The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-18 00:00:00

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.

In Brussels, yesterday, it was generally believed
that a serious effort was being made afresh in favour
of peace, based upon the cession of Alsace and the
annexation of Luxemburg to Germany ; and that
preparations are beir.g made for an interview
between Count Bismarck and M. Jules Favre to-

TERRIBLE HURRICANE ON THE
COAST OF CUBA.

TWO THOUSAND LIVES LOST.

Adi ices have been received in New York from
Ifavamiah which state that a terrific hurricane
had taken place. Great damage has been
done in Matanzas, Cardenas, and 'the
adjacent country. It is also reported that
2,000 livcs are lost. The damage to shipping
is not great. The insurrection at Martinique Las
been finally suppressed.

THE MONEY MARKET.

CITY, Two o'CLocK.

The peace negotiations have had a fauourable effect
upon the Stock Exchange. Foreign Government Bonds
are firmer, and there is an advance of to in Spanish,
Turkish, Italian, and Egyptian. Consuls are a shade
higher, being 921 for immediate delivery, and 92i to 921
for November 3rd. Italian Fives, 1861, are 55 to 55,1 ;
Spanish Three per Cents. of 1567, 24 to 291-; ditto of
1869, 28e to 24 ; Turkish Five per Cents. of 1865, 431 to
43:1 ; Egyptian Seven per Cents. of 1868, 76 to 77k.
The Crown agents for the colonies have invited tenders
on Thursday next for bills of exchange for £25,000 on the
Government of Ceylon.
The quotations from Berlin shew great steadiness, and,
notwithstanding the approaching introduction of a new
loat?. of £11,600,000, the one recently introduced is main-
tained at about 10 premium.
An instalment of 15 per cent. falls due on Thursday
next on the Peruvian Loan for £11,920,000, introduced
here in June last by Messrs. J. H. Schroder and Co.
At the Dutch Trading Company's sale of coffee, fixed
for the 26th instant, 111,700 bales of Java, and 4,400 bales
of Padang will be offered. •

A petition for the winding up of the Universal Private
Telegraph Company (Limited) is to be heard before the
Master of. the Rolls on the sth of November.

Berger, Spence, and Co.'s •weekly report says for certain
chemicals there is a fair demand. The large export trade
to the States does not in the least decrease; on the other
hand, there appears to be, if anything, an increase in the
quantity of chemicals sent from Liverpool during the
past fortnight. There has been great activity in ship-
ments for the North, and it is anticipated they will be
stopped, as usual, about the end of October. For
minerals there has been an excellent demand—Hematite
especially ruling very firm. In metals we have to report
a fair business doing in Scotch and Cleveland pig iron, at
present prices. Pig irons were in good demand. Copper
is in better request, at the reduced rates. Spclter remains
dull, but there are symptoms of improvement in lead.

'FOE SUN, LONDON, TtTESDAY, OCTOBERS 18, 187(t

THE ARMY OF THE LOIRE.

