France in the Nineteenth Century Part 29

In a miserable old carriage, attended by a Prussian escort, Jules Favre was borne away to his terrible interview with Bismarck, leaving d'Herisson behind. Favre did not come back for many hours. His first words to his aide-de-camp were: "Oh, my dear fellow, I was wrong to go without you. What have I not suffered?"

He had been taken at once to a very modest house in Versailles, where Bismarck had his quarters. After the first salutations Jules Favre said that he came to renew the negotiations broken off at Ferrieres. Here Bismarck interrupted him, saying: "The situation is changed. If you are still going to say, 'Not an inch, not a stone,' as you did at Ferrieres, we may break off at once. My time is valuable, and yours too." Then suddenly he added: "Your hair has grown much grayer than it was at Ferrieres." Jules Favre replied that that was due to anxiety and the cares of government. The chancellor answered that the Government of Paris had put off a long time asking for peace, and that he had been on the eve of making an arrangement with an envoy from Napoleon III. He then explained that it would be easy for him to bring back the emperor and to force France to receive him; that Napoleon could collect an army of a hundred thousand men among the French prisoners of war in Germany, etc.; and he added: "After all, why should I treat with you? Why should I give your irregular Republic an appearance of legality by signing an armistice with its representative? What are you but rebels? Your emperor if he came back would have the right to shoot every one of you."

"But if he came back," cried Jules Favre, "all would be civil war and anarchy."

"Are you so sure of that?" said the chancellor. "Anyhow, a civil war in France could not affect Germany."

"But, M. le Comte, are you not afraid of reducing us to despair, of exasperating our resistance?"

"Your resistance!" cried Bismarck. "Are you proud of your resistance?

If General Trochu were a German, I would have him shot this evening.

You have no right, for the sake of mere military vainglory, to risk the lives of two millions of people. The railroad tracks have been torn up, and if we cannot lay them down again in two days, we know that a hundred thousand people in Paris will die of famine.

Don't talk of resistance, it is criminal."

Jules Favre, put entirely out of countenance by Bismarck's tone, merely insisted that in pity to France there should be no question of subjecting her to the ignominy of being again made over to her deposed emperor. Before parting, Bismarck requested him to write down such conditions of peace as seemed to him reasonable, in order that they might discuss them the next day.[1]

[Footnote 1: My copy of d'Herisson's book has a pencil note at this place, written by a friend then at Versailles: "Bismarck rode after Jules Favre when he set out on his return, and thrust into his carriage an enormous sausage."]

When that day came, the chancellor, having had interviews with his sovereign and Von Moltke, submitted his own propositions. They were seven in number:--

I. An armistice for twenty-one days.

II. Disarmament of the French army, to remain in Paris as prisoners of war.

III. The soldiers to give up arms and banners; officers to keep their swords.

IV. The armistice to extend all over France.

V. Paris to pay indemnity, and give up its forts to the Prussians.

VI. The Germans not to enter Paris during the armistice.

VII. Elections to be held throughout France for a National a.s.sembly charged to consider conditions of peace.

Some slight modifications were made in these hard terms, which were signed Jan. 28, 1871.

As aide-de-camp and secretary to the French minister, d'Herisson was present at all the interviews between Bismarck and his princ.i.p.al.

When the terms, proposed by Germany were reported by Jules Favre to the Committee of Defence, they were thought less severe than had been feared.

The next morning Favre and d'Herisson were at Versailles by dawn.

Bismarck, who was an early riser, soon appeared, and took the minister and his aide-de-camp to his study. There the two men talked, and the secretary took notes of the conversation.

Bismarck and Favre presented a great contrast. Bismarck was then fifty-five years of age; Jules Favre was six years older. Bismarck wore the uniform of a colonel of White Cuira.s.siers,--a white coat, a white cap, and yellow tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs. He seemed like a colossus, with his square shoulders and his mighty strength. Jules Favre, on the contrary, was tall and thin, bowed down by a sense of his position, wearing a black frock-coat that had become too wide for him, with his white hair resting on its collar. He was especially urgent that the National Guard in Paris should retain its arms. He consented to the disarmament of the Mobiles and the army, but he said it would be impossible to disarm the National Guard. At length Bismarck yielded this point, but with superior sagacity remarked: "So be it. But believe me you are doing a foolish thing. Sooner or later you will be sorry you did not disarm those unquiet spirits. Their arms will be turned against you."

