The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-31 00:00:00

THE WAR.

AFFAIRS AT PARIS.

MONDAY.

Every topic, in the absence of news from the front,
pales before the absorbing interest of the preparations for
the approaching siege. Every day Paris looks more war-
like ; every day the arrangements approach more nearly
to the desired completeness. The forts are full of guns
and men, the deep ditches are full of water, and
the Bois de Boulogne is full of cattle and sheep to
serve as provision during the approaching time of trial.
From that whilom place of pleasure goes up a tremendous
sound of live stock, the volume of which increases every
day. Already there is two months' supply of meat accumu-
lated. Permission or not, most of the inhabitants who
can afford it are buying arms.
The questions of going out and coming in, the exodus
and the immigration, are amongst the most interesting of
those connected with the siege. The ambassadors will
not remain to be peppered by German shells ; they will

leave for some town where branches of the administration

may be established. What will be done in this
direction is of course not revealed to the out-
side world ; but no doubt many of the functions
of Government will be transferred to the provinces. The
War Department will certainly go. It would be wild in
the extreme to have the supply of the army connected
with a department which is locked up in the capital with
a besieging force on all sides. But it is not at all certain
that the Minister of War will follow his department. He
has something more on his hands than the control of the
army—he is Premier, and whilst the services immediately
connected with the force in the field must remain in
communication with it, the belief gains ground that the
chief Minister himself, with at least some of his col-
leagues, will remain where he is. The Government are
notoriously opposed to leaving the Parisians and General
Trochu to their own devices. The belief prevails that
they will send out of the capital only such proportion of
the Government as must necessarily go. It is even re-
ported that the Empress has decided to remain. Her
Majesty had at first agreed to go to Bourges or Tours ;
but now she has repented of the resolve. Very naturally
the Empress Regent and her advisers do not wish to leave
the capital to the guidanceship of Gambetta and his col-
leagues ; but though their stay may keep this party in check,
it will be attended with corresponding disadvantages.
The country districts and the great towns are sure to get
dissatisfied if they remain long cut off from communica-
tion with the capital.

One important portion of the migratory element is
leaving Paris very unwillingly. In obedience to the long
expressed wish of the public, a decree has been published
ordering all subjects of nations at war with France to
leave the capital and retire on the other side of the Loire.
Germans who are naturalised are to all intents and pur-
poses Frenchmen, and will be regarded as exceptions;
but all others must take themselves off in three days, or they
will be handed overto the military authorities. This decree
will greatly distress many thousand Germans who are
peacefully fixed here, and have no more desire to be
mixed up in the war than the poor old folks who are
entering Paris in crowds from the rural districts. But public
opinion is so strong on this point that people are some-
what dissatisfied at the permission to retire even beyond
the Loire. If the Germans would act as spies in Paris, it
is said, they will do the same on the other side of the great
river. It is intended to organise fresh armies and bring
up fresh resources from that district. These Germans,
the cry runs, will be able to give all intelligence required
respecting these preparations. The Journal des _Mats
says :—" It is no doubt very hard to be obliged to go to
such extremities, and all the more that among the expelled
there may probably be many innocent ; but how are these
to be distinguished from others? In the existing situa-
tion, when the enemy is only a few marches from Paris,
every secondary consideration must be forgotten in the
interests of public safety. It is no longer two armies,
it is two nations which fight in a last struggle ; and since
it was Germany which first gave the war this barbarous
character, it is to their own country that the Germans
sent away from Paris should carry with them the misery
and suffering which their expulsion will involve."
The immigration is as serious and as painful as the
exodus. Thousands of families are arriving in all directions
from the country round. It is all very well to
talk of expelling the " useless mouths," but as
fast as one set departs another comes in.
It would be the height of folly for these
people to remain out of the city. All the district around
will be swept with troops, and much of it ploughed with
cannon shot, if the Germans come up. Besides the
crops of the country people are all to be
burned in order that the invader may not reap
any benefit from them. Nobody likes to remain in such
an external wilderness, and therefore they come up in great
numbers ; but the remedy is almost worse than the
disease. It is a sad sight—to be compared to nothing
so much as the disastrous removal of effects in
order to avoid a fire. Thousands of miserable
travellers with their children and household furniture,
cattle, horses, and every species of property, raise vast
clouds of dust on all the roads leading to this excited
city.

The war news is once more nil. The Government has
taken to the practice of giving us a sort of general
review of the situation in about five lines of large print.
As this neat compendium is full of the largest statements,
and devoid of every semblance of special fact, its value
may be readily guessed. We know nothing of Bazaine,
nothing of MaxMahon.

OPERATIONS NEAR THE BELGIAN
FRONTIER.

CHARLEVILLE MEZIERES, AUGUST 28.

I arrived here the night before last, and made an ex-
cursion to Poix, which delayed me in writing to you, and
to-day I find the task difficult on account of the reserve
imposed on me respecting the movements of the army.
Discretion is superfluous, as I think, for the enemy cer-
tainly knows as well as we do, if not better, that he has
the army of MacMahon in face of him ; while
if I were to tell you that such and such corps
were at such and such villages, I do not suppose that
it would be much news to the Prussians. The interest of
all these preliminaries seems to me to be very much
weakened by the expectation of decisive events. I found
Charleville, which I left a few days ago quite tranquil,
disturbed by that agitation whose painful traces I have
followed from the frontier to the heart of the country.
Preparations for the reception of the wounded are being
made here, and I know that at Sedan the international
ambulances have put all the transports in requi-
sition. This is the sure sign of an approach-
ing battle ; and yesterday evening the servant of
a notary of the little town of Montoy arrived
at Charleville to inform his master's father-in-law that
he had fallen in with. a Prussian patrol, who had detained
him and his horse and carriage. According to the servant's
account the two armies are not more than a league apart.
Yesterday there were some skirmishes with the cavalry,
and this morning the rumour is current at the station,
which is our news centre, that the whole army of Mac-
Mahon is in position, ready either to offer or accept battle.
The torrents of rain which have been falling all night,
however, may retard matters. The absence of
news is the worst part of the matter. Since
I left Metz I have witnessed a veritable
emigration which at the present moment is assuming
immense proportions. The country people are arriving in
the towns, and the towns people are retreating
step by step, some into the interior, others beyond
the frontier. Belgium is encumbered by immi-
grants and Luxembourg is thronged to such a degree
that there are fears of a failure of provisions for the sud-
den access of population. In one of the nearest Belgian
villages the curd of Pussmange has let his rooms to some
persons from EpernaLat seventy francs per month for each
room, on condition that an extra day's sojourn will entail
a month's rent. At the present moment everything
depends on MacMahon. For my own part I shall only
await the issue of the forthcoming battle to decide on my
course. If he wins, I may continue to follow him;
if he fails, I shall return with all possible speed. The
Prince Imperial arrived at Mezibres yesterday morning,
and left again this evening for Sedan. It is melancholy
to see this sad and tired child, with his escort of servants
and cent-gardes, amid the few cheers of the people, who
are engrossed with other matters. I have seen here aladv,
one of the volunteer nurses, who attended General Doens
in his last moments. The General died after an amputation
which was tried too late at Sarreguernines, where he was
wounded ; there were no doctors he could trust, and when
one was brought from headquarters, the necessary
operation had become so complicated that, though
skilfully performed, the effects were fatal. If
I am not mistaken it was Dr. Chartier who