The Sun. — London, England, 1870-09-01 00:00:00

THE WAR. AFFAIRS AT PARIS. TUESDAY. The aspect of this city becomes more warlike every day. All that air of perennial pleasure, of being continually en fête, which so much strikes the visitor on his first arrival here, has vanished. Stern busi ness confronts us everywhere. Ordinary commerce is greatly diminished, in some cases almost entirely suspended, at this time of absorbing pre-occupa tion. Everywhere one sees traces of the approaching siege. It cannot be denied that there is a great deal of, warlike enthusiasm displayed ; but it is equally true that there exists a good deal of the reverse feeling. The workmen, especially the unmarried ones, have no objec tion to the expected trial. It will afford plenty of excite ment to a bellicose race ; and moreover the Reds cannot deny themselves the thought that a fine chance of estab lishing their long looked-for Republic has come at last. Hence there would probably be actual disappointment in some quarters if no siege came off. But the shopkeepers would not be displeased, on the other hand, if the approach of the enemy were to be the signal for coming to terms, provided always that the position of the French armies in the field did not display any marked improvement. The bourgeoisie have had enough war with street rows lately. They could command more too, if they were desirous of so doing. The expectation of a siege is working them the utmost woe ; the reality, they may justly anticipate, will prove their utter ruin. Of course they do not vent their unpatriotic arguments openly ; but there exists a good deal of whispering to the effect just indicated, and it is exceedingly pro bable that some representations that a siege would be utterly useless if MacMahon loses a great battle, and that no siege can take place if he wins one, will find their way to the War Minister. Beyond doubt a bom bardment will soon exhaust whatever little patience the bourgeoisie may have left. Citizens seldom suffer many days'cannonading without bringing strong pressure in favour of capitulation to bear upon the military autho rities. Parisian citizens may be expected to prove even less enduring than the average of their kind. These disgraceful insinuations against Protestants have been alluded to in the Chamber to-day. The Prefect of the Aisne department, which is now be coming the centre of momentous deeds, has resolved not to be dismissed for exhorting the people to keep quiet, as was his brother of the Meu rthe. He has issued a proclamation to his subordinates order ing them to incite the people to every resistance. "Everywhere let the peopie rise and organise themselves. A service of scouts must be established at all menaced points. The men of neighbouring localities should .so arrange that they can act in concert, so that the approach of the enemy can be made known from one commune to another by the most rapid means. His march must be impeded in every possible way : his communications must be cut, his supply trains seized, and all food and means of transport must be withdrawn from his requisitions. The chief place of the department will set the example ; it is ready." And more to the same effect. But bow can the people carry out these instructions, when they have no weapons and are likely to get none ? Can they oppose needle guns with paving stones ? The policy of the Government in respect of these instructions to the people is not very intelligible. If a Prefect tells the people that they are defenceless and must make no resistance, he is dismissed. If he tells them to do all they can to oppose the enemy, he runs the risk of being laughed at, for they have no means of fighting. The Tc-mps of to-day does some sound plain-speaking. It declares that France is at this moment in peril of being dishonoured, and perhaps ensanguined, by folly and fanaticism. While our soldiers, it says, are giving the most splendid proofs of heroism, the tremblers form a spectacle which would be ridiculous if it were not odious. They cannot content themselves with the natural explanation of events. They do not understand that a Government without power and a routine administra tion must end by leading us into an abyss. They seek for mysterious reasons for our reverses, and can see nothing but spies in our streets, nothing but treason in our camp. Terror-stricken, they are ready to do justice on the culprits themselves, and the first corner is likely in their hands to become the victim of an imprudence or a mistake. This would matter comparatively little if fear —hideous fear—did not join with passions more hideous still. Would it be believed that religious hatreds find the present moment favourable for development? Correspon dents from all quarters write to tell us of the danger incurred by the Protestants, especially in the central provinces and in Alsace. The people are assured that a Protestant must necessarily be a Prussian at heart, and this at the very moment when Strasbourg with its Protestants is making an heroic defence. The movement of which we are speaking has assumed the aspect of a clerical conspiracy, and the party journals, L'Univers and LelllondeJaave not missed the opportunity of turning the misfortunes of France to the profit of the priesthood. Blind that they are to forget that fanati cism is a double-edged sword, that irreligion has also its furies, and that the mob has before now destroyed the dwellings and threatened the lives of priests and monks. We are not yet at the end of these mournful exhi bitions of fear and hatred. While the fanatics wish to drive the people to a religious war, there are politicians who wish to drive them to a jacquerie. The letters which we receive from the provinces and the alarm exhibited in the local journals leavesno doubt in this respect. It is not difficult to see the object of its instigators. They wish to transfer the blame from the guilty to,,,the innocent, and to make it appear that the Empire has been betrayed by the old political parties and Radicals, and every prominent man in the Opposition becomes a traitor. There is a great danger to be apprehended --nothing less than a civil war and a religious war in the heart of the country, while our armies are shedding their blood on the frontier! A Government inquiry is imperatively demanded, or else the threatened citizens will have to defend themselves. M. About, in the Soir, expresses the opinion that after all the result of the war is not so much to be deplored. All is, perhaps, for the best. If the Imperial forces had triumphed, what would have become of France? "If the supporters of the personal power had been acquainted with the first elements of the military art ; if Marshal Lebceuf had had a plan ; if we had been ready ; if we had had 500,000 effective troops instead of 200,000 ; if the millions destined for armament had not for years been wasted or turned to other uses, we should heat the Prussians and free the Rhine Provinces. We should take Saarbruck and Saar louis, Mayence, and Coblentz ; we should light tapers in the cathedrals of Treves and of Cologne, the Prince Impe rial might collect enongh spent balls to form a chaplet for his godfather, the gentle Pius IX.