The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-31 00:00:00

THE SEIZURE OF ENGLISH VESSELS Al

BUR

COTE

HAVRE

The correspondent of the Daily News at Havre, writing I
on December 28, says --The all-absorbing topic at pre-
sent is the gross and flagrant insult to the British flag by
the Prussians at Duclair on Wednesday last. English
residents, English merchants and brokers, are wild with in-
dignation that,such a cool and deliberate outrage should be.
perpetrated in the broad dayligot, within a day's sail of
England, and within less than thirty miles of an English
gunboat. Here are the facts :—Six vessels, flying the
Union Jack, provided with the necessary passports, per•
snits, &c., after discharging their cargoes of coal, are
quietly sailing down the river, when on reaching Duclair
they are deliberately fired at, boarded by Prussian sol-
diers, scuttled, and sunk; the crews have barely time to
escape, leaving their money and effects behind them;
they are obliged to pass the night without shelter ;
next day they make their way to Rouen, and are
sent home rid Dieppe by the English Consul.
We are anxious to know what action the authorities will
take in the matter. It is a sad state of affairs if such a
violation of neutrality passes unnoticed. The Journal du
Hattre, commenting on the subject, says: " We are con-
vinced that England, so proud of the privileges of
her citizens, will inquire quickly into this affair.
In it her honour, her dignity, and her security are
at stake. If she allows such an act to be com-
mitted with impunity she will lower herself in
the rank of nations to the fourth order." It is to be
hoped that the Admiralty will see the necessity of
sending us a more formidable war vessel to protect
English interests than the tiny little gunboat at present
here, which is, no doubt, a model of tidiness and smart-
ness, as her officers are of courtesy and kindness,
but that is not quite enough under the present
circumstances, and we ought to have a vessel at least
equal in size to the other men-of-war of various nations
at present in the harbour. The name of the vessels sunk
are the Anne, of Shields ; Maclaren, Sunderland; Jes-
ss.my, Colchester; Sally Gale, Newcastle; Jane Fundle,
Sunderland ; Alice, Sunderland.

THE PRUSSIAN S AT H AVRE AND ROUEN
The same correspondent writing on the movements of
the Prussians at Havre and Rouen, says :—The latest in-
telligence is that they are in considerable force at Yvetot,
where they seem to have fixed their headquarters. Yes-
terday about 200 entered Bolbec, and imposed a requisi-
tion for 500 sacks of oats. There is a strong recon-
noitring party of French in the neighbourhood of Saint
Romain, but no skirmish has taken place since
Saturday ; on which day, it is stated that several
houses in the town of Bolbec sustained serious damage
from the fire of the cannon on both sides, and that several
of the inhabitants were severely wounded. The Francs-
tireurs who were killed in the engagement were interred
with all honour, while those who fell into the hands of the
enemy were, it is stated, shot immediately. It is the
general opinion that these free-shooting corps have
no mercy to expect from the enemy, should
they fall into their hands ; therefore it is that they
are generally brave in action, and fight to the last
before surrendering. General Mocquart has come into
Havre to rest his men ; and indeed the soldiers require
rest and the comforts of life more than usual during this
trying weather, particularly those who ar I
a doing
told outpost
duty. They are relieved every hour, yet m
two men were frozen to death while on duty near Har-
fieur on Christmas-eve. From -Rouen we hear that the
inhabitants are feeling sensibly the presence of the
Germans amongst them. A letter from that city is
published in to-day's Joernal, in which the writer says
they are completely at the mercy of Manteuffel, and
that their streets and promenades are encumbered with
Prussian soldiers. He describes provisions as being fright-
fully dear, and does not know how people will get on should
this state of things last long. Everything that arrives
in the market, even the tobacco, is reserved exclu-
sively for the enemy, and the inhabitants must go with-
out the enjoyment of smoking. An English gentle-
man whO came from Rouen yesterday affirms that the
Prussian army in Normandy numbers only about 25,000
men. He says that by their marching and counter-
marching they establish the impression that they are
double the number. He gives as an 'example, that
on Tuesday morning last a body of men num-
bering 10,000, and carrying with them 39 pieces of
cannon, left Rouen by the road to Caen, and that some
hours after, the same body, with the same number of
cannon, re-entered the town by the Oissel-road, thereby
making it appear to the inhabitants that one column of
men had left while the other entered. The ireitch autlw
rities, lam sure, have cognizance of this strate gem, and
cannot be deceived by such fantastic movements.

