e bastions at Point-du-Jour; and so well aimed were they, that between
the bastions a looker-on was in comparative safety. The noise, however,
of the duel between the bastions and the batteries was so deafening,
that it was literally impossible for two persons to hear each other
speak at a few feet distance; the shells, too, which were passing to the
right and left, seemed to give the whole air a tremulous motion. At the
bastions the artillerymen were working their guns, but the National
Guards on duty were under cover. The houses, on both sides of the
Seine, within the city, for about half a mile from the viaduct are
deserted; not above a dozen of them, I should imagine, are still
inhabited. Outside, in the villages of Vanvres and Issy, several fires
have broken out, but they have been promptly extinguished, and there has
been no general conflagration. The most dangerous spot in this direction
is a road which runs behind the Forts of Vanvres and Montrouge; as
troops are frequently marching along it the Prussians direct their guns
from Clamart and Chatillon on it. In the trenches the danger is not
great, and there are but few casualties; the shells pass over them. If
anyone, however, exposes himself, a ball about the size of an egg, from
a _canon de rampart_, whizzes by him, as a gentle reminder to keep under
cover. The area of the bombardment is slightly extending, and will, I
presume, very soon reach the right bank. More people are killed in the
daytime than at night, because they will stand in groups,
notwithstanding every warning, and stare at any house which has been
damaged.

The bill of mortality for the week ending January 13th, gives an
increase on the previous week of 302; the number of deaths registered is
3982. This is at the rate of above twenty per cent. per annum, and it
must be remembered that in this return those who die in the public
hospitals, or of the direct effect of the war, are not included.
Small-pox is about stationary, bronchitis and pneumonia largely on the
increase.

Bourbaki, we are told to-day, is at Freiburg, in the Grand Duchy of
Baden. The latest German papers announce that Mezieres has fallen, and
it seems to occur to no one that Gambetta's last pigeon despatch
informed us that the siege of this place had been raised. _La Liberte_
thus sums up the situation:--"Nancy menaced; Belfort freed; Baden
invaded; Hamburg about to be bombarded. This is the reply of France to
the bombardment of