the hostile feeling of the people, whose menaces began to be formidable. The 17th of August deserves especial notice as the day on which General Trochu, who afterwards played so important a part in the defence of the capital, was appointed governor of Paris. Nothing could have shown more clearly the precarious condition of the empire than this appointment. General Trochu had displayed the qualities of an able soldier and a high-minded gentleman; but his sympathies were professedly Orleanist, and little in accord with the regency of the empress. He had likewise requested of the emperor a command in the army of the Rhine, which was refused. He had, however, been sent to the camp at Toulouse to organize the troops, and was subsequently appointed to the command of the twelfth army corps stationed at the camp at Châlons, whence he was recalled for the defence of the capital. This general, Louis Jules Trochu, was born in 1815, and educated at the military school of St. Cyr. He was appointed lieutenant in 1840, captain in 1843, and subsequently served in Algeria, where he became the favourite aide-de-camp of Marshal Bugeaud, who had remarked his great bravery at the battle of Isly. He became major in 1846, and colonel in 1853. During the Russian war he served in the Crimea as aide-de-camp to Marshal St. Arnaud, gaining by his gallant conduct at the siege of Sebastopol the commander's cross of the Legion of Honour. After the Marshal's death he was promoted to the rank of general, and commanded a brigade of infantry until the end of the war. During the Italian campaign of 1859, which ended with the victory of Solferino, he served with distinction in command of a division. In 1861 he was promoted to the rank of grand officer of the Legion of Honour, having then been in the army twenty-five years, and served in eighteen campaigns, in one of which he was wounded. General Trochu was also elected a member of the consulting committee of the Etat Major, and chosen in the place of his father a member of the Conseil Général of Morbihan, in the canton of Belle Isle. In 1866 he helped greatly in the reorganization of the army, and in the following year published anonymously a book entitled "The French Army in 1867," which passed through ten editions in six months. In it he severely criticized the organization of the army, and especially the changes introduced into it under the empire, which tended to render the soldicry a caste, severed in interest and feeling from their civilian countrymen. He maintained that its manœuvres were antiquated, its organization very imperfect, and "that the main secret of success in every war was to be more completely prepared for action than the enemy;" a theory strikingly exemplified in the Prusso-Austrian war of 1866, and still further verified by the French reverses during the late conflict. General Trochu's appointment as governor of Paris was mainly owing to the acknowledged merits of this treatise; and so highly were his qualifications valued by the community, that it was only by promptly installing him in the office the government prevented a proposition in the Corps Législatif to place him in it. Count de Palikao, however, in announcing the appointment, was careful to state that it had no political signification. On the morning following his appointment the general issued the subjoined proclamation : "Inhabitants of Paris,-In the present peril of the country I am appointed governor of Paris and commander-in-chief of the forces charged with defending the capital in a state of siege. Paris assumes the rôle which belongs to her, and desires to be the centre of great efforts, of great sacrifices, of great examples. I associate myself with it with all my heart. It will be the pride of my life and the brilliant crowning of a career till now unknown to the most of you. I have the most implicit faith in the success of our glorious enterprise, but it is on one condition, the nature of which is absolute, imperative, and without which our united efforts will be powerless. I mean good order; and I understand by that not only calmness in the street, but in-doors, calmness of mind, deference for the orders of the responsible authority, resignation under those experiences which are inseparable from the situation, and, finally, that grave and collected serenity of a great military nation which takes in hand, with a firm resolution, under solemn circumstances, the conduct of its destinies. I will not refer, in order to secure to the situation that equilibrium which is so desirable, to the state of siege and of the law. I will demand it from your patriotism, I shall obtain it from your confidence, while I myself repose unbounded confidence in you. I appeal to men of all parties, belonging myself, as is known in the army, to no other party | front, the government fell into the error of their than that of the country. I appeal to their devo- predecessors. The truth respecting the battles tion; I entreat them to restrain by moral authority around Metz on the 14th, 16th, and 18th of those ardent spirits who cannot restrain themselves, August, which led to the investment of Marshal and to do justice by their own hands on those men Bazaine and his entire army within the lines of who are of no party, and who perceive in our public the "maiden" fortress, was uniformly withheld misfortunes only the opportunity of satisfying from the people. The minister of War spoke of detestable desires (appétits). And in order to the affair of the 14th as a brilliant combat, in accomplish my work-after which, I assure you, I which the enemy had sustained severe losses; shall retire into the obscurity from which I emerge but refused to give any details of the engage-I adopt one of the old mottoes of my native ment. A despatch subsequently published intiprovince of Brittany, 'With God's help, for the mated that the French had been able to