ieves in the military
superiority of his race over every other race, as firmly as he believes
in his own existence. If a French army is defeated, it is owing to the
treachery or the incapacity of the commander. If a battle be lost, the
General must pay the penalty for it; for his soldiers are invincible. It
is Napoleon, according to the received theory, who has succumbed in the
present war; not the French nation. If Napoleon be restored to power,
the nation will accept the responsibility which they now lay to his
door. The pride and vanity of every Frenchman are consequently the
strongest securities against an Imperial Restoration. Were I a betting
man, I would bet twenty to one against the Bonapartes; even against a
Republic lasting for two years; and I would take five to one against the
Comte de Paris becoming King of the French, and three to one against the
Duc d'Aumale being elected President of the Republic. This would be my
"book" upon the political French Derby.

The Prussians are making diligent use of the armistice to complete their
engineering work round Paris, and they appear to consider it possible
that they may yet have trouble with the city. If this be their opinion I
can only say that they are badly served by their spies. The resistance
_a outrance_ men in Paris, who never did anything but talk, will very
possibly still threaten to continue the struggle; but they will not
fight themselves, and most assuredly they will not find others to fight
for them. If the preliminaries of peace be signed at Bordeaux, Paris
will not protest; if they are rejected, Paris will not expose itself to
certain destruction by any attempt at further resistance, but will
capitulate, not as the capital of France, but as a besieged French town.
General Vinoy is absolute master of the situation; he is a calm,
sensible man, and will listen to no nonsense either from the "patriots,"
or his predecessors, or from Gambetta. From the tone of the decree of
the latter of the 3rd instant, he seems to be under the impression that
he is still the idol of the Parisians. Never did a man labour under so
complete a delusion. Before by a lucky speech he was pitchforked into
the Corps Legislatif, he was a briefless lawyer, who used to talk very
loudly and with vast emphasis at the Cafe de Madrid. He is now regarded
as a pothouse politician, who ought never to have been allowed to get
beyond the pothouse.

The Germans appear to be carrying on the wa