The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-28 00:00:00

NOTES FROM LYONS.

LYONS, January 23.
The news concerning the Prussian attack on Dijon has
caused the greatest surprise here, and people are asking

how it was that the authorities of the Cote d'or were n
informed of the movement, or how it was we
were left in such complete ignorance of it. A
despatch from Bordogne has shewn how the Pomer-
anians were driven from their positions, ,with
considerable loss. The decided attempt of the
Prussians to keep in the rear of Bourbaki's army spews
the anxiety they feel with respect to the movements of
the General; but even if Bourbaki should fail before Bel-
fort, a corps of twenty-five or thirty thousand men cannot
stop the retreat of an army like his. The most vexatious
thing at present is the entry of the
Prussians into Dole, which place is the junction of the
railways between Burgundy and La Francho-Comtcl. It
is greatly to be regretted that such an important point
should not have been protected. We have as yet received
no official news of the result of.. the second day's
fight before Dnon, but one Important division of
Manteuffel's army has taken Bourbaki in flank and rear,
It is unfortunate that the Garibaldians should have been
separated from the Army of the East. We are obliged to
depend for our information upon the news from the Swiss
frontier, and this does not confirm the report that Bour-
bald has made a forward movement. •
Some excitement has been produced by the affair
between Garibaldi and Frappoli; the former has replied to
the communication he received in a friendly spirit, and
written to Frappoli to say that they had better leave the
past alone, and turn their attention to the future. He
bids Frappoli organise all the Italians he can, and send
them to him, far he will be glad of their assist-
ance. Fortified positions are to be made in the
Rhone valley, and the Government of the
National Defence has conferred with the Defence
Committee on the subject. Colonel Denfert, who
so gallantly defends Belfort, is of a family which has
always professed Republican principles. He has served
with the engineers, and contributed to the democratic
journal the Independent de JJidi while he was
staying at Montpellier. According to a ru-
mour from Colmar the Prussian authorities
are about to take the number of all men in Alsace who are
between 17 and 40 years of age, and only those who have
landed property will he allowed to go about on parole.
Tile municipal council of Grenoble have just decided that
the names of all the citizens who die on the field of battle
during the war shall be inscribed on marble tah.ets in the
Council Hall.

NOTES FROIT LILLF,

LILLB, January 24

The Germans found it impossible to reduce Cambial.
without resorting to regular works, which would have
wasted time and given Faidherbe the opportunity to come
np and assail the besiegers. Such a contretemps would
have put the German forces in a critical position on
account of its limited numbers. It has difided itself,
the cavalry overrunning the country between Cambrai
and Vitry, and about six thousand men passing to Roeulx
with the intention of getting requisitions and watching '
for the French Corps who are near Douai. Beyond Cam-
brai it is difficult to say what is going on, but it is
believed that the enemy had attacked Landrecies
and afterwards abandoned the attempt, as they
did the bombardment of Cambrai. So far as
can be seen there is no reason to complain of the
Prussian soldiers in this neighbourhood. There have been
heavy demands made for requisitions, but no vexatious
conduct has taken place. Recent statements shew that
the battle of St. Quentin was not very lucky for the con-
querors ; the number of wounded who have been brought
here is considerable, and among them are many who seem
to belong to the last ranks of the Landwehr. The
Prussian officers are delighted with the military talents of
I General Faidherbe.

A. RETREAT " IN EXCELLENT ORDER."
Even during the engagement of the 11th numbers of
Chanzy's more recent levies fled in complete disorder at
the first sight of the enemy, throwing away alike their
arms and their accoutrements that these might not impede
the rapidity of their fight into Le Mans; where, how-
ever, in accordance with Gambetta's recent instruc-
tions, gendarmes had been stationed at all the
entrances into the town to arrest the runaways. That
this is not a superfluous precaution is evident from the
fact that at one post alone no less than 1,800 of these
fugitives were secured in the course of the afternoon. A
French officer informed me that he chased his •men
with his riding whip and by sound lashings
endeavoured to make them face the enemy, thinking
, his sword too noble a weapon for the flat side of it
to be employed in belabouring the backs of such
arrant cowards. He was satisfied, he said, that
thousands of mobiles of the Army of the Loire had
gone through the entire campaign without having ex-
changed a single shot with the enemy. If Wednesday
was bad enough, Thursday was infinitely worse, for during
the morning of this day a complete host of disbanded
soldiers in full flight before the enemy crowded the streets
of Le Mans, having entered the town, after sweeping
the gendarmes aside in a torrent, by the Avenue de
Paris, which was strewn with knapsacks and
rifles every step of the way. Officers of mobiles were only
less numerous than privates. One of the former, having
stumbled over a stone, was brought plump down on his
knees, which sent his gold-laced kdpi flying some distance
before him. On rising from the ground he hastily brushed
every speck of dirt from his, uniform with the cuff of
his coat, and then gave his attention to his kepi, the
gold bands of which he carefully dusted ere he resumed
his pricipitate flight. No less than four waggon-loads of
muskets thrown away by these terrified fugitives were
collected in the environs of Le Mans and brought safely
into Laval, to say nothing of the thousands of castaway
arms that were abandoned to the enemy.—. Pall Mail
Gazette.

GEN. FAIDHERBE ON THE SURRENDER

OF PERONNE.

General Faidherbe has written to the sub-prefect of '
Peronne :—" The letter you sent me on thelBth of
January was to take the part of the Commandant
of Peronne, whom I condemn. It also refers to a ques-
tion of general interest which affects Cambrai now as
it did Peronne the other day, and may shortly be
applicable to other strong places in the North, which will
be bombarded and called upon to surrender. I publish
my letter in order that the public may be aware of the
truth of the matter. In old times the siege
of fortified places was carried on while the
town was spared. This was according to an
International Convention and the rights of the people.
The Prussians in this, as in many other things, have
broken faith with past regulations, They no longer
besiege fortifications, but they bombard towns. For my
part I accuse them of neglecting the usages that
civilised nations have practised in their wars,
and of having given up a tacit convention,
It is their good faith which I impugn ; for if
one accuses them of inhumanity, they declare that they
have acted in the cause of humanity, Look at Peronne.
Its capture has cost them some hundreds of lives, and us
a dozen or so in killed and wounded, while a regular siege
would have entailed the hiss of fifteen thousand men to.
the besieged; and from three to four thousand on the part