THE WAR IN EUROPE.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 774, 3 January 1871, Page 4

THE WAR IN EUROPE.

NOTES AND INCIDENTS

The official documents which have fallen into the hands of the new t French Government provowthat, with the exception of the Orsini ,and Pianori conspiracies, and the rising at La Villetto, all tho alleged plots which made a sensation under the Empire were got up by the police. The last of them was arranged by MM. Pienzi and Bernier, the Jugc d l lnstruction, in order to produce on' the public mind an impression" favorable to the plebiscite. The Empress, with a few attendants, takes daily walks in the village of Ohislehurst and on the common. Sightseers are not so plentiful as was expected, if we except Sundays, when her Majesty attends the beautiful little Roman Catholic chapel. It is, however, pleasant to see the great, respect shown to her by all classe?. The Prince Imperial generally accompanies the Empress, attended by his tutor and guardian. Cam den Piace, the residence of the Empress and her son, is an old-fashioned residence, standing in its own grouuds, adjoining Chislelumt common. This estate is the property of Mr Strode, a gentleman of large fortune, who has been for some years on terms of intimacy with the Emperor Napoleon. It was at Mr Strode's earnest request and solicitation that the Empress took up her abode at this gentleman's mansion.

The correspondent of the Cologne Gazette; writing from Versailles on the 21st Oct. , states: — "We are now informed of the appearance of a ' maic!,' a modern Joan ot Arc, who has suddenly sprung tip from the department of the Loire Inferieure, and who is to inspire fresh courage and new hopes into the hearts of the French. This inspired young woman, who, like unto her predecessor iv the reign of Charles VIT, has visions, and has heard the voice of the Mother of God, does not appear to consider it necessary this time to submit herself to an examination as to whether she is in communication with or possessed by the ' powers of darkness.' In the present case, also, the ' maid ' wears neither armor nor sword, but a long black robe, no doubt to denote her sorrow as to the position «of her mother country. Up to the present time, the superior command of the Army of the Loire has not been entrusted to her. Nevertheless, she marches at the head of the troops who are still in Tours, and carries before them^a silken banner, upon which is painted the Holy Virgin with the infant Jesus ; and in fact the whole affair looks as if the advisers of this new paragon had beeu guided by a .jealous study of Schiller's 'Maid of Orleans.' This information, although a seeming fable, had been stated officially from the head-quar-ters of the Army of the South."

Two brave soldiers, whose names have been conspicuous in the war, retire from the foreground — Ullrich, from Strasburg, to live upon his parole in Switzerland ; and Steiunietz, from before Metz, to a civil government in Prussia. Since Uhrich's name became famous, countries have contended fur the honor of giving him birth, the last statement being that he is a Sclavonian. But he was born, so the Alsatian journals assured us six weeks ago, in Phalsburg, in 1802. He wa3 educated at St. Oyr* and by the second year of the Crimean \var.had risen to the rank of general ofdivision. Three years ago he retired from active .service", but at the outbreak of the war^he came" forward .to serve his country, ancl was appointed to tho command of S*trasbiirg. He is married to a German lady, and during the siego his younger childrea have been with their mother's relatives in Baden. Steinmetz, the old rf Lion of Skalitz,'' is a soldier of the Blucher tyjpe, hungry for battle, who gets a. decant dismissal because he could not ke,ep his appetite under strict cCntiol.- Whenever. Stein metz saw the enemy, he could not help hitting him. But '4smite hard and smite always " is not a maxim that commends itsplf to generals of the school of Count Moltke, who do not like to have their Inrge aud wise combination marred by the premature action of subordinates. It is said, that more than once, when Moltke was executing a plan of operations on the principle so successfully applied at Sedan, the ardour of" Stein metz carried him away, and by attacking too soon he reduced a whole victory fo half a one. .As Stoinmetz was Com mander-in -Chief of the army, there was no alternative* but. ; to maintain him in his position or to^end him home, and the latter alternative has. bscn adopted. He need not complain*; ho has had part in some of the greatest battles of the century. A man who began by fighting at Leipsic, and commanded an army at Gravelotte, may be content by this time to put up his sword. ■■'■■.

By way of reprisal on account of the publication of the secret papers of the Emperor found at Paris, the Bonapartists threaten to publish" documents which will compromise members of "the old Opposition parties.

At Chartres, the Paris Francs-tireurs routed 350 Prussian cavalry at Ablis, taking sixty of them prisoners, together with their horses. Tho Mayor of Arthenay announces that in the neighborhood of that town 700 or 800 Francs-tireurs have compellsd the Prussians to fall back. The Conseil-General de Manche* has voted 30,000,000 f. for the purchase of arms. The authorities of the Buy de Dome and the Loire havj been.- warned that peculiar marks have been found on trees in various parts of Normandy, andj are supposed to be the means of communication between Prussian spies. The Prefect of the Loire and the Herault have issued notices censuring the imperfect enforcement of the decree prohibiting shooting this season, and strongly e?: joining* upon ;the authorities a strict observance of the law. The Municipal Council of St. Etienne hare issued a decree suppressing the teachingjofihe community of^BrotKers of Chiistian*Boctrmo i . The road between B,c>anne and Paris is infested by daring* maraudcis. Night patrols have been organised at Lapacandure. 4?he pro- ' prietor of an estate at St. Romain Inn armed his friends and tenantry for do- ' fence. On October 10lh 200 Prussian cavalry, with two cannon and some infantry, arrived at^Dreux". An engage^ nient ensiled, in which they sustained some los 3, and they'have, been compelled to surrender thejijrovisioTis acquired by heir requisition atCherisy.

The way in which th^ French press was managed under the Eni| ire has been clearly revealed by tho .-correspondence found in the Tnileries, and now in course of publication. For this p.urpese money appears to have been freely spent. It is 'also stated that some twenty German and English .newspaper^ "of which several are of**the highest clags," were thus attached to . Ciesar . ancl ' his fortunes. English, readers wiil be curious to learn the names of the English papers of the highest class referred to. One of our London ne wspapera proprietors has written to deny the charge as regards himself of being in the pay of tho Emperor. Dr Sims, of the Anglo-American Ambulance, writing from Sedan, gives an anecdote of how on the previous -niiilit a poor wonnded "soldier's life was sa.v«d by one of the lady nurses in a most remarkable manner :— " It is well known that gunshot wounds are often followed by secondary haemorrhage from ten to twenty days after the wound is received. I have seen it several times here. We had great trouble in arresting a bleeding of this sort in Dr. Tilghman's ward, No. 14. It took us quite %wn hours to do it. One of our lady nurses (Miss Neligan) stood by aiding us all the time, ancl was greatly interested in what she saw. It was midnight. I was tired, ancl went to bed, and so .did the other surgeons -uid the men nurses, all were satisfied with what we had done. But, the woman! did she heedlessly give herself up to drowsy sleep and self-indulgence ? No ; she remembered three or four badly wounded men in her ward, nearly a hundred paces from the scene of our tiresome two hours' work, and fearing that some such accident as she had just witnessed might occur to the.n, she stole quietly 'down, gently \mcovcring the shoulder of one, the arm of another, and the chest of a third, when to her great horror she found one of her patients lying in a pool of blood still gushing forth in a great stream. Instinctively she grasped the wound and stanched the blood by compression, called up a sleeping dolt of an infirmier, sent for the doctor in charge (Dr Duncan), Avho came at once and permanently arrested the flow of blood. Five minutes— two — and the man would have been dead, the male nurse sleeping soundly by his side."