1 iMi Pif^ WMmm mm II 1 ill lililU*. : ■ / OP THE WAR BETWEEN GERMANY AND FEANCE rj EDITED WITH NOTES AND COMMENTS^ COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME WITH MAPS AND PLANS EontJott anb K^iu Ycrfe MACMILLAN AND CO. 1871. [4ZZ rights reserved.] '\J 1)Q%1- \-'j. LONDON PRINTED BY WOODFALL AKD KINDER, MILFOBD LANE, STRAND, W.C. ^HE LIBRARY I 09 CONGRESS J^ASHINGTOK PREFACE. This volume owes its origin to a desire very generally expressed that the letters of which it is composed, treating of events among the most momentous of any in the memory of this generation, should have a record at once more permanent and more con- venient than the files of a daily journal. The special value of letters from camps and battle-fields consists in the vividness with which they reproduce the life and spirit of the scenes and transactions in the midst of which they are written. In the letters which have appeared in the Daily News since the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war, the public has recognized this quality as present in an eminent degree. Their authors, in assenting to the issue of this selection from their correspondence, do not renounce their right severally to publish the entire- product of their labours in other forms. The duties of a Newspaper Correspondent with an army are performed day by day in the face of difficulties and dangers only inferior to those of the enrolled combatant. They are, however, discharged with a cheerful patience, which is sustained by the knowledge that the British public — the most exacting in Europe in its demand for intelligence — honours those whose zeal and enterprise secure to it information earlier, fuller, and often more worthy of credit, than that which the courts and cabinets of Europe can command. In the present volume the story of the war is related from its Declaration, in the summer of 1870, to the conclusion of a peace crowned by the occupation of Paris. The brilliant triumph of the Germans, and its influence upon civilization, have yet to be tested by time, which, it may be hoped, notwithstanding much that is discouraging, will heal the wounds inflicted on Erance. Our aim has not been to anticipate the verdict of history, but to present in due order a series of life-like pictures of some of the greatest military events of this century. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Origin and Occasion of tlie War.— Explanations and Manifestoes. — ^Mili- tary Preparations. — Saarbruck. — The First Attack . . . .1 CHAPTER II. Battles of Weissenburg, Worth, and Forbach .* . . . . 11 CHAPTER III. French Concentration at Metz. — Advance of the (xerman Third Army . 22 CHAPTER lY. The French Retreat. — Battles of Courcelles, Vionville, and Grravelotte . 3 CHAPTER Y. The German Advance through Lorraine. — Resistance of Phalsburg. — Occupation of Nancy ......... 50 CHAPTER YI. Commotion at Paris. — Scarcity of Soldiers. — The Spy Mania. — Growth of Patriotism .......... 63 CHAPTER YII. Influence of Politics upon French Military Movements. — Macmahon's Advance towards Metz. — Great Meeting of German Princes and Generals at Ligny. — The Third Army ordered Northward. — The March to Clermont and Grand Pre, — Battle of Sedan. — Capitulation of the French Emperor and the Army . . . . . . 81 CHAPTER YIII. Fall of the Empire. — The New Government : its First Measures . . 106 CHAPTER IX. The German March to Paris, — Prussian Organization. —Mr. Malet's Mission to the King of Prussia. — Arrival of the Investing Army . . 114 CHAPTER X. The Siege of Strasburg, — Capitulation of its Fortress and Garrison. — Survey of the Ruins ..... .... 13;5 CHAPTER XI. The Siege of Metz. — Description of the Works.— The Sortie of October 7th, and Battle of Maizieres. — Failure of French Means of Resistance . 146 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. PAGE Capitulation of Metz. — Occupation of the Forts by the Germans.^ — Sur- render of Prisoners. — Temper of the People. — Condition of the Fortress. — State of the surrounding Country ..... 226 CHAPTER XIII. Paris Invested. — M. Jules Fayre's Interview with Count Bismarck. — In- crease of Fortifications.— Instruction and Discipline of Troops. — M. Grambetta at Tours. — New Impulse given to Military Affairs. — Parisian Life. — The Army of the Loire. — Capture of Orleans. — Battle of Coulmiers and Bavarian Retreat. — Prince Frederick Charles on the Loire. — Battles about Orleans and Recapture of the City. — Retreat of the Army of the Loire — Great Sortie from Paris . 260 CHAPTER XIV. Count Moltke's Letter to General Trochu. — Resolution of the Govern- ment of National Defence Comhattre toujours. — Military Situation of France. — Public Feeling in Paris 291 CHAPTER XV. M. Gambetta's Report to the Paris Government. — Promise of Relief. — Military Efforts of the Departments. — The Balloon Service . . 317 CHAPTER XVI. Discontent in Paris. — Inactivity of General Trochu. — The Great Sortie of December 21. — Repulse of the French ..... 348 CHAPTER XVII, Increased Disappointment in Paris.— Suspension of Military Operations. — German Preparations for Bombardment.— Increasing Mortality in the City 372 CHAPTER XVIII. Advance of Faidherbe's Army of the North.— Battles of Pont-Noyelles and Bapaume.— Fall of Phalsburg, Montmedy, and Mezieres. — Seizure of English Ships at Duclair 391 CHAPTER XIX. Bombardment of Mont Avron. — Evacuation of its Plateau by the French. — Effect of the Loss on the Parisians. — Cannonade of the North- Eastern and Southern Forts. — Increasing Distress and Mortality in the City 410 CHAPTER XX. The Winter Campaign against Le Mans.— The Battles of Vendome and 1\I ontoire ; of Change and before Le Mans. —Capture of Le Mans, and complete Defeat of the Army of the Loire. —Battle of St. Quentin, and complete Defeat of the Array of the North . . 480 CHAPTER XXI. Sortie of January 19.— Its Failure.— General Ti'ochu's Demand for an Armistice. — Disturbances in Paris.— Failure of Food. — Visit of CONTENTS. IX PAGE M. Jules Favre to Versailles. — Negotiation of an Armistice. — Un- fortunate Position of Bourbaki's Army. — Its Disastrous Eetreat. — German Occupation of the Paris Forts ...... 509 CHAPTER XXIT. Paris after the Armistice. — Eagerness for News. — Continuance of Priva- tion. —Mistaken Calculations of the Government. — Gradual Arrival of Provisions. — M. Gambetta's Reception of the Armistice-Conven- tion. — His Criticisms of the Government and Resignation. — Extreme Privations of Bourbaki's Army. — Its Retreat into Switzerland . . 544 CHAPTER XXIII. Election of a National Assembly. — Proclamation of Napoleon. — Meeting of the Assembly at Bordeaux. — Election of M. Thiers as Head of the Government. — Protest of Alsatian Deputies. — M. Thiers assumes Office, explains his Policy, and returns to Paris to negotiate. — Pre- liminaries of Peace signed at Versailles. — M. Thiers again at Bor- deaux. — Entry of the Germans into Paris. — Ratification of Peace by the National Assembly ........ 563 CHAPTER XXIV. The French Peasant Relief Fund . . 583 LIST OF MAPS. Battles of Weissenburg and Worth. To face 'page Battles of Saarbrucken and Speichbrn. To face page The Battle-field before Sedan. To face page Plan of Meiz and its Vicinity. To face page Fortifications and Environs of Paris. To face page 15 19 93 149 291 CHKONOLOGT OF THE ¥AE, JULY 14, 1870, TO MARCH 2, 1871. July 14. The Frencli Government call out tlie army reserves. July 15. M. Ollivier annonnces in the Legislative Body that France has resolved to make war upon Prussia. Great excitement in Paris, and crowds throng the Boulevards, singing the Marseillaise, and shouting Vive la guerre ! The King of Prussia arrives at Berlin from Ems, and is received hy upwards of 100,000 persons, who cheer him, and sing the National Anthem. July 16. The Emperor receives the members of the Senate at St. Cloud, and M. Rouher, in an address, says, "Your Majesty has occupied the last four years in perfecting the armament and the organization of the army." The King of Prussia and the Sovereigns of South Germany order the mobi- lization of their armies. July 18. The Legislative Body grants war credits of 515,000,000 francs. July 21. The North German Parliament votes supplies. The first shot of the war is fired in a skirmish near Saarbruck. July 22. The Prussians blov/ up the abutment, on the Baden shore, of the bridge at Kehl. July 23. A French envoy notifies to the Prussian Government a declaration of hos- tilities. The Emperor issues a proclamation, throwing the whole responsi- bility of the war upon Prussia. July 24. Slight skirmishes at Gersweiler and near Saarlouis. Prussian Lancers blow up the viaduct of the French railway between Saarguemines and Hagenau. Admiral Bouet-Willaumez hoists his flag at Cherbourg, and the Empress visits the fleet. July 28. The Emperor leaves St. Cloud for the seat of war, and at 7 p.m. enters Metz. Fourteen French cities are proclaimed in a state of siege. The French fleet is seen off Copenhagen. Xll CflEONOLOGT OF THE WAR. July 30. The first detacliment of the French Army of Rome arrives at Marseilles. July 31. The King of Prussia issues a short address *' To my People," amnesties all political offences in consideration of the general xiprising, and departs for the seat of war. / Aug. 2. The French attack and carry the heights commanding Saarbruck, in pre- sence of the Emperor and the Prince Imperial. The French mitrailleuse is used in this engagement for the first time. The Journal Ojjiciel de- clares that the war has been undertaken from a desire to free the South German States and Denmark from the persecutions of Prussia. Aug. 4. A Council of War is held at Metz, attended by Marshals MacMahon and Bazaine, at which a plan of operations is agreed upon. On the same day, the Crown Prince of Prussia falls upon a portion of MacMahon's Army Corps at Weissenburg, and all but destroys it. General Abel Douay is killed and 800 prisoners are taken. Aug. 6. The Crown Prince attacks MacMahon on the hills above Worth, and totally defeats him, with the loss of 6,000 men, thirty pieces of artillery, six mitrailleuses, and two eagles. At the same time, General Frossard's Army Corps, which holds the heights above Saarbruck, is attacked and driven back in confusion and with loss upon Metz. In Paris, a false report of a grand victory of MacMahon, who was said to have captured the Grown Prince of Prussia and his army, causes unbounded enthusiastic excitement. Suddenly it is found that the report is false, and the reaction is terrible. Aug. 7. A telegram from the Emperor Napoleon announces the disasters of the previous day, and adds, "All may yet be well." The Empress convokes the Chambers ; the joeople demand arms ; the department of the Seine is declared in a state of siege, and a permanent Council of the Ministry is established at the Tuileries, Aug. 8. The Imperial Guard, and Bazaine's, Ladmirault's, and Frossard's corps, with a portion of Canrobert's corps, concentrate at Metz, Aug. 9. The Chambers meet, and the OUivier Ministry resigns. Strasburg is partially invested, Aug. 10. The French Army concentrates at Metz, Count Palikao forms a new Administration. Aug. 11. The King of Prussia addresses a Proclamation to the French people warn- ing them not to mingle in hostilities, and promises protection to peaceable citizens, Aug. 14. The Prussians attack the French, late in the afternoon, near Pange and Courcelles ; the fight is arrested by darkness under the walls of Metz : both sides claim the victory. The Emperor issues a farewell address at Metz, and leaves the fortress. Nancy is occupied by Prussian cavalry. CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR. xUi Aug. 15. Bazaine having been appointed Commander-in-Chief, a movement of retreat begins from Metz to Verdun, and is embarrassed by Prussians near Gravelotte. Aug. 16. The march is resumed, and the van of Prince Frederick Charles's army, 30,000 strong, attacks Bazaine's whole army at Mars-la-Tour, under the apprehension that it is the rear-guard. A sanguinary conflict is sustained by the Prussians against superior numbers for seven hours, until the Hano- verian Corps and some Rhenish regiments turn the tide of battle, and the French are driven back. . Aug. 17. General Trochu is appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the forces in Paris. Aug. 18. The attempt to cut off Bazaine's retreat is resumed, and the bloody battle of Gravelotte is fought, lasting all day, and resulting in the retiring of Bazaine into the entrenched camp of Metz. Aug. 20. The Camp of Chalons is broken up and the tents are burned. Aug. 21. MacMahon enters Rheims. Aug. 22. MacMahon leaves for Rethel. The Crown Prince of Saxony assumes the command of 80,000 troops to operate in the Ardennes. Aug. 25. MacMahon leaves Rethel, directing his army upon Montmedy by Mezidres and Vouziers. Aug. 26. Bazaine makes an attempt to break out of Metz on the Courcelles road, but is repulsed. Aug. 29. MacMahon encamps with 100,000 men at Vaux, between Mouzon and Carignan, and De Failly between Beaumont and Stonne. Aug. 30. De Failly, on the left bank of the Meuse, and MacMahon on the right, are attacked, and lose 7,000 prisoners, with twenty guns and camp equi- page. The Emperor narrowly escapes to Sedan. Aug. 31. A desultory engagement between the plain of Douzy and Bazeilles. The , French fall back on Sedan. Bazaine makes a strenuous and sustained / attempt to break out towards Thionville. Sept. 1. A great and decisive action fought before and around Sedan. Thousands of French escape to the Belgian frontier. 20,000 French prisoners are made. xiv CHRONOLOGY OP THE WAR. Sept. 2. IMarshal MacMahon having been wounded, and transferred his command to Greneral Wirapffen, the latter signs a capitulation, surrendering the whole army — 80,000 men — prisoners of war. An immense quantity of military stores, cannons, including mitrailleuses, and horses, fall into the victors' hands. The Emperor sends his sword to the King of Prussia, who appoints him a residence as a prisoner of war. Sept. 4. The advance guard of the German army at Sedan sets out for Paris. At Paris, the French Emperor is declared to have forfeited the rights con- ferred by the Constitution, and a new Government of National Defence is formed, Sept. 5. The King of Prussia enters Rheims. Sept. 10. General Hame, commanding at Laon, surrenders the citadel in order to save, the town. After the Prussians have entered, an explosion takes place, in which fifty Prussians and 300 Gardes Mobiles are killed. General Hame is placed under arrest (but subsequently declared innocent) by the Prussians. An order of the Government requires the owners of provisions and forage in the neighbourhood of Paris to remove them to the capital. Sept. 19. The Germans arrive in force before Paris. General Ducrot engages a Bavarian corps on the heights of Ch^tillon, and is defeated. Sept. 20. The last regular mail goes out of Paris. Sept. 21. The investment of Paris is completed. A German force appears at Nemours and Pithiviers. Sept. 23. Toul capitulates. Sept. 27. The garrison and fortress of Strasburg are surrendered, 17,000 men, laying down their arms. Sept. 30. A sortie from Paris, towards Chevilly and L'Hay. Oct. 5. The head-quarters of the King of Prussia are removed to Versailles. Oct. 7. Marshal Bazaine makes a great sortie from Metz, and, after fighting for five hours, is repulsed with a loss of 2,500 men. Oct. 10. General Reyan, commanding a division of the French Army of the Loire, is defeated at Artenay by General von der Tann, and loses 2,000 prisoners. % CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAE. XV Oct. 11. Tlie Germans occupy Orleans. Oct. 16. Soissons capitulates. Oct. 24. Schelestadt capitulates. Oct. 27. The army of Marshal Bazaine and the fortress of Metz capitulate. 173,000 prisoners, including three marshals and sixty-six generals, sur- render, and 3,000 cannon are taken. Nov. 8. Verdun capitulates. Nov. 9. General von der Tann is defeated at Coulraiers and Baccon by General d'Anrelle de Paladine, and Orleans is re-occupied by the French. Nov. 10. Neu Breisaeh capitulates. Nov. 17. The Grand Duke of Mecklenbnrg, with the right wing of the Prussian covering army south of Paris, assumes the ofiensive, drives the French out of Dreux, and advances towards Le Mans. Nov. 19. A band of 560 men, under Ricciotti Garibaldi, surprises a detachment of 800 Prussians at Chatillon-sur-Seine, and make 160 prisoners. Nov. 22, Twenty thousand Prussians occupy BellSme, in the department of Grne. Nov. 24. Thion villa capitulates. Nov. 26. The Garibaldians, under the leadership of their General, attack the Prussians near Dijon, and are repulsed, the Mobiles being seized with panic, and throwing the whole corps into confusion. Nov. 27. The French Army of the North defeated at Buchy, near Amiens. La Fere capitulates. Nov. 28. General Manteuffel enters Amiens. General d'Aurelle attacks the east wing of the Prussian Army of the Loire at Beaune-le-Roland : each side claims the victory. Nov. 29. A heavy fire from all the forts of Paris is followed by a sortie under Vinoy in the direction of L'Hay, due sotith of Paris, which is repulsed. XVI CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAE. Nov. 30. Generals Troclni .ind Ducrot, witli 90,000 men, make a sortie against the Wiirtemberg and Saxon positions, south-east of Paris, and occupy Cham- pigny, Brie, and Villiers ; a less important attack being made at the same time north-east of Paris. Dec. 1. General Chanzy, with the 16th Corps of the Army of the Loire, attacks General von der Tann near Patay, and defeats him, in an engagement lasting six hours. Dec. 2. The Wiirtembergers and Saxons before Paris retake the positions lost two days before. Another sortie from Paris follows ; the positions are found un- tenable by the Germans. The Duke of Mecklenburg defeats the left wing of the French Army of the Loire, which had been victorious the day before, and inflicts very heavy loss upon it. Prince Frederick Charles, by manoau- vring, separates the centre and right of the French Army of the Loire, and drives the former on the road to Orleans. Dec. 4. The German army, concentrated, pushes the French, under General d'Aurelle, back upon Orleans, and demands the evacuation of that city. General Ducrot withdraws his entire army from the east of the Marne, and announces that a new sortie will be attempted, under more favourable cir- cumstances. Dec. 5. The Germans enter Orleans at 1 A. m. Count Moltke sends intelligence of the fact to General Trochu. Dec. 7. The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg is attacked by General Chanzy between Meung and Beaugency, and a contest begins which continues for four days. Dec. 8. The Germans capture Beaugency, with 1,100 prisoners and six guns. Dec. 9. The battle of Beaugency continued. Dieppe occupied by a detachment of General Manteuffel's army. Dec. 10. The seat of the French Government is transferred to Tours. Ham capitu- lates to the French, who take 200 prisoners. General Chanzy concentrates his forces, and retires to the Forest of Marchenoir. Dec. 12. Phalsburg surrenders, its garrison of 1,800 men becoming prisoners of war. Dec. 14. Montmedy capitulates^ its garrison of 3,000 becoming prisoners. General Chanzy is attacked at Yendome and Freteval. Dec. 16. Vendome evacuated by the French, and Freteval abandoned. CUEONOLOGY. OF THE WAR. XVU Dec. 18. The Grermans capture Nuits after five hoars' severe fighting. Dec. 20. The Tenth Grerman Corps attack 6,000 Mobiles near Monnaie, and drive them to Ndtre-Dame d'Oe, near Tours. The Grermans evacuate Nuits. Dec. 21. The garrison of Paris make sorties against Stains, Le Bourget, Sevran, and Ville Evrart. After several hours' hard fighting the French are repulsed, but leave detachments at Ville Evrart and Maison Blanche. The Grermans appear at Tours, and meeting with resistance, throw shells into it. The Mayor comes forward and asks for terms, but the Grermans retire. Dec. 23. An indecisive action is fought at Pont-Noyelles, between the French Army of the North under General Faidherbe, and a portion of the Grerman First Army under General Manteuffel. Dec. 25. Six English coal-vessels are sunk by the Prussians in the Seine, at Du- clair, the port of Eouen. Dec. 27. The German siege artillery opens fire upon the entrenched position of Mont Avron. The German troops under General Glumer evacuate Dijon, retiring upon Vesoul. Dec. 28. The batteries of Mont Avron are silenced. Dec. 29. The Germans visit Mont Avron, and direct the fire of their siege bat- teries upon the north-east forts. Dec. 31. The Germans bombard Mezieres. Jan. 2, 1871. Mezieres capitulates, the Germans making 2,000 prisoners. General von Goben is attacked in the villages north of Bapaume. Jan. 3. Bapaume is attacked by the French under General Faidherbe, who gain possession of a portion of the town. In the night. General Faidherbe retires for want of supplies. Jan. 4. The Second German Army, under Prince Frederick Charles, begins a move- ment of concentration towards Vendome. Jan. 5. The forts of the southern front of the defences of Paris are bombarded. The fortress of Rocroi surrenders. Jan. 6. Victory of Prince Frederick Charles before Vendome ; and defeat of Duke William of Mecklenburg, near St. Amand. b XYIU CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR. Jan. 10. Battle of Change, the Grermans victorious with heavy loss. Jan. 11. Battle of Le Mans, severe fighting with apparently indecisive results, but General Chanzy, after the Breton Mobiles have given way, orders a retreat. Jan. 12. Attack on the Grermans at Les Noyers, to cover French retreat ; the Germans enter Le Mans. Jan. 13. Prince Frederick Charles establishes his head -quarters in Le Mans. General Schmidt captures the stores of the camp at ConKe, General Bour- baki captures Arcey and St, Marie. Jan. 15. General von Werder is seriously attacked by General Bourbaki before Chagey, but maintains his positions. General Chanzy issues an order of the day stigmatizing the "shameful cowardice" of a portion of his troops before Le Mans. Jan. 16. General Bourbaki renews his attack on Von Werder with increased forces, but fails to move him. Colonel Isnard, by orders of General Faidherbe, recaptures St. Quentin. Jan. 17. Longwy is invested. Bourbaki renews his attack, and again failing orders a general retreat. Jan. 18. The King of Prussia assumes the title and dignity of Emperor. General von Goben attacks General Faidherbe, and drives him to St. Quentin. Jan. 19. Generals Trochu, Vinoy, and Ducrot head a grand sortie from Paris, with 100,000 men, who, fighting all day, gain some ground, and then re- treat. General Faidherbe is defeated in a decisive battle, and driven through and beyond St. Quentin with enormous loss Jan. 20. General Trochu requests an armistice of two days to bury his dead — it is refused. Jan. 21. Dijon is attacked by Prussian corps of Manteuffel's Fifth Army, on their way to co-operate with Von Werder against Bourbaki. The attack is re- pulsed by Garibaldi. Dole is occupied by the Germans, who capture 230 railway waggons laden with provisions, forage, and clothing. Jan. 23. Renewed Prussian attack and repulse at Dijon. Jan. 24. M. Jules Favre appears at Versailles, and inquires for Count Bismarck. Jan. 25. Longwy capitulates. OHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR. XIX • Jan. 28. M. Jules Favre signs an Armistice-Convention, giving the Grermans posses- sion of all the forts aronnd Paris, and recognizing the army of Paris — Line, Mobiles, and sailors — as prisoners of war, and making the city liable to a war contribution of £8,000,000. Jan. 29. Mont Valerien and the other forts are occupied by the Grermans. Jan. 30. Large numbers of the troops of Greneral Bourbaki's army cross the Swiss frontier. Feb. 1. General Clinehamp, commanding the army lately under Bourbaki, signs a convention with General Herzog, under which 80,000 French troops pass into Switzerland. Feb. 8. ^ Elections to the National Assembly take place throughout France. • Feb. 12. • Meeting of the National Assembly at Bordeaux. ' Feb. 13. The members of the Government of National Defence lay down their powers. Feb. 16. The Armistice is extended from the 19th to the 24th of February. Feb. 17. M. Thiers appointed Chief of the Executive Government of France. Feb. 22. Further extension of the Armistice to February 26. Feb. 26. Signature of a Treaty of Peace. Mar. 1. Entry of German troops into Paris. Ratification of the Treaty of Peace by the National Assembly. Mar. 2. The German troops evacuate Paris. THE WAR CORRESPONDENCE OP THE 6 6 DAILY NEWS." CHAPTEE I. Ojt the 5tla of July, 1870, an Englishman might have read his newspaper, transacted business in the City, visited his club or the House of Commons, and returned to his family, without having once been asked what he thought of the stability of the peace of Europe. It w^as on that day that Earl Granville took possession of the Foreign Office, and in so doing was told by the able permanent head of that department that " in all his experi- ence he had never known so great a lull in foreign affiiirs." Eour-and-twenty hours afterwards the merchant was reviewing his liabilities, the banker his reserves, the capitalist his commit- ments ; for there were signs that a storm was at hand. The Generals who controlled the destinies of Spain had made an agreement under which Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sig- maringen, a kinsman of the King of Prussia, but in one of the lignes non-regnantes of his house, should be presented to the Cortes as their candidate for the vacant Spanish throne, and the public was quick to perceive that such a project would certainly excite the susceptibilities of France, which, since Sadowa, had been keen to apprehend and swift to resent any movements tending to increase the European influence of the Prussian state. At Paris, the news caused a violent outbreak of political feeling, and even the most moderate and enlightened of the French journals appealed to the national sentiment in the language of passion. The Temps exclaimed that the monarchy of Charles Y. was being revived, and the Dehats refused to believe that a echeme so monstrous was possible. When it was announced at Madrid that Prince Leopold gave his consent, and that the Cortes would be invited to elect him King, the French Govern- ment at once declared, in the Legislature, by the mouth of the 2 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. Due de Gramont, tliat the scheme "imperilled the interests and honour of France." The Trench newspapers ostentatiously announced that they were no longer able to publish announce- ments relating to the movements of troops. M. Benedetti, the French Minister at the Court of Berlin, went to seek the King of Prussia at Ems. The influence of England was at once exerted both at Paris and at Berlin, to avert the threatening danger, and ou the 8th of July Lord Lyons received from the Due de Gramont the assurance that the voluntary renunciation of his candidature by Prince Leopold would be " a most fortu- nate solution" of the difficulty. On the 10th, the Due de Gramont changed his language, and said that the King of Prussia having given his consent — that of the head of the family — to the Prince's candidature, " the affair had become beyond all controversy one between Prance and the King." On the 12th, Prince Leopold notified to the French Government that he had renounced his candidature, and Lord Lyons thereupon pointed out to the Due de Gramont that all cause of war was now removed. The French Minister replied that France was very much excited, and that the Government could not go down to the Chamber without announcing that it had received " some satisfaction" from the King of Prussia. To the Prussian Minister at Paris, it was intimated that the King might immediately put an end to the crisis if he would write a letter of apology to the Emperor. To Lord Lyons it was stated, that if the King would lay his royal command upon the Prince Leopold not to resume his candidature at any future time, peace might be preserved. On the other hand, Count Bismarck was explaining to the British Minister at Berlin, that France owed a reparation to the wounded feelings of Germany, and that its Government must give some guarantee against the repetition of these attacks on her tranquillity, if confidence was to be restored. Prince Leopold had renounced his candidature, and this was the time for the French Government to do justice to Germany, by publicly acknowledging the moderate and peaceful bearing of the King and Government of Prussia throughout these transactions. While these contradictory views were being asserted at Paris and Berlin, M. Benedetti was preparing, more or less consciously, at Ems the occasion of a decisive rupture between the two Powers. On the morning of July 13th, the King of Prussia, walking ou the Fountain Promenade at Ems, saw the French Ambassador, and gave him au extra number of the Cologne Gazette, containing an announcement that Prince Leopold had renounced his candi- dature. M. Benedetti observed that he was already aware of the fact, and on the King proceeding to speak of the matter as at length settled, the French Minister made the unexpected re- THE QITAREEL. 3 quest that His Majesty should give a distinct assurance that he would never again give his consent to that candidature, should it be revived. This the King firmly declined to do, although M. Benedetti again and again urged his proposal. Some hours after- wards, the French Minister sought a further audience, stating that he wished to recur to the subject spoken of in the morning. The King refused a fresh audience on the ground that he could return no other answer than the one already given, and intimated that all further negotiations must proceed regularly through his Ministers. On the 14th of July M. Benedetti left Eras, after an informal but amicable leave-taking of the King. On the same evening, the Berlin journals published a short commu- nicated paragraph, announcing that after the renunciation of Prince Leopold had been officially communicated to the French Grovernment, the French Ambassador, at Ems, had further de- manded certain engagements of the King, and tliat " His Ma- jesty thereon declined to receive the French Ambassador again, and had told him, by the adjutant in attendance, that His Majesty had nothing further to communicate to the Ambassador." It was this communication that the French Government put forward as the determining cause of the war. On the 15th of July, the Due de Gramont told Lord Lyons that " the Prussian Govern- ment had deliberately insulted France, by declaring to the public that the King had affronted the French Ambassador. It was evidently the intention of the Government of Prussia to take credit with the people of Germany for having acted with haughti- ness and discourtesy — in fact, to humiliate France." On the same day, M. Ollivier read in the Corps Legislatif a communica- tion, which was received by that body, and throughout Europe, as equivalent to a declaration of war. After describing the course of the negotiations, and adopting the final demands of M. Benedetti upon the King of Prussia, M. Ollivier said that, '' under these circumstances, the Government would have for- gotten its dignity, and also its prudence, had it not made pre- parations. We have," said the Minister, " prepared to maintain the war which is offered to us, leaving to each that portion of the responsibility which devolves upon him. Since yesterday we have called out the reserves, and we shall take the necessary measures to guard the interest, and the security, and the honour of France." This declaration was received with enthusiastic and prolonged applause. The Gonstitutionnel published an article concluding with exclamations — " Prussia insults us, let us cross the Ehine. The soldiers of Jena are ready!" The Boulevards were thronged with students and others, marching in procession, and crying, " A has la Prusse !" — " A bas Bismarck !" — " Vive la guerre ! " and " A Berlin I " B 2 4 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. In Berlin, the patriotic feeling of the people was as deeply- excited, and as freely expressed. Late in the evening of the 15th, the King arrived in the capital, and was received with indescrib- able enthusiasm. Upwards of 100,000 persons were assembled from the Eailway Station at the Brandenburg Gate to the Palace, cheering and singing the national anthem. The promenade Unter den Linden was illuminated, and decorated with the North Ger- man and Prussian flags. King William came forward repeatedly to the windows of the Palace, saluting and thanking the crowd. Addresses were also received by the King from the merchants ot Bremen and Stettin, expressing readiness to make the utmost sacrifices for the defence of the country, and promising approval to the most energetic steps that might be taken for the preser- vation of the national honour; and throughout the country, similar manifestations were common. From this time, although the formal declaration of war was delayed for a few days, each Government was committed to the struggle, and began its military preparations in earnest. In France it was believed — except by a few persons who had the reputation of believing nothing that was creditable to the Empire — that the preparations of the French army for war were as com- plete as its military superiority to every army of Europe was notorious. Questions, however, were asked on the subject, and Marshal Leboeuf, the French Minister of "War, declared before a committee of the Corps Legislatif, that the army was " ready — aye, thrice ready — for war;" and that no further grant of time was required to perfect its efficiency. The reserves were called out, and absentees were summoned to rejoin their corps. Day after day regiments passed through Paris on their way to the Rhine, receiving on their progress the most gratifying marks of popular sympathy. The organization and regimental composition of a vast French army was at once announced to the world. Seven Army Corps, under marshals and generals who had maintained and in- creased the renown of France at Magenta and Solferino, at Eome, in Mexico, and in Algeria, were stationed on a line extending from Thionville on the Moselle to Belfort, which, in the Gap of that name, guards the approaches to Central France against any attacks proceeding from Germany. The Fourth Corps, under General Ladmirault, was near Thionville ; the Second, under General Fros- sard, was near St. Avoid ; the Fifth, under General de Failly, was at Bitsche ; and the First, under Marshal MacMahon, was in and around Strasburg. The Seventh Corps, under General Felix Douay, was at Belfort. Behind Ladmirault, and near Metz, was Marshal Bazaine, with his Third Corps; the Sixth Corps, under Marshal Canrobert, was at Chixlons ; and the Imperial Guard, under General Bourbaki, was on its way from Paris to act as a INTERVIEW WITH M. OLLIYIEE. 5 reserve. Yarious estimates of the strength of these corps were circulated. It was common, towards the end of July, to assume in discussion that from 300,000 to 400,000 men stood under the Imperial eagles, waiting for the order to advance against the enemy. The journal at that time commanding the largest circu- lation in Paris declared that " Trance had never before brought so fine an army into the field in so short a time." Confidence was greatly increased by the information given as to the superior arms with which the Ereuch troops took the field. The infantry were armed with the Chassepot, believed to be the queen of rifles ; and forty-two batteries of mitrailleuses — a new and mur- derous weapon— had been despatched to Metz. The leading English newspapers, apprehending 'the historical importance of this war, made preparations for obtaining informa- tion on a scale which had never been surpassed in the history of the European newspaper press, and gentlemen of military as well as literary experience offered themselves, to follow and record the movements and operations of the hostile armies. But the Erench Government was slow to authorize the presence of neutral observers within the lines of its armies, and in the end that authorization was distinctly refused. The interview of a special correspondent with M. Emile Ollivier, described in the Daily News of July 20th, not only shows the nature of the difficulties thrown in the way of English observers, but is interesting as dis- closing the feeling of the French Government towards England at the commencement of the war : — I have been twice to-day to the hotel of the Minister of "War, to ask for a safe-conduct which would allow of my passing freely through the camps. In both cases I was informed with dis- tressing politeness that the subject of correspondents was one to which the Minister of War had not yet devoted his attention, but that I might, if I chose and could get there, repair to the command of any one of the generals. Once there, everything would rest with them. It was considerately added, that there was a possibility of generals disliking correspondents, and of either arresting them or sending them back to Paris. Having an introduction to M. Emile Ollivier, I managed to obtain access to a secretary, who kindly informed me that M. Ollivier was then at St. Cloud, and would be at the Legislature at noon, but possibly might be at home at one. At one I returned, and a little later M. Ollivier received me. I had expected he would simply inform me whether I could obtain the desired safe-con- duct or not ; but when I found that he entered into more general subjects, I asked whether I might communicate to you his con- versation — a permission which he granted without reserve. I 6 WAR COEEESPONDENCE. will accordiDglj try to give the conversation as I heard his share of it, well knowing the great difficulty of reducing such a verbal communication to writing. M. Ollivier began by telling me that the War Minister, General Leboeuf, objected to all foreign correspondents, and also to Erench ones. He would positively have no writer with the Franch army, or at least such was the present determination, which might indeed be after- wards modified. He then expressed his extreme sorrow at the attitude of the English Press, which he said was based- upon a complete misapprehension of the true causes of the war. M. Ollivier seemed not so much vexed or annoyed, as grieved at the comments in our journals. He complained that the Emperor had always been more than friendly towards Eng- land, that he himself had done everything to promote warm relations between the two countries, that especially he had studied the commercial interests of England, but that now he was accused of breaking the peace of Europe. As to Grermany, he had taken office on the condition that there should be no German war ; the Emperor, too, was well aware of the respon- sibility involved, and most anxious not to destroy the state 'of peace ; but it was impossible to permit Prussia to drag them through the mud by an insult openly and publicly avowed. Indeed, in the legitimate interests of the dynasty, M. Ollivier had been obliged to entertain the idea of war. Erance could not brook an insult, or at least a deliberate one. Her rulers, under Louis Philippe, had, it is true, once made her swallow one, but this was the cause of the downfall of the Orleanist family. The exact sequence of events which caused the war was as follows : — The Prussian King had at first made con- cessions. This had aroused against him a G-erman war party ; to conciliate this body he had given Erance an insult and pub- lished it (it was the publication upon which M. Ollivier most dwelt). The Chassepot must now decide; but as Erance was united to a man, there was no doubt of the eventual result. I have tried to exactly report what M. Ollivier said, but I can convey to you no idea of the power — the " verve " would, perhaps, be the best word — with which he spoke. I asked his permission to argue the question why correspondents should be excluded from the field. This permission he gave as a matter of course, and I then pointed out that if two parties were engaged in a quarrel, and that if English correspondents were welcomed b}'' one side and excluded by the other, it was only believing in human nature to suppose that the combatants whose hopes, whose fears, whose struggles, were painted each day to educated England, would at length become mistress of English sympathies. I instanced the war in 1866, in which NEWSPAPER COEEESPONDENTS, 7 England undoubtedly at first sympathized with the Austrians, but in which the correspondents, encouraged by one party, snubbed and muzzled by the other, to an immense extent helped to bring English opinion round to Northern G-ermany. I also gave him one instance in which, to my personal knowledge, the Prussians had sought for an English writer in the present war. I pointed out how easily correspondents might be controlled so as to prevent their giving hurtful information of the massing of troops, &c. To an unexpected extent M. Ollivier acquiesced in these argu- ments ; but I fear it was the acquiescence of politeness, not of conviction. He promised to report them all to Greneral Leboeuf, who he distinctly gave me to understand was the real arbiter in this matter. So closed my audience. As to M. Ollivier's manner while it continued, the only faint idea that I can give of its perfection is to say that all through I had great difficulty in remembering the exalted position which he holds, so completely did he put me at my ease and treat me on a footing of equality. I have now to make a feW remarks upon the above, but not as to the political questions. They are no doubt important, but they are not within my metier. As to the correspondent question, with all my respect for General Leboeuf as an organizer and strategist, I think he is utterly wrong. Corre- spondents could do harm if they were allowed to telegraph what they chose, but this is easily prevented. The real reason that generals object to writers in their camp is because they dislike and resent criticism. To a class — only a class — of military men, criticism from beings who are not at least a grade above them is not merely distasteful — it is unendurable. Still G-eneral Leboeuf ought to be above that feeling. His view might be unobjectionable if the sympathies of a nation did not follow its Press. The first Napoleon said that the army should be one with the nation, the nation one with the army. Under the modern conditions of society, the French Press can alone effect that in Erance ; while the same country may bid good- bye to the sympathies of England if she excludes, while Prussia (as I believe) encourages, writers. I forgot to say that M. Ollivier hinted — I don't think he said — that a victory would determine exterior sympathies ; a remark with a great deal of truth, but which does not comprise the whole question. Another point in M. Ollivier's conversation struck me. He incidentally said the Chassepot must now resolve the question ; but he did not seem to take any interest in the technical details of the subject. There M. Ollivier was right ; probably he relied on this all-important fact being the opinion of others ; 8 WAE COERESPOTfDENCE. bat I have persoDallj no doubt that the Chassepot will do a great deal for the Freneli. As far as breech action is con- cerned, the Chassepot is only a trifle better than the original ueedJe-gun ; it is a shade quicker in loading, and has a shade less " crachement," or spitting, than the needle-gun, and so disturbs less the aim of its firer ; but in the barrel, it is all Lombard Street to a China orange on the Chassepot. The needle-gun has a barrel designed long before 1860. The Prench barrel was blocked out with all the superior science of 1866. The needle-gun has a poor trajectory at anything like a decent range (500 yards), and wounds rather than kills ; the Chassepot bullet, driven by a huge relative charge of powder, has a magnilicently flat trajectory, and, flattening out, makes a terrible hole. There are certainly some improved needle- guns; but an arm must be re-designed, not patched, to secure victory. With regard to British arms, the Chassepot has an inferior breech action, but an infinitely better barrel than the Snider; while it is in all respects below the Henry- Martini, of which we have only 200, and these hand-made. The Emperor has just driven by the Eue de Eivoli, amidst loud cheers. • As a brilliant initiative had always been numbered among the military traditions of France, and as, moreover, the positions assigned to the French Army Corps pointed unmistakably to an invasion of Grermany, surprise was expressed, as days, and even weeks, passed on, that the French Emperor did not avail himself of the early preparation of his army to strike a blow at Grermany before her sovereigns had time to collect their forces. "We know now that such had been the Emperor's intention. In a publica- tion which has appeared under his sanction, and which he is un- derstood to have dictated,* he has given an account of his military plan. The Emperor states that he knew that Prussia was ready to call out, in a short time, 900,000 men, and, with the aid of the Southern States of Germany, could count upon 1,100,000 soldiers. France w^as only able to muster 600,000 ; and, as the number of fighting men is never more than one-half the actual eftective force, Grermany was in a position to brino^ into the field 550,000 men, whilst ■ France had only about 300,000 to confront the enemy. To compensate for this numerical inferiority, it was necessary for the Emperor, by a rapid movement, to cross the Ehine, separate Southern Germany from the North German Confederation, and, by the eclat of a first success, secure the alliance of Austria and Italy. If he were able to prevent the armies of Southern Germany from forming their junction with * "Carapagne de 1870 : des Causes qui ont amene la Capitulation de Sedan. Par un Olficier attache a I'Etat Major-General. Bruxelles, ' THE EMPEEOR*S PLAN. 9 .those of the north, the effective strength of the Prussians would be reduced by 200,000 men ; and the disproportion be- tween the number of combatants thus much diminished. If Austria and Italy made common cause with France, then the superiority of numbers would be in her favour. The Emperor's plan of campaign — which he confided, at Paris, to Marshals MacMahon and Leboeuf alone — was to mass 150,000 men at Metz, 100,000 at Strasburg, and 50,000 at the Camp of Chalons. The concentration of the first two armies, one on the Saar and the othe» on the E-hine, did not reveal his projects ; for the enemy was left in uncertainty as to whether the attack would be made against the Ehenish Provinces or upon the Duchy of Baden. As soon as the troops should have been concentrated at the points indicated, it was the Emperor's purpose to immedi- ately unite the two armies of Metz and Strasburg ; and, at the l]ead of 250,000 men, to cross the Ehine at Maxau, leaving at his right the fortress of Rastadt, and, at his left, that of Germer- sheim. teaching the other side of the Rhine, he would have forced the States of the South to observe neutrality, and would then have hurried on to encounter the Prussians. Whilst this movement was in course of execution, the 50,000 men at Chalons, under the command of Marshal Canrobert, were to proceed to Metz, to protect the rear of the army and guard the north-eastern frontier. At the same time the Erench fleet cruising in the Baltic would have held stationary, in the north of Prussia, a part of the enemy's forces, obliged to defend the coasts threatened with invasion. We shall soon see why this scheme could not be executed, im- portant as it was that Napoleon should assume the offensive. It was on the 28th of July, nearly a fortnight after the declaration of war, that the Emperor reached his head-quarters at Metz, But, even then, for a week nothing was heard of him. During that week the Grerman hosts had been mustering from the ex- tremities of the Fatherland. The twelve Army Corps of the North German Confederation, with the Prussian Guard Corps d'Armee, the Bavarian Field Army, and the Wiirtemberg and Baden Divisions, were formed into three armies, and placed under the command of General Yon Steinmetz, Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, and his cousin, the Crown Prince. The largest of these armies, that of Prince Frederick Charles, assem- bled at Mayence. The corps of Steinmetz united about Treves, and the Crown Prince's army, which included the South German troops, met near Landau. This disposition — made in such perfect secrecy that, as the Emperor pathetically complains in the work to which we have referred, the French never could tell where the enemy was— was planned in order that if the Emperor should 10 WAB, COERESPOjSTDEKCE. advance from Metz througli the Vosges, he should be confronted at or before Mayence by the army of Prince Frederick Cliarles, nearly equal to liis own in strength. But the Emperor's move- ments were still delayed. Some observers said that he hesitated, others that he had no plan. He himself has declared that at this lime the forces on which he had counted were not forthcoming. "With reference to this particular period he has written: — The army of Metz, instead of 150,000 men, only mustered 100,000 ; that of Strasburg only 40,000, instead of 100,000 ; whilst the corps of Marshal Caiirobert had still one division at Paris and another at Soissons ; his artillery, as well as his cavalry, was not ready. Further, no army corps was even yet completely furnished with the equipments necessary for taking the iield. The Emperor gave precise orders to the effect that the arrival of the missing regiments should be hastened ; but he was obeyed slowly, excuse being made that it was impossible to leave Algeria, Paris, and Lyons without garrisons. Such were some of the causes of the Emperor's inaction. But they were not, they could not be, known in Paris. There it was firmly believed that at any moment the armies of the Empire, at a word from their chief, might descend like an avalanche on Ger- many, and impatience was expressed because that word remained unspoken. To give a temporary satisfaction to this feeling, the Emperor, knowing the deficiencies of his own army, and, as he l)as since admitted, in complete ignorance of the positions of his enemy, determined upon a movement which for an instant seemed to announce the opening of the campaign. By the beginning of August the Imperial Gruard had joined Bazaine at Metz ; Can- robert had moved from Chalons to Nancy ; and MacMahon's corps was advancing from Strasburg to the Lauter. The military leaders of Germany had exerted themselves to the utmost to be able to oppose the advance of the French, and were aided by a military and patriotic enthusiasm which veterans and the students of history could liken to nothing but that which glowed during the War of Liberation. Every day saw enormous accessions to the armies of Prince Frederick Charles and General Yon Stein- metz ; and although, when the French at length stirred them- selves, there still remained some corps whose numbers were not complete, the great German army united under the King of Prussia was officially declared to be ready for war. On the 2nd of August the Emperor left Metz by railway for Forbach, taking with him the Prince Imperial. His Majesty has since stated that the business of the day was to ascertain the numbers and position of the enemy. From Forbach the Emperor proceeded at once in the direction of Saarbruck, a Prussian SAARBRUCK AND WEISSEIS^ETJEG. 11 frontier town, occupied by a small adv^anced guard. A Prencli division, under General Bataille, carried the heights of Speichern, on the right of Saarbruck, without difficulty ; and the Prussians, after a resistance which had no military object, withdrew to their next line of defence. The affair lasted only from 11 in the fore- noon until 2 P.M., and after it the Emperor returned to Metz to dinner. But as the battle had been fought for political reasons, care was taken to give it importance. No battle could be insig- nificant at which the Emperor had been present, and the de- spatches transmitted to Paris announced therein a victory with two interesting features. The mitrailleuse ^un, from which so much was expected, had been tried, and the Prince Imperial had received his "baptism of fire." Ten mitrailleuses were in battery, and at each discharge, it was said, the enemy's battalions were mowed down. The French newspapers declared that the moral effect of this victory must be immense. It appeared, however, that some of their own correspondents, venturing into Saarbruck on the very afternoon of the day when the French were supposed to have taken the place, were arrested by the pickets of the Prussians, who had returned, after an absence of two hours ; that the railway, which it was supposed the French had wished to occupy, or at least to cut, was entire ; and that the forest behind Saarbruck was alive with Prussian troops. Grreater events were soon to make the world indifiereut to the incidents of this smallest of 'promenades militaires. CHAPTER II. The demonstration at Saarbruck had led to nothing. If it was intended as an advance, no ground had been occupied ; if it was a reconnaissance, nothing had been ascertained. Two days after- wards, the Emperor's trusted counsellor, Marshal MacMahon, was at Metz, attending a council of war. On that day the first serious blow of the campaign fell upon one of his divisions, which he had left near Weissenburg, a town on the Lauter, exactly at the frontier, with crushing effect. This division, com- manded by General Abel Douay, had been left to guard the opening between the Yosges and the Rhine, whilst the other division of MacMahon's Corps advanced northward, to approach De Failly. On the 3rd of August, the Crown Prince of Prussia was approaching the frontier with a force of more than 120,000 men ; but although Douay had some suspicion of his movement, and had sent out patrols which fell in with the Bavarian cavalry, he was taken by surprise. He had pitched his camp within two miles of a frontier which was covered with woods, which con- 12 WAR COREESPONDENCE. cealed the movements of his powerful enemy, and in this danger- ous position he seems to have dispensed with guards. The Prince advanced with foiir divisions — about 40,000 men — against Douaj, whose troops were cooking their morning meal when the German army appeared on the heights above Schweigen, and the enemy's shells began to fall into thei? camp. The Erendi rushed to arms with all their old ardour : line regiments vied with corps d'elite, and the Turcos fought like lions. But nothing could prevail against the steady determination of the Germans, fighting with the advantage of immensely superior numbers and against un- prepared troops. The French, completely overpowered, lost their commander, who was killed by a shell ; and when the Germans had stormed the Geisberg, the whole French line broke in con- fusion, leaving tents, weapons, and baggajife in the hands of the victor. A correspondent of the Daily News, who was with the French army, transmitted the following brief account of the action : — Whilst General Douay's division, composed of the 74th and 50tli Eegiments of the Line, the 16th Battalion of Chasseurs on foot, one regiment of Turcos, and a regiment of mounted Chasseurs, were encamped in the neighbourhood of Weissen- burg, they were startled by a tremendous discharge of artillery. As the patrols, which had been posted all along the line of the frontier, had not signalled the presence of any Prussian troops, 'the m.en believed for a moment that they were surrounded by the enemy. This was not the case ; but the Prussians, in great force and well supplied with artillery, appeared on the heights of Schweigen, occupying the whole of the country near the small Bavarian village. General Douay ordered his troops to advance before the enemy, keeping as much as possible behind AVeissenburg, which lay just between them and the Prussian forces. But this precaution proved quite useless, for the guns were pouring a tremendous fire upon them, and the troops were falling in great numbers in the village of AVeissenburg itself. The French retired from their former position, and commenced marching on the right side of the village. The Prussian guns were firing at a tremendous rate, and three rounds fell partly in the town and partly among the troops. Several of the houses were set on fire, and a good number of soldiers lay dead or wounded. At about eleven o'clock General Yoscan's division began to retire. Hovvever, a new attack was ordered. The Turcos led the way, and, bayonet in hand, threw themselves on one of the Prus- sian batteries of artillery. All proved useless. Had the French insisted on attacking the enemy any longer, there "WEISSENBURa. 13 would not have been one of them left alive on the ground. As soon as what was left of General Douay's forces began retiring, the Prussian artillery pursued them. About twelve o'clock General Douay himself fell a victim to the Prussian artillery. The French troops commenced running without order, crossing roads and vineyards until they reached the farthest part of Weissenburg. The number of dead and wounded must have been very large indeed. The remaining troops are eager to revenge the death of their general. Tlie country people seem to be in great consternation. The roads which lead to Hagenau are covered with peasants carrying their goods and cattle with them, and lamenting over the sad fate re.^erved for their humble cottages. It was here that the Prench first became aware of the efficiency of the new Prussian artillery, which, since the Bohemian cam- paign, had been very greatly improved in force and weight of fire. On the night of the 4th, the streets of Hagenau presented the strange spectacle — so often to be renewed in this war — of throngs of fugitive soldiers, excited and clamorous, explaining their defeat to astonished civilians, easy to be persuaded that only some extraordinary failure or reversal of the very course of nature could have brought about the retreat of a French army. The Crown Prince had fought this action before his two cavalry divisions had come up, or his troops would have taken more than 600 prisoners and one gun ; and the flight of the French was so rapid that subsequent attempts at pursuit were made in vain. It could not be pretended that this combat afforded any measure of the military value of the two armies, but it deeply impressed the mind both of France and Europe. The Crown Prince's sudden movement exhibited German rapidity and decision in contrast with French vacillation and delay ; it betokened on the part of the Germans a purpose and a plan, and gave them the prestige of a victory on the territory of the Power which had challenged them to war. The Parisians began to doubt the wis- dom that presided over the conduct of the campaign; but their confidence in the army was rather raised than weakened by the reports of heroic feats performed by individuals and separate corps, and they firmly believed that "Weissenburg would be terribly revenged. Marshal MacMahon, who had heard at Metz of the disaster which had befallen Douay's corps, hastened to join his remaining divisions, stationed beyond Hagenau, and arrest the movement of his vigorous enemy. He had three divisions of his own Army Corps intact — besides a division which Felix Douay had sent from Belfort, and a cuirassier brigade of Canrobert's corps, and the remains of the divisions which had 14 WAE COREESPOI^DENCE. been defeated at Weissenburg. With these troops — in all about 50,000 men — he occupied, on the 5th, a strong defensive position on the slopes of the Vosges, his object being to cover the chief lines of comuuinication between the eastern and western sides of that mouutain range and the line of railway from Strasburg to Bitsche. His left rested on Eeichshofen, his centre was on the eminences between Froschweiler and Worth, and his right extended to beyond Elsasshausen. His front was semicircular, presenting a couvex line to the enemy, and his position, owing to the difficult ground on all sides, was one very strong for defence. A force attempting to pass him here by the road to Hagenau, would have exposed its flank to attack, while the road through the Yosges could only be gained after he had been dis- lodged. The Crown Prince arrived from Weissenburg on the evening of the 5th5 with an army of 130,000 men, and found MacMalion waiting for him on the heights. At seven on the morning of the 6th the battle began. It is alleged by various authorities that the Prince had not intended to attack so soon ; that the action was brought on by the uncontrollable eagerness of the outposts, and that this is one explanation of certain un- steady and irregular movements which marred its earlier plans. The battle was brought on by the outpost firing in front of Worth before the Crown Prince's army had completed its in- tended change of front ; and as the Prench directed their fire against Worth, the artillery of the Prussian 5th Corps was sta- tioned on the heights east of that place. A misunderstanding of an order given to Hartmann's 2nd Bavarian Corps led to their withdrawal, and Marshal MacMahon then threw himself with great vigour on the 5th Prussian Corps, It was then that the great struggle of the day took place. For two hours the two armies fought as if the issue of the campaign depended on their valour, but the arrival of the 11th Prussian Corps compelled the French to fall back on their centre and resume the defensive. The losses on each side were enormous, the strength of the French position counterbalancing to a great extent the superior numbers of the Germans, and at one time the issue seemed doubtful. The Crown Prince describes the resistance of the enemy as " most obstinate and intense." By two o'clock the combat had extended along the centre line. At this time orders were given to the Wiirtemberg division to turn Reichshofen, and threaten to cut off MacMahon's line of retreat, while a Bavarian corps was sent to turn the French right. These movements suc- ceeded : both at Elsasshausen and at Eeichshofen the French saw themselves outflanked by powerful corps. Within an hour the French line was broken, and the right centre and left were thrown into disorder. At this crisis of the battle Marshal Mac- WORTH. 15 Mahon attempted to redeem the fortunes of the day by a grand charge of the brigade of Cuirassiers which he had borrowed from Canrobert's corps. Its advance was an extraordinary and splendid spectacle ; but it was made against the artillery of the 5th and 11th Prussian Corps, and ended in a grand catastrophe, horses and raeu rolling together by hundreds in the dust. The Prussian cavalry had not yet joined, but on the 7th the pursuit of the fugitives was continued by the Baden and Wiirtemberg brigades, and the Crown Prince reported officially that he had taken 5,000 unwounded prisoners, thirty guns, six mitrailleuses, and two eagles. The Special Correspondent of the Daily News with the army of the Crown Prince wrote, on the lOfch of August, from head- quarters : — ■ The swift and skilful movement against "Weisseuburg, resulting in complete success to the German arms, was but a foretaste of the storm which threatened the northern part of Alsace. On the second day after Weissenburg came the battle of Worth, and the Crown Prince gained a great victory over the ablest generals in France. It is admitted that the French fought with reckless courage, and that they inflicted heavy loss on their opponents, but the fact of this hard fighting and of this heavy loss shows how serious a defeat was sustained by MacMahon. I traversed the battle-field whilst the dead still lay unburied on the trampled ground, and could form a good notion of how tbe fight had gone by the ghastly evidence which remained. Worth is at the bottom of a fertile valley between two ridges of cultivated ground. There is a quantity of wood- land in the neighbourhood, and especially behind the French position, or on tbe western side of the valley, there is a strip of forest which forms a cover for retreating troops. The little Hiver Bruder, not deep enough in summer-time to float a skitF, flows though the village, and a high road comes winding down towards it on the eastern side of the valley, flanked by trees. Here was the German position, stretching far to right and left. Along this road were heaps of spiked helmets to be seen, and cart-loads of needle-guns collected under the trees. At a dis- tance the French musketry fire had told more heavily than the German, and I heard that the French artillery had been very well served. But though the burying parties were busy with the German dead on this eastern side of Worth, there was more than an exchange of slaughterous work on the western side. Here the Prussians and Bavarians had pushed forward in strong force, and their fire had told fearfully upon the French. The high spirit and rigid discipline of the one army 16 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. bad been more tbim a matcb for tbe desperate resistance of tbe otber. Whole companies of Frencbmen bad been mowed down in tbeir wild attempts to cbeck the enemy's advance. It bad been a tolerably equal figbt in some places, for tbe ground was strewn witb German dead. But more and more Erencbmen bad fallen in proportion. Black Turcos and wide-trousered Zouaves lay thick at many points, and tbe Cuirassiers bad suf- fered much. There were steel breast-plates and brass belmets scattered thickly on tbe line of tbe retreat, wbilst tbe dead borses in all directions might be counted by bundreds. And so, west- ward tbrougb tbe wood, went tbe traces of increasing disaster : officers and men lying grimly where they bad fallen, some of them in quiet, sbady spots, as tbougb they were pick-nickers asleep ; pools of blood where tbe wounded bad been found ; knapsacks, rifles, and overcoats, either tbrown away in fligbt or left by tbe v^ounded on tbe field. Then came a spot where the Erencb bad rallied, and where tbe dead of both sides lay thick. Turcos might be seen w4io bad evidently fougbt to the last, and bad tried to fire their pieces as they lay. Frenchmen of the line regiments bad here and there fallen in numbers, as though they had halted and faced about in regular order. But the aspect of the fields beyond tbe wood seemed to indicate a hasty retreat. Waggons were overturned, baggage was thrown out upon tbe roadside, and many knapsacks were to be seen. No one who bad passed over that battle-ground of Worth when 1 did could have failed to realize that a great disaster bad befallen the French arms, though, at a time when most of the wounded bad been removed, and on so large a scene of action, it would have been impossible to judge of the exact loss sus- tained. However, I see no reason to doubt the official return on the German side, which gives about 10,000 Frenchmen and 7,000 Germans hors de combat, and about 7,000 prisoners taken by the victors — 4,000 in the battle, and 3,000 more in tbe pursuit. These losses, with the further loss of cannon and colours, made Worth an evil day for France. Well might the wounded Germans raise themselves to cheer tbe Crown Prince as he passed, and cry that Germany was safe. It will often be told how tbe armies met on the Gtb of August, and bow MacMabon made bis unsuccessful eff'ort to repel the invasion of Alsace, bow the Prussians held the left of the line, the Bavarians and Wiirtembergers the right, and bow a few Baden troops, held in reserve by the Crown Prince, w^ere brought up just in time to share the honours of the day. There was a fierce attack on both sides, it being difficult to say which party began, and gradually, as the German troops pressed round upon their opponents' line of retreat, the French were forced "WORTH, 17 to make so hasty a retrogade movement that the retreat became very nearly a rout. The Crov>^n Prince handled his army so as to make the most of the deadly fire of his infantry. The cavalry was not used for an attack in the first instance, but was sent in pursuit when the enemy began his retreat. It w^as a victory due to the patriotic ardour of the German troops, as much as to anything in their discipline or tactics ; but we must not forget that the French showed ardour likewise, and that the scale was turned for the Germans at Worth by their intelligent understanding of the breech-loader drill, and by their steadiness in firing. These matters take time to learn, and I hope that our volunteers will have a chance of learning them before they are called upon to face a foe who may have learnt the new weapon at his leisure. We see the glorious results which Germany is reaping from her careful prepara- tion. The prisoners were assembled near the first station of the re- opened railway , through Weissenburg. I could see many Turcos and Zouaves among them, though the greater part were soldiers of the Line. We drove past them very slowly, for the road was blocked with ammunition waggons, and I noticed that they seemed wofuUy discouraged. There were no songs and ngiatighter to be lizard among them, and the few that were^ccupying themselves with picking fruit on trees that they had climbed had not a very lively air, for Frenchmen in sucli a position as fruit-picking. Then came the convoys of wounded moving to the rear. Sufi'ering had made them brothers in misfortune. The mingled Germans and Frenchmen, with such opposite ideas about the E-hine in their heads all the while, sat or lay quietly side by side, as if they were old comrades. The only enemy, and the common enemy too, was the jolting waggon. As we neared Worth there was a constant stream of waggons bringing down wounded men. Prussians and Bava- rians, Turcos and Frenchmen, bore tlie agony of the road with equal silence. It was rare to hear a cry, though the poor fellows' faces showed much pain. They were sadder to see in their blood-stained bandages, with sufi'ering still about them, than the men who lay grimly on the hill-sides. Worth itself was a mere hospital, and all the inhabitants were either nursing the wounded or burying the dead. It was an evil fate for the picturesque little place that more than a hundred thousand men on one side and the other should have settled their quarrel so near at hand. Of coming movements I must say not a word. The event of yesterday was the capture by Wiirtemberg troops of the little fortress of Leuchtenberg, where a large amount of military c 18 WAE COEEESPOKDENCE. stores is reported to have been found. The assailants fired heavily into the place, and we heard their guns booming all yesterday forenoon. Two days afterwards the same Correspondent wrote: — The more we gather of the details of the battle of Worth, the more clearly does it appear that there was no miracle about the aftair, no sudden surprise to military critics — as though a new weapon had been discovered. Erom the villages in rear of the field I gather far more of the French movements than could be learned from the prisoners or the villagers upon the field itself. It would seem that the Imperial commanders in this quarter were altogether outmanoeuvred by the Crown Prince ; and that, whatever the merits of the respective small-arm fire, there was no comparing the tactics of the two armies. The French allowed themselves to be so placed as to have required no common degree of fighting to save them. First, we hear of their blind confidence, and of their cries of " A Berlin ! " whilst they were really in desperate danger. Then came the news of the surprise at "Weissenburg and of the death of G-eneral Douay. He was posted in a corner of the French territory with masses of Grerman troops collected on both his flanks, and was much farther from his supports than prudence warranted in face of such an enemy. It can never be known whether the French commander would have extricated his men with less loss than they actually sustained, had he lived to direct them, for he fell by one of the first discharges of artillery. Thus was a step gained by the G-ermans. They had gallantly stormed the position at Weissenburg, and had begun to shatter the enemy in detail. MacMahon and De Failly were now called on to act. The former marched against the Crown Prince with his whole corps d'armee, and expected De Failly to support his left in case of a check. Here again was dis- played the impetuous over-confidence which Frenchmen are apt to show. The second opportunity of beating them in detail was given to the Germans, and a bloody battle was the result. The Prussians and Bavarians together far out-numbered the corps of MacMahon, and before the French Marshal had been long engaged he was sending aide-de-camp after aide- de- camp to beg help from De Failly. The distance was not great to Bitsche, and the message must have arrived in time to bring the needed help, if only everything had been ready. But here again over-confidence had prevailed. One French corps was destroyed before the other came to its support. People who saw it tell with wonder of the rush of MacMahon's beaten army westward, and the advance of angry and almost incredu- . lous troops coming to their aid, towards the front. It was too WOKTH. 19 late to renew the battle, too late to save the fine regiments which lay strewn over the fields at "Worth. The more despe- rate the resistance, the greater had been the slaughter, until at last there had been a sort of panic. Preuchmen seldom retreat in good order after a defeat. The fugitives from Worth were in great disorder as they passed through villages more than ten miles in the rear. The corps of De Failly could only have sacrificed itself uselessly when once MacMahon's soldiers had been demoralized, and to have fought a second battle of Worth would have been to play into the hands of the Crown Prince, who would like nothing better than to engage the whole Erench army in detail, and beat them by degrees. We must remember that he is the better general who has the larger force present in the nick of time. The battle of Worth was well fought during the early part of the day, both by MacMahon and by the soldiers, but defeat seems to have quite demoralized the troops, who now began to manifest a spirit which has since been frequently displayed in their ranks. On the evening of the 6th they fled from Worth as madly as if they had been the rawest levies, although they were feebly pursued, the Crown Prince apparently not being aware of the greatness of the advantage he had won. About 3,000 of them took refuge in Strasburg, where their arrival spread dismay. At Sa,verne, M. Edraond About met them, — '* a long procession of laggards — Cuirassiers without cuirasses, fusiliers without guns, horsemen on foot, and infantry on horseback. A real charge of retreating Cuirassiers, galloping like mad, upset my horse in the ditch and broke the springs of the carriage." The roads in all directions were strewn with arms and knapsacks. The officers had lost their authority, or rather the trial was revealing to them how little they had ever had. The Army of the Empire was betraying defects which had been predicted by military observers, but which not the less, on their manifestation, filled intelligent Erenchmen with astonishment and alarm. But this battle, which the Germans name after the village of Worth, and the Erench variously, after those of Eeichshofen and Eroschweiler, was not the only catastrophe of the day. The news of the disaster of Weissenburg, reaching Metz on. the 5th, induced the Emperor to give orders to General Frossard, commandiog,the Second Army Corps, to withdraw the troops which had occupied the heights above Saarbruck on the 2nd. There are woods behind Saarbruck as derise as those behind Weissenburg, and on the night of the 5th Frossard's corps lay in the valley which extends from Saarbruck to Forbach. But the caution which removed the Second Corps only a mile or two c 2 W4AK JOHNSTON EDIIIBUBCH AND LOUDON 20 WAR COREESPO^TDENCE. from tbe eneray did not induce the Emperor to send up the Third or Pourtb Corps to its support. On the morning of the Gth, the leading division of Greneral Steinmetz's army arrived at Saarbruck under Greneral Yon Kamecke, and began to recon- noitre. The weakness of this corps induced General Frossard to order the occupation of the heights of Speichern, from which the French fired on the advancing Grermans. These heights, rising in almost perpendicular ascent several hundred feet above the valley, form a natural fortress. The hills project into the valley like so many bastions, affording one of the strongest imaginable positions for defence. The action began in earnest about noon, with the arrival of the Prussian 14th Division of Greneral Yon Goben's corps. The French occupied the heights of Speichern with their entire force, and during the action a division from Bazaine's corps came to their support. The Prussians were greatly outnumbered, but Yon Kamecke, knowing that other corps were coming up, did not hesitate to engage the enemy. He attacked in front, and also attempted to turn the left flank of the French by Styring, but was uniformly repulsed. By three o'clock all the troops of his division were under fire, and his enterprise assumed a very serious aspect. But other German troops, attracted by the firing, now arrived. At first, two batteries from Yon Barnekow's division came up at a gallop, followed speedily by the infantry and cavalry. The 5th Division, under General Stiilpnagel, belonging to Prince Frederick Charles's army, had also heard the firing at Sulzbach, and marched, guided only by the sound of the cannon. With these forces General Yon Goben, who had now assumed the command, directed a vigorous attack against the French front, especially against the w^ooded portion of the declivity. The charge was successful : the wood was occupied. On the southern skirts of the wood the French made a stand, and with infantry, cavalry, and artillery, endeavoured to retrieve the fortunes of the day. But the Prussian infantry were immiovable. At this juncture the r.rtillery of the 5th Prussian Division rendered good service, and performed a rare feat. Two batteries literally clambered up the hills of Speichern, by a narrow and precipitous mountain- path, and took part in repulsing the enemy. Frossard then attempted a flank attack against the Prussian left ; but in vain. A final charge, the third since the Prussians entered the wood, was now made by the French with great impetuosity ; but the Prussians stood firm, and General Frossard, seeing that nothing was to be gained, ordered a retreat. It was a sanguinary action — glorious for the Germans. Fifty-two French battalions, with the artillery of an entire corps, stationed in an almost unassail- able position, had been defeated by twenty-seven Prussian batta- FOEBACH. 