carry country' ('Avec l'aide de Dieu, pour la patrie'). their wounded into Metz; that the Prussians were compelled to retire to their former lines; that they had been repeatedly repulsed in an unsuccessful attempt to carry the French position; and that Bazaine had rejoined MacMahon, with the prospect of a decisive victory. "GENERAL TROCHU." This proclamation was greatly approved by the inhabitants of Paris, and favourably commented on by journals of nearly every shade, especially for its patriotic spirit, firmness, and modesty. In relation to that part of it which speaks of summary justice being done by the people, the general subsequently explained as follows:-"A time may come when Paris, threatened at all points, and subjected to all the hardships of a siege, will be, so to speak, given over to that particular class of rascals (gredins) who in public misfortunes only see an opportunity for satisfying their detestable appetites. These, are the men, as you know, who run through the affrighted town, crying out, We are betrayed!' who break into houses and plunder them. These are the men whom I told all honest folk to lay hold of in the absence of the public force, which will be required on the ramparts. That was what I meant." It is noticeable that General Trochu simply announced his appointment, without indicating the authority whence it emanated.* These proceedings, coupled with declarations by M. Thiers as to the capacity of the fortifications of the capital to withstand a siege, somewhat cheered the spirits of the Parisians. At the sitting of the Corps Législatif he (M. Thiers) also expressed a hope that, in case of necessity, Paris would be able to offer an invincible resistance to the Germans. With a view to this, and in order to secure abundance in the capital, he suggested that a waste should be made around it, and that the inhabitants of the surrounding country, with all their produce, should take refuge in it. As regards the communication of news from the * See note at the end of Chapter. In published despatches it was also announced that in the battle of the 16th Marshal Bazaine had repulsed the German army, had everywhere maintained his ground, and that his troops had passed the night in the position they had conquered. The place, however, whence the latter announcement had been issued was not mentioned; and although the despatch had been sent on the night of the 16th, it was not published in Paris till the 18th. The actual state of affairs was subsequently learned from German despatches published in the English newspapers. No information was communicated respecting the hard-fought battle of Gravelotte on the 18th, but the Parisians were firmly persuaded that a great victory had been obtained; and on Friday (19th) the Boulevards were crowded with enthusiastic multitudes singing the Marseillaise and shouting "Vive la France!" "Vive Bazaine!" "Vive l'Armée!" In the Chamber, on Saturday, August 20, although no despatch was produced from Bazaine, Count Palikao made the following communication:-"The Prussians have circulated the report that they gained advantages over our troops on the 18th. I wish formally to state the contrary. I have shown to several deputies a despatch, from which it appears that three Prussian corps united made an attack upon Marshal Bazaine, but that they were repulsed and overthrown into the quarries of Jaumont (culbutés dans les carrières de Jaumont)." The minister likewise intimated that Bismarck's cuirassiers had been cut to pieces, and the Prussian troops had sustained great loss, while Bazaine's position secured to him entire freedom of action. These statements were at the time loudly cheered; but subsequently, pressed by the Left, Count Palikao failed to substantiate them. Assailed by M. Gambetta, he said that a premature communication of good news from the seat of war would imperil the success of the commander's plans; but the Opposition contended that if there was only bad news it could not come too soon, since, until the country was made aware of the worst, it would not nerve itself for the sacrifices to which it would have to submit. It was, however, well understood in Paris that the success of Bazaine was absolutely necessary to meet the circumstances. When on the 15th Count Palikao announced in the Chamber that on the 13th the marshal had shaken off the Germans, and rejoined MacMahon, there appeared in the Paris journals on the same day long articles showing the critical character of the dangers which had been surmounted, and congratulating Bazaine on his safety. Little did the writers know that the information they had received was utterly opposed to the facts; and it was but indifferent consolation they subsequently professed to find in believing that their favourite general had failed to shake off the hold of the German strategists, only because he had resolved to engage the enemy with the best troops of France, while the raw levies were being drilled into efficiency in the camp at Châlons! The reticence of the government, combined with the flagrant distortion of the actual facts, had the usual damaging effects. The inhabitants of the capital, in their feverish discontent, encouraged the fabrication of false news. Thus, according to the Liberté, on the 18th the Prussians were totally defeated, leaving 40,000 wounded on the battle-field, and had to demand leave to send them to Germany through Belgium and Luxemburg. Imaginative writers also described "the terrific drama of the Quarries of Jaumont, near Metz, where 20,000 Prussians were represented to have been precipitated into an abyss with vertical sides and a depth of 100 feet, and afterwards buried en masse with sand by Belgian peasants employed at ten francs a day, while groans yet issued from the mass on the fourth day after the catastrophe, a catastrophe which caused many French soldiers who witnessed it to burst into