The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-06 00:00:00

THE FORTS OP PARIS.

The fortifications of Paris, which were begun in 1841,
under the direction of Marshal Dodd de la Brunerie, with
whom were General Valliant, Colonel Chabaud-Latour,
and others, continued until the close of Louis Phillippe's
reign. The enceinte of Paris is composed of a military
street, a rampart, a foss, a glacis, and has not less than
ninety-four fronts. To give an idea of the strength of this
it is sufficient to say that Metz, one of the strongest
places in France, has only twenty fronts. On
the left bank there are twenty-six bastions.
The enceinte begins at the western extremity
of the park at Bercy, and extends in a straight
line to Gentilly, where it turns in a kind of horseshoe, and
then resumes a rectangular direction to Montrouge, makes
an angle and goes right on to the Seine, facing the middle
of the Point-du-Jour, after having surrounded Austerlitz,
Petit-Gentilly, Vangirard, and Grenelle. Nearly a
thousand metres more downwards brings us to the
enceinte on the right bank. After surrounding Point-du-
Jour, it goes along the Bois de Boulogne, as far as
Sablouviile, formed by the avenue of Clichy and the
avenue of Saint Ouen, At this point it follows
a straight line to the Canal of Saint Denis,
where it turns to the south-east. When it
reaches the canal of Ourcq it runs from north to south ;
when near St. Gervais two of its fronts resutne the direc-
tion from west to east, but at the height of ilomainville
it abandons that direction to descend in a straight line to
St. Maud 6, where it makes an angle, and finishes at the
Seine, just opposite the bridge where the enceinte on the
left bank begins, The right bank has 68 fronts, The
enceinte allows a passage for all roads, but at the present
moment most of the thoroughfares are blocked up by the
defence works. The strength of the enceinte, which
is in itself very great, is at least doubled by the
detached forts which are constructed around the
capital. These are sixteen In number ; four of them—
the Fort of la Briche, the North or Double Crown Fort
the Spectacles of Stains, and the East Fort—cover St.
Denis. A little lower down, near the Amsterdam road,
and not far from the village of Aubervilliers, is the fort
of that name, which seems at this moment to be the
most threatened. Continuing to descend towards the
south, between Pantin and the St. Gervais meadows,
we come to the Fort of Romainville, a small hexagon, pro-
tected by an external work, which increases its strength.
The three forts which follow it, those of Noisy, Rosny,
and Nogent, are quadrilaterals, like the East Fort, but
they, also like the front opposite to Paris, are covered by
advance works. Near the confluence of the Marneand the
Seine, in a very strong position, stands the Fort of
Charenton, commanding the Italian road. It is a penta-
gon. On the left bank of the Seine there are only five
forts—those of Ivry and Arcueil, two pentagons ; those
of Montrouge and De Vanves, two little quadrilaterals,
and that of Issy, a fort with five bastions. Finally, behind
the Versailles railway, on a celebrated height, stands the
most important of the Paris forts, that of Mont Val4rien,
situated out of the reach of vrobable attack, it is intended

to protect arrivals from the west, Fund to sexy° as place of
security for arms and ammunition. -

DISTRIBUTION OF THE IRON CROSS.

