Saturday, December io, 18/o.J THE TABLET.

735

OUR AMERICAN DIFFICULTIES.

We are drifting into difficulties which may bring about the gravest results. Political weather across the Atlantic is looking dirty. Between Russia and America there has been

for years a friendly feeling, based upon common interests. Russia has already disposed o f her American territory to the United States. An alliance between Russia and America in hostility to England might be fatal to the interests o f peace, i f not to the integrity o f the United Kingdom. President Grant’s message hints pretty broadly at a defensive policy against England. Such a policy is calculated to rally round him a strong party throughout the States, a party that would be welded together out o f discordant elements by the prospect o f war with Great Britain. I f there be one line o f conduct more than another under the circumstances now looming in the future, inevitably suicidal for England, it would be her hostility or even her silent indifference to the cause and rights o f the Holy See. Government has it in its power to take a fatal step, one that must alienate from it the minds | and hearts of Ireland and o f the Catholics o f the United Kingdom. T o quote the words of Fr Burke, which were received with applause the other day at Dublin:—

Let England beware. (Hear.) Her hatred o f Catho“ licity, which is the true secret o f her Italian sympathies, ■“ may yet be her ruin. (Hear, hear.) Men may begin to “ think that there are ‘ national aspirations ’ elsewhere as well “ as in Italy. (Applause.) And nations may be found to “ ‘ sympathize ’ with them on the banks o f the Shannon as “ warmly as England does on the banks o f the Arno.” English statesmen may think all this to be very foolish, and very extreme. It is not, however, a question o f what they may be pleased to think or to say. It is a question of justifying in Ireland against the Crown those fatal principles and aspirations which they are encouraging in Italy against the Sovereign Pontiff.

telegrams, seem to have failed to take the villages held by the French. A t all events the latter were not then driven across the stream. There was silence along its banks on Saturday and Sunday; but during the latter day General Ducrot recrossed the river, breaking down the bridges behind him. The pledges he had given on sallying forth from Paris that he would not re-enter the city alive, save as a victor, perhaps remains unforfeited ; but how is it to be redeemed? Personally, he seems to have borne himself gallantly, but his failure must have depressed still lower the hopes o f the citizens : at one moment victory seemed almost within his grasp : at one moment he held Brie, Villers, and Cbampigny, &c., on the Marne, with a victorious force of at least 30,000 strong. Nothing ought to have stopped him from pushing forward and breaking up the whole Prussian position on that side o f Paris, and capturing the eastern terminus o f the Paris and Strasburg Railway at Lagny, or the great depot o f military stores at Nanteuil. Instead o f that his troops tried to establish themselves in the villages above-named. Perhaps their rawness rendered them unmanageable, or unfitted them for the protracted Combats and for bivouacking at night in this weather. They are stated to have lost between 6,000 and 7,000 men. Unless they have re-entered Paris they must be massed upon their old ground under the south-eastern forts in the Wood of Vincennes. The “ Own Correspondents ” from Versailles tell us that with the retreat o f Ducrot dies out the last hope of relief for Paris ; and, they add, that Paris will now be immediately bombarded. We shall see : the promise has often been made before. It ought to be mentioned that one of the sorties referred to last week was made from the north in the direction of St. Denis, and was signalized by a very hard fight. The besieged were eventually driven in ; but not before 17 German officers and a proportionate number o f men had been placed hors de combat.

It has been a week memorable in a most

t h e w a r : bloody campaign, as a week o f battles and o f

slaughter. The great conflicts in the region of

It is a sign o f the times ! A butcher’s cart

Pa r i s a d v f .r - f j n ecj with meat, circulating through Paris, is

t i s e m e n t s . f la n j . e ( i w;th two great placards, on which are inscribed in large type the following words: ' R e s i s t a n c e a o u t r a n g e : grande boucherie canine et fe lin e . Rats are sold at ifr. a piece ; cats according to size and condition.

