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

DESPATCH OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA TO

THE QUEEN.

66 WILUAm."

AN AMBULANCE TRAIN CAPTURED.
A French ambulance train, composed of 15 doctors,
90 hospital attendants, 16 horses, and 8 carriages,
was captur,d by the Prussians near Metz, and sent
IT them to Cologne. It was, huwever, subsequently
*leased, and 3 esterday passed through Belgium, on
is way back to France.

THE BLOCKADE IN THE BALTIC,.
The following telegram dated August 18th bas
_Jeer' received from H.M. Consul at Hamburg,
lad is forwarded to us from the Foreign Office :
A despatch jus; arrived from the Admiral of
~he French Fleet states that the delay of ten days
?iven applies only to neutral ships leaving the ports
)n this coast, and that from the 15th the absolute
blockade of the rivers Elbe and Weser has com-
menced ; that to suppose they might enter was a
.misunderstanding.

AFFAIRS IN PARIS.
PARIS, AUGUST 18, 10 P.M.
v‘itinv et, i'alikao, Minister of War, gave the following
tnformation this afternoon to the deputies assembled in
the Corps Legislatif :
" It is positive that the Prussians had a considerable
oss in - the battle of the 16th, particularly in
:he centre of the army.
" The object of the Prince Frederick Charles was to
etire on St. Michael in order to form a junction with the
Prince Royal, but he was prevented.
"The Prussian general demanded an armistice to bury
..he dead. This was refused.

" The whole of the regiment of white cuirassiers called
she Bismark's was completely destroyed. Not a single
soldier remains.

" In the environs of Schelstadt at the approach of some
dragoons, the peasants took up arms, killed ten of them,
and took many others prisoners."

A detachment of marines is expected to reach Paris
.o-night, they are destined to work the guns on the forts
which surround Paris. Paris is now well armed, and well
provisioned. It is intended to have a garrison in the city
of 80,000 men, and 30,000 man will form the garrison of
the forts.

A division is now being formed in Paris composed of

9,000 armed custom-house officers, 6,000 armed guards of
the Forest, two regiments of infantry, and the battalion
of Chasseurs—in all 18,000 men. The corps commanded
by General Vinay is composed of 60,000 men. Two regi-
ments of artillery have arrived at Paris from St. Omer.
Fhey leave on Saturday for the camp at Chalons.
The corps commanded by General Donay, consisting of
29,000 men, will leave Belfort to-morrow for Chalons.
The Prussian General Bazeo, sent with a flag of
mice to Strasbourg, for the purpose of demanding its sur-
eender, met with the following reception. He entered
the fortress by the gate of Saverne, escorted by the in-
nabitants, who, all along the
_road, cried out in
German, "We will never surrender." When in
the presence of General Ulrick he demanded
that the fortress should surrender, the General opened
the window and answered, "The people reply for me."
At that moment thousands of voices cried out, "Death
.o'Prussia ! Long live France ! No surrender !" The
Prussian officer retired, convinced that Strasbourg would
be defended to the last extremity.

A Coucil of ministers assembled this morning, at which
h A Emnress presided.

Thirteen Prussian spies have been shot within the
last week in the trenches at Fort Montrouge,
after having been condemned by the Council
of War. They were not shot as _ soldiers
generally are, but a sergeant put a pistol to their
head, and blew out their brains. Amongst the spies were
three staff officers, who had been arrested a few
days previously, under the following singular circum-
stances. They were walking on the plains of
Satory, not far from fort Fory, at the moment
the engineers were conducting some guns for the defence
of the fort. While the cannons were being placed on their
carriages, the horses were unharnessed and left to graze at
their ease. Two Prussians, disguised as shepherds
offered to guard the horses if they were given
two sous. The offer was accepted. The 3rd
then placed himself behind the horses so as to be hidden,
and when close to the fort he took out a pocket-book and
a pencil and took a plan of the fort.

Some soldiers seeing this rushed up to them and seized
them ; they were searched, and papers the most compro-
mising were found on them.

REPORTED SUICIDE OF THE
EMPEROR.

A rnmour published in a special edition of the Man-
chester Examiner and Times of last evening, that the Em-
peror had shot himself on Thursday, at Rheims, caused
great excitement, although the report was received in
Manchester as doubtful. A correspondent of the
same paper writing from Paris on Thurs-
day says that his Majesty had a narrow
escape from being captured while in the house of a Colonel
Henrique, in the neighbourhood of Longeville. A bridge
blown up in time by a company of engineers under a
heavy fire at the moment of a skilful monceuvre of the
enemy for surrounding the fields upon which the Imperial
escort was encamped was the means of saving his Majesty
from adjourning to Berlin. The correspondent goes on
to say that the Emperor, forced to leave Longeville,
passed the following night at a small farm-
house at Gravelette. By the advice of Mar-
shal Bazaine, the next morning the Emperor and
the Prince Imperial, in an open carriage, accom-
panied by the entire household, departed for Verdun,
taking a northern route, not supposed to be occupied by
the Prussians, passing by the small towns of Conflurs
and Etain. Entirely unexpectedly, the advanced guard
of the corps of General Steinmetz passed over
the route taken by the Imperial party, and actually had
luncheon at Etain, in the very neighbourhood where the
Emperor had breakfasted an hour or so before. On the
15th the victory was declared in favour of the French, and
a staff officer was detained to carry the triumphant news to
the Emperor at Verdun, but too late. During this glo-
rious affair, of which the Emperor was still ignorant, he
was receiving the mayor and sons-prefect of Verdun
and; giving them some little encouragement, he
set out for the railway station with the
Prince Imperial almost without escort, when he asked
to have a train got ready for him. " Sire." said the

A. telegram from Berlin of yesterday morning
(7 p.m.) says the Queen had received the following
despatch from the King :

"Bivouac near Rezonville, Aug. 18 (9 p.m.)
14 The French army, occupying a very strong
position to the west of Met; was to-day attacked
under my leadership, and, after nine hours' fighting,
was completely defeated, cut off from its communica-
tion with Paris, and driven back towards Metz.

BOMBARDMENT OF STRASBURG.
A telegram from Carisruhe, dated yesterday, says :
The bombardment of Strasburg, from this side of
the Rhine, near Kehl, began at seven o'clock this
morning, lasted till noon, and was resumed at two in
the afternoon, The fire from the garrison did not
cause much damage at Kehl,"

THE REPORTED FRENCH VICTORIES.
According to the correspondent of the Daily News,
mmense enthusiasm prevailed in Paris yesterday.
The war news described as a French victory was read
aloud amidst loud cheers. The " Marseillaise "
was sung by processions of people. The excite..
went was tremendous, though order was maintained.
The Boulevards were crammed with people, who
incessantly shouted " Vive la France 1" " Vivo
Bazaine !" 44 Vive I'Arm6e 1"