The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-09 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 9, iB7O

manded the instant mobilisation of the whole available
strength of the National Guard, the Gat de Mobile
Pompiers, and, finally, that all citizens should at once
be placed under arms, to form the army reserve. The
Soir contained the following on the subject : " This,js
necessary : the people will, by their supreme will, under-
take themselves the national defence.

Allen and seconded by Mr. Alderman Sylvester, was
carried—" That the thanks of this Council be given to
Sir Henry Edwards, Bart., for his long and valuable ser-
vices as representative of this borough." The Mayor
and other members of the Connell strongly condemned
the prosecution to which the late member had been sub-
jected.

THE LATE ACCIDENT AT THE DRAINAGE
WORKS, HASTINGS.

An inquest was held yesterday afternoon, at Hastings,
on the bodies of Paul Fry and William Nash, who lost
their lives by suffocation in the drainage works. The jury
returned a verdict of " Accidental death from inhaling
noxious gases, but how gas was generated there is no
evidence to show." A similar verdict was returned by
another jury in the case of John Porter, who lost his life
in a similar manner, but whose body was not found until
later.

THE B iTTLE OF WEISSENBURG.

Writing on Friday the correspondent of the Standa

at Mayence gives a clear description of the brilliant en-
gagement at Weissenburg on the previous day—two days
before the more deadly reverses of theiFrench'at Woerth
and Saarbruck :—" Weissenburg is a little town of 6,000
inhabitants, situated upon the Lauter, at the edge of the
French frontier. It is a station upon the railway from
Strasburg to Mannheim. It is generally marked upon
maps as a fortified town, but this is an error. The
Weissenburg lines still exist, but are unarmed and are
in a state of ruin. These lines were constructed by
Marshal Villars, in 1705, during the Spanish war
of succession. The best proof that they are not at
present armed is, that although the Prussians have taken
the town, the only gun they have captured is a small
field-piece. Had there been many guns in position, they
must of course have fallen into their hands. Between
Weissenburg and the Rhine the country is nearly a dead
flat; to its left, however, it is broken up into hills, among
which the Lauter, which above Weissenburg is a Bava-
rian stream, has its source. The hill immediately to
the left of Weissenburg appears to be called Giesburg,
though it is not marked by that name in the maps I have
by me. Between one and two o'clock yesterday a French
division, estimated at 25,000 men, advanced from Weis-
senburg, crossed the Lauter, and attacked the sth and
11th corps de armee of the Pruesians„which were stationed
in or near Bergzabern in the Landau-road. Here the fight
raged with the greatest fury. Every orchard,
every dwelling was contested with the me st

extreme obstinacy. The French Chassepot com-
mitted the greatest destruction among the Prussian

ranks at short distances ; but I have not been able to

hear whether the mitrailleuse was brought into action,
or, if so, with what effect. The contest was a most
obstinate one ; the French claim that they were gaining
ground, while the Prussians admit that the French fought
with extreme and desperate bravery. At this time the
Crown Prince moved the second Bavarian emps d'arnae
down behind the hill of Geisberg, probably as far as the
village marked on the map at Lemb, which is
about two miles distant from, and a mile to the
south of Weissenburg. Following the Lemb-Weissen-
burg road, they crossed over Geisberg, and fell upon the
rear of Weissenburg, capturing some 500 prisoners, the
French tents, and stores, and then attacked the
French in the rear, these being, therefore, taken
between two fires. Although taken by surprise the
French appear to have defended themselves with extreme
gallantry, and contrived to retire from the field of action
with the loss of only one four-pounder gun; of which
the horses were killed. The Prussian officers speak in
terms of high admiration of the gallantry of their
enemies, and these return the compliment, speaking with
special laudation of the Bavarians. How far this ac-
count is true I know not, but it bears strong marks of
likelihood -on its face, and if si non e vero is at least ben
trovato. It is at least the connected story which I make out
from a variety of statements. I admit that there is a
weak point. It is difficult to see how the French, caught
in so complete a trap, extricated themselves with the loss

of so comparatively few prisoners and of one gun only.
Driven off the road to their right they would have no road
crossing the Lauter until they reached Lauterburg, close
to the Rhine, a distance of seven or eight miles from
Bergzabern, and which a beaten armycould hardly accom-
plish in the face of a greatly more numerous enemy without
the loss of many guns and prisoners. The more probable
explanation appears to me that the Prussians, coming
down from Geisberg, kept to the left of Weissenburg,. and
that the French remaining in Weissenburg kept them at
bay until the French General was able to throw back
his left wing to cover the lines of retreat for his right
and centre, in which case Weissenburg' itself would not
have fallen into the hands of the Bavarians until the
French had passed through it. This, supposing the other
portion of the narrative to have been correctly stated,
would appear to have been the most probable course of
events. In respect to the number of troops engaged,
except as to the broad fact that the French were greatly
outnumbered, it would be difficult to form an opinion.
The French force was stated at 25,000. but I have
no means of judging of the accuracy of the statement.
Upon the Prussiaa side, according to their own telegrams,
three corps d'armee were engaged. The peace footing of
oach corps d'armhe may be put roughly at 25,000 men,
the war footing at 50,000, or, with the addition of the

