The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-26

the 1Ortlncatl0nS tnaJ the DeSleBers InEOW up
as they move, any sally on the part Of the
French, but not strong enough to venture on
an assault. The positions gained thus far are
Sceaux, from which the Prussians command
Forts Montrouge, Vauvres, and Bicetre the
Notifications at Vincennes, whence they can
lombard La Pissotte and Charenton If neces-
sary, and Versailles. Outside of these
positions railroad encircling Paris has been
completed by which, in an hours time, they
can concentrate their whole force upon one
point. The woods which the French failed to
burn enable the Prussians to mask their
movements pretty etfectually. One report
states that the French had attacked the Prus-
slams in the woods on the south, and a severe
battle had ensued, in which the former had
been repulsed. Another report denies this,
but if it is true no doubt the intention of the
French was to complete, if possible, the de-
struction of the woods by fire in order to un-
mask the movements of the enemy. De-
spatches from Tours state that inside Paris
there is a calm determination to hold out to
the bitter end. Another despatch, however,
says that all discipline is vanishing among
the troops inside, and that the mob is rapidly
becoming the dominant power.
The Prussian movement southwark con-
tinues with unabated activity. Detachments
have entered Fontainebleau and Blois, and
other detachments are marching on Nemours
and Orleans. There remains but little doubt
that these detached columns are Uhlans, who
merely make flying visits, levy contributions,
destroy railroads, if possible, spread false re-
ports of the movements of the Prussian in
fantry, and are gone again. These movements
cripple the French severely, and serve as
an effectual mask to the actual operations of
the invading army. 1t may prove, however,
that the force moving on Orleans is actually
heavy infantry force following in the rear of
the advance cavalry at Blois and having
Tours as its present objective point. Tours
and Orleans are both to be defended and
will probably undergo a siege such as Metz
and Strasbourg and Paris are undergoing.
With the disappearance of the Army of the
Loire, which does not seem to have attempted
any resistance whatever to the Prussian ad-
vance, the strange anomaly is presented of
France at war without an army in the field,
every force she has raised for service SO far
being cooped up in one of several towns now
in state of siege. What weak enemy she
has proven in open combat, and what stub
born foes her mismanaged armies have proven
in Strasbourg, Metz, and Toul The siege of
these cities is progressing slowly with no
eHectual change in the situation. General
Ulrich, it is said, is willing to surrender, but
has been deferred from it by the demands of
the soldiery. A shell is reported to have set
fire to the Strasbourg theatre, two hundred
women and children who had taken refuge
there being burned to death. At Metz
the defense holds out stubbornly against
close blockade, the furious bombardment
having ceased, owing, it is probable, to a
partial withdrawal of the besieging force.
We may soon expect grand assault at
Paris. King William cannot afford to sit
down patiently to the tedious operation of
starving out the garrison until he has tried
the spirit and strength of the works and their
defenders by finging the full force of his
army against them. The quiet withdrawal of
troops from Toul and Metz indicates some
action of this kind, and it may be that it is
only delayed by the pending negotiations for
peace. Heaven grant that blessed peace
come early enough to save this century from
the sight of an army of infuriated Prussians
swooping through the streets of Paris.
AN AMERICAN 'TMpRACTICABLE.
From the Pittsburg Commercial.
Wendell Phillips is Illuminating in Victor
Hugoish style against Bismarck, whom he de-
nounces as ''the willing tool of bigot king, "
and against Prussia because the German
armies were not set Immediately on the home
ward march after Sedan. Those who remem-
Der the extravagancies perpetrated by Phillips
during our civil war, and his assaults against
| Grant after the close of the war, will receive
with some reserve his unmeasured TRADES
against the attitude of Prussia. 1t is possible
to entertain hearty good feeling towards the
| new Government of France, and to wish the
republican experiment in that country abun-
dant success, without so stultifying ourselves
as to suppose that the surrender of Napo-
leon ought legitimately to have ended the
war. We must be just in this matter. After
Sedan, the French repudiated Napoleon,
| but they did not repudiate the war.
Instead of so doing they pledged them
selves to wage it so long as German
soldier was on their soil. They solemnly
declared they would make no peace until the
enemy was driven from the country. With
such challenge hurled at them, what were
the German leaders to do? They could do
nothing else but accept it, They had no alter.
native but to seek their foes and again refer
the settlement to the issue of battle. II
could not matter to them that new names
were introduced into the conflict. Napoleon
had been eliminated from the strife, not by
France but by their own victorious arms
The established government which had
repudiated him in his misfortune had held
out no olive branch. Its voice was loudly
and boldly for war. Yet Wendell Phil
lips endeavors to create a hostile senti
ment in the United States against
the Germans because they accepted facts
Just as they found them after Sedan
and have since tried to press those facts to
their natural conclusion. Is any man to be
accused of a want of sympathy with demo
cratic institutions because he rejects suct
logic as this E? There has been something
said in the journals of turning round o.
American sentiment towards the Frencl
since the attempt at the establishment of
republican government in that country We
do not understand that this change of senti
ment goes any further than to wish the eX