Part 9 (2/2)

_November 8th._

I was once in love. The object of my affections had many amiable qualities. I remember I thought her an angel; but when she was crossed, she used to go up into her room and say that she would remain there without eating until I yielded the point at issue between us. As I was invariably right and she was invariably wrong, I could not do this; but, pitying the weakness of her s.e.x, and knowing its obstinacy, I usually managed to arrange matters in a way which allowed her to emerge from her retreat without any great sacrifice of _amour propre_. The Parisians remind me of this sentimental episode of my existence; they have mounted a high pedestal, and called upon the world to witness that no matter what may be the danger to which they are exposed, they will not get off it, unless they obtain what they want; that they will obtain it, they find is most improbable, and they are anxiously looking around for some one to help them down, without being obliged absolutely ”to swallow their own words.” They had hoped that the armistice which was proposed by the neutrals would in some way get them out of their difficulty; and, as the siege still continues, they are exceedingly indignant with their kind friends. ”They have,” say the papers, ”loosened our mainspring of sacrifice. We had fully determined to perish, rather than yield; if we do not, it will be the fault of Russia, Austria, and England.” Be the cause what it may, the ”mainspring of sacrifice” most a.s.suredly is not only loosened, but it has run down, and, unless some wonderful success occurs shortly, it will never be wound up again. As long as it could be supposed that cannon and musketry would only do their b.l.o.o.d.y work outside the exterior forts, and that Paris might glory in a ”heroic att.i.tude” without suffering real hards.h.i.+ps or incurring real danger, the note of defiance was loud and bold. As it is, the Government is obliged to do its utmost to keep their courage up to the sticking point. These foolish people really imagined that, like them, the world regarded their city as a species of sacred Jerusalem, and that public opinion would never allow the Prussians either to bombard it, or to expose the high priests of civilization who inhabit it to the realities of war. It is necessary to live here to understand the strength of this feeling. In England, little attention is paid to the utterances of French newspapers, but the Parisians, more profoundly ignorant of foreign politics than the charity school boys of an English village, were under the flattering delusion that we, in common with every other nation, lived alone to merit their favourable opinion. They find now, to their profound astonishment, that beyond a barren sympathy, founded upon a common humanity, no one regards Paris as different to any other great city, and that, if they choose to convert it into an intrenched camp for their armies, they must meet the consequences. Either they must accept the victor's terms of peace or they must fight the Prussians. The reality of the situation is by degrees coming home to them. From the general tone of the conversations I hear, I am inclined to think that, in their hearts, they admit that Alsace, if not Lorraine, is irretrievably lost. Words have a great influence over them, and they find consolation for this loss of territory in the phrase that Alsace will annex a portion of Germany, and not be annexed to Germany. It is admitted also that sooner or later, an indemnity must be paid in money to Prussia. The newspapers, who were the loudest in their praises of M.

Jules Favre's language at Ferrieres, now complain that nothing is to be gained by bombast, and that it is ridiculous of him to talk about ”France” proposing ”conditions of peace” which must be unacceptable to Prussia. The main grounds for continued resistance are the personal ambition of the members of the Government, who well know that if they sign an armistice, which is tantamount to peace, they will hereafter be made scapegoats, and be told that the Parisians were balked of their desire to perish to the last man; the mulish obstinacy of Trochu; and the dread of the capital losing its supremacy over the Provinces. Of course, there are some who wish to fight on to the bitter end. The ”Ultras” hope to found on a war _a outrance_ a democratic republic, and dream of the successes of the First Revolution. The politicians hardly know what they want. Their main idea is to keep up for their own purposes that centralization which has so long been the bane of this country. If they agree to terms before Paris has given France an example of heroism, they fear that her supremacy will be compromised; if they allow the insulation to continue, they fear that the Provinces will accustom themselves to independent action; if a Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly be elected whilst free communication between Paris and the rest of France is interrupted, they fear that this a.s.sembly will consist of local candidates rather than those, as has heretofore been the case in all French Legislative Chambers, who are imposed upon the departments by a central organization in the capital.

