The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-27 00:00:00

GERMAN SAILORS AT VERSAILLES.

Writing from Versailles, December 22, the special cor-
respondent of the Daily News remarks :--The King and
his son, with Prince Adalbert, Admiral of the Fleet,
have this morning inspected the Prussian sailors detached
to Versailles. I happened to be passing at the moment,
and saw at once that something must be going
on by the gathering of people at the corner of
the Avenue de Paris and the Rue St. Pierre. There
was a small crowd of French and German loungers, brav-
ing the bleakest of. December winds, and the dust of the
great avenue blew fiercely against a line of sturdy seamen
drawn up before the Prefecture. A "naval brigade" is
the hobby of successful campaigns in modern times. Prince
Adalbert has been for a long while at headquarters,
and now the sailors have appeared in force. It is all
for the soldiers now, it may be all for the sailors
in another war, or rather Germany may take her true place
as a nation equally strong by sea as by land. She has. so
large a merchant shipping that her present naval inferio-
rity to 'France is a mistake. The German Emiiire of
twenty years hence will not only have an irresistible
army, but a navy which can carry the troops to any given
point, and this will be, we may hope, a sure
guarantee of European peace. These sailors have
been the cause of much speculation, and of many
a wild rumour at Versailles. Some people in.ist
on their being destined for service in the batteries others
—French, of course—suppose that the Prussian army is
so reduced that sailors must, per force, be employed to
strengthen the diminished battalions. There is yet a
probable report which assigns these lads in wide-brimmed
hats to the captured gunboats of the Loire.
This last is, I believe, the real solution of their
Presence at headquarters. It would delight the Germans
beyond everything to achieve a victory, however
small, on the element which they hope to make their
own. The sphere of the Loire is somewhat restricted,
but there is a chance that,even with a few tiny gunboats,
a dashing officer might do some good service below Tours
as the ally of the dreaded " Uhlans." I was
struck by the hearty and cheerful look of
King William when he inspected the German
sailors. He had seemed a little more anxious and
thoughtful when the news of the bloody work early in the
month was arriving at Versailles, and now his air was de-
cidedly free from care. Though no crushing victory has
been gained, the Army of the Loire has been well answered
for, and the question of Paris seems now again to be a
mere question of time. Whatever grave doubts, or
grave questions, to settle may remain, there is not the
pressing difficulty of an attempt to raise the siege. I
have said that the King looked cheerful this morning, and
the same may be stated of his Highness the Crown
Prince. As to the Prince Admiral, he beamed with satis-
faction. Here were his sailors. at last getting a chance of
useful work.

A. ROYAL GIFT.—Her Majesty has fnrwarded,
through the Marquis of Hertford, the deputy ranger of
Windsor Great Park, 20 pheasants to the Windsor Royal
Infirmary, for the dinners of the patients during the
Christmas week.