GENERAL BOULANGER.
Up to 1886 the name of General Boulanger commands no place upon
the page of history. After that year it was scattered broadcast.
For four years it was as familiar in the civilized world as that
of Bismarck.
A new word was coined in 1886 to meet a want which the general's
importance had created. That word was _boulangisme_, though it
would be hard to give it a definition in the dictionary. We can
only say that it meant whatever General Boulanger might be pleased
to attempt.
George Ernest Jean Marie Boulanger was born in the town of Rennes,
in Brittany, in 1837.[1] His father had been a lawyer, and was
head of an insurance company. He spent the latter days of his life
at Ville-d'Avray, near Paris; and as he did not die till 1884, he
lived to see his son a highly considered French officer, though he
had not then given promise of being a popular hero and a world-famous
man. General Boulanger's mother was named Griffith; she was a lady
belonging apparently to the upper middle class in Wales. She had
a great admiration for George Washington, and the future French
hero received one of his names from the American "father of his
country." In his boyhood Boulanger was always called George; but
when he came of age he preferred to call himself Ernest, which
is the baptismal name by which he is generally known.
[Footnote 1: Turner, Life of Boulanger.]
In 1851 his parents took him to England to the Great Exhibition.
He afterwards passed some months with his maternal relatives at
Brighton, and was sent to school there; but he had such fierce
quarrels with the English boys in defence of his nationality that
the experiment of an English education did not answer. At the age of
seventeen he was admitted to the French military school at Saint-Cyr,
and two years later was in Algeria, as a second lieutenant in a
regiment of Turcos. His experiences in Africa were of the kind
usual in savage warfare; but he became a favorite with his men,
whom he cared for throughout his career with much of that fatherly
interest which distinguished the Russian hero, General Skobeleff.--
When the war with Italy broke out, in 1859, Boulanger and his Turcos
took part in it. He was severely wounded in his first engagement,
and lay long in the hospital, attended by his mother. He received,
however, three decorations for his conduct in this campaign, in
which he was thrice wounded. On the last occasion, as he lay in
hospital, he received a visit of sympathy from the Empress Eugénie,
then in the very zenith of her beauty and prosperity.
Boulanger's next service was in Tonquin, where on one occasion
he fought side by side with the Spaniards, and received a fourth
decoration, that of Isabella the Catholic.
He was next assigned to home duty at Saint-Cyr; and when the terrible
war of 1870 broke out, and all the cadets were drafted into the
army as officers, he was made major of a regiment, which was at
Mézières, on the Belgian frontier, when MacMahon and the emperor
surrendered at Sedan. Boulanger and his command escaped with Vinoy's
troops from the disaster, and got back to Paris, where he kept
his men in better order during the siege than any other officer.
They took part in the sortie made to join Chanzy's Army of the
Loire, in November, 1870, and in a skirmish with the Prussians
he was again badly wounded. When the Prussian army entered Paris
on March 5, 1871, Boulanger and the regiment under his command
had the unpleasant duty of guarding the streets along their line
of march to insure them a safe passage.
In 1874 when thirty-seven years of age, Boulanger was a colonel,
with the breast of his uniform covered with decorations; but he had
taken no part whatever in politics, and was not known to have any
political views, save that he called himself a fervent Republican,
and personally resented any aristocratic assumptions on the part
of inferior officers.
In 1881 he was sent by the French Government to the United States,
in company with the descendants of Lafayette and Rochambeau, to
attend the Yorktown celebration. Amongst all the French delegation
Boulanger was distinguished by his handsome person and agreeable
manners, while his knowledge of English made him everywhere popular.
He was already married to his cousin, Mademoiselle Renouard, and
had two little daughters, Hélène and Marcelle.
When the Minister of War gave Boulanger his appointment on the
mission to Yorktown, he cautioned him that he must not shock the
quiet tastes of American republicans by wearing too brilliant uniforms.
Fortunately Colonel Boulanger did not accept the hint, and on all
public occasions during his visit to this country he attracted the
admiration of reporters and spectators as the handsomest man in
the French group, wearing the most showy uniform, with the greatest
number of glittering decorations. He was tall, with handsome auburn
beard and hair, and very regular features. Even in caricatures
the artist has been obliged to represent him as very handsome.
After his return to France, Boulanger was sent to Tunis,--a State
recently annexed by the French, who were jealous of the power acquired
by Great Britain on the southern shores of the Mediterranean by her
protectorate in Egypt. Here Boulanger's desire to conduct things
in a military way led to disputes with the civil authorities, and
he returned to France in 1885, where M. de Freycinet, then head of
a new Cabinet, made him Minister of War. He at once set to work
to reform the army. He told his countrymen that if they ever hoped
to take revenge upon the Germans (or rather _revanche_; for the
words do not mean precisely the same thing), they must have their
army in a much better state of preparation than it was in 1870.
Instantly a cry arose in France that General Boulanger was the man
who sought a war with Germany, and who would lead French armies
to the reconquest of Alsace and Lorraine. The French peasantry have
never been able to accept the loss of Alsace and Lorraine as an
accomplished fact; they look on the retention of those provinces
by the Germans as a temporary arrangement until France can at the
right moment wrest them out of her powerful rival's hand.
Boulanger's popularity rose to fever-heat. The Boulanger March,
with its song, "En revenant de la revue," was played and sung in
all the _cafés chantants_ of Paris. The general rode a black horse
as handsome as himself. Some one has said, "As a political factor,
Boulanger was born of a horse and a song."
In 1886 he advocated the exile of the Orleans princes and the erasure
of the Duc d'Aumale's name from the list of French generals. For
this he was reproached with ingratitude to the duke, who had once
been his commanding officer. His own letter of thanks for kindness,
favors, and patronage was produced, and Boulanger could only defend
himself by pronouncing it a forgery.
