The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-01 00:00:00

A BONAPARTIST RESTORATION.

deax.

The Frankfort Journal says that the ex-Emperor, to al
appearance, leads a most retired life at Wilhelmshohe
as
if he wished to avoid all communication with the outer
world. Like all political prisoners who are desirous of
lightening the tedium of his captivity, the
Emperor often opens a window of the chateau
and throws out crumbs to the numerous
sparrows which come under his windows. Then he takes
short walks. Before he leaves the chateau the sentinels
have notice that lie is coming out in order that they may
present arms, which otherwise they might not always
do, seeing that he often goes out in plain clothes.
The German soldiers are said to be very averse
to this formality, but orders must be obeyed. So much
for the exterior. The interior is altogether different.
Ceaseless political excitement reigns among the guests of
the chateau. There is continual going and coming ;
despatches and letters pass to and fro, and the most pr )-
minent diplomatists of the former empire are fre-
quent visitors to the Emperor. The Marquis of
Lavalette has passed a whole day at the chateau. It is
said that after he left, he went through Brussels to the
headquarters at Versailles. Probably these journeys
have no other object than visits of courtesy, but there is
a generally admitted belief that important communica-
tions pass between the master and his servitors, and that
the latter only transmit to him the threads of a net very
skilfully woven.
The Cologne Gazette quotes the article in the Times on a
Bonapartist restoration, and adds the following com-
ments :—" We can only agree with the organ of
the City when it says that an Imperial restora-
tion is for the time being an impossible under-
taking. Count Bismarck, in demanding the terri-
torial concessions already known, the integral fractions
of the French Empire, such as Metz, drove the people to
a savage and desperate resistance, with the fanatic shout
of " Not an inch of our territory ! Not a stone
of our fortresses !" There is imminent danger
of rekindling this expiring fanaticism by en-
deavouring to restore Napoleon by foreign arms
as the Bourbons were restored of old. But to-day, when
we are at the climax of. victory, we must avoid pushing
matters to such an extremity. The limits between firm--
ness and obstinacy are difficult to find, but they must be
found. Count Bismarck is too sagacious a politician not
to discover the solution of the problem. Whatever may
be thought of his circular of September, he certainly did
not introduce an immovable rigidity into his negotiations
with Jules Favre. He briefly mentioned the pretensions
of Germany, and contented himself with demanding that
the French representative should acknowledge the prin.
ciple of territorial concessions. When Favre refused this, it
was he who was inflexible and obstinate. Now he will be
more tractable. The Chancellor best knows the means to
bring M. Favre to repentance. If he wishes to suggest
the possibility of an eventual Bonapartist restoration we
have no objection to make, only we wish to avoid
the appearance of favouring such a restoration.
The convocation of a national Convention will
be the best thing in any case, for a French
Government in which the Parisians have no part will be
little to their taste. Peace is a blessing equally desired
by both parties. If it does not bear the appearance of
being signed at the point of the sword, it will be all the
more durable. Our programme has always been the same.
First, the conquest of Paris, then an equitable peace. It
is often said that it is easier to conquer than to be mode-
rate in victory. For our part we are not disposed to be
wanting in moderation.

PRUSSIAN OUTRAGES ON AN ENGLISI

FAMILY.

A deplorable story is told by Mr. Lawrence Smith, an
English captain, who took a house at St. Ouen, and there
placed his family to reside. During his absence his family
suffered most grievous treatment. Several detachments
of Prussians were quartered upon him in succession ; all
his farm-stock and provisions were stolen, besides his
own and his children's clothes :—" We had a very strongly
arched wine-cellar, with an entrance from ouside the
house. My wife, fearing that the Prussians would
burn the house, put some straw into this cellar, and
went there every night for ten or eleven nights
with all the family, and two poor people who had been
with them all the time, and when the soldiers cleared away
they took what beds and wearing apparel were left into
this place. On the 4th January, about six in the morning,
sixty Prussians came along, and smashed in the windows
and doors of the house. They then burst in the cellar
door, and at once discharged a volley of muskets into the
cellar. My family only escaped death because they were
in an inner compartment, separated by a wall at right
angles with the entrance way. When the firing ceased, my
wife rushed to the entrance with little Willie in her arms,
the rest of the family following. They found the Prus-
sians setting fire to the house with a pile of my furniture.
When they saw this, Lizzie tried to force her way to
the cellar to get a bundle of clothing, but she was
driven back and not allowed to enter. All the family
were driven away from the burning house to seek shelter
in the nearest wood, half naked. Mrs. Smith and
Lizzie were only lightly dressed, with slippers on their
feet ; David was rather better off, but the four smaller
ones were almost naked, only having a frock over
their night-dresses, and, except one, having bare
legs and feet. Poor little Theresahadtorun some 200 yards
to the wood barefooted. When they got to the woods my
wife was obliged to take her frock skirt off to wrap round
the two babies, and also her flannel petticoat, which she
placed about the feet of two of the other little ones. lam
sorry to tell you that both the latter had their feet frost-
bitten—Theresa very badly. They were three hours in tha
wood ; it was freezing bitterly all the time, and the snow
was four to six inches thick on the ground. At last they
got shelter in an outhouse, and afterwards in a neigh-
bouring cottage, but almost too late for the children. The
shameless rascals, not content with having the house and
all it contained, set fire to the beds, bedding, and wearing
apparel in the cellar, and burnt the whole lot. Only a
short time previously I had left my family amply pro-
vided with provisions, clothing, furniture, and every com-
fort for twelve months, in an excellent ten-roomed house.
1 returned to see them in a wretched roam with a brick
floor, only a few bundles of straw to lie on, and nothing
but a little bread to subsist on.

