The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-09 00:00:00

INACTION. OF THE FRENCH.

In a letter from Havre, dated January 6, the special
correspondent of the Standard says :—The hopes excited
by the capture of La Bouille, near Rouen, by General
Roy, the victory of General Faidherbe, near Bapaume,
and the energy displayed by General Peltingeas, the new
military broom sent here to help M. Mouches in sweep-
ing the Prussians out of Normandy—have been, so
far, sadly disappointed. Of General Roy's capa-
bilities high opinion had been formed; his attack
and occupation of the one position whieh
cut off the communications of the Prussians with Duclair
down the river, and with Elbeuf, Evreux, and Berney
by land, led people to suppose that the French army
had found a strategist. The importance of the position
had been proved by the efforts of the Germans to recap-
ture it, and it was reasonable to suppOse that steps
would have been taken to occupy it in force and strengthen
it so as to baffle .any futher attempt of the enemy to
retake it. This does not appear to have been done.
Raw troops (Mobiles it is said) were entrusted with
the duty of keeping the position. Under cover of a
heavy fog they were "surprised" on Wednesday- morning,
and retreated with such alacrity that a good many of
them reached Honfleur the same evening. lam told that
the four guns they had with them they left behind
them as rather Cumbersome, and they were brought into
flonfleur on the following morning by the natives of
the villages through which the fugitives passed. At
Honfleur they were "brought up," and, after some little
difficulty, sent back to join their corps. The bulk of the
force under General Roy, the safety of which the hasty
retreat—to put it mildly—of his advanced guard very
seriously compromised, made a gallant stand, and he was
able to effect his retreat, in tolerable order, in the direc-
tion of Brienne and Caen. A curious story is told Of a
colonel of Mobiles, who at the early hour of seven a.m. was
so dreadfully intoxicated that he was hardly able to stand,
and who shot four of his men, whom he supposed were
running away, while, on the contrary, they were rushing
at the enemy. The French lost two guns. General Roy
has written a letter to the local papers asking them not to
judge the Mobiles too harshly. This appeal evidently
proceeds from a generous mind ; but troops whose " in-
experience" induces them to retreat some forty miles
without stopping are hardly entitled to indulgence. The
long and short of the matter is that the Prussians
are once more in possession of the important position of
La Bouille, and that the forces of General Roy have had
to replier themselves once more. On this side of the
Seine the troops of General Peltingeas, who had advanced
as far as Yvetot, have faller back to the positions in front
of Havre for some mysterious reason which I cannot
fathom. The victory of Faidherbe at Bapaume
ought, it strikes me, to have induced the French
commanders in this part of the country to push
on towards Rouen without delay. It is said that
the want of provisions—an odd reason in one of the
wealthiest and most fertile of French provinces—rendered
this retrograde movement necessary. This morning
about a couple of hundred Prussians, horse and foot,
with a couple of guns, advanced to the out-
skirts of the French outposts, and threw a score or
so of shells into the village of Gainneville ;
a company of Mobilised National Guards were
then thrown forward, and, after a short exchange of
shots, the enemy limbered up and retired towards
Bolbec. With the number of men in and in front of
this place not a man or a gun ought to have escaped
capture. To sum up—the week ends unsatisfactorily,
with the sole exception of Faidherbe's success at Ba-
paume, as to the real extent of which we are as yet in
the dark, the advantages gained a few days back have
all been lost. A serious advance seemed to have been
decided on; it has been nipped in the bud, and the
" Army of Normandy " has not taken any steps to draw
closer to Rouen, which it abandoned now exactly a month

ago.

THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS LOUISE.
At Windsor Castle, during the absence of her Majesty
the Queen and the Royal Family in the Isle of Wight,
considerable progress has been made with the prepara-
tions for the approaching nuptials of her Royal
Highness the Princess Louise and the Marquis of
Lorne. The Albert Memorial Chapel, at the eastern
end of St. George's Chapel, and which was once known
as Cardinal Wolsey's Chapel, is being prepared for the
ceremony by the employs of the Board of Works. The
interior walls of the Albert Memorial Chapel are decorated
with Baron Triqueti's beautiful marble pictures, the
Salviati mosaics, and other unique and costly adornment.
For the purposes of the Royal wedding the inside of
the building will be transformed into tastefully fitted
up assembling and retiring rooms. The stone pave-
ment is being covered with a boarded flooring.
The Albert Memorial Chapel is only separated
from the east end of St. George's Chapel by the
covered entrance to the cloisters inhabited by the Dean
and Canons of Windsor, and the marriage procession
would thus have to proceed but a short distance, in fact
only a few yards, to reach the rails in front of the altar.
With the view of affording proper accommodation for the
numerous and distinguished persons who may have the
honour of being invited to attend the marriage the exact
number of sittings in the choir has been ascertained by the
Court officials. The marriage is expected to be celebrated
about the beginning of March, while the Queen is in
residence at Windsor. The Princess's trousseau is being
prepared by the different Court tradespeople at Windsor,
London, and elsewhere.

Very little was seen in London of the eclipse of
the moon on Friday night owing to the clouded state of
the sky. After the eclipse was over the clouds passed
away.
GENERALS BURNSIDE AND GRANT. General
Burnside, who lately returned to the United States, bore
a special message to the President from a leading member
of our Government. It is a pity that General Grant has
never visited Europe—that is, if there be any truth in Mr.
Seward's dictum, that a personal acquaintance with
foreign countries is as necessary to America as it is to
European statesmen.— Scotsman.
INCREASE OF THE ARMY The Standard has in-
formation that the Government has determined to
increase the establishments of all branches of the military
service to the extent of 20,000 men, in the following pro-
portions :—Royal Horse Artillery, 787 ; Cavalry, 1,831 ;
Royal Artillery, 4,467 ; Royal Engineers, 294 ; Foot
Guards, 700 ; Infantry of the'Line, 11,398 ; Army Service
Corps, 470.
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Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctor's
bills. Each packet is labelled—JAMßS EPPS & Co., Hoinceo-
patine Chemists. London. Also, makers of Epps's Cacabine, a
very hin evening beverage,—Advt.