CHAPTER XIII

We were now rid of our Landwehr, who were garrisoned at Phalsbourg, but

a part of whom were sent off into the interior. They were indignant,

and declared that if they had known that they were to be sent farther,

the blockade would have lasted longer; that they would have let the

cows, the bullocks, and the bread find their way in, many a time, in

spite of their chiefs; and that it was infamous to expose them to new

dangers when every man had done his part in the campaign.

There was no enthusiasm in them; but, all the same, they marched in

step in their ranks, and were moved some on Belfort, some on Paris.

We learned, through the German newspapers, that they had severer

sufferings to endure round Belfort than with us; that the garrison made

sorties, and drove them several leagues away; that their dead bodies

were rotting in heaps, behind the hedges, covered with snow and mud;

that the commander, Denfert, gave them many a heavy dig in the ribs;

and every day people coming from Alsace told us that such an one of the

poor fellows whom we had known had just been struck down by a ball,

maimed by a splinter or a shell, or bayoneted by our Mobiles. We could

not help pitying them, for they all had five or six children each, of

whom they were forever talking; and naturally, for when the parent-bird

dies the brood is lost.

And all this for the honor and glory of the King of Prussia, of

Bismarck, of Moltke, and a few heroes of the same stamp, not one of

whom has had a scratch in the chances of war.

How can one help shrugging one's shoulders and laughing inwardly at

seeing these Germans, with all their education, greater fools than

ourselves? They have won! That is to say, the survivors; for those

who are buried, or who have lost their limbs, have no great gain to

boast of, and can hardly rejoice over the success of the enterprise.

They have gained--what? The hatred of a people who had loved them;

they have gained that they will be obliged to fight every time their

lords or masters give the order; they have gained that they can say

Alsace and Lorraine are German, which is absolutely no gain whatever;

and besides this they have gained the envy of a vast number of people,

and the distrust of a vast many more, who will end by agreeing together

to fall upon them in a body, and treat them to fire and slaughter and

bombardment, of which they have set us the example.

This is what the peasants, the artisans, and the bourgeois have gained:

as for the chiefs, they have won some a title, some a pension or an

epaulette: others have the satisfaction of saying, "I am the great

So-and-So! I am William, Emperor of Germany; a crown was set on my

head at Versailles, whilst thousands of my subjects were biting the

dust!"

Alas! notwithstanding all this, these people will die, and in a hundred

years will be recognized as barbarians; their names will be inscribed

on the roll of the plagues of the human race, and there they will

remain to the end of time.

But what is the use of reasoning with such philosophers as these? In

time they will acknowledge the truth of what I say!

Now to our story again.

They were fighting furiously round Belfort; our men did not drop off

asleep in casements; they occupied posts at a distance all round the

place: their sortie from Bourcoigne, and their slaughter of the

Bavarians at Haute-Perche, were making a great noise in Alsace.

We learned from the _Independance_ the battles of Chanzy at Vendome

against the army of Mecklenburg; the fight by General Cremer at Nuits

against the army of Von Werder; the retreat of Manteuffel toward

Amiens, after having overwhelmed Rouen with forced contributions; the

bayonet attack upon the villages around Pont-Noyelles, in which

Faidherbe had defeated the enemy; and especially the grand measures of

Gambetta, who had at last dissolved the Councils-General named by the

Prefects of the Empire, and replaced them by really Republican

departmental commissions.

Cousin George highly approved of this step. This was of more

importance in his eyes than the decrees of our Prussian Prefet Henckel

de Bonnermark; though he had inflicted heavy fines upon the fathers and

mothers of the young men who had left home to join the French armies,

and had laid Lorraine, already ruined by the invasion, under a

contribution of 700,000 livres to compensate the losses suffered by the

German mercantile marine; plundering decrees which went nigh to tearing

the bread out of our mouths.

Then George passed on to the campaign of Chanzy; for what could be

grander than this struggle of a young, inexperienced army, scarcely

organized, against forces double their number, commanded by the great

Prussian general who had been victorious at Woerth, Sedan, and Metz,

over the whole of the Imperial troops?

George especially admired the noble protest of Chanzy, proclaiming to

the world the ferocity of the Germans, and pointing out with pride the

falsehoods of their generals, who invariably claimed the victory.

"The Commander-in-Chief lays before the army the subjoined protest,

which he transmits, under a flag of truce, to the commander of the

Prussian troops at Vendome, with the assurance that his indignation

will be shared by all, as well as his desire to take signal revenge for

such insults.

"To the Prussian commander at Vendome:

"I am informed that unjustifiable acts of violence have been committed

by troops under your orders upon the unoffending inhabitants of St.

Calais. In spite of our humane treatment of your sick and wounded,

your officers have exacted money and commanded pillage. Such conduct

is an abuse of power, which will weigh heavily upon your consciences,

and which the patriotism of our people will enable them to endure; but

what I cannot permit is, that you should add to these injuries insults

which you know full well to be entirely gratuitous.

"You have asserted that we were defeated; that assertion is false. We

have beaten you and held you in check since the 4th of this month. You

have presumed to attach the name of coward to men who are prevented

from answering you; pretending that they were coerced by the Government

of National Defence, which, as you said, compelled them to resist when

they wanted peace, and you were offering it. I deny this: I deny it by

the right given me by the resistance of entire France and this army

which confronts you, and which you have been hitherto unable to

vanquish. This communication reaffirms what our resistance ought

already to have taught you. Whatever may be the sacrifices still left

us to endure, we will struggle to the very end, without truce or pity;

since now we are resisting the attacks not of loyal and honorable

enemies but of devastating bands who aim solely at the ruin and

disgrace of a nation, which itself is striving to maintain its honor,

rank, and independence. To the generous treatment we have accorded to

your prisoners and wounded, your reply is insolence, fire, and plunder.

I therefore protest, with deep indignation, in the name of humanity and

the rights of men, which you will trample underfoot.

"The present order will be read before the troops at three consecutive

muster-calls.

"CHANZY, _Commander-in-Chief_,

"HEAD-QUARTERS, _Le Mans, 26th December, 1870._"

These are the words of an honorable man and a patriot, words to make a

man lift up his head.

And as Manteuffel, whose only merit consists in having been during his

youth the boon companion of the pious William; as this old courtier

followed the same system as Frederick Charles and Mecklenburg, of

lowering us to raise themselves, and to get their successes cheap;

General Faidherbe also obliged him to abate his pride after the affair

of Pont-Noyelles.

"The French army have left in the hands of the enemy only a few

sailors, surprised in the village of Daours. It has kept its

positions, and has waited in vain for the enemy until two o'clock in

the afternoon of the next day."

This was plain speaking, and it was clear on which side good faith was

to be looked for.

Thus, after having opposed a million of men to 300,000 conscripts,

these Germans were even now obliged to lie in order not to discourage

their armies.

Of course they could not but prevail in the end: France had had no time

to prepare anew, to arm, and to recover herself after this disgraceful

capitulation of the _honest man_ and his friend Bazaine; but still she

resisted with terrible energy, and the Prussians at last became anxious

for peace too, and wished for it, perhaps, even more than ourselves.

The proof of this is the numberless petitions of the Germans entreating

King William to bombard Paris.

Humane Germans, fathers of families, pious men, seated quietly by their

counters at Hamburg, Cologne, or Berlin, in every town and village of

Germany, eating and drinking heartily, warming their fat legs before

the fire during this winter of unexampled severity, cried to their king

at Christmas time to bombard Paris, and set fire to the houses--to kill

and burn fathers and mothers of families like themselves, but reduced

to famine in their own dwellings!

Have any but the Germans ever done the like?

We too have besieged German towns, but never have petitions been sent

up like this under the Republic, or under the Empire, to ask our

soldiers to do more injury than war between brave men requires. And

since that period we have never uselessly shelled houses inhabited by

inoffensive persons; and even when we have had to bombard walled towns,

warning was given, as at Odessa and everywhere else, to give helpless

people time to depart for the interior, if they did not want to run the

risk of meeting with stray bullets; and permission was given to old

men, women, and children to come out--a privilege never granted by the

Prussians.

Ah! the French may not be so pious, so learned, and so good as the

_good German people_, but they have better hearts and feelings of

compassion; they have less of the Gospel upon their lips, but they have

it in the bottoms of their souls. They are not hypocrites, and

therefore we Alsacians and Lorrainers had rather remain French than

belong to the _good German people_, and be like them.

