The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-11-12 00:00:00

ITEMS OF THE WAR.

Tao balloons, cootiardiig tee petteengen, have been cap-
toted by the Germane and taken to \ enmities.
Osorr Ilde barrel, who lhit uishidbtetaOfltfl Straeburg,
It.. been thrown into prison b) the populace of firemen's
simply because boles gourd of the Sandra.
By Ciel.erall Monica's letter of thanks in reply to many Fol-
tin see, wit to hlio it app:ara that he was celebrating his
seventy-drat and n 1 his eeventieth birthday us we. acated
tint.
It is officially announce! at Tours that private ntentages
wlll to tent by phteon to Paris at the rate of to centimes
(fivepence, per word. The Okla/tie& lutist be to purely
private affairs.
The Mobiles who have fled from IhJon to Lyons state that
th., National GUlatit at Dijon WOUld tot tl4ht, nut that the
inhabitants welcomed the arrival of the eneo.y.

Owing to • disagreement with his colleagues on the sub-
ject of the municipal elections, al. Rochefort has resigned,
and no official acts have beeu signed by him since the ailla
ult.
As the King of Ponsla r.fiOe. to levee the army before
peace Is concluded or an armistice sigjoed, the proposition
that the North German Parliament should hold Its sesAoil
In the middle of this month at Veniallies is being serlondy
entertained.

l'he German naschly mtimste that from filly to sixty
thousand Frenchmen have already perished outright
either on fields of listtte or in hospital., during tile war; SO
thet probably at least forty thousand French families are in
mourning for lout relatives.
A decree has bobn issued by the Government f.,r the
National Defence in Patil declaring that France adopts
the children of citizens who may die in it. tlefence. The
wants of their widows and of their families will be relieved
by the State should they demand it "
-

It Is stated that the intention of the German rnedleal au-
thorities to 'reimport a portion of the French sict and
wounded from Nlttz to Getmany cannot be carried out,
owing to the prevalence •1111,11 g them of typhus foyer, mull-
pos hospital fever, and other contagious discs...
- • - - -

The Government of the bual Defence has suppreised
the Imperial (Wald, ant plactil the °Meer, and addlers of
the ex-tiusrd On the tame pay as the the on Retire tervice.
The Government has also decreed that for the future the
decoration of the Legion of Honour shall he exclusively re-
t«rved as reward for military lenient, and for act. of
bravery and telf.devotion acconiplished in the enemy's
pretence.
The ilrelht semt official papers were from the first any-
thing but sanguine of the teen's of the proposed armistice.
The CroNe Gazette, which incidentally mention, the proba-
bility of the ltmelisrath meeting at Versailles, on actmunt of
the King berg unable to leave the army, hope. that the
neutral, will now perceive that the Red, of Paris will not
hear of. pacific turn of affairs.

According to Yoga's Gazette, the German sold ere now In
France and lit for service number 690,000, while there are
100,000 horses The daily requirements of these forces are
435 Old loaves of bread, 115 one, 400 cwt, of bacon, blOcwt,
of rice, 1000.00 quarts of brandy, and 40Cist, of coffee.
68.000cwa, of hay, and large litillltltieSOf oats and straw.
lire Americans who have left Paris describe the dean ess
of provisions as enormous. The days of beef are over, and
horses and donkeys are thought delicacies. The brutality
with which German are treated is indescribable, said goal
so fir that everybody who wears whiskers is taken for a
Prussian in ennui., and emoted or ill used by the
populace.
A swim pope, states that several trucks, containing article.
of furniture, chaises, , have been despatched by train to
Arenberg, which is the property of the Ensures. Eugenie.
They were forwarded by General Fieury Sr, in Si. Petenhum.
This apparently indicates that the Empress contemplate.
settling them
•• the general feeling among the shopkeepers of Paris
seems to be to accept an .n 111.0.1.011 almost any terms, be-
cause they hope that it will lead to peace. We will take our
revenge, they say, in two years. A threat which simply
menus that if the French army can fight then, they 0111
again about 'el Beritn P"—Daily Nero? Correepoudent.

