pecial interest about the city, and there being much to look at-fine old churches, ancient fortifications, a Roman gateway, etc.-the days slipped by very quickly, though the incessant rains somewhat interfered with our enjoyment.
For three or four days all sorts of rumors were rife as to what was doing in Paris, but nothing definite was learned till about the 9th; then Count Bismarck informed me that the Regency had been overthrown on the 4th, and that the Empress Eugenie had escaped to Belgium.
The King of Prussia offered her an asylum with the Emperor at Wilhelmshohe, where she ought to go, said the Chancellor, for her proper place is with her husband, but he feared she would not. On the same occasion he also told me that Jules Favre — the head of the Provisional Government-had sent him the suggestion that, the Empire being gone, peace should be made and the Germans withdrawn, but that he (Bismarck) was now compelled to recognize the impossibility of doing this till Paris was
rican families, with whom, of course, we quickly made acquaintance.
This American circle was enlarged a few days later by the arrival of General Wm. B. Hazen, of our army, General Ambrose E. Burnside, and Mr, Paul Forbes.
Burnside and Forbes were hot to see, from the French side, something of the war, and being almost beside themselves to get into Paris, a permit was granted them by Count Bismarck, and they set out by way of Sevres, Forsyth and I accompanying them as far as the Palace of St. Cloud, which we proposed to see, though there were strict orders against its being visited generally.
After much trouble we managed,through the open sesame of the King's pass, to gain access to the palace; but to our great disappointment we found that all the pictures had been cut from the frames and carried off to Paris, except one portrait, that of Queen Victoria, against whom the French were much incensed.
All other works of art had been removed, too — a most fortunate circumstance, for the
