INSIDE PARIS.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 362, 5 April 1871, Page 3

INSIDE PARIS.

The 'Daily News' corresdond.ent, writ ing on tbe state of matters inside Paris oi. . 7th January, says : — " It is almost needless to say that th< newspapers are filled with wondrous tales respecting the bombardment ; with denunciations against the Prussians for theii sacrilege in venturing upon it; and in congratulations to the population on their heroism in supporting it. The number of persons who have been all but hit by shells is enormous. I went to the left bank of the Seine in order to see myself the state of affairs. At Pont de Jonr there is' a hot corner sparsely populated. The Prussians are evidently firiug at the viaduct which crosses the river. From here I followed the ramparts as close as I could as far as Montrouge. 1 heard of many shells which had fallen, but I did not myself either see any fall, or hear any whiz through the air. I then went to the Observatory, where, according to the ' Soir,' the shells were falling very freely. A citizen who was sweeping before the gate told me that he knew nothing about them. In the Rue d'Enfer, just behind, there was a house which had been struck during the night, and close by there was a cantiniere, who had been killed by one, on her way to be buried. At the garden of the Luxembourg and at the Artesian well near the Invalides, I heard of shells, but could not find out where they had struck. As far as I can make out, the Prussians vim at the Bastions, and occasionally, but rarely, at some public building. Probably about fifty shells have been sent with malice prepense inside the town. Just behind a bastion it is a little dangerous, but in Grenelie, Vaugirarde, and Montrouge, the risk to each individual is not so great as it would be to g-o by a crowded crossing in London. In these quarters I saw a few people moving away their goods and chattels, but the population generally seemed rather pleased than otherwise with what was going on. except close in by the ramparts, there was no sxcitment. Almost the whole of the portion of the town on the left bank of the Seine is now under fire : but even should it be seriously bombarded, I doubt it the effect will be at all commensurate with tbe expense of powder and projectiles. When shells fall over a large area, the odds against each separate person being hit by I them is so large, that no one thinks thai- — happen what may to others — -he will be I wounded. On the 16th January he writes a 5 * follows : — The bombardment still continues, The cannon now make one continuous noise. Each particular discharge it is impossible to distinguish. The shells fall on the left bank to the distance of about a mile from the ramparts. A return of the 'Official Journal' gives 138 wounded and 51 killed up to the 13th. Among the killed are IS children and 15 women ; among -the wounded are 18 children and 45 women. Waggons and hand-enrts packed with household goods are streaming in from the left to the right bank. In the bombarded quarters many shops are closed. Some householders have made a sort of casements reaching to the first storeys oi their houses ; others sleep in their cellars. The streets are, however, full of people, even in t he most exposed districts, and all the heights from which a view is to be had of the Prussian batteries are crowded with sight-seers. Every now and then one sees some house through which a shell has passed. The public buildings have, as yet, suffered very slightly. The dome of the Pantheon, i which we presume has been used as a mark j for the aim of the Prussian artillerymen, has not been hit. In the Jardin des Plantes. all the glass of the conservatories ; has been shattered by the consussion of the air, and lhe orchids and other tropical ; plants are dying. Although war and its horrors are thus brought home to our very doors, it is even still difficult to realise that great events are passing around us which history will celebrate in its most solemn and dignified style. Distance in battles lends grandeur to the view. Had the charge of Balaclava taken place on Olapham Comnjon, or had our gallant swordsmen replaced the donkeys on Hampstead Heath, even Tennyson would have been unably to poetise their exploits. When one sees stuck up in an omnibus-office that omnibuses ' will have to make a circuit from cause de bombardment ;" when shells burst in restaurants and maim the waiters; when the trenches are in tea gardens ; and when one is invited for a sou to look through a telescope at the enemy firing- off their guns, there is a homely domestic air about the whole thing which is quite inconsistent with the pomp and pride of glorious war. Everyone is anxious not to surrender, and no one precisely knows how a surrender is to be avoided. Successes on paper have so long done duty for successes on the field, that no one^ even yet, can believe that this pjper currency has been so depreciated ♦bat bankruptcy must follow. Is it possible, each man asks, that 500,000 armed Frenchmen will have to surrender to half the number of Germans? And as they reply that it is impcss'ble, they come to the conclusion that treason must be at work, and look round for the traitor. Trochu, who is as honest and upright as a man a* incompetent as a general, will probably share the fate of the i Man ol Sedan ' and the 'Man of Metz,' as they are called. ' He is a Laocoon/ says M. Felix Pyat in his newspaper, ' who will strangle the Republic.'"