The Sun. — London, England, 1871-01-16 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE. SUN OFFICE, 8 A. Vii. THE WAIL SORTIES FROM PARIS, LE VERT GALANT, January 15. At about half-past ten on the night of the 13th a body of French made a sortie on Le Bourget. Between that hour and half-past twelve three sepa rate attacks were encountered by the Prussian Guards there, and were successfully resisted. Before two this morning the French, issuing from Bondy and Grosslay, made an extended attack on the Saxon lines, advancing on Avron as well as other points. Another sortie was also made on Le Bourget. The Saxons and the Prussian Guards drove them back everywhere. On both occasions the sorties ware made under cover of a furious cannonade from the forts and new entrenchments. IVo particulars of losses are yet ascertained. BERLIN, January 15. The following telegram has been received here : " VERSAILLES, January 14. "In the course of last night there were violent sorties from Paris against the positions of the Guards at Le Bourget and Drancy, those of the 11th Corps at Meudon, and of the 2nd Bavarian Corps at Clamart. "They were all victoriously repulsed., " The enemy's retreat at some points resembled a flight. THE GERMAN VICTORY AT LE MANS. LE MANS, January 13. Sxi days' fighting ended in the capture of 1 e Mans last night by the army of Prince Frederick Charles. There was a struggle in the streets. Much rolling stock has been taken on the railway, together with vast stores of provisions and material of all sorts. The result was achieved by a clever combined move ment of different corps concentrating on Le Mans. The French are retreating in three different direc tions. General Chanzy's army is broken up. Nearly 20,000 prisoners have been taken up to this time. The men are very inferior in stature and strength to the Prussian soldiers. BERLIN, January 10. The following telegram has been received here : " VERSAILLES, January 11. " Field-Marshal Prince Frederick Charles reports from Le Mans : " The enemy is retiring partly on Alencon, partly on Daval, pursued by cur columns. "In the uninterrupted fighting from the 6th to the 12th alone more than 16,000 unwounded pri soners belonging to General Chanzy's army fell into the hands of the 2nd Army. " Twelve guns, including six mitrailleuses, were also taken by lig, and six locomotives and 200 rail- Way waggons were captured. "—Times. The following telegrams come by the Reuter's agency ROYAL HEAD-QUARTERS, VERSAILLES, January 13. In the victorious battle fought near Le Mans 12 guns and 18,000 prisoners have, up to the time of receiving the last reports, been captured by the troops of Prince Frederick Charles. M. Gambetta, who was present at the beginning of the action, saved himself by an early flight. LE MANS, January 14. General Manstein reports officially that on the Morning of the 11th inst. the 9th Army Oorps Stormed the heights of Ohampigny at the point of the biyonet. This was the key of the enemy's posi tion. The 11th Regiment captured three mitrail leuses, and the 85th Regiment took three guns on that day. On the 12th General Blumenthal took an active Part in the fight of the 17th Division near Corneille, by attacking the enemy's flank. The Fusilier bat talion of the 84th Regiment took the height of Hyre by a bayonet charge in this action, not firing a shot, aud making many prisoners. SCHWERIN, January 14. The Grand Duke telegraphs as follows to the Grand Duchess:— " LE MANS, January 14. " Last night the enemy evacuated Le Mans, Which was immediately occupied by the 3rd and 10th Corps. "Many prisoners and large quantities of war Material were captured. "My corps made 4,000 prisoners during yester day's fight. We have advanced to-day without fighting north of Le Mans to the Sarthe. " Our advanced guard has passed the river." THE BOMBARDMENT. ROYAL HEAD-QUARTERS, VERSAILLES, January 15. Forte Issy, Vanvres, and Montrouge, were almost e ntirely silent on the 14th. The bombardment is be ing carried on uninterruptedly. The loss of the vlerinan troops is quite unimportant. telegram from the Prussian headquarters, dated t he 13th, says that in consequence of the continuance (3 f the fog, th e fi re o f th e b a tt er ies was maintained but sla c kl y aga i nst the wor k s an d th e c it y . Th e re ply of th e enemy was wea k. Th e P ru ssian losses r 'ere two officers and nine men hors de combat. GENERAL BOURBAKI'S MOVEMENTS. BORDEAUX, January 14. general Bourbaki telegraphs as follows " ONANS, Junuary 13. cc The villages of Arcey and St. Marie have just beau carried brilliantly, and without our having taTeed too grea t l osses , cons id er i ng th e resu lt ob ft:11, ed . am still gaining ground, and am highly ,04-148 Red with my commanders of Army Corps and til my troops. By manoeuvring I have caused ogre enemy to evacuate Dijon, Gray, Lure, and Vesoul, E,Z i lich my scouts took possession yesterday. The t he at Arcey and Villersexel does great honour i, a ,„" First Army Corps, which has not ceased carry -41'50 on operations for the last six weeks during the s: t , t qing weather, marching constantly, notwith 4giug the cold, snow, and glazed frost." G ENE AL CHANZY'S MOVEMENTS. BORDEAUX, January 14. hasike eor ding to the last information General Chanzy ii wiried nea r L e M ans . Th e par t o f hi s t roops hi g4t e " bad be en th rown i n t o di sor d er d ur i ng t h e i- " t he 11th and 12th h as e ff ec t e d it s re t rea t th e best possible order. S erer PEUNTRUT, January 13. until a fighting has been going on f rom no o n i L ight betw een Her i court and Croix. As far tamed. h hewn, no decisive results have been at- Th e tr ek , aPProach of heavy G er m an re i n f orcemen t s 'be north has been telegraphed. PIGFITING• NEAR HA.VRE. lIAVRE, January 14 (6.15 p. m .) en"aelnl°,claYen the Prussians paid a visit to Fikanip. An t has been fought to-day in the direction of Bolbec and Benzeville, the result of which is not yet known. THE NORTH QF FRANCE. LILLE, January 14 (Afternoon) A rumour is current that the Prussian's are turning the left wing of the Army of the North, and are threatening Cambrai. There has been some skirmishing between cavalry patrols. THE INVESTMENT OF LONOWY. LUXEMBURG, January 15 (1 p.m.) The Prussians having threatened to bombard Longwy, women and children are flying for refuge across the Belgian and Luxemburg frontiers. An infantry and artillery engagement was fought yesterday at llerserange, near Longwy. THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM. BRUSSELS, January 14 (10 p.m.). The Meuse siys :—" A. groat concentration of troops will be effected in the vicinity of Brussels. These forces will, it is said, number 50,000 men. The events which are expected on the frontier are the cause of this concentration. The Prussians, in is believed, are about . to attack General Faidherbe's army vigorously, and endem our to drive him on to our frontier. If the French should endeavour to escape into Belgium, the Belgian troops will cause our neutrality to be respected." A balloon has fallen near Tongres. TERMS OF MEDIATION BERLIN, January 15. Austria is taking preparatory steps with a view to mediation between Germany and France. As yet no propositions have been submitted by her to the belligerents.