The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-30 00:00:00

THE WAR.

THE POSITION AT PARIS.

SUNDAY.

The hostility between the Government and the various
sections of Liberals is becoming more and more pro-
nounced. There can be no question, in spite of denials,
that the Empress has requested General Trochu to resign,
and the Governor of Paris has declined—itself a fact full
of significance. Then the Minister of the Interior has
just told the people that they must prepare in earnest for
a siege ; it is coming surely, and there can be little hope of
its being averted. This announcement removes all doubt
as to the real position of affairs. For one terrible
long week the Parisians have been kept quiet by pro-
mises of great news and assurances that triumphs would
soon be announced—only it was needful for military pur-
poses to keep the proceedings of the generals secret-for
time. The inhabitants of this city clung to the
notion. The wish was father to the thought ; they had no
iifficulty in persuading themselves that great deeds were
hand. But now the scales have effectually fallen from
th eyes. They no longer can persuade themselves, that
this grim announcement of a coming siege is other than
the forerunner of more revelations of disaster.
Success on the part of MacMahon and Bazaine
would have prevented a siege. How, then, can they
have succeeded, if the approach of the Germans is more
than ever imminent? The Liberals, who have long sus-
pected the Government of duplicity, are now fully con-
vinced, rightly or wrongly, that the Ministry has been
keeping silence only with the view of gaining time. The
state of the French armies is bad, and all the very strong
talk of victories comes to nothing. There is a very dan-
gerous feeling of wrath gathering. The Government
must prepare for a storm when the whole truth (as we re-
ceive it from English sources) is known, and it might as
well be known sooner or later.
The first execution in Paris under the military law now
eigning has taken place, and the victim is a Prussian spy.
everyone knows the daring and ingenuity of these spies,
and the important services which they have rendered
to the Prussian cause, and the feeling of French-
men against them has been proportionately strong.
The spy, who has just paid with his life the

penalty of his venture, was Lieutenant Harth, and
the scene of his execution was the great square of the
military school. The hour for the execution was not
generally known as it was thought undesirable to attract
a crowd. The prisoner conducted himself with firmness
and courage, though he was severely tried. He had to
wait for a quarter of an hour, as he was brought on the
ground at a quarter to six and the execution was ordered
for six o'clock. He had been told at 5 a.m. that his end
was come by M. Ruth, a Protestant clergy-
man, belonging to Lille. When Lieut. Harth reached
the ground with his guards he was stationed with
his back to the wall of a recess in the barrack-yard. He
made three petitions ; one that his head might not be
tied, one that his eyes might not be bandaged, and one
that, as a soldier, he might give the word to fire himself.
The two first requests were not granted, and he
agreed with a good grace. The third was verbally con-
ceded, though in reality the soldiers looked for the fatal
signal to the officer in command, and fired at a move-
ment of his sword rather than at the prisoner's em-
phatic order, "Present, fire !" Harth fell dead on
the instant, pierced by several bullets, but according
to rule one of the sergeants in waiting came up and put a
builet in his head. He was buried at the cemetery of
Mont Parnasse in his dress as he fell.

The Electeur Libre states that the Government is only
waiting for the news of a successful engagement on the
part of the French, to prorogue the Chamber. The Presi-
dent is opposed to such a course, and would gladly wel-
come the support of the deputies in resisting the Govern-
ment scheme.

The Paris independent press is full of reproaches
against the administrative incapacity which has been dis-
played in retarding the equipment of the Garde Mobile.
The provisional camps are in a rout ; the leaders who
have been appointed do not come up to the old soldiers
who might have been selected. France is strong enough
to bear that these truths should be publicly proclaimed.
It was by the exercise of similar frankness that the press
of the United States rendered such important services in

the earlier part of the Civil War, when the North sus.

tained so many defeats.

WITH MACMAHON'S ARMY.