Indignities without a precedent have been committed by them:

"Shell--bombard--burn, in the name of Heaven! Set fire everywhere with

petroleum bombs!--You are too gracious a king!--Your scruples betray

too much weakness for this Babylon: Bombard quick: Bombardments have

succeeded better than anything else. Sire, your good and faithful

people entreat you to bombard everything--leave nothing standing!"

Oh! scoundrels!--rascals!--if you have so often played the saint for

fifty years; if you have talked so edifyingly about friendship,

brotherhood, and the alliance of nations, it was because you did not

then think yourselves the strongest; now that you think you are, you

piously bombard women, old men, and children, in the name of the

Saviour! Faugh! it is simply disgusting!

Every time that Cousin George read these assassins' petitions, he would

spring off his chair and cry: "Now I know what to think of fanatics of

every religion. These men have no need to play the hypocrite: their

religion does not oblige them to it. Well, they play the Jesuit for

the love of it, better than we do by profession. May they be execrated

and despised perpetually."

Then he dilated with much warmth of feeling upon the kind reception

which the Parisians, in former days, used to accord to the Germans, for

forty years and more. Men who came to seek a livelihood among us,

without a penny, lean, humble, half-clad, with a little bundle of old

rags under their arms, asking for credit, even in George's and Marie

Anne's little inn, for a basin of broth, a bit of meat, and a glass of

wine, were kindly received; they were cheered up, and situations found

for them: everybody was anxious to put them in the right way, to

explain to them what they did not know. Soon they grew fat and

flourishing, and gained assurance; by servility they would win the

confidence of the head-clerk, who showed them all about the business;

and then some fine morning it was noised about that the head-clerk was

discharged and the German was in his place. He had had a private

interview with the head partner, and had proposed to do the work for

half the salary. Of course the partners are always glad to have good

workmen, humble and obsequious, and, above all, cheap. George had

witnessed this fifty times.

But people did not get angry; they would say,

"The poor fellow must earn a living somehow. The other is a Frenchman:

he will very soon secure another place."

And it was thus that the Germans slipped quietly into the shoes of

those who had received them kindly and taught them their trade.

A few old clerks used to get angry; but they were always held to be in

the wrong. "_That good German_" was justified! He had not meddled;

everything had gone on simply and naturally.

And twenty, thirty, fifty thousand Germans used thus to come and

prosper in Paris; and then they would get a holiday to take a turn home

and exhibit the flesh and fat they had gained, and their gold trinkets.

If they happened to be professors of languages or newspaper

correspondents, they were sure to break out down there against the

corruption of manners in this "modern Babylon." Great hulking fellows

they were, with long hooded cloaks, and gold or silver spectacles, who

had scandalized even their doorkeepers by bringing home night after

night "princesses" of Mabile and elsewhere, singing, drinking like a

sponge, shaking all the house, and preventing people from sleeping;

bringing, besides, other colleagues of the same stamp, and leading

disgraceful lives!

But it is the fashion in Germany to cry out against "modern Babylon."

It flatters the secret envy of the Germans, and establishes the

character of the speaker for seriousness, gravity, and influence; as a

man worthy of every consideration, and who may hope--if his situation

in Paris is permanent--for the hand of "Herr Rector's" or "Herr

Doctor's" fair daughter: for in that country they are all doctors in

something or other. He had gone off as cold and comfortless as the

stones in the street; he would have become a school-master, or a small

clerk at a couple of hundred thalers all his life, in old Germany. He

weighed heavily upon his poor father, encumbered with a dozen children;

but he had grown fat, well-feathered, and well-trained in Paris; and

there he is now virtuously indignant against our own townswomen:

against the degenerate race which has given him his daily bread, and

pulled him out of the mire, instead of kicking him downstairs.

This German fellow used to be republican, socialist, communist, etc.

He had fled from Cologne, or elsewhere, in consequence of the events of

1848. Nothing in our opinion was sufficiently strong, decided, or

advanced for him. He spouted about his sacrifices for the universal

Republic, his terrible campaign in the Duchy of Baden against the

Prussians, the loss of his place, of his property. We thought, what

sufferings he has endured! Surely, the Germans are the first Democrats

in the world!

But now this very same gentleman is the most faithful servant of his

Majesty William, King of Prussia, Emperor of Germany. No doubt he

talks at Berlin of the sacrifices which he has made to the noble cause

of Germany, the battles he has fought in the public-houses amongst the

broken bottles of beer which he has been swallowing by the dozen, to

reclaim old Alsace, where lie deep the roots of the Germanic tongue.

He abounds in indignation against the "modern Babylon;" his name stands

at the head of the earliest petitions that Babylon should be burned,

till nothing but ashes were left: that that race of madmen should be

exterminated; and as during his residence in France he has rendered

police services to Bismarck, he is pretty sure to obtain a post in

Alsace-Lorraine, where all these old German spies are swooping down to

Germanize us.

Thus spoke George, in his indignation; and Marie Anne, after listening

to him, said: "Ah, it is too true! Those men did deceive us; and they

did not even pay their debts. Some fine morning, when their bill had

run up, three-fourths of them would make a start, and they were never

heard of again. I have never had any confidence in any of them, except

the crossing-sweepers and the shoe-blacks: one knew where to find them;

but as for the professors, the newspaper correspondents, the inventors,

the book-worms--they have done us too many bad turns; and they were too

overbearing. They were filled with hatred and envy of our nation."

Since the departure of the Landwehr, we were able to speak more freely:

those sulky eavesdroppers were no longer spying upon us, and we felt

the relief.

Paris, as we saw in the _Independance_, was making sorties. The Gardes

Mobiles and the National Guards were being drilled and becoming better

skilled in the use of arms. Our sailors, in the forts, were admirable.

But the Germans grew stronger from day to day; they had brought such

enormous guns--called Krupp's--that the railways were unable to bear

them, the tunnels were not high enough to give them passage, and the

bridges gave way under their ponderous mass. This proves that if the

bombardment had not yet commenced, in spite of the innumerable

petitions of _the good Germans_, it was not for want of will on the

part of his Majesty King William, Messieurs Moltke, Bismarck, and all

those good men. Oh, no! our forts and our sorties hampered them a good

deal in gaining their positions!

At last, about the end of December, "by the grace of God," as the

Emperor William said, they began by bombarding a few forts, and were

soon enabled to reach houses, hospitals, churches, and museums.

George and Marie Anne knew all these places by name, and these

ferocious acts drew from them cries of horror. I, my wife, and Gredel

could not understand these accounts: having never been in Paris, we

could not form an idea of it.

The German news-writers knew them, however; for daily they told us how

great a misfortune it was to be obliged to shell such rich libraries,

such beautiful galleries of pictures, such magnificent monuments, and

gardens so richly stocked with plants and rare collections; that it

made their hearts bleed: they professed themselves inconsolable at

being driven to such an extremity by the evil dispositions of those who

presumed to defend their property, their homes, their wives, their

children, contrary to every principle of justice! They pitied the

French for their want of common-sense; they said that their brains were

addled; that they were in their dotage, and uttered similar absurdities.

But every time that they lost men, their fury rose: "The Germans are a

sacred race! Kill Germans! a superior race! it is a high crime. The

French, the Swiss, the Danes, the Dutch, Belgians, Poles, Hungarians,

even the Russians, are destined to be successively devoured by the

Germans." I have heard this with my own ears! Yes, the Russians, too,

they cannot dispense with the Germans; their manufactures, their trade,

their sciences come to them from Germany; they, too, belong to an

inferior race. The renowned Gortschakoff is unworthy to dust the boots

of Monsieur Bismarck, and the Emperor of Russia is most fortunate in

being allied by marriage to the Emperor William: it is a glorious

prerogative for him!

The captain, Floegel, used often to repeat these things; and besides,

the Germans all say the same at this time; you have but to listen to

them: they are too strong now to need to hide their ambition. They

think they are conferring a great honor upon us Alsacians and

Lorrainers in acknowledging us as cousins, and gathering us to

themselves out of love. We were a superior race in "that degenerate

France;" but we are about to become little boys again amongst the noble

German people. We are the last new-comers into Germany, and shall

require time to acquire the noble German virtues: to become hypocrites,

spies, bombarders, plunderers; to learn to receive slaps and kicks

without winking. But what would you have? You cannot regenerate a

people in a day.

