The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-14 00:00:00

FilE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1870.

NEUTRALITY OF LUXEMBURG.
BRUSSELS, December 13.

The Echo du Luxembourg learns from Versailles
that the annexation of Luxemburg to Prussia has
been agreed to by England, in order to make Ger-
many abandon her intentions to part of Lorraine.—
Daily .News,
The Telegraph publishes the following telegram :
BERLIN, December 13.

In the circular despatch which was addressed by
Count Bismarck, under date of the 3rd December, to
the Powers who signed the Treaty of London
of the 11th May, 1867, the Chancellor of the
Confederation enumerates various facts which
he considers to amount to a violation of
the Ireaty. Among those facts are the refusal of
the Luxemburg Government to permit the German
wounded to pass through its territory ; the assist-
ance given to the French in the provisioning of
Thionville ; and the non-detention of French soldiers
who took refuge beyond the Luxemburg frontier.
These acts, Prussia contends, constituted a breach
of the neutrality with which Luxemburg was in-
vested by the Treaty; and the Government of
Prussia declares that it no longer holds itself bound
to respect the neutrality of Luxemburg in the move-
meat of her troops.
Tai HAGUE, December 13 (11 p.m.)

The Prussian Ambassador at this Court has read
the note of Count Bismarck on the Luxemburg
question to the Foreign Minister here, Holland
having been a party to the London Treaty of 1867.
The Luxemburgers have petitioned the King of
Holland to maintain the innepeudence of the Grand
Duchy, and to protest against the contents of the
Prussian note.

VIENNA, December 13.

The proceedings of Prussia with respect to the
occupation of the Luxemburg has produced the
greatest excitement here. All the newspapers con-
demn the proceedings. The New Free Press
refutes the arguments adduced in the Prussian
Note, and designates the policy as arrogant.
The ?ages Presse upon the signitaries of the
Luxemburg Neutrality Treaty together to rise
against such a contemptuous policy, which makes
valueless all rights secured by treaty.

FACTS FROM THE FRONT.

FRANKFORT, December 13.

To-day, says the correspondent of the Telegraph,
I have received a curious and interesting letter from
an officer at the German head-quarters. Amongst
other items which he mentions is one which emi-
nently shows the care and foresight of the Germans
in their determination to provide against possible
contingencies. The complete project of a war upon
Great Britain was planned out as exactly as that of a
war against France, long before the present struggle
commenced.

Count Bismarck, my correspondent states, was
urged by South German delegates to take the
present opportunity of mediatising all the Kings
and Princes, and making the unity of Ger-
many Prussified a fait accompli. But he
withstood the temptation, although the German
Republicans offered him all their influence, as he
chose rather to reserve a pretext for keeping open
action for the time when the Austrian Germans
shall be ripe—as it is supposed they soon will be if
Magyar influence is brought to bear upon them op-
pressively, of which many people think there .can be
but little doubt.

Count Bismarck recently said to a great German.
Republican who was preaching the infallible neces-
sity of a German Republic sooner or later :'4. My dear
sir, I am a hopublican, but the time is not come
yet."

RUSSIA AND THE PARIS TREATY.
CoNSTANTINOPLic, December 12..

La Turquie urges the Government to claim, in
exchange for the Danubian Principalities, the
Bessarabian frontier of the Dinester, on account of
it not being a Sclavonic district.
ST. PETERSBURG}, pecember 6.

•
Although it now appears to be pretty certain
that a Conference will shortly be held in London,
and that the Black Sea question will be settled in
a manner satisfactory to Russia, addresses still
continuo to flow in. The nobility of the province
of Moscow have presented an address to, the
Emperor.

AMERICA.

NEW YORK December 12.

The New York Tribune and World positively state
that General Schenck has been offered and has sig-
nified his willingness to accept the British Mission,
but he will probably not be able to leave
Congress until the conclusion of the present session.
Several other journals, however, deny that General
Schenck has been appointed as alleged.
A negro riot has occurred at Atlanta, Georgia, in
which six'persons were killed and 40 wounded.

INDIA"
(BY TELEGRAPH via TEHERAN.)

CALCUTTA, December 12.

