The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-17 00:00:00

ANIMOSITY OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE,

The German papers contain many details illustrating
the implacable hatred with which the French people re-
gard the invaders of their country. In some places the
inhabitants refrain from open acts of violence, and con-
fine themselves to secret deeds, but in others they seem
prepared to run any risk in order to kill a German. The
Lorraine correspondent of the Cologne Gazette says :—" I
can only repeat what I told you formerly
as to the peculiar feeling of enmity which
appears to animate the people dwelling in the
country about and around Metz. Again last week some
people lying in ambush fired upon our troops at
Marieulx. The sudden attack was so severe as to warrant
the entrance of several regiments into the woods to search
them thoroughly, but the perpetrators of this outrage
were not discovered. In a neighbouring village the main
road was barricaded with heavy stones. The commune
was visited with a heavy fire, which was quintupled on
the following day, as the stones had not been cleared
away." This note scouts the idea of annexing such a
country to Germany. Another correspondent writing
from Mulhouse says :—" We are quartered with
the 25th Regiment at the railway station, and
we dare not venture into the town unless we
are armed to the very teeth, for our people are
being continually fired upon, although up to the present
moment only one IThlan has been killed. Last evening
one of our sentries arrested a working man at the entrance
to the railway station, as he heard him remark to a com-
rade as he passed him, ' When night comes on he won't
stand long sentry there."' Near 11ietz a few days ago a
woman offered some brandy for sale, attracting a group of
soldiers round her, but it was found to be poisoned, and
she was arrested. An officer writes from Champey
We are no longer sure of our lives; an army gendarme
has just been shot before our door, and when an officer
hurried out to look for the criminal two bullets whistled
past his ear. The offenders unfortunately could not be
discovered."

Herr Wachenhusen affirms that at Nancy the billeting
of the soldiers has been discontinued, owing to the con-
stant murders committed on them in their quarters.
" There, as in every part of France occupied by the
invaders, the hatred of the people is daily increasing, and
the foolish hope of driving out the enemy by a national
rising is fanned by emissaries of the Republic."

The number of vessels taken by the French in the war
is not large—only thirty-two in aIL

Dr. Russell's authority for what passed between the
King,and the Emperor at Sedan was the Crown Prince.
The Germans estimate their losses in the latest battles
before Metz at 800 killed and wounded. The correspon-
dent of the Ti4nes says they must have lost a great many
more than these.

The Polish feeling seems to be strongly in favour of
France. A good many French prisoners were sent to
Posen (Polish Prussia), but the manifestations of sym-
pathy were so general that the Government thought it
wiser to remove them.

The Germans (to not leave the French prisoners in idle-
ness. A number of them have been employed in the canal
works at Ems ; 2,100 are digging the canal which will join

the Ems to the Vecht ; another thousand men are
strengthening the canal at Wiek, and joining it to that at
Rhanderfehn. Huts made of plank-wood have been put
together to shelter the prisoners and their keepers.
A new version of the three mysterious coffins, which
have been so frequently referred to in the papers, appears
in the Courier du Pas de Calais, a writer in which journal
says that he has conversed with a traveller from Cham-
pagne, who assured him that these three coffins, in fact,
contained nothing but rare and valuable articles stolen
from Compiegne, Fontainebleau, and FeiTibres I

Many men of the French Imperial Guard were cap-
tured in the sortie of the 7th. They said they had nothing
to' complain about ; that pork, and sometimes beef, was
served out to them, but they believed that the rest of the
army had really nothing but horseflesh to subsist on ; and
the same story from all—no salt. An examination of the
haversacks seemed to confirm this statement, for whilst
the men of the Guard had rations of salt pork and biscuit
the men of the other corps had nothing.
After hearing so much about the education, refinement,
and generally guileless disposition of the Prussians, it is
astonishing to find a war correspondent of the Post loudly
complaining of their behaviour :—" The arrogance and
churlisiness of the few Prussian officers we encountered in
the trains and at the hotels disgusted us. They could not
even address an English lady with ordinary peliteness.
They were not " jacks in office," as their uniforms and
decorations showed; but their conduct was not such as we
are in the habit of associating with gentlemen either in
England or in France.