The Prussians had announced that Paris would surrender after an

eight-days' bombardment; but as the Parisians held out; as there were

passing by Saverne innumerable convoys of wounded, scorched, maimed,

and sick by thousands; as General Faidherbe had gained a victory in the

North, the victory of Bapaume, in which we had driven the Prussians

from the field of battle all covered with their dead, and in which the

enemy had left in our hands not only all their wounded, but a great

number of prisoners; as the inhabitants of Paris had only one fault to

find with General Trochu, that he did not lead them out to the great

battle, and they were raising the cry of "victory or death;" since

Chanzy, repulsed at Le Mans, was falling back in good order, while in

the midst of the deep snows of January and the severest cold, Bourbaki

was still advancing upon Belfort; and Garibaldi with his francs-tireurs

was not losing courage; since the Germans were suffering from

exhaustion; and it takes but an hour, a minute, to turn all the chances

against one; and if Faidherbe had gained his victory nearer to Paris a

great sortie would have ensued, which might have entirely changed the

face of things--for these and other reasons, I suppose, all at once

there was much talk of humanity, mildness, peace; of the convocation of

an assembly at Bordeaux, where the true representatives of the nation

might settle everything, and restore order to our unhappy France.

As soon as these rumors began to spread, George said that Alsace and

German Lorraine were to be sacrificed; that our egotists had come to an

understanding with the Germans; that all our defeats had been unable to

cast us down, and the Prussians were better pleased than ourselves to

come to an end of it, for they needed peace, having no reserves left to

throw into the scale; that Gambetta's enthusiasm and courage might at

once win over the most timid, and that then the Germans would be lost,

because a people that rises in a body, and at the same time possesses

arms and munitions of war in a third of our provinces, such a nation in

the long run would crush all resistance.

I could say nothing. Even to-day I do not know what might have

happened. When Cousin George spoke, I was of his opinion; and then,

left to my own reflections, when I saw that immense body of prisoners

delivered by Bonaparte and Bazaine all at once; all our arms

surrendered at Metz and Strasbourg, and our fortresses fallen one after

another; then the ill-will, to say the least of all the former

place-holders under the Empire, three-fourths of whom were retaining

their posts--I thought it quite possible that we might wage against the

Germans a war much more dangerous than the first; that we might destroy

many more of the enemy at the same time with ourselves; but, if I had

been told to choose, I should have found it hard to decide.

Of course, if the Prussians had been defeated in the interior, before

abandoning our country, they would have ruined us utterly, and set fire

to every village. I have myself several times heard a _Hauptmann_ at

Phalsbourg say, "You had better pray for us! For woe to you, if we

should be repulsed! All that you have hitherto suffered would be but a

joke. We would not leave one stone upon another in Alsace and

Lorraine. That would be our defensive policy. So pray for the success

of our armies. If we should be obliged to retire, you would be much to

be pitied!"

I can hear these words still.

But I would not have minded even that: I would have sacrificed house,

mill, and all, if we could only have finally been victorious and

remained French; but I was in doubt. Misery makes a man lose, not

courage, but confidence; and confidence is half the battle won.

About that time we received Jacob's first letter; he was at Rastadt,

and I need not tell you what a relief it was to his mother to think

that she could go and see him in one day.

Here is the letter, which I copy for you:

"MY DEAR FATHER AND MY DEAR MOTHER,--

"Thank God, I am not dead yet; and I should be glad to hear from you,

if possible. You must know that, on arriving at Luetzelbourg, we were

sent off by railway in cattle-trucks. We were thirty or forty

together; and we were not so comfortable as to be able to sit, since

there were no seats, nor to breathe the air, as there was only a small

hole to each side. Those of us who wanted to breathe or to drink,

found a bayonet before our noses, and charitable souls were forbidden

to give us a glass of water. We remained in this position more than

twenty hours, standing, unable even to stoop a little. Many were taken

ill; and as for me, my thigh bones seemed to run up into my ribs, so

that I could scarcely breathe, and I thought with my comrades that they

had undertaken to exterminate us after some new fashion.

"During the night we crossed the Rhine, and then we went on rolling

along the line, and travelling along the other side as far as Rastadt,

where we are now. The hindmost trucks, where I was, remained; the

others went on into Germany. We were first put into the casemates

under the ramparts; damp, cold vaults, where many others who had

arrived before us were dying like flies in October. The straw was

rotting--so were the men. The doctors in the town and those of the

Baden regiments were afraid of seeing sickness spreading in the

country; and since the day before yesterday those who are able to walk

have been made to come out. They have put us into large wooden huts

covered in with tarred felt, where we have each received a fresh bundle

of straw. Here we live, seated on the ground. We play at cards, some

smoke pipes, and the Badeners mount guard over us. The hut in which I

am--about three times as large as the old market-hall of Phalsbourg--is

situated between two of the town bastions; and if by some evil chance

any of us took a fancy to revolt, we should be so overwhelmed with shot

and shell that in ten minutes not a man would be left alive. We are

well aware of this, and it keeps our indignation within bounds against

these Badeners, who treat us like cattle. We get food twice a day--a

little haricot or millet soup, with a very small piece of meat about

the size of a finger: just enough to keep us alive. After such a

blockade as ours, something more is wanted to set us up; our noses

stand out of our faces like crows' bills, our cheeks sink in deeper and

deeper; and but for the guns pointed at us, we should have risen a

dozen times.

"I hope, however, I may get over it; father's cloak keeps me warm, and

Cousin George's louis are very useful. With money you can get

anything; only here you have to pay five times the value of what you

want, for these Badeners are worse than Jews; they all want to make

their fortunes in the shortest time out of the unhappy prisoners.

"I use my money sparingly. Instead of smoking, I prefer buying from

time to time a little meat or a very small bottle of wine to fortify my

stomach; it is much better for my health, and is the more enjoyable

when your appetite is good. My appetite has never failed. When the

appetite fails, comes the typhus. I do not expect I shall catch

typhus. But, if it please God to let me return to Rothalp, the very

first day I will have a substantial meal of ham, veal pie, and red

wine. I will also invite my comrades, for it is a dreadful thing to be

hungry. And now, to tell you the truth, I repent of having never given

a couple of sous to some poor beggar who asked me for alms in the

winter, saying that he had nothing, I know what hunger is now, and I

feel sorry. If you meet one in this condition, father or mother,

invite him in, give him bread, let him warm himself, and give him two

or three sous when he goes. Fancy that you are doing it for your son;

it will bring me comfort.

"Perhaps mother will be able to come and see me: not many people are

allowed to come near us; a permit must be had from the commandant at

Rastadt. These Badeners and these Bavarians, who were said to be such

good Catholics, treat us as hardly as the Lutherans. I remember now

that Cousin George used to say that was only part of the play: he was

right. Instead of only praising and singing to our Lord, they would

much better follow His example.

"Let mother try! Perhaps the commandant may have had a good dinner;

then he will be in a good temper, and will give her leave to come into

the huts: that is my wish. And now, to come to an end, I embrace you

all a hundred times; father, mother, Gredel, Cousin George, and Cousin

Marie Anne.

"Your son,

"JACOB WEBER.

"I forgot to tell you that several out of our battalion escaped from

Phalsbourg before and after the muster-call of the prisoners: in the

number was Jean Baptiste Werner. It is said that they have joined

Garibaldi: I wish I was with them. The Germans tell us that if they

can catch them they will shoot them down without pity; yes, but they

won't let themselves be caught; especially Jean Baptiste; he is a

soldier indeed! If we had but two hundred thousand of his sort, these

Badeners would not be bothering us with their haricot-soup, and their

cannons full of grape-shot.

"RASTADT, _January_ 6, 1871."

From that moment my wife only thought of seeing Jacob again; she made

up her bundle, put into her basket sundry provisions, and in a couple

of days started for Rastadt.

I put no hindrance in her way, thinking she would have no rest until

she had embraced our boy.

Gredel was quite easy, knowing that Jean Baptiste Werner was with

Garibaldi. I even think she had had news from him; but she showed us

none of his letters, and had again begun to talk about her

marriage-portion, reminding me that her mother had had a hundred louis,

and that she ought to have the same. She insisted upon knowing where

our money was hidden, and I said to her, "Search; if you can find it,

it is yours."

Girls who want to be married are so awfully selfish; if they can only

have the man they want, house, family, native land, all is one to them.

They are not all like that; but a good half. I was so annoyed with

Gredel that I began to wish her Jean Baptiste would come back, that I

might marry them and count out her money.

But more serious affairs were then attracting the eyes of all Alsace

and France.

