The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-08-27 00:00:00

ALL HAS BEEN FICTITIOUS._

Consider the orialn of the War It). hut a few weeks since,
though the startling rapidity and importance of later events
have driven it far into the trackgromid. Remember how the
passions of the people were heated until they boiled over, the
stories of biotite that were paver tailored, of aggretsions
never attempted, the wanton resolution to (,ten a quarrel
upon the Prussian King. Neutral Powers became " cold,
very cold," as they watched the process, and there was to.
sent/petit at their want! sympathy. Neutral observer. could
not hut halms that the blast of NI !Father that the Empire
had been feur years preparing for wae agreed rut imperfectly
with the plea that was had heart forced upon Prance, end the
remark was denouncei as hypercritical. Neutral writers
protected the in went war was declared that the declaration
of war was a crime: their protest wee ttignistind as an
insult Is there a Frenchman who can now look back upon the
wretched intrigues that preceded tile war and not confess
its wrongfulness 1 Is there a Frenchman who does not
earthly wish that the opinion of neutrals had prevailed, and
France been spared the shame and disaster that have since
followed? Is there a Fr. nehmen who can read the procla.
mations of the hmperor to the Army and the people without
• two of their hollowness and urcresllt I The War opened,
and what followed ; The first exploit was the theliti g of
gaarbruckein when the cid' d of France received his "baptism
of fire" and the nation was funnel to rejoice at the
leitiation of a boy of fourteen lu a career of War. Again
bystanders raised their voices in reprobation of an incident
Which recalicol the worst days of the eighteenth century,
when men ware destrood for the pastime of princes, and
again their verdict wan resented but again it may be toted
what F'renchmau can now recad the memory of the deed
without regret Toe War was declared upon grounds that
were fictitious, It was opened with a fictitious triumph, it
has been ever since prreecuted with pretences of strategy
that have been fictitious —Leader itt The Timor.

SIJGHTLY DIFFERENT!

The France en Orient reproduces the following convene-
Hon, which took place in the commission ordered to examine
11:e ,proirt de d, Aration de gtierre, before that was submitted
to the t hanther :—SI. de Keratry Mars'd if, are we ready i
M. Let toot Quite reedy. Di. de Keratry Will you pledge
your word of honour! think what. crime it would be to
plunge France lute war, without haying foreseen and pro-
vided f, r everything ! M. Leto: of : 1 glee you my word of
honour that we are completely ready. NI. de Cassagnac :
One word more. What if,, you mean by them words—to be
reedy M. Lel net (authorttatirely,: I meth by thorn that
if the war were to last a year, w• should not nave to buy a
button of a gaiter.

PAMILIATUTT OU r OF FL O.

"At eleven o'olock at night we stopped at a small village
c died Anne, to feed the horse and have some supper, br we
hal not bad time to dine at Chalons. The poor tr. mall in
whose cottage we were received, Ira, full of the advancing
Pruedans. Two peasants who were smoking their pipes in
the earthen mred room were very sombre, and seemed to
say the atme was all up. They were incredulous as to the
news Me brought, saying, ' Yea, and to-morrow we shall find
out it is nothing.' I have noticed the same resigned feeling
of diacouragament all over the country I have crossed. We
at last arrived, half-frozen, at St. 31euehoulo ; my companion
witint fatigue had overc me, bad been asleep half the way
There was 110 back to the wretched conveyance we were in ;
so that I was unite slid. Happily we found shelter for the
night In an au'airge. here we learnt that the Emperor had
that evening passed through the town by rail, with the
Prince Imperial and his Stall The landlord told us the
Emperor looked eseettlinely dejected, and did not alight,
keeping Ms eyes fired on his newspaper the whole time. The
Prince got out of tile carriage, and took a few steps In the
station. Toe municipal authorities of the little town were
there: but not a single sty of ' Vire l'Empereur r was
heard. One of the uncouth functionaries of the Heide in a
rough way put out Ids hami, anti said to the boy, • Well,
my lad. are tbings going to Improve soon I' The man swore
he heard hint ray tile very woi de. An aide de-camp stepped
In and hinted to the Ignorant municipal dignitary that his
familiarity was ratter out of place."—Lally New" Cerro-
tpondent.

SCENES AT SURREBOURG.

