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

ITEMS OF THE WAR.

Russia has sent thirteen surgeon to the German camp.
The Berlin Correspendent of The Times states that the
Orman armies in France number at present about 400,000,
among whom there are 30,000 cavalry.
The neutrality of Belgium is being violated by qnantities
of wolves and wild boars, who are fl)ing before the Prussians
Into the Ardennes!

-
M. Alsout says that at Weiseenburg a battery of artillery
expected ammunition with feverish anxiety. The fourgon at
lest arrived and was found full of boots.
The Abbe de Delimit, head chaplain of the artny of the
Rhine, died on the geld of Reichshoden at hb post, sur-
rounded by the dead and dying.
Ths King and t? aeon of the Belgians have subscribed
25,000 f., and the Count and Countess de Fiandre 100001, to
the fund in aid of the families of the militle called under the

nag.
tome patriotic corn dealers have offered to supply the
Freech army in the 11.1 d and the French forts during the
war, the country to settle with them on the re-eetablishment
peace.
It appear. that in the pnet.oftices throughout Lorraine and
Alsace the Emperor's head on the stamps is already replaced
by the Prussian eagle.
It In at ated that two days after the declaration of war the
French Government discovered, upon examination of their
tores of gunpowder, that • great number of the barrels were
found to contain a mixture of charcoal mid sawdust.
An official Berlin paper complains that the French have
not only tired upon the ambulances, but also upon an
envoy sent to them with a communication respecting their
dead.
Only one of the band which attempted to tel np a revolt'.
lion at La Villette and shot a fireman has been sentenced to
death by the court-martial called to try the affair, but
several other men have been eenGenced to long terms of in"-

prisonmeut
The Paris papers day after day contain announcementa of
additional beds and dwellings placed at the disposal of the
Minister by benevolent persons for the use of the wounded.
The Duke of Itoehefoucault hismcia, M. V. Duey, and a .
number of others, have given their country houses for this ,
purpose.
A Madrid paper contradicts the statement of certain
journals that a number of boxes had arrived at Madrid,
which, it wa, alleged, the Encore's if the French had for-
warded to her 'rather the Countess Moutijo.
Attendance on the womalea at the field of battle is not
free from danger. The Opinion Nationale says that a nun
who was giving succour to a wounded cuirassier had both
her Ito carried oil by ai;a4son shot.
The Figaro hu opened a subscription for the purpose of
presenting a sword of honour to General Mac Mahon, whose
recent defeat it regards as one of the most brilliant achieve-
ments In the history of France I
A correspondent of the Cologne Gazette gives details of the
great battle on Sunday. lie says that the Prussian indilers
(might Ike lions, though they were at lint not hi numbers
sufficient to resist the superior strength and better position

at the euemy,
When the irt French Cole:mien; charged at Froschwider,
Lieutenant Billet, ROB it the colonel, charged four times,
having hi. jaw fractured by chaff Ills lather was obliged
to have him transported by force to the ambulance, at the
mowetit of his making a ftfth charge, in the father
himself fal.
flow little inclined the French are either to learn or to
forget may well be seen from the following words which
occur in a letter, written the other day by a French news-
paper correspondent—The victories which the Kira of
Prussia ascribes to !oneself makes us Limit a good deal ii;;d
d:t not produce any other impression upon tee
An English othcer in " Orowenor-aquare "has sonata relief
hi writing to the Paris Figaro to complido of the " infamous"
tone adopted by it London newspaper with regard to thewar.
At least, so the Figaro says.
A corretpondent writes to the Gatolgtis suggesting that the
statue of Napoleon 1., le Petit Caporal, which was recently
taken off the Vendome Column and placed on the hill of
Courbevote. ehould be brought back sgain to Paris to pre-
vent its taldng Into the beads of tho enemy. This etatue
. ,
would be a trophy indeed.
Some commotion was created On the Boulevard des Italians
on Saturday afternoon by the cries of a woman occupying
one of the kiosks for senior j iurnals. On Inquiry it was
found some malefactors had carried off the box containing
money for the wounded conlideil to her by the Societe de
Saloon A raoment after a neighbouring 111410W0111411 com-
plained eta almilar theft.
It is known that the forts of Paris are to he defended by
naval gunners. lint a bet of which the public is not gene-
rally aware, and which ought to augment its confidence, is
that they are the best artillerymen in France, and perh p. In
the world. They did the mast injury to the defender. of Se-
bastopol ; and tile R,1•1111.1., exceilent judges of their Wing,
rendered them full justice.
The Prince of Schwarrhurg-Rudolstadt, who la hi tear, of
age, the brother of the Orsini tracheas of Meck(enburg-
Schwerin. ha.l oined the army as a private In the Mecklen-
burg let Dragoon.. diveating himself of his right a.. prince
to claim au officer's rank.
The Figaro rays :—"Plus IL has made, it is said, a joke
against Freince, saying that the ttulle (cock) had been genie-
what pluck yd. and most not ha Ware crow So loudly. We
wish to atk what v01,.0 his infallibility would have hail we
not extended to him the Mins of our protection. We think
the successor of St. Peter ought not to joke about cocks."
The Sikle points out that, if Parts be besieged. all cornron-
nicwilill with the departments will i.e cut off. mot the country
left to take charge of Itself. It insists therefore, that
measures shi übi be taken to decentralise the legbiati or
mai, in the event of a siege, to have the Corps Vgixtat
placed in a poaition where it could appeal to the nation at
large

