The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-25 00:00:00

EVEMNG, AUGUST 25, 1870.

FHE MONEY MARKET

AND
('OM M KitCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

fIITY. Two O'CLOCK.
The Bank rate of discount was reduced this morning
from 4 to 4 per'cent.

The Stock and Share Markets are exceedingly dull,
but prices have not undergone any important changes.
Consols are now 911 911 to 911 for money, and 911
for account ; Three per Cent. Reduced, 911 to 911 ;
New Three per Cents., 911 to 911 ; Exchequer Bills, 6
Prem.; ditto Five per Cents., 1101 to 110; ditto Four
per Cents., 1001 to 101; Bank Stock, 234 to 2321.
Foreign Government securities are depressed. The
present prices are :—Egyptian (1868), 72i to 731 ; Turkish
(1869), 55 to 641 ; Spanish (1868), 261 to 261 ; Quicksilver
Mortgage, 251 to 251; Argentine, 871 to 871;
(1867), 981 to 671 ; Portuguese (1869), 28 ; Nicolai Rail-
way, 67 to 661 ; Peruvian (1869), 851 to 85 ; Mexican, 131 ;
Honduras Government Railway Loan, 79.
The following are the present quotations in English
Railway Shares : London and North-Western, 1261 to
126 a ; Great Western, 561 to 661; London and Brighton,
371 to 371 ; Metropolitan, 631; CaleclOnian, 731 ; Man-
chester, Sheffield and Lincoln, 401 to 401; South Eastern,
106 to 108 ; Midland, 1261.
In American Securities, business is dull. United States
Five-Twenty Bonds are quoted at 861 to 861 ; ditto, 1885,
851 to 861 ; Ten-Forties, 82 to 821 xd ; Illinois, 105 to 1071;
Erie Shares, 16 1 to 171.
The advices from the Southern States of the American
Union continue to give extremely good accounts of the
results of Chinese immigration to the cotton districts.
Every prospect seems to exist of the experiment being
steadily extended, so as ultimately to bring the country to
a power of production far greater than that enjoyedbefOre
the war of secesion, especially as in this field the
Chinese are in a great degree free from the hostility
experienced in .California, where they came into sharp
competition with white labour.
The Liveipool Journal as Commerce states :
The Glasgow Herald announces the failure of Messrs.
Trimble, Randolph, and Co., woollen yarn mer-
chants of that city, with liabilities variously estimated at
from £7,000 to £lO,OOO. We learn from Halifax that a
serious deficiency has been discovered in the funds of the
Bank of Nova Scotia. The amount was not stated, and it
intimated that the stability of the hank was in no way
affected by the occurrence."

At a meeting of the shareholders of the European Bank
(Limited) it was agreed to terminate the liquidation and
to form a new company, to purchase all the remaining
assets from the liquidators, at the price of £150,000, of
which £75,000 will be represented by a first issue of
£25,000 fully paid shares of £3 each, and X 75,000 by 6
per cent. debentures.

At the meeting of the Mediterranean Hotel Company
(Limited) the balance of profit and loss was stated at
£1,474, and a dividend of 4 per cent was declared.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—Tats DAY

A BEGGING IMPOSTOR.—Thomas Brett, described as a
clerk, was brought before Mr. Knox, at the Marlborough-
street Police-court, with being drunk and begging at No.
24, Grafton-street, Bond-street. Wm. Stevenson, butler
o the Earl of Bective, said that shortly before nine
to'clock the previous night the prisoner came to No. 24,
Grafton-street, and begged of his lordship. He was
offered two tickets for relief by his lordship, and, as he
refused to take them or to leave, he was given into cus-
tody. Police-constable Pike, 51 C, said that he was sent
for to No. 24, Grafton-street, and told that the prisoner,
who was not sober, had been begging and refused to go
away. The prisoner said he was in distress and was
making every effort to get out of it. A letter found on
the prisoner was handed to Mr. Knox, who, after perusing
it, remarked that the prisoner was a regular begging
impostor, and committed him for a month with hard
labour.

