Year: 1870

Tho Stampede to Foreign Parts.


Paris Cor. tSept. 81 London Times.


The attitude OF Paris is very strange. One may
will be. No Frenchman here can look another in
the face and admit the possibility OF a peace on
terms which would be humiliating to the nation,
and yet when one asks-Are they prepared
to fghtY are they prepared. to hold out9
One is met with looks Of ,perplexity, if
breattes the only language which the republic dare
hold and it is received with marked applause not
the present temper Of the people the republic dare
not speak other than thus bravely but 1t is mpossi-
BILE not to ask Is the circular of the Foreign Minister
anything more than profession, and will its
firm language g be sustained med 6y ~ determined
acs m war are %srV w 70 wthnn oi e manes
War? We all know that General Leho has been ap-
pointed Minister of War, but he has not yet ap-
peared-no one seems to know where he is. You
are complaining in England Of the absence OF your
Ministers from London What will you say to the
absence of the Minister OF War from Paris? This


is the fourth day since the proclamation of the re-
public Need is so urgent just now that days here
may be counted as weeks-and 10 there is no Min
lister Of War; 1t is almost Incredible and it is GER
tanly not reassurng. No wonder at the attitude
which | find almost universal-among the WELL


informed and the illinformed alike. 1t Is perfectly
represented in two little articles which appeared
side by side in one OF the most popular newspapers
here. In the first and foremost was the talk of fire.
eaters 1t was full Of brave words. The Parisans
were ready for any sacrifice They would burn
They would defeat these advancing Germans who
showed all the daring and the skill OF the First Napo-
leon WfeQ ne invaded Dy UIe same tactics
which the Russians discounted the Grand ARMY
Impossible to use brayer words or to show more
gallant front. But the next article contains
plant that England does not intervene for the bene-
fit of France. think have seen something OF the
same sort in street row-where combatant dou-
bles his fist and squares at the approaching enemy
with unmistakable boldness but at the same time
with his elbow nudges timorously friend behind
him and murmurs in an undertone, 'sWhy the deuce
don't you back me? 1t will be your turn next"


Meanwhile the Prussians are fast coming to Paris,
and must tell you of the ''skedaddleD of nearly ali
rat thar nm
comfortable here in many ways One is besieged
by beggars on every side-some of them crippled and
really objects of pity but many OF them quite the re-
verse; and all assaiing the street passengers with
pertnacity which has something ofmenace in It, The
prisoners have been let loose, and the ri-ra of St.
LaZare are down upon the Bouevards' They are
all the boder in their operations inasmuch as there
are no police. The detested sergens-de-vie have
been dsbanded and it is only to-day that the Preect
of Police has announced that substitute is to be
found for them In a body OF men to be called Guar
organize these Guardians, and in the meantime
Paris is at the mercy OF vagabonds. 1 have twice
at the General Post Ofice in the Rue Jean Jacques
Rousseau, which you know is an abominable locality
in the miost of narrow filthy streets. There were
no cabs to be seen; 1t was easier to walk than to
hunt for cab; took short cuts through streets
short cuts did not at ali ike the look Of the gentry
saw, and II these vagabonds, who may now by the
new law arm themselves as they will, make
still more are their fears increased when
they hear Of popular meetings held in the
back slums of Paris in opposition to the
Republic as at present constituted. The press with
a subservience-or shall we call it a royalty?-of
which we had examples enough under the Imperial
rule, suppresses the tr IN to these meetings; but
it admits that there have been assembages and re-
solutions passed. OF which it would afct them to
give an account at this moment, when harmony is
essential to the salvation Of the country. SO, wnat
with beggars and roughs let loose upon the streets


what with fear OF the true Reds rising against the
established Government; and what with an unplea-
SAINT feeling as to the range of shell from the Prus
sian guns foreigners have been rushing from Paris
and the railways have been choked with them.


You will have heard OF the crowds OF passengers
the Great Northern line, but friends of mine who
have 1t tell me that the crush at the stations of
the Western and Southern Railways Is still worse.
The people rush there with all their baggage and tho
railways now, though willing to take the passengers,
refuse the baggage. They are short OF rolling stock,
which is used for the service of the army Some Of
the people who go the station with their baggage
are obliged to return contentedly, unable to stir
without these inpedimentG. / am told by one who
it, that at IL O'Clock last night there was regu
lar encampment all about the station of the South,
and this too, in the rain There were hundreds OF
carriages, cabs, and vans piled with luggage.
that evening-fve hours. People in the cabs and
trying to seep-for the doors of the sta
ton were shut against them-and they would have
to make a night of it. Besides this, there were
loads OF luggage and furniture laid out upon the
streets, and hundreds of people encampsd in the
people thus waiting had come so far-it is an out
of-theway sation-that 1t did not seem for most Of
them to be worth while to go back. "They were
nearly French" said my friend who saw them, "and
of all the assemblages ever this was the most
miserable-wet and weary and hungry, and not
knowing how long they would have to wait for the
doors to open."