Considerable distress prevailed in the town, and even our landlord (he and his wife were good souls) suffered from a scarcity of bread. The place was overcrowded with soldiers, who were quartered on the inhabitants, and with the wounded who were sometimes put up in stables. Some of the people attached to the Court tried to secure our house for the Hereditary Grand Duke of Weimar, but we held out successfully against them. Then an officer wanted to quarter a Prince of Mecklenburg upon us, but we also sent him packing, telling him it was out of the question, as the Chancellor of the Confederation lodged there. After a short absence, however, I found that the Weimar gentlemen had forced themselves into the house. We had reason to be thankful that they did not turn our Chief out of his bed. The Minister only returned after 11 o’clock and I had supper with him, the party also including the Hereditary Grand Duke of Weimar, in the uniform of the Light Blue Hussars, and Count Solms-Sonnenwalde, formerly attached to the Embassy in Paris, and now properly speaking a member of our staff, although we had seen very little of him recently. The Chancellor gave us very full particulars of his ride over the battle-field. He had been nearly twelve hours in the saddle, with short intervals. They had been over the whole field, and were received with great enthusiasm in all the camps and bivouacs. It was said that during the battle our troops had taken over 25,000 prisoners, while 40,000 who were in Sedan surrendered under the capitulation, which was concluded about noon. The Minister told us that Napoleon was to leave for Germany, that is to say for Wilhelmshöhe, on the following morning. “The question is,” said the Chief, “whether he is to go by way of Stenay and Bar le Duc or through Belgium.” “In Belgium he would no longer be a prisoner,” said Solms. “Well, that would not matter,” replied the Chief, “and it would not even do any harm if he took another direction. I was in favour of his going through Belgium, and he seemed also inclined to take that route. If he failed to keep his word it would not injure us. But it would be necessary to communicate beforehand with Brussels, and we could not have an answer in less than two days.”