The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-23 00:00:00

TM, SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVEMNG, AUGUST 235 1870.

French cavalier was to be seen. The Prussians occupied
the two routes which lead from Verdun to Metz by
Gravelotte, and they intercepted all communications.
Two conclusions must be drawn from this information,
which cannot be doubted, as it proceeds from an eye-wit-
ness. One is that Marshal Bazaine is for the time cut off,
and that Verdun may look for a speedy investment. These
grave facts confirm us in the belief we have already ex-
pressed, that it is time for the Parisians to
open their eyes, and to accustom themselves to
the idea of a siege. The time for illusions is past.
In default of news from Metz, the measures taken by the
authorities give abundant proof of this. The proclama-
tion of General Trochu is addressed to the Garde Nationale,
the Garde Mobile, to the forces of land and sea, and to
the army of Paris—in a word, to all the defenders of the
capital in time of siege. The Journal Officiel of this
morning contains a still stronger resolution, referring
to the formation of a defensive committee for the
Paris fortifications. It is, then, on Paris that
all our thoughts must be centred for the future. Paris
will be the bulwark of national liberty and independence.
In such a state of things, and in face of such urgent need,
we should have liked to have heard that the National
Guard had been summoned for the immediate election of
its officers; that the municipal officers appointed by the
arrondissements would preside at the immediate distribu-
tion of arms. The existing municipalities have not the
the confidence of the people ; the former officers of the
National Guard, were the result of favouritism. The one
must be changed, the other reformed. The feeling of
Paris is unanimous on this point, and it is only in the
satisfaction of that feeling that the moral force can be ob-
tained, which was so eloquently invoked two days since
by General Trochu."

This is honest writing, and as the Siecle is a paper cir-
culating almost more widely than any other, it does
something to bring the French to a very needful awakening.
The Siecle continues after publishing the statement of
Palikao and the proclamations of the generals,
" What is it we are waiting for to open our eyes to the
gravity of the situation ? While the Optimists are singing
victory, the Governor-General of Paris recalls us to our
duty, and summons us to make manly resolutions. Does
the Chamber at last perceive the danger? There is not a
day to lose. The authorities think a great deal is done
if 8,000 guns are distributed daily. But the whole
population ought to be armed in one day. The country is
really in danger.

Them is very little news of general importance to give
The Ministry, the deputies, and all Government circles
are remarkably quiet—the calm preceding the storm.
Possibly the Government is debating what it shall do
when the terrible reality of the situation is dis-
closed. At present all parties seem to be in
secret session. The Corps Legislatif meets, but
does nothing, and the uproar of last week is quite
wanting now. In the presence of great coming events,
men are preparing for action.

A very significant disclosure is made to-day in the
Gaulois by one of its correspondents, M. Wachter :
Alarmed by the non-appearance of M arshal Ba-
zaine, or any of his regiments, at Verdun, he
attempted to reach his lines on Friday last.
Starting from Verdun at mid-day he drove along
the Metz road as far as the village of Abancourt, from
from whence he could see, in the direction of Gorze, the
smoke of on engagement. Proceeding thence towards
Etain, he was very politely stopped by an outpost of
Prussian Lancers, and informed that the route was barred.
Similarly he found every road to Metz in the possession of
the enemy.
Yesterday morning upwards of one hundred thousand
stand of arms reached Paris from the inland manufac-
turers. They are principally breechloade.s, and they are
destined to arm the National Guards. Men of all ages
enrol themselves as simple volunteers.

Yesterday a peasant, aged 65, presented himself, and
after an examination by the military medical officers, he
was declared fit for service, and has left for Chalons.
Men of a more advanced age, offer to the hospitals
and take care of the wounded. Mr. George Mitchell,
the father of Mr. Robert Mitchell, the principal editor
of the Constitutionnel, notwithstanding he is 76 years old,
has enrolled himself as an hospital infirmier.
Yesterday, one of the drivers of an omnibus, arrested in
the Rue Royale, a " sister" of charity. Taken to the
police-station and examined, the pretended sister of
charity turned out to be a Prussian spy.

