The Sun. — London, England, 1870-08-20 00:00:00

THE -WAR. ANOTHER PRUSSIAN VICTORY, BAZAINE'S ARMY CUT OFF FROM CHALONS, BOMBARDMENT OF STRASBURG. DESPATCH OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA TO THE QUEEN. 66 WILUAm." AN AMBULANCE TRAIN CAPTURED. A French ambulance train, composed of 15 doctors, 90 hospital attendants, 16 horses, and 8 carriages, was captur,d by the Prussians near Metz, and sent IT them to Cologne. It was, huwever, subsequently *leased, and 3 esterday passed through Belgium, on is way back to France. THE BLOCKADE IN THE BALTIC,. The following telegram dated August 18th bas _Jeer' received from H.M. Consul at Hamburg, lad is forwarded to us from the Foreign Office : A despatch jus; arrived from the Admiral of ~he French Fleet states that the delay of ten days ?iven applies only to neutral ships leaving the ports )n this coast, and that from the 15th the absolute blockade of the rivers Elbe and Weser has com menced ; that to suppose they might enter was a .misunderstanding. AFFAIRS IN PARIS. PARIS, AUGUST 18, 10 P.M. v‘itinv et, i'alikao, Minister of War, gave the following tnformation this afternoon to the deputies assembled in the Corps Legislatif : " It is positive that the Prussians had a considerable oss in - the battle of the 16th, particularly in :he centre of the army. " The object of the Prince Frederick Charles was to etire on St. Michael in order to form a junction with the Prince Royal, but he was prevented. "The Prussian general demanded an armistice to bury ..he dead. This was refused. " The whole of the regiment of white cuirassiers called she Bismark's was completely destroyed. Not a single soldier remains. " In the environs of Schelstadt at the approach of some dragoons, the peasants took up arms, killed ten of them, and took many others prisoners." A detachment of marines is expected to reach Paris .o-night, they are destined to work the guns on the forts which surround Paris. Paris is now well armed, and well provisioned. It is intended to have a garrison in the city of 80,000 men, and 30,000 man will form the garrison of the forts. A division is now being formed in Paris composed of 9,000 armed custom-house officers, 6,000 armed guards of the Forest, two regiments of infantry, and the battalion of Chasseurs—in all 18,000 men. The corps commanded by General Vinay is composed of 60,000 men. Two regi ments of artillery have arrived at Paris from St. Omer. Fhey leave on Saturday for the camp at Chalons. The corps commanded by General Donay, consisting of 29,000 men, will leave Belfort to-morrow for Chalons. The Prussian General Bazeo, sent with a flag of mice to Strasbourg, for the purpose of demanding its sur eender, met with the following reception. He entered the fortress by the gate of Saverne, escorted by the in nabitants, who, all along the _road, cried out in German, "We will never surrender." When in the presence of General Ulrick he demanded that the fortress should surrender, the General opened the window and answered, "The people reply for me." At that moment thousands of voices cried out, "Death .o'Prussia ! Long live France ! No surrender !" The Prussian officer retired, convinced that Strasbourg would be defended to the last extremity. A Coucil of ministers assembled this morning, at which h A Emnress presided. Thirteen Prussian spies have been shot within the last week in the trenches at Fort Montrouge, after having been condemned by the Council of War. They were not shot as _ soldiers generally are, but a sergeant put a pistol to their head, and blew out their brains. Amongst the spies were three staff officers, who had been arrested a few days previously, under the following singular circum stances. They were walking on the plains of Satory, not far from fort Fory, at the moment the engineers were conducting some guns for the defence of the fort. While the cannons were being placed on their carriages, the horses were unharnessed and left to graze at their ease. Two Prussians, disguised as shepherds offered to guard the horses if they were given two sous. The offer was accepted. The 3rd then placed himself behind the horses so as to be hidden, and when close to the fort he took out a pocket-book and a pencil and took a plan of the fort. Some soldiers seeing this rushed up to them and seized them ; they were searched, and papers the most compro mising were found on them. REPORTED SUICIDE OF THE EMPEROR. A rnmour published in a special edition of the Man chester Examiner and Times of last evening, that the Em peror had shot himself on Thursday, at Rheims, caused great excitement, although the report was received in Manchester as doubtful. A correspondent of the same paper writing from Paris on Thurs day says that his Majesty had a narrow escape from being captured while in the house of a Colonel Henrique, in the neighbourhood of Longeville. A bridge blown up in time by a company of engineers under a heavy fire at the moment of a skilful monceuvre of the enemy for surrounding the fields upon which the Imperial escort was encamped was the means of saving his Majesty from adjourning to Berlin. The correspondent goes on to say that the Emperor, forced to leave Longeville, passed the following night at a small farm house at Gravelette. By the advice of Mar shal Bazaine, the next morning the Emperor and the Prince Imperial, in an open carriage, accom panied by the entire household, departed for Verdun, taking a northern route, not supposed to be occupied by the Prussians, passing by the small towns of Conflurs and Etain. Entirely unexpectedly, the advanced guard of the corps of General Steinmetz passed over the route taken by the Imperial party, and actually had luncheon at Etain, in the very neighbourhood where the Emperor had breakfasted an hour or so before. On the 15th the victory was declared in favour of the French, and a staff officer was detained to carry the triumphant news to the Emperor at Verdun, but too late. During this glo rious affair, of which the Emperor was still ignorant, he was receiving the mayor and sons-prefect of Verdun and; giving them some little encouragement, h e set out for the railway station with the Prince Imperial almost without escort, when he asked to have a train got ready for him. " Sire." said the A. telegram from Berlin of yesterday morning (7 p.m.) says the Queen had received the following despatch from the King : "Bivouac near Rezonville, Aug. 18 (9 p.m.) 14 The French army, occupying a very strong position to the west of Met; was to-day attacked under my leadership, and, after nine hours' fighting, was completely defeated, cut off from its communica tion with Paris, and driven back towards Metz. BOMBARDMENT OF STRASBURG. A telegram from Carisruhe, dated yesterday, says : The bombardment of Strasburg, from this side of the Rhine, near Kehl, began at seven o'clock this morning, lasted till noon, and was resumed at two in the afternoon, The fire from the garrison did not cause much damage at Kehl," THE REPORTED FRENCH VICTORIES. According to the correspondent of the Daily News, mmense enthusiasm prevailed in Paris yesterday. The war news described as a French victory was read aloud amidst loud cheers. The " Marseillaise " was sung by processions of people. The excite.. went was tremendous, though order was maintained. The Boulevards were crammed with people, who incessantly shouted " Vive la France 1" " Vivo Bazaine !" 