_May 2nd, evening._--On the instructions of the Prince wrote an article for the _Kölnische Zeitung_, which was dated from Lagny, and was based on the foregoing despatch and other information. It was to be submitted for approbation upstairs to-morrow, before being despatched. It ran as follows: “The conduct of the French Government in the matter of the execution of the preliminaries of peace is quite enigmatic, not to use the stronger term of prevarication. In the position which it occupies towards the insurrection in the capital, which is growing more and more serious, it stands in urgent need of the good will of the Germans, of their indirect assistance, or, at least, of their neutrality. Yet up to the last few days it has shown itself extremely remiss in the fulfilment of the treaties concluded with us in January and March, quibbling in a very suspicious way over their most important stipulations, seeking in Brussels, as we hear, to enforce views which, if adopted in the definitive treaty, would bring about a change, by no means favourable to Germany, of the basis secured by us in the preliminary peace at Versailles. Moreover, it would appear that these unacceptable proposals are brought forward merely with the object of protracting the negotiations, and, in the interval thus gained, of securing, through the suppression of the insurrection of the Paris Communists, a position which would perhaps permit them, with some hope of success, to demand easier terms from those who have the control of our policy. M. Thiers’ Government only paid the maintenance money in a tardy way, and under the pressure of threats from the Germans. It temporised with the liberation of the German prisoners who still remain in France, and it shirked in like manner the just demands of the Germans for the surrender of the prize vessels that had not been condemned before the conclusion of the preliminary peace. There is reason to believe that it collected more troops near Versailles than had been agreed to in Berlin in view of so desperate a conflict with a powerful insurrection. It expressed an opinion that we were bound to evacuate the forts of St. Denis and Charenton--not after the ratification of the definitive peace, but after the receipt by us of the first half milliard. Finally, it caused proposals to be made in Brussels respecting the payment of the five milliards which were in no sense justified by the preliminary treaty, and which, if accepted--a thing utterly inconceivable--would delay the payment to a late period, and, besides, would leave Germany only four-fifths, and perhaps only three-fifths, of the war indemnity guaranteed in the agreement of the 26th of February. It is not to be wondered at if these and other similar facts have shaken the confidence which was felt at first on the German side in the loyalty of the leading French statesmen, if suspicion has begun to be felt, and if some disinclination exists to