The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-27 00:00:00

DISTURBANCES IN PARIS.

The Journal Oificiel of Sunday morning contains the
announcement that the Government of the National De-
fence had determined that the Command-in-Chief of the
Army of Paris should henceforth be separated from the
Presidency of the Government. General Vinoy is ap-
pointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Paris, and
the title and functions of Governor of Paris are
suppressed. General Trochu retains the Presidency
of the Government. On the afternoon of the same day
occurred disturbances at the Hotel (le Ville. In conse-
quence of those disturbances, the following decree was
issued by the Government of the National Defence :

" Whereas, in consequence of criminal instigations, of
which certain clubs have been the centre, civil war
has been entered upon by certain agitators, disa-
vowed by the entire population ; And whereas,
it is necessary to put an end to these manoeuvres, which,
under present circumstances, constitute a danger to the
country, and which if renewed would tarnish the hitherto
irreproachable honour of the defence of Paris,—lt is
therefore decreed-Ist. The clubs are suppressed until
the end of the siege. The buildings in which they
hold their meetings will be immediately closed.
Offenders will be punished in conformity with the
law. 2nd. The Prefect of Police is entrusted with the
execution of the present decree.
" Done at Paris, 22nd January, 1871.
"GENERAL TROCHU, JULES FAVRE, JULES FERRY,
GARNIER - PAGES, EMMANUEL ARAGO, EUGENE
PELLETAN, JULES SIMON, ERNEST PICARD. "

On Saturday night the prison of Mazas, in which
the rioters arrested on the 31st of October
were confined, was forced open by the people,
and the prisoners were released. It seems that
when the battalion of National Guards which
were to relieve guard went in the morning they found the
post occupied by another battalion, composed
of men devoted to M. Flourens, M. Pyat, and their
friends, and who were there without written orders.
Measures were taken to prevent disorder, but in the
night the building was surrounded by a band of men
armed with Chassepots, and the crowd forced their way
in, obtained the keys, and liberated the prisoners.
The special correspondent of the Telegraph, in his letter
dated Paris, January 23, says :—The incidents which
occurred yesterday at the Hotel de Ville fill many
columns in the journals of this morning, but they
have made only a slight impression upon the public
mind. On the night of Saturday the prison of
Mazas was forcibly broken open by some rioters,
and from it were taken forth in triumph the political
prisoners, Gustave Flourens and Milliere ; the latter of
whom gained—thanks to your Special Correspondent at
Tours—some celebrity in England as one of the most
noticeable witnesses who gave evidence at Pierre Bona-
parte's trial. Immediately after his release, Gustave
Flourens and his fellow rioters made a descent
upon the Mairie of the Twentieth Arrondisse-,
ment—that is to say, the Arrondissement of Menil-
montant, which comprise the turbulent quartiers
of Belleville, St. Fargeau, Pere la Chaise, and La Cha-
ronne —and endeavoured there to instal the headquarters
of the insurrection. Finding, however, that the insur-
gents were few in numbers and scantily provided with
muskets, they determined to evacuate the Mairie, but not
until they had appropriated 2,000 rations of bread, which
were destined to be distributed next morning in the
starving district of Belleville. Before leaving
the Mairie they agreed and bound themselves together
by an oath to meet next day at noon upon the Place in
front of the Hotel de Ville. Thitherlaccordingly, at

noon yesterday, repaired some hundred of the rioters—
chiefly soldiers belonging to the 101st war battalion of the
National Guards—and disposed themselves for a row.
Shortly after one o'clock they proceeded to fire
upon the few Mobiles to whose custody the Hotel
de Ville was entrusted, and severely wounded the
adjutant of a Breton regiment in the head and
arm. -On seeing their adjutant fall, the Mobiles returned
the fire, and the result is, that upon the Place de l'Hotel
de Ville five persons—two of them .ehildren—were killed,
and eighteen wounded. Simultaneously a musketry fire
was poured into the windows of the Hotel de Ville from
the first of Some houses occupied by the rioters on'
the east side of the Place, and the old casemates
above the equestrian statue of Henri Quatre were
riddled with bullets. But presently the National Guards
came pouring along the Rue de Rivoli, regiment after
regiment ; and order was restored -after an interval of
twenty minutes of turbulent anarchy. The one signifi-
cant fact which must not be overlooked is, that yester-
day, on the 128th day of the siege of Paris,
blood was, for the first time, shed in an intestine '
brawl. I do not think the ultimate effects of
thij riot will be other than beneficial as regards our pro-
spects of future tranquillity. In the Journal Officiel of
this morning, the " clubs " are forbidden for the future ;
and two most revolutionary indcendiary journals, the I
Combat and the .Reveil, have been suppressed. These
manifestations of stronghanded determination on
the part of the Government and General Vinoy
to put down internal disturbances have been everywhere
greeted with satisfaction by the public. Despite the flut-
terings of disaffection, of which once and again the Hotel
de Ville has been the scene, Paris was never so
quiet or so. triste. You may traverse any part of
the town at night, amid the profound obscurity of
unlighted streets, without the least fear of molestation.
The once gay capital of Paris, brilliant with midnight
cafes, and radiant with innumerable theatres, has settled
down into a darksome city, compared with which Bruges
is an exciting and Antwerp an intoxicating place of
abode. Meantime, the Prussians are still striving,
though utterly without effect, to shell us into
submission. We shall capitulate either when General
Vinoy has caused some five or six thousand more of our
hapless Mobiles to be killed and wounded; or when our
stock of bread has run out. But, although under no
circumstances can the event be far distant, it seems to
me probable that until fifteen or twenty days have come
and gone we shall not see the end.