NOTES AND INCIDENTS.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 824, 18 March 1871, Page 2

NOTES AND INCIDENTS.

The condition France will be in next year promises to be, if possible, worse than her .present state. Here we are eating all the cows, so there will be no calves in 1871, and every one is so busy killing and eating and eating and killing that there is no thought for the morrow. Sucking pigs, lamb 3, sheep, calves, chickens, ducklings, goslings, all die almost as soon as they show signs of life.

The Cologne Gazette says :— An English lady, whose name is to remain unknown, having offered a costly memento, consisting of a large gold cross and necklace to the wife, mother, or other connection of the Prussian officer who should capture the first hostile gun, has -sent it to Count Munster, it having been shown that Lientenant Brandenburg, of the 48th Lower Silesian Grenadiers, captured the first gun at Worth. The Count will hand it over to the Crown Princess, and beg her ~ to present it to the mother of the still unmarried lieutenant, who iives at Rudesheim. The cross bears an English, inscription, stating the circumstances under which it was presented."

The Gazette de France, jost published, has a notice of the death of the Due de Luynes, who fell on Friday. He was heading his company in a charge, when a shell carried away half his breast, killing him on the spot. He was only 30 years of age. He served formerly in the Pontifical Zouaves, returned to France, and married the daughter of the Duke of Bisaceia. He was killed on the third anniversary of his wedding day. His youngest child -is only six weeks old. Who shall ever compute the sum of misery this horrible war has inflicted upon two great nations? And still it seems fat from its close.

There is something pitiable in the abject timidity of the French peasant, whose first impulse when he sees & solitary stranger is to bolt, and who at last approaches, cap in hand, trembling in every limb, and devoid of all semblance of independence or manhood. Nor do the bourgeoise appear to much greater advantage in their intercourse with the enemies of their country. Fear- is too plainly written in their countenances to inspire much respect, and one can hardly wonder at the growing contempt which their intense servility creates in the minds of a foe capable of appreciating a more dignified and courageous bearing on the part of those whom the fortunes of war had placed in their power.

The position of Chateaudun is in the highest degree picturesque. Standing upon the lofty terrace of the fine old castle, a magnificent view is obtained of the rich valley of the Loire. Formerly belonging to the Comtes Dunois, it has now passed into the hands of the Due de Luynes, who was in the act of having it 1 restored when the war broke out. The halls were littered with the straw which furnished bedding for the troops, and its chapel, in which was a picture in process of restoration, and a statue of the brave Dunois, had not escaped the stern necessities of war. The old chatelain told me he had pleaded hard with the French generals for an exception to be made in its favor on the grounds of its beauty and sanctity. It would seem that Chateaudun is the victim of some remorseless fate bent upon its demolition, while the beauty of its situation must always survive. It was burnt in 570 by the inhabitants of Orleans and Blois, devastated by the Normans in 858, the scene of a brigand war in 1183, entirely burnt by a fire which lasted eight days, and consumed 800 houses, in 1783, and finally bombarded and partially burnt in 1870. The Hotel de Ville and the tower of its fine old church are covered with the marks of shot and shell.

Some members of the Paris Jockey Club determined a few days since to have a dimt de siege, comprising all the recently adopted elements of food. The famous epicure Baron Brisse was intrusted with the preparation of the menu, which consisted of the following items:— Jßors dVettibfe, radishes, herring marine, onions tfla Provencale, slightly salt butter, gherkins, olives. - First course : Soup of slightly salted horse, with vegetables ; ass flesh cutlets with carro'cs ; mule's liver saxtie aux champignons ; horse's lights,

with white sauce ; carp ala matchtte; fried gudgeons ; celery beads, with seasoning. Second course: quarter of dog braised ; leg of dog roasted ; rats cooked upon the ashes ; rat pie, with mushrooms; Eel a la broclie ; salad of celery and small salad. Desert: Dutch cheese, apples, pears, marmalade au Kvnh i gateav,<Htalw a» /romage de Chester. The banquet which was served in one of the principal establishments of the Chaise* d'Antra, is stated to have been a complete success. We know enough of the present feelings of a large part of the German Zmy and nation with respect to the war tofeel sure that Versailles and Berlin would rejoice to bring it to a close. But though Paris should quickly fall the war would not be over. You have read of the plan of Camps of Concentration, four of which, being round seaports, are to be solidly fortified, to receive each 250,000 men, and to be protected and supplied by the fleet. These camps are* to constitute the last refuge of belligerent France. When Paris shall have fallen, and D'Aurelles' and other armies have been beaten and scattered, there will still be a million of fighting men ready to take the field. Such, at least, is the intention of ■ the Tours Government. How long the nation will support it in this desperate desperate resistance a Voutrance remains to be seen. , , The country beyond Orleans and Tonry and all in front of it, Is described as beyond conception terrible to contemplate. Four times now the storm of war and battle has passed over it. The villages and farm-houses are burnt, the towns gutted. They are, nevertheless, full of wounded men. Every house, almost, is crammed with them—Prussians Hessian?, Bavarians, Hanseatics, * Meck'lenburgers and French. The fields and roads are covered with dead horses and dead men, frozen and stiffened in hideous multiplication of fantastic contortions. Orleans has not suffered except in the suburbs, but these are shell blackened and in ruins. The Cathedral is filled with irreverent prisoners, who swarm in the sacred places, play Offenbach on the organ, and mistake recklessness for gaite de cceur in their captivity. The Army and Navy Gazette says:— The extraordinary effect in the duration of this war produced by the fortifications of Paris has drawn the attention of all thoughtful professional men to the subject of fortifying capitals generally. It has, also, we are happy to learn, drawn the attention of our own War Office, and it is understood that the fortification branch there, under Sir F. Chapman and Colonel Jervois, C.8.," has been directed to prepare a careful scheme for defending Lonaon. That the gentlemen who live at ease in Lancashire may not be alarmed it is well to state that Mr Cardwell is not likely to propose any vote on this account, or anyone else, to begm a series of Forts Valerien. All that will be done will be to make such a careful study of the hills which enclose this great basin of the Thames in which we live, that we should have a ready-made plan whereby to turn our navvies on to the lntrenchment of a set of rough fieldworks, should the Continental fleets and Continental armies unite to imperil our metropolis. In such a case we should have the labor and the guns, and try to create a big Sebastopol. ■ ' ____