The Government sanctions the arming of three
more Bengal regiments with Sniders. Tho COM-.
mander-in-Chief selects the Ist battalion of the 6th
Fusiliers, at Peshawur, the Ist battalion 11th, at
Morar, and the 41st at Mooltan.
Another regiment will be armed at Madras. By
April it is expected that Sniders will be in the hands
of every British soldier in India.
Colonel Baigree and Doctor Ringer have selected
a site well adapted for troops in Central India, 120
miles from Jubbulpore, 30 from the Great Indian
Peninsular Railway.
Yakoob Khan's position remains unaltered. He
has plundered 100 Beloochistan and Affghan camels.
The Kurrachee and Chinsurah depots are to be
abolished, saving £B,OOO yearly.
The troops for the Punjab will be sent by rail via
Allahabad instead of the Indus.

Tea issued to the troops will in future be two-
thirds Indian. Hitherto it has been half Indian and,
half Chinese.

The amount required for army purposes is
£250,000 yearly ; the saving 3 pie per pound at the
present quotations.

CHINA.

(Per Grant's North China Despatch, via Kiachtv.)
TIENTSIN, Nov. 28.
There are grave disturbances in Hunan.

(Hunan, qy Henan, a province of China, bounded
partly by the Yang-tse-Kiang River, which enters the
sea near Shanghai.)

(CENTRAL rniss TELEGRAMS.)
AN ACTION BY CARDINAL CULLEN.

In the Dublin Court of Probate yesterday, thecae of
"Cardinal Cullen and others v. Br6phy and Egan" was
opened before Judge Warren and a special jury, The
assets disputed were £154,000 of personal property, and
real estate of the annual value of £2,000. The 'testator,
Charles Egan, had left the bulk of his property to
trustees, for the benefit of Catholic charities. The de-
fendants rested their case on the assertion that the will
had been obtained by fraud. The brothers and others
who dispute the will are in humble circumstances.

LIVERPOOL ASSIZES,

At the Liverpool Assizes yesterday, Bridget Daly was
sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude for the man-
slaughter of Patrick M`Dermott, at Liverpool, last Sep-
tember. A Wigan collier, named Finch, was sentenced to
ten years' penal servitude for a brutal assault 'on his
wife.

TWO BGDIES WASHED ASHORE AT
TYNEMOUTH.

The bodies of two seamen were washed ashore at Tyne-
mouth. One is that of an elderly niau, the other that of

one about 18 years of age. They are supposed to be those
of the captain and one of his ;sons from the wreck of the
Samuel Bernard, of Boston, which went down with all
hands at the mouth of the Tyne on Friday last. The
bodies were removed to the deadhouse.

THE CHARGE AGAINST A HARROGATE
GENTLEMAN.

The Knaresborough magistrates yesterday dismisied
the case against Mr. John' Whitehead, ofl Harrogate,
charged with having paid for goods purchased at Sheffield
with a cheque which he endorsed with a false name, the
form having been obtained from a cheque-book contained
in a portmanteau lost in transit by railway.. The magis-
trates intimated that the case.was clearly one of mistaken
identity, and stated that Mr.` Whitehead left the 'court
without a stain upon his character.

THE BOMBARDMENT OF PARIS.

