The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-10 00:00:00

COLLISION AT SEA : TWO BARQUES SUNK
NINE MEN MISSING.

A collision between two barques, resulting in the
destruction of both ships, is repory from Queenstown.
Captain Williams and eight seaman, part of the crew of
the barque Caradoc, lauded at that port early yester-
day morning, by the steam tug Warrior, of Liverpool,
The Caradoc left Liverpool bound for Singapore, on Wed-
nesday, the 7th instant. When about seventeen hours
out she came into violent collision with another barque.
She immediately began to sink. The crew book to the
boats at once, and only just in time. They were able to
save nothing. Two boats were launched : into one of
them the captain and eight of the crew got ; the carpen-
ter and eight other sailors took to the other. The last
named boat is still missing. None of the crew of the Caradoc
knew the name of the ship which they struck, but they
supposed that she had kone down, and their supposition
was correct. The American ship Emily MeNear, bound
for Liverpool, has picked up her crew, and find that she
was the Norwegian ship Ansgar, bound from Liverpool to
Philadelphia.

• The Church _Review is informed, on very good
authority, that the judgment in the Purchas case has
been already drawn up by the Lord Chancellor, and that
its delivery may be expected in a few days.
Dr. Balfour Stewart's friends will be glad to
know that his case has hitherto presented the most
favourable symptoms, that there is no trace of any
inrerpal internal injury, and that he is getting on as well
as could possibly
.be expected. He is at- present at. the
King's Head Hotel, Harrow.

SORTIE FROM PAIRIg;
The following is from the diary of " A tesfeged ItetsC,
.:lent in Paris,'Y Published in the Daily NOVI unciet date
December 4'.—l wrote to you in a great hurry last night
in order to catch a Lilloon which was to have gone till
morning, but whose departtife has been deferred as the
wind was not favourable. I am ndif able to give some
more accurate details respecting the affair of
Friday, as I have had an opportunity of
talking with several of the officers who were
on the staffs of the different generals en-
'engaged. After the Prussians, at 4 a.m., had surprised
*hole bf the French line from Brie to Champigny,
they Pushed fdrv)ald a heavy column between the latter
place and the Marne, tilite:e etrtflanking, their opponents.
The column advanced about hrig:enty up the horse-shoo
formed by the bend in the river, mid vidUkl liaVe got
as far as tift" bridges of Joinville, had idt Giederal*,
TaviS opened fire upon it from a small redoubt ,
he had built in advance of Joinville, and from 40 field
guns which he rapidly pleaed in position. Reinforce-
ments were then brought up nncier General Blanchard,
and the column was at length.forced batik; fighting hard,
to Champigny. Yesterday afternoon most of the
troops in the horse-shoe crossed over the river;
and are now either in the wood of Vincennes or in other
portions of the line between the forts and the enceinte.
General Trochn has returned to the Louvre, and General
budrat, I hear, yesterday evening expressed his regret
that he had liiiblished that foolish manifesto, in
which he declared that if tie did net conquet he would die;
for, not having done either, he felt the awkwardness
of re-entering the city. Both DuCrot grid Trochn
freely exposed themselves; the latter received
slight wound in the back of the head from a piece of a
shell which struck him. All the officers were obliged to
keep well in advance of their soldiers, in order to encou-
rage them. The brunt of the fighting fell to the line ; the
Mobiles, as a rule, only behaved tolerably well ; the Ven-
deans, of whom muchovas expected, badly. I happened
to mention to my military informants that I had yesterday
stated that some of the marching battalions of
the National Guard behaved well. This they insist wag
not the case. These battalions shewed so unsteady a front
even at a comparatively safe distance from the scene of
action, that it was thought unadvisable to push them
forward. The only battalion engaged was that from
Belleville, and it very speedily fell back. I have always
prophesied that the Parisians would not fight. Ido not
believe in men who hunt for pretexts to avoid 'military
service—who are so very fond of marching behind drums
and vivandieres inside a town, and who, in some way or
other, manage either to avoid going out of it, or when
forced out, avoid all danger.

NEWS FROM PARIS:
PARIS, December 6.

