The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-24 00:00:00

CIE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 24, lc, i).

curing others t 3 serve in, the armies or navies of either
belligerent, and also forbid the arming or increasing
the force of any vessel in the service of either belli-
gerent, as well as the organiihtion or equipment of
any expedition from the territory of the United
States against the dominions of either belligerent.
The President announces that the Envoy of the
North German Confederation has officially informed
the United States that Prussia will exempt from
seizure private property on the high seas, regardless
of reciprocity, and the French Envoy has also offi-
cially informed the United States that France will
scrupulously observe towards neutral Powers the
rules of international law, and will adhere to the terms of
the Treaty of Paris of 1865. The President announces
that the Treaty of 1799 between Prussia and the United
States is still in force, and the privilege accorded to vessels
of one belligerent must in like manner be accorded to
vessels of the other. The President further an-
nounces that the free public expression of sympathy
is not restricted within the United States, and that
persons may manufacture and sell arms and munitions of
war, but cannot carry such articles on the high seas for
the service of either belligerent, nor transport soldiers of
either belligerent, nor attempt to break a lawful blockade
without incurring the risk of hostile seizure, and forfeiting
the protection of the United States against the conse-
quences of such misconduct.

BAZAINE'S REPORTED RETREAT.

Four days have elapsed since the commencement of
Bazaine's supposed retreat, and we have had no further
news either from French or German sources. Bazaine's
junction with MacMahon would, if the intelligence were
confirmed, be a significant event ; but it might not
be looked upon as entirely favourable to the French.
It had been said that Bazaine was voluntarily
tarrying at Metz, with the view of hindering the two great
Prussian armies of the King and of Prince Frederick
Charles in their movements, so as to induce the third army,
under the Crown Prince, to march rashly forward far in ad-
vance of the two other armies, when it might be exposed to
a sudden attack by MacMahon. Marshal Bazaine's
retreat, if accomplished, would remove , every chance
of such an occurrence. The main Prussian Armies would
then leave Metz, and, detaching a small force to watch
such garrison as Bazaine might have left behind, they
would soon stretch forth a hand and support the Crown
Prince in any emergency. The junction of Bazaine
and MacMahon at Rheims, or elsewhere, would
not, therefore, be the only immediate consequence
of Bazaine's escape. The three German Armies would
also be enabled to effect their junction, and the
forces of the two nations would again confront each other
on opposite lines, with this difference only—that their
meeting, instead of being at the frontier, would be in the
heart of France, and that both of them have suffered
losses—severe losses on both sides—and on that of France
in some measure irreparable.—Times.
The Standard finds itself unable to put faith in the
report of Eazaine's escape to Montmedy, which was trans-
mitted by its Paris correspondent. It says :—We have
all along held it possible that a portion of Bazaine's army
might have retreated long before Sunday, the 14th.
But the more we analyse the subsequent despatches, and
the intelligence which is even more trustworthy
than despatches in matters of this nature, such
as our French correspondent's- letter and M. Wachter's
letter in the Gau/gis, the more do we think that none of
his army had got from the neighbourhood of Metz be-
tween the 14th and the 18th. And if on the 18th they
failed to escape, it seems even more improbable that
they have since succeeded in effecting that purpose.
Beyond doubt there was, after the 18th, the whole army
of the King, seven Prussian corps. and the Guard ;
on the left bank of the Moselle before Metz, and
two more corps on the right bank. We know how well
the Prussian cavalry fulfil their duty of collecting in-
telligence, and it seems incredible that an army can
have slipped away unobserved ; still more incredible
that it can have cut its way through. Certainly Prus-
sian despatches up to the 21st give no colour to such
an idea ; and how could Bazaine have got clear
of the Prussians and made his way to Montmedy,
or even any distance towards it, between the 21st
and the hour at which the announcement contained in
our Paris correspondent's telegram was made. Further,
we hold it to be morally impossible for Bazaine to eflect
his retreat on Montmedy, with the great Prussian army
in the position it occupied on the flank of such
a retreat. That Prussian army can always
keep itself between him and MacMahon, and
any attempt to move northwards would only end, in our
judgment, in the army of Bazaine being forced to give
battle facing to a flank on the very last French line of
communication from east to west, when, if beaten, it must
be driven into neutral territory. As all our readers are
aware, we have steadily pronounced in favour of this very
plan, as being the true secret of the Pruisian movements
from the time when they halted their right before Metz.
If Bazaine were to have moved` up towards Montmedy,
within less than half-a-dozen miles of neutral territory,
with the certainty of being out-flanked by the Prussian
army, he would be playing deliberately into the Prussian
hands. Under all the circumstances of the case we dis-
miss the theory of this retreat.
If Bazaine has really forced his way through thy iron
girdle of the Prussian array, the questions first to be an-
swered are, How many men has he carried with him?
What are the chances of his retreat ? And how will the
enterprise affect the conduct of the campaign at other
points ? By the highest computation, the French army
of the Rhine, after the three great battles of Sunday,
Tuesday, and Thursday, could not have numbered more
than eighty thousand effective men. But from this
number, again, must be struck off a considerable discount
for those whom it would not be either advantageous or
safe to take on a forced and difficult march ; and, still
further, we must deduct the number who would fall, and
the still greater number who would certainly be captured,
in the attempt to escape. At the utmost Bazaine would
have been fortunate in carrying off forty thousand out of
the eighty thousand men we suppose him capable of
mustering ; and we say this in the knowledge that the
number with with he has actually escaped is reported to
be ridiculously smaller than that we allow. But, even
granting that he had marched out with all his sound men,
what would be the chances of his retreat ? From Metz to
Montmedy is about fifty miles, as the crow flies ; but the
country is rough, broken by many hills and streams, and
traversed by few good roads to which Bazaine could have
ready access. Indeed, Audun, one of the places by which he
is said to have directed his march, is on no practicable
route at all, though it has a station on the railway from
Thionville, by Longuion and Montmedy, to Metz.
Then from Montmedy to the Marne is more than sixty
miles ; so that the escaping soldiers would have to march
about one hundred and twenty miles before effecting
their " concentration" with the Army of Chalons.
And this march along the two sides of a triangle
could easily be cut by a movement of the enemy
along the base, from his positions west of Metz to
Verdun and St. Menehould, a distance of only sixty
miles ; while, for purposes of concentration for an attack
on the forces under Napoleon himself, the Prussian First
and Second Armies have but half the distance to march,
to Bar-le-Due or St. Dizier, that Bazaine must traverse
before he can come into line upon the Marne. Practically,
therefore, the Germans at Metz gain three or
four days' start for whatever forces they may de.
tach to strengthen the Crown Prince's blow in
the plain of Champagne ; and probably it will
be by some such enterprise that the invading generals will
seek to profit from Bazaine's wild march to the north-
ward. At the same time, they have forces enough at
once to blockade Metz, to reinforce the third army for a
decisive stroke, and to send a sufficient corps to look after
the retreating Marshal. If they could make sure of
delivering a successful blow against the Emperor, before
Bazaine rejoined him, they need never fear anything
that with his own resources he could do against them.
Telegraph.