44 Vive I'Arm6e 1" TnE DEFENCES OF PARIS. PARIS, THURSDAY EVENING. Whilst the regular troops are leaving Paris for Chalors with the utmost rapidity, what may be called the irregular forces are quickly accumulating here for the defence of the capital. The fortifications will, I can pretty confi dently say, be completed on Monday, and the men who will protect them are flowing in from all sides. General Trochu, who has taken the command of Paris, has ordered all the regular troops to go immediately to Chalons and be replaced by the armed firemen and Na tional Guards. Both the latter forces have come from the provinces. Up to this morning 60,000 of the former had reached Paris, and 20,000 of the latter. Orders have been given that all the Garde Mobile now at Chalons shall return to Paris and be employed in the defence of that city and other towns in France. This will enable all the regular troops, now in the different departments, to be sent to the army of Chalons. This measure will be received with pleasure throughout France, the Garde Mobile, not being military men, but principally labourers, me chanics, and artisans. Many a family will eat a better dinner to-day than yesterday. An excellent patriotic spirit has not failed to animate the people, both during the gloom of defeat, and the revival which has been caused by Bazaine's news of victory. .Everybody seems anxious to come forward and do his -little best for the defence of his country. Men are numerous and willing enough, if they were only trained, -and offers of aid in material are not wanting. Several of the principal corn merchants in France had an interview yesterday with the Minister of Commerce. They offered to furnish all the corn necessary for the provision of the armies, and the fortresses ; and left to the Ministers to decide what puke they would give. The omnibus company have lent the Government 1,900 horses to be employed on the fortifications. A free company of sailors, armed with muskets and cutlasses, is now being formed in Paris. A free corps of cavalry, lately formed at a village close to Paris, will leave to-morrow for Chalons. The free corps composed of military men, th e greater portion of whom are decorated with the Legion of Honour and the military medal, left Paris for Chalons, last night. They numbered 1,800. The son of General Cavaignac, the first President of the Republic of 1841; aged only 17 years, has entered the 6th Battalion of the Garde Mobile as volunteer. Spies and revolutionists occupy as much attention as we can spare from our war pre-occupations. The number of both these interesting classes of persons is considerable. Yesterday two persons dressed fashionably as ladies were arrested on one of the boulevards. They proved to be Prussian officers ; but, however good they might be as officers, they made very indifferent spies, for their reckless putting of questions to strangers soon excited the suspicions of the police. With respect to the Revolutionists, we are again assured that they are very active ; and that the hour of France's defeat will be the hour of triumph for those wretches who seek their own advancement by means of their country's loss. The Government yesterday seized a depot of arms, composed of revolvers and poignards of the same make and form as those used by the assassins in La Villete. In official quarters people are getting decidedly uneasy about the Chamber. It has met; it has done its business; but it displays the most decided opposition to anything in the shape of prorogation. It has apparently determined' to watch the course of events. This is not a good symptom. Everybody knows what is the temper of a French Parliament, and though the present Chamber has been elected on terms most favourable to the existing Government, there is no knowing what freak it might be capible of. If the Left and the Left Centre were by any chance to come to a harmonious understanding in the case of a severe French defeat, the consequences for the already tottering Imperial regime might be very grave. Count Palikao has in vain asked the deputies to shut up shop, albeit kindly remaining in the neigh bOurhood in order to be ready if called upon again. Yesterday the Chamber decided almost unanimously to hold a sitting to-day—not, as M. Thiers put it, to do any business in particular, but in order that the deputies might exchange ideas and receive communications from the Government. Very agreeable this, no doubt, for the deputies, but not at all similarly pleasant for the Government. F. Accordingly there was a sitting to-day, and it happens that news has come which affords the most ample scope for the exchange of ideas. A great battle has been fought a little on this side of Metz, and the French Marshal claims the victory. After the battle of Sunday on the further or eastern side of Metz, the Germans crossed the river Moselle above the fortified town, near Pont-4-Mousson, and ad vanced rapidly with the view of cutting Bazaine's line of retreat to Chalons, where alarge force is being accumulated to reinforce him. This interception resulted, on Tuesday, in a battle of the most desperate kind. Long was the strife and fearful were the losses on both sides. But, according to Marshal Bazaine's report, he has triumphed, gaining ground on the Germans by occupying the posi tion in which they commenced the battle. Naturally the satisfaction here at this turn in the tide of success is very great. Yet it is not an unmixed satisfaction. Bazaine says nothing about his line of retreat, which this battle was fought to secure. Is it still open to him ? That is a very grave question, and one which the Temps puts very solemnly. In order to be safe, it was needful for Bazaine to retire quickly to Verdun anil thence to Chalons. Is he able to retreat at all? If he be cut off, no victory can compensate for such a disaster. It would be irreparable. Hence the public is still doubtful, notwithstanding the positive assurance that the field has --- been won. The policy of keeping back information is still maintained. Irr short, it is amazing how coolly the Paris people take this great news. They have made no demonstration of any kind, not even hung out a flag. Do they disbelieve the report ? THE BATTLE OF BURN Y. PARIS, WEDNESDAY. Some tolerably complete details of