CHAPTER   III.
THE   FIRST   FRENCH   DEFEATS.
Suppression of the News in Paris—Crowds Exasperated by a false Report of
Victory—Paris Declared in a State of Siege—An Interview with the Em-
press—Expulsion of the Germans—An Extraordinary Session of the Corps
Législatif—The Fall of a Ministry—A Panic among German Residents.
IT was on July 28th, 1870, that the Emperor left the
palace of St. Cloud, to take command of the army in
person. A gentleman belonging to the Court, who was
present at the moment of departure, recounted to me
that the occasion was a most solemn one, and that even
then there was a prescience that the Emperor was leaving
Paris never to return. By a decree, the Empress was
made Regent during the absence of the Emperor. She
remained at the palace of St. Cloud. Before the Em-
peror left for the army, he issued a proclamation to the
French people, the first paragraph of which was as
follows : " Frenchmen ! there are in the lives of people
solemn moments, where national honor, violently ex-
cited, imposes itself as an irresistible force, dominates
all interests, and takes in hand the direction of the desti-
nies of the country. One of these decisive hours has
just sounded for France.''
The Emperor, having reached the French head-quar-
ters, there was a skirmish at Saarbrucken, on the morn-
ing of August 2d. And there was shed the first blood
in the stupendous contest. The Emperor and the
Prince Imperial were present at the engagement.    Na«