The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-13

crack of the Prussian rified cannon had
not yet awakened the hill echoes OF
Virofay. The silly proclamations urg-
| ing the instant tearing up of pavements
and the terrifying of cellars, the assur-
| ing of d water supply, were forgotten.
People began to realize that it takes
months TO establish siege batteries
that for every gun capable of throwing
a shell into Paris the Germans would
have to send to Germany. Fear van
| ished; how long it would take to con-
vey heavy cannon from Berlin across
| France TO the Seinei And would not
| the conveys be cut off by the franc
| tireurs, by the provincial armies now
organizing, by an uprising of outraged
people? Surely the very land, the eie-
ments themselves, would rise and de-
stroy these barbarians and their wick
ed cannon. Trochu, the comber mystic,
the Breton governor of republican
Paris, moved on his darkened way, a
flash of tinselled pomp, q shred of pag-
eantry, the last paladin riding back
into the gloom of the middle ages, eek
ing light, fleeing light, wrapped to the
eyes in the splendid mantle of the Trim
ity.
So he rode, esquired by Faith, dream
ing of saints and quests of chivalrY,
pondering miracles. AS a figure for a.
Gobelin tapestry General Trochu would
save perhaps in a cloister, would he
have been of use in the nineteenth CEN
tury
When, on the 18th of September, the
PruSSian advance guard was Signaled
and saluted by the forts of the west
and south, General Vinoy'S brave corps
passed the gates and advanced to Gre
tail. The affair was not SeriouS-noth-
ing was serious then. And yet that was
the very time when crushing success
might have electrified the whole ma
ton into such resistance that the end
of the war would not have arrived with
the capitulation of the capital. Was
ir not possible to rapidly mass the two
corps of Vinoy and DucrOt to crush the
few thousand men of the advance
guard? The moral effect of such a
stroke would have been stupendous.
But in this first engagement under
the walls of Paris the deplorable syS
tenn was inaugurSted and invariably
followed in all subsequent operations
around Paris, fighting without a fixed
objective, forcing new troops not sufh-
GENTLY habituated to fighting, and, on
the contrary, when a serious object was
in view, operating with insufficient
numbers and inadequate artillery.
On the 18th of September, when VII
noy's corps fell back, the Prussian in
vestment began, the various railroads
were cut. and at 5 o'clock in the after
noon the last train from Paris for
Rouen left the St LaZare station. From
every direction the German masses
poured into the country; the Prince of
SaXony advanced from the north, sa-
lutnig st. Denis with thousand trum-
pets; the Prince of Prussia rode up
from the south. through Fonteney aux
Roses, and woke Auuay woods with the
hurrahs of his horsemen.
Two vast crescents formed the circle;
the ring was soldered at Versailles in
the east; the other gap closed at st.
German.
Then, on the 10Th of September,
Drucot was attacked on the south, was
fanked and driven pell nell under the
Chatillcn redoubt. where the great forts
of Vanves and Montrouge spiked the
last guns in the unfinished Chatillon
and retired. Clamart, Vile
juif and Meudon swarmed with Prus-
sian cavalry. Night came, and Paris
knew that its southern key had been
stolen when the Prussian flag crept up
the shattered staff on the ramparts of
Chatillon.
So was lost the southern key to Paris, !
the great unfinished redoubt OF Chatil- |
lon. Let those high officers of engin-
GERS remember-let others in high |
places of the land remember-and be |
Scarcely had the investment of Paris !
been completed when the humiliating |
interview at Ferrieres between Jules |
Favre and Bismarck became known to |
the public. Had Jules Fayre carefully |
considered the matter. had he offered |
terms. for example, as follows:
First-An indemnity.
Second-The dismantling of one or |
two of the eastern forts.
,i,-J hn nf
Fourth-The cession of a few iron
clads.
Doubtless, Germany-coeTced by Eu-
rope-would have accepted.
But it was not to be. The poor rep |
of the republic left the {
Prussian headquarters with Bismarcks
harsh voice ringing in his ears. and the
next day all Paris knew that it was to
be a struggle to the death.
Stung again into action, Vinoy, sup
ported by the forts, hurled a division /
Of the Thirteenth corps on Villeiuif |
and carried it. On Sept. so Chevillv |
and Choisv-le-Roi were attacked. And |
again the fatal lack of sufficient artil- |
ery nullified the advantage gained at !
Villejuif. The sphere of action had /
been enlarged at all.
From the rampartS of Paris these !
first engagements under the walls were |
scarcely visible to the people-scarcely |
audible save for the thunder from the |
forts. a high rampant of |
dun colored mist stretched from the |
fort to Arcueii; beyond II.
1enser volumes of smoke poured up in
to the sky from FHay. At moments
the wind brought the crache of the
fusillade through lulls in the cannon
din-scarcely louder than the crackIe
Of a bonfire. This was all that the Pa
-isans could see or hear from the south
arn bastions. Great crowds of women |
and children watched the infantry as
It passed through the Porte Rouge; the
cavalry sang as they rode between
tense masses of excited people; the
swung their thongs and
chanted gayly.
Gail Gaii serrons nos rangs,
Espersnce
De la France
Gail Cal. serrons nos rangs,
En- avant, Gaulois ct Francs.
% the air of "Gai! Gail Marions Nous,"
md the franc-tireurs took up the song
;avagely:
Qui! ces monuments cheris,
Histoire
De notre gloire,
S'ecrouleraient en- debris.
Qui, les Prussiens a Paris
md the people roared back the chorus:
Cal. Cal! serrons nos rangs.
Hide, standing at the door, heard
hem singing at sunrise, caught the
Instant CLINT of bayonets. saw the sun,
White and fierce, crinkling the polished
urface of helmet and breastplate.
At night, too. lingering on the steps.
he heard the movement and murmur
# marching masses; she saw the rock
is drifting through the sky, the jew
lied string of signal lamps swinging
ike a necklace from the Porte Rouge
All day long the Rue
'Ypres rang with the clang of bugles
nd the vibrating crash Of drums; all
ay long the cannoneers of the Prophet