The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-12 00:00:00

THE BLOCKADE AT DIEPPE.

In a letter from Dieppe January 8, a correspondent of
'the Daily News writes :—lf the intention of the blockade
here be to prevent food supplies from reaching the Ger-
mans, it will succeed to a certain extent, but it will
equally punish the French. Already flour is becoming
scarce in Rouen ; bread, they say, must soon fail,
and famine will do its work. But who will suf-
fer most, the French or the Germans ? Will not
the latter demand and forcibly take possession of
such breadstuffs as they may want, without heeding who
suffers? The steamer which was refused entrance here
to-day is said to have contained seed wheat, which
had been purchased in England by public sub-
scription, and sent for the farmers and peasantry
in France to enable them to make up for the loss
of their own seed, which had mostly been con-
sumed or destroyed by the enemy. The previous
voyage made by this vessel also brought a cargo
of seed wheat ; and I am informed a considerable quan-
tity is lying at Newhaven for shipment to France, but
how it is to come, or when, are at present matters of un-
certainty. There is a report in the Journal du Havre
that the English Government is about to send a flying
squadron to Dieppe—to prevent the English ships lying
in this port being subjected to the indignity inflicted on

THE DISSENIIONS IN PARIS.
The special correspondent of the Standard, commenting
in General Trochu's last proclamation, and the want of
unity in Paris remarks :—lt will be necessary to explain
the enemy, as far as an impartial observer who has
)is wits about him can judge, has nothing whatever to do
with the disquieting rumours that fly about Paris. The
worst of these rumours are circulated by sensational neNN s-
paper scribblers of the lowest class, who invent tales of
victory or defeat for the purpose of running off an
edition of their pestilential rags. They it is who accuse
General Trochu of remissness, of delaying too long, of not
making lanes through the Prussians, and various other
errors, and who pretend that Jules Favre, Jules Ferry,
and Ernest Picard are the only true military worthies on
the sacred council. Strange that the only generals to
preach action and war to the knife should be Attorneys-
General. It is pleasant to have it on Trochu's authority
that there is no discord in the inner ring of the rulers of
the third French Republic ; it is his duty to proclaim
it, as it is his duty to put down any division
that arises either from poor foolish Communists or fat
cannie journalists to Prussian intrigue ; but it does not
follow that his proclaimings are to be accepted as
-gospel by any means. Governors of besieged towns
have a licence of exaggeration, like poets and painters.
There is hardly any use in cloaking the matter longer—
the army is in a state of demoralisation. The men have
loot all confidence in themselves ; they imagine that for-
tune is against them ; they are incredulous as to the
approach of armies of succour, and they have no faith in
their generals ; they are worn out with fatigue and
watchinz, bad food, and the severities of the weather, to
such an extent that I do believe the news that Paris had
surrendered would be grateful to nine out of ten of them.
I am assured on good authority that some regiments
cried " Peace, peace," a few days since as
General Trochu passed by their outside. In
fact, the only fire-eaters we have at present
are the National Guardsmen. A little campaigning
may bring them to other thoughts. With a few exceptions
the marching battalions are behaving extremely well, but
the idea of pitting them, against the German veterans is
something audacious. Yet, from the tenor of this list pro-
clamation, it is to be feared that the Government does
mean to take them out en masse on an immense
sortie (destined to failure by advance) against an
artillery which he himself recognises as the most
powerful ever brought into action up to this date.
-Defeat is certain, bar miracles, and then the white
flag may be hoisted with honour. That is the reasoning
of Paris at this moment ; and if Trochu yields to it he
does so against his own will and common sense, I feel per-
fectly convinced, and falls a martyr to circumstances.
But he should not yield to it; he should not lead those
men to the slaughter to humour any opinion ; he should
adhere to his plan, to immobilise a strong Prussian
army round the city while the chance remains
of the arrival of any corps of relief. Of course
if these corps do not come it is useless
to hold out. The Prussian belt of positions girding
Paris is too strong now for Paris to relieve itself, and
provisions are sinking surely and steadily down to the
last handful of corn in the bins. Paris must give lip,
will he, /lilt he, before the last extremity is reached.
General Trochu may know that that is nearer than we
think, and intend to make this desperate final sally,
so that lie cannot be reproached as Bazaine was and
is. If to, lie stands excused ; and if he should happen
to be killed at the head of it
.the next generation will
erect him statues. Otherwise —that is to say, let him
come back beaten, and then treat with the Prussians, this
generation will burn him in effigy. A painful dilemma
for an honest man who has the consciousness that he
is doing the best he can for his country according to his
gifts.

