The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-06 00:00:00

T FIE SUS, LONDON, SATURDAY MORNING, AUG UST 6, 1 rs7o,

THE AMERICAN GENERALS.

There is no truth in the report that Generals Lae,
Johnston, and Sheridan had offered their service to France
or Prussia.

STRANGE NEWS OF A POLICE INSPECTOR.
Information was received on Thursday night at the
Bow-street police-station that Inspector Brennan, who
is now away on leave, had been captured by the Prus-
sians as a spy and shot. It is to be hoped the latter
part of the intelligence will prove unfounded.
Standard.

Letters from Metz speak of the great success of a bat-
talion of military workmen intended to repair any rail-
roads destroyed by the enemy. The Eastern line has done
a great deal for this scheme, sending 600 volunteers, and
giving many carriages for the conveyance of material.
The Path Journal states that according to a statistical
table there are in Paris at this moment 80,000 Germans,
of whom 8,000 are Prussians. Of that number 1,500 have
left, mostly young men, In consequence of peremptory
orders to join the Landwehr. There consequently remain
6,500 Prussians in the French capital,
A telegram in the France is thus worded :—The Prince
Imperial in person fired the first shot from 'our mitrail-
lenses, which literally mowed down the Prussians. Vive
le Prince Imperial !

The master of the screw steamer Merthyr, just arrived
at the Penarth Dock, reports passing a French ironclad on
the 3rd instant, off Brest, with the German three-masted
schooner Laura in tow, in charge of a prize crew.
At three p.m. yesterday five frigates of the French
fleet, together with several small vessels and one advice
boat, passed to the south of Korsor.

In consequence of several cases of cholera being re-
ported from Taganrog, the Turkish Government has
ordered all arrivals from the Sea of Azoff to undergo
quarantine.

(CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAMS.
PILOTS AND THE WAR.

At the Tyne Pilotage Board. held yesterday afternoon
at South Shields, Mr. J. C. Stevenson, M.P., presiding,
the following letter from Mr. Shaw Lefevre to the Clerk
of the Pilotage Board was read :—" lam directed by the
Board to acquaint you for the information of the Tyne
pilotage authorities, that her Majesty's Government,
having regard to the existing state of war between France
and Prussia, are of opinion that the following instruc-
tions should be at once issued to the pilots in your district :
-- British pilots are not to pilot ships of war of either
belligerent except in British waters within three miles
of the shore, or to do more than to pilot such ships into
or out of British ports or roadsteads, when they are not
engaged at the time in any hostile operation. But ships
of war in distress may always be piloted out of immediate
danger. lam accordingly instructed to request that you
will immediately take the necessary steps for making
these instructions known to the pilots."

