The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-01 00:00:00

THE DISTRESS AROUND PARIS.

Writing from Margency, the special correspondent of
the Daily News observes :—lf the hostile occupation were
to last much longer, no doubt stores would come to an
end, and the villagers would have to depend on the
German troops, and sometimes be very hungry.
But as yet there is 'no call for laying out money
among them for their sustenance ; and, as matters
are just now, money expended for any other purpose
than just to tide them over the dismal hour would be
wasted. There will, however, come a time when every
penny that we can spare will be urgently wanted.. I
think Paris may be trusted to do her own work of relief.
The local mayors have plenty of money, and never fear
but that private enterprise will bring to market materia
on which it may be spent. But it is very different with
the suburban villages. To these will flock their old in-
habitants, the refugees now in Paris, the waifs and strays
now drifting about the back country. The snug
cottages that they left, with the hectare or two of daintily-
tilled garden ground and the winter store of provisions
and firewood, they will find mere wrecked shells, incapable
even of affording their owners a barren shelter. There
will be an interval of syncope—that is inevitable—in
which the mere keeping to life, without giving a thought
to retrieval, will be a problem that many
unaided will fail to solve. To face and dissipate the
abjectness of this syncope, to plough up the dismal fallow
waste of human misery that will be soddening round
Paris—that is the task for us. Bread and meat will be
wanted as the first reouirement, but food alone
will not stimulate the people sufficiently to shake
off the apathy of despair their surroundings will
so inevitably engender. Put spades in their hands ;
send them kitchen garden seeds and young cabbage plants ;
give them the chance to feel that they are once more
helping themselves, as they were wont to do before the
thundercloud of war burst over their heads. The genial
spring time is not far off, and the tooth of Paris ever
watereth after its salad stuff. With judicious help,
not administered after a pauperising fashion—and
pauperism is far readier than jealousy to grow by what it
feeds on—the more humble inhabitants of the villages
around Paris might be on their legs again by midsummer.
I do not see how, with decent justice to our home chari-
ties, we can deal with any other class. Our role is not
surely to give compensation for ruined villas or the sack
of detached family residences.

NEWS OF THE CAPITULATION IN THE

NORTH.

The special correspondent of the Telegraph sends the
following from Amiens, dated January 29 :—Last night
telegram from Versailles threw every one into a perfect
fever. Gene/al von Moltke telegraphs a cessation of
all hostilities, pending an armistice, from the 31st
inst. at twelve noon. At the moment I write
France is, so .to speak, tranquil. The respective
armies and corps halt in those places in which this
messenger of peace finds them ; the Fianc-tireur forgets
to load his weapon ; the Mobile gets drunk in anticipation;
the soldier of France lets his memory wander back to the
blood-stained fields of Spicheren, Mars-la-Tour, and
Gravelotte, of Woerth and Sedan, where France's honour
and France's chivalry were sacrificed to a miserable
incapacity. The stout legions of the Emperor of
Germany received the intelligence of this chance
of an " end " with their usual stolid reserve ; but the
glitter of the eye, the heaving of the breast, and the
grasp of the hand tell that in imagination they are already
far on their way back to Fatherland. Then comes the
still more important news : " The German troops under
orders for the seat of war are to remain where they
are." This is a sure indication that we are,
perhaps, at the " beginning of the end." "On the 31st
of January, at twelve noon, an armistice will com-
mence." Such is the short but decisive telegrams, and
by that time the position of the First Army will be as
follows :—The bulk of the army now stands on
and behind the River Somme. General Gayl, com-
manding the Ist Division of the First Army Corps, will
by that time be in and about Roisel, north-east of
Peronne. Fins and Le Catelet will also be occupied. The
15th Division, under General Kummer, will occupy
Acheux, with outposts at Bucquoy. The 16th Division,
under General Barnekow, will hold Bapaume, and a
detachment of the 15th Division will occupy Doullens.
Count Groben with his cavalry will advance on the road
to Abbeville, and General Bentheim, with the 2nd Divi-
sion of the lst Army Corps, will, if possible, occupy
Dieppe. Curious is the effect the welcome message of
Peace has had upon both French and Germans. The
inhabitants rush into one another's houses, kiss,
shake hands, laugh and cry by turns. The Ger-
mans grasp one another by the hand, and think
of their Fatherland, and the hearts that are waiting and
yearning after their return. Suddenly, while all this joy
and gladness are visible in every street and alley of
Amiens, the sounds are hushed, as the slow and measured
tramp of soldiers, bearing a coffin covered with its

pall of black and white, and surmounted by
the dead officer's helmet, is borne along. He
who lies under that velvet pall was every inch a soldier
and a gentleman, a comrade and a friend. Major
Hohlleben, commanding the 2nd battalion of the 40th---
the " fighting" 40th, the Hohenzollern Fusiliers—was
severely wounded by a piece of shell while gallantly lead-
ing his men at the battle of St. Quentin. Amputation
was necessary, and the day before yesterday he sank under
the effects.