Lippincotts Magazine, October 1873 | Page 4

hear, as I heard, the poor
beadles and guards, from the height of yonder platform, calling the city
to the aid of its cathedral. The next day the mighty church, now so
imperfectly restored, was a piteous sight. The flames had gone out for
want of fuel. We could see the sky through holes in the roof. The
organ-front was leaning over, pierced with strange gaps; the clock
escaped as by miracle; and the mighty saints, who had been praying for
centuries in the stained windows, were scattered upon the floor. On the
25th the systematic firing of the faubourgs began, and the city was
filled with the choking smell of burning goods: on the 28th the citadel
was kindled."
[Illustration: BEAUTY'S QUINTESSENCE.]
"And what opposition," I naturally demanded, "were you able to make
to all this? I believe your forces were greatly shortened?"
"We were as short as you can think, sir. Most of the garrison had been
withdrawn by MacMahon. The soldiers still among us were miserably
demoralized by the entrance of the fugitives from Woerth. Our defence
was the strangest of mixtures. The custom-house officers were armed
and mobilized: the naval captain Dupetit-Thouars happened to be in the
walls, with some of the idle marine. Colonel Fiévée, with his
pontoneers, hurriedly tore up the bridge of boats leading over to Kehl,
and united himself with the garrison. From the outbreak of the war we
civilians had been invited to form a garde nationale, but never was
there a greater farce. We were asked to choose our own grades, and
when I begged to be made colonel, they inquired if I would not prefer
to be lieutenant or adjutant. Most of us, those at least who had voted
against the imperial candidates, never received a gun. Our artillery,
worthy of the times of Louis XIV., scolded in vain from the ramparts
against the finest cannons in the world, and we were obliged to watch
the Prussian trenches pushing toward the town, and to hear the bullets

beginning to fall where at first were only bombs."
"The capitulation was then imminent."
"There were a few incidents in the mean time. The deputation from
Switzerland, of ever-blessed memory, entered the city on the eleventh
of September. Angels from heaven could not have been more welcome.
You know that a thousand of our inhabitants passed over into
Switzerland under conduct of the delegate from Berne, Colonel Büren,
and that they were received like brothers. From Colonel Büren also we
learned for the first time about Sedan, the disasters of Bazaine and
MacMahon, and the hopelessness of the national cause. We learned that,
while they were crowning with flowers the statue of our city in Paris,
they had no assistance but handsome words to send us. Finally, we
learned the proclamation of the French republic--a republic engendered
in desolation, and so powerless to support its distant provinces! We too
had our little republican demonstration, and on the 20th of September
the prefect they had sent us from Paris, M. Valentin, came dashing in
like a harlequin, after running the gauntlet of a thousand dangers, and
ripped out of his sleeve his official voucher from Gambetta. Alas! we
were a republic for only a week, but that week of fettered freedom still
dwells like an elixir in some of our hearts. For eight days I, a born
Switzer, saw the Rhine a republican river."
"Give me your hand, sir!" I cried, greatly moved. "You are talking to a
republican. I am, or used to be, a citizen of free America!"
"I am happy to embrace you," said the burgher; and I believe he was on
the point of doing it, literally as well as figuratively. "I, for my part,
whatever they make of me, am at least an Alsatian. But I am half
ashamed to talk to an American. On the 29th I went to see our troops
evacuate the city by the Faubourg National. I found myself elbow to
elbow in the throng with the consul from the United States: never in my
life shall I forget the indignant surprise of your compatriot."
"Why should our consul be indignant at disaster?" I demanded.
[Illustration: VOICI LE SABRE!]
"Why, sir, the throng that rolled toward the grave Prussian troops was
composed of desperadoes inflamed with wine, flourishing broken guns
and stumps of sabres, and insulting equally, with many a drunken oath,
the conquerors and our own loyal general Uhrich. The American consul,
blushing with shame for our common humanity, said, 'This is the

second time I have watched the capitulation of an army. The first time
it was the soldiers of General Lee, who yielded to the Northern troops.
Those brave Confederates came toward us silent and dignified, bearing
arms reversed, as at a funeral.