The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-09 00:00:00

THE SINKING OF SHIPS AT DUCLAIR.

The melancholy story of the sinking by the Prussians in
the River Seine of a whole squadron of English colliers
has, says the Army and Navy Gazette, now been well cir-
culated throughout the country, and we must confess
that we are not a little surprised, not only at the want of
sympathy exhibited generally towards the immediate
sufferers, but at the absence of an expression of public
indignation at the insult offered to our flag. The law of
nations may or may not be in favour of the aggressors in this
instance. It is evidently a moot point, and consequently we
are thoroughly justified in seeking for a prompt reparation.
We ought to deal with the new Kaiser's advisers as we
would deal with a Belgian or Dutch Ministry, if, instead
of in waters under the control of the Germans, the late
tragedy had been enacted in the Scheldt or in the Maas.
There is, unhappily, a feeling widely spread through the
length and breadth of the land that the conduct we
pursued when Don Pacifico exclaimed. or some one else
exclaimed for him, " Civis Romanus Sum," still pervades
our councils, and that we are too apt to bluster when we
havea difference with a weak Power, and too much disposed
to cringe to a strong one. It may be convenient, but
unquestionably, in our opinion, it is unfortunate for
Ministers that Parliament is not sitting at present.
It is convenient because they may choose, without being
found fault with, their own mode of proceeding, and it is
unfortunate because they cannot find a precedent for
assuring the public day by day that the national honour
is safe in their hands, and will be protected, at all hazards,
against all corners. The life of an Englishman has been
lost in consequence of the seizure and destruction of the
vessel to which he belonged, and according to the law
which would be laid down by our judges, supposing the
act had b en committed within the jurisdiction of their
courts, a crime of great magnitude has been committed.
The fact that so little value is placed upon human life
pending the murderous warfare now carried on in our un-
fortunate neighbour's territory, that a poor boy's life is
taken as a recompense for having ferried his murderers
over from one side of the river to the other, may possibly
be regarded with contempt by those who are accustomed
to look with a composure either forced or real, on an
amount of carnage disgraceful to the age in which we live.
The French, however their exhibition of patriotism may
be regretted by those who are longing for a termina-
tion of the war, may still persist in their endeavours to
drive the invader from their soil, and the Prussians
may still be resolved upon declining to enter into any
peace negotiations until Paris is prostrate at their feet.
All this is the business of the belligerents, but it is our
business to watch with a jealous eye over the doings of
either party, so far as British interests are concerned. A
large amount of property has been forcibly taken posses-
sion of against the protests of the representatives of its
owners. We are not so unreasonable as to suppose that it
would not be possible to justify the means used on this
occasion by the end, but much would, of course,
depend upon the manner in which the transaction was
carried out ; but the death of George Simpson, the rob-
bery of the seamen, and other acts of the assailants, are
more serious matters, and cannot be explained away, and
demand the most rigorous investigation. Our Ministers
may be acting in every way as we could desire, but we,
like the rest of the world, are kept in the dark.

THE DEPOT SYSTEM.—TIIB authorities are pretty
well at their wit's end what to do with the depots of regi-
ments serving abroad. Thus much, we believe, has been
decided : the affiliated depot system is to cease, and no
Depot Battalions are to be re-established. The de pas of
Scotch regiments will be quartered in Scotland. It has
been generally proposed that the depot of a regiment shall
be stationed in the county wherein the regiment, was
originally raised, but a difficulty presents itself in the
carrying out of this plan in the want of barrack accomo-
dation.—Broad Arrow.
KINAHAN'S LL WHISKY.—This celebrated and most
delicious old mellow spirit is the very cream of Irish
Whiskies, in quality unrivalled, perfectly pure, and more
wholesome than the finest Cognac Brandy. Note the
red seal, pink label, and cork branded " Kinahan's LL
Whisky." New Wholesole Depot, 6A, Great Titchfield-
street, Oxford-street, W.

