen would not be content without seeing the whole of the diplomatic +correspondence, he replied that he found a full compensation in +having persons in his own employ and confidence at the different +posts of importance, who reported solely to him. I could not but +express my sense of the danger of such an arrangement, to which +no statesman, in England at least, would submit." + +I have quoted this memorandum of Prince Albert's, because it points +out the perils which led to the downfall or the Empire,--the emperor's +bad _entourage_; his personal government, assisted only by private +confidential relations with irresponsible persons; his mixture of +crude and sensible ideas of government; his indolence; and his +tendency to let things slide out of his own hands. + +"Upon the whole," concluded the prince, "my impression is that +neither in home nor foreign politics would the emperor naturally +take any violent step, but that he appears in distress for means +of governing, and is obliged to look about him from day to day. +Having deprived the people of any active participation in the +government, and reduced them to the mere position of spectators, +they grow impatient, like a crowd at a display of fireworks, whenever +there is any cessation in the display. Still, he appears the only +man who has any hold on France, relying on the name of Napoleon. +He said to the Duke of Newcastle: + +'Former Governments have tried to reign by the support of one million +of the educated classes; I claim to lay hold of the other twenty-nine.' +He is decidedly benevolent, and anxious for the good of the people, +but has, like all rulers before him, a bad opinion of their political +capacity." + +Strange to say, in the midst of war the Universal Exposition of +1855 took place in Paris. The winter was horribly severe, and the +armies in the Crimea suffered terribly. The emperor was extremely +desirous to go himself to the seat of war, but was urged by every +one about him to remain at home. All kinds of good reasons were +put forward for this advice, but probably not the one subsequently +advanced by one of his generals after the campaign of Italy in +1859. "It used to be said that the presence of the First Napoleon +with his army was worth a reinforcement of forty thousand men. +The army now feels that the presence of the Third Napoleon equals +the loss of about the same number." + +We have seen that Queen Victoria had expressed a wish to welcome +the emperor and empress at Windsor Castle. It was on April 16, +1855, that the imperial pair reached England, and were received by +Prince Albert on board their yacht. They met with a hearty national +greeting on their way to London. In London itself crowds lined the +streets. "It was," says an eye-witness, "one bewildering triumph, +in which it was estimated that a million of people took part." +The "Times" reporter noticed that as the emperor passed his old +residence in King Street, St. James's, he pointed it out to the +empress as the place where he was living when the events of 1848 +summoned him to Paris. + +"Only seven years before," observes his biographer, Mr. Jerrold, +"he was wont to stroll unnoticed, with his faithful dog at his +heels, from this house to the news-vendor's stall by the Burlington +Arcade, to get the latest news from revolutionary France; now he was +the guest of the English people, on his way through cheering crowds +to Windsor Castle, where the queen was waiting in the vestibule to +receive him." The same rooms were prepared for him that had been +given to Louis Philippe and to the Emperor Nicholas. Queen Victoria +tells us in her diary,-- + +"I cannot say what indescribable emotions filled me,--how much +all seemed like a wonderful dream.... I advanced and embraced the +Emperor, ... and then the very gentle, graceful, and evidently +nervous empress. We presented the princes and our children (Vicky, +with very alarmed eyes, making very low courtesies). The emperor +embraced Bertie, and then he went upstairs, Albert leading the +empress, who, in the most engaging manner, refused to go first, but +at length, with graceful reluctance, did so, the emperor leading +me and expressing his great gratification in being here and seeing +me, and admiring Windsor." + +At dinner, on the day of his arrival, the new ruler of France seems +to have charmed the queen. "He is," she records in her journal, +"so very quiet. His voice is low and soft. _Et il ne fait pas des +phrases._" + +When the war was talked about, the emperor spoke of his wish to +go out to the Crimea, and the queen noticed that the empress was +as eager as himself that he should go. "She sees no greater danger +for him _there_," she adds, "than in Paris. She said she was seldom +alarmed for him except when he went out quite alone of a morning.... +She is full of courage and spirit, and yet so gentle, with such +innocence and _enjouement_, that the _ensemble_ is most charming. +With all her great liveliness she has the prettiest and most modest +manner." + +The queen little guessed what commotion and excitement had gone on +before dinner in the private apartments of the emperor and empress, +when it was discovered that the case containing all the beautiful +toilet prepared for the occasion had not arrived. The emperor suggested +to his wife to retire to rest on the plea of fatigue after the +journey, but she decided to borrow a blue-silk dress from one of +her ladies-in-waiting, in which, with only flowers in her hair, +she increased the queen's impression of her simplicity and modesty. + +During the visit the emperor asked the queen where Louis Philippe's +widow, Queen Marie Amélie, was living. She had been at Windsor Castle +only a few days before, and the queen had looked sorrowfully after +her as she drove away, with shabby post-horses, to her residence +near Richmond. The emperor begged her Majesty to express to Louis +Philippe's widow his hope that she would not hesitate to pass through +France on any journey she might make to Spain. + +There was a review of the household troops, commanded by Lord Cardigan, +who had led the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, and who +rode the same charger. The emperor rode a fiery, beautiful chestnut, +and his horsemanship was much admired. That evening there was a +State ball at Windsor Castle, and the queen danced a quadrille +with the emperor. The queen wrote that evening in her journal: "How +strange to think that I--the granddaughter of George III.--should +dance with the Emperor Napoleon, nephew of England's greatest enemy, +now my nearest and most intimate ally, in the Waterloo Room, and +that ally living in this country only six years ago in exile, poor +and unthought of!" + +She adds, speaking of the empress: "Her manner is the most perfect +thing I have ever seen, so gentle and graceful and kind, and the +courtesy is charming,--so modest and retiring withal." + +The next day came a council attended by the emperor, Prince Albert, +ministers, and diplomatists, which lasted so very long that the +queen herself knocked at the door and reminded them that at four +o'clock the emperor was to be invested with the Order of the Garter. + +After this ceremony was over, the emperor remarked to the queen +that he had now sworn fidelity to her Majesty, and would carefully +keep his oath. + +At dinner that day the talk fell on assassination. The emperor +was shot at by a Carbonaro only a few days after his return from +Windsor, and four years later by Orsini. + +Before leaving England the emperor attended a banquet given to +him by the Lord Mayor. At Windsor he read his speech (in English) +to the queen and prince, who pronounced it a very good one. + +Next day the royalties went to see the Crystal Palace, at Sydenham. +There they were surrounded by sight-seeing throngs, and in such a +crowd there was every chance for a pistol-shot from some French +or Italian refugee. "I own I felt anxious," writes the queen; "I +felt as I walked, leaning on the emperor's arm, that I was possibly +a protection to him." + +Afterwards she writes,-- + +"On all, this visit has left a permanent satisfactory impression. It +went off so well,--not a _contre-temps_ ... fine weather, everything +smiling, the nation enthusiastic and happy in the alliance of two +great countries whose enmity would be fatal.... I am glad to have +known this extraordinary man, whom it is certainly not possible +not to like when you live with him, and not, even to a considerable +extent, to admire.... I believe him capable of kindness, affection, +friendship, gratitude. I feel confidence in him as regards the +future. I think he is frank, means well to us, and, as Stockmar +says, that we have insured his sincerity and good faith to us for +the rest of his life." + +Nearly a year after this visit, when the emperor and empress had +been married about three years, the Prince Imperial was born, March +16, 1856. A few hours after his birth he was christened Napoleon +Eugène Louis Jean Joseph. Pope Pius IX. was his godfather, the +Queen of Sweden his godmother. For many hours the empress, like +her imperial predecessor Marie Louise, was dangerously ill. + +The Crimean War had by that time virtually come to a triumphant +end. The emperor had at last an heir; all things appeared to smile +upon him. A general amnesty was issued to all political offenders. The +emperor became godfather and the empress godmother to all legitimate +children born in France upon their son's birthday, and finally the +little prince had a public baptism at Notre Dame, followed by a +ball of extraordinary magnificence, given by the city of Paris to +the mother of the heir-apparent, at the Hôtel-de-Ville. + +The chief trouble that menaced the imperial throne at this period +was the extraordinary lavishness which the emperor's _entourage_ of +speculative adventurers encouraged him to incur in all directions; +the recklessness of speculation; the general mania for gain that +went on around him. There had also been terrible inundations in +France, and a bad harvest. Many things also that disgusted and +disquieted the emperor were going on among the persons who surrounded +him,--persons in whom he had placed confidence; and it was one of +his good qualities that he was always slow to believe evil. Still, +these things were forced on his attention, and greatly disturbed +him. + +His little son was from the first his idol. Here is a letter he wrote +to Prince Albert, acknowledging Queen Victoria's congratulations:-- + +"I have been greatly touched to learn that all your family have +shared my joy, and all my hope is that my son may resemble dear +little Prince Arthur, and that he may have the rare qualities of +your children. The sympathy shown on the late occasion by the English +people is another bond between the two countries, and I hope my son +will inherit my feelings of true friendship for the royal family of +England, and of affectionate esteem for the great English nation." + +A few months later, the future Emperor Frederick, then recently +engaged to the Princess Royal of England, visited Paris. He was +attended by Major Baron von Moltke, who described the emperor, +empress, and their court in letters to his friends. "The empress," +he says, "is of astonishing beauty, with a slight, elegant figure, +and dressing with much taste and richness, but without ostentation. +She is very talkative and lively,--much more so than is usual with +persons occupying so high a position. The emperor impressed me +by a sort of immobility of features, and the almost extinguished +look of his eyes." + +This look, by the way, was cultivated by the emperor. When his early +playfellow, Madame Cornu, saw him after twelve years' separation, +her first exclamation was: "Why! what have you done to your eyes?" + +"The prominent characteristic of the emperor's face," continues +Von Moltke, "is a friendly, good-natured smile which has nothing +Napoleonic about it. He mostly sits quietly with his head on one +side, and events have shown that this tranquillity, which is very +imposing to the restless French nation, is not apathy, but a sign +of a superior mind and a strong will. He is an emperor, and not +a king.... Affairs in France are not in a normal condition, but +it would be difficult to say how, under present circumstances, +they could be improved.... Napoleon III. has nothing of the sombre +sternness of his uncle, neither his imperial demeanor nor his deliberate +attitude. He is a quite simple and somewhat small man, whose always +tranquil countenance gives a strong impression of amiability. He +never gets angry, say the people round him. He is always polite.... +He suffers from a want of men of ability to uphold him. He cannot +make use of men of independent character, who insist on having +their own notions, as the direction of affairs of State must be +concentrated in his hands. Greater liberty ought to be conceded in +a regulated state of society, but in the present state of France +there must be a strong and single direction, which is, besides, +best adapted to the French character. Freedom of the Press is for +the present as impossible here as it would be at the headquarters +of an army in the field if the Press wished to discuss the measures +taken by the general in command. Napoleon has shown wisdom, firmness, +self-confidence, but also moderation and clemency; and though simple +in his dress, he does not forget that the French people like to +see their sovereigns surrounded by a brilliant court." + +Of the imperial baby in his nurse's arms, on whom the father looked +with a face radiant with pride and joy, Von Moltke remarks: "Truly, +he seems a strapping fellow." + +The little prince grew up a very promising lad. He was his father's +idol. Louis Napoleon never could be brought to give him any sterner +reproof than "Louis, don't be foolish,--_ne fais pas des bêtises._" +Discipline was left to his mother, and it was popularly thought +that she was much less wrapped up in the child than his father +was. His especial talent was for drawing and sculpture. Some of +his sketches, of which fac-similes are given in Jerrold's "Life +of Napoleon III.," are very spirited, and when he could get a lump +of wet clay to play with, he made busts of the persons round him +which were excellent likenesses. + +The emperor's rooms at the Tuileries were rather low and dark, +but he selected them because they communicated with those of the +empress in the Pavillon de Flore, by a narrow winding staircase. +Often in the day would she come down to him, or he ascend to her. + +His study was filled with Napoleonic relics, and littered with +political and historical papers. He kept a large room with models +of new inventions, which were a great delight to him and to his +son. He was fond of wood-turning, and Thélin and he would often +make pretty rustic chairs for the park at Saint-Cloud. + +For some years before his overthrow he was growing very feeble, +and always carried a cane surmounted with a gold eagle. Commonly +too some chosen friend, generally Fleury, gave him his arm, but +he always walked in silence. In the afternoon he would drive out, +and sometimes horrify the police by getting out of his carriage +and walking alone in distant quarters of the city. + +On one occasion he had a difference of opinion with one of his +friends, who assured him that if he insisted on planting an open +space in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine with flowers, and protected +it by no railing, the flowers would very speedily be destroyed. +His pleasure and exultation were very great when he found he had +been right, and that not a flower had been plucked or broken. + +The emperor was generally gay and ready to converse at table, but +he made it a rule never to criticise or discuss living persons +himself, or allow others to do so in his hearing. + +There was much decorum at court so far as his influence extended +in the imperial circle, but there were plenty of scandals outside +of it; and as to money matters, even Persigny and Fleury--one the +friend of the emperor for five-and-twenty years, and the other +devotedly attached to him--could not restrain themselves from cheating +him and tricking him whenever they could. + +[Illustration: _EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN._] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MAXIMILIAN AND MEXICO.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Much of the material of this chapter is taken from +Victor Tissot's book of travels in Austria; the chapter on Maximilian +as archduke and emperor I translated from advance-sheets, and it +was published in the "Living Age" under the title "From Miramar +to Queretaro." -E. W. L.] + +Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, was born the same week that his +cousin, the unfortunate son of Napoleon and Marie Louise, had died. +He grew to manhood handsome, well educated, accomplished, and +enterprising. He had the great gift of always making himself personally +beloved. The navy was his profession, but his great desire was to +be made viceroy of the (then) Austrian provinces of Italy. He felt +sure that he could conciliate the Italians, and a great Italian +statesman is reported to have said that it was well for Italian unity +that his wish was never granted. His ideas were all liberal, and +opposed to those of Metternich. His family mistrusted his political +opinions, but the Italians, when brought into personal contact +with him, soon learned to love him. They saw a great deal of him, +for Trieste and Venice were at that period the naval stations of +the Austrian Empire. He was, therefore, often in those places, +and finally took up his residence in an earthly paradise upon the +Adriatic, created by himself and called by him Miramar. + +In June, 1857, when the Indian Mutiny was at its height, though +tidings of it had not yet reached the western world, the Archduke +Maximilian, whom the English royal family had never met, arrived +at Windsor, and was hailed there as one who was soon to become +a relative, for he was engaged to King Leopold's only daughter, +the Princess Charlotte of Belgium. + +The queen and her husband were charmed with Maximilian. "He is +a young prince," writes Prince Albert, "of whom we hear nothing +but good, and Charlotte's alliance with him will be one of the +heart. May Heaven's blessing," he adds, "be upon a connection so +happily begun, and in it may they both find their life's truest +happiness!" + +The queen also wrote to her uncle Leopold,-- + +"The archduke is charming,--so clever, natural, kind, and amiable; +so English in his feelings and likings. With the exception of the +mouth and chin, he is good looking, but I think one does not the +least care for that, he is so very kind, clever, and pleasant. I +wish you really joy, dearest uncle, at having got such a husband +for dear Charlotte. I am sure he will make her happy, and do a +great deal for Italy." + +Prince Albert crossed over to Belgium for the wedding, and wrote +to his wife: "Charlotte's whole being seems to have been warmed +and unfolded by the love that is kindled in her heart. I have never +seen so rapid a development in the space of one year. She appears +to be happy and devoted to her husband with her whole soul, and +eager to make herself worthy of her present position." + +At the time of her marriage the princess had just entered her +seventeenth year. The wedding-day was made a little family fête at +Windsor, in spite of Prince Albert's absence. "The younger children," +the queen writes to her husband, "are to have a half-holiday. Alice +is to dine with us for the first time, in the evening. We shall +drink the archduke's and the archduchess's healths, and I have +ordered wine for our servants, and grog for our sailors, to do the +same." + +Maximilian had been round the world in his frigate, the "Novara;" +he had travelled into Greece and Asia Minor, he had visited Spain, +Portugal, and Sicily; he had been to Egypt and the Holy Land. He +loved the ocean like a true sailor, and in 1856 he had taken up his +residence at Trieste, to be near its shores. He would frequently +go out alone in a light boat, even in rough weather, a dash of +danger lending excitement to a struggle with the wind and waves. + +One day in a storm his light craft had been borne like a feather +round Cape Gignano. In a moment it lay at rest under the lee of +the land. Maximilian landed, and found the spot so charming and the +sea-view so superb that he resolved to build a little villa there +for fishing. He bought the land at once, and began by setting out +exotics, persuaded that the soil of such a spot would be favorable +to tropical vegetation. A year later he brought his young bride to +this favored spot, and with a golden wand transformed his bachelor's +fishing-hut into the palace of an emperor. + +At this period of his life, Maximilian (an author and a poet) was +greatly interested in architecture. He drew the plans for an exquisite +church (now one of the beauties of Vienna), and draughted with his +own hand those for the grounds and castle of Miramar. The work was +pushed on rapidly, yet in 1859, when Austria was forced to give up +Lombardy, nothing at Miramar was complete except a fancy farm-house +on one of the heights of the property. Maximilian, however, made +his home there with his wife, and they found it so delightful that +when at length the castle was ready for occupation, they lingered +in the farmhouse, which they loved as their first home. It was a +large Swiss châlet, covered with vines and honeysuckle, surrounded +by groves of camellias and pyrus japonicas. How delicious life +must have been to the husband and wife in this solitude, fragrant +with flowers, vocal with the songs of birds, a glory of greenness +round the house, the blue sky overhead, the glittering ocean at +their feet, and holy love and loving kindness everywhere around +them! + +Maximilian's generosity rendered wealth indispensable to his complete +happiness, for he loved to surround himself with artists, learned +men, and men of letters. He paid them every kind of attention in +his power, and did not omit those little gifts which are "the beads +on memory's rosary." + +"One feels how happy life must have been to husband and wife in +this new Paradise!" cries M. Victor Tissot. "Yet it was Paradise +Lost before long, for alas! in this, as in the other Paradise, +the Eve, the sweet young wife, was tempted by ambition. She took +the apple, ate, and gave it to her husband." + +On April 10, 1864, the Mexican deputies commissioned to offer Maximilian +the imperial crown, arrived at Miramar. "We come," said Don Gutierrez +de Estrada, "to beseech you to ascend the throne of Mexico, to which +you have been called by the voice of a people weary of anarchy +and civil war. We are assured you have the secret of conquering +the hearts of all men, and excel in the rare knowledge of the art +of government." + +Maximilian replied that he was ready to accept the honor offered +him by the Mexican people, and that his government would be both +liberal and constitutional. "I shall prove, I trust," he said, +"that liberty may be made compatible with law. I shall respect your +liberties, and uphold order at the same time." + +Don Gutierrez thanked the archduke in the name of the Mexican nation, +and then the new emperor swore upon the Gospels to labor for the +happiness and prosperity of his people, and to protect their independent +nationality. Don Gutierrez was then embraced by Maximilian, who +hung around his neck the cross of the new Order of Guadeloupe, +of which he was the first member. + +But this acceptance of the imperial crown of Mexico was by no means +a sudden thought with Maximilian. For eight months he had been +debating the matter in his own heart, urged to acceptance of the +crown by his wife, but dissuaded by his family. + +The history of the offer, connected as it is with one of Napoleon +III.'s schemes for extending French influence, must be briefly +told. + +Before the Civil War broke out in America, it had already entered +the head of the emperor that he would like to intermeddle in the +affairs of Mexico. That unhappy country, which the United States +have been accused of doing their best to keep in a chronic state +of weakness, turbulence, and revolution, had been left to recover +itself after the Mexican War, which had shorn away its fairest +provinces. + +In 1853, Santa Aña, who had been president, dictator, exile, and +conspirator by turns for thirty years, was recalled to Mexico, and +a second time was made dictator. He assumed the title of Serene +Highness, and claimed the right to nominate his successor. A popular +revolution soon unseated him. Juarez, of Indian parentage, was at +its head. The clerical party was outraged by the confiscation of +the enormous possessions of the Church, and by the abolition of +the right of _mortmain_ (_i. e._, wills made upon death-beds were +pronounced thenceforth invalid, so far as bequests to the Church +were concerned). Mexico is a country with eighteen hundred miles of +coast-line, but few harbors. It had in 1860 no railroads, and hardly +any highroads of any kind. Its provinces were semi-independent, its +population widely scattered, a large part of it was Indian, a still +larger portion consisted of half-breeds; pure-blooded Spaniards +were a small minority. The feeling that stood Mexico in lieu of +patriotism was a keen hatred and jealousy of foreigners. Their +very pride still keeps the Mexicans from believing that there can +be anything better than what they possess. Perpetual revolutions +had educated the people into habits of lawlessness; and as to +dishonesty, rank itself was no guarantee against petty larceny, +while in the larger rascalities of peculation, bribe-taking, and +political treachery, no nation had ever such opportunities for +exercising its national capacity, nor, apparently, did many Mexicans +have conscientious scruples as to its display. + +Under these circumstances it is no wonder that foreign bondholders +complained loudly to their Governments, or that in the general +confusion all manner of wrongs to Englishmen, Frenchmen, Austrians, +and Spaniards called loudly for redress. That cry reached the French +emperor's ears. He proposed to England and Spain that as Mexico had +at last got a government under Juarez, an interventionary force +should appear off her coast, composed of English, French, and Spanish +ships-of-war, and that Mexico should be summoned to redress their +common wrongs. + +All this was harmless. The expedition was commanded by the Spanish +General Prim; but under the avowed object of demanding a redress of +grievances, the Emperor Napoleon concealed a more ambitious aim. +The United States were at war; all their resources were absorbed +in civil strife. The most sagacious statesmen could not foresee that +the end of that strife would be to make the country more great, +more rich, more formidable; and Napoleon thought it was the very +moment for attacking the Monroe doctrine, and for making, as he +said, "the Latin race hold equal sway with the Anglo-Saxon over the +New World." If he meant by the "Latin race" the effete half-Indian, +Mexican and South American peoples, which were to be set as rivals +against the Anglo-Saxon race, represented by Yankees, Southerners, +men of the West, and the English in Canada, he was widely wrong in +his calculation; but it is probable that "Latin" was his synonym +for "French" in this connection. + +The Monroe doctrine, as all Americans know, took its rise from +certain words in a Presidential message of Mr. Monroe in 1822, +though they were inserted in the message by Mr. Adams. They were +to the effect that the United States would disturb no nation or +government at present (_i. e._, in 1822) existing on the North or +South American continent, but that they would oppose all attempts +by any European Government whatever to put down any free institutions +that were the choice of the people, or to impose upon them any +form of government against their will. + +Napoleon III. did not quite dare to fly in the face of the Monroe +doctrine, even though the United States were embarrassed by civil +war. There were plenty of Mexican exiles in Paris, among them the +Don Gutierrez who offered Maximilian the imperial crown. These men +had secret interviews with the emperor. Thus the way was paved for +Maximilian long before the time came to act, and possibly before +he heard of the matter; for there was a power behind the throne +that was urging his elevation on the French emperor with all a +woman's persuasive powers.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Pierre de Lana.] + +It was not until after the Empress Eugénie had been left regent +of France, during the campaign of Italy, in 1859, that she took +any part in politics; but from that time her influence was freely +exercised, though she interested herself chiefly in foreign affairs. +She did not like Victor Emmanuel, nor her husband's policy as regarded +Italy. She dreaded the destruction of the pope's power as a temporal +prince. Her sympathies were Austrian, and in conjunction with her +friends the Prince and Princess Metternich she lost no opportunity of +urging the establishment of Maximilian and Carlotta on the imperial +throne of Mexico. She looked upon this as in some sort a compensation +given by France to the House of Hapsburg for its losses in Italy. +To her imagination, the expedition to Mexico seemed like a romance. +She saw two lovers seated upon Montezuma's throne,--the oldest throne +in the New World,--surrounded by the glories of the tropics. When +there, they would restore the privileges of the Catholic clergy, and +would curb the revolutionary aspirations of the mongrel population of +Mexico,--a population which, as a Spaniard, she hated and despised. +To this end she intrigued with all her heart. Indeed, she and her +friends the Metternichs acted in the preliminary arrangements of +the plan the part of actual conspirators. + +After the French and Spanish forces landed in Mexico, accompanied +by a few Englishmen, Juarez offered to make compensation for the +wrongs complained of, and an agreement was drawn up and signed +by General Prim and the French and English commanders at a place +called La Soledad. + +England and Spain, when the agreement was sent to Europe for +ratification, considered it satisfactory. France, having ulterior +designs, repudiated it altogether. The Spaniards and the English +therefore withdrew their forces, and the French remained to fight +out the quarrel with Juarez alone. + +Up to this time no allusion had been made as to any change in the +Mexican government; but now French agents began to intrigue in +favor of an empire and Maximilian. A small assembly of Mexican +notables was with great difficulty convened in the city of Mexico, +from which Juarez was absent, being engaged in carrying on the +war. The only persons concerned in this assembly who took any real +interest in its objects were the clergy, who believed that a prince +of the House of Austria would be likely to restore to them all +their property and privileges. + +There can be no doubt that such a government as Maximilian would +have established in Mexico would have been a happy thing for that +country and for civilization; but it is equally certain that the +Mexicans (meaning by that term the great mass of the people) did +not want such a government. Above all, they did not want for their +ruler a foreigner, backed by a foreign potentate. The only _raison +d'être_ for Maximilian's government in any Mexican's mind was not +that it would bring order and peace into the country, but that +it might bring money from the coffers of the new emperor's ally. +But when, after a while, the reverse of peace and order was the +result of this new government, and when the French emperor declined +to advance any more funds, nothing kept any man true to Maximilian +but the dread of what the party of Juarez might do to him when +the cause of the emperor should be overthrown. + +With this explanation we will go back to Miramar, where Maximilian +and Carlotta, unquestionably deceived by the political manipulations +of the French emperor, believed, with joy and pride, that they +were the choice of the Mexican people, and that they had nothing +to do but to go forth and take possession of the promised land. + +On April 13, 1864, almost the darkest date during our war for the +cause of the Federal Union, the Archduke Maximilian and his wife +quitted the soil of Austria. + +Early in the morning, in the port of Trieste and on the road to +Miramar, all were astir. Friends from all parts of the Austrian +Empire were hastening to bid farewell to the Archduke whom they +loved. + +The "Novara" and the French frigate "Thémis" were lying off Trieste, +ready to start; and near them, riding at anchor, were six steamships +belonging to the Austrian Lloyds, full of spectators. + +At about one o'clock P. M. the emperor, with his wife leaning on +his arm, entered the town-hall of Trieste, where about twenty +deputations were assembled to offer him farewell addresses. Maximilian +was much moved, and when the burgomaster spoke of the grief that +all the people of the city would feel at his departure, he burst +into tears. He embraced the burgomaster, shook hands with those +about him, and whispered, as if to himself: "Something tells me +that I shall never see this dear country more." His sensitive and +poetic nature was very susceptible to sad presentiments; his book +teems with them. + +After the leave-taking, their Majesties entered the magnificent +barge prepared for their use by the city of Trieste; a salute of +one hundred guns reverberated from the sides of the mountain, while +twenty thousand hats and handkerchiefs waved a sad farewell. + +Maximilian and Carlotta embarked on board the "Novara," which carried +the Mexican flag. By four o'clock both vessels were well down in +the offing, and not till then did the crowd separate. Those with +telescopes had seen up to the last moment a figure standing on +the poop-deck, with its face turned towards Miramar, and knew it +for the form of Maximilian. + +The "Novara" touched at Jamaica. On May 28 it came in sight of +the shores of Mexico, and cast anchor in the harbor of Vera Cruz. + +The emperor and empress had expected a public reception. There +was nothing of the kind. No welcome awaited them,--not even an +official one. This was the more extraordinary because the "Thémis" +had been sent forward to announce the approach of the imperial +party. Their disappointment at the want of enthusiasm was great. +The French vice-admiral did his best to repair unfortunate omissions. +He gave orders for a show of festivity; but it was plain to see, +from the indifference of the people in the streets, that they had +no part or lot in the demonstration. + +After leaving the sea-coast, Maximilian proceeded towards his capital +in an old shabby English barouche, his journey seeming rather like +the expedition of an adventurer than the progress of an emperor. +Passing through Orizaba and Puebla, the emperor and empress entered +Mexico on June 12. French agents had paid for flowers to be scattered +in their path, and a theatrical kind of procession was prepared, +which was not agreeable to either of them. The only part of the +population which hailed their coming with delight were the descendants +of the Aztecs, many of whom appeared on the occasion in feather +dresses preserved in their families since the time of Montezuma. +In the evening there was a public performance at the theatre in +honor of the new sovereigns, but not half the boxes were filled. + +The palace of Chapultepec, which had been assigned them as their +residence, was destitute of comforts of any kind, and was much +more like a second-class hotel than a habitation meet for princes. +Yet even here, one of Maximilian's first cares was to layout the +grounds and to plant flowers. + +He was advised to make an immediate journey through his new dominions, +in order to judge for himself of the aspirations and resources of +the people. But he found a country broken down by war, without +roads, without schools, without agriculture. "The only thing in +this country which is well organized, sire," said a Mexican whom +he was questioning about the state of things, "is robbery." + +There was thieving everywhere. The emperor's palace, and even his +private apartments, were not spared. One day, after a reception +of officers high in military command, his revolver, inlaid with +gold and ivory, which had lain on a table by his side, disappeared, +and the empress missed two watches, which had gone astray under +the dexterous fingering of her maids-of-honor. General Lopez, who +was then commandant of the palace, wishing to give the emperor a +proof of the accomplishments of his subjects in matters of this +kind, offered to steal off his writing-table, within two hours, and +without being noticed, any object agreed upon. He said he believed +he could even carry off the table,--a joke at which the emperor +laughed heartily. + +When Maximilian returned to his capital, after a journey of great +peril, he ordered the construction of several high-roads, granted +lands and privileges to two or three railroad companies, founded a +good many schools, and set on foot a Mexican Academy of Sciences. +His own taste for natural history was so great that he gave some +foundation for the charge made against him that he would frequently +shut himself up in his workroom to stuff birds. He devoted great +attention to improvements in agriculture, and planned a manufacturing +city, and a seaport on the Gulf of Mexico which he intended to +call Miramar. + +His wife was an indefatigable helpmeet. She wrote all his European +correspondence, but resented the interference of the French, and could +be curt and energetic when the occasion called for self-assertion. + +An American gentleman who saw her at a court-ball at this period +thus describes her: "She was imperial in every look and action. +The dignified and stately step so well suited to her station, and +with _her_ perfectly natural, would have seemed affectation in +another. She did not seem remarkably tall, except in comparison +with others. Her voice possessed a refinement peculiar to birth, +education, and superior natures." + +But while the emperor and empress were laboring for the improvement +of their realm, the Juarists were increasing in strength, and banditti +carried on their enterprises with impunity up to the very gates +of Mexico. Day after day the stage was robbed between Mexico and +Jalapa. The Marquis de Radepont, a quiet traveller, saved himself by +killing half-a-dozen highwaymen with his revolver; but the Belgian +ambassador, on his way to announce to their Imperial Majesties the +accession of Leopold II., the brother of Carlotta, was robbed of +all his jewelry and money. + +In consequence of these disorders the emperor signed, on Oct. 3, +1865, in spite of the remonstrances of Marshal Bazaine, the French +general-in-chief in Mexico, an order to the civil and military +authorities to treat all armed guerilla bands as brigands, and to +apply to them the utmost rigor of martial law. + +This was at once interpreted into permission to shoot all prisoners; +and three promising young Juarist generals who had fallen into the +hands of one of Maximilian's commanders were shot immediately, +leaving behind them pathetic farewell letters to their friends. +Maximilian did not foresee that he was signing his own death-warrant +when he put his hand to this act of severity. + +Juarez himself, with a body of his followers, had retreated to +the frontier, ready to pass over into Texas if the French attacked +him. But the French were too few and too scattered to occupy a +vast region of country where every inhabited house was a refuge +for their foes. Moreover, the interest of Napoleon in the empire +of Mexico was at an end. He hated a long war at any time, and was +always ready to abandon an enterprise when he could not carry out +his projects by a _coup de main_. The war was extremely unpopular +in France. Financial ruin had come upon many Frenchmen from the +failure of the Mexican bonds negotiated by the banker, Jecker, to +pay interest to their bond-holders. The Civil War in the United +States was at an end, and Mr. Seward was instructing the American +ambassador in Paris to threaten the Emperor Napoleon with the +enforcement of the doctrine of President Monroe. He resolved to +withdraw his troops from Mexico, and to advance no more money to +Maximilian. He wrote these orders to Marshal Bazaine. + +Maximilian, who fully understood by this time the condition of +Mexico, and foresaw all the dangers of his position when the French +troops should be withdrawn, sent the empress at this crisis to +Europe to represent the situation of affairs to the French emperor, +and to remind him of his promises. + +She embarked hurriedly and like a private person on board a French +mail-steamer. Her stateroom was close to the propeller. The noise, +coupled with her great anxiety and excitement, deprived her almost +entirely of sleep during the voyage. On landing, she hastened to +Paris, went to an hotel, and sent a message to the emperor, requesting +an interview. This the emperor declined. Carlotta then hired a +carriage and drove out to Saint-Cloud, where she insisted on seeing +him. Their interview was very painful. At its close she exclaimed +that she felt herself to blame, being a daughter of the house of +Orleans, for ever having put faith in the Emperor Napoleon or his +promises. Notwithstanding this reproach, the emperor, who was +soft-hearted, pitied her extremely. She remained at Saint-Cloud +for some hours, and that evening, when surrounded by the court +circle, she threw back her head and begged for water. The emperor +hastened to bring it to her with his own hand; but she exclaimed +that she would not take it from him, for she knew he wished to +poison her. It was her first attack of mania. She was calmed, and +the symptoms passed off, but continued at intervals to return. + +From Paris she went to Rome, and there her mental malady more and +more declared itself. She refused to eat anything but fruit, for +fear of poison. Her first visit to the pope was made while he was +breakfasting, when she snatched the cup of chocolate from his lips +and swallowed it eagerly, exclaiming: "I am sure no one can have +wished to poison you!" After several other manifestations of her +disordered brain at the Quirinal, steps were taken to forward her +to Miramar. On reaching that beloved place, she grew more calm. +She recovered for a time her interest in music, painting, and +literature. The Sclavic peasants around her considered her a saint. +When she passed, they used to kneel down on the highway. For years +they refused to believe in Maximilian's death. "He will come back! +We know he will come back!" was the cry of the Dalmatians, who +cherished his memory. + +After a time Carlotta was removed to Belgium, where she has been +since secluded from the world, but tenderly watched over by her +relations. From time to time she partially recovers her reason. + +Matters in Mexico after her departure grew worse every day. Bazaine +had received orders to withdraw all French troops from the country. +He was directed to withhold from Maximilian all French support, +and in obedience to these instructions he flung into the river +Sequia and Lake Texcoco[1] all the guns and ammunition he could +not take away. + +[Footnote 1: Prince Salm-Salm, Diary in Mexico.] + +Prior to the withdrawal of the French troops, the French Government +made several efforts to induce Maximilian to abdicate. The Marquis +de Gallifet (of whom we shall hear again in another chapter) was +sent, with two other French gentlemen, to urge him to leave Mexico. +"I know all the difficulties of my position," Maximilian replied, +"but I shall not give up my post. A son of the house of Hapsburg +never retreats in the face of danger." Nevertheless, after receiving +the first letters from his wife, Maximilian's resolution was shaken. +He hoped at least to return to Europe as an emperor, and not a +fugitive, and to lay aside his crown of his own accord. With this +view he set out for Orizaba, where the "Dandolo" corvette was waiting +to receive his orders. On his way he was delayed some hours, because +the white mules that drew his carriage had been stolen. + +At Orizaba he was attacked by malarious chills. There, too, he +received news of his wife's insanity. Some of his generals surrounded +him, and prayed him not to abandon his followers to the vengeance +of their enemies. The leaders of the clerical party also begged +him, for the sake of the Church, to return to Mexico, promising +him the support of the clergy throughout the country if he would +but give up liberal ideas, and support, at all costs, the temporal +prosperity of the Church. + +Maximilian, on the strength of these assurances, went back to his +capital, protesting that he remained only for the good of other +people, and was influenced neither by personal considerations nor +political wishes of his own. + +But Maximilian was not the man to contend with the difficulties +that beset him in Mexico. His very merits were against him. As +we read the sad history of his failure, we feel that in his hands +the regeneration of Mexico was hopeless. Men like John or Henry +Lawrence, heroes of the Indian Mutiny, accustomed to deal with +semi-savages, might perhaps have succeeded; but Maximilian was +the product of an advanced civilization, and all his sentiments +were of a super-refined character. He was no general; his forces +were kept scattered over an immense area. He seems to have been +no administrator. He was accustomed to deal with Italians,--men +of enthusiastic natures and fanatical ideas. Mexicans had no +enthusiasms; and in place of patriotism there was a prevailing +sentiment of thorough aversion to the French and to the foreigners +they had brought with them. Maximilian had come to Mexico with +all kinds of liberal projects for its civilization. It was like +forcing sanitary improvements on the inhabitants of an Irish shanty, +or catching a street _gamin_ and imposing on him the restraints +and amenities of high-class culture. + +The departure of the French troops left the way clear for the party +of Juarez. It rapidly gained strength, and prepared to besiege the +emperor in his capital. "I cannot bear to expose the city to danger," +said Maximilian, who, in spite of being continually harassed and +cruelly deceived day after day, never failed in consideration for +those about him. He retired to Queretaro, where Generals Miramon, +Castillo, Mejia, Avellano, and Prince Salm-Salm had gathered a +little army of about eight thousand men. + +Maximilian at Queretaro showed all his nobleness of spirit, kindness +of heart, and simplicity of life. During the siege, which lasted +over two months, he shared the fatigues and privations of his common +soldiers, and lived as they did, on the flesh of mules, while his +officers' tables were much better supplied. He exposed his person +upon all occasions, taking daily walks upon the bastions as tranquilly +as he might have done in the green alleys of his distant home. One +day his eye fell upon six dead bodies dangling from the branches +of six trees. He turned away, with intense emotion. They were the +bodies of six of his own couriers, who had fallen into the hands +of the enemy. + +He might have cut his way out of Queretaro at the head of his cavalry, +but he hesitated to abandon his foot-soldiers. "I will die sword +in hand," were now his daily words. + +Every day his men brought in prisoners. Even when such persons +were suspected of being spies, Maximilian would not order their +execution. "No, no," he said; "if things go well, there is no need; +if ill, I shall not have their blood upon my soul." + +When the siege had lasted seventy days, provisions grew so scarce +that the only alternatives seemed a sortie or a surrender. The +sortie was decided on. On the night of May 14, 1867, the seven +thousand men still in Queretaro were to break through the lines of +the enemy and endeavor to make their way to Vera Cruz. Singularly +enough, the Juarist general, Escobedo, had fixed on the 15th of +May for his final assault. + +Neither sortie nor assault took place. The treason of General Lopez +prevented the one, and rendered the other unnecessary. Lopez, whom +Maximilian had loaded with all sorts of kindness,--Lopez, who called +himself the most devoted adherent of the emperor,--had sold the +life of his friend and benefactor for two thousand ounces of gold! + +One year before, when Lopez had been at Puebla in attendance on +the empress, he had sent for his wife, who, having made a hurried +journey, was prematurely confined. "I cannot allow your son," wrote +Maximilian, "to come into the world in another man's house. I send +you the I enclosed sum. Purchase the house where your son was born." + +Having kept up constant communication with the camp of the besiegers, +Lopez, on the morning of May 13, sent a note to Escobedo, offering to +deliver over to him the convent of La Cruz, which was the emperor's +headquarters. Escobedo accepted his proposals. About midnight Lopez +and the troops under his command went over to the enemy. The soldiers +of Juarez quietly entered the town, and surrounded the convent +where the emperor and his staff were sleeping. + +At dawn Maximilian rose, dressed himself, woke Prince Salm-Salm, +and they went out together, with no arms but their swords. As they +reached the gates of the convent the emperor perceived Juarist +soldiers on guard, and turning to his companion, cried, "We are +betrayed; here is the enemy!" At this moment Lopez, who had seen +them come into the court-yard, pointed out the emperor to Colonel +Rincon Gallardo, who was in command of the detachment from the army +of Juarez. Rincon was an honorable soldier and kind-hearted. He +said, loud enough to be heard by his own men: "They are citizens; +let them pass: they are not soldiers." The emperor was dressed in +a black frock-coat, but with military trousers and epaulettes. +He and Prince Salm-Salm then walked through the convent gates and +made their way in haste to the opposite quarter of the city. The +streets were silent and empty. Suddenly a sharp fire of musketry +was heard, mingled with Juarist and Imperial war-cries. Miramon +with his troops was holding one of the widest streets of Queretaro, +when a ball hit him in the face. He fell, half blinded, and was +taken prisoner. Miramon was the son of a French father and a Spanish +mother, and was one of the very few generals on either side who +were of pure white blood. + +The emperor, with Generals Mejia, Castillo, Avellano, and Prince +Salm-Salm, retired to a little hill which commanded the city. They +had no artillery, no means of defending their position. They stood +on the bare rock where they had taken refuge, like shipwrecked +sailors waiting for the fatal rising of the tide. General Escobedo, +a coarse man, who had formerly been a muleteer, prepared to charge +up the hill with four battalions of infantry and a strong party +of cavalry. + +"Do not fire; you will shed blood to no purpose," said the emperor +to the little band of followers who surrounded him. Then, in a +low, sad voice, he ordered one of his aides-de-camp to fasten a +white handkerchief on the end of a bayonet. The Juarists, who were +ascending the hill, came to a halt. Then, amid profound silence, +the emperor came forward. He paused a moment as he stepped out +of the little group of his followers and looked around him. Then +he descended the hill with a firm step, followed by several of +his generals. + +The Juarists saluted him by their party cry, "Viva la libertad!" +They recognized the emperor. Maximilian walked straight up to their +commander, an ex-Federal United States officer, who under the name +of Corona was in command of a party of Americans who had entered +the service of Juarez, and were called the Legion of Honor. This +legion was composed of fifty men. Some had worn the blue, and some +the gray. Each held rank in the Mexican army as an officer. + +"General," said Maximilian to Corona, "both men and fortune have +betrayed me. There are widows and orphans enough already in the +world. Here is my sword." + +"Sire," said the general, forgetting that the man who addressed +him was no longer emperor, "keep your sword." He then proposed +to Maximilian to mount a horse, and escorted him, with the other +prisoners, to the convent of Santa Teresita. + +There the emperor and his generals were shut up at once in a dark +cellar, and not only had to sleep upon the damp earth floor, but +were left to suffer from hunger. In a few days, however, Princess +Salm-Salm brought them some relief. They were then transferred to +the convent of La Capuchina, and their friends obtained permission +to send them wine, clothes, and provisions. + +Princess Salm-Salm, in the last act of this tragedy, showed herself +to be a brave and generous woman. When her husband left the capital +she had crossed the enemy's lines in order to get out of Mexico, +but was twice in danger of being shot by the soldiers of Diaz. +She was accused of supplying money to a troop of Austrian soldiers +who, having been captured, were confined at Chapultepec, and she +was imprisoned at Guadalupe. After a short detention, however, +she obtained leave to quit Mexico for Europe; but changing her +route, she managed to rejoin her husband at Queretaro. Thence, +hiding by day and travelling by night, she made her way back to +San Luis de Potosi, where Juarez had his headquarters. She threw +herself at his feet, and implored his mercy for the emperor; but +Juarez told her (not without some signs of compassion) that he +felt no inclination to spare his life, and that if he were willing +to do so, he would not be permitted by his followers to show him +any clemency. + +When Maximilian heard of this brave enterprise on his behalf, he +could not refrain from tears. + +The prisoners were three weeks at La Capuchina, in complete uncertainty +as to what would be done with them. Indeed, the Juarists seemed much +embarrassed by their prize. On June 10 they were informed that +Juarez had sent an order to have them tried by a court-martial, +which would be held on the 12th of June. + +"Where are you going to take me?" asked Maximilian on that day of +the officer who came to escort him. "To the court-martial," was +the reply. "Where is it held?" said Maximilian. "In the theatre." +"Then I refuse to accompany you. I will not be made a public spectacle +at a theatre. You may go alone." + +The officer, not being authorized to use force, went away. The +trial proceeded without the presence of the prisoner. Generals +Miramon and Mejia, however, were dragged upon the stage where the +court-martial was sitting. The play-house was crowded with spectators. +It was a tragedy with no admission-fee. The proceedings lasted +three days. The emperor was accused of usurpation, of instigating +civil war, and of causing the death of forty thousand patriots, +hanged or shot in consequence of his order of October 3, intended +to operate only against armed bands of robbers. + +On the morning of June 15, 1867, General Escobedo presented himself +in the prison, holding the sentence of the court-martial in his +hand. Maximilian, who could guess his fate, said quietly: "Read +it, General; I am ready to hear you." + +Maximilian, Miramon, and Mejia were condemned to be shot. + +"I understand you," said the emperor, with perfect calmness. "The +law of October 3 was made to put down robbers: this sentence is +the work of murderers." + +Escobedo laid his hand on his revolver with a sudden exclamation. +Then, recovering himself, he said sarcastically: "I suppose that +a criminal must be allowed the right to vilify his judges." + +Maximilian turned his back on him, and Escobedo left the prison. + +The execution had been ordered for the next morning, but was put +off till the 19th, by order of Juarez. + +Meantime the English and Prussian ambassadors hastened to Juarez, +hoping to obtain mercy for the late emperor. The French and Austrian +courts, by telegraph, implored the mediation of the United States. +There was no American minister at that time in Mexico, but Mr. +Seward sent telegraphic despatches to Juarez, pointing out that the +execution of Maximilian would rouse the feelings of the civilized +world against the Mexican Republic. + +All was of no avail. The idea of foreign intervention in the affairs +of Mexico was so distasteful to the Mexicans that these pleadings on +the late emperor's behalf by foreign Governments only accelerated +his fate. + +During the night before his death, Maximilian asked his jailers +for a pair of scissors. He was refused. Then he implored one of +them to cut off a lock of his hair. When that was done, he wrote +the following pathetic letter to Carlotta:-- + +MY BELOVED CARLOTTA,--If God should permit you one +of these days to get well enough to read these lines, you will +know how sad has been my fate ever since your departure. +You took with you my happiness, my very life, and my good +fortune. Why did I not take your advice? So many sad things +have taken place, so many unexpected catastrophes and +undeserved misfortunes have fallen on me, that I have now lost +heart and hope, and look upon death as my good angel. +My death will be sharp and sudden, without pain. I shall fall +gloriously, like a soldier, like a conquered sovereign.... +If you cannot, dearest, bear up under your load of sorrow, +if God in His mercy soon reunites us by your death, I will +bless His fatherly hand, which now seems very heavy upon +me. Adieu, adieu! + YOUR POOR MAX. + +He kissed this letter, folded into it the light silky lock of his +own hair, and placed it with other letters which he had written +to his mother and friends. They were all in French, and written +in a clear, firm, regular hand. His noble nature shone in every +line. They give the key to the irresistible personal sympathy he +inspired in all who knew him. His enemies were aware of this, and +no judge or general who had ever known him sat on his court-martial. + +As six o'clock was striking on the morning of June 19, the door +of the prison was unbarred. "I am ready," said Maximilian. + +As he stepped forth from the door of the convent, he exclaimed: +"What a beautiful morning! I have always fancied I should like +to die in sunshine,--on a summer day." + +He entered the carriage in waiting. Miramon and Mejia followed +him, with the priest who attended them in their last moments. They +were escorted by a body of four thousand men, and were driven to +the same rocky height on which they had been captured, called the +Cerro della Campana. They sat upright in the carriage during the +drive, with proud smiles upon their faces. They were carefully +dressed, as if for an occasion of festivity. The population of +the place was all abroad to see them pass, and looked at them with +silent pity and admiration. The calmness and self-possession of the +emperor, about to die, touched even the most indifferent spectators. +The women freely shed tears. + +Maximilian was a handsome, striking-looking man. His beautiful light +hair was parted by a straight line from his forehead to the nape +of his neck. His blue eyes were clear and soft, with a beseeching +look in them. His hands were beautifully white, his fingers elegant +and taper. + +As they neared the place of execution, General Mejia suddenly turned +pale, covered his face, and with a sob fell back in his place in the +carriage. He had caught sight of his wife, agonized, dishevelled, +with her baby in her arms, and all the appearance of a madwoman. + +The party arrived at the foot of the little hill. The emperor sprang +out, brushed off some dust which had settled on his clothes, and +going up to the firing party, gave each man an ounce of gold. "Take +good aim, my friends," he said. "Do not, if possible, hit me in +the face, but shoot right at my heart." + +One of the soldiers wept. Maximilian went to him, and putting his +cigar-case, of silver filigree, into his hand, said: "Keep that, +my friend, in remembrance of me. It was given to me by a prince +more fortunate than I am now." + +The non-commissioned officer then came near, and said he hoped +that he would forgive him. "My good fellow," replied Maximilian, +cheerfully, "a soldier has but to obey orders; his duty is to do +his duty." + +Then, turning to Miramon and Mejia, he said: "Let me, true friends, +embrace you for the last time!" He did so, and then added: "In a +few minutes we shall be together in a better world." + +Turning to Miramon, he said: "General, the bravest man should have +the place of honor. Take mine." + +Mejia being very much cast down by the sad spectacle presented +by his poor, distracted wife, Maximilian again pressed his hands, +saying: "God will not abandon our suffering survivors. For those +who die unjustly, things will be set right in another world." + +The drums began to beat. The end was near. Maximilian stepped forward, +mounted on a stone, and addressed the spectators. + +"Mexicans! men of my rank and of my race, who feel as I feel, must +either be the benefactors of the people over whom they reign, or +martyrs. It was no rash ambition of my own that called me hither; +you, you yourselves, invited me to accept your throne. Before dying, +let me tell you that with all the powers I possess I sought your +good. Mexicans! may my blood be the last blood that you shed; may +Mexico, the unhappy country of my adoption, be happy when I am +gone!" + +As soon as he had resumed his place, a sergeant came up to order +Miramon and Mejia to turn round. As traitors, they were to be shot +in the back. + +"Farewell, dear friends," said Maximilian, and crossing his arms, +he stood firm as a statue. + +When the command was given: "Shoulder arms!" a murmur of protestation, +accompanied by threats, rose among part of the crowd, in which there +were many Indians. Their national superstitions and traditions +had attached this simple people to the emperor. They had a prophecy +among them that one day a white man would come over the seas to set +them free, and many of them looked for this savior in Maximilian. + +The officers in command turned towards the crowd, shaking their +swords. Then came the words: "Take aim! Fire!" + +"Long live Mexico!" cried Miramon. + +"Carlotta! Poor Carlotta!" exclaimed Maximilian. + +When the smoke of the volley had cleared away, three corpses lay +upon the earth. That of the emperor had received five balls. The +victims were placed in coffins which lay ready near the place of +execution, and, escorted as they had been before, were carried +back to the convent of the Capuchins. + +"The emperor being dead, we will do all honor to the corpse of +the Archduke of Austria," said Colonel Miguel Palacios, to whom +this care was given. The corpse was embalmed, and the body placed +in a vault. + +The Russian ambassador, Baron Magnus, and the American commander +of a United States vessel of war which layoff Vera Cruz, in vain +solicited the body of the late emperor. The Austrian Vice-admiral +Tegethoff (the illustrious conqueror at Lissa) had to come and +personally demand it in November of the next year. He at the same +time time obtained the release of the Austrian soldiers still retained +as prisoners, and of Prince Salm-Salm, lying under sentence of +death since the execution of the emperor. + +As for the traitor Lopez, instead of the two thousand ounces of +gold that he expected, he got only seven thousand dollars. His +wife refused to live with him after his treachery to Maximilian; +and once when he went to see General Rincon Gallardo to request +his influence to get himself restored to his former rank in the +Mexican army, which he had forfeited by his connection with the +Imperial Government, the answer he received was: "Colonel Lopez, +if I ever recommend you for any place, that place will be under +a tree, with a rope round your neck tied to one of its branches." + +Maximilian will live in history as a good man and a martyred sovereign. +Long after his death, the Indians in Queretaro would not put up +an adobe hut without inserting in it a pebble from the hill on +which he was executed. + +On the very day of his death an order signed by him was received +in Europe, not for rifled cannon, not for needle-guns, but for +two thousand nightingales, which he desired to have purchased in +the Tyrol to add to the attractions of his empire. + +[Illustration: _EMPEROR NAPOLEON III._] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS AT THE SUMMIT OF PROSPERITY. + +The visit paid by the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Eugénie to +Queen Victoria at Windsor in 1856 was returned in 1857. + +It was on the 18th of August that the queen, her husband, the Prince +of Wales, then a boy of fourteen, and the Princess Royal landed +at Boulogne. The royal yacht had been in sight since daybreak, +the emperor anxiously watching it from the shore; but it was two +P. M. before it was moored to the _quai_. There can be no better +account of this visit than that given by Queen Victoria. The following +extracts are taken from her journal:-- + +"At last the bridge was adjusted, the emperor stepped across. I +met him half-way, and embraced him twice, after which he led me +on shore amid acclamations, salutes, and every sound of joy and +respect. The weather was perfect, the harbor crowded with war-ships, +the town and the heights were decorated with gay colors." + +The delay in getting up to the wharf postponed the queen's entrance +into Paris, and greatly disappointed the crowds who waited for +her coming. They were also disappointed that the greatest lady +in the world exhibited no magnificence in costume. But the queen +herself was greatly impressed by her first view of Paris:-- + +"The approaching twilight rather added to the beauty of the scene; +and it was still quite light enough when we passed down the Boulevard +de Strasbourg (the emperor's own creation) and along the Boulevards +by the Porte Saint-Denis, the Madeleine, the Place de la Concorde, +and the Arch of Triumph, to see the objects round us." + +They drove through the Bois de Boulogne in the dusk to the palace +of Saint-Cloud; but all the way was lined with troops, and bands +playing "God Save the Queen," at intervals. The queen was particularly +impressed by the Zouaves, "The friends," she says (for the Crimean +War was then in progress), "of my dear Guards in the Crimea." + +The birth of the Prince Imperial being an event in prospect, the +empress was not allowed to fatigue herself, and first met the queen +on the latter's arrival at Saint-Cloud. "In all the blaze of lamps +and torches," says the queen, "amidst the roar of cannon, and bands, +and drums, and cheers, we reached the palace. The empress, with +Princess Mathilde and the ladies, received us at the door, and took +us up a beautiful staircase, lined with magnificent soldiers.... +I felt quite bewildered, but enchanted." + +At dinner General Canrobert, who was fresh from the Crimea, was +placed next to her Majesty, and gave her his war experiences. Next +day the royal party went to the Exposition Universelle, then going +on in Paris, and afterwards, while the queen was receiving the +ambassadors, the emperor drove the Prince of Wales through the +streets of Paris; he afterwards took his older guests sight-seeing +in his capital. "As we crossed the Pont de Change," writes the +queen, "the emperor said, pointing to the Conciergerie, 'That is +where I was in prison." He alluded to the time when he was brought +from Strasburg to Paris, before being shipped for Rio Janeiro. +"Strange," continues the queen, "to be driving with us as emperor +through the streets of Paris in triumph!" + +They visited Versailles (where the queen sketched), and afterwards +went to the Grand Opera. They saw Paris illuminated that night +as they drove back to Saint-Cloud, the emperor and Prince Albert +recalling old German songs; and the queen says: "The emperor seems +very fond of his old recollections of Germany. There is much that +is German, and very little--nothing, in fact--markedly French in +his character." + +One day all the royal party went out in a hack carriage, with what +the queen calls "common bonnets and veils," and drove incognito +round Paris. Sometimes they talked politics, sometimes they seem +to have joked and laughed with childish glee and enjoyment; and one +night the emperor took the queen by torchlight to see the tomb of +his great uncle at the Invalides. A guard of old warriors who had +served under Napoleon, with Santini, his valet at St. Helena, at +their head, escorted the queen of England to the chapel where stood +Napoleon's coffin, not yet entombed, with the sword of Austerlitz +lying upon it. The band in the chapel was playing "God Save the +Queen," while without raged a sudden thunder-storm. + +The mornings were devoted to quiet pleasures and sight-seeing, +the evenings to operas, state dinners, and state balls. The great +ball given on this occasion in the galleries of Versailles was +talked of in Paris for years after. "The empress," says the queen, +"met us at the top of the staircase, looking like a fairy-queen or +nymph, in a white dress trimmed with bunches of grass and diamonds, +a beautiful _tour de corsage_ of diamonds round the top of her +dress, and all _en rivière_; the same round her waist, and a +corresponding headdress, and her Spanish and Portuguese orders. +The emperor said when she appeared: 'Comme tu es belle!'" + +Next day, as the emperor drove the queen in an open carriage, they +talked of the Orleans family, whose feelings had been greatly hurt +by a recent sequestration of their property. The emperor tried +to make excuses for this act,--excuses that seemed to the queen +but tame,--and then he drove to the chapel built over the house +where the Duke of Orleans had died on the Avenue de Neuilly. The +emperor bought her two of the medals sold on the spot, one of which +bore the likeness of the Comte de Paris, with an inscription calling +him the hope of France. + +The visit ended after eight delightful days, and the emperor escorted +his guests back to Boulogne. + +Prince Albert, the queen confesses, was not so much carried away +by the fascinations of their new friend as herself; but the empress +secured his entire commendation. + +The queen and the emperor continued to correspond, and subsequently +met several times, at Osborne House or at Cherbourg. + +I have told at some length of this visit, because it seemed to +me to mark the culminating point of Napoleon III.'s successful +career; not only was he fully admitted into the inner circle of +European sovereigns, but his place there was confirmed by the personal +friendship and alliance of the greatest among them. + +In 1867 there was another Universal Exposition held in Paris; and +this was also a time of great outward glory and triumph for the +emperor, surrounded as he was by European emperors, crown princes, +and kings; but Queen Victoria was then a sorrowing widow, and decay +was threatening Napoleon's apparent prosperity. + +It was in 1867 that the emperor and empress received the czar, +the sultan, the Crown Prince of Prussia, Princess Alice of Hesse +Darmstadt, and many other crowned heads and celebrities. It was +a year of fêtes and international courtesies. But in Paris itself +there was a strange feeling of insecurity,--a fearful looking for +something, society knew not what. "It seemed," said one who breathed +the rarefied air in which lived the upper circles of society, "as +if the air were charged with electricity; as if the shadows of +coming events were being darkly cast over the joyous city." + +One of the most remarkable sights of that gay time of hollowness +and brilliancy was the review given in honor of the Emperor of +Russia, on June 6. No less than sixty thousand French troops, of +all arms of the service, filed past the three grand-stands on the +race-course of the Bois de Boulogne. On the central stand sat the +Empress Eugénie, with the Prince Imperial, the Crown Princess of +Prussia, her sister, Princess Alice, and the Grand Duchess of +Leuchtenberg. Before this stand, on horseback on one side, sat the +Grand Duke Vladimir, the Czarevitch (the present Czar of Russia), +the Crown Prince of Prussia (since the lamented Emperor Frederick), +Prince Gortschakoff (the Russian prime minister), Count Bismarck, and +an English nobleman; on the other side were the Duc de Leuchtenberg, +the Duke of Mecklenburg, and the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt; while +in the centre of them all rode the czar, with Napoleon III. on +one hand, and on the other the king of prussia.