New-York tribune., 1870-11-05


soroe n, M men. combating Of the runswsys nom
Proschwiler who entered Strssbourg In MOD "t"o"'
even their guns for the most part. The SECOND "as
mado by the Colonel of tis Stb. vigorous "'"
capable man, yet the General would only uts' NM
With ,9O men. 400 OF whom attacked tho fr"s', IN
their works. while 800 acted a. reserve. IDi'
sortie while eectng little for the defense OF 'no oy
inflicted considerable loss upon the enemy.
To the people of strasbourg, the whole anair OF tbe
surrondcr Is involved mystery Eyon the officers VINO
were 10 the citadel say that they knew nohioS OF "h'
had been decided upon until the last minute 10" may
have read a story the effect that two pnrHmfndrs
were allowed pass through the Prssan lines for the
PURPOSE Of carrying TO the Emperor Napoleon nforms
tion IA 10 the situation and asking his opinion "a To he
advlsabillty Of surrender Such story was "idoiy
cjrcu,ated In Switzerland, and believed by o great
many, my Strasbourg informant, among others'
suppose there truth whatever IN ,he alleged errahd
Of the two parlenenare but that they vent out thore
H. believe. reason 10 donbt Many Ene" o'
their going, but no one outside oi 'er
small circle knew object Of their going although con-
lectures were rife. Great the astonishinent there
fore great the gnaton among the people snd may
add great the satisfaction among the welltodo the
table fok). when 1t was asoertained that tho
errand pure and simple, Of the pdriem'ntnTes was 10
carry to Gen Werder the announcement Of Gen uhrichs
readiness to srrendor There rush o citizens 10
explanation They found the doors closed. hut they
were quickly forced Opeo and the crowd pe'ilhta'e"
iself into the Generals apartments, who cam" out ana
demanded what was wanted. As every body spoke AZ
once and things looked sautly, the ""n'f"i ne
cIared that he would only confer with Delegation "f
citizens and that he would retire until such deegsoo"
sbuId bs chosen IL happened that of my inform
ant was one OF the delegates chosen, ana am
thu. enabled to give, his authority. an account OF
h.V been A All
we're chosen and in answer 10 their question a. 10 why
the city had been surrendered, the "enerh rep'"n
Because the enemy had made practirapio pre"'n'
WhereupOn the Of my informant spoke out " hase
you seen the breach yourself, GeDeralf' " NO. SAN
Uhrich 81 have not. hut my officers IN whom nave
confidence assure me that they It," The same
delegate exclaimed, But, General. those officers may
have been too easily frightened" TO this Gen uhnch
made no reply but went 10 say that II was lnpoSso"
10 hold longer that the city had suffered TOO much
already; that assault in force was threatened ana
that he was unwilling be the means OF bringing fur
ther oalanities on the unfortunate inhabitants
This 4, the settlement Of a man who. though honest'
WIS by no means unprejudiced What he writes he oe
leve- and his belief ia that OF large class IN stras
bourg and also must be shared by many of the soider
have talked with many myself. and the numerous ie'
ers IN the newspapers give evidence thst others uS'
have had similar experience. With the exception thS'
some Of the officers with whom have talked speak OF
deficiency OF for the guns seems to be generay
admitted that neither ammunition nor provision was
wanting and that, far these we're concerned ue
city might have held ont for two months longer hs "
the breach-I ain military man, ana my opinon
would be worth nOthDg-but went over uie "ho'o
works or all but a very small portion rrom WHICH,
though our party included the American EnDassador W
Switzerland with Consul aud Nice-Consu at oHaS-
borg and though we armed with an express per
nit TO visit the works from the commandant, we were
rdely turned back by officer too big for his breecht
We saw no breach which seemed to us worthy OF the
name much less any breach which rendered the position
desperate We visited the lunettes that were take
we walked through the Prursan trenches and traSerse
we spent long time In the citadel and on the ramparts
adjacent and. though certainly saw havoc ana rum
enough we saw brcchs immense Ourerk dams s rem
pdri DrSte d0nner passage une cOtOine oSsdrs com
bace conre Iaq1teil> Ia fabie gaT'iS0n De Shdso'"9
"a ,Gt pu oDpOser une resistance Soutenne. Nor have
seen in any account Of tho city after The surrender
written by any military man any statement that wouli
warrant the expression which quote from the SGinf
PVbLc OF Iy IONS.
Here In Switzerland we hear OF nothing but the war
We are poorly of for American papers. THt Tribune
Is not TO be had; yet whenever the American Press
is spoken Of gratiiied tO hear that II Il generally
known how far in advance OF all our newspapers
TnE TRIBUSE IL in information about the war. was
told in strasbourg that there Lively debate at the
"Maison Rouge" the hotel where the English journalists
most did cOngregate, to whether 1fE TRIBUNE dld
really receive its of the battle Of sedan by
teegraph-the conclusion being that, such exploit
had ever been heard of in England, "H wasn't likely,
you know" c.