The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-11 00:00:00

rin SUN, LONDON,. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER ii, 187 i.

THE FRENCH ARMY OF THE LOIRE.

A correspondent of the Daily News, writing from Bloi,
on the 4th November, says :—lt is probable if there is In,
armistice that hostilities will commence immediately on
the Loire, for although, in one sense, the longer we can
put off fighting a great battle the better our chance is,
these advantages would be more than overbalanced by the
immense reinforcements the enemy will be receiving,
and has no doubt begun to receive, from the
troops realised from blockading Metz, and which will
enable them to crush us to atoms. Our only chance here
was to attack the Prussians while they were inferior in
numbers at Orleans. As I wrote to you from Salbris, it is
greatly to be feared that unless this army (at present at
least) is opposed to inferior numbers it will again be
routed. In fact, the conduct of the enemy in not
following up its advantage at Orleans and hi allow-
ing the concentration of troops, which has taken place
since, is singular; for, poor as the material is as individual
men, there is an army, a large army—for it has been
daily reinforced—now on the right bank of the
Loire. It cannot be less than 150,000 men It

may be more. It is, generally speaking, well
armed ; it is well equipped and well fed—so well fed,
indeed, that the men seem cooking and eating all
day, which is one of the bad features of these French
soldiers of to-day. Well, that chance of attacking the
Prussians while they were in inferior numbers once gone,
we may consider as gone also the only chance of obtain-
ing a success. When the change of front was made from
Salbris to the present positions of the army, it was
intended to attack Orleans immediately from the

Tight bank of the Loire ; Government, it would seem,
had received reports which induced it to think the
moment for an attack was favourable ; so far
they may have been right. However the attack
did not take place, because the movement took
six days to perform instead of taking 24 or 36
hours which it might have been done in. This
is what happened. The gentle men of the National
Defence, who like to do everything themselves, from
patriotism no doubt, in this instance actually ordered every
detail of the transport of the troops. The secretary of
M. Freycinet, a M. de Serres, who boasted to several
officers with childish glee that he was the origina-
tor of the " plan de bataille," had the troops all
conveyed from Vierzon to Tours, and from Tours to Blois,
by rail, artillery, cavalry, and all. One of his calcula-
tions, for instance, was that every hour one battery might
start off ! Now every battery comprises about 150 horses,
besides the guns, caissons, &c. In short it took six
days and nights to move the troops from Salbris
to Blois. If they had marched across, they might,
by doing elopes in a day and a night, have done it in 24
hours. This is an instance which goes to prove that the
poor generals do not have an easy time of it ; and when
they are unsuccessful they are revoked. It is worthy of
notice that the soldiers are seldom blamed for the want of
success, witness Sedan and Metz. Nevertheless they are
shooting them right and left. It is a curious state
of things. M. Gambetta might well say, 'in one
of his numerous proclamations, " armies are not impro-
vised," no, nor yet is the morale and the discipline
of an army not obtained by mere executions and
sa verity.

THE DEFENCE OF PALIS.
PARIS, Nov. 7.

The French line of defence has advanced one step
further along the Seine between Gennevilliers and Nan-.
terre. On the road to Courbevoie at Bezons the lines did
not reach much beyond the Havre Railway, but, it having
been decided to extend them further on, Colombes was
occupied by the Mobile Guard, and the plot of ground
formed by the bend of the river at Gennevilliers will be
placed in a state of defence, and earthworks for artillery
thrown up in front of Orgemout and Argenteuil. Tho
fort of Moutrouge, which for the last few days had been
less noisy than usual, resumed its activity on Sunday, the
6th. From the early morning its gum were heard, in
consequence of the officers in command having noticed
a new stratagem employed for the construction of the
attacking, works. The enemy no longer amuse them-
selves with making trenches and then earthworks for the
firing of their batteries. Those works, which wer e
generally executed daring the night, and in a great
part. destroyed by the skilful firing of the seamen,
were progressing but slowly. The enemy resorted to
other means, namely, excavating a tunnel through the
hill of Chatillon, which week! then form a casemated
redoubt. This work was materially concealed from view,
and explains why for some time past they had been lost
sight of at this point. Accordingly some new stratagem
was suspected, for the position was too good to be given
up., During the whole day the guns fired in that direc-
tion. Some shots were also pointed against L'ilay, but no
answer was given from either place. The officers who act
as military attach4s to the embassies of the neutral
Powers, being in possession of a special authorisation
given at Versailles, have lately been visiting the works
of the Prussian investing lines, in order to inform the
Ambassadors and their Governments• of the situation
of the belligerents. General Trochu has just
issued strict orders that a sharper watch should be kept
against marauders, who not only carry on their operations
on the open ground, but also break in and plunder houses
and estates in the neighbourhood of Paris. Yesterday a
fresh expedition of National Guards was sent out with this
object. •