—and after ?" It would appear that the Prussian spy—so-called---who was shot on Saturday, was not called Harth, as he repre sented. He belonged to a'very good family, of whom three brothers and two sisters still remain. He entrusted the secret of his name to the Protestant pastor, whom he charged with the transmission of a letter to his family. The Government organs say that this soi-disant Harth was charged with a special mission from the Prussian Government ; but there really appears to be great reason to doubt his being a spy at all. Some say he was mad. He was unquestionably destitute. The sitting of the Corps lAgislatif to-day does not promise any very striking liveliness. There is, as usual, no news, and nobody expects any information from Ministers. There are further signs that the Government, with the assistance of the large majority in the Chamber obeying its behests, will tolerate no arming of the people. M. Marion's proposal that departmental battalions of National Gardes should be mobilised has been rejected by the commission to which it was referred. M. Picard now comes forward with another scheme : to revive part of a law passed in 1831, which provides for establishing detached corps in the Garde National Sedentaire, and to place these corps at the disposition of the Minister of War for any service of defence whatsoever. The trial of the conspirators who took part in the enzeute at La Villette secures a little attention in the midst of th siege excitement. Two were condemned to death to-day. Neither attempted, like some of those previously tried to prove that they were not on the ground at the time that the assassinations took place. They confessed that they were present, but denied that they had any thought of assassination. They made no secret of their design—which was to arouse the people to take up arms against the invader. It does not appear that making an attack upon a fireman's station and killing a policeman and a little child are at all calculated to fill a nation with patriotism ; but these young nie ,, had really no disreputable antecedents. One was a shorthand writer, and the other an engraver, THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 1, :870. are none. So on Monday moitniag, when we meb Count Gortz, he recommended us to join a volunteer party with him who 'have donned the cross, and so we did. The party consists of about eight young men of our own age, of very good families (so Count Gortz, who is not without aristo cratic prejudices, informed us), and about 50 young men, mostly from the Rhine provinces, who are the rank and file. The latter receive some small pay from some of the Rhine towns. All are of course volunteers. The stamp on the badge and the card authorising its use entitle the bearer to free quarters just ,as if he were in the army, The whole of the little army is under a Baron von Witzleben, a fine man, a little over middle age, cheerful and courteous, a thorough German, not speaking a word of any other language. Count Gortz, on the other hand, is a very cultivated man, and speaks English perfectly. He was one of the Hessian Commis sioners to England at Princess Alice's wedding. He has been very kind. He introduced us to the eight men I have mentioned, and we are now part of the little band, and are duly qualified as officers, and in that character re ceived our billets on Tuesday at Blamont, and last night here, at Luneville. I must not neglect to include in our little army eight nuns and three Protestant deaconesses (who all seem to some extent to be directed by a priest), also an English lady, who leads five Sisters of Charity froth Wurzburg, in Bavaria. We three joined, as I have said, at Sarrebourg on the Monday. The Prussians pay fairly for everything, and generally, I must say, behave very reasonably to the people. Discipline seems perfect, and the army, you remember, is composed of a very different class to that which alone makes up our regi ments. I walked the other day with two private soldiers, both of whom had completed their course of phiLlogy at the University of Breslau. Our caravan having been brought from Strasburg was here dismissed, and we wait here to-day till the rail is made good, hoping to go on by train to-morrow to Nancy, where the Crown Prince now is. Friday we walked to Woerth, and on to Froschweiler. The battle-fieldwas deeply interesting. They were burying the last of the dead bodies. Fourteen thousand were buried, so we were officially informed. The slaughter must have been dreadful. We could trace it by the heaps of knapsacks and helmets. The heavy rains since the preceding Saturday (the day of the battle) had done much to oblite rate the traces of the fight, but there were more than enough. Great fresh mounds of the slain--the church at Froschweiler and some houses nothing but charred ruins ; all the houses riddled with bullets ; every house in Woerth and Froschweiler and all the villages round, filled with the wounded, who also constantly passed us on the road in carts as they were moved on to make room for others. The field extends for about three miles. There are two parallel ridges—Woerth is in the valley between; Frosch weiler, the French stronghold, on the top of the west ridge; thick wo As on the north of both ridges. But you will have read an account of it, and I have not. I tell you only what I saw. We picked up letters in French and German which made one choke to read; scraps of Bible verses scrawled; family messages for poor fellows who never left that field. But the French were gone and the Prussians after them, and the whole field was a silent as death. We stood on the top of the hill by Froschweller and looked over the field ; the landscape was lovely in the afternoon sunshine, and the hills of the Palatinate looked most glorious in the background. The immense effect of the victory at Woerth grows upon us as we find so large and important a part of France left open. Mac- Mahon made no attempt to defend the Vosges, which high officers have told us 3,000 men could have rendered impassable. Possibly the French defeat at Saarbruck the same day as Woerth necessitated the immediate concen tration of the French armies. At any rate, the result is that the people of Alsace and Lorraine hate the Emperor and declare they have been destroyed. Yet they don't like the Germans, whose lan guage in Alsace they speak, and they dread annexation. The result seemed curious enough to us as we drove into France on the top of a captured omnibus. Our intention is to await the great battle. If it comes it must be before you see this. The result could hardly be doubtful. A revolution may happily prevent the fight which will be indeed an awful one. In any case we three expect to be in Paris in a few days if all is well, and to return thence to England. Our services under the cross are expressly confined to the field. They will not be without risk, but will, at any rate, in some degree legi timise our presence. Hospital work Ido not think lam fit for, so when the fight is over I shall come home, Every one says it is quite impossible the campaign shot last much longer." THE PRINCESS OF HESSE AMONGST THE WOUNDED. There are six or eight lazarettes, or hospitals, in Darm stadt alone—one or two specially superintended by mem bers of the Grand Ducal family, others by private com mittees, and one by the Catholic Sisters of Charity. There are, I believe, only 2,000 Catholics among the 35,000 inhabitants. To-day I had the privilege of visit ing the principal one which