—Times. BERLIN, January 14. The New Prussian (Cross) Gazette of this even ing, alluding to a rumour that several neutral Go vernments purpose introducing proposals of media tion between Germany and France at the London Conference, remarks that as these Governments cannot but know that Germany will on no account deviate from her conditions of peace, the object can only be to influence the French Government in order to induce it to cede territories which formerly belonged to Germany. The Cross Gazette there fore considers toe statements ' made by several journals on the subject of mediation premature.— Reuter's Telegram. NARROW ESCAPE OF MOLTKE. A Telegraph telegram from Versailles, dated the 12th, says : General Count von Moltke, while returning yes terday afternoon to Versailles from the German batteries on the south-west, had a very narrow escape for his life. A shell burst close to his carriage, and its explosion covered with mud and ice and hard fragments of frozen earth the General himself, his aides-de-camp, horses, drivers, &c.--without, how ever, doing any harm to anybody. TURKEY. OONBTANTINOPLE, January 14. The rumours of differences having arisen between the Porte and the Khedive are emphatically de nied. It is said that the Porte awaits without anxiety the decision that Prussia may come to with regard to the questions recently raised by the Cabinet of St. Petersburg.—Peuter's Telegram. PEACE AND THE CONFERENCE. BRUSSELS, January -15. According to Ministerial despatches received here from Berlin, the Prussian Government has firmly madel up its mind to accept no intervention in the interests of peace on the part of the neutral Powers before the surrender of Paris. Prussia would not be loth, however, to con sider a request for peace made to her directly by the Government of France. All the news that may have reached you with respect to the peace negotiations is, therefore, erroneous. Prince Achille Murat has arrived at Brussels, on his journey from London. Itis journey is associated, in well informed quarters, with a renewal of Bonapartist in trigues. The Prince has had protracted conferences with M. Gander de Cassagnac, and will probably set out for Wilhelmshohe. BERLIN, January 14 (Night.) M. Jules Favre, as French Minister for Foreign Affairs, has given a final and definitive refusal to take part in the Conference about to be held in London on the Black Sea question. The Conference, notwithstanding this refusal, will of course proceed. The right to sign the protocol is reserved to France.—Tdegraph. GENERAL SHERIDAN'S MISSION, FLORENCE, January 14. The American General Sheridan arrived here some days ago. He will be present to-morrow at the military banquet which the King gives in his honour at the Pitti Palace. The rumour circulates in official circles that the object of General Sheridan's visit to the various Courts of Europe, including that of Florence, is to - pave the way for the intervention of the Neutral Powers in favour of peace between Ftanoe and Germany.— Telegraph. (CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAMS.) THE REPRESENTATION OF DURHAM. Mr. Davison, the Judge-Advocate-General, was re elected on Saturday for Durham, without opposition. He met with a very cordial reception. In the course of his speech he defended the foreign policy of the Government, and denounced armed intervention ; but insisted ou the observance of a dignified neutrality. The honourable gen tleman said he believed the feeling of the country was in favour of peace, and thcbt the confidence of the country in her Majesty's Ministers was as ffrm as it was in 1868. Sir H. Williamson, M.P. and Mr. Dodds, M.P., also ad dressed the assembly. FIRE IN A CHURCH. On Sunday, owing to the over-heating of a flue, a fire broke out in St. Luke's Church, Bedminster, Bristol. A large space 60 feet by 40 feet in the the centre of the building was entirely destroyed. RETURN OF THE PRINCE OF WALES FROM GLOUCESTERSHIRE. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales left Berkeley Castle on Saturday for London. The Prince, who is stated to have expressed himself as having thoroughly enjoyed his visit, distributed the sum of fifty guineas amongst the servants of the castle. CHARGE OF SENDING A THREATENING LETTER. At the Lisnahead (Fermanagh) Petty Sessions on Saturday last, a respectable shopkeeper of that town, named Joseph Swan, was charged with writing and sending a threatening letter to Mr. John Murray, J.P., agent to the Earl of Erne, M.P. In the letter he threatened to kill the Earl, Mr. Murray, and the bailiff, on his lordship's estate. An expert proved the letter to be in the prisoner's handwriting. Prisoner was remanded until Saturday next. Bail was refused. At the foot of the letter the usual black coffin was traced. The case caused great excitement in the town throughout the day. THE RELEASED FENIANS. Niue released Fenians sailed from Liverpool, in the steamship R ussia, for New York, on Saturday last. Their names are Edward St. Clair,Thomas Burke, Dennis Dow ling Muleahy, Edward Power, Patrick Walsh, P. Mohan, William Rowantree, George Bisiun, and Patrick Lemon. Before the steamer sailed, the members of the Cork Amnesty Committee presented each of the nine Irish political prisoners who were on board with some clothing, money, and a black theta walking stink, richly mounted in silvei, and bearing the inscription, " From the Cork Amnesty Com mittee." A number of steamers heavily freighted, and having bands on board, passed round the Russia. When the released prisoners, General Burke, W. F. Rowantree, Dennis D. Muleahy, Edward St . Clair, Patrick Walsh, Patrick Lemon, Patrick Mohan Dr. Power, and George Brown appeared on the hurricane deck of the vessel, they were received with tremendous cheering, which they acknowledged by taking off their hats. They stated to those who visited them on board that Captain Mackey and Bryan Dillon were too unwell to be removed from prison. The destination of the Russia is New York. TB E SUN, LONDON, MONDAY , JANUARY )6, 1871. FRENCH PROTEST AGAINST THE BOMBARDMENT. PARIS, January 10. The following protest against the bombardment of Paris was yesterday