The Sun. — London, England, 1870-08-25 00:00:00

THE WAR. THE SITUATION IN PARIS. TUESDAY. The papers here have given up Bazaine as hopeless—that is, they are quite alive to the fact that he is shut up in Metz, and not likely to get away. This conviction has pro duced a certain sort of resignation amongst them. They are facing a siege of Paris with more earnestness than they have yet shewn. Hitherto they have discussed the question of defending the capital with some shyness. " Defend it—of course nothing can be more proper, but all is not quite over in the field yet ! " Such has been the prevail ing sentiment until the last day or two ; but now people are agreed that with every confidence in the exertions of the defenders who still face the advancing Prussians the defence of the capital is a question which must be seriously faced. The Committee of Defence project, which nobody cared much about a few days ago, is now regarded with much interest. You will be aware that the committee was nominated, and consisted entirely of generals, admirals, engineers, and the like. M. de Kdratry proposed that nine members of the Legislative Body should be added to the list. " Left Man " though he is, the Chamber supported him, and sPalikao has found it neces sary t 3 give way, so far as to consent to the addition of three deputies to the committee. The papers here, on the whole, keep up a good heart in face of the news from the front. What intelligence comes is not altogether pleasant; but the press makes the most of it, and does not grumble at the lack of more complete information. On the whole, the tone of the press is excel lent. Nocturnal attacks seem to have become of late very frequent in Paris, and the Liberty calls attention to the great number of criminals, whose term of sentence has expired, who are now in the capital. They number, it is said, from 20,000 to 25,000 men, and would very readily lend a helping hand to the Prussians, if the Prussians by any chance could get into Paris. The Liberty is confident that the Prussians will not get there, but it asks with some anxiety what these gentry will be doing in the interior of the city while the National Guards and the other able-bodied citizens are on the fortifications. The question is one which deserves attention, and as these offenders must be well known to the police agents, would it not be possible to rid Paris of them ? The following extract from a letter written by the Count of Paris on August 20, at Twickenham, to one of his friends in Paris, is published in the Paris papers : " What events have occurred during the last thirteen days ! What wounds for all French hearts ! You understand what we suffer in presence of this national disaster, of which we are forced, in aggravation of our sufferings, to remain passive spectators. The refusal of the demand made by my uncles and my brother is from this point of view a cruel blow. It was that refusal which prevented me from transmitting a similar letter to Paris, And we are told that the Prussians will probably besiege Paris, while on those fortifications which were the last bulwark of France, erected thirty years ago by the King Louis Philippe and the Duke of OrMans, there will not be an Orl6ans to mingle with the defenders of his country ! What is perhaps still harder is that, in our disinterested persist ence, men will only see the calculations of an uneasy am bition. But let us not think of ourselves, let us think only of that admirable army' which sustains the honour of France, and of those fresh combatants who, before Paris, will save our country from the last humiliation. -- Ever yours, " Louis PHILIPPE D'ORLEANS." The Figaro declares that the war with Prussia has brought strange things to light, and the saddest of these discoveries is to find that traitors are met where they were least expected. They have been found in town and country, in the cottage and the palace. The last news is that a lady, who by her rank and birth might well be sheltered from suspicion, has become greatly com promised, and has been called upon to furnish an account of her conduct, and her relations with Prussia. Received at the Tuileries on the most intimate terms, she is supposed to have availed herself of the opportunities to carry on a correspondence with the Prussian Ministers, which has had the most disastrous consequenc,l3 for France. The Figaro calls upon the authorities to give up the name of the person thus implicated. MOVEMENTS OF MACMAHON'S ARMY. M. Texier, one of the ablest correspondents of the French papers, has the following letter in the Siecle. It is dated Monday from Rheims :—There is no longer a soldier at Chalons ; the camp is broken up since the evening before last. MacMahon's army has made a movement which was probably agreed upon between the commanders-in-chief of the army of the Rhine and of the army of Chalons. The soldiers are full of spirit. They are still quite in the dark as to where they are being led, but they declare before hand, that they are quite