The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-13 00:00:00

crew werb

arigantine 6tavanger,
struck Sanal, and became
ital Wreck. Twelve rockets were fired, lout all attunipts
al that Way to save these on hoard proved unanecessful,
the distance from the shore being too great. The Pomfret
and Goole lifeboat, belonging to the National Lifeboat
Institution, was, however, brought overland by the vier
Works, launched, and proceeded- to the wreck ; but the
wind and sea were so heavy that she was driven away, the
rope which held her being parted like a thread, such was
the force of the sea, and the same result attended a second
and third trial. Her gallant crew, however, persevered,
and their noble efforts were ultimately crowned with
success, for on the fourth attempt they were enabled to
rescue the- whole of the shipwrecked crew, who were
landed in safety amidst the .cheers of the .spectators

shore.
On the same evening the fishing smack Robert Hellyer,
of Hull, was in distress on the breakers exhibiting.signal-
lights. The Chapel lifeboat Prodsend, of the Lifeboat
SccietY, was quickly launched, through a very heavy sea,
to the assistance of the vessel, and gaVe :the crew,: who
Were ignorant of their exact situation, information of
their position. About three o'clock on Saturday morn-
ing the same vessel came ashore at Chapel, and the crew
...of the lifeboat were mustered, end with great difficulty
they launched the boat Again, and after a hard struggle
got four out of five of the vessel's crew into the lifeboat.
.The sea was terAfic, but the 'lifeboat...men would not for-
sake the man left on' board. They therefore remained
alongside until the tide fell, when his position was
rendered comparatively safe. The behaviour of the
lifeboat crew is spoken of in the highest terms.
The ship Clara has been reported at Lowestoft dere-
lict. She was from Stockholm for Lisbon, and her crew
consisted of five hands. Nothing has been heard of. them,
and it is suptosed that they have perished. Photographs
of the master and a female have been found in the

cabin.

fLIE PRISONERS FROM THE LOIRE ARMY. 3's;
Writing from Corbel, December 7, the special corre-
pendent of the Daily News at the headquarters of the
Crown Prince of Prussia thus comments on the defeats of
the Loire Army :'—There is no disguising the weight of
the blow which has fallen on the newly-organised
French forces. Without leaving the neighbour-
hood of the beleaguered capital for so long • a
ride as it. would 'be to Orleans, I have cut
into the stream of prisoners and wounded that is setting
steadily hack from the southern battle-fields. The pri-
souers and wounded cross the Seine at Corbeil, and pass
on towards the railway at Lagny. They crowd this little
town with an unusual throng. Cast night the churches
were full-of captured Frenchmen, and a 'loud diicussion
was going forward at nine or ten at night as to where
some Prussian officers should be lodged who had come in
sorely hurt. More and more of both classes of travellers--
both sufficiently dismal classes, though the wounded
seem the happier of the two—will enter Corbeil during
the next few days. The series of engagements, from
the middle of November to the 'present time, between
th 2 Army of the Loire and the combined German armies
neer Prince Frederick Charles and the Grand Duke of
Mecklenburg, has left France almost in the position of
three months ago. She has a better garrison in Paris,
but then there is a strong hostile force in the
heart of the country. The series of engage-
ments above referred to has shaken the Army
of the Loire to pieces.. The. Germans speak of
. some of the fighting they have had as very severe ; but it
is clear that it is like .the efforts of a desperate man,
ignorant of fencing, to resist a well-trained antagonist by
sheer force of will. The Mobiles have not been
able to deal with troops so much more skilful than them-
aelves. Why, take the more matter of shooting, and remem-
ber that these Mobiles have been 'armed with breech-
loaders long since their training began, and the training
Is but a few weeks old. Remember that the Germans
have been carefully taught to fire to the best advantage
for years past. It is a curious glimpse of Mobile
organization to study the views of the prisoners
on the reason of their ill success. Most of them
attribute what has happened to an utter want of
supplies at critical moments, and to the ignorance
of the officers in military affairs. They all declare
that these officers of Gardes Mobiles did their duty
manfully, so far as leading their men into fire went,
but that they could not lead them out of fire in good
order when the line fell back. That is as much as to say,
that the discipline was not brought ,to a , proper point.
The officers were followed if they were known and liked,
particularly if they hailed from the same town or village
as most cf their men. A stranger from another regiment,
cr, still worse, a Line officer coming among the
Mobiles, would scarcely have been listened to at all.
It is sad work to see prisoners go by when those prisoners
are one's own people ; and the little town of Corbel must
feel the bitter weather to be doubly dreary in defeat.
There have been questions of bread for
the prisoners, and of soup for the prisoners,
M. le Make has had to take note of their
presence. What does not come before him in war
time? M. le commandant de la place—a German officer,
of course—has had to' see to their safe keeping, and the
townsfolk have run out to give them little comforts, as
the column is formed for departure. It is a change from
the gay march torelieve Paris, which these lads had hoped
to •make. There, in the snow-sprinkled street, are the
prisoners, surrounded by guards. Anyone can step
up and speak to them, and many of the women
press scraps of bread, or fruit, or cigars, into their hands.
The lads seem active and tough, but their position has'
taken all the fire and gaiety nut of them, and they are
Very young for such work. Most of those in the column
are under twenty hero are linesmen and Mobiles,
but more of the former than the latter. They
were taken, 'they say, by the troops of the Grand
Duke of Mecklenburg. All was silent along the south of
Paris yesterday, save for a few French cannon shot from
the forts. the roads were like iron, and the air very
keen.. No sign appeared of a forward movement by the
garrison, which keeps itg footing beyond the Marne a'
Chamuigny.

