_October 28th._
I see at a meeting of the mayors, the population of Paris is put down at
2,036,000. This does not include the regular army, or the Marines and
Mobiles outside and within the lines. The consumption of meat,
consequently, at the rate of 100 grammes per diem, must amount to
between 400,000 and 500,000lbs. per diem. Although mutton according to
the tariff is cheaper than beef, I rarely see any at the restaurants.
This tells its own tale, and I imagine that in three weeks from now at
the very latest fresh meat will have come to an end.
I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that there is no more fight in
the working men than in the bourgeois. The National Guard in Montmartre
and Batignolles have held an indignation meeting to protest against
their being employed in the forts. A law was passed on August 10 calling
under arms all unmarried men between 25 and 40. In Paris it has never
been acted on; it would, however, be far better to regularly enrol this
portion of the National Guard as soldiers than to ask for volunteers. As
long as these "sedentary" warriors can avoid regular service, or
subjecting themselves to the discipline and the hardships of real
soldiers, they will do so. Before the Panthéon, the mayor of an
arrondissement sits on a platform, writing down the names of volunteers.
Whenever one makes his appearance, a roll of drums announces to his
fellow-citizens that he has undertaken to risk his valuable life outside
the ramparts. It really does appear too monstrous that the able-bodied
men of this city should wear uniforms, learn the goose-step, and refuse
to take any part in the defence within shot of the enemy. That they
should object to be employed in a campaign away from their homes, is
hardly in accordance with their appeal to the provinces to rise _en
masse_ to defend France, but that they should decline to do anything but
go over every twelve days to the ramparts, is hardly fighting even for
their own homes. Surely as long as the siege lasts they ought to
consider that the Government has a right to use them anywhere within the
lines of investment They make now what they call military promenades,
that is to say, they go out at one gate, keep well within the line of
the forts, and come in at another gate. Some of the battalions are ready
to face the enemy, although they will not submit to any discipline. The
majority, however, do not intend to fight outside the ramparts. I was
reading yesterday the account of a court-martial on one of these heroes,
who had fallen out with his commanding officer, and threatened to pass
his sword through his body. The culprit, counsel urged, was a man of an
amiable, though excitable disposition; the father of two sons, had once
saved a child from drowning, and had presented several curiosities to a
museum. Taking these facts into consideration, the Court condemned him
to six days' imprisonment, his accuser apologised to him, and shook
hands with him. What is to be expected of troops when military offences
of the grossest kind are treated in this fashion? I know myself officers
of the Garde Nationale, who, when they are on duty at the ramparts,
quietly leave their men there, and come home to dinner. No one appears
to consider this anything extraordinary. Well may General Trochu look up
to the sky when it is overcast, and wish that he were in Brittany
shooting woodcocks. He has undertaken a task beyond his own strength,
and beyond the strength of the greatest general that ever lived. How can
the Parisians expect to force the Prussians to raise the siege? They
decline to be soldiers, and yet imagine that in some way or other, not
only is their city not to be desecrated by the foot of the invader, but
that the armies of Germany are to be driven out of France.
_October 30th._
We really have had a success. Between the north-eastern and the
north-western forts there is a plain, cut up by small streams. The high
road from Paris to Senlis runs through the middle of it, and on this
road, at a distance of about six kilometres from Paris, is the village
of Bourget, which was occupied by the Prussians. It is a little in
advance of their lines, which follow a small river called the Morée,
about two kilometres in the rear. At 5 A.M. last Friday Bourget was
attacked by a regiment of Francs-tireurs and the 9th Battalion of the
Mobiles of the Seine. The Prussians were driven out of it, and fell back
to the river Morée. During the whole of Friday the Prussian artillery
fired upon the village, and sometimes there was a sharp interchange of
shots between the advanced posts. On Friday night two attacks in
considerable force were directed against the position, but both of them
failed. At nine on Saturday morning, after a very heavy artillery fire
from the batteries at Stains and Dugny, which was replied to from the
forts of Aubervilliers and l'Est, La Briche and St. Denis, heavy masses
of infantry advanced from Staines and Gonesse. When they approached the
village the fire which was concentrated on them was so heavy that they
were obliged to fall back. At about twelve o'clock I went out by the
gate of La Villette. Between the ramparts and the Fort of Aubervilliers
there were large masses of troops held in reserve, and I saw several
battalions of National Guards among them, belonging, I heard, to the
Volunteers. I pushed on to an inn situated at the intersection of the
roads to Bourget and Courneuve. There I was stopped. It was raining
hard, and all I could make out was that Prussians and French were busily
engaged in firing, the former into Bourget, the latter into Stains and
Dugny. It appears to have been feared that the Prussians would make an
attack from Bourget upon either St. Denis or Aubervilliers; it was
discovered, however, that they had no batteries there. Whether we shall
be able to hold the position, or whether, if we do, we shall derive any
benefit from it beyond having a large area in which to pick up
vegetables, time alone will prove. On returning into Paris I came across
in the Rue Rivoli about 200 patriots of all ages, brandishing flags and
singing patriotic songs. These were National Guards, who had been
engaged in a pacific demonstration at the Hôtel de Ville, to testify
their affection to the Republic, and to demonstrate that that affection
should be reciprocated by the Republic in the form of better arms,
better pay, and better food. They had been harangued by Rochefort and
Arago. I see by this morning's paper that the latter requested them to
swear that not only would they drive the Prussians out of France, but
that they would refuse to treat with any Government in Germany except a
Republican one.