Sunday's contest, the battle of Borny, as the French call it, have reached us. It is scarcely necessmiy to caution the reader against confusing this battle with recent operations. Borny was fought on the eastern side of Metz, not far from the walls of the celebrated fortress. After it was decided, the French endeaAured to effect their retreat through Metz towards Verdun, and the Germans, crossing the Moselle above Metz, with all speed endeavoured to block their line of march. The great battle between Vionville and Doncourt was fought by the French on Tuesday to secure their retreat; the battle of Borny on Sunday was contested in order to 'check the Germari advances. Another preliminary must he added. All the details we have yet received come from French sources. The Germans, I see from English papers, claim the victory, as stoutly as the French ; and when their narratives is published, it may represent matters in a very different light. In the English papers this battle is called Pange. The latter place is near Borny TEIE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 20, 1870. superintendent, " I have nothing here but a third class carriage." " / will content myself with that," said the Emperor. He then asked for a glass of wine. The superin tendent passed the glass from which he had been drinking and offered some wine to the Emperor. The Prince Im perial, extremely fatigued,, asked if he could wash his hands and face. The affilerintendent could only offer him the same glass with some water, and a pocket handkerchief. The Emperor and the Prince did not even appear to notice the excessive simplicity. Flow completely the Emperor is set now aside the French correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, an excel= lent authority, sufficiently shews. He says that the Minister of War received an order from head-quarters forbidding the publication of any despatches that do not come from Bazaine, even if the Emperor himself signed them ! A lady in attendance upon the sick and wounded at Hombourg relates horrible stories of barbarities committed by Turcos. In the last engagement, she says, they scalped several wounded Germans, flayed ' their faces alive, and stabbed them with penknives. Three German officers found in this state by their coniYades prayed to be shot instantly to be relieved from their sufferings ; their wish was complied with, as there was no chance of life. Of three Hanoverian soldiers caught by the Turcos they cut off the hands, noses, and ears. Another Turco, who had both legs shot off, crawled with difficulty to a wounded Prussian, and bit him in the neck ; another, also wounded, shot an officer (from behind) dead through the neck. The committed other atrocities in the hospital. i (both lie between Metz and . the Prussian frontier), and severe fighting took place at both towns. Whoever won Borney it was a most desperate battle, and ended in fearful loss on both sides. The Figaro says that when Bazaine took command of the army, he made great efforts to concentrate his forces, with the view, if the occasion were favourable, of fighting before Metz. The chief point of this concentration was Borney, a little village situated at the junction of the roads from For bach, St. Avoid, and Boulay. Before Sunday last it was decided to withdraw all the troops behind the Moselle, and leave Metz, retreating to Chalons, where the decisive battle was to be fought. Some movements to this end were actually undertaken. General Ladmirault prepared to withdraw across the north of Metz. General Decaen was directed to take his corps through Metz itself. Some of the former general's troops had actually commenced on unday morn ing to defile through a ravine, when the news arrived that the Prussians, who had stationed themselves at Noisseville, Montoy, and Coincy, were coming forward. Ladmirault at once turned round and led his men towards the enemy. In a few mi nutes a tremendous fire arose all along a line of some two leagues in length from Valibre to Grigny (all these places are to be found near Metz on the east side.) The cannonade was kept up, says the Figaro, till between four and five o'clock. It was then in terrupted for an hour in order to allow the infantry and the mitrailleuses time to do their work. From six o'clock •until thirty-five minutes past eight the fire of artillery continued. Before nine o'clock the enemy had abandoned his positions. It was a glorious victory, adds the Figaro, and beyond doubt the finest fight of the campaign. Eight thousand German dead testified to the terrible nature of the strife. Heaps of men were laid about inall directions. Whole ranks fell here and there, in the order which they occupied. Several soldiers were found wounded, buried under heaps of dead, and unable to extricate themselves. The mitrailleuse did all this'; nor was the operation of the Prussian steel gun at all to be despised. General Picard, who commanded a division of the Imperial Guard, said he had never seen such a field. It was of the battle of Borny that the Emperor spoke in that famous despatch of his which nobody in France or out of it could understand. On that same Sunday the Em peror left Metz at half past three o'clock —just before the battle commenced—and he arrived at Longville, a small village near Metz on the westward, on the road to Ver dun. His Majesty therefore departed in ignorance of the event that was on the point of taking place. At Longville -he stayed with a landowner, Colonel Henocque, whilst his staff camped out as best they might in the adjoining fields. At this place the Prussians attempted an act of daring astonishing even for them. They tried to capture the Emperor ! Admirably informed, as they always are, of the French movements, they knew the route the Emperor had taken. A body of Uhlans and artillery _bid themselves in the clumps of trees on the grounds of a chateau and two farms just opposite Longville, on the other side of the Moselle. There they remained all Sunday night. On Monday the Uhlans crossed the river, whilst the artillery directed its fire upon the village of Monlins, situated to the left of Longville, in order to prevent the arrival of any help. But they altogether mistook the force the Emperor liad with him, and were caught in their own . _ _ trap. In spite of the German fire, some French engineers blew up the railway bridge, by which the Uhlans had crossed, and the retreat of the latter was cut off. They were confronted by a considerable force, and were obliged to surrender in a body, almost without firing a shot. Another account, from the Agence Havas, says that the battle commenced about half-past four in the after- noon of Sunday. The firing over a space o. three leagues continued almost all night. The number of the dead and wounded on both sides is very great ; the Prussian loss is especially heavy. In retreating