tears." On the govern organs other hand, the most alarming rumours were current that the French army had been utterly beaten and destroyed. The following extract from the Centre Gauche (subsequently suppressed) shows the feeling of the extreme opponents of the ment at this time:- -"How absurd are the which boast of a 'victory.' Is it victory because the emperor just escaped being made prisoner? Is it victory because our army was not cut in two on the Moselle? Is it victory because, after four days' fighting, we at length shook off an enemy which all that time had harassed our retreat? If it is victory, where are the prisoners, the guns, and the flags to show for it? If the Prussians should take the emperor prisoner, let them keep him. Not a particle of our national genius or honour will go with him. Let his wife and son share with him the carefully prepared luxuries of an opulent exile. At all events, may the hand which traced the proclamation abandoning Metz to its fate draw up no more bulletins of the grande armée on the banks of the Meuse. May such sad comedies be spared us in future. He is already called by his former flatterers in the Corps Législatif, His Majesty Invasion III., and it is notorious that only to avoid difficulties while the enemy is at our gates his deposition is postponed for a short time by a tacit compromise." Added to the restlessness engendered by uncertainty, the heart of Paris was further saddened by the arrival of the battered remnants of cavalry regiments, reduced to mere handfuls by the vicissitudes of the campaign. Weary, footsore, and wounded, the chargers passed along the thoroughfares; while the troopers, thin and haggard, looked like men who had fought hard and fared badly. Not even the march of troops still in course of being forwarded to the front could now awaken the enthusiasm of the Parisians, and regiment after regiment passed through the streets in silence. Meantime, many of the rioters at La Villette were condemned; "spies" were executed; reports were in circulation implicating even the ladies of the palace, and the mind of the capital was agitated by news of outrages in the provinces. An outrage of a specially frightful character was perpetrated on the deputy mayor of Beaussac. Misinterpreting a remark made by the unfortunate gentleman as favourable to the Prussians, a mob of some 200 ruffians attacked him with barbarous ferocity, and having wounded and battered his person, kindled a fire in the market-place of Hautelaye, and literally commander-in-chief of the forces assembled for its burnt him alive. The serious turn which the course of events had taken was evidenced by the following decree, published in the Journal Officiel of the 21st August, signed by the empress and countersigned by the Count de Palikao: to come, salutation. "Napoleon, by the grace of God and the national will, emperor of the French. To all present and We have decreed and do decree as follows:-1. The Defence Committee of the fortifications of Paris is composed of general of division Trochu, president; Marshal Vaillant, Admiral Rigault de Genouilly, Baron Jerome David, minister of Public Works, general of division Baron de Chabaud la Tour, Generals Guiod, d'Autemarre, d'Erville, and Soumain. 2. The Defence Committee is invested under the authority of the minister of War with the powers necessary for carrying out the decisions at which it may arrive. 3. For the execution of such decisions our minister of War will attach to the Defence Committee such generals, military intendants, and other officers as may be required. 4. The Defence Committee will meet every day at the War Office. It will receive a daily report of the progress of the works and armaments, the stores of ammunition and provisions. 5. The Committee will report its proceedings every day to the minister of War, who in turn will report to the Council of Ministers. 6. Our minister of War is charged with the execution of this decree. Done at the Palace of the Tuileries, 19th of August, 1870, for the emperor, by virtue of the powers intrusted to her. "EUGENIE." To the names given in this proclamation, the Chambers, contrary to the wishes of the executive, subsequently persisted in adding others; and three deputies, MM. Thiers, De Talhouët, Dupuy de Lôme, and two senators, General Mellinet and M. Béhic, were placed on the Committee of Defence. General Trochu also issued the following proclamation, which was published in the same number of the Official Journal: "To the national guard, the national garde mobile, to the land and sea troops in Paris, and to all the defenders of the capital in a state of siege. In the midst of events of the utmost gravity, I have been appointed the governor of Paris and defence. The honour is great, but for me equally so is the danger. Upon you, however, I rely to restore by energetic efforts of patriotism the fortunes of our army, should Paris be exposed to the trials of a siege. Never was a more magnificent opportunity presented to you, to prove to the world that a long course of prosperity and good fortune has in no degree enervated public feeling nor the manhood of the country. You have before you the glorious example of the army of the Rhine. They have fought one against three in heroic struggles, which have earned the admiration of the country, and have inspired it with gratitude. It wears now mourning for those who have died. has been spent among you in a close intimacy, "Soldiers of the Army of Paris. My whole life make no appeal to your courage and your confrom which I now derive hope and strength. I stancy, which are well known to me. But show by your obedience, by a firm discipline, by the have a profound sense of the responsibilities which dignity of your conduct and behaviour, that you devolve upon you. Be at once an example and an encouragement to all. The governor of Paris, "TROCHU." From these proceedings