The Sun. — 1870-10-11 (London, England)

LORRAINE UNDER GERMAN RULE. The correspondent of the Telegraph, writing from Nancy on the 4th inst., gives the following account of the province occupied by the Germans :—" One begins t° understand completely the determination of Germany never to give up the old German Duchies of which she has now got hold with a grip of iron. From Strasburg hither, every town and village bristles with German bayonets ; Prussian gendarmes and South German armed police enforce the jurisdiction 01 the conquerors, bringing order and tranquillity with them wherever they are established—with the exception of s few recalcitrant hamlets, in which, every now and then, the misguided inhabitants, prompted by their priests, fall upon some isolated agent of the law and barbarously murder him. Two deplorable cases of that description have just occurred in the neighbourhood of this quaint little town, and a terrible example ie about to be made in the persons of the respective village Mayors, who are in custody, and will be shot to-morrowA good many Francs-tireurs are scattered over the country near and around Nancy. They have had the impertinence to write a threatening letter to the Governor, and sent it in to-day by a peasant—who, poor fellow, was entirely ignorant of its contents, and doubtless thought that he was doing a very patriotic deed in bearing a missive of importance to the redoubtable chief of the foreign Government organised in the heart of his native province. As it happens, his father is a prisoner here, under suspicion of having been concerned in some shady transaction—a circumstance which cruelly augmented his own fears. However, he was treated kindly by the staff officer to whom he was brought in, and will be dismissed, as well as his father, with a warning not to mix himself up again in political or military matters that do not coneern The animosity of this population towards the Germans is exceedingly bitter, and steadilY maintained ; so that the latter are compelled to be constantly on the alert, and to manifest a strictness and severity, in carrying out their precautionary regulations, which are as irksome to themselves as to the inhabitants. Despite the risks, however, of provoking the authorities beyond their patience, anti-German demonstrations are immensely in vogue—many of them utterly in vogue, and unworthy of a people endowed with self-respect. For instance, there is the regular defiant promenade of the Nancy Upper Ten' on the Place Stanislas. You must know that this city is the head' quarters of lying rumours and `exceptional authentic informations,' which at all hours penetrate the German cordon traced round it, and circulate through like wildfire throughout all classes of local society, generating a profound and exquisite joy that the expansive French character is altogether unable to keep to itself. As 9 specimen of these reports, which obtain entire credence, I may mention two, recounted to me to-day with exultation by a gentleman of high social position—namely, that 60,000 Prussians had been miserably drowned in the water defences of Metz, and that 10,000 more had been blown into the air before Paris. I ventured to observe that, although the latest telegrams from both of the two besieged cities had just been officiallY communicated to me, I had no knowledge whatever of these enormous achievements ; upon which mY informant, with a dramatic and significant smile, replied, Of course not ; but we know that they have taken place: I persisted that he must be mistaken, since no gence respecting those disasters had reached the General Government. You may think so,' he rejoined, triumphantly ; but we have our information, upon the accuracy of which we can depend.' I then asked him whether he believed that Strasburg had fallen. 011 yes,' he said, 'we believe that, because some of our concitoyens, who belonged to the garrison, are already returned on parole; you may be quite sure that we should not have taken the Prussians' word for it.'"  For the first few days after the surrender of Strasburg the traffic between that city and Kehl was carried on by means of a flying bridge across the Rhine. A pontoon: bridge, however, has now been erected, and thus the chic' difficulties have been done away with, and the intercourse which was so long interrupted has been completely re' established. Though all the materials have long been,. kept in a state of readiness, it will probably be a fortnight before the railway bridge is repaired, as the huge fog' ment of the iron bridge which was blown up lies veil much in the way.—North German Correspondent.