l
no doubt look wistfully after her lost possessions, and talk loudly of
her intention to re-conquer them. But the difficulty of the task will
prevent the attempt. Until now, to the majority of Frenchmen, a war
meant a successful military promenade, a plentiful distribution of
decorations, and an inscription on some triumphal arch. Germany was to
them the Germany of Jena and Austerlitz. Their surprise at seeing the
Prussians victors at the doors of Paris, is much that which the
Americans would feel if a war with the Sioux Indians were to bring these
savages to the suburbs of New York. The French have now learnt that they
are not invincible, and that if war may mean victory, it may also mean
defeat, invasion, and ruin. When, therefore, they have paid the bill for
their _a Berlin_ folly, they will think twice before they open a fresh
account with fortune.

I would recommend sightseers to defer their visit to Paris for the
present, as during the armistice it will not be a very pleasant
residence for foreigners. I doubt whether the elections will go off, and
the decisions of the National Assembly be known without disturbances.
The vainest of the vain, irritable to madness by their disasters, the
Parisians are in no humour to welcome strangers. The world has held
aloof whilst the "capital of civilisation" has been bombarded by the
"hordes of Attila," and there is consequently, just now, no very
friendly feeling towards the world.

Of news, there is very little. We are in a state of physical and moral
collapse. The groups of patriots which invested the Boulevards on the
first announcement of the capitulation have disappeared; and the
gatherings of National Guards, who announced their intention to die
rather than submit, have discontinued their sittings, owing it, as they
said, to their country to live for her. No one hardly now affects to
conceal his joy that all is over. Every citizen with whom one speaks,
tells you that it will be the lasting shame of Paris that with its
numerous army it not only failed to force the Prussians to raise the
siege, but also allowed them whenever they pleased to detach corps
d'armee against the French generals in the provinces. This, of course,
is the fault of the Government of Trochu and of the Republic, and having
thus washed his hands of everything that has occurred, the citizen goes
on his way rejoicing. The Mobiles make no secret of their delight at the
thought of getting back to their h