The °Wort, says • rumour was current In Loudon last
Saturday night that the Emperor epoleon's arrival at
Dover wee hourly t inertia Mere was also a rumour in
London on asturday afternoon that the French Emperor had
died suddenly at 'theta). on Friday Maht under • painful
operation.
The first body of Belgian mlruz ierx on Monday left fir the
theatre of the war. Eleven Miller, umier the leadership of
the Baroi.ea de Cronahrugghe and the Countess de Kellum,
have also gone there to nerve as nurse.
A novel Mt sad accident has occurred In Geestenitinde,
where • lieutenant with seven men, was at work In a host
laying down torpedoes in the harbour. Fp seine ac.cioent
one of them exp4al,l and Lion, up the boat, with the
lienteri.nt end seven men. All were gated.
- - • •

While a powerful and victorious German army holds pos-
session of the eastern departments of France, the North
German Correspondent says the berme. of Germany are
tilled with the reserve forces. Prussia alone can at this mo-
ment •etid 200 000 additional men to loin the troops now ad-
vancing on Paris.
It is related that at the battle of 11' meth an officer of
Cuirassiers had his head curried if by a ball. Nothwith-
standing, the body remained epright for a short time, and
for about 100 metres the decapitated horseman appearedas if
he was charging the enemy.
One of the Masonic lodges at Cologne has opened an im-
mense kitchen in the suburb, of that town for the support
and relief of the wives and families of those wit, have ohs yed
their country's call Each woman can get a good dinner for
3d , and enough for one..child can be had for a third of that
sum. The women who have visited this establishment speak
highly of the quality of the food.
Le l'egaro has started yet another subscription. Having
sent to e•ch soldier of the army a glass of brandy and •
cigar, and having presented Martinet filacMation with a
sword, Le l',garo now invites !mntributions to forward to
the towns where the wounded are lying. chocolate, oranges,
cigars, and similar little lusurie• not likely to reach them
otherwise.
' " -- • • •

The advisability of burning the dead bodies on the field of
battle ties been argued at Paris, and several suggestions have
been made for turning slaughtered soldiers to some profitable
account rather than permit their remains tonaint the air
and breed pestilence. One savants remind us that after ex-
periments made In India it was found that one decayed hero
produced 200 cubic metres of excellent gas.
• •• • -

The Burgeons have now had lull opportunity to study the
wound, respectively itilicted by tho Needle-gun and Chasse.
pot. They describe those wrought by the Linedie-gun se
uglier and more shattering the bolts of the mitrailleuse as
very mangling in storming the heights of Wissembourg and
thu Spicheren the lierman troops received many wounds in
the head and feet.
' • •

Late on Sunday night tie Ii dieted remnants of several
cavalry regiments, reduced to mere handfuls of men by the
vlclesituies of this bloody campaign, arrived hi Paris by rail-
way trim the east Towards half-past 11 about 40 Chasseurs
d'Afrique passed through the Rue deli Pair Weary, jaded,
anti f ootsoi e they looked, both men and horses. Some of
the men rode, others led their lame or wounded chargers.
They liwked thin enough, poor fellows, with worn and
haggard bees, like men who bad marched and fought hard,
fared badly, and suffered much. It seemed incredible that
so few days should have reduced • brilliant and numerous
regiment to this small detachment of invalids.

