400 Appendix I 



esting on account of the list of names kept there of those knights who 

 followed William of Normandy to England in 1066. I counted some 

 seventy names of families still existing in England, among them the Byrons, 

 de Buron. Here at Caen we are at the Hotel d'Angleterre. The town is 

 full of conscripts, some in blouses, some in coats, all in red trousers, young 

 and happy. I have heard more singing in the streets here these two nights 

 than during all the last fortnight at Paris. 



" With difficulty I procured a copy of the Paris ' Journal.' Things seem 

 drifting towards a quarrel with England. The ' Times,' which has taken a 

 violent side for Prussia in the war is now exasperating the French with 

 its good advice. Now, it says, is the moment for the neutral powers to 

 insist on peace. I expect to see proposals made for an armistice, to be 

 followed by peace on the principle of the status quo ante helium, France 

 to retain Alsace and Lorraine, but with the condition of immediate dis- 

 armament. If such be accepted tout serait sauvc fort Vhonneur. I con- 

 sider the position so critical that, instead of going to Brittany as we 

 intended, we start to-morrow for the north. France, if she quarrels with 

 England, will be virtually outlawed and fighting for her life, and we 

 cannot expect any but the laws of necessity to rule her. Already the days 

 are being recalled to mind when France threw defiance in the face of all 

 Europe in the shape of 10,000 heads upon her scaffolds. She will scarcely 

 stop to distinguish between friend and foe, but I trust my precautions may 

 not be needed. The French army may yet be victorious, and the ' Times ' 

 is not England, but who can say ? In the case of a rupture my sympathies 

 must be with France, but I am bound in form at least to my own country. 



"22nd Aug. — Pont l'Eveque. We left Caen at ten, and driving on got 

 here at five, having stopped three hours for breakfast at Dozule, our inn 

 there the White Horse, rustic, but good. Another capital country inn here, 

 the Bras d'or. 



" The news to-night is bad, none for two days from Bazaine, who is 

 shut up in Metz. A letter has come from Lytton in Vienna, who expects 

 nothing but disaster for the French army. I still believe the Prussians 

 will be driven out of France. Prussia is blockaded and nearly bankrupt. 



" 2$th Aug. — On the night of the 23rd we slept at La Bouille, a village 

 on the Seine to which Rouen merchants go out to dine on summer even- 

 ings, and yesterday to Rouen, Hotel de France. We shall have to wait here 

 two days until our carriage wheels have been new tyred. 



" The news to-day is better. Communication with Bazaine restored. 

 Bazaine declares that if he is still in Metz it is that he chooses to stay 

 there. The news from Prussian head-quarters absolutely contradicts this. 

 In England they choose to believe the Prussian account. I do not. 

 Neither Bazaine nor Palikao would dare in the present state of France 

 to publish news directly false. The position of Englishmen in France is 

 becoming precarious, indeed of any person without visible occupation. 

 Prince Lubomirsky was arrested two days ago as a spy, and many quite 

 innocent people have been mal-treated by the mob. I shall go back to 

 Paris for a night to see how things are going on, and then drive to Dieppe 

 and send Anne and Miss Noel to England. 



