CHAPTER XVIII.
First days of the war in Paris.—Constant reverses of the French arms.—Fall of Metz.—Paris turned into a fortress.—The Prussians expelled from Paris.—Surrender of the Emperor Napoleon and his army at Sedan.—Proclamation of the Republic.—Futile negotiations for peace.—We determine to quit Paris.—This is prevented by my illness.—When I recover the winter has set in, and Paris has long been beleaguered.—Fall of Strasbourg.—Paris bombarded.—The proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles.—Dreams of release and future happiness suddenly interrupted by the arrest and execution of my husband by the Communards.
“OH monsieur! Oh madame! What happiness! What great news!” With these words Frederick’s valet rushed into our room one day, and the cook after him. It was the day of Wörth.
“What is it?”
“A telegram has been posted up at the Bourse. We have conquered. The King of Prussia’s army is as good as annihilated. The city is adorning itself with tricolour flags. There will be an illumination to-night.”
But in the course of the afternoon it turned out that the news was false—a Bourse trick. Ollivier made a speech to the crowd from his balcony. Well, so much the better; at least one would not be obliged to illuminate. These joyful tidings of “armies annihilated”—i.e., of numberless lives torn asunder, and hearts broken—awoke again in me too the same wish as Flaubert’s—“Oh that I were with the Bedouins!”
On August 7, news of a catastrophe. The emperor hastened from St. Cloud to the theatre of war. The enemy had penetrated into the country. The newspapers could not give expression hot enough to their rage at the “invasion”. The cry “À Berlin,” as it seemed to me, pointed to an intended invasion; but in that there was nothing to cause anger. But that these eastern barbarians should venture to make an incursion into beautiful, God-beloved France—that was sheer savagery and sin. That must be stopped, and quickly too.
The Minister of War ad interim published a decree that all citizens fit for service, from the age of thirty to forty, who did not belong to the National Guard, should be immediately enrolled in that body. A Ministry of the Defence of the Country was formed. The war loan of 500 millions, which had been voted, was raised to 1000. It is quite refreshing to see how freely people always offer up the money and the lives of others. A trifling financial unpleasantness, to be sure, was soon perceptible to the public. If one wanted to change bank notes one had to pay the money-changer ten per cent. There was not gold at hand to meet all the notes which the Bank of France was authorised to issue.
And now, victory after victory on the German side.