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Blackwood's Magazine.] + +How little could any of those who looked upon that throng of royal +personages imagine what in little more than two years was coming +on them all! + +The emperor was fond of literature, and when drawn into a literary +discussion, his half-closed eyes would gleam with sudden light, +and his criticisms would be both witty and valuable. During his +later years, harassed by sickness and perplexities of all kinds, +his greatest pleasure was to shut himself up in his study, and +there work upon his "Life of Cæsar." He wrote it entirely himself, +though he had many learned men in France and Germany employed in +looking up references and making extracts for him. The book was +considered a work of genuine merit. To its author it was a labor of +love. He threw into it all his experience of life, all his theories, +all his Napoleonic convictions; for in Cæsar and Napoleon he found +many parallels. He hoped to be admitted as a literary man into the +French Academy, and he meant to base his claim upon this book. + +I have said nothing of the cares that oppressed the emperor in +connection with the war in the Crimea, which was prolonged far +beyond his expectations; of the campaign in Italy, broken short +off by threats of intervention made by the king of Prussia, and +followed by feelings of disappointment and revenge on the part of +the Italians; of the intervention of the emperor in 1866, after +the battle of Sadowa, to check the triumphant march of the Prussian +army through Austria; nor of the bombs of Orsini, which led to a +rupture of the friendliness between France and England, breaking +up the cordial relations which existed between the two courts in +1857, and reviving that panic about French invasion which seems +periodically to attack Englishmen ever since the great scare in +the days of Bonaparte. These subjects belong rather to historical +reminiscences of England, Italy, or Germany; but the emperor had +anxieties besides in France, and often found it hard to regulate +with discretion even the ways of his own household. + +The empress, who after she had governed France as regent in 1859, +during her husband's absence in the Italian war, had been admitted +to councils of state, by no means approved either her husband's +domestic or foreign policy. We have seen that her influence was +strongly exerted to bring about the unfortunate attempt to give +an emperor and empress to Mexico; but on two other points that +she had at heart she failed. She could not persuade her husband +to undertake the reconstruction of the kingdom of Poland, nor to +assist Queen Isabella of Spain when her subjects, exasperated at +last by her excesses, drove her over the French frontier. The empress +disliked many of the coterie who enjoyed her husband's intimacy, +especially his cousin, Prince Napoleon. She resented the prince's +opposition to her marriage; she disliked his manners, his political +opinions, his aggressive opposition to all the offices of religion; +and she succeeded in detaching him from the emperor's confidence, +and in hindering his taking part in public affairs. To his wife--the +Princess Clotilde--she was deeply attached; but that did not serve to +reconcile her to the prince, her husband. Both ladies were opposed +to any diminution of the pope's temporal power in Italy; but the +private circle of the friends of the empress was too gay for the +chastened nature of the Princess Clotilde, and by degrees her intimacy +with the empress became less close and affectionate than it had +been in the early days of her unhappy marriage. + +An episode in the private life of the palace, in 1859, created +considerable friction in Paris, and provoked remonstrances from +the emperor's ministers.[1] This was the admission to the circle +of intimates who surrounded the empress of the mesmerist and medium +Home. This man gave himself out to be an American; but many persons +suspected that his native land was Germany, and some said he was a +secret agent of that court, which had emissaries all over France, +in search of useful information. The empress, having heard of Home's +strange feats of table-turning and spirit-rapping in fashionable +_salons_ of the capital, was eager to witness his performances. The +women in the high society of Paris were greatly excited about them. +Spiritualism was the fad of the season, and the empress caught the +infection. The emperor, who was present at many of the exhibitions +at the Tuileries, was also, it is said, much impressed by some +of them, especially by a mysterious invisible hand laid firmly +on his shoulder, and by an icy breath that passed over his face. +But although the emperor, always indulgent to his wife, resisted +at first the advice of his counsellors to get rid of Home, he was +forced at last to put an end to the _séances_ at the Tuileries, +Fontainebleau, and Biarritz. The spirits "summoned" had had the +imprudence to obtrude upon him their own views of his policy. When +the alliance with Italy and a probable war with Austria were under +discussion in the cabinet, the spirit-inspired pencil at the Tuileries +scrawled these words: "The emperor should declare war and deliver +Italy from the Austrians." Not long afterwards, the vulgar presumption +of Home, who had accompanied the court to Biarritz, provoked the +emperor, and caused him to give ear to the earnest remonstrances of +his Minister for Foreign Affairs. He gave orders that Home should +appear at the Tuileries no more. + +[Footnote 1: Pierre de Lana.] + +Home died not long after in Germany, forgotten by the world of +fashion, but leaving behind him a little circle of ardent believers. + +The story of the emperor's later life seems to me to be one full +of pathos and of pain. It is the record of a man who knew himself +to be slowly dying, whose physical strength was ebbing day by day, +but who was bearing up under the vain hope of accomplishing the +impossible. One admires his extreme patience, his uncomplaining +perseverance, as he tried to roll the stone of Sisyphus, yet with +unspoken misgivings in his heart that it would escape from him and +crush the hopes of his life, as it rolled back out of his hands. + +"Poor emperor!" says the eye-witness who beheld him in his hour +of triumph, before the grand-stand, in 1867, at the great review. +"He was a friend to all, and he fell through his friends. He was +very true to England, whatever he may have been to other countries; +but England failed him, unfortunately in Denmark, fortunately in +Mexico, and fatally in 1870."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Blackwood's Magazine.] + +It seems, too, as if the world forgets now--what assuredly must +be remembered hereafter in history--that it was he who relieved +Europe from the treaties of Vienna, and asserted the claims of +nationalities; that he brought about the resurrection of Italy; +that through his policy we have a solution satisfactory to the world +in general of the question of the pope's power as a temporal prince +in Italy; that he was the builder of modern Paris, the promoter of +agriculture, the railroad king of France, the peasant's and the +workman's friend. + +In early life he had been an adventurer; but a kind heart gave +him gracious manners. He was grateful, faithful, and generous; +terribly prodigal of money, and the victim of the needy men by whom +he was surrounded. It seems as if, in spite of his _coup d'état_ +(which, subtracting its massacres, may have been a measure of +self-preservation), he deserves better of the world and of France +than to have his memory spurned and spat upon, as men do now. + +He gave France eighteen years of pre-eminent prosperity; he left +her, to be sure, in ruins. In his fall he utterly obliterated the +prestige of the name of Bonaparte. No Bonaparte, probably, will ever +again awaken the enthusiasm of the French people,--an enthusiasm which +Napoleon III. relied on, justly at first, and fatally afterwards, +when a generation had arisen in France, from whom the feeling had +passed away. + +The emperor's malady, which was slowly sapping his strength, is said +to be the most painful one that flesh is heir to. Every movement was +pain to him. Absolute rest was what he needed, but cares pressed +hard upon him on every side. He must die, and leave his empire in +the hands of a woman and a child. His government had been wholly +personal. He could not transmit his power, such is it was, to any +other person,--least of all could he place it in feeble hands. +There were no props to his throne. No Bismarck or Cavour stood +beside him, to whom he might confide his wife and son, and feel +that though his hand no longer held the helm, the ship would sail +straight on the course he had laid down for her. The men about +him were third and fourth rate men,--all of them enormously his +own inferiors. They cheated and deceived and plundered him; and he +knew it in a measure, though not as he knew it after his downfall. + +The emperor said once: "There is but one Bonapartist among us, +and that is Fleury. The empress is a Legitimist, I am a Socialist, +and Prince Napoleon a Republican." As he contemplated the future, +it seems to have occurred to him that the only thing that could be +done was to teach France to govern herself,--to change his despotic +authority into a constitutional government. He might live long enough, +he thought, to make the new plan work, and if, by a successful war +with Germany, a war impending and perhaps inevitable, he could +gain brilliant military glory; if he could restore to France that +frontier of the Rhine which had been wrested from her by Europe +after the downfall of his uncle,--his dynasty would be covered +with glory, and all might go on right for a few years, till his +boy should be old enough to replace him. + +Both these expedients he tried. In 1869 he announced that he was +about to grant France liberal institutions. He put the empress +forward whenever it was possible, and he made up his mind that as +war with Germany was sure to come, the sooner it came, the better, +that he might reap its fruits while some measure of life and strength +was left him. Long before, Prince Albert had assured him that his +policy, which made his ministers mere heads of bureaux, which never +called them together for common action as members of one cabinet, +which compelled each to report only to his master, who took on +trust the accuracy of the reports made to him, was a very dangerous +mode of governing. It was indeed very unlike his uncle's _practice_, +though it might have been theoretically his _system_. Both uncle +and nephew came into power by a _coup d'état_,--the one on the +18th Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799), the other on Dec. 2, 1851. Both were +undoubtedly the real choice of the people; both really desired +the prosperity of France: but the younger man was more genuine, +more kindly, more human than the elder one. The uncle surrounded +himself with "mighty men, men of renown,"--great marshals, great +diplomatists, great statesmen. Louis Napoleon had not one man about +him whom he could trust, either for honesty, ability, or personal +devotion, unless, indeed, we except Count Walewski. All his life +he had cherished his early ideas of the liberation of Italy, which +he accomplished; of the resurrection of Poland, which he never +found himself in a position to attempt; of the rectification of the +frontier of France, which he in part accomplished by the attainment +of Nice and Savoy; and, finally, his dream included the restoration +to France of self-government, with order reconciled to liberty. + +As early as January, 1867, the emperor was consulting, not only his +friends, but his political opponents as to his scheme of transforming +despotism into a parliamentary government. He wrote thus to M. +Émile Ollivier, a leader of the liberal party in France:[1]-- + +[Footnote 1: Pierre di Lana.] + +"Believe me, I am not pausing through indecision, nor through a +vain infatuation as to my prerogatives; but my fear is of parting +in this country, which is shaken by so many conflicting passions, +with the means of re-establishing moral order, which is the essential +basis of liberty. My embarrassment on the subject of a law of the +Press is not how to find the power of repression, but how to define +in a law what deserves repression. The most dangerous articles +may escape repression, while the most insignificant may provoke +prosecution. This has always been the difficulty. Nevertheless, +in order to strike the public mind by decisive measures, I should +like to effect at one stroke what has been called the _crowning +of the edifice_. I should like to do this at once and forever; +for it is important to me, and it is above all important to the +country.... I wish to advance firmly in a straight line, without +oscillating to the right or left. You see that I have spoken to +you with perfect frankness." + +We also see in this letter one of Louis Napoleon's characteristics,--a +fondness for taking people by surprise. Nearly everything he did +was a surprise to the public, and yet it had long been maturing +in his own mind. + +The next time M. Ollivier saw the emperor he was told of his intention +to grant the right of holding political meetings; the responsibility +of cabinet ministers to the Chamber; and the almost entire freedom of +the Press. The emperor added, with a smile: "I am making considerable +concessions, and if my government immediately succeeded that of +the First Empire, this would be acknowledged; but since I came +after parliamentary governments, my concessions will be considered +small." + +The emperor's experiment was a failure. The moment restraint was +taken off, and the French had liberty of speech and freedom of the +Press, they became like boys released from school and its strict +discipline. The brutal excesses of language in the Parisian newspapers, +the fierceness of their attacks upon the Government, and the +shamelessness of their slander, alarmed the emperor and the best +of his personal adherents, who had been by no means supporters of +his policy. But though the experiment gave signs of never being +likely to succeed, and no one seemed pleased with the new system, +the emperor persevered. He refused to withdraw his reforms; he +declined to make what children call "an Indian gift" to his people: +but the effect of the divided counsels by which he was embarrassed +was that these reforms were accepted by the public merely as +experiments, to be tried during good behavior, and not as the basis +of a new system definitively entered upon. + +All through the year 1869 the difficulties of the course which the +emperor adopted grew greater and greater. The emancipated Press +was rampant. It knew no pity and no decency. Its articles on the +emperor's failing health (which he insisted upon reading) were +cruel in the extreme. Terrible anxieties for the future must have +haunted him. If his project for self-government in France must +prove a failure, when he was dead, what then? Could a child and a +woman govern as he had done by a despotic will? He had done so in +his days of health and strength; but events now seemed to intimate +that his government had been a failure rather than a success. + +Lord Palmerston, writing from Paris in Charles X.'s time, said: +"Bonaparte in the last years of his reign crushed every one else, +both in politics and war. He allowed no one to think and act but +himself." + +Somewhat the same remark could be applied to the Third Napoleon. +But Napoleon I. was a great administrator as well as a great general; +his activity was inexhaustible, he corresponded with everybody, he +looked after everything, he knew whether he was well or ill served; +and his mode of obtaining power did not hinder his availing himself +of the best talent in France. The case of his nephew was the reverse +of this. His highest quality was his tenacity of purpose, and his +disposition was inclined to kindly tolerance, even of pecuniary +greed and slipshod service. He could rouse himself to great exertion; +but in the later days of Imperialism, pain and his decaying physical +powers had rendered him inert; moreover, in his general habits he had +always been indolent and pleasure-loving. In carrying out the _coup +d'état_ nine tenths of the public men in France had been subjected +to humiliations and indignities, by which they were permanently +outraged, and a host of co-conspirators and adventurers had acquired +claims upon the emperor that it was not safe to disregard. Places +and money were distributed among them with reckless profusion, and +many a shady money transaction, throwing discredit on some men +high in favor with the emperor, was passed over, to avoid exposure. + +On the other hand, the emperor improved Paris till he made it the +most beautiful city in the world. It was his aim to open wide streets +through the old crowded quarters where revolution hid itself, hatching +plots and crimes. He provided fresh air and drainage. He turned +the Bois de Boulogne from a mere wild wood into the magnificent +pleasure-ground of a great city. He completed the Louvre, and demolished +the straggling, hideous buildings which disfigured the Carrousel in +Louis Philippe's time. The working population, which his improvements +drove out of the Faubourg Saint Antoine emigrated to high and healthy +quarters in Montmartre and Belleville, where a beautiful park was +laid out for them. No part of Paris escaped these improvements, +though it took immense sums to complete them. But while their good +results will be permanent, their immediate effect was to raise +rents and make the increased cost of living burdensome to people +of small incomes. The work brought also into Paris an enormous +population of masons, carpenters, and day-laborers,--a population +which was a good deal like the monster in the fairy tale, which +had to be fed each day with the best; for if once it became hungry +or dissatisfied, it might devour the man of science who had brought +it into being. + +Still, the French are ungrateful to Napoleon III. when they forget +how much they are indebted to him for the extension of their commerce, +the growth of their railroads, the improvement of their cities, and +above all for his attention to sanitary science and to agriculture. + +When he came to the throne, every traveller through France was +struck by the poor breeds of swine, sheep, and cattle; the slovenly +system of cultivation, the wide waste lands, the poor implements +for farming, and the want of drainage. In his exile the emperor +had lived much with English landowners, and he endeavored more +than anything else to improve agriculture. He spent great sums +of money himself in model farms for the purpose of showing how +things could be done. But while commercial, agricultural, and +manufacturing prosperity increased in France, so also did the cost +of living; and the cry, "Put money in thy purse!" found its echo +in the hearts of all men in all classes of society. Speculation +of every kind ran rampant, and by the year 1869 the cost of the +improvements in Paris alone became greater than France could patiently +bear. + +Personally, Louis Napoleon had strong sympathy with the working-classes, +and was always seeking to benefit them. He favored co-operative +societies; he was planning, when he fell, a system of state annuities +to disabled or to aged workmen. He abolished passports between +France and England, and also the French workman's character-book, +or _livret_, which by law he had been compelled to have always +at hand. + +In the midst of the emperor's other perplexities, there came, during +the first days of 1870, a most damaging occurrence connected with +his own family,--an occurrence with which the emperor had no more +to do than Louis Philippe had had with the Praslin murder; but it +helped to impair the remaining prestige which clung to the name +of Bonaparte. + +Prince Pierre Bonaparte, grandson of Lucien, was a dissolute and +irregular character. His cousin, the emperor, had repeatedly paid +his debts and given him, as he did to every one connected with the +name of Bonaparte, large sums of money. At last Prince Pierre's +conduct grew so bad that this help ceased. Then he threatened his +cousin; but the emperor would not even buy an estate he owned in +Corsica. Prince Pierre went back, therefore, to the cradle of his +family, and there got into a fierce quarrel with an opposition +member of the Chamber of Deputies. The deputy, like a true Corsican, +nourished revenge. He waited till he went up to Paris, and there +laid his grievances against the emperor's cousin before his fellow +deputies of the opposition. They at once made it a party affair. +On Jan. 2, 1870,--the day the reformed Chamber of Deputies was +opened,--two journalists of Paris, M. de Tourvielle and M. Victor +Noir, went armed to Pierre Bonaparte's house at Auteuil to carry +him a challenge. They found the prince in a room where he kept +a curious collection of weapons. He was a coarse man, with an +ungovernable temper. High words were exchanged. Victor Noir slapped +the prince in the face, and the prince, seizing a pistol, shot +him dead. He then turned on M. de Tourvielle; but the latter had +time to draw a sword from his sword-cane, and stood armed. Victor +Noir's funeral was made the occasion of an immense republican +demonstration, and M. Rochefort reviled the emperor and all his +family in the newspaper he edited, "La Lanterne," calling upon +Frenchmen to make an end of the Bonapartes. + +Prince Pierre was tried for murder, and acquitted; Rochefort was +tried for seditious libel, and condemned. It was an ominous opening +for the new Chamber. The emperor had been most anxious that it +should contain no deputies violently opposed to his new policy, +and the elections had been scandalously manipulated in the interest +of his dynasty. + +Thiers complained bitterly to an Englishman, who visited him, of +the undisguised tampering with voters in this election. He said,-- + +"The Government pretends to believe in a Chamber elected by universal +suffrage, and yet dares not trust the votes of the electors; but +mark my words, this tampering with an election is for the last +time. What will succeed the Empire, I know not. God grant it may +not be our country's ruin! But the state of things under which we +live cannot last long. It is incumbent on honest men to lay before +the emperor the state of the country, which his ministers do their +best to keep from him. For a long time I kept silent,--it was no +use to knock one's head against a wall; but now we have revolution +staring us in the face, as the alternative with the Empire." + +As the little man said this, we are told that the fire in his eyes +gleamed through his spectacles; and as he walked about the room, +he seemed to grow taller and taller.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Blackwood's Magazine.] + +The new constitutional ministry, into whose hands the emperor proposed +to resign despotic power and to rule thenceforward as constitutional +sovereign, had for its chief M. Émile Ollivier; Marshal Le Boeuf +(made marshal on the field of Magenta) was the Minister of War. + +The debates in the Chamber were all stormy. The opposition might +not be numerous, but it was fierce and determined. It scoffed at +the idea of France being free when elections were tampered with +to sustain the Government; and finally things came to such a pass +that the emperor resolved to play again his tromp-card, and to +call a _plébiscite_ to say whether the French people approved of +him and wished to continue his dynasty. They were to vote simply +Yes or No. + +There was not such open tampering this time with the vote as there +had been in the election of the deputies, but all kinds of Government +influences were brought to bear on prefects, _maires_, and other +official personages, especially in the villages. The result was +that 7,250,000 Frenchmen voted Yes, and one and a half million, +No. But to the emperor's intense surprise and mortification, and in +spite of all precautions, there were 42,000 Noes from the army. It +was a terrible discovery to the emperor that there was disaffection +among his soldiers. Promotion, many men believed, had for some years +been distributed through favoritism. The men had little confidence +in their officers, the officers complained loudly of their men. A +dashing exploit in Algeria made up for irregularities of discipline. +Even the staff officers were deficient in geography, and the stories +that afterwards came to light of the way in which the War Department +collected worthless stores, while serviceable ones existed only on +paper, seem almost incredible. Yet when war was declared, Émile +Ollivier said that he went into it with a light heart, and Marshal +Le Bœuf was reported to have told the emperor that he would not +find so much as one button missing on his soldiers' gaiters. + +The discovery that the army was not to be depended on, and needed +a war of glory to put it in good humor with itself and with its +emperor, decided Napoleon III. to enter precipitately into the +Franco-Prussian war while he still had health enough to share in +it. Besides this, a struggle with Germany was inevitable, and he +dared not leave it to his successor. Then, too, if successful,--and +he never doubted of success,--all opposition at home would be crushed, +and the prestige of his dynasty would be doubled, especially if +he could, by a brilliant campaign, give France the frontier of +the Rhine, at least to the borders of Belgium. This would indeed +be a glorious crowning of his reign. + +He believed in himself, he believed in his star, he believed in his +own generalship, he believed that his army was ready (though his +army and navy never had been ready for any previous campaign), and he +believed, truly enough, that the prospect of glory, aggrandizement, +and success would be popular in France. + +Spain was at that time in want of a king. Several princes were +proposed, and the most acceptable one would have been the Duc de +Montpensier; but Napoleon III., who dreaded the rivalry of the +Orleans family, gave the Spaniards to understand that he would never +consent to see a prince of that family upon the Spanish throne. Then +the Spaniards took the matter into their own hands, and possibly +stimulated by a wish to make a choice disagreeable to the French +emperor, selected a prince of the Prussian royal family, Prince +Leopold of Hohenzollern. The Emperor Napoleon objected at once. +To have Prussia on the eastern frontier of France, and Prussian +influence beyond the Pyrenees, was worse in his eyes than the selection +of Montpensier; and it was certainly a matter for diplomatic +consideration. M. Benedetti, the French minister at Berlin, was +instructed to take a very haughty tone with the king of Prussia, +and to say that if he permitted Prince Leopold to accept the Spanish +crown, it would be a cause of war between France and Prussia. The king +of Prussia replied substantially that he would not be threatened, and +would leave Prince Leopold to do as he pleased. Prompted, however, +no doubt, by his sovereign, Prince Leopold declined the Spanish +throne. This was intimated to M. Benedetti, and here the matter +might have come to an end. But the Emperor Napoleon, anxious for a +_casus belli_, chose to think that the king of Prussia, in making +his announcement to his ambassador, had not been sufficiently civil. + +A cabinet council was held at the Tuileries. The empress was now +admitted to cabinet councils, that she might be prepared for a +regency that before long might arrive. She and Marshal Le Bœuf +were vehement for war. The populace, proud of their fine army, +shouted with one voice, "A Berlin!" and on July 15, 1870, war was +declared. + +Let us relieve the sad closing of this chapter, which began so +auspiciously with the emperor and empress in the height of their +prosperity, by telling of an expedition in which the glory of the +empress as a royal lady culminated. + +The Suez Canal being completed, its opening was to be made an +international affair of great importance. The work was the work +of French engineers, led by M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, in every way +a most remarkable man. + +England looked coldly on the enterprise. To use the vulgar phrase +both literally and metaphorically, she "took no stock" in the Suez +Canal, and she sent no royal personage, nor other representative +to the opening ceremonies; the only Englishman of official rank +who was present was an admiral, whose flag-ship was in the harbor +of Port Saïd. + +The Emperor Napoleon was wholly unable to leave France at a time +so critical; but he sent his fair young empress in his stead. He +stayed at Saint-Cloud, and took advantage of her absence to submit to +a severe surgical operation. The empress went first to Constantinople, +where Sultan Abdul Aziz gave a beautiful fête in her honor, at +which she appeared, lovely and all glorious, in amber satin and +diamonds. She afterwards proceeded to Egypt as the guest of the +khedive, entering Port Saïd Nov. 16, 1869, and returning to Paris +on the 5th of December. + +[Illustration: _EMPRESS EUGÉNIE._] + +The opening of the canal across the isthmus of Suez, which was +in a manner to unite the Eastern with the Western world, caused +the eyes of all Christendom to be fixed on Egypt,--the venerable +great-grandmother of civilization. The great work had been completed, +in spite of Lord Palmerston's sincere conviction, which he lost no +opportunity of proclaiming to the world, that it was impossible +to connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. The sea-level, he +said, was not the same in the two seas so that the embankments +could not be sustained, and drift-sands from the desert would fill +the work up rapidly from day to day. Ismaïl Pasha, the khedive +of Egypt, had made the tour of Europe, inviting everybody to the +opening, from kings and kaisers, empresses and queens, down to +members of chambers of commerce and marine insurance companies. +Great numbers were to be present, and the Empress Eugénie was to +be the Cleopatra of the occasion. But suddenly the khedive was +threatened with a serious disappointment: the sultan, his suzerain, +wanted to join in the festivities; and if he were present, _he_ +must be the chief personage, the khedive would be thrust into a +vassal's place, and all his glory, all his pleasure in his fête, +would be gone. + +The ancient Egyptians, whose attention was much absorbed in waterworks +and means of irrigation, had, as far back as the days of Sesostris, +conceived the idea of communication between the Nile and the Red +Sea. Traces of the canal that they attempted still remain. Pharaoh +Necho, in the days of the Prophet Jeremiah, revived the project. +Darius and one of the Ptolemies completed the work, but when Egypt +sank back into semi-barbarism, the canal was neglected and forgotten. +It does not appear, however, that the Pharaohs ever thought of +connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. The canal of Sesostris +and of Pharaoh Necho was a purely local affair, affecting Egyptian +commerce alone. + +Some modern Egyptian engineers seem first to have conceived the +project of a Suez canal; but the man who accomplished it was the +engineer and statesman, M. de Lesseps. In spite of all manner of +discouragements, he brought the canal to completion, supported +throughout by the influence and authority of the khedive. The first +thing to be done was to supply the laborers and the new town of +Ismaïlia with drinking water, by means of a narrow freshwater canal +from the Nile. Till then all fresh water had been brought in tanks +from Cairo. Next, a town--called Port Saïd, after the khedive who had +first favored the plan of the canal--was built on the Mediterranean. +The canal was to run a straight southerly course to Suez. At Ismaïlia, +the new city, it would connect with the railroad to Cairo; between +Port Saïd and Ismaïlia it would pass through two swampy lakes. + +In seven years Port Saïd became a town of ten thousand inhabitants. +The total length of the canal is about ninety miles, but more than +half of it passes through the lakes, which had to be dredged. The +width of the canal is a little over one hundred yards, its depth +twenty-six feet. About sixty millions of dollars were expended on +its construction and the preliminary works that it entailed,--these +last all tending to the benefit and prosperity of Egypt. + +The grand opening took place Nov. 16, 1869. The sultan was not +present; he had been persuaded out of his fancy to see the sight, +and the khedive was left in peace as master of ceremonies. The +Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria was there in his yacht, and the +Empress Eugénie, the "bright particular star" of the occasion, was +on board the French war-steamer "L'Aigle." As "L'Aigle" steamed +slowly into the crowded port, all the bands played,-- + + "Partant pour la Syrie, + Le brave et jeune Dunois," + +the air of which had been composed by Queen Hortense, the mother +of the emperor, so that it was dignified during his reign into +a national air. + +That afternoon there was a religious ceremony, which all the crowned +heads and other great personages were expected to attend. Two of +the sovereigns or heirs-apparent present were Roman Catholics, +one was a Protestant, and one a Mohammedan. The Crescent and the +Cross for the first time overshadowed worshippers joining in one +common prayer. The empress appeared, leaning on the arm of the +Emperor of Austria. She wore a short pale gray silk, with deep +white Brussels lace arranged in _paniers_ and flounces. Her hat and +veil were black, and round her throat was a black velvet ribbon. +The Mohammedan pontiff who officiated on the occasion was understood +to be a man of extraordinary sanctity, brought from a great distance +to lend solemnity to the occasion. He was followed by the chaplain of +the empress, a stout, handsome Hungarian prelate named M. Bauer.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Blackwood's Magazine.] + +Even up to the morning of November 17, when the passage of the +fleet was to be made through the canal, there were persons at Port +Saïd who doubted if it would get through. The ships-of-war had been +directed to enter the canal first, and there was to be between +each ship an interval of a quarter of an hour. They were ordered to +steam at the rate of five miles an hour. "L'Aigle" entered first. +"La Pelouse," another French ship, had the greatest draught of +water; namely, eighteen or nineteen feet. + +The scenery from the Suez Canal was not interesting. Lakes, then +undrained, stretched upon either side; the banks of the canal being +the only land visible. But as evening fell, and the sun sank, a +rich purple light, with its warm tones, overspread everything, +until the moon rose, touching the waters with her silvery sheen. +Before this, however, the foremost ships in the procession had +safely reached Ismaïlia. There the khedive had erected a new palace +in which to review his guests. They numbered about six thousand, +and the behavior of many of them did little credit to civilization. + +The khedive had arranged an exhibition of Arab horsemanship and +of throwing the _Jereed_; but the sand was so deep that the horses +could not show themselves to advantage. The empress, wearing a +large leghorn hat and yellow veil, rode on a camel; and when an +Italian in the crowd shouted to her roughly, "Lean back, or you +will fall off, heels over head," the graceful dignity with which she +smiled, and accepted the advice, won the hearts of all beholders. + +That night a great ball was given by the khedive in his new palace. +"It was impossible," says an English gentleman, "to overrate the +gracious influence of the empress's presence. The occasion, great +as it was, would have lost its romance if she had not been there. +She it was who raised the spirit of chivalry, subdued the spirit +of strife, enmity, and intrigue among rival men, and over commerce, +science, and avarice spread the gauzy hues of poetry." + +Alas! poor empress. Ten months later, she was hurrying as a fugitive +on board an English yacht on her way into exile, having passed +through anxieties and griefs that had streaked her hair with gray. +Even in the midst of her personal triumphs in the East, there were +clouds on the horizon of her life which she could see darkening +and increasing. A few days before the fêtes of the opening of the +canal, she writes to her husband, who, though unfit for exertion, +had gone into Paris on some state occasion,-- + +"I was very anxious about you yesterday, thinking of you in Paris +without me; but I see by your telegram that everything passed off +well. When we observe other nations, we can better perceive the +injustice of our own. I think, however, in spite of all, that you +must not be discouraged, but continue in the course you have +inaugurated. It is right to keep faith touching concessions that +have been granted. I hope that your speech to the Chamber will be +in this spirit. The more strength may be wanted in the future, +the more important it is to prove to the country that we act upon +ideas, and not only on expedients. I speak thus while far away, and +ignorant of what has passed since my departure, but I am thoroughly +convinced that strength lies in the orderly sequence of ideas. I +do not like surprises, and I am persuaded that a _coup d'état_ +cannot be made twice in one reign. I am talking in the dark, and +to one already of my opinion, and who knows more than I can know; +but I must say something, if only to prove, what you know, that my +heart is with you both, and that if in calm days my spirit loves +to roam in space, it is with you both I love to be in times of +care or trouble." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PARIS IN 1870: JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER. + +As soon as relations became "strained" between France and Germany, +according to the term used in diplomacy, the king of Prussia ordered +home all his subjects who had found employment in France, especially +those in Alsace and Lorraine.[1] Long before this, those provinces +had been overrun with photographers, pedlers, and travelling workmen, +commissioned to make themselves fully acquainted with the roads, +the by-paths, the resources of the villages, and the character +of the rural officials. In the case of France, however, though +all the reports concerning military stores looked well on paper, +the old guns mounted on the frontier fortresses were worthless, +and the organization of the army was so imperfect that scarcely +more than two hundred thousand troops could be sent to defend the +French frontier from Switzerland to Luxemburg; while Germany, with +an army that could be mobilized in eleven days, was ready by the +1st of August to pour five hundred thousand men across the Rhine. +The emperor placed great reliance on his _mitrailleuses_,--a new +engine of war that would fire a volley of musketry at once, but +which, though horribly murderous, has not proved of great value in +actual warfare. Towards the Rhine were hurried soldiers, recruits, +cannon, horses, artillery, ammunition, wagons full of biscuit and +all manner of munitions of war. The roads between Strasburg and +Belfort were blocked up, and in the disorder nobody seemed to know +what should be done. Every one was trying to get orders. The telegraph +lines were reserved for the Government. Quartermasters were roaming +about in search of their depots, colonels were looking for their +regiments, generals for their brigades or divisions. There were +loud outcries for salt, sugar, coffee, bacon, and bridles. Maps +of Germany as far as the shores of the Baltic were being issued +to soldiers who, alas! were never to pass their own frontier. But +while this was the situation near the seat of war, in other parts +of France the scene was different, especially in Brest and other +seaports. These towns were crowded with soldiers and sailors; the +streets were filled with half-drunken recruits bawling patriotic +sentiments in tipsy songs. And now, for the first time since the +Empire came into existence, might be heard the unaccustomed strains +of the "Marseillaise." It had been long suppressed in France; but +when war became imminent, it was encouraged for the purpose of +exciting military ardor. + +[Footnote 1: Erckmann-Chatrian, La Plébiscite.] + +Every day in the provincial towns the war fever grew fiercer. The +bugle sounded incessantly in the streets of any place where there +were troops in garrison. Regiment followed regiment on its way +into Paris, changing quarters or marching to depots to receive +equipments. Orderlies galloped madly about, and heavy ammunition +wagons lumbered noisily over the pavements. Everybody shouted "A +Berlin," and took up the chorus of the "Marseillaise." The post-offices +and telegraph-offices were crowded with soldiers openly dictating +their messages to patient officials who put them into shape, and +it was said that nearly every telegram contained the words, "Please +send me..." Alas, poor fellows! it is probable that nothing sent +them in reply was ever received.[1] + +[Footnote 1: I am indebted for much in this chapter to a private +journal.] + +Parisians or residents in Paris all believed at that time in the +prestige of the French army; only here and there a German exile +muttered in his beard something about Sadowa. + +On July 27 all Paris assembled on the Boulevards to see the Garde +Impériale take its departure for the frontier. This Imperial Guard +was a choice corps created by Napoleon III. at the outset of the +Crimean War. It was a force numbering nominally twenty thousand +infantry and three thousand cavalry. It was a very popular corps, +and the war with Germany was popular; consequently the march from +its barracks to the railroad station was one continued triumph. +At every halt the Parisians pressed into the ranks with gifts of +money, wine, and cigars. "Vive l'armée!" shouted the multitude. +"A Berlin!" responded the troops; and now and then, as the bands +struck up the "Marseillaise," the population and the troops burst +out in chorus with the solemn, spirit-stirring words. + +At the head of this brilliant host rode Marshal Le Bœuf, who was +minister of war and military tutor to the Prince Imperial. After +the departure of the main body of the corps, large detachments +of cavalry and artillery which belonged to it were expected to +follow; but they remained behind in the provinces, because Lyons, +Marseilles, and Algeria, all centres of the revolutionary spirit, +could not, it was found, be left without armed protection. Therefore +only a portion of the crack corps of the French army went forward to +the frontier,--a fact never suspected by the public until events, +a few weeks later, made it known. + +Paris was jubilant. The theatres especially became centres of patriotic +demonstrations. At the Grand Opera House, Auber's "Massaniello" +(called in France the "Muette de Portici") was announced. For many +years its performance had been interdicted under the Second Empire, +the story being one of heroic revolt. The time had come, however, +when its ardent patriotism entitled it to resuscitation. Faure, +the most remarkable baritone singer of the period, suddenly, at the +beginning of the second act, which opens with a chorus of fishermen +inciting each other to resist oppression, appeared upon the stage +bearing the French flag. The chorus ranged themselves to right +and left as he strode forward and waved the tricolor above the +footlights. The house broke into wild uproar, cheer after cheer +rose for the flag, for the singer, for France. + +"The violence of the applause," says one who was present, "continued +until all were breathless; then a sudden silence preceded the great +event of the evening. In clear, firm tones, Faure launched forth the +first notes of the 'Marseillaise;' and as the first verse ended, +he bounded forward, and unfurling the flag to its full length and +breadth, he waved it high above his head as he electrified the +audience with the cry, 'Aux armes citoyens!' and subsequently, when +in the last verse he sank upon one knee, and folding the standard +to his heart, raised his eyes towards heaven, he drew all hearts +with him; tears flowed, hand grasped hand, and deeply solemn was +the intonation of the volunteer chorus following the call to arms! + +"The month of July was drawing to a close when the emperor took his +departure for Metz, where he was to assume the post of generalissimo. +With him went gayly the young Prince Imperial, then fourteen years +old. Their starting-point was the small rustic summer-house in +the park of Saint-Cloud, the termination of a miniature branch +railroad connecting with the great lines of travel. There the father +and son parted from the empress, who removed the same day to the +Tuileries, where she administered the imperial government under +the title of empress-regent. + +"It would have been injudicious for the emperor at this time to +risk a public departure from Paris. The Parisians were so full of +confidence and enthusiasm that he might have received an inconvenient +ovation in advance." + +Skirmishing had been going on along the frontier between the French +and German outposts since July 21. On August 2 the campaign began +in earnest. After luncheon on that day, the emperor and the Prince +Imperial set out by rail from Metz, and returned to Metz to dinner, +having invaded German territory and opened the war. They had alighted +at Forbach, and proceeded thence to make a reconnaissance into the +enemy's territory near Saarbrück,--a small town of two thousand +inhabitants, where, strange to say, an International Peace Congress +had held its session not many months before. This place had an +ordinary frontier garrison, and lay two and a half miles beyond the +boundary of France. General Frossard, under the emperor's direction +and supervision, led on his men to attack the place. The first +gun was fired by the Prince Imperial, who here, as his father's +telegram that night reported to the empress, received his "baptism +of fire." The garrison returned the fire, and then, having lost +two officers and seventy-two men, it retired, leaving the French +in possession of the heights above the town. Poor Prince Imperial! +Some harsh lines concerning his first exploit were published in +the London "Spectator:"-- + + "'How jolly, papa! how funny! + How the blue men tumble about! + Huzza! there's a fellow's head off,-- + How the dark red blood spouts out! + And look, what a jolly bonfire!-- + Wants nothing but colored light! + Oh, papa, burn a lot of cities, + And burn the next one at night!' + "'Yes, child, it _is_ operatic; + But don't forget, in your glee, + That for your sake this play is playing, + That you may be worthy of me. + They baptized you in Jordan water,-- + Baptized as a Christian, I mean,-- + But you come of the race of Cæsar, + And thus have their baptisms been. + Baptized in true Cæsar fashion, + Remember, through all your years, + That the font was a burning city, + And the water was widows' tears,'" + +When these lines were written, how little could any man have foreseen +the fate of the poor lad, lying bloody and stark on a hillside of +South Africa, deserted by his comrades, and above all by a degenerate +descendant of Sir Walter Raleigh, who should have risked his life +to defend his charge! + +The day after the attack on Saarbrück compact masses of Germans were +moving across the frontier into France, and the next day (August 4), +a division of MacMahon's army corps was surprised at Wissembourg, +while their commander was at Metz in conference with the emperor. +The French troops were cut to pieces, and the fugitives spread +themselves all over the country. The battle had been fought on +ground covered with vineyards, and the movements of the French +cavalry had been impeded by the vines. In this battle the French +were without artillery, but they took eight cannon from the enemy. +The Prussians, however, being speedily reinforced, recovered their +advantage and gained a complete victory. Wissembourg, a small town +in Alsace, was bombarded and set on fire. There seemed no officer +among the defeated French to restore order. They had never anticipated +such a rout, and were, especially the cavalry, utterly demoralized. + +The French army was divided into seven army corps, the German into +twelve. Each German army corps was greatly stronger in men, and +incomparably better officered and equipped, than the French. The +Germans began the war with nearly a million men; the French with +little more than two hundred thousand on the frontier, though their +army was five hundred thousand strong on the official records. The +habit of the War Office had been to let rich men who were drawn +for the conscription pay four hundred francs for a substitute, +which substitute was seldom purchased, the money going into the +pockets of dishonest officials. + +The two hundred thousand French were stretched in a thin line from +Belgium to the mountains of Dauphiné. A German army corps could break +this line at almost any point; and throughout the whole campaign +the French suffered from the lack of reliable information as to +the movements of the enemy. + +On August 6, two days after the defeat at Wissembourg, the battle +of Wörth, or Reichshofen, was fought between the German _corps +d'armée_ under the Prussian Crown Prince and the corps of MacMahon, +which was completely defeated, and only enabled to leave the field +of battle in retreat rather than rout, by brilliant charges of +cavalry. The French lost six mitrailleuses, thirty guns, and four +thousand unwounded prisoners. On the same day the German reserves +retook Saarbrück, and put to flight General Frossard's division. +After these reverses Napoleon III. proposed to retreat on Paris and +to cover the capital. This also was the counsel of MacMahon; but +the empress-regent opposed it strongly, considering it a movement +that must prove fatal to the dynasty. She even refused to receive +back her son. And indeed it did not seem unlikely that the good +people of Paris, who ten days before had cheered clamorously their +beloved emperor, might have tom him in pieces, had he come back +to them after such a succession of disasters. + +On the 7th of August, the very day after the battle of Worth, while +MacMahon was retreating before the victorious army of the Prussian +Crown Prince, the Parisians were made victims of an extraordinary +deception. A great battle was reported, in which the Crown Prince +had been made prisoner, together with twenty-six thousand of his +men. + +All Paris turned into the streets to exult over this victory; everyone +rushed in the direction of the Bourse, where details of the great +victory were said to have been posted. In every street, from every +house, people were summoned to hang out flags and banners. An excited +crowd filled up the Bourse, many men clinging to the railings, all +shouting, singing, and embracing each other. No one for a long +time had any clear idea what the rejoicing was about, yet the crowd +went on shouting and singing choruses, waving hats, and reiterating +the "Marseillaise." The carriage of Madame Marie Sasse, the prima +donna, who was on her way to a rehearsal at the Grand Opera House, +was stopped, and she was requested to sing the "Marseillaise." +She stood up on the seat of her carriage and complied at once. +"There was profound silence," wrote a gentleman who was in the +crowd, "when she gave the first notes of the 'Marseillaise;' but +all Paris seemed to take up the chorus after each stanza. There was +uproarious applause. The last verse was even more moving than when +Faure had sung it, on account of the novelty of the surroundings +and the spontaneous feeling of the people. There were real tears +in the singer's eyes, and her voice trembled with genuine emotion +as she came to the thrilling appeal to _Liberté_." + +At the same moment Capoul also was singing the "Marseillaise" in +another street, and in the Rue Richelieu the mob, having stopped a +beer cart and borrowed some glasses from a restaurant, were drinking +healths to the army and the emperor. + +"All this time," says the American, who mingled in the crowd and +shouted with the rest in his excitement, "it never occurred to me +to doubt the accuracy of the news that had so stirred up Paris; +for the newspapers on the preceding days had prepared us to expect +something of the kind. All at once, upon the Boulevard, I was aware +of a violent altercation going on between a respectable-looking man +and a number of infuriated bystanders. He seemed to be insisting +that the whole story of the victory was untrue, and that despatches +had been received announcing heavy disasters. I saw that unlucky +citizen hustled about, and finally collared and led off by a policeman, +the people pursuing him with cries of 'Prussian!' But some time +later in the day some persons in a cab drove down the Boulevards +with a white banner, inscribed: THE AUTHOR OF THE FALSE NEWS IS +ARRESTED! This, however, was not the case, for the news was never +traced to any person." + +The mob as soon as it began to believe that it had been the victim +of some stockjobbing operators, rushed to the Bourse, determined to +pull everything to pieces; but the military were there beforehand, +and it had to content itself with requiring all householders to +pull down the flags which two hours before it had insisted must +be hung out. + +The Parisians were not easily appeased after this cruel deception, +and took their revenge by spreading damaging reports about the +Government of the regency, especially accusing the ministers of +basely suppressing bulletins from the army, that they might gamble +on the stock-exchange. The chief of the cabinet, Émile Ollivier, +was very nearly mobbed; but he pacified the people by a speech +made from the balcony of his residence. He was at the time really +unaware that more than one defeat had been sustained. + +Hour after hour alarming reports kept coming in; and at last, on +August 9, the fatal news of three successive defeats was posted +all over the city. Soon an ominous message, sent by Napoleon III., +revealed the full horror of the situation: "Hasten preparations +for the defence of Paris." + +The greatest dismay prevailed. The Chambers were summoned to an +evening session. The legislators were guarded by cavalry from the +mob which surged round the Chamber. Ollivier and his cabinet were +forced to resign, and a new cabinet was hastily installed in office, +calling itself the Ministry of National Defence. Its head was Count +Montauban, a man seventy-five years old, who had gained the title +of Count Palikao by his notorious campaign in China in 1860, when +he sacked the summer palace at Pekin. M. Thiers had pronounced him +far more of a soldier than a statesman. He was in command of the +fourth army corps at Lyons when summoned by the empress-regent to +take up the reins of government; but in the course of the unvaried +succession of misfortunes which made up the history of the French +arms during the month of August, the public statements of Palikao +proved as unreliable as those of his predecessor. His favorite way +of meeting inquiries was to say oracularly: "If Paris knew what +I know, the city would be illuminated." + +Confidence increased after the empress-regent had proclaimed a +_levée en masse_. There were no arms for those who responded to +the call, and most of them had to be sent back to their homes; but +it was considered certain that the mere idea of a general call to +arms would intimidate the Prussians. Indeed, there was a popular +delusion, shared even by foreigners, that the Prussian soldiery, on +their march to Paris, would be cut to pieces by the peasantry. The +conduct of the peasantry proved exactly the reverse of belligerent. +The penalties inflicted by the invaders for irregular warfare, +and the profits made by individuals who remained neutral, were +cleverly calculated to render the peasantry, not only harmless, +but actually useful to the enemy. + +Meantime the French were rapidly evacuating Alsace, and preparing +to make their stand on the Moselle. General Failly's corps of thirty +thousand men, which had failed to come up in time to help MacMahon +at Wörth, were in full retreat, without exchanging a shot with +the enemy. + +The Germans continued to march steadily on. The country was +systematically requisitioned for supplies. The _maire_ or other high +official of each village was informed twenty-four hours beforehand +how many men he was expected to provide with rations; namely, to +each man daily, 1-1/2 lb. bread, 1 lb. Meat, 1/4 lb. coffee, five +cigars, or their equivalent in tobacco, a pint of wine or a quart +of beer, and horse feed. If these demands were not complied with, +he was assured that the village would be set on fire; and after a +few examples had been made, the villagers became so intimidated +that they furnished all that was required of them. + +Here is a description of one night's work done by a Prussian general. +It is taken from a work by Erckmann-Chatrian;[1] but those graphic +writers took all their descriptions from the mouths of Alsatian +peasants who had been eye-witnesses of the scenes which they +described:-- + +[Footnote 1: La Plébiscite.] + +"The first thing the Prussian commander did on entering his chamber +in a cottage where he had quarters for the night, was to make three +or four soldiers turn out every article of furniture. Then he spread +out on the floor an enormous map of the country. He took off his +boots and lay down on the map flat on his stomach. Then he called +in six or seven officers, all captains or lieutenants. Each man +pulled out a small map. The general called to one of them by name: +'Have you got the road from here to Metting?' 'Yes, General.' 'Name +all the places between here and there.' Then the officer, without +hesitation, told the names of all the villages, farms, streams, +bridges, and woods, the turnings of the roads, the very cow-paths. +The general followed him on the large map with his finger. 'That's +all right. Take twenty men and go as far as St. Jean by such a +road. You will reconnoitre. If you want any assistance, send me +word.' And so on, one by one, to all the others." + +Such was the system and order of the Germans; while the French, +full of amazement at their own defeat, unled, unofficered, and +disorganized, are thus described by Edmond About as he saw them +entering Saverne after the disastrous day at Wörth. + +"There were cuirassiers," he says, "without cuirasses, fusileers +without guns, horsemen on foot, and infantry on horseback. The +roads taken by the army in its flight were blocked by trains of +wagons loaded with provisions and clothing, and the woods were +filled with stragglers wandering about in a purposeless way. Among +the spoils of that day which fell into the hands of the Prussians +were several railroad freight-cars loaded with Paris confectionery: +and two days after the battle it was easier to obtain a hundredweight +of bonbons at Forbach than a loaf of bread." + +All this happened in one week, from August 2 to August 6. During +this week the emperor stayed at Metz, having been implored by his +generals to keep away from the army. + +A week later, Strasburg was besieged. MacMahon, the remnants of +whose corps had been driven out of Alsace by the Crown Prince, was +endeavoring to effect a juncture with the army corps of De Failly. + +The object of the emperor and Marshal MacMahon was to concentrate +as large a force as possible before the very strongly fortified +city of Metz. But as soon as they reached Metz the armies of General +Steinmetz and Prince Frederic Charles, two hundred and fifty thousand +strong, began to close in upon them. There seemed no safety but +in further retreat. The emperor wanted to give up Lorraine, and +to concentrate all his forces in an intrenched camp at Châlons; +but advices from Paris warned him that a revolt would break out +in the capital if he did so. He therefore resigned his position +as commander-in-chief to Marshal Bazaine. He was coldly received +in the camp at Châlons, and his presence with several thousand +men as a body-guard was an impediment to military operations. He +was therefore virtually dropped out of the army, and from August +18, when this news was known in Paris, his authority in France +was practically at an end. On the same day (August 18) Bazaine's +army was driven into Metz after the battle of Gravelotte, at which +battle the French, though defeated, distinguished themselves by +their bravery. Bazaine had one hundred and seventy thousand men +with him when he retired behind the walls of Metz. Here he was +closely besieged till October 27, when he surrendered. + +The news that reached Paris of these events (just one month after +the emperor had signed the declaration of war) not only resulted in +his practical deposition, but caused a notoriously anti-Bonapartist +general to be appointed military governor of the capital. Imperialism +remained an empty name. France was without one ally, nor had the +emperor one friend. Meantime Palikao, to appease the irritation +of the public, continued to announce victory after victory. Of +all his fantastic inventions, the most fantastic was one published +immediately after Bazaine had shut himself up with his army in Metz. +A despatch was published, and universally accepted with confidence +and enthusiasm, announcing that three German army corps had been +overthrown at the Quarries of Jaumont. There are no quarries at +Jaumont, there were no Prussians anywhere near the spot, and none +had been defeated; but the Parisians were well satisfied. + +After the first panic caused by the despatch that Paris must prepare +for defence, means were taken for provisioning the city. Clément +Duvernois, an ex-radical, an ex-Bonapartist, and one of the members +of the Ministry of Defence, gave ignorant and reckless orders for +supplies, which, in spite of the gravity of the situation, amused +the Parisians immensely. + +Droves of cattle passed all day along the Boulevards, going to +be pastured in the Bois de Boulogne, where they were tended by +Gardes Mobiles from the rural districts. The cattle, the camps, +and the fortifications attracted crowds of curious spectators. + +The tap of the drum was wellnigh incessant in the city; and while +the enemy was drawing near, and bloody defeats followed each other +in rapid succession, the Parisians seemed chiefly stimulated to +write fresh libels in the newspapers, and to amuse each other with +caricatures and satires. + +Among other foolish measures was that of ordering all firemen from +the departments up to Paris. They remained in the city a week, +and were then sent home. In their absurd and heavy uniforms, and +with nothing whatever to do, the poor country fellows presented +a miserable appearance as they sat in rows along the curbstones +of the avenues, with their helmets glittering in the August sun, +"looking," as some one remarked, "like so many rare beetles on +exhibition," the spectacle being all the more ludicrous from the +extreme dejection of the innocent heroes. + +Troops were always on the move. The Gardes Mobiles, formed into +companies, were not wanted anywhere. Being too raw as yet for active +service, they were transferred from one barrack to another, and +were drilled in the open streets and in the public squares. The +forts absorbed a number of them; others were employed as shepherds +and drovers. The surplus was billeted on the citizens. + +Towards the end of August there began to be a notion that the city +was full of spies, and all suspected persons were called Prussians. +The mania for spy-hunting became general, and was frequently very +inconvenient to Americans and Englishmen. Germans in Paris, many of +whom had intermarried with the French, naturally found themselves +in a most unhappy situation. At first they were strictly forbidden +to leave Paris; then suddenly they were ordered away, on three +days' notice, under penalty of being treated as prisoners of war. + +This decree affected eighty thousand persons in France, nearly all +of whom were connected by family ties or business relations with +the country of their adoption. The outcry raised by the English and +German Press about this summary expulsion procured some modification +of the order,--not, however, without a protest from the radicals, +who clamored for the rigor of the law. Mr. Washburne, the American +minister, the only foreign ambassador who remained in Paris during +the siege, had accepted the charge of these unhappy Germans, and +heart-breaking scenes took place daily at the American Legation. + +Soon after the defeats in the first week in August, Mr. Washburne +had his last interview with the Empress Eugénie. + +"She had evidently," he says, "passed a sleepless and agitated +night, and was in great distress of mind. She at once began to +speak of the terrible news she had received, and the effect it +would have on the French people. I suggested to her that the news +might not be quite so bad as was reported (alas! it was far worse), +and that the consequences might in the end be far better than present +circumstances indicated. I spoke to her about the first battle of +Bull Run, and the defeat that the Union army had there suffered, +which had only stimulated the country to greater exertions. She +replied: 'I only wish the French in these respects were like you +Americans; but I am afraid they will get too much discouraged, +and give up too soon.'"