addressed by the Provisional Government of France to the representatives of foreign Powers :--- " Prussian shells appear to have been wantonly launched against hospitals, ambulances, churches, schools, and prisons, making numerous innocent females and children their victims. "No means had been afforded them to provide for this unexpected aggravation of suffering. "The exigencies of war can never be an excuse for the shelling of private dwellings, the massacre of peaceful citizens, and the destruction of refuges and hospitals. " Suffering and weakness always find mercy at the hands of force ; if force is not disarmed by them it is dis honoured. The besieger is bound to announce before hand his intention to bombard, in order to give time for non-combatants, women, and children to be removed. There was no necessity for a bombardment without previous notice. The military action now taken is a calmly premeditated destruction, and is being systemati cally carried out with no other end than to inspire the civil population with terror by means of arson and murder. " The Government of the National Defence protests loudly in face of the whole world against this useless act of barbarism, and heartily shares the indignant sentiments of the inhabitants, who far from being depressed by this violence, derive strength from it to repel 'the disgrace of foreign invasion.''—Reutcei Telegroni. ANOTHER SMUGGLING CASE AT JERSEY. At two o'clock on Saturday morning last, two officers of her Majesty's Customs, stationed at Jersey, seized a French lugger, on board of which they found two hundred weight of cavendish tobacco. The vessel and two men who were on board were t a k en charge of by the officers ; and have since been detained. HEAVY GALE. At eleven o'clock last night a terrific gale from the south-south-west was blowing off the Land's End district, and heavy rain fell at intervals. The barometer had been falling all day. The steamship Venetia, of Glasgow, left Penzance yesterday morning with 850 hogsheads of cured pilchards for the Mediterranean. Unless she has put into Falmouth she will be in the teeth of the gale. No casual ties had been reported up to eleven o'clock: THE REPRESENTATION OF LIMERICK. In a letter from Dean O'Brien, the leader of the Na tionalist party in Limerick, to a gentleman in Cork, he says he does not anticipate a contest in Limerick, and will regret one exceedingly. A contest between Mr. Monsell and a Nationalist would engender feelings which, at a time not far off, would mar the hope and destroy the strength of the Home Government party in Limerick. Even victory would be mischief, considering the position of parties and the work of the coming session; Two boys, aged respectively 15 and 11 years, sons of the Rev. H. Jebb, of Doncaster. had been on a skating excursion to Whedly Pond on Friday, and were returning home last night on the ice on the river Don, when the ice gave way, and they were drowned. The bodies were found in the Don this morning. A telegram has been received in South Shields an nouncing the total wreck, at Palermo, of the Newcastle barque Express, and that the captain, named Fraser, be longing to South Shields, had been drowned. The Ex press left South Shields three months since for Constanti nople. She was 324 tons register, and built on the Wear in 18W. EXTRAORDINARY ROBBERY. Messrs. London and Ryder, jewellers, of New Bond street, have been the victims of a well-studied robbery. A few days ago a man entered their establishment and requested that some jewellery might be sent to an address in Berkeley-street, Portman-square, for the ap proval of his wife. An assistant went as desired, taking with him jewellery to the amount of £2,000. On reaching the house the door was opened by the man, and the assistant was asked to walk into a rodm. While entering the room he had his arms seized from behind, and at the same mordent a feniale advanced towards him, and thrust a pockethandkerchief, on which it is supposed there was chloroform, into his face. The assistant be came insensible, and, on recovering his senses, found himslf alone in the room, lying on a sofa, with his arms fastened behind him by means of a pocket-handkerchief the man and woman having effected their escape, taldng with them the whole of the costly jewellery. The assistaut having got his hands at liberty gave an alarm, but no trace of the persons could be discovered. The matter is in the hands of the police, who are making diligent in: quiries into it: At the Privy Council held on Saturday, Parlia ment was prorogued to the 9th of February. CABINET CouNciL.—Summonses have been issued for a Cabinet Council on Thursday next, at the Premier's official residence in Downing-street. The members meet at three o'clock. THE MiNISTRY.—Most of the members of the Cabinet will assemble this week in town. Mr. Glad,• stone arrived on Saturday, and the Duke of Argyll, the Lord Chancellor, the Chancellor of the Ex chequer, the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, the Right. Hon. Edward Cardwell, the Right Hon. Chi chester Fortescue, the Earl de Grey, the Right Hon. H. A. Bruce, and the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen are already in town. Mr. Childers, who is still staying at Mrs. Hanbury's seat in Hertfordshire; remains in delicate health, and owing to the inclemency of the weather, has been Linable to take outdoor exercise. Viscount Halifax, with her ladyship and daughter, re turned to Hickleton Hall, Yorkshire, on Thursday, from visiting the Dowager Countess of Cooper at Wrest Park. The Marquis of Hartiugton is staying at Hardwick Hall, near Chesterfield. We learn from our New York correspondent that Judge Brady has given tt decision in the case of the suit instituted by the Erie Shareholders' Protection Commit tee, which "is not unfavourable." We have no precise information as to the purport of the judgment given, but from the nature of the communication we are led to believe that something has been at last gained in the contest with the Erie clique, and we wait with much interest further particulars on the subject.—Railway News. ANECDOTE OF MR. BRASSF.Y.—His charity is said to have been as extensive as it was unobtrusive in its exercise and well-directed in its application. "An unusual instance of largeness of heart was mentioned, about the time when it occurred, exejusively in the columns of the Builder. A little before Messrs. Peto and Betts' failure, Mr. Brassey having become aware that the firm was hard pressed, called upon Sir Morton and offered, as simply as if it had been the most ordinary transaction, to lend him a hundred thousand pounds—and not only so, but, with the aid of Mr. Lucas and two or three other friends, to raise the loan to half a million, if he received the asburance that that sum would entirely rblieve the recipients from em barrassment. To the honour of all parties this generous offer was declined, on the ground that it would not be suilicient.