THE WAR IN EUROPE.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 760, 1 December 1870, Page 2

THE WAR IN EUROPE.

DETAILS OF THE SUEZ MAIL NEWS. THE INTERIOR OP STRASBURa. The correspondent of the Cologne Gazette states that in the interior of Strasburg only a few large buildings were destroyed, many streets being intact. The cathedral looks better than was expected, and will not require many repairs. The garrison, on marching out of town, tried to throw away their knapsacks v , ( and. vented their rage at the capituation, exclaiming " Nous sommes vendes /" " TThlrich est un coquin !" They broke and flung away their swords. The correspondent of the Gatlsrulie Gazette says General Uhlrich issued a proclamation stating that as the enemy had effected two breaches, and he could no longer hold the citadel, being also threatened with a storm withio twenty-four hours, he was compelled to surrender. This, he added, would save the town from a great misfortune, and he urged that nobody should show hostility towards the German troops. The conduct of many of the garrison in throwing away and destroying their swords was not owing to the rage of despair, but to a hopeless and indeed! senseless anger. Frowning countenances were to be seen among the civilians, but an aspect of resignation prevailed. "It has had to come to this with us," he: heard three or four times, and it| was an expression of the general feeling. They evinced great curiosity to see the Prussians enter the place, and children of the lower classes, at the cry " Here come the Prussians," rushed indoors in terror. The municipal council was so threatened by the populace, made fanatical through the coufessional, that the National Guard had to be called out to protect them. More than one member could nob venture out (hiring the days prior to the surrender without a revolver. The capitulation was regarded by many as shameful treachery : Francs-tireurs wanted to pull down the white flag from the Minster, and several shots were fired at it. Happily, the mob had no leaders. Some of the streets are heaps of ruins, but the bombardment made les3 havoc than mighthave been expected. Thousands of the inhabitants had lived for weeks in wooden huts alongside the caual, the houses being unsafe. The German troops marched 4nto the town quietly, through a silent multitude, and made a good and, to some extent, imposing impression. Fraternisation has begun in the publichouses. A feeling of thankfulness that the seige is over will soon prevail. General Mertens is appointed commandant. It is rumored that on the 29th several shots were fired by Fniiu's-tireura, that a German soldier was murdered, and that a proclamation has been issued forbidding more than two persons to stand together in the streets. Another correspondent writes : — Jnsfc after 11a.m. we saw the garrison march out in measured time from the Porte Nationale. The staff was on foot, and at the head of the gfirrison Lieuten antGeneral Von Werder jumped off his horse to meet the officers. Sorrow and anger were depicted upon their countenances ; tears stood in the eyes of many a bronzed old hero ; and, bowed down by the weight of this heavy hour, they did not dare to raise their eyes from the ground, to which their feet seemed to cling, such was their regret at leaving the town so long and bravely defended. The staff remained standing upon the glacis, and between them and our own staff the long columns of the former garrison denied. The sight was different to that which we had expected to see. Six weeks ago it was stated the troops were starving, aud were in great misery and destitution. Now they were defiling before onr own eyes newly clothed from head to foot, knapsacks with teutpoles and baggage, cloaks, and kitchen utensils, all knew ; and each man had his bread with him, and the want of sobriety which prevailed showed that there was no lack of spirituous liquors. Those who marched past us were the best troop 3, and yet hardly otfe company paid attention to dress or closing up their ranks, which were composed of Turcos and Zouaves ; these fellows hung behind and tried to throw away their kits, and were large in their outcries against the capitulation ; brandishing the remnants of the damaged weapons . they carried with them, and dashing them on the road so as to break them yet smaller. They bent and broke the blades and sheaths of their bayonets ; they had already broken their rifles against the stones of the streets of the town, and thrown the remnants into the moats of the fortress, which iv some places were quite filled with them. What a sight presented itself inside the I town ! At the entrance there were no houses ; simply heaps of ruins could be seen as we entered the picturesque Gate de la Tour. Fire and our storm of cannon balls have destroyed everything as fir as the 111 canal. Close to the watchhouse at the gate lay a heap of stones, and upon them a Frenchman, apparently dead, the flies swarming round him as round a corpse. An old woman sat beside him, aud we asked her if the man was dead, but she gave no answer, and scowled at ns' with hatred and fnry in her looks. Our first ride was of course to the cathedral, and it is astonishing how many chance shuts have struck it in spite of all prohibitions and orders to the contrary, but it presents a far better appearance than might be imagined; some of the stones forming the long pillars have been shot away, one of the windows entirely destroyed, and the masonry severely

