The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-12-17 00:00:00

THE WAR.

The Wartembou Imes hi the recent flßhtleg on the
Nene were 1900, killed and wounded, or one In every
seven engaged.

According to the Daily Neu,' correspondent at Berlin the
project of an I lrleans restoration Is viewed by the Prussian
Government with much disfavour,
Ono of General Troche'. aides-le-camp, who left Paris ha
• balloon, has arrived at Lille. llis object Is said to be to
communicate to tile commanders A the East, the West, the
"Is orth, and the Loire, the new plans adopted in Paris.
Count Bisnima k recently saki to a great German Repub-
lican who was preaching the ii.tallible nasasity of a Berman
Republic looser or later 'My dear sir, tam a R..publican,
but the time is not come yet."
Some of the Fren:ll journals are wilting fit reply against
thunbetta, whose fall from power, they assert, will be as
midden as his rice. Its has no force, they may, but fever, and
he Is charged with ruining the army.

A letter from Ghent says that IS. French prisoners have
arrived in that town from Baveriou, to he Interned in the
citadeL 'heir appearance is di scribed ILI wretched in the
extreme. Thcre are now about 400 military prisoners interned
at Ghent.

An official report from Versailles states that the last sortie'
from Paris Isere undertak :in by the depot treo.a• of the hue
with some Mobiles, hi all about 90.000 strong IC.-lore retreat-
ing they killed the wounded horses and took with them a
portion of the flesh. They had no cavalry, but a numeroue
artillery.

It Is net considered absolutely improbable that the
Cowell/ GOlVroux—which represent for local matters the
departments of France—may Resemble, and, perhaps, by
their consentaneous votes, overthrow the existing temporary
Government of France.

A letter from liartibal Dualne to one of his friends is
published In the Ni. The Marslird says that aft, the
Insults which have been heaped upon him, a thorough
reparation recne can satisfy him This roparation he
expects from an Investigation in the next French Repre-
tentative A Trembly.

A colonel who came out of Parts e,, bouroc to look for a
dead comrade, and actually got Inside the. German oulp
and was far In rear of tire outlying sentries when arrested,
stated that it was known op to the time of his leaving on the
4th of December that more than 16 000 h..,1 fallen in tho cast
and south-out alone. Many valuable officers have boon lost
to their country.

General Trochu, according to the correspondent of the
Cologne Gazelle, told the parlernentatre who carried him
the news of the defeat of the Army of the Loire that he be-
lieved the Information. Ile treated the Job's memenger very
hospitably, but declined conversation, and when the latter
touched on the capitulation of Parts, replied that Paris was
In the same position after the defeat of D'Aurelles as before
It.

There wu a rumour In Versalllea on Friday that they were
taking a plf blulte In Paris on the question of capitulation
or of cootinued defence. Certainly there was not much
flrlng—a gun every half-hour or so from one or other of the
forts ; but at night there were developments of the old
symptoms, and at seven the next morning smog shells were
flung up towards Versailles itself.
'

- -
M. Gambetta left Tours on the 3rd inst. by a special train
for Orleans. On arriving near the village of Ls Chapelle,
about ten miles from Orleans, his train ran into a barricade
which had been hastily thrown across the line by the enemy.
At the eame time some Thlens lying In ambush fired upon
hint lie, icaped almost by a miracle Ile was very etverely
shaken by the shock of the collision with the barricade, and
his private secretary, M. Speller, was still more hurt.
. .