Gambetta had been blamed for having detached Bourbaki's army to our

succor by raising the blockade of Belfort. It has been said that this

movement enabled the combined forces of Prince Frederick Charles, and

of Mecklenburg, to fall upon Chanzy and overwhelm him, and that our two

central armies ought to have naturally supported each other. Possibly!

I even believe that Gambetta committed a serious error in dividing our

forces: but, it must be acknowledged, that if the winter had not been

against us--if the cold had not, at that very crisis of our fate,

redoubled in intensity, preventing Bourbaki from advancing with his

guns and warlike stores with the rapidity necessary to prevent De

Werder from fortifying his position and receiving

reinforcements--Alsace would have been delivered, and we might even

have attacked Germany itself by the Grand Duchy of Baden. Then how

many men would have risen in a moment! Many times George and I,

watching these movements, said to each other: "If they only get to

Mutzig, we will go!"

Yes, in war everything cannot succeed; and when you have against you

not only the enemy, but frost, ice, snow, bad roads; whilst the enemy

have the railroads, which they had been stupidly allowed to take at the

beginning of the campaign, and are receiving without fatigue or danger,

troops, provisions, munitions of war, whatever they want; then if good

plans don't turn out successful, it is not the last but the first

comers who are to be blamed.

But for the heavy snows which blocked up the roads, Bourbaki would have

surprised Werder. The Germans were expecting this, for all at once the

requisitions began again. The Landwehr, this time from Metz, and

commanded by officers in spectacles, began to pass through our

villages; they were the last that we saw; they came from the farthest

extremity of Prussia. I heard them say that they had been three days

and three nights on the railway; and now they were continuing their

road to Belfort by forced marches, because other troops from Paris were

crowding the Lyons railway.

George could not understand how men should come from Paris, and said:

"Those people are lying! If the troops engaged in the siege were

coming away, the Parisians would come out and follow them up."

At the same time we learned that the Germans were evacuating Dijon,

Gray, Vesoul, places which the francs-tireurs of Garibaldi immediately

occupied; that Werder was throwing up great earthworks against Belfort;

things were looking serious; the last forces of Germany were coming

into action.

Then, too, the _Independance_ talked of nothing but peace, and the

convocation of a National Assembly at Bordeaux; the English newspapers

began again to commiserate our loss, as they had done at the beginning

of the war, saying that after the first battle her Majesty the Queen

would interpose between us. I believe that if the French had

conquered, the English Government would have cried, "Halt--enough! too

much blood has flown already."

But as we were conquered, her Majesty did not come and separate us; no

doubt she was of opinion that everything was going on very favorably

for her son-in-law, the good Fritz!

So all this acting on the part of the newspapers was beginning again;

and if Bourbaki's attempt had prospered, the outcries, the fine

phrases, the tender feelings for our poor human race, civilization and

international rights would have redoubled, to prevent us from pushing

our advantages too far.

Unhappily, fortune was once more against us. When I say fortune, let

me be understood: the Germans, who had no more forces to draw from

their own country, still had some to spare around Paris, which they

could dispose of without fear: they felt no uneasiness in that quarter,

as we have learned since.

If General Trochu had listened to the Parisians, who were unanimous in

their desire to fight, Manteuffel could not have withdrawn from the

besieging force 80,000 men to crush Bourbaki, 120 leagues away; nor

General Van Goeben 40,000 to fall upon Faidherbe in the north; nor

could others again have joined Frederick Charles to overwhelm Chanzy.

This is clear enough! The fortune of the Germans at this time was not

due to the genius of their chiefs, or the courage and the number of

their men; but to the inaction of General Trochu! Yes, this is the

fact! But it must also be owned that Gambetta, Bourbaki, Faidherbe,

and Chanzy ought to have allowed for this.

However, France has not perished yet; but she has been most unfortunate!

The cold was intense. Bourbaki was approaching Belfort; he took

Esprels and Villersexel at the point of the bayonet; then all Alsace

rejoiced to hear that he was at Montbeliard, Sar-le-Chateau, Vyans,

Comte-Henaut and Chusey; retaking all this land of good people, more

ill-fated still than we, since they knew not a word of German, and that

bad race bore them ill-will in consequence.

Our confidence was returning. Every evening George and I, by the

fireside, talked of these affairs; reading the paper three or four

times over, to get at something new.

My wife had returned from Rastadt full of indignation against the

Badeners, for not having allowed her to see Jacob, or even to send him

the provisions she had brought. She had only seen, at a distance, the

wooden huts, with their four lines of sentinels, the palisades, and the

ditches that surrounded them. Gredel, Marie Anne, and she, talked only

of these poor prisoners; vowing to make a pilgrimage to Marienthal if

Jacob came back safe and sound.

Fatigue, anxiety, the high price of provisions, the fear of coming

short altogether if the war went on, all this gave us matter for

serious reflection; and yet we went on hoping, when the _Independance_

brought us the report of General Chanzy upon the combats at Montfort,

Champagne, Parigne, l'Eveque, and other places where our columns,

overpowered by the 120,000 men of Frederick Charles and the Duke of

Mecklenburg, had been obliged to retire to their last lines around Le

Mans. That evening, as we were going home upon the stroke of ten,

George said: "I don't believe much in pilgrimages, although several of

my old shipmates in the _Boussole_ had full confidence in our Lady of

Good Deliverance: I have never made any vows; these are no part of my

principles; but I promise to drink two bottles of good wine with

Christian in honor of the Republic, and to distribute one for every

poor man in the village if we gain the great battle of to-morrow.

According to Chanzy our army is driven to bay; it has fallen back upon

its last position, and the great blow will be struck. Good-night."

"Good-night, George and Marie Anne."

We went out by moonlight, the hoar-frost was glittering on the ground;

it was the 15th of January, 1871.

The next day no _Independance_ arrived, nor the next day; it often had

missed, and would come three or four numbers together. Fresh rumors

had spread; there was a report of a lost battle; the Landwehr at

Phalsbourg were rejoicing and drinking champagne.

On the 18th, about two in the afternoon, the foot-postman Michel

arrived. I was waiting at my cousin's. We were walking up and down,

smoking and looking out of the windows; Michel was still in the

passage, when George opened the door and cried: "Well?" "Here they

are, Monsieur Weber."

My cousin sat at his desk. "Now we will see," said he, changing color.

But instead of beginning with the first, he opened the second, and read

aloud that report of Chanzy's in which he said that all was going on

well the evening before; but that a panic which seized upon the Breton

Mobiles had disordered the army, without the possibility of either he

or the Vice-Admiral Jaurreguiberry being able to check or stop it; so

that the Prussians had rushed pell-mell into the unhappy city of Le

Mans, mingled with our own troops, and taken a large body of prisoners.

I saw the countenance of my cousin change every moment; at last, he

flung the journal upon the table, crying: "All is lost!"

It was as if he had pierced my heart with a knife. Yet I took up the

paper and read to the end. Chanzy had not lost all hope of rallying

his army at Laval, and Gambetta was hastening to join him, to support

him with his courageous spirit.

"There now," said George, "look at that!"

Placiard was passing the house arm-in-arm with a Landwehr officer,

followed by a few men; they were making requisitions, and entered the

house opposite. "There is the Plebiscite in flesh and blood. Now that

scoundrel is working for his Imperial Majesty William I., for the

Germans have their emperor, as we have had ours; they will soon learn

the cost of glory; each has his turn! By and by, when the reins are

tightened, these poor Germans will be looking in every direction to see

if the French are not revolting; but France will be tranquil: they

themselves will have riveted their own chains, and their masters will

draw the reins tighter and tighter, saying: 'Now, then, Mechle!*

Attention! eyes right; eyes left. Ah! you lout, do you make a wry

face? I will show you that might is right in Germany, as everywhere

else, if you don't know it already. Whack! how do you like that,

Mechle? Aha! did you think you were getting victories for German

Fatherland and German liberty, idiot? You find out now that it was to

put yourself again under the yoke, as after 1815; just to show you the

difference between the noble German lord and a brute of your own sort.

Get on, Mechle!'"

* Nickname for the Germans, answering to the English "John Bull," and

the French "Jaques Bonhomme."

George exclaimed: "How miserable to be surprised and deluged as we have

been daily by six hundred thousand Germans, and to have our hands bound

like culprits, without arms, munitions, orders, chiefs, or anything!