damaged, but, on the whole, not many repairs will be required." The Carhnihe Gazette of the 29th ult. says :— " If Strasburg had not capitulated it would certainly have been taken by storm ere this, as we have already stated. All the necessary preparations had been made, and the surgeons and other members of the sanitary corps had been told to hold themselves in readiness for such an event. The inventory of all the material of this enormous arsenal will be a great task. The number of cannon alone is estimated to be 14,000 to 15,000, and many more were no doubt destroyed at the fire which took place at the arsenal. Yesterday eveniug a deputation from our jnayor and common council waited upon - jfche Grand Duke in his head-quarters at jLampertsheim, to congratulate him upon the capitulation of Strasburg, and at the Burae time to request his permission to offer aid and assistance, such as our town .could dispose of, to the inhabitants of tStrasburg. The garrison will go as prisoners of war to Ra&tadt." | " When I made a round of the walls, II had the good fortune to make the aciquaintance of the artillery officer who commanded the battery which effected the breach. He was curious to witness ; the result of his own handiwork. The one breach is in bastion numbered 31; ithe other in bastion 12. Both these ; points face the lunettes whi«h were capa week ago. The breach in the bastion 12 was chiefly made by vertical fire. The other was the result of direct : fire. The breach in bastion 11 was the more important of the two. It was about 200 feet wide at the top. Another twentyfour hours of heavy firing would have completed all that the besiegers intended to do before delivering the assault. Indeed, everything was ready. The materials wherewith to bridge the moat fferb collected at Bischeim. The soldiers had been ordered to hold themselves ready to move forward at a moment's notice. That the place would have been captured is certain ; but that the loss of life would have been great is certain also. It is fortunate that the end has been less bloody than was anticipated. Governor (Ehrich. and the garrison have distinguished them' selves by the bravery of their defence, and that the Germans have shown how skilfully they can lay siege to a powerful fortress no one can dispute. 11 It is stated ' on ihe highest authority 1 that one of the causes which most determined the surrender of Strasbourg before an assault had been delivered, was the insubordination of the troops of the garrison. Of course such a fact can only be accepted upon French evidence, bat the statements corroborated by the behaviour of the French soldiery after the Germans had b^en asked to grant, them terms of capitulation. The Commissioners appointed by General Uhrich to negotiate the. surrender were received in tha German camn with full military honors, and were much gratified with the respect paid to them, and at the surrender itself everything was done to mitigate the harshness of an unpleasant ceremony ; but the behaviour of the French garrison on the occasion, excepting the corps of Marines and Customs officers, was disgraceful. A public correspondent states, that at least two-thirds of the men were drunk —violently and offensively drunk ; hundreds, as they stumbled through, the mined gateway, dashed their rifles to pieces against the walls or the paving stones, and hurled their sword-bayonets into the moat. Many- of the -menreven~ danced to the music of the Prussian and Baden bands ; some rolled about on the grats, uttering inarticulate cries ; others, made ludicrous attempts to embrace the grave German legionaries, who repulsed them in utter astonishment at their unworthy bearing. Some sang ribald songs, others shook their fists in the calm faces of their captors, who took no notice whatever of their frantic vagaries, but went on about their business as if there were no such thing as French soldiers in the world. The officers made no attempt to stop them. Perhaps they felt that their authority was gone. There is another matter, however, which shows that neither officers or men in the French army have that seuse of honor which is the pride of an army. Just as at Sedan, as soon as the capitulation was known, the French burned their eagles or threw them into the Meuse, so now at Strasburg, in the interval between the hoisting the flag of truce and the actual surrender, the French spiked the guns on the ramparts, and afterwards, when the articles had been signed, no attempt whatever was made to keep the men from destroying the arms which the signers of the capitulation had engaged themselves to deliver tip to the German victors. The notion in the army appears to bn that a capitulation, like defeat or invasion, is in itself a fact so unnatural and preposterous that it cannot become a source of duties for Frenchmen." Under date of the 4th October, the following telflsnram was received from Strasbnrg :— " The city has assumed a , new aspect. The shops are all re-opened, and the market place is filled with buyers and sellers. From the appearance of the streets it would be impossible to tell that a siege is just over. The ruined houses alone bear witness to the severity of >tbe ordeal the city has been subjected to. An order has been i33ned that French officeN on parole shall not wear swords in public, and must depart by the 6th October. The inhabitants are ordered to supply the German officers quartered on them with the prescribed meals, along with two litres of wine and live cigars. The soldiers are to have, in addition to their meals, half a littre of wine, or a whole one of beer, or a quartern of spirits, and five cigars, or a corresponding quantity of tobacco, daily. The sums of money, munitions, provisions, and other things which belonged to the French authorities are very large. Many cannon were spiked prior to occupation, but hundreds have been captured in good condition. The arrangements for maintaining order are continued. The military alone are allowed to leave their houses after nine at night. Postal service was resumed on Saturday, preparations being rapidly made to render the bridge over the Rhine available for railway trains. It is expected to be open in a fortnight." THE FAIL OF METZ. The following are the only telegraphic items yet received respecting the surrender of Metz : — General Boyer arrived at the headquarters of Prince Frederick Charles from Metz on the 16th, and afterwards proceeded to Versailles to negotiate a capitulation. He had t#o interviews with Bismarck, and returned with the terms

