AMONG the letters found in the cabinet of the Emperor at the Tuileries, on the 4th of September, 1870, were a number from the Princess Josephine and her son, Prince Leopold. Perhaps the most interesting is one written by the Princess to the Emperor in June, 1866, in which she alludes to the fact, now forgotten, that it was under his "august protection" that the Rumanian nation came into being, and solicits the benevolent interest of her cousin in behalf of her son Charles, who had just accepted the throne offered to him by the Rumanians.

"If, my dear cousin," she writes, "I can let him go without fear, it is because I am sustained by the intimate conviction that we can count upon your good-will, and that you were already in sympathy with a resolution that sprang from a generous impulse, which the thought of the protection you always have given to the cause of Rumania sustained and strengthened. Since, because of that august protection, the guaranteeing Powers are no longer hostile to my son, I now write to thank you, my dear cousin, and to solicit for him your advice and your support. I beg of you to assist him---to sustain him in the task, doubtless very difficult, to which he has given himself with all the ardor of his young heart. Permit me to add to my prayer the assurance that he would not have taken this decision had he not been absolutely convinced that it would not be displeasing to you. This was the opinion of the Rumanians themselves. They are under too many obligations to you to have persisted, as they have done, in their resolution, had they had any reason to fear that it would have met with your disapprobation. For a long time I have cherished the hope of coming to Paris, and of commending to you my good son Charles more warmly than I can by writing to you. I had it so much in heart to pay my respects to her Majesty the Empress, and to thank her for all the kindnesses which she, as well as you, condescended to extend so generously to Antoinette and Leopold during their visit to the Tuileries. In offering to you the expression of my lively, of my profound gratitude, I could have spoken to you of my maternal solicitude, of the hopes we have placed in you---in your unremitting kindnesses. Unfortunately, I am compelled to give up that which would have made me so happy, for we are in the midst of a war of which we are unable to measure the dimensions. Charles has the sad task of being obliged to defend the provinces of the Rhine and Westphalia against South Germany. He joins with me in begging you o find in these lines the assurance of the kind feelings with which we are imbued, and to be so good as to have her Majesty the Empress accept it as our homage. We venture to hope that she will give her support to my people when speaking to you.

"It is with the tenderest affection that I am forever, my dear cousin, your very devoted cousin,

These expressions of political consideration and assurances of gratitude and kind feeling were perhaps sincere when uttered; but four years later they would seem to have been forgotten or unheeded. If princes have not always short memories, a political end or raison d'état is apt to count with them far more than ties of family or personal obligations for past favors or services.

MARIE EUGÉNIE DE GUZMAN, Countess de Téba, was born in Granada, Spain, on May 5, 1826, and is the daughter of Don Cipriano Guzman Palafox y Porto Carrero, Count de Téba, and of Maria Manuela Kirkpatrick. The house of Guzman is one of the most illustrious in Spanish history, and the stoical loyalty to his king of Don Alfonso Perez de Guzman, who in 1291 permitted his son to be decapitated by the Moors rather than surrender the citadel of Talifa, has been immortalized by Lope de Vega.

Mademoiselle Eugénie was a grand-niece of Alfonso X, and in the seventeenth century a Guzman married the Duke of Braganza, afterward King Juan IV. of Portugal. The families of Las Torres, Medina-Coeli, and Olivares are also related to the house of Porto Carrero, Counts de Montijo, through the Guzmans.

The mother of the Empress Eugénie was the daughter of Françoise de Grivegnée and William Kirkpatrick. The Grivegnées were originally from Liège, but had long resided in Spain. Her father, Mr. Kirkpatrick, was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He was a member of a family devoted to the cause of the Stuarts, and, for political reasons, emigrated to America just before the Declaration of Independence. Remaining there, however, but a short time, he went to Spain, where he soon became associated in business with his future father-in-law, a wealthy merchant of Malaga. Having been for a great many years the United States consul at this port, Mr. Kirkpatrick was personally well known to many Americans who had occasion to visit Spain during and immediately after the time when he represented our Government in an official capacity.

