Notes on the War.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 1, Issue 50, 26 October 1870, Page 7

Notes on the War.

j A ghastly but very practical little order has been published to the Prussian army. Every man of the regiments ordered into the light has to wear round his neck, underneath his clothes, a ticket with the number corresponding to the one standing against his name in the lists, in order that his name might be ascertained in case of death without delay ; while the officers are furnished with diaries containing their designations in French, as well as German. The soldiers have already found a name for their little death bell, [t is indeed astonishing how | quickly the army, high and low, have developed ! a special slang. To have got into good quarters i is called to have gone -'by first special," the I reverse " fourth-class smoking carriage," and Iso forth. Few things, indeed, are called by | their right names, and if the humour of all this | be small, it keeps the men alive. The temper of the French people just now |is shown in many incidents. It was anticipated that the Emperor would have gone to the opera |on Wednesday night, where a magnificent i triumph had been prepared for him; but, for I some reason or another, His Majesty remained ;at home. The " Muette de Porciei " was the opera placed on the boards, but the public listened with impatience; the "Marseillaise" j was constantly demanded, and at last promised jby the manager after the third act. At last j Masaniello raised his cry of vengeance, the | people sprang to arms, and the tocsin sounded. At this moment, artistically chosen for the display, Marie Sass forced her way through the crowd, dressed in a white peplum, and brandishing a tri-colored liag She was hailed with shouts of applause, which prevented her from singing for at least live minutes. " Stand up !" shouted Emile Girandin in the stalls, and every one rose ami listened in religious silence to the national anthem just restored to France. The effect was tremendous, especially when the artiste sang of " impure blood soaking into our furrows." Men and women (says a chronicler) caught up this terrible and magnificent refrain. The Due de Mortemart, who is an old soldier, has written to the French Minister of War to say that he still uses the spurs that he wore at Jena, and that if too old to take the field, he is ready to man a rampart. He subscribes 100,0001, The esprit Mortemart, or biting wit of that family, has long been celebrated in France, but here is a Mortemart terribly in earnest, with something more serviceable to his to his country than an epigram. We (Globe) understand that the Prussians have laid a regular network of torpedoes along the Baltic coasts, and at the mouths of the Rivers Ems, Weser. and Elbe. Roth classes of torpedoes are said to be in use, the charge being in general dynamite, which, although a dangerous, is a fearfully explosive material. Many of these materials are believed to be mechanical, and if S), are exceedingly dangerous to both friends and foes. Others are arranged on the ordinary electrical principle, and are perfectly safe except when the electric communications are established. Thus the navigation of the coast, with its rivers and harbours, is quite open to the friendly ship. The merchantman, flying like the dove from the hawk, may safely steer over and among the hidden mines ; at the next moment, by the mere turn of a key, the channel may be effectually closed to the pursuer. The torpedo is the war-ship's bete voire. The proudest iron-clad that ever floated is powerless against these submerged volcanoes. Many of our sailors remember the Russian torpedoes during the last war. Harmless and insignificant as they were, they caused a good deal of trouble ; and if thoy had only been on half or quarter the scale of the present mines, several of our ahipa would be now lying in Baltic mud. We shall not be the least surprisoo, therefore, some morning to bear of the sudden disappearance of a nautical belligerent. A candle manufacturer of Paris is in a very desponding state of mind, having sold to Prussia within one year no. less than, 400,000 kilogrammes of glycerina Ho has little doubt now that mixed with nitric acid the substance he sold will be used against his own countrymen.