The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-15 00:00:00

SHIPPING CASUALTIES.

Last evening the Cordelia, an American vessel bound
from Liverpool to Barcelona, with a cargo Of machinery,
put into Queenstown in a leaky condition. The crew of
the ship Pomona, 1,260 tons register, from Liverpool to
America, were brought to Plymouth last night by the
Salcombe brig Apphia. The Pomona sprung a leak last
Sunday, in severe weather, and when she had nine feet of
water in her hold was abandoned, the captain and crew,
twenty-five all told, taking to the longboat, when they
were picked up by the Apphia. The Pomona had a
valuable general cargo on board.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—One Shilling Day, Wednes-
day, December 14th, 1870.—Admissions by season tickets
1,397 ; ditto on payment, 381; total visitors, 1,778.

LONDON SCHOOL BOARD.—Mr. R. B. Litchfield,
8.A., of the Inner Temple, is one of the candidates for
the post of Secretary to the School Board. The friends
of education know Mr. Litchfield as one of the founders
and the Treasurer of the Working Men's College, in Great'
Ormond-street.

Mr. Charles Mackeson intends to offer himself as a
candidate for the Secretaryship of the Metropolitan
School Board. Mr. Mackeson's name will be known as
the Editor of " Low's Handbook to the Charities of
London," of his own " Guido. to the Churches of Lon-
don," and as the author of " A Digest of the Ritual
, Blue Book."

HAVRE AWAITING THE ENEMY.
! The special corresponderit of the Telegraphj writing
from Havxe under date of December 13; says the Tours
Oovernment is, it seems, determined that Cherbotrg shall
be properly strengthened.. Yon know already how Gene..

ralßriand- was ordered to transfer thither some of the
troops at pteseiit in Havre ; and how that officer, with a
complacency which may lead him into trouble, bent be:

fore the storm which the decree of the Govermtent had
excited, and, departing himself, left behind in Havre the
forces he had been desired to transfer to Cherbourg.

Well, scarcely have we forgotten this incident, when down
comes• another order from AL Gambetta that 4,000 men
should be at once despatched to Cherbourg. En parenthise
I may observe that these importunate, demands of the
Tours Government very strongly bear out the opinion I
have expressed, that the German advance upon Havre is
but a feint. No sooner was the decree of M. Gambetta
made known in the town than it created the'
wildest excitement. The Municipal Council was called
together, and, with AL Guilleanard, the plucky old mayor,
at its head, passed a number of resolutions strongly con-
demnatory of the action of the Government. Meantime
the news had reached the population and the troops.
About five o'clock a deputation from the National
Guards waited upon M. ' Moucher, the commandant,
and earnestly requested him to prevent the departure
of the troops. M. Moocher, after thanking the officers
for their praiseworthy zeal, stated that the
question was just then being deliberated upon by the
Municipal Council. Shortly after, when that body had
arrived at the decision to which t have above referred, the
Commandant posted a proclamation through the town
positively stating that no troops would be allowed to
leave, The crowd, however, had by this time
largely increased, and were determined not to
rest satisfied until they received the most
unmistakeable evidence that their wishes were complied
with. A cry went forth that the Municipal
Council was assembled in the hotel of the
Sous-Prefet. Thither the concourse of people directed
themselves; a tricoloured flag being carried in front. On
the way they meet a battalion of Gardes Mobiles. "Vive
la Mobile ! " immediately cry a hundred voices. The
young soldiers no less heartily respond " Vive la HaliP3l "
Then bands strike up a favourite air, and the men wave-
their kepis, placed on top of their bayonets. Arrived at
the Sous-Prefecture, AL Ramel comes out and makes
a speech. " I give you my word of honour," he
says, " that as long as Havre is menaced I will
not allow a soldier or a cannon to depart. . . . . .
Havre will be defended with all its strength—will be de-
fended a outrance. We will fight to the death, step by
step. We will not leave a street or a house undefended.
" Citizens," he asks in conclusion, " are you ready for a
heroic defence ?" "Yes, yes, we swear. it!" shout back
in answer a thousand voices. " Then count on me, as I
count on you," replies M. Ramel. Great enthu-
siasm; but still the crowd win see the Municipal
Council. They are at the Hotel de Ville, it is whispered.
Thither immediately the human tide sets. The venerable
old Mayor comes out on the balcony ; and then there is
another speech, and more enthnsiasm. and cries ad libitum.
The Mayor is r'ive'd and M. Moucher is vive'd, and M.
Ramel and the Republic, and everybody and everything,
until at last, tired with shouting, the crowd disperses.
The news has just arrived that Versailles is
occupied by the Frerch, that Bismarck is a
prisoner, and that 200 guns have been taken. Every-
one is wild with excitement. Colonel Mocquard
who commands the celebrated corps of Francs-tireurs,
has just announced his determination to cut his way to
Paris to-morrow. I heard him this moment say that on
his way he would burn Rouen to the ground, as a retribu-
tion for the disgraceful conduct of its inhabitants and de-
fenders. Captain Mocquard is a man of his word. I
need not say I place but very little reliance in the news
that has created such joy in Havre : yet the report meets
you on all sides. The bitter truth will not long remain
unknown.

