We have no news either of Bourbaki's advance from Bourges,
or of Chanzy's from Le Mans, where the great difficulty of the latter is the want of shoes for his troops. One pair of shoes a week for troops on the march is almost insufficient, and troops without good shoes must become footsore, and drop behind and be taken prisoners. A letter, published in the Times of Wednesday, from an English officer who was with General Chanzy in the great four days' fight, from the 7th to the 11th December, declares that this is one of the chief reasons for the number of prisoners and stragglers captured from General Chanzy. This letter is most respectful to General Chewy and his army. It seems that even as early as the 8th December a canonnade from the left or south bank of the Loire was directed against General Chanzy in aid of the Duke of Mecklenburg's attack, and yet he held his ground for three whole days, and assumed the offensive on the 9th and 10th. This English officer speaks of the conduct of the German troops in Beaugency as scandalous. "All the houses in the suburbs and the tobacconists' and con- fectioners' shops were plundered." "The Brandenburg troops seemed most systematic in their proceedings, and quietly broke open houses in the market-place in the presence of their officers." The English officer made acquaintance with a German officer at Beaugency, who told him that "he had lost in seven days 90 out of the 160 men of his company, and that in his opinion the Loire Army had fought better than any army he had seen, better even than Bazaine's army at Metz." As we have seen, just the same is said by an English correspondent of the northern army of General Faidherbe. Just the same is said of the Burgundian army of General Cremer. Everywhere the French armies are rapidly gaining self-confidence and growing towards equality with their German opponents.
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