they fired several villages, the position which they defended most strenuously being that of Sainte Barbe, which is a village with about 500 inhabitants. The Prussians were stationed on the hills which form a kind of square, and were dislodged with great difficulty, firing the villages as they went. All Metz was in commotion during the fight, for every shot was heard, and the women and children stood in the doorways of their houses, while the military trains blocked up the streets, and kept the gates. All night long fresh troops were pouring through Metz towards the scene of action, for the right began again on Monday morn. mg in the direction of Montigny. The artillery and cavalry passed through the town in the night followed by the Chasseurs of Vincennes and the Imperia: Guard, who took no part on Sunday. The colonel of the fortress and the army round it are now invested on all sides. Twice, and twice in vain, the French haye attempted to fight their way through their foes. A thifd or a fourth effort can scarcely bring better success ; and the Army, even previous to its present close investment, had already been placed on short rations. The alterna tive seems either starvation within the fortress ) or release by a capitulation. To this apparently inevitable conclu sion the French Commanders have been brought by their inability to choose between a timely fight and a timely retreat. —Times. Neither commander employs the word victory, although the Prussians speak exultingly of success. The Prussians declare that, besides having taken 2,000 prisoneth, two Imperial eagles, and seven cannon, they have " completely succeeded, as the French have been prevented from continuing their movement of retreat." This is the critical point in the despatch, and the Prussian statement is confirmed to a great extent by Marshal Bazaine himself when he forbears that he is master of his line of retreat. The Marshal gives one most extraordinary reason for not moving ; he has used up his ammunition. It was so at Woerth, where it became impbssible to continue the battle because the infantry had no cartridges. However the fact may be explained, these despatches make it clear that the French army, which three days ago we were told had reached Etain, had got on Tuesday, before this battle began, only nine or ten miles out of Metz. The resistance it met with on Monday 'must have been more effectual than was generally supposed. It is important to consider the , effect of this battle on the • assumption that the Prussian state ment is substantially true, and that Bazaine's retreat is actually cut off. The Marshal's army was wanted at Chalons to form a compact and well-or ganized body of seasoned soldiers, around which the new levies of Garde Mobile, Gendarmes, Porn piers, and others might form themselves, and to give stability to the line on the field of battle there. For this purpose its presence is indispensable. No stand can be made at Chalons if the Army of the Rhine be not there. No. General would think of opposing the enemy with only the raw troops to be found at Chalons. But further, the Army of the Rhine is not urgently needed at Chalons, because another army than that of Prince Frederick Charles that of the Crown Prince is fast approaching that city, and Bazaine has been relied on to hold it, in check. But Marshal Bazaine, if his position has been correctly apprehended, can only get to Chalons, or even to Verdun, by walking over the army which he fought on Tuesday, Ora army holding the road against him. Under these circumstances there must be another bloody battle near Metz, for the army of France will never fail in its 'duty by abandoning the defence of the capital.—Daily News. really a conjuror's trick. He put a little in his knapsack for the morrow, thanked us with tears in his eyes, and took the road to Saverne, without waiting for his corporal, who had doubtless forgotten him. It is a fact worthy of remark that all these conquerors are very ready to cry. In every house where the soldiers have eaten and slept there, have been tears. A good, heavy old father, incorporated in the Landwehr or the Landsturm —I don't know which—and posted in a bakery of Saverne, said, tearfully, "Why can't I finish the campaign around this honest kneading-trough? I am head of a flourishing house ; I employ five journeymen; I have a wife and three children. I ask you now, is my proper place under a flag in front of the French bullets." A musician, who has perhaps a comic opera in rehearsal in his own country, shewed the photograph of his wife to my valet, and cried, "She is' pretty, it seems, this little German girl ; and she is all alone to look after two cradles."—Edmond About in Le Soir. Count Chotek, the Austrian Ambassador at St. Petersburg, has arrived at Vienna. He reports that Russia ardently desires the restoration of peace by means of a united action of the neutral Powers.—Eastern Budget. The Metz correspondent of the Independance Beige says on the 12th of August that it was reported that General Froissard had been handcuffed and seated in a carriage. This, he says, is not true, but a general has been seen under such circumstances. He may have been another Prussian spy. The .North German Correspondent says :—While a powerful and victorious German army holds possession of the eastern departments of Prance, the barracks of Germany are filled with the reserve forces. Prussia alone can at this moment send 200,000 additional men to join the troops now advancing on Paris. The New Free Press of Vienna publishes some expres sions of the Emperor Napoleon as a proof of his desire for war. He is said to have told an ambassador, before the present campaign began, " I fear nothing except that Prussia will draw back." When warned of the danger of a war, and urged to desist from it, Napoleon replied, " Behold the enthusiasm of all France for war ; I shall never find it again." The Liberte publishes a conversation with a Turco who fought at Woerth. He said that himself and his two brothers, with four others, had formed a group, and that they had been shot down, one by one, by a Prussian tirailleur, who was concealed in a wool close to them, whom he, the sole survivor, despatched at length by a bullet in the forehead. To effect this he had knelt down on one of his brothers, and had hidden himself behind the five others, who were in a heap. Louis Blanc, in a letter to the Tenzps on the English view of the present situation in France, asks what is the question of the hour? France must be saved by the union of all French : Men, which implies the substitution of a state of things in which the country is everything for a state of things in which it has been nothing. It is time that one man should disappear behind the na tion. When France, great in her ideas, and in the forces in which they originate, shall have repulsed