The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-21 00:00:00

THE ARMY OF THE LOIRE.

Naturally great interest is felt at Tours respecting the
movements of the army of the Loire. Some perplexity is
experienced. The advance of Prince Frederick Charles
and his troops upon Tours has been confidently
looked for, and it was proposed that the French
forces should follow up their advantage, go to
meet him and force him to a battle. The opportunity was
not seized, however, whether from indecision at the wrong
moment, or from the Prussian advance being
more rapid than was expected. The French
troops resigned themselves to awaiting him, but some
councillors actually proposed to refuse battle if it were
offered, and to fall back. "To fall back !" cried others,
"after achieving an important victory !" "Yes," re-
plied the timid party, "We are only 50,000 against 150,000.
Is it prudent to risk the army of the Loire ?"
The 11, eta Prussian (Cross) Gazette affirms that it
.

is Gambetta who has re-united the scattered fragments of
the various troops of the Loire, and has formed them into
an army of from 80,000 to 90,000 men more or less disci
plined. At the same moment that the army of the Loire
is believed to be on the march a sortie by General Trochu
is thought likely. The southern part of Paris is fortifying
itself more and more. It was known at Tours since the 3rd
November that Gambetta meant to join the Army of
the Loire, with the intention of driving back the Prussians
under the Parisian cannon, while the defenders at the
same time made a colossal sortie. This scheme counts for
much in the refusal of the armistice by the Paris Govern-
ment. Our generals knew all these plans, and it wai
only at the moment of the movement on the Loire that
Gambetta forbade the publication of military intelligence.
The course pursued by Von der Tann at Orleans
proves that he justly appreciated the enemy's
strength, and would not move without reinforcements.
The fight on the 7th enabled him to understand the
enemy's position exactly, and as his retreat might have
been cut off had he remained longer at Orleans, he left
that for the road to Chateaudun. After perceiving that
the enemy was superior in numbers, he fell back
on the road to Paris until he reached Toury,
where he was reinforced. Von Wittich and Prince Albert
joined him at Chartres, and the Grand Duke of Mecklen-
burg was to reach him from Paris on the 11th."
The belief in an intended sortie by General Trochu is
also current at Tours. Some profess to believe that while
the Army of the Loire is saying, "If Trochu could only
come out with 150,000 men and reach Orleans !" the
General is saying, inside the walls, "If the Army of the
Loire could only get as far as Corbeil or Juvizy I would
risk a sortie." Thiers is reported to have said to a land-
owner from Orleans who wished to visit his estate, " You
must make haste if you wish to have time to get
back." At Lyons it is reported that the Army of the
South, which has been awaiting the enemy in strong posi-
tions at Chagny, is about to imitate the Army of the
Loire, and take the initiative. "Fn avant ;" is the watch-
word of the generals, and it is very cordially responded
to, for great ardour prevails among the troops, and an
offensive warfare suits the French temperament much
better than the defensive.

Why, asks the correspondent of the Standard, is
D'Aurelles thus letting day after day slip by, when every
day, every hour,brings the army of Prince Frederick Charles
nearer and nearer to him? Had he renewed the battle
upon the following day, ere the Prussians had recovered
from the effects of the defeat, there can be little doubt
that he would have again defeated Von der Tann with his
reinforcements, and there would have been nothing that
could have opposed him, until, in four or five days, he
approached the besieging army. Now all this is changed.
Prince Frederick Charles is as near Paris as D'Aurelles
is himself. The Prussians were notified at Sens on
the 13th ; they may by this time have arrived in
face of Fontainebleau. Manteuffel has probably been
ordered to arrest his march to the north, and to march
down to the south of Paris on the shortest notice. In
brief, had D'Aurello given battle again on the
10th, ho would have had only the army of
Von der Tann between him and Paris. If he
now advances he will probably have to fight Von
der Tann, Prince Frederick Charles, and Manteuffel in
succession before he can get within striking distance of
the King's army at Paris. Nor is there any conceivable
reason for the delay. General d'Aurelles must have
known that with the force at his disposal he could drive
back Von der Tann whenever he took the offensive ; he
knew, too, the position of the other armies of the enemy,
and it was an act of doubtful wisdom to call atten-
tion to his strength until he was fully prepared in
every way to follow up his success instantly by marching
straight upon Paris. There may, of course, be some
deep plan of military strategy masked behind the appa-
rent apathy, and persons in the secrets of the Government
profess to consider that all is going on excellently. All
Lean say is, the plan is too deep for your correspondent,
or for any ono with whom he has spoken ."