The correspov dent of the Standard, at Havre, sends the
fallowing, under date December 13 :—For the last few
hours Havre has been in a fool's paradise, owing to an
unauthenticated report that the French had not only
made a successful sortie from Paris, but that they had
retaken Versailles, and that Bismarck was a prisoner
in their hands. Another version stated that in the
battle, which had taken place outside Paris,
80,000 Prussians were hors de combat, and 30,000 had
been made prisoners. These preposterous stories were
actually believed, and the people here are just now con-
vinced that this tremendons news must perforce involve
the evacuation of Normanby, and the retreat of a Prussian
corps from St. Rornain is actually set down as corrobora-
tive evidence. It is possible that Trochu may have
made a successful sortie, but from all the information
I can gathea, the reports current here must
be set down as belonging to the regions of
romance. Early this morning rather heavy firing was
heard in the .direction of Gonfreville-POrcher.
The French outposts, on the other hand, have from some
unaccountable reason evacuated Mortivilliers, where a
•
Prussian force appeared yesterday and made a requisi-
tion of flour, but otherwise behaved decorously.
After the Prussians had left with their booty, the
Franc-tireurs came down from Gainneville and attacked
the rear of the enemy, but with what success I do not
know, for although Montivilliers is within a walk from
this the scare here is such that no one is allowed to go
there.g dare say I might find my way through the French
lines; but it would be next to impossible to return. The
service of reconnaissances on the part of the French
is, to put:it mildly, open to improvement. It is ludi-
crous to find so-called military operations confined
to a military promenade between this place and Harfleur.
The French still hold Acteville, but they have evacuated
both Rouelle and the heights beyond Montivilliers. That
they should have done so without being attacked is
utterly incomprehensible—but it is presumable that the
military authorities have a plan. Let us hope it may
prove a practical one.

AROUND PARIS.
In a letter, dated from Lagny, December 9, the specia
correspondent of the Daily News at the headquarters
the Crown Prince of Prussia thus writes on the scene
around Paris :—This place is opposite Versailles, do to
say, with Paris lying between them and the besieging
lines, stretching round to right and left. Lagny is the
terminus of the German railways in France. It is here
that wounded men from the front are put in
the trains which take them home, and that the
French prisoners ' change their weary' tramp along
the highway for a quicker means of transport to
Germany. I never saw a town so thoroughly occupied.
The streets are full of soldiers and camp followers. The
railway station is blocked with German goods. There
are engines from Germany, and carriages from Ger-
many. Station clerks, traffic managers, and telegraph
operators are of the same nationality as the rolling
stock. Parks of waggons are formed round the
town, waiting to be loaded and to start in
slow procession for the front. Columns of waggons
are constantly winding down to the river and over the
temporary wooden bridge, and up to the station. Some
come empty, others bring queer assortments of " souve-
nirs " which the drivers have collected along their line of
march. All of them go away full of stores for the
victualling of the German army. Stores are sent by the
Government and bought on speculation by private
persons. The small merchants from Germany are in
their glory. Cheese and butter, boxes of cigars, and
cases of " dry goods," are supplied at a profit to all who
choose to buy. The hungry and helmeted patriot can
have them ; so can the humbled foe. You would smile to
hear the chances of the 'war discussed in its very midst
from the commercial point of view. Such. and such an
event will make butter go up at Versailles.
The recent battles on the Loire had • made
cigars likely to be wanted in that direction.
Come what may, your small merchant will be
ready. He is firm in his views of the French,
tells them his mind, and bullies them freely. He has
hungry eyes on Paris. What openings there will be
when the city has fallen. A fortune may soon be made,
for everything in the cheese and cigar line will be fabu-
lously dear. As the time of stirrender approaches, half
Germany will ho prepared to enter in triumph at the
heels of the army. The German terminus in France will
have more and more trade, until the day when the trains
can sweep on into the capital itself, and then
Lagny will suddenly subside into a sort of
oil region settlement where the oil has failed.
T remember describing to you a carriage of the Interna-
tional' Society, shewn • last summer at the St. Peters-
burg Exhibition. It was on the very same model on.
which are formed a dozen that I hive seen start for
Germany to-day. Nurses and orderlies move
from l.atrorm to platform of the train, which has
its coo!, i 4-N. an, in true Pacific Railroad style.
Every care is taken to bring the stretchers gently
to the sting •$ that will sustain-them in their places, one
above the other. By sad experience, the whole thing has
been organized until their is nothing to be wished in way
of travelling gear. The wounded are kindly and promptly
sent on their way without a moment's delay or confusion.
Ido not say that all the trains are as comfortable as
the model train which I have just chanced to see, but
the system is now in capital working order. A
Bavarian train; . next on the rails, though not
quite so smart to look at as its predecessor bound to
North Germany, is in first-rate condition for practical
work. The , sufferers can lie on their backti Mid smoke