General Uhrich at Strasburg, with the town in ruins, the
library burnt, the Cathedral half destroyed, the fortifications shattered, is, by the latest telegrams, inclined to treat for surrender. He demands, however, the honours of war, and the Germans refuse all terms except unconditional submission. This information is many days later than the evidently apocryphal story forwarded to Paris by the French Consul at Basle, that 8,000 Germans had been destroyed by a mitrailleuse while crossing the river. From Metz, on the other hand, we hear of nothing except that typhus has broken out in the city. The position of Marshal Bazaine would seem to be desperate, but he holds oat, and accounts vary greatly as to his supplies of food. He has, however, released all Prussian prisoners, an act symptomatic of rations running short. He has applied for surgeons for the citizens, but they have been refused ; and by the latest accounts, General Wimpffen had gone to him with an envoy from the King to announce the capitulation of MacMahon, and treat for his own surrender. By holding out he serves Paris almost as much as a victory would.
Previous page