How Mr. Kirkpatrick came to receive this appointment is set forth in the following letter addressed to President Washington by George Cabot, United States Senator from Massachusetts:

"BEVERLEY, January 28, 1791.

"SIR: Mr. William Kirkpatrick, a member of the house of Messieurs Grivegnée & Co., of Malaga, wishes to have the honor of serving the United States in the character of consul for that port. Should it be thought expedient to institute such an office, it may be found that Mr. Kirkpatrick's situation, as well as talents and dispositions, peculiarly enable him to fill it with propriety. Permit me, therefore, sir, to request that, when the qualifications of candidates are under your examination, his also may be considered.

"If any apology is necessary for this freedom, I hope it may not be deemed insufficient that, having been led by my profession to make frequent visits to Spain, among other intimacies I formed one with the principals of the commercial establishment to which Mr. Kirkpatrick belongs; that these have desired my testimony on this occasion, and that my experience of their integrity and their friendship to the people of this country constrains me to think well of a gentleman they recommend, and to confide in one for whose faithfulness they are willing to be responsible.

"I am, with the most profound respect, sir, your most faithful and obedient servant,

GEORGE CABOT.

"THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.".

Another distinguished American has written still more interestingly of Mr. Kirkpatrick. Washington Irving, in a letter addressed, in 1853, to Mrs. Pierre M. Irving, says:

"I believe I have told you that I knew the grandfather of the Empress---old Mr. Kirkpatrick, who had been American Consul at Malaga. I passed an evening at his house in 1827, near Adra, on the west of the Mediterranean. A week or two after I was at the house of his son-in-law, the Count Téba, at Granada---a gallant, intelligent gentleman, much cut up in the wars, having lost an eye and been maimed in a leg and hand. His wife, the daughter of Mr. Kirkpatrick, was absent, but he had a family of little girls, mere children, about him. The youngest of these must have been the present Empress. Several years afterwards, when I had recently taken up my abode in Madrid, I was invited to a grand ball at the house of the Countess Montijo, one of the leaders of the ton. On making my bow to her, I was surprised at being received by her with the warmth and eagerness of an old friend. She claimed me as the friend of her late husband, the Count Téba (subsequently Marquis Montijo), who, she said, had often spoken of me with the greatest regard. She took me into another room and showed me a miniature of the Count, such as I had known him with a black patch over one eye. She subsequently introduced me to the little girls I had known at Granada---now fashionable belles at Madrid.

"After this I was frequently at her house, which was one of the gayest in the capital. The Countess and her daughters all spoke English. The eldest daughter was married, while I was in Madrid, to the Duke of Alva and Berwick, the lineal successor to the pretender to the British Crown. The other now sits on the throne of France."

Of the mother of the Empress, Mr. George Ticknor, the author of the "History of Spanish Literature," writes, in 1818, as follows:

"I knew Madame de Téba in Madrid, when she was there on a visit last summer; and from what I saw of her then and here (Malaga), where I saw her every day, I do not doubt she is the most cultivated and the most interesting woman in Spain. Young and beautiful, educated strictly and faithfully by her mother---who for this purpose carried her to London and Paris, and kept her there between six and seven years---possessing extraordinary talents, and giving an air of originality to all she says and does, she unites, in a most bewitching manner, the Andalusian grace and frankness to a French facility in her manners and a genuine English thoroughness in her knowledge and accomplishments. She knows the five chief modern languages well, and feels their different characters, and estimates their literatures aright. She has the foreign accomplishments of singing, playing, painting, etc., and the national one of dancing, in a high degree. In conversation she is brilliant and original; and yet with all this she is a true Spaniard, and as full of Spanish feelings as she is of talent and culture."

ON account of the currency given to reports that the Emperor had amassed and left an enormous private fortune, soon after his death the solicitors of the Empress addressed the following communication to the press:

"Incorrect statements having repeatedly appeared in both English and foreign newspapers regarding the will of the late Emperor Napoleon, we think it right, as solicitors for the administratrix, to state that all such rumors as have hitherto been published are without authority and inaccurate. Unavoidable circumstances have occasioned some delay in the publication of the will, but letters of administration cum testamento annexo have now been applied for, and, in order to avoid the possibility of further misrepresentation we are authorized to transmit to you a copy of the will for publication. ---

"The estate has been sworn under £120,000; but it is right to state that this sum is subject to claims which will reduce the amount actually received by the administratrix to about one-half of the sum named.

