Page:Dramatic Moments in American Diplomacy (1918).djvu/88

68 But even this did not suit Washburne. He demanded, and finally obtained permission to send them all home, excepting only actual spies and soldiers.

Lulled by false reports, and riding on the buoyant crest of their native enthusiasm, the Parisians were thunderstruck by the sudden news that MacMahon had been completely crushed at Sedan, 40,000 men lost; that their army had been defeated before Metz and the Emperor captured. They reacted after their ancient pattern. Overnight the royal government was overthrown, and the inevitable mob made its roaring expedition to the ancient Tuileries in quest of the Queen, even as it had done years before in the time of Marie Antoinette. The Empress Eugénie was quicker than her tragic predecessor to realize the resources of the benevolent neutral from Indiana. It was Prince Metternich of Austria, and the Cavalieri Nigra, the Italian Ambassador, that dashed her out of the palace. But the D'Artagnan that saved the Queen and turned