The position of the Government is a singular one. They obtained last Thursday a large majority on their plebiscite, because it was fully understood that ”oui” meant peace; indeed, on many bulletins, the words ”and peace” were added to the ”oui.” They have imprisoned the leaders of those who revolted to the cry of ”no armistice!” Their friends the bourgeois trusted to them to put off the munic.i.p.al elections until after the war, and they rallied to their defence to the cry of ”no Commune!”

In each arrondiss.e.m.e.nt a mayor and two adjuncts have been elected, and these mayors and adjuncts have only to meet together in order to a.s.sume that right to interfere in public affairs which converts a munic.i.p.ality into a commune. In Belleville the elected mayor is a prisoner, and his two adjuncts, Flourens and Milliere, are in hiding. In the nineteenth arrondiss.e.m.e.nt M. Delescluze, by far the most able of the Ultras, is mayor. Contrary to the wishes, consequently, of the voters of ”oui,” we are to have no armistice, and we probably shall have a commune. The Ultras are persecuted, but their programme is adopted.

There appears to be a tacit truce between all parties within the city until Trochu has made some attempt to carry out his famous plan. For the last fortnight the Government has not published any news which it may have received from the Provinces. M. Thiers has either made no report upon their condition, or it has been concealed. M. Jules Favre, in his despatch to the envoys abroad, enters into no details, and confines himself to the simple announcement, that the armistice was not concluded because Count Bismarck would not allow Paris to be revictualled during the twenty-five days which it was to last. Our anxiety for news respecting what is pa.s.sing outside has to be satisfied with the following words, which fell from the lips of M. Thiers: ”I have seen the Army of the Loire and the Prussian Guard; man to man I prefer the former.” The _Debats_ and some other journals contain extracts from the English newspapers up to the 22nd ult. I observe that everything which tells against France is suppressed, and what is published is headed with a notice, that as the source is English the truth is questionable. Thus does the press, while abusing the Government for keeping back intelligence, fulfil its mission.

The plan for the redistribution of the troops, and their change from one corps to another, which was announced on Sunday in a decree signed Trochu, has not yet been carried out. Its only effect has been as yet to render confusion twice confounded. Its real object, I hear, was to place General Ducrot in command of the left bank of the Seine, instead of General Vinoy, because it is expected that the fighting will be on that side of the river. So indignant is General Vinoy at being placed under the orders of General Ducrot, that he threatens to give in his resignation on the ground that by military law no officer can be called to serve under a general who has capitulated, and who has not been tried before a court-martial. The dispute will, I imagine, in some way or other, be arranged, without its coming before the public. General Vinoy's retirement would produce a bad effect on the army; for, both with officers and men, he is far more popular than either Ducrot or Trochu. He pa.s.ses as a fighting general; they pa.s.s as writing generals.

As for Trochu, to write and to talk is with him a perfect mania. ”I have seen him on business,” said a superior officer to me, ”a dozen times, but I never have been able to explain what I came for; he talked so incessantly that I could not put in a word.”

I was out this morning along the Southern outposts, the forts were firing intermittently. At Cachan there was a sharp interchange of shots going on between the Prussian sentinels and Mobiles. It is a perfect mystery to me how the Prussians have been allowed to establish themselves at Clamart and at Chatillon, which are within range of the guns of three forts. Our famous artillerists do not appear to have prevented them from establis.h.i.+ng batteries exactly where they are most dangerous to us. General Trochu has not confided to me his celebrated plan, but I am inclined to think, that whatever it may have been, he will do well to put it aside, and to endeavour to dislodge the enemy in Chatillon and the adjacent villages, before their batteries open fire. I suggested this to an officer, and he replied that the troops, thanks to the decree of Sunday, hardly knew who commanded them, or where they were to be stationed--”On paper,” he added, ”I and my battalion are at La Malmaison.” As for the sortie, which is to revictual Paris, by forcing the Prussian lines, it is simply absurd to talk of it. If Trochu attempts it, the result must be disastrous, and _coute qui coute_, the political exigences of the situation render it absolutely necessary that at least apparent success must crown our next encounter with the enemy.