THF, COMMENCEMENT OF THE ATTACK.
Writing from the headquarters of the Prussian army
at Versailles on the 27th, the special correspondent of the
Telegraph says :—Christmas is happily over, we may say,
its anniversary not having been marked by the slaughter
of several thousand men, as our generals had expected it
to be. Indeed, the garrison of Paris did but little to
disturb the festivities of its enemies. One shell was
thrown into a German work at Montretout, occupied by
a company of the sth Chasseurs, killing one
man and wounding ten. On the whole the
firing from the forts and French earthworks
has been heavy and continuous since the 23rd. Last
night it was so "well nourished" that, though well ac-
customed to hearing its futile thunder, we fancied some-
thing out of the common must be taking place ; but, upon
inquiring this morning whether any symptoms had been
noticed of an approaching sortie, I have been assured
that, so far as tae French are concerned, every-
thing is "as it was." Not so, however, on our side. This
morning the batteries, of which I have repeatedly made
mention in recent letters, opened upon the French work
on Mont Avron, and have already silenced several of its
gulls. No details whatever of losses, &c., have reached
us up to this time (2 p.m.), and I can therefore give you no
information beyond the bare fact above stated, which will
have been telegraphed to you ere this. The fifth disti nc t and
significant phase of the siege of Paris has now set in. The
Prussian twenty-four pounders have at length broken
their ominous silence, and will, in all probability, make
themselves heard, day after day, until the inevitable
capitulation, with less noise than has been made by the
marine monsters mounted in the forts, but with a great
deal more effect. To-morrow, it is said, will commence
an attack upon Vanves and Montrouge, whilst
a galling fire will he opened upon several nth r
points of the outer line of defence to occupy
the garrison, and shells will be from time to time
thrown into Paris itself, or, to be strictly correct, into
three of its suburbs. lam inclined to think that this
combined offensive action will not be carried out till the
Ist proximo. The supreme direction of the engineering
and artillery departments has been confided to Lieut.-
Generals Prince Hohenlohe and Kamecke, from
whose well-known energy and skill in those
scientific branches of war to which they have
devoted themselves great things are expected by the
army. The extreme coldness from which we have all
been sufiering acutely for the last ten days is esteemed by
the Prussian commanders to be their most powerful
ally. The Prussian soldiers stand it exceeding well ;
indeed, their sanitary condition has never been better
than it is just now ; and they are propped up, from
with;n and without, by every conceivable sustenance
and comfort. The feeding and clothing of the army
are all that could be desired ; consequently, the
men do their duty without an audible murmur,
and are in first-rate fighting condition and temper.
How the army of the field encamped around Paris
fares in this terrible weather we do not know ; but
we suspect, from its comparative inaction at such a
critical moment as the present, that the soldiers of Paris
must be in sad case. No doubt, as soon as the frost
breaks up, we shall have our hands full again—perhaps
before, for it is probable that when the Prussian batteries
open on the forts, &c., sortie after sortie will be made
is
in
rapid succession upon the siege works. A busy
impending, you may be sure. Faidherbe's retreat, how-
ever, and the passive attitude of Chanzy and ourbakire-
,
have relieved us of all immediate apprehension B
wi th
gard to menace in our rear.

The Church's Church's loss by death during 1870 incluled
Bishop Lee, of Manchester: Bishops Verschoyle and
Leslie, of Kilmore; Bishop Gilbert, of Cof Barhichester ; Bishop
Hatchard, of Mauritius ; Bishop Parry, bados ; Bis-
hop Auckland, of Bath and Wells ;
T. Deans Stevlipsens, D
Raev.le,
and Brodrick ; Archdeacon Hale,Rev. Phil,
W. B. Mackenzie, and others.—The Rock.
Mr. Charles Fechter has brought his brief career
in Boston to a sudden termination by resigning the ma-
nagement of the Globe Theatre. The Hub will, of course,
be thrown temporarily
.into despair at its loss, and New
York at its possible gain. It is a pity that Mr. Fechter
did not retire in more dignified style. Why should he insist
on inflicting on a patient public the story of the petty
professional rivalry and contemptible jealousies which
drove him to resign ?—Neiv York Tribune.
There has been a stormy scene in the Spanish
Cortes, Senor Calderon Callantes having made a vehe-
ment speech against the Ministry, in answer to Figuerola's
speech the day before. Collantes demanded that the
Minister should retract his words. The subject of dis-
pute was the Andalusian bonds, but the orator attacked
the Government on behalf of the penal code, the liberty
of the press, and other legislative reforms, most especially
the appointment of the magistrates.

this Morning.