He made many changes in army regulations, which increased his popularity
with the army. One was all order to the men to wear their beards,
and as in the French army soldiers had always been obliged to shave
except when on active service, this was interpreted, in the excited
state of public feeling, into an intimation of the probability of
a speedy declaration of war. As War Minister, the general also
extended the time when soldiers on leave might stay out at night,
and relieved them from much of the heavy weight that on the march
they had had to carry. He broke up certain semi-aristocratic clubs
in the regiments which controlled army opinion, and gave more weight
to the sentiments of the sub-officers.
But before long the Ministry, in which he represented the War
Department, came to an end,--as, indeed, appears to have been the
fate of all the ministries under the administration of M. Grévy.
No policy, no reforms, could be carried out under such frequent
changes. The popular cry was that the popular favorite must retain
his portfolio as War Minister in the new Cabinet; and this occasioned
considerable difficulty. The general had begun to be feared as a
possible dictator. His popularity was immense; but what his place
might be in politics no one could precisely tell. That he was the
idol of the nation was certain; but was he a Radical of the Belleville
type, or a forthcoming Napoleon Bonaparte,--an Imperialist on his
own account, or a Jacobin?
The fall of the second Ministry in which he served put him out
of office, and the War Minister who succeeded him proceeded to
bid for popularity by fresh reforms, which the Radical Deputies
thought might be acceptable to the people. Those who deal with
the French peasant should never lose sight of the fact that the
peace and prosperity of himself and of his household stand foremost
in his eyes. The Frenchman, as we depict him in imagination or in
fiction, is as far as possible from the French peasant. If ideas
contrary to his selfish interests ever make their way into his
mind, they are due to the leaven of old French soldiers scattered
through the villages. So when the new Minister of War proposed, and
the Chamber of Deputies passed, an ordinance that made it illegal
to buy a substitute, and required every Frenchman, from eighteen to
twenty-one years of age, to serve in the army, the peasant found
small consolation for the loss of his sons' services in the thought
that the son of a duke must serve as well as the son of a laborer.
Boulanger had introduced no such measure. "Vive le Général Boulanger!"
Another measure, passed about the same time, brought great trouble
into families. It was a law making education compulsory, and was
loaded with vexatious and arbitrary regulations. Every child privately
educated had to pass, semi-annually, a strict examination before
certain village authorities. This gave rise in families to all
sorts of tribulations. France is not exactly a land of liberty;
personal liberty is sacrificed to efforts to enforce equality.
General Boulanger after his loss of office was given the command
of the Thirteenth Army Corps, and was sent into a sort of exile
at its headquarters at Clermont-Ferrand. At the railroad-station
in Paris a great crowd awaited him on the day of his departure.
It broke down the barriers, and delayed in-coming and out-going
trains, as it pressed around him. At first the general seemed pleased
by this evidence of his popularity; then he began to feel the truth
of what a friend whispered to him, "These twenty thousand men will
make you forty thousand enemies," and he grew embarrassed and annoyed
by the demonstration. Finally he mounted a locomotive, and made
a brief speech to the people; then the train steamed out of the
station.
The exile of the general to Clermont-Ferrand, and the harsh measures
taken against him by the man who succeeded him in the War Office,
caused his popularity with the populace daily to increase. He was
felt to be a power in the State, and this, when he perceived it,
awakened his ambition.
In November, 1887, when all parties in France were anticipating
the resignation of M. Grévy after the exposure of his son-in-law,
the majority of Frenchmen, outside the Chamber of Deputies, dreaded
the election of M. Jules Ferry to his place, and prophesied that
it would be the signal for another civil war. This was the opinion
held (rightly or wrongly) by M. Grévy himself, by General Boulanger,
and by the Comte de Paris. By the last day of November, when it
seemed impossible for M. Grévy to retain office, because no leader
of influence in the Chamber would help him to form a ministry,
Boulanger, who had come up to Paris, met a small party of his friends,
including M. Clemenceau, leader of the Radical party, and Rochefort,
the leader of the Radical press, at dinner at the house of M. and
Madame Laguerre.[1] M. Laguerre was a deputy who supported Boulanger
in the Chamber against his enemies. Two gentlemen present had that
afternoon seen M. Grévy, who had implored them to find some leader
who would form a ministry; already had M. Clemenceau been thought
of, but he was undecided. It was evident that if he would secure
the out-of-doors support of Boulanger's popularity, his ministry
must include Boulanger. It seemed equally certain that if it did
so, it would be beset by enemies in the Chamber. In the midst of a
heated discussion on the subject, General Boulanger about midnight
was mysteriously called away.
[Footnote 1: See "Les Coulisses du Boulangisme," published in "Figaro,"
and attributed to M. Mermieux.]
The person who summoned him was the editor of the "Cocarde," the
Boulangist newspaper, who had been sounded that afternoon by an agent
of the Comte de Paris to know if it were probable that Boulanger
would join the Monarchists to defeat the chances of Jules Ferry. The
party of the Comte de Paris had recently gathered strength both by
the death of the Comte de Chambord and that of the Prince Imperial.
But it was also divided. There were those who called themselves
of the old school, who held to the high-minded traditions which
had caused M. Thiers to say to one of them in 1871, "You are of
all parties the most honest,--I do not say the most intelligent,
but the most honest;" and the men of the new school,--men of the
close of the century, as they called themselves,--who thought all
means good that led to a good end, and were for energetic action.
To this party belonged the Comtesse de Paris, daughter of the Duc
de Montpensier and of the Infanta Luisa of Spain. She had been
known to say emphatically: "I don't like people who are always
going to do something to-morrow,--like the Comte de Chambord; such
princes die in exile."
The Duc d'Aumale, on the contrary, despised crooked ways; and the
hope of an intrigue or alliance with General Boulanger was not
named to him by his nephew, especially as there was good reason
to think he would never have consented to make a useful instrument
of the man who had so ill-treated him when Minister of War.
The idea, however, had suddenly presented itself to the agents
of the Comte de Paris (if it had not been previously suggested
to him) that General Boulanger might be won over to play the part
of General Monk, or failing this, that he might not be unwilling
to ally himself with the Monarchists to defeat the election of
M. Ferry.
It was to hold an interview with the gentleman who represented
the cause of the Comte de Paris that Boulanger was summoned from
the conference going on at M. Laguerre's.