THE OPERATIONS ABOUT SAARBRUCK.
The Standard correspondent at Metz gives a summary
on the various operations before Saarlaruck, commencing
' with a little battle on Tuesday. Writing on Wednesday
he says of this fight :—lt was a serious affair, the move-
ment having for its object—first, to begin the operation
on the River Saar on a strategic plan ; secondly, to as-
certain the strength of the Prussian forces in a fortified
camp commanding Saarbruck ; and, thirdly, to obtain at
once possession of the rich coal mines of the neighbour-
hood. Saarbruck is a town of 9,000 inhabitants, on tl. e
Saar, and without fortifications ;it is accessible
by a bridge, on the French side of the frontier, at
nine kilometres from Forbach. At ten o'clock on the
morning of yesterday the second corps d'arinee, com-
manded by General Frossard, started from Forbach, and
in a skirmishing way marched towards a Prussian forti-
fied 'camp, commanding the valley around Saarbruck.
Two regiments of the line and a powerful body of artil-
lery snaking their way across a large rivulet com-
menced the attack on the entrenched camp, the artil-
lery being exposed to a strong fire of the enemy. In
two hours' time the brigade succeeded in dislodging
the Prussian troops from their strong position ; the French
artillery occupied the summit of the camp, and directed a
strong fire on the bridge of Saar, where Prussian ambus-
cades were posted, and both sides of the bridge flanked by
Prussian tiralleurs, who fought with energy, and showed
themselves up to the mark as good soldiers.
At that moment Colonel Merle with his regi-
ment (the 3rd), tinder cover of the artillery, and
protected by the increasing fire . of the French
batteries, made a movement to turn the left, and
after a short engagement with the enemy, forced the
Prussians to retreat on the town. It was now about half-
past twelve. The Emperor and the Prince Imperial, fol-
lowed by two generals and six officers of their staff, had
just arrived on horseback, and advanced to within
800 yards of the Prussian needle-gun. There they
stood braving the danger of bullsts whirling
around their heads. The little Prince, slightly over-
come at the sight of the bodies of two dead soldiers,
was seen raising his kepi to the bullets, saluting
his baptism of fire, It is difficult to understand why the
Emperor and his son exposed themselves at such a range
to the fire of the enemy. Whatever may be the reason
the fact is certain. Colonel Merle's movement being
successful, the French batteries directed at once their fire
on the town. The projectile, set on fire the railway sta-
tion and four different parts of the town. The Prussians
were in full retreat ; the mitrailleuses were at work, but
on an order of the Emperor they were stopped ; owing, it
appears, to the destruction they would have wrought
among the inhabitants of Saarbruck, who were retreating
with the Prussian soldiers. Before three o'clock the French
were masters of Saarbruck, having lost only a few soldiers.
I have not been able to ascertain yet the losses of the
Prussians, but they are comparatively large. I do not
think the engagement has had the importance it was
thought at first. Although three regiments only have
been engaged on the side of the French, 80,000 men were
at hand. The Prussians do not seem to have been more
than 3,000 at the most.
Writing later on the same evening, this writer observes:
—" Saarluis, on the Saar, is surrounded by the French.
The 3rd Corps d'Armde, with Marshal Bazaine, on the
right ; the 4th Corps, with General L'Admirault, on the
left. I have been shewn and had in my hands this
morning a sketch of the engagement of yesterday,
made with the pen by the Prince Imperial last
night, after his return from the combat, and given
by him to the son of Baron Lambert, Mr. Tristan
Lambert, who is a great friend of the Prince's, and
who has volunteered as a private in one of the
regiments of the Guards for the campaign. This
sketch is marvellously exact and precise, the march
of the corps de cirm.e.,e, the encounter, the bridge, the spot
where Ise stood during the affair, with the Emperor—all
seems life in that little rough sketch, which no doubt will
become some day an historical document. In one corner
of the sketch are written these lines :
" A mon and Tristan Lambert. Le 2 Aout, apres
avoir vu le feu pour la premiere fois." (His signature.)
And on Thursday morning the correspondent of the
Standard writes :- —All the army is marching forward,
the Imperial Guard in the direction of Boulay. A
great affair is expected. Marshal Lebceuf has just started.
Saarluis will, I expect, be shortly the theatre of a great
struggle. After all the affair at Saarbruck was very
sanguinary for so short an engagement, Eight French
soldiers and two officers were killed ; forty wounded.
The mitrailleuses made a terrible havoc among the
Prussians. Two entire companies of a Prussian regiment
were detsroyed. Fifty prisoners have already arrived a•
Metz.

as a highway to many steamers towing upwards
barges and hoys filled with cattle and provisions, and
there is an immense mass of rolling stock and loe,omo-
tive material collected about the railway stations. It is
very prohadle that long before this the details of the
skirmish at Saarbruck, of which we have just
heard, have been published in London. Here
we are told that the French attacked and oc-
cupied the position at 11 o'clock and remained
there till two o'clock, when they were driven out with
great loss by an inferior force of Prussians. The French,
we are informed, lost 700 in killed, wounded, and pri-
soners, to 87 on •the side of the Germans. It will be
curious to read the version of this affair from the other
side.

THE MITHA ILLE USE AT SA A RBRUCK.—Aprolonged
shout from the division. Yive l'Empreui 1 The Emperor
is there. The cannonade is formidable, and continues
all along the line. A Prussian battery, at the entrance
of the wood of the village of Arneval, is pounding
away at us ferociously. A section of infantry makes a
, rapid oharg,e and partly turns it. The Prussians
are off. The cannonade grows weaker. I hear a noise as
of close thunder. It is the first discharge from the battery
of initruilleuses. We reach the heights above Saarbruck,
the mitrailleuses peppering away all the time. It is per-
fectly frightful. A battalion of Prussians is retiring in
good order by the quay of the Saar,in the town, and making its
way towards the bridge over which the railway passes.
The battery of mitrailleuses, 1,600 metres off, covers
them. The officer coolly regulates his piece. A con-
tinued crash. The battalion scatters. "Eh ! " says
the Lieutenant-Colonel de M., eyeing me complacently,
and as much as to say, " NV hat do you think of that ?" I
hold out my hand to him. All the other officers of the
battery surround us. Another battalion has shewn itself.