the Loire and on the South-Eastern side o f Paris, reported in our last with hasty uncertainty (for the battles were then raging) are now for the moment concluded. Those near Paris have certainly not resulted in any definitive success for the French. T o have fought at all under the circumstances has indeed been glorious for them. Europe has seen with surprise raw levies hold their ground before veteran German troops, nay even gain some temporary successes over them, and only give way when crushed by the superiority o f artillery fire. The behaviour o f the men that have this week fought under Generals d’Aurelles, de Sonnis, Ducrot, Trochu, Vinoy, and others, proves that there is no degeneracy in the provincial French, whatever may have been the degeneracy o f the cities. The grandest heroism, however, o f which history tells has generally been shown by the defenders o f what was, or appeared at the time to be, a losing cause. Around Paris, Prussians still retain their advantages. Thesorties on the 2Sthand3oth appeared at the mo- 1 ment to hold forth a gleam o f victory, but they were frustrated | not more by the resistance o f the Prussian troops than by the well-timed promptness with which the German commander ordered the sluices at Neuilly to be opened. The surrounding country was laid under water, and the move ment of Generals Vinoy and Ducrot had to be postponed 24 hours, so that the fatality o f the whole campaign was kept unbroken ; the fatality o f the apparent impossibility o f combined action on the part o f the French armies— every great battle resolving itself into a series o f conflicts in detail by isolated bodies o f troops. Ducrot’s sortie in force (the numbers are given at from 80,000 to 150,000 men) on the 30th, attacked the enemy’s outposts with immense vigour, and drove them where they must have been not very unwilling fr* rrn nnfnf til ell n f the fire o f the Parisian fortresses. The

to go— outof thereachof thefire ofthe Parisian fortresses, French seem to have reached the debateable ground between the forts and the German siege-works beyond the Maine and about Villers, Couilly, Noisy-le-Grand, &c. The French troops are stated to have made their way to a distance o f 15 miles from Paris ; but i f they got so far, there at least they reached their goal. Once within gun-shot o f the Prussian lines, the conditions o f fighting were reversed, and they could do nothing more. They failed to break through the iron cincture and were driven back. They asked an armistice to bury their dead, and rested on their arms. On the 2nd (Friday) they either attacked or were attacked by the enemy, and another severe battle took place in which the Germans, contrary to the reports o f their

In some manner as yet unexplained, a kind

the war : 0f concerted action seems to have been taken the loire. ky General d ’Aurelles on the Loire with the defenders o f Paris. To recapitulate the events merely hinted at last week, on Monday the 28th the Prince Frederick Charles was attacked at Beaune-la-Roland, about half-way between Orleans and Nemours by d’Aurelles, whom the “ Red Prince” repulsed with severe loss. On Thursday, General Chanzy attacked the right of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg’s

army under the Bavarian General von der Tann, and gave him the second defeat he has experienced at the hands o f the French. On the 2nd the Grand Duke advanced with all his force. And a series o f battles took place in which the German telegrams claim the victory, but which the French accounts describe as indecisive. They ended, how[ ever, with the storming of the French positions in the vicinity of Artenay. The Prussians claim to have taken

in these actions eleven guns and many hundred prisoners. On Saturday the fighting was renewed, and disastrously for the French. Prince Frederick Charles became the assailant in his turn, and drove the French from their positions in the Forest o f Orleans, taking two o f their guns. The actions that followed on Sunday and Monday last appear for the present so decisive that we prefer to chronicle them in the words o f the official intelligence on both sides. The King’s telegram, dated midnight, Dec. 4. said : “ After two days’ fighting the and and Mecklenburg army has this evening taken the suburb of St. John o f Orleans and the railway station o f that city. 30 guns and more than 1,000 prisoners have been taken. Our losses are moderate.” On the 5th the German official telegram said, “ A decisive victory has been gained by Prince Frederick Charles. Night interrupted the pursuit.” On Sunday the Revolutionary Government at Tours sent peremptory orders to General d ’Aurelles to continue the defence and to concentrate his forces on Orleans. H e instantly telegraphed in reply promising compliance, and the city was assaulted by the enemy. Gambetta, who had left Tours for Orleans to ensure by his presence in person the execution o f his orders, was intercepted half-way by a detachment o f Prussian cavalry, who stopped the train but were ignorant o f the importance o f the personage it contained. Ccesarem vehis fortunam quc Cccsaris,