The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-22 00:00:00

HIE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22,

THE LATE JUNIOR CONSERVATIVE CLUB.

THE PRUSSIAN ADVANCE ON HAVRE.

In a communication from Havre, under date December
17, the correspondent of--the Daily News says —" To-day
we ha 1e no news of the Germans or their whereabouts in
this n ghbourhood, but people from the adjoining towns
state t at they have left and returned towards Rouen. It 1
is said hat the Germans while in this locality conducted
thews lees admirably, and , that their demeanour was
both espectful and conciliatory. They imposed
no money contributions, but demanded provisions
and /orag,„3, the officers, however, paying for what
they r quired. At Bolbec, where they were to the num-
ber of 3,000, they were billeted on the inhabitants in the
follo g manner :—On the arrival of the advanced corps
the o cm went through the town and chalked on every
door he number of soldiers to be provided for ;
as high a number as forty appearing frequently.
The officers while so journeying in that town
declared it to be their intention to " come and
see Havre for a little time and return again."
But they have not come yet, and it is difficult to
guess whether they really mean to come, or whether their
object is merely to neutralise the services of the very large
force at present in this garrison. A rather singular story
Is told of some Uhlans who visited this locality about a
week ago. It runs thus. In the town of
Saint Rnmain six Prussian horsemen rode up to a cer-
tain cafe and demanded a bottle of wine each.
The worthy landlord, on supplying the enemies of his
country with the wine, scrutinised their appearance
sharply, and immediately he thought he recognised fea-
tures that were not unfamiliar to him. He looked again
and exclaimed, " Ah, monsieur, I thought I knew you ; I
recollect often seeing your face in this locality before the
war." It turned out that the landlord recognised two of
them as clerks, who were in some commercial house
in Havre, and were occasionally in the habit of
walking to Saint Romain. What wonder that the
Germans should be so successful in this campaign? What
wonder that they should be so well versed in the geo-
graphy of Erance, when they can find men to act as their
advanced guard who are acquainted with every inch of
the road over which they travel ? Rouen, it appears,
is thoroughly under Prussian rule at present ; the
French papers Hive been suppressed, and the
French officials superseded. It is enacted that
any person who shall injure or destroy a bridge, canal,
railway, or telegraph shall be tried by a council of war
and tried with death. Not only those appearing in arms
are made prisoners of war by the Prussians, but youths
of the age of twenty are now liable to the same fate as
regular soldiers. This, I must say, appears to be an act
of injustice on the part of. General Manteuffel. Yet he
has arrested over one hundred youths of the
age of 20. Their time would arrive to be soldiers next
month. The several towns in the arrondissement are re-
quired to furnish 200 carriages and 400 horses, and the in-
habitants are compelled to accept Prussian money in pay-
ment for provisions, &c.

THE FRENCH AND GERMAN WOUNDED.
The special correspondent of the Telegraph, writing
from the German headquarters at Versailles on the 17th,
says:—Sad accounts of the state of the French and German
wounded in Beaugency have been received. A great*
many of the men injured in the battles between the
Grani Duke and Chanzy have positively died of hunger.
Not a few were brought into Beaugency to expire, who
had been lying for three days and nights in their
blood, without a particle of food to eat or a drop of water
to drink. Edibles of any sort are not to be bought for
money in Beaugency or in the villages near that town.
One hundred and sixty severely wounded men are lying
in the cell of an Ursuline convent there—as many
more in the tiny provincial theatre. Every house
contains from six to a dozen or more sufferers.;
but there is only a single surgeon to attend to
six or seven hundred cases. The stench in some
of the houses is horrible ; for fester and gangrene
are raging, and many of the men are in a state
of partial decomposition before they give up the ghost.
The little town was shelled for a short time, as you are
aware ; and I will take leave to relate one inexpressibly
sad episode of the bombardment. A French gentleman
of the neighbourhood—a truer servant of the Cross than
many that bear it on their arms—had volunteered
his services as a bearer and infirmier. During
the action he had been busy in the field,
bringing in under heavy fire wounded men of
both nations ; amongst others a Prussian soldier whom
he attended before the town was captured, in an
extempore hospital, established in a private house. He
was standing by the bed of his suffering enemy, minis-
tering to his wants, when a shell struck the house, pene-
trated the wall of the room in which his ward was situated,
and burst, not injuring any of the patients, but carrying
off both legs of the good Frenchman, who fell, never to
rise again. The wounded Prussian managed to get out of
his bed, though badly hurt, and endeavoured to staunch
the blood of his benefactor, over whose dead body he was
subsequently found, sobbing like a little child. Could
there be a more glorious death ?