The Royalist agent proposed that M. Grévy should be retained as
president, and promised that his party in the Chamber would support
any ministry which should include General Boulanger, and of which he
should be virtually the head. In return, Boulanger was to give his
support to an appeal to the people, to see what form of government
France would prefer. It was added that if Boulanger were Minister
of War, he could do what he pleased with the army; and thus France,
well managed, might change from a republic to a monarchy by the
will of the people and without civil war.
The general listened quietly to these suggestions. "There is nothing
you could ask that would be too much to reward the services you
would render to our country," said the agent of the Royalists;
"and remember that the highest fortunes under a Republic are the
most unstable. Give us your word to do what we ask, and then at
least M. Ferry will never be president." "I give you my word,"
said Boulanger. But the other then suggested that so important an
arrangement must be ratified by some person higher in the confidence
of the Comte de Paris than himself; and he went in haste for the
Baron de Makau. That gentleman showed General Boulanger a letter from
the Comte de Paris, giving him full powers as his representative.
The general was to support the proposal for a popular vote for or
against the restoration of monarchy, and to use his influence with
the people in its favor. If monarchy were restored, he was to be made
head of the army. After a long conversation the general departed,
promising to sound the chiefs of the Radicals, and ascertain which
of them would be most available to carry out the plan.
But to his friend the editor of the "Cocarde," who seemed alarmed
at the extent of his promises, he said, as soon as they were alone
together, "I would do anything to avoid civil war and the election
of Ferry; but what fools these people must be to put themselves
in my power!"
He spoke no more till they returned to the house where they had
left the dinner-party. The discussion was going on as before, only
M. Clemenceau had made up his mind that he would not undertake
to form a ministry, and M. Andrieux had been summoned from his
bed to know if he would do so. He expressed his willingness to
undertake the task, but said frankly that he could not offer the
War Office to General Boulanger. "Anything else, my dear general,
you shall have," he said, "and in a few months probably you may
have that also; but if you formed part of the Cabinet at first, I
could not conciliate the Chamber. You shall be military governor
of Paris,--the noblest military post in the world."
But this offer was incompatible with the secret engagements that
the general had entered into not an hour before. The conference,
therefore, broke up at five in the morning without a decision having
been reached.
The next morning the two gentlemen who had been charged by M. Grévy
to procure him a prime minister, and if possible a cabinet, reported
the failure of their mission. "Then all is over for me," said M.
Grévy; "I shall at once send in my resignation."
The resignation was accepted, and greatly to the surprise of the
general public,--for already the streets were full of excited
citizens,--M. Sadi-Carnot was elected president, almost without
discussion, and without disorder. His election put an end to the
secret arrangement between Boulanger and the Royalists, and appeared
likely to give France a more settled government than it had enjoyed
since the Republic came into existence. The Exposition of 1889,
too, was at hand, and Paris was very anxious that no political
convulsions should frighten away strangers.
The general was deeply hurt by his unpopularity in the Chamber,
and by the way in which his former friends had thrown him over; but
he still had the mob, the army, and the peasantry for his partisans,
nor was he without the sympathy of the Bonapartists.
It was not long before he got into trouble with the War Department
for coming to Paris without leave. It had not been usual for a
general of division to ask leave of the Minister of War for a brief
absence, nor could General Boulanger forget that he himself had
been War Minister not many months before.
The general complained bitterly of the way he had been followed
up by the police, as if he had been a criminal. "From the time I
left the Ministry of War," he said,[1] "I have been spied upon and
shadowed like a thief. Even my orderly has been bribed to report
facts and falsehoods concerning me. My letters have been opened,
and copies of my telegrams lie on every minister's table." He was
deprived of his command, and retired from active service.
[Footnote 1: To a reporter for "Figaro."]
This measure, so far from rendering him innocuous to the Opportunist
party, brought him into Parliament[2] (as the French Chambers are now
called) and increased his popularity. He had been already elected
deputy both from the Department of the Aisne and the Department of the
Dordogne,--the latter without his proposing himself as a candidate,
although he was ineligible, and could not take his seat, since at the
time of his election he was an officer of the Government, holding
a command. Having now retired into private life, he stood for the
Department of Le Nord, where he was received with enthusiasm and
elected by an immense majority. From all quarters came telegraphic
messages to him from candidates for parliamentary honors, offering
to resign their seats in favor of the popular hero. Even Corsica
was anxious to have him for her deputy. But it was not only his
own election which concerned General Boulanger; he wished to secure
the election of his followers. For that purpose election funds were
needed, and the alliance with the Royalists was renewed. Whenever
a Royalist candidate had a certainty of election, no Boulangist
candidate was to contend against him. In other cases the agents
of the Comte de Paris were openly to encourage their followers to
vote for the nominee of the ally who was to assist the Monarchists
to oppose the Government. There would have been great difficulty in
raising the money needed for this electoral campaign, had it not
been for a lady of high rank, the Duchesse d'Uzès, of unspotted
reputation, and of great enthusiasm for the cause of royalty, who
poured her whole fortune (over three million francs) into the joint
treasury. The alliance between Boulanger and the Royalists was a
profound secret. Very few Boulangists suspected that their election
expenses were being paid by funds drawn from the purses of the
supporters of monarchy.
[Footnote 2: Parliament before this time meant in French history
the Provincial Courts, that had chiefly legal functions.]
For more than a year the popularity of "Le brav' Général" kept the
various ministries that succeeded each other in Paris and their
officials all over France, in perpetual anxiety. Boulanger made journeys
almost like royal progresses into the Departments. Everywhere crowds
cheered him, reporters followed him, his name was in everybody's
mouth, his doings filled columns of the newspapers in many languages,
and his flower, the carnation, was embroidered on tablecloths and
worn in button-holes. All newspapers and reviews seem to have agreed
that no man had been so popular in France since the days of the
Great Emperor. He liked the position thrust upon him, and accepted
gracefully and graciously the adoration he received,--an adoration
born partly of infectious curiosity, partly from a love of what
is phenomenal, partly from the attraction of the unexpected, and
above all from the national need of some object of idolatry. France
had been long destitute of any one to whom she might pay personal
devotion. Every peasant's cottage throughout France was soon decorated
with his chromo. He has even been seen on his black horse adorning
the bamboo hut of a king in Central Africa. Pamphlets, handbills,
and brief biographies were scattered by his friends throughout the
Provinces. His very name, Boulanger--Baker--helped his popularity.