A GIFT TO KING WILLIAM.

The special correspondent of the Tel,raph seeds the
following from Berlin, December 12 (5 p.m.) r—Aecording
to a. letter from King William to Queen Augusta—bear-
ing no date—of which an extract has been published here
a very brilliant cavalry charge was executed near Orleans,
the Ist and 6th Lillian Regiments, under General
Bernhardt, riding down • two entire battalions,
scattering three squadrons of horse, capturing a
battery of four guns, and all this in 'a single breath. A
squadron of the 4th Hussar Regiment also captured a
battery concealed in the thickets ; they rode into the
battery from behind while it was firing, and the guns
were taken intact as they stood. They arrived yesterday
at Versailles, where the inhabitants sought to persuade
themselves that the guns had been brought from
Sedan to be exhibited as trophies of the Orleans victory.
I enn enabled to add ono or two details of this
interesting incident. The battery, which was one of
horse artillery—artillery votante—was. brought to Ver-
sailles by Captain Baron von Witzleben, of the Ist
Cuirassiers ; and the guns were cleverly captured by
Captain von Wartensleben, who commanded the squa-
dron of the 4th Hussars. Just at the edge of the Forest
of Orleans, the battery was posted behind a strong earth-
work, and was actively engaged in pounding away
at the assailing Germans. Count von Wartens-
leben drew off his squadron to the flank, made a
long detour at the gallop over frozen ploughed fields, stole
quietly into the wood behind the gunners, and rode down
upon the battery. The French had time only to swing
round a single piece, against the intruding
troopers ; and the sergeant in command of this
gun was sabred by
.the gallant commander of
the squadron himself. The Count brought in the
whole battery—officers, men, horses and pieces--in
perfect order just as if ho had been marching past on
parade. Baron von Witzleben, who had ridden one
hundred and twenty miles in twenty-three hours to join
the Army of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, volun-
teered to take charge of the captured battery to Versailles;
and he actually brought the guns to headquarters without
any escort whatever beyond his own orderly. The
King, when inspecting the battery, paid Baron von
Witzleben a handsome compliment for his achievement.
Among the guns captured in the entrenched camp
of Orleans were two, twenty-four-pounders—a fact
which showetthe really formidable character of the French
fortifications. I hear from Versailles that Baron Von
Witzleben describes their position as being neither more
nor less than an extemporised fortress. The works were
bastion-faced, with ditches in front ; and such defences
could have been held by a small force of determined
men against ten times their number. The French,
however, after a half-hour's fair fight on the 4th
instant, made no attempt whatever to hold their ground ;
they fled in a kind of panic, or surrendered themselves
by whole. battalions. Not fewer than seventeen thousand
prisoners, I believe, have already been made and sent
eastwards. The Uhlans of the 4th Cavalry Division—
Prince Albrecht's—rode down and simply annihilated
the Spahis who had come from Africa and had
made their ddbut in front of Orleans. Among the
prisoners of the irregular • corps—the eclaireurs of
the Loire, of Brittany, &c.—Baron von Witzleben found
one Duke, several Marquises, and a number of gentle-
men of high position, all serving as ' privates. He was
told by a captain of one of those amateur corps that he
lost 90 out of 135 men; and on the field the dead French
lay in the proportion of seven to every dead German.
Not more than about 40,000 Germans were in
action ; but about double that number were in re-
serve, although they never had occasion to fire a shot.
The Bavarians behaved extremely well During the
action -the 10th Army Corps received orders to return to
its quarters, as its services were not needed—much to the
disappointment of officers and men. The cold on the day
bf the battle was terrific. The Grand Duke of Mecklen-
Virg, I am told, performed wonders, and deserves the
'very highest credit.

THE FRENCH Anars.—The Gernitns speak of the
French guns as being well served but badly maucouvred,
and' say that a much larger average of shells explode now
than formerly. The foreign rifles in the hands of the
French are described as very effective •arrnh. They
have bought weapons abroad quite as good as
their lost Chassepbts, and if they only knew how
to use them, would do great execution. But the fire
is rapid without being sufficiently superintended by the
officers, and much ammunition is thrown away. The
hardest fight of the recent series is said to have been that
with the left of Prince Frederick Charles on November
27, near Beaune, though the resistance at the Orleans
Railway station on the afternoon of December 4—when
the whole defence was breaking up—was very
obstinate. There is altogether nothing to be
ashamed of in the ill-fortune of a newly-organised force
opposed to skilful veterans. But the second capture of
Orleans reads us a lesson which cannot be too carefully
read. Arming volunteers in haste with weapons that are
new to them, calling out pensioners and militiamen to
be massed into an army without sufficient means of
transport or sufficient trained officers to weld the
mass, is in. France a last desperate measure. The Army
of the Loire was brought into the field, because France
was in extremity. But for us to rely on beginning a war
with much the same drawbacks would be madness.
Above all, we must foster a military train that khan be
. capable of taking into itself and regulatiof the vast re-
sources of transport which wO itossess.—Datly News Cor-
respondent,