It is Sunday. Fashionable resorts, including the Champs Elysées and Gardens of the Tuileries, are crowded with men and women. Cafés partially deserted a few days ago are now crowded. Booths of Punchinello are surrounded by knot of amused spectators, the style and demeanour of the people generally by no means such as might be looked for under the circumstances present and prospective. Mobiles recently collected from the provinces rush about irregularly wherever the crowds are thickest; their rifles at the “trail”; their bayonets fixed,—sources of danger to everybody. Streets and roadways show signs of neglect. News circulates that the Canal de l’Ourque and some other conduits have been “cut” by the Germans, the fact being the first to indicate the near approach of the enemy.
“Versailles has honourably capitulated.” Such was the next intelligence to reach us. Confusion thereupon became general. A grand review of forces of the Defence of Paris forthwith ordered; information circulated by authority that the several forts beyond the line of ramparts were fully armed and manned by sailors under command of their own proper officers. As extemporised battalions marched towards the general rendezvous they presented in their ranks two types of manhood—the Parisian and the provincial: the former poor in physique, and undisciplined; the latter, strong and active, but unacquainted with anything beyond elementary stages of military drill. A captive balloon established on Montmartre from which to observe the movements of the enemy. A furore of destruction suddenly set in, resulting in that of bridges, houses, and everything destructible on the immediate outskirts of the city, including a considerable strip of the Bois de Boulogne.
Stores and provisions were collected to enable Paris to withstand a siege of two months’ duration, that being thought the limit to which such an emergency could extend, should it happen at all. Cattle and stock of all kinds were brought within the walls; fodder and grain for them collected, and food of all kinds, available for human consumption, stored; a census of “mouths” taken at the same time.
Already had evils shown themselves as a result of billeting armed men on the people; huts were therefore prepared in the boulevards and other open spaces for the former. Disinclination was soon apparent in a suggestively large number of the men to occupy their proper places on parade. From the city there was reported exodus of men whose names were enrolled for military service. On the walls were posted codes of instructions as to the correct manner of loading rifles. Authority was given to the system now introduced whereby improvised battalions of National Guards elected their own officers—a system from which deplorable results were soon to arise.
Gates along the line of fortifications were now closed against traffic, except to persons bearing special permits. Musters taken of so-called “effective” combatants, prepared, according to declarations by themselves, to defend the capital to the death, gave their number, including all classes[278] of troops, approximately at 400,000. Among us foreigners hints circulated that neither by Trochu nor other superior officer were hopes of ultimate success entertained, taking into account the kind of material so extemporised. M. Thiers had proceeded on his mission to the Governments of Europe; hopes accordingly entertained that intervention by England, Russia, and Austria, singly or united, might be brought about. It was an open secret that sympathy of the principal leaders, civil and military, within the capital were more in favour of the past regime than of that now entered upon, their hopes that by some means or other restoration might be effected, a siege and probable bombardment averted. Those hopes were soon destroyed; information circulated that the terms on which further proceedings on the part of the Germans could be arrested, included such items as a heavy money indemnity,[279] the retrocession of Alsace and Lorraine, as also of half the French fleet.
In the streets and everywhere else within the city filth and otherwise objectionable matters had accumulated to a very unpleasant degree; means of conservancy and cleansing were deficient; the atmosphere polluted by odours of decomposition. A separate police force to take the place of the Gens d’Armes extinguished on the day of Revolution had not yet been established; crimes of violence were the more remarkable in their infrequency when that circumstance is taken into account, together with the heterogeneous elements of which the defensive forces were now composed.
The plot thickens; information reaches us which leaves no doubt but that Paris is encircled by the enemy. Within the city there is general commotion; in battalions and smaller bodies newly raised levies march towards Vincennes; trains of ambulance carriages wend their way in the same direction. Official notices affixed to walls direct that all men liable to military service should report themselves within twenty-four hours at the rendezvous of their respective corps, under penalty of being proceeded against as deserters. In striking contrast to all this turmoil was the sight of several elderly men and others calmly and peacefully fishing in the Seine; their prize an occasional gudgeon two inches long or thereabout!
At this point some representatives of Great Powers quitted the beleaguered city with the intention of proceeding to Tours, where it was stated another Government than that of the capital was in process of formation. Among those who did so was the British Ambassador. The Consul of Paris had already proceeded on leave of absence, the outcome of the state of affairs so created being that upwards of two thousand persons claiming the rights and privileges of British subjects were left without official representative. Colonel Claremont, Military Secretary, to his great credit, speedily returned within the ramparts, and remained with the besieged until the defeat at Champigny left the question of capitulation a matter of only a few weeks to be decided. By no means did all the Foreign Representatives quit the capital. Among those who remained were the Minister and Consul-General of the United States; the Ministers of Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Neither did the Persian Ambassador withdraw from his official position in Paris.
The corps of Sergeants de Ville is re-introduced; itinerant musicians parade the streets, their favourite instruments the barrel-organ, harp, and violin; beggars become numerous and demonstrative. Parties of Mobiles march excitedly, and in an irregular manner, in various directions, no one knowing the why or wherefore of their movements; some to the sound of drum and bugle, others without such instruments. A report circulates that outside the ramparts the members of that force fired upon each other instead of at the enemy; they were said to have arrested their commander on the plea that he held communication with the Prussians. A tax was put upon meat and bread sold in shops; supplies from without had all but ceased; Rentes were down to 54.15. The general demeanour of the masses in ill accord with the conditions in which their capital now was.
From the day on which intelligence of the great defeat at Sedan reached Paris, a degree of enthusiasm became manifest among official classes and private individuals, in regard to arrangements for possible sick and wounded, which contrasted very favourably with the confusion and indecision in military affairs already recorded. The ordinary military hospitals under administration of the Intendance were equipped to their utmost extent; various large buildings fitted up as annexes thereto; societies of various kinds, and pertaining to different nationalities, established hospitals, or ambulances sedentaires as such places came to be called, at different points throughout the city; several clubs were similarly transformed, and numerous private families made what arrangements they could for the reception of sick or wounded men in case of emergency. The medical faculty of the capital volunteered their services in a body; ladies devoted themselves to “ambulance” work in a manner and on a scale never before witnessed, while volunteers as brancardiers gave their names in numbers beyond requirements even according to the most liberal estimates of probable casualties. Thus it came about that provision was complete for 37,000 patients.