The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-18 00:00:00

armies.

The Berlin correspondent of the Times says the Ger-
mans do not expect to take Paris by reducing the forts.
Their cue is to get near enough to bombard the city itself,
and in this deadly enterprise they are making steady,
albeit slow, progress.
The Times, in a leader, expresses an opinion that the
bombardment of Paris was a blunder. "It was an error
to undertake the siege, an error to turn it into a blockade ;
and it is an error now to depart from that policy, and to
adopt from irritation a measure from which, either from
fear or humanity, they hadlitherto recoiled."
In Italian paper has heard from Berlin that General
Werder has received orders to repulse Garibaldi when he
meets him, but he has likewise been forbidden to put his
hand upon him. This token of respect to the distin-
guished man does high honour, it is considered, to General
Moltke and the King.
In Paris the other day a street orator was just boasting
that although he resided among the sparrows, he had no
intention of removing, when his wife rushed through
the crowd, and informed her husband that a shell had just
exploded in their "nest," and had shattered the household
goods. •
It is very difficult to find one's friends, says a resident in
Paris, -in the bombarded quarter, as those who have not
emigrated have installed themselves in the cellars, and
only come out when the horizon clears up. Numbers of
ladies and gentlemen pass the night in these subterraneous
apartments.
The cavalry of Prince Frederick Charles's army suffered
heavily during the recent campaign against Chanzy. One
correspondent with the German army says :—" I have
been assured on the best authority that, what between
the Francs-tireurs and the ~ execution done by the

enemy's outposts, no fewer • than thirty cavalry soldiers
are daily tumbledout of thesaddle by the rifle bullets from
invisible infantrymen. And, with regard to another
source of weakness for the arm in which Prince Frederick
Charles is well known to place so much reliance, and to
base so many brilliant but yet unexemplified theories, I
may add, that, before I left Orleans with the head-
quarters, I saw four or five large squadrons of Uhlans and
Hussara leading their horses back into the city—broken
down, footsore, utterly wearied, and more than half-
starved."

uV
Prince Otho of Bavaria has just joined his regiment of
light horse at the seat of war. The Bavarian army has
sustained a loss since the beginning of the campaign of
12,031 men ; 1,644 of these have been killed, and 10,218
wounded, while 169 have been taken prisoners. The
killed include 154 officers.

Some of the Germans who were expelled from Paris are
urging the authorities at Berlin to make arrangements for
their return by special train 'to the French capital imme-
diately after its surrender. They think that, under the
protection of the troops, they could thus save any por-
tion of their property which there is still a chance of
recovering.
While in Paris the opinion is adverse to the departure
of Jules Favre, and to his journey to London to take part
in the Conference, at Bordeaux his departure is expected
and hoped for. Gambetta was to have met him either at
Calais, or even in London, and there in one half hour's
conversation they would learn more from one another than
from a dozen pigeon despatches.
M. Janssen started in a balloon to witness in Algiers

the total eclipse of the sun on the 22nd of December. The
balloon came down near St. Nazaire, but unfortunately
just as it approached the ground a violent gust of wind
shook it with such force that all the delicate instruments
it contained were broken to pieces. As it was impossible
to replace them, M. Jaussen was obliged to give up his
scientific expedition.

A company of the Mobile Guards, who were stationed
at Lombeg, having been charged with uttering cries of
" Vive l'Empereur," made such indignant protestations
that it was found necessary to summon their commanding
officer to quiet them. The latter issued a proclamation,
in which he denounced the course pursued by those who

invoked the name of one whom all good Frenchmen
regarded as a traitor and a coward ; who was guilty of
all the sufferings of the country.
In the Electeur LiOe of Sunday last we find the follow-
ing document : —"The undersigned physicians of the
Hopital de la Charit6 protest against the bombardment
which has been directed against that establishment.
Eight shells have fallen upon this hospital, which con-
tains 800 sick and wounded civilians, as well as soldiers.
Several other missiles have also burst in the immediate
vicinity." This protest is signed by Dr. Lannelongue and
six other medical men.

The manufacturers of the Middle Rhine, at a meeting
at Mayence on the 11th, discussed, with great interest,
the obstructions offered to trade and industry by the
almost complete monopolising of the railways for war pur-
poses. It was urged that, in spite of the gigantic means
of transport required by the war, civil traffic could be
carried on but for the want of a comprehensive organisa-
tion. It was resolved that a memorial on the subject
should be forwarded to Count Bismarck.
The Prussian War Office has issued a circular, giving
further directions as to the employment of the French

prisoners. Care is to be taken that they do not injure
private industry, and the manufacture of fish nets
straw mats, grindstones, blankets, and boots, wooden
carvings, boards for bookbinding, &c., is recommended.
In order to stimulate the industry of the men, the
present rule of five hours' daily labour without payment
is repealed, and the entire value of their work is to
be given to them, either in procuring additional com-
forts or as pocket money. The purchase of books and
tobacco out of the proceeds of their labour is especially

