WAR NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1005, 4 March 1871, Page 7

WAR NOTES.

Since the siege commenced, suicides are unknown in Paris, and the Morgue is empty. A singular likeness is said to exist between General Trochu and Bismarck as regards the formation of their heads and brows.

Garibaldi's old wound in the foot does not prevent him from riding ; he was on horseback for twelve consecutive hours on the oooasion of the attack upon Dijon.

Since M. Gambetta, the de facto head of the French Government, made hia escape from Paria in a balloon, it h&& been proposed to entitle him, " Prince of the Power of the Air."

A strong earthen barricade has been ereoted before the cages of the lions, leopards, tigers, and panthers, in the Jardin dcs Plantea, at Paris, to prevent their escape in the event of a projectile destroying the bars of their prison.

A correspondent of Jhe Times, speaking of General D'Aurelles dcs Paladines and the Army of the Loire, saya that it is the general opinion of the German officers that if there had been a few more such generals and Buch troops in the earlier days of the war, there might never have been a Sedan or a Metz.

A regular market for rats is open daily in the Place de l'Hdtel de Ville at Paris. The animals are sold alive, and the prices vary from thirty to thirty-five centimes. In the Rue Rochechouart a marchand de comestibles hangs out dogs, cats, and rats in rows, with the prices attached. Announcement is made of the death of Madame Lefebvre, the line-looking vivandiere of Franc-tireurß of Paris. She was a golden-haired beauty, and never failed to excite the admiration of those who saw her marching with her corps. She was mortally wounded by a musket ball, ■which struck her in the chest as she was administering some brandy to a wounded comrade behind a barricade.

Every day, a correspondent Bays, there arrive at Nantee convois of pretended j wounded from the French front, who in reality have nothing the matter with them except fright The abuse is now so notorious that on the arrival of every convoi the new comers are examined, and those found to have nothing the matter with them are sent back to their respective regiments with the briefest possible delay, A Kaffir chief has played a somewhat notable part in the defence of Paris. His name is Taekelo, a member of the Basuto tribe, whose territories have been lately taken under the protection of Great ! Britain. The young chief went to England to protest against the aggressions of the Dutch Boera, but as he had been educated by the French missionaries, whose language he spoke fluently, he soon crossed the Channel, and took up hia abode at Passy, the headquarters of the French Missionary Society. In return for the kindness shown him, he has drawn his sword in the cause of France, and everybody speaks highly of his prowess. A Parisian correspondent writes : — "One of the successes of the siege is asses' veal ; donkey fleßh ia recognised as a great delicacy — veal with a poultry flavour. It is scarcely to be had for love or money ; a group of women, collected this morning around a carcase in my neighbourhood, forestalled all the prime pieces before it was cut up. The proprietor of the donkeys that were the delight of Paris, who visited Robinson and dined in the treeß with their friends, the students, on fete days, not being able to maintain his four-footed friends in these days of scarcity, has opened a butcher's shop in the Rue de l'Ancierme Come'die, and is regaling the Quartier Latin with the flesh that was bestridden with so much hilarity a few short weeks since.'*

The German occupation of Dieppe seems to have been dictated mainly by a sentimental 'desire to reach the sea, and thus be able to say that the Prussians had oroaaed France from the Rhine to the

British Channel. The invaders stopped but one night, levied no contributions, shot no one, and burned no buildings, ! but most of the men on reaching the Plage led their horses forward to the sea, and washed their feet in the water, a Boene whioh will yet be celebrated .in Verse.. They then raised three cheers for the King and Taterland, and retired to their, billets, which included the house of the British Consul All other consuls were exempted from billeting. It can hardly be doubtful that the French have constant communication with Paris if one reflects h' dw easily the Prussians obtain the latest Paris papers at the outposta. The Figaro costs about a pound of bacon. That is to say, a Frenchman leaves a late number of tlut paper at a given spot in the debateable land between the outposts. Then when a Prussian patrol passes, the sergeant in charge puts the Figaro in one pocket and pulls the coveted morsel of baoon from another. This, it is needless to say, la soon replaced by another paper.

