The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-15 00:00:00

TnE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1870,

(CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAMS.)
THE LATE BOILER EXPLOSION AT
LIVERPOOL.

PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE OF PARIS.

The aspect of the war has undergone a change, and
that change is not to the advantage of the Prussians.
The intelligence which arrived from Paris at Lille on the
12th has been now given by the French Government in
fuller detail, and has been to a certain extent confirmed
by an official Prussian telegram, despatched from
Versailles on the 9th. When we bethink ourselves,
moreover, of the significant silence of the Prussians
lately, we feel justified in assuming it to be true that the
besieged have gained substantial advantages, that the
circle of the investment has been considerably enlarged,
and that the offensive attitude of the Prussians is changed
into a defensive one. M. Gambetta's proclamation of
the 14th inst. asserts that the Prussians have been dis-
lodged from their positions. On the side of St. Denis
they have been driven back beyond Stains, Pierrefitte,
and Duguy. Pierrefitte and Stains are in front of St.
Denis, while Duguy is a little further to the east and
opposite Fort Aubervilliers, and about four and a half
miles from the enceinte. On the south-east and east
Creteil, Joinville, Bobigny, and the Plateau d'Avron
have been retaken. On the south-west the
besiegers have been driven out of Bas Meudon and St.
Cloud and forced to fall back to Versailles. From the
employment of the term "retaken " it would appear that
a sortie was made cn the south-east and east, while
" dislodged" may only sig aify that the Prussians,
finding the fir, of the forts too hot, aban-
doned their previous positions. The result, ex-
cept as regards morale, is the same, the fact remains
that the grasp of the Prussians on Paris has been relaxed
and the progress of the siege retarded. It is clear also
that the Prussians will eventually be compelled to retake
at considerable cost of life the positions from which they
have been driven. Till this has been accomplished Paris
is safe from a bombardment. The Prussian official telegram
is of two days' later date than the intelligence from
Paris, and, as we have said, confirms to a certain extent
the French account. It says that the Germans are ob-
serving a defensive policy until the commencement of the
bombardment. This policy, the telegram goes on to say,
is only departed from when the enemy makes sorties,
which are always repulsed with the greatest energy. We
beg to call the attention of the reader to the fact here
admitted, that sorties take place, and that as they
demand the utmost energy for their repulse, they
must be serious. A German telegram from Versailles,
dated 13th instant, indeed announces that ten bat-
talons made a sortie, but asserts that it was easily re-
pulsed by the 2nd Bavarian Corps. This result is not sur-
prising when we recollect that a corps d'arnae consists
of 24 battalions of infantry, besides artillery, and cavahy.
The loss of the Bavarians is stated to have been
19 men, but contrary to usual custom no mention is
made of heavy losses on the part of the French.
The German telegrams of the 14th state that Fort
Val6rien fires incessantly on Malmaison and St. Cloud,
but that the earthworks erected for the investment
of the fort are beginning to become irksome to the gar-
rison. How far this statement tallies with the defensive
policy observed by the Prussians, and how earth-
works unprovided with siege guns can be irk-
some to the garrison, we leave the reader to judge.
Ostentatious mention made in this telegram of the arrival of
provisions collected by requisition in the neighbourhood
leads to a surmise that the Prussians—as was to be ex-
pected—have already begun to experience some difficulty
in feeding their large army. Again we are told that a
heavy siege train is arriving from Ingoldstadt. What does
this announcement mean ? Has Bavaria any large and
effective siege train ? We doubt it ? If it has, why was it
not sent on long ago? Yet once more, how much of the
long journey has been accomplished? The term " is arriv-
ing" would lead to the belief that a portion had already
reached the camp of the besiegers. At all events, one
thing is certain, that on the 14th October the whole of
the siege train intended to be used against Paris had ar-
rived. Allowing that it is close at hand, it is evident
that the bombardment of the forts cannot begin before
the 20th at earliest. Another significant remark is made,
namely, that a portion of the troops employed at Stras-
burg are expected to arrive before Paris in a few days,
and that another portion had been sent towards the
south. This argues a consciousness of weakness on
the part of the besiegers, and is good news for the army
of Lyons. What we have said as to the prospects
of active operations before Paris not being likely to com-
mence so soon as was expected is confirmed by the
correspondent of the Morning Post, who, writing from
Boulogne on the 18th, says that the most reliable infor-
mation he can obtain is to the effect that the Prussians
have not yet brought up anything approaching
to the quantity of materials required for com-
mencing an attack even on the forts. Dr. Russell,
writing to the Times on October 6, indulges in some very
significant reflections as to the danger from sickness
caused by exposure to the severe autumn and winter
weather, and from want of provisions. He justly
observes that " there may be two armies instead of one
interested in a struggle against short commons." Dr.
Russell also justly observes that the reduction of strong
works like the forts by battering and vertical fire will be
a tedious operation, and further, that as the ground
slopes down from the plateaux of Chatillon and Meudon,
the besieged will be able to bring a plunging fire to bear
on the trenches and approaches of the besiegers.—
Standard.

