Diary of the Besieged Resident in ParisLabouchere, Henry Du Pré
History
Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris
Labouchere, Henry Du Pré
Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871; Paris (France) -- History -- Siege, 1870-1871 -- Personal narratives
The newspapers have now proved to their own complete satisfaction that
Count Moltke's assertion respecting the defeat of the Army of the Loire
can only refer to its rearguard, and although no news from without has
been received for several days, they insist that the greater portion of
this army has effected its junction with that of Bourbaki. A French
journalist, even when he is not obliged to do so, generally invents his
facts, and then reasons upon them with wonderful ingenuity. I do not
know whether the Paris journals get to you through the Prussian lines;
if they do not, you have little idea how much excellent advice you lose.
One would think that just at present a Parisian would do well to keep
his breath to cool his own porridge; such, however, is not his opinion.
He thinks that he has a mission to guide and instruct the world, and
this mission he manfully fulfils in defiance of Prussians and Prussian
cannon. It is true that he knows rather less of foreign countries than
an intelligent Japanese Daimio may be supposed to know of Tipperary, but
by some curious law of nature, the less he knows of a subject the more
strongly does he feel impelled to write about it. I read a very clever
article this morning, pointing out that, if we are not on our guard, our
empire in India will come to an end by a Russian fleet attacking it from
the Caspian Sea; and when one thinks how very easy it would have been
for the author not to write about the Caspian Sea, one is at once
surprised and grateful to him for having called our attention to the
danger which menaces us in that quarter of the globe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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