[1] + +[Footnote 1: Recollections of a Minister to France.] + +All this time the "Figaro" was publishing articles that held out +hopes of victory and flattered the self-confidence of the Parisians. +Marshals MacMahon and Bazaine were represented as leading the enemy +craftily into a snare, and the illusion was kept up that the Germans +would be cut to pieces by the peasantry "before they could lay +their sacrilegious hands," said Victor Hugo, "upon the Mecca of +civilization." Instead of this, the Crown Prince's army was marching +in pursuit of MacMahon's forces through the great plains of Champagne. +MacMahon had some design of turning back, uniting with another +army corps, and attacking the Prussians in the rear, thus hemming +in part of their army between himself and the troops of Bazaine +in Metz; but he seems to have been really in the position of a +pawn driven about a chess-board by an experienced player. + +Continually retreating, the emperor, who was with MacMahon's army, +at last found himself at Sedan, safe, as he hoped, for a brief +breathing space, from the attacks of the two Prussian army corps +which were following in his rear. He had been warned repeatedly +that he must not return to Paris without a victory. "The language +of reason," he remarked, "is no longer understood at the capital." + +On Aug. 30, 1870, the retreating French were concentrated, or rather +massed, under the walls of Sedan,[1] in a valley commonly called +the Sink of Givonne. The army consisted of twenty-nine brigades, +fifteen divisions, and four _corps d'armée_, numbering ninety thousand +men. + +[Footnote 1: Victor Hugo, Choses vues.] + +"It was there," says Victor Hugo, "no one could guess what for, +without order, without discipline, a mere crowd of men, waiting, +as it seemed, to be seized by an immensely powerful hand. It seemed +to be under no particular anxiety. The men who composed it knew, +or thought they knew, that the enemy was far away. Calculating +four leagues as a day's march, they believed the Germans to be at +three days distance. The commanders, however, towards nightfall, +made some preparations for safety. The whole army formed a sort +of horse-shoe, its point turning towards Sedan. This disposition +proved that its chiefs believed themselves in safety. The valley +was one of those which the Emperor Napoleon used to call a 'bowl,' +and which Admiral Van Tromp designated by a less polite name. No +place could have been better calculated to shut in an army. Its very +numbers were against it. Once in, if the way out were blocked, it +could never leave it again. Some of the generals,--General Wimpfen +among them--saw this, and were uneasy; but the little court around +the emperor was confident of safety. 'At worst,' they said, 'we +can always reach the Belgian frontier.' The commonest military +precautions were neglected. The army slept soundly on the night +of August 31. At the worst they believed themselves to have a line +of retreat open to Mézières, a town on the frontier of Belgium. +No cavalry reconnoissance was made that night; the guards were +not doubled. The French believed themselves more than forty miles +from the German army. They behaved as if they thought that army +unconcentrated and ill-informed, attempting vaguely several things +at once, and incapable of converging on one point, namely, Sedan. +They thought they knew that the column under the Prince of Saxony +was marching upon Châlons, and that the Crown Prince of Prussia +was marching upon Metz. + +"But that night, while the French army, in fancied security, was +sleeping at Sedan, this is what was passing among the enemy. + +"By a quarter to two A. M. the army of the Prince of Saxony was +on its march eastward, with orders not to fire a shot till five +o'clock, and to make as little noise as possible. They marched +without baggage of any kind. At the same hour another division of +the Prussian army marched, with equal noiselessness, from another +direction, on Sedan, while the Würtemburgers secured the road to +Mézières, thereby cutting off the possibility of a retreat into +Belgium. + +"At the same moment, namely, five o'clock,--on all the hills around +Sedan, at all points of the compass, appeared a dense, dark mass +of German troops, with their commanders and artillery. Not one +sound had been heard by the French army, not even an order. Two +hundred and fifty thousand men were in a circle on the heights round +the Sink of Givonne. They had come as stealthily and as silently as +serpents. They were there when the sun rose, and the French army +were prisoners." + +The battle was one of artillery. The German guns commanded every +part of the crowded valley. Indeed, the fight was simply a massacre. +There was no hope for the French, though they fought bravely. Their +best troops, the Garde Impériale, were with Bazaine at Metz. Marshal +MacMahon was wounded very early in the day. The command passed +first to General Ducrot, who was also disabled, and afterwards to +Wimpfen, a brave African general who had hurried from Algeria just +in time to take part in this disastrous day. He told the emperor +that the only hope was for the troops to cut their way out of the +valley; but the army was too closely crowded, too disorganized, +to make this practicable. One Zouave regiment accomplished this +feat, and reached Belgium. + +That night--the night of September 1--an aide-de-camp of the Emperor +Napoleon carried this note to the camp of the king of Prussia:-- + +MONSIEUR MON FRÈRE,--Not having been able to die in midst of my +troops, it only remains for me to place my sword in the hands of +your Majesty. + + I am your Majesty's good brother, + + NAPOLEON. + +The king of Prussia replied,-- + +MONSIEUR MON FRÈRE,--Regretting the circumstances under which we +meet, I accept the sword of your Majesty, and I invite you to designate +one of your officers, provided with full powers, to treat for the +capitulation of the army which has so bravely fought under your +command. On my side I have named General von Moltke for that purpose. + + I am your Majesty's good brother, + + WILLIAM. + +Before Sedan, Sept. 1, 1870. + +"The next morning early, a carriage containing four French officers +drove out from Sedan, and came into the German lines. The carriage +had an escort of only three horsemen. When it had reached the Germans, +one of its occupants put out his head and asked, in German, for +Count von Bismarck? The Germans replied that he was at Donchéry. +Thither the carriage dashed away. It contained the French emperor." + +With Napoleon III. fell not only his own reputation as a ruler, +but the glory of his uncle and the prestige of his name. + +The fallen emperor and Bismarck met in a little house upon the +banks of the Meuse. Chairs were brought out, and they talked in +the open air. It was a glorious autumn morning. The emperor looked +care-worn, as well he might. He wished to see the king of Prussia +before the articles of capitulation were drawn up: but King William +declined the interview. When the capitulation was signed, however, +he drove over to visit the captive emperor at a château where the +latter had taken refuge. + +Their interview was private; only the two sovereigns were present. +The French emperor afterwards expressed to the Crown Prince of Prussia +his deep sense of the courtesy shown him. He was desirous of passing +as unnoticed as possible through French territory, where, indeed, +exasperation against him, as the first cause of the misfortunes of +France, was so great that his life would have been in peril. The +next day he proceeded to the beautiful palace at Cassel called +Wilhelmshöhe, or William's Rest. It had been built at ruinous expense +by Jérôme Bonaparte while king of Westphalia, and was then called +Napoleon's Rest. + +Every consideration that the German royal family could show their +former friend and gracious host was shown to Louis Napoleon. This +told against him with the French. Was the man who had led them into +such misfortunes to be honored and comforted while they were suffering +the consequences of his selfishness, recklessness, negligence, and +incapacity? + +Thus eighty thousand men capitulated at Sedan, and were marched +as prisoners into Germany; one hundred and seventy-five thousand +French soldiers remained shut up in Metz, besides a few thousands +more in Strasburg, Phalsbourg, Toul, and Belfort. But the road +was open to Paris, and thither the various German armies marched, +leaving the Landwehr, which could not be ordered to serve beyond the +limits of Germany, to hold Alsace and Lorraine, already considered +a part of the Fatherland. The Prussians did not reach Paris till +September 19, two weeks after the surrender at Sedan,--which seemed +rather a lull in the military operations of a war in which so much +had occurred during one short month. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE SIEGE OF PARIS. + +Though the surrender of the emperor and his army at Sedan took place +on September 2, nothing whatever was known of it by the Parisian +public until the evening of September 4, when a reporter arrived +at the office of the "Gaulois" with a Belgian newspaper in his +pocket. The "Gaulois" dared not be the first sheet to publish the +news of such a disaster; but despatches had already reached the +Government, and by degrees rumors of what had happened crept through +the streets of the capital. No one knew any details of the calamity, +but every one soon understood that something terrible had occurred. + +The Legislative Assembly held a midnight session; but nothing was +determined on until the morning, when the Empire was voted out, +and a Republic voted in. + +It was a beautiful Sunday morning. Every Parisian was in the street, +and, wonderful to say, all faces seemed to express satisfaction. The +loss of an army, the surrender of the emperor, the national disgrace, +the prospect of a siege, the advance of the Prussians,--were things +apparently forgotten. Paris was charmed to have got rid of so unlucky +a ruler,--the emperor for whom more than seven millions of Frenchmen +had passed a vote of confidence a few months before. He seemed to +have no longer a single friend, or rather he had _one:_ in the +Assembly an elderly deputy stood up in his place and boldly said that +he had taken an oath to be faithful to the Emperor Napoleon, and +did not think himself absolved from it by his misfortunes. + +[Illustration: _JULES SIMON._] + +It was almost in a moment, almost without a breath of opposition, +that on the morning of Sept. 5, 1870, the Empire was voted at an +end, and a Republic put in its place. The duty of governing was +at once confided to seven men, called the Committee of Defence. Of +these, Arago, Crémieux, and Gamier-Pagès had been members of the +Provisional Government in 1848, while Léon Gambetta, Jules Favre, +Jules Ferry, and Jules Simon afterwards distinguished themselves. +Rochefort, the insurrectionist, made but one step from prison to +the council board, and was admitted among the new rulers. But the +two chief men in the Committee of Defence were Jules Favre and +Gambetta. + +Gambetta, who before that time had been little known, was from +the South of France, and of Italian origin. He was a man full of +enthusiasm, vehement, irascible, and impulsive. The day came when +these qualities, tempered and refined, did good service to France, +when he also proved himself one of those great men in history who +are capable of supreme self-sacrifice. At present he was untried. + +Jules Favre was respected for his unstained reputation and perfect +integrity, his disinterestedness and civic virtues, as also for +his fluency of speech. In person he was a small, thin man, with +a head that was said to resemble the popular portraits of General +Jackson. + +General Jules Trochu, who was confirmed as military commander of +Paris, had written a book, previous to the war, regarding the +inefficiency of the French army; he had been therefore no favorite +with the emperor. His chief defect, it was said, was that he talked +so well that he was fond of talking, and too readily admitted many +to his confidence. + +The Council of Regency had in the night melted away. A mob was +surging round the Tuileries. Where had the empress-regent fled? + +When disasters had followed fast upon one another, the empress +had in her bewilderment found it hard to realize that the end of +the empire was at hand. Bazaine was the man whom she relied on. +She had no great liking for Marshal MacMahon, and she does not +appear to have been conscious that all was lost till, on the night +of September 4, she found M. Conti, the emperor's secretary, busy +destroying his private papers. To burn them was impossible; they +were torn into small bits and put in a bath-tub, then hot water +was poured over them, which reduced them to pulp. Vast quantities, +however, remained undestroyed, some of them compromising to their +writers. + +When the truth of the situation broke upon the empress, she was +very much frightened. Her dread was that she might be torn in pieces +by a mob that would invade the Tuileries. In a fortnight her fair +face had become haggard, and white streaks showed themselves in +her beautiful hair. + +It is safest in such cases to trust foreigners rather than subjects. +Two foreigners occupied themselves with plans for the empress's +personal safety. The first idea was that if flight became inevitable, +she should take refuge with the Sisters of the Sacré Cœur, in their +convent in the Rue Picpus; and arrangements had been made for this +contingency. + +The life of the empress was strange and piteous during her last +days upon the throne. She was up every morning by seven, and heard +mass. Her dress was black cashmere, with a white linen collar and +cuffs. All day she was the victim of every person who claimed an +audience, all talking, protesting, gesticulating, and generally +begging. The day the false rumor arrived that the Prussians had +been defeated at the Quarries of Jaumont she flew down to the +guard-room, where the soldiers off duty were lounging on their beds, +waving the telegram over her head. + +The news of the capitulation at Sedan and of the decree deposing the +emperor, roused the Parisian populace. By one o'clock on September 5 +the mob began to threaten the Tuileries. Then the Italian ambassador, +Signor Nigra, and the Austrian ambassador, Prince Richard Metternich, +insisted that the empress must seek a place of safety. As it was +impossible to reach the street from the Tuileries, they made their +way through the long galleries of the Louvre, and gained the entrance +opposite the parish church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois.[1] The +street was blocked with people uttering cries against the emperor. +A _gamin_ recognized the fugitives, and shouted, "Here comes the +empress!" De Nigra gave him a kick, and asked him how he dared to +cry: "Vive l'Empereur?" At this the crowd turned upon the boy, +and in the confusion the empress and her lady-in-waiting were put +into a cab, driven, it is said, by Gamble, the emperor's faithful +English coachman. If this were so, the empress did not recognize +him, for after proceeding a little way, she and Madame le Breton, +her companion, finding they had but three francs between them, and +dreading an altercation with the cabman if this were not enough +to pay their fare, got out, and proceeded on foot to the house of +the American dentist, Dr. Thomas Evans. There they had to wait +till admitted to his operating-room. The doctor's amazement when +he saw them was great; he had not been aware of what was passing +at the Tuileries, but he took his hat, and went out to collect +information. Soon he returned to tell the empress that she had not +escaped a moment too soon. + +[Footnote 1: Temple Bar, 1883.] + +His wife was at Deauville, a fashionable watering-place in Normandy. +The doctor placed her wardrobe at the disposal of the empress, +who had saved nothing of her own but a few jewels. It is said she +owned three hundred dresses, and her collection of fans, laces, +etc., was probably unique. Her own servants had begun to pillage +her wardrobe before she left the Tuileries. It is said that she +would have gone forth on horseback and have put herself at the head +of the troops, but that no riding-habit had been left her, except +a gay green-and-gold hunting dress worn by her at Fontainebleau. +That morning no servant in the Tuileries could be found to bring +her breakfast to her chamber. + +The next day Dr. Evans, in his own carriage, took her safely out +of Paris, in the character of a lady of unsound mind whom he and +Madame le Breton were conveying to friends in the country. Two +days later they reached Deauville after several narrow escapes, +the empress, on one occasion, having nearly betrayed herself by +an effort to stop a man who was cruelly beating his horse. + +There were two English yachts lying at Deauville. On board of one +of these Dr. Evans went. It belonged to Sir John Burgoyne, grandson +of the General Burgoyne who surrendered at Saratoga. Sir John, +with his wife, was on a pleasure cruise. His yacht, the "Gazelle," +was very small, only forty-five tons' burden, and carried a crew +of six men. + +As soon as Sir John Burgoyne had satisfied himself that it was +really the empress who was thus thrown on his protection, he placed +himself and his yacht at her disposal, insisting, however, that she +must not come on board till nearly midnight, when he would meet +her on the _quai_. It was fortunate that he made this arrangement, +for, after dark, a police agent and a Russian spy came on board +and searched every corner of the little vessel. When at last they +departed, Sir John went on to the _quai_, and shortly afterwards +met two ladies, and a gentleman who carried a hand-bag. One of the +ladies stepped up to him and said, "I believe you are the English +gentleman who will take me to England. I am the empress." She then +burst into tears. On reaching the yacht, her first eager demand +was for newspapers. Happily Lady Burgoyne could tell her that the +Prince Imperial was safe in England; from the English papers she also +learned particulars of the disaster at Sedan, of the proclamation of +the Republic in the Corps Législatif at Paris, and of the treatment +of the emperor. + +It was an anxious time for all on board the "Gazelle," for the +tide would not serve to leave the harbor till seven o'clock the +next morning, and Deauville was wildly riotous all night. At last +they worked out of the harbor and were at sea; but a tempest was +raging in the Channel, and so violent was it that at half-past one +the next morning the great English ironclad "Captain," commanded +by Sir Hugh Burgoyne, Sir John's cousin, went down, with all on +board, not far from where the little "Gazelle" was battling with +the gale. The "Gazelle" had a terrible passage, shipping tremendous +seas. She danced and rolled like a cork; but the ladies were brave, +and were encouraged by Lady Burgoyne's composure. "There was no +affectation of courage in Lady Burgoyne," said the empress afterwards; +"she simply acted as if nothing were the matter." + +After about eighteen hours of this stormy passage the "Gazelle" +was safe at anchor off Ryde, in the Isle of Wight. The empress was +anxious that no one should know she was in England; but Sir John +told her it was his duty to inform the Foreign Office immediately. +An answer was at once returned by Lord Granville, assuring the +empress of welcome and protection; but he added in a postscript +to Sir John: "Don't you think you may have been imposed upon?" + +The fact was that the Foreign Office had already received news +of the escape of the empress by way of Ostend, under the charge +of two English gentlemen, who had been themselves deceived. The +ladies they had assisted to leave Paris were Princess Clotilde +and an attendant. + +After the emperor's release from Wilhelmshöhe he received Sir John +Burgoyne at Chiselhurst, and thanked him, with tears in his eyes, +for his care of the empress, adding that no sailors but the English +could have got across the Channel on such a night in so small a +craft. + +After peace had been signed between Prussia and France, the emperor +landed at Dover, where he was touched by the kindly and respectful +reception he met with from the English people. The next day he +was visited by Lord Malmesbury, an old friend in the days of his +youth, before he entered on his life of adventure. Lord Malmesbury +says: + +"He came into the room alone to meet me, with that remarkable smile +that could light up his dark countenance. I confess I never was more +moved. His quiet and calm dignity, and absence of all nervousness +or irritability, were grand examples of moral courage. All the +past rushed to my memory. He must have seen what I felt, for he +said: '_À la guerre comme à la guerre_. It is very good of you +to come to see me.' In a quiet, natural way he then praised the +kindness of the Germans at Wilhelmshöhe, nor did a single plaint +escape him during our conversation. He said he had been deceived as +to the force and preparation of his armies, but without mentioning +names, nor did he abuse anybody, till I mentioned Trochu, who had +abandoned the empress, whom he had sworn to defend. During half an +hour he conversed with me as in the best days of his life, with +dignity and resignation, but when I saw him again he was much more +depressed. He was grieving at the destruction of Paris, and at the +anarchy prevailing over France, far more than he had done over +his own misfortunes. That the Communists should have committed such +horrors in the presence of their enemies, the Prussians, seemed +to him the very acme of humiliation and national infamy." + +On Jan. 9, 1873, he died at Chiselhurst, in the presence of the +empress, who never left him, released from the storms of a fitful +existence and from intense physical suffering. + +Let us return now to Paris and the Committee of Defence, its new +Republican Government. Though the people of Paris, in the excitement +consequent on the proclamation of a Republic, seemed to have forgotten +the Prussians, the prospect of their speedy arrival stared the +Government in the face. It was a Government, not of France, but +of Paris. France had had no voice in making this new Republic, nor +was it at all likely that it would be popular in the Provinces; +but meanwhile work of every kind was pressing on its hands. The +fortifications of Paris were unmanned, and, indeed, were not even +completed, and there were hardly any soldiers in the capital. + +The first thing to be done was to bring provisions into the city. +Cattle, grain, salt, hay, preserved meats, in short, everything +edible that could be imagined, poured in so long as the railroads +remained open. All public buildings became storehouses, but affairs +were conducted with such recklessness and disorder that the live-stock +suffered terribly, and half the hay was wasted. As to troops, General +Vinoy arrived with twenty thousand soldiers, who had been stationed +between Belgium and Sedan. They had never fought the Pussians, but +were impatient of discipline and utterly demoralized. Stragglers +and fugitives from Sedan came in also, but these were still less +to be depended on. The National Guard had never enjoyed the favor +of the emperor, and had been suffered to fall to pieces. It was now +reorganized and armed as well as the Government was able. There was +a body of Mobiles who had been sent away from the army by Marshal +MacMahon because they were so insubordinate that he did not know +what to do with them. Ninety thousand Mobiles came up from the +Provinces before the gates of Paris closed,--excellent material for +soldiers but wholly uninstructed,--and finally about ten thousand +sailors arrived from Brest, who were kept in strict line by their +officers, and were the most reliable part garrison. + +The male population of Paris remained in the city, almost to a +man, except those known to the police as thieves or ex-convicts, +who were all sent away. Women and children also were removed, if +their husbands and fathers could afford places of safety. + +Around the city was a wall twelve yards high, forming a polygonal +inclosure. At each corner of the polygon was a bastion, in which +were stationed the big guns. The wall connecting the bastions is +called a curtain. The bastions protected the curtains, and were +themselves protected by sixteen detached forts, built on all the +eminences around Paris. The most celebrated of these forts lies to +the west of Paris, between it and Versailles, and is called Fort +Valérien It is erected on a steep hill long called Mont Calvaire, +from which is a magnificent view of the city. This and stony hill +for several centuries used to be ascended by pilgrims on their +knees; the mount, where once stood an altar of the Druids, became +a consecrated place before the Revolution. + +Louis Philippe, in 1841, had planned the fortifications of Paris, +but in his time they had been only partially constructed. Even +in 1870, as I have said, they were not complete. When the siege +became imminent, the first thing to be done was to put them in good +order; but for a week the working-men in Paris were so intoxicated +with the idea of having a republic that they could not be made to +do steady work upon anything. It was also considered necessary to +cut down all trees and to destroy all villages between the forts +and the walls of the city, so that they might afford no shelter +to the Prussians. The poor inhabitants of these villages flocked +into Paris, bringing with them carts piled with their household +goods, their wives and children peeping out aghast between the +chairs and beds. The beautiful trees in the Bois de Boulogne were +cut down; the deer and the swans and other wild fowl on the lakes +(long the pets of the Parisian holiday makers) were shot by parties +of Mobiles sent out for that purpose. + +No military man believed that Paris, defended by uncompleted +fortifications, could withstand a direct attack from the Prussians; +no one dreamed of a blockade, for it was thought that it would +take a million and a quarter of men to invest the city, and the +Prussians were known not to have that number for the purpose. The +idea was that the enemy would choose some point, would attack it +with all his forces, would lose probably thirty thousand men, and +would take the city. But Bismarck and King William and Von Moltke +had no idea of losing thirty thousand men. They were certain that +there would be risings and disturbances in Paris. They believed that +their forces might even be called in to save respectable Parisians +from the outrages of the Reds. They knew that rural France, having +little love for Paris or the Republic, was not likely to accept +the Government formed without its own consent, nor march to the +assistance of the capital. Even should the provincial population +bestir itself, the troops it could send would be only raw levies, +and there was no great leader to animate or to direct popular +enthusiasm. + +It was quite true that the respectable classes in Paris had as +much to fear from the Reds as from the Prussians. The mob of Paris +was wild for a commune. + +It is not always known what is meant by a commune, and I may be +pardoned if I pause to define it here. + +In feudal times cities all over Europe won for themselves charters. +By these charters they acquired the right to govern themselves; +that is, the burghers elected their own mayor and their councilor +aldermen, and this body governing the community was called the +commune. When the feudal system fell in France, and all power was +centralized in the king, city governments were established by royal +edict only. Paris, for instance, was governed by the Prefect of the +Seine,--he had under him the _maires_ of twenty Arrondissements; +and thus it was in every French city. All public offices in France +were in the gift of the Throne. + +To Americans, who have mayors and city councils in every city, +municipal taxation, municipal elections, and municipal laws, a +commune appears the best mode of city government. But if we can +imagine one of our large cities possessing the same power over +the United States that Paris wields over France, we shall take a +different view of the matter. Paris governed by a commune, that +commune being elected by a mob and aspiring to give laws to France, +might well indeed have alarmed all Frenchmen. We may judge of its +feeling towards the Provinces from the indignation expressed by +Parisian Communists when during the Commune, Lyons and some other +cities talked of setting up communes of their own. + +In olden times, in France, Italy, and Germany (as in Great Britain +at the present day), it was not the mob, but the burghers, whose +interests depended upon the prosperity of their city, who voted +in municipal elections. France had established universal suffrage, +and the restless "men of Belleville,"--the "white blouses,"--were +liable in any time of excitement to be joined by roughs from other +cities, and by all working-men out of employment. These apprehensions +of the respectable citizens of Paris were horribly realized in +1871. The new Republic, meantime, was not Red, not Communistic, +not Socialistic, but Republican. + +During the Revolution of 1848 there had been little intoxication +in Paris; but in the twenty-two years that followed, the French +had learned to drink absinthe and to frequent such places as +"L'Assommoir." All accounts speak of the drunkenness in France during +the Franco-Prussian war. + +Meantime, during the two weeks that preceded the arrival of the +Prussians, the streets of Paris were crowded with men in every +variety of uniform,--_francs-tireurs_ in their Opéra Comique costume, +cuirassiers, artillerymen, lancers, regulars, National Guards, and +Mobiles. Carriages were mixed up with heavy wagons loaded sometimes +with worthless household goods, sometimes with supplies. Peasants' +carts were seen in the midst of frightened flocks of sheep driven +by bewildered shepherds. Everybody was in some one's way. All was +confusion, excitement,--and exhilaration. + +Till September 19 the railways continued to run. Then the fifty-one +gates of Paris were closed, the railroad entrances were walled +up, and the following notice appeared upon the walls:-- + +"Citizens! The last lines which connected Paris with France and +Europe were cut yesterday evening. Paris is left to herself. She +has now only her own courage and her own resources to rely on. +Europe, which has received so much enlightenment from this great +city, and has always felt a certain jealousy of her glory, now +abandons her. But Paris, we are persuaded, will prove that she has +not ceased to be the most solid rampart of French independence." + +To _hold out_ was the determination of all classes; but the very +next day the Reds put forth a manifesto demanding a commune, the +dismissal of the police, the sequestration of the property of all +rich or influential men, and a public declaration that the king of +Prussia would not be treated with so long as his armies occupied +one foot of French soil. "Nothing less than these things," said +the document, "will satisfy the people." + +Here we see the usual assumption of the Parisian Communists that +they are "the people." They have always assumed that thirty-two +millions of Frenchmen outside the walls of Paris counted for nothing. + +As the Prussian armies passed to the southward of Paris to take +possession of Versailles, an attack, authorized by General Trochu +and by General Ducrot (who had escaped from Sedan), was made upon +the German columns. The Zouaves, who had come back to Paris under +General Vinoy, demoralized by the disasters of their comrades, were +the first to break and run. The poor little Mobiles stood firm +and did their duty. + +The official report said: "Some of our soldiers took to flight +with regrettable haste,"--a phrase which became a great joke among +the Parisians. + +That night the Reds breathed fire and fury against the Government, +"and the respectable part of Paris," says M. de Sarcey, the great +dramatic critic, "saw themselves between two dangers. It would +be hard to say which of them they dreaded most. They hated the +Prussians very much, but they feared the men of Belleville more." + +Meantime Jules Favre, who had been appointed Minister for Foreign +Affairs, had procured a safe-conduct from the Prussians, and had +gone out to see Count Bismarck and King William, who had their +headquarters at Baron Rothschild's beautiful country seat of Ferrières. +His object was to obtain an armistice, that a National Assembly +might be convoked which would consider the terms of peace with +the Prussians. + +The Chancellor of North Germany declared that he did not recognize +the Committee of Defence, represented by Julus Favre, as a legitimate +government of France competent to offer or to consider terms of +peace. He treated M. Favre with the greatest haughtiness, utterly +refusing any armistice, but at the close of their first interview +he consented to see him again the next day. + +"I was," says Jules Favre, "at the Château de Ferrières by eleven +A. M., but Count Bismarck did not leave the king's apartments before +twelve. I then gathered from him the conditions that he demanded +for an armistice. They were written in German, and he read them +over to me. He desired to occupy, as a guarantee, Strasburg, Toul, +and Phalsbourg;[1] and as I had the day before named Paris as the +place for the meeting of the Assembly, he wished in that case to +have possession of some fort commanding the city. He named Fort +Valérien. Here I interrupted him. 'You had better ask for Paris at +once,' I said. 'How can a French Assembly be expected to deliberate +when covered by your guns? I hardly know whether I dare to inform +my Government that you have made such a proposal.' Tours was then +named as a place for the Assembly. 'But,' said Bismarck, 'Strasburg +must be surrendered. It is about to fall into our hands. All I +ask is that the garrison shall constitute themselves prisoners +of war.' At this I could restrain myself no longer. I sprang to +my feet and said: 'Count Bismarck, you forget you are speaking +to a Frenchman! To sacrifice an heroic garrison which has won our +admiration and that of the whole world, would be an act of cowardice. +Nor will I even promise to mention that you ever made such a demand.' +He answered that he had not meant to wound my feelings, he was +acting in conformity with the laws of war; but he would see what +the king said about the matter. He returned in a quarter of an +hour, and said that his master accepted my proposal as to Tours, +but insisted on the surrender of the garrison of Strasburg." + +[Footnote 1: Places still holding out against the Germans.] + +At this, the negotiation was broken off, Jules Favre concluding +by saying that "the inhabitants of Paris were resolved on making +any sacrifices, and that their heroism might change the current +of events." + +The publication of this account of the interview with Bismarck +produced through Paris a shiver of indignation. For a moment all +parties were united, the very Reds crying out that there must be +no more parties, only Frenchmen; and a slight success in a skirmish +in one of the suburbs of Paris roused enthusiasm to its height in +a few hours. + +The National Guard now did duty as police, and was also placed +on guard on the ramparts. Each man received thirty sous a day. +The Guard was divided into the Old Battalions and the New. The +Old Battalions were composed almost entirely of gentlemen and +_bourgeois_, who returned their pay to the Government; the New +Battalions, which were fresh levies of working-men, preferred in +general a franc and a half a day for doing nothing, to higher wages +for making shoes, guns, and uniforms. In vain the Government put +forth proclamations assuring the people that the man who made a +chassepot rifle was more of a patriot than he who carried one. + +All through September the weather was delightful, and mounting +guard upon the ramparts was like taking a pleasant stroll. The +Mobiles occupied the forts outside of Paris, and were forbidden +to come into the city in uniform. Of course there was much hunting +for Prussian spies, and many people were arrested and maltreated, +though only one genuine spy seems to have been found. The French +in any popular excitement seem to have treachery upon the brain. +One phase of their mania was the belief that any light seen moving +in the upper stories of a house was a signal to the Prussians; +and sometimes a whole district was disturbed because some quiet +student had sat reading late at night with a green shade over his +lamp, or a mother had been nursing a sick child. + +As October went on, it became a sore trial to the Parisians to +be cut off from all outside news. Not a letter nor a newspaper +crossed the lines. Even the agents of Foreign Governments, and Mr. +Washburne, the only foreign ambassador in Paris, were prohibited +from hearing from their Governments, unless all communications +were read by Bismarck before being forwarded to them. One great +source of suffering to the men in Paris who had sent away their +families was the knowledge that they must be in want of money. +No one had anticipated a prolonged blockade. + +Before the gates had been closed, two elderly members of the Committee +of Defence--Crémieux and Garnier-Pagès--had been sent out to govern +the Provinces. M. Thiers was visiting all the capitals of Europe, +as a sort of ambassador-at-large, to enlist foreign diplomatic +sympathy, and in October it was resolved to send out M. Gambetta, +in the hope that he might organize a National Assembly, or perhaps +induce the Southern Provinces (where he had great influence) to +make a demonstration for the relief of the capital. Provincial +France had long chafed under the idea that its government was made +and unmade by the Parisians, and there was no great sympathy in the +Provinces for Paris in her struggle with the Prussians, until it +was shown how nobly the city and its inhabitants bore the hardships +of the siege. + +Small sorties continued to be made during October, chiefly with +a view of accustoming raw troops to stand fire. On October 28, +came news of the surrender of Bazaine at Metz to the Prussians +with his army (including officers) of nearly one hundred and ninety +thousand men. The universal cry was "Treachery!" The same day that +the Prussians forwarded this news into Paris, a small body of German +troops was worsted in a sortie beyond St. Denis. These two events +roused the turbulent part of the population of Paris almost to +frenzy, and resulted in a rising called the _émeute_ of October +31. + +The disorderly classes living in the suburbs of Belleville and +Montmartre (which have taken the place of the old Faubourg +Saint-Antoine), assuming "The Commune" for their war-cry, were led +on by such men as Ledru-Rollin, Blanqui, and Félix Pyat. + +"The party of the Commune," says M. de Sarcey, "was composed partly +of charlatans, partly of dupes,--that is, the real members of the +Commune as a party. The rank and file were simply roughs, ready +for any mischief, and, we may add, for any plunder." + +On the morning of October 31, a great crowd of these men assembled +before the Hôtel-de-Ville, then the seat of government. General +Trochu, Jules Favre, the Maire of Paris, and even Rochefort, who +was a member of the Committee of Defence, harangued them for hours +without producing any impression. The days were passed when the +mob of Paris could be controlled by a harangue. Finally, the crowd +made its way into the Hôtel-de-Ville, and endeavored to force the +Committee of Defence to issue a proclamation which would convene the +citizens to vote for a commune. The windows of the Hôtel-de-Ville +were flung open, in spite of the efforts of the members of the +Government, and lists of the proposed Communistic rulers were flung +out to the mob. + +Meantime the members of the existing Government were imprisoned in +their council chamber, and threatened by armed men. Jules Favre sat +quietly in his chair; Jules Simon sketched upon his blotting-paper; +rifles were pointed at General Trochu. "Escape, General!" cried +some one in the crowd. "I am a soldier, Citizen," he answered, +"and my duty is to die at my post." One member of the Committee +managed, however to escape, and summoned the National Guard to +the assistance of his colleagues. + +It was eight o'clock in the evening when the troops arrived. At +sight of their guns and bayonets the populace, grown weary of its +day's excitement, melted away. Before daylight, order was restored. +"Thus," says an American then in Paris, "in twelve hours Paris +had one Republican Government taken prisoner, another set up, and +the first restored." + +So peace, after a fashion, returned; but Count Bismarck, learning +of these events, was strengthened in his determination to keep +Paris shut up within her gates till the factions in the city, in +the coming days of famine and distress, should destroy one another. + +M. Thiers had almost concluded an agreement for an armistice of +thirty days, during which Paris was to be fed, while an election +should be held all over France for a National Assembly; but after +the disorders of October 31, Count Bismarck refused to hear of +any food being supplied to Paris, negotiations were broken off, +and the war went on. + +Up to this time bread in Paris had been sufficient for its needs, +and not too dear. Wine was plenty, but meat was growing scarce. +Horses were requisitioned for food. It was the upper classes who +ate horse-flesh and queer animals out of the Jardin des Plantes; +the working-classes would not touch such things till driven to +eat them by absolute famine. + +Butter rose to five dollars a pound, cabbages were sold by the +leaf. Early in the siege, eggs were three dollars a dozen, and milk +soon became unattainable. "Poor little babies died like flies," says +an eye-witness. Fuel, too, was growing very scarce and very dear. +The women supported their privations bravely, but it is terrible +to think what must have been the sufferings of mothers deprived +of wholesome food for their little children. The firmness and +self-sacrifice of the _bourgeoisie_ were above all praise. + +All kinds of meats were eaten. Mule was said to be delicious,--far +superior to beef. Antelope cost eighteen francs a pound, but was +not as good as stewed rabbit; elephant's trunk was eight dollars +a pound, it being esteemed a delicacy. Bear, kangaroo, ostrich, +yak, etc., varied the bill of fare for those who could afford to +eat them. + +Men of wealth who had lost everything, took their misfortunes +cheerfully. While the worst qualities of the Parisians came out +in some classes, the best traits of the French character shone +forth in others. A great deal of charity was dispensed, both public +and private and on the whole, the very poorest class was but little +the worse for the privations of the siege. + +The houses left empty by their owners were made over to the refugees +from the villages, and many amusing stories are told of their +embarrassment when surrounded by objects of art, and articles of +furniture whose use was unknown to them. + +At first the theatres were closed, and some of them were turned +into military hospitals; but by the beginning of November it was +thought better to reopen them. At one theatre, Victor Hugo's "Les +Châtiments" was recited,--that bitterest arraignment of Napoleon +III. and the Second Empire; at another, Beethoven and Mendelssohn +were played, with apologies for their being Germans. + +The hospital parts of the theatres were railed off, and in the +corridors ballet-girls, actors, and sisters of charity mingled together. + +Victor Hugo was in Paris during the siege, but he lent his name +to no party or demonstration. The recitation of his verses at the +theatre afforded him great delight, but the triumph was short-lived. +The attraction of "Les Châtiments" soon died away. + +The most popular places of resort for idle men were the clubs. On +November 21, one of these was visited by our American observer. +He says,-- + +"The hall was filled to suffocation. Every man present had a pipe +or cigar in his mouth. It was a sulphurous place, a Pandemonium, +a Zoological Garden, a Pantomime, a Comedy, a Backwoods Fourth of +July, and a Donnybrook Fair, all combined. Women too were there, +the fiercest in the place. Orators roared, and fingers were shaken. +One speech was on the infringement of the liberties of the citizen +because soldiers were made to march left or right according to the +will of their officers. Another considered that the sluggards who +went on hospital service with red crosses on their caps were no +better than cowards. Then they discovered a spy (as they supposed) +in their midst, and time was consumed in hustling him out. Lastly +an orator concluded his speech with awful blasphemy, wishing that +he were a Titan, and could drive a dagger into the Christian's +God." + +The most terrible suffering in Paris during the siege was probably +mental, suffering from the want of news; but by the middle of November +the balloon and pigeon postal service was organized. Balloons were +manufactured in Paris, and sent out whenever the wind was favorable. +It was found necessary, however, to send them off by night, lest they +should be fired into by the Germans. A balloon generally carried +one or two passengers, and was sent up from one of the now empty +railroad stations. It also generally took five small cages, each +containing thirty-six pigeons. These pigeons were of various colors, +and all named. They were expected to return soon to their homes, +unless cold, fog, a hawk, or a Prnssian bullet should stop them on +the way. Each would bring back a small quill fastened by threads to +one of its tail-feathers and containing a minute square of flexible, +waterproof paper, on which had been photographed messages in characters +so small as to be deciphered only by a microscope. Some of these +would be official despatches, some private messages. One pigeon +would carry as much as, printed in ordinary type, would fill one +sheet of a newspaper. The Parisians looked upon the pigeons with +a kind of veneration; when one, drooping and weary, alighted on +some roof, a crowd would collect and watch it anxiously. Sometimes +they were caught by the Germans, and sent back into Paris with +false news. + +On November 15 a pigeon brought a despatch saying that the South of +France had raised an army for the relief of Paris, and that it was +in motion under an old general with the romantic name of Aurelles des +Paladines, that it had driven the Prussians out of Orleans, and was +coming on with all speed to the capital. The Parisians were eager +to make a sortie and to join this relieving army. General Trochu was +not so eager, having no great confidence in his _francs-tireurs_, his +National Guard, and his Mobiles. They numbered in all four hundred +thousand men; but eighty thousand serviceable soldiers would have +been worth far more. + +On November 28, however, the sortie was made; and had the expected +army been at hand, it might have been successful. The Parisians +crossed the Marne, and fought the Prussians so desperately that in +two days they had lost more men than in the battles at Gravelotte. +But on the third day an order was given to return to Paris; the +Government had received reliable information that the Army of the +Loire (under Aurelles des Paladines) had met with a reverse, and +would form no junction with the Parisian forces. + +By the end of November cannon had been cast in the beleaguered city, +paid for, not by the Government, but by individual subscription. +These guns were subsequently to playa tragic part in the history +of the city. Some carried farther than the Prussian guns. All of +them had names. The favorite was called Josephine, and was a great +pet with the people. + +Christmas Day of that sad year arrived at last, and New Year's +Day, the great and joyful fête-day in all French families. A few +confectioners kept their stores open, and a few boxes of bonbons +were sold; but presents of potatoes, or small packages of coffee, +were by this time more acceptable gifts. Nothing was plenty in +Paris but champagne and Colman's mustard. The rows upon rows of the +last-named article in the otherwise empty windows of the grocers +reminded Englishmen and Americans of Grumio's cruel offer to poor +Katherine of the mustard without the beef, since she could not +have the beef with the mustard. + +Here is the bill-of-fare of a dinner given at a French restaurant +upon that Christmas Day:-- + + Soup from horse meat. + Mince of cat. + Shoulder of dog with tomato sauce. + Jugged cat with mushrooms. + Roast donkey and potatoes. + Rat, peas, and celery. + Mice on toast. + Plum pudding. + +One remarkable feature of the siege was that everybody's appetite +increased enormously. Thinking about food stimulated the craving +for it, and by New Year's Day there were serious apprehensions of +famine. The reckless waste of bread and breadstuffs in the earlier +days of the siege was now repented of. Flour had to be eked out with +all sorts of things, and the bread eaten during the last weeks of the +siege was a black and sticky mixture made up of almost anything but +flour. All Paris was rationed. Poor mothers, leaving sick children +at home, stood for hours in the streets, in the bitter cold, to +obtain a ration of horseflesh, or a few ounces of this unnutritious +bread. + +After news came of the retreat of the Army of the Loire, great +discouragement crept over the garrison. The Mobiles from the country, +who had never expected to be shut up in Paris for months, began to +pine for their families and villages. What might not be happening +to them? and they far away! + +Every day there was a panic of some kind in the beleaguered city,--some +rumor, true or false, to stir men's souls. Besides this, the garrison +had for months been idle, and was consumed with _ennui_. Among the +prevailing complaints was one that General Trochu was too pious! +They might have said of him with truth, that, though brave and +determined when once in action, he was wanting in decision. The +garrison in Paris had no general who could stir their hearts,--no +leader of men. General Trochu, and the rulers under him, waited to +be moved by public opinion. They were ready to do what the masses +would dictate, but seemed not to be able to lead them. In a besieged +city the population generally bends to the will of one man; in +this case it was one man, or a small body of men, who bent to the +will of the people. + +The winter of 1871 was the coldest that had been known for twenty +years. Fuel and warm clothing grew scarce. The Rothschilds distributed +$20,000 worth of winter garments among the suffering; and others +followed their example, till there was no warm clothing left to buy; +but the suffering in every home was intense, and at last soldiers +were brought in frozen from the ramparts. There was of course no +gas, and the city was dimly lighted by petroleum. Very great zeal +was shown throughout Paris for hospital service. French military +hospitals and the service connected with them are called "ambulances." +"We were all full of recollections," says M. de Sarcey, "of the +exertions made on both sides in the American Civil War. Our model +hospital was formed on the American Plan." + +The American Sanitary Commission had sent out specimens of hospital +appliances to the Exposition Universelle of 1867. These had remained +in Paris, and the hospital under canvas, when set up, excited great +admiration. Everything was for use; nothing for show. "The four +great medicines that we recognize," said the American surgeon in +charge, "are fresh air, hot and cold water, opium, and quinine." + +Among the bravest and most active litter-bearers were the Christian +Brothers,--men not priests, but vowed to poverty, celibacy, and +the work of education. "They advanced wherever bullets fell," says +M. de Sarcey, "to pick up the dead or wounded; recoiling from no +task, however laborious or distasteful; never complaining of their +food, drinking only water; and after their stretcher-work was done, +returning to their humble vocation of teachers, without dreaming +that they had played the part of heroes." + +Before Bazaine surrendered at Metz, eager hopes had been entertained +that the army raised in the South by Chanzy and Gambetta might +unite with his one hundred and seventy-two thousand soldiers in +Metz, and march to the relief of Paris; but to this day no one +knows precisely why Bazaine took no steps in furtherance of this +plan, but, instead, surrendered ignominiously to the Germans. It +is supposed that being attached to the emperor, and dreading a +Republic, he declined to fight for France if it was to benefit +"the rabble Government of Paris," as he called the Committee of +Public Defence. He seems to have thought that the Germans, after +taking Paris, would make peace, exacting Alsace and Lorraine, and +then restore the emperor. + +Nothing could have been braver or more brilliant than the efforts +of Chanzy and Gambetta on the Loire. At one time they were actually +near compelling the Prussians to raise the siege of Paris; for +two hundred and fifty thousand men was a small army to invest so +large a city. But the one hundred and fifty thousand German soldiers +who were besieging Metz were enabled by Bazaine's surrender to +reinforce the troops beleaguering the capital. + +Gambetta seems to have been at that time the only man in France +who showed himself to be a true leader of men, and amidst numerous +disadvantages he did nobly. He and Chanzy died twelve years later, +within a week of each other. + +From September 19, when the siege began, up to December 27, the +Parisian soldiers, four hundred thousand in number (such as they +were) had never, except in occasional sorties, encountered the +Prussians, nor had any shot from Prussian guns entered their city. +On the night of December 27 the bombardment began. It commenced +by clearing what was called the Plateau d'Avron, to the east of +Paris. The weather was intensely cold, the earth as hard as iron +and as slippery as glass. The French do not rough their horses +even in ordinary times, and slipperiness is a public calamity in +a French city. The troops, stationed with little shelter on the +Plateau d'Avron, had no notion that the Germans had been preparing +masked batteries. The first shells that fell among them produced +indescribable confusion. The men rushed to their own guns to reply, +but their balls fell short about five hundred yards. It became +evident that the Plateau d'Avron must be abandoned, and that night, +in the cold and the darkness, together with the slippery condition +of the ground, which was worst of all, General Trochu superintended +the removal of all the cannon. The Prussian batteries were admirably +placed and admirably served. + +But tremendous as the bombardment was (sometimes a shell every two +minutes), it is astonishing how little real damage it did to the +city. The streets were wide, the open spaces numerous, the houses +solidly built, with large courtyards. In the middle of January, +when the extreme cold moderated, hundreds of people would assemble +in the Place de la Concorde, looking skyward. A black object would +appear, with a small bright spot in it, and making a graceful curve +in the air, with a whizzing, humming sound, would drop suddenly, +with a resounding boom, in some distant quarter in the city. Then +the spectators, greatly interested in the sight, waited for another. +The shells, which the Parisians called "obus," were like an +old-fashioned sugar-loaf, and weighed sometimes one hundred and +fifty pounds. But though, by reason of the great distance of the +Prussian batteries, the damage was by no means in proportion to +the number of shells sent into the city, many of them struck public +buildings, hospitals, and orphan asylums, in spite of the Red Cross +flags displayed above them. + +By January 19, when the siege had lasted four months, and the +bombardment three weeks, the end seemed to be drawing near. Another +sortie was attempted; but there was a dense fog, the usual accompaniment +of a January thaw, and its only result was the loss of some very +valuable lives. + +Then General Trochu asked for an armistice of two days to bury +the dead; but his real object was that Jules Favre might enter the +Prussian lines and endeavor to negotiate. Before this took place, +however, Trochu himself resigned his post as military governor. He +had sworn that under him Paris should never capitulate. General +Vinoy took his command. + +The moment the Government of Defence was known to be in extreme +difficulty, the Communists issued proclamations and provoked risings. +The Hôtel-de-Ville was again attacked. In this rising famished +women took a prominent part. Twenty-six people were killed in the +_émeute_, and only twenty-eight by that day's bombardment. + +On January 23 Jules Favre went out to Versailles. Paris was hushed. +It was not known that negotiations were going on, but all felt +that the end was near at hand. No one, dared to say the word +"capitulate," though some of the papers admitted that by February +3 there would not be a mouthful of bread in the city. + +On January 27 the Parisians learned their fate. The following +announcement appeared in the official journal: + +"So long as the Government could count on an army of relief, it was +their duty to neglect nothing that could conduce to the prolongation +of the defence of Paris. At present our armies, though still in +existence, have been driven back by the fortune of war.... Under +these circumstances the Government has been absolutely compelled to +negotiate. We have reason to believe that the principle of national +sovereignty will be kept intact by the speedy calling of an Assembly; +that during the armistice the German army will occupy our forts; +that we shall preserve intact our National Guards and one division +of our army; and that none of our soldiers will be conveyed beyond +our frontier as prisoners of war." + +The result was so inevitable that it did not spread the grief and +consternation we have known in many modern cases of surrender. +Those who suffered most from the sorrow of defeat were not the +Red brawlers of Belleville, who cried loudest that they had been +betrayed, but the honest, steady-going _bourgeoisie_, who for love +of their country had for four months borne the burden and distress +of resistance. + +During the four months of siege sixty-five thousand persons perished +in Paris: ten thousand died in hospitals, three thousand were killed +in battle, sixty-six hundred were destroyed by small-pox, and as +many by bronchitis and pneumonia. The babies, who died chiefly +for want of proper food, numbered three thousand,--just as many +as the soldiers who fell in battle. + +Two sad weeks passed, the Parisians meanwhile waiting for the meeting +of a National Assembly. During those weeks the blockade of Paris +continued, and the arrival of provisions was frequently retarded +at the Prussian outposts; nor were provision-carts safe when they +had passed beyond the Prussian lines, for there were many turbulent +Parisians lying in wait to rob them. All Paris was eager for fresh +fish and for white bread. The moment the gates were opened, twenty-five +thousand persons poured out of the city, most of whom were in a +state of anxiety and uncertainty where to find their families. + +At last peace was made. One of its conditions was that the Germans +were to occupy two of the forts that commanded Paris until that city +paid two hundred millions of francs ($40,000,000) as its ransom. It +was also stipulated that the Prussian army was to make a triumphal +entry into the city, not going farther, however, than the Place +de la Concorde. + +This took place March I, 1871, but was witnessed by none of the +respectable Parisians, although the German soldiers were surrounded +by a hooting crowd, whom they seemed to regard with little attention. + +Thus ended the siege of Paris, and the day afterwards the homeward +march of the Germans was begun. