The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-29 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 29, 1870.

as quickly as possible, for the meanest spies are likely to
prove the most dangerous ones. The arrests still continue
and in one police-station there are as many as forty new

prisoners.

LOUIS BLANC ON ENGLISH FEELING.

Louis Blanc, in his London letter to the Temps, says :
" In the critical circumstances in which we are placed it
is necessary, before all things, to face the situation boldly.
To repose in indifference would be criminal. To fail would
be contemptible. But to nurse ourselves in
illusions would be madness. The first step to-
wards
repulsing the danger ~is to know its
extent. The French people would be strangely trans-
formed if they had lost the heroic habit of extending their
courage with their danger. When, therefore, we examine
the situation and compare the accounts given in the
French journals, official and nonofficial, with the ac-
counts published in England we are driven to fear that
France is ignorant of the full extent of her peril.
The English do not understand—though history might tell
them—of how much France is capable, and they
are inclined to think her condition desperate.
In fact nothing French that is official obtains
the least credence here. Any telegram signed by the King
of Prussia is received in England as an article of faith.
Any telegram announcing an advantage gained by our
arms is received as if it did not exist. When the contra-
dictory news of the murderous battle of the 16th was
received, all the placards ran :—" Great Victory of the
Prussians. The French Claim the Victory." In other
" the Prissiars have conquered, since they say so ;
the Frunch, th.ey are telling us falsehoods*" This
a Frenchman living in England.
that it is a matter of life
spoleon to conceal the reverses

words

,able consequences of his own incapa-
city, ox ms usulu and foolish precipitation. Every one says
that each defeat experienced by the heroic soldiers of
France is a formal accusation against the Empire. He is
obliged, therefore, to hide the dark side of things as much
as possible. This, perhaps, is partly the reason of the in-
credulity with which French official accounts are received,
but the English have another reason for being doubtful of
our successes. If I could ever have doubted the
existence of the old national jealousy which
centuries of war and rivalry have fomented between Eng-
land and France, what I hear, what I read, what I see
now would undeceive me. There is some degree of sym-
pathy for us no doubt, and it manifests itself in some of
the English journals, but the general current of English
opinion in this war is Prussian. That is the truth. I
know that the Liberal press justifies itself by saying that
we provoked the war, but have they forgotten
that they themselves gave the blame to the
Imperial Government alone, and declared it to
be a dynastic war, a duel between two men ?
Why, then, do they to-day throw all the responsibility of
the ills on France as a nation ? Their partiality is evident
and no doubt exaggerates our danger ; but that danger is
pressing enough, and should rouse us all to heroic effort.
Let us recall the cry which brought victory to our fathers,
and proved the most powerful which has ever sounded in
history. ' The country is in danger.' "

MOVEMENTS AT RHEIMS AND CHALONS.
The correspondent of the Temps; Captain Jeannerod, con-
tinues his letters. The last is dated from Rheims, August
24th :—" The passenger trains have been stopped in
all directions, and most of the correspondents of the
Parisian press have been warned to leave this morning for
Soissons. MacMahon is carrying on his movement ; the
Emperor follows him. The Uhlans are at the camp of
Chalons to the number of 12. They have carried off a
letter box, and were dispersed by a few shots from a
reconnaissance. As for the town, lam told that twenty-
four of them entered and went direct to the hotel
of the division, without needing to ask their
way. I told you in my last letter of the
unworthy plunder of which the railway station bore
traces. The same thing seems to have happened at
Chalons. It is shameful. Here guards have been put
over the barrels of bacon and casks of wine broken open
and have been selling them to their comrades. A ham
sold for 50 centimes, a loaf for 10 centimes, &c. The
American ambulance was at Rheims this morning,
and the members of the International are also
to be found there. I fear, however, that in
the general confusion spies and intriguers may
avail themselves of the red cross on white ground.
The last news concerning spies was that a
Prussian colonel had been seized in the suburbs. He was
very speedily released, in consequence of a message from
the Empress to MacMahon. What has the Empress to
do with the matter ?

