The war was popular in Paris. The journals clamored for it, and the violent republican papers, whatever they may now say to the contrary, were among the most blatant. The Emperor, personally, was opposed to war. He was suffering from the acute disease which afterward killed him, and was naturally depressed and despondent. He would gladly have avoided hostilities, but he was pushed into them. They persuaded him, too, that the continuance of his dynasty, the succession of his son, demanded war; and this was the one ruling motive which governed both his conduct and that of the Empress. The Emperor was by no means the omnipotent potentate he was popularly supposed to be. He was scarcely a free agent. It was his misfortune to be surrounded by a crowd of adventurers—French carpet-baggers. The best men of France, the gentry of the country, held aloof. The Emperor felt this, and often tried to reconcile them. Had he reigned ten years longer, I think that he would have succeeded. There were signs of relenting. He was consequently thrown, for his high officers of state, upon a class of clever adventurers. Look at his last cabinet before the Revolution of September. One member was most unenviably known for the loot of the Summer Palace at Pekin; another is now in Mazas, convicted of swindling; and a third, it was currently reported in Paris, received one hundred thousand francs in the Transcontinental, Memphis, and El Paso swindle; and I have heard from high Prussian authority that when the gates of Paris were opened after the siege, and the Germans sold flour and cattle and sheep to meet the pressing necessities of the starving Parisians, of a flock of three thousand sheep not one was permitted to enter the city till this gentleman had received two francs a head.
I have said that the Emperor was scarcely a free agent. Here is an anecdote in point. Prince Metternich, the Austrian Embassador, returning from Vienna, called to pay his respects at the palace. The Emperor asked him what military news there was in Austria. He replied that they were arming with the Remington breech-loader. "The Remington," said the Emperor, "what is that? I thought I knew all the principal breech-loaders, but I never heard of that." Metternich explained. "Where is Remington?" said the Emperor. The Prince replied that he happened to be in Paris. "I wish you would bring him to me, and do you bring him yourself; this will insure my seeing him." Metternich brought him. The Emperor examined his piece, and was much pleased with it. He wrote a note with his own hand to the Minister of War, Le Bœuf, and told Remington to take it at once: of course he was received without delay. "So, my good friend, you have seen the Emperor, have you?" "Yes, sir, I had the honor to see his Majesty." "Well, you won't see him again:" and he did not. This was the way the Emperor was served. Le Bœuf was the capable and well-informed Minister of War who stated in the Assembly that France was thoroughly prepared for the field—"not a button on a gaiter was wanting." When the sad truth became known, the French wits said that his statement was literally correct, for there was not a gaiter in store.
But while the war was popular in Paris, it was not so in the provinces. After the Revolution broke out, the Provisional Government found in the Tuileries a number of important historical documents, and among them reports from the prefects of the different departments on this subject. They breathed one tone. The people wanted peace; but if they were attacked, if the honor of France were at stake, they were ready to fight. Considering the source whence this information came, from imperial prefects, creatures of the Government, there was no mistaking the pacific feeling of the country.
[CHAPTER XII.]
Germans forbidden to leave Paris.—Afterward expelled.—Large Number in Paris.—Americans in Europe.—Emperor's Staff an Incumbrance.—French Generals.—Their Rivalries.—False News from the Front.—Effect in Paris.—Reaction.—Expulsion of Germans.—Sad Scenes.—Washburne's Action.—Diplomatic Service.—Battle of Sedan.—Sheridan at Sedan.
And now began our labors at the Legation, increasing from day to day, until we had thirteen distinct nationalities under our charge, European and South American. Nor was this all. The citizens of other countries—countries which had not formally asked our protection—came to us for assistance. This was particularly the case with Mexico and Roumania. There was a large colony of Mexicans in Paris, and Mexico had no representative in France. The diplomatic relations which were suspended by the Mexican war are still unrenewed, notwithstanding the friendly efforts of our Government. As regards Roumania, its position is peculiar. Nominally it is under the suzerainty of Turkey, and the Turk claims to represent it abroad. But Roumania does not acquiesce in this claim, and appoints its own agents, who are quasi-recognized by the powers to whom they are accredited. There was a large number of Roumanian students in Paris at the outbreak of the war. These young men were left quite destitute during the siege. The French Government behaved very generously by them. At Mr. Washburne's suggestion, it made them a monthly allowance, sufficient for their support.
The French Government had at first decided that no German should leave France to return home. The reason given for this harsh measure was that every German was a soldier, and would go to swell the enemy's ranks. It was very hard on the Germans in France. They were thrown out of employment, insulted, liable to violence, and sometimes assaulted, and, in addition to all this, were treated as insoumis at home, and subject to severe punishment for neglect of military duty. Mr. Washburne remonstrated against this measure, and wrote an able dispatch to the Duke de Gramont, claiming the right of the Germans, under all recognized international law, to leave France if they wished to do so. It was in vain. But now came a change of ministry. The Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne became Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Government took precisely the opposite course, and decided to expel the Germans. Again Mr. Washburne intervened, claiming that this was as much a violation of international law as the other course. All he could obtain was, that the decree should be executed with leniency, and that liberal exceptions should be made in individual cases of special hardship. But the French press called for the expulsion of the Germans, and the Corps Législatif passed a resolution that they should be expelled en masse.
As soon as the decree was published in the Journal Officiel, and placarded on the walls of Paris, they came in shoals to the Legation. From seven o'clock in the morning till five in the afternoon, when we closed the office, they fairly besieged us. Five hundred often collected in the street at once. We were compelled, though reluctantly, to ask for the aid of the police, both as a protection to the Germans themselves against the mob, and for our own convenience. We had six gendarmes constantly on duty. It was almost impossible to get up our own stairs, and Americans who had business at the Legation complained of the impossibility of getting in. I found a side-entrance through a neighbor's apartment, of which I revealed the secret to some of my countrymen.