The special correspondent of the 'Daily News at the
Headquarters of the Crown Prince of Prussia, writing
on the 27th September, remarks :—There was a very
interesting ceremony yesterday in the courtyard of the
Palace, at the base of the statue of Louis XI V. It
was arranged that the Crown Prince should here dis-
tribute the decoration of the Iron Cross to some fifty
officers and men who had distinguished themselves` in
the war. A grand parade took place at ten o'cloc7c,
and the troops were drawn up in close columns
facing the central point, where stood his Highnes.;,
surrounded by a brilliant staff. All the open space
was glittering with Prussian bayonets - and brass-topped
helmets. ' Nothing could be more perfect than the
" dressing " of the lines, nor more rigid than the
' attitude of the soldiers at attention. They seemed,
almost as immovable as the • colossal figures of
famous Frenchmen which flank the approach to the
statue of King Louis. Each man who was to receive a
decoration stepped firmly up to the Crown Prince, stood
like a rock whilst the honour was bestowed, and went
firmly back to his place, as though ho had gone through
the same manoeuvre every day of, his life. The Prince
addressed a few stirring words to those assembled, and
proposed a cheer for his Majesty the King. Out
flashed his sword, and was waved above his head as he led
the hearty shout which greeted his father's name. Yen
cannot imagine a better effect, in its way, than this burst
of loyal enthusiasm in the hitherto silent mass, with the
tall, bearded Prince leading the cheer, sword in
hand. The voices rose loud and strong, and the
music •of the military bands swelled proudly forth
in the first few bars 'of the National Anthem.
Then there was silence again, and then the Palace walls
echoed for the second time to voices and music when the
general commanding the division proposed a cheer for his
Highness the Crown Prince. Those poor wounded men
in the splendid saloons on the other side of the
must have heard the shouts of their comrades who were
gathered round the statue of King Louis. The
crowd of French inhabitants beyond the gates could not
only hear the shouts, but were presently able to see with
what precision and closeness their invaders could he
moved. No sooner had the Prince and his staff passed
clown the Avenue de Paris towards the Prefecture
than a compact column of infantry and artillery,
of hospital assistants, and dismounted dragoons,
appeared on the Place '.d'Armes, ready for march-
ing past. We blame ourselves in England for not
altogether abandoning this practice. It were certainly
fatal to be able to do nothing else. But here came the
soldiers of rough bivouacs and hard fighting, as swift and
steady in their march past as our oldest martinet could
desire. The Prince sat .on horseback opposite his
quarters for the troops to pass him, and they went
by in such order as would have done credit to battalions
devoted to no other exercise. Their step is somewhat too
sharply regular for French taste. Yet, though the crowd
had its smile and its whispered joke at the expense of the
invader, there were approving nods when some Prussians
had passed in especially perfect order. The crowd could
not warm into friendliness, but it was not insensible to
the excellent condition of its foes.

ldir;

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sentry.

visions.

sen,cs.

night,

sion.

TEE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, OCrOBER 6, :870.

Klan corps d'armee had been advancing either on Mantes,
Rouen, or Orleans, turns out correct. In my excursions
towards Paris, a few days ago, I met only Uhlans,
dragoons, now and then a battery of artillery and a
few artillerymen, but no large body of troops ; and
it turns out now that the large army advancing on
Weans was composed of 600 t 6700 troopers, and at Mantes
about double that nambek These soldiers were on their
campaign of requisition, and have been checked by the
well-organised movements of defence of- the departments.
When Prussian corps d'armis.e really advance in these
provinces it will require all the strength of the
forces now organising to stop their. course. Serious
engagements will take place, and we shall not hear of the
sudden appearance and disappearance of the enemy as we
do now. About one hundred thousand men are already
assembled at Lyons. These troops include a good propor-
tion of regular soldiers from Algeria, and many old ones.
They are under the command of General Mazue; but the
state, of affairs seems to be far from satisfactory in that
large city. The Municipality and the Prefect of the
Republique, M. Challemet-Latour, have declared...officially
their want of confidence in General Mazino and other mili-
tary chiefs having command in the department of the
Rhone. They have applied to the Government in Tours
for full powers to prepare an efficient defence, and for
that they ask the right to appoint or dismiss the offi-
cers, and all other powers in the hands of the Minister
of War or of the Government of
.National Defence.
It is useless to make any reflection on such demands.
If the Government at Tours is weak enough to grant any
request of that kind, if some other large centres of popula-
tion join in the same policy, the Prussians will have soon
a new and powerful ally in that partial anarchy.—Standard
Correspondent.

A FRENCH OFFICER'S NOTES.
he Pall Mall Gazettq publishes extracts from the note-
[c of a French facer in Be Failly's corps. These notes
(I‘scriptive of 2.lacMahon's march to relieve Bazaine,
though the events narrated are of old date, they
illustrt,te the deplorable state of the French
y. The following extracts narrate what happened on
-ast 20 and August 30 :

august 29.—We march in the direction of Steno.;
gh a natural road along the foot of the hills, uric
the presence of the enemy was, of course, to be c:
The absurdity of such a march was obvious, ar

than half an hour a rain of shells falls upon us, throw
ins whole column into confusion. It was impossiblE
to be in a worse position. We quickly gain some clewn
don::;, the batteries begin to answer the enemy, an('

both parties being now placed upon hills separated by a
valley, neither seems to be inclined to leave its position by
a march forward. . Cannonading goes on in this way till
6 p.m. at enormous distances, with an obvious advantage
to the Prussians, whose guns work at 3,000 metres with
marvellous precision. On returning to the camp I learn
that it was in consequence of a superior order that Gene-
Failly did not engage more vigorously in
Prussian forces having been seen in great
s ready to cuter the lines, and obviously wishing
vance on our part for a more serious action. There
then, nothing to do but to give up the idea of
ing Stenay; and we hope to escape from our position
aching the whole of the night, without any rest cr
mean any potatoes, our only resource nowadays.
lirection is Beaumont.

none.