agreed \ipon on the 20th. French desertioiis from Mi4z have increased largelythrough hanger. Marshal bazaine proposed that the original garrison should >c left at Metz, and that his own army should leave under a promise not to fiuht for three months. The proposal was refused. The Prussians have prepared provisions for Metz. October 29. The surrender of Metz is unconditional. The officers are on parole. The Germans having evacuated Vesonl, and, proceeding westward, had some skirmishing between that place and Amiens. Heavy firing was heard in one quarter of Paris on the 25th. The English press counsel to France the necessity of submission. Six thousand officers were taken at Metz. The official Gazette of Berlin pays that both from a military and strategic point of view it is necessary to firmly retain Metz as a defensive bulwark. The correct account of prisoners taken at Metz is given at a total of 373.000. 20,000 sick; also Marshals Bazaine, Canrobert, a;id Leboeuf. Mazzini and Jacoby are released. October 31. A proclamation by the Tours Government attributes the capitulation of Metz to the treachery of Bazaine, and expresses the determination to resist while an inch of soil remans. When the capitulation was known by the inhabitants of Metz they were furious, the National Guard refusing at first to surrender their arms. Bazaine has gone to Wilhelmshohe. The populace hooted and attacked his carriage. Six thousand Prussians left Metz to besiege Lngny. THE SURRENDER OF TOUL. The bombardment of Toul with 24---pounders commenced on the 23rd of September, and was continued with increased vigour the next day. Up to 4p. m. off the 24th the firing was very heavy on all sides, but at that hour a large -white flag was unfurled on the cathedral, and the seige was at an end. The special correspondent of the Cologne Gazette says: — "The reason given by the commandant for capitulating was, that he had only ammunition for three or four days, aud would then he forced to surrender, in which time all Tonl might have been destroyed. The Mobile Guards, moreover, were undisciplined, and not sufficiently practised in arms to offer a long defence, or to repulse a storming attack. The same evening the French garrison marched out, and bivouacked in a meadow under guard. The next day they were sent by railway to Prussia, and the Mecklenburg troops occupied the place, ■ the Grand Duke with a brilliant staff entering it at the head of some regiments. A long ramble on the following morning in the conqiiered town was very interesting, and furnished many new impressions. In the suburbs were six or seven entirely, and four or five half-burnt houses. The bridge over the Marone Canal had been blown up by the French, aud one had half to clamber and half to wade through the canal on stones and pieces of wood. In the streets of Tonl, which numbers about 8,000 inhabitants, the marks of balls and bombs were everywhere porceptible on the houses. Windows were destroyed, and there were large gaps' in the roofs and walls. Doors lay strewn about, but only two or three houses were entirely destroyed in the town. Our shots seem to have concentrated on the. stately residence of the mayor, the walls being full of holes, and the stucco and windows destroyed. The really beautiful cathedral had, happily, not suffered internally, though there were s<>me injuries caused by our fire on the external walls. The larg« window was completely destroyed, a door split to pieces, and the breastwork of the tower pierced with holes. Our fire had done most damage to the walls. Here were standing the large fortress guns and mortars with which Toul was armed, behind the high gabions or thebatteries covered with thick boards ; yet our balls had everywhere made great ravages, and the artillerymen were frequently struck near their guns. Bombs and shells lay about everywhere, likewise chassepots and other weapons. Toul i regularly fortified on Vauban's system ; it has capital walls, five or six bastions, and deep fosses filled with water. It was deemed a very strong fortress, but, as it possesses no outworks or detached, forts, is not for long tenable before the new Ittillery with its long range, and with 24-pounders it could be destroyed from St. Michael's Mount. Six or eight of the inhabitants were, killed during the seige, and twelve to sixteen wounded, we are told. The anxious families passed the last days chiefly in their cellars, the •windows being thickly covered with dung. All now came creeping out, sunned themselves, and spreading their beds everywhere to dry and air, jis they had become damp in the low cellars. These pale, harmless faces, were visible everywhere, and loud lamentations were heard. The habitual French elasticity and cheerfulness were soon, however, manifested, and many of the inhabitants were evidently glad that the seige was ended, and life and health no longer endangered. Of provisions there was a tolerable store, but for 1 artillery ammution very little." CAPITULATION OF VERSAILLES. At a quarter past eleven M. Kauveau, the present maire of the town, came out with the Prussian General and read publicly the text of the capitulation, signed by both parties, as follows ; — 1. Persons and property shall be respected, as well as monuments and works of art. 2. The confederates shall occupy all the barracks with their soldier?, but the inhabitants should be bound to lodge the officers, and if needful, soldiurs also, should the barracks prove insufficient. 3. The Garde Mobile should remain armed, and in the common interests should be charged with the internal police supervision of the town and of the posts belonging to it. Only the confederates shall occupy the barrier gates. 4. There shall be no money contribution, but the town shall furnish at a money price all the requirements of the army on ' the march and of the army in occupation. 5. On this day the gate shall be open for the passage of the sth corps. While the maire was reading the above, the aide-de-camp, accompanied by M. Duperoz, lieutenant of the place, went to give orders as to the gates, and the lieutenant was invited to come to speak to the general. On his way he passed by the corner of the battle-field, whore they were carrying off the French guns and conveying the wounded to the ambulances of the palaces of Versailles and Trianon. At a little after midday the defiling of the troops commenced through the Rue des Chantiers, and continued until after five in the afternoon. Some one said the number was 16,000, others 40,000. Many