A decree of General Trochu converts the Legion of Honour into a military
decoration. The journalists of all colours are excessively indignant at
this, for they all expect, when the party which they support is in
power, to be given this red ribbon as a matter of course. It has been so
lavishly distributed that anyone who has not got it is almost obliged to
explain why he is without it, in the way a person would excuse himself
if he came into a drawing-room without a coat.
The theatres are by degrees reopening. In order not to shock public
opinion, the programmes of their entertainments are exceedingly dull.
Thus the Comédie Française bill of fare for yesterday was a speech, a
play of Molière's without costumes, and an ode to Liberty. I can
understand closing the theatres entirely, but it seems to me absurd
increasing the general gloom, by opening them in order to make the
audiences wish that they were closed. Fancy, for an evening's
entertainment, a speech from Mr. Cole, C.B.; the play of _Hamlet_ played
in the dresses of the present century; and an ode from Mr. Tupper.
A few days ago the newspapers asserted that M. Thiers had entered Paris,
having been provided with a safe conduct by the King of Prussia. It is
now said that he is not here yet, but that he shortly will be. Of course
if Count Bismarck allows him to come in, he does so rather in the
interests of Prussia than of France. I cannot believe myself that,
unless Prussia has given up the idea of annexing Alsace and Lorraine to
Germany, negotiation will be productive of good results. If Metz can be
taken, if the armies of the provinces can be defeated, and if the
provisions within the city become less plentiful than they are now, then
perhaps the Parisians will accept the idea of a capitulation. At
present, however, the very large majority believe that France must
eventually conquer, and that the world is lost in wonder and admiration
of their attitude. The siege is one long holiday to the working classes.
They are as well fed as ever they were, and have absolutely nothing to
do except to play at soldiers. Although the troops are unable to hold
the villages within the fire of their forts, they are under the delusion
that--to use the favourite expression--the circle in which we are
inclosed is gradually but surely being enlarged. I was this morning
buying cigars at a small tobacconist's. "Well," said the proprietor of
the shop to me, "so we are to destroy the Prussians in twenty days."
"Really," I said. "Yes," he replied, "I was this morning at the Mairie;
there was a crowd before it complaining that they could not get meat. A
gentleman--a functionary--got upon a stool. 'Citizens and citizenesses,'
he said, 'be calm; continue to preserve the admirable attitude which is
eliciting the admiration of the world. I give you my honour that
arrangements have been made to drive the Prussians away from Paris in
twenty days.' Of course," added my worthy bourgeois, "this functionary
would not have spoken thus had the Government not revealed its plans to
him." At this moment a well dressed individual entered the shop and
asked for a subscription for the construction of a machine which he had
invented to blow up the whole Prussian army. I expected to see him
handed over to a policeman, but instead of this the bourgeois gave him
two francs! What, I asked, is to be expected of a city peopled by such
credulous fools?
A dispute is going on as to the relative advantages of secular and
religious education. The Mayor of the 23rd arrondissement publishes
to-day an order to the teachers within his domains, forbidding them to
take the children under their charge to hear mass on Sundays. The
municipality has also published a decree doubling the amount contributed
by the city to the primary schools. Instead of eight million francs it
is to be henceforward sixteen millions. This is all very well, but
surely it would be better to put off questions affecting education until
the siege is over. The alteration in the nomenclature of the streets
also continues. The Boulevard Prince Eugène is to be called the
Boulevard Voltaire, and the statue of the Prince has been taken down, to
be replaced by the statue of the philosopher; the Rue Cardinal Fesch is
to be called the Rue de Chateaudun. The newspapers also demand that the
Rue de Londres should be rebaptised on the ground that the name of
Londres is detested even more than Berlin. "If Prussia" (says one
writer) "wages against us a war of bandits and savages, it is England
which, in the gloom of its sombre country houses, pays the Uhlans who
oppress our peasants, violate our wives, massacre our soldiers, and
pillage our provinces. She rejoices over our sufferings."