Mr. Bancroft, the American Minister at Berlin, re-
ceived the congratulations of Count Bismarck on the
fiftieth anniversary of the, date when he received his
doctor's degree. Mr. Bancroft sent a warm reply. nu'
American is very popular at Berlin.

The Standard is authorized to give a complete con-
tradiction to the statement contained in the letter of the
correspondent of the Daily News at Tours, to the effect
that the Empress of the French was cognizant of the
manoeuvre by which General Bourbaki was induced to
quit Metz. But this " authorization," coming, as it must
from an interested party, is scarcely sufficient. It
will be well to hear what General Bourbaki has to say no
the subject.

The official 'journal of Stuttgard publishes a manifesto
on the subject of the proposed new Confederation, which
leaves no doubt that Wurtemberg agrees with Bavaria in
demanding greater individual freedom than meets the
wishes of Count Bismarck. It says :—" A careful ex's'
mination of the North-German constitution led to the
conviction that these ends may be attained without
accepting all the provisions of that constitution as they
stand, since they contain many things
,essential for the
formation of a strong and lasting State, but also others
which are less essential and accidental, as they arose from
the peculiar - circumstances of Northern Germany. It
appeared desirable that the various States should be
allowed a greater freedom of action, especially in finan
cial and administrative matters. The Government of
Wurtemberg has been actively engaged in this sense."
DISTURBANCES IN MARTINrCO.—A letter which
has arrived at Rouen states that serious disturbances have
taken place at Martinico. A band of desperate men set to
work to destroy the places which were situated on the
south of the island. The greatest consternation was spread
through the island in consequence of the murders com
mitted, and the fires caused by these ruffians. Martinico
has been deprived of troops through the disastrous effects
of the Prussiari war, and the task of restoring order was
accordingly left to the volunteers. Young men belonging
to the first families in the colony responded readily to the
appeal of the Government, and hopes are entertained of
the speedy re-establishment of tranquillity.
THE PLOTS UNDER THE EMPIRE.—It has been
proved that under the Second Empire the Prefecture of
Police was transformed into a veritable laboratory for the
manufacture of plots which were organised by M.Aii
Pietri and. Lagrange. With the exception 0
Orsini's and Pianori's attempts, and the last
movement of La Yillette, 'the machinations of the
Imperial police may be found in all the celebrated trials
which served to consolidate the fallen regime. In 1863, for
instance the famous plot of the four Italians was dis-
covered, whose principal instigator, named Greco,
suffered for his complicity in it by being condemned to
transportation for life. The said Greco was, however,
the secret agent of M. Lagrange, who liberated
him in the night and 'N.ovided him with means
to depart for America; where for many years
the Imperial Government has conferred a pension on him.
Greco changed his name and called himself Rubotti,.under
which name he recently arrived at Paris to assist the
police in the prefecture. Greco is now in confinement
and has signed a declaration of his misdeeds. A little
while before these events the' same Lagrange went
to Florence, accompanied by -several of his agents.
Their avowed mission was to assassinate or carry
off blazzini. Many of the accomplices of these plots are
shut up in the Conciergerie, and their written confessions
will be made public. In 1870 the various plots which
have recently been tried at Blois were organised by the
police. Ballot, one of the assistants, had demanded
£20,000 for his pains, and had already received £BOO, with
which he had paid his sub-agents. It ap-
pears from the various confessions which have been
made that these schemes were vigorously carried on under
the orders of M. Pietri for the purpose of assisting the
plebiscite. Bernier, the Juge d'lnstruction, is supposed
t 3 have been concerned in some of these affairs, and it is
proved that he made his inquiries in the room of M.
Lagrange. The prefect of police has resolved to make
known many other documents which have been discovered
in proportion as the inquiries which are being carried on
shall proceed.

ART, MUSICAL, AND LITERARY GOSSIP.
We understand that Mr. Swinburne has in contemPla-
.

ion a poem, founded on one of the Mediaeval Romances.

