The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-04-22 00:00:00

THE MILITARY ASPECT OF AFFAIRS

AT PARIS.
On the present aspect of InVaty aff,lrs In and around
rad% aSOU a ao, much haa been eant,on by the Coffer-
p waflents of Eugete Loevapoptrs, '• An Otlieer," writing to
The noes, map:—

-
"The extraordinary and unprecedented nature of
the events now transpiring at Paris may render M.
teresting sime remarks embodying the result of a
careful observation of the situation from the point of
view of a ndlitary man, more or less trained to study
war and history, who has been enabled to visit the
entire position of the troops investing Paris on its
western side, and also to examine the condition of
affairs on the side of the Communists. It is only by
such personal observation that the truth as to the
military operations can be ascertained, for neither the

accomits given by the ne wawa of Versailles and
nor the official statements of the Commune, nor the
authoritative declaration, of M. Thiers to the National
Assembly, can be relied upon an truly representing the
situation."

After rewewing the rogationu of the Versailles Army end
the Army or the Commune and anticipating the probsble
remlte of military oporations of a sert di. nature, which
seem almost tuevitab'e, the writer continue.

" For in all these operations the character of the
troops must be considered. ()i the prisoners captured
and taken to Versailles 12 per cent. were convicted
felons, 1-1 per cent. declared they were fighting from
coavh.tion, and 74 per cent, that they were tightiug
against their will. Making every allowance for exaggera-
tion in this last Dumber, it may be asserted that halt
the National Guards in Paris have in wish to continue
the struggle. Such a state of things] can scarcely be be-
lieved in England, where some sense of duty exists ;
but it is, alas! only a sign of the uttr r degradation of
the French people. No more painful eight can be
imagined than that which Paris now presents in a
handful of armed ruffians terrorizing a whole populaa
titan. A battalion marches clown the Boulevards corn.
osed of those dregs of the gutter who are only
stirred to the surface in the days of revolution, men
whose faces are such as the imagination has
aearcely cone -iced countenances that seem to
be the creations of the nightmare of a Fueeli.
The pavement is crowded with men who belong to
the Party of Order, as it is called, which outnumbers
the entire National Guard, and exceeds tenfold that
portion of the National Guard which rules the rest.
They shrug their shoulders, grumble, and turn back to
look at Punch or performing rats. They say, forsooth,
that it is Admiral Salaam's fault ; that they have their ,
sums, but that he nianqua it son nffaire, sod so they
have no leaders. No leaders! What, not one man
among 1(0,000 who will deliver Paris from this hideous
slavery, and restore to life her who is now worse than
a city of the dead. One may still find oysters and
truillea for dinner at the Troia Fr lo.ort, may sees comedy
of Molert's well-played at Francais, or a farce at the
Gymnase ; but among all the goin meta of Paris or the
able-bodied men who crowd the theatree, it seems as
if there could not be found the courage of a man or a
spark of the spirit of duty. Communication between
Paris and Versailles is practically free ; there is DO
restriction on the passage of wornen. old men, children,
or foreigners in and out by St. Denis, and yet the
Party ulOrder cannot concert a movement simulta.
neously with the troops of Versailles. It is mans
strong."
The writer thus concludes his at Bele :

" There is a point on which I havenot touched. The
Prussians may cease to be neutral. In that maim the
conditions of the problem are at once changed. If the
Prussians should either use their troops to suppress the
Commune or open the route of St. Denis to the troops
of Versailles, the ditlicultiis of the capture of Paris be-
come enormously reduced. A simultaneous attack by
the Porto' Maillot and St. Denis would be fat,' at
once to the Commune. With Bismarck's hatred of
Republicanism, and with the Prussian desire to get the
money due by France, to which prospect this insurrec-
tion is so fatal, it Beems more than probable that a re-
quest for this aid by the Government of M. Tillers
would meet-with a favourable response. But if such a
request be made, it is surely only another sign of the
national degradation. There was a time once in
Prance when honour was bold dearer than life; but if,
when there is every prospect of SUCCORS for a direct
attack in the present positions, while France is suf-
fering daily humiliation at Prussian hands, while
vengeance against Prussia is the popular phrase—if,
under these conditions, her Government and her army
stoop to seek favours at Prussian hands, then bag her
demoralization touched its loweet point, and the slough
of abjezt degradation has, Indeed, closed over the
hoad of the fair, bright, brave nation that once pro-
duced a Duguearlin and a Bayard."