The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-09 00:00:00

DECEMBER 9, 1870.

HAVRE IN. EXPECTATION.

Havre is actively preparing for the enemy. Some
papers we have received from the town give hopeful
tures both of the means of defence and of the morale of the
population. Le Havre calls upon the authorities to arm
with weapons of precision all the citizens who are anxious
to fight. The Democratic Committee of Sanvic has made
a similar demand. "In all the town," says Le
Havre, "as in the environs, the -same patriotic
and natural anxiety reigns—the people wish to be
armed." With regard to the military preparations, 7,000
guns of precision are about to be distributed to those of
the National Guards who are still without them ; and
two Gattling mitrailleuses have been sent from Tours.
Meanwhile, troops are arriving in the town. General
Briand, with those forces which have evacuated Rouen,
has come in ; so have a number of Francs-tireurs and
Moblots. The arrival of the last gave rise to a curious
and at the same time a rather encouraging
scene. Their number was great—.the hour of
their entrance into the town late. There was not, in
consequence, time sufficient to billet them on the inhabi-
tants. The result was thati many of them had to spend
hours in the hopeless and wearisome search for a night's
lodgings. At last the inhabitants came to the rescue.
" Seeing," says Le Havre, " our brave Moblots sinking
with fatigue and in want of everything, all hasten to
bring them help and relief. Tradesmen and Ma-
rines are seen to take possession in triumph of
one or several soldiers, and, joy in their faces, to bring
theM in to share the modest family repast. Each man
rivals his neighbour in patriotism and generosity. We
ourselves have seen the porters who discharge the Honfleur
vessels taking out the baggage of the troops and re-
fusing the payment which was offered to them by
the officers." The inroad of the Mobiles has a curious
effect, for in the next paragraph we are told :
" This morning, for some time, bread was not to
be had at the bakers.' The enormous demands which had
been made upon them in the night had completely ex-.
hausted their supply of flour. To-day the authorities take
measures to secure to the troops regular distributions of
food and lodgings." Meantime, Havre is already begin-
ning to display the characteristics, some painful, some
ludicrous, of a town threatened by the invader.
The public school is about to be closed, and the
pupils, from students, will become members of an ambu-
lance corps. On Tuesday morning the inhabitants
of Havre were without letters from Rouen, or Tours, or
Belgium, or England. The spy panic has already set in,
and the authorities are counselled to expel from the town
several Germans, lest they should be molested by the
population. On Tuesday six Prussian spies, we are in-
formed, were marched through the Rue de Paris. The
narrative adds—perhaps unnecessarily " During the
whole time they (the supposed spies) occupied
in passing through the street, the crowd
loaded them incessantly with insults, reproaching
them with their infamous conduct. A picquet of soldiers
who conducted them to the gendarmerie had the greatest
possible trouble in clearing a passage for them through
the crowds." Immediately following this first spy story
comes a second, which will scarcely fail to amuse. " A
lady," we are told, " rather tall, with a cavalier-like walk,
an energetic look, and the marks of down upon her upper
lip, passed about noon through the Rue de Paris." The
inevitable consequence of such striking peculiarities
of course follows ; for, goes on our chronicler, " a certain
number of persons, having their attention excited by
these appearance 4, so unusual in the female sex, began to
suspect this woman of being a Prussian spy in disguise."
The lady was accordingly arrested, brought to the Mairie,
where she was recognised—as what ?As a person who
had called on the previous evening for a passport to
London, whither she is travelling. We have still
Further proof of her nationality in the statement
" calm, proud, as she had entered, she traversed

anew the groups stationed before the door." Le Havre
emphatically asserts that the town will be defended ener-
getically. Having stated that the Prussians at Rouen
were estimated at 36,000 men, and that they had about
fifty pieces, "we are," says this journal, "in a
position to repulse them at this moment." The Ger-
mans are announced at Yvetot. On the 7th about 100
Uhlans approa;hed the town. Fifty-five of them,
having detached themselves from the general body, en-
tered the place in a gallop. Having dismounted to get
some coffee and cigars, they asked to be conducted to the
Mairie, where they announced that next day 1,500 of
their companions would arrive. Before departing they
cut the telegraphic wires: They asked the nay to
Havre, adding carelessly, "We will march there to-
, morrow."

