The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-04 00:00:00

AFTER THE FIGHTING AT SEDAN.

The following terrible scenes on the battlefield of Sedan
are described by a correspondent of the Allgemeine Zeitung :
—The operation of the German bombs was frightful. In
the first row of tents we found five, in the second six
Frenchmen struck down by one shot. The
latter grail') was just busy with the soup ; the
shell had exploded in the body itself of the
soldier in the centre of the party. He was completely
carbonised from the waistband to the knee, flesh and
uniform burnt to tinder. A second had the face and
fore part of the skull torn away—the brains lay in the
other half as in a bowl ; a third had his head and neck
clean shaven from the body; and a fourth had been in
the act of lifting a tin cup to his mouth, of which the
lower jawbone alone remained. A few steps from these
Frenchmen we came across a dead Prussian ; he had a
shot in the left side, and according to our doctors must
have survived in a conscious state for about
ten minutes; he had pushed his knapsack under
his head, and leant upon his right arm ; the look of
his still open eyes was fixed upon the photograph of a girl
in his stiff left hand ; he had drawn the picture out
of the letter-case which lay near him, and had
awaited death, his gaze riveted on the beloved
features. We stood still for a while in deep emotion ;
we then released the letter from his hand, made out his
name and address, as well as those of the young woman
from the letters found by his side, and one of us under-
took to forward the picture and letters, with an account
of the manner of his death, to his beloved.

The American General Burnside went to Paris on
Saturday from Versailles, to have an interview with M.
Jules Favre, and also with Mr. Washburne.
Prince Frederick Charles is suffering from dysentry.
That disease and typhus are prevalent in the neighbour-
hood o Metz.

It appears that of the several balloons which have been
sent up from Paris, one at least has been brought down by
German bullets.

The papers published at Tours give glowing accounts of
the fights around Paris. At Bourget it is stated that the
Germans, who had taken post behind a building that bad
been left standing, were attacked by the Breton Mobiles,
who, under cover of the electric light, which dazzled the
opponents, and concealed themselves, succeeded in
effecting a complete rout, and capturing 500 prisoners.

The people around Metz continue to skew the most
implacable hostility towards the Germans. At Any a
party of 30 Uhlans who had sought and paid for refresh-
ment and had arranged for the billets of an advancing
body of troops, were fired at as they retired. Three of
them were killed ; a messenger was sent for a larger
body of troops ; the people were driven out, and the
street in which the outrage had occurred was burnt
down.

A letter from Ferrieres, dated the 25th ult., published
in the Staats-Anzeiger, says :—" Peasants who were
obliged to abandon their dwellings in the area of six
leagues round Paris, which was laid waste, and took
refuge in the city, are now doing their utmost to escape.
They present themselves in troops before the outposts,
but are, of course, turned back. There is apparently an
anxiety in Paris to get rid of the useless mouths, and it is
seen how people miscalculated when they drew the country
population into the city, for they firmly refuse arms, and
only wish for peace.
There is a rumour current among the Prussians at
Nancy that the ex-Emperor has had a violent attack of
illness at Wilhelmshohe, and that the King, who is ex-
tremely anxious he should figure in the triumphal entry
into Berlin, is very uneasy on the subject. An officer has
been sent from the King's headquarters to learn the exact
state of the invalid.

Emile de Girardin has published a long letter in the
Liberte urging the people to form fresh armies in the
Loire and at Lyons. He thinks the chief object of
national defence should be to defeat the Prussians through
the want of munitions and of provisions.
It is again asserted positively that there is an abundant
supply of food in Metz. This fact is explained by what
seemed to have been a remarkable piece of foresight on the
part of Bazaine. Before he was shut up there he aston-
ished the Paris War Office by his continual demands for
supplies for that fortress. At a time when there were
actually 400 huge waggons of provisions standing there
unpacked, still Bazaine's cry was for more, although
Metz seemed already supplied for a siege of any duration.
There was no time for argument ; his demands were
urgent and peremptory, and more and more stores were
sent. It is now supposed that he foresaw the probability
of his being blockaded there with his army.
The Libert4 now published at Bordeaux, has an article
on Austrian neutrality. The attitude of the Hungarian
Cabinet at the opening of the war, it says, compelled the
Cabinet of Vienna, notwithstanding the goodwill of the
Emperor Francis Joseph and Count Beust, to declare that
they would preserve a strict neutrality. At first this
neutrality was to be armed, and when Napoleon 111., ter-
rified by successive reverses, appealed to Austria to help
him, he received for reply the phrase invented by himself
at the time of the Austro-Prussian war of 1866--the neu-
trality would be attentive. After the catastrophe of
Sedan nothing was thought of at Vienna but the complete
demobilisation of the army. The Hungarian Ministry,
however, seek to augment the Magyar force.