GEORGES JEANNEROD,

M. Valnay-Desroches, war correspondent of the Univers
Illustre, is missing.
The Austro-Hungarian Government has notified its
concurrence in the declaration of neutrality which has
has been proposed by England, and already accepted by
Italy and Russia.—Eastern Budget.
The Jonrnal des Debats says that the Belgian and Dutch
Governments would undoubtedly have permitted the
conveyance of the Prussian wounded through their terri-
tories without consulting France but for the representa-
tions of England.

The South London Press states that Mr. Robert Apple-
garth, secretary to the Society of the Amalgamated
Carpenters, has gone to the Prussian frontier with a
quantity of lint, &c., for the benefit of the wounded
soldiers. The special object of Mr. Applegarth's visit is
to follow in the track of the army with a view to ascer-
taining the effects of war upon the homes and families of
working men.

The Paris correspondent of the Daily News writes :
"There is now no doubt that three very great ladies—
Mdme. de Pourtales, Mdme. de Baheque, and the Duchess
Tascher de la Pagerie—have been arrested as Prussian
spies. The first two are in Vincennes, and everybody
says they will be shot, as courts-martial know of no ex-
ception for the fair sex. I hear, but am not quite sure,
that the Empress has interfered to get the Duchess
Tascher de la Pagerie out of harm's way. There is a
ferocious appetite for blood just now, which would rejoice
greatly at the military execution of some ladies who but
yesterday were the most brilliant ornaments of the Court
of the Tuileries."

Colonel Loyd-Lindsay sends to the papers a letter he
has received from an English friend at Pont-h-Mousson,
in which the writer says :—" The German officers tell me

that their first want is money in Berlin ; next, ex-
perienced surgeons who speak German fluently, none
others are of any use; third, and in some respects the most
important of all, stores of chloroform (very scarce here),
_ . _

. _
of bandages, lint, and surgicul instruments. All the
French wounded have fallen into the hands of the Ger-
mans, and they have been treated like their own people,
without the slightest distinction of nationality, Some of
them have told me, 'Nous avons ete soignes comme si
nous dtions des freres par ces autres.'" The writer adds
in a postcript :—" Don't send any more ladies; the work
is too heavy for any but strong men."
At St. Avoid the Prussian general levied, says a
French paper, a contribution altogether out of proportion
to the resources of the place. As he could not get what
he wanted, he threatened St. Avoid with an hour's pil-
lage ; and in fact as the amount required was not paid,
the Prussian soldiers ransacked the town for an hour,
and made all sorts of exactions.

The battle of Gravelotte, says the Berliner Boersen•
zeitung, seems to have been one of the most sanguinary
that has ever been fought. Two of our regiments of
dragoons who approached a village which they were n',t
aware was occupied by French foot soldiers and artillery,
were annihilated by the mitrailleuse. The Prussian Guard
suffered greatly in this fight, and among the Prussian
officers killed was the only son of Count Itzenplitz, the
Minister of Commerce.

The Liberte states positively, without giving any details.
that the Government has taken measures on a large scale
to hinder the march of the Prussians on Paris. It is a
mistake to suppose the road from the Haute Marne to the
capital is clear of obstacles and of troops.
The Police Commiss'oners have been inspecting the
bakers' shops of Paris to ensure that they have sufficient
supply of flour or grain. They are required to have a
supply for 40 days, calculated on the basis of their ordi-
nary sale.

