The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-24 00:00:00

THE ARMY OF THE LOIRE.

Writing from Tours, under date 19th October, the cor- I
respondent of the Standard observes :
General Lefort has left Tours to take the command of
the 15th military division at Bayonne. General Pourcet is
upon his way from Algeria to take the command of the
18th military division at Tours. General Pourcet has
been in command of the province of Algiers. He is said
to be a firm and intelligent officer ; if so, he is exactly
the man for Tours. Considerable bodies of Garde
Mobiles and Franc-tireurs have marched in here to-day,
and some of the line troops who arrived yesterday
have gone forward. The most varied accounts have been
current during the day of the state of things at the front.
One canard, which had many believers, was that Orleans
was evacuated by the enemy, whom one account repre-
sented as returning in all haste towards Paris, the other
as pushing for Vendome. I look upon it as ab-
solutely out of the question that Orleans has
been evacuated, and I believe that the true state
of things is that they have left 6,000 or 7,000 men there ;
with a very strong force of artillery placed in batteries
along the quays. The main body of the advance, as far as
I am able to ascertain, has mached towards Vendome,and
will there threaten Blois and Tours. It was a portion
of this corps which occupied Chateaudun yesterday,
and a glance at the map wiil show that unless the
greatest vigilance is used by the French, the Prussians
will be enabled to slip pa-,t their left flank, and march
'directly upon Tours without risking a decisive battle.
They would of course by so doing cut themselves off from
their base, but they would also cut the French army off
from their base, and if the Prussian commander feels con-
fident in the power of his army to crash that of
General Paladin, it would, of course, gain the gr atest
possible advantage from a victory in that position. The
French army, in fact, would be annihilated if beaten by
the Prussians advancing from Paris towards it. The
same fate would, of course, befal the Prussians in
the event of their defeat; and it may be considered as
certain that they will not attempt so hazardous a move
unless they feel perfectly confident of victory. Another
body of Prussians is signalled as seen in the direction
of Chambord. Upon this side considerable uncertainty
appears to prevail, and as forests extend almost uninter-
ruptedly from La Ferte-Saint Aubin to Blois, it is quite
possible that the Prussians will move masses of men
through them, and that the first intelligence, we
receive of the movement will be that the enemy
have occupied Blois. Strong bands of Franc-
tireurs should be placed in these woods to give
early intelligence of the move, and to oppose it until assis-
tance can arrive. The last computation of the Prussian
army is, excluding the force left at Orleans, that it
amounts to 60,000 men. General Paladin has certainly
a force numerically superior to this; the question is, is
the numerical superiority- sufficient to make up
for the comparative rawness of the troops:
Estimating the French army as one-third more
numerous than the Prussians, I am inclined to think
that if they are properly handled, in a fair, straightfor-
ward battle the French will be able to hold their own.
The question is, Will they be handled? This time only
will show. According to present appearances, two or
three days will yet elapse before the battle will take
place, and at the rate at which troops are passing through
here this ought to add another 10,000 men to the French
army. In the import tnce of its issues the battle will be
little, if at all, inferior to any which has yet taken place.
A French victory, and France will be reanimated ; Gene-
ral de Paladin will be at the head of 150,000 men, and the
march to relieve Paris will begin. A French deft at, and pro-
found discouragement will fall upon France, Tours will be
captured, and the whole work of organisation will have to
begin afresh. General de Paladin has issued an address to
his army. lam unable to give the text, but the fol-
lowing is the sense :--`. I demand of you, above all
things, discipline and firmness. lam perfectly prepared
to have every soldier who hesitates before the enemy shot
instantly, and if by chance I myself fail in my duty,
I order you to shoot me." This reminds me of Laroche-
jaquelin's address to his Vendean soldiers, "Si je recule,
tuez moi." I hope to start to-morrow afternoon, or the
next morning, to be present. M. Gambetta returned an
hour or two since, but I have not heard a word as to the
progress of his mission.