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“Mass meeting on Sunday next, 24th
July, on Harold’s Cross Green, at 4
o'clock P. M., to express Ireland’s
sympathy with France. ‘Vive la France.”
‘God Save Ireland.’ ”
An incident occurred in Marlborough
street after the dispersion of the meeting,
which wc must characterize as calculat
ed to exasperate the people. The Mnrl
borough-street band were proceeding
quietly to their rooms when they were
assailed by the police, and the ; r drum
and other instruments smashed. If a
crowd had been about, serious conse
quences might have ensued. As the
chimney-cleaners’ band was passing
through Fleet street on their wav home
quite inoffensively, and not even {.laving,
they were brutal 3 attacked by forty
po i-ienun with batons drawn. Men, wo
men and children were assailed, and
three of the band, together with their
big drum, taken into custody and brought
to Oil ge-street station-house. Shortly
afterwards a gentleman in the neighbor
hood went into the station and offered
bad for th ir appearance, but this was re.
fused. On Wednesday morning they
wore brought before tbe magistrates in
ti e Southern Police Court and sentenced
to one work’s imprisonment, or to find
hail in £,j each. Bail was immediately
procured and the prisoners liberated.
From the New York Herald.
ITALY, ROME AND THE POPE-
It is understood that in the absence of
the French troops the King of Italy is to
take care of Rome. The Holy Father will
doubtless consider this the admisssion of
the wolf into the fold; for the Italian
State within the last five years has ap
propriated, sequestrated, taken and ab
sorbed in inonastaries, convents, &c.,
millions of the property of the Church,
and in a recent supplemental act of the
Italian Parliament, called by the indig
nant clergy the ‘‘Ecclesiastical Spoliation
Bill,” pretty much all that was left of
their Church property and incomes has
been swept away. The law makes a great
reduction in the number of ecclesiastics
of all degrees in all parts oi the king
dom, and reduces the pay of the reserved
force to the smallest possible allowance.
In th is business the revolution in Italy
has been more sweeping even than that
under Juarez in Mexico, and it has been
carried out professedly in obedience to
the injunction of the New Testament,
‘‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth cor
lupt a. and where thieves break through
and steal; but lay up for yourselves
treasures in the kingdom of heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt
and where thieves do not break through
and steal.” Hard as it may be, howev
er, for the Holy Father to accept the pro
tection of Victor Emanuel as a State ne
cessity with France in the shape of a
concession to Italy, we fear that the good
Pio N ono will have to submit.
It has been insinuated, too, from Rome
that the persecuted Pope contemplates
this course, and a tempoiary refuge un
der the protection of Protestant Eng
land in the island of Malta. This, too,
may possibly come to pass; for if turned
over by Napoleon to the tender care of
Garibaldi, the Holy Father, in leaving
Rome, will hardly fly to the soil of
France; nor after the abrogation by Aus
tria of her Concordat, will he seek for
protection in that quarter; while Spain,
which, under the late Queen Isabella and
her Ronrbon predecessors, was the model
of loyalty and pious devotion to the
head of the Church, has hardly now a
corner in which he could rest in con
tentment. In truth, should Pio Nono
resolve to fly from the protection of
Italy, as the lamb flies from the protec
tion of the wolf, such is the condition of
things in the Catholic States around him
that lie may go to the protection of
Protestant Prussia as an exile; or, per
adventure lie come to the free land of
America, where there will be none to
molest him or make him afraid.
We rather incline to the opinion, how
ever, that reduced to the choice of the
protection of Italy or a flight from Rome,
the Holy Father, fortified with his infal
libility, and strong in the faith of St.
Peter, will stick to the Vatican and bide
his time. We rather think that he will
do this from considerations of policy and
of duty, and patiently as possible await
the issues of this Franco-Prussian war.