Ah! the deputies of the majority who voted for war would not demand

compulsory service; they feared to arm the nation. They would not risk

the bodies of their own sons; the people alone should fight to defend

their places, their salaries, their chateaux, their property of every

sort! Miserable self-seekers! they are the cause of our ruin! their

names should be exposed in every commune, to teach our children to

execrate them."

He was becoming embittered, and it is not surprising, for every day we

heard of fresh reverses: first the surrender of Veronne, just when

Faidherbe was coming to deliver it, and the retreat of our army of the

North upon Lille and Cambrai, before the overwhelming forces of Van

Goeben, fresh from Paris; then the grand attack of Bourbaki from

Montbeliard to Mont Vaudois, which he had pursued three successive

days, the 15th, 16th, and 17th January without success, on account of

the reinforcements which Werder had received, and the horrible state of

the roads, broken up by the rain and the snow; lastly, the arrival of

Manteuffel, with his 80,000 men, also from Paris--to cut off his

retreat.

Then we understood that the Landwehr had been right in telling us that

they were getting reinforcements from Paris; and George, who understood

such things better than I, suddenly conceived a horror for those who

were commanding there.

"Either," he said, "the Parisians are afraid to fight--which I cannot

believe, for I know them--or the men in command are incapable--or

traitors. Hitherto relieving armies have been sent in support of a

besieged city; now we see the besiegers of a city twice as strong as

themselves in men, arms, and munitions of every kind, detaching whole

armies to crush our troops fighting in the provinces: the thing is

incredible! I am certain that the Parisians are demanding to be led

out, especially as they are suffering from famine. Well, if sorties

were taking place, the Germans would want all their men down there, and

would be unable to come and overwhelm our already overtasked armies."

Let them explain these things as they will, George was right. Since

the Germans were able to send away from Paris 40,000 men in one

direction, and 80,000 in another, evidently they were free to undertake

what they pleased; instead of surrounding the city with troops, they

might have set helmets and cloaks upon sticks all round, for

scarecrows, as they do to keep sparrows out of a corn-field.

Here, then, is how we have lost: it was the incapacity of the man who

was commanding at Paris, and the weakness of the Government of

Defence--and especially of Monsieur Jules Favre!--who, when they ought

to have replaced this orator by a man of action, as Gambetta demanded,

had not the courage to fulfil their duty. Everybody knows this; why

not say it openly?

The only thing which cheered us a little about the end of this terrible

month of January, was to learn that the francs-tireurs had blown up the

bridge of Fontenoy, on the railroad between Nancy and Toul. But our

joy was not of long duration; for three or four days after,

proclamations posted at the door of the mayoralty-house gave notice

that the Germans had utterly consumed the village of Fontenoy, to

punish the inhabitants for not having denounced the francs-tireurs; and

that all we Lorrainers were condemned, for the same offence, to pay an

extraordinary contribution of ten millions to his Majesty, the Emperor

of Germany. At the same time, as the French workmen were refusing to

repair this bridge, the Prussian prefect of La Menotte wrote to the

Mayor of Nancy:

"If to-morrow, Tuesday, January 24, at twelve o'clock, five hundred men

from the dockyards of the city are not at the station, first the

foremen, then a certain number of the workmen, will be arrested and

shot immediately."

This prefect's name was Renard--"Count Renard."

I mention this that his name may not be forgotten.

But all this was nothing, compared with what was to follow. One

morning the Prussians had given me a few sacks of corn to grind; I

dared not refuse to work for them, as they would have crushed me with

blows and requisitions: they might have carried me off nearly to Metz

again, they might even have shot me. I had pleaded the snow, the ice,

the failure of the water, which prevented me from grinding;

unfortunately, rain had fallen in abundance, the snow was melting, the

mill-dam was full, and on the 2d or 3d of February (I am not sure

which, I am so confused) I was piling up the sacks of that wicked set

in my mill; Father Offran and Catherine were helping; Gredel, upstairs,

was dressing herself, after sweeping the house and lighting the kitchen

fire. It was about eight o'clock in the morning, when looking out into

the street by chance, where the water was rattling down the gutters, I

saw George and Marie Anne coming.

My cousin was taking long strides, his wife coming after him; farther

on a Landwehr was coming too: the people were sweeping before their

doors, without caring how they bespattered the passers-by. George,

near the mill, cried out, "Do you know what is going on?"

"No--what?"

"Well, an armistice has been concluded for twenty-one days; the Paris

forts are given up: the Prussians may set fire to the city when they

please. Now they may send all their troops and all their artillery

against Bourbaki; for the armistice does not extend to the operations

in the east."

George was pale with excitement, his voice shook. Gredel, at the top

of the stairs, was hastily twisting her hair into a knot.

"Look, Christian," said my cousin, pulling a paper out of his pocket;

"the armies of Bourbaki and Garibaldi are surrendered by this

armistice. Manteuffel has come down from Paris with 80,000 men to

occupy the passes of the Jura in their rear: the unfortunate men are

caught as in a vice, between him and Werder; and all who have escaped

from the hands of the Prussians and taken service again, like our poor

Mobiles of Phalsbourg, will be shot!"

While cousin was speaking, Gredel had come downstairs, without even

putting on her slippers; she was leaning against him, as pale as death,

trying to read over his shoulder; when suddenly she tore the paper from

his hands. George wished he had said nothing; but it was too late!

Gredel, after having read with clinched teeth, ran off like a mad

woman, uttering fearful screams: "Oh! the wretches! ... Oh! my poor

Jean Baptiste! ... Oh! the thieves! ... Oh! my poor Jean Baptiste!"

She seemed to be seeking something to fight with. And as we stood

confounded at her outcries, I said: "Gredel, for Heaven's sake don't

scandalize us in this way. The people will hear you from the other end

of the village!" She answered in a fury: "Hold your tongue! You are

the cause of it all!"

"I!" said I, indignantly.

"Yes, you!" she shrieked, with a terrible flashing in her eyes: "you,

with your Plebiscite; deceiving everybody by promising them peace! You

deserve to be along with Bazaine and the rest of them."

And my wife cried: "That girl will be the death of us."

She had sat down upon the stairs. Marie Anne, with her hands clasped,

said: "Do forgive her; her mind is going."

Never had I felt so humbled; to be treated thus by my own daughter!

But Gredel respected nothing now; and Cousin George, trying to get in a

word, she exclaimed: "You! you! an old soldier! Are you not ashamed of

staying here, instead of going to fight? The Landwehr are as old as

you, with their gray hairs and their spectacles; they don't make

speeches; they all march. And that's why we are beaten!"

At last I became furious; and I was looking for my cowhide behind the

door, to bring her to her senses, when, unfortunately, a Landwehr came

in to ask if the flour was ready. The moment Gredel caught sight of

him, she uttered such a savage shriek that my ears still tingle with

it, and in a second she had laid hold of her hatchet; George had

scarcely time to seize her by her twisted back hair, when the hatchet

had flown from her hand, whizzing through the air, and was quivering

three inches deep in the door-post.

The Landwehr, an elderly man, with great eyes and a red nose, had seen

the steel flash past close to his ear; he had heard it whiz, and as

Gredel was struggling with George, crying: "Oh, the villain; I have

missed him!" he turned, and ran off at the top of his speed. I ran to

the mill-dam, supposing he was going to the mayor's, but no, he ran a

great deal farther than that, and never stopped till he reached Wechem.

Then Gredel became aware that she had made a mistake; she went up into

her room, put on her shoes, took her basket, went into the kitchen for

a knife and a loaf, and then she left the house; running down the other

side of the hill to gain the Krapenfelz, where our cow was with several

others, under the charge of the old rag-dealer.

"This is a very bad business," said George, fixing his eyes upon me;

"that Landwehr will denounce you: this evening the Prussian gendarmes

will be here. I'm sure I don't know, my poor Christian, where you got

that girl from; amongst those who have gone before us, there must have

been some very different from your poor mother, and grandmother

Catherine."

"What would you have," said Marie Anne; "she is fond of her Jean

Baptiste." And I thought: "If he but had her now; it is not I would

refuse them permission to marry now; no, not I. I only wish they were

married already!"

I was thinking how I might settle this dangerous business. George said

we must overtake the Landwehr, and slip three or four cent-sous pieces

in his hand, to induce him to hold his tongue: the Prussians are

softened with money. But where could he be found now? How was he to

be overtaken? I had no longer my two beautiful nags. So I resolved to

leave it all to Providence.