A corn-law passed in France was obnoxious to the country, as tending
to make bread more dear; "Boulanger is to bring us cheap bread!
Long live our Boulanger!" became the popular cry.
But all this enthusiasm seems to have been founded only on expectation.
General Boulanger had done nothing that might reasonably have attracted
national gratitude and adoration. Yet there was a strong feeling
throughout France that Boulanger would save the country from what
was called the Parliamentary _régime_. France had become weary of
the squabbles of the seven parties in the Chamber, of the rapid
changes of ministry, of the perpetual coalitions, lasting just long
enough to overthrow some chief unpopular with two factions strong
enough by combination to get rid of him. The Chamber, it was said,
though unruly and disorganized, had usurped all the functions of
government, and a republic without an executive officer who can
maintain himself at its head, has never been known to stand. In
France fashion is everything, and in France, in 1888, it was the
fashion to speak ill of parliamentary government.
"Why am I a Boulangist?" cried a young and ardent writer of the
party.[1] "Why are my friends Boulangists? Because the general
is the only man in France capable of carrying out the expulsion
of mere talkers from the Chamber of Deputies,--men who deafen the
public ear, and are good for nothing. Gentlemen, a few hundreds
of you, ever since 1870, have carried on the government. All of
you are lawyers or literary men, none of you are statesmen."
[Footnote 1: Le Figaro.]
At the height of the popularity of the general his career was very
near being cut short by a political duel. In France, as we have seen
in the history of the Duchesse de Berri, it is not an unheard-of
thing to get rid of a political adversary by a challenge. After
Boulanger had insulted the Duc d'Aumale while he was Minister of
War, a challenge passed between himself and an Orleanist, M. le Baron
de Lareinty. Boulanger stood to receive the fire of his adversary,
but did not fire in return. He was subsequently anxious to fight
Jules Ferry; but Jules Ferry declined any meeting of the kind.
After he entered the Chamber, his great enemy, Floquet, who was then
in the Cabinet, called him in the course of debate "A Saint-Arnaud
of the _cafés chantants!_" Boulanger challenged him for this, and
the duel took place with swords. Floquet was slightly wounded,
but the general's foot slipped, and he received his adversary's
sword-point in his throat. It was almost a miracle that it did
not sever the jugular vein. For some time "Le brav' Général's"
life was despaired of; but when he was pronounced out of danger,
Paris amused itself with the thought that the most prominent soldier
in the French army had nearly met his death at the hands of an
elderly lawyer.
Since the funds furnished to Boulanger for the election expenses
of his candidates, and even for his own personal expenses, came
from the Royalist party, he was more bound to it than ever; but he
pretended to be guided by a body that called itself the National
Republican Committee, which he assured his friends, the Monarchists,
he used only as a screen. When Madame d'Uzès threw her last million
into the gulf, it seemed expedient to the Royalists to exact more
definite pledges from Boulanger than his word as a soldier. "If
the present Government of France is overthrown," they said, "and
an appeal made to the people, who will fill the interregnum? Will
General Boulanger, if all power is intrusted to him, consent to give
it up, if the nation votes for monarchy? And with all the machinery
of government in his hands, is it certain that a _plébiscite_ would
be the free vote of the people?"
A general election was to take place in the summer of 1889, at the
height of the Universal Exposition. Hitherto the various elections
in which Boulanger had contended had been for vacant seats in the
old Assembly. He was anxious to test his popularity in Paris by
standing for the workman's quarter of Belleville; and in spite
of his being opposed by the Radicals in the Chamber, as well as
by the Government, he was elected by a large majority.
The Government then changed its method of attack. It brought in a
bill changing the selection of parliamentary candidates from the
_scrutin de liste_ to the _scrutin d'arrondissement._ Boulanger
therefore would be eligible for election only in the district in
which he was domiciled.
Besides the National Republican Committee (which the general called
his screen), there was formed all over France a Boulangist society
called the League of Patriots. This league was now attacked by the
Government as a conspiracy. A High Court of Justice was formed
by the Senate, before which its leaders were summoned to appear.
Boulanger became seriously alarmed. He did not see how he could act
if shut up in prison. His apprehensions were carefully augmented
by the heads of the police, who had placed one of their agents
about his person.[1] This man showed him a pretended order for
his arrest on April 1, 1889. The question of his retirement into
Belgium if his liberty were threatened had been already debated
by himself and his friends. Nearly all of them were against it.
"Let not the people think our general could run away," said some.
But others answered, "They will say it is a smart trick; that the
general has cheated the Government."
[Footnote 1: Les Coulisses du Boulangisme.]
After seeing the false document which was shown him, with great
pretence of secrecy, by the police agent, the general hesitated
no longer. On the evening of April 1, accompanied by Madame de
Bonnemains, a lady to whom he was paying devoted attention, pending
a divorce from his wife, he went to Brussels, followed by his friend
Count Dillon, the go-between in financial matters between the Royalists
and himself. The Cabinet of M. Carnot had learned the value of the
saying, "If your enemy wishes to take flight, build him a bridge
of gold."
The departure of the general threw consternation into the ranks
of his followers. "It cannot be!" they cried. Then they consoled
themselves with the reflection that he must soon return, as he
had done once before under somewhat similar circumstances.
But he did not return. The Government had triumphed. Boulanger's
power was broken; like a wave, it had toppled over when its crest
was highest. The High Court of Justice condemned Deroulède the
poet, Rochefort, and Dillon, to confinement for life in a French
fortress. The sentence, however, was simply one of outlawry, for
they were all with Boulanger.