THE WAR.

FROM THE BESIEGED CAPITAL.

PARIS, December 30.

Melancholy news has been received in Paris. Fart I
Avron has been evacuated under the fire of eight bat-
teries. There are in Paris large numbers of killed and
wounded, but through the effect of the famous
Krupp guns is incontestable, they do not do the
same mischief in the forts where the defenders are
sheltered under casemates. The news of the loss of Avron
has made an unfavourable impression on the public, but
it has not modified the general determination to fight to
the last. Some persons even think that the determination
with which the enemy is fighting, proves his
increasing anxiety to make an end of the war ; but
in any case the bombardment must be a good
deal heavier before it produces the slightest effect
on the surrender of the town. There has been, however,
a growing feeling of impatience at the Government delays,
which has been exhibited in the Council itself. Some of
the civil members of the Administration demanded that
Trochu should exhibit more energy, and even talked
about his resignation. Jules Favre and Picard, according
to one report, spoke strongly in this sense, but Trochu
keeps firm to his "original plan," and his confidence in it
is in no way diminished. There is a feeling in many
quarters in favour of daily movements, which should keep
the enemy on the alert, and compel him to retain all his
besieging force round the capital, so as to prevent him
from reinforcing the troops opposing the Army of the
Loire. Several journals have taken this up, and there
bas been a talk of popular demonstrations on the subject.
Hitherto there has been nothing of the kind ; and it may,
therefore, be hoped that the common sense of the public
will prevail.

This morning there is an extraordinary unanimity in
the press. All the papers demand more vigorous action.
General Schmitz, whose very name is unwelcome from
its Prussian sound, irritates the people by the despond-

ing tone of his reports as head of the staff, and seems '
to be affected by that exclusive spirit which is scarcely
willing France should be saved by new soldiers and a
Republic when she was ruined under the empire and the
armies of the old school, At any rate, if they have not
yet achieved success, the French have at least under the
Republican rule recovered theirhonour. The feeling of dis-
content is in fact growing dangerously strong, and if Trochu
does not take some energetic action within the next few
days, he will be overthrown, not by the rioters of the
streets, for there are none ; not by the poorer classes, who
endure their sufferings unflinchingly ; but by the more
enlightened classes who have hitherto been his chief
support.
The hardships of the change of weather press on both
belligerents. Bavarians are said to be constantly surren-
dering, and give terrible accounts of the sufferings they
endure from cold and sickness. The requisition of "horses
of luxury " continues. Auber has been allowed to retain
one, and Theophile Goutier has asked permission to
keep his.