21 lions, supported by the artillery of one division. Before this action it might have been said that the Prussians had only fought when they had the numerical advantage : the battle of Forbach showed that they had a confidence in their ability to engage superior numbers with success, and that that confidence was justified. The battle of Worth was fought according to a preconcerted plan : this of Eorbach appears not to have been appointed, but to have been the result of Von Goben's resolution to seize an offered opportunity. Not only did it raise the repu- tation of the Prussian infantry and artillery — the ground was too difficult for cavalry to take any part in the action — but it dis- closed the high tactical capacity of the German commanders, who, in quick and comprehensive insight, and power over all the resources and instrumentalities of war, showed themselves greatly superior to the men whom the Emperor had placed at the head of his Army Corps. The retreat of the Erench from Porbach became a si^rnal rout. Baggage, guns, caissons, camp equipage, all were abandoned in the flight. A Prussian division had occupied Porbach, and thus forcing General Prossard off the direct road to Metz, compelled him to withdraw to the south-west and leave the road to St. Avoid open to the enemy. At the close of the day Steinmetz came up, but neither he nor the subordinate Generals were aware of the real extent of their success, or prepared to follow it up. The road taken by the Preneh in their flight was blocked by numerous waggons with provisions and clothing, and the woods were filled with stragglers, wandering about in a purposeless way. Among the spoils of the day were several railway vans full of confectionery, and ten days afterwards it was easier to obtain a hundredweight of sweetmeats at Porbach than a loaf of ordinary bread. So, after the battle of Worth, along with the plan of the campaign, a number of ladies' wardrobes had become the prize of the victor. Between the armies routed at AVorth and Porbach had lain the Pifth Corps, that of De Pailly. As we have seen, a division of this corps arrived at Niederbron on the afternoon of the 6th, just in time to cover the retreat of MacMahon's broken bat- talions upon Saverne. De Pailly, however, perceived that the defeats on both sides of him had made his position untenable, and his corps, retreating southwards with the greatest precipita- tion, was lost to view for ten of the most critical days of the campaign. M. Edmond About described at the time the effect of its sudden appearance at Saverne on Sunday, the day after the battles of Worth and Porbach : — " A false alarm was raised, the Due de Magenta had the generate beat, and Saverne believed itself lost. The Pifth Corps had arrived. While the officers 22 WAR COREESPONDENCE. and soldiers threw themselves on the road to Phalsburg, three- quarters of the inhabitants utterly lost themselves, and rushed into the neighbouring woods. The example — a sad example — was given them by the gendarmes and the sergents de ville. They sliut the shops, threw their furniture into the gutters ; many of the farmers drove their beasts before them as in the time of Abraham." CHAPTEE III. Monday, August Sth, will long be remembered by this genera- tion. On the morning of that day the public of Europe and America were peremptorily summoned to surrender that belief in the essential military superiority of Erance which had become almost a part of its mental constitution. The news from Saar- bruck and Berlin was surprising — that from Metz was almost stupefying. King William and the Crown Prince boasted of thousands of prisoners taken, and eagles, cannon, mitrailleuses, and camp equipage captured ; but these did not half so much impress the public mind as the apologetic and plaintive messages transmitted from Metz to Paris by the Emperor. Napoleon knew better than the enemy the extent of the Erench disasters^ and his despatches, of which he telegraphed no fewer than five on the morning of Sunday, the 7th, were solemn as a knell. The fourth of the series ended, — " The retreat is being effected in good order. All may be regained {tout pent se retaUir). — Napoleon." In the fifth despatch the Emperor said, — " In order to sustain us here, it is necessary that Paris and Erance should consent to make great efforts of patriotism. The trial is a serious one." The Council of Ministers at Paris issued a pro- clamation, in which they said, " The situation is not compromised, but the enemy is on our territory, and a serious effort is neces- sary." On receipt of the first telegram at Paris a Ministerial Council was summoned, and the Empress presided over its deli- berations at five o'clock in the morning. On the day before, Saturday the 6th — the day of "Worth and Eorbach — the Parisians, exasperated at the news of the misfortune at Weissenburg, had been suddenly startled by a false report of a great Erench victory. MacMahon, it was alleged, had retaken Weissenburg, captured sixty guns, and made 25,000 prisoners. Among the latter, it was said, was the Crown Prince, who, when brought before the Emperor, had shot himself. Eor an hour and a halt the frenzy of joy was uncontrollable. Elags appeared at every window, opera favourites appeared and sang the Marseillaise in the streets. METZ. 23 When the falsehood of the rumour became known, the populace gave way to excesses. Sucli was the preparation of the Parisians for a knowledge of the disastrous events which were at that very time taking place on the Sauer and the Saar. At Metz the excitement of the heterogeneous multitude which had been collected there, was extreme. A Special Correspondent of the Daily News, who arrived there in the midst of it, wrote on the 7th of August : — I reached Metz this morning at six o'clock from Nancy. On my alighting at the Hotel de I'Europe I immediately perceived that something was going wrong. The scene at the hotel pre- sented a most exciting aspect. The waggons of the Etats-lVl ajors, which for several days had been filling up the whole courtyard, were being got ready for leaving. The officers were packing up their things in great haste. Some of them seemed very busy giving orders ; others were taking breakfast in the table- d'hoteroom ; others, again, seemed ready for starting, and were discussing with great passion the issue of late events. Though I was about the only bourgeois there, and saw that the officers looked at me in a very suspicious sort of way, I did not stir from my place. I had not been sitting down an hour at the cafe before the hotel, when up came a veterinary officer whom I had known not long ago, and whom I knew to belong to Greneral Ladmirault's corps. The news he gave me was sufficient to justify the terror and panic one read in everybody's face. A fierce battle had been going on ever since Thursday. The rest of the army was completely en derouie, and notwithstanding the valour shown by the troops, it seemed impossible to arrest the progress of the Prussians* The 76th and 77th Eegiments of the Line had kept for four hours their position against something like fifty thousand men. One regiment of Chasseurs and another of Cuirassiers had been completely destroyed. One battalion of the 40th, a thousand strong, had retired with 105 men. Of the three other battalions, it was with the greatest difficulty that two could be formed with only one officer per company. As to the feeling in the whole army against Greneral MacMahon and the leading officers, it is something tremendous. What was your plan ? they keep asking. Why weaken our forces by occupying such a long line when the enemy was only a few miles distant, and it would be impossible for us to concentrate at a given point when the enemy might be upon us at any moment ? Why march against Saarbruck when the whole army was not yet in a position to engage in separate battles ? ISTot half of the African corps had arrived. Thousands of men had not yet joined their regiments^ and as to. speaking 24 WAR COBRESPONDENCE. • of the commissariat department, it has proved truly inefficient. It is not a question of tiuie — it is a question of military orga- nization. The Prussian system is so easy and so simple, that an army, however numerous it may be, is sure to meet with no such inconveniences as have been experienced on this occa- sion by the French. What moral influence can a general such as MacMahon have on his army, when the men, even the most uninstructed, see with their own eyes the mismanagement of the whole undertaking ? What can men think of their generals, and with what heart can they combat to invade a hostile country, when food and straw and hay, and all that is requisite for an army, is w^anting them in their own country ? How is it possible that the general offi.cers immediately under the commanders of this miserable war can execute with zeal and with punctuality the orde'rs they receive, when a general lilce MacMahon is heard to say, after having fought for so many hours, that he must stop because they have no more ammunition ? The fact is, that the morale of the whole army has greatly suffered. When on the field of battle, soldiers will never lament much at seeing a regiment returning from the fight reduced to a half or a quarter of its number, as long as they are assured that some good has come out of it. But when they perceive that valour and elan are useless before an enemy who only acts according to strict strategy, they lose their spirits. The people at Metz are in a most excited state of mind. They have not one man in the town, and the Prus- sians are reported to have occupied St. Avoid, which is only about fifteen miles from here. The Prussians have now the line to Porbach, and have taken possession of it. Some friends of mine were at the railway station all night yesterday, w^ait- ing to see the arrival of the wounded, but not one appeared. AVhere are they ? In whose hands ? Some of the officers who have made their way back here, say they lost all their bag- gage. While I was writing I heard a great row going on in the court- yard. I went down and saw that the guards at the gate had been ordered off. The servants were putting the officers' baggage in the waggons, and they all seemed to be in a greac hurry. I am told that the Emperor intends removing his head- quarters, perhaps to Nancy, as the Prussians appear to be directing themselves towards that town. . . . Great excitement prevails. The Emperor's carriage and horses are being brought to the railway station. On the evening of the same day, the same Correspondent wrote : — SUSPICION". 25 Newspaper correspondents seem to be feared more than the Prussians themselves. I closed my letter this morniDg saying that I intended going to the railway station, and perhaps see- ing the Emperor off. As I left the hotel I met Mr. Simpson, of the Illustrated London News, and Mr. Mayhew and his son (of the Globe), who, like myself, were going to the railway station. As we walked along and saw the Emperor's carriages and baggage being put on waggons, we began talking about the war and the latest news that had arrived. Mr. Simpson said he thought the scene before us so picturesque that he would take a sketch of it. Accordingly he drew nis note-book out of his pocket, and began sketching one of the Emperor's carriages. We saw a lot of soldiers surrounding us, but took no notice of them. A few minutes afterwards, an artillery officer in white trousers and blue jacket came up to us, and looking very hard, said; — "One of these gentlemen was sketching something. May I see what it was ?" Mr. Simpson took the book out of his pocket, and showed it to him. Tiie officer examined it, he looked round, and in a moment we found ourselves surrounded by some fifty artillerymen. "A la place," cried the officer, upon which the soldiers took hold of us, and informed us that we were their prisoners. " What for ?" asked I. " Ah! le vilain espion Prussien, vous verrez," was the satisfactory answer 1 got. The officer was leading the way, and to have seen him walking so proudly before us, one would have thought that, instead of having got hold of us, he had taken one of the enemy's batteries. On our entering the town, a great crowd began to assemble. People came running from every side street, and the crowd swelled to such an extent that before we reached the Cathedral Square it had grown to something like three thousand persons. It was with the greatest difficulty the soldiers could defend us from being torn to pieces. " Kill them ! " cried every one, " the rascally spies ; justice, justice !" I am sure that if we had had to walk another five minutes, not one of us would have been saved. However, thank God, we reached the 'place, and were thrown, all safe, into the guard-room — a room measuring ten square feet. The officer who was in charge of the place ordered a picket of men to be placed before the door to prevent the crowd breaking in, but all the precautions taken did not pre- vent two or three men in blouses rushing in and insulting us most grossly. There was no help for it ; we were spies, and deserved to be punished accordingly. We waited for a short time, and then in came a colonel with several other officers. Not one of them addressed us in Erencb, but in German, and our not answering in German was sufficient to prove that we 26 WAB COEEESPONDENCE. M-ere Prussians, and pretended not to be so. We answered all the questions addressed to us, showed our passports, but Dotbing seemed to satisfy them. Mr. Simpson's note-book was evidently a most aggravating circumstance. The carriage was not a carriage ; it was a plan of the fortress of Metz. We waited very patiently for an hour or so, asked the men on guard if they would allow us to send a note to Greneral St. Sauveur; but they would allow nothing of the kind. The door was flung open, and in came a gentleman with a red ribbon on his coat, aud looking as white as a ghost. One would have said he had gone mad by the way he went on. He told the officer who had questioned us not to leave us on any account, as he had sufficient proofs in his hands to show that we were a set of spies. "That gentleman," said he, pointing to Mr. Mayhew, " came the oth-er day to my office and bought three copies of the Journal de la Moselle (the speaker being the editor of that paper). Now, who on earth but a spy would come to a newspaper office and buy three — do you hear me — three copies of one paper?" The readers of the Daily News will understand that it was very difficult for us to know what to say in our defence when our passports and papers were not of the slightest use, and when the fact that one of us had bought three copies of one journal was a sufficient reason to shoot us for being spies. After many explanations we induced one of the officers to take a note to Greneral St. Sauveur, ex- plaining our situation to him, and asking him to say a word in our favour. We M'aited some time, and then the officer came back with an order from the general to liberate the English journalists. The editor of Le Journal de la Moselle began to apolgize for his conduct towards us, saying that he had acted thus because the state of his country required every citizen to do his duty. As the crowd had been increasing before the house, and nobody could have persuaded them that we were not spies, the officer suggested we should remain locked up till late. However, after one hour had elapsed, and the people seeming to be more calm, we thought we might as well take the chance and go to the hotel. The editor and two other gentlemen left the guard-house with us, and proceeded to leave the place. But on our appearing in the street the people began shouting as loud as ever, and pushing the soldiers in order to get hold of us. I heard the editor shouting, " They are friends ! They are friends ! " but I don't know, I am sure, what happened after. I found myself again in the guard-room, together with Mr. Mayhew and his son, Mr. Simpson having escaped. We were talking amongst ourselves, of course in English, when a man in a blouse, and who, I know not why, had never left the THE SPY MANIA. 27 place, went up to the officer commanding, and said that he had been listening to our conversation, and that we had been speaking German all the time. This mysterious man, who was allowed to say anything he thought proper, and who never left us for a moment, notwithstanding that he was repeatedly ordered to do so by the general, was looking at us in a most ferocious way. On our asking whether there was another door by which we could have gone off without waiting there so Ions:, we were informed that we could not go until General Coffiniere, the general commanding in Metz, had seen us, and had given a special order. I must confess that we were beginning to get a little tired of it. General Coffiniere, a tall, fine man, with white moustaches, finally arrived. The same story of questioning and cross-questioning began all over again. The Commissaire de Police, with another man, was introduced in order to ex- amine the validity of our passports. On ray showing the one I possessed, and which had been given me by Sir Augustus Paget only ten days before, on my leaving Florence, the Com- missaire took it up, made a roll of it, and said it was a false one, and even if it were a good one it was worth nothing, for it did not prove that it was my own. The general sat himself on the small table, aud knocking his stick on the wooden pavement, asked what had become of the sketching gentleman and his note- book. "When he was told that Mr. Simpson had gone off, he went into a desperate passion, and swore at the colonel, saying that no orders, not even those of the Emperor himself, were to have been executed without his knowing of them ; that he was re- sponsible for the safety of Metz. He then looked at us in the f;ice, and, addressing the officers, police agents, and men in blouses who surrounded him, said, " Gentlemen, you know that Metz is in a state of siege, and therefore no longer under the common law. We have been too humane, too noble- hearted, too generous. Whilst the Prussians have committed the most horrible crimes against inoffensive Frenchmen and other officers, we have suffered the enemy to abuse our gene- rosity, and this is the gratitude we receive. Eiit it must stop once for ever. It is a hard thing, bat the law gives me the right to shoot any one I choose in the market square ; and an example must be given, or we shall never have peace." " Bravo, General ! bravo. Commander!" cried all of them in a chorus. The man in a blouse left the room, aud in a second the whole square echoed with cries of " Bravo, le General!" " Mort aux espions ! '^ As I felt pretty safe that M. le General would think twice before making his experiment on an English subject, I said frankly, that what he had been saying was all 2§ WAE COEEESPONDENCE. nonsense, and that when we could prove who we were, and why we were in Metz, it was an absurd thing insisting any longer. "But your papers?" said theGreneral; " have you nothing else but your passport ?" I told him that my letters of introduction to the head-quarters had from some mysterious cause never reached me, and could only show some telegrams I had received, and the sight of which was sufficient to clear up everytbing. " Well," said the General, "I ought to ask you to give a satisfactory account of yourself within three hours ; I shall give you four-and-twenty hours ; but I must tell you one thing — if you succeed in getting olF, you must leave this immediately, for we won't have people here amongst us who keep writing against France, and favouring the cause of Prussia. You say you are the correspondent of the Dailt/ News, eh ? "— " Yes, sir."—'-' All right. Good day, gentlemen," and off he went. We had led the way, and now every moment a new spy was got bold of. One of them, the correspondent of the Journal lllustre, was in a very bad state indeed. His coat had been torn to pieces, and they had attempted to strangle him. The poor man was w^alking the street very peacefully, carrying a little dog with him, when a lot of people dashed upon him, and would have murdered him had it not been for several officers who did their best to save him. He cared little for himself, but he was in a most awful way about his dog, and offered any sum of money if they would bring it back to him. It was the most ludicrous thing in the world to hear the officers question- ing him, and his answering only, " Oh ! mon petit chien, mon petit chien !" Another hour passed, when two officers of the Staff walked into the room and informed us that we were at liberty to go when we liked. One of them, the Vicomte de Valcourt, who spoke English very well, expressed his most sincere displeasure at what had taken place, and hoped we would understand that it was not owing to any bad feeling towards anybody, but only as a measure of precaution. The officer gave the necessary instructions to the sergeant who had charge of us that we might be set free, and left us on the most amicable terms. It was getting near six, and we decided on going. To our great surprise the man in the blouse stopped us, and said that we were not free to go, and could not leave until written orders bad been given to the colonel. We were quite tired of it: we bud been there nearly six hours, and certainly the place was anything but comfortable. But there was no help for it. Another half-hour elapsed, when at last a major of the JStatf INVESTMENT OF STEASBUEG. 29 came and took us to our hotel, leaving the people, who could make nothing of it, very much disappointed. We are all oiF to-night for Nancy. One of the first measures which showed the world that the German commander-in-chief believed he had troops enough to pursue the Imperial army, and to spare, was the detachment of a Badish corps to lay siege to the great fortress of Strasburg. "When, in the third week of August, G-eneral Uhrich, the com- mandant of Strasburg, was summoned to surrender, few persons believed that General Moltke really intended to detach an army for an enterprise so serious as the reduction of a first-class for- tress. About 9,000 Mobile Guards, a regiment of the Line, and some sedentary National Guards, formed the garrison of the place on the 6th of August. On the evening of that day, how- ever, several thousand fugitives from MacMahon's army fled thither, throwing the inhabitants into a complete panic. Thou- sands of the inhabitants left, rather than expose themselves to the horrors of a siege, but the vast majority remained to strengthen the hands of General Uhrich, and protract an obsti- nate resistance. The Crown Prince of Prussia, with the bulk of his Third Army,' pursued his way towards Champagne, through the Vosges, by Ober-Modern, as soon as he had repaired his losses at Worth. The Special Correspondent of the Daily News with the Crown Prince wrote, on the 11th of August : — There has been a shifting of quarters from village to village since I last wrote ; indeed, the army of the Crown Prince is so active that this shifting of quarters is an almost daily occurrence. Everything is done in perfect order. The carriages are told off in a slow moving column, with mounted troopers at intervals to regulate the line of march, and when all are placed there is a halt of a few minutes to allow the Prince and his Staff to pass. Well may the villagers stare at the show, for they are not likely to see again so many fine horses and bright uniforms. Old and young crowd the wayside as His Highness goes by, and doff their caps respectfully, but without any sign of wel- come. It is curious to see these German Frenchmen, or rather these Gallicized Germans, dealing with the invaders. The power of understanding one another makes their intercourse much less disagreeable than might be supposed. Yet, never- theless, there is a strong sympathy with Prance among the Alsatian peasants, because they have, thanks to the conscrip- tion, such a number of their sons serving in the French Army. I notice that the younger folks can all speak a little French, though they answer the question of the soldiers, " Parlez vous 30 WAR COEllESPONDENCE. Chassepot ? " ^?ith a sententious " Nein," which seems to imply utter ignorance of the language referred to. Poor souls ! they are very much frightened by this astounding invasion, and make the most of their rough Alsatian dialect, as a means of propitiating the new and dreaded invaders of the empire. I must say, in justice to the German troops, that this dread of the invaders is founded on a notion of what might be, rather thaQ on what really happens. Beyond compulsory service in country waggons to carry wounded men, or loads of hay, and compulsory sales of provisions to the military authorities, there is little to complain of. It is as with "Wellington's Army in Southern France in 1814, rather than as with the Allied Armies in that memorable year. No invasion can be pleasant to the conquered people, but this one of 1870 is conducted on the huniane principles of modern warfare. The Crown Prince of Prussia has resolved to strike only at the French Grovern- ment, and at the armed forces which oppose him, and to spare as far as possible the unfortunate people who inhabit the scene of hostilities. And so this strange surprise to Europe, this invasion of France within three weeks of the declaration of war, goes steadily forward with all imaginable precaution. E-ailway lines are re- opened, telegraph lines are laid down, and a swarm of Grermau troops pours over the frontier. How strong the invading force will be in three days' time it is better not to say. But Na- poleon runs great risk of finding himself on a field of Leipsic when he makes his final stand. There has never been such a concentration of troops in the world's history as this of the German armies in 1870. I spoke more than once of their tremendous efforts to send forward soldiers from Berlin, and even from the farthest extremity of Eastern Prussia. 1 was in St. Petersburg when war was declared, and as I travelled westward could see but one great mustering of soldiers and Landwehr men from Konigsberg to the Rhine. In Berlin and in Saxony, in Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Baden, the country was all alive with armed men. The railway officials worked like galley slaves, the telegraph was never idle, and in a fort- night all was safe. Then the chances began to favour Ger- many. More and more troops were ready with each succeeding day. Bavarians were as ready as Prussians, South Germany as ready as the Northern Confederation, and France, which had sought the contest, was completely outstripped. It waa almost as though some young blood in a public garden should fix a quarrel on a quiet-lookiug professional pugilist, and get a tremendous thrashing for his pains. France entered gaily and fiercely into the struggle, with splendid soldiers, but with no TEENCH TACTICS AT TArLT. 31 tliorougli preparation. She was avowedly the weaker of the two in point of mere numbers. I know that a good many people at home, who delight in sweeping analogies, will be talkiDg about Celtic weakness and Gothic strength, or some- thing of that kind. But the brave Prussian army and its Southern comrades of Worth and Weissenburg deserve more credit than that of being Groths. They have beaten an anta- gonist who was worthy of them. Marshal MacMahon was no mean commander, and his troops behaved like men. When I saw the field of Worth, the heaps of bodies, and the long trains of wounded prisoners, I felt that Erance had no cause to blush for that disastrous day. The Zouaves lay thickly where they had stood, and the brigade of Cuirassiers was almost annihil- ated. It needed no theories about this or that race to explain the scene. The French commander had been out-generalled by the Crown Prince of Prussia, insomuch that His Highness bad brought a large number of Grermans to bear on a small number of Frenchmen, and the French had been overpowered by the cool, determined Grermans, who had taken trouble to master their breech-loading tactics. What can we think of an organization which is rash enough to send Cuirassiers against an infantry that has the needle-gun ? Yet this last act of madness was performed by the French. We can boast of doing more mischief at Balaclava ; but this charge of steel- clad horsemen into a vineyard full of infantry was a wild act of self-destruction. I hear that the Cuirassiers were nearly all killed or taken, and certainly the number of dead horses and men, of breastplates and brass helmets scattered about, look like a fearful loss on their part. The fact is that the French committed two signal blunders — they underrated their enemy, and trusted to worn-out tactics against modern improvements. That day of Worth was glorious for Germany because it was a triumph of patient preparation, as much as for the high courage shown by the German troops. From their first massing of forces near Weissenburg, and their surprise of that position, to the present moment, when they are well advanced into French territory, the German armies have been the better prepared. They came on from Weissen- burg to A¥orth with a superior force, broke up the corps of MacMahon in a single battle, and have pushed steadily for- ward against the right flank of the French line. We do not know exactly how far Napoleon's subjects may be rallying to his support, but in these days of drenching rain we are consoled by feeling that his Imperial Majesty's plans of invasion must be now exchanged for a very cautious system of defence. 32 WAR COREESPONDEKCE. On the 12th of August the same Correspondent wrote: — The movement of troops is incessant, though no one is told vvhitlier they are going ; and with each advance the Prussians bring forward their Feld-Post and their military telegraph. A more perfect system of organization it is difficult to imagine. The columns of provisions creep like great serpents over the country ; the active detachments of telegraph men push on with their light poles set up at intervals, and their slov^dy de- creasing coil of wire ; and the field post-office brings letters to the different divisions. From side to side for many a mile the whole country is on the move. Now a regiment of cavalry goes by, with infinite jingling of harness and cJattering of hoofs. Now the bayonets of the infantry shine out among the trees, or there is an interminable train of guns dragged past. I fancy that the villagers are simply astounded at what they see, and think that all Germany is upon them. " All of us here?" The soldiers laugh, and tell of the other two great armies which are invading France. There is much less of the fierce assertion of nationality among the Germans since they have won, and much less talk of going to Paris, now that going there is quite on the cards. Everybody is in high spirits, which exhaustion of drinkables and torrents of rain cannot diminish. The Fatherland is quite safe; the war has scarcely troubled a single German village — not one in this part of the line— and, rain as it may, the men are thoroughly cheerful. They will be, as our lads express it, " bad to beat in their next engagement." France is not properly fortified for a war with united Germany. These little places, which hold a few hundred men, and did well enough in old times, are useless against modern artillery. There is, for instance, an ancient fortress among wood-covered hills — a quaint picturesque stronghold of Alsace called La Petite Pierre. Once upon a time it was much esteemed as a check to an invader coming through the Yosges. But now it is abandoned without firing a shot. The black and white colours of Prussia wave over the citadel, and a quantity of military stores have been captured therein. I made a long excursion a few days ago in that direction, and am allowed to describe the fortress all the more readily that the French are supposed to know everything about it. There is an inner and an outer fort, with an unfinished curtain connecting them, and with new palisades erected to defend the approaches. The foundation rests on a solid rock, which is very steep to tlie westward, and an old drawbridge cuts off all communication with the outer works. It is a place that ought not to be TTllE CEOWN PRINCE IN LOERAINE. 33 defended unless the inhabitants were first expelled, for every house would be down in six hours when once the cannonade began. I doubt whether it could be held at all if really heavy guns were brought into play. But it was not ready for de- fence when the Prussians came. The outer and more impor- tant work was unfinished. Therefore La Petite Pierre was abandoned, to the great relief of its inhabitants, who had feared destruction, and the Prussians quietly marched in. Now, if a strong fort, say an ironclad tower, had been upon this hill of which I speak, the Crown Prince must have sent heavy guns against it. I do not say that any mere fort by a roadside would hinder the German invasion, but this little fortress of La Petite Pierre, among its wood-covered hills, illustrates two points of the Prenchman's unreadiness for this strange upset- ting of all their plans — first, the fort was old-fashioned and insufiicient ; secondly, it was not equipped for defence. On the 14th the same Correspondent wrote, on the march through Lorraine : — The brilliant Staff" comes out of the village in the midst of won- dering rustics, and the long train of head-quarters' carriages and waggons follow steadily behind. We cannot realize our being conquered by anybody ; so it is better to fancy ourselves the conquerors, and to trot forth in the early morning with light hearts on the track of our victorious army. Do not ima- gine that we are the first to lead the way. That might do all very well in times of Knights-errant and Crusaders, when the " trusty glaive" was always at hand. But in times of needle- guns and organized warfare the head-quarters comes behind a mass of the cavalry and infantry, which makes it quite secure. It is only in great battles or sudden movements of some sort that the Stafi" would come very near the enemy. On ordinary inarches they are in the rear of a large force. I think that the French know this^ so I have not a shadow of doubt about telling it. There are the Light Cavalry,, the Dragoons, and Lancers scattered over the country in our front. Then come bodies of infantry, supported by guns, and at a good distance from the front comes the head-quarters itself, with its field telegraph and post-office — a perfect centre of military civiliza- tion. The peasants are very curious to see the great people of the army ride forth, and gather by hundreds at the wayside. "We have fancied ourselves following this gay troop of horse- men, for which all make way. Let us pass on through the village and look round us as we come into the open country. Those men under the trees yonder are Lancers watching the field telegraph. That dark mass of horses and waggons creep- D 34 WAK COERESPONDENCE. ' ing along the road is a column of ammunition moving towards the front. There are the suttlers' carts following the army resolutely wherever it may go, and there are the peasants, pressed into the service with their cattle, bringing loads of hay for the cavalry horses. It is not quite what we should wish for ourselves — the being pressed into a service, even for the pay which the men will get. But such is war, and they may think themselves lucky to be no worse off. They are not afraid of their invaders — at least not very much afraid — as we see by those peasant girls who stand chatting with the drivers of the artillery waggons. Nevertheless, we would rather not be in- vaded ourselves, and we will take the point of view of mere abstractions, of shadows gliding along the road. Forward from village to village ; forward from one column to another ; we glide to the front and find the Lancer outposts approaching the enemy with care. They look sharply about them. It is no joking matter to be shot through the head ; and behind that clump of trees, just in front of them, they have a glimpse of French uniforms. Very cautiously they advance. Now we see the Frenchmen slowly winding their way up an opposite hill, and in ten minutes more the Lancers are in the village below. They want food, they want forage for their horses ; they ask eagerly after liquor of any sort. But when we think of old world wars, this first arrival of the invaders seems a mild affair. The Staff need not be ashamed to ride to the front, for they will discover little more than small annexations of food and drink to charge against their advanced guard. It is a war in which there is no wish to deal harshly with the country people, who are known to have about as much to do with be- ginning it as the Lord Mayor of London. The Staff of the Crown Prince of Prussia is made more brilliant by the presence of several other G-erman Princes who are serving under his orders. There is the candidate for the Spanish throne, Prince Leopold of Hoheuzollern, riding beside his kinsman to assert the right of Germans not to be bullied because Spaniards chose to manage their own affairs. There is the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, brother to our lamented Prince Consort, whose little principality is German and pa- triotic to the core. There is the young Prince of Mecklenburg, said to be very English in tastes and education, but with a , warm heart for the cause of the great German Fatherland. These and other men of high position in Germany follow the Crown Prince of Prussia as he rides forth from halting-place to halting-place, always farther on French soil. You should stand at a corner of the village and see the Staff go by. I have mentioned in another letter that the peasants do not cheer. It A TEAT IN MARCHINa. 35 would be absurd if tbey did, for tbeir sons are serving in the Frencb army, tbough tbey are of Grennan stock. The peasants do not cbeer, but have a good long stare, bat in band. I will not describe tbe procession as it passes, because this would be scarcely what those who ride in it would wish. My object is that you should understand the sort of war which is being waged, should see before you the French high roads with their lines of poplars, the crowded encampments and the advancing columns, I want you to picture the outposts far on in front, looking into every bush, and the Staff in its proper place, as a centre of management and direction. I would fain bring be- fore you this strange, perplexing, unexpected sight which it is my lot to see — the challenger knocked down at the first en- counter, the grande nation invaded with such deadly speed. We all thought that Prussia had a good chance, and I myself was inclined to back her heavily, as my letters have shown : but this sudden success takes away one's breath. Tou ifiust realize the scene to measure its overwhelming effect — Erench hotels de ville occupied by belmeted Prussians, French peasants in blouses doing forced service to the Prussian commissariat. These things form part of the picture. Tou see the whole country alive with invaders, and the columns of infantry press- ing forward like trains of working ants. Here are the men who make the conquest sure. These infantry soldiers are a special product of modern German training. They are the experts of the breech-loader. A long and careful training has made them steady in action and quick in their manoeuvres. How they march, too ! It is only this morning that our head- quarters' escort performed another of those feats of rapid marching which have been our wonder of late. The poor dusty fellows kept up with horses and carriages for twelve or fifteen miles at a swinging pace, and in full campaign order. They must som.etimes have been almost running, yet only two or three men fell out. Whatever may be the smartness of French marching — and it is adrhirable, I confess — it could not well beat this. CHAPTEE lY. The situation of tbe Frencb army after tbe defeats of Worth and Forbach was not desperate ; nevertheless, only a decisive re- solution could save it. The power of initiating offensive move- ments had passed into the hands of the enemy, but that of con- centration and retreat still remained : yet only as a precarious possession. In a few days the great French army might wish in D 2 36 WAR COREESPONDENCE, vain for the last privilege of retreat. The remnant of Mac- Mahon's army was beyond the Emperor's reach ; it must make its own way in its own time to a position far in the rear of Metz, there to rejoin De Failly's, which had not fought at all, but had undertaken a long march, prescribed solely by regard for its own safety, and was somewhere near Neufchateau, making by the Haute Marne for the camp at Chalons. Several Army Corps were, however, still intact, and to draw them together was the first care of the Emperor. Ladmirault, with the 4th Corps, fell back from Thiouville to Metz ; the Imperial Guard, under Bonr- baki, and the 3rd Corps, under Bazaine, were encamped under the walls of that fortress. Erossard had retreated to the same stronghold to seek shelter for the shattered 2nd Corps, to which also a portion of Canrobert's 6th Corps had been brought up. Bazaine was ordered to occupy the line of the JSTied, in front of Metz, to endeavour to rally the forces before him : otherwise the concentration described was effected at Metz. The German commander was quick to perceive his opportunity, and his move- ments were marked with the utmost vigour and decision. While the Crown Prince of Prussia was wending his way in the track of MacMahon, the great armies of Prince Frederick Charles and General Steinmetz, numbering probably a quarter of a niillion men, with 750 guns, were moving upon Metz, and threatening to shut the Emperor, his generals, and his array in. The only safety of the Erench army lay in instant retreat. Its leaders knew the fact, but the Emperor was commander-in-chief, and political considerations overbore the dictates of sound military policy. In the memorial which the Emperor indited at Wilhelms- hohe, and which has been published by an officer of his Staff, we have an account of the causes of an irresolution whose fatal effects were soon to become so apparent. We are told that the Em- peror, " profoundly depressed at witnessing all his communica- tions destroyed," and driven in these few days to think no longer of any but a defensive position, resolved immediately to lead back the army to the Camp of Chalons, where it might have gathered together the dSh'is of Marshal MacMahon's army, Eailly's corps, and that of Douay. This plan, when communicated to Paris, was at first approved by the Council of Ministers ; but, two days afterwards, a letter from M. E. Ollivier informed the Emperor that, upon mature consideration, the Council had decided that it had been too hasty in approving the retreat of the army upon Chalons, since "the abandonment of Lorraine could only pro- duce a deplorable effect on the public mind ; " on this ground he advised the Emperor to renounce his project, and Napoleon yielded to his counsel. It then became necessary to consider what use should be made BAZAINE COMMA:CfDEE-IN'-CHIEr. 37 of this portion of the "Army of the Ehine," now become it- self, the "Army of Metz." By the arrival of Canrobert with the reserves, it had now, the Emperor tells ns, been raised to a strength of 140,000 men, and it received orders for its concentration around Metz, " in the hope that it might be able to fall upon one of the Prussian armies before they had eftected their junction." No expectation could have been more preposterous and absurd ; but then the excuse follows, that the action of the Erench was uniformly embarrassed " by the absolute ignorance in which we always remained concerning the position and the strength of the hostile armies. So well did the Prussians conceal their movements behind the formidable shelter of cavalry, which they deployed before them in all directions, that, notwith- standing the most persevering inquiries, it was never really known where the mass of their troops was, nor, in consequence, to what points the chief efforts of our army should be directed." Thus the precious week which followed the, disastrous 6th of August was allowed to expire. The French could not act, for they knew neither the enemy's position nor his plan ; they could not retreat, for the Ministers knew that Paris would not receive back a defeated Emperor. Thus the army stood motionless while the enemy prepared its ruin. By the 13th General Steinmetz, with the Eirst Army, had approached Metz on the northern side. Prince Erederick Charles had placed a portion of his army within a few miles of the fortress on the east, and with the rest was actually crossing the Moselle at Pont-a-Mousson, preparing to cut off the French array if it should move, or to invest it if it should stay in its place. The Emperor seems to have had no suspicion of the actual occurrence of that movement. But there were Generals who had represented to him the possibility that the army might be cut off from Paris, and so the State be deprived of its Head. He himself, too, felt that he " was being made responsible for the wretched situation of the army," so he resolved to resign the chief command into the hands of Marshal Bazaine, and proceed to the Camp at Chalons. The retreat which M. Emile Ollivier and his colleagues had countermanded, was now ordered by the Marshal on his own responsibility. But three or four precious days had been lost, and these had sufficed to enable a general who, like Count Moltke, always knew what he wanted, and how to obtain it, to secure his hold upon the Army of Metz. It was on Sunday, the 14th of August, that the vanguard of the French began crossing the Moselie, on the road to Yerdun ; but its movements were sluggish and embarrassed. Three Army Corps — those of Bazaine (now commanded by General Decaen), of Ladmirault, and of Frossard — remained on the east of Metz, 38 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. as if certain of being able to retire in safety whenever they liked. Prince Frederick Charles, however, had not, in the judg- ment of Count Moltke, had sufficient start in his flanking march to make it prudent to permit these corps to follow him, as they began to show signs of doing. "With a view, therefore, of occu- pying them, of covering the march of troops crossing at Pont-a- Mousson, and of delaying the general retreating movement of the enemy, the Glerman commander-in-chief ordered General Steinmetz to make an attack on those Prench corps lying east of Metz. The engagement became the first of a brief series of the most sanguinary battles of this war. The Prench held several villages, where they had entrenched themselves, and occupied numerous lines of rifle pits, inflicting great loss on the enemy. That they suffered much in turn is shown by the fact that in one of their rifle pits no fewer than 781 dead were found. In the end, the French retired to the shelter of the fortress. Some of the aspects of the battle were thus described by a Correspondent of the Daily News, who was shut up in Metz, in a letter dated August 15 : — Yesterday we thought all chance of sending letters gone, for we got nothing even from Paris. But this morning 1 hear a post will start for the capital, and I take my chance of your getting what I am able to tell from the inside of a town which is sur- rounded by armies — whether Prench or Prussiau does not much matter so far as news is concerned. At eleven o'clock yesterday Bazaine effected a reconnaissance with one division. At two, a battle commenced on the right, at Borny. Till four it was of no great importance, but then the 4th Army Corps, forming the first line of battle, accomplished a manoeuvre in- tended to deceive the Prussians into the belief that it was retreating. This was at a quarter past four. The Prussians rushed forward and attacked with surprising vigour. Then the 4th Corps, whose retreat to the left was a mere feint, fell at once on the enemy's flank, while Canrobert, on the right, attacked simultaneously. The Prussian attack meantime had been developed in great force on the Prench centre. The move- ments on both sides were effected with singular precision, and the whole spectacle was like a review at Clialons. The Prus- sians advanced in close column against the Prench line, which their artillery, splendidly served as it was, had vainly attempted to shake. The Prench officers consider that the Prussian in- fantry is relatively inferior to their artillery. The needle-gun is heavy, and appears to incommode them greatly when climbing a height or moving rapidly over broken ground. The soldiers themselves are active. They fire lying flat on the ground. BATTLE OF COUECELLES. 39 seeking cover from every irregularity, but do not put their knapsacks, as the Prench do, to make little ramparts in front of them, and rests for their guns. The Prussians fired with great deliberation, while the French rattled away as fast as they could discharge their Chassepots. The regiments most closely engaged were the 69th, 90th, Mth, 60th, 80th, 33rd, 54th, 65th, aud 85th of the Line, the 11th and 15th Foot Chasseurs, and the 8th, 9th, and 10th Batteries of the 1st Regiment of Artillery. Those which suffered most were the 44th and 90th of the Line, and 15th Foot Chasseurs. The 44th especially was terribly shattered, while the 85th, though in the thickest of the action, lost but thirty-five men killed and wounded. The colonel of the 44th was killed. The colonel of the 3rd Horse Chasseurs, and Generals Duplessis and Cas- tamar, were wounded. The above details are mostly gathered from officers coming into town after the fight was over. At the beginning I followed a troop of Hussars as far as permitted, and what I saw of the fight was from a hillock, close by the walls. A Staff" officer came to summon the Hussar regiment, with some officers of which I was seated in a cafe. In five minutes they were off, and halted at first on the hillock above mentioned. On a sudden signal they went tearing away to the front, and in a moment more the artillery on both sides had covered the valley of the river, and the whole works in front and the ground beyond, with a thick cloud of smoke. There was nothing to do but to return to town. By half-past eight in the evening a bulletin was placarded in the streets, saying: •— " Firing is nearly over. The Prussian lines extended three leagues. Grround gained in every direction," It does not say by whom ground was gained. Officers who came back later from the field maintaiued that victory rested with the French, that the Prussians had been out-generalled and lost heavily, while the French were comparatively little exposed. But a Prussian officer who had been taken prisoner, and who came into my cafe on parole with a French officer, told a different story. Said he, " You had better surrender at discretion. We are more than 200,000 strong. Tou will be crushed. As to the battle, you had your own way at first, for we believed we had only a division in front of us, but you know what the end was." It was difficult to question even officers closely, so keen are still the suspicions about spies ; and to ask whether the French army had suffered a defeat would be to expose myself to instant expulsion, or worse. Hence I can give you only such particulars as are collected in the ways I have mentioned. I do not know why the advanced columns have returned again under the walls of the fortress. 40 WAE COREESPOI^DENCE. This morning, Monday, there were reports of heavy artillery towards Thionville, but all is again quiet. We only know that Sunday's conflict was not decisive, and that another battle is imminent. The troops are never at rest, manoeuvres in one direction or another are going on constantly. Orders have this moment been issued that no civilian shall leave the city on any pretext. Two shots from Fort St. Qiientin have just demolished the head of the Thionville Eailway bridge at Metz Station, I am told it was done to cut off a detachment of 500 Prussians encamped at Montigny, who attempted to cross the Moselle, and were seen from the fort. At seven this morning two Prussian cuirassiers entered that town. They were followed by four others. Breakfast was served to the six, and paid for; they promenaded the town till eight, and withdrew, not only unmolested by anybody, but carrying off two prisoners — a St. Cyr pupil and an orderly. All this, at a mile and a half from Metz, will give you some notion of the dash and boldness of the Prussian cavalry. Last night we thought we heard the Prussians shouting victory, notwith- standing the defeat we believe they suffered. But it seems some of their regiments sing hymns nightly, with accompani- ments from their military bands, a custom they have preserved from the battle of Leuthen, where they advanced to the charge singing Luther's Hymn. They end with hurrahs. We heard them distinctly. The Emperor and his Staff, Prince Imperial and all, are at Longeville. As I write, there passes a closed carriage escorted by a picket of Hussars in command of a captain of the Staff. It contains a Prussian envoy, re-conducted to his own lines. Prench officers say he brought a request for an armistice, and admitted that Prussian losses were con- siderable. But he did not tell his errand to them nor to me. This battle, which was at first known as that of Pange, was designated by the King of Prussia after the name of the village of Courcelles, near which it took place, and which after the investment of Metz became the scene of more than one san- guinary struggle. Each side claimed the victory : probably the Germans suffered the greater loss in killed and wounded, but they achieved their end ; they gained time for Prince Prederick Charles's advance, and they delayed the French retreat. The Official Journal of Paris, while reporting the battle as a repulse of the Prussians, announced that the completion of the works of the fortifications of Paris would be pushed forward with all possible speed. Prom that time, also, the Berlin journals began to discuss the conditions under which Metz might be besieged and taken. ^ TIONYILLE. 41 The 15th of August had been for many years a French holiday, but now no one had time to remember the Fete NapoleoD, Marshal Bazaine employed it in moving the remainder ot his army out of Metz, which was now left to its garrison, under General Coffiniere. The dilatoriuess of Bazaine's movements at a crisis when his army was to be saved, if at all, by its legs, has been universally censured. He must by this time have been aware that his enemy was following or attending him in force, and that he had to guard at least against an attack on his flank or rear. Nevertheless, his movements were so slow, that night found hitn not more than a dozen miles on his way. Two roads lead from Metz to Yerdun , the one more direct, by Yionville, the other to the north of it, by Doncourt and Etain. They diverge at Gravelotte, about four miles from Metz. Along that road Bazaine was advancing on the 15th, without serious molestation, but not without many indications of the presence of the enemy. By nightfall he appears to have been satisfied with his achieve- ment, for he sent word to Pans that by the next day he should be at Etain with all his army. Count Moltke had occupied the same day in placing eight Army Corps on a line curving up from Pont-a-Mousson, in a north-westerly direction to the roads by which the Marshal was retreating. The next day (August 16th), the head ol the French column, which was moving on the southern road to Verdun, was violently attacked by the 3rd Prussian Corps The assault fell upon Frossard's troops, who had been defeated so disastrously at Forbach (or Speichern), and the corps wavered and blocked up the road. The first blow had been struck by the Prussian Cavalry, but it was soon lollowed by the Infantry of the 3rd, which, as one French corps after another came up, was supported by divisions of the nearest German corps, until the battle raged along the whole line from Mars-la-Tour to Eezonville. At first the German line looked northwards, but as the corps successively took ground to the left, they at length lormed a line looking eastward, the left extremity of which reached to the northern of Bazaine's two lines of retreat — that by the road to Etain. The French fought this battle with superior numbers, and Bazaine does not appear to have thoroughly comprehended the enemy's tactics, or to have perceived the extent of his own danger. But, tactics apart, Bazaine should have cut his way through at any sacrifice, on this the last day on which he could have done so at a not un- reasonable sacrifice of life. If he is accused of want of vigour and of determination, it is not because he did not fight a good battle and inflict great loss upon the enemy, for it is admitted that the Germans lost 16,000 men on the 16th. But Bazaine 42 WAE CORRESPONDEN"CE. •was fighting for the very existence of his army as an active field force, and for the safety of Paris, which no other army but his was able to defend. Looking away from the great strategical object to be gained, and referring only to the loss he had in- flicted, Bazaine, in his letters to Paris, claimed this battle as a victory, and announced that be had retired " in order to obtain ammunition." The Germans also claimed the victory, and an- nounced that they had captured two eagles, seven guns, and nearly 2,000 prisoners. They had got, however, what was more important to them than any trophies — they held Marshal Bazaine's line of retreat. A grand charge of the cavalry of the 16th German Corps had decided the fortunes of this bloody day, and given Count Moltke the assurance, that although more hard fighting might be before the German army, it had the movements of the enemy under its control. Bazaine that night fell back to Gravelotte, within five miles of Metz, yielding seven miles of the road by which he had marched on the 15th. This was the battle which, at first called after the villages Mars-la- Tour and Doncourt, has been named by the victors that of Vionville. Marshal Bazaine was not long in perceiving the magnitude of his defeat, and set himself to oppose the enemy with a vigour which he had not before displayed. He felt sure that he should again be attacked, and spent the 17th in the preparation of a system of defence of the most formidable kind. Bazaine has been severely censured for the strictly defensive nature of his tactics at this crisis , but it should be remembered that he com- manded soldiers who, from the beginning of this campaign, and before he assumed the command, had known nothing but defeat, and who firmly believed, even when, as at Yionville, it was not true, that they were invariably outnumbered It should also be borne in mind that, in a great trial of strength, such as was im- pending, he might reasonably expect to be outnumbered, and that by troops whose tenacious courage he had tested. He had now under him from 120,000 to 130,000 men, and with these he occupied a series of eminences, extending, in a north-easterly direction, from the village of Gravelotte to St. Privat le Mon- tague, beyond the road to Briey. The position was one of great natural strength, which no trouble was spared to increase by entrenchments, rifle pits, and batteries. Its strongest part was the left, at Gravelotte. The Prussian commander resolved not to begin the general attack until this strong position could be assailed on its right flank, and tor this purpose it was necessary to move several corps right across the enemy's front — an opera- tion which Biizaine permitted with singular forbearance. A THE TEUTH ABOUT GBAVELOTTE. 43 Correspondent who witnessed the battle from the King's field head-quarters — near the Prussian right — wrote to the Daily News the following account : — The first realization we had at Pont-a-Mousson of the extent to which fighting had been going on at the front was the coming in of wounded men. At first it was surmised that these had been wounded in skirmishes ; but on the 16th, late in the evening, there were signs that the work was becoming warm. On that evening soldiers with ghastly wounds walked about the market-place in Pont-a-Mousson, surrounded by eager groups of their newly-arrived comrades, and told a story of disaster. Poor fellows ! it surely was disaster to them — borne away as they had been from the field without having heard of any result. I stood among these groups, and the narratives of the men all amounted to their having been set to confront a much larger force thau their own, and that their division had been cut up. I was struck by the fact that, though there was some dissatisfaction suggested by their tone of voice, I heard no word uttered by narrators or listeners which accused any one. They dwelt rather on the fact that a heavy blow had been dealt on the 14th ; and that though the 10th Division had, as an available organization, been demolished, it had sold its life dear. On the 17th the wounded from the preceding day began to pour into Pont-a-Mousson. They were brought in in long uncovered grain carts, lying upon hay. From my window, which overlooked the main street, and commanded also a view of the market-place, I counted more than ninety of these long carts, each holding on an average about ten men. Many more must have gone to the various hospitals. It was strange to see the French citizens unable to conceal their joy. But now came the other side of the account. The streets began to swarm with other waggons, with other wounded — the wearers of red trousers. Now and then a batch of prisoners. And at length a carriage came in with a French general. It was followed by a vast crowd of French, and for a little time it seemed as if there might be a collision between the inhabitants and the Prussians, so earnest were the demonstrations of the populace. But it was now at least evident that the struggle was very serious at the front. At midnight, or a little after (17th — 18th), all the trumpets for miles around began to sound. This was the first time we had been startled at that hour by such wild music. Trumpet answered to trumpet through all the bivouacs around the little city. For several days previous there had been troops almost perpetually marching through ; but now the tramp through every street and by-way made between 44 WAE CORRESPONDENCE. midnight and dawn a perpetual roar. Hastily dressing, I ran out into the darkness, and managed to get a seat on a waggon that was going in the direction of the front- — -now understood to be a mile or two beyond the village of Gorze. Grorze is some twelve miles from Pont-a-Mousson. On our way we met a considerable batch of French prisoners, who were looked upon with great curiosity by the continuous file of German soldiers with whom we advanced; but only one or two offensive cries towards the prisoners were heard, and these fortunately they could not understand. The way was so blocked with waggons, &c., that I finally concluded that I could go the six or seven miles remaining better on foot. So I got out of my carriage and began to walk and run swiftly ahead. At Noveant-aux-Pres, on the Moselle, about half way to Metz, I found vast bodies of cavalry, Uhlans and Hussars, crossing the river by a pontoon bridge, and hurrying at the top of their speed towards Gorze. Hastening my steps, I soon heard the fir.st thunder of the cannonade, seemingly coming from the heart of a range of hills on the right. Passing through the village and ascending to the high plain beyond, I found myself suddenly on a battle-field, strewn (literally) as far as my eye could reach with dead bodies — the field of the battle of Yion- ville on the 16th. In one or two parts of the field parties were still burying the dead, chiefly Prussians. The Prench, being naturally buried last, were still lying in vast numbers on the ground. A few of these — I saw five — were not dead. As I hurried on, a splendid regiment of cavalry came on behind, and when they came to the brow of the hill, they all broke out with a wild hurrah, and dashed forward. A few more steps, and I gained the summit, and saw the scene which had roused their cry, and even seemed to thrill their horses. It would be difficult to imagine a grander battle-field. From the particular hill to which I had been directed to come by good authority — it was occupied by the Eoyal Head-quarters — the sweep of the Prussian and French centres could be seen, and a considerable part of their wings. The spot where I stood was fearful — it was amidst ghastly corpses, and burdened with the stench of dead horses, of which there were a great many. I was standing on the battle-field of the 16th, on the Prus- sian side. On the left stretched like a silver thread the road to Verdun, to Paris also, for the possession of which this series of battles had begun. It was between lines of poplars, which stood against the horizon on my left, and on as far as the eye could reach towards Metz, with military regularity. Strung on this road like beads were the pretty villages, each with its church tower, which, although they have separate names, GEAYELOTTE. 45 are really only a few hundred yards apart — Mars-la- Tour, riavigny (a little south of the road), Vionville, Eezonville, Malmaison, Gravelotte. On my right were the thickly-wooded hills, behind which was the most important village of the neigh- bourhood, the one I had just left— Gorze. Such was the foreground of this battle, which should, one would say, be called the battle of Grravelotte, for it was mainly over and beyond that devoted little town that it raged. The area I have indicated is about four miles square. Owing to having come on foot rather than along the blocked road, I was fortunate enough to arrive just as the battle waxed warm — that is, about noon. The great representatives of Prussia were standing on the same ground watching the conflict. Among them the only ones I recognized were the King, Count Bismarck, Greneral von Moltke, Prince Charles, Prince Frederick Charles, Prince Adalbert, and Adjutant Krar.ski. Lieutenaut-General Sheridan, of the United States, was also present. At this moment the Prench were making a most desperate effort to hold on to the last bit of the Verdun road, tiiat between Eezonville and Gravelotte — or that part of Gravelotte \Thich on some maps is called Malaiaison. Desperate but unavailing ! For every one man in their ranks had two to cope with, and their line, at the place indicated, w^as already beginning to waver. Soon it was plain that this wing was withdrawing to a new position. This was swiftly taken up under protection of a continuous blaze of their artillery from heights beyond the village. The movement was made in good order, and the position reached was one that, I believe, nine out of ten military men would have regarded as normally impregnable. My reader will observe that the battle-field was from this time transferred to the regions beyond Gravelotte. The fields in front of that village were completely covered by the Prussian reserves, and over it interminable lines of soldiers were perpetually marching onward — disappearing into the village, emerging on the other side of it with flaming volleys. This second battle-field was less extensive than the first, and brought the combatants into fearfully close quarters. The peculiarity of it is that it consists of two heights, intersected by a deep ravine. This woody ravine is over 100 feet deep, and at the top from 200 to 300 yards wide. The side of the chasm next to Gravelotte, where the Prussians stood, is much lower than the other side, which gradually ascended to a great height. Prom this their commanding eminence the Prench held their enemies fairly beneath them, and subjected them to a raking fire. Their artillery was stationed far up by the Metz road, between its trees. There was not an instant's 46 WAE CORRESPONDENCE. cessation of the roar ; and easily distinguishable amid all was the curious grunting roll of the mitrailleuse. The Prussian artillery was to the north and south of the village, the mouths of the guns on the latter side being necessarily raised for an awkward upward fire. The French stood their ground and died, the Prussians moved ever forward and died — both by hundreds, I had almost said thousands ; this for an hour or two that seemed ages, so fearful was the slaughter. The hill where I stood commanded chiefly the conflict behind the village and to the south of it. The Prussian reinforcements on their right filed out of the Bois des Ognons ; and it was at that point, as they marched on to the field, that one could perhaps get the best idea of the magnitude of the invading army now in the heart of France. There was no break what- ever for four hours in the march of the men out of that wood. It seemed almost as if all the killed and wounded had re- covered and came again out of the wood. Birnam Wood advancing to Dunsinane was not a more ominous sight to Macbeth than these men of General Goben's army, shielded by the woods till they were fairly within range of their ene- mies. So the French must have felt, for between four and five o'clock they concentrated a most furious fire upon that point, and shelled the woods perpetually. Their fire here took eflect. The line of Prussian infantry became less continuous from that direction. About five o'clock, however, an infantry brigade emerged from the same point. As soon as they did so they advanced by double-quick time towards the point v^^here their services were needed. I watched this brigade through a strong glass from the first. It resembled some huge serpent gliding out on the field. But, lo ! it left a track behind it — a dark track. Beneath the glass that track is resolved into fallen, struggling men. As the horrid significance of that path so traced came upon me I gazed yet more intently. Many of those who had fallen leapt up and ran forward, struggling to catch up with their comrades again. I did not see any running backward, though many fell in their efi'ort to rush on. I do not know whether after that another movement was made from behind the wood ; but I do know that half an hour afterwards vast numbers of troops began to march over the southern edge of the hill where I was standing towards the battle-field, and I have an impression that these were General Goben's men moving by a less dangerous route. The conflict on the Prussian left was so fierce that it soon became nearly lost to us by reason of its smoke. Now and then this would open a little, and drift under the wind, and then we could see the French sorely GRATELOTTE. 47 tried, but maintaining tliemselves steadily. In order to see this part of the conflict better, I went forward as near as I thought safe. It seemed to me that in the vicinity of Malmaison the Erench were having the best of it. But it must have been only because they were more visible on their broad height, and fought so obstinately — plainly silencing a battery now and then. But from this northern point also there are more forces to come ; and from far behind them — away seemingly in the direction of Yerneville — huge bombs are coming and bursting with terrible force upon the Trench ranks. These were the men and these the guns of Prince Frederick Charles, who was slowly veering southward to make his connection with Steinmetz's army, completing the investment ot Metz. The battle raged at this point with indescribable fury. The i'rench Generals must have known the significance of these new guns, and known that, if their right retreated, the result must be that incarceration in Metz which now exists. How long they held out here I do not know. I could hear that the puff of their guns was from a gradually receding line ; that the mysterious pillars of cloud from the north as steadily approached ; but the last fi.red on that terrible evening were on that side, and the point must have been yielded at about nine o'clock. Perhaps I should here say something of the movements of the King, and those with him. The King's face, as he stood gazing upon the battle-field, had something almost plaintive in it. He hardly said a word ; but I observed that his attention was divided between the exciting scenes in the distance and the sad scenes nearer his feet — where they were just beginning (what must yet be a long task) to bury the French who fell on the Tuesday before. On these he gazed silently, and, I thought, sadly. Count Bismarck was intent only on the battle, and could not conceal his excitement and anxiety; if it had not been for the King, I am pretty sure he would have gone nearer ; and, as it was, his towering form was always a little ahead of the rest. When the French completely gave up their hold upon the road up to Gravelotte, the horses of the grand head-quarters were hastily called, and the party mounting them, rode, with the King at their head, swiftly down to a point not very far from the village. Then shouts and cheers arose, which I could plainly hear at the point they had left, where, not having a horse, I was compelled to remain a little longer. A little after four o'clock a strange episode took place. Prom the distant woods on the left a splendid regiment of cavalry 48 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. galloped out. They paused a moment at the point where the Conflans road joins that leading to Metz ; then they dashed up the road towards Metz. This road between Grravelotte and St. Hubert is cut through the hill, and there are on each side of it cliffs from forty to sixty feet high, except at the point where it traverses the deep ravine behind the village. AA^hen it is remembered that at this time the culminating point to which this road directly ascends was held by the French, it will not be wondered at that only a moiety of that regiment survived. What the survivors accomplished I do not know, nor could I learn the name and number of the regiment. The situation hardly admits yet of our asking many questions. But their plunge into that deep cut in the hill-side, where next day I saw so many of them and their horses lying dead, was of that brave, unhesitating, un faltering kind, which is so characteristic of German soldiers, among whom cowards, stragglers, and deserters seem to bo absolutely unknown, in whatever rank. I must record, also, what seemed an inexplicable thing. The army of Steinmetz was fighting very hard, and evidently suffer- ing heavily. It was in the centre of Grravelotte, though occasionally rallyiug to one side or the other. Though they had large reserves, these had been diminished to an important extent by the engagements of the 14th and 16th. A. consider- able portion of his army required rest, and two divisions perhaps, certainly one, reorganization. There seemed at one time — about half-past four — some danger that the intensity of the fighting required on the right and left extremes would produce a kind of atrophy along that very central Verdun road for which the armies were struggling. At that time a vast army came from some region utterly mysterious to us who had been following the army for some miles. They came over the very point which had been the Eoyal head-quarters in the morning. Their march was begun at the time I have mentioned, and did not cease at all — not even after dark- — so long as the firing was still going on upon the heights. This new army — whose was it ? — whence was it ? It did not come from the direction ol Goben, nor of Steinmetz, nor of Prince Frederick Charles. Of course it could not be said that it did . not belong to either ot these, but the cry and rumour went around that these men were irom the army of the Crown Prince. I do not know whether to believe this or not, but it is freely said and believed by many officers here that a detachment of the Crown Prince's army was sent up from Toul to help, if help were needed. To whomsoever or wheresoever this Army Corps (for it was about that in extent) belonged, GRAVELOTTE. 49 its presence was nearly all that was required. It was laid alono- the road, out of immediate danger, so that if the Prench centre had defeated the troops with which it was contending, it must simply have fallen into the hands of a fresh and pre- pared corps. The advance of this new corps must have been felt by them as a final, a fatal blow for that day. Like the spirits in the " Inferno," their enemies were consumed only to spring up to full stature again. They must have realized how hopelessly they were outnumbered. Prom that time the struggle at that part became very weak on the French side, and the Prussians got a decided hold farther up the Metz road — that is, on the southern side of it. But there seemed to be a redoubled fury on their left. From seven o'clock to eight there was little firing beyond the village, but a great tower of cloud and fire at each extremity of the battle-field. A little before eight a large white house on the heights beyond Gravelotte caught fire. It seemed through the gloom to be a church ; its spire was now a mass of flame, and it sent up a vast cloud of black smoke, which contrasted curiously with the white smoke of battle. Darkness was now drawing on, and after eight we could trace the direction of troops by the fiery paths of their bombs, or the long tongue of fire darting from each cannon's mouth. The lurid smoke-clouds of burning houses joined with the night to cast a pall over the scene and hide it for ever. At half-past eight o'clock one more terrible attack by the French on the Prussian right — and that is over. At a quarter to nine a fearful volley against the extreme Prussian left, a continuous concert of artillery, and the growling whirr of the mitrailleuse above all — and then that is still. The battle of Grravelotte is ended, the Prussians hold the heights beyond the Bois de Yaux — heights which command the surrounding country up to the limits of the gun-ranges of Metz. As I went back to the village of Grorze to pass the night, I turned at the last point to look upon the battle-field. It was now a long, earth-bound cloud, with two vast fires — burning houses — at each end of it. The day had been beautiful, and now the stars looked down with splendour, except where the work of agony and death had clouded the glow of heaven. The great battle of Gravelotte, the last of the series which began on the 14th of August at Courcelles, has been called the Borodino of the campaign. The thanksgivings which went up throughout Germany for its victorious issue were tempered with sorrow and awe. The slaughter had been terrific. The Prussian Government was slow to proclaim the extent of its E 50 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. losses, but very soon a wail went up throughout Gerniany, as it was found that hardly a family had escaped bereavement. The flower of the Prussian nobility fell on that fatal day. Bat the victory, if dearly bought, was assured. General Palikao, who had succeeded M. Emile OUivier as First Minister of the Empire at Paris, was interrogated day after day in the Chamber, and insisted that the advantage was with the Prench. So far, he said, was it from being true that the Germans had been successful, that Marshal Bazaine had " driven the Prussians into the quarries ot Jaucourt." Bazaine, however, had sent w^ord to Paris that his retreat was cut olf, and two days after the •battle he reported that the enemy showed signs of " an intention to invest him." By the 22nd this intention had become a fact. From that day dates the series of works by which the batteries erected to close the roads from Metz to Yerdun gradually became a system of fortifications that girdled and ultimately strangled the proudest miliiary capital of Prance. Bazaine had lost the opportunity of breaking through the lines of the assailants, and, shut in at Metz, he was destined not only to surrender his own army there, but to draw another army towards him to its utter destruction. CHAPTER Y. The hopes of Paris and of Prance were now turned to the camp at Chalons, whither MacMahon had led the troops which he had been able to rally from his beaten army, and to which also De Pailly had conducted a corps that in all the war had not once seen the enemy. Thither, too, the Emperor had gone, and at a council of war it was resolved that General Trochu should command the army in Paris; that the troops collected at Chalons should be directed towards the capital under the orders of Marshal MacMahon; and that the Emperor should go to Paris. To this arrangement the Council of Ministers by which the Empress- Eegent was surrounded ofi"ered the most decided objection. Paris, it was said, was in a perfect state of defence, with a numerous garrison, and the army of Chalons ought to be employed in breaking the blockade of Metz. The return of the Emperor would be misunderstood by the public. "While these questions were being discussed, the position of Marshal MacMahon at Chalons became daily less tenable. During the memorable fortnight that ended in the grand defeat of Gravelotte, the Crown Prince had been leading his great army through Lorraine, and was approaching the plains of Champagne. It is lime to glance at the features of his unresisted progress. PnALSBUEG. 