The Bavarian officers who were recently taken prisoners
have arrived at Paris. They were treated with the
utmost courtesy, and sent to Bourges, which will be their
prison.

Among the allies of Prussia the Bavarians, who have
so frequently occupied the post of danger, appear during
the war to have suffered the most severely.
The Paris correspondent of the Independance Beige says
that not only was the Emperor very badly received at
Chalons, but the exasperation against him was such that
he dared not go out. He remained several days at his
residence—literally a prisoner. This ho3tility is shared
by all the army, but the Garde Mobile of Paris were the
chief offenders.

A naval lieutenant presented himself at the fort of
Mont-Valarien with a permission from the Minister of
War to see the place. The document was quite regular,
signed in form, and drawn up on Ministerial paper. The
naval lieutenant was shewn all over the fort. Scarcely
had he departed before a police agent came up, with the
description of a Prussian spy, who was none other
than the naval lieutenant. The police are still seeking
him.

The suppression by the French of information respect-
ing a battle in which, by their enemy's admission, their
army fought nobly, is to be regretted. The statement
put forth in Paris that Marshal Bazaine was in a position
where he was free to March on Verdun if he liked, but
that he had voluntarily abstained from doing so, is more
damaging than the candid admission of difficulties, and,
made as it was in connection with the statement that the
communication between Chalons and Metz had be-
come difficult, sent down the price of the Rentes.
If even there could have been any doubt about
the position of Marshal Bazaine's army, it must
be considered to have been removed now, by the
confirmation of the intelligence three days after the
event, and the obstinate silence of the French. Whether
Bazaine's sixty thousand men shut themselves up in Metz,
or attempt to escape, they are equally in the toils of
Prince Frederick Charles's army. The Prince appears to
have practised upon them the same device that Napoleon
employed after the battle of Jena. Being asked by one
of his generals whether he would take measures to close
the gates of Magdeburg against the fugitives, he said,
" No leave them open, all the fugitives will then go there,
and thus we shall catch them like fish in a net."—Daily
Netn.

whose object was to occupy the French outer line of de-
fences, advanced no further; they continued to fight
with coolness and intrepidity, but visibly lost ground.
The Chateau of Colombey was taken and retaken three
times. A portion of the Prussian forces having advanced
to Borny, the fort St. Quentin's artillery fired a few
rounds, and received a few harmless shells. As night fell,
the Prussians resumed their attack on Ser vigny, but two
regiments concealed in the vines opened fire on them at
close range, and threw them into confusion.

