He was especially indignant at the misuse made by the French of irregular troops; he often maintained that the German soldiers ought never to imprison the _franc-tireurs,_ but shoot them at once.

He feared that if civilians were encouraged to take part in the war it would necessarily assume a very cruel character.

At Meaux he came upon a number of _franc-tireurs_ who had been taken prisoners.

"You are assassins, gentlemen," he said to them; "you will all be hung." And, indeed, these men who fired secretly on the German troops from behind hedges and in forests, and had no kind of uniform, could not claim to be treated as prisoners of war.

When the bombardment of Paris began he took great pains to defend a measure which was much attacked in other countries; he had used all his influence that the bombardment should not be delayed, and often spoke with great annoyance of the reluctance of the military authorities to begin.