FRANCE AND HER CITIZEN SOLDIERS.
If France only gets a little more time to organise her
citizen soldiers, says the Bordeaux correspondent of the
Telegraph, she will have the finest troops in Europe
under her banners. I was present the other day at a
review of a battery of mitrailleuses of the Gironde--the
second battery of the sort that has been subscribed for,
horsed, manned, and put into complete marching
order in Bordeaux. I am assured that it is only
twenty days since the idea of getting up this battery was
mooted ; and when I saw it last Wednesday it would have
done credit to any artillery in the world. The men are
smart, well dressed, wPII armed, know their work, and
drive admirably. The harness is of rope, made, I believe,
in the dockyards of the West of France. It looks service-
able and workmanlike ; and the whole turn-out would
have shewn exceedingly well with our best artillery at
Woolwich. These citizen troops—Mobilised Na-
tional Guards- -will certainly do credit to their
country when they go into action. They are far
better, stouter, and infinitely more intelligent than the
Line soldiers, who do not show well by their side. De-
pend upon it, if France can be saved, these and the
Mobiles are the troops that will do so. It takes some
time for an observer who has been educated as a regular
soldier to arrive at such a conclusion ; but the conviction
is gradually forcing itself upon all Englishmen who have
been in the army, and who see the intelligence of these
young soldiers—who are all formed men.

A. distinguished Oxford man, the Chaplain of one
of our Anglican Bishops, and a scholarly author of repute,
who joined the Church of Rome some seventeen years
ago, is said to be about to return to the English Church.
—Church Herald. It is probable that this notice
refers, not to Dr. Newman as the Globe states, but
to Mr. Maskell, whose recent letter to Archbishop
Manning caused no little scandal in Ultramontane circles.
Mr. Maskell was, we believe, formerly chaplain to the
late Bishop of Exeter.
.THE JULES FAVRE DEMONSTRATION.—YeS ter-
day afternoon the executive and organising committees
for carrying out the Jules Favre demonstration held a
joint meeting, and a variety of propositions were made as
to the manner in which M. Favre should be received on
his arrival in London. In the evening a second meeting
was held, when the following report was submitted :
" Your executive committee having discussed the best
means for making the demonstration to take place on
the arrival of the French Minister accredited to the
Conference as effective as possible, beg to recom-
mend—first, that a deputation, consisting of a
limited number of persons, accompanied by a
guard of honour of volunteers, should meet the
Minister at the railway station and conduct
him tc a carriage, which should precede a procession
of the various bodies previously collected at the nearest
convenient space ; the procession to march into Hyde-
park, where it should defile before the Minister, after
presentation of an address. Finally, the deputation
should escort the Minister as far as the French Embassy."
After being fully discussed the report was unanimously
adopted.

FIRE AT HOLLAND HOUSE, KENSINGTON.--ThiS
well-known mansion had a narrow escape of being totally
destroyed by fire on Tuesday. About one o'clock one of
the servants in charge of the premises—Lady Holland
being away at her seat near Chertsey—discovered smoke
issuing from the hearthstone in her ladyship's sit-
ting room in the eastern wing. The whole of the domestics
were summoned to the spot and a small fire-engine be-
longing to the establishment was brought out.
Instead of having any effect in subduing the fire, the
flames made rapid progress behind the wainscot, through
the ceiling, into the floor above. The servants
of the house, finding that the fire had gained the
mastery over them, sent for the engines of the brigade,
and, pending their arrival, they began removing the furni-
ture, pictures, and articles of vertu from the wing into the
main building adjoining. Owing to the hasty manner
in which the work had to be performed, the furniture
was much damaged. Numerous engines of the Metro-
politan Brigade arrived with as little delay as possible,
under the command of Mr. Palmer, the foreman
of the Western district, and Mr. Superintendent Swanton
also attended with the London Salvage Corps. The first
thing done was to tear up the panelling- to the ceiling'
which was found to be on fire, as well as the whole of the
floor above it. By the application of several hand-pumps
and plenty of water the flames were eventually subdued ;
but the damage done is roughly estimated by the Salvage
Corps to reach £2,000. The property was fully insured.

those recently at Duclair. The last English ship sailed
hence this morning, and although the terms of the blockade
are that no vessels are to ibe allowed to enter or depart—tin
little schooner sailed away very comfortably with the
union jack flying at her mast-head. Althotigh we do not
want a flying squadron in these waters, we do want
another gunboat or other vessel of war. We - have seve-
ral hundreds of English here, and, as I have mentioned
before, if anything were to occur to render their
exodus necessary, we have, only the Dasher avail-
able. The latter is too small, and could not at the
outside accommod-to lucre tlien fifty passengers—
it is efited, moreover, that she will be leaving
shortly f .r• the purpose of re-victualling, her
supply of stores being nearly out. It is to be
hoped that she will not be allowed to leave before some
other vessel arrives to take her position here. lam no
alarmist, but I am bound to say that there exists a strong
repugnance against the English. This, together with a
partly suspended and lax state of order since the Germans
occupied the town, will, I hope, be 'considered as a suffi-
cient reason why we should not be left without a refuge
in case of need.