CHAPTER XII
About the end of November there happened an extraordinary thing, ofwhich I must give you an account.
On the first fall of snow, our Landwehr had built on the hill, in therear of their guns, huts of considerable size, covered with earth, opento the south and closed against the north wind. Under these theylighted great fires, and every hour relieved guard.
They had also received from home immense packages of warm clothing,blankets, cloaks, shirts, and woollen stockings; they called theselove-gifts. Captain Floegel distributed these to his men, at hisdiscretion.
Now, it happened that one night, when the Landwehr lodging with us wereon guard, that I, knowing they would not return before day, had gonedown to shut the back door which opens upon the fields. The moon hadset, but the snow was shining white, streaked with the dark shadows ofthe trees; and just as I was going to lock up, what do I see in myorchard behind the large pear-tree on the left? A Turco with hislittle red cap over his ear, his blue jacket corded and braided allover, his belt and his gaiters. There he was, leaning in the attitudeof attention, the butt-end of his rifle resting on the ground, his eyesglowing like those of a cat.
THERE HE WAS, LEANING FORWARD TO LISTEN.]
He heard the door open, and turned abruptly round.
Then, glad to see one of our own men again, I felt my heart beat, andgazing stealthily round for fear of the neighbors, I signed to him todraw near.
All were asleep in the village; no lights were shining at the windows.
He came down in four or five paces, clearing the fences at a bound, andentered the mill.
Immediately I closed the door again, and said: "Good Frenchman?"
He pressed my hand in the dark, and followed me into the back room,where my wife and Gredel were still sitting up.
Imagine their astonishment!
"Here is a man from the town," I said: "he's a real Turco. We shallhear news."
At the same moment we observed that the Turco's bayonet was red, evento the shank, and that the blood had even run down the barrel of hisrifle; but we said nothing.
This Turco was a fine man, dark brown, with a little curly beard, blackeyes, and white teeth, just as the apostles are painted. I have neverseen a finer man.
He was not sorry to feel the warmth of a good fire. Gredel having maderoom for him, he took a seat, thanking her with a nod of his head, andrepeating: "Good Frenchman!"
I asked him if he was hungry; he said yes; and my wife immediately wentto fetch him a large basin of soup, which he enjoyed greatly. She gavehim also a good slice of bread and of beef; but instead of eating it hedropped it into his bag, asking us for salt and tobacco.
He spoke as these people all do--thou-ing us. He even wanted to kissGredel's hand. She blushed, and asked him, without any ceremony,before our faces, if he knew Jean Baptiste Werner?
"Jean Baptiste!" said he. "Bastion No. 3--formerly African gunner.Yes, I know him. Good man! brave Frenchman!"
"He is not wounded?"
"No."
"Not ill?"
"No."
Then Gredel began to cry in her apron; and mother asked the Turco if heknew Jacob Weber, of the 3d company of Mobiles; but the Turco did notknow our Jacob; he could only tell us that the Mobiles had lost veryfew men, which comforted my wife and me. Then he told us that acaptain in the Garde Mobile, a Jew named Cerfber, sent as a flag oftruce to Luetzelbourg, had taken the opportunity to desert, and that theGerman general, being disgusted at his baseness, had refused to receivehim, upon which the wretch had gone into Germany. I was nowisesurprised at this. I knew Cerfber; he was mayor of Niederwillen, atfour leagues from us, and more Bonapartist than Bonaparte himself.Unable to surrender the rest, as his master had done at Sedan, he hadsurrendered himself.
Gredel had gone out while the Turco was telling us these news; shereturned presently with a large quantity of provisions. She had takenall my tobacco, and begged the Turco to take it to Jean Baptiste andJacob. She had not quite the face to say before me that it was forJean Baptiste alone; that would have been going a little too far; butshe said, "It is for the two." The Turco promised to perform thiscommission; then Gredel gave him several things for himself; but hewanted especially salt, and fortunately we possessed enough to fill hisbag. My wife stood sentinel in the passage. Thank God there was nostir for a whole hour; during which this Turco answered, as well as hewas able, all the questions we asked him.