on the part of the governing authorities, the people saw clearly the dangers of the position. Notwithstanding the "glorious example" and "heroic struggles" of the army of the Rhine, the facts came out that Bazaine was shut up in Metz; that the camp at Châlons had been broken up and evacuated; and that the Crown Prince of Prussia, with a powerful army, was pursuing the southern route in order to attack Paris. The attention of the capital was thus centred upon the fortifications which thirty years before had been constructed by the ministry of M. Thiers-now a member of that Committee of Defence whose duty it was to place those structures on a war footing. Before proceeding further with our narrative, we think it cannot fail to be interesting if we here give a very brief sketch of the sieges of Paris prior to that of 1870–71, and a short historical and general description of the fortifications which proved so effective during its investment on the present occasion, and of which a plan is annexed. It is worthy of note that the first mention we have of Paris in history is connected with the the Bastille, and constructed a fort on the Isle of St. Louis. Notwithstanding these new defences, the English, after the battle of Agincourt, 1420, took Paris. The Maid of Orleans, attempting to recapture it in 1429, was repulsed; but seven years later, through the gallantry of Dunois, the Bâtard Royal, the English were obliged to evacuate it. record of an investment. Fifty years before Christ it was a stronghold of the Gauls, when Labienus, the most able of Cæsar's generals, marched an army against it, and after crossing the Seine forced the insurgents to evacuate it, after Vercingetorix, the chief of the Gauls, had burned what there was of a city. Paris was originally confined to an island, formed by a river and surrounded by inaccessible swamps. After the Germans conquered France, King Henry IV. was the next to assail the Chlodwig, the leader of the invading tribe, recon- devoted capital. As he was a Protestant, it would structed ancient Lutetia, and made it the centre not recognize his authority. Having defeated the of the new empire. When the authority of his Catholic League at Ivry, 17th March, 1590, he descendants began to decline, the defence of Paris approached the city by forced marches; and occuagainst a foreign enemy gave a prestige to one of pying Corbeil, Lagny, and Creil, cut off the supply their generals that enabled him to usurp the throne of provisions, then chiefly received by the river. of the decaying dynasty. Nearly 900 years after He next planted his guns on Montmartre, and Christ, Charles le Gros, a degenerate scion of from this commanding position left the Parisians Charlemagne, was attacked by the Normans. A to choose between starvation and bombardment : helpless imbecile, he had no choice but to make 15,000 of the inhabitants died of hunger before his peace with the predatory bands. On the negotiations were opened with the king. At that occasion of a second raid, however, Paris gallantly very moment, however, the Spaniards, who assisted held out for a whole year under the command of the Catholic League, sent General Prince Farnese Count Otto, one of the king's nobles. By this with a large army from Belgium to the rescue. feat of arms Otto acquired such renown, that Henry was thus compelled to raise the siege, and on Charles' death, in 888, the Frankish nobility only entered Paris four years later, when, having elected him king. A nephew of his, Hugh Capet, embraced Catholicism, he was welcomed with the was the ancestor of the Bourbons. greatest enthusiasm. Meantime, the German conquerors of France, absorbed by the subject of nationality, had quarrelled with the old country whence they had proceeded. In 978, when the German emperor Otto II. was celebrating the festival of St. John at Aix-la-Chapelle, he was surprised by King Lothaire of France at the head of an army of 30,000 men. Otto, however, crossed the frontier on the 1st of October, and marched straight upon Paris, overcoming all resistance in his way. Before winter set in he stood at the foot of Montmartre, and invested the city. But to ward off the hosts attempting its rescue he had to detail a portion of his army, which was eventually decimated by the cold of winter and disease. He was ultimately obliged to withdraw without effecting his object, and returned the way by which he came. The strength of the place having thus been proved by experience, King Philip Augustus, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, extended its fortifications, adding several hundred towers to the walls. In the latter part of the fourteenth century King Charles V. surrounded the new suburbs with a fresh enceinte, built a citadel called The power of France rapidly increasing, Paris remained more than 200 years unvisited by an invading army. In the reign of Louis XIV. the mere idea of the foreigner venturing into the heart of the country had come to appear so preposterous, as to lead to the razing of the fortifications. Louis XV., in 1726, again encircled the city with a wall, which, however, was not intended for military purposes; and as an open town Paris passed through the storms of the Revolution. In 1814 the allied armies appeared in front of Paris to avenge the deeds of Napoleon I. At that time Joseph Bonaparte acted as regent, and a few redoubts, hastily thrown up, were all the impediments in the way of the enemy; 25,000 regulars under Marmont and Mortier, and 15,000 national guards, with 150 guns, formed the city garrison. The allied sovereigns arrived on the evening of the 29th of March at the château of Bondy, and resolved to attack Paris by the right bank of the Seine. They planned three simultaneous attacks. That on the east, under Barclay de Tolly, with 50,000 men, was to carry, by Passy and Pantin, the plateau of Romainville; that on the south, |