The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-25 00:00:00

A PATRIOT.

Germans have the love of country strongly
developed, and the number of well-to-do natives of
the Confederation who are daily leaving London is
a sufficient proof that whatever may be the result of
the war, the people are determined to fight to the
death. An incident in connection with this patriotic
feeling has occurred in London, where a certain
Carl Kobill found himself before a police magistrate
charged with defrauding the London and North-West-
ern Railway Company of the sum of 10s. Od., being
the amount of his fare from Birmingham to London.
The patriot did not dispute travelling without pay-
ing the amount mentioned, but urged in excuse that
he had left Birmingham in obedience to orders from
the Prussian Consul, who promised to meet him at
the Birmingham Station and pay his fare. This
he failed to do, and rather than lose time, he deter-
mined to proceed without a ticket. This statement
was found to be correct, and the Prussian Embassy
having paid the fare, Carl Kobill was sent on his
way rejoicing.

64 NEWS " OF THE WAR.

The arrangements by which some of the London
papers are enabled to publish news of great battles
before they are fought, and news of other great
events which never will take place at all, are worthy
of notice. The other day there came information of a

meeting of Prussians and French which resulted in

no hurt to either side. A few French Chasseurs
were outnumbered and retired without fighting. This
"Battle of Saarbriick " was at once improved upon
by a morning paper of enterprise, which announced
"from its special correspondent " that the French
had been beaten with the loss of seven killed and
twenty-three wounded. Thisgreat embellishment was
at once appropriated without acknowledgment by an
evening paper, not inferior, it would seem, in enter-
prise to its contemporary. After publishing this
treasure the same evening journal had on Saturday

the assurance to say that the first big fiction of the
war was sold in Paris in the shape of a telegram
' announcing that there had been a great
French victory at Thionville, in which
5,000 Prussians were killed. The " Battle of
Saarbriick " may be a little fiction, but the account
given of it is not the less utterly unfounded, as are
certain further embellishments published in another
issue of the aforesaid morning paper. This journal
has acquired a great fame. The newsboys know
"what's what" in intelligence. They are
so well aware of the character of the
news in this paper that when they get a poster with
sensational announcements (they get one of this kind
very often) they turn down the name of the paper
out of sight—obviously in fear lest the public know
as much about the matter as they do. Poor public !
Between the editors and the boys, what chance has it?

DECORATION OF THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

It appears that the idea of decorating the interior
of the Houses of Parliament with works of art has
not been abandoned. Mr. Ayrton has lately called
together a meeting of artists, who have been engaged
in works at Westminster, and taken their opinions
on the subject. The matter will not be entrusted to
a committee of amateurs, but due consideration will
be paid to any scheme which can be suggested by
these artists, and it may eventually be put before
Parliament in order to obtain a grant to carry out

the desired end. The mode to be
adopted will, in all probability, be 'fresco,
or the new compound of paraffin and wax.
The advocates of fresco point to the unchanged con-
dition of Dyce's frescoes in the Queen's robing-room
as a proof of the superiority of this mode of execu-
tion. Paraffin and wax have been successfully tried
on some of the pictures which have suffered at West-
minster, but the experiment was not so fortunate
when made on those which were wrought with
wa terglass.