be a single soldier, who, if he happens to have money, does not carry it just as M. L. carried his, and in just such a purse; so that if our men had wanted his money, they must have known very well where to find it. The few Germans who fell into French hands can tell how quickly their opponents could open a prisoner’s tunic, and if his purse was a little too firmly fastened on, hack it off with their sabres or a knife, without paying too much regard to his skin. We declare the assertions respecting the ill-treatment of prisoners at Sedan to be wilful and audacious lies. A great number of the French prisoners, perhaps one-fourth, were in a state of bestial drunkenness, having during the last few hours before the capitulation plundered the wine and brandy stores in the town. It is obvious that it is not so easy to manage men in a state of drunkenness as when they are sober, but such ill-treatment as the article describes occurred neither at Sedan nor elsewhere, owing to the discipline which prevails amongst the Prussian troops. It is well known that this discipline has won the admiration of the French officers themselves. Unfortunately one cannot speak as highly of the French soldiers in this respect as with regard to their gallantry in action. The French officers have on several occasions been unable to prevent their men from murdering severely wounded soldiers, even when individual officers of high rank endeavoured at the risk of their own lives to defend the wounded, and that was not merely the case with African regiments. It is known that the German prisoners who were taken into Metz were spat upon and struck with sticks and stones on their way through the streets, and on their release had to run the gauntlet of a double line of African soldiers, who beat them with canes and whips. We can prove these facts by official records, which have more claim to credence than the anonymous letter of M. L. But are such things to be wondered at when the newspapers of a city like Paris, which now implores considerate treatment on the hypocritical plea of civilisation, can propose, without eliciting the slightest protest, that when the French troops are unable to take our wounded with them they should split their heads open; and further, that the Germans should be used like dead wolves to manure their fields? The utter barbarism of the French nation, covered with a thin veneer of culture, has been fully disclosed in this war. French insolence formerly said, ‘Grattez le Russe et vous trouverez le barbare.’ Whoever is in a position to compare the conduct of the Russians towards their enemies in the Crimean War with that of the French in the present campaign, can have no doubt that this statement recoils upon its authors.” When he had finished, the Minister added: “Write to Bernstorff that I decline in future to notice any suggestion for entering into a controversy with English newspapers. The Ambassador must act on his own responsibility.”