The headquarters of the Ambulance Internationale are to move to-morrow
from the Palais de l'Industrie to the Grand Hotel. In the Palais it was
impossible to regulate the ventilation. It was always either too hot or
too cold. Another objection to it which was urged by the medical men
was, that one-half of it served as a store for munitions of war.
4 P.M.
So we have been kicked neck and crop out of Bourget. I have got such a
cold that I have been lying up to-day. A friend of mine has just come
in, and tells me that at eight this morning a regiment on their way to
Bourget found the Mobiles who were in it falling back. Some Prussian
troops appeared from between Stains and Courneuve, and attempted to cut
off the retreat. Whether we lost any cannon my friend does not know. He
thinks not. Some of our troops were trapped, the others got away, and
fell back on the barricades in front of Aubervilliers. My friend
observes that if it was not a rout, it was extremely like one. He thinks
that we were only allowed to get into Bourget in order to be caught like
rats in a trap. When my friend left the forts were firing on Pierrefitte
and Etains, and the Prussians were established in front of Bourget. My
friend, who thinks he has a genius for military matters, observes that
we ought to have either left Bourget alone, or held it with more troops
and more artillery. The Mobiles told him that they had been starving
there for forty-eight hours, and only had two pieces of 12, two of 4,
and one mitrailleuse. The Prussians had brought up heavy guns, and
yesterday they established a battery of twenty-one cannon, which
cannonaded the village.
_October 31st._
Yesterday evening until eleven o'clock--a late hour now for Paris;--the
Boulevards were crowded. Although the news that Bourget had been retaken
by the Prussians had been _affiché_ at the Mairies, those who asserted
it were at first treated as friends of Prussia. Little by little the
fact was admitted, and then, every one fell to denouncing the
Government. To-day the official bulletin states that we retreated in
good order, leaving "some" prisoners. From what I hear from officers who
were engaged, the Mobiles fought well for some time, although their
ammunition was so wet that they could only fire twelve shots with their
cannon, and not one with their mitrailleuse. When they saw that they
were likely to be surrounded, there was a stampede to Aubervilliers and
to Drancy, the latter of which was subsequently evacuated. To-day we
have two pieces of news--that M. Thiers entered Paris yesterday, and
that Metz has fallen. The _Journal des Débats_ also publishes copious
extracts from a file of provincial papers up to the 26th, which it has
obtained.
I hear that M. Thiers advises peace on any terms. The Government of
Paris is in a difficult position. It has followed in the course of
Palikao. By a long _suggestio falsi et suppressio veri_ it has led the
population of this city to believe that the position of France has
bettered itself every day that the siege has lasted. We have been told
that Bazaine could hold out indefinitely, that vast armies were forming
in the provinces, and would, before the middle of November, march to the
relief of Paris; that the investing army was starving, and that it had
been unable to place a single gun in position within the range of the
forts; that we had ample provisions until the month of February, and
that there would not be the slightest difficulty in introducing convoys.
Anyone who ventured to question these facts was held up to public
execration. General Trochu announced that he had a "plan," and that if
only he were left to carry it out, it must result in success. All this
time the General and the members of the Government, who were at
loggerheads with each other, privately confessed to their friends that
the situation was growing every day more critical.
The attempt to obtain volunteers from the population of the capital for
active service outside the gates has resulted in a miserable failure,
and the Government does not even venture to carry out the law, which
subjects all between twenty-five and thirty-five to enrolment in the
army. With respect to public opinion, all are opposed to the entry of
the Prussians into Paris, or to a peace which would involve a cession of
territory; but many equally object to submitting either to real hardship
or real danger. They hope against hope that what they call their
"sublime attitude" will prevent the Prussians from attacking them, and
that they may pass to history as heroes, without having done anything
heroic. I had thought that the working men would fight well, but I think
so no longer. Under the Empire they got high wages for doing very
little. Since the investment of the capital, they have taken their 1fr.
