The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-15 00:00:00

THE FRENCH ARMY OF THE LOIRE.

The Times correspondent at Berlin, writing under date
November 12, says:— After a pause, field operations at the
theatre of war begin to be more active. Once more the
French Army de la Loire has shewn symptoms of life.
Knowing Prince Frederick Charles to be pushing
south with a respectable force, this, the most
compact body of Mobiles, meant to be before-
hand, and surprise General von der Tann previous
ty the arrival of an accession of strength. Accord-
ingly, Von der Tann, who had no more than 20,000 men
with him, on the 9th inst. found himself menaced by very
superior numbers. Wary as he is gallant, he preferred
retreat to a contest which could not result in complete
victory. Evacuating Orleans, and fighting his
way in the direction of Chartres, he proceeded
to Toury, and took up a position which the
enemy did not immediately venture to attack. Had
he remained at Orleans he might in the most
favourable alternative have defeated the enemy again, and
taken some prisoners, without being able to prevent the
rest from retreating and re-forming at a distance as before;
whereas, if he waited for his reinforcements to come up, he
might be able to deal a more telling blow, and, perhaps,
succeed in dispersing the whole force. Even before he
reached Toury messengers sent north summoned General
Wittich and Prince Albrecht, the brother of the King of
Prussia, to his aid. The ten thousand men under the
command of these two Generals have been temporarily
attached to General von der Tann, and were recently des-
patched by him on the well-known sanguinary expedition
to Chartres and Chateaudun. Before the evening of Thurs-
day, the 10th, the required assistance appeared, and yester-
day morning another corps d'arm4e, composed of a Mecklen-
burg and a Wurtemburg division, under the command of
the Grand Duke of Schwerin, was expected to join them.
Upon the arrival of the latter General von der Tann will
probably lose no time in attacking the enemy. The
General won his spurs in the Danish campaign of 1849,and
has ever since been regarded as one of the cleverest strate-
gists of Germany, particularly excelling in guerilla
warfare—a southern Vogel von Falkenstein. While Von
der Tann was thus luring the French north, to-
wards his reinforcements, Prince Frederick Charles,
whose sphere of action is situated a little further
east, was rapidly penetrating south, prepared, if
he came up in time, to intercept the retreat
of the enemy. Our latest intelligence says that
the Prince had been diverging west with a view to this
end, and had already advanced beyond Troyes. The
exact day of his arrival at that place we have not heard ;
probably it was the 7th or Bth. Should he manage to
make good his way to the Loire before the French recross
the river, they will be in danger of encountering one of
those sweeping catastrophes of which the war has been so
fertile.

Mr. Odo Russell, Assistant Under-Secretary for
Foreign Affairs, has left England for the Prussian head-
quarters at Versailles.

The dQath was announced yesterday of Mr.
Charles Salisbury Butler, who was for many years M.P,
for the Tower Hamlets, for which he was elected in 1852.
He was 58 years of age.
ILLNESS OF MR. GILBERT SCOTT, .R.A.—Mr.
Gilbert Scott, ILA., the celebrated church architect, is
now lying dangerously ill at the residence of the Dean of
Chester. Mr. Scott was passing through Chester, on his
way to Oswestry, several weeks ago, when he was taken
ill whiie making a call at the Deanery. He has not been
able to leave the house since, and has been attended there
by various members of his family. His illness is said to
arise from a complication of bronchitis and disease of the
heart.

MARRYING FOR LOVE.—Love marriages are
decidedly the fashion just now. It is definitely settled
that the lovely young widow, Mrs. Stoddart, is to be
married on the 17th of this month to Lord Albert Clinton,
brother (bankrupt) of the present Duke of Newcastle.
This intended marriage has given rise to much conversa-
tion as to how the young people will live—on air, or love,
or bread and cheese. AV'e are always so much more
occupied with other people's business than our own. The
parties in question have probably never yet given a thought
as to ways and means. Why then should we ?—John
0411.