The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-31
The Human Procession

lars who had vainly defended the French capital against the laundering armies of the allies. The day be- 900 men, commanded by Butcher. the Prince of wurtemberg, and Barclay de Folly. had surrounded Paris. and. after a series of desperate conflicts with the French regulars and Nation al Guards, assisted by the students and many of the citizens of Paris. had forced a equalization. The French were permitted to withdraw with all their arms, and on the morn ing of March 31. 1914. the crippled army Iimped out of Paris, and 120,-s 600 of the allied troops took posses sion of the city. It was a triumphaI march, in which the Prussians were foo ragged and battie-scarred to par ticipate. Mingled cheers and jeers greeted the victors. The royaIsts welcomed the enemy as the forerun- ners of the restoration, and showered flowers upon the dashing Cossacks as they rode through the Faubourg St. Gernain
 Paris will not be narmed.'' was the reassuring word send by the Car of Russia. It is not upon the French peo5le that we are waging war, but upon Napoleon.' And the King of Prussia added. s.tAnd not upon Napo- leon himself, but upon his ambition.
 Before the evacuation Of Paris the Empress, weeping, and the King of Rome. were escorted out of the city to Rambouillet, but Napoleon, who was in the rear of the allies, did not know this when be heard the news of the equalization of Paris. His first question was, ttAnds my son. my wife. where are they?.
 The downfall Of Paris brought to the Corsican the full realization of the calamity that had overtaken him and his empire, and for the first time. his proud spirit and his faith in his himself down in fhe dust of the road and hid his tear stained face. He was no longer an emperor, the master of Europe, but an adventurer, an outlaw, pursued by the nations and by fate. He tried to poison himself. but the at tempt at suicide, like that in his youth, was a failure.
 It was sad and desolate Paris that was abandoned by the soldiers of France and entered by the allies q century ago to-day. Guizot has left us graphic pen picture of the Paris 5of that period:
 NO worknnen, nP movement, ma ferials in heaps unused, deserted scaf- Holding. structures abandoned from want of money, hands. and conf sdence; new ruins. Everywhere the population seemed uneasy and rest .Iessly idle. like people who are fr want Of both work and rest. 1nac- stIon. and agitation, many more wom- en and children than men; young conscripts, sadly on the march to join their corps; sick and wounded pour ing back Never was such public apathy seen in the midst ofpso much national anxiety. or indictments re- Training to such an extent from all action, or agents so eager to disavow their master while remaining so slb- servient to his purposes. It was a nation of harassed onlookers, who had lost all habit of taking any share themselves in their own lot, and knew not what determination they were to desire or to dread for the terrible drama in which their liberty and na- tional existence were at stake.''
 And so, when the allies entered Paris, some cheered and some jeered, but most remained apathetic and in sensible. too listless to indulge eitln- CT fear or hope, and moved only by an idle curiosity as to what fate had next in store for them
 WILLIAM W. AsTOR.