the enemy, when freed from the influence of party passions, and closely united she has discomfited the invaders, she will decide upon what is most conducive to the regular and peaceable development of her destiny. In waiting it is, by the absolute ascen dancy of the filial love of her children, that she will emerge from this crisis free, glorious, and supreme. The Cologne Gazette is hard upon Marshal Bazaine. It declares that he has been guilty of most disreputable tricks for the purpose of making money. In Mexico he refused to pay his very considerable gaming debts, and when politely reminded of them by Mexican gentlemen, he gave the latter to understand that if they committed such an indiscretion a second time he would have them ar rested by the military police as suspected persons. When the Marshal retreated from Mexico with the French troops, who, by the way, stole everything they could possibly take away with them, he sold, in order to fill his own pockets, guns and military stores to Juarez, the mortal enemy of the unfortunate Maximilian, who had gone to Mevico relying on the support of France. The example of the General was not long in being followed by his subalterns, and the Mexicans maintained that the plans and positions of Maximilian's troops were sold to them by French officers. The Cologne Gazette remarks that Bazaine and Pallikao, the new French War. Minister, are a nice pair. Very likely; but if Government selected generals by their moral character, the names of certain Prussian worthies would never have appeared on the scroll of fame. Edmond About in the Soh. thus mourns the position of his country :—What must we think of the apathy on the part of a people formerly so energetic ? It it that twenty years of despotism have degraded the whole mass of Frenchmen ? Has the Government of the last Bonaparte succeeded beyond its wishes and caused all citizens to for get all methods of resistance ? As it took twenty years to make us forget the " Marseillaise," has it caused us also -to lose that civic spirit which is the mainspring of all natural defence? A nation cannot with impunity be dis armed, enervated, smoothed down, and taught to believe that soldiers in uniform alone have a right to handle the musket. That mean prejudice, which for a time assumes the necessity of a despotism, produces as an ultimate effect the moral debasement which I have just referred to. France wili soon recover herself ; the people are but asleep ; the cannon will awaken them ; men will again become citizens in the old and sublime acceptation of that word. That fraction of the male population of France which the men of the 2nd of De cember have sought, for their own purpose, to separate from us as a distinct caste, has in a first outburst of patriotism become reconciled with the civil element of the nation. Mutual misfortunes have hastened and con summated their fusion. AN ENGLISHMAN WHO' SAW WOEILTH.—I was also favoured by much grave counsel from an English gentleman, just returned from Woerth, where he had the enviable good luck of witnessing the whole action from a church steeple. He was arrested about every five minutes by the Prussians—every time, indeed, that he adventured his person in the streets ; and had a narrow escape from being shot as a French spy. t ile told me that the defence of the Zouaves was splendid, but that nothing could stand the marvellous élan and persistence of the German troops. MacMahon's retreat was really a rout —an utter, hopeless, disorganised, frantic sauve qui peat. There was no attempt at a rally after the panic set in. The men, picked soldiers though they were, fled for their lives, throwing away their muskets, shakos, ammunition, and many of them even their great coats. The Prussian cavalry launched. upon them as they broke and ran, drove them on like sheep, and captured thousands of prisoners, without encountering any resis tance. My informant, who has witnessed many a hard fought battle, assured me that he had never seen a defeat so crushing inflicted upon such fine soldiers, occupying so strong a position. The Germans were about five to three to the French, certainly, and succeeded in completely overlapping their enemy's right by the more superiority of their numbers ; but for hours the French defence was a desperately tough one, and the hand-to-hand encounters, of which there were many, were simply terrific. It was in these, and in the short. but this is what they say amongst us. Your cavalry is not half so good as ours, but your artillery is excellent, and you have an infantry unequalled. Your soldiers of the line, there are men for you ! Don't talk to me of the Turcos ; they are tigers ! They have cut off the heads of our wounded, they have torn out their eyes ! Clh, the villainous black beasts ! Detestably bad soldiers they are, firing without aim, running on like madmen, and giving way without knowing why or wherefore ! They did us a great deal of mischief with the bayonet, but when the Wurtemburg cavalry charged them they ran away. It is not like that that men should be have in war." " Did you lose many men ?" " Enormous! The three officers of my company were killed." " How do you explain our defeat ?" " They say that if you were not sold you were, at least, very badly commanded." Whilst talking, I studied the counte nance of this man. He had an honest face, long, and al ready furrowed with fatigue and privations ; the eye very gentle, and a sad smile. If all the conquering host that crowds on to the soil of France resembled this man, the invasion would very soon be over. No enthusiasm, a keen regret for his native country, and little strength to resist the trials of marching, rain, and want. .He leaned upon his heavy rifle with a lassitude so apparent that I had a bottle of wine brought to him. The little servant who brought it prepared to drink first. He stopped him with a friendly gesture, which meant we are all good fellows. The first glass seemed to him to be good, he took a second, but no more. "My head is not very strong," he said, " because I have not seen any bread these four days." " Poor fellow ! you are fasting." "No, sir : we have not yet wanted flesh meat." They ran to fetch him a big piece of bread, which he swallowed almost without masticating— 44th Regiment of the line was killed. Tho colonel of the 63d was made general on the field of battle. General Decaer is wounded.. The firing stopped about mid-day on Monday; and the Prussians, it is said, were repulsed with great loss. The French wounded are also very numerous, am include Generals Castagny and Duplessis. Ancy, a village containing 1,250 inhabitants, was among those burned on Monday. BAZAINE'S DOINGS ON MONDAY. Monday was given up chiefly to retreating. There was some fighting, as I have mentioned, but the heavy work was done on the Sunday—the day usually devoted