Bazaine's army forms two sides along the Verdun toad
and the Moselle, while MacMahon's army forms the
third side. This situation, which would shew a true
strategical conception on the part of our generals,
would hold them cut off from their base and thrown back
towards Paris, whither they were in such a hurry to go,
but where, under these conditions, their fate might be
miserable. There is, however, this danger. Their defeat
appearing incomplete, it is feared that the struggle may
be recommenced to-day, and that they may in the night
have brought across the Moselle the army of the
Crown Prince, repulsed on Sunday before Metz.
At Labry the inhabitants stopped us saying Do
not go further ; they are going to fight.' We
continued our way nevertheless. The village cf
Jarny was only two kilometres distant, and we hoped to
find there some information. There we met three squa-
drons of the guard, who persuaded us to go their way
towards Conflans. Near Conflans, in a field, were some
dragoons and lancers bivoucking, their horses saddled, and
the men stretched on the ground close to them. Could it
be possible that these were two regiments ! Altogether I
could not count as many as 300 horseman. We were enter-
ing Conflans when three dragoons of the guard, who had gone
beforeus suddenly came back at a gallop. They motioned
with their hands, and at once all around us was heard the
cry, The Prussians ! the Prussians The road was full of
cantinieres, carts, waggons, and ambulance carriages. All
of them turned about, the one on the other, in less time
than I take to write it. We followed the movement as
quickly as possible. Everybody goes at a gallop. The
peasants regained their houses with lamentable cries. At
last we arrived at Labry, with all the population which
fell back with us."
His second letter is from Charleville, Mezieres, and is
dated Thursday :—" I have again retrogated. I
find here the papers which always arrived too
late at Metz, and which at Briey never arrived
at all. I see in them mention of the fight of
Longeville, near Metz. Pray correct this. Longeville,
a parish of the suburbs of Metz, and three kilometres
from it, has never been the theatre of any combat.
There has not been a sword drawn or a cartridge fired
in it. The following, I believe, I can say for
certain, is a correct account of the movements of the last
three days. The 10th, 12th, and 13th, the army (three
corps and the guard) was encamped in front of Metz in
excellent positions facing the N.N.W. ; that is to say,
the roads from Sarrelouis and Saarbruck.—Saturday, the
10th.—All the divisions received four days' provisions
and the order to hold themselves in readiness to march.
On Sunday, the 14th, the movement appeared to be a
retreat through the town to the left of the Moselle.
At two o'clock the enemy, informed by spies, as some
say, or, as others state, by a ruse of Bazaine's, crossed
the Nied and attacked L'Admirault's and Decaen's corps,
which had not yet moved. In the evening, the Prussians
having been driven back to their lines, L'Admirault, De-
caen, and the guard turned round and put themselves in
movement in their turn. All the night between the 14th
and the 15th there was one long procession of troops and
conveyances through Metz, from the Porte des Allemands
to the Porte de France. The 15th. —Continuation of the
movement. Froissard mounts the high ground at Grave-
lottes, to make room behind him. Little or no engagement
The 16th.—The column advanced towards Verdun, and
then took place from Gravelottes to Mars-la-Toml that
series of bloody combats of which the telegraph must
have told you. The 17th.—The struggle recommenced,
but a little nearer Verdun. Since I was driven out of
Conflans by the Prussians, and yesterday, there, was, it
is said, fighting at Jaudelize, still further to the
west. The battle of the 14th may be called
anything but the battle of Longeville. Some of
our soldiers, encouraged by the success of the day,
cried out Bazaine, Duke of Metz.' It might then be
called the battle of Metz. What is really too extraordi-
nary is the coolness of the Prussian despatches, pre-
tending that they had the best of it. We did our work
well. Before leaving Metz I went to see the field, which
I assure you bore ttaces of it. The hill of
Vautoux was like a slaughter-house, and the
Prussian dead were in layers. The debris of
helmets, of arms, and of sabretaches with the royal
cypher shewed that the eliieof the Prussian army had taken
part in the affair. It must really require a strong will to
attribute to on e's self the victory after such punishment,
and after having allowed a vanquished enemy to go off so
quietly. During now four days our officers and soldiers
have never ceased to work and be under fire. We
have evidently, half by address, half by force, slipped
between superior forces, and the proof that the
enemy, still too strong to be driven away entirely,
has yet not been able to do anything, is that by
the last news our liberty of action seems assured, whether
we wish to rally at Metz or to make Verdun our object.
The latter is the general belief, encouraged by the official
despatches. Let me, moreover, suggest another plan. It
was so natural to press down the enemy on the Moselle,
to make him repass it in disorder, and perhaps to throw
him under the guns of Metz, that I asked myself if that
is not what was attempted without success."

