nt, 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 c