The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-09-24 00:00:00

IN THE HANDS 07 THE FRENCH.
The following is a translated extract from a letter
from Captain Heller, of the North G,rwart steamer
Nal, of Hamburg, to a friend:—

IdotadiSS, Sept 12.
"On the 31at of August I was captured at the month of
the gibe by the French corvette Chateau Renaud. and 1
I shall tell you bow it happened. The rascals Obilted 11A,
I gave chase, and running at the rate if sixteen knot:' of
course, soon overtook us. I lir, then commenced firing at no.
and as there wits al possible chorea of escape I gave in. I
was 1107 a prisoner on board my own ship, at ti Cal treated
as each. Our cargo of coal was dthchargsd int I.oats. which
operation lasted fourteen en" during which time I fared
well enough. After that they took sir of my sailors—the
carpenter, cook, and second mate—and, with the remainder
Slid aaother cantnrcd crew of sixteen men wad two (Acids,
they steamed with us to Dunterque. Here I was tl.rown,
with the men, Into a common prison hole, and, like a
criminal, I had to give up my watch, money, karts— in toot,
everything I possessed. Two buckets a water were given
us, the one for drinking, the other for wa,hina purposes.
Instead of a towel, we used the nips of our shirts, sad our
fingers served the purposes ot a comb. At eight cm, we got
one loaf of bread between us forth° whole day, and for want
of other instrument, had to tear it up with our fingers and
teeth as test we could. Besides this, we had twice a day a
kind of soup, consisting ef warm water, bread, and the
parings of potatoel, turnips, anti cabbage—a food only fitter
our German pigs. For the tight we got another bucket of
fresh water, and on Sunday two loth Tor ) of meat Like
cattle, we were driven in the evening to bed and in the mores
Ind to washing. This larded ale days, and I am still trembling
with raga when I think out. I enth.eated and paid the keener
for a piece of paper, and wrote the first day to my Consul
complaining of the treatment, but only succeeded
In getting ',troll/Mon to buy come victuals with my
own money, and to go under escort on board my ship
In order to pack up my clothes, arc. ' Alas! there was
little to pack; all the beat things had been Melon. It would
carry me too far to describe to you all our sufferings. All
my endeavours to be treated so a human being were of no
avail. After six days' confinement we were conducted In
chain. to Lille, where we were to be set free on parole; but
a guard of 20 soldiers and six gendarme. were unable to
protect us from beirg pelted with stones, dirt, and women's
slippers by the inhabitants. I was, with thren of my officers,
provided with money, and we travelled with a compulsory
passport via Paris to this place, whore we lice comfortably
in an hotel at the cost of the French Government. There
are 17 other masters of German ships here, end we are all
Icing very well. As good Germans we never lost heart; the
worse the treatmeet, the more we were elated on hearing of
the successes of our army. lam still surprised at my hav-
ing been able to to through all this' with re much good
humour, tut the thought that the war would soon carte to
an end, and that we should soon return victoriously to our
ships, kept as in good cheer."

HOW Mt FRENCH ARE INSTRUCTED !

One of the correrprimients of the Daily Iltegruph,
writing from Amien., imder date the 15th int., sal