51 Lai of As the army was making its way past Phalsburg, the Special Correspondent of the Daily News wrote, on the 15th of August : — Since my last letter there has been marching to the front an(i spreading out on the flanks. There has been more and more French territory occupied by the Prussians, and yet no further fighting of importance, as far as we know, up to the present moment. It would appear that the Erench are concentrating their forces on Metz, and, perhaps, on Chalons. We see that they wish to avoid a contest until they have a better chance than at Worth, which is very wise on their part. Meanwhile the fortresses of Strasburg, Phalsburg, and Bitsche form islands in the sea of invasion. I will not say barriers against invasion, but islands to impede the rush of the tide a little. They are the material holds which Prance still keeps on her semi- German province, and in case of a check, might prove dangerous to the rear-guard of the great invading army. I set no high value on any but first-class fortresses. A place that would hold fifty thousand men in the neighbourhood of Worth would have saved Alsace from invasion — or saved all but the north- eastern part of it, at any rate — if only MacMahon had made his stand behind the works. But little fortresses like Bitsche and Phalsburg are useless, save as checks to the invader. They cannot stop him for an instant, though they can and do occupy many of his troops. Here is Phalsburg, for example, which has already detained a number of German guns for two or three days, and which, when I last saw it, showed no signs of giving in. True, the guns thus detained are of light calibre. They are nevertheless kept from other work, and this is something for Phalsburg to do. The town was sharply cannonaded this morning, and I went to see the German batteries open fire. There was a slight haze over the surrounding country at daybreak, but as the sun grew more powerful, the haze lifted into gently driving clouds. A breeze, just strong enough to temper the heat of the weather, stirred the leaves of the tall poplar trees along the straight Prench cTiaussees, and it was altogether as fine a morning as you could wish to see. Prom a hillock behind the village of Ziiling, there was a splendid view of both the attack and defence. Phalsburg could be seen among the trees at the top of a stretch of rising ground, and we could distinguish a part of the old rampart with its shady avenue. To our left, across the open fields, dotted with red-roofed farm buildings, was some rising ground opposite to Phalsburg, and here were the besieging batteries, which could scarcely be distinguished at all E 2 52 WAB COEEESPONDENCE. until their fire commenced. The whole district, for miles away, was spread out like a map before us, and we saw the Vosges mountains to the eastward shutting us off from the valley of the Ehiue. Had it not been such a deadly game that w^as to be played, such a terrible moment of anxiety for the people of the little town, there could have been no pleasanter excursion than this one to see the batteries begin their work. I tell no secret when I say that the German attack was made with field artillery, and that a great many of these light guns had been brought into position. The capture of Phalsburg is an important point for the Crown Prince, but not important enough to make the army wait for heavy siege guns. Prussian tactics are to push forward and mask the fortresses which are encountered on the way, leaving a few battalions to watch them.' From Qur positions on the hillock behind Ziiling everything is to be seen. ISTow a puff" of white smoke goes up on the left and a fierce rush through the air tells of a passing shell. It falls in the town. Poor souls within, they did not fancy when war was declared how soon their rafters would be crashing about their ears ! Yet they live in a fortified place, and must take their chance. But we cannot help a wish that the shells may only damage public property, as shriek after shriek through the air tells of their passage. jN"ow there is firing from the right. The French gunners have manned their pieces, and reply in excellent style. Plash after flash comes out from the old rampart. The smoke curls up among those shady trees where the garrison have often sat in summer evenings with pipe or cigar, and where the nursemaids have brought children to play. You know the look of these old ramparts in peace time, and can fancy them now, with only soldiers upon them, who are in no sporting mood. There is flash after flash from the ramparts and from the opposite rising ground ! There is a constant whistling and shrieking across the space between, and a flying up of dust among the German guns, or a crash among the roofs of the town, as one side or the other makes a hit. If Phalsburg is in good order, the determined com- mandant may earn promotion by a long defence; but if his works once get disabled, he is lost. The Germans have a strong force, as we can see, ready to advance, and after Weissenburg we know that mere ramparts will not stop them. 8ee the dark-coloured smoke rising above the trees and floating away behind the church tower. One column of smoke, then another. It is clear that houses are burning, but not so clear that the French guns are silenced. They fire more slowly than their assailants, and seem to aim rather high. LOEEAIKE. 53 But there is Beavy metal in the booming reports which came from the Pbalsburg ramparts. Three distinct columns of dark smoke rise from the town. It is sad to think of the suffering of any inhabitants who ma}^ have rashly remained. "What would our friend the " Conscrit " of Erckraann-Chatrian's delightful tales say if he saw the days of the great war come back again, and the foe from beyond the Rhine besieging his dear old town ? That big gun from the rampart booms forth again, and the smoke-clouds rise thicker than ever. It is a good defence. One can fancy how the hearts of the villagers round about must beat at each shriek of the besiegers' shells. They have doubtless friends and relations who may be injured in person or property by every shot that is fired. Would that, the lesson of the " Conscrit " and its sequel had gone home in Prance, and that this war had not been brought about ! The people have become more and more Erench as we have advanced. They have gradually ceased to speak Grerman at all, and the confusion of a veritable foreign conquest has arisen. From the stolid careless air of the Alsatian peasants we have come among men who are bitterly wounded at what is happening around them. The fluent, thougb rough, German dialect of a few days back is exchanged for a stray sentence of broken German, and a copious supply of clear metallic French, rattled out wdth an irreproachable accent. We are at last really in France. I have seen twenty cases of mistaken phrases, and of, consequently, mistaken wrath. " Sagen sie mir wo ist das Hau-pt-Quartier V is met by "^^, Monsieur^ nous rCavons plus du cognac ; " and so on, with every variety of blunder. The soldiers are not inclined to be harsh, if only they get what they think they ought to have, and there is nothing to alarm the inhabitants in the demeanour of their terrible foes. But this difference of language begins to make the every-day intercourse of conquerors and conquered far from smooth. The French accept their ill-luck fairly enough ; what they are put out of temper by is being shouted at in strange tongues and shaken by the shoulder if they are dulL One of their favourite theories is that all civilized men speak a little of the language of the world, and here are thousands of men, civilized enough to outshoot the Chassepot, who speak not a single intelligible word. It is very hard for our lively neigh- bours. Let me do them justice — let me do both sides justice — they bear it like sensible men, and the Germans are not angry or vindictive. I cannot but think that the whole scene as we advance is a tribute to modern civilization. Here are youDg girls standing laughing at the cottage doors, not a bit afraid of violence ; and we pass after a hundred thousand men, 54 WAE COEEESPOJfDENCE. more or less, bave gone by aloDg tbat same road. It would not have been so in the Thirty Tears' War. It would scarcely have been so some fifty years back. But here it is to-day. The village maidens stand half shy, half curious, to see the Prince and his Staff ride on their way; the old people sit basking in the sunshine, and shaking their heads over the evil days. One can remember 1814, with the Allies going to Paris ; another has seen something of the army of the Eirst Napoleon, and thinks that if the Old Guard were alive they would make a breakfast of these gentlemen. I notice that the younger and more active men look gloomily at the long columns which pass. The honour of La Belle France is involved in this affair, and they are sad to see her territory invaded. Take it as a whole, the conduct of the people is quiet and reasonable. They shrug their shoulders and say with a smile, We have not had our turn yet ; wait till the Emperor is ready ! It is the Fete Napoleon, and no flags or fireworks are allowed in honour of the day. Nevertheless I notice that many villagers are in holiday attire. The habit of the thing is followed without any particular care to compliment the Imperial family, for, as you may imagine, I hear many curses against the policy of war. As we came along to-day through the harvest-fields, a few people were at work, in spite of the fete, and the invasion, and everything else, for, as one of the peasants said, it is such a hard time for them that they must earn all they can. A battle must soon occur, but we know so little of the Prench movements, that it is impossible to say in which direction the blow will fall. " Forward to Paris " is the cry of the G-erman soldiers. The commanders are content as yet to bear heavily against the French centre in Lorraine, and to threaten the road to Chalons. On the 17th, the same Correspondent wrote from near Nancy : — In all the panic of the invasion, and amid all the losses of thePrench, that bold Grovernor of Phalsburg, Greneral Talhouet, has stood out as an example of what governors of fortresses should be. He was gallantly holding his own when we had a glimpse of his battered defences, and of the smoke from the burning town. He received a flag of truce with a firm refusal to surrender, and added, that next day, it being the fete of His Majesty the Emperor, he should fire a salute of twenty-one guns. The salute was not to be fired from the front, but from the flank of the works, to show that it was not part of the defence. I have heard the Prussian oflficers speak loudly in praise of this Phalsburg commandant. " If we do starve him out," they say, "we IfAlS-CT. 55 'will give him a good diuner when he comes to our camp." And so they would, you may depend. I liave passed through the city of Nancy, which was full of German troops. The Bavarian part of the Southern Arm}"- was there in full force. Sky-blue uniforms were to be seen at every turn. Crested helmets of the Bavarian infantry were thronging the footways, and fresh-faced young soldiers looked out of upper windows by dozens. The numerous French inhabitants seemed absolutely stupefied, and groups of well-dressed men stood staring at the invaders as though they had never seen soldiers before. It was a striking sight — the large French city occupied by foreigners ; the subjects of the Emperor burdened by quartering of the Germans, whose country they were to have invaded themselves ten days since ! It is a hard thing to be thus overrun. But the Germans are less harsh than might have been feared, when we think how angry they were three weeks ago ! Trora Kancy the same Correspondent wrote on the 19th of August, the day after the battle of Gravelotte : — The battles of the 16th and of yesterday have produced a great change in the French position. From being merely w^eak and precarious, that position has become positively dangerous. On Tuesday the French troops were forced back from the southern road from Metz to Paris, and were com- pelled to maintain a doubtful struggle two days after for their only remaining road westward, that from Metz to Verdun in a slightly northerly curve. If what we now hear be true, you will have already learned by telegraph that the French right has been completely turned, and that the northern road to Paris is also thoroughly occupied by the Germans. Both the roads from Metz being cut by the Prussians, Paris is well nigh lost already. The National Guard can never cope with the Prussians in the field, and France has not enough of trained soldiers at once to equip another army. For these reasons I think that yesterday's battle has proved fatal to the Emperor's plan of defence. The battle of Tuesday, the 16th, was very bloody, and at one moment the French pressed hard upon their invaders. You will have heard of the splendid charge of Prussian light cavalry, which gave time for the 10th Corps to come up in support of the gallant fellows of the 3rd Corps, and of the capture of two or more French eagles towards the close of the day. That light cavalry charge of the Prussians was superior to our famous charge of Balaclava, inasmuch as it served the highest military purpose — the winning of a battle ; and was superior to the French heavy 56 WAR COHEESPONDENCE. cavalry charge at Worth, inasmuch as it was done with a chance of success. The French at Worth threw away their cuirassiers like madmen, whilst the Prussians, in this battle of August 16, saved a corps d'annee by the heroic self-sacrifice of the light dragoon regiments, which dashed into the French line to gain time for the lOth Corps to come up. I hear that on the 16th and yesterday the French troops fought with desperate courage, and that on both days the Imperial Gruard was under fire. But brave as were the men on one side, those on the other were their equals in courage, whilst they had better generalship to lead them to victory. The Prussians are resolved to conquer or die. Theirs is not a passing excitement, stirring the blood for a day, but the long-pondered determina- tion of an earnest people. They have lost frightfully in these last battles. Thousands of German soldiers have been killed and wounded. Yet in the end of each fight they have pushed back the desperate Frenchman, and have carried out their generals' plans with admirable devotion. And now a word of the Third Army, commanded by the Crown Prince. While Steinmetz and Prince Frederick Charles have done so well on the right of the main French army, the Crown Prince has occupied a more and more threatening position on the right of the whole French position. Unless Greneral de Failly can quickly muster a sufficient force to cover Central and Southern France, the Empire will be exposed to imminent danger in regions which are quite unprepared for defence. Once relieved from the possibility of a movement from the northward, the Crown Prince can do pretty much as he likes in other quarters. It cannot be denied that the smaller French fortresses are making a gallant resistance. Phalsburg has already become a great name in the war, on account of its holding out so obstinately ; and Toul, the old cathedral town, the quietest, most unwarlike of bygone strongholds, has just been success- fully repelling a somewhat serious attack. Toul lies westward of Nancy; and the Third Army, which is charged with clearing the country in that direction, has run foul of its ramparts. There seems to have been a mistake as to the condition of the place for defence, and yesterday morning's attack was met with great vigour by the French garrison. They did not venture on a sortie to follow up their advantage, but they inflicted a certain loss on the assailants, with, as far as we know, very little loss to themselves. The news has caused great joy in Nancy, where the people are disgusted by a military occupation, and burn to hear of French successes. I saw dozens of well-dressed young men crowding the road to Toul to gather any fresh scrap of information, and the peasants in PEUSSIAN WARFARE. 57 tlie wayside cottages were all curiosity to see the wounded pass. If a proper system of wholesale conscription had put all these city youths and curious peasants in the army or the Landwehr, Prance need not now hav^e been in a state of anxious despondency. She has men enough, and to spare, but only three or four hundred thousand soldiers. Her National Gruard is but a half-trained militia, whilst the Prussian Landwehr is as good as the Line. Even now the Landwehr is advancing in force to support the active army. It will besiege the for- tresses, fill up the gaps in the line of defence, and hold the conquered provinces while the army goes on to Paris. One must needs pity these conquered provinces. They do not suffer any of what are technically called "the horrors of w^ar." Young girls stand at the cottage doors in the villages, or at the street corners in the towns, to see the soldiers pass, and are not injured by them. Shops are open in the towns and are not plundered ; peaceable citizens go about their business without fear for life or limb. It is essentially a civilized war in these respects. But fruit and vegetables are taken along the wayside, horses are pressed into the service, soldiers are quartered on the people, and large supplies of food are demanded from the local authorities. My w^ish is to give you a true picture of what takes place, and neither to make much of the angry complaints which I hear from the Prench, nor to treat such complaints as lightly as the Germans are inclined to do. The fact is, that if we start with a notion of war founded on what the armies of the French Eepublic did to their enemies in 1795-6, this Grerman invasion of Prance in 1870 will seem very civilized and merciful. If, on the contrary, we take our stand on the rights of private property and the highest English ideal of a " ready-money commissariat," there will seem to be something harsh and oppressive in the quartering of troops on the villagers. All foreigners have this notion, that troops should be quartered on the conquered people, who find their visitors in food. The luckless village which lies near the road is eaten up by thousands of unwel- come guests, and the more remote village escapes with a trifling loss. However, there is hope for the world, and progress even in the law^s of war. This is a bitter time for the conquered Prench, and many individuals — farmers, horse- dealers, and wayside cottagers — suifer grievous loss. But when we compare it with the bad old wars of former days, we see that progress has been made. The ancient city of Nancy is sad and gloomy ; that is to say, the people of the city are sad. I cannot extend such a description to the mere outward appearance of the streets. True, the 58 WAE COBEESPONDENCE. shutters are closed in many of the shops, the hotels are almost empty, and the cafes in some quarters deserted. These things do not sound cheerful ; yet there is plenty of noise and bustle. Soldiers are here, there, and everywhere. Military convoys rumble through the streets, and orderlies with messages go clattering in and out of the gates. There is no lack of movement among the troops. One detachment is succeeded by another with the regularity of clockwork. The railway is to be used as far as practicable to lighten the traffic on the roads, and everything is to be pushed forward as though time were counted by hours and not by days. Well may the citizens stand with folded arms and stare gloomily at the passing regiments. Loud sound the drums and trumpets, heavy and steady is the tramp of the soldiers' feet. Tou look at them with wonder as part of an inexhaustible conjuring trick. ' Still more and more of them coming westward. " Alas ! " cry the conquered people of Lorraine, "it is not an army, but a nation, which comes." Alas, indeed, for the wayside cottages, which will be burdened with constant billeting ; alas for the artisans in the towns, who earn so little in these troublous times, and must entertain military lodgers all the same 1 I know that the French are to blame for the war. but I cannot help being sorry for the individuals who suffer so much loss and discomfort. They say that as mere lodgers, apart from the question of feeding them, the German troops behave quietly enough. They behave better to the French than the Turcos and Zouaves would have behaved to them in their German towns. No doubt they do. But what a long way off that other side of the picture seems, now that Germany has struck her blow ! "Whilst there seemed a chance that Bazaine might gain a battle near Metz, that the desperate efforts of the Imperial Guard might turn the scale against the skill and spirit of the Prussians, it was necessary to hold the Third Army in readiness to march north- ward. Accordingly, while the battles of Vionville and Gravelotte were raging, the Third Army lay in the country about Nancy and Luneville, half expecting to be ordered up in support of the other German armies. When news of the defeat of the French by Steinmetz and Prince Frederick Charles arrived, the advance to Paris was resumed, though only for a time, as narrated in the following letter, from the Crown Prince's head- quarters, dated Yaucouleurs, August 21 : — The Third Army, which led off with such brilliant success in the beginning of the war, has been waiting impatiently for its turn to come again. It is an army which shows France a very THE MARCH TO CHALONS. 59 good picture of the united Germany that is arrayed against her. There are the sky-blue uniforms of the Bavarians, the darker colours of the "Wiirtemberg and Baden troops, and the spiked helmets of the Prussians, mingled together in a common cause. All are full of zeal to distinguish themselves under the eyes of the Crown Prince, and all are impatient — in soldier-like fashion — to have as much lighting as possible. It has been the misfortune of France in this struggle to have been so much dreaded as a probable invader, that she herself has been invaded with the energy of a great patriotic movement on her enemy's part. The Grerman soldiers are even now as anxious to fight at any cost, and as prodigal of their lives in battle, as though they were making a stand upon the Rhine. The roads are crowded with trains of ammunition waggons, with stores of provisions, and with masses of infantry. Woe to the luckless wayside villages ; woe to the farmers who have crops in wayside fields. There is no danger to life or limb among the peaceable inhabitants, but there is danger of being fairly eaten out of house and home. There is an unavoidable trampling down of crops in the fields where the soldiers pass, and there is such a demand for means of transport as leaves little chance to the farmer of keeping his horses for himself. He gets a receipt of some sort in most cases. But no amount of paper security will comfort the average French farmer in the present crisis. Poor man ! it is such an unexpected blow. " Why does the Emperor make war," I have heard a dozen sad-looking men in blouses exclaim, "if he knows not how to make it?" A plebiscite in the occupied districts at this moment would need no foreign pressure to be flooded with " nons." There is a straight and rapid march westward of the Third Army, supported by other troops. Without seeking to set forth the details of the movement in any manner that could help the other side, I may put it down that more than a hundred and fifty thousand men, full of confidence, flushed with victory, and splendidly organized, are about to beat up the quarters of the French. Three or four columns are marching abreast on some of the roads. Two go by the road itself, and in some cases two more move through the fields to right and left, or at least one other column makes a way which is a little out of order to serve the purpose of the moment. -Great are the "blocks" and crushes, tremendous the -swearing at critical corners. But, on the whole, it is remarkable how well these columns are directed ; how carefully they choose their routes through the invaded provinces. Wheels are rumbling and whips are cracking along many a road. The columns are 60 WAE CORRESPONDENCE. halted to rest in some places, and there might be seen the briglit bivouac fire twinkling in the fields, or long lines of horses standing silently at supper. Though many columns are halted, others are moving on. The road is still alive with military preparation. Do not fancy the pomp and circumstance of war as attending the march of the columns of supply. It is a pretty sight to see the Lancers or Dragoons who led the invasion trotting over hill and dale, with every nerve strained to detect a possible foe. There is an impressive force about the advance of the dusty and tired infantry — the murmur of many voices, and tramp of many feet passing forward like a storm sighing in the woods. Even the weight and slowness of the guns has its own peculiar dignity ; they are deadly weapons in charge of determined fighting men. But the innumerable columns of supply, the baggage and ammunition, the food and provender, are very prosaic, though very necessary. There are miles of hay waggons — a good omen for cavalry horses. Farther on are other miles of bread waggons, of bacon and beef w^aggons. Horned cattle are led along by the score to become beef in due time ; clothes and equipments, medicines and blankets, are brought rumbling on into Prance. If the people were astonished at the earlier stages of the journey, they are now simply bewildered beyond all power of recovery. An avalanche has fallen upon them. One cannot see it for one's self, but the sight of the advancing host, as a wayside village sees it, from first to last, must be something to remember. The people will tell in a dreamy way how they heard that the Prussians were coming. There was news of them four, five, six days ago, as the case may be. Yes, ma foi, they heard that they were coming, but did not believe it. Then there was a party of Lancers seen upon the road. The people wondered what would happen. Monsieur le Cure told them that in modern wars they did not kill those who remained quiet, so their confidence was enough to keep them at home. The village shop was shut, and every- body closed his door and peeped from the window. Now the Lancers rode into the street, and a few came forward to the principal house — the Hotel de Ville — if the place ranked as a " bourg," or small tov^n. The soldiers asked for food and drink, said they would do no harm if they were not molested, and presently got off" their horses. With details very slightly varying, I have heard of this first entry in several places, and have heard how infantry soon began to come : one regiment — two, three, a dozen regiments. The bread was eaten, the wine was drunk, and the people were well nigh ruined by feeding their guests. "Were they bad fellows in YAUCOULEUBS. 61 their way ? A delicate question thigi, and one to which a stranger can expect but a guarded answer. What sort of fellows were they, these invading soldiers ? " Oh. not very bad, if only they had not such dreadful appetites, and if they could make themselves understood." It is hard to be shaken and growled at in La Belle France itself for not speak- ing the language of the German Eatherland. It is harder still to have a slip of paper, negotiable Heaven knows when, instead of a good cart-horse or fat bullock. But the con- quered people suffered far more in olden times. I feel sure that the Prench will be very angry and apt to magnify their ill-fortune, great as it is, and I think that the best thing which can be done is to state frankly the sort of injury endured by the peasants, the taking of cattle, and eating up of bread, whilst stating as frankly that I have heard no complaint of personal violence, and that the women do not seem at all afraid of the rough, loud-voiced fellows who swarm around them. The columns pour steadily on. "We wonder what is being done for defence on the other side, and cannot but admire the little piece of defensive work which the garrison of Toul is doing close to us. Like Phalsburg, the city of Toul is a point of gallant resistance, but not iu any way a rallying point for the surrounding people. The fortress is held, and the enemy passes on without troubling himself to take it. Both at Phalsburg and at Toul there has been an experimental attack, which has given the garrison an opportunity of distinction. I should add that the French authorities seem disposed to avoid unnecessary destruction of property by merely blowing up and knocking down to hinder the Germans. There are no traces of an attempt at la petite guerre, as far as I have yet seen. The French simply retreat clear out of reach when they do not mean to fight in earnest, and leave the open towns and villages to be quietly occupied by the advancing foe. If the grim old Sieur de Yaucouleurs were again on earth, he would not be surprised at any amount of invasion. It was as natural in his day that France should be invaded as that the grapes and corn should ripen on the sunny hill-sides near bis castle. But he had a distinct idea of what should be done under circumstances like the present. Invasion was to be met by vigorous resistance. The Sieur de Yaucouleurs would have ordered a levee en masse of the inhabitants, and allowed even women to fight. In the church of this little town is a painted window, put there centuries after, to record the giving of her sword to .Joan of Arc. Over the Hotel de Ville is a statue of the Maid, and her fame is the great 62 WAE COKEESPONDEIfCE. souvenir of Vaucouleurs. It is a souvenir which hears on the actual state of things in France. Not that the French arnij has need of encouragement by an inspired heroine, but that everything must depend on vfhether France can trust her ravi'- recruits, her National Guard, and her hasty levies of all kinds. The French army is fighting hard, as the terrible losses on both sides near Metz sufficiently prove. But the army alone is overmatched by the Germans. They, too, are fighting hard, are throwing away their lives with splendid bravery, and they can bring at least five trained men against three. So France must cal] out every citizen soldier, and must give each man the spirit of 1792, or of the old days of Joan of Arc, if she would avoid a heavy payment for her rash aggression. The Garde Mobile will have to bear its part in what is coming, and to meet, not a half- trained force like itself, but the best troops'of Germany. There is a rapid concentration of troops, under the command of the Crown Prince, which threatens the road to Chalons ; there is an ample force left to watch Metz ; and there are masses of well-trained Landwehr men advancing by every road between the E,hine and the Meuse. Phalsburg will be left to the Landwehr to besiege, so will Bitsche, and probably Strasburg. The whole of the active army of Germany will be available to blockade Metz or capture Chalons. There is such bustle in the streets of Vaucouleurs that the younger portion of the inhabitants are very well amused in spite of their misgivings about the public safety. Boys and girls who are old enougb to run about alone get into snug corners to feast their eyes on th.e horses and the uniforms. Especially do they like to gather near the quarters of the Prince, and observe from a little distance the E.oyal standard waving over the entrance, and the two soldiers in spiked helmets pacing up and down. It is no idle task that mounting guard at the Prince's door, for the number of officers who pass makes the duty one of constant saluting. The Germans neglect nothing on account of the war, but are established here as tranquilly as tbey might be at Berlin or Munich. I own that the crowd in proportion to the space would be appalling for a city in time of peace. But there is such order and regularity in the whole system, and the different functionaries settle so promptly into their new quarters, that they seem to have been here two mouths rather than two days. THE PEENCH AEMY. 63 CHAPTER YI. Feom the 8th of August, when the disasters of Worth and "For- bach became known in Paris, until the 3rd of September, when the capitulation of Sedan became known, it was uuiversaliy recognized that the Empire was on its last trial. By extraordi- nary achievements it might turn to profit this term of grace, but only some supereminent services could save it. The Palikao Ministry, which succeeded that of M. Emile Ollivier, was called into existence by the majority of the Legislative Body, in order to try whether this salvation was possible. Duriug the three weeks of its existence, the merits of men and institutions were discussed in Erance with the utmost freedom. The criticisms of the old adversaries of the Empire grew more audacious ; a few devoted Imperialists demanded that those who denied the military capacity of the Emperor should be tried by court-martial; but soldiers, like Count Palikao, knew that the times were not auspicious for coups d'etat. The people demanded arms for the defence of the nation. The Government replied by calling up firemen from the country towns, forest-guards, gendarmes, to reinforce the garrison of Paris. But why should Erance, which for many years had appropriated immense sums to the maintenance of an army, find herself hard pressed for troops two weeks after the opening of the campaign? This question was much debated in Erance. A Special Correspondent oi the JDaili/ News thus reported a conversation which throws some light on this subject : — I travelled from Paris to Boves with two rubicund cattle-dealers, who were returning home after having made good bargains in the threatened capital. They were stout, fair, florid men, with heavy whips, heavy jewellery, heavy purses, and evidently a capacity for heavy drinking. There was the bucolic heartiness in them ; and we were soon deep in the war. One had sold three thousand sheep and sixty beasts in the Paris market. "They '11 not die of hunger," he said. "The stock is becom- ing enormous. They may come to their last cartridge and their last man, but not to their last biscuit, nor their last houillon." — "Nor their last boeuf," the other interrupted, pointing with his thumb at his friend, to convey to me the knowledge that there were more oxen in his meadows than had yet been driven out of them. " But, Monsieur, we have a revenge to take; and, the war ended, we shall take it," con- tinued the vendor of 3,000 sheep to beleaguered Paris. " Erance CA WAE COERESPONDENCE. has been betra3^ed ; France has been cheated. Ton remember that, fourteen or fifteen years ago, private officers, individual speculators, bought substitutes for the young men v^^ho were able to afford them. The price has risen since I drew lots, but this is not what we complain of. Everything has become dearer : human flesh, you see, as well as meat. Say the young man who has drawn an unlucky number doesn't wish to be a soldier. Well, his parents go to the Government office appointed within the last fifteen years for that pur- pose and pay, say, two thousaud francs. Their dear boy is exonerated. Now, it is understood that with the two thousand francs a substitute, a remplagant, shall be bought. This is the bargain between (1) the exonerated boy, (2) the Grovernment, and (3) the nation." — "ies voleursP' the cattle-dealer's friend interjected at this point. — " Well, what has been done ? While the traffic in men was in the hands of private companies the Government took care to have their substitutes, since they had no interest in suppressing them. But, turned dealers them- selves, their interest lay at once in a different direction. Well, they have just done this: taken the money from the pockets of families and put it into their own, and buttoned them carefully up. The substitute money has not bought a substi- tute. Just observe, Monsieur, the effect of this. The right number of men have been put upon paper. To the public, who knew nothing of the dishonest transaction, the companies of our regiments were a hundred strong ; and consequently the regiments, they believed, had each 3,000 men under the flag. But what was the actual truth ? Why, I can give you any number of instances where the actual available men were not more than thirty to the company. Begiments that upon paper were at their full strength would barely muster 1,800 fighting men, and some even less than this. This is our defeat ! This is the key to the disasters which redden the brow of every Frenchman. Les gredins!''^ The speaker wrenched the end of his cigar off with his teeth, folded his arms, glared, first at me and then at his friend, and asked what form of cruel punishment was severe enough for the rascals who had sold the honour of their country in this way. " They will pay dearly," said the other. " What is the result to us ? Why, ruin. In my pays no less than twenty-two beetroot mills were to have been set in motion this year. They are built, they are ready, but we have no workmen, and no coals. The young men who were exonerated, and who had drawn good numbers ; who had, in short, settled to industrious lives, thinking that the State had no further military claims upon them, are drafted off, absolutely like les moutons de monsieur I ^^ — "That is not PAEIS. 65 all," said the slieep-dealer. " What kind of vermin have we been entertaining for the last year or two? We have had Prus- sians in France — all over France — for a year or two, even in our brave Picardy. Imagine this. An elegant gentleman— a German — ^took up his residence in my neighbourhood some eighteen months since. He made the acquaintance of the great seigneur of the locality, was asked to the chateau, and made love to the seigneur's daughter, and was only waiting till she had passed her sixteenth year to be married to her. I tell you he was a very accomplished person, and among his accom- plishments sketching held a foremost place. He sketched the whole country ; he measured every road. We are brave people, and never suspected him for a moment. WeD, on tlie day war was declared he decamped, and neither the seigneur nor his daughter has heard of him since. He was, tout lonnement, a Prussian spy. Well, that scoundrel does not raise our bile half so much as the rascals who have made us a hundred or two thousand of paper soldiers, and put the money that should have bought fighting men in their pockets. But they shall disgorge ; and we shall hold them by the throat (the war over) until they have returned every rouge Uard, The army know this, and in every regiment they are talking about it. It is the question that will be settled before any other directly we have got rid of the Prussians." The cattle- dealer's story has been repeated to me since by a military man, who had it direct from the Corps Legislatif official. It is, indeed, the chief text of all military gossip. In Paris the conviction was growing that France must save herself: and even before the Empire fell, the people, encouraged by General Trochu, Governor of the capital, were showing their desire to take up the work which was falling from the hands of their appointed military chiefs. In the middle of August, the Special Correspondent at Paris wrote : — A spirit has sprung up which will render the war a war of patriotism. The word " peace " is the last word that will be listened to in Paris. The Parisians will fight first, and settle their domestic difficulties afterwards. I have talked to a varied set of residents on the subject, and I may say that, not day by day, but hour by hour, the determination to stand by Paris to the last becomes more intensified. But the people are pathetically ignorant of the situation of affairs outside the walls. They are driven to imagining all sorts of routes and strategical feats on the part of Bazaine and MacMahon. The cafes on the Boulevard des Italiens are crowded each evening with quidnuncs, who exchange specimens of the most profound QQ WAR COEEESPONDENCE. geographical ignorance with each other. I heard a gentleman who was enjoying that French beverage which, upon my word, I never saw a Frenchman taking before — a glass of cold water with a dash of sugar in it — bring a large group around his table by insisting that some Uhlans had got within the lines of the fortifications and had been captured. This, indeed, was an exceptional display of credulity, and was heard with numerous shrugs and interjections suggestive of disbelief. Spies and Uhlans are the ingredients with which most of the ^ canards, or rather rocs, are stuffed. I think by this time there ought to be provisions enough here to stand a very long siege indeed ; bat the cattle still continue to arrive, and vast quantities of flour pass through the streets to the depots every hour. Wherever you move you come across carts piled with luggage, many of the household goods being exhibited with a candour and an absence of vanity almost primitive. The horses attached to the vehicles are sorry, hollow- backed jades of a "Wouvermans colour, and with the patient manner of broken-spirited donkeys. The men in charge are dusty and travel-stained, and there is always a dog and a bird- cage amongst the eff'ects. The children must, I imagine, have been imported into the city in another set of ambulances, as I have not seen them with the van. At the Porte Saint Martin Theatre we had a '* representation patriotique au benefice des Francs-tireurs " last evening. The Francs-tireurs are a popular and picturesque corps. Their Parisian friends and relatives flocked to the performance, which comprehended a couple of speeches from the stage, by two deputies, M. Cremieux and M. Esquiros. The programme of the night was of an intensely warlike character. Every seat was taken, and there was quite a cerulean belt or sky-line of blouses in the region above the glowing pyramids of the gaselier. Prices for places, indeed, rose to famine or fever height, and at about ten o'clock no room could be had. The audience heard with admirable patience a trifling play which preceded the " conference" on "Eouget de I'lsle et la Marseillaise," by M. Cremieux. The speaker made vigorous use of his text, and was listened to with the most profound attention and enthu- siasm. His points were caught up instantly, and cheer after cheer greeted the bouquets of noble sentiments which he kept displaying, merely altering the arrangements, as it were, occa- sionally of the most flimiliar flowers of Erench rhetoric. He had by him the inevitable table and the glass of water, w^hile in the background and at the side were standing hundreds of the Francs-tireurs, in wliose interest the exhibition was pro- moted. The orator was vehement, almost wild, in gesticulation. THE MAESEILLAISE. 67^ His voice ran througli an octave of inflections ; lie wailed, lie roared, he whispered, he nearly sang, he growled, he put on his tremolo stop ; he seemed to pray, to weep, to denounce, and in every mood he was followed by the vast crowd, many of whose faces grew white with excitement and eager suspense. When he concludes the applause is deafeniDo;, there is a hoarse simultaneous roar from every side, and the Francs-tireurs rush forward to salute the worthy little gentleman, who seems not a whit the worse for his exhausting oration. He is summoned forth like a prima donna, to receive the compliment of a second reception. And now the " Marseillaise," embodied in the person of Mdlle. Agar, appears to give illustrative effect to the " conference." She is admirably fitted by nature and by art for the role. Her forehead is low and broad, her eyes black, her hair is dark and loose, her bare arms shapely, though some- what muscular ; she moves in a crouching, tiger-like attitude ; she is hoarse, as though choking with passion. In a white dress, she stoops and glides to the footlights, and commences her chant as though she were a Brocken witch murmuring an unhallowed incantation. The blouses aloft are still as mice, a warning husJi-Ji stifles a solitary chatterer in the stalls. Every line is dwelt on with an emphasis which would be grotesque hn its exaggeration but for the terrible and oppressive earnest- ness with which each syllable is listened to. We come to a climax when the tricolour is unfurled, and Mademoiselle kneels down and the Francs-tireurs kneel also, and the audience rise. At the close of the song Mademoiselle is recalled, and is accom- panied by a Franc-tireur, who holds her by the hand, with a bow sufiiciently expressive of his and his comrades' resolve to live or die for the nation. Another warlike solo is delivered by a gentleman who is a trifle too fat to produce unmixed emotions, and whose rotund build is rendered over-palpable by a pair of yellow tight drawers worn below a short jacket. We have a tender ditty by a young lady and gentleman, who quaver and quiver in that sigh-away, die-away fashion which belongs to the school of French drawing-room music, corre- sponding with our own boudoir ballads of amorous desolation and despair, necessitating the expression of a desire to be a bird or a butterfly, A piece of declamation by Mdlle. Agar on *' Liberte," and we conclude with with " Le Choeur des Enfants du Lutece, par tons les Artistes de la Porte St. Martin." During an interval there was a collection for the Francs-tireurs. Ladies and gentlemen assisted in sending round the hat. I witnessed an agreeable incident during this ceremony. A young officer was seated next a very pretty girl, and one of his superiors having to cross where he was, I observed the ■E 2 68 "WAE CORRESPONDENCE. latter shake his head at him and point to a sword, which I presumed the other had not permission to wear in public. The young fellow immediately unbuckled his belt and handed the weapon to his chief, who, after apparently addressing a remonstrance to him., turned with a smile to the lady, and gave the sword into her custody. "When I was leaving the theatre I perceived that the Erancs-tireurs had already pro- vided themselves with a daughter of the regiment. The vivandiere was youthful and comely, albeit Bubenesque in proportions. She was surrounded by an admiring and re- spectful crowd, and did not appear in the least embarrassed by the curiosity she evidently excited. I should back her in a bout of fisticuffs against four at least of her male body-guards^ though her mild blue eyes would seem to warrant her free from a disposition to blacken those of any one else. The younger the soldier, the more thoroughly he takes to the trade. If I have seen two drill detachments, I have seen a score, in the best of spirits, following the tuck-tuck and rattle of the monotonous drum, and bearing their kits on their backs and a yard or so of bread. One entire brigade seemed to be armed with nothing more destructive than tin pots and kettles for cooking. The streets are perpetually traversed by waggons freighted with flour. Along the Boulevard you see the re# trousers everywhere. "When a pair of comrades settle at a little marble slab they are instantly surrounded by waiters, with whom they shake hands, and to whom they exhibit their garb and accoutrements, with the vanity of a belle turning her- self round and round to her maid-servants when she has put on her war-paint and her spangles for a soiree dansante. The waiters fold their arms and adopt military attitudes, while the recruits relate their experiences, which may include a period of three or four days. They drink a glass of beer and tender payment, but the dame at the counter inside signals that the refreshment is to be an act of unregistered hospitality. It is pleasant to observe the natural and self-respecting etiquette with which our recruits acl^nowledge the good-nature of their entertainers, and the easy mode in which they and the waiters all bow to each other. I am afraid our countrymen under the same circumstances would behave much as a bear does when you give him a bun. By the way, I have seen Turcos, or what I believe to be such ; and it strikes me, if I can be permitted to draw a conclusion from slight data, that these imported forces are not universally the Sawney Beans that we have been told they were. Perhaps, however, French Turcos are now being manufactured to replace those cut off by the needle-guns of the Prussians. At any rate, the turbaued group that I met thD migration. 6^ to-day were as mild in demeanour and in visage as orthodox curates. Judging from the gusto with which they fell upon rolls of bread and cups of coffee, I am inclined to think that their palates have never been stimulated by unhallowed meats. Preparations for a siege began in earnest, even while Mac- Mahon was leading his Army of the North to rescue Bazaine. Late in August the Special Correspondent just quoted wrote: — The Napoleonic pillar in the Place Yendome, the Bridge of Jena, and the Arch of Triumph — such are the sacrifices the terrible Prussians are certain to demand. These glorious trophies rankle — so runs the story — in the Grerman heart, and the cry *' to Paris" is prompted hj a fierce desire to destroy the monuments of past victory and defeat. But they shall stand, look you, until long after the present march on Paris has been forgotten, and our grandchildren's grandchildren shall talk of the honours gained by Paris at bay. To the Arch of Triumph first. What do you see on the way ? What do you see amid the trees of Boulogne and the plain of Longchamps ? What on the long road of the Elysian Fields, and on the diverging highways to the west, south, and north ? Carriages, vans, waggons, carts, wheelbarrows, trays on wheels, all laden with household goods, all accompanied by their homeless owners, allltestifying to the reality of the defence Paris is prepared to make. Tou meet the stream at the Madeleine, and it is all but unbroken during a two hours' drive. A long Normandy cart, drawn by clumsy broad-backed farm-house steeds, who neigh and caper at city sights and sounds — a cart laden with human freight as well as with beds and bedding, chairs, tables faded bits of work in Berlin wool framed and glazed, a bird- cage or two, and a pet dog, meets you first. An old crone is perched at a dangerous height on a paillasse of blue and white, little children cling to the dusty shafts, while men and women are walking in a melancholy procession at its side. Then a private omnibus with a coronet on its varnished sides, its windows down, and its blinds drawn, but with rare old china monsters peeping from its half-open door, and a jumble of ormolu, statuettes, bronzes, cabinet pictures, and ornate time- pieces presenting itself within. An open cab with a pyramid of bonnet-boxes and feminine trunks, in the midst of which a vestal of sour exterior is squatted ; a barouche and pair, on the seats of which are dressing-cases, and a gilt cage with a squalling macaw ; two vans, containing between them the furniture of a good-sized house ; a ramshackle nondescript on wheels drawn by a mule, and with the heterogeneous contents of a broker's shop emptied into it, in as much confusion as if 70 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. they had been shaken from a pepper-castor by giant hands ; a little crowd on foot, which is like a funeral, save that the bearers are in blue linen instead of black cloth, and that they surround a brightly polished mahogany wardrobe instead of a coffin, meet the eye in succession. It is the flight into Paris. The houses for miles round the fortifications are deserted, and their recent occupants are flocking within the walls by the hundred with their chattels and their iamilies, there to await the result of the enemy's advance. It seems a peculiar mode of preparing for a siege, this accumulation in the threatened city of useless mouths ; but they feel safer, these poor people, to be at the capital than to retreat into the provinces, and the Groverument has not hitherto said them nay. Down the main avenue of the Elysian Pields, past the Arch of Triumph, on the summit of which there are soldiers taking observations, and a crane and a movable platform mysteriously at work ; along the roads skirted by the cottages with double coach-houses, by the wicked little architectural prettinesses in stucco, from whose gates dainty white poodles with pink collars are wont to peep, and by the pretentious villas of detached gentility, and we are at the gates of the famous Bois. Nothing but families moving, and closed houses all the way. Let the reader recall the time when he suffered last from the horrors of '*a jnove," and then let him multiply the vehicles containing his Tiouse- hold goods until they cover three miles of ground, and he will realize what has taken place for the last forty-eight hours at the outskirts of, and the main roads into, Paris. It is only when we are through the first line of fortifications that the houses are closed. "Within this limit the various shops are rather busier than usual. You must eat and drink, however great your distress, and on the sad day when the best and most beloved among us departs this life, the cook will assuredly take her orders for dinner exactly as if the mournful event had not occurred. So the eating-houses and wine-shops are driving a roaring trade by reason of the extra traffic, and the heads of small households, and the owners of deserted farms, chat together not uncheerfuUy over the refreshing glass. They talk of the fineness of the weather for their job, and the heavi- ness of the roads. It is impossible to be dying for your country all day long, and the necessity for a removal, and its distressing inconvenience and loss, having been once admitted, there is no philosophy in railing at the Prussians instead of getting out of their way. The tradespeople near the barriers are as chirpy as possible. A small fat flaneur discourses on the absurdity of supposing that the Prussians will come, or that they are such fools, and then, biding his stomach at the con- PAEIS PKOYISIONED. 7l vulsing excellence of the jest, asks if we have seen the cattle and sheep in the gardens of the Bois ? '* There are more thousands of them than I can count ; there is enough meat for all of us for two months ; there is no bit of ground in the whole place which has not its beasts feeding. It is droll this, it is droll. Look at them ; thus they come still, the carriages with the women, the children, and the men, the beds and the chairs, and all to ask Paris to protect them — my faith, from what ? " The little man blows away some snuff from his fore- finger with great contempt, and having thus disposed of the enemy satisfactorily, turns to his quips and jests again, to the puzzlement and dismay of his listeners, who are half persuaded that they have taken fright too soon. It is as well for that . merry little man that he is not within earshot of the people who suspect and denounce, or his •merriment might take the. incongruous form of a mingled prayer for mercy and a pitiful avowal that he is French to the heart's core, and hates Prus- sia with all his might. We have been indebted to a block of half an hour at the fortifi- cations gate for this conversation. The trench round the works has been deepened, and the opening in the walls closed up, all but a narrow space which a single line of vehicles can pass. At our arrival it is the turn of those coming in, and our carriage is stopped amid a mass of others. There are enor- mous waggon-loads of hay, bound for the outlying forts, soldiers on horseback, gendarmes, commissariat waggons, and a field-piece or two waiting with us. At a given signal from a sergent de ville, the tide of arrival is turned, and we who are waiting are permitted egress. There are looks of curious scrutiny as we pass the fortification walls, and the odd-looking men whose cab has kept close by ours ever since we made for the Bois draw closer. But we neither put q^uestions nor make a parade of observation, and when our drive brings us to the iron gates of the noble enclosure we ask indifferently of the men on guard there if it is still allowed to drive in the Bois, and are at once admitted. The woods and gardens, the racecourse at Longchamps, and the meadows around it present an extraordinary spectacle. Horned animals tear down the boughs of trees, and munch up choice leaves and flowers, and roll massively over parterre and shrub, reckless of con- sequences, and as if asking each other what the deuce this unwonted liberty can mean. Twenty-seven thousand head of cattle make a pretty show in a wood, the boughs and leafy shadows of which have an oddly magnifying effect. Turn which way we would, there were gigantic animals tearing at the trees, or browsing peacefully at their feet, and the effect V2 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. was exactly as if they were in a state of nature. Tbe sheep were less picturesque, but quite as extraordinary. There seemed miles of them. The plain of the racecourse was like a field of waving corn from the mass of moving yellow wool with which it was covered, and now and again when the thick foliage broke, and we came to open meadows full of cattle, it was exactly as if a boldly-mottled mass of red and white marble had been enclosed. The dun, red, and white of the cattle were amalgamated, and they were so closely packed that it seemed as if you could walk upon their backs as on a level floor. So all through the avenues in which the beauty, the fashion, and the frivolity of the world have forgathered these many years. Beasts rambling among the trees and flowers, soldiers in uniform washing their feet in the lake of the cas- cade, and other soldiers defiling up the walks and groves, and that was all. It was not merely that the customary flirtation^;, costumes, and equipages were wanting. There was complete solitude, save for the things described. Our carriage was tho only one to be seen, and the people at the cafe by the cascade resented as an outrage our request for breakfast. A waiter stood at the door, napkin in hand, the little tables had glass and snowy linen, and there were attendants behind the counter. But it was all phantom-like and ghostly. They were bewildered, stunned, appalled at the prospect before them and the sights at their door, and the waiter ran away the instant we addressed him. On the patch of green in front of the cafe, from which a Clothilde and Therese have flaunted and ogled for many a season, a poor sheep lay dying; the tramp of common soldiers resounded in the favourite walks of the Arcadian exquisites of the Second Empire ; and the line of fortifications just visible in the distance, instead of contributing an ornamental adjunct to the landscape, has had its archways turned into storehouses for grain. The stream of carts and carriages laden with families and furniture was as thick as ever on our return, and the number of " useless mouths " which have entered Paris since yesterday morning must be immense. On the other hand, twenty thousand souls have left it in the same time, and the railway stations are blocked up by the anxious people who are burning to be off. Deserted houses for miles round the city, and deserted houses by the thousand within it ; citizens vowing that they will never desert the entrenchments, and that they will die rather than the Prussians shall enter the capital ; preparations for a siege, which is calmly anticipated as of two months' duration, and so announced in the journals' of the day ; wayfarers, with determined faces, telling each other of the latest order as to the expulsion of the Germans, PATEIOTIC DEVOTION. 7g and of their own determination to fight to the last — this is Paris. This driving in of cattle, this storing of food, and this clustering together of poor families eager for protection, gives a strange vividness to the preparations for armed defence, and makes us feel in a state of siege indeed. Just after the battle of Vionville the following letter was written "by the Special Correspondent at Paris : — Marshal Bazaine's "victory" did not at first alter the face of Paris a jot. I was sitting outside the Cafe Americain half an hour after midnight this morning, when an animated gentleman alighted from a cab, and burst upon us with the news. He had seen it at the Minister's. He knew it to be true. It was a great, an enormous victory, with thousands of Prussians slain, and thousands more wounded on the field. The young men in uniform and the male and female loungers, clustered round him on the instant, and immediately began to cavil. " It is not official." — " How do we know it to be a victory ?" — " Why is not the despatch up at the Mairie ?" were the only expressions vouchsafed, and neither belief in the news, nor gratitude to the newsmonger, was visible. It was quite in vain that our informant protested and pledged himself. A tall cynic in a white hat shrugged his shoulders and said but ''' no " after each asseveration, and the crowd leaned to scepticism rather tlian faith. A little later, and the despatch was put up at the Mairie in the Hue Drouot and other places, and a vast assemblage dis- cussed it publicly. The absence of rejoicing was very remark- able. I suppose it would have been too much to have looked for a cheer, but the clapping of hands lacked heartiness, and men began to argue as to the truth and scope of the intelligence almost in the same breath as that in which they read it out. The news soon spread. But in every case doubt and disputation went hand in hand with its receipt, and it really seemed as if the city could not bring itself to believe that it had occasion to rejoice. The mothers, the sisters, the wives, the affianced of the gallant young spirits who have donned their uniforms and marched so blithely to the battle, how do these bear up in their day of heavy trial ? Come with me to the Church of our Lady of Victory, and you shall see them humble, devout, patient, pray- ing for their dear ones, and registering their vows before Heaven. The whole church is full of memorials from those who have suffered and have prayed, whose hearts* hunger has been mercifully satisfied, and who have inscribed their gratitude on the sacred walls. I was at this church on the i^apoleon Pete-day, and again this morning. It had many worshippers 74 "WAE COEEESPONDENCE. on both occasions, tearful women wrapt in prayer for the most part, with here and there a priest and an aged man. "In grati- tude to Our Lady for preserving a darling child when in great peril;" and then come initials and the date. "In humble thankfulness for the return of my beloved husband from the war;" "Honour to Our Lady for her merciful intervention," on a day named ; " In acknowledgment of the prayer of Our Lady answered," and so forth, cover a great part of the interior of the church. Each sentiment is graven on a small marble tablet some eight inches by four, and affixed to the walls, or the pillars overhead, so that the place is lined with the records of gratitude. Several of these are too minutely personal for quo- tation, but all breathe the same spirit, and all helped to give a tender meaning to the bowed figures absorbed in prayer. There were lighted candles and pictures, an officiating priest in vest- ments, and glittering altar ornaments, and votive offerings. But you hardly see these. The poor women and their sorrows shut them out. Theirs are the passionate cravings for more than human help ; the pitiful longing for other and more per- sonal solace than the most brilliant national victory could give ; the humble shrinking domestic hopes and fears which centre upon Jules or Antoine, his safety and his life. He is perhaps lying stiif and stark with a Prussian bullet through his head even as they pray, but they are upheld, poor souls, by love and faith ; they deposit their little gifts in one of the bags held by ladies at the church doors, and go their way serene and com- forted. The tumbrils yesterday for the men about to be wounded, and the church in which prayers for soldiers' safety are being offered up to-day — it is hard to say which was sadder. There were no heroines present, and I did not see a single worshipper who seemed capable of playing the Roman. It was all humility and timid hope ; and when one looked round next at the vacant places for the tablets of gratitude, it was with strengthened convictions concerning the horrible barbarism, the relentless wickedness of war. The shopkeeping interests are suffering terribly from the state of siege. There are no tourists to buy pretty trifles at exorbitant prices. The Eue de Eivoli, the Bue de la Paix, the Eue Royale, and the Pue Castiglione are monuments of emptiness. You pass shop after shop at what used to be the busiest hours in the day, to find Mr. the Proprietor in solitary dignity, on one of his customer's chairs, or Mr. the Shopwalker looking disconsolately from the door. In no case are customers to be seen. The establishment of the great Worth had not a single carriage before it this afternoon, and the jewellers, the bric-a- brac vendors, the milliners, were living in hermit-like retire- THE SPY MANIA. 75 ment behind their wares, and came forth lugubriously, but with feverish briskness, if your shadow so much as fell across their thresholds. Let affairs progress in their present direction, and it will be worth a resolute and courageous bargain-hunter's while to run all risks and to come over. " There is no money," the traders say; "we have good reason for wishing to reduce our stock. You shall have this picture or that gem at half — at half do I say ? — at your own price. "What thinli you of this as a season for travellers ? one had far better shut up and go to the frontier ! " Then come bitter imprecations upon the "light- heartedness " with which this paralyzing war was entered upon, and dismal stories of the impossibility of a commercial rebound for many a long month to come. This is a prosaic side of the national calamity, but is very real and very apparent. People have something else to think of besides shopping, and it is, moreover, held to be rather against you to be possessed of the wherewithal for purchases. A portly Frenchman found this out the other day. He seemed to uninitiated eyes a true Pa- risian, and his patent boots, broad-tailed cutaway coat, tight girths, and general suggestiveness of straps, pads, and buckles under his clothes, together with the pretty toy-dog carried by the lady at his side, certainly placed his nationality beyond doubt. Tet his appearance and conduct were declared to be gravely suspicious when he tendered a thousand-franc note and asked for change, after taking some refreshment. In less than two minutes he found himself the centre of an unplea- santly animated crowd. How came he with so much money on his person ? What account could he render of himself ? From the provinces — a merchant ? His name, his age, his papers r He was not ill-treated, for he was able to satisfy his querists ; but he and the lady with him spent a marvellously uncomfort- able quarter of an hour, and when he w^as suffered to depart there was quite a debate concerning the probability of his having come honestly by the note, and whether it might not have come from Prussia. The preposterous unreason of this thesis struck no one. The gar^on was seen to go for the land- lord, and the landlord was observed with two other gar9ons to advance to the stranger. After this, those sitting near the latter were on their feet upon the instant, volunteering opinions and advice. Then the next rank of customers advanced, and the next, and the next, until the poor man was like St. Paul at Ephesus, or the "too daring" Hector of Troy. It is melan- choly to add that his lady companion turned against him too, and with an " I told you so " expression rated him soundly for his folly in not bringing out small change, and so saving her from the annoyance his thoughtless conduct had brought 76 WAR CORI^ESPONDENCE. about. Altogether that middle-aged French dandy had a bad time, and when he hailed a cab and drove off, it was with the cowed look of a man who has been found not guilty, but recommended not to commit the offence again. The mania for finding spies everywhere was greatly encouraged by the ridiculous stories published in the newspapers. It was related bow a man, who was vending a halfpenny "true and cor- rect life of the brave Greneral Uhrich, the defender of Strasburg," turned out to be a Prussian, and how a Berliner had gone up and down Paris for a fortnight taking note of every new-built work or palisade in the guise of a Prencb officer. An adventure with a professional denouncer of spies was described in the following letter from the Special Correspondent at Paris :— Messieurs les Mouchards have turned me out of my hotel. Not violently, but with a gentle and consistent pressure more effec- tive than violence. They " wanted to know " about me. They followed me through the town. When I dined, one of them turned up at an adjoining table. When I drove, another of them was seized with a passion for taking the air. When I loitered at shop windows, they loitered too ; when I called on friends, they stood obligingly at the corner of the street. When I was busy with my letters, they held conferences as to what I could possibly have to write about. All this was because the Prussian landlord had seemed glad to see me when I arrived three days since. This horribly suspicious circumstance appears to have given the authorities great anxiety ; and when I learnt that, in addition to their flattering personal attentions, they were curious as to my correspondence, and as to the particular post-office through which it was sent, I resolved to move. " Your letters won't leave this country without being read by the Government," remarked the German valet de place whom I had engaged on the recommendation of my Prussian landlord. " Ask the gentleman you serve, they say to me — the gentleman who writes — whether you will have to leave Prance or not. He knows all about it — pah ! why do you pretend ? He knows — we tell you, he knows. The French garden, sir, who looks to your room, is, I believe, a nwucliard ; there is another moucliard on the steps of the hotel ; and see ! over there by the book- shop window, that fat man in black, with the white face, he is a moucliard too, and will keep opposite this house till you go out." But all this was as nothing to my latest experience. I have now left the Prussian's hotel thirty-six hours ; but on calling there this morning for my letters, I found to my amazement the same f\it man standing at the same book-shop window. Our eyes met as I left the hotel, and as I made my way down to A MOUCHAED. 77 the Paris fruit market he followed me. Once at the latter, I halted. So did the mouchard, and I had now an opportunity of examining him well. A man of thirty-five or so, with that premature tendency to stomach which a diet of sugar and grease gives—a man dressed in black, with a good deal of shirt- front sticking out at the breast, like the feathers of a pouter pigeon, and with a curly-brimmed hat, and gloves, forsooth (gloves of the kind called "Berlin," doubtless to blind me, the Prussian), and, joy of joys, with tender feet ! I knew this by his boots, which were creasy, large, and splay-footed, as full of marks and lines as an outline map of Europe, and with a Black Sea in the shape of a neat hole over the toe of the right one, nicely filled out with black silk. It was clear he did not wish to speak with or denounce me, or he would have done it now. It was clear, too, he meant to keep me in sight. So, always with an eye to the condition of his feet, I resolved to lead that mouchard a dance. I had had the best of the situation so far ; for, whereas I ate delicious peaches, and figs worthy of Jersey, he, poor fellow, had contented himself with cheapening grapes of a peculiarly mouldy character. The morning was agreeable, and I was lightly clad, so, after eating my last peach with great deliberation, washing my hands at the market fountain, and figuratively girding up my loins, I started for a constitu- tional round the Pare de Monceaux. The day was before me, you understand, and a good four-miles-an-hour walk was rather agreeable than otherwise. Off" we started, therefore — I and my police shadow — I keeping up a steady heel-and-toe pace, he shambling painfully, but beating me by knowledge of the road, and by artfully availing himself of short cuts. To do him justice, he stuck to his work bravely. Twenty times in the course of that two hours' ramble did I think I had shaken him off", and twenty times did he come up smiling, though con- siderably the worse for wear. He puffed like a steam-engine out of order. His feet bothered him, and I was puzzled that he did not hire a cab. Could it be that " payment by results" is the system in vogue here, and that without a conviction his expenses would not be allowed ? He became a touching spec- tacle at last, perspiring, uneasy, almost groaning. Still he kept on my trail doggedly. Never say there is no perseverance in the French character. This fat knave has eradicated that theor}^ from my mind for ever. I tried hard to walk him out. Bound by the Pantheon, past the Eiysee, where the old soldiers M'ere being enrolled as volunteers by the hundred, and where there was a considerable crowd, but where he neither lingered nor spoke, down by the fruit markets again, and so to Notre Dame. For I had determined to mount the towers of that 78 WAR COERESPONDENCE. venerable edifice, and to give my moucliard a final breather up the stone steps. He threw up the sponge at the narrow door- way leading to the towers, sat down breathlessly on the steps of the Hotel Dieu, and left me to make the ascent alone. You don't, of course, go through this kind of amusement without warming to the work, as it were. I had my pockets full of the English newspapers of yesterday, a pipe (of which more anon), lights, and a good supply of tobacco. So I climbed to the topmost height, selected a snug corner out of the wind, and composed myself for a long stay. I found the newspapers interesting, and the tobacco delicious. The guardian of the place leaves you after showing the bells on the story below, and retires to his rabbit-hutch on the roof while you pant up the remaining flight of stone steps alone. There was some- thing so exceedingly comic in the situation that I got almost to pity my pursuer, as I pictured him nursing his poor swollen ieet below, while I enjoyed the magnificent panorama and listened philosophically to the war-sounds of the city. The whole thing seemed so childishly unreal. Yonder drab strip is, I suppose, a road. Those blue toy figures, about the size of one's thumb, and with a tiny map-flag in their midst, who are being pushed along it in compact masses, as if by some clever mechanism, are a regiment of soldiers en route for the field. The pigmies in blouses on the opposite side of the Seine, whose chant of the " Marseillaise " comes up clear and strong to my perch, are conscripts. Those stumpy brown cigars being dragged along by white and brown insects, are casks of wine by the waggonful ; the black pins with white heads which peram- bulate the green pocket-handkerchief with brown stripes immediately below me, are convalescents in the gardens of the Hotel Dieu; and yonder doll's chapel on the baby bridge, with male and female worshippers constantly going in and out, is the Morgue. I have finished my newspapers by this time, and have spent an hour and a quarter on the tower. I descend to find my moucliard still in waiting. He looks surprised to see me, much as if he had determined that I had taken up a permanent residence in the Sebastopol bell there, to concoct conspiracies against the State. I make for the Morgue at a brisk pace ; he keeps on the bridge while I enter, is gone when I leave it, and I have not seen him since. Let us hope that his report to-day will make an instructive addition to the police archives. I had heard that there had been thrice the number of suicides in Paris since the war than previously, but the statement was not borne out by what I saw in the city's dead-house. A decent- looking woman of fifty, in a white Normandy cap, and holding STJEFACE CALM. 79 her son, a lad of ten, by the hand, expressed this tersely, and with a great air of disappointment — " There is nothing "new." She remarked, the instant she passed the doorway, " He was here yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. Come, my child, let us not stay." " He " was a man of sixty, with an iron-grey beard, shrunken limbs, and a careworn pinched-up face, out of which Death itself had not been able to smooth away the wrinkles and crow's-feet, each of which told its story of sordid suffering. " He " had died or killed himself, when in bitter penury, as the rags hanging over his head for identification showed. As the water fell drip, drip, on the rigid mask of clay, and the shouts of the tipsy patriots floated in, its late owner seemed far removed indeed from war and political crises, their fever and their turmoil. As for me, I remembered Eothen, and thought the old man well out of the scrape of being alive and poor. This dead pauper is merely a parenthesis, however. The event of the morning was the inouchard and his stern chase. I have taken the opinion of experienced friends since my return, and it is agreed that incidents like these are part of the programme in a state of siege, that it is no more than any foreigner is liable to, be he English or otherwise, and that nothing can be done, unless one is annoyed by some overt act. The city has been far quieter for the last two days (August 14 and 15). It is unnecessary to add that this surface-calm does not imply content. Such violent fevers as Paris was suffering from at the beginning of the week are the more dangerous when they strike inwards, and there are ample indications that public feeling is suppressed, not allayed. The wildest stories are abroad. Last night, when the Marines — whose loyalty to the Empire is supposed to have been kept fresh in a saline atmosphere — were marched down the Boulevards on their way to the field, they were followed by the acclamations of thousands. Eouquets were fixed to muskets and carried in triumph. One old gentleman, with a red ribbon in his button-hole, distri- buted largesse, standing up in his carriage and constantly bringing silver from an apparently inexhaustible canvas bag. But the cries were Vive les Marins ! Vive les Parisiens ! and occasionally Vive la Guerre 1 As for the Emperor, none were so poor as to do him reverence — no man cried, '• Grod bless him !" In one of the recent telegraphic despatches from the seat of war, it was said that rain was falling heavily at Metz, and the Marines were asked jestingly if they could teach the generals to fight without umbrellas. A good many of the gallant fellows were drunk, and the large loaves of coarse bread were stuck on their rifles as if the latter were toasting-forks, 80 ^AJi COEKESPONDENCE. and so waved in triumph at the bystanders. All these uncovered to the Marines, and the latter brandished their arms, stopped to shake hands with, and in some instances kiss, perfect strangers in a free-and-easy fashion, such as would turn an English disci- plinarian's brain. Sitting outside the Cafe de la Paix yesterday, a lad of twenty, in uniform, and with a most dolefal face, came up with a handsomely-coloured meerschaum and a sad story. It was his brother's pipe. It had been his brother's pride to watch its progress, and to show to an admiring circle how its white gave way to a creamy yellow, its yellow to a delicate chocolate, and its chocolate to a rich brown. But this brother went to the wars, and left the pipe in the speaker's hands, charging him solemnly to smoke slowly, and to preserve and foster the pipe's growing beauties, against its owner's return. Now the brother is dead, and the bolder of the pipe had been " drawn." He was starting for Chalons that. night. He was afraid of taking so fine a pipe with him. He would dread its falling into the hands of the Prussians, it might be taken from him on the field, and would the gentlemen buy it at their own price? Need I add that it changed hands, and that the poor lad in uniform went on his way, not rejoicing — he was too profoundly dejected for that — but with one of his cares assuaged. The damaging stories mentioned in my last are repeated everywhere. The malversation of stores, the rotten- ness of the Administration, the incompetence of the Emperor to lead armies or to continue personal government, are all ac- cepted as foregone conclusions, and it really seems as if very few people indeed believe that there will be any serious attempt to continue or prolong the old state of affairs. All this can wait, they say. Give us news of the war. Let us be satisfied that Paris is safe, and that Prance's honour can be redeemed, and we can settle such a minor matter as our next form of Government later. Meanwhile, strenuous efforts are, it is said, being made to repair the condition of the army, its equipment, and commissariat, and every day's delay before the next great battle is said to be worth twenty thousand men to Prance. The actual state of affairs in Paris may be inferred from my personal experience this morning, as well as from the facts that the fair city is almost surprisingly peaceable and quiet ; and that I saw* the sergents de ville disperse two crowds last night witliout opposition or difficulty. They left several other street assemblages untouched, but three days ago they seemed to have abnegated their functions and never to interfere at all. A word concerning the " Marseillaise." It has lost its eff'ect. I have heard it sung at two different places of public enter- tainment with all the pomp and circumstance which good PUELIC SPIEIT. 