The Journal Officiel of yesterday announced that the
troops recrossed the Marne, and are encamped in the wood
of Vincennes. The plan, the execution of which hae
been for the last four days so vigorously carried out,
now enters upon a new phase. The day before yesterday,
in broad daylight, our troops came down again in excel,
lent order towards the Marne, • whilst the enemy did not
dare to molest them. The forts kept good watch.
The fatigues so courageously endured by the young army
of Paris required a short rest. The cold is much more
severe and piercing on the hills than in the open country,
or inside Paris. The fight had lasted during the whole
day, and strict vigilance was necessary to avoid an
unexpected attack, as was the case on the morning of the
2nd instant. Therefore no sleep was possible ; added to
which, anyone indulging in sleep on the hard ground
in such a temperature would have risked being frozen to
death.
These and strategical reasons caused the movement,which
will lead to fresh engagements, as announced in the order
of the day of General Ducrot, the true meaning and import
of which has been perfectly understood by the Parisian
population.
Some papers suppose that we have abandoned the posi-
tion of Champigny. This is not the case ; on the con-
trary, we are assured that our troops remain strongly
established in those positions.
The number of German prisoners taken from tile battle
Sold now amounts to more than 800, many of thin aro de-
tained in the forts. .

No serious affair has taken place since the 2nd inst., but
that does not prevent our generals preparing for the new
stage of the struggle upon which we are now about to enter.
The Prussian staff is reported to shew uneasiness at the
prospect. The enemy, who has in all directions to go
over enormous distances before facing us, begins, indeed,
to feel that he will soon be exhausted in marches and
and counter-marches, if we continue ever so little suct
cessively to attack him on several opposite points. The

immense circle round which he has to manceuvre grows
daily' more extended, in consequence of our conquering
advanced positions after each engagement ; and therefore
the increasing difficulties of quickly concentrating troops
which threaten General von Moltke's plans. must be
contemplated at Versailles with some legitimate fear.
Paris, on the cbntrary, perfectly understanding what
is going on, co-operates by all the means at her dis-
posal with the views of her skilful and gallant governor.
The work of general organisation, equipment, and the
artillery works are pushed on with fresh efficiency and
vigour. The military resources placed at the disposal of
battalions armed by private industry are so to say inex-
haustible. The zeal displayed by the population in assist-
ing the victims of the conflict also deserves special atten-
tion. The following notice on this subject has been pub-
lished in the Journal Officiel of this morning :

" The appeal addressed to the population of Paris by
the Government of the National Defence relating to the
convalescent wounded had hardly been placarded on the
walls of the capital when numerous patriotic offers bad
already reached the hospital administration. At nine
o'clock in the morning the registration of such offers
began and continued till night. Fiftedfi clerks were
hardly sufficient to register the earnest offers of the
citizens ; 1,392 beds were offered during this first clay.
The Government of the Defence require all citizens good
for service to be placed unfler the common law. No sub-
stitutes, more or less disguised, will be,in the ranks of the
Mobilised or Sedentary National Gu awrd."
The principle of equality is laid down in the following
order of the day of the superior commander in chief of
National Guards of the Seine :
"The General Commanding in Chief learns from
various sources that in some battalions men called to
serve in the field companies caused themselves to be re-
placed by men of sedentary companies under such• condi-
tions as will tend to nothing less than the introduction of
the plague of- substitutes into the National Guard.
Desirable as it may be thatiNational Guards of field com-
panies, who are placed in exceptional family circumstances,
should find among their comrades men willing to take
their places, yet it cannot be allowed that wider
cover of exchanges, real substitutions should be
effected. The commander-in-chief orders the chefs
de battalion absolutely to oppose this practice, which
in one battalion, the number of which it is needless to
state, has resulted in the admission of a married man,
father of five children, into a field company, as the sub-
stitute for a young unmarried man. The commander in
chief also reminds the chefs de battalion that they have
no right to transfer a National Guard of a field company
into a sedentary company, as some of them have done.
He orders them immediately to send those men back to
the categories to which they belong. This is a monstrous
abuse of power, which would deserve to be severely
punished if not prevented.
"The General Commanding in Chief,
" CLEMENT THOMAS."
The Journal ' Qificiel of to-day publishes the following
under date of Dec. 5, 4.10 p.m.:—
" Vice-Admiral La Ronciere to the Vice-Admiral Saisset
at Noisy.
" Commander Poulizac has just returned from a re-
connaisance vigorously pushed forward in the direction of
Aulnay. He sends me the following message :--
"' In carrying three posts of the Soissons Railway I
have fortunately not had, one man wounded. Seven
Piussians fallen the spot. Our men bring back thirty sacks,'
forty helmets, two muskets, saucepans, blankets," &c.
' " The quantity of powder spent by our soldiers during
the severe fight of Friday last is said to amount to the
enormous number of 100,000 kilograms. It has been
Calculated that an average of 250 rounds were fired every
minute. Great movements of Prussian troops were ob-
served during yesterday. Immense convoys were directed
to the north.
"Mont Avron, which we occupy, has become a real ad-
vanced post, armed with powerful marine artillery, pro-
tected by powerful barricades. Neither a surprise nor
an attack from the enemy is to be apprehended on that

side."
The workmen employed by the committee for the con-
struction of barricades proved very useful in the nights of
Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. They hastily constructed formidable
barricades in Champigny, which enabled our Mobiles to
maintain themselves there the next day until they were

relieved.
Those courageous workmen helped also during the battle
to carry away the killed and wounded under the enemy's
fire.

