The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-29 00:00:00

AN IN'T'ERVIEW WITH BISMARCK.

The New York. World of Sunday contains the follow-
ing report of statements made on the 21st of November
by Count Bismarck to a correspondent of that journal,
who left Versailles-on that day and arrived in London on
the night of the 24th. The corresponent says that the

conversation which he relates was held under peculiar
circumstances, which "cannot now be stated;" but he
affirms that he has given almost the exact words used by
Count Bismarck.

The conversation commenced by the mention on the
part of Count Bismarck of the great dissatisfaction with
the so-called Bismarck plan of the campaign, especially in
relation to Paris, which existed in Germany, and which
found expression in the press. The manifold motives
prompting and strengthening the longing for the
consummation of the campaign by the capture
of Paris—popular passion, domestic distress, and
the host of other motives, real • and unreal
were mentioned ; and the Chancellor then went
on to say that the capture of Paris, thus clamoured for,
must be brought about sooner or later to satisfy the folks
at home. But respecting both the time and means for
effecting this, public opinion was much astray, and be-
stowed its animadversions unjustly. Had the Chancel-,`
16es -counsel been followed, Paris would have been \
attacked long ago, as was known to those con-
versant with the ways and wishes of the head
of affairs as now administered in Versailles. When the
forces led by General von Blumenthal to victory at
Weissenburg and Worth • emerged from the Vosges and
marched on towards Chalons, where the cavalry under
Prince Albrecht rested, Count von Moltke decided that
they should come up and help to annihilate the army
which had so hurriedly abandoned Chalons. Count Bis-
marck strongly urged that they might be allowed to con-
tinue their march on the capital then almost unprepared
for a siege; that they should occupy the city, or, if not
able to accomplish so much, that they should at least cut
it off from the rest of France, which should then be over-
run
as quickly as possible. When the Department of
Seine-et-Oise was reached, it was found but the husk of a
shell hard to crack. Then came a new question—
How waS the kernel to be reached? At first it
was determined upon bombarding the city—of which
intention the open secret of the German park of artillery
at Villecoublay was ample proof. Then came a new dis-
agreement, the result of which was that the King, under
the advice of General von Moltke, decided to lei
famine reduce the capital, trusting, also, that
internal discord would hasten the capitulation.
Count Bismarck now " ceased to disguise his in-
dignation that he was no longer asked to the
councils wherein great questions were decided."
In 1866 no important proposition was decided without
his advice and presence; but now great changes or
whole plans were adopted without consulting him, while
popular disapproval fell upon him. Those who
said it was his fault that Paris had not been bom-
barded were wholly in error. He had most ardently
desired it—had most strenuously urged it. The Chan-
cellor also said that he attributed the halting and partial
failure of the attempt at German unity to the delay re-
-suiting from the opposite scheme. Had his advice been
accepted and followed, the Government and people of
Bavaria and Wurtemberg would have been carried in by
the wave which swept over Germany ; and the grand
scheme of a united Vaterland and a Deutscher Kaiser
would have become a reality, instead of the half-hearted
Confederation now about to he born. " For me," added
the Chancellor, "the great object of the war never lay on
this bank of the Rhine, but on the other side, where I
he ped should exist one great country, one great people
and one great Emperor."—Daily Telegraph.

The French papers state that General Kanzler, late
Commander-in-Chief of the Papal army, remains in Rome.
Being a Bavarian by birth he was unwilling to return to
his country, where he would be called upon to fight against
his late brethren in arms.
' Among the officers on Bourbaki's late staff is a young
cornet, who enlisted at the beginning of the war as a pri-
vate soldier, and who will probably some day inherit
about 30 millions of francs, at which amount is estimated
the fortune of his father, Fr&ay, the well-known capita-
list.

A letter from before Thionville, written prior to the
capitulation, which it mentions as imminent, states
that orders had been sent from Versailles to reduce as
speedily as possible all the fortresses in Lorraine, and
everywhere in the north of France, in order that, on any
peace negotiations arising, they may be in German pos-
session.

At 230 p m. on Sunday, two French bark-rigged iron-
clads were seen from Dover, passing through the Channel
from the eastward, steering westerly. They appeared to
be cruising. On Saturday afternoon, at 3.30, a
large turret ship passed Dover, steering westerly, chew-
ing no colours except her number; she is supposed to be
English.

There is a good deal of talk in the German camp about
the numerous Snider rifles in the hands of the French,
and of the severe wounds they inflict. It cannot be—at
least according to all accounts given by English Ministers
—that many Spiders have been obtained in England.
These formidable rifles were probably Remingtons, which
the French prefer to every other they have yet tried.