When the question was raised concerning the indemnity to be paid by Paris, Bismarck said, laughing, that Paris was so great a lady, it would be an indignity to ask of her less than a milliard of francs ($200,000,000). The ransom was finally settled at two hundred millions of francs ($40,000,000).

"The dinner-hour having arrived, the chancellor invited us," says d'Herisson, "to take seats at his table. Jules Favre, who wanted to write out carefully the notes I had taken, begged to have his dinner sent up to him; so I alone followed the chancellor to the dining-room, where about a dozen military and civil functionaries were a.s.sembled, but all were in uniform. The chancellor, who sat at the head of the table, placed me on his right. There was plenty of ma.s.sive silver, belonging evidently to a travelling case. The only deficiency was in light, the table being illuminated by only two wax candles stuck in empty wine-bottles. This was the only evidence of a time of war."

As soon as the chancellor was seated, he began to eat with a good appet.i.te, talking all the time, and drinking alternately beer and champagne from a great silver goblet marked with his initials. The conversation was in French. Suddenly the chancellor remembered having met M. d'Herisson eight years before at the Princess Mentzichoff's, and their relations became those of two gentlemen who recognize each other in good society.

The Parisians thought that d'Herisson had been far too lively on this occasion; but he feels sure that his sprightly talk and free partic.i.p.ation in the good things of the table, formed a favorable contrast to the deep depression of Jules Favre at the same board the day before. "M. de Bismarck," he says, "is not at all like the conventional statesman. He is not solemn. He is very gay, and even when discussing the gravest questions often makes jokes, though under his playful sallies gleam the lion's claws."

They talked of hunting. The chancellor related anecdotes of his own prowess, and by the time they returned to Jules Favre, the French aide-de-camp and the Prussian prime minister were on the best terms with each other. But before long the chancellor gave a specimen of the violence of his displeasure. "Three times," says d'Herisson, "I saw him angry,--once _a propos_ of Garibaldi; once when speaking of the resistance of St. Quentin, an unwalled town, which he said should have submitted at once; and once it was my own fault."

On the table stood a saucer with three choice cigars. The chancellor took it up and offered it to Jules Favre, who replied that he never smoked; "There you are wrong," said Bismarck; "when a conversation is about to take place which may lead to differences of opinion, it is better to smoke. The cigar between a man's lips, which he must not let fall, controls his physical impatience. It soothes him imperceptibly. He grows more conciliatory. He is more disposed to make concessions. And diplomacy is made up of reciprocal concessions.

You who don't smoke have one advantage over me,--you are more on the alert. But I have an advantage over you,--you will be more likely than I shall be to lose your self control and give way to sudden impressions."

The negotiation was resumed very quietly. With astonis.h.i.+ng frankness the chancellor said simply and plainly what he wanted. He went straight to his point, bewildering Jules Favre, a lawyer by profession, who was accustomed to diplomatic circ.u.mlocutions, and was not prepared for such imperious openness.

The chancellor spoke French admirably, "making use," says d'Herisson "of strong and choice expressions, and never seeming at a loss for a word." But when the subject of Garibaldi and his army came up, his eyes began to flash, and he seemed to curb himself with difficulty. "I intend," he said, "to leave him and his followers out of the armistice. He is not one of your own people. You can very well leave him to me. Our army opposed to him is about equal to his. Let them fight it out between them." Jules Favre replied that this was impossible; for though France had not asked Garibaldi for his services, and had in the first instance refused them, circ.u.mstances had made him general-in-chief of a large _corps d'armee_ composed almost entirely of Frenchmen, and to abandon him would be indefensible. Then the anger of the chancellor blazed forth against Garibaldi. "I want to parade him through the streets of Berlin,"

he cried, "with a placard on his back: 'This is Grat.i.tude!'"

Here d'Herisson interrupted his burst of anger by picking up the saucer from the table and holding it to his breast as beggars do at the church-doors. The chancellor caught his idea after a moment.

He laughed, and Garibaldi, with his _corps d'armee_, was included in the armistice.

