THE WAR IN EUROPE.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 761, 3 December 1870, Page 4

THE WAR IN EUROPE.

THE GERMANY ARMY BEFORE PARIS. For some clays past the head-quarter 3 of the Crown Prince of Prussia have been at Versailles. To-morrow, October 8, the King will, it is expected, join the Prince, and the investment of the city will then be formally — as/it has for some time been actually — completed. The following extracts will convey to the readers of the Home News a vivid idea of the state of things outside Paris. Under date of the 27th September, a correspondent of the Daily Nnws says : — "There was a very interesting ceremony yesterday in the courtyard of the Palace, at the base of the statue of Louis XIV. It was arranged that the Crown Prince should here distribute the decoration of the Iron Cross to some fifty officers and men who had distinguished themselves in the war. A grand parade took place at ten o'clock, and the troops were drawn up in close columns facing the central point, where stood His Highness surrounded by a brilliant staff. All the open space was glittering with the Prussian bayonets aud brass-top helmets. Nothing could be more perfect than the 'dressing' of the lines, nor more rigid than the attitude of the soldiers at attention. They seemed; almost as iinaiovable ! as the colossal figures of famous Frenchmen which flank the approach to the statne of King Louis. Each man who was to receive a decoration stepped firmly up to the Crown Prince, stood like a rock whilst the honour was bestowed, and went iirmly back to his place, as though. he had gone though the same manoeuvre every day of his life. The Prince addressed a few stirring words to those assembled, and proposed a cheer for his Majesty . the King. Out I flashed his sword, and was waved above t his head as he led the hearty shout which ! greeted his father's name. You cannot imagine a better effect, in its way, than this burst of loyal enthusiasm in the hitherto silent mass, with the tall, bearded Prince leading the cheer, sword in hand. The voices rose loud and strong, and the music of the military bands swelled proudly forth in the first few bars of the National Anthem. Then there was silence again, and then the Palace walls echoed for the second time, to voices and music when the general commanding the division proposed a cheer for his Highness the Crown Prince. Those poor wounded men in the splendid saloons on the other side of the building nmst have heard the shouts of their comrades who were gathered round the statue of King Louis. The crowd of French inhabitants beyond the gates could not only hear the shouts, but were presently able to see with what precision and closeneos their invaders could be moved. No sooner had the Prince and his staff passed down the Avenue de Paris towards the Prefecture, than a compact column of infantry and artillery, of hospital assistants, and dismounted dragoons, appearing on the Place d'Armes, ready for marching past. We blame ourselves in England for not altogether abandoning this practice. It were certainly fatal to be able to do nothing else. But here came the soldiers of rough bivouacs and hard fighting, as swift and steady in their march past a3 our oldest martinet could desire. The Prince sat on horseback opposite his quarters for the troops to pass him, and they went by in such order as would have clone credit to battalions devoted to no other exercise. Their step is somewhat too sharply regular for French taste. Yet, though the crowd had its smile and whispered joke at the expense of the invader, there were approving nods when some Prussians had passed in especially perfect order. The crowd could not warm into friendliness, but it was not insensible to the excellent condition of its foes. " The four Palaces of St. Cloud, St. Germain, Men don, and Versailles, have as different a fate at this moment as their recent histories as different from one another. There is ahpspital in Versailles, with the strange contrast of truckle-beds upon the floors of gilded saloons that are full of pictures. But beyond this temporary use the Palace remains much as so j many of us can remember it — a great show place, very large, very splendid, and somewhat dull. It is out of all immediate danger, and may be its old self again three months hence. Then comes St. Germain, the' partly-rebuilt, partlyruinous home of the exiled Stuarts. This, too, is out of immediate danger, and, though not yet'occupied by wounded men, is undej* the red-cross flag. Both of them Versailles and St. Germain, have been fortunate in standing out of the way of I seige. Ifc is far otherwise with Meudon and St. Cloud. The luxurious abode of Prince Napoleon and the favorite retreat of his cousin the Emperor have been placed in the very front of the battle. The woods round Meudon are held by the German outposts, the garden is destroyed by what the French did to entrench it. The houses is full of soldiers on outpost duty. Beds, mattrasses, chairs, are tumbled about in utter confusion ; the dining-room of so many banquets is used as an impromptu bivouac. So also at St. Cloud there is watching by day and night. Skirmishers' are here more active, ' and bullets whistle though the trees. The boudoir of the Empress, the playgrounds of the Imperial Prince, are occupied by men who may at any moment be shot across the Seine ; a strange scene indeed for St. Cloud." Two days afterwards, the same correspondent wrote :— The lovely weather which has continued throughout the latter part of the month seems likely to last to the end. We have bright sunshine and clouds of dust. The helmets of the Prussians glitter in the great Avenue, and the Prussian military music rings through the streets'of Versailles. There are thousands of visitors to the Park, and to the Trianons, but the visitors wear a foreign uniform, whilst those familiar red trousers of the French army are nowhere to be seen. There are hundreds of guests at the Hotel des Reservoirs, but the guests are not of the ordinary tourist stamp. They fill the rooms with gay hussar jackets and dark-colored tunics, with swords taken off to lean against the wall, and with caps of different bright hues hung upon every available peg. Commercially speaking, ;trade is dull, the country people venture very timidly into the market with butter and fruit, and there is much anxiety among the people of this town as to what they shall do for a living should the siege of Paris be a long affair. But things have not yet reached so bad a point as to bring the