to battles. After his successful encounter on Sunday, Bazaine's great anxiety was to make good his retirement towards Chalons, where the remainder of the French army is situated. Failure to get to Chalons will involve the cutting of the army in two and the ruin of the French hopes. Accordingly Bazaine pushed his forces rapidly through Metz on Monday. A great portion had already crossed previously to the battle. These of course took no part in the fight. It was the portion of the army that did who had now to be got across. The enemy, on their part, were not idle. Whilst the French were passing the Moselle at Metz, the Germans were rushing over in hot haste, chiefly, at Gorze, a few miles to the south. Both parties made the utmost efforts in this walking match ; pull devil, pull baker. At length the French army all got across, without any fighting on the route, and established a line of defence on the road to Verdun, between Gravelotte and Mars la Tour. The position of the two armies had now become altered. Previously they had stood (in map sense) per pendicularly north and south ; they now stood horizontally east and west, lying in parallel roads to Chalons. Whilst the Trench had established a line of defence about Gravelotte and Mars la Tour, the Germans occupied another line of low hills, a little to the south. It appears that in turning from their position to advance to Verdun, the French wheeled round and faced west, and in that situation the great battle of Tuesday was fought. Of any fighting that may have occurred on Monday there are no details worth mentioning. According to the Figaro, the Emperor remained, with the army on Monday night, sleeping at the house of •an agriculturist. He left at two in the morning for Verdun, accompanied by the Prince Imperial—that is he left a little while before the great battle commenced. Can this be correct? The Figaro not only assures us that it is (its assurance is not worth much) but adds some funny details about his Majestry travelling late on Tuesday from Verdun to Chalons, where he ar rived on Wednesday. Figaro says that nothing better than a third-class carriage could be found for the Empe ror and his son ! The Sovereign was quite satisfied. He would not even have any cushions upon the naked wood of the seats. All he asked for was a glass of wine ! It appears that the Emperor was able to get that. • THE BATTLE AT VIONVILLE. The importance of this sanguinary battle rests precisely on the point upon which the reports differ, whethei• the French were, at the close of the combat, masters of the field, and free to march whithersoever they liked, or whether they were, after all that bloodshed, forced back on their former position at Metz, and there to all intents and purposes shut up as in a prison. In order to satisfy ourselves on that score we have only to consider the date of Marshal Bazaine's offi cial telegram. The intelligence comes from Verdun, but it is forwarded from that place as coming how Marshal Bazaine's headquarters, about the locality of which we are left in the dark. Had the Marshal been at liberty to continue his route, either upon Conflans and Etain, or upon Mars la Tours and Man heulles, he would hardly have failed to inform the world of his happy release from his difficult position. The terrible problem how the Army of the Rhine is to extri cate itself from the trap into which it has fallen at Metz remains as far as ever from a satisfactory solution. The A. VISIT TO THE WOUNDED. A medical correspondent of the Cologne Gazette, writing rom Speicheren on the 9th of August, draws a picture which may serve as a useful antidote to any enthusiasm about the " glory "of war In the evening we went to take a look at the wounded. In the school-roams, which' -were full this morning, all the wounds had been redressed, windows had been opened to change and sweeten the air, the dead had been buried, and all seemed to long for nature's restorer, sleep. It is other wise at the church—French soldiers who have under gone operations, are lying upon portable, beds, and are placed in rows under the avenue leading from the gate to the porch. In the dark porch we had to step over some of the more seriously wounded, who were con stantly creeping out of the corners, and barring as it were the way with their chaff-beds. The floor is covered, as also the chaff-beds, with patches of dried and drying blood. Inside the church, by the altar, where all the seats have been removed, the floor is strewn with straw, upon which lay the mortally wounded remnants of General Froissard's corps d'arntee, some nude, some only half-dressed, some silent, with eyes and mouth finally closed, some restless, moaning, and in agony. The beautiful pictures of the Passion of our Lord that hang around the church, and over the heads of those poor sufferers who are leaning against the walls almost past sense and feeling, strongly impress us, and we cannot but compare them with the pain and agony being endured by many in the dark, quiet, and obscure corners of the church. Numerous windows in the church had been broken so as to allow of a free current of air to carry off the foul smell, but the air was still most im pure. In the choir of the church where the windows had not been opened or broken, on account no doubt of their being stained glass and expensive, the odour that pervaded the place was most insupportable ; and, in order to try and comfort the wounded with some fresh air, I had the windows forcibly opened. Ido not know whether I shall get into any great trouble about this. The only light that could be perceived in the church was the still small lamp, the symbol of the lights The that burn in the angel's choir; and in the semi-darkness we had to feel about to find the wounded. In the nave of the church all seemed in pain and comfortless, save two who had been wounded in the thigh, and who were seated on the steps of the altar, surrounded by their dead comrades, smoking their cigars. Beneath the picture of the Holy Virgin lay a young French captain who had been shot through the breast, his head reposed upon the faith ful bosom of a soldier who acted as nurse, and when we informed him that the officer had ceased to live, the poor fellow burst into tears. The Sisters of Mercy had all their work to do to attend 4 :o the different calls of the sick men. Some cried for a draught of water, although perhaps they could only swallow a drop. Some wanted to be turned on one side, some on the other. Some hoped to lessen their agony by having their head raised, and tried to decrease the horrors of death by stretching out their cold and stiffening hands towards us ; indeed, they seem to die more contented and peacefully when they can by any means take hold of any of our hands. On the other side of the church the benches had not been removed ; on them were laying or sitting