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THE YEAR OF BATTLES :
A HISTOBY OF THE
FRANCO-GERMAN WAR OF 1870-71.
EMBRACING ALSO
jarisun%ili4 ][ctottomflj[1871
A SECOND REIGN OF TERROR, MURDER, AND MADNESS.
BY
L. P. BROCKETT, M.D.,
»BTK03 CF "HIST(5BT OF THE CI VU. WAB," " CAMP, BATTLE ITKLB. A*» HOSPITAL," "WOMAN*»
WORK IN THE OITH. WAR." "OUB GREAT OAPTA1NS," ETC. ETC.
WITH MAPS, PLANS OF BATTLES, AND NUMEROUS fuRTBAITS,
ILLUSTRATIONS, AND BATTLE SCENES.
by christian weber.
SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION.
NEW YORK:
H. S. GOODSPEED & CO., 37 PARK ROW.
I. W. GOODSPEED & CO. 148 Lake St., Chi. I B. R. STURGES, Boston.
à. H. HUBBARD, Philadelphia. SCHUYLER SMITH, Pkesoott, Out.
S. H. NATT & CO., Cincinnati. | JAMES H. DOBBS & CO., Ekie, Pa.
F, DEWING & CO., San Fbanciiico.
1872.
Entered according to Act of Congres», in the year «8ft,
By L. P. BROCKETT, M.D.
(n the Othce of the Librarian of Congress, at WashiCKM.
PREFACE.
THE writer feels that no apology is necessary for the
attempt here made to portray the progress of a war
which, in its rapid movement, its terrible destructiveness,
and its stupendous results, is without a parallel in his-
tory.
The ties which bind us to both the great nations
which have been engaged in this sanguinary conflict—
ties of kindred, friendship, and commercial intercourse—-
have made every step of its progress more interesting to
us as a people than any other war of -modern times,
except that in which we ourselves were so recently en¬
gaged ; and these considerations are sufficient to com¬
mend to popular interest any work which gives suc¬
cinctly, lucidly, and accurately, the events of such a
contest.
A large experience in historical composition, and
especially in the preparation of histories of our own war,
has, the writer would fain hope, given him some special
qualifications for undertaking this work. It has been his
first aim to secure as complete accuracy as possible ; and
hence he has had recourse to official reports and docu¬
ments, where they were to be had, and also to the testi¬
mony of intelligent and. capable eye-witnesses of the
various battles. The work is not, however, a mere com¬
pilation of war correspondence and official documents.
Every battle has been carefully studied, and plans drawn
of the position of each anny and the course of their
movements ; and the writer has not felt disposed to rest
satisfied without attempting to convey to his readers the
é
PREFACE.
same clear and vivid idea of each battle which his care
fill.studies had enabled him to attain.
The preliminary chapters, giving the history of the
causes of the war, the military, naval, and financial posi¬
tion of the two countries, the description and comparison
of their weapons, and biographical sketches of the prom¬
inent actors in the war, will be found, he hopes, to pos¬
sess intrinsic value, irrespective of the war itself. They
are from authentic sources in all cases, and in many
instances from such as are not generally accessible.
The maps and plans are compiled from the best
German and French sources, and from the official reports
'of the battles and sieges, and are believed to be remark¬
ably accurate. The portraits are from undoubted origi¬
nals, and these, as well as the drawings of weapons and
battle-scenes, are the work of some of our best artists.
The material for the work has been ample, and while
for the official narratives, biographies, &c., we have gone
directly to the French and German sources, we have
found some of the best descriptions, both of the topogra¬
phy and the actions themselves, in the correspondence of
Major Forbes and Mr. Holdsworth with the London
Daily News, the war-letters of the New York Tri¬
bune, Herald, World, and Times, the Cincinnati Ga¬
zette and Commercial, and the Courrier des Etats-Unis,
and the admirable "Diary of the War "of the Army
and Navy Journal. We have been indebted also for
many items to the various statistical and biographical
works, in which both England and the Continent so
greatly excel us.
If the work shall accomplish its purpose of gratify¬
ing the natural anxiety.of our people to know more fully,
accurately, and minutely, the particulars of the gr< atest,
and, we would fain hope, also the last of modern wars,
the ambition of the author will be fully satisfied.
L. P B.
Bbooklyh, N. Y.,
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
I*he remote and proximate causes of the "War.—Encroachments of France upon Germany in the
past three hundred years.—Alsace and Lorraine.—"Westphalia and the Rhine Provinces—i
Belgium.—Restoration of the last three to their rightful owners.—Avenging Waterloo.—"
The Rhine and Adriatic boundary.—Movements of Napoleon III to accomplish this.—His
Jealousy of Prussia.—His preparations for War.—The introduction of the Chassepôt rifle and
the Mitrailleuse.—The want of genuine preparation for the War on the part of France.—
Other reasons for the War.—France restive.—The plebiscite.—Napoleon's health.—Religious
motives.—France in a secondary position.—The occasion of War.—The Hohenzollern candi¬
dacy.—Sketch of Prince Leopold.—Protest of the French Emperor.—His interview with
General Prim.—Declination of Prince Leopold.—New pretexts,—The alleged insult to
Count Benedetti.—The missives sent to German States supposed to he disaffected.—The
French declaration of War pp. 19-30.
CHAPTER II.
Biographical sketches.—Wilhelm i, King of Prussia.—His birth, education, absolutist princi¬
ples.—His Accession to the Throne.—His personal appearance, manners and character.
Napoleon IIL—His parentage, birth, education.—Joins the Carbonari—Involved in Italian
Conspiracies.—Attempts authorship.—Becomes the legal heir of Napoleon I.—The Strasbourg
affair in 1836.—His banishment to America.—Is coldly rt ceived there.—His return to Switzer¬
land.—Death of his mother.—His escape to England.—Publication of his Idées Napoléoniennes
and Rêveries Politiques.—The Boulogne fiasco.—His arrest, trial, and sentence to imprison¬
ment at Ham.-—His studies and writings at Ham.—Escape to England in 1846.—His life in
England.—The-Revolution of 1848.—Election of Louis Napoleon to the National Assembly—
His return to France.—His election as President.—His policy.—His aspirations for permanent
and supreme power.—Efforts to change the Constitution.—Uneasiness of the French people.
—The coup d'état of Dec. 2,1851.—The first plebiscite.—Further steps toward despotism.—
Proclaims himself Emperor.—"The Empire is Peace."—His Marriage.—Alliance with Eng¬
land.—The Crimean War.—His policy as Emperor.—Birth of the Prince Imperial.—Over-
estimation of Napoleon IIL—The Italian War.—His mismanagement.—The compact with
Cavour.—The threatening attitude of Prussia,—Treaty of Villafranca.—Napoleon's disap¬
pointment.—Acquisition of Savoy and Nice.—His failing health.—Troubles.—The attempt tc
intervene in behalf of the Southern Confederacy.—The War with Mexico.—He makes a dupe
of Maximilian.—Sad end of this War.—The Cochin China and Chinese Wars.—The promise
of reforms.—The Austro-Prussian War.—Prussian superiority demonstrated.—His offers
to and demands upon each of the belligerents.—Their rejection.—His Life of Caesar.—Hi«
determination to brirg on a War.—His character in brief........... pp. 3i_£«
6
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
Blographloal sketches continued.—Count yon Bismarck-Schonbausen.—His birth and education
—Entrance upon public life.—A Conservative.—His pamphlet, " Prussia and the Italia»
Question.'1—Minister at St. Petersburg and Paris.—Premier, and Cabinet Minister.—His
bold measures.—The opposition evoked.—The Danish War.—The War with Austria.—The
wisdom of his measures demonstrated.—His extraordinary abilities and foresight.—His per¬
sonal appearance.—His scholarship.—His impaired health.
General von Moltke.—His birth and education.—Military studies at Copenhagen.—Straitened
circumstances.—His eminent attainments.—His rapid promotion.—His mission to Turkey
and Asia Minor.—Authorship.—His advancement to the position of Chief of Staff.—His hercu¬
lean labors.—His remarkable topographical and geological knowledge.—His extraordinary
prescience and knowledge of the character of his antagonists.—His personal exploration of
military routes.—His interview with General do Wimpffen.—Personal appearance and man¬
ners.