Four special trains, consisting of one hundred and
sixteen trucks, with seven hundred head of cattle, on
Thursday, left Aberdeen for the London Christmas
market. Fifty more trucks, with three hundred head of
stock left yesterday. This number is in excess of that of
last year.

OU.I co .it;rOEPOR.A.RIZr.I)---This Diorning

THE GREAT SORTIE FROM PARTS.
The Times, referring to the present position of affairs
before Paris, asks —What has been the result of this
struggle of three days' duration ? Strategically, it must
be answered, nothing. Undertaken with great hopes,
with something like an assurance that the ArTily of the
Loire was advancing victoriously to join hands with the
Prrisou of Paris, it has ended in a great slaughter
on both sides, while the Army of the Loire has
faded away egg's in the obscure, distance after a
crushing defeat. The lesson of the sortie seems
no other than this—that, there is necessarily a
certain degree of elasticity in the environing ring,
so that a sudden blow struck at it in force
makes it yield a little without breaking, but that it
contracts again almost as soon as the blow has been given.
It woUlci be foolish to attempt to conceal the truth that
Central Trochn struck with an.effect which was felt atthe
time, aid it Would be as foolish—perhaps we should
say criminal—to conceal the truth that he shewed
himself unable to follow' up the blow so as to break
through. What would happen if he could contrive
to make a sortie with partial success now is a
queslitia that may be answered with much confi-
dence as to whether it is to be from any point
of view desired. in the absence of a sustaining force out-
side, success in breaking out would apparently mean the
utter ruin of all those who adflisved it. The garrison of
Paris is thus placed in an awful dilemma, between starva.
tion within and a more violent fate -without ; and the
Provisional Government must possess strong resolution
itself, and have acquired a strange mastery over the
temper of Paris, if it is able to withstand the ;counsels
of despair.

If. GAMBETTA AND PEACE.
The Doi!, News says Gambetta pronounces that
the time has come for the struggle to cease, his verdict
may well be accepted. The Government of the
National Defence has spared no pains to execute
the mission which was informally, but, in the
circumstances, not the less truly and legitimately,
conferred upon it. Its members were authorised to
carry on War for the deliverance of France. They have
no power to conclude peace. They did not come into ex-
istence for that purpose. If they think that they have
exhausted all the'resources at their command, they may
well ask the nation, through its accredited representatives,
to judge of the situation for itself, and to determine
its course. Whatever may be the issue of the
struggle, France and history will, we doubt not, declare
that the Government of the National Defence, while no
doubt committing many errors of speech and action,
Yet deserved well of the country. It did what
it could, and more than the coolest observers thought
possible: If it could not give France victory, it restored
to her her self-respect, and the respect of her con-

querors.
The Telegraph says ,—''ester day currency was given to
a rumour which had been floating about the City for
settrai days. The public was told that M.
Gambetta bad at last hung out the white flag, had
demanded an arthistice from the King of Prussia,
and had couched the itmlication in such terms as to
make sure of a favourable :reply, There is not the
slightest reason to believe that the report is true.
The best sources of information offer no warrant what-
ever for the statement, which seems to be a mere story,
generated by the idea that the failure of - Dacrot's
sortie, and the defeat of D'Aurelles de Paladin,
had bent the stubborn will even of the Dictator him-
self. It would ho difficult to exaggerate the reckless-
ness of those who thus raise up the hopes of peace..
The offence is cruel to `Germany, which is sick of
the war, and cruel to France, which is eager to buy peace
at any prim less extravagant than the loss of national
honour. Those persons who are scandalised by the sight
of a people fighting for its own existence, and who have
seen what we have called their " craven counsels " un-
heeded, are naturally ea cl. to detect the first note of
submission. But that note has yet to be sounded.
We should all welcome such a peace as France might
accept with honour, and as might promise to be enduring.
But there are worse things than war, and among those
things is craven submission to high-handed wrung. In
fighting against a Power that seeks the drknemberment
of France, the people are displaying a gallantry and
a quiet endurance which are worthy of their
best days, and which extort hearty, if reluctant,
tributes of admiration from all who are not blinded by
passion. The French are proving themselves to be made
of better stuff than we had imagined. The iron of the
Empire has, after all, not entered deep into their soul.
Paris has assuredly astonished those who knew the gay
city best, and thoge Who knew it worst; by the tenacity
and heroism of its resistance, which will make these past
'months live in hAtory with the most heroic epochs of its
annals.