50c. and their rations for their families, and done hardly anything
except drill, gossip, and about once a week go on the ramparts. So fond
they are of this idle existence, that although workshops offer 6fr. a
day to men, they cannot obtain hands. With respect to provisions, as yet
the poorer classes have been better off than they ever were before.
Every one gets his 50 or 100 grammes of meat, and his share of bread.
Those persons alone who were accustomed to luxuries have suffered from
their absence. Meat of some kind is, however, to be obtained by any
person who likes to pay for it about twice its normal value. So afraid
is the Government of doing anything which may irritate the population,
that, contrary to all precedent, the garrison and the wounded alone are
fed with salt meat. What the result of M. Thiers' mission will be, it
is almost impossible to say. The Government will be anxious to treat,
and probably it will put forward feelers to-morrow to see how far it may
dare go. Some of its members already are endeavouring to disconnect
themselves from a capitulation, and, if it does take place, will assert
that they were opposed to it. Thus, M. Jules Favre, in a long address to
the mayors of the banlieus yesterday, goes through the old arguments to
prove that France never desired war.
This gentleman is essentially an orator, rather than a statesman. When
he went to meet Count Bismarck at Ferrières, he was fully prepared to
agree to the fortresses in Alsace and Lorraine being rased; but when he
returned, the phrase, "_Ni un pouce du territoire, ni une pierre des
forteresses_," occurred to him, and he could not refrain from
complicating the situation by publishing it.
To turn for a moment to less serious matters. I never shall see a donkey
without gratefully thinking of a Prussian. If anyone happens to fall out
with his jackass, let me recommend him, instead of beating it, to slay
and eat it. Donkey is now all the fashion. When one is asked to dinner,
as an inducement one is told that there will be donkey. The flesh of
this obstinate, but weak-minded quadruped is delicious--in colour like
mutton, firm and savoury. This siege will destroy many illusions, and
amongst them the prejudice which has prevented many animals being used
as food. I can most solemnly assert that I never wish to taste a better
dinner than a joint of a donkey or a _ragout_ of cat--_experto crede_.
_November 1st._
We have had an exciting twenty-four hours. The Government of the
National Defence has in the course of yesterday been deposed,
imprisoned, and has again resumed the direction of public affairs. I
went yesterday, between one and two o'clock, to the Hôtel de Ville. On
the place before it there were about 15,000 persons, most of them
National Guards from the Faubourgs, and without arms, shouting, "Vive la
Commune! Point d'armistice!" Close within the rails along the façade
there were a few Mobiles and National Guards on duty. One of the two
great doorways leading into the hotel was open. Every now and then some
authority appeared to make a speech which no one could catch; and at
most of the windows on the first floor there was an orator
gesticulating. The people round me said that the mayors of Paris had
been summoned by Arago, and were in one room inside deliberating, whilst
in another was the Government. I managed to squeeze inside the rails,
and stood near the open door. At about 2.30 the Mobiles who guarded it
were pushed back, and the mob was forcing its way through it, when
Trochu appeared, and confronted them. What he said I could not hear. His
voice was drowned in cries of "A bas Trochu!" Jules Simon then got on a
chair, to try the effect of his eloquence; but in the midst of his
gesticulations a body of armed men forced their way through the
entrance, and with about 300 of the mob got inside the Hotel. Just then
three or four shots were fired. The crowd outside scampered off, yelling
"Aux armes!" and running over each other. I thought it more prudent to
remain where I was. Soon the mob returned, and made a rush at both the
doors; for the one which had been open had been closed in the interval.
This one they were unable to force, but the other, winch leads up a
flight of steps into the great covered court in the middle of the
building, yielded to the pressure, and through it I passed with the
crowd; whilst from the windows above slips were being thrown out with
the words "Commune décrétée--Dorian president" on them. The covered
court was soon filled. In the middle of it there is a large double
staircase leading to a wide landing, from which a door and some windows
communicate with a long salle.
This, too, was invaded, and for more than two hours I remained there.