The necessities of the detours of Paris have compelled the
conversion of the Pantheon into a central powder mega.
Mee. Although it Is stated. as • prudential measure, the
religion& services have been teinpoiarily suspended, the
church itself has not been interfered with, but the gun.
powder is stored only in the extensive vaults beneath Great
precautions are observed, and • detachment of troops is o
constant guard.
The Fiends papers announce that the Prierslan War De.
pertinent has issued orders that their leech prisoners shall
be furnished with winter clothing, of which Cu immense
quantity was found in ritrashu,g. The prisoners confined in
the fortresses of Silesia have also been supplied with whiter
clothing. Prisoners, even private soldiers, are permitted to
rookie in private houses if their °literati.] and conduct to
such as to jastlitly such privilege.

Toe old lie of the l'enp-cnr, eaploded many year. ago by
Mr.t7arlle, is belog premed again Into service. An appeal
of 'The Captain of the Avengers of Death" from Amiss
reaches the sublime. The captain, dm., says :—' Remember
the soldiers of the l'synes They all Wed In crysng ' Vlve
In Republique 1'" lie also say.:—" ',Joh up to Heaven. All
the scarkliqg stars there represent the souls of our valiant
soldiers crying for 'engem.,"

The Croon states that Meer, who was tried and con-
demned a few months since to the pile. for killing a pulice
officer who sought to arr.'s him on a charge of conspiring
against the life of the Emperor, but who, upon the prod,.
motion of the Republic, obtained his release from prison,
ins. just been arrested in Paris for having struck his superior
Aker in the National Guard.

It is Bald that the duties and cares of the English Am.
bulance at Versailles, which equals a I quadron of horse, and
has a hill establishment of norm., are centred on one
Frenchman, kindly prodded for their use by a newspaper
correspurVent, who, treating himself to a halts, in the
14,revne's rresersee, delivered an erratic obarge and
pelleted a he at.? s finger.
It Ls officially announced in the Government Gezette of
Lorraine, by General order, that six wounded French
prisoners have escaped from the hospital where thy), were
cored for near Sarregueroln es, and that among them there was
a certain Major Lisraniell, woo hadn't,ee his word of honour
not to quit the hospital. The repeated instances of this in-
fraction of parole certainly are very hard upon the other
French officers, who will have to suffer ter heir comrades'
falthlesaness.

lhe Vienna Correxpondenz, a semiofficial organ of the
Austrian flovernment, says the fact of the King of Prussia
offering peace before the gates of the hard-pressed French
mpttal Is a guarantee that there will be nothing in his
terms Incompatible with the honour of the French. lit
course the French most comprehend that, being vanquished,
they cannot expect an immunity which they would not hare
accorded as Actors.

'There it • mystery romewhere which hat yet to be .o' red
--, mystery which I think Bourbaki dh C,vered, and would
not be • party to. And theist, a moral to be drawn from
it, which may throw light upon the immediate proapecia of
France. How foil that thli "grand.; nation" protirces to
many traitors, or if they are not traitor, how in it that it
Instinctively finds the solution of Its disasters by charging
honest men with treachery? Where la the unutterable blue-
ness which has ruined Frauce,—in the leaders or the led,
or In both ?"—Timeg. correapondent.

Upon the publication of the intelligence of the surrender
of Metz the following r clamation was issued at Lyons :
" The Municipal Council, impelled by the necessities of the
time, decrees—. That, rather than submit to the Illegrace of
a surrender, the city shall be defended until complete mini-
hilatiou. The old men, women, and children alone may
leave the city. WI graters before the enemy shall be regarded
as de,erters. Their Dainee will be stamped with Infamy.'
The Matte of Lyons,—linNom."

_ .
FrancaTireurs," says • Versailles corretpondeot of the
Croix Gazette, .• are on the increase, but without any other
effect than cantles us trouble. Here and there are numerous
bands ; • few days ago, for instance, in the vicinity of Lastly
and FerriCrew, they even posted guns, but were dispersed by
• Wilrtemberg division. In bad weather the liking for
franc-tireurdom immediately diminishes, mid there being no
sort of discipline or serious obligation with these people,
everybody comes and gots nibs chooses, but not in any case
in wet weather.'

A now style of j nirmsl has been set up in Paris since the
siege. It ham the form of an ordinary letter, and is Ca let
Letire Journal tie Paris, (ituette die A been( g. The two first
Mee, contain • summary of the news of the week ; the
third page Is free to .011WD the substance of the letter ; and
the fourth bears the address of the person for whom it is
destined, who receives • Perislan j menet at the same time
as a letter from his besieged relations or friends.
A correspondent says :—lf we are to jmlge by what we
see, the people, or garrison, or army of Parts intend to nuke
their means of resistance very complicated. 'rhos works to
which I have alluded neat Valerian are growing daily, and
the forms of the redoubts are becoming clearly defined.
Men are working brolly at the quarries beyond, and carts
filled with chalk and stories for the foundations of the
redoubts may be seen through the glass in long Afloat going
and miming all day.