August 30.—fade arrive at Beaumont, a hilly and
dy country, at four a.m. The men are utterly ex-
hausted by the march, by hunger, and, above all, by want
of sleep. There is no possibility of bringing order into the
ranks. The presence of the generals was indispensable,
but none of them was to be seen on the spot, and the
soldiers fall down asleep, without guards, without a single
The sight was most lamentable. When the
ruing came, and the men were at breakfast,
a lively fusillade was opened from- the wood,
some four hundred metres-distant. - A couple of minutes
pass' in consideration as to what it can mean, when
sevezal shells, falling into the very heart of the camp,
loa ye no more doubt about the matter. The whole camp
seizes its arms in disorderly fashion ; the officers do their
best to give some kind of organisation to the first move-
ments ; the artiriery is soon at work, and the battle
begins. But a tremendous panic arises in the
village, crowded with unarmed soldiers, who
gone from the camp in search of pro-
A frantic rush begins in the di-
rection of Mouzon ; and the flying mass would
naturally have drawn with it a part of the troops,
already in line on this side of the village it the officers
had not intervened, pistols in hand. The generals, just
as much surpised as the troops, presently come to their
They take the command ; the retreat is gradually

organ:zed, and on reaching rather elevated ground we
come out from tinder the intolerable fire. The can-
nonading begins to be less intense ; and a discussion
arises between General de Failly and his chef d'etat
major, General Besson, with reference to the advisability
of changing our position, The latter uses very
strong language in support of his opinions. The position
remains the same. Ten minutes after this discussion, and
the Prussians appear on her left flank and open fire on us
at a distance of 1,000 metres. Such is the morale of our
troops now that at the very first shot from this side
infantry and artillery break front and begin to run away
—the former into the wood, the latter into the plain close
to it, leaving several guns in the impracticable part of

the ground. However, the batteries soon regain
another hill, open fire, and begin to protect a
hale the retreat of the infantry, which takes the
direction of Monzon. It is six o'clock, and we see on the
hei;tht the Seventh Corps appearing on the left flank of
the Prussians, while a part of the Twelfth Corps was
found by us in the plain to which we were rush-
ing. These two corps now take our place' in
toe struggle with the enemy. The enemy
bed, however, already established his batteries,

some fifty guns strong, on the same hill where a few
moments ago our artillery stood. These batteries send
death into all the lines of the newly arrived forces,
and compel them to retreat. The Seventh Corps
retires to the position whence it came to our
aid, while the Twelfth takes the direction of the bridge of
Mouzon, the cavalry and artillery having, happily
enough, found a ford in the river, so that the bridge is
mainly left for the use of infantry. But still what con-
fusion prevails ! What a lamentable spectacle It is the
last rout of the day ; and it is the more painful for our
corps because we witness it in the mere capacity of on-
'lookers. Soon in the background of the sad picture
rise s to heaven a large black cloud of smoke. The
fire has commenced which must level to the
ground the unhappy village of Mouzon. We see

wear now in all its cruel reality. Such was the day of the
30th, which will never be forgotten by _me, and the result

doh must be a sufficient punishment for the general
with whom rests the responsibility of the disaster. But
what is our corps to do now? Is it to camp on its position,
or to move ? If it is to move, in what direction ? Marshal
MacMahon encamped at a distance of several miles from us
with the First Corps, which reached its position towards the
evening, is too far off to be asked for instructions. The
generals of the three corps decide, therefore, that they
will start at once, and the soldiers are to march again all
Thus, after several days' fatigue, we have two
consecutive nights of marching, with a day's desperate
fighting between, and with no other refreshment than the
bread distributed at Baumont. We are retiring in the
direction of Sedan. Fearful and miserable night
Our men fall asleep by the side of the road,
and to awaken them is impossible. Towards
two a.m., amid the obscurity of a dark night, we
meet on the junction of two reads the First and the
Twelfth Corps. They left their positions at midnight,
and are also marching towards Sedan. Here disorder
reaches its climax. Men, horses,-guns, and ammunition-
waggons are almost heaped upon one another in confu-
No possibility of moving, no possibility of seeing
any thing ; and, notwithstanding this, almost dead silence
reigns .over this enormous incoherent mass. A terrible
silence it was, of which one shudders to think. Male-
diction upon those who are responsible for all this !" 1

