mand.

The French army invaded South Germany, but had to retreat in disorder
after the battle of Worth. The battle of Sedan on September 1st, 1870,
brought the war to a conclusion, the French being routed and forced to
lay down their arms. Napoleon had fought with courage, but was obliged
to surrender his sword to Wilhelm I upon the battlefield. He declared
that he gave up his person only, but France herself was forced to yield
after the capitulation of Metz, which had resisted Prussia stoutly.
The Empress had fled to England and the Emperor had been deposed.
France was once more a Republic when the siege of Paris was begun.

The citizens showed strange insensibility to the danger that they ran,
for they asserted that the Germans dared not invest the town.
Nevertheless, Parisians drilled and armed with vigour as Prussian
shells burst outside the walls and the clang of bells replaced the
sounds of mirth that were habitual to Paris. Theatres were closed, to
the dismay of the frivolous, whom no alarm of war would turn from their
ordinary pursuits. The Opera House became a barracks, for the camps
could not hold the crowds that flocked there from the provinces.

Still many ridiculed the idea of investment by the Prussian troops, and
householders did not prepare for the famine that came on them unawares.
People supped in gaily-lighted cafes and took their substantial meals
without thought of the morrow. There were fewer women in the streets
and the workmen carried rifles, but the shops were still attractive in
their wares. The fear of spies occupied men's thoughts rather than
{213} the fear of hunger--a foreign accent was suspicious enough to
cause arrest! There were few Englishmen in the capital, but those few
ran the risk of being mistaken for Prussians, since the lower classes
did not distinguish between foreigners.

Paris was invested on September 19th, 1870, and the citizens had
experienced terrible want. In October Wilhelm established his
headquarters at Versailles, part of the French Government going to
Tours. Gambetta, the new minister, made every effort to secure help
for France. He departed from Paris in a balloon, and carrier pigeons
were sent in the same way to take news to the provinces and bring back
offers of assistance. Strange expedients for food had been proposed
already, and all supplies were very dear. Horseflesh was declared to
be nutritious, and scientists demonstrated the valuable proper