"looking," as some one remarked, "like so many rare beetles on
exhibition," the spectacle being all the more ludicrous from the
extreme dejection of the innocent heroes.

Troops were always on the move. The Gardes Mobiles, formed into
companies, were not wanted anywhere. Being too raw as yet for active
service, they were transferred from one barrack to another, and
were drilled in the open streets and in the public squares. The
forts absorbed a number of them; others were employed as shepherds
and drovers. The surplus was billeted on the citizens.

Towards the end of August there began to be a notion that the city
was full of spies, and all suspected persons were called Prussians.
The mania for spy-hunting became general, and was frequently very
inconvenient to Americans and Englishmen. Germans in Paris, many of
whom had intermarried with the French, naturally found themselves
in a most unhappy situation. At first they were strictly forbidden
to leave Paris; then suddenly they were ordered away, on three
days' notice, under penalty of being treated as prisoners of war.

This decree affected eighty thousand persons in France, nearly all
of whom were connected by family ties or business relations with
the country of their adoption. The outcry raised by the English and
German Press about this summary expulsion procured some modification
of the order,--not, however, without a protest from the radicals,
who clamored for the rigor of the law. Mr. Washburne, the American
minister, the only foreign ambassador who remained in Paris during
the siege, had accepted the charge of these unhappy Germans, and
heart-breaking scenes took place daily at the American Legation.