WAR ITEMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 40, 16 February 1871, Page 2

WAR ITEMS.

THE GARIUSON OF PARIS. The Paris correspondent of a London paper writes : — It is no use disguising the fact that hy far the largeßt portion of the Paris gamsou is worse than useless. I allude to the National Guards. It is hardly possible to conceive worse material out of which to make a soldier than that which composes the army now commanded by General Clemeut Thomas — that is to say the Garde Nationale of Paris. In numbers they far exceed all the other combined troops — soldiers of the Line, Mobiles, sailors, Douaniers, guerilla cavalry, Franc-tireurs — who are now defending Paris. The number of men who uomiually report themselves as fit for duty is about 280,000, so that on paper, at least, tho Garde Nationale is twice as strong as all the other defenders of Paris combined ; but I must add that, as au offensive weapon — as a military arm — ihis vast body of National Guards is worse than useless. The men are drawn for the most part from a class which, of all others, is the least calculated to furnish good soldiers. The National Guards 'J^e^ called in 'mockery either grocers, or po^K butchers, or corn-cutters. There is pn^r bably no city iv the^ civilised world which contains so many little shopkeepers as the city from which I now write. I am far from saying that many of them are not individually brave ; but their familiarity with town life incapacitates them altogether for the habits of a soldier. Anything more helpless than the war battalions of General Clement Thomas's large army, when they had to sleep out of Paris during four nights of last week, it would be difficult to imagine. They fought well, iudeed, so long as they were advancing, but the moment they merely had to hold the grouud they occupied, they became liable to sudden panics, aud some — indeed, many — of them behaved disgracefully. It is asserted by all the other branches of the service that they were in no instance worth the room they occupied; and yet in every journal of Paris we are constantly nauseated by the demand to admire them. This, by the way, is not surprising, as it must be remembered that the Gardes Nationales are far more likely to* buy papers than are the regulars. A STOLEN* VISIT TO PARIS. The Main Zeitung, of December 10, gives the following extract, from a fieldpost letter received from a Wiesenbadener, dated Viroflay, November 28 : — " Au officer of Hussars proposed to get into Paris, and managed to do so in the following wise. He dressed himself in the ordinary garb of a peasant, and by the aid of a moustache a la Napoleon, coupled with a perfect knowledge of the French tongue, managed to slip through our outposts. Wheu he had passed the outermost lines, our forepost lost no time in having a shot at him, but of course in the air. The French, ou the other hand, naturally concluded that he was a countryman. By the aid of a plausible tale, he soon fouud himself within the walls of Paris. Out he came in the greatest glee that he had succeeded iv evading the vigilauce of the French outposts. He was the bearer of interesting tidings from Paris, not the least important of which was that in the laboratories there was no more saltpetre with which to make gunpowder." REWARD FOR TAKING A GUN. 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 tho first hostile gun, has Bent it to Count Munster, it having been shown that Lieutenant Brandenburg, of the 46th Lower Silesian Grenafti-^rs, captured the first gun at Worth.-^he^j Count will hand it over to the Crown Princess, and beg her to present ifc to the mother of the still unmarried lieutenant, who lives at Rudesheim. The cross bears an English inscription, stating tho circumstances uuder which it was presented." THE END OF THE WAR. Herr Wickede, of the Cologne Gazette, commenting on the hopelessness of further resistance on the pare of the Freuch, which might protract the war for months but would not ouly entail the greatest misery ou the country, says: — " The house from which our troops are fired ou is burnt dowu, the village whose inhabitants take part in the struggle is totally destroyed, and the prisoners in arms without uniforms and not belonging to regular troops usually suffer death. During the last few months in which these Franctireur bands have cropped up many hundreds of houses have been burnt, and very many men have been shot, whereas this never happened in the first period of the war, when we carried on a regular fight against regular troops. Even the capture of provision transports by Franctireurs does France, as a rule, far more harm than good. If the troops receive no

provisions Ihey requisition them without more ado, and, if it is necessary forcibly to make requisitions, plundering and devastation, even with the strictest discipline, but too ensily follow. Many things now occur which did not happen at the , begiuniug of the war, aud that this is the case is chiefly the, fault of the French. If one speaks with any particular Frenchman he almost always deplores tho war, curses Gambetta aud the •whole Republic, and yearns for peace at any price ; yet, if'ia 'dozen come together and any lying victorious report of their Provisional Government! has appeared, the entire impossibility of which is evident to auybody with a.sh\ed of military, sta- • tistical, political and '"geographical knowledge, they are immediately fire and fury, deceive and excite each other with all kinds of sentences, and believe that France is still the most powerful country in the world, and that we ' Prussian barbarians' cannot be or continue victors. The single Frenchman is usually amiable, polite, opeu to any opinion clearly put before him ; and even now, amid an embittered war and in an enemy's country, I would far A« rather, as a rule, have intercourse with the JrjF-reuch than with the many Germau cigar vendors, horse dealers, adventurers hoping/ for appointments — in short, with the only too great number of Germans who, under the guise of patriotism, seek only their personal advantage, frequently in very repulsive ways. When, however, a dozen Frenchmen come together, they indulge in political speeches and get intoxicated with reported victories, so that they cau only be regarded ;s lunatics." He believes, nevertheless, that the end of the war is approaching, and that on beiug convinced that the Germans occupy Rouen aud Orleans, the French will abandot/ further resistance. "' // fant enfinir, monsieur,' said by hostess to me just now, the wife of a celebrated French surgeon who manages an hospital at Tours, when I had read to her our iast official dispatches from Orleans, aud she turned/ away weeping. Yes, it must end 4 France must submit to stern necessity and k recognise us as victors, or it is for decades to come a completely ruined country." yv __- ,i-^--m«»mm— -u-j ■-■r==ry(g*-

