The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-01-21 00:00:00

THE DANGER OF SYMPATHY.

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Sympathy 'will not give or take away an inch of territory '
or a single fortress writes The Tzmi,' Correspondent at
Versailles). The feelings which were excited in the hearts
of our ancestors when they saw the First Napoleon carving
up Europe self It were a turkey, and serving out legs, wings,
and slices of the breast to his Marshals and his friends
among the German Princes may be revived among Incon-
siderate people. But they should ask themselves, before
they give utterance to their thoughts, " cui hullo?" Lord
Clyde said once "en ounce of gunpowder is worth tons of
sympathy :" but I know of no more dangerous article going
It Irritates the conqueror, and does not mitigate the lot of
the vonlinished, to preach homill s to them in the h 'at of
the struggle in which one is getting the worst of it w.ihout
giving in, and the other sees that a very little encourage-
ment would put fresh life Into his opponent.

INCIDENT AT THE BATTLE OF 11APAU3IE.
"Considering the bulk of the Army ef the North, as
recruits, the sailers only excepted, they have behaved well,
etc cutle g several charges with the bayonet against old well.
trained Prusalan warriors. 1 his they did with a courage
and gallantry which does them great credit. Poor fellows !
AS INGLORIOUS DEATH FOR A SOLDIER. Duritig one of those chozges one battalion had to pass bat-
talion. of Prussians hidden at about five yard.' distance. A
At Ingolstadt, where 10 WO French prisoners are confined, full charge was given from the needle guns with a result so
one of them, named Gombault, the sergeant of a Turco regL terrible that it will remain impressed on my mind during the
meut, was tried by courtmartial on the 10th lust. lie was a rest of my life I doulit whether fifty men of that battalion
Parisian, 23 years of age, who had been frequently punished remained alive or unwounded. What a minute before was
for Insubordination, and on account of two attempts to escape a body of French soldiers, burning with patriotism, was now
had been placed under restriettona. During the hour allowed a heap of misery and wow Never have I witnessed such
him tor exercise In the open air he tried to pass the barrier, carnage as was the case here, aud It cannot be wondered at
mid on being prevented by the sentry he violently attacked that the few who remained unhurt took to flight as quickly
him, as well as a subaltern who came to his assistance. The as they could, hi other instances the French were nut
Court condemned him Co death. lie received this very cow- less merelless to our regiment. Thus, whew storming a
posedly, and smoked a cigar up to the place of execution. village held by our 33rd Regiment, the French not only
He showed some feeling, however, when the stair was broken carried the village at the point of the bayonet, but
over him. Lie gave the signal, and four well-Jireeted shots killed about 110 of one single battalion, which at
killed hint instantareously. , the same time had lost all its °Ricers. I saw
• colonel, commander of a cavalry regiment, stumble with
his horse and break his left thigh-none. Some of his soldiers
came to assist him, and while requesting them not to carry
him away but to allow him to look on at the combat, he was
shot in his left arm. "Now, boys," he said, "it is getting
hut here: take me away." lie was taken, and scarcely
carried away 50 yards, when he got another shot in the chest,
and was killed Instmtaneously. I saw another case of
bravery of a sergeant, beloeging to the 20th Regiment. When
wounded by two bullets on his left arm and in the back, he
came running to lie. Belgle, of London, who was on linty,
and operating in the hospital, asking Mtn whether it would
be dangerous to life II he returned to his regiment to con-
tinue taking part In the combat. Scarcely had the doctor
replied in the negative than the sergeant took to his heels
and returned in full speed to fight the Prench."—Corres-
poudent of Dully News.

SILENTLY BUT SURELY !

4' In the conetruction of their batteries the Germans have
proceeded with their usual diligence and caution. To give
an example, their redoubt in the park of Si. Cloud Is only
SOO paces from the French earthworks at Rvres. Being
situate where the ground elopes down to the Seine, there
were only a few trees to prevent the work and the workmen I
engaged on it being seen by the enemy. The soldiers detailed
for this dangerous task had to Ile down on their faces, and
in this position burrow a hole in the ground, removing the
earth in shovelfuls. This accomplished, every stone,
every piece of timber had to be brought up stealthily
by the teen, creeping on all fours and rolling It before
them. The greater part of the labour was done at
night, especially while the bellowing roar of VelOrlen
drowned the slight noise occasioned by these human
moles. Still, when the oattery was ready, it answered
all the requirements of the ease, and with its straight
traverses and lnumb-proof casemate, was quite all elegant
specimen of engineering. Only the night before open-
ing lire, the trees in front, which had all been sawn
through close to the ground, fell as by magic at one stroke.
The next morning the Mx 10-pounders ranged along the
aernt-cirenlar irout of the work tiegaii to give tongue, and in
two days the viaduct had fallen a prey to their missiles.
Wherever French residents still remained in their habita-
tions near the siege batteries they were removed either
before the construction of the works, or at any rate before
the firing began Thui for instance, the few gardeners and
1 servants remaining at Meudon were collected in a barn on
I the morning of the 4th, the guns being only placed after
every possibility of a stranger's eye espying their position
had keen provided against. When the last cannon was in
position the poor people were Melted to take up their resi-
dence at Versailles, or some other place near Cr hand.
While this was going on, Mont Valtirlen was firing at random
as nsuaL"—Times* Correspondent.