women on their
knees, and several men too. The prayers of the dead were being said over
the coffin of a woman who, I was told, was killed yesterday by a ball
in the chest, whilst crossing the Avenue des Ternes, just a little above
the railway bridge. A ball, how strange! yet I was assured such was the
case. It is pretty evident, then, that the Versaillais were considerably
nearer to Paris, on this side at least, than the official despatches
lead us to suppose.

On returning to the street I directed my steps in the direction of the
Place d'Eylau. Two National Guards passed me, bearing a litter between
them.--"Oh, you can look if you like," said one. So I drew back the
checked curtain. On the mattress was stretched a woman, decently
dressed, with a child of two or three years lying on her breast. They
both looked very pale; one of the woman's arms was hanging down; her
sleeve was stained with blood; the hand had been carried away.--"Where
were they wounded?" I asked.--"Wounded! they are dead. It is the wife
and child of the velocipede-maker in the Avenue de Wagram; if you will
go and break the news to him you will do us a good service."

It was therefore quite true, certain, incontestable. The balls and
shells of the Versaillais were not content with killing the combatants
and knocking down the forts and ramparts. They were also killing women
and children, ordinary passers-by; not only those who were attracted by
an imprudent curiosity to go where they had no business, but
unfortunates who were necessarily obliged to venture into the
neighbouring streets, for the purpose of buying bread. Not only do the
shells of the National Assembly reach the buildings situated close to
the city walls, but they often fall considerably farther in, crushing
inoffensive houses, and breaking the sculpture on the public monuments.
No one can deny this. I have seen it with my own eyes. Anyhow, the
projectiles fall nearer and nearer the centre. Yesterday they fell in
the Avenue de la Grande Armee; to-day they fly over the Arc de Triomphe,
and fall in the Place d'Eylau and the Avenue d'Uhrich. Who knows but
what to-morrow they will have reached the Place de la Concorde, and the
next day perhaps I may be killed by one on the Boulevard Montmartre?
Paris bombarded! Take care, gentlemen of the National Assembly! What the
Prussians did, and what gave rise to such a clamour of indignation on
the part of the Government of the 4th September, it will