The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-09-03 00:00:00

PARIS IN A STATE OF SIEGE.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Duly Sews )
The Napoleonic pillar in the Place Vendome, the Bridge of
Jena, anti the Arch of T,hsimph, such are We sacrifices the
terrible Prescient are certain to demand. These Wortotta
trot It es rankle—so runs the story—in the German heart,
and the cry 'to Paris" is prompted Vey a fierce desire to de.
crop the monumentl of past victory and detest. But they
shall stand, look you, until long after the present mar .h on
Paris has been forgotten, rend our prezedcbildren's grand-
children shalt talk of the honours reined by Paris
at boy. To the Arch of Triumph first. Wit it do you see
on the way? Wrist do y di see amid the trees if
Boulogue and the plain of Length imps? Whit on
the long •ad of the Elysian Fields, and in the diverging high-
ways to the west, south, and north Carriages, wears, wag-
gon., carts, wheelharrrow., trays on wheel., all laden with
houseless goods, a I accompanied by their boneless owners,
al testifying to the e•lity of the defence Paris Is prepared
to make. Yon meet the stream at the SI Menne, and it Is
all bat unhreken dining a two hones' drive. A long Nor-
niaedy cart, drawn by clumsy broad barked faranhouse
steel,, who neigh and c tiger at city rights mid OnMol it until
they nulled you of the inis In the fate who emulated the
lepelog'a tricks; a cart, Wien with human treight as well as
with beds and hndOtent, chat s, fairies, faded hits of work In
Berlin wool framed anti glszed,a biribc.igeor two and ale t dog,
meets you first. An old crone Isom:lied at &dangerous hedged
on a pal Ilene of blue an d erhite, little children choir to the dusty
shafts, while men and women are wanting in • melancholy
procession at Its aide. Then • pr.vate OnmihUil with a coronet
on Its varnbhed sides, Its windows down, and its hinds
drawn, but with rare old china n.onsteis peeping from Its
half-open door, and a confused vista of orniolu. statuettes,
Armee., cabinet pictures, and or mete time-pleces presenting
itself from within. An opete cab with a pyrankhl Of hoiant
boxes and feminine trunks, in the midst of which a vestal of
sour exterior Is rye etted ; a harouche and pair, on the seats of
which are dressiug.cases, and a gilt cape with • Nitrating
macaw within; a market-cart, with bedding and pill ewe
again ; two vans, containlug betas, en the m the furniture
or a goal-al..d house; • rem hat tee nonderieript on wheels
drawn by a mule, and with the hetero-geneous contents of a
broker's shop emptied Into P, hi as much confusion a. if they
had been she.ken from a pepper-castor by giant hunts; a
little crowd on foot, whl h Is like a fumral, rare that the
bearers are in I lue lineal instead of black cloth. and that they
surriaind a brightly polished mahogany wardrobe Instead of
a coffin, tricel the eye in succe,sion. It is the BUM Into
Paris The houses for miles rowiel thn fortifications are
. deserted, and their recent occupants a e fl clime to within
the walls ley the hundred with their chattels and their families,
there to await the result of the enemy's advance. it Seem a
peculiar mode of preparing fines siege, this aummitlation in
tee threatened My if useless re. u he; hut they feel safer,
these poor people. to be at the capital than to Forest in is
the province., and the Government has tint hitherto said
them nay. D me the matt avenue of the E plan Fie Ids,
past the Arch of Ts iumph, on the summit of which the re are
such- re taking ole rvattons, and a crane font a savable
platform mysteriously at work; along the rrvols eltirtet by
the cottages wo h double coach-houses, by the wicked little
archilectnral prettineedi in stucco, from whose fetes dainty
white poodles with pink collars are wool to peep and by
the preterite-us vilias a delimited gentility, and we are
at the gates of the famous Bole. lloth» g Mit families
moving, airl closed houses all the way. Let the reader
c all the time when he seffrred last from the honors of
• a more," and then let hint multiply the vehicles containing I
his h. msehold good• Until they c .ver three miles of gredind,
and he will realise what bus taken place for the last forty.
elect t hours at the outskirts of, and tie m.in roads into,
Pads. It is only when wears through the flint line of fort'.
neat lons that tile houses are c!osed. Wilhite this limit the
various shops are rather baster than lintel. Yon most eat
said .1)1, k, however great your din rel., sail On the stet day
when the hest end most beloved MO! g !widened this life the
nick alll ainuredly take Mr • rders 'err dinner exactly a. If the
mo,rnful event hted not occurred. So the eating-11.m5.. and
Win. -shops are driving a roaring trade by reason of the extra
tin sod the heads nf .5,40 honwh44., and the owners of
do-cited farms, chat together not uncheerfuty imer he re-
freshing glair, they t elk of the enviesa of the weather for
their in, and the heaviness of the roads. It is Imposehrle to
, be dy lug for your c.din, Ty ell day born, and the necessity for
' a removal, and Its distres-log inconvenience mot los), having
heen -floe admitted. there is no 011 it. milieu at the
Preemien,s instead of getting out of thelr may. The trades-
people near the harriers are as chirpy a. possible. A small
fat Osten+ disconrse s On the absurdity of supposing that
the PrUelhthe will come, or that they are such fools,
and then boletit g his stomach at the convulsieg
militate of the tees, mho 11 we have seen the cattle 5114

sheep In the gartWnTcit tiii-Bast-"Tbere are morethoulands
of them than I can count, there Is enough meat for all of us
' for ten months, there Is no bit of ground in the whole piths
which Mu not he beast feeding. It I. droll this, It la droll
Look at them : thus they come WV, the carriages, with the
moan n. the children, and the men, their beds and the chains
and Ii to ask Paris to protect them—my faith, from Clint r
Ihe little won blows away some snuff from his forefinger
with great contempt, and having thus disposed of the enemy
sat afactorily, turns to his ,Luit-s and j :tete again, to the
point mime and dismay of big listeners, who are halt per-
suaded that they have taken fright too soon. It Is as well
for that merry little man that hot. uot within earrh•it of the
people who suspect and denounce, or his merriment might
take the incongruous I rni of a minglid prayer for mercy
and a pitiful avowal that he le 10,-euch to the heart's core,and
hating Primia with all hts might.