The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-27 00:00:00

THE SIEGE OF PARIS,

The Havre correspondent of the Standard, writing on
the 25th instant, says : As regards the defence of Paris
one item in the telegrams which have tardily reached us
is unfavourable. It is ominous to find that the Prussians
have got hold of the heights of St. Cloud, in
eluding the unfinished ' redoubt at Montretout.
These heights -and the redoubt are only partly com-
manded !,y the fire from the southern bastion of
Mont Valerien, and the ground facilitates the con-
struction of regular approaches to it, whilst the
road from Paris to Versailles, which is deeply en-
cased between the heights of St. Cloud on the one
hand and the hills of Bellevue on the other, forms
a natural covered way, along which the Prussians
can bring .up their guns unmolested save by vertical
fire from the fort. To throw bombs from Mont Valerien
into the Sevres road-La ditance of upwards of 4,000
metres—would require very precise firing indeed over
the town of St. Cloud, the palace, and the
hill immediately beyond it on the Sevres side. That
has ever been the weak point of the defence of Paris,
and hex: y batteries planted on the platform known as the
the " Lanterne de Demosthenes "—(not Diogenes as the
vulgar call it)—must render Mont Valerien very
difficult to hold, and have a demoralising effect
on Paris, the fortifications of the enceinte con-
tinue at Auteuil and Point du Jour being
within range. On the other hand, the fire from Mont
Valerein will be very troublesome to the besiegers, and
they are singularly exposed to be attacked by sorties from
the Porte de Vangirard ; batteries planted on the race-
course of the Bois de Boulogne can also rain shells in the
Sevres road close to the river and the slope of the hills
of St. Cloud. A tremendous artillery duel is likely
to take place on these familiar spots ; bnt if it be true
that.the Prussians hold Sevres and St: Cloud, it must be
conceded that they have a tremendous advantage in their
position. From the fortifications at the Point du Jour
to the bridge of Sevres there are no more than
300 metres ; from the same point to the bridge
of St. Cloud there are about 500 metres more, everything
points to the probability of the real attack of Paris being
made on the south-west, the central point of the Prussian
attack being the heights of Bellevue, the heights of St.
Cloud forming their left, and the heights of Meudon their
right attack. Whether it can be baffled depends upon
the number of troops which General Trochu can
rely on for sorties, and on the supply of artillery at his
command. When I left Paris the number of heavy
guns mounted on field carriages, so .as to be
easily moved to any given point, was very
considerable. As to the amount of regulars,
it could not fall short of fifty thousand' men, and
the Mobiles, if they have received such train-
ing as to qualify them to operate in the open, would give
him a force of 100,000 men more, whose physique was far
superior to that of most linesmen. But with all this, if it
be true that the Prussians hold Sevres and St. Cloud another
blunder has been committed which common care might
have prevented. It was not likely that the Prussians
would expose themselves to the guns of Mont
Valerien in the plain of Nanterre, when the heights and
mounds from Versailles and ht. Germain enabled them
to occupy a position level with it, and only exposed to the
.fire of one of its flanks. It was to prevent
this that redoubts were ordered to be built at
Montretout and Meudon, but though commenced
long ago they do appear to have been left
in an unfinished state and to have been utterly undefended.
It is a pity that the stragglers and Mobiles, who spent
their time in drinking and shouting the " Marseillaise "
in Paris, should not have been made useful
in complstivg these indispensable works. Havre
to-day is boiling over with patriotic indigna-
tion ; but here again, as in Paris and Rouen,
I have to note, with much regret, that the men are not
kept under that strict discipline which events have
shown to be the one thing wanting in the
French army. Sobriety, silence, respect for their
officers, and passive obedience—all these soldierly
virtues would render the French matchless in
the field. The French soldiers, and the French
Mobiles especially, are woefully deficient in all of
them. The Prussians are advancing in two columns on
Rouen, by Poutoise and by Montes. This movement may,
however, be a feint. Their movement against Tours is
more serious, as the delegation of the Provisional Govern-
ment is preparing to remove to Pau I There was a riot
at Blois on Friday, on the departure of a regiment
quartered there. The inhabitants tried to prevent its
going, objecting that the departure of the regulars would
leave the town utterly defenceless, and at the mercy of
any half-squadron of Uhlans. The troops left, neverthe-
less, to take care of MM. Cremieux, Glais Bizoin, and
Admiral Fourichon, at Tours.