It is reported that 4,500 guns have arrived at Chartres
and been distributed to the Garde Mobile. The Garde
Mobile of Eure-et-Soir may be cited as a model for the
progress it has made by the instruction of a few days.
General Boyer, who superintends their labours, declares
that they already march and carry on manoeuvres like old
troops. As signs of the patriotism that has been dis-
played, it is said that not one of the old soldiers called
back to .the .service in the department: 'of,4riegq. has

failed tp obey the summons, and that the young men who
have been exempted from joining the service have ex-
pressed their desire to be with the army

coniplished, and with great advantage. France, however,
as has been already said, might in consequence have pushed
hew troops beyond the frontier, and lived at our expense,
and this was attended with a yet greater evil. In view
of the French corps, not destined to great operations,
but ready for short and rapid blows, our railway trans-
port could not be brought right up to the frontier, as the
successively arriving divisions were in the highest degree
endangered by the enemy's advance, and at best must have
begun with retreating fight's. It was proposed, therefore,
so to bring back the focus point of the army that, as soon
as that point could be reached by the advancing enemy,
sufficient force would be assembled to' oppose him with
a prospect of success. Every hour, of course, altered
the situation ; every day was a gain. When the
announcement came that the enemy was not pressing for-
ward, we were able to carry on a stage further the divi-
sions which were immediately following. This difficult task
of railway transport had been foreseen, and carefully pro-
vided for, so that by dint of restless activity, after the issue
of the order of mobilization, on the part of all concerned, a
work hitherto inconceivable was brilliantly accomplished.
In this way every check or backward movement was
guarded against. The army collected at Treves advanced
to Mayence, and then by both sides of the Rhine to
Mannheim; the heads pressed forwards in proportion as the
reinforcements arrived. All the advailablerailways being
called into activity, troops of separate corps, as their
mobilization was completed, were conveyed on one line,
and the corps arriving later were brought into the first
line of those which.were marching. This was being con-
tinued when the heads were already in collision with the
enemy, so that it was almost impossible for the enemy to
inform himself of the dispositions of our troops. We, on
the contrary, had a perfectly satisfactory account of the
French army, as their corps formed on the frontier, and
thre remainedquietly for weeks. The result was, therefore,
that the main force of the enemy developed itself opposite the
Prussian Star, while Marshal MacMahon's corps was
in some measure isolated in Alsace, and on the Upper
Rhine a corps still in course of formation was projected.
AB long as the mustering up of the German army was not
completed, the authorities were obliged to keep on the
defensive; but they by no means intended, notwithstand-
ing the initiative of France in this respect, to remain
waiting as soon as they were able to attack the enemy in
his own territory. There could not be a more tempting
invitation to an attack by part of our force than Mac-
Mahon's proximity to the Crown Prince's army. The task
of the latter during the period of defensive waiting had
been to protect South Germany, a task which could not
have been better fulfilled than by assuming the offensive
on the left bank of the Rhine, and seeking the enemies
threatening South Germany on their own territory. The
Crown Prince accordingly broke up his encampment,
crossed the Lauter on the 3rd of August, destroyed on the
4th Douay's Division at Wissembourg, and on the 6th, in
the bloody battle of Woerth defeated MacMahon's corps,
though strengthened by troops from the south, in such a
manner that with its enormous losses it was almost dis-
solved. The remainder of the review recapitulates events
that are of recent occurrence.

the inhabitants of which town have been warmly wel
corned in the neighbourhood, has been already commenced.
mid we hope that shortly the losses of these sufferers wit
be amply repaid them.— Carlsruhe Gazetb3 of the 22nd.