" Even a Parisian," says the Kreuz-Zeitung, "with a
small remnant of a love of truth and of common sense,
must admit, that even if it lose .Alsace and German Lor-
raine, France will still be far removed from a second-rate
Power. She has in Europe a territory extending over
9,850 square miles. If 250 are taken from these, can
that be called ' disintegration ?' Did France ' disin-
tegrate' Italy when it took the frontier provinces—
Nice and Savoy ? Does not France, besides, possess in
Algeria 12,000 spuare miles and 3,000,000 inhabitants, and
colonial prssessions to the extent of 8,000 square miles,
with a population of 2,500,000 ? What other State of the
first rank can, considering its extent, shew a power so con-
centrated? Besides, it has only one powerful neighbour,
whilst this neighbour (Germany) lies in the middle of
three strong Powers, and has to`guard its frontier on all
sides."

The siege of Mezieres has commenced.
hold out.

The place will

. A Manchester Examiner telegram says large forces of
troops are collecting in all the towns of Southern France.

It is said that at Chartres the people are cowardly and
undecided. The very idea of a conflict seems to terrify
them. The Prefet requested all the young men from 25
to 35 years to give way at the arrival of the enemy. The
Prefet also requested some of the men to go away, and
advised them to get a passport from the mayors of the
commune, to the effect that they were only going to avoid
the enemy. The other day some Mobiles arrived, and the
inhabitants of Chartres, instead of welcoming them, were
quite in consternation ; they shut the shops and refused
to give the travellers anything to eat. They thought the
very sight of them would, bring the Prussians. At last
they were put in some empty barracks with straw, and
exclaimed with just indignation that they believed the
Prussians would have been better received if they had
come in their stead.

On the 27th of September a train passed• Bordeaux con-
taining eighteen carriages of troop-horses. These unfor-
tunate creatures were quite emaciated and were painful to
look at. They had been abandoned in the streets of Sedan
where they fed on pieces of wood that they found about.
They were perfect phantoms. The Prussians had refused
to have anything to do with them. After some days rest
it is expected they will be of great service to the army.
The New Free Press of Vienna pays that after the
battles before. Metz the neutral Powers which were already
acquainted with the Prussian conditions wished to inter-
vene on behalf of France. They received the following
reply from the royal headquarters :—" We shall not
abandon one of our conditions should we have to fight
against the whole of Europe."

The Madrid correspondent of the Liberte says that
Bismarck has sent a Colonel of Uhlans and two other
Germans on a secret mission to that city. They have had
several interviews with the Minister of State and Mar-
shal Prim, but in official quarters strict reserve has been
maintained on the subject. Fresh candidatures for the
throne of Spain are talked of, more particularly that of
Prince Frederick Charles, now before Metz.

THE EMPRESS TO THE EMPEROR.--A French
paper publishes the text of. the letter to the Emperor from
the Empress :—" I have received a didpatch from Pietri.
Have you reflected upon all the consequences that would
ensue from your return to Paris after having sustained
the shock of two reverses ? For my part, I cannot take
the responsibility of giving advice. If you do determine
upon it, it must be arranged, at any rate, that the affair
is looked upon as a temporary thing. You might
return to Paris to reorganise the Second Army, and
confide provisionally the command of the Army of the
Rhine to Bazaine."

AN ANXIOUS FATHER.—An amusing incident,
which occurred on the march towards Paris, is related in
one of the German papers. The village of Chezy, near
Chateau Thierry, was almost depopulated, but one of the
remaining inhabitants • appeared so extremely polite,
while, protesting that his house contained nothing to eat
or drink, that a search was ordered. On a newly-
erected partition wall being pulled down, frightful
shrieks were heard, and the proprietor, trembling
with fear, begged the officer for mercy, not for
himself, but for his " pauvres fines." He had walled
up his two pretty daughters, together with
plentiful stores of wine, hams, sausages, and preserved
fruit. The soldiers burst into a hearty laugh, while the
officer bowed, and begged permission to lead the young
ladies out of their cell into the daylight. " Take every-
thing," stammered the old man, "only spare my daugh-
ters." The lieutenant, with some difficulty, assuaged the
father's fears and the daughter's apprehensions. The re-
quisition of meat and drink was carried out in a more
respectful manner than it might otherwise have been, of
which the father was so sensible that he voluntarily
brought twelve bottles of champagne from a hiding
place.