In sore distress he is doubtless now
meditating upon the alarming aspect of
European affairs and over the sorrowful
difference in the power of the Holy See
when Ferdinand and Isabella I, of Spain
apprised the Pope of the discovery of a
new world and asked the temporal juris
diction over it from the temporal king of
kings, and compared with this epoch of
unbelief when Isabella 11. and the most
devoted daughter of the Church is an
exile m foreign lands. There remains
still, however, this great and precious
consolation to the faithful Pope in the
I
Church of Christ, that he is the suc
cessor and representivo <>f St. Peter;
that St. Peter is the rock upon which
tne Church is built; that “the gates of
hell shall not prevail against,’’ and that
from the blessed Peter his living success
or in office holds ou earth the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, which neither
A ictor Emanuel, nor Garibaldi or Mazzi
ni, nor Francis Joseph, Prim, Bismarck
nor Napoleon can take away. Lastly,
let the Holy Father forget not that as the
head of the Church he is infallible, and,
therefore, has nothing to fear, whether
as ruler or guest in Rome or as an exile
in Malta, the United States or the re
motest corner of the globe.
Correspondence of the N. Y. Herald
Metz— lts History md Topography,
The towD of Metz being most impor
tant in a strategical point of view a rapid
glance at i:s history and present capabili
ties of defence will be of interest. The
ancient capital of the Mediomatriei—a
people of Celtic origin—it became one of
the most important cities of Gaul Ruined
in 4GI by the Huns of Attila, it soon re
covered and was the capital of the Mero
vingians. At the time when the empire of
Charlsmagae wa* dismembered in 543
Metz was part of Lotharingie, from which
the name of Lorraine springs. In 900 the
kings of Germany and of France disputed
the possession of this province, and it
ultimately remained with the former. In
1032 the Emperor Henry 111. gave it to
Gerard, a noble of Alsace ; but the Em
perors reserved to them ß eive« the three
bishoprics cf Metz, Touland Verdun. In
1444, on the demand of Rene 11., the town
was besieged by Charles VII., and saved
itself by paying?* ransom of 100,000 crowns
In 1552 Henry 11. took possession of the
three bishoprics, and since that time they
have belonged to France. Their posses
sion is the key to the military possession
of Lorraine. The Emperor Charles Quint
attempted to retake the town with an
army of CO 000 men, commanded Ly his
best generals ; but the Due de Guise shut
himself up in the town and withstood the
siege for sixty five days. On the Serpen
oise entrance g Te, which is passed through
on leaving the railway station, is an in
scription in commemoration of the event.
Charles Quint was forced to retire, with
his army reduced to one-half by sickness
and battle Iu 1676 Vauban was sent by
Louis XIV. to fortify the rown—aod the
enclente with its bastions, wh : ch have un
dergone but slight alterations, were erected.
In 1736 the works were perfected by Ccr
montaigne, and the forts Moselle aod
Bellccroix were constructed. Sinco the
year 1814 the system of intrenched camps
have gained ground. Cologne, Paris,
Mayence, Verona and ,<vber places arc
,ur,. n „rrl n ,l TT-ith lOltS WMCh WOUlli RCCP
the enemy at a distance and shelter pntire
armies between the forts and the enclente
This principle has been adopted at Metz
with great discernment by the French
engineers.
In order to understand the important
part that Metz will take in future wars,
some description is necessary of the
splendid work executed by the engineers
in order to permit of the demolishing cf
the nids de homles, as the acute angled bas
tions have been termed by Marshal Le
Bceaf. Metz is situated at the confluence
of the M iselle and the Seilie. It is 170
metres above tbo level of the sea. On
the right the place is commanded by the
batteries of Guenieu and Saint Julien, on
an altitude of about 250 metres ; ou the
left the more distant heights of the Mot
selle are 350 metres. Since 1866 irq order
to give more air tojtle town.the St. Vincen
front was demolished ard pushed forward
on the right bank cf the Moselle. It
would cover, in case of siege, the bridge
of boats necessary for the service of the
garrison. On the left back, in advance of
the St. Vincent front, is the Fort Moselle
c f which the extremities of the four bas
tions touch the river. On the right hank,
facing tbe east, the town was defended
Once by the Fort de Belle-Croix, erected by
Cormontaigue. On the south, between
the Moselle and the Seilie, the place, in
case of need, is perfectly secured by an in
genious system of inundations. With
the exception of the S:. Vincent front,
designed by Vauban and Cormontaigne, no
important modfleation has been effected.