her Royal Highness the Princess of Hesse takes under her own especial wing. Certainly nothing can be more admirably managed ; and of those I have seen as yet it is the highest, airiest, and most cheerful. The principal building is a permanent o ne of stone and glass—an ex-conservatory. It stands in charming gardens, with their flower-beds and shrubberies, and fountains, which, as the Princess says the Frenchmen gallantly tell her remind them of the waterworks of Versailles. Through these are scattered a number of succursales—wooden pavilions where the double rows of beds stand at ample intervals, with canvas doors at the ends, to be looped up at will, and with openings in the roof, protected from the wet, but open to the wind. The Princess says the French strongly protest against the fresh. air, while the Germans, on the contrary, very sensibly welome it as the best of specifics. She ought to be mistress of the inward sentiments of the patients, for they all seem to take her into their inmost con fidence. It was worth a journey from England alone to see the faces of the sufferers lighten up as they reflected the sisterly smiles on her's. As she passed along and stopped and spoke to each the invalid laid himself back on his pillow with an expression of absolute bien Litre, and for the moment seemed to find something more than an anodyne for his pain. Her passing along the wards applied the most infallible of tests to the cases. If her presence did not smooth the pain wrinkles out of a man's face, or bring something like tranquillity to his drawn mouth, and cause a flash of light to his eye, you were quite sure to hear he was in an extremely bad way. Nor was it with the wounded alone she seemed the animating spirit of the place. Nurses and doctors and convalescents walking about all addressed her with the same cordial familiarity—only tempered by their evident reverence and love. The truth is, and one sees it everywhere else as in Darmstadt, this war has not merely made Germany a nation, but a family, and a thorough family feeling pervades north and south, high and low alike. Nothing seems regarded as a sacrifice, and the humblest work that can serve the great national cause is regarded as a pleasure and honour. The theatre at Mayence is given over to preparations for the hospital service, and the ladies of the place, old and young, go to work day and night in batches and in gangs in the coarsest materials and roughest work. Here at Darmstadt no small portion of the Palace is devoted to the same purpose, and the workrooms communicate directly with the Princess's apartments. There are piles of mattresses in the galleries, hills of blankets and cushions below, chests of lint, bundles of bandages, mountains of cushions, sandbags for absorbing blood, wooden receptacles for shattered limbs. There is a continual influx and a constant outflow of all that. This afternoon the Prin cess's phaeton had the back seat piled high with cushions wanted for immediate use, decently covered up, it is true, with a carriage -rug ; but there were so many of them that the rug was sheer hypocrisy and absurd illusion. A huge bundle of flannel seriously embarrassed the coachman's legs and style, while it says much for the paving of the Darmstadt streets that all of the teapots stowed away in the sword-case beneath the ladies' seat reached their desti nation in safety.—Letter in the Time, from Darmstadt. DENIAL OF RECENT CANARDS.—The Peeple Francais has the following :—" The Francaishas affirmed, and the Siecle repeated, the statement that the Empress has asked General Trochu for his resignation. We are in a position to give that assertion amost unqualified denial. Her Majesty-confines herself strictly to the exercise of her constitutional powers ; and, besides, Gen. Trochu, in vested with the command of Paris by the confidence of the Emperor and of his Government, necessarily possesses that of the Empress. No less incorrect is the affirmation that the General is in disagreement with the Prefect of Police. The most complete accord exists between the Governor of Paris and the administrative authorities of the Seine." FEELING OF THE FRENCH TROOPS TOWARDS THE EMPEROR. — What are we to think of 6,000 unwounded Frenchmen being prisoners?—not caught in a grand cavalry charge, or cut off from a main army and forced to lay down their arms, but 6,000 men sound in wind and limb, who have been " captured" in battle ! If the rest of the army be of the same mind as many prisoners, wounded and unwounded, who speak in the strongest terms of scorn and dislike of the Emperor and his Generals, the mystery may be explained ; but it is a sad and sorry explanation, for, whatever the army may have deserved of France, there can be no doubt the Emperor deserved well of the army, wiiith be sustained with all his power, honoured, flattered, feasted, feted, fought for and with, and finally appears to have fallen for. I heard one of the highest officers and personages express the pain and almost indig nation with which he had heard the language of some of these prisoners, and I am told the tone is only too com mon.—Times' Correspondent with Prussian Army. FRENCH SOLDIERS.—AIgeria has been called the nursery of the French army, but so far as this campaign has gone the army that has come from Africa has not justified the hopes built upon it. I learn from professional men • back from the front that the want of discipline was painfully evident in the regiments that arrived from Algeria. The Zouaves showed all the irregu larity, all the bad qualities, in short, whic,,h spoil them without having the opportunity to redeem them, by their undoubtedly great good quality of reckless valour. An apprenticeship to such irregular fighting as hordes of wild Arabs is not the best preparation to meet disciplined Prussians. The little infantry soldiers of the line have gained all the honours so far, and the little i men n the tidy blue jackets of the foot Chasseurs —the active, handsome intelligent boys of whom I have frequently spoken—proved that if there were any corps d'elite in the army, it was theirs. They were as lively as you please when required, but they knew how to be steady and watchful and did not waste their am munition. That is the weak point of French troops. They cannot be kept in hand, cannot be taught to economise powder. They get excited after firing a few shots, lose their heads, and blaze away. In two cases out of three they do not stop to see anything to hit, and in nine cases out of ten they do not hit anything.—Corres pondent's Letter in Standard. SANGUINE VlEws.