The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-14 00:00:00

THE BATTLE AROUND LE MANS.

The special correspondent of the Telegraph sends the
following from the head-quarters of the Army of the
Loire, dated Le Mans, January 10 :—We have heard the
cannon all the day long, and the entire population of Le
Mans has crowded the house-tops, has gone to the
suburbs, and thronged the thoroughfares to watch
the progress of the fight. I have seldom seen such
excitement, although the population is accustomed
to the sounds of cannon and the sight of
smoke. At nine o'clock the French right wing before
and to the east of Le Maus was suddenly at-
tacked by a vanguard of the Prussians emerging from a
leafless wood on the extreme French right—a vanguard
of Mecklenburg's army, which has been rapidly ad-
vancing upon Le Mans for several days. Upon the
alarm being given by the advanced post, the regiments
of infantry were wheeled into line of battle, the
artillery was pushed forward through intervals
made in the severed ranks, and the cavalry took
up advantageous positions on the right and left
wing. Such a perfect line of battle could not have
been formed by the finest army in the world. The
artillery was bountifully served with ammunition, the
infantry with over 100 rounds, the supply trains were
appropriately posted in the rear, and lines of carriage
were established. All was ready for the mutual carnage,
and the bloody work of the day began. The field of
battle was a valley, and the antagonists occupied opposite
heights. The French line of battle, semi-circular in form,
extended along a distance of 12 miles on the crest of a ridge
overlooking a valley bleached with twelve inches of
snow. This crag—for in many places it was a rocky ledge
—was 80 feet high : and on the opposite heights the
Prussians held almost a similar position. At a little after
nine the Prussians began a furious cannonade from a
wood near their extreme left, which was flanked by an
immense force of cavalry. This wood concealed the
force of cavalry. The wood concealed the Prus
sign position, and their troops were massed in
great numbers, with the evident intention of
turning General Chanzy's right wing. In
small forests extending all along the Prussian
line of battle, the Prussians, with rare acuteness, had es-

tablished their artillery ; and when they began to play
with shot and shell, the French, in more exposed positions
opposite, retorted with a vigorous and marvellously
facile fire. But the Prussians retorted with precision
and effect, and the combat between the opposing
artillery continued until the ammunition on the
Prussian side began to fail. Then the order came
"Forward the Infantry ! " and the French, equally
rapid in evolution, advanced along the whole line, and
met the Prussians in a fair close hand-to-hand musketry
fire down the valley. The Prussian shewed his habitual
and mechanical courage ; the Frenchman was impetuous,
fired rapidly, but behaved bravely. On the French left
the line began to waver near noon ; these were the Mo-
biles in a body—they could not, without faltering, hold
on to their position, and the • retreat of the
French began on Le Mans. Meanwhile the dead had
fallen about everywhere ; the snowy field was claret red
with blood, and the carnage was fearful. Over 1,500
brave Frenchmen who went out to-day the mantle of
death had fallen before five p.m. At five o'clock the army
was in full retreat, and is now drawn up in line of battle
six miles from Le Mans, and the struggle will be renewed

to-morrow without doubt. In this action there were
60,000 Prussians, 60,000 French—they were composed of
Marines, Mobiles, Eclaireurs, Hussars, Chasseurs, and
Dragons—no Turcos. The French lost 4 mitrailleuses, 8
cannon, about 1,500 hors de combat, but no prisoners ; the
retreat being in good order and by military rule. The
Prussians lost 300 prisoners and 3,000 killed, because of
their heedless advances on the French artillery. The day
was beautiful, though cold, but, in a military sense, has
been a sad misfortune for struggling France. To-morrow
we shall see probably another bloody day. General
Chanzy is sick ; but we expect him to direct. The left
wing of the Army of the Loire is now at Alencon, and is
strongly defended.

The directors of the Crystal Palaca Company have
divided the management of their establishment, vacant by
the death of Mr. Bowley, between Mr. Grove and Mr.
Wilkinson. Mr. Grove will have the title of secretary
and manager, Mr. Wilkinson that of manager and general
superintendent.

It is rumoured that the Spanish Government has
some traces of the assassins of General Prim, some in
Valencia and some in Madrid. The Iberia, a Progressist
paper, says it was proposed to assassinate Sagasta,
Zorrilla, and the Regent ; also that a regular conspiracy
existed in Madrid and Valencia, and that accomplices
were in Albacete, Murcia. and Carthagena.
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH IRELAND.
—lt is not likely that the new Irish cable will be laid
before the middle of February. The land lines, and not
the cable itself, are believed to be the cause of the delay ;
their progress having been entirely stopped by the recent
very severe weather in North Wales, where the principal
portion of the work remains yet to be executed. Up to
within a couple of weeks ago the Post-office Engineering
Department had been making most strenuous efforts to
secure the completion of the line within the expected
time, and would, without doubt, have succeeded in doing
so but for the occurrence of weather during the prevalence
of which it is impassible to carry on work of this descrip-
tion.

A WELL-KNOWN BONE-SETTER.—We notice the
death, on the sth instant, at Watford, of Richard Hutton,
who has been well known, both in London and its neigh-
bourhood, for some years as a successful " bone-setter."
Successful he certainly was, and it were folly to deny
it, in some cases which had baffled the skill of the best
surgeons ; but his failures were many, though
these of-course were little heard of. Following the general
practice of bone-setters, he diagnosed a dislocation, or seve-
ral dislocations, in every case in which he was consulted;
and when, fortunately, the case was one of chronic thick-
ening about a joint, with probably partial anchylosis or
adhesion of tendons, the greatest success undoubtedly at-
tended his rough manipulations in many instances. Every
now and then Hutton got into difficulties by attacking
an acutely inflamed joint, or by lighting up mischief in
an old case ; but, as a rule, he was too cautious thus to be
caught out. We have seen some of his successes, and
many of his failures, and the redeeming feature about
him was, that though an empiric, he was not an extor-
tionate one, and in many cases refused remuneration
altogether,—.Lance4