The next thing would be to hold our own, as long as the provisions last, and trust to the chapter of accidents; but this is impossible in the present temper of both soldiers and citizens. General Trochu has insisted so loudly that, if not interfered with, he would not only keep the enemy out of Paris, but raise the siege--that he must do something to redeem his pledge.

We have almost forgotten our troubles, in hearing that King William, ”to recompense his soldiers and reward their valour,” has made his son and his nephew Field Marshals. We wish to know whether, if his army takes Paris, he will reward the men by declaring himself infallible, and giving ”our Fritz” a few million francs. With fear and trembling we ask whether the success of the Bavarians will be recognized by their monarch being allowed to inflict on us the operas of his friend Wagner.

A new industry has sprung up in Paris. A manufactory has been discovered, in which Prussian casques and sabres were being made. It was at first thought that the owner was engaged in a dark conspiracy, but, upon being arrested, he confessed that he was endeavouring to meet the demand for trophies from the fields of battle. In one room of the house of this ingenious speculator, a large number of forged letters were found, from mothers, sisters, and brides, to their relations in the army before Paris: these, he explained, were to be sold, warranted from the pocket of a German corpse.

Has Gambetta contracted with a London firm for a loan of 250 millions at 42? The financial world here is in a state of the greatest agitation about a statement to this effect, which has been discovered in an English newspaper. The Government officially declares that it knows nothing about the matter. It is a curious sign of the universal belief of any one in official utterances, that this denial is regarded as very questionable evidence against the loan having been made. What puzzles us is, that the Rente is at 53--why then was this new loan issued at 42? An attempt has been made to oblige those persons left in charge of houses occupied by foreigners here, to pay the tax upon absents. An energetic protest, however, of Mr. Washburne, has saved Americans from this extortion.

CHAPTER XI.

_Wednesday, November 9th._

I bought a dozen newspapers this morning. Every one of them, with the exception of the _Gaulois_, in more or less covert language, insists upon peace upon any terms. Our ”mainspring” not only has run down, but is broken. The complaints, too, against the Government for concealing all news it has received from the provinces, and for giving no details respecting the negotiations with respect to the armistice, are most outspoken. M. Edmond About, in the _Soir_ of last night, insists that we ought to have agreed to the armistice, even without a revictualment; and such appears to be the opinion of almost everyone. Poor M. Jules Favre, who a few weeks ago was lauded to the skies for having so n.o.bly expressed the ideas of his countrymen, when he said that rather than yield one foot of territory, one stone of a fortress, they would all perish, is now abused for having compromised the situation, and made it difficult to treat, by his mania for oratorical claptrap. In the _Figaro_, Villemessant blunders through three columns over being again disappointed in his expectations of embracing his wife, and plaintively tells ”William” that though he may not be anxious to see ”his Augusta,”

this is no reason why he, Villemessant, should not be absolutely wild to see Madame. A more utter and complete collapse of all ”heroism” I never did witness.

General Trochu has, with his usual intelligence, seized this moment to issue a decree, mobilizing 400 men from each battalion of the National Guard. First, volunteers; secondly, unmarried men, between 25 and 35 years; thirdly, unmarried men, between 35 and 45; fourthly, married men between 25 and 35; fifthly, married men, between 35 and 45, are successively to be called upon to fill up the contingent. The Vinoy affair has been settled by the appointment of the General to the command of the Third Army. The following statistics of the annual consumption of meat by Paris will give some idea of the difficulty of revictualling it:--oxen, 156,680; bulls, 66,028; cows, 31,095; calves, 120,275; sheep, 916,388. Meat is now distributed every three days. I hear that on the present scale of rationing there is enough for five more distributions.

We shall then fall back on horses, and our own salt provisions; the former will perhaps last for a week, as for the latter it is impossible to give any accurate estimate. We have, however, practically unlimited supplies of flour, wine, and coffee; if consequently the Parisians are ready to content themselves with what is absolutely necessary to support existence, the process of starving us out will be a lengthy one.

_November 14th._

”Wanted, 10,000 Parisians ready to allow themselves to be killed, in order that their fellow-citizens may pa.s.s down to posterity as heroes!”

