General.
ART COLLECTIONS BURNT.
Rome, September 1
Travellers arriving in Italy state that the English, Russian and French pavilions of printing at Leipzig, containing some remarkable art collections, were burnt, and the city lent no assistance to stop the fire. OCCUPATION OF SOMOA. London, September 1. All the papers warmly praise Mew Zealand for the seizure of Samoa.
A TREACHEROUS GUIDE.
London, September 1
During the fighting at Mons, an interpreter and guide in French uniform led the British advance party into many nasty situations, and evontually into the arms of a superior German force, but the British escaped. The relator saw the captain shoot the guide.
THE KILT V. TROUSERS. London, September I
There is a consensus of opinion among the wounded in England that the German rifle fire is extremely poor. Even their overwhelming numbers would probably not have availed but for the excellent German (run fire. The wounded men also state that the reason why so many Highlanders "ere wounded in the legs and feet was that their legs were easily visible at a distance against the khaki. "COME AND FETCH US." A private in the Seaforth Highhinders (Rosshire Buffs) declares: ''lt was simply grand to see the eool way the men blazed away at solid German masses. One company exhausted its ammunition. A German officer, under a white flag, offered to spare the company if it surrendered. The men only laughed, and told him to 'Come and fetch us.' The Germans crept closer and closer, and when they thought they had US, wo rushed them, to show how the British surrender, with the bayonets. They were completely taken aback, and met us with clubbed rifles, but we fought our way out safely." THE FRENCH CAPITAL. The city of Paris is surrounded by fortifications comprising three distinct lines of defence. The first consists of a continuous line of ramparts, forming a circuit of about 22 miles, and beyond these two separate rings of detached forts on the surrounding heights, the outer ring extending lotabout 75 miles, and at about 8 miles from the ramparts, the intermediary forts varying in distance from the outer from 2 to 5 miles. The inner line of fortifications confines Paris to something resembling a pear in shape, with the stalk to the west, A circular railway runs around the city just within the ramparts. There are seven separate railways running into Paris, and for these the ramparts ere pierced at nine points. Paris is one of the greatest fortresses in the world, and an enormous army would be required to invest it. During the Franco-German war of 1870 the investment of the city was completed by Soptemeber 10. The Prussians made no attempt to storm it, preferring to starve it into surrender, knowing that it would bo impossible to maintain food supplies for 2,000,000 people for any great length of time. In Bismarck's words, the Parisians were left to "stow in their own juice," and sorties from the besieged city were of frequent occurrence, but they were ineffective. The invaders began to bombard Paris on December 20, and this was continued until January* 15), 1871. An armistice was signed on January 28, and on March Ist peace was ratified by the Assembly. With the present disposition of tiie Allies a German investment 1 of Paris does not seem possible.
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Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 14, 3 September 1914, Page 3
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557General. Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 14, 3 September 1914, Page 3
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