The exiles did not stay long in Brussels. The Government of Belgium
objected to their remaining so near the frontier of France,--for
in Brussels a telephone connected them with Paris,--and they went
over to London. There, at the general's request, he had an interview
with the Comte de Paris. But their conversation was limited to
useless compliments and military affairs. Boulanger's power as a
political leader was at an end; the friends of the prince would
advance him no more funds, and in the elections, which took place
very quietly in France during the summer, he and his friends suffered
total defeat.
The Government of France--strengthened not only by the success of
the Exposition, by its great triumph at the elections, and by the
discomfiture of its enemies, but also by the conviction forced upon
parliamentary leaders that the country was weary of mere talk and
discord, and demanded harmony and action--now became the strongest
Government that France had enjoyed for a long time. The Republic
had passed the point of danger, the eighteenth year, which had
been the limit of every dynasty or form of government in France for
over a century. It rallied to itself men from the ranks of all its
former enemies, but its greatest victory was over the Monarchists.
The wreck of their cause by the alliance with a military adventurer
was a blunder in the eyes of one section of the Royalists; in the
eyes of another, it was a dishonor that amounted almost to a crime.
Boulanger had rallied to himself the clerical party in France by
the promise of a republic strong enough to protect the weak,--"a
republic that would concern itself with the interests of the people,
and be solicitous to preserve individual liberty in all its forms,
especially liberty of conscience, that liberty the most to be valued
of all,"[1] Such a republic it seems possible the Third Republic
may now become, especially since it is on all hands conceded that
there is a reaction in France in favor of religious liberty, for
those who are religious as well as for those who are "philosophers."
[Footnote 1: Speech at Tours.]
President Carnot has been an eminently respectable president. He
has committed no blunders, and if he has awakened little enthusiasm,
he has called forth no animosities. The worst that can be said of
him is embodied in caricatures, where he always appears ready to
serve some useful purpose, as a jointed wooden figure that can be
put to many a use.
The French army is now stronger and better disciplined, and more
full of determination to conquer, than any French army has ever
been before. But no ruler of France can be anxious to precipitate
a war with Germany; and judging from the present state of feeling
among the French, there appear to be no serious political breakers
ahead. Of course in France the unexpected is always to be expected,
and what a day may bring forth, nobody knows.
Sir Charles Dilke tells us that in 1887, when a friend of his was
going to France, he asked him to ascertain for him if General Boulanger
were a soldier, a mountebank, or an ass; and the answer brought back
to him was, "He is a little of them all." The general, after his
interview in London with the Comte de Paris, took up his residence
in the island of Jersey. He cannot but have felt that his popularity
had failed him, and that his enchanter's wand was broken. From time
to time he made spasmodic efforts to bring himself again to the
notice of the public. He offered repeatedly to return to France
and stand his trial for conspiracy, provided that the trial might
be conducted before a regular court of justice, and not before
an especial committee appointed by the Chambers.
Meantime his domestic relations must have caused him poignant anxiety.
His wife was his cousin,--a lady of the _haute bourgeoisie_ in a
provincial town. She appears to have felt herself unequal to what
might be required of her as the wife of the national hero. She
entertained apprehensions that her fate might be that of the Empress
Josephine. When her husband became War Minister, she declined to
preside over his receptions, and withdrew herself from his official
residence, taking with her her two daughters, Hélène and Marcelle.
Thus deserted, Boulanger became open to scandals and reports, some
true, and some false, such as would inevitably be circulated in
France concerning such a man's relations with women. It is quite
certain, however, that at the height of his popularity he became
infatuated with the divorced wife of a Baron de Bonnemains,--a
lady well connected, and up to the time when Boulanger became her
lover, of unstained reputation. She was also rich, having a fortune
of 1,500,000 francs. She was not very beautiful, but was tender,
gracious, and womanly. M. de Bonnemains had not made her a good
husband, and her friends rejoiced when the law gave her a divorce.
General Boulanger and his wife seem to have agreed to sever their
marriage tie under the new French divorce law, which requires both
parties to be examined by a judge, who is to try if possible to
reconcile them; but at the last moment Madame Boulanger refused,
upon religious grounds, her assent to a divorce, and the marriage
of the general with Madame de Bonnemains became thenceforward
impossible.
The story is not a pleasant one, but it is necessary to relate it,
because of its results.
Madame de Bonnemains, whose constitution was consumptive, drooped
and sickened in Jersey. She removed in the spring of 1891 to Brussels
to try one of the new schemes for the cure of pulmonary trouble.
The remedy seems to have hastened her death, which took place in
July. General Boulanger never recovered from her loss. His friends
and his funds had failed him, and the death of this woman, whom
he had passionately loved, completely overwhelmed him. He spoke
constantly of suicide, and in spite of precautions taken by his
friends, he carried his purpose into effect upon her grave in the
cemetery of Brussels, October 2, 1891.
Whatever General Boulanger's faults may have been in relation to
other women, he was devoted to his mother. The latter, who was
eighty-six years old at the time of his death, resided in Paris,
and when he was in the city he never suffered a day to pass without
visiting her. A lock of her white hair was on his breast when he
was dressed for burial.
INDEX.
Abdul Aziz, Sultan, 232.
Abdul Kader, 82, 94.
Abdul Medjid, 86.
About, Edmond, quoted, 248.
Adélaïde, Madame, of Orleans, 20, 25, 26, 55, 83, 108.
Affre, Denis Auguste, Archbishop of Paris, 142 _et seq._
African generals, 94; their imprisonment, 159 _et seq._
Albert, Prince, 100; visits Boulogne, 180-182; his opinion
of the emperor, 182-184, 217; of Maximilian, 192.
Algeria, 82, 83, 94, 134.
Alison, Sir Archibald, quoted, 142, 150.
Alsace and Lorraine, 241, 242, 246-249, 386, 387.
America, demands payment of French Spoliation Claims, 81;
Louis Napoleon sent to, 69; relations with Mexico, 195,
196, 210; Boulanger in, 429.