such as had been only slightly wounded, smoking cigars and writing or dictating letters to their friends at home, and forming a strong comparison to the grievously wounded on the left side, for they were able to discuss different topics with the medical attendants and nurses. As I left the church I perceived by the dim glimmer of a patrol lantern an old French soldier, who, as I passed out, gave me the military salute. I saw through the open door of a stable, in which the san guinary operations were performed by the military surgeons that the nurses were hard at work cleansing the operat ing table and floor from pools of blood. The amputated limbs were gathered together and buried in the church yard. The operators had laid aside their long black oil skin aprons and put their uniform on over their red shirts. After their arduous and trying task they sat down in the dark cool street smoking their cigars and dividing their wine rations with those who had undergone the opera tions. I returned to the bivouac of my corps, but so fearful had been the sights I had witnessed that I paused many times on my way to ask myself if what I had seen were really true, or if the whole had not been some dream, some horrid nightmare, such as would affect us at 'times ; but no ; on my arrival I read the chronicle of the Army of the South, and found, alas ! that all was stern reality, and that I had yet to be inured to all the horrors of war." A TALK WI - 1H A. PRUSSIAN SOLDIER. The Prussians wander about the country : one sees them from every window, right and left, above, below, • on the railway track where no more trains run, on the lofty road which closes the horizon between Saverne and the Haut-Barr, at every angle of the forest, and even at my garden gate. That dripping sentinel, who seems to have chosen his abiding place under one of my walnut trees, irritates my nerves to the last degree. I put on a pair of sabots, for everything is flooded, and go straight at m y man. "Is it me you are watching ?" " 'Why should I, sir ?" " Then you are protecting me ?" " Not a bit. I am here in vedette with two comrades who are gone I don't know where. We ought to have been relieved at least two hours ago, and I am wearied to death of this." " You are a Prussian ?" " No, sir ; a man of Nassau." "In other words, you are only half Prussian ?" He smiles, and I add— " Like the men of Wurtemberg and Bavaria." " You are mistaken about the Bavarians, sir ; they attacked like mad things with the bayonet. One would have said they were urged on by deadly vengeance. The Prussians were not so hot; for, in fact, we were all led on as if to the slaughter-house !" " You were at the affair of Woerth, then? " " And at Weissenburg as well ; but what was Weissenburg in comparison of the ' great, dreadful battle? Never was anything seen more terrible. Six leagues of sky and corpses. Ah ? my God ! Villages burnt, orchards shaved down like the palm of my hand, vines and hops trampled to manure—all the country-side ruined for twenty years ! In truth, we do ourselves a deal of mischief, and we pile up vast misery, to content a few men who are not a bit better than ourselves." " You do not talk like a pro fessional soldier ?" "I belong to the reserve, and am a mechanic by trade. I have even worked for some time at Strasburg." " Are you married ?" " Not yet." "What do you think of our army ?" " I don't understand enough about it to judge, range combat—during which the French fire told with appalling effect upon the Germans—that the Prussians and Bavarians lost so many men.—Correspondent of Tele= graph at Karlsruhe. THE EMPEROR'S FETE DAY AT CHALONS.—I thought the Camp would have been illuminated, And was told that it probably would have been had it not been the Emperor's fete day, but he is com- pletely cou/e, thoroughly done for. People make no bones about saying sl now, and that they will have no more of him. " Nous n'en voulons plus." Iu the street here the cries I mentioned to you in a former letter go on every evening with reference to the Emperor. Some soldiers cry out, " Vive l'Empereur !" and a chorus of voices answer by a very vulgar and insulting word. The nation is up in arms, but the name of the Emperor seems to have no more to do with anything than if he did not exist.—Daily Hews Correspondent. WOERTIL—WiII any one, explain how so able a general as MacMahon occupied an advanced position with an army which, however numerous, was not equal by nearly a half to the force the Crown Prince could bring against him? It is true there were not, perhaps, more than 90,000 engaged with his- 60,000, but still there was nothing we can see to warrant his advancing to Woerth to engage an army which he had no reason to consider inferior to his own, man for man, when it was, or ought to have been, known to him that they were, at least, three to two against him. It is true he has inflicted awful loss on the German army. There will be mourning in many thousands of households from the Rhine to the Vistula, and from the shores of the Baltic to the frontiers of Southern Bavaria : but then the Duke of Magenta has been . utterly routed, and his defeat must have carried terror to the gates of Paris. His personal baggage, his official and private letters, the plan of the French campaign in cipher, and deciphered, &c., have fallen into the hands of the con querors. It is characteristic of modern French strategy that no maps of France (especially of the Vosges) have been found in the officers' baggage, while many excellent sketches of the country beyond the Rhine, and of the routes to Coburg and to Berlin, &c., have been discovered, as well as sketches of the country beyond the Rhine. The blow appears to have been quite appalling in its sudden ne ss.—Times' Correspondent at head-quarters of Crown Prince. THE POPE AND THE KING OF PRUSSIA. The Journal de Bruxelles publishes two letters which it declares have passed between the Pope and the King of Prussia. The Pope, whose letter is dated the 22nd of July, says that it may appear strange to the King to receive a communication from him at such a time, but being the vicar on earth of the God of peace, he feels bound to offer his mediation. He desires to see a stop put to the warlike preparations, and thus prevent the evils which would be the inevitable consequences of the conflict. This mediation is that of a king who can create no jealousy through the extent of his kingdom, but who can inspire confidence through the religious and moral in fluence which he personifies. He adds that be has written to the Emperor of the French. The King of Prussia's letter is dated July the 30th. He declares that he is not surprised but greatly affected on reading . the letter of the Pope in which he seeks to make the voice of the God of peace heard. His heart cannot fail to be touched by se poverful an