The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-20 00:00:00

range combat—during which the French fire told with
appalling effect upon the Germans—that the Prussians
and Bavarians lost so many men.—Correspondent of Tele=
graph at Karlsruhe.

THE EMPEROR'S FETE DAY AT CHALONS.—I
thought the Camp would have been illuminated, And
was told that it probably would have been had it
not been the Emperor's fete day, but he is com-
pletely cou/e, thoroughly done for. People make
no bones about saying sl now, and that they will
have no more of him. " Nous n'en voulons plus." Iu
the street here the cries I mentioned to you in a former
letter go on every evening with reference to the Emperor.
Some soldiers cry out, " Vive l'Empereur !" and a chorus
of voices answer by a very vulgar and insulting word. The
nation is up in arms, but the name of the Emperor seems
to have no more to do with anything than if he did not
exist.—Daily Hews Correspondent.

WOERTIL—WiII any one, explain how so able a
general as MacMahon occupied an advanced position with
an army which, however numerous, was not equal by
nearly a half to the force the Crown Prince could bring
against him? It is true there were not, perhaps,
more than 90,000 engaged with his- 60,000, but
still there was nothing we can see to warrant
his advancing to Woerth to engage an army which he
had no reason to consider inferior to his own, man for man,
when it was, or ought to have been, known to him that
they were, at least, three to two against him. It is true
he has inflicted awful loss on the German army. There
will be mourning in many thousands of households
from the Rhine to the Vistula, and from the shores of the
Baltic to the frontiers of Southern Bavaria : but
then the Duke of Magenta has been . utterly routed, and
his defeat must have carried terror to the gates of
Paris. His personal baggage, his official and private
letters, the plan of the French campaign in cipher, and
deciphered, &c., have fallen into the hands of the con-
querors. It is characteristic of modern French strategy
that no maps of France (especially of the Vosges) have
been found in the officers' baggage, while many excellent
sketches of the country beyond the Rhine, and of the
routes to Coburg and to Berlin, &c., have been discovered,
as well as sketches of the country beyond the Rhine. The
blow appears to have been quite appalling in its sudden-
ne ss.—Times' Correspondent at head-quarters of Crown
Prince.

THE POPE AND THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

The Journal de Bruxelles publishes two letters which it
declares have passed between the Pope and the King of
Prussia. The Pope, whose letter is dated the 22nd of
July, says that it may appear strange to the King to
receive a communication from him at such a
time, but being the vicar on earth of the God
of peace, he feels bound to offer his mediation.
He desires to see a stop put to the warlike preparations,
and thus prevent the evils which would be the inevitable
consequences of the conflict. This mediation is that
of a king who can create no jealousy through
the extent of his kingdom, but who can inspire
confidence through the religious and moral in-
fluence which he personifies. He adds that be
has written to the Emperor of the French. The King of
Prussia's letter is dated July the 30th. He declares that
he is not surprised but greatly affected on reading
. the letter of the Pope in which he seeks to
make the voice of the God of peace heard.
His heart cannot fail to be touched by se
poverful an appeal. He, however, calls God to witness
that the war has not been provoked by him or his people.
They are taking up arms to defend the honour and inde-
pendence of their country, and they will always be ready
to lay them down when these blessings are assured.
He concludes by declaring that if the Pope can offer
him an assurance of frieadly dispositions and securities
against the recurrence of a similar attack on the peace of
Europe, on the part of him who so unexpectedly
declared war, he would not refuse to receive them from
his Holiness, with whom he is allied by the bonds of
Christian charity and a sincere friendship.

OUR SHIPPING INTERESTS-THE QUES-
TION OF AN EXTRA SESSION OF CON-
GRESS.