Americans, what they saw of the _coup d'état_, 160-162;
of Paris in 1870, 241, 245; of the siege, 273, 275; of
Versailles, 282-286.
Angoulême, Louis Antoine, Duke of, and Dauphin, 12, 13, 21,
24, 26.
Angoulême, Marie Thérèse, Duchess of, and Dauphine, 13, 28,
29, 48, 49.
Appert, chaplain to Queen Marie Amélie, quoted, 56, 57.
Arenenberg, 62, 64, 69.
Aumale, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of, 37, 38, 94, 134, 420,
430, 433.
Barbès, 95, 140.
Barrot, Odillon, 110, 112-114, 157.
Baudin, 158,384.
Bazaine, Marshal, 202, 204, 257, 258, 270, 277, 287, 288, 384.
Belfort, 288, 299, 398, 399.
Benedetti, 232.
Bergeret, General, war delegate, 307, 309.
Berri, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of, 12, 13.
Berri, Marie Caroline, Duchess of, 12, 13, 22, 26, 29, 40-49.
Bismarck, Otto von, Prince, 219, 254, 264, 267, 268, 271,
293-298.
Blanc, Louis, quoted, 34, 40, 41, 46, 52, 53, 65, 70; Louis
Blanc himself, 130, 133, 134, 137, 140, 305, 306.
Bombardment, of Paris, by the Prussians, 278, 279, 298, 299;
during the Commune, 309, 310; of Strasburg, 286, 287.
Bonjean, Louis, Senator and Judge, 327, 330, 332, 333, 345.
Bordeaux, 300, 383, 385-388.
Bordeaux, Duke of. _See_ Chambord.
Boulanger, George Ernest Jean Marie, General, boyhood, 427, 428;
army life, 428, 429; sent to America, 429; to Tunis, 429;
Minister of War, 429, 430; popularity, 430-432; intrigues
with Legitimists, 433-439; influence declines, 440; leaves
France, 440-442; domestic relations, 443; death, 444.
Bourbaki, General, 288, 384.
Bourbons, 10, 14.
Bourbon, Louis Henri Joseph, Duke of, 38, 39, 40.
Broglie, Duke of, 405-408.
Burgoyne, Sir John, 260, 262.
Caffarel, General, 421.
Cannon, 274, 275; at Montmartre, 301, 302.
Canrobert, Marshal, 216.
Carbonari, 14; Louis Napoleon and his brother take the oaths,
63; never absolved, 70, 71, 179, 180, 186.
Carlotta, Empress of Mexico, 36, 37, 192-194, 198, 199, 201,
203, 204, 211.
Carmagnole, 23.
Carnot, Hippolyte, 125, 425.
Carnot, Sadi, fourth President of Third Republic, 424, 425, 435.
Carrel, Armand, 47.
Catholic lady in Red Paris, 310-313.
Cavaignac, Eugène, General, War Minister, Dictator, 140,
142-144, 149, 152, 159, 160, 164.
Chambord, Comte de, Henri V., Duc de Bordeaux, 12, 26-29, 32,
40, 48, 49, 390, 391, 392, 403, 404, 416-418, 433.
Changarnier, General, 82, 138, 139, 146, 148, 150, 152, 159,
160, 164.
Chapultepec, 200, 209.
Charles X., 12, 15-17, 20-33.
Chasseurs d'Afrique, 308.
Christian Brothers, 277.
Clemenceau, 306.
Clément Thomas, General, 302, 392.
Club of Communist, 273.
Cluseret, General, war delegate, 308, 309, 310, 317, 318, 359.
Commune, 265, 300-307, 314, 321, 330, 349, 358, 359.
Compiègne, Château de, 169, 176.
Compiègne, Marquis de, narrative of suppression of the Commune,
355-358.
Constantine, 82, 83, 93, 94.
Council of the Commune, 306, 316, 317, 319, 320, 358.
_Coup d'état_, 150-163.
Courbet, artist, 315.
Courbevoie, 88, 306, 307.
Crimean War, 180, 185, 187, 219, 400.
Crozès, Abbé, 323.
Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, 323, 324, 329-333.
Decazes, Duc de, 11.
Deleschuze, war delegate, 317, 337, 358, 359.
Deputies imprisoned, 157, 158.
Deutz, 44, 45, 380.
Dickens, Charles, quoted, 182.
Dombrowski, General, 309, 321, 361.
Dominicans of Arceuil, 341, 342.
Duguerry, Gaspard, Abbé, 323, 330, 332.
Duval, General, 307.
Eagle, 75.
Égalité, Philippe, Duke of Orleans, 17, 18.
Erckmann-Chatrian, quoted, 238, 247, 248.
Escobedo, General, 206, 208, 210.
Eudes, General and war delegate, 307, 317.
Eugénie, Empress, 167-176, 185, 186, 197, 216, 217, 220,
221, 232, 234-237, 241, 243, 251, 257-261, 428.
Evans, Dr. Thomas, 259, 260.
Faure, sings the "Marseillaise," 240, 241, 244.
Favre, Jules, 257, 267, 268, 270, 279, 291-295, 298, 299.
Ferré, 314, 315, 331, 333, 337.
Ferry, Jules, 257, 414, 415, 424.
Feuchères, Madame de, 39, 40.
Fieschi, 34, 49-53.
Fleury, General, 151, 177, 178, 223.
Flourens, 307.
Fortifications of Paris, 262-264.
France under Louis XVIII., 9, 10, 11, 15; under Charles X.,
16, 17, 20, 21; under Louis Philippe, 34, 35, 81, 107, 108,
109; under the Provisional Government, 125, 126, 133, 135-140;
under the Empire, 178, 179, 218, 226, 227, 228; during the
Franco-Prussian War, 238, 239, 246,
247; under the Third Republic, 385, 393, 438, 441, 442.
Francis, king of Naples, his political creed, 15, 16.
Franco-Prussian War declared, 232; preparations in France, 238,
239, 246, 249, 250; in Prussia, 238, 247; campaign from
August 2 to September 4, 241-244, 247-249, 251-255; siege of
Paris, 262-264, 268-279; war in the provinces, 286-288.