people quitted the t< wn. ilioupli a l;»rg' n umber remained ; the general took up his quarters at ilio Pol el des Reservoirs, anrl the troops in llw vurnus barvnc'o, some bivoucking in ilo Place. d'Arnios and others ir. tlic Avenue de St. 01 nd There were some cvhr raised of "Vive la. France," and on this being uttered to the first officer who came with the flnff of truce, he replied "My friend, it is ' Vive la paix' that you ouirlit to shout." After all had entered the requisitions were made ; 26 oxen were given hy the town. 10 casks of wine, &c, and all the magazines of the commissariat which the military authorities had l^cn a'vmt to burn, and which was worth SOO.OOOfr. This had

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been purchased by the town with a view I to what has now taken place. These requisitions are to be paid for by the confederate army. As for the soldiers, they offer payment in their own money for what they take. A NEW IKSTBUMBNT. The MorwMiq Post has received a letter from Paris by balloon. One of its items ought to cause the Germans some anxiety: — " The defence from within is already taking a desperate character. The generals, as is the wont of generals, have long insisted upon making war ouly according to tradition. They hold that, while it is perfectly fair and most honorable forcibly to introduce steel and lead into the vital parts of their enemies, or to blow them \ip ■with gunpowder, it is barbarous and disgraceful to use to the same end any means involving a further advance of science. Their scruples, however, have now been vanquished. I have to-day seen a quite unmartial, frock-coaxed, keen-eyed little chemist, who has within his knowledge more effectual and terrible methods of warfare than all the cocked hat 3in Europe ever covered. He assures me that, with a recently-discovered preparation—fulminate of picrate of potass, which is ten times worse than picrate of potass in its ■imple form—he can blow the Prussian army off the face of the earth. He has another preparation, which at once asphyxiates and burns any living creature upon which it is projected ; and, in addition to that, he declares that he possesses the means of decomposing water itself, and turning it into consuming flame. This gentleman is in the employ of the Government, and has already prepared a most diabolical reception for the Prussians. They have, indeed, already experienced the awful effects of his skill in the explosion of twotorpedoes, which are said to have killed 700 men ; and the exposed points of the defence are thickly sown with like engines of destruction." FREEMASONRY AND THE WAR. The present war has been prolific in illustrations of the value of Freemasonry in dangerous emergencies, and the anecdotes are endless of the lives saved by its means. Among the cartloads of wounded of both nations which arrived from Sedan were two men, whose consideration for each other was so marked as to occasion inquiry. They wore the Prussian and French uniform respectively, and though neither could understand a word of the other's language, they shared their rations, and Beemed to be interchanging signals of amity all day long. Their story was a very simple one. The Prussian, who is an officer, and a man of thirty-five or so, with a stern, grave face, and a heavy overhanging moustache, had met the Frenchman, who is at least a dozen years his junior, on the battle-field, the latter being supported by a couple of comrades. Twice aid the wave of conflict bring these men in contact, and on the last occasion the Prussian, who was himself badly wounded in the chest, pressed the young Frenchman hard, and had, indeed, his sword uplifted to administer the coup de gfitace, when the latter, who was faint from loss of blood, made a hasty sign to his victor which caused the latter to stay his hand. Parley was impossible, both from the exigencies of language and the turmoil of battle ; and besides, both men lost consciousness, and fell at each other's side. It turned out that the young Frenchman had been made a Freemason a few months before the outbreak of the war, and that he had instinctively made the sign by means of which members of the fraternity are taught to ask their brethren for help. The Prussian was an old mason, who recognised it instantly, and who as instinctively paused, and before there was time for consideration both men fainted away. When consciousness was restored, they found themselves side by side, and with the dead and dying round them. By a strange coincidence, their wounds were such that each could give the other some slight relief, and the late enemies employed their weary hours, in which they lay disabled and un tended, in rendering little kindnesses to each other, and in thus cementing the friendship which had begun so strangely. When help came, they petitioned to be permitted to keep together, telling their story with considerable effusiveness to "the doctor, who, after some time, came to them on tho field. This gentleman, who was not a military surgeon, but a member of the blessed society which dates from Geneva, raised his hands in pleased astonishment at the tale he heard, and at once showed himself to bo a Freemason too ; so that three brethren of the mystic tie were to be seen wondering over the strange