[Signed] "MARKBY PARRY & STEWART,
                   37 Coleman Street, E. O."

"April 27th.

"LONDON, 6 GRAFTON STREET June 12, 1864.

"MY DEAR DR. EVANS:

"I hope your countrymen will be satisfied with my eulogy of them the other day in, the Lords. It was so inaccurately given in most of the papers, that I shall send you an accurate account of it, which I shall have in a few days.

"Believe me, most sincerely yours,

"LORD BROUGHAM, in rising to second the motion, wished to make a few observations on some parts of his noble friend's (Lord Clanricarde's) statements. No one could lament more deeply than he did, not only the cruel and calamitous civil war which had been waging for the last three years in America, but the conduct of many of our countrymen in joining in this dreadful contest, more particularly those who came from that part of the country to which his noble friend belonged, and who, he lamented to say, had in great numbers entered the Federal army. He highly disapproved of the conduct of the Federal Government not only in the attempt which they began but could not carry out, to establish depots for raising foreign recruits, but he disapproved as entirely of their taking men---even if they did not inveigle them by the tricks which had been described---taking them even when the men honestly entered, and entered knowing what they were doing, even though not deceived by crimps and deluded under the influence of strong liquor. The men were told they were going merely to labor in the fields, and after they were there they were told there was no work for them, and they were asked, 'Will you please come into the army?' But even suppose the most honest and fair contract made between these Irishmen and the recruiting officers of the Federal Government, he still disapproved of the course they had adopted. What was their complaint against us? That we were not sufficiently neutral---that we did not hold the balance even between the two parties, Federals and Confederates. Both parties in America, he believed, complained of us in this respect; but could there be a more open infraction of neutrality than the conduct of those who compel the poor Irish immigrants to enter their service, or who take them into their service? They were taking men into their service who were guilty of an offense punishable severely in this country. These men were criminals. The crime of which they were guilty had lately been made a misdemeanor by the Foreign Enlistment Act; but in the reign of George II it was felony, and at one time it was a capital felony. The men were still criminals, and the Federal Government employed men knowing them to be criminals [illegible] into their service. Time was when those same Americans complained bitterly of our employing foreign troops to subdue them---to do the very same thing toward them which the Federals were now doing toward the Confederates---endeavoring to restore the Union---that was to conquer, or attempting to conquer, the Confederates by foreign troops. In the drafts to supply the enormous demands which this most lamentable war had made---he believed not less than six hundred thousand in the course of the last two years---they took no regiments or corps, but thousands of persons from Germany, and, he grieved to say, hundreds, at least, from Ireland. The Germans formed a great part of their resources to supply the blanks which this cruel war had made. These Americans complained of our conduct in 1778; and the worst thing they considered we did, in attempting their conquest, was the employment of Hessian and other German regiments in the course of the war. The eloquence of Mr. Burke and of Lord Chatham made the walls of Parliament ring with complaints of the German mercenaries being taken into the pay of the Government for the purpose of subduing America. Now these Americans were doing the selfsame thing, not by taking corps, but thousands of individuals who are foreigners, into their service, and employing them against the Confederates.

"Would that his voice, which he feared hardly reached across the House, could reach across the Atlantic, that he might in all kindness and respect remind his old friends and clients, for whom he in times past had stood the champion, defending their actions, exalting their character, so that he was represented as setting them down above his own countrymen, when he used to be called the Attorney-General of Madison, the tool of the Jeffersons and Monroes. He now implored them to listen to his friend's declarations that they had done enough for glory and fame, had shown their boundless fortitude, their unsurpassed courage, their endless sacrifices, not more careless of the lives of others than of their own. Let them be well assured that there is but one feeling all over Europe of reprobation of the accursed, unnatural civil war, of sorrow for their sufferings under it, and of deep desire for the restoration of peace to bless the New World and to gratify the sympathies of the Old. This was no time for intervention, which might do harm and could be productive of no good. He had refused to present petitions from many considerable bodies anxious for that interference, as affording a hope of peace. He had refused to present them as inopportune. But he had a fervent hope that the occasion might before long arrive when this country, and her peaceful ally across the Channel, under a wise ruler, anxious for America's peace, would do good by offering their mediation between the contending parties, aiding them in arriving at just and reasonable terms, restoring the fruit of blessings to all nations, a tranquil and independent existence, with the establishment of universal prosperity and the uninterrupted progress of social improvement."

