ithdraw them. The fire which the
Prussians have rained for the last two days upon this position has not
been very destructive of human life. It is calculated that every man
killed has cost the Prussians 24,000lbs. of iron. We are still
speculating upon the reasons which induced the Prussians at last to
become the assailants. That they wished to drive us from this plateau,
which overlooks many of their positions, is far too simple an
explanation to meet with favour. The _Verite_ of this morning contains
an announcement that a Christmas Session of the House of Commons has
turned out Mr. Gladstone by a hostile vote, and that he has been
succeeded by a "War Minister." We are inclined to think that the
Prussians, being aware of this, have been attempting to terrify us, in
order that we may surrender before Sir Disraeli and Milord Pakington
come to our rescue. The Parisians, intelligent and clever as they are,
are absolutely wanting in plain common sense. I am convinced that if 500
of them were boiled down, it would be impossible to extract from the
stew as much of this homely, but useful quality, as there is in the
skull of the dullest tallow-chandler's apprentice in London.

The vital question of food is now rarely alluded to in the journals. The
Government is, however, called to task for not showing greater energy,
and the feeling against the unfortunate Trochu is growing stronger. He
is held responsible for everything--the frost, the dearth of food, the
ill-success of our sorties, and the defeats of the armies of succour. I
am sorry for him, for he is a well-meaning man, although unfitted for
such troubled waters. But to a great extent he has himself to thank for
what is occurring. He has risked his all upon the success of his plan,
and he has encouraged the notion that he could force the Prussians to
raise the siege. In the meantime no one broaches the question as to what
is to be done when our provisions fail. The members of the Government
still keep up the theory that a capitulation is an impossible
contingency. The nearer the fatal moment approaches the less anyone
speaks of it, just as a man, when he is growing old, avoids the subject
of death. Frenchmen have far more physical than civic courage. They
prefer to shut their eyes to what is unpleasant than to grapple with it.
How long our stores of flour will last it is difficult to say, but if
our rulers wait to treat until they are exhausted, they will perforce be
obl