CAUTION TO DOCK LABOURERS.—WiIIiam Paunter, aged
32 years, of No 12, Dorset-street, Poplar, labourer, was
brought before Mr. Paget, at the Thames Police-court,
charged with stealing a bottle of brandy in the Shadwell
basin of the London Dock. He was stopped by a con-
stable with the brandy in his possession. He said it was
given to him. Mr Paget said that no cases gave him
more pain and annoyance than the petty pulferings in the
dock. Men would risk the loss of their liberty,
their character, and their situations for the sake
of some paltry article, a thing of trivial value. He was
satisfied leniency would be misplaced in these cases. For
the protection of property in the docks and the preserva-
tion of honesty among the labourers there these cases
must be dealt with severely, and put a stop to if pos-
sible. He sentenced the prisoner to two months' impri-
sonment and hard labour.

GREAT FIRE IN THE VICTORIA DOCKS,

A fire of an extensive character and attended with a
great destruction of property broke out about two o'clock
this morning in a building lettered M., on the south side
of the Victoria Docks. The building in question was about
150 feet long, and the same width. It contained about
3,000 bales of jute, and in the course of a few minutes was
in flames from one end to the other. At the same time
the fire rolled out of the windows and through the roof,
rising so high into the air as to illuminate the district, and
bringing out in relief the shipping in the docks and also the
river Thames. With all possible expedition the engines from
numerous stations of the Metropolitan Brigade attended.
The whole of the force was at once set to work, the firemen
being materially aided by the London Salvage Corps, but
in spite of their combined exertions the fire was not
entirely *extinguished at eleven o'clock this forenoon, and
not before the building and the 3,000 bales of jute were
nearly destroyed. The total loss will amount to several
thousand pounds sterling. Nothing could be learned as
to the origin of the fire or the insurances.

THE MILITARY SITUATION.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, AUGUST 23.

The army commanded by General MacMahon numbers
170,000 men, and is to-day stationed at Rheims and fir
adjoining villages. The headquarters of the Emperor all
the Marshal are at oourcelles-les-Brill. This at,first sigh)
might be considered a retreat, but it is not so; it formy
part of a vast plan whicl3 Bazaine is determined to carry
out, There is no doubt that after the battles of the 14th
and the 16th Marshal Bazaine found it necessary to change
his manoeuvres, which at that time, it was believed, were
to form a junction with MacMahon and deliver a decisive
battle with the bulk of the Prussian arniy. The Prus-
sian generals were soon acquainted with the intentions of
Bazaine, and the whole of the army was divided into
three powerful corps—two of these corps commanded by
Prince Frederick Charles and General Steinmetz, were
to keep Bazaine in check, whilst the Prince of Prussiu,
turning Chalons, made his way to Paris. The manoeuvre
then, of MacMahon this day is to watch the Prince Royal,
and, if necessary, take up a formidable position before
Paris. In that event, the Prince Royal would be placed
between two fires—MacMahon in front, and the
armies of the Vosges and Belfort in the rear. I
do not think that the Prinoe Royal will fall into this trap,
but that Bazaine will form a junction with MacMahon,
and force the Prussians to give battle, either on the
plains of Chalons or
.on the banks of the Marne. Not-
withstanding all you may hear to the contrary, Marshal
Bazaine is in da ly commnnication with Paris and
MacMahon.

The Prussians have now taken up a formidable position
a few kilometres from Etain. Their tirailleurs are con-
stantly on the road between Etain and Verdun. Daily
reinforcements are being sent to MacMahon, and should
no fighting take place for a few days, the Marshal will be
at the head of an imposing army.
Yesterday orders were sent to Brest to lay up steam
transports, and to send their crews and all the dispo-iable
marine artillery and sailors now in Brest to Paris, from
whence they will go to MacMahon.
Whilst I was writing thus far I received information
that 40,000 Prussians, having with them 76 guns, are
now at Vanconleurs, Neufchateau, Joinville, and St.
Dizier. These troops appear to be marching towards
Vitry Le Francais or Brienne. The Pru sians are
destroying all the railways in the valley of the Marne. I
have not been able to verify the truth of this. I shall
notice it again to-morrow.

