The loss of Le Bourget produced great discontent among the Parisians; and Trochu was blamed, and most justly. He made an effort to retake it, but in vain. The sailors, under their gallant officers, made a spirited assault, but were repulsed with great loss; for they were not supported by the soldiers. The officers made every effort to lead them on, but they would not assault.
The French naval officers are a very superior class of men. They compare most favorably with those of any other nation. They are painstaking, intelligent, and well-informed. Under their command the sailors fought gallantly during the war, for there was a large number of them detailed to the army, as they had little to do at sea. They felt strongly the deterioration of their sister service, the army. At Versailles I was once dining at a restaurant near a naval officer. An army officer, accompanied by two non-commissioned officers, entered, called loudly for dinner, and made a great disturbance. They were evidently the worse for liquor. I overheard the naval officer muttering to himself, "Cette pauvre armée française! cette pauvre armée française!"
There was always blundering. They had shut up a brigade of cavalry in Paris. Jerome Bonaparte, who commanded one of the regiments, told me he had no idea why he was ordered in, unless it was to eat up his horses. This they proceeded to do so soon as they were fairly trained, and so doubled in value. Trochu organized a sortie to the north-west. Two columns left Paris one night by different gates, and were to take up their positions simultaneously and attack at daylight. He forgot that one road crossed the other, and that one column must necessarily halt for the other to pass. Of course one of them arrived late on the ground, and the attack failed. When a sortie was to be made, a flag was hoisted on Mount Valérien. The Germans soon knew its meaning as well as the French, and prepared accordingly. An intended sortie was known at least twenty-four hours before it took place, and its chances discussed on the boulevards. The National Guard, too, with some honorable exceptions, would not fight. The heroes of Belleville howled to be led against the enemy. They got as far as the barriers, and refused to go farther. "They were enlisted to defend Paris, and they would not go beyond the enceinte; the Reactionists wanted to get them out, that they might deliver Paris over to the enemy." There was a popular song they sung as they marched through the streets which perfectly illustrates their sentiments and character:
"Nous partons,
ons, ons,
Comme des moutons,
Comme des moutons,
Pour la boucherie,
rie, rie.
"On nous massacra,