Jt would appear that when the French do make their
great sortie from Paris it will be in the direction of Ville-

juif, in the valley of the Bievres, to the South. Here a
very formidable new work of twenty four guns has been
run up, and the French are still pushing out their en-
trenchments in that direction. Dr. Russell thinks that
if they are permitted to go on, they will wedge themselves
in between the Germans, and be able to enfilade the corps
on each side, and so " separate the right of the Crown
Prince from the extreme left of the Wurtembergers."
The cattle plague still exists in no less than 84 places of
eastern or German Lorraine. The adjoining province of
the Palatinate is tolerably free.
The Cologne Gazette, speaking of the affair at Orleans,
observes that the French fought excellently, though the
Werder muskets, with which the Bavarians were armed,
made a great impression upon them.
The Eastern complication has not improved the dis-
position of Englishmen towards Germany. The Standard
declares that King William has " cooked" his report of
the defeat of the Loire Army. It does not believe that
Aurelles de Paladine has sustained any serious defeat.

The Deputy-Mayor of Strasburg has written to the
illonittur Universel, and in the course of his remarks he
declares that the civil population of Germany will never
accept for its own the programme of Count Bismarck
which would put Central Europe under the hard rule of
Prussian gentlemen who are the last representatives of
feudalism.

Upon the persons of many of the German prisoners
taken at Orleans were found French gold coins, rings, and
other trinkets. One of the waggons captured was filled
with ladies' wearing apparel, laces, shawls, and silk—the
result of plunder. The amount of the requisitions in
money and goods at Orleans is calculated at £200,000
besides an enormous quantity of private plunder. In one
of the waggons taken were forty clocks.
Letters from Versailles in the German papers mention
the increasing number of deserters. On the Bth forty
officers waving white handkerchiefs, advanced to the
outposts, under the pretext that there was a truce. They
evidently wished to be captured, expressed surprise at the
comfortable quarters of the Germans, and stated that
ravenous soldiers snatched their food from them. They
were ordered back, and on leaving cast an envious look at
the steam rising from a plate of potatoes.
During the Prussian occupation of Orleans by the
Bavarians, General der Tann requested the municipality
to procure four horses, to take the wife of Marshal
Bazaine to Versailles. Orders were given to all the
advanced guards to receive her with great respect. On
the municipality complaining of the heavy burdens laid
upon them in the way of requisitions, the General advised
them to draw up a proteit, and request Mdme. Bazaine
to deliver it to the King of Prussia at Versailles. This
they unanimously declined to do.
A correspondent of the Staudard writes :—I spoke yes-
terday to a lady who fled from Orleans just before the
entry of the Germany, and who has now returned from a
visit of inspectiou to her house. She finds it completely
gutted. Pictures, ornaments, linen—everything, in fact,
portable has been carried off ; looking-glasses, furniture,
and anything not readily transported has been smashed.
I hear from all sides that almost all the houses occupied
by the Germans have been left in a state of indescribable
filth.

