The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-10 00:00:00

THE FRENCH AND GERMAN CAVALRY.

The correspondent of the Independance Beige at the
Prussian Headquarters says that Napoleon observed to
Count Bismarck at Donchery that the Prussian cavalry
formed an impenetrable barrier round their army. This
remark, which was reported by a most influential person,
exactly describes the part which the Prussian Staff has
made the cavalry take in the present war. Prussia, first
of all the nations of Europe, has comprehended the modi-
fied work which modern tactics have assigned to the
cavalry. In the wars of the Crimea and Italy, the
cavalry had scarcely ever an occasion for taking an
active part. In the war of 1866 it had still an opportunity
for displaying its prowess, as one of the contending parties
was not provided with breach-loaders. In the present
war the Prussian generals have completely changed the
tactics of Seydletz, Kellerman, and Murat, according to
. . _

which, much to the loss of the English cavalry, the Earl
of Lucan was put forward at the battle of Inkerman.
They do not command their cavalry to take batteries, nor to
force squares of infantry. Only cnce during this cam-
paign a regiment of Silesian dragoons was called upon to
perform this task. It was on the sixteenth of August, at
a critical moment for the Confederated army, the third
corps had lost its communication with the other corps,
and it was important to prevent the French
columns from advancing until the third corps had
re-effected its junction. A regiment of dragoons
undertook this task, and acquitted itself gloriously,
It charged the French infantry, which, from being
arranged in columns, formed itself into squares.
True these squares were broken through, but they were
quickly re-formed. This unequal contest could not have
lasted The squadrons of dragoons were dismounted in a
terrible manner by the fire of the Chassepots, and they
could not have prevented the French from marching on
eventually. But the desired effect had been attained.
The third corps effected its juncture with the main
army, and the rest of the brave dragoons were able
to retreat behind the lines of infantry. It was, doubt-
less, to this charge that Count Palikao referred when
he said in the Corps Ldgislatif that the cuirassiers
f Bismarck were totally destroyed. With the
exception of this feat of arms, the German
cavalry has been chiefly employed for reconnaisance and
patrols, for pursuing the enemy when routed, and finally
for surrounding the army with the impenetrable barrier
of which the Emperor spoke to Count Bismarck. The
French, to their great loss, employed their fine cavalry
in a different manner. They were sent everywhere
against the German artillery and infantry. The German
officers admit that in all these charges the French cavalry
displayed great bravery and heroism. At Woerth two
regiments of Cuirassiers were killed to nearly the lass man.
At Sedan a magnificent charge was made by the Marquis
Gallipot, at the head of his chasseurs ; but this was not
the proper use for these troops, for the German officers
blame the French commanders for the reckless manner in
which they sacrificed their fine regiments.