chance which hadthrown them together. I don't profess to be able to explain the particular influences brought into play, or the kind of solace which Freemasons find in each other's company, but it is certain that the wounded men are supremely satisfied at the result, and that their story has given them quite a celebrity among their : fellow sufferers. At Iges, where the French prisoners were placed after the capitulation of Sedan, and where, it is but too true they were all but starving, some of the number contrived to make it known to their captors that they were Masons, and though this was ineffectual in many instances, the sturdy and uninitiated Prussians laughing the Masonic gestures to scorn, wherever it succeeded the men obtained little comforts which were priceless. A stout trooper was seen handing a warm frieze coat to one prisoner, and giving part of his rations to another, and explained his conduct to an enquirer, which spoke volumes. "They are my brothers, although I have fought with them, and they are hungry en I cold and must be helped. They would do it for me." These are merely typical cases. But it is impossible to mix much with the troops, particularly after a battle, without hearing of kindred instances of Masonic usefulness. The Masons themselves are very proud of their order, and of the way in which its principles have, they say, risen superior to war. How it is that these loving brethren can ever have flown at each other's throats and mangled each other's bodies, is another question, particularly as they tell you that Louis Napoleon and Prince Frederick William of ! Prussia are both Freemasons of high degree. THE CROWN PRINCE IN IAXGBR. Now we know that there was a very j strong reconnaissance made, of which 1 gave some account previously, and the result of which has been disastrous to the French, who made it. The Crown Prince of Saxony had to deal with an attempt to break out of Paris on the 18th, and the affair of the 19thvis no doubt a a trial of Vinoy's force with the Prussians on another point of the line. On leaving

Palaiseau, the Prince went on to visit the captured redoubt and guns beyond Courtenay, before he entered Versailles. Just as the Grown Prince had j turned to leave the captured work, and the members of the staff were coming in ones and twos after him, a heavy gun from the fort of the hill on the other side of the valley (Montrouge, I take it) fired, and the rush of the shot coming towards us, growing in its peculiar hissing way on the ear as it approached, was heard. It flew high, right over the Prince and staff, over the Bavarians, nestled on the face of the ridge before us, and hurtled down in the valley below out of sight — a big fellow, which could have done much mischief had fate ao willed it ; and with another " if," making it a shell to burst overhead, might, have caused tearful telegrams. The Crown Prince trudged on and heeded not ; but I suppose there were many who thought, as I did, that it was well for Prussia the gunner had not sighted his piece somewhat lower. There are not many men whom the world could so ill spare ; and even France, if she knew but all might regret the day if a chance shot from an unseen hand removed a Prince who is not among •' the men who delight in war," though he never fails in his duty on the day of battle. The Prince mounted when he came to the place where the horses were stationed, and, to make up for lost time, cantered across country— here a fine plateau, with a wood on the right, screening Paris from view. There were dead horses and dead men about ; a good many of the former among potatoes and fields of pulse and clover. Presently there came in sight a Bavarian battery, and a lumbering " sponger " led his team right in front of the Prince, and was rebuked therefore ; but he seemed as if he were beyond caring for Crown Princes. BNTRY OF THE PRUSSIANS INTO RHEIMS. On September 5 the Germans occupied Rheims without resistance. The special correspondent of the Cotojjuc Gazette gives the following details respecting the event : — "The French army occupying Metz, about 12,000 strong, under the command General Exea, left the town during the night of Sunday to Monday, September 4 and 6, to make good their retreat to Paris. Iv was intended at first to defend Rheims, and the town was placed in a complete state of defence. In consequence of the surrender, of the whole of M'Mahon's corps, this idea was abandoned, and General Palikao, who was then still Minister of War, gave the order to withdraw and fall back iipon Paris, As soon as the French had left, which was about 2.30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 5, the German cavalry was perceived, and two Prussian hussars entered and rode through a portion of the town. During the time which had elapsed between the retreat of the French and the entry of our cavalry the Mayor of Rheims summoned the council, and informed them of the withdrawal of the tror^s, which rendered resistance or defence perfectly impossible. Five powder waggons which had been forgottonby the retreating army were got out of the way as quick as possible, and in fact some were sunk in the canal, and the police-agents and the firemen who remained behind disguised themselves as civilians. At 7 a.m. five more Prussian hussars arrived before Rheims, but the populace closed the drawbridge, and the hussars galloped away. At 10 a.m. the mayor was informed that a squadron of hussars was at the gates. The mayor went directly to the Berthemy gate of the town, and requested to speak to the officer in command, and expressed his wish and earnest entreaty that the town should be spared, and net disgraced by being captured and held by so small a division of troops. This latter request was very wisely made, as the working people were in a great state of ferment, and might possibly rise, against such a seeming small body of troops — which, if more important, would awe them and preclude the possibility