satisfied so long as the road leads them to the battle-field. When I watch closely this soldier so indifferent to fatigue, to rain, to dust, swallowing his rations without complaint, and always hoping for victory, notwithstand ing all disasters, I am fillet with admiration for this great family of unknown men, who obey so cheerfully the law of self-abnegation and sacrifice. With a leader worthy of them such men could not be beaten. The inhabitants of the towns which I pass through are less patient than the army. They complain, not without reason, that two things are altogether wanting to them—news and arms. Here is a town which is full of soldiers to-day, but to-morrow they will decamp, and the town will be left to shift for itself should the enemy present himself. Not a gun, not a means of defence is at hand. There would be no alterna tive but submitting to the will of the conqueror paying the contributions of war, and in a word yielding to demands made at the point of the bayonet. Four Uhlans were enough to take possession of a town of 60,000 souls, and to obtain from the Municpality money, provisions, forage and cigars. The Prussians are terrible smokers. They exact from the inhabitants of each town they occupy a supply of six cigars daily for each of their soldiers—the best are of course the best liked. Nowhere have the citizens shown their displeasure more energetically than at Epernay. The residents of that little town, which is rich and prosperous cherished, no pleasant memories of the Prussians. Some could remember, others could repeat the exactions of Blucher's soldiers in 1815, when houses were pillaged, and cellars devastated. If the Prussian is choice of his cigars, which in any case are infinitely preferable to those he smokes in Prussia, he is not less particular in regard to his wines. The discontent is general, and shews itself openly in the streets. The most furious are naturally those who voted " Oui " on the Bth of May, in the belief that the triumph of the plebiscite would be the confirmation of peace. Nothing else is talked of but the disasters suffered by our arms, and the causes which have produced them. All that is told of the incapacity, the indifference, the total ignorance of the commanders is listened to - eagerly. All sorts of extraordinary statements are mentioned in support of these stories, and the most improbable acts are reported, to which we cannot give credence. It is not until we have settled our accounts with Prussia that we can look back to the fatal days of Wissembourg, of Forbach, of Froschwiller, and calmly examine the origin of those disastrous results. The news arrived this morning is better. Intelligence has been received from Bazaine which proves his position is improved. When I told you he was blocked in Metz I was not mistaken, but it seems he has succeeded in conquering the enemy in some strong positions which will enable him, with the help of the army of Chalons, to take the offensive with vigour. • Berlin is in deep mourning in the midst of her joy. Salvos of artillery were fired, and flags were waved from every house in honour of the victories of the 16th andlBth but these triumphs have cost very dear, and thousands of families have lost relatives in the strife. Count Reuss, Count von Kleist, the son of the chief physician of the army, - Count Westarp, and a multitude of other notabilities hgve fallen. The journals are full of long lists of the killed and wounded. The sacrifice of life has been enormous—almost reckless. Mme. Abel Douay has returned to Besancon from Strasburg. The remains of the General, her husband, have not been discovered, notwithstanding all the efforts that have been made by his eldest son. It is affirmed that at the first news of the approach of the Prussians, General Donay rushed out from Wissenbourg to inspect their forces, after having given some orders to his divisor. Hi s staff officers followed him, and came up as he was struck by a shell on the breast. He was thrown down, and another shot killed him. He was carried into a neigh bouring farm house, but the Prussians were on the ad- ritE SUN, LONDON, TH URSD A Y EVENING, AUGUST 25, M A P AIT A P vance. The farm was soon afterwards destroyed by fire, and the supposition is that the body of the unfortunate General Douay has been burned. The German surgeons describe the wounds of the needle-guns as more shattering than those of the Chasse pot. The bolts of the mitrailleuse are very mangling. The Bunel of i3erne says that Kehl was set on fire on the 19th. The Germans opened fire on Strasbourg, and the French replied by immediately burning Kehl, on the opposite bank of the Rhine. The hotel Benz, near the railway station, was the first victim. A tremendous can nonade was kept up all day, and the extent of the confla gration resulting was very great. The German papers are becoming well-nigh unanimous on the subject of Alsace and Lorraine. Organs of all parties agree in demanding that Alsace and at least a part of Lorraine—both of which