The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-30 00:00:00

IHE 't3N, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30,

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THE WAR.

THE CAMPAIGN AROUND THE CAPITAL.

SUIPOSED DANGER TO THE LOIRE ARMY.

The apprehension is expressed in many quarters that
the Army of the Loire may be surrounded and captured
like that of Sedan. The correspondents who write from
German headquarters are all sure that D'Aurelles de
Paladine is lingering too long north of Orleans ; but these
writers labour under the disadvantage of not knowing the
French strength. One says :—" We do not know his
exact strength, but it is reckoned at about seventy
thousand men. 1-Le is, therefore, quite strong enough
to fall upon the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg
and clear a passage to the westward, or to repulse Von
der Tann. should this General attack Mm too soon. But
Prince Frederick Charles is close at hand—one rumour
places him already southward of the L,,ire, and the French
are risking the catastrophe of Sedan over again when they
allow these different corps to gather round them, As
Orleans is neither fortified nor provisioned, it would
have to capitulate in a week after it was once strictly
beset,'

The corps of Failly, at Chaumont and Brennes, had, he is
informed, neither scouts nor sentinels. Such want of
vigilance enables insignificant parties of the enemy to cut
the railway lines. He directs MacMahon to give orders
for redkbled vigilance. Some further interchange of
communications between the Marshal and the Minister ;
, the latter sends an emphatic message to the Emperor on
the 27th. If you abandon Bazaine, he says, the revolu-
• tion is at Paris, and you yourself will be attacked by the
force of the enemy. Paris can protect herself against the
outside; and he proceeds in a tone half of remonstrance,
half of authority, which oomes strangely from one of the
deferential Ministers of the Empire, to advise the Emperor
to make every effort to relieve Bazaine. The next day the
Minister sends a message to MacMahon to a similar effect,
marked urgent (faire suivre). Three days later he sends
a stiffly-worded reproach, expressing his surprise that
MacMahon communicates so seldom with Mum Why has
he retreated instead of advancing? Has he experienced a
reverse ? To this comes a single line in answer from Mac-
Mahon. He is obliged to fall back on Sedan, Nothing
further. Then follows a rapid interchange of telegrams
respecting the appointment of Bazaine as commander-in-
chief, and the Emperor's movements towards Metz. A
telegram from Napoleon to the Empress, dated
Carignan, 30th August, five p.m., is curiously
brief " There has been another engagement to-day,
without mucll importance, I remained a long while on
horseback.—NArotnoN." A second detachment of tele-
grams illustrates only too forcibly the totally unprepared
condition of the French troops. General De Failly, of
ominous name, telegraphs from Bitche on the 18th of
July that he has arrived there with seventeen battalions
of infantry, and he appeals for money to obtain supplies
for his troops, for there is no money in the public coffers
nor in the army chests. Two days later the Intendant at
Blondeau says there is at Metz neither sugar, coffee, rice,
brandy, or salt, and very little bacon or bis-
cuit, and he demands that a million of rations
shall at once be sent to Thionville. The
General Commandant of the 4th Corps, at Thionville,
complains on the 24th that he has neither canteens nor
ambulances, nor carriages, and everything is bare. The
Intendant of the 3rd Corps, at Metz, in announcing his
departure for the next day, says he has neither in firmiers,
workmen, ambulance chests, train, nor camp-ovens. from
Mhieres comes a complaint that neither there nor at
Sedan is there biscuit or salt meat. A significant message
from the Intendant at Metz, on July 26th, says that,
in consequence of there being only thirty-eight bakers
with the army of 120,000, the numerous troops out-
side Metz are obliged to eat up the biscuit which
was intended for reserve. Napoleon himself perceives this
deficiency, and suggests from St. Cloud that bread should
be baked in Paris and sent to Metz. Before this the War
Minister had, in reply to De Failly's demand for arms,
told him there were no revolvers in the arsenals, and the
officers had received 60 francs to obtain them by the
trade. The cry for provisions, for qualified assistants, for
workmen, for arms and ammunition, for trained soldiers,
for encampments, even for maps of the North Sea and
Baltic, which the Vice-Admiral cannot obtain at Brest,
goes on incessantly. At Thionville the commandant
complains that the garrison which should be 4,000 or 5,000
strong, has only 1,000 men. Among many, these are men-
tioned : from Perpignan the Prefect anxiously explains the
defenceless state of the frontier, and announces that the
people are extremely dissatisfied at such a state of affairs,
and call for the organisation of the Mobiles. From St.
Ouen come satirical thanks for 12,000 horse collars sent
to the arsenal, accompanied by a reminder that the har-
ness is incomplete without saddles or bridles.