The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-03 00:00:00

FRANCE HOPELESS►

The special correspondent of the Standard, writing
from the Royal Headquarters, Versailles, December 28,
says notice that here at Versailles, even as with you
in London, hope and fear play at perpetual see-saw, and
the oscillations of the game invariably become more rapid
and defined when there is a lull in actual operations in
the field. Immediately after Sedan, there was no
hope for France; but before September was over
half the world comforted her with the prophecy of
revenge. We waited, and there came the fall of
Metz. Once more all was over. Of a sudden
D'Aurelle de Paladines had organised victory, and Ducrot
was to second his delivering endeavours. The first four
days of December dissipated that dream, and yet again
despair was in the ascendant. Three weeks have elapsed,
and now there is, we are told, another rift in the clouds.
I may be blind, but I cannot see it. lam not the only
obstinate person; yet I grant there are some even here
who fancy that the victors are in danger and
not the vanquished. Faidherbe was coming
a few days ago. I do not think he will
come now. Indeed, I never thought tie would ; and
I see that neither did you. As at Orleans, so at Amiens.
The blow dealt by Manteuffel is not crushing any thore
than that of the Red Prince ; but both have, at any rate,
prevented that operation known in dancing as " crossing
of hands and down the middle." I look at the map. They
who were at La Fere, considerably south of Amiens, are
now at Albert (probably much further by this time), con-
siderably to the north of it ; and those who to the south-west
were lately at Chartres are now reported at Le Marls. People
talk of the forcible bulging out of the elastic band which
girdles Paris ; but what is that to the bulging out of the
other hand which was to encircle the besiegers ? This one
has been bulged out with a vengeance, and bulged out till
it has broken. It partly remains, and may possibly be
put together again ; but there are certain obstacles to the
operation which render it difficult if not improba-
ble. All prospect of Faidherbe swooping down
upon all the communications of the besiegers
with Germany has vanished ; and if Manteuffel
be credited with power sufficient to bar the
Northern approaches to the capital, his position and capa-
city will have been very modestly stated. But if he can
do that much, it is enough. General Chanzy has cer-
tainly distinguished himself in the art, no mean one in
war, of " getting away ;" but between that operation and
marching to the relief of Paris there is a considerable
margin. There remains Bourbaki. But has not the 7th
Corps reached Auxerre ? Reinforcements are coming
up by tens of thousands, and with them incal-
culable quantities of food and ammunition. This
German army in France is in no sense being starved. It
has abundance of everything—of men, cf materials, of
provisions. The same organisation which marked it at
first marks it now. The advent of Christmas in a foreign
land, and with danger of death around, inspired it for a
moment with a feeling of dejection ; but in very truths as
far as I can judge, it is neither sick nor sorry, but can still
go anywhere and de anything. Indeed, as I
have said before, nobody here really questions the
capacity of the invaders to carry their programme
through. You at a distance may very possibly be
sounder judges than those too close and too deeply
interested ; but what the chiefs of the German army
think, and what they inspire other people with
thinking, is a valuable fact. They have been
very wrong once or twice -- as I said at the com•
Inencement of this letter —in their estimate of the
power and measure of French resistance : but I sub-
mit they have never been wrong in the measure of their
own ability to overcome it. There is no understanding
of this, or, indeed, of any obstacle now; and I suspect
that the means brought to bear will soon be found to be
superfluously great. Of course, I speak only of keeping
Paris within Paris, and the rest of France at a respectful
distance from it. That is the whole problem of the pre-
sent stage of this deplorable war. The answer to anybody
here seems to me to be " Cireumspice 1"

THE RESOURCES OF THE BESIEGERS.
Commenting on the severity of the weather in France,
the Daily News special correspondent at the headquarters
of the Crown Prince of Prussia, in a letter from Ver-
sailles, December 29, concludes :—" Never had the
invaders believed that they would be followed
into France by their own stern climate. Every-
one stared at the frozen river, and walked upon
it, and hammered and stamped upon it, in blank amaze-
ment. The rash destruction which the French wrought
last September against the bridges of stone and iron
seemed to be partially justified when it turned out
that pontoons could not remain upon the river. Here
was Villeneuve St. George reduced to an icebridge, while
the heavy traffic went round by Corbeil. It did not
matter much, but it was a point of advantage to' those
who wish for delay. Of course, the French want delay
in all their adversaries' moves. A mile or two more
round, a trifle of extra wear and tear for the Prussians,
is a gain to the defenders of Paris. Time has been
their greatest want, and the fatal accuracy of the
invader their greatest danger. But enough of
digression about a small detour for the waggon trains.
There is no difficulty in crossing on foot, or in leading
over a saddle horse, and I hear that a light built carriage
has been got over by pushing it separately on the ice, and
leading the horses after it one by one. With their usual
energy and method the Germans have marked
out a good track upon the river, have laid
down planks and straw at the landing points, and
put men to watch the state of the ice under the pres-
sure which it now sustains. I hear from those who
have been upon the line of communication with Ger-
many, at Strasburg, at Nancy, and at Chalons, that signs
of the active reinforcement of the German armies in
France are plentiful. The Landwehr is pouring into the
conquered country like a winter torrent. Every station is
full of German uniforms, every train is crowded with in-
vaders, until political France seems called upon
to give up the ghost. The effort is the
strongest effort at complete conquest which Ger-
many can be expected to make. It is the final
" spurt" of the race, and it will probably outstrip the
best that the French can do. But we see how these
obstinate men of the Republic fighting blindly on have
taxed their powerful enemy to beat them. The mere size
and wealth of France has allowed her to call forth re-
sources which her military position since Sedan
seemed to paralyse. We can now see what
a tough job it would have been to get to
Paris, and to besiege it, had a system of French Land-
wehr existed. Under every disadvantage of political
change and military failure, the French have struggled
into a fourth month of Republicanism, and struggled
very nearly through it to a fifth month, despite fresh
defeats Without number. If the Garde Mobile were a
force with some years of previous exercise, and the
Francs-tireurs were men who had already been
obliged to serve in the army, there would be a
tolerably even chance for victors and vanquished
in the next round of the Franco-Prussian fight. We may
take warning by the French. Heaven grant that we may
never have occasion to try to make up for ruinous losses,
as they are trying to make up, by putting our
shoulders to the wheel at th@ eleventh hour But,
if we do, there will be all the difference in the world
between having trained people to recruit from and
having trusted to throwing away our lives to set things
straight, without any particular training. The Germans
who throng the railway lines of Northern France are
coming out with an excellent knowledge of their business,
whilst the raw French levies that struggle and die to
turn the tide are learning how to fight by bitter ex-

CRYSTAL PALACE.—One Shilling Day.—Mon-
day the admissions by season tickets were 2,605; do. on
payment, 3,539 ; total visitors, 6,144.
DEATH OF LORD DE BLAQUIERE.—We have to
announce the death of John de Blaquiere, Baron de
Blaquiere of Ardkill, county of Londonderry, in the
peerage, of •Ireland, and Great Alnager of Ireland, who
died ?yesterday morning at his residence in Stratford-
Vlace.