King William, so Dr Russell la assured, is one of the most sensitive men in the world. Though trained to war from his youth, his feelings are so acute that his medical advisers were obliged to forbid his Majesty's visits to the wounded at the Palace. The sound of a death march or the sight of a military funeral produces a deep melancholy, and the aspect of the battle-fielda o& which were won His Imperial Crown and the immortal glory of Prussia and of his House and name, has made him sick nigh unto death, and quite unmanned him for many hours afterwards.

At Argent euil there has been no cessation of the crackling firs from the Parisians across the river, but it is almosb wholly musketry tire. The place is full of interest. It is a town of some size and it is full of people. The shops are open, and the citizens, men, women, and children, are for ever in the streets, gossipping with apparent cheerfulness and unconcern. Over their heads is the constant singing of the Chassepdt bullet, which they mind no more tkan they would the singing of a bird. When a shell comes they run into the houses, only to emerge when it has burst and find out what damage it has done. The people stand in the market place, the peasants bring in their carts, and sell poultry, butter, and cheese there with as much unconcern as if the French batteries and Prussian soldiers were miles away.

It is observed that one effect of the long range of the Chassep&t is that in a moment a vast expanse of plain which one just traversed as confidently and as safely as if it were Hyde Park may become on such occasions a trap for bullets. Aimed at objects upon its edge, they fly past them to unknown distances, and the casualties which thus occur form a large proportion of the losses in recent battles. General yon Treskow in a few days had three horses killed under him. and General yon Manteuffel two. One result of this uncertain flying of Chassepcjt bullets is that it makes it almost impossible for the ambulances to look for the wounded until the battle ia over. Without meaning mischief to them, the enemy's bullets come whizzing o'er the plains strewed with dead and dying long after the fury of the combat has rolled to some other quarter, and the wounded are left without the attendance which they would have received were it possible to approach them with greater safety.

In Alsace, says the Siecle, the people j in the towns, as in the country, abhor the Prussians, avoid them as though they were plague-struck, and are preparing Sicilian Vespers for the hour of their reverses. The women forswear tasteful dress to put on mourning. Some have sworn not to leave their rooms while the Prussians pollute Strasburg with their presenoe. The Promenade dv Broglie, formerly so bright and animated, is now sad and deserted, frequented by Prussian soldiers only. The Prussian band plays there every day without attracting any one. You hear a heavy sound on the pav6. A detachment of Prussian soldiers is passing by ; a swarm of street boys rush out of the nearest alley, who gibe at the Germans, and favour them with the strains' of the " Marseillaise. " These poor children are sometimes the victims of their temerity ; officers have more than once been seen to crush them under their horses' feet, and finish them off with the heels of their boots. Never mind, they are not discouraged, and resume their jests and jeers next day. As for the men, they have given up their Alsacian patois to speak nothing but Trench.

A corps has been formed in Paris of 12,000 volunteers who have sworn to out their way through the Prussian lines, and to organise a levy In the Provinces. ■

A scarcity of coal prevails in Germany, and is seriously on the increase. It arises from the want of labour in the mines caused by the war levies. The expediency of employing some of the French prisoners aa oolliert,

provided they possess the strength, skill, and inclination, is being discussed.

