The first,
written from his estate in Saverne, near Strassburg. was extremely
bitter against the Emperor; it began: "_Napoleone tertio feliciter
regnante_, as people said in the olden days, I have seen with my own
eyes, what I never thought to see: Alsace overrun by the enemy's
troops." The next article, written some days later, in the middle of
August, when About had come to Paris, called the Emperor, without more
ado, "The last Bonaparte," and began: "I see that I have been writing
like a true provincial; in the provinces at the moment people have two
curses on their lips, one for the Prussians, and one for those who began
the war; in Paris, they have got much farther; there they have only one
curse on their lips, one thought, and one wish; there are names that are
no more mentioned in Paris than if they belonged to the twelfth
century."
What he wrote was, at the moment, true and correct. I was frequently
asked in letters what the French now said about the government and the
Emperor. The only answer was that all that side of the question was
antiquated in Paris. If I were to say to one of my acquaintances:
_"Eh! bien, que dites-vous de l'empereur_?" the reply would be:
_"Mais, mon cher, je ne dis rien de lui. Vous voyez si bien que moi,
qu'il ne compte plus. C'est un homme par terre.
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