a part of the Fatherland. The Prussians did not reach Paris till
September 19, two weeks after the surrender at Sedan,--which seemed
rather a lull in the military operations of a war in which so much
had occurred during one short month.




CHAPTER XIII.

THE SIEGE OF PARIS.

Though the surrender of the emperor and his army at Sedan took place
on September 2, nothing whatever was known of it by the Parisian
public until the evening of September 4, when a reporter arrived
at the office of the "Gaulois" with a Belgian newspaper in his
pocket. The "Gaulois" dared not be the first sheet to publish the
news of such a disaster; but despatches had already reached the
Government, and by degrees rumors of what had happened crept through
the streets of the capital. No one knew any details of the calamity,
but every one soon understood that something terrible had occurred.

The Legislative Assembly held a midnight session; but nothing was
determined on until the morning, when the Empire was voted out,
and a Republic voted in.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning. Every Parisian was in the street,
and, wonderful to say, all faces seemed to express satisfaction. The
loss of an army, the surrender of the emperor, the national disgrace,
the prospect of a siege, the advance of the Prussians,--were things