(h) The inferior military qualities of a large portion of the citizen-soldiers.

(i) Social immorality. For a long time past piety and moral earnestness have been much shaken in French society; the cancer of frivolity and immorality has eaten into the heart of the people.

That several of the defects above enumerated are real is beyond all question, even when allowance is made for those which are perhaps more theoretical than actual. Some had special reference to the episode of the war from which France was about to emerge heavily crippled; others have a prospective significance; nor is it easy to conceive of success, so long as they are permitted to continue.

Adverting to the non-military qualities already mentioned, and to the conduct in face of the enemy displayed by the extemporised citizen-soldiers, to whom per force of circumstances the defence of Paris had to a considerable extent to be confided, the fact is noteworthy and suggestive that, having become to some extent acquainted with the use of arms and with war, they became transformed into very dangerous elements when the Commune was declared. It was then that they fought resolutely against the Versailles forces, and committed many of the atrocities by which that occasion was to be disgraced.[315] Of the troops belonging to the regular army, however, it is their due to observe that in actual combat the gallantry displayed by them could not be exceeded; no more could their patient endurance under the difficulties, privations, and general hardships incidental to the siege. But individual qualities were overbalanced by the disadvantages and evils just enumerated.

No sooner had the gates of Paris been opened, under provision of the armistice, than my coadjutor[316] with the Germans performed to me the good and brotherly act of bringing for myself, and for distribution among my friends and other persons whom I knew to be in necessitous circumstances, not only liberal supplies of food, but also considerable sums of money, contributed by charitable persons to me unknown. It was a source of lively satisfaction to be able thus to aid individuals and some institutions; and in the performance of that most pleasant task several incidents occurred the recollection of which is still fresh. A few examples must suffice. One lady, to whom I carried a fowl, among other articles, was prostrate in bed, her physical powers reduced by starvation to an extremely low ebb. When I told her that she was simply dying from want of food, her reply was that she really had no appetite; she did not think she could eat anything if she had it; yet when I supplied her with some savoury morsels to be used at once, and then the fowl to be cooked later on, her face brightened, she half raised herself in bed, and clutched the little articles I had brought to her. Another lady, to whom I presented some balls of butter, rolled up separately in bits of newspaper, did not delay to unfold the packet, but took a mouthful of the whole, including butter and paper. Being informed that I had a few red herrings for distribution, she next day drove to my hotel in her well-equipped carriage to receive one[317] of those savoury fish. The “Little Sisters of the Poor” were astounded and delighted to be presented with a small cartload of mutton, bread, eggs, butter, and various other articles; for the aged paupers, to whose care till death they devoted themselves, had been reduced to extreme want, not a few having succumbed under their privations. In accordance with invitation from the Lady Superior, I visited their establishment to receive expressions of gratitude from its inmates, and in the course of my visit was shown through a ward in the uppermost storey into which a Prussian shell had penetrated, and where some of the old, decrepid inmates had there and then died of fright. A Roman Catholic Seminary sent a representative to express the thanks of its inmates for supplies given to them. As I subsequently was informed, the nurses in an ambulance that I similarly aided danced round the table on which the supplies were displayed, while they invoked blessings on my head. Some British subjects to whom I was able to give assistance in food and money were most grateful. As regards myself, what I most craved for, and indulged in when opportunity offered, was fried fat bacon and fruit, more especially apples.

CHAPTER XXXIII
1871. MARCH. ENEMIES WITHIN PARIS

German troops enter—​“Occupation” ended—​Troubles within—​Officier de la Légion d’Honneur—​Destruction by war—​Visit to Versailles—​Review by German Emperor—​Railway ambulance—​Communists on Montmartre—​Mission ended.

The representative statues in the Place de la Concorde were enshrouded; guards placed on either side of positions to be occupied by the Germans. On the morning of March 1, the head of a dense column of troops was seen approaching the Arc de Triomphe; that monument passed, the “Army of Occupation” steadily made its way downwards along the Champs Elysées. In front of all rode a young officer, fair in complexion, his face pale, lips compressed, expression grave and resolute; his name, as we subsequently learned, Bershardy, lieutenant in the 14th Prussian Hussars. Some signs of disturbance were shown among French onlookers; they were quickly suppressed; all knew that the guns of Mont Valérien pointed towards the city; that by them stood German gunners. All through the morning troops poured in, until 30,000 men—​the number agreed upon—​were within their assigned places; among them the Leib Regiment of Bavaria, the losses of which in the war exceeded numerically its strength when leaving Germany. It was now that the striking contrast in physique, tenue, and discipline presented by the newly-arrived forces, as compared with those to whom we had been so long accustomed, was strikingly apparent to all spectators; doubtless to Parisians themselves.