To my great surprise, the Landwehr never returned. That same day two

other Germans, with Lieutenant Hartig, came to take an invoice of the

flour, without mentioning that affair: one would have thought that

nothing had occurred. The next day, and the day after that, we were

still in painful expectation; but that man gave no sign of appearing.

No doubt he must have been a marauder; one of those base fellows who

enter houses without orders, to receive requisitions of every kind, to

sell again in the neighboring villages; such things had been done more

than once since the arrival of the Germans. This is the conclusion I

came to by and by; but at that time the fear of seeing that fellow

returning with the gendarmes, left me no peace; every minute my wife,

standing at the door, would say: "Christian, run! Here are the

Prussian gendarmes coming!"

For a cow, or a Jew astride upon a donkey at the end of the road, she

would throw one into fits.

Gredel remained a week in the woods in the Krapenfelz. Every day the

woodman brought her news of what was going on in the village. At last

she came back, laughing; she went up into her room to change her

clothes, and resumed her work without any allusion to the past. We did

not want to start the subject of Jean Baptiste again; but she herself,

seeing us dispirited, at last said to us: "Pooh! it's all right now.

There; look at that!"

It was a letter from Jean Baptiste Werner, which she had received among

the rocks on the Krapenfelz. In that letter, which I read with much

astonishment, Werner related that he had at first wished to join

Garibaldi at Dijon; but that for want of money he had been obliged to

stop at Besancon, where the volunteers of the Vosges and of Alsace were

being organized; that upon the arrival of Bourbaki, he had enlisted as

a gunner in the 20th corps. Two days after there were engagements at

Esprels and Villersexel, where more than four thousand Prussians had

remained on the field. The cold was extraordinary. The Prussians,

repulsed by our columns, had retired from village to village, on the

other side of the Lisaine, between Montbeliard and Mont Vaudois. There

Werner, behind a deep ravine, had mounted batteries of

twenty-four-pounders, well protected, on three stages, one over

another; his army and his reinforcements were concentrated and securely

intrenched. In spite of this, Bourbaki, wanting to relieve Belfort and

descend into Alsace, had given orders for a general assault, and all

that country, for three days, resembled a sea of smoke and flame under

the tremendous fire of the hostile armies. Unhappily, the passage

could not be forced; and the exhaustion of munitions, the fatigue, the

sharp sufferings of cold and hunger--for there were no stores of

clothing and provisions in our rear--all these causes had compelled us

to retire, but in the hope of renewing the assault; when all at once

the news spread that another German army was standing in our line of

retreat, near Dole: a considerable army, from Paris. They had hurried

to get clear as far as possible by gaining Pontarlier; but these fresh

troops had a great advantage over us. Werder, also, was following us

up; and we were going to be surrounded on all sides around Besancon.

Jean Baptiste went on to say that then Bourbaki had attempted his own

life, and was seriously wounded; that General Clinchamp had then

assumed the command-in-chief; but that all these disasters would not

have hindered us from arriving at Lyons, across the Jura, if the Maires

of the villages had not published the armistice, causing the army to

neglect to secure a line of retreat; that a great number had even lain

down their arms and withdrawn into the villages; that the Prussians had

kept advancing, and that only in the evening, when they had occupied

all the passes, General Manteuffel declared that the armistice did not

extend to operations in the east, and that our army must lay down their

arms, as those of Sedan and Metz had done! But the soldiers of the

Republic refused to surrender, and they had made a passage through the

ice, the snow, and thousands of Prussian corpses, to Switzerland.

Jean Baptiste Werner related, in this long letter, full particulars of

all that he had suffered; the attacks delivered by the corps of General

Billot, who was charged to protect the retreat, upon the rocks, at the

foot of precipices, in all the deep passes where the enemy lay in wait

to cut off our retreat; how many of our poor fellows had perished of

cold and hunger! And then the admirable reception given to our unhappy

soldiers by the noble Swiss, who had received them not as strangers,

but as brothers: every town, village, and house, was opened to them

with kindness. It is manifest that the Swiss are a great people; for

greatness is not to be measured by the extent of a country, and the

number of the inhabitants, as the Germans suppose; but by the humanity

of the people, the elevation of their character, their respect for

unsuccessful courage, their love of justice and of liberty.

How much help have the Swiss sent us in succor, in money, in clothing,

in food, in seed corn, for our poor fellow-countrymen ruined by the

war! It came to Saverne, to Phalsbourg, to Petite Pierre--everywhere.

Ah, we perceived then that heaven and earth had not altogether deserted

us; we saw that there were yet brave hearts, true republicans; that all

men were not born for fire, pillage, and slaughter; that there are men

in the world besides hypocrites--true Christians, inspired by Him who

said to men: "love one another; ye are brethren." He would not have

invented petroleum bombshells, or declared that brute-force dominated

over right, like those barbarians from the other side of the Rhine.

That letter of Jean Baptiste Werner's pleased me; it was clear that he

was a brave man and a good patriot. But in the meanwhile, the policy

of Bismarck and Jules Favre went on its way. The order of the day was,

"elect deputies to sit in the assembly at Bordeaux," which was to

decide for peace, or the continuance of the war: the twenty-one days'

armistice had no other object, it was said.

So those who did not care to become Prussians took up arms, George and

I the first; myself with the greatest zeal, for every day I reproached

myself with that abominable Plebiscite as a crime. And now began the

old story again: no Legitimists, no Bonapartists, no Orleanists could

be found; all cried: "We are Republicans. Vote for us!"

But in every part of the country through which the Prussians had gone,

the Plebiscite was remembered; the people were beginning to understand

that this unworthy farce was our ruin, and that men should be judged by

their actions, not their words.

At Strasbourg, at Nancy, all who desired to remain French nominated two

lists of old republicans, who immediately started for Bordeaux.

Gambetta was elected by us and by La Meurthe; he was also elected in

many other departments, with Thiers, Garibaldi, Faidherbe, Chanzy, etc.

These elections once more revived our hopes. We supposed that

everything had taken place in the West and the South as with us.

Gambetta, who never lost his sound judgment in critical moments, had

declared that all the old official deputies of Bonaparte, all the

senators, councillors of State, and prefects of the Empire, were

disqualified for election. George commended him. "When a spendthrift

devours all his living in debauchery, he is put under restraint; much

more, therefore," he urged, "ought men to be restrained who have

devoured the wealth of the nation and put our two finest provinces in

jeopardy. All these men ought forever to be held incapable of

exercising political functions."

But Bismarck, who relied chiefly on the old Imperial functionaries, by

way of testifying his gratitude to the _honest man_ for all he had done

for Prussia--for his noble behavior at Sedan, and his gift of Metz to

his Majesty, William--protested against this manifesto by Gambetta: he

declared that the elections would not then be free, and that liberty

was so dear to his heart, that he had rather break the armistice than

in any way cramp the freedom of the elections.

George, on hearing this, broke out into a rage. "What," he cried,

"this Bismarck, who has warned the Prussian deputies to be careful of

their expressions in speaking of the nobleness and the majesty of King

William, 'because laws exist in Prussia against servants who presume to

insult their masters'--this very Bismarck comes here to defend liberty,

and support the accomplices of Bonaparte! Oh! these defenders of

liberty!"

Unhappily, all this was useless; the Prussians were already in the

forts of Paris, and the menaces of Bismarck had more weight in France

than the words of Gambetta. Therefore, once more we had to yield to

his Majesty, William, and many of our deputies are indebted to him for

their admission into the Chambers of Bordeaux.

These defenders of the Republic immediately showed that they were not

ungrateful to Bismarck; for they hissed Garibaldi, who had come from

Italy, old, sick, and infirm, with his two sons, to fight the enemies

of France, and uphold justice, when all Europe held aloof!

Garibaldi was not even allowed to reply: these representatives of the

people hissed him down! He calmly withdrew!

The Sunday following--I am ashamed to say it--our cure Daniel, and many

other cures in our neighborhood, preached that Garibaldi was a

_canaille_. I am not condemning them; I am simply stating a fact.

They had received orders from their bishops, and they obeyed; for the

poor country priest is at his bishop's mercy, and under his orders,

like a whip in a driver's hand; if he disobeys, he is turned out! I

know that many would rather have been silent than said such things, and

I pity them!

Well, Bismarck might well laugh; he had more friends among us than was

believed. Those who want to make their profits out of nations, always

come to an understanding; their interests and their enemies are the

same.

Then the Assembly of Bordeaux voted peace. No hard matter; only

involving the sacrifice of Alsace and Lorraine, and five milliards as

an indemnity for the trouble which the Prussians had taken in

bombarding, devastating, and stripping us!