The French Premiers and War Ministers.—Ollivier and Rouher.—General Leboeuf.—Birth and
education.—Promotion.—Commandant of Polytechnio SchooL—Chief of Artillery.—General
of Division, 1857.—Distinguished In the Italian War.—Minister of War in 1807.—His cor¬
rupt management relative to the Chassepôt rifle.—His recklessness and dishonesty.
Count de Palikao.—His birth, education and military career.—Hifc experiences in Algeria*
France and China.—His stern and cruel disposition.
Other French generals.—The old soldiers.—The three Marshals.—Marshal MacMahon.—Hi*
birth and education.—Early career In Africa.—His courage and daring.—Ability as a
tactician.—Capture of the Malakoff.—His skilful strategy at Magenta.—Duke of Magenta.—
Representative of France at King Wilhelm's coronation.—Subsequent command in France
and Algeria.
Marshal Canrobert.—His birth and education.—His African career.—Adhesion to Louis Napo¬
leon.—Service in the Crimean War.—In the Italian War.—Senator of France.
MarshalBazaiDe.—His education.—Military experience in Algeria, Spain, and the Crimea.—His
part in the Mexican Expedition.—His cruelty, greed, and mismanagement there.—Hi*
corruption and rapacity.
The French corps-commanders, Frossard, De Failly, l'Admirault, &c.—General de Wimpffen?—
Gen. Trochu pp. 5&-80.
CHAPTER IV.
Biographical sketches continued.—Prince Friedrich Karl.—Birth and edncation.—Hie cntranoe
into the Army.—His fondness for military studies.—Frederick the Groat his exemplar.—A
staff-officer under yon Wrangel in 1848, in the first Schleswig-Holstein "War, and the Baden
Campaign in 1849.—Commander of the Prussian Contingent in the Danish War of 1864 —His
gallantry in the assault on Diippel.—His command of the first Army in the Austrian War of
1866.—Sadowa.—His pamphlet on improvements in military organizations.—The changes
which followed.—His interview with von Moltke.—Prince Friedrich Wilhelm.—Birth, ed¬
ucation.—A pupil of von Moltke.—A corps-commander in 1864.—Commander of the Second
Prussian Army in 1866, and the hero of Sadowa.—His ability in handling large bodies of
troops.
General von Steinmetz.—Birth, education.—Wounded at Dannegkow in 1813.—Entered Paris
with the Allies in 1816.—" The Lion of Skalitz."—A stern, imperious old man.—The Ger.
man corps and army commanders ...pp. 81-91,
CHAPTER V.
financial condition of France and Germany.—Difficulty in arriving at the facts relative to th«
French finances—The latest statistics of French revenue and expenditure—The constant
deficits—Seven loans from 1854 to 1870.—Cost of the Wars during the reign of Napoleon III—
CONTENTS.
7
Imports and Exports.—The national debt.—Its eHormoue amount.—Valuation of property in
France.
Financial condition of tho North German Confederation.—Revenues of 1869-70.—Ordinary
and Extraordinary Expenditure.—Revenue of Prussia.—Her Expenditure With about the
same population.—Her Expenditure only two sevenths of that of France.—No deficits—.
Items of Expenditure.—The national debt of Prussia, small.
Social condition o/ th© two countries.—Intelligence and Morals in Germany.—Condition of France
in these respects.—Military and naval strength of the two countries.—Over-statement of
French military strength.—Under-estimate of Prussian military power—Causes.—The
French reports of their Army—Its vast numbers and presumed efficient condition.—The
reserves, National Guard and Garde Mobile.—Almost two millions of soldiers—on paper.
—The actual numbers.—One half the Army only existing on paper—The German Armies—
Their actual numbers in each arm of the service.—Even these estimates largely exceeded.
The Navies of the two Nations.—Great number of vessels in the French Navy—55 Iron-cla<?
Steamers,—Analysis of the character of these.—Their efficiency more apparent than real—
Their meagre success.
Prussian Navy.—Vessels few in number, hut of remarkable efficiency.
The Cannon of the German Army.—Krupp's rifled hreech-loaders.—Their great range and
accuracy.
The French bronze Napoleons—muzzle-loaders.—The Mitrailleuse, its character and destruo-
tiveness.—The Needle-gon.—Full description of its mechanism.—The different methods of
obturation or closing of the cylinder upon the barrel—The Chassepôt rifle—Its construction.
—Comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the two ...pp.93-181,
CHAPTER VI.
rhe circumstances attending the declaration of War, in detail.—-'Gen. Prim's visit to Napoleon
III.—His correspondence with Prince Leopold.—His acceptance of the candidacy—The
King of Prussia's disapproval.—The Prince's persistence.—The French demand on Prussia,
July 6.—Count Bcnedetti's instructions.—Mr. Ripley's account of the interviews of Benedetti
with the King The demand of the French Government—The offensive way in which they
were presented Napoleon's preparations for immediate War—The declaration of War—
The activity which followed, all over Christendom.—Return of King Wilbelm from Ems to
Berlin.—HiB address to the Prussian Legislature—War-loan voted.—Address of Napoleon
III.—Its melodramatic character.—His address to th© Army at Metz, July 28th.—The circu¬
lar of von Bismarck to the Prussian representatives at the courts of Foreign Powers.—Efforts
of the French Government to counteract the damaging effect of this exposure Attempts of
other European Powers to effect a settlement.—Their futility—Letter of Pope Pius IX to
Napoleon III and King Wilhelm.—King Wilhelm's reply.—Forward movements of the
French advance-guard—Skirmishing.—Circulation of addresses by the Emperor among
the South Germans, and the people of Schleswig-Holstein and Hah over.—Failure of these
addresses to win any adherents to his cause. .....pp. 132-154.
CJHAPTEK VIL
The War begun—King Wilhelm takes command of the German forces, August 2d His ad-
dress to the troops, at Mayence.—Strength and position of the French forces on the 2d oi
August.—The German forces and their positions.—The affair at Saarbruck.—The Emperor's
letter to the Empress.—The Tranquil Infant's baptism of fire.—Movements of the two armies.
—The French fortify the Spicheren Hills back of Saarbruck.—MacMahon advances to Weis-
senburg —Battle of Weissenburg, Aug. 4—The Crown-Prince's report of the action.—Ad
8
CONTENTS.
dress of Princo Friedrich Karl Gen. von Stelnmetz's address to the First German Army—.
The battle of Spioheren heights or Forbach, Aug. 6 Report of von Steinmetz.—Account o)
the New Tort Tribune correspondent Casualties of tho battle.—The advance of th«
Crown-Prince toward Woerth.—The Battle of Woerth.—Attempts of the French commander
to rally his troops —His retreat to Saverne.—Marshal MacMahon's report to the Emperor—
King Wilhelm's despatch to the Queen.—" Our Fritz."—Napoleon Ill's despatches.—"He
goes to the Centre."—Gen. LeboeuPs report.—Attempts to keep the news-from the Frenoh
people The proclamation of the Empress.—The statement of the Minister.—Changes in
the French government and military commands pp. 155-187.
CHAPTER VIII.
Indications of a ooming revolution Addresses and orders of Prince Friedrich Karl, the Kingfc
and von Steinmetz.—Their humane tenor.—Strasbourg summoned to surrender.—Proclama¬
tion of Gen. Uhrich in reply.—Proclamation of King Wilhelm to the French people.—^Par¬
ticulars of MacMahon's defeat at Woerth.—His order to his soldiers.—The reinforcements he
received from De Failly, Cànrobert, and De Caen.—His march towards Paris.—Pursuit by
the Crown-Prince of Prussia.—Bazaine falls back npon Metz, and decides to retreat upon
Verdun and Paris, leaving a large garrison at Metz.—The rapid advance and severe pressure
of the German armies upon his rear.—Crossing of part of tbe Second Army at Pont à Mous¬
son—Napoleon III quits Metz, leaving an address to the inhabitants.—The battle of Cour-
celles, east of the Moselle.—Conflicting accounts.—The German report.—Correspondent»*
reports—King Wilhelm's despatches French official report.—The Emperor's despatch to
Eugenie.—Bazaine's necessity for retreat.—Critical position.—The two routes to Verdun.—
His determination to seize and control one or both.—The "battle of Yionville, or Mars-la-
Tour, on the 16th of August.—Terrible fighting.—The Mars-la-Tonr road completely blocked by
the Second German Army.—Bazaine falls back to the line of Gravelotte.—The battle inde¬
cisive—Heavy losses—The German report.—Bazaine's reports.—Statement published in
Paris.—Possibility of Bazaine's retreat by the Conflans road.—Napoieon III leaves Verdun
with the little prince for Rheims.—The battle of Gravelotte.—The official account in the
Army and Navy Jowrnal—King Wilhelm's despatches from Rezonvilla—The New York
Tribune correspondent's account.—Frightful slaughter.—The battle continues into the night.