THE EFFECTS OF THE BOMBARDMENT
The Times correspondent in Paris gives a most inte
resting account of the effects produced by the fire of the
Prussians on the 29th. He had the good fortune to get
outside the city, in the immediate neighbourhood of the
forts, and therefore saw all that went on. First, he and
his companions came to Nogent. A deserted house,
within about 150 yards of the fort, offered a good point of
observation, so we went up into the top room, and thence
got a view of a great part of the interior of the fort. It was
not then answering the batteries at work upon it, and so all
the garrison were hidden away under shelter. Not a sign
of human life could we discover. Half a dozen horses
huddled together in the inner moat to protect themselves
from the cruel cold were the only living things we could
see. The first shot I saw drop into the fort happened to
fall near them, and there was a momentary panic and
general scamper, but not one was touched. The shells
were coming at about the rate, I calculate, of two per
minute, and with a precision which struck me—this being
my first experience of bombardment—as very marvellous,
until a little later on, at Rosny, I saw firing far superior.
Nearly all struck some portion of the fort, and yet I could
not see that any damage was done. A few did not
burst ; others struck harmlessly mounds of earth, some-
times burying themselves in it, sometimes scattering
showers of it high into the air. Many fell into the paved
courtyard, and exploded with a noise and vibration which
seemed to shake the house we were in from roof to base.
As far as I could judge, they were of enormous size and
weight, and I was considerably surprised —having very
vague notions of what a bombardment ought to do—to
see that they did apparently so little mischief. They might
have killed and wounded to any extent if there had been
anybody to kill and wound, but, as the fort guns
were not being worked, the men were, I presume, stowed
away in safe corners ; at any rate they were out of sight,
and the deserted aspect and death-like stillness of the
fort, broken only when every now and then a shell burst
like a thunder-clap in the middle of it, had a most
singular effect. I looked in vain for the breached
walls, crumbling ramparts, or dismounted guns
which I had always imagined to be among the
effects of bombarding so vigorous as I was then
watching. "You may go on in that way for two
years," said one of a few Mobiles who shared our obser-
vatory. It seemed to me that they might "goon in that
way" for twenty years unless the continuous dropping of
shells upon a fort produces anything like the effect which
the constant falling of drops of water on the head is said
to work on the brain. Yet the firing was first-rate, so
good that we had felt in no sort of danger until at last
one shell came out of the usual line right in the direction
of our house, but luckily falling short.
The writer next came to Fort Rosny :—This was being
bombarded far more vigorously than that of Nogent.
The shells were coming in at the rate, I should think, of
four a minute, and pitched, as a rule, with a precision
perfectly marvellous. A few of the Fort pieces were
answering, though by comparison very tamely. But their
flash gave the enemy an easy and advantageous mark, and
shell after shell came flying within a few yards of them,
though I never saw one actually struck. The
earthwooks in front of and around them proved
an invaluable protection, and many a shell which, if it
had struck a hard substance, might have done serious
mischief, disappeared harmlessly without bursting. Here
again I was struck—even more than at Nogent—by the
disproportion between the terrific character of the bom-
bardment and its apparently harmless results. The shells
were whizzing in at about the rate of four a minute.
They were of enormous size, judging from one I saw
which had not burst. They scarcely missed hitting
some portion of the fort, the target they were firing at.
Directed against troops in the open field, without shelter,
I could easily imagine their effect positively irresistible.
The noise alone of a bombardment so fast and furious
might have demoralised any but seasoned troops. Long
before one could see the shell one heard the whizzing,
hurtling sound it made through the air, something like the
close rush of an express train by night, approaching at the
rate of a hundred miles an hour, and it seemed impossible
to make out whether it was going to light upon one's
head until one had the satisfaction of seeing it burst
far away. I was not surprised to hear, after half-
an-hour's experience of such a bombardment as the Prus-
sian, that the Plateau d'Avron had been abandoned
during the night, and the guns had been got away with
difficulty. I don't know what may be its value strategi-
cally, but the repulse of the French troops may produce
awkward political effects in Paris. After so much talk
about the sortie which was to scatter the Prussians, the
Parisians won't relish the notion of being obliged to aban-
don their own ground, and being driven back themselves,
instead of driving hack the enemy. Some of the retreat-
ing troops passed by us on their way to Vincennes, and
they looked by no means amiable. I heard remarks about
Generals Trochu and Ducrot which they would not thank
me to repeat.

THE CHARGE AGAINST MARSHAL
BAZAINE.

General Deligny, who was with ine in Metz, and
has now published a detailed account of the capitulation,
arrives at the following conclusions. That Bazaine was
not equal to his military task, and that be was unfaithful
to his duty towards the country and towards the army,
by leaving the open country. That, seeing too late the
error of his calculations, he endeavoured by policy to with-
draw himself from the position his imprudence had placed
him in. And that, absorbed in intrigues, which he was
endeavouring at the same time to make answer
their purpose, and to conceal from his army, he left
the latter throughout in ignorance of the true
state of affairs, and conducted it to its ruin before it knew
the danger. The responsibility of the fatal d6nonement
rests altogether with the general-in-chief, notwithstanding
his efforts to share it with the commandants of corps
d'arrade. The latter, however, cannot be altogether