Chapter IV: Prologue (3)

[2] Let it be understood that I proceed, the words of our adversaries in hand--parliamentary inquiries, memoirs, reports, histories; that I do not attribute to them an act or a word which has not been avowed by them, their documents, or their friends. When I say M. Thiers _saw_, M. Thiers _knew_, it is that M. Thiers has said, _I saw_, page 6, _I knew_, page 11, vol. i. of the _Enquete sur les Actes du Gouvernement de la Defense Nationale_. It will be the same with all the acts and words of all the official or adverse personages that I quote.

[3] See the evidence of the Marquis de Talhouet, reporter of the Commission charged to verify the famous despatch which precipitated the vote for war. _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. i. p. 121-124.

[4] _Compte-rendu du 31 Octobre_, by Milliere.

[5] Which did not, however, prevent his accepting a secret mission during the Crimean war. He was commissioned by Napoleon III. to propose to the English to betray Turkey by limiting the war to the defence of Constantinople.

[6] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Jules Brame, vol. i. p. 201.

[7] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. ii. p. 194.

[8] Ibid., p. 313.

[9] Ibid., Jules Favre, vol. i. p. 330.

[10] In his official report, Jules Favre, to clear the Government, did not neglect to assume the responsibility of this mission, which he said he had undertaken without the knowledge of his colleagues.

[11] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Garnier-Pages, vol. i. p. 445.

[12] "Constantly in relations with the anxious population, which urgently asked what was going on, what the Government thought, what it was doing, we were obliged to screen it; to say that it was acting for the best; that it had given itself up entirely to the defence; that the chiefs of the army were most devoted and working with ardour.... We said this without knowing, without believing it. We knew nothing."--_Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Corbon, vol. i. p. 375.

[13] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Jules Ferry. He even calls the armistice a "compensation."

[14] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. i. p. 432.

[15] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. i. p. 395. The deposition of this imbecile, always equally naive, is all the more conclusive.

[16] "We were able to unite 40,000 men by telling the National Guards that Blanqui and Flourens occupied the Hotel-de-Ville. These two names did not fail to produce their usual effect."--_Enquete sur le 18 Mars_, ed. Adam, vol. ii. p. 157. "If the name of Blanqui had not been pronounced, the new elections announced by the placard of Dorian and Schoelcher would have taken place the next day."--_Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Jules Ferry, vol. i. p. 396-431.

[17] See the affirmation of Dorian. _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. i. p. 527-528.

[18] He offered a musket of honour to any one who would kill the King of Prussia, and patronised a Greek-fire that was to roast the German army.

[19] _Enquete sur le 18 Mars_, Jules Favre, vol. ii. p. 42.

[20] Even Felix Pyat was arrested. He managed to get out of prison through a jest, writing to Emmanuel Arago: "What a pity that I should be your prisoner; you might have been my advocate." He was set free.

[21] The Minister of War, Leflo, who naturally undervalues everything, says, "This left us, while assuring the operations of the siege against the Prussians, a disposable force of 230,000 to 240,000 men."

[22] Appendix I.

[23] _Enquete sur le 18 Mars_, Cresson, vol. ii. p. 135.

[24] Jules Simon, _Souvenirs du 4 Septembre_. His textual expressions.

[25] _Enquete sur le 18 Mars_, Jules Favre, vol. ii. p. 43.

[26] After the disaster of Orleans, which cut in two our army, he wrote: "The army of the Loire is far from being annihilated; it is separated into two armies of equal force."

[27] They avoided drawing up minutes to prevent even the appearance of being a municipality (_Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Jules Ferry, vol. i. p. 406). A dozen of these brave ones met with a few adjuncts at the mairie of the third arrondissement. They confined their whole efforts to seeking some one to replace Trochu. One of them, M. Corbon, has said (_Enquete sur le 18 Mars_, vol. ii. p. 613): "However displeased they might have been at the manner affairs were conducted by the Defence, they would not for the world overthrow or weaken the Government."

[28] This placard was drawn up by Tridon and Valles.

[29] "See," said they, "what a terrible responsibility we should incur if we consented any longer to remain the passive instruments of a policy condemned by the interests of France and of the Republic."

[30] See the Minutes of the Government of the Defence, evidently arranged for the best by M. Dreo, the son-in-law of Garnier-Pages.

[31] _Enquete sur le 18 Mars_, Ducrot, vol. iii. p. xx.

[32] See the Minutes of the Government of Defence.

[33] Who bears witness to the bravery of the National Guard? Superior officers themselves. See in the _Enquete sur le 18 Mars_, the depositions of General Leflo, Vice-Admiral Pothuan, Colonel Lambert, and Trochu, speaking from the tribune: "If I did not fear to appear intrusive, I could show that up to the close of the day the inexperienced National Guards took and retook with the energy of old troops, under terrific fire, the heights that had been abandoned. It was necessary to hold them at any price in order to effect the retreat of the troops engaged in the centre. I had told them so, and they sacrificed themselves without hesitation."

[34] Vinoy's corps, which took Montretout, had five regiments and one battalion of infantry, nineteen battalions of mobiles, five regiments of National Guards. That of General Bellemare, which took Buzenval, had five regiments of line, seventeen battalions of mobiles, eight regiments of National Guards.

[35] "We shall give the National Guard a little peppering (_ecrabouiller un peu la garde nationale_) since they wish it," said a colonel of infantry, much annoyed at this affair. _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Colonel Chaper, vol. ii. p. 281.