We understood that there was much sickness in the town; that severalarticles of consumption were utterly exhausted, among others, meat,salt, and tobacco; and that the inhabitants were weary of being shut inwithout any news from outside.
About one in the morning, the wind, having risen, was shaking the door,and we fancied we could hear the Landwehr returning. The Turco noticedit, and made signs to us that he would go.
We could have wished to detain him, but the danger was too great. Hetherefore took up his rifle again, and asked to kiss my wife's hand,just as the gypsies do in our country. Then pointing to his bag, hesaid: "For Jacob and Jean Baptiste!"
I took him back through the orchard. The weather was frightful; theair was full of snow, whirled into drifts by a stormy wind; but he knewhis way, and began by running with his body bending low as far as thetall hedge on the left; a moment after he was out of sight. I listeneda long while. The watch-fires of the Landwehr were shining on thehill, above Wechem; their sentinels were challenging and answering eachother in the darkness; but not a shot was fired.
I returned. My wife and Gredel seemed happy; and we all went to bed.
Next day we learned that two Landwehr had been found killed--one nearthe Avenue des Dames, between the town and the Quatre Vents, the otherat the end of Piquet, both fathers of families. The unfortunate menhad been surprised at their posts.
What a miserable thing is war! The Germans have lost more men than wehave; but we will not be so cruel as to rejoice over this.
And now, if I am asked my opinion about the Turcos, against whom theGermans have raised such an outcry, I answer that they are good men andtrue! Jacob and Jean Baptiste have received everything that we sent tothem. This Turco's word was worth more than that of the lieutenant andthe feld-weibel who had promised to pay me for my wine.
No doubt, amongst the Turcos there are some bad fellows; but thegreater part are honest men, with a strong feeling of religion: men whohave known them at Phalsbourg and elsewhere acknowledge them to be menof honor. They have stolen nothing, robbed nobody, never insulted awoman. If they had campaigned on the other side of the Rhine, ofcourse they would have twisted the necks of ducks and hens, as allsoldiers do in an enemy's country: the Landwehr put no constraint uponthemselves in our country. But the idea would never have occurred tothe Turcos, as it had to German officers and generals, of sending forpacks of Jews to follow them and buy up, wholesale, the linen,furniture, clocks--in a word, anything they found in privateindividuals' houses. This is simple truth! Monsieur de Bismarck mayinsult the Turcos as much as he pleases before his German Parliament,which is ready to say "Amen" every time he opens his mouth. He mightas well not talk at all. Thieves are bad judges of common honesty! Iam aware that Monsieur le Prince de Bismarck thinks himself the firstpolitician in the world, because he has deceived a simpleton; but thereis a wide difference between a great man and a great dishonest man. Byand by this will be manifest, to the great misfortune of Europe.
But it was a real comfort to have seen this Turco; and for severaldays, when we were alone, my wife and Gredel talked of nothing else;but sad reflections again got the upper hand.
No one can form an idea of the misery, the feeling of desolation whichtakes possession of you, when days and weeks pass by in the midst ofenemies without the least word reaching you from the interior; then youfeel the strength of the hold that your native land has upon you. TheGermans think to detach us from it by preventing us from learning whatis taking place there; but they are mistaken. The less y
ou speak themore you think; and your indignation, your disgust, your hatred forviolence, force, and injustice is ever on the increase. You conceive ahorror for those who have been the cause of such sufferings. Timebrings no change; on the contrary, it deepens the wound: one cursesucceeds another; and the deepest desire left is either for an end ofall, or vengeance.
Besides, it is perfectly evident the Lorrainers and the Alsacians are abold, brave nation; and all the fine words in the world will not makethem forget the treatment they have suffered, after being surpriseddefenceless. They would reproach themselves as cowards, did they ceaseto hope for their revenge. I, Christian Weber, declare this, and nohonest man can blame me for it. Abject wretches alone accept injusticeas a final dispensation; and we have ever God over us all, who forbidsus to believe that murder, fire, and robbery may and ought to prevailover right and conscience.
Let us return to our story.
Cousin George had seen in the Englishman's newspapers that thecirculation of the _Independance Belge_ and the _Journal de Geneve_ haddoubled and trebled since the commencement of the war, because theyfilled the place of all the other journals which used to be receivedfrom Paris; and without loss of time he had written to Brussels tosubscribe.
