his breath to cool his own porridge; such, however, is not his opinion.
He thinks that he has a mission to guide and instruct the world, and
this mission he manfully fulfils in defiance of Prussians and Prussian
cannon. It is true that he knows rather less of foreign countries than
an intelligent Japanese Daimio may be supposed to know of Tipperary, but
by some curious law of nature, the less he knows of a subject the more
strongly does he feel impelled to write about it. I read a very clever
article this morning, pointing out that, if we are not on our guard, our
empire in India will come to an end by a Russian fleet attacking it from
the Caspian Sea; and when one thinks how very easy it would have been
for the author not to write about the Caspian Sea, one is at once
surprised and grateful to him for having called our attention to the
danger which menaces us in that quarter of the globe.

M. Gustave Flourens has been arrested and is now in prison. The clubs of
the Ultras are very indignant at the Government having accused the
braves of Belleville of cowardice. They feel convinced that the "Jesuit"
Trochu must have introduced some _mouchards_ into the band of heroes,
who received orders to run away, in order to discredit the whole
battalion. I was in the "Club de la Delivrance" this evening. It holds
its sittings in the Salle Valentino--a species of Argyle Rooms in
normal times. I held up my hand in favour of a resolution to call upon
the Government to inscribe upon marble tablets the names of the National
Guards who have died in the defence of Paris. The resolution was carried
unanimously. No National Guard has, indeed, yet been good enough to die;
but of course this fact was regarded as irrelevant. The next resolution
was that the concubines of patriots should enjoy the same right to
rations as legitimate wives. As the Club prides itself upon the stern
severity of its morals, this resolution was not carried. An orator then
proposed that all strangers should be banished from France. He was so
exceedingly lengthy that I did not wait until the end of his speech; I
am, therefore, unable to say whether his proposal was carried. The Club
de la Delivrance is by far the most reputable public assembly in Paris.
Those who take part in its proceedings are intensely respectable, and as
intensely dull and prosy. The suppression of gas has been a heavy blow
to the clubs. The Parisians like gas as much as lazzaroni like sunshine.
Th