It was necessary, however, that a French general should come out to Versailles the next day and confer with Count von Moltke with regard to some military details. The old general who was chosen for that service was furious at the appointment, and behaved with such rudeness that Bismarck requested that a man more courteous might replace him.

In the course of the conversation Bismarck, who was always breaking off upon side topics, replied to an observation made by Jules Favre about the love of France for a republic, by saying: "Are you so sure of that?--for I don't think so. Before treating with you, we naturally made it our business to obtain good information as to the state of public feeling in your country; and notwithstanding this unhappy war, which was forced by France upon Napoleon III., and notwithstanding the disasters of your armies, nothing would be easier, believe me, than to re-establish the emperor. I will not say that his restoration would have been hailed by acclamations in Paris, but it would have been submitted to by the country. A _plebiscite_ would have done the rest."

Jules Favre protested. "Oh, you will become more inclined to monarchy as you grow older," cried the chancellor. "Look at me. I began my public life by being a liberal; and now, by force of reason, by the teachings of experience, and by an increased knowledge of mankind, I have learned, loving my country, wis.h.i.+ng her good and her greatness, to become a conservative,--an upholder of authority. My emperor converted me. My grat.i.tude to him, my respectful affection, date from the far-off time when he alone supported me. If I am to-day the man you see me, if I have rendered any service to my country, I owe it all, as I am pleased to acknowledge, to the emperor."

That night, as Jules Favre was returning to Paris to obtain from his colleagues the ratification of the armistice, Bismarck proposed that firing should cease at midnight. Jules Favre a.s.sented, but asked as a courtesy that Paris might fire the last shot.

That night the terms of capitulation were signed by all the members of the Committee of Defence. It is strange how the baptismal name of Jules predominated among them,--Jules Favre, Jules Ferry, Jules Simon, Jules Trochu. Trochu, however, did not sign, having resigned his post that he might not be called upon to do so.

A few changes in the articles as at first drawn up were made. The Prussians did not insist, as Bismarck had done at first, that the cannon in the bastions should be hurled down, and regiments were permitted to retain their colors, though Von Moltke objected strongly to such concessions. They were granted, however, by the emperor, when the matter was referred to him, but in words more insulting than a refusal. "Tell the envoy of the French Government," he said, "that we have trophies enough and standards enough taken from French armies, and have no need of those of the army of Paris."

Then, the capitulation being signed, the armistice began. General elections were at once held all over France, and the National a.s.sembly met at Bordeaux. A Provisional Government, with M. Thiers at its head, was appointed, and peace was concluded. Alsace and Lorraine were given up to Germany, with the exception of the stronghold of Belfort, which had never surrendered. The German army was to enter Paris, but to go no farther than the Place de la Concorde; and besides the two hundred millions of francs exacted from Paris, France was to pay five milliards, that is, five thousand millions, of francs, as a war indemnity,--a thousand millions of dollars.

Germany was to retain certain forts in France, and her troops in them were to be rationed by the French until this money was paid.

It was paid in an incredibly short time, chiefly by the help of the great Jewish banking-houses; and the last of the Germans retired to their own soil in September, 1872.

But on March 13, 1871, the German army around Paris, after remaining a few hours in the capital, marched away towards home.

The a.s.sembly at Bordeaux proceeded at once to transfer itself to the late Prussian headquarters at Versailles; but on March 18 a great rising, called the Commune, broke out in Paris, which lasted rather more than nine weeks, with a continued succession of horrors.

CHAPTER XV.

THE COMMUNE.

The story of the Commune is piteous, disheartening, shameful, and terrible. It seems as if during three months of 1871 "human nature,"

as Carlyle says of it in his "French Revolution," "had thrown off all formulas, and come out _human!_" It is the story of those whom the French call "the people,"--we "the mob," or "the populace,"--let loose upon society, and society in its turn mercilessly avenging itself for its wrongs.

By March 12,1871, the Prussian soldiers had quitted the environs of Paris, and were in full march for their homes. Two of the detached forts, however, remained eighteen months longer in their hands.

On March 20 the National a.s.sembly was to begin its session at Versailles. The Provinces were very mistrustful of Paris, and the a.s.sembling of the deputies at Versailles was of itself a proof of the want of national confidence in the Parisians.