provinces were taken from Ger many several generations ago—should be restored. In this way, say these journals, Germany would secure a lasting peace, and it would become impossible for France to pro voke a war after the manner in which she brought about the present one. Even the Prussian Moniteur is hinting pretty plainly in this direction. A journal published at Charleroi states that there is a report of the Prussians having fired on some Belgian carabineers, mistaking them for Frenchmen. It is added that one report says five, another seven, were killed. It is also said by the same paper that the Prussians had violated the Belgian frontier, and had been driven back by Belgian troops. The Prussian General von Manteuffel is reported to have been interviewed by the correspondent of the Man dater Examiner, who writes :—" The subject of our con versation was the unanimity of the Germans all over the world in this truly national war. The old General was particularly pleased with his countrymen in England and America, and commissioned me to say that ' even now, the number of widows and orphans was great beyond all imagination, and that onr Fatherland would require the utmost efforts at the hands of all her sons and daughters to assuage the suffering following in the tracks of such unbounded self-forgetfulness as shewn by her best and most devoted children !'" desperate effort to hold on the last bit of the Verdun road, that between Rezonville and Gravelotte—or that part of Gravelotte which on some maps is called Mal maison. Desperate but unavailing ! For every one man in their ranks ' had two to cope with, and their line, at the place indicated, was already be• ginning to waver. Soon it was evident that this wing—the French right—was withdrawing to a new position. This was swiftly taken up, under protection of a continuous blaze of their artillery from heights be yond the village. The movement was made in good order, and the position reached was one that, I believe, nine out of ten military men would have regarded as normally impregnable. My reader will observe that the battle-field was from this time transferred to the regions beyond Gravelotte. The fields in front of that village were completely covered by the. Prussian reserves, and over it interminable lines of soldiers were perpetually marching onward—disappearing into the vil lage, emerging on the other side of it with flaming vol leys. This second battle-field was less extensive than the first, and brought the combatants into fearfully close quarters. The peculiarity of it is that it consists of two heights intersected by a deep ravine. This woody ravine is over 100 feet deep, and at the top from 200 to 300 yards wide. The side of the chasm next to Gravelotte where the Prussians stood is much lower than the other side, which gradually ascended to a great height. From this their commanding eminence the French held their enemies fairly beneath them, and subjected to a raking fire. Their artillery were stationed far up by the Metz road, between its trees. There was not an instant's cessation of the roar ; and easily dis tinguishable amid all was the curious grunting roll of the mitrailleuse. The Prussian artillery was to the north and south of the village, the mouths of the guns on the latter side being necessarily raised for an awkward upward fire. The French stood their ground and died, the Prussians moved ever forward and died ; both by hundreds—l had almost said thousands; this for an hour or two that seemed ages, so fearful was the slaughter. The hill where I stood commanded chiefly the conflict behind the village and to the south of it. The Prussian reinforcements on their right filed out of the Bois des Ognons ; and it was at that point, as they marched on to the field, that one could perhaps get the best idea of the magnitude of the invading army now in the heart of France. There was no break whatever for four hours in the march of the men out of that wood. It seemed almost as if all the killed and wounded had recovered and came again out of the wood. Birnam Wood advancing to Dunsinane was not a more ominous sight to Macbeth than these men of General Goeben's army, shielded by the woods till they were fairly within range of their enemies. So the 'French must have felt, for between four and five o'clock they concentrated a most furious fire upon that point, and shelled the woods perpetually. Their fire here took effect. The line of Prussian infantry became less continuous from that direction. About five o'clock, how ever, an infantry brigade emerged from the same point. As soon as they did so they advanced by double quick time towards the point where their services were needed. I watched this brigade through a strong glass from the first. It resembled some huge serpent gliding out on the field. But lo ! it left a track behind it—a dark track. Beneath the glass that track is resolved into fallen, struggling men. As the horrid significance of that path so traced came upon me I gazed yet more intently. Many of