The San Francisco call., 1897-10-31

At the close Of our narrative in last
Sundays CALL we left the Third and Fourth
German armies under command of the
Crown Princes of Prussia and Saxony or
their march to Paris, where they arrived
September II, and at once commenced to
invest the great city from south to north.
The ranks OF the two armies had been
considerably thinned in the many pre-
vious engagements, so that their strength
when they arrived a Paris amounted to a
little over 150 coo men, with go field guns,
which was only gradually increa. Led TO
2C0 600 men with 100 guns. The troops in
Paris, under command of General Trochu,
consisted Of: l30, 700 line troops, Il, 800
marines, 10000 gendarmes, 1000 reserve ar
tillerists, $50, 400 mobile guards, 344, 900
national guards and from Is. 600 to is. 600
men OF independent corps (Franc-tireurs).
These forces, though very strong in num-
bers, were for the largest part of small
value and service in a war with we'll disci-
plined and equipped troops. BY far the
best were the marines and the regulars,
who distinguished themselves throughout
the siege by their bravery and dis
cipline. General Trochu had only 5000
cavalry, which were gradually increased
10 5000, but was abundantlv supplied with
artillery. On Septe m ber 49, 1889, fortress
guns were mounted at the forts and SO5 on
the walls OF the city and within six weeks
more the factories o: Paris turned out 600
pieces of ordnance OF the most i'm proved
construction. Powder and ammunition
were produced in plenty and wasted shame
fully on all occasions. Large quantities of
provisions nad been stored before the ar
rival OF the enemy. but they were hardly
sufficient to last the more than two mil
lion inhabitants of the giant city three
months.
AS soon as the Germans arrived before
Paris, series of small battles and skir-
mishes with the French regulars under
Ducrot and Vinoy ensued, which all
ended IN the evacuation by the French of
the villages and positions outside of the
range of the forts guns. AS General
Vinoy said afterward, 1.-THE effect of the
many mistakes made by the French
troops during the days of Septem Der 1922
could never be rectified by all our exer-
tions later. and we had to suffer from it
till the last day of the siege"
Jules Favre, the Foreign Secretary oil
the new republic, as well as NJ. Theirs, had
repeated interviews with Bismarck, and
tried TO negotiate a peace. They offered
"all the money we have and are able 10
borrow, but not foot of our soil or a
stone of our fortresses." Bismarck ex.
planned that France had declared wal
against Germany over thirty times within
the last Two centuries. had repeatedly an.
nexed large parts of Germany, which the
latter b ad TO recognize, under great sacri.
fees, and that he was now going to take
back those parts of Alsace and Lorraine
which Louis XIV had grabbed from Ger
many. He did not care so much for these
two provinces as for the guarantee they
would give to Germany against future
attacks from France, as the strong fortifi.
cations of the two provinces constituted 6
constant menace to Germany. The
French diplomats answered that the
honor OF Franco would not permit her te
concede these terms, but Bismarck replied
that the honor of France was of no be ettel
quality than the honor of other countries
that France, whenever she was victorious
had demanded territorial compensation
and had but lately taken Savoy and Mic,
from Italy. Fagre and Theirs then asked
for a truce fIOm twenty-five to thirty
days, but as they insisted that Parl,
should be allowed to supply herself with
provisions the truce was not granted.
Meanwhile tae newly created Frencf
Committee of Rational Defense and par