Prunian heads are looking out of the windows, and the
hardier inhabitants, who apparently have sent all the good-
looking young people out of the way. There art German
names over many of the doors, but the descriptions of their
callings stein French, with now and Olen a German trate'.
Mon. There is the usual octroi at each gate, but there are
no tolls to he gathered just now. In general terms, the ill-
habitants have tied, but the Tnlat has remained. It is
onions to read on the walls the announcements that a 'train
de plidsir partira pour Nancy, Paris, Ac., is St J and that
'Ls Cirque Veottien dounera one reprCientation extraordb
flails, lb 7 A tit. Imagine what an extraordinary repretenta-
Mon it was when the Venetian eituestrlans heard of the 'Kittle
of Woerth ?' There is now on the walls an ordonnanee lof the
Gearral-in Chien of the Divisb n of C tvalry of his Majesty
the King of Prussia, warning the inhabitants that all those
who act as or harbour spies, who serve as guides to the
enemy of their own accord, who destroy bridges or telegraphs
who set fire to houses or molest the troops or Dotson, ac-
companying them, will lie liable to death by shooting.
There in also to lie seen the ann., of the Society for Help
to the W moiled by Sea anti Luid, signed by Alphonse
de Rothschild and others, and various edicts relating to
volunteers, dzo , which are generally the worse for wear.
My quarters are eh, Schneider pert, aulrergiste, close
to die railway station ontside the We 'tern Gate. Schneider
I..ere is an enormous Alsatian whim the air of Mr. Weller,
lietibr, and I eh suld any he lan,, to grasp the situation, al•
tine gh lie winds see,. the folly of those who left their bonne.
Madame, Ms wife, lea most worthy person, full of energy,
anti to eat the white bread she abused, and to eat of a cob/
chic ten which had suffered greatly before death from anxiety
of nand, and to ei.joy her omelette and a bottle of 'bon tin
rowye tie Moselle, an was indeed an astonishment after
our experience of Vosges villages."-7 irnes' Correspondent

lib, EN/Oft.

The village of Horny, where wo are now quartered, is
but a small one, and, in spite of the men being alioost all
ern:eloped about the town, there Is the greatest difficulty in
obtailitig good quarters (writes the Correspondent of the
Daily Aeu,x). I have just been called away from writing
la order to act as intelpreter between a Prussian quill ter.
master and our hoetess. The first could only speak Gorman,
and the second only French. The best possible proof
that the inhabitants are not too badly treated may be
drawn Done the fact that they complain freely of the
most trifling Miagrentruts One had the palings of
her garden taken as firewood, another had lost her
washing-lines. here a pair of horses had been pressed into
the Prusdan service. Bat the prominence given to such
small matters is to me proof that the Prussians aye in
general behaving well War has its steep necessities, end
however much the inhabitants may suffer, horses 141114 l be
taken by the commissariat, and cows slaughtered by the
mikilers for beef; and it must be remembered that the
French were the first to make "living on an enemy's
country "one of their maxims in campaigning, just as the
Duke of Wellington was the first to introduce the more honest
rule that "everything taken should be paid fur.'

A CANARD !
It Is absolutely incredible what kind of food French readers
Wilt swallow now. A rich specimen was given from the
Siede the other day. This is from the Consittutionnel of •
few In;. ago Not ouly," writes its correspondent, "do
the Prussians everywhere acre upon all the food of the cities
Clot villages they pass, but also upon all the cattle, the
horses, the carriages, the csrts, the fodder, ever) thing
transportable in short; they lay hold of all the money so
well, and then they burn the spot clean out. Or all the
places they have hltherto passed, nothing but the blackened
.d charred ruins remain. What the guns and the pillage
have left unclestrosed the fire most sweep away. But such
are their losses In all rent.ontres with us that they have been
obliged, in order to fill up the pp. In their regiments, to take
our prisoners, dress them up In their dead soldiers' uniforms,
and march them against us, one of these prisoners had the
happiness to escape to iloulay, and he told me the stmty.
Besides which, they take all the able bodied men they Dud
In our towns, and send them to Prussia to make soldiers of
them." 'But," the writer concludes, "these barbarisms
will repay us, and the rate of Interest will be very high."

1,;(1 ONE TO INTERFERE!
The Piussbut newspapers are very shrtY ith The Tim"
for having proposed a mediation between the French and
the tiermsta. The Magdeburg Gazette declares that the
Ideal. on impertitnnt and extiaordinary that it Is difficult
t.l an/ honest iternian to u: deratand it. " The Times
has the midst Ty to assert, in the same article,
while admitting that the hrench, if victorious, would
have refeided any intervention, that we should be
satisfiet with a compensation for cur war expenses. Nay, it
even say. that what should now be done le to propose con-
did ma of peace to the belligerents and as far as possible to
enforce them. On the asme day 'Gladstone said that care
most be tak,n lest the victor should become too strong.
People in England evidently have not as accurate
rotten of the extent of our military power. At
this moment, although we have sent to France
an army which is twice as strong as any that the French can
bring against ty, Including their reserves, we have at home