Writing from the Royal Headquarters, Versailles, on
December 9, the correspondent of the Daily News,says :
On returning to this city after the lapse of six weeks, I
am astonished at finding everything in pretty much the
same condition as when I arrived in Versailles on the 25th
of September. The position of the besieging army is, so
far as I can at present ascertain, almost entirely unal-
tered. An apparent change, however, is in the addition
of from four to five hundred siege guns ; but time
appears to have altered the minds of the besiegersrespect-
ing their utility, and yesterday some very significant
hints were dropped in conversations that I had with some
of the leading Prussian authorities. About the middle
of last month, when I was at the headquarters of the
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, I was told that it was
the intention to bombard the forts D'lssy and Vanvres
as soon as sufficient ammunition could be trans-,
ported, which would be in the beginning of December, \
and that on the 4th of the month the bombardment
would commence. Here lam trustworthily informed
that the opinion of the military authorities about a week
ago underwent a great change respecting its practicability,
or, rather, possibility ; and it was, after considerable
discussion, determined • not to bombard rather ,
than to undertake to reach the forts and the
City, and fail. There is a part of the history of
the siege of Parig which even now can be written. At the
time of the commencement of the siege of Paris there
was a divided council in the German camp. Moltke and
most of the isfetary authorities were in favour of storha-
ing one or meire of the forts, in order to be able to reach
the city. But the King, who has a great distaste for the
effusion of blood, strenuously opposed this, on the ground
that innumerable lives would be lost, and the more
tedious plan of starving out the city, or com-
pelling some of the forts to surrender if the guns
could be previously brought into position, was adopted.
It was then assumed, however, that from Meudon at
least Fort D'lssy, and probably Mont Valerein, could be
commanded by the guns from that place. As I have said,
this opinion appears to have been recently altered, and it
is once more open to discussion•whether the first plan of
storming the for was not the most advisable. Towards
the end of 'September, before the German siege
guns had arrived, there was no part of the ground not
actually in the hands of the French from beyond Mont
Val6rein to the west of the city along the south side to
Bosny on the east, that I had not very carefully examina
The proposition of Moltke was to storm Mont Val4rein.
There is a remarkable similarity between that
fort and St. Quentin bofore Metz. Both are
now impregnable. Of the latter, Count Bismarck
said to General Boyer, Bazaine's aide-de-camp,
at the time of the negotiations for the 'surrender
of Metz, that it had almost entirely fallen to ruin, and had
only been made impregnable by the French after the
siege of Metz had commenced. That is precisely the case
with Valerien. I was constantly in the neighbourhood
of Valerien from the 25th of September to the Ist of
October. I had an excellent view of the fort, which was
on the summit of the hill, the ascent to which
was gradual, and nowhere presented any obstacle
otherwise than within the fort itself. With mitrailleuses
and cannon the ascent is now rendered impossible. At
that time no cannon were in position, and the garrison
had not yet had sufficient time to reconstruct the fort;
the work had just commenced. I am satisfied
that a storming at that time presented no
greater difficulties than many other engagements.
where I have been present and seen the Germans ad-
vance up a hill side and carry the works of the French,
This was notably the case on the east side of Metz on
the 14th of August, and at the beginning of the war at
Spicheren. Mont-Valerien was not stormed. Now I learn
that a bombardment is almost impossible, and moreover
that the accounts that Paris is almost reduced by hunger
are also untrue, and that in all probability it will hold
out a considerable length of time yet. However,
the account that the bombardment would com-
mence on the 4th was conveyed to Paris by spies.
it is supposed, and its feasibility having been credited
there, it was hoped to anticipate it by the recent sorties,
An immense amount of blood was shed, which when
added to the losses, by the various other-engagements be-
fore Paris, would very probably equal that occasioned by
storming Val4rien. The German army, however, is still
in a pretty good condition, and can hold out a long time
yet.

lobtained. lam afraid these opinions 9re but too well
founded. However brave, the6e irregular French troops
must be worthless against the veterans of Germany.
With good officers, good artillery, and good cavalry,
they might be able to make some stand ; but they
possess not a single one of these three essentials
to success. We are constantly hearing the most varied
and extraordinary accounts of Manteuffel's movements.
At one time we are told that he had hastily left Paris,
leaving behind only two or three thousand men. At
another time we were informed that the Germans were
advancing against Havre in two columns, each 20,000
strong. My opinion is that they will not attack the town
itsblf at all. They will come quite close to it, certainly—
but will content themselves with " requisitioning " the
rich district iu the neighbourhood. The French officers
.commanding here are perfectly in the dark as to the
numbers and the whereabouts of the invader. How can
it be otherwise when no reconnaisance is ever made,
although there are three squadrons of Hussars doing
nothing in the town ? At the outpost where I spent
last night, I firmly believe that if a few Minns had put
in an appearance there would have been a precipitate
retreat on the fortifications behind Harfieur. I do not
mean to say that the French troops are cowards ; but
they are sol demoralised, and have so little confidence in
their officers, that they would, not stand a moment in the
open field against even a much inferior force of Prus-
sians. I hope, if the enemy attack Havre, that the
Gardes Mobiles will make a stand behind their splendid
chain of fortifications; if these were properly defended,
it would cost the Prussians half their army to reach
the town. There was a slight brush with the enemy this
morning at the village of Gaimeville. Fifty of their
cavalry encountered a regiment of Eclaireurs, who fired
upon the enemy, killing six. There was also a slight affair
at Octeville, of no importance, however. At Fecamp,
5,000 men were expected to arrive to-day, on their way to
Havre.