The correspondent of the Standard writing from Tours
on the 15th inst. says :—From Orleans nothing official
has been communicated since the defeats of Monday and
Tuesday, and even the only details known for the present
at Tours are the ones I brought myself. It is said
in Government circles that the army of the Loire
is continuing a great strategic movement, and ever
at a late hour last night I received the assuranc4
that the operations were so far successful. I left Blois
in the morning. I was at a comparatively short distance
from the army, and the only indications I did notice
were important reinforcements conveyed by rail
to the headquarters. General Bourbaki started
at a late hour yesterday to join the army, and
I expect the supreme command will be put in his able
hands. Few generals enjoy more popularity than
Bourbaki. In Africa, in the Crimea, and in his last
command of the Imperial Guard at Borny, Gravelotte,
Mars la Tour, &c., he has achieved exploits which have
rendered his reputation for skill, bravery, and organisa-
tion without equal in the French army, and it is to be
hoped that the influence of his name, the measure of
discipline lie will take, will produce an efficacious change
amongst the demoralised troops, and restore confi-
dence. It is quite time, indeed, to finish with the
lame excuses of the regular troops abandoning their
positions, sometimes at the first attack of the Prus-
sians ;. first, they pretend the enemy is in overwhelming
numbers, then that their artillery is more powerful,
and reach a longer range ; that their marksmen are
superior, &c. An answer would be easy
.to their
late pretensions, and their new general will not fail
to tell them, if the cannons of the enemy reach further
on than yours, march on them ; if their artillery
are better. marksmen, try to emulate them ; death at
your post sooner than to abandon it, and then you will
deserve those appellations of heroic soldiers which
have been won by your comrades at Weissenburg,
Reischoffen, Forbach, Gravelotte; &c. The task
of General Bourbaki is a heavy one, but he
will succeed if he is left all power of action
wanted in such desperate cases, if the Government
of the National Defence does not interfere with his ope-
rations and thwart his movements. The report of Gene-
ral Reyan on the two engagements has been published to-
day. He adds very little. In fact, ho tells much less
than my letter of yesterday, and the outline of it confirms
in all points the bad news I have related. The general
acknowledges the defection of the regular troops
in presence of the enemy, and the heroic courage
of the Mobiles and other volunteer corps. It is said that
great excesses have been committed in the city of Orleans
by the Germans, and that they have asked a requisition
of eight millions of francs, that they have plundered
several stores, &c. Let us hope these rumours are
exaggerated. A fact remains certain, that when I
left Meung on Wednesday morning the Uhlans
were operating at La Chapelle, at Saint-Cry-en-Val,
on the left bank of the Loire ; their daring is
great, for the isolated vanguards might have been easily
cut off from their corpS d'armee by the destruction of the
bridges of Orleans and Jargeau. On another side
Beaugency has been since occupied by Prussian
cavalry. And some of their eclaireurs have
arrived at Avron, Jauy, Le Pothier, and Ligny.
In the ltouen direction the enemy, in a corps
d'arm6e 20,000 men strong, under the command of
Princes Albrecht and Hohenlohe, is occupying at Gisors
and Magny, and has attacked the French outposts at
Ecouis. An encounter of cavalry has taken place,
resulting in a few killed and wounded. It is quite clear
that notwithstanding the great success near Paris, as
proclaimed by the Government, the different columns
continue their advance in Normandy as well as those on
the south.

NORTHERN FRANCE AND TILE INVASION.
change
ssit situation
16,
of says: The special correspondent of the Telegraph, in a letter
dated An
in the, Octobern
:—en"emAy as
As yet there is
hisno
threatened attack on Amiens. The Saxon force
at Breteuil has fallen back on Laon, and St.
Quentin has not yet been visited a second time by the
enemy since the victory by the Gardes Mobiles the
other day. There is now no more singing of pa-
triotic songs in the streets. The town is full of troops
but they are all silent, and preparing for earnest work.
A great change in the spirit of the people—and by that
word I mean the gentry and merchants of the Depart-
ment quite as much as their workmen—has undoubtedly
taken place. Activity has succeeded to apathy, and among
all there is a stern determination to defend every inch of
ground in the North. This remarkable transition in
feeling has in some measure been brought about
by the victory at St. Quentin, but more still from
utter despair at the present situation in France. Men
say matters have now got so bad that they cannot very
well be worse, and, in sheer desperation, they determine
to do or to die for their country. The defeat of the Army
of the Loire may also have had something to do with the
resolution of which I speak—for a misfortune is often as
potent a cause of stern valour as a victory. Then,
again, no help from without has reached the
country, nor does there seem to be any hope of
obtaining even the intervention of other countries. The
increased discipline of the Mobiles has also contributed
to this determination to fight the quarrel out to the
bitter end; and a very bitter end it will be, unless
the other Powers in Europe interfere. In all the
towns of the North, the resistance made to the enemy
will be formidable, and in many it will be even
desperate. Such, at any rate, is the temper of this part
of the country at the time I write. As I said. before,
many fresh troops have arrived in Amiens ; but it would
not be honest for me to record how many there are, or how
they are composed. In a late letter I spoke of the annoy-
awe of many Frenchmen at the arrival of Garibaldi in
France. No doubt the reception that leader received at
Tours has greatly irritated a vast number of the best men
in the country. But even this matter they aro content to
waive for the present, so as to act together for the defence
of France. The violent wickedness of the people
of Lyons—who have turned 20,000 poor children
into the streets without instruction, in order that
the members of the Municipal Council may have the su-
preme pleasure of insulting the Catholic religion by order-
ing the Brothers of the Christian School into the ranks
is overlooked for the present. In a word, Frenchmen
seem for the moment to have forgotten everything except
the great work they have in hand : that of beating back
if they possibly can—the enemy whenever he attacks.
Whether they will remain firm in this temper it is
impossible to say, but I confess there appears to be
every chance of it. Last week several minor mat-
ters seemed likely to shake the union which was
being cemented between all shades of political and
religious views. To-day men seem determined, first
cf all, to conquer the enemy, and then—not before
-- to see to settling their own form of govern-
ment. And there is about them far more earnestness
of purpose, with far more work and far less talk,
than I have yet seen since this unhappy war broke out.
That France has still got men enough to form as large
armies as she has lost, is evident from the crowd of con-
scripts passing through this town to the West, for the
purpose of joining their respective depots. What
she now wants is a military chief who can
organise an administration for the army, as
Avell as command it in the field. All that
Paris is fighting for—all that these Northern
Departments are arming for—is that Alsace and Lor-
raine may not be taken from France. Rather than allow
that to be, the people of this country will fight on to the
very last; and even if Paris were to fall to morrow we
should be no nearer the end than we are now."

