1 64 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



most. The victor alone turned his triumph to account, 

 making the vanquished compensate his subjects for 

 what they had lost. It was thus that in 1870, as in 

 1815, France was crushed by the weight of the 

 ransoms which she had to pay, but the difference 

 between the two epochs is that in 1870, despite the enor- 

 mous liabilities which defeat had entailed, the country 

 did not forget the provinces which had felt the full 

 weight of the invasion, and repaired, to the best of its 

 ability, the damage which had been done there. The 

 State showed itself liberal in its dealings with foreigners 

 as well as Frenchmen, both alike being allowed to 

 profit by the laws relating to indemnities. This 

 example will not, it is to be hoped, be forgotten by 

 any foreign countries which may be subjected to a 

 like trial, and in which Frenchmen may be residing 

 and may have suffered loss, either from foreign war or 

 internal discord. For, it must be remembered, in- 

 demnities were granted as well for the losses occa- 

 sioned by the German war as for those due to the 

 Communist insurrection. These indemnities were not 

 confined to individual losses, but were extended to 

 collective and corporate bodies. So it was that large 

 grants were made to railways ; that departments and 

 parishes were reimbursed for their expenses in con- 

 nection with the mobilisation of the National Guard ; 

 and that the road bridges destroyed during the war 

 were rebuilt at the cost of the State. The total 

 amount spent in this way exceeded 34,000,000. 



