The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-11 00:00:00

THE ATTITU JE OF LYONo.

The correspondent of the Standard,writing from Lyons,
says :—"The arrest by the Prefect of General Mazure.
commanding in the district of Lyons, no doubt has an
ugly look; but M. Challemel-Lacour had to take his
choice between dismissing an officer who, stand-
ing on the strictest ground of military rights,
declined to recognise the chief, nay, by virtue
of delegation from the Government at Tours, the
supreme civil authority, and fighting the populace
which had made up its mind that it would only
support the Administration on condition of power
and responsibility remaining in one head and pair
of hands. The arrest, which will lead to nothing
serious, for it appears the General did not receive
the formal official communications that were
addressed to him, seems to have had the happiest
effect, and the Prefect is now, so far as I can judge,
master of the situation. That he is honestly Republican I
make no question, but he is one of those Republicans who
would accept the verdict of the nation if it should happen to
be in favour of the restoration of the Orleans family.
Anything but the Empire again appears to be his motto—
and there is no use disguising the fact, that it is
the ruling idea of ninety out of every hundred
Frenchmen. Myself rather leaning, for the sake
of France, to a restoration of the Napoleonic
dynasty, I must tell you honestly I have not
spoken to a single Frenchman, urban or rural, who
shared my opinions, or who treated the very idea
of such a restoration as anything but a reproach
to the intelligence of the country. lam sorry for it, but
my business is to tell the truth. The papers all over the
South of France have quoted with marked approval a
telegraphic summary of an article in the Standard, to
the effect that by deserting France England has perilled
all she won so dearly by the Crimean War. What can
England be thinking of ? they all say, and they find their
consolation in the unquestionable fact, that since the
change in the political questions of the war there has been
a marked revulsion in England in favour of their country.
Still, they have learnt the bitter lesson that they must
look to no meditation or intervention in their behalf, and
must depend upon themselves for the result of the contest.
Now that France has her blood up she would no more
consent even to pay the expenses of the war—which
she was willing enough to do a fortnight ago—
than she would give up Alsace and Lorraine,
or blot herself out by her own hand from
the list of European Powers. It is now, indeed a
war to the uttermost, and it is a war in which King
William may lose his throne, but in which France
cannot be conquered, even by the strategy of Von
Moltke, the persistence of Bismarck, and the reck-
less sacrifice of his subjects by the mouth-pious King
William. Lyons, alone, will give about 45,000 men
to the new defence. There are, of course, a great many
more than that on paper, but the National Guard, which
numbers 65,000, has only 21,000 fit for campaigning; and
the Mobiles will not turn out in much greater force.
Still, 45,000 is a good contingent, especially as it is one of
all three arms—and it will further include about 2,000
very valuable men drawn from the boat and bargemen
of the Rhone and the Saone, who will be familiar with the
material used in boat bridges. The artillery seems to be
better than that of the Army of the Loire, and certainly
the artillerymen are more numerous. The city is now en-
tirely at unity, at least for the present. The. Red Com-
mittee has completely collapsed, and the Red flag is only
to be seen hung out in one place. But the Reds do not
intend to disarm. Their leaders, who are the merest ad-
venturers with nothing to lose, may give some trouble in
the future, if France should not decide in accordance
with their wishes; but just now they have retired from
notice, biding their time. When I went to-day to call
on the Prefect I found his ante-chamber crammed with
the men whom such a crisis as this brings out—men
full of new notions, anh each one of whom fancies
the safety of the country depends on the instant
adoption of this or that • invention. Busy as he is,
M. Challemel-Lacour finds time to see the most of tham,
and to persuade them to submit the new machines
to the Committee of Inventions, which sits almost
en permanance, and which is said to have really found
some very useful machines among the hundreds which
they have inspected. I have had the privilege this after-
noon of going over some of the fortifications mentioned in
my letter of last night. You will not expect me to
enter into any details of their construction or their
strength ; but I may say thus much, that they
are very strong earthworks, covering bomb-proof
magazines, and commanding by their heavy guns at
least six miles of country from the heights of the
Saone and the Rhone. As they stand at present they
could be taken in flank, but in three- or four days
the covering works will be completed, and they will be
inaccessible from the country, while from the city itself
the bulk of them can only be approached by roads, well
defended, winding up almost perpendicular cliffs.
Without much faith in fortifications as a rule, I
should yet pronounce that, with these works, Lyons is
safe. Almost the only reprehensible act of this city,
in its corporate capacity, has been the closing of the
schools kept by the Christian Brothers. The hostility of
Republicanism to religion was never more clearly shown,
for these schools were kept open by a payment from the
city of less than one-fourth what it would cost to maintain
secular schools. However, the rapport I,‘.tween the
oitizens and the clergy appears to be in tier respects
satisfactory; for instance, the Jesuits gave up their grounds
and a portion of their buildings to drill—Mobiles ? no, that
would be somQiing, but actually two companies of
the Garibaldian Legion that was here for a few days.
Nothing like this 11,6 s been heard of since, in Byron's
'Vision of Judgme Jack Wilkes turned evidence in
savour of ueorge 1 L Eight thousand more men have
passed here to-day r Besancon. I heard on the Bourse
that a Prussian , lump began t 3 move south from
Colmar last night,_ at nothing is known or believed of
this at the Prefecture. All is very quiet in Lyons to-
night, but drilling is going on vigorously. If these troops
only had plenty of arms ! It is arms they are wanting
now. What is Birmingham doing ?"