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE PRUSSIANS IN FRANCE. + +The Prussian army was more than two weeks on the road from Sedan +to Paris and Versailles, and it was just one month after the French +emperor surrendered before the king of Prussia made his headquarters +in the beautiful city which seems to enshrine the memory of Louis +XIV. + +On Sunday, September 18, a scouting party of three Uhlans made +their appearance at the gates of Versailles. They had in fact lost +their way, and stumbled unawares upon the city; however, they rode +boldly up to the gate, demanded admittance, and presented themselves +at the _mairie_, bringing terror and dismay to the inhabitants. +When the _maire_ presented himself at their summons, they demanded +on what terms Versailles would surrender? He replied that he could +not treat with private soldiers, but must see their officers. "Oh, +our officers are close at hand," they replied; "they are waiting +with a large force in yonder woods. If you come to the gate, they +will meet you there." The _maire_ assented, and the audacious Uhlans +galloped safely away. Let us hope that at their firesides in the +far-off Fatherland they still laugh over this unparalleled adventure. + +A few hours later, news was received at Versailles that fighting +was going on towards the south of Paris between French troops and +the Prussians; and all the inhabitants, including foreign residents, +were busy in preparing supplies for the field-hospitals,--lint, +bandages, water-cans, and pillows stuffed with torn paper. Before +long, eight Prussians and an officer entered the city. They were +thus described by one who saw them as they dashed up to the _mairie_ +through an excited crowd:-- + +"They were small men. They had light hair, but were very thick-set. +They looked very tired, and were covered with dust and with torn +clothes: but they had good horses. They wore the Prussian helmet +and spike, and were well armed, with a sabre on one side and on +the other a huge horse-pistol two feet long, while they carried +carbines in their hands, all ready to shoot if occasion offered. But +all the French soldiers had left Versailles, except a few National +Guards. The inhabitants looked very sad; the women were crying, +and the men looked as if they would like to. We walked on, when +suddenly we saw a troop of horsemen come through an arch that spanned +one of the main roads; behind came more, and more, and more. The +first were fifty Uhlans. These fellows were in blue, on horseback, +very handsome. Then came some men with silver death's-heads and +crossbones on their caps; then hundreds and hundreds of mounted +fellows with needle-guns and sabres; then three regiments of infantry, +marching in superb time. Every five hundred men had a drum corps +and fifes playing in perfect unison. You could almost feel the +ground shake with the steady thud of their march as they tramped +on. The men looked dirty and tired, but were fat, and many of them +were laughing. Looking down the road as far as possible, we could +still see helmets, spikes, and guns all leaning exactly the same +way, and glittering in the sunshine. All the officers looked like +gentlemen, with great whiskers, and jolly, fat faces. None of the +men talked, much less sang, as the French do. When these had passed, +there came a splendid band of sixty pieces, playing beautifully, +and then regiment after regiment of cavalry (not carrying as much, +nearly, as the French cavalry do). Their horses were in excellent +order, many of them very handsome. Lots of the soldiers were smoking +great German pipes. + +"This was the army of the Crown Prince, less than a third of those +that entered the city. They passed through Versailles, only stopping +to repair the roads torn up by the peasantry. Next came artillery +and baggage-wagons, and carts of ammunition; more infantry, more +bands, fifty pontoons on carts; more cavalry; then hundreds of +soldiers on peasants' carts, which they had requisitioned as they +passed through the country; then ambulances and carts, full of +wounded, who were brought to the Hôtel des Reservoirs and to the +Palace. They began to pass at half-past one, and were passing three +hours; and I saw just as many more going by another road, where +they passed till seven in the evening. There seemed, at times, to +be a hunting corps, for every man would have a fat hare or rabbit, +or hens, ducks, pheasants, or partridges slung on his back. One +man I saw with a live sheep, full grown, over his shoulders. + +"Only four regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and four batteries +of artillery remained in Versailles that night. They camped upon +the Place d'Armes, lit fires, and cooked. Everything was remarkable +for neatness; the cannon and powder-carts were arranged in order +in a circle, horses all fastened inside the circle, soldiers all +sleeping round it. They took off their knapsacks, stacked their +guns, put their helmets on the top of their bayonets, unrolled +their great-coats, and lay down, still wearing sword and pistols, +with their guns at arm's length. Thus they pass the night, rain +or shine (they have no tents) and they look as hardy and strong +as lions. + +"By the time the Prussians were fairly in their quarters the inhabitants +of Versailles seemed to take heart and to be much less frightened. +Many French peasants could talk German, and conversed freely with +the Prussians, interpreting what they said to an eager crowd. The +soldiers seemed to be well fed; we saw them dining on bread and +cheese, butter, sausages, and wine. In the evening they were very +jolly. Fires flickered all around; the soldiers sat singing and +smoking. Some milked cows that they had stolen, and some were cooking +game. The formal way in which everything was done was very curious. +At the gate of every house where officers were quartered were two +sentries, and every time an officer passed, these men were obliged +to go through five movements with their guns. On all the doors +of all the houses the names of the officers stationed there were +marked in chalk, and a field-telegraph line in the streets connected +every such house with the _mairie_." + +This account of the entry of the Prussians into Versailles is from +the private letter of a very young man, with the eye of an artist +and a keen love of music and fine horses. The letter was seen by +the editor of the "Nation," who requested leave to publish it. +The writer says further,-- + +"I got up at seven on the morning of September 20, and went down +to the Place d'Armes. It was filled with Prussian soldiers; some +were sleeping, some were cooking, some eating, some grooming horses, +some washing cannon, and all were smoking. There were but two tents, +belonging to high officers. One of these was dressing in the open +air before his tent. A guard paced up and down with a drawn sword. +When I got there, he was brushing his hair and putting on his cravat, +while a little French boy held a looking-glass for him. He had a +bright red shirt on, and riding-boots up to his hips, and silver +spurs. I saw his horse brought up, a beautiful, great black one. +His coat was covered all over with decorations, and he had a very +brilliant sword. In the other tent there were two officers writing. +They had about fifty bottles of claret and champagne stacked up +beside them, and a guard set over it. + +"In a little while all was bustle, but no confusion. All the cannon +and powder-carts were ranged in numerical order; the horses the +same; and every bucket and every pot was numbered like the cart to +which it belonged. Soon as the bugles sounded, every man jumped, +and knew what he had to do. There was ringing and rattling of chains, +and the horses were fastened to the cannon, the soldiers gobbled +their last mouthfuls, strapped on their knapsacks, and in a few +minutes everything was in motion, officers giving their orders; +the horses neighed, the line was formed, and off they went. + +"That afternoon we saw some French peasants brought in; they had +fired on the men who were stealing their carts, horses, and cows, +and were to be shot. It was very sorrowful. We heard afterwards +that the Crown Prince had pardoned them. Some noble-looking Zouave +prisoners[1] were also brought in, and the crowd cheered them. + +[Footnote 1: Possibly some of the men who had shown "regrettable +haste" the day before.] + +"About one P. M. a squad of Uhlans, with long lances and black-and-white +flags came in; then came other men leading horses, all very handsome, +belonging to the Crown Prince. Then came the royal baggage, cart +after cart, mostly painted purple, with a great gold crown; but +some carts had once been French. One of the bands had a brass drum, +with the imperial eagle and 3d Zouaves painted on it. They showed +it to the bystanders and laughed. We found that the Crown Prince +was to be received at the prefecture,--a handsome building with a +large court in front, and a black-and-gilt _grille_, such as they +have round the palace and park. We went there at once. A guard +of honor was drawn up in front, and a full band on each side of +the gate. The Crown Prince was surrounded by a splendid staff. +He is quite handsome, with large bushy beard and moustache. He +was dressed like his officers, and wore a cap such as they all +wear, with a scarlet band; but he had lots of decorations and a +splendid diamond star. They all had most beautiful horses, and the +effect was very kingly. The bands played, and the troops presented +arms. The prince rode in first, then all followed him into the +courtyard. They took possession, and the gates were closed. The +next day the prince left to join the king at Ferrières. The palace +is appropriated to the Prussian wounded." + +By September 23 the Prussians had completed their investment of +Paris. They were only two hundred and fifty thousand men, but, +disciplined as we can see they were by the letter I have quoted, +they were more than a match for the four hundred thousand disorganized +and undisciplined crowd within the walls of the capital, who called +themselves soldiers. + +Strasburg surrendered on the very day that the Crown Prince of +Prussia and his brilliant suite entered Versailles. Strasburg is +the capital city of Alsace, and is considered the central point +in the defence of the Rhine frontier. It has a glorious cathedral, +and a library unsurpassed in its collection of historical documents +of antiquity. It is an arch-bishopric, and had always been defended +by a large garrison. With Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux, Marseilles, and +Rouen, it had stood foremost among French cities. It contained, +when invested, twenty thousand fighting men, and it was besieged +at first by a corps of about sixty thousand. Its investment was +one of the first acts of the Germans on entering France. Strasburg +made an heroic resistance for six weeks, and surrendered on the +day when Jules Favre was assuring Count Bismarck that France would +never repay the services of its heroic garrison by consenting to +give them up as prisoners of war. Before its surrender it suffered +six days' bombardment. A bombardment is far more destructive to a +small town than to a city of "magnificent distances" like Paris. +By September 9, a week after Sedan, ninety-eight Prussian rifled +cannon and forty mortars were placed in position and directed against +the walls of Strasburg, while forty other pieces were to bombard +the citadel. By September 12 the defences of the city were laid in +ruins. Two weeks after, it surrendered. The Mobiles and National +Guards, being Alsatians, were sent to their homes; the remaining five +thousand men, who were regular soldiers, were marched as prisoners +of war into Germany. Hardly a house in Strasburg remained untouched +by shells. The ordinary provisions were exhausted. The only thing +eatable, of which there was abundance, was Strasburg pie, _paté de +foie gras_,--the year's production of that delicacy having been +stored in Strasburg for exportation. + +The famous library was greatly injured, but the cathedral was not +materially hurt. A German who had been in Hamburg during the time +of the great fire, assured an English reporter that the scene of +desolation in that city on the morning after the conflagration +was less heart-rending than that presented by the ruined quarters +of Strasburg when the Prussian conquerors marched in. And yet the +inhabitants, had General Ulrich been willing, would have still +fought on. + +Metz capitulated one month after Strasburg, Oct. 27, 1870. Three +marshals of France, six thousand officers, and one hundred and +seventy-three thousand men surrendered to the Germans. Many were +entirely demoralized; but the Garde Impériale, a body of picked +troops, was faithful to the last. + +"That a vast army which had given ample proof of military worth in +the two great battles of Gravelotte, and which moreover possessed +the support of the most important stronghold in France, should have +permitted a scarcely superior enemy to hem it in and to detain +it for weeks, making no earnest attempt to escape, and finally, at +the conqueror's bidding, should have laid down its arms without +striking a blow, would before the event," says an English military +authority, "have seemed impossible. It set the investing force +free to crush the new-made Army of the Loire, and it occurred in +the nick of time to prevent the raising of the siege of Paris, +which the Germans had in contemplation." + +Smaller places held out nobly,--Phalsbourg in Alsace, and Thionville +and Toul, but above all Belfort. Garibaldi was there with a considerable +body of Italians and a contingent of two hundred well-armed Greeks. +There was great jealousy of Garibaldi and his Italians in the Southern +army, and their outrageous conduct towards priests and churches +set against them the women and the peasantry. + +Belfort never surrendered. But the army under Bourbaki, called +the Army of the East, nearly a hundred thousand strong, suffered +horribly in the latter days of the struggle. It was not included in +the armistice made at the close of January, 1871, between Bismarck +and Jules Favre, for Favre was in total ignorance of its position. +Bourbaki attempted suicide. His soldiers, shoeless, tentless, and +unprovided with provisions, pushed into the defiles of the Jura +in the depths of one of the coldest winters ever known in Europe, +hoping to escape into Switzerland. Eighty thousand men made their +way over the mountains; fifteen thousand were made prisoners. A +few escaped to their homes. A correspondent who saw them after +they reached safety, said,-- + +"In all of them, pinched features and a slouching gait told of +gnawing hunger, while their hollow voices told of nights spent +on snow and frozen ground. Some had tied bits of wood under their +bare feet to keep them from the stones. For weeks none had washed, +or changed their clothes. Their hands were black as Africans'. For +three days neither food nor fodder had been served out to them, +and before that they had only got one four-pound loaf among eight +men." + +While men were thus suffering in the mountains, an event of the +greatest political importance was taking place at Versailles. On +January 19, a week before the capitulation of Paris, the king of +Prussia received a deputation from the German Reichstag, offering +him the imperial crown of Germany. + +The Federal States of the German Empire up to the close of the +last century were three hundred and sixty; many of these were only +free cities or extremely small duchies or principalities. There +was a German emperor and a German Diet. The latter met always at +Frankfort. The emperor might be of any family or of any religion. +His successor was elected during his lifetime, to be ready in case +of accident, and was called King of the Romans. The emperor was +at first chosen by the princes at large, but in process of time +the choice was made over to nine princes, called electors. After +1438, all emperors of Germany were of the house of Hapsburg, the +royal family of Austria. This was not law, but custom. In the days +of Napoleon I. the old German Empire was broken up. The title of +Emperor of Germany was discontinued, though he who would have borne +it still held an imperial title as Emperor of Austria. The small +German princes were mediatized; that is, pensioned, and reduced +from sovereign princes to the condition of mere nobles. In place +of three hundred and sixty States there remained thirty-six States, +composing the German Confederation. A new German Federal Constitution +was formed; the States agreed to defend one another, to do nothing +to injure one another, and to abstain from making war upon one +another. There were practically seventeen votes in the Diet, some +of the larger States having several, and many of the smaller States +uniting in the possession of one. + +This Constitution also was swept away in 1866, after the brilliant +campaign of Sadowa. + +The great desire of patriotic Germans was to consolidate Germany,--to +make her strong; and while Prussia, assisted by all the North German +States and by Bavaria, Baden, Würtemberg, and Darmstadt, was fighting +France, a new Federal, Constitution was formed. + +The king of Prussia was chosen German emperor, and the imperial +crown was to be hereditary in his family. There is a Diet, or Federal +Congress, composed of two Houses, the Upper House being limited +to sovereign princes or their representatives, the other, called +the Reichstag, being really the governing power of the nation. +Each State is entitled also to its own legislature. + +In the Reichstag, Prussia has nearly two thirds of the votes; and +its power is much greater than that of our Congress at Washington. +The emperor can veto its decisions only when they affect changes +in the constitution. The Diet can dethrone any emperor if he is +considered incapable of governing, or supposed to be dangerous +to the Fatherland. + +Practically the power of Prussia seems boundless in the federation; +she enforces her military system on all Germany, and the smaller +States submit to her, for the sake of strength and unity. + +On Jan. 18, 1871, a deputation of fifty members of the Reichstag +came to the king of Prussia's headquarters at Versailles to implore +him to accept the imperial crown of Germany. The world's attention +was engrossed by the campaign which was then drawing to a close, and +the offering of the imperial crown to the Prussian sovereign formed +only a dramatic episode in the history of the war. Fortunately, as +the deputies passed Paris, shivering in their furs, while transported +in carriages of all descriptions, the Parisians made no sortie to +intercept them, and they reached Versailles in safety. + +The French seemed perfectly indifferent on the occasion. "Do as +you like," seemed to be the feeling. "Have an empire if you think +proper. It is no concern of ours. We are glad to have got rid of +our own." + +The day on which the deputies offered their great gift to King +William was clear and bright. Before the prefecture at Versailles +was planted the Prussian royal standard,--a black cross on a ground +of gold and purple. Round the gateway stood all the Prussian soldiers +who were off duty, waiting to see the deputies pass in. There was +no music, but shots boomed from Paris from time to time. There +was to be thenceforward one Germany, and one flag for the land +of so many princes, who all waived their claims in favor of the +greatest among them,--he who now stood conqueror in a foreign land. + +The chief room of the prefecture was filled with men in bright +uniforms, with helmets, ribbons, and decorations of all kinds. The +king stood near the fireplace, surrounded by princes and generals. +The president of the North German Confederation appointed to address +him had once before, in 1849, offered the imperial crown to a Prussian +king, who had declined it. Since then events had ripened. This time +the king accepted what his countrymen desired he should receive +from them. But he declined to assume the title of emperor until +the South German people should express their acquiescence, as the +South German princes had already done. + +We may contrast the conduct of the Prussian king with the unwisdom +of the French emperor. Both Napoleon III. and the Emperor William +governed as autocrats; but with what different men they surrounded +themselves, and how differently they were served in their hour of +need! Yet Napoleon III. was lavish of rewards to his adherents, +while the Emperor William was, to an excessive degree, chary of +recompense. He seemed to feel that each man owed his all to his +kaiser and his country, and that when he had given all, he could +only say, in the words of Scripture: "I have but done that it was +my duty to do." + +When Jules Favre went to Versailles to negotiate with the German +emperor and his chancellor for the surrender of Paris, he was +accompanied, on his second and subsequent visits, by a young officer +of ordnance, Count d'Hérisson, who attended him as a sort of +aide-de-camp. Nothing could be less alike than the two men: Jules +Favre, of the upper middle class in life, deeply sorrowful, oppressed +by his responsibility, and profoundly conscious of his situation; and +the young man whose birth placed him in the ranks of the _jeunesse +dorée_, pleased to find himself in plenty and in good society, and +allowing his spirits to rise with even more than national buoyancy, +when, for a moment, the pressure of trouble was removed. D'Hérisson +published an account of his experience while at the Prussian +headquarters, which gives so vivid a picture of Count Bismarck, +the great chancellor of the German Empire, that I here venture +to repeat some parts of his narrative. He says,-- + +"On January 23 I received a summons from Jules Favre. He seized +me by both hands, and asked me to carry, early the next morning, +a despatch to M. de Bismarck, and to get it into his hands before +daybreak. No one was to know of this despatch except the German +officer bearing a flag of truce, to whom I was to give it with +my own hand. 'Then all is over?' I said to Jules Favre. 'Yes,' he +answered, 'we have only bread enough for a few more days. God only +knows what the people of Paris may do to us when we are forced to +let them know the truth. We must do our best to guard against the +disastrous consequences of their strong feeling of patriotism. The +Government does not intend to rid itself of its responsibilities, +but its first duty is to provide bread for the capital.' + +"With some difficulty," continued d'Hérisson, "I reached Sèvres, +and the next morning before daybreak gave Jules Favre's letter +to the Prussian officer. I sent back an express to Jules Favre +with the news, and then went to Baron Rothschild's desolated villa +at Suresnes to wait the answer. Two hours later, came a message +from the French officer commanding the nearest outpost to say that +a flag of truce had brought word that M. de Bismarck would see M. +Jules Favre, and that a carriage would be in waiting on the left +bank of the Seine to take him to headquarters." + +This knowledge of the negotiation at the French outposts was a +disclosure that Jules Favre had desired to avoid. + +"When I brought Jules Favre the news," continues d'Hérisson, "he +was greatly moved. His hands trembled so that he could hardly break +the seal of the letter." + +[Illustration: _JULES FAVRE_.] + +Seeing that news of what was passing would most certainly be brought +in from the outposts, it seemed best that the French Minister for +Foreign Affairs should start at once for the interview. There was +in the courtyard a _coupé_ with a handsome horse, once belonging +to Napoleon III., and driven by one of his former coachmen. Jules +Favre at once got into it, with his son-in-law and M. d'Hérisson. +They passed with some difficulty through the Bois de Boulogne, the +roads having been torn up and trees felled in every direction. On +reaching a French outpost Jules Favre, afraid of being recognized, +concealed his face. Their only means of crossing the Seine at Sèvres +was to take a small boat which had served General Burnside a few days +before. But the Prussians had been making a target of it ever since, +and it was riddled with bullets. Having bailed it out, however, +with an old saucepan, they stuffed their handkerchiefs into the +worst leaks, and crossed the Seine in safety. + +In a miserable old carriage, attended by a Prussian escort, Jules +Favre was borne away to his terrible interview with Bismarck, leaving +d'Hérisson behind. Favre did not come back for many hours. His +first words to his aide-de-camp were: "Oh, my dear fellow, I was +wrong to go without you. What have I not suffered?" + +He had been taken at once to a very modest house in Versailles, +where Bismarck had his quarters. After the first salutations Jules +Favre said that he came to renew the negotiations broken off at +Ferrières. Here Bismarck interrupted him, saying: "The situation +is changed. If you are still going to say, 'Not an inch, not a +stone,' as you did at Ferrières, we may break off at once. My time +is valuable, and yours too." Then suddenly he added: "Your hair has +grown much grayer than it was at Ferrières." Jules Favre replied that +that was due to anxiety and the cares of government. The chancellor +answered that the Government of Paris had put off a long time asking +for peace, and that he had been on the eve of making an arrangement +with an envoy from Napoleon III. He then explained that it would +be easy for him to bring back the emperor and to force France to +receive him; that Napoleon could collect an army of a hundred thousand +men among the French prisoners of war in Germany, etc.; and he +added: "After all, why should I treat with you? Why should I give +your irregular Republic an appearance of legality by signing an +armistice with its representative? What are you but rebels? Your +emperor if he came back would have the right to shoot every one +of you." + +"But if he came back," cried Jules Favre, "all would be civil war +and anarchy." + +"Are you so sure of that?" said the chancellor. "Anyhow, a civil +war in France could not affect Germany." + +"But, M. le Comte, are you not afraid of reducing us to despair, +of exasperating our resistance?" + +"Your resistance!" cried Bismarck. "Are you proud of your resistance? +If General Trochu were a German, I would have him shot this evening. +You have no right, for the sake of mere military vainglory, to +risk the lives of two millions of people. The railroad tracks have +been torn up, and if we cannot lay them down again in two days, we +know that a hundred thousand people in Paris will die of famine. +Don't talk of resistance, it is criminal." + +Jules Favre, put entirely out of countenance by Bismarck's tone, +merely insisted that in pity to France there should be no question +of subjecting her to the ignominy of being again made over to her +deposed emperor. Before parting, Bismarck requested him to write +down such conditions of peace as seemed to him reasonable, in order +that they might discuss them the next day.[1] + +[Footnote 1: My copy of d'Hérisson's book has a pencil note at +this place, written by a friend then at Versailles: "Bismarck rode +after Jules Favre when he set out on his return, and thrust into +his carriage an enormous sausage."] + +When that day came, the chancellor, having had interviews with +his sovereign and Von Moltke, submitted his own propositions. They +were seven in number:-- + +I. An armistice for twenty-one days. + +II. Disarmament of the French army, to remain in Paris as prisoners +of war. + +III. The soldiers to give up arms and banners; officers to keep +their swords. + +IV. The armistice to extend all over France. + +V. Paris to pay indemnity, and give up its forts to the Prussians. + +VI. The Germans not to enter Paris during the armistice. + +VII. Elections to be held throughout France for a National Assembly +charged to consider conditions of peace. + +Some slight modifications were made in these hard terms, which were +signed Jan. 28, 1871. + +As aide-de-camp and secretary to the French minister, d'Hérisson +was present at all the interviews between Bismarck and his principal. +When the terms, proposed by Germany were reported by Jules Favre +to the Committee of Defence, they were thought less severe than +had been feared. + +The next morning Favre and d'Hérisson were at Versailles by dawn. +Bismarck, who was an early riser, soon appeared, and took the minister +and his aide-de-camp to his study. There the two men talked, and +the secretary took notes of the conversation. + +Bismarck and Favre presented a great contrast. Bismarck was then +fifty-five years of age; Jules Favre was six years older. Bismarck +wore the uniform of a colonel of White Cuirassiers,--a white coat, +a white cap, and yellow trimmings. He seemed like a colossus, with +his square shoulders and his mighty strength. Jules Favre, on the +contrary, was tall and thin, bowed down by a sense of his position, +wearing a black frock-coat that had become too wide for him, with +his white hair resting on its collar. He was especially urgent that +the National Guard in Paris should retain its arms. He consented +to the disarmament of the Mobiles and the army, but he said it would +be impossible to disarm the National Guard. At length Bismarck +yielded this point, but with superior sagacity remarked: "So be +it. But believe me you are doing a foolish thing. Sooner or later +you will be sorry you did not disarm those unquiet spirits. Their +arms will be turned against you." + +When the question was raised concerning the indemnity to be paid +by Paris, Bismarck said, laughing, that Paris was so great a lady, +it would be an indignity to ask of her less than a milliard of +francs ($200,000,000). The ransom was finally settled at two hundred +millions of francs ($40,000,000). + +"The dinner-hour having arrived, the chancellor invited us," says +d'Hérisson, "to take seats at his table. Jules Favre, who wanted +to write out carefully the notes I had taken, begged to have his +dinner sent up to him; so I alone followed the chancellor to the +dining-room, where about a dozen military and civil functionaries +were assembled, but all were in uniform. The chancellor, who sat +at the head of the table, placed me on his right. There was plenty +of massive silver, belonging evidently to a travelling case. The +only deficiency was in light, the table being illuminated by only +two wax candles stuck in empty wine-bottles. This was the only +evidence of a time of war." + +As soon as the chancellor was seated, he began to eat with a good +appetite, talking all the time, and drinking alternately beer and +champagne from a great silver goblet marked with his initials. The +conversation was in French. Suddenly the chancellor remembered +having met M. d'Hérisson eight years before at the Princess +Mentzichoff's, and their relations became those of two gentlemen +who recognize each other in good society. + +The Parisians thought that d'Hérisson had been far too lively on +this occasion; but he feels sure that his sprightly talk and free +participation in the good things of the table, formed a favorable +contrast to the deep depression of Jules Favre at the same board +the day before. "M. de Bismarck," he says, "is not at all like +the conventional statesman. He is not solemn. He is very gay, and +even when discussing the gravest questions often makes jokes, though +under his playful sallies gleam the lion's claws." + +They talked of hunting. The chancellor related anecdotes of his +own prowess, and by the time they returned to Jules Favre, the +French aide-de-camp and the Prussian prime minister were on the +best terms with each other. But before long the chancellor gave a +specimen of the violence of his displeasure. "Three times," says +d'Hérisson, "I saw him angry,--once _à propos_ of Garibaldi; once +when speaking of the resistance of St. Quentin, an unwalled town, +which he said should have submitted at once; and once it was my +own fault." + +On the table stood a saucer with three choice cigars. The chancellor +took it up and offered it to Jules Favre, who replied that he never +smoked; "There you are wrong," said Bismarck; "when a conversation +is about to take place which may lead to differences of opinion, +it is better to smoke. The cigar between a man's lips, which he +must not let fall, controls his physical impatience. It soothes him +imperceptibly. He grows more conciliatory. He is more disposed to +make concessions. And diplomacy is made up of reciprocal concessions. +You who don't smoke have one advantage over me,--you are more on +the alert. But I have an advantage over you,--you will be more +likely than I shall be to lose your self control and give way to +sudden impressions." + +The negotiation was resumed very quietly. With astonishing frankness +the chancellor said simply and plainly what he wanted. He went straight +to his point, bewildering Jules Favre, a lawyer by profession, who +was accustomed to diplomatic circumlocutions, and was not prepared +for such imperious openness. + +The chancellor spoke French admirably, "making use," says d'Hérisson +"of strong and choice expressions, and never seeming at a loss +for a word." But when the subject of Garibaldi and his army came +up, his eyes began to flash, and he seemed to curb himself with +difficulty. "I intend," he said, "to leave him and his followers +out of the armistice. He is not one of your own people. You can +very well leave him to me. Our army opposed to him is about equal +to his. Let them fight it out between them." Jules Favre replied +that this was impossible; for though France had not asked Garibaldi +for his services, and had in the first instance refused them, +circumstances had made him general-in-chief of a large _corps d'armée_ +composed almost entirely of Frenchmen, and to abandon him would be +indefensible. Then the anger of the chancellor blazed forth against +Garibaldi. "I want to parade him through the streets of Berlin," +he cried, "with a placard on his back: 'This is Gratitude!'" + +Here d'Hérisson interrupted his burst of anger by picking up the +saucer from the table and holding it to his breast as beggars do +at the church-doors. The chancellor caught his idea after a moment. +He laughed, and Garibaldi, with his _corps d'armée_, was included +in the armistice. + +It was necessary, however, that a French general should come out +to Versailles the next day and confer with Count von Moltke with +regard to some military details. The old general who was chosen +for that service was furious at the appointment, and behaved with +such rudeness that Bismarck requested that a man more courteous +might replace him. + +In the course of the conversation Bismarck, who was always breaking +off upon side topics, replied to an observation made by Jules Favre +about the love of France for a republic, by saying: "Are you so +sure of that?--for I don't think so. Before treating with you, we +naturally made it our business to obtain good information as to +the state of public feeling in your country; and notwithstanding +this unhappy war, which was forced by France upon Napoleon III., +and notwithstanding the disasters of your armies, nothing would be +easier, believe me, than to re-establish the emperor. I will not +say that his restoration would have been hailed by acclamations +in Paris, but it would have been submitted to by the country. A +_plébiscite_ would have done the rest." + +Jules Favre protested. "Oh, you will become more inclined to monarchy +as you grow older," cried the chancellor. "Look at me. I began +my public life by being a liberal; and now, by force of reason, +by the teachings of experience, and by an increased knowledge of +mankind, I have learned, loving my country, wishing her good and her +greatness, to become a conservative,--an upholder of authority. My +emperor converted me. My gratitude to him, my respectful affection, +date from the far-off time when he alone supported me. If I am to-day +the man you see me, if I have rendered any service to my country, I +owe it all, as I am pleased to acknowledge, to the emperor." + +That night, as Jules Favre was returning to Paris to obtain from +his colleagues the ratification of the armistice, Bismarck proposed +that firing should cease at midnight. Jules Favre assented, but +asked as a courtesy that Paris might fire the last shot. + +That night the terms of capitulation were signed by all the members +of the Committee of Defence. It is strange how the baptismal name +of Jules predominated among them,--Jules Favre, Jules Ferry, Jules +Simon, Jules Trochu. Trochu, however, did not sign, having resigned +his post that he might not be called upon to do so. + +A few changes in the articles as at first drawn up were made. The +Prussians did not insist, as Bismarck had done at first, that the +cannon in the bastions should be hurled down, and regiments were +permitted to retain their colors, though Von Moltke objected strongly +to such concessions. They were granted, however, by the emperor, +when the matter was referred to him, but in words more insulting +than a refusal. "Tell the envoy of the French Government," he said, +"that we have trophies enough and standards enough taken from French +armies, and have no need of those of the army of Paris." + +Then, the capitulation being signed, the armistice began. General +elections were at once held all over France, and the National Assembly +met at Bordeaux. A Provisional Government, with M. Thiers at its +head, was appointed, and peace was concluded. Alsace and Lorraine +were given up to Germany, with the exception of the stronghold +of Belfort, which had never surrendered. The German army was to +enter Paris, but to go no farther than the Place de la Concorde; +and besides the two hundred millions of francs exacted from Paris, +France was to pay five milliards, that is, five thousand millions, +of francs, as a war indemnity,--a thousand millions of dollars. +Germany was to retain certain forts in France, and her troops in +them were to be rationed by the French until this money was paid. + +It was paid in an incredibly short time, chiefly by the help of the +great Jewish banking-houses; and the last of the Germans retired +to their own soil in September, 1872. + +But on March 13, 1871, the German army around Paris, after remaining +a few hours in the capital, marched away towards home. + +The Assembly at Bordeaux proceeded at once to transfer itself to +the late Prussian headquarters at Versailles; but on March 18 a +great rising, called the Commune, broke out in Paris, which lasted +rather more than nine weeks, with a continued succession of horrors. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE COMMUNE. + +The story of the Commune is piteous, disheartening, shameful, and +terrible. It seems as if during three months of 1871 "human nature," +as Carlyle says of it in his "French Revolution," "had thrown off +all formulas, and come out _human!_" It is the story of those whom +the French call "the people,"--we "the mob," or "the populace,"--let +loose upon society, and society in its turn mercilessly avenging +itself for its wrongs. + +By March 12,1871, the Prussian soldiers had quitted the environs of +Paris, and were in full march for their homes. Two of the detached +forts, however, remained eighteen months longer in their hands. +On March 20 the National Assembly was to begin its session at +Versailles. The Provinces were very mistrustful of Paris, and the +assembling of the deputies at Versailles was of itself a proof +of the want of national confidence in the Parisians. + +When it was made known that the German army was to enter Paris, +the National Guard of Belleville and Montmartre stole cannon from +the fortifications, and placed them in position in their own quarter +on the heights, so that they could fire into the city. + +On March 18 General Vinoy, who had succeeded Trochu as military +commander of Paris, demanded that these cannon should be given back +to the city. Many of them had been purchased by subscription during +the siege, but they were not the property of the men of Belleville +and Montmartre, but of the whole National Guard. A regiment of +the line was ordered to take possession of them, and they did so. +But immediately after, the soldiers fraternized with the National +Guard of Belleville, and surrendered their prize. An officer of +chasseurs had been killed, and General Lecomte twice ordered his +men to fire on the insurgents.[1] They refused to obey him. "General +Lecomte is right," said a gentleman who was standing in a crowd +of angry men at a street-corner near the scene of action. He was +seized at once, and was soon recognized as General Clément Thomas, +formerly commander of the National Guard of Paris. He had done gallant +service during the siege; but that consideration had no weight with +the insurgents. General Lecomte had been already arrested. "We +will put you with him," cried the mob,--"you, who dare to speak +in defence of such a scoundrel." Both the unfortunate generals +were immediately imprisoned. + +[Footnote 1: Leighton, Paris under the Commune.] + +At four P. M. they were brought forth by about one hundred insurgent +National Guards; Lecomte's hands were tied, those of General Thomas +were free. They were marched to an empty house, where a mock trial +took place. No rescue was attempted, though soldiers of the line +stood by. The two prisoners were then conducted to a walled enclosure +at the end of the street. As soon as the party halted, an officer +of the National Guard seized General Thomas by the collar and shook +him violently, holding a revolver to his head, and crying out, +"Confess that you have betrayed the Republic!" The general shrugged +his shoulders. The officer retired. The report of twenty muskets +rent the air, and General Thomas fell, face downward. They ordered +Lecomte to step over his body, and to take his place against the +wall. Another report succeeded, and the butchery was over. + +By evening the National Guard had taken possession of the +Hôtel-de-Ville, and the outer Boulevards were crowded by men shouting +that they had made a revolution. On this day the insurgents assumed the +name of "Fédérés," or Federals, denoting their project of converting +the communistic cities of France into a Federal Republic. + +In vain the Government put forth proclamations calling on all good +citizens, and on the Old National Guard, to put down insurrection +and maintain order and the Republic. The Old Battalions of the +National Guard, about twenty thousand strong, had been composed +chiefly of tradesmen and gentlemen; these, as soon as the siege was +over, had for the most part left the city. Bismarck's proposition +to Jules Favre had been to leave the Old National Guard its arms, +that it might preserve order, but to take advantage of the occasion +to disarm the New Battalions. As we have seen, all were permitted +to retain their arms; but the chancellor told Jules Favre he would +live to repent having obtained the concession. + +The friends of order, in spite of the Government's proclamations, +could with difficulty be roused to action. There were two parties +in Paris,--the Passives, and the Actives; and the latter party +increased in strength from day to day. Indeed, it was hard for +peaceful citizens to know under whom they were to range themselves. +The Government had left the city. One or two of its members were +still in Paris, but the rest had rushed off to Versailles, protected +by an army forty thousand strong, under General Vinoy. + +A species of Government had, however, formed itself by the morning +of March 19 at the Hôtel-de-Ville. It called itself the Central +Committee of the National Guard, and issued proclamations on _white_ +paper (white paper being reserved in Paris for proclamations of the +Government). It called upon all citizens in their sections at once +to elect a commune. This proclamation was signed by twenty citizens, +only one of whom, M. Assy, had ever been heard of in Paris. Some +months before, he had headed a strike, killed a policeman, and had +been condemned to the galleys for murder. The men who thus constituted +themselves a Government, were all members of the International,--that +secret association, formed in all countries, for the abolition of +property and patriotism, religion and the family, rulers, armies, +upper classes, and every species of refinement. Another proclamation +decreed that the people of Paris, whether it pleased them or not, +must on Wednesday, March 22, elect a commune. + +In a former chapter I have tried to explain the nature of a commune. +Victor Hugo wrote his opinion of it, when the idea of a commune +was first started, after the fall of Louis Philippe in 1848. His +words read like a prophecy:-- + +"It would tear down the tricolor, and set up the red flag of +destruction; it would make penny-pieces out of the Column of the +Place Vendôme; it would hurl down the statue of Napoleon, and set +up that of Marat in its place; it would suppress the Académie, +the École Polytechnique, and the Legion of Honor. To the grand +motto of 'Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity,' it would add the +words, 'or death.' It would bring about a general bankruptcy. It +would ruin the rich without enriching the poor. It would destroy +labor, which gives each of us his bread. It would abolish property, +and break up the family. It would march about with the heads of the +proscribed on pikes, fill the prisons with the suspected, and empty +them by massacre. It would convert France into a country of gloom. It +would destroy liberty, stifle the arts, silence thought, and deny +God. It would supply work for two things fatal to prosperity,--the +press that prints assignats, and the guillotine. In a word, it +would do in cold blood what the men of 1793 did in the ravings +of fever; and after the great horrors which our fathers saw, we +should have the horrible in every form that is low and base." + +The party of the Commune has been divided into three classes,--the +rascals, the dupes, and the enthusiasts. The latter in the last +hours of the Commune (which lasted seventy-three days) put forth +in a manifesto their theory of government; to wit, that every city +in France should have absolute power to govern itself, should levy +its own taxes, make its own laws, provide its own soldiers, see to +its own schools, elect its own judges, and make within its corporate +limits whatever changes of government it pleased. These Communistic +cities were to be federated into a Republic. It was not clear how +those Frenchmen were to be governed who did not live in cities; +possibly each city was to have territory attached to it, as in +Italy in the Middle Ages. + +The weather during March of the year 1871 was very fine, and fine +weather is always favorable to disturbances and revolutions. + +The very few men of note still left in Paris desirous of putting +an end to disorder without the shedding of blood, proposed to go +out to Versailles and negotiate with M. Thiers, the provisional +president, and the members of his Government. They were the twelve +deputies of the Department of the Seine, in which Paris is situated, +headed by Louis Blanc, and the _maires_, with their assistants, from +the twenty arrondissements. They proposed to urge on the Government +of Versailles the policy of giving the Parisians the right to elect +what in England would be called a Lord Mayor, and likewise a city +council; also to give the National Guard the right to elect its +officers. + +This deputation went out to Versailles on the 20th of March,--two +days before the proposed election for members of a commune. On the +21st, while all Paris was awaiting anxiously the outcome of the +mission, there was a great "order" demonstration in the streets, +and hopes of peace and concord were exchanged on all sides. The +next day, the order demonstration, which had seemed so popular, +was repeated, when a massacre took place on the Place Vendome and +the Rue de la Paix. Nurses, children, and other quiet spectators +were killed, as also old gentlemen and reporters for the newspapers. +One of the victims was a partner in the great banking house of +Hottinguer, well known to American travellers. + +The most popular man at that moment in Paris seemed to be Admiral +Seisset, who had commanded the brigade of sailors which did good +service in the siege. He went out to Versailles to unite his efforts +to those of the _maires_ and the deputies in favor of giving Paris +municipal rights; but M. Thiers and his ministers were firm in +their refusal. + +When this was known in Paris, great was the fury and indignation +of the people. In vain had Louis Blanc entreated the Assembly at +Versailles to approve conciliatory measures; and when that body +utterly refused to make terms with a Parisian mob, M. Clémenceau +said, as he quitted their chamber: "May the responsibility for +what may happen, rest upon your heads." + +The mission to Versailles having been productive of no results, +the election for a commune was held. The extremest men were chosen +in every quarter of the city, and formed what was called the Council +of the Commune. It held its sittings in the Hôtel-de-Ville, and +consisted at first of eighty members, seventy of whom had never +been heard of in Paris before. Its numbers dwindled rapidly, from +various causes, especially in the latter days of the Commune. Among +them were Poles, Italians, and even Germans; two of the eighty +claimed to be Americans. + +The first act of the Council of the Commune was to take possession +of the Hôtel-de-Ville and to celebrate the inauguration of the +new government by a brilliant banquet; its first decree was that +no tenant need pay any back rent from October, 1870, to April, +1871,--the time during which the siege had lasted. It lost no time +in inviting Garibaldi to assume the command of the National Guard. +This Garibaldi declined at once, saying that a commandant of the +National Guard, a commander-in-chief of Paris, and an executive +committee could not act together. "What Paris needs," he said, +"is an honest dictator, who will choose honest men to act under +him. If you should have the good fortune to find a Washington, +France will recover from shipwreck, and in a short time be grander +than ever." + +On April 3 the civil war broke out,--Paris against Versailles; +the army under the National Assembly against the National Guard +under the Commune. The Prussians from the two forts which they +still held, looked grimly on. + +At the bridge of Courbevoie, near Neuilly, where the body of Napoleon +had been landed thirty years before, a flag of truce was met by +two National Guards. Its bearer was a distinguished surgeon, Dr. +Pasquier. After a brief parley, one of the National Guards blew +out the doctor's brains. When news of this outrage was brought to +General Vinoy, he commanded the guns of Fort Valérien to be turned +upon the city. + +At five A. M. the next morning five columns of Federals marched out +to take the fort. They were under the command of three generals, +Bergeret, Duval, and Eudes. With Bergeret rode Lullier, who had +been a naval officer, and Flourens, the popular favorite among +the members of the Commune. The three divisions marched in full +confidence that the soldiers under Vinoy would fraternize with them. +They were wholly mistaken; the guns of Fort Valérien crashed into +the midst of their columns, and almost at the same time Flourens, +in a hand-to-hand struggle, was slain. + +Flourens had begun life with every prospect of being a distinguished +scientist. His father had been perpetual secretary of the Academy +of Sciences and a professor in the Collège de France, in which +his son succeeded him when he was barely twenty-one. His first +lecture, on the "History of Man," created a great impression; but +in 1864 he resigned his professorship, and thenceforward devoted +all his energies to the cause of the oppressed. In Crete he fought +against the Turks. He was always conspiring when at home in Paris; +even when the Prussians were at its gates, he could not refrain. +He was the darling of the Belleville population, whom in times of +distress and trial he fed, clothed, and comforted. Sometimes he +was in prison, sometimes in exile. "He was a madman, but a hero, +and towards the poor and the afflicted as gentle as a sister of +charity," said one who knew him. + +Of the three generals who led the attack on Mont Valérien, Duval +was captured and shot; Eudes and Bergeret got back to Paris in +safety. But the latter, in company with Lullier, was at once sent +to prison by the Central Committee, and a decree was issued that +Paris should be covered with barricades. As the insurgents had +plenty of leisure, these barricades were strong and symmetrical, +though many of them were injudiciously placed. + +Whilst the fight of the 4th of April was going on without the gates, +the Central Committee was occupied in issuing decrees, by which +Thiers, Favre, Simon,--in short, all the legitimate ministers,--were +summoned to give themselves up to the Commune to be tried for their +offences, or else all their property in Paris would be confiscated +or destroyed. + +The failure of the expedition under Bergeret made the Parisians +furiously angry. In less than a week some of the best-known priests +in Paris were arrested as hostages. The churches were all closed +after the morning services on Easter Day; the arms were cut off +from the crosses, and red flags were hung up in their stead. No +one could be buried with Christian decency, or married with the +Church's blessing. + +"The motto of the Commune soon became fraternity of that sort," +said a resident in Paris, "which means arrest each other." Before +the Commune had been established two weeks, many of its leading +members, besides Lullier and Bergeret, had found their way to prison. + +A personage who rose to great importance at this period was General +Cluseret. He called himself an American, but he had had many aliases, +and it is not known in what country he was born. At one time he +had been a captain in the Chasseurs d'Afrique, but was convicted +of dishonesty in the purchase of horses, and dismissed from the +army. Then he came to the United States, and entered the service +of the Union, by which he became a naturalized citizen. He got +into trouble, however, over a flock of sheep which mysteriously +disappeared while he had charge of them. Next he enlisted in the +Papal Zouaves. After the Commune he escaped from Paris, and the +Fenians chose him for their general. In their service he came very +near capturing Chester Castle. The Fenians, however, soon accused +him of being a traitor. Again he escaped, fearing a secret dagger, +and was thought to have found refuge in a religious community. +Subsequently he served the Turks; and lastly, during the presidency +of M. Grévy, at a time of great dissatisfaction in France, he was +elected a deputy from one of the Southern cities. + +By April 7, Cluseret had, as some one expresses it, "swallowed up +the Commune." He became for three weeks absolute dictator; after +which time he found himself in prison at Mazas, occupying the very +cell to which he had sent Bergeret. + +Cluseret was a soldier of experience; but Bergeret had been a +bookseller's assistant, and his highest military rank had been +that of a sergeant in the National Guard. He could not ride on +horseback, and he drove out from Paris to the fight in which Flourens +was killed. + +The official title of Cluseret and others, who were heads of the +War Office during the Commune, was War Delegate, the committee +refusing to recognize the usual title of Minister of War. + +Probably the best general the Commune had was a Pole named Dombrowski, +an adventurer who came into France with Garibaldi. He was not only +a good strategist, but a dare-devil for intrepidity. Some said he +had fought for Polish liberty, others, that he had fought against +it; at any rate, he was an advanced Anarchist, though in military +matters he was a strict disciplinarian, and kept his men of all +nations in better order than any other commander. + +When, after the first attack of the Communist forces on those of +the Versailles Government, the guns of Fort Valérien opened on +Paris, the second bombardment began. It was far more destructive +than that of the Prussians, the guns from the forts being so much +nearer to the centre of the city. The shells of the Versaillais +fell on friend and foe alike, on women and on children, on homes, +on churches, and on public buildings. Three shots struck the Arch +of Triumph, which the Prussians had spared. + +Such scenes as the following one, related by an American, might +be seen daily:-- + +"Two National Guards passed me, bearing a litter between them. 'Oh, +you can look if you like,' cried one; so I drew back the checked +curtain. On a mattress was stretched a woman decently dressed, +with a child of two or three years lying on her breast. They both +looked very pale. One of the woman's arms was hanging down; her +hand had been carried away. 'Where are they wounded?' I asked. +'Wounded! they are dead,' was the reply. 'They are the wife and +child of the velocipede-maker in the Avenue de Wagram. If you will +go and break the news to him, you will do us a kindness.'" + +The velocipede-maker may have been--probably was--a good, peaceable +citizen, with no sympathy for disorder or anarchy; but doubtless +from the moment that news was broken to him, he became a furious +Communist. + +By order of General Cluseret every man in Paris was to be forced +to bear arms for the Commune. His neighbors were expected to see +that he did so, and to arrest him at once if he seemed anxious +to decline. "Thus, every man walking along the street was liable +to have the first Federal who passed him, seize him by the collar +and say: 'Come along, and be killed on behalf of my municipal +independence.'" + +It would be hardly possible to follow the details of the fighting, +the arrests, the bombardment, or even the changes that took place +among those high in office in the Council of the Commune during the +seventy-three days that its power lasted; the state of things in +Paris will be best exhibited by detached sketches of what individuals +saw and experienced during those dreadful days. + +Here is the narrative of an English lady who was compelled to visit +Paris on Easter Sunday, April 9, while it was under the administration +of Cluseret.[1] + +[Footnote 1: A Catholic lady in "Red" Paris. London Spectator, April, +1871 (Living Age, May 13, 1871).] + +The streets she found for the most part silent and empty. There were +a few omnibuses, filled with National Guards and men _en blouse_, +and heavy ammunition-wagons under the disorderly escort of men in +motley uniforms, with guns and bayonets. Here and there were groups +of "patriots" seated on the curbstones, playing pitch-farthing, +known in France by the name of "bouchon." Their guns were resting +quietly against the wall behind them, with, in many instances, a +loaf of bread stuck on the bayonet. The sky was gray, the wind +piercingly cold. The swarming life of Paris was hushed. There was +no movement, and scarcely any sound. The shop-windows were shut, +many were boarded up; from a few hung shabby red flags, but the +very buildings looked dead. She says,-- + +"I felt bewildered. I could see no traces of the siege, and all +my previous ideas of a revolution were dispersed. I passed several +churches, not then closed, and being a Catholic, I entered the +Madeleine. The precious articles on the altar had been removed by +the priests, but except the words 'Liberté,' 'Égalité,' 'Fraternité,' +deeply cut in the stone over the great door, the church had not, +so far, been desecrated. I went also to mass at Notre Dame des +Victoires; but before telling my cabman to drive me there, I hesitated, +believing it to be in a bad part of the city. 'There are no bad +parts,' he said, 'except towards the Arch of Triumph and Neuilly. +The rest of Paris is as quiet as a bird's nest.' The church was +very full of men as well as women. It was a solemn, devout crowd; +every woman wore a plain black dress, every face was anxious, grave, +and grieved, but none looked frightened. As the aged priest who +officiated read the first words of the Gospel for the day, 'Be +not afraid, ye seek Jesus who was crucified,' the bombardment +recommenced with a fearful roar, shaking the heavy leathern curtain +over the church door, and rattling the glass in the great painted +windows. I started, but got used to it after a while, and paid +no more attention to it than did others. While I was in church, +the citizen patriot who was my cab-driver, had brought me three +newspapers, one of them the journal edited by M. Rochefort, which +said that it was earnestly to be hoped that the 'old assassin' +M. Thiers would soon be disposed of; that all men of heart were +earnestly demanding more blood, and that blood must be given them. +I also learned that the Commune would erect a statue to Robespierre +out of the statues of kings, which were to be melted down for that +purpose. In the Rue Saint-Honore I met a lady whom I knew, returning +from the flower-market with flowers in her hands. 'Then no one,' +I said, pointing to these blossoms, 'need be afraid in Paris?' +'No woman,' she answered, 'except of shells; but the men are all +afraid, and in danger. They are suspected of wanting to get away, +but they will be made to stay and to fight for the Commune.' + +"Indeed, profound gravity seemed expressed on all men's faces, +and as a body, the patriots looked to me cold, tired, bored, and +hungry, to say nothing of dirty, which they looked, to a man. I +had expressed a wish to see a barricade, so we turned into a small +street apparently closed in by a neatly built wall with holes in +it, through which I saw the mouths of cannon. About this wall men +were swarming both in and out of uniform. They were all armed, +and two or three were members of the Commune, with red sashes and +pistols stuck in them, after the fashion of the theatre. As I looked +out of my cab window, longing to see more, a cheerful young woman, +with a pretty, wan infant in her arms, encouraged me to alight, +and a young man to whom she was talking, a clean, trim, fair young +fellow, with a military look, stepped forward and saluted me. He +seemed pleased at my admiration of the barricade, and having handed +a tin can to the young woman, invited me to come inside. Thence I +beheld the Place Vendôme. I had seen it last on Aug. 15, 1868, on +the emperor's fête-day, filled with the glittering Imperial troops. +I saw it again, a wide, empty waste, bounded by four symmetrical +barricades, dotted with slouching figures whose clothes and arms +seemed to encumber them.... I thanked my friend for his politeness, +and returned to my carriage. The young woman smiled at me, as much +as to say: 'Is he not a fine fellow?' I thought he was; and there +may be other fine fellows as much out of place in the ruffianly +mass with which they are associated. + +"In the Rue de Rivoli I saw a regiment marching out to engage the +enemy. Among them were some villanous-looking faces. They passed with +little tramp and a good deal of shuffle,--shabby, wretched, silent. +I did not hear a laugh or an oath; I did not see a violent gesture, +and hardly a smile, that day. The roistering, roaring, terrible +'Reds,' as I saw them, were weary, dull men, doing ill-directed +work with plodding indifference. + +"I visited a lady of world-wide reputation, who gave me a history +of the past months in Paris so brilliantly and epigrammatically that +I was infinitely amused, and carried away the drollest impressions +of L'Empire Cluseret; but her manner changed when I asked her what +I should say to her friends in England. 'Tell them,' she said, +'to fear everything, and to hope very little. We are a degraded +people; we deserve what we have got.' + +"In the street I bought some daffodils from a woman who was tying +them up in bunches. As she put them into my hand, her face seemed +full of horror. Seeing probably an answering sympathy in my face, +she whispered: 'It is said that they have shot the archbishop.' +I did not believe it, and I was right. He was arrested, but his +doom was delayed for six weeks. That night the churches were all +closed. There were no evening services that Easter day. + +"I may add that I saw but one _bonnet rouge_, which I had supposed +would be the revolutionary headdress. It was worn by an ill-looking +ruffian, who sat with his back to the Quai, his legs straddled +across the foot-walk, his drunken head fallen forward on his naked, +hairy breast, a broken pipe between his knees, his doubled fists +upon the stones at either side of him." + +In the story of Louis Napoleon's abortive attempt at Boulogne to +incite France against Louis Philippe's Government, we were much +indebted to the narrative of Count Joseph Orsi, one of the Italians +who from his earliest days had attended on his fortunes. The same +gentleman has given us an account of his own experiences during +the days of the Commune:-- + +"One could not help being struck by the contrasts presented at +that time in Paris itself: destruction and death raging in some +quarters, cannon levelling its beautiful environs, while at the +same moment one could see its fashionable Boulevards crowded with +well-dressed people loitering and smiling as if nothing were going +on. The cafés, indeed, were ordered to close their doors at midnight, +but behind closed shutters went on gambling, drinking, and debauchery. +After spending a riotous night, fast men and women considered it +a joke to drive out to the Arch of Triumph and see how the fight +was going on." + +The troops at Versailles, reinforced by the prisoners of war who +had been returned from Prussia, began, by the 9th of April, to +make active assaults on such forts as were held by the Federals. +Confusion and despair began to reign in the Council of the Commune. +Unsuccessful in open warfare, the managing committee tried to check +the advance of the Versaillais by deeds of violence and retaliation. +They arrested numerous hostages, and the same night the palace of +the archbishop was pillaged. The prefect of police, Raoul Rigault, +issued a decree that every one suspected of being a _réactionnaire_ +(that is, a partisan of the National Assembly) should be at once +arrested. The delivery of letters was suspended, gas was cut off, +and with the exception of a few places where lamp-posts were supplied +with petroleum, Paris was in darkness. + +The Commune also issued a decree that while all men under sixty +must enter its army, women, children, and aged men could obtain +passes to leave the city at the prefecture of police for two francs +a head. The prefecture was besieged by persons striving to get +these passes, many of whom camped out for forty-eight hours while +waiting their turn. + +In the midst of this confused pressure on the prefect of police, +Count Orsi took the resolution of visiting him. As a known adherent +of the former dynasty and a personal friend of the late emperor, he +did not feel himself safe. He therefore took the bull by the horns, +and went to call on the terrible Raoul Rigault in his stronghold. +He did not see him, however; but after struggling for three hours +in the crowd of poor creatures who were waiting to pay their two +francs and receive a passport, he was admitted to the presence of +his secretary, Ferré. Ferré was writing as his visitor was shown +in, and, waving his pen, made him stand where he could see him. +When he learned his name, he said-- + +"Your opinions are well known to us. We also know that you have +taken no active part against us. We fight for what we believe to +be just and fair. We do not kill for the pleasure of killing, but +we must attain our end, and we _shall_, at any cost. I recommend +you to keep quiet. As you are an Italian, you shall not be molested. +However, I must tell you that you have taken a very bold step in +calling on me in this place. Your visit might have taken a different +turn. You may go. Your frank declaration has saved you." + +On Easter Sunday, as the English lady to whom allusion has been +made, was leaving Paris, the population in the neighborhood of +the Place de Grève was amusing itself by a public burning of the +guillotine. It was brought forth and placed beneath a statue of +Voltaire, where it was consumed amid wild shouts of enthusiasm. + +The Freemasons and trades unions sent deputies to Versailles to +endeavor to negotiate between the contending parties. M. Thiers +promised amnesty to all Communists who should lay down their arms, +except to those concerned in the deaths of Generals Lecomte and +Thomas, and he was also willing to give pay to National Guards +till trade and order should be restored; but no persuasions would +induce him to confer on Paris municipal rights that were not given +to other cities. On the 12th of May the Commune issued the following +decree:-- + +"_Whereas_, the imperial column in the Place Vendôme is a monument +of barbarism, a symbol of brute force and of false glory, an +encouragement to the military spirit, a denial of international +rights, a permanent insult offered to the conquered by the conquerors, +a perpetual conspiracy against one of the great principles of the +French Republic,--namely, Fraternity,--the Commune decrees thus: +The column of the Place Vendôme shall be destroyed." + +Four days later, this decree was carried into effect. Its execution +was intrusted to the painter Courbet, who was one of the members of +the Commune. He was a man who, up to the age of fifty, had taken +no part in politics, but had been wholly devoted to art. His most +celebrated pictures are the "Combat des Cerfs" and the "Dame au +Perroquet." He was a delightful companion, beloved by artists, +and a personal friend of Cluseret, who had caused his name to be +put upon the list of the members of the Commune. + +The column of the Place Vendôme was one hundred and thirty-five +feet high. It was on the model of Trajan's column at Rome, but +one twelfth larger. It was erected by Napoleon I. to celebrate +the victories of the Grand Army in the campaign of 1805. He had +caused it to be cast from cannon taken from the enemy. When erected, +it was surmounted by a statue of Napoleon in his imperial robes; +this, at the Restoration, gave place to a white flag. Under Louis +Philippe, Napoleon was replaced, but in his cocked hat and his +_redingote_, but Louis Napoleon restored the imperial statue. + +"On May 16," says Count Orsi, "a crowd collected at the barricades +which separated the Place Vendôme from the Rue de la Paix and the +Rue Castiglione. To the Place Vendôme itself only a few persons +had been admitted by tickets. At the four corners of the square +were placed military bands. Ropes were fastened to the upper part +of the column, and worked by capstans. The monument fell with a +tremendous crash, causing everything for a few moments to disappear +in a blinding cloud of dust. To complete the disgrace of this savage +act, the Commune advertised for tenders for the purchase of the +column, which was to be sold in four separate lots. This injudicious +and anti-national measure inspired the regular army at Versailles +with a spirit of revenge, which led them on entering Paris to lose +all self-possession, so that they dealt with the insurrection brutally +and without discrimination." + +It would be curious to trace the history of the various members +of the Council of the Commune. A few have been already alluded +to; but the majority came forth out of obscurity, and their fate +is as obscure. Eight were professional journalists. Among these +were Rochefort, Arnould, and Vermorel. Arnould was probably the +most moderate man in the Commune, and Vermorel was one of the very +few who, when the Commune was at its last gasp, neither deserted +nor disgraced it. He sprang on a barricade, crying: "I am here, not +to fight, but to die!" and was shot down. Four were military men, +of whom one was General Eudes, a draper's assistant, and one had +been a private in the army of Africa. Five were genuine working-men, +three of whom were fierce, ignorant cobblers from Belleville; the +other two were Assy, a machinist, and Thiez, a silver-chaser,--one +of the few honest men in the Council. Three were not Frenchmen, +although generals; namely, Dombrowski, La Cecilia, and Dacosta, +besides Cluseret, who claimed American citizenship. Rochefort was the +son of a marquis who had been forced to write for bread. Deleschuze +was an ex-convict. Blanqui had spent two thirds of his life in +prison, having been engaged from his youth up in conspiracy. He +was also at one period a Government spy. Raoul Rigault also had +been a spy and an informer from his boyhood. Mégy and Assy were +under sentence for murder. Jourde was a medical student, one of the +best men in the Commune, and faithful to his trust as its finance +minister. Flourens, the scientist, a genuine enthusiast, we have +seen was killed in the first skirmish with the Versaillais. Félix +Pyat was an arch conspirator, but a very spirited and agreeable +writer. He was elected in 1888 a deputy under the Government of the +Third Republic. Lullier had been a naval officer, but was dismissed +the service for insubordination. + +To such men (the best of them wholly without experience in the +art of government) were confided the destinies of Paris, and, as +they hoped, of France; but their number dwindled from time to time, +till hardly more than fifty were left around the Council Board, when +about two weeks before the downfall of the Commune twenty-two of +this remainder resigned,--some because they could not but foresee +the coming crash, others because they would no longer take part in +the violence and tyranny of their colleagues. In seven weeks the +Commune had four successive heads of the War Department. General +Eudes was the first: his rule lasted four days. Then came Cluseret; +the Empire Cluseret lasted three weeks. Then Cluseret was imprisoned, +and Rossel was in office for nine days, when he resigned. On May +9 Deleschuze, the ex-convict, became head of military affairs. +He was killed two weeks later, when the Commune fell. Cluseret +was deposed April 30,--some said for ill-success, some because he +was a traitor and had communications with the enemy, but probably +because he made himself unpopular by an order requiring his officers +to put no more embroidery and gold lace on their uniforms than +their rank entitled them to. + +Rossel, who succeeded Cluseret, was a real soldier, who tried in +vain to organize the defence and to put experienced military men +in command as subordinate generals. To do this he had to choose +three out of five from men who were not Frenchmen. Dombrowski and +Wroblewski were Poles, and General La Cecilia was an Italian. On May +9, after nine days of official life, he resigned, in the following +extraordinary letter:-- + +CITIZENS, MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNE: + +Having been charged by you with the War Department, I feel myself +no longer capable of bearing the responsibility of a command where +everyone deliberates and nobody obeys. When it was necessary to +organize the artillery, the commandant of artillery deliberated, +but nothing was done. After a month's revolution, that service +is carried on by only a very small number of volunteers. On my +nomination to the ministry I wanted to further the search for arms, +the requisition for horses, the pursuit of refractory citizens. +I asked help of the Commune; the Commune deliberated, but passed +no resolutions. Later the Central Committee came and offered its +services to the War Department. I accepted them in the most decisive +manner, and delivered up to its members all the documents I had +concerning its organization. Since then the Central Committee has +been deliberating, and has done nothing. During this time the enemy +multiplied his audacious attacks upon Fort Issy; had I had the +smallest military force at my command, I would have punished him +for it. The garrison, badly commanded, took to flight. The officers +deliberated, and sent away from the fort Captain Dumont, an energetic +man who had been ordered to command them. Still deli berating, +they evacuated the fort, after having stupidly talked of blowing +it up,--as difficult a thing for them to do as to defend it.... +My predecessor was wrong to remain, as he did, three weeks in such +an absurd position. Enlightened by his example, and knowing that +the strength of a revolutionist consists only in the clearness of +his position, I have but two alternatives,--either to break the +chains which impede my actions, or to retire. I will not break +my chains, because those chains are you and your weakness. I will +not touch the sovereignty of the people. + +I retire, and have the honor to beg for a cell at Mazas. + + ROSSEL. + +He did not obtain the cell at Mazas. He escaped from the vengeance +of his colleagues, and was supposed to be in England or Switzerland, +while in reality he had never quitted Paris. He was arrested two weeks +after the fall of the Commune, disguised as a railroad employee. He +was examined at the Luxembourg, and then taken, handcuffed, to +Versailles, where he was shot at Satory, though M. Thiers, the +president, made vain efforts to save him. + +The members of the Commune, who by the first week in May were reduced +to fifty-three, met in the Hôtel-de-Ville in a vast room once hung +with the portraits of sovereigns. The canvas of these pictures +had been cut out, but the empty frames still hung upon the walls; +while at one end of the chamber was a statue of the Republic dressed +in red flags, and bearing the inscription, "War to Tyrants." + +Reporters were not admitted, and spectators could be brought in only +by favor of some member. The members sat upon red-velvet chairs, +each girt with his red scarf of office, trimmed with heavy bullion +fringe. The chairs were placed round a long table, on which was +stationery for the members' use, _carafes_ of water, and sugar +for _eau sucrée_. It was an awe-inspiring assembly; "for the men +who talked, held a city of two millions of inhabitants in their +hands, and were free to put into practice any or all of the amazing +theories that might come into their heads. Their speeches, however, +were brief; they were not wordy, as they might have been if reporters +had been present. Most of them wore uniforms profusely decorated +with gold lace," and, says an Englishman who saw them in their +seats, "one had only to look in their faces to judge the whole +truth in connection with the Commune,--its causes, its prospects, +and its signification. A citizen whom I had heard of as most hotly +in favor of Press freedom, proposed in my hearing that all journals +in Paris should be suppressed save those that were edited by members +of the Council of the Commune. That there were three or four earnest +men among them, no one can dispute; but as to the rest, I can only +say that if they were zealous patriots devoted to their country's +good, they did not, when I saw them, look like it."