ich had been made in his garden the night before by
two bombs close by his front door. He, his wife, and his children seemed
to be rather proud of them. I asked him why he did not move into the
interior of the town, and he said that he could not afford it. In a
German paper which recently found its way in, it was stated that the
bombardment of Paris would commence when the psychological moment had
arrived. We are intensely indignant at this term; we consider it so
cold-blooded. It is like a doctor standing by a man on the rack, and
feeling his pulse to see how many more turns of the screw he can bear.
All the forts outside are still holding their own against the Prussian
batteries. Issy has had as yet the greatest amount of attention paid to
it by the besiegers. There is a battery at Meudon which seems never to
tire of throwing shells into it. It is said, however, that the enemy is
endeavouring to establish breaching guns at a closer range, in order to
make his balls strike the ground and then bound into the fort--a mode of
firing which was very successful at Strasburg.

The sensation news of to-day is that Faidherbe has driven Manteuffel
across the Belgian frontier, and that Frederick Charles, who always
seems to come to life after being killed, has been recalled from Orleans
to Paris. The funds rose to-day one per cent. upon these rumours. Our
chief confidence, however, just now is in Bourbaki; we think that he has
joined Garibaldi, and that these two will force the Prussians to raise
the siege by throwing themselves on their communications. I only hope
they may.

Mr. Washburne has not been allowed to send out his weekly bag. I
presume, however, that this embargo will not be kept up. The Government
has not yet announced its intention with respect to M. Jules Favre
proceeding to London to represent France in the conferences on the
Eastern Question. Most of the newspapers seem to be of opinion that
until the Republic has been officially recognised, it is not consistent
with her dignity to take part in any European Conference. The
diplomatists, who have been a little thrown in the background of late,
by wars and generals, must be delighted to find their old friend, the
"Eastern Question," cropping up. The settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein
question was a heavy blow to them; but for many a year they will have an
opportunity to prose and protocol over Turkey. An Austrian wit--indeed
the only wit that Austria ever produc