The history of this despatch, briefly stated, is as follows: The French Government was informed on July 12th by the Spanish Ambassador, that the candidature of Prince Leopold had been withdrawn by his father, Prince Antoine. On the same day the Duke de Gramont, in making the announcement to M. Benedetti, said:

"In order that the renunciation should produce its full effect, it would seem necessary that the King of Prussia should associate himself with it, and give a full assurance that he will not authorize it should it come up again."

On the following day, in accordance with his instructions, M. Benedetti---the King coming forward to greet him as he was walking on the promenade at Ems---took the occasion to inform the King that his Government desired to have some assurance from him that the candidature of Prince Leopold would not be brought up again with his Majesty's consent.

Without making any promises, the King, at the close of the interview, told M. Benedetti that he was expecting every moment letters from Sigmaringen, and that as soon as he had received them he would send for him.

But during the course of the day the King received despatches from M. de Werther, his ambassador at Paris, which displeased him; and, about four o'clock, he sent one of his aides to the French ambassador to inform him that, while the King approved of the withdrawal of the candidature, with respect to the future he could only repeat what he had already said. An hour later, on asking for the promised interview, M. Benedetti received from one of his Majesty's secretaries a formal but perfectly courteous note, in which the King expressed his regret that he was really unable to say anything more on the subject than he had said during their interview that morning.

In reporting these proceedings to the North-German Chancellor---proceedings in which, as M. Benedetti has said, "No one was either insulting or insulted"---the Counselor Abeken sent, in the name of the King, the following despatch:

"EMS, July 13th, 1870, 3:50 P. M.

"Count Benedetti met me to-day on the promenade. He requested me very urgently to promise never to authorize a new Hohenzollern candidature. I proved to him in the most positive manner that it was impossible to make in this way engagements forever binding. Naturally, I added that up to the present time I had received nothing, and that, since he was thus informed sooner by the way of Paris and Madrid, it was clearly evident that my Government was out of the question." To these words of the King the Counselor added, that the King had since received a letter from the Prince confirming the announcement of the renunciation, but that the King had concluded to inform M. Benedetti of this through an aide-de-camp, and not to see him personally on account of his claim, having nothing more to say, ending the despatch as follows: "His Majesty leaves it entirely to your Excellency to decide if this new requirement, and the refusal it has met with, should be communicated to the Embassies and to the Press."

This despatch reached Count Bismarck about five o'clock, when he was dining with Generals von Moltke and von Roon. "On reading it," says Bismarck, "my guests were so discouraged that they could neither eat nor drink." The despatch, if it indicated relations still strained, announced no rupture; peace might be expected. The despatch was read over and over and commented upon. Finally Bismarck said: "I think I can fix it. The King leaves me entirely at liberty to communicate this information to the Press. It will only be necessary to paraphrase it a little---to make a few suppressions, to slightly change the tone." Thereupon he sat down and wrote out the following communication, to be sent officially to the Embassies and the Press:

"The news of the renunciation of the hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern has been officially communicated to the French Imperial Government by the Royal Government of Spain. The French ambassador has since, at Ems, addressed to his Majesty the King the demand that he be authorized to telegraph to Paris that his Majesty the King pledges himself forever not to permit this candidature to be brought up again. Whereupon his Majesty has refused to see the ambassador again, and has informed him, through his aide-de-camp-in-waiting, that he has nothing more to communicate to him."