—Some people shrug their shoulders and say, " Paris is too big to be defended." If it is too big to be defended, it is too big to be invested; its size is a greater disadvantage to its assailants than to its defenders ; but let the size be what it may, I can promise these amateur military engineers, who sneer at the idea of a defence of Paris, that the capital will be held gallantly and resolutely, that it can neither be taken by coup de main nor starved out, and that the only chance the enemy had of taking it —that is by the coincidences of disturbances from within—has disappeared. Granting that the Prussians laid a regular siege to Paris—an even tuality most improbable, for the capital and centre of a great nation cannot be beleaguered like Sebastopol—they would have to move off as soon as an army from the Loire (sure to be formed) fell on their flank or rear. And then this regular siege implies, as you will observe, an utter defeat of MacMahon beforehand ; for his 'splendid army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, the most of them fresh, could never be left free to operate as it pleased, while the invader marched forward to his tardy bombardment of Paris. That defeat of MacMahon is still just possible—but nobody here anticipates it ; still if it come the capital is prepared for it. At noon on Sun day 2,500 cannon were in position round Paris, a girdle of iron that will not be readily forced. But other occasions will occur to speak of what is behind those guns ; for the present it is enough to know that the " Downfall of Paris" is not likely to be played in the fortified and beautified city of M. Thiers and Baron Haussmann. It is true the Prussians picketed their horses once in the Champ de Mars, and watered them in the Seine : but they were not alone then, and there were no fortifications. —Correspondent of the Standard at Park DETERMINATION OF THE PARISIANS.—As I saw long lines of carts coming in laden with furniture in all stages of repair—good furniture, rickety furniture, and furniture fit only for firewood; as I saw the trains of people following, some of them mere sightseers, taking a Sunday view of the world about, others of them poor people of the country districts, calm of feature, but terror-stricken in their hearts, and anxious for the protection of the walls of Paris; and as I saw the vast herds of sheep and oxen which at the same time streamed through the woods, all making for Paris, I could not help thinking of the pictures I used to admire in my child kood of the Israelites going forth out of Egypt, an im mense multitude, with innumerable flocks and with wealth of goods untold. You will say this is an ex aggeration, and so it is. But it is an exaggeration which conveys a better idea of the truth than aught else which I could say. You cannot see this tremendous movement going on without feeling certain that Paris is in earnest, and does not mean to capitulate with- out a good fight. There are two opinions cur rent, one here, the other in England, which I believe to be quite unfounded. Here people say, " The Prussians will never dare to come to Paris ;it is a farce, it is their despair, it is mere bravado." How far it is bravado events will shew, and at any rate the Government here, who are making all these preparations for the defence of Paris, do not seem inclined to treat the advance of the Prussians upon their capital as a feint or a farce. On the other side, it is said in England that the Government cannot seriously undertake the defence of Paris, and that, if the Prussians approach, the best thing Parisians can do is to make peace. How long Paris can hold ou I do not know, but there are facts enough to prove that the Government will not give up Paris for nothing, and that, in all seriousness, they mean to stand a siege.—Times Paris. Correspondent. THE PARIS BOURGEOISIE.—The fighting men are to be found among the working classes, who are kept without arms ; the bourgeoisie of Paris is probably the most self-interested, unpatriotic body of men to be found in the whole of France. They are still made of the same , stuff as their fathers, who in 1814 cried, " Vive nos alli4s," when the allies marched into Paris, and who made a very good thing out of the strangers. The newspapers may.call upon every Frenchman to die rather than suc cumb, they may declare that any one who talks of peace whilst a Prussian is on the sacred soil of France ought to be shot. All this " tall talk " means nothing. Twenty years of abject subserviency to one man have had their effect. The army has fought well—probably each individual Frenchman would fight well on the field of battle—but there is no moral courage, no backbone in the nation. Government undertook to govern them, Govern ment undertook to fight for them. The intelligence of the country hated Napoleon as much as it hates the Prus sians; it will not sacrifice life and treasure for the sake of retaining its master. Paris of late years has become a cosmopolitan city ; it has traded upon the vices and extravagance of wealtlity fools from all parts of Europe and America. There is no place in the world where so many people live from year's end to year's end on their wits, and there is no place where so great a percentage of income is spent in luxury. The enormous fortunes that have been made by privileged speculators of the Court, and the effrontery with which they have paraded them, have caused all classes to despise the slow and solid returns of commerce, and the Parisian bourgeois must have his little speculation to pay for the toilettes of Madame. The Parisian gentleman must win or lose his thousand or two thousand francs every night at a club. The Parisian fils de famille must be known as the proprietor of Adele or Fanny. How is it to be supposed that such a population can in a moment throw off all its vicious habits, and meet an enemy at its gates with the stern resolve to conquer or die like Spar- tans? "Nine-tenths of these fellows," said an. Americai who had commanded an army of the Confederate States; pointing to a crowd on the Boulevards, " have not got a kick left in them." The Roman philosopher was right when he said that the man who loses his liberty loses the half of his manhood.—Daily News Paris Correspondent. A CHOICE OF CLIMATES.—United States weather reports of the 10th August :—Owing to the illness of letter-carriers from the extreme heat the 11 o'clock delivery has had to be temporarily discontinued. Helena, Montana.—The thermometer at noon was down to freez ing point this day, and it snowed a little. THE VOLUNTEERS.—The authorities appear at last to have become somewhat alive to the possibility of volunteer officers being improved by a closer intimacy with the regular service, and have issued a circular to officers commanding regiments and detachments of the latter, desiring . that they shall take every means of be coming acquainted with officers commanding volunteer corps in their vicinity, and affording them every facility for drilling with the regular troops, and induce them to take advantage of the instruction to be derived by their corps from commanding officers and adjutants of the line on every convenient opportunity of course, without expense to the public.—Livelpool Albion. THE TEMPERANCE FETE AT THE C::'..:"rAL PALACE.