Captain Chassepot, the inventor of the rifle bearing his
name, is now in Tours.
Marshal Palikao has been at Wilhelmshohe for the last
few days. The Emperor's health is bad.
La Situation, the journal which published the false
Imperial manifesto, has made a rambling statement about
the serious transaction of which it has been guilty, but has
not offered any apology, or any explanation respecting the
origin of the document.
The Electeur Libre states that a few days since a work.
man, slightly intoxicated, was returning into the city by the
Porte d'...A.uteuil when he was challenged by the National
Guard on duty and, not replying, was shot dead.
Immense numbers of half-starved dogs are roaming
about the streets. The food which ;they formerly
got is now eaten by the people. They are famished,
diseased, and a source of danger.
The Ultras of the besieged capital have got a journal to
their taste in La Patrie en Danger., This print has
been exclaiming " Long live Afarat I" It says, "it is
necessary for us to be pitiless, and to shed the blood of
traitors and cowards."
Up to September 30 the rate of mortality in Paris had
not risen, and the general health was good. Small-pox,
which has raged so many months, still caused numerous
deaths, but no other epidemic had appeared.
Many of the maps of Prussia which were served out
to French officers have fallen into the hands of the
Germans. These artistic productions excite much ridicule.
They are full of errors. The names are frequently mis-
spelt, the towns are out of place, and the whole drawing
in false proportion.
The Francais complains bitterly of the want of dis
cipline amongst the troops, especially amongst those just
forming, and who, on account of the abundance of wine in
the valleys of the Loire, get drunk, and in a frenzied state
of intoxication drown themselves in the rivers.
Whether the taste for horseflesh is spreading or not in
Paris, the number of horses consumed is largely on the
increase. Eleven new horseflesh shops have been opened.
The daily consumption of horses, which at the beginning
of the siege was only 20 or 30, rose in the last three days
of last week to 141, 195, and 275 respectively.
The Prussians appear quite at home in Alsace and Lor
raine, and administer the affairs of the provinces as if they
had been in their possession for years. They have just setup
at Nancy an official Moniteur of the General Government
of Lorraine. The establishment of telegraphs goes on
apace in all directions. Nancy has become a great centre
of operations.
The north of France is greatly troubled by the
threatened apparition of the cattle plague, and despatches
announce the presence of the Asiatic cholera near Chalons
sur Marna in the track of the confederate armies. Typhus
certainly exists among the cattle in Saxony, PJmerania,
the Rhenish Palatinate, and several other parts, as well
as in France on the Marne. The herds have suffered
greatly from the drought first, and the war afterwards.
A Red Club holds its meetings in various quarters,
under the presideney of M. Blanqui. It advocates that
the whole population, like an army, ought to be restricted
to certain rations. Various other measures much more
violent are discussed, and, altogether, the " Clubbists "
are giving cause for some uneasiness.
Several of the German journals attribute to the Prus
sians the intention of entering Paris on the 18th October,
the anniversary of the battle of Leipzic. Between inten-
tions and performances there is often a. wide difference.
The Germans must be quick if they would thus celebrate
the anniversary of Leipzic.
The Paris Bulletin Adrninistratif gives some important
particulars respecting the store of food in the capital. On
the 26th of September the Government had in Paris a
store of 292,000 quintals, or cwts., of grain, in addition
to which there was in the hands of private dealers a
further quantity of 155,000 quintals—making a total of
447,000 quintals, sufficient, at the estimated requirement
of the population of 7,000 quintals daily, for a period o

_ .
two months or two and a half months. The meat store
consisted of 24,600 oxen and cows, 150,000 sheep, and
6,000 pigs, or an estimated ordinary supply for two
months.

M. de Girardin in the Constitutionnel severely censures
the members of the Government at Tours for inaction.

Paris is holding out, so is Metz ; but other armies should
be formed to relieve them by attacking the Prussians in

the rear. At Tours, they are engrossed by trifles to the
neglect of the great object. Since the resignation of

Fourichon, Ordmieux holds the portfolio of war, and he
knows nothing of tactics or strategy.

M. Cr&lieu; who has taken the office of War Minister
in place of Admiral Fourichon, is assisted by a War Com-
mittee of civilians amongst whom are MM. Gent, Lecesno
Steenackers, Jules Cazot, and de Freyeinet. The people

of Tours do not think highly of this collection, and they
positively hate M. Gent, who is a thorough Red. It does
not follow that a man cannot make war because he is a
Red, but the direction of military matters in France un-

doubtedly suffers from the lack of competent officers. rY
It is noticed as remarkable that nobody in France will
now own to have voted " Oui" at the recent plebiscite.
Everybody execrates both the measure and its author.

A Times correspondent says, on behalf of the peasants,
that, in N• oting, they almost invariably asked whether
" Oui" meant peace, and on being assured that it did, they
unhesitatingly cast their vote in that direction. With
them, " Oui " or " Non " meant simply peace or war.
This was the only issue they understood, and seven mil-

ions and a half voted a month before the declaration of

war distinctly for peace.

A strange story is told in one of the German papers.
A few days ago a letter, addressed to one of the civic

authorities of Berlin, arrived from Belgium. it ;;;
found to be full of bombastic invective against Prussia,
which it threatened with ruin and destruction. The con-

tents of the missive would have only caused amusement

had not the officer who opened it complained immediatelyw
afterwards of a violent headache, a sensation also
experienced by two other persons who had held the letter

a short time in their hands. On being subjected to an
examination it was discovered that the paper was im-
pregnated with veratrin, a poison which acts on the brain

- ••••
by -being inhaled throughthe nostrils, The C'ologne