The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-20 00:00:00

RE Su.N, LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1876

polite and well-disposed towards us, the committee was
simply composed of men who seemed incapable of anything
beyond the most absurd-wickedness. We had to endure
for a full hour all their insults to ourselves, to the Holy
Church, and even to the Holy Virgin, which caused us to
shudder. The most violent—two old white be.arded men
—declared that we ought to be locked up, but happily their
advice was not adopted, and we were allowed to leave at
half-past 7. I besought one of the three well-disposed
members to grant us a safe conduct, but he could only do
so upon the condition of our returning to Montelimart,
instead of pursuing our intended journey. This
time we were allowed to leave unattended,
but the apprehension of having a second time
to experience the "people's joy," caused us to
address a prayer to God which was speedily answered,
for a tremendous fall of rain had cleared the streets,
and we were enabled once more to reach the station.
But our troubles were not yet over. Scarcely had
we entered the waiting-room when a detachment of
National Guards entered, and once more arrested us. I
was worn out with fatigue, and I said to the officer, who
ordered me to follow him, 'No, sir, I will not go. I
have been arrested already twice to-day and that is
enough.' Follow me.' But I have a safe conduct.'
' What of that ?' exclaimed all the men together.
' You must come.' I declared I would not go
and then, leaving two men to guard us, the
others went off with the safe conduct to seek their
captain. After some time the captain appeared and
told me that I might proceed, and I returned to Monte-
limart at one o'clock in the morning." The Journal de
Maine et Loire says, " Lyons is a prey to the most
deplorable system of revolutionary tyranny and disorder."
The Salut Public of Lyons publishes a communal order to
the following effect :—"The Committee of Public Safety,
having consulted the Finance Committee, decrees ' that
all articles of bedding, wearing apparel, and trade tools
pledged at the Mont de Pi6te for slims not exceeding
twenty francs shall be restored gratuitously to their

owners.' "

VICTOR HUGO'S APPEAL TO THE
FRENCH PEOPLE.

We have given the Germans a fraternal warning; but
Germany has continued its march upon Paris. The Em-
pire attacked Germany, and she is revenging her wrongs
upon the Republic. History will pass its judgment on
the matter. France has the privilege which Rome
and Greece formerly enjoyed, that her peril is
to share the low-water mark of civilisation.
France, however, will not fail, because she
will do her duty. She must save Paris, not only for
France, but for the world. War or disgrace is put before
us. What is desired can be accomplished. A bad yew is
excellent when the heart is good. An old sabre is invincible
when the arm which yields it is valiant. Oh ! citizens let
each one arm himself with whatever may come to hand,
and let France become an abyss under the feet of the
Prussians. Oh, people ofeFrance, develope unexpected
strength, and astonish the world with the marvel of your
waking. Let the lion of 1792 arouse himself, Make war
by night and by day, on the mountains, in the plains,
through the woods. Let there be no truce, no repose no,
sleep. Despotism attacks liberty; Germany assaults
France. Let us organise the terrific battle of the country.
As for Europe, what has she to do do with us ? We do
not seek for an auxiliary, and she may come to us if she
is anxious to do so ; if she is afraid then
she must fear. For the formidable denouement
that France has accepted if Germany presses
it upon her, France and Paris can suffice for each others
So great a supplicant as Paris would astonish history, and
she leaves Europe the desire of acting with greatness or
littleness. As for the Germans, let them burn Paris as
they have bvrned Strasbourg ; they will kindle more anger
than they will light up leaves. Tranquil and terrible
Paris awaits invasion, and has no more need of succour
than has a volcano. Frenchmen ! You will fight ; you
will devote yourselves to the universal cause, because so
much blood must not be shed in vain. The illustrious
shades of Brutus, Leonidas, Riego, and Maim, are looking
down at you. You will not fail ; you will keep on to the
end, and the world shall learn through you that if diplo-
macy is weak the citizen is brave ; that if there are
kings, there are also peoples ; that if the monarchy is
eclipsed, the Republic shines forth ; and that if for the
moment there is no longer any Europe, there is always a
France.

