The Memoirs of Victor Hugo

Shouting newsboys pass, with enormous posters on which are the words: “Napoleon III. a Prisoner.”

5 o’clock. – Charles and our friends have returned.

9 o’clock. – Meeting of exiles at which Charles and I are present.

Query: Tricolour flag or red flag?

September 4. – The deposition of the Emperor is proclaimed in Paris.

At 1 o’clock a meeting of exiles is held at my house.

At 3 o’clock I receive a telegram from Paris couched in the following terms: “Bring the children with you.” Which means “Come.”

MM. Claretie and Proust dined with us.

During the dinner a telegram signed “François Hugo” arrived, announcing that a provisional government had been formed: Jules Favre, Gambetta, Thiers.

September 5. – At 6 o’clock in the morning a telegram signed “Barbieux,” and asking the hour of my arrival in Paris, is brought to me. I instruct Charles to answer that I shall arrive at 9 o’clock at night. We shall take the children with us. We shall leave by the 2.35 o’clock train.

The Provisional Government (according to the newspapers) is made up of all the Deputies of Paris, with the exception of Thiers.

At noon, as I was about to leave Brussels for Paris, a young man, a Frenchman, accosted me in the Place de la Monnaie and said:

Monsieur, they tell me that you are Victor Hugo.”

“Yes.”

“Be so kind as to enlighten me. I would like to know whether it is prudent to go to Paris at present.”

“Monsieur, it is very imprudent, but you should go,” was my reply.

We entered France at 4 o’clock.

At Tergnier, at 6.30, we dined upon a piece of bread, a little cheese, a pear and a glass of wine. Claretie insisted upon paying, and said: “I want particularly to give you a dinner on the day of your return to France.”

En route I saw in the woods a camp of French soldiers, men and horses mingled. I shouted to them: “Long live the army!” and I wept.

At frequent intervals we came across train-loads of soldiers on their way to Paris. Twenty-five of these passed during the day. As one of them went by we gave to the soldiers all the provisions we had, some bread, fruit and wine. The sun shone brightly and was succeeded by a bright moon.

We arrived in Paris at 9.35 o’clock. An immense crowd awaited me. It was an indescribable welcome. I spoke four times, once from the balcony of a café and thrice from my carriage.

When I took leave of this ever-growing crowd, which escorted me to Paul Meurice’s, in the Avenue Frochot, I said to the people: “In one hour you repay me for twenty years of exile.”

They sang the “Marseillaise” and the “Chant du Depart.”

They shouted: “Long live Victor Hugo!”

The journey from the Northern Railway station to the Rue Laval took two hours.

We arrived at Meurice’s, where I am to stay, at mid-night. I dined with my travelling companions and Victor. I went to bed at 2 o’clock.

At daybreak I was awakened by a terrible storm. Thunder and lightning.

I shall take breakfast with Paul Meurice, and we shall dine together at the Hotel Navarin, in the Rue Navarin, where my family is staying.

PARIS, September 6. – Innumerable visits, innumerable letters.

Rey came to ask me whether I would consent to join a triumvirate composed as follows: Victor Hugo, Ledru-Rollin, and Schoelcher. I refused. I said: “It is almost impossible to amalgamate me.”

I recalled several things to his mind. He said: “Do you remember that it was I who received you when you arrived at the Baudin barricade?”[16 - Representative Baudin was killed on the barricade in the Faubourg Saint Antoine on December 2, 1852, during Louis Bonaparte’s coup d’Etat.] I replied: “I remember the fact so well that – . And I recited the lines at the beginning of the piece (unpublished) upon the Baudin barricade:

La barricade était livide dans l’aurore,
Et comme j’arrivais elle fumait encore.
Rey me serra la main et dit: Baudin est mort…

He burst into tears.

September 7. – Louis Blanc, d’Alton-Shée, Banville and others came to see me.

The women of the Markets brought me a bouquet.

September 8. – I am warned that it is proposed to assassinate me. I shrug my shoulders.

This morning I wrote my “Letter to the Germans.” It will be sent tomorrow.

Visit from General Cluseret.

At 10 o’clock I went to the office of the Rappel to correct the proofs of my “Letter to the Germans.”

September 9. – Received a visit from General Montfort. The generals are asking me for commands, I am being asked to grant audiences, office-seekers are asking me for places. I reply: “I am nobody.”

I saw Captain Feval, husband of Fanny, the sister of Alice.[17 - Wife of Charles Hugo.] He was a prisoner of war, and was released on parole.

All the newspapers publish my “Appeal to the Germans.”

September 10. – D’Alton-Shée and Louis Ulbach lunched with us. Afterwards we went to the Place de la Concorde. At the foot of the flower-crowned statue of Strasburg is a register. Everybody comes to sign the resolution of public thanks. I inscribed my name. The crowd at once surrounded me. The ovation of the other night was about to recommence. I hurried to my carriage.

Among the persons who called upon me was Cernuschi.

September 11. – Received a visit from Mr. Wickham Hoffman, Secretary of the United States Legation. Mr. Washburne, the American Minister, had requested him to ask me whether I did not think that some good might result were he to intervene *officiously* and see the King of Prussia. I sent him to Jules Favre.

September 12. – Among other callers was Frédérick Lemaître.

September 13. – To-day there is a review of the army of Paris. I am alone in my chamber. The battalions march through the streets singing the “Marseillaise” and the “Chant du Depart.” I hear this immense shout:

For France a Frenchman should live,
For France a Frenchman should die.[18 - The “Chant du Depart.”]