ENGLISH MAIL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 914, 1 July 1871, Page 2

ENGLISH MAIL NEWS.

INCIDENTS OF THE REVOLUTION. The Teleyraph's Paris correspondent give 3 some details of the fighting on Saturday, April 22. The attack on the Porte Dauphine, which commenced in the morning, continued all the afternoon. "The quarter of the Champs Elysees," he says, "is exceedingly damaged, and shells are still falling thickly. Barricades are ordered to be set up immediately in the quarters of the Tuileries and Belleville, so as to make Paris impregnable agair.si the so-called barbarians. The American Legation was struck on Friday by a fragment of a shell : but Mr Washburno still continues to reside in the Avo-me 'Josephine. 'At Asnieres there are three batteries of artillery, and barricades which would require a strong force to carry them. There are also iron-plated waggons on the railway at Asnieres, carrying gun?. The Versailles troops attacked at eight; a. m., and were repulsed; At nine a.m., Versailles made a sudden attack on the trenches of Vanvres, and threw a battery of artillery on to the road leading to the fort. There was a panic, and the Cummunists fled through the streets, the cannon- balls of the troops whistling after them. The traces of artillery horses were cut, and the drivers gallopped off, leaving the cannon in the road, and the conductors of the fourgons and caissons did the same. Just then Vanvres opened a heavy fire on the assailants, and the men in the trenches waited until the attacking party were within a hundred yards, and then poured in a nmrderous fire. In a few minutes the Versailles troops retired in disorder to Chatillon, and kept up a bombardment against Vanvres, doing but little damage. Canister shot was showered on the fort, but the men, being well sheltered, suffered but little loss. The attack was renewed at half-past four in the afternoon, with the same result. The Versailles troops fought well, and their loss must be great ; many ambulancdfc are out gathering in the wounded, as the mitrailleuses caused great slaughter in the trench. THE SEVERE FIGHTING AT ASNIERES. The Paris correspondent of the Daily News gives the following account of the engagement at Asnieres : — " The insurgents got a severe defeat yesterday. Large defensive works have been carried out at Asnieres during the last few days. The Generals of the Commune believed the position safe from any attack. Beyond the bridge over the Seine a strong barricade was thrown up fifteen yards from the railway station, and armed with two mitrailleuses. Another earthwork , was thrown up on the right to cover the attack from the Charlebourg (?) road, in addition. The Colombes road was protected by a barricade of pavint' stones covered with two metres of earth. A trench, 800 metres long, united the principal posts of ! the insurgents. Seven armor-plated locomotives were ready along the railway for I the defence of the National Guards. The ' locomotives were armed with American mitrailleuses. The roads in Asnieres ! were barricaded by the insurgents. Havf iixg no cavalry the insurgents were unable • | to make a reconnaisance, and were una- . ware that the Versailles troops had armed the redoubt of Gennevilliers, and placed heavy naval guns in position at Colombes. The Redoubt Gennevilliers is about 3000 metres from Asnieres. When the first shells fell in Asnieres yesterday from ; Courbevoie upou the Chateau Becon, the National Guards took little notice, being accustomed to, and sheltered against, a fire from that direction. Suddenly a tremendous fire was opened upon them ist front and on the right flank from Colombes and Gennevilliers. The National Guards gave way + and took refuge in the trenches. At .this moment two attacking columns took the insurgents in. front -.and flank-. The mitrailleuse which guarded the barricade had only time to tire one volley. The insurgents defended the station for a short time, but the cross-fire was so heavy that in less than an hour they were driven across the Seine. Reinforcements were sent for by Dombrowski, and at nine o'clock the insurgents returned to the attack. The Versailles troops repulsed th^^Tational Guards with great loss. Eye-witnesses state that Donibrowski led a desperate assault in person. At four o'clock all was over at Neuilly. The insurgents were forced to retreat to the Porte Maillot. Many of them were drowned, the bridge of boats being broken. Two hundred National Guards, enrolled by forci, have been conducted to Fort Bicetre." The correspondent of the Telegraph, gives the following particulars : — "A crowd of people had assembled at the Port Asnie'res, in the city, for the purpose of catching, if possible, a sight of the fighting outside Paris. To these came up the National Guards of the 228 th Battalion. 