Diary of the Besieged Resident in ParisLabouchere, Henry Du Pré
History
Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris
Labouchere, Henry Du Pré
Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871; Paris (France) -- History -- Siege, 1870-1871 -- Personal narratives
triumphal march through the city, by absence from the streets through
which the invading army is to defile. Several are, however, opposed to
any action, as they fear that their advice will not be followed.
Curiosity is one of the strongest passions of the Parisians, and it will
be almost impossible for them to keep away from the "sight." Even in
Coventry one Peeping Tom was found, and here there are many Peeping
Toms. Mr. Moore and Colonel Stuart Wortley, the delegates of the London
Relief Fund, have handed over 5,000l. of provisions to the Mayors to be
distributed. They could scarcely have found worse agents. The Mayors
have proved themselves thoroughly inefficient administrators, and most
of them are noisy, unpractical humbugs. Colonel Stuart Wortley and Mr.
Moore are very anxious to find means to approach what are called here
_les pauvres honteux_; that is to say, persons who are in want of
assistance, but who are ashamed to ask for it. From what they told me
yesterday evening, they are going to obtain two or three names of
well-known charitable persons in each arrondissement, and ask them to
make the distribution of the rest of their provisions in store here, and
of those which are expected shortly to arrive. Many families from the
villages in the neighbourhood of Paris have been driven within its walls
by the invaders, and are utterly destitute. In the opinion of these
gentlemen they are fitting objects for charity. The fact is, the
difficulty is not so much to find people in want of relief, but to find
relief for the thousands who require it. Ten, twenty, or thirty thousand
pounds are a mere drop in the ocean, so wide spread is the distress. "I
have committed many sins," said a Bishop of the Church of England, "but
when I appear before my Maker, and say that I never gave to one single
beggar in the streets they will be forgiven." There are many persons in
England who, like this prelate, are afraid to give to beggars, lest
their charity should be ill applied. No money, no food, no clothes, and
no fuel, if distributed with ordinary discretion, can be misapplied at
present in Paris. The French complain that all they ever get from
England is good advice and sterile sympathy. Now is the moment for us to
prove to them that, if we were not prepared to go to war in order to
protect them from the consequences of their own folly, we pity them in
their distress; and that our pity means something more than words and
phrases which feed no one, clothe no one, and warm no one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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