se, I understand, intends to leave before the
bombardment commences. He is a civilian, and cannot be blamed for this
precautionary measure. I cannot, however, but suppose that the military
attache, who is a colonel in the army, will remain. There is a notion
among the members of the Corps Diplomatique that the Prussians before
they bombard the town will summon it to surrender. But it seems to me
very doubtful whether they will do so. Indeed, I for one shall not
believe in a general bombardment before I see it. To starve us out seems
to me their safest game. Were they to fire on the town, the public
opinion of the civilised world would pronounce against them.

The Mobiles, who receive 1 franc 50 centimes a day, complain that they
are unable to support themselves on this pittance. The conduct of these
peasants is above all praise. Physically and morally they are greatly
the superiors of the ordinary run of Parisians. They are quiet, orderly,
and, as a rule, even devout. Yesterday I went into the Madeleine, where
some service was going on. It was full of Mobiles listening to the
prayers of the priest. The Breton regiments are accompanied by their
priests, who bless them before they go on duty. If the Parisians were
not so thoroughly conceited, one might hope that the presence of these
villagers would have a beneficial effect upon them, and show them that
the Frenchmen out of Paris are worth more than those within it. The
generation of Parisians which has arrived at manhood during the
existence of the Empire is, perhaps, the most contemptible that the
world has ever seen. If one of these worthies is rich enough, his dream
has been to keep a mistress in splendour; if this has been above his
means, he has attempted to hang on to some wealthy _vaurien_. The number
of persons without available means who somehow managed to live on the
fat of the land without ever doing a single day's honest work had become
enormous. Most of them have, on some pretext or other, sneaked out of
Paris. One sees now very few ribbons of the Legion of Honour,
notwithstanding the reckless profusion with which this order was
lavished. The Emperor's flock, marked with the red streak, have
disappeared.

We have received news through a carrier pigeon that one of the postal
balloons has reached Tours. I trust that it will have carried my letter
to you. I intend henceforward to confide my letter to the post every
second day, and as I have got a copying machi