The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-13 00:00:00

I LIE S (LIN, LO N DON, THU

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1 1-4

THE SIEGE OF PARIS).

THE ENCAMPMENT AT ST. CLOUD.
Herr Wachenhausen, who ably officiates as the special
correspondent of the Cologne Gazette, says that perfect
silence prevails in the Prussian lines before Paris ; but on
the French side there is the greatest animation. " They
dig and scrape until the blood gushes from their fingers,
and of an evening they sing before our eyes their cancan
and their Marseillaise.' and other pretty songs, leap and
shout half the night, until we are tired
of it,
,and are as merry as if the world had never
treated them better than now. I believe the Corps Francs
and other volunteers • have already plundered half
the suburbs, and have taken to. the second-hand dealers
all the stolen articles that were vendible ; they have
therefore had a glorious time of it." The writer adds :
" Our position in St. Cloud is the best and most interest-
ing in the whole of the investing circle. Not because of
the sharpie which still lies in the chateau, prepared by
the fair hands of the Empress and her attendants, nor on
account of everything within its walls vividly recalling
, the sad and sudden fall of a dynasty which had thus
brought its people willingly to their own destruction, but
on account of our suppositions that a subterranean tele-
graphic communication exists between this place and
Paris, and which is made use of by persons who must be
discovered. As I have already told you, in all the de-
serted towns and villages of France the different clocks
upon the mantelpieces have stopped, and the time can
no longer be compared or correctly ascertained. I
found clocks upon the marble tables of the Imperial
chateaux, especially in the one at St. Cloud, the stoppage
of which was an event of great interest. These time-
pieces also shew the day of the month. They indicate
`Dimanche, 4 Septembre.' The end of the week also
saw the end of the dynasty, and how dreadful that all
these splendid preparations have come to nothing. • The
fading flowers hang their heads, the pheasants run about
the paths in the park, looking in vain for the well-known
hand that brought their food. The most lovely pictures
have been removed from their frames in the rooms, no
doubt by faithful domestics. Two oil paintings are still
hanging in the hunting pavilion, in which the beautiful
Eugenie is depicted on horseback, surrounded by picadors
and matadors, as patroness of the bull-fights in the
Corrida. The Empress must indeed reflect from time to
time upon those happy, happy hours when her dreams
were undisturbed by thoughts of an Imperial Crown. Our
outposts are posted in the woods of St. Cloud, all around
the borders of, the park, and in the different pathways
boards are painted, chewing the different directions in
which .our ..outposts are placed. Our field posts exhibit
different styles of architecture in the formation of their
huts ; some of them are half wigwams, some are only huts
made of branches and leaves, some are built d la Suisse,
and others h la Chaundere, all or them well set off by the
surrounding scenery. All of them are so erected as to
preserve a regular and constant means of communication.
Yesterday I passed the whole of the afternoon in the hut
of one of our advanced outposts. We all reclined under
the shadow of the leafy roof, and we could imagine our-
selves in dreamland were it not for the French shells
which were falling close and thick in our rear, and the
roar of our cannon which disturbed our conversation every
five minutes, for we could not avoid listening when the
shells fell.

A VIEW FROM THE GERMAN LINER.

In the official journal of Berlin appears a description of
the view of Paris to be obtained from a building near St.
Cloud on the edge of a plateau. The view extends from
the suburbs of Boulogne to Montmartre. The Invalides,
the various towers of Paris, the Arc de Triomphe, and the
Bois de Boulogne aro prominent. The last is almost un-
injured, presenting only a few gaps where batteries are
fixed. It serves as a camp for the greater part of the
garrison. The Mobiles are seen practising shooting ;
the signals summoning the various troops are audible.
The military movements and firing which are
discernible lead to the supposition that fighting
had broken out betweeii the garrison and the
inhabitants, and that General Trochu had consequently
resolved to concentrate i.ll the disciplined part of the
troops in the outworks, leaving the civilians to their fate.
Prisoners report that there is an open breach between the
lower classes and the Government, which is daily becom-
ing wider. The Republisan spirit possesses the National
Guards, and they pay no respect to the orders of tho mili-
tary authorities. The besieging troops have exerted
themselves strenuously, and they are now out of all danger
.f attack from the bands of a hostile population, which
ar3 swarming about. Hardly a day passes without a
greater or less number of suspicious people seeking to
slip through the outposts being brought to Head-quarters.
The dark nights and morning mists facilitate their
approach.