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GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY. A dispatch from Paris of yesterday says: The GermSB kisses in the fighting around Fort Vaux -last Friday and Saturday surpass all previous records in this war. according to ofTicers who hae returned from Verdun. Time and time again, anil -with extraordinary courage, the Germans in col- | amaa four deep rushed from their trenches, only to melt away under the fire of the French 7." . 180 ■ and 210 millimeter guns, which rained shells with deadly accuracy into the marching companies. | When the smoke and du-t cleared, nothing was to be seen but heaps of bodies. The spur on which the fot is situated is almost perpendicular in cor- i tain places. The Herman lines were forced to halt, but many Bavarian reservists climbed up on one anothers shoulders and struggled up the slope, clinging to angles of rocks and grasping tufts of grass. Again and again these human pyramids collapsed into shapeless gray masses. In the places where the incline was easier and the attacks, therefore, more concentrated, the ditches below ran red with blood. At the lowest estimate the attack ri-s lost two-thirds of their effectives. The fighting also was desprate in the extreme when regiments from the Fifteenth and Eighteenth German army corps attacked the village of Vaux on Fri- , day. Dawn was just breaking, and over the coun-trv hung ■ heavy white mist, making everything invisible beyond 100 yards. This enabled the Columns to get within rushing distance of the French front trenches, but although they outnumbered the defenders six to one. it took four distinct assaults before the first column of Germans won the shelter of a small group of houses beyond the church of Vaux. Cen. Fnnstons statement yesterday regarding the uncertainly of the punitive expeditions departure from American soil and his partial outline of tiie projected plan of campaign were in reply to what he termed the impatience of the American people for speedy action. "The people must be patient." he said. "We must be adequately prepared for Ihfaj thing. In the Oral place we must use. as much as possible, soldiers who are accustomed to Mexican border duty. However, these men cannot be removed from their present posts until they are relieved by troops drawn from other departments and harried to the border. Transportation of the relief patrols is not an easy matter. Many of these troops consist of scattered detachments that have to be concentrated, Bometimrs sfter dilticult marches, before they can be seat southward. Concentration anil transportation of troops is not all of our problem, however. We are going to march into a country that will afford us little or no forage. The commissary must be adequately supplied. A Villa follower .an live on little or nothing. All American soldier must lie well fed if lie is to give good service." An Amsterdam dispatch to the I ondon Central News says that on account of the German offensive at Verdiin, the Dutch-Belgian frontier lias been closed for several weeks. That part of it south of Maastricht has now been reopened and this fact ■ is commented on in Holland as probably indicating that the Germans consider their offensive near an 1 end. The dispatch adds that eighty -one more hospital trains with wounded Germans from Verdun i have passed through Luxemburg. General .1 off re. commander in rhfef of the French armies, presided over the council of war of the entente allies which reassembled Sunday at the French army headquarters. While the council is i in session Croat Britain will be represented by ! General Sir Douglas Haig. commander ill chief of the British forces in France: Russia by General 1 Cilinsky. aide de camp to the Russian emperor: i Belgium, by the chief of the general staff, and 1 Serbia by Colonel laehitch. L. Wenceslau Braz. president of Brazil, lias discussed with the ministers of finance and foreign i affairs the qaeathm of the crisis to which the Brazilian government faces through lack of shipping ; facilities. It is stated that the -president has decide 1 to negotiate with the interested governments the leasing of the Cerman and Austrian i ships Interned in Brazilian ports, at least for the ; coastal service of Brazil. General Carramm has issued a manifesto to the nation, declaring that under no circumstances would I the Mexican government grant the right to the • United States to violate Mexican territory by sending in an armed force in pursuit of Villa without | consent and the reciprocal privilege being obtained 1 and admitted. Word was sent to the confidential I ag-nt of the Mexican government in Washington i to make immediate representations to this effect. The Monterey, CaL, presidio was totally destroyed ; by fire early yesterday morning, about six hours after being vacated by troops of the First L Cavalry, who left for the Mexican bonier. Firemen, . attempting to extinguish the flames, found 1 that the water supply hail been cut. The United States yesterday afternoon accepted I Jen. Carransas proposal for a reciprocal arrangement by which either his troops or American 1 troops may pursue bandits on either side of the border. A note of acceptance was scut forward 1 to Cen. Carransa at Qneretaro. The cruiser North Carolina, now at Iensaeola, has received sealed orders, presumably for Mexican service, according to a rc|M rt at .Mobile yesterday. The North Carolina was originally ordered to Ciiantanamo. Herman losses in be first three weeks of the ■ VerdUB offensive are estimated at 300,000 ill an I official statement issued by the French war office.
