The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-04-15 00:00:00

THE REVOLUTION IN PARIS.

The following id from the Special Correspondent of
The Times .

VereSaLLlkei, Easter eunday Afternoon.
The troops of the Government are not making much head
against the Insurgents There has been some terrible light-
ing, but the successes gained by the troops are not faucet.'
up with vlcir ur 1 thot the this to want of discipline, athletics
of which I have seen even on the battle-held within the isst ,
two days
Prussia is becoming urgent. I believe there is no doubt
that on Friday night M. Tillers received a communication
from Count Bismarck which caused the Govornmeut to send
al. Fevre to the ilead.Qaarters of General Fabrice. Bismarck
has notified that If the Fromh Government are not master of
Faris by the 14th Inat, a tinsels.. Army will enter the
C•pitel, and occupy it until the pacification of the whole of
France as a guarantee for the fulfilin Alt of the Treaty with
I:erne:my the Commune is making Indirect apolicattous to
the representatives of Eugland, Italy, and. the United States
to arrange the quarrel with the Government and the Notional
Mamiely. The 31thisters of those Powers feel reluctant to
interfere In the national affairs of France. The C,anUni/le
wants an A.: mbLe CoAetictuxute, anti allegu that the exist-
ing A.,seuunly “ILMO to an end 1:gally on the ratification of
the preliminariea of peace
Nothing has yet come of the officious negotlatione under-
taken by the commercial gentlemen who came out from
Paris. ft appears that they could not even say that the
Commune would accept the terms they proposed to the leo-
vernment here. They are still in communication with the
lett At none of the encounters between the Prussians and
the Freud a around Parts did I see more severe fighting than
on Friday evening at the Courbevale end of the Bridge of
Neuilly. There was one barricade there and another on the
middle of the bridge : It had been resolved to carry those
barricades on Friday with the view of opening a way to
Paris by the Avenue de heftily. The division of General
Monaandoll was marched to Courhevole for the purpose, and
that General directed the movements Generale Pechot
and Beeson were also on the ground. I saw the action
from the glade of Valfrien. At three o'clo..k the artillery
opened fire, Valerien throwing 14 and 25 p.m' .1.118
front seven anti 14 pound guns agaqest Porte Misfiled and
the insurgents batteries on the taruparts close to that gate.
At the same moment the fire of eight thvenßounders arid of
four 1?-pounders was directed on the Fete du Pont at the
right batik of the river from the courbevole road and open
space to the left, and the cannon and mitroillcuses of
tiontandon's division enfiladed the Avenue haling down to
the encetnto. The insurgents vigorously replied with heavy
guns from Porte Mania and the ramparts, and with a
mitrailleuse battery on the banks of the river close to the
island. The troops possesthel themselves of the houses at
the angles of Buteaux and Ca arboreta, and from th, so at
half-peat three,, onsinenced a ,•tairsepot fin" ear the insurgents,
Dreadful was the thunder of artiDery, the running scr,arn of
nfitrailleuser and the thrill whizzing of thassepote for
a quarter of as hour, the whole of the region of
Cournevole and Neuilly was enveloped in a smoke so thick
that one ceaild see the lire hire from the cannon's mouth
and from esploding shells as lilt had been night. Insurgent*
were seen collecting in the Bois de Boulogne. Valerian
shelled them, but they got under cover. Troops entered the
wood and gave them chase they ran across towards the
Porte Maillot, The National Guards there fired, and so
steppe 1 the pursuit, but the shots from the Fort brought
down friends and foes alike. When the terrific din had
somewhat abated, and the smoke partially cleared sway, 1
saw a body of troops, each furnished with a sand-bag,
approach the barricade at the end of the bridge. The in-
surgent. had retreated to the second barricade. Putting the
sand-bags on the top of the barricade, the infantry crouched
behind it and tired volley after volley along the bridge, while
Valerian and all the military batteries kept sweeping the
avenue. In half an hoar the troops were on tire bridge. A
column of them was marched over it, and proceeded to
occupy the houses at St. .1 amen ou the right and at Neuttly
on the left. A caisson left by the insurgents on the bridge
exploded and killed General Beason on the spot. The firing
of artillery was still very hot but now, four o'clock, the
fusillade had ceased near the bridge.
. - - -