THE FRENCH WOUNDED—THE PRUSSIANS
ON FRENCH SOIL.
The same correspondent of the Temps has another
letter, dated Friday morning, and written from Mezibres-
Charleville. He says :—You are probably acquainted
with these two twin towns, which are only divided by a
bridge thrown over the valley. lam not speaking of the
Meuse, which is insignificant here, and flows between the
first and second enceinte of the chief town of Ardennes.
These cardinal points of the fortifications of former
times now constitute very slender defences, and
Mezieres and Charleville must - content them-
seles with being nothing more than rich, well-
built, and prosperous towns, which, notwithstand-
ing, their keen interest in the events of the day,
present stiking contrast to our recent panics. Nothing
could be more dismal than the train in which I passed the
night. To the right and the left of the passenger
carriages were the goods' vans which are used for the con-
veyance of the wounded, full of hammocks, on each of
which laid a man. We brought from three to four hundred
of these sufferers, and this number was repeated
at intervals throughout the day. At every station
we stopped. It was necessary to tend some of the
wounded, to remove others who could go no further, or
who were to be given in charge to their families in the
neighbourhood. This caused an immense delay, and gave
rise to many painful reflections. In the middle of the
night in the woody passes of the hills the plaintive voices
of the sufferers were heard all along the train,
mingling with the murmurs of the neighbouring
inhabitants, who flocked to witness the passage of
the melancholy train. The sight of the
wounded men bearing ghastly traces of their misfortunes
was shown us plainly by the clear moonlight and pre-
vented all thought of sleep. The great number of wounds
in the head has been noticed everywhere. This is ex-
plained by the manner in which the Prussians hold their
guns. The supply of medical attendance is short, there
is no denying it ; but it is difficult to say who it is to
blame. The fact is the number of the wounded has sur-
passed all calculations. An official who had crossed only
a corner of the field near Gravelotte said to me, " This is
no longer war; it is massacre." At Metz every establish-
ment was full—three great barracks, the Jesuit College,
the hospitals, and the private dwellings. The whole
feminine population is divided among these several esta-
blishments. The surgeons said to them, " Mesdames,
do all that you can ; leave us nothing but the
operations and the more difficult cases for
dressing, and even then our task will be too heavy."
As may be supposed, all ladies were not equally useful or
expert. The realities of such a task are something different
from a promenade through a. hospital, en grancle toilette.
The doors are accordingly closed against everyone who
does not come to render active personal service. They
are trying to remove the disabled as much as possible into
the less encumbered districts. All those who can bear
the 'removal are sent on to the North, for the
wounded are better off in the small towns where
the people can give them undivided attention. It is
thought that the line of Ardennes will soon be cut, if it
has not been cut already. At a little distance from here
the enemy arrived a short time since and made. the em-
ploy& themselves take up the rails. At Thionville great
mischief has been done by the Prussians of whom no very
favour(' cle accounts are given, thoughit is necessary to re-
ceive the stories one hears with caution. Ido not believe
for instance that the Prussians seize the French residents
and compel them to march at the head of their columns.
This report has arisen out of isolated acts. A peasant
belonging to Couicy, near Metz, was shot for refusing to
guide the Prussian troops to the French Army, and other
ncidents of the kind are recorded. The hatred of the
Prussian wounded against the French has
often been described to me, but I thought it
exaggerated. However, I have been told, on good
authority, of a slightly wounded Prussian who was care-
fully attended along with our wounded by the soeurs.
One day,when many little comforts, such as wine, tobacco,
and bouillon, had been brought to him, a Frenchman
drew near, when the Prussian struck him violently on the
face. Our soldiers in their turn grow merciless. I have
been assured of the truth of the following story. A
wounded Prussian was lying on the field, and a surgeon
stopped to attend to him. Having dressed his
wounds, the surgeon was about to remount his horse,
when a Uhlan coming up shot him through the head.

