Toombs proceeded to Paris. It was early in July before
he reached his new stopping place. He found himself somewhat restricted
in funds, as he had not had time to turn his property into gold to make
his trip abroad. It is related that just after the departure of the
famous "specie train," through Washington in the wake of Mr. Davis'
party, a Confederate horseman dashed by the residence of General Toombs
and threw a bag of bullion over the fence. It was found to contain five
thousand dollars, but Toombs swore he would not even borrow this amount
from his government. He turned it over to the authorities for the use of
disabled Confederate soldiers, and hurriedly scraped up what funds he
could command in case he should be compelled to fly. Arriving in Paris,
General Toombs succeeded in selling one of his plantations, realizing
about five dollars an acre for it. He used to explain to the astounded
Frenchmen, during his residence abroad, that he ate an acre of dirt a
day.

General Toombs repaired to Enghien, where he took a course of sulphur
baths for the benefit of his throat. Constant exposure with the army and
in his flight had brought on his old enemy, the asthma. He had been a
healthy man, having long passed the limit of manhood before he tasted
medicine. Late in life, an attack of scarlet fever left his throat in a
delicate condition.

Mrs. Toombs joined him in Paris in July, 1865, and he passed eighteen
months quietly with her in Europe. It was in marked contrast to his tour
in 1855, when, as United States Senator, he had gone from place to
place, observed, honored, and courted. He was now an exile without a
country. He had seen his political dreams wiped out in blood and his
home in the hands of the enemy. From the dignity and power of a United
States Senator and a possible aspirant to the Presidency, he had been
branded as a conspirator, and forced, like Mirabeau, to seek shelter in
distant lands.

France was, at that time, in a state of unrest. Louis Napoleon was
watching with anxiety the eagles of Prussia hovering over the German
Confederation. Austria had already succumbed to Prussian power, and
Napoleon had been blocked in his scheme to secure, from this disorder,
his share of the Rhenish provinces. Toombs, who had fled from a restored
Union in America, now watched the march of consolidation in Europe, and
predicted its final success.

General Toombs was an object of interest in Europe. His position toward