—Builder. NEWSPAPERS IN PARlS.—Since the commence ment of the siege, 49 new journals have appeared. Many of them have already ceased to exist, but counting old and new newspapers, there must at least be 60 published every day. How they manage to find paper is to me a mystery. Some of them are printed upon sheets intended for books, others upon sheets which are so thick that I imagine they were designed to wrap up sugar and other groceries. Those which were stron g est in favour of the Empire, are now the strongest in favour of the Republic. Editors and writers whose dream it was a few months ago to obtain an invitation to the Tuileries or to the Palais Royal, or to merit by the basest of flatteries the Legion of Honour, now have become per fect Catos, and denounce courts and courtiers, Bona partists and Orleanists. War they regard as the most wicked of crimes, and they appear entirely to have for gotten that they welcomed with shouts of ecstacy in July last the commencement of the triumphal march to Berlin. —Lotter front Paris. "THE LARGEST CIRCULATION IN THE WonLn.— The daily circulation of our paper—to actual bona-fide paying subscribers—is just five million six hundred and twelve thousand and forty-two sheets. We have employed upon the paper five hundred compositors, and three hun dred and twelve mailing clerks, and other aiders too nu merous to mention. We have taken special charge of the Falls of Ohio, and use them exclusively for " wetting down" our paper. We have eleven paper mills constantly in opera tion, the smallest of which turns out two hundred thou sand bundles of paper daily. It requires seventeen nine storey Hoe's presses to work off our vast edition, and we are compelled to engage all the coal that is mined in the Lehigh Valley, as well as a contract for all the coal that comes down the Ohio River, to supply our engines with fuel. Our correspondents are all graduates of the first universities and colleges in the world, and are stationed in every city, town, and hamlet in the habitable globe.— Louisville Journal. THE LADY STUDENTS AND THE EDINBURGH INFIRMARY. —The lady students of the Edinburgh Univer sity have issued a circular to the " contributors to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh." The arguments they urge are principally these :—The question as regards the Infirmary is not one of detail, but of i principle. What the court of contributors have to decide is not (as has been erroneously represented) whether " mixed classes " are desirable but whe ther or not the ladi es now s t u dyi ng medicine are to be absolutely shut out from all the advantages of the Infirmary, which is the only hospital in Edinburgh at which any student can obtain a qualifying ' course of instruction; no oth er h os pit a l possessing the requisite number of beds, or fulfilling the other conditions pre scribed by the Medical Board. It should be distinctly understood that we do not ask for mixed classes, and are willing to leave every detail of arrangement to the managers, if only a ' qualifying' course of in struction is granted to us in any form whatever. Three of the medical officers have invited us to attend the practice in their wards, and if we are allowed to accept tneir invitation, we shall be at once provided with all that is necessary for our purpose. It is to be presumed that these gentlemen are the best judges of the alleged ' im possibility ' of our attendance,. and all we ask is that you will, by your vote, protest against our arbitrary exclusion by the managers from those wards to which we are invited. We beg to remind you that we have formally under taken to confine our attendance to those wards in which our presence is welcomed by the presiding physician or surgeon ' • and unless the public deliberately distr us t our word, this promise makes quite unimportant the opinions of the other medical officers whose wards we do not propose to enter. The Infirmary is so large that-the portion to -which alone we . ask admittance is sometning less than a quarter of the whole; and, even if no restric tion is laid on the attendance of the male students, it will be only by their own choice if they attend in the same wards with us while more than three-fourths of the hospital will be devoted exclusively to their in struction. THE BOMBARDMENT. In a special despatch from the headquarters of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Versailles, January 12, the special correspondent of the Daily News observes :—To day's firing is the heaviest I have heard since the Germans arrived before Paris. There is a constant roar of guns along the front. The bright clear weather is favourable for taking aim. The French guns, though by no means silenced, play quite a secondary part in the cannonade. i From battery after battery comes a booming report as the Ger man gunners press forward. The sounds mingle and grow confused, then unite in a crash when several guns go off almost together, or when a salvo is fired at an important mark. They run down the line and burst out at new places, and are echoed back among the valleys to meet other sounds of later date. There is a rush of shells which tear away like express trains ; one, two — half-a-dozen, side by side. The fierce scream of their pas sage through the air mingles with the dull shock of their predecessors. Then come the answering rush and scream— the up-train,if so we may call them—less frequent than of b y down the on smokethe yore ; but still th e y come . F rom m y s t an dp o i n t this morning I could re a li se th e s t rugg l e b y soun d b e tt er th an lower puffs w g ii r i o e t h ind broke tow ardsout o p n ar t i lz hillside, nlideo,o; chance of personal disturbance was from the shells of Mont Valerien, which flew screaming up from behind one's left shoulder, and plunged into the flank of the German line. They were not, however, very frequent. The burning of Issy and Montrouge barracks is very inconvenient for the garrison, but they must have expected it. Such barracks in such forts are like trusses of hay on the deck of a fighting snip. The Ger mans are said to have opened their first parallel against Issy, and mean to take all the southern works in regular fashion. If so, the hard frost is against them. January 13. The fire of the besiegers is not quite so heavy to-day, but still vigorous. The French works, it is thought, are mu ch damaged, as their reply is more feeble. The Ger matt loss in the batteries