The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-03 00:00:00

AT METZ.

SUNDAY

The last few days here have been spent by the gentle-
men of the press in frantic efforts to stave off the ruin
which awaits them. It is obvious that they will not be
allowed to accompany the army. It is palpable that they
cannot from this side of the operations gain any satisfac-
tory and trustworthy accounts of the war. The refusal
of the commanders to allow any correspondents with the
army has not given way : and to attempt to glean an
account of events in a surreptitious manner
would be highly dangerous. Hence the excite-
ment among the fraternity ; hence the frantic efforts
for redress. Indeed, the newspaper question is just now
the only point of interest, for, though there are plenty of
troops in and about Metz, the tide of war has swept
onwards, leaving this fortified place in a state of inaction.
Well, the literary men are not getting on very well.
Quite the reverse ; their condition and prospects are worse
than ever. They cannot get permission to go with the
army, and though it is said that some of
them have introduced themselves into the ranks, it is-
not easy to credit the story. It is reported that some
have enlisted and others gained employment as depen-
dents of different kinds attached to the various corps.
But such a yarn presents great difficulties. These corre-
spondents in disguise must be all Frenchmen, that is
clear, and the French papers still labour under prohibi-
tions which render their correspondence of the baldest,
most useless kind. Moreover, how could these writers,
employed in the army, manage to send their letters, and
what would become of them if they were found
out ? No, there is no hope even of this
kind. The French public must be satisfied with what
news they find in the Journal Officiel— and in the German
papers. The unfavourable consequences of this
arrangement we are even now able to esti-
mate, for whilst the Journal Officiel is publishing
the baldest of bulletins, the German papers are all engaged
in spreading the news that every one of the skirmishes on
the frontier has turned in favour of their own side. There
is reason to think that the honours have been more
equally divided, but, owing to the restrictive system, no-
body is told of what is done on the French side.
Meanwhile the correspondents get into gaol in greater
cumbers than ever. There is probably not one
representative of the press who has failed to enjoy the
honour of incarceration at least once. Some have been
locked up twice; one or two can point to even stronger
testimony to their zeal. And if there is one nation more
than another which the French are given to suspecting of
spying proclivities, it is the British. They have all had
more than their share of polite attentions. The Echo
representative was bagged a day or two ago ; Mr. Simp-
son, the artist, had a narrow escape ; and a still greater
haul was made two nights ago. Three of your
contemporaries, the Freeman's Journal, the Man-
chester Examiner, and the North British Daily
Mail. have adopted the highly sensible plan of combining
and sending out a correspondent between them. Thi
representative, Mr. Cameron, is now under lock and key.
Upon him hang the interests of three important jour-
nals, one in each of the great provinces of the Empire,
and yet he is taken. Three lights quenched at once, Mr.
Cameron, sooth to tell, did not behave with great
prudence. He was guilty, it is said, of asking questions
of the soldiers ; and when a man is arrested for looking
with one eye at a small fortification, or for pulling out 'e
note book, or for standing in the street, it may certainly
be expected that prowling about camps will be visited with
prompt retribution. Mr. Cameron has spent two days in
prison, and there he still remains. He has expressed a
fear that he will not get out until peace is proclaimed,
which according to the Emperor's proclamation-will be,
long first. Either Mr. Cameron was more guilty than
the rest of his kind, or the Provost Marshal, Count de
Saint Sauveur, has determined to have a victim, and
has fixed upon this tres juncti in uno as the proper man.
We have got to the pressed bay stage of our prepara-
tions. In fact, Metz is occupied with nothing save this
superior food for cattle. The money has all come in,
the Commissariat is generally in better order, and
now pressed hay is the great question of the hour.

WISSEMBOURG. SUNDAY

We have had some news here from a spy, or semi spy,
or some person of that kind, evidently more objectionable
than a newspaper correspondent. An Alsatian arrived
here yesterday from Landau, the Bavarian town. He
said that having obtained a safe conduct from
the municipality, he had some trouble in find-
ing a driver who would take him into France.
Having at last done so, and having been stopped
ten times while en route he was very well 'pleased to find
himself safe on French soil. During the last eight or ten
days according to his account, large numbers of
troops passed through Lar.dau, and all the rail:
way trains, whether for passengers, goods, or mails,
were suspended for the sake of the military trains.
Letters and papers arrive at rare and uncertain intervals.
The number of Prussian troops brought to Landau by the
line he estimated at about 80,000. Seven complete regiments
of infantry arrived there in two days, and passed on
to the central rendezvous in the south. There are 2,000
Prussian soldiers and 2,000 Bavarians at Landau billeted
on the inhabitants, who are sometimes puzzled how to
accommodate them. They have received orders to supply
provisions for them for three months, an order which
in many instances presses hardly on the people. Never-
theless, they are confident of victory, and the troops of
the active army, who have a resolute and soldierly air,
present a fine appearance, and are in good spirits. The
soldiers of the Landwehr are not, unnaturally,
more depressed and weary. Ten thousand men are
stationed at different points between Landau and the
frontier, and several bodies of cavalry are kept on the
look out on the several highways, Altogether this Alsa-
tian told us that South Germany had been strongly de-
fended, albeit the number of troops is not so great as
to leave any doubt of the determination of Prussia to
make the Moselle county the scene of most of the
fighting.