THE BAR.—If we had but a single event to speak
of in connection with the personnel of the bar as it was
last tern, and as it will be next, we should feel justified
in making it subject of remark. But, unfortunately,
there has been another agent at work besides promotion.
Death has removed, with a most impartial hand, young
men rather than their elders, no less than four members
of the junior bar having been cut off in the outset of their
career. The one remarkable fact, however, will be the
absence of Mr. Mellish. Few who were not constantly in
attendance on the sittings of the courts can understand
the magnitude of the vacuum which has been caused in
the ranks of the common law working bar by his elevation
to the equity bench. In time to come, the regulation
period having elapsed when posterity can decently award
distinction, his magnificent ability will probably be recog-
nised in a manner which we can hardly appreciate, and it
is of course impossible now to conjecture to what extent
he will add as a judge to the remarkable monument to
his skill and learning which he raised while at the
bar. He will be missed in all the courts of appeal. Each
separate common law court will feel sensibly that.
its greatest practitioner is gone, whilst the equity courts
will see once more on the bench the legal genius and
power of intellect which were by no means strange to
their bars. Of the lesser lights, as we have said, four have
been too soon extinguished by death. We will name
them all--Mr. Bacon, a son of the vice-chancellor, Mr.
Buchanan, Mr. Duckworth, and Mr. Butler Rigby. The
latter name was familiar to the public ; having few edu-
cational advantages, Mr. Rigby nevertheless, by industry
and perseverance, succeeded in obtaining a very fair share
of court practice' and his absence will not be unobserved
in Westminster Hall. If Mr. Macnamara should by iil
health be precluded from practising, which in the interest
of the profession we sincerely hope will not be the case,
the courts will lose a familiar face, and the assistance of
high legal attaintments. The police appointments, as they
now stand, will not affect the condition of the working
bar.—Lam Timm

THE RECENT ENGAGEMENTS.

The following is the official German report upon the
recent encounters with the Loire and Lyons armies :
" Versailles, Oct. 10.

"Recent events throw light upon the forces at the dis
posal of the French Government over and above those
enclosed in Paiis, Metz, and some other fortresses. Several
marches south-west of Strasburg the Corps d'Arm6e
under the command of General von Werdei fell
in with a body of troops whose composition proved
that the production of fresh regular forces need be no
longer feared in France. It had been organised some
weeks since at Langres, and belonged to the Southern
Army. The recruits had come from the Haute Marne,
Saone and Yonne, Cote d'Or, and the country near Dijon.
If at all capable of playing a part in the war, it ought to.
have marched north, and endeavoured to relieve Stras-
'burg while there was time ; but consisting chiefly of Mo-
biles, it could not venture on so independent a step, and
contented itself with troubling our Southern communica-
tions between Alsace and Paris. Its greatest exploit was
an attempt to surprise Nancy, which, however, was so
easily foiled by one Landwehr battalion that we could
not even boast of having had an engagement. Such were
the troops General von Werder (with General von Degen-
feld under him as chief of the Baden division) attacked
near Epinal. He put 2,000 hors de combat, ourselves
losing less than one-eighth of this number. This has
probably disposed of the Southern army for a little while.
"Farther west, the Bavarian First Corps, reinforced by
one Prussian Division of infantry and two Prussian cavalry
Divisions, under the command of General von der Tann,
assumed an energetic offensive against the hosts congre-
gating on the Loire. Some time ago, when we had
completed the investment of Paris, two Prussian cavalry
divisions, among them Prince Albrecht's, had been des-
patched to patrol the country south of the capital, in the
direction of Etampes, Pithiviers, and Orleans. They had
had many skirmishes with Francs-Tireurs, who abounded
in that neighbourhood, and though unable to resist our
attack in any one single instance, yet clung to their hiding
places in the woods, and were apparently intent upon
organizing a guerrilla war. These Francs-Tireurs came
from the Seine and the Southern Departments.
" When our cavalry had penetrated as far as the forest
of Orleans the Crown Prince ordered General von der