The twelve millions allowed from the loan
of 1867 for enlarging the fortifications of
Metz have been almost exclusively conse
crated to the creation of forts necessary to
make the place the great bulwark of ths
east of France. The French engineers fol
lowed the example given by Todlebea at
Sebastopol, where the Russians raised
small earthwork*? on prominent points,
which became redoubtable fortresses, un
der the fire cf which the Russians eus
tamed themselves during eleven months.
THE FORTS.
At Metz the heights of St. Quentin,
Plappevilie, St. Julien and Gueuleu have
been crown© 1 with forts, and at present it
would be easy for a garrison of 50.000 men
to surround the intrenched camp with a
continuous enclente earthworks similar to
the court hie which connected Malakoff
with the Hoden.
The Fort de Gueuleu, at a distance of
2,000 metres from the Porte Mazelle, is
composed of five fronts, and contains
1 casements capable of receiving 2,000 men.
The engineers have strictly conformed to
the tradition of bastions, but to diminish
as much as possible the inconvenience of
t:.is system, which does not afford suffi
-1 cient space for rifled cannon, the engineers
have constructed in each fort aa immense
TANARUS: $ AV WWW ©ATOfllff
cavalier , to furnish a second line of fire.
These cavaliers serve as barracks for part
of tbe garrison, and the casements will on*
!v be cc mi pied in event of a seige. The
Fort de Gueuleu can receive more than
3,000 men and place more than 100 guns
on the ramparts
Tbe Fort St. Julien is also situated cn
the right bank of the Moselle, on the Mont
Cbatillon, 2,600 metres northeast of the
Porte St. Barbe. It is at about the same
altitude as the Fort St. Julien and has
also five fronts.
The Fort St. Quentin, on the heights of
the same name, is at an altitude of about
345 metres, and is distant 2/800 metres
from the great powder magazine. From
all points of the town can be seen this fort,
suspended like an eagle’s nest on the crest
of St. Quentin, which may be considered
the key to the position. Its capture would
exercise a decided influence on the inhabi
tants and on the entrenched camp, but to
take it would bed fficult In form unlike
the other forts, it is an irregular square
long sides of 300 metres, small ones of 160
only. General Frossard, the clever Presi
dent of the Committee on Fortifications
was happily inspired to construct this fort
well in view of the town of wr ick if is
considered the guardian unitel. Tne above
named forts are the four strong points of
the entrenched camp of Me:z, and within
a few days the corps d’armee concentrated
there could, in case of need, throw up a
continuous line of earthworks.
Among the orhrr woik3 of minor im
portance are the f diowing :
First, The Fort de Saint Privat, between
the Moselle and the Seilie, to the south of
the town.
Second, The Redoute des Bottes, on an
eminence that commands the road aud the
valley of Fiantieres. Its fire will cross
those of the forts of Gueuleu and Saint
Julien.
Third, The Saint Eloy, to the south of
the village of the same name and to the
northwest of the town, on the right bank
of the Moselle. Its fire will cross those of
Saint Julien and hlappeviile. Metz is
at present ore of the strongest places in
the world. It could be well defended with
50,000 of the Garde Mobiles within the
town and 60,000 regulars iu the intrenched
camp.
Tlie Military Situation.
A telegram from Mr. Frederick Gaillar
det to our able contemporary, Courrier des
Etats Unis, furnishes the first indication of
the losses of the French army in the bat
tles of last week. Mr. Gaillardet says
that the relics of the first and the seventh
corps under McMahon will remain at !Ba
verne for the present, and that they are
dow about fifty thousand strong. As
these two corps were nominally a hundred
thousand and contained at least
ninety thousand fighting men before the
battle ol last taiurda}’, the amount of
•1 1- 1 a 1 r. ! . . • • ••* 1
ed and prisoners must have been at. least
forty thousand. That this figure is not
exaggerated, also appears from the care of
the French authorities in keeping secret
the official returns. Had the losses not
been very large, they would certainly have
been published by the government. Os
the lo;sis of Froissard’s eirps, which was
routed at Saarbrucken at the same time
that McMahon was crushed at Hagenau,
Mr. Gaillardet affords no indication; but
a9 they fought obstinately all day and re
treated in comparative order at nightfall,
they must have been less tbau McMahon’s,
though still considerable, say fnm twelve
to twenty thousand.