It takes the road of its predecessor. The terrible engine
is prepared. Another minute to secure the right adjust-
ment. " Fire !" The second battalioh disperses like the
first. A few balls are sent after them.—Cori espondent of
the Daily News.

SCHENGEN.—The most interesting place on the
map in the whole of this neutral territory, which pene-
trates, like a wedge, into both the hostile countries,
s Schengen, a little village on the Luxemburg
frontier, commanding a view of Perl, in Prussia,
on the left, and Sierck, in France, on the right. Schengen,
moreover, is really a place of some small military
interest, since at Sierck there is a fort, and was, until
Monday, a large camp : while Perl, though not a regular
outpost, is visited daily by Prussian Hussars, who, yester-
day, seeing that the French had abandoned Sierck, rode
down to their late camping-ground, and afterwards
entered the village and performed the notable feat of
destroying the telegraph. The French Corps which has
just left Sierck, and is said to have marched in the direc-
tion of Sarreluis, consisted of a division of infantry, with
cavalry and artillery, numbering about 13,000 men. It
formed part of the Fourth Corps d'Armee,whose head-quar
ters were, until Monday last, at Thionville. On that day,
however, the greater part of the troops at Thionville left
' for the open country. and, like those at Sierck, are sup-
posed to have marched towards Sarreluis. The French,
then, are no longer in force along the Luxembourg fron-
t tier, nor have the Prussians any large body of troops in the
immediate vicinity of the Grand Duchy—nowhere, in
fact, nearer than Treves and the villages surrounding it.
They keep watch, however, along the whole line of the
Moselle, from Treves to Wasserbillig, and from Wasser-
billig, where the Moselle begins to form the frontier 13( '
tweeze Prussia and Luxemburg, to Schengen.—limes Cor-
respondent at Luxemburg.
SWEDEN BADLY OFF.—Now let us take an im-
partial view of tha military condition of Sweden, and we
shall see that she is by no means prepared for
war, nor able to enforce due respect for her neu-
trality. According to the statement made by the
Minister of War, on the Ist of November last year,
the stock of the new Remington muskets in the
magazines was 52,000 ; and as he estimated the number
that would be got ready this year at about 22,600, the
very utmost that can be expected is 75,000. At the end -
of 1869 there were five millions of ball-cartridges for this
description of gun, and if two and a half millions more be
made this year, it is still a long way off from the ten 4
millions that the Minister stated to be absolutely
required for the service. The field artillery is still worse
off, as there are only twenty-five batteries with 153
serviceable guns; and with regard to the fortresses, there
is not one that could withstand a siege, nor could even
Carlserona, which has always been considered the strong-
est place in Sweden, hold out for a week. Switzerland and
Belgium enjoy a guarantee for their neutrality, and
independence, notwithstanding which they have made
preparations to defend themselves if attacked, and it be- .
hoves Sweden to be prepared for unforeseen contingencies
and unexpected events that may take place any day
with war going on in the Baltic.—Letter in the Daily
News.

