They placed us with them in two ranks; and then Governor Moulin, Commandants Thomas and Pettigenet, and the mayor, with his tri-colored sash, arrived.
They beat the march, and then the drum-major raised his baton, and the drums stopped. The governor began to speak, everybody listened, and the words heard from a distance were repeated from one to another.
"Officers, non-commissioned, National Guards, and Soldiers!
"The enemy is concentrated upon the Rhine, only three days' march from us. The city is declared to be in a state of siege; the civil authorities give place to martial law. A permanent court-martial replaces ordinary tribunals.
"Inhabitants of Phalsburg! we expect from you courage, devotion, obedience! Vive l'Empereur!"
And a thousand cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" filled the air.
I trembled to the ends of my hair; my spirits of wine were still on the road; I considered myself a ruined man.
The immediate distribution of cartridges, and the order to the battalion to go and forage for provisions, and bring in cattle from the surrounding villages for the supply of the city, prevented me from thinking of my misfortune.
I had also to think of my own life, for, in receiving such an order, we supposed of course that the peasants would resist, and it is abominable to have to fight the people you are robbing.
I was very pale as I thought of all this.