The attempt to obtain volunteers having miserably failed, and fathers of families having declined to risk their valuable lives whilst one single bachelor remains out of reach of the Prussian guns, the Government has now issued a decree calling to arms all bachelors between the age of 25 and 35. If this measure had been taken two months ago it might have been of some use, but it is absurd to suppose that soldiers can be improvised in a few days. I must congratulate my friends here upon the astounding ingenuity which they show in discovering pretexts to avoid military service. It is as difficult to get them outside the inner ramparts as it is to make an old fox break cover. In vain huntsman Trochu and his first whip, Ducrot, blow their horns, and crack their whips; the wily reynard, after putting his nose outside his retreat, heads back, and makes for inaccessible fastnesses, with which long habit has made him familiar.

That General Trochu will be able to beat the Prussians no one supposes; but if he can manage to get even 5,000 of the heroes who have for the last two months been professing a wish to die for the honour of their country under fire, he will have accomplished a most difficult feat.

For the last few days the newspapers, one and all, have been filled with details of the negotiations which were supposed to be going on at Versailles. Russia, it was said, had forwarded an ultimatum to the King of Prussia, threatening him with a declaration of war in case he persisted in besieging Paris, or in annexing any portion of French territory. Yesterday morning the _Journal Officiel_ contained an announcement that the Government knew absolutely nothing of these negotiations. The newspapers are, however, not disposed to allow their hopes of peace to be destroyed in this manner, and they reply that ”it being notorious that no member of the Government can speak the truth, this official denial proves conclusively the contrary of what it states.” It is indeed difficult to know who or what to believe; all I know for certain is, that M. Jules Favre a.s.sured Mr. Washburne on Sat.u.r.day night that since M. Thiers had quitted Paris he had had no communication with the outer world, and did not even know whether the Tours delegation was still there. Men may lie for a certain time, and yet be believed, but this ”arm of war” has been so abused by our rulers, that at present their most solemn a.s.severations meet with universal incredulity--not, indeed, that the Parisians are cured of their mania for crediting every tale which comes to them from any other source--thus, for instance, every newspaper has contained the most precise details from eye-witnesses of a conflict which took place two nights ago before the battery of Hautes-Bruyeres, in which our ”braves Mobiles” took between two and three thousand prisoners, and slew hecatombs of the enemy. Now, I was both yesterday and the day before yesterday at the Hautes-Bruyeres, and I can certify myself that this pretended battle never took place.

It is impossible to predict what will occur during the next fortnight.

_Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas._ General Trochu has this morning issued a lengthy address to the inhabitants of the city, informing them that, had it not been for their riotous conduct on Oct.

31 the armistice would have been concluded; and that now all that remains for them to do, is to ”close their ranks and to elevate their hearts.” ”If we triumph, we shall have given our country a great example; if we succ.u.mb, we shall have left to Prussia an inheritance which will replace the First Empire in the sanguinary annals of conquest and violence; an inheritance of hatred and maledictions which will eventually prove her ruin.” The great question which occupies all minds now is ”the sortie.” General Trochu and General Ducrot insist upon at least making an attempt to pierce the Prussian lines. All the other generals say that, as it cannot succeed, it is wrong to sacrifice life to no good purpose. This is how the matter is regarded by officers and soldiers. As for the National Guard, they distinctly say that they will be no parties to any such act of folly. Even in the councils of the Government there is a strong feeling against it; but General Trochu declines to allow the question, which he says is a purely military one, to be decided by the lawyers who are his colleagues. They, on their side, complain that the General never quits the Louvre, has surrounded himself with a number of clerical dandies as his aides-de-camp, whose religious principles may be sound, but whose knowledge of war is nil; and that if he wished to make a sortie, he should not have waited until the Prussians had rendered its success impossible by completing their lines of investment. It is said that the attempt will be made along the post road to Orleans, it being now considered impossible, as was at first intended, to open communications by the Havre railroad. The general impression is either that the troops engaged in it will be driven back under the forts in confusion, or that some 50,000 will be allowed to get too far to return, and then will be netted like sparrows.

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