The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-10-14
Different Sieges of Paris.

German armies take towards Paris, the
question about the ultimate fate of the
queen of modern cities becomes more
and more momentous. Under these
circumstances it must necessarily be of
some interest to inquire into the histo-
ry of the numerous seiges it has sus-
tained from the time of Charlemagne
down to our present age. The first at
tack on Paris we find recorded in his
tory was made in A. D. 8i5, by one of
those bold, northern pirates who infes-
ted, during the ninth century, all the
European countries, named Regnor,
who, sailing up the river Seine, sur.
prised the city, laid seige to it, entered
it, and was finally brought off by King
Charles the Bold.
During the hundred years struggle
for the crown of France between the
house of Plantagenet and the house of
Valois, Paris was successively belea-
guered three times, when in 1856, at
Poictiers, the black Prince had defeated
and made prisoner King John the Good,
the population of Paris and pcasanty
of the surrounding country, making
use of the helpless condition of their
sovereign, rose in rebellion, seized the
government and placed at their head
one Stephen Marcel, the Robespierre of
that age. Indeed, the proceedings of
these wild demagogues very much re-
sembled, on small scale, those which
were enacted at later period at Ver-
sailles. At the approach of the Dauph-
in with the army, the city was hastily
placed in a state of defense, and martial
law proclaimed. All attempts of the
Dauphin to take the city by assault
failed until the besiegcd, tired of the
terrorism of Marcel, slew the despot
and opened the gates to the Royal
Prince. In 1859, Edward ILL.,, King of
England, encamped at Montrogue, de-
vastated the country to the walls of
Paris, but recoiled from before it, and
retired to Chartres. One of the most
interesting attacks on Paris is perhaps
that made in 1929 by Jeanne dare, the
Maid of Orleans. After having by her
inspired heroism required the English
to raise the siege of Orleans, and hav-
ing led triumphantly her beloved
Charles through the midst of the ene-
my to his coronation at Rheims, she
did not think her mission ended, though
longing for her quiet home at Dom Re-
my, until shs had re- established the
King on the throne of his ancestors.
All places on the march to Paris fell
again into the hands of the King, and
the Notifications of St.Denys was carried
by storm. The attack on the city which
was defended by Count Bedford, was
led by Joan herself. But notwithstand-
ing she fought with more than her Won
ted courage, not being supported by
the King, who remained inactive in
his position at st. Denys, she was driv-
en- back and had to withdraw the army
without accomplishing her noble de-
sign.
The next descent on Paris was made
in 14G4, by the Count of Charolais, af-
terward Charles the Bold, Duke of Bur-
gundy. Charles had already penetra-
ted into the suburbs of Paris, when
Louis XI., fomenting rising at Liege,
place newly conquered by Charles,
compelled him to abandon the siege, in
order to return to prevent rebellion
spreading over his vast dominions.
Again, in 1912, the Emperor Charles V.
great grandson of Charles the Bold and
rival of Francis l., took up his line Of
march with &C, 900 German and Spanish
troops toward the French capital, redu-
cling all the fortified places along his
route in the neighborhood of Paris.
The peace of Crosby, offered by King
Francis l., saved the capital from
siege, and probably from surrender.
After the st. Bartholomew massacre,
and during the intestine wars between
the Holy League and the Huguenots,
Paris sustained several sieges. The
Duke of Guise, the chief of the Holy
League, having been assassinated at
Blois in most dastardly manner, by
order of King Henry III, the leaguers
were only reused by this atrocious
crime to more vigorous tnassacres.
They assembled parliament, deposed
the king, and created the Duke of
Mayence, brother of the murdered
Guise, lieu utenant-governor of the king
dom. Despised and forsaken, Henry
Ill, saw no other way to safety open
to him than an alliance with Henry of
Navarro. They laid siege to Paris, and
threatened to reduce the faithleSs town
to a heap of ruins, when the knife of a
fanatical monk, Jacques Clement, put
an end to the life of Henry Ill, at st.
Cloud, on the 1st day of August, 1899.
After this Henry ", tried for a long
time to get possession of his inheritance
| by the sword. He laid siege to Paris
in the year 1890, and caused the citizens
to feel all the horrors of famine but
he at last became convinced that he
could not gain peaceable possession of
the French throne by battles and victo-
ries. He thought the crown of France
was worth mass and went over to the
Catholic church. Paris now threw open
| its gates and welcomed the bringer of
peace with loud acclamation. France
was now under the reign of the Bour-
bons, fast becoming the first power in
Europe, and during the following two
centuries Paris saw no enemy before its
gates. The two great invasions of 1914
and 1915 are too well-known to be reci-
ted here. How the present one will
end, nobody can tell with certainty,
FAsTIDIoUs.-"Wh have you that's
good ?" said hungry traveller, as he
seated himself at dinner table in Salt
Lake City.
"Oh, we've roast beef, roast mutton,
boiled ham, and boiled curleW."