—To judge from Bab oo Sen's language at the Crystal Palace on Tuesday he must have been pleased at the number of men and women devoted to the cause of temperance before him. The architectural grandeur of the building was, he said, heightened a thousand fold by the moral grandeur of the scene he was witnessing. The speaker contended that christianity was mockery and civilization a solemn sham, unless, by personal example and by legislative enactment, we did all in our power, both in England and in India, to check the demoralization and ruin wrought by intoxicating liquors. The Baboo's remarks were listened to by a large audience, but scarcely as much interest was shewn at his appearance as at that of the veteran teetotaller, George Cruickshank. In a modest speech the eminent artist challenged any one to produce a single case in which a murder had been committed by a total abstainer in England. He added that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was an admirable institution ; but the Temperance League was still more admirable, for it might justly be called a society for the prevention of cruelty to men, women, and children. It was remarked that the concourse of people left the Palace and its grounds at night in a manner which shewed but too plainly the good effects of a day spent in social amuse ments, and undertaken without the excitement of intem perance. EXPULSION OF GERMANS FROM .FRANCB. A London telegram of yesterday says that the collec tive note of Austria and England dissuading France from expelling German residents has been ineffectual. N° W the right of a Government in time of war to expel from its territory the subjects of a foreign and hostile Government is unqueStionable. When those sub' jects are so numerous and so influential as to be dangerous to the Government the hospitality of which they have enjoyed, their expulsion may be a necessity . The protection of the German residents in France devolvEs during the war upon the diplomatic agents of the United States. But these agents cannot now interfere more authoritatively to prevent the expulsion of the Germans than could the Prussian diplomatic agents in time of p e ace. When, however, it is remembered that the number of German subjects in France is estimated at two m illions, of whom two hundred thousand reside in Paris alone , and, moreover, that the majority of this large Gemini' colony consists of skilled workmen and active merchants, who have added incalculably to the wealth o f their adopted country, our diplomatic agents in France migh t. well represent to the Imperial Government that their expulsion may prove not only a hardship to i ts victims, but also almost as serious an evil to France as the expulsion of the Huguenots by the edict of Nantes. The right of the French government to expel the Germans cannot be contested. Their expulsion may,even seem to be a painful necessity'. But it nevertheless does not look like good policy. W e are, therefore, glad to learn that official assurances have been received at Washington contradicting the rumour of an imperial order indiscriminately expelling the German' domiciled at Paris. • The angry demand of Paid de Cassagnac that so cruel a measure should b e adopted found no echo. It is true, however, that about one hundred and fifty Prussians have been invited to leave Paris on account of having ,made hostile demonstrations against France. The strict orders of the Landwehr had already recalled fifteen hundred of the eight thousand Prussians residing in Paris. Two thousand of these are said to have applied at once for naturalisation papers, as wel l as for the (permis de sejour) permits to remain, which 3 11 order of the Prefect of Police, dated August 4, ha d required the natives of Prussia, of the countries of the Confederation of the North, of Bavaria, of Wurtemburg , of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and of the Grand Duchy of Baden, to obtain within three days. After that delay they were to be liable to arrest and expulsion.—New YOl Herald, August 20. and both had imbibed Republican notions which led to their joining in this mad enterprise. They were sentenced to death. A third was condemned to ten years imprison ment, and a fourth to five years. Great care is being taken to hide the Louvre pictures and other precious possessions, in order that they may not fall into the hands of the enemy. THE BOMBARDMENT OF STRA.SBURG. (FROM THE CORRESPONDENT OF THE " PALL MALL GAZETTE.") MANNHIEM, August 26, I have just come from the scene of the bombardment of Strasburg. The railway from Appenweiser to Kehl is still open as far as the station of Kork, a village about four miles from Keel. The commanding position for observation afforded by the church tower and some other elevated buildings in this place made it such a point of attraction for sight-seers that the military autho rities on the day I came summarily issued orders not to allow any strangers to visit it. The consequence was that when the train steamed into the station, disap pointment, general and desperate, befell a whole host of tourists who found themselves confronted by inexorable sentries refusing admission even into the station-house. What became of these protesting travellers I do not know. Some of them I came across later as they were gazing on the conflagration in Strasburg from a distance considerably in the rear of Kork, but the greater number, I apprehend, were driven back to a point whence all they could enjoy was the sound of the heavy guns. Thanks to perseve rance and some protection, I contrived to get well for ward, and although I cannot give you many details, I can state generally the present condition of affairs. The city is now invested from all sides, the heaviest batteries being on the west, north, and east from the town, the latter of which is on the German side. Since the 24th the real bombardment has commenced, and it was the report of its severe effect resulting in a confla gration of terrible proportions which induced me to under take the expedition. As evening c.sme on the besiegers, who till this fired but occasionally, opened from all their batteries an incessant fire of shell and heavy cannon upon the def ences of the city which was answered for the first part of the night with considerable vigour, but which slackened after midnight. But what made the scene one never to pass from memory was the terrible conflagration which burst out in Stras burg about nine o'cloCk and raged on throughout the night. At the commencement the fire was apparently within the citadel alone, but soon we could see that it raged on various points, and we counted dis tinctly from eight to ten different fires burning luridly in the black night, and Strasburg stood out be fore us a city of devastation and raging misery. But even this scene of glowing destruction of a sudden be came intensified. It was just close on a quarter to three as I stood watching with breathless interest the rapid succession of shells flying into the doomed city, when like the flash of a Bengal illumination in a theatre, there shot up a bright glowing flame, wonderfully clear and perplexingly smokeless, that shed a white light through the murky night, and of a sudden lit up the minster with a vividness that instinctively brought a hushed exclamation to the group amid which I was standing : " Good God ! the cathedral is on fire." But the next moment convinced us that the glorious old minster on which waves the white flag was untouched. The conflagration, so startling and so tremendous, was elsewhere. Where it might be was indeed matter for speculation, though now we know that it was the arsenal which was destroyed. For hours and hours it burned on, the same glow of clear lambent fire shedding over minster and over the dark outline of the city, against a horizon dotted with lines of lurid fire, an indescribably pallid and ghastly illumination. I left my station as the day dawned, and still the fire was raging ; and as I quitted Appen weiser on my way back here there still came forth on the horizon vclumes of smoke-clouds to tell the tale of continued devastation. And now for the prospects of the siege. Strasburg is a lost city. The citadel has been