The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-03-25 00:00:00

A CATALOGUE OF TRIUMPHS.

The statistics of the war published by the Berlin paper,
S,antsanzeiger, will give an idea of the magnitude of the cam-
paign and the extensive scale on which it has been con-
ducted :
" War was declared en July 15, 1870. It terminated
on February 16, 1871, after lading 210 days. In the
first week after the declaration of war the German
troops were mobilized, their despatch to the west and
disposition along the TrkvefeLandau requiring nearly
a fortnight. The troops sent to the frontier amounted
to nearly 600,000 men, and to bring the whole
mass up in fortnight about 42,000 had to be con-
veyed by rail per day. The transport was effected on five
lines, two of which were, howtiver, hut little used.
Beside-, the men, there were hones, guts, carriages,
ammunition, and provisions to be sent. To estimate
correctly the activity of the railway department in
these momentous days, it ought to he remembered that
until a year ago a train was thought incapable of carry-
fig more than . te battalion, or one squadron, or one
battery. If. .r Prussian Corps d'Armee, to get to the
French f r ~,tier, had to perform a distance of from 400
to 600 m lee, and had to be fed on the way. The
first few days of the campaign, as well as the
last period, being free from engagements, the war
was practically reduced to 180 days only In these
180 days there were 156 engagements and 17 great
battles; 2fefortreeeee were taken, 11,600 officers and
363,000 rank and tile made prisoners, and 6,700 guns
and 120 eagles or standards captured. In each of the
six months that active hostilities were going on the
Germans bad on an average 26 enizagemente and three
battles, taking 1,950 officers, 60,500 men, 1,110 guns,
20 eagles or standards, and four fortresses. Nearly,
every clay of the war witnessed an engagement, every
sixth day a fortress was conquered, every ninth day
a battle was fought and gained. Comparing the
number of prisonera with the duration of the
war, we find that on an average 65 officers, and
2,070 men were captured per day. On the same cal-
ciliation, every day 38 cannon changed hands, while an
eagle or a standard was carried off in triumph Oil two
days out of every three. Looking at the chronological
order of the actions, we have up to Sedan 13 engage-
ments and eight battles Wiesembourg, Woerth,
Spicheren, Coureelles, Vionville, Gravelotte, Noneul,
and Beaumont; the four fortresses of Lutzelstein, Mer-
ged, Lichtenberg, and Vitry being taken in the same
period. The month of Septemberwaa marked by 13 en- ,
gagements and the capture of Sedan, Latin, Toni, and
Strasbourg. October had 27 engagements, with
the capture of Soiseens, Scheleetadt, and Metz.
November numbers 15 engagements and two battles
—Amiens and Beaune-la-Rulande, with the fall of
Verdun, Montlatiliard, Neu-Brenach, Ham, bidet-
hof en, Lafrre, and the citadel of Amiens. December
brought us 30 engagements and the battles near
Orleans and on the Idallue, with the surrender of
Phalsbourg, and Montmedy. January, being even
more prolific, had to register 48 engagements, together
with the battles of Le Mans, Montbeliard, and St.
Quentin, and the capitulation of Alezii'ree, Rocrey,
Perroune, Longwy, and Paris. In February the war
terminated with the surrender of Belton. In
this list the various actions near Paris, 22
of which were fought in the 130 days of the invest.
unlit, are claseified as more engazements, although
some of them might be well ranked as battles. Of
thesetwenty-two engagements, three occurred in Sep-
ternber, eight in October, two in November, four in
December, and five in January ; in other words,
between five and els per month. Of natal engages
ments we have three to chroricle, reepectiviffy on Sep-
tember 12 and 21 and October 12 --at Hiddensee, in the
Putzig Bay, off tin Havannah."
Was there ever such a long run of victory without a
single reverse?

According to the Eleeteur Libre, the belief le gaining ground
that the insurgent movement of Saturday last, was Instigated
and sopportee by Bonapartist emissaries, and that those
emissaries were In much greater number than might have
been supposed Persona familiar with French revolutions
are Inclined to think that a Napoleonic o,p d' Gdt is perhaps
in preparation, to be carried out by the soldiers returning
from Germany, and the police spies now without employ; and
that it will 1,0 followed by a plebiscite. The Tr ,npa also
thinks that the proceedings of the insurgents are due to
Bonapartist Agency.

A WORD NOT OUT OF SEASON.
In the Interests! thole who have to travel on railways,
the Ilai!y Neoo remarks
The popular impression that railway sesidents are
becoming more numerous and more fatal, is completely
justified by the statistical returrs just published.
Last year was a fatal year on English railways, as
well as on French battle fields. Ninety railway passe
Fenger! were killed, and 1,004 were injured; and of
those numbers 01 ly twenty four of the killed
and ten of the injured owe the calamity to any
fault of their own. The railways, therefore,
killed sixty-six of their passengers, and wounded
1,084 of them, during a single year. But it is
only when we compare these figures with those of pre•
vious years that we see the increasing danger of railway
travelling. The persons killed or hurt by their own
fault vary but slightly in number. But those killed or
hurt by muses beyond their own control were in 1866,
fifteen killed and 540 injured; in 1867, nineteen killed
and 689 injured; in 1868 the numbers were respec-
tively forty and 510 ; in 1860, they were seventeen
and 1043; and in 1870, sixty-six and 1084. This
increased fatality does not arise out of the
increase either in mileage run or passengers car-
ried. In neither of these points is there much
difference between 1E66 and 1870, yet the number
of passengers killed was more than fourfold in 1870
what it was in 1866, and the number injured was
doubled. The six great accidents of the year account,
of course, for the increase, just as the Abergele calamity
accounted for the large figure of the killed in 1868.
The Newark accident, the one which seems to have
been really accidental, accounts for sixteen deaths ; the
Barnsley collision for fifteen; the Hatfield broken
tyre for six; the Harrow collision for seven;
the Carlisle collision for five ; and that at Broskley
Whine for four. The number of the injured is, how-
ever, far more frightful than that of the slain. When
three persons are, on the average, serionkly hurt every
; day on the railways of the United Kingdom, it is high
time, in the intend of the shareholders as well as in
the interest of the public, that our railway authorities
should do something to make railway travelling safer.