—lt is rumoured that the first article in the cur-
rent number of the Westminister Review—that on
the Land question in England—is from the pen
of Mr. D. Syme, a well-known Melbourne journalist.--
A work now in Messrs. Trubner's hands will incidentally
thrcw some light on the intellectual capacity of Hindi:o
women, commonly treated as nil, but this history of
Hindu poetry will give names and specimens of twenty-
eight poetesses.—lt is announced that, next month,
Putnam's Magazine will be merged in Scribner's
Monthly.—Among the signs of the growing spirit
of collectorship in the United States, noW
affecting our markets, is the establishment at New
York of a dealer in autographs, continental currency,
engravings, and old books, as also the publication of a
small quarterly journal called "American Antiquarian."
—lt is announced that in Rome a commission has been
appointed for the preservation of the libraries and mu-
seums of the Eternal City. Contrary to the experience of
unfortunate Strasbourg, no harm is reported to have
befallen the buildings and other works of art
in Rome. Former accounts of ravage and de-
struction in Strasbourg are more than con-
firmed by those who have entered the desolated city.—
A month's season of, Italian opera will be commenced at
Covent Garden Theatre on the 31st inst., under Mr.
Mapleson's sole management.—Mr. Wood has announced
that he will not continue his Italian Opera speculation at
Drury Lane Theatre next season. The Orchestra, which
is the organ of the ex-impresario, states that the cause
of the financial failure of last year's undertaking
was reliance on the star-system ; and as Mdlle.
Nilsson, during the best period of the season, was unable
to sing. from illness, the general public failed to
recognise the excellence of the ensemble in the works in
which the prima donna did not appear.—Madame Parepa,
having failed in her endeavours to establish an English
Opera-house in London, is about to return to America
with a touring troupe of singers from this country.—
The Italian Opera Company is expected at Calcutta in
two or three weeks, and the performances are to begin
in November.—Atheneum.

THE NORWICH BANK FAILURE.—Mr. R. Allday
Kerrison and Mr. R. Kerrison, the surviving partners of
the Norwich Bank, applied at the County. Court to pass
on the accounts rendered by them in regard to the bank-
ruptcy. The trustee did not oppose and stated that Mr.
Allday Kerrison had, to the utmost of his power, pro-
moted the realisation of his property for division among
his creditors. His Honour :—That being the case
he is entitled to pass. The unfortunate proceed-
ings are known to all the world, and I am glad that,
under the new act of Parliament, there has been so
speedy a dividend. In so gigantic a case of misfor-
tune it seems creditable to all parties. I sympathise with
Mr. Kerrison, who has acted as everybody who has known
him would have expected him to do. He has the sym-
pathy, I believe, of the public also, certainly he has my
approbation in every way.—The bankrupts then passed.—
Mr. Reeve said he was glad that his Honour had decided
that Mr. Kerrison was entitled to pass on his accounts,
and that he had conducted himself like a gentleman. The
trustee had made the most searching investigation into
the accounts, and Mr. Kerrison perfectly satisfied him.—
Mr. Coaks said certain legal questions had arisen in the
administration of the affairs of the trust which of necessity
altered some of the accounts filed by Mr. Kerrison.
Kerrison was not responsible for these alterations ; they
were the result of legal principles applied to the matter at
issue. With these exceptions the accounts were perfectly
correct. The bankrupts would have to pass an exami-
nation and swear to the accuracy of these accounts ; there-
fore it is necessary he should protect that oath by informing
the Court that in the ultimate winding-up of this matter
certain amendments will have to be made. The accounts
which have been filed are the best which could be filed
according to the knowledge and belief of Mr. Kerrison at
the present time.

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BIRTHS.

On the 12th inst., at 34, Grosvenor-street, Lady Vernon,
of a daughter.

On the 13th inst., at Farnborough-hill, Hants, the wife of
Captain Hugh Chichester, R.H.A., of a daughter.

MARRIAGES.

On the 13th inst., at St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, Charles
Frederick Chubb, of Stratford Toney, Salisbury, to
Elizabeth Hill, only daughter of William Golding Finch,
of Bishopsgate-street.
On the 13th inst., at Otterburn, Henry Fellows, Esq., of
Beeston, Nottinghamshire, and Lincoln's-inn, banister-
at-law, io Emily Hope, only daughter of Thomas James,
Esq., of Otterburn Tower, Northumber/and.