The first week, having received no answer, he had sent the money inPrussian notes in a second letter; for we had at that time onlyPrussian thalers in paper, with which the Landwehr paid us for whateverthey did not take by force. We had no great confidence in this paper,but it was worth the trial.
The newspaper arrived. It was the first we had seen for four months,and any one may understand the joy with which George came to tell methis good news.
Every evening from that time I went to hear the newspapers read atCousin George's. We could hardly understand anything at first, for atevery line we met with new names. Chanzy had the chief command uponthe Loire, Faidherbe in the north. And these two men, without anysoldiers besides Mobiles and volunteers, held the open country. Theyeven gained considerable advantages over an enemy that far outnumberedthem; whilst the marshals of the Empire had suffered themselves to bevanquished and annihilated in three weeks, with our best troops.
This shows that, in victories, generals have no more than half thecredit.
Of all the old generals, Bourbaki was the only one left.
As for Garibaldi, we knew him, and we could tell by the restlessmovements of our Landwehr that he was approaching our mountains aboutBelfort. He was the hope of our country: all our young men were goingto join him.
We also learned that the Government was divided between Tours andParis; that Gambetta was bearing all the burden of the defence of thecountry, as Minister of War; that he was everywhere at once, toencourage the dispirited; that he had set up the chief place ofinstruction for our young soldiers at Toulouse, and that the Prussianswere pursuing their horrible course in the invaded countries withrenewed fury; that a party of francs-tireurs having surprised a fewUhlans at Nemours, a column of Germans had surrounded the town on thenext day, and set fire to it to the music of their bands, compellingthe members of the committee for the defence to be present at thisabominable act; that M. de Bismarck had laid hands upon certainbourgeois of the interior, in reprisal for the captures made by ourships five hundred leagues away in the North Sea; that RicciottiGaribaldi, having defeated the Prussians at Chatillon-sur-Seine, thoseatrocious wretches had delivered the innocent town over to plunder, andlaid it under contribution for a million of francs; that respectablepersons belonging to the Grand Duchy of Baden, private individuals,were crossing the Rhine with horses and carts to come and pillageAlsace with impunity--all the towns and villages being occupied bytheir troops. In a word, many other things of the kind; which plainlyprove that with the Prussians, war is an honest means of growing rich,and getting possession of the property of the inoffensive inhabitants.
At St. Quentin, one of their chiefs, the Colonel de Kahlden, gavepublic notice to the inhabitants, that "if a shot was fired upon aGerman soldier, _six inhabitants should be shot_; and that everyindividual compromised or _suspected_ would be punished with death."
Everywhere, everywhere these great philosophers plundered and burnedwithout mercy whatever towns or villages dared resist!
George said that these beings were not raised above the beasts of prey,and that education only does for them what spiked collars do forfighting dogs.
We also heard of the capitulation of Thionville, after a terriblebombardment, in which the Prussians had refused to allow the women andchildren to leave the place! We heard of the first encounters ofFaidherbe in the north with Manteuffel; and the battles of Chanzy withFrederick Charles, near Orleans.
In spite of the inferiority of our numbers, and the inexperience of ourtroops, we often got the upper hand.
These news had restored us to hope. Unhappily, the heaviest blow ofall was to come. Phalsbourg, utterly exhausted by famine, was about tosurrender, after a resistance of five months.
Oh! my ancient town of Phalsbourg, what affliction sank into ourhearts, when, on the evening of the 9th December, we heard your heavyguns fire one after another, as if for a last appeal to France to cometo your rescue! Oh! what were then our sufferings, and what tears weshed!
"Now," said George, "it is all over! They are calling aloud to France,our beloved France, unable to come! It is like a ship in distress, bynight, in the open sea, firing her guns for assistance, and no onehears: she must sink in the deep."
Ah! my old town of Phalsbourg, where we used to go to market; where weused to see our own soldiers--our red-trousered soldiery, our merryFrenchmen! We shall never more see behind our ramparts any but heavyGermans and rough Prussians! And so it is over! The earth bears nolonger the same children; and men whom we never knew tell us, "You arein our custody: we are your masters!"