Then he read to his guests the text he had prepared. They were delighted. "It sounds now," said Moltke, "like a provocation given with a blast of trumpets." "You see," said Bismarck, "it is essential that we should be the ones who are attacked. Now, if I send this text to the newspapers, and to all our ambassadors, it will soon be known in Paris, and, not only on account of what it says, but from the way in which it will have been spread about, will produce down there upon the French bull the effect of a red flag." And everybody knows that it did have exactly the effect intended and expected.

The reader will observe that King William had not refused to see M. Benedetti, but had only informed him that on the subject of guarantees he had nothing more to say than he had already said. As a matter of fact, M. Benedetti was received by the King on the following day, July 14th, at the railway station, when his Majesty was about to leave Ems for Coblenz.

A great deal has been said about "the rashness" of the request addressed to King William after the renunciation of Prince Leopold had been officially communicated to the French Foreign Office. But in reality this request only became important, in the chain of events that led to the declaration of war, after Count Bismarck seized upon it as the pretext for a Macchiavellian invention---the alleged insult to the French Government. The Hohenzollern candidature had apparently been settled once before, in April, 1870; and having again been brought up, and a second time renounced, in the course of three months, however inexpedient it may now seem to have been to raise the question, it was then only natural that the Imperial Government should wish to have some assurance that this irritating affair might be considered as finally disposed of. Nor was the request made in a way to imply that such an assurance was a condition indispensable to the maintenance of friendly relations between the two governments.

M. ÉMILE OLLIVIER, on being offered by Walewski a ministry in the Imperial Government, made it a condition that this project of reorganizing the army should be abandoned. When shortly afterward, on the 10th of January, 1867, he had his first personal interview with the Emperor, after a few words of salutation the conversation, as reported by M. Ollivier in the ninth volume of his "L'Empire Libéral," opened as follows:

"'Endeavor,' said I, 'by all possible means, for the time being at least, to keep the reorganization of the army within the limits of the budget and of its present strength.' To which the Emperor replied: 'A serious reorganization is indispensable; the necessity for this was made apparent to me in Italy. It was the smallness of our army and the impossibility of having another on the Rhine which forced upon me the treaty of Villafranca. How is it possible to rest inert after the lessons of the last war [the Austro-Prussian War of 1866] ? I know that my project is unpopular, but we must learn to bravely face unpopularity when it is necessary to do our duty.' I did not deny the necessity of a serious reorganization of our military mechanism, only I added: 'Your Majesty has realized the most urgent of these reforms by adopting the chassepot; there are others not less necessary, which, according to those who are competent t speak on these subjects, should be introduced into our tactics, our method of mobilization, and our supply department; but cannot all this be done without touching our organic law of recruitment? Two days ago, at your cousin's, I listened to a conversation between Niel, Trochu, and Lebrun, whose conclusion was that on account of the length of our military service and our system of reserves, which could be still further improved, and the elasticity of the active force, our army possessed a solidity which the Prussian system, more democratic but less military, would weaken.' This the Emperor would not admit. He maintained that numbers would have henceforth in war an importance that assurance on this point was absolutely necessary."

On the following day, at the Emperor's request, M. Ollivier saw the Empress and again offered his objections to an increase of the army. Of this interview he writes: "With a very exact knowledge of the subject, and with real eloquence, she explained to me that a reform was urgent; that it had been put off already too long; that she had been convinced on this subject since 1859. 'In view of an attack on the Rhine,' said she, 'my uncle Jérôme wished me then to sign a decree calling out three hundred thousand National Guards. Notwithstanding a majority of the Ministers were of his opinion, I was unwilling to sign at this time, in the presence of Europe, a confession of our military impotency. Thereupon my uncle arose, and said to me, "You are losing France; you are exposing us to an invasion." "In any event," I replied, "I shall not fly from before the enemy, as Marie Louise did---even, my uncle, were you to advise me to do so."

"'I wrote to the Emperor, and the peace of Villafranca was signed. We should take care that we do not find ourselves some day in a similar situation.'"

These conversations, in the light of subsequent events, show 'how clearly both the Emperor and the Empress understood the military needs of France, and that they distinctly foresaw the serious risks that would be incurred in the event of a war with any great Power, unless the army was considerably increased.