those who had fallen leapt up and ran forward, struggling to catch up with their comrades again. I did not see any running backward, though many fell in their effort to rush on. I do not know whether after that another movement was made from be hind the wood ; but I do know that a half hour after wards vast numbers of troops began to march over the southern edge of the hill where I was standing towards the battle-field, and I have an impression that these were General Goeben's men moving by a less dan gerous route. The conflict on the Prussian Mt was so fierce that it soon became nearly lost to us by reason of its smoke. Now and then this would open a little, and drift under the wind, and then we could see the French sorely tried, but maintaining themselves steadily. In order to see this part of the conflict better, I went forward a half mile, or as near as I thought safe. It seemed to me that here—that is in the vicinity of Malmaison—the French were having the best of it. But it must have been only because they were more visible on their broad height, and fought so obstinately—plainly silencing a battery now and then. But from this northern point also there are more forces to come ; and from far behind them—away seemingly in the direction of Vion ville—huge bombs are coming and bursting with terrible force upon the French ranks. These were the men and these the guns of Steinmetz, who had there and then made his connection with Prince Friedrich Carl's army, completing the investment of Metz. The battle raged at this point with indescribable fury. The French Generals must have known the fiignifiCance of these new guns, and k nown t h at, if their right retreated, the result must be that incarceration in Metz which now exists. How long they A letter in the Vienna Presse relates that in the battle of Woerth nearly 10,000 French were wounded, and that of these 4,000 were brought to Strasburg by the retreating army. These were refused admis sion within the town, and they were hurriedly scat tered in the surrounding hamlets. Day and night the peasant carts stood in the streets and roads ; the people would not take in their bloody burdens. Along the streets the wounded soldiers were laid down in rows before the houses, and died in hundreds. Meanwhile, crowds of fugitives and drunken marauders thronged past, restrained by no discipline. Many soldiers, especially Zouaves, behaved like madmen. They tore off their uniforms, vow ing, with curses on their generals, that they would not be led into action again. Shewing present positions of French and Prussian Armies, with the localities of recent engagements. held out here Ido not know. I could hear that the puff of their guns was from a gradually receding line ; that the mysterious pillars of cloud from the north as steadily approached ; but the last shots fired on that terrible even ing were on that side, and the point must have been yielded at about nine o'clock. infantry officers in the entire swarm ; such a rout as neither 1859 or 1866 ever witnessed. But back I must go to Hagenau. It was seven o'clock ; tha stream of fugitives was less swollen. As in the fading twilight I hastened towards the town to learn if any trains were going, I came across five or six soldiers of various arms, leading in their midst one Prussian prisoner, as proud as if they had got with them the entire Prussian army. The poor man was trembling. In such a debacle to parade one prisoner ! The public-houses were a scene of animation. Soldiers were busy eating and drinking; and what surprised me they quietly paid their shot. In an upper room four infantry officers drank their wine in silence. Five Cuirassiers sat before a roast goose tracking mad jokes. Early next morning at seven I was lucky enough to reach Strasburg in a waggon." ROME AND ITALY.—Either the revolution will burst forth in Rome, and then the Italians will be obliged to pass the frontier to protect order and safety, and the spiritual liberty of the Chief of the Church ; or any such revolt will be prevented in Rome, and then they will have to keep their troops in idleness on the frontier. But when a Congress meets for arranging difinitive peace they will claim a recompense for the military sacrifices they have made, in consequence of their position towards Rome ; and then a final solution of the Roman problem will be found necessary and just. This, then, is the pro gramme which the Italian Government intends following upon the Roman question, and these are the reasons which have determined such a policy, which, I believe, has received the full approbation of the English Cabinet, and has resulted in a moral engagement on the part of England regarding future events. This policy has received the praise and support of the majority of serious men in Italy itself, and will be shortly confirmed by the vote of the Parliament.