81 singiDg, good acting, good music, and abundant banners and supernumeraries could give to- it, and it fell as flatly as a bad sermon. In the first instance there were three singers on the stage, the chief of whom was dressed as one of the soldiers of the Eevolution of '93, cocked hat, red lappels, and sword complete. He waved a tricoloured banner, and sang, and knelt, and invoked with admirable enthusiasm. His com- panions, one in the uniform of a Chasseur de Yincennes, and the other a youth in the Garde Mobile dress of to-day, also waved tricoloured flags, and knelt, and made the solemnly patri- otic appeals which three short weeks ago stirred the average Frenchman into frenzy. But it was like whipping a dead horse. The audience seemed dead or stunned, and sipped their liquor calmly, or chatted in under tones, as if they thought the great national song were malapropos, or as if they had not the heart to join in it under present circumstances. This was at the Cafe des Ambassadeurs, in the Champs Elysees, where the " Marseillaise" is put forward as one of the attractions of the evening, the hour at which it is sung advertised beforehand, and the people supposed to flock to hear it with all their might. The Alcazar d'Ete is but a stone's throw from it, and gives its version of the "Marseillaise" with even greater elaboration. There are some fifty singers on the stage, men dressed in most revolutionary blouses and armed with guns " and bayonets, women dressed as street lads waving tricoloured banners, and women as patriotic heroines with not much dress to speak of. These joined in the great chorus, and tried hard to stir the hearts of their auditors. All in vain. The seats at each place were only a fourth filled, and the people occupy- ing them seemed half asleep. One stout gentleman essayed to lead a chorus, but the attempt was a failure, and as he sub- sided into hiccups before the song was over, his enthusiasm was neither efi'ective nor contagious. CHAPTEE YII. The Emperor could not return to Paris, leaving Bazaine shut up in Metz. That had been explicitly announced to him by his Ministers and his consort as soon as he had disclosed an inclina- tion to resume in the capital the duties of the position in which he had so lately been confirmed by the nation. More than that, the army of MacMahon must not remain at Chalons, but must proceed to succour Marshal Bazaine. MacMahon remonstrated. The movement upon Metz he declared would be a measure of the " greatest imprudence," and he was not willing to expose troops, still imperfectly organized, in making an extremely perilous 82 WAE COREESPONDENCE. tlank march in the face of an enemy very superior in point ot numbers. He announced, accordingly, that he was going to make his way towards Eheims, whence he could proceed either to Soissons or to Paris. " It is only," said he, " under the walls of the capital that my army, when rested and reconstituted, will be able to offer the enemy any serious resistance." In pursu- ance of this resolution, the army was led towards Eheims on the 21st, and took up its position behind that city. " But the language of reason" — the Emperor subsequently complained — " was not understood in Paris ; it was wished, at all hazards, to give public opinion the empty hope that Marshal Bazaine could still be succoured, and the Duke of Magenta received from the Council of Ministers, to which had been joined the Privy Council and the Presidents of the two Chambers, a most pressing injunction to march towards Metz." The army which was thus embarked on a highly perilous enterprise was made up of the most various elements. Its nucleus was formed of the remains of MacMahon's Pirst Corps — ^veterans who had fought in Africa, and were assumed to be the very flower of the Prench army ; yet their chief has since told us that they were " dis- couraged and mutinous," and the effects of their dire example were feared. The Pifth Corps, that of De Pailly, had lost its baggage in a long retreat, without having once met the enemy. Douay's Seventh Corps " did not show so much solidity as might have been desired." The Twelfth, a new Army Corps, was com- posed of three divisions — the first formed of new regiments, the second made up of " marching regiments " out of " fourth battalions," and the third of Marines. Obeying the orders which he had deprecated, MacMahon led his army, on the 23rd, from Eheims, intending to march to Betheniville, on the Suippe. Its departure from the former city was marked by deplorable ex- cesses. The soldiers, neither attached to their ofiicers by respect, nor fairly subjected to them by discipline, plundered the provi- sion and other trains in the most open manner, and, worst of all, their superiors were afraid to take notice of their disgraceful conduct. Scarcely had MacMahon left Eheims when want of ne- cessaries compelled him to return to the railway, and he reached Eethel on the 24th, from the sheer necessity of obtaining sub- sistence for his men. At Eethel, the road to be taken to Metz must be definitely chosen and boldly pursued. The Prussian commander had taken precautions for every con- tingency. His own arrangements had primarily in view a march upon Chalons and Paris, to be prosecuted by two armies, while Metz was to be guarded by the united forces of two others. The Crown Prince of Prussia was to resume his suspended march along the great road from JSTancy to Chalons. It was possible, A GREAT MEETING, 83 however, that MacMahon might take up a defensive position to the north of Chalons. To meet such a contingency, a Fourth Army vt^as formed of the Prussian Guards, the 12th and 4ith Corps — in all 80,000 — and placed under the command of the Crown Prince of Saxony. On the 22nd, four days after the battle of Gravelotte, this army was on its westward march by Ferdun and Menehould to Chalons. Having made these arrange- ments, the King went to Ligny, to join his son, the Crow^n Prince. His arrival was described in the following letter from the Special Correspondent with the Third Army, dated Ligny, August 2-1 : — This is a great day in the campaign of the Third Army of G-er- many. His Majesty the King of Prussia has arrived at head- quarters, attended by General von' Moltke, and the streets of Ligny have been choked with Bavarian troops from early morning until late in the afternoon. They have had a busy day in Ligny. The columns have gone by in a ceaseless stream, with loud trumpet-notes and with a constant roll of drums. Eegiment after regiment of infantry has tramped past my window, battery after battery of field-guns has rumbled slowly along, and the shrill cavalry trumpets have filled the town with their clangour. The scene in the public square has been one of the most crowded and warlike that you can well imagine. Oxen brought for food, horses and w-aggons, have been jumbled together into apparently hopeless con- fusion. The brass bands have been heard at the end of the street, have come nearer and nearer, and have gone proudly by with swelling strains of triumph. Now we have seen cattle led behind the regiments, now groups of men with litters for the wounded, or waggon-loads of cartridges for the breechloaders. Even as I write the movement still con- tinues. There is a murmur of voices like a mighty stream, and a clatter of hoofs like the same stream foaming over rocks. More waggons. They are actually at a trot, and yet the road is not cleared. If this be a single corps d''armee, what must be that whole district alive with soldiers, which represents the invasion of Prance in 1870? I can well under- stand the expression of an old general officer in the Prussian service, who said, not long since, when some one spoke of bringing 30,000 more men into the field, " Thirty thousand more ? why, we should not have room for them to manoeuvre!'* The Germans have made such an effort, and put so large a force into the field, that they are not an army, but a nation under arms. G 3 84 WAR COEEESPO^fDEIfCE. 4 It is curious to hear the old folks hereabouts speak of the great war of 1815. They can remember the Allied Sovereigns at Ligny in that memorable year, and tell how a ,2;rand review was held on a plateau to the east of the town. Talk of Kiug William as a stranger, and they will recount his arrival here with the invaders of fifty-five years ago. Ask them about the antiquities of their neighbourhood, and they will show you the house where the Allied Sovereigns were quartered in that bygone campaign. Yet there is something to be seen of greater relative antiquity. The ruined castle by the waterside is a fine fragment of the middle ages. It was used as a local prison or place of detention for short terms until eighteen months ago — I can only say that I am glad I was not detained here — and it is still habitable in a few of its rooms. From the top of the tower there is a good view of the town and the surrounding hills. The road can be seen winding down from the eastward between the fruitful vineyards, and stretching away over the more level ground to the westward, flanked by poplar trees, as a genuine French chaussSe ought to be. Be- side the road is the canal, where great barges lie idle in this troublous time, and farther on, at a little distance from Ligny, is the station of the Paris and Strasburg Eailway. We are only 232 kilometres from Paris — -about 137 miles — and if there should be really an undisturbed occupation at Chalons, the plot will become very thick indeed. Those regiments and batteries which have been all day filing past the Crown Prince's quarters have gone steadily forward on to Paris. How far they will march unopposed we cannot guess. The Bavarian troops are in excellent condition. They have been coming through Ligny at a steady pace, and their horses show no sign of exhaustion, despite the rough usage of the last few weeks. The artillery in particular are smart and soldierly. Their uniform is more becoming than that of the cavalry or the line. You must understand that the characteristic of Bavarian mili- tary costume is a helmet with a crested plume. This helmet looks extremely well with the dark uniform of the artillery. But to an English eye it sits heavily on the infantry. A regi- ment of riflemen, for example, with helmets such as our Life Guards wore at Waterloo, is something which must be seen to be realized. I am bound to own that the Bavarians carry off their heaviness of head-dress with a quick, active step, and with great toughness of appearance. They are not big men, being smaller decidedly than the Prussians, but they are strongly built, and seem very robust. Their brass bands are as good as could be wished, and played them up to the Prince's quarters THE CEOWJT PEIN"CE AND HIS STAFF. 85 iu first-rate style, whilst, as regards their equipment for a cam- paign, the soldiers of King Louis are capitally provided. We have seen to-daj a specimen of every branch of their service — the infantry steady and solid, the artillery very well furnished, and the cavalry, though not mounted so well as the Prussians, with a soldierly air about them, which promises great things in the rough service of the outposts. These Bavarians are no contemptible allies for Prussia. Here is the Crown Prince leading an army of them to Chalons — perhaps to Paris itself. Here are their sky-blue uniforms pressing forward into the heart of France. They carry breech-loaders, but not the famous needle-gun, and they have proved what they can do in the way of fighting at "Weissenburg and at Worth. The enemies of Prussia in 1866 have become good and helpful friends to the common cause in 1870. "VYiiere the large standard hangs out in the narrow street, and the sentries are always on guard, are the head-quarters of the Crown Prince of Prussia, the Commander-in-Chief of the Third G-erman Army. You might have seen the whole Staff" of his Boyal Highness before the door at about two o'clock to-day, and you would have gathered from the excitement of the officers who kept the road clear that some event of importance was expected. Bullocks were hastily driven to one side ; waggons were ordered off* in no measured terms ; everything spoke of busy preparation for the King's arrival. A way was made tlirough the throng of vehicles, and the movement of the Bavarian columns M^as checked for a while. Now there ap- peared an escort of cavalry at full trot. JSTow an open carriage behind them. That general with the flat undress cap and grey moustache, leaning back in the carriage, was the chief man of all Germany, King "William of Prussia himself. He passed quickly to his son's quarters, and alighted amid the cheers of the soldiery. If Napoleon could only have captured the house, and the group on the pavement before it^ — ^if only ! — but there is much virtue in the "if" Yonder tall slightly-built officer, with the rather thin face, the bright penetrating eyes, and aquiline nose, is Von Moltke, who has out- manoeuvred every opponent. Near him stands another man in uniform, a civilian rather than a soldier — if all Prussians were not rated as soldiers — Count Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of the North German Bund. He, too, is tall, and his firm remarkable face is too well known to need a word of comment. Everj'- one knows, b>^ photographs and pictures, the face of Count Bismarck. "Well may the good folks of Ligny stare at these new arrivals. They are the movers of the great machine which has overthrown the Prench scheme of conquest and invasion. 86 WAB COEEESPONDEFCE. On tlie 25tli of August, the royal head-quarters were at Bar-le- Duc, where the King and the Crown Prince heard that Mae- Mahon, whom they had expected to find at Chalons, had broken up his camp and burned his tents, had made at first for Eheims, and then had struck ofi" in a northerly direction. It seeme.d impossible that an eminent Erench commander had ordered such a movement ; but the Grerman reports were clear, abundant, and trustworthy. The eye of Count Moltke at once took in all the possibihties of the situation. The Crown Prince of Saxony should meet MacMahon, and hold him in the Argonne ; and by rapid marches the Third Army, under the Crown Prince of Prussia, should arrive in time to sweep round upon his right flank, and hem him in against the Belgian frontier. On the 26th, the Crown Prince of Saxony was marching for Stenay, on the Mouse, and the Crown Prince of Prussia was advancing by forced marches to Clermonte en Argonne and Grrand Pre. MacMahon could only succeed on one condition—that he should outstrip the enemy by the celerity of his movements ; but how unfit his army was for the most ordinary operations of war is seen in the fact that his two columns only reached Sedan and Beaumont on the 30th, having spent seven days in accomplishing the distance of fifty miles from Eheims. By that time the two German armies had arrived in the neighbourhood, and were look- ing for him. On the 27th MacMahon reached Le Chene Populeux, and there, becoming aware of the danger in which the proximity of the two German armies placed him, resolved to save his army by a speedy retreat, and had actually given orders to that eff'ect, when in the middle of the night he received positive injunctions from Paris to go forward and relieve Metz. The Emperor, who afterwards disclosed this extraordinary fact, was present with the Marshal, but " he was resolved not to oppose the decision of the Begency, and had resigned himself to submit to the consequences of the fatality which attached itself to all the resolutions of the Government." MacMahon then obeyed, and attempted to reach Montmedy by Stenay. But it was found that the Prussians were at Stenay, so he established his head- quarters at Eaucourt, in order to pass the Meuse at Mouzon, On the mornii]g of August 30th, a portion of the Prench army was across the river, when the right wing under De Pailly was attacked at Beaumont by a Bavarian corps from the Crown Prince's army, and thrown back in great disorder on the Meuse ; and on the same day another German corps struck a heavy blow at the left wing of MacMahon's army at Mouzon. The beaten corps rallied behind the Chiers at nightfall, between Eemilly and Douzy, but dispirited, the troops having no confidence in their commanders, in their future, or in themselves. SEDAN". 87 The 31st of August was spent by MacMa"hoii as the 17th had been by Bazaine, occupying positions and preparing for a great defensive battle. His line extended from Sedan, on the Mouse, to Givonne, near the Belgian frontier. The villages of Balan and Bazeilles were in front, forming with the Chiers a line of defence not to be despised by an assailant. In front of him, on the other side of the Chiers, was the Crown Prince of Saxony and the Eourth Army, while the Crown Prince of Prussia wa's on his right flank, and separated from him by the Mouse. The Germans had nearly 240,000 men. The Prench were about 100,000. The Special Correspondent with the Crown Prince's army has thus described the advance of the Third Army and the position of the Germans, in a letter dated August 31st, on the eve of the battle of Sedan : — There need be no hesitation or reserve as to speaking of to-morrow's possibilities. The plot has thickened since I last wrote, and the Prench must now be perfectly aware of the movement against their right flank. I necessarily write in such haste, and in the midst of such confusion, noise, dust, and trampling of feet, that it is difficult to give you a clear account of what is going on around me. On tbis bright August day, the last day of the month, hot, dry, and dusty, a great historical drama is hurrying to its close. How the trumpets ring out upon the evening air, as the long columns of • cavalry clatter and jingle through the village streets ! How ceaseless is the rumbling of waggons ! Battalion after battalion of Prussian infantry has come by hot and dusty — a whole army has passed through the village during this memorable day of the forced march. To put it in more exact and technical fashion, the Prench advance from Eheims towards Metz and Thionville has been thwarted by a movement of the 12th and 4th Corps of the Second Army in the enemy's front, and by wonderfully rapid marching of the Crown Prince's army against the right flank of their opponents. Picture to yourself two lines of road, running nearly parallel, the one considerably to the northward of the other. Prom Chalons to Metz is the first line, from Eheims to Thionville is the second. It would seem that the Prench abandoned their camp at Chalons, and left open the road to Paris, in order that they might take the second or northernmost of these tv.o routes, and proceed to the relief of Metz. We have no reason to doubt but that they seriously intended to cut their way through, and that four corps d'armee were assembled under the Emperor's orders. "Where they seem to have been deceived was in the belief that a forward movement could be safely effected before the Crown Prince 8S WAE COEEESPONDENCE. ■\YOuld be upon them. Never were plans better laid than tliose of the Prince and his chief of the Staff, General Blumenthal. Many days ago this whole manoeuvre of doubling up the Erench line by swinging round upon it, " left shoulders forward," was arrano-ed at the Prince's head-quarters. It was calculated that, bv almost superhuman efforts in the way of marching, the 5th and 11th Prussian Corps, the Bavarians, and AViirtembergers, might effect such a concentration as would baffle the Prencb desio-n of relieving Metz. The 6th Corps was scarcely able to get ^ip in time by any efforts — that is, to swing round in time in its wide circle to the westward — but it would be ready to guard the left flank of the Germans, and to act as a support to the "Wilrtembergers in case of need. Here was the trap ready laid. Here was a repetition of the shutting in of a French force northward of the main road, such as had been witnessed at Metz. But this time it was even more serious for those likely to be so shut in. The Belpian frontier was the rock ahead in case of defeat. The Belgian frontier and the frontier of neutral Luxemburg are not far off from our present position. One great defeat, one hard struggle, ending in favour of Germany, and the whole French army, baggage, artillery, military chest, may be driven into the unwilling embrace of our good allies of Belgium. I speak thus at length of the great shutting in of the French, of the wonderful forced march of the Crown Prince's army, to explain a catastrophe of which you will have heard by telegraph. The needle-gun may do^ as well as the Chassepot in a battle; but whichever weapon be the more destructive, there is no doubt that the dogged pluck of the Prussians in marching, their utter indifference to fatigue, has done more than their steady fusilade to win successes for King William. First through rain and slush, then in milder weather, and with dust instead of mud under foot, the Third Army has swung round upon its foe. Had the French been strong enough to have a well-appointed corps of observation to the southward of Yitry — of say 80,000 men — this wheeling round of the Prussians could hardly have been risked. But the Crown Prince has disregarded the slight danger of an attack upon his rear by an ill-organized militia, and with the 6th Corps covering his left, more by necessity than choice, has closed upon MacMahon. There was hard marching to reach the point of vantage, but when we rode out yesterday to see the advance against the^ French position it was lovely weather. The bayonets of the infantry glittered in the sunshine. You must fancy yourself moving from hill to hill across valleys full of armed men. Ton must crowd the white straight roads with rumbling trains of artillery SEDAIT. 89 and great masses of cavalry far to the front, where tlie farthest patches of woodland grow indistinct among the red and brown fields. The whole country southward of the road from Beaumont to Le Chene is alive with German troops. The Bavarians are near Beaumont ; the ith Prussian Corps is farther to the right, and closes round upon the line of the Meuse. Imme- diately before us is the 5th Prussian Corps, pushing towards Stonne and Chemery. We see flashes of artillery near Beau- mont. Then a heavy cannonade begins on the distant ridge behind that place — the 1st Bavarian Corps has surprised a French division in the little town, capturing a good deal of baggage. Those " slow " Grermans are to the fore again ! The Prench reply with vigour to their assailants, and white puffs of smoke break out in all directions. There is evidently a sharp struggle to our right front about Beaumont and Mouzon, but to the left and centre the battle languishes. There is a little distant shelling, and some skirmishing in the extreme front, though the two parties are not in force near one another. Stonne is abandoned by the French, and we mount to its central position, from which everything can be seen. That battle on the right grows fiercer — crash after crash of musketry resounds from the woods near Beaumont. "We can see the flashes brightly on the hills, and as night comes on we hear with thrilling eftect the sharp rolling volley of the mitrailleuses. They must be fighting very hard, and the troops bivouacked upon the hills near Stonne are eager to be among the com- batants. But they caunot get there to-night, and must rest upon their position, with that dull rolling and grumbling of the cannonade to stir them round their sparkling watch-fires. The fighting of August 30th was a preparation for the decisive closing in of August 31st. The 4th Corps took several thou- sand prisoners, several French cannon, and checked all advance to the south-eastward. The Bavarians also took cannon and prisoners, and the Prussians of the Third Army pushed into a good position close to the enemy's outposts. It will probably be found that yesterday's battle was an important aflair — more important than one at first imagined. The battle of Sedan was described by the same Correpondeut in the following letter, dated Chemery, September 1st : — The German arms have to-day been crowned with wonderful success. The greatest triumph of the war has been achieved in this battle of Sedan, and the Emperor of the French himself is among the prisoners. I have not time to tell of the clamour and rejoicings of the soldiery round about me. Before the post goes out there will not be time enough to describe the battle •90 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. in its barest details. An army cut off and surrounded — an Emperor taken prisoner! These are not common results. It is so overwhelming a catastrophe for France that one can excuse the tears in the old soldier's eyes, who dashes his crutch upon the floor, and will not even smoke his pipe. .It is so over- whelming a catastrophe that one cannot but sigh over the evident pleasure of the ordinary villagers at seeing a hope of peace. How did it come about that they were caught ? Thousands of my countrymen will be asking this question. The answer is plain. The French were out-mauoeuvred in the first rush of the war. They were beaten into a corner at Metz, blockaded in Alsace, and, generally speaking, " done for" by the splendid organization of their enemies. I have often spoken to you of the same organization — have often suggested that it must pre- vail. There is no need to go further back than the blocking of Eazaine at Metz to explain the capture of Napoleon at Sedan. It was felt that Bazaine must be relieved at any cost, and here is the price paid without success. Napoleon moved from Eheims towards Metz, along the northern frontier of his empire, in the desperate hope of fighting his way to the east- ward, or of being allowed to pass without a battle. The Germans swung round their left wing with tremendous energy, brought up their centre sharply into line, and pinned the French against the Belgian frontier in the little fortress of Sedan. Never was such marching seen as that of the 5th and 11th Corps. Whilst the 4th Corps, on the left of the Crown Prince of Saxony's army, and the Bavarians on the right of the Crown Prince of Prussia's army, were engaged in that sharp affair of August 30th, the 5th and 11th Corps, on the left of the Crown Prince of Prussia, were marching round the outside of the circle to the westward of the Grerman forces. As we returned to head-quarters after the battle of the 30th, near Beaumont and Mouzon, we found thousands of men camped, or rather bivouacked, on the hills near Stonne.^ They cheered the Crown Prince loudly, and were full of spirit for ^vhatever might be wanted of them. Though they had marched some five-and-twenty miles that day, they were in excellent condition. Their bivouacs were well ordered ; their camp fires were blazing bright and clear. The light of the camp fires on ' one hill was as significant as the flashes of rifle and mitrailleuse on the other hill, which told of where Frenchmen and Germans were fiercely contending. These camp fires to the extreme left, these crowded masses of men cheering the Prince, told of the energy with which Blumenthal was supporting the SEDAN. 07 plans of Moltke, and of the determined shutting in which was destined to ruin the Prench. They tramped along in light marching order, their knapsacks carried in waggons which followed at a distance. They rushed into cottages for water, or for a glass of wine, if any could be found. Tired and thirsty, the Prussian regiments thronged through Chemery on the 31st August. Tired and thirsty, they passed on to the front. As each battalion neared the Prince's quarters the drums rolled out, the men held up their heads, and went by as at a review in Berlin, but that every one seemed to have been previously rolled in dust-bins. Dusty as they were, the infantry had a fine appearance. They all seemed to understand the need of hard marches, and to be buoyed up with the hope of complete victory. So the net was spread, and the ends were drawn in, and the Prench army at Sedan was doomed to destruction. The battle of August 30th had shown that it would not be able to proceed eastward, as the Germans were everywhere so strong. Would it be able even to escape in a westerly direction ? The French had got so near to Belgium that, as you might say of a ship, the least puff of wind would put them ashore. They had a chance of escaping on the moruing of August 31st, by leaving their baggage and most of their artillery in Sedan, and making a running fight of it with the whole army towards Mezieres and Laon. But they were too proud to run away, too slow in their movements to retreat with dignity, and were caught at a hopeless disadvantage. The battle of Sedan was begun by the Bavarians. General von der Tann, chief of the 1st Bavarian Corps, was ready in the grey twilight to open fire, and was only prevented froui leading off the attack at 4 a.m. by the thick mist in the valley of the Mouse. When we came to the hill above Donchery, at about six o'clock, there was still a mist in the valley, but it had some- what lifted, and the dull booming of cannon told that the Bavarians were afc work. Tou must fancy a great half circle closing in to form a complete circle of fire round the town. Place yourself at the Crown Prince of Prussia's station on the hill above Donchery, and take the corps in the order in which they stand. The 5th and 11th Prussian Corps are straining northward to close round to the left. The 6th Corps is coming round far behind, to the left rear, and will bear no part in the action, but the "Wiirtembergers, also on the left, and in advance of the 6th Corps, will have a battle of their own with the Prench from Mezieres. Just before us there is Sedan, protected by its ramparts, and by an artificial inundation of the meadows beside the Meuse. To the right of the hill 92 WAE COERESPONDEjS'CE. al)ove Donchery are tlie two Bavarian Corps, only the first of them destined to play a part on September 1st; while beyond these two corps are the forces under the Crown Prince of" Saxony — the 4th Prussian, the 6th Saxon, and the corps of Prussian Guards. Thus is the circle composed which gradually closes round Sedan. King William himself takes the supreme command, because there are present two Grerman armies — the Third Army, of the Crown Prince of Prussia, and the " Combined Army," as it is called, of the Saxon Crown Prince. The King is- posted on some high ground, behind the Bavarians, to the right of the hill above Donchery. Bismarck and Yon Moltke are with the King, Bltimenthal is with the Prince of Prussia. With the Prince are also several other men of note, attached to his Highness's Staff. The Duke of Augustenburg and Prince Leopold of HohenzoUern are botk serving On the Staff, the former in Bavarian uniform, the latter in Prussian. The Puke of Coburg Grotha is there, and so are the Princes of Weimar, of .Mecklenburg, and Wiirtemberg. It was natural that they should be present, because they have been on the Crown Prince of Prussia's Staff throughout the war. But their presence, together with the fighting of Bava- rians and Saxons side by side with Prussians on September 1st, and the fighting of the Wiirtembergers on the same day, towards Mezieres, gives an additional stamp of G-erman unity to the final effort. All Germany seems to be here ; the Princes and the commonalty coming forth with equal zeal to repel an invasion. And here is the deadly counter-stroke by which it is being met. The whole country as far as the frontier lies spread out like a map before us. Donchery is as clearly to be seen as though a biscuit could be tossed down into it, and where the mist rises still farther the course of the Mouse may be traced by stunted willows in the great bend northward which it makes hereabouts. There is no better way of realizing the features of the locality than by taking a horseshoe, producing one end straight to your left, and the other end somewhat backward to your right. On the part straight to your left is Donchery, with its line of hills across the back of the shoe. On the part prolonged to your right is Bazeilles, with a railway bridge in excellent condi- tion. Sedan lies on the river to the right hand, where the first nail would be, and the off-side of the horseshoe bend. Cazal and Ploing are farther along on the right side, and St. Meuges is about at the front of the shoe. The villages of Daigny and Givonne lie back to the right, or behind the town, where the country is hilly and wooded. The great plain is to the left of the bend, and as the Prussian troops arrive on that side they 'L'ln: pJjtivoJJons are 0iJ^en. iJi.m^Te-t> SEDAliT. 93 move quickly forward across the plain to turn round tiie end of the horseshoe and come back down its right side. The Belgian frontier is a little way beyond the front of the shoe, so that there is ample room for the 5th and 11th Corps to act upon the line of retreat from Sedan in that direction. "We can hear a constant rumbling of waggons and clattering of hoofs, as the German left is advanced, whilst there is a louder and louder roll of musketry and booming of cannon where the Bavarians are holding the French in play to the right. At first there is a line of white smoke puffs, forming less than a semicircle to the south, south-west, and south-east of the French. The battle is hotly maintained near Bazeilles, and the French respond with energy to the attack of the G-ermans. It is a very sultry day. The smoke-clouds hang lower and lower over the Meuse, as the mist was hanging a few hours earlier. Bright sunshine glitters upon the cuirasses of a Prussian regiment that trots down to the right to support the Bavarian guns, at the base of the horseshoe. A second and yet a third regiment of cavalry follow with great jingling and clatter. The scene upon the hill, near the Crown Prince's Staff, is one of active preparation. There are guns dragged lumberingly at the heels of the cavalry, and innumerable waggons follow as hard as they can go. Stragglers hurry up to join their corps, orderlies gallop away reckless of their necks, or gallop back with panting steeds up the steep road. It is thought better for the escort to dismount, and for the officers' horses to be held a little to the rear, so as not to draw the French fire upon the Staff" by an unnecessary display of force. That same French fire is, however, distracted and dispersed by numerous assailants. The roar of cannon grows more intense with each minute as noontide approaches. It is clear that the army of jiacMahon — we afterwards learnt that the Marshal had been wounded at an early hour, and that De Wimpffen had taken the command — is in desperate peril. Like some ship labouring in the trough of the sea, the beleaguered host of France is pitifully helpless. There was a time when a squadron of light horse, or even a travelling carriage at a brisk trot, might have got away to Belgium. The northern road was open when the battle began, but the French seemed to have no idea of flight. Crushed and hampered as they are, they fight like brave men. The battle is a mere battue by one o'clock, and the circle of white smoke puffs almost shuts in the French position. Tliis is essentially an affair of artillery, and the German guns seem to be well served, besides being powerful. But there is a constant rattle of small-arm fire in the direction of Bazeilles, where flames and black smoke tell of a conflagration. The Crown Prince of THE BATTLEFIELD BEFORE SEDAN .,/ sCsKDAN \x-. jini / 1-^ /;«/»/! 5. ^»Ke#7/cA'aP/ unl , . 1 C >^ W.» A K.JOHNSTON. tOlNBURCH AND LONDON ^4 WAE COEEESPOlifDENCE. JSaxony, too, is coming steadily on. It has appeared for a moment tliat he was checked by the efforts of the despairing Erench ; but the German right is growing evidently stronger, and the circle of white smoke puffs is very clearly defined to the north-eastward. Then to the left there is a sharp engagement ; as the 11th Prussian Corps forces its way into Cazal and Floing, a splendid artillery fire supports the attacks of the infantry. We can see that all escape has been cut off as the Prussians get from village to village towards the slope of rising ground behind Ploing, and north-westward of Sedan. If that slope be once cleared of Prenchmen, the only thing for the Prench to do will be to cut their way out through the Crown Prince of Saxony's army, or to retreat almost within the walls of the town. They cannot fight on their present line with Prussians in their rear. It is a sight of terrible interest. The hill-side behind Ploing has been the scene of a regular stand-up battle between lines of infantry, and there is a cannonade from another sloping ground more to the left, which smites the Prench with startling- precision. Loud rattle the volleys of the mitrailleuses. Some four or five pieces are planted on the hill, and work hard to keep back the Prussians. But they seem, to be silenced or withdrawn, and the dark masses of King "William's soldiers gain several acres; all about the little cottage and the two trees at the hill-top there is a fierce encounter. Lines of infantry stand firing at one another, and it is clear that the loss is considerable, for many men fall killed and wounded. What a wild confusion it is, now that the lines have advanced and retired several times ! There are scattered parties of Prenchmen rallied by their officers, and Grermaus brought back to the charge with hearty zeal. Both sides fight splendidly. But, on the whole, the Prussian fire seems to prevail, and the Prench wither before it. The shells are doing much that we cannot appreciate at a distance. Dust flies up now and then; but it is hard to see what has been done. Yet we notice that the efforts of the Prench reserves to restore the battle fail before the steadiness of the Prussian attack. When one Prussian battalion hesitates, when even there is a charge in line by a body of Prench infantry, which requires a good deal of ground, there is always a creeping up of more and more of the dark-coated assailants. Their guns cease firing for fear of hitting them, and a gallant dash of Prench light cavalry is made to recover the hill-side. They ride forward, half hidden in dust, and seem for a moment to succeed ; but the artillery re-opens, the infantry pour in a deadly fire, and we see the ground strewn with men and horses. The cavalry wheel about, SEDAK. 95 aDcl go galloping back like a receding wave. That hill-side must remain in Prussian hands. "No, there is another rally by the French infantry. Once more they come on. The thin, blue smoke rises above the line, and they almost run in their wild attempt to push home. But the attack withers away, and nothing can be seen of the regiment which made it. There has been heavy loss it is easy to see, though the men who fall cannot now be well distinguished in the confusion. There are other points carried by the Germans, and a closing in of the circle of white smoke round Sedan. Then a fresh attempt to break through, as though somebody of importance were to be cut out at any cost. We see numbers of Frenchmen making for the gates of the town, others wandering about as though not knowing what to do. There is a gradual cessation of the cannonade, and by about five o'clock all is quiet, save for the dropping shots from the batteries near the King's position. There is a great outburst of flame and smoke in the tow^n, as if some stores of combustibles had taken light, and there is a rumour that the white flag has been hoisted by the French, Then it is whispered that all these crowded troops — sixty, seventy, perhaps eighty thousand men — must surrender, for that they have no food. They surrender ? Not only they, the Imperial soldiers, but the Emperor too. It is known that G-eneral Eeille, an aide-de-camp of IN'apoleon, has come out to King William with a letter from the Emperor to his Prussian Majesty. The troops are wild with joy ; they have caught him then, and there will be an end to the war. Two days afterwards the same Correspondent thus described the capitulation and its immediate results : — When the firing had ceased on that terrible day before yesterday, and the great smoke cloud of the explosion in the town had slowly drifted away, there was as strange a scene of military disaster as could well be imagined. A large army was shut^ into the space which one division might have occupied. The fortress of Sedan had so many defenders as to make it indefen- sible. I have told, in a former letter, how Greneral Eeille, aide-de-camp to the Emperor, came out with a flag of truce, and was brought to King William on the hill above the Mouse. To have gone on fighting would have been madness, for the Q-erman troops held every approach to the town, and the French troops, shattered and discouraged, could not have hoped to cut their way through. They were reduced to so small a circle of outworks that, whilst they attacked one Grerman corps, they might have been cannonaded in rear by most of the others. In a word, their condition was desperate. What a moment for 98 WAR COERESPONDENCE. the proud ruler of France ! The greatest of his enemies could have wished him nothing worse ; and as it became known that he himself was in the town, that this flag of truce was from the Emperor in person, and that JSTapoleon III. would become a prisoner of war, men gasped for breath. Kouiggratz was a great victory, but was nothing to this. There were murmurs of astonishment, almost of disbelief, as group after group of German officers, along the dusty road, learnt what had happened. It could not be doubted. The Emperor's aide-de-camp had been seen speaking with the King. And now, when it was certain that the news was true, unbounded joy filled the German host. There was a prospect of getting home again ! These stern conquerors of Sedan were quiet citizens from another point of view, and thought that they had done a good share of- fighting for their term of service. G-ermany would be safe in future, and they would have a joyful return, or, better still, first see Paris and then return home. The Crown Prince was wildly cheered as he came back to his quarters at Chemery, Every one was ordered to have lighted candles in their windows, and the soldiers made such a joyous din that there was a panic among the Erench inhabitants. Women screamed, and men retreated to their houses, not knowing what the hubbub might mean. My poor old landlady rushed at me for protection, and clung to my arm, saying, " Ah, monsieur, you will save me, will you not ? Tou can speak to them. You can tell them that I have given all the bread I had. There ia none left ; not even a morsel for my supper! " She trembled with terror as the shouts grew louder, and was only reassured by being told that this wild hurrahing meant " Yive le Prince ! " The Em- peror a prisoner, the army surrendered ! what did villagers know about such great matters ? She hoped there would be peace ; she knew that, and so did they all. It was lucky that an illumination had been ordered, for otherwise somebody must have been run over in the noisy, crowded street. "Yesterday morning, quite early, a carriage containing four French officers drove out from Sedan and came into the German lines. The carriage was accompanied by three officers on horseback, but had no other escort, and when it had got among the Ger- mans one of its occupants put out his head, and asked them, in their own language, where was Count Bismarck ? He must see him at once. The Germans said that Donchery was the most likely spot in which to find the Count, though no one knew exactly his whereabouts. Forward, then, to Donchery. The carriage dashed away, and many a curious glance was cast after it. That short drive was known to be a great historic event. Count Bismarck might live all the years that a courteous SEDAN, 97 Arab would wisli Mm, and never have such another visitor in the early morning. They met at a small house outside the town, on the left bank of the Meuse — a house where, oddly enough, the inmates, being from Luxemburg, spoke both French and German. On his first arrival the Emperor went inside. But it was thought that they could sit more comfortably in the open air — it was a delightfully fine fresh morning — so chairs were placed for them, and there they sat talking for a couple of hours. The Emperor wore the undress uniform of a general, but with one decoration on his breast, and with the usual kepi of the French service. Count Bismarck was in his white cuirassier uniform undress, with a flat cap and Jong boots. If you picture them sitting outside the small house, with the Staff officers present lying on the patch of grass not far off", and the tall poplar trees flanking the eJiaussee as far as it can be seen, you will realize this striking episode. Napoleon looked better in health than last year, but anxious and careworn. He asked to see King William, and said that he placed himself at His Majesty's disposition. As to politics, he avoided all show of dealing in any way, whilst a prisoner, with the fate of France. He surrendered with his army, but could not yield one jot, politically, on behalf of the French people or of the Grovern- ment of the Empress E-egent. Count Bismarck, in his turn, placed before Napoleon the fact that this surrender of Sedan must be complete — I had well-nigh said, must be " uncondi- tional" — but that would be going too far. It must be a complete surrender, because the French were not in a position to ask better terms. The Emperor much desired to see King William before the articles of capitulation were signed. This, however, the King had thought it better, both for himself and his illustrious prisoner, to refuse. They could not so well arrange a hard bargain as could their Ministers and Generals. In everything personal the King was resolved to treat the Emperor with consideration. But as to the question of the terms to be granted, that was another matter. When Napoleon and Bismarck had chatted for a little while more of indifferent things, this long-to-be-remembered interview beside the Meuse was brought to an end. The Count went to prepare his own quarters in Donchery for the Emperor's recep- tion, but it was afterwards decided that a snug chateau near Frenois would be more convenient, as Napoleon wished to be as little seen by people as possible. Hither, then, he was escorted by a detachment of the 1st Prussian Cuirassiers, and here he remained whilst Generals de Wimpffen and Von Moltke discussed the terms of the surrender of Sedan. There was a hard bargain to drive, but proportionate power of driving H 98 WAE CORRESPONDENCE. it. Not an inch of their past gains had been neglected by the Germans. Masses of infantry were posted on every lice of approach to the town, guns were still pointed against the French, and a numerous body of cavalry was ready to sweep down upon any stragglers who should perchance get through in the confusion of a sortie. The King had declared that he should re-open fire if the capitulation were not signed by noon of the 2nd inst. It was altogether a desperate case — a thorough checkmate of a fine but disheartened army. De Wirapfien was convinced of this when Yon Moltke pointed out to him how carefully he had prepared his plans. Sadly and reluctantly the Erench General agreed to sign, as the only thing to be done. The whole army, including the Emperor, were to be considered prisoners of war. There was, indeed, a clause by which the officers were to be at liberty to return home on their written promise not to serve against Prussia or her allies during the present contest. But they were to take their men safely into Germany, and hand them over to German commissioners. Arms and horses, artillery, and war material of all kinds, were to be given up, the town of Sedan was to be thrown open to the Germans, and the Erench soldiers were to be taken out to the meadows in the bend of the Meuse, between Donchery and Sedan, and there encamped until their departure for Germany could be conveniently managed. De Wimpfien spoke bitterly of his having hurried back from Africa only to find such a task as this devolve upon him. It was indeed an ill-omened journey to join a force which he found out-numbered and out-manoeuvred, defeated, one might almost say, before the battle began, and to assist in an act of surrender that would be his eternal regret. King William made a visit to the captive Emperor in the chateau of Erenois yesterday afternoon. Napoleon remained perfectly calm at the beginning of the visit. He received his guest of 1867, and his conqueror of to-day, with grave politeness, spoke with him for a few moments in an outer room, and then with- drew with the King into another room, where no one followed them. The Crown Prince stepped to the door and closed it, and the Erench and German officers present remained some little time waiting before Napoleon and the King returned. What they had said to each other may have concerned the status of the captive Emperor. Certain it is that Napoleon was much affected by the courtesy of King William, and that he expressed to the Crown Prince in warm terms his sense of the generous manner in which he had been treated. To-day, Sep- tember 3rd, the Emperor has started for Aix-la-Chapelle on his way to his future residence in Germany. He is to be lodged during his detention in the Palace of Wilhelmshohe, in Cassel, SEDAW. 99 a palace where once lived his uncle, King Jerome of West- phalia, and which was then called "Napoleonshohe." The Emperor desired to pass as little as might be through Erench territory, and to travel very quietly. His personal luggage, his servants, and his handsomely-appointed carriages, have been allowed to accompany him, with, I believe, a few French officers of his household, whilst General Boyen, of the Prussian army, and Count de Lynar, late Prussian Councillor of Em- bassy in Paris, have been attached to him as aides-de-camp. The muddy streets of Donchery, with their crowd of soldiers and teamsters, of waggons and led horses, were cleared for a few minutes this morning, between nine and half-past nine, that a train of carriages might pass at a trot and take the northern road round the great bend of the river. The people stared with idle wonder. Who could it be ? Another general, perhaps. Alas ! how many generals there were in the world, and how many hungry soldiers ! These people would all join the Peace Society to-morrow if they gave effect to their feelings. Another general ? No, 'tis he himself ! they cry, as they catch sight of the Imperial liveries and of the man in that foremost carriage. 'Tis he himself! Pale and anxious-looking, with his face firm set, but with no overwhelming depression upon it. He glances from the carriage window, and bows in return to the stranger at the corner of the street, who has raised his hat to the fallen Emperor. There are few who raise their hats ; but they are horribly afraid of the German soldiers in these parts, and would think themselves as brave as the old Highlander beneath Montrose's scaffold if they took much notice of Napo- leon. Then, too, I judge by their muttered remarks that the greater part of them are decidedly anti-Imperialists now, what- ever they may have been before the war. The prisoners are even stronger in their language. They have been ruined by imbeciles. They have been betrayed. Their generals ought to be shot. The Emperor found his position so critical in Sedan after the armistice became known, that he was glad to come over and surrender himself, as already described. He could control the storm whilst the men were to fight and die for him, but when it came to all being prisoners together, they were somewhat dangerous in their mood. I hear that this same angry, despairing astonishment at what has happened makes it hard work to manage the eighty thousand prisoners, or more, who have been taken, first and last, about Sedan. There was actual danger of bloodshed this morning when the prisoners began to move out of the town. Happily the officers in com- mand showed admirable tact and firmness. The French kept their old authority by not straining the cord too tight, the H 2 loo WAE coee:espondencb. Germans by not showing themselves too much on the scene. Thousands of men have been coaxed out to the camp to-day, thousands will come out to-morrow. Sedan is presenting the wildest scene of confusion which you can imagine. Narrow streets deep in mud — for we have had heavy rain to-day — the soldiers half drunk with the stores of liquor, the houses half burnt, and dead bodies lying everywhere. There are thousands of wounded men to be cared for. Marshal MacMahon was severely injured in the beginning of the battle, though his life is in no danger, and the loss among the French in superior officers has been something dreadful. You ask, what is to be our next move? I answer, " To Paris." So say the men, so says the whole voice of public rumour and public opinion in the German armies. To Paris, unless the Prench will yield up Strasburg and Metz, and pay the war expenses. Count Bismarck would be content with less, but the German people insist on hard terms, and the German people must be obeyed. To Paris, then, is the cry, and with their accustomed energy the muddy, travel-stained legions of King William are off and away on the road to the French capital. Tou ask what the numbers of the contending armies were in this crowning victory of September 1st. There seems to have been a rather larger French force, and a rather smaller German force, than the officers with whom I spoke had led me to suppose, on the battle-field of Seday. Let us take the German strength at 175,000, and the French strength at 90,000 men, in the great fight of the day before yesterday. Each side had more men in existence, but not ready to hand. The French had another division at Mezieres, which came up and skirmished with the Wiirtembergers, but could effect nothing to relieve the Emperor. The Germans had the tenth division (of the 5th Corps), which never fired a shot or lost a man on September 1st, and they had the 4th Corps, which only came into line at the end of the fight : thus it would seem that about ninety thousand Frenchmen, somewhat discouraged and somewhat disorganized, were caught in a corner by one hundred and seventy thousand Germans ; that the French fought well, but not hopefully ; and that the Germans pressed on with stern indifference to their heavy loss, until they had utterly crippled and hampered their opponents. The German fire centred upon Sedan, and the French fire was distributed in all directions, so there was no parity of loss in killed and wounded. So terrible was the German artillery fire ; so com- pletely were whole French divisions taken in flank, in rear, and all round the compass, as their enemies closed upon them, t'bat it is pretty safe to fix the French loss at about twice that SEDA!«r. iOl of the Grermans, or even two and a lialf times. The mitrail- leuses were of no great service ; the Chassepot was, and is, a splendid arm. If the well-organized, well-handled Grermans had had the Chassepot, and the French had used the needle-gun, there would have been an even greater catastrophe. Then as to the troops engaged. The Prench had a few Zouaves and a good many Turcos, with cavalry, both light and heavy, and a mass of infantry of the line. The Germans had a great many Bavarians — the 1st Bavarian Corps hotly engaged, and the 2nd partly engaged, in the action — a great many Prussians, and among them the Prussian Guard Corps, the finest troops in the country. The Prussian Guards bore a tremendous attack from the Prench on the extreme right, and one regiment alone, that of the Queen of Prussia, or the 4th Grenadier Begiment, lost five hundred men in a battalion a thousand strong — just half the battalion. The French Imperial Guard bore no part in the battle of Sedan, though by an accident of campaigning the French Emperor was taken prisoner. I have seen the greater part of the field of battle — a terrible sight — of which, as far as it assists in understanding what occurred, I will tell you in my next letter. The Emperor Napoleon has recently given the world the exact form of the communications which passed between him and the King of Prussia, on the evening of September 1st: — *' Sire my brother, — Not having been able to die in the midst of my troops, it only remains for me to place my sword in the hands of your Majesty. — I am your Majesty's good brother, **^ Napoleon. ''Sedan, Sept. 1, 1870.'* The King replied as follows : — " Sire my brother, — Begretting the circumstances under which we meet, I accept the sword of your Majesty, and I invite you to designate one of your officers provided with full powers to treat for the capitulation of the army which has so bravely fought under your command. On my side I have named General Moltke for this purpose. — ^^I am your Majesty's good brother, " Wilhelm. '' Before Sedan, Sept. I, \^10.** On the 3rd the Special Correspondent wrote; — The evacuation of the town has gone on in earnest to-day. Already there is a great camp on the peninsula within the bend of the Meuse. The prisoners taken in the battle have gone away in strong detachments, guarded by German troops, and those 102 WAR COERESPONDENCE. who were upon the rainy, muddy road to the rear last night, as was the present writer, saw columDS of Frenchmen tramping briskly along, with the German escort marching by their side in the worst of humours at being so employed, and with blankets muffled over the men's heads to keep off the rain. Well might the villagers stare at so novel a sight — their own country- men blocking the way, but blocking it as prisoners — their own uniform draggeni to prison, as if it were a capital crime to be a Frenchman. The poor folks seemed chiefly anxious to avoid further loss, and chiefly suspicious of soldiers of any kind. But it was clear that amid all their terror and all their fear of downright starvation, they had a warm corner in their hearts for the lads of their own language and nation. I have seen many women to-day cooking for the prisoners and trying to push through the crowd to bring them small dainties. In the church at Donchery there were hundreds of French soldiers collected this morning. Cavalry and infantry. Zouaves and Cuirassiers, huddled together in marvellous fashion. The smart, dashing men whom we have seen when we travelled through France were reduced to a condition of semi-shabbiness and blank despondency which was something new to see. They were wont to be the gayest fellows in the world, and here were rolled up, tumbled over, and generally " done for," by men whom they had been rash enough to despise. I rode over the greater part of the battle-field yesterday morning — the morning after the fight. It was a shocking thing to see so many dead men and wounded men, and dead and wounded horses, crowded together in some places. It was a sight to cause reflections, as the old Frenchman said who lived in the village where the fighting had been hottest. " Ah ! man Dieu, Monsieur, c'est Id la guerre.^^ He took a sombre view of la guerre, for the scene was horrible. With two friends who were anxious to study the positions of the armies contending on September 1st, I went round through Donchery and past the great bend of the Meuse, came towards the French lines as the 11th Prussian Corps had come, and pushing southward between the outposts of the hostile armies, traversed the rail- way bridge at Bazeilles, to return to head-quarters. The first sign of active and immediate war was the block of prisoners at Donchery. There they were, of all arms of the service, the dark-faced Turco and the young boyish conscript, collected in a mass, ready to be marched away. The plain beyond Donchery was covered with slightly wounded men wandering to the rear. French and German, friend and foe, it mattered not ; they went amicably along, the common suflfering making them friends. No one seemed to dream of further violence and BEDAir. 103 further fighting. The battle was over, and they were glad to creep together to the rear, with little civilities exchanged in the way of pipe-lights and sips of brandy, and with no more hostile feeling than two patients already in an hospital. We passed hundreds of them as we went round the bend of the stream and came upon the first signs of the conflict of the day before. There was a dead horse, a cuirass, a heap of broken weapons. In this cottage were several wounded Frenchmen, taking some soup with a wounded Prussian, who seemed almost too much hurt to eat. Behind the garden wall was a dead cuirassier, his hands clutching the grass in the agony of death, his face stern and determined. No one noticed him any more than if he were a dead horse. In quiet England whole districts will turn out to see a murdered family, and here on a battle-field the same murdered family would be trampled into the mud without being noticed. This meadow on the hill-side is full of mangled horses and dead cuirassiers. It was here that they made a frantic attempt to break through, and were mowed down by the Prussian fusilade. You must have been on several battle-fields to understand the signs of what has taken place by the look of the spot next morning. This group of dead horses, with a helmet or two and a dozen cuirasses, with a broken trumpet and three dead cuirassiers, means serious work. The dark stains on the ground are where the wounded have lain and been removed. The little heap of swords under that hedge is where some dismounted troopers were forced to surrender. Then we come to Prussian helmets crushed and trampled. Some are marked by shell or bullet, and have blood upon them. They tell of loss to the regiment to which they belonged. Others have no particular trace of violence, and may either be signs of wounded men, or of men who have simply thrown their helmets away in the heat of action, and put on their forage caps to march more lightly. These dark stains, surrounded by knapsack and rifle, by great-coat and cooking tin, are where men have lain who have been badly wounded, but whose friends have made them as comfortable as could be under the difficulties of the time. One has a little shelter of twigs and branches put to keep off" the sun ; another has had a blanket propped on two rifles, and his knapsack for a pillow. But he has died in the night, and is left with his cloak over his face until the burying party shall come round. See yonder drums and knapsacks, stains of blood, and dead men lying on their faces. It is where a blow has been struck at some infantry regiment. The men have fallen under a musketry fire, and the line of dead shows where the ground was held. Gome a few steps farther to the rear. You perceive 104 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. a few more dead men, shot whilst in flight, and a number of bright, well-cleaned rifles scattered on the turf. This is where the regiment broke and fled, where some perished with their backs to the foe, and others threw down their arms. We might gather the minutest details of the loss on either side if only human strength and energy sufficed to traverse this immense tract in a single morning. When another day has passed, and the dead are buried and the arms collected, it is difficult to judge of the fight by seeing the ground; whilst on the third or fourth day, the dead horses become so much decayed that, until they are removed, it is well-nigh impossible to move about where they have fallen. All honour to the helpers of the wounded — to the regular and volunteer hospital assistants. Their red-cross badge must be a joy to many a sufferer; and though some who wear the badge seem disposed to "loaf" about rather than to be helpful and active, yet the greater part do their duty well. The better sort of volunteers in the work — the Sisters of Charity and surgeons who have donned the badge — are full of zeal. Some of the best families in Germany are represented among these helpers of the wounded; there are several foreigners, too, engaged in the common cause of humanity. Thanks to all that is done, the wounded are so soon removed to villages or placed under some sort of shelter, that even next morning there are but few of them to be seen on the ground. They are being brought to the nearest ambu- lance waggon on stretchers, with many cries and groans, Heaven help them ! or are lodged in a cottage near the field, or are carefully bandaged up and laid on straw, and sent jolting pain- fully away in country carts to a more remote hospital. We found the hill-side north-west of Sedan covered with dead men and horses. The village in the hollow between the hostile lines was not much knocked about, and there were few shell- marks on the road leading up to the summit. But once arrived at the point where the Prussian fire had begun to tell, we found traces of its terrible effect. Here lay a dead horse in the middle of the road, with saddle and bridle, just as it had fallen. Here was a Frenchman, shot through the head, behind a small clump of earth, where he had taken shelter in skirmishing. Then there were several more horses and men lying upon the road ; and at length a slight breastwork to either side, carried along the ridge of the hill, and full of French soldiers who had died in its defence. The ground began to be ploughed up with the shell-fire from the opposite rising ground, where the Prus- > sian artillery so long remained. Near the two trees and the cottage prominent on the summit, were traces of the sharp fighting which I had observed the previous day. A mitrailleuse SEDAN. 106 battery, of four pieces, was surrounded with dead bodies ; horses and men were lying on all sides — I cannot quite say in heaps, but very thickly scattered. At one place there were horses as thick as they could lie. But this was a little farther down the slope to the southward, where I had seen that gallant cavalry charge. The Chasseurs-a-cheval and the Chasseurs d'Afrique had dashed along the hill-side, half hidden in the dust which they raised, and had been destroyed by a steady fusilade. Here lay the famous light horsemen, with their bright uniforms dabbled in blood, and their fiery little steeds crushed and mangled by Prussian shells. Most of the men and horses now on the ground were dead, but some few wounded men yet lingered in agony, with white rings tied to sticks that were planted beside them as a means of calling the surgeon's atten- tion when he should have time to revisit them. The badly wounded horses, more fortunate for once in being brutes, had been, killed to put them out of pain, and only a stray horse slightly wounded stood dismally here and there, wondering, perhaps, what it could all mean. Behind the scene of the light cavalry charge is a ravine that separates this shoulder of the rising ground from that immediately above Sedan. In the ravine there had been great slaughter at the end of the fight, when the French were crowded together from difierent points. Up behind the woods on the farthest summit of the rising ground was all the debris of a rout. It had been clear, even from a distance, that the beaten army struggled hard. Yet, nevertheless, they had been beaten, and here were arras thrown down, waggons abandoned, caps and coats, swords and rifles of every branch of the service, lying scattered on the ground. Some considerable body of troops, cut off from Sedan by the advance of the Prussians, had tried to break through to the town, and had been dispersed or captured. The whole of the northward and north-eastward slopes — of what we may call from this side the country — at the back of the town, showed traces of this crowding together and of the heavy cross-fire of German artillery, which had begun so soon as the circle of the attack became narrowed to a sufficient degree. Nearly 100,000 men, as now appears, were hampered and shut in by less than 200,000 of their enemies. No amount of devotion could extricate the Prench army when once it had become the centre of a converging fire. The ghastly wounds inflicted on most of the Prench dead whom I saw upon the hill, showed that they had fallen under an artillery fire, and the ground was in many places so ploughed up that a blanket could scarcely have been laid on it without covering some spot where a shell had exploded. The thick woods at the 106 WAE CORRESPONDENCE. back of the town were full of wreck and rubbish — abandoned waggons, with the dead horses at the side, to sliow why they had been so left ; stores of biscuit, harness, and soldiers' knap- sacks were still very plentiful as one approached the village of Bazeilles, southward of Sedan, where the Bavarians had fought. The village was on fire, and the streets presented shocking sights to scare away the inhabitants again for a couple of days more, should they now return. The half-burnt bodies of Frenchmen and Bavarians were being brought out from amoDg ruins, and laid by the roadside. Men yet living, but terribly wounded and scorched, were moved on litters to beyond the stifling smoke of the conflagration. There was reason to fear that many poor lads had been literally roasted when the fire came upon them, and their wounds forbade all hope of escape. This village was, perhaps, the gloomiest part of all the acres of pain and death spread around Sedan. The interior of the town itself is said to be very much injured, but that I have not yet had time to visit. CHAPTER VIII. The capitulation of an army of eighty thousand men at Sedan — an event unparalleled in military annals, and almost incredible — could only be regarded by all serious and intelligent Frenchmen as a great national disaster. Nevertheless, at Paris, for the moment, all regret was forgotten in the consolatory thought that BOW at length the Empire— the mysterious source of every kind of misfortune— must inevitably disappear. A stormy meeting in the Chamber, and a little stammering on the part of the Minis- ters, and then the l^impire vanished. Count Palikao informed the Empress on the 4th of September that he could not answer for her safety much longer, and Her Majesty quietly withdrew from France. When, on the same day, a number of representa- tives of Paris declared themselves a National Government, and severally repaired to take possession of the public offices, they found the places vacant, and occupied them without resistance. The reception of the news of Sedan was thus described by a "Parisian Resident" (later "A Besieged Resident"), writing on Sunday, September 4th: — The news of the Emperor's capture reached the foreign embassies here at ten yesterday morning. At about eight o'clock it began to be rumoured tliat the Emperor and MacMahon's army had surrendered. I saw a crowd of about 2,000 men going down the Boulevard, and shouting, "La decheance !" I took the arm of a PARIS. 