of any resistance. The officer consented to these terms, under the condition that the mayor should do all in his power to calm the populace. The mayor then published a proclamation requesting the inhabitants not to attempt any resistance, as it would be vain to do , so now that the troops have been withdrawn. At 12.25 four German horse soldiers rode into Rheims. When they arrived in the Rnc Ce*res they halted before the shop of a confectioner and asked for some biscuits which they paid for. At this moment an elderly man threw himself upon one of the soldiers, and, seizing his horse by the bridle, exclaimed, 'You shall never eat that ! ' The hussar struck the old man with the but-end of his pistol, but failing to make him loose his hold he fired at him, wounding him in the neck. The hussars then left the town at stretch gallop, but one of the inhabitants, a young man, fired after them. At three o'clock the whole squadron appeared, and the mayor went out to meet them, and formally surrendered the town. Shortly afterwards the main body of the enemy arrived, composed of 25,000 men, followed shortly afterwards by the King and his whole staff." THE BOMBARDMENT OF BITSOHE. The siege of Bitsche was taken in hand in the middle of August. On the 24th four 60-pounder mortars and five batteries of four 12-pounder breechloaders each, commenced bombarding the fortress. On the 4th September there was a sortie against the besiegers, who consist of the 4th Wurtemburg and two battalions of the Bfch Bavarian. The sortie was repeated on the 11 th and 29th, in the direction of Freudenberg and Saspelscheidt. These attempts were completely repulsed, with small loss to either side. From the 11th to the 20th there was a severe bombardment, which dismounted several cannon, destroyed about 120 houses and the castle on the fort. After firing 20,000 shot the besieging batteries became disabled, and were removed to Germersheil. The Wurtembergers were also withdrawn, the Bavarians being left for the purpose of observing. On Friday, Saturday, and Monday, September 30 and October 1 and 2, the garrisons made sorties, with cavalry and infantry, protected by cannon, and destroyed batteries and farms where the besiegers' outposts lay. The fort is a perpendicular rock, like Gibralter, 200 feet high, casemated, and nearly impregnable. The garrison consists of 2000 men. The peasantry speak German, but there is an intensely French sentiment amongst them. THE BURNING OP BAZEILLES Of the little village of Bazeilles the writer says a handsomer or more prosperous one was not in the north-east of France. It is now as complete a ruin as Pompeii :— " In-

deed, there are houses at Pompeii in a better state of preservation than any at Bazeilles. Not a roof or a floor remains in any one of them. The Prussians sheila did their work so well that even the front walls of Caen stone have been blown and burnt to fragments, which now block up the pavements and all but cover the roadway. Even in the lanes oft the main street every habitation was utterly destroyed. No human being could now find shelter in Bazeilles. When a troop of Prussian Lancers rode through it recently no sound was heard there but the tramping of their horses, and there was not a living soul, man, woman, or child, of the happy population who dwelt there little more than a week ago. The Prussians say they destroyed Bazeilles because the inhabitants had fired upon them from the houses. This i 3 denied by the French, who say that the shots which came from the houses were fired by the regular soldiers and the Garde Mobile. Be this J as it may, destruction was never more ! j complete. Thence to Balau, and also from La Chapelle to Balan, the country is a complete waste. Crops and orchards have disappeared, and the farm houses are riddled by bullets. Rifles and cannon both played their part at Balan, and thence on to Sedan, a distance of about •an English mile : — "Dead horses abound all along the route ; Chassepots lie about in hundreds, there" aye shakoes, helmets, and cuirasses in heaps, and knapsacks and cartouche-boxe3 enough for a whole regiment. In the vicinity of such spoil I observed scores of men wearing the white badge and cross, whose work was not ministering to the sick and wounded, but seeking anything worth finding. Somo cf them wore soldiers' knapsacks. Numbers of these men, and of other badge-bearers whom I have met about the battle-field, are evidently mere toui-ists, while not a few of them are downright rascals. I have been told that they have robbed the dead. Some of them are villainous-looking enough for anything. Certain o? the societies engaged in the work of charity do not allow any person to act for them who does not exhibit an official timbre on the armkt as well as the red cross. If any of them have not adopted that plan, or some plan like it, the sooner they do so the better." TREATMENT OF THE SEDAN PRISONERS. The Germans are charged with bad treatment of the Sedan prisoners. Writing from Sedan five days after the capitulation, the same writer states that for the whole of that time almost all the men of M'Mahon's army, some 80,000, and all such of the officers as would not give their parole not again to bear arms against the Prussians during the present war— 3000 out of about 4000, as it now appear— had been left in an open field, as wet with the heavy rains as a marsh, without the slightest covering, huddled together like sheep in a space about as large as Trafalgar square, without an ounce of meat, and with only one hard biscuit per man for tvso days' consumption — two and a half biscuits for the whole five days— and this though, according to the writer, the Prussian troops round Sedan had two good meat meals per diem. Many of the officers had money enough, but " the Prussian authorities would not allow their prisoners even to purchase what they required." The rain had been pouring down on these poor fellows without intermission ever since the day