UNPOPULARITY OF 'IHE WAR IN
NOR THERN FRANCE.
Writing from Amiens on the 9th instant, the special cor
respondent of the Daily News states :—I have just re-
turned from a trip northwards, and have bad an opportu-
nity of judging something of the feeling of the population
on the state of the country. I did not meet with
the patriotic élan anywhere. The people seemed to
be stunned—all expected the Prussians. There
was an air of sadness, listlessness, a sort of mechani-
cal obedience to the imposed resistance. Abbeville
was a " Deserted Village," the picture of melancholy,
and the absence of the male population very perceptible.
At the hotel where I breakfasted, the proprietor, a very
polite, sensible man, informed me that he was going
to close his establishment in a few days, as he was
included in the levee en masse. He had no ideas
about the state of the country, he was ordered
to march, and like others he must fall in. I fear
the continuation of the war is not popular. The country
people understand nothing as to the gravity of the
situation ; very many speak with regret about the
dove nfall of Napoleon ; he enabled them to make money,
and this was the only standard by which they measured
his reign. Farmers were busily occupied in ploughing,
and gathering in the beet root for the sugar mills. A
good deal of cattle and sheep seem to be arriving,
so as to be placed beyond the reach of the enemy's requi-
sitions. At Boulogne-sur-Mer, the terminus had a miser-
able look. A traveller was apparently regarded as a
curiosity ; the buffet, formerly so animated, was a banquet
hall deserted. Like all towns far away from the scene of
action, the inhabitants of Boulogne go in for
the non-surrender of an inch of territory. It is to
be hoped they will remember to send their National
Guards in time to help Amiens. Boulogne appeared
lively after the dismal towns occupied by the Prussians,
or those down for their visitation. It was cheering to ob-
serve the shop windows full of luxuries as well as the ne-
cessaries of life. The falling off in the number of English
residents is perceptible, but then the French emigres
are considerable, chiefly women, children, and men whose
fighting days are over. I regretted to find in the principal
hotel of the town difficulty to obtain the change for a 100
franc note, handed to settle the dinner bill. The waiter
returned, as in the case of small shop-keepers, to ask
"if Monsieur had not smaller money." On taking my
seat in the railway carriage Amiensward, with
only a few other passengers in the train, a head appeared
at the carriage window, then a second, then a third.
Immediately the door opened—l was surveyed from head
to foot, asked where I was going to, if I had a passport,
and to shew it. The signature of Lord Lyons having
been found satisfactory by this Committee of
National Defence —most gentlemanlike ill appearance—
it was politely returned to me, with the assurance that
a passport was toujours utile. I hoped such would
not be required after the war ; but the Spartans were
firm ; the passport was one of the means of saving the
country.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—MdIIe. Castri, of the Italian
Opera, Paris, Mr. Vernon Rigby, and Mr. Franklin
Taylor (solo pianoforte) are the artistes announced for
to-morrow's concert. Beethoven's " Pastoral Symphony"
and the number two Concerto will be played.
CRYSTAL PALACK.—One Shilling Day ; ThursdaYt
Nov. 10, 1870. Number of visitors by season tickets, 1,711;
ditto on payment, 958 ; total visitors, 2,669.
A comparison of the last German accounts enables us to
state that the seven and a half corps, or seventeen divi-
sions, round Metz on the 27th numbered just 188,000
effectives, or a little over 12,500 men per division. If
these are pretty equally distributed, it may be believed
that 25,000 have gone on to Paris, 50,000 will act with
General Manteuffel, 75,000 with Prince Frederic Charles,
25,000 be left to hold Metz and take Thionville;and 12,000
(Landwehr) return to Germany,—Pall Male Gazette.

TflE INVESTMEN V OF BELFORT.

BETINE, Nov. 6.

Further particulars concerning the inveAtment of Bel-
fort state that the German troops, 6,000 strong—or, as
other reports say, 10,000—advanced, on the 31st of
October, on tin ee different points towards the fm-tress ;
1, via Lure; 2, across 1116 Vosges and Ballow, on the
road from Cernay to Thaun : and 3, over the bridges of
Aspach and La Chapelle. After having repulsed the
Francs-tireurs and Mobile Guards, under General Keller,
towards Cernay, t6y advanced on the fortress, around
which the three columns formed a circle of investment,
which from day to day was drawn closer in. The German
head-quarters were established in the castle of Monsieur
Saglie, at Souvenan, and immediately the approaches
were commenced, at which all the strong and able men in
the neighbourhood were compelled to work. In conse-
quence of the requisitions imposed upon the inhabitants
of the villages around Belfort, many of them fled
to Switzerland, and others took refuge in the forests,
with as much property as they could carry away. All
the Swiss frontier villages near Truntont are crowded with
these fugitives. On their first approach the Germans
occupied a point on Mount Salbert, a few kilometres
from Belfort, whence on Thursday evening they fired
some shells, as a sort of salute, on to the glacis of the
fortress. On the 4th of November a parlesnentaire
arrived before the fortress, and demanded its surrender.
This demand having been refused, the bombardment was
announced for the sth. At first it was supposed that, in
consequence of rumours of an armistice, the bombard-
ment would be deferred; but the cannonading continuing
all yesterday, and the village of Veseloes having been
burnt by the German guns, that rumour does not seem to
be confirmed. It is stated that the garrison will defend
tkemselves to the utmost ; with which decision, however,
the citizens are said not to agree, sinco the defence of
Belfort would not alter the general situation of France .