The Memoirs of Victor Hugo - Victor Hugo (free reads .txt) 📗

the presidency, Monsieur here (I pointed to Fould) called upon me in the Rue d’Alger, where I lived, and begged me in the name of MM. Thiers, Mole, Duvergier de Hauranne, Berryer, and Bugeaud to enter the lists for the presidency. He told me that never would you get the “Constitutionnel;” that in Mole’s opinion you were an idiot, and that Thiers looked upon you as a blockhead; that I alone could rally everybody to me and win against Cavaignac. I refused. I told them that you represented youth and the future, that you had a quarter of a century before you, whereas I could hardly count upon eight or ten years; that I was an invalid and wanted to be let alone. That is what these people were doing and that is what I did. And you forget all this! And you make these gentlemen the masters! And you show the door to your cousin, my son, who defended you in the Assembly and devoted himself to furthering your candidacy! And you are strangling universal suffrage, which made you what you are! I’ faith I shall say like Mole that you are an idiot, and like Thiers that you are a blockhead!’”

The King of Westphalia paused for a moment, then continued:

“And do you know, Monsieur Victor Hugo, what he replied to me? ‘You will see!’ No one knows what is at the bottom of that man!”

 

THE SIEGE OF PARIS.

EXTRACTS FROM NOTEBOOKS

THE SIEGE OF PARIS.

 

BRUSSELS, September 1.—Charles* leaves this morning with MM. Claretie, Proust, and Fr�d�rix for Virton. Fighting is going on near there, at Carignan. They will see what they can of the battle. They will return tomorrow.

* Victor Hugo’s son.

 

September 2.—Charles and his friends did not return to-day.

 

September 3.—Yesterday, after the decisive battle had been lost, Louis Napoleon, who was taken prisoner at Sedan, surrendered his sword to the King of Prussia. Just a month ago, on August 2, at Sarrebr�ck, he was playing at war.

To save France now would be to save Europe.

Shouting newsboys pass, with enormous posters on which are the words: “Napoleon III. a Prisoner.”

5 o’clock.—Charles and our friends have returned.

9 o’clock.—Meeting of exiles at which Charles and I are present.

Query: Tricolour flag or red flag?

 

September 4.—The deposition of the Emperor is proclaimed in Paris.

 

At 1 o’clock a meeting of exiles is held at my house.

At 3 o’clock I receive a telegram from Paris couched in the following terms: “Bring the children with you.” Which means “Come.”

MM. Claretie and Proust dined with us.

During the dinner a telegram signed “Fran�ois Hugo” arrived, announcing that a provisional government had been formed: Jules Favre, Gambetta, Thiers.

 

September 5.—At 6 o’clock in the morning a telegram signed “Barbieux,” and asking the hour of my arrival in Paris, is brought to me. I instruct Charles to answer that I shall arrive at 9 o’clock at night. We shall take the children with us. We shall leave by the 2.35 o’clock train.

The Provisional Government (according to the newspapers) is made up of all the Deputies of Paris, with the exception of Thiers.

At noon, as I was about to leave Brussels for Paris, a young man, a Frenchman, accosted me in the Place de la Monnaie and said:

Monsieur, they tell me that you are Victor Hugo.”

“Yes.”

“Be so kind as to enlighten me. I would like to know whether it is prudent to go to Paris at present.”

“Monsieur, it is very imprudent, but you should go,” was my reply.

We entered France at 4 o’clock.

At Tergnier, at 6.30, we dined upon a piece of bread, a little cheese, a pear and a glass of wine. Claretie insisted upon paying, and said: “I want particularly to give you a dinner on the day of your return to France.”

En route I saw in the woods a camp of French soldiers, men and horses mingled. I shouted to them: “Long live the army!” and I wept.

At frequent intervals we came across train-loads of soldiers on their way to Paris. Twenty-five of these passed during the day. As one of them went by we gave to the soldiers all the provisions we had, some bread, fruit and wine. The sun shone brightly and was succeeded by a bright moon.

We arrived in Paris at 9.35 o’clock. An immense crowd awaited me. It was an indescribable welcome. I spoke four times, once from the balcony of a caf� and thrice from my carriage.

When I took leave of this ever-growing crowd, which escorted me to Paul Meurice’s, in the Avenue Frochot, I said to the people: “In one hour you repay me for twenty years of exile.”

They sang the “Marseillaise” and the “Chant du Depart.”

They shouted: “Long live Victor Hugo!”

The journey from the Northern Railway station to the Rue Laval took two hours.

We arrived at Meurice’s, where I am to stay, at midnight. I dined with my travelling companions and Victor. I went to bed at 2 o’clock.

At daybreak I was awakened by a terrible storm. Thunder and lightning.

I shall take breakfast with Paul Meurice, and we shall dine together at the Hotel Navarin, in the Rue Navarin, where my family is staying.

 

PARIS, September 6.—Innumerable visits, innumerable letters.

Rey came to ask me whether I would consent to join a triumvirate composed as follows: Victor Hugo, Ledru-Rollin, and Schoelcher. I refused. I said: “It is almost impossible to amalgamate me.”

