die with thousands
looking on is one thing; to die obscurely is another. French courage is
not the same as that of the many branches of the great Saxon family. A
Saxon has a dogged stubbornness which gives him an every-day and
every-hour courage. That of the Frenchman is more dependent upon
external circumstances. He must have confidence in his leader, he must
have been encouraged by success, and he must be treated with severity
tempered with judicious flattery. Give him a sword, and let him prance
about on a horse like a circus rider, and, provided there are a
sufficient number of spectators, he will do wonders, but he will not
consent to perish obscurely for the sake of anything or anyone. Trochu
has utterly failed in exciting enthusiasm in those under his command; he
issues many proclamations, but they fail to strike the right chord.
Instead of keeping up discipline by judicious severity, he endeavours to
do so by lecturing like a schoolmaster. And then, since the commencement
of the siege he has been unsuccessful in all his offensive movements. I
am not a military man, but although I can understand the reasons against
a sortie _en masse_, it does appear to me strange that the Prussians are
not more frequently disquieted by attacks which at least would oblige
them to make many a weary march round the outer circle, and would
prevent them from detaching troops for service elsewhere.

Not an hour passes without some new rumour respecting the armies of the
Provinces being put in circulation. A letter in which General Chanzy is
said to be playing with Frederick Charles as a cat plays with a mouse,
and which is attributed to Mr. Odo Russell, English Under-Secretary of
State, and Correspondent of the _Times_, has been read by some one, and
this morning all the newspapers are jubilant over it. A copy of the
_Moniteur de Versailles_ of the 1st has found its way in; there is
nothing in it about Frederick Charles, but this we consider evidence
that he has sustained a defeat. Then somebody has found a bottle in the
Seine with a letter in it; this letter alludes to a great French
victory. Mr. Washburne has the English papers up to the 22nd, but he
keeps grim guard over them, and allows no one to have a glimpse of them;
since our worthy friend Otto von Bismarck sent in to him an extract from
a letter of mine, in which I alluded to the contents of some of them
which had reached us. He passes his existence, however, staving off
insi