, 1870-11-24
CAMP BEFORE PAsl3.'
.sortie Of October 28->-Actiyity Of
tie 'Pariaians. :
Delay In Placing tho Siege Guns.
The Chateau Of Monte Christie,
Conference Between ThierB and Riamart


(FRox QUE arxc1&x CORRESPONDENT
SxRsAuIRa, Nor. 4, 1s1p
With tho cool and settled weather that has
followed the rains and mud Of the past txu
Weea the s.pa1iaiana bare begun to ehor N
activity which, In contrast With tha,r fo.,ne,
leth.rgy; gives evida1ce Of their firm resol1,.
ton to die N the last ditch
1he sortie Of the 2sth, about which We could
8et no definite Information - regards locality
o. losses from the Prusaian ,nihta,Y author.
uee, seena TO have been quite serious sfrrsv
1ha ffeuch had made the sortie In e1ea,
1osee 1ton salnt Denis, and drove the Prus.
etans after hard contest Of several hou.,
nom tho village Of L. Bourget, and kept DOS.
session OF the same over night. In the mean.
s!ue the Geftnxns drew reinfoscemants from
TIE nelghborirg village, and renewed The
nsht On the following morning. L. Bou,Rej
~as taken. and lost several times alternstel,
" both Germans and Fzonch. Tbs latte,
showed themselves more tenacious in the ficb,
than almost during any previous one. hu,
fhcy had to Glve 1t 1t Lat to tho oyetno rer
ing numbers Of the former
Inc lossea on both sidcs must haye b%en
very hesvy. The official paper published hnJr
9hdff the tltle Of AontI1.r 05iciel giYes nc
Details, and son wilt p1obaLl7 eee huI tnesgrr
accounts Of the encounter In both tierm,n :
and English papers, as the former do rot dare
10 puolisa except what comes from the Mil.
tsty authorities; md tho latter again take ths;,
| cue mostly fren officers with whom thoy m set
ne = eanotx oannet parsies, or in the cafea.
4nete Officers, OF course. furnish Ill aocounts
N manner 20 "a to mako them appear mo.i
favorable to their cause- They do not dirnct.
| 'e. AnF unttoihs, but they Say little. and
int little in such N ingopiona war a. to ciTa
| tne listener a1*ays the Impression that they
c'Me ou' nfat best. 1t Is also Due to the Ger
nan headquarters to say that they psyer rsr.
Lie any Accounts Of battles and aktrmishess II
they can't tell Of dended victories and adyant-
agee, they cay but very little or notbinr.
1hefeiores Whenever herr of auy brush ss
having taken place, and don't hear the Off.
Gefs fpeak OF decided victories or advantage.
ineve1 60 to the headquarters 10 inouira affer
the neve, but seek other chanue1a Whanca "a ia
SCI ny information. It should 40 to head-
quatte11 on auch occasions tbev ronh3 in.
medtate1y meet me- With, " NicAts nsues. y
thothng EeW.) My informant about the
! aHAr At Le Bousget is Johaunitter who hid
oeen neAE the scene Of action, and he asxurea
ne mat the Gtrnals had lost during that
kusd md wounded, amocg which sre In
eluded about forty ofdctrs- Uolonal Wa1dsee.
Imei o. tho Queen Augusta Regiment, who bad
lunt ts'afnea ~ eonyA!eecent from serere
wound, receiEed At Worth, wss also smon0
the killed. Another Colonel, whose name I
could not learn, WAS MORALLY Wounded,
?he Advantages which the French seem TO
gam oy these softies ate t1oloEd. First. they
subject tina besiegers, whose lines beiuF
INN. 10 continuous forced and fatiguins
marches, IN order to concentrate. Eeoands
they prevent. as far "a they can. The placing
iu position Of the siege guns. They not onIY
keep up the firing from the Vaterien and fbe
otner 1otts. as heretofore, during the day.
pat OF late they have inauEurated kind of
midnight q orgies with their shells. Last night
the .'silrery" moon showed herself again in
bright eo1ors. The Yazsaillaiso, who. Is most
exemplary and early y-hour keeping danizens.
are uWa7a enugIY housed up shortly after !
O'Clock IL the evening, remained outdoors un-
" Alter T.. Whether this was in conseauence
Of tho celebration Of the All Saiutsf Day,
which, as you know, occurs On the Let OF Eo..
yemter, Or whether in anticipation OF sons
thing to turn up In honor OF The to.day's Jour
tles Morris (day Of tho dead, I know not but
u Ia sufficient I noticed these late houts On
the part Of the VeEsri1laise, while returning
TO M, rooms frcm the Cafe de Nepsane-s
os tae mayi where: S every evening, Do
ciyilities With each other md the PrussiIr,
officers. who come there to z1ther do homage
to B.cchus than to tho patron whose paue
the Gaze bears was scarcely asleep
ra,sa when s,tas., sae booming of The en-
reslizirg sense Of being but within seTen @ mics les
Ct that ugly, he-spitting Mont yale1icn.
