Year: 1871

since the investment of Paris was COM


pleted. Who could have believed that


Paris would have endured so long and
still remain untaken? We venture to say


that in the early days of September, after
the capftuIation of Sedan, when Metz was
sealed up, and there was no regular army
left in the field, no one, friend or foe, con-
templated it as possible THAT Paris would
hold out for three months against the be-
leaguering enemy and still show no signs
that it was so much as preparing to submit


We were all satisfied that it must yield
long before. If the forces of the besiegers
did not reduce it to subjectiOn, the ezplO-
sive passions of its own Inhabitants, the
first touch Of privation Affecting the COM
forts of a people accustomed to sacrifice all
their thoughts to the pursuit Of pleasure,
would make it impossible to maintain the
defense. If prudence and wisdom did not
induce a surrender, harsh necessity would.
Paris must give in. To the surprise Of all,
to the surprise of the besiegers most of all,
Paris has falsiied these prophesies. The
people of Germany are dissatisfied we are
told, that the city has not been taken. The
soldiers themselves are disappointed at not
being able to spend Christmas at home.
Their friends go further, and murmur that
there must be some fault at headquarters
to account for this unexpected delay. The
military prosecution OF the siege has, it is
said, been neglected for political reasons,
the exact nature Of which is not precisely
defined. The King has been too humane.
Count Bismarck has had other aims to
which he has subordinated the capture of
Paris. There must be some RIotiye, the
German is we'll assured to explain the
fact, in itself so ixexplicable, that Paris
has been nearly ninety days besieged, and
is still defiant. re..


Why is not Paris taken? Is it that the
Germans have neglected to use their
strength, or that Paris has discovered some
new and strange strength of its own? We
all of US thought we knew something of
the character of this city, the haunt of the
idlers; the curious, and the spoilt children
of the world-a city of pleasure, whose in


habitants were given to more even than
the Athenians of old to the pursuit of some
new thing, a city where the craving for
novelty was so Unsuitable that when new
thing did appear it was listlessly dropped
almost before it was tasted that something
else might be seized and enjoyed. All that
could minister to the sight, to the ear, TO
the sense of taste, was brought together
there to give entertainment to a people
who delighted to let their imaginatiOns
rove through all ages and through all
lands. A spirit of skepticsl mockery was
the necessary characteristic of men who
fiattered themselves they had exhausted
the experience of the world, and were still
unsatisfed. 1t is not astonishing all
should predict that a city thus inhabited
would be found to yield at the first touch
of privatiOn. For short time the novelty
of an unprecedented position might uphold
its resolution, but this feeling would, it was
thought, quickly give place to the conve-
uient reflection that the charm of living in
besieged. city was soon exhausted, and
that it was unpleasant to miss the custom
arv stimulants of life. If it be added that
the price of freedom and of the return of
old pleasures was something to be paid not
bv Paris, but by a Bosotian district which
knew. nothing of Paris and its charms, how
great must be the temptation to surrender
Yet Paris has resigned almost everything
that gave to it its distinctive character
rather than c&pitulate. The whole world
was laid under contribution to furnish the
tables. The epicure who now wanders
along the boulevards, or enters the CALLER
les of the Palais Royal, sees in the win
dows, where once were ranged all that was
tempting to the appetite, nothing but OBJ
! iects that would then have filled him with
disgust; the menu at his cercle or his res
taurant is a strange concoction of things
unclean. Instead of the perpetual gaiety
of the streets, there are shops unopened,
cafes closed almost as soon as night falls,
and an anxious people sadly attired and
absorbed in painful thought. No theatre
charms its habitues with the play of wit or
the representation of passion. The jour
nails have dwindled in size and diminished
in number. The galleries of art and OF
science are closed. The gardens, beautiful
as those of Babylon, are converted into the
backgrounds of soldiers or are filled with


artillery and all the machinery of war. A
dreadful colorless mOnotony has befallen


Paris. Where has the strength been found


to endure without murmur? 1t is all


owing, some say, to Trochu and Gambetta
without them Paris had long since col
Iapsed. This may be true, but does not
explain the mystery. How is it that Gam
beta can command Generals more impe-
riousIy than the Centurion in the Gospel
commanded his soldiers, and all France
obeys him? Powerless to coerce, he is yet


omnipotent to command. How is thai
Trochu, man of sad and severe self-re
straint, has such a mastery over Paris tha
| in city where nothing is sacred, ne
) breath of detraction has sOiled his stain


less character?


1t is undeniable that these men beal
2 rule because they represent some principle


or principles which underIie the deepes
. convictions of Frenchmen. Is the fact o
r war sufficient to explain the strange tenn
= per of this people? This can scarcely be
r France was in the thick of war four months
r since, but the spirit of France is nov


something wholly different from what i


was then. Trochu does not rule Parisian'


as the genius of war neither he nor Gam


beta has been able to crafty the passions


of the people for military glory; they ex
e ercise unquestioned authority in spite o
= continuous reverses. The truth is that
= is not in war, but in the motive of war
e that we must seek the secret of the mora


elevation of people. War in itself is


brutalizing business. The sentiment of al
] men now rejects the Free Lance, who hire
) himself out to fight, without respect 70
Q the cause for which he was engaged.
, Paris has risen to heroism-if its endur
ahee has surprised its friends and discOm
fitted its enemies, the secret Of its contemp
for its former pleasures is found in tn
= new born patriotism to which the war ha


given life.