feet in height (and one exclusively of cuirasses), of
arms, offensive and defensive, piled up for removal
—and that, despite all this, the whole of a tract
of country three miles and a half long by from a
mile and a half to two miles broad is thickly strewn
with remnants of accoutrements belonging to men killed
or wounded in the fight—you may be able to form an idea
of the magnitude of the contest and the appalling amount
of human suffering resulting from it. I cannot have
seen fewer than three thousand helmets, and as
many Prussian knapsacks, scattered about between
Gersdorf and Durenbach ; and remember that this
is the eleventh day since the battle was fought,
the interval having been employed by hundreds of
fatigue parties and the whole male population of the
neighbourhood, in clearing away the relics of the fight.
I saw fifty or sixty complete mitrailleuse cartridges in one
place—square boxes containing twenty-five cartouches
fitted to an iron form which corresponded with the pierced
plate at the mouth of the gun. The peasants have been
bringing in baskets full of spent bullets for more than
a week. Fragments of shell greet your eye at every
step. Cartridge-boxes, gourds, water bottles, gaiters,
cooking tins, trigger guards, &c., are as plentiful iu
the open ground as hailstones after a winter storm. The
orchards are knocked to pieces ; many trees have lost two
and three limbs, and are pitted with bullet marks. The
vines and hops have been wantonly cut down, the potatoes
annihilated, the meadows turned into desolate tracts of
rugged soil. In the villages the sight is still more
distressing. At Freschweiler, for instance, about
twenty houses have been burned to the ground,
with all they contained ; the church (containing
wounded) was shelled and then burnt down, after a fear-
ful hand-to-hand combat had taken place within its
hallowed walls, which now stand, roofless and tottering,
blackened and scorched, a ghastly protest of Christ's creed
against the abominations of war. The works of the great
clock have fallen down upon the ruins of the roof, piled
a foot high on the stone floor, and mixed with broken
painted glass, bits of shells, burnt and bloody uniforms,
molten iron railings, charred lumps of pew and pulpit
wood, and split grenade cases. Whilst I was passing
through the main street, every second house of which has
been destroyed, whilst the rest is scarred and scathed by
the prints of rifle balls, an old woman eame up to me,
crying, and asked me, for the love of God, to give her a
bit of bread, as she was starving ; and she looked so.
Twelve days ago that old woman was a prosperous type of
her class. She owned a good large cottage and barn, in
the latter of which were four fine cows ; she had a stock
of corn and flour sufficient for her wants during the en-
suing winter and spring, a little money hoarded up in
some old corner, tome cocks and hens, a pig or two, and
plenty of solid household furniture. On the 6th the French
and Germans came to Freschweiler, set fire to her
house and barn, in which were utterly consumed her
furniture, savings, food, and four cows, stole her pigs and
fowls, and left her, actually penniless, homeless, foodless,
and hopeless, to begin the world again at sixty-seven
years of age. Of such tales I could tell you fifty. Suf-
fice this one as a slight illustration of the amenities of
modern war, waged "on Christian principles "—blas-
phemous derision !—Correspondent of Telegraph at Bru-
math.

OUR COTEMPORARIES---This Morning