—Account of another correspondent.—The execution done by the Mitrailleuse at close quar¬
ters.—French and German artillery practice.. pp. 18S-242.
CHAPTER IX.
Uen. Trocnu appointed Governor of Paris by the Emperor. -His proclamation to the people of
Paris.—Organization of a committee of defence.—Gen. Trochu's address to the people and
appeal to the soldiers.—Gen. MacMahon's movement on Chalons.—fle turns northwestward
to Rheiras.—The attempt to raise the siege of Metz.—The route taken.—The movement a
blunder.—Reasons why.—Difficulty of the country for rapid marching.—MacMahon's advance
reaches Rethel and Mézières.—The pursuit by the German armies.—The lines on which they
moved.—The action of August SO.—The advantage gained by the Germans.—Crossing the
Meuse.—The 1st of September.—The intention to rest the German troops that day.—Change
of plan.—Orders issued.—The plan of attack.—Position of the German armies.—The French
troops forced back to Sedan.—They enter the town with the French.—The white flag raised,—
King Wilhelm's account of the battles and surrender.—The terms of capitulation.—Telegrams
from the King.—Gen. von Moltke'a order for carrying out the capitulation.—Count von Bis¬
marck's letter describing his part.—MacMahon wounded early in the fight.—De Wimpffen'a
address to his soldiers Controversy concerning the Emperor and de Wimpffen.—Descrip¬
tion of the battle and surrender by a French officer.—Narrative of the Tribunes correspond¬
ent with the German army ...pp.34S-319.
CONTENTS.
9
OHAPTEK X.
The sortie of Marshal Bazain© on the 81st of August and Sept, 1st.—He attempts to force a pass¬
age for his troops to the northeast of Metz.—Why this direction was taken.—Severe fight.
ing He is beaten back at all points and retires behind the fortifications of Metz.—General
Stiehle (chief of staff to Prince Friedrich Karl) telegraphs the repulse of the sortie.—Gen¬
eral Manteuffel's despatch.—The minor fortresses still holding ont.—Condition of affairs at
Paris. The people deceived.—Their sudden awakening.—Great excitement.—Cries of La
Déchéance.—Count de Palikao's official statement.—The vote of déchéance demanded.—The
Revolutionists force the gates of the Tuileries.—The Empress escapes.—-The three proposi¬
tions before the Corps Législatif.—Adjournment of the Chamber.—The reassembling of the
Chamber amid the turmoil of the mob.—Its dissolution—The assembling of the Republicans.
—The downfall of the Empire declared.—The Republic proclaimed and the members of the
government announced.—Emmanuel Arago Mayor of Paris.—Roehefort released from St.
Pélagie and made a member.—Address of the new republican government to the people—
The circular of M. Jules Favre to neutral powers.—Its defiant spirit.—Its folly—M. Favse's
negotiations for peace.—His interview with Bismarck.—The preliminary question of the
power of the Provisional Government to bind the people of France.—Favre's proposals, and
Bismarck's rejoinders.—Rejection of Bismarck's proposals by the French leaders—Removal
of the Government to Toul.—Their proclamation respecting the peace negotiations.—Bis¬
marck's circular on the same subject.—His reasons for the claim made.—Advance of the
German armies toward Paris.—Its investment complete on the 20th of September.—Surrender
of Toul, Sept. 28d and of Strasbourg, Sept. 27tb.—The condition of the French army and peo¬
ple.—Unwisdom of the leaders The suicidal policy of suffering an army of 430,000 men and
a population of two millions to be besieged.—Losses of the French.—Their whole available
force.—The want of leaders.—Condition of Paris,—Exaggeration of the most trifling suocess
and manufacture of wholesale falsehoods in regard to defeat of the Prussians.—-The reaction
in the feeling of sympathy at first manifested for the French Republic in consequence of
these falsehoods.—The two-headed French government.—Efforts to raise the army of the
Loire.—The irregular troops of the Republic,—Sorties from Paris and Metz.—The sortie
from Paris of the 19th of Sept.—Duerot defeated and routed.—Subsequent sorties unsuccess¬
ful.—The German troops overrun large districts of France.—The new levies unable to resist
them,—The report of the German commission in regard to operations in the region of the
Loire.—The Partisans ef Gers.—Capture of Orleans Its value as the centre of a rich dis¬
trict from which supplies could be drawn—Its strategical importance Other towns captured.
—Predominance of Red Republicanism in Marseilles and Lyons Fear of the German
troops in the smaller towns of France.—The desolated tract between the Rhine and Paris-
Surrender of Metz—Magnitude of the surrender.—Statistics of officers surrendered—The in¬
dignation of the Provisional Government at this surrender.—Their proclamation Bazaine
denounced as a traitor.—The real condition of France understated in this proclamation.—
Hopelessness of its situation.—The energy and executive ability of Gambetta of no avail ex¬
cept to aggravate the severity of the conditions on which peace could eventually he made.—-
The approach of famine and revolution.—Intense pride, and conceit of-the French people
and their leaders.—Apostroph> to France pp. 320-364,
CHAPTER XI.
Mio siege of Paris.—The capture of the Heights of Sceaux (Battle of Chatillon) by the German*
■ Culpable negligence of Trochu in not fortifying this point.—His folly in attempting to re
capture them with a single corps of half-organized troops.—Trochu's reeonhoissance aur
sortie of Sept. 80.—Its failure.—Position of the several corps of German troops around Parie».
—Breadth of the cordon ; its facilities for rapid concentration on any point.—Its lines neveic
broken.—French sorties.—The sortie of Oct. 28 against Le Bourget.—Its failure.—Temporary
Revolution.—Raising armies in the Provinces to compel the raising of the Siege.—Gambetta
at Tours.—His ability as an organizer.—The establishment of camps,—The expulsion of the
10
CONTENTS.
Anny of the Seine from Orleans and its vicinity, Oct. 10, by General von der Tann - Move
ments of the Germans to drive the French Army of tho Loire out of the Loire Valley.—The
determination of Gambetta to crush von der Tann and relieve Paris Recapture of Orleans
by the French aftor a vigorous resistance by von der Tann, Nov. 0-10.—Exaggerated an-
nouncements of the victory.—Gonoral d'Aurelles do Paladines' report.—Gambetta's glorifica¬
tion of the General.—The other French commanders, Bourbaki, Duerot, de Chanzy, and Paid-
herbe.—General von der Tann falls back, hut General d'Aurelles de Paladines does not ad¬
vance, but fortifies his camp around Orleans.—Gambetta dissatisfied.—Movements of the
German commanders, General von Volghts Rhotz and the Duke of Mecklenburg.—They pass
by tho Army of the Loire without an engagement, and move westward.—General d'Aurelles
is ready to move the last of November.—His lines too much extended.—The fight at Beaune
de Rolande.—Only part of the Frenoh force brought into action.—The arrival of Prince
Friedrich Karl causes the defeat of the French.—Their heavy losses.—General d'Aurelles
attacks the German centre, Dec. 1.—Desultory fighting for five days.—The defense of Orleans.
—The attack by the Germans in full force.—General d'Aurelles driven hack.—The Army of
the Loire cut in two, and two corps pushed across the Loire.—Orleans evacuated and given up
by the French.—Retreat of the three Army Corps under General de Chanzy to Blois, and sub¬
sequently toward Le Mans.—Heavy losses of the French.—Constant fighting for eight or ten
days.—"A blessing in disguise."—The sortie of Generals Ducrot and Trochu from Paris,
Nov. 30J)ec. 4.—The district lying on the bends of the Marne selected.—Why.—Large force
engaged in the sortie.—Details of the movement.—General Trochn's reports.—Major Forbes'
account.—Topography of the battle-ground.—Movements and counter-moTcments of the two
armies.—General Ducrot's order of the day pp. 365-402.