If reports from Charleroi are to be believed, some Prus-
sian tirailleurs have crossed the Belgian frontier, and
killed some dragoons. It is said that a portion of the
Brussels garrison had gone to the frontiers. An Imperial
decree authorises Belgians domiciled in the North of
France to enlist as volunteers in the Garde Mobile during
the war. Three new battalions of Gardes Mobile are
being organised in Paris. Generals Lebrun, De Failly,
and Felix Douai have arrived at Rheims. Three batteries
of mitrailleuses left Paris to-day for the army of Mac-
Mahon. •

The loan for 790 millions of francs closed this evening,
more than the amount demanded having been subscribed
for.

Three brothers belonging to the Imperial Family were
wounded during the last engagements. Prince Joachim
Murat, general of brigade ; Prince Achille Murat, at-
tached to the staff of Marshal 'McMahon ; and Prince
Louis Murat. Michel Ney, Duke of Leihigen, attached
to the military household of the Emperor, received three
sabre cuts in the face. Prince Charles Napoleon
Bonaparte, grandson to Prince Lucien, btother to
Napoleon 1., was slightly wounded in the action of the
17th.

A third squdron of ironclads, under the command of
Rear-Admiral Didelot, will leave Toulon on Saturday,
destination unknown.

James Stevens, one of the Fenian chiefs, lately visited
Metz, and had an interview with the Emperor. He
offered his Majesty the service of 8,000 Irishmen, well
armed and well equipped. The Emperor thanked Mr.
Stevens for the offer, but declined.

PROCLAMATION BY THE CROWN PRINCE
OF PRUSSIA.

We, General Commander-in-Chief of the Third Ger-
man Army. According to the proclamation of his
Majesty the King of Prussia, which authorises the Gene-
rals Commanding-in-Chief of the different corps of the
German army to lay down special regulations respecting
the measures to be taken against the communes and the
persons who put themselves in opposition to the customs
o;1 warfare, respecting the supplies which will be re-
quired for the troops, and to fix the difference between
the French and German values, we announce the follow-
ing regulations, which we make known to the public :-
1. Military jurisdiction is established by the present
notice. It will be applied through the whole extent of
the French territory occupied by the German troops to
every action tending to compromise the safety of those
troops, to injure them in any way, or to assist the
enemy. Military jurisdiction will be held to be in force
and to be proclaimed throughout the whole extent of a
canton, as soon as it is announced in one of the districts
which form part of it. •
2. All persons who do not from part of the French
army, and who do not prove themselves to be soldiers
by external evidehce, and who (a)' serve the enemy as
spies, (b) mislead the German troops while charged
with the office of guide, (c) kill, wound, or plunder per-
sons belonging to the German troops, or their suite, (d)
destroy bridges or canals, damage telegraph wires or
railways, render roads impassable, or fire munitions,
provisions of war, or (e) take arms against the German
troops, will be punished by death. In every case the
officer ordering the trial will institute a council of
war, commissioned to inquire into the affair, and to
pronounce judgment. The councils of war may not
condemn to any other pain than the pain of
death. Their sentences will be executed immediately.
The communes to which the guilty persons belong, as
well as those in whose territory the offence was com-
mitted shall be subjected to a fine equal to the annual
amount of their land tax. The inhabitants will have to
contribute the necessary sum for the support of the troops.
Each soldier must have a daily donation of 750 grammes
of bread, 500 grammes of meat, 250 grammes of bacon,
30 grammes of coffee, 60 grammes of snuff or 5 cigars, half
a pint of wine or a pint of beer, or 1-10 of brandy. The
allowance to be made daily for horses will be 6 kilo-
grammes of oats, 2 kilogrammes of hay, and 1i kilo-
grammes of straw. In the eveut of the inhabi-
tants preferring to contribute a sum of money
to provisions in kind, the indemnity is fixed at two francs
a day far each soldier. All the commandants of detached
corps will have the right to demand the supplies which
are necessary for the support of their troops. The de-
mand for any further supplies which may be deemed ne-
cessary for the provision of the army can only be made by
the generals and by those officers who perform the func-
tions of generals. In every case no more will be exacted
from the inhabitants than what is actually necessary for
the support of the troops, and official receipts will be
given for all the supplies which are furnished. It is,
therefore, hoped that the inhabitants will put no obsta-
cles in the way of supplying those requisitions which
shall be deemed indispensable. With respect to indi-
vidual transactions between the troops and the people,
we decree that eight silbergos and twenty-eight krouzer are
equivalent to one franc. _

