The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-01 00:00:00

PREPARATIONS.

A Belgian writer stationed with the German army be-
fore Paris says :—•` All the signs we can see tend to shew
that a decisive blow is being meditated in Paris, the pre-
parations for which they desire to shroud in impenetrable
mystery. For some days back we have had no Paris
papers. The same secrecy is maintained as to the opera-
tions of our own armies, and the military correspondents
of the journals cannot pass the lines of our besieging
army. Our staff watches most closely that no communi-
cations respecting the positions of the different corps
manceuvring against the Army of the Loire should be
published until that army shall have been surrounded
and annihilated. All that we learn is that the enemy is
trying to weary out our troops by continual forced
marches, and avoiding as much as possible serious engage-
ments."

THE DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH AT

AMIENS.

A correspondent of the Daily News, writing from
Boulogne on the 29th inst., says :—My surmises that
Amiens would probably be occupied in consequence of
Sunday's fight were verified even whilst I wrote. News
of its surrender arrived here about midday yesterday,
but was for some hours discredited, and even at six
o'clock there were eager crowds in the Rue Neuve
ChausiSe discussing the probability of its having been
taken, It was at first asserted that the Municipal
Council of Amiens had surrendered the town in face of
the successes gained by the army on the previous day,
but from the official despatches received yesterday
afternoon it appears that the commander of the
troops at Amiens decided early on Monday morning
on retreating. Reinforcements were being got ready at
Arras when the news of the retreat arrived there. We
have no authentic details of Sunday's fighting, but it is
freely alleged that some of the Mobiles behaved badly, and
falling back in confusion on their comrades, were fired at
by them. A train arrived here last night bringing thirty
wounded men, who bent on to Calais. These men,
some of whom belonged to the Marine Infantry, de-
clared that if they had been properly supported by the
Mobiles they could have maintained their position. The
lately recruited battalion of the 20th Chasseurs, if report
speaks true, behaved very well. Of eight hundred only
two hundred are said to remain ; this is, no doubt,
a. vast exaggeration, but there is probably some founda-
tion for the statement. The " Army of the North,"
as it is termed in the Prefectoral telegrams, is in retreat
on Doullens, a town parallel with Abbeville, and about
62 miles from here. It has a citadel, a sous-prefet, and
4,000 inhabitants. No one ever heard of it before, but it
has now unwillingly become famous. Of the present
condition of the Army of the North we know absolutely
nothing here, . but it is believed to have retired in
good order, and its ultimate destination is Arras.
The Mobiles of St. Omer and Montreuil received orders
to march this morning, but no movement has been made
here.

The correspondent of the Standard at Autun says that
feorce there is very small just now :pouch

smaller than has been represented by any recent calcula-
tions. " What, then, it will be asked, has become of the
remainder ? I believe them to have been pushed forward
with the other reinforcements for Aurelles de Paladine's
great army of the Loire." The energies of both sides are
being concentrated in this direction.
The Morning Post contradicts a Neuter's telegram
stating th At the Empress Eugdnie is in Brussels.
The heavy baggage of the Provisional Government has
long ago been removed from Tours.

The German Postal Administration announces that
Christmas presents for the use of the troops in the field
will not be received after the Bth of December.

The Cologne Gazette says that Phalsbourg, was subjected
to a very heavy bombardment from 67 guns on the 24th
November. The town was much damaged, but the place
still holds out.

Five hundred and sixty-eight prisonars attempted to
escape from the fortified camp at Antwerp; some suc-
ceeded. At Litge 85 more made a similar attempt. All
are now confined in the Citadel.

It is suggested that the Germans should refuse to
accept the surrender of Paris unless the Republican
Government at the same time agree to sign a peace. This
neat stroke of policy, it is urged, would finish the war at
blow.

The Al/genuine Zeitung states that the German Gover-
nor of Metz has written to various 'judicial officials at
Berlin and in the Rhenish provinces who understand
French inquiring whether they are inclined to accept per-
manent appointments in Alsace of German Lorraine.
A sailor of F6camp writes to his parents from Cher-
bourg on the 24th of November that he has just returned
from a cruise in the Channel, during which a vessel having
2,000 barrels of guano on board was captured. The prize
is valued at a million. The twenty persons who formed
the crew are prisoners of war.

Paris is said to contain 1,400 trained pigeons, so that
there is a prospect of obtaining news by this means as
long as the' siege lasts. On the 17th a pigeon arrived from
Tours with a small sheet of paper, on which a Govern-
ment despatch and 116 private letters were photographed
in microscopic characters.

Four Prussian prisoners at Vernor, refused for some time
to take foOd, because they had been told that they would
be poisoned or have their tongues cut out. It was not
until they were visited by an inhabitant of the neighbour-
hood, who speaks German, that they sufficiently recovered
from their terror to partake of food.
General Cr.mbriels, who has been accused by the Siècle
of treason and of incapacity, has written to M. Gambetta
demanding a court-martial. He justifies his retreat upon
Besancon before an enemy with 35,000 men and a large
force of artillery—be having but undisciplined troops,
half clothed, many shoeless, whom he led back under the
guns of Besancon for training and equipment.
A Hamburg correspondent of the Indepertdance Beige
says he sees no trace of the discontent with the war
which some writers said was springing up in Germany.
The German nation still displays the utmost energy and
devotion in this time of severe trial. Commerce suffers
very heavily indeed. The mosey losses by the war are
incalculable.
Some 300 or 400 Arab horsemen have arrived at Tours.
They are for the most part young men, tall and sinewy.
A great number more are said to be expected. The cor-
respondents who have inspected these allies give various
accounts of their worth. The oracle of the Times says
they will be run down by the German cavalry ; he of the
Daily News urges that they will be a match for the Uhlans.
At /my rate their conduct in fighting for the nation which
conquered them is disinterested.
General Bourbaki was irritated the other day at finding
himself tracked by a spy. He turned round upon the
man, shook him with his powerful arm, and said, " You
scoundrel, you have been following me about for two
days. I knowyou ; you are one of the Emperor's old
spies. I advise you not to annoy me any more." The
spy, who, according to one writer, was working for his old
master, did not deny the service, and very humbly took
himself away.