CHAPTER XII.
rhe situation.—All not yet lost, though imperiled.—Unimproved opportunities.—Orleans.—Du¬
crot's sortie.—Gambetta's blunders.—Sending Bourbaki to the east of France.—Gambetta's
dispatch to General Trochu.—The real state of affairs.—Capitulation of important posts.—
Tours surrendered.—The condition and position of de Chanzy's and Faidherbe's armies.—The
occupation of Amiens.—Another sortie (Dec. 21 and 22) of the French garrison against the
Saxon Corps.—Heavy losses of the French.—The sortie a failure.—Details of the engage¬
ment.—Bombardment of Fort Avron, Dee. 27.—Capitulation of Mezières.—Silencing oi
French forts.—Defeat of General Faidherbe's army, Jan. 2-4, 1871.—Rocrov captured.—The
final pursuit and defeat of de Chanzy, Jan. 5-12.—Prince Friedrich Karl undertakes the pur¬
suit in person, and sends the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Sohwerin to execute a flank move¬
ment.—The battle of Jan. 10, near Le Mans.—Description by an eye-witness—The battle of
Jan. 1L—The Grand Duke's flanking movement.—Description.—The night attack.—The
French surprise and panic.—General von Voights Rhetz occupies Le Mans.—The losses on
both sides.—General de Chanzy's order of the day.—Ho retires with the remnant of his army
to the vicinity of Laval, and attempts no further offensive movements.—Sketch of de
Chanzy PP- 403-427.
CHAPTER XIII.
General Bourbaki's Army of the East.—The position of affairs in Eastern France.—Siege of Bel-
fort.—Its gallant resistance.—Reasons why Gambetta made this eastern movement.—The
policy of doubtful wisdom.—The size and condition of the Army of General Bourbaki.—Hie
reputation.—The objects he had in view—His attacks on General von Werder's force.—Severe
fighting, Jan. 13-18.—Bourbaki repulsed and defeated.—He commences a retreat.—His re¬
port.—Reënforcement of von "Werder.—Approach of Manteuffel.—Bourbaki crowded on to the
Swiss frontier.—He attempts suicide.—General Clinohart succeeds him.—Heavy losses.—The
French are pushed ever the border, and surrender 80,000 men to the Swiss.—General Faid.
herhe's last attempt to advance on the route to Paris.—He is outnumbered, outflanked, and
CONTENTS.
11
defeated by General yon Goeben, and driven into and out of St. Quentin.—His retreat t«
Cambrai.—His report.—Heavy losses.—Retreat to Lisle.—Surrender of Longwy.—Perilous
condition of Garibaldi in the vicinity of Dijon,—Ineffectual sortie of Jan. 13.—The final
sortie of General Trochu.—Details.—Bombardment of Paris. —Removal of General Trochu,-
The Outlook.—Summary of the situation.—Condition of the great armies.—De Chanzy,
Bourbaki, Garibaldi, Faidherbe.—The schools of instruction for soldiers.—The state of
affairs in Paris.—Famine.—Fever.—Morals.—Riots.—Famine and ruin in the provinces.—
No hope.—Favre seeks an interview with Count von Bismarck to obtain an armistice in which
to negotiate for the conclusion of the war.—The state of affairs different from that in Sep¬
tember and November.—The armistice concluded.—Its conditions.—The territory surren¬
dered.—The substantial capitulation of Paris.—Number of French prisoners of war.—Loss of
French population.—Meeting of the National Assembly at Bordeaux.—Gambetta's restrictive
decree.—It is annulled "by his associates, and he removed from office.—The election.—Com¬
plexion of the Assembly.—No party has a clear majority.—Choice of M. Grevy as President
of the Assembly, and of M. Adolphe Thiers as Provisional President of the Republic.—His
Cabinet.—The negotiation of the preliminary treaty.—Its provisions.—A heavy burden for
France.—It is ratified by the National Assembly March 1, and by the Emperor "Wilhelm L
March 5.—The Germans enter Paris March 1, and leave it March 3.—The Parisian mob quiet,
—General d'Aurelles de Paladines in command—The Emperor's despatch.—Return of the
Germans, except the Army of Occupation, to Germany.
The necessity for a final treaty.—The Commissioners for its negotiation : Favre, Pouyer-Quertier,
t and Goulard ; Von Bismarck and Amim.—The difficulties in the way of its negotiation.—The
consequent delay.—The text of the final treaty, translated for this work.—The additional arti¬
cles.—Ratification of the treaty by the Fiench National Assembly, May 17, and by the Emperoi
Wilhelm, May 19.—The triumphal entry of the German troops or their representatives into Berlin.
—The unveiling of the statue of Frederick Wilhelm III pp. 428-476
CHAPTER XIV.
Review of the whole campaign.—The manner and bearing of the French Emperor and the Prussian
King contrasted.—The affair at Saarbruck.—A great boast over a small matter.—The " Tranquil
Infant."—Terror of the Emperor at the defeats of Forbach, Weissenbourg, and Woerth.—TTia des¬
patches.—Bazaine's retreat upon Metz.—His attempt to fall back toward Paris.—Too late.—The
sanguinary battles of Courcelles, Vionville, and Gravelotte.—The great blunder of MacMahon.—
The pursuit.—MacMahon caught astride the Meuse.—Terrible slaughter of the battle of Aug. SO.
—The fighting of August 31st and Sept. 1st.—MacMahon1 s army forced into Sedan, and then com¬
pelled to surrender.—Gen. de Wimpffen in command.—Napoleon's surrender.—The French revo¬
lution.—The "Government of National Defence."—Its unwisdom.—Their early peace negotia¬
tions.—Their refusal to cede any territory or surrender any of their strongholds.—The elections
for a Constituent Assembly indefinitely postponed.—Investment of Paris.—The two headed
French .Government.—Surrender of Strasburg.—Capture of Orleans.—Gambetta's exertions to
raise new armies.—Regular and irregular troops.—Credit due him notwithstanding all his failing.—
Steady progress of German conquest.—Capitulation of Metz, Oct. 27th ; of Dijon, Oct. 30th; of
New Breisach, Nov. 6th, and of Verdun, Nov. 9th ; Thionville surrendered Nov. 25th.—Sorties
repulsed.—Temporary success of the French at Conlmiers, Patay, and Orleans.—Failure of the
great sortie from Paris, Nov. 29 to Dec. 2,—Recapture of Orleans by the Germans, and division of
the Army of the Loire by Prince Friedrich Karl, Dec. 4.—The two Annies of the Loire and of the
East.—Removal of d'Aurelles de Paladines from command.—The rising tide of disaster.—Surren¬
der of Rouen, Beaugency, Dieppe, Pfalzburg, Montmedy, Vendôme, Nuits, Tours, Sangre, Blois,
Bapaume, Fort Avron, and other forts in the vicinity of Paris, during the month of December.—
Attempt of General Faidherbe to advance toward Paris.—His Repulse, defeat, and route by Gen¬
eral von Gobeon ; General de Chanzy pursued and utterly defeated in the neighborhood of Le
Mans.—Garibaldi but just escapes dëfeat.—Bourbaki's disaster, retreat, and final surrender.—
The negotiation of the armistice, the election, and ^meeting of the National Assembly.—Thiers
elected Provisional President.—The preliminary treaty negotiated and ratified.—The closing scenes
ot the war.—The remarkable character of the war.—Its slaughter, its surrenders, its weapons.—
Its destruction of life and property.—The effect on the two nations—politically, socially, and re¬
ligiously,—The peril of failing to heed these lessons pp. 477-484
12
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XV.
The restlessness of the French working class.—Frenchmen not homogeneous.—Class hatreds -The
erroneous prinoiple of the duty of the State to provide labor or support to all its citizens, at the
foundation of the disturbance.—To this Louis Philippe owed his downfall.—Louis Napoleon pre¬
tended to adopt this false doctrine, but finally repudiated it.—Where the strength of this govern¬
ment lay.—Enmity between the peasantry and bourgeoisie.—Its causes.—Hardships of the Ouvri&t
class.—The enrolment of many of them in the National Guard.—Revival of the old hostility with
the surrender of the city.—Existence of secret organizations among the workingmen.—The favorable
opportunity for an insurrection.—The National Guard supplied with arms.—The first measures of
the Reds.—M. Thiers' hesitation and uncertainty.—Organization of the Commune. M. Thiers*
attempts at pacification.—Their failure,—The high-handed outrages of the Commune.—M. Thiers1
policy.—He puts down the insurrection,but at heavy loss of life.—The rage of the Communists.—
They seek to destroy Paris.—Their murders and outrages.—The result .pp. 495-508
CHAPTER XVL
The members of the National Assembly from Paris all radicals.—Their subsequent course.—The " In¬
ternational Association" of Workingmen.—Its leading representative at Paris, M. Assi.—His char¬
acter.—The other leaders of the insurrection.—Adventures, civil and military.—No master mind
among them.—Sullenness of the Parisians after the signing of the preliminary treaty.—Thiers*
mistake.—Removal of the National Assembly to Versailles.—Insubordination and discontent of
the National Guards of Paris.—The demands.—Attempts at mediation.—Critical position of M.
