Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris | Page 7

has been appointed President of a Committee of
Barricades, to organise a second line of defence within the ramparts.
7 P.M.
The cannon can be distinctly heard. The reports come from different
quarters. Jules Favre, I hear from a sure source, is at the Prussian
headquarters.
7.30 P.M.
I live au quatrième with a balcony before my room. I can see the
flashes of cannon in the direction of Vincennes. There appears to be a
great fire somewhere.
12 P.M.

Have driven to the Barrière de l'Enfer. Nothing there. On the Champ de
Mars I found troops returned from Clamart. They complain that they
never saw their officers during the engagement, that there were no
scouts in the Bois de Clamart, and that the Prussians succeeded by their
old game of sticking to the cover. At first they fell back--the French
troops pressed on, when they were exposed to a concentric fire. From
the Champs Elysées I drove to the Buttes de Montmartre. Thousands of
people clustered everywhere except where they were kept off by the
Nationaux, who were guarding the batteries. The northern sky was
bright from the reflection of a conflagration--as the forest of St.
Germain was burning. It was almost light. We could see every shot and
shell fired from the forts round St. Denis. At ten o'clock I got back to
the Boulevard des Italiens. Every café was closed. It appears that at
about nine o'clock the Café Riche was full of Gardes Mobiles, officers,
and lorettes. They made so much noise that the public outside became
indignant, and insisted on their giving up their orgie. The National
Guard joined in this protest, and an order was sent at once to close
every café. Before the Maison Dorée I saw a few viveurs, gazing at its
closed windows as though the end of the world had come. This café has
been opened day and night for the last twenty years. From my balcony I
can no longer hear the cannon; the sky, however, is even brighter from
the conflagration than it was.
September 20th.
The firing has recommenced. We can hear it distinctly. General Ambert
has been cashiered. Figaro announces that Villemessant has returned.
We are given a dozen paragraphs about this humbug of humbugs, his
uniform, &c., &c. I do not think that he will be either killed or
wounded. The latest telegram from the outer world announces that "Sir
Campbell"--médecin Anglais--has arrived at Dieppe with despatches to
the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of Marine.
11 A.M.
Paris very quiet and very despondent. Few soldiers about. The Line is
reviled, the Mobile extolled. From all accounts the latter seem to have
behaved well--a little excited at first, but full of pluck. Let the siege

only last a week and they will be capital soldiers, and then we shall no
longer be called upon, to believe the assertions of military men, that it
takes years of drill and idling in a barrack to make a soldier.
My own impression always has been that Malet brought back a written
answer from Bismarck offering to see Jules Favre. Can it be that, after
all, the Parisians, at the mere sound of cannon, are going to cave in, and
give up Alsace and Lorraine? If they do, I give them up. If my friends
in Belleville descend into the streets to prevent this ignominy, I
descend with them.
4 P.M.
I got, about an hour ago, some way on the road to Charenton, when I
was turned back, and a couple of soldiers took possession of me, and
did not leave me until I was within the city gate. I could see no traces
of any Prussians or of any fighting. Two English correspondents got as
far as St. Denis this morning. After having been arrested half-a-dozen
times and then released, they were impressed, and obliged to carry
stones to make a barricade. They saw no Prussians. I hear that a general
of artillery was arrested last night by his men. There is a report, also,
that the Government mean to decimate the cowards who ran away
yesterday, pour encourager les autres. The guns of the Prussians which
they have posted on the heights they took yesterday it is said will carry
as far as the Arc de Triomphe.
There have been two deputations to the Hôtel de Ville to interview the
Government with respect to the armistice. One consisted of about 100
officers of the National Guard, most of them from the Faubourgs of St.
Antoine and the Temple. They were of course accompanied by a large
crowd. Having been admitted into the Salle du Trône, they were
received by the Mayor of Paris and M. Jules Ferry. The reply of the
latter is not very clear. He certainly