The King of l'ruasia was deeply affected by the news of
his slater'. death. The Crown Prince, who broke the news,
had taken precautions that the telegram announcing the
Royal lady's decease, which had been expected for several
days, should not reach the King by any other hands than
his own. The interview between the King and the Crown
Prince took place on the morning of the 7th et eight
o'clock. No one waa present besides the father and son.
The Pattie gives an explanation of the circumstances
under whlchGeneral GAo. cite. ceased to command the army
of the Loire. lie thoughtlthat. pending their qoiry ordered
by the Government Into the evacuation of Orleans, he ought
not to retain the command. The Government offered him
another appointment, bathe declined it, preferrhg to await
the lemit of the inquiry. Ws health, moreover, is bad, and
Ii was only patriotic devotednese which induced him, in
spite of this, to accept an active command.
- "

The Times believe& that no step whatever was taken by
M. Gambetta to put himself in communication with the
German headquarters at Versatile.. The French Minister
of War simply signified to her Majesty'a Ambassador at
Tours that France Gould not b 3 duly represented at the
London Conference unless a regular Government was MlD-
toted by • Constituent Assembly; and that, therefore, it
was the duty of the English Government to negotiate an
Armistice with a view to allow the elections to be held As
the revictualling of Paris was included among the conditions
of the armistice, It was, of course, impoulble that M. Gam.
betta's proposal could be entertained.
The Permian authorities have given orders to nerd all the
Mobile Guards belonging to Alsace back to their homes. All
the Alsatian prisoners have met with exceptional kindness
from the first, because from the first the Germans Meant to
annex Alsace. The Germanization of Thlonville is also being
proceeded with. The common people of and around Thion-
Tills speak not pure German, but the Luxemburg or Letze-
Mug dialect (a Luxemhurger would say language "); and
the ancient name of " Dledenhofen," by which the city has
always been known to the peuantrs, has now been officially
restored to it.

The Daily News makes the following statement relative to
its recent announcement that M. Gambetta had asked fey an
armistice :—" The statement which we published on Friday
with respect to M. Gambetta's application for an armistice
was hued upon • telegram from a member of the Provisional
Government to • French gentleman In London. A su)se-
quent telegram from the same quarter states that M. Gum-
betta, finding the spirit and temper of the Army of the Loire
much better than he had supposed. end being especially en-
couraged by the eacceu of General ta.zy, had for the pre-
sent abandoned the deafen of asking loran armistice. Ile
will remain at the headqurters of the Army of the Loire.

This cold will bring misery unutterable on the Tarlatans.
among whom there was no great store of wood, as they had
not laid in their winter previsions of fuel. If complaints
were heard a month ago, what will they be now The
plagues which desolate armies and are nursed by famine
have every scope In beleagured cities. Smallpox. typhus,
burger—a fearful slaterhood to be dwellers within your
*ails—and an enemy relentless at your gates. For me, I
eonfees, the sight of Perla now is heartbreaking. Will no one
force her will, and make her pale lips breathe forth the word
which can cave her. ' Peace ?'"—Correspondent of The
Times.
• • - - •

- --
Mr. Martin F. Tupper has received • letter from Friars 1
Frederick Charles, thanking him for a copy of vanes upon
the fall of Metz. The following stanza is from the poem In
question .
Fair Metz, in all her vastneu,
That citadel of strength
The Lruohlid maiden fastness
Is overborne at length;
Is made her gag to lower,
liar gates to open wide
To victors In their power
And their panoply of pride.

A Covreapondent with the Army of the Crown FrioCe of
Saxony, writing front Champ on the Ith, says that a strong
Impression prevails there that the events which have re-
cently taken place oatside Paris have led to • change of
policy on the part of the German commanders, and that a
bombardment of the city may be expected as soon as mattem
can be got In train. " Had • bombardment taken place in
She early days of the siege," adds our Correspondent, "that
siege long ere now would have terminated." A telegram from
Berlin states that the postponement of the bombardment is
not due, as supposed, to "special influences," but solely to
military reasons.
„ . • -

At the village of Sercottee, near Orleans, a correspondent
(altering the cottage of a French peasant to hod a little
warmth WAS astonished by his demand that the visitor
should blow ont his brains with his revolver: the French
army two days ago, he said, bad taken all the wire of his
wine trellises to make • telegraph with, and now the
Prussians had come and taken what remained of his pro-
perty, and life was not worth having. He hated the French,
and he hated the Prussians, and, above all, he hated "that
coguln of an Emperor," who had brought all this misery upon
him; and with that he bunt into a violent ht of tears, and
Implored to be put to death. This state of hysterical dove.
ration la said to be not uncommon among the French
peasantry.
•••••^ •• • - •