Thiers.—The first effort at coercion on March 18th.—Its failure.—Several of the Government
Generals taken prisoners.—Generals Thomas and Le Comte shot.—Consternation in Paris.—
Withdrawal of Vinoy to the left bank of the Seine.—Proclamations of the Reds.—The election of
members of the Commune, March 26.—M. Thiers temporizes and offers concessions, bnt to no pur¬
pose.—More proclamations from the "Red" leaders.—Election of one hundred and six members
of the "Commune."—Inauguration of the Government of the Commune, March 28.—Great dis¬
play.—The programme of the "Commune."—The prospects of the "Reds" in other parts of
France.—Lyons, Marseilles, Toulouse, &c.—Decrees of the* Paris Commune.—Their anarchical
character.—Their military preparations.—The sub-Central and Executive Committees.—Their
tyranny.—The new Generals.—Imprisonment of two members of the Commune.—A general
stampede from Paris.—Resignation of the sub-Central Committee and appointment of a new
Executive Committee pp. 509-524
CHAPTER XYH.
Improved condition of the Government troops and position.—Shrewd management of M. Thiers.—
The Commune leaders corrupt and ready to become traitors to their cause.—Blanqui captured
and imprisoned.—" The Commune" resolves after some delay to attack the Government, drive it
from Versailles, and compel the release of Blanqui.—The skirmishes and battles of April 2d, 3d,
4th, and 5th.—Repulse of the Commune's troops.—Their confidence that the garrison of Fort
Mont Valerien wouid not fire cm thom.—Their fright and disorganization when it commenced
fire.—Duval and Flourens killed.—-The Government troops show no sympathy for the Paris Na¬
tional Guards.—The fighting severe on the west and south of Paris.—Châtillon taken and held by
the Versailles troops.—The fighting renewed on the 7th of April at Neuilly.—The Versaillistsgain
a position at Neuilly.—Bugeret disgraced and imprisoned.—Dombrowski in command.—Fighting
cm the 8th.—Advance of the Versaillists.—TÇprrific bombardment of the Maillot gate.—Effects of the
bombardment.—Internal difficulties in the Commune.—Assi and Gambon imprisoned, and twenty
two others of the members of the "Commune" forced to resign.—Gustave Cluseret Minister of
War.—His character.—His atrocious decrees.—Imprisonment and murder of innocent citizens.—
Imprisonment of the archbishop and leading priests of the city.—Suppression of the Interna¬
tional Md Society, and confiscation of its goods.—Other outrages.—The cardinal articles of the
Commune's creed.—Treachery of Cluseret.
Marshal MacMabon in chief command of the Versailles army.—His plan of operations.—Great
strength of the Southern and Western sides of Paiis.—Reasons why an attack on this side was
necessary.—Very little progress made for eight or ten days ; but the Versaillists hold what they
have already gained.—M. Thiers' offer of concessions.—Cluseret's attempt to sell out for 2,500,000
francs, to be paid to him personally.—Dombrowski's previous history.—His fortifications at
Asnières.—Their speedy evacuation.—The Versailles troops, while holding their position on the
CONTENTS.
13
West, and erecting new batteries^of heavy siege guns, make their heaviest assaults on the south
against Forts Issy, Vanvres, and Montrouge.—Their advance and success.—Issy nearly captured.—
General la Cecilia put in command of it by Cluseret.—Cluseret removed from office and Assi
again imprisoned.—Eossel, Minister of War.—His treachery.—State of affairs at the end ol
April PP. 525-543
CHAPTER XVIII.
Arcr Istice of May 1st and 2d.—Bombardment renewed May 3d.—Terrific fire on the West and South
of the City.—Fort Issy captured May 9, and Yanvres a few days later.—Effect of the bombard¬
ment of Auteuil and Point du Jour.—Rossel's resignation.—Hé asks for a cell in prison.—Gets it,
but escapes.—Open rupture in Paris between the Committee of Public Safety and the Executive
Committee of the Commune.—-Infatuation of the Communists.—Their terrible excesses and crimes.
—Their order to give no quarter to the Versailles troops.—The Column of July in the Place Yen-
dôme pulled down and destroyed.—Destruction of M. Thiers1 residence.—Abstraction and subse¬
quent destruction of his library and works of art.—Delescluze the reigning spirit of the times, but
finding the affairs of State too heavy, calls Billioray, another traitor, to his assistance.—-New Po¬
lish officers appointed to command.—Continued quarrels among the leaders.—-Women organized
into regiments as soldiers and destroyers of property.—Non-combatants placed under the hottest
fire to build barricades, and if they fell back, murdered.—The moderate newspapers suppressed,
and their editor shot by Raoul Rigault.—Last attempts of the Communists to fight outside the ram¬
parts, May 16th and 17th.—Their failure.—Severe bombardment at all points on the 19th, 20th,
and 21st.—Breaches effected in the enceinte at the Point du Jour, the St. Cloud Gate, and the
gate of Montrouge.—Petit Vanvres, Malakoff, and Fort Montrouge taken.—The Versailles troops
enter the city by the St. Cloud Gate and the gate of Montrouge, on the night of the 21st.—The
resistance not great at the barricades generally, but very stubborn at Montmartre, Belleville, tha
Place Vendôme, the Tuileries, the Hôtel de Ville, &c.—Finding that there was no prospect of suc¬
cess, they resolved to fire the city.—Women and children engaged in this work.—About one-third
of the city destroyed, including the Tuileries, part of the Louvre, the Hôtel de Ville, Palais Royal,
&c., &c.—The Archbishop and sixty-six other "hostages" murdered.—Final fight at Père la Chaise»
—The terrible results : Paris in ruins, fifty thousand dead, as many more wounded, constant execu¬
tions.—The leaders mostly killed or in prison, and the destruction still less than the fiends designed.
—The utter depravity of the leaders.—The future of France.—What will it be ?—The Republic ?—
The Bourbons?—The Orleans?—TheBonapartes?—Atheistic or Papal? pp. 544-565
CHAPTER XIX.
Incidents and episodes.—M. Joseph Garnier's account of the condition of Paris under the sway
of the Commune.—The adventurers.—The Central Committee.—The Committee of PubKo
Safety.—What were the Communists fighting for ?—Their decrees.—Vivid picture of the condition
of affairs.—Bugeret's atheism.—Cluseret's pass to the priests.—The worthlessness of the National
Guards as soldiers.—The embarrassment of the Commune in regard to money.—Their financial
statements.—Their plunder and thefts.—Their recklessness.—The explosion of the cartridge fac¬
tory at Grenelle.—-Destruction of the Napoleon Column in the Place Vendôme.—Account of a Tri¬
bune correspondent.—The entrance of the Versailles troops into Paris, May 21st.—The energy and
patriotism of Duranel,—Major Forbes1 description of their entrance.—Ferocity of the leaders of
the Commune on finding that all was lost.—The plot to blow up the entire city.—The murder of
Archbishop Darboy and his companions.—M. Evrard1 s narrative.—The fury of the women incen¬
diaries and soldiers.—The large number of women executed for incendiarism and murder.—The
London Times correspondent's narratives.—The public buildings burned.—Destruction of the
Tuileries.—The Louvre.—The Hôtel de Ville.—The Palais RoyaL—The Palace of the Legion of
Honor.—The Palais du Quai d'Orsay.—Appearance of the captured city on the 28th of May.—
Sketches of the leaders of the Commune.—Louis Auguste Blanqui.—Gustave Flourens.—Felix
Pyat.—Louis Charles Delescluze.—Duval.—Gustave Cluseret.—Henri Rochefoft.-—Bugeret.—
Dombrowski.—Louis Nathaniel RosseL—-Eudes.—WroblowsM.—Billioray.—-Paschal Grousset.—
Raoul Rigault.—Assi.—What became of the rest.—The wives of Generals Eudes and La Cecilia,—
No first-class man among the whole crew.—The financial condition of France after the treaty and
the suppression of the Parisian rebellion.—Her immense debt—over $6,000,000,000.—The success
of the loan called for.—The payment of the first instalment of the indemnity.—The elections in
France, July 2d, 1871, to fill the vacancies in the National Assembly.—The Republicans largely
in the majority.—This secures a Republic for two years. pp. 566 #62
14
CONTESTS.