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Cornhill Magazine, 1871.] + +In the first week of May the Commune decreed the destruction of +M. Thiers's beautiful home in the Rue St. Georges. The house was +filled with objects of art and with documents of historical interest +which he had gathered while writing his History of the Revolution, +the Consulate, and the First Empire. + +The Commune had removed some of these precious things, and sold +them to dealers, from whom many were afterwards recovered; but +the mob which assembled to execute the decree of destruction, was +eager to consume everything that was left. In the courtyard were +scattered books and pictures waiting to feed the flames. "The men +busy at the work looked," says an Englishman,[2] "like demons in +the red flame. I turned away, thinking not of the man of politics, +but of the historian, of the house where he had thought and worked, +of the books that he had treasured on his shelves, of the favorite +chair that had been burned upon his hearthstone. I thought of all +the dumb witnesses of a long and laborious life dispersed, of all +the memories those rooms contained destroyed." + +[Footnote 2: Leighton, Paris under the Commune.] + +On the 16th of May, the day of the destruction of the column in the +Place Vendôme, a great patriotic concert was given in the palace +of the Tuileries, which was thronged; but "by that date, discord and +despair were in the Council of the Commune, and its most respectable +members had sent in their resignation. Versailles everywhere was +gaining ground; the Fort of Vauves was taken, that of Mont Rouge +had been dismantled, and breaches were opened in the city walls. +The leaders of the insurrection lost their senses, and gave way +to every species of madness and folly. The army of Versailles soon +entered the city from different points. The fight was desperate, +the carnage frightful. Dombrowski, the only general of ability, was +killed early in the struggle. Barricades were in almost every street. +Prisoners on both sides were shot without mercy. The Communists set +fire to the Tuileries, the Hôtel-de-Ville, the Ministry of Finance, +the Palace of the Legion of Honor. + +The rest of the story is all blood and horror. The most pathetic +part of it is the murder of the hostages, which took place on the +morning of May 24, and which cannot be told in this chapter. The +desperate leaders of the Commune had determined that if they must +perish, Paris itself should be their funeral pyre. + +It was General Eudes who organized the band of incendiaries called +"pétroleuses" and gave out the petroleum. It was Félix Pyat, it +was said, who laid a train of gunpowder to blow up the Invalides, +while another member of the Commune served out explosives. + +On the night of May 24, the Hôtel-de-Ville was in flames. The smoke, +at times a deep red, enveloped everything; the air was laden with +the nauseous odors of petroleum. The Tuileries, the Palace of the +Legion of Honor, the Ministry of War, and the Treasury were flaming +like the craters of a great volcano. + +We have heard much of _pétroleuses_. They appear to have worked +among private houses in the more open parts of the city. Here is +a picture of one seen by an Englishman:-- + +"She walked with a rapid step under the shadow of a wall. She was +poorly dressed, her age was between forty and fifty; her head was +bound with a red-checked handkerchief, from which fell meshes of +coarse, uncombed hair. Her face was red, her eyes blurred, and +she moved with her eyes bent down to the ground. Her right hand +was in her pocket; in the other she held one of the high, narrow +tin cans in which milk is carried in Paris, but which now contained +petroleum. The street seemed deserted. She stopped and consulted +a dirty bit of paper which she held in her hand, paused a moment +before the grated entrance to a cellar, and then went on her way +steadily, without haste. An hour after, that house was burning to +the ground. Sometimes these wretched women led little children +by the hand, who were carrying bottles of petroleum. There was +a veritable army of these incendiaries, composed mainly of the +dregs of society. This army had its chiefs, and each detachment +was charged with firing a quarter." + +The orders for the conflagration of public edifices bore the stamp +of the Commune and that of the Central Committee of the National +Guard; also the seal of the war delegate. For private houses less +ceremony was used. Small tickets of the size of postage-stamps +were pasted on the walls of the doomed houses, with the letters, +B. P. B. (_Bon Pour Brûler_). Some of these tickets were square, +others oval, with a Bacchante's head upon them. A _pétroleuse_ +was to receive ten francs for every house which she set on fire. + +All the sewers beneath Paris had been strewn with torpedoes, bombs, +and inflammable materials, connected with electric wires. "The +reactionary quarters shall be blown up," was the announced intention +of the Commune. Mercifully, these arrangements had not been completed +when the Versailles troops obtained the mastery. Almost the first +thing done was to send sappers and miners underground to cut the +wires that connected electric currents with inflammable material +in all parts of the city. The catacombs that underlie the eastern +part of Paris were included in the incendiary arrangement. + +When Paris was at last in safety, and the Commune subdued, would +that it had been only the guilty on whom the great and awful vengeance +fell! + +[Illustration: _MONSEIGNEUR DARBOY._ (_Archbishop of Paris._)] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE HOSTAGES. + +About once in every seventy or eighty years some exceptionally +moving tragedy stirs the heart of the civilized world. The tragedy +of our own century is the execution of the hostages in Paris, May +24 and 26, 1871. + +At one o'clock on the morning of April 6, three weeks after the +proclamation of the Commune, a body of the National Guard was drawn +up on the sidewalk in the neighborhood of the Madeleine. A door +suddenly opened and a man came hastily out, followed by two National +Guards shouting to their comrades. The man was arrested at once, +making no resistance. It was the Abbé Duguerry, _curé_ of the +Madeleine,[1]--the first of the so-called hostages arrested in +retaliation for the summary execution of General Duval, who had +commanded one of the three columns that marched out of Paris the +day before to attack the Versaillais. + +[Footnote 1: _Curé_ in France means rector; what we mean by a curate +or assistant minister is there called _vicaire_.] + +Both the _curé_ of the Madeleine and his _vicaire_, the Abbé Lamazou, +were that night arrested. The latter, who escaped death as a hostage, +published an account of his experiences; but he died not long after +of heart disease, brought on by his excitement and suffering during +the Commune. + +The same night Monseigneur Darboy, the archbishop of Paris, his +chaplain, and eight other priests, were arrested. One was a missionary +just returned from China, another was the Abbé Crozes, the admirable +chaplain (_aumônier_) of the prison of La Roquette,--a man whose +deeds of charity would form a noble chapter of Christian biography. + +When Archbishop Darboy was brought before the notorious "delegate," +Raoul Rigault, he began to speak, saying, "My children--" "Citizen," +interrupted Rigault, "you are not here before children,--we are +men!" This sally was heartily applauded in the publications of +the Commune. + +As it would not be possible to sketch the lives and deaths of all +these victims of revolutionary violence, it may be well to select +the history of the youngest among them, Paul Seigneret.[1] His +father was a professor in the high school at Lyons. Paul was born +in 1845, and was therefore twenty-six years old when he met death, +as a hostage, at the hands of the Commune. His home had been a +happy and pious one, and he had a beloved brother Charles, to whom +he clung with the most tender devotion. Charles expected to be a +priest; Paul was destined for the army, but he earnestly wished +that he too might enter the ministry. Lamartine's "Jocelyn" had +made a deep impression on him, but his father having objected to +his reading it, he laid it aside unfinished; what he had read, +however, remained rooted in his memory. + +[Footnote 1: Memoir of Paul Seigneret, abridged in the "Monthly +Packet."] + +When Paul was eighteen, his father gave his sanction to his entering +the priesthood; he thought him too delicate, however, to lead the +life of a country pastor, and desired him, before he made up his +mind as to his vocation, to accept a position offered him as tutor +in a family in Brittany. + +Present duties being sanctified, not hampered, by higher hopes and +aspirations, Paul gained the love and confidence of the family in +which he taught, and also of the neighboring peasantry. "He was," +says the lady whose children he instructed, "like a good angel +sent among us to do good and to give pleasure." + +When his time of probation was passed, he decided to enter a convent +at Solesmes, and by submitting himself to convent rules, make sure +of his vocation. But before making any final choice, we find from +his letters that "if France were invaded," he claimed "the right +to do his duty as a citizen and a son." + +He entered the convent at Solesmes, first as a postulant, then +as a novice. "The Holy Gospels," said his superior, "Saint Paul's +Epistles, and the Psalms were his favorite studies,--the food on +which his piety was chiefly nourished. He also sought Christ in +history." + +Still, he was not entirely satisfied with life in a convent; he +wished to be more actively employed in doing good. He therefore +became a student for the regular ministry,--a Seminarist of +Saint-Sulpice. But when the Prussian armies were advancing on Paris, +he offered himself for hospital service, as did also his brother. + +In a moment of passionate enthusiasm, speaking to that dear brother +of the dangers awaiting those who had to seek and tend the wounded +on the field of battle, he cried: "Do you think God may this year +grant me the grace of yielding up my life to Him as a sacrifice? For +to fall, an expiatory sacrifice beneath the righteous condemnation +that hangs over France, would be to die for Him." + +The war being over, he returned to the Seminary, March 15, 1871. +On March 18 the Commune was declared, and Lecomte and Thomas were +murdered; shortly after this the Seminary was invaded, the students +were dispersed, and the priests in charge made prisoners. Most of +the young men thus turned out into the streets left Paris. Paul +at first intended to remain; but thinking that his family would +be anxious about him, he applied for a pass, intending to go to +Lyons. At the prefecture of police he and a fellow-student found a +dense crowd waiting to pay two francs for permission to get away. +They were shown into a room where a man in a major's uniform sat +at a table covered with glasses and empty bottles, with a woman +beside him. When he heard what they wanted, he broke into a volley +of abuse, and assured them that the only pass he would give them +was a pass to prison. Accordingly, Paul and his companion soon +found themselves in the prison connected with the prefecture. The +cells were so crowded that they were confined in a corridor with +six Jesuit fathers and some of their servants and lay brethren. A +sort of community life was at once organized, with daily service +and an hour for meditation. Paul esteemed it a privilege to enjoy +the conversation of the elder and more learned priests. He conversed +with them about the Bible, philosophy, and literature; "He was +ready," says a companion who was saved, "to meet a martyr's death; +but there was one horror he prayed to be spared,--that of being +torn in pieces by a mob." + +On May 13, a turnkey announced to the priests that they were to +leave the prefecture. "I fear," he said, "that you are to be taken +to Mazas. I am not sure, but a man cannot have such good prisoners +as you are in his charge without taking some interest in them." + +On being brought forth from their corridor, they found themselves +in a crowd of priests (hostages like themselves) who were being +sent to Mazas. The youth of the Seminary students at once attracted +attention, and the Vicar-General, Monseigneur Surat, said: "I can +understand that priests and old men should be here, gentlemen, +but not that you, mere Seminarists, should be forced to share the +troubles of your ecclesiastical superiors." + +The transfer to Mazas was in the _voitures cellulaires_. They were +so low and narrow that every jolt threw the occupant against the sides +or roof. In one of these cells the venerable and infirm archbishop +had been transferred to Mazas a short time before. + +Each prisoner on reaching Mazas was shut up in a tiny cell. Paul +wrote (for they were allowed writing materials): + +"I have a nice little cell, with a bit of blue sky above it, to +which my thoughts fly, and a hammock, so that it is possible for +me to sleep again. I hardly dare to tell you I am happy, and am +trusting myself in God's hands, for I am anxious about you, and +anxious for our poor France. I have my great comfort,--work. I +have already written an essay on Saint Paul, which I have been +some time meditating. I am expecting a Bible, and with that I think +I could defy weariness for years. A few days ago I discovered that +one of my friends was next to me. We bid each other good night +and good morning by rapping against the wall, and this would make +us less lonely, were we oppressed by solitude." + +At the close of this letter he adds,-- + +"I have at last received the dear Bible. You should have seen how I +seized and kissed it! Now the Commune may leave me here to moulder, +if it will!" + +On Sunday, May 21, the Versailles army began to make its way into +Paris, and the Commune, seeing its fantastic and terrible power +about to pass away, tried to startle the world by its excesses. +Orders were sent at once to Mazas to send the archbishop, the priests, +Senator Bonjean, suspected spies, and _sergents de ville_ to that +part of the prison of La Roquette reserved for condemned criminals. +Paul and his friend the other Seminarist were of the number. + +Before the gates of La Roquette they found a fierce crowd shouting +insults and curses. Many were women and children. "Here they come!" +the mob yelled. "Down with the priests! shoot them! kill them!" +Paul preserved his composure, and looked on with a smile of serene +hope upon his face. "The scene was like that horror from which he +had prayed to be saved. His terror was gone. His prayer had been +answered." + +The prisoners on reaching La Roquette were first passed into a +hall, where they found the archbishop and several priests. The +former was calm, but he was ill, and his features bore marks of +acute suffering. After an hour's delay the prisoners were locked +into separate cells, from which real malefactors had been removed +to make room for them. + +In the next cell to Paul was the Abbé Planchet. By standing at +the window they could hear each other's voices. The abbé could +read Thomas à Kempis to his fellow prisoner, and they daily recited +together the litany for the dying. + +One of the imprisoned priests was a missionary lately returned +from China; and when they met at the hours allowed for fresh air in +the courtyard, Paul was eager to hear his accounts of the martyrdom +and steadfastness of Chinese converts. "M. Paul," said an old soldier +who was one of the hostages, "seemed to look on martyrdom as a +privilege, regretting only the pain it would cause his family." + +On Wednesday, May 24, the execution of the archbishop and five +others took place, Paul saw them pass by his window; one of the +escort shook his gun at him, and pointing it at the archbishop, +gave him to understand what they were going to do. + +The next day, Thursday, May 25, the order came. "Citizens," said +the messenger who brought it, "pay attention, and answer when your +names are called. Fifteen of you are wanted." As each was named, +he stepped out of the ranks and took his place in the death-row. +Paul Seigneret was one of them. He seemed perfectly calm, and gently +pressed the hand of his Seminary friend who was not summoned. + +In the courtyard they were joined by thirty-five ex-policemen, +so-called hostages like themselves. The execution was to take place +in the Rue Haxo, at the farthest extremity of Belleville, and the +march was made on foot, so that the victims were exposed to all the +insults of the populace. It has been said that when they reached +the Rue Haxo, where they were placed against a wall, Paul was thrown +down while attempting to defend an aged priest, and was maltreated +by the crowd; but this account was not confirmed when, four days +later, the bodies were taken from the trench into which they had +been thrown: Paul's showed no sign of violence. His eyes were closed, +his face was calm. His cassock was pierced with balls and stained +with blood. He is buried at Saint-Sulpice. + +His father received the news of his death calmly. He wrote: "Let +us bear our poor child's death as much like Christians and as much +like men as we can. May his blood, joined to that of so many other +innocent victims, finally appease the justice of God," But when, +shortly afterwards, Charles died of an illness brought on by excessive +fatigue in serving the ambulances, the father sank under the double +stroke, and died fifteen days after his last remaining son. + +From the death of the youngest and the humblest of these ecclesiastical +hostages, we will turn now to that of the venerable archbishop, and +to his experiences during the forty-eight hours that he passed at +La Roquette, after having been transferred to it from Mazas. + +With studied cruelty and insolence, a cell of the worst description +was assigned to the chief of the clergy in France. It had been +commonly appropriated to murderers on the eve of their execution. +There was barely standing-room in it beside the filthy and squalid +bed. The beds and cells of the other priests were at least clean, +but this treatment of the archbishop had been ordered by the Commune. + +On the morning of May 23 the prisoners had been permitted to breathe +fresh air in a narrow paved courtyard; but the archbishop was too +weak and ill for exercise; he lay half fainting on his bed. In +addition to his other sufferings he was faint from hunger, for +the advance of the Versailles troops had cut off the Commune's +supplies, and the hostages were of course the last persons they +wished to care for. Père Olivariet (shot three days later in the +same party as Paul Seigneret, in the Rue Haxo) had had some cake +and chocolate sent him before he left Mazas; with these he fed the +old man by mouthfuls. This was all the nourishment the archbishop +had during the two days he spent at La Roquette. Mr. Washburne, +the American minister, had with difficulty obtained permission to +send him a small quantity of strengthening wine during his stay +at Mazas. But a greater boon than earthly food or drink was brought +him by Père Olivariet, who had received while at Mazas, in a common +pasteboard box, some of the consecrated wafers used by the Roman +Catholic Church in holy communion; and he had it in his power to +give the archbishop the highest consolation that could have been +offered him. + +It had been intended to execute the hostages on the 23d; but the +director of the prison, endeavoring to evade the horrible task of +delivering up his prisoners, pronounced the first order he received +informal. + +The accursed 24th of May dawned, brilliant and beautiful. The archbishop +went down in the early morning to obtain the breath of fresh air +allowed him. Judge Bonjean, who had never professed himself a believer, +came up to him and prayed him for his blessing, saying that he had +seen the truth, as it were on the right hand of Death, and he too +was about to depart in the true faith of a Christian. + +By this time the insurgents held little more of Paris than the +heights of Belleville, Père la Chaise, and the neighborhood of La +Roquette, which is not far from the Place de la Bastille. The Communal +Government had quitted the Hôtel-de-Ville and taken refuge not far +from La Roquette, in the _Mairie_ of the Eleventh Arrondissement. + +At six in the morning of May 24th,[1] a second order came to the +director of the prison to deliver up all hostages in his hands. He +remonstrated, saying he could not act upon an order to deliver up +prisoners who were not named. Finally, a compromise was effected; +six were to be chosen. The commander of the firing party asked for +the prison register. The names of the hostages were not there. +Then the list from Mazas was demanded. The director could not find +it. At last, after long searching, they discovered it themselves. +Genton, the man in command, sat down to pick out his six victims. +He wrote Darboy, Bonjean, Jecker, Allard, Clerc, Ducoudray. Then +he paused, rubbed out Jecker, and put in Duguerrey. Darboy, as we +know, was the archbishop; Bonjean, judge of the Court of Appeals; +Allard, head-chaplain to the hospitals, who had been unwearied +in his services to the wounded; Clerc and Ducoudray were Jesuit +fathers; Duguerrey was pastor of the Madeleine. Jecker was a banker +who had negotiated Mexican loans for the Government. The next day +the Commune made a present of him to Genton, who, after trying +in vain to get a few hundred thousand francs out of him for his +ransom, shot him, assisted by four others, one of whom was Ferré, +and flung his body into the cellar of a half-built house upon the +heights of Belleville. + +[Footnote 1: Macmillan's Magazine, 1873.] + +When the order drawn up by Genton had been approved at headquarters, +the director of the prison had no resource but to deliver up his +prisoners. + +Another man, wearing a scarf of office, had now joined the party. +He was very impatient, and accused the others roundly of a want +of revolutionary spirit. He landed afterwards in New York, where +his fellow-Communists gave him a public reception. + +One of the warders of the prison, Henrion by name, made some attempt +to expostulate with the _Vengeurs de Flourens_, who had been told off +for the execution. "What would you have?" was the answer. "Killing is +not at all amusing. We were killing this morning at the Prefecture +of Police. But they say this is reprisal. The Versaillais have +been killing our generals." + +Soon Henrion was called upon to open the fourth corridor. "I must +go and get the keys," he answered. He had them in his hand at the +moment. He went rapidly away, flung the keys into a heap of filth, +and rushed out of the prison. By means of a twenty-franc gold piece +that he had with him, he passed out of the gates of Paris, and +sought refuge with the Bavarians at Vincennes. + +Meantime another bunch of keys was found, and the executioners, +led by Ferré, Lolive, and Mégy,--that member of the Commune whom +none of them seemed to know,--hurried upstairs. In the crowd were +_gamins_ and women, National Guards, Garibaldians, and others, but +chiefly the _Vengeurs de Flourens_, a corps of which an Englishman +who served the Commune said: "They were to a man all blackguards." + +Up the prison stairs they swarmed, shouting threats and curses, +especially against the archbishop, who was erroneously believed by +the populace of Paris to have had provisions hidden in the vaults +of Notre Dame and in his palace during the siege. A turnkey was +ordered to summon the six prisoners; but when he found whom he +was to call, he refused, and the officer in command had to call +them himself. + +The archbishop's name was first. He came out of his cell at once, +wearing his purple cassock. Then Gaspard Duguerrey was summoned. +He was eighty years old. He did not answer immediately, and was +called a second time. Next, Léon Ducoudray was called,--a Jesuit +father, head of a college, a tall, fine-looking man. He came forth +with a proud smile. Alexis Clerc, also a Jesuit father, stepped +forth briskly, almost gayly. Then came Michel Allard, the hospital +chaplain,--a gentle, kindly-looking man. The three weeks before +his arrest had been spent by him in attending upon the wounded of +the Commune. Finally the judge, Senator Louis Bonjean, was called. +"In a moment," he replied; "I am putting my coat on." At this, +one of the leaders seized him. "You will want no coat where you +are going," he cried; "come as you are." + +The only one of the party who seemed to tremble was the aged _curé_ +of the Madeleine; but his nervous tremor soon passed off, and he +was calm like the others. As they went down the winding stairs, the +archbishop (being first) stepped rapidly before the rest, and turning +at the bottom, raised his hand and pronounced the absolution. After +this there was silence among the prisoners. "The chaplain Allard +alone," said one of the Commune, "kept on muttering something." He +was reciting, half aloud, the service for the dying. + +Père Ducoudray had his breviary in his hand. He gave it, as he +passed, to the concierge of the prison. The captain of the firing +party snatched it, and flung it on the fire. + +When the spot was reached where the shooting was to take place, +the archbishop addressed some words of pity and forgiveness to +the murderers. Two of the firing party knelt at his feet; but he +had not time to bless them before, with threats and blows, they +were forced to rise, and the archbishop was ordered to go and place +himself against the wall. + +But here, when the bitterness of death was almost passed, occurred +a difficulty. Two of the leaders wanted to have the execution in a +little inner courtyard, shut in by blank walls. So the procession +was again formed, marched through long passages and up stairways, +and halted while keys were searched for, before it came to the spot. +On the way, a man crept up to the archbishop, uttering blasphemies +into his ear. The good man's mild look of reproof and pain so moved +one of the sub-officers that he drove the man off, saying: "We +are here to shoot these men, not to insult them." + +The six victims were at last placed in a line, with their backs +to the wall. As Ferré was giving the order to fire, the archbishop +raised his right hand in order to give, as his last act, his episcopal +blessing. As he did so, Lolive exclaimed: "That's your benediction +is it?--now take mine!" and shot the old man through the body with +a revolver. All were shot dead at once, save M. Bonjean. + +There is now a marble slab in the little court inscribed with their +names, and headed: "Respect this place, which witnessed the death +of noble men and martyrs." The warder, Henrion, was put in charge +of the place, and planted it with beds of flowers. + +The execution over, the leaders searched the cells of their victims. +In most of them they found nothing; in two were worn cassocks, and +in the archbishop's was his pastoral ring. One of the party said +the amethyst in it was a diamond; another contradicted him, and +said it was an emerald. The bodies lay unburied until two o'clock in +the morning, when four or five of those who had shot them despoiled +them, one hanging the archbishop's chain and cross about his own +neck, another appropriating his silver shoe-buckles. Then they +loaded the bodies on a hand-barrow and carried them to an open +trench dug in Père la Chaise. There, four days later, when the +Versaillais had full possession of the city, they were found. The +archbishop and the Abbé Duguerrey were taken to the archbishop's +house with a guard of honor, and are buried at Notre Dame. The +two Jesuit fathers were buried in their own cemetery, and Judge +Bonjean and the hospital chaplain sleep in honored graves in Père +la Chaise. + +After these executions a large number of so-called +"hostages,"--ecclesiastics, soldiers of the line, _sergents de +ville_, and police agents remained shut up in La Roquette. It was +Saturday, May 27, the day before Whit Sunday. Says the Abbé Lamazou,-- + +"It was a few minutes past three, and I was kneeling in my cell +saying my prayers for the day, when I heard bolts rattling in the +corridor. We were no longer locked in with keys. Suddenly the door +of my cell was thrown open, and a voice cried: 'Courage! our time +has come.' 'Yes, courage!' I answered. 'God's will be done.' I +had on my ecclesiastical habit, and went out into the corridor. +There I found a mixed crowd of prisoners, priests, soldiers, and +National Guards. The priests and the National Guards seemed resigned +to their fate, but the soldiers, who had fought the Prussians, could +not believe it was intended to shoot them. Suddenly a voice, loud as +a trumpet, rose above the din. 'Friends,' it cried, 'hearken to a +man who desires to save you. These wretches of the Commune have +killed more than enough people. Don't let yourselves be murdered! +Join me. Let us resist. Sooner than give you up I will die with +you!' The speaker was Poiret, one of the warders of the prison. He +had been horrified by what had been done already, and when ordered +by his superiors to give up the prisoners in his corridor to a +yelling crowd, he had shut the doors on the third story behind +him, and was advising us, at the risk of his own life, to organize +resistance." + +The abbé joined him with, "Don't let us be shot, my friends; let +us defend ourselves. Trust in God; he is on our side!" + +But many hesitated. "Resistance is mere madness," they said; and +a soldier shouted, "They don't want to kill _us_; they want the +priests! Don't let us lose our lives defending _them_!" + +"The _sergents de ville_ in the story below you," cried Poiret, +"are going to defend themselves, They are making a barricade across +the door of their corridor. We have no arms, but we have courage. +Don't let us be shot down by the rabble." + +It was proposed to make a hole in the floor, and so to communicate +with the _sergents de ville_. The prisoners armed themselves with +boards and iron torn from their bedsteads, and in five minutes +had made an opening through the floor. A non-commissioned officer +from below climbed through it, and arranged with Poiret the plan +of defence. + +By this time the inner courtyard of the prison was invaded by a +rough and squalid crowd, come to take a hand in whatever murder or +mischief might be done. The besieged put mattresses before their +windows for protection. The man who led the mob was one Pasquier, +a murderer who had been in a condemned cell in La Roquette till +let out by the general jail-delivery of the Commune. + +Two barricades were built like that on the floor below. Pasquier +and some of his followers had burst open the outer door, and were +endeavoring to burn both the prison and the prisoners. "Never fear," +cried a corporal who had superintended the hasty erection of the +barricades; "I put nothing combustible into them. They can't burn +floor tiles and wire mattresses. Bring all the water you can." + +The crowd continued to shout threats. The battery from Père la +Chaise, they cried, was coming; and often a voice would shout, +"Soldiers of the Loire, surrender! We will not hurt you. We will +set you at liberty!" A few soldiers trusted this promise, and as +soon as they got into the crowd were massacred. + +In the midst of the tumult came a sudden lull; the besieged could see +that something strange had taken place. The crowd had been informed +that the Government, alarmed by the advance of the Versailles troops, +had abandoned its headquarters at the _mairie_ of the Eleventh +Arrondissement, and had gone to Belleville. Amazed and confused +by this intelligence, the mob followed its leaders. Only a few +minutes before it left, two guns and a mortar had been brought +to fire on the prison; they were now dragged away in the wake of +the Government. + +The criminal prisoners at La Roquette were in a state of great +excitement. They had been liberated, and such weapons as could be +found were put into their hands; but they were not inclined either +to kill their fellow-captives or to fight for the Commune. They +hastily made off, shouting, "Vive la Commune! Vive la République!" + +By this time the prison director and his officials had disappeared. +The prison doors were open. Then came another danger: soldiers +of the Commune, fleeing from the vengeance of the Versaillais, +might seek refuge in the prison. With much difficulty the Abbé +Lamazou persuaded Poiret and some other warders who had stood with +him, to close the gates till the arrival of troops from Versailles. +It was still more difficult, now that a way was open to escape, +to persuade his fellow-captives to remain in prison. Some priests +would not take his advice, among them Monseigneur Surat, the +vicar-general. He had secured a suit of citizen's clothes, and +hoped to escape in safety. In vain the Abbé Lamazou called out +to him, "To go is certain death; to stay is possible safety." He +was killed most cruelly, together with two' priests and a layman. + +At eleven o'clock at night, firing seemed to cease in the city, +but outside of the prison the maddened crowd continued all night +howling insults and curses. Hours seemed ages to the anxious and now +famished captives, shut up in the great building. The barricade of +the Rue de la Roquette was near them, still defended by insurgents; +but in the early dawn it was abandoned, and shortly after, a battalion +of marines took possession of La Roquette. The resistance of the +prisoners, which had seemed at first so desperate, had proved +successful. + +Innumerable other anecdotes have found their way into print concerning +the last hours of the Commune; but I will rather tell of Mégy, the +member of the Council who, in his scarf of office, animated the +party that slew the archbishop and his, five companions. + +He reached New York in 1878, and, as I said, was received with +an ovation by a colony of escaped Communists who had settled on +our shores. A reporter connected with the New York "World" called +upon Mégy, and here is his account of the interview:-- + +"'I was born in Paris, in 1844,' said the ex-member of the Commune, +lighting a cigar; 'I went through a primary school, and learned +but little. I was apprenticed to a machinist. When I was twenty I +found work on the Suez Canal. I was already a member of a secret +society organized against the Empire, with Blanqui at its head. +In 1866 I came back to Paris, and persuaded all my fellow-workmen +in the establishment where I was employed to become conspirators. +We waited for a good opportunity to commence an insurrection. Some +of us wanted to begin when Pierre Bonaparte murdered Victor Noir; +but it was put off till February 7, when about three thousand of us +rushed into the streets, began raising barricades, and proclaimed +a Republic. The next day two thousand republicans were arrested. +On February 11 six police agents came to my house at a quarter +past five in the morning. I had a pistol, and when the first one +entered my room to arrest me, I shot him dead. You should have +seen how the others scampered downstairs. I am glad I killed him. +But five minutes after, I was overpowered, bound, and taken to +prison. I was condemned to twenty years in New Caledonia, with +hard labor. I was sent to Toulon, but before my embarkation the +Republic was proclaimed, and a decree of the Government set me at +liberty. I came to Paris, and was named a member of the Municipal +Council. In October, 1870, during the siege, an order was passed +for my arrest because I endeavored to deprive General Trochu of +his command. I hid myself, enlisted under a false name, and fought +the Prussians. Then I went to the South of France, and waited to +see what would happen. I was there when the Commune was proclaimed. +I arrested the prefect of Marseilles on my own responsibility, and +put myself in his place. I was prefect of Marseilles for eight +days. Early in April I made my way to Paris, was made a general, +and put in charge of Fort Issy.[l] When Fort Issy fell, I was made +commander-in-chief on the left bank of the Seine. I ordered the +Palace of the Legion of Honor to be set on fire; I defended the +barricades on the Boulevard of Magenta; and when I left them on +May 24, I found that Ferré and Deleschuze had given orders to shoot +the hostages because the troops of Thiers had shot eight of our +officers.'" + +[Footnote 1: General Rossel gave his opinion of the officers in +command at Fort Issy in his letter to the Commune.] + +"'Did you approve that order?'" asked the "World's" reporter. + +"'Yes; why not? Of course I approved it. I went at once to La Roquette, +to be present at the execution. We were one hundred and fifty men, +but one hundred and twenty of them slunk away, and only thirty +remained for the work we came for.' + +"'And what did you do?' + +"'_Ma foi!_ I don't particularly care to say what I did; it might +injure me here where I have got work. We called out the men we +came to shoot, and we shot them as that kind of thing is generally +done. We took them down into a courtyard, put them against a wall, +and gave the order to fire; that was all.' + +"After a minute's silence, Mégy added: 'It was all M. Thiers' fault. +We offered to give him up the hostages if he would give us Blanqui; +but he refused, and so we shot them. After the execution I fought to +the last. I escaped from Paris in a coal-cart, and went to Geneva. +I have had work in London and in Birmingham, and now I have got +work in New York.'" + +He went on to affirm that there was a large colony of Communists in +that city; that America needed revolutionizing as much as France; +that Cardinal McCloskey might find himself in the same position +as Monseigneur Darboy; and so on. + +I have quoted this interview with Mégy at some length, because it +shows the Communists painted by one of their own number. Before +the reporter left him, he chanced to pronounce the name of Mr. +Washburne. "Washburne is a liar and a cur," cried Mégy, angrily. +"Before the Commune ended, some of our people asked him what the +Versailles Government would do with us if we surrendered or were +conquered. 'I assure you,' he said, 'you would be shot.' During +the siege of Paris, Washburne was a German spy. He is a villanous +old rascal." + +In studying the history of the Commune, it is desirable to remember +dates. The whole affair lasted seventy-three days. On March 18 the +guns on Montmartre were taken by the populace, Generals Lecomte +and Thomas were shot, and the Commune was proclaimed. Military +operations were begun April 4. On April 9 Fort Valérien began to +throw shells into Paris. From that day forward, the Versailles +troops continued to advance, taking possession one by one of the +forts and the positions of the Federals. On Sunday, May 21, the +Versailles troops began to enter Paris, and fought their way steadily +from street to street till Sunday, May 27, when all was over. The +hostages were not hostages in the true sense of the word; they had +not been given up in pledge for the performance of any promise. They +were persons seized for purposes of intimidation and retaliation, +as in 1826 the Turks seized the most prominent Christians in Scio. + +During the last five days of the Commune, Dombrowski, its only +general with military capacity, was killed,--it is supposed, by +one of his own men. The Tuileries, the Hôtel-de-Ville, and numerous +other buildings were fired, the Dominican Brothers were massacred, +and the executions in the Rue Haxo took place, besides others in +other parts of Belleville and at the Prefecture. One of the most +diabolical pieces of destruction attempted was that of the Grand +Livre. + +The Grand Livre is the book kept in the French Treasury in which +are inscribed the names and accounts of all those who hold Government +securities; and as the French Government is the proprietor of all +railroads, telegraph systems, and many other things that in England +and the United States are left to private enterprise, the loss of +the Grand Livre would have involved thousands upon thousands of +families in ruin. For a man to have his name on the Grand Livre +is to constitute him what is called a _rentier_, _rentes_ being +the French word for dividends from the public funds. + +The Grand Livre is kept at the Ministry of Finance; that building +Ferré ordered to be summarily destroyed, uttering the words, "Flambez +Finances." The building was accordingly set on fire the day before +the Commune fell; and for some days after, it was thought throughout +all France that the Grand Livre had perished. By heroic exertions +some of it was saved, the officials in charge of it rushing into +the flames and rescuing that portion of it which contained the +names of living property-holders, I while they let the records of +past generations burn. + +There was in existence a duplicate copy of the Grand Livre, though +this was known only to the higher officials of the Treasury. It was +kept in a sort of register's office not far from the Tuileries, +and was in the care of a M. Chazal. When the Tuileries and the +Treasury were on fire, the object of M. Chazal and of all who knew +of the precious duplicate was to save it, in case the building +in which it was deposited should share in the conflagration. + +Of course the Grand Livre is of vast bulk. This copy was contained +in great bundles of loose sheets. Luckily these papers were in stout +oaken boxes on the ground-floor of a detached building opening +on a courtyard. The Versailles troops had reached the spot, and +ninety sappers and miners, with seven brave firemen, were at work +with water-buckets attempting to save the main building, which +was blazing fiercely when M. Chazal arrived. Already the detached +building in which the precious duplicate was stored was on fire. +There was no place to which he could safely remove the precious +papers, no means of transport to carry them away. + +During the siege orders had been given to have large piles of sand +placed in the courtyards of all public buildings, to smother shells +should any fall there. There were three of these sand-piles lying in +the yard of this record office. In them deep trenches were rapidly +dug; and the boxes were buried. Then the pile was covered with +all the incombustible rubbish that could be collected; and had +the Grand Livre been really destroyed, as for some days it was +believed to have been, every Government creditor would have found +his interests safe, through the exertions of M. Chazal and the +intrepid band who worked under him. + +In somewhat the same manner the gold and silver in the vaults of +the Bank of France were saved from pillage. The narrow staircase +leading to the vaults, down which only one man could pass at a +time, was by order of the directors filled up with sand during the +siege. + +Though my readers may be weary of sad tales of massacre, that of +the Dominicans of Arceuil remains to be told. Their convent was in +the suburbs of Paris; it had been turned by them into a hospital +during the siege, and it continued to be so used during the Commune. +After the fall of Fort Issy, the insurgent troops made their +headquarters not far from the convent. They were commanded by a +general of some ability, but of ferocious character, named Serizier. +He was in the habit of saying, as he looked from his window into +the garden of the Dominicans, "Those rascals ought to be roasted +alive." On May 17 the roof of the building in which he lived caught +fire. The Dominicans tucked up their gowns and did their best to +put it out. When all was over, they were ordered to wait upon the +general. They supposed that they were going to be thanked for their +exertions, and were amazed at finding themselves accused of having +set the building on fire as a signal to the Versaillais. The next +morning a battalion of Communist soldiers surrounded their convent. +The prior, his monks, pupils, and servants, were arrested and marched +to a casemate of a neighboring fort. Their convent was stripped of +everything. The building, however, was saved by a _ruse_ on the +part of an officer of the Commune, one of the better class. They +were two days without food, and were then driven into Paris like a +flock of sheep, their black-and-white dress exposing them to all the +insults and ribaldry of the excited multitude; for the Versaillais +were in Paris, and hope, among those who knew the situation, was +drawing to an end. That night the Dominicans were confined in a +prison on the Avenue d'Italie, where a friend of Serizier's (known +as Bobêche) was instructed what to do with them. During the morning, +however, Bobêche went to a drinking saloon, and while there the +man he left in charge received orders to send the priests to work +on a barricade. He affected to misunderstand the order, and sent, +instead, fifteen National Guards imprisoned for insubordination. +When Bobêche came back, half-drunk, he was furious. "What! was the +blood of priests to be spared, and that of patriots imperilled +at a post of danger?" Before long the order was repeated. "We will +tend your wounded, General," said the prior, "we will go after +them under fire, but we will not do the work of soldiers for you." At +this, soldiers were called out to shoot the Dominicans. They were +reluctant to obey, and Serizier dared not risk disobedience. The +fathers were remanded to prison, but were soon called out one by +one. Some volunteers had been found willing to do the shooting, +among them two women, the fiercest of the band. As the fathers came +into the street, all were shot at, but some were untouched; and +soon succeeded a dreadful scene. Round and round the open square, +and up side streets, they were hunted. Four of the twenty escaped. +Men laughed and women clapped their hands at seeing the priests run. +Then Serizier went back to the prison, and was making preparations +to shoot the remaining prisoners, who were laymen, when one of +his subordinates leaned over him and whispered that the troops of +Versailles were at hand. He dropped his papers and made off. The +troops came on, and picked up the bodies of the dead Dominicans. +Serizier was not arrested till some months after, when the wife of +one of his victims, who had dogged him constantly after her husband's +death, discovered him in disguise and gave him up to justice. + +The Prefecture of Police, which stands upon an island in the Seine, +in the heart of Paris, had in those days a small prison in its +main building, and an annex for women. These prisons were full +of prisoners,--_réactionnaires_, as they were called in the last +days of the struggle. + +On May 26, as has been said, nothing remained for the Commune to do +but mischief. Raoul Rigault was busy, with his corps of _Vengeurs +de Flourens_, getting through as many executions as possible; Félix +Pyat was organizing underground explosions, Ferré, the destruction +of public buildings. A gentleman[1] confined in the women's part +of the Prefecture, chancing to look down from a high window on +the offices of the main building, saw beneath him eight men in +the uniform of the Commune, one of them wearing much gold lace, +who were saturating the window-frames with something from a bottle, +and bedaubing other woodwork with mops dipped in a bucket that +he presumed contained petroleum. Their caps were pulled low over +their eyes, as if they did not wish to be recognized. At last he +saw the officer strike a match and apply it to the woodwork, which +caught fire immediately. Then rose frightful shrieks from the prisons +both of the men and the women, for many others had seen what was +going on. An earnest appeal to a turnkey to go to the director +of the prison and represent to him that all his prisoners would +be burned, was met by the answer that he did not take orders from +prisoners. But all turnkeys were not Communists, though Communist +officials were set over them. Some of them took advantage of the +confusion to look into the cells, and speak hope and comfort to +the prisoners. But as the flames caught the great wooden porch of +the Prefecture, the screams of the women were heart-rending; They +even disturbed Ferré, who sent orders "to stop their squalling." +One warder, Braquond, ventured to remonstrate. "Bah!" said Ferré, +"they are only women belonging to gendarmes and _sergents de ville_; +we shall be well rid of them." Then Braquond resolved to organize +a revolt, and save the prisoners. He ran to the corridor, and with +a voice of authority ordered all the cell-doors to be opened, thus +releasing four hundred prisoners. Braquond put himself at their +head and led them on. But when they reached the outer gate, they +were just in time to witness the departure of the last _Vengeur de +Flourens_. Ferré had just received news that the troops of Versailles +were close at hand, and he and his subordinates fled, leaving the +prisoners to shift for themselves. + +[Footnote 1: Le Figaro.] + +But though delivered from the Commune, not only was the Prefecture +and all in it in peril, but every building and every life upon the +island. Quantities of ammunition had been stored in the Prefecture; +if that caught fire, the "Cité" (as that part of Paris is called) +and all its inhabitants would be blown into the air. The citizens +of the quarter, the turnkeys, and the prisoners had nothing but +their hands with which to fight the flames. In the midst of the +fire they began to carry out the gunpowder. They had to make all +speed, yet to be very careful. One train of powder escaping from a +barrel, one sack of cartridges, with a rent in it, falling on the +pavement, where sparks were dropping about, might have destroyed +the whole "Cité." + +There was a brave, stout woman, mistress of a coal and wood yard, +named Madame Saint-Chély. She was a native of Auvergne, whence +all porters and water-carriers in Paris come. With her sleeves +tucked up, and her hair flying, she kept carrying out sack after +sack of cartridges, undaunted, though her clothes caught fire. +Bending beneath the weight upon her back, she emptied them into +the basin of the fountain that stands in the middle of the Place, +then rushed back for more, while the flames poured from the windows +of the upper story. Her activity and cheerfulness animated every +one. + +There was also a barber named Labois, who distinguished himself +by his courage and activity in rolling barrels of powder out of +the cellar of the prefecture, and plunging them into the Seine. + +When several tons of powder and twenty millions of cartridges had +been carried out, danger from that source was over. The next thing was +to fight the flames. Then they discovered that all the fire-engines +had been sent away. Every basin, pitcher, bucket, or saucepan on +the island was put into requisition. Surrounded by the Seine, they +had plenty of water. All worked with a will. At last an engine +came, sent in to their help from Rambouillet. + +One part of the Prefecture, whose burning caused innumerable sparks, +was the depot for lost property. It contained, among other things +twenty thousand umbrellas. + +It was above all things desirable to remove the straw bedding of +the prisoners, stored by day in one large room, and while those +busy with powder and cartridges worked below, Pierre Braquond, +the turnkey, took this task upon himself, assisted by some of his +late prisoners. + +The difficulty of escaping from the island was great, for the insurgents +would fire on fugitives from the right bank of the river, the Versailles +troops from the left. A warder, at the risk of his life, crept to +the water's edge opposite to the Versaillais, and waved a white +handkerchief. As soon as he was seen, the troops ceased firing. +Every moment it was expected that the roof of the prison would +fall in, when suddenly the reservoir on the top of the building +gave way, and the flames were checked by a rush of water. Braquond +had said to Judge Bonjean a few days before he was sent from the +Prefecture to Mazas, "I can stay here no longer. I am going to +escape to Versailles." M. Bonjean replied: "As a magistrate I command +you to remain; as a prisoner I implore you. What would become of +those under your care if the friends of the Commune were set over +them?" + +The Ministry of Marine (that is, the Navy Department) is situated +in the Rue Saint-Florentin, near the Rue Royale and the Place de +la Concorde,--the most beautiful part of the city. The officer who +held it for the Commune was Colonel Brunei, an excellent middle-aged +man, far too good for his associations. There was no stain of any +kind on his past life, but he had been disappointed when peace +was made with the Germans, and had joined the Commune in a moment +of patriotic enthusiasm. Once in its service, there was no way +to escape. + +On May 23 the Versaillais were gaining every moment. There was a +man named Matillion, charged by the Central Committee to do anything +or to burn anything to prevent their advance. That night, when +houses that he had set on fire were blazing in the Rue Royale (he +had had petroleum pumped upon them by fire-engines), there was a +fierce orgy held by the light of the flames before the Church of +the Madeleine. A wild, demon-like dance was led by three women +who had done duty all day as _pétroleuses_,--Florence, Aurore, +and Marie. Marie had been publicly thanked at the Hôtel-de-Ville +for sending a cannonball through one of the statues before the +Chamber of Deputies. + +Three battalions of Communist soldiers stationed in the Ministry +of Marine, which had been converted into a hospital, took advantage +of the fact that the general attention was fixed upon this orgy to +quit their post and steal away, leaving the Ministry undefended. +It was eleven at night; Colonel Brunel was sending to the Central +Committee for fresh soldiers and fresh orders, when a paper was +given him. He read it, turned pale, and sent for the doctor. "The +Central Committee," he said, "orders me to blow up this building +immediately." "But my wounded?" cried the doctor. There were one +hundred and seven wounded soldiers of the Commune in the hospital. +There was no place to which they could be moved, and no means of +transportation. Colonel Brunel sent an orderly to represent the +case to the Committee. All he could obtain was a detail of National +Guards to assist in carrying away the wounded, together with a +positive order to burn down the building. As the sick men were +being very slowly carried out, a party arrived, commanded by a +drunken officer, and carrying buckets of coal-oil and other +combustibles, which they scattered about the rooms. By this time +the fires of the Versaillais gleamed through the trees in the Champs +Élysées. The Rue Royale, near at hand, was in flames. Across the +Seine, the Rue de Lille was burning. The Ministry of Finance and +the palace of the Tuileries seemed a sea of flame. In the Ministry +of Marine were two clerks, long attached to that branch of the +Government service, who had been requested by Admiral Pothereau, +the Minister for Naval Affairs, to remain at their post and endeavor +to protect the papers and property. Their names were Gablin and Le +Sage. M. Le Sage had his wife with him in the building. These men +resolved to save the Ministry, or perish. While Le Sage, who was +expert in gymnastics, set out to see if he could reach the general +in command of the Versaillais, Gablin turned all his energies to +prevent the impending conflagration. Putting on an air of haste and +terror, he rushed into the room where the soldiers were refreshing +themselves, and cried out lustily that the Versaillais were upon them, +but that if they followed him, he would save them. Under pretence +of showing them a secret passage, he led them into a chamber and +locked the door. Then he turned his attention to their commander. +He represented to him that the Versaillais were close at hand, and +promised him safety and a handsome reward if he would not set fire +to the building. "But I have my orders!" objected the half-tipsy +officer. "I have the order you had better obey," replied Gablin, +pointing a pistol at his head. "Now, shall I fire, or shall I reward +you?" The officer gave in. He helped M. Gablin to pour the buckets +of coal-oil into the gutters in the courtyard, to clear away the +powder, and to drench the floors with water. Then Gablin took him +to a chamber, gave him plain clothes, and locked him in. He fell +asleep upon the bed in a moment. + +Le Sage meanwhile had made his way over the roofs of neighboring +houses, and then descended to the Champs Élysées. He was arrested +several times by sentries, but at last made his way to General +Douai. The general heard his story, and then put a paper into his +hand, saying, "The Ministry of Marine is already ours." Admiral +Pothereau himself, at three o'clock in the morning, was looking +towards his old offices and residence from the Champs Élysées. +He remarked to an aide-de-camp and to another officer: "All looks +very quiet. Suppose we go and reconnoitre, and see how near we +can approach my official home." They held their swords in their +hands, and, followed by three gendarmes, cautiously drew near the +Ministry. They met with no opposition, and finally walked in. "Where's +Le Sage?" was the admiral's first question. "He is out looking +for you, M. le Ministre," cried Le Sage's wife, shedding tears of +anxiety. + +Thus the Ministry of Marine was captured by the minister; but the +building itself and all its valuable documents had been preserved +by the fidelity of two young men. + +As for the Communist officer, when he came to himself he sincerely +repented his connection with the Commune. He was pardoned, became +a respectable citizen, and found a true friend in M. Gablin. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE GREAT REVENGE. + +The Commune cost Paris fourteen thousand lives. Eight thousand +persons were executed; six thousand were killed in open fight. +Before the siege Paris had contained two million and a quarter +of inhabitants: she had not half that number during the Commune, +notwithstanding the multitude of small proprietors and peasants +who had flocked thither from devastated homes. + +Monday, May 29, found the city in the hands of the Versaillais. +The Provisional Government and its Parliament were victorious. The +army, defeated at Sedan, had conquered its insurgent countrymen. +All that remained of the Commune was wreck and devastation. The +Tuileries, the Column of the Place Vendôme, the Treasury, the Palace +of the Legion of Honor, and the Hôtel-de-Ville, or City Hall, were +destroyed, besides two theatres, the Law Courts, or Palais de Justice, +the offices of the Council of State and the Court of Accounts, +the State Safe Deposit (Caisse des Dépôts et de Consignations), +the Library of the Louvre, the manufactory of Gobelin's tapestry, +the Prefecture of Police, eight whole streets, and innumerable +scattered private houses. The vengeance of the soldiers as they +made their way from street to street, from barricade to barricade, +was savage and indiscriminate. Every man arrested whose hands were +black with powder was carried to a street corner or a courtyard, +and summarily shot. Of course many wholly innocent persons perished, +for the troops of the Commune had been of two kinds,--the National +Guard and the Volunteers. Most of the latter were devils incarnate. +Among them were the _Vengeurs de Flourens_, who were foremost in +executions, and bands called by such names as _Les Enfants du Père +Duchêne_ and _Les Enfants Perdus_. The National Guards were of +three classes,--genuine Communists, workmen whose pay was their +only resource for the support of their families, and pressed men, +forced to fight, of whom there were a great many. + +I have before me three narratives written by gentlemen who either +suffered or participated in the Great Revenge. One was a resident +in Paris who had taken no part either for or against the Commune; +one had served it on compulsion as a soldier; and one was an officer +of the Versailles army, who on May 21 led his troops through a breach +into the city, and fought on till May 27, when all was over. + +It seems to me that such accounts of personal experience in troubled +times give a far more vivid picture of events than a mere formal +narration. I therefore quote them in this chapter in preference +to telling the story in my own words. + +The first is by Count Joseph Orsi,[1] whose visit to Raoul Rigault's +office at the Prefecture of Police has already been told. He was +left unmolested by the Commune, most probably because in early +life he had been a member of those secret societies in Italy to +which Louis Napoleon himself belonged. He says,-- + +[Footnote 1: Published in Fraser's Magazine, 1879.] + +"On May 22 Paris was entering the last stage of its death struggle. +The army of Versailles had entered it from four different points. +The fight was desperate. Barricades were erected in almost every +street. Prisoners on both sides were shot in scores at the +street-corners. Three of the largest houses in the Rue Royale, +where I lived, were on fire. Soldiers of the regular army were +beginning to appear in our quarter, and early on Thursday, May 25, +I heard the bell of my apartment ring violently. I opened it, and +found myself face to face with twelve _voltigeurs_ of the Versailles +army; commanded by a lieutenant, who ordered the soldiers to search +the house and shoot any one wearing a uniform. He told me that +he must occupy my drawing-room, which looked on the Rue Royale, +for the purpose of firing on the insurgents, who were holding a +barricade where the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré joins the Rue +Royale. My wife was seated on her sofa. He ordered her to leave +the room. She resisted, and was removed by force. The soldiers then +began firing on the insurgents from the windows. The insurgents +had possession of the upper floors of some houses facing mine, and +fired with such effect that the soldiers were driven from their +position. The officer withdrew his men from the drawing-room and +asked for a map of Paris, for he did not know exactly where he +was. I made a friend of him by pointing to my pictures, everyone +of which proved me to be a friend and follower of the emperor. He +asked me if I had any wine to give his men, who had had nothing +to eat or drink since the previous night. While they were partaking +of bread and wine in the kitchen, and I was talking with the officer +in the dining-room, a shot fired from across the street struck the +officer on the temple. He fell as if struck dead. His soldiers +rushed in and seized me. They were about to shoot me on the spot, +when luckily my servant, with water and vinegar, brought the officer +to his senses, so that he could raise his hand and make a sign to +the soldiers, who had me fast by both my arms, to keep quiet. By +God's mercy the officer had only been stunned. He had been hit, +not by a bullet, but by a piece of brick forced out of the wall by +a shot. I was released, but the soldiers were far from satisfied, +believing their officer had accepted this explanation only to spare +my life. They left my house at nightfall, and afterwards the fire +of the insurgents became so hot that the front wall of the house +fell in, and everything I had was smashed to pieces. + +"The next morning, May 26, as I was searching for some valuable +papers among the ruins, two men in plain clothes entered and ordered +me to follow them to the Prefecture of Police, temporarily located +on the Quai d'Orsay. As Paris was by this time completely under +military rule I was examined by an officer. I told him that, not +knowing for what purpose I was wanted, I had left my papers at +home, and was sent under charge of two men to fetch them. I was +also given to understand that I had better make any arrangements +I thought necessary for my wife, which led me to think it probable +I should be shot or imprisoned. It was a reign of terror of a new +kind, of which I could never have expected to be a victim. As we +were crossing the Place de la Concorde we saw half a dozen soldiers +who had seized four Federals on the barricade close by. A struggle +was going on for life or death. The soldiers, having at last the +upper hand, strove to drag the Federals to the wall of the Ministry +of Marine to be shot. The poor wretches were imploring for mercy, +and refused to stand erect. Seeing this, the soldiers shot them +one after the other as they lay upon the ground. + +"I was finally disposed of, in company with other prisoners, in +some large stables and carriage houses. Some of us were in plain +clothes, some in uniform. We were all packed together so closely +that there was not even the possibility of lying down upon the +stones. Bread and water alone were given us. On the approach of +night we were shut in like cattle, with the intimation that any +attempt to revolt or escape would be followed by instant execution. + +"The next morning, May 27, at dawn, ten soldiers, with an officer +at their head, began calling by name eight or ten prisoners at a +time from one of our places of confinement, and they were dragged +away, God knows where. Utter dejection and despair were depicted +on the face of every man, especially on those who had been seized +on the barricades or in uniform. That afternoon I was called out, +being part of a batch of nine prisoners, mostly in plain clothes. +On that day rain fell incessantly. We thought as we marched through +the mud and drizzle that we were going to be shot _en masse_ without +any further trial; but on reaching the Champ de Mars, our escort +was ordered to take us to the barracks that are near it. There +our names were taken down by an officer, and we were locked up +in a room where seven other prisoners had already been confined. +It would be too horrible to relate the filth and closeness of that +place, which might have held seven or eight people, and we were +sixteen! There was a board fitted between two walls where seven +people could lie. This was appropriated before we got there. We +were forced to stand up or to lie down on the stones, which were +damp and inexpressibly dirty. We remained thus for two days. On the +29th the door opened at seven A. M. Eight soldiers were drawn up +outside. The sergeant called out one of the prisoners named Lefevre, +who wore a National Guard's uniform. The poor fellow stepped out +between the two lines of soldiers, and the door closed on him. +He was taken before the colonel, who was instructed to examine the +prisoners, and had the discretionary power of ordering them to +be shot on the spot, or of sending them to Versailles to appear +before the superior commission, by whom they were either set at +liberty or sentenced to transportation. Poor Lefevre was not heard +of again. We thought we heard a brisk volley of musketry in the +large courtyard, but we had been so accustomed to such noises that +it did not attract general attention. Later in the day another +prisoner was called out in the same manner, and he came back no +more; this time the noise of the discharge was distinct, and made +us alive to the imminence of our fate. On the third prisoner being +called out, he refused to go. Two soldiers had to take him by force. +He fought desperately for his life. The door was shut. We had not +long to wait; the discharge of musketry re-echoed in our cell, and +caused within it such a scene of despair as baffles description. + +"Next day four men were taken out and executed, which reduced our +number to nine. By this time we had recovered from the shots and +heeded little what was going to take place, as every one of us +had bidden adieu to this world and made his peace with God. + +"On May 31 our door was opened again. Twelve soldiers were drawn +up before it. We were all ordered out. We thought we were going to +be shot _en masse_, to make quicker work of us. To my amazement, +we saw a large column of about four hundred prisoners, four abreast, +between two lines of grenadiers. Evidently we were intended to +form the last contingent to it. The soldiers having been drawn +up in two long lines on both sides of the column, an officer drew +his sword, and standing up on a wine-hogshead, shouted: 'Soldiers, +load arms.' This being done, he added: 'Fire on any prisoner who +attempts to revolt or escape.' + +"We then took the road to the Western Railroad, where we were put +into cattle vans and goods vans, with scarcely room to breathe, +and reached Versailles about six P. M. A detachment of soldiers +escorted us to Satory. The column marched in to the artillery depot, +and the gates were closed. I happened to be the right-hand man of +the four last prisoners in the column, so that I stood only three +or four yards from the officer in command of the place, who stood +looking at the prisoners, with his arms folded and his officers +beside him. I saw him staring at me, which I attributed to my being +the best-dressed man of the party. Presently he walked slowly up +to me, and measuring me from head to foot with what I took to be +a diabolical sneer, cried, 'Ho! Ho! the ribbon of the Legion of +Honor! You got it, I suppose, on the barricades!' With that I felt +a sharp pull at my coat. Quick as thought, I brought my hand down, +and caught his firmly as he was trying to tear the ribbon from +my breast. In my agitated state of mind I had not been aware I +was wearing a coat that had it on. 