is officially reported to be very Slight. Very few German guns have been dismounted by the French, and the bombardment altogether is success ful. If the Germans wish to profit by the mild weather to prosecute their works actively against the southern forts, there would be no serious obstacle. Although several shells have flown far beyond the ramparts, and although the besiegers vaguely believe that Paris has been startled by these terrible visitors in the most fashionable quarters, I cannot say for certain whether any such hits have been made. It is the wish of the soldiers to shell the city itself. The bombardment of the forts, and the compara tive silencing of the French, encourage the men, who are convinced that the end is close. They do not sufficiently allow for the urgent political reasons which will make the French resist to the very last. General Trochu is likely to make a four months' defence, and struggle into the fifth at any sacrifice. No doubt the bread supply will hold out till February. FRANCE HOPELESS. In a letter from Bordeaux, the special correspondent of the Standard writes :—The depression of the public spirit which I mentioned as prevailing a few days since gains rather than loses in intensity, in spite of the cheerful utte rances of the official press. There is but one opinion among intelligent Frenchmen with whom I speak. France is sinking ; swamped by the utter incapacity of her lea d ers, and by their blind infatuation in refusing to do what everyone but themselves perceives is the one prime object. of necessity, namely, to concentrate all their avail able forces for an advance to Paris. A friend yesterday reckoned up with me the number of men in the armies and camps of France, and we found that, excluding the garrison of Paris, France has over 800,000 men in arms, without reckoning the Sedentary National Guard. Can any one doubt that, deducting 100,000 for the army and garrisons in the North, if the 700,000 remaining troops were concentrated into two great armies, and marched simultaneously upon Paris, they would fail in reaching it and raising the siege ? What if they are still deficient in artillery ? What if they are still weak in cavalry ? Seven hundred thousand men could force back the retaining armies of Germany, and open a path to Paris. Concentration is all that is re quired to save France ; but M. Gambetta will not con centrate. He persists in frittering away the strength of France in a hundred places,while Paris is slowly starving. Deep as is my conviction of the utter incapacity of M. Gambetta, it is fully equalled by that of the Frenchmen of my acquaintance. "If we cannot get rid of bim," a friend said to me to-day, " France is lost.'' In that case, France is lost. There is no getting rid of Gambetta. Like Sindbad's Old Man of the Sea, he has leapt upon the shoulders of France, and there he sits, an incubus not to be shaken off. It is too late now to change. The coach is now going rapidly down hill ; it may by a miracle escape being smashed, it may gain the opposite rise in safety, but there is now no possibility of a change of coachmen. He must hold the reins now till the end. I cannot describe the pain it gives me to watch their downward progress, to read their words of hope, accompanied by an utter absence of effort, to know that their hundreds of thou ' sands of men are scattered uselessly through France when every bayonet is needed at the front, to know that the date of the surrender of Paris is slowly approaching, and that the men in authority are making no movement whatever to gather their forces to gether and to march to save her. Government are no doubt content. They have, as I long sinee said, two aims in view, the one to save the Republic, the other to save France ; and they may chuckle to themselves that, if they gain no victories for the second, at least they are con solidating the first. The step of abolishing the Council Generals, and replacing them by persons named by the maires, who are for the most part the creatures of the prefect, who are, with scarcely an exception, the creatures of the Government, was, no doubt, a great stroke for the Republic, but it had been* ieceived with a storm of public indignation. The utterly arbitrary and illegal ac tion was a great Republican victory ; but it has had the effect of awakening France to the danger she runs of being crushed by the Republic no less than by the Prussians. The conduct of the Government is, indeed, as arbitrary, as despotic, and as illegally exercised over the part of France yet remaining subject to their power, as is that of the Prussians ia the oc cupied provinces, and there are symptoms that France is wearying of one yoke as she is of the other. Not that she would object to the exercise of the most despotic power on the part of her rulers, or would grumble at the most arbitrary measures, if they were but redeemed by military energy and success ; but it is, indeed, hard to kneel at the feet of a despotic advocate, whose gross incapacity is bringing France to ruin. THR IRISH LAND A CT.---Two very important cases have come before the Land Sessions of Nenagh. In one case the tenant, who held a farm of seven acres, claimed £l5O for disturbance and £lBO for compensation for im provements. In the course of the case the question arose as to whether the farm was, in the meaning of the Act, " a town park," and the chair man, holding that it was, reduced the claim to £lO for unexhausted manuring. In another case, in which Mr. Heron,. Q.C., appeared for the tenant, the question of Ulster tenant-right arose. Sir William Osborne sought to eject a tenant named Fahy from a three-acre farm. The tenant put in a claim leaving blanks for the sums claimed, as his case was the custom of tenant• right—that he was able and willing to pay his rent, and should not therefore be disturbed. After a good deal of argument, the chairman made a decree with stay of execution until after next session, in order to enable the tenant to put in a claim specifying the items of the amounts on which he claimed. THE GREAT BATTLE AT LE MANS. The special correspondent of the Telegraph sends the following from the Head-quarters Second Army of the Loire, January 11 (Midnight):—At a quarter past five in the afternoon terminated the second battle before Le Mans, the result of which is fraught with the deepest impottandei riot merely` to the army of General Chanzy, but to the heroic population of Paris, which that army was designed to liberate from the iron grip of the besieging and the covering armies of the invader. All around the east side of Le Mans ex tends a range of lofty woody heights. At the extreme right of French line was the village of Brette, with a