—Florence Correspondent of the Telegraph. THE KING OF PRTJSAIA ON THE 18TH. —The King's face, as he stood gazing upon the battle-field, had some thing almost plaintive in it. He hardly said a word, but I observed that his attention was divided between the excit ing scenes in the distance and the sad scenes nearer his feet —where they were just beginning (what must yet be a long task) to bury the French who fell on the Tuesday before. On these he gazed silently, and, I thought, sadly. Count Bismarck was intent only on the battle, and could not conceal his excitement and anxiety ; if it had not been for the King I am pretty sure he would have gone nearer ; and as it was, his towering form was always a little ahead of the rest. When the French completely gave up their hold upon the road up to Gravelotte the horses of the " Grosshaupt quartiers " party were hastily called, and mounting them they all—with the King at their head—rode swiftly down to a point not very far from the village. Then shouts and cheers arose, which I could plainly hear at the point they had left, where, not having a horse, I was compelled to remain a little longer.—Correspondent of the Daily News. A CAVALRY CHARGE.—From the region where Steinmetz was supposed to be a splendid regiment of cavalry galloped out. They paused a moment at the point where the Conflans-road joins that leading to Metz ; then they dashed up the road towards Metz. This road between Gravelottes and St. Hubert is cut through the hill, and there are on each side of it cliffs from forty to sixty feet high, except at the point where it traverses the deep ravine behind the village. When it is remembered that at this time the culminating point to which this road directly ascends was held by the French, it will not be wondered that only a moiety of that regiment survived. What the sur vivors accomplished I • do not know, nor could I learn the name and number of the regi ment. The situation hardly admits yet of our asking many questions. But their plunge into that deep cut in the hill-side, where next day I saw so many of them and their horses lying dead, was of that brave, unhesitating, unfaltering kind, which is so characteristic of German soldiers, among whom cowards, stragglers, and deserters seem to be absolutely unknown, in whatever rank.—Cor respondent of Dailo News. METZ.—This city, which was finally secured to France by the peace of Westphalia in 1648, is worth the plundering. Blucher, who smacked his lips at the gold smiths' shops of London, and exclaimed : " Here's for plunder ! " would have revelled in Metz, which is quite a commercial centre for the departments of Moselle, Meurthe, and the Ardennes. Its blouses make brandy and vinegar, gunpowder, cannon, saltpetre, leather, cotton-yarn, military hats, muslins, beetroot-sugar, chicory, nails, hardware, cutlery, buttons, glue, lace, brushes, flannels, pins, and combs. Nothing comes amiss to them, from an 18-pounder to a tenpenny nail. As a commercial town, Metz never recovered the cruel and foolish revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and it has now twenty thousand inhabi tants less than it had in the time of Charles the Fifth. In every way Metz is military. Its royal gunpowder factory, on an island in the Moselle, produces nearly the best powder in France, and plenty of it is now being experimented with on the banks of the Seine. Its military hospital, large and airy, was built by Louis the Fourteenth for fifteen hundred men, but it will hold eighteen hundred. It is a noble building, in two ranges; and will soon, we fear, echo with the groans and shrieks of mutilated men Metz is also natu rally proud of its school of military engineer ing for young officers from the Polytechnique It is attached to the arsenal, once part of St. Arnauld's. Abbey, and boasts a choice library of ten thousand volumes, besides charts, maps, and original manuscripts of Vauban. There is also a sister establishment, a regimental school of artillery, a handsome building, completed in 1852. All the Year Round. A NEW WAR ENGINE.—M. Gaudin writes to the Siecle, describing a new engine of war which he has in vented, and which he proposes to employ should the Prus sians penetrate the enceinte of Paris. By means of this arm, which is to be placed at the same time on the hill of Montmartre and on the Mount Valerien, he would pre vent the enemy from taking up his position within a radius of three kilometres from either of those centres. For want of intervening heights on the other part of the enceinte, his design would be incomplete, and he therefore proposes to carry his engines into the scene of action. They will be con formable to the usages of warfare, containing neither ex plosive balls, nor bombs charged with fulminating powder, but they will be most destructive in their action, as they will in the space of half-an-honr fling on a concentrated force a million of projectiles, capable of producing serious injury at a distance of of three kilometres, and of anni hilating it completely at 1,500 metres. The new machine will, moreover, be calculated to produce terror by its action which the inventor does not feel at liberty to, explain. To produce a million of these projectiles he requires 20 days and a sum of £10;000. He is confident that when the deadly weapons are made no army, how ever strong its position, can resist them, and he is certain that the Prussians, by their aid, can be immediately dis lodged from French soil, the French dictating their own terms at Berlin. He proposes to open a national sub scription for this object, for which he asks government permission. Should it be withheld he will keep back his proposal for the day when the Corps L4g - islatif establishes a committee of national defence. So confident is M. 