The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-05 00:00:00

THE SITUATION.

The Paris correspondent of the Standard, writing from
Rouen on Sunday last, says :—" The most remarkable
thing about the letters from Paris that reach us here is
the mode in whichthey are conveyed. They are dispatched
only under certain specified conditions of weight—none
must exceed four grammes, and, `in the event of
the letters thus mailed being unable to go, the lightest
letters will be taken in preference.' I have seen several
of these letters—not indeed written by newspaper men,
but by persons compelled to reside in Paris, to their fami-
lies. They represent the capital as having wholly changed
its aspect. It was awfully dull ; there was up to the
28th plenty to eat and drink, but the great dearth the city
suffered from was want of news. One writer, the relative
of a well-known artist, to whose kindness I am indebted
for the communication, states that throughout the day
the streets and boulevards have a strangely deserted
appearance, and that the look of desolation which
has spread over the city is greatly increased by the con-
trast presented by the brilliant sunshine. The boom of
distant artillery is heard every now and then, and the
very few civilians to be seen in the streets keep specu-
lating as to what may be going on outside. Every
man dresses up as a National Guard, and a man in
plain clothes outside the cafés is gazed at as some
curious outlandish animal. The gamins are having all
their own way ; bands of these mischievous urchins get
up a cry of ' A bas l'espion '—` Down with the Spy '—
and raise the hue and cry after some unsuspecting indi-
vidual who does not happen to wear uniform. He gene-
rally gets frightened ; quickens his pace at first—then
breaks into a run ; he is immediately hunted down and
conveyed to the guard-house, from whence, after some
little inconvenience—a detention varying from half an
hour to six hours—he is released on his utter harmlessness
being proved. The only intelligence from without received
in Paris had been by means of carrier pigeons ; the
messages brought by these winged substitutes for the
twopenny post greatly cheered the Paiisians ; they were
told that General Polhds, at the head of the army of the
Loire; was preparing to attack the Prussians in the rear l
Gbneral-Polhes is the officer who evacuated Orleans on the
approach of the Prussians. The general feeling in Paris
was that the Prussians had their work cut cut before
them if-they attempted to storm the place, but the enthu-
siasm which is so conspicuous in the columns of the news-

papers was not generally apparent. Up tne ntil ult.
(last Wednesday) nothing startling had taken place in
the way of fighting. A gunboat was said to have
demolished a battery constructed by the Prussians
at a range of '2,800 metres—vtiry nearly two miles. The
viaduct at Nogent had been blown up. The Prussians
were believed to be preparing an attack on Point du-
Jour. General Troche has organised drumhead
courts.:martial for the purpose of shooting runaways,
thieves, and marauders belonging ...to the army,
and permanent courts-martial to keep the Seden-
tary National Guard in order. The greatest
concentration of Prussians is to the soutihwvst.iii the di.
rection of Versailles, and as they have .niade,eeveral at-
tempts, hitherto ineffectual, to throw bridges over the
Seine between St. Cloud and Sevres. it was expected that
the main attack would be made in that direction—, ln the
outskirts of Paris a great deal of plundering
Here the news, or rather the report, of the dayt..s4.4hat
the Prussians have beaten a body of Franc-tirktirsiii &that
of Mantes, and that two columns are moving:-on Rouen
and on Amiens. A portion of the MobileS at Havre and
Montevilli ers have precipitately left for Arnim s, and Rouen
is afraid of a visit from the enemy, who is said to have
reached Rosily, 25 miles from this. In anticipation of
this visit the houses display a great variety of foreign
bunting, and the Union Jack appears as great a favourite
as the Yankee Stars and Stripes in Paris. I believe this
q.nprebension to be premature.

OUR COTEMPORARIES---This Morning