• VICTUALLING ARRANGEMENTS.—An important
help in victualling the troops is afforded by a novel
description of food, imitated from no less distant a quarter
than China. It consists of the pease pudding, for centuries
employed in keeping body and soul together among the
Celestials, a cheap article that does not deteriorate for a
length of time, and contains a large quantity of nutri-
tious matter in a small compass. To make it even
more palatable the Germans have improved upon the
Chinese pattern by mixing smoked meat, chopped
up small, with the peas. If boiled it forms a complete
meal of joint and vegetable ; if eaten cold it is equally
good, and a small quantity will last a man for a day.
Near my house is a manufactory where about a thousand
persons are said to be employed in the production of this
useful comestible. lam also told that a peculiar kind of
fodder is being made of beans for the horses of the army,
though I cannot say to what extent it has been adopted.
As valuable for the quadruped as the pease pudding is for
the biped, a fiva days' supply is easily carried by any
horse.—Times Correspondent.
POSITIONS OF THE FRENCH.—As far as I can
learn the following is the state of things as stated by the
Ministers to their friends. Marshal Canrobert with a
division has been heard of at Spincinet, to which village
he managed to get after the battle of the 18th; Marshal
MacMahon, with 160,000 men, is somewhere
north of Rheims, and hopes to be able to effect
a junction with Canrobert, if not with Bazaine.
At St. Maur there are 20,000 Mobiles. An army
Is ,being formed behind the Loire and another at Bourges.
So much for official whisperings. All I know is that
MacMahou is beyond Rheims, and that several regiments
of the line and several battalions of Garde Mobile have
been sent off from the Station du Nord. A friend of
mine, too, tells me that there are a large number of
regiments near Bourges. General Trochu 1::-.....3
issued a proclamation ordering all persons who
are unable to provide for themselves to leave Paris, on
the ground that a foreign army is within a march of
three days from the capital. The Mayor of Chalons has
followed the example of his colleague in Nancy, and has
surrendered the town to five Uhlans, much to the indig-
nation
of the fire-eaters.—Daily News Correspondent.
THE LOSSES IN THE CAMPAIGN.—The German
Government has not as yet published any estimate of it
actual losses, though it has given lists of officers killed • ,
but the Berlin correspondents estimate them at
about 50,000 men for the battles alone, that is,
not counting sick. The King is almost apolo-
getic about them, and a deep and sad gravity has
settled down on Germany. Them is grave reason to be-
lieve that this estimate is far within the truth, and that at
least seventy-five thousand Germans have been placed
hors de combat. The French loss is probably not so great,
they having at Woerth, Forbach,. and Metz had great
advantages of position ; but it is to be noted that while
the French have no prisoners, the Prussians have taken
so many, 25,000 in all, as to burden their fortresses. The
difference is explained on both sides partly by the way in
which French cavalry charge the needle-gun, and are
captured when dismounted, but mainly by the French
foible of wasting cartridges. Of course a regiment without
cartridges could be captured en mass'—and this, in one
instance at least, has happened.—Spectator.

THE SICK AND WOUNDED OF THE WAR

I With the view of shewing a practical sympathy for the
sufferers in the terrible war now raging on the continent,
Messrs. Montague, James, and Thorne, the lessees, gave
a performance on Saturday afternoon, at the Vaudeville
Theatre,- Strand, in aid of the fund now being raised
for the sick and wounded soldiers of the French
and German armies. As might naturally have
been expected from the wide-spread interest that
is being evinced in the movement for alleviating
the sufferings of the combatants, independently of
nationality, there was a large attendance at the theatre ;
and, although the gallery was nearly vacant—a circum-
stance which can be readily accounted for—every other
portion of the neat little theatre was well filled. The piece
selected for the occasion was the comedy which has been
having, and deservedly so, so successful a run—" The
Two Roses." Our object is not so much to criticise
as to direct attention to the cause of the perfor-
mance ; and it will therefore suffice to say that the
sustentation of the various characters was unexception-
ally good, all the performers acting in a manner to shew
that they had a keen perception of the peculiarities of
their parts, with a corresponding ability for their por-
trayal. The Misses Amy Fawsitt, A. Newton, T. Lavis,
and Phillip, and Messrs. H. J. Montague, T. Thorne, H.
Irving, G. Honey, and W. H. Stephens, were the ladies
and gentlemen who performed in the comedy, and all
of whom, in conjunction with the members of the
hand and every person engaged on the establishment with
a kindness which does them credit, gave their services
gratuitously. The acting was well received throughout
by an appreciative audience, and at the conclusion of the
(entertainment Mr. Montague announced that the receipts
'were £65 125., and that the only expense to be deducted
!was for advertising,' which, though rather heavy, was in-
dispensable on such occasions, amounting to £26155.,
leaving a net profit of the not unhandsome sum of
I£3B 175., a cheque for which would be immediately handed
'over to the Lord Mayor for transmission to the continent.
The announcement was received with great applause.