The Franco-German War was over, I have said, but there came a terrible aftermath—that is, the rising of the Commune, some of the introductory features of which were described by me in "Republican France." There is only one fairly good history of that formidable insurrection in the English language—one written some years ago by Mr. Thomas March. It is, however, a history from the official standpoint, and is consequently one-sided as well as inaccurate in certain respects. Again, the English version of the History of the Commune put together by one of its partisans, Lissagaray, sins in the other direction. An impartial account of the rising remains to be written. If I am spared I may, perhaps, be privileged to contribute to it by preparing a work on much the same lines as those of this present volume. Not only do I possess the greater part of the literature on the subject, including many of the newspapers of the time, but throughout the insurrection I was in Paris or its suburbs.
I sketched the dead bodies of Generals Clément Thomas and Lecomte only a few hours after their assassination. I saw the Vendôme column fall while American visitors to Paris were singing, "Hail, Columbia!" in the hotels of the Rue de la Paix. I was under fire in the same street when a demonstration was made there. Provided with passports by both sides, I went in and out of the city and witnessed the fighting at Asnières and elsewhere. I attended the clubs held in the churches, when women often perorated from the pulpits. I saw Thiers's house being demolished; and when the end came and the Versailles troops made their entry into the city, I was repeatedly in the street-fighting with my good friend, Captain Bingham. I recollect sketching the attack on the Elysée Palace from a balcony of our house, and finding that balcony on the pavement a few hours later when it had been carried away by a shell from a Communard battery at Montmartre. Finally, I saw Paris burning. I gazed on the sheaves of flames rising above the Tuileries. I saw the whole front of the Ministry of Finances fall into the Rue de Rivoli. I saw the now vanished Carrefour de la Croix Rouge one blaze of fire. I helped to carry water to put out the conflagration at the Palais de Justice. I was prodded with a bayonet when, after working in that manner for some hours, I attempted to shirk duty at another fire which I came upon in the course of my expeditions. All that period of my life flashes on my mind as vividly as Paris herself flashed under the wondering stars of those balmy nights in May.
My father and my brother Arthur also had some remarkable adventures. There was one occasion when they persuaded a venturesome Paris cabman to drive them from conflagration to conflagration, and this whilst the street-fighting was still in progress. Every now and then, as they drove on, men and women ran eagerly out of houses into which wounded combatants had been taken, imagining that they must belong to the medical profession, as nobody else was likely to go about Paris in such a fashion at such a moment. Those good folk forgot the journalists. The service of the Press carries with it obligations which must not be shirked. Journalism has become, not merely the chronicle of the day, but the foundation of history. And now I know not if I should say farewell or au revoir to my readers. Whether I ever attempt a detailed account of the Commune of Paris must depend on a variety of circumstances. After three-and-forty years "at the mill," I am inclined to feel tired, and with me health is not what it has been. Nevertheless, my plans must depend chiefly on the reception given to this present volume.
INDEX
Adam, Edmond
Adare, Lord
Albert, Archduke
Albert, Prince (the elder), of Prussia
Alencon taken
Alexander II of Russia
Alexandra, Queen
Allix, Jules
Amazons of Paris
Ambert, General
Ambulances, Anglo-American
at Conlie
at Le Mans
author's impression of
Amiens
Arabs with Chanzy
Arago, Emmanuel
Etienne
Ardenay,
Armistice, conditions for an
concluded
Army, French, under the Empire
of Paris, see also Paris
of Brittany
at the outset of National Defence
of the Vosges, see also Garibaldi
of the East, see also Bourbaki
of the Loire, see also D'Aurelle, Goulmiers,
Chanzy, Le Mans, etc.
of the North, see Faidheibe
at the end of war
for German army see German and names of commanders
Arnim, Count von
Artists, French newspaper
Assembly, see National
Aurelle, see D'Aurelle
Auvours plateau (Le Mans)
Balloon service from Paris
Bapauine, battle of
Barry, General
Battues for deserters
Bazaine, Marshal
Beauce country
Beaumont, fight at
Beaune-la-Rolande, battle of
Belfort, siege of
Bellemare, General Carré de
Bellenger, Marguerite
Belly, Félix
Beraud, Colonel
Bernard, Colonel
Berezowski
Beuvron, Abbé de
Billot, General
Bingham, Captain Hon. D.A.
