[161] George Sand, Correspondance, V. 317.
[162] Ibid., 250.
CHAPTER X
THE WAR AND PREPARATION FOR THE SIEGE OF PARIS
1870
“Nous serons vaincus. Il n’y a qu’à voir le désordre, l’impossibilité des armements.”—George Sand to Mme. Adam, August 18, 1870.
For years a few clear-sighted Frenchmen had seen the German Peril approaching. Now it was at the gates of France. George Sand and Edmond Adam had been more afraid of the “Anglo-Saxon Contagion.” They had been inclined to scoff at Nefftzer’s jeremiads;[163] but now, alas! they proved to be only too well founded.
The Adams in the anguish of their souls recalled their memorable drive,[164] in the spring of 1869, along the Corniche Road, in the company of Nino Bixio, the Garibaldian hero, who was then Commander-in-Chief of the Italian army. Bixio had just returned from Germany, whither he had gone at Victor Emmanuel’s command in order to ascertain the precise condition of the Prussian army. Bixio had come back firmly convinced that Bismarck was preparing war against France.