'You may shoot me, Captain,' +I said, 'but you shall not wrest that ribbon from me.' 'Where did +you get it?' 'The prince president of the Republic, Louis Napoleon, +gave it me.' 'When?' 'On September 23, 1853.' 'How is it, then, +that you were arrested? Was it on a barricade?' 'No, Captain, in +my own apartment. It is not likely I should fight for the Commune +after having been a devoted friend of the emperor for forty years.' +'Your name?' 'Count Joseph Orsi.' He looked at me again, and having +joined his officers, to whom he related what had taken place, he +turned round and in a loud voice said to me: 'Come out of the ranks.' +Then, seeing a gendarme close by, he said: 'Do not lose sight of +this prisoner.'" + +For two days the captain kept Count Orsi in his office and encouraged +him to write to any friends he might have in Versailles. Count Orsi +named M. Grévy (afterwards president) as having been for years his +legal adviser, and he wrote a few lines to various other persons. +But there were no posts, and in the confusion of Versailles at +that moment there seemed little chance that his notes would reach +their destination. Two days later an order came to Satory to send +all prisoners to Versailles, and the kind-hearted captain was forced +to return Count Orsi to the column of his fellow-prisoners. + +At Versailles they were shut up in the wine-cellars of the palace, +forty-five feet underground. The prisoners confined there were +the very dregs and scum of the insurrection. The cellars had only +some old straw on the floors, left there by the Prussians. There +were six hundred men confined in this place, and the torture they +endured from the close air, the filth, and the impossibility of +lying down at night was terrible. + +Count Orsi was ten days in this horrible prison. At last one evening +he heard his name called. His release had come. On going to the +door he was taken before a superior officer, who expressed surprise +and regret at the mistake that had been committed, and at once +set him at liberty. A brave little boy, charged with one of his +notes, had persevered through all kinds of difficulties in putting +it into the hands of the English lady to whom it was addressed. +This lady and the Italian ambassador had effected Count Orsi's +release. He was ill with low fever for some weeks in consequence +of the bad air he had breathed during his confinement. Subsequently +he discovered that personal spite had caused his arrest as a friend +of the Commune. + +My next account of those days is drawn from the experience of the +Marquis de Compiègne,[1] one of the Versailles officers. He was +travelling in Florida when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, but +hastened home at once to join the army. He fought at Sedan and was +taken prisoner to Germany, but returned in time to act against +the Commune. Afterwards he became an explorer in the Soudan, and +in 1877 was killed in a duel. + +[Footnote 1: His narrative was published in the "Supplément Littéraire +du Figaro."] + +On the 20th of May, news having reached Versailles that the first +detachment of regular troops had made their way into Paris, M. +de Compiègne hastened to join his battalion, which he had that +morning quitted on a few hours' leave. As they approached the Bois +de Boulogne at midnight, the sky over Paris seemed red with flame. +They halted for some hours, the men sleeping, the officers amusing +themselves by guessing conundrums; but as day dawned, they entered +Paris through a breach in the defences. The young officer says,-- + +"I shall never forget the sight. The fortifications had been riddled +with balls; the casemates were broken in. All over the ground were +strewn haversacks, packets of cartridges, fragments of muskets, +scraps of uniforms, tin cans that had held preserved meats, +ammunition-wagons that had been blown up, mangled horses, men dying +and dead, artillerymen cut down at their guns, broken gun-carriages, +disabled siege-guns, with their wheels splashed red from pools of +blood, but still pointed at our positions, while around were the +still smoking walls of ruined private houses. A company of infantry +was guarding about six hundred prisoners, who with folded arms and +lowering faces were standing among the ruins. They were of all +ages, grades, and uniforms,--boys of fifteen and old men, general +officers covered with gold lace, and beggars in rags: Avengers of +Flourens, Children of Père Duchêne, Chasseurs and Zouaves, Lascars, +Turcos, and Hussars. We halted a little farther in the city. We +were very hungry, but all the shops were closed. I got some milk, +but some of my comrades, who wanted wine, made a raid into the +cellar of an abandoned house, and were jumped upon by an immense +negro dressed like a Turco, whom they took for the devil. Glad as +we all were to be in Paris, the sight as we marched on was most +melancholy. Fighting seemed going on in all directions, especially +near the Tuileries and the Place de la Concorde. The Arch of Triumph +was not seriously injured. On the top of it were two mortars, and +the tricolored flag had been replaced by the _drapeau rouge_. +Detachments were all the time passing us with prisoners. They were +thrust for safe-keeping wherever space could be found. I am sorry +to say that they were cruelly insulted, and, as usual, those who +had fought least had the foulest tongues. There was one party of +deserters still in uniform, with their coats turned inside out. I +saw one of the prettiest girls I have ever seen, among the prisoners. +She was about fourteen, dressed as a _cantinière_, with a red scarf +round her waist. A smile was on her lips, and she carried herself +proudly. + +"That morning, May 22, I saw nobody shot. I think they wanted to +take all the prisoners they could to Versailles as trophies of +victory. About one o'clock we received orders to march, and went +down the Boulevard Malesherbes. All the inhabitants seemed to be at +their windows, and in many places we were loudly welcomed. It was +strange to me to be marching with arms in my hands, powder-stained +and dirty, along streets I had so often trodden gay, careless, and +in search of pleasure. + +"On the march we passed the Carmelite Convent, where my sister +was at school; and as we halted, I was able to run in a moment and +see her. Only an hour or two before; the nuns had had a Communist +picket in their yard. + +"We marched on to the Parc Monceau [once Louis Philippe's private +pleasure-garden]. There our men were shooting prisoners who had +been taken with arms in their hands. I saw fifteen men fall,--and +then a woman. + +"That night volunteers were called for to defend an outlying barricade +which had been taren from the insurgents, and of which they were +endeavoring to regain possession. Our captain led a party to this +place, and in a tall house that overlooked the barricade he stationed +three of us. There, lying flat on our faces on a billiard-table, we +exchanged many shots with the enemy. A number of National Guards +came up and surrendered to us as prisoners. As soon as one presented +himself with the butt of his musket in the air, we made him come +under the window, where two of us stood ready to fire in case of +treachery, while the third took him to the lieutenant. In the course +of the night I was slightly wounded in the ear. A surgeon pinned +it up with two black pins. + +"It was now May 23,--an ever-memorable day. We were pushing on +into Paris, and were to attack Montmartre; but first we had to make +sure of the houses in our rear. Then began that terrible fighting in +the streets, when every man fights hand to hand, when one must jump, +revolver in hand, into dark cellars, or rush up narrow staircases +with an enemy who knows the ground, lying in wait. Two or three +shots, well aimed, come from one house, and each brings down a +comrade. Exasperated, we break in the door and rush through the +chambers. The crime must be punished, the murderers are still on +the spot; but there are ten men in the house. Each swears that +he is innocent. Then each soldier has to take upon himself the +office of a judge. He looks to see if the gun of each man has been +discharged recently, if the blouse and the citizen's trousers have +not been hastily drawn over a uniform. Death and life are in his +hands; no one will ever call him to account for his decision. Women +and children fall at his feet imploring pity; through all the house +resound sobs, groans, and the reports of rifles. At the corner of +every street lie the bodies of men shot, or stand prisoners about +to be executed. + +"I was thankful when the moment came to attack the heights of +Montmartre, and to engage in open warfare. General Pradié, our +brigadier-general, marched at our head, greatly exposed, because +of the gold lace on his uniform. An insurgent, whom we had taken +prisoner, suddenly sprang from his guards, seized the general's +horse, and presented at him a revolver that he had hidden in his +belt. The general, furious, cried, 'Shoot him! shoot him!' But we +dared not, they were too close together. Suddenly the man sprang +back, gained the street, and though twenty of us fired in haste +at once, every ball missed him. Leaping like a goat, he made his +escape. The general was very angry. Step by step we made our way, +slowly, it is true, but never losing ground. About two hundred +yards from Montmartre were tall houses and wood-yards where many +insurgents had taken refuge. These sent among us a shower of balls. +We had sharp fighting in this place, but succeeded in gaining the +position. Then we halted for about two hours, to make preparations +for an attack upon the heights. Some of us while we halted, fired +at the enemy, some raided houses and made prisoners; some went in +search of something to eat, but seldom found it. I was fortunate, +however, while taking some prisoners to the provost-marshal, to +be able to buy a dozen salt herrings, four pints of milk, nine +loaves of bread, some prunes, some barley-sugar, and a pound of +bacon. I took all I could get, and from the colonel downward, all my +comrades were glad to get a share of my provisions. The heights of +Montmartre had been riddled by the fire from Mont Valérien. Sometimes +a shell from our mortars would burst in the enemy's trenches, when +a swarm of human beings would rush out of their holes and run like +rabbits in a warren." + +The punishment of the unfortunate, as well as of the guilty, was +very severe. Their imprisonment in the Great Orangery at Versailles, +where thousands of orange-trees are stored during the winter, involved +frightful suffering. A commission was appointed to try the prisoners, +but its work was necessarily slow. It was more than a year before +some of the captured leaders of the Commune met their fate. Those +condemned were shot at the Buttes of Satory,--an immense amphitheatre +holding twenty thousand people, where the emperor on one of his fêtes, +in the early days of his marriage, gave a great free hippodrome +performance, to the intense gratification of his lieges. + +Some prisoners were transported to New Caledonia; Cayenne had been +given up as too unhealthy, and this lonely island in the far Pacific +Ocean had been fixed upon as the Botany Bay for political offenders. +Some of the leaders in the Council of the Commune were shot in the +streets. Raoul Rigault was of this number. Some were executed at +Satory; some escaped to England, Switzerland, and America; some +were sent to New Caledonia, but were amnestied, and returned to +France to be thorns in the side of every Government up to the present +hour; some are now legislators in the French Chamber, some editors +and proprietors of newspapers. Among those shot in the heat of +vengeance at Satory was Valin, who had vainly tried to save the +hostages. Deleschuze, in despair at the cowardice of his associates, +quietly sought a barricade when affairs grew desperate, and standing +on it with his arms folded, was shot down. Cluseret, who had real +talent as an artist, had an exhibition a few years since of his +pictures in Paris, and writing to a friend concerning it, speaks +thus of himself:[1] + +[Footnote 1: Le Figaro.] + +"You can tell me the worst. When a man has passed through a life +full of vicissitudes as I have done, during seventeen years of +which I have seen many campaigns, fighting sometimes three hundred +and sixty-five days in a year, or marching and counter-marching, +without tents or anything; when one has been three times outlawed +and under sentence of death; when one has known much of imprisonment +and exile; when one has suffered from ingratitude, calumny, and +poverty,--one is pretty well seasoned, and can bear to hear the +truth." + +One thousand and thirty-one women were among the prisoners at Versailles +and Satory. Many of them were women of the worst character. Eight +hundred and fifty were set at liberty; four were sent to an insane +asylum; but doctors declared that nearly every woman who fought +in the streets for the Commune was more or less insane. + +The most important of all captures was that of Rochefort. He had +been a leading man in the Council of the Commune, but was so great +a favorite with men of literature, besides having strong friends +and an old schoolfellow in Thiers' cabinet, that he escaped with +transportation to the Southern Seas. On May 20, when he saw that +the end of the Commune was at hand, he procured from the Delegate +for Foreign Affairs passports for himself and his secretary. It +is thought that the delegate, enraged at Rochefort's purpose of +deserting his colleagues, betrayed him to the Prussians who held +the fort of Vincennes. The Prussians sent word to the frontier, +and there the fugitives were arrested. Rochefort had no luggage, +but in his pocket was a great deal of miscellaneous jewelry, a copy +of "Monte Cristo," and some fine cigars. Escorted by Uhlans, he +was brought to St. Germains, and delivered over to the Versailles +Government. For a long time his fate hung in the balance, and it +seemed improbable that even the exertions of M. Thiers, the President, +and Jules Favre, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, could save him. + +Having told of the last days of the Commune as seen by Count Orsi +and the Marquis de Compiègne, there remains one more narrative,--the +experiences of a man still more intimately connected with the events +of that terrible period, though, like a soldier in battle, he seems +to have been able to see only what was around him, and could take +no general view of what went on in other parts of the field. + +The writer was all English gentleman who published his narrative +immediately after he returned to England in September and October, +1871, in "Macmillan's Magazine." "The writer," says the editor, "is +a young gentleman of good family and position. His name, though +suppressed for good reasons, is known to us, and we have satisfied +ourselves of the trustworthiness of the narrative." He says: + +"I left England very hurriedly for France on March 29, 1871. I +had neglected to procure a passport, and had no papers to prove +my identity. I travelled from Havre to Paris without trouble, and +on the train met two men whom I saw afterwards as members of the +Council of the Commune. The first thing that struck me on my arrival +in Paris was the extreme quietness of the streets. During the first +week of my stay I was absorbed in my own business, and saw nothing; +but on Monday, April 10, my own part in the concerns of the Commune +began. I was returning home from breakfast about one o'clock in +the day, when I met a sergeant and four men in the street, who +stopped me, and the sergeant said: 'Pardon, Citizen, but what is +your battalion?' I answered that, being an Englishman, I did not +belong to any battalion. 'And your passport, Citizen?' On my replying +that I had none, he requested me to go with him to a neighboring +_mairie_, and I was accordingly escorted thither by the four men. +On my arrival I was shown into a cell, comfortable enough, though +it might have been cleaner. Having no evidence of my nationality, +I felt it was useless to apply to the Embassy; all the friends I +had in Paris who could have identified me as all Englishman had +left the city some days before, and as I reflected, it appeared to +me that if required to serve the Commune, no other course would +be left to me. One thing, however, I resolved,--to keep myself as +much in the background as possible. In three or four hours I was +conducted before the members of the Commune for that arrondissement. +They received me civilly, asked my name, age, profession, etc., +and then one of them, taking up a paper, proceeded to say that I +must be placed in a battalion for active service, as I was under +forty years of age. 'Gentlemen,' I replied, 'your political affairs +are of no interest to me, and it is my misfortune to be placed +in this unpleasant predicament. But I tell you plainly, you may +shoot me if you will, but I absolutely refuse to leave Paris to +fight the Versaillais, who are no enemies of mine in particular, +and I therefore demand to be set at liberty.' Upon this they all +laughed, and told me to leave the room. After a little time I was +recalled, and told I should be placed in a _compagnie sédentaire_. +I again remonstrated, and demanded to be set at liberty, when they +said I was drunk, and ordered me to be locked into my cell, whence +I was transferred to my battalion the next morning. I found my +captain a remarkably pleasant man, as indeed were all my comrades +in my company, and I can never forget the kindness I met with from +them. My only regret is my utter ignorance of their fate. I can +scarcely hope they all escaped the miserable fate that overtook +so many; but I should rejoice to know that some were spared. On +entering the captain's office and taking off my hat, I was told +to put it on again, 'as we are all equal here, Citizen;' and after +the captain had said a few words to me, I was regaled with bread, +sardines, and wine,--the rations for the day. The captain was a +young man of six-and-twenty, with a particularly quiet, gentlemanly +manner (he was, I believe, a carpet-weaver). He had been a soldier, +and had served in Africa with distinction. + +"The account of my daily duties as a member of this company from +April 10 to May 23 may be here omitted. I became orderly to one of +the members of the Commune, and being supplied with a good horse +(for as an Englishman I was supposed to be able to ride), I spent +much of my time in carrying messages. On the morning of Tuesday, +May 23, our colonel told us of the death of Dombrowski, who had +been shot during the night, though particulars were not known. I +was sorry to hear of his end, for he had been disposed to be kind +to me, and I knew then that the cause of the Commune was utterly +lost, as he was the only able man among them. The night before, we +had seen such a fire as I never saw before, streaming up to the +sky in two pillars of flame. I was told it was the Tuileries. The +Versaillais were already within the walls of Paris, but this we +in the centre of the city did not know. The news spread during the +day, however, and there was a great panic in the evening. Everybody +began to make preparations for flight, the soldiers being anxious +to get home and change their uniforms for plain clothes. No one +knew with any degree of certainty where the enemy really was, nor +how far he had advanced; only one thing was certain, that the game +was played out, and that _sauve qui peut_ must be the order of the +day. Men, women, and children were rushing frantically about the +streets, demanding news, and repeating it with a hundred variations. +The whole scene was lit up by fires which blazed in all directions. +At last the night gave place to dawn, and the scene was one to be +remembered for a lifetime. The faces of the crowd wore different +expressions of horror, amazement, and abject terror.... Early in +the morning of Wednesday 24th, I, with some others, was ordered +to the barricade of La Roquette.[1] My companions were very good +fellows, with one exception,--a grumpy old wretch who had served +in Africa, and could talk about nothing but the heat of Algeria +and the chances for plunder he had let slip there. Finding nothing +to do at the barricade, I tied my horse and fell asleep upon the +pavement. I dreamed I was at a great dinner-party in my father's +house, and could get nothing to eat, though dishes were handed +to me in due course. Many times afterwards my sleeping thoughts +took that direction. I really believe that there were times when +I and many others would willingly have been shot, if we could have +secured one good meal, When I awoke, about mid-day, in the Rue de +la Roquette, I found my companions gone to the _mairie_ of the +Eleventh Arrondissement, and I followed them. Our uniform was not +unlike that of the troops of the line in the French army, so we +were taken by the crowd for deserters, and hailed with 'Ah, les +bon garçons! Ah, les bons patriotes!' and we shouted back in turn +with all our might, 'Vive la Commune! Vive la République!' Those +words were in my mouth the whole of the next three days. The people +never saw a horseman without shrieking to him, 'How is all going on +at present?' To which the answer was invariably, 'All goes well! +_Vive la Commune! Vive la République!_' though the enemy might at +that moment be within five hundred yards. Indeed, the infatuation and +credulity displayed by the French, not only during the insurrection, +but the whole war, was absurd. Tell them on good authority that they +had lost a battle or been driven back, they would answer that you +were joking, and you might think yourself lucky to escape with a +whole skin; but say nothing but 'All goes well! We have won!' and +without stopping to inquire, they would at once cheer and shout +as if for a decisive victory." + +[Footnote 1: At that time the execution of the hostages was taking +place within the prison.] + +The next duty of our Englishman was to act as mounted orderly to +captains who were ordered to visit and report on the state of the +barricades, also to command all citizens to go into their houses +and close the doors and windows. There was little enthusiasm at +the barricades, and everywhere need of reinforcements. The army +of the Commune was melting away. The most energetic officer they +saw was a stalwart negro lieutenant,--possibly the man who, as De +Compiègne tells us, had scared some Versaillais in a cellar on +the 22d of May. + +On the night of Thursday, May 25, the Column of July was a remarkable +sight. It had been hung with wreaths of _immortelles_, and those caught +fire from an explosive. Elsewhere, except for burning buildings, +there was total darkness. There was no gas in Paris, of course. And +here our Englishman goes on to say that so far as his experience +went, he saw no _pétroleuses_ nor fighting women, nor did he believe +in their existence. + +By Friday, May 26, provisions and fodder were exhausted, and it +was hard for the soldiers of the Commune to get anything to eat. +Our Englishman, in the general disorganization, became separated +from his comrades, and joined himself to a small troop of horsemen +wearing the red shirt of Garibaldi, who swept past him at a furious +gallop. They were making for the cemetery of Père la Chaise. "All is +lost!" they cried. "To get there is our only chance of safety." Yet +they still shouted to the men and women whom they passed, "All goes +well! _Vive la Commune! Vive la République!_" By help of an order to +visit all the posts, which the Englishman had in his pocket, they +obtained admittance into Père la Chaise. There were five Poles in +the party, one Englishman, and one Frenchman; "and certainly," adds +the narrator, "they were no credit to their respective nations. It +was on their faces that I remarked for the first time that peculiar +hunted-down look which was afterwards to be seen on every countenance, +and I presume upon my own." + +Our Englishman rode up to a battery in Père la Chaise, planted on +the spot made famous by a celebrated passage in "Le Père Goriot," +in which Balzac describes Rastignac, on the eve of finally selling +himself to Satan, as standing and gazing down on Paris, to conquer +a high place in which is to be his reward. The observer who saw +the city from the same spot on the 26th of May, 1871, says,-- + +"Beneath me lay stretched out like a map the once great and beautiful +city, now, alas! given over a prey to fire and sword. I could see +smoke rising from many a heap of ruins that but a few short hours +before had been a palace or a monument of art. It was impossible, +however, to decide what buildings were actually burning, for a +thick, misty rain had set in, which prevented my seeing distinctly. +In my descent I passed the place where the body of Dombrowski was +lying. He had been shot from behind, and the ball had passed through +his body. At the gate of the cemetery I found a man waiting for +me with news that Belleville was to be our _rendezvous_. Words +cannot paint the spectacle that Belleville presented. It was the +last place left, the only refuge remaining; and such an assemblage +as was collected there it would be difficult to find again. There +were National Guards of every battalion, _Chasseurs Fédérés_ in +their wonderful uniform,--a sort of cross between Zouave, linesman, +and rifleman,--_Enfants Perdus_ in their green coats and feathers +(very few of these were to be seen, as they had no claim to quarter, +nor did they expect any), _Chasseurs à Cheval_ of the Commune, in +their blue jackets and red trousers, leaning idly against the gates +of their stables, _Éclaireurs de la Commune_ in blue, Garibaldians in +red, hussars, _cantinières_, sailors, civilians, women, and children, +all mixed up together in the crowded streets, and looking the picture +of anxiety. In the afternoon about four o'clock we were ordered to +mount and to escort 'ces coquins,'--as the officer called a party +of prisoners. They were forty-five gendarmes and six _curés_, who +were to be shot in the courtyard of a neighboring building. We +obeyed our orders and accompanied them to their destination. I was +told off to keep back the crowd. The men about to die, fifty-one +in all, were placed together, and the word was given to fire. Some +few, happier than the rest, fell at once, others died but slowly. +One gendarme made an effort to escape but was shot through the +stomach, and fell, a hideous object, to the ground. One old _curé_, +with long hair white as snow, had the whole of one side of his head +shot away, and still remained standing. After I had seen this, I +could bear it no longer, but, reckless of consequences, moved away +and left the ground, feeling very sick. As I was in the act of +leaving, I observed a lad, a mere boy of fourteen or fifteen, draw +a heavy horseman's pistol from his belt and fire in the direction +of the dead and dying. He was immediately applauded by the mob, and +embraced by those who stood near as 'a good patriot.' And here let +me remark that those who have thought it cruel and inhuman on the +part of the conquerors to arrest and detain as prisoners _gamins_ +of from twelve to sixteen, are quite mistaken. Those who remained +at the barricades to the last, and were most obstinate in their +defence, were the boys of Paris. They were fierce and uncontrollable, +and appeared to be veritably possessed of devils. The difference +between the irregular corps and the National Guard was that the +latter had, with very few exceptions, been forced to serve, like +myself, under compulsion, or by the stern necessity of providing +bread for their wives and children, while the Irregulars were all +volunteers, and had few married men in their ranks." + +Later in the day two mounted officers in plain clothes, one of +them a captain, whom our friend had served as orderly, called him +and an artilleryman out of the ranks, and ordered them to accompany +them. After a devious course through obscure streets of Paris, the +officers gave them some money, and ordered them to go into the +next street and see if they could procure plain clothes. Having +done so, they returned to the place where their officers had promised +to wait for them; but they had disappeared. This was, in truth, a +good-natured _ruse_ to save the lives of the two privates, though +at the time it was not so understood. Not knowing what to do, they +attempted to return to their regiments, but at the first outpost +they were challenged by the sentry. They had been away five hours, +and the countersign had been changed. They were arrested, and carried +to the nearest _mairie_. They were led upstairs and taken before +a member of the Commune who was sitting at a table covered with +papers, busily writing, surrounded by men of all ranks and uniforms. +On hearing their story, he turned round, and said, in excellent +English, "What are you doing here, an Englishman and in plain clothes?" +The Englishman had grown angry. He answered recklessly: "Yes, I +am English, and I have been compelled to serve your Commune. I +don't know what your name is, or who you are, but I request that +you give me a paper to allow me to quit Paris without further +molestation." The member of the Commune smiled, and answered: "There +is only one thing to be done with you. Here, sergeant!" And the +Englishman and the artilleryman were escorted to the guard-room. +There everything of value was taken from them. The Englishman lost +his watch, his money, and what he valued more, his note-book and +papers. He wore a gold ring, the gift of his mother; and as it +was difficult to get off, some of the soldiers proposed amputating +the finger. + +Next, a species of court-martial was held, which in a few minutes +passed sentence that they were to be shot at nine the next morning, +for "refusing to serve the Commune!" They had been asked no questions, +no evidence had been heard, and no defence had been allowed them. +Says the Englishman,-- + +"We were conducted to the Black Hole. There we found nine others +who were to suffer the same fate in the morning. I was too tired +to do anything but throw myself on a filthy mattress, and in a +few minutes I was sleeping what I thought was my last sleep on +earth. I was roused at daybreak by a tremendous hammering of my +companions on the door of our cell. I was irritated, and asked +angrily why they could not allow those who wished to be quiet to +remain so. They answered by telling me to climb up to the window +and look into the courtyard. I found it strewn with corpses. The +_mairie_ had been evacuated during the night, and it was evident +we should not be executed. In vain we tried to force the door of +our cell; all we could do was to make as much noise as possible +to attract attention. At last a sergeant of the National Guard +procured the keys, the heavy door was opened, and we were free. +I avoided a distribution of rifles and ammunition, and passed out +into the street, hoping that my troubles were over. Alas! they +were only just begun; for the first sight that met my eyes as I +stepped into the street was a soldier of the Government, calling +on all those in sight to surrender and to lay down their arms. I +gave myself up as a prisoner of war. It was Whit-Sunday, May 28. +Happily my name was written down as one of those taken without +arms. + +"I was placed in a party of prisoners, and we were marched to the +Buttes de Chaumont, passing in our way many a barricade, or rather +the remains of them. Here, the body of a man shot through the head +was lying stiff and cold upon the pavement; there, was a pool of +coagulated blood; there, the corpse of a gentleman in plain clothes, +apparently sleeping, with his head buried in his arms; but a small +red stream issuing from his body told that he slept the sleep of +death. Some, as we marched on, kept silence, some congratulated +themselves that all was over, while some predicted our immediate +execution. All had the same hunted-down, wearied look upon their +faces that I have before alluded to. At last we were halted and +given over to the charge of a regiment of the line. The first order +given was, 'Fling down your hats!' Luckily I had a little silk cap, +which I contrived to slip into my pocket, and which was afterwards +of great comfort to me. We stood bare-headed in the blazing sun +some time, till our attention was called to a sound of shooting, +and a whisper went round: 'We are all to be shot.' The agonized +look on the faces of some, I can never forget; but these were men +of the better sort, and few in number: the greater part looked +sullen and stolid, shrugged their shoulders, and said, 'It won't +take long; a shot, and all is over.' + +"A boy about four files behind me was a pitiable object; his cries +and his frantic endeavors to attract notice to a document of some +sort he held in his hand, were silenced at last by a kick from +an officer and a 'Tais-toi, crapaud!' Very different was it with +a poor child of nine, who stood next to me. He never cried nor +uttered a word of complaint, but stood quietly by my side for some +time, looking furtively into my face. At last he ventured to slip +his little hand into mine, and from that time till the close of +that terrible day we marched hand in hand. Meantime the executions +went on. I counted up to twenty, and afterwards I believe some +six or seven more took place. Those put to death were nearly all +officers of the National Guard. One who was standing near me, a +paymaster, had his little bag containing the pay of his men, which +he had received the day before, but had not been able to distribute +among them. He now gave it away to those standing round him (I among +them getting a few francs), saying, 'I shall be shot; but this money +may be of use to you, my children, in your sad captivity.' He was led +out and shot a few minutes afterwards. They all, without exception, +met their fate bravely and like men. There was no shrinking from +death, or entreaties to be spared, among those I saw killed. + +"After an hour we resumed our march, the mob saluting us with the +choicest selection of curses and abusive epithets I ever heard. +We passed down the Rue Royale, the bystanders calling on us to +look upon the ruin we had caused, through the Champs Élysées to +the Arch of Triumph, marching bare-headed, under a burning sun. +At length, in the Avenue de l'Impératrice, an order to halt was +given. There, weary and footsore, many dropped down on the ground, +waiting for death, which we were now convinced was near at hand. For +myself, I felt utterly numbed and contented to die, and I think I +should have received with equal indifference the news of my release. +I remember plotting in my mind how I could possibly get news of my +fate conveyed to my parents in England. Could I ask one of the +soldiers to convey a message for me? And would he understand what +to do? With such thoughts, and mechanically repeating the Lord's +Prayer to myself at intervals, I whiled away more than an hour, +until an order, 'Get up, all of you,' broke the thread of my +meditations. Presently General the Marquis de Gallifet (he who +had served the emperor in Mexico) passed slowly down the line, +attended by several officers. He stopped here and there, selecting +several of our number, chiefly the old or the wounded, and ordered +them to step out of the ranks. His commands were usually couched in +abusive language. A young man near me called out, 'I am an American. +Here is my passport. I am innocent.' 'Silence! We have foreigners +and riff-raff more than enough. We have got to get rid of them,' +was the general's reply. All chance was over now, we thought; we +should be shot in a few minutes. Our idea was that those who had +been placed aside were to be spared, and those about me said: 'It +is just. They would not shoot the aged and the wounded!' Alas! we +were soon to be undeceived. Again we started, and were ordered to +march arm in arm to the Bois de Boulogne. There those picked out +of our ranks by General de Gallifet--over eighty in number--were +all shot before our eyes; yet so great was our thirst that many, +while the shooting was going on, were struggling for water, of +which there was only a scant supply. I was not fortunate enough +to get any. + +"The execution being over, we proceeded, now knowing that our +destination was Versailles. Oh, the misery and wretchedness of +that weary march! The sun poured fiercely down on our uncovered +heads, our throats were parched with thirst, our blistered feet +and tired legs could hardly support our aching bodies. Now and +again a man utterly worn out would drop by the wayside. One of our +guard would then dismount, and try by kicks and blows to make him +resume his place in the line. In all cases those measures proved +unavailing, and a shot in the rear told us that one of our number +had ceased to exist. The executioner would then fall into his place, +laughing and chatting gayly with his comrades. + +"Towards eight o'clock in the evening we entered Versailles. If +the curses we had endured in Paris were frightful and numerous, +here they were multiplied tenfold. We toiled up the hill leading to +Satory, through mud ankle deep. 'There stand the _mitrailleuses_, +ready for us,' said one of my companions. Then, indeed, for the +first time I felt afraid, and wished I had been among those who had +been executed in the daytime, rather than be horribly wounded and +linger in my misery; for no sure aim is taken by a _mitrailleuse_. + +"The order came to halt, and I waited for the whirring sound; but, +thank God! I waited in vain. We set ourselves in motion once more, +and soon were in an immense courtyard surrounded by walls, having +on one side large sheds in which we were to pass the night. With +what eagerness did we throw ourselves on our faces in the mud, and +lap up the filthy water in the pools! There was another Englishman, +as well as several Americans, among our number, also some Dutch, +Belgians, and Italians. The Englishman had arrived in Paris from +Brest on May 14 to 'better himself,' and had been immediately arrested +and put in prison by the Commune. Being released on the 21st of +May, he was captured the next day by the Versaillais. I remained +all the time with him till my release. + +"On Wednesday, May 31, we were despatched to Versailles to be examined +at the _orangerie_. The _orangerie_ is about seven hundred feet long +and forty broad, including two wings at either end. It is flagged +with stone, on which the dust accumulates in great quantities. +According to my experience, it is bitterly cold at night, and very hot +in the daytime. Within its walls, instead of fragrant orange-trees, +were four to five thousand human beings, now herded together in a +condition too miserable to imagine, a prey to vermin, disease, +and starvation. + +"The general appearance of the crowd of captives was, I must confess, +far from prepossessing. They were very dirty, very dusty and worn +out, as I myself was probably, and no wonder; the floor was several +inches thick in dust, no straw was attainable, and washing was +impossible. I gained some comparative comfort by gathering up dust +in a handkerchief and making a cushion of it. Thursday, June 1, +dragged on as miserably as its predecessor, the only event being +the visit of a deputy, which gave rise to great anticipations, as +he said, in my hearing, that our condition was disgraceful, and +that straw and a small portion of soup ought to be allowed us. + +"The terrible scenes and sufferings we had gone through had deprived +many of our number of their reason. Some of the madmen were dangerous, +and made attempts to take the lives of their companions; others +did nothing but shout and scream day and night. The second night +we passed in the _orangerie_ the Englishman and I thought we had +secured a place where we might lie down and sleep in the side gallery; +but at midnight we were attacked by one of the most dangerous of +the madmen. It was useless to hope to find any other place to lie +down in, and we had no more rest that night, for several maniacs +persisted in following us wherever we went, and would allow us +no repose. I counted that night forty-four men bereft of reason +wandering about and attacking others, as they had done ourselves. + +"The next day we found ourselves at last in the ranks of those +who were to leave the _orangerie_. Our names were inscribed at +eleven o'clock, and we stood in rank till seven in the evening, +afraid to lose our places if we stirred. What our destination might +be, was to us unknown; but there was not a man who was not glad +to quit the place where we had suffered such misery." + +Their destination proved to be Brest, which they reached at midnight +of the next day, after travelling in cattle-cars for about thirty +hours. They were transferred at once to a hulk lying in the harbor, +clean shirts and water to wash with were given them, which seemed +positive luxuries. Their treatment was not bad; they had hammocks +to sleep in, and permission to smoke on deck every other day. But +the sufferings they had gone through, and the terribly foul air of +the _orangerie_, had so broken them down that most of them were +stricken by a kind of jail-fever. Many, without warning, would +drop down as if in a fit, and be carried to a hospital ship moored +near them, to be seen no more. + +Our Englishman remained three weeks on board this hulk, and then +escaped; but by what means he did not, in October, 1871, venture +to say. + +He concludes his narrative with these words:-- + +"When I think of those who were with me who still remain in the +same condition, and apparently with no chance of release, my heart +grows sick within me, and I can only be thankful to Almighty God +for my miraculous and providential escape. In conclusion let me say, +as one who lived and suffered among them, that so far from speaking +hardly of the miserable creatures who have been led astray, one ought +rather to pity them. The greater part of those who served the Commune +(for all in Paris, with but few exceptions, did serve) were 'pressed +men' like myself. But those who had wives and children to support +and were without work--nay, even without means of obtaining a crust +of bread (for the siege had exhausted all their little savings)--were +forced by necessity to enroll themselves in the National Guard for +the sake of their daily pay. + +"In the regular army of the Commune (if I may so style the National +Guard) there were but few volunteers, and these were in general +orderly and respectable men; but the irregular regiments, such as +the _Enfants Perdus, Chasseurs Fédérés, Défenseurs de la Colonne de +Juillet_, etc., were nothing but troops of blackguards and ruffians, +who made their uniforms an excuse for robbery and pillage. Such men +deserved the vengeance which overtook the majority of them." + +[Illustration: _PRESIDENT ADOLPH THIERS._] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE FORMATION OF THE THIRD REPUBLIC. + +The fall of the Commune took place in the last week of May, 1871. +We must go back to the surrender of Paris, in the last week of +January of the same year, and take up the history of France from +the election of the National Assembly called together at Bordeaux +to conclude terms of peace with the Prussians, to the election +of the first president of the Third Republic, during which time +France was under the dictatorship of M. Thiers. + +Adolphe Thiers was born in Marseilles, April 16, 1797. He was a +poor little baby, whose father, an ex-Jacobin, had fled from France +to escape the counter-revolution. The doctor who superintended his +entrance into the world recorded that he was a healthy, active +child, with remarkably short legs. These legs remained short all +his life, but his body grew to be that of a tall, powerful man. +His appearance was by no means aristocratic or dignified if seen +from a distance, but his defects of person were redeemed by the +wondrous sparkle in his eyes. The family of his mother, on the +maternal side, was named Lhommaça, and was of Greek origin. It +came from the Levant, and its members spoke Greek among themselves. +Madame Thiers' father was named Arnic, and his descent was also +Levantine. Mademoiselle Arnic made a love-match in espousing Thiers, +a widower, who after the 9th Thermidor had taken refuge under her +father's roof. A writer who obtained materials for a sketch of +Thiers from the Thiers himself, says,-- + +"She pitied him, she was dazzled by his brilliant parts, charmed +by his plausible manners, and regardless of his poverty and his +incumbrance of many children, she insisted on marrying him. Her +family was indignant, and cast her off; nor did she long find comfort +in her husband. She was a Royalist, and remained so to the end +of her days; he was a Jacobin. Moreover, she soon found that his +tastes led him to drink and dissipation." + +This man, the father of Thiers, was small of stature, mercurial +in temperament, of universal aptitudes, much wit, and a perennial +buoyancy of disposition. His weakness, like his son's, was a passion +for omniscience. Some one said of him: "He talks encyclopedia, +and if anybody asked him, would be at no loss to tell you what +was passing in the moon." He had been educated for the Bar, and +belonged to a family of the _haute bourgeoisie_ of Provence; but +everything was changed by the revolutionary see-saw, and shortly +before his son was born, he had been a stevedore in the docks of +Marseilles. His father (the statesman's grandfather) had been a cloth +merchant and a man of erudition. He wrote a History of Provence, +and died at the age of ninety-five. The Thiers who preceded him +lived to be ninety-seven, and was a noted gastronome, whose house +at Marseilles in the early part of the eighteenth century was known +far and wide for hospitality and good cheer. He was ruined by +speculative ventures in the American colonies. + +Thiers' grandfather, the cloth merchant, was a Royalist, who brought +down upon himself the wrath of the Jacobins by inciting the more +moderate party in Marseilles to seize the commissioners sent to +them by the Convention, and imprison them in the Château d'If. His +son (Thiers' father), being himself a Jacobin, helped to release +the prisoners, and accepted an office under them in Marseilles. This +was the reason why he had to conceal himself during the reaction +that followed the fall of Robespierre. But all his life he bobbed +like a cork to the surface of events, or with equal facility sank +beneath them. He seems to have been "everything by turns, and nothing +long." Among other employments he became an _impressario_, and +went with an opera _troupe_ to Italy. There for a time he kept a +gaming table, and finally turned up at Joseph Bonaparte's court +at Naples. He became popular with King Joseph, and followed him to +Madrid. He was a French Micawber, without the domestic affections +of his English counterpart, but with far more brilliant chances. +His wife was left to struggle at Marseilles with her own boy to +support, and with a host of step-children. What she would have +done but for the kindness of her mother, Madame Arnic, it is hard +to tell. + +Meantime Adolphe was adopted and educated by Madame Arnic. She +had provided him from his birth with influential patrons in the +persons of two well-to-do godfathers. The boy was brought up in +one of those beautiful _bastides_, or sea-and-country villas, which +adorn the shores of Provence. There he ran wild with the little +peasant boys, and subsequently in Marseilles with the _gamins_ +of the city. + +His cousin, the poet André Chénier, got him an appointment to one +of the _lycées_, or high-schools, established by Napoleon; but his +grandmother would not hear of his "wearing Bonaparte's livery." +The two god-fathers had to threaten to apply to the absent Micawber +on the subject, if the boy's mother and grandmother stood in the way +of his education. They yielded at last, and accepted the appointment +offered them. Adolphe passed with high marks into the institution, +and it cost him no trouble to keep always at the head of his classes. +But in play hours there was never a more troublesome boy. He so +perplexed and annoyed his superiors that they were on the eve of +expelling him, when a new master came to the _lycée_ from Paris, and +all was changed. This master had ruined his prospects by writing a +pamphlet against the Empire. A warm friendship sprang up between him +and his brilliant pupil. The good man was an unbending republican. +When Thiers became Prime Minister of France under Louis Philippe, +he wrote to his old master and offered him an important post in +the Bureau of Public Instruction; but the old man refused it. He +would not accept Louis Philippe as "the best of republics," and +ended his letter by saying: "The best thing I can wish you is that +you may soon retire from office, and that for a long time." + +The influence of this new teacher roused all Thiers' faculties +and stimulated his industry. From that time forward he became the +most industrious man of his age. The bulletins and the victories +of Napoleon excited his imagination. He would take a bulletin for +his theme, and write up an account of a battle, supplementing his +few facts by his own vivid imagination. His idea was that France +must be the strongest of European powers, or she would prove the +weakest; she could not hold a middle place in the federation of +European nations. + +When Thiers had finished his school course his grandmother mortgaged +her house to supply funds for his entrance into the college at +Aix. He could not enter the army on account of his size, and he +aspired to the Bar. His family was very poor at that period. Thiers +largely supported himself by painting miniatures, which it is said +he did remarkably well. + +At Aix he found good literary society and congenial associations. +His friendship with his fellow-historian, Mignet, began in their +college days. At Aix, too, where he was given full liberty to enjoy +the Marquis d'Alberta's gallery of art and wonderful collection +of curiosities and bronzes, he acquired his life-long taste for +such things. Aix was indeed a place full of collections,--of +antiquities, of cameos, of marbles, etc. + +Thiers' first literary success was the winning a prize at Nîmes for +a monograph on Vauvenargues, a moralist of the eighteenth century, +called by Voltaire the master-mind of his period. He won this prize +under remarkable circumstances. The commission to award it was +composed, largely of Royalists, who did not like to assign it to a +competitor, who, if not a Republican, was at least a Bonapartist. +Thiers had read passages from his essay to friends, and the +commissioners were aware of its authorship. They therefore postponed +their decision. Meantime Thiers wrote another essay on the same +subject. Mignet had it copied, and forwarded to Nîmes from Paris, +with a new motto. This essay won the first prize; and Thiers' other +essay won the second prize, greatly to his amusement and delight, +and to the annoyance and discomfiture of the Committee of Decision. + +With six hundred francs in his pocket ($120), he went up to Paris, +making the journey on foot. Having arrived there, he made his way +to his friend Mignet's garret, weary and footsore, carrying his +bundle in his hand. Mignet was not at home; but in the opposite +chamber, which Thiers entered to make inquiries for his friend, was +a gay circle of Bohemians, who were enjoying a revel. The traveller +who broke in upon their mirth is thus described:-- + +"He wore a coat that had been green, and was faded to yellow, tight +buff trousers too short to cover his ankles, and dusty, and glossy +from long use, a pair of clumsy blucher boots, and a hat worthy +of a place in the cabinet of an antiquary. His face was tanned +a deep brown, and a pair of brass-rimmed spectacles covered half +his face." + +That was about 1821. Thiers was then not a profound politician, nor +was he very clear as to theories about republicanism; but he was +an enthusiast for Napoleon, an enthusiast for France. He employed +his leisure in making notes in the public libraries on the events +between 1788 and 1799,--the year of the 18th Brumaire. His future +History of the Revolution, Consulate, and Empire began, unconsciously +to himself, to grow under his hand. He had hoped to be called to the +Bar in Paris; but as his want of height had prevented his entering +the army, so his want of money prevented his entrance to the ranks +of the lawyers of the capital. The council which recommends such +admissions required at that period that the person seeking admittance +should show himself possessed of a well-furnished domicile and a +sufficient income. Thiers' resources fell far short of this. For +a while he supported himself in Paris as best he could, partly by +painting fans; he then returned to Aix, where he was admitted to +the Bar. But he could not stay long away from Paris. He returned, +and again struggled with poverty, painting and making applications +for literary and newspaper work in all directions. At last, about +the time of Louis XVIII.'s death, Manuel, the semi-republican deputy +from Marseilles, took him up. He was then engaged upon his History, +and was private secretary to the Duc de Liancourt, to whose notice +he had been brought by Talleyrand in a letter which said: "Two +young men have lately brought me strong recommendations. One is +gentlemanly and appears to have the qualifications you desire in +a secretary; the other is uncouth to a degree, but I think I can +discern in him sparks of the fire of genius." The duke's reply +was brief: "Send me the second one." + +In 1826 Thiers began to attract public notice as a clever and somewhat +turbulent opponent of the priest party under Charles X. He got his +first journalistic employment from the editor of a leading paper +in Paris, the "Constitutionnel." He had a letter of introduction to +the editor, who, nowise impressed by his appearance, and wishing +to get rid of him, politely said he had no work vacant on the paper +except that of criticising the pictures in the Salon, which he +presumed M. Thiers' could not undertake. On the contrary, Thiers +felt sure he could do the work, which the editor, confident of his +failure, allowed him to try. The result was a review that startled +all Paris, and Thiers was at once engaged on the "Constitutionnel" as +literary, dramatic, and artistic critic. He proved to have a perfect +genius for journalism, and all his life he considered newspaper +work his profession. Before long he aspired to take part in the +management of his paper, and to that end saved and scraped together +every cent in his power, assisted by a German bookseller named +Schubert, the original of Schmuke, in Balzac's "Cousin Pons." The +"Constitutionnel" grew more and more popular and more and more +powerful; but still Thiers' means were very small, and he was bent +on saving all he could to establish a new newspaper, the "National." +He was engaged to be married to a young lady at Aix, whose father +thought he was neglecting her, and came up to Paris to see about +it. Thiers pleaded for delay. He had not money enough, he said, +to set up housekeeping. A second time the impatient father came +to Paris on the same errand, and on receiving the same answer, +assaulted Thiers publicly and challenged him. The duel took place. +Thiers fired in the air, and his adversary's ball passed between +his little legs. Nobody was hurt, but the match was broken off, +and the young lady died of the disappointment. Thiers kept every +memorial he had of her sacredly to the day of his death, and in +the time of his power sought out and provided for the members of +her family. + +Perhaps the most remarkable thing about M. Thiers was the unusual +care he took to prepare himself fully before writing or speaking. +He had every subject clearly and fully in his own mind before he put +pen to paper, and when he began to write, he did so with extraordinary +rapidity; nor would he write any account of anything, either in +a newspaper or in his history, till he had visited localities, +conversed with eye-witnesses, and picked up floating legends. + +By an accident he became acquainted before other Parisian journalists +with the signing of the Ordinances by Charles X., July 26, 1830. +He had also good reason to think that Louis Philippe, if offered +the crown of France or the lieutenant-generalship of the kingdom, +would accept it. While fighting was going on in Paris, he and Ary +Scheffer, the artist, were the two persons deputed to go to Neuilly +and sound the Duke of Orleans. As we have seen, Marie Amélie, the +duke's wife, indignantly refused their overtures in the absence of +her husband, while Madame Adélaïde, his sister, encouraged them. + +Thiers, Laffitte, and Lafayette became the foremost men in Paris +at this crisis, and at the end of some days Louis Philippe became +king of the French. He wanted to make Thiers one of his ministers, +but Thiers characteristically declined so high an office until +he should have served an apprenticeship to ministerial work in +an under secretary-ship, and knew the machinery and the working +of all departments of government. + +Thus far I have not spoken of Thiers' "History of the Revolution." +It appeared first in monthly parts. Up to the publication of the +first number, in 1823, no writer in France had dared to speak well +of any actor in the Revolution. Thiers' History, as it became known, +created a great sensation. Thiers himself was supposed by the general +public (both of his own country and of foreign nations) to be a +wild revolutionist. At first the critics knew not how to speak of a +book that admired the States-General and defended the Constitutional +Convention; but by the time the third volume was completed, in 1827, +it was bought up eagerly. The work was published afterwards in +ten volumes, and the "History of the Consulate and Empire," which +appeared between 1845 and 1861, is in twenty volumes; but it is +only fair to say that the print is very large and the illustrations +are very numerous, and that the portraits especially are beyond +all praise. + +From 1831 to 1836, Thiers was one of Louis Philippe's ministers, +and from 1836 to 1840 he was Prime Minister, or President of the +Council. + +As soon as Thiers rose to power his mercurial father made his appearance +in Paris. Thiers was disposed to receive him very coldly. "What have +you ever done for me that you have any claim on me?" he asked. "My +son," replied the prodigal parent, "if I had been an ordinary father +and had stayed by my family and brought up a houseful of children in +obscurity, do you suppose you would have been where you are now?" +At this Thiers laughed, and gave his father a post-mastership in +a small town in the South of France called Carpentras. There the +old gentleman lived, disreputable and extravagant to the last, +surrounded by a large family of dogs. + +Thiers provided at the earliest possible moment for his mother +and grandmother, buying for the latter a pretty little property +which she had always coveted, near Aix, and taking his mother to +preside over his own home. But Madame Thiers felt out of place in +her son's life, and preferred to return to the property given to +Madame Arnic, where she spent the rest of her days with the old +lady. Lamartine tells a pretty anecdote of Thiers' relations with +his mother. The poet and the statesman had been dining together at a +friend's house, in 1830, when Thiers was already a cabinet officer. +On leaving together after dinner, they found in the ante-room an +elderly woman plainly and roughly dressed. She was asking for M. +Thiers, who, as soon as he saw her, ran to her, clasped her in +his arms, kissed her, and then, leading her by both hands up to +the poet, cried joyously: "Lamartine, this is my mother!" + +In 1834 Thiers married a beautiful young girl fresh from her _pension_, +Mademoiselle Dosne, who was co-heiress with her mother and her +father to a great fortune. Unhappily Thiers had fallen first in +love with the mother; but he accepted the daughter instead. The +early married life of Madame Thiers was saddened by her knowledge +of this state of things. She was devoted to the interests of her +husband, and watched over him as a mother might have watched over a +child. She was an accomplished woman and most careful housekeeper, +and had received an excellent education. She knew many languages, +and turned all English or German documents required by her husband +into French. She was also a charming hostess, but she lived under +the shadow of a great sorrow. + +When Thiers was to be married, he paid his father twelve thousand +francs (about $2,500) for the legal parental consent which is necessary +in a French marriage; but he was by no means anxious to have his +irrepressible parent at his wedding. For three weeks before the +event he hired all the places in all the stage-coaches running +through Carpentras to Lyons. + +In 1840 M. Thiers went out of office, in consequence of a dispute +with England about the Eastern Question. The only charge that his +enemies ever brought against him affecting his honor as a politician +was that of employing the Jew Deutz to act the part of Judas towards +the Duchesse de Berri; but for that he could plead that it solved +a difficulty, and probably saved many lives. + +During the Second Empire he kept much in retirement. At first he +had thought that Prince Louis Napoleon, seeing in him the historian +and panegyrist of the Great Emperor, would call him to his councils. +But he was quite mistaken. He could not--nor _would_ he--have served +Louis Napoleon's turn as did such men as Persigny, Saint-Arnaud, +De Maupas, and De Morny. When the _coup d'état_ came, Thiers was +imprisoned with the other deputies, the only favor allowed him +being a bed, while the other deputies had no couch but the floor. + +In 1869 there was a general election in France, which was carefully +manipulated by the Government, in order that, if possible, no deputy +might be sent to the Chamber who would provoke discussion on the +changes in the Constitution submitted by the emperor. Thiers thought +it time for him to re-enter public life and to speak out to his +countrymen. At this time one of the gentlemen attached to the English +embassy in Paris had a conversation with him. "For a man," he says, +"of talents, learning, and experience, I never met one who impressed +me as having so great an idea of his own self-importance;" but +the visitor was at the same time impressed by his frankness and +sincerity. Speaking of the Emperor Napoleon III., and foreseeing +his downfall, he said: "What will succeed him, I know not. God +grant it may not be the ruin of France!... For a long time I kept +quiet. It was no use breaking one's head against the wall; but +now we have revolution staring us in the face as an alternative +with the Empire; and do you think I should be doing well or rightly +by my fellow-citizens, were I to keep in the background? If I am +wanted, I shall not fail." As he spoke, the fire in his eyes sparkled +right through the glass of his spectacles, and all the time he +talked, he was walking rapidly up and down. When greatly animated, +he seemed even to grow taller and taller, so that on some great +occasion a lady said of him to Charles Greville: "Did you know, +Thiers is handsome! and is six feet high!" + +When the fall of the Empire occurred, in September, 1870, M. Thiers +was in Paris; but when the Committee of Defence was formed, he +quitted the capital, before the arrival of the Prussians, to go +from court to court,--to London, St. Petersburg, Vienna,--to implore +the intervention of diplomacy, and to prove how essential to the +balance of power in Europe was the preservation of France. His +feeling was that France ought promptly to have made peace after +Sedan, that her cause then was hopeless for the moment, and that by +making the best terms she could, and by husbanding her resources, +she might rise in her might at a future day. These views were not +in the least shared by Gambetta, who believed--as, indeed, most +Frenchmen and most foreigners believed in 1870--that a general +uprising in France would be sufficient to crush the Prussians. +Thiers knew better; his policy was to save France for herself and +from herself at the same time. + +[Illustration: _LÉON GAMBETTA._] + +We already know the story. Gambetta escaped from Paris in a balloon, +and joined Crémieux and Garnier-Pagès, the other two members of +the Committee of Defence who were outside of Paris. At Tours they +had set up a sort of government, and there, in virtue of being +the War Minister of the Committee of Defence, Gambetta proceeded +to take all power into his own hands, and to become dictator of +masterless France. It was like a shipwreck in which, captain and +officers being disabled, the command falls to the most able seaman. +Gambetta had no legal right to govern France, but he governed it +by right divine, as the only man who could govern it. + +This is how a newspaper writer speaks--and justly--of Gambetta's +government:-- + +"From the moment when he dropped, tired out with his journey by +balloon, into his chair in the archiepiscopal palace at Tours, +and announced that he was invested with full powers to defend the +country, no one throughout France seriously disputed his authority. +His colleagues became his clerks. The treasury was empty, but he +re-filled it. The arsenal was half empty, but in six weeks one +great army, and almost two, were supplied with artillery, horses, +gunners, and breech-loaders. The Lyons Reds had been told that +they were wicked fools, and Communists and Anarchists ripe for +revolt in Toulouse, Lyons, and Marseilles had been put down. The +respectables everywhere rose at his summons, anarchy and military +disobedience quailed." + +The fortunes of war forced Gambetta and his Government from the +banks of the Loire to Bordeaux. There, at the close of January, +1871, Jules Favre arrived from the Central Committee in Paris to +announce, with shame and grief, that resistance was over: Paris +had capitulated to the Prussians; and it only remained to elect a +General Assembly which should create a regular government empowered +to make peace with the enemy. + +For a few hours that night the fate of France hung trembling in +the scales. Thiers was in Bordeaux. He was known to think that +France could only save what was left by accepting the armistice. +Gambetta was known to be for _No Surrender!