ged. A friend of mine, an ex-French
diplomatist, was present when the scene occurred, and he tells me that
the officers, who were all young men, were, to say the least of it,
exceedingly indiscreet. Instead of eating their dinner quietly, they
indulged in a good deal of loud, and by no means wise conversation, and
their remarks were calculated to offend those Frenchmen who heard them.

_December 15th._

Still no news from the outer world. I trust that M. Jansen, who was
dispatched the other day in a balloon to witness the eclipse of the sun,
will be more fortunate in his endeavours to discover what is going on in
that luminary, than we are in ours to learn what is happening within
twenty miles of us. Search has been made to find the peasant who
announced that he had seen a French army at Corbeil, but this remarkable
agriculturist is not forthcoming. Persons at the outposts say that they
heard cannon in the direction of Fontainebleau, when they put their ears
to the ground, but none believe them. Four officers, who were taken
prisoners on the 12th of the month near Orleans, have been sent in, as
an exchange for the Prussian officers who were insulted at a restaurant,
but they are so stupid that it has been impossible to glean anything
from them except that their division was fighting when they were taken
prisoners. A dead, apathetic torpor has settled over the town. Even the
clubs are deserted. There are no groups of gossips in the streets. No
one clamours for a sortie, and no one either blames or praises Trochu.
The newspapers still every morning announce that victory is not far off.
But their influence is gone. The belief that the evil day cannot be far
off is gradually gaining ground, and those who are in a position to know
more accurately the precise state of affairs, take a still more hopeless
view of them than the masses. The programme of the Government seems to
be this--to make a sortie in a few days, then to fall back beneath the
forts; after this to hold out until the provisions are eaten up, and
then, after having made a final sortie, to capitulate. Trochu is
entirely in the hands of Ducrot, who, with the most enterprising of the
officers, insists that the military honour of the French arms demands
that there should be more fighting, even though success be not only
improbable but impossible. The other day, in a council of war, Trochu
began to speak of the armies of the provinces. "I do not care for your
armi