Siege of Strasboueg*-.-- A French paper gives the following account of the experience of one of the inhabitants of Strasbourg during the siege : — " I had been established irt Strasbourg for many years, and my affairs had never been so prosperous as they were when the war broke out. Ou the approach ot the enemy I sent away my wife aud family, but could not leave my wharehouses and shops, lest when the town was taken they ahould be given up to pillage. The first eight days all went well, the quarter I inhabited seemed to be spared ; but on the ninth day a shell exploded in front of my house and broke all the windows ou the ground floor. I thought it prudent from that time to take refuge in my cellar. I had some provisions there, so that I seldom went out of it. I spent my days and evenings in reading, little thinkiug what was going to befal me. On Saturday the 10th, about mid-day, while I was taking a meal, I heard a tremendous noise overhead. I ran to the stairs to ascertain the amount of damage doubtless caused hy a shell falling into my house. I drew back terrified. The entrance of the celtar was stopped up by portions of the wall/*-. The house was fallen in aud I was buried alive. What passed through my miud in the first hour of my captivity I cannot adequately describe. I had fils of dumb anger, to which general exhaustion succeeded. By degrees I came to myself, for I must confess I completely lost my head ; I collected my ideas, and thought I remembered having during the dny brought down a petroleum lamp. I felt my, way to the piece of furniture on which I believed I had placed it, and by good fortune there ifc was. I lighted it instantly. It was then that. I realised my true situation ; all around me there were ruins ; the staircase no longer existed ; I could no longer deceive myself; the house had fallen in, and this cellar was to be my tomb. To clear the rubbish on that side was my only hope, and T began ifc with the fury of despair. Every brick I took away made others fall ; the walls crumbled continually, aud I was from one moment to anotherthreateDcd with destruction by the ruins. Then my lamp went out for want of oil, aud for a time I gave up all hope ; but the instinct of selfpreservation prevailed, and I set to work no-am in a sort of rage. I had been working, as it seemed to me, more than two days, when the ceiling suddenly fell in ; a brick struck me on the head, I fainted. How long I remained insensible I cannot tell. When I re-opened my eyes I perceived an opening above my head; the stars were shining; it was night. I suffered horribly, aud dare not move for fear of producing a fresh fall of masonry, I waited for day in mortal anxiety. As soon as I could realise my position, hope returned. I made a heap all rouud me, and clinging to a beam ot the ceiling, I raised myself out of this cellar which had so nearly been my grave. Once out of it, I again gave way. When I came to myself once more, I crouched down among the ruins of my abode, and wept for more than two hours. I had spent four days in that cellar. I went into it without one grey hair, and now it is quite white. I have aged more than twenty years iv four days. As for my shops, all are burnt. I had worked for ten years to set up my family in tolerable comfort. My wife and I looked for an old age exempt from care; now all must begin over again, aud I see no prospect of anything but misery for our future days." Thr Police and their Risks. — The following facts recently published show that in regard to the London police the cost to the public is considftupble for compensation for injuries^eceived by policemen in the disci&rge of their duties. "At the present timf , 188 men permanently disabled by Jflaving been stabbed, assaulted, jumped upon, or otherwise injured by prisoners, are in receipt of pensions amounting to £5,664 yearly ; the widows and children of 15 men, who died in consequence of wounds or injuries received by them from prisoners, receive pensions amounting to £212 yearly : 79 men, permanently disabled by iujuries accidentally received in the execution of their duty, receive pensions amounting to £2,485 yearly ; and the widows and children of four men, who died in consequence of like injuries, receive £80 yearly. These figures give a total of 286 men permanently disabled by wounds or injuries received while in the execution of their duty, to whose widows and children peusions are paid amounting to £8,443 per annum." Of the men thus wounded and disabled, we are told that 80 received their injuries. while apprehending criminals. " Forty-two were koocked down, kicked, aud otherwise maltreated. Eighteen were permanently injured by -drunken persons, nine by riotous or disorderly roughs, seven by burglars, six by Irish mobs, five by miscellaneous mobs, five by drunken soldiers and militia men. Six were stabbed by prisoners, one of

them a convicted thief. ' Three were severely injured by falling while iv the pursuit of thieves — one from a roof, another from a wall, a third by being tripped up to euable a thief to escape. One constable was shot, by a highwayman, and another by a criminal he had brought to justice. One had his leg broken when apprehending a prisoner ; aamher had his wrist* dislocated, and a \hifid his knee-cap. Several were jumped upon by ruffians, kicked by prostitutes, knocked down by runaway horses which they were trying to stop, ridden over by cabs and vans, and injured at fires by falling from ladders."