The New York herald., 1870-10-15

The invading Germans, under General Won
der Tam, occupied the city Of Orleans on
Tuesday evening last, after battle despe-
rately waged, from nine O'Clock ia the morn
ing until seven in the evening, according to
the testimony Of King William himself Such
struggle revives the chivalric recoliections
Of that ancient city's history and the memory
of the .'Maid Of Domremy," whose name be-
came still more illustrious, when associated
with Orleans, after she had surprised the Bur-
gundians, raised their siege Of the old strong
hold, rescued the fortunes of the Dauphin
Charles, afterward crowned at Rheims, with
her standing beside him, and so fulfilled the
old prophecy that "France lost by woman
Qsabel of Bavaria) should be saved by a viz
gin from the frontiers of Lorraine"
Orleans, the chief city of the district, so
entitled, capital of the Department of the
Loiret and situated on the right bank of the
river Loire, about seventy-fve miles south
west from Paris, Is place of $4,000 inhabi-
tants. 1t is the main port and trading centre
of the department, and has fine commerce
in wool, hosiery, wines, grain, oils, timber,
vinegar, &C., with many extensive tanneries,
pottories, spinning mills and manufactures Of
various kinds
It's antiquity is notable, the name itself
being derived from Auresanum, as it was
called, after the Roman Emperor Aurelian,
who enlarged and embellished it, Besieged
successfully by Attila, King of the Huns; by
Odoacer, King of the Saxons; by the English
in 1923, and delivered by the heroine Of Vau-
couleurs, 1t was sacked by the Calvinists in
1867, and was again and again beset during
the wars of the Fronde and of the Revolution.
The Franks, the Mortimer and the Goths
have all held it in successive ages, and it has
been for more than fifteen hundred years the
centre of historic intrigues, wars and battles.
Enriched with noble libraries, museums gall
lcries Of statuary and painting, majestic pub
lie buildings and celebrated churches, in these
later days it again echoes to the tread Of the
Northern invader. Prussian uhlans rein up in
front Of the statue Of Joan of Arc, and the jar
ring wheels of heavy artillery from beyond the
Rhine shake the old houses of Agnes Sorel, of
Francis l. and oCthe fair Dana of fPoitiers But,
worse than that humiliation, they send thrill
of apprehension and Encouragement through
all the rich region Of the Loire and the Marne ;
they menace the lines of Tours and begin the
isolation of Paris on the south and west, includ-
ing her access, in that direction, to her ocean
seaports. If it can be held by the stranger its
strategic Importance is great, since it grasps
some of the leading railroad and telegraphic
ducts and nerves that connect the blood and
brain currents of Northern and Southern
France. Nay, more: the days of miracles seem
past, and neither saint nor sinner now dares
to hope forrescue, in these sco6ing times, from
some new Maid of Orleans. Yet there is
eternal force in ancient and hallowed tradition,
since thought is the true master of the world.
The statue of "Jehanne la Pucelle" may not
ride forth on her bronze steed from the pedes-
tai on the market place, at midnight like the
shade of the Cid Campeador rallying the
chivalry of CASTLE to route the Moor, but the
remembrance of her devotion may rearodse
the spirit Of her countrymen in the very pre-
sence of the victor, and make their temporary
fall the signal Of a far more glorious uprising.