107 patriot, and . we all went together to the Louvre to interview General Trochu. He came out after we had shouted for him about half an hour, and a deputation had gone in to him. There was a dead silence as soon as he appeared, so what he said could be distinctly heard. He told us that the news of the capture of the Emperor was true, and that as for arms, he could not give more than he had, and he regretted to say that the millions on paper were not forthcoming. Linked to the arm of my patriot, I then went with the crowd to look up the deputies of the Left, but none of them were at home. The patriot said that he had heard that there was to be a night sitting of the Corps Legislatif, so, after refreshing at a cafe, he and I, with two other gentlemen in blouses, went off to the Place de la Concorde. We crossed the bridge, and joined a crowd standing before the Palais du Corps Legislatif. A few minutes after we were there, however, we were forced back across the river by a squadron of Gardes de Paris. In the crowd I lost two of my friends, and found myself alone with one of theblouses. He told me that he was a Republican, and that he meant to fight the next day as^ainst the Empire, and then against the Prussians. We sat talking on the parapet of the quay until about 1.30, when the Gardes de Paris fell back, and 1 not only got across the river, but into a gallery of the Chamber. There were hardly any deputies present, but gradually they came in and took their seats. M. Schneider, the President, appeared, and explained that at the request of sevei'al deputies he had called them together ; and then General Palikao ascended the tribune, and in the midst of a solemn silence made the statement which you, by the time you receive this, will know. Jules Favre followed him to the tribune, and proposed to declare the decheance. Again silence. At last General Palikao, and after him the President, suggested that it would be well to adjourn until the next morning, and the deputies slowly left. Anything at once so quiet and so lugubrious I never witnessed. When Blouse and I went out the crowd outside had entirely disappeared, and so, shaking hands, we parted, and I went through the silent streets home. This morning when Paris awoke it found the walls placarded with the address of the Ministers. At eleven o'clock I went to the Place de la Concorde. It was full of people, and from all the streets leading to it armed bands of National Guards were marching. A double line of mounted Gardes de Paris v/as drawn up before the bridge. I got behind them. The first band of National Guards which tried to pass the bridge were for- bidden to do so by the officer commanding the Gardes de Paris. He ordered his soldiers to draw their swords, and the National 108' WAR CORRESPONDENCE. Guards on their side shouted, "En avant." I began to feel somewhat uncomfortable ; but, after a short parley, the soldiers sheathed their swords, and the National Guards passed over the bridge, shouting, " Vive la Republique ! " This band was followed by many others, until I suppose about 20,000 National Guards had passed the bridge and stood round the Assembly, the flag of which was now flying to show that the seance had commenced. By this time there must have been 100,000 men and w^men in the Place de la Concorde. This crowd was com- posed of working men, loungers, women, children, and soldiers. Every now and then there was a panic and a rush, but as every one seemed to be of one mind, there was no danger of blood being shed. The following expression I heard about a hundred times, and it sums up the feeling of the Parisians — "An Emperor dies, but does not surrender." On all sides I heard abuse lavished on the Emperor. Every now and then some wiry working man got upon the shoulder of a friend, and shouted, " Vive la Republique ! " "A bas I'Empereur ! " when the cry was repeated all around him. Round the gate of the gardens of the Tuileries, which were closed, there was a large crowd. At one time I thought they were going to force open the gate, and attack the few soldiers who were on guard within. Indeed, the garden was only saved by a Zouave inside, who knew his countrymen, dancing the cancan. After remaining about two hours on the Place de la Concorde, I went to the Boulevards ; they were occupied by a pacific crowd waiting for news. Suddenly a cry was raised, "La Republique est declaree." A regiment, the only one which I had seen that day, was marching down. At that moment it was met by a detachment of the National Guard coming from the Chamber. Guard, regiment, and people immediately fraternized ; the sol- diers all reversed their arms. The " Marseillaise " was sung, and the soldiers disappeared into the neighbouring cafes, where they were treated to drink. From the aspect of Paris, one would suppose that news of a great victory had been received. Such perfect unanimity I never witnessed. As it is Sunday, the people are walking about with their wives and children in holiday dress. The Gardes Nationales are marching home along the Boulevards as though they had come from a review. The windows and the pavements are lined with people cheering them. It is felt by all that the surrender of the Chief of the State must be repudiated by the nation ; that it has been repudiated ; and that the dishonour falls consequently on the man, and not on France. The Paris Correspondent, writing also on the 4th of September, thus described the events of that memorable day : — . THE EEPUBLIC. l09 I have ^witnessed a peaceful revolution in Paris, with results as great as the bloodiest ever known in this city of revolutions. I am about to describe in few words for this post strictly what I saw, and I had the luck to see a great deal. Knowing that the Corps Legislatif was to hold an extraordinary sitting at one o'clock, I got into a carriage at two, and told the driver to go to the Champs Eiysees, hang about the Place de la Concorde, and get over one of the bridges to the Faubourg St. Germain. He objected that there were great crowds in the route I had marked out for him, and doubted whether he could get along. *'Try," said I, and so he did, and we succeeded. On the Place de la Concorde there were many groups of people and several companies of National Guards, but still carriages could circulate. I observed that the National Guards carried laurels on their bayonets, and that numbers of citizens had sprigs of green (meant to represent laurels) in their hats. The laurels could not mean victory over the foreign enemy ; but they were worn as emblems of victory over the internal enemy — the Emperor. My attention was attracted to one of the colossal allegorical statues at the north-east comer of the Place, representing the City of Strasburg. This statue w^as decked out with flowers, and an enormous placard was hung round the neck bearing the words "Honour and glory to General Uhrich." A succes- sion of democratic orators mounted the parapet at the foot of the statue and harangued a vast crowd with great success. I could not get near enough to hear their eloquence, but it was about the Republic, and the certain victory which the Republic could bring. I then turned my carriage and went towards the Place de la Concorde. The approaches were occupied by troops, and it was impossible to cross. I observed the steps of the Corps Legislatif on the other side of the river covered with people, and saw that the quays, right and left, were closely studded with infantry, cavalry, National Guards, and people, all mixed up together. At this moment the weather was beau- tiful—it was one of the most glorious early September days ever seen. I drove slowly along the quay parallel with the orangery of the Tuileries towards the palace. The Tuileries gardens were full -of people. I learned that in the morning orders had been given to close the gates, but that half an hour before I passed the people had forced them open, and that neither the troops nor the police made any resistance. My coachman, who, I dare say, was an Imperialist yesterday, but was a very strong Republican to-day, pointed out to me several groups of people bearing red flags. I told him that the tricolour betokening the presence of the Empress still floated from the central tower of the Tuileries. While I was speaking, and 110 WAB CORRESPONDENCE. exactly at twenty minutes past three, I saw that flag tali en down. That is an event in a man's life not to be forgotten. Crossing over the Pont de Solferino to the Quai d'Orsay, I witnessed an extraordinary sight indeed. From the windows of those great barracks, formerly peopled with troops every man of whom was supposed to be ready to die for his Emperor, I saw soldiers smiling, waving handkerchiefs, and responding to the cries of " Vive la Republique," raised by gendarmes, cavalry, soldiers of the line. National Guards, and people below. Well dressed ladies in open carriages shook hands with private soldiers and men in blouses, all crying, "Vive la Republique." Nay, strangers fell on each other's necks and kissed each other with " effusion." In the neighbourhood of the Pont Neuf I saw people on the tops of ladders busily pulling down the Emperor's bust, which the late loyalty of the people induced them to stick • about in all possible and impossible places. I saw the busts carried in mock procession to the parapet of the Pont Neuf and thrown into the Seine ; clapping of hands and hearty laughter greeting the splash which the graven image of the mighty monarch made in the water. I went as far as the Hotel de Ville, and found it in possession of His Majesty the Sovereign People. Blouses were in every one of M. Haussmann's balconies. How they got there I do not know. I presume that M. Chevreau did not invite them. But they got in somehow without violence. The great square in front of the Hotel de Ville was full of National Guards, most of them without uniform. They carried the butts of their muskets in the air, in token that they were fraternizing with the people. The most perfect good humour prevailed. Portraits of the Em- peror and Empress, which many of your readers must have seen in the Hotel de Ville ball-rooms, were thrown out of the window, and the people trod and danced upon the canvas. On leaving the Hotel de Ville, I saw, in the Avenue Victoria, M. Henri Rochefort let out of prison, as a logical consequence of events, but half an hour before. He was on a triumphal car, and wore a scarlet scarf. He was escorted by an immense mob, crying, " Vive Rochefort ! " He looked in far better health than I expected to see him after his long imprisonment, and his countenance beamed with delight. He has seen his desire on his enemy. This bloodless revolution seems to have been thoroughly effected so far as Paris can do it, but I am not yet able to say precisely how etfectually it has been done. The Senate, which, if the Republic proclaimed to-day holds its own, will be to-morrow but a set of elderly gentlemen lamenting over the loss of their positions, made a show of fighting this afternoon, and took THE PROVISIONAL GOYEBNMENT. HI their stand as ** illustrations of the Empire and guardians of the Constitution." A M. de Chabriat, as soon as M. Rouher took the chair, said that some deputies, forgetting their oath, had moved the deposition of the Emperor, They had no right to do this. He was vanquished and a prisoner, and he, the speaker, would pay a last homage to him, and cry, "Vive I'Empereur ! " Several senators (there were not many of them present) cried, "Vive I'Empereur !" M. Rouher said very gal- lantly that any such vote as that which their colleagues had mentioned as likely to be sent up to them from the other House, would be firmly repudiated. He proposed an adjourn- ment for two hours. At two o'clock the Senate met again, and then M. Rouher alluded to a proposal for the Emperor's ab- dication, moved by M.Jules Favre; but said, that inasmuch as the populace had broken into the Chamber, the vote amounted to nothing. A valiant senator exclaimed, " We are here by virtue of the Plebiscite, and we protest against force and violence." The Senate then agreed to adjourn, and I dare say it will never meet again. Requiescat ! I said a great deal more harm of it when it was created in 1852 than I care to say now. In the Corps Legislatif to-day, Count Palikao himself proposed the election of a sort of Provisional Government, but he himself was to have been at the head of it, and M. Thiers was to have been a member. Subsequently the Left, supported by the National Guard and the populace, who made a bloodless charge upon the line, and got into the Chamber, became so strong that all the. Ministry, followed by most of the members of the Right, left the House, and the Opposition had it all its own way. At four o'clock the Republic was proclaimed at the Hotel de Ville, with the following Provisional Government:-— MM. Gambetta, Jules Favre, Pelletan, Rochefort, Jules Ferry, Jules Simon, Ernest Picard; Keratry, Prefect of Police; Arago, Mayor of Paris. I cannot tell whether to-morrow this Government will be dis- puted by anybody; all I can say is, that to-night nobody disputes the Republic. The sergents de ville who yesterday fired a volley upon the procession which cried " Decheance ! " now keep themselves out of sight. The fraternization between the military and the people in the name of the Republic is so palpable and universal, that I do not think Count de Palikao could achieve a massacre if he cared to order one. An old Republican journalist, whose patriotism is undoubted, said to me to-day, while sobbing with sorrow at the French reverses, "This proves that Pretorian soldiers are no match for free men." My friend is perhaps right so far, and there is much comfort in the thought. But I could not without hurting 112 WAB COEEESPONDENCE. his feelings say to him what I now say to your readers, that in my opinion the change in the form of government from an Empire to a Kepublic will not enable the French nation, after having lost the flower of its army, to resist the disciplined and hitherto victorious invaders. This, however, is not the French opinion, and it would not be safe to express it in any French society whatever. I am afraid that rivers of blood must yet flow . before the impulsive French people become alive to this truth. It does not matter that many of the comparatively disciplined troops of MacMahon fled like sheep when the balls began to whistle about their ears. They have an intense belief in " France rising in its might," and fancy that the thousands of civilians now walking about the streets with guns in their liands, will do better than the trained soldiers who have been beaten under the best generals that France could produce. And yet when these men, whose trade is war, and who from training and esprit de corps will run risks of life which are to civilians incomprehensible, yield to stern necessity and surrender rather than die, the deluded citizens of Paris imagine that men having no military qualities or habits at all will die to the last man on the Paris fortifications rather than allow the serried legions of the Red Prince to parade the streets of Paris. A caricature of Gill in the "Eclipse" precisely represents the feeling of Paris at this moment. Paris, standing on her fortifications, is depicted by a female figure called Judith. Outside is the King of Prussia in the guise of Holofernes. Judith beckons to Holofernes, and says "Come here!" and the obvious moral is that if he listens to the voice of the charmer it will be all up with him. At eleven this evening Henri Rochefort passed in triumph all along the Boulevards. Soldiers of all arms marched behind him carrying lanterns. Who could have imagined such a scene when the first number of his Lanterne came out ? Before the new Ministers were settled in their places, they learned that the German armies which had fought at Sedan were already on their way to Paris, and it became necessary to provide at once for the defence of the capital. No more was heard of saving France by pompiers : the people themselves were imme- diately armed as far as the resources of the Minister of War would permit, and the completion of the fortifications was seriously taken in hand. It was too soon to think of creating a new field army. Metz, it was believed, might yet be saved by the valour and prudence of Bazaine. The city of Strasburg received honoui^s in decrees, and in demonstrations before its allegorical statue in Paris, and Toul was declared to have deserved well of the country. But a Government whose members had formerly been THE GOOSE STEP. 113 elected deputies by Paris held that its first duty was to the capital. It, however, at once gave freedom and an impulse to the military spirit of all France, such as the fallen Government had been afraid to venture on. The consequence was, that in scores of departments scenes might be encountered such as this, described by the Paris Correspondent on a journey through Western France: — I arrived very late at the pretty little old Norman town of Alen^on, and slept there. At seven in the morning I witnessed a scene, the counterpart of which was, I believe, going on in almost every town in France. The public promenade, a pretty trian- gular green bordered with chestnut trees, was covered as thickly as the great square in Chatham barracks at the same hour, with squads of recruits, going through various stages of primary drill. These were fair specimens of the levy en masse now going on throughout France, and which sanguine Frenchmen, especially Parisians, hope will destroy the Prussian invader without fail, even if the extinction of the regular army should be completed. The squads which I saw consisted of men of all ages and all ranks. The majority, of course, belonged to the humbler classes, but side by side with the blue blouse were many portly citizens clad in broadcloth. Some of them, at the ripe age of sixty, were learning the goose step for the first time. They had none of them either arms or uniform, and I doubt whether there are any arms in the town. But they very conscientiously went through the duty required of them by the drill sergeants of squaring their toes, keeping their heels together, doing right and left face, with as much unanimity as the stiff joints of some of the oldest among them permitted, and putting the left foot first on the word given, " The line will advance — mar-r-ch." The drill sergeants were all simple fellows, whose knowledge was derived from former service in the army. They wore their every-day working costume. One of them, a cook at an inn, drilled his squad in his white paper cap and cotton apron. A more characteristic type of a citizen soldier could not be seen. If this civic force of Alen9oa should persevere in the efforts which I saw for a month, they will certainly by that time be able to form four deep, wheel into line, and even form square very creditably. But if in the mean- time, or even for a good while afterwards, four Prussian Uhlans should take a fancy to gallop into Alengon, as the inhabitants now grievously fear they will, I am afraid all the drilling will turn out of small avail for the defence of the town. It would be more to the purpose if, instead of all this scientific corpora-l's drill, the volunteers were to be at once put to ball-practice. X 114 WAR COEERSPONDENCE. A good weapon, a good aim, and a good heart might do a good deal at a push, even if keeping step and marching shoulder to shoulder were left to the spur of the moment. CHAPTER IX. The Third and Fourth German Armies had now their way open to Paris, for after the Army of the North, as that of MacMahon was called, had failed even more disastrously than the Army of the Ehine, France had no other to place in the field. But the distance to be traversed was great, and although the Germans took up their position before Paris fifteen days after their first corps had set out from Sedan, a fortnight seemed a long time to pass without some signal occurrence. The Crown Prince of Saxony moved along the valley of the Marne by Chateau Thierry and Meaux to Lagny, while the Crown Prince of Prussia advanced by Montmirail, Coulommiers, and Brie Comte Robert. The Cor- respondent with the Crown Prince of Prussia's army wrote from Montmirail, on the iJ^th of September :— Montmirail is a small place when compared with the fine city of Rheims, through which I have passed on my way hither. In Rheims, with its glorious cathedral and its memories of Royal coronations, there is gloom and restraint. The enemy have taken possession of the city. King William himself is there. The King's head-quarters are established in the episcopal palace beside the cathedral, and the head- quarters of the WUrtemberg Corps, which garrisons the city, are established in the hotel before the cathedral door. Officers come and go, horses clatter over the stones, and orderlies trot in and out with incessant bustle. But though there is plenty of life in one sense, yet Rheims is gloomy and restrained. The people do not like it, and they cannot prevent it. Here are enemies far milder than the invaders of 1814. I saw dozens of young women passing across the public square on their way to the cathedral, and they had no violence to fear. 1 saw shops open, which were receiving money payments for the purchases of the soldiery. But it is hard to be ordered about by strangers and enemies when we have been led to think ourselves beyond all attack. The mayor has to advise his townsfolk earnestly to abstain from violence, and the Prussian authorities make such requisitions as they think necessary for the good of their service. These requisitions are made on the city, it is fair to add, and the private citizen has only to provide food for the soldiers actually quartered upon himv He need not let himself be bullied by NACH PARIS. 115 any chance soldier even out of a morsel of bread. King William has resolved that no irregular exactions shall cause the people greater suffering than the war must, perforce, inflict. It is difficult to prevent small irregularities and petty plun- dering, but these things press more harshly on country villages than on a city like Kheims, where His Majesty himself is quartered. Whilst the rain poured in torrents on the gusty September days which followed the great victory, there was ceaseless trampling of mud and splashing up of muddy water in the town and on the battle-field of Sedan. Thousands came and went along the road to the Belgian frontier, until this same road, so quiet at ordinary times, was made the busiest of international thoroughfares. Thousands marched away towards Germany with heavy steps and grave downcast faces. These were the French prisoners. Who could say what foolish dreams of easy victory and of promenades militaires had floated through their heads a month before? They had misunderstood the case, they had been ill commanded and signally overthrown. But it was impossible not to pity the poor fellows as they went by in long mud-splashed columns, their gay uniforms utterly faded, their small relics of equipment carried with anxious care. Here was one with a saddle-cloth held over his shoulders to keep off the rain, and an empty cooking tin clutched in his other hand. Then came, perhaps, a couple whose great-coats were to the fore, but who had nothing else. Then a man fairly drenched in his uniform coat, yet with the rare luxury of a knapsack, and with the suspicion of a pair of boots therein. So they went by in never-ending columns. Batches of men in great distress from damp and hunger. Other batches seemingly more fortunate, better clothed, or, for some reason, better pro- vided. The cavalry without their horses, the infantry without their heavy load of sack and coat, and tent, which is almost part of themselves. There was dismal work to be done amid all the rain and mud of the days which followed the great victory. The dead were to be buried and the wounded were to be removed for fear of sickness. As late as the fourth day there were dozens of dead Frenchmen on the road between Sedan and Givonne, and it was not until the sixth day after the battle that the dead horses were seriously dealt with. So many men still living, but suffering great agony, claimed the care of all who could lend a helping hand, that to leave the dead unburied for awhile was as nothing in comparison. In the villages, on the battle-field itself, there was scarcely a foot of shelter to be found unoccupied. Every house had a garrison of wounded I 2 116 TVJLR CORRESPONDENCE. men, and the doctors were busy with their drugs and their instruments working hard to reUeve the sufferers. The red cross of the hospital assistants was to be seen in all directions. If there was a mass of sufferers to be helped and tended, there was also a widespread organization to bring them help. Wounded men were in the villages and in the town. They were taken over the Belgian frontier, to be conveyed away by rail to France or Germany. They were spread farther and farther, by slow degrees, from the spot where they had fallen, in order that there might be better means of caring for them and less chance of infection. It often seemed that common suffering and mutual helplessness had made the enemies of a few hours before quite forget their hostile attitude. I remember noticing on the morning after the battle, that Frenchmen and Germans limped along together in forlorn groups of twenty or a dozen, without the least sign of enmity, in fact with tolerable polite- ness one to another. These lightly-wounded men found their way to the rear at their own pace, often stopping to rest. You might have seen at times a soldier of either side chatting in broken fashion, by signs and stray words, to some soldiers, also wounded, of the other side. Or it would happen that the courtesies of a resting-place beside the road, of a sheltered corner, or grassy bank, were done with a simple nod and grunt of welcome by the first comers to the sometime enemy, who limped up with an imploring look. Between the unwounded prisoners and their guard it could not but be that roughness and jealousy should appear. The prisoners were sullen of mood, the guard put over them were disposed to try whether loud speaking would not make German cleaily comprehended. But the wounded, conquerors and conquered, got on together ex- cellently well. They had a fellow-feeling which made them almost friends. All through the fertile province of Champagne, down the straight chauss('es, with their lines of poplar trees, and among the pleasant villages on the vine-covered slopes, the Prussians have advanced towards Paris. There was a great bend to the northward when the Crown Prince swung round upon Mac- Mfihon and pinned him in against the Belgian frontier at Sedan. Tliere was a momentary pause after the success of September — a pause merely to rest the exhausted troops, and then a second movement as decided and almost as rapid as that of the shutting in of MacMahon. The German forces returned to the . main road to their promised goal. They came slanting back to the line of the Marne, and occupied village after village, town after town, with astonishing quickness. The French had no time to prepare a systematic defence. Before the National NACH PAEIS. 117 Guard could even be armed, far less exercised, those fluttering pennants of black and white which told of the Prussian Lancers, or those spiked helmets of the Prussian Dragoons, were seen approaching. Everything had to be abandoned. The armed force, such as it was, dispersed or retreated, and the people submitted themselves to the inevitable in the way of war con- tributions. It has been such a flood of invasion as has been seldom seen in the history of the world. There has been the energy of some Teutonic inroad of the fifth century combined with the careful preparation of modern thought and science. The rough cavaliers who lead the way are indifferent to hardship and danger. With them it is a change from damp bivouacs o-ne day, to snug quarters in a fine old chateau on the next. They take good and evil fortune as it happens to come, live well when they can, and frighten the inhabitants far more than they hurt them. Then follow the regular brigades and divisions, the artillery and ammunition, of the main army. Guns are dragged steadily forward, waggons block up the roads, whole fields and hill-sides are turned into camps, as the army advances. There is no delay in the rear. More and more waggons come streaming up from every depot of provisions. The field telegraph is brought into play as fast as possible, and the field hospitals are got ready, stage after stage, for the sick or wounded who may require help. To travel up to head-quarters when one has lingered a few days behind the great machine is a curious study. In some respects, it is painful to pass through a country so occupied and overwhelmed by soldiers. There are no blazing ruins to tell of an enemy's passage, no women complaining of outrage, no bodies of mur- dered men lying in the streets, as in bad old wars of other times. But there is a pitiful scarcity of food and a sullen tone of despair among the inhabitants. They have been eaten up, they say. Not a drop of wine is left, not a crust of bread. If this goes on much longer they must starve. Take any small village by the wayside. Let a force of hungry, thirsty men, march through such village, and the result is certain. Food will be devoured, liquor will disappear, the people will groan over their losses, as well they may, poor souls ! Yet with remembrance of what has been in war, and of what might be again, these villagers are rather to be congratulated that they live in times like ours. The dreaded foe has been among them, and this is all that has been done. To travel up from the rear to the front of the invading army gives a better notion of the vast scale of the operations against Paris than any one sight along the front. These whole districts occupied by foreign troops, these different corps scattered over 118 WAB COBRESPONDENCE. the country, far and wide, are deeply suggestive. Since Louis Napoleon was captured at Sedan, and eighty-six thousand un- wounded prisoners were taken, there has been nothing to shield Paris from attack save time and distance. General Vinoy, however brave and skilful, cannot attempt the task ; he can only concentrate his small force to defend the city. There will be no serious fighting, it is thought, until the Prussians are actually at St. Denis or Vincennes. It is out of the question for the French to risk a battle in the open field with their raw levies against King William's veterans. Marvellous change of position ! Incredible overturn of power ! Here is unhappy France too weak to take the field, too proud, it is to be feared, to submit to her hard fate. The splendid regiments which should have protected her capital, the Zouaves and Chasseurs- a-pied, the Grenadiers of the Guard, and the dark-faced Turcos, are slaughtered or imprisoned. Som.e are shut up in Metz, some have tramped away through the rain and mud from Sedan under the escort of Bavarian cavalry. Never was a stranger confusion of misfortunes than the capture of the Emperor away from his Guard — the Emperor in Sedan, the Guard in Metz — and the leaving of Paris utterly exposed, whilst France is still eager to resist any dismemberment. If we look round to see how the game must now be played, we find that the Germans are advancing in open order over the whole country to the west of the capital. Their force is well in hand, and could be collected at a day's notice. But as France is paralyzed for thet irae, it is better, for the comfort and nourishment of the troops, to move in open order. You will probably hear of a move to the southward of Paris, just as there has been a move to the southward of Metz, and of the army of Mac M ah on at Sedan. When Paris is cut off from the rest of France, when its water supply is stopped and its immense population is threatened with famine, there will be a question of surrender. Already the Prussian light horsemen are working round on both flanks, and they are expected to cut the last remaining railway line in another day. It is not thought that heavy guns will be brought up to batter the French defences, because the city is to be reduced by a blockade rather than by a siege. The chateau of the Duke de la Kochefoucauld has been the Crown Prince's head-quarters in Montmirail, a spacious building, handsomely furnished. This chateau is one of the best quarters that His Royal Highness has had since the beginning of the war. There is a large park-like garden with well-grown timber, and with a beautiful view across the neighbouring valley. The fact of foreign conquest and foreign occupation is best realized ITACH PAEIS. 119 when Prussian helmets and Prussian uniforms are seen in these stately dwellings of the French nobility. There can be no doubt about it. Here are the invaders in the very midst of French life, in the very richest parts of La Belle France. On yonder hill is the monument to the battle of Montmirail in 1814. Napoleon I. surprised the Prussians and defeated them with great loss. I have spoken with an old peasant who remembers the fight. "AlU" says he, '*it was a victory for us that time, sir; Napoleon was there." And then, as if to prevent any mistake, he adds : "Napoleon the First, I mean. You know, he could beat the Prussians." Poor old peasant! 'tis a sorry comfort. From Coulommiers the same Correspondent wrote, on the 16th of September : — Since I wrote to you from the little town of Montmirail, our last halting-place, twenty-four miles have been struck off the short distance to the French capital. Tn another twenty-four miles we shall be almost within range of the outlying forts. Two more such marches would bring us to the region of Vei'sailles. The plot thickens day by day, and there is no doubt but that the coil of the blockade is about to be tightly drawn round the doomed city. King William has come from Eheiras to Chateau Thierry, and will be in Meaux either to-morrow or on Sunday, whilst the Crown Prince moves more to the southward, thrusting his forces between Paris and the rest of France. Within a week the blockade will be as complete as so vast a circle will admit. Every possible avenue of approach will be threatened by the Germans, and most of them will be strongly occupied. The French Government will have to abandon its capital for fear of being cut off from France without the walls, or to abandon France without the walls that it may superintend the defence of the capital. You may, perhaps, hear that General Vinoy, or some other French commander, is manoeuvring to the southward of the German line, to draw away the assailants from Paris. But unless he can turn the tide of success which has borne the Germans forward thus far into the heart of France, he will only waste his efforts in a vain attempt. Paris is not to be besieged. No heavy guns are to be brought against it, no batteries erected. The intolerable loss and dis- comfort of a blockade, however roughly maintained, is thought enough to bring the capital to terms. If there were nothing but troops of lancers threatening the railways and cutting off a supply of fruit from the neighbouring gardens, a city like Paris would soon be ruined. Add the w*hole deprivation that threatening the railways must produce, and you have a sum of 120 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. misery which it would require dauntless heroism to endure. The Germans need never come within sight of the ramparts. They may content themselves with marching and counter- marching in the suburban districts, and Paris will still be at their mercy. I know how many of your readers have ques- tioned anxiously whether there was danger of destruction to , the monuments they have so often admired, whether the gay busy capital of France would actually be bombarded and taken by storm. As far as now appears, I can answer them that neither bombardment nor assault is a likely event, but that an equally deadly pressure will be brought to bear by means of a distant blockade. The German line of march in the very heart of France is a curious historical study. Groups of fine strapping fellows, of from thirty to fifty years of age, lounge about the corners of the village streets, or stand half awed, half defiant, in the doors of the houses. They are just such material as ought to be in a French Landwehr. But they have neither weapons nor drill. Some have served in the regular army, and these scowl most fiercely at the invaders, yet even these are utterly unprepared and out of training. The uniform coat has so long given place to the blouse, that they have slipped back into their native condition of peaceful cultivators of the soil. Monsieur le Maire, or Monsieur le Cure, has them always under his eye. They are safe, quiet bodies, who could no more get up a guerilla war than could a village full of our English rustics. We hear about Francs-tireurs, and desperate deeds to be done to every foreigner who ventures out alone. But, to their honour be it said, the French peasants take very slowly to such ways. I have heard of cases of " bushwhacking," and I am aware that some roads are far from safe. This is the most that I can say on the dangerous side. On the other side — or the side of painting things in tamer colours — it is certain that as a whole the war is not a war of partisans, of ambuscades and surprises. The one great surprise has been that of the French nation from first to last, and being surprised, outdone, and marched over, this French nation takes its sufi'erings with patient logic. A la guerre coynme a la guerre, as I have before said, is the great motto of the time. Monsieur le Maire advises his people to pay the contributions quietly, though this particular Maire of Coulommiers is under arrest for failing to do so. Monsieur le Cure stands by his tiock in the hour of trouble — comforts and encourages them to bear what must be borne ; and the villages are spared the additional troubles of martial law and fierce retaliation. It is only a few days ago that I saw General von Moltke driving into Kheims late in the day, quite alone in a NACH PARIS. 121 carnage, with no escort of any kind. At another time I saw one Prussian soldier on foot calmly halting in a village fall of Frenchmen, to light his pipe at the ^pn-door. A Special Correspondent (afterwards the Correspondent at Metz) wrote at this time from Meaux, the temporary head-quarters of a Corps of the Crown Prince of Saxony's army : — The white fog so characteristic of the Marne valley was still hanging over the pretty town of La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, when about half-past four in the morning of Thursday, the 15th instant, I drove over the quaint old bridge on my road forward to Meaux. All round me lay the 6th Army Corps of the Prus- sian army, the honest fellows still slumbering soundly in the semi-darkness. His Excellency von Tiimpling, the General in command of this Army Corps, had come on with his head- quarters on the previous day from Nogent, and a further advance to Meaux was ordered for Thursday This 6th Army Corps, composed almost exclusively of Silesians, has throughout formed the front of the advance on Paris, and its head-quarters have ever been very close in the rear of the extreme infantry van- guard. Thus it fell out that, as I drove forward through the fog, there were but few signs of my having been preceded by any large body of men. As day broke, the soft roadsides showed tokens of having been trodden by a goodly force of cavalry, and the hoof-prints had not been beaten out, as they invariabl}*- are when the infantry men have come tramping after the horse- men. I had not travelled above five miles when I came to a village occupied by a company of the 51st Regiment, and when I knew for certain that I must be very close indeed to the fringe of the infantry advance, since that regiment has formed the outposts throughout the advance. Two miles far- ther on, still in the thick fog, I reached the village of Trilport, about three miles from Meaux, and here, too, were a few men of the 51st and a slender guard in front of the Mairie. The sentry shouted something unintelligible as I passed him — it was not " Halt," and so I did not care to pull up. But when I had traversed quite half the fine bridge which forms a con- tinuation of the little town, a " Halt!" in loud and peremptory tones, came from a dim figure half obscured by the fog. It came again still sharper and louder as I continued to advance, my horse having a good deal of way on him. Then the figure stretched out an arm, and, snatching the bridle, sent the animal back on his haunches, shouting as he did so, " Donnerwetter ! can't you see the bridge is down?" Down it certainly was, and very considerably down, too, should I have been in the fog. The arch nearest Meaux, one of considerable span, had been )22 "WATl CORBESPONDElfCE. utterly shattered by gunpowder, and the debris lay in the water, creating quite a tempestuous little rapid. As I was thanking and questioning the sentry, a gust of wind suddenly swept the fog away, and there became visible, two hundred yards or so up stream, the wreck of a noble railway bridge, all three arches of which had been blown up. Gaunt and grim stood the shattered arches in the sombre light of the morning, contrast- ing strangely in the sullen ruin of their appearance with the busy scene in the intei-vening space. The pioneers of the 51st were just finishing a bridge which they had hastily improvised, A pontoon train was hourly expected, but meanwhile the pioneers with their axes had constructed a very creditable pile bridge. Now they were causewaying the approaches to the timber platform with grassy sods sliced from the bank. It was good to see the system and purpose with which every one worked. An officer stood by formally to superintend operations, but he seldom needed to take tlje cigar from his mouth to utter an order. The division-of-labour principle was carried out to its fullest extent, and the result was speed, order, and efficiency. As a special favour, this gentleman permitted my carriage to cross before the bridge was quite finished, and in advance of a battery of artillery, the horses of which were champing their bits with impatience at the halt in the chill morning air. The broken bridges on the Marne, at Trilport, were not the only obstacles vi^hich the French engineers had attempted to inter- pose between the Prussians and Meaux. On the previous day I had found a tunnel at Nanteuil blown in, and so blocked up that the labour of reconstructing it must almost equal that of the original construction. Had all the French operations on this line been as thorough as this, the Prussians would un- doubtedly have been inconvenienced and their advance might have been materially delayed. But the engineers must either have been consummately stupid or have built largely on a supposititious stupidity on the part of the Prussians. When they destroyed the bridges in the direct line, they invariably left standing some convenient substitute capable of being utilized by the easy expedient of going a few hundred yards either right or left. Thus a mile beyond the Trilport ruin a bridge on the canal had also been destroyed. But a wily Uhlan had ridden down the towing-path till he came to a handy if rather narrow wooden structure about half a mile to the left, and had then come back on to the chaussee, and chalked on a convenient post the laconic but intelligible word " Links." "Links " (left) I went accordingly, crossed the canal, and reached the outskirts of Meaux, where I found another bridge down. This time A PAELEMENTAIRE. 123 the direction was "Eechts," and obedience to it soon brought me into the town, where I found nothing but a regiment ot hussars and a few sergeants who had come on in advance to take up quarters in the town and the neighbouring villages for the troops. The nights are getting very cold, and rheumatism is not so rare as it was a month ago in the Prussian ranks, therefore it is wisely made an object to billet the troops if possible under cover of some kind. The 38th Eegiment was the only one on account of which nobody was looking out for quarters. This corps had been making itself a little too free and easy in the requisition line, and General von Tiimpling had punished the peccadillo by ordering them into bivouac for three nights, suspending also for the same time their right to require anything. In the course of the afternoon, the whole of the 6th Army Corps arrived in the neighbourhood of Meaux ; com- paratively few men, however, being quartered in the town itself, in anticipation of the accommodation requisite for Royal head- quarters, which were coming from Chateau Thierry next day. General von Tiimpling had his head-quarters at Quincy Segy, a little village with a beautiful chateau, about six kilometres to the south of Meaux, but divided from it by a more serious obstacle than the trivial distance, in the shape of a destroyed bridge on a branch of the canal. A Jager regiment formed the infantry foreposts in a line of villages, the centre of which was Claye, about five miles to the front, and the 5th Army Corps' advance guard lay around Coulommiers, considerably to the left rear. What was to the north, except vaguely that there were both Prussians and Saxons, I was not able to learn. The 8th and 9th Regiments of hussars were on patrol and vedette duty out to the front of the Jagers. Yesterday morning, while riding out to the cavalry foreposts in company with one of the hussar officers, we suddenly came, on the great road in front of Claye, on a little posse of French lancers, following a civilian who carried a white flag. On the top of a little knoll the lancers halted, and then retreated, leaving the " parlementaire " to come forward alone. When he came within hail we learned that he was the Second Secretary of the British Legation in Paris, and the bearer of a communi- cation from Lord Lyons to Count Bismarck. He got a mount from one of the hussars, who vacated his saddle for the purpose, and was escorted into the camp by a sergeant and a couple of men. Great interest was naturally excited among the German troops when the news spread of the advent of a "parlementaire." A report had been current a couple of days before that the defence of Paris was abandoned, and although that had been contra- 124 T7AE CORRESPONDENCE. dieted, a widespread belief existed that the Parisians were not prepared, when confronted with the actual realities of a siege, to let the matter go to extremities. The arrival of the English secretary was accepted as in support of this view, and every- body was anxious for the King and Bismarck to come on • towards the front. The Royal head-quarters arrived early in the afternoon, but no information oozed out as to what may be termed the general public of the army respecting the nature of the communication brought by the bearer of the flag of truce; and attention was somewhat distracted from the subject by the pushing forward to the south-west of a large portion of the 6th Army Corps. I learned, however, in the course of the evening, from a trustworthy source, that Mr. Malet was the bearer of a communication emanating, in the first instance, from Lord Granville, having for its object a proposal relative to mediation. Mr. Malet was courteous enough to give a few details regarding the incidents of his journey from the capital to the Prussian foreposts. He spent a night on the road, and the Gardes Mobiles where he halted made the cheerful suggestion that he should sleep "under the beautiful stars ! " Mr. Malet, reserving the question whether he would have any objection to sleep *' under the beautiful stars," if they were visible, pointed out the fact that they were not, and requested other sleeping ac- commodation than that afforded by the earth as a mattress and the sky as a canopy. This he ultimately obtained, his escort sleeping in the adjoining shed. Hr. Malet returned towards Paris in the course of this morning, leaving in the same way as he had come, under an escort of Prussian hussars. Those who knew the nature of the risk he ran, felt considerable apprehension for his safety. In the course of the morning, the French had fired upon two flags of truce, and it was just a chance if Mr. Malet should be recognized. However, he got among the defenders of Paris without detriment, and I trust reached the Embassy in safety. From Rheims, the same Special Correspondent wrote on the 18th: — 1 quitted Meaux early on the forenoon of the 17th on my return journey, and took the road of the broken bridges, to avoid the constant stream of artillery and infantry which was pouring down the hill into Meaux on the road via Lisy. I found the former road very quiet. The bridges over the canals had already been repaired, but the Marne was still crossed by the pile bridge, although there was an alternative pontoon lower down the stream. No attempt had been made to repair the great bridge over the Marne. Some little distance on the LA TERTE. 125^ Meaux side of La Ferte I encountered the advance of the 2nd Bavarian Corps, and wlien I got into the suburbs of the town I found my passage on the direct road quite blocked by a double stream of gun-carriages. A good map and an eye for topography are of great advantage in such circumstances. I happen not to be badly off for either, and 1 struck off to the right on the road to Montmirail till I came to a cross road, which brought me down again into the valley of the Seine upon Nogent, right into the rear of the Bavarians. There were no troops on this road, but it had been extensively traversed during the few preceding days, and the people were only just beginning to return to their homes. In a forest about three miles out of La Ferte, the retrer tin^ French had cut down a number of trees and blocked he road with them, but the obstacle had been shoved on one side by the Prussians. The villagers were very timid and, I may add, very hungry, all along this road, but it was wonderful how little damage the Prussians had done during their transit. The poultry still strutted about the road through the village, and there was hardly a broken pane of glass to be seen. Furniture and valuables the people had secreted before the troops had come upon them, and all the chief injury seemed to have been sustained by the straw stacks, upon which the men had drawn freely to make beds wherewithal in the empty houses. Over Nogent the wave had passed a little earlier, and the place had proportionately recovered more. I had no difficulty in getting a fair dinner there, nor in procuring a bottle of champagne — my coachman got corn for my horse by paying for it, and meat, both beef and mutton, was hanging in the open butcher's shop. All the way to Chateau- Thierry was visible the eager desire of the peasantry and farmers to overtake temporarily arrested agricultural labour. Except for the occasional traces of a bivouac, and now and then a broken-down vine-stem, there was no evidence that a vast army had so recently traversed this road. The children played around the doors beside the old crones at their knitting, the men and women were in the fields working with a clumsy assiduity, and it seemed to me not uncheerfuUy. The vine- pickers were in the vineyards, filling their creels with the great clusters of somewhat over-ripe grapes ; but their number was, no doubt, smaller than it would have been if peace had reigned in the land. There were cattle in the pastures and horses at the plough and between the shafts of the carts. I do not think any one not aware of the fact could have gathered, from out- ward appearance, that anything of exceptional importance had recently occurred in the beautiful and smiling valley. In Chateau-Thierry were a handful of Bavarian bullock- drivers 126 WAR COBEESPONDENCE. and a few footsore infantry men. The people of this beautiful town never forsook it in numbers so great as had the inhabi- tants of some other places ; nor had they any reason to repent of their courage. Now it seemed as if they had fallen again into the somnolent routine of a provincial town. The burghers gossiped on the pavement, the young ladies promenaded in the avenues of noble trees, the lads squatted on the brink of the Marne, angling with a lazy pertinacity. The Hotel de I'Elephant was empty: quantum mutatus from that Elephant which I had seen a few days before, when Von Tiimpling's Staff were buzzing the bottles in the salle a manger, and the cook was in a white heat at the multiplicity of orders. The land- lord, a gentleman himself of the elephantine pattern, confided to me, with a sage wag of the head, that he would be heartily glad to, see the Prussians come back to stop as long as they could make it convenient, for they were the best customers he had ever had, never grumbled, and invariably rejected red wine for champagne, for which they paid promptly the price de- manded. Of course, he spoke of officers. 1 remained overnight at Dormans, a large village about ten miles farther on. Here I found a considerable number of Prussians, but no regular force — only sick and convalescents, and strag- glers, chiefly belonging to the 63rd Eegiment. Neither here did I find any misery. At the same hotel where I had found quarters on the advance, I got everything I could reasonably want, and the disconsolateness of Madame only proceeded from the circumstance that she had a son in MacMahon's Chasseurs de France, of whose fate at Sedan she knew nothing. The shops were all open, and the show in the windows was by no means despicable. Neither could the requisition for horses and vehicles have been exhaustive, for I had not the slightest difficulty in procuring a relay carriage and horse forward to Rheims. Perhaps, however, the fact that the landlord of the Hotel de France had some previous acquaintance with the habit Britons have of paying their way, may have had some effect in contributing to this promptitude, for he produced his horse out of a recondite locality which it would have puzzled a detective to discover, and in which he had two more animals lying perdus. This morning, in and about Ville en Tardenoise, which is about half way to Rheims, I met and passed the whole of the 11th Army Corps on its march to the front. The men looked fresh and well, and the horses in capital condition ; but the ranks were considerably thinner than before that terrible struggle on the plateau above Floing. I was informed that the 11th ex- pected to go to the northward of Paris. Eheinis was occupied A EEMINISCENCE. ' 127 by a division of Bavarians and another of Saxons. Althoucrh this town was in a state of remarkable ferment on the occasion of the first entry of the Prussians, it got used to the situation in a very short time, and now it looked as if the Prussian occu- pation was a thing from time immemorial. It was Sunday, and citizens and Bavarians were streaming out of the noble old- cathedral and the various churches of the city in all the apparent friendliness of fellow-worshippers. Among the poorer classes in Rheims there has been considerable hardship, owin^' to the dearness of provisions and the obligation incumbent on them of providing food for the soldiers billeted on them. The Prussian authorities have, however, averted further distress from this source, by establishing a commissariat for troops billeted on all those unable to support them. The old Cham- pagne city is very wealthy, and the rich in its community might not unnaturally be expected to do something for their less well-to-do townsnien. But there seems to be no great develop- ment of enthusiasm in this direction. From Libramont, the same Correspondent wrote, on the 20th of September: — The people are gradually coming back to Flize, Dom de Mesnil, and Fernois, the three villages between Boulzicourt and Sedan. In Flize there must be plenty of wine as well as plenty to drink it, for the auherge was crammed with the blue blouses. The females of the families had fallen into the old familiar way of sitting knitting in the sunshine outside their doors. But many houses were still closed up, and here and there was the blackened skeleton of a roofless house, a grim memorial of the hot shell-fire. Over against Donchery the peasants were fishing the dead bodies out of the Meuse, and burying them in great holes. It is impossible to describe the emotions which almost every step of this road called up in my mind— associated as it was with events fixed so indelibly in my memory. Here was the little house at which I had seen Napoleon alight from his carriage on the morning of the 2nd September. A child was playing on the spot where the Emperor and Bismarck sat in that earnest colloquy of theirs which I watched so intently. A woman was spreading clothes on the path in the potato plot, up and down which I had seen the ruined man moodily pacing as he tugged his dishevelled moustache, after Bismarck had drawn the white cap with the yellow band down over his eyes, and posted off to take counsel with his master. A short kilometre farther on, and I was in the village of Fernois, where I had left for a day a collection of cavalry swords col- lected from the battle, to return and find the place wrecked, 128 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. and the weapons gone. To the left was the ruined railway- bridge over the Meuse. In my immediate front was the Chateau Bellevue, in the garden of which I had seen the perturbed meeting of the monarchs — Napoleon bowing low to hide the working of his face ; Wilhelm studying not to hide his emotion. Away across the low alluvial plain and the sweep of the river, that ghastly schlachtfeld sloped upward from the low bluffs, now brown and bare, but, when I saw it once before, a fearful space in which surged to and fro, in the gaps of the white smoke, the heaving masses of maddened combatants — when I saw it yet again a ghastly expanse of death, here chequered with dead grey horses and with gay-clad dead riders, there flecked with the more sombre uniforms of the Prussian corpses lying thick where the mitrailleuse hail had beaten King Wilhelm 's infantry- men to the earth. Below it was the island with the chateau in its centre, on to which I had seen the ceaseless stream of French prisoners pouring on the 8rd— the once gay gardens of the chateau now bare, and the trees stripped of their foliage. There was the little nook where a genial group of Zouaves had insisted on my joining in their supper of potatoes and horse- flesh, and there was the secluded path where the villanous Turco tried to steal my telescope. And farther to my right there lay Sedan, within whose walls I had penetrated before the ratification of the capitulation, to witness a sight of misery, chaos, disorganization, and general devilry, which assuredly was unique in this century — an eddying sea of humanity, men trampling recklessly over the dead and the wounded, now yelling for the blood of their officers, now strugghng in fierce contention for a morsel of bread. And still farther to the right I could see through my glass the blackened ruins of Bazeilles, in the streets of which I had seen heaps of Bavarian and French dead piled in inextricable ravelment, and where I had seen the charred corpses of the women and the tender little ones — a sight I dream of to this day, and wake in a cold sweat of horror. Sedan has been put in a state of siege, and the circumstance has been attributed, in my hearing, to an apprehension by the military authorities of a conspiracy on the part of the civilian population to rise. The true reason for the step is creditable to the Prussian administration. It was taken with a view to putting a stop to thieving and burglary, for which, where there are still so many untenanted houses, and while a considerable amount of floating rascaldom (chiefly Belgian) is haunting the place, there were great facilities. Under the badge of the red cross, scoundrels circulate freely who are capable of anything, from robbing a widow to butchering a wounded man for the THE BED CEOSS. 129 sake of the three groschen in his pocket. It was a mistake of the Prussians to have taken away, with the advance of the army, the whole of that most useful, promptly-resolute, and thoroughly trustworthy body of men — the field gendarmerie. I saw fellows prowling about Sedan, wearing the red cross. whom I would cheerfully hang up to the nearest tree without any further evidence than their hang-dog faces and sneakincr manner. For the credit of the badge, something should be done to purge it of these ruffians, and also to prevent its adoption by every dilettante sightseer, whose sole object in visiting Sedan is to see the scene of the battle and prig a dead man's knapsack or helmet (all the more precious relic if it has blood upon it), to delight wherewithal the gaping domestic circle in some London suburb. I witnessed another phase of what I may call the red-cross mania on the road between Bouillon and Libramont. About four-and-twenty Belgians, in a kind of uniform, and carrying knapsacks, were plodding steadily along the road ; one of the number bore aloft a banner, while in the van strutted a drummer, beating a rub-a-dub. For the life of me I could not extract from any member of the party their object in going to Libramont. They had marched with equal want of purpose to Bouillon the day before, and for aught I know may continue the same ridiculous seesaw till their boots are worn out, or their feet are sore. Under the red cross there is many a right-feeling heart and tender hand ; there are men whom to think of is to think of devotion to the death, of a self-abnegation which is nobler than the most splendid valour on the battle-field ; but there skulks under it, too, many a rascal for whom a pistol-bullet is a robbery of the hangman, and it were well if the thrice-rotten chaff could be winnowed out from among the sterling wheat. When I was last at Bouillon I slept in a hayloft, because every shred of accommodation was monopolized by wounded, by French and Prussian officers who had straggled over the frontier, by " flightings," and by the valorous but uncommonly shoddy- looking Belgian troops. That was the day but one after the battle of Sedan. On this occasion I had to sleep in a waggon, because of the horde of red-cross men and sightseers. This morning I came on to Libramont summd diligentid, on the top of the most primeval concern on wheels I have ever seen. Here I met Mr. Furley, who had just returned from a roving journey among the hospitals as far as Saarbruck, and whose report was not dispiriting. I also met Major Campbell and another gentleman, who had been attempting to ascertain the last resting-place of poor Colonel Pemberton. Their efforts had not been crowned with success. All that his sorrowing 180 WAE COERESPOKDENCE. relatives and friends can know is, that he lies on the battle-field with men as brave as himself around him on every side. They ascertained that he had been bm^ed alone, but the precise spot they could not discover. Before concluding a letter which I fear you will consider of undue length, I would guard myself against a misconception which what I have written might otherwise engender. I have de- scribed the condition of the population of Champagne as I saw it. The red seal of war has not imprinted itself very deeply on the people of that territory. But it is different with the wretched inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine. Of the miserable condition of the people of the latter province, I can speak of my own knowledge ; as regards Alsace, I make the statement from the testimony of Prussian officers and clergy- men, who have often lamented in my presence what they could not alleviate. Over them the wave has not passed and left them, hurt indeed, but not ruined ; it has rested and is resting upon them, and their condition must by this time be terrible. God knows it was bad enough before all the dead at Grave- lotte were buried. The armies of Germany were now drawing near to the capital of France. On the 18th of September the head-quarters of the Crown Prince of Prussia were at Chaumes, from which town the Special Correspondent with the Prince wrote : — Our march hither has been an important move towards Paris. The Crown Prince has now his head-quarters within twenty-five miles of the outworks of the capital, and is advancing to the southward of the French position, as though to turn their right and shut them in after the manner of Metz and Sedan. We do not know whether any force will be found to dispute this southward march, and it is not safe to hazard a conjecture as to the future operations of an opponent so embarrassed as is the French Government. All that can be said with certainty is, that we are now so near as to make the passage of the Seine the next stage of our journey. The King's head-quarters are at Meaux, and the country towards Chantilly is said to be scoured by the German cavalry. There was no sign of ruin or devastation along the road from Coulommiers to Chaumes. Villages were to be seen in which the people gathered eagerly to watch the column on its way ; other villages in which they took no notice, as if weary of seeing soldiers pass. But the bouses were not injured, and men were working in the fields at some places. We had lovely weather. The bright uniforms of the Staff looked most picturesque under the flickering shade of the trees by the roadside, and the fleeciest of white PASS AGE OP THE SEINE. 131 clouds were flying overhead. At one point, where there was a halt for a quarter of an hour or so, we found a fine country house left in charge of the owner's servants, and the gardener brought out a basket of fruit for the Prince and his officers. Wo might have been in a friendly province on a tour of inspection for aught that appeared, save only the gloomy dejected looks of most of the inhabitants. After finding so many places along our line of march almost destitute of food, it is an agreeable change to come upon a small town where bread is still exposed for sale at the baker's, and meat at the butcher's shop. There was a pretty good supply of provisions at Montmirail, but the supply in Coulom- miers seemed more to approach the ordinary state of trade. Bread and meat for sale ! You must see a village which has been eaten up, by the mere passage of thousands of soldiers through it, before you can reaUze the comfort of having the baker and butcher to the fore. When a large body of men has overweighted the resources of a particular spot, you will soon see shops that may contain provisions guarded by sentries, and denied to common use, or utterly cleared out and deserted, as the case may be. Corbeil was reached on the following day, September 19th : — We have come to the Seine, and passed it by a bridge of boats. There was a fine stone bridge across the river at Corbeil, but the French, authorities, with mistaken energy, blew it up in order to delay their invaders for an hour, and the pontoon train had to be called in to make the passage good. Over quivering planks, with a side rope on either hand, we entered this sad- looking town. The shops are shut, the people are utterly astounded by what has happened, and many a chip and frag- ment has been knocked off the surrounding houses by the force of the explosion. There lies the ruined bridge, half covered by the river. One portion still remains intact, that to the eastern side ; and a group of soldiers is collected on the edge of the broken roadway, staring down into the stream. Slo resistance was offered when the Germans approached ; there were some Francs-tireurs in Corbeil who saw to the blowing up of the bridge, and then retreated towards Paris. But no regular garrison was in the town, and the passage of the Seine was not disputed. It appears that corn barges were still floating down to the capital when the Prussian Lancers came in sight, and the mine was sprung. Paris was being supplied with food up to the latest possible moment, the Eepublicans were pre- paring for their intended defence, and every day was of impor- tance. Yet the fine stone bridge across the Seine was a heavy K 2 132 WAR COREESPONDGTiTCE. . price to pay for an hour's delay. So it may be said of the cutting down of a good number of trees on our hne of march from Chaumes to Corbeil. There has been nothing of this sort in Eastern France ; there was only one small trace of such work between Montmirail and Coulommiers, and none between Cou- lommiers and Chaumes. But on our march hither we saw dozens of fine trees which had been chopped down to obstruct the thoroughfare. In a country like France, where trees on the roadsides are as much a matter of course as hedges in England, it is easy to do any amount of tree-felling across the road. The question is, will such tree-felling be of practical use? In case of fighting then and there, it undoubtedly might be ; but when the obstructions are left to take care of themselves — that is to say, to be promptly pushed aside — they are not worth the waste of timber. I was reckoning to-day that it must have taken the Frenchmen longer to block the road than it took the Germans to clear it. The Frenchmen had the heavier task of the two. As we rode by we could see the trees which they had half cut and abandoned, the trees which they had just begun to cut, and others which had fallen outwards on to the field instead of inwards on to the road in the hurry of the final efibrt. At one place there had been a great breaking up of the roadway itself, and a gang of peasants in blouses was busy with the needful repair. How those luckless peasants must have cursed the mistaken energy of their rulers ! Though yesterday's march to Corbeil showed these signs of ob- struction, in the way of felling timber, it showed no sign of any armed resistance. The caps and knapsacks, the dead horses and wounded prisoners of a successful skirmish were not visible, and the aspect of the ground told its own tale of a complete abandonment of the obstructions as soon as they were effected. The villages were chalked over their doors, which looked like plenty of quartering of troops, and some of them were full of soldiers. But there was no panic, no desolation. We passed men at work on their fields, and men gathered beside the road to see the Prince and his Staff. Here were a score of children peeping curiously through the garden rail- ings at all the fine horses that clattered past. There, farther along, were other children, half a dozen or more, tumbling among the wheatsheaves which the soldiers had flung down from the newly-made rick to improve their bivouac the night before. What an upsetting, and what a waste of work there is in war-time ! Yet what an escape the farmer must have thought it to lose only a few sheaves, if he had the notions of fire and sword which I find common among the people in regard to foreign invaders ! TERSAILLES. 133 The river flows so quietly on that it is difficult to imagine the scenes of fierce excitement into which it presently glides. That broken bridge, the pontoons moored across the stream, and the columns of ammunition waggons rumbling through the town, give an idea that war is at hand. But the river goes quietly on, with abroad, smooth surface. The shadows lengthen, and the murmur from the shore echoes from side to side. We are some of us to the eastward, some of us to the westward of the Seine. The Crown Prince is quartered in a handsome chateau in St. Germain, the eastern suburb, and most of the officers on his Staff are in the town ot Corbeil, to the westward of the river. The army has made good its passage of the Seine, and is ready to operate to the southward of Paris. Whilst we were trotting forward yesterday morning from Chaumes an accident occurred which might have had very serious conse- quences. The young Prince of Mecklenburg, nephew to our Duke of Cambridge, one of the most dashing and active of the Staff, fell with his horse and was much bruised and shaken. He stood a good chance of being ridden over, as the column came thundering on. But it turned out to be no worse than a heavy fall without broken bones, and the Prince, who had been placed in a carriage, refused to own that he was much hurt. Just for the time, whilst his Highness was down among the horses' feet, it seemed that he must be smashed to pieces : but there is a wonderful chance about falling. I have known a man break his neck with much greater ease. By the 20th of September the Third Army had finished its long march. The head-quarters of the Crown Prince, its com- mander, were at Versailles. The Special Correspondent who had accompanied it from Worth to Sedan, and from Sedan to Paris, wrote at that date : — The fortune of war has brought the Prussians to the Hampton Court of the French capital — has placed them at the very gates of Paris I need say no further word to make the situation more striking. Here are the dark blue uniforms and the spiked helmets in the stately avenues of Versailles. The barracks of the Imperial Guard give ample quarters to King William's soldiery, and there have been found immense stores of hay and oats, which will make the Prussian horses fat, if only rest enough be given them for feeding. W^hilst we were advancing yesterday from Corbeil to Palaiseau there was a constant rumbling of artillery fire to our right front, and about mid- day the sharp rattle of musketry could be clearly distinguished. We knew that a fight of some sort must be going forward. But it was not until the shadows were 134 WAR COERESPONDENCE. lengthening, and until the sounds of firing had almost died away, that the details of what had been done were brought to head-quarters. A sortie made by the French upon the line of march of the 5th Prussian Corps d'Armee had been at first so far successful that the Prussians were hotly engaged and impeded in their march. Then the 2nd Bavarian Corps, also of the Crown Prince's army, had come up and inclined the balance of advantage to the German side. The French had • been driven back into Paris, nine guns had been taken, and a most important outwork on the hill behind Chatillon had been occupied by the Bavarians. The result of the day's fighting was to leave completely open the whole country to the south- ward of the capital, insomuch that the German cavalry had advanced to St. Cloud, that Versailles had surrendered, and that the hostile occupation had extended from the Seine on one side of Paris to the Seine on the other side, in an un- broken chain. Such was the result of the memorable 19th of September, a day which must have brought home the war to the Parisians as no other day of this campaign has yet done. They had heavy firing in their immediate front— a battle, as it were, on Sydenham Hill, with the enemy extending his left flank towards Clapham junction. This is putting the case in English guise, to make it doubly clear. The danger to Paris is so pressing that the places which I have mentioned do not inaptly suggest the state of things. Yesterday's battle was fought on a hill nearer to Paris than is Sydenham Hill to the centre of London. When the redoubt behind Chatillon was occupied there was a full view of Paris, the city being spread out like a map at the feet of the victorious Bavarians. There it lay, the great, beautiful city, spread, in a mass of white houses, for miles to the northward. We could realize this better when the Prince rode out to-day to view the position; But it was known yesterday evening that the 5th Corps and the Bavarians had gone very near to Paris. At our quarters, in the almost deserted village of Palaiseau, we heard orderlies and aides-de-camp galloping to the Prince with news. There was news from Chatillon and news from Ver- sailles. All had gone well — the army had taken up its position firmly to the south of Paris, and the desperate effort of the French to check the forward movement had been repulsed. Early this morning the whole Staff was on its way to the hill from which Paris could be seen. Wliilst the baggage and the travelling carriages of head-quarters marched straight to Ver- sailles, the Prince, with his Staff, rode over the field of battle of the 19th, and visited the hill behind Chatillon. This was another of the lovely days which we have lately enjoyed. All THREE GEEAT SIEGES. 135 the country was bathed in sunshine, and there was more than enough of dust along the road. We passed through pleasant valleys, with chateaux and gardens thickly scattered about them, and came to ambulance waggons full of wounded men. The houses were occupied as hospitals, and many a poor fellow with bandaged head, or with his arm in a sling, came to the garden gates to salute the Prince. More than once His Highness stopped to speak to the wounded, and they seemed much pleased by the notice that was taken of them. They had done their duty well, and deserved a share of praise. From the four cross-roads at Le Petit Bicetre to the slope east- ward of Chatenay there were frequent traces of yesterday's fight. Dead men lay here and there in the fields, hospital waggons were halted by the roadside with relief for those who still lived, and fragments of weapons were to be seen in all directions. The village of Chatenay was utterly abandoned by its inhabitants, the houses gutted, and everything smashed. On the road to Chatillon the trees were felled, the ground broken iip, and evident preparation made for defence. Then we came to the unfinished outwork on the hill behind Chatillon, from whence Paris could be seen. Here was a view of the whole city — the dome of the Invalides and the towers of Notre Dame were clearly visible, and the distance was such that a long- range gun would carry into Paris. The Bavarians were busy completing the defences of the outwork, to turn them against the city at a fitting time. Even whilst we were looking, there came a shot from one of the French forts with a roar and a hissing over our heads. It was a wonder that they did not shoot oftener. They would have done so, doubtless, if the escort had come in sight, or if the Staff had advanced on horseback to the brow of the hill. CHAPTEE X. In the third week of September the German armies were prose- cuting three sieges, any one of which would, in ordinary times, be regarded as a great operation of war. Strasburg, the centre of the defence of the French frontier of the Khine, and one of the strongest fortified cities in Europe, was besieged by a corps of about 60,000 men, composed of one division ot Badish, one of Prussian, and one of Prussian Guard Landwehr troops, with pioneers and garrison artillery from the South German States. Metz, the centre of the defence of France between the Meuse and the Ehine, the strongest fortress in all France, surrounded by forts forming an entrenched camp, and held not only by its own garrison, but by the army under Marshal Bazaine, 136 WAE CORRESPONDENCE. was invested by seven Prussian Army Corps and three divisions of cavalry — a force whose strength probably was never less tnan ISO, 000, nor more than 210,000. Above all, Paris, defended by more than half a million of armed and disciplined men, was shut in by the Third German Army, under the Crown Prince of Prussia, and the Fourth, now called the Army of the Meuse, under the Crown Prince of Saxony, numbering, it is believed, more than 200,000 men. Besides these, Toul was attacked by a Prussian division under the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg- Schwerin. The war had become, for a time, one of sieges. Just before the invest- ment of Paris, an attempt had been made by the Government of National Defence to ascertain whether the Germans would treat for peace on the basis of an indemnity for the expenses and losses of the war, to be paid by France. For that purpose M. Jules Favre proceeded to the King of Prussia's head- quarters, and was con ferring with Count Bismarck while the Bavarians and General Yinoy's Corps were disputing for the heights of Chatillon, above Paris, on the south — positions the importance of which the French do not appear to have perceived until they had lost them. Count Bismarck had informed M. Jules Favre, by letter, that he should be "exceedingly happy to see him," and sent Prince Biron to conduct him through the Prussian lines. The interview that ensued had no result, except to embitter the feeling between the two belligerents, M. Jules Favre represented that France longed for peace, but was inflexibly resolved to accept no terms which would make a peace only a short and unquiet truce. Count Bismarck declared that if he thought such a peace was possible, he would sign it instantly. But he said France had desired this war, and she would demand another to reverse the disasters of Sedan. From Louis XIV. to Napoleon III. it had always been the policy of France to attack Germany, and rob it of territory, and this its inveterate character would survive under all changes of rulers and forms of government. It was therefore necessary, in order to secure Germany against attack, that she should keep a part of the territory which had been taken froni France. He subse- quently explained that the new German frontier must include the departments of the Lower and the Upper Khine, and a portion of that of the Moselle, including Metz and Chateau Salins, M. Jules Favre urged that Europe would not sanction pretensions so exorbitant, and that it would be impossible to make the people of Alsace and Lorraine Germans against their will. This discussion, however, was waived in order to ascertain if terms could be arranged for an armistice, that would admit of the election of a National Assembly, into whose hands the new Government of France might resign its powers. Count Bismarck at first objected strenuously to any armistice, but subsequently expressed himself SIEGE OE STEASBTJEG. 137 ready to consent to one on condition that the fortresses of Strasburg, Toul, and Phalsburg should be placed in the hands of the Germans. When M. Jules Favre observed that the Assembly should meet at Paris, Count Bismarck added, that in that case one of the forts of Paris, naming Mont Valerien, must be delivered to the Prussians. Subsequently it was agreed that the Assembly might meet at Tours, by which means the difficulty about Mont Valerien would be avoided. It appeared, however, that Count Bismarck required not only possession of Strasburg, but that the garrison should surrender as prisoners of war. This demand put an end to the conference, and the French negotiator, after making some observations dictated by ardent patriotism, withdrew. France was soon after informed that Prussia would be satisfied with nothing less than her reduction to the rank of a second-rate Power, and that resistance to the death had become the duty of every Frenchman. Two of the fortresses named by Count Bismarck were destined to fall immediately. While M. Jules Favre and Count Bismarck were conferring at Ferrieres, General Ullrich and a council of war were deliberating as to the surrender of Strasburg, and the capitulation of the fortress was concluded on the 28th of September, when 451 officers and 17,000 men, including the National Guard, laid down their arms. The Mobiles and local National Guards, being Alsatians, were dismissed to their homes, to the number of 12,000, while the regular troops were sent to Germany as prisoners of war. The siege had lasted about six weeks. Between the lith and 17th of August, the place was invested by the Baden Division. On the 14th of August Lieutenant-General von Werder assumed the command of the siege corps, and Lieutenant-General von Decker and Major- General von Mertens were appointed commanders respectively of the artillery and the engineers. After the arrival of a rein- forcement of two Prussian divisions, the fortress was closely sur- rounded. On the 21st of August an attempt was made to hasten the surrender of the place by bombardment, but it was not kept up, and on the 27th it was discontinued. In the night of the 29th of August the first parallel was opened against the north- western front, at a distance varying from 600 to 800 paces from the walls. In the night of the 31st of August the approaches to the second parallel were dug, and in the ensuing night the second parallel itself, distant from 300 to 400 paces from the for- tress. Those same nights every effort was made to construct the siege batteries, which were finished with the utmost rapidity. Up to the 9th of Septemberninety-eight rifled guns and forty mortars were placed in position against the attacked front, which almost entirely silenced the enemy's artillery. Besides these a detachment of Baden artillery fired from Kehl, from thirty-two rifled pieces and 138 WAE COERESPONDENCE. eight mortars, on the citadel, which it was thought might be used as a last refuge by the enemy, after the reduction of the town. In the nights between the 9th and 11th of September the approaches to the third parallel were laid. In the night of the 11th the greater part of the third parallel was made, and in a very few days the defences were laid in ruins. On the '29th of September a Special Correspondent wrote from Strasburg : — That Strasburg has passed into the possession of the Germans through the medium of capitulation must have appeared a matter of course to all who have followed the reports de- scribing the progress of the siege. In my last letter I reiterated the conviction that Governor Uhrich would at the last moment resio"n himself to the inevitable, and accept the fate which it was not in his power to avert. I said this after having been informed of the intention of the Commander of the German forces to endeavour to storm Strasburg on the very night that I forwarded my last letter. The anticipated result has been attained. Strasburg has ceased to be French. The grand old cathedral, which a Gei'man architect planned, will be completed at no distant day by German workmen, intent upon adding another glory to the Fatherland while accomplishing the plans of a German architect. What I did not and could not well know when I penned the words to which I have referred was the exact position which Governor Uhrich held with regard to the city over which he was the military ruler. It was supposed that he had entirely disregarded the feelings and desire of the inhabitants, and had prolonged a resistance which they were desirous to terminate. On the authority of a member of the Council of Defence, to whom the whole truth was well known, I can now state, without fear of contradiction, that Governor Uhrich was always in perfect accord with the inhabitants, and that if, in their opinion, he erred at all, it was in capitulating prematurely. Shortly after the siege began in earnest he received a deputation from the council formed for the defence of the city. Opinions were freely and frankly interchanged between the Governor on the one hand and the council on the other. The former admitted the difficulty of making a success- ful defence. The latter enlarged on the dangers of prolonging a hopeless resistance. The result was that a common under- standing was arrived at. It was unanimously resolved by the council to strain every nerve to prevent the city from falling into the hands of the besiegers. General Uhrich, on his part, pledged himself to avert the calamity of exposing the city to the horrors and the consequences of an assault. As a soldier who had determined to do his duty, the General reserved to A CITY IN EUII^S. 139 himself the sole right to determine when the critical moment had arrived. He would neither treat nor consent to listen to any proposition to surrender until it had become actually impossible to continue the defence. Many persons thought that the decisive moment had arrived long before Governor Uhrich had become either weary or disheartened. When the fortress was no longer tenable, and when two breaches of a formidable kind had been made, the Governor determined to fulfil his pledge, and in con- formity therewith the white flag, which, as I write, flies from the topmost gallery of the cathedral, was hoisted. Strange to say, though the inhabitants had suffered severely, and were reduced to great straits, the resolve of Governor Uhrich not only took the majority by surprise, but upset certain schemes of the most reprehensible character, to which the majority hoped to give effect before a German soldier entered Strasburg as a victor. No sooner had I obtained trustworthy intelligence of what had occurred, and had transmitted the leading particulars to England, than I started for the city of which 1 have so long watched the fate with special interest. With facilities altogether exceptional, owing to the special kindness of a German officer, who, like myself, was bound for Strasburg, I travelled thither as rapidly as possible. Passing through Schiltigheim, I saw tokens in every quarter of the severity of the fire from the fortifications. Hardly a house was untouched. A large number had been burned to the ground, and many were converted into piles of ruins by the explosion of shells. The direct road to Strasburg was crossed by the parallels, and it was necessary to walk along the first parallel for nearly a mile before coming to the pathway along which access to the city was alone possible. The destruction at the Austerlitz railway station, lying outside the city, was thorough. Shortly after the siege began this station was captured by the besiegers. Near this place more than one severe fight occurred when the garrison made a sortie. The fire from one of the mortar batteries was concentrated upon this station, and the numerous carriages which once stood on the line had been converted into heaps of charred wood and twisted iron. On approaching the Porte Saverne, I saw count- less marks indicating the severity of the fire which the besiegers had directed towards this spot. Between this and the Porte des Pierres the walls had been breached in two places. After I had passed through the gate, the spectacle of destruction which I witnessed was one I shall not soon forget. On the right, as far as I could see, the whole quarter was a pile of rubbish. There were few marks of fire. Cannon shot and shells had reduced house after houae to its original elements. 