In that city the people were a prey, first to sheer incredulity, then to the wildest dismay.  To them history was but a melodrama and war a romance.  Never since the time of Jeanne d’Arc had a foreign enemy come within sight of their spires.  For ramparts they had octroi walls, and in place of the death-dealing defiance of 1792 they now showed only the spasmodic vehemence or ironical resignation of an over-cultivated stock.  As M. Charles de Remusat finely remarks on their varying moods, “The despotism which makes a constant show of prosperity gives men little fortitude to meet adversity.”  Doubtless the royalists, with Talleyrand as their factotum, worked to paralyze the defence; but they formed a small minority, and the masses would have fought for Napoleon had he been present to direct everything.  But he was far away, rushing back through Champagne to retrieve his blunder, and in his place they had Joseph.  The ex-King of Spain was not the man for the hour.  He was no hero to breathe defiance into a bewildered crowd, nor was he well seconded.  Clarke, and Moncey, the commander of the 12,000 National Guards, had not armed one-half of that doubtful militia.  Marmont and Mortier were at hand, and, with the garrison and National Guards, mustered some 42,000 men.

But what were these against the trained host of more than 100,000 men now marching against the feeble barriers on the north and east?  Moreover, Joseph and the Council of Regency had dispirited the defenders by causing the Empress Regent and the infant King of Rome to leave the capital along with the treasure.  In Joseph’s defence it should be said that Napoleon had twice warned him to transfer the seat of Government to the south of the Loire if the allies neared Paris, and in no case to allow the Empress and the King of Rome to be captured.  “Do not leave the side of my son:  I had rather know that he was in the Seine than in the hands of the enemies of France.”  The Emperor’s views as to the effect of the capture of Paris were also well known.  In January he remarked to Mollien, the Minister of the Treasure, “My dear fellow, if the enemy reaches the gates of Paris, the Empire is no more."[445]

Oppressed by these gloomy omens, the defenders awaited the onset of the allies at Montreuil, Romainville Pantin, and on the northern plain (March 30th).  At some points French valour held up successfully against the dense masses; but in the afternoon Marmont, seeing his thin lines overlapped, and in imminent danger of being cut off at Belleville, sent out a request for a truce, as Joseph had empowered him to do if affairs proved to be irretrievable.  At all points resistance was hopeless; Mortier was hard pressed on the north-east; at the Clichy gate Moncey and his National Guards fought only for honour; and so, after a whole day of sanguinary conflicts, the great city surrendered on honourable terms.