Landwehr, at nearly 100,000 men. At present it may be
assumed that the strength of each corps is 50,000 men ; but
at the same time it is not probable that the whole force
of each corps was engaged. If only half the strength (if
each corps was brought into action we should have a total
of 75,000 men, in addition to which we know that a
portion of the Guard was engaged, as the telegram
mentioned the first regiment of the Guards as having
specially suffered. Making, therefore, every possible
deduction, it is evident that the Prussians must have
had a force engaged at least double that at which the
French division is estimated. The action, therefore,
although an undoubted French, defeat, cannot be con-
sidered as anything but creditable to French valour.
Edmond About's last letter in Le Soir (it is dated Sar-
reguemines, Saturday) is devoted chiefly to pointing out
the defects in the French organisation and strategy :
" We committed the first fault in waiting for invasion.
It is we who declare war, and yet we wait at home until
the others make war upon us. For twenty days now we
have been playing the fool this side the frontier,
instead of daring at the enemy. We were not ready
—admitted ; but were the Prussians better prepared?
I have watched how these twenty days have been
employed ; they have been wasted in useless marches
and countermarches, which have bored our soldiers,
Many have marched more than was right, have weak-
ened themselves, and scarcely recruited their strength.
The order for distributing rations in the field has
only arrived to-day. These fatigues and these
privations, had they any object? Was the soldier's flesh
thus chastened to lead him to certain victory ? Was
there any plan of the campaign at all ? It would be excu-
sable to doubt it ; the corps which go backwards and for-
wards, as if haphazard, on the frontier, do not seem to be
grasped in a firm hand. Perhaps unity of direction and
command was wanting. The generals—are they all young
enough ? It is said not. As to the soldiers many of them
are too young and too new to the service. Many of
the reserve still have to learn how to manage the Chasse
pot ; they are only acquainted with the old-fashioned
piece. These men are drafted off into other companies.
which they weaken instead of reinforcing. Such con-
scripts fire at random like wild things, they are subject
to panic, disorder, and demoralise the old soldiers.
There are a hundred other things to say, and if I
published all that I hear, even in general officers'
quarters, we should not have done all day. But certain
criticisms ought to be laid aside until the campaign is
settled and over. That which we must emphasise, and
vigorously, from this day, is that of all Euro-
pean armies, ours is that which keeps the worst
guard. Few or no videttes are posted; we are de-
plorably economical of skirmishers. The Prus-
sians compensate for the spirit in which they are
lacking by excessive prudence and cunning. As for
us, we encamp under Heaven's protection, and we allow
ourselves to be suprised—witness this affair at Weissem-
burg ! When there is no surprise, we are incessantly
worried by.alarms, which succeed, each other night and
day. If Marshal Lebceuf only employed in watching the
Prussians those men whom he puts into the field against
the jpurnalists, affairs might perhaps go better.

The Daily News correspondent at Metz gives these par.
ticulars Whilst General Douay's division, composed
of the 74th and 50th Regiments of the line, the 16th Bat-
talion of Chasseurs on foot, one regiment of Turcos, and
a regiment of mounted Chasseurs, were encamped in the
neighbourhood of Weissenburg, they were startled by a
tremendous discharge of artillery. As the patrolles, which
had been posted all along the line of the frontier,
had not signalled the presence of any Prussian troops,
the men believed for a moment that they were surrounded
by the enemy. This was not the case; but the Prussians,
in great force and well supplied with artillery, appeared
on the heights of Schwergen, occupying the whole
of the country near the small Bavarian village.
General Douay ordered his troops to advance before the
enemy, keeping as much as possible behind Weissenburg,
which lay just between them and the Prussian
forces. But this precaution proved quite useless,
for the guns were pouring a tremendous fire upon them,
and the troops were falling in great numbers in the
village of Weissenburg itself. The French retired from
their former position, and commenced marching on
the right side of the village. The Prussian guns
were firing at a tremendous rate, and three rounds
fell partly iu the town and partly among the
troops. Several of the houses were set on fire, and a
good number of soldiers lay dead or wounded. At about
eleven o'ciock General Voscan's division began to retire.
However a new attack was ordered. The Turcos led the
way, and, bayonet in hand, threw themselves on one
of the Prussian batteries of artillery. All proved
useless. Had the French insisted on attacking
the enemy any longer there would not have been one of
them left alive on the ground. As soon
as what was left of General Douay's forces
began retiring the Prussian artillery was after
them. About twelve o'clock General Douay himself
fell a victim to the Prussian artillery. The troops com-
menced running without order, crossing roads and vmeyards
until they reached the farthest point of Weissenburg.
The number of dead and wounded must have been very
large indeed. The remaining troops are eager to avenge
lie death of their general. The country people seem to
I,e in great consternation. The roads which lead to
Haguenau are covered with peasants carrying their goods
and cattle with them, and lamenting over the sad fate
reserved for their humble cottages.

OUR COTEIVIPORARIES—This Morning.