Then our unhappy deputies of Alsace and Lorraine were declared to be

German by their French brothers, against every feeling of justice; for

nobody in the world had the right to make Germans of us; to rend us

from the body of our French mother-country, and fling us bleeding into

the barbarian's camp, as a lump of living flesh is thrown to a wild

beast, to satisfy it; no, no one in the world had this right. We alone

freely ought to choose, and decide by our own votes, whether we would

become Germans or remain French. But with Bismarck and William, right,

liberty, and justice are powerless; might is everything. Our sorrowing

deputies at last protested:

"The representatives of Alsace and Lorraine, previous to any

negotiations for peace, have laid upon the table of the National

Assembly a declaration, by which they affirm, in the clearest and most

emphatic language, that their will and their right is to remain

Frenchmen.

"Delivered up, in contempt of justice, and by a hateful exercise of

power, to the dominion of the foreigner, we have one last sad duty to

fulfil.

"We again declare null and void a compact which disposes of us against

our consent.

"The revindication of our rights remains forever open to each and all,

after the form and in the measure which our consciences may dictate.

"In taking leave of this Chamber, in which it would be a lowering of

our dignity to sit longer, and in spite of the bitterness of our

sorrow, our last impulse is one of gratitude for the men who for six

months have never ceased to defend us; and we are filled with a deep

and unalterable love for our mother-country, from which we are

violently torn.

"We will ever follow you with our prayers; and with unshaken confidence

we await the future day when regenerated France shall resume the course

of her high destiny.

"Your brothers of Alsace and Lorraine, separated at this moment from

the common family, away from their home, will ever cherish a filial

affection for their beloved France, until the day when she shall come

to reclaim her place among us."

These were their words.

Monsieur Thiers asked them if they knew any other way of saving France?

No reply was made. Unfortunately there was none: after the

capitulation of Paris, the sacrifice of an arm was needful to save the

body.

Half the deputies were already thinking of other things; peace made,

they only thought of naming a king, and of decapitalizing Paris, as the

newspapers said, to punish it for having proclaimed the Republic! All

these people, who had presented themselves before the electors with

professions of republicanism, were royalists.

Gambetta, having accepted the representation of the Bas Rhin (Alsace),

left the chamber with the deputies; and other old republicans,

contemptuously hissed whenever they opened their mouths, gave in their

resignations.

Paris was agitated. A rising was apprehended.

About that time, early in March, 1871, Prussian tax-collectors,

controllers, _gardes generaux_, and other functionaries, came to

replace our own; we were warned that the French language would be

abolished in our schools, and that the brave Alsacians who felt any

wish to join the armies of the King of Prussia, would be met with every

possible consideration; they might even be admitted into the guard of

his Royal and Imperial Majesty. About this time, an old friend of

Cousin George's, Nicolas Hague, a master saddler, a wealthy and highly

respectable man, came to see him from Paris.

Nicolas Hague had bought many vineyards in Alsace; he had planned,

before the war, to retire amongst us, as soon as he had settled his

affairs; but after all the cruelties perpetrated by the Germans, and

seeing our country fallen into their hands, he was in haste to sell his

vineyards again, not caring to live amongst such barbarians.

George and Marie Anne were delighted to receive this old friend; and

immediately an upstairs room was got ready for him, and he made himself

at home.

He was a man of fifty, with red ears, a kind of collar of beard around

his face, large, velvet waistcoat adorned with gold chains and seals; a

thorough Alsacian, full of experience and sound common-sense.

His wife, a native of Bar-le-Duc, and his two daughters were staying

with their relations; they were resting, and recruiting their strength

after the sufferings and agonies of the siege; he was as busy as

possible getting rid of his property; for he looked upon it as a

disgrace to bring into the world children destined to have their faces

slapped, in honor of the King of Prussia.

I remember that on the second day after his arrival, as we were all

dining together at my cousin's, after having explained to us his views,

Nicolas Hague began telling us the miseries of the siege of Paris. He

told us that during the whole of that long winter, every day, were seen

before the bakers' shops and the butchers' stalls strings of old men

half clothed, and poor women holding their children, discolored with

the cold, close in their arms, waiting three or four hours in rain,

snow, and wind, for a small piece of black bread, or of horse flesh;

which often never came! Never had he heard any of these unhappy people

expressing any desire to surrender; but superior officers and staff

officers had shamelessly declared, from the earliest days of the siege,

that Paris could not hold out! And these men, formerly so proud of

their rank, their epaulettes, and their titles, who were solely charged

to defend us, and to uphold the honor of the nation, discouraged by

their language those who were trusting in them, and whose bread they

had eaten for years passed in useless reviews and parades, in frivolous

fetes at St. Cloud, at Compiegne, the Tuileries, and elsewhere.

According to Nicolas Hague, all our disasters, from Sedan to the

capitulation of Paris, were attributable to the disaffection of the

staff officers, the committees, and those former Bonapartist

place-holders, who knew well that if the Republic drove out the

Prussians, nobody in the world would be able to destroy it; and as they

did not care for the Republic, they acted accordingly.

"There is a great outcry at the present moment against General Trochu,"

said he, "principally got up by the Bonapartists, who, in their hearts,

reproach him with having supported France rather than their dynasty.

They make him responsible for all our calamities; and many Republicans

are simple enough to believe them. But, when it is remembered that

this man arrived only at the last moment, when all was lost already;

when the Prussians were advancing by forced marches upon Paris; when

MacMahon was forsaking the capital, _by order of the Emperor_, to go to

Sedan, to get the army crushed down there which was to have covered us;

when it is remembered that at that moment Paris had no arms, no

munitions of war, no provisions, no troops; that the whole

neighborhood, men, women, and children, were taking refuge in the city;

that wagons full of furniture, hay, and straw were choking the streets;

that order had to be restored amidst this abominable confusion, the

forts armed, the National Guard organized, the inhabitants put upon

rations, etc.; and, then, that all those thousands of men, who did not

know even how to keep in ranks, were to be taught to handle a musket,

to march, and, finally, led under fire;--when all these things are

remembered, it must be acknowledged that, for one man, it was too much,

and that, if faults have been committed, it is not General Trochu who

is to be blamed, but the miserable men who brought us to such a pass.

Above all, let us be just. It is quite clear that, if General Trochu

had had under his orders real soldiers, commanded by real officers, he

might have made great sorties, broken the lines, or at least kept the

Germans busy round the place. But how could I, Nicolas Hague, saddler,

Claude Frichet, the grocer round the corner, and a couple of hundred

thousand others like us, who did not even know the word of command--how

could we fight like old troops? We were not wanting in good will, nor

in courage; but every man to his trade. As for our percussion rifles,

and our flint locks, and a hundred other discouraging things, you feel

utterly cast down when you know that the enemy are well armed and

supported by a terrible artillery. Trochu was well aware of these

things; and I believe that neither he, nor Jules Favre, nor Gambetta,

nor any of those who declared themselves Republicans on the 4th of

September, are responsible for our misfortunes, but only Bonaparte and

his crew!"

At last, having heard Nicolas Hague explain his views, seeing that we

had been delivered up by selfish men--as Cousin Jacques Desjardins had

foreseen four months before--but that the Republic was in existence,

and that no doubt justice would be done upon all who had brought us

into this sad condition, by which means we might rise some day and get

our turn, I had resolved to sell my mill, my land, and everything that

belonged to me in the country, and go and settle in France; for the

sight of Placiard and the other Prussian functionaries, who were

fraternizing together, and shouting, "Long live old Germany!" made my

blood boil. I could not stand it.

Cousin George, to whom I mentioned my design, said: "Then, if all the

Alsacians and Lorrainers go, in five or six years all our country will

be Prussian. Instead of going to America, the Germans will pour in

here by hundreds of thousands; they will find in our country, almost

for nothing, fields, meadows, vineyards, hop-grounds, noble forests,

the finest lands, the richest and most productive in Central Europe.

How delighted would Bismarck and William be if they saw us decamping!

No, no; I'll stay. But this does not mean that I am becoming a

Prussian--quite the contrary. But in this ill-drawn treaty there are

two good articles; the first affirms that the Alsacians and the

Lorrainers, dwelling in Alsace and Lorraine, may, up to the month of

October, 1872, declare their intention of remaining French, on

condition of possessing an estate in France; the second affirms that

the French may retain their landed estates in Germany.

