Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris

by Henry Du Pré Labouchere

The headquarters of the Ambulance Internationale are to move to-morrow from the Palais de l'Industrie to the Grand Hotel. In the Palais it was impossible to regulate the ventilation. It was always either too hot or too cold. Another objection to it which was urged by the medical men was, that one-half of it served as a store for munitions of war.

4 p.m.

So we have been kicked neck and crop out of Bourget. I have got such a cold that I have been lying up to-day. A friend of mine has just come in, and tells me that at eight this morning a regiment on their way to Bourget found the Mobiles who were in it falling back. Some Prussian troops appeared from between Stains and Courneuve, and attempted to cut off the retreat. Whether we lost any cannon my friend does not know. He thinks not. Some of our troops were trapped, the others got away, and fell back on the barricades in front of Aubervilliers. My friend observes that if it was not a rout, it was extremely like one. He thinks that we were only allowed to get into Bourget in order to be caught like rats in a trap. When my friend left the forts were firing on Pierrefitte and Etains, and the Prussians were established in front of Bourget. My friend, who thinks he has a genius for military matters, observes that we ought to have either left Bourget alone, or held it with more troops and more artillery. The Mobiles told him that they had been starving there for forty-eight hours, and only had two pieces of 12, two of 4, and one mitrailleuse. The Prussians had brought up heavy guns, and yesterday they established a battery of twenty-one cannon, which cannonaded the village.

October 31st.

Yesterday evening until eleven o'clock—a late hour now for Paris;—the Boulevards were crowded. Although the news that Bourget had been retaken by the Prussians had been affiché at the Mairies, those who asserted it were at first treated as friends of Prussia. Little by little the fact was admitted, and then, every one fell to denouncing the Government. To-day the official bulletin states that we retreated in good order, leaving "some" prisoners. From what I hear from officers who were engaged, the Mobiles fought well for some time, although their ammunition was so wet that they could only fire twelve shots with their cannon, and not one with their mitrailleuse. When they saw that they were likely to be surrounded, there was a stampede to Aubervilliers and to Drancy, the latter of which was subsequently evacuated. To-day we have two pieces of news—that M. Thiers entered Paris yesterday, and that Metz has fallen. The Journal des Débats also publishes copious extracts from a file of provincial papers up to the 26th, which it has obtained.

I hear that M. Thiers advises peace on any terms. The Government of Paris is in a difficult position. It has followed in the course of Palikao. By a long suggestio falsi et suppressio veri it has led the population of this city to believe that the position of France has bettered itself every day that the siege has lasted. We have been told that Bazaine could hold out indefinitely, that vast armies were forming in the provinces, and would, before the middle of November, march to the relief of Paris; that the investing army was starving, and that it had been unable to place a single gun in position within the range of the forts; that we had ample provisions until the month of February, and that there would not be the slightest difficulty in introducing convoys. Anyone who ventured to question these facts was held up to public execration. General Trochu announced that he had a "plan," and that if only he were left to carry it out, it must result in success. All this time the General and the members of the Government, who were at loggerheads with each other, privately confessed to their friends that the situation was growing every day more critical.

The attempt to obtain volunteers from the population of the capital for active service outside the gates has resulted in a miserable failure, and the Government does not even venture to carry out the law, which subjects all between twenty-five and thirty-five to enrolment in the army. With respect to public opinion, all are opposed to the entry of the Prussians into Paris, or to a peace which would involve a cession of territory; but many equally object to submitting either to real hardship or real danger. They hope against hope that what they call their "sublime attitude" will prevent the Prussians from attacking them, and that they may pass to history as heroes, without having done anything heroic. I had thought that the working men would fight well, but I think so no longer. Under the Empire they got high wages for doing very little. Since the investment of the capital, they have taken their 1fr. 50c. and their rations for their families, and done hardly anything except drill, gossip, and about once a week go on the ramparts. So fond they are of this idle existence, that although workshops offer 6fr. a day to men, they cannot obtain hands. With respect to provisions, as yet the poorer classes have been better off than they ever were before. Every one gets his 50 or 100 grammes of meat, and his share of bread. Those persons alone who were accustomed to luxuries have suffered from their absence. Meat of some kind is, however, to be obtained by any person who likes to pay for it about twice its normal value. So afraid is the Government of doing anything which may irritate the population, that, contrary to all precedent, the garrison and the wounded alone are fed with salt meat. What the result of M. Thiers' mission will be, it is almost impossible to say. The Government will be anxious to treat, and probably it will put forward feelers to-morrow to see how far it may dare go. Some of its members already are endeavouring to disconnect themselves from a capitulation, and, if it does take place, will assert that they were opposed to it. Thus, M. Jules Favre, in a long address to the mayors of the banlieus yesterday, goes through the old arguments to prove that France never desired war.

This gentleman is essentially an orator, rather than a statesman. When he went to meet Count Bismarck at Ferrières, he was fully prepared to agree to the fortresses in Alsace and Lorraine being rased; but when he returned, the phrase, "Ni un pouce du territoire, ni une pierre des forteresses," occurred to him, and he could not refrain from complicating the situation by publishing it.

To turn for a moment to less serious matters. I never shall see a donkey without gratefully thinking of a Prussian. If anyone happens to fall out with his jackass, let me recommend him, instead of beating it, to slay and eat it. Donkey is now all the fashion. When one is asked to dinner, as an inducement one is told that there will be donkey. The flesh of this obstinate, but weak-minded quadruped is delicious—in colour like mutton, firm and savoury. This siege will destroy many illusions, and amongst them the prejudice which has prevented many animals being used as food. I can most solemnly assert that I never wish to taste a better dinner than a joint of a donkey or a ragout of cat—experto crede.

November 1st.