ssy bombard the Versailles batteries, which in their turn vomit
shot and shell on Vanves and Issy. Idle spectators, watching from the
Trocadero, see long lines of white smoke arise in the distance. Every
morning, Citizen Cluseret,[44] the war delegate, announces that an
assault of gendarmes has been victoriously repulsed by the garrisons in
the forts. It is quite certain that if the Versaillais do attack they
are repulsed, as they make no progress whatever; but do they attack,
that is the question? I am rather inclined to think that these attacks
and repulses are mere inventions. It seems evident to me that the
generals of the National Assembly, who are now busy establishing
batteries and concentrating their forces, will not make a serious
attempt until they are certain of victory. In the meantime they are
satisfied to complete the ruin of the forts which were already so much
damaged by the Prussians.

Between Courbevoie and the Porte Maillot the fighting is continual.
Ground is lost and gained, such and such a house that was just now
occupied by the Versaillais is now in the hands of the Federals, and
_vice versa_. Neither side is wholly victorious, but the fighting goes
on. What! is there no one to cry out "Enough! Enough blood, enough
tears! Enough Frenchmen killed by Frenchmen, Republicans killed by
Republicans." Men fall on each side with the same war cry on their lips.
Oh! when will all this dreadful misunderstanding cease?

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 44: The biography of this general of the Commune is very
imperfect, down to the time when he was elected for the 1st
Arrondissement of Paris, and was thereupon appointed Minister of War, or
in Communal phraseology, Delegate at the War Department. He seems to
have been one of those beings, without country or family, but who are
blessed, by way of compensation, with a plurality of names; we do not
know whether Cluseret was really his own, or how many aliases he had
made use of.

It is said that he was formerly captain in a battalion of Chasseurs
d'Afrique, but was dismissed the army upon being convicted of
defalcations, in connection with the purchase of horses, and, that soon
after his dismissal from the French army, he went to the United States,
where he served in the revolutionary war, and attained to the rank of
General. Then we have another story, to the effect that having been
entrusted with the care of a flock of lambs, the number of the animals
decreased so r