The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-19 00:00:00

STARVATION, OR SURRENDER.

Under date Versailles, January 14, the special corres-
pondent of the Daily News at the headquarters of the
Crown Prince of Prussia writes :—To keep the Germans
waiting even another fortnight before Paris will require
patient courage. The present combination of force and
famine Is very strong against the city, and the cold
weather makes the lot of people still harder. They
are beginning to taste the horrors of bombardment.
We learn by newspapers brought out of Paris that shells
have fallen with effect in the inhabited parts, far beyond
the ramparts. It remains to be seen whether the National
Guard will endure not only danger to themselves, but
the destruction of their homes and families. They
might shrink from such a test without dishonour,
but Ido not think that they will. The opinion of
earnest and thoughtful Germans will be again at
fault in regard to this strange city, and the first
effect of a bombardment will be to brace up the
French, as a stroke from a riding whip on the face stiffens
the resistance of an angry man. Not until the lesson has
become really severe, and the first fierce cry for vengeance
has been drowned in blood and tears, will the Parisians
yield to force. The more formidable foe is famine. This
is what the besieging army may count on in any
case. Each fresh attack is helped by hunger within
the walls, and we can now appreciate the admirable
skill with which the two means have been worked up to-
gether at the end. Not a point of advantage was lost in
the preparations for bombardment, for what mattered a
few days more or less when delay would only
bring hunger to bear as well as cannon. There
is high hope in the German ranks. The wintry
sunshine glitters on the snow, and the gunners
can take aim with fatal • accuracy. Whil st
the besieged suffer cold and hunger, the besiegers are
living well and are keeping themselves thoroughly warm
with an abundance of fuel. From day to day they ex-
pect to hear that Paris has surrendered. I find it diffi-
cult to talk of the immediate future without being
set down as half-hearted about the siege ; for I am
apt to mention February Ist as a possible limit of
time, and I have even let slip the heresy that St.
Valentine's-day may still find us waiting. It has been a
story of such constant delay hitherto that one smiles at
the hopeful tone with which "to-morrow" is regarded.
To say that the French have food enough for a week
more makes the average German look grave, nay
almost sad; and to hint at any condition of affairs in
Paris short of anarchy produced by terror, is evi-
dently thought quite unkind. The German soldier is
anxious to see his work honourably finished, and to g 4
back to the dear ones in the Fatherland. The German
trader is anxious to reap a rich harvest by spoiling the
Egyptians. Both are weary of waiting. Thus it
happens that we halve a very limited horizon. We can-
not allow the prospect to stretch out beyond a little dis-
tance ahead, and now that the end is really near we
measure our hopes by days instead of weeks.
From Margency the correspondent at the headquarters
of the Crown Prince of Saxony writes :—I have seen a
regimental officer to-day, who left Versailles this morning,
and who brings the title and gossip of the second " Steffel "
of little big men located in the Hotel des Reservoirs. He
says, unofficial or semi-official, Versailles is not at all
• pleased with the results of the bombardment, so far as
it has gone, and especially is disgusted because some
200 shells said to have been projected into Paris have
not produced the effect of a capitulation. There seems
no reason that, bar assault and bar panic, the bombard-
ment of the Paris forts may not last as long as the
food inside Paris. But there is starvation and
starvation. There are few communities that would
not arrive all the sooner at the conclusion that
starvation pitch has been reached, when a bombardment
is going on around them, and occasionally into them,
than if hunger pinched them in peace. Why does Paris
hold out ? Scarcely, surely, with the forlornest hope
that it can ultimately escape the doom of capitulation ;
but to deserve well of the country of which it is the
capital—to give time, by engaging the atten-
tion of so many of the enemy, for the pro-
vinces to resuscitate themselves—to earn for itself
a name for enduring heroism to last unto all
posterity. But Paris must be all but hopeless for itself,
and in despair; the strain is so strong that sufferers are
very fain to end it if they can decently. And nobody can
deny that the defence of Paris, were Paris to capitulate
to-morrow, has been one of the grandest episodes of
modern warfare.

The Revenue returns from the Ist April to 14th
January, shew the receipts to have been £48,501,929:
last year it was £53,321,143. The expenditure during
the same period has been .C 65,890,008; last year it was
£57,063,852. The balances are £1,227,617 ; last year,
£1,020,740,

THE IMPENDING SORTIE FROM PARIS

1 The special correspondent of the Standard thus writes
from Versailles, January 13 :—The sortie that has been
considered imminent for the last three days has not yet
taken place, and if the present dense fog continues we
may yet have to wait some time before the work of
wholesale slaughter again commences. The bombard-
ment of the city is being again carried on vigorously,
but as the Prussians have ceased firing incendiary shot,
it is impossible to tell which batteries are detailed
for this work, all access to them being forbidden
even to Prussian officers. It is filind impossible to fire
the men, valuable quarters of the town. The inhabitants
have apparently covered the floors of the upper storeys
with list or some other unignitable material, having
stowed away themselves and their furniture in the lower
rooms and cellars. The bombardment is being carried out,
therefore, with ordinary shells, which, although more de-
structive in their immediate effect, are not likely to exer-
cise such a moral force on the besieged as the discarded
incendiary shot. The Parisians will not submit much
longer to be starved and shelled,. while 500,000 men who
are living at their expense are remaining inactive within
the walls. Trochu must fight. The question is in which
quarter will his next sortie be directed. There have been
many conflicting accounts regarding Issy, but I believe
there is little doubt that this fort has at length been
effectually silenced. Such being the case, it leaves the
German batteries in the south-west, which are being daily
advanced, an almost uninterrupted range into the heart
of Paris. Here, then, is Trochu's danger, but to at-
tempt to storm these works would be rushing on certain
defeat. No one, I imagine, knows this better than the
General himself, and it is probable that his next sortie
will be directed with a view to eventually taking these
batteries in flank, should it prove successful. If lam
right in my surmises, he will probably march on Bonny,
his advance covered by the fire from Montrouge, Bicetre,
and Villejuif. The French, if they attempt this, will
meet the 2nd Bavarian Corps, and some desperate fighting
may be expected. I do not for a moment believe that
the besieged will gain any signal success, but if Trochu
must fight, this seems his only outlet on this side. Every
hour increases the difficulty he will have in massing troops
in this quarter preparatory to a sortie. The circular rail-
way is almost totally destroyed. The viaduct remains.
but in numerous places the rails have been torn away by
the raking fire of the Prussian guns. The pre-
sent system of fortifications is utterly unsuited to
modern warfare. In these days, when an army of
half a million of men is not looked upon as anything ex-
traordinary, and when the present rapid modes of com-
munication and conveyance enable a besieging general to
concentrate any requisite number of men on a given
point within a few hours, it is impossible, with the
present means of egress, for the besieged to make a sortie
in sufficient force to ensure success. Thus when
people ask why Bazaine did not cut his way out of Metz
when be had over 100,000 men under him, and why Trochu
does not throw 200,000 or 300,000 men on one point of the
German line, thus overpowering it by sheer weight, let
them buy a rudimentary work on fortification, and five
minutes' study will plainly show them the reason. why.