The New York herald., 1871-01-02

$50 called) OF European kings overwhelmed
him and drove his last army, in that contest,
to capitulation along with proud Paris itself,
in 1914, after campaign Of prodigies in mill
tary skill and gallantry on the part of the
French, and heroic but unavailing battle
under the very walls of their capital.
And here we reach striking stage in this
eventful record, which has been rivalled by
the bistsry Of few strongholds in the world.
That of Rome alone, perhaps, surpasses it in
variety of incident and grandeur of result.
The struggle that preceded the evacuation Of
the French defenders and the entry of the
allied forces on the morning of the 3lst of
March was so tremendous that ever since then
the historical writer's of the different coalesoed
nationalities have been claiming the credit of
the plan OF triumph for countrymen of their
own. Schwarzenbsrg, the commander of the
allies, had broken the resistance Of Napoleon
at Arcis-sur- Aube, on the Goth of March, aud
the Emperor, conceiving the daring idea of
abandoning all attempt to fall back upon his
capital, had crossed the Aube and moved east
ward, as though to seek a junction with his
lingering forces and stronghslds in Lorraine
and Alsace, with the hope of Turing the inva-
ders to follow him through fear of finding their
retreat cut off from Switzerland and the Rhine.
But Schwarzenberg was not SO easily diverted.
On the contrary, he fastened to unite with
Marshal "Vorwarts" (Blticher) who had fought
at Laon, and then moved directly on
z~:~ - -
been claimed by the Russians for their then
Emperor Alexander; by the Bavarians for
their General Wrede and by M. Thiers for the
diplomatist Pozzo di Borgo, but the truth is
that Schwarzenberg had entertained the
thought while he'was in Frankfort-on-the-
Main some weeks earlier and had spoken of it
at his headquarters in POugy on the Oath of
March. He matured it subsequently, and it
was approved by the Gear Alexander and
King Frederick William of Prussia in coun-
Gil of war held on the famous Monarchs' Hill
at Vitry. Paris was defended by regular
veteran force of twenty thousand men under
Marshals Marmont and Mortier. and the allies
approached with one hundred and seventy
thousand.
The plan of the German combined army
seems, in the present instance, to have been
equally prompt and decisive after the surren-
der at Sedan and the capitulation of Metz,
with this difference that the disparity of num-
bers has been by no means so great, while the
material and appliances, as well as the
weapons and the ordnance, have been incom
parably superior. But, while Won Moltks and
the Prussan Crown Prince have proved
themselves to be fully the equals in
strategy, and hard fighting, too, of
Schwarzenberg and Blicher, there is now no
Marmont, no Mortier, much less any Napoleon
Bonaparte, in the French array.
1t was the final storming of the heights of
Belleville and Chaumont at four o'clock p NJ,
on the 30th of March, 1914, the attack Of the
allies having begun early in the morning,
that led to the parley which ended
in surrender, and it is in the same
quarter that the Germans are apparently push
ing their best point now. However, by our
dispatches it is made evident that the invest
ing force is operating in chief on vast seq
ment of circle extending from the north
west Of Paris all around the northern, eastern
and southern exposure of the city.
From the account given, which we
have endeavored to render perfectly explicit,
by an accompanying article, it would seem
that the better chances Of immediate impress
sion on the suburbs of the doomed capital are
in the northeast and south. But on all sides
the preparations of King William are Titanic;
he now has four hundred and fifty thousand men
concentrated upon Paris, one hundred and
fifty thousand fresh troops having reached
his camps from Germany within
fortnight, and all the available heavy
siege trains from beyond the Rhine have been
brought to the scene where the last desperate
die is to be cast for empire and European
supremacy. At the dating of the last account
received all the German officers had gone from
Versailles to the front, and their field pieces
were playing on the French outposts to drive
them in preliminary to the awful miserere of
the general bombardment
The hour of the final crucial test--of the
erpertpentum crucis-has come for the grand
capital Of the late modern Caesars, and nations
look on with interest painfully profound. But
if the stern energy and gigantic strength of
the attack excite our wonder, there is some
thing in the calm resistance that confronts it
which revives the spirit Of old time chivalry
in every manly heart and sways the sympa-
thies of the whole outside world. May God
defend the right!
Smuggling Grand Scale.
Our Boston correspondence, published to-
day, reveals a most astounding system Of
smuggling between the British provinces and