ished a protest against the refusal of Count Bismarck to let their
despatches to their respective Governments leave Paris sealed. That Mr.
Washburne should be indignant I can well understand; but although I do
not personally know either Lopez de Arosemana, or Aquaviva, Charge
d'Affaires of Monaco, I can understand Count Bismarck not being
absolutely satisfied with the assurance of these potent signors that
nothing except official despatches should pass under their seal. That
the Prince of Monaco should be debarred for a few months from receiving
communications from his representative in Paris, may perhaps be
unpleasant to him, but must be a matter of the most profound
indifference to the rest of the world.

It is somewhat amusing to observe how justice is administered when any
dispute arises in the streets. The sergents-de-ville immediately
withdraw, in order not to prejudice the question by their presence. A
sort of informal jury is impanelled, each disputant states his case, and
the one who is thought by the tribunal to be in fault, is either taken
off to prison, or cuffed on the spot. I have bought myself a sugar-loaf
hat of the First Republic, and am consequently regarded with deference.
To-day a man was bullying a child, and a crowd gathered round him; I
happened just then to come up, room was immediately made for me and my
hat, and I was asked to give my opinion as to what ought to be done with
the culprit. I suggested kicking, and as I walked away, I saw him
writhing under the boots of two sturdy executioners, amid the applause
of the spectators. "The style is the man," said Buffon; had he lived
here now he would rather have said "the hat is the man." An English
doctor who goes about in a regulation chimney-pot has already been
arrested twenty-seven times; I, thanks to my revolutionary hat, have
not been arrested once. I have only to glance from under its brim at any
one for him to quail.

_October 18th._

A decree has been issued ordering a company of 150 men to be mobilised
in each battalion of the National Guard. Three of these companies are
together to form a mobilised battalion, and to elect their commander.
The _Journal Officiel_ contains two long reports upon the works of
defence which have been executed since the commencement of the siege.
They give the number of guns on each bastion, and the number of rounds
to each gun, the number of cartridges, and the amount of powder in
store. Unless these repor