The moment a portion of the troops had passed the bridge, 1
some gentlemen from Versailles rushed down by a site path I
to the courbevoie side of the river, and two of them, M. I
Fano% and M. Bourillillat, arranged e hospital In an empty I
house, and the Comte ile liamanet, Mr Farley, and others I
went on the bridge and carried off the wounded, the cur,'
of the parish was also most active in this work of charity. 1
General l'echot was found to be badly wounded Ile died In
the Press Ambulance a short time after he was carried in
there. It was nearly six o'clock when the artillery re
slackened and the struggle came to a conclusion for the day.
Just then two rifled 24-pounders arrived at Vslerien, and
were at once placed In position.
During the tight no fewer than it officers were killed an
wounded on the Government side. The bridge and the en-
trance of the Avenue were strewn with dead and wounded
insurgents At 11 at night the division of General Greuier
was marched out from Versailles to take the "dace of the
division of General Niontandon, who had been wounded. By
some bad management the Insurgents were allowed to regain
possession of a barricade on the Neuilly side, but they were
driven from It again yesterday morning. It was reported
that Porte Maillot was to be taken 1 wee near the ground
from morning till night, but no attempt at storming the in-
surgent position was made, the artillery combat was renewed
, early and continued till dark, and the troops succeeded in
occupying the houses In the Avenue de N entity as far as the
, Church but the infantry operations were confined to firing
from windows and behind walls. The batteries at Porte
Maillot and close to the ramparts on the right of the gate
shelled Courbevole and the other positions of the troops.
Va'erien, with 4S-pound shells, kept up a constant tire on
Porte Maillot and its redoubts, and the field batGries of the
.Irenfer Division swept the Avenue up to the Are de Triomphe.
One shell struck the Arc itself. .M both sides hundreds at
spectators were out to witness the performance. I saw a
large body of National Guards prepare to march down from
I the Arc de Triomphe at about four o'clock. They were
arrested by the shelling of the troops.
• • • •

To-day the artillery combat has been again resumed, but
nothing of importance has resulted. Die battle between
Clamart, eh:anion, and !I audon on one side, and Mont rouge,
Vanves, and buy on the ether, also proceeds, but without
promise of avy speedy result.
••^ • •

Last evening NI. liners obtained a vote of confidence In-
directly by a majority of ten, in a house of Ail The Chamber
decided that In all the towns of France the Mayors should be
elected by the Municipal Councils. M. niers declared that
if Ms amendment was not reversed he would regard it as s
decision affecting the existence of the Government The
Assembly at once reversed its decision In towns of over 20,090
inhabitants. The Government is to name the Mayors. The
good offices of Mr. Malet, at the English Embassy, Paris,
have been invoked In aid of Mr. Hogan, an Irish Jesuit
arrested by the Commune The delegation of the Commune
said, in reply to a communication from Mr. Malet, that
Jt suite were of no nationality. The Commune would, how-
ever, give Mr. Hogan up. The rev, gentleman was found In
a smell Co arn in which a number of priests are being kept In
close uontinement.

The Correspondent. of The Tmcs further writes

The few shells which have fallen in the midst of the
Champs LlytUs, striking inoffensive Men and killing women
and children, have done hat re harm to the il ,vernment of the
Assembly than their late victories can have done them good.
They have brought back, unwisely no doubt, memories of the
worst Jaya of the siege, and given rise to analogies which It
would have been better to have avoided. To take Paris by
main force it is necessary to employ great engines of &statics I
Men, but It would have been prudent to have done so only at
the moment when It was determined to take the place by
storm. This Indecisive and Intermittent cautioned° not being
followed by a vigorous blow too much resembles her imtion not 1
to give a little courage to the tired battalions of the Com-
mune. It brings them new adherents, who had up to this
time held back from service, and gives occasion to a con-
siderable portion of the population of Pais to think that
Versailles Is not strong enough to triumph, and that, there-
fore, as this Commune, which was only to have lived for a
few hours, threatens to prolong its existence, it is better,
after all, to go with it than against It. Thus, the Communist
army, which four days ago was standing at bay, and which
might have been vanquished on the 2nd of April almost with-
out a blow Is now strengthened, recruited, reorganized The
Iron band of General Cluseret executes to the letter
the edicts which it has signed. Men between the ages
of 19 aud 40 are sought for and incorporated by force, as
, well as those soldiers who have not returned to their
homes or their regiments. The gates of the city and of the
railroads are rigorously guarded. Only women, children,
and men over forty years of age are allowed to pass out.
This body of men, incorporated with the Communist., drilled
and mixed up with them, put lobo barracks or encamped,
as M. Cluseret haa announced his Intention of doing, will
,
make up a force of from 1,4,000 to 200,000 men, against
which the 80,400 men of enmities will soon become
inefficient. The National Guards who have ditherto
remained neutral, and even those who were hostile to
, the Commune, once incorporated in the ranks of its
partisans, will march against the 'enemy,' and
will become more formidable to it than its first adveraaries,
' because they will bring with them better clizeipllue, truer
courage and a greater degree of intelligence. The hag for
which they tight is not their own, but it is a Hag, and once
hostilities are begun, passion and military ;velour urging
1 them on, they will be seen to support valiantly a cause which
they did not like, which many detested, but with which they
are associated by circumstances, by the force of events, and
i by the deserted condition in which they are left."