GOOD NEWS OF THE GERMAN ARMY.—I learned
some particulars about the German army which are at
once surprising and satisfactory. From one regiment
alone eight hundred men have been sent back to Frank-
fort, their presence at Mayence being necessary.
Another regiment marched into Mayence with five hun-
dred men unarmed and in their ordinary dress. The
services of these men were at once dispensed with,
and the men returned to their homes. I mention these
two cases as having fallen within the compass of my
own observation ; but I am told on good authority that
they are not exceptional. Taken by themselves, these
facts may appear insignificant, or, being misunderstood,
they might be cited as betokening a deficiency in the
supply of arms and accoutrements. But their signi-
cance lies in this, that they indicate not only the
strength of the German army, but the readiness of the
German people to take the field. Both of the regiments in
question were at their full war complement without the
addition of the 800 and 500 men respectively. Had not
the response to the summons been so general there would
have been room and to spare for all who came. As it is
nearly every regiment has a reserve instantly available
wherewith to fill up vacancies caused by losses in battle.
Thus the effective strength of the army can be kept up
to its present point without summoning any other class
to take the field.— Daily News Correspondent at Frankfort.
GERMAN OPINION OF I3ISMARCK.—The treaty
which France is said to have desired to conclude with
Prussia has produced less sensation in Germ any than in
Belgium and England. It has been reprinted in the
newspapers, and articles have been written upon it,
but the public pays little heed to revelations contained
in it. The belief is general throughout Germany
that Napoleon 111. would do anything in order to
become master of the Rhenish Provinces, and that
Count Bismarck would not hesitate to promote the
aggrandisement of Prussia. There are many Germans
who would characterise these two men by the words
which Byron used when making a very free translation of .
Arcades ambo--" blackguards both." Both have a natural
turn and a highly cultivated taste for intrigue. Now this
is not regarded by Germans as a virtue. As a people
they plume themselves on their honesty and uprightness.
They are slow to sanction any conduct which is not en-
tirely fair and above board. They are prone to manifest
a wholesome contempt for tactics which diplomatists are
wont to call Macchiavelian, and which ordinary men
stigmatize as treacherous. It is because Count Bismarck
has the reputation of delighting in playing an under-
hand and unfair game, that his countrymen look
upon him with suspicion and distrust. While profiting
by his policy, they have great difficulty in per-
suading themselves that they are justified in so
doing. Thus it is when Count Bismarck comes
forward in the character of an injured and
overreached Minister, but little sympathy is displayed
towards him, and the indignation against the Emperor of
the French is less vehemently manifested than it might
otherwise have been.—Daily News Correspondent at
Frnkfort.

SERIOUS ILLNESS OF MR. ELLIOTT.—At the Lam-
beth Police-court yesterday it was announced. that Mr.
Elliott, the senior magistrate of the court, who has dis-
charged his duties for more than twenty years, was
seriously ill. Mr. Flowers, of Bow-street, has been
sitting for Mr. Elliott during the last week.

THE NEW LAW COURTS.—The Telegraph says that,
thanks, in great part, to the indefatigable exertions of Mr.
Ayrton, the erection of the New Law Courts will soon be
commenced. The Royal Commission has signed the report
approving of the plans for the building ; the ground will
be cleared immediately ; and, probably, in about three
weeks preparations will be made for laying the foun-
dation.

ABDEL KADER V. COUNT BISMARCK.—TIIH" Gaulois
has the following :- -"Count Bismarck shrinks from
nothing. With an astounding effrontery he has actually
demanded the aide of Abd-el-Kader against France. Here
is the reply of the Arab chieftain: —" Let Heaven
be praised. Excellent Sir,—He to whom you have
sent the offer to march against France—the
most glorious and most gracious of nations—
and to lend to you the help of his glorious sword.
ought for very contempt and disdain to abstain answering
you. May our Arab steeds lose their manes and tails
before Abel-el-Kader-Ben-Mahi-Eddin fail in gratitude to
the most potent Sovereign Napoleon lll.—whom God
protect. May your arrogant and unjust country be buried
in the dust—may French arms be red with.the blood 0"
Prussians—that their pride may be punished. Such ib
the prayer of God.'s servant, Abd-el-Kader-Ben-Mil*
Eddin.' "

I\l PE 1: IA I_, l'A 1A Al ENT.

lIOUSE OF LORDS.-FRIDAY.

The Lord Chancellor took his seat on the woolsack at
five o'clock.

The Earl of HARROWBY proceeded to call the attention
of their lordships to the change recently introduced by
the Charity Commissioners into the endowments for the
benefit of the poor. The Court of Chancery, his lordship
stated, had always hitherto held that such endowments
were not applicable to pers )ns in the permanent receipt
of parish relief. The earl moved that it was not expe-
dient that the principle laid down by the courts should be
overruled, as inevitably tending to convert endowments
intended for the relief of the poor to the relief of the rate-
payers.

The LORD CHANCELLOR thought it would be a waste of
time to raise such a questions the more so as there had
been but one complaint made against the mode pursued
by the Chtrity Commissioners ; upon which the motion
was withdrawn.

The fallowing bills were read a third time and passed :
—Factories and Workshops, Gun Licences, Forgery,
Census, and East India Contracts.
Earl DE GREY gave notice that the Commons' amend-
ments to the Lords' amendments to the Education Bill
would be considered on. Monday next.
Their lordships adjourned at ten minutes past six.