'The position is lost,' they cried. The citizens at the gate were not inclined to believe the story, or, if they were, did not think that those by whom it was told were the proper bearers of such a story. They accused th# Guards of creating a panic ; words of reproach were quickly followed , by blows, and a hot scuffle took place between the civil and military adherents of the Commune. In Levallois the shops are partly re-opened, and, as in Paris, the place bears more the aspecfof a festive season than of one which 'ought to bring sorrow to the heart of every Frenchman. The inhabitants stand in groups in the streets, eagerly and excitedly discussing. In the shops the National Guards are drinking and eating, shouting their songs over the wassail-bowl, careless of, perhaps, approaching death or suffering, although the visible signs of both are brought immediately before their eyes. For many of the wounded lie in the cabarets ; and along the streets outside, the ambulances, with their groaning burthens, are often passing. But, for all this riotous enjoyment, war does not fail to give signs of its presence. The Government troops made a vigorous attack on Asnie'res, and the Guards had to retire. Curious to say, the Versailles forces did not follow up this advantage. Meantime, intelligence of what had gone on had reached Dombrowsky. Immediately he despatched an aide -de - camp to the National Guards with orders to re-occupy the positions they had vacated. They obey, notwithstanding that the Versailles troops kept up a vigorous cannonade, and succeeded in re-occupying the right bank of the Seine. Nor did they content themselves after this with the maintaining a passive and purely defensive attitude, i

Just below the railway bridge they estab- * lished a battery of seven guns. From r | this position they could command the '„ Chateau of Becon, the important pointy lately gained by the Government. The guns of the Communists soon told. ' The 4 mitrailleuse, in the chateau, which had J fired incessantly throughout the entire '^ day, was silenced in half-an-hour. En- -> gagements between skirmishers on both .? sides of the Seine are frequent, and the balls of their rifles often fall within Leval-^ lois. At five p.m., the fire, which in some * points had slackened, became fiercer near \ Neuilly. The fighting concentrated itself | at the Porte. Here a body of gendarmes -.; have entrenched themselves ; and here, in spite of fire the most withering, of attacks the most vigorous, they have ; , maintained themselves for the last eight ■}. days. The last assault upon their position \ has not been more successful than its pre- . - decessors. At eight p.m., a fresh attack on Asnieres. The Versaillisis were supported by the redoubt at Gennevilliers, whose guns bombard Asnieres. The Go- -i vernment troops advanced towards the Seine, but were kept in check by the 33rd and 228 th Battalions of the National Guards. An hour later — at nine p.m.— Paris was as excited as if the battle were raging inside not outside its walk. All the bridges near the Champs Elysee#were crowded; everybody discussing the rumors that there had been a serious reverse at Asnieres. The gunboat Parcy went aground at the Pont Grenelle, not, how- . ever, before it had done some good service by shelling the Meudon woods, in which . Government forces are entrenched. The ■} batteries at Meudon, on the other; hand, : were constant in their fire against Fort .; Issy. A newspaper kiosque was smashed ~ to pieces in the Trocadero by a shell." J Writing at 7 p.m., he says . — "A" bloody combat has raged at Neuilly since * 4 a.m., with heavy artillery firing, and^ rifle firing from the houses and gardens, a The mitrailleuses have been very destruct -^ tive. The 261 st Battalion throughout;! the day have been under fire. Theirjj Commandant, Lesaigne, was killed at the head of his men while attacking the Ver-3 saiJles barricade. The Commandant of Artillery has been denounced and arrested^ by his men as a traitor. After immense^ losses, the Nationals commenced retreat; at 4 p.m., through