An Iron-bound City. By John Augustus O'Shea. 2 vols. (Ward
and Downey.)—Mr. O'Shea went through the siege of Paris from the beginning to the end, ate horseflesh, waited in a queue for his portion of bread, and did not always get it, took as near a sight as could be had of the fighting, watched the temper of the people ; in fact, collected all the experiences that he could during five months of privation, hardship, and even danger. He was present in the besieged city in the capacity of correspondent of the Standard ; but he does not tell us how far the present volumes reproduce the letters which appeared in that paper, or whether they are written de novo from the journal which he seems to have kept. That the book is as interesting as a romance need hardly be said. To be a witness of such scenes as occurred in the French capital during the winter of 1870-71, and at the same time to possess any kind of descriptive power, is to have a subject supplied on which it would be impossible to be dull. An interesting book, then, Mr. O'Shea could hardly fail to write ; but he has done more. He has evidently a calm temper and a discriminating judgment. He describes what he saw and heard with admirable impartiality. He did not admire an Empire which had an Emile 011ivier for its Prime Minister, and a Le Boeuf for its military adviser ; but he doubted whether there was any great improvement when the fortunes of Paris were committed to General Troche. And while he is fully alive to the faults of the French, he does not spare the Germans. It is impos- sible to doubt, after reading what he tells us, that the bombardment was a brutal cruelty,—useless too, because it did not hasten the sur- render by a day. The besiegers fired on scientific collections, on schools, even on hospitals, and killed and wounded hundreds of harm- less people, even women and children, who had not even committed the crime of looking on at the fighting, but were going about their daily business. This is a contribution to history of, we should suppose, permanent value.
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