The Blockade of Phalsburg: An Episode of the End of the Empire

by Erckmann-Chatrian

  VIII

  FATHER MOSES'S FIRST ENCOUNTER

  From that time the sergeant lived with us without troubling anybody.Every morning, before he went to his duties, he came and sat a fewminutes in my room, and talked with me while he took his glass. Heliked to laugh with Safel, and we called him "our sergeant," as if hewere one of the family. He seemed to like to be with us; he was acareful man; he would not allow our _schabisboie_ to black his shoes;he cleaned his own buff-skins, and would not let any one touch his arms.

  One morning, when I was going to answer to the call, he met me in thealley, and, seeing a little rust on my musket, he began to swear likethe devil.

  "Ah! Father Moses, if I had you in my company, it would go hard withyou!"

  "Yes," thought I; "but, thank God, I'm not."

  Sorle, leaning over the balustrades above, laughed heartily.

  From that time the sergeant regularly inspected my equipments; I mustclean my gun over and over, take it to pieces, clean the barrel andfurbish the bayonet, as if I expected to go and fight. And even whenhe knew how Monborne treated me, he also wanted to teach me theexercises. All my remonstrances were of no avail, he would frown, andsay:

  "Father Moses, I can't stand it, that an honest man like you shouldknow less than the rabble. Go along!"

  And then we would up to the loft. It was very cold, but the sergeantwas so provoked at my want of briskness in performing the movements,that he always put me in a great perspiration before we finished.

  "Attention to the word of command, and no laziness!" he would exclaim.

  I used to hear Sorle, Safel, and the servant laughing in the stairway,as they peeped through the laths, and I did not dare to turn my head.In fine, it was entirely owing to this good Trubert that I learned tocharge well, and became one of the best vaulters in the company.

  Ah! Fritz, it would all have been very well if the spirits of wine hadcome; but instead of my dozen pipes, there came half a company ofmarine artillery, and four hundred recruits for the sixth lightinfantry.

  About this time the governor ordered that a space six hundred metreswide should be cleared all round the city.

  You should have seen the havoc that was made in the place; the fences,palisades, and trees hewn down, the houses demolished, from whicheverybody carried away a beam or some timbers. You should have lookeddown from the ramparts and seen the little gardens, the line ofpoplars, the old trees in the orchards felled to the ground and draggedaway by swarms of workmen. You should have seen all this to know whatwar is!

  Father Frise, the two Camus boys, the Sades, the Bosserts, and all thefamilies of the gardeners and small farmers who lived at Phalsburg,suffered the most. I can almost hear old Fritz exclaim:

  "Ah! my poor apple-trees! Ah! my poor pear-trees; I planted youmyself, forty years ago. How beautiful you were, always covered withfine fruit! Oh, misery! misery!"

  And the soldiers still chopped away. Toward the end, old Fritz wentaway, his cap drawn over his eyes, and weeping bitterly.

  The rumor spread also that they were going to burn the Maisons Rougesat the foot of the Mittelbronn hill, the tile-kiln at Pernette, and thelittle inns of _l'Arbre Vert_ and _Panier Fleuri_, but it seemed thatthe governor found it was not necessary as these houses were out ofrange; or rather, that they would reserve that till later; and, thatthe allies were coming sooner than they were expected.

  Of what happened before the blockade, I remember, too, that on thetwenty-second of December, about eleven o'clock in the morning, thecall was beat. Everybody supposed that it was for the drill, and I setout quietly, with my musket on my shoulder, as usual; but, as I reachedthe corner of the mayoralty, I saw the troops of the garrison formedunder the trees of the square.

  They placed us with them in two ranks; and then Governor Moulin,Commandants Thomas and Pettigenet, and the mayor, with his tri-coloredsash, arrived.

  They beat the march, and then the drum-major raised his baton, and thedrums stopped. The governor began to speak, everybody listened, andthe words heard from a distance were repeated from one to another.

  "Officers, non-commissioned, National Guards, and Soldiers!

  "The enemy is concentrated upon the Rhine, only three days' march fromus. The city is declared to be in a state of siege; the civilauthorities give place to martial law. A permanent court-martialreplaces ordinary tribunals.

  "Inhabitants of Phalsburg! we expect from you courage, devotion,obedience! _Vive l'Empereur_!"

  And a thousand cries of "_Vive l'Empereur_!" filled the air.

  I trembled to the ends of my hair; my spirits of wine were still on theroad; I considered myself a ruined man.

  The immediate distribution of cartridges, and the order to thebattalion to go and forage for provisions, and bring in cattle from thesurrounding villages for the supply of the city, prevented me fromthinking of my misfortune.

  I had also to think of my own life, for, in receiving such an order, wesupposed of course that the peasants would resist, and it is abominableto have to fight the people you are robbing.

