News from the Siege of Paris
ALBERT BARNES, the commentator, died Dec. 24, 1870, aged 72 years. The circulation of his “Notes on the New Testament” is said to have reached a million volumes. FIRES destroying property to the amount of one million dollars, are reported to have occurred between Monday morning and Tuesday night, Dec. 26 and 27; chiefly the result of drunkenness. HORRORS OF A SIEGE.—The N. Y. Tribune, in speaking of the capitulation of Metz, says that recently prices had reached the following maximum: sugar, $6 a pound; salt, $3 a pound; one ham, $60; one potatoe, 9 cts; one onion, 12 cts. A little pig, caught near Gravelotte, sold for $150! DISTRESS IN PARIS.—A Paris balloon letter of the 16th says that rats sold there in the market at 15 cents; cats, at 60 cents; turkeys, $16; rabbits, $8; chickens, $3; eggs, 15 cents each. The black swans, Carolina and Chinese ducks, yaks, hamas, buffalo and wild bears, and the like, of the Garden of Plants, had been killed and sent to market. There was more drunkenness in Paris than was ever known. Over a thousand persons have gone insane since the beginning of the siege, mainly, it is thought, from spirituous liquors. There were from four hundred and fifty to five hundred deaths weekly from small-pox. The want of food is telling on the spirits of the inhabitants. Board is becoming wretched. To get the 30 grammes of meat allowed to each inhabitant, one is obliged to wait several hours in the rain, or snow, or cold. The price of every article of food advances daily. No charcoal is to be had. Coal becomes dearer daily. As soon as peace is signed, there will be an immense exodus from Paris and France. Thousands are ready to depart.