There is an enormons concourse of visitors in Tours.
Not a nook of room is to be got anywhere. People pay
ten francs a day for a room in a small house. The hotels
are obliged to have successions of tables d'lulte, com-
mencing at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, and going on with
a break of two or three hours in the middle of the day
until 9 or 10 at night.
The Moniteur Univcrsel, in its weekly bulletin, thus
comments upon the military situation in the south east of
France The presumed movements of the Duke of
Mecklenburg and Prince Charles, which have caused some
excitement, certainly have not surprised our Generals,
and our military chiefs have not failed to guard against
the flank march which has been so ostentatiously an-
nounced in all the German newspapers. Our Army of
the Loire is much too powerful to be surrounded, as the
braggarts of Berlin promise, by the comparatively weak
forces which menace its camp."
Herr Wachenhusen, writing on the 20th, from Dugny,
to the Cologne Gazette, says :—" The guerilla war is now
in full progress. This excites much bitterness among our
troops. The soldiers say they no longer know with whom
they have to deal. They are ordered to treat as soldiers
all who have any sort of military uniform. They have the
consciousness, however, that they have to combat with an
armed bourgeoisie. The Franc-Tireur seems of late to
have quite disappeared. Even the prisoners in the dark
blue woollen blouses and bright blue belts now call them-
selves Mobile Guards, and indeed are so. At bottom it is
quite immaterial whether they exhibit credentials as
Francs-Tireurs or Mobiles. They are not at all to be
feared whoever they are."
More complaints are made of German plunder. One letter
from a French gentleman says :—" In the country, the
farms, villages, and hamlets, there is daily pillage. Corn
in sheaves is given as litter to the horses, sacks of oats are
cut open and their contents poured out and squandered,
casks of wine are stove in. If some unhappy peasant
dares resist, if a Freeshooter comes to his aid, if a shot is
heard, the rage of the Prussians knows no bounds, and
village, hamlet, or farm is quickly burnt. A. little town,
Courville, was completely sacked on the pretence that a
Freeshooter had pointed his rifle at a Uhlan."
THE IMPARTIALITY OF TRADE. A Ger-
man, " who wishes his countrymen,, while being
Prussianised, still to remain just," writes as follows to the
Times :--" For certain political purposes much noise has
been made in Prussia about coal and arms being furnished
by this country to the French, but not a word has been
said about the enormous quantities sent of woollen army
socks, stockings, under-shirts, drawers, &c., or,
above all, about tae many millions of army
woollen blankets, flannels which have been, and are
being, forwarded to Prussia from England. The
manufacturers in the north have worked their mills
night and day for months past for Germany in the above
articles, and are at this moment so full of orders for the
same market that they will be fully employed till the end
of January. Nay, not only are immense purchases made
here for the German armies, but now, as in 1865 (when
Prussia supplied Russia with anything in the shape of
warlike stores she needed), letters are actually being re-
ceived in this country from Prussian ports which hold out
the prospect of large orders for Russia in case of war be-
tween the latter Power and England."
SHIPMENTS OF WAR MATERIEL FROM NEW
YORK TO FRANCE.—The shipments of arms and ammu-
nition of all kinds from the United States to Havre is
assuming enormous proportions. Advices received in
Liverpool on Saturday last from New York by the arrival
of the Cunard steamer Java, state that the French
mail steamer Lafayette, Captain Rosseau, one of
the New York and Havre line of steamers,
sailed from the former port on the evening of the
16th instant, havino, on board no other goods than
breech-loaders for infantry and guns for field artillery
service, revolvers, and carbines, together with cartridges
for the various weapons. This is understood to be the
second full cargo of arms which the Lafayette has brought
from New York, besides one part cargo, since the com-
mencement of hostilities between France and Germany.
The two previous lots of arms which ware carried
to France by the Lafayette were valued at about $429,632,
while the one which she sailed with from New York
on the 16th was valued at $817,253, and con-
sisted of 2,133 cases containing 42,660 rifles ; 22 cases
containing 1,220 carbines ; five pieces of artillery ; and
8,593 cases containing 8,844,236 cartridges. The Lafayette
was the tenth cargo which had left New York for Havre,
and makes a total of 2,680,750 dols. worth of war
materiel which left the port of New York between the Bth
and the 16th instant. The total value of the arms, ammu-
nition, &c., shipped from New York since the commence-
ment of the war is estimated at about 6,200,000 dols.' and
as the greater portion of the cartridges are metallic they
can be intended for nothing other than breech-loaders.
There were other vessels in New York at the time the
Lafayette left awaiting to be laden with similar carves.

