ne, to send copy by any
messenger who is attempting to run the blockade. We are told that
balloons are to leave every evening; but as the same announcement
informs us that they will not only take letters but officials appointed
to functions in the provinces, I am afraid that there is almost too much
promised to render it likely that the programme will be carried out.

_Afternoon._

I have just made an attempt to see what is going on between the forts
and the ramparts, which has been a failure. I had obtained an order to
circulate for the necessities of the defence from a member of the
Government, and with this in my pocket I presented myself at several of
the gates. In vain I showed my pass, in vain I insisted upon the serious
consequences to Paris in general, and to the officer whom I was
addressing in particular, if I were not allowed to fulfil my circulating
mission. I had to give it up at last, and to content myself with
circulating inside the ramparts. On them, however, I managed to get,
thanks to a tradesman with whom I had often dealt, who was in command. I
was told that a member of the Government, his name no one seemed to
know, had addressed the "poste" yesterday, and urged the men to resist
until one or other of the armies which were forming in the provinces
could arrive and crush the enemy. Everything appeared, where I was,
ready for an attack. The sentinels were posted at short intervals, the
artillerymen were lying about near their guns, and in the Rue des
Remparts there were several hundred National Guards. They seemed to be
taking things easily, complained that the nights were a little chilly
and that business at home was at a standstill. In the course of my walk
I saw a great many barricades in process of formation. Eventually, I
presume, we shall have a second line of defences within the outer walls.
This second line has already been divided, like the ramparts, into nine
sections, each with a separate commander. I met at least a dozen
_soi-disant_ Prussian spies being conducted to prison. Each of them was
surrounded by twelve men, with bayonets fixed. Coming home I saw nine
French soldiers with placards bearing the inscription, "Miserable
cowards." Of course, the usual crowd accompanied them. I heard that they
were on their way to be shot.

The newspapers of this afternoon make a good deal of noise about the
exploits of the gunboat in the bend of the Seine between Point du Jour
and Boulogne. They c