Mr. Gaillardet gives a much more favor
able picture of the present condition and
resources of the French army than lias
been gathered from other sources. Ac
cording to him, the remains of Froissard’s
corps are already assembled under the
walls of Metz, and the corps of de Failly,
which he says has not been engaged, is
also in the same entrenched camp. The
Third Corps, hitherto under the command
of Marshal Bazaine, but now' under Gene
ral De Caen, is there likewise; making, as
w'e are told, one hundred and fifty thou
sand fighting men at that place. In eche
lon, between Metz and Nancy, lie the
Eighth Corps and the Imperial Guard,
under Bourbaki; while the Fourth Corps,
under L’Admirault, is mainly at Nancy.
The Sixth Corps, likewise fifty thousand
strong, commanded by Marshal Canrobert,
lias, Mr. Gaillardet says, also arrived from
Chalons upon the theatre of hostilities.
This makes in all, according to his esti
mate, three hundred and fifty thousand
veterans already in Lorraine, without
counting the Garde Mobile. These num
bers are probably somewhat exaggerated;
but it is safe to presume that, after de
ducting the guards of railroad stations,
forage trains, local garrisons, and all the
many drafts which are made upon the
effective force of an army in active cam
paign, the French, commander-in-chief will
be able to bring into the field for fighting
near Metz, any day within the next week,
a body of two hundred and fifty thousand
men.
Against this force, what is the strength
of the Prussians? Leaving out of view
the imaginative figures, none of them
official, which have reached us, the fact
most significant as to the numbers under
the command of General Von Malike is
that he has boldly made his campaign thus
far with three columns so far apart from
each other that neither cou and march to the
other’s assistance, in the case of an over
whelming attack from the enemy. No
General of sense could venture upon such
a movement in the face of such an army
as the French vvith less than one hundred
thou-and men in each of his columns. The
French report that the army under the
Crown Prince Frederick William, which
defeated McMahon at Ilagenau, con
sisted of one hundred aEd forty thou
smd men; and if we take one hundred
thousand as the original effective force of
McMahon’s command, it is not improbable
that the Crown Prince may have brought
as largo a number as this to the at
tack. That the, Prussians have out-gen
eraled the French is unquestionable ; and
it is always the part of good generalship to
attack with a superior force. Assuming,
then, that after the losses of battle the
Crown Prince lias still one hundred and
twenty-five thousand men : and thrt Von
Steinmetz, who commands the Prussian
centre and who defeated Froissard at Sanr
brucken, has one hundred thousand men ;
and that the Prussian left, under Prince
Frederick, Charles, is equally strong, we
shall have as the aggregate of three
columns, when concentrated for a bat le
near Metz, three hundred and twenty
five thousand men. Will this force be
sufficient to assail, with a reasonable
probability of success, a position like the
great intrenched camp where the main
body of the French army is now posted.
In numbers the ' Prussians are evidently
the stronger ; but the advantage of pie
position and the intrenchments of th©
French more than outweigh this excess.
But here again the question is not of
nu nbers or of position so much as of
brain*. The generalship of the Prussians
has hitherto been iuomenselv superior to
hat of their antagonist. l ; but it is a question
whether that suneriority will continue to
be manifested. The French have anew
commander, not hitherto supposed to be a
great soldier, 1 ut cautious and respectable.
They certainly cannot now be taken by
surprise, as they evidently wer both at
Hagenau and at Saarbrucken.- It is plain
ly their policy to act upon the defensive ;
and if they should adopt that addition
which the recent American war made to
military science—we mean the system of
extemporaneous field entrenchments -they
may now avert the tide of Prussian victory,
and break at once, if not wholly repel,
the advance of the Prussian invasion.
All France in Arms.
