My Paris Diary of 1870 391 



two Julie rushed into the room telling me that a great victory had been 

 won, the Prince of Prussia and 20,000 prisoners taken. It was too good 

 to be true, but flags were being put up everywhere in the streets. I ordered 

 out the carriage and drove down the Rue de Rivoli eastwards and on round 

 the boulevards. The Faubourg St. Antoine and all the east end of Paris 

 was a mass of flags and excitement. After the Boulevard des Italiens, 

 however, on our way back these thinned and at the Madeleine all was 

 bare as on ordinary days, till on arriving at the Embassy, we found that 

 the whole thing was a gigantic canard. Somebody had posted up a tele- 

 gram with this news at the Bourse, and in a couple of hours the excite- 

 ment had reached every corner of Paris. In the afternoon an attack was 

 made by the mob on the Bourse and its frequenters. The man who had 

 posted up the telegram was nearly torn to pieces, and the Jews and other 

 rascals who were there had the coats torn off their backs. 



"yth Aug. — This morning the news seems bad. The ' Figaro ' says 

 that it is a time for calm and dignity. 



" 4 o'clock — MacMahon has been defeated in a great battle at Reich- 

 shoffen [Worth]. He has retreated on Nancy; his communications with 

 Metz were cut, but seem now to be restored. On the same day yesterday 

 General Frossart was driven out of Saarbruck. The Emperor in his 

 bulletin says that great sacrifices must be made by the country. There is 

 great depression in Paris. A band of respectable people came past our 

 house shouting 'La patric en danger! Des, fusils! A la frontiere!' At 

 this moment a great crowd is collecting round the Tuileries. Julie has 

 gone out to see what the news is. Claremont says the French have been 

 outnumbered, that they had not 200,000 men in the field. The Empress is 

 at the Tuileries. People begin to talk ominously about the present dynasty. 

 Dalmand at the Tennis Court [he was third paumier to the tennis court 

 of which I was a member close by in the north-east corner of the Tuileries 

 Gardens] says he has only one wish, to die by a Prussian bullet ! 



' Yesterday a mob assembled at the Place Vendome and forced Ollivier 

 to make a speech from his balcony. He promised the news should be 

 placarded every two hours. Paris is declared in a state of siege. I have 

 ordered the carriage for ten o'clock to-morrow to drive to Nantes, whence 

 Anne and Miss Noel will go on to Deauville. I shall return by train. I 

 am afraid of the horses being seized for the war. 



" 5 o'clock. — Julie has come back to say that the Emperor's despatch 

 was that he did not know where MacMahon was. This looks very bad. 



" The battle where Frossart was beaten was Forbach. MacMahon's 

 they call Freshvillers. If MacMahon has been cut off we may expect the 

 French centre to be attacked on both sides and probably beaten some- 

 where in front of Metz. 



"8th August. — No news this morning. MacMahon seems to have 

 joined the main army before Metz. The Parisians are rapidly becoming 

 demoralized, the Bonapartists blaming the Republicans, the Republicans 

 the Bonapartists, and both blaming Fortune. All parties seem inclined to 

 lay down their arms directly the army is beaten. I was not wrong in 

 believing that twenty years of Caesarism had destroyed virtue in France. 