LUXEMBURG AND PRUSSIA.
Although the Standard entertains no doubt that the
Prussian Government has " intentions " with regard to
Luxemburg, it cannot bring itself to believe that it has
made the notification to the Luxemburg Government to
the effect that it holds itself no longer bound by the
Treaty of 1867, which telegrams from Brussels and Amster
dam announce. That the Government of the Grand Duchy
has allowed its neutrality to be violated, says the Standard,
by the French is a statement which we believe has no
foundation ; and if it had, that fact would not dispense
the Prussian Government from the obligation of respect-
ing a neutrality not established in the interest of the
Government of Luxemburg, but of Europe. The
Treaty of 1867 places, as we have said, the neutrality
of Luxemburg under the guarantee of England, Austria,
Russia, Italy, France, and Prussia. Not to respect
that neutrality on the part of Prussia would be to break
the faith pledged to the great neutral Powers, and to
justify—nay, in some sense to necessitate—war against
Prussia. Of course, under the circumstances, there is no
chance of such a coalition ; but still it appears to us quite
impossible that Prussia, which has no immediate purpose
to serve by any violation of the neutrality of Luxemburg,
can have taken a step which is a defiance to all the
neutrals who are not privy to it. No doubt to
treat England thus de haut en bas would create a
great (10111 enthusiasm in Germany ; but Count Bis-
marck knows that Germany has nothing to gain, tub
much to lose, by alienating and embittering Englikh
public opinion. The effect would be worth the cost.
Whatever designs the Prussian Government may have
with respect to Luxemburg, these stories of 9, renuncia-
tion of the Treaty of 1867 must be assured, until
the contrary is proved, to have no foundation‘at the
best but in some complaints against the Luxemburg
authorities.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—One Shilling Day, Friday,
Dec. 9th, 1870. Admission by season tickets, 911; ditto
on payment, 1,347 ; total visitors, 2,258.
THE SEWING MACHINE.—A true English poet has
written immortal lines on the Sofa. Could, not the Needle
inspire equally delightful and undying verse ? In its
early mid elementary form it was simply a thorn or piece
of pointed bone, wherewith our primitive Eves
united the summer leaves, or the inelegant
Skin to cover or adorn their persons. Princesses
and classic dames of antiquity have dignified the
needle, while royal and titled ladies of more modern times
have deigned to employ it, making it their solacing occu-
pation, and their stylus whereby they lastingly recorded
their fair names on the page of time. Evidences of this
abound in their ancient tapestries and needlework—mute
memorials of the patient work of maiden and matronly
beauty—silently proclaiming female skill and womanly
devotion in a labour of love. The shining needle makes
the tiny things for the new-born babe, the flowing robe
of the bride, and the solemn shroud that enwraps
the dead. But although we possess the shining needle in
its old simplicity—a wondrous and finely-tempered shaft
of steel—necessity, that prolific parent of invention, has
endowed that little busy lance with a working
power and capacity almost beyond conception.
By bringing to its aid a few wheels and pinions, its
wonted alacrity has become a crawl, and its former
results a scornful atom beside the magnitude of its present
hourly production. Amplified by inventive genius int) a
complex instrument, the needle has come forth fully
armed—armed like Minerva from the head of Jupiter ;
armed tobring a thousand-fold its textile spoil to the service
of humankind. The familiar needle has progressed into
a sewing machine, and, as such, is rapidly becoming
a household friend, firmly taking its position as an elegant
article of domestic furniture. As there are several well-
accredited machines of varied excellence in the market,
it is a perplexity with many to decide which
of them is the best. To such doubters may safely be
recommended that most useful and really elegant new
lock-stitch sewing machine, known as the " Little
Wanzer," having just obtained two prizes in America for
excellence, and also first and only prize at the Industrial
Exhibition held recently at Sydney. As evidence of the
perfection and superiority of this machine, vast quantities
have been sold in nearly all parts of the world. This
machine is the result of several years' untiring labour
and patience, combined with a liberal expenditure
of capital. It is, therefore, presented to the public with
the highest claims for that general preference which its
predecessors have already obtained over every other similar
invention. In asserting for the " Little Wanzer" Family
Sewing Machine unrivalled advantages, it is sufficient to
state a few of its capabilities. It will sew the coarsest
cloth and all the finer fabrics, even the most delicate muslin,
the change of needle or thread requiring no alteration in
the mechanism. The machine will braid, bind, gather,
fell, and tuck. The machine is pretty in style and finish,
and,when needful, readily assumes the appearance of a niece
of drawing room furniture. In short, for its simplicity and
manifold capabilities, the rapidity and quality of its work,
and for its perfect finish and substantiality, the " Little
Wainer" Sewing Machine claims to be the best and
cheapest in use.