The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1871.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 781, 25 February 1871, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1871.

The news by the mail places us in possession of one week's later intelligence from the seat of war. Although comparatively unimportant, so far as the recording of any incident that might lead to the immediate termination of the war, any item of information can scarcely fail to prove interesting at so Stirling a crisis. The position of affairs appears to be little altered —the French Armies have been unsuccessful in effecting the much wished for junction, and hitherto the German forces have contrived to hold the various armies at bay at all points ; the sorties from Paris have been unsuccessful, the Germans have advanced to within halt a mile of one of the forts, and daily the position of the people within the citv anuet become more critical as the pi u spect of starvation increases. The two all-important questions are—how much longer can food be f< u ul for the two millions within the walls? or what are the chances of the armies without and within compelling the investing forces to raise the sie<"e ? 'Beyond the fact that the power of resistance must become, for the besieged, daily a more difficult task, there is really no means of forming an opinion as to their actual condition. From the earliest stage of the investment it was currently reported that the city could not hold out many weeks, and all Europe calculated that before Christmas, at least, the humiliation of the French nation would have been completed—its military organisation annihilated, and its fortresses dismantled, its territory diminished by two large and fertile provinces containing a large population and vast natural resources, while the people would he so crippled with the ravages of the war and an immense national debt as to utterly dislodge its as a leading continental power. The process of annihilation has not, however, proceeded so speedily as was anticipated ; and if the present war has served to show how defective was the military organisation of France, it has also demon strated in a still more marked degree how wonderful are her resources in men, money, and arms, plac'ng at the same time beyond question the martial spirit of the people, and their capacity of endurance. "Whatever may be the result, the French have at least vindicated their claim as a nation of soldiers. The Germans have learnt to their cost that newly levied troops may achieve victories, and in their turn besiege the invaders. Such, indeed,for some time past, has been the position of the Grerman forces ; their strength has been entirely directed towards maintaining the position of their armies, and although each mail furnishes the information that the Army of the Loire has been annihilated, the following telegrams invariably report determined and continued fighting, with varying success, by the army alleged to have been routed and defeated. In Paris, we find that Trochu maintains a determination not to capitulate, and that the people are hopeful, in spite of two thousand shells falling nightly within the city. It would certainly appear, from these manifestations, that the condition of the people is not so bad as has been represented,

and that the supply of food ia probably sufficient for some time to como. The policy that at the outset industriously circulated tho report that Paris was badly provisioned, may even at present conceal the true position of affairs. It is very probable that the Germans would have attempted the bombardment earlier, but for the belief that Trochu could not hold out, yet what was to have been accomplished in a few weeks, remains still undone after five mouths' investment.