The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-26 00:00:00

THE GERMANS NEAR PARIS.

The official Staatsanzeiger of Berlin furnishes an account
of the doings of the Germans on the way to saris. Like
all these official narratives, it is not of late date, but the
following portion is of interest :—" Just behind La
Ferte-sous-Jouarre the royal carriage had to cross over
the Marne by means of a pontoon bridge, as the
enemy on his retreat before our troops had
destroyed the ordinary bridge as well as the railway
bridge. The damage and consequent delay was soon
repaired by our pioneers. The bridges of the
canals, which lie much higher than the Marne, were
also destroyed, so that the several baggage waggons which
were in advance had to make a considerable &tour to a
bridge which lay at some distance towards the south,
and which had also been mined but not blown up. When
we crossed the canal and the river we found all the
villages deserted by the inhabitants and the, houses
empty, for they had, no doubt, • removed all their
household goods the woods of Meaux. Patrol parties of
our soldiers were sent out to guard the approaches to
the woods, and oblige all the peasantry they came across
to return to their respective villages. All the villages are.
carefully watched by our patrols, and we must now insti-
tute inquiries whether they have left their homes through
fear of the Prussian troops, so dreadfully described and
calumniated in the Paris journals, or whether they have
done so in obedience to orders given them by the Govern-
ment presiding at this moment in Paris. This is the first
instance of a general stampede of all the inhabitants
since our entry into France. In some cases, of
course, there were people who had quitted their
homes, but such a general flight as this, where old men
and women and children were carried off, has not occurred
before. It is most probable that this universal desertion
may be attributed to fear, especially as it appears more
marked in and about the neighbourhood of the bridges
that have been blown up. The fact that up to the pre-
sent time no appearance of enmity has been combined
with this general flight into the woods is proved by
the total absence of any armed peasants in the woods
in the neighbourhood of headquarters. All these things
tend to prove the worthlessness of the repeated appeals
for the organisation of a system of guerilla warfare made
in so many of the leading Paris journals, appeals as vain
in the immediate neighbourhood of Paris as in all the
departments which are at this moment occupied by Ger-
man troops. The removal of his Majesty's head-quarters
to this place (Meaux) may be considered as finishing
the march upon Paris, where eur troops will shortly
be ; and the circle of investment has commenced, com-
munications are made, and the beleaguering girdle is being
drawn tighter and tighter round the fated city. All com-
munications from and to Paris are cut off, and the vigi-
lance of our outposts will prevent the transmission of
messengers, letters or newspapers, so that we have no
news of the events taking place within the walls of Paris
save those which reach us by a roundabout means of
communication."

GENERAL TROCHUS TROOPS.
A correspondent of the Daily News, who writes from
Meaux, September 16, saw there Mr. Malet the diplo-
matist, who was the bearer of a communication from Earl
Granville respecting mediation. This gentleman was
courteous enough to give a few details regarding the oon-
dition of Paris, and theincidents of his journey from

the capital to the Prussian foreposts. He de-
scribed Paris as being in a seething and excited
condition, with divided councils, and a huge mass
of pseudo-soldiery, the individual bravery of each
individual component part of which might be unquestion-
able, but the general discipline of which was so loose and
flaccid as almost to disentitle, in his opinion, the body of
armed men to the appellation of soldiers, He spent a
night on the road, and the Gardes Mobiles where
he halted made the cheerful suggestion that he

should sleep "under the beautiful stars." Mr. Malet,
reserving the question whether he would have any ob-
jection to sleep " under the beautiful stars," if they were
visible, pointed out the fact that they were not, and
requested other sleeping accommodation than that
afforded by the earth as a mattress and the sky as a
canopy. This he ultimately obtained, his escort sleeping
in the adjoining shed. He saw evidences of the most fla.
grant disregard of discipline on the part of the troops lying
outside the defences of Paris. The men coolly refused
to get up and take their turn of duty on guard
when ordered to do so by their officers, although to judge
from appearances there would have been no hesitation
had the order been to get up and go into action. The in-
ference from this, in my opinion, is very significant. The
men who, for the sake of a warm litter in the straw, dis-
regarded the most rudimentary duty of a soldier, might
indeed be of service in the wild burst of a frantic charge,
but would be worse than useless in the case either
of an undecided and protracted combat or of an
actual reverse. Relaxed discipline is invariably
the precursor, if indeed it may not be termed the
accompaniment, of actual and fatal demoraliza-
tion. During its march from Chalons to the Ardennes
the discipline of MacMahon's army was loose in the ex-
treme. Two days fighting reduced that army to the con-
dition of an armed rabble, which could not have taken a
victory had it been dangled in their faces. In 1793 Mar-
shal MacDonald saved France by fighting along the
Swiss territory of the Rhine, a losing battle that lasted
for twelve days. But then the Frenchmen whom
MacDonald commanded did not refuse to turn out of
their layer of straw when they got the order to go on
duty."