The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-28

seemed 1nSOluOl6 OO-UaY Is SOlNSu lbu'y,
wisely counseled and temperately led,
has entered Rome, not as a conqueror,
but as a protector. The Pope, whom but
yesterday excited and incon5iderate men all
the world over were condemning to an undY
ing though Intellectual warfare with the
greatest political movements of our time,
places himself quietly ny the side OF the
standard which one set of fanatics would
have had him ban with his curse, and to
which another set of fanatics would have had
him stoop in humiliation and in subjection.
Italy is one, and the Church il enthroned
with Italy, free with her freedom, in the
most ancient capital of Italian greatness and
the cradle of ecclesiastical Christendom.
THE SIEGE AND THE POPULACE OF
PARIS.
From The NJ Y Times.
1t is ffty-fve years last July since the en-
virons of Paris have experienced the annoy
ances and horrors of a hostile invasion. Few,
except those who were children then, will
recall the threatened siege of Paris in 1918,
and the approach OF the English and Prussian
armies during the summer of that eventual
year But if any of our readers have the curl
osity to compare the two invasions, let them
take up any stirring narrative of the Waterloo
campaign such, for instance, as the witty
and vivid journal of the British General Mer-
Ger, Just published-and they will find the
same localities. and even the same fortifca-
tions, figuring in those histories, as now form
the subject of each day kilograms. Then,
as now, we hear of Garges and
Stains, and Pierreftte and st. Denis,
and Aubervilliers, on the north of the
city; or of Colombes or North Valerien,
on the west; or Meudon, Sceaux, and Cla-
mart on the south; or of Clarendon, Nogent,
and Bondy on the east Then, as now, the
Prussian soldiers were occupying the pretty
villes and gardens which beautify the out
skirts of Paris; but then, they were smarting
under the effects of years of eXactions and
''requisitions" of the French armies, and
they demolished, soied, and ruined every
pretty house, chateau, or garden they crossed
or entered in their march The Prussian ad-
vance, and the bivouacs around the French
capital, were marked by tramp!ed fields and
gardens, broken furniture, and gutted
houses. Then it was known, as it is now,
that heights such as st. Denis, Montmartre,
and Mont yalerien were the keys to the works
which Napoleon 1 had erected or commenced
around the city.
But in 1915 peaceful deputations of citi-
zens and women and children came forth to
welcome the King restored, and Prussians
and English were hailed as deliverers. No
shot was fired and no works were assailed.
Now, something more real and terrible is
threatening the brilliant capital. A line of
''iron and fire. surrounds it; and day by day,
| the German pickets and infantry creep nearer
and nearer to it.
If our readers will examine the excellent
map published in these columns on the 10Th
! instant, of the Notifications of Paris, they
will see that, by some strange faulty, the
! French have allowed the Germans to cross
up through the woods on the south, occupy
Versailles, and then the wooded heights of
Meudon and Clamart, where soon they will
! hoxr IotEa NbnuA haio ~ 70
within three miles of the southern portions of
Paris, and from them such rihed guns as we
had in our war could throw shells into the
Tuileries. They apparently even command
such forts as Issy and Montrouge Fighting
has already taken place between Villejuif and
Montrouge, which shows that the Prussians
are beginning their attack on this weak point
! in the defenses.
The siege of city of two millions of in
habitants is an event unknown in modern
history. AS dramatic incident alone, it has
no counterpart in recent annals. But when
one reflects what Paris contains, and what q
siege will naturally develop, the merely dra
matte character of this great event fades
away before the frightful misery, anarchy,
and crime that are sure to appear. Paris has,
at the lowest computation, thirty thousand
q pTOletdireS-IeS miserdbIeS-the most villain
Gus, abandoned, murderous rascals and thieves
usually from hand to mouth Their food is
from other mems property. They prowl
about in the lowest dens of the city, and
come forth, like birds of prey, at night, OF
when the carrion of society is open to them
They are kept down usually by the iron hand
of the law. What will they do in a siege
when every gendaTme, even, is called to the
bastions-when every house is open, and the
very lights in the streets are extinguished?
Then there are hundreds of thousands OF
OurTierS who honestly believe that the pro
perty of the State and of the rich is as much
theirs as their own. Are they likely to starvt
when the houses on the Boulevards are
crowded with food, aud the depots of the city
and Government are full? There are alsC
thousands of Red Republicans who detes
Trochu and despise the moderate Republicans
who want ''social and democratic re
public" at any cost There are also Impe
rialists who lived on the spoils Of the Empire
and who hate the new regime. And stronges
of all, is the great middle classeS-the b0ur
g6oisie-who fear the thieves and the ''Reds'
more than they do the Prussians. Besides
all these elements of anarchy are the fearful
multitude of honest and suffering poor wht
could not leave the city, and have no provi
sion for the future. How long is Paris will
such population likely to hold out agains
the best army of modern times laundering a
her gates?
DESPERATE EFFORT.