A report, prepared by two Civil Engineers, was
handed to the Liverpool coroner yesterday, at the
inquest on the persons killed by the recent boiler explo-
sion at Messrs. Parry and Dukes's foundry. The report
stated that the boiler was weak from corrosion, and that
had a proper inspection been made in time, this might
have been noticed, and the accident thus prevented.

GENERAL TROCHU ON THE DEFENCES

OF PARIS.

The correspondent of the Telegraph, writing from inside
Paris on the 6th instant, says :—" In a conversation
which General Trochu had last night with an intimate
and trusted friend, the Governer of Paris expressed him-
self as follows :—' It is impossible to exaggerate the
activity and intelligence which the different com-
manders of portions of our defensive works
have displayed during the last three weeks. When
the Prussians first drew to our outside forts, they could
have carried many of them without difficulty, and with-
out material loss, by a coup de main. I feel pretty con-
fident that they cannot carry any of our outer works
now without a regular siege. On the other hand,
I cannot conceal from myself that everything
which they have done since they investod Paris
appears to indicate that they mean to starve us
out by long and weary investment, not to batter down
our walls, or try to set Paris on fire by shells. They are
conducting the siege upon principles and tactics which,
of all others, are most trying and unfavourable to the
make and character of Frenchmen. If they had
shelled the forts, or if, with long-range guns, they had
rained projectiles from the heights of Belleville into the
town, they would have made every man, woman, and
child in Paris an homogeneous unit. But, by wearing out
our patience through inaction, and by letting us feel the
slow pressure of a long-continued siege, they are forcing
Frenchmen to fight under the conditions of warfare
which, of all others, are least favourable to the temper
of my countrymen. Nevertheless, we have two months'
provisions in the town, and most of our families
have enough to last a fortnight longer. After two
months many things may happen to work in our favour.
At any rate, if Paris holds out for two months longer,
the provinces cannot say that they have not had plenty
of time to come to our rescue. If they have the will
to come, Paris, by her tenacity, will at any rate show
them the way.' These are brave words, and they
are the utterance of a simple, honest, brave sol-
dier ; but the attitude of the Parisians themselves is, if
I mistake not, very much less Spartan and heroic. We
are never tired of writing and enacting `buncombe' before
that wretched plaster of Paris cast of the City of
Strasburg. Scarcely had the news of the surrender Of
the Altatian fortress reached us before our Provisional
Government decreed that the image of the city
should be cast in bronze. Every hour in the day
regiments—which, be it not forgotten, should be on the
ramparts or drilling in the open places—occupy them-
selvesin making ' pilgrimages' to this statue, and in swear-
ing, with swords uplifted, that they will die rather than
permit it to be torn off from France. Unless the expe-
rience of all other nations who have heretofore been
locked in a life-and-death struggle be illusory and vain,
the French Guards, who make pacts with death ' and
hold their swords aloft before this Alsatian goddess, would
be far more likely to 'quit them like men' if they would
act instead of professing—if they would shoot instead of
shouting."

THE AFFAIRS OF SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL, M.P.
At the Court of Bankruptcy a sitting was held
before the Senior Registrar, Mr. Hazlitt, in the matter
of Sir William Russell, M.P., whose total debts and
liabilities are £750,000, and total assets represented to
be sufficient to pay all his creditors in full. The debtor
filed a petition in liquidation, which is still going
on, under the superintendence of Messrs. Linklaters and
Messrs. Kemp, Fad, and Co., of Walbrook, public ac
countants, and the present sitting was for the purpose of
examining a Mr. Pooley, of the Wine Warehousing Corn.
pang, who, it was alleged, had certain property in his
possession belonging to Sir W. Russell's estate, but the
examination of the witness having been taken in private
the details cannot be published. In addition to the peti
tion in liquidation, four other petitions have been flea
against Sir William Russell, who is described therein a,
of Nol9, Billiter-street, in the City of London, shipownel
and warehouseman,