It is pretty clear that Paris is no longer under
illusions. The defeat at Orleans is known there, as is the failure of M. Thiers' mission, and in an exaggerated form the tardiness of the provinces. The Gaulois of the 4th October in a coldly truthful leader tells Parisians that the German siege-train will arrive ; that the besieg- ing army cannot be less than 400,000 men (the Germans say 220,000), that Paris is only "provisioned for two months ;" that disease will not help them, as the enemy are well lodged ; that Bazaine, even if he broke out of Metz, would lose two-thirds of his army in getting to Paris ; that the Army of the Loire needs " time" for equipment ; and that Paris must fall upon the enemy. In a letter of the 15th October, to the Mayor of Paris, General Trochu, while ordering a selection of National Guards for the field, uses the following noteworthy expressions :—" I now declare that, impressed with the most complete faith in a return of fortune, which will be due to the great work of resistance summed up in the siege of Paris, I will not cede to the pressure of the public impatience. Animating myself with the sense of the duties which are common to us all, and of the responsibilities that no one shares with me, I shall pursue to the end the plan which I have traced out, without revealing it, and I only demand of the popu- lation of Paris, in exchange for my efforts, the continuance of that confidence with which it has hitherto honoured me." He is a man, this General, whether he wins or fails.
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