suggested.
THE AIMEST OF M. PINARD.—The Progres de
Lyon says, in reference to the arrest of M. Pinard, for-
merly Cabinet Minister, at Autun, that the step was taken
in consequence of a communication received through
Garibaldi's staff accusing him of Bonapartist intrigues.
M. Pinard, according to this statement, was working for
the Prussians by distributing copies of the Drapeau, M.
Cassagnac's newspaper, which does its best to discourage
the national defence. The ex-Minister of the Empire
appears greatly pre-occupied. He has been interrogated
by the Prefect of the Rhone, but no result has been made
public.
AMMUNITION IN PARIS.—Much astonishment is
expressed at the abundance of provisions with which
Paris must have been supplied when it was cut off from
communication with the rest of France. General Montbe
remarked to me yesterday that he thought the supply of
ammunition for the forts was a matter of still
greater wonder. Though shells and powder are made
in Paris one would have thought that the limit of
materials for their manufacture must have been reached
long before the present time. To take the two Forts of
Rosny and Noisy by way of illustration. For three
months they have been firing with scarcely an intermis-
sion of a day or a night on one small part of the Saxon
line. An accurate account of the number of shells
thrown by them on that portion was taken for twenty-
four hours. It was found to be 175 from each. lam
told that for every day of three months it might be
taken at an average of 150 a day. I believe there are
some 28 forts or outworks which have been doing similar
work. What a consumption of shell and powder that will
she w for the whole ! A few days ago, for the first time,
ammunition waggons were observed to be on the way
from Mont Valerien to the north-eastern forts, which
would indicate that the supplies of the latter were running
short ; but since then, judging from their firing, they have
been in no want.--Tintes' Correspondent.
THE TENDER-HEARTED KING.—The Times corre-
spondent at Versailles confirms the statement we made
that the King of Prussia was about to leave
headquarters for a short time. He has, in fact, gone on a
visit to his brother, Prince Albert, whc is lying ill at
Maintenon, near Chartres. In connection with
the King's anxiety about his brother, a touching
incident is mentioned in the letter of the same correspon-
dent which supplies conclusive proof, if proof were
wanting, of the singular tenderness of heart which charac-
terizes the pious monarch. "It was feared the other
day," Dr, Russell tells us, " that a battle would have to
be fought on his (Prince Albert's) account, as he could
not be removed." It is surely impossible to imagine a
finer example of sweet fraternal solicitude than this
readiness to sacrifice for the sake of an invalid's
repose not only the lives of a few hundred or perhaps
thousand Frenchmen (for that would have been a small
matter), but even the lives of his own soldiers. Some
allowance must be made for the irritation of the Parisians
at the present moment, but we hope they will repent of
their calumnies on King William when they hear of this
fresh instance of his good nature.—Pall Mall Gazette.
THE GERMAN SPY SYSTEM.—The Prussians have
a knowledge of the French language, which enables them
to carry out their espionage with an ease which is utterly
beyond the possibilities of a Frenchman, who rarely
knows any language but his own. A Prussian officer has
been known to come into Paris and dine like any French-
man in the Cafe Riche. In the earlier weeks of the siege
the Frenchwomen of gay life paid many and many a visit
to the Prussian lines. Then many spies got to and fro
between the lines on pretence of gathering vegetables in
the fields around. Some poor people drove a
thriving business by carrying out newspapers, for
which they were often paid in gold. The Prussians were
in this way kept well informed of all that was being done
in Paris, and there are cases in which the officer on guard
at an advanced post knew the watchword on the French
lines when it had been unknown to a French soldier or
forgotten by him. Somehow or the other they knew per-
fectly well when the two great sorties, one upon
Champigny, the other upon Bourget, were intended.
The Prussian spies have been found with the pass of
General Trochu all regularly filled up. The other day at
Asnieres the Mobiles got suddenly into a forsaken
,cottage, where they found four Germans in the act of
changing their costume—two were being attired as
peasants in blue blouses, a third as a Mobile, and the
fourth as an honest Alsatian coming to Paris to seek his
fortune. So a few days ago, on the banks of
the Marne, a whole family was seized. There
was a little villa near Nogent, occupied by
a middle-aged gentleman of distinguished manners.
His house continued to be occupied when those
around were abandoned. It was watched. Suspicion had
been excited, the more as the owner had a German name.
One night a light was seen moving at one of the windows
—now in one direction, now in another, now suddenly
concealed, then again exposed, then describing a curve,
then stationary. Similar signs, as if in response, wet°
observed from the other side of the Marne. There
seemed to be no doubt as to a system of telegraphy. The
occupants of the house were arrested and carried off to
Vincennes.—Daily News Correspondent.