The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-21 00:00:00

'FRE WAIL

TILE SIEGE OF PARIS.

(BY BALLOON MAIL.-FROM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
OF THE " CENTRAL PRESS.")

PARIS, January 12.
The reckless firing of the Prussians creates great indig-
nation among the people, the more so that it is suspected
they fire designedly on the schools and hospitals. The
doctors of the hospital for sick children, (the Enfan:`,-
Jesus,) protest in the name of humanity, of science, the
rights of man, and the International Convention of
Geneva, against the bombardment of that hospital. struck
by five shells during the night, in which at the
present moment there are GOO sick children'.
Thirty shells of large calibre fell on the hospital de la •
Pitid. ..11. woman was killed. and the invalids in one of the
wards have been taken to the cellars. The school in the
establishment of St. Nicholas has also been visited by
shells, and unfortunately several children were killed. The •
funeral of these innocent victims of the war was
performed at Notre Dame des Champs, when a large
number of municipal authorities and other notabilities
were present. M. Leroy, the assistant mayor of the
arrondissement, superintended. During the service the
numerous assembly were deeply moved by the arrival of
M. Jules Favre, who came to share in the solemn service.
The curd, M. l'Abbe Duchesne, thanked the Minister pub-
licly for this spontaneous expression of sympathy. • M. Favre
accompanied the procession to the cemetery of Montpar-
nasse, walking after the officiating priest, who headed the
cortege, which was very long, and was joined by the
children of the establishment, and a large detachment of
the National Guard. After the service was concluded
M. Favre made a brief address, expressing the regret of
the Government at the melancholy incident, and thanking
the various religious bodies for their efforts, alike on the
battle field and among the .children of the poor. The
courage of the population remains unshaken, but news is
eagerly looked for, though it comes tardily. On the 9th
the Governor received a despatch from Gambetta, dated
December 23rd, and the news relative to the provincial
armies at once occasioned a rise of 35 centimes on the.
Bourse. The bakers have begun making bread with
rice.

Some successful reconnaissances have been carried on,
a joint one by sappers and sailors in front of Fort Issy
was especially fortunate, and twenty-one prisoners were I
made. The celebrated conservatories of the museum of
the Luxembourg are destroyed. Destruction is also going
on in the Bois de Boulogne, where eight hundred men are
employed cutting wood.
The Prussians persist in firing on the Hospital of the Val
de Grace, and orders have consequently been given to
transport all the German wounded now in Paris
to that establishment. Another charge against
the Prussians is that of using petroleum bombs.
Several houses have been fired by them, and
when the bombe explode the smell ,of petroleum is
unmistakeable. If the WAS continue it will be the most
horrible on record, for the desire for vengeance is daily
increasing, and Trochu in his letter to King William, pro-
testing against the massacre of an inoffensive population,
threatened severe reprisals.
The Journal des Debats has an article on the effects of
the bombardment. A number of shells have burst in the
Rue des Ecoles, and caused great damage, but only of a
material character. One shell burst in the midst of some
blocks of stone, which were turned black, but none were
crushed. Two workmen wore killed on the ground
floor of a house in the Rue St. Mddard, and
ten little children were mortally wounded in
the yard of the same house by the bursting of shells,
A shell burst in the cellar of a house where the people
were taking shelter, but none of them were wounded,
though the fragments were scattered far and wide. A
young girl and her brother were killed by the shells
which fell on their house in the Rue St. Marcel. The
Polytechnic School sustained some Injuries from
' the shots, but ao one was hurt in the
establishment. Crowds flocked iu the neighbourhoods
where the shells had fallen in order -to observe the
damage that had been caused by them. A house in Rue
Monsieur le Prince was struck with great violence, and a
projectile penetrated through the walls. A child was
slightly wounded and a cat was cut in two. In the Rue
Mathilde a shell burst on the fourth storey of the house
and went through the lower ceilings, so that the four
stories are all comprised in one. An old lady, who was
in the room when the shell burst, was not injured, though
close to her pillow was a fragment of shell weighing ten

pounds.
BltVariali prisoners state that, every effort is being
directed against Mont Val6rien. Should the enemy
succeed hi taking that fort, end one of the southern
forts, which now appears to be his object, every- part of
Paris can be bombarded.

THE EFFECTS OF THE DOIIBARDIUM. I
Slowly the Prussians are discovering that there is a groat ' .
and most important difference between " silent" and
" silenced "as applied to Fort Issy. That the said fort
has been " silent" for hours together is true enough ; but
that'it is silenced was shewn not to be true the other day
by its suddenly pouring a perfect storm of shells into
the already sufficiently ill-treated Ville d'Avray,
Many of the embrasures are damaged, and have been
filled up with sandbags, but so far as one can see with a
powerful glass, little damage has been done to the scarp,
and, of course, still less to the counterscarp. In spite of
all the reports which have been prevalent in Versailles,
there was nothing which could by any means be held to
be a practical breach to be seen in Issy a oouple of days
ago. Of course it is very pleasant to telegraph to Berlin
that Issy, Vanves, and Montrouge are silent : but even
if they were not only silent but silenced, it is hard to see
that there was much chance of the red, black, and gold
banner of the Deutches Reich taking the place of the tri-
colour on their flagstaffs. If I am correctly informed, the
spies who have come in from Paris are compelled to admit
that, while the bonibardment of the town itself has caused
some material damage, it has had no depressing influence
on the Parisians, but rather the reverse.- - Correspondent of
the Pall Mall Gazette.

SUBTERRANEAN PARIS.
The subterranean passages of Paris have already played an
important part during the siege of the capital, and now that
the bombardment renders it imperative that some shelter
as complete should be sought by the inhabitants of the
most exposed parts of the capital, they will probably soon
cease to be the mysterious terra incognita, of which the
French speak with admiring awe. A pamphlet just pub-
lished (Mr. Mitchell's "Siege Life in Paris") describes one of
what he calls " political tunnels,", outlets from the Go-
vernment buildings :—The subterranean passage that
figured historically in the Revolution of October was one
that very few people had ever heard of. Behind the
Hotel de Ville, as everybody knows, stands the great
Caserne Napol4on. It stares across into the municipal
palace, something as Mont Val6rien on a larger scale
does into Paris. The Hotel de Vile, formerly
the focus of civil agitations, can, since the First
Napoleon, be garrisoned against an 4mente.
Leading from the Caserne Napol4on to the
Hotel de Ville is an underground passage of considerable
width. The distance is very short—not above a hundred
yards. The only difficulty was that no one knew of it.
It was long before the Provisionals of September dis-
covered what means and appliances a French Government
possess. It was late at night before they became aware
for what convenient purposes the inventions of Napoleonic
tyranny might now be used. As for the Provisionals of
October they discovered the passage much too late ;
their first notice of it was the sight of the armed
Mobiles defiling from its doors into their
invaded stronghold. Meantime Troehu also escaped.
How the Garde Nationale got into the Hotel, past
the guards set by the Reds, no one can properly explain.
It is certain that almost immediately after they got in
they were forcibly expelled. In this retreat, or flight—
for such it may be called—they managed to take with
them the rescued general through a scene of hideous
tumult and uproar. No one knows the exact time that
this strange scene took place. It was some time, however,
before the arrival of the Mobiles from the Caserne.
That settled the question ; the usurpers instantly " caved
in." These dramatic surprises are not wanting in the
elements of romance which abound in the unfolding tale
of this marvellous siege.