The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-10-29 00:00:00

NO ONE TO TREAT WITH!

In • brief note frem Si. Germain, the Correspondent o
the Pall Matt Gazette us,.:—" In spit* of all the rumours
of peace that are current, I own that I do not, here on the
spot, see how pesos is possible for many months—so loot
as Par!, remains untaken ; and we can hardly nappies that
the Parisian. will open their gates without striking • blow,
or that the walls will faU at the mere sound of our siege
guns. Every day one Nem more clearly that Ina
marck wee right when he said, "There is no one
to treat with.' On all sides one sees dgns of the
most frightful social disorganization, the bourgeoisie de
sating their duty, running away at the mere sound of •
Pramlaa drum, or, when they remain. totally Incapable of
giving an initiative. Al to the lower slum, they appear to
have made up their minds that, once the Prossian armies are
out of France, the golden age will have come for them and
their clod& Here, In Bt. Germain, it Is difficult to get any

work done. 'We are not going to work,' say the ownen
' we shall have plenty to eat and drink when the cursed
Prussians are gone,' There lea great deal of pillage, which
will, of course, after the war be put on the broad shoulders
of the Prussians but which, If thetruth were known ha* been
done by the people of the country themselves. The most
popular means of earning a livelihood among the lower
clamee Is to take a wheelbarrow, fill it Mil of some one elm's
vegetables, and then sell them for • few sous at market. It
I. only the presence of the Pruselans whieh pr,tects the
chlteaux an, even the shops, for the unfortunate bourgeoisie
have been disarmed., and are so utterly frightened that they
seem Incapable of taking measures for their own protection."

THE WAR AND THE PEAS.,IATRY OP PRANCE!

When the present storm has passed over France and she
seta to work to repair the damage done to her by the herd-
cane, It will be curious to observe the effect which recent
events have had on the minds of the peasantry of that
country (say. the Pail Mall Gaze(te). The late M. Prevost-
Paradol, in two lectures he delivered before the Philosopical
of Edinbergh on France, gave some information
on the political and social condition of that country which
are doubly interesting owing to the events which have
lately occurred, and as showing the Impassibility of
calculating the effect which these events may produce
on the French peasants. Speaking of revolution., he
remarked, "You cannot live in France, even in the
middle of the most Coneervative classes, without being re-
minded that you are in • revolutionary land, qulteuin far re-
gion. the Ilg htneu of the constructions and the general aspect
of the soil want you that you are in a volcanic country." rho
French peasant has, however, known but one master. He
has no lord to fear, and for the molt part does not reverence
the priest, lie therefore gives an unhesitating submission
to the Executive. The Statureceives from him the obedience
and feu which, in the days of feudal despotism, he paid to
the noble. The State educates hi, children, makes soldier.
of them, collects and sometimes remits his take. He there-
fore seldom thinks of using the vote he possesses against the
Executive " under the hand of which he spent his humble
life, and which he respected and feared In the humblest of
its officials" Ile cares not In whose hands the Government
1., so long as It is • Government. A revolution In
France has only to be rapid in order to be suc.uful ;
for, lithe peasant has not time to understand what Is
going on, he will transfer his devotion to the supreme
power, whatever that may be. Perhaps under then circum-
stance, it may be as well for the French pelmet that for •
time there should be no supreme power In France. Ile will
have time to look about him and form his own opinions.
lie must have learned more in the last three niontbs than
he had learned in a century before If he has awakened to
the miseries of war he has alao awakened to • .11.0 of his
responsibility and power as the pouessor of. vote, and will
probably exercise It In future with some little reference to
the efficiency of the form of Government he supports to pro-
tect Wm from a recurrence of the inisfortunea of which he I.
now the victim.

DREADING THE HORRORS OF A IionBARDMINT !
genie of the German papers express dissatisfaction at the
bombardment of Paris being delayed, and deprecate any
diplomatic Intervention. The Weser Zeitung remarks:—
In neutral countries sympathy with the Parisian/ is getting
the now hand of the recognition of the goodness of oar
COMM liven MOW vlllo formerq NOle clooldedly ou the Ger-
man side are asking in consternation whether iii. necessary
to give up the wonderful city to all the horrors of war, and
whether Germany is not already rich enough in victories and
security to renounce this last success. Unhappily, the that
question must be answered hi the AM-maths, and the
second In the negative." The heretic admits that the
bitterest enemy of the French must feel honor at the fate
awaiting the unarmed population of ram; and it presumes
the King and his Ministers are anxious to spare as long as
possible from aaaaa me measure, a city inhabited by •
million women and children. The Cologne Gazette Insists
that so long as France refuses to admit the principle of •
cession et territory the war must be continued, and it urges
the neutral Powers to press this concession on the French
Government."

A CRT OF DESPAIR!

