The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-05 00:00:00

THE FIGHTING BEFORE PARIS.

The correspondent of the Dail? News at the head-
quarters of the Crown Prince of Prussia, writing on the
Ist inst., says :—The sortie of yesterday against the
Wurtemberg division on the ground east of Paris, be-
tween the Seine and Marne, resulted in leaving the
French in possession of the villages about Brie-sur-
Marne. It is intended to retake these villages at any
cost: At one time the French had occupied a line
right and left of Ormesson, but they were driven back
with loss from their most advanced position. The Wur-
temburgers were supported by a brigade of the Second
Pomeranian Corps—the old corps of the Crown Prince—
and by part of the Sixth Corps. Both sides fought
hard, and it is said that the French, led on by
dismounted officers of rank, shewed something of
their traditional fire. Had not the Wurtembergers
been very steady whilst being slowly driven back, and
had not the Prussians come up promply in support, the
line of investment might here have been broken. As it is
the French have merely gained a better foothold for
making a future spring. Their great want is space to de-
velop forces, and if they can hold the vantage ground of
yesterday, they will have more space to eastward than
formerly. The 30th was also signalised by a very hard
fight to the north of St. Denis, where the French sallied
out against the sth Prussian Corps. The attack was re-
pulsed with loss and some prisoners taken, but it cost the
Prussians dear. Seventeen officers are known to have
fallen. The return of rank and file hors
de combat has not yet been sent in to
Versailles. News from Prince Frederick Charles

makes it ;clear that the Army of the Loire has been
beaten in recent encounters, so much beaten that it can-
not hope to maintain its position north of the river. The
French are said to have fought desperately and saved
their guns; while the official accounts published in Ver-
sailles say one Prussian gun was lost. Heavy roads, and
the fatigues of the invading army from long marches, pre-
vented a complete triumph, as the French were able to
extricate themselves by a rapid retreat. They will, how-
ever, be vigorously followed up. All is quiet to-day on
the southern front of Paris, but the first shells were fired
into the city yesterday from the Bavarian batteries near
Chatillon. It is said this firing beyond the ramparts was
an accident, and the Crown Prince of Prussia ordered
that no more shells were to be allowed such length of
range. If the French try any more sorties, there will
probably be a sharp attack on the outlying defences of
Paris.

NOTES FROM AMERMA,
THE DIFFERENCES WITH ENGLAND.
The correspondent of the Times, writing from Phila
delphia on November 18th, sends the following intelli-
gence :--`' The American mission to London still gives the
President a great deal of trouble. General Schenck, after
considering the appointment tendered him for about two
weeks, is understood to have finally declined it, justly
concluding that to go to London now would be to
go into a sort of political exile, where a man
can earn no laurels in the present condition of
diplomatic relations, but is sure of losing his
chance of future political preferment at home.
General Schenck prefers to remain in Congress for the
balance of his present term, and trusts to the chances of
a contested seat and the favour of his party majority to
get there ultimately for the next term. The President
consequently is again without a Minister ; and, not de-
siring to have Mr. Motley remain in London any longer,
the Secretary of State has recalled him, and Mr. Ben-
jamin Moran, the efficient Secretary of Legation, is to be
temporarily made Charge d'Affaires. Mr. Motley's
friends in this country, led by Senator Sumner, are
quite indignant at this, and they threaten that Motley
will remain in defiance of the President, and that the
Tenure of Office Law can be invoked for his protection in
this disobedience to the President's orders. That law,
passed to trammel President Johnson, is still on the
statute-book, and, curiously enough, was originally pro-
posed on account of the differences between Johnson and
Motley when the latter was American Minister at
Vienna. That Mr. Motley, however, will fac-
tiously remain in London, in spite of a recall,
seems very improbable, notwithstanding the great
anxiety on the part of many persons to get
him into an open quarrel with the President. He has
too much good sense to remain where he is not wanted,
and besides, the contest about the London Mission is
more between Grant and Sumner than between Grant
and Motley. At present the President has no new
Minister in view, and emphatically declares that no ap-
pointee's name shall be disclosed until the appointee ac-
cepts. He is tired of the frequent failures in this matter,
and the consequent unpleasant comments of the news-
papers. The American Government is anxious to have
several questions brought at once to the attention
of the English Government, among them the fish-
ery disputes, and these matters it was not thought
judicious to intrust to Mr. Motley, because he
would not remain long enough to complete them.
An additional treaty between the United States and
Great Britain upon the subject of the suppression of the
slave trade has been promulgated at Washington.
General Butler, who is now making himself the special
champion of the anti-English feeling in the United States,
has prepared a speech against England, in which he will
unbosom himself to his heart's content at Boston on the
23rd of November. Butler wants a spirited demand for Ala-
bama reparation, and redress for the ill- treatment by Canada
of American fishermen. He thinks a vigorous onslaught

upon England is necessary to save the Republican party,
and also hints at the acquisition of Canada. Of the
latter a correspondent of the New York Evening Post

writes that if it is accomplished the country will have
to change flags, and, therefore, ought to have cheap
bunting. The duty on imported bunting is at present

almost prohibitory, and was made so to please a Masssa-
chusetts member who was interested in a bunting-mill.
General Sherman, commander-in•chief of the United

States' Army, reports that the strength of the army at
present is 2,488 officers and 32,382 men, of whom, how-
ever, under the Act of Congress reducing the army, 211
officers and 2,382 men must be discharged by the Ist of
January, 1871. The American steamer Lloyd Aspinwall
was last week illegally seized by a Spanish cruiser on the
coast of Cuba, and the claim of her owners for reparation
was referred, by consent of the two Governments,
to a commission for arbitration. The commis-
sion consisted of Mr. John S. Williams, of
Williams and Guion, representing the United States ;
Senor Ceballos, a Spanish merchant in New York, repre-
senting Spain ; and Dr. Roessing, North German Consul-
General at New York, as umpire. The vessel, after being
seized, was detained three months at Havannah, and then
released on a peremptory demand by the United States.
The two commissioners disagreed as to the award, and the
case finally went to the umpire, who decided that $19,700
in gold for damages should be paid by Spain to J. M.
Begun. and Co., of New York, the owners of the vessel.
Large cargoes of arms and munitions of war continue to
be shipped from the United States to. the European belli-
gerents, chiefly, however, to France. The steamer
Lafayette sailed this week with a cargo valued at $817,253,
and the total shipments of arms since the beginning of
the war from New York have amounted to $6,182,000.
The Government does not interfere with this traffic,
regarding it as thoroughly legal. The military stores
were nearly all formerly the property of the United
States, but were purchased by private indi-
viduals, by whom they were sold to the agents of
France and Prussia. The agents of the Russian Govern-
ment are said to be appearing in the field in this country
as purchasers of military supplies, and there are rumours
of negotiations on behalf of Russia for the purchase of
one or two American.vessels. She wants vessels of high
speed, and the steamer Florida (formerly the Wampanoag)
is Indicated as one that she desires. This is a steamer of
2,000 tons, carrying twenty-one guns, and she has
lattained a speed of seventeen knots an hour. The United
States, it is understood, will not now sell any efficient
ironclad vessel of the navy."