  I was very pale as I thought of all this.

  But when Commandant Thomas cried out, "Charge!" and I tore off my firstcartridge, and put it in the barrel, and, instead of hearing the ramrodI felt a ball at the bottom!--when they ordered us: "By file--left!left! forward! quick step! march!" and we set out for the barracks ofthe Bois-de-Chenes, while the first battalion went on to Quatre-Ventsand Bichelberg, the second to Wechern and Metting; when I thought thatwe were going to seize and carry away everything, and that thecourt-martial was at the mayoralty to pass sentence upon those who didnot do their duty;--all these new and terrible things completely upsetme. I was troubled as I saw the village in the distance, and picturedto myself beforehand the cries of the women and children.

  You see, Fritz, to take from the poor peasant all his living at thebeginning of winter; to take from him his cow, his goats, his pigs,everything in short, it is dreadful! and my own misfortune made me feelmore for that of others.

  And then, as we marched, I thought of my daughter Zeffen, and Baruch,and their children, and I exclaimed to myself:

  "Mercy on us! if the enemy comes, what will they do in an exposed townlike Saverne? They will lose everything. We may be beggared any day."

  These thoughts took away my breath, and in the midst of them I saw somepeasants, who, from their little windows, watched our approach over thefields and along their street, without stirring. They did not knowwhat we were coming for.

  Six mounted soldiers preceded us; Commandant Thomas ordered them topass to the right and left of the barracks, to prevent the peasantsfrom driving their cattle into the woods, when they had found out thatwe had come to rob them.

  They set off on a gallop.

  We came to the first house, where there is the stone crucifix. Weheard the order:

  "Halt!"

  Then thirty men were detached to act as sentinels in the littlestreets, and I was among the number, which I liked, for I preferredbeing on duty to going into their stables and barns.

  As we filed through the principal street the peasants asked us:

  "What is going on? Have they been cutting wood? Have they been makingarrests?" and such like questions. But we did not answer them, andhastened on.

  Monborne placed me in the third street to the right, near the largehouse of Father Franz, who raised bees on the slope of the valleybehind his house. We heard the sheep bleating and the cattle lowing;that wretch of a Monborne said, winking at me:

  "It will be jolly! We will make the Baraquois open their eyes."

  He had no mercy in him. He said to me:

  "Moses, thou must stay there. If any one tries to pass, cross yourbayonet. If any one resists, prick him well and then fire. The lawmust be supported by force."

  I don't know where the cobbler picked up that expression; but he leftme in the street, between two fences white with frost, and went on hisway with the rest of the guard.
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br />   I waited there nearly twenty minutes, considering what I should do ifthe peasants tried to save their property, and thinking it would bemuch better to fire upon the cattle than upon their owners.

  I was much perplexed and was very cold, when I heard a great shouting;at the same time the drum began to beat. Some men went into thestables and drove the cattle. The Baraquins swore and wept; some triedto defend themselves. Commandant Thomas cried out:

  "To the square! Drive them to the square!"

  Some cows escaped through the fences, and you can't imagine what atumult there was. I congratulated myself that I was not in the midstof this pillage. But this did not last long, for suddenly a herd ofgoats, driven by two old women, filed down the street on their way tothe valley.

  Then I had to stop them with my bayonet and call out:

  "Halt!"

  One of the women, Mother Migneron, knew me; she had a pitchfork, andwas very pale.

  "Let me pass, Moses," said she.

  I saw that she was coming slowly toward me, meaning to throw me downwith her pitchfork. The other tried to drive the goats into a littlegarden at the side, but the slats were too near together, and the fencetoo high.

  I should have liked to let them go by, and deny having seen anything;but, unfortunately, Lieutenant Rollet came up and called out:

  "Attention!"

  And two men of the company followed: Macry and Schweyer, the brewer.

  Old Migneron, seeing me cross the bayonet, began to grind her teeth,saying:

  "Ah! wretch of a Jew, thou'lt pay for this!"

  She was so angry that she had no fear of my musket, and three times shetried to thrust her pitchfork into me; then I found the benefit of mydrilling, for I parried all her attacks.

  Two goats escaped between my legs; the rest were taken. The soldierspushed back the old women, broke their pitchforks, and finally regainedthe chief street, which was full of cattle, lowing and kicking.

  Old Migneron sat down on the fence and tore her hair.

  Just then two cows came along, their tails in the air, leaping over thefences and upsetting everything, the baskets of bees and their oldkeeper. Fortunately, as it was winter, the bees remained as if dead intheir baskets, or else I believe they would have routed our wholebattalion.

  The horn of the _hardier_* sounded in the village. He had beensummoned in the name of the law. This old _hardier_, Nickel, passedalong the street, and the animals became quiet, and could be put insome order. I saw the procession go along the street; the oxen andcows in front, then the goats, and the pigs behind.

