ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 719, 12 September 1870, Page 2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

The following items are from Reuter's Australian Express, dated London, July 15:— The Times of the 25th of July published the draft treaty submitted by France to Prussia, proposing an alliance, offensive and defensive, on tbe basis of the unity of Germany, excepting Austria, under the supremacy of Prussia, France to obtain Luxembourg by Prussian mediation indemnifying Holland ; this arrangement to be actively supported by Prussia by the military occupation of Belgium. The draft created a great sensation in England. The Times states that Prussia rejected it in the first instance, and again when it was offered as a condition of peace. The £>ai(y News says that if the alleged treaty is authentic, the neutrality of England will be difficult, if not impossible. The Journal Officiel, referring to the alleged treaty, says that, subsequently to the Treaty of Prague, several negotiations occurred at Berlin between Bismarck and the French embassy concerning a scheme of alliance, and that some of the ideas contained in the treaty might then have been raised, but that the French Government bad no cognizance of any written project, while the verbal proposals were rejected by the Emperor. A despatch has been published from the Duke de Grammont attributing to Prussia the initiation of the alleged treaty, and affirming that Prussia, in a similar secret treaty in 1865 and 1866, suggested that France should aggrandise herself by annexing all French-speaking countries. The Due de Grammont further states that the treaty was in the handwriting of Benedetto, but dictated by Bismarck. Prussian authorities affirm that France offered to assist Prussia with 300,000 men to attack Austria, provided that Prussia would cede the territory on the left bank of the Rhine. The following items are translated for Greville and Co. (Reuter's agents) from latest Continental papers: — When theDucdeGrammonthad announced in the Senate that war had been declared, applauee lasted for a quarter of an hour. A few orators then asked leave to speak. " No, no ! no speeches 1" was the general cry. The President, M. Rouher, declared that the Senate approves tbe war. Great excitement. Renewed and longer applause. Cries of Vive la France ! Similar scene in the Corps Legislatif. There the generals of the army received an ovation from the people outside. Awful panic at the Bourse. The rentes fell suddenly bo low that the brokers ran to the Corps Legislatif, books and shares in hand, and tried to rush the precincts. Immense excitement. In Paris the students made procession, crying A das la JPrusse 1 Vive la France I Vive la guerre I Their number was 1000, and they marched by fours in good order. Many students of the School of 'edecine at Montpellier have placed themselves at the disposal of the Minister of War, >3 assistant-surgeons in tbe " Ambulance." in Havre, the order h»s been received to in-

scribe, as a reserve, all the sailors who have not been six years in the service of the state. In Belgium, all the regiments of "Genie" and "Pontonniers" were divided into small companies, and stationed on different points of the frontier, ready to cut bridges, railroads, and every manner of communication. The Belgian Parliament has been recalled. Prince Gortschakoff has gone to Wildbad. The Government of Switzerland has asked the Chambers to grant them the power of taking all preparatory measures for protecting Swiss independence. In Holland all the militia is retained in service. The first roll of the Prussian landwehr has been ordered home. The following manifesto was published by some of the Paris papers ou July 16 :— " The War I— The King of Prussia has refused to receive the representative of France, and has let him know, through an adjutant in service, that he had nothing more to say to him. This fact has been published in the Official Gazette of Berlin, and was made known by M. de Bismarck to the foreign courts. To such insult there is but one answer — War 1 Our Government has done everything to avoid a conflict. It circumscribed the Franco-Prussian difficulty to a mere question of dynasty ; it has revived none of the grievances which might result for us from the non- execution of the treaty of Prague. It wished peace, but a peace in which the national honour should be preserved. Prussia took our moderation for weakness. To the calm, dignified, and pacific declarations of our ambassador, she has answered by an insult ... by a In doing so she has followed her traditions ; we follow ours. One plays not with impunity with the susceptibilities of France. The recollections of 1814 were dormant ; the King of Prussia has bruskJy awakened thera. He wants war. Let it be. We accept it, sure of our righs, confident in the superiority of our arms (weapons). Prussia insults us. . . . . Let us pass the Rhine. The soldiers of Jena are ready." On the morning of July 15 th, some Parisian papers still believed peace possible. On the morning of the 16th, they were all blowing the trumpets of war. According to a telegram in the Press of Vienna, a war between France and Prussia would find Norway and Sweden perfectly neutral, in this following a different policy from that of Denmark. The Danish squadron, numbering six ironclads, is in the roads of Copenhagen, ready to go to sea. The Neu Frei Press states in a telegram that M de Fible, who had the interim of the Foreign Affairs during M Bismarck's visit at Ems, had openly declared to the German delegates that war would7aoon takp place, notwithstanding the peaceful answer prepared at Ems. Large crowds assembled before the Royal Palace crying. "To the Rhine I To the Rhine !" The latest telegram in the Avenir National of Paris is to the effect that the French Government asked the Belgian government whether Belgium was capable of defending her neutrality. If yes, France engaged herself to leave Belgium out of her Strategical combinations. If no, the French army should occupy Belgian territory. Belgium answered, Bhe was capable of defending her neutrality, and immediate orders had been given for the protection of her frontier. The Tages Presse of Vienna states that Austria can only remain neutral .so long as the war is restricted to France and Prussia. Should a third power .interfere, then she must necessarily change her line of policy. The events which took place in Paris have so much increased public dissatisfaction in Roumania, that letters from the French, English, and Austrian consuls, received in Paris, London, and Vienna, express the fear of a rising against Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, brother of the candidate to the throne of Spain, and that it may result in his being sent back to Germany. The Gazette oj Spener pretends that M. de Varhuhler, Prime Minister iv Wurtemberg, telegraphed to Paris to say that new exactions from the Tuileries would irritate the German national feeling and turn it against France. While all the preparations for war were being made, the trial of those concerned in the plot against the Emperor's life was to come off before the High Court assembled at Blois. A telegram from Tromsoe, in Norway, dated July 14, says : — Prince Jerome Napoleon, being on a polar expedition, arrived here, and having received despatches from Paris dated 12th and 13th, suspended his voyage, ready, according to ulterior news, to proceed or to return immediately to France. The Prince knew nothing of the events before arriving in Norway.

THE PRUSSIAN VICTORY.

The following important telegram, received on the afternoon of August 6, is from the Ceylon Observer. It will be observed that it represents what may be termed the opening battle of the campaign, in a far more important light than the latest London telegram. The number of prisoners taken was 7500, instead of 500. Latest advices give a Prussian account of a brilliant, but bloody victory. The Crown Prince's army stormed Weissenberg, repulsed and dispersed the French, and took "500 unwounded prisoners. The French General Douay is killed. The Prussians lost severely. The Russian journals repudiate the rumour of an intended Russian invasion of Roumauia. Russia is concentrating no troops. [The telegram is printed in the Observer as above but " 7500 " was subsequently corrected by tic Ceylon telegraph department to "500."]