The greatest indignation is expressed at this affair, which
is talked of everywhere, and the French dragoons declare
they will give no quarter. An old dragoon, one of the
few survivors of his regiment, which was well-nigh
destroyed on the 16th, said to me, "We have
been annihilated, but each of us struck down
three, and now, since they fire on surgeons,
they shall have no quarter. I found one of
them, this morning, astray in the woods. He
threw away his gun, crying out, " A friend ! "
No friend for me ! I buried my sabre in his
body." In fact, the war is beginning to assume
between the armies an exterminating character. The
invaders seem to me to be inclined to treat the population
on a system of alternate caresses and threats. They say to
the inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine, "You are Prus
sinus for the future. Why should we hurt you. Only if
you prefer to remain French take warning." The Uhlan
in the Prussian army resembles our Zouave, being as
superior for cavalry as the Zouaves are for foot soldiery.
"The Uhlans are everywhere," said a peasant to me, and
four or five of them will dash into a town, giving rise
to the cry " The Prussians are here !" while the army ii
perhaps a good way off, and yet they are unmolested
from the popular fear. On the other hand the
Prussians try to flatter the people, and have even
promised the railway officials near Sarreguemines that
they shall keep their old regulations of service, which are
more favourable than those of the Rhenish provinces.
Our men are worth as much as the Prussians, or rather for
humanity and other moral qualities they are worth more,
buttheir leaders have been altogether deficient. I have been
told that I have been harsh on General Frossard, but
the information I have received respecting him came
from his own officers, and it must be admitted
that if he has been unfairly judged, misfortune
has dogged his steps in the most surprising
manner. Those who were wounded on the 16th
declare that the day opened in a manner very unfavour-
able to the military reputation of the general. The sol-
diers were at bivouac, and were told they might take
their ease. They were eating their breakfast,
when the Prussians were suddenly upon them. How
was it there was no better knowledge of the enemy's
whereabouts ? How is it again that the enemy can profit
so well by his acquaintance with the nature of the ground,
while we began the war without seeming to know whether
the ground was woody or marshy. For instance the dragoons
and the lancers of the Garde were in reserve between two
woods, and thought themselves quite secure, when
a battalion showed itself. What a fine oppor-
tunity ! The Frenchmen pursued, and the battalion
was in truth cut to pieces, but there were other Prussians
in the woods and the Frenchmen fell into the trap. This
Prussian method of ambush has cost us, one would have
thought, enough men already to make it known and
and remembered. '

It appears that everywhere in the two provinces
of Alsace and Lorraine the Germans levy a contribution
of two francs a day on the inhabitants of the two provinces
now in the hands of the invaders. The distress caused by
these exactions in an impoverished district is extreme.
Moreover, all the post offices are in the hands of the Ger-
mans, and the letters which arrive at Paris have German
stamps. The humiliating spectacle excites, more than
almost any feature of the war, the wrath of the Parisians,
who declare that whilst a man or a centime remains they
will not rest until the two provinces are delivered.
The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian
writes :—"lt has, by degrees, become generally known
that the Emperor hesitated to the last to throw away the
scabbard, and that he was half duped, half driven by his
incompetent and unprincipled advisers into taking the
fatal step. It was not until he arrived at head-quarters
in the valley of the Moselle that the unreality of the
vaunted preparations for the struggle began to dawn
upon him. The first roll-call disclosed the fallacy of the
numbers whereupon he had been told to rely. For years
a gigantic system of fraud had been carried on in the
War Department whereby the pay had been drawn for
regiments consisting on paper of 1,000 men which did
not actually muster 800. In ammunition, arms, and
commissariat similar deceptions had been systematically
practised. The whole organisation of the empire had
long been honeycombed by fraud. Small rogueries were
here and there detected and from time to time punished;
but the great delinquencies by which vast fortunes, civil
and military, were accumulated, screened, and propped
one another ; while ill-health and indolence rendeied the
once scrutinising chief unconscious of the danger under-
mining his throne.

