13 AUGUST 1870, Page 1

The news of disaster was wholly unexpected in Paris, and

drove Parisians almost frantic. It arrived on Saturday, was generally known on Sunday, and being believed to be much less than the truth, excited a sort of frenzy of rage. The Emperor had, how- ever, told the truth in a rough, depressed way, announcing that " MacMahon had lost a battle," that Frossard had been forced to retreat, that the Prussians had mitrailleuses which "caused much harm," and that " tout pent se retablir,"—all might be regained. The Empress instantly arrived at the Tuilleries—she had been at St. Cloud—and issued a rather fine address, acknowledging defeat, and pointing out that divisions would benefit the enemy ; but it did not please the Parisians, who, for some reason not clear to Englishmen, simply hate her as they hated Marie Antoinette. The Ministry sat en permanence, declared Paris in a state of siege, summoned General Trochu and his corps to Paris, and asked him to take the Ministry at War. He peremptorily refused unless the Empress would lay down the Regency, and the Ministry, at their wits' end, issued an address, analyzed below, and convoked the Chambers for Tuesday, the 9th inst.