I recalled several things to his mind. He said: “Do you remember that it was I who received you when you arrived at the Baudin barricade?”* I replied: “I remember the fact so well that—. And I recited the lines at the beginning of the piece (unpublished) upon the Baudin barricade:

La barricade �tait livide dans l’aurore, Et comme j’arrivais elle fumait encore. Rey me serra la main et dit: Baudin est mort…

* Representative Baudin was killed on the barricade in the Faubourg Saint Antoine on December 2, 1852, during Louis Bonaparte’s coup d’Etat.

He burst into tears.

 

September 7.—Louis Blanc, d’Alton-Sh�e, Banville and others came to see me.

The women of the Markets brought me a bouquet.

 

September 8.—I am warned that it is proposed to assassinate me. I shrug my shoulders.

This morning I wrote my “Letter to the Germans.” It will be sent tomorrow.

Visit from General Cluseret.

At 10 o’clock I went to the office of the Rappel to correct the proofs of my “Letter to the Germans.”

 

September 9.—Received a visit from General Montfort. The generals are asking me for commands, I am being asked to grant audiences, office-seekers are asking me for places. I reply: “I am nobody.”

I saw Captain Feval, husband of Fanny, the sister of Alice.* He was a prisoner of war, and was released on parole.

* Wife of Charles Hugo.

All the newspapers publish my “Appeal to the Germans.”

 

September 10.—D’Alton-Sh�e and Louis Ulbach lunched with us. Afterwards we went to the Place de la Concorde. At the foot of the flower-crowned statue of Strasburg is a register. Everybody comes to sign the resolution of public thanks. I inscribed my name. The crowd at once surrounded me. The ovation of the other night was about to recommence. I hurried to my carriage.

Among the persons who called upon me was Cernuschi.

 

September 11.—Received a visit from Mr. Wickham Hoffman, Secretary of the United States Legation. Mr. Washburne, the American Minister, had requested him to ask me whether I did not think that some good might result were he to intervene *officiously* and see the King of Prussia. I sent him to Jules Favre.

 

September 12.—Among other callers was Fr�d�rick Lema�tre.

 

September 13.—To-day there is a review of the army of Paris. I am alone in my chamber. The battalions march through the streets singing the “Marseillaise” and the “Chant du Depart.” I hear this immense shout:

For France a Frenchman should live, For France a Frenchman should die.*

* The “Chant du Depart.”

I listen and I weep. On, valiant ones! I will go where you go.

Receive a visit from the United States Consul-General and Mr. Wickham Hoffman.

Julie* writes me from Guernsey that the acorn I planted on July 14 has sprouted. The oak of the United States of Europe issued from the ground on September 5, the day of my return to Paris.

* Victor Hugo’s sister-in-law.

 

September 14.—I received a visit from the committee of the Soci�t� des Gens de Lettres, which wants me to be its president; from M. Jules Simon, Minister of Public Instruction; from Colonel Pir�, who commands a corps of volunteers, etc.

 

September 16.—One year ago to-day I opened the Peace Congress at Lausanne. This morning I wrote the “Appeal to Frenchmen” for a war to the bitter end against the invasion.

On going out I perceived hovering over Montmartre the captive balloon from which a watch is to be kept upon the besiegers.

 

September 17.—All the forests around Paris are burning. Charles made a trip to the fortifications and is perfectly satisfied with them. I deposited at the office of the Rappel 2,088 francs 30 centimes, subscribed in Guernsey for the wounded and sent by M. H. Tupper, the French Consul.

At the same time I deposited at the “Rappel” office a bracelet and earrings of gold, sent anonymously for the wounded by a woman. Accompanying the trinkets was a little golden neck medal for Jeanne.*

* Victor Hugo’s little granddaughter.

 

September 20.—Charles and his little family left the Hotel Navarin yesterday and installed themselves at 174, Rue de Rivoli. Charles and his wife, as well as Victor, will continue to dine with me every day.

The attack upon Paris began yesterday.

Louis Blanc, Gambetta and Jules Ferry came to see me this morning.

I went to the Institute to sign the Declaration that it proposes to issue encouraging the capital to resist to the last.

I will not accept any limited candidacy. I would accept with devotedness the candidacy of the city of Paris. I want the voting to be not by districts, with local candidates, but by the whole city with one list to select from.

I went to the Ministry of Public Instruction to see Mme. Jules Simon, who is in mourning for her old friend Victor Bois. Georges and Jeanne were in the garden. I played with them.

Nadar came to see me this evening to ask me for some letters to put in a balloon which he will send up the day after tomorrow. It will carry with it my three addresses: “To the Germans,” “To Frenchmen,” “To Parisians.”

 

October 6.—Nadar’s balloon, which has been named the “Barbes,” and which is taking my letters, etc., started this morning, but had to come down again, as there was not enough wind. It will leave tomorrow. It is said that Jules Favre and Gambetta will go in it.

Last night General John Meredith Read, United States Consul-General, called upon me. He had seen the American General Burnside, who is in the Prussian camp. The Prussians, it appears, have respected Versailles. They are afraid to attack Paris. This we are aware of, for we can see it for ourselves.

 

October 7.—This morning, while strolling on the Boulevard de Clichy, I perceived a balloon at the end of a street leading to Montmartre. I went up to it. A small crowd bordered a large square space that was walled in by the perpendicular bluffs of Montmartre. In this space three balloons were being inflated, a large one, a medium-sized one, and a small one. The large one was yellow, the medium one white, and the small one striped yellow and red.

In the crowd it was