THE DEFENCE OF PARIS.

Otago Witness, Issue 987, 29 October 1870, Page 17

THE DEFENCE OF PARIS.

(Morning Post, August 12th )

The complete state of defence in which, in view of the worst happening, Paris is being placed, seems to give the assurance that be the result of the coming battle what it may, the war will be maintained. Paris being an open town in 1814, caused the abdication of the first Napoleon. Had the city been then fortified, the whole aspect of affairs might have assumed a very different aspect. Colonel Hamley, in his work on the operations of war, Bhows Btrongly the advantages of a fortified capital. He says " the defence of the capital by fortifications is a measure of incalculable advantage. 'The fortifications of Paris,' says Marmont, ', assure more powerfully the independence of France against the attacks of all Europe than the acquisition of many provinces which would only so much the more extend the frontier.' The student of the campaign of 1814 will perceive what vast additional powers of manoeuvring Napoleon would have gained had Paris been secure from assault. No longer recalled by the fears of the people or by political exigencies to interfere for its defence, all his strokes would have been delivered in the most decisive way, and the nearer the allied armies approached the capital the more imminent would be the risk they ran of fatal disaster." Paris is now a vast fortress and en'renched camp. It is thoroughly garrisoned, and nothing short of a regular siege could be expected to place it m foreign possession. Seeing that Paris is politically much more the heart of France than is the capital of any other country, the importance of its safety is manifest. While Paris is intact France is unconquered. To capture Paris would be a work of time. But time is precisely wh.it the Prussians can least afford. That which they are to do they must do quickly. A Ions: series of operations in the middle of France would be fat 4 to their arrangements or their organisation. Come what may, then, immediately, tenacity of purpose, unflinching resolve, and renewed efforts would be the wisest ns well as the most dignified course for the French nation to pursue. They ought to be able to wear their antagonists down, even if they find themselves unable to drive them off their soil at the outset of the war. The Pall Mall Gazette's correspondent writes :—: — M. )e Baron de Chabaud Latour, who in 1869 resigned the presidency of the Committee of Fortifications, in consequence of having passed the limit of age, is recalled to this post, and the defences of Paris are to be immediately placed in a state of efficiency. The fortified line ef the city is twenty-six leagues in circumference ; the forts which defend it are divided in such a manner as to prevent any approach to it. Twelve hundred thousand men would be required to invest the place ; and as Paris always has provisions for two months besides stores in reserve, if the Prussians succeeded in invading the precincts of Paris, they would have to employ four armies of 300,000 men each, and wait 60 days without disturbing the regularity of Parisian meals. The fortified enclosure is to be completed by replacing the 40 or 50 open spaces left for free circulation in time of peace, by portcullises, which are all ready in. the warehouse.