The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-14 00:00:00

AN EXPECTED SORTIE.

Writing from the Royal Headquarters at Versailles,
under date November 7th, the special correspondent of the
Telegraph says :—The monotony of our sojourn here will
most likely be broken in a day or two somewhat disagree-
ably. Besides the discoveries already mentioned regard-
ing secret correspondences with Paris—discoveries which
have resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of two lead-
ing ex-officials of the late Government—the German
police have got scent of a conspiracy of a very
serious character. I fear that its members will
have but a short shrift if their participation in the plot
can be clearly brought home to them. Last night a
sentry in the Avenue de Paris was fired at and wounded
in the leg. This cowardly feat will cost the town one
million of francs exactly, besides a number of lesser
annoyances. That the contemptible crime of an
individual should be visited upon a whole community
seems hard, when measured by the standard
of ordinary justice ; but it is a stern necessity in war
time, and the citizens have had ample warning. A de-
serter who came in yesterday announced so positively
that a sortie in enormous force had been arranged to take
place this morning at eleven, that preparations on a
great scale were made to repel it; and the day has been
one of unusual bustle. All the ambulances, including
the great English one at St. Germain, were en pied at
an early hour, and the supports and resprves were moved
forward, so that they might be ready, on the first signal
froin the outposts, to give the enemy a warm reception.
Sure enough, French troops in large numbers (I heard
of sixty battalions) were massed near Fort Val6rien
this morning, and their attack was anxiously awaited ;
but, after remaining stationary for some time in the safe
position they had taken up, they appeared to think better
of their project, whatever it was, and withdrew out of
sight, so that we all had our ride out for nothing. Oddly
enough, not a gun has been fired throughout the day or
evening; it is now midnight, and the silence of the last
two hours, generally broke by salvoes from Valgrien
and Issy at intervals of five minutes or so, has been en-
tirely undisturbed by even the faintest report of adistant
fieldpiece. What can Trochu be about? That is the ques-
tion which everybody hero is asking himself and his friends
or acquaintances from morning till night. The Germans
are utterly at a loss to comprehend his inaction, and
lam sure they heartily despise him for it, There was a
brush with France-tireurs yesterday near Nauteuil-sur-
Marne, but not of any great importance. We hear that
the French Army of the Loire is pulling itself together,,
and numbers nearly 60,000 men.

The Musical, World says Madame Anna Bishop is
writing her memoirs.—Another refugee, and musical
celebrity, is in London—Signor Camillo Sivori, the
violinist --M. Offenbach is shortly expected in Vienna,
where, it is said, he intends settling altogether, and
establishing a theatre on the model of the Bouffds
rarisiens.
THE MILITARY INCAPACITY OF THE EMPEROR.
—The ex-Emperor is alone held responsible for the dis-
asters which have so suddenly overtaken France. It is
now established beyond disproof that he commanded in
person, and insisted upon movojients disapproved of by
his own generals, and of which the slender chances of suc-
cess were frustrated by the impediments the care of him-
self, his son, and their baggage involved It is absolutely
incomprehensible how he could have resolved upon a war
he knew would "be long and difficult," having only
140,000 men on the frontier, having no reserves, having no
commissariat, having no means, in fact, of repairing any
great reverse, yet knowing that Prussia had 526,000 men
actually under arms when war was declared, all thoroughly
equipped and armed, and ready for action, and sustained
by a most formidable artillery, the whole commanded
by a general of consummate genius as a strategist.
It is not by the fortune of war, however, that Prussia has
triumphed thus far. Her success is not even due to
the superiority of her numerical strength, nor of her
tactics in the field. These count for something in
the chapter of her triumphs, but not every-
thing, nor nearly. The sanguinary details of the
battles on the frontier prove that even where her
enemy could oppose only four, six, ten thousands to her
forty, sixty, a hundred thousand, her victories were dearly
purchased. Her hosts fought, not only with the con-
viction of success, but with the moral courage they
derived from the knowledge that all Germany was at
their back. The troops opposed to them went into the
field without enthusiasm for their leader, without
confidence in their chiefs whom they saw were divided
amongst themselves by petty jealousies, and to
a great extent demoralised by the feeling that the
Empire was rotten, and that even victory could
not sustain it. Of that demoralisation they were
victims. The men who have escaped from Sedan
and reached Paris confess the fact. The truth flashed
upon them at the very first great defeat. They learnt
that this reverse placed " the country in danger ;" that
even then their position was desperate, in spite of the
cajoling despatches which attempted to convert defeats
into victories.—Correspondent of the Daily News.