Funeral of Napoleon I., 87-92; of victims, 1848, 123; of
Lamartine, 146.
Gallifet, Marquis de, 204, 368, 369.
Gambetta, Leon, 257, 270, 277, 278, 382-385, 388, 395, 396,
411-414.
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, General, 288, 296-298, 306.
Genton, 330.
German Emperor. _See_ William.
German Empire, 288, 289, 290, 291, 298.
German soldiers, 247, 248, 283, 284, 285.
Germans, residents in France, 250, 251.
Government, Provisional, in 1848, 117, 118, 122, 125, 130-139;
in 1870, 257, 262, 267, 270, 271; in 1871, 372, 396.
_Grand Livre_, 339, 340.
Greville, Charles, quoted, 11, 12, 16, 17, 35, 87.
Grévy, Jules, third President of Third Republic, 157, 406,
408-414, 418, 419, 423-426, 435.
Guillotine burned, 315.
Guizot, 101, 110, 112.
Ham, 34, 76-80, 160, 163, 164.
Hartwell, 11, 12.
Henri V. _See_ Chambord.
Henrion, 331, 333.
Hérisson, Comte d', 291-295.
Hohenlohe, Princess Adélaïde, 166.
Hohenzollern, Prince Leopold of, 231; his sister, 166.
Home, the Spiritualist, 220, 221.
Hortense, Queen of Holland, 59, 60, 63, 64, 69, 234.
Hostages, their arrest, 323, 324; imprisonment, 325, 326,
327, 329; execution, 328-335, 364, 365.
Hôtel-de-Ville, 26, 27, 123, 130-132, 138, 187, 270, 271,
279, 302, 303, 306, 321.
Hugo, Victor, 96, 153-156, 251-253, 273, 304.
Ibrahim Pasha, 84, 86.
Indemnity to the Prussians, 294, 295, 299, 373, 394.
Irving, Washington, quoted, 168, 173.
Isabella, Queen of Spain, 100, 101, 220.
Ismaïl Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, 232-236.
Jackson, Andrew, General, 81, 82.
Jaumont, quarries of, 249, 258.
Jecker, Mexican banker, 202, 330.
Joinville, Philippe, Prince de, 37, 87, 91, 108, 109.
Juarez, President of Mexican Republic, 195, 197, 202, 209, 210.
Juarists, 198, 201, 202, 205.
Khedive of Egypt. _See_ Ismaïl Pasha.
Lafarge, Madame, 108.
Lafayette, Gilbert, Marquis de, 14, 15, 26, 27, 35, 83.
Laffitte, 14, 15, 25, 27, 83.
Laguerre, 432, 433.
Lamartine, Alphonse de, 109, 117, 125-133, 135, 136, 138, 140,
146.
Lamazou, Abbé de, narrative of resistance in La Roquette, 334-336.
Lecomte, General, 302, 392.
Ledru-Rollin, 125, 137-139, 140.
Limouzin, Madame, 421, 422.
Loire, Army of the, 274, 276, 277.
Lopez, General, 201, 206, 207, 214.
Louis XVIII., 9-15.
Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, 59-61, 63, 80.
Louis Napoleon, 58, 61-80, 140, 141, 144-146, 150, 153;
as Prince President, 146-149, 165, 166. As Emperor,
_see_ Napoleon III.
Louis Philippe, King of the French, 17-20, 25-27, 34-37,
49-51, 54, 83, 91, 95, 102, 107-112, 114, 121, 134.
Lucchesi Palli, Count, 137, 138, 140.
Lullier, 307, 317.
Luzy, Mademoiselle de, 103, 104, 106, 107.
Macaulay, Lord, 425.
MacMahon, Patrice, Marshal, Duke of Magenta, second President
of Third Republic, 14, 248, 251, 253, 384, 400, 402, 407-412.
Mahmoud II., Sultan, 84, 85, 86.
Malmesbury, Lord, quoted, 261, 262.
Marie Amélie, Queen of the French, 19, 50, 51, 54-57, 97-99, 112.
Marmont, Marshal, Duke of Ragusa, 21, 22, 26.
"Marseillaise," 239-241, 244, 245.
Maupas, De, Prefect of Police, 150-153.
Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, 58, 191-194, 198-214.
Mégy, 316, 331, 336-338.
Mehemet Ali, 84-87.
Mejia, General, 205, 207, 209, 211-213.
Mexico, 194-198, 200-205.
Ministry of Marine (Navy Department building), 345-348.
Ministry of National Defence, 246, 251, 262, 266, 269-271, 279.
Miramar, 193, 194, 201, 203.
Miramon, General, 205, 207, 209, 211, 212, 213.
Mobiles, 122, 133, 138, 249, 250, 263, 267, 269.
Moltke, General von, 188, 189, 264, 298, 299.
Monroe doctrine, 196.
Montholon, Count, 74, 76.
Montijo. _See_ Eugénie _and_ Teba.
Montpensier, Duke of, 37, 95, 100, 101, 115, 231.
Montpensier, Duchess of, 37, 100, 101, 115, 433.
Morey, 51-53.
Morny, Duc de, 150, 152, 153, 157, 160, 169, 177, 178.
Mortier, Marshal, Duke of Treviso, 50.
Napoleon I., 58, 59, 62, 65; funeral of, 87-92, 226.
Napoleon II., Duc de Reichstadt, 58, 64, 191.
Napoleon III., 165, 166, 170, 175, 190-197, 202, 203, 215,
216-228, 249, 252, 254-256, 261, 262.
Napoleon, eldest son of Louis and Hortense, 60.
Napoleon, second son of Louis and Hortense, 61, 62, 63, 179.
Napoleon (Plon-Plon), son of King Jérôme, 166, 171, 220, 419.
National Guard, 35, 88, 89, 133, 138, 263, 268, 269, 280, 295,
301-303, 305, 349, 350, 365, 371.
National workshops, 133, 141-144.