140 "VV-A^E COBEESPONDENCE. When the space between Temple Bar and Carey Street, on which the new Law Courts are to be erected, was being cleared of houses, the appearance presented was not dissimilar; with this difference, that in the case of the houses removed from that site there were signs of regularity in the midst of the destruction, whereas in Strasluii-g the ruined houses were literally piles of rubbish, and unless I had known that houses had once covered the spot, I should not have supposed that the rubbish had ever taken the form of shapely dwellings. In front of nearly every shop window were sloping planks, arranged ■with a view to ward off the falling shot. All the openings made to admit air and light into the cellars were covered over with a mass of earth and straw. In some cases the straw had evidently been taken from the most offensive, though not the least useful, part of the farmyard. The deprivation of light and air, and the presence of noisome smells, which those who occupied the cellars must have had to endure, must have been not only a severe trial, but also most detrimental to health. One house standing at a corner was propped up lest it should topple over. A cannon ball had swept a large piece out of the corner, and had cut through one of the beams which supported the two upper floors. On reaching the Place Kleber, one of the largest and finest open spaces in Strasburg, the signs of destruction were most striking. The handsome building which filled the north-eastern side of the square, and in which was a valuable museum of ancient and modern works of art, is now represented by empty walls. Nearly every house has been pierced with shot or shell. The hotel in which I write this, the well-known Maison Rouge, has been struck more than once. Being one of the first civilians who arrived here, I succeeded in getting one of the few rooms of which the German officers had not taken possession. Wishing to breakfast, I called for the bill of fare. It was as long and elaborate as usual. I came to the conclusion, that although the city had been severely injured by the bom- bardment, yet that the inhabitants had been able to procure not only the necessaries, but also the luxuries of life. But I was soon undeceived. The bill of fare was a relic of pre-siege days. I could get beef or ham, oy pate defoie gras. Towards the end of the siege, when provisions became very scarce, pdU de foie gras was one of the most common articles of food. Large stores of it, intended for exportation, had accumulated. Coffee and wine could be had in abundance, but milk was unpro- curable, and butter could not be purchased under five francs the pound. I had not been many hours in Strasburg before a change took place in all these respects. Carts laden with vegetables entered the city. Butter was again placed on the STEASBTTEG CATHEDEAL. 141 table. It was announced that milk would be obtainable on the morrow. I lost no time in visiting all the points of interest, and the Cathe- dral among the first. To all external appearance it is uninjured. The spire is as attractive a spectacle as ever, but it has been struck in more places than one. The cross on its summit appears to have been touched by a projectile. It leans to one side. Some of the ornamental work has been carried away, and in one of the side towers a portion of the stone stair has been destroyed. The outer roof of the nave has been burned ; the windows have here and there been pierced with balls, but the famous clock has escaped destruction, and the Cathedral is on the whole in excellent condition. To this place the German soldiers hastened as soon as they got here, ascending the tower and exploring the interior. The officers were as eager as the men, not only to see the renowned Cathedral, but also to learn the truth as to the damage done to it. All with whom I con- versed expressed their satisfaction at the comparative unimpor- tance of the injury inflicted. They would have lamented the destruction of the Cathedral quite as sincerely as the Strasburgers themselves. It is the belief of the latter that the destruction of the Cathedral was one of the designs of the besiegers. More than one German artillery officer assured me that orders were daily given not only to spare the city, but also carefully to avoid firing in such a way as would either damage or endanger the Cathedral. Other public buildings, however, have not escaped. The prefecture, the theatre, and the church whereof the world- renowned library formed a part, are now represented by bare walls. I have described the appearance of the quarter which I saw when I entered the city, but this is not a more lamentable spectacle than that presented by the quarter adjoining the Porte des Pierres. Indeed, a striking demonstration of what can be effected, when full scope is given to human industry, in the way of destruction, is obtainable by any one who visits Strasburg at this moment. The spectacle is the saddest I have ever beheld. I have no desire ever again to be present at a siege, or to be an eye-witness of its results. A German who was in Hamburg at the time of the great fire assures me that the spectacle of desolation on the morrow of the conflagration was less heartrending than that presented by the ruined quarters of Strasburg. From the Porte des Pierres to the Porte Nationale, a distance of half a mile, hardly a single wall is standing of the hundreds of houses which formerly covered this space. Here and there a single house was still erect. I entered one of them. Shells had passed through the walls or had fallen through the roof. Some had exploded as 142 WAE COERESPONDENCE. they entered, and had converted the interior into a wreck* Fragments of curtains, of broken glass and crockery, of bedding* books, and furniture were curiously intermingled with bricks, plaster, and wood. In one corner a few newspapers had escaped destruction. They had probably been lying on the table when the projectile which had done the damage entered the house and exploded. The last was dated the 8th of September. An old Dutch clock remained against the half- ruined wall. The hands pointed to a quarter to nine. As the clock had evidently been injured by falling stones and plaster, this probably indicates the hour at which the occurrence took place. The fire from the besieging batteries being always most severe at night, and very trifling in the morning, it is probable that this particular house was rendered uninhabitable at a quarter to nine on the night of September the 8th. The upper rooms had been filled with a collection of stuffed birds and preserved insects. A ball, or a fragment of a shell, had passed through a case of butterflies, and had destroyed some without injuring the pins with which they were pierced. The birds were lying about in shapeless heaps. Here lay a quantity of feathers, there a number of beaks and legs. Several were untouched. The proprietor of the house said that the collection belonged to a lodger, who had spent upwards of fifteen years in making it. The proprietor of the house took his own misfor- tune very philosophically. He fully expected to be reimbursed for the loss he had sustained. So long as he was paid, it mattered not to him whether Strasburg remained in the hands of the Germans or passed again into the hands of the French. Others to whom I talked indulged in a different strain. While lamenting the injuries inflicted, they were confident that the end had not arrived. They looked forward to a second bom- bardment. They were convinced that the French would soon drive out the Germans and recapture the city. For this belief they could assign no other reason than that France had done great things in 1793, and would repeat her former achieve- ments This is an opinion which seems to be accepted by all Frenchmen as if it were an article of faith. But I have ob- served that those who talk the most about 1793 do not show any alacrity in sacrificing themselves now, although the emer- gency is as great as it then was. Where the heroes of 1870 are to be discovered I know not. It is also noteworthy that those who are ready to foretell what France will yet perform, are not less ready to admit that the French army was composed of bad materials as well as commanded by incapable offlcers. Prior to the battle of Weissenburg, the regiments which en- camped near Strasburg manifested an utter want of discipline. DABIl^^G EXPLOIT. 143 The soldiers plundered the hihabitants of the suri'oimding vil- lages, they begged for money in the streets of Strasburg, and they threatened to take by force that which was refused them. When I made a round of the walls, I had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of the artillery officer who commanded the battery which effected the breach. He was curious to wit- ness the results of his own handiwork. The one breach is in bastion numbered 11 ; the other in bastion 12. Both these points face the lunettes which were captured a week ago. The breach in the bastion 12 was chiefly made by vertical fire. The other was the result of direct fire. The breach in bastion 11 was the more important of the two. It was about 200 feet wide at the top. Another twenty-four hours of heavy firing would have completed all that the besiegers intended to do before delivering the assault. Indeed everything was ready. The materials wherewith to bridge the moat were collected at Bischeim. The soldiers had been ordered to hold them- selves ready to move forward at a moment's notice. That the place would have been captured is certain ; but that the loss of life would have been great is certain also. It is fortunate that the end has been less bloody than was anticipated. Governor Uhrich and the garrison have distinguished themselves by the bravery of their defence, and that the Germans have shown how skilfully they can lay siege to a powerful fortress, no one can dispute. One thing, however, the Germans failed to accomplish. They could not succeed in turning their balloons to account. The attempt to survey the interior of the fortress, and to throw explosive projectiles into the magazines, had to be abandoned. The wind blew too strongly and in the wrong direction. Unless the air be perfectly still, a balloon is an instrument of little value for the purposes of war. Such is the conclusion at which the Germans have arrived. It remains to be seen whether the Parisians will find that they can derive more profit from the employment of balloons. Your readers are aware that the Republican Government appointed M. Valentin, who represented Strasburg in 1848, Prefect of the Department of the Lower Rhine, and desired him to manifest his patriotism by obtaining admission to Strasburg with the least possible delay. He obeyed his instructions, and entered Stras- burg by an indirect and difficult road. Disguised as a peasant, and availing hinself of his acquaintance with the German tongue, he made friends with Prussian soldiers quartered in Bischeim. From them he obtained full particulars regarding the position and character of the works erected between that village and the city. He remarked that at one o'clock the fire of the besiegers was weakest, and the vigilance of their sentries Ml WAR COEEESPONDENCE. most relaxed. Even a siege bad to be suspended while tbe soldiers dined. Passing through tbe Prussian lines between one and two o'clock on the 2Qnd of September, he arrived in safety at the moat. Leaping into it, he swam across. The French soldiers fired at him repeatedly, but their bullets always missed their mark. He called out to them to permit him to land, and to arrest him on landing. Their reply took the form of jeers, supplemented by bullets. At last he reached a spot near one of the gates, where he was sheltered from the fire directed from the walls. Again and again he begged the soldiers to take him prisoner, and carry him before Governor Uhrich. Finally they consented. When brought before the governor, he turned up the sleeve of his shirt, and took therefrom the official document containing his appointment as Prefect. His title to the post w^as at once recognized, and on the evening of the same day he issued a proclamation wherein his assumption of his post was announced, and the Piepublic formally pro- claimed. He was little more than a week in office. With one deplorable exception, the inhabitants of Strasburg have treated their conquerors with great consideration. Yesterday three soldiers were shot in a by-street near the Cathedral. The assassins fled. One of them vt-as pursued by some citizens who witnessed the deed. He took refuge in the Cafe de Commerce. There he was detained till the German soldiers arrived. The citizens who were present specially called their attention to the fact that not only did they repudiate all complicity with the mm^derers, but that they had done their utmost to hinder their escape. As soon as General Werder heard the tidings he ordered the city to pay a heavy contribution, and he threatened to treat the inhabitants with the greatest rigour, and to humiliate them by making a triumphal entry into their city with his whole army. However, when the Mayor represented that the blame could not fairly be placed on the inhabitants, and when he was convinced that the act was entirely the work of isolated ruffians, he cancelled the orders he had given, and relieved the city from paying the enormous contribution of four millions of francs. October li. — I had supposed that bastion No. 11 had suffered the most, seeing that a breach was made there, and that the interior had iDeen rendered entirely untenable. Yet the Citadel was even in a worse state than this bastion. Where a gate stood on the side facing Kehl was now a rude pile of stones, the materials composing the gate and the adjoining wall having fallen forward, and formed an artificial pathway over the moat. With the exception of some minor gateways, no place was habitable within the vast area covered by the Citadel. The sup- GERMAW EFGIKEERS. 145 position was, that after the city was occupied the Citadel might be held. The trutli is, that the former proved the stronger, and the latter much more easily destroyed than had been antici- pated. This is partly due to the accuracy and severity of the double fire to which the Citadel was subjected. While the batteries at Kehl kept up an incessant fire on the one side, those near Schiltigheim threw bombs into it on the other. Many shells were thrown into it from the giant mortars. That the fire from the Citadel should latterly have been very weak seems perfectly natural to those who have beheld its present condition. That it held out so long is more surprising than that it surrendered when it did. Perhaps it may interest some persons to learn that in General Werder's opinion the siege works constructed by the Wiirtembergers were patterns of military engineering. A foreign officer of engineers, with whom I walked over the works, said that he had never seen trenches or parallels more skilfully planned, or more efficiently finished. If our Government thought that English military engineers had anything to learn, they would doubtless have sent one to watch the siege, and to report as to the works. It is possible that such an officer was present. If so, his presence was kept a secret. An English officer of marines was said to have been there during the later stage of the bombardment. Neither professional men nor sightseers will long have an opportunity of inspecting these works, for they are being cleared away with great speed. It is possible that General Werder will be blamed for the way in which he conducted the siege, and may even be severely cen- sured, not only for making a large portion of Strasburg an unsightly pile of ruins, but also for inflicting much suffering upon defenceless inhabitants. In anticipation of these charges, I may state what I know from direct personal knowledge to be the view held by the General himself. His own desire was to do nothing that would protract or embitter the war. He was anxious to act in the way most conducive to the re-establish- ment of peace. The bombardment which Strasburg underwent in the first instance, was simply designed with a view to demonstrate to the citizens that the risk of refusing to capitu- late at once was alike serious and palpable. Nor was the damage done by this bombardment so great as has been alleged. It fell upon the public authorities far more heavily than upon the inhabitants. Private houses suffered but trifling injuries. Unfortunately, one of the first buildings to be struck and set on fire by a shell was the new Protestant Church. The building forming a part of this church was that in which the famous library was contained. Again, it must be noted that the blame L 146 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. for this piece of vandalism rests upon Governor Uhrich rather than upon General Werder. As I have mentioned in previous letters, the latter gave twenty-four hours' notice of his intention to bombard the city ; but the former omitted to communicate the intelligence to the inhabitants. Nor was the bombardment protracted. No sooner was it perceived that the garrison had determined to hold out, than the siege was conducted with direct reference to the destruction of the fortifications. But these have been so constructed as to render it impossible to direct a fire against them, which should not at the same time destroy the dwellings immediately behind them. Indeed, the conclusion to be drawn from the fate of Strasburg is, that a large city should never be fortified. The inhabitants of Strasburg say that if the Germans would raze the fortifications, and make their city an open one, they would hail annexation to Germany with enthusiasm, and would never regret their severance from France. Since I entered Strasburg in the rear of the German troops three days have elapsed. It is with difl&culty I can realize the fact that I am still in the same city. The whole place wear a new aspect. The more prominent marks of the siege are no longer to be seen in the streets. The huge piles of earth and straw which protected the inlets to the cellars have been removed from before nearly every house. The piles of wooden planks erected to protect the shop fronts have disappeared, the shutters have been removed from the windows, and business has been resumed. So great has been the change, that few persons who enter the city now would suppose how dismal was its appearance but a short time ago. The energy which the German authorities have displayed has excited the wonder of the citizens. They contrast it with the manner in which the French used to do their work, and they are every day becoming more reconciled to the prospect of being reunited to a nation which, alike during peace and during war, has at present no superior in the world. CHAPTEH XT. It was on the 22nd of August, four days after the battle of Grave- lotte, that the Germans began to construct the system of works which very soon enabled them to constitute Marshal Bazaine and his army their prisoners. Every road leading to the fortress was strongly occupied, and every available position entrenched and armed. Day by day the German fortifications grew around the METZ BESIEGED 147 Marshal, and when he made his grand sortie on the 31st, he found that he was hemmed in without hope of escape. In some way which has never been explained, Bazaine was made aware that MacMahon was advancing with the intention of attacking the besiegers, and the 31st of August appears to have been agreed on between them as the day on which Bazaine should attack the Germans from Metz, while MacMahon's Army of the North should operate in their rear. We know, from the Emperor Napoleon's conversation with the King of Prussia at Sedan, that at Mac- Mahon's head-quarters it was assumed, without doubt or hesita- tion, that if that Marshal's forces were to be opposed, the forces necessary for that purpose must be withdrawn from the siege of Metz. Tlie French paid dearly for this error. The strenuous efforts of Bazaine on the 31st of August utterly failed before the steadfastness of the German battalions and the strength of their batteries, and the French were defeated with heavy loss : but the fortress held out for seven weeks longer. The Special Corre- spondent attached to the German army, who made a point of always being with the advanced posts, wrote on the 29th of September from Flanville, a village on the east of Metz, giving an account of the lines of investment: — / Being anxious to visit the last of the great French strongholds which still holds out against German assault, I proceeded from Brussels to Luxemburg, having the intention, if it were possible, of penetrating to the Prussian army lying around Metz, by the direct southern route, making a circuit to avoid Thionville. I found the railway from Brussels as far as Neufchateau thronged, as is its wont, with Johanniters and other varieties of the great red-cross species, as well as with numerous English tourists, bound for a gape at the battle-field of Sedan. The nondescripts thinned off as we approached Arlon, and there were left only a few honest gentlemen who were outward- bound with medical stores and comforts for the sick and wounded. Arlon, from its position, has been selected as a large central depot for these contributions from the sympathy of the world. Luxemburg, I had taken for granted, would be as full as Brussels, Bouillon, and other neutral towns which I had visited ; it was therefore quite a pleasant surprise to find commissionaires actually touting for custom for the various hotels. In the hostelry which I selected I found traces of not a few journalists wJio had gone forth nominally on the war-path, but who had preferred the security, the good living, and the clean beds of the Hotel de Cologne to the risks and discomforts of the front. After a run in the morning round the now dis- mantled fortifications, I took train for Saarbruck. The pleasant L 2 148 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. frontier town has recovered fast from the succession of sensa- tions, consisting of the hattles of Saarbruck and Speichern, then of the huge masses of wounded from Gravelotte, and lastly of the thousands of French prisoners on the way to captivity in Germany, and the townspeople have lapsed into their ordi- nary semi -somnolent condition — not even enlivened by the presence as yet of the throng of sight-seers who are sure to crowd to the vicinity as soon as the route is considered quite safe. It was with some surprise that I learned that the railway was in full working order and open for all and sundry passengers, civilian as well as military, as far as Courcelles, nine miles from ]\Ietz. I knew that it was open, but I had imagined that it w~as only traversed by my old friend the militdr-zug. The cargo of the train that left Saarbruck this morning at seven was of a sufficiently diversified character. There were country women, with great tubs of butter, which they were taking up to the front to find a good market ; officers and soldiers, new men and convalescents, both from sickness and wounds, on their way to join and rejoin their regiments ; Saarbruck merchants going up for orders ; a few Englishmen who nourished the idea that the fighting was chronically in progress just outside the station at Courcelles, and that by walking a few paces they would be able to command a bird's-eye view of the whole affair ; marketenders, who had been making investments ; and a few Frenchmen on their way to the intermediate towns, who were doing their best to seem as German as possible. Our way to Forbach lay through a corner of the ground on which was fought the battle of Speichern, and as I passed through the woods of the latter, in front of Schonecken, I saw not a few graves of the men whom I had seen fall two months ago. Near St. Avoid we passed the debris of the train which was shattered in the collision that brought death to several French prisoners, and at this town also we found a large depot of military stores and provender. There was a still larger depot at Falquemont, where also were col- lected a quantity of the artillery waggons captured from the French at Gravelotte. The station at Courcelles was a sight. It was a centre from which radiated in every direction long lines of w-aggons of every description, carrying stores of all kinds to the different army posts — north, south, east, and west. All around the deserted little village itself are great herds of cattle, piles of stores, whole pyramids of medical comforts, and long lines of sick and relay horses. The bustle was immense, and yet everything seemed orderly. There was of course an Etappen Commando in the station, but the worthy lieutenant who represented the said Etappen Commando knew nothing m/trntttmuf**^"'*'!''^ • " - '■ '" *- THE SIEGE LINES. 149 whatever about anything. All he could or would tell me was that Prince Frederick Charles's head-quarters were at Corny, on the Moselle, to the south of Metz, but he did not know the distance. He had no waggons, no horses, very litde temper, and less time to gossip. The circumstances were sufficiently unpromising. One might as well look for quartern loaves in the kennel of Fleet Street as for quarters in or around Cour- celles ; and the field-post, the only and that a precarious means of getting to Corny, did not leave till three in the morning. I took the resolution of pursuing a policy out of which I have so often found luck eventuate — of going straight to the front till the foreposts would let me go no farther. To follow me in what I am about to write, the reader will find himself greatly advantaged by reference to a good map. Going northward, and inclining westward from Courcelles, I passed in succession through the villages of Laquenexy, Marsilly, Ogy, and St. Agnan. All these I found occupied by troops, consti- tuting the second investing line environing the fortress and the town of Metz. From St. Agnan I proceeded two kilometres, still in the same direction, till I reached the village of Flan- ville, where I found the 4th Regiment of Infantry, forming part of the 2nd division of the 1st Army Corps, The Staff I found comfortably located in a pleasant chateau, and liking the looks of the place and the friendly ways of the officers, 1 asked permission to attach myself for the present to the regi- ment — a civility which was frankly and unhesitatingly granted. I have been informally taken on the strength, the good old Oherst makes me free of his modest table, the subalterns, right hearty fellows all, have assigned me six, feet by four of straw in the corner of the drawing-room, in which there is not a scrap of furniture but a grand piano, on which a sequence of volun- taries, sometimes accompanied by singing, sometimes by dancing, is constantly going on, and everybody is anxious to give himself trouble to show attention. My lines have fallen in pleasant places — add to which, that I am exactly on the spot against the front of which the French choose to direct the afternoon attacks which they are so fond of making. Here therefore I intend to remain — at all events for a few days — making excursions daily to the right or left. The Major of the 4th has placed at my disposal his second charger. This ex- cellent quadruped I used for a short circuit this afternoon, in company with the Hauptmann of the 6th Company, and I will now quit the first person singular, of which the reader must be heartily tired, to explain what I have learned and what I have seen. From the Moselle, on the east side, the 7th Army Corps hold -Cmi Tirlh vmJl/ .•^.. '■••-:;;• .7 j/m^k ^ xff'^ ' .-*•■.' " •>- s" /AfrW^^^''''^'==--74^=,^ C Y ' \ v> vOlLTJt ^ GirHumom\« ^Wwy \ Kam Uoiniville F*^f^Eloy Lite'' liruvilUi SvJMflTCol 1^ ) >i(JW Pit . v*nm S*Germai »ert s* Ltfti liiMiilninillfj^^ %i.'^'^, '}■ J '"' \ ,,C«uicjr \ 1\ ,^-5? \ ' V'-'j-i-^.- ilombey """" — ■ — jgi"^. -'^ A( \-,of'hviillt)ti, ■•'if. w Mal>qn,Jluuge. rs U&^^ne*^^ , \ %, ^^ M^ Uor^fae' ojx. idn •; / a^apd Jnj^j Mm lie ^fjjfmi^i . 'TFronllgji^ rig' s.SeiUe '■jsKCo™^ ^' '' -^ ^ori (" >■ -», * .i.V> »4{aiii7*. A. Ponriioj .1^ \ .■-■.'♦■7>"'«.'t'^''' Ovem^ey >' ** A. K JOHNSTON. EDINBURGH AND LONDON 150 WAE COERESPONDENCE, the line of environment, lying in the villages of Magny, Peltry, and Mercy-]e-Haut, which last, by the way, is partly burnt, on so far as Ars Laquenexy. Their foreposts and field-guards are a little farther forward, but not so far as they were a few days ago, when the foreposts were at La Grange aux Bois. The left of the 1st Army Corps lies in Colombey, which is also con- siderably burnt, feeling the right of the 7th in Mercy-le-Haut. Its second line extends to the northward in the villages of Ogy, Flanville, Ketonfay, Chateau Gras, and Ste, Barbe. The first line lies in Coincy, Montoy, Noisseville, Servigny, and Failly, 'Ihe whole of this latter line is within range of the great guns of the great Metz outwork of St. Julien, which occupies the summit of a mamelon. Between the first and second line there is, only an interval of about a mile. To the front there lie, first the foreposts, then the feldwachen (field watches), and lastly the single sentries, within 1,800 yards of Fort St. Julien. The first line occupies a continuous entrenchment, the con- tinuation of which runs right round Metz. All the villages are roughly fortified by barricades, chevaux-de-frise, &c. ; holes are broken through all the houses for firing, and, indeed, every ■ village forms a very respectable, if rough and ready, festimg. The foreposts lie either in single houses, also well fortified by entrenchments and barricades, or in the field behind earth- works of no inconsiderable magnitude. Thefeldivacheii chiefly occupy woods or the gardens of chateaux. A feldwache which may be taken as typical is at Lauvallier, an isolated village on the great route, two kilometres from Montoy nearer Metz. Here lie two companies, arms in hand, and ready for a sortie from the enemy at any moment. To the left, at the hamlet of La Planchette, is another feldwache in a deep ravine. Here I had to dismount and grope up the slope beyond to the knoll on which the solitary sentry kept his watch within easy shot of a Chassepot from the French before Fort SL Julien. We could see with the naked eye the Frenchmen moving about the for- tress and circulating about the environs both of it and of the town, which lies to the southward of it, the great eminence of Mont St. Quentin, with its massot fortifications on the summit, dominating the whole valley from the farther side of the Moselle. All the front which I traversed was pitted over with the craters of shells. The men of one of the regiments were erecting quite permanent barracks of wood, the sides covered with earth, a little way in the rear of the brewery behind Lauvallier. To the north, Noisseville is densely filled with Prussian troops ; Nouilly, which lies between it and St. Julien, is neutral ground, occupied by neither army, while the French are in force in Mey, which is still nearer the fortress. We went forward to the edge of a riGnTii^-G roE rooD. 151 wood near Mey, accompanied by two Prussian patrol-dragoons, and got a warning to go back in the shape of a sharp fasilade from out of a garden in the environs of Mey. To complete the narrative oi the localities, the environment is taken up on the 'right of the 1st Army Corps by the Landwehr Division, con- sisting of three brigades, each six battalions strong, under the command of General von Kummer They cover the ground round nearly to the Moselle on the north; but of their dispo- sitions I shall be able to write with greater accuracy to-morrow after a visit. The General commanding the 1st Army Corps, His Excellency von Manteuffel, lies in Ste. Barbe, a little to onr north. As the senior officer commanding hereabout, he has the nominal command of all the army on this side the Moselle since the departure of General von Steinmetz, who also had his quarters in Ste. Barbe. Our immediate commander is General von Pritsolwitz, who is over the Second Division of the 1st Army Corps, and who has his quarters two kilometres behind us, in the little village of Puche, where likewise is the post. With the exception of the little spurt of fire which we rather wantonly drew from Mey, to-day has passed in extreme quietude, as also did yesterday, with the exception of a few outpost skirmishes. On the '^8th, however, there was a fight of some considerable magnitude. The Prussian foreposts occupied in no great strength the village of Colombey, where there are three large chateaux, in the upper stories of which there had been left by its former occupiers a considerable store of grain. They have taken refuge in Metz, and probably acquainted the French of the existence of these stores. Anyhow, in the after- noon of the 28th, the French, in large numbers, and covered by the artillery of St. Julien, made a dash at Colombey, their advance followed by a number oi empty waggons. For once they surprised the comparatively weak Prussian foreposts, and drove them out of Colombey. Covering their operations by throwing forward tirailleurs into the woods to the front and towards La Planchette, they filled the waggons with the grain and started them on the return journey. But, meanwhile, the Prussian artillery had come to the front, and the shells fell thick among the Frenchmen in Colombey and the convoy on the road. The former scuttled back in great haste under the guns of St. Julien ; the waggons went on at a gallop, but out of thirty-six only fourteen succeeded in getting safe off. The rest were arrested in transitu by the influence which the Prus- sian shells exercised on the animals which drew the waggons — an influence which manifested itself in limbs blown in a variety of directions. There was no great loss in killed or wounded on either side. A captain of the 44th was killed under circum- 152 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. Stances which are a disgrace to civilized warfare. When his detachment was in retreat he fell wounded severely, but not mortally. His men placed him in shelter, and then left him as they fell back. When they recovered the village they found the corpse of their captain, mangled barbarously— his fingers cut off for the sake of the rings he wore, and his throat cut from ear to ear. The Prussians are justly incensed at this atrocity. Deserters and the Prussian prisoners whom Bazaine has sent back, concur in representing the condition of the troops inside and around Metz as being very bad in the matter of food. They are living chiefly on horseflesh, and have neither flour, rice, nor salt — the latter want being the subject of much complaint. The discipline of the troops is represented as good, and the /morale of a character very difl'erent to that of the dis- organized horde I saw throw down their arms at Sedan. But the Prussian returned prisoners unite in abusing the domi- neering greed of the French officers, who care nothing, compa- ratively, for their men, provided their own wants are satisfied. This selfishness seems forcibly to have struck the honest Prus- sians, who are used to very different treatment. Between the foreposts of the two armies a tolerably genial feeling prevailed till the action of the 28th, which I have referred to. My friends here tell me that a Prussian mounted patrol the other day left a note under a stone addressed to the French officer in command of the foreposts, asking whether he could accommodate the Prussian forepost officer with a bottle of champagne. At the next round the bottle of champagne was duly found, along with a request for a little knot of salt, which, of course, was complied with. The alertness and completeness of the Prussian forepost system is a great feature of the army, and one of the leading causes of its success. At night the feldwache goes forward to the post occupied during the day by the farthest outlying sentry. Here it breaks right and left into small pickets, leaving a strong nucleus in the centre. The front, at a distance of two or three hundred yards, is continually traversed by cavalry patrols, who often ride right in among the sleeping Frenchmen, whose system of night vigilance is not at all what it should be. Then there is a pistol shot and a round of bootless Chassepot-firing in the dark — the daring Uhlan dashes out through the red legs, back to his supports. Talking of Chassepots, I may mention that the Prussian forepost troops are now extensively armed with these weapons, to enable them to cope on equal terms with the French tirailleurs. Of the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Regiment seventy-five men are so armed, or rather seventy-five Chassepots are in use and are transferred irom. feldwache to felwache, as the changes of guard are made. rOEEPOST DUTY. 153 One whole regiment (the 35th) is armed with the Chassepot. This settles the question as to the relative merits in the eyes of the Prussians of the Chassepot and the needle-gun. Imme- diately after the war, I doubt not there will be a general con- version — the operation will not be difficult. All this district is dotted over with the graves of the battle fought by Steinmetz on the 14th of August, and of men who have fallen in the various forepost fights. All the way to Courcelles it is a scene of utter barrenness and desolation, traversed every- where by tracks of waggons, chequered by abandoned bivouacs, the leafy bowers of which, plastered with mud, stand forlorn and unused, all the troops being now under cover except the foreposts, who must necessarily remain in the open. They never sleep — their vigilance extends right round the clock for the four-and-twenty hours. Very few of the inhabitants still remain in the district, and of these the plight is very miserable. The Prussians keep them alive by serving out victuals to them, otherwise they would starve. Agricultural occupations are at a standstill ; the vineyards, traversed by waggon roads and cut in two by entrenchments, are utterly ruined. The houses are wrecks, many of them wholly or partially burned by the fires kindled by the shells. In Courcelles, the only living thing not Prussian is a mongrel which stuck to his kennel when his owner ran away. The Prussians have christened him " Cour- celles," and the time-serving rogue is already more than half Prussian — traitor that he is. I found a considerable number of inhabitants in the forepost village of Montoy ; an old woman sat placidly before the door knitting stockings, while the troops lined the entrenchment just in her front. I suppose she had got so used to shells and bullets that she did not mind them, or it might be that her despair had culminated in a sort of apathy of equanimity. For the poor folks around here something must be done by the philanthropists of the world, or they will inevit- ably starve the moment that the Prussians withdraw. Even if they had horses, and if the bullets were not sweeping their farms, yet this year they durst not put a spade into the ground. Every field holds the " sacred and precious seed " that will germinate never till the last trumpet sounds. No more Chris- tian act could be done by those who care not for nationality when misery and want threaten their fellow-men, than to con- tribute to their relief. September oOth, Moyming. — Yesterday evening it was officially made known to the troops that the French were constructing three bridges across the Moselle to the westward of Fort St. Julien, it was believed with a view to a sortie in the direction of Maison Eouge and Woippy. About four o'clock this morning 154 "WAB CORRESPONDENCE. the sky became brilliantly illuminated with the shells under the fire of which they attempted to carry out their design, and with the return fire with which the Prussian artillery met it. In the thick darkness the effect, as seen from this point (about four miles away), was magnificent. Betw^een the louder crashes of the cannon was heard the sharper rattle of the musketry fire, singly and in volleys. The firing became fainter towards six o'clock, and by seven had died away altogether — the presumption being that the French attempt had been baulked, and this I have since learned was- the case. A few days ago the garrison of Thionville surprised and captured a Prussian provision train, which was carried into that fortress. The food is more needed in Metz than in Thionville, and it was anticipated that an effort would be made to fight the train through the Prussian environ- ment into the beleaguered fortress. In all probability the affair of this morning has been a diversion intended to facilitate this movement. The Prussians, however, were fully alive to the contingency, and they have succeeded in foiling the attempt. Flatwille, before Metz, Se^otemher SOth. — I this morning sent you a brief telegram concerning an engagement which took place early this morning to the north of St. Julien. As it is impos- sible to transmit private telegrams from Courcelles, I had to send it down to Saarbruck, from which I trust it has been for- warded with correctness and expedition. There was also this morning a little forepost skirmish between a company of the 4th Regiment and the French outposts, about a mile to the left front of this place, between Montoy and Colombey, The Prussians took twelve French prisoners, at the expense of three of their own number slightly wounded. The Prussian army lying around Metz have obtained, from sources which I am not at liberty to mention, complete charts and full particulars of the position of the French troops lying around Metz. Bazaine's forces — that is to say, the army driven back on Metz after the battle of Gravelotte — are not permitted to enter the town of Metz. The whole army is encamped on the slopes of the fortifications either of the town or of the outlying strongholds, in the intervening country, and in the various villages which still remain in the possession of the French. The forts are garrisoned by Mobiles and National Guards. Bazaine's head-quarters are inside the town. Opposite us here in Flanville, lies the 3rd Army Corps of the French army. Its forepost nearest us is in the wood in front of Mey, and the chain extends southward to the front of Belle Croix. The mass of the corps lies in the rear. Within the last few days a considerable camp has been established on the slope of St. Julien, looking towards us. We can see the white tents, and TANISHED HOPES. 155 the red-legged gentlemen strolling about them. Their patrols, mounted and on foot, cross our front so near that the counten- ances of the men can be made out with the glass. The Vms- svaxi feldwachen could pick them off quite easily if they chose ; but there is an order against firing at small detached parties. The French do not show the same civility. A single man cannot show himself on the advance line without being blazed at by a regular volley, which seldom takes any effect, the firing being so wild. The guard changing is a great time for a waste of French powder and shot all along the line, and Belle Croix spitefully throws a few shells at the brewery on the great chaussee, constituting the chief forepost on our right front. Directly in front of us is Montoy and the important forepost of La Planchette, and to its left is another forepost in an isolated house on another chaussee, where stood a battery of Prussian artillery in the action of the day before yesterday, that did much execution among the French troops. Another battery stood at the brewery behind Lauvallier, which enfiladed them on their retreat, which was what Mrs. Malaprop would call "precipitous " The few Prussian, soldiers who casually fall into the hands of the French, are now never detained more than twenty-four hours. One of the men thus returned has informed me that the scale of rations issued to the French troops is at the rate of one loaf to every twelve men per day — about four men's bread according to the ordinary issue — and a scanty portion of horse- flesh. On the other hand, rations are full and good in the Prussian lines, but extras are comparatively dear. A dozen of eggs costs about two shillings, and half a gallon of milk about eighteenpence, but besides being dear, such delicacies are very scarce. The few inhabitants left have not many fowls, and fewer cows. Their disposition, too, is the reverse of kindly to the Prussian troops, and some stringent measures have been found necessary to put a stop to shooting from behind hedges. I do not think it is generally known in England how thorough was the understanding between Bazaine and MacMahon, and how detailed was the programme is case of the success of the movement of the latter. Intercepted letters bear testimony to the fact that MacMahon was expected to make his appearance from the Ardennes about the 30th of August. The signal for the Metz army was to be three bombs fired in the air by Mac- Mahon, and then a sortie was to be made at the same moment that the army of Chalons was to fall on the Prussian rear. le is actually the case that Bazaine w^as cautioned against allowing the guns of the fortress to have too much elevation when fired in support of the sortie, to obviate the risk of the projectiles falling in the co-operating army on the farther side of the 356 WAB COREESPONDENCE. Prussians. Had Von Moltke and the Crown Prince not suc- ceeded in baulking the scheme, well planned as it undoubtedly was, the Prussian armies might not have been lying to-day around Paris and Metz. Bazaine is carefully kept informed of the progi-ess of the Prussian arms in France. Whenever any important event takes place, such as the surrender of Toul or of Strasburg, a parlementaire is sent forward with the information. The other day Bazaine sent out to Prince Frederick Charles with a request for some newspapers, and files of English, German, and French journals were promptly sent in to him. I fear he did not take much encouragement from the information which they afforded him. So grimly desirous were the Prussians that he should be fully posted up in everything that was going forward, that one of Bazaine s general officers was sedulously forwarded to the Mouse immediately after the battle of Sedan, and allowed to acquaint himself thoroughly with the untoward aspect of affairs there. Inside Metz the Courrier de la Moselle, it is believed, is still published. A prisoner recently returned smuggled out a copy a few days old, which contained an address from Ba- zaine to his army. In it he told them not to be downcast, far less to think of disaffection, for that within a few weeks he would turn the tables on the Prussians by taking the larger proportion of their guns, and great store of their provisions, In the meantime he enjoined vigilance and constant alertness, and commended to his officers the sedulous study of the writings of the Archduke Charles, of Frederick the Great, and of the History of the Thirty Years' War, to learn the science of con- ducting the defence of a fortress. Had the officers received a proper military education, like that imparted to every Prussian officer, there would be no need for counselling them to " read up " now, when the pnich has come. When the French make a sortie their scheme of advance is very characteristic. They scuttle out from the shelter of the fort- resses in the loosest skirmishing order, and with great rapidity till they reach intermediate spaces sheltered from the Prussian fire, whether by woods or by the configuration of the ground. In these they accumulate their masses, and come forward in dense columns. But they have never yet, save at Colombey the other day, and that by an unwonted surprise, succeeded in getting close to the Prussian first line. The artillery goes to work with its deadly practice, and there is no alternative but a rapid retreat. These demonstrations are always accompanied by a cannonade from the fortresses of Belle Croix and St. Julien, but never by the discharge of field anillery. This latter cir- cumstance leads the Prussians to the conclusion that the French THE rOETS OF METZ. 157 must be short of ammunition for their field guns; and this seems probable, looking to the lavish use they made oi them at Gravelotte. There must be mortars in Belle Croix of great magnitude, for I saw to-day, by Lauvallier, lying in the ditch, a huge shell, which could not have been less than a 72-pounder, that had been a compliment from that fort. It was unexploded — a fact noticeable of a large proportion of the French shells. The battle of Courcelles, on the 14th August, fought by the Third Army, now lying around Metz, when General Steinmetz held the command of it, has hardly received the attention merited by an engagement so obstinate and bloody. It may give you some idea of what it cost to win it, if I give details of the losses suf- fered by some of the regiments. On the 14th August, and in the minor fights of the 30th and 31st, and also during the course of the present month, this 4th Eegiment, with which I am now staying, has lost (killed and wounded) thirty-five officers out of a total of sixty, and 1,000 men out of 3,000. The 45th Regi- ment, also lying in this vicinity, has lost yet more of its officers. Out of sixty no fewer than forty-two have fallen. The result is that a large number of under-officers have received commis- sions. As these are comparatively inexperienced in their new duties, they daily receive assiduous instructions from their seniors. These informal lectures are highly interesting — not a few officers of the British service would greatly benefit by attending them. The troops are also drilled daily, notwith- standing that they are in front of the enemy. This morning I "watched a whole battalion at skirmishing drill, and a right pretty sight it was. The recruits that have come forward since the beginning of the war spend hours daily in perfecting their drill, and the efficiency of the whole army is sedulously mam- tained at the highest pitch. The following letter from the same Correspondent, dated Koisseville, October 2nd, and written in the first line before Metz, gives a detailed account of the fortifications by which Metz was defended, and under the shelter of which Bazaine and his army lay for more than two months : — The town of Metz, with the great Cathedral, lies for the most part on the east side of a branch of the Moselle, which forks off from the main stream at La Grange aux Dames, and forms the islands of Chambiere. and lower down of Sauley and St. Simphorien. A large suburb, however, stands on the first of these islands. The inner fortifications surround the town continuously, with the exception of one gap to the south- ward, which is covered efficiently by the branch of the Moselle which divides the islands of Sauley and St. Simphorien. On 158 WAR COEEESPONDEN^CE. the north of the lie Ghambiere are two important forts on the inner line, one at the north-western angle of the enceinte, the other detached in the plain of the island, but connected with the enceinte by a covered way. On the south of the inner line are the Redoute du Pate to the east, and the Lunette d'Arcon to the west, both connected with the enceinte by a covered way. The western side of the inner line is covered by the great Fort Moselle, on the farther side of the main stream of the Moselle, a double crown work of immense strength and magnitude, enclosing great magazines and arsenals. To the south of it the bastion of He Sauley sends out a long spur of fortifications, which crosses the Moselle, and termi- nates in a redoubt on the farther side. Nor is the eastern side of the inner line less strongly protected. In front of the enceinte looms the great double crown work of Belle Croix, Cormontaigne's masterpiece, to the full as large as Fort Moselle, and more highly favoured by its natural position. To the south of it stands Fort Gisors, a minor detached forti- fication which serves to complete the circuit of connection with the Redoute du Pate on the south. Thus the town of Metz is, in fact, environed by two lines of fortifications, the continuous enceinte with its bastions and what I may term the outer cordon of the inner circle having intimate connection with the enceinte. Of themselves these defences would make the place all but im- pregnable, but they are by no means the most important defences of this extraordinary fortress. There is an outer circle of detached fortifications, each of which is the comple- ment of the other, and of which no one can be assailed with- out the assailant laying his account to be enfiladed by at least two of the others. Let me begin with these at the Moselle, on the north of the town at La Grange aux Dames, and work round, proceeding first in an easterly direction. After climb- ing the bank of the stream, we come to the chaussee leading to Bouzonville, and crossing it we almost immediately come on the great glacis of Fort St. Julien. This is an outlying fort of the first magnitude, covering the whole of the low summit of a natural eminence, and having on three sides a natural glacis — therefore of great extent. It lies about two English miles from Metz, in a north-easterly direction, and a little to the north-east of it is the monastery and wood of Grimont, the former of which has been scientifically diverted from ecclesi- astical to military purposes. About a mile and a half due south of St. Julien, and about a mile due east from Fort Belle Croix, is Fort Les Bottes, a great hog-backed structure chiefly of eaith, which has been thrown up as a precautionary FOETS. 159 measure, either immediately before or immediately after the outbreak of the war. Its position is very important as a link between St. Julien and Fort Queleu, on the south. It stands a little to the south of the great cliaussee from Metz to Saar- louis and Saarbruck, while as yet the bisection has not taken place. Forward about a mile from Les Bottes, and on the chaussee just before it divides into two, is a village named Belle Croix, which must not, however, be confounded with the fort of the same name. Here, also, there are many earth- works and guns, but the latter, for the most part, are field artillery, and paucity of ammunition keeps them tolerably quiet. About a mile and a half south of Fort Les Bottes, and about the same distance from Metz, is Fort Queleu, also an important structure, dominating the main road to Stras- burg and the adjoining flat country as far as the telegraph on the elevated ground before Mercy-le-Haut. Turning now westward, and inclining to the south, we come to Fort St. Privat, at a distance of about two and a half miles both from Les Bottes and Metz. Its value consists in the command it has of the eastern side of the valley of the Moselle, of the road from Nancy, and of the railway lines which converge behind it. Leaving it, we come to the Moselle again, this time on the south-west side of the town, and striking up due north, we have nothing in the shape of fortifications till we climb the great hump, on the top of which stands Fort St. Quentin, the greatest outwork of Metz. St. Quentin is a complete fortress in itself; it could hold out were all its neighbours taken, and it may safely be termed impreg- nable, looking at the combined strength of its natural posi- tion and its vast fortifications. Not only does it dominate the country to the south, south-west, west, and north-west, but it frowns outward to the east, and its great guns would play an important part in the defence against an attack on the inner fortifications of Metz. North-west of it, about a mile on the top of the bluffs, lies Fort Plappeville, or Les Carrieres, the natural position of which is not so strong as that of St. Quentin, because the elevation on which it stands is not isolated, while it is open in the rear, and therefore requires St. Quentin as the complement of its defence. It, however, acts as a defence over a great tract of country to the west, and keeps a besieging force at a respectful distance, so that it cannot reach the edge of the bluffs and pitch projectiles down into Metz. Due north from Metz, about two miles, and standing in the middle of the plain, bounded by the Thion- ville Eailvvay on the west, and the Moselle on the east, lies Fort St. Eloy, the last and not the least important of the out- 160 WAR CORBESPONDENCE. works of Metz. Its province is, in combination with St. Julien, to take care of the valley of the Moselle to the north- ward, and to dominate the great road to Thionville. All these fortifications (except the little Belle Croix) are fm-nished with heavy guns of position, and it is believed that there is no lack of ammunition for the use of these great fortress guns, although field-artillery ammunition may be short. Besides their field artillery, the Prussians have forty '^4-pounders on the other side of the Moselle, and no more. Their position, then, is dictated at once by sound military conditions, since a blockade answers the purpose they have in view, and by a policy to which I shall refer later. Our position here — into which we marched last night — is suffi- ciently far advanced to make its occupation very ticklish work. The village is within easy range of the shell-fire, either from St. Julien or Fort Les Bottes, while the field-guns at the little Belle Croix are, so to speak, just over the way. The village constitutes part of the line of the Prussian entrenchments ; every cottage is a stronghold ; in every street, alley, and gap is an earthwork. We are now in front of the brewery behind Lauvallier, a little behind the line of which we lay at Flanville. About three hundred yards to our right front, in the bottom of a rather abrupt valley, is the village of Nouilly, which belongs to neither side. Just outside of it, on the French side, and to the north-west, begins the Bois de Griraont, on the southern edge of which lies the village of Mey, occupied by the French. The Bois de Grimont swarms with their tirailleurs ; we can see their red breeches through the trees, and they also acquaint us with their presence by firing occa- sionally at our cavalry patrols when they imagine they come too near the wood. Last night I went on the farthest feld- waclie, just behind the village of Nouilly, and I remained there during the night with the lieutenant in command. As soon as he relieved his predecessors, he threw forward a sergeant's party into Nouilly, with orders to hold it till daylight. About one o'clock in the morning our cavalry patrols, supported by an infantry detachment, felt their way to the edge of the Bois de Griraont, and then encountered a fierce but wild discharge of musketry. They fell back on the sergeant's party in Nouilly, who held the place till they could discern the advance of large detachments of French troops. The shots had stirred up the three battalions lying in and around Mey, and they had come out on the rampage to annihilate the patrols and whatever else should come in then' way. The Prussian sergeant in Nouilly, however, quietly fell back on his supporting /eZ./u'ac/i^, where the lieutenant stood fast till he could see the French- THE FIELD WATCH. 161 men swarming into Nouilly, and then we fell back on the repli, which in turn supported the f eld wache. It did one good to see the coolness of the officer, a young lieutenant, not to all appearance over twenty-five, but who wears the '66 medal. I asked him why, looking at the seeming strength of the approaching force, he did not give a general alarm. The apparatus for this purpose is complete. A fusee thrown into the bonfire on the edge of the repli post would bring 40,000 men under arms in ten minutes, and the artillery galloping to the front in a quarter of an hour. But it was exactly the responsibility of such a general disturbance that prevented him from crying " Wolf" — although, to my judgment, there seemed cause enough. The event proved how well Lieutenant von Versin had learned to calculate contingencies. The French were content temporarily to occupy Nouilly, and after a brief stay fell back on their original position at Mey. But if he refrained from giving the alarm, he did not allow a single precaution to escape him. His company was extended in skirmishing order on both sides of the post, ready to retard the French advance should it have taken place. As it was, a great number of shots were exchanged, but no harm was done on either side. Around the church of this village there is a repli post, occupied by a company. The church itself, by the way, is a very in- teresting structure. Of great age and considerable architec- tural pretensions, it has been pounded with shells more severely than any building I have ever seen. The French pelted it on one side, the Prussians on the other. The steeple was originally square, now it is roughly round ; there are great gaps in the walls and holes in the roof, and the birds are singing merrily in the half-ruined structure. The cure has remained by his church, and, strange to say, his residence has escaped with very little damage. The colonel is his guest, or rather he is the colonel's guest, for he has nothing to eat but what is purveyed by our worthy Oberst. The good cure speaks German fluently, and gets a salute from everybody he passes ; he takes the firing very coolly, and seems in remarkably good spirits, all things con- sidered. But to return to my repli round the shattered church. Of the officer who was in charge of it for the day 1 am here the especial guest, and I found my way into his shanty after coming off repli in the morning. Till about one o'clock all was quiet — the men lay about on the straw, smoking or sleeping, and the vedettes, a hundred yards to our front, circled leisurely. Suddenly there came a spattering Chassepot fire from the riflemen on the little Belle Croix, directed against an infantry patrol which was beating the foreground. The bullets came 1G2 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. whistling over the repJi post as the lieutenant and myself jumped up to see what was the matter. One hit the ground a little to our front, ricochetted between us, and lodged in the arm of a soldier who was lying down a little in our rear. The order was for all to get under cover immediately, but Lieu- tenant Werth had some difficulty in getting obeyed, so eager were his fellows to see what was going on. He himself stood coolly exposed as the bullets came whistling by, minding them no more than if they had been so many buzzing flies. Firing with the French is infectious, and it was taken up all along the line as far as Mey, for what reason it was impossible to say. The Prussians did not think it worth while to reply, and the vedettes phlegmatically continued their circling. In about an hour the French fire died away, having, so far as I am aware, occasioned no casualty, save the wound to the man in our repli. About two o'clock we observed that a Prussian battery, stationed across the valley ^t a place named Longeau, about a mile nearer Metz than St. Germain (where was finished the battle of Gravelotte), and on the great road between Metz and Paris, was firing shells down into the valley below. Everybody ex- pected to see St. Quentin interfere with this game, which it could easily have done, for Longeau is not above a mile and a half from that fort ; but its grim sides remained without a single wreath of smoke, while the white puffs continued rising rapidly from the battery at Longeau. Presently a great smoke arose in the valley, evidently the result of the shell-fire, and with the combined aid of our glasses and our maps, we made out that the village of Moulins-les-Metz was burning. This village is close to St. Ruffine, and adjacent to the river, be- tween which latter and the village there is an earthwork. Our conjecture was that French troops were engaged in strength- ening this earthwork when the Prussians opened fire, and that a casual shell set light to Moulins. It burned fiercely till late in the evening. A little burning job is chalked out on this side for to-night. The village of Nouilly before us here is known to have in it considerable stores of provisions, secreted by the villagers, who are now inside Metz. The Prussians cannot succeed in unearthing these stores, but the peasants revealed the secret to their countrymen, and it is believed that the French troops last night took some food away with them. The effectual means to prevent a repetition of this is to burn the village, and with it the secret stores which it contains, and this project it is intended to carry out tonight. During the afternoon Plappeville fired a few shells from its great guns on the west side, and St. Julien also sent a few in th§. LIFE AT THE TROKT. 163 direction of the Moselle, but the fire seemed more 'pour passer le temps than anything else. All the mornmg, on the space before their camp, between St. Julien and Les Bottes, the French infantry were drilling assiduously in considerable num- bers. We could see their bayonets glittering brightly in the sun. On the environs of Fort St. Julien are observable con- siderable numbers of horses grazing, but, although I looked carefully with my glass, I could not discern a single bullock. Flanville, October 1. — This morning, between nine and ten o'clock, the guns of Mont St. Quentin sent a few shots in the direction of Gravelotte, whether by way of a friendly morning salute, or to cover a sortie in that direction, we have here no means of learning as yet. However, a little later in the day, there was observable a great cloud of dust between St. Julien and the town of Metz, between the intervening swell. This could only be ascribed to the march of a large force in the direction of Mont St. Quentin and Plappeville, and it may be that a more serious attack may take place to-night in the direction I have indicated. Between twelve and one Fort St. Julien also gave tongue, sending a few shots over the Moselle in the di- rection of Woippy; but there was a long interval between each discharge, and it did not appear as if anything serious was going on opposite to us. A siege is proverbially tedious work, especially when that siege takes the form of "masterly inactivity" on the part of the in- vesting force. There is not much for one to chronicle, except when a sortie takes place, and a forepost skirmish may be reckoned quite a godsend. I have not even a skirmish to write about, and perhaps, in the dearth of other matter, a short sketch of the manner of our life here in the front may not be unacceptable to your readers. The whole of the battalion to which I almost consider myself as belonging — the 2nd of the 4th Regiment — lies in this village, which is very small. The men are packed closely in the houses, occupying lofts, passages, sheds, and every other available shred of cover. The officers occupy two chateaux, both of which were beautiful residences before war laid them waste. The colonel's chateau still has its garden undestroyed — a para- dise of sweet scented flowers, with here a fountain and there a leafy bower. Our chateau has had harder fortune. A com- pany of men, as well as a number of officers, occupy its spacious chambers ; on the lawn outside are stacked the needle-guns, ready for immediate use, and the flower-beds are trodden down almost beyond the power of recognition. A corporal-schaft occupies the conservatory, and the flower-garden is converted into a drill-ground. The chateau was pelted by the French in M 2 164 "WAB CORRESPONDENCE. the battle of the 1st of September — it is hardly now outside the range of their guns— and the roof has been shattered by shells. We occupy the drawing-room, in which are two great mirrors reaching to the roof. The one over the mantelpiece has been penetrated by a bullet exactly in the centre, and is fantastically starred in all directions. In the grey morning, unless we have been previously roused by firing on the front, the soldier-servants come into our drawing- room bedroom, bringing the morning coffee. Long before, the soldiers on the other side of the partition have been stirring, and they are the merriest, the most noisy set of " Kerle " ima- ginable. After coffee, drill begins. The young soldiers are at the goose-step in the flower-garden ; the older hands practising skirmishing by companies in the neighbouring vineyards. At nine comes ajjpell — a kind of parade without arms, at which the clothes and accoutrements of the men are carefully inspected. The appell only takes place occasionally, but the under-officers have a minor appell every day, at each of which in turn there is an inspection of a separate article. Now it is arms, now boots, now cloaks. The under-officer is responsible for the condition of his schaft or squad, and he takes care he shall not incur a reprimand through any want of vigilance. After appell the officers breakfast. The feeding is homel3% and eaten in a homely fashion — clean plates, or plates of any kind, not being plentiful, and the glass-ware decidedly deficient. But there never wants a hearty appetite ; and for a guest like myself a hearty welcome and a frank kindliness that 1 never can forget. Break- fast over, comes an interval of visiting, gossiping, and beer- drinking ; for we have our own m,arJcetender on the lawn, and Saarbruck is only forty miles away. Some write, some read, others sleep : it is astonishing how much sleep it takes to tire some people. The men employ themselves in tailoring, in seeing to the rations, in conducting the cooking of the dinner, and in smoking in the bright sunshine. Dinner is rather a discursive meal ; you imagine you have finished it when you have eaten of the rice, the soup, and the m.incemeat in your own particular room, but going the round you find another mess devoting their attention to plums and scJiinken, and you join in of course. Then you go a little farther, and find the inmates of another room topping off with chocolate or coffee and a petit verve. Of course you are asked to partake, and equally of course you do so. After dinner is the siesta. The quarters are then as quiet as in the dead of night. In an hour or two a sprightly officer awakens, and assiduously devotes himself to the stirring up of his drowsy brother officers. A pack of cards comes to the surface somehow, and presently the lound table THE FIELD POST. 165 is surrounded by a circle of card players, the game proceeding with a considerable amount of noise, owing to a habit most Prussians have of all speaking at once, each at the top of his voice. Those who are not at the card- table stroll out to visit the brother- officer who is on the repli, drop in upon the worthy major and colonel, whom they find placidly smoking in their beautiful garden, or watch Fort St. Julien and the French tents through their glasses. Deep as the interest may be in the game which is being played at the card-table, that and all other local interest fades into nothing at the appearance of the under- officer who has been over to head-quarters to the feld-post. It is good to watch the countenances as the letters, hurriedly opened, are being pored over with eager faces. The eyes of the portly Dantzic premier-lieutenant on the sofa become strangely moist as the crumpled fuchsia and rosebud drop out of his letter, the fragrance still clinging about them as when they had been placed there as a love-token from the children he has left at home. What is that which the handsome young lieutenant hurriedly clutches as it falls out of the envelope, and pushes inside his tunic on the side next his heart ? I don't think it is a bill from his tailor. He would not smile so if it were a dunning letter he was reading, and the most gushing man is not addicted to the practice of stealthily kissing a letter from his tailor ere he consigns it to his breast- pocket. Depend upon it the lieutenant is happy in the know- ledge that the girl of his heart, far away on the shores of the Baltic, has not forgotten him. The domestic side of the German character comes out very strong in this interval of letter-reading. Nearly all the officers of the 4th are from the same district, and the letter of one officer commonly contains messages to others who at home are friends and neighbours. I was amused to-day by the amazed delight of a grizzled officer who must have seen close on fifty years, when he looked at the superscription of one of his letters. " Gott in himmel! it's from the old mother," he cried. Then came quite a gush of interest as to the age of the old lady, and when he told us with some pride that she was close on ninety, the " Donner- wetters " were many and hearty. After the letters come the J perusal of the newspapers and gossiping as to their contents, and the probable tactics of Bismarck — it is always Bismarck who is named. When darkness falls, we have music and dancing. One of our volunteers is a brilliant instrumentalist, and he comes down from his lofty abode near the roof, and plays our piano in the drawing-room. Now it is " Die Wacht am Ehein," the officers chiming in with the words, and the men on the farther side of the partition and out in the 166 WAE COERESPONDEJTCE. environs taking up the strain, till the volume of sound must sweep over the glades and the ruined vineyards to the French field-watches outside Belle Croix and St. Julien. I wonder what they think of the melody, and how they like it as a reply to the shouts, " A Berlin ! " "A Berlin ! " with which they made the Boulevards ring not three short months ago ? Now it is a waltz which the young volenteer plays, and then the spectacle would greatly delight Mr. Spurgeon, who is an advocate for male dancing with male. A lissom young officer, who, if he were not a gallant fellow with medals on his breast, would have made a capital dancing-master, treats us to a burlesque rendering of the cancan, and the music gets into the head of a rotund officer of middle age, who executes the most fantastic capers with a suppleness, and at the same time a gravity, that sets everybody in a roar. He infects the rest, and for the time one might imagine he was in the company of a congregation of dancing dervishes. But we must not keep the men awake, and, in truth, nobody cares to be a late sitter himself. By ten o'clock we are all in bed, the whole place wrapped in slumber, save the sentries who surround us with a cordon through which a mouse could not creep. No more could a mouse creep into or out of Metz. The sentry's orders are precise to allow nobody to pass through after nightfall on any pretext whatever. Last night an officer and myself, who had been out on the foreposts, allowed darkness to overtake us before our return. As we approached the chain of sentries, tlie stern " halt " came to us through the darkness. " Officer," was the reply, but it availed nothing— notwithstanding that the sentry belonged to the officer's own regiment. We had to stand till a party came to conduct us to the guard, and then the officer went back and praised the sentry for the creditable manner in which he had done his daty. Noisseville, October 2. — Yesterday afternoon ordei's suddenly reached the 4th Regiment to get ready for a march. The report went round that the corps was to be relieved from the siege and be despatched to Paris, whereat there was great rejoicing, and the cancan and the capers over again. But the anticipations were doomed to disappointment. Our destination was this place, only about a mile from Flanville, and farther to the front. We are now on the utmost verge of the first line. The whole village is within range of the guns of St. Julien, and with the exception of a few houses it was burned by the shell-fire in the actions of the 31st August and 1st September. The men sleep in their accoutrements, ready to clutch their arms in a moment when the alarm is given. I go on field-watch to-day with the friend whose quarters I share, and hope to see some- A I^IGHT EIN-TEKPEISE. 