"The- Intense eagerness evinced by the towns- too-leans
the news (robs Paris is almost pitiful as well as pathetic. It
Is almost pitiful, because the means of satisfying the hunger
for information is such es the provincial towns of England,
not to speak of America, would not tolerate for a day, even
in a season of profound peace. The only journals sold in
the streets room to be Le Petit Journal, and a broadsheet
entitled !court,lle, ile la Guerre, which gives the latest tele•
grains and items of news. The sheet now berore me is about
twelve inches long by nine broad. It note., among other
things, the laming of the woods in the neighbourhood of
Paris it insinuates that the sympathies of the Rwesian
people are on the side of r ranee ! and, at some length, it
tells • story of Sedan that vividly reveals the passion with
which the French soldier worships his flag. At the moment
of capitulation, it Is said, a captain, a lieutenant of Zowsves,
and a brave sergeant resolved that the flag which had
been left in their keeping should not fall into the
hands of the Prussians. So they took the emblem
of France to pieces, one concealing the banner under his
uniform, the other putting the balls into his pocket, and the
third keeping the eagle. After the capitulation, it was
agreed that all the relics should be confided to the care of the
sergeant, who, being an Alsatian, cordd speak German. The
brave sergeant then managed to escape from his captors, to
dot the guise of a peasant, and to obtain a basket, its which
he placed the memorials, of French glory. tie then covered
the precious relics with • mass of tobacco which he had got
from the willing peasants; and, thus guarded against deltic-
,' lion, be managed to pass through all the German lines, and
I to reach Paris. Ile is now • hero, and has been decorated by
the Minister of War. With such poor food does the Street
press of these towns seek to satisfy the hunger of the people
for news. But it hen the official placards that they mostly
depend. At boalogne, this afternoon, an eager crowd
gatLered round a b card on which was Muck en intiniailiin
in writing, alined by the Sons Pratt. The intelligence no.
merely that General Tr..chn hid reviewed the troois in
Paris, fispl et y forte hot inspired the
Plait n pecple with 111, rphlt. Thu: was all. Yet, althowih
the message no dialillite of Inver:once, It was red-
dening to ace the eagerness WWI whtch old corn and Cl I
won,n, boya and girls, gathered mend the placer 1, and to
watti the pathetic silence filth which till read its wari's.
The Fruich are said t a ha a gesticulating psople, and so, no
donor, they arc ; yet they read the official messages with a
religious silence and solemnity. In Amiens, to-rdsht, crowds
of people are gathering round the oflield placards, and In
one place a young boy in playing the part of instructor-gene-
ral. Planting himself on a ledge of the wall, and holding on
by a corner, he again and again reads Inc loud, shrill voice,
and with emphatic elocution, the poor message respecting
the parade doings of General Trochu. The crowd
listens In dead silence. No voice cries • Viva la
France'' no orator stands up to express the determi-
nation of France to conquer or die; for the poor au
thence feels how barren of reality Is a mere review.
Yet the crowded streets of Amiens betray no lack ot French

geley. Again Clad agaitTiliTicitre oU
the Marseilleire me borne 011 the. breeit in stormy gnats,
and tile stake a of the night is broken by the shouts of
Liliertk !' An hour ago a crowd of girls, boys, yowl; men,
&oil Garden Mobil tlitplsyed the French gaiety .t 1 love of
n111011:I by mobbing a poor blouse clad 5 oung fellow who. AO
far as I could gather, had not evinced with sufficient fervency
loin dot Tmination to tile for bls c mutt), Forming a ring
round him, and Loping a space c!eu for bir movemniits,
they puthid him fr. in side to tide of the heel with I ud
laughter, playfully shouting that be 'mai a Fruntion spy, and
horst ing out now end thou with a bar of the Mal seilnise.'
the scone was typically Irruch—Froich in ita (It play of that
boylah gaiety which even tbehorrert of war cannot kid; French
In its dory pstriothm ; Ftench in its alternate Magda of 1. uti
laughter and (Face omit. It is coy to understtuil how each a
crowd could, alnico tin the same lit oath, evince the tender-
ness of women and the vindictiveness of fiend. Such. crowd
would take life or meet death with equal vigour of passion,
Cud hardly less instructive Was the crowd that had gathered
At the railway nation to-night to await the train which
should come from the direction of l'arts. anti bring Lewis of
the U. leaguered capital. L..}O and girls, women nail men,
men In blouses, and Gerdes Mobiles hi unit•rnt, they crowded
the entrance hall, and, on a small scale, Fainutc.l an epl-
tcroe of la Prance. Sadness end gaiety, glint thence and
loud laughter, gag r conversation about the capital, and de-
fiant love-making to the girl- 111 II:0 eroWki—..th were the
eigments of the scene. 'To morrow iii shall gore for to.
wards Fait an the Froich with-rides or the Frusalan Unjane
otil permit me, to tee how ns Belle Prance looks at the edge
of the sterna"