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

A JIOI,Ef. COAI Hll AN.

Travelling in the renr of a large army Is certainly not •
very pleasant pastime writes one of the Correspondents of
the //MN Telegraph). The Inhabitants are more or lees
exasperated, the homes are all I isil of soldiers, food of the
coarsest deacriptioc is bard to find, and forage for horses Is
a thing almost unknown. So great were the difficulties
which beset me that ray coachman became quite dieheartered
and resolutely refused to take me any further titan Ilagilenau.
" It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good," and In the
mist disagreeable state of things sonic redeeming points may
exist I found that martial law even has its advantages: for
I was enabled to obtain a military requisition, and compel
my reluctant Jelm to proceed. lie accepted his fate cheer.
fully enough when he found I intended to pay him all the
mime, and a first-rate fellow he turned out to be—one
of those highly gifted individuals, with hearts of
iron and co.mtenances of brass, who are capable of entering
places, where they have no liminess, and appropriating
things to which they have no right, with an air and manner
so congdent and full of innocence that no one dreams of in-
terfering with them. Ile treated with sublime indifference
all attempts at remonstrance, never asked leave for anything,
but took it, obtained oats where any other man would car.
tainly have failed, and when we halted calmly took out Ids
horses and led them without a word into the nearest vacant
stalls, probably intended for the meets of some gallant
colonel or fierce moustached, hussar Where another man
siNal..i„ have stayed wit iu the cold ell night, he succeeded In ,
housing himaclf, and, what was of more importance, his cattle
alms. Ile was a capita: driver, judging his distance to a hair's-
breadth, and cutting In and among gun-carriagee awl
hemey waggons In a alyle worthy of a liacsom cabby. Ina
' imperturbabL calm, great good humour, and andacisy were
the happy results of a peculiar education acting on an I
equally strange temperament Germany supplied him with
stolidity, upon which a ton years redden. In the United
States had engrafted that energy, coolness, and contempt
or military authority for which our cousins are ;tatty re •
nowned : add to this, as a finishing touch, four years' service
as BD gllsh soldier, spent chit fly in the position of an officer's
servant awl it leant to be wondered at that he" knew a thing
or two," and had a tolerably good idea of how to take care of
Wiesen, neeides excelling as • coachman, he possemed the
elements necessary for greatness in a higher sphere; the
pea en of a 011yhon or a Macaulay lay hidden In his unculti-
vated brain Ile hail been on the Mds: A Woerth a few
hour. alter the battle, and, in answer to my ilo,.uirles do•
scribed the nation in terms so graphic awl c•incise 1.13 to 'pro.
claim Min as intended by liature to chronicle the acts of
generals and the brave deeds of mighty men. "Wall," he
said, with a strong American twang, "anti, you nee, the
Frenchman. be up there, FOU eee. Wall, the Gentian,'
soldiers they tun up the hill, and by (terribly bad word.,
they get shot, and the Frenchmane, then, tie goes away, I
guess." What could be be better than that description ! it
leaves ample room for the I
imag!natlon to play; does not
enter too minutely into details ; 'throw, g veil gracefully
Pier tins horrors of the conflict and pursuit."
. _

PARIS BECOMIrrif A rEBAsTOPOL.
Paris is losing no time (writes the Correspondent of The I
Tuneg,. A committee of defence and fortification rim been
appointed, combining of Trochu and other Generale and of
the Ministers of War and Public Works. M. Merl may also
be said to belong to it, although his name does not figure in
the list. The father of the fortifications which were so long
deemed useless, the present Government is glad to listen to
his advize and profit by his experience. II ita predecessors
had shown eotal good sense. Paris would not now be in the
painful necessity of preparing for a siege. The vanity and
folly of the 01lister Cabinet rendered it deaf to good counsel,
or to would have waited to tight Germany till it had received
real provetagon. Having so long endured the agate of ,
things estabilitimi by the war of 1866, it might
:move borne It rattier longer, unt'l Bismarck by
farina: encroachment., gave them. brtter came of quarrel.
That was trim advice they received from M. Thirm, and France
now bitterly iopiotes its rejection. Tillers, however, is the
lost roan to thil.k of past slights when the opportut ity occurs
t be useful to his country, and he has applied himself, with
all the vircur 161111 ardour of youth, to this qUed /Of I 01 itic de-
.— 0 • • •• • 1.. Note 0/ lo e. It h. to j,e:(rs, he