Trochu come. to Pair, and 01livier I it. The man
of overflowing talk, of quiet repartee, of ready logic, of
smooth and {during tongue—the man who bmwted of hie
liditneas of heart, and who, according to hi, enemies, ought
rather to have credited himself with lightneas of faith and
principle —has left the seer c of hie brief power and gone
Into Italy. The journals rather ill-naturedly say that he has
'fled' into Italy; but beyond the fact that he was hooted at
some of the railway stations as he paned, there doe; not
seem any indication of danger from which the fallen Minister
had need to liee."—Daily News.
• • • •

" There are married men and sad hearts among them ithe
Prussians) Near our quarter there WAS one poor fellow who
neithei ate nor drank, hut .at all the evening with his head
between his hands, thinking of his children, who, very pro-
barn', were quite free from rare on their father's accomit,
and )et he fell in ami took his place in the ranks like a man.
When offered bread and wine he said his heart was too sick
to let him eat. This is • condition of things the French can
scarcely realize, and, as an officer said to the Crown Prince,
it le a terrible cruelty to take married men for soldiers,' in
their eyes."—Correspondent of Times.
From the time of Attila to that of Blucher, Chalons and
Its neighbourhood, and indeed the whole province of Cham-
pagne, have been the scenes of many a hard-fought fight.
There are, indeed, regions which seem to attract war, as
certain substances attract lightning. No new battlefield,
appear to be discovered in Eurmu. If Emperors and Xing'
will battle be-day they moot even fight On the very spots
which Emperors and blues soaked again and again with
blood in previoUs and successive generationa'—Daffy News.
- - -- • • • • • --

"I cannot help thinking of the dialogue that psued once
between Cannot and the tint Napoleon. • What would It
take in time and money to fortify Paris?' asked the Severer.
'Three years and two hundred million' of francs,' answered
Carnot ;' and then, lire, I would undertake to batter down
the walla in eight-and-forty hours with 60,000 men r A fort-
night may prove Cannot a wise man Of a vain boastee. Mean-
while, ply your picks and shovels, volunteers of the capital,
for the bonnets of Prussia are over the border !”--Corre-
spondent of Standard.
General rrochu ha. Issued another address, this time
appealing specially to the National Guard and the Army of
Paris Ile thinks the future Is on their she, and believes
hia gallant soldiers will reatore fortune to the French arms
in care Paris is besieged " G'owlng re'eronee la made to
the heroic atruggles which the Army of the Rothe in making
against ihreetold odds," the general cornballou being h
there has never existed a more splendid opportunity" of
showing that a long curse of prosperity and power "has not
enervated the public manners and the manhoo,f of the
country." In reference to his previous proclamation,
General reecho explains that when he recommended people
" to take justice into their own hands,l' hp meant the Unfor-
tunate phrase to apply only "to plunderers, who, in the
event of a siege, would take advantage of the absence of the
I Public force on the rampart*"

The Paris papers are full of letters from the army, many
of them very interesting, but it is difficult to knew how
much of them one may believe, and the Parisian' themselves
do not seem to place implicit confidence In news from French
sources, but run after foreign journals, especially The Times
which is in great demand upon tho Boulevards. Some of the
papers are very unscrupulous as to the sources to which
they ascribe their intelligence. For instance the Genefois
announced that the British Embeesy had received official
Prussian despatches of immense importance, ore of which
effid that .• of Prince Frederic Charles's splendid army (illy
a wreck remained." Ms was a more invention, the British
Embassy having received nothing of the kind.
In the shop windows of the booksellers of Brussels are
numerous caricature. by German artiste.. They excite the
laughter of all, for they are air wed executed as they are
clever. One of these is exceedii gly broad—se Miteh 80, that
no bookseller In England would exhibit it. It Tepreeents
King William, the two rrinces, and Bismarck, holding res-
pectively Napoleon, Onivler. and two French generals under
their arme, and smacking them exactly in the way in which
a mother chastises a naughty child. Another of these broad
grins portrays a map ffi Europe, In which Great Britain la
delmiated as a toothless old Wonnui, east #eliradas a toulan