eaded for generous terms, but admitted that
he, as a prisoner, could not fix them; they must be arranged with de
Wimpffen. About ten o'clock the latter agreed to an unconditional
surrender for the rank and file of the French army, but those officers
who bound themselves by their word of honour (in writing) not to fight
again during the present war were to be set free. Napoleon then had an
interview with the King. What transpired is not known, but when the
Emperor came out "his eyes" (wrote Bismarck) "were full of tears."

[Footnote 50: Busch, _Bismarck on the Franco-German War_, vol. i. p.
109. Contrast this statement with his later efforts (_Reminiscences_,
vol. ii. pp. 95-100) to prove that he helped to bring on war.]

The fallen monarch accepted the King's offer of the castle of
Wilhelmshoehe near Cassel for his residence up to the end of the war; it
was the abode on which Jerome Bonaparte had spent millions of thalers,
wrung from Westphalian burghers, during his brief sovereignty in
1807-1813. Thither his nephew set out two days after the catastrophe of
Sedan. And this, as it seems, was the end of a dynasty whose rise to
power dated from the thrilling events of the Bridge of Lodi, Arcola,
Rivoli, and the Pyramids. The French losses on September 1 were about
3000 killed, 14,000 wounded, and 21,000 prisoners. On the next day
there surrendered 83,000 prisoners by virtue of the capitulation, along
with 419 field-pieces and 139 cannon of the fortress. Some 3000 had
escaped, through the gap in the German lines on the north-east, to the
Belgian frontier, and there laid down their arms.

The news of this unparalleled disaster began to leak out at Paris late
on the 2nd; on the morrow, when details were known, crowds thronged into
the streets shouting "Down with the Empire! Long live the Republic!"
Power still remained with the Empress-Regent and the Palikao Ministry.
All must admit that the Empress Eugenie did what was possible in this
hopeless position. She appealed to that charming literary man, M.
Prosper Merimee, to go to his friend, M. Thiers (at whom we shall glance
presently), and beg him to form a Ministry that would save the Empire
for the young Prince Imperial. M. Thiers politely but firmly refused to
give a helping hand to the dynasty which he looked on as the author of
his country's ruin.

On that day the Empress also summoned the Chambers--the Senate and the
Corps Legislatif--a vain expedient, for in times of