RETUEL, AUG. 26.
Yesterday, seeing all the world was leaving Rheims,
and hearing on every side reports that the Prussians were
coming, and that there would be a battle on the outskirts,
I took up my quarters early at the railway station so as
to take advantage of any opportunity for leaving that
might offer, notwithstanding the universal suppres-
sion of passenger trains. In the afternoon one of
the Paris battalion scouts entered the station,
and I saw that a train was being prepared to convey
them northwards. I immediately agreed with
M. Gellion Danglar, of the Agence Havas, that we
would go as we could by this train. The town was getting
empty, and there was no knowing whether the troops
arriving there from Paris meant to hold it or were only
passing through it. There was nothing to detain us. The
fresh arrests of spies seemed to indicate the approach of
the enemy. We had seen one pass, a man in a
threadbare great coat and with an old black
silk cap. He had been taken near the town, and
had offered, it was said, £4OO to the peasant
who drove him as prisoner in his cart. The peasant, as
might be supposed, was very much tempted by such an
offer, and it was only the interference of one of the Garde
Mobile which kept the prisoner in French hands. While
we were in the station the rumours of the advancing
Prussians grew more and more precise. The famous
Uhlans had been seen at six kilometres distance, and the
cannon it was said was heard in the direction of Pont
Faverger. We had our doubts about setting
out on a line which might be attacked and
cut, but the ennui of remaining in Rheims
and the wish to take part in what was going on decided
us to make the venture. However, we were scarcely
seated when the volunteer scouts presented themselves
for the journey and their commandant, a fine looking man,
decorated with the Pontificial order of Mentana, came up
and begged us to get out. " Will you withdraw, gentle-
men," he sa'd, " We shall probably fight en route, and I
allow no one to accompany me." However, after a pause,
he added, " If you can find a place after my men are in I
have no objection to help you in getting to Bethel if pos-
sible." So ofLwe went in a third class compartment with
two officers and two Parisian amateurs travelling in
search of sensations, and readers of the Temps, which was
no harm. While some of the volunteers sung, passing
from the Girondins and the Marseillaise to the Parisian
airs of the Vari4t4s and the Bouffes, others pressed to the
windows to see the surrounding country, which in-
cluded the immense plains of Champagne. Nothing was
to be heard around us but the rattle of sabres in their
sheaths or the cocking of the guns. The volunteers
are armed with rifled carbines. Their dress,
which all Paris has seen, consists of dark
trousers entering the boot, a cap like that of the National
Guard, and a large vareuse. Tbey have an excellent
appearance, and their officers seem to be admirablychosen.
All they want is calmness, especially at the outset. Their
fingers are always on the trigger, and the muzzle of the
guns is quickly lowered. Yesterday the lives of two very
inoffensive peasants were only held by a thread. Two
horsemen, black and white, were seen in a byeway—of
course, nothing could be thought of but the
eternal Uhlans. Happily some one had a lor-
gnette, and the mistake was discovered in time.
Everything went well until we were half way, when a
little past Bayancourt, at the entrance to a little wood,
the train stopped in full career. The sharpshooters arose ;
several jumped on the road. We looked about ;we
questioned one another. As we were at the end of the
train we could not tell what was the cause of the stop-
page, but after some minutes the train resumed its
course. After that all went well. Night came on. Our
two engines carried us with the speed of an express with-
out stopping at any station. Rethel could not be far
off. We went through the tunnel which runs through the
hills circling round the basin of Aisne like lightning, and
I was speaking to my companions of what I had seen of
the Prussian army after Saarbruck when a sudden shock
cut me short. We jumped up on our seats. The carriage
was full of dust, or of smoke, we could not tell which.
Everyone thought a cannon ball had struck the train,
which stopped. The doors were opened, the officers were
already on the ground. Passing along the carriages, they
said, 'No noise ;be calm ; get your bayonets ready !,,
Nothing can be tamer than the position of a spectator
under such circumstances. There are six of us looking

at one another, Three of us have handsome revolvers

mounted in ivory, ex cellent fur use against midnight