FORT MONT VALERIEN.—The North German Ga-
zette gives the following account of Fort Mont Valdrien
at Paris. "This fort, the most important of the Paris
fortifications, covers alone the western front of Paris. It
is situated on the left bank of the Seine to the north of
St. Cloud, on the Versailles Railway, and south of the
Imperial route to Cherbourg, between the villages of
Puteaux, Suresnes, Rueil, and Nanterre. Its base com-
mands the capital and the neighbouring localities of
Neuilly and Borclog,ne. The sides of the fortress com-
mand the routes already mentioned, and the height on
which it is stationed covers nearly the whole of
the isle which the Seine encircles. The import-
ance of Mont-Val6rien is so great that it may
be considered as a fortress apart. The solitary
height which supports it is surmounted by a pentagon
with bastions, and its foot is surrounded by a second
enceinte. Behind the bastions rise two cavaliers of a
great height, which have a double line of embrasures..
The crest of the glacis and the scarp wall support other
walls with battlements on their two last stages, which
with a sufficent garrison would produce a great effect.
The barracks on the summit of Mont Valerien are com-
posed of a ground level and two storeys casemated. The
walls of the platform•and the numerous posterns are also
arched. The earthworks alone occupy a million cubic metres
of embankment. The fort raises at its lowest enceinte
to 125 miles above the level of the sea, and 45 metres
above the surrounding earth. But as the heights of the
village of Garthe, which is not far distant, reach an alti-
tude of 155 metres, they rise above the highest points of
the fortrpss. This drawback, with the fact of its isola-
tion, which offers an excellent mark for the assailants,
weakens it not a little, and diminishes its value as a.
fortress.

AFFAIRS AND OPINIONS AT NANCY.—The good
people do not know to what saint to have recourse. The
Emperor has " betrayed " them, but the Republic has few
friends, and since it has pointed to a communistic back-
ground, as at Lyons, Toulouse, and Marseilles, it has
become quite disliked. The Orleans dynasty has
apparently few friends. Paris and the Parisians
are generally complained of. Count Renard, the
Prefect, is tolerably well supported by the former
officials, but they refuse to accept any pay. The mayor's
officials at Nancy, on the other hand, were anxious
for their salaries. All the officials who do not conduct
themselves well towards the new authorities are to have
their pay stopped, and will receive instead bonds drawn
on the French Government. The sums thus saved will
form a nucleus of a fund for compensating the Ger-
mans expelled from France. Every department occu-
pied by the troops is ordered to pay a contribution of
£40,000, destined to the same purpose. As, however,
from the Meurthe two arrondissements have been
added to Alsace, this extra contribution is reduced to
£30,000 in the case of Nancy and its district. The prefect
meets the protests against these and similar measures by
citing Napoleon's treatment of German towns. Number
less safe conducts have been given, authorising intercours
with the surrounding district, in order to facilitate the
supply of provisions to the town, but these uncon-
sciously paved the way for a secret postal communication
with Paris and the rest of France. Letters and papers
were thus convoyed from the capital in forty-eight hours,
and the Provisional Government could thereby be in-
formed of what was going on at Nancy. The authorities,
through treachery, got scent of this, and, by a bold stroke,
not only put an end to the thing, but seized 300 most
interesting letters, and more than 100 newspapers. The
offenders were arrested, and their examination dis •
closed another secret post office. It appeared from these
letters that the Mayor of Nancy, M. Welche, who had
affected indisposition for some days, and had excused him-
self from being seen, had been to Paris and back during
this interval. In "various letters was enclosed a prayer, in
a lady's writing, said to have been brought from Jerusalem
by a pious priest, and believed to have great efficacy
in speedily expelling the Prussians. Other epistles
commended the good conduct of the Germans towards
the citizens, and even hinted that the French in a similar
case would not have earned the same praise.

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