Can it be possible? No! ancient fortress of Vauban, you shall beFrench again: "Nursery of brave men," as the first Bonaparte calledyou. Let our sons come to manhood, and they shall drive from thy wallsthese lumpish fellows who dare to talk of Germanizing you!
But how our hearts bled on that day! Every one went to hide himself asfar back in his house as he could, murmuring, "Oh! my poor Phalsbourg,we cannot help thee; but if our life could deliver thee, we would giveit."
Yes! I have lived to behold this, and it is the most terriblesensation I have ever experienced: the thought of meeting Jacob againwas no comfort; Gredel herself was listening with pale cheeks, andcounting the reports from second to second; and then the tears fell andshe cried: "It is over!"
Next day, all the roads were covered with German and Prussian officersgalloping rapidly to the place; the report ran that the entry wouldtake place the same evening; every one was preparing a small stock ofprovisions for his son, his relations, his friends, whom he dreadednever more to see alive.
On the morning of the 11th of December, leave was given to start forthe town; the sentinels posted at Wechem had orders to allowfoot-passengers to pass.
Phalsbourg, with its fifteen hundred Mobiles and its sixty gunners,disdained to capitulate; it surrendered no rifles, no guns, no militarystores, no eagles, as Bazaine had done at Metz! The Commander Taillanthad not said to his men: "Let us, above all, for the reputation of ourarmy, avoid all acts of indiscipline, such as the destruction of armsand material of war; since, according to military usage, strong placesand arms will return to France when peace is signed." No! quite thecontrary; he had ordered the destruction of whatever might prove usefulto the enemy: to drown the gunpowder, smash rifles, spike the guns,burn up the bedding in the casemates; and when all this was done, hehad sent a message to the German general: "We have nothing left to eat!To-morrow I will open the gates! Do what you please with me!"
Here was a man, indeed!
And the Germans ran, some laughing, others astonished, gazing at thewalls which they had won without a fight: for they have taken almostevery place without fighting; they have shelled the poor inhabitantsinstead of storming the walls;
they have starved the people. They mayboast of having burnt more towns and villages, and killed more womenand children in this one campaign, than all the other nations in allthe wars of Europe since the Revolution.
But, to be sure, they were a religious people, much attached to thedoctrines of the Gospel, and who sing hymns with much feeling. TheirEmperor especially, after every successive bombardment, and everymassacre--whilst women, children, and old men are weeping around theirhouses destroyed by the enemy's shells, and from the battle-fieldsstrewn with heaps of dead are rising the groans and cries of thousandsand thousands of sufferers whose lives are crushed, whose flesh istorn, whose bodies are rent and bleeding!'--their Emperor, thevenerable man, lifts his blood-stained hands to heaven and thanks Godfor having permitted him to commit these abominable deeds! Does helook upon God as his accomplice in crime?
Barbarian! one day thou shalt know that in the sight of the Eternal,hypocrisy is an aggravation of crime.
On the 11th of December, then, early in the morning, my wife, Gredel,Cousin George, Marie Anne and myself, having locked up our houses,started, each carrying a little parcel under our arms, to go andembrace our children and our friends--if they yet survived.
The snow was melting, a thick fog was covering the face of the country,and we walked along in single file and in silence, gazing intently uponthe German batteries which we saw for the first time, in front ofWechem, by Gerbershoff farm, and at the _Arbre Vert_.
Such desolation! Everything was cut down around the town; no moresummer-arbors, no more gardens or orchards, only the vast, nakedsurface of snow-covered ground, with its hollows all bare; the bulletmarks on the ramparts, the embrasures all destroyed.
A great crowd of other village people preceded and followed us; poorold men, women, and a few children; they were walking straight onwithout paying any attention to each other: all thought of the fate ofthose they loved, which they would learn within an hour.
Thus we arrived at the gate of France; it stood open and unguarded.The moment we entered, the ruins were seen; houses tottering, streetsdemolished, here a window left alone, there up in the air a chimneyscarcely supported; farther on some doorsteps and no door. In everydirection the bombshells had left their tracks.
God of heaven! did we indeed behold such devastation? we did in truth.We all saw it: it was no dream!