DOUBTS with respect to the loyalty of General Trochu, that were suggested especially by a letter published in the Temps under his signature, almost immediately after he had assumed the duties of his office, caused the Council of Ministers to request one of their number to say to the General, at a meeting of the Council, that an explanation from him on this point was desirable. The General having answered equivocally, the Minister again put the question categorically, and in the presence of the Empress and the Council. General Trochu then answered as follows: "I am astonished that any one should persist in asking such a question of a French general. In accepting the functions of Governor of Paris, I was confronted by the supposition that the dynasty or the Assembly might be threatened. Should this happen, I reply on my old Breton faith, that, to defend the dynasty I will come and die on the steps of the Tuileries." To this burst of devotion the Empress answered: "Think first of saving France. I know what may happen to the dynasty. As for myself, I wish to retire worthily." At the close of the sitting, General Trochu said to M. David, speaking of the Empress and her last words: "This woman is admirable. She is a Roman. I am greatly impressed by her bearing and by her conduct. I am entirely devoted to her." "May I repeat to her what you tell me?" said M. David. "Certainly," replied General Trochu.(68)

M. Magne, Minister of Finance in the Cabinet of the Regent, when called as a witness in the case of Trochu vs. Villemessant said:

"On a certain occasion General Trochu told the Council that he had made a speech to the officers of a battalion of the National Guard, and that he thought it to be his duty to represent to them the dangers, the privations, and the sufferings to which they were about to find themselves exposed; that he told them, at the same time, that it would require great firmness of character to resist the emotion which one must feel on seeing his comrades, his friends, and sometimes his children, falling about him. He said, moreover, at this moment the officers of the battalion, who had appeared at first very resolute, seemed to be deeply impressed by the words which they had heard.

"On hearing this, the Empress straightened up, as if moved by a spring, and said: 'What, General---you said that to them! But then, on whom are we to count? Very well. If the Prussians come, I will go myself upon the ramparts, and there I will show how a woman can face danger, when it is a question of her country's safety.'

"The General replied that his words had been misunderstood; that the officers of the battalion were full of devotion, and that they could be counted upon absolutely. The words which I have just cited were certainly pronounced either at the time mentioned or at another. The General added: 'Madame, there is only one way of proving to you my devotion; it is for me to get killed, should it be necessary for your Majesty's safety and that of the dynasty.'

"This is what I heard, and I think [turning to General Trochu, who was present] that the General himself remembers it." Whereupon General Trochu made a sign of assent.(69)

"AMONG the members of the Corps législatif whom the triumphant insurrection carried to the Hôtel de Ville, there is not a single one who has not disavowed any participation whatsoever in the invasion of the Assembly. There is not one who has not declared himself an absolute stranger to the work of preparing the blow by means of which the national representation was overthrown. MM. J. Favre, J. Simon, J. Ferry, Pelletan, Garnier Pagès, Em. Arago, Gambetta, all except M. de Kératry, speak in the same terms of this matter. .

"If, during the night of September 3d and 4th, incited by the news from Sedan, a manifestation was resolved upon, the deputies of the Opposition declare that this resolution was taken without their cooperation and quite outside of them.

"Following the very wise advice that M. Thiers had given them, far from participating in this movement, they sought, they say, to hold it in check. They struggled hard, but they were unable to resist the current, and were compelled themselves to submit to the impulse which they had not given. Carried off by the crowd, they put themselves at its head, and associated themselves with an act which they had not wished, after that act had become an accomplished fact.

"The leaders of the insurrection of September 4th---if one is to believe these witnesses---are not to be found among the members of the Legislative Body . . . . We confine ourselves to a statement of the facts as they result from the testimony received, and we repeat that the Deputies, members of the Opposition, with the exception of M. de Kératry, have repudiated energetically all participation in the preparation of an act so culpable as the assault upon an Assembly elected by universal suffrage, and to which they belonged; that they formally disavow any complicity in this act, the responsibility of which belongs---if the opinion of certain witnesses is well-founded---to those who were conspiring before September 4th, and who have conspired since; who, after having been the authors of the insurrection of this day, became the authors of the insurrections that followed on October 31st, January 22d, and March 18th; to those, in fact, who were the enemies of all government and the scourge of every community."(70)

M. Jules Ferry, in his testimony before the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, said: "It is necessary for me to explain what our own situation was as Republican Deputies of the city of Paris with respect to a certain portion of the Republican party.