"Well, I at once elect to remain a Frenchman, and I take up my abode in

Paris with my friend Nicolas Hague, who will be happy to do me this

service. I don't want to become a burgomaster, a municipal councillor,

or anything of that kind; it will be enough for me to possess good

land, a thriving business, and a pleasant house. Yes--I intend to

declare at once; and if all who are able to secure an abode in France

will do as I am doing, we shall have German authorities over us, it is

true, but the land and the people will remain French and the land and

the men are everything.

"Were not the old prefets and sous-prefets of the _honest man_

intruders, just as much as these men are? Did they care for anything

but making us pay what the chambers had voted, and compelling us to

elect for deputies old fogies who would be safe to vote whichever way

the Emperor required them? Did they trouble themselves about us, our

commerce, our trade, any farther than merely to draw from us the best

part of our profits for themselves, their friends, their acquaintances,

and all the supporters of the dynasty of the perjurer?

"These new prefets, these _kreis-directors_, these burgomasters, set

over us to defend the Prussian dynasty, will not concern us much more

than the others did. At first they will try mildness; and as we have

been well able to remain French under the prefets of Bonaparte, so we

may live and remain French under those of Emperor William.

"My principal concern is that a large majority should declare as I am

about to do. The fear is lest the Placiards, and other mayors of the

Empire kept in their places by the Prussians, will be able to turn

aside the people from declaring themselves as Frenchmen, by

intimidating them with threats of being looked upon suspiciously, or

even of being expelled; the fear is lest these fellows should keep back

day after day those who are afraid of deciding: for when once the day

is past, those who have not declared for France will be

Prussians--their children will serve and be subject to blows at the age

of twenty, for old Germany; and those who have already fled into France

will be forced to return or renounce their inheritance forever.

"My chief hope now is that the French journals, which are always so

busy saying useless things, will now, without fail, warn the Alsacians

and Lorrainers of their danger, and explain to them that if they

declare for France their persons and their property will be guaranteed

in safety by the treaty; but if they neglect to do so, their persons

and their property fall under the Prussian laws. They would even do

well to furnish a clear and simple form of declaration. By this step,

all who are interested would be clearly informed, and these papers

would have done the greatest service to France.

"As for me, here I stay! I am here upon my own land; I have bought it;

I have paid for it with the sweat of my brow. I will pay the taxes; I

will hold my tongue, that I may be neither worried nor driven away. I

will sell my crops to the Germans as dearly as I can; I will employ

none but Frenchmen; and if the Republic acquires strength, as I hope it

will--for now the people see what Monarchies have been able to do for

us--if the nation transacts its own business wisely, sensibly, with

moderation, good order, and reflection, she will soon rise again, and

will once more become powerful. In ten years our losses will be

repaired: we shall possess well-informed constituencies, national

armies, upright administrations, a commissariat, and a staff very

different from that which we have known.

"Then let the French return; they will find us, as before, ready to

receive them with open arms, and to march at their sides.

"But if they pursue their old course of _coups d'etat_ and revolutions;

if the adventurers, the Jesuits, and the egotists form another

coalition against justice; if they recommence their disgraceful farces

of plebiscites and constitutions by yes and no, with bayonets pointed

at people's throats and with electors of whom one-half cannot read; if

they bestow places again by patronage and recommendation of friends,

instead of honestly throwing them open to competition; if they refuse

elementary education and compulsory military service; if they will

have, as in past times, an ignorant populace, and an army filled with

mercenaries, in order that the sons of nobles and bourgeois may remain

peaceably at home, whilst the poor labor like beasts of burden, and go

and meet their deaths upon battle-fields for masters they have no

concern with:--in a word, if they overthrow the Republic and set up

Monarchy again, then what miseries may we not expect? Poor France,

rent by her own children, will end like Poland; all our conquests of

'89 will be lost. Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, all the free

nations of the Continent will share our fate; the great splay feet of

the Germans will overspread Europe, and we unhappy Alsacians and

Lorrainers will be forced to bow the head under the yoke, or go off to

America."

This speech of George's made me reflect, and I resolved to wait.

Many Alsacians and Lorrainers have thought the same; and this is why M.

Thiers was right in saying that the Republic is the form of government

which least divides us: it is also the only one which can save us. Any

other form of government upon which Legitimists, Orleanists, and

Bonapartists could well meet on common ground, would end in our

destruction. If it should happen that one of these parties succeeds in

placing its prince upon the throne, the next day all the others would

unite and overthrow it; and the Germans, taking advantage of our

division, would seize upon the Franche Comte and Champagne.

The Deputies of the Eight ought to reflect well upon this. It is to

reinstate the country, not a party, that they are at Versailles; it is

to restore harmony to our distracted country, and not to sow fresh

dissensions. I appeal to their patriotism, and, if this is not enough,

to their prudence. New _coups d'etat_ would precipitate us into fresh

revolutions more and more terrible. The nation, whose desire is for

peace, labor, order, liberty, education, and justice for all, is weary

of seeing itself torn to pieces by Emperors and Kings; the nation might

become exasperated against these anglers after Kings in troubled

waters, and the consequences might become terrible indeed.

Let them ponder well; it is their duty to do so.

And all these princes, too--all these shameless pretenders, who make no

scruple of coming to divide us at the crisis when union alone can save

us--when the German is occupying all the strong places on the frontier,

and is watching the opportunity to rend away another portion of our

country! These men who slip into the army through favor; whose

disaffected newspapers impede the revival of trade, in the hope of

disgusting the people with the Republic! These princes who one day

pledge their word of honor, and the day after withdraw it, and who are

not ashamed to claim millions in the midst of the general ruin. Yes,

these men must conduct themselves differently, if they don't wish to

call to remembrance their father Louis Philippe, intriguing with the

Bonapartists to dethrone his benefactor Charles X.; and their

grandfather, Philippe Egalite, intriguing with the Jacobins and voting

the death of Louis XVI. to save his fortune, whilst his son was

intriguing in the army of the North with the traitor Dumouriez to march

upon Paris and overthrow the established laws.

But the day of intrigues has passed by!

Bonaparte has stripped many besides these Princes of Orleans; he has

shot, transported, totally ruined fathers of families by thousands;

their wives and their children have lost all! Not one of these unhappy

creatures claim a farthing; they would be ashamed to ask anything of

their country at such a time as this: the Princes of Orleans, alone,

claim their millions.

Frankly, this is not handsome.

I am but a plain miller; by hard work I have won the half of what I

possess: but if my little fortune and my life could restore Alsace and

Lorraine to France, I would give them in a moment; and if my person

were a cause of division and trouble, and dangerous to the peace of my

country, I would abandon the mill built by my ancestors, the lands

which they have cleared, those which I have acquired by work and by

saving, and I would go! The idea that I was serving my country, that I

was helping to raise it, would be enough for me. Yes, I would go, with

a full heart, but without a backward glance.

And now let us finish the story of the Plebiscite.

Jacob returned to work at the mill; Jean Baptiste Werner also came back

to demand Gredel in marriage. Gredel consented with all her heart; my

wife and I gave our consent cordially.

But the dowry? This was on Gredel's mind. She was not the girl to

begin housekeeping without her hundred livres! So I had again to run

the water out of the sluice to the very bottom, get into the mud again,

and once more handle the pick and spade.

Gredel watched me; and when the old chest came to the light of day with

its iron hoops, when I had set it on the bank, and opened the rusty

padlock, and the crowns all safe and sound glittered in her eyes, then

she melted; all was well now; she even kissed me and hung upon her

mother's neck.

The wedding took place on the 1st of July last; and in spite of the

unhappy times, was a joyful one.

Toward the end of the fete, and when they were uncorking two or three

more bottles of old wine, in honor of M. Thiers and all the good men

who are supporting him in founding the Republic in France, Cousin

George announced to us that he had taken Jean Baptiste Werner into

partnership in his stone quarry. Building stone will be wanted; the

bombardments and the fires in Alsace will long furnish work for

architects, quarrymen, and masons: it will be a great and important

business.

My cousin declared, moreover, that he, George Weber, would supply the

money required; that Jean Baptiste should travel to take orders and

work the quarries, and they would divide the profits equally.

M. Fingado, notary, seated at the table, drew the deeds out of his

pocket, and read them to us, to the satisfaction of all.

And now things are in order, and we will try to regain by labor,

economy, and good conduct, what Bonaparte lost for us by his Plebiscite.

My story is ended; let every one derive from it such reflections and

instruction as he may.