The cold was piercing. The townspeople, haggard and pale, stared at usarriving; recognitions took place, men and women approached and tookeach other by the hand.
"Well?" "Well," was the reply in a hollow whisper, in the midst of thestreet encumbered with blackened beams of wood. "Have you sufferedmuch?" "Ah! yes."
This was enough: no need for another word; and then we would proceedfarther. At every street corner a new scene of horror began.
Catherine and I were seeking Jacob; no doubt Gredel was looking forJean Baptiste.
We saw our poor Mobiles passing by, scarcely recognizable after thosefive months. All through the fearful cold these unhappy men had hadnothing on but their summer blouses and linen trousers. Many of themmight have escaped and gained their villages, for the gates had stoodopen since the evening before; but not a man thought of doing so; itwas not supposed that Mobiles would be treated like regular soldiers.
On the _place_, in front of the fallen church filled with its ownruins, we heard, for the first time, that the garrison were prisonersof war.
The cafes Vacheron, Meyer, and Hoffmann, riddled with balls, wereswarming with officers.
We were gazing, not knowing whom to ask after Jacob, when a cry behindus made us turn round; and there was Gredel in the arms of JeanBaptiste Werner! Then I kept silence; my wife also. Since she wouldhave it so, well, so let it be; this matter concerned her much morethan it did us.
Jean Baptiste, after the first moment, looked embarrassed at seeing us;he approached us with a pale face, and as we spoke not a word to him,George shook him by the hand, and cried: "Jean Baptiste, I know thatyou have behaved well during this siege; we have learned it all withpleasure: didn't we, Christian? didn't we, Catherine?"
What answer could we make? I said "yes"--and mother, with tears in hereyes, cried: "Jean Baptiste, is Jacob not wounded?"
"No, Madame Weber; we have always been very comfortable together.There is nothing the matter. I'll fetch him: only come in somewhere."
"We are going to the Cafe Hoffmann," said she. "Try to find him, JeanBaptiste." And as he was turning in the direction of themayoralty-house:
"There," said he, "there he is coming round the corner by the chemistRebe's shop." And we began, to cry "Jacob!"
And our lad ran, crossing the _place_.
A minute after, we were in each other's arms.
He had on a coarse soldier's cloak, and canvas trousers; his cheekswere hollow; he stared at us, and stammered: "Oh, is it you? You arenot all dead?"
He looked stupefied; and his mother, holding him, murmured: "It is he!"
She would not relinquish her hold upon him, and wiped her eyes with herapron.
Gredel and Jean Baptiste followed arm-in-arm, with George and MarieAnne. We entered the Cafe Hoffmann together; we sat round a table inthe room at the left, and George ordered some coffee, for we all feltthe need of a little warmth.
None of us wished to speak; we were downcast, and held each other bythe hand, gazing in each other's faces.
The young officers of the Mobiles were talking together in the nextroom; we could hear them saying that not one would sign the engagementnot to serve again during the campaign; that they would all go asprisoners of war, and would accept no other lot than that of their men.
This idea of seeing our Jacob go off as a prisoner of war, almost brokeour hearts, and my wife began to sob bitterly, with her head upon thetable.
Jacob would have wished to come back to the mill along with us; I couldsee this by his countenance; but he was not an officer, and his_parole_ was not asked for. And, in spite of all, hearing thosespirited young men, who were sacrificing their liberty to discharge aduty, I should myself have said "No: a man must be a man!"
Werner was talking with my cousin: they spoke in whispers; having, nodoubt, secret matters to discuss. I saw George slip something into hishand. What could it be? I cannot say; but all at once Jean Baptisterising from his seat and kissing Gredel without any ceremony before ourfaces, said that he was on service; that he would not see us again verysoon, as after the muster their march would begin, so that we shouldhave to say good-by at once.
He held out both his hands to my wife and then to Marie Anne, afterwhich he went out with George and Gredel, leaving us much astonished.
Jacob and Marie Anne remained with us; in a couple of minutes Gredeland my cousin returned; Gredel, whose eyes were red, sat by the side ofMarie Anne without speaking, and we saw that her basket of provisionswas gone.