The wide-awake little kingdom of Belgium, it appears,
has stepped in to take the place of Germany in the matter
of those important lines of German Atlantic merchant
steamers, the place made vacant by this Franco-Prussian
war. Had the Congress of the United States seconded the
timely message of the Preside nt upon this subject the transfer
of those German lines of steamers might have made a very
simple business transaction. As it is the opportunity ap-
pears to be lost. It is given out, however, that to-day or to-
morrow, General Grant at Washington_will hold a Cabi-
net council to consider the question of calling an extra
session of Congress, and in view of the very strong proba-
bilities of England's early participation in this Conti-
nental war, and in view of the necessity which
will follow this event for some special legislation by Con-
gress in reference to American neutrality, belligerent
rights, commercial interests, and the Monroe doctrine,
we think the best course the President can take is to
make sure provision against all probable contingencies by
a proclamation embracing (say) a notice of sixty days for
the assembling of the two Houses in extraordinary
session. Fortunately, there will now be no difficulty in
the matter of elections. The two houses of the present
Congress, as now organised, will continue till March next,
and in assembling on an extra call they will be at once
ready for business ; and as the compensation of the mem-
bers is xed, the only costs of an extra session will be its
contingnt expenses. Hence, while there can be no
serious objections to an extra session of Congress, the
demands of the crisis for special legi,lation, looking to
American interests, are unanswerable.—New York Herald,
Aug. 5.

THE PLAN OF THE EUROPEAN
CAMPAIGN,

The Franco-German conflict has already resolved itself
into two well-defined and opposite lines of advance. On
the one side the Prussian troops ate descending the
valley of the Rhine from the great central positions of
Coblentz; Mayence, and Frankfort, and by the
railroad system which centres at Mannheim, are
evidently preparing to invade French territory
in force. The great line whose terminus is
at Strasbourg, crosses the frontier at the town
of Weissenburg, whose capture is now placed
beyond any doubt. The position of this fortified town as
the key of the great iron highway by which the invading
• troops can be brought to the front, is only one of the ad-
vantages gained to the Prussians by its capture. Parallel
with the river Lauter, which runs past the town,
marking the boundry between France and the Palatinate,
there runs a famous series of earthworks nine miles long,
closing at the fortified little town of Lauterburg, very
near the point at which the Lauter falls into
the Rhine. The wide open valley at whose
upper end are Mayence and Frankfort, at a distance of
upwards of one hundred miles, is by this means pro-
tected by the troops which hold Weissenburg, and it is
obvious that the moment this important line of defence
is fairly occupied by the Prussians there will be great
danger either of the flank being turned of the
French army, whose right rests upon St. Avoid .
and Saarbruck, or of a united advance by the
main body of the Prussians into the heart of
France. As a counter-movement to this we have
the French troops retaining Metz as their base of opera-
tions, making a wedge-like advance into Germany along
the valley of the Saar. The capture of Saar-louis must
inevitably be attempted as the first stage of an advance
which, presuming the Prussian head-quarters to be at
Troves, as reported, would necessitate a decisive battle
within a few days. In point of fact the Prussian change of
tactics evidenced by their descent upon Weissenburg leaves
the Emperor no choice of any other route on the northern
frontier whereby to carry the war into the enemy's terri-
tory. A victory in the valley of the Saar might place
Rhenish Prussia within his power ; a victory in the angle
formed by the Lauter and the Rhine only leaves him in
possession of the entrance to a species of natural blind
alley studded with fortresses and closed at the
upper end by two of the strongest military positions
in the world. It is obviously, however, of extreme
importance that the Prussian foothold on French soil
should be disputed ere it become too strong to be easily
dislodged. Hence the fighting along the front of the
" lines of Weissenburg," to which the village of Nieder-
Lauterbach is immediately adjacent; and hence the des-
perate efforts being evidently made by Marshal MacMahon
to re cover the advantage lost in the capture by the Prussians
of the key to this strong position. The first general
engagement, therefore, may be looked for either in the
Valley of the, Saar, between the advancing forces of the
Emperor and the troops presumedly under King Wil-
liam, at Troves, or near the junction of the Lauter and
the Rhine, between MacMahon, with his Algerian co-
horts, and the Prussians and Bavarians advancing under
the Crown Prince into France. —New York Times of
August 6th.