Confidence increased after the empress-regent had proclaimed a levee en masse.  There were no arms for those who responded to the call, and most of them had to be sent back to their homes; but it was considered certain that the mere idea of a general call to arms would intimidate the Prussians.  Indeed, there was a popular delusion, shared even by foreigners, that the Prussian soldiery, on their march to Paris, would be cut to pieces by the peasantry.  The conduct of the peasantry proved exactly the reverse of belligerent.  The penalties inflicted by the invaders for irregular warfare, and the profits made by individuals who remained neutral, were cleverly calculated to render the peasantry, not only harmless, but actually useful to the enemy.

Meantime the French were rapidly evacuating Alsace, and preparing to make their stand on the Moselle.  General Failly’s corps of thirty thousand men, which had failed to come up in time to help MacMahon at Woerth, were in full retreat, without exchanging a shot with the enemy.

The Germans continued to march steadily on.  The country was systematically requisitioned for supplies.  The maire or other high official of each village was informed twenty-four hours beforehand how many men he was expected to provide with rations; namely, to each man daily, 1-1/2 lb. bread, 1 lb.  Meat, 1/4 lb. coffee, five cigars, or their equivalent in tobacco, a pint of wine or a quart of beer, and horse feed.  If these demands were not complied with, he was assured that the village would be set on fire; and after a few examples had been made, the villagers became so intimidated that they furnished all that was required of them.

Here is a description of one night’s work done by a Prussian general.  It is taken from a work by Erckmann-Chatrian;[1] but those graphic writers took all their descriptions from the mouths of Alsatian peasants who had been eye-witnesses of the scenes which they described:—­

[Footnote 1:  La Plebiscite.]

“The first thing the Prussian commander did on entering his chamber in a cottage where he had quarters for the night, was to make three or four soldiers turn out every article of furniture.  Then he spread out on the floor an enormous map of the country.  He took off his boots and lay down on the map flat on his stomach.  Then he called in six or seven officers, all captains or lieutenants.  Each man pulled out a small map.  The general called to one of them by name:  ‘Have you got the road from here to Metting?’ ‘Yes, General.’  ’Name all the places between here and there.’  Then the officer, without hesitation, told the names of all the villages, farms, streams, bridges, and woods, the turnings of the roads, the very cow-paths.  The general followed him on the large map with his finger.  ’That’s all right.  Take twenty men and go as far as St. Jean by such a road.  You will reconnoitre.  If you want any assistance, send me word.’  And so on, one by one, to all the others.”