dious questions. His very looks are commented on. "We saw him
to-day," says an evening paper I have just bought; "he smiled! Good
sign! Our victory must have been overwhelming if John Bull is obliged to
confess it." Another newspaper asks him whether, considering the
circumstances, he does not consider it a duty to violate his promise to
Count Bismarck, and to hand over his newspapers to the Government. In
this way, thinks this tempter, the debt which America owes to France for
aiding her during her revolution will be repaid. "We gave you Lafayette
and Rochambeau, in return we only ask for one copy of an English paper."
The anxiety for news is weighing heavier on the population than the
absence of provisions or the cold. Every day, and all day, there are
crowds standing upon the elevated points in the city, peering through
glasses, in the wild hope of witnessing the advent of Chanzy, who is
apparently expected to prick in with Faidherbe by his side, each upon a
gorgeously caparisoned steed, like the heroes in the romances of the
late Mr. G.P.R. James. Many pretend to distinguish, above the noise of
the cannon of our forts and the Prussian batteries, the echoes of
distant artillery, and rush off to announce to their friends that the
army of succour has fallen on the besiegers from the rear. In the
meantime the bombardment of the forts and villages to the east of the
city is continuing, and with that passion for system in everything which
distinguishes the Germans, it is being methodized. A fixed number of
shells are fired off every minute, and at certain hours in the day there
are long pauses. What is happening in the forts is, of course, kept very
secret. The official bulletins say that no damage in them has yet been
done. As for the villages round them, they are, I presume, shelled
merely in order to make them untenable.

The Government appears now as anxious to find others to share
responsibility with it as heretofore it has been averse to any division
of power. The Mayors of the city are to meet with their deputies once a
week at the Hotel de Ville to express their opinions respecting
municipal matters, and once a week at the Ministry of the Interior to
discuss the political situation. As there are twenty mayors and forty
adjuncts, they, when together, are almost numerous enough to form a
species of Parliament. The all important food question remains _in statu
quo_. It is, however, beginning to be hinted in semi-offic