[36] He told them by way of consolation that "from the evening of the 4th September he had declared that it would be madness to attempt sustaining a siege by the Prussian army."--_Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Corbon, vol. iv. p. 889.

[37] He has pronounced these words of perfect Jesuitism: "To yield to hunger is to die, not to capitulate."--_Jules Simon, Souvenirs du 4 Septembre_, p. 299.

[38] Deposition of General Soumairs, _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. ii. p. 215.

[39] What disgrace! 175,000 men pretending that they had been sold by a single one! In the Seven Years' War, in Westphalia, at Minden, when General Morangies prepared to capitulate, 1500 men, roused by a corporal, refused to surrender, forced their way, and rejoined the army of the Count of Clermont.

[40] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Arnaud de l'Ariege, vol. ii. p. 320-321.

[41] "I return from Versailles. I have come to terms with M. de Bismarck, and it has been agreed upon between us as a matter of honour the firing should cease."--Order sent by Jules Favre on the 27th, seven o'clock evening. Vinoy, _L'Armistice et la Commune_, p. 67.

[42] The decree sacrificed fifteen and spared twenty-four.

[43] _A. Arnaud_, _Avrial_, _Beslay_, _Blanqui_, _Demay_, _Dereure_, Dupas, E. Dupont, _J. Durand_, _E. Duval_, _Eudes_, Flotte, _Frankel_, _Gambon_, _Goupil_, Granger, Humbert, Jaclard, Jarnigon, Lacambre, Lacord, _Langevin_, _Lefrancais_, Leverdays, _Longuet_, Macdonnell, _Malon_, _Meillet_, Minet, _Oudet_, _Pindy_, _F. Pyat_, _Ranvier_, Rey, Rouillier, _Serraillier_, _Theisz_, Tolain, _Tridon_, _Vaillant_, _Valles_, _Varlin_. The names of those who were elected members of the Commune are in italics.

[44] In the _Vengeur_, which had taken the place of the _Combat_, he proved, documents in hand, that for years Jules Favre had been guilty of forgery, bigamy, and falsification of papers of legitimation.

[45] After the five returned, sixteen candidates of La Corderie obtained from 65,000 votes to 22,000 votes; Tridon 65,707, Duval 22,499.

[46] Which, besides, has been recounted by Marc Dufraisse in the _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. iv. p. 428.

[47] Cluseret, an ex-officer, decorated in 1848 for his spirited conduct. "I unfortunately displayed too much energy in that disastrous battle," he wrote in _Fraser's Magazine_ of March 1878. Attached to the Arabian Bureaux, he threw up his commission after the Crimean war, and not being able to play a part in Europe, engaged in the American civil war for a short time, then withdrew to New York, where he campaigned with his pen. Misunderstood by the bourgeoisie of the two worlds, he again took to politics, but from the opposite side; offered himself to the Irish insurgents; landed in Ireland urging them to rise, and one fine night abandoned them. The nascent International also saw this powerful general come and offer his services. He did a good deal in the way of pamphleteering; tried to impress upon the workmen that he was the sword and buckler of Socialism. "We or nothing," said he to the sons of the massacred of June. The Government of the 4th September having also failed to appreciate his genius, he called Gambetta _Prussian_, and got himself sent as delegate to Lyons by the Corderie, where Varlin, whom he deceived for a long time, had introduced him. He offered the Lyons council to organise an army of volunteers which was to operate on the flank of the enemy.

[48] The working-men's quarters of Lyons.

[49] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Gambetta, vol. i. p. 560.

[50] The Jew Cremieux lived with the Ultramontane Archbishop Guibert (since made Archbishop of Paris) in his episcopal palace at Tours, dining every day at his table, and in return rendering him all the little services asked for by the clergy.

[51] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Gambetta, vol. i. p. 561.

[52] D'Aurelles de Paladines, _La Premiere Armee de la Loire_, p. 93.

[53] De Freycinet, _La Guerre en Province_, p. 86, 87.

[54] Ibid., p. 91.

[55] On the 11th, the delegate telegraphed to D'Aurelles: "We fully approve of the dispositions you had taken for your troops round Orleans.... You will receive instructions. In the meantime redouble your vigilance in prevision of a return to the offensive on the part of the enemy."--_D'Aurelles de Paladines_, _La Premiere Armee de la Loire_, p. 120. Thus, far from speaking of attacking, the Delegation only thought of the defensive.

[56] "It was only when they could not help it that they made up their minds to act," Gambetta has said in the _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_. The avowal is precious, coming from him.

[57] It is most amusing to hear D'Aurelles chaffing Trochu without perceiving that he is just as ridiculous. In his evidence (_Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. iii. p. 201) he says: "I did not deposit either a plan or a testament at a lawyer's; I confined myself to writing to the Bishop of Orleans: Monsignor, the army of the Loire to-day sets out on its march to meet the army of General Ducrot. Pray, Monsignor, for the salvation of France."

[58] And what other name is merited by the general who abandoned his post in the field to go and negotiate with the sovereign whom France had expelled?

[59] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Rolland, vol. iii. p. 456.

[60] Ibid., Dalloz, vol. iv. p. 398.

[61] If General Boyer, who saw the letter, is to be believed, the Delegation of Tours on the 24th October made officious advances to the Empress, and then gave the order to the charge-d'affaires at London to go and thank her for the patriotism that she had shown in refusing to treat with Bismarck, who trifled with her as well as with Bazaine. See _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. iv. p. 258.

[62] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Admiral Jaureguiberry, vol. iii. p. 297.