hem, gave up any attempt to enforce them."

The attempt at the last hour to form marching battalions out of these
citizen soldiers, by obliging each sedentary battalion to furnish 150
men, has not been a very successful one. The marching battalions, it is
true, have been formed, but they have not yet been engaged with the
enemy; and it certainly is the opinion of military men that it will be
advisable, for the credit of French arms, to "keep them in reserve"
during any future engagement which may take place. General Clement
Thomas has issued a series of general orders, from the tenor of which it
would appear that the system of substitutes has been largely practised
in these battalions. I have myself no doubt of the fact. The fault,
however, lies with the Government. When these battalions were formed,
the respective categories of unmarried and married men between 25 and
35, and between 35 and 45, were only to be drawn upon in case a
sufficient number of volunteers were not forthcoming. It became,
consequently, the interest of the men in these categories to encourage
volunteering, and this was done on a large and liberal scale. The
Government, if it wanted men, should have called to arms all between 25
and 35, and have allowed no exemptions. These new levies should have
been subjected to the same discipline as the Line and the Mobiles. It
must now accept the consequences of not having ventured to take this
step. For all operations beyond the enceinte General Trochu's force
consists of the Line and the Mobiles. All that he can expect from the
Parisians is a "moral support."

_December 9th._

Nothing new. If the Government has received any news from without, it
carefully conceals it. A peasant, the newspapers say, has made his way
through the Prussian lines, and has brought the information that the
armies of the Loire and of Bourbaki are close to Fontainebleau. The cry
is still that we will resist to the last, and for the moment every one
seems to have forgotten that in a few weeks our provisions will all have
been consumed. If we wait to treat until our last crust has been eaten,
the pinch will come after the capitulation; for with the railroads and
the high roads broken up, and the surrounding country devastated, a
fortnight at least must elapse before supplies, in any quantity, can be
thrown into the town.

I hear that the Prussian officers who were (says the _Journal Officiel_)
insulted in a cafe, have been exchan