Bismarck, Prince
Blano, Louis
Blanchard, P.
Blanqui, Augusta,
Blewitt, Dr. Byron
Boisdeffre, Captain, later General de
Bonaparte, Lycée, see Lycée
Bonaparte, Prince Pierre, See also Napoleon
Bonnemains, General de
Boots, army
Bordone, General
Borel, General
Boulanger, General, his mistress
Bourbaki, General Charles
Bourbon, Palais, see Legislative Body
Bourdillon, General
Bourges,
Bourget, Le,
Bower, Mr.,
Bowles, T. Gibson,
Brie-Comte-Robert,
Brownings, the,
Bulwer, Sir E.,
Caillaux, E. and J.,
Cambriels, General,
Canrobert, Marshal,
Capitulations, see Amiens, Belfort, Longwy, Metz, Paris, Sedan,
Strasbourg, Toul, etc.
Capoul, Victor,
Caricatures of the period,
Casimir-Perler, J.P.,
Cathelineau, Colonel,
Chabaud-Latour, General,
Challemel-Lacour,
Cham (M. de Noé),
Chambord, Comte de,
Champagné, fighting at,
Champigny, sortie of,
Changé, fighting at,
Chanzy, General Alfred,
his early career and appearance,
his orders and operations with the Loire forces,
Charette, General Baron,
Chartres,
"Chartreuse de Parme, La",
Chassillé, fight at,
Chateaubriand, Count and Countess de
Châteaudun, fight at,
Châtillon, fight at,
Chemin des Boeufs (Le Mans),
"Claque," the,
Claremont, Colonel,
Clocks, German love of,
Clubs, Paris,
social
revolutionary
Colin, General,
Collins, Mortimer,
Colomb, General de,
Colomb, General von,
Commune of Paris,
attempts to set up a
rising of the
Condé, Prince de,
Conlie, camp of,
Connerré,
Corbeil, Germans at,
Correspondents, English, in Paris,
Coulmiers, battle of,
Couriers from Paris,
Cousin-Montauban, see Palikao.
Cowardice and panic, cases of,
Crane, Stephen,
Cremer, General,
Crémieux, Adolphe,
Crouzat, General,
Crown Prince of Prussia (Emperor Frederick),
Curten, General,
Daily News,
Daily Telegraph,
Daumier, Honoré,
D'Aurelle de Paladines, General,
Davenport brothers,
"Débâcle, La," Zola's,
Dejean, General,
Delescluze, Charles,
Denfert-Rochereau, Colonel,
Des Pallières, General Martin,
Devonshire, late Duke of,
Dieppe, Germans reach,
Dijon, fighting at,
Doré, Gustave,
Dorian, Frédéric,
D'Orsay, Count,
Douay,
General Abel;
General Félix,
"Downfall, the," see Débâcle.
Droué, fight at,
Dubost, Antonin,
Ducrot, General,
Duff, Brigadier-General (U.S.A.),
Dumas, Alexandre,
Dunraven, Lord, see Adare.
Duvernois, Clément,
"Echoes of the Clubs"
Edwardes, Mrs. Annie
Elgar, Dr. Francis
Elysée Palace
Emotions in war
Empress, see Eugénie.
English attempts to leave Paris
exodus from
Eugénie, Empress
Faidherbe, General
Failly, General de
Fashions, Paris
Favre, Jules
Feilding, Major-General
Fennell family
Ferry, Jules
Fitz-James, Duc de
Flourens, Gustave
Forbach, battle of
Forbes, Archibald
Forge, Anatole de la
Fourichon, Admiral
Franco-German War
cause and origin of
preparations for
outbreak of
first French armies
departure of Napoleon III for
Germans enter France
first engagements
news of Sedan
troops gathered in Paris
German advance on Paris
Châtillon affair
investment of Paris
French provincial armies
the fighting near Le Mans
the retreat to Laval
armistice and peace negotiations
See also Paris, and names of battles and commanders.
Frederick, Emperor, see Crown Prince,
Frederick Charles, Prince, of Prussia
Freyoinet, Charles de Saulces de,
Frossard, General