The Sun. — 1870-12-21 (London, England)

FRENCH HOSTAGES IN GERMANY. In a communication from Hamburg, December 17, the correspondent of the Daily .News writes :—Not long ago a correspondence took place between Count Bismarck and and the French Provisional Government on the subject of the captains and crews of the German merchant ships captured during the war. The Chancellor contended that, as they were peaceful subjects occupied in their lawful calling, it was a grave infraction of the laws of nations to treat them as prisoners of war and thrust them into the common gaols, where they mingled with murderers and other malefactors; and he threatened that if they were not set at liberty and sent home, he should make reprisals by seizing a certain number of " notables " in various parts of France, who would be taken to Germany and detained as prisoners of war till peace was restored. In reply to this demand the French Minister for Foreign Affairs denied the correctness of the Count's allegation that the capture and detention of merchant seamen was an infringement of international law. The men could be employed, he urged, for hostile purposes on board the ships of war, and in every maritime country the merchant service was always considered as the nursery for seamen of the national navy. He therefore declined to give them up. In consequence of this refusal, and in fulfilment of Count Bismarck's threat, eighty French gentlemen of rank, social standing, and wealth, have been seized and sent into captivity in Germany. On Thursday last the first batch of 42 arrived at Bremen, where they are to be confined. Colonel Bruggemann, the military cothmandant in that city, required them to give their parole in writing not to leave the place without permission, nor to correspond with their friends in France otherwise than in open letter—passing through his hands for inspection and perusal, and thic formality over, they took up their abode in the principal hotels of the city. The greater part of them, as I observe from a • glance at the list, are landed proprietors in addition to their other occupations, and are mostly inhabitants of Dijon, Bray, and Vesoul, in the Department of the Cote d'Or. At the head of the list is Baron Tirenard, a member of the French Institute. Then comes aM. Persigny, described as SubPrefect of Bray. There is also a member of the Provincial Council of the Cote d'Or, several judges, bankers, mayors, and lawyers, another sub prefect, a notary and a professor of philosophy ; whilst many are Knights __of ,the Legion of Honour. Some of them  ..--•  are accompanied by their wives and domestic servants. 1 OUR CO rEMPORARIES--This Morning They travelled very slowly, having been no less than tMr- teen days on the road. It strikes me that the ostensible object of the measure is not strictly ful tilled. It can scarcely be, called a reprisal, for, while the-G-_•rtnan skippers and their crews continue to languish in French prisons, these 80 gentlemen are treated with every consideration, and are allowed to indulge in any luxury they may have a fancy for, besides having the, free run of the city. It is really no great hardship to be obliged to stay at an hotel in BreYnen, where, with money in their pockets—and they have all been specially selected for their wealthi— they can live just as comfortably as in their own mansions in France.