FAILU4E OF THE GERMANS AT BITOHE
A telegram in the Daily News from Hamburg, dated
Tuesday, says : The siege of Bitche was taken in hand
in the middle of August. On the 24th four 60-pounder
mortars and five batteries of four 12-pounder
breech-loaders each commenced bombarding the
fortress. On the 4th of September there was
a sortie against the besiegers, who consist of the
4th Wurtembcrg and two battalions of the Bth Bavarian.
The sortie was repeated on the 11th and 29th, in the
direction of Freudenberg and Saspelscheidt. These at-
tempts were completely repulsed with small loss to either
side. From the 11th to the 20th there was a severe
bombardment, which dismounted several cannon,
destroyed about 120 houses and the castle on the
fort. After firing 20,000 shot the besieging batteries be
came disabled and were removed to Germersheil. The
Wuitembergers were also withdrawn, the Bavarians
left for the purpose of observing On
Friday,Saturday, and Monday the garrison
made sorties, with cavalry and infantry, protected by
cannon, and destroyed butteries and farms where the
i
besiegers' outposts lay. The fort s it perpendicular rock,

like Gibraltar, 200 feet high, casemated, and nearly lin-
pregnable. The garrison consists of 2,000 men. The
peasantry speak German, but there is an intensely French
sentiment among them.

The Paris Ofikial Journal contain an article in praise
of horseflesh. This is significant.
The Czar of Russia has conferred upon Baron von
Moltke the Order of Saint George, the highest military
decoration of Russia.

The Russian War-office, despite assertions to the con-
trary, has undoubtedly issued new regulations calculated
to increase the number of available troops in the field.
It is said that part of the army of General Werder, now
relieved from the task of besieging Strasbourg-, is to besiege
Lyons. •

General Bourbaki has returned to France, and the
Prussian authorities will allow him to re-enter Metz,
whence he was summoned by a pretended message from
the Empress. —Post.

Switzerland is preparing against eventualities. Bodies
of Federal troops have passed through Geneva during the
last few days to establish themselves on the French

frontier.

The town of Schlestadt has changed the street Rue de
l'Empereur into Rue de Strasburg, and the other towns of
Franoe are requested to honour the heroic defence of that
city by following the example thus set.
A son of Count Bismarck paid a visit to Crepy, and in
the course of conversation admitted that the Prussian
armies intended to take possession of the French sheep,
cows, and oxen. " What are we to live on ?" asked a
bystander. "On fruit and vegetables," was the reply.
A correspondent of the Daily News says that the
Orleanists are very actively at work. They have their
intimate connections with the French rulers of the day,
and work for the elevation of the Due d'Aumale to the
Presidency of the French Republic.

The Prussian Ministry of "War has established a special
department, during the war, for the purpose of giving
information as to the captured French officers. Letters
of inquiry from their friends will be replied to, and
personal inquiries will be answered daily at the office in
Berlin between 9 a.m. and. 3 p.m.

The Eberle states that a diplomatic communication
has been made to it, from which it appears that the Pope,
at whose doors General Cadorna, placed a guard of gen-
darmes, "to watch over his safety," is in reality a pri-
soner, and General Cadorna has warned Cardinal Anto-
nelli that he will oppose the departure of•the Pope.
New Treaties of Carlsbad are beginning to be appre-
hended in Gerriaany, and people are calling to mind that
in 1820, five years after the Congress of Vienna, all the
sovereigns combined to establish a political regime, abso-
lutely opposed to all liberal tendencies. The continued
imprisonment of Dr. Jacoby, despite all the protests of
the press and of public opinion, has produced a very bad
effect, and the Journal of Frankfort plainly says that
the spirit of reaction this time has shown shameful
haste.

The Free-shooters indulge in strange frcal,

of costume and accoutrements. One c

Garibaldian shirt and trousers, with gaiter

whole costume is black from top to toe, an
with a black flag, on which aro a skull and ci

in the way
wears the

R, only the
they march

white ! This sensational standard, they sa:
their mission, which is, as they receive no q.