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In a letter dated the next day, he describes it thus :—From the particular hill to which I had been directed to come by good au thority it was occupied by the Royal Headquarters— the entire sweep of the Prussian and French centres could be seen, and a considerable part of their wings. The spot where I stood was fearful—it was amid ghastly corpses, and burdened with the stench of dead horses, of which there were a great many. I was standing on the battle field of the 16th, on the Prussian side, On the left, stretched like a silver thread the road to Verdun, to Paris also, for the possession of which this series of battles had begun. It was between lines of poplars which stood against the horizon on my left, and on as far as the eye could reach towards Metz, with military regularity. Strung on this road like beads were the pretty villages, each with its church tower, which, although they have separate names, are really only a few hundred yards apart—Mars-la- Tour, Flavigny (a little south of the road), Vionville, Rezonville, Malmaison, Gravelotte. On my right were the thickly-wooded hills, behind which is the most im portant village of the neighbourhood, the one I had just left—Gorze. Such was the foreground of this battle, which should, one would say, be called the battle of Gravelotte, for it was mainly over and beyor d that de voted little town that it raged. The area I have indicated is about four miles square. Owing to having come on foot rather than along the blocked road I was fortunate enough to arrive just as the battle waxed warm —that is about noon. The great representatives of Prussia were standing on the same ground watching the conflict. Among them the only ones I recognised were the King, Count Bismarck, General von Moltke, Prince Carl,Prince Friedrich Carl, Prince Adalbert, and Adjutant Kranski. Lieut.-General Sheridan, of the United States, was also present. At this moment the French were making a mos MACMAHON'S FLIGHT. A noteworthy description of the flight of MacMahon's army is given in a letter to the Wehr Zeitung of Vienna. The writer says :—" I judged the fight to be near Nieder bronn, and did not err. At 4 o'clock in galloped a horse with empty saddle slipping under its belly, through the town gate. Directly after a second, then a third; then fol lowed a cuirassier, his horse covered with blood and foam, without cuirass, without arms. Next an artillerist, on an unsaddled horse, his face distorted with inexpressible fright. Some minutes later a mob of some twenty horse men hurried past, among whom two Zouaves clinging upon one horse were conspicuous ; the others were Cuirassiers in every stage of fright and terror, some swinging wildly their sabres ; others, as if out of their wits, flogging their poor exhausted horses, several without saddles, most of them without arms. One Cuirassier halted his horse just before me, loosened his cuirass, threw off his helmet, next his heavy sword, lastly his Weighty breast-plate, and then, laughing contentedly, rode leisurely on. A pause of some five minutes followed. The townsmen had all fled inside the gates. The fieldwatch and I stood alone at the point where the Niederbronn branch railway inter sects the high road. Presently up gallops a field Gen darme, halts his half-dead horse, and calls out, ' Shut the gates instantly; the Prussians are at my heels.' The field-watch turned white. I exclaimed, ' What madness. Hagenau is an open town. There could be no defence, and if the Prussians really were there the best thing for the town was to open the gates as wide as possible.' His face brightened up. The tumult became greater. Among a crowd of Cuirassiers some Lancers were mixed up ; then came Hussar uni forms. The roads are thronged ; unmounted horses gallop past as if driven on by panic ; on all sides are swarms— artillerymen in shirt-sleeves, many of their horses with the traces cut, ridden by infantry men or artillery. So far I have not remarked one officer. As the mob was thickest a railway train came screaming along from the north. At the moment a number of peasant girls, with their conveyances entangled in the throng, were close upon the rails. They cannot move forwards or backwards ; they seem lost. The field watch and myself, seizing the barrier-tree, forced back the dis tracted wenches, shut the barrier, helped them over, and the train rushed past without