THE CONDITION OF NANCY.—Two delegates from
Nancy have lately been to Lyons, and given some infor-
mation concerning the unfortunate city of Lo-raine. In
spite of the complete isolation in which the Prussians
kept Nancy, the news of the proclamation of the Republic
was speedily made known there, and nothing could check
the display of public enthusiasm. The Prussians threat-
ened to charge the crowd, but the manifestation was con-
tinued for some time. The Prussians have completely
re-established the railways in Lorraine, and these bring
direct from Germany, great quantities of munitions and
provisions of all kinds. The delegat: were of opinion
that the fortunes of war might be changed if the French
could send troops into Lorraine to stop the trains and de-
stroy the railways. The Prussian masses before Paris
would be famished if they were deprived of their com-
munication with Germany, and the great number of the
besieging army which has hitherto been the cause of their
success, would lead to their ruin. The German hordes
could not, it is contended, find suffice -,nt provision in the
departments, which they have alrea ly pillaged in all
directions.
TREATMENT OF GERMAN SAILOR —The Cologn
Gazette publishes new accounts with refer, rde to the ill-
treatment of German sailors •by the Frenc , authorities,
to which we have already had occasion to refer. At the
end of August six German merchant vessels were taken
by the French to Oran in Algiers, where their crews
were treated as prisoners of war, although their
papers showed they ought to have been set free at
once, The ships in question are the Borussia, Captain
Wegener; the Norddeutschland, Captain Dillwitz ; the
Blucher Finke, Captain Andreis ; the Adler, Captain
Konow ; the Perle, Captain Wallis, and the. Brillante,
Captain F. A. Brondes. The whole of the crews,
after having been released from prison, ar,_ tillobliged
to remain in Oran, in spite of the exertions of the
representative . of the United States of North
America. Even the wife of one of the Captains
was imprisoned by the French authorities, and
it cost no small trouble to obtain permission for her and
her husband to take private lodgings. The crews of two
Prussian colliers, which were taken in Greek waters,
suffered a similar treatment. The two captains and the
twelve sailors were imprisoned in the casemates of
Marseilles. They were there placed in ohains, left with-
out light, and only fed once in twenty-four hours. They
remained there six weeks, till the Republic was proclaimed.
The Prussians were then interned, and the other Germans
compelled to leave the country.