large forest stretching awey to the south and east ; and in this quarter, where the 16th Corps was posted, a desperate struggle took place under my eyes. The bone of contention was the wood near Brette, the possession of which was evidently esteemed of vital consequence by both parties. I arrived in time to witness the advance of a large body of French troops across the open plain, half a mile broad, to attack thd German forces which held the forest. Not fewer than 20,000 then, f dhotrld sal, took part in this operation ; an the moveniefit WAS - i'fiadd at the double-quick, c ered by a powerful fire from the French artillery, which appeared gradually to overmaster, though it did not extinguish, the fire of the Prussian guns. The assault was most courageously made, but the Prus sians opposed a solid and bitter resistance. Again and again the dark masses of assailants approached the Prussian line, and I could . see the flashes from the enemy's guns , against the :gloomy back ground of the forest, within which the enemy was strongly posted. The Prussian resistance was in vain, however; for General jaureguiberry succeeded, though after a stiff struggle, in dislodging them froni the coveted position. My standpoint was near the Village of Chafige, about four miles east by south from Le Mans, and exactly in the centre of the French line of battle, which was held by the 17th corps. The Germans now began a lively and uncomfortable cannonade from the valley below. Shells fell around my post in rather perturbing frequency ; but no attack of infantry was made in this quarter—the battle in the centre being . merely an artillery duel. It was now three o'clock ; and, shifting my position, I joined the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, by whom I stood for a considerable time. The General, I may say, is one of the handsomest men I have ever seen ; and his personal adirautages were enhanced by his piquant and picturesque coduirte—the invariable red trou sers of the French army, high Jack-boots, and jaunty kepi. At ten minutes to four we saw a', treaty mass of the enemy approach in column, with a numerous artillery, immediately in front of the Chateau des Arches —a pretty country seat lying just below the hill on which we were posted. It would seem that the Germans had no suspicion of the real strength of the French in the centro, or of the weight of their artillery. While I was stand ing by the General, he gave oiderS that the batteries should open ; and immediately a vigorous fire began from the French field pieces, maimed to a large extent by the artillery of the Marine. The Prussian grins responded, but after the first round they produced little effect upon the artillery or the infantry on the height. As the enemy's columns drew nearer, the French infantay was ordered to advance to the crest of the hill, and on the terraced road below fifty mitrailleuses at once began to play upon the enemy. A shower of shot and shell and bullet —for the Prussians had now opened a heavy musketry fire—grew warm all round my position. When darkness put an end to the contest, shortly after five o'clock, the French centre still maintained its ground ; and in my hearing General Chanzy gave orders that it should be still further strengthened by bringing up six additional batteries of artillery, which, IS I re turned to Le Mans, I met upon the road. Cliatiziy I may say—and I had a good opportunity of observation —acted throughout the day with great coolness and strong sense ; perfectly master of himself and of all the ever shifting circumstances of a most critical occasion. I should have said that on the extreme left of the French position at Champagne—which of necessity came less under my personal observation—the Germans advanced through a deep and narrow valley between the forests and the river Huisne ; and in this quarter alone, as 1 believe, on the extensive battle-fields which stretched for about twelve miles from south-west to north-east, the Fren2ch had to give ground, retiring about two miles. When night fell, about a quarter-past five, the combat ceased all at once, as if by common consent ; leaving the French still in possession of the heights, while the Prussians lay in the woods and the low country beneath. On the French side the loss in the battle was comparatively slight, but the Prussians,exposed as they were in the valley to the fire of the French guns on the heights, lost much more heavily in proportion. Their casualties cannot be put at less than three thousand or four thousand men. For the day the enemy certainly cannot be said to have gained any positive advantle. The battle was fought for the possession of Le Mans ; and Le Mans still remains in the hands of the French, whose line now runs nearly parallel with the railway to Paris, on the left bank of the Huisnei and facing to the south-east. But the battle is merely suspended. To-morrow it must recommence. COUNT BISMARCK ON THE ALLEGED GERMAN CRUELTIES. Count Bismarck has addressed a despatch to the North German representatives abroad, in reply to the charges brought by Count de Chaudordy against the German mode of carrying on the war. He says : A document signed by Count Chaudordy, and which teems with accusations against the German commanders and troops, is said to have been transmitted to the neutral Powers in the name of the Government of the National Defence. I do not know, and should almost doubt whether that has been really done, as the document is evidently intended for the French public, and for the re quirements of that section of the foreign press which is inimical to us. Even if truth is most grossly and most perseveringly distorted, the fact cannot be denied that it is the French who have imparted a character to this war which must daily deepen and widen. On twenty-one different occasions—as shewn in Appen dix A—in which the supposition of accident or mistake on the part of the French troops is precluded, Parlementaires who carried a white flag, and were accompanied .by a trumpeter sounding his bugle, have been fired upon. The French have gra dually made themselves so well acquainted with the Geneva Convention that they know how to derive the greatest advantages from it ; but with respect to the fulfilment of the obligations which it imposes there has been no commensurate im provement. Whilst we are anxiously upholding even impracticable stipulations of the Convention at the cost of great inconvenience and military detriment, the French on their part have, up to the present time, con tinued their attacks on dressing stations and ambulances, the ill-treatment and robbing of surgeons, delegates, hospital servants, and attendants, and the murder of wounded, and, when