Gambetta, who before that time had been little known, was from the South of France, and of Italian origin.  He was a man full of enthusiasm, vehement, irascible, and impulsive.  The day came when these qualities, tempered and refined, did good service to France, when he also proved himself one of those great men in history who are capable of supreme self-sacrifice.  At present he was untried.

Jules Favre was respected for his unstained reputation and perfect integrity, his disinterestedness and civic virtues, as also for his fluency of speech.  In person he was a small, thin man, with a head that was said to resemble the popular portraits of General Jackson.

General Jules Trochu, who was confirmed as military commander of Paris, had written a book, previous to the war, regarding the inefficiency of the French army; he had been therefore no favorite with the emperor.  His chief defect, it was said, was that he talked so well that he was fond of talking, and too readily admitted many to his confidence.

The Council of Regency had in the night melted away.  A mob was surging round the Tuileries.  Where had the empress-regent fled?

When disasters had followed fast upon one another, the empress had in her bewilderment found it hard to realize that the end of the empire was at hand.  Bazaine was the man whom she relied on.  She had no great liking for Marshal MacMahon, and she does not appear to have been conscious that all was lost till, on the night of September 4, she found M. Conti, the emperor’s secretary, busy destroying his private papers.  To burn them was impossible; they were torn into small bits and put in a bath-tub, then hot water was poured over them, which reduced them to pulp.  Vast quantities, however, remained undestroyed, some of them compromising to their writers.

When the truth of the situation broke upon the empress, she was very much frightened.  Her dread was that she might be torn in pieces by a mob that would invade the Tuileries.  In a fortnight her fair face had become haggard, and white streaks showed themselves in her beautiful hair.

It is safest in such cases to trust foreigners rather than subjects.  Two foreigners occupied themselves with plans for the empress’s personal safety.  The first idea was that if flight became inevitable, she should take refuge with the Sisters of the Sacre Coeur, in their convent in the Rue Picpus; and arrangements had been made for this contingency.

The life of the empress was strange and piteous during her last days upon the throne.  She was up every morning by seven, and heard mass.  Her dress was black cashmere, with a white linen collar and cuffs.  All day she was the victim of every person who claimed an audience, all talking, protesting, gesticulating, and generally begging.  The day the false rumor arrived that the Prussians had been defeated at the Quarries of Jaumont she flew down to the guard-room, where the soldiers off duty were lounging on their beds, waving the telegram over her head.