The Frinnee publishes the following cry of despair We
are no longer Frenchmen, for our soldiers accustom them-
selves to being made prisoners, our Annie. capitulate, our
generals have forgotten how to conquer. We are no longer
Frenchmen, for at Paris a regiment files from the enemy
without firing a shot; at (Wean., our soldiers, who were
considered the best In the world, run away; only the Mobiles
and the Volunteers of the west show a good attitude, and
set an example which Is not followed. We are no longer
Frenchmen, for our officers do not study war, and rouse.
quently understand nothing of it. The great art of war,
which our fathers had brought to such perfection, they
hsve forgotten. Our military prestige Is lost. We are now
only a people of chatterers, sybarite., and orators, who,
making demonstrations in the theatre and In the public
squares, resolve on changes in the form of Government,
eagerly finding fault with one another, and dividing us when
the enemy puts the sword to our throats. Wears no longer
Frenchmen as the Greeks in Philip's time were Greeks, as
the Romans :n the time of the Goths were Romans. The
modern Macedonians will treat us as Philip and Alexander
treated the Greeks, or rather ass Alert° treated the Romans,
and as the Turks treated Constantinople, They will not
only accomplish the unification of Germany, but bring Eu-
rope under their yoke, without us, in spite of us, and against

CHAN(

" Any reader who haa passed along the line to Paris via
Met, will no doubt remember this pretty little village lying
in the valley of the Salle the neat railway station, the
clean-looking peasant women of the country, who offered
you fruit or cakes at the carriage-door as the train stopped
fore few moments, and the fertile plain by which It was sot
rounded. tint now another slide has been put Into the
magic lantern. What do you see now !—presto ! all is
changed. The railway station and the village, it is true, still
extst, but they rhe like an island out of an ocean of mud. We
wade through the sticky, clinging, undraped coil; we struggle,
we swear we are surrounded by Proriant Colonnen,
by Markaendet waggons and by men so thickly covered with
mud that it is Impossible to tell what they are. A final Soli,
and we can get no further. We must dismount and walk
along the line, for time presses, and Prince Frederick Charles
is not one hn brooks delay. No sooner do hand upon terra
injirnia than I find my foot in a sort of natural bootjack.
First, I lose one of my spurs; then one of my boots
I. halt pulled tit, and only with very great cliMf.ulty
do I struggle back into it again At Lut I get upon the rail-
way embankment, and finally upon the permanent way. I
look with astonishment at the surrounding scene. The em-
bankment right and left of the Una is one mass of
stores. Hay, oats, flour, barrels of boot., bread, wine,
" Liebesgaben" or gifts, with here and there improvised
shelters from the now pouring rain. tiers I espy • cunning
hussar looking. Blogenes-like, out of • large tub into which
he has crept for shelter there, a sentry who has made a
sentry-box of flour begs; further on is the railway station.
Before It stands a train ; anti as I approaeh 1 eau into the
wounded and the sick who are lifted by hundreds Into the
carriages. On either side of the station, some energetic
shop-keepers have improvised a sort of wooden house,
where they dispense very bad schnapps, not the freshest of
German sausages, and had-boiled eggs, none the better for
a long Journey. An enterprising storekeeper, from Cologne,
has brought some wine, and, thanks to him, we breakfasted
at three p.m., having had nothing to eat since seven a.m.
Ilia wife—all honour to that careful woman f—hid packed
up six cold chickens for his special use I demolished one,
and my friend another. While hisjor Sieber went to in-
quire into the matter about which he had come, I had
time to sit down and scribble these few lines,
The mud of Ceurcelles is only to be matched by
that of Balakiava—the screeching, struggling mass of
human beings and horses only by the disorder which reigned
when the English first occupied the Crimean port. The
atmosphere, never very healthy at this time of the year, la
now loaded with a heavy pestilential odour, arising from
badly-burled horses, some of whose half-exposed caresses
were to be seen upon the muddy plain around and I must
coniesa that when my friend informed me we moat go on to
/Locally, I was excemively pleased at being able to leave so
dreary a prospect behind me. One regiment en Courcelles
has at the present moment not fewer then 627 men on the
sick list."—Correspondent of Daily 7'elegraph.

CARE! ET OF MEAT IN FARIS.