DESTRUCTION OF THE FORESTS NEAR

PARIS.

The following description of the firing of the forests
about Paris is by a correspondent of the Dail) News :
" I have just witnessed a sight which vividly brings home
ous the horrors of war. From the roof of the house in
which I live I have seen the forests of Maisons, Mont-
morency, St. Prix, and the woods of St. Gratian all in
flames. Human ingenuity must have a hard struggle
with the rain, in trying to set the trees a-blaze. But
as science in our time is pretty nearly sold to
the Devil, the tears which Heaven wept are of no
avail in saving the sylvan beauties of the environs
of Paris. Though the winds blow from the west, we, who
are miles to the east of the blazing forests, can smell the
burnt wood. As the smoke is driven in the direction oppo-
site to us, by the aid of field-glasses we can witness the
frightful end of many a pretty chalet or elegant villa to
which the flames are being communicated. The estimable
M. de Villemessant, who for his health's sake now finds
it expedient to remain aux eaux, and M. Emile de
Girardin, who was thought to be at Florence
with his friends, 011ivier and Prince Napoleon,
but who is in the flesh at Limoges, must in-
evitably suffer from the vast conflagration to the
north of Paris. But who can pity them if their sumptuous
country-houses are licked up by the flames this moment
raging round these abodes of luxury ? They were the
foremost men in supporting the bands organised by M.
Pietri to cry a Berlin last July. The chateau of the
Princess Mathilde also seems destined to be thrown into
the crucible. The woods and copses of St. -Prix, St.
Gratian, and Montmorency have been fired by means of
petroleum and gas tar, which it would hive been
dangerous to leave in a city that in a few days may
be exposed to the feu d'enfer of a bombardment.
Dealers in these combustibles received notice a few clays
back that they must surrender to the Committee of
National Defence what they could not take to a seaport
out of the reach of the enemy. The firing of that part of
Bondy visible from Montmartre at eleven o'clock on Wed-
nesday night, was a still more awful spectacle than what I
have just witnessed from the leads overhead. The
trees were perfectly dry, so that the oil and petroleum
which were spilt about in the brushwood, had
no obstacle to contend with. Isolated columns
of flame and clouds of smoke suddenly rose, and,
before half an hour, were lost in one general blaze, which
stood out life a fiery wall against the sky. In the light
of this vast furnace hideous objects were rendered visible
on the Martyr's-hill--yawning graves, dug to hold three
or four hundred persons, reminded the lookers-on of the
impending destruction of human life. Those common
ditches, into which men, women, and children
slain by Prussian balls are to be thrown, in-
trude themselves into the reserved burying places,
purchased a perpetuite by families rich enough to
indulge in grief for dead relations. War is no respecter
of property or of persons, of sacred spots or of holy places.
It slays the young, it pulls down the roof-tree which
shelters age and infancy; destroys the woods in which
poets and painters seek to commune with what is best in
nature, and tears off the veil of earth with which we try
to hide the pestilent horrors of mortality from our
sight. From the mounds of clay surrounding
those hideous trenches which now intersect the
Martyrs'-hill, skulls grin out, remains of smashed
coffins obtrude themselves, or rags of black cloth, once the
undertaker's pride, declare the vanity of all human re-
spectability which has not an upright conscience• for its
substratum. It seems to me that I have lived more in
the last forty-eight hours, and gained a deeper insight
into life and its objects than in all the years I
have hitherto lived, and all the books I have
hitherto read. Those shin bones, thigh bones, arm bones,
and vertebra✓, that were buried a perpetuite, but which are
now mixed up with mounds of loose earth ; those frag-
ments of monuments which were unscrupulously knocked
down to make way for steel cannon, fabricated for ' the
Imperial Navy,' and that blaze which for miles screens
the country in front of us, are the most striking sermons
that I know of.