The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-08 00:00:00

A PANIC AT ORLEANS.

A second panic has occurred at Orleans of a somewhat
remarkable character. General de Polhes fell back before
one of his own regiments of cavalry, whom he mistook
for IThlans, and in consequence evacuated the town. The
rumour soon spread that Orleans was occupied by
Prussian corps d'arm6e. After this needless
alarm the tidings that the Minister of War
had sent back the same General Polhes at the head
of the very same troops which he had caused to
retreat produced the greatest excitement and indignation.
The Impartial du Loiret, a moderate organ of the province
declares positively that the nalional defences must not be
entrusted to any such generals. The soldier has lost con-
fidence in his chiefs and the word treason is constantly on
hie' lips. The highest administration of the war is not
above suspicion since it shews itself so indulgent to a
general who retreats before his own soldiers. "It is not
to the old generals of the Empire that we must look for
great efforts on behalf of •the Republic. A Re-
publican army needs Republican generals." The Journal
du Loiret, another journal, publishes an angry correspon-
dence between the redoubtable General Polhes and the
Prefect of the Loiret. The general says that military
etiquette prohibits officers from writing to the papers or
entering into discussions on any subject, but as many
honourable citizens of Orleans have asked him to state
publicly whether the Prefect of the Loiret was present at
the Council of War held on the night of the evacuation of
the town, he thinks it right to reply. The prefect was
present when, after a long deliberation, the evacuation of
the town was determinedon. " I had the right," adds the
general, "to give any orders and nothing compelled me to take
counsel of my inferiors, but in the serious state of things
I thought it right to cake all opinions." This letter
letter called forth an indignant reply from the Prefet,
who encloses two letters which he wrote to the General on
the night of the 28th. In the first, written at 4 a.m., he
says that the public dissatisfaction on learning of the
General's abrupt departure has been very great, and was
increased when it was known that the enemy
was not in force, and did not threaten the
troops at any point. The Prefect himself had
sent out special couriers, who reported that
the Prussian cavalry, who did not appear more than 3,000
strong were at Tivernon, and had received orders to move
towards Paris. Since the General's departure two regiments
of French cuirassers had arrived from Blois, and afterwards
800 men who were puzzled what to do. The Prefect
lodged them, and sent them on to Cl4ry. These inci-
dents, he adds, excited the greatest agitation in the town,
and a deputation would be despatched that night to Tours
to ask the Government to send them a General who
could defend the Forest of Orleans and its
environs. This is the painful truth, which, he thinks,
it wrong to conceal from him. In the second letter,
written two hours' later, the Prefect adds that the Bank,
the public coffers, and other establishments, have removed
and the Municipal Council assembled the evening before,
made a protest against the departure of the troops, and
the abandonment of the town. He has in the interval
since his first letter, called back the troops he had sent
out to Cldry into Orleans, and he thought it desirable
they should have an efficient leader. The Prefect adds
as a comment to the story that he, like others, consented
to the evacuation of the town because General Polhes de-
clared he was in presense of such greatly superior forces
that a rout was inevitable, and the enemy had pursued
the fugitives to Orleans itself. He was compelled, he said,
immediately to retreat with all his troops. It was there-
fore with surprise that he learned that General Polhbs had
been misled by incorrect information, as he himself
acknowledged, by a return as precipitate as his departure.