1 THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR.
The Times, having reviewed the principle events of the
txpiring year at considerable length, concludes asfollows
- Although it is impossible to foresee the duration or the
ultimate consequences of the War in France, one of its
great political results has been achieved by the &elution
of the King of Prussia to the rank of German Emperor.
The title, which was first conferred by military acclamation
on victorious Generals, seems still to retain its early Roman
significance, although in the course of ages it has ac-
quired a political and historical meaning. The pre-
eminence which Prussia has attained in Germany is not
unfitly represented by the dignity which, down to the
beginning of the present century, was recognised as
supreme even by the independent Princes 0.. the
Empire. The Imperial title, though it has been
earned on fields of battle, corresponds to the necessi-
ties and aspirations of the German nation. The North
German Confederacy had evidently fulfilled its purpose
when the armies of Bavaria, of Wurtemburg, of Baden,
and of Hesse Cassel had marched to conquest under the
command of the King of Prussia. In the course of the
autumn negotiations were instituted for the extension of
the Confederacy to the Southern States, and an arrange-
ment, including the reservation of certain Sovereign
rights to Bavaria and Wurtemberg, was finally
accepted by the North German Parliament. On
the suggestion of the Grand Duke of Baden, the King of
Pavaria proposed to the other German Princes that the
King of Prussia should be invited to assume the title
of Emperor, and the North German Parliament
despatched a deputation to Versailles to express
its assent to the acceptance of the offer. The
Imperial Constitution provides for a Council of
Princes, in which Prussia will have less than a
third of the whole number of votes. In the Parliament,
which will be elected by a wide suffrage, the representa-
tion of every State will be proportionate to its popula-
tion. The establishment of so great and novel a State
in the centre of Europe would of itself have sufficed
to
render the year 1870 one of the most eventful in history.
Marvellous indeed, remarks the Daily News, have been
the changes wrought by the past year on the political
map of the Continent. Italy has at length acquired
Rome as her capital ; Spain has forsaken her military
Regency, and adopted a King ; Russia has de-
clared herself free from the bands in which she
was bound after the fall of Sebastopol; Rouma-
nia demands her independence ; and England is looking
to Austria as her most probable ally in any question which
may arise, either in diplomacy or in war. But all minor
changes are lost sight of iu view of the great conflict
which was begun in the summer, and which we now see
is to be carried into 1871. To-day we react: the end
of the year ; but the end of this war, which is wasting
the resources of two nations at the van of European
power and intelligence, no prophet can foretell.
The year came in to find ourselves and our
neighbours wrapped in profound peace ; it goes out in a
smoke of burning villages, with the winter atmosphere
full of the lamentations of thousands of widows and
orphans. We cannot even look forward to the new year
as certain to put an end to this gigantic strife, and
settle which of the two nations . at war is to be-
come the leader of the intellectual and material
forces of Europe. 1870 has been a year of retrogression.
It leaves us disquieted with the alarms of war ; each
nation hungering for further armaments. The evil caused
by the present contest in France is riot limited to the •
nations engaged there. Europe has been thoroughly un-
settled and shaken to her foundations. It is impossible to
say how many wars may mark the course of her restora-
tion to a settled peace. If a great and united
Germany is to preside over the Continent—if the coming
Empire is to bring out a new condition of things, if
Europe is to have her old systems destroyed that she may
rise again endowed with another youth—her future may
be a bright one ; but it is as yet afar off, and in the mean-
time she is undergoing a baptism of fire and blood.
The Telegraph, in commenting on the changes that have
taken place in France and the Imperial dynasty during
the year 1870, says :—All the power and perseverance, the
plotting and the intriguing, the amazing persistence, for
good and for evil, of twenty years have come by this year's
end to a lamentable bankruptcy ; leaving nothing but
defeat, disgrace, and derision for a dividend. But the
Parisians, although they have blocked up Jean Goujon's
window in the Louvre to protect it against possible German
shells ; although they have consigned the Venus of -Milo
to a packing-case, and rolled up the " Marriage of Cana"
and the " Belle Jardiniere " in oilskin ; although they
have hacked out the Imperial cognisance and scooped out
Ike Imperial " N's" from every pediment and every,
panel, cannot utterly overthrow their Tuileries and,their
Louvre. They cannot ?own the golden docile of the
Invalides. They cannot pull down the I:2w Grand Opera
and sow its site with salt. They cannot narrow the Rue de
Rivoli, or diminish the wondrous sweep of the Boulevards;
and wherever they go in the Paris which, during the past