Is-bones in

is typical 0:

.r, to give

The Mayor of a Commune in the environs of Paris,
knowing that the inhabitants were determined not to
resist the Prussians, adopted several precautionary mea-
sures. He advised each person separately not to attempt
a useless resistance, and he then made A collection to buy
brandy and various provisions, which he placed at the
Mahie4, to offer the Prussians on their arrival, to put
them in good temper.
A few days ago a very pretty, elegantly-dressed lady
came to a commissary of police in Paris to complain that
she had been imprisoned because she wore man's clothes.
She had, she said, joined the artillery as a-gunner, and
intended to fight on the walls. Her ordinary clothes
would be burdensome toan artillerist; she therefore begged
for permission to dress herself like a man. The Commis-
sary promised to do his best to have her request complied
with.

A correspondent of the Daily News says : u in pro-
portion as the strength of Paris for defence ha become
more clear, and the care with which it has been provisioned
better known, the likelihood of bombardment has in-
creased. Unwilling as is the King to destroy so beautiful
a city, he will certainly destroy it rather than return
baffled into Germany. There is less hope in blockade
now that we have details of the vast preparations to feed
the garrison and inhabitants."
M. de la Gueronnibre, the former ambassador of France
at Constantinople, has written a full account of his arbi-
trary arrest, and the seizure of his papers at Marseilles
to M. Jules Favre, which is published in several of the
French papers. M. de la Gueronniere was dragged from
his bed and carried off to prison by an armed crowd with-
out any attempt at a justification. He was released the
next day, but a large sum of money taken from him was
not restored. He does not ask for reprisals, however,
thinking the present moment too serious for personal
considerations.

According to the official account the number of Ger-
man sick and wounded registered by the proper depart-
ment is 54,450. These soldiers were received in 1,188
hospitals and ambulance reports, 48 being military hos-
pitals and ambulances, and the remainder those established
by societies and private persons. The convalescents who
have returned to their regiments, or have been sent into
the interior, number 4,597. The wounded who were
discharged cured, including a few invalided soldiers, num-
ber 3,868. 518 wounded and sick have died in the hos-
pitals.

The Germans have performed the uncommon feat of
constructing and working in France a railway nearly
twenty-five miles long. When the fortress of Metz
interrupted the railway from Saarbruck through Pont-d-
Mousson to Paris and by Nancy to Strasburg, General
Moltke, on the 20th of August, directed the construction
of a railway fourteen miles • long from Metz to unite the
Metz and Saarbruck with the Metz and Paris line.
This railway leads from Pont-4-Mousson to Remilly, on
the Saarbruck and Metz line, and it was prosecuted by
night and day so actively that, in spite of the partially
very difficult country it had to pass through, it was opened
a few days ago.
The French Provisional Government is doing a great
deal in the way of economy. The pensions allowed to
dramatists and other writers who have no actual need of
them are being cancelled. Councillors of State, Prefects,
and Sub-Prefects are all to have their salaries reduced.
The members of the present GovernMent draw no pay,
but, with an eye to the future, they are reducing the
salaries of Ministers to 50,000 f., and those of Under-
Secretaries to 15,000 f. It is calculated that these reduc-
tions, added to the saving effected by the suppression of
the Civil List and of the Senate, shew a total diminution
of 50 millions of francs on the former Budget.
FOUR PALACES.—The four palaces of St. Cloud,
St. Germain, Meudon, and Versailles have as different a
fate at this moment as their recent histories are different
from one another. There is a ,hospital in Versailles, with
the strange contrast of truckle-beds upon the floors of
gilded saloons that are full of pictures. But beyond this
temporary use the palace remains much as so many of
us can remember it—a great show place, very large,
very splendid, and somewhat dull. It is out of
all immediate danger, and may be its old self again
three months hence. Then comes St. German, the
partly-rebuilt, partly-ruinous home of the exiled Stuarts.
This, too, is out of immediate danger, and, though not
yet occupied by wounded men, is under the red-cross
flag. Both of them, Versailles and St. Germain, have
been fortunate in standing out of the way of the
siege. It is- far otherwise with Meudon and
St. Cloud. The luxurious abode of Prince
Napoleon and the favourite retreat of his cousin the
Emperor have been placed in the very front of the battle.
The woods round Meudon are held by the Ger-
man outposts, the garden is destroyed by what the French
did to entrench it. The house is full of soldiers on outpost
duty. Beds, mattresses, chairs, are tumbled. about in
utter confusion; the dining-room of so many banquets is
used as an impromptu bivouac. So also at St. Cloud
there is watching by day and night. Skirmishers are here
more active, an bullets whistle through the trees. The
boudoir of the Empress, the playgrounds of the' Imperial
Prince are occupied by men who at any moment may be
shot from across the Seine; a strange scene indeed for St.
Cloud.—Daily News Correspondent.

