NOTES OF THE WAR.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 746, 6 December 1870, Page 3

NOTES OF THE WAR.

Tha.'accounts that have been puliliahed, not from French sources but by foreigners, of the conduct of the Prussians in the conquered districts are so conflicting that it is impossible to reconcile them; but in all, armies there will be marauders and bad characters ; as regards the complete despoilment of the people in the villages) and smaller towns by means of war contributions, which often leave the inhabitants without a morsel of-food for themselves, we have abundant evidence ; and even the mildest invaders are very unwelcome guests. No wonder if the country people wince and tremble at their approach l . Already the country is impoverished by the complete suspension' of trade and manufactures, and also, in certain districts, by its generous exertions in aid of the wounded. Numbers : of these, hundreds after hundreds, I'was told, Had been tat en'to Amiens, and everywhere one hears, those who have busied themselves in the hospitals exclaim in horror aft - the : hideous nature of many of the wounds, due chiefly to.. the . enormous* extent" to which" artillery,' and' 'especially* shell, has been employed in this'war.-: 'There is no imaginable variety of i gbasjly injury Which those jagged fragments of bursting iron have not inflicted on poor humanity in the course of this most horrible struggle.... It has now lasted long enough for.the convalescent to be seen about in numbers; the Blightly wounded for the most part with arm in sljng, or hobbling with aid of crutch or stick. One meets them in railways, making their way.homewards, or sitting outside cafes in the towns,' . commonly with eager listeners gath- 1 ered round them, to hear the tale of danger and suffering, and their highlycolored accounts. ofi. the . invincible 1 prowess of the innumerable Prussians.', What the traveller in Northern-France also now continually -meets are grquj"sj of the Johanniter, the men with she red cross, hurrying to fulfil the mission of mercy for which there is now so sad and wide a field. They include persons of all classes ; and I travelled last night for a considerable distance with a well-known: French diplomatist, a man of fortune and rank, hastening to Sedan and its neighborhood to aid personally in the good work. Instances of this kind are frequent enough. Every Frenchman.- at this moment feels bound to contribute his: quota of self-sacrifice and exertion either to his country's defence or to the alleviation of the agony and woe from which such numbers of his countrymen are suffering. , , To Havre it seems firmly believed that a Prussian force will be sent to levy large fines on its prosperous merchants and shipowners. At Rouen a similar visit is expected, and the Prefect, resolved not to share the obloquy cast upon some other local rulers for their readiness to yield, shows determination to resist, although the city is open and defenceless. Two thousand Freeshooters were lately marched' out to a position several miles in front of the town, there to make a stand against the invader, which must assuredly prove fruitless of any other results than loss of life and the exasperation of the Prussians. In their anger and goodwill to fight, the French lose sight of the impossibility of effectual resistance. If Paris does not detain the ! whole of the enemy's force, there is nothing to prevent his sending plundering columns into the "Western Departments, and finding forage for his horses and food for his men in rich pastoral Normandy.- In spite of the armies we hear of as forming on the Rhone and the Loire, it is probable that 40,000 or 50,000 Prussian might go very far without meeting enough resistance to check their march one day. At Lyons a traveller from Italy told me: —" I saw a good many troops, Gardes Mobiles, and also not a few fugitives from the routed armies." The latter will be no good element in the formation of a new army, daunted and dispirited as they are, and beaten ipto a well-founded, conviction of Prussian superiority. According to this same traveller, the road' from Italy to England, through France,: is now a weary one. He travelled straight from Mentone to Dijon; but there was told the enemy barred the passage, and he had to return to Lyons, and thence strike west by Nevers, Tours, Le Mans, Alencon—a tremendous rcifid by branch railways-*-up toßouen.&nd thence : to, Amiens and Calaisj Continental travel is greatly checked by the war; but if any make for Italy before it is over, and the Prussians are out of France, the French route is not a desirable one. All along 'the line from Rouen to Amiens theieis a 'great deal of what may be termed playing at fortifications.: Every station is, more or less prepared to receive an eiiemy, who.must be a very,feeble one ifthose defences are of any avail.' The station houses are loopholed, as are also the walls which have been built up on the window sills to about. three-fourths of the height of the Window. Doorways are protected by strong i planking, also loopholed, and at one station, from the rear of which the ground Bloped down into a wide expanse of/plain"—a ?Wod enough position to defend with ar,tiliery and i considerable iforces —-a' I regular timber wall had been erected for adong could-he -turned and taken with the greatest facility from such defenders as it is likely to find. Of course, there were reports of the Prussians all along the line, or at least during its latter half, and the Uhlan was prominent, as usual. They were at Beauvais, we were told, and

although Beauvais is a good way from Famechon, where this news was given, there was a scared expression about the people as if they thought their turn must quickly come.

-The Duke of Fitz James, charging Germans with gross cruelties at jinzeilles, writes under date September 12, as follows: " I come from Sedan and from Chalons. I have not left our courageous and unfortunate army; Charged, by the Prince of Sagan, by the International Committee of the Society for succouring the wounded, to place ambulances where they could render signal service to all. I have seen from' Beaumont to Sedan, all the battlefields of our army, who crushed by numbers, have gloriously fallen for France. I could, sir, give you a long and sad story of all I have seen ; but, in the face of new dangers that menace our country, I shall confine myself to what passed at Bazeilles. I wish to throw out but one cry, that of indignation. Bazeilles is situated close to Meuse, about half a mile from Sedan. The morning of the 31st August, the brave inhabitants of the town, seeing the enemy approach, donned their uniforms of National Guards, and helped the army to defend itself against a Bavarian Corps, and against the division, Shaeler and Erfurt, of the 4th Prussian Reserve Corps. The enemy entered Bazeilles, and then commenced scenes of horror and excess with shame which will always reflect on those who committed them. The Bavarians and Prussians, to punish the inhabitants for having defended themselves, set fire to the village. , The greatest part of the , National | were dead, the people had taken refuge in the caves; women, children, all were burnt. Of two thousand inhabitants, hardly three hundred remain, who say they saw the Bavarians force whole families into the flames, and shoot the women who were trying to escape. I saw with my own eyes the burning ruins of this unfortunate town; there is not one house standing. The smell of human flesh burning choked me. I saw the charred bodies of the inhabitants lying at their doors. There, Mr Editor, is what I did not wish you to be in ignorance of. War has its horrors, but it has also rules based on the laws of honor and humanity. Those laws, Bavarians and Prussians who were at Bazeilles, you have violated; you have tarnished your victory. I appeal to the world ; to history that will judge you, and I ask if you have the right to erect a principle for yourselves to kill women and children of a village, the inhabitants of which, seeing you coming, defended their hearths and country. In all cases the National Guard is a regular troop, as regular as the fourth or fifth band of your volunteers. Even in the name of your abominable system, you had no right to fire Bazeilles. Tou have then killed for the sake of killing; you have behaved like savages, not like soldiers. There, Mr Editor, is what I think my duty to submit to the judgment of all. I beg you to insert my letter in your paper, and accept my distinguished sentiments."