The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-29 00:00:00

THE DEFENCE OF PARIS IN 1814.

The Patrie gives a retrospect of the defence of Paris in
1814, which, it thinks, is 'not without interest at
the present crisis, though the military position is alto-
gether different from what it was fifty-six years ago. At
the end of May, 1814, Napoleon, who had been fighting
bravely for two months against the allied armies, left the
capital unprotected by a daring movement towards
Lorraine, in the rear of the enemy. The Emperor of
Russia and the King of Prussia decided upon marching
straight on Paris. The grand Austro-Russian army,
commanded by Prince Schwartzenberg, and the army of
Silesia, under Blucher, were united, and began the
advance on the 24th March. They only had in front of
them two French corps, very much weakened, thoie of
the Dukes of Treviso and Ragusa, which were forced to
retreat rapidly before the superior force. On the 23rd
the fight of Fere Champenoise occurred, when a convoy
coming from Paris, under the escort of a division of
National Guards from Brittany, were surrounded in the
middle of an immense plain by the enemy's cavalry. The
conscripts, who had never seen fire, defended themselves
heroically, and repulsed the furious charge of the Russian
cuirassiers. Before they could be overcome can-
non had to be fired and the Imperial Guard of Alexander
brought out, which had never been employed since
the opening of the campaign. The young soldiers, how•
ever, would not yield, and perished to the last man.
After some fighting at Meaux and at Claye, the French
troops, closely pressed, by the enemy, arrived at the bar-
riers of Paris on the evening of the 29th, and took up their
position on the heights of Belleville and Romainville,
where they were protected by a numerous artillery. On
the morning of the 30th they were attacked by Schwart-
zenberg. The allies only advanced slowly, and at, great
loss. The village of Pantin and the fields of St. Gervais
were taken, lost, and taken again, but the immence nume-
rical superiority of the allies enabled them to replace their
attacking troops by fresh ones. They were, however,
obliged to bring out all their reserves, and after ten hours
of desperate resistance the remains of the French troops
were thrown back on the barriers. During this severe
struggle an Austrian corps made an attack on the side of
Vincennes, which was held by the French artillery. The
pupils of the Polytechnic School fought bravely, and
served in the batteries. An attack of some importance
took place at Montmartre. The army of Silesia hurried
in that direction at forced marches, but so great was the
activity of old Blucher, who was called " Marshal En
Avant," that they could not take part in it until two
o'clock. The Prussians rapidly ascended the heights,
which were only defended by a handful of men, and
established batteries there from which they threw
projectiles on the city. The former King of
Spain, Joseph Bonaparte, to whom his 'brother
had entrusted the task of defending Paris, did not
wait for the close of the day to make a hasty retreat. The
population took little part in the fight, with the exception
of some of the Gardes Nationales. They were tired of
Imperial despotism, were without arms, and no attempt
had been made to organise a popular resistance. Shut up
in the enceinte of the capital, their troops weakened by
considerable losses, lacking munitions, the Dukes of Treviso
and Ragusa thought they were not bound to expose Paris
to a regular attack. A capitulation was signed in the
night ; the French troops retiring in the direction of the
Loire. The next day, the 31st of March, the allies
entered the capital, and a revolution followed
which passes out of the domain of military history. The
lopses of the allies on the 30th of March have been very
variously estimated. The German historian, Plothe, who
wrote a history in detail of the campaigns of 1813 and
1814, and who had access to official documents, repre-
sented them as 84940 ; of which 1,839 were Prussians, and
the rest Russsians. The Prussian guard lost 69 officers
and 1,286 soldiers, or nearly half its effective force, 'while
the army of Silesia lost only 500 killed and wounded. The
French lost 4,000 men, but their defeat was more glorious
than many victories.

THE GERMAN LINE OF MARCH.
PALAISEAU, SEPT. 20.

As the German armies approach near the capital there
can be no question that the hostility of the populace,
whatever it may count for, becomes more menacing. In
the 'bore eastern departments not the slightest opposition
was offered. Nancy, Commercy, Bar-le-Duc, and all the
towns from that district to the frontier were passed with-
out the slightest difficulty. An attack by the people, if they
had arms, was rare. A single Prussian might generally
march through a village without fear of molestation. The
inhabitants knew that if they attempted to fight they
would receive no quarter, and they nearly always
declined the risk. But the people in the neighbourhood
of Paris are much less prudent. Several persons
who have wandered from the main body of the
troops have been " potted " from behind walls ;
and one gentleman who thought he would like to
take a walk in advance yesterday—the weather was
splendid—was warned by an officer that he had better not
go too far. The most energetic repressible measures have
been taken for the protection of the army. The day before
yesterday, at Coulommiers, fifteen prisoners belonging to
the civil population were shot, because after the depar-
ture of the main body they fired upon the- German rear-
guard. In the direction of Fontainebleau was to be seen
towards evening a burning village. It had been set on
fire because in the same way, about fifteen individuals,
three of whom were Franc-tireurs, two maires of neigh-
bouring localities, and one a wounded Zouave, had fired
upon a squadron of dragoons. They kiled a lieutenant
and wounded two soldiers. They were captured
and have been sent to Corbeil, where they await military
judgment. No letters nor papers- have been received at
the headquarters of the Third Army, the field Post, in
view of the increasingly hostile attitude of the population,
travelling only during the day and with extreme" ore-
caution.

In most of the villages lately traversed no men of age fit
for work were to be seen. The population seemed to consist
entirely of women, children, and old men. All young men
are in the Mobile Guard. The utmostt care is taken to
guard the route, exploring parties being sent out on both
sides of the road, which is often skirted by hills and
wooded country. These measures of prudence have been
dictated by some severe lessons. The French do an im-
mense amount of destruction on the way. Near Colom-
miers the French had blown up a great aqueduct in
course of construction, cut down the poplars which are
planted along the sides of nearly every French road, and
had dug a trench about twelve feet broad. These measures
lead to no good result. The damage is repaired by the
pioneers in a very brief space; in fact, more quickly by
far than the French can accomplish the work
of destruction. At one place all the road-
marks had been removed, as if the German
officers, well acquainted as they are with the country, and
furnished with excellent maps, stood in need of such
guides. At Lonjumeau all thy shops were closod. None but
Bavarian soldiers were to be seen in the streets. All
along the route yesterday morning we beard heavy
cannonading. We have since learned that a battle took
place near Paris and proved favourable to the Germans.
At Versailles an odd and significant incident took
place. The city was occupied by two thousand National
Guards, of whom only three hundred were armed with
rifles ! So much for the defences of France. The National
Guard offered to capitulate on condition of being allowed
to retain their arms, such as they had, to defend them-
selves against:marauders.