of surrender ; they were as wet as if they had been rescued from the water, many flushed with fever, hundreds hardly able to stand upright with rheumatic pains, and many of the remainder suffering from bad bowel complaints. He saw some of these poor fellows marched off to the frontier, and asserts that " even the French officers, if they lagged behind for an instant, were beaten with the but-ends of muskets, and roared at 'Forward, forward.' "Weak, sick, suffering from dysentry, fever, and rheumatism," they were compelled to move for ten miles at a pace nearly equal to our " donble quick." Representing to the Prussian officers what he had seen, he was politely told in two instances to mind his own business, and in the third answered by curses on the French nation and its soldiers. — Pall Mall Gazette. INSIDE PARIS. The Pall Mall Gazette, on the night of the 6th October, published the following : — " Having just received notice that there is the possibility of sending a letter in a quarter of an hour, I write a few hurried lines, as there is much doubt as to the arrival of the epistles which correspondents send by balloon. Paris itself is quiet, and the people, confident in the powers of the Republic, are determined to fight to the last. Every attempt made by ultra-de-magogues to disturb the Provisional Government has failed, and there is a tacit understanding now that all party quarrels I shall be laid aside until after the war. Though the National Guards and Mobiles are not pulling very well together, I have 1 come to the conclusion that the professional jealousies between the two corps will not have any serious result. In the encounters which have taken place outside | the walls the Line has not behaved well, and severe examples have been made, but with the Mobiles the case is different. Their conduct in face of the enemy has been unimpeachable, and I have only heard of one instance of a moblot having committed a gross breach of discipline — he was shot yesterday morning for rape and robbery. On Friday last there was severe fightingin nearVillejuif,Chevilly,andHay. A strong reconnaissance was made by the French, who tumbled as usual into a kind of ambush, and were driven back with immense loss. As far as we can learn, however, the Germans also suffered considerably, as some of the outlying forts took part in the engagement, and did great execution in the ruined villages, behind whose walls the enemy had taken up their position. The battle field remained in the hands of the Germans, who speak highly of the courage of the French soldiers,~but say that they f»re badly led, and further, that they were well aware that this sortie was about to be made, as they had received notice of it from friends in Paris. Saturday and Sunday were quiet, and, in fact, there was an armistice yesterday, during which the dead was buried. " We are very badly off here for meat, as there is some difficuly between the butchers and the Government. 1 rather suspect that the sheep and cattle have been dying for want of proper food, and that there is a scarcity which, is beginning to be severely felt. " Paris was much grieved yesterday to learn the fall of Toul and Strasbourg, and the statue of the latter town is to be cast in bronze in memory of Uhrich's defence. "Thursday, the Republican's New

Year's day, orlst Vende'miaire, threatened to be stormy, but blew over quietly. The clubs and other Republican paraphernalia announced a manifestation in front of the Hotel de Ville, to force the Government in a peaceful way." BISMARCK EXPLAINS HIS OWN TERMS. The following note from Count Bismarck was published on the morning of the 7th October :—" As we learn from the newspapers the section of the French Government residing at Tours issued an official proclamation, containing a passage to the effect that the undersigned told M. Jules Favre that Prussia would continue the war and reduce France to a secondrate power. Although such a statement can be intended only to impress such circles as are alike unacquainted with the ordinary language of diplomacy and the geography of France, yet the fact that the said official utterance bears the signature of ' Cremieux, Glais Bizoin, and Fourichon,' and that these gentlemen form part of the Government of a great European Empire, induces me to request your Excellency to comment upon it in your official conversations. In my interviews with M. Favre we never got so far as to open business-like discussion on terms of peace. Only at his reiterated request I communicated to the French Minister a general outline of those ideas which form the principal contents of my circular, dated I 'Meaux, the 16th of September. As yet, 1 have never and nowhere raised demands going beyond those ideas. The cession of Strasbourg, Metz, and th ( 6 adjacent territory, alluded to by me on this occasion as part of our programme, involves the diminution of French territory by an area almost equal to that gained by Savoy and Nice ; but the population of the territory we aspire to exceeds, it is true, that of Savoy and Nice by three-quarters of a million. Now, considering that France, according to the census of 1866, has 38,000,000 inhabitants, and with Algeria, which latterly supplies an essential portion of her army, even 42,000,000, it is clear that a loss of 750,000, will not affect the position of France in regard to other Powers, but, on the contrary, leaves this great Empire in possession of the same abundant elements of power by which, in Oriental and Italian wars, it was capable of exercising so decisive an influence upon European destinies. These few suggestions will suffice to assert the logic of facts against the exaggerations of the proclamation of the 24th ult. I will only add that in our conversations I expressly drew Mr Favre's attention to these considerations, and that therefore, as your Excellency will have known without my telling yon, I was far from making any offensive allusion to the consequences