surgeons have fallen into the hands of the enemy's troops, they have fre quently been ill-treated and imprisoned, or at least robbed of their property, and taken by most fatiguing roads to the Swiss or Italian frontiers. In the face of such glaring violations of the Geneva Convention, the German Governments will have to consider in how far they will in future be bound by it as regards France. It cannot be a matter of surprise that autho rities who have so little respect for laws and conventions are still less scrupulous in casting aside the present customs of nations, and fall back upon a line of action resorted to during long past periods of civilisation ; nor that they should sanction actions which at all times and by all peoples who had any notions of honour what ever were deenied eminently disgraceful. The way the French prisoners, wounded and sick, are treated, of whom we have an unparalled number to provide for in Germany, has been attested by those who have come from neutral States in order to attend to the sick and wounded, and who have publicly and spontaneously given evidence on the subject in their own names ; whilst the German prisoners in France, although not a tithe of the number, have in many instances been treated with inhuman severity and neglect. A renuncation not only of the military point of honour, but of common probity, is evidenced on the part of the present rulers with respect to the breach of parole by French officers, commented upon in my despatch of the 14th December. During the last few days we have obtained proof that the present Minister at War expressly sanctions this faithlessness, encourages it, and promises to reward it by payment in cash. such a Government requires for its very ex istence constantly to incite the passions and embitter the feelings of the. two nations now at war, because it requires the continuance of the war in e order to retain its dominion over its fellow citizens. The Government of the National Defence rouses the passions of the people without making any effort to restrain them within the bounds of civilisation and international law. It does not wish for peace ' • for, by its language and . att itude, it deprives itself of the power to make peace accepted, even if it is so desired, in face of the feeling which it has created among the masses. It has unchained forces which it knows not how to dominate orto keep within the limits of international law and European military usage. If, in view of this state of things, we are, forced to exercise the rights of war with a severity which we regret, and which appertains neither to the German national character nor to our traditions, as is proved by the wars of 1864 and 1866, the responsibility thereof falls upon those persons who, without eall or justification, have undertaken and forced upon the French people the continuance of the Napoleonic war against Germany, while casting aside the traditions of European warfare. OUR COTEMPORARIES—This Morning A STRUGGLE FOR PEACE. The Times says :—As often as it is urged that neutrals have their duties as well as their rights, and flail not the least of their duties is to attempt, and again attempt, to assist in making peace between belligerents, the ready answer comes that the task is full of difficulty. There is, no doubt, great foundation of truth for the plea. We are told from Berlin that as Neutral Govern ments must be aware that Germany will on no ac count deviate from her conditions of peace, their efforts at mediation must be exclusively directed to the labour of persuading France to submit. This declaration imputes to Neutral Governments a knowledge they do not possess. What are the German conditions of peace? No statement of them has over been communicated by any authority to the Neutral Powsrs, and the first object of any mediator must be to ascertain, bath from France and Germany, upon what terms each would consent to a sus pension of hostilities. There would of course, be a con siderable divergency between them, and it is the proper office of diplomacy to lessen this. If, when all is done, it should appear that the pretensions of the belligerents are still absolutely irreconcilable, neutrals would be compelled to abandon their benevolent efforts ; but be fore this stage could be reached something would have being realised. If Germany proposed terms which a 'neutral thought Vrance might accept, and the Provisional Government hesitated, it would be right to insist upon the propriety of referring the question to the people. If the French Government expressed their willingness to assent to terms which ap peared to neutrals adequate, and Germany refused them, the possible danger and the certain cost of refusal could be at least indicated. Under either of these hypotheses the guilt of protracting the war would be fixed on one or the ether belligerent, and it would be worth the pains if this were accomplished. Only on the supposition that both combatants proved utterly unreason able would the attempt to mediate prove an utter failure, and the risk of this contingency cannot justify neutral Powers in remaining in a state of inaction which was never very honourable and is becoming almost criminal. The Daily News, on the name subject, observes : We are fully aware of the vast difficulties which stand in the way of intervention. No sane person would ask that Lord Granville should merely invite the Neutral Powers to express to Prussia an opinion that the war had gone far enough. To ask the German armies to pack up their baggage and go home would be worse than ridiculous. All that can be asked is that Germany in her own interest, not less than in that of France and of Europe, shall moderate her demands. A compromise might be urged on both sides. Neither side has a right to insist on its full claims, and each might fairly be asked to grant something to the susceptibili ties of the other. If Frenchmen resolve not to tr►at while a single hostile foot is on their soil, we may admire their heroism, but we must put off till some far remoter period all hopes of peace. If France chooses to suffer rather than to ask for peace, we shall still regret her miseries, but we must resign all idea of bringing them to a speedy end. On the other hand, if Prussia insists on extravagant demands, French resistance must go on. Germany has less to lose by any peace than France has. If the German soldiers never set foot in Paris, Germany would have all the security she needs. The great duel has not only proved lief to be the stronger, but made her so, by giving the German people that political union which is solitary strength. Moreover', France, if she be capable of profiting by cruel experience, must have unlearned the