_ Which should prevail? +Would the dictator lay aside his power without a struggle? + +Gambetta rose to the occasion during the night; but here the histories +of Thiers and Gambetta run together; therefore, before I tell of what +happened the next day, let me say a few words about the personal +history of Léon Gambetta. He was only thirty-three years old at +this time, having been born in 1838, when Thiers was forty-one +years of age. + +Gambetta's birthplace was Cahors, that city in the South of France +stigmatized by Dante as the abode of usurers and scoundrels. His +family was Italian and came from Genoa, but he was born a Frenchman, +though his Italian origin, temperament, and complexion were constantly +cast up against him. In his infancy he had been intended for the +priesthood, and was sent, when seven years old, to some place where +he was to be educated and trained for it. He soon wrote to his +father that he was so miserable that if he were not taken away +he would put out one of his eyes, which would disqualify him for +the priestly calling. His father took no notice of the childish +threat, and Gambetta actually plucked out one of his own eyes. + +In 1868 he was a young lawyer in Paris; but his eloquence and ability +were known only at the Café Procope to a circle of admiring +fellow-Bohemians. On All Saints Day, 1868, the Press, presuming +on the recent relaxation of personal government by the emperor, +applauded the crowds who went to cover with funeral wreaths the grave +of Baudin at Père la Chaise. Baudin had been the first man killed on +Dec. 2, 1851, when offering resistance to the _coup d'état._ The +Press was prosecuted for its utterances on this occasion. Gambetta +defended one of the journals. Being an advocate, he could say what +he pleased without danger of prosecution, and all Paris rang with +the bitterness of his attack upon the Empire. From that moment he +was a power in France. In person he was dark, short, stout, and +somewhat vulgar, nor was there any social polish in his manners. + +Not long after his great speech in defence of the Press, in the matter +of Baudin, Gambetta was elected to the Chamber by the working-men +of Belleville, and at the same time by Marseilles. He entered the +Chamber as one wholly irreconcilable with the Empire or the emperor. +His eloquence was heart-stirring, and commanded attention even +from his adversaries. + +When, on Sept. 4, 1870, the downfall of the Empire was proclaimed, +Gambetta was made a member of the Council of Defence, and became +Minister of the Interior. He remained in Paris until after the +siege had begun; but he burned to be where he could _act_, and +obtained the consent of his colleagues to go forth by balloon and +try to stir up a warlike spirit in the Provinces. He was made Minister +of War in addition to being Minister of the Interior. From Nov. +1, 1870, to Jan. 30, 1871, his efforts were almost superhuman; +and but for Bazaine's surrender at Metz, they might have been +successful. + +Gambetta raised two armies,--one under General Aurelles des Paladines +and General Chanzy; the other under Bourbaki and Garibaldi. The +first was the Army of the Loire, the second of the Jura. + +When the plan of co-operation with Bazaine's one hundred and +seventy-five thousand well-trained troops had failed, and the Army of +the Loire had been repulsed at Orleans, Gambetta with his Provisional +Government moved to Bordeaux. Thither came Thiers, returned from +his roving embassy,--a mission of peace whose purpose had been +defeated by the warlike movements of Gambetta's armies. + +Gambetta in the early days of his dictatorship wrote to Jules Favre: +"France must not entertain one thought of peace." He sincerely believed +any effort at negotiation with the Prussians an acknowledgment of +weakness, and he fondly fancied that a little more time and experience +would turn his raw recruits into armies capable of driving back the +Prussians, when the experienced generals and soldiers of France +had failed. + +And now we have reached that terrible hour when news was received +at Bordeaux that all Gambetta's efforts had been useless; that +Paris had consented to an armistice; that an Assembly was to be +elected, a National Government to be formed; and that to resist +these things or to persist longer in fighting the Prussians would +be to provoke civil war. + +No wonder that Gambetta and Thiers, both devoted Frenchmen, both +leaders of parties with opposing views,--the one resolved on No +surrender, the other urging Peace on the best terms now +procurable,--passed a terrible night after Jules Favre's arrival +at Bordeaux, Gambetta debating what was his duty as the idol of +his followers and as provisional dictator, Thiers dreading lest +civil war might be kindled by the decision of his rival. + +Hardly less anxious were the days while a general election was +going on. Bordeaux remained feverish and excited till February +13, when deputies from all parts of France met to decide their +country's fate in the Bordeaux theatre. Notabilities from foreign +countries were also there, to see what would be done at that supreme +moment. + +Seven hundred and fifty deputies had been sent to the Assembly, and +it was clear from the beginning that that body was not Republican. But +the Anti-Republicans were divided into three parties,--Imperialists, +Legitimists, and Orleanists, each of which preferred an orderly and +moderate republic to the triumph of either of the other two. Moreover, +that was not the time for deliberations concerning a permanent +form of government. The deputies were met to make a temporary or +provisional government, qualified to accept or to refuse the hard +terms of peace offered by the Prussians. The two leaders of the +Assembly were Thiers and Gambetta,--the one in favor of peace, +the other of prolonging the war. We can see now how much wiser +were the views of the elder statesman than those of the younger; +but we see also what a bitter pang Gambetta's patriotic spirit +must have suffered by the downfall of his dictatorship. + +The Assembly had been three days in session, clamorous, riotous, +and full of words, when in the middle of the afternoon of Feb. 16, +1871, two delegates from Alsace and Lorraine appeared, supported by +Gambetta. The Speaker--that is, the president of the Assembly--was +M. Jules Grévy, who had held the same office in 1848; he found it +hard to restrain the excitement of the deputies. The delegates +came to implore France not to deliver them over to the Germans; +to remember that of all Frenchmen the Alsatians had been the most +French in the days of the Revolution, and that in all the wars +of France for more than a century they had suffered most of all +her children. No wonder the hearts of all in the Assembly were +stirred. + +"At this moment there appeared in the midde aisle of the theatre +a small man, with wrinkled face and stubbly white hair. He seemed +to have got there by magic, for no one had seen him spring into +that place. He looked around him for an instant, much as a sailor +glances over the sky in a storm, then, stretching out his short +right arm, he made a curious downstroke which conveyed an impression +of intense vitality and will. Profound silence was established +in a moment. The elderly man then made another gesture, throwing +his arm up, as if to say: 'Good! Now you will listen.' He then, +in a thin, piping, but distinctly audible voice, began a sharp +practical address. Everyone listened with the utmost attention; +none dared to interrupt him. He spoke for five minutes, nervously +pounding the air from time to time, and sometimes howling his words +at the listeners in a manner that made them cringe. He counselled +moderation, accord, decency, but above all, instant action. 'The +settlement of the Alsace-Lorraine question,' said he, 'will virtually +decide whether we have peace or continued war with Prussia.' Then, +with an imperious gesture of command, he turned away. 'Come,' he +said, 'let us to our committee-rooms, and let us say what we think.'" + +Two hours later, the committee appointed to recommend a chief of +the executive power announced that its choice had fallen on this +orator, M. Thiers. At once he was proclaimed head of the French +Republic, but not before he had hurried out of the theatre. Then +the session closed, and a quarter of an hour after, Lord Lyons, +the English ambassador, had waited on M. Thiers to inform him that +Her Majesty's Government recognized the French Republic. + +From that moment, for more than two years, M. Thiers was the supreme +ruler of France. His work was visible in every department of +administration. Ministers, while his power lasted, simply obeyed +his commands. + +There were some amusing, gossipy stories told in Bordeaux of Thiers' +entrance into possession of Gambetta's bachelor quarters at the +Prefecture. "Pah! what a smell of tobacco!" he is said to have +cried, as he strutted into his deposed rival's study. All his family +joined him in bewailing the condition of the house; and until it +could be cleansed and purified they were glad to accept an invitation +to take refuge in the archbishop's palace. In a few days all was +put to rights, and a guard of honor was set to keep off intruders +on the chief's privacy. On the first day of this arrangement, M. +Thiers addressed some question to the sentinel. The man was for a +moment embarrassed how to answer him. M. Thiers was for the time +the chief executive officer of the Republic, but he was not formally +its president. The soldier's answer, "Oui, mon Exécutif," caused +much amusement. + +At this time there was no suspicion in men's minds that it was the +intention of M. Thiers to form a permanent republic. The feeling of +the country was Royalist. The difficulty was what royalty? It seemed +to all men, and very probably to Thiers himself, that that question +would be answered in favor of Henri V., the Comte de Chambord. + +Gambetta, resigning his power without a word, retired to San Sebastian, +just over the Spanish frontier. There he lived in two small rooms +over a crockery-shop. "He is jaded for want of sleep," writes a +friend, "and distressed by money matters." Much of his time he +spent in fishing, no doubt meditating deeply on things present, +past, and future. + +No pains were spared to induce him to give in his adhesion to one +of the candidates for royalty. His best friend wrote thus to him:-- + +"Those wretches the Communists have destroyed all my illusions, +but perhaps I could have forgiven them but for their ingratitude +to you. See how their newspapers have reviled you! A time may come +when a republic may be possible in France; but that day is not +with us yet. Let us acknowledge that we have both made a mistake. +As for you, with your unrivalled genius you have now a patriotic +career open before you, if you will cast in your lot with the men +who are now going to try and quell anarchy."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Clément Laurier, Cornhill Magazine, 1883.] + +Besides this, offers were made him of the prime minister-ship, a +dukedom, a Grand Cordon, and other preferment; but Gambetta only +laughed at these proposals. He was a man who had many faults, but +he was always honest and true. Both he and M. Thiers were devoted +Frenchmen, patriots in the truest sense of the word, and each took +opposite views. That Thiers was right has been proved by time. + +On March 16 the Government of the Provisional Republic removed from +Bordeaux to Versailles. Nobody dreamed of the pending outbreak of +the Commune; all the talk was of fusion between the elder Bourbon +branch and the House of Orleans. + +Thiers was decidedly opposed to taking the seat of government to +Paris, nor did he wish a new election for an Assembly; he preferred +Fontainebleau for the seat of government, but fortunately (looking +at the matter in the light of events) Versailles was chosen. + +Then, to the great indignation of Madame Thiers, the Royalists at +once took measures to prevent M. Thiers from installing himself +in Louis XIV.'s great bedchamber. "The Château," they said, "was +to become the abode of the National Legislature, the state rooms +must be devoted to the use of members, and the private apartments +should be occupied by M. Grévy, the president of the Assembly." + +"M. Thiers would no doubt have liked very much to sleep in Louis +XIV's bed, and to have for his study that fine room with the balcony +from which the heralds used to announce in the same breath the death +of one king and the accession of another. His secretary could not +help saying that it seemed fit that the greatest of French national +historians should be lodged in the apartments of the greatest of +French kings; but as this idea did not make its way, M. and Madame +Thiers yielded the point, saying that the chimneys smoked, and +that the rooms were too large to be comfortable." + +On seeing a caricature in which some artist had represented him +as a ridiculous pigmy crowned with a cotton night-cap and lying +in an enormous bed, surrounded by the majestic ghosts of kings, +Thiers was at first half angry; then he said: "Louis XIV. was not +taller than I, and as to his other greatness, I doubt whether he ever +would have had a chance of sleeping in the best bed of Versailles +if he had begun life as I did."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Temple Bar.] + +So M. Thiers went to reside where the Emperor William had had his +quarters, at the Prefecture of Versailles, and soon the palace +was filled with refugees from Paris. Many of the state apartments +were turned into hospital wards. Louis XIV.'s bedchamber was given +up to the finance committee. + +The thing to be done, with speed and energy, as all men felt, was +to re-besiege Paris and put down the Commune. All parties united +in this work; but the conservatives confidently believed that when +this was done, Thiers and the moderate Republicans would join them +in giving France a stable government under the Comte de Chambord. + +On Sept. 19, 1821, when that young prince was a year old, a public +subscription throughout France had presented him with the beautiful +old Château de Chambord, built on the Loire by Francis I., and +from which he adopted his title when in exile. + +After the young prince had been removed from his mother's influence, +he was carefully brought up in the most Bourbon of Bourbon traditions. +When he became a man he travelled extensively in Europe. In 1841 +he broke his leg by falling from his horse, and was slightly lame +for the rest of his life. In 1846 he married Marie Thérèse Beatrix +of Modena, who was even more strictly Bourbon than himself. He and +his wife retired to Fröhsdorf, a beautiful country seat not very +far from Vienna. There they were constantly visited by travelling +Frenchmen of all parties, and on no one did the prince fail to +make a favorable impression. He was good, upright, cultivated, +kindly, but inflexibly wedded to the traditions of his family. He +loved France with his whole soul, and was glad of anything that +brought her good and glory. But France was _his_,--his by divine +right; and this right France must acknowledge. After that, there +was not anything he would not do for her. + +[Illustration: _COMPTE DE CHAMBORD._] + +But France was not willing to efface all her history from 1792 to +1871, with the exception of the episode of the Restoration, when +school histories were circulated mentioning Marengo, Austerlitz, +etc., as victories gained under the king's lieutenant-general, M. +de Bonaparte. + +During the Empire, under Napoleon III., the Comte de Chambord had +remained nearly passive at Fröhsdorf. His life was passed in meditation, +devotion, the cultivation of literary tastes, and a keen interest in +all the events that were passing in his native country. During the +Franco-Prussian war he sent words of encouragement to his suffering +countrymen, and nobly refrained from embarrassing the affairs of +France by any personal intrigues; but when the war and the Commune +were over, and his chances of the throne grew bright, he issued a +proclamation which has been called "an act of political suicide." + +On May 8, three weeks before the downfall of the Commune, he put +forth his first manifesto. Here is what an English paper said of it +a few days before his next--the suicidal--proclamation appeared:-- + +"The Comte de Chambord does not, of course, surrender his own theory +of his own place on earth, but he does offer some grave pledges +intended to diminish suspicion as to the deduction he draws from +his claim to be king by right divine. He renounces formally and +distinctly any intention of exercising absolute power, and pledges +himself, as he says, 'to submit all acts of his government to the +careful control of representatives freely elected.' He declares +that if restored he will not interfere with equality, or attempt to +establish privileges. He promises complete amnesty, and employment +under his government to men of all parties; and finally he pledges +himself to secure effectual guarantees for the Pope [then trembling +on his temporal throne in Italy]." + +The English journalist continues,-- + +"The tone of this whole paper is that of a man who believes that +a movement will be made in his favor which may succeed, if only +the factions most likely to resist can be temporarily conciliated. +There is no especial reason that we can see that he should not be +chosen. He has neither sympathized with the Germans, nor received +support from them. He has not bombarded Paris. He is not more hated +than any other king would be,--perhaps less; for Paris has no gossip +to tell of his career. Indeed, there are powerful reasons in favor +of the choice. His restoration, since the Comte de Paris is his +heir, would eliminate two of the dynastic parties which distract +France, and would relink the broken chain of history. And to a +people so weary, so dispirited, so thirsty for repose, that of itself +must have a certain charm." + +But all these advantages he destroyed for himself by a new proclamation +issued five weeks later. In it he said,-- + +"I can neither forget that the monarchical right is the patrimony +of the nation, nor decline the duties which it imposes on me. I +will fulfil these duties, believe me, on my word as an honest man +and as a king." + +So far was good; but proceeding to announce that thenceforward +he assumed the title of Henri V., he goes on to apostrophize the +"White Flag" of the Bourbons. He says,-- + +"I received it as a sacred trust from the old king my grandfather +when he was dying in exile. It has always been for me inseparable +from the remembrance of my absent country. It waved above my cradle, +and I wish to have it shade my tomb. Henri V. cannot abandon the +'White Flag' of Henri IV." + +This manifesto, written without consulting those who were working +for his cause in France, settled the question of his eligibility. +France was not willing, for the sake of Henri V., to give up her +tricolor,--the flag of so many memories. Its loss had been the +bitterest humiliation that the nation had had to suffer at the +Restoration. + +The Comte de Chambord's own friends were cruelly disappointed; +the moderate Republicans, who had been ready to accept him as a +constitutional monarch, said at once that he was far too Bourbon. +There was no longer any hope, unless he could be persuaded, on +some other convenient occasion, to renounce the "White Flag." + +This matter being settled by the Comte de Chambord himself, all +M. Thiers' attention was turned to two things,--the disposal of +the Communist prisoners, and the payment of the indemnity demanded +by the Germans, the five milliards. + +We are glad to know that Thiers disapproved of the revengeful feeling +that pervaded politicians and society, regarding the Communist +prisoners. He tried to save General Rossel, and failed. Rochefort +and others he protected. He wished for a general amnesty, excluding +only the murderers of Thomas, Lecomte, and the hostages. He said, when +some one was speaking to him of the sufferings of those Communists +(or supposed Communists) who were confined at Satory and in the +Orangerie at Versailles: "It was dreadful, but it could not be +avoided. We had twenty thousand prisoners, and not more than four +hundred police to keep guard over them. We had to depend on the +rough methods of an exasperated soldiery." + +As to the indemnity, the promptness with which it was paid was +marvellous. The great bankers all over Europe, especially those of +Jewish connection, came forward and advanced the money. In eighteen +months the five milliards of francs were in the coffers of the +Emperor William, and the last Prussian soldier had quitted the +soil of France. The loan raised by the Government for the repayment +of the sums advanced for the indemnity was taken up with enthusiasm +by all classes of the French people. + +The horrible year of 1871 was followed by one of perfect peace and +great prosperity. The title of President of the French Republic +was conferred on M. Thiers for seven years. "The nation seemed +re-flowering, like a large plantation in a spring which follows +a hard winter." Trade revived. The traces of war and civil strife +were effaced with amazing promptness from the streets of Paris. The +army and all public services were reorganized, and to crown these +blessings, the land yielded such a harvest as had not been seen +for half a century. M. Thiers was never much addicted to religious +emotion; but when, on a Sunday in July, 1872, the news came to him +by telegram of the glorious ingathering of the harvest in the South +of France, he was quite overcome. "Let us thank God," he cried, +clasping his hands. "He has heard us; our mourning is ended!" + +M. Thiers was by that time living in Paris in the Élysée. He had +continued to reside at the Prefecture of Versailles while the Assembly +was in session, but he came to the Élysée during its recess, and +kept a certain state there. Yet he never would submit himself to +the restraints of etiquette. One who knew him well says:-- + +"He was _bourgeois_ to the finger-tips. His character was a curious +effervescing mixture of talent, learning, vanity, childish petulance, +inquisitiveness, sagacity, ecstatic patriotism, and ambition. He +was a splendid orator, with the voice of an old coster-woman; a +_savant_ with the presumption of a school-boy; a kind-hearted man, +with the irritability of a monkey; a masterly administrator, with +that irresistible tendency to intermeddle with everything which +is intolerable to subordinates. He had a sincere love of liberty, +with the instincts of a despot." + +M. Thiers had during his long life been a collector of pictures, +bronzes, books, manuscripts, and curious relics. His house in the +Place Saint-Georges was a museum of these treasures, but a museum +so arranged that it contributed to sociability and the enjoyment +of his visitors. He had acquired this taste for collecting in his +early days at Aix. During the Commune his house was razed to the +ground, not one stone being left upon another. + +When the Commune put forth its decree for this act of vandalism, +Thiers' consternation was pathetic. The ladies of his family did +everything that feminine energy and ingenuity could suggest to +avert the calamity. But when the destruction had taken place, Thiers +bore his loss with dignity. His collections were very fine, but he +had always been afraid of their being damaged, and did not show +them to strangers. When the Commune sent the painter Courbet to +appraise their value, he estimated the bronzes alone at $300,000.[1] +M. Thiers' collection of Persian, Chinese, and Japanese curios was +also almost unique. After the overthrow of the Commune, Madame +Thiers and her sister did their utmost to recover such of these +treasures as had passed into the hands of dealers. Many of these +men gave back their purchases, and none demanded extravagant prices. +A great deal was recovered, and the house on the Place Saint-Georges +was rebuilt at the public cost. + +[Footnote 1: Le Figaro.] + +It was on the 5th of September, 1872, that the last German soldier +quitted France and the five milliards of francs (in our money a +thousand millions of dollars) had been paid.[1] + +[Footnote 1: When looking over letters and papers concerning this +period, I found among them many original notes from M. and Madame +Thiers. They all had broad black borders. I learned afterwards +that Thiers and his family used mourning paper so long as a single +German soldier remained on French soil. Thiers' writing was thick +and splashy. He always wrote with a quill pen. Early in life he +had, like Sir Walter Raleigh, projected a History of the World; +and as he never wrote of anything whose locality he had not seen, +he had made his preparations to circumnavigate the globe, when +he was arrested by the state of public affairs while on his way +to Havre.] + +I borrow the words of another writer speaking of this supreme effort +on the part of France:-- + +"After the most frightful defeat of modern times, with one third of +her territory in the enemy's hands, with her capital in insurrection, +and her available army all required to restore order, France in +eighteen months paid a fine equal to one fourth of the English +National Debt; elected a _bourgeois_ of genius to her head; obeyed +him on points on which she disagreed with him; and endured a foreign +occupation without giving one single pretext for real severity.... +The people of France had no visible chiefs; the only two men who +rose to the occasion were M. Thiers and Gambetta. If M. Thiers +showed tact, wisdom, and above all courage and firmness, in probably +the most difficult position in which man was ever placed, surely we +may pause to admire Gambetta.... Daring in all things, under the +Empire he denounced Napoleonism, and by his eloquence and courage he +guided timid millions and rival factions from the day when Napoleon +III. was deposed. Under the Empire he had yearned to restore the +true life of the nation; when the Empire was overturned he could +not believe that that life was impaired. He thought it would be +easy for France to rise as one man and drive out the invader. As +each terrible defeat was experienced, he regarded it as only a +momentary reverse. He had such abounding faith in his cause,--the +cause of France, the cause of French Republicanism,--that he could +not believe in failure. Of course, to have been a more clear-sighted +statesman, like M. Thiers, would have been best; but there is something +very noble in the blind zeal of this disappointed man." + +It moves one to pity to think of Gambetta weeping in the streets +of Bordeaux, as we are told he did, when the bitter news of the +surrender of Paris made all his labors useless, and dashed to the +ground his cherished hopes. Without one word to trouble the flow of +events that were taking a course contrary to all his expectations, +he resigned his dictatorship when it could no longer be of service +to his country, and took himself out of the way of intrigues in his +favor, passing over the Spanish frontier. As soon as the Germans +were out of France, M. Thiers also was prepared to resign his power. +He called a National Assembly to determine the form of government. + +There were several points of primary importance to be settled at +once; first: should France be a monarchy, or a republic? + +That she would again become a monarchy was generally anticipated; but +the Comte de Chambord had, as we have seen, forfeited his chances for +the moment. If France were a republic, who should be her president? +Should there be a vice-president? Should the president be elected +by the Chamber, or by a vote of the people? Should there be one +Chamber, or two? + +M. Thiers was opposed to having any vice-president, and was in +favor of two Chambers. He vehemently urged the continuance of the +Republic, saying that a monarchy was impossible. There was but +one throne, and there were three dynasties to dispute it. On one +occasion he said: "Gentlemen, I am an old disciple of the monarchy +[he was probably alluding to the opinions which his mother and his +grandmother had endeavored to instil into him]. I am what is called +a Monarchist who practises Republicanism for two reasons,--first, +because he agreed to do so, secondly, because practically he can +do nothing else." + +The Assembly proclaimed the continuance of the Republic, and likewise +the continuance of M. Thiers as its president for seven years. + +On several occasions after this, M. Thiers carried his point with +the Assembly by threatening to resign; and as the Assembly was +quite aware how difficult it would be to put anyone in his place, +the threat always resulted in his victory. + +The immediate cause which led to the fall of M. Thiers on May 24, +1873, after he had sat for two years and a month in the presidential +chair, was a dispute concerning the election of M. Charles de Rémusat +(son of the lady who has given her memoirs to the world). M. de +Rémusat was the Government candidate for a deputyship vacant in +the Paris representation. He was at the time Thiers' Minister for +Foreign Affairs, a personal friend of the president, a distinguished +man of letters, and an old Orleanist converted to Republicanism. The +opposing candidate was M. Barodet, a Radical of extreme opinions. +The Monarchists also brought forward their candidate. He had only +twenty-seven thousand votes; but these succeeded in defeating M. +de Rémusat, who had one hundred and thirty-five thousand, while +the Radicals voted solidly for Barodet, giving him one hundred +and fifty-five thousand. + +The blame of this defeat was thrown on M. Thiers. The Monarchists, +who had once called him "that illustrious statesman," now spoke of +him as "a fatal old man." They attacked him in the Assembly; the +Radicals supported them. M. Thiers was defeated on some measure +that he wished should pass, and sent in his resignation. It was +accepted by three hundred and sixty-two votes against three hundred +and forty-eight. He had fallen; and yet a _plébiscite_ throughout +the country would have given a large popular vote in favor of the man +"who had found France defeated, her richest provinces occupied, her +capital in the hands of savages, and had concluded peace and restored +order, and found the stupendous sum required for the liberation and +organization of the country, founding the Republic, and bringing +order and prosperity back once more." Indeed, the peasants even +credited him with their good harvests and the revival of spirit +in the army, till they almost felt for him a sentiment of personal +loyalty. + +Expelled from power when seventy-eight years of age, M. Thiers +retired to a little sunny, dusty _entresol_ on the Boulevard +Malesherbes, where the noise and glare greatly disturbed him. At +Tours, in the lull of events before the surrender of Paris, he had +collected books and studied botany. As soon as he was installed +on the Boulevard Malesherbes he asked Leverrier, the astronomer, to +continue with him the astronomical studies with which at Versailles +he had indulged himself in brief moments of leisure, remarking +that he had seen a good deal of the perversity of mankind, and +that he now wished to refresh himself with the orderly works of +God. + +Shortly after this he removed to better quarters, where his rooms +opened on a garden. In this garden he received his friends on Sunday +mornings from seven to nine, attired in a wadded, brown cashmere +dressing-gown, a broad-brimmed hat, a black cravat, patent-leather +shoes, and black gaiters. As he talked, he held his magnifying-glass +in his hand, ready to examine any insect or blade of grass that +might come under observation. + +One more great service he rendered to his country. Prince Bismarck, +alarmed by the state of things in France, showed symptoms of intending +to seize Belfort, that fortress in the Vosges which had never +surrendered to the Germans, and which France had been permitted to +retain. Thiers induced Russia to intervene, and went to Switzerland +to thank Prince Gortschakoff personally for his services on the +occasion. + +Thiers died at Saint-Germains four years after his downfall, at +the age of eighty-two. His last earthly lodging was in the Pavilion +Henri IV. (now an hotel), where Louis XIV. was born. + +By his will he left the State, not only all his collections, which +so far as possible he had restored, but the numerous historical +materials which he had gathered for his works, as well as his house, +after his wife's death, in the Place Saint-Georges. The collections +are there as he left them; the historical documents have been removed +to the Archives. + +To Marseilles, his native city, he left his water-color copies of +the chief works of the great masters in Italy. + +Thiers was childless. Whatever may have been the personal relations +in which he stood to his wife, no woman was ever more truly devoted +to the interests of her husband. She seems to have lived but for +him. + +People in society laughed at her plain dressing and her careful +housekeeping; but "her heart dilated with gladness when she felt +that the eyes of the world were fixed with admiration on M. Thiers." +Her manner to him was that of a careful and idolizing nurse, his +to her too often that of a petulant child. She always called him +M. Thiers, he always addressed her as Madame Thiers,--indeed, he +is almost unknown by his name of Adolphe, nor do men often speak +of him simply as Thiers. "Monsieur Thiers" he was and will always +be in history, whose tribunal he said he was not afraid to face. +Even his cards were, contrary to French custom, always printed +"Monsieur Thiers." + +Both M. and Madame Thiers were very early risers, and both had an +inconvenient habit of falling asleep at inopportune times. + +To the last, Madame Thiers took a loving interest in Belfort, because +her husband had saved it from the Germans. Its poor were objects +of her especial solicitude. Only an hour before her death, hearing +that the Maire of Belfort had called, she expressed a wish to see +him, and endeavored to address him, pointing to a bust of M. Thiers; +but she was unable to make herself understood; her powers of speech +had failed her. + +Two rules M. Thiers never departed from: one was, as he said himself, +"to defend ferociously the public purse," the other, never to give +house-room to any but first-rate objects of art. Some of his pictures +were very dear to him. Several of his bronzes, which were pillaged by +the Commune and never recovered, were mourned by him as if they had +been his friends. He had been wont to call them "the school-masters +of his soul." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THREE FRENCH PRESIDENT'S. + +Marshal MacMahon, the Duke of Magenta, was of Irish descent, his +ancestors having followed James II. into exile, and distinguished +themselves at the Battle of the Boyne. Their descendant, Patrice +(or Patrick), the subject of this sketch, was the sixteenth of +seventeen children. + +He was born when French glory was at its height, under the First +Empire, in the summer of 1806. When he was seventeen he was sent to +the military school at Saint-Cyr. There his Irish dash and talent +soon won him renown. In Algeria he acquired fame and fortune and +the Cross of the Legion of Honor. In 1830 he went to the siege +of Antwerp, at the time when the French insisted on promoting a +revolution in Belgium, and the moment that enterprise was over, +he retired to Algeria. At twenty-five he was a captain and had +distinguished himself at the siege of Constantine, fighting side +by side with the Duc de Nemours and that other French officer of +Irish descent, Marshal Niel. At forty-four he was a general of +division, and had seen twenty-seven years of service. The Arabs +called him the Invulnerable. + +He went to the Crimean War, and there led the attack on the Malakoff, +holding his post until the place was won. Devoted to his profession, +he was diffident in society. He was named a senator by Napoleon +III. after his return from the Crimea, but declined to take his +seat, refusing at the same time some other proffered honors. He +was sent back to Algeria at his own request, and stayed there, +fighting the Arabs, for five years. Then, returning to Paris, he +took his seat in the Senate, where he opposed some of the arbitrary +decrees of the emperor.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Temple Bar, "Courts of the three Presidents, Thiers, +MacMahon, and Grévy," 1884.] + +In the Italian War in 1859 he fought with distinguished bravery, +and on the battlefield of Magenta was made a Marshal of France and +Duke of Magenta. After being ambassador at Berlin he was sent to +bear the emperor's congratulations to King William on his accession, +and to attend his coronation. He was again sent to Algeria as its +governor-general. He had already married Marie, daughter of the +Duc de Castries. She was very rich, and connected with some of +the most opulent bankers in Vienna. + +Marshal MacMahon came back to France at the outbreak of the +Franco-Prussian War, and was given the command of the First Army +Corps; but the emperor insisted on commanding his own armies as +general-in-chief. The day before the surrender at Sedan, Marshal +MacMahon had been badly wounded, and had to resign his command +to General Ducrot. Ducrot being also wounded, it became the sad +duty of General Wimpffen to sign the capitulation. Marshal MacMahon +was taken as a prisoner to Wiesbaden, where he remained till the +close of the war. He got back to Paris forty-eight hours before +the outbreak of the Commune. A commander was needed for the forces +of France. M. Thiers chose Marshal MacMahon, who with tears in +his eyes thanked him for the opportunity of retrieving his lost +reputation and doing service for France. After he had collected +his army, which it took some weeks to bring back from Germany, +to equip, and to reorganize, his men fought desperately for seven +days, pushing their way step by step into the heart of the capital, +till on May 28, 1871, the marshal addressed a proclamation to France, +informing Frenchmen that the Commune was at an end. He then passed +out of public sight, eclipsed by the superior radiance of Thiers +and Gambetta. But as time went on, and it was determined by the +Monarchists to coalesce with the extreme Radicals and get rid of +M. Thiers, who was laboring to establish a law and order Republic, +the newspapers of both the Conservative and Radical parties began +to exalt the marshal's merits at the expense of "that sinister old +man," M. Thiers. After six months of this trumpet-blowing by the +opposition Press, the idea was planted in the minds of Frenchmen +that Marshal MacMahon was the statesman who might bring France +out of all her difficulties. + +It was ascertained by the Monarchists that Marshal MacMahon would +accept the presidency if it were offered him, and would consider +himself a stop-gap until such time as France should make up her +mind whether the Comte de Chambord or some one else should be her +king. + +The attack on M. Thiers was then organized. M. Thiers was defeated. +He sent in his resignation, and it was accepted by a small majority +in the Chamber. A moment after, Marshal MacMahon was proposed as +his successor, and immediately elected (May 24, 1873). + +At this time the parties in the French Chamber were seven, and their +policy was for two or more of them to combine for any temporary +object. Legitimists, Orleanists, and Bonapartists formed the Right; +Anarchists, Red Republicans, and decided Republicans formed the +Left; while the Centre was made up of men of moderate opinions +of all parties who were willing to accept an orderly and stable +government of any kind. This party may be said to represent to +the present hour the prevailing state of public feeling in France. + +The three parties on the Left quarrelled fiercely among themselves; +the three parties on the Right did the same. Both Left and Right, +however, were eager to rally the Centre to their side. The coalitions, +hatreds, and misunderstandings of these seven parties constitute +for eighteen years almost the entire history of the Third Republic. + +In 1873 the Monarchists,--that is, the three parties on the Right--were +stronger than the combined parties on the Left, but not so strong +if the Moderates of the Centre voted with the Left Republicans. +Again, if the Legitimists, Orleanists, and the Centre should unite, +and the Bonapartists should go over to the Left, the Left would +be the stronger. + +The Duc de Broglie, an excellent man, grandson of Madame de Staël, +was made President MacMahon's prime minister. So far the Monarchists +had prospered. They had command of the president, the Assembly, and +the army. These were all prepared to accept Henri V., provided he +would retreat from the position he had taken up in 1871, consent +to become a constitutional sovereign, give up his White Flag, and +accept the Tricolor. The Monarchists appointed a Committee of Nine +to negotiate this matter with the prince at Fröhsdorf; but Marshal +MacMahon gave them this warning: "If the White Flag is raised against +the Tricolor, the chassepots will go off of themselves, and I cannot +answer for order in the streets or for discipline in the army." + +With great difficulty the nine succeeded in procuring an assurance +from the Comte de Chambord that he would leave the question of +the flag to be decided in concert with the Assembly after his +restoration. Meantime he came to Versailles and remained hidden in +the house of one of his supporters. Everybody urged him to accept +the conditions on which alone he could reign, and fulfil the hopes +of his faithful followers. They implored him to ascend the throne as +a constitutional sovereign, and to accept the Tricolor, in deference +to the wishes of the people and his friends. + +He passed an entire night in miserable indecision, walking up and +down his friend's dining-room, debating with himself whether he +would give way. It had been arranged that the next day he should +present himself suddenly in the Assembly, be hailed with acclamation +by his supporters, and be introduced by the marshal-president himself +as Henri Cinq. The building was to be guarded by faithful troops, +the telegraph was prepared to flash the news through France, the +very looms at Lyons were weaving silks brocaded with _fleurs de +lys_. But Henri V. could not bring himself to comply. He fled away +from Versailles before dawn. "He is an honest man," said M. Thiers, +"and will not put his flag in his pocket." A few days later he +published at Salzburg a letter in which he protested against the +pressure his friends had brought to bear on him. "Never," he said, +"will I become a revolutionary king," by which he meant a king who +reigned under a constitution; never, he protested, would he sacrifice +his honor to the exigencies of parties; "and," he concluded, "never +will I disclaim the standard of Arques and of Ivry!" + +"The count," said an English newspaper, "seems to have forgotten +that Arques and Ivry were Protestant victories." + +"My person," continued the count, "is nothing; my principle is +everything. I am the indispensable pilot, the only man capable +of guiding the vessel into port, because for this I have mission +and authority." + +Thus ended all chances for Henri V. The Orleans princes, having +concluded a compact with him as his heirs, felt themselves bound +in honor to refuse to accept any compromise which "the head of +the family" did not approve. + +It can be easily imagined how provoked and disappointed were all +those who had rallied to the king's party. There remained nothing to +do but to strengthen the Republic and to provide it with a permanent +constitution. A Committee of Thirty was appointed to draw up the +document. The constitution was very conservative. It has now been +in force nineteen years, but it has never worked smoothly, and the +object of the extreme Republicans, who have clamored for "revision," +has been to eliminate its conservative elements and make it Red +Republican. It is impossible for a people who change their government +so often to have much respect or love for any constitution. + +The Marshal-Duke of Magenta had accepted the presidency without any +great desire to retain it; nevertheless, he established his household +on a semi-royal footing, as though he intended, as some thought, that +there should be at least a temporary court, to prepare the way for +what might be at hand. M. Thiers had been a _bourgeois_ president; +the marshal was a _grand seigneur_. M. Thiers' servants had been +clothed in black; the marshal's wore gay liveries of scarlet plush, +and gray and silver. When M. Thiers took part in any public ceremony +he drove in a handsome landau with a mounted escort of Republican +Guards, and his friends (he never called them his _suite_) followed +as they pleased in their own carriages. But the marshal's equipages +were painted in three shades of green, and lined with pearl-gray +satin. They were drawn by four gray horses, with postilions and +outriders. To see M. Thiers on business was as easy as it is to +see the President at the White House. Anybody could be admitted +on sending a letter to his secretary. To journalists he was always +accessible, believing himself still to belong to their profession. +But to approach the marshal was about as hard as to approach a +king, and he hated above all things newspaper writers. + +In 1873 the Shah of Persia came to Paris, and the marshal entertained +him magnificently. He gave him a torch-light procession of soldiers, +a gala performance at the Grand Opera, and a banquet in the Galerie +des Glaces at Versailles. The Parisians regretted that the visit had +not been made in M. Thiers' time, when society might have been amused +by stories of how the omniscient little president had instructed the +shah, through an interpreter, as to Persian history and the etymology +of Oriental languages; but society had a good story connected with +the visit, after all. During the state banquet at Versailles the +shah turned to the Duchess of Magenta, and asked her, in a French +sentence some one had taught him for the occasion, why her husband +did not make himself emperor. + +The marshal was content to hold his place as president, and the +Duc de Broglie governed for him, except in anything relating to +military affairs. On these the marshal always had his way. + +The Duc de Broglie's government, which was all in the interest +of the monarchical principle, became distrusted and unpopular. +In one year twenty-one Republicans and six Bonapartists gained +seats in the Assembly, while the Orleanist and Legitimist parties +gained not one. By 1874 the cause of royalty in France was at a +low ebb. In this year--a year after the downfall of M. Thiers--the +Duc de Broglie was defeated in the Chamber on some measure of small +importance; but his defeat turned him summarily out of office. The +Left Centre--that is, the Republicans from conviction--was the +strongest of the seven parties. The Republic seemed established +on a basis of law and order. + +According to the constitution, the president was chosen for seven +years, with the chance of re-election; the Chamber of Deputies +was elected for seven years by universal suffrage, but every year +one third of its members had to retire into private life or stand +for a new election. The Senate was chosen by a complicated +arrangement,--partly by the Chamber, partly by a sort of electoral +college, the members of which were drawn from the councils of +departments, the _arrondissements_, and the municipalities of cities. +As Gambetta said: "So chosen, it could not be a very democratic +assemblage." + +"Arrondissement," in the political language of our Southern States, +would be translated electoral districts either in town or country. +In the Northern States it would mean districts for the cities, +townships in the country. + +The Speaker, or President of the Chamber, at Tours, at Bordeaux, +and at Versailles, until a month before the downfall of M. Thiers, +had been the immaculately respectable M. Jules Grévy, who had entered +public life in 1848. He had been deposed during the period when +the Monarchists had strength and felt sure of the throne for Henri +V., and he had been replaced by a M. Buffet. It was M. Buffet who +became prime minister on the downfall of the Duc de Broglie. Marshal +MacMahon by no means relished being governed by a cabinet composed +of men of more advanced republican opinions than his own. But it +is useless to go deeper into the parliamentary squabbles of this +period. + +Then began the quarrel of which we have read so often in Associated +Press telegrams,--the dispute concerning the _scrutin de liste_ and +the _scrutin d'arrondissement_. "Scrutin" means ballot; "scrutin +de liste" means that electors might choose any Frenchman as their +candidate; "scrutin d'arrondissement," that they must confine their +choice to some man living in the district for which he wished to +stand. The Left disapproved the _scrutin d'arrondissement_, which +gave too much scope, it said, for local interests to have weight over +political issues. In our own country local interests are provided for +by State legislatures, and in elections for Congress the _scrutin +d'arrondissement_ is adopted. + +On the last day of December, 1875, the National Assembly was dissolved. +Confused, uninteresting, factious as it had been on points of politics, +it had at least taught Frenchmen something of parliamentary tactics +and the practical system of compromise. The American government +is said to be based on compromise. In France, "all or nothing" +had been the cry of French parties from the beginning. + +The leader of the Left was now Gambetta, who managed matters with +discretion and in a spirit of compromise. From this policy his +immediate followers have been called "opportunists," because they +stood by, watching the course of events, ready to promote their +own plans at every opportunity. + +The new Assembly proved much too republican to please the marshal. +In every way his situation perplexed and worried him. He was not +a man of eminent ability, and had never been trained to politics. +He had been used to govern as a soldier. His head may have been a +little turned by the flatteries so freely showered on him before +his election, and he had come to entertain a belief that he was +indispensable to France. He saw himself the protector of order +against revolutionary passions, and conceived himself to be adored +as the sole hope of the people. "Believing this, he could hardly +have been expected to conform to the simple formulas which govern +the councils of constitutional kings." Moreover, behind the marshal +was his friend the Duc de Broglie, "now counselling compromise +and now resistance, but always meditating a sudden blow in favor +of monarchy." + +By the close of 1876 it became so evident that the government of +France could not be carried on upon strictly conservative principles +that even the Duc de Broglie advised the marshal to form a Cabinet +from the Left, under the prime ministership of M. Jules Simon. +This gentleman had been one of the five Jules's in the Committee +of Defence in 1870. He was an upright man, very liberal in his +opinions, and philosophic in his tendencies, which made him especially +unacceptable to Marshal MacMahon. + +Simon formed a ministry, which governed, with perpetual parliamentary +disputes, till May 16, 1877. On that day Marshal MacMahon sent a +letter to his prime minister, telling him that he did not appear to +have sufficient support in the Chamber to carry on the government, +and reproaching him with his Radical tendencies. Of course the +minister and his colleagues at once resigned. The marshal then +dissolved the Chamber, and appealed to the people, placing the Duc +de Broglie _ad interim_ at the head of affairs. + +In spite of all the marshal and his friends could do to secure +a Conservative majority in the new Chamber, it was largely and +strongly Republican. There was no help for it; as Gambetta said, +the marshal must either _se soumettre, ou se démettre_,--choose +submission or dismission. + +He had a passing thought of again dissolving the unruly Chamber, +and governing by the Senate alone. He found, however, that the +country did not consider him indispensable, and was prepared to +put M. Thiers in his place if he resigned. + +But M. Thiers did not live to receive that proof of his country's +gratitude. He died, as we have seen, in the summer of 1877, and +the next choice of the Republican party was M. Jules Grévy. + +[Illustration: _PRESIDENT JULES GRÉVY._] + +For two years longer the marshal held the reins of government, but +he resigned on being required to sign a resolution changing the +generals who commanded the four army corps. "In a letter full of +dignity," says M. Gabriel Monod, "and which appeared quite natural +on the part of a soldier more concerned for the interests of the +army than for those of politics, he tendered his resignation. The +two Chambers met together, and in a single sitting, without noise +or disturbance, M. Jules Grévy was elected, and proclaimed president +of the French Republic for seven years." + +It is said that in 1830, when Charles X. published his ordinances +and placarded his proclamation on the walls of Paris, a young +law-student, who was tearing down one of them, was driven off with a +kick by one of the king's officers. The officer was Patrice MacMahon; +the law-student Jules Grévy. + +M. Grévy was pre-eminently respectable. He was born in the Jura +mountains, Aug. 15, 1813. His father was a small proprietor. Diligence +and energy rather than brilliancy distinguished the young Jules in +his college career. When his college life ended, he went up to +Paris and studied for the Bar. MacMahon's kick roused his pugnacity. +He went home, took down an old musket, and joined the insurgents, +leading an attack upon some barracks where the fighting was severe. +The Revolution having ended in a constitutional monarchy, he went +into a lawyer's office, and plodded on in obscurity for eighteen +years. + +In 1848 he rendered services to the Provisional Government, and +the farmers of his district in the Jura elected him their deputy. +He went into the Chamber as an Advanced Republican, and voted for +the banishment of the Orleans family, for a republic without a +president, and for other extreme measures. Before long he was elected +vice-president of the Chamber. + +Then came the Empire, and M. Grévy went back to his law-books. +He and his brother must have prospered at the Bar, for in 1851 +they had houses in Paris, in which after the _coup d'état_ Victor +Hugo and his friends lay concealed. + +When the emperor attempted constitutional reforms, in 1869, Grévy +was again elected deputy from the Jura. He acted with dignity and +moderation, though he voted always with the advanced party. Gambetta +he personally disliked, having an antipathy to his dictatorial +ways. When the National Assembly met at Bordeaux to decide the +fate of France, Grévy was made its Speaker, or president; but when +the _coup d'état_ in favor of Henri V. was meditated, he was got +rid of beforehand, after he had presided for two turbulent years +over an Assembly distracted and excited. Everyone respected M. +Grévy. There was very little of the typical Frenchman in his +composition. He was of middle height, rather stout, with a large +bald, well-shaped head. He was no lover of society, but was a diligent +worker, and his favorite amusements were billiards and the humble +game of dominoes. His wife was the good woman suited to such a +husband; but his daughter, his only child, was considered by Parisian +society pretentious and a blue-stocking. She married, after her +father's elevation to the presidency, M. Daniel Wilson, a Frenchman, +in spite of his English name. M. Grévy's Eli-like toleration of +the sins of his daughter's husband caused his overthrow. + +In Marshal MacMahon's time there were two points on which he as +president insisted on having his own way; that is, anything relating +to army affairs, or to the granting civilians the cross of the Legion +of Honor. He did not object to the decoration of civilians, but he +insisted upon knowing the antecedents of the gentlemen recommended +for the distinction. Well would it have been for M. Grévy had he +followed the example of his predecessor. The marshal would never +give the cross to a man whom he knew to be a free-thinker. His reply +to such applications always was: "If he is not a Christian, what +does he want with a cross?" + +It is said that in 1877, when the marshal thought of resigning +rather than accepting such an advanced Republican as M. Jules Simon +as chief of his Cabinet, he sent for M. Grévy, and asked him +point-blank: "Do you want to become president of the Republic?" "I +am not in the least ambitious for that honor," replied M. Grévy. +"If I were sure you would be elected in my place, I would resign," +continued the marshal; "but I do not know what would happen if I +were to go." "My strong advice to you is not to resign," said M. +Grévy; "only bring this crisis to an end by choosing your ministers +out of the Republican majority, and you will be pleased with yourself +afterwards for having done your duty." + +"Well, you are an honest man, M. Grévy; I wish there were more +like you," said the marshal; and having shaken hands with M. Grévy, +he dismissed him, though without promising to follow his advice. +He reflected on it that night, however, and adopted it the next +morning. But when advised to take Gambetta for his minister, he +replied: "I do not expect my ministers to go to mass with me or to +shoot with me; but they must be men with whom I can have some common +ground of conversation, and I cannot talk with _ce monsieur-là_." +Indeed, Gambetta was often shy and awkward in social intercourse, +seldom giving the impression in private life of the powers of burning +eloquence with which he could in public move friend or foe. Nor +had M. Grévy been by any means always in accord with the fiery +Southerner. At Tours he objected to Gambetta's measures as wholly +unconstitutional. "You are one of those men," retorted Gambetta, +"who expect to make omelettes without breaking the eggs." "You +are not making omelettes, but a mess," retorted M. Grévy. + +Both the marshal and his successor were sportsmen and gave +hunting-parties, those of the marshal being as much in royal style +as possible. M. Grévy preferred republican simplicity. When he was +allowed, as Speaker of the House, to live in Marie Antoinette's +apartments in the Château of Versailles, he might have been seen +any day sauntering about the streets with his hands in his pockets, +or smoking his cigar at the door of a _café_. He had a brougham, +but he rarely used it. His coachman grumbled at having to follow +him at a foot-pace when he took long walks into the country. His +servants did not, like the marshal's, wear gray and scarlet liveries, +but his household arrangements were more dignified and liberal than +those of M. Thiers. He had a curious way of receiving his friends +_sans cérémonie_. Three mornings in the week his old intimate +associates,--artists, journalists, deputies, etc.,--entered the +presidential palace unannounced, and went straight to an apartment +fitted up for fencing. There, taking masks and foils, they amused +themselves, till presently M. Grévy would come in, make the tour +of the room, speak a few words to each, and invite one or two of +them to breakfast with him. + +Both M. Grévy and Marshal MacMahon held their Cabinet meetings in +that _salle_ of the Élysée which is hung round with the portraits +of sovereigns. Opposite to M. Grévy's chair hung a portrait of +Queen Victoria; and it was remarked that he always gazed at her +while his ministers discoursed around him. But his happiness, poor +man! was in his private apartments, where his daughter, her husband, +M. Wilson, and his little grandchild made part of his household. + +M. Gréevy gave handsome dinners at the Élysée, and Madame Grévy +and Madame Wilson gave receptions, and occasionally handsome balls. +Everything was done "decently and in order," much like an American +president's housekeeping, but without show or brilliancy. + +Having indulged in this gossip about the courts of the presidents +(for much of which I am indebted to a writer in "Temple Bar"), +we will turn to graver history. + +When M. Grévy became president, Gambetta succeeded to his place +as president of the Chamber. He did not desire the post of prime +minister. His new position made him the second man in France, and +seemed to point him out as the future candidate for the presidency. + +M. Defavre became chief of the Cabinet, and M. Waddington Minister +for Foreign Affairs. But Gambetta, whether in or out of office, +was the leader of his party, and a sense of the responsibilities +of leadership made him far more cautious and less fiery than he +had been in former days. Yet even then he had said emphatically: +"No republic can last long in France that is not based on law, +order, and respect for property." + +In August, 1880, however, eighteen months after M. Grévy's elevation +to the presidency, Gambetta became prime minister. He flattered +himself that he might do great things for France, for he believed +that he could count on the support of every true Republican. He +was mistaken. Three months after he accepted office, the Radicals +and the Conservatives combined for his overthrow. He was defeated in +the Chamber on a question of the _scrutin de liste_, and resigned. + +Gambetta's disappointment was very great. He had counted on his +popularity, and had hoped to accomplish great things. He was a +man of loose morals and of declining health, for, unsuspected by +himself, a disorder from which he could never have recovered, was +undermining his strength; this made him irritable. On the 30th of +August, 1882, he was visiting, at a country house near Paris, a +lady of impaired reputation; there he was shot in the hand. The +wound brought on an illness, of which he died in December. It has +never been known whether the shot was fired by the woman, as was +generally suspected, or whether his own pistol, as he asserted, +was accidentally discharged. + +He was buried at Père la Chaise, without religious services; but +his coffin was followed by vast crowds, and all Frenchmen (even +his enemies, and they were many) felt that his country had lost +an honest patriot and a great man. + +On the centennial anniversary of the opening act of the French +Revolution, a statue of Gambetta was unveiled in the Place du Carrousel, +the courtyard of French kings. No future king, if any such should +be, will dare to displace it. Gambetta's life was a sad one, and +his death was sadder still. With all his noble qualities,--and +there are few things nobler in history than the manner in which +he effaced himself to give place to his rival,--how great he might +have been, had he learned early to apply his power of self-restraint +to lesser things! + +Gambetta wanted Paris to remain the city of cities, the centre of +art, fashion, and culture; and he took up the Emperor Napoleon's +policy of beautifying and improving it by costly public works. +"Je veux ma république belle, bien parée" ("I want my republic +beautiful and well dressed") was a sentence which brought him into +trouble with the Radicals, who said he had no right to say "my +republic," as if he were looking forward to being its dictator. +He voted for the return of the Communists from New Caledonia, and +during the last two years of his life these returned exiles never +ceased to thwart him and revile him. Some one had prophesied to +him that this would be the case. "Bah!" he answered, "the poor +wretches have suffered enough. I might have been transported myself, +had matters turned out differently in 1870."[1] Had he lived, it +is probable that in 1886 he would have supplanted M. Grévy. "Nor," +says one of his friends, "can it be doubted that, loving the Republic +as he did, and having served it with so much devotion and honesty, +he would have found in his love a power of self-restraint to keep +him from courses that might have been hurtful to his own work." +For the establishment of the Republic _was_ principally "his own +work." He proclaimed its birth, standing in a window of the Hôtel +de Ville in 1870; he gave it a baptism of some glory in the fiery, +though hopeless, resistance he opposed to the German invasion; +and he kept it standing at a time when it needed the support of +a sturdy, vigilant champion. To the end it must be believed that +he would, as far as in him lay, have preserved it from harm. Not +long before his death, during a lull in his pain, which for a moment +roused a hope of his recovery, he said to his doctor: "I have made +many mistakes, but people must not imagine I am not aware of them; +I often think over my faults, and if things go well I shall try +the patience of my friends less often. _On se corrige!_" + +[Footnote 1: Cornhill Magazine, 1883.] + +When Gambetta was dead, the man who stepped into his place was +Jules Ferry. He was a lawyer, born in the Vosges in 1832. He had +never been personally intimate with Gambetta, but he succeeded +to his political inheritance, became chief of his party, secured +the majority that Gambetta never could get in the Chamber, and +did all that Gambetta had failed to do. + +His attention when prime minister was largely devoted to the development +of French industry in colonies. He began a war in Tonquin, he annexed +Tunis, and commenced aggressions in Madagascar. All of these enterprises +have proved difficult, unprofitable, and wasteful of life and money. + +The position of France with relation to other powers has become +very isolated. Her best friend, strange to say, is Russia,--the +young Republic and the absolute czar! Germany, Austria, and Italy +form the alliance called the Dreibund. But their military force +united is not quite equal to that of France and Russia combined. +If Russia ever attacks the three powers of Central Europe on the +East, it is not to be doubted that France will rush upon Alsace and +Lorraine. The mob of Paris, in 1884, put M. Grévy to much annoyance +and embarrassment by hissing and hooting the young king of Spain +on his way through the French capital because he had accepted the +honorary colonelcy of a German regiment, and M. Grévy and his Foreign +Minister had profoundly to apologize. The incident was traceable, +it was said at the time, to the indiscretions of M. Daniel Wilson, +the president's son-in-law, whose melancholy story remains to be +told. + +Shortly before Gambetta's death, occurred that of the Prince Imperial +in Zululand, and that of the Comte de Chambord in Austria. + +The son of Napoleon III. had been educated at Woolwich, the West +Point Academy of England. When the Zulu war broke out, all his +young English companions were ordered to Africa, and he entreated +his mother to let him go. He wanted to learn the art of war, he +said, and perhaps too he wished to acquire popularity with the +people of England, in view of a future alliance with a daughter +of Queen Victoria. The general commanding at the seat of war was +far from glad to see him. He knew the dangers of savage warfare, +and felt the responsibility of such a charge. For some time he +kept the prince working in an office, but at last permitted him +to go on a reconnoitring expedition, where little danger was +anticipated. There is no page in history so dishonorable to the +valor and good conduct of an English gentleman as that which records +how, when surprised by Zulus, the young prince was deserted by his +superior officer and his companions, and while trying to mount +his restive horse, was slain. + +He left a will leaving his claims (such as they were) to the imperial +throne of France to his young cousin Victor Napoleon, thus overlooking +the father of that young prince, Jérôme Napoleon, the famous Plon-Plon. + +The reconciliation which in 1873 took place between the Comte de +Chambord and his distant cousins of the house of Orleans never +resulted in cordial relations, though the Comte de Paris, as his +cousin's heir, visited the Comte de Chambord at Fröhsdorf. The +Comtesse de Chambord despised and disliked the family of Orleans, +and the Monarchist party in France still remained divided into +Legitimists and Orleanists, the latter protesting that they only +desired a constitutional sovereign, and did not hold to the doctrine +of right divine. + +The Comte de Chambord died Aug. 24, 1883. His malady was cancer in +the stomach, complicated by other disorders. The Orleanist princes +hastened to Fröhsdorf to attend his funeral, but they were so +disdainfully treated by his widow that they deemed it due to their +self-respect to retire before the obsequies. This is how "Figaro," +a leading Legitimist journal in Paris, speaks of the Comte de +Chambord:-- + +"He had noble qualities and great virtues. What most distinguished +him was an intense feeling of royal dignity, which he guarded most +jealously by act and word. But we may be permitted to doubt whether +the fifty-three years he had passed in exile had qualified him +to understand and to sympathize with the great changes in public +opinion in his own country, and the true tendencies of the present +and the rising generation. In his youth he was entirely guided by +others, but after the _coup d'état_ of 1851 he took things into +his own hands, and directed his course up to the last moment with +a firmness which admitted of neither contradiction nor dispute. +He sincerely wished to promote liberty; there was nothing in him +of the despot, but he had lived all his life out of France, and +could not comprehend the preferences and the habits which had grown +into national feeling. He was kindly, genial, intelligent, witty, +dignified, and affable. He only needed to have been brought up +among his people to have made an admirable sovereign. Had the first +plan of the Revolution of 1830 been carried out, and the young +prince been made king, with Louis Philippe lieutenant-general till +his majority, it is possible that France might have been spared +great tribulations. For our own part," continues the "Figaro," +"we have always looked upon monarchy as the best government for +the peace, prosperity, and liberty of France; but with the personal +politics of the Comte de Chambord we could not agree. After all +France had gone through, it was necessary to nationalize the king, +and to royalize the nation. M. le Comte de Chambord utterly refused +to yield anything to constitutional ideas and to become what he +called the king of the Revolution. It is true that the White Flag +of the Bourbons had been associated with a long line of glories in +France, but for a hundred years the Tricolor had been the flag under +which French soldiers had marched to victory. It was this matter of the +flag that prevented the success of the plan of restoration in 1873, +two months after the Comte de Paris had so patriotically sacrificed +some of his own most cherished feelings by his reconciliation (for +his country's sake) with his cousin at Fröhsdorf. The party could +do nothing without its head. The Orleanist princes would not act +without their chief, and the opportunity passed, perhaps never to +return." + +"Henri V. never hesitated about the matter of the flag," says another +writer. "He regarded its color as above everything important. The +question of white or tricolor was to him a vital thing. He said: +'Kings have their private points of personal honor like mere citizens. +I should feel myself to be sacrificing my honor, since I was born a +king, if I made any concessions on the subject of the White Flag of +my family. With respect to other things I may concede; but as to that, +never, _never!