AS IN 1870.
[To TH1 EDITOR Or THZ " SPECTATOR."]
Sra,—I notice from the news that reaches us as to the fighting in Alsace and Lorraine that Germany once more pursues her system of "punishing" the regiments drawn from non- Prussian localities. She did this in 1870, when the brunt of the earliest battles was borne by the soldiers from Bavaria, the Saxon Duchies, and the Hessians. Now the Holsteiners„ about whose Danish frontier a recrudescence of unrest has of late made itself felt, have been well to the fore; also the 77th Infantry Regiment belonging to the 10th Army Corps has lost heavily. Now this regiment, known for many a year to me, stands at Celle, ever a stronghold of Hanoverian sympathies. Celle formerly harboured those whom one might style the "last ditchers" of the Guelph party, and I call to mind a spirited old lady there who, in spite of her son having had to don the Prussian uniform, always turned her back on a Prussian officer if he happened to enter the room she was in.
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