If he simply wished to keep the Prussians out of Paris, and to keep order inside until the provisions were exhausted, he has succeeded.

If he wished to force them to raise the siege he has failed.

His military critics complain that, admitting he could not do the latter, he ought, by frequent sorties, to have endeavoured to prevent them sending troops to their covering armies.

One thing is certain, that all his sorties have failed not only in the result, but in the conception.

As a consequence of this, the French soldiers, who more than any other troops in the world require, in order to fight well, to have faith in their leader, have lost all confidence in him.
We have had no pigeon for the last eighteen days, and the anxiety to obtain news from without is very strong.