The spectacle was a curious one--everybody was shouting, everybody was
writing a list of a new Government and reading it aloud. In one corner a
man incessantly blew a trumpet, in another a patriot beat a drum. At one
end was a table, round which the mayors had been sitting, and from this
vantage ground Felix Pyat and other virtuous citizens harangued, and, as
I understood, proclaimed the Commune and themselves, for it was
impossible to distinguish a word. The atmosphere was stifling, and at
last I got out of a window on to the landing in the courtyard. Here
citizens had established themselves everywhere. I had the pleasure to
see the "venerable" Blanqui led up the steps by his admirers. This
venerable man had, _horresco referens_, been pushed up in a corner,
where certain citizens had kicked his venerable frame, and pulled his
venerable white beard, before they had recognised who he was. By this
time it appeared to be understood that a Government had been
constituted, consisting of Blanqui, Ledru-Rollin, Delescluze, Louis
Blanc, Flourens, and others. Flourens, whom I now perceived for the
first time, went through a corridor, with some armed men, and I and
others followed him. We got first into an antechamber, and then into a
large room, where a great row was going on. I did not get farther than
close to the door, and consequently could not well distinguish what was
passing, but I saw Flourens standing on a table, and I heard that he was
calling upon the members of the Government of National Defence, who were
seated round it, to resign, and that Jules Favre was refusing to do so.
After a scene of confusion, which lasted half an hour, I found myself,
with those round me, pushed out of the room, and I heard that the old
Government had been arrested, and that a consultation was to take place
between it and the new one. Feeling hungry, I now went to the door of
the Hôtel to get out, but I was told I could not do so without a
permission from the citizen Blanqui. I observed that I was far too
independent a citizen myself to ask any one for a permit to go where I
liked, and, as I walked on, the citizen sentinel did not venture to stop
me. As I passed before Trochu's headquarters at the Louvre I spoke to a
captain of the Etat-Major, whom I knew, and whom I saw standing at the
gate. When he heard that I had just come from the Hôtel de Ville, he
anxiously asked me what was going on there, and whether I had seen
Trochu. General Schmitz, he said, had received an order signed by the
mayors of Paris to close the gates of the town, and not on any pretext
to let any one in or out. At the Louvre he said all was in confusion,
but he understood that Picard had escaped from the Hôtel de Ville, and
was organizing a counter-movement at the Ministry of Finance. Having
dined, I went off to the Place Vendôme, as the generale was beating. The
National Guards of the quarter were hurrying there, and Mobile
battalions were marching in the same direction. I found on my arrival
that this had become the headquarters of the Government; that an officer
who had come with an order to Picard to go to the Hôtel de Ville, signed
by Blanqui, had been arrested. General Tamisier was still a prisoner
with the Government. Soon news arrived that a battalion had got inside
the Hôtel de Ville and had managed to smuggle Trochu out by a back door.
Off I went to the Louvre. There Trochu, his uniform considerably
deteriorated, was haranguing some battalions of the Mobiles, who were
shouting "Vive Trochu!" Other battalions were marching down the Rue
Rivoli to the Hôtel de Ville. I got into a cab and drove there. The
Hôtel was lit up. On the "place" there were not many persons, but all
round it, in the streets, were Mobiles and Bourgeois National Guards,
about 20,000 in all. The Hôtel was guarded, I heard, by a Belleville
battalion, but I could not get close in to interview them. This lasted
until about two o'clock in the morning, when the battalions closed in,
Trochu appeared with his staff, and in some way or other, for it was so
dark, nothing could be seen, the new Government was ejected; M. Jules
Favre and his colleagues were rescued. M. Delescluze, who was one of the
persons there, thus describes what took place: "A declaration was signed
by the new Government declaring that on the understanding that the
Commune was to be elected the next day, and also the Provisional
Government replaced by an elected one, the citizens designed at a public
meeting to superintend these elections withdrew." This was communicated
first to Dorian, who appears to have been half a prisoner, half a
friend; then to the members of the old Government, who were in
honourable arrest; then to Jules Ferry outside. A general sort of
agreement appears then to have been made, that bygones should be
bygones. The Revolutionists went off to bed, and matters returned to the
point where they had been in the morning. Yesterday evening a decree was
placarded, ordering the municipal elections to take place to-day, signed
Etienne Arago; and to-day a counter-decree, signed Jules Favre,
announces that this decree appeared when the Government was _gardé à
vue_, and that on Thursday next a vote is to be taken to decide whether
there is to be a Commune or not.
