moment at that second-rate Talleyrand, who has been
grandiloquently termed the "liberator of the soil" because he happened
to do what any intelligent bank manager could have done as well; let me
endeavour to establish his share in the 4th of September. I am speaking
on the authority of men who were behind the political scenes for many
years, and whose contempt for nearly all the actors was equally great.
Thiers refused his aid and counsel to the Empress, who solicited it
through the intermediary of Prince Metternich and M. Prosper Merimee,
but he also refused to accept the power offered to him by Gambetta,
Favre, Jules Simon, etc., in the afternoon of the 4th of September.
Nevertheless, he was here, there, and everywhere; offering advice, but
careful not to take any responsibility. Afterwards he took a journey to
the various courts of Europe. I only know the particulars of one
interview--that with Lord Granville--but I can vouch for their truth.
After having held forth for two hours without giving his lordship a
chance of edging in a word sideways, he stopped; and five minutes later,
while Lord Granville was enumerating the reasons why the cabinet of St.
James's could not interfere, he (Thiers) was fast asleep. When the
conditions of peace were being discussed, Thiers was in favour of giving
up Belfort rather than pay another milliard of francs. "A city you may
recover, a milliard of francs you never get back," he said.
Nevertheless, historians will tell one that Thiers made superhuman
efforts to save Belfort. I did not like M. Thiers, and, being conscious
of my dislike, I have throughout these notes endeavoured to say as
little as possible of him.

The sun rose radiantly over Paris on the 4th of September, and I was up
betimes, though I had not gone to bed until 3 a.m. There was a dense
crowd all along the Rue Royale and the Place de la Concorde, and several
hours before the Chamber had begun to discuss the deposition of the
Bonapartes (which was never formally voted), volunteer-workmen were
destroying or hauling down the Imperial eagles. The mob cheered them
vociferously, and when one of these workmen hurt himself severely, they
carried him away in triumph. Nevertheless, there was a good deal of
hooting as several well-known members of the Chamber elbowed their way
through the serried masses. Though they were well known, I argued myself
unknown in not knowing them. I was under the impression that they were
Imperialist