y that
Rochefort and his friends are busily employed at Grenelle.

1.30 _o'clock_.

The cannonade has been audible for the last half-hour. It is getting
every moment louder. The people are saying that Mont Valerien _donne_. I
am going up to the Avenue de l'Imperatrice, where I shall be able to see
what is going on.

2.30 _o'clock_.

Come back; heavy firing--but I could not make out whether it came from
Mont Valerien. Jules Favre has returned. They say the Prussians will
only treat in Paris. Just seen an American who tried to get with a
letter to General Sheridan. He got into the Prussian lines, but could
not reach headquarters. On his return he was nearly murdered by the
Mobiles; passed last night in a cell with two drunkards, and has just
been let out, as all his papers were found _en regle_.

CHAPTER II.

_September 22nd._

I sent off a letter yesterday in a balloon; whether it reaches its
destination, or is somewhere in the clouds, you will know before I do.
The difficulties of getting through the lines are very great, and will
become greater every day. The Post-office says that it tries to send
letters through, but I understand that the authorities have little hope
of succeeding. Just now I saw drawn up in the courtyard of the Grand
Hotel a travelling carriage, with hampers of provisions, luggage, and an
English flag flying. Into it stepped four Britons. Their passports were
vised, they said, by their Embassy, and they were starting for England
_via_ Rouen. Neither French nor Prussians would, they were convinced,
stop them. I did not even confide a letter to their hands, as they are
certain, even if they get through the French outposts, to be arrested by
the Prussians and turned back. Yesterday on the return of Jules Favre he
announced that the King of Prussia required as a condition of Peace the
cession of Alsace and Lorraine, and as the condition of an armistice
immediate possession of Metz, Strasburg, and Mont Valerien. The
Government immediately met, and a proclamation was at once posted on the
walls signed by all the members. After stating it had been reported that
the Government was inclined to abandon the policy to which it owed its
existence, it goes on in the following words:--"Our policy is this.
Neither an inch of our territory nor a stone of our fortresses. The
Government will maintain this until the end."

Yesterday afternoon we "manifested" against peace. We "manifest" by
going, if w