Some further particulars are given of Herr Krupp', bal-
loon gun. It has a carriage and wheels like any other Held
gun, and can be served by a single man with the greatest
ease, sa it weighs only about 15e1b. It can be rapidly aimed
In any direction, whether horizontal or vertical. The
charge consists of • grenade weighing about alb., the object
of which is to make the balloon, filled with gas, explode on
Its bursting. It t. positively affirmed that a balloon can be
struck at a height of 2000, feet, and that the horizontal
range of the ran is about five miles. Herr Krupp intends
to present 20 of the field-pieces to the army. One has been
already despatched, and six are about to follow. The rest
will be sent as they ate completed, if their services are
nwassary.
- - - --•

--- -
Dr. Russell, in his latest latter from Versailles, narrates
the following incident t—Ooe of the great military chief. was
going to bin quarters the other evening inside the princely
precincts when he was brought up by the octet of a bayonet,
and a demand for the pusword. The general bed forgotten
it "I am General von —,"he explained; I have for-
gotten the pess,° The sentry was a man of few words, but
they were emphatic In Polish German he merely observed,
"I will shoot you; " and ha /poked so very like It that the
general demisted from verbal controversy, and waited till a
soldier from the post had returned with an officer to identify
bin excellency and given orders for his release.
On the subject of horses a curious dispute has arisen in
Tads. Forage is so scarce that a great many valuable
animala Sr. now being fed upon bread, and this, when merle
known, was pronounced scandalous. But If you slay your
hone. at once you destroy your chances of froth meet for
the future. A horse, on the other hand, eats about as much
bread in a day as would support ten citizens, and therefore
It in asked whether it is worth while to keep him a month in
order to enjoy • few hundred kilos. of fresh meat at the end
of that petted? There ham been • good deal of arithmetic
done upon this question, and citizens, hones, slid bread
have been multiplied, divided, subtracted, and added up till
the Ministry are gaits perplexed, and we believe no deaden
has yet been taken.
- • - - -

Count If oltkeh letter announcing the fall of Orleans was
discussed, according to the Paris correspondent of the Ind.
pendance 8e19., at a special meeting of the Ministers. One
of them, al. Picard, thought the opportunity should be em-
braced of discussing peace, tilt could be an honourable one,
and Ida opinion appeared to make some Impression on his
colleagues. Geaaral Trochu, however, remarked that these
overtures proved the critical pooltion of the enemy In the
heart of a hostile country and in the depth of sinter that
the German victory might have been less complete than it
was represented; that the greatest sacrifices would be de-
manded at such &moment ; that everythirg was to be gained
by continuing this struggle until help same from the pro-
vince.; that Paris could hold out • long time, and that
victories might follow reverses, "rontbattre," he concluded,
combattre encore, oarabattre ((maitre ''' Ills eloquence
and enthusiasm hidnced the Council to decide unanimously
on the continuance of the war.

1411ATII AFTER To wrrius.

.! If any happy ome' had a door left or a table or chair
In the wrecked villager; it has gone now In the flames of
many watch fires and camp kitchens. An amateur told me
that nothing burnt so well nfl 'piano wood,' and that he had
DO Idea of ite value, having UMW had an opportunity of testing
the property before. I bear the army hef are Orleans suffered
greatly from cold in spite of the warmth afforded by burning
villages and farmhouses, and what must It here been for the
wounded out in the fields? Death after torture ! The con-
dition France will he in next year promises to be, if possible,
worse than her present state. Here we are eating all the
cews, to there will he no calves In 1571, and every one Is so
busy killing and eating and eating and killing that there is
no thought for the morrow. Sucking pip, lambs, sheep,
calves, chicken., ducklings, gosling,, all die " soot
ma they show signs of life."—Correspondent Of The Time. at
Yevaaillek