The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-13
PARIS.
How the Great city Is to be Treated.


The ZeidIer (German) Correspondence
writes as follows:-Ever nearer draws the
time when the question will be put categori-
cally to the city of Prris whether il chooses
to be treated as an open town or fortress.
Unfortunately the people of Paris have not
yet, as it seems, become fully conscious of
the importance of this question They seem
not only to be possessed with the illusion
that they can be treated as the inhabitants of
half fortress, half open town, nay single
corporations, as for example the
academy, even go SO far as
to claim for themselves severally an
exceptional position. If the city of Paris
holds fast to her part as fortress, then she
must be prepared to share the fate of Stras-
burg, and, in fact, to bury her defenders
under her ruins 1t is impossible that the
German armies should not take Paris, and
it is just as impossible that we should love
the houses of Paris better than the blood of
our soldiers. AS we learn from trustworthy
sources, the heavy siege train is already on
its way to Paris. 1t even appears that we
shall neither take the walls of Paris, nor
M. Rocheforts barricades, by storm; but we
shall only back the language of reason and
of hunger by the very impressive speech Of
German artillery.
A German who escaped from Paris on the
14th ult., in a letter to the Berlin Cross
Gazette says:--
Who now rules in Paris it is hard to say
Certainly neither Trschu nor the Provisional
Government, with Jules Favre and Rochefort;
neither the National Guards nor the ''Red'
Communists, although, indeed, the latter
take the lead. The men who still nominally
exercise authority are influenced by the saw
age Masses and if perchance two tolerably
numerous crowds should assemble before
the Hotel de Vile who wanted some change,
the desires of the mob which clamored the
loudest and was the most audacious would
be acceded to. The National Guard are not
altogether inclined for war, and many of
my French acquaintances assured me in con-
tidence that itwas impossible for Paris to hold
out long. One of the greatest dangers has
not presented itself, viz, the Reds, as they do
do not feel themselves strong enough to imi-
tate their Lyons brethren. When, however,
the struggle before the walls has once COM
menced, and when want and privation appear,
the parties within the city will begin their
strifes, in spite of all conciliatory efforts.
Whatever may be said, even though the pre-
sent government should deceive the people
as grossly as the empire did, Paris is scarcely
provisioned for two or three weeks. Thou
sands and thousands have left the city, but
strange Mobile Guards and the inhabitants
| of the surrounding districts within ten or
| twelve miles have come in, so that the popu-
| lation still numbers about two millions.
It is true that in the Jardin des
| Plantes there are a multitude of
| sheep, but there really are 10000 for
which in few days there will be no more
food they will be devoured by two millions
of people in three days. So with the oxen in
the Bois de Boulogne, which obviously,
unless they are previously starved, Will only
meet the normal demand for beef for few
days. Already the daily demand for salt,
fuel, milk, vegetables, and especially lighting
materials, cannot be satisfied. Paris without
gas, without sufficient oil and tallow, without
lamps, without newspapers for paper is
lacking), without news from without, Paris
the frivolous, pleasure-seeking, enjoyable
exposed to privations of all kinds, is no
longer Paris. 1t is a Sparta, but inhabited
not by Spartans but by luxurious Corinthians,
or rather, looking to the much-used express
sion, ''Seine Babal, by Babylonians.
The country round Paris, according to
other reports, is also in lamentable condi-
ton, all means of earning living being cut off
| from the remaining population. A letter
| from st. Maur, in the Cologne Gazette, says
the priests go about with troops of laboring
men to seek bread. Several of these unfor-
tunates have for days had no nourishment,
and beg at the German outposts, or devour
raw vegetables. The peasants say fearful
agitation prevails in Paris, that guillotine
has been erected, and that terrorism has set
in. This is of course an exaggeration, but it
shows the alarm and panic which exist. A
letter from Corbeil says weeping women and
children are everywhere to be seen, all means
of subsistence having been sent to Paris.
The same is the case in the entire neigh
borhood.