received from Mr. Washburne, Minister of the United States, and of the negotiations which had been made for the exchange of prisoners between the Government and the Commune. I then recalled to him the allusion made by Raoul Rigault to new negotiations. He told me that he knew about them, and that Mr. Washburne had been conducting them with great zeal.
"He then returned to the subject of his defence, of the necessity for delay, and of the composition of the jury. He spoke with great sweetness, with perfect freedom of mind, and sometimes with an irony without bitterness. He told me that for some time they had allowed him to walk in the yard, in company with either the Abbé Duguerry or President Bonjean.
"'The President,' he added, 'proposed to defend me, but I told him that he would have quite enough to do in defending himself.'
"The Archbishop then spoke of his sister, who had been arrested with him and afterwards released. I asked him if I could render him any service; if he had any letters to be transmitted; if he had need of anything.
"'Nothing,' he said; 'I have need of nothing, unless it is to be left here; let them come here to shoot me if they wish, but I could not go to the trial; the doctor must have told them so.'
"After half an hour's conversation, I offered him my hand, and pressed his with emotion. More than once I had felt the tears coming. He bade me good-by with effusion, thanking me warmly for my charity. My visit, the assurance I gave him that the judgment would not take place immediately, the promise that I made to come and see him often, had evidently raised his spirits. When I rose, he threw off the rough woolen blanket that half covered him, and, holding my hand in his, conducted me to the door.
