The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-27 00:00:00

PREPARATIONS AT AMIENS.

The special correspondent of the Telegraph, in his letter
letter dated Amiens, October 23, says :—On Friday last,
is common with the rest a Amiens, I believed that the
wolf, of whose arrival we had been warned so often, was
at last at our door. About noon reports began to fly
about that the much-dreaded Prussians were on their
march to this town,. and. that, in all probability, we
should see them before the day was finished. As the
hours passed away, the canards became more
and more numerous. That the enemy, to the
number of some 2,000, had advanced from Beauvais—
which is the capital of the Department of l'Oise,—to
Breteuil, which is in the same department, but some
six leagues near Amiens, seemed certain ; and towards
dusk a gendarme brought 'the news that they were at
Ailly-sur-Noye, which is only about twelve miles
from this town. There had been a report in
the forenoon that General Bourbaki, who was
expected almost every ,hour from Lille, had returned,
and that about two o'clock he would pass in
review all the troops now in Amiens. This proved
to be incorrect, so much so that even to this present
moment I am not certain whether the General has
arrived. However, the effect of his orders were seen
yesterday, for a quantity of field artillery, in capital
order, as well as several line regiments, came
here by rail; raising the aspect of our gar-
rison to something much snore respectable, both
as to quantity and quality, than could have
been imagined a week ago. All this indicated
that there was something to be done, or some
event expected —so that when the " gendrale "
was sounded in the streets, about nine p.m., no one ap-
peared in the least surprised, but took it quite as a matter
of course. In a few minutes the whole garrison was under
arms, and, considering that amongst them are many
young soldiers, it was wonderful how very quickley they
turned out and got ready. lam quite sure that from
the moment the drums commenced to beat not
a quarter of an hour elapsed before the regiments were on
the march to their different posts, the guns being almost
the first to move off. All this shows, at any rate, that
immense progress has been made in thegarrison during the
last few weeks, and that Amiens is prepared to undertake
a steady defence if she be attacked. The alarm last night
proved to be a false one. The troops had not gone far out
of town when they were recalled. But the greatest
vigilance is still kept up, and the Moblots, who a month
ago were almost ridiculous from their general appearance,
now look, and march, and drill like bond-fide soldiers.
That they will fight well I have not the
slightest doubt, more particularly when they
are side by side with regular field artillery and
regiments of the line. Of the numbers of the garrison, of
course I shall not speak, nor yet of the plan of defence.
This much, however, I may say, that both are infinitely
better than a week ago I should have expected.
It may be that, after all, we shall not be
favoured with a visit of the enemy at Amiens ;
for the German chiefs, although certainly not
so harmless as doves, are, generally, quite as wise as
serpents. To come here in any smaller numbers than a
full division would be to insure their own defeat ; and to
detach that amount of troops from where they are so
much more wanted—namely, at Paris—would hardly be
in accordance with their present tactics ; the more
as Amiens, although wealthy from a commercial
point of view, has no great amount of stores, and the
greater part of its riches must be out of the country, or
locked up in foreign securities, as is the case with all
manufacturing towns. Moreover, the increased vigilance
and determination to defend the place must be well
known to the enemy ; for, as I hear, more than one
Prussian spy—not unfortunate Englishmen who are sus-
pected of being such, but regular genuine articles—has
been found in the town during the last few days. These,
of course, will meet with the punishment made and pro-
vided for such offences ; and it is only to be hoped that,
amongst those who are shot, there may not be any inno-
cent men.