General Trochu, it is said, was in favour of an attempt to pierce the Prussian lines; the majority being in favour of a number of small sorties.

What will happen no one seems to know, and I doubt even if our rulers have themselves any very definite notion.

The Ultra journals clamour for a sortie _en masse_, which of course would result in a stampede _en masse_.

One and all the newspapers either abuse Trochu, or damn him with faint praise.

It is so very much a matter of chance whether a man goes down to posterity as a sage or a fool, that it is by no means easy to form an opinion as to what will be the verdict of history on Trochu.