The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-19 00:00:00

CONCENTRATION OF FRENCH TROOPS AT

• VINCENNES.
The special correspondent of the Daily News at the
headquarters of the Crown Prince of Saxony, at Margency
thus writes under date December 12 :—The defenders of
Paris, for the first time since the 30th ult., have been to-
day rather lively on their side of the section of the northern
environment in this neighbourhood. Perhaps they
were anxious to display to the chiefs of the Maae
Army their scornful repudiation of the ultimatum
which Bismarck is reported to have tendered.
Early in the morning Argenteuil the unfortunate was
subjected to a brisk cannonading from the batteries about
Nanterre and Corbevoie. The damage done was chiefly
to stone and lime. I have only heard of one casualty
among the Prussians, and-a native was killed in his bed
by the bursting of a shell. There was a lull ar the morn-
ing advanced, but the firing was rep umed about noon,.and
was quite warm for a couple of hours. There was an
unwonted amount of musketry fire between the posts
on the opposite sides of the -river all the way from
Epinay down to Besons. Accompanying a com-
patriot who had spent the night with me in Margency,
I rode through Argenteuil about one o'clock, when one
would almost have imagined that quite an engagement
was going on close by, so heavy and continuous was the
firing. Mont Valerein was speaking at intervals in its
gruff tones, not, however, in_ our direction, but to-
ward Bougival. It was evident as we rode
along the bit of road outside Argenteuil, which
commands , so capital a view of the adja-
cent French positions on the peninsula, that the
enemy were on the alert for something or other: One
could see armed troops coming out from Colombes toward
the left, and there was a continuous popping from the
French posts among the poplar trees on the other side
of the Seine. Presently the bugle began to sound, at
first faintly and fitfully, but soon with a louder swell,
and then the sound of a military band's music
was borne towards us on the wintry wind. It
was not easy to form a conjecture as to the -nature
Df the French movements. Whatever they were the fire
directed against Argenteuil and its vicinity was probably
meant to cover them. It may be that they are massing
troops on the peninsula, on which are the villages of
Gennevillers, Corbevoie, and Nanterre, and at the neck
of which stands Mont Valerien, with a view to a sortie
somewhere from it as a base after their failure on
the other side of Paris. If this is their design,
it is indispensable to its fulfilment that they
establish pontoon bridges over the river in the face of the
Prussian fire, and without so strong a support from their
awn fort guns as that under which they debouched over
the Marne. There the crossing of the river was compa-
ratively easy since they had never lost foothold on the
further side ; but in the direction to which I
now refer, the Seine all the way to the bend
above St. Germains marks the line of demarkation
between French and Prussians. I hear no more
talk of the removal of the once abandoned project,
which had for its object getting over the river at
Besons. No further effort has been made by the French
to repair the bridge there, and the boats which 'appear
designed to supplement the deficiencies in the means of
crossing have been to all appearance rendered useless by
the Prussian field artillery. The French fire lulled again.
for half an hour towards two o'clock, but was visibly
renewed soon after that hour. It was then chiefly
directed towards the base of Mont d'Orgeinont, and
between that eminence and Argenpuil. Along this line
runs a road passing between,,Mont d'Orgemont and a
lower eminence near Epinay. Coming out opposite St.
Gratien this road is a very near cut between Enghien and
Argenteuil, and was extensively used both by wheeled
vehicles and horsemen in the early days, when as yet the
French on the other side of the river were not so close not
so waspish. Now, even on a quiet day, this road is danger-
ous, a single horseman almost instantly drawing copious
fire. To-day it was hopeless in the shell fire, and I had to
return to headquarters by Sannois and Soisy. It may
amuse folks at home to know that this road is familiarly
known as " Cockalorum Strasse," from having been ex-
tensively used in the early days of the siege by a couple
of individuals of the " Cockalorum" order of corres-
pondents who had their country seat in • Enghien till
poetic justice in the shape of Prussian soldiers, who held
not Cockalorums in reverence, made their abandon-
ment of the quarters advisable. There exists among the
Germans a suspicion that Ducrot's proclamation is meant
as a ruse, and that he has not abandoned so fully as he
protests his design of utilising the foothold which he yet
has on the other side of the Marne, at Joinville, for
sortie purposes. Some colour is given to the sus-
picion by the unquestionable fact that French troops
in great force are still lying around and under
Fort Nogent, and towards Charenton it would seem
that the French on their side suspect that the Germans
find the batteries on Mount Avron so inconvenient as to
stimulate to efforts for effecting their silence, for the
Mount remains garrisoned by a French force, guessed at
not under 6,000 bayonets. They are assiduously engaged
in the strengthening of their position in the neighbour-
hood by enlarging existing defences and erecting others.
I cling to the impression that there will be warm work in
the vicinity of *hich I speak within a few days.

UNEXPECTED GOOD FORTUNE.—A: rare piece of
good' fortune has lately 'befallen •au old lady living .at
Bosham, in West Sussex, and who was known to the
inhabitants of that place as " Madame Idle "—the title
of Madame being bestowed upon her. from the fact that
she had spent part of her life i.Paris. She lived upon a
small income that placed her just above the seafaring
population from whom she sprang., and amidst whom she
lived. A short time ago she received a letter, which, not
'being able to read herself, she took with her on her next
visit to the neighbouring city of Chichester, and asked one
of the tradespeople with whom she dealt to decipher it
for her. He did so, and- found it was a letter from the
solicitor of the late Marquess of Hertford, who died a
short time ago at Paris, to the effect that his lordship had
left her by his will an annuity of £B,OOO a year ! She has
since come into the receipt of this handsome provision for
life, and has provided out of it for her relatives, who were
in a humble position of life.