HISTORY OF STRASBURG.—Strasburg was for the
first time taken by force on the 27th of September 1870.
The surrender of 1681 happened only through threats
against the toi,vn, which, judging itself safe, had disarmed
itself by the dismissal of the regular Swiss Militia, and
could not reckon on the help of the German Empire. The
founder of the Strasburg fortress was Daniel Speckel,
Speckle, or Specklin, of whom there is a life by Louis Schnee-
gan in the Alsatian new year's book of 1847. He was born
at Strasburg in 1536, and was at first a mould cutter
and silk embroiderer, but in 1555, when he was on his
travels at Vienna, he devoted his whole attention to
building. After long roamings in the north of Europe he
settled at Vienna in 1561, and entered the service of the
imperial architect, Selman In 1576 he entered the service
of Duke Albert of Bavaria, and executed buildings at
Ingolstadt, but in 1577 he was called to his native town,
and after he had prepared a wooden model, which was
placed in the town library, and has probably been burnt
with it, he was commissioned to erect the fortifications.
In 1589 he completed the task, and died in the same year.
Vauban built the citadel, and subsequently outworks
were added. As often as France has wanted dominion
on the Rhine (1688-97, 1703, 1733, 1796, &c.) the outlet
for attack on Germany was strengthened by the fortifiCar

tion of Kehl. Kehl, indeed, sustained a two months'
siege by the Austrians in the winter of 1796-7. The Rhine
fortress, scarcely accessible in consequence of its being
surrounded by water, was first invested by the Russians
and Badeners on the 7th of January, 1814. A cannonade
only ensued once on the 14th of FebrUary, and was un-
successful. On the 13th of April the entry of the Allies
into Paris, and the deposition of Napoleon, was first
known in Strasburg ; on the 14th the white flag of the
Bourbons was hoisted, on the 16th there was an armis-
tice, on the 2nd of May Kehl was razed, and on the
sth the blockade of Strasburg was raised, the besiej-
ing army settling itself in the neighbourhood. in
consequence of Napoleon's return from Elba in 1815
the garrison and citizens of Strasburg were among his
first supporters. In the last days of June, consequently
after the second deposition of the Emperor (June 22), the
French army under General Rapp after several engage.
ments was shut up in Strasburg by the CroWn Prince Of
Wtirtemburg. On the 4th of July the Wurtembergers
were replaced by Austrians and Badeners. A sortie by
General Rapp on the 9th of July against Hansbergen cost
many men on both sides. This was the last deed of arms
on the 22d of July an armistice was concluded, and on the
30th the Bourbon dynasty was recognised by the garrison.
On the 6th of September the garrison were disarmed and
dismissed, and on the 15th of September the blockade was
raised.

ADVENTURES OF A REPUBLIC AN PREFECT.--
The Republican Government appointed M. Valentin, who
represented Strasburg in 1848, Prefect of the Department
of the Lower Rhine, and desired him to manifest hie
patriotism by obtaining admission to Strasburg with the
least possible delay. He obeyed his instructions, and
entered Strasburg by an indirect'and difficult road. Dis-
guised as a peasant, and availing himself of his acquaint-
ance with the German tonge, he made friends with
Prussian soldiers quartered in Bischeim. From them he
obtained full particulars regarding the position and cha-
racter of the works erected between that village and the
city. He remarked that at one o'clock the fire of the
besiegers was weakest, and the vigilance of their sentries
most relaxed. Even a siege had to be suspended while
the soldiers dined. Passing through the Prussian lines
between one and two o'clock on the 22d of September, he
arrived in safety at the moat. Leaping into it, he swam
across. The French soldiers fired at him re-
peatedly, but their bullets always missed their
mark. He called out to them to permit him to
land, and to arrest him on landing. Their reply
took the form of jeers, supplemented by bullets.
At last he reached a spot near one of the gates, where he
was sheltered from the fire directed from the wall. Apin
and again he begged the soldiers to take him prisoner, and
carry him before the Governor Uhrich. Finally they
consented. When brought before the governor, he turned
up the sleeve of his shirt, and took therefrom the official
document containing his appointment as Prefect. Elie
title to the post was at once recognised, and on the even-
ing of the same day he issued a proclamation wherein his
assuption of his post was announced, and the Republic
proclaimed. Before the entry of the Germans he escaped
from the city which he had entered at the peril of his life.
Daily News Correspondent..