167 thing there worth description. Do you know in England that the Bavarians have now before Paris three batteries of improved mitrailleuses made at Augsburg? They scatter their fire far more widely than the French mitrailleuses. October 3. — In my letter of yesterday I mentioned that it was in contemplation to burn the village of Nouilly last night, and early this morning I sent a telegram, briefly narrating the successful accomplishment of the project. In no sense of the word could it be called an important operation ; but as a thoroughly well planned and conducted little affair, I think it may merit a detailed account, especially as nothing of more im- portance has occurred lately within the neighbourhood. I think I mentioned yesterday that the reason why it was determined to destroy the village of Nouilly was that it contained — or. at least, was believed to contain — considerable stores of provi- sions, which, however, were so secreted, in the cellars and elsewhere, that the Prussians could not discover them. The inhabitants, however, had for the most part taken refuge in Metz, and it was natural that they should inform their mili- tary countrymen of the whereabouts of the provisions. It was equally natural that men on short commons should do their best to obtain all the food they could, from whatever source ; and it is believed that when the French outposts temporarily occupied Nouilly the night before last, they succeeded in carry- ing away with them some stores. The place lies so directly under the fire of Fort St. Julien and Les Bottes, that it is hardly tenable permanently by a Prussian force, and therefore there was no resource but to burn it. A little after eight o'clock last night I was sitting at supper with Lieutenants von Hosius and Fischer, of the 5th company of the 2nd battalion of the 4th Regiment The quarters these good gentlemen occupied would hardly have been considered eligible by a London working-man looking for lodgings. The house had been burnt out twice, and the bare walls were now roofed in with a few planks loosely covered with straw. Door and window were both gone, but their place was not ineffi- ciently supplied with blankets. There happened to be left a tolerably decent table, and one side of the apartment was littered with straw for a bed. We eat rather promiscuously here. If any one has anything exceptionally good for supper it is sure to ooze out, and then the fortunate man has an ex- ceptional number of callers, who " drop in promiscuous " just as the dainty dish is set upon the table. The dainty dish on this occasion consisted of salt herrings boiled with onions, and washed down with beer warmed with meal and schnapps. Lieutenant Fischer understands no English, but can express 168 "WAE CORRESPONDENCE. his meaning pantomimically in a manner which I never saw equalled. As a linguist Mr. von Hosius has a great superiority over his comrade. He knows some English. It is true his knowledge is not of a varied character. So far as I am aware, it is confined to " Good night," with which he takes delight in saluting me about five in the morning, and a verse of " Lucy Long," with which he invariably essays to follow up the conversation. Between the salt herrings, my German, Mr. Fischer's pantomime, and Mr. von Hosius's "Lucy Long," we were getting on as well as could be expected, when b. feldwebel entered with an order for Lieutenant von Hosius, which the latter read aloud : — "Lieutenant von Hosius will parade at nine o'clock with fifteen volunteers of his company, and will proceed forward to burn the village of Nouilly." Von Hosius is fond of salt herrings, and he is fond, too, of an opportunity of distinguishing himself. The Iron Cross for valour is already in his button-hole. There were still herrings on the plate, and the hour was only half-past eight. Fischer, by his direction, went outside to call for volunteers, while he finished the herrings. The men lay about in a couple of dismantled rooms, and in the garden at the back of the house. " Volunteers to burn a village ! " roared Fischer, into the midst of the sleeping " Kerle." Had he thrown a bomb among them he could not have caused a more instantaneous and universal start. Volunteers ! He wanted fifteen, and here was the whole company round him like bees. He picked his fifteen, taking the men who had no wives at home in the Fatherland, and then came back to see if the mulled beer was done. By this time Von Hosius had demolished the ultimus Romanorum of the herrings, and, as time was short, was setting about getting ready in the most systematic manner. JHaving pulled on his long boots, he pulled out of his portmanteau the little dagger which every ofificer wears to ward otf the vultures of the battle- field in case of being wounded, and thrust his "Adam" re- volver into his belt. Then, with a final glass of the queer beer, he sallied out to the spot where his little band was drawn up waiting for him, and gave them a word or two of advice and precaution. In truth, the undertaking was a most dangerous one. It par- took, indeed, not a little of the nature of a forlorn hope. A few hundred yards in the rear of Nouilly we, it is true, had B,feldiiache, but the French were nearer it on the other side, by Mey and the Bois de Grimont, and had strong temptations for entering it by night. It might be that he might encounter ANXIOUS MOMENTS. 169 a force of French inside the village. In that case, of what service' would be his fifteen volunteers ? It was almost certain that, if this contingency should not occur, the party would encounter a fierce foe in the execution of their task ; and it was probable that on their return they would be shelled both by St. Quentin and Les Bottes. I left Hosius giving his order, and went on to the forepost ground, across which he must pass to get across the Weinberg, and down into the valley in which Nouilly lies. In a few minutes came the measured tread of the little party, marching at the Prussian quick step, which is faster than that of any army I know. Von Hosius as he passed hailed me laughingly with a parting " Miss Lucy, Lucy Long," and then disappeared in the darkness. For a while we could hear the crashing of the little band through the vines, and then came the hoarse challenge of the feJdivache rear sentry. Then all became quiet. The group by the watch-fire on the repli ground gave sufficient evidence of the ticklish character of the enterprise. For a few minutes the officer iu command of the repli and myself were the only persons who enjoyed its genial warmth. Then through the gloom came stalking the major, and after a long look towards Nouilly, he squatted silently down by our side. Presently another form appeared, that of the genial colonel himself, who had been moved to forsake the society of the cure to come and see what success Von Hosius should meet with. I don't know exactly how they came, but in half an hour nearly ail the officers of the battalion were around the bright wood fire. Everybody tried to appear unconcerned, but it was equally certain everybody was fidgety. The regi- ment has never yet failed in any duty assigned it, and if it failed now ? Nobody liked to broach the subject, but I could see it was uppermost in the mind of all. And Von Hosius was a tantalizingly long time in putting us out of our suspense. An hour had gone — Nouilly is but ten minutes forward from Noisseville — and the colonel's nervousness was undisguised as he hacked at the burning log with his naked sword, and drove his spur into the leg of his chair. The major had taken to walking up and down the inside of the entrenchment, and only the adjutant exhibited a thorough nonchalance ; but then he was very sleepy. The vigilant lieutenant of the repli gave a smothered shout, and we all sprang to our feet. Flame-coloured smoke at last, and plenty of it. But surely, suggested the major, it really cannot be so far away as that. Why, that lowering smoke is on the other side of the Bois de Grimont, and must be a private bonfire of the French — not the one which Von Hosius was 170 WAR COKRESPONDENCE. to fire. It was too true — the ^alarm was a false one. The colonel, sat down again moodily, and the major began to mutter something that seemed to me very like swearing. As for the adjutant, he went to sleep, and I very nearly followed his example. One thing was favourable — the dead silence that reigned in the valley. It was evident that Von Hosius had encountered no French in the place, or the rattle of the musketry would have been heard long ere now, and the battalion, which was standing to its arms at the various company posts, would have been lining the entrenchment with the needle-guns poked over the earthwork. Another half-hour of suspense, and then a loud "Ha!" simul- taneously from the lieutenant on duty and the sentry. This time it was Nouilly, and no mistake. Von Hosius had taken his time, that he might do his work thoroughly. Not from one isolated house, but in six places at once, belched out the long streaks of flame against the black darkness, and the separate fires made as much haste to connect themselves as ever did commanders who were eager to feel their supporters' right and left. In ten minutes the whole place was in one grand blaze, the church steeple standing up in the midst of the sea of flame, as if it had round its turret the old motto of the Scottish Kirk, " Nee tamen consmnehatur. But, church steeple as it was, it had not the attribute of the burning bush, and a whole pyrotechnic display of sparks bore testimony to its fall. Here and there asrainst the flame could be seen a human figure in frantic flight, and on a bluff", just outside the village, I saw in the strong light a woman standing wringing her hands. These were the innocent victims of war — the victims not of the Prussians, but of him in whose ears the poor serfs would three months ago have shouted, *' Vive I'Empereur ! " Presently we heard again the crashing through the vinebrake, and out outpost sentry challenge. The watchword was re- turned in the hearty voice of Von Hosius, and in five minutes more the little party was inside the entrenchment of the repli. Von Hosius, of rather a portly figure, was panting with the exertion of climbing the vine hill, but he found breath enough to greet me with " Miss Lucy, Lucy Long." The affair was singularly successful. The duty had been executed without the necessity of exchanging a single shot. The village, which burnt till five this morning, had been so effectually fired that all the stores which it might have contained must have been burnt ; and so coolly had the enterprise been gone about, that a respectable old horse which was found in one of the stables of the village was led back in triumph as a trophy. I supDosa DISTEIBTJTIOIS" OF IRON CROSSES. I7l the French held their fire hecause they did not know whither to direct it. To have shelled Nouilly would only have been to play into the hands of the Prussians, and the destroying party might have come from Servigny, Noisseville, the Brasserie, or Montoy. It would therefore have been a useless waste of ammunition to have shelled the supposed path of their retreat, when it was not known in what direction that retreat was ; and St. Julien was civil, and refrained from shelling our repH in front of Noisseville. I lay down among the straw, and went to sleep with the echo of "Miss Lucy, Lucy Long," still haunt- ing my ears. I was present this morning at the very interesting ceremony of the distribution to the 4th Regiment of the iron crosses awarded to members of it for valour in the field. The cere- mony took place at Puche, the head-quarters of the general of the division, who personally distributed the crosses in the presence of the officers of the regiment. The band played the old regimental air, the " Hohenfriedberg," and the colours were on the ground. The gallant 4th has earned no fewer than twenty crosses already, and the award seemed to have been made with the most rigid impartiality, the men taking their full share of the coveted distinction with their officers. The 4th is one of the old regiments of the Prussian service, and its annals record a long and gallant career. Its regimental march, the name of which I have just mentioned, is secured to it by a special Royal order, in remembrance of the valour which it displayed at the battle of Hohenfriedberg fought in 1745. October 4.— Up in the front here we get to look upon the fortresses environing the town of Metz much as the Naples people regard and talk of Mount Vesuvius when that moun- tain is in an uneasy condition. For a whole day St. Julien has been quiet. St. Quentin has not emitted a single puff of smoke, and Les Bottes might have been a flower-garden tended by pretty girls. This at least was the case up till eleven o'clock this forenoon, and the martial population of Noisseville were taking it as easy as discipline will permit on the foreposts. To the left of the Brasserie, a post I have already named, lying on the chaussee and parallel to Noisseville on the south, a large body of Prussian troops were engaged in constructing large wooden barracks, just in rear of the entrenchment line. These are being built for the accommo- dation of the troops who now occupy the Brasserie, which has been reduced to ruins by the many bombardments which it has undergone. The French in Les Bottes could see the progress of this work, and the number of the men engaged in 172 WAS COERESPONDENCE. it; and the idea seemed to strike them that it might not be out of place to attempt to interrupt the building operations. Anyhow, they commenced rather a fierce shell-fire on the unfinished barracks, and also on the unfortunate Brasserie, under the shelter of which the working party was withdrawn when the first grenade came hurtling over the trees. The Brasserie nmst by this time be thoroughly well used to these pleasant visitors, and there is this consolation for it, that if it were exploded bodily it could not be ruined much more utterly than now. All that it is good for is that the heap of stones, which once composed a rather imposing structure, should afford shelter for troops drawn up in the rear. But even this office the Brasserie is now incapable of performing. The shells send its loose stones flying in all directions, and it was thus that several men were wounded yesterday morning. The contagion of firing was communicated by Les Bottes to the foreposts. These began blazing away at each other in a very level fashion, the Prussians replying to the French fire with the Chassepots, the use of which they have been practising so sedulously for the last few days. Everybody has got so much used to this intermittent outpost fire, that the only notice it met with was a whistle occasionally from some soldier moving about our village when a bullet hurtled past him, or hit the wall a yard or two above his- head. From firing at the wooden barracks and the Brasserie, Les Bottes took it into its head to chuck a few shells at Servigny, the village to our right, and then St. Julien chimed in with his great cannon-balls. Noisse- ville occupied an intermediate position between the Brasserie and Servigny, but up till about one o'clock it had unaccountably escaped the polite attentions of the two French forts. About that hour, however, a great cannon-ball came whistling across from St. Julien, crashed through the wall of a house in which most of the officers were quartered, and tumbled in among the stacked arms in an open space in the street, making a hole in which a horse might have been hurried. Nobody was hurt, but the paymaster was nearly smothered with the debris which fell from the wall through which the great ball passed. Les Bottes followed St. Julien's example in tiring into Noisseville, the latter projecting 42lb. and 64lb. shells, the former confining himself to cannon-balls. It was a great waste of powder and shot. Nobody was hurt, and all the effect was that a village, already for the most part burnt and in ruins, was destroyed a little more. The church was terribly wrecked by the cannon of St. Julien. Already the exterior had been knocked out of shape, but the inside retained much of its original integrity. A ball from St. Julien yesterday crashed right through the SHELL FIRING. 173 altar, and brought the cross on to the pavement in splinters. The fragment of a shell from Les Bottes shivered a beautiful marble monument, splitting it right up the centre, and cutting in two the commemoration of the merits of a respectable defunct villager. The Virgin Mary, as she stood in marble against the wall, had a limb amputated, and was otherwise dismem- bered, and if the pastor had been in the pulpit when another shell struck it he would never have preached more. So hot became the cross-fire from the two fortresses, that it was judged advisable to withdraw the troops out of the village a few hundred yards to the rear. The feldwachts were of course left in their positions, as also were two companies in the repli by the church ; but the rest fell back into an orchard behind the village. It was great fun to be here and listen to the French pelting the village, under the idea, no doubt, that it was full of Prussian troops. We could hear the crashing of the rafters and the smashing of the walls as the huge projectiles tore through them, the shells exploding as they struck, and sending into the air a cloud of fragments. All this time the musketry fire on the foreposts was unceasing along a large portion of the line, and any one dropping in casually upon the scene would have imaghied quite an important battle was in progress. So little was this the case that the troops supporting Noisseville and lying in Flanville and Ketonfay were not put under arms. The whole affair was an utterly useless ignition of powder, and its only effect was to suspend for the day the con- struction of the v/ooden barracks. When the firing had ceased we came back into the village, and several of us found that the quarters which we had quitted at one o'clock were no longer in existence at five, A few houses more or less ground to powder in Noisseville is quite a trifle when the whole village may be called a ruin. It surprised me to observe with what extraordinary force some of the projectiles had fallen. In a field beyond the church there was a hole in the earth that might almost have served as the shaft of a mine. It marked the spot where had fallen a shell from Les Bottes. The pioneers dug it out in the evening. They had to go to a depth of about six feet. The huge ugly affair had not exploded, and two men extricated it gently, and bore it in triumph, quite a little procession following, to lay it at the feet of the colonel. The shell was a 64-pounder. Just fancy a missile of this magnitude striking a man full in the chest I It would hurl him in little pieces in all directions. Or fancy it exploding in the centre of a group, or in the heart of a column, and scattering its great skin, an inch and a half thick- ness of metal, in a shower of morsels, each about two inches 174 "WAit COllRESPONDENCE. square. Till nightfall the outpost firing was continued, but it seemed more to while away the time than for any other reason. This morning, in the neighbourhood of Courcelles, I witnessed what has been a rarity during this campaign— a Prussian soldier undergoing punishment. There is no flogging in the Prussian army, even during war time. In peace the punish- ments are — middle arrest, which consists of confinement in a light room, containing a wooden bed. Severe arrest consists of confinement in black darkness, with the ground for a bed. Bread and water is the fare in each case. Severe arrests cannot be ordered for more than five weeks — it being reckoned that longer confinement of the kind is calculated to undermine the constitution. In war time there is still the middle arrest. A prisoner is sent to the guard, and when a forward march is made, he is handed over to the succeeding guard. During war, however, this punishment is never ordered for more than four days. Severe arrest is impracticable in war time in the enemy's country. For it is substituted the punishment of "tying to a tree." Two hours on the tree are reckoned equivalent to twenty-four hours' severe arrest, and the maxi- mum of this punishment is also four days. A still more severe punishment consists in the offender being sent home to Ger- many to be dealt with by the military authorities there. I believe, if the punishment consists merely in the enforced return from the scene of action, it would be as great a deterrent as a court-martial and a military prison. It was a man " on the tree" whom I saw this morning. The punishment undoubtedly is severe He was tied round the tree by the arms, by the waist, and by the feet, so as to be unable to touch the ground as a support; his face was turned to the tree that he might see nothing, and the hot sun was beating down upon his back. I have been now for two months and a half with the Prussian armies, and this is the first man I have seen undergoing punishment. ' Before Metz ! " What a wide, what a convenient expression it is, to be sure ! 1 should like to have some definition of where " before Metz " ends. It must include an unprecedented radius of country. Remilly must be quite fifteen miles from the beleaguered fortress ; yet it is " before Metz," according to the gentlemen who write their letters there, in the luxury of a good hotel — their information derived from officers and railway guards, while the down train from Courcelles halts for its fifteen minutes. Pont- a-Mousson— where also there are good hotels — is likewise " before Metz," and I am not at all sure that Luxemburg, forty miles away, is not within the " BErOBE METZ." T75 same comprehensive radius. I am certain that Saarbruck is. All the localities surrounding Metz have names, and there is no occasion for the assumption of mystery or the resort to such a generality as " before Metz." All the conditions involved in being really " before Metz " is a liability to have the house you inhabit shelled about your ears, to have a Chassepot bullet disturb your thoughts as you are taking a meditative stroll, to sleep on straw, to eat black bread, and for your drink to chance what an enterprising marketender may purvey. There is no doubt some difficulty in getting within the reach of these eligible amenities without an adequate authorization, and with- out this also there is an absolute impossibility of circulating freely about the foreposts ; but if one is provided with this, no condition of secrecy is imposed on him to prevent him from writing freely what he sees, nor has he any occasion to resort to the ambiguous " before Metz." Retonfay, October 5. — This morning, at five o'clock, after a night passed under arms in expectation of an attack, the 4th Regiment quitted Noisseville and marched to this place, about a mile to the rear, and the second line. Four days of the first line and oi feldwache duty is quite enough at a time, and it is right that the several regiments of a division should relie^ye each other in the arduous duty. During the night I am told that Les Bottes and St. Julien renewed the firing on Noisse- ville. I slept so soundly that 1 was in blessed ignorance of the circumstance, but when I turned out this morning I fell into a hole that was the crater of an exlpoded shell about two paces from the place where once there was a door. Several other shells fell in the immediate vicinity, and the poor church got another blow or two. The 4th was relieved by the 44th Regi- ment, with whom it exchanged quarters. The Staff of the 3rd Brigade lies here in a beautiful chateau, which has suffered very little from the war. All three battalions of the 4th now lie in Retonfay, where they will probably remain for a few days, and then go down to the foreposts again. Military duty in Noisseville was so severe that no officer was at liberty to quit the place for so long as an hour. The consequence of this was that I was unable to continue my rides round the besieging army in the company of the gentleman who acted so admirably as my cicerone on the day of my arrival, I could, of course, have ridden about alone, but I should have been liable to continual interruption ; and with my imperfect know- ledge of localities, I should have derived comparatively little advantage from my expeditions. Here, however, he is again at liberty, and we have arranged a journey for this afternoon as far as the Moselle, on the northern side of the town. We 176 WAR COREESPONDENCE. are to ride through the Landwehr divisions that lie to the north of us, and 1 look forward with great interest to the excursion, since I have not as yet seen any considerable number of the Landwehr under arms. October 6. — After despatching my letter of yesterday, I made a journey, along with an officer of the 4th, as far as the Moselle to the northward of Fort St. Eloy. We everywhere traversed the extreme edges of the foreposts, and the ride was a very interesting one. From Retonfay we struck the first line at the unfortunate Servigny — that once pretty village against which St. Julien seems to have an especial spite. There is not much of Servigny left to speak of— a few gable-ends of walls, and here and there the walls of a house without a roof. A battalion of the 45th contrives somehow to find quarters among the rnins, and a few villagers still wander about in a ghostly fashion. From Servigny we passed over a considerable ridge to the charming village of Poix, lying snugly at the opening of a valley which tends downward towards the Moselle. This village is surrounded in all directions by beautiful villas, the summer residences of the wealthier inhabitants of Metz. An isolated suburb near the top of the ridge has suffered severely from the fire of St. Julien — indeed the shells were bursting around it as we passed; but the village itself has not been much injured, and the Prussian troops have respected its amenities in a very surprising manner. A division general dwells amid roses and honeysuckles in one of the principal chateaux, built in rustic Elizabethan, and beautifully furnished ; the field-post inhabits a rustic gardener's lodge in the grounds. Vremy lies a little to the rear, in the bottom of the valley, which here assumes the character of a gorge, and the road compels a dttour into it, which is repaid by the observation of the admirable manner in which its houses and churchyard walls have been converted into defensive works, thoroughly blocking up the gorge. Leaving Vremy ^nd the hospitable officers who dwelt therein, we rode down the valley to Failly, a considerable village, in which, until a few days ago, were the head-quarters of General Kummer, commanding the Landwehr divisions who lined this section of the environment; but the Landwehr have now gone across to the other side of the Moselle, and at Failly the 7th Army Corps touches with its left the extreme right of the 1st Army Corps, of which the 4th Ptegiment forms a part. From Failly there is a direct road to the Moselle at Malroy, but by a slight detour the opportunity offered itself of getting very close to the Bois de Grimont, w'hich is full of French troops, and of inspecting at a comparatively short distance SUBURBS or METZ. 177 the fortress of St Julien, A Prussian officer in Failly told us laughingly that there were two very beautiful young women in Villers I'Orme, the village which is so near to the Bois de Grimont, and I am not certain that this information did not operate with my companion as an additional reason for visiting the place. L'Orme is a very prettily situated little village, just on the edge of the table-land on which stand Grimont and St. Julien. We saw nothing of the beautiful maidens, but the place is full of inhabitants, and the children were playing merrily about, quite regardless, to all appearance, of the fact that the place is within 300 yards of the French outposts. L'Orme is unoccupied by the Prussians during the day. At night a small party, under the command of an under-officer, go forward and take up a position behind it. Occasionally, stragglers from the French outposts visit it in search of food. From the shelter of one of its houses we could see the French outposts quite easily with the naked eye — the men cooking or lying down, and the sentries walking to and fro. Behind wa? the foi'est, and then the monastery of Grimont, while over the whole of the quiet little scene St. Julien frowned grimly, casting forward his dark shadow in the afternoon sunlight. L'Orme has wonderfully escaped the ravages of war. Both parties seem to have agreed to respect it, probably on account of the number of villagers who still continue to reside in it. I was told that not a single shell had been fired into the village. But while we were there, the shells v^ere flying over our heads towards Vany and Failly, and it seemed strange to see the children playing in the street, the girls driving home the cows, and the old women placidly spinning in front of their doors, when the missiles were whistling through the air above their heads. The French respect L'Orme, but they have no such tenderness for anybody who may happen to traverse the space which intervenes between L'Orme and Chiculles. The tract leads athwart an open field with a hedge in the rear, and the French posts line the wood continuously, at a distance of about 300 yards. The distance is about half a mile, and unless we chose to make a very considerable detour^ there was no alternative but to run the gauntlet. My military friend went first, at a brisk hand canter. He had hardly shown his horse's head beyond the cover of the houses of L'Orme when the French- men commenced saluting him with Chassepot bullets. I followed at a short interval, and as the bullets came thicker and faster our canter became a gallop. The horses were fresh, and also desperately timid ; ever as a bullet whistled past them and cut the twigs in the hedge, they gave a bound and a shy N 178 WAE COEEESPOI^DETfCE. that necessitated very close adhesion to the pig-skin. I was by no means sorry when we got into Chieulles, a village a little farther retired from the pointblack range of fire, and which has by mutual consent been hitherto reckoned a neuti^al terri- tory — that is, it is neither occupied by French nor Prussians. There are in it plenty of inhabitants, who seem to have got quite familiarized to their strange position, and who carry on their ordinary avocations as if the war were miles away. The village is rather a large one, and contains many pretentious buildings. From it our road lay to the left rear, to Sifeldwache outside the village of Vany, and then into the village itself. The French outposts gave us one parting salute as we sallied out of Chieulles, and this evoked a response from the feldivache, for which we were making. We left the hostile outposts firing away at each other very briskly, and rode forward, accompanied by a cavalry officer, into Charly, a beautiful village, containing many chateaux, and standing embowered amidst orchards. Here one of the points of the battle of the 81st of August was contested with great desperation. All around the villages the graves lie thick, now Prussians, now French. The bayonet was at work in the environs of Charly, and in one of its alleys took place a fierce and long-continued hand-to-hand contest. It was very pretty to see how tastefully the Prussian troops had decorated the graves of their dead comrades. They had made them up with turf, and planted flowers and shrubs on the ridge, while at the head of each stood a wooden cross, on which was painted the name and rank of him who lay below. The French graves were not thus tended, but neither were they neglected. Brave soldiers never draw distinctions between the last resting-places of foes and friends. The graves of the French had been surrounded by hedges of shrubs, and the cross had been set up at the head of each. From Charly we rode on to Malroy, a considerable village lying on the Moselle, about two miles north of Fort St. Julien. It was necessary, however, to ride up the stream some distance to find the first pontoon bridge crossing it at Argancy. Some distance higher up, at Hautconcourt, there is another pontoon bridge, and close to it, at Ennery, is a very large depot of provisions and stores for the supply of the northern portion of the besieging army. Immediately on crossing the Moselle, we came among the Landwehr men. They need not fear com- parison with the finest regiments of the regular army. So far as I could discern, the only distinction lay in the fact that the Landwehr had more hair on their faces, as a general rule, than the line troops. About seven or eight and twenty seemed the average age of the Landwehr ; and as regards a A NiaHT CANNONADE. 179 martial carriage, they would not suffer alongside the Guards, I rode down to their extreme outposts, in the direction of Fort St. Eloy, at a place called La Maxe, from which we could see the gunners of St. Eloy going about their duties in the fort and the posts which lie on the glacis. The limit of our ride was St. Bgathe, on the slope of the high ground which begins to rise out of the valley at Woippy, and there we found the right of the 10th Army Corps, and also two batteries of heavy siege guns, which were in position against St. Eloy. Riding leisurely back by a more circuitous route than that we had pursued in going, we were near Failly when the sun disappeared in a glorious setting behind the yellow crest of St. Quentin. Hardly had it disappeared when a flash came from out of the shadow over against St. Agathe, The roar of a heavy gun came booming across the valley, and the sound had not died away before there was another flash and another roar. In five minutes the whole slope, for a distance of nearly a mile and a half, was lit up by continual flashes of artillery fire. Then the fortress of St. Eloy took up the reply, with a slower but steady fire of its heavy guns, their roar coming to us deadened by the thick fog which was rising from the Moselle. The sight in the growing darkness was indescrib- ably grand. We sat on horseback on the summit of the ridge at Poix, watching and listening, till St. Julien thought fit to chime in on his own account, and began throwing big shells on to the ridge by the suburb of Poix on which we were stand- ing. Our horses could not be prevailed upon to contemplate the explosion of these with equanimity, and about eight o'clock we returned to Retonfay, on the plateau of which we found the division general, and nearly all the officers of the five battalions now lying here standing watching and listening to the gun-fire. Soon after eight it began to slacken, and pre- sently died away altogether: all through the night both St. Julien and Les Bottes kept the Prussian lines on the alert by an occasional reminder, consisting of a 24-lb. shell. The cannonade has not had any immediate effect. Its purpose was to discover what impression heavy guns were likely to make on the fortifications of St. Eloy if used continuously. St. Eloy, if it were taken to-morrow, is not by any means an essential complement to the capture of Metz. On the contrary, Metz could dispense with it without any considerable incon- venience. But it will not be taken to-morrow, nor for many mornings, if its capture is to depend on the effect the cannon- ade of last night had upon it. Starvation and a direct block- ade are the true weapons in the Prussian quiver. These are, beyond doubt, gradually working their effect. N 2 ISO WAR CORRESPONDENCE. On the 7th of October Marshal Bazaine made another very energetic and serious attempt to break out of Metz in the direction of Thionville, resulting in what has been called the battle of Mezieres. The engagement was thus described in a letter written from the field of. battle on the same evening : — Maizieres les Metz, October 7, Evening. — I have to-day to give you a narrative of perhaps the most important sortie which Bazaine has made since the Prussians threw their belt of men, guns, and earth around him. That this may be the case is evidenced by the fact, that in the several operations of the day he must have had at least 60,000 men engaged, while the Prussians had considerably more. One of the leading features of the combat was the seemingly casual manner in which it occurred, and I do not know how this can be brought out more forcibly than by recourse, to a personal narrative. Last ni^ht I slept in Eetonfay, and early in the morning I started northward, w^ith the intention of making the complete circuit of the environment of Metz before my return. I proposed to devote two days to the undertaking, my baiting place for the intermediate night being, according to my intention, the head-quarters of my old acquaintance, General von Goben, in command of the 8th Army Corps, somewliere in front of Gravelotte. The morning was dull and misty. As I reached the eminence at Poix I could barely see Mont St. Quentin above the fog in the valley, the sun's rays striking upon its warm grey peak. It seemed as if a general armistice had been declared. Even the forepost fire had dropped, and Metz might have been in Hyde Park, the French on the slope of the Bois de Grimont or Margate Sands. I rode leisurely forward through Vremy, and Vany, and Chieulles, and as I traversed at a canter the critical ground between the last village and Charly, the French outposts, although they were but 300 yards distant, were too lazy to send a bullet in any direction. From Charly I reached Malroy, where the head- quarters of one of the divisions of the 10th Army Corps were stationed, and then forward to Olgy, where, mirabile dictu, I found a veritable auberge, with red wine and Gruyere cheese to be had by paying for it. At the foot of the garden of the auberge flowed the Moselle in a great placid stream, and I lunched in a summer-house overhanging its waters. A few hundred yards farther brought me to the village of Argancy, where is the first Prussian forepost bridge ; and having crossed it, I made first for the chateau of Amelange, and afterwards in a direction due Metz-ward, until I reached the far ihestfeldw ache at Maxe. Then I struck across the valley, rather to the rear, BATTLE OF MAIZIEEES. 181 first to Grandes and then to Petites Tapes, in both of which there lay only an under-officer's guard of nine men, and avoiding Ladon champs, by advice, I reached St Eemy, where I found on duty the 59th Landwehr E-egiment. Thence my journey lay still athwart the remotest foreposts to Norroy and Plesnois, the latter village being in the heart of the Bois de Saulny, and my road then lay straight southward on to St. Hubert, which is, 1 believe, the outpost region of the 8th Army Corps. But at Plesnois my horse cast a shoe, and as the road was rugged I was rather in a fix, when there rode past a Staff officer attached to the head-quarters of Baron Schuler von ISenden, commanding the 2nd Division of the Landwehr. This gentleman was quartered in Mezieres, and he most courteously invited me to return witli him thither and be his guest for the night. The offer was too good to be refused, and I returned accordingly. On the return journey this gentleman gave me some most valuable information. In the bombardment of the two previous days the position occupied by the batteries of German heavy guns was at Frenecourt, near the commencement of the rise of the hills some distance to the south-west of Mezieres. To speak more precisely, they were stationed on the low heights of Le Horiment, on the rising ground behind which stands an observatory, which commands the whole plain. Marange, the head-quarters of the Prussian 3rd Army Corps, is considerably in the rear of this position. These heavy guns, curiously enough, belong to the State of Hesse-Darmstadt. But the Prussians had batteries, as Mr. told me, considerably beyond Frene- court. They had six field batteries midway between it and Sennecourt, and on the 6th they had pushed forward a seventh battery as far as Sennecourt itself. From these several positions the bombardment of Fort St. Eloy had been going forward, and also a shell-fire into the village of Ladonchamps, some little distance nearer Metz than St. Eemy, on the line of railway. Till lately this village had been reckoned neutral territory, but on the 2nd October the French had seized it, and established a battery in front of it. The village itself was burnt the same night by Prussian shells, but still the French retained the position, and the Prussian fire of the last few days had been partly directed to the dislodgment of the enemy from a position which was important, as the occupants of it could enfilade the whole front across the valley. On the 6th nearly a thousand shells had been thrown into Ladon- champs and the neighbourhood, and late in the evening the French had evacuated the shattered fragments of a once smiling village. The Prussians at once threw forward troops in its 182 AVAK COKRESPOFDENCE. direction, establishing their replis in its rear, and sending forward sergeants' parties to occupy it, and Grandes and Petites Tapes villages, to which its possession was the key. St. Remy constituted the chief support, and here lay the 59th Eegiment of the Landwehr. Maxe, close to the river, and considerably in advance, was occupied by outposts sent for- ward from the 10th Army Corps, on the other side of the Moselle. The two divisions of the Landwehr stretched right athwart the valley from the bridge at Argancy, where they touched the 10th Army Corps, to near Marange, where they met the 5th, and to them was confided the duty of keeping the flat alluvial tract on the western bank of the Moselle. This was the substance of the information which my friend of the Staff communicated to me on our ride to Mezieres. Here I found the head-quarters of General von Kummer, who commands the Landwehr. The men, to a great extent, were located in temporary barracks, which they had themselves constructed, and which did great credit to their ingenuity. About one o'clock I was sitting at lunch with two Staff officers in an arbour in General Kummer's garden, when the guns of the Prussian batteries by Sennecourt began to give tongue. " Only a few Frenchmen loafing round Ladonchamps," observed one of the officers. " There will be nothing serious to-day ; there is too much mist in the valley." Certainly it semeed as if he must be right. When I was on the heights at Sennecourt I could not see the villages in the valley below, nor the cathedral of Metz. Our constant landmark. Fort St. Quentin, was utterely invisible. But the roar of the guns grew louder and louder, and then came first one great boom, and then another, from the big guns lying behind, at Frene- court. The officers fidgeted, but still would not own that anything was the matter. But their nonchalance gave way when an aide-de-camp came up at the gallop, spreading the alarm everywhere he went, and dashing on the General's quarters for instructions to guide the front. In five minutes more we were all in the saddle, and, after a short gallop, were looking out on the scene of action from the fringe of the wood in front of the chateaux of Brieux and Amelange. That the reader may understand the tactics of Bazaine and the manner in which they were foiled, it will be necessary to give a brief description of the ground. From Metz to Mezieres there is a long trough, with a flat bottom — the alluvial margin of the Moselle. This tract is about four English miles wide. On the west it is bounded by the heights I have already named, and nearer Metz by Norroy and Saulny. On the east it is bounded by a lower series of bluffs, on which stand the villages A L1YIN& WALL. 183 of Olgy and Malroy ; but between them and the flat bottom runs the Moselle, infringing considerably on the flat expanse just opposite Oigy. Across this bottom, at the narrowest parts thus formed, lies a series of villages — the two Tapes and St. Eemy, with Maxe and Ladonchamps respectively slightly to the east and west front. More or less, there were Prussian troops in all these. The dispositions detailed to me by the Staff officer had been substantially maintained. Bazaine had laid his scheme with great art. Covered by the dense fog, he had made his dispositions with such adroitness, that when it lifted, a little past one, his arrangements were already all but complete. In the first instance, he directed a strong assault on Ladonchamps. The Landwehr outpost held the place as if they were 10,000 instead of 100 men, and the French sent their infantry swarming into it, while their artillery played upon it. " Only an attempt to reoccupy Ladonchamps," quoth my friend of the Staff, as he lit a fresh cigar ; " the guns will teach them the folly of that, and we can go back to our arbour." Certainly it seemed, if any argument could be convincing, that the Prussian artillery must be doing so. The white spurts of smoke were visible all round the valley. On the right front the batteries at Sennecourt were hard at work, and also others nearer us on the flat, while the great guns at Frenecourt Vere sending shells at a low range right over Ladonchamps in among the advancing French. Then, on our left, at Amelange, two other batteries were maintaining a semi-cross fire ; and from the bluffs, on the other side of the Moselle, between Olgy and Mah'oy, the Prussian field artillery were also roaring. But my friend of the Staff was not, for an hour or two at all events, to see the arbour. The attack on Ladonchamps was a diversion. Suddenly the villages of Grandes and Petites Tapes, of St Ptemy and Maxe, were overwhelmed by a cataract of Frenchmen. The 59th Landwehr in St Remy would not fall back, as it should have done in common prudence, but stood up there in the street till the French, having played upon it with their artillery, and rained on it Chassepot and mitrail- leuse bullets, finally pushed backwards the shattered remnant on to the chaussee by dint of sheer numbers. The fusilier battalion of the 58th occupied Grandes Tapes, and it occupies Grandes Tapes now, but the occupation consists of the dead and the wounded. The battalion would not give ground, and may be said to have been annihilated as it stood, the men w4th their backs to the w^all and their faces to the foe. The other battalions di the same regiment suffered terribly. So far, then, Bazaine had succeeded. He had reoccupied the chain of villages athwart the valley, and had got a few iH WAR COREESPONDENCE. batteries of artillery out to their front to reply to the Prussian fire. But the status quo he neither wished to nor could retain. The Prussian artillery, throwing its projectiles from three sides of the parallelogram, interferedwith the comfortable realization of the latter conception. As regarded the former, it seemed clear that Bazaine would not have done what he had if he did not contemplate something more. That some- thing I have not the remotest doubt was a sortie to establish connections with Thionville. His tactics were well conceived. From St. Remy and the two Tapes he kept the Prussian fire engrossed, both musketry and artillery. He sent forward from Grandes Tapes great swarms of tirailleurs, who fared extremely ill at the hands of the Landwehr men. But, besides this, he massed a great number of men. There must have been nearly 30,000 in all on the bank of the Moselle under cover of the houses of Maxe, and he sent them forward to cut through the Prussian environment where it was weakest, close to the river. The moment was a critical one. The Landwehr had all been sent forward against the villages, with the exception of one brigade that was in reserve. But the 10th Army Corps had been crossing the pontoon bridge, and massing between the river and A melange. Their general, Von Voights, was in command of the day's opera- tions, and he gave the order for several regiments to advance. It was a sight never to be forgotten. First came the Fusiliers, extending at a rapid run into skirmishing order, and covering the whole plain with their long thin lines. Then the dense columns of companies of the Grenadiers, the bands playing and the colours unfurled — unwonted sight. But all the w^rk was not left for the infantry to do. The artillery left the villages alone, and concentrated their fire on the advancing columns of the French by the Moselle. Bazaine is singularly weak in field artillery, and the only reply was from the sullen sides of St. Julien or from the ramparts of St. Eloy. But the mitrailleuse venomously sounded its angry whirr, making the skiraiishers recoil nervously as they crossed the line of fire, and tearing chasms in the fronts of the solid masses of which they were the forerunners. The artillery and the skirmishers were enough for the French. The dense columns staggered and then broke. Through my glass I could see a continuous sauve qui peut into the village of Maxe. But when they had once got stone and lime between them and the Prussians, the French were obstinate, and would go no farther. In vain the Prussian artillery fired on the villages, advancing closer and closer in alternate order of batteries with a precision and rapidity that could not have been exceeded on Woolwich THE PRUSSIAN LANDWEIIR. 185 Common. That obstinate battery in front of Grandes Tapes would not cease, and the French tirailleurs still lined the chaussee in its front. By this time it was nearly four o'clock. A gallant captain of cavalry pulled up as he galloped past me to swear at the French for spoiling his dinner, which had been ordered for four. Alas ! the captain will want no more din- ners. He had not gone a hundred yards to my right when a shell from St. Julien fell and burst right before him, and blew himself and his horse into fragments. This same shell dis- turbed a hare, which bounced from its form, and scampered across the battle-field right in a line with the gun-fire. The Landwehr men roared at the sight amid the dropping Chasse- pots, and but for the restraint of the officer, 1 believe that several would have quitted the shelter of the entrenchments to go in chase. As we stood in this suspense a Staff officer galloped along the front line with orders for a general ad- vance to take the villages by storm. The advance, he told me, was to consist of four brigades of the Landwehr, with two brigades of the 10th Army Corps supporting. In a few minutes more the command came sounding along the line, and the men sprang from their cover and went forward with that steady quick step so characteristic of the Prussian marching. The shells from the battery in front of Grandes Tapes tore through the line, the mitrailleuse and Chassepot bullets poured against it their leaden hail, but still the Landwehr, silent and stern, went steadily to the front. I have been under fire many times, but I never knew a more furious fire than that to which the centre of this line was exposed. General von Brandenstein, commanding the 3rd Brigade of the Landwehr, was shot down as he rode close to me, and several of his Staff were wounded. At length the entrenchments were reached, behind which were lying the shattered remnants of the 59th and 58th Landwehr. The fraternization consisted in the cry of " Hurrah Preussen !" and then " Vorwarts — immer vorwarts ! " and the line threw itself to its front in a run. The gunners from the battery, brave men and stubborn, had barely time to run round the corner before the Landwehr were upon them. The guns they left perforce. In the villages the French made a last stand, but it had been better for them that they had run away at first. The Landwehr, with less of the conventional warrior in them than the line, are not so much inclined to give quarter as are the professional soldiers. With many a Frenchman this after- noon the shrift consisted of a bayonet thrust. They fought like devils in the narrow ways of the villages, and used the mitrailleuses with rare judgment and effect. But then there came the steady inexorable stride forward of the Landwehr, 186 WAB CORRESPONDENCE. the hayonet gained force from that huge thigh and back power which is the leading characteristic in an athletic sense of the Prussian physique, and the villages were cleared of all save victors, dead, and wounded. Betovfay, October 8, 2 a.m. — It is the fate of a correspondent in such times as these never to get a chance to do himself credit, or to do justice to the public who read the journal which he represents. Thus, while doing my poor best to describe the engagement in front of Maizieres, which from first to last I had witnessed, tenipus inexorabile intervened, and I had to conclude without recounting not a few episodes which well deserved to be commemorated. Since I finished that letter at 8 P.M. I have ridden twenty miles. My route was to the railway station at Courcelles, and thence back to this place, my old quarters. In the present letter I would ask permission to pick up a few of the threads which time compelled me to leave hanging loose in my letter of last evening. To the Landwehr must be conceded the honour of the fray. They it was who checked the rush of the French advance, by holding the villages till they had not a man that could stand upright and fire the needle-gun. To them also was entrusted the grand final advance which swept the French out of the villages. I have seen the Prussian line soldiers fight before to-day. I saw them clamber up the face of the Speichein on their hands and knees ; I saw them deploy in front of Colombey and Montoy in the battle of the 14th of August; I saw them stand up against the mitrailleuses on the slopes of Gravelotte ; and I saw them dash the Frenchmen back inside Sedan on the 1st of September. I have learned to believe that the Prussian line men can do aught that any soldiers in the world can do. But it was not till yesterday that I gauged the capacity of the Landwehr. Were I a general, I should never wish to com- mand better men. Cool in the entrenchments, when they lay calmly in position, picking up the bullets that fell among them — resolute, indomitable, in their steady quick march forward, and then irresistible in the final bayonet rush with which they carried the villages— they are troops to delight the heart of a man with a soldierly instinct. Nothing was more observable than the cool manner in which the wounded went to the rear in the general advance — every man depending on himself if he could walk at all, declining the services of assistants to help him out of the fray. Nor were they slight wounds with which these gallant fellows struggled unaided to the rear. One, for instance, to whom I spoke, was shot right through the lungs, and at every step his breath came panting through the bullet-hole. It might be that he struggled on till he THE DITISIONAL CHAPLAIN-. 187 reached the straw in the courtyard of the Chateau of Amelange, where the doctors were toihng up to thek elbows in blood; but I fear his was one of the many bodies that chequered the green fields behind the advance. Gallant fellows as they are, it goes to one's heart to see the Landwehr fight and die. Not like a linesman can they take their life in their hand and go down into the fray conscious that nobody will hunger because they fall. For every second Landwehr man that fell yesterday there is a widow in the Fatherland now, and, with children of my own around my hearth, my heart swells to think of the number of unconscious orphans made yesterday in the pleasant villages and the quiet plains of Deutschland. Pray God that, fight who may, there may be no more deadly battles in which the Landwehr shall have to take part. Not that, as it seemed to me, they dwelt upon the thought oi frau and kinder. The hairy kerl, with the grey in his beard — and who knows how many young birds in his nest? — went straight to the front as boldly as the sprightly young volunteer who had only a girl to weep for him if he should fall. But they are a prayerful people these Germans, and I fancied, when the word " Vorwarts " came sounding through the ranks, that many a man bent his head for a moment into his hand, as if he were entering a church. And referring to religion, who was this, think you, that came running to the front with white hair and black skirts flying behind him on the wind? The divisional chaplain, good clerics of England — a big bottle in one hand and a prayer-book in the other. The bottle contained a cordial ; no man needs to be told what kind of cordial the prayer-book contained, I wish you could afford space for a translation of all the prayers in this little war gospel. The I army chaplains have compiled a variety of short and simple prayers for the troops in various circumstances. There is one for men on the feldwache ; another, pure and pathetic in its beautiful simplicity, for the venvimdete. And no doubt Herr Pastor, as he went to the front amid the hailstorm of bullets, had his finger on the page on which this prayer is printed. The good man was out of breath, and he had a smear of clay on his shoulder, for, as he gaspingly told me, his horse had been already shot under him. When I next saw him he was behind a wall in Grandes Tapes, among a group of prostrate men, and he was lifting up his voice in prayer amidst the roar of the artillery. What an extraordinary superiority the Prus- sian troops have over the French when the matter comes to be decided at close quarters by a bayonet charge! The lithe supple Frenchmen recoil like so much india-rubber before the straight strong shoulder push of the Prussians. But india- 1S8 WAR CORRESPOKDENCE. rubber recovers its elasticity and rebounds— the French never rebound. It seems to me that it is a matter of sheer weight rather than impetus. It was with impetus rather than weight that we drove the Eussians back that foggy morning that ushered in the battle of Inkermann, and it was also by the fury of their impetus that the French carried the Mamelon. But the Prussians push the bayonet forward less with a rapid rush than with a measured, stately, quick step that carries everything before it as inexorably as fate. On my way to the rear, after the brunt of the fight was over, I looked into the courtyard of Amelange, where the doctors were hard at work. The men lay all round waiting for their turn, and smoking like so many lime-kilns. Here already by five o'clock there were quite two hundred wounded, and those in Amelange were but a handful compared to the gross number that had been wounded. After I had finished the letter which I sent you yesterday evening, I rode with it to Courcelles. Immediately after crossing the pontoon bridge at Argancy a detour became necessary. The Prussian artillery was still firing in the moon- light from the heights above Olgy, and St. Julien was sluggishly throwing projectiles on to the table-land, seemingly to silence their fire. All the ground in the rear of Charly and towards Vany was pitted with shells that had fallen and burst during the day. A brisk musketry fire was still going on in front of Chieulles and L'Orme, so quiet when I had ridden through them in the morning. The French, pouring down out of the Bois de Grimont, had made a feigned attack in considerable force up this valley, and the old women and children in Chieulles must have had their equanimity not a little disturbed. All I could hear was that in the front there were many dead and wounded, and 1 met a large ambulance train coming forward into the fire from out the village of Vremy. Poix had been shelled during the day, but all was now quiet there. A little farther on I came to the rear of Servigny and Noisseville, from which I met my friends of the 4th returning singing trium- phantly. The French from Mey and the slope in front of St. Julien had sent three battalions into Nouilly, and thence had attempted to storm the repli in front of Noisseville, but had been repulsed with considerable loss, the Prussian artillery driving them out of Nouilly into the wood. I was in time to accompany a tentative advance of the Prussian artillery along the chaussee right under the earthworks of little Belle Croix, which was chiefly remarkable from the circumstance that St Julien made no effort to arrest the operation. October 7. — Yesterday two or three very heavy trains came through Kemilly, towards Pont-.VMousson, containing the siege train WAB AND RELTGIOlSr. 189 from Strasburg. Tt has been sent forward towards Paris with all speed, taldng the northern route by Laon, as the destroyed tunnels on the Marne Valley line prevent that railway from being utilized throughout its whole length. Another train also passed containing artillery from Kiel ; the abandonment of the Baltic blockade on the part of the French fleet having made available the heavy guns which had defended the forts of that port. It is reported that the great Krupp cannon has gone forward to Paris. This immense piece many readers must remember as having been in the Paris Exposition of 1867. It is the only one of its calibre ever made in Prussia, and was located in one of the forts at Kiel, with a quantity of ammunition and projectiles especially made for it. If it has really gone to Paris, it ought soon to make an impression ; for it is probably the most powerful piece of artillery in the world. By special request of the troops stationed here in Retonfay there was divine service this morning in a meadow in the vicinity of the village. The division chaplain officiated, and the Briga- dier-general was present with his Staff. It was a fine sight to see the four battalions, numbering as many thousand men, drawn up in a hollow square, with the clergyman and the regimental band in the centre. The service commenced with a hymn, in which all the troops joined with fervour. This was followed by the liturgy, with full choral service. Then the minister preached a kind of informal sermon. He selected no Scripture text— his text was the duty of a Christian soldier in war time. His words evidently came from the heart, and as evidently went to the heart. When he spoke of the friends at home longing for tidings from the front, and yet half afraid to hear them lest they should learn that the loved one had fallen in battle, many were the heads bent down on the manly chests, and many a gallant soldier held his hand before his eyes to hide the starting tear. It was remarkable what an effect the chaplain's words had in stimu- lating correspondence when the service was over. Round each feJdwehel there was quite a little crowd eager to obtain the "correspondence carte" on which the troops mostly write their brief epistles, and the post corporal had enough to do to carry the great bag with which he went over to the field post in Flanville. A little after the service I was sitting with the paymaster and another officer, when a knock came to the door, and there entered a great hulking fellow from Dantzic, who sheepishly asked the paymaster to accommodate him with paper money for his bullion. How much do you think he had ? Why, counting pfennigs and a queer collection of kreutzers. 190 WAE CORRESPONDEKCE. he could make tip just one thaler, and this huge remittance the great honest manly fellow wished to send to the frau away on the shore of the Baltic. It was only three shillings, but it was the last stiver the man had, and he will go without his glass of beer till next pay day comes round. Fancy an English soldier coming to his officer with a handful of halfpence for conversion into paper-money ! But a German regiment is one great brotherhood, and the paymaster pocketed the coppers and gave the man the paper thaler with a kindly word and look, for has he not a frau of his own in Konigsberg, whose portrait lies against that broad chest of his ? In the after- noon there wei"e company parades, at which the officer in command of each company gave the men instructions in their duties when on feldwache. It was not a drill, but a kind of lecture. The men listened intently and intelligently to the lucid expositions of their officer, and that his words were not to them as the empty air was proved by the fact that after the parade was over I heard several groups of men talking over the subject-matter of the hauptmanns observa- tions. In the evening there was a camp fire, an institution not unknown at Wimbledon in the early days of the volunteer movement, when as yet the encampment was but small, and where Lord Elcho's sonorous voice could be heard over the whole gather- ing. During peace time, there is a camp fire — or a gathering equivalent to it — once a week in every Prussian regiment, to Avhich the married officers bring their good ladies, and whither also the " beauty and fashion " of the garrison town are invited. " Beauty and fashion" are represented in Retonfay by a few French crones of fabulous age, who confine their remarks to muttering " Mon Dieu !" continuously, and who, I suspect, would gladly poison the whole regiment if they could do so without risk to themselves. But nevertheless we had our camp fire last night, and that too under quite imposing circumstances. The spot selected was a pretty meadow by the side of a stream, about two hundred yards from the village. An officer of taste, and with a capital eye for landscape gardening, devoted himself from a very early hour in the morning to perfecting the arrange- ments. With a fatigue party, he threw a pretty rustic bridge across the stream, and lined the path leading to it with green boughs. With these too he enclosed a large circle, with a smaller area close by for the band, and in the centre of the larger circle a great bonfire was built, its foundation raised by the earth excavated from a trench dug around it. All the chairs in the village were collected, and most of the tables, and placed in picturesque confusion around this cenLral point. A CAMP PIRE. 191 The officers began to gather about five o'clock. They were all so smart that I felt ashamed of my old tweed shooting jacket and shockingly dilapidated wide-awake. The parade coats had been dug out of the bottom of portmanteaus, and looked quite spruce and natty. Boots had been polished to a pitch that might have stimulated the admiration of Day and Martin. Spurs and buttons glittered brightly in the setting sun. Then our worthy colonel — Oberst von Sietzen-Hennig — made his appearance, accompanied by his stanch ally the major. The colonel too was evidently on ceremony, for he wore the sword which King Wilhelm presented to him with his own hands on the evening of one of the battles of the J 866 campaign. All rose to greet the commanding officer, and immediately he was seated the band struck up. So thoroughly was the affair managed, that an elaborately written programme of the music was laid on the colonel's table, of which I took a copy. It may interest English readers to know what music a Prussian regimental band played, while the bass accompaniment was furnished by the roar of the guns over against us on the other side of the Moselle. Here is a copy of the programme : — Fest Overture Fischer. An der schonen blauen Donau Walzer Strauss. La Belle Amazone . . . . . Loischhorn. March Potpourri ... . Bach. Kiinsther Fest Quadrille . . . Hermann. Fanfare Militaire ..... Ascher. It was a very pretty sight. About forty officers were present, grouped picturesquely around the tables. Military servan,ts circulated everywhere, serving the company with glasses of beer. The outside of the bough-enclosed circle was lined with the men of the various battalions, who crowded to the spot, under the attraction of the music. More hearty good fellow- ship could not be imagined. The colonel and the youngster who won his silver shoulder-straps but yesterday were on the most equal footing. In an interval of the music a young officer came into the circle who had just returned from the hospital at Dusseldorf, whither a bullet through the foot in the battle of the 31st August had sent him. Then he had been only a feldwebel, but he had got his lieutenancy when lying on his back, and this was his first appearance among his comrades since his promotion. As he came forward the colonel rose and called for a bumper to the health of his gallant youngs friend. The young fellow bowed and blushed as all obeyed the chief's order, following the draught with a cheer that must have been heard at St. JuHen. Then the colonel was good enough to 102 WAR COIlRESPO>^DENCE. disarrange the programme for the introduction of " Kule Britannia," as a special tol^en of consideration for your cor- respondent. By this time the darlsness had begun to fall, and the bonfire was formally set alight, the circle breaking up from the tables, and re-forming around its cheerful blaze. The band exhausted the programme, and took to playing song tunes, the officers chiming in lustily with their voices, and the men on the outskirts taking up the chorus. The scene was one in which a painter would have delighted — the bright wood fire lighting up the faces of the circle around it, and ever and anon, as it shot up more brightly, dissipating the thick darkness beyond, and flashing on the faces of the men through the boughs. But no painter could give effect to what was to me the most weird phase of the affair — the measured thud of the cannonading sounding between every pause in the music or lull in the din of the conversation ; and it was strange, too, to reflect that, as we sat here cheerily, we were still within the range of the great guns of St. Julien. I could not help think- ing of the effect which a 42-lb. shell would have had if it had fallen and exploded right in the heart of the bonfire. The good fellows of the 4th, however, troubled themselves with no such speculations. It was sufficient for them that St. Julien was quiet, and that the fire was cheery, the company good, and the beer reasonably plentiful and palatable. In the course of the evening one of the captains gave a toast, which was received with intense enthusiasm — the health of the gallant comrades who had won the decoration of the Iron Cross. It was on the breast of at least half those who sat round the fire. When . the cheering had subsided the band struck up the " Paris " march — a souvenir of 1813, in remembrance of which campaign the Iron Cross was first instituted. About half-past eight the colonel gave the toast of " Our Comrades of the Artillery," in honour of some gentlemen of that service who were present, and then, after the band had played "God Save the King," said good night, and went away to his supper. I followed him in a very short time, but when I came outside to smoke my cigar in the moonlight, before turning into the straw, I could still hear the merry chorus down in the meadow by th( camp-fire. It was then about eleven o'clock, and how lon< after the last of the roisterers may have kept it up I have no the slightest idea. Eetonfaij, October 9. — The storm around Metz has subsided, an we are once more in what is here reckoned perfect quietudf although one unaccustomed to the playful ways of Forts S Julien and Les Bottes might not unnaturally feel surprise and uneasiness as he watched the flashes from their grim sides a. WILD riEING. 193 the rate of about one in every five minutes. I have noticed that this fire was always strongest after the hour at which dinner is usually partaken of, and I venture alternate hypo- theses to account for the circumstance. It may be that the French gunners, after their scanty meal of horseflesh without salt, get savage, and work off their wrath by discharging their big guns in a wild and promiscuous fashion, just as a Highland laird, when he loses his temper, swears miscellaneously at the whole countryside. Or it may be that, in the absence of solid food, the champagne, which the commandants of the forts presumably consume for dinner, gets into their heads, and prompts them to give orders for the immediate annihilation of he besieging army by a few brisk salvoes from their heavy artillery. Wine, I have reason to believe, is still plentiful in Metz, and wine will reconcile French troops to many hardships; I telegraphed yesterday morning concerning what seemed then a very threatening aspect of affairs, but the cloud, in a figurative sense, died away, while in a material sense it accumulated and then burst. About midday a furious storm of rain fell, and apparently drowned out the courage of the French. Previous to that hour St. Julien and Les Bottes had thrown in all about 100 grenades in among the ruins of the Brasserie and among the fragments of the village of Noisseville. But, as it hap- pened, the Prussian brigade stood just behind both places,, and the men had, therefore, an eligible opportunity of acquaint- - ing themselves in perfect safety with the potency of a shell-fir&- from heavy artillery. The fire gradually died away to the south, and about two o'clock the order came for the reserves- and artillery to return to their several quarters, and for the - outposts to be reinstated in their original positions. Since then there has been no new alarm. It is not difficult, I think, ta form a tolerably correct opinion as to the plan of Bazaine's tactics of yesterday. At the lowest estimate he must have (35,000 troops, which, so far as the defence of Metz is concerned, are superfluous, and therefore detrimental. This element is the lever which the Prussians are using for the reduction of the fortress. They are ploughing their enemy's ground with their enemy's heifer. A hundred thousand men will sooner consume a given quantity of provisions than will twenty thousand ; and when the larger number reach starvation point, . the surrender of everything — field troops, garrison, fortress, andt Itown — must occur. But for their appreciation of this even- tuality, nothing would please the Prussians better than to open;; a fair passage to Bazaine any hour in the twenty-four. He night come outside the cordon and welcome with 60,000 men,, md in the course of the following day, when he was holdiiig Sk 194 . WAH CORRESPOiS'DENCE. council of war, and debating, more Galileo, whether to march on Sedan or strike southward and cut the Prussian communi- cations, a hundred thousand Prussians would fall upon him from all points of the compass and smite him hip and thigh. But if his army w^ere chopped into fragments to-morrow, the fortress of Metz, with its garrison left inside, would still con- front the besiegers, and its reduction would be postponed in proportion to the procrastination of the starvation point effected bv the fewer mouths to feed. Of all this Bazaine, a capable man, whose energy and merits the Prussians acknowledge frankly, cannot fail to be aware. He objects to capitulation simpliciter in the fortress, or to the alternative of capitulation or annihilation in the open field. But there lies the Moselle, beckoning him on to the half-way house of Thionville, and beyond Thionville, at the distance of. a single forced march, lies the frontier. Oh ! if he could only dash out through that vexatious cordon. Across the beautiful plain lie the divisions of the Landwehr. A regular soldier himself, Bazaine has pro- bably learned to despise the Garde Mobile with all the contempt of a veteran used to command veteran troops ; and nothins: is more natural than for a Frenchman to reason from a false analogy that as the Garde Mobile so are the Landwehr. To-day he has to digest his misconception as best he may. But the conception of Bazaine's effort was creditable to his know- ledge of the military art. While he made his grand effort against the Landwehr in the valley, he did his best to keep the other sections of the environing circle from finding leisure to concentrate in support of the Landwehr. The attack on Vany, L'Orme, and Chieulles was well calculated to engross the ] 0th Army Corps ; that from Mey on Noisseville and Servigny might well perform the same office with regard to the 1st' Army Corps; the 7th Army Corps might be supposed to have their hands pretty well full with the sortie against Peltre, Mercy-le-Haut, and Ars-Laquenexy, and with luck this sortie, too, might get through as far as the depot at Courcelles, and bring back of its abundance to the Gardes Nationaux who were plying the big guns on the ramparts, and to the hungry citizens. The well- conceived feint against Ladonchamps was intended to keep the ord Army Corps in play, occupying as it does the slopes between the valley and the fort of Plappeville. And then — there was but the Landwehr to cope with, and surely 40,000 veteran French troops might crash through the lines of these citizen soldiers, weakened as those lines were by elongation across the whole plateau. Tlien, hey for Thionville ! only ten miles off, where a secure lair might be had under the guns of that fortress while the columns caught their wind; and then, bazaine's blunders. 195 picking up by the way -^vhat superfluous troops there might be in its garrison, one long march to the frontier, and there was gained a surrender to the Belgian troops instead of to the detested Prussians. This I take to have been Bazaine's pro- gramme. Had it succeeded, Metz would have been a tougher nut for the Prussians to crack than ever ; their policy of star- vation would have been seriously compromised, while Bazaine's field army would only have anticipated the inevitable capitu- lation. The two grand blunders which defeated the scheme were the misconception on Bazaine's part of the strength, prowess, and effective dispositions of the Landwehr, and the mistaken idea that his feints to the right and left would so engross the 10th and 8rd Army Corps as to prevent them from aiding the Land- wehr to give him check on the plateau. His error on the former point must have come home to him when he saw his regulars recoiling pell-mell from the bayonet points of the Landwehr men in the villages ; the salvoes of artillery sent by the 10th Army Corps from Malroy, Olgy, and other heights on the east side of the Moselle, and by the ord Army Corps from Frenecourt, Sennecourt, and the heights above St. Remy, all coigns of vantage on the bluffs on the western fringe of the valley, must have made him compreheijd that a feigned attack, even if considerable, was not capable of engrossing the full attention of a Prussian Army Corps. The batteries on the positions I have named enfiladed him ruinously. Down the valley there tore a fierce direct fire from the batteries at Amelange and those in front of Brieux, which advanced by alternate batteries with as much coolness and precision as I have seen exhibited by the troops of a cavalry regiment work- ing in Phoenix Park ; while from the heights on either side the left, into the " Tambour," a considerable earthwork forti- fication on the slope of the valley between the Brasserie and Montoy. Into the Tambour accordingly Bach carried me, and laid me down in the rear of a bank of earth thrown up in front of a temporary barrack. After all, the affair came to but very little. Two batteries of 12-pounders took up position before the front line about half- way between Colombey and Montoy, and threw shells into the French camp around Grigy and Borny. The infantry were in readiness to attack, and the fore-posts were actually posted forward some distance, and were the authors of the sharp fire which I had heard, but the French gave way and dodged under cover out of reach of the shells. But that everything was thoroughly wetted by the heavy rain, Borny would probably [ have been fired by the Prussian shells ; as it was, no tangible result was obtained by the little operation. A few men were wounded on our side on the foreposts. A couple of hours, after, the infantry fire at Montoy had wholly ceased, and when the artillery were firing sleepily and at long intervals, the French woke up directly opposite us— seemingly in retaliation. St. Julien broke into a profuse shell-fire directed against Ser- vigny, the Brasserie, and the Tambour in which I lay. Six shells burst in the already shattered Brasserie, and two in the wreck of the house on the other side of the road, while several dropped in the immediate vicinity. Two or three likewise 204 WAR CORRESPONDEJfCE. tumbled into the Tambour, but did no harm, although it was rather trying to one's nerves to listen to shells bursting, so to speak, in one's ear. About two o'clock half a French battalion staggered forward out of Mey, and on to the slope of the vine-berg below Noisseville. It was inexplicable what ■could have been the object of the demonstration, so hopeless both from its weakness and its want of spirit. I did not see the advance myself, but eye-witnesses inform me that it was headed by an exceptional number of officers, who continually encouraged forward their unwilling men. Some of the officers actually carried Chassepots. The Prussian foreposts did not think it worth while to fall back on their supports. They waited patiently till the French had come within about 300 yards and fired a wild and straggling volley. Then from their entrenchments the Prussians poured in a withering fire, and the French melted away like water. The Prussian loss is two men killed and three wounded in this affiiir. I have no means of ascertaining that of the French. The following letter, dated October 19, is from Corny, the head- quarters of Prince Frederick Charles, the "Ked Prince: "■ — Pleaching Remilly at an early hour yesterday morning, I found five fourgons belonging to the English Ambulance Company about to start for this place, and I had the opportunity afforded me of a seat in one of the carriages. Our journey hither lay behind the foreposts, through a chain of villages in the rear of the great bulk of the Prussian regiments in the south of Metz. As we passed Pontoy we emerged on the opland plateau lying to the south of Forts Queleu and St. Privat, and before us, to the north, lay these sulky-looking fortresses, which refused to be enlightened even by the rays of the afternoon sun which fell full on their sullen sides. St. Privat was speaking with its great guns, firing in the direction of the Moselle, but close to us lay a Prussian field-battery in utter quiescence — sure token that nothing of importance was going on. At dusk we reached Corny, and applied to the Etappen Commandant for quarters. His answer was an imperative suggestion of the same character as that which the Gardes Mobiles made to Mr. Malet, on the way from Paris to Meaux with the communication to Count Bismarck which . resulted in the abortive visit of Jules Favre. We had no resource but to sleep under the beautiful stars. They were, fortunately, in our case visible, and we bivouacked not uncom- fortably in an orchard outside the town, which was greatly preferable to finding harbour in any of the houses of Corny, infected as they are to the very ceiling with malignant THE UEB PRIXCE. 