appeal. He, however, calls God to witness that the war has not been provoked by him or his people. They are taking up arms to defend the honour and inde pendence of their country, and they will always be ready to lay them down when these blessings are assured. He concludes by declaring that if the Pope can offer him an assurance of frieadly dispositions and securities against the recurrence of a similar attack on the peace of Europe, on the part of him who so unexpectedly declared war, he would not refuse to receive them from his Holiness, with whom he is allied by the bonds of Christian charity and a sincere friendship. OUR SHIPPING INTERESTS-THE QUES TION OF AN EXTRA SESSION OF CON GRESS. The wide-awake little kingdom of Belgium, it appears, has stepped in to take the place of Germany in the matter of those important lines of German Atlantic merchant steamers, the place made vacant by this Franco-Prussian war. Had the Congress of the United States seconded the timely message of the Preside nt upon this subject the transfer of those German lines of steamers might have made a very simple business transaction. As it is the opportunity ap pears to be lost. It is given out, however, that to-day or to morrow, General Grant at Washington_will hold a Cabi net council to consider the question of calling an extra session of Congress, and in view of the very strong proba bilities of England's early participation in this Conti nental war, and in view of the necessity which will follow this event for some special legislation by Con gress in reference to American neutrality, belligerent rights, commercial interests, and the Monroe doctrine, we think the best course the President can take is to make sure provision against all probable contingencies by a proclamation embracing (say) a notice of sixty days for the assembling of the two Houses in extraordinary session. Fortunately, there will now be no difficulty in the matter of elections. The two houses of the present Congress, as now organised, will continue till March next, and in assembling on an extra call they will be at once ready for business ; and as the compensation of the mem bers is xed, the only costs of an extra session will be its contingnt expenses. Hence, while there can be no serious objections to an extra session of Congress, the demands of the crisis for special legi,lation, looking to American interests, are unanswerable.—New York Herald, Aug. 5. THE PLAN OF THE EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN, The Franco-German conflict has already resolved itself into two well-defined and opposite lines of advance. On the one side the Prussian troops ate descending the valley of the Rhine from the great central positions of Coblentz; Mayence, and Frankfort, and by the railroad system which centres at Mannheim, are evidently preparing to invade French territory in force. The great line whose terminus is at Strasbourg, crosses the frontier at the town of Weissenburg, whose capture is now placed beyond any doubt. The position of this fortified town as the key of the great iron highway by which the invading • troops can be brought to the front, is only one of the ad vantages gained to the Prussians by its capture. Parallel with the river Lauter, which runs past the town, marking the boundry between France and the Palatinate, there runs a famous series of earthworks nine miles long, closing at the fortified little town of Lauterburg, very near the point at which the Lauter falls into the Rhine. The wide open valley at whose upper end are Mayence and Frankfort, at a distance of upwards of one hundred miles, is by this means pro tected by the troops which hold Weissenburg, and it is obvious that the moment this important line of defence is fairly occupied by the Prussians there will be great danger either of the flank being turned of the French army, whose right rests upon St. Avoid . and Saarbruck, or of a united advance by the main body of the Prussians into the heart of France. As a counter-movement to this we have the French troops retaining Metz as their base of opera tions, making a wedge-like advance into Germany along the valley of the Saar. The capture of Saar-louis must inevitably be attempted as the first stage of an advance which, presuming the Prussian head-quarters to be at Troves, as reported, would necessitate a decisive battle within a few days. In point of fact the Prussian change of tactics evidenced by their descent upon Weissenburg leaves the Emperor no choice of any other route on the northern frontier whereby to carry the war into the enemy's terri tory. A victory in the valley of the Saar might place Rhenish Prussia within his power ; a victory in the angle formed by the Lauter and th e Rhi ne only leaves him in possession of the entrance to a species of natural blind alley studded with fortresses and closed at the upper end by two of the strongest military positions in the world. It is obviously, however, of extreme importance that the Prussian foothold on French soil should be disputed ere it become too strong to be easily dislodged. Hence the fighting along the front of the " lines of Weissenburg," to which the village of Nieder- Lauterbach is immediately adjacent; and hence the des perate efforts being evidently made by Marshal MacMahon to re cover the advantage lost in the capture by the Prussians of the key to this strong position. The first general engagement, therefore, may be looked for either in the Valley of the, Saar, between the advancing forces of the Emperor and the troops presumedly under King Wil liam, at Troves, or near the junction of the Lauter and the Rhine, between MacMahon, with his Algerian co horts, and the Prussians and Bavarians advancing under the Crown Prince into France. —New York Times of August 6th. BIRTHS. On the 19th August, at the Ortigal, Upper Norwood, the wife of G. Rudall,•Esq., of a son. On the 18th August, at Blechingley, Surrey, the wife of James Bruce, Esq., of a daughter. MA RRI AGES. On the 17th August, at St. Matthew's Church, Brixton Joseph Newbon, fifth son of the late James Shelton Newbon, of Doctor's Commons, to Laura Edith (Lilly) Daniel, youngest daughter of the late T. S. Daniel, of West Brixton. On the 17th August, at St. George's Catholic Chapel, Worcester, John Henry, eldest son of the late John Smith; Esq., of Tyndall Hall, Ditchingham, Norfolk, to Mary Monica, eldest daughter of the late James B. Reading, Esq., of Worcester. DEATHS On the 16th August, at Penzance, John Bucke Barlee Assistant-Commissary-General. On the 16th August at Lansdowne Lodge, Margate, Kent, Charles Mason Woodyer, Esq., aged 78. London : Printed by GIDEON ACLAND BOYCE, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, and Published by him at THE SUN Office, No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the County of Middlesex, Saturday, August 20, 1870. ~