A Minister of Foreign Affairs who is blockaded in a besieged town seemed to me most extraordinary.
"And why," the correspondent of the Times asked me, "do you bring apologies to the French Government?"
"Because we massacred some French residents."
"French residents! That's of no importance nowadays. France no longer exists. You can, if it amuses you, throw all the French residents into the sea."
"We also thoughtlessly massacred some English residents."
"You massacred some English residents! Oh, that's very different! England is still a great nation. And you have brought apologies to Queen Victoria?"
"Yes, apologies and presents."
"Go to London, go straight to London, and don't bother about France; there is no France."
The correspondent of the Times looked quite happy when he spoke those words: "there is no France."
LONDON, October 10, 1870.