APPENDIX I.
Philanthropy of the "W ar.—Organization of an International Sanitary Commission in 1866.-—In
banner and badge.—Formation of Ambulance^ Corps early in the present "War.—Activity oi
the Empress in France.—The zeal of Queen Augusta, the Crown-Princess Victoria, Princess
Alice, the Grand Duchess' Louise of Baden, and the Crown-Princess Caroline of Saxony
The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.—Assistance rendered by Miss Clara Barton,
Miss Safford, Mrs. Evans, &c.—The organization of Ambulance Corps in both armies.—The
aid and service rendered by American gentlemen in Paris, and of others in the German
armies.—Their strength overtasked in these labors.—Liberal gifts for the relief of the sick
and wounded in France and Germany.—Munificence of Count Henri de Cham bord.—Large
contributions from Great Britain and the United States.—The wounded French in Germany,
—Their general kind treatment.—German wounded prisoners in France.—The organizations
for distribution of Bibles, tracts, periodicals, and moral and religious reading....pp. 633-635.
APPENDIX II.
Biographical sketch o Lows Ad jlphk Thiers, Provisional President French Eepublio.
pj 6ÎL 642.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAW
Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern 25
Wilhelm, Emperor of Germany 29
Napoleon III., Late Emperor of France 35
Friedrich Wilhelm, the Grown Prince of Prussia 51
Prince Bismarck 51
Field Marshal Moltke 51
Prince Friedrich Carl 51
The Crown Prince of Saxony 51
General Leboeuf 63
" Ladmirault 63
Ollivier 65
Favre 65
General McMahon 65
" Bazaine 65
" Canroberfc 65
" Trochu 65
Count Palicao 65
McMahon at Sedan 69
General Frossard 75
" De Failly 75
' ' Trochu, Governor of Paris 79
" Steinmetz 85
The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 89
General Fransecky 95
The Astronomical Clock in the Cathedral of Strasburg 103
Sharpshooters of the Vosges 107
The French Mitrailleur 113
General Von Kirchbach 123
The Iron Cross 129
Count Benedetti 135
King Louis II. of Bavaria 135
Two Murderers of Wounded Soldiers 141
General Craushaar. 147
" Doering 147
16
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAOB
Returning after an Attack. 153
The Shot through the Drum 159
Killed in the Trenches 165
General François 171
" Diepenbroik-Griiter 171
Passing through Woerth 177
The Belle of Lorraine 183
The Black Cross 189
General Uhrich >• 193
A Picket Post Disturbed. 203
General Alvensleben 209
The Battle of Gravelotte 215
Von Moltke Announcing to King Wilhelm the Victories at Gravelotte. 221
Keep Quiet 227
Prussian Field Police 233
Col. Von Boeder 239
" Von Eckert 239
Take a Drink 245
The Deserter 253
Attack of Chasseurs d'Afrique 261
New Style of Sentry-Box 265
The Last Charge of the French at Sedan 273
Guns Captured at Sedan 273
Napoleon and Bismarck at Sedan 279
McMahon Wounded at Sedan. 279
Napoleon on his way to the Headquarters of King Wilhelm 293
General Von Wedell 301
" Von Gersdorff 301
Napoleon a Prisoner on his way to Wilhelmshohe 309
Arrival of Napoleon at Wilhelmshohe 315
General Von ManteufEel 321
The Captured Balloon 333
Dead 333
Strasburg Cathedral 341
A Franc-tireur 347
General Von der Tann 351
Horses from Metz 357
General Werders Entrance into Strasburg. 363
New Mitrailleur 8TB
The Second Battle of Orleans 381
Uhlans Tracking a Balloon 385
Ruins of the Burnt Palace of St. Cloud 395
Picket Posts with Shell-proof Earthworks 401
Turco Prisoner 407
Bavarian Outposts before Paris 413
The Battle of Le Mans 421
General » 433
LIST OF ILL(JSTRATIONS. 11
PAGH
Moving Heavy Siege Guns . 425
General Von Werder 438
General Von Goeben 437
Return of a Carrier-Pigeon 445
Meeting of the National Assembly at Bordeaux 458
Halting for a Passage 457
Lounging at the Tuileries 457
Triumphal Arch at Frankfort 467
Illumination in Berlin 471
Hoisting the Red Flag on the Dome of the Panthéon 497
The Panthéon 501
The Hall of the Corps Législatif 505
Proclamation of " Thè Commune" in front of the Hôtel de Ville 511
Cannon Pointed from Montmartre 511
Communist Press-Gang 512
Shooting Generals Lecompte and Thomas. 512
National Guards in the Hôtel de Ville 519
The Tuileries and Garden 519
Gustave Flourens 527
General Dombrowski 531
General Cluseret 535
Session of the National Assembly at Versailles , 543
Arrest of the Archbishop by the Communists 545
The Fight at Courbevoie 545
A Barricade in Paris . 549
Burning the Guillotine. 549
The New Grand Opera House 555
Communists Escaping over the Ramparts 561
Studio of Rosa Bonheur 561
Gustave Courbet 565
A Barricade 567
A Procession of "Vengeresses." 571
Cutting the Base of the Column Vendôme 579
The Vendôme Column Overthrown 583
The Palace of Justice 587
The Arch of Triumph 593
The Chapelle Expiatoire 599
Ruins of the Porte St. Martin 600
Ruins of the Hôtel de Ville 600
Late Archbishop Darboy 603
President Thiers's House 609
President Thiers's House after its Sack 610
Citizen Rozoua 630
The Red Cross 631
Empress Augusta. 632
Late Empress Eugénie 632
Princess Victoria 632
2
18
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS.
PAO*
Alice of Hesse 633
Caroline of Saxony 632
Louisa of Baden. 633
LIST OF MAPS AND DIAGRAMS.
Map of Western Europe
The French Chassepot Rifle 117
The Prussian Needle-Gun 119
Map of Metz and Vicinity 199
Map showing Sedan, Verdun, and Metz. 249
Map of Sedan and Vicinity 268
Map of Paris and its Defences, showing also the Location of the German A rmiea. 368
Large Map of Paris, designed to Illustrate Paris undei the Commune. 493
THE YEAR OF BATTLES.
CHAPTER L
THE war of 1870, between France and Germany, is often
denounced as " wanton," " causeless," and " unprovoked ; "
and in one aspect of the case this is true ; for the immediate
causes of the war were trivial, and could only have led to a
conflict where one or both parties were eager for a pretext for
fighting. Had these been the only grounds on which the contest
was based, it could not have occurred ; for, if the rulers had
been such fools as to knock their heads together on the question
of a possible Spanish succession, their people would have pro¬
tested against it.
The true origin of the war, though perhaps unjustifiable on
the part of the French Emperor, lies farther back, and appeals
to higher motives and jealousies than a petty question of succes¬
sion to a foreign throne. There have been, for two hundred and
twenty years past, almost constant encroachments by France
upon the provinces of the old German empire. Some of these,
like the old provinces of Alsace and Lorraine (the old Elsass and
Lothringen of the Germans), gained by treaty, by seizure, by the
intrigues of French Bishop-princes, or by the real or supposed
exigencies of mercantile policy, France has been allowed to
keep ; and though 1,007,477 out of the 1,097,000 inhabitants of
Alsace, and 351,681 out of the 1,291,000 inhabitants of Lorraine,
were Germans, yet the severest measures of oppression have
2U
THE GREAT WAR
been resortet to by the French Government to compel the peo
pie to abana: a all use of the German language, customs, and
manners. The natural boundary between France and Germany
is theYosges range of mountains, not the Rhine; and though
Napoleon I, among his other conquests of territory belonging tc
other nations, seized and held, for six or eight years, the GermaL
provinces lying west of the Rhine (Dusseldorf, Cologne, Aachen
or Aix-la-Chapelle, Coblentz, Hesse, Treves, Birkenfeld, and the I
Palatinate), and carved out from them the kingdom of West¬
phalia, over which he placed his brother Jerome, yet the in¬
justice of their being torn from their natural affinities was sc
great, that, by the treaty of 1815, they were restored to Ger¬
many. In the 3,108,000 inhabitants of these provinces, there
are not more than 10,000 people to whom French is their mother-
tongue.