mishap. The train ought to have saved the materiel accumulated at Niederbronn ; it ought to have transported the wounded ; it was entirely devoted to flight. They were the first infantry soldiers who saved themselves. All the waggons over filled, on the roofs, hanging on by the handles, with half their bodies in the air, on the gangway boards, some fully accoutred, some half-naked, no wounded ! So flashed past us this novel picture of dis traction across the current of misfortune in the high road. We let the barrier balk drop, and sprung aside. Like a wild hunt the horsemen galloped into the town and clattered through it without drawing bridle. By 5 o'clock the torrent gradually ceased. After a pause came the conveyances. I saw four or five carriages all completely harnessed, yet without their guns. Then jolted and rattled past a broken ammunition wag gon crammed with Turcos ; next a peasant's waggon filled with bedding and household gear, but no owner. A Zouave led the horses, two frightfully wounded Turcos lay on the top, a cluster of unarmed soldiers of all arms clung round it. Now followed infantry on foot, It was about Imalf-past five ; still no officers. In dense swarms the chancery cars, the carriages of three general brigades, the archives of a Division, four or five empty ammunition trucks, every kind of ambulance waggon, all packed with uninjured soldiers. On one car lay three corpses, a few pitifully-draggled Turcos following in the crowd in dumb resignation. Then came a lot of sutlers and camp fol lowers. The infantry had all flung away their packs, many their guns, some were in their shirt sleeves, many of them had loaves stuck on their swords and swung on their shoulders. By far the greater part were those " vieux soldats " for whose valour General Trochu has so lately vouched. I shall not soon forget a poor perspiring infantry soldier of the 50th smartly accoutred, with knapsack on his back, with broad red face, who came up to me and anxiously asked where his regiment was. I told him to go right on to Strasburg, and perhaps he would find it there. He marched bravely along as I had directed him. He was an Alsatian. About half-past six an orderly troop of Cuiras siers, under command of a captain and two subalterns, about forty men strong, rode past. They were almost all properly accoutred, and kept step. Between four and seven o'clock a disorderly rabble hurried by absorbed in themselves and their miserable existence ; in the whole body not more than 40 in marching order ; altogether some 8,000 to 10,000 men ; very few wounded, some three or four cavalry officers, two artillery, and about eight 870. THE PRUSSIAN VICTORY. The whole face of the campaign is changed. The French have sustained a defeat so overwhelming that we very much question whether it will be possible for the Emperor and his Generals to retrieve it. Napoleon, in stead of occupying an offensive position, has now all his work to do to_defend Paris. He acknowledges in a de spatch to his Ministers that his communications with Marshal MacMahon have been interrupted—a fact which in itself reveals the magnitude of the disaster which has overtaken the French forces. The despatch from our special correspondent throws additional light on the great event now made known to us. When we read the general despatches, the first question that arises in the minds is, what has become of the French forces which were pushed into Saarbrucken from St. Avoid and Forbach ? A clean sweep seems to us to have been made of them all. "I am going to place myself in the centre of the position," Napoleon telegraphs to Paris. The truth is he can scorcely be said to have a centre to boast . of. The entire army is driven back to Metz. The position at Saarbrucken is lost—on that line, indeed, everything is lost. The Prussians caught MacMahon in one place, and Frossard in another, and utterly crushed them both. The loss must be tremendous. Four thou sand prisoners were taken by the Prussians, thirty guns, six mitrailleuse, and two standards. France has never received such a blow since Waterloo. All Europe must be con vulsed by such an event. The Prussian headquarters are now at Kaiser-lautern, a point from which a grand advance on Metz from one side, and on Strasbourg from the other, may easily be made. Marshal MacMahon is at Saverne, between Haguenau and . Saarburg. He will, perhaps, attempt to defend Strasbourg, which is at present in great jeopardy, or he may endeavor to get back to the main army. The French front may now be traced in a line from Metz to Nancy. This brief description will enable the reader to trace the various forces on the map—but it conveys no idea of the magnitude of the victory won by the Prussian forces. It is evident that two actions were fought on the 6th. A division of the Prussian Army, under General von Goeben, advanced upon Saarbrucken, and encountered the French under General Frossard. The engagement appears to have lasted four hours, and to have ended in a complete route of the French. General