205 typhus. A visit for purposes of information to the fine old chateau occupied by Prince Frederick Charles, resulted in my being told that the parlementaire who came out the other day had returned into Metz without any definite result, and that it was believed that Metz would now hold out to the bitter end. Further, that there was to be no change in the Prussian tactics. Still " masterly inactivity " was to be the policy, and the intelligence received from Metz, of a trust- worthy character, was of a nature to indicate that this policy could not possibly, ere long, fail to effect the desired results. Prince Frederick Charles, who has been suffering seriously from dysentery, is still far from fully recovered, but he is able to sit^his horse, and he has never devolved his functions of com- mander-in-chief on any substitute. The Prince is not par- ticularly desirous of the presence of any correspondents. To one possessed, as I am, of the royal permission, no positive discourtesy is manifested ; on the contrary, a civil attention, although of a very distant character, is displayed ; but no secret is made of the fact that my absence would be more agreeable than my presence. It is not the first time that I have experienced this anti-correspondent idiosyncrasy of Prince Frederick Charles. On the night before the battle of Vion- ville, I was lodged by his orders in the agreeable society of some two dozen highly odoriferous French prisoners. At that time I was not in possession of the head-quarters pass ; but I recognized last night my quondam friend, the major of the gendarmes, who turned the key on me in the middle of August. He gave me last night a very blunt hint that he would not be sorry if the duty fell to his province of escorting me out of Corny into the vague regions of space, and I have no doubt he would have acted upon his feeling, had it not been for the moral influence of General Podbielski's signature. We start this morning for Gravelotte, taking the route by Gorze, and shall work by the northward athwart the valley of the Moselle, in the line of Marange and Maizieres, and so back to my old advantageous quarters under Fort St. Julien. At Gravelotte, I understand, as I think I have mentioned pre- viously, there are a couple of batteries of 24-pounders ; but these cannot be used for serious offensive purposes. They are only useful as holding the key to the grand chaussee which leads from Metz to Verdun, the road for the possession of which the battle of Vionville was fought. Hitherto during this campaign the sight of Prussian cavalry has always been hailed by me with delight. With few excep- tions all the Prussian officers are gentlemen, but there is a 203 WAU COREESPOKDENCE. genial heartiness about the cavalry officers Avhich is very plea- sant, and which seems peculiar to themselves. I have never till yesterday found any exception to this rule, and it is in some degree a personal disappointment and humiliation to one who has himself worn a cavalry sword to have to mention a flagrant exception. Yesterday the ambulance with which I was travelling halted just outside the village of Pommerieux at a way-side cottage, with a view to dinner. We wanted nothing but a table inside a room. The soldiers SLudfeldivehels (of the 5th Uhlan Eegiment) who were quartered in the house warmly responded in the affirmative to our question w4iether we might enter and take out our provender, and we were engaged in dining when we suddenly became aware of the advent of an officer. Without deigning the most chary cour- tesy, he summarily ordered us out of the place. In vain it was represented to him that we would go as soon as our meal was finished ; with a clash of his sword on the ground he vociferated that we must turn out at once. The soldiers and the felchvebels stood looking on with countenances that seemed to apologize for the discourtesy of their superior, but he was relentless. Of €ourse, finding so marked an absence of gentlemanly instinct, we ceased to press the matter, and packed up and turned out wath all speed, the officer standing lowering at us meanwhile till we had finally shaken off our feet the dust, or rather the mud, of the place which his discourtesy rendered so inhospit- able. To a correspondent like myself such discourtesy, although rare, would have been accepted, so to speak, as part of the day's work, and would not have demanded notice from my pen ; but to gentlemen engaged in bringing medical stores and comforts for the sick and wounded of the Prussian army it was so unique, and so positively barbarous, as to excite surprise and sorrow. Corny lies in a trough on the edge of the Moselle, shut out from even a distant view of Metz by two curious conical hills, which are part of the series of which the hill of Mousson and tiie range of St. Quentin and Plappeville are also summits. The peak nearest the river and also nearest Metz is known as the Mont St. Blaise. Its elevation is considerable, and its position renders it highly eligible^as a look-out station. It would not be Prussian-like if this coign of vantage had not been taken advan- tage of. On its summit there is an observatory, and this observatory I visited this morning, notwithstanding the black looks of those in authority in Corny. As I rode up the mount I found it to consist of a curious crumbling mica, which had crumbled in places into small loose stones. The whole summit is honeycombed with artificial caves, formed, I suppose, in the old days, when the ruin on the summit was a castle inhabited A riELD LOOK OUT, 207 by some magnate of Lorraine, who from his eyrie here domi- nated the beautiful plain before him and the valley of the Moselle. Alongside of this ruin, and at an equal elevation, stands a lonely farm-house, and in front of it the Prussians have erected a wooden look-out post, open toward Metz, and mounted with a very powerful telescope. Not a man can move within the scope of vision that the action is not noted by the officer who constantly sits with his eye at this instrument. A series of telegraph wires from the several head-quarters of the different army corps converge into a little office in the rear of this look-out post, and the intentions of the French are thus known as soon as they proceed to manifest them by action. The post is occupied by two officers belonging to the 9nd Army Corps — one an officer of infantry, another of engineers ; and they have at their disjjosal a detachment of soldiers to act as orderlies, messengers, &c. What a glorious view opens out before one as he stands on the little plateau in front of the ruin of the Castle of St. Blaise, and looks Metz-ward ! Shade of Achilles ! what a plain for a battle according to the old ding- dong style, when our forefathers went at it in fair fight, dis- daining advantages of position, and eager only that the best . man should win ! On the left lies the narrow valley of the Moselle, with the slope of the vine-bergs in front of Gorze rising beyond. At our feet, to the left, lies Ars-sur-Moselle, skirted by the railway, with the old Eoman aqueduct spanning the Moselle with its antique arches, and the new road-bridge nearer Montigny, where is the junction of the railway lines from Nancy and from Saarbruck. A locomotive was dodging about the junction as I looked down upon it, and right before me stretched the rich and beautiful plain, variegated with green and brown and yellow, according to the tint of the crops and the foliage, and with the great twin-tower of the Cathedral of Metz standing up defiantly in its centre. The river wound through the flat in three great stretches : one close under the frowning bulk of Mont St. Quentin, that sulked blackly across at us on the left front; the others twisting in a long half-loop far away to the right. As it seemed immediately under us, Fort St. Privat peeped spitefully out over the poplars surround- ing the pretty village and chateau of Frescati, and further to my right the grim earth-work front of Fort Queleu showed itself over the j)lain like a huge beaver-dam. The prospect was vast. Carrying the eye over the spires of the cathedral, I could see to the north of Metz the long link of the Moselle trending eastward toward Olgy and Malroy, and with the powerful telescope in position I could even discern Fort St. Eloy, and beyond it the blackened ruins of St. Eemy, Ladon- 20S WAR CORRESPONDENCE. champs, and Grandes and Petites Tapes, where on the 7th T had seen the Landwehr die rather than yield the post they held, although hidden thereto by an overwhelming number of enemies. And now I will simply transcribe the notes I made of the several positions of the French and Prussians on the south and west of Metz, as I made them out by my own observations through the great telescope, supplemented by the information so courteously and frankly afforded by the engi- neer officer who was on duty at the look-out. To begin at the now well-known Mercy-le-Haut. Opposite this point the French are in force in front of Grigy, from which position they last night burnt the remaining houses of Peltre. Working westward, the French foreposts are in Bevoye, Magny, in front of Montigny, and thence across the Moselle, at Moulins-les-Metz, w^hich was burnt about a fortnight ago. From Moulins the forepost line runs up toward St. Hubert,, between St. Euffine and Chazelles. hence in front of Sey through the valley close under Mont St. Quentin to Sessy, and thence northward, Vv'ith a slight sweep round by Plappeville, tO" Devant-les-Ponts, and thence to Vigneulles and Woippy. With the completion of the circle, the readers of the Daily News who have perused my previous letters must be well ac- quainted. Fair play demands that, having detailed the French forepost line, I should be equally precise (as I am fortunately able to be) with regard to the Prussian foreposts, which con- front them. Beginning then in the same latitude and longitude as i did as regards the former, the Prussian foreposts stand at Peltre, and thence westward in front of St. Thiebault, and in La Papeterie (opposite Magny). Then there is a sweep com- paratively close to Metz, as the Moselle is neared, and the Prussian foreposts stand impudently at Frescati, whence the sentries must be able almost to discern the complexions of the gunners in St. Privat. The line crosses the Moselle to Vaux,. considerably in front of Ars-sur-Moselle, and then makes a dart forward to Jussy, right under the guns of St. Quentin. Longeau, where there is a battery of 12-pounders, which blazes into Sey and Chazelles, right under the nose of St. Quentin, continues the chain to Chatel St. Germain, a place which I visited on the 19th of August, the day after Gravelotte, when the dead lay in heaps in the little village, and where already General von Goben had thrown up entrenchments to cover his foreposts from the shells of St. Quentin. Across the plateau and the wood of Chatel St. Germain run the links of the strong forepost chain, giving a wide berth to the big guns of Plappeville, behind Lorry to Vigneulles, from Vigneulles to Saulny, from Saulny, still farther north-east, to Villers le rAlLTTEE OF EATIONS. 209 Plesnois, and so by Norroy to the blood-stained Ladonchamps, and the villages whose names are known in connection with the combat of the 7th inst., to the Moselle at Maxe. So much for the positions of the two hostile armies in this portion of the investment. A few words now as to the position of the French inside their outposts, yet outside the town of Metz, the gates of which are sealed to Bazaine's army as rigorously as is the road to liberty. The French have in all, in the environed ^ space and outside Metz, four great lagers or camps. The first and probably the largest is on the slope of Mont St. Quentin, looking toward Mont St. Blaise. I could see the rows of tents athwart and athwart the slope, past the village of Sey, and . stretching almost down to Chazelles. Another great camp begins at Longeville, a village on the west bank of the Moselle, in a line between St. Quentin and Metz, and this lager straggles up the river margin first to St. Martin, where Bazaine hus his head-quarters, and so on to the north as far as Devants-les-Ponts. A third great camp is in front of St. Julien, toward Vantoux, Vallieres, &c., concerning which I have already been able to give your readers detailed informa- tion. The fourth camp is, as I have already described it, around Borny and Grigy. Besides these camps of soldiers there are xwo great collections of sick, which I could discern with great •ease through the telescope of the observatory. One of these is placed on the esplanade not far from the Cathedral in Metz, and along the river brink. I saw the sick being carried about on stretchers, and the curtains of the tents looped up to give air to the inmates. Another great sick camp is on the island of Sauley, the whole of which seems devoted to the purpose, and I learn that efforts are made to isolate the place as much as possible. It is one huge block of typhus fever. Here the fell epidemic is housed, or rather tented, and I could see the sentries stationed on the bridges, and bidding stand all and sundry. Leboeuf's head-quarters, I should mention, are at Longeville. Prisoners brought into Corny yesterday state that a pretence of regular rations existed in Metz up till yesterday. On that day the rations were out, and there was to be henceforth nothing but horseflesh. It was, however, confidently reported in Metz that before capitulation Bazaine — who, all statements to the contrary, still retains the supreme command — was to make one last desperate effort to break through into Luxemburg. If that failed, capitulation was inevitable. The whole line is on the qui vlvefoY this attack, which, between you and me and the post, I don't think will come off. Chcirhj, Octohe?- 22. — After I had ascended the hill above Corny, p 210 WAH COHEESPONDENCE. on which tlie Prussians have their head-quarters observatory, and as to the view from which I wrote with considerable detail the day before yesterday, our party shook off from their feet the dust of Prince Frederick Charles's ungenial head-quarters, glad to get away from the suspicious glances and the surly speeches of the feldgendarmerie of the Staff. Mr. Lee, who had charge of the expedition, decided on sending three of his five fourgons up the river in the direction of Pont-a-Mousson, with instructions to make the wider half circuit thus Jiecessary as quickly as possible, and having left their stores at the various hospitals on the way, to get back to Kemilly, and be in readi- ,' ness for anything that might happen. He himself, with the two remaining fourgons, was to push forward through Gorze to Eezonville and Gravelotte, where we were everywhere told there were many sick and wounded, while there was a great lack of medical comforts and stores. From Gravelotte Mr, Lee determined to go to the hospital at Verneville, thence to Feves, from Feves down into the valley of the Moselle, go through Maizieres to the pontoon at Hautconcourt, and spend the third night of his tour in some one of the numerous villages on the east bank. This programme so exactly coin- cided with my own views that I was very glad to accept the courteous offer which Mr. Lee made me of a seat in his own fourgon ; and during yesterday and to-day we have thus tra- velled in company. After quitting Corny our way lay across the river to Noveant, the means of transit being a pontoon bridge. An officer stood on the bank to regulate the traffic. He put me not a little in mind of one of our respected metropolitan policemen when engaged in a similar duty. He shouted, ran to and fro, stopped one waggon to let another go on, and his efforts culminated about every ten minutes in a dead lock, from his having halted everything in a kind of tangled maze. This amusement had spoiled his temper, and we could do nothing with him when we civilly asked him to expedite our passage. Indeed I rather incline to think that the fact of the request having been made at all told against us with this gentleman, for he kept us stationary more than once, while he called forward vehicles that were in our rear. Hour after hour passed, and we seemed as much fixtures as in the first quarter of an hour. One of our party, looking forward a little distance up-stream, came back with the intelligence that within about half a mile there was another pontoon bridge which was wholly unused, and which seemed quite practicable. Disregarding the round oaths which our friend the policeman- like officer rapped out as we temporarily created a stoppage in extricating the fourgons from the press of vehicles waiting to A BATTLEPIELD EEYISITED. 211 cross, we drew out of the line and made all haste for the other bridge, which we crossed in triumph. Just across we came on a graveyard, which the Prussians had improvised for the bodies of those who have died in the hospitals there, whether from sickness or wounds. They bury the dead now in deal coffins, but the coffins are put in the ground with very scant ceremony. I saw a fatigue party putting a couple into a hole, the coffins lying on the grass while the men dug their receptacle. Gorze is very much changed for the better since the last time I was in it, two days after the battle of Gravelotte. Then there was blood in the very gutters. On a billiard table in the rear of the principal hotel lay three shattered men, who had bled so profusely that, there being no orifice for the blood to flow away, they actually lay in a pool of their own blood. There was not a square yard in all the hotel unoccupied by wounded ; the dead were stacked in a corner of the garden waiting for interment. Now everything was changed. From the summit of the great convent on the hill there still was flying the hospital flag ; but under it lay few or no wounded men. The hotel was tenanted by the cheery officers of the Staff of Prince Louis of Hesse, who commanded the troops lying in the town, consisting of several regiments of Hessian men, with the lion instead of the eagle on their helmets. Gorze was a place where a considerable amount of irritated feeling was manifested toward the Prussians on the part of the inhabitants in the early days of the occupation. Here, as the story ran, which for the sake of human nature I am glad to know is a lie, a French girl was found hacking ofl" the fingers of a wounded Prussian, and was taken out and hanged fiagrante delicto. Unquestionably there was much bitterness, but it seems all to have passed away with the wounded, and with the interment of the corpses. The inhabitants have all come back to their houses, and live not merely on amicable, but seemingly on cordial terms with the stalwart Hessians billeted upon them. Madame of the hotel, who on the 20th of August moved about in a stolid apathy of despair, utterly disregarding any questions that might be put to her, and with hardly energy enough to wring her handS; was now blithe and sprightly, moving about briskly in response to the requirements of her numerous guests. The stains of blood on the floors were still visible — indelible pro- bably while the boarding lasts ; but Madame's despair was much more evanescent, and with her return to good spirits the landlady's instinct of charging high prices has returned. On the 10th of August, when I asked her whether I should pay her anything for the quasi shelter I had obtained for the night under her roofj she bnly stared blankly in my face, and I p 2 212 WAR COREESPONDENCE. could not get an answer from her. Now, when I asked her whether she could give me a bottle of good wine she eagerly replied in the affirmative, and placed before me a really good bottle of Muscat, on which, with a smiling face, she put the fancy price of 12 francs. The road from Gorze to Eezonville consists, first of an ascent through a narrow gorge into a corner of the Bois de Vaux, and then it traverses the plain in a line with the close of the battle of Vionville, on the 16th of August. The wood Avas held strongly by the French in the morning of that day, and the Prussian 8th Army Corps had to storm up the ravine, deploy on the shoulder of the swell in front of the wood, and carry its precincts at the bayonet point. How difficult they had found this undertaking, the many graves in this vicinity too plainly showed. In the dark glades of the Bois T doubt not there still lie the corpses of the unburied dead. The foul carrion crow lazily wheeled above the tree-tops as we drove through, and I cared not to picture to myself the lonely spot where he should alight. Where the road emerges from the wood was a scene of one of the most bloody episodes of the fight. A Prussian column had come by the road we were now on, and immedi- ately on quitting the shelter of the wood, had been subjected to the fire of a French battery from the right flank, while the French infantry stood waiting for it in front, meanwhile using their Chassepots with terrible effect. No wonder that the Prussians went down in numbers ; the wonder was that any should have survived, far less conquered, through such a terrible ordeal. Up to a lonely little house about half-way 4icross, there were none save Prussian corpses, as there are none now save Prussian graves. At this point, however, the bull-dogs got at the throats of their enemies, and not for nothing. The French dead after this point lay as thickly as the Prussians, and there was quite a bank of slaughter. A little farther on the French were the thickest, and before one reached the outskirts of Eezonville there were but very few Prussian corpses. I am now, as must be apparent, drawing on my memory. The day before yesterday all that we saw in the way of traces of what I have been referring to were the many graves and occasional heaps of the debris of the battle- field. But I should not like to remain long on this field. Every grave-heap has beside it an eccentric tombstone in the shape of a barrel of chloride of lime; but notwithstanding this disinfectant the taint in the air is unmistakable and indescribably foetid. In the village of Rezonville are still some of the more severely wounded, and the doctors were heartily- glad to see the stores which the English ambulance fourgons THE CHTJECII AT GRAYELOTTE. 213 contained. At Kezonville the troops I found were Hessians, belonging to the 7th Army Corps. After a short halt, to enable Mr. Lee to distribute his stores judiciously, we pressed on to Gravelotte, where we were most cordially received by the officers of a battery of artillery quartered there. Stabling was found for the fourgon horses, and a beautiful upper chamber was allocated to us, while we were made free -of the larger room downstairs used by the officers as a mess-room. Gravelotte will never recover from the effects of the tremendous cannonade which it sustained from the artillery of both armies on the 18th of August. There is hardly a house that does not show the marks of the grenades, and all the corner houses had been pierced for mus- ketry, while the garden walls in the environs were crenellated for the same purpose. The troops lying in Gravelotte have occupied their spare time in devoting attention to the graves of their dead comrades. Some of the monuments are quite pretentious, but all are necessarily of wood. Along with an artillery lieutenant we visited the church which on the evening of the 18th was such a horrible spectacle. Its defenders had been shot down and lay on the stone floor. Some of them had been carried out into the churchyard, but others had been shoved to one side, all round the altar, to make room for the wounded, who were brought in in numbers so great that the doctors, after working all night without intermission, saw day- light dawn on their yet only half-completed labours. Behind the church is a great mound, beneath which lie the many dead. Afterwards we were permitted to go on to the foreposts in front of Chatel St. Germain, looking over to Fort St. Julien. The chain of sentries stands just where it did on the morning of the 20th of August, looking down into the intervening valley. The French have a large cavalry forepost in the bottom of the valley. On the slope around the pretty village of Sey lay the white tents of the French camp which I had seen on the previous day from the top of Mont St. Blaise. Walking some half a mile in the direction of the Moselle, we came presently on a promontory that juts out into the valley, and commands a view of the whole country. It seemed that at our very feet lay the huge pile of the Cathedral ; the tin on its spires flashing up in a watery ray of the morning sun, and the great mass casting a dark shadow across the Place d'Armes. There were no cattle visible on the green stretches of pasture- land, and comparatively few horses; but I noticed several detachments of mounted men, and horses cannot be at one and the same time under the saddle and grazing in the fields. As we walked back from the extreme foreposts we passed many rifle-pits on the crest of the rising ground forming the sentry- 214 WAR COERESPONDENCE. line, and also a regularly constructed battery, with earthworks in front and casemates and magazine in the rear. On the plat- form were mounted six 12-pounders, and in the rear, near Chatel, were several batteries of field artillery. The 12- pounders look across at Fort St. Julien in the most impudent manner imaginable, as if to say, "Your fortress exists only on our sufferance ; we could blow you to little pieces with a round or two if we chose, but we prefer leaving you alone, out of our tender mercy." And St. Quentin on its part seems to look across at the 12-pounders with something of a risus sar- donicus on its grim grey features. Eeturning to Gravelotte, we set oat for the completion of our design to make the circuit of the Prussian position. Our road lay past the blackened ruins of a farmhouse, in which, on the afternoon of the 18th of August, 200 French wounded were burnt, by shells fired from French guns. The smell in the shell, which is all that remains of a once large mansion, is horrible. The tiles have fallen in and hidden the charred corpses of the miserables who perished in the conflagration ; but here and there sticks up a ghastly blackened hand, or a gartered leg swathed in discoloured red cloth ! The place is one vast grave, and ought to be covered deeply with earth and quicklime as soon as possible, for the sake of the health of the troops tying within range of the taint that now emanates from it. At Malmaison, near the top of the hill, and still farther on at Verneville, the fighting on the 18th was very severe, and the memorials of it exist in plenty in the shape of the frequent graves. In a lonely upland valley stands the forlorn and ruined hamlet of Champenoise, utterly burnt out, smashed and pounded in all directions with shells, pitted all over with the dents of Chassepot bullets, and its precincts full of mounds, below which lie, side by side, defenders and captors. Farther to the north, in the rear of Amanvilliers, is a twin battery to the one I saw at Gravelotte, very daintily constructed, and fenced round with chevaux de frise, and I rather think some pleasant little surprises in the shape of mines. From Aman- villiers the road trended away to the left to avoid the entrench- ments in the vicinity of the foreposts at Saulny, and presently reached the village of Jerusalem. Lying in a sequestered and somewhat isolated tract, few students of war literature have as yet heard much about this tiny namesake of the great Hebrew city of antiquity. Nevertheless, it Avas the scene of a terrible conflict on the evening of the 1 8th of August. It had its Titus in the Prince Friedrich Carl, but there was no Josephus to chronicle the episodes of the fray. Yet as eloquently as any pen could have described them are they indicated now by tlie A YIEW OE METZ. 215 silent yet expressive grave-tokens which are sown thickly all round the little spot, whose ruin is so utter that it might, to complete the parallel with its namesake of old, have been sown with salt. Quitting the plateau lying to the north-west of Fort Plappeville, we drove through a great wood, chiefly of under-brush, and suddenly came out on a bluff overhanging the valley of the Moselle. Our point was just before Feves, and the view was glorious. Before us, in the valley, we could easily trace the line of the Prussian foreposts stretching across to the river ; aiearer to Metz again was the French line, and behind it the white tents of the camps, with columns of troops moving about in the interval. We could see the zigzags of Fort Moselle and of the enceinte surrounding the town. At Feves, just below us, and in a splendid position, was a battery of 12-pounders, the same that I had seen speaking to so good purpose on the afternoon of the 7th instant. Getting down into the valley, we crossed the Thionviile road, and struck for the temporary wooden barracks erected on the railway to the right front of Maizieres, in which was quartered the Fusilier battalion of the 81st Eegiment, of whose officers I had made the acquaintance on the 7th. My genial friend the Freiherr von Loewenfeld received me cordially, but there vras a cloud on his face, the -cause of which presently became apparent. The description which I sent you of the combat at Maizieres had, it appears, been translated into the columns of the Colnisclier Zeitung^ and it had become, therefore, apparent to the officers of the 81st that their gallant regiment had not received its due. It seems that at nine o'clock on the evening of the 7th (at which time I was in full trot on Courc^lles with my letter), the 81st retook St. Kemy at the bayonet p^int, losing in the task five officers and over 100 men. In front of the Freiherr 's quarters was another battery fort of 12-pounders, and on the other side of Maizieres, before the Chateau of Amelange, stood yet another. We crossed the river at Hautconcourt, and came down to this place, which is comparatively on the foreposts, in the gloaming. This morning I quit my good friends of the fourgons, and strike across for my old quarters with the 4th Regiment at Noisseville or Retonfay. Clidtemi Gras, before Metz, Octoier 23. — I am back again among my old military friends, who received me with a frank and hearty soldierly welcome. But among the *' kent faces " that greeted me I missed one or two whom I learnt to reckon i'riends. The adjutant of the battalion, a joyous lad fresh from [ the schools, a youngster of eighteen summers, had succumbed to the hardships of the situation. The marrow was not " set " 216 "WAE CORRESPONDENCE. in the orowinsr bov's bones, and where seasoned men find it not an easy matter to keep sickness from assailing them with success, the dart had penetrated through his green frame, and he had been compelled to go back to the Fatherland, a shattered veteran ere he had attained his full stature. T missed, too, another face, that of a lieutenant, whose determination to consider himself well, while as yet the fever had not left him, I had respected in one sense, while in another I had deprecated it. Wounded in the fight by Noisseville, on the 1st of Sep- tember, he had been sent back to St., Wen del, where in the lazaretto hospital fever had laid hold of him. His wound healed and the fever in part abated, the soldier lusted to be- again with his comrades in the forefront of the battle, and he had quitted the lazaretto, while as yet the dregs of the fever- had not been eliminated from his frame. On the day of his- arrival he lay beside me on the straw, with the alternate cold and hot fits working their will of him, and then I told him that his return had been premature. My words were made good by the fact that two days after the doctor had peremp- torily insisted on his return to St. Wendel, and he has gained nothing by his enterprise save another strain on his constitu- tion. Such details as these may seem trivial to readers itching for reports of heady fights and important events. But of heady fights and of important events there have been none since I quitted my position at the front. When such occur, I shall do my best to furnish a narration of them. Meanwhile, such ^^details as these may, to my thinking, serve the province of the background strokes which an artist stipples into his sketches. Such strokes, unimportant in themselves, serve to complete the amenity of a picture, the gaunt, if deep, lines of which would stand out strangely from the canvas but for such a supplement. The two cases I have alluded to have no inconsiderable in- terest in a larger sense. The battalion has about twenty officers as its complement; two out of this complement have "gone sick " within a week. This is ten per cent. I am officially in- formed that this is just a shade over the sick per-centage of the battalion, and also of the brigade. Exclusive of wounded, there are nine per cent, of the investing force in this section of the environment off duty from sickness. The ordinary per-centage in war time is five per cent. ; the other four per cent, is the result of the hardships — the inevitable consequence of arduous duty and foul weather — which the troops before Metz are now undergoing. It must, however, be remembered, that of this- per-centage of sick a considerable proportion consists of men suffering from comparatively slight and temporary illness, and THE SICK LIST. 217 who recover in the field lazarettes without it being necessary to send them back into Germany, From three to four per cent, of the gross total of cases are of this character, the absence from duty of the men averaging from a week to ten days. Here we are on high ground, and comparatively out of reach of the dank fogs which chill and soften the bones of the men in the valley by the Moselle. In that low-lying district, I am sorry to have to report that the per-centage of sickness is greater, reaching as high in some places as fifteen per cent. About the middle of the month, with the change of the weather^ there was, as was but natural, a sudden increase of sickness ; but since then the diminution has been considerable and continuous. Dysentery and rheumatism are the chief diseases. Both have a tendency towards aggravation into fever. The former is prone to assume a typhoid form, the latter becomes aggravated into that terrible infliction, rheumatic fever. In the low-lying district there is also a good deal of that disorder which the German language so expressively designates as iieclisel-fieher ; corresponding to our ague, with its hot and cold fits. This in its turn degenerates into intermittent fever with a propensity to typhus, but quinine profusely administered is potent enough in most cases to ward off this aggravation. I enter into these details the more readily because I have reason to believe that reports have gone forth to the effect that the Prussian troops around Metz " are dying like rotten sheep." Such a statement contains its own refutation to one with eyes in his head. Whether a man dies " like a rotten sheep," or like the soldier of a civilized country, he equally demands interment. Burials are very rare in the field lazarettes, and recent graves in their vicinity equally so. I have had statistics placed at my disposal from which to derive authentic materials for the facts and figures which I have stated ; and on the part of the Prussian authorities there is as little disposition to con- ceal the truth as to digest the erroneous and hap-hazard statements, with " rotten sheep " as their watchword, to which I have alluded. Intimately connected with the question of health is that of heart and spirits. As regards these, I can report in the most favourable terms. In damp great-coats and muddy boots the soldiers still cheerily raise the chorus of "Die Wacht am Ehein," with as hearty an energy as when the summer sun shone down upon them, and the roads were as dry as Piccadilly before the water-carts have traversed it. Assuming for the moment that this siege were to, last the winter, my opinion is that the beleaguering army is over the worst of it, as regards the strain on their health and physique. All are now housed, roughly enough it is true in places ; but 218 WAE COEEESPONDENCE. then remember bow the men have got seasoned. Wood is plentiful for fuel, and will be so all the winter, at the expense, it is true, of the amenity of the environs of the villages and the chateaux, but that is a matter not to be studied when put into competition with wet clothes and cold bodies. Then our internal welfare, in so far as plentiful provisions and good comforting liquids can conduce thereunto, is much ameliorated. In many of the villages in the second and third line enterpris- ing merchants have set up stores, from which anything in reason can be procured. I don't know indeed that the kauf- mann in Ste. Barbe, just behind us here, keeps Jockey Club scent, or that he is in correspondence with Pimm's in the matter of barrelled oysters, but he has decent cognac, good red wine, a cheese calculated to offend neither the nose nor the palate, sardines, caviare, and even the luxury of anchovy sauce. A friend has kindly kept for me a little diary of the siege events on this face which have occurred since I retired to Saarbruck, but they are of so little importance as not to call for reproduc tion. The only actual sortie made by the French troops, and that in comparatively small numbers, was on the Ifith inst., in the direction of the Brasserie. Of course they were driven back. They could have hoped for nothing else. All the damage they did was to shoot through the chest the feldivehel of the ^th Company. King Wilhelm had no better non-commissioned officer in all his vast army. Strauss smoked his cigar while the doctor cut the bullet out of his back, the lieutenant beside whom he was shot holding him up when the operation was being performed. Then he quietly squared up his comjpany- book, and counting the money in his hands (the feldivehel is the pay sergeant of the company) handed everything over to his successor in right trim, and went away philosophically in the waggon to a lazaretto. French deserters from Metz are becoming quite a nuisance. I telegraphed yesterday to you about a lying hound whom I en- countered, and most of them may be entered in the same category. On the 20th an officer and fifty men of the infantry €ame into the Prussian lines here in a body. They were brought to Glatigny, and underwent the usual jjro forma ex- amination. The officer stated that everything but horseflesh was practically exhausted in Metz. What else was to the fore the line troops saw nothing of, except a liquor ration. The Guards still continued to receive a few " extras," and this cir- cumstance so excited the jealousy of the line men that between the two branches of the service there existed a bitter hostility An epidemic, resulting from starvation, had set in among the FEENCH DESEETEES. 219 horses. This, if true, I reckon the most important piece of intelligence we have received for some time respecting the in- ternal condition of Metz. We know here that the French horses cannot have a very clovery time of it. We see them being driven from place to place over the brown and down- trodden pasture-land, and three were captured by a patrol the other day which would have been of value to a veterinary college as excellent subjects from which, without either previous slaughter or vivisection, to study anatomy. But a positive epidemic among the horses we have not hitherto heard of, and I need not point to its importance as a compelling argument towards capitulation. Yesterday twenty French soldiers with an officer very adroitly suffered themselves to be taken prisoners in front of Servigny. They came out of the Bois de Grimont on the pretext of a foraging expedition, but there is no doubt with the express intention of offering a temptation for their being made prisoners. Here are seventy virtual deserters in twenty-four hours from the garrison of Metz. At other points, as I learnt on my circuit, they are swarming in, and the aggregate must be large. It is a curious circumstance that none of the quasi fugitives are ever fired upon. I have learned to have a great respect for Bazaine, and I cannot help imagining he is not only cognizant, but the instigator of these wholesale desertions. It is hardly a secret that his recent offer was the surrender of his army as prisoners of war, exclusive of the fortress of Metz and its outworks. The Prussian authorities simply laughed at this cool proposal; but these desertions would seem to indicate an attempt on Bazaine's part to carry out his programme piecemeal. Let the Prussians alone for recognizing the bent of tactics like these. A few deserters are useful, and not to be discouraged. Assume that none of them speak the truth; King David tells us that "all men are liars," and yet from our fellow-men's utterances we contrive to extract some grains of truth. In like manner a little wheat can be winnowed out of the chaff of a deserter's farragos, and this little is acceptable. When a number come, they represent simply so much more food for those left behind in Metz, and proportionate postponement of the capitulation. You will not be surprised, therefore, that the order has been issued to receive no more bodies of deserters into the lines, but to send them back whence they came by the powerful argument of the needle-gun. It would be interesting to know how it is that so many of the deserters are drunk when they come. Is strong drink on tap in the outposts round Metz, or are the men dosed for the attempt? The latter hypothesis might seem to be borne out by the fact, of which I have been assured, not by the French 220 TVAR COEEESPONDENCE. prisoners alone, but by Prussian doctors who administered to the French wounded, that the French tirailleurs who pushed so boldly to the front at Maizieres on the 7th were all full of brandy. Ichabod ! Ichabod ! How has the glory departed from the French arms when we find their leaders compelled to infuse Dutch courage into their soldiers ! The French were the readiest to scorn the Russian serf-soldier because when he came up through the fog-wreaths on the morning of Inkermann, his sluggish pulses had been quickened by corn schnapps. Now, it would seem that they find the same unsoldier-like stimulant requisite in their own case. I have heard Count Bismarck compared to an elephants trunk, as one for whom nothing was too great or too small. But Bismarck is not the only Prussian who finds time in the whirl of great events to contradict an inventive correspondent, or to put himself straight with the world on a seemingly trivial point. I was much amused by an item in last night's orders from Prince Frederick Charles's head-quarters. It was to the effect that whereas an unprincipled rascal of a Hamburg cigar mer- chant had been selling boxes of cigars to the troops, the upper tier of which consisted of good weeds, while the lower ones were unmitigated trash, the military authorities of any place where this astute gentleman should present himself were en- joined to lay hold of him and transmit him to Prince Frederick Charles's head-quarters at Corny. At such an entry one may smile, but I defy him to refrain from respecting the all- pervading care and watchfulness which takes cognizance of such a matter as this. In such care and watchfulness lies the root of much of the Prussian success. A campaign is not made victorious by dint of fighting alone — how much success depends on efficient organization, even as regards seeming trifles ! I regret that the British military administration have not attained this perception, or at all events have not chosen to act on it. Another quaint entry in general orders some time ago occurs to me as I write — "Whereas a gold watch has been found by ■ , in the vicinity of Ars-sur-Moselle, the owner may have it, on giving a description, by application to the Etappen Command." Chateau-Gras, a little distance to the front of Ste. Barbe, must have been a beautiful village before the tide of war came and strewed sand and shingle over its charms. A fine old chateau is the principal building in it, the noble garden of which is very little injured, while the furniture has also suffered very little. In a room on the ground floor the books still stand in the long ranges of shelves upon the wall. When the nobleman who owns it comes back, he will have an agreeable surprise. So CPIATEATJ-GRAS. 221 careful are the Prussians to prevent injury to property, that on the door of every room occupied by them is pasted an inventory of its contents, for which the successive occupants are held responsible, just as in a barracks at home. The chateau is now occupied by troops, but till lately was a large Feld Lazareth, occupied by the wounded of the fights before Noisseville of the 31st of August and 1st of September. The smell of the chloride of lime is still so powerful in the beautiful rooms, that some of the officers prefer more modest quarters in the houses of the village. When the owner of the chateau comes back, he will find that the war has left him a legac}'-, the memory of which will not speedily fade out. Of the wounded in the great lazarette not a few succumbed before the grim king of terrors, more potent than the bullets and shells of the enemy. In a quiet corner of the garden, looking out through the trees on to St. Julien, St. Quentin, Les Bottes, and the great towers of the Cathedral in the centre, is a graveyard, where lie those who died of their wounds in the lazarette. It is prettily enclosed with a wooden paling. The one great grave, over 100 yards in length, is banked up with green sods, and the surface trimly raked. It is flanked by a great wooden cross bearing the simple inscription: — "Hier ruhen 285 Preus- sische und 5 Franzosische tapfere Krieger." There are besides several graves of officers, which are adorned with boxwood crosses planted in the soil, and with wreaths of immortelles. Petit Marais, before Melz, October 25, Morning. — Deserters continue to afford the principal topic for conversation. It is a clever idea of Bazaine, now that his proposal for surrendering his army without the capitulation of the fortress has been rejected, to work off his army by detail. That this is his policy I think there can be no reasonable doubt. An officer and fifty men cannot walk away in a body, as they did yesterday in front of Noisseville, without being interrupted, if any one cared to do so, and the French leaders must have awakened to the fact that the Prussian authorities had comprehended the scheme when they saw the little party sent back the way they came. We receive deserters who come in singly or in pairs, because their information is more or less useful. From one of these infor- mation of considerable exactitude and apparent truthfulness was received last night. He spoke of a rapid and continuous diminution in the rations served out to the troops, and of in- creasing irregularity in the supply. Eight days ago the bread ration was half a pound a day for each man. Now it is reduced to four ounces, and there is difficulty in procuring this morsel. The man understood that the inhabitants of Metz received the same rations as the Guards who lie around Bazaine at St. 222 WAK COEEESPONDENCE. Martin, and who receive rather more food than the other troops, and are used, by reason of their superior discipline and their greater contentment, as a means of keeping the hne regiments in some semblance of order. To each peloion a live horse is given per day, but the man describes the brutes as consisting of little else than bones and hide. There can be little wonder that the number of sick is greatly on the increase under such circumstances. Out of 800 men, of which this man's battalion consisted, 200 were sick and unfit for duty. Those who are nominally able are, he says, in a state of great weakness, and certainly his own appearance corroborated this statement. Various statements appear to have been made within the last day or two by the French generals to their troops, to keep them from falling into utter despondency. I telegraphed to yon yesterday one piece of information of this character. Another man brings out a cock-and-bull story about a general order, to the effect that the Empress was to arrive in Metz yesterday, and to assume the supreme power, and that then to-day the whole army was to march away to the north by permission of the Prussians. The authorities appear to have interpreted these statements as giving intimation of a sortie in great force towards the north to-morrow. General orders to-day contained a formal intimation that the negotiations regarding capitula- tion, which had been going on, had been definitely broken off. Orders are issued with a view to cope with a sortie, should it occur, to-morrow. The line to the north of Metz on both sides of the river has been greatly strengthened, and the troops in the third line all round are called out, at five o'clock this morning, taking up positions enabling them to act efficiently as reserves and supports for the first and second lines. On the face of things it would seem that a sortie to-day is phy- sically impossible. It has rained with hardly any intermission for three days, and it rains now. Except where the macadam of the cJiaussees affords a hard bottom under the mud, the country cannot be traversed on foot. One flounders helplessly in the slippery stuff till he gets to a deeper place than usual, and then has to struggle vehemently to prevent himself from sticking outright. No regiment could keep its formation in ground so yielding, and to move artillery or train, except on the macadamized roads, must be utterly impossible. Never- theless the Prussian troops are waiting for what, if it comes at all, must be the last effort, and that one made out of pure Quixotry. I. write this hurried and short letter, so to speak, with foo^t in stirrup. I am going to ride round to the Moselle valley, down which, as on the 7th, the chief effort of the sortie A REGIME]??TAL TESTIYAIi. 223 must come, if it be made at all, which I doubt. The quietude for the last few days of the forts and foreposts is accounted for by a deserter, who states that an order has been issued to reserve the fire, and reprobating the purposeless blazing- into space which has hitherto been a characteristic of the defence. It may be straining a point to interpret this into signifying shortness of ammunition. Last night there was a loud explosion on the outskirts of Metz. It is thought one of the powder magazines had blown up. Chdteau-Gras, October 24. — This has been a great day with us here in Chateau-Gras. It was our doctor's birthday, and there was no reason why we should not keep it while the generals are finishing the more serious business. Our doctor is a man unknown to fame, but he deserves it more than many a man who has earned it. He is of the fighting, jolly style of medico : although his business is to cu3:e wounds, he has no objection, but the contrary, to cut out work for himself. If you met him in Cork, you would unhesitatingly set him down as a native, with his merry black eyes, wide laughing mouth, and — how shall I put it delicately ? — his nose with the Hibernian bend. And it was the birthday of this excellent fellow. I could not make^out in the morning why appell was hurried over so rapidly ; but I was soon to learn. The adjutant tucked my arm under his, and marched me off into the chateau. Al- though the name of the owner of this residence is Mons. d'Espagne, his chateau is by no means en Espagne; on the contrary, it is a substantially-built edifice, with very handsome rooms, affording excellent quarters, if one does not mind *semi-asphyxiation with chloride of lime. Of the salle the officers have made a mess-room, and it was into this fine apartment that the adjutant guided me about ten o'clock this morning. We were, one and all, it seemed, the guests of the doctor on this the anniversary of his natal morn. Nor was the doctor hospitable without the means. A certain good lady who calls him husband, and who dwells in Konigsberg, had not forgotten the day, and as a birthday present had sent her good man a great chest. The sum total of the contents of that chest the world through me can never know. The enumeration I heard indeed, but I lost the tally when the doctor was about half through it. Suffice it to say, that the table groaned under a load of delicacies. I have seen a telegram from Berlin to the effect that the troops before Metz were living on mutton. The telegraphist would have opened his eyes had he dropped in this morning. There was schinken and boiled ham, there was a German sausage as big as the good heart of the doctor's wife, there was a snug little barrel 224 WAR COERESPONBEJfCE. of sardellen, pickled with bay-leaves ; there was German ginger- bread and rusks ; there was fresh butter, and there was compot of plums, and I don't know what else. Then, for drink, there was the choice of Malaga and claret, rum, brandy, Hamburg bitters and absinthe, and a hearty welcome to season all. We have a curious way of eating in the foreposts — what may be styled a miscellaneous manner of feeding. Sausage, ginger- bread, sardines, and compot are seen on one plate at once, and serve to season one another in a very impartial way. I don't think the doctor could reasonably complain of the appetites which were brought to his feast. He had one appetite of which he could have had no anticipation. Just as we were in the middle of the feast, a miserable devil of a French deserter was brought in from the foreposts. I never before saw the wolfish glare of absolute hunger darting from a man's eyes. Wet, dirty, half rotten seemingly from scurvy, with puffed lips and hollow cheeks, this gaunt spectacle of a man devoured the food with his great staring eyes. He could not reply to any questions, so concentrated was he upon his gaze at our break- fast, and when the liauptmann threw him the meaty ham-bone, it positively made one shudder to see the dog-like style in which he fell a-worrying of it. When all, including, I hope, the poor wretch in the lobby, had eaten their fill, the senior haiiptmann called for full glasses, and in a neat speech pro- posed the doctor's health. The doctor was very waggish in his reply. He suggested we should dedicate a bumper to St. Julien and Les Bottes, because they had been courteous enough not to intervene to the detriment of the crockeryware, and expressed further a fervent wish that Bazaine were making one of the company. By twelve o'clock the doctor was drunk out — that is, his stores were — but a happy thought struck a lieutenant concerning a barrel of beer which he had in his room. This was fetched, and its contents went the way of the doctor's stores. As we broke up, I heard the word go round that there would be a " picnic " in the evening. One is apt to associate the idea of a picnic with leafy glades, blue muslin, bad champagne, and lobster salad. None of these agrements had we here. The rain was falling fast, the wintry wind was blowing bitterly, and the idea of a picnic seemed about as wild as would have been the suggestion of an oratory. But nevertheless the "picnic" came off, althoijigh not quite according to my pre- conceived notions of this institution. It was an indoor picnic ; in point of fact, it took place in the hall where the doctor gave his breakfast. It was on the mutual co-operation principle — everybody was expected to bring something. My contribution A CAMP PICNIC. 225 was a box of sardines, a lump of butter, and a bottle of rum. I am afraid this was not quite up to the general mark; but what I had I gave — 1 could no more. I stood in the lobby awhile watching the arrivals and their several contributions. One havptmann was accompanied by his servant carrying half a dozen of red wine, a lieutenant had a leg of mutton and a bag full of sugar under his cloak. The hall looked quite civilized. On the great round table in the centre stood an actual moderator lamp, with a painted shade atop of it, its pedestal resting on a mat. Talk of war times, here was refine- ment with a vengeance ! A great wood fire blazed cheerfully on the hearth, and the glasses— somewhat nondescript in shape and size, it is true — sparkled on the board. After a brief pause the first service of tipple was brought in, contained in a white soup-tureen and an antique china vase. The tipple was very good — I regret being unable to furnish the recipe for its composition. I may state, however, that among the ingre- dients were red wdne, white wine, rum, cognac, schnapps, cloves, and cinnamon. Of the proportions of each I could learn nothing. I incline to the opinion that a "stock" pot with the red wine was put on, and as contributions came in, that they were emptied into the pot promiscuously. For about two hours conversation, alternated with story- telling, was the order of the evening. The talk fell once upon the- causes of the French defeats, and after various explanations- had been started, a sententious premier lieutenant, who had i not previously opened iiis mouth, struck in with this original illustration and very sound theory : — " The chief rabbi of the Dantzic Jews had taken a new house, and his flock determined i to stock his wine-butt for him. An evening was set apart for the affair, and one after another the Jews went down into the cellar and emptied each his bottle into the big vat. When the rabbi came next day to draw off his dinner wine, he founds there was nothing in the cask but water. Each and every Jew had said to himself that one bottle of water could never be noticed in so great a quantity of wine, and all acting up to this, the rabbi had not got a drop of wine in his butt. Now it was just the same with the French army. One soldier saidi to himself that it would not matter a copper if he sneaked away ; in so great a multitude he would not be missed. But the devil of it was that one and all took this line of reasoning, and the result was, that nobody was left to look our battalions- in the face." Everybody laughed at the premier lieutenant's, quaint illustration, and then we had a stand-up supper at the sideboard. That finished, singing was the order of the even- ing. It surprised me not a little when one of the officers Q 226 WAR CORRESPONDENCE. struck up "My heart's in the Highlands," and ahiiost all were able to chime in, not alone with the tune, but the words. The doctor treated us to a composition of his own, composed to illustrate passing events, for the burden of it was — •' The Bois de Grimont, oh ! " The Bois de Grimont is the wood out of which the French sharpshooters so persistently pepper away at our foreposts. Encouraged by the success of this effort, he gave us another song poxir Voccasion, the chorus of which mixed up " Mercy-le-Haut" and " Der Teufel" in some mys- terious manner. It may interest the British music-hall patrons to know that a translation of " The Captain with the Whiskers" is one of the chief favourites with the Prussian officers. They .rattle away at its lively chorus with great delight. We had it to-night over and over again. At ten o'clock, the " stock " pot being empty, we broke up with great joviality. My three room-companions are now slumbering profoundly on the common straw, to which I also now betake myself. Nothing new in siege operations. Several bodies of deserters driven back to-day by the Prussian foreposts. Weather still " No- vembery " in the extreme. CHAPTER XII. The capitulation of Metz, with the whole army of Marshal Bazaine encamped under its walls, took place on the 27th of October, seventy days after the battle of Gravelotte. Three Marshals of France/ 6,000 officers, and 173,000 men were in- cluded in the surrender. The scenes which followed the capitu- lation showed that some of the corps had become dem.oralized, but the men of the Imperial Guard had preserved their discipline and self-respect to the last, and took leave of their officers with demonstrations of strong regard. Iletz, October 29. — After all our long waiting from day to day in anticipation of the capitulation of Metz, that event came upon us with a strange suddenness. It ^vas only a few days ago that it was mentioned in the general orders from the Prussian head-quarters that the negotiations had definitively closed; and when men heard this they set their teeth hard, and pre- pared for another spell of waiting, variegated with lighting. But there were symptoms of the end being imminent in the haggard deserters who came among us from day to day, with their longing looks at our black bread and flesh. Another symptom of the end I became acquainted with. Orders were issued several days ago to the railway people in Saarbruck SIJEEENDEE, OF METZ. 227 to have material in readiness for repairing the railway com- munication direct into Metz. This indicated what was ex- . pected at head- quarters, and was a sign of the times which I thought it not politic to disregard. But still, when the report ran round the regiment, on the afternoon of the 27th, that the capitulation had actually heen negotiated, some found it difficult to realize the fact — confirmation was wanting. It was true that the generals commanding the several Army Corps had been summoned to Frescati by an order of Prince Frederick Charles ; but everything loolvcd so much in the ordinary way, that people could not realize the fact of the capi- tulation. Men went on the field-watch as usual, and the con- fronting foreposts still continued to exchange shots. No white flag was visible, and the unbelieving Thomases of the 4th shrugged their shoulders, and would have none of the tidings. The story then got wind that all that had happened was the capitulation of Bazaine's army without the fortress. This pro- position it was known the Prussian authorities had already rejected, and it was argued from the prevalence of the report to this effect, that the whole story about the capitulation was a fabrication. I now proceed to give you details of the manner in which the occupation and disarmament were effected. A-t twelve o'clock yesterday forenoon each of the outlying for- tresses was taken possession of by two battalions of Prussian infantry, a squadron of cavalry, one heavy battery w^ithout tumbrils, 100 artillerymen with the complement of officers, and an engineer detachment. The following is the apportion- ment of the force of occupation. The troops occupying St. Quentin were found by 15th Infantry Division. Plappeville „ „ 3rd Army Corps. St. Julien „ „ 1st Army Corps. Queleu „ „ 8th Army Corps. St. Privat „ ,, Hessian Division. At the same hour a battalion of the 7th Army Corps marched forward, and took possession of La Porte Serpenoise, one of the gates of Metz, and another battalion from the same corps occupied the Porte Moselle. Two hours before the occupation of the fortress, I should observe, there were sent forward from each of the occupying detachments an artillery officer and a small body of under-officers, accompanied by engineers, to take over the powder magazines and the respective forts, and they sent out the report to the effect that all was in order before the troops were allowed to march in. This precaution was no doubt dictated by a recollection of the catastrophe at Laon. Q 2 228 WAIl CORRESPONDENCE. At one o'clock yesterday it was ordered that the French army should form ally lay down its arms. There was no set cere- mony, yet the affair was imposing from its very simplicity. It was conducted in detail, each corps laying down its arms in the neighbourhood of its own station. I saw the 3rd Army Corps — that of Leboeuf — disarm itself. The Marshal himself came first, a scowl upon his swarthy features. He wheeled to- one side, and stood by the single Prussian officer whose duty it was to superintend the stacking of the arms. ^Regiment after regiment the men defiled past, piling their arms in great heaps at the word of command from their own officers, who- gave their parole, and were allowed to retain their swords. This applies to most. There were, however, some who declined to accept the terms, and who preferred going with their men into captivity in Prussia. These laid down their swords as the men did their Chassepots, building quite a little heap of them to the right of the great stacks of rifles. The disarmed French troops then returned into their bivouacs, which they occupied for one night more, before quitting for other bivouacs- round which shall stand Prussian sentries. For this last night they preserved a semblance of freedom. The Prussians left them to themselves. Except in the forts and at the two gates I have mentioned, not a spiked helmet was to be seen nearer Metz than had been seen a week before. The feldwachen were mounted as usual, the replis were established, and the troops stood fast as ever in their long and weary watch around Metz. This morning the Frenchmen came forth and surrendered them- selves to their captors — corps by corps, and under the command of their own officers. The 6th Corps (Canrobert's) came from its bivouac by Woippy to Ladonchamps, where on the 7th so many of its members had stained the soil with their blood. Their prison-bivouac is on the plain in the rear of the wrecked and burnt village. The 7th Corps, that of L'Admirauit, cam.e out over the ridge between St. Quentin and Plappeville, and found quarters — inhospitable enough, I fear — on the bleak plateau of St. Maurice. The Imperial Guard marched down to Longeville, crossed the railway-bridge at Tournebride, passed on to Frescati to the left, and found their bivouac in the plain between Orly and Augny. The garrison of Metz itself, con- sisting of about 20,000 men, chiefly Mobile Guards, marched by Le Sablon, past the ruined village of Magny, and so forward to the outskirts of St. Thiebault. The 2nd Corps (Froissard's),. with Laveauconfied's Division and the 4th Brigade, came out past La Posette on the great Strasbnrg chaimsee, and found their bivouac behind the village of Grigy. The 3rd Corps (that of Leboeaf) came out among us of the 1st Prussian STJEEEJSTDEE OF TEOOPS. 229 Army Corps, along the chaussee leading to Saarlouis. Each corps, as it marched out, was received by the Prussian troops covering the respective section of the environment. They were led by their own officers, who formally handed over their men to the Prussian officers, and then those of them who had given their parole were at liberty to quit the ranks and return to Metz. The men, under the command of their under-officers, were then marched out to the bivouac places, which had pre- viously been partly prepared ; wood for fires having been collected, and a supply of provisions being ready for distri- bution. I was with the 1st Army Corps when it took up its position to receive the corps of Leboeuf. From all the villages around — the villages inhabited for so many weary weeks, the villages made memorable by fights, by burnings, by graves, by sickness, and by deaths — streamed the regiments on to the chaussee. There had been much rain during the night, and although the sun broke out about ten o'clock, the watery haze hung about the bottoms of the valleys, and the mud splashed as the troops strode through it. Mud ! why, we have had nothing but mud for weeks, and should we mind it now, looking at the errand on which we are bound ? No. The " Wacht am iihein" rises lustily from the pioneers in the front, and the regiments as they come down the side-roads catch up the fitrain. On we go past the Brasserie, with the grenade-pits, the graves, and the entrenchments around it — itself a mere heap of shattered bricks — on to the gentle slope behind the Tillage of Ijauvallier. Then right and left wheeled the heavy columns, leaving the chaussee open, a parallelogram of about 300 feet in width on each side of it. In front of the Brasserie stood the artillery, before the artillery the serried ranks of brass-spiked helmets all the way down the gentle slope, almost to Lauvallier. Arms were piled, and there the Prussians waited for the advent of the army with which it almost seemed, through the length of time that we had confronted each other, that we could claim a kind of personal acquaintance. While the troops waited I pushed forward towards Metz to meet the Frenchmen. Already, it is true, we had plenty of Frenchmen among us, but they were all civilians, and there were French- women too, and French children. The road had been opened this morning, and they came crowding out, the poor creatures who had abandoned their village homes and crowded into the town when the pennons of the Ulilans had shown themselves on the fringes of the villages. On they came, waggon-load after waggon-load, with their trumpery household goods and their agricultural implements piled on the waggons behind the 230 WAE CORRESPONDENCE. women and children. They knew not what it was that they 1^ had come out for to see. Perhaps they expected to find their cottage homes as they had left them — not roofless, wrecked, utterly ruined, as is the grim reality. Lauvallier seemed to give .the first shock to their cheerfulness. Gaunt and grim stood its houses, burnt to the shell, the graves lying all around,, the holes in the fields where the shells had burst, the breast- works behind which had stood the Prussian foreposts. xls each waggon and each knot of peasants came into Lauvallier there was a halt, and full many a " Mon Dieu !" In Lauval- lier there is a large tannery, which must have employed many workmen, and been an important and profitable concern. It is now a mere shell — not a fragment of the woodwork is left. This forenoon I chanced upon its owner standing on the bluff over against his property, and gazing upon it in moody silence. Twenty paces farther on I came on a little group, the extreme pathos of which made my heart swell. It was a family, and they sat in front of what had once been their home. That home was now roofless. The stones of the walls were all that was left. The garden was a wreck, and the whole scene was concentrated desolation. The husband leant against the wall, his arms folded, and his head on his chest. The wife sat on the wet ground, weeping over the babe at her breast. Two elder children stared around them with wonder and un- concern — too young to realize the misfortune which had over- taken all the family. The silence of the grief-stricken grou]> was more eloquent than any words. No home, no food, a waggon and a couple of starved horses, a field with four graves in it. This is the brief summary of the belongings and con- dition of the family. All are alike ; although this family was the one I happened to see, because the home lay on my road in Lauvallier, the same piteous sight must ere now be visible by every house in every village all around Metz. What need for me to occupy space by writing of what every one with a. grain of human sympathy in his composition can picture and mourn over for himself? If the horses were lean, I saw no evidence of starvation in the features of the people I met. The stream of emigres continued as I came up the slope on the flat, on the edge of which lies the improvised fortification of the village of Belle Croix — that which, in this correspondence, I have distinguished as "'Little Belle Croix," to distinguish it from the great fort of the same name. Belle Croix was ghastly in its utter solitude. Burnt and shattered by Prussian shells, it must nevertheless have been a very strong position. All round the entrenciiment, across the road, is a moat of some depth. The angles are THE PRISONEES OF WAE. 231 stockades, the walls loopholed, and there still stand in position a couple of field-guns, which, as the Prussians know to their cost, many a time were located w'ith great skill. Owing to the block caused b}^ the entrenchment the road had been diverted. It had been little enough used before this morning. The grass grew thickly on the chaiissee between Lauvallier and Belle Croix. As the peasant-waggons came crowding- out, they stuck in the heavy mire of this detour, and many were the " sacres " before they were started again, the lean horses being too weak to pull them through the heavy ground. Just in front of this village of Belle Croix is the bisection of the road both leading to Saarlouis and Saarbruck. When I had passed Belle Croix, I could not help ovvning to myself that I had never till then succeeded in forming a proper conception of the real strength of the natural position of Metz. On the right, with a valley intervening like a deep trench, lay the blunt-topped mountain crowned by Fort St. Julien. On its slope were the bivouac-fires of the troops of Leboeuf. Nothing could venture on this slope — a great natural glacis — so long as Fort St. Julien thought proper to forbid the passage. On my left, also on an eminence, although, from the positions whence I had previously seen it, it appeared to be on a flat, lay Fort Queleu, square and massive, dominating the plateau to the left of the chaussee. But this plateau is closed in Metz- ward by a fortification all to itself — the great earthwork of Les Bottes, whose grenades had so often burst in disagreeable proximity to us, and which now stood solitary and empty, with not even a sentry on its earthen summit. Over the top of Fort Les Bottes were visible the towers of the cathedral, and the picture was framed in by the background of that great and elevated ridge of which the two chief peaks are crowned by Forts St. Quentin and Plappeville. It was just beyond Les Bottes that I met the first French soldier — a cavalryman of the line. The fellow was as drunk as he well could be to be able to move at all. He staggered forward, dropping his kit piecemeal as he came. At a bend in the road behind Four-a-Chaux, I came upon the head of the prisoner column, marching onward for their reception at the Brasserie. The men were in a very miserable state, covered with mud, wet — sodden seemingly, indeed, through and through with wet — many of their faces blotched and scabbed with scurvy, and quite one-third in a state of drunkenness. Not a few were in a state of bestial intoxication, their clothes disarranged, and decency utterly disregarded. A little farther on, and right and left, lay the great bivouac before Fort Belle Croix. The troops were being collected by their officers in pelotons pre- 232 WAR, CORllESPONDENCE. viously to being marched out, and several columns were already converging' on the great chaussee. As each body got the order to go forward, a cheer came from the slovenly and dislocated ranks, and from the columns on the march there broke out at intervals a fitful chorus of some lively marching song. Most of the officers were grave, taciturn, and downcast. Surely they must have despised the reckless throng which they nominally commanded. The demoralization of the Metz arn^y is not so great as was that of the Sedan army, but it is very great. The men obey their officers and regard the sound of the bugle after a fashion, but it is evident that they are utterly unaffected by the catastrophe which has befallen the arms of their country, and are eager only to get somewhere where a full meal of victuals awaits them. Poor wretches ! after all, it is not fair to be too severe on their disorganization. How near actual starvation they had come to before their leader would give up the game I shall narrate before I conclude this letter. Passing the columns of prisoners at a canter, I was back again before the Brasserie ere the front of the column had reached the place where stood the Prussians waiting for them. The dismounted cavalry came first, followed by the artillery ; last of all came the infantry of the line. The cavalry seemed to have lost all self-respect; they greeted the Prussians with cheering, and several men broke from the ranks and slouched forward through the mud with intent to salute with a spirituous kiss the Prussian officers standing in front of their companies. It was curious to notice the opposite idiosyncrasies of the two nationalities. Grave and stern stood the Prussian victors, with, as it seemed, a silent pity rather than contempt for the ■demented tatterdemalions who proffered them the undesirable greeting ; while the Frenchmen chattered and gesticulated, -" sacreed" and spluttered, sang and laughed as they marched through the gauntlet of humiliation. The officers quitted their commands as each reached the alley fringed by the Prussian battalions, and returned to Metz or the vicinity. The troops comprising the whole of the 3rd Corps, tilh yesterday under the command of Leboeuf, and numbering about 23,000 men, were escorted to a position between Chateau- Gras and Ketonfay, where was fixed the site for their bivouac. The positions of the other bivouacs I have already detailed. The guards for the French prisoners are to be contributed in rota- tion by the several divisions. The daily quota for the bivouac at Chateau- Gras is four battalions of infantry, one battery of artillery, and one squadron of cavalry. In command of it has been placed Colonel von Sietzen Hennig, of the 4th Eegiment, THE PRISOXEES OF WAlt. 233 liis adjutant being Lieutenant von Versin. Food has been collected for the supply of the prisoners, who will have to bivouac in the open air. From to-morrow, daily drafts, each ^3,000 strong, will be sent into Germany via Saarbruck and Saarlouis. In all, the capture consists of 173,000 men, in- -. eluding three marshals, 47 general officers, 6,000 regimental officers, and about 500 guns. Of the latter, a large proportion is of course heavy artillery, mucVi of which can be utilized in the siege of Paris, if that event really takes place. I may as well conclude my details as to the Prussian dispositions. General Kummer, hitherto in command of the Landwehr, is appointed commandant of Metz. He has taken up his quarters in the house recently occupied by the French Commandant on the Place d'Armes. General von Zastrow takes the control of all arrangements connected with the transport of the prisoners and the quartermastership generally of the district around Metz and as far as Thionville. It is anticipated that in seven days all the prisoners will have been sent away. The Prussian army before Metz is destined to disruption. Two Army Corps will march towards Lille, two more towards Besancon, and Ihen there will be left a considerable force to be sent on to Paris. After I had seen Leboeuf's command taken over by the 1st Army Corps, I returned towards Metz, meeting on my way a stream of straggling soldiers who had missed their corps, and were staggering out under loads of tents, blankets, and what not. The environs of the town are very desolate and very filthy. Mud, raw horseflesh, burnt-out bivouac fires, huts made of the branches of trees, old women and skeleton horses, are the leading characteristics. There was no difficulty in getting into the town, where I found the shops all open, and, to all ap- pearance, no scarcity. Meat hung in the butchers' shops, the cafes were crowded, and there appeared no exhaustion in the stocks of the shops devoted to the sale of any material. Tobacco was plentiful, wine, spirits, and liquors in great abun-