seriously injured, and it was expected that an assault would have been made this night ; but I have reason to believe the Prussian general is not disposed to reduce the town in this way, partly because he knows he can bring it to terms by battery, and partly because, I apprehend, he is not willing to expose it to the fate of a city taken by assault by an exasperated soldiery. The conduct of the French commandant, General Uhrich, I am sorry to say, hus rendered the people about here indignant. He has wilfully directed his fire on the entirely defenceless town of Kehl, and absolutely gutted it. I am not exaggerating. What I here state I would not have believed but on the authority of ocular demonstra tion. Kehl does not any longer exist. There is not one house in it that is not more or less battered to pieces. It is a mass of smouldering and flaming masonry. Such scenes of ruthless devastation are in the character of the proceedings of the French in the days of Melac ; and the result is a furious exasperation on the part of an absolutely ruined population. It was a harrow ing sight to see the poor country folk in the surrounding villages with the remnants of such moveable goods as they could save. Gustave Aimard, the novelist, is said to be about organising a free corps of the press, for which he has asked the authorisation of General Trochu. Numbers of the French fugitives from the battle of \Voerth are still lurking in the woods of the Vosges, and are daily brought in to the Prussian camps. The Figaro says that certain proprietors are leaving Paris from fear of the siege, and it recommends their Lodgers not to pay the rent for the ensuing month. The despatch of bread and biscuit from Paris to the army of Marshal MacMahon has ceased. The capital now only sends men, munitions, and projectiles. Four million kilogrammes of gunpowder have been dis tributed in the exterior forts and the fortifications of Paris. Each of the former is furnished with sufficient to fire 800 rounds with each piece. Projectiles have also be gun to be delivered. The StaatB Anzeiger says that General Werder has asked Colonel Ducasse, commandant of Strasbourg, not to use the cathedral spire as a look-out station, as other wise he might be obliged to destroy it. The request was refused. A Strasbourg correspondent of the Berlin Post expresses a fear that the spire must be sacrificed, out of consideration for the besieging troops. The Thedtre Moniteur of Berlin announces the death of Madame Pauline Lucca's husband, Herr von Randen, who fell at the head of his regiment in one of the recent engagements. On receiving the sad intelligence of his being dangerously wounded, Madame Pauline Lucca left Berlin for the purpose of joining her husband, but he ex pired before she reached the quarters where he lay. The Carlsruhe Zeitung learns from Lutzelburg that the statement of Count Palikao, who affirmed that the Germans lost 1,300 men before Phalsburg, is false. The Wurtemburg troops lost two men in the first brisk attack. and since then they have suffered no further loss except a few slight wounds. The garrison is estimated at from 2,000 to 3,000 men. A French paper says that oxen are arriving in Paris by hundreds, and sheep by thousands. As all this cattle must be herded somewhere, it is seriously in contempla tion to shut them into the squares and parks„ those charming gardens arranged with so much care. • The Garden of Acclimatization has already received a rumi nating population. The park of Monceaux and the square of the Temple are spoken of as sheepfolds. There were critical moments during the fight before Metz on Sunday, August 14. One, about seven o'clock, when in the left centre, where the Ist and 2nd divisions united, nearly all the officers were struck down. The Division General von Bentheim seized the moment. He saw one of his men in the heat of the fight coolly smoking a cigar. It impressed the General. Hurrying up to the soldier, he called out " Give me a light," ignited a cigar, and gathering up his shaken battalions, cigar in mouth and sword in hand, he again led forward his deci mated forces. The deliberate and unscrupulous falsifications of the French officials, from the highest down to the lowest, has brought much needless 'nisei.) and ruin upon the peasantry of Alsace and Lorraine. The stories they have pro mulgated of the robbery and oppression practised by the Prussians have maddened and excited the peasants to acts of fanatic cruelty and violence to wards the wounded and stragglers acts which the chiefs of the army are compelled to sternly repress. Hardly a day now passes without reports appearing in the German papers of the shooting and hanging of these mis: guided people. As the troops move on, their way lies through abandoned villages from which every living thing has disappeaxed. As a natural consequence, the houses are broken open and plundered, as frequently by camp followers and starving local marauders as by disorderly soldiers.— Times. MACMAHON'S POSITION. It would seem that MacMahon, after reaching Stenay, and taking up a position along the Meuse, between Dun and Mouzon (it was along that line that skirmishing was reported by Belgian telegrams on Sunday), found himself in front of large Prussian forces, which hopelessly barred the way towards Metz against him, and the re sistance cf which he was not in a condition to over come. Having thus failed in his main object, which was to release Bazaine's army, pent up in Metz, Mac- Mahon began to meditate a retreat, and not improbably sent some of his troops towards Vouzieis, with instruc tions to proceed to Bethel, while, for his own part, he betook himself to Sedan, possibly with a view to reassem ble his army between that fortress and the other more important strongholds of Mezieres. From Sedan, as well as from Rethel, there is railway communication with Mezieres, and with its suburb across the Meuse, Charleville. From Mezieres-Charleville there is a northern line going by Hirson and Vervins to Laon, Sois sons, and Paris. It could never have entered MacMahon's plan to allow himself to 'be driven to these fortresses on the Belgian frontier if he could by any possibility have avoided it. J3ut his scheme for releasing Bazaine and the Army of the Rhine from Metz has been found imprac ticable, and has had to be abandoned. Nothing remained for MacMalion, therefore, but to make his way back if he could, and it was only along the Ardennes line by Sedan and Mezieres that the feat was at all practicable. The Prussians were pressing upon him on all sides. They were in force at Suippe and along the banks of the river of that name. They came up to Vouziers in close_ pursuit of the French, after burning, as we are told, the little village of Falaise, in its immediate vicinity. They were also in force between the Marne and the Vesle, advancing towards Rheims a place which they could either occupy or avoid. Meanwhile, if it be true, as it is stated, that the King was still pursuing his march upon Paris *along the Marne, he must evidently have maintained his communication with his troops as they moved northwards on the Suippe, at Juniville, and Rheims. French telegrams, simply intended to bewilder the expectant Parisians, represent MacMahon as " having forty-eight hours' start of the Crown Prince, as operating against the armies of Prince Frederick Charles and