The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-09-13
BELEAGUERED PARIS.
THE PROSPECT IN THE EVENT OF
Il SIEGE.
The Fortifcations of the City-Its Ca.
pacity for Sustaining Long Siege
Food Supplies--The Chances.


pacity for Sustaining a Long Siege
Food Supplies.-The Chances.
The accomplished Paris correspondent of
the New York Times, in the course of very
interesting letter upon the present critical
condition Of the French capital, says:
New armies will spring up in the South; and
to show another resource / may mention the
fact that two Caids arrived yesterday from
Algeria, who come to offer the government
twenty thousand Kabyles, cavalry, to be
mounted and equipped at their expense. With
little time new armies will spring up on all
sides, and 1t Is for time that the French are
struggling. And the Crown Prince would
never dare brave this gathering storm II ne
did not feel that his army was irresistible, and
that he could either carry Paris by storm or
end the war by diplomatic settlement beneath
its walls. '..'''''..
THE FoRTrF1CATIoSs.
The failure TO carry the Notifications of Paris
at once must, 1t seems to me, prove highly dis
astrous. The French capital Is fortified city
of the first order. Every means knownto the
science of engineering, ali the aids which ex-
perience could give and the skill OF clever
generals suggest, have been applied to the
works around ParIs-works which have been
shown with pride for some years past. Yet,
in modern warfare, 1t is still an open and
disputed question how far, II at ALI the pest
tions, salients and curtains are superior to the
earth-works which may be thrown up In a
few weeks time Even the strongest for
tresses have fallen again and again. t.Here,
Sire" said Vauban, handing the keys Of
Verdun to the King, "ls fortress which
all my art would not suffice to take y
yet Vauban lived to see that very fortress taken
three times. 1t was this. same vauban who
first conceived the Idea of surrounding Paris
with double fortified encstnte, and TO make 1t
play an important part In the defence OF the
country. Thus we see that during and since
the reign OF Louis XIV the state OF things
which exists to-day was not only conceived but
the money necessary for the commencement
of the plans proposed by Vauban, and It was
only Inrls33 that system of permanent fortlh.
cations was begun. In that year Marshal
Sou!t demanded from the Chamber OF Depll-
ties credit of thirty-hve millions for the pur-
pose of putting Paris In state Of defence.
After much trouble the money was granted,
and seventeen pentagonal forts were establish
ed, eleven upon the right bank Of the Seine
and six upon the left. These were the ordina-
ry detached casemate forts, OF no manner OF use
at the present day, and cast aside as early as
the year 1910 for the present perfected system.
This consists of two lines of fortificatlons sur
rounding the city; the first series OF detach.
ed works, capable of being provisioned and of
being used for the purpose oil retardlng the
enemy; the second, the most complete line OF
works, around the entire city, which ever re-
suited from engineering skill. The fortihca-
tions of this second line are all Fashioned, and
comprise, first, the zone oil fire, OF about three
hundred yards, cleared OF all things which
opI rs,ifh I'm, tnh n
means are lett for the construction of earth
works by night; second, the military ground,
or zone OF .fortifcation proper, embracing
counterscarp, fosse, escarp, the glacis and
bouquette, with almost every other term en-
ployed in engineering. The line Is zigzsgg,
strong bastions with each other, and forms an
unbroken line round the greater part
Of the city. Anything more formidable
than these works would be difficult
to imagine. Necessarily the line is
broken al the points where the public roads
dlverge, but here the line is doubly strength
ened by series OF outworks, mounted with
heavy cannon, the approaches to which are
covered by both casemate and barbette guns.
The bastions are really fully armed and equip
ped forts, with casernates and loopholes for
musketry; and upon the whole line guns are
mounted en- barbette, and there are broad gla-
els where batteries of howitzers, field guns or
OF the deadly mltrailleur could be used with
terrible effect. The ditch is nearly twenty
feet in width; the walls OF the scarp, on o., an
average, along the curtain, ten feet In height
and four feet in thickness s-the bastions, of
course, being higher, thicker, stronger and
more heavily armed than the rest. Thus we
see that the zigzag allows of double fire upon
any given point In the zone, while the same
point Is swept by two OF more Of the bastions
With some experience In the matter OF tortih-
70
works seems to be utterly beyond escalade,
and when once beneath the walls, Qf he ever
does get there,) do not think that the
Crown Prince would be rash enough to order
an assault. Upon this formidable line of works
runs of all cabre are mounted, the heavy eau
non sweeping the approaches to the town. 10
attempt siege within the radius covered by
these guns would be simply murderous. To
establish complete blockade beyond their
range. would require million of mon. There
would be line of eighteen miles to maintain,
placing the besieging army beyond the sphere
of action from these forts, and to attempt sucn
O feat is simply absurd. The most that could
be done would be to concentrate the force
upon the principal avenues leading from the
city. And here, again, the besiegers would be
at great disadvantage; Running entireiy
circular railway, by which the French could
throw large bodies OF men upon any given
point In very short space Of time, and with
its aid the effec. Of sudden salies, nearly
always successful for the time, Is greatly in
creased.
CAN PARIS BE BoNBARDED?
is an interesting question to consider how
near the enemy may come, and what defensive
advantages may be gained by the series of de-
tached forts beyond the circle OF fOrtications
proper No one Of these forts could hold out,
perhaps, IL a very large force was massed
against it; but no one OF these could be taken
Without terrible loss. Even when one OF them
was s!lenced or taken, the position would be
hardly tenable. for the guns from the inner
line would cover every foot of the ground, and
sweep the field around with fatal effect. These
forts slenced, the serious work would begin.
Vauban's object was to make forts something
like Martello's towers, for the sole purpose OF
embarrassing and retarding an enemy; and no
one can deny that they are admirably adapted
for this purpose, although not proof against
modern artillery. The battered and crumbllng
wallis of Fort sumter showed that while such
fortificatons could be destroyed and taken,
they vet have great powers Oh resls-
tance. In connection with this topic 1t
will be interesting to consider how
near the enemy can come, and to calcu-
inte as to how far his fire will effect the valu-
able public buildings Of Paris. It's said that
one or two shots were thrown into Petersburg
from distance of very near five miles; but
such shots must be exceptional, and only from
established works. The Germans can hardly
slt down here 10 bnild batteries, and they have
no ield-ruus which can do execution over
thraa EnIlisb miles Well the TuilGrieS, the