The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-09-27

fence Because the fortress was not block
troops and its munitions. The French capital
would be still more difficult to block up; Its
continuous enceinte Is about thirty-six kilome-
tres (about hve-eighths of mile eact) In cir
cumference, and the line Of the forts more
than 100 kilometres. To invest it would re-
quire vastly superior army than the one the
Prussians can bring before the walls. The
sents a considerable advantage. What inAicts
most injury on besieged places Is the con-
vergence of the enemy's fire. The town being
ordinarily Of no great extent the concentric
lines with which the besleger snrro unds IL
causes the missiles to cross, and, ably directed
on a few selected points, they could do the
greatest mischief; during that time the forts
reply by fires necessarily divergent, so that,
for an equal expenditure of ammunition. Its
Paris the case is very different, the considera-
Bile extent Of the works senslbly dninishes the
curve OF the lines and the conveyance of the
enemy's fire; the attack and defence must
therefore be considered parallel, and conse-
quently if the artillery of the besieged Is better
served than that of Its assailants iT may have
the advantage. On the other hand, owing 10
the long range OF the cannon, the forts protect
each other, and at least three OF them would
have to be taken before an enemy could arrive
at the Notifications. AS to these latter they
are so constructed that each advanced bas-
ton is protected by the four others to the
right and as many to the lett. However the
Prlssians have shown at Strasbourg that they
count less on the evil they can do the ram
parts and the garrison than on the dlSasters
they can infllct on the unfortunate pOpuatlon.
In the capital that 0dious calculation would be
foiled The German batteries, If established
outside the forts, could not reach the city, II
they were brought to the walls they could hard.
ly send their prOjectiles beyond the old octro!
barrier. a large SPACE, all the old Paris OF
Louis Philippe, would, therefore, be shelter
for the population. But We have supposed the
siege regularly commenced; could that De so
easily accomplished N. Raymond calculates
that at Sebastopol the allies had the sea and
their war ships to bring their heavy guns. At
the attack On Antwerp the French had before
the citadel ninety pieces, which required 10000
horses to draw the carriages. Thus, then, more
than fifty thousand would be necessary 70
bring to the capital the artillery which assailed
the Russian fortress. Those animals are not
to be Thought of. but Prussia doubtless counts
on replacing them by road locomotives
French Opinion OF the Germans-What
NJ. About Says Of Prussia.
In an article III the Soir, of August Is, enLi-
tied "A Holy Wrath,n NJ. Edmund About
writes In terms of extraordinary bitterness
against the Germans. He says:
We did not know our enemies. We were
Innocent enough to believe them almost like
ourselves In the intoxication Of success they
have been unmasked, and we may read into
their very souls. = What they wish for
Is now known. They wish to take and carry
away everything that we possess. They have
as yet ruined only two provinces; they now
march upon Paris in the hope of striking a
great blow NV, What difference Is there 1e;E
Passatore Psssasr AE or TaEos v Arvanltakis The The
difference that there is between rob.
ber and petty thief. Their mode OF
action Is Identical; night marches, ma
nGuvres concealed by the shade OF forests,
tricks on all occasions, attacks when the pro-
portion of the two opponents Is as hve to one,
sssassination, confagration and ptllage. OF
what race of rascals we have to do. An anger
an honorable and holy anger-has soon sue
ceeded to the surprise OF the first days. At
the first we were astonlshed, we did not under
stand; town Of thirty thousand souls allowed
Itself to be conquered by five Uhlans because
the thing appeared to be so improbable. When
our purse or our lite has been 80 seriously de-
manded OF us 1t is seriously that we must set
about destroying first the Prussian army, then
Prussia. The companions Of King William
who have entered France will never leave 1t.
If they have poured upon our territory their
entire population, as they boast, so much the
better for us. We shall then go to Berlin to
crush in pieces in its nest this barbarIsm,
th!s stupid feudalism. All the, roads will
by preference the Grand Duchy Of Ba-
den, Wurtemberg and Bavaria. These
are three small monarchies which owe
their existence to us, for 1t was We who
spontaneously created them at the begin
ming Of the century. And the BaVarians have
become the ualets darnaee OF Prussia! And
the Wurtembergers do themselves the plea
tavern-keepets. the ruf1ans, the smugglers of
Baden and of Kehl-the miserable creatures
who would clean our boots with their NOUS
taches If we were to spend or lose our money
with them-have loaded their carriages with
the booty of the noble French people; they are
the ravens of the enemy! You will repay all
that with ,lsury, unclean rascals. We did not
wish any evil to the German race; whose fault
Is It Il we have become Its enemies, and If
France can save civilization only by destroy
ing all this Teutonic vermin? 1t Is necessary
that the lst Of January, 1871, should see all
Europe purged from all these Hohenzollerns,
from all these petty country squlrcs, from all
these feudaliStS, from all these JesllltS in hel-
NETS. 1t is necessary that we should have
upon our eastern frontier Germany divided,
ruined, and muzzled Tor century.
Mcmahon Facing Death-Teaching
Kings and Princes-The Marshnl's
Last Battle.
\ French officer who escaped to Belgium
writes:
To relate what McMahon did is impossible
steel, fire. melted metal, explosive balls. and
don't know what other internal mixtures the
Prussaius there made use of for the first time,
appeared to stream of or to rebound from him
like hail from roof BE went to the front
seeking death. "Lelve me. my friends." he
said to us all, who sought to prevent him
from going forward, 'tlet me show those
Kings, those Princes, who hide behind their
masses OF men, that marshal Of France
knows how to fight, and, when beaten. how to
die" And be smied upon us sud smile,
which made us weep, and reinubled our rage.
All, miserable! We kill, we massacre, aud
the living appear to spring up from the dead,
which we heap around u.s.. We elilnbnd little
mountain of dead bodies that we might reckoa
how long the butcbery would last. ilv sabre,
broken and reeking, fell from my honds when
l saw what masses we had still to deal with.
The plain, the horizon, wac black with dust.
We were but aots in large ant-hlll. Mar
shall said, 1--WE have at least 20O. O0O men
"No." he replied, gently. 1900, ,009.'
At that moment cloud passed before my
ewes aud We went mad. We reSained our