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

MR. ODO RUSSELL. AT VERSAILLES.
Mr. Thissell was with Count Bismarck from one o'clenk
till nearly four in the afternoon, and at nine o'clock Alajor
von Kelidall went to the Petit Vatel with a communion"
tion, it is supposed, from the Chancellor, which led to lklr-
Russell's second visit, the account of which I have just
had from a. secret observer. In two such long inter-
views, some six hours in all, much could be done,
or, rather, said. -Another emissary tells me that D-fr'
Odo Russell has sent off despatches in cipher, bY
telegraph, thanks to the courtesy of the Headquarters
here. And I am informed by a rivulet from another
source of information that Mr. Odo Russell was not well
yesterday, and that he was obliged to ask his Majesty]
leave to absent himself from the'Royal table to which be
had been invited. Talleyrand, or some other disingenuous
person, once on a time inquired, " What was M---- Sc,
and-So's motive for having the gout at this moment
But I am • sorry to believe Mr. Odo Russells
indisposition is not diplomatic, and that it is caused bY
severe cold. However, that is not much to be wondered
at. Colds are very common just now. The suspicion of
a secret engagement with Russia is warmly resented, but
if the other Powers were to reject proposals emanating
from Prussia for a settlement of the issue so suddenly
raised, their separate action would scarcely be assisted or
taken in good part.—Times' Correspondent at Versaillo.'
November 23. •
RUSSIAN PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. j
Yesterday's Financier says :—" Private advices inform
us that immense quantitias of munitions of war are
i
constantly arriving at Odessa., the Crimea,
all places on the north coast of the Black
Sea. It is added that the Poti-Koutais Pc9:'
tion of the railway now in course of construction
in the Caucasus is to be completed in a few months. The
new contract up to Koutais, taken by Messrs Crawley'
Power and Co., is to be finished by the Ist of July, 187'2,
subject to a penalty of £l,OOO for every week exceeding
that time. It can hardly be supposed that this line,
is required for commercial purposes. The object °L
Russia rather to secure her military position. It would,
of course, be incorrect to extract cause of alarm from
movements of this nature, or to imagine that they neces•
sarily mean war.. But they certainly seem to mean that
Russia is pushing steadily on to the realisation of her Pet
national idea—that of repossessing herself of the free
navigation of the Black Sea for warships. We may be
quite sure that with nothing less than this will she rest
content."
THE RELATIONS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA.
The Berlin correspondent of the Daily News furnishes
some important information respecting the relations be'
tween the two great Northern Powers. He says that at
the outbreak of the present war the Russian Chancellor,
Gortschakoff, was in Germany, and had several inter-
views with the King and Bismarck before their departure
for the field, the neutrality of Russia being the principal
object of their negotiations. The Russian Prime Minister
then, for the first time, as the reward for his neutralitY,
demanded the acquiescence of Prussia in the abolition of
that part of the Paris Treaty of 1856 which forbids Russia
to keep a fleet in the Black Sea. Bismarck accepted
the proposition, and it was mutually understood that
this claim should first be publicly put forward at the
conclusion of the peace between Prussia and France.
Thus by the middle of August Bismarck w3s
enabled to send the two corps which had been left for the
defence of the Eastern provinces of Silesia and Prussia
to the seat of war. By this understanding, not only
Russia's neutrality was secured, but Gortschakoff had
even pledged himself to restrain Austria from interfering
between Prussia and France. From the above premises it
will appear that Prussia has not the least interest to oppose
Russia in her present designs ; besides, she is not one
of the Powers which have guaranteed the Paris Treatl-
Whatever may happen, as long as the present war lasts,
Russia must continue friendly to Prussia, and pursue her
old course. By this policy Austria is also compelled to
give up all her ambitious schemes for meddling with
German affairs, and strictly to confine herself to the
East. Favourable as this state of affairs is for Ger-
many and the undisturbed conclusion of the present
war, nevertheless Prussia was far from approving
Russia's sudden step in the Eastern question. It would,
of course, not have been taken if France had not been
entirely helpless, and it probably will—quite unseason-
ably for Germany—demonstrate to the rest of Europe
that France must be sustained as a first-class Power ;
that, consequently, the retaliation for her reckless provo.
cation of this war must not visit her as cruelly as she
deserves. This writer adds that the expectation of peace
being made induced the Russian Government to commit
itself too early. •