"This situation was very difficult. We were elected in 18, and that election showed already the kind of obstruction which we as Republicans were about to encounter. M. Jules Favre was only elected after a second ballot, and with extreme difficulty. From that time public meetings began to be held, the violence in which was of very bad omen. After our election, and during that sort of interregnum in the Imperial Government which ended in the formation of a Parliamentary Ministry, during this period, which included several months, we had---it is necessary that it should be known, and we ought to speak it out for the history of our time---great difficulty at every moment with the party which we called then by a very mild name, the party of 'impatients,' which became a little later the party of the 'exaltés,' and finally the party of 'anarchy,' over which we have had such difficulty to get the upper hand in these later times.

"From the day that we were elected we found this party blocking our way, as an enemy. We were constantly convoked to meetings, at which we were publicly accused. Every day impossible manifestations were got up. You remember, perhaps, that one which it was proposed to hold in October, 1869, the Chamber not having been assembled within the period fixed by the law. The 'clubs' then decided that it was our duty as Deputies to appear on the Place de la Concorde, on the 26th of that month, I think. (See Chapter XVI, page 454.)

"When, finally, the Parliamentary Ministry was constituted, we had the funeral of Victor Noir, 'the affair Pierre Bonaparte,' as it was then called, and we were placed in the position of men who had not the Government in their hands, but who were obliged to resist the tail of their party exactly as if they were responsible. A portion of those who had elected us, understanding absolutely nothing of the political situation, obedient solely to their own passions and the excitations of the newspapers and public meetings, dreamed only of popular manifestations copied after the demonstrations of the first Revolution. All this was truly for us a subject of perpetual torment.

"At the head of this party was a member of the Assembly, M. Miillière; he seemed to be the cleverest of all these leaders. When we reached the Hôtel de Ville, on September 4th, M. Millière was already there, and he was not alone. Two men especially attracted our attention by their attitude and by their efforts. They were: one of them, M. Millière, who was haranguing the crowd in the great Throne Room, and the other M. Delescluze, who was roaming about the Cabinet, where we had formed the first Government Commission.

"If we had not known the profound differences among the revolutionary elements in the city of Paris; if we had not known, from the experience of many preceding months, that there was behind us a party of anarchy which was waiting only for a moment of weakness on our part to take the direction of affairs, the presence of MM. Millière and Delescluze, and of their acolytes, at the Hôtel de Ville, and the speeches they pronounced, would have made the situation perfectly clear."(71)

THE question of responsibility for the capitulations during the Franco-German War having been made the subject of an inquiry before a military council, the Emperor was found to be entirely responsible for the catastrophe at Sedan---either in consequence of political prejudice, or from a more laudable desire to protect certain military reputations that would have been compromised by any other conclusion.

Immediately the report of this Council was published, the Emperor addressed the following letter to each of the generals present at the capitulation:

"GENERAL:

"I am responsible to the country, and I can accept no judgment save that of the nation regularly consulted. Nor is it for me to pass an opinion with respect to the report of the Commission on the capitulation of Sedan. I shall only remind the principal witnesses of that catastrophe of the critical position in which we found ourselves. The army, commanded by the Duke of Magenta, did its duty nobly, and fought heroically against an enemy of twice its numbers. When driven back to the walls of the town, and into the town itself, fourteen thousand dead and wounded covered the field of battle, and I saw that to contest the position any longer would be an act of desperation. The honor of the army having been saved by the bravery which had been shown, I then exercised my sovereign right and gave orders to hoist a flag of truce. I claim the entire responsibility of that act. The immolation of sixty thousand men could not have saved France, and the sublime devotion of her chiefs and soldiers would have been uselessly sacrificed. We obeyed a cruel but inexorable necessity. My heart was broken, but my conscience was tranquil.

"NAPOLEON.
"CAMDEN PLACE, May 12, 1872."