After tho hzst few shots, however, I began to
feel that for Ill purposes was fas enough
from the source OF danger to be able to az,
''FTocu! Jore, p'ocsi a Jfhlmine." Tbs fr-
ipg , VA kept up until After midnight. Even
the firing has Recommended 4 good deal Of
POWDER OF course, is wasted, for mt ona shell
out OF hundred doe8 my keriuus dkmara.
especially during the nigh, ,when the a1tiIIefY-
man has to shot It random. It ia true that II
ttmes they use the eicclrio light which il
ts not often 1etorted to- The main object OF
the night firing seena to be to prevent the
Germans from sleeping. They will. however
:soon get used to these night performances.
and sleep as comfortably a. Our mon did in
the entttnchmenta at yfcksburg or yorktown.
Barring heard go rnucl, for the last month
about the expected bombardment, md the
s1ege guns which arc to arrive frona stras-
cuurg and various forts in Germany, was
naturally curious to see them uhen heard of
their Al7iFsL They were not brought into
Versailles, Int distributed into several parks,
snd placed 1t vasious points, whence thsy are
taken to their beds around Paris as fast ~
the detailed infantry columns are preparing
them. selected for inspection The park
nearest and most convenient to reach from
hero- Driving ont on the Imperial route
toward Pi!leneuve. near villa Coubl1y, thero
Is plateau on Which ID = park of aone go
tHenty, -four -pourdsfs that had Just arrived
f1tm the Fortress Wesel, ,on the Rhine. These
ordnance pieces. bringing, "a they did, to my
mild, tho first conviction Ct N incoming
tombarunent, did not Impress mo rs being
'of the frat guilty.
The men md horses serving them, were, On
the other hand, Of the best material. The
xf4yrz SzAr
Was told BY Bavarian onde. Officer, goes On
hut sioN1J. Tho rains We bAd during the past
Fortnight have not or1s retarded the work OF
building the redorb.s, but have also badly cut
hp the roads. Slys my BavarfAn informant:
We hsEe already ono big gun in position"
at this rate. I thought. to myself. We have
good prospects Of hearing tbs combined re-
Ports OF the tHo thoussnd With which they iu-
tend to bomta1d Paris BY next spring, unltss
beeiegcd city.
The headquarters here had received In
formation from rsris, By WAY Of their s'undsi-
ground telegraph" " that tho Parisians contem-
plated soItie On large scale somewhere be-
tween Saint Denis and Saint Ge1uain. Pre-
partitions were accordingly made, and over
81, 600 troops were concentrated behind Saint
Getmafn, ready to receive the expected French.
Appropriations we're made with even more than
their usual quietness, hence but very few
had, however, An ink1irg, and at once started
for tho 1queduct Of na1Iy. mounted its
tower, which is about IS feet high, md stand
fnE, - it does, On m elevation tona 500 feet
1t ore the level Of the Seine, It affords mag
Guiding tbe Mount valenen md. Paris. Every
thing vas, however, quiet, save the forts,
which kept up their customary fire ut given In
tetTats. 1he troops xeated on their arms
during the whole day.. Myself on the qui
eiee, I was patiently writing fos the Perform
md ps1tly on tho wine clad hills just behind
tho chAtc1u. I had occ2siou to mention, In
one Of nay Letters, this castle, hut don't know
whether / told you Of it, origin aud strange
histny. After Dumas had written his cole
hrated story Of "Moute Chtisto," he en-
s ss,,S1sa 4 70 hs ssd IN 5s1 e.s, sas md
ease- After long seatch IN the neghbor-
hoea Of pazie, ha selected beautiful spot
Ut Port Marry, which, Aside from tbs
raturRI wild aspect Of the grounds. Was on
IN erninenee whence the frest aud nost
yaned yieEs Of the Hhole country en- be had,
gsayish white stons, With M.nss1d roof, and
tta four rainerat-l ke looking cupota1, iookB |
more Ike An Eastern bamAuo than dwelling |
houte. The facadse, for it has two, one |
fronting toward Paris and snosher into shs
terques cut in the stona- Over the portals |
If the main entrance are the monoHAua
L. D., cut in stone. The outaide appear
aico Of this castle, II ehorn Of it,
curolas md arab<e<<4uas, would very
uuch resemble the building which Mr. Eesp
ns,~d recently put up, belisve, On Michigan
avenue. usN fourteenth street But to coma
10 the unoet remarkable feature Of this caste,
is to tall ycu Of the xa1la Of the main guest
room, which, IN it, line, stands probably un-
tquaI]ed in Europe These wslls xze com
piete1y covered with carved Atabes4ues !!
tnu flowers cut in gpsum. Ths
workmanship nf these walls waa per-
formed by two Ar.te specially eeat from