CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
[1.][Last Days of the Empire: Napoleon and Eugénie][1]
[2.][The Surroundings and Friends of the Sovereigns][13]
[3.][Fontainebleau and Compiègne][25]
[4.][Political Men of the Time][38]
[5.][Before the Storm][52]
[6.][The Disaster][63]
[7.][Letters from Paris during the Siege][73]
[8.][The Commune][87]
[9.][M. Thiers][99]
[10.][The Comte de Chambord and his Party][112]
[11.][The Orleans Princes][123]
[12.][The Duc d’Aumale and Chantilly][133]
[13.][The Presidency of Marshal MacMahon][144]
[14.][Two Great Ministers][156]
[15.][Paris Society under the Presidency of Marshal MacMahon][166]
[16.][A Few Prominent Parisian Hostesses][177]
[17.][Madame Juliette Adam][190]
[18.][A Few Literary Men][205]
[19.] [The 16th of May and the Fall of Marshal MacMahon][218]
[20.][Leon Gambetta][231]
[21.][The Adventure of General Boulanger][244]
[22.][The Panama Scandal][257]
[23.][Two Presidents][271]
[24.][Imperial and Presidential Visits][285]
[25.][The French Press][297]
[26.][The Presidency of M. Loubet][308]
[27.][The Dreyfus Affair][318]
[28.][Parisian Salons under the Third Republic][332]
[29.][The Present Tone of Paris Society][343]
[30.][M. Fallières as President][358]
[31.][M. Briand and the Socialists][366]
[32.][A Few Literary Men of the Present Day][372]
[33.][A Few Foreign Diplomats][382]
[L’Envoi][389]
[Index]: [A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [R], [S], [T], [U], [V], [W], [Z] [391]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[Napoleon III.][Frontispiece]
FACING PAGE
[Empress Eugénie][10]
[M. Adolphe Thiers][118]
[Marshal MacMahon][118]
[Comte de Chambord][118]
[Leon Gambetta][118]
[Madame Juliette Adam][212]
[Alex. Dumas (Père)][212]
[Anatole France][212]
[Octave Mirbeau][212]
[Captain Dreyfus][246]
[General Boulanger][246]
[Emile Zola][246]
[M. de Lesseps][246]
[M. M. F. Sadi-Garnot][310]
[M. J. P. P. Casimer Périer][310]
[M. F. F. Faure][310]
[M. E. Loubet][310]
[M. A. Fallières][360]
[M. R. Poincaré][360]
[M. A. Briand][360]
[M. G. Clemenceau][360]
[The Chamber of Deputies Sitting][370]

France from Behind the Veil

CHAPTER I
Last Days of the Empire: Napoleon and Eugénie

Towards the end of the year 1868 I arrived in Paris. I had often before been in the great city, but had never occupied any official position there. Now, however, having been appointed secretary to our (Russian) embassy, I consequently enjoyed special privileges, not the least being opportunity to watch quite closely the actors in what was to prove one of the greatest dramas of modern history. I had many acquaintances in Paris, but these belonged principally to the circle known still by the name of Faubourg St. Germain, for I had never frequented the Imperialistic world. Consequently I found myself thrown in quite a different milieu, and had to forgo a great many of my former friends, who would not have cared to receive in their houses one who now belonged to the intimate coterie of the Tuileries. In a certain sense I felt sorry; but on the other hand I discovered that the society in which I now found myself was far more pleasant, and certainly far more amusing, than my former circle. To a young man such as I was at that time, this last consideration, of course, was most attractive.