It is believed in Paris that In some of their intrenchments the Prussians have Quaker guns, made of wood, and it is positively asserted that at the attack on Cham* pigny the guns mounted ia front of Chennevilres and Tilliers-sur-Marne were found to be rudely fashioned oat of tree trunks and painted black. The speoial correspondent of the Now York Tribune, at Paris, sends letters and papers to tho 3lst December. He eayg ooal cannot be bought; as it has all beaM used for casting cannon, and by the rail* roads and mills. The wood is nearly all gone. The trees of the Boulevards are now being out. Children are dying for want of milk. The total number of deaths for eaoh of the latt two weeks was 2700. Bread I* plentiful. It is not rationed, and it is ex* peoted to last to the end of February. Montmedy was bombarded by about 70 heavy guns, the oannon-balls weighing on an average 1501b eaoh, and they did frightful execution. The upper town w * aimost destroyed, while the lower suffen d but little. On the commandant observing that the iron roof of the powder magazine had been Btruok, and that the fortress and both the towns were likely to be blown up, he called a council of war, which unanimously decided on capitulation. Thirty or forty persona were killed during the siege, and 00 wounded. The Germans had only a few killed, as their guns were beyond the rang* of those in the fortress. A military correspondent of the Times writes :— "The guns mounted on the Pa,riS forts are quite equal in power to any that the besiegers oould bring opposite to them. If the German batteries were to bombard the oity it oould only be after having reduoed all the forts within easy range, otherwise tho batteties firing against the oity would be exposed to bombardment in their turn from permanent forts with bomb-proof oover at a comparatively short range. To reduce one fort might be an easy task if the fort stood alone ; but eaoh member of the encircling guardians of Paris supports, and is in its turn supported by others, so that were one to fall no large force could march through the gap thus made without being exposed td the concentrated fire of many heavy guns, such guns as have never been used in war until now, if we except the isolated rounds fired from the Aflbndatore during the battle of Lissa."

Dr Russell, in a recent letter to the Times, says t — "The villages, villas, and country houses which are a part of Paris outside the walla have not only given shelter m the Germans, and .often Btores of wine and food, bub have been invaluable places of di fence. There is a girdle of barricades rtrau'l the city, and every wall ia loopholed, so that an assailing force once out of artillery cnv- r has really to carry entrenched positions one after the other, each stronger as it opens heavier fire in proportion to the increased strength of the defenders. Artillery cannot mov* easily over the open atthistime of year, and columns must deploy. The Seine aad the Mime, much as they conduce to the defence of Paris, are great obstacles to the ready evolution of large sorties, because the bridges are destroyed, and pontoons oan only c laid where the fire of the forts cover* the poa* tooneers. The system of signals in uae in the German armies is quite sufficient for all pur* poses of warning. Posts are established near the outlying pickets, where a few poles, on whioh to run up flags by day and to burn beaoons at night, are ereoted to notify a coming attack. The electric wireß connect every command, and run to head-quartewu Every house with a good view is turned into an ' observatorium,' from whioh the French are watched through powerful glasses, and are obliged to undergo strict scrutiny, every day being divided into periods for observa* tion and reports thereupon."

A correspondent of the Standard analyses the " roll of honour " published by General Trochu. "The most redoubtable 'warrior on the list is," he says, " the pitiless Sergeant Ignatitiß Hoff, of the 107 th of the line. H off is a hero of the stamp of those who figure in Fenimore Cooper's tales of foregt warfare, and there is something very sag* gesture of Indian oraft in his mode of proceeding. He must have been born with the gifts of a trapper, for the story of hia exploits calls up boyish recollections of the arts employed by Hawkeye, Deerslayer, Lea* therstooking, and o'hers of that ilk, to circumvent the redskins. He is always on the war path, untiring as a sleuthhound, patient as a oat watching a mouse, deadly in his spring as a panther. He strikes the trail of a Prussian aa surely as » Mohican wauld that of an enemy of his tribe, and he oan follow up the trail to the death with the same oarage per* tinaoity. Neither hunger, cold, nor fatigue stops him, and no danger appals. Hoff has been known to dig a hole silently during the darkness, and' ensconsing' himself there like a fox in his covert, wait the live-long day till he got an opportunity at nightfall to creep out stealthily behind a "sentry i flash a knife into his ribs, and while a horrid gurgle in the throat proclaimed another dead man, get back on all-fours to his comrades ohuokling and elated. I only wonder he does not soalp those he kills. Lest it might be thought I am exaggerating, here is the literal translation of the official

reference to Hoff and his, exploits : — ' Killed on the 29th of September, three of the enemy's sentinels ; on the Ist of October, a Prussian officer ; on the sth, in f>mbußcade with' fifteen men, routed a body of infaatry and cavalry j-on theT3fch, killed two of the enemy's horsemen.' Filially, in various individual combats he has killed twenty seven Prussian*,' »