Litchfield enquirer., 1871-02-09
PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.
 The Boston Journal gives the following resume of the events of the Franco. German
 war 'i3s i7- ~
 'The excited diplomatic quarrel between
 France and Prussia, consequent .npon tht
 offer of the crown of Spain to Hohenzol
 Tern Prince, is still fresh in the public
 mind. Prussia yielded to all demands, ex
 cept that she should bind herself meUer t
 allow Prussian to sit on the throne o Spain. This, with the refusal of the King of Prussia to receive discourteous visi from the French Ambassador, was the friv
 ulous pretex for the war. For this tho
 French Emperor issued his proclamation declaring that 'there are certain moment.
 in the life of peoples when the nationa
 honor, violently excited, imposes itsel
 with irresistible force, doMinateseall inter
 ests, and alone takes in hand the direction
 of the destinies of the country. One o
 those hours has now arrived for France.
 This was on the 23d of July. Already
 Preach troops had been dispatched to the
 frontier, and an Imperial organ had an
 nounced that they would enter South Ger
 many, and then capture Frankfort. 'sFrom this point it was said, they will be able to sweep all the Prussian territory to the
 left of the Rhine. They will enter Prussis
 by way of Westphalia, and reconstruction of the Rhenish Confederation will follow.
 The Emperor. as appears by his subsequent narrative of the war, had substantially the same great expectations, although he says he knew that Germany was ready to put $50, 900 effective men in the field, while France had but 100000. He proposed tc counterbalance the disparity by the supe rior dash of his operations.
 "Never was greater or more ignomini ous mistake made. While the Emperor was consulting with Marshal McMahon on the plan of campaign, just inaugurated by the French crossing over the boundary line and capturing Saarbrucken, the Marshal himself was attacked at Weissenburg on the Sd of August, and driven back, Gener. al Dolay being killed. The German army of the Rhine at that time was put down az follows 80,OO0 men under General Stein. metz 180,000 under Prince Frederick Charles; and 160, ,OO0 under the Prince Roy al, Frederick William the whole directed by the great strategist of modern times, General Von Moltke. McMahon had not time to recover from this most unexpected reverse, before he was again attacked at Woerth, on the 9th of August, and defeat. ed with the loss of 40OO prisoners. The news created immense surprise throughout the civilized world, and fell with conster- nation upon the people of France All talk of invading Prussia vanished; Napole. on fled to Chalons. Metz the great fortress of eastern France prepared for defence. The Olivier ministry went by the board, and chaos seemed to take possession of the French Corps Legislatif. The Germans, however, followed up their advantage, in- vesting Strasbourg, and occupying the railroads leading thence. On the 18th Ba. zaine was appointed commander of the French armies, though the Emperor con. unued IO interfere with their o1oerations On the 14th occurred the battle of Cour- celles; on the 18th of Vionville; on the 18th of Gravelotte-the general effect being to sunder the French forces, and to drive Ba- zaine, with the larger part, back on Metz. The latter general made desperate attack at Mars la Tour, but without avail. On the 21st he was virtually shut up in Metz.
 "In the meantime the German forces under the Grown Prince were pushing for. ward for Chalons, where McMahon, with 15O, ,OO0 men, many of them raw levies, was undecided whether to withdraw on Paris, or to advance to the northeast, with the in- tention of rescuing Bazaine Contrary to his own judgment, the latter course was pursued. By the 3Oth he had made his at Sedan, near the Belgian frontier. upon which the German forces were concentrating, except those under Prince Frederick Charles, who were sur- rounding Metz. On the 1st of September a great battle was fought at Sedan, result ing in McMahon being driven into the ci- ty, which was entirely surrounded by the Germans. The fight was furiously renew on the next day; and on the 3d the Emper- or Napoleon surrendered, with all his for ces, at Sedan.
 On the 9th the French Republic was at Paris; Committee of Pub- lie Defence. consisting of Gambetta, Jules Fayre, and other we'll known Liberals, was and Gen. Trochu appointed Commander-in-C Chief of the forces at Paris. Napoleon was transferred to Wilhemshohe, where he is still. and Eugenie hurried to England. Our Government recognized the de fact0 government of France. By the middle of September the German advance reached the Paris fortifcations-thus be- ginning the unprecedented siege now brought to close. On the 18th the first balloon mail left Paris. On the 23d Foul capitulated, followed on the. 18th by Stras- bourg, which had been subjected to ter rible bombarament. During the remain der of September and the first part of Oc- tober various minor engagements occurred in which the Germans were generally sue. cessful October 26, Bazaine surrendered Metz, with 15O. 900 men anl 30O,O 1000 stand of arms. Up to that time the number of prisoners captured by the Germans was estimated at 320, ,OOO. Quite one hundred thousand must have been. added since. The German prosecution of the war, which had been visibly dragging for want of men in so vast field, was immensely stimulat- ed by the equalization of Metz. Diplomat io negotiations between the beigerents were also undertaken, but ultimately fell through on the refusal of the French Gov ernment to accept the German terms. par ticularly as they disallowed the revictual- ing of Paris. On the 2d of November the city of Paris voted by 557, ,996 yeas. to 62.- 638 nays, in favor of sustaining the Pro- visional Government. On the 9th the French army of the Loire gained success ct Orleans, opening brief campaign, which finally resulted in the general defeat of the French. Gen. Chanzy was substi- tuted for De Palladines, and re-organized the army. only to be beaten still more de ,cisively by Prince Frederick Charles. Gen.