Narratives: Louis Napoleon's descent on Boulogne, 71-76; his
escape from Ham, 70-80; of Victor Hugo during the _coup
d'état_, 155, 156; of an American, 160-162; of the entry
of the Prussians into Versailles, 282-286; of a lady in Red
Paris, 310-313; of Paul Seigneret, 324-328; of the Abbé
Lamazou, 334-336; of Count Orsi during the Commune, 313, 314;
of his arrest as a Communist, 355-358; of a victim of Paris
and Versailles, 360-371.
Nemours, Duc de, 37, 50, 108, 109, 113, 118.
Neuilly, 54, 96-99, 217.
Nolte, Vincent, anecdote of Lafayette, 14, 15.
O'Brien, Smith, 135, 136.
Oliphant, Mrs. M. E. W., quoted, 131, 132, 350, 351.
Ollivier, Émile, 224, 225, 245, 246.
Ordonannces, 17, 20-24.
Orleans family, 36, 37, 95, 140, 217, 388, 419, 420.
Orleans, Ferdinand, Duke of, 36, 93, 95-100.
Orleans, Hélène, Duchess of, 115-118.
Orsi, Joseph, Count, 71, 72; quoted, 73, 313-316, 352, 353,
354-358.
Orsini, Felice, 185, 219.
Oudinot, Duke of Reggio, General, 147, 148.
Palikao, Count Montauban, 246, 249.
Paris in 1830, 16, 17, 21, 22-25, 27; in 1848, 111-121; under
the Empire, 227; in July, 1870, 239, 240; in August, 1870,
244-246, 249, 250; in September, 256, 258, 262-264, 266;
in the siege, 266, 269, 271-281; during the Commune, 305,
309-313, 315, 316, 320-322, 362, 363.
Paris, Comte de, 114, 420, 433, 441, 442.
Parties in 1820, 9-11; in 1830, 21, 26, 28, 34, 35; in 1848,
108, 109, 122-126; in 1850, 135, 136, 139, 140, 147-149;
in 1871, 385, 386; in 1873, 402-404; in 1889, 441, 442;
Legitimists, 41, 433.
Pasquier, Dr., 307.
Peace signed, 280, 281, 299.
Peasants, 121, 145, 183, 184, 246, 431.
Persiguy, Fialin, Duc de, 72, 76, 150, 151, 177, 178, 190.
Petit, General, 136.
_Pétroleuses_, 321, 322.
Pigeon post, 273, 274.
Piguellier, Colonel, 75.
_Plébiscites_, 144, 165, 183, 184, 230, 231, 298.
Poiret, 335.
Polignac, Prince, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24.
Praslin, Duc de, 102 _et seq._
Prefecture of Police, 163, 325, 326, 342-345.
Prince Imperial (Napoleon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph), 64, 65,
187-190, 242, 243, 260, 415, 416.
Provisional Government, 1848, 121, 122, 125, 130-139; in 1871,
372, 387, 389, 394-396.
Queretaro, 205, 206, 207-213.
Rambouillet, 27, 28.
Reichshoffen. _See_ Wörth.
Rémusat, 397.
Republic, Second, 130-49, 165; Third, 257, 262, 265, 372, 404,
435, 438-442.
Restoration 9-15.
Revolution, 1830, 20-28; 1848, 108-126, 132; 1870, 257, 258, 262.
Rochefort, Henri, Marquis de, 229, 257, 270, 317, 259, 392, 432.
Rome, 147, 148.
Rossel, General, War delegate, 318, 319, 392.
Saarbruck, 241, 242, 244.
Salm-Salm, Prince, 205, 207; Princess, 208, 209.
Saint-Arnaud, Jacques Leroy, Marshal, 83, 151, 178.
Sarcey, Francisque de, quoted, 267, 270, 276, 277.
_Scrutin de liste, Scrutin d'arrondissement_, 406, 407, 440.
Seigneret, Paul, 324-328.
Seisset, Admiral, 305.
Simon, Jules, 257, 308, 408, 410.
Soledad, La, treaty of, 197, 198.
Shah of Persia, 405.
Spain, 12, 231, 232.
Spanish marriages, 100, 101, 102, 109.
"Spectator," The, quoted, 242.
Strasburg, 64-69, 268, 286, 287.
Switzerland, 69, 288.
Suez Canal, 232-236.
Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles, Prince of Benevento, 23, 26, 83, 84.
Teba, Madame de (_née_ Fitzpatrick, Marquise de Montijo),
167, 168, 169.
Thiers, Adolphe, first President of the Third Republic, 21, 25,
87, 112, 113, 229, 246, 269-271, 299, 305, 315, 320;
biographical sketch, 372-382, 386, 387, 389, 392-399, 405, 408.
Thiers, Madame, 180, 389, 394, 399.
Ticknor, Mr. George, quoted, 167, 168.
Tissot, Victor, quoted, 191.
Trochu, Jules, General, 257, 262, 270, 271, 276-279, 294.
Tuileries, 23, 50, 116, 117, 119, 120, 171, 172, 190, 221, 241,
257-259, 320, 321, 349.
Uzès, Duchess of, 437, 439.
Vambéry, Colonel, 66, 67.
Valérien, Fort, 263, 307.
Vendôme, Place, massacre, 305; column, 315, 316.
Versailles, 93, 282-286, 288, 290, 305, 389, 390.
Versailles troops enter Paris, 320, 321, 355-358.
Villèle, M. de, 16.
Victim of Paris and Versailles, 360-371.
Victoria, Queen of England, 100-102, 184-186-192, 215-219.
Vinoy, General, 279, 301, 307.
Walewski, Count, 177, 179, 224.
Washburne, E. B., American Minister, 251, 269, 338.
Wellington, Arthur, Duke of, 22, 23, 179.
White Terror, 11.
William, King of Prussia, 219, 264, 267, 268; made Emperor of
Germany, 288-291.
Wilson, Daniel, 420-423.
Wimpfen, General, 252, 253.
Wissembourg, 242.
Wörth, 243, 247, 248.