From Monday next lot It) a new ayetem of the distri-
bution of meat Ic to come Into force. Between 450 and 500
oxen and 3 300 .beep are to be daily slaughtered nu meat
Is to be divided Into twenty iota, one for each arrondiase-
nient, the sire of each lot to be determined by the number of
the inhabitants of the particular arrondissement. The lot
will then be divided between the butchers in the arrondisse-
ment at twenty centimes per kilogramme below the retail
price. Each arrondlasement may, however, adopt •
system of rations. I suspect most of the beef I have
eaten .of late Is horse ; any how, it does not taste like
ordinary beet To obtain a Joint at home is almost Im-
possible. In the ilrat place it is difficult to purchase
It; In the second place, if, when bought, It is
spotted by patriots going through the street, it Is seized
upon on the ground that any one who can obtain a Joint for
love or money must be an aristocrat who la getting more
than hie share. I met • lady early this morning, who need
to be most fashionable. She mu walking along with a
parcel tinder her shawl, and six dogs were following her.
She asked me to drive them away, but they declined to go.
I could not understand their sudden •ffection for my fair
friend, until she confided to me that she had two pounds of
mutton In her parcel. A tariff for horse-flesh la published
to-day ; it costs—the choice parts, whichever they may be
—lf. 400. the kilo; the teat, 80c. the ktlo."—Diary of. Be.
&longed Readout, in the Doily Franc, under date Oct. 6.

A SECOND MAID OH ORLEANS.

The correspondent of the Cologne Gazette, writing from
Versaillee on the 21s1 inst., states :—We are now Informed
of the appearance of a "maid," a modern Joan of Arc, who
has suddenly sprung up from the department of the Loire
Ini6rieure, and who is to inspire fresh courage and new
hope. Into the hearts of the French. This inspired young
woman, who, like unto her predecessor in the reign of
Charles VII.. has visions, and has heard the voice of the
Mother of Gad, does not appear to consider It neces-
sary this time to submit herself to sin examination
as to whether she is In communication with or
possessed by the "powers of darkness" In the
present case also the "maid" wears neither armour nor
sword, but along black robe, no doubt to denote her sorrow
as to the position of her mother country. Up to the present
time the superior command of the sem, of the Loire ima
not been entrusted to her Nevertheless, she marclus at
the head of the troops who are still in Tours, and carries
before them a silken banner, upon which is painted the
Moly Virgin with the infant Jesus; and In fact the whole
affair looks as if the advisers of this new paragon had been
guided by a zealous study of Schllier's " aid of Orleans,"
This information, although &fable, had been stated officially
from the headquarters of the Army of the South,

THE CROWN PRINCE'S BIRTHDAY.

The Crown Prince of Prussia to-day October 18, Is 39 years
of age. There have been few Princes of the Blood Royal,
heirs to great thrones, whose birthday anniversaries have
been celebrated under such circumstance. . . . At the gate•
way, when there are • couple of gendarme. lounging about, a
couple of Landwehr of the guard on duty, and orderlies, bikers,
groom. Ac., there is • lodge with an inscriptlon—a text (if I
mistake not la " Peace be with thee") over the d00r...
the hall, over the doors in the rooms, are the texts enJoin.
leg people to be good and not to make war, end to
turn one cheek if the other be smitten, and to return good
for evil, and so on, which, If duly heeded and worked out,
would raise the siege of Paris ki once. There are guards
along the walks and picket. in the avenue. . . . Sentries,
too, are at the doorways, and to-day a great gathering of
hones and carriages, officer. in full uniform, an animated
crowd, elusion. to pay their respecM to the Crown Prince and
to Write their name. in the Royal Book. The Priam held •
levee at which the highest personagee were present, and to
which every officer who could get away from duty repaired,
so that Le. Ombra..s were bright indeed. As I entered I
met Captain 'foxier, who had only just arrived. The
Crown Prince had a reception here at twelve o'clock, to
which all the officers, high and low, and the Ring himself,
came to present their congratulations. Prince Adaibert,
and the officer. of State and of the Royal Staff arrived and
breakfasted with the Crown Prince subsequently. The
Crown Prince and his Staff dined with Hie Majesty the King
at the Prefecture, where covers were laid for 80. The Ring
gave • toast, which was very grateful and gramful, "To you
by whose means we are here!" Hi, Majeety had ordered to be
brought with him is number of the insignia of the Order of the
Iron Cross, and 22 officenreceived the coveted distinction of the
First Class of this Order, which had hitherto been conferred
en only four persons. The King has hitherto refused the ,
First Class, but to-day the Crown Prince placed one on his
Royal Father'. breast, saying, "flow can you think, Sirs,
your officers can wear it If you will not f "—Times' Corre-
spondent.

"The proprietors have been deprived of their power to
tile for rents, Consequently a family requires but little
ready money to subsist on from hand to mouth. My land.
lord every week presents me with my bill. The ceremony
seems to please him, and dom me no harm. I here pasted
upon my mentleptep the decree of the Government ed.
pruning payment of rent, and the right to read and re-read
this document Is all that he will get from me until the end
of the siege. Yesterday I ordered myself a warm snit of
cloth..; I chose • tailor with a Garman name, and I feel
convinced that he will not venture to ask for payment under
the present circuthatencea, and if he does he win not get it.
If my fund• run out before the siege is over I shall have at
least the pleasure to think that It has not bees caused by
improvideoce."—d Besieged Rowlett in Park