Signed by the General Commanding-in-Chief of the
Third German Army,
FREDERICK WILLIAM, Crown Prince of Prussia.

TIIE BATTLE OF REZONVILLE.

A supplement to the Staatsanzeiger of the 22nd inst.
contains the following important letter, addressed by the
King to the Queen of Prussia :
" REZONVILLE, Aug. 19, 1870.

" Yesterday was a day of renewed victory, the conse-
sequences of which cannot yet be estimated. In the early
morning of yesterday the 12th Corps, the Corps of the
Guard, and the 9th Corps, proceeded towards the northern
road of Metz-Verdun as far as St. Marcel and Doncourt,
and were followed by the 3rd and the 10th Corps,
while the 7th and the Bth Corps, and subsequently
also the 2nd, halted at Rezonville, facing Metz. When
the first-named corps wheeled towards the right,
in a very wooded terraine, towards Verneville and St.
Privat, the last-mentioned corps began their attack upon
Gravelotte—but not vehemently—in order to await the
corps engaged in the great flank movement against the
strong position of Amanvillers as far as to the road of
Metz. The corps effecting this wide flanking march only
entered into the fight at four o'c►ock, co-operating with
the pivot corps (which had been engaged in the action)
since 12 o'clock. The enemy opposed us in the forests
with violent resistance, so that we only slowly gained
ground. St. Privat was taken by Corps of the Guard,
Verneville by the 9th Corps ; the 12th Corps and
Artillery of the 3rd Corps now joined in the contest.
Gravelotte was taken by troops of the 7th and Bth Corps,
and the forests were scoured on both sides with great
loss. In order to attack once more the hostile troops,
forced back by the outflanking movement, an advance
was made at dusk across Gravelotte. This was met
by such tremendous firing from the parallel ranges of
rifle-pits and from the artillery that the 2nd Corps,
just arriving, was obliged to charge the enemy at the
point of the bayonet, and by this means it con-
quered and maintained the strong position. It was
half-past eight when on all sides the firing gradu-
ally subsided. At the last advance the shells—of
KOnigagratz memory—were not wanting, at least where I
was standing. This time I was removed from their range
by the Minister von Roon. All the troops I met cheered
me with enthusiastic hurrahs. They performed
miracles of bravery against an equally brave
enemy, 749 44000 0'917 step and 241/4 119,4090 k

Offensive attacks which were repulsed each time.
What fate is in store for the enemy, who is now pent
up to the entrenched and very strong camp of the
fortress of Mett, is beyond present calculations. I
shrink from inquiring after the casualties and the names,
for by far too many acquaintances are mentioned,
often without just grounds. Your regiment is said to
have fought splendidly. Waldersee is wounded seriously,
but not mortally, as lam told. I had intended to
bivouac here, but after some hours I found a room, where
I rested on the Royal ambulance, which was brought
here, and as I have not taken with me aLything of my
equipment from Pont-h-Mousson, I have remained in my
clothing these thirty hours, I thank God that He granted
us the victory. " WILLIAM."