THE IMPERIAL MANIFESTO.—The Independance
Beige is very severe upon the Emperor's letter. alreadY
published. It says : We have asked ourselves if it Was
not an apocryphal document. We cannot understand, in
fact, how there should exist such relations as it discloses
between the man whose signature it bears and a Govern-
ment which respects itself ; nor, above all, how this man
should receive every day, as this letter says he does,
inforMation direct from the King of Prussia on the situ-
ation of affairs and the progress of military operations.
Meanwhile the thing displays such a cynicism, it offers so
ignobly to purchase by means of a mutilation of France
the'alliance of Germany, in order to take a joint advan-
tage of Europe, that it must really emanate from the ad-
venturer and visionary to whom France owes the capitu-
lation of Sedan. It would seem, then, that disgrace the
most merited and the remembrance of that 'ng crime of
nineteen years which is called the Empire, and which is
to-day so completely unveiled, does not weigh upon him
sufficiently to extinguish in his miserable mind the
dream of a return to Paris, and of a new escalade of the
throne of France with the aid of Prussian bayonets. If
Germany could be senseless enough to help him, eight
days would not elapse, to a certainty, before she would
we him disappear for ever before the vengeful blast which
would be raised against him by the whole of that .great
nation which he has covered with disgrace after outrage-
ously robbing it.

THE EMPEROR EXAMINING ARTILLERY.—The
Emperor Napoleon the other day expressed a wish to have
a thorough examination of the Prussian field guns, and a
battery was at once brought out for his inspection. The
Times correspondent says walked right round and
through the battery, putting a question in German here
and there to the captain, and praising the horses for their
strength and general excellence. The first gun was then
more closely examined in all its details of construction,
and the regular service of loading and dis-
charging gone through, the non-commissioned officer
in the special command of the gun calling. out
the kind of charge, the distance of the feigned
object, and the points of elevation. These operations
were often interrupted by questions put by the Emperor,
who seemed to be anxious to examine even the most insig-
nificant parts of the gun. Once he tried to lift the gun'
carriage by the handle, which on directing the gun is used
by the marksman, but finding the weight rather too heavy
for one hand, he tried with both, and, not succeed-
ing, said simply "Es ist sehr schwer." He
convinced himself also personally of the' perfect
ease with which the cannon is elevated or lowered
by means of a wheel in connection with a supporting
screw. After all had been gone through, the Emperor
gave his opinion that the exercise of the men, the quick-
ness in loading, and the quality of horses were much
superior to the artillery of France ; but at the same time
he expressed his belief that the construction of the gun
was too much encumbered with ingenious and delicate
contrivances.

THE GERMAN LEADERS.—The London correspon-
dent of the Mmichester Guardian writes :—Rumours,
however, find their way through private corresondence
and otherwise of increased impatience on thep part of
the Crown Prince of Prussia to have the sax'
guinary account brought to a close. Even the hard
and arbitrary nature of his father is said to have
winced terribly on the last and greatest occasion of his
" wonderful luck." An eye-witness of the scene has
described him during the latter part of the day at Sedan
as greatly agitated by the spectacle of horror around him'
As the doomed host gave way Count Bismarck rubbed
his hailds and muttered a few words of exultation. The
veteran Moltke, seated on a camp stool with a map of the
game on his knees remained wholly absorbed in the exe-
cution of his plans and the success of his combinations,
occasionally speaking, as if to himself, when a wreath of
smoke hung longer than usual over a distant bend of the
hills. " They must have come up by this time," in allu
sion to some column or squadron which had had its orders
in the morning to be at a given point at a given hour.
And it looked in the words of him who watched the im-
perturbable strategist gazing at his chart of destruction
2
as if he were some prophet watching the slow unrolling of
the fate he had foreknown. Moltke's prescience
and premeditation have come to be regarded with 0.
sort of wonder and awe among the legions whom he and
he alone has moved at will on the stupendous chess-
board. The King who has perhaps seen more of hint
during the last two months than any other person is
completely enthralled by his influence, and implicitly'
carries out his smallest bidding. But it is understood
that in political matters the great General does not
interfere.