er of the Banque. There is fighting still at the Halles, at the
Luxembourg, and at the Porte Saint-Martin. Neither the cannonading nor
the fusillade has ceased, and our ears have become accustomed to the
continued roar. But, in spite of the barbarous heroism of the Federals,
the force of their resistance is being exhausted. What has become of the
chiefs?

We continue to note down the incidents as they reach us.

It is said that Assy has been taken, close to the New Opera House. He
was going the nightly rounds, almost alone--"Who's there!" cried a
sentinel. Assy, thinking the man was a Federal, replied, "You should
have challenged me sooner." In an instant he was surrounded, disarmed,
and carried off. However, it is a very unlikely tale; it is most
improbable that Assy should not know that the New Opera was in the hands
of the Versaillais.

They say that Delescluze has fled, that Dombrowski has died[110] in an
ambulance, and that Milliere is a prisoner at Saint-Denis. But these are
merely rumours, and I am utterly ignorant as to their worth. The only
thing certain is that the search is being carried on with vigour. Close
by the smoking ruins of what was once the Hotel de Ville they caught
Citizen Ferraigu, inspector of the barricades; he confessed to having
received from the Committee of Public Safety particular orders to burn
down the shop of the Bon-Diable. Had one of these committeemen been an
assistant there, and did he owe his former master a grudge? Ferraigu had
a bottle of petroleum in his pocket; he was shot. I am told that at the
Theatre du Chatelet a court-martial has been established on the stage.
The Federals are brought up twenty at a time, judged, and condemned,
they are then marched out on to the Place, with their hands tied behind
their backs. A mitrailleuse, standing a hundred yards off, mows them
down like grass. It is an expeditious contrivance. In a yard, in the Rue
Saint-Denis, is a stable filled with corpses; I have myself seen them
there. The Porte Saint-Martin Theatre is quite destroyed, a guard is
stationed near. This morning three _petroleuses_ were shot there, the
bodies are still lying on the boulevards. I have just seen two
insurgents walking between four soldiers; one an old man, the other
almost a lad. I heard the elder one say to the younger, "All our misery
comes of our having arms. In '48 we had none, so we took those of the
soldiers, and then they were without. Now there is more killi