DENMARK.—The success which has attended the
German arms has deprived France of all chance of assis-
tance from Denmark, although the feeling there is so
strong against Prussia, that if the Marquis de Cadore's
mission had been better conducted, little would have been
required to induce the people to declare themselves against
their old enemies. But it appears to have been thought
that the mere presence of the Marquis would have been
sufficient to induce the Danes to declare war against
Prussia, and the consequence was that the Marquis
brought no letters and no instructions. He was therefore
received merely as a distinguished stranger by Baron
Rosenoern, and had no interview with the King. The
feeling against Prussia was in Denmark so bitter
that the first conflicts between the armies were
reported as resulting in every instance to the
discomfiture of the Germans, and, to increase
the hatred already existing, four • French journalists
from the Siecle, the Liberte, the France, and the Figaro paid
a special and professional visit to the country. But the
Danish officers sent to the Camp at Chalons had reported
that, in spite of the adoption of the Chassepot, the tactics
and the drill of the French army had remained unaltered
until within the last three months, and the Danish
Government were, therefore, doubtful of French suc-
cesses.—Times Correspondent at Hamburg.

PARIS METAMORPHOSED. - The capital of
European good living, whither M. Haus smann
attracted all the eaters, the drinkers, the flat-
terers of the world, has within a few days
assumed a Spartan aspect. The theatres are
closed, except four or five, which play to empty benches.
Dress has become plainer and more subdued ; a gay toilet
would be as discordant as a false note. To complete the
picture of this proud and happy metamor-
phosis I will tell you that Paris, but lately
too rich, has suddenly become poor. All those
documents representing shares and stocks—the pieces
of paper, blue, pink, or green, which M. Rouher
pompously estimated en bloc at 40 milliards—
become reduced to their real worth. The bank-note
has undergone the logical depreciation entailed by a
forced currency, gold and silver are scarce, and each keeps
by him the little that he may possess in case of possible
contingencies. An entire population which hitherto
had the foolish habit of living upon its capital,
discounting the future, and making extravagant
abuse of credit has returned to habits of fore-
sight, of saving, and of that worldly simplicity which
constituted the strength of our forefathers, and which un-
happily now constitutes that of our enemies. For 20 years
we have been, or we fancied we were, too rich ; luxuries
had been forced upon the most modest tastes and fortunes;
parvenus being permitted to set the fashion it was almost
discreditable not to spend 100,000 f. a year. War has restored
the credit of poverty. We may now venture to walk, and
we nolongerfear to ask four friends to dine off beef and po-
tatoes. When I think that only last winter, scarcely six
months ago, the humblest bourgeois of Paris would have lost
caste had he failed to offer his guests sham Chambertin
and diFguised Chateau Yquem with a pheasant stuffed
with woolly balls, Vive la misfire if it makes us more wise
at the same time that it makes us more manly. Paris is
beginning to comprehend that it can dine sufficiently well
without truffles, and that a woman may look as pretty in
a 50f. dress as in a gauzy wave which cost 30 louis. We
shall emerge from this crisis better than we began it, and
France will gain in elevation without any diminution of
her surface."—Edmond About in Le Soir.

Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen delivered an address
in Edinburgh on Friday.

It is believed that, in the event of a vacancy occur-
ring in the representation of Tyrone, Sir John Marcus
Stuart, of Ballygawley House, will be a candidate for the
seat.

At the close of his visit to Tulchan, Strathspey,
the Home Secretary will go with Mrs. Bruce and
family to Eden, the seat of Mr. Grant Duff, M.P., near
Banff. _

A marriage is arranged, and will take place
towards the close of next month, between the Earl Cowper
and Miss Compton, eldest daughter of Lord and Lady
William Compton.
THE BREADALBANE PEERAGE.—The following
appears on the minutes of the House of Lords, dated
Bth August .—" Petition of John MacCallum, late of
her Majesty's 101st Royal Bengal Fusiliers, and
presently residing at No. 96, George Street, Edin-
burgh, in the county of Edinburgh, esquire, to her
Majesty, praying that it may be adjudged and
declared that the dignities, honours, and titles of
Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Viscount of Tay and
Paintland, Lord Glenorchy, Benederalock, Ormelie, and
Weick, in the peerage of Scotland, which were enjoyed by
the petitioner's ancestors, of whom he is the lineal heir,
do now of right belong to the petitioner, together with
Her Majesty't reference thereof to this House : Presented
(by command), and referred to the Committee for Privi-
leges to consider and report."