  * Herdsman.

  The Baraquins followed, flinging stones and throwing sticks. I sawthat, if I should be forgotten, these wretches would fall upon me, andI should be murdered; but Sergeant Monborne, with other comrades, cameand relieved me. They all laughed and said:

  "We have shaved them well! There is not a goat left at the Barracks;we have taken everything at one haul."

  We hastened to rejoin the column, which marched in two lines at theright and left of the road, the cattle in the middle, our companybehind, and Nickel, with Commandant Thomas, in front. This formed afile of at least three hundred paces. On every animal a bundle of hayhad been tied for fodder.

  In this way we passed slowly into the cemetery lane.

  Upon the glacis we halted, and tied up the animals, and the order cameto take them down into the fosses behind the arsenal.

  We were the first that returned; we had seized thirty oxen, forty-fivecows, a quantity of goats and pigs, and some sheep.

  All day long the companies were coming back with their booty, so thatthe fosses were filled with cattle, which remained in the open air.Then the governor said that the garrison had provisions for six months,and every inhabitant must prove that he had enough to last as long, andthat domiciliary visits were to begin.

  We broke ranks before the city hall. I was going up the main street,my gun on my shoulder, when some one called me:

  "Hey! Father Moses!"

  I turned and saw our sergeant.

  "Well," said he, laughing, "you have made your first attack; you havebrought us back some provisions. Well and good!"

  "Yes, sergeant, but it is very sad!"

  "What, sad? Thirty oxen, forty-five cows, some pigs and goats--it ismagnificent!"

  "To be sure, but if you had heard the cries of these poor people, ifyou had seen them!"

  "Bah! bah!" said he. "_Primo_, Father Moses, soldiers must live; menmust have their rations if they are going to fight. I have often seenthese things done in Germany and Spain and Italy! Peasants areselfish; they want to keep their own; they do not regard the honor ofthe flag; that is trash! In some respects they would be worse thantownspeople, if we were foolish enough to listen to them; we must bestrict."

  "We have been, sergeant," I replied; "but if I had been master, weshould not have robbed these poor wretches; they are in a pitiablecondition enough already."

  "You are too compassionate, Father Moses, and you think that others arelike yourself. But we must remember that peasants, citizens,civilians, live only by the soldiers, and have all the profit withoutwanting to pay any of the cost. If we followed your advice we shoulddie of hunger in this little town; our peasants would support theRussians, the Austrians, and Bavarians at our expense. This pack ofscoundrels would be having a good time from morning to night, and therest of us would be as poor as church-mice. That would not do--thereis no sense in it!"

  He laughed aloud. We had now come into our passage, and I wentupstairs.

  "Is it thou, Moses?" asked Sorle in the darkness, for it was nightfall.

  "Yes, the sergeant and I."

  "Ah, good!" said she; "I was expecting you."

  "Madame Moses," exclaimed the sergeant, "your husband can boast now ofbeing a real soldier; he has not yet seen fire, but he has charged withhis bayonet."

  "Ah!" said Sorle, "I am very glad to see him back."

  In the room, through the little white door-curtains, we saw the lampburning, and smelt the soup. The sergeant went to his room, as usual,and we into ours. Sorle looked at me with her great black eyes, shesaw how pale I was, and knew what I was thinking about. She took fromme my cartridge-box, and placed my musket in the closet.

  "Where is Safel?" I asked.

  "He must be in the square. I sent him to see if you had come back.Hark! There he is coming up!"

  Then I heard the child come up the stairs; he opened the door at onceand ran joyfully to embrace me.

  We sat down to dinner, and, in spite of my trouble, I ate with a goodappetite, having taken nothing since morning.

  Suddenly Sorle said: "If the invoice does not come before the citygates are closed we shall not have to pay anything, for goods are atthe risk of the merchant until they are delivered. And we have notreceived the inventory."

  "Yes," I replied, "you are right; M. Quataya, instead of sending us thespirits of wine at once, waited a week before answering us. If he hadsent the twelve pipes that day or the day after, they would be here bythis time. The delay is not our fault."

  You see, Fritz, how anxious we were; but, as the sergeant came to smokehis pipe at the corner of the stove, as usual, we said no more about it.

  I spoke only of my fears in regard to Zeffen, Baruch, and theirchildren, in an exposed town like Saverne. The sergeant tried to putmy mind at ease, and said that in such places they made, to be sure,all sorts of requisitions in wines, brandies, provisions, carriages,carts, and horses, but, except in case of resistance, the people werelet alone, and the soldiers even tried to keep on good terms with them.

  We kept on talking till nearly ten o'clock; then the sergeant, who hadto keep guard at the German gate, went away, and we went to bed.

  This was the night of the twenty-second and twenty-third of December, avery cold night.