evil lesson of military glory, and, having found the Napoleonic legend to be a delusion, seek to cultivate her resources and consolidate her freedom. Why cannot two such peoples be brought to terms ? Why must they fight on till one or both are exhausted ? Both want peace, and one is too proud id offer it, the other too proud to ask it ; why, then, cannot the diplomacy of Europe propose to them ? THE SHELLING OF PARIS. Saturday night, January 14, says the Standard, was destined to witness the inauguration of the most hideous and unprovoked atrocity which has stained the annals of nineteenth century civilisation. It may indeed be questioned whether the annals of mankind can furnish a parallel instance of barbarity so gigan tic and cruelty so revolting. If the state ment published less than thirty hours since in London is correct, ten thousand inflammatory bdinbs will hate been launched before the dawn of yesterday's Sabbath by the "mild and manly Prussians' into the very heart of Paris. It has been reserved for a Monarch who boasts that he derives his attributes direct from Heaven itself, who professes to believe that he is the instrument of a purpose for which he arrogates a Uelestial origin, .who salutes each new feat of slaughter achieved, and each work of misery for his fellow-men accomplished, as some fresh mark of the favour of Providence, to have signalised himself by an enterprise of blood and vengeance, from which posterity, when it views the utterly incommensurate magnitude of motive and results, will recoil with indignation and horror. The time has passed when the struggle between Prussian and Gaul could be viewed as a con test between two nations. How often have we been told in the course of the war that it has entered upon a new phase? What is its present and latest phase, if not that of mere murder— violating by its contact the high name of justice—lust of spoliation and revelling in the torture of tens of thousands of unoffending men, women, and children, under the gar b an d th e title of divinely ordained vengeance? If France has been guilty, or Paris has sinned, France and Paris have both of them been purged in the fires and anguish of atonement. It is a mere mockery of words to speak of King William as the Heaven-ordained instrument of a merited atonement now. Is Europe, is England willing to incur the terrible responsibility of remaining an apa thetic and inactive spectator of this the most monstrous crime—this the most unutterable outrage upon huma nity which it will be the duty of the historian of the future to record? It is only now to the neutral Powers and to England that the appeal can be made. Prussia has long since turned a deaf ear to all considera tions of mercy, humanity, and justice. She has reached the crowning point of her bloodthirsty sin. She has deliberately preferred the reputation of Vandalism to that of high-souled victory. For Prussia, it is true, the future will bring its Nemesis ; and that Nemesis, come in what shape it may, will descend in some sort also upon those who have sanctioned by their silence a scandal to humanity, whose perpetration cries aloud to Heaven for vengeance. While we cannot wonder at the protest which the Pro visional Government of France has issued against the bombardment of Paris, remarks the Telegraph, we cannot admit the justice of the accusations which it hurls against the besiegers. It is, doubtless, hoirible that hospitals, ambulances, churches, schools and prisons should be ex posed to the fire of shells, and that many innocent women and children should have been killed ; and, if it is true that the Germans gave no warning of their intention to blinbard the city, they are so far guilty Vf having broken the humane etiquette of war. However soon may be the day of submission, the Paris of 1870 and 1871 has already earned a right to an ins perishable place in the history of France, for supremely displaying, throughout four weary months of isolation, hunger, disease, and death, the hard and silent virtue of endurance. Paris deserves well of France. The fairest of fair cities, she has proved herself the worthy capital of the most brilliant of all peoples. There is perhaps no great capital in the whole world that would have acted with such heroic manhood and womanhood. We may all of us--Germans as well as English—bare our heads in token of our homage for the nobility of the spectacle. When the strife shall be stilled, the historical im partiality of learned Germany will record with the glow of enthusiasm how, for month after month, the millions of the most luxurious and frivolous people in Europe waited, and waited in vain, for rescue from the cannon, the hunger, the pestilence which were kil ling them with the rapidity of a great plague. But the admiration of Europe will not deaden the Parisian and the French remembrance of such miseries. For every shell that is cast into the capital, for every monument de faced or destroyed by Prussian fire, for every hour of hunger Paris, for every child that has u drie d end o i o r woman that has sick htfredf ened of disease, ambilyie, France will feverishly demand M. John Lemoine justly says that the fur rows dug by the cannon balls will bring forth only har vests of vengeance. The starved mother who h as seen h er baby die at the exhausted breast will cry to the survi vors, " Remember me !" The fathers who have lost their sons will plot for the day when France shall do unto Berlin what Germany has done unto Paris. The woman will train up their children to hate Prussia with the hate that leads to battle. The whole nation will wait and drill and arm, until it can strikt. with tenfold the strength now wielded by France. The bombardment of Paris will never be for given. Its results will be the tears and blood of genera tions. While two sons of Mr. Cameron, a gentleman belonging to Glasgow, now on a visit at Bridgend, Islay, were amusing themselves on' pond near Islay House, the ice gave way, and the elder boy, named John, about 10 years of age, was drowned. The Sporting Gazette states that Mr. Jesselyn gives up the Suffolk hounds at the end of this season. — Everything has been satisfactorily arranged for the future hunting of Lord Wemyss's county. Major Browne has consented to take a portion of the Northumberland dis trict ; and Mr. Forbes, of Callander, will be the • new .master of the Berwickshire and ,North Northumberland portion.—Lord Portsmouth has nearly recovered from a severe attack of bronchitis on the top of influenza, which has laid him up since Christmas Eve, although he is still too weak to get on a horse, )n th to on an ich go )ns nge end ng lira om - Fri the ewe )IVII rB7, 'WI Iteo, onle po4 [risb v or° t 1 t 14)