Frossard himself is said, in one despatch, to be in Paris — in which case he must have run hard. The second battle took place on the same day at or near Haguenau, the Prussians being under the Crown Prince. The French were commanded by General MacMahon. There, also, a disastrous defeat befell the Imperial forces. MacMahon's Corps was all but annihilated, and no despatches have been received from him. The loss of men must have been terrific, for both sides evidently fought gallantly. The plan of the Prussian attack appears to have been absolutely irresis tible. How it was that this concerted movement of the Prussian Army could have caught the French at such a disadvantage has yet to be explained. The whole cam paign has evidently been a gigantic blunder on Napoleon's part. If he can save his capital it will be as much as lies within his power. Paris is in a tumult of apprehension and excitement. The Ministers frankly tell the people that they are in danger. They talk no more of advancing to Berlin. Their cry now is : " Help us to save the country." Paris is declared to be in a state of siege, and hurried attempts are being made to secure it against the approach of the enemy. "A serious effort is necessary," proclaim the agitated Ministers. The. reverse must have fallen like a thunderbolt on the French people, and it is probably only the beginning of vast misfortunes in store for them. At any rate the Prussians have a position which menaces the safety of the Empire, and the troops, flushed with victory, would obey with eagerness the order to march on Paris. The moment has come for the friends of France in Europe, if she has any, to declare themselves. Without allies it is as clear as the sun at noonday that France must be finally, hopelessly defeated. Napoleon wished to beat Prussia single-handed." -He can not do it. Unless the troops of other Powers comes to his assistance, he cannot save France. Accordingly, the intelligence transmitted to us from our own correspondent at Paris is of the highest moment. It states that Italy has despatched an army to the relief of Napoleon, and that Austria will follow the example. It is quite quite possible that Napoleon had an under standing before the campaign with Italy and Austria, but wished to do without their assist ance if possible. We stated on the authority of our cor respondent at Peris, some time ago, that Austriahad made a treaty with France. Now is the time for hex-interfer ence, France is in a dire extremity, andnothing but help from outside can bring her through it. The series of battles fought on Friday and Saturday will henceforth rank among the most memorable in the annals of history. —New York Times of August the Bth. THE COMING STATE LABOUR CONVENTION. • The coloured men of this State, up to the present time debarred from taking part in many, nearly all, of the various occupations, mechanical and scientific, are now called upon to unite in the coming State Labour Convention, which will be held on the 24th inst., at Saratoga. The invitation is not confined to coloured men exclusively, but is extended to all classes of working men irrespective of colour. However, the convention is intended to appeal directly to the newly enfranchised. The importance of this movement is evident, and no doubt it will be largely attended. As yet the differenr labour organisations have taken no steps towards a recognition of the rights of the coloured man to a participation in the mechanical arts. Whether the present occasion will be taken advantage of to send representatives to the Convention remains to be seen. Among the many matters which will come up before the Convention possibly the Chinese labour question will find a place. It will be interesting to know how the coloured men will feel on this subject — one that is destined at no distant period to exercise an influence -on many classes of labour throughout the country. From the prominence which the Chinese ques tion has already obtained there may be a disposition on the part of the white working men to act in harmony with their coloured fellow-citizens. The time is not far distant and a few days will tell the tale.—New York Herald. BIRTHS. On the 21st inst., the wife of Morell Theobald, Esq., of Hendon, of a daughter. On the 23d inst., at 21, Canonbury-park N., the wife of Mr. John Davies, of a son. MARRIAGES. On the 20th inst., at Bromley Church, John N. M. Dra per, the eldest son of John Draper, Esq., of Wormley Lodge, Herts, to Harriette Sophia, daughter of G e orge Clark, Esq., of Widmore-hill, Bromley. On the 17th inst., at Moneydie, Perthshire, Andrew Fyfe, Esq., M.D., 42, Montpelier-square, London, to Louisa Stewart, daughter of the late Thos. Richmond, Esq., of Balhaldie, Perthshire. IlEa On the 21st inst., at Sunbury, Middlesex, Saml. Childs, Esq., late of Earl's-court, Kenshigton, aged 84. On the 20th inst., Richard Welbank, Esq., M.R.C. S., formerly of Chancery-lane, aged 74. 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. Thursday, August 25, 1870.