The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-09-17 00:00:00

THE rßuca DIUVISG THE ENEMY 111931 THEIR ROIL.

- --
The Special Correspondent of the /kit/I News,
writing from Carleruhe, the Bth instant, 41.14 :
. '

The night before last, as I was rebinding flout Achern to
Carisruho, I witnessed a sight which exemplirtril then:hale,
due to the way in which the French are Miring the enemy
from their soil. The train wan tone hours behind lime,
having been detained iu the manuerdeacribed above. When
it arrived I wail struck with Os ennrmous length, the carriages
being sixty In number. Tee engine could harmy drag along
the enormous load. On reacting Carisrulie at • very late
hour, I learned that the unusually lar,te timelier of carriage.
waa due to the fact that nearly 609 Oernrsna who had been
expelled from France were among the passengers. They
were working people. Thry had Men live days en then
Journey. With the exception of bundles cditslaig port-
able utiles, they brotixtd none rd their property with
them. Mont of them had and tales to tall el how, nfrer
working hard for years and laving intone, a'Oh which to fur
ash their homes, they had been cumpelied to abandon all
their pormesion'. They had done no halm t i tho French,
and they merely tusked to be allowed to continue their occu-
patinas ait welters or workmen undisturbed. Noarly all were
married and had children. Indeed, it was not uncommon
to see families composed of an aged grandmother, a wife,
husband, and children of all aces. The ludignities
which they had endured duriog their mosso through
France, collected deep disgrace on the branch people.
If the armed enemy were treated in like manner, it,
complaint could well be made. It is lint natural that
the (Sermon soldiers should he regarded we fair game
for all the biotite 'elicit might be made with humidly.
The night was a terrible one, the rain falling in terrains.
Cooped up in the carriages, these ruler people hail been well-
nigh etlll-M. On leaving them they were drenched with
rain. The carriages in which they travelled were at the rear
of the train, and as the train was an I.llg, these cerrisges
were not sheltered when the station was reached. Tae pro-
cesalou of these old women and young children through the
rain waa a melancholy one. Nene of them tat tasted
food for many hours, and the ClieS of the hungry en i
suffering calldren were heartrending. Fortunately the
authorities had made provision for their reception. It
was arranged that the party should sleep here and he
forwarded in the morning to their nativo places in
Bavaria and Wurtemterg. The accommodation was not
luxurious, consisting of an empty shed. Still it was the best
that could be afforded, seeing that the greater portion of
the statiois had been converte4 into an hospital for the
temporary' reception of the wounded. The defeat of the
French In the field may be expleleed away or forgottou. To
retrieve their lost prestige no effort should be spared; yet I
doubt if the expulsion of these poor unmans coo fairly he
ranked satiric; the necessary acta of war. Certain sun I that
the French will be disposed to regret what they have done
when the day of reckoning comes, and when they end the
bill swollen owing to the compensation made to three ex-
pelled Germans.

HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF!

•
Limn, which has Net been taken by the Prussians, was the
scene of an engagement between the Lucas of Napoleon 1.
and Blucher on the 9th of March, MI Napoleon attacked
Blucher in his pmition at that fortress, where the elevated
ground on which the city is situate I was occupied by the
corps of General Bulow, while the remainder of Blucher's
army wan ported on the plain below to the right and left of
the town. Before daylight the French advanced under cover
of a thick fog and obtained pouesslon of two villages in the
suburbs of the place. When the fog cleared away they were
observed to be in farce behind the villages, with columns of
infantry and cavalry on the causeway towards hellions. They
were soon repulsed from the nearest villages, and
Blucher ordered the cavalry from the rear to advance and
turn their left flank, while • part of Birinyi' corps
was ordered to drive them from the other village.
; During these operations • column of the enemy, imuslating
, of sixteen battalions of infantry, with cavalry and cannon,
I were descried advancing along the causeway from Rheims.
General D'Yorck, with Sachem to support him, was directed
to oppose them, and the battle here became general and
decisive. The French opened a battery of forty or fifty
pieces of artillery, and were moving forward on a ;gm de
charge wheu they were met by Prince William of Prussia,
and overthrown. Their retreat soon became a flight, in
which they lost cannon, baggage, and prisoners. The
pursuit continued as far as Cottony. On the right
the Prussians gained no other advantages than the
expulsion of the French from the villages. The attack
on the right was renewed en the next day, March to,
and continued during the whole of it. The French at one
time had pushed to the village of SeMilly, close to the walls
Of Loon, whence they were driven by • battalion of the Prn,
dans. They bivouacked on the field, but in the morning be-
gan • retreat on the road to holm., pursued by the advance
guard of the allies. Ihe absence of the corps of D'Yorck,
Sacheo, and Kleist, which were paining the remainder of
the column that had advanced from "[henna prevented any
further active operations. The result of the actions of these
days wan the capture by the allies of forty-elght pieces of
cannon and between five and six thousand prisoners, and
the retreat of the French at all points. Napoleon in person
wan their commander in the attack on the right and centre,
and Manumit and Arrighl were those of the advance from
Rheims.