Napoleon I had also absorbed Belgium, with its 2,667,000
inhabitants of Flemish origin, in his conquests, and, uniting it
with Holland, had placed his brother Louis over it. These king¬
doms were taken from France by the treaty of 1815, and have
since, under different designations, maintained a separate exist¬
ence.
Under the Bourbons of the Restoration, and under Louis
Philippe, France made no effort to recover these territories—
Belgium, Holland, and the Rhenish provinces—which were so
alien from her in race and language, and which she had possessed
but so short a time. Contenting herself with increasing wealth
and prosperity, and the possession of Alsace and Lorraine, which
she had held from one to two centuries, her policy was rather
that of a cordial understanding with the nations adjacent than
one of territorial aggression.
But after the Revolution of 1848 and the accession of Louis
Napoleon to the Presidency, and especially after the ccmp â?éta,t
and the establishment of the Empire, the hearts of the French
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
people were fired by the usurper with the hope i f regaining a!1
the territory they had ever possessed under the first Napoleon.
No sooner was the new Emperor firmly seated on his throne,
than, while carefully promulgating his declaration that " the
Empire was peace," he began to plot for the accomplishment of
his long-cherished purposes of avenging Waterloo, and extending
the bounds of France to the Rhine on the east, and to the Adri¬
atic on the southeast. Crafty and reticent, yet wholly unscrupu¬
lous, he made every move on the political chess-board with a
view to these ends. He duped England into an alliance which
should enure to his benefit ; made war with Russia, ostensibly
on behalf of Turkey, but really to cripple her resources and pre¬
vent her interference with his schemes ; joined Italy in a wai
with Austria, in the hope of obtaining a large slice of Italy for
his reward ; and when Prussia, cognizant of his plans, declared
that the Rhine must be defended on the Adige, withdrew and
accepted, somewhat ungraciously, Savoy and Nice as the com
pensation for his services. To amuse his people and keep them
m training for the great war he purposed to begin as soon as he
felt strong enough for it, he made war upon the Cochin-Chinese,
and sent his armies to Mexico to establish a throne there for
Maximilian, and to be on hand to interfere, if he could drag any
other European power into the plot, in behalf of the Southern
Confederacy. The blunder he made was a serious one, and he
felt it keenly. Meantime, his old foes, the Prussians and Austri-
ans, were fighting each other, and he offered his aid to each in
turn, demanding, as his price, the Rhine provinces and Belgium.
Austria could not, and Prussia, strong in her military organiza¬
tion and her skilled troops, would not, entertain his proposals.
When, after seven weeks of hard fighting, he found Prussia tri-
amphant, Austria humbled, and the North-German Confedera¬
tion an accomplished fact, with a certainty that a united Ger¬
many would follow in time, he was greatly enraged, and his de-
22
THE GREAT WAR
mauds for a share of the territory which he had done nothing t<i
earn, being treated with contempt, he began to comprehend thai
Prussia was becoming too strong for him.
Thenceforward he commenced preparations for a desperate
struggle with his enemy, the time and place of commencement
to be determined by circumstances. But even in this prépara-
#
tion he blundered sadly, blinded by the demoralizing effects of
the corruption which he had encouraged in the nation. The
wonderful success of Prussia was not, as he supposed, due to her
needle-guns or her improved artillery, excellent as they were, so
much as to her admirable military organization, which made
every able-bodied man in the realm an experienced soldier, and
which required of every officer that thorough topographical
knowledge and military skill which enabled them to handle their
troops efficiently.
For the needle-gun the French Emperor substituted the
chassepôt rifle, in some respects a superior weapon ; his bronze
cannon were not greatly inferior to Krupp's steel artillery ; and he
had in the mitrailleuse a weapon very efficient at short range ;
but he lacked what was far more important—skilful and efficient
officers, men of thorough honesty, integrity, and military ability ;
and a large part of his army were untrained and undisciplined.
Official peculation and falsehood had permeated every por¬
tion of his army and sapped its very life-blood. That he had
converted to his own use a part of the appropriations for the
army, was but a small part of the trouble ; almost every officer,
from the highest to the lowest, had followed his example. Where
he supposed he had a hundred soldiers fully armed and equipped,
there were found but fifty, and these imperfectly supplied with
arms and ammunition. His officers knew nothing of the topog¬
raphy of France or Germany ; their military education had been
acquired either in Africa, Cochin-China, or Mexico, and they had
no experience in fighting an intelligent and educated foe. These
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANE
2S
things the Emperor neglected to take into account ; and, infatu-
ated with his hatred of Prussia, he sought diligently for an occa¬
sion to declare war, meantime endeavoring to imbue the French
people with the sentiment that the Rhine was the only true
boundary of France on the northeast.
There were not wanting other motives to lead to this war
France was restive under his system of repression and espionage
The great cities, Paris, Marseilles, Lyons, Bordeaux, were bitterly
hostile to him. The Corps Législatif, or popular branch of the
Legislature, was at each election increasing the number of oppo¬
sition members, and on every side were the hoarse growlings of
a coming storm. The artfully-phrased ballot, submitted to the
popular vote or plebiscite in May, 1870, was, by adroit manage
ment and no little direct exertion of authority, carried in his
favor by a majority of nearly six millions ; but the opposition
was nevertheless strong and intelligent, and a considerable frac¬
tion of his army voted with it. His own health was evidently
failing, and the only prospect for his dynasty lay in a war which
should rouse the old enthusiasm of the French, and drown their
dislike of him in their love of military glory.
Nor were religious motives lacking. Eugenie, whose reli¬
gious zeal increased as her beauty faded, had for her confessor an
artful Jesuit, high in rank in that powerful order. The condi¬
tion of the Pope was becoming desperate. Italy was in revolt
against his temporal power and his new dogma of Infallibility ;
. Austria was no longer his faithful defender ; Spain was in revo¬
lution, and there remained only the eldest son of the Church, the
Emperor of the French, on whom the Pope could call for aid.
Prussia, the leading Protestant nation, was gaining strength
every day. Its pride must be humbled, and this could only be
accomplished by a great war ; and, even if the Emperor should
fall in the fray, she, the devout daughter of the Church, and the
young Prince Imperial, could, under Catholic influence, have a
24
THE GREAT WAR
better and stronger hold npon the nation than in any other way,
Such were the arguments addressed to the Empress, and through
her to the Emperor, by this skilful Jesuit.
Apart from his passion for the perpetuation of his dynasty,
which seemed to make war his only alternative, the Emperor
may reasonably be supposed to have had some feeling for the
position of France as one of the great powers of Europe. Prus¬
sia had humbled Austria, and now ranked, or would soon ranh,
first among the European powers, where she had, till lately, been
fourth. Her position menaced France. Should she relinquish
her prestige to a State so lately her inferior ? If she would not,
she must subdue this proud, haughty nation before it became too
strong to be subdued.
And so, after years of waiting, during which all Europe had
been kept in constant alarm.by the defiant attitude of the French
ruler, now threatening one and now another, Napoleon III be¬
lieved he had found or made his opportunity for a war with
Prussia.
Spain, which, in the autumn of 1868, had overthrown its
Bourbon dynasty and had been drifting along since that time
under a Regency and a Provisional Government, had sought
widely, but, from one cause or another, ineffectually, for a suit¬
able candidate for her vacant throne. To all who were named
there seemed to be some objection, either on the part of adjacent
nations and rulers, or of the Spanish people themselves. Gen¬
eral Prim, the real though not the nominal ruler of Spain, was a
personal friend of Louis Napoleon, and had a long conference
with him respecting the succession to the throne in the Spring
of 1870. Soon after his return to Madrid it was gi ven out, at
first semi-officially, and afterward by the Spanish Government
itself, that Prince Leopold Hohenzollern, of Sigmaringen, would
be the candidate for the vacant Spanish throne, and on a canvass
of the Constituent Assembly, it was ascertained that there was
PRINCE LEOPOLD OP HOHENZOLLEKN.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
27
a probability of his election. The Prince Leopold was a cadet
of a younger branch, and somewhat remotely connected with the
reigning family of Prussia ; his mother was a Beauharnais, a
niece, we believe, of Queen Hortense, the mother of Louis Na¬
poleon ; so that he was a distant relative of both the King of
Prussia and the Emperor of France. He was, however, a
younger Bon of the last ruling prince of Sigmaringen, and had
entered the Prussian army, where he had risen to the rank of
Colonel.