inhabitants to utter misery. They expected to be much worse treated than they really are, and confidence as regards their personal safety seems to be rapidly reviving. If it were not that soldiers are quartered upon them, the people would be almost cheerful, for they are very sanguine about Paris, and very much surprised — pleasantly : surprised, you may suppose — to find the Prussians, after all, such quiet, orderly fellows. Of course they wish them all at the bottom of the sea ; thai ia natural enough. No man with a spark of patriotism could enjoy the spectacle of foreign conquest, or wish the invaders to get away safely with tkeir trophies. But when one reflects on the deadly work soon to be done beyond those wooded hills, when one hears the booming of heavy guns from the French forts, and the running of German ammunition trains to the front, it is with a feeling of relief that one observes the moderate demeanour of soldiers and citizens broiight together haphazard by the f orture of war. "Just in proportion as the strength of Paris for defence has become more clear, and the care with which it has been provisioned has been better known, the likelihood of bombardment has increased. Unwilling as is the King to destroy so beautiful a city, he will certainly destroy it rather than return baffled into Germany. There is less hope in blockade now that we have details of the vast preparations to feed the garrison and inhabitants. Perhaps it may be possible to reduce one of the outlying forts, and approach the ramparts behind it. Yet even then the large force under General Trochu might repulse every assault, aud there would be this vast, unused power of burning the place down as a reserve in the hands of the Germans. For all these reasons I fear that if negotion should utterly fail, a bombardment may occur which will fill all Europe with regret. There will be a terrible cannonade in any case when once the artillery duel begins, and the quiet of a day like this, which has had only a stray shot now and then booming from the French forts, will be followed by days . of dreadful destruction. All along the heights to the southward there are the Germans firmly posted, and the city is straight before them, clearly to be seen, easily to be reached by shells The besiegers are sitting down to their work with characteristic coolness and method, the besieged are toiling manfully at their outer defences, that no point may be left unguarded. They are distinctly visible from the German position above Meudon, widening ditches, spading up earth on to parapets and strengthening the embrasures of their batteries. I noticed that more than one of these fatigue parties had the red trousers of the French line, whilst others seemed to be dressed as common laborers. If you like to get a view of what is passing near Paris, you shall return with me to the front, and look through my telescope for a few minutes. " We are unable to see far beyond the French outposts, and to distinguish some of the public buildings of the city when we s,tand in the German position above Meudon. But the telescope shall be first directed to the gardens almost at our feet. What delightful summer retreats ! What snug white houses buried among trees and flowers ! They are silent and deserted now. We see no one moving about them. There' are no family groups seated under the trees, no voices of children at play rising in the air. Yet, stay, there is a sound sharp and clear from just behind the pretty villa before us. The crack of a rifle shows that the German sentries are on the alert. It is answered by one, more distant, from where the French keep guard. Another and another follow in quick succession. There are some half-dozen shots exchanged before the sentries are satisfied. Look carefully at the corner of the wall of what seems to be a fine fruit garden. You will see several men crouching beside the pathway, rifle in hand. He who should stand erect and offer a mark to the enemy would be throwing away his life. It is a time of terrible earnest in these delightful haunts of wealthy idleness. No wonder that the families have fled. Observe that dull heap of earth, some way from the foot of the slope, in the region of market gardens rather than of villas. The red-trousered soldiers are working at it hard, but it is ready for mischief even now. If we were to show ourselves overmuch, or to assemble in a large group on the hillside, we should be instantly shelled. You must keep among the trees whilst you use my telescope, or we shall draw fire from below. Ah ! There rises a puff of smoke over the dull heap of earth, which ia the French outwork, and there cornea the heavy report of the battery gun mingled with the whizzing of the shell. They have aimed far to our left, so we need not feel the least uneasy. Bnt the situation is one to demand caution of every spectator. It seems impossible that we be really having so good a view of Paris, but turn the glass a little farther northwards, and you will see.