RETREAT OF THE FRENCH TO RHEIMS.
Its effect, certainly, is to put at least two days' further
march between the army of MacMahon and that of the
Crown Prince, advancing on Paris by St. Dizier and
Vitry. But, in other respects than its possible influence
upon the popular mind in Paris, the withdrawal to
Rheims does not seem to promise advantages. If
an invasion were threatened from the side of the
Ardennes, it would form an excellent centre for a defend-
ing army, since all the roads through the Forest converge
thither. But, at present, an invasion from the Ardennes
is not in question. The Prussians threaten the passes of
the Argonne Forest on the one side, the passages of the
Upper Marne on the other ; and for a defensive cam-
paign against forces coming from these directions
Chalons is the natural centre of operations. The
road across the Meuse and through the Argonne defiles—
those at least of which the Prussians are most likely to
make any use—meet at Chalons ; 'and its position on the
Marne gives an army the power of operating at will on
either bank, against an enemy who has forced the defiles,
or against an enemy who has passed the river, and
strikes at Paris by the plain between the Marne and the
Aube. At Rheims these strategic advantages are
not indeed wholly abandoned, but in a serious
degree diminished. The Marne may be crossed at
Epernay —but that is a long day's march to the south ; a
force might be thrown forward towards Ste. Menehould
to check an invader issuing through the passes, as in
1792—but the withdrawal to Rheims would simply give
the invader two days start ; and in the defiles of the.
Erzgebirge two hours sometimes made all the differ-
ence between destruction and triumph to the ener-
getic and well-calculating victors. If the Crown Prince
ever entertained the audacious idea ascribed to him in
Paris, of marching straight on the capital from Vitry,
between the Marne and the Aube, he could carry out that
plan all the more boldly because the French had increased
by one day's march their striking distance from
his right flank. We never accepted the belief
that the Crown Prince in the present conditions
of the contest would do anything so hazardous ;
we may depend upon it that his hopes for this
crucial campaign are founded—Von Moltke so willing—
upon a struggle corps a co;pa with the army of the
Emperor himself. Regarded in this light the withdrawal
to Rheims can at best only serve to retard for a day or
two the mortal strife before the capital; while, in the
event of a French defeat, the second army of France is
exposed to the risk of being cut off from its communica-
tions with Paris, and forced away to the north-west by
Soissons or Laon.-7'elegraph.
There is distinct evidence that the army of MacMahon
has abandoned the position of Chalons, and is making a
movement so far retrograde. Unless there is some
design of unknown depth in connection with Ba-
zaine this is a movement of retreat, and to our mind
would argue that the Emperor, finding MacMahon not
strong enough to fight the Crown Prince, is desirous of
gaining the shelter of the fortresses on the Aisne and the
Oise. It may be that a strong tactical position is
to be found near Rheims, or about Soissons, which
is strongly fortified, and we should consider it im-
probable that the Crown Prince would march on
Paris, leaving such an army as MacMahon must, nucleic
any circumstances have, within striking distance of his
flank and rear. The force of that army Reuter's tele-
grams estimate at 160,000 to 200,000 men. Our corre-
spondent, writing from its head-quarters, says 160,000;
we, be an inductive process, estimated it a
couple of days ago, at 130,000 or 140,000 at
least. As regards the advance of the Crown Prince, we
have apparently trustworthy information that his cavalry
have occupied St. Dizier, if not Vitry, on the 22nd. We
have from the pen of the Times special correspondent the
dates of his headquarters :-11th, Petersbach ; 12th, the
same; 13th, Saarburg, 14th, Blamont ;15th, Luneville. The
same writer skews that the march has not been entirely un-
impeded, but speaks of bridges blown up, and parts of the
high road destroyed. All this must delay an army in
its advance, must render its supply difficult, and shows
that the Crown Prince has allowed no grass to grow
under his feet. We are told he is expected
before Chalons almost immediately, but we shall be
very much surprised if he is not considerably
reinforced by troops from the army of the King before
making any attack on MacMahon, or advancing further
on Paris. The King can well spare a portion of his im-
mense army before Metz, whether Bazaine's entire force
is or is not there.—Standard.