Permission having been given, no time was lost in the preparations for departure. On the 24th of October, forty-eight Americans and several Russians went out by Créteil. A number of English started, but were turned back. Their names had not been sent to Versailles in season. Permission was subsequently received, and they left Paris a few days later. We drove to the French outposts, and thence sent forward the flag with an officer of Trochu's staff, and Mr. Washburne's private secretary, Mr. Albert Ward, who was charged with the necessary arrangements on our side. While we waited, a German picket of six men advanced toward us, dodging behind the trees, muskets cocked, and fingers on trigger. I confess I was not much impressed with this specimen of German scouting. It looked too much like playing at North American Indian. There were some twenty traveling-carriages, open and closed, filled with ladies, and piled up with baggage. The party had as little of a military look as can well be imagined, and yet the picket advanced as if they feared an ambush.
The necessary arrangements having been made, we proceeded to the German outposts. Here the Prussian officers verified the list, calling the roll name by name, and taking every precaution to identify the individuals. I heard afterward, however, that a Frenchman of some prominence had escaped disguised as a coachman.
I met here a young American, who was living not far from Versailles, and who was known to Count Bismarck. I gave him a couple of morning papers. That evening he dined with Bismarck, and offered to sell him the papers for a quart bottle of Champagne for the big one, and a pint bottle for the little one. Bismarck offered a quart bottle for both; but my American indignantly rejected the terms: so Bismarck accepted his, and paid the bottle and a half. I record this as perhaps the only diplomatic triumph ever scored against Count de Bismarck.
[CHAPTER XVII.]
Mob seize Hôtel de Ville.—"Thanksgiving" in Paris.—Prices of Food.—Paris Rats.—Menagerie Meat.—Horse-meat.—Eatable only as Mince.—Government Interference.—Sorties.—Are Failures.—Le Bourget taken by French.—Retaken by Prussians.—French Naval Officers.—Belleville National Guard.—Their Poetry.—Blundering.—Sheridan's Opinion of German Army.
Late in October, M. Thiers came into Paris on a peace mission, but met with no success. He brought the news of the fall of Metz. There was great excitement in Paris. The mob collected, marched to the Hôtel de Ville, and took possession. They arrested several members of the Government, and shut them up—others escaped. They then proceeded to depose the Government, and to set up one of their own. Ducrot begged Trochu to let him fire on the mob; he could disperse them, he said, in five minutes. The Mobiles were eager to fire; for the Mobiles and the National Guard lived like cat and dog together. Trochu would not consent. The insurgents remained in possession of the Hôtel de Ville all that night, and the next day gradually melted away. It was one of those unfortunate mob triumphs which contributed not a little to the success of the Commune.
The siege found about two hundred Americans in Paris. I ought to say "citizens of the United States;" but we have taken to ourselves the broader title, and in Europe it is generally accorded to us. Of these two hundred about fifty went away, and about one hundred and fifty remained. The French live from hand to mouth, buying only what is necessary for the day, and laying no stores in. This comes, I think, from their system of living in apartments, and the want of store-rooms. The Americans, as a rule, laid in a stock of provisions. The grocers of Paris had imported a large quantity of canned food for the use of the colonie américaine, which was then, and still is, a power in Paris. The greater part of the colonie having gone, there remained a quantity of canned vegetables, fruit, deviled ham and turkey, oysters, lobsters, etc., etc., and, above all, hominy and grits. The French knew nothing of these eatables till late in the siege, when they discovered their merits. In the mean time the Americans had bought up nearly all there was on hand.
As Thanksgiving approached we determined to celebrate it, notwithstanding our supposed forlorn condition. Some thirty of us met at a restaurant on the Boulevard, where we feasted on the traditional turkey, or, rather, on two of them, at twelve dollars apiece. Under the circumstances, we had quite an Epicurean repast. Mr. Washburne presided, and made a humorous speech, dwelling provokingly on the good things our unbesieged countrymen were then enjoying at home. Professor Shepherd, of Chicago, was present, and made some clever and appropriate remarks. The Professor has written one of the most readable and reliable books upon the siege I have met with.