_ The only thing for which I have ever reproached Louis +XVI. was for having for one moment suffered the _bonnet rouge_ to be +placed upon his head to save his royalty. Now you are proposing to +me to do the same thing. No!' The count had drawn up a constitution +for France after his own ideas, but he would show it to no man. +No human being had any power to influence him. But he was heard +to say more than once: 'I will never diminish the power of the +sovereign. I desire liberty and progress to emanate from the king. +Royalty should progress with the age, but never cease to be itself +in all things.' He deemed the authority he claimed to be his by +right divine; but one may be permitted to think," concludes this +writer, "that this authority, if it came from Heaven, has been +recalled there." + +Four months before his death he had a touching interview with his +heir, the Comte de Paris, at Fröhsdorf. The count little expected +then that he would be prevented from taking the part of chief mourner +at the funeral which took place Sept. 1, 1883, at Göritz, when +the king, who had never reigned, was laid beside Charles X., his +grandfather. + +We may best conclude this account of the Comte de Chambord with some +touching words which he addressed to his disappointed supporters +in 1875:-- + +"Sometimes I am reproached for not having chosen to reign when +the opportunity was offered me, and for having perhaps lost that +opportunity forever. This is a misconception. Tell it abroad boldly. +I am the depositary of Legitimate Monarchy. I will guard my birthright +till my last sigh. I desire royalty as my heritage, as my duty, +but never by chance or by intrigue. In other times I might have +been willing (as some of my ancestors have been) to recover my +birthright by force of arms. What would have been possible and +reasonable formerly, is not so now. After forty years of revolution, +civil war, invasion, and _coups d'état_, the monarchy I represent +can only commend itself to Europe and the French people as one of +peace, conciliation, and preservation. The king of France must +return to France as a shepherd to his fold, or else remain in exile. +If I must not return, Divine Providence will bear me witness before +the French people that I have done my duty with honest intentions. +In the midst of the prevailing ignominies of the present age it +is well that the life and policy of an exiled king should stand +out white in all their loyalty." + +There was little of general interest in French politics during the +remaining years of M. Grévy's first administration, which ended +early in 1886. He was the first French president who had reached +the end of his term. He was quietly re-elected by the joint vote +of the two Chambers, not so much because he was popular as because +there seemed no one more eligible for the position. He had not had +much good fortune in his administration. M. Ferry's colonization +schemes had cost great sums of money and had led to jealousies +and disputes with foreign nations. French finances had become +embarrassed. The French national debt in 1888 was almost twice +as great as that of England, and the largest additions to it were +made during M. Grévy's presidency, when enormous sums were spent +on public works and on M. Ferry's colonial enterprises. The mere +interest on the debt amounts annually to fifty millions of dollars, +and every attempt at reduction is frustrated by the Chambers, which +are unwilling to approve either new taxes or new loans. + +The two principal points of interest during the latter years of +M. Grévy's first term of office concerned the persecution of the +Church and the persecution of the princes of the house of Orleans. + +The Republic began by taking down the crucifixes in all public +places, such as court-rooms, magistrates' offices, and public schools; +for in France men swear by holding up a hand before the crucifix, +instead of by our own irreverent and dirty custom of "kissing the +book." Then the education of children was made compulsory; but +schools were closed that had been taught by priests, monks, or nuns. +Next, sisters of charity were forbidden to nurse in the hospitals, +their places being supplied by women little fitted to replace them. + +As to the Orleans princes, in 1886, the year of M. Grévy's second +election, they were summarily ordered to quit France; not that they +had done anything that called for exile, but because Prince Napoleon +(who called himself the Prince Imperial and head of the Bonaparte +dynasty) had put forth a pamphlet concerning his pretensions to +the imperial throne. This led to the banishment of all members +of ex-royal families from French soil, and their erasure from the +army list, if they were serving as French soldiers. + +This decree was particularly hard upon the Duc d'Aumale, who was a +French general, and had done good service under Chanzy and Gambetta +in the darkest days of the calamities of France. + +The Comte de Paris deeply felt the outrage. He gave the world to +understand that he had never conspired against the French Republic +while living on his estates in France, but felt free to do so after +this aggression. + +The Duc d'Aumale avenged himself by an act of truly royal magnificence. +He published part of his will, bequeathing to the French Institute, of +which he was a member, that splendid estate and palace of Chantilly +which he had inherited from his godfather, the old Duke of Bourbon. +With its collections, its library, its archives, and its pictures, +the gift is valued at from thirty-five to forty millions of francs. +The revenue of the estate is to be spent in enriching the collections, +in encouraging scientific research, in pensioning aged authors, +artists, and scientific discoverers. + +"It is the grandest gift," says M. Gabriel Monod, "ever given to +a country. It is worthy of a prince who joins to the attractive +grace of noble breeding and the finest qualities of a soldier, +the talents of a man of letters, the learning of a scholar, and +the taste of an artist." + +M. Grévy--_le vieux_, "the old fellow," as his Parisians irreverently +called him--was deeply attached to his daughter, whose husband, +M. Daniel Wilson, a presumptuous, speculative person, had made +himself obnoxious to society and to all the political parties. +This man lived at the Élysée with his family, and made free use of +presidential privileges. It is said that by using the president's +right of franking letters for his business affairs, he saved himself +in postage forty-thousand francs per annum. He also made use of +information that he obtained as son-in-law of the president to +further his own interests, and once or twice he got M. Grévy into +trouble by the unwarrantable publication of certain matters in a +newspaper of which he was the proprietor. Besides this he was at +the head of a great number of financial schemes, whose business +he conducted under the roof of the Élysée. Before he married +Mademoiselle Grévy, a _conseil de famille_ had deprived him of +any control over his property till he came of age, on account of +his recklessness; but he was what in America we call "a smart man," +and M. Grévy was very much attached to him. + +In the early days of 1887 a person who considered himself defrauded +in a nefarious bargain he was trying to make with an adventuress, +denounced to the police of Paris a Madame Limouzin, to whom he +had paid money on her promise to secure for him the decoration of +the Legion of Honor. He wanted it to promote the sale of some kind +of patent article in which he was interested. To the astonishment +of the police, when they raided the residence of Madame Limouzin, +letters were found compromising two generals,--General Caffarel, +who had been high in the War Department when General Boulanger was +minister, and General d'Andlau, author of a book, much commended +by military authorities, on the siege of Metz. + +General Caffarel was a gallant old officer, and it is said the +scene was most piteous when, as part of his punishment, the police +tore from his coat his own decoration of the Legion of Honor. The +War Minister tried to smother the scandal and to save the generals, +but it got into the public prints, with many exaggerations. General +d'Andlau took to flight. The police arrested Madame Limouzin, her +accomplice, Madame Ratazzi, and several other persons. The public grew +very much excited. It was said that state secrets were given over to +pillage, that they were sold to the Germans, that the Government was +at the mercy of thieves and jobbers. "One figure," wrote M. Monod, +"stood out from the rest as a mark for suspicion. It was that of M. +Daniel Wilson. He had never been popular with frequenters of the +Élysée. He was a rich man, both on his own and his wife's side, +and was an able man and a man of influence in business affairs. He +had been Under-Secretary of Finance and President of the Committee +of the Budget." Many thought he had the best chance of any man for +succeeding M. Grévy as president of France. He was, however, one of +those unquiet spirits who may be found frequently among speculators +and financiers. He had no scruple about using his position to promote +his own business interests and the interests of the schemes in which +he was engaged, nor did he hesitate to give useful information +to leaders who favored his own views in the Chambers and were in +opposition to the ministers he disliked. Thus the son-in-law of the +president intrigued against the president's ministers, and Jules +Ferry, leader of the Republican law and order party in the Chamber, +and his followers, could not forgive him for having thus betrayed +them. Wilson belonged to the advanced section of the Republican +party, the Reds; but he was not so popular with them that they were +unwilling to attack him, provided they could thereby get rid of +M. Grévy, and put a more advanced Republican in his place. + +No positive accusation, however, in the matter of Madame Limouzin +could have been brought against M. Wilson, had it not been discovered +by that lady's counsel that two of the letters seized and held as +evidence--letters from M. Wilson to Madame Limouzin--were written on +paper manufactured after their date,--an incident not unfamiliar to +readers of old-fashioned English novels. The real letters, therefore, +had undoubtedly been abstracted, and replaced by others of a less +compromising kind. + +The Ministry, which up to the time of this discovery had endeavored +to keep the name of the president's son-in-law from being connected +with the sale of decorations of the Legion of Honor, was obliged +to authorize his prosecution; and the Prefect of Police, who was +suspected of having given back to M. Wilson his own letters, was +forced to resign.[1] + +[Footnote 1: There is a similar incident in Balzac's "Cousin Pons."] + +When the trial of M. Wilson and the prefect came on, they were +acquitted, not by a verdict of Not Guilty, but because the French +Code contained no clause that constituted it an offence for a man to +obtain possession of his own letters. The judge, when he acquitted +the accused, stated that there was no doubt whatever of the +substitution. Then from all sides information began to pour in from +people who had paid money to M. Wilson to procure them ministerial +or presidential favors, and such disclosures could not but reflect +on M. Grévy. Instantly his enemies seized their opportunity. For +once, Monarchists and Anarchists united and endeavored to force +the president to resign; but the old man stood by his son-in-law +in his hour of adversity, and would not go. + +Then the coalition changed its base, and attacked M. Rouvier, the +prime minister. He was outvoted in the Chamber on some insignificant +question; and having no parliamentary majority, he was forced to +resign. By no efforts could M. Grévy get anyone to take his place. +Once he thought he had persuaded M. Clemenceau, a Radical leader, +to form a ministry; but his party gave him to understand that they +would not support him. + +The president, then seventy-five years of age, was in a position +in which anyone but a partisan political opponent must have been +moved to pity him. He had been so long and so loudly extolled for +his extreme respectability and his austere virtues that he had +never dreamed that public opinion on such a point as this could turn +against him. He could not endure the idea of being dismissed with +contempt less than two years after his re-election to the presidency +by the unanimous vote of all Republicans. He was willing to go, +but he did not choose to be forced to go by the brutal summons of +an infuriated public. Yet France, pending his decision, was without +a government. Something had to be done. He employed every device to +gain time. He had interviews with men of various parties. He grew +more and more care-worn and aged. His troubles showed themselves in +his carriage and his face. "By turns he was insinuating, eloquent, +lively, pathetic. He showed a suppleness and a tenacity of purpose +that amazed those brought into contact with him. If he could but +gain time, he hoped that the Republicans would disagree about his +successor, and decide to rally round him; but at last he was forced +to send in his resignation. He did so Dec. 1, 1887, in a message +which, by the confusion of its language, betrayed the anguish of +his mind." A few days after giving up his quarters at the Élysée +as president of the Republic, he was stricken down by paralysis. + +When the resignation of M. Grévy had been accepted, came the question, +Who should succeed him? If the Republican party split and failed to +choose a president, the Monarchists might seize their opportunity. +The candidate most acceptable to the Moderate Republicans was M. +Jules Ferry, but he was unpopular with the Radicals. He had belonged +to the Committee of Defence and the Government of Versailles which +had put down the Commune. His colonial policy had not been a success, +and he was known to have no toleration for the Reds. Mobs collected +in the streets shouting "À bas Ferry!" He was accused of being +the candidate of the Comte de Paris, of the pope, of Bismarck. He +was "Ferry the traitor! Ferry the Prussian! Ferry the clerical! +Ferry the Orleanist!" The Radicals, with the ex-Communist, General +Eudes, at their head, swore to take up arms if Ferry were elected +by the Chambers. The Moderate Republicans were not strong enough, +without help, to carry his election. It was a case when a "dark +horse" was wanted, an obscure man, against whom nothing was known. + +The Radicals proposed two candidates,--M. De Freycinet, who, though +not a Radical, was thought weak enough to be ruled by them, and M. +Floquet. But the Moderates would not lend their aid to elect either +of these men. At last both parties united on M. Sadi-Carnot. + +[Illustration: _PRESIDENT SADI-CARNOT._] + +There were two reasons for his election: the first lay in his name; +he was the grandson of Lazare Carnot, elected deputy in 1792 to +the National Convention from Arras, at the same time as his friend +Robespierre. This man and Robespierre had belonged to the same +Literary Society in Arras,--a club into which no one could be admitted +without writing a love-song.[1] Lazare Carnot was the good man of +the Revolution. Not a stain rests upon his character. He organized +the glorious armies of the Republic, and was afterwards one of the +members of the Directory. His son, Hippolyte Camot, as the oldest +member in the Senate in 1887, had the duty of announcing to his own +son, Sadi-Carnot, his election to the highest office in the gift +of his countrymen. M. Hippolyte Carnot was a man of high character, +who during a long life had filled many public offices. He was also +a man of letters, and wrote a Life of Barère,--a book that will be +best remembered by having come under the lash of Macaulay. Every cut +inflicted upon Barère tells, and we delight in its severity. + +The second reason for Sadi-Carnot's election was the popularity +he acquired from its being supposed that when he was at the head +of the Committee of Finance he had resisted some illegal demands +made on the Treasury by M. Wilson. The demands were resisted, it +is true, but not more by M. Carnot than by his colleagues. "He +was made president of the French Republic," some one said, "for +an act of integrity he had never committed, and for giving himself +the trouble to be born, like any heir of royalty." + +He is a good man, who has made no enemies, either in public or +private life. It may also be added that he seems to have attracted +few personal friends. The Republic has grown in strength, and factious +opposition has decreased during his administration. His republicanism +is not advanced or rabid. He is rigidly honest. He has a charming +wife, who, though slightly deaf, enjoys society and gives brilliant +receptions. + +[Footnote 1: See Robespierre's in the "Editor's Drawer," Harper's +Magazine, 1889.] + +Poor M. Grévy passed away into sorrow and obscurity. He took up +his residence on his estate in the Department of the Jura, where, +in September, 1891, he died. M. Wilson appears first to have made +all his own relations rich, and then by speculations to have ruined +them. + +In contemplating the disastrous end of M. Grévy we must remember that +the scandal which caused his fall, after so many years of honorable +service for his country, amounts, so far as he was concerned, to +very little. The only fault of which he can be accused was that +of too great toleration of the speculative propensities of his +son-in-law. It was proved, indeed, that there were agencies in the +hands of disreputable persons in Paris for the purchase and sale +of influence and honors, but there was little or no evidence that +these agencies had had any influence with the public departments. The +existence of such agencies under the Empire would have excited little +comment. That the trials of Madame Limouzin, General Caffarel, and +M. Wilson so excited the public and produced such consequences, +may be proof, perhaps, of a keener sense of morality in the Parisian +people. + +Some one said of M. Grévy that he was a Radical in speech and a +Moderate in action, so that he pleased both parties. The strongest +accusation against him was his personal love of economy, and his entire +indifference to show, literature, or art. It was also considered a +fault in him as a French president that he showed little inclination +to travel. Socially, the polite world accused him of wearing old +hats and no gloves. On cold days he put his hands in his pockets, +which in the eyes of some was worse than putting them for his own +purposes into the pockets of other people. + +[Illustration: _GENERAL BOULANGER._] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +GENERAL BOULANGER. + +Up to 1886 the name of General Boulanger commands no place upon +the page of history. After that year it was scattered broadcast. +For four years it was as familiar in the civilized world as that +of Bismarck. + +A new word was coined in 1886 to meet a want which the general's +importance had created. That word was _boulangisme_, though it +would be hard to give it a definition in the dictionary. We can +only say that it meant whatever General Boulanger might be pleased +to attempt. + +George Ernest Jean Marie Boulanger was born in the town of Rennes, +in Brittany, in 1837.[1] His father had been a lawyer, and was +head of an insurance company. He spent the latter days of his life +at Ville-d'Avray, near Paris; and as he did not die till 1884, he +lived to see his son a highly considered French officer, though he +had not then given promise of being a popular hero and a world-famous +man. General Boulanger's mother was named Griffith; she was a lady +belonging apparently to the upper middle class in Wales. She had +a great admiration for George Washington, and the future French +hero received one of his names from the American "father of his +country." In his boyhood Boulanger was always called George; but +when he came of age he preferred to call himself Ernest, which +is the baptismal name by which he is generally known. + +[Footnote 1: Turner, Life of Boulanger.] + +In 1851 his parents took him to England to the Great Exhibition. +He afterwards passed some months with his maternal relatives at +Brighton, and was sent to school there; but he had such fierce +quarrels with the English boys in defence of his nationality that +the experiment of an English education did not answer. At the age of +seventeen he was admitted to the French military school at Saint-Cyr, +and two years later was in Algeria, as a second lieutenant in a +regiment of Turcos. His experiences in Africa were of the kind +usual in savage warfare; but he became a favorite with his men, +whom he cared for throughout his career with much of that fatherly +interest which distinguished the Russian hero, General Skobeleff.-- + +When the war with Italy broke out, in 1859, Boulanger and his Turcos +took part in it. He was severely wounded in his first engagement, +and lay long in the hospital, attended by his mother. He received, +however, three decorations for his conduct in this campaign, in +which he was thrice wounded. On the last occasion, as he lay in +hospital, he received a visit of sympathy from the Empress Eugénie, +then in the very zenith of her beauty and prosperity. + +Boulanger's next service was in Tonquin, where on one occasion +he fought side by side with the Spaniards, and received a fourth +decoration, that of Isabella the Catholic. + +He was next assigned to home duty at Saint-Cyr; and when the terrible +war of 1870 broke out, and all the cadets were drafted into the +army as officers, he was made major of a regiment, which was at +Mézières, on the Belgian frontier, when MacMahon and the emperor +surrendered at Sedan. Boulanger and his command escaped with Vinoy's +troops from the disaster, and got back to Paris, where he kept +his men in better order during the siege than any other officer. +They took part in the sortie made to join Chanzy's Army of the +Loire, in November, 1870, and in a skirmish with the Prussians +he was again badly wounded. When the Prussian army entered Paris +on March 5, 1871, Boulanger and the regiment under his command +had the unpleasant duty of guarding the streets along their line +of march to insure them a safe passage. + +In 1874 when thirty-seven years of age, Boulanger was a colonel, +with the breast of his uniform covered with decorations; but he had +taken no part whatever in politics, and was not known to have any +political views, save that he called himself a fervent Republican, +and personally resented any aristocratic assumptions on the part +of inferior officers. + +In 1881 he was sent by the French Government to the United States, +in company with the descendants of Lafayette and Rochambeau, to +attend the Yorktown celebration. Amongst all the French delegation +Boulanger was distinguished by his handsome person and agreeable +manners, while his knowledge of English made him everywhere popular. +He was already married to his cousin, Mademoiselle Renouard, and +had two little daughters, Hélène and Marcelle. + +When the Minister of War gave Boulanger his appointment on the +mission to Yorktown, he cautioned him that he must not shock the +quiet tastes of American republicans by wearing too brilliant uniforms. +Fortunately Colonel Boulanger did not accept the hint, and on all +public occasions during his visit to this country he attracted the +admiration of reporters and spectators as the handsomest man in +the French group, wearing the most showy uniform, with the greatest +number of glittering decorations. He was tall, with handsome auburn +beard and hair, and very regular features. Even in caricatures +the artist has been obliged to represent him as very handsome. + +After his return to France, Boulanger was sent to Tunis,--a State +recently annexed by the French, who were jealous of the power acquired +by Great Britain on the southern shores of the Mediterranean by her +protectorate in Egypt. Here Boulanger's desire to conduct things +in a military way led to disputes with the civil authorities, and +he returned to France in 1885, where M. de Freycinet, then head of +a new Cabinet, made him Minister of War. He at once set to work +to reform the army. He told his countrymen that if they ever hoped +to take revenge upon the Germans (or rather _revanche_; for the +words do not mean precisely the same thing), they must have their +army in a much better state of preparation than it was in 1870. +Instantly a cry arose in France that General Boulanger was the man +who sought a war with Germany, and who would lead French armies +to the reconquest of Alsace and Lorraine. The French peasantry have +never been able to accept the loss of Alsace and Lorraine as an +accomplished fact; they look on the retention of those provinces +by the Germans as a temporary arrangement until France can at the +right moment wrest them out of her powerful rival's hand. + +Boulanger's popularity rose to fever-heat. The Boulanger March, +with its song, "En revenant de la revue," was played and sung in +all the _cafés chantants_ of Paris. The general rode a black horse +as handsome as himself. Some one has said, "As a political factor, +Boulanger was born of a horse and a song." + +In 1886 he advocated the exile of the Orleans princes and the erasure +of the Duc d'Aumale's name from the list of French generals. For +this he was reproached with ingratitude to the duke, who had once +been his commanding officer. His own letter of thanks for kindness, +favors, and patronage was produced, and Boulanger could only defend +himself by pronouncing it a forgery. + +He made many changes in army regulations, which increased his popularity +with the army. One was all order to the men to wear their beards, +and as in the French army soldiers had always been obliged to shave +except when on active service, this was interpreted, in the excited +state of public feeling, into an intimation of the probability of +a speedy declaration of war. As War Minister, the general also +extended the time when soldiers on leave might stay out at night, +and relieved them from much of the heavy weight that on the march +they had had to carry. He broke up certain semi-aristocratic clubs +in the regiments which controlled army opinion, and gave more weight +to the sentiments of the sub-officers. + +But before long the Ministry, in which he represented the War +Department, came to an end,--as, indeed, appears to have been the +fate of all the ministries under the administration of M. Grévy. +No policy, no reforms, could be carried out under such frequent +changes. The popular cry was that the popular favorite must retain +his portfolio as War Minister in the new Cabinet; and this occasioned +considerable difficulty. The general had begun to be feared as a +possible dictator. His popularity was immense; but what his place +might be in politics no one could precisely tell. That he was the +idol of the nation was certain; but was he a Radical of the Belleville +type, or a forthcoming Napoleon Bonaparte,--an Imperialist on his +own account, or a Jacobin? + +The fall of the second Ministry in which he served put him out +of office, and the War Minister who succeeded him proceeded to +bid for popularity by fresh reforms, which the Radical Deputies +thought might be acceptable to the people. Those who deal with +the French peasant should never lose sight of the fact that the +peace and prosperity of himself and of his household stand foremost +in his eyes. The Frenchman, as we depict him in imagination or in +fiction, is as far as possible from the French peasant. If ideas +contrary to his selfish interests ever make their way into his +mind, they are due to the leaven of old French soldiers scattered +through the villages. So when the new Minister of War proposed, and +the Chamber of Deputies passed, an ordinance that made it illegal +to buy a substitute, and required every Frenchman, from eighteen to +twenty-one years of age, to serve in the army, the peasant found +small consolation for the loss of his sons' services in the thought +that the son of a duke must serve as well as the son of a laborer. +Boulanger had introduced no such measure. "Vive le Général Boulanger!" + +Another measure, passed about the same time, brought great trouble +into families. It was a law making education compulsory, and was +loaded with vexatious and arbitrary regulations. Every child privately +educated had to pass, semi-annually, a strict examination before +certain village authorities. This gave rise in families to all +sorts of tribulations. France is not exactly a land of liberty; +personal liberty is sacrificed to efforts to enforce equality. + +General Boulanger after his loss of office was given the command +of the Thirteenth Army Corps, and was sent into a sort of exile +at its headquarters at Clermont-Ferrand. At the railroad-station +in Paris a great crowd awaited him on the day of his departure. +It broke down the barriers, and delayed in-coming and out-going +trains, as it pressed around him. At first the general seemed pleased +by this evidence of his popularity; then he began to feel the truth +of what a friend whispered to him, "These twenty thousand men will +make you forty thousand enemies," and he grew embarrassed and annoyed +by the demonstration. Finally he mounted a locomotive, and made +a brief speech to the people; then the train steamed out of the +station. + +The exile of the general to Clermont-Ferrand, and the harsh measures +taken against him by the man who succeeded him in the War Office, +caused his popularity with the populace daily to increase. He was +felt to be a power in the State, and this, when he perceived it, +awakened his ambition. + +In November, 1887, when all parties in France were anticipating +the resignation of M. Grévy after the exposure of his son-in-law, +the majority of Frenchmen, outside the Chamber of Deputies, dreaded +the election of M. Jules Ferry to his place, and prophesied that +it would be the signal for another civil war. This was the opinion +held (rightly or wrongly) by M. Grévy himself, by General Boulanger, +and by the Comte de Paris. By the last day of November, when it +seemed impossible for M. Grévy to retain office, because no leader +of influence in the Chamber would help him to form a ministry, +Boulanger, who had come up to Paris, met a small party of his friends, +including M. Clemenceau, leader of the Radical party, and Rochefort, +the leader of the Radical press, at dinner at the house of M. and +Madame Laguerre.[1] M. Laguerre was a deputy who supported Boulanger +in the Chamber against his enemies. Two gentlemen present had that +afternoon seen M. Grévy, who had implored them to find some leader +who would form a ministry; already had M. Clemenceau been thought +of, but he was undecided. It was evident that if he would secure +the out-of-doors support of Boulanger's popularity, his ministry +must include Boulanger. It seemed equally certain that if it did +so, it would be beset by enemies in the Chamber. In the midst of a +heated discussion on the subject, General Boulanger about midnight +was mysteriously called away. + +[Footnote 1: See "Les Coulisses du Boulangisme," published in "Figaro," +and attributed to M. Mermieux.] + +The person who summoned him was the editor of the "Cocarde," the +Boulangist newspaper, who had been sounded that afternoon by an agent +of the Comte de Paris to know if it were probable that Boulanger +would join the Monarchists to defeat the chances of Jules Ferry. The +party of the Comte de Paris had recently gathered strength both by +the death of the Comte de Chambord and that of the Prince Imperial. +But it was also divided. There were those who called themselves +of the old school, who held to the high-minded traditions which +had caused M. Thiers to say to one of them in 1871, "You are of +all parties the most honest,--I do not say the most intelligent, +but the most honest;" and the men of the new school,--men of the +close of the century, as they called themselves,--who thought all +means good that led to a good end, and were for energetic action. +To this party belonged the Comtesse de Paris, daughter of the Duc +de Montpensier and of the Infanta Luisa of Spain. She had been +known to say emphatically: "I don't like people who are always +going to do something to-morrow,--like the Comte de Chambord; such +princes die in exile." + +The Duc d'Aumale, on the contrary, despised crooked ways; and the +hope of an intrigue or alliance with General Boulanger was not +named to him by his nephew, especially as there was good reason +to think he would never have consented to make a useful instrument +of the man who had so ill-treated him when Minister of War. + +The idea, however, had suddenly presented itself to the agents +of the Comte de Paris (if it had not been previously suggested +to him) that General Boulanger might be won over to play the part +of General Monk, or failing this, that he might not be unwilling +to ally himself with the Monarchists to defeat the election of +M. Ferry. + +It was to hold an interview with the gentleman who represented +the cause of the Comte de Paris that Boulanger was summoned from +the conference going on at M. Laguerre's. + +The Royalist agent proposed that M. Grévy should be retained as +president, and promised that his party in the Chamber would support +any ministry which should include General Boulanger, and of which he +should be virtually the head. In return, Boulanger was to give his +support to an appeal to the people, to see what form of government +France would prefer. It was added that if Boulanger were Minister +of War, he could do what he pleased with the army; and thus France, +well managed, might change from a republic to a monarchy by the +will of the people and without civil war. + +The general listened quietly to these suggestions. "There is nothing +you could ask that would be too much to reward the services you +would render to our country," said the agent of the Royalists; +"and remember that the highest fortunes under a Republic are the +most unstable. Give us your word to do what we ask, and then at +least M. Ferry will never be president." "I give you my word," +said Boulanger. But the other then suggested that so important an +arrangement must be ratified by some person higher in the confidence +of the Comte de Paris than himself; and he went in haste for the +Baron de Makau. That gentleman showed General Boulanger a letter from +the Comte de Paris, giving him full powers as his representative. +The general was to support the proposal for a popular vote for or +against the restoration of monarchy, and to use his influence with +the people in its favor. If monarchy were restored, he was to be made +head of the army. After a long conversation the general departed, +promising to sound the chiefs of the Radicals, and ascertain which +of them would be most available to carry out the plan. + +But to his friend the editor of the "Cocarde," who seemed alarmed +at the extent of his promises, he said, as soon as they were alone +together, "I would do anything to avoid civil war and the election +of Ferry; but what fools these people must be to put themselves +in my power!" + +He spoke no more till they returned to the house where they had +left the dinner-party. The discussion was going on as before, only +M. Clemenceau had made up his mind that he would not undertake +to form a ministry, and M. Andrieux had been summoned from his +bed to know if he would do so. He expressed his willingness to +undertake the task, but said frankly that he could not offer the +War Office to General Boulanger. "Anything else, my dear general, +you shall have," he said, "and in a few months probably you may +have that also; but if you formed part of the Cabinet at first, I +could not conciliate the Chamber. You shall be military governor +of Paris,--the noblest military post in the world." + +But this offer was incompatible with the secret engagements that +the general had entered into not an hour before. The conference, +therefore, broke up at five in the morning without a decision having +been reached. + +The next morning the two gentlemen who had been charged by M. Grévy +to procure him a prime minister, and if possible a cabinet, reported +the failure of their mission. "Then all is over for me," said M. +Grévy; "I shall at once send in my resignation." + +The resignation was accepted, and greatly to the surprise of the +general public,--for already the streets were full of excited +citizens,--M. Sadi-Carnot was elected president, almost without +discussion, and without disorder. His election put an end to the +secret arrangement between Boulanger and the Royalists, and appeared +likely to give France a more settled government than it had enjoyed +since the Republic came into existence. The Exposition of 1889, +too, was at hand, and Paris was very anxious that no political +convulsions should frighten away strangers. + +The general was deeply hurt by his unpopularity in the Chamber, +and by the way in which his former friends had thrown him over; but +he still had the mob, the army, and the peasantry for his partisans, +nor was he without the sympathy of the Bonapartists. + +It was not long before he got into trouble with the War Department +for coming to Paris without leave. It had not been usual for a +general of division to ask leave of the Minister of War for a brief +absence, nor could General Boulanger forget that he himself had +been War Minister not many months before. + +The general complained bitterly of the way he had been followed +up by the police, as if he had been a criminal. "From the time I +left the Ministry of War," he said,[1] "I have been spied upon and +shadowed like a thief. Even my orderly has been bribed to report +facts and falsehoods concerning me. My letters have been opened, +and copies of my telegrams lie on every minister's table." He was +deprived of his command, and retired from active service. + +[Footnote 1: To a reporter for "Figaro."] + +This measure, so far from rendering him innocuous to the Opportunist +party, brought him into Parliament[2] (as the French Chambers are now +called) and increased his popularity. He had been already elected +deputy both from the Department of the Aisne and the Department of the +Dordogne,--the latter without his proposing himself as a candidate, +although he was ineligible, and could not take his seat, since at the +time of his election he was an officer of the Government, holding +a command. Having now retired into private life, he stood for the +Department of Le Nord, where he was received with enthusiasm and +elected by an immense majority. From all quarters came telegraphic +messages to him from candidates for parliamentary honors, offering +to resign their seats in favor of the popular hero. Even Corsica +was anxious to have him for her deputy. But it was not only his +own election which concerned General Boulanger; he wished to secure +the election of his followers. For that purpose election funds were +needed, and the alliance with the Royalists was renewed. Whenever +a Royalist candidate had a certainty of election, no Boulangist +candidate was to contend against him. In other cases the agents +of the Comte de Paris were openly to encourage their followers to +vote for the nominee of the ally who was to assist the Monarchists +to oppose the Government. There would have been great difficulty in +raising the money needed for this electoral campaign, had it not +been for a lady of high rank, the Duchesse d'Uzès, of unspotted +reputation, and of great enthusiasm for the cause of royalty, who +poured her whole fortune (over three million francs) into the joint +treasury. The alliance between Boulanger and the Royalists was a +profound secret. Very few Boulangists suspected that their election +expenses were being paid by funds drawn from the purses of the +supporters of monarchy. + +[Footnote 2: Parliament before this time meant in French history +the Provincial Courts, that had chiefly legal functions.] + +For more than a year the popularity of "Le brav' Général" kept the +various ministries that succeeded each other in Paris and their +officials all over France, in perpetual anxiety. Boulanger made journeys +almost like royal progresses into the Departments. Everywhere crowds +cheered him, reporters followed him, his name was in everybody's +mouth, his doings filled columns of the newspapers in many languages, +and his flower, the carnation, was embroidered on tablecloths and +worn in button-holes. All newspapers and reviews seem to have agreed +that no man had been so popular in France since the days of the +Great Emperor. He liked the position thrust upon him, and accepted +gracefully and graciously the adoration he received,--an adoration +born partly of infectious curiosity, partly from a love of what +is phenomenal, partly from the attraction of the unexpected, and +above all from the national need of some object of idolatry. France +had been long destitute of any one to whom she might pay personal +devotion. Every peasant's cottage throughout France was soon decorated +with his chromo. He has even been seen on his black horse adorning +the bamboo hut of a king in Central Africa. Pamphlets, handbills, +and brief biographies were scattered by his friends throughout the +Provinces. His very name, Boulanger--Baker--helped his popularity. +A corn-law passed in France was obnoxious to the country, as tending +to make bread more dear; "Boulanger is to bring us cheap bread! +Long live our Boulanger!" became the popular cry. + +But all this enthusiasm seems to have been founded only on expectation. +General Boulanger had done nothing that might reasonably have attracted +national gratitude and adoration. Yet there was a strong feeling +throughout France that Boulanger would save the country from what +was called the Parliamentary _régime_. France had become weary of +the squabbles of the seven parties in the Chamber, of the rapid +changes of ministry, of the perpetual coalitions, lasting just long +enough to overthrow some chief unpopular with two factions strong +enough by combination to get rid of him. The Chamber, it was said, +though unruly and disorganized, had usurped all the functions of +government, and a republic without an executive officer who can +maintain himself at its head, has never been known to stand. In +France fashion is everything, and in France, in 1888, it was the +fashion to speak ill of parliamentary government. + +"Why am I a Boulangist?" cried a young and ardent writer of the +party.[1] "Why are my friends Boulangists? Because the general +is the only man in France capable of carrying out the expulsion +of mere talkers from the Chamber of Deputies,--men who deafen the +public ear, and are good for nothing. Gentlemen, a few hundreds +of you, ever since 1870, have carried on the government. All of +you are lawyers or literary men, none of you are statesmen." + +[Footnote 1: Le Figaro.] + +At the height of the popularity of the general his career was very +near being cut short by a political duel. In France, as we have seen +in the history of the Duchesse de Berri, it is not an unheard-of +thing to get rid of a political adversary by a challenge. After +Boulanger had insulted the Duc d'Aumale while he was Minister of +War, a challenge passed between himself and an Orleanist, M. le Baron +de Lareinty. Boulanger stood to receive the fire of his adversary, +but did not fire in return. He was subsequently anxious to fight +Jules Ferry; but Jules Ferry declined any meeting of the kind. +After he entered the Chamber, his great enemy, Floquet, who was then +in the Cabinet, called him in the course of debate "A Saint-Arnaud +of the _cafés chantants!_" Boulanger challenged him for this, and +the duel took place with swords. Floquet was slightly wounded, +but the general's foot slipped, and he received his adversary's +sword-point in his throat. It was almost a miracle that it did +not sever the jugular vein. For some time "Le brav' Général's" +life was despaired of; but when he was pronounced out of danger, +Paris amused itself with the thought that the most prominent soldier +in the French army had nearly met his death at the hands of an +elderly lawyer. + +Since the funds furnished to Boulanger for the election expenses +of his candidates, and even for his own personal expenses, came +from the Royalist party, he was more bound to it than ever; but he +pretended to be guided by a body that called itself the National +Republican Committee, which he assured his friends, the Monarchists, +he used only as a screen. When Madame d'Uzès threw her last million +into the gulf, it seemed expedient to the Royalists to exact more +definite pledges from Boulanger than his word as a soldier. "If +the present Government of France is overthrown," they said, "and +an appeal made to the people, who will fill the interregnum? Will +General Boulanger, if all power is intrusted to him, consent to give +it up, if the nation votes for monarchy? And with all the machinery +of government in his hands, is it certain that a _plébiscite_ would +be the free vote of the people?" + +A general election was to take place in the summer of 1889, at the +height of the Universal Exposition. Hitherto the various elections +in which Boulanger had contended had been for vacant seats in the +old Assembly. He was anxious to test his popularity in Paris by +standing for the workman's quarter of Belleville; and in spite +of his being opposed by the Radicals in the Chamber, as well as +by the Government, he was elected by a large majority. + +The Government then changed its method of attack. It brought in a +bill changing the selection of parliamentary candidates from the +_scrutin de liste_ to the _scrutin d'arrondissement._ Boulanger +therefore would be eligible for election only in the district in +which he was domiciled. + +Besides the National Republican Committee (which the general called +his screen), there was formed all over France a Boulangist society +called the League of Patriots. This league was now attacked by the +Government as a conspiracy. A High Court of Justice was formed +by the Senate, before which its leaders were summoned to appear. +Boulanger became seriously alarmed. He did not see how he could act +if shut up in prison. His apprehensions were carefully augmented +by the heads of the police, who had placed one of their agents +about his person.[1] This man showed him a pretended order for +his arrest on April 1, 1889. The question of his retirement into +Belgium if his liberty were threatened had been already debated +by himself and his friends. Nearly all of them were against it. +"Let not the people think our general could run away," said some. +But others answered, "They will say it is a smart trick; that the +general has cheated the Government." + +[Footnote 1: Les Coulisses du Boulangisme.] + +After seeing the false document which was shown him, with great +pretence of secrecy, by the police agent, the general hesitated +no longer. On the evening of April 1, accompanied by Madame de +Bonnemains, a lady to whom he was paying devoted attention, pending +a divorce from his wife, he went to Brussels, followed by his friend +Count Dillon, the go-between in financial matters between the Royalists +and himself. The Cabinet of M. Carnot had learned the value of the +saying, "If your enemy wishes to take flight, build him a bridge +of gold." + +The departure of the general threw consternation into the ranks +of his followers. "It cannot be!" they cried. Then they consoled +themselves with the reflection that he must soon return, as he +had done once before under somewhat similar circumstances. + +But he did not return. The Government had triumphed. Boulanger's +power was broken; like a wave, it had toppled over when its crest +was highest. The High Court of Justice condemned Deroulède the +poet, Rochefort, and Dillon, to confinement for life in a French +fortress. The sentence, however, was simply one of outlawry, for +they were all with Boulanger. + +The exiles did not stay long in Brussels. The Government of Belgium +objected to their remaining so near the frontier of France,--for +in Brussels a telephone connected them with Paris,--and they went +over to London. There, at the general's request, he had an interview +with the Comte de Paris. But their conversation was limited to +useless compliments and military affairs. Boulanger's power as a +political leader was at an end; the friends of the prince would +advance him no more funds, and in the elections, which took place +very quietly in France during the summer, he and his friends suffered +total defeat. + +The Government of France--strengthened not only by the success of +the Exposition, by its great triumph at the elections, and by the +discomfiture of its enemies, but also by the conviction forced upon +parliamentary leaders that the country was weary of mere talk and +discord, and demanded harmony and action--now became the strongest +Government that France had enjoyed for a long time. The Republic +had passed the point of danger, the eighteenth year, which had +been the limit of every dynasty or form of government in France for +over a century. It rallied to itself men from the ranks of all its +former enemies, but its greatest victory was over the Monarchists. +The wreck of their cause by the alliance with a military adventurer +was a blunder in the eyes of one section of the Royalists; in the +eyes of another, it was a dishonor that amounted almost to a crime. + +Boulanger had rallied to himself the clerical party in France by +the promise of a republic strong enough to protect the weak,--"a +republic that would concern itself with the interests of the people, +and be solicitous to preserve individual liberty in all its forms, +especially liberty of conscience, that liberty the most to be valued +of all,"[1] Such a republic it seems possible the Third Republic +may now become, especially since it is on all hands conceded that +there is a reaction in France in favor of religious liberty, for +those who are religious as well as for those who are "philosophers." + +[Footnote 1: Speech at Tours.] + +President Carnot has been an eminently respectable president. He +has committed no blunders, and if he has awakened little enthusiasm, +he has called forth no animosities. The worst that can be said of +him is embodied in caricatures, where he always appears ready to +serve some useful purpose, as a jointed wooden figure that can be +put to many a use. + +The French army is now stronger and better disciplined, and more +full of determination to conquer, than any French army has ever +been before. But no ruler of France can be anxious to precipitate +a war with Germany; and judging from the present state of feeling +among the French, there appear to be no serious political breakers +ahead. Of course in France the unexpected is always to be expected, +and what a day may bring forth, nobody knows. + +Sir Charles Dilke tells us that in 1887, when a friend of his was +going to France, he asked him to ascertain for him if General Boulanger +were a soldier, a mountebank, or an ass; and the answer brought back +to him was, "He is a little of them all." The general, after his +interview in London with the Comte de Paris, took up his residence +in the island of Jersey. He cannot but have felt that his popularity +had failed him, and that his enchanter's wand was broken. From time +to time he made spasmodic efforts to bring himself again to the +notice of the public. He offered repeatedly to return to France +and stand his trial for conspiracy, provided that the trial might +be conducted before a regular court of justice, and not before +an especial committee appointed by the Chambers. + +Meantime his domestic relations must have caused him poignant anxiety. +His wife was his cousin,--a lady of the _haute bourgeoisie_ in a +provincial town. She appears to have felt herself unequal to what +might be required of her as the wife of the national hero. She +entertained apprehensions that her fate might be that of the Empress +Josephine. When her husband became War Minister, she declined to +preside over his receptions, and withdrew herself from his official +residence, taking with her her two daughters, Hélène and Marcelle. +Thus deserted, Boulanger became open to scandals and reports, some +true, and some false, such as would inevitably be circulated in +France concerning such a man's relations with women. It is quite +certain, however, that at the height of his popularity he became +infatuated with the divorced wife of a Baron de Bonnemains,--a +lady well connected, and up to the time when Boulanger became her +lover, of unstained reputation. She was also rich, having a fortune +of 1,500,000 francs. She was not very beautiful, but was tender, +gracious, and womanly. M. de Bonnemains had not made her a good +husband, and her friends rejoiced when the law gave her a divorce. +General Boulanger and his wife seem to have agreed to sever their +marriage tie under the new French divorce law, which requires both +parties to be examined by a judge, who is to try if possible to +reconcile them; but at the last moment Madame Boulanger refused, +upon religious grounds, her assent to a divorce, and the marriage +of the general with Madame de Bonnemains became thenceforward +impossible. + +The story is not a pleasant one, but it is necessary to relate it, +because of its results. + +Madame de Bonnemains, whose constitution was consumptive, drooped +and sickened in Jersey. She removed in the spring of 1891 to Brussels +to try one of the new schemes for the cure of pulmonary trouble. +The remedy seems to have hastened her death, which took place in +July. General Boulanger never recovered from her loss. His friends +and his funds had failed him, and the death of this woman, whom +he had passionately loved, completely overwhelmed him. He spoke +constantly of suicide, and in spite of precautions taken by his +friends, he carried his purpose into effect upon her grave in the +cemetery of Brussels, October 2, 1891. + +Whatever General Boulanger's faults may have been in relation to +other women, he was devoted to his mother. The latter, who was +eighty-six years old at the time of his death, resided in Paris, +and when he was in the city he never suffered a day to pass without +visiting her. A lock of her white hair was on his breast when he +was dressed for burial. + + + + +INDEX. + +Abdul Aziz, Sultan, 232. +Abdul Kader, 82, 94. +Abdul Medjid, 86. +About, Edmond, quoted, 248. +Adélaïde, Madame, of Orleans, 20, 25, 26, 55, 83, 108. +Affre, Denis Auguste, Archbishop of Paris, 142 _et seq._ +African generals, 94; their imprisonment, 159 _et seq._ +Albert, Prince, 100; visits Boulogne, 180-182; his opinion + of the emperor, 182-184, 217; of Maximilian, 192. +Algeria, 82, 83, 94, 134. +Alison, Sir Archibald, quoted, 142, 150. +Alsace and Lorraine, 241, 242, 246-249, 386, 387. +America, demands payment of French Spoliation Claims, 81; + Louis Napoleon sent to, 69; relations with Mexico, 195, + 196, 210; Boulanger in, 429. +Americans, what they saw of the _coup d'état_, 160-162; + of Paris in 1870, 241, 245; of the siege, 273, 275; of + Versailles, 282-286. +Angoulême, Louis Antoine, Duke of, and Dauphin, 12, 13, 21, + 24, 26. +Angoulême, Marie Thérèse, Duchess of, and Dauphine, 13, 28, + 29, 48, 49. +Appert, chaplain to Queen Marie Amélie, quoted, 56, 57. +Arenenberg, 62, 64, 69. +Aumale, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of, 37, 38, 94, 134, 420, + 430, 433. + +Barbès, 95, 140. +Barrot, Odillon, 110, 112-114, 157. +Baudin, 158,384. +Bazaine, Marshal, 202, 204, 257, 258, 270, 277, 287, 288, 384. +Belfort, 288, 299, 398, 399. +Benedetti, 232. +Bergeret, General, war delegate, 307, 309. +Berri, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of, 12, 13. +Berri, Marie Caroline, Duchess of, 12, 13, 22, 26, 29, 40-49. +Bismarck, Otto von, Prince, 219, 254, 264, 267, 268, 271, + 293-298. +Blanc, Louis, quoted, 34, 40, 41, 46, 52, 53, 65, 70; Louis + Blanc himself, 130, 133, 134, 137, 140, 305, 306. +Bombardment, of Paris, by the Prussians, 278, 279, 298, 299; + during the Commune, 309, 310; of Strasburg, 286, 287. +Bonjean, Louis, Senator and Judge, 327, 330, 332, 333, 345. +Bordeaux, 300, 383, 385-388. +Bordeaux, Duke of. _See_ Chambord. +Boulanger, George Ernest Jean Marie, General, boyhood, 427, 428; + army life, 428, 429; sent to America, 429; to Tunis, 429; + Minister of War, 429, 430; popularity, 430-432; intrigues + with Legitimists, 433-439; influence declines, 440; leaves + France, 440-442; domestic relations, 443; death, 444. +Bourbaki, General, 288, 384. +Bourbons, 10, 14. +Bourbon, Louis Henri Joseph, Duke of, 38, 39, 40. +Broglie, Duke of, 405-408. +Burgoyne, Sir John, 260, 262. + +Caffarel, General, 421. +Cannon, 274, 275; at Montmartre, 301, 302. +Canrobert, Marshal, 216. +Carbonari, 14; Louis Napoleon and his brother take the oaths, + 63; never absolved, 70, 71, 179, 180, 186. +Carlotta, Empress of Mexico, 36, 37, 192-194, 198, 199, 201, + 203, 204, 211. +Carmagnole, 23. +Carnot, Hippolyte, 125, 425. +Carnot, Sadi, fourth President of Third Republic, 424, 425, 435. +Carrel, Armand, 47. +Catholic lady in Red Paris, 310-313. +Cavaignac, Eugène, General, War Minister, Dictator, 140, + 142-144, 149, 152, 159, 160, 164. +Chambord, Comte de, Henri V., Duc de Bordeaux, 12, 26-29, 32, + 40, 48, 49, 390, 391, 392, 403, 404, 416-418, 433. +Changarnier, General, 82, 138, 139, 146, 148, 150, 152, 159, + 160, 164. +Chapultepec, 200, 209. +Charles X., 12, 15-17, 20-33. +Chasseurs d'Afrique, 308. +Christian Brothers, 277. +Clemenceau, 306. +Clément Thomas, General, 302, 392. +Club of Communist, 273. +Cluseret, General, war delegate, 308, 309, 310, 317, 318, 359. +Commune, 265, 300-307, 314, 321, 330, 349, 358, 359. +Compiègne, Château de, 169, 176. +Compiègne, Marquis de, narrative of suppression of the Commune, + 355-358. +Constantine, 82, 83, 93, 94. +Council of the Commune, 306, 316, 317, 319, 320, 358. +_Coup d'état_, 150-163. +Courbet, artist, 315. +Courbevoie, 88, 306, 307. +Crimean War, 180, 185, 187, 219, 400. +Crozès, Abbé, 323. + +Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, 323, 324, 329-333. +Decazes, Duc de, 11. +Deleschuze, war delegate, 317, 337, 358, 359. +Deputies imprisoned, 157, 158. +Deutz, 44, 45, 380. +Dickens, Charles, quoted, 182. +Dombrowski, General, 309, 321, 361. +Dominicans of Arceuil, 341, 342. +Duguerry, Gaspard, Abbé, 323, 330, 332. +Duval, General, 307. + +Eagle, 75. +Égalité, Philippe, Duke of Orleans, 17, 18. +Erckmann-Chatrian, quoted, 238, 247, 248. +Escobedo, General, 206, 208, 210. +Eudes, General and war delegate, 307, 317. +Eugénie, Empress, 167-176, 185, 186, 197, 216, 217, 220, + 221, 232, 234-237, 241, 243, 251, 257-261, 428. +Evans, Dr. Thomas, 259, 260. + +Faure, sings the "Marseillaise," 240, 241, 244. +Favre, Jules, 257, 267, 268, 270, 279, 291-295, 298, 299. +Ferré, 314, 315, 331, 333, 337. +Ferry, Jules, 257, 414, 415, 424. +Feuchères, Madame de, 39, 40. +Fieschi, 34, 49-53. +Fleury, General, 151, 177, 178, 223. +Flourens, 307. +Fortifications of Paris, 262-264. +France under Louis XVIII., 9, 10, 11, 15; under Charles X., + 16, 17, 20, 21; under Louis Philippe, 34, 35, 81, 107, 108, + 109; under the Provisional Government, 125, 126, 133, 135-140; + under the Empire, 178, 179, 218, 226, 227, 228; during the + Franco-Prussian War, 238, 239, 246, + 247; under the Third Republic, 385, 393, 438, 441, 442. +Francis, king of Naples, his political creed, 15, 16. +Franco-Prussian War declared, 232; preparations in France, 238, + 239, 246, 249, 250; in Prussia, 238, 247; campaign from + August 2 to September 4, 241-244, 247-249, 251-255; siege of + Paris, 262-264, 268-279; war in the provinces, 286-288. +Funeral of Napoleon I., 87-92; of victims, 1848, 123; of + Lamartine, 146. + +Gallifet, Marquis de, 204, 368, 369. +Gambetta, Leon, 257, 270, 277, 278, 382-385, 388, 395, 396, + 411-414. +Garibaldi, Giuseppe, General, 288, 296-298, 306. +Genton, 330. +German Emperor. _See_ William. +German Empire, 288, 289, 290, 291, 298. +German soldiers, 247, 248, 283, 284, 285. +Germans, residents in France, 250, 251. +Government, Provisional, in 1848, 117, 118, 122, 125, 130-139; + in 1870, 257, 262, 267, 270, 271; in 1871, 372, 396. +_Grand Livre_, 339, 340. +Greville, Charles, quoted, 11, 12, 16, 17, 35, 87. +Grévy, Jules, third President of Third Republic, 157, 406, + 408-414, 418, 419, 423-426, 435. +Guillotine burned, 315. +Guizot, 101, 110, 112. + +Ham, 34, 76-80, 160, 163, 164. +Hartwell, 11, 12. +Henri V. _See_ Chambord. +Henrion, 331, 333. +Hérisson, Comte d', 291-295. +Hohenlohe, Princess Adélaïde, 166. +Hohenzollern, Prince Leopold of, 231; his sister, 166. +Home, the Spiritualist, 220, 221. +Hortense, Queen of Holland, 59, 60, 63, 64, 69, 234. +Hostages, their arrest, 323, 324; imprisonment, 325, 326, + 327, 329; execution, 328-335, 364, 365. +Hôtel-de-Ville, 26, 27, 123, 130-132, 138, 187, 270, 271, + 279, 302, 303, 306, 321. +Hugo, Victor, 96, 153-156, 251-253, 273, 304. + +Ibrahim Pasha, 84, 86. +Indemnity to the Prussians, 294, 295, 299, 373, 394. +Irving, Washington, quoted, 168, 173. +Isabella, Queen of Spain, 100, 101, 220. +Ismaïl Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, 232-236. + +Jackson, Andrew, General, 81, 82. +Jaumont, quarries of, 249, 258. +Jecker, Mexican banker, 202, 330. +Joinville, Philippe, Prince de, 37, 87, 91, 108, 109. +Juarez, President of Mexican Republic, 195, 197, 202, 209, 210. +Juarists, 198, 201, 202, 205. + +Khedive of Egypt. _See_ Ismaïl Pasha. + +Lafarge, Madame, 108. +Lafayette, Gilbert, Marquis de, 14, 15, 26, 27, 35, 83. +Laffitte, 14, 15, 25, 27, 83. +Laguerre, 432, 433. +Lamartine, Alphonse de, 109, 117, 125-133, 135, 136, 138, 140, + 146. +Lamazou, Abbé de, narrative of resistance in La Roquette, 334-336. +Lecomte, General, 302, 392. +Ledru-Rollin, 125, 137-139, 140. +Limouzin, Madame, 421, 422. +Loire, Army of the, 274, 276, 277. +Lopez, General, 201, 206, 207, 214. +Louis XVIII., 9-15. +Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, 59-61, 63, 80. +Louis Napoleon, 58, 61-80, 140, 141, 144-146, 150, 153; + as Prince President, 146-149, 165, 166. As Emperor, + _see_ Napoleon III. +Louis Philippe, King of the French, 17-20, 25-27, 34-37, + 49-51, 54, 83, 91, 95, 102, 107-112, 114, 121, 134. +Lucchesi Palli, Count, 137, 138, 140. +Lullier, 307, 317. +Luzy, Mademoiselle de, 103, 104, 106, 107. + +Macaulay, Lord, 425. +MacMahon, Patrice, Marshal, Duke of Magenta, second President + of Third Republic, 14, 248, 251, 253, 384, 400, 402, 407-412. +Mahmoud II., Sultan, 84, 85, 86. +Malmesbury, Lord, quoted, 261, 262. +Marie Amélie, Queen of the French, 19, 50, 51, 54-57, 97-99, 112. +Marmont, Marshal, Duke of Ragusa, 21, 22, 26. +"Marseillaise," 239-241, 244, 245. +Maupas, De, Prefect of Police, 150-153. +Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, 58, 191-194, 198-214. +Mégy, 316, 331, 336-338. +Mehemet Ali, 84-87. +Mejia, General, 205, 207, 209, 211-213. +Mexico, 194-198, 200-205. +Ministry of Marine (Navy Department building), 345-348. +Ministry of National Defence, 246, 251, 262, 266, 269-271, 279. +Miramar, 193, 194, 201, 203. +Miramon, General, 205, 207, 209, 211, 212, 213. +Mobiles, 122, 133, 138, 249, 250, 263, 267, 269. +Moltke, General von, 188, 189, 264, 298, 299. +Monroe doctrine, 196. +Montholon, Count, 74, 76. +Montijo. _See_ Eugénie _and_ Teba. +Montpensier, Duke of, 37, 95, 100, 101, 115, 231. +Montpensier, Duchess of, 37, 100, 101, 115, 433. +Morey, 51-53. +Morny, Duc de, 150, 152, 153, 157, 160, 169, 177, 178. +Mortier, Marshal, Duke of Treviso, 50. + +Napoleon I., 58, 59, 62, 65; funeral of, 87-92, 226. +Napoleon II., Duc de Reichstadt, 58, 64, 191. +Napoleon III., 165, 166, 170, 175, 190-197, 202, 203, 215, + 216-228, 249, 252, 254-256, 261, 262. +Napoleon, eldest son of Louis and Hortense, 60. +Napoleon, second son of Louis and Hortense, 61, 62, 63, 179. +Napoleon (Plon-Plon), son of King Jérôme, 166, 171, 220, 419. +National Guard, 35, 88, 89, 133, 138, 263, 268, 269, 280, 295, + 301-303, 305, 349, 350, 365, 371. +National workshops, 133, 141-144. +Narratives: Louis Napoleon's descent on Boulogne, 71-76; his + escape from Ham, 70-80; of Victor Hugo during the _coup + d'état_, 155, 156; of an American, 160-162; of the entry + of the Prussians into Versailles, 282-286; of a lady in Red + Paris, 310-313; of Paul Seigneret, 324-328; of the Abbé + Lamazou, 334-336; of Count Orsi during the Commune, 313, 314; + of his arrest as a Communist, 355-358; of a victim of Paris + and Versailles, 360-371. +Nemours, Duc de, 37, 50, 108, 109, 113, 118. +Neuilly, 54, 96-99, 217. +Nolte, Vincent, anecdote of Lafayette, 14, 15. + +O'Brien, Smith, 135, 136. +Oliphant, Mrs. M. E. W., quoted, 131, 132, 350, 351. +Ollivier, Émile, 224, 225, 245, 246. +Ordonannces, 17, 20-24. +Orleans family, 36, 37, 95, 140, 217, 388, 419, 420. +Orleans, Ferdinand, Duke of, 36, 93, 95-100. +Orleans, Hélène, Duchess of, 115-118. +Orsi, Joseph, Count, 71, 72; quoted, 73, 313-316, 352, 353, + 354-358. +Orsini, Felice, 185, 219. +Oudinot, Duke of Reggio, General, 147, 148. + +Palikao, Count Montauban, 246, 249. +Paris in 1830, 16, 17, 21, 22-25, 27; in 1848, 111-121; under + the Empire, 227; in July, 1870, 239, 240; in August, 1870, + 244-246, 249, 250; in September, 256, 258, 262-264, 266; + in the siege, 266, 269, 271-281; during the Commune, 305, + 309-313, 315, 316, 320-322, 362, 363. +Paris, Comte de, 114, 420, 433, 441, 442. +Parties in 1820, 9-11; in 1830, 21, 26, 28, 34, 35; in 1848, + 108, 109, 122-126; in 1850, 135, 136, 139, 140, 147-149; + in 1871, 385, 386; in 1873, 402-404; in 1889, 441, 442; + Legitimists, 41, 433. +Pasquier, Dr., 307. +Peace signed, 280, 281, 299. +Peasants, 121, 145, 183, 184, 246, 431. +Persiguy, Fialin, Duc de, 72, 76, 150, 151, 177, 178, 190. +Petit, General, 136. +_Pétroleuses_, 321, 322. +Pigeon post, 273, 274. +Piguellier, Colonel, 75. +_Plébiscites_, 144, 165, 183, 184, 230, 231, 298. +Poiret, 335. +Polignac, Prince, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24. +Praslin, Duc de, 102 _et seq._ +Prefecture of Police, 163, 325, 326, 342-345. +Prince Imperial (Napoleon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph), 64, 65, + 187-190, 242, 243, 260, 415, 416. +Provisional Government, 1848, 121, 122, 125, 130-139; in 1871, + 372, 387, 389, 394-396. + +Queretaro, 205, 206, 207-213. + +Rambouillet, 27, 28. +Reichshoffen. _See_ Wörth. +Rémusat, 397. +Republic, Second, 130-49, 165; Third, 257, 262, 265, 372, 404, + 435, 438-442. +Restoration 9-15. +Revolution, 1830, 20-28; 1848, 108-126, 132; 1870, 257, 258, 262. +Rochefort, Henri, Marquis de, 229, 257, 270, 317, 259, 392, 432. +Rome, 147, 148. +Rossel, General, War delegate, 318, 319, 392. + +Saarbruck, 241, 242, 244. +Salm-Salm, Prince, 205, 207; Princess, 208, 209. +Saint-Arnaud, Jacques Leroy, Marshal, 83, 151, 178. +Sarcey, Francisque de, quoted, 267, 270, 276, 277. +_Scrutin de liste, Scrutin d'arrondissement_, 406, 407, 440. +Seigneret, Paul, 324-328. +Seisset, Admiral, 305. +Simon, Jules, 257, 308, 408, 410. +Soledad, La, treaty of, 197, 198. +Shah of Persia, 405. +Spain, 12, 231, 232. +Spanish marriages, 100, 101, 102, 109. +"Spectator," The, quoted, 242. +Strasburg, 64-69, 268, 286, 287. +Switzerland, 69, 288. +Suez Canal, 232-236. + +Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles, Prince of Benevento, 23, 26, 83, 84. +Teba, Madame de (_née_ Fitzpatrick, Marquise de Montijo), + 167, 168, 169. +Thiers, Adolphe, first President of the Third Republic, 21, 25, + 87, 112, 113, 229, 246, 269-271, 299, 305, 315, 320; + biographical sketch, 372-382, 386, 387, 389, 392-399, 405, 408. +Thiers, Madame, 180, 389, 394, 399. +Ticknor, Mr. George, quoted, 167, 168. +Tissot, Victor, quoted, 191. +Trochu, Jules, General, 257, 262, 270, 271, 276-279, 294. +Tuileries, 23, 50, 116, 117, 119, 120, 171, 172, 190, 221, 241, + 257-259, 320, 321, 349. + +Uzès, Duchess of, 437, 439. + +Vambéry, Colonel, 66, 67. +Valérien, Fort, 263, 307. +Vendôme, Place, massacre, 305; column, 315, 316. +Versailles, 93, 282-286, 288, 290, 305, 389, 390. +Versailles troops enter Paris, 320, 321, 355-358. +Villèle, M. de, 16. +Victim of Paris and Versailles, 360-371. +Victoria, Queen of England, 100-102, 184-186-192, 215-219. +Vinoy, General, 279, 301, 307. + +Walewski, Count, 177, 179, 224. +Washburne, E. B., American Minister, 251, 269, 338. +Wellington, Arthur, Duke of, 22, 23, 179. +White Terror, 11. +William, King of Prussia, 219, 264, 267, 268; made Emperor of + Germany, 288-291. +Wilson, Daniel, 420-423. +Wimpfen, General, 252, 253. +Wissembourg, 242. +Wörth, 243, 247, 248. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14194 *** |