The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-20 00:00:00

THE WAR.

PARIS INVESTED.
PARIS, SUNDAY.

The enemy is surely, and not very slowly, coming up
and surrounding us, and the outer world is vanishing from
the sight like the landscape from the mountain tops, when
the mist drives forward. One village after
another falls into the hands of the Ger-
mans ; from line after line of railway comes the
message " n'expediezaucun train ; la voie a dt6 coupde."—
"do not send off any train ; the road has been cut." So
complete is the surround already that only one line of
railway remains open—that of the west, by which many
of your readers may have experienced the miseries of a
transit which includes a six or seven hours' journey by
All messages are sent by this route. It is
more than doubtful, however, whether they will
pass free beyond another day or two at most,
for of course t'he Germans will do their.
best to cut off this last bridge, which connects the be-
leagured island with the civilised regions beyond. So long
as one road remains open, Parts is tolerably comfortable.
When that is closed we shall begin to experience a siege
in its reality.
You will have heard ere this that the Government has
advanced the day fixed for the election of the Constituent
Assembly. It will now take place on Sunday week next,
instead of Sunday three weeks. This change will be
attended with two advantages : the Government will all
the sooner be fible to submit their doings to a Legislature
which will really represent the country, and their party
will have in its favour the present fury of indignation
against the Imperial regime, fury which in a little while
might sensibly cool. It is remarkable that an
event so important as this election should excite so little
attention. The constitution, the future of France,
depend upon it. But at present nobody has any time to
think of this species of fighting, though when the day
draws near doubtless greater interest will be shewn, It
would be premature to speculate upon the result of the
national choice, made, as it will be, under such remarkable
circumstances. The prospect of many Imperialists finding
a seat in the new chamber would seem small, but it is
impossible to tell how the provinces will contemplate the
doings of their former master. One or two points con-
nected with the coming election deserve notic.3. The
new House will be much stronger in numbers than the one
which was so summarily dismissed. Under the Empire
the nation was the most weakly represented in iurope,
possessing only one deputy to every 130,000 inhabi-
tants ; the Constituent Assembly will have a mem-
ber for every 50,000, and will muster altogether
753 members, with eleven more for Algeria and the other

colonies. Thus if every Imperialist of the old Chamber,
which had 292 members in all, be again returned (a very
unlikely thing), that success will not give the Empire a
majority, unless it can start new candidates, and bring
them in first (a still more unlikely thing). It is
further noticeable that only one day, instead of two,
is to be allowed for the polling. This will at least
relieve the Republic from a discredit which often, justly
or not, fell upon the Empire, to wit, that between the
night of Sunday and tae morning of Monday the urns, as
the ballot-boxes are called, were frequently tampered
with, and inundated with a beneficent rain of votes for
the Imperial candidates.
Another gr--t change will be made in the shape of vastly
cheapening the elections. Under the late Government,
the Imperialist candidates had their campaign con-
ducted for them free of cost, whilst the Opposition
candidate was mulcted in a bill of from
£6OO to £2,000, according to circumstances. Here was
obviously a great disadvantage to the Liberals. There
will be none of this on Sunday week. The poorest candi-
date will be able to start, and in some cases there can b e
little question that the poorest will be chosen.
As the strength of the Chamber is to be so
much greater, and the proportion of one in 50,000
will be strictly carried out, the Department of the
Seine, in which Paris is situated, will have forty-three
representatives. ' Couple this fact with the cheap
system, and it is not difficult to form an idea of the stuff
of which some of the newlegislatordwill be made. There is
no reason to think that the Government will in any way
interfere with the free choice of the deputies, or will
practice any of the arts resorted to under the hateful
system that is gone. •
M. Chevandier de Valdrome, late Minister of the In-
terior, tells a shameful story of the violence he met with
whilst on his way home after the late change of Ministry.
He received a safe-conduct for himself and family from

M. Gambetta, the new Minister. He. left Paris on the
• 6th, and on the Bth arrived at Rambervillers. Here his
carriage was assailed by a furious mob of men,
women, and young fellows, armed with staves.

He was insulted, threatened, struck. The produc-
tion of the safe-conduct was of no avail, and serious
" services " would have been rendered to the ex-Minister,
had not some municipal functionaries interfered, and got
M. de Valdrotne out of the difficulty. On the next day a
similar scene was enacted at Rayon l'Etape, where M.
de Valdrome's baggage passed through. The coachman
was assailed, and a regular pillage commenced, when the
ex-Minister's secretary came up. He was attacked, and
had the utmost difficulty in escaping. In this case, too,
the municipality interfered, and contrived to rescue secre-
tary, baggage, and the rest. But this, it seems, was not
done until some of the firemen of Raven were armed and
brought up to the as-istance of the municipality. On the
10th the depart could be effected only by the aid of an
escort of twenty firemen, commanded by two officers.
Even with this protection an attack was made by the mob.
M. de Valdrome justly invokes the intervention of justice
to punish these assaults. His offence consisted in being a
member of the 011ivier Ministry.
Preparations still go on, just as if nothing had yet been
got ready. The Government, amongst other things, is
doing its utmost to increase and improve the supply of
arms. Unlike the preceding Government, the present
Ministers are getting all the assistance they can from
private houses. It was found that none but Government
manufactories could turn out mitrailleuses, which require
a special plant, &c., but in respect of other weapons
much is being done by private assistance. Five hundred

American volunteers have landed at Havre. More spies,
or people who are taken for such, continue to be arrested.
Amongst the last batch were two in the uniform of the

Garde Mobile.

Of peace there is very Tittle still said, though everybody
longs for it most earnestly as a means of averting dire
calamities from this city. But the journals here think
it unpatriotic to write much about the subject which is on
everybody's lips and at everybody's heart, and accordingly
the matter is little discussed. It is impossible to form a
judgment as to what terms the French would really be
prepared to accept, if they were offered. Defence, de-
fence, is the only outward consideration. And, though

there can be no doubt that a peace would be
concluded with joy, it is equally sure that the fight will
be desperate. In fact it is asserted on what appears to be
official authority that everything is prepared to blow up

the Prefecture of Police, the Motel de Ville, and other
public buildings in case the enemy should enter Paris.

The Figaro, once so Imperialist and now so Republican,
appears with a vehement article in favour of continuing

the war.

The city has been a state of great excitement all day—
more so than for some little time past. This effervescence

has been caused partly by some rumours that promising

- - -
peace negotiations were going on, and partly by the sight
of the clouds of smoke ascending from the neighbourhood
of the fine woods and forests in the vicinity of the capital.
The latter is a most melancholy spectacle. Few of the
beauties of Paris contributed more to its embel-

lishment than the splendid collections of trees which

environed it on every side. The burning of these seems
but a preliminary to the immolation of those treasures of
art and literature which have long formed the glory of the
world. The sight is profoundly depressing.
Public meetings are now held ad libitum, under
the present Ministry. Some of them are giving
trouble to the Government by the extreme de-

mands they make. Under a Republican rule the
aid of Republicans cannot well be discarded, and yet

these orators of Belleville and kindred districts are doing

the Government no service by clamouring for measures
which would savour more of the reign of terror than of the

principles professed by the third Republic.

LOUIS BLAND FOR LONDON.

The Li&rtZ is highly indignant that no mission has yet
been offered to Louis Blanc. German Jews have, it says,
immense influence on the English press, and venal men
are sowing gold in order to corrupt public opinion; They
are working on behalf of the King of Prussia as well as
the. Court party. Kings can always understand one
another and act in concert. The English people, generous
and sympathetic towards France, will end by being
deceived, if we persist in delaying to enlighten