After a short pause, the Chief took some coins out of his pocket and played with them for a moment, remarking at the same time: “It is surprising how many respectably dressed beggars one meets with here. There were some at Reims, but it is much worse here.”... “How seldom one now sees a gold piece with the head of Louis Philippe or Charles X.! When I was young, between twenty and thirty, coins of Louis XVI. and of the fat Louis XVIII. were still to be seen. Even the expression ‘louis d’or’ is no longer usual with us. In polite circles one speaks of a friedrich d’or.” The Chancellor then balanced a napoleon on the tip of his middle finger, as if he were weighing it, and continued: “A hundred million double napoleons d’or would represent about the amount of the war indemnity up to the present--later on it will be more, four thousand million francs. Forty thousand thalers in gold would make a hundredweight, thirty hundredweight would make a load for a heavy two-horse waggon--(I know that because I once had to convey fourteen thousand thalers in gold from Berlin to my own house. What a weight it was!)--that would be about 800 waggon loads.” “It would not take so long to collect the carts for that purpose as it does for the ammunition for the bombardment,” observed some one, who, like most of us, was losing patience at the slow progress of the preparations. “Yes,” said the Chief; “Roon, however, told me the other day, he had several hundred carts at Nanteuil, which could be used for the transport of ammunition. Moreover some of the waggons that are now drawn by six horses could do with four for a time, and the two spare horses thus could be used for bringing up ammunition. We have already 318 guns here, but they want forty more, and Roon says he could have them also brought up. The others however won’t hear of it.” Hatzfeldt afterwards said: “It is only six or seven weeks since they altered their minds. At Ferrières, while we were still on good terms with them, Bronsart and Verdy said we could level the forts of Issy and Vanvres to the ground in thirty-six hours, and then attack Paris itself. Later on it was suddenly found to be impossible.” “Because of the letters received from London,” exclaimed Bismarck-Bohlen. I asked what Moltke thought of the matter. “He does not trouble himself about it!” answered Hatzfeldt. But Bucher declared that Moltke wanted the bombardment to take place.