The stir upon the _place_ became greater and greater. The drums beatthe assembly, the officers of the Mobiles were coming out. I thenthought I would ask Jacob what had become of Mathias Heitz; he told usthat the wretched coward had been trembling with fright the whole timeof the siege, and that at last he had fallen ill of fear. Gredel didnot turn her head to listen; she would have nothing to do with him!And, in truth, on hearing this, I felt I should prefer giving ourdaughter to our ragman's son than to this fellow Mathias.
The review was then commencing under the tall trees on the _place_, andJacob appeared with his comrades. No sadder spectacle will ever beseen than that of our poor lads, about half a hundred Turcos and a fewZouaves, the remnants of Froeschwiller, all haggard and pale, and theirclothes falling to pieces. They were unarmed, having destroyed theirarms before opening the gates.
Presently Jacob ran to us, crying that they were ordered to theirbarracks, and that they would have to start next day before twelve.
Then his eyes filled with tears. His mother and I handed him ourparcels, in which we had enclosed three good linen shirts, a pair ofshoes almost new, woolle
n stockings, and a strong pair of trousers.
I was wearing upon my shoulders my travelling cape; I placed it uponhis. Then I slipped into his pocket a small roll of thalers, andGeorge gave him two louis. After this, the tears and lamentations ofthe women recommenced; we were obliged to promise to return on themorrow.
The garrison was defiling down the street; Jacob ran to fall in, anddisappeared with the rest, near the barracks.
As for Jean Baptiste Werner, we saw him no more.
The German officers were coming and going up and down the town todistribute their troops amongst the townspeople. It was twelveo'clock, and we returned to our village, sadder and more distressedthan ever.
And now we knew that Jacob was safe; but we knew also that he was goingto be carried, we could not tell where, to the farthest depths ofGermany.
My wife arrived home quite ill; the damp weather, her anxiety, heranguish of mind, had cast her down utterly. She went to bed with ashivering fit, and could not return next day to town, nor Gredel, whowas taking care of her, so I went alone.
Orders had come to take the prisoners to Luetzelbourg. On reaching thesquare, near the chemist Rebe's shop, I saw them all in their ranks,moving by twos down the road. The inhabitants had closed theirshutters, not to witness this humiliation; for Hessian soldiers, witharms shouldered, were escorting them: our poor boys were advancingbetween them, their heads hanging sorrowfully down.
I stopped at the chemist's corner, and waited, being unable to discernJacob in the midst of that crowd. All at once I recognized him, and Icried, "Jacob!" He was going to throw himself into my arms; but theHessians repulsed me. We both burst into tears, and I went on walkingby the side of the escort, crying, "Courage! ... Write to us.... Yourmother is not quite well.... She could not come.... It is not much!"
He answered nothing; and many others who were there had their friendsand relations before or behind them.
We wanted to accompany them to Luetzelbourg; unhappily, at the gate thePrussians had posted sentinels, who stopped us, pointing their bayonetsat us. They would not even allow us to press our children's hands.
On all sides were cries: "Adieu, Jean!" "Adieu, Pierre!" and theyreplied: "Adieu! Farewell, father!" "Adieu! Farewell, mother!" andthen the sighs, the sobs, the tears....
"GOOD-BY, MY FATHER! GOOD-BY, MY MOTHER!"]
Ah! the Plebiscite, the Plebiscite!
I was compelled to stay there an hour; at last they allowed me to pass.I resumed my way home, my heart rent with anguish. I could see, hearnothing but the cry, "Adieu! Adieu!" of all that crowd; and I thoughtthat men were made to make each other miserable; that it was a pity wewere ever born; that for a few days' happiness, acquired by long andpainful toil, we had years of endless misery; and that the people ofthe earth, through their folly, their idleness, their wickedness, theirtrust in consummate rogues, deserved what they got.
Yes, I could have wished for another deluge: I should have cared lessto see the waters rise from the ends of Alsace and cover our mountains,than to be bound under the yoke of the Germans.
In this mood I reached home.
I took care not to tell my wife all that had happened; on the contraryI told her that I had embraced Jacob in my arms for her and for us all;that he was full of spirits, and that he would soon write to us.
The Plébiscite; or, A Miller's Story of the War Page 12