" Here is rather a good story I can conch for its truth,',
writes the " Reeleged Resident "In Paris. " The Govern-
ment recently vidted one of the enables. They were received
by the mayor, whom they found establiehed In a suite of
apartments lie showed them over the palace, and then
offered them Itmcheon. They then incidentally uksd him
who had nominated him to the post he No ably filled. • My-
he replied, 'jut by the same authority as you nominated
yourselves, and no lees?"

A friend of mine saw General Trochn yesterday on busi-
ness, and he tells me that this worthy man wan then so
utterly prostrated that he did not even refer to the business
which he had come to transact. Never was a man more
unfit to defend a use capital. " Why do you not act with
energy against the Ultras i' said my friend. '' I wish," re-
Oen frochu, "to preserve my power by moral force." This
is all very well, but can the cornmsnder of a besieged town
be said to have premerved his pair when he allows himself
to be Imprisoned by • mob for sir hours, and then does not
venture to potash Its leader./ Newspaper Correipondeut.
- - • • •• - • • • - -

be. Jules (Merin recently laid before the Academy or
defences at Paris two echenfes for maintaining telegraphic
communications I,tween Paris and the province, by means
of balloons. The first consists In lending up a captive
balloon and pa)ing out a telegraphic wire from it by means
of • free balloon, until the latter reaches the ground The
Intermediate portions oi the wire would be kept in the Mr
at the desired height by a aeriee of email balloone attached
to It at a distance from each other. The second plan le •
wire encloeed in a tube. The latter, having • series of in-
tersection. filled with gas, would constitute • kind of tabu-
lar balloon, which would, as 10 the former case, be paid out
by • captive balloon, and would follow the free balloon until
the latter reached the dssired destination.

"Travailler pour le Roi de mese" iso French proverbial
expreuton, signifying to work for nethlug, but many of the
French, rape sed to requisitions and compulsory services of
all kinds, are feeling the literal foree of the adage. Count
Plato-klettkau, at • dinner in celebration of the fall of Men,
referred to the proverb In proposing the King's health. He
statei that it originated in the reign of Frederick II , and
was • contemptuous expreesion applied to the parasites who
collected round the King, greedy for a golden rate, but pro-
hosing to offer him purely disinterested homage. As they
received more respect than money, to work for the King of
Prussia became synonymous with unremunerated labour.
We hear that the Prussians received their Krupp gethe
early Int week ; but we can defy then, our besiegers have
a gun of far more formidable range, and that le O. Famine.
Our stock of live food is known to be smaller than wae
asserted, and we have winter coming upon us. It le now
very cold. and wood and coal are ranee, consequently dear.
Up to the present moment we are experiencing privation.,
but have not gunned much. An and hone are not so good
as beef and mutton, and dog, cat, and rat are not pleasant se
gastronomic possibilities. the boldest defender of the
couotry In danger seem to beit,ve bread and wine will out-
live horn and other quadruped., and that upon bread and
wine the garrison and the Inhabitants of Parte may hold out
lota enough to obtain renal from the provitices."—Daify
New' rtrit Correspondent.
The burgomaster of Breoliu, Herr Ziegler, who wet
thought of as the Democratic candidate for that city in the
Landtag, but rejected as sot"thorough" has witted •
letter In which he says.—" If Bismarck and Moltke are of
opinion Hitt pontlckl existence and military wearily
demand the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine, I net Im•
mediately for annexation ; If they say Han. off,' I am
also nmtented- For my countryman Ilismarck Is, as we all
' are. 'Dad-I.ring and hold,' and of Unlike may be raid
what an Iduglishman said of Collie, 'lie is no fool' In
forego affairs I am particularly cautious, and keep aloof
from every unruly faction. According to the Cologne
Gazelle, such abnegation of one's own opinions in Impor-
tant political questions is a widespread feeling, even to ,
Democratic circles. It adds the very natural reflection that
thin excite. grave doubts whether such a people In ripe for
self-governmont, reprefientative institution, and • con-
siltnUonal Nunn