The accounts of the Paris sorties of last week have
been, on the whole, scrappy and unsatisfactory ; but all correspondents agree in the tenacity of the fighting, the heavy losses on both sides, and in the general result, which was the failure of the French to break the German lines, and their decided success in enlarging them on the south-east. Moreover, the fighting of the last day (the 2nd of December) resulted in the complete re- capture by the French of the positions of Champigny and Brie, in which they were not again molested, though General Ducrot withdrew across the Marne on the 3rd without any attack from the enemy. General Trochu, whose orders of the day are always strictly sober and truthful, put forth this pro- clamation as to the last day's struggle, that of Friday week, 2nd December, the anniversary of the coup d'e'tat. It was dated Nogent, December 2, 5.30 p.m., and ran thus :—" The second great battle which I expected has been much more decisive than its predecessor. The enemy attacked us at the reveille with fresh troops and reserves. We have fought three hours to maintain our position, and five hours to carry the positions of the enemy where we bivouac for the night." General Ducrot, who is still in command beyond Creteil, ordered his soldiers on 4th December to be ready for another great struggle in a few days, and there seems no reason to suppose that the bad news from the Loire will alter in any way the determination of the garrison of Paris.
