The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-24 00:00:00

THE EXPECTED SORTIE IVIVYIif PARIS.

The following is an extract from the diary of a besieged
r,,icknt in Paris, published in the Daily News :—Paris,
November 14th. —The great question which occupies all
minds now is "the sortie." General Trochu and General
Ducrot insist Upoon ati attempt to pierce the Prussian
lines. All • the other generals say that; at it cannot
succeed; it is Wrong to sacrifice life to no good pur-
pose; , This is hOw the matter is regarded by officers
and soldierk q fOr the National Gdard; they distinctly
say that they will be no parties to airy 3-U.6h tiet of folly.
Even in the councils of the Government there is a strong
feeling against it ; but General Trochu declines to allow
the question, which he says is a purely military one, to be
decided by the lawyers who are his colleagues. They, on
their side, complain that the General never quits the
Louvre; has surrounded himself with a number of clerical
dandies as his aides-de-camp, 'whose religious principles
may be •tiourid; btv; S.4.illose knowledge of war is nil ; and
that if. he wished Make - a sortie he should not have
waittid Until th 6 Prussians had rendered its success
impossible by dortpleting th'eli lines of invest-
ment. It is said that the attthript will be made
.dung the post road to Orleans, it being now
considered impossible, as was at first intended, to open
communications by the Havre Railroad. The general
impression is either that the troops engaged in it will be
driven bat& under the forts in confusion, or that some
50,0;:0 will be allowed to get too far to return, and then.will
be ni,tted like sparrows: It is not, however, beyond the
bounds of peSsibilitY, that the Prassians will not wait until
our great administrator liti4 C'oMploted his preparations
for attack, but will be beforehand With hint and open fire
upon the southern posts from their batteries, which many
think would effectually reduce to silence the guns of
Vanves, lesy, and of the advanced redoubts. These Prus-
sian batteries aro viewed with a mysterious awe. We fire
on them, We walk about within less than a mile of
them; and they maintain an ominous silence. On the
heights of Chatillon It 11 said at the advanced posts that
there are 108 siege guns in position; Sof& of them we can
actually distinguish without a glass, and yet not a shot
comes from them. Yesterday the gates of the Bois
de Boulogne were opened, and a crowd of several
thousand persons walked and drove round the lake. Over
their heads one of the bastions was throwing shells into
Montretout, but it seemed to occur to no one that
Montretont might return the compliment, and throw a
few shells; not over their lutds, but into their midst.

ON TUE LOIRE.

The special correspondent df thei Telegraph, writing
from Tours, November 22, says :—We in this part of
France are on the eve of great events ; but the crisis is
not so near, I think, as many persons believe. The more
I see and hear people speak who know what is going on,
and in whose veracity every trust can be placed„,the more
confidence I feel in the result of the coming struggle. The
English press; guided; as it seems to me, by the
opinion of special 66rieSpondents in the German camps,
seems convinced that, by the inaction of We army before
Orleans, a great opportunity has been lost. Let me
assure you they are utterly in the wrong. The army
before Orleans has for the present an almost impregnable
position, and can afford to wait until certain combinations
necessary for its success have been carried out. Had
Aurelles do Paladine moved forward one day after the
victory at l3accon, he would simply have ..followed in
the footsteps of those chiefs through whose. utter
want of forethought ,an army of 300,000 French-
men is now prisoner of war in Germany. Furnished, as
1 have been; with letters to nearly all the authorties here,
it behoves me to keep silence upon details which; if kneWn
to the enemy, would greatly prejudice the French cause.
This much, however, I may say—that, unless not only I,
but also other English military men who have seen service,
and who know what is going on here, are greatly mistaken,
Europe will yet be surprised by the energy, the deter-
mination, and the military combinations of the French
leaders. The armies of France; as they now are, reminds
me of my old companions in arms at the Alma and at
Inkernian. In a word, the troops I now meet every-
where around me, although many of the men are
young in years, are, with reference to discipline,
in as good order as soldiers can be, and are as
fit to take the field as any army I have yet
seen in Europe, always taking into consi-.
deration the different temperaments and require-
ments of different peoples A new scheme for the defence
of the departMents in France has lately been submitted
to the Government by an English officer—a Cap-
tain Ogilvie—who was formerly, I believe, in
the Indian Army, but who is now •in the
French service, and wears the uniform of a
major on the staff. What Captain Ogilvie's plans may;
be, I have no idea, for, as yet, they have been seen
by no one except the chiefs of the Government ; but
rumour says that they will probably be adopted. Nor
can I say whether their author belonged to the Indian or
Royal army, or to what corps. He is a tall, fair, soldier-
like looking man, about live and thirty years of age, and
was—so I am told, for I only know him by sight—present
at the siege of Lucknow. It is not often that an Eng-
lishman enters the French servics, and it will be doubly
singular should an Englishman's brains help to relieve
Paris from her present difficulty.