The Nord announces, under reserve, that a General of
the Army of Paris has poisoned himself.
M. Jules Favre has requested the German authorities
to check the entry of persons into tho capital. Postal
communication has been opened.

The steamer Orleans arrived ht Dieppe from Newhaven
early on Tuesday morning with English mails. The block-
ade was raised on Monday.
The Oxfordshire Agricultural Society have resolved to
take the lead in the county in raising contributions for
the French peasant farmers.

The official report in the Staats-Anzieger of the late
campaign against Chanzy admits a loss of only 3,200
altogether from the sth to the 12th inclusive. Most of
this of course was due to the struggle of the 11th.
The Carlsrulte Gazette publishes a proclamation of the
Committee of the National Liberal party, informing the
people of their intention to send to the German assem-
blies only such men as have shown themselves capable of
remaining true to the supporters of national unity, to the
Emperor, and to the Empire, through the most desperate
oratorical attacks.

From Nancy we learn that the bridge on the Moselle,
near Toul, was one resting on six substantial stone piers,
one only of which was blown up, destroying, of course,
two arches. The ruins fell up stream, and now lie partly
above the level of the river, forming a large surface of
dead water, which renders the temporary repair a very

simple work. The wooden structure required to restore
communication was expected to be complete by Monday.
Some of the National Guards tried hard to make them-
selves bullet proof before going out to the last sortie.
Many wore felt breastplates, but the needle gun bullets

easily penetrated them.
The correspondent of the Standard with the army of
Chanzy, estimates the French forces at 110,000 men. In
that case about half of them must have been lost during
the recent battles around Le Mans.

M. Gambetta seriously intended going to London to
take part in the conference, instead of M. Favre ; but the
serious state of the country induced him to return to Bor-

Lord Ranelagh, who has visited Sedan and the sur-
rounding country, moralises on the large subscriptions in
this country in aid of the sick and wounded. "We get
no credit for it," he said, " and in fact we fed the war."
It is true, therefore, slowly as the lesson is learned, that
it is not enough to be generous—far from it. It is neces-
sary, at the same time not to be foolish.
The Germans recently discovered a bottle floating down
the Marne from the direction of Lagny and in the direc-
tion of Paris. In it was a written paper stating that in a
day therein named an assault would be made on one of the
French positions, and naming the corps to be engaged in
the undertaking. The person who volunteered this infor-
mation to the French was suspected and placed under
surveillance.

The Paris Commissioners, while at breakfast with
Count Bismarck, inquired of the Chancellor why the
Germans had not entered Paris immediately after the
affair of September 19, called in the city the battle of
Sces.ux. His Excellency replied that, as he had not
been entrusted with the direction of the military
operations, he could not give them any satisfactory
explanation.
•

M. Gambetta, after consulting with several persons at
Bordeaux, is reported on good authority to have aban-
doned his determination of resigning, and to have given
his adhesion to the capitulation of Paris ; with the under-
standing, however, that the three weeks of the armistice
are to be employed in energetic efforts to fill up the armies
of Faidherbe and Chanzy, and to prepare France for a
resumption of the war should the Constituent Assembly
decide to reject the terms offered by the Germans.—Man-
chester Guardian Telegram from, Bordeaux.
The Germans affirm that their losses were compara-
_

tively very slight in the engagements about Le Mans.
They say that in the whole of the week's desultory fight-
ing which followed the great battle the army of the
Grand Duke did not lose altogether quite 500 men in
killed and wounded, while it has captured 7,000 prisoners,
and killed and wounded out of all proportion to its own
losses. The French wounded who have fallen into the
hands of the Germans have been three times as many as