According to the Provinzial Correspondenz, there is
already a large assemblage of royal personages at the head
quarters at Versailles. The Grand Dukes of Baden and
Oldenburg have arrived. Besides these, all the branches
of the Saxon royal family are represented—the Crown
Prince of Saxony, the Grand Duke of Weimar, and the
Duke of Altenburg being at head-quarters, the Duke of
Saxe-Coburg and the Prince of Weimar with the 3rd
Army, and the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen attached to the
Cavalry Division of Prince Albrecht.
A letter from Nanteuil, in the Carlsruhe Gazette, says
—" As the tunnel has completely fallen in, a loop line is
being made, which it is hoped will be completed in the
course of the month. Till then all the guns and enormous
masses of ammunition necessary for a bombardment of
Paris must be transported by road for fifty or sixty miles.
For the heaviest guns Somler's street locomotives are
used, which have the disadvantage of terribly destroying
the roads, which are sodden with rain. The usually
excellent French roads are now so worn and so full of
deep holes, that only on the firmest roads can things be
got along.
The Journal d'lndre-et-Loire states that in the recent
fighting before Orleans a German officer was made pri-
soner upon whom was found a plan of the invasion, upon
which the various strategical points were clearly marked.
Neither Blois nor Tours, Romorantin nor Vendome, were
indicated. The town of St. Aignan was the only place
in the department of the Loire-et-Cher which was men-
tioned. In the Cher, Bourges and Vierzon were marked.
Thus Issoudun in the department of the Indre, Saint
Aignan, Bourges, and Vierzon would appear to be the ex-
treme points of the projected invasion on that part of
France. Towards the south-east the plan included Dijon
and Besangon. In the north-west it extended to Amiens,
Dieppe, and Rouen ; and in Central France to Cosne and
Clamecy.
THE FORTRESS OF BELFORT.—The Prussian
Monitor, in an account of the fortress of Belfort, admits
that it is the most important of the communications with
the South-East of France, and of late its value has in-
creased, from the construction of three railway lines
which meet there. At the present moment it has an ex-
ceptional importance, as the south of Alsace will not be
completely secured to Germany without the possession of
this fortress. At Belfort the railway lines pass
eastwards towards Bale, passing by Mulhouse, west-
ward towards Paris by Vesoul, and to the south-west
to Besancon by the valley of Doubs, these three lines
maintaining the communication with' Switzerland and
with the south and south-east of France. Belfort is a
fortress of the first rank, and is situated on the Savou-
rense, in a plain, from which rise several groups of strong
heights, of which Mont Miotte, 1,500 feet high, and the
Mont de la Justice, 1,300 feet, are the most important.
Belfort guards the passages between the Vosges and the
Jura, and closes the roads leading from Lower Alsace to
the valley of the Doubs. The town is commanded by a
citadel, constructed by Vauban, surrounded by an
enceinte with bastions, which separates it from two
important faubourgs. Besides, the fortifications on the
rock of Belfort, whose highest point rises 200 feet above
the level of the Savoureuse, Belfort is defended by the
permanently entrenched camp of Vallon, which can con-
tain 20,000 men, and which is protected by the powerful
forts of Miotte and La Justice, besides other works. The
town itself is one of the most important in the depart-
ment of, the Haut-Rhin. It has 8,400 inhabitants, is the
residence of civil and military authorities, possesses
many remarkable monuments, and as a commercial town
has some consequence.
LYONS AWAITING THE ATTACK.—A. resi-
dent correspondent of the Telegraph, writing from
Lyons on the 13th, relates the steps taken to repel any
attack. He says :—The town has a complete circle of
forts, some of them of immense strength, entirely pro-
tecting it from a coup de main. With a sufficient gar-
rison, and if well provisioned, it ought to make
a tough resistance. The principal part of Lyons
lies in the long, narrow triangle formed by the
junction of its two splendid rivers, the Rhone and
Saone ; but important suburbs have grown up on the
left bank of the Rhone, out of Lyons proper. A high,
steep hill,. called the Coteau des Fourviere, runs
along the right bank of the Saone, in immediate proxi-
mity to it, and overlooks the western side of the town
during its whole length. The hill is formidably fortified.
A series of bastioned stone forts and their connecting
fosses run along the entire length, and render attack
from the country beyond no easy matter. Here are
in succession Forts St. Irenee, St. Just, Loyasse, &c. ;
and two or three miles further up the Saone,
on the same side, is Fort la Duchere, which defends
the valley of the Saone and forbids an advance from the
north-east. On an elevated plateau dominating the town
is situated the Quarter of the Croix Rousse—the scene of
the insurrection and terrible massacres in '49. This
plateau looks almost perpendicularly down upon the lower
part of the town towards the south, and upon the
two rivers east and west. Northward it stretches away
in an unbroken plateau towards La Bresse, and
along it runs the Chemin de Fer des Dombes. An
approaching enemy would meet with but few natural
obstacles here ; but directly in his path is Fort Montessuy
the largest near Lyons, whose guns not only sweep the
entire plateau, but cross their fire with the forts on the
opposite bank of each river. In its immediate neighbour-
hnod is situated the Camp of Sathonky, where there is ac-
commodation for an entire army. The weakest part of
Lyons is undoubtedly towards the last. Here Forts aL
Tete d'Or,Charpennes, and Guillotierelie along just outside
the suburbs of the Brotteaux and La Guillotiere, and
complete the circle of fortifications. The forts are not
more than a mile and a half from the very heart of the
city, so that the latter must suffer terribly in case of an
attack from that side. In addition to all this, earthworks
have been thrown up around the place, wherever
they have been considered - requisite. Another
important step has been the fortification of Mont
Cindre, a high hill with absolutely a perpendicular side,
situated on the right bank of the Saone, about three and
a half or four miles above Lyons. It is only since modern
long-range artillery has come into use that the utility of
fortifying Mont Cindre came to be discussed, but,
owing to the improbability of an invasion, it has never
been carried into effect. Naval guns of long range have
been sent up from Toulon for this and other important
points around the town. It is to be hoped, however, that
this preparation will have been so much labour in vain;
for the consequences of a siege would be frightful.

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