THE FIGHTING BEFORE ORLEANS.

The Times correspondent at Tours, in a letter dated the
sth December, writes :—Things look very black at Tours
to-day. There will presently appear a Government bul-
letin announcing the evacuation of Orleans by the French
Army of the Loire, to the left bank of which
river it has retired. " General d'Aurelles deemed it
expedient," says M. Gambetta, " although he still had
200,000 men and 500 guns at his disposal." The
implied reproach is probably the forerunner of
the General's dismissal, for under this Government
failure condemns. General d'Aurelles' reasons for his
retrogade movement have yet to be made knowe. It seems
strange that the strongly fortified position in front of
Orleans should have been so easily surrendered, with the
heavy ship guns that had been brought up from the coast
for its defence. The Government supplies no sort of
account of what has passed, so we are greatly at the mercy
of reports, which we are fain to eke out by conjectures.
What we know is that there was severe fighting on
the 2nd and 3rd, and that yesterday the whole army re-
treated, although it does not seem that more than a third
of it was engaged. The fighting was on the French left.
Among other rumours, the Prussians are said to be at
Beaugency. The French wounded are stated at 15,000,
of which 10,000 are believed to be at Orleans, and 600
were sent to Angers last night. No returns of the losses
have been published, but they are undoubtedly very
grievous, at least on this side. Of course we shall be told
that the Prussians suffered still more severely, and from
the Prussian side we shall hear "nos pertes sont relative-
ment peu considerables," a stereotyped phrase of uncer-
tain meaning. The fighting appears to have been very
fierce. An officer who was there, under fire by
no means for the first time, describes the fury
of the firing as something quite unparalleled in
his experience. At last, he says, one could
neither see nor hear anything, so dense was the
sm.oke, so infernal the din. The shells came in showers,
cutting deep holes in the hard frozen earth. The butchery
was terrific, the wounds ghastly. The Prussians were very
strong in cavalry, and made great use of it. They first
disordered the French infantry by their artillery fire,
and then plunged down upon it with heavy masses of
horse. Their charges are described as very
numerous and formidable, and one is said to have
been executed by no less than 3,000 cavalry. The
Foreign Legion is said to have suffered heavily. The Pon-
tifical Zouaves are reported exterminated ; but as the same
thing was said of them on a former occasion when their
losses proved to have been very slight, their friends may
wait till the news shall be confirmed. • Their
Colonel, Charette, is wounded and a prisoner.
The Duc de Luynes and one of the Chevreuse
family are reported killed. Another death has been
mentioned to me which I should be very sorry for, but
as the accounts are contradictory I abstain from
giving the name. The masses of the Prussians are
described as prodigious and overwhelming, and
some who were in the fight say that they came
on yelling and howling, comme des sauvages, said
an angry officer with his arm in a sling. You
are aware that Frenchmen are apt to consider
things savage and barbarous on no better grounds
than that they differ from their own ways. " Vive la
France !" is a civilised battle-cry, but the German huzza
sounds hardly in their ears. It is outlandish, and therefore
barbarous. One can imagine that the hoarse shout of the
German warriors would have an appalling effect on the
young soldiers of the Garde Mobile. So far as we know
here, there is no reason to doubt that the French did
their duty manufully. But the Prussians were too strong
for them ; their artillery seems once more to have as-
serted its superiority ; the French were overmatched,
and, according to their own account, greatly outnumbered.

The friends and supporters of Mr. Hepworth
Dixon, in the division of Marylebone, have invited him to
a public dinner in celebration of his recent election to
the London School Board. Mr. Hepworth Dixon stood
on personal and independent grounds, and represents
that educated public which is free from the control of
clique and sect. The dinner will be held at the Laugh=
Hotel.

COLONEL FIRLDING.—A telegram from Tours
contradicts the report of this officer's death. He is, we
are glad to be able to state, at Tours, at the English
Embassy. He dislocated his right shoulder by a fall
during the retreat of the Frehch army.
THE ATLANTIC CABLE. Intelligence T. ached
Liverpool yesterday to - the effect that the last Atlantic
Cable laid, and which became out of repair several days
Lsince, had been grappled and buoyed, though, owing
to the state of the weather, no repairs had so far been
effected.