The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-06-27
FOREIGN ITEMS.


The French papers publish a "conHden-
ual despatch addressed on the 10th of Janu-
ary last by Gambetta to Jules Favre. which
contains some curious disclosures as to what
were at that time the real views of the leader
OF France in her desperate resistance against
Germany. 1.-THE moment is SO serious" he
says, that l regard it as an imperative duty
to communicate 10 you all my feelings and
thoughts about your and our situation.
You are lost; you are falling down a
precipice, well knowing the faults of him
(General Trochu) who is driving you into it,
with the knowledge of the crushing responsi-
bility which will be laid upon you by history
because you failed bravely to set aside the
instrument of our common disaster. You see
the dreadful catastrophe come closer day bv
day, and you sigh with your hands folded,
instead OF. getting rid of man who,
whatever his virtues, is not equal either
to the situation or to the duties
laid upon him. You have
allowed the opportunity of victory
to slip, and you will fall like those who fell at
Metz and Sedan. Perhaps at the last hour
you Will perish with honor, but it will then be
too late to serve your country. If you had
really made a sortie on the 9TH of January, as
you announced in your despatch of the 9th of
January, Chapzy would probably have gained
a victory instead of being defeated at LIE
feat are the want of timely attack on the
enemy from Paris, the panic of the Mobiles
OF Brittany, and the inexperience of his
officers. The special characteristic of the
armies which we have formed is the want of
solidity and perseverance; they cannot hold
out after series of battles, some of which
were successful, but none sufficiently so to
create a permanent enthusiasm" Notwith-
standing this admission Gambetta does
hHf
viction that by constantly forming new
armies and sending them against the enemy
France must ultimately be victorious He
concludes by warmly urging Jules Favre to
leave Paris, SO as to be ready to assist with
his Influence in prolonging the resistance
after the capital should fall. ''Your charac-
ter, your sutferings, your authority would in
spire universal respect, and every one would
understand that you had come
with the mission of avenging Paris. You can
and must do this. You must go to London,
where all Europe, our irreconcilable enemies
excepted, wishes and expects to see you.
have done my duty. Do yours"
The Nation Souoerdiae compares the late
street fights in Paris with those of June, 1S4S.
Son both occasions" it says, ''the military
commanders were men who had earned dis
tinction in Algeria. Cavaignac had less mill
tary glory than MacMahon, but the name he
bore was dear to the republicans, and placed
him In political position of which he showed
himself entirely worthy" The revolutionists
OF 194S, too, proceeded from the same class
as those of 1871; ''and though they had
neither millions of cartridges, nor a formida-
BILE artillery, as the latter have the
struggle was no less desperate" In both
cases the conflict was primarily caused by the
fear of hunger; in 184S, owing to the threat
ened stoppage of the subvention of the work
- h. ,faIsaa
that of the pay of the National Guards. ''In
1S4S the street-fghting was not preceded by
siege in accordance with the rules of military
art; but the strategical positions were not SO
formidable as they are now. The insurgents
had cut the city in two by line of barricades
beginning at what is now the Northern Rail
way station, and passing by the Porte st.
Denis and the Rue st. jacques to the Obser-
vatoire. All that was in front of that line
belonged 10 the insurgents; all that was be-
yond it to the Assembly" Again, if the in
surgents of 1S4S ''were less numerous and
had fewer arms than those of 1871, they
found, on the other hand, an immense sup
port in the tortuous and narrow streets of
which three quarters of Paris then consisted.
A carriage placed across the road, with few
paving-stones, suficed to create an obstacle
which only disappeared after a serious combat
From 25, 600 to sc, 900 insurgents armed with
muskets held their ground for four days
against whole army with artillery.
The insurgents of 1871, though more nume-
rous and better armed, have against them the
strategic roads pierced by M. Haussmann.
The guns of the Place de la Concorde can
sweep the Place de lHotel de Vile, and we'll
directed shells can disperse insurgents behind
barricades who would otherwise have to be
attacked with the bayonet."
The slave traffic of Zanzibar seems to be
rather brisk according to an account given of
it by DIR. Kirk in a letter to the late Lord
Clarendon, dated the first of February last
year. which has just been printed with other
correspondence respecting the slave trade on
the East Coast of Africa. DIR. Kirk forwards
copies of certain official statements of the
Zanzibar Government respecting the import
and export of slaves during the last season
so far as that traffic has been carried on
openly and in accordance with the rules
now in force. These statistics
were not prepared by the Arab authori-
ties expressly for DR.. Kirk, but he had access
to the original books of the Custom House
and of the Sultan's secretary. From them we
learn that Zanzibar Island imported in one
year 11,944 slaves, and exported during a
nearly parallel period also of one year as
many as S215, leaving apparently for use in
the island 1929; out of these, 2000 are stolen
yearly by the northern Arabs or shipped by
the Zanzibar people without license. DIR.
Kirk says that the present yearly slave re-
quirements of the town and island may be
safely estimated at not more than 1929. The
declared export from Zanzibar to the petty
coast towns and island of Pemba is S215,
to which must be added 5000 shipped
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