The Beauty of Her Age: A Tale of Sex, Scandal and Money in Victorian England by Jenifer Roberts

Author:Jenifer Roberts [Roberts, Jenifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2016-07-10T22:00:00+00:00

15

LA SEMAINE SANGLANTE

The state of Paris is heart-breaking … Fires in all directions, the air oppressive with smoke and unpleasant odours, the incessant roar of cannon and musketry, and all kinds of strange sounds.

Lord Lyons, 26 May 1871

Edward returned to the Hôtel Molé on 27 February to be reunited with his friends who were exhausted and demoralised after four months of fear, cold and hunger. His orders from the Foreign Office, received three days earlier, were to ‘proceed at once to Paris’ to prepare ‘a full and professional report’ and ‘furnish much valuable information on a variety of subjects’. The despatch concluded with the words, ‘Unless Lord Lyons should summon you to Bordeaux, it is his desire that you should, whatever events may arise, remain in Paris.’1

On 1 March, the Prussian army made a triumphal entry into the city for an occupation of three days. Edward chose to remain out of sight in the embassy: ‘I was afraid I might be recognised and accosted by some of their officers and anyone seen talking to them was roughly handled by the bystanders.’ Edward Blount had no such qualms:

I saw them come in yesterday and they were very splendid in appearance and conduct. The mob surrounded them and called them all sorts of names, but they took it all quietly and with disdain … The shops are all shut, the people all idle and talking dreadful words.2

Meanwhile, the provisional government had disbanded after the armistice and elections held on 8 February had brought a conservative, royalist government to power. This led to unrest among republicans in the city. ‘One of the worst features of the situation,’ Edward explained on 6 March, ‘is that even good people are so exasperated by the way in which their affairs have been mismanaged … that they now trust and respect no one, and this I am afraid will constitute a dangerous state of things for some time to come.’3

Seven days later, during a debate in the House of Commons, a member of parliament raised a question for Lord Enfield, under-secretary of state for foreign affairs. He asked whether ‘General Claremont, to whom Lord Lyons transferred the protection of English subjects in Paris … was subsequently authorised by Lord Lyons to leave Paris several weeks before the conclusion of the siege’. He also asked whether ‘Her Majesty’s Government approved the withdrawal of General Claremont under the circumstances which then existed’.

Enfield replied by referring to the instructions which Lord Granville had sent Lord Lyons in October, ‘under which General Claremont deemed himself at liberty to act’. He read out the words: ‘As regards Colonel Claremont, he should follow the course adopted by the Military Attachés of other countries who may have remained in Paris.’

At this point, Sir Robert Peel (who had described the behaviour of the embassy as ‘slinking away with ignominy and disgrace during a season of great trial and difficulty’) rose to his feet and spoke ‘in severe terms’ about Edward’s departure during the siege. It

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