road, but with rails
and girders so contorted and covered with _debris_ that we were afraid
to drive under it for fear the slight concussion caused by a carriage
passing beneath might bring the tottering mass down on our heads. A
little beyond, a sentry is placed to prevent people passing beneath a
house which is on the verge of crumbling to the ground. It is a lofty,
handsome building, elegantly furnished, and quite new, which has been
completely cut in two, and the furniture of each successive story is
thus exposed. One room on the fourth floor was apparently a boudoir, for
the rich crimson-covered furniture stands trembling at the edge of the
"_parquet_," and a heavy armchair threatens with the least jar to come
down with a crash into the middle of the road. It was reserved for
French artillery to complete the work which the German artillery began.
I drove round this same road some days after the first siege, and,
compared to their present condition, these suburbs might then have been
considered well preserved and habitable. Looking at the long _enceinte_
of fortifications with its battered breaches and crumbling embrasures,
one is puzzled whether M. Thiers deserves more credit for the skill with
which he put it up or for that with which he has knocked it down.

Anxious to see to what condition the conquerors have reduced the
Insurgent stronghold at Belleville, I have returned from penetrating its
disagreeable recesses. As usual, even in peaceful times, the lower part
of the Faubourg du Temple was densely crowded with an agitated,
restless throng, composed principally of women. Most of the shops were
shut, probably because their owners were either shot or in prison. Those
who lounged in their doorways looked surly and suspicious; nor is this
much to be wondered at, for during the last two days every domicile has
been searched in this Quarter from attic to cellar, and every street
swarms with denouncers and soldiers. As we approached Menilmontant the
crowd became thinner, and the soldiers more numerous, until they almost
lined the street on either side. Here and there were piles of broken
arms and heaps of National Guard coats and trousers. The road was
literary strewn with caps, which had been torn from the heads of
prisoners and flung in the mud. Old women were rummaging in the heaps
for something worth taking away which was not of a military character,
as their operations were closely watched by the soldiery, who w