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The War Correspondence of the Daily News, 1870, Ed. With Notes, Forming a Continuous History of the War Between Germany and France. Continued
The War Correspondence of the Daily News 1870 Ed With Notes Forming a Continuous History of the War Between Germany and France Continued Author:Daily news Title: The War Correspondence of the Daily News, 1870, Ed. With Notes, Forming a Continuous History of the War Between Germany and France. Continued From the Recapture of Orleans by the Germans to the Peace General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1871 Original Publisher: Macmillan Notes: This is a black and white OCR ... more »reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER XV. By the middle of December the Pigeon had come to be considered in Paris ns a sacred bird. It was the boast of the investors that not a mouse could enter or leave Paris without their permission ; but they could neither hinder the escape of pigeons from the beleaguered capital, nor wholly prevent the besieged from receiving communication from the world without. It was, however, the pigeon, and the pigeon only, that could carry from the departments into the capital messages over which the enemy could exercise no censorship or control. The pigeon carried, under its wing the letter that raised the hopes of two millions of people, or plunged them in momentary despair; and one of the most plaintive of the laments that were sent from Paris was, "We have had no pigeon for eight days." It must, however, be admitted that this admirable bird did not always fulfil the expectations that had been formed of it. As the winter season advanced, and the days became shorter, the number of messages despatched, but not received, sensibly increased. It appeared that the birds avoided night-work, and would only fly as long as they could see their way. Thus it became necessary, in the south of France, to have them conveyed northwards, and let loose as near as possible to the capital, so that they might be sure to arrive before dark. When this precaution was omitted, they frequently w...« less