15 APRIL 1871, Page 2

It is stated that M. Thiers hesitates to attack Paiis

until he has more troops. He has not 80,000 good men, while the Commune leads 100,000 volunteers, and is trying to compel as many more into the ranks. The city has been thoroughly barricaded, the Nationals are dying readily in the fight in the suburbs, great con- fidence is evidently felt in Dombrowski, and the storm of Paris might be a desperate undertaking, even for a German army, an impossible one for a French one. The insurgent leaders appear ready to go all lengths ; they have placed torpedoes in the prin- cipal streets, have, it is believed, mined the Avenue leading to the Arc de Triomphe, and have manufactured quantities of Orsini bombs. They are facing their barricades, too, with earth.