Immediately upon tbe resignation of the
bewildered and broken Ministry of M. Oili
vier, a hasty ergamzation was effected yes
terday by the military Count of Palikao of
a Cabinet which restores the most capable of
French fir arciers, M. Magne, to the con
trol of tbe sinews ot war; one of the ablest
of French admirals, M. Rigault de Gen
ouilly, to the charge of the navy; and one
of the most influential and accomplished
of French diplomasts, the Prince de La
d’Auvergne, to the delicate work of
the Foreign Office. 4 his Cabinet differs
materially from its predecessor in that, it is
a Cabinet, of action. The names of Baron
Jerome David in the Ministry of Public
Works, and of M. Duvernois in the Min
i*_? coloT of la
this color may quickly fade and the Cabinet
itself go to piece*, if it fail to keep pace
with the tremendous energy impressed by
the porular 1 assion upon <he movements
of the Legislative body. By that body a
practical levy cn masse of all the fighting
men of France was yestetday ordered ; a
levy which recalls the terrible days when
France in arms poured he’seU like a tor
rent of steel over coalesced Europe, The
enormous war material accumulated under
the empire makes rt possible to put this
great multitude promptly into the field,
and the emergency of Fiance will a*
promptly make them soldiers. It is only
now to be hoped, for the sake of peace, of
progress, and of civilization throughout
the world, that France thus roused thor
oughly to batt'e may not oe driven by the
collision of as fierce a wave from beyond
the Rhine into a r:ew cycle.of desolation
and of destruction. The crisis is a tremen
dous one for Europe as for France. There
is small hope or help in it to be sought for
from princes, their purposes, their vic
tories, or their defeats. Unless the peo
ple thu3 armed in a day from the Elbe to
the Pyrenees seizo the’ occasion to make
themselves masters really and finally of
their own destinies, Europe is entering
indeed the descent, so long feared and
so often foretold, at the foot of which
awaits her the predominance neither of
the Gaul nor of the German, but of a
new race fiercer, more fanatic, and more
numerous than either or than both. —New
York World.
From the Continental Correspondence of
the English Kewspci]>ers.
War Topics.
THE GERMAN CONSCRIPTION.
When I arrived early this morning at
Oberlahnstein, that station was complete
ly blocked up, and the large platform be
fore it, viewed from my carriage window,
was a curious and painful sight, its length,
breadth and depth being throng
ed w.tk a living mass of true Prussian blue
humanity. All the male peasants of the
old Nassau territory wear azure blouses,
and all the females blue cotton gowns
more or less thickly constellated with
white spots; and as there must have been
at least a thousand of both sexes, closely
wedged together in expectation of the
train that was to bear off the fighting half
of the assembly from its lamenting moiety,
things looked very blue indeed at Lahn
steic. There the poor, square-faced, sun
burnt fellows trying with a ghastly gaiety
to vindicate their manhood by roaring out
staves of patriotic songs, each couplet
supplemented by a chorus of sobs from
the women and girls clinging around them.
So few minutes left, and so much to say
before the parting that m v be the last cn
earth ! So few minutes, indeed ! for, |ere
we started in the direction of Mayence,
the tra ; n bound forCoblentz glided swiftly
into the station, already halt Full of “mobil
ized” men, who, having got over their
partings, had rallied their spirits, and
were cheering, singing and waving their
handkerchiefs as heartily a° if their goal
were not a battle-field, but a wedding.
Fine fellows, those, in physique and mor
ale— broad-shouldered, .sturdy, bronzed
youths, ranging, I should think, from
twenty to Thirty years of age, and most of
them already provided with some outward
ard visible s : gn of their military calling.
As soon as their train stopped, the poor
folks in the station began to kiss ard em
brace one another almost desperately ; and
1 wish never to hear again a sound like
that which reached me from that platform.
It vvts all over in a minute : tbe men got
away, somehow —I dare say they scarcely
themselves knew how —from mothers,
wives, sweethearts and sisters, who were
all thrust back to the inner part of the
station ; then half a-dezm smart non
commissioned officers, onecr 'two of whom
quite simply put their eoat-slecves up to
their eye? as they stepped forward, came
to the front and told the draft, off into the
carriages; then the miserable women made
a rush to the steps of the carriages, and
—but I think I would rather not say any
tlvcg more about the closing of this tragi
cal scene, if you please. Thank Heaven !
our train moved out of the station before
it was over—and I do not think there
were many dry eyes amongst the home
ward bound tourists and invalids of whom
our freight consisted.