rann, who had his headquarters at Longjumeau, to pro-
ceed in the direction of that city, and further on to Tours,
the seat of the Provisional Government. With General
von der Tann's corps marched the 22nd Division of the 11th
Prussian Corps, as also our two cavalry divisions. This
force arrived on the 7th at Arpajon, and on the Bth reached
Etampes, by Etrechy. At Etampes the van were engaged
by the enemy, who, seemingly shewing fight, caused our
troops to prepare for battle. Our infantry marched through
a ravine in the direction of Angerville, with cavalry on
both sides. Had the enemy remained in their former
position we should have outflanked and might have
seriously injured them by this movement; but on getting
near Angerville, where the defile widens into a vast pla-
teau, we found that the French had retreated on learning
the approach of a considerable force. Only the village
of Monnerville, south of Etampes and Angerville, was
still occupied by a small rear-guard. On this occasion
we became acquainted with a new description of
troops, called the Partisans, forming a sort of body-guard
to the Government at Tours. In the account-books they
had with them their pay and other emoluments from the
Republican authorities were accurately stated. They were
mostly men above 40, or youngsters between 16 and 18 ;
those between these two extremes having been previously
draughted into the Mobiles. Directly we got to Etampes
and Angerville the Partisans remaining in those towns were
either taken prisoners or ran away. They were indeed
unable to defend themselves, being totally ignorant of
everything military, and moreover, armed with Minid rifles,
which cannot compete wit modern weapons. In reply to our
questions, they said they knew nothing of the service,
and altogether represented their situation as pitiable.
The peasants would not give them anything to eat, nor
even direct them to find their way across the country.
The fear of the Germans was so universal in those parts
that everybody shunned intercourse with the indigenous
troops. The costume of the Partisans consists in a short
black coat, black trousers, gaiters, and a red sash round
the waist. They wear hats with broad brims, those of
the captains being about four times as large as those
worn by the privates- The commander-in-chief of the
body taken prisoners at Angerville was a private gentle.
man from Nantes. Most of them had the words, ' Parti-
sans de Gers' on their hats. The Department de Gers
being above 400 miles south of Paris, and only 150 miles
north of the Pyrenees, their presence in the Orleannois
would seem to prove that the central Depaitnients are
already drained of most of the people that can be induced
to join.
" Since then Orleans has been taken ay General von der
Tann. It is one of the wealthiest cities in France. The
region north of it, the so-called Beauce, is certainly the
most fertile district we have as yet entered. It provides
Paris with enormous quantities of excellent wheat, ground
by the steam and water mills in the province. It also
abounds in oats (which will be a great acquisition for our
cavalry), and produces grapes and every variety of fruit
in such plenty that, in addition to supplying Paris, its
choice articles are exported to foreign countries. The
possession of the Beauce will sensibly diminish the number
of our provision trains from Germany.
"The occupation of Orleans is also important from a
strategical point of view. Situate on the right bank of the
Loire, and being the point of junction for the Central
Railway, and the lines from Nantes, Bordeaux, and
Toulouse, it protects our army from attack from the
south, and all but prevents our enemies in the north
holding communications with the south. By blow-
ing up a single arch of the two magnificent
bridges over the Loire, each of which has cost
2,000,000 f., we render it difficult for a southern enemy
to penetrate north, the next two bridges, at Jargeau and
Beaugency, not being strong enough for artillery to pass
over. Glen, higher up the river, is already ours, and the
Sologne, which is the name of the country lower down,
beyond Blois, is so barren and destitute o roads that it
serves as a natural safeguard from that side. Orleans is
known for the pacific disposition of its inhabitants, and
has large barracks and otter buildings, which will be
useful should the campaign be prolonged."