NOTES AND INCIDENTS OF THE WAR.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 742, 20 October 1870, Page 3

NOTES AND INCIDENTS OF THE WAR.

[pail mall gazette.] The Times' correspondent with the Prussian head-quarters was the accidental and unseen witness of a little scene which is worth recording. A country cart was rumbling down the street with two wounded officers — young men — on their way to the station. An officer on foot beckoned to the driver to stop and went up to the cart, the occupants of which tried to salute him, but he made a gesture, and leaning over he entered into conversation with them for ten minutes, evidently asking after their wounds. On parting he shook each by the hand and continued his way up the street, accompanied by two other officers. He halted at my quarters and inquired if there were any wounded inside — they had been removed, some to their last resting-place — then went on, and meeting a cart full of wounded soldiers, talked to them each in turn, and so went on visiting the hospitals and wounded in a most unostentatious manner. It was the Crown Prince. No wonder his men are fond of him. Many did not know him till he passed on. He told how the soldiers, one and all, seem to rejoice in their wounds, and make light of them for the sake of the cause, and there was an honest exultation in his tore at the honour of commanding such troops. An article in the Sikh, reviewing the millitary situation, estimates the strength of the army round Metz at 130,000, and proceeds to state that it considers the junction of the armies of the King and Prince Frederick Charles as certainly accomplished, and that, therefore, the German forces now penetrating into Lorraine cannot be less than 230,000. The article questions the expediency of risking a pitched battle with such a disparity of force, and counsels withdrawal of the French army to the line of the Mense, and subsequently, if necessary, "to the Marne, in order to give time to the national patriotism to organise means, of en3uriug revenge. The French Marines are arriving in i Paris. The Ist regiment is commanded by Colonel Briere de Lisle, the 2nd by Colonel Cren ; the 3rd by Colonel Le Camus, and the 4th by Colonel d'Arbaud. These four regiments, says Figaro form an effective force of nearly 10,000 men, inured to service. They have been through the campaigns of Mexico, Cochin China, and Senegal, in countries in which the soldier has to encounter epidemics and a murderous climate as well as to fight the enemy. Besides these troops, the millitary ports are sending te the defence of Paris an equal number of marine fusiliers, taught in the school of Lorien, and of gunners from the scholarship Louis XIV. As to the armament of the forts, it can be reinforced in less than four-and-tvventy hours by all the material of rifle artillery, of 30 and of 80, which formerly composed th© batteries of the French fleet. Though inefficient against the ironclads of the "present day, these cannons are serviceable against the enemy's siege artillery, which will only be of 12 and 24. The JYcmcais has collected some statistics of a nature likely to reassure the French public under existing circumstances. As it is evident that in case of defeat the French army would destroy the railway lines, the Prussian army could only reach Paris on foot. Now Forbach is 438 kilometres from Paris ; taking an average of 22 kilometre-! a day (the Francais explains why this average, which was that of the campaign of Sadowa, cannot be exceeded) it would take the Prussians nineteen days to reach Paris, supposing, which is improbable, that their march was performed without meeting the smallest obstacle. A correspondent of a French paper gives a frightful account of the fulmimating substances which may be made available at the present time. Two months ago, he says, I visited Prussia, and in company of an excellent chemist, studied the explosive materials which have been invented in that country for some years. I have handled the nitroglycerine made in a Berlin workshop, the dynamite brought to perfection by a native of Baden, Kubs's lithofracter, Hugo Kiip's powder, Schultze's powder, Fehleisen'sholaxyline, Neumeyer'spowder and dualine. The experiments made always demonstrated the inferiority of three agents — Kiip's lithofracter is but a pretentious name, and Kiip's powder, of which I possess three samples, is scarcely to be preferred. Dv aline is better, but what is the good of that to the Prussians? Though there are torpedoes in the part of Kiel loaded with dualine, 1 have it in my laboratory. We can respond quite readily to all these competitions, and if necessary we can show the enemy a few I inventions of a still more terrible cha- | racter. Last year experiments were made I in France with a shell, which, on bnrstiuSP spread a mortal poison around in the form of mephitic gas ; in a few minutes a flight of pigeons, in the midst of which a hall full of its frightful substance burst, fell dead on the ground ; another day the projectile penetrated the body of a horse, and so poisoned its blood that the body was in a state of putrefaction two hours after. Two months ago I was present at another experiment. A chemist had discovered a composition which has the

property, when it hits the mark, of bursting that which contains it, of instantly decomposing atmospheric air, and uniting with the oxygen therein to produce a cloud of fire throughout a radius of some yards in extent. Contact with water, contact with any element containing oxygen, produces similar effects. In three hours, a quantity of this substance may be prepared sufficient to surround an army of 10,000 with a sheet of flame. THE PERSUASIONS OF /XTILLERY. In a late number of a French military journal a question is raied which ought certainly at this moment to interest residents in cities and towns on both sides of the Rhine. In attacking a fortified place ought the artillery to direct its fire at the fortifications only — which, it seems, is a feature of the " French school," formed on the principles of Vauban, and, as some say, on those of humanity — or ought it to shell the dwelling-houses, so as to make the position as intolerable as possible for the inhabitants? "Shell the dwelling houses !" is the solution arrived at by General de Blois, who, in his work entitled, "Fortifications k_ presence of the New Artillery," strongly recommends that " hollow projectiles " be thrown upon all points of the interior of the towns " When," he explains, " the shells fall in the various quarters the catastrophes are in proportion to the density of the population. Death hovers above the heads of all. Each individual feels threatened as to his own existence and that of all that he holds dear in the world, while at any moment his property may be destroyed by fire. The situation becomes intolerable to the masses, and the very excess of the sufferings to which they are exposed brings about their termination. Experience proves that in such a case malevolent efforts are directed againt the governor, who is made responsible for all the disasters that occur ; and if he shows himself firmly attached to his duty, the people rise against him, and his own troops seek to compel him to an immediate capitulation, of which history furnishes only too many examples. " Far be it from us," cries General de Blois, "to counsel the governor to commit such an act of weakness." He adds, however, that the probability will be against the governor holding out, and proceeds to prove his case in quite a mathematical style. "Let G.," he says, ""represent the effective force of the garrison, and P. the valid portion o.f the population. Then, if the besieger wishes to conform to the principles of the French school of engineers, and directs his shells at the fortifications only, he will have G. + P. opposed to him ; whereas if his resources include material for a bombardment, and he fires upon the houses of the inhabitants, he will only have G.— P. to contend with, P. being now on his side, aud in favor of a capitulation. If, in the collision within the walls, which must take place, G. succeeds in crushing P. the siese will continue. But G. finding himself weakened by the struggle and deprived of the assistance of P., the resistance opposed to tbe besieger in the last period of the attack will evidently be less than if the siege had not been commenced by a bombardment." The "moral" is that "every general who wishes to attack a fortified town has the right to throw shells inside to hasten its surrender, and that it is his duty to do so inasmuch as his sovereign orders him to save time and spare the blood of his soldiers." The objection raised by a critic of General de Blois's book to his anti-Vaubanish plan of setting private houses on fire is that the pyrotethnic material necessary for accomplishing that end is difficult to carry. We may still, then, hope that the perfected artillery of France and Prussia will be used less for slaughtering peaceable citizens than for demolishing fortifications of brick and stone.