Steinmetz, and still hoping to join Bazaine and strike a decisive blow before the Crown Prince comes up." But people in Paris wilfully blind themselves to the fact that when MacMahon was at Stenay or Montmedy, he was ' still sixty miles from Metz, and consequently from Bazaine and his army, and that by falling back upon Sedan he has gone at least 30 miles further away from his goal. If by outstripping the Crown Prince and the other Prussian armies MacMahon can withdraw his forces from Sedan to Mezieres, and hence to Laon and Spissons, he will have reason to think himself fortunate. Should the Marshal, however, ultimately extricate himself from the position in which his over-sanguine hope of liberating Bazaine has placed him, he will only find himself at Soissons in the same position he could have occupied ten days before, had he fallen back upon that place when he found it impossible to hold his ground at Chalons or Rheims. As it is, whatever may be thought about the 180,000 men he is said to have with him, and about their being " well rested and supplied," there is no doubt that these marches and counter marched, partly through an exhausted country, must have severely tested the endurance of his troops, and not im probably reduced their numbers. But it is by no means settled yet whether MacMahon will succeed in giving his Prussian pursuers the slip. They have a decided advantage over the French on the march, and a single railway line can afford little help to so large a force as MacMahon has under his orders.—Times. THE COMING BATTLE. A French correspondent, writing to the Daily News from Mdzieree on Sunday, says :—" The seat of war is in this department and the next, but as to foretelling on what exact spot the great engagement will take place is im possible. To-morrow we start for Montmddy, rid Sedan, and my intention is at any time to branch off on horseback at the first sign of a battle. But I must trust to chalice a good deal for that, my. best plan, on the whole, I think, being to stick to the convoi till I have found the 6th Corps, which we are seeking. It was my friend's opinion that the Emperor and MacMahon would not engage their forces for perhaps two days yet. Several hundred artillery horses arrived here to-day, and some artillery from Vincennes. This is a quaint little place the very ' type,' as we say in French, of the dull, dirty, irregular, badly - paved, French fortified town the kind of town through which one used to rumble at night in diligences 20 or 30 years ago, when railways were scarcer in this country. There is more animation here now, of course, than there generally is in such a town, which makes it less depressing I suppose. The National Guard is on foot in the uniforms they had made in 1832, I should think, from the look of them. The Pompiers, too, have put on their uniforms and helmets, and share the duties of la place with the soldiers belonging to one or two depots of the line stationed here, and with the Garde Mobile. They would defend the place very well, I have no doubt. You have heard how well they answered the Prussians at Verdun. The news of the attack on that place by 10,000 Prussians under the command of the Prince of Saxony was posted up here this morning. Artillery has come here from Vincennes, no doubt for the ramparts. They have only cut down a few trees found the glacis. Charleville, which is a manufacturing place, is only divided from this town by a bridge, and would come in for a nice thing if Mezibres were besieged. I see in the Figaro, and marked " official," the news of another victory by Bazaine. Those Prussians take a great deal of beating, for I should have fancied that with all the battles they had lost since the 15th they would have thought of giving in. As for the Crown Prince, he is continuing his march on Paris. Everybody thinks the destruction of the Prussians inevitable. Ido not see how the Prussian army, under Frederick Charles, can escape being annihilated between Bazaine and the other army under the Emperor and MacMahon. The latter army must be quite 200,000 strong, and as fresh as possible. Besides all the troops already in the field there is an army of reserve being formed which must be nearly ready now, and which will be at least 300,000 strong ; this is besides the Mobiles, which are, I believe, to be re-officered and made into 100 reserve line regiments, so that the fault of the commence. ment will soon be more than repaired there is every rer son to hope ; and when once the Prussians begin to fall back, unless their retreat is very orderly, I pity them, or they will be pursued from village to village by every peasant in the land they pass through. MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT WITH THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. One of the three members of the British Parliament who have joined the Hospital Corps at the seat of war has sent to England a narrative of his experience. The following are amongst the most noticeable points in his letter : " Luneville, France, Aug. 18. "We are now in a duly recognised position, having each a badge of whit 3 linen round the left arm, with a red cross woven on it, whereby we become members of the International Society for Tending the Wounded. There are numbers on both' sides, and the cross is recog nised as a neutral badge, protecting its wearer from all (intentional) injury. The white flag with the red cross waves over every hospital, and is hung from a window in every house where wounded men lie. The badge is worn by every doctor and every kind of person who, being a non-combatant, devotes himself or herself (for there are Sisters of Charity and Florence Nightingales here) to attending to the wounded. They have had plenty to do hitherto. The towns and villages round Woerth are, and long will be, filled with the wounded from that most bloody fight. The order is directed on each side by a Royal Commis sioner. The Commissioner with the army of the Crown Prince is a Count von Gortz, to whom the Commandant of Wissembourg gave us a letter of intro duction. He is always at the Crown Prince's head quarters or (more properly) half a day's march behind, but in constant communication with them. We used our letter to him as a military pass, and followed him from time to time till we caught him at Sarrebourg on Monday last. Indeed, having once reached the Prussian lines at Wissembourg we found our difficulties as to permission to go on almost at an end. We were on French soil, local authority there was of course none, and the Prussians, being in good spirits with their victory and pressing eagerly forward, did not care to stop or even seriously question any one. My German stood us in good stead. I got on capitally with the officers and men ; every one was and is cordial. Meanwhile, the French people don't dislike us, not being Prussians. Our real diffi culty was not permission, but means of getting on and mi- I,e of getting food. Both were increasingly difficult to us the further we advanced. Walking and carrying our knapsacks we found did not secure us all the respect and attention we claimed, and indeed needed. Carriages there THE WAR. The news published this morning renders i t evident that terrible fighting is going on around Metz' but it cannot be ascertained that either side has gained e decided success. An official -despatch, dated 'Me tz ' August 17, 3 p.m.," states that a ser i ous engageme nt, took place on Tuesday in the vicinity of the fortifica tions, and that the French obtained the advantag e, but " lost heavily,"—two words fraught Wit tragical significance. Amid the smoke and coil' fusion which obscure those red battle-field s, we can distinguish only the fact that thousands of huma n beings have been slaughtered, and that no limit can Ye t be assigned to the work of destruction. Every devic e which the ingenuity of man has yet conceived for s weep' ing out of existence vast masses of men, is brought t 0 bear upon this desperate contest, and already rivers blood have been shed. The Prussians no more dare i e make their losses known than the French. No statemen ts have yet been put forward on either side. It is all guess' work, but when the Prussians admit one day that thel have purchased a "bloody victory," and the French SC. knowledge on another that they have sustained hog losses, it scarcely needs official returns to assure us Os t the carnage has been fearful. Those who predicted that one severe engagement before Metz would Pu t an end to the war, may now begin to realiz e their mistake. The armies which were di'' patched to meet each other last month may be s ir nihilated without bringing the war to a conclusio n ' Both France and Prussia are capable of putting othe r armies in the field, and they would do it, for this is struggle of life and death—a struggle, take it all in all, the like of which Europe has never seen before. N a poleon did not deceive the French people when he warned WO at the outset to prepare for a long and bloody No r ' Which side was best prepared no one can hesitate to point out. It was the side which we we re asked to believe had been taken unawares, but which is reality had counted upon this war as one of the inevitable events of the age. The slaughter which has been g oing on since Sunday morning may be continued for days t ° come, or it may be interrupted for a time, and trans' ferred to another scene. It is only certain that every inch of ground will now be hotly coo; tested, and that since the French have everything stake, they will never relinquish the contest lint: they have exhausted every resource at their command" When that is said of a great and proud nation, it means s great deal more than the confident capitalists of Ws ll ' street seem disposed to understand. There are times \ ;li en a nation must sacrifice its last man and its last coin rathef than yield to the enemy. The French people have n° l/ to face such an emergency. They have risen. to th e occasion by offering all that they have for t 11 : 1 prosecution of the war. If they complain 0 ; thei r Generals, they do what all nations have done und er the sting of defeat. The cry for peace has not, be en heard in the land. That the Germans are equal i l resolute is but natural, 'pr they are in the flush of vi e. tory. Their spirit would doubtless undergo no chang e under defeat. Hence, from the first, there has been every reason to believe that the war would be protracte d, and there is less reason than ever now for changing th at opinion. Napoleon, who took up the sword, may perish by the sword—but these two great nations will neve r yield until complete exhaustion renders further exertioo° impossible, —New York Times, August 18th. Ore] Ac half- Sept M ENGLAND'S PREPARATIONS. We (Globe) have good reason for supposing that thel does not exist the slightest intention to abolish the Bo Military College at Sandhurst, notwithstanding that tb, admission of cad e t s h as b een s t oppe d f or th e preseli i : The whole S an dh urs t sys t em i s again under considerati on by a committee of officers, who, it is expected, will recoli,.3: mend several highly important changes, especially ~,; regards the age at which the cadets are to ente r , and t' period during which they are to remain at the college. ,• Lord Elcho has written another letter on our pres,e ll9 o system of army organisation and manage men t. H e tax e s ,,, a very gloomy view of it, and says that if we were TO 5 called on to send an army into the field, as the Gern o 'l, have been, and support it on th e enemy ' s coun t r y, simply could not do it. England ought not to rest sat v:,; fled with any l ess ex p ans i ve sys t em. I t i s not i n (I .,' t power of p r od uc ti on th a t we are d e fi c i ent, b ut i n c' t administration. He is told on very good authority tiO„ it would be impossible un d er p resen t c i rcums t an ces t ; send a force on service eq u ipp e d i n d e t a il s . Th e amrall, / tion of the field artillery is in a most lamentable smote.ln this present month our a ct ua l regu l ar f orce i s 180 gut; 10,654 cavalry, and 50,870 infantry. He concludes e ' t saving that the way in which the Secretary of State I °. War has dealt with our small army cannot be viewed r, other than a very grave and dangerous practical error I the application of a sound principle. It is stated by a correspondent at Woolwich that the recruiting sergeant is a strong competitor for labour ig o now, and that young men are coming in from the count. t t g and manufacturing districts in large numbers. Recral,, 4 from Ireland are not, however, taken so readily , formerly, probably in consequence of their b e i ng pervade. with Fenian ideas and exhibiting i nsu b or di na te tel l. dencies. [ADVERTISEMENT.]—HoIIoway's Ointment and Pi 110.", Indisputable Facts.—lt canno t b e t oo f reque ntly 11:11 , 0 pressed on the sick that the merits of these remedies ba' a been, and are, acknowledged in both hemispheres, al e few would presume to impugn the experience of the wh ir world. Testimonials from all parts vouch for Of t , efficiency as curatives. The Ointment soon display virtues, by overcoming abscesses, swellings of the join; enlargement of the glands, cutaneous eruptions, sor e ,. ulcers, and in allaying inflammation and pain in rheual.,, tism and gout. It heals by cleansing all it comes in Oil tact with, and promotes a sound and permanent cure. removes all obstructions to the free circulation throlig, the minutest vessels, and repairs mischief by constan w securing pure blood. BIRTHS. On the 29th ult., at Westbrook Hay, Hemel Hampste l4 Mrs. Dudley H. Ryder, of a son. On the 29th ult., at Caterham, Surrey, the wife of T• °. S. Escott, Esq., of a son. MARRIAGES. On the 27th ult., at Holloway, Robert, younger so il ° f John Ellwood, Esq., of Loughborough-road, Brix t°'" to Hannah, third daughter of the late John Jeal, Vs (l. ' of Old-street, Finsbury. On the 30th ult., at St. Giles's, Camberwell, Thomas. Price, only son of Mr. Thomas Price, The Bank, I jja ton, Herefordshire, to Emma, only daughter of Capr a D. Russell, of Talfourd-road, Camberwell. DLaI'HS On the 29th ult., Mr. George London, 103, Regent-street' W., aged 58. On the 27th ult., Miss Mary Charlotte Liddell, of 41,-118 Abbey, Winchester. of London : Printed by GIDEON ACLAND BOYC." ge t No. 112, Strand, Printer and Published by bi ° he THE SUN Office, No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of Savoy, in the County of Middlesex. Thursday, September 1, 1870. Aria War Chal PRE Graf 11(111 Won! othe YON CIIA Ron men stare Alai] and Ml* MIN Lyel resti Sl9, Age / C th an vitt' --__ C teetl cent flees and nutr sUp e cont Sol. I.\ dUG ios. 248, Parc tile not. 1 - ] Lh e ass, ici .. ,g, 1 1101