To-day the streets are full of National Guards marching and
counter-marching, and General Tamisier has held a review of about 10,000
on the Place Vendôme. Mobile battalions also are camped in the public
squares. I went to the Hôtel de Ville at about one o'clock, and found
Mr. Washburne there. We both came to the conclusion that Trochu had got
the upper hand. Before the Hôtel de Ville there were about 5,000
Mobiles, and within the building everything appeared quiet. Had General
Trochu been a wise man he would have anticipated this movement, and not
rendered himself ridiculous by being imprisoned with his council of
lawyers and orators for several hours by a mob. The working men who
performed this feat seemed only to be actuated by a wild desire to fight
out their battle with the Prussians, and not to capitulate. They wished
to be led out, as they imagine that their undisciplined valour would be
a match for the German army. They showed their sense by demanding that
Dorian should be at the head of the new Government. He is not a
Demagogue, he has written no despatches, nor made any speeches, nor
decreed any Utopian reforms after the manner of his colleagues. But,
unlike them, he is a practical man of business, and this the working men
have had discernment enough to discover. They are hardly to be blamed if
they have accepted literally the rhetorical figures of Jules Favre. When
he said that, rather than yield one stone of a French fortress, Paris
would bury itself beneath its ruins, they believed it. I need hardly say
that neither the Government nor the bourgeoisie have the remotest
intention to sacrifice either their own lives or their houses merely in
order to rival Saragossa. They have got themselves into a ridiculous
position by their reckless vaunts, and they have welcomed M. Thiers, as
an angel from heaven, because they hope that he will be able to save
them from cutting too absurd a figure. He left yesterday at three
o'clock, and I understand he has full powers to negotiate an armistice
upon any terms which will save the _amour-propre_ of the Parisians. I
should not be surprised, however, if the Government continues to resist
until the town is in real danger or has suffered real privations. If the
Parisians take it into their heads that they will be able to palm
themselves off as heroes by continuing for a few weeks longer their
passive attitude of opposition, they will do so. What inclines them to
submit to conditions now, is not so much the capitulation of Bazaine,
as the dread that by remaining much longer isolated they will entirely
lose their hold on the Provincials. That these Helots should venture to
express their opinions, or to act except in obedience to orders from the
capital, fills them with indignation.
_November 2nd._
The Government has issued the following form, on which a vote is to be
taken to-morrow: "Does the population of Paris maintain, Yes or No, the
powers of the Government of National Defence?"
The Ultras bitterly complain that the members of the Government agreed
to the election of a Commune, on the recommendation of all the mayors,
and that now they are going back from their concession, and are
following in the steps of the Empire and taking refuge in a Plebiscite.
They, therefore, recommend their friends to abstain from voting. The
fact is, that the real question at issue is, whether Paris is to resist
to the end, or whether it is to fall back from the determination to do
so, which it so boldly and so vauntingly proclaimed. The bourgeois are
getting tired of marching to the ramparts, and making no money; the
working-men are thoroughly enjoying themselves, and are perfectly ready
to continue the _status quo_. I confess I rather sympathise with the
latter. They may not be over wise, but still it seems to me that Paris
ought to hold out as long as bread lasts, without counting the cost. She
had invited the world to witness her heroism, and now she endeavours to
back out of the position which she has assumed. I have not been down to
Belleville to-day, but I hear that there and in the other outer
Faubourgs there is great excitement, and the question of a rising is
being discussed. Flourens and some other commanders of battalions have
been cashiered, but they are still in command, and no attempt is being
made to oblige them to recognise the decree. Rochefort has resigned his
seat in the Government, on the ground that he consented to the election
of the Commune. The general feeling among the shopkeepers seems to be to
accept an armistice on almost any terms, because they hope that it will
lead to peace. We will take our revenge, they say, in two years. A
threat which simply means that if the French army can fight then, they
will again shout "_à Berlin_!" M. Thiers is still at Versailles. There
appears to be a tacit truce, but none knows precisely what is going on.
A friend of mine saw General Trochu yesterday on business, and he tells
me that this worthy man was then so utterly prostrated, that he did not
even refer to the business which he had come to transact. Never was a
man more unfit to defend a great capital. "Why do you not act with
energy against the Ultras?" said my friend. "I wish," replied Trochu,
"to preserve my power by moral force." This is all very well, but can
the commander of a besieged town be said to have preserved his power
when he allows himself to be imprisoned by a mob for six hours, and then
does not venture to punish its leaders? Professor Fustel de Coulanges
has written a reply to Professor Mommsen. He states the case of France
with respect to Alsace very clearly. "Let Prussia double the war-tax she
imposes on France, and give up this iniquitous scheme of annexation,"
ought to be the advice of every sincere friend of peace. In any case, if
Alsace and Lorraine are turned with the German Rhine Provinces into a
neutral State, I do hope that we shall have the common sense not to
guarantee either its independence or its neutrality. If we do so, within
ten years we shall infallibly be dragged into a Continental war. We have
a whim about Belgium, one day it will prove a costly one; we cannot,
however, afford to indulge in many of these whims.