twenty years, has been so marvellously and splendidly
transformed, they must needs think of the Empire, and
of the strange, stein man whose Fate has visited him,
now with the utmost exaltation of human su-
premacy. now with the utmost impotency of
human abasement ; but who has yet, in his time, done
things of astonishment, and whose name is one that
posterity will not let die. Whatever may be the future
of France, the New Year will dawn on a Paris which is
still Paris, which is in no danger, we trust, of destruc-
tion, and which may look for the return of her ancient
glory, splendour and gaiety as earnestly desired, not
only for the sake of European civilisation, but for the
true comity of the world. Whatever may be the form
of Government which, in the coming time, she
may elect to adopt, whether she chooses to retain
Republican or to restore Imperial or constitutionally
monarchical institutions, she must continue ; and when
the incubus of investment is removed, the brilliant capital
will not fail to exhibit all her old elasticity in effacing the
multiplied signs of the sufferings she has undergone. The
fair city is easily wounded, but her hurts are as easily
healed ; and there can be nothing wildly sanguine in the
hope. or even in the assumption, that Paris in 1872 will
enjoy a much happier New Year's Day than will fall to
her lot to-morrow.
The Standard says :—Christmas Day for 1870 was a
Sabbath. New Year's Day for 1871 will be a Sabbath also.
Twelve months ago both of these anniversaries broke
brightly on the world. We were all at peace,
and if the apparently inevitable misunderstandings
between nations had not been entirely removed,
none expected that the summer sun would scarcely
have set before an inhuman war had burst forth
to desolate the fairest land in Europe. The tune
since last a new year_was welcomed seems, and is indeed
in the Great Calendar very brief, yet it has been so
crowded by events that the historians of the future will
probably contemplate it in despair. It has been beyond
doubt the memorable year of the century, with little light
to believe its darkness, and the shadows it casts before
are dismal indeed. For millions there has been
no " Merry Christmas," for what other millions
can we sincerely anticipate "A Happy New Year"?
1870 leaves us unregretted, so stained has it been with
blood, with political crime, with ruin to the innocent,
with the blight of evil but all-powerful passions. 1871
opens upon us in sadness. Usually the bells which ring
out
Progress,t l l the ladn
They tell, in their pealing chimes and their chorus
adndthleingreiwnatrhde oNfewlo'nsgu!gtaeisntelidopeen:dPera°vmors.'
of exulting echoes, of another race to be run,
another volume to be opened, another picture
of the earth more rich and mellow than the last, another
opportunity for courage and genius and virtue. We may
profitably ponder over the time gone ; we may excusably
dream about the time coming. But, judged from the
chronicle of the year, many a wretched work commenced
in 1870 must be brought to a close—perhaps a bitter one
—before 1871 will have a chance of adding any genial
chapter to tbe annals of mankind. Sould the tsk be
well accomplished, the year will indeed deservea to be
calenclared in red letters, because the civilised world is
longing and praying for a deliverance from terrible
miseries.
The Advertiser, in its review of the year, says:—
Is it not evident that Prussia does not want
peace, and will not make peace, until she has
utterly destroyed France? What makes the fate of
France so hard is, that although the Government, having
seen through the crafty designs of Prussia, and being
desirous of checking her aggressions against Europe and
France, accepted the challenge involved in the intrigue
about the Spanish crown, and thus undertook what it re-
garded as a just and necessary war, gratuitously and obtru-
sively forced upon it, the French, as a nation, were in
favour of peace. This fact was placed beyond all doubt
by the reports of the Prefects of the Imperial Government,
which prove that out of eighty-nine departments only
eleven were in favour of war. Prussia has declared in
words that it was against the French Empire and its armies
that she fought ; but her acts and deeds, especially since
the fall of Sedan and Metz, where the Empire and the last
vestige of its armies passed away, too clearly prove that
the Prussians are waging an internecine war of extermi-
nation, with the real and now scarcely concealed purpose
of destroying the French nation, and blotting out France
from the map of Europe, as Poland was blotted out in
the last century. Whether they will be able, to
accomplish this is another question. But about their real
object there is no manner of doubt ; and hence the reason
why the French, knowing their doom, lamwing
they are battling for national existence, fight with rich
desperation against such tremendous odds. The w'oole-
sale robbery under the name of " requisitions ;" the
burning of French villages, inhabitants and all ; the tying
up of French soldiers to trees to die of cold and hunger,
not to mention the violation of women ; —the systein.,tic
perpetration of deeds without a e like these she
character ws the
deadly animus of the GerlaAna -a nndam the real of
their pretended civiliSation and moral culture.