The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-21 00:00:00

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE EAST.

A letter from Chatillon, in the Cologne Gazette alludes to '
the preparations made by the Germans with a view Of '
checking the advance of General Bourbaki's army. " The '
13th Division," it says, " has long been here ; the 14th has
been despatched by railway from the Belgian frontier, the
2nd Army Corps from Paris will likewise join us, and we
seek to effect a union with the reinforced 14th Corps, under
Werder, with whose extreme left wing Treskow's troops
are connected. General Manteuffel, who arrives to-day
from the north, takes the command of these masses of
troops. The concentration of such strong forces shows
what importance is attached to the operations about to be
begun, and the first object of which will be to drive
back the Rhone army out of Dijon towards the south.
This.new large French army is the last hope of the
intelligent inhabitants here, and doubtless more than
80,000 strong." Referring to skirmishes with Ricciotti
Galibaldi's brigade at Cr6pan and Montbard, north-
west of Dijon, the writer says, " Captured Garibal-
dians, with whom I conversed, state the strentgh
of the • whole Garibaldian Corps at 12,000 mostly
French, but also many Italians, Spaniards, and Poles. My
informant was a native of Nice, by law a Frenchman, but
at heart an Italian, he said. They are armed, he added,
with all kinds of weapons—• Spencer and Remington rifles,
chassepots, and tabatteres. They have a few cavalry,
commanded by Menotti Garibaldi, and a little artillery,
in which, however, he had little confidence. I spoke
' also with a Polish surgeon, a prisoner, who answered my
French questions in good German, He told me that
Garibaldi had the rank of a General of Division, and Com-
mander of the Army of the Vosges, and that Bourbaki
and Cremer had the same rank, there being no general in
chief, and the movements of the whole Eastern or Rhone
Army being controlled from Bordeaux." After mention.
lug the confidence expresssed by the people round Cha-
tillon, especially by the ladies, in the eventual triumph of
France, he adds :—" I must, however, give the French
credit for something praiseworthy ; one may learn from
them how to receive as guests the enemies who press for
ward into one's country. The proud and refined courtesy
which Lhave everywhere received in educated families has
impressed me not a little."

THE FRENCH TROOPS.

It was not until we had crossed the ridge and were
passing through the woods which clothe its opposite slopes
that we peioeived how hot the fighting must have been
yesterday evening. The position in the hands of a few
resolute men would have been almost impregnable; the
thick underwood was traversed by deep narrow lanes,
affording admirable cover for men, while steep banks and
deep ditiehes give every facility for concealment and sur-
prise. Since I have been campaigning with the German
armies I have not seen any more conclusive evidence of the
utter incapacity of the French levies for partisan warfare,
or, indeed, any other kind of warfare, than-this scene
presented : that an inferior force shouid have driven
them out of the woods as if they had been sheep, and
should now be able to advance with impunity along the
narrow lanes which afford the only means of traversing
the difficult country, has struck their enemies with asto-
nishment. There can be no doubt that had these forests
been filled with Red Indians or New Zealanders the Ger-
man loss would have been much heavier. It is painful
to write thus of a people whose bravery has become
a proverb in Europe,, and who have made the pur-
suit of military glory their successful occupation,
but there can be no advantage either to them, or to
those whose fortunes are in any way connected
with them, to perpetuate a delusion which has already
been so fruitful in disaster. Whatever may be said of
the Imperial armies, or those first Republican troops who
at the outset inspired many with hope, these two days'
fighting have made it plain to us that the last raw levies
are utterly contemptible from a military point of view, and
are far inferior to anything professing to be an organized
army with which the Germans have yet come into
collision. It was painful to see them thickly scattered
over the fields and open spaces like slaughtered
sheep. Under the hedge-row of one small two-
acre field I counted no less than 18 dead Frenchmen and
only one German. There they lay, coiled up in ditches,
stark in the midst of snow wreaths, or half concealed by
the thick brushwood, but all of one nationality. Evi-
dently they had been taken at this point unexpectedly,
either in flank or rear. Destitute of any officers of expe-
rience, it is easy for the Germans to out-manoeuvre them,
to
_steal round through the thick wood with-
out firing a shot or replying to the volleys
which their enemies pour into the woods at random,
and then from an unlooked-for direction to rain upon
their victims a well-directed fire at close quarters, and,
before they have recovered their surprise, to rush at them
with that demoralising cheer which seems to strike terror
into the breast of the poor Mobile. Indeed, to judge
from the corpses so plentifully strewn over this tract, the
Mobiles did not even wait to be fired at. All the
uniforms of the dead here, as at the battles near Orleans,
were of the Line, and, except as a prisoner, the Mobile
is a being rarely visible to the enemy. It was singu-
lar to look over these fields of snow, and see the traces
of the fugitives, like innumerable hare-tracks on a
large scale, traversing them in every direction ; sometimes
abruptly terminating in a, pool of blood, where some
wounded man had fallen, sometimes in a stiffened corpse,
and sometimes converging to the only outlet, through
which there had evidently been a simultaneous rush.
Here were claassepots, greatooats, and knapsacks thrown
away in the moment of flight, thickly strewn ; now and
then a dead horse, but rarely, as neither artillery nor
cavalry seemed to have been employed by the French.
Times' Correspondent with Prince Frederick Charles's Army
✓anuary 12.

Gambetta has arrived at Laval.
The Italian Consul has ceased all diplomatic intercourse
with the Government of Tunis. The motives for this step
are not exactly known.
Accommodation is being prepared in the environs of the
Paris Pantheon for one thousand citizens who are driven
out of their dwellings by the Prussian shells.
General d'Anrelles de Paladine, the original comman-
der-in-chief of the Army of the Loire, is still in the de-
THE ACTION AT ST. ROMAIN. partment of Ain, and has, it is said, received a letter
One of the Havre local journals, of January 18, gives from Gambetta, proposing that he should take another
the following accountof the late fighting at St. Romain : command in the army.
" The details which reach us this morning, inform us The French officers and soldiers who were taken pri-
that tbg action at St. Ilamain reflects the highest credit Boners at Rocroi are sent to Stralsund, in Pomerania.
on our Vranc-tireurs, but that our little victory was Their journey, according to a letter that has been received
dearly purchased by the Ilavrais, who lost the gallant from one of them, was a most wretched one. They were
Lieutenant Bellanger and two other men, whose names ' closely watched, and every one of their trains had to wait
we are as yet unacquainted with. As early as Tuesday to allow of the passing of transports of troops and provi-
evening a council, at which perfect harmony pre- .;„,„
vaned, was held by the officers of the various "--
corps of Franc-tireurs, and a very well-combined plan The 9th Prussian Corps made a march last month which
had been agreed on. Yesterday, at noon, the Franc- is certainly one of the greatest achievements of the kind
tireurs, about 400 strong, consisting of the corps of Havre, iin history. It has been reiterated from so many quarters
Rouen, the North, Mocquart, and others, occupied the I that it would be absurd not to believe it. During twenty-
road from St. Romain to Rouen. All the ambuscades (?) four hours of the 16th and 17th of December, this corps
were taken by them. They held the farm close to the marched twelve Prussian miles, or about fifty-four English.
brickfields, and other neighbouring farms, forming a semi- Twenty-five miles a day for a whole Corps—lnfantry,
circle, The Prussians made their appearance about noon 1 Oavalry, and Artillery—haire been frequently marched,