THE DESTRUCTION OF PARIS

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3283, 22 August 1871, Page 3

THE DESTRUCTION OF PARIS

[From the New Yobk Tkibune, June 16.] Paris, May 31st. — •Perhaps the most horrible sight in Paris, after all, is the Avenue de la Grande Armee, from Porte de Neuilly to the Arc de Triomphe. The sidewalks have been ploughed up, and very frequently the trees cut down by the shells; the lamp-posts are generally levelled with the, earth, and the ground is covered with dislodged corner-pieces, chimney tops, and broken glass. The houses are often so riddled that it is a wonder that they stand. By the gate itself the very embankments are almost levelled, and the covering of (he circular railroad, which is here under ground, bus fallen in. Had the whole avenue been burned out the aspect would not be more distressing. The leaves have been whipped off the trees, shutters hang by a thread, and houses are without roofs, or have several windows made into one. North of the Avenue de la Grande Armee the destruction extends not much beyond the Porte des Terncs, but it sweeps southward to Porte des Vanvres, a distance of six miles, with a varying width of from a few rods to half a mile. Although Thiers said he would not bombard Paris, over all the above extent is a pictuieof dcsolarion. The destruction, to bo sure, is not as great on the left bank, but that arises from the fact that the buildings are more scattered. The appearance of Passy and Auteuil, each of which is a half city and half suburban quarter of Paris, is indescribably painful, Here almost all the houses are burned or riddled with balls. The same is the condition of the Porte de la Muette, the Porte de Passy, the Porte d'Auteuil, and at the three gates, immediately upon the right bank, where the army first entered. The Avenue de Versailles, leading from these gales, suffered almost its whole extent, the shells falling even as far as Point de Grenelle. On descending from the Arc de Triornphe (which received a hundred bullets on the west side, and one or two considerable notches) to the Place de la Bastille, in the Avenue des Champs Elysees, will bo seen the same — the broken trees and lamp posts, overturned benches, broken water-spouts and de- I faced facades ; but the injury is by no means irreparable. The Palais de l'lndustrie received some shells through its glass roof on the east and south sides. The Place de la Concorde is a fright. The obelisk, for a wonder, has not a scratch ; but the heads, tails, and wings of the mythological characters at the fountain south of it were scattered all around. The statues to the cities of France, except two or three, were very much injured ; that to Lille was broken in the middle and cast down. The immense candelabra were reduced to fragments, the stone fence and as usual the lamp posts were destroyed. The Rue

Royale is almost entirely in ruins to the Place tie la Madeleine. In the Rue de Rivoli, the Ministry of Finance, a plain but very expensive building, is burned, and partly fallen. The Tuileries Palace is burned, and the fire extending backward, consumed several parts of the Old Louvre, including the library with 100,000 volumes, the Marine Museum, and a hall of painting. The front of the Palais Royal is burned, and No. 79 Rue de Rivoli is also burnen. Thus a fine block is consumed. Eight shops on the northwest corner of Rue de Rivoli and Boulevard Sebastupol are burned. East from the Rue St. Martin or square of the Tower of St. Jacques, four blocks are burned on either side of the street, it may be stated here that the houses east of, and immediately fronting on the Avenue Victoria, and a large public building opposite the Hotel de Ville, are almost entirely destroyed. Next in the list are the Hoiel de Villc and the Mairie of the Fourth Arrondissement. Along i he quays, on the left barifc, the Palace of the Legion of Honor is burned, also a large magazine on the other side of the street in the Rue de Lille. Adjoining the Council of State, the Treasury of Trusts and Consignments, un«l the Court of Accounts arc burned, The Rue do Bac has suffered much by fire and shell. At the corner of Rue do Lille the houses are burned and fallen, and No. 27 Hue de Lille is burned. Of ihe great collection of buildings, including the Palais de Justice and the Prefecture de Police, the principal part is burned ; but the Holy Chapel is safe. On the right bank the Theater Lyrique and three large blocks extending along Quai de Gesores from Rue de la Tachcrie to Hotel de Ville are burned. Among the boulevards, the immense work-house known us the Grenier d'Abondance, on the canal, facing the Boulevard Bourbon, and the military buildings on the Place d'Arsenal are totally destroyed. The block on the north-west corner Rue St. Antoine and Place do la Baslile is burned. At the Place dv Chateau d'Eau, one of the great lions of the fountain is dismounted. The Grand Cafe Parisian is considerably damaged, and the adjoining block is burned. The blocks which form the head of Boulevard Prince Eugene, three houses on the Boulevard St. Martin, the Theatre Porte St. Martin, are burned. In miscellaneous quarters, three great storehouses in Villette, on the canal, three blocks near Point d'Auaterlitz, the little Theatre <:les Delassements Comiques, a beautiful block on the Boulevard Prince Eugene, another corner of Boulevard Richard Lenoir, three blocks commencement Rue de Sevres, and the Tapis Rouge on t'ne Rue de Faubourg St. Martin, are all burned. A part of the depot of Lyons, and a part of the Mairie of the Eleventh Arrondissement are burned. The extreme left wing of the Chateau d'Eau is destroyed by fire and shell. According to a French newspaper, the Marie of the Tenth Arrondissement and a part of the Gobelins are burned. It was before the entry of the army that the expiatory chapel and the cartridge manufactory were destroyed, as well as Thicrs' house and the Vendome column. Among the churches whose exterior has been injured b) bullets or shells, are the Madeline, St. Augustine, St. Eustache, St. Genevieve, St. Leu, St. Paul, St. Vincent, St. Pierre de Montrouge, and others. Among the public buildings thus mutilated, are the Palace of the Legislative Body, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others. The bridges are not damaged much, although many volleys of shot and shell were fired down the river. The Cemetery Pere la Chaise does not appear to have suffered much, unless it be in the northern part. Occasionally shells have, however, plunged among the dead men's bones at the bottom of tombs, and the walks are littered with federal equipments and cooking utensils. Some troops of the line are now encamped there. To tell tho effects of the firing in the streets would be a greater task than to take the census s>f Paris. The mere fact of a shell plunging from garret to cellar, or entering at the plate-glass window of a great shop and coming to rest finally in a back alley, is not mentioned here ; but the destruction to private property by the bombardment of the city and the fighting within it is probably fifty times greater than by fire. The shops, houses, and buildings of whatever nature along the approaches to Place de la Bastille, Chateau d'Etat, and the point where the Rue Layfayette crosses the exterior line of the boulevards, are generally all battered and riddled In the above I have designated all the public buildings which havo been destroyed or much damaged (the Louvre, by the way, has a good many scratches on its southern facade), and all the important fires, although I have left unmentioned a few little fires which have fallen none the less heavily on proprietors of less means, especially in the east of Paris. I have also designated in a general way the quarters which have suffered the most by musketry and cannonade before and since the entry of the tnops on Sunday, the 21st. To give a minute description would be beyond the range of possibility. If the reader would fully comprehend the ruin and death which have been sown broadcast from the extreme southwest to the slaughter-houses and cattle markets in the extreme northwest, he must see Paris himself.