NEWS BY THE MAIL

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 780, 23 February 1871, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL

GENERAL ITEMS

The " Globe" mentions a heavy English shipment of arms to the French. Considerable excitemeut has been created at the exposure of the fact that the manufactories at Solingen (Germany) have been as active as the English manufactories in supplying arms to the French. The French defenders of Havre are trying also to defend St Ho main, as the Prussians advance. It is reported that the Prussians have been repulsed at Bolbec. It is rumored that a Prussian courier has been captured by FimucsTireurs, near the Belgian frontier; on his person were found despatches urging the United States to nress the Alabama claims. The report is hardly credited.

King William has abandoned the idea of entering Paris upon capitulation. The forts of Paris are to be garrisoned and provisioned for two years, and the Germans are to hold Alsace, Lorraine, Belfort, Bitehe, and the line of communication with Paris. After unconditional surrender, which alone will be accepted, the Garde Nationale will be armed, and made responsible for the preservation of order in the capital, and the Corps Legislatif will be summoned to meet on the 3rd of the following month. A correspondent of Madrid writes on the 29th December, in regard to the assassination of Prim:—"The General's adjutant, gave me the first correct story ; he witnessed the scene, having occupied a front seat in the carriage. His own version of the affair is as follows: —' Prim and two aids usually left the Cortes at the conclusion of the debate in the afternoon at half-past seven, and entered the carriage and drove rapidly the shortest way from the Cortes to the War Office. The streets were deserted at the point where the Calle-del-Tured debouches into the Alcola, the broadest street in the city; through the narrow passages two hired cabs were drawn up and obstructed the way ; but this was so common an event that it would scarcely attract notice. Lieut. Mayo, my informant, dropped the glass in the door nearest him and looked out just in time to see two men, who were carrying something under their long Andalusian cloaks, advancing from the shadow of the cabs. He had barely time to cry out, ' Stoop, General! they are going to fire!' when the muzzles of the blunderbusses were dashed into the carriage through the windows on either hand, shiveriug the glass to atoms, and the contents were discharged point blank at the occupants in the back seat, who must have been undistinguishable in the darkness. The next moment the assassins darted back under the cover of the cabs and so around into the Alcola, where they mounted two horses that were tied to the trees, and in an instant were safe from pursuit, because of the snow and darkness. The coachman lashed his horses forward against a number of cabs, upsetting one, and drove in hot haste to the War Office, where the wounded men alighted. Prim simply remarked to the sentinel, * I am wounded, but not much.' On Jan, 2nd, Marshal Prim's body was 'removed to the Church Atocha without disturbance. There were 6000 people, and an imposing procession took place. Officers, deputies, members of the Cabinet, and various diplomatic bodies, followed on foot. The carriage in which he was assassiuatcd was in the procession, its sides riddled with bullets and the glass windows shattered. The body lies in state in the church, guarded by the Invalides, until Tuesday. The " Gazetta d' Italia " says that Prussia has decided to restore the Bonaparte dynasty by freeing, after the capitulation of Paris, the armies of Sedan and Metz, which the Emperor will lead to the French capital. The appearance of such a statement in the organ of the Holy See gives it a serious character, and may lead to embarrassments with M. Gambetta. At the same time I am informed, from a good quarter, that the Vatican would prefer Henry V. to Napoleon 111. as the ruler of Prance. According to my informant, Mousignor Dupanloup went to Versailles to urge this choice on the King of Prussia, and was supported by the Vatican influence. The French have used the electric light largely. The apparatus setup on Montmatre is arranged by M Bazin, and is electro-magnetic. The central cylinder supports four seriei of double coils of copper wire, enveloped in silk ; the cylinder is rotated by a small steam-engine of threehorse power, making 400 revolutions

per hour. The lamp used is of the ordinary form, with the FoncaultT)ubose regulator. The reflector is parabolic in form, and the whole is surrounded by a shield to hide it from the enemy. From its elevated position it commands the whole of Paris :aiul the plains around. A spectator on Mont mat re sees distinctly the details of the facade of a building which stands 2000 yards otf; at 2900 yards a man may he seen standing at a« window; at 3000 yards a mass of cavalry or infantry is distinguishable ; at 4000 yards the dome of the Inva]ides with its ball of gold, is brilliant. A man cannot be seen on the dome at that distance, but on walking towards tho building all soon becomes clear. On the ramparts, at 3SOO yards from Montmatre, tho light is sufficient to read an ordinary newspaper,— <l Nature." The " Army and Navy Gazette " ga y S .—lt is understood that the fortification branches of the War-office, under Sir F. Chapman and Colonel Jervois C.B, have been directed to prepare a careful scheme for defending London. All that will be done will be to make a careful study of the hills which enclose the great basin of the Thames, that we should have a ready made plan whereby to turn our navvies on to the entrenching of a set of rough field-works, should the fleets and the continental armies unite to imperil our metropolis, lu sueh case we should have the labour and the guns, and should try to create a Ibi" Sebastopol. The ' h Scotsman's " New York correspondent, after referring to the supposed ■good'understanding between Russia and the United States, remarks that Prince ■Goftsdhakoff firmly relied on at least a friendly neutrality from the .States on the 'eastern question, and the further embarrassment «of England by the pressiu<*on of the Alabama claims, and then says—'One can imagine Gortachakoff's ■chagrin when suddenly he is informed that, instead of the President Strictly adhering to the promise that' by no word or deed would he favor either of the parties ' interested in the eastern question, General Grant suddenly turns round and informs all those having intimate relations with him that, pending the present complications, he does not again intend to present the bdls for the Alabama claims, and prefers to wait till the eastern troubles have been adjusted ■either by diplomacy or the sword. This change of front Russia regards as extrafriendly to Great Britain, and as an indirect insult to the Government of the Czar, just at a time that Russia had a right to expect from the United States, if not friendly offices, at least an impartial line of policy which could not be constructed as favorable or unfavorable to •either of the parties interested in the Eastern dispute. It is well known in "Washington that President Grant sympathises with England on the Eastern •question, much to the disgust of the demagogues, who always like to inflame the passions of the lower classes by denouncing the British lion ; and ever since the President has made no secret of his sympathies in this all-important question •of the day, the relations between the Russian minister and the occupants of the White House have been exceedingly •cool, and nothing but the most formal routine business passes between the Russian embassy and the department of State.