ALL GERMANY DEPOPULATED FOR THE
. WAR.
The Prussian system is, as you know,
unsparing of persons. Let me give you
an instance, out 0; the many that have
come under my notice, of the grim impar
tiality with which it lays hold of every
class. Many of your readers will remem
ber the tall, and courteous
proprietor of the Hotel du Nord, in Co
logne—a prosperous, wealthy man, quite a
personage in Rhineland, an excellent! lin
guist, and the head of a large commercial
enterprise, which he has hitherto success
fully managed in person. Oa Saturday
last he consigned eight of his best carriage
horses to the army service; and on Mon
day he himself was drafted into a cuiras
sier regiment. Here is a man taken away
from the conduct of bis own interests and
from his family, compelled to sacrifice his
substance, and to risk his life on the battle
fieid. Os course his case is not one whit
moie deplorable than that of the humblest
peasant, snatched from his field or bis vine
yard ; both jeopardize their existence for
the Fatherland; but the former, outside
that grand equalizing stake, suffers actually
a greater material loss than the latter, even
taking into account their relative positions.
In the towns many of the shops are being
shut up ; for their occupants are obliged to
assume needle-gun and helmet and there
is nobody to keep the business going. The
hotels are becoming forlorn of waiters-*a
verity by the fact that but few guests are
left to require the ministration of those
obliging polygiottists. The exodus of for
eigners from Germary during the past
week has been something astonishing. Hav
ing occasion to go ov*er to Homburc this
evening, I found that essentially. British
settlement in the way of becoming a howl
ing wi'der ess. A v«. eek ago, so the last of
the Mohicans informed me, you could
hardly struggle through tie crowd on tbe
lower terraces during music time ; the
glass was in a chronic state of “More
chairs,” and the nlay-tables unapproacha
ble under an hour’s elbowing. Now, the
“cay and glittering” throng is composed
of about half-a-dozen fa thfuj Russians, as
many English, three or four tenacious
Americans, and a hundred or two of the
miserable native*, making hollow pretence
oi enjoying themselves, and risking a
double florin twice a day to “keep up ap
pearances.” The glory of Homburg-on
ihe-lle’ghts has departed, scarcely to re
turn this year.
KING WILLIAM IN BERLIN.
In an hour or so we were in Berlin, and
emerged into streets filled with men in
plain clothes proceeding in some sort of
military order, with small escorts of sol
diery, to the railway station. Many of
these wore decorations—medals, .ribbons
and crosses—which spoke of service in
Schleswig-Holstein and in Bohemia. They
were sober, orderly men—quiet, unexcited,
and perhaps all the more anxious to fight
hard to end the campaign, because they'
had been called away so suddenly lrom
hearth and home—men mostly of twenty
five and upwards several in each band, be
longing apparently to the well-to-do bour
geoise, or better class of artisans. Large
cavalcades of horses, in better spirits, were
led off'in fours in the same direction. De
tachments of troops were passing all day,
down the Lime-tree-walk, and at 2 o’clock
the King drove through the streets
to the station in a Russian drosky, and was
received with uncovered liead3 and a
buzzing sort of suppressed cheer as he
passed, lie “looked every inch a King,”
plumed aud helmeted in strictest soldier
tunic—a real monarch of the days when
kings led subjects to battle. AY hat a fine
old head and front it is. The stamp of
iinperator is there already, and it would
would not surprise ono very much to learn
that in au hour of stress that old man,
wirli his piercing blue eye and open brow,
ami fine lip curved under his massive
white moustache, would cut the Gordian
knot of a constitution with a swift., sure
sword. Certainly he is not the sort of
man one would like to worry corampopulo
in a watering place. And then lie has a
faith ; “he believes,” and he is sure that
lie in whom he believes has placed his
cause beyond the reach of human harm.
5