NEWS OF THE WEEK.
nig Monday, 19th September, the investment of P aria was com- pleted; and on Tuesday, 20th September, Rome was entered by the Italian troops. So France has for the present lost her capital, and Italy gained hers. Whether the siege of Paris is to go on to the bitter end is not yet decided. M. Jules Favre was already, on Wednesday, at Ferrieres, a seat of M. Rothschild, situated half way between Meaux, the King's head-quarters, and Paris, negotiat- ing with Count Bismarck. The first question raised by Count Bismarck was the power of the Provisional Government to control France, and it seems pretty certain that no terms will be accepted unless ratified by the Constituent Assembly, already summoned for to-morrow week. If we may trust a telegram to the Birming- ham Post of yesterday, there has been talk of an armistice for the intervening week, on the basis of the various sieges continuine without active operations on either side, i.e., continuing as mere blockades, only that in the case of Paris the city would be left open to facilitate the communications of the Government with the country, the German troops would go into quarters in the villages round Paris, and the Prussians would occupy their time in bringing up heavy guns for the siege, if proceeded with. As the ultimate terms spoken of are said, in the same telegram, to demand absolutely,—and of this we have no doubt,—the cession of Alsace and the part of Lorraine necessary to include Metz, the Provisional Government are hardly likely to accept on such terms an armistice,— during which the Parisians would, indeed, be It cooking in their own juice,"—unless they have made up their minds to propose the cession of territory to the Assembly, a difficulty which we have discussed elsewhere. We do not look for an armistice.