of this war as affecting France's future position in the world. — Bismarck." the sick and wounded. A correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette thus writes from Paully-sur-Meuse, Sept. 16th : — " Passing through Belgium lo Sedan, one meets constantly with long trains of the Prussian wouuded returniug through Belgium to Germany, and of the French whom the Belgians propose to nurse in their hospitals, receiving Germans abo, of course, when desired. The Prussians, however, are so much more desirous to get home, and the preparations are necessarily so much better there than in France for the French wounded, that the wounded received in Belgium will be principally French. It must be said that the sympathies of the Belgians are chiefly with the French ; aa our little Hanoverian waiter at the hotel complained bitterly, threatening his fellow-waiters with ultimate digestion by Prussia as a just punishment. The Belgian people are showing active sympathy by establishing small domiciliary ambulances in their houses and chateaux. At Namur I found a good central organisation, under the charge of Dr Hamoir. The Jesuits, the Civil Hospital, and other establishments have received 250 wounded, most of them slight cases ; and, as Namur is a good centre, they are distributed thence. At Libramont, we came upon the first large ambulance. The station is used by the Prussians to bring up their wounded from Sedan. There, at the very gates of the station, were large wooden huts, with straw strewn on the ground. Convoys of the wounded were coming in from Sedan in open peasants' carts ; strings of carts, with wounded men, were • lining the road, waiting to take their turn. The most severe cases were lying on the straw in the hut. They had still their primary dressings, many of them indescribably unwholesome from the unavoidable delay of forty hours since the last dressing. The Justice Hitter were busy moving about, carrying sick men on stretchers, lifting them up in their arms, helping them to hobble to the huts. These lay in rows, waiting for the surgeons ; with terrible wounds of the upper extremities, shattered hands and elbows, bulletwounded feet, and every variety of injury. Pale and suffering, with prospects which for many of them are gloomy iudeed, and which pain and sad surroundings must aggravate, the3e men showed an incredible patience and gentleness. The mass of work which falls upon the ambulances suddenly in this way often deranges the best arrangements, and although those of the Prussians are well devised, and on a large scale, they are often, as in this case, xinable to meet emergencies. Libramont is one of the stations on the Belgian railway used to carry on the evacuation of the ambulances around Sedan, and to start the wounded on their way to hospitals preparing forthem in Ger- ' many. Thus at Libramont during the first days, while six or seven hundred wounded were sent down daily, there was hardly any power of feeding or dressing them. Happening to have the charge of stores in addition to my other functions and to the necessary professional training, I set to work in the ambulance, and had the satisfaction of largely replenishing its stores. Apart from the painful associations of such a scene, and besides its purely professional interest, there is a strong element of the picturesque. It was indeed unique, and such as only a strange conjunction of circumstances could bring about. Here in a neutral country, the people of which? however, are by no means animated with sympathetic feelings, were lying hundreds of wounded German soldiers, in rough wooden huts and on rough country carts ; inquisitive tourists crowded round the doors, making the whole affair into a sort of raree show. The Belgian sentinels paraded the garden with an ureasy assumption of authority, but the veritable masters were the Prussians, and they bore themselves with a full consciousness of their achievements. A fire in front of the principal huts served to warm water

for the dressings j to and fro hurried dressers with pannikins, carrying splints, charpie, and bandages; the Johannitte Ritter, with a mixed authority and gentleness of address, directed the movements of their army of red-cross dependants. On the outskirts hung a crowd of miserable peasants, begging, marauding, selling bread at a penny a slice, cigars at two for three half-pence, and beer and schnapps. As night came on the camp fires and the many lanterns added picturesqueness to a scene which|the|darkness of night invested with mystery, but from which nothing could remove the load of misery. The reverse of the medal ia to be seen just now in the ambulances. Death in the field has its halo of glory ; lingering suffering in the ambulance, slow torture from tetanus or from blood-poison-ing, is a kind of misery which, when it is multiplied by hundreds and by thousands, can with difficulty be gilded. The permission now accorded to the Prussian and French wounded to pass through and into Belgium has greatly relieved the ambulances of Sedan and its environs. But the recent refusal of the commandant of Mezieres to allow the trains of wounded prisoners to pass into Belgium under the guns of that place has had the very natural but unfortunate effect of irritating the Prussian commandant, and he has consequently ordered that henceforth (that is, after the 13th of September) the i slightly wounded French shall go into Pomerania and Silesia in lieu of passing into Belgium. The great sufferers by this ill-advised refusal of the commandant at Mezieres are the French ; and now the surgeons in the various French ambulances express their disgust at his folly in very forcible terms. The orders on ail sides here are to remove the wounded as quickly as possible, and to make ready to move ihe ambulances to the neighborhood of Meaux, Rouen, Orleans, and Bourges, which are, according to French opinion, the probable points of war in the future — if the war be prolonged.