It is stated that two Danish deputies, .Mr. Kryger
and'llr. Ahlmann, have been returned by a very large
majority as representatives of North Sleswick in the
Prussian Parliament. This, of course, indicates a strong
feeling in favour of annexation to Denmark.
A surgeon, whose son is at Rugby, has written to
the Times, complaining of the many injuries which are
inflicted by football matches, as played at that school.
He protests against the practice of "hacking," arid he
throws upon the head masters the responsibility of
accidents.

NOTES FROM ROME.— Writing on the loth, a
Roman eorrespondent says :—" All the Roman journals
declare that the Pope is preparing to depart for Malta.
Some, indeed, say that his health.will not alloW of his
taking a sea voyage, and that he will go only to Porto
d'Anzip, to avoid being in Rome on the arrival of the
King. The truth is, the Holy Father is' in very fair health,
and, instead of meditating• flight, is having his apartments
made comfortable for the winter."
THE BISTIOP OF CARLISLE ON ENGLAND AND
WAR.—The Bishop of Carlisle, Dr. Harvey Goodwin,
presided on Wednesday night at the annual meeting of sub-
scribers to the Carlisle School of Art; He said there used
to be a saying—which was none the worse for being a
little rough—one Frenchman can " lick" two Portuguese,
one Englishman can "lick" all three. That was a very proper
view for all Englishmen to havci, and he had ro doubt
every true-hearted English boy • in the school would go in
for the great truth that an Englishman can " lick" a
Frenchthan, or a German, or anybody else. That was the
view at, least which had been taken up till now ; but now
there was a grumbling, pitiful spirit which had taken poS-
session of some Englishmen, and it seemed that if any great
Continental nation—if anything like a great Russian bear
—was disposed to prowl we should forthwith say, " Oh,
don't growl ; don't show your teeth, and, whatever you
do, don't bite ns 1" That was a disgraceful feeling. We
should all be desirous of peace, but, at the same time, we
should be confident in the strength which God had given
to this great nation. These remarks were received with
loud cheers.

THE BLOCKADE OF PARTS.--The Daily News
correspondent at Versailles, in a letter dated the 18th inst.
says :—There is a thick fog this morning, but the French
have not availed themselves of it up to nearly mid-
day for a sortie. It seems, therefore, more than
ever probable that what we have heard of their
resolve not to come out just yet is true.
The arrival of Prince Frederick Charles, to keep.
back the Army of the Loire, leaves the Germans at Ver-
sailles free to press the siege without anxiety for their
communications. It is, however, more and more doubt-
ful whether the city will be bombarded. The policy of
blockade seems to gain favour, and the works
to be directed chiefly to bottling up the forces
of General Trochu. All previous reports of the partial
or preparatory success of the negotiations for German
unity must be taken with great reserve. The matter
may be said to hang fire as regards the full,adhesion of
the South German States. •

DOUBLE PLOUGHING ON THE LINCOLNSHIRE
WOLDS.—An interesting and spirited match .came off
last week at Caistor, in Noith Lincolnshire. The Caistor
Society is one of the oldest and most impcirtant in the
County, and is greatly inspired by the energy and activity
of the celebrated shorthorn breeder, Mr. Torr, of Aylesby
Manor. The dynamometrical experiments were under
the management of Mr. Amos, engineer to the Royal
Agricultural Society of England, the results proving
Howard's new implement to be ninety-seven pound
lighter draught than the ploughs which drew lightest as
the Alford trials last week, and the judges awarded the,
•Prize•to the Bedford firm: During the trials the judges
tested: the iirkiight of an ordinaTpsingle Oat h. with-the •
coinpeting double implements, and • atordini to Mr.
Amos, this experiment chewed the winning double plough
to effect no less a saving of Horse power than 27 ver
I cent.

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