The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-11 00:00:00

BOURBAKPS ARMY.

The special correspondent of the Daily News, writing
from Basle, February 4, thus describes the condition of
the French prisoners in Switzerland :—I had an oppor-
tunity of seeing what these soldiereof the once redoubt-
able Bourbaki, who were to have done so much for
France—to have destroyed the communications of the
Germans and annihilated their armies—were like.
And I am bound to say that anything more pitiable than
the spectacle they presented I never witnessed in my life.
If they were at all a fair specimen of the troops which
Bourbaki had under his command, it is no wonder that
that General failed to accomplish what M. Gambetta
promised for him. Some of them were mere boys ; others
appeared quite old men. Most of them were foot-
sore or leg-weary, and many were coughing in a most
painful manner. Yet, thoroughly broken down and ex-
hausted as they were, most of them were encumbered,
not merely with their knapsacks, blankets, and rugs, but
with their cooking tins, and the half-dozen or
more odds and ends which it seems to please
the French soldier to carry with him wherever
he. goes. Arms. of course, they had none. Some
were slightly wounded, but I fancy not many. Exposure,
fatigue, and sickness seemed to be the cases which had
reduced most of them to the unfortunate condition in
which they found themselves. They had marched long
distances, as Frenchmen estimate distances at all events,
had suffered from exposure to weather, and had, t.t times,
ndeed, as a rule, gone very short of provisions. It
was all triste, very triste in war, and as they made this
assertion, which was abundantly confirmed by their hag-
gard and miserable looks, their interlocutors decidedly
expressed their concurrence in this opinion. Yet the men
were not all equally downcast. Some stronger, perhaps, or
better seasoned than their fellows, maintained a loftier
port, and marched along stoutly enough, and with
the regular military tread. Others—and these were the
majority—limped painfully along, some propping their
footsteps with sticks, and others resting upon the arm of
a stouter or more healthy companion. As far as I could
judge in the darkness, the men seemed ill-clad.
They most of them wore the bluish grey great-
coat, red trousers, and kepi, which have been
made by this war so familiar to English
readers ; and some of them carried blankets or rugs, in
which they had enveloped their heads and shoulders. In
this matter of rugs, however, great inequality
appeared to prevail. Some had one, some
two, or even three one wrapped round their
shoulders and the other or others attached to the
kuapsacks—while many had none at all. Many of
their coats were sadly torn, and some of their trousers
were litezally in rags. How they were retained upon the
legs of the men it was difficult to say. Their shoes were,
if anything, still worse. The soles had either gone
altogether, or were so near demolition as to afford
no comfort to the wearers. There were representa-
tives of several regiments in the ranks, one or two men
in blouses, and two or three in a uniform which
_T imagine
belonged to sonic regiment of Francs-tireurs. These men
seemed better off for clothes than the regular soldiers, and
to be altogether in better condition.

The statement that a Turkish army of observation is
being formed at Shumla on account of the unsettled state
of affairs in Roumania is incorrect.

A violent shock of earthquake, which lasted for four
seconds, has occurred at Darmstadt, which was followed
after a short interval by another and a weaker shock.