The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-25 00:00:00

THE LATE SORTIE FROM PARIS.

In a communication from Paris, dated January 21, the
special correspondent of the Standard observes :—History,
I suppose, will decide whether we,owe the non-success of
every offensive movement made under the walls of this
capital to the vitiating influences of a city life, or to the
incapacity of the military chiefs to conduct such opera-
tions ; or again, is it not possible that it will be found
that both have concurred, in their respective spheres, to
render any grand and decisive engagement entirely
out of the question? We are all equally tired of
Governmental proclamations announcing the arrival of
the decisive moment ; and earnest appeals to our rulers for
energetic action. On Thursday morning we were treated
to another specimen of that rhetoric of Messrs. Jules
Favre and Co. Here it is :

" Citizens,—The enemy are killing our wives and
children; they bombard us night and day; they throw
shells on our hospitals. Not a single voice in the whole
city is mute ; all join in the cry 'To arms !' Those
amongst us who can offer their lives on the field of battle
will march to meet the foe ; those who remain at home
anxious to shew themselves worthy of their fellow citizens'
heroism will give proof, if it be necessary, of the greatest
self-sacrifice as another means of devoting themselves to
the cause of `La Patrie.' Let us suffer; let us die, if
need be ; but let us conquer ! Vive la Republique !"
Had this been the first of its type we should
have naturally been led to believe that some great
enterprise was about to be undertaken, especially
when we find that General Le Flo has been
nominated Governor of Paris and Minister for War
in the absence of General Trochu. I must own that I
had a despairing sort of hope that the Commander in
Chief of the numerous army composed of troops more or
less fit to take the field that have been assembled in Paris
had at last decided to make a serious effort to break
through the Prussian lines, and that he would be suc-
cessful. Whatever the future may have in store
for us, if in the end he succeed in joining the
provincial armies—if, in fact, the present operations, so
unfortunate in the very outset, are crowned with ulti-
mate success—the fact will always remain that through
some mismanagement the left, commanded by General
Ducrot, did not arrive on the scene of action till
four hours later. than the time appointed ; that
Vinoy's column, nevertheless, occupied Montre-
tout ; that he was there vigorously attacked by
the Prussians, who returned to the assault ; that his men
barely escaped being put to the rout ; 9,nd that in the
end he was obliged to give the word of command,
"retreat." Besides this we are all aware that a large
body of National Guards were kept in reserve all day, and
that they were not sent to reinforce the wavering column,
but at nightfall received orders to return to Paris to sleep
peacefully. in their respective homes. We are not all
military geniuses, but on reading the account of the day's
fighting one cannot avoid exclaiming, " Why on earth
was not the left supported by these reservos?" From the
meagre information that we possess, it would seem that
all went well with the right and centre, and
that it was simply the miscarriage of the left
which turned what promised to be a victory into
something very much like a defeat. On Thursday even-
ing the Boulevards were more crowded than usual; we had
received good news; it was reported that the enemy had
been repulsed on all sides, The scene was very diffe-
rent, however, to the former enthusiasm, when, on
the 2nd of December, it was stated the victory was
on our side, the whole town ran mad with joyous
excitement ; on the 19th January they looked almost
incredulously at the bearer of good tidings, and but a faint
ray of fearful hope animated their countenances. The
news soon spread, and people were beginning to think that
there was some ground for believing it ; they were cruelly
undeceived before many hours.

Mr. Joseph Burnley Hume, the eldest son of the
late Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., died on Saturday last. He
was 52 years of age.

At a ragged school meeting the Bishop of Man-
chester said secular education alone would be a blessing,
although an inferior one to a religious education.

The Cape mail brings no tidings of Dr. Living-
stone. The reported arrival of the traveller at Mozam.
bique had not been confirmed.

The death is announced of Sir William Verner,
K.C.H., the first baronet, long known in the House of
Commons as the Conservative member for Armagh. He
was born in 1782.

The Secretary of the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution writes to us :—" Some friends having ex-
pressed to me their regret that Mr. Andrew S. Lamb,
barrister-at-law, and son of Mr. Lamb, the inventor of
the well-known ship's lifeboat, should recently have been
convicted at the Old Bailey of felony, I trust you will
allow me to state, through the medium of the iSun,
that Mr. Andrew S. Lamb is not the person so con-
victed."