At Evreux the other day 4,000 French troops, with a
battery of cannon, beat a retreat upon the approach of
some Germans. It was rumoured that the advancing
enemy was in great force, and on this rumour away went
the French. The National Guards, however, resolved to
fight. Although not very well armed, they threw up
barricades, took up positions at various advantageous
points, and defended themselves, 400 in number, far
five hours against 600 Prussians, who were all that made
their appearance, finally repulsing them with considerable
lose.

As the Prussians were leaving Orleans the other day, a
Bavarian captain, who happened to be very tired, had
ordered his attendant on no acoount to allow him to be
disturbed. All at once the master of the house, a French.
man, rushed in awl said that the tables were turned, and
the Bavarian was no longer his guest, but his prisoner.
The latter quietly told his attendant to hand his sword
to the Frenchman, and then turned his face to the wall
and composed himself to sleep.
The Berlin papers state .that a new corps d'armte is
ready to start for the scene of war. This consists of the
reserve battalions of the Chasseurs, who, besides volun-
teers, are composed of foresters, who are excellent shots.
The officers have all gained the iron cross during the
present war. They are destined for the defence of the
railways and telegraphs. The two first battalions are
called Chasseurs of Lorraine.

The Progres of Lyons is very indignant at what it deems
an unworthy ruse de guerre practised by the Prussian
troops which occupy Mulhouse. A few days since a long
train of some 80 carts and waggons, all covered with tar-
paulin, and fastened down with ropes, set out from the
town and proceeded along the road close to the frontier.
The intention was to represent these carts as laden with
provisions, and guarded only by a few cavalry, but under
each waggon were placed planks, upon which were seated
rows of soldiers, with loaded rifles, ready at a given signal
to spring out upon any band of partisans (of whicn there
are many in that part of the country) who might be in-
duced to attack what they took to be but a valuable prize
and an easy booty.
It seems from the Paris papers that there is a diffe-
rence of opinion in the Government of Paris, as there is
in the delegation at Tours respecting the electoral ques-
tion. Jules Favre and Ernest Picard alone uphold the
necessity of electing a Chamber ; the others oppose it on
the ground of the necessities of the national defence ; but,
in reality, they are anxious to secure the Republic. The
Journal des Debate and other papers strongly support the
scheme of an Assembly. The Constitutionnel of Tours, in
quoting them, remarks that the best means of defeating
the Prussians, is to organise the government, Victorious
or vanquished, France must have a government, and
without it she can neither conclude peace or carry on
war.

ILL-FEELING TOWARDS FOREIGNERS IN FRANCE.
—The Daily News correspondent at Orleans says is
wonderful what au ill-feeling there is in France against
foreigners of -every description. Of course, this is only
among the unenlightened portion of the-French nation,
but as the unenlightened portion comprises ninety-nine
hundredths of the whole people, it is easy to see how
general the feeling I speak of must appear. I acknowledge,
for my part, that my sympathies vary several times a
day; and not only mine, but all those I knoW, who have
from the first given their sympathy to France, feel the
same. It is impossible to hear people talking like they
talk here without being angry with them. I
heard some officers talking, and they were not
of the most ignorant kind, they were officers of
Mobiles, and therefore belonging to respectable
families. They were saying that foreigners had
been the ruin of France, that France was betrayed by
them one and all, and that if they were rulers of France
they would turn out of the country every man, woman,
and child who was not French. All this was said at some
Englishmen and Americans who were present. 'Where
has the money which enriched France during
the last twenty years come from but from foreigners?
I sometimes try to discover what has given the
French nation that reputation for kindliness and sincerity
which it has been credited with till now. Is it also an
usurped reputation like that of loose drill, French military
system, &c. ? Probably. Anybody who knows the
French will yet say tLat they are very hospitable. In
business and trade they are petty and grasping. A
peasant woman who had received a French wounded
soltlier in one of the late encounters, when he was taken
from her cottage asked for remuneration; and now that
war has soured them and made them disagreeable, besides
their ordinary ignorance and vanity, they are simply in-
supportable, and do all they can to alienate the sympathies
of bystanders.
A BOON FOR LADIES.--Highly as sewing machines are
prized, there is one great fault to which they are addicted—they
make a great noise while doing the work ; a noise so great that
for a worker herself to talk at the same time is out of the ques-
tion. We need not say how trying this must be to a lady. To
be not only prevented from talking, but also from listening to
the gossip of those around her—the very thought of such a
thing is unendurable. Well, an inventor has come to their
rescue with a SILENT SEWING MACHINE ; and as it comprises
all the appliances rind devices for varied work with which all the
best sewing machines are provided, and several in addition, and
exercises than all so NOISELESSLY that the ladies may gossip
even in whispers, and the infant or invalid sleep on In peace, we
expect that most of the old machines will ere long be heard, or
heard of, no more, and that "LA SILENCIEUSE," the Silent
Sewing Machine (at Messrs. POLLACK, SCHMIDT, and Co.'s,
210 A. REGENT-STREET, LONDON, W.), will quietly take their
place, as the universal domestic helper.—" Investment Circular
and Financial ltevood;' September 7, 187-0,