fear of being sur^ rounded. Large numbers of houses hareg been burnt in^ Neuilly. Some of the in? habitants, unable to fly, have died in thtg cellars. Many are thus killed, and can-: not be removed. Issy and Vanvres were quieter last night, throwing but a few shots on the Versailles troops, whose movements could be distinctly seen. TheJ sentinels of the rival armies are distantr one hundred yards from each other. TheJ fight at Neuilly was carried on with great bitterness. They do not take prisoners^ on either side. Last night a shell fell! in Dombrowpki's rooms in the Boulevard! Inkerman at Neuilly. Dombrowski and| an officer of his staff were in bedj bnt; neither was hurt. The Versailles troops? still hold the church, and the Communists'! the surrounding houses, and they are . firing into each other incessantly. Ai splendid house at the corner of the Bou- s levards Inkerman was struck by threes shells and set on fire, with three or four/ others, but the conflagration was extin-1 guished. The twelve-pounders at the. Maillot Gate were badly worked, the^ shells being sent too high. The seven- = pounders outside the gate were better' served, upsetting three Versailles guns; to-day. Forty thousand troops are en-1 camped in wooden huts in the Park of St. Cloud. Ten thousand are in barracks,: and billeted at Bougival and Nanterre. ' The road St. Denis is choked with 3 hides bringing emigrants from Paris.", i The Times Paris correspondent wrote- 3 as follows : — " The results of yesterday's^ fighting at Asnieres have been greatly? exaggerated ; still, there is no doubt that % the Communists were completely driven 7 ; back with considerable loss. For a short time they evacuated in a panic even the j ground near the railway bridge on the : right bank of the Seine ; but they werei rallied by General Dombrowski, and induced to re-occupy it. They did not attempt, however, to recross the river, and the bridge of boats still remains broken. They were, up to four o'clock this afternoon, in possession of the right bank of the Seine, but their position was being strongly attacked by both cannon and musketry, and they appeared to be. on the point of giving way. No reinforcements were coming up, and the . troops, tired and exposed to a fusilade in flank whenever they were not under cover of the house's lining the road, were rapidly diminishing in numbers. Their losses to-day, however, have not been very « great, as the conflict has not been carried '\ on at close quarters. Yesterday they j suffered severely. The 77th Battalion is " said to have returned with less than half | its men; but probably the majority oi\ the missing have been taken prisoners. ; Anothar battalion is reported to have been taken prisoners to a man. The Communist troops are in worse spirits than they have been for some time, and the refusals to fight are numerous. A turning movement on the part of the ?! Versailles troops is apprehended to-night, -^ as the troops are also gaining ground to ** fhe left, to judge from the near approach ":. of their fusilade. The Communists, if they ventured to remain near the Asuieres Bridge, would be taken between cross fires." : ENGAGEMENT AT COLOMBES. The Versailles correspondent of the Daily News 3peaks of an engagement which -; took place at a point where the road from :1 Cowbevoie to Asnieres is crossed by the 3 road from Puteaux to Colombes. The 1 troops of the Government held Courbevoie 1 and Colombes ; the insurgents Vere still - in Asnieres, notwithstanding all efforts to " dislodge them, aud it was an attempt on their part to advance along this road, to d )oth villages that led to the so-called I battle. The insurgents had thrown them- J selves in a large house at the^ cross-road, : i§ and erected a very strong barricade. Be- - tween three and four in the afternoon a 5| column of infantry was led againt this ? barricade and the house. The barricade ■£ was soon taken ; the house might have cost a good deal of blood, as it was strongly built, but the walls crenelated. But the insurgents thought better of it, and retired into the wood behind, the 1 walls of which were also pierced. Under a lively fire, they retired slowly towards - Asnieres, their original position, which they still occupy. The whole engagement f lasted perhaps an hour and a half or two J hours, and the number of killed cannot; | from what I have seen, amount to morel than half-a-dozen; the wounded being! under thirty. -■