Immediately on the announcement of his candidature, the
French Emperor protested most vigorously, and announced his
fixed determination to make any effort to put a Hohenzollern
upon the Spanish throne a cause of war agkinst Prussia, which
power, he assumed, had prompted the movement from hostility
to him. Prussia promptly disavowed all previous knowledge of
Prince Leopold's candidature, and the King expressed his disap¬
proval of it, though, from the relations which existed between
the German princes, he was not in a position to prohibit it abso¬
lutely. This difficulty was, however, soon obviated by the
prompt declinature of the candidacy by Prince Leopold himself
and by his father for him. It really looked, for the time, as if
there would be no war after all ; and there were not a few states¬
men of surrounding nations who believed that the whole move¬
ment was a trap into which Louis Napoleon and General Prim
had sought to inveigle Prussia, that the Emperor might have a
justifiable pretext for declaring war against her, and that Prussia,
understanding the trick, was determined to foil it.
But the inflammatory circulars, addresses, and proclamations
distributed by the French Emperor among his people, had roused
such bitter hatred against Prussia throughout France, that war
was inevitable. He had roused, but could not lay, the storm,
even if he desired it. The apparent aversion of Prussia to a war
made him more anxious to compel her to accept its arbitrament,
28
THB GBEAT WAR
Mid making demands which Prussia could not accent—such as,
that Prussia should give substantial guarantees that no Prussian
prince should ever become a candidate for the Spanish throne,
professing that otherwise the balance of power was likely to be
disturbed. The French Minister at Berlin was directed to press
the demands offensively upon the King of Prussia, and per¬
formed .the work so zealously as to cause his dismissal from the
Prussian Court. This was used as an additional grievance by
the Emperor, who immediately declared war, basing his justifica¬
tion on these grounds : the insult to his minister ; the refusal of
the King of Prussia to prohibit, absolutely, Prince Leopold's can¬
didature, and his unwillingness to offer material guarantees that
he would not permit any Prussian prince to be a candidate for
the Spanish throne in the future ; and, finally, the danger to the
peace and balance of power in Europe from the action of the
Prussian King. Every nation in Europe knew that Napoleon III
did not really make war on these grounds, but because he wanted
the Rhenish provinces and Belgium, and wanted to humble Prus¬
sia and her great statesman, Bismarck ; and, while some of the
European powers were not averse to seeing Prussian arrogance,
as they phrased it, a little lowered, they were all aware that no
justifiable pretext for war had been made out.
Napoleon III had sent his emissaries and missives throughout
Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Baden, and Hanover, in the hope of
alienating them from the Prussian cause ; but he met with no
encouragement from that quarter, and found, when it was too
late, that he had all Germany, instead of Prussia, to fight.
Such was the origin and such the immediate causes of the
war which, in six weeks, has caused a slaughter of nearly a quar¬
ter of a million of men, and produced extraordinary changes in
the condition of Europe. Let us next trace the personal history
>f the two monarchs, their counsellors, and their leading com
nanders.
WELHELM, EMPEBOB OE GEEMANY.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
SI
CHAPTER II.
MuNG the conspicuous personages in this great contest, the
first place belongs to the King of Prussia by right of
seniority. He is not a man of as remarkable intellectual abilities
as Bismarck, nor of as profound military knowledge as Yon
Moltke ; but, though naturally, and as a result of his early edu¬
cation and prejudices, an absolutist, he has, through the influence
of his ministers, become so far liberalized as to grant constitu¬
tional privileges to his people ; and his manliness, integrity, and
straightforwardness have so endeared him to his people, that he
may justly be regarded as the most popular monarch in Europe.
Wilhelm Fkiedrich Lddwig, better known as William I,
King of Prussia, was born March 22, 1797, and is, therefore,
seventy-three years old. He entered the military service very
young. As a child, he witnessed the humiliation of his father
by the first Napoleon, and he engaged in the avenging cam¬
paigns of 1813 and 1814. In 1840 he was appointed governor
of Pomerania. The revolution of 1848 drove him from Prussia,
for he was at hat time a bitter hater of democracy. After nine
months in England, he returned, and was elected a member of
the National Assembly, but took no part. In the same year he
commanded the troops that put down the Baden insurrection.
During the Crimean war he was anxious to have Prussia take
sides with Russia. October 23, 1857, owing to the ill health
and insanity of his brother, Frederick William IY, the govern¬
ment was placed in his hands ; October 9, 1858, he was declared
regent ; J anuary 2, 1861, he became king. For the first four oi
32
THE GREAT WAR
five years of his reign his tendencies to absolutism brought him
into repeated collisions with the popular branch of the Prussia*
legislature, and rendered him unpopular as a king ; but the wise
counsels of Count Bismarck, and the material change in hi*
policy, have of late greatly endeared him to his people. He is
described as stalwart, deep-chested, with a square, rugged face,
and bristling gray mustache, cold, implacable eyes, and a heavy
jaw ; yet, in his intercourse with his people, and especially with
èhildren, the grim face relaxes, and it is easy to see that the
stern old man has a kindly and tender heart. His military
education was very thorough, and he handles large bodies of
troops with great ability. During the war of 1866, as well aa
the present war, his despatches from the field of battle have
always been modest, frank, and truthful, underrating rather than
exaggerating his successes, and always giving full' credit to
others for victories. His messages to Queen Augusta have
been so fraught with feeling, and so free from any thing like
elation or. bombast, as to be models of what war-despatches
should be.
His opponent, the originator of the war, though a younger
man, has a longer and more eventful record, though not a more
creditable one.
With his usual imperiousness, Napoleon I compelled, in
1802, his brother, Louis Bonaparte, to marry Hortense Beau-
harnais, the daughter of Josephine. The match was repugnant
to the wishes of both the parties, Louis being already openly the
suitor of Emilie Beauharnais, Josephine's niece, and Hortense
secretly, if not openly, betrothed to General Duroc. As might
have been expected, the marriage proved an unhappy one, and
resulted in a separation in 1810. Hortense became the mother,
in this period, of three sons, the youngest bearing the name of
Ohaeles Louis Napoleon, being born April 20, 1808. King
Louis hesitated long before acknowledging the legitimacy of. this
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
third son, and only consented finally at the urgent solicitation!
and threats of his brother. There was a Dutch admiral at that
time on terms of intimacy with Queen Hortense, to whom
rumor assigned the paternity of the boy, who certainly resem¬
bled him more strongly than he did any of the Bonapartes.
After the age of two years, his residence was with his mother,
at Paris, until 1815, and he was, as a child, a favorite of Napo¬
leon I.
After the Restoration, the ex-Queen Hortense spent her sum¬
mer at Augsburg, or at the castle of Arenenberg, near Lake
Constance, and her winters in Italy ; and her two sons (the eld¬
est child had died in 1807), who accompanied her, received but
an imperfect and desultory education. They studied German
and the classics, though with such interruptions that they never
became remarkable proficients in any thing. Both joined the
revolutionary society of the Carbonari, in Italy, and were impli¬
cated in several of the Italian conspiracies. After the revolution
of July, 1830, and the accession of Louis PhilippeHo the throne,
the younger asked permission for himself and family to return to
France ; and this being refused, he requested to be allowed to serve
as a private soldier in the French army. The French Govern¬
ment answered these requests by a renewal of the decree for his
banishment. He concealed his chagrin at this action at the time,
but thencéforth did not cease to plot for the overthrow of the
Orleans dynasty. In the beginning of 1831, he and his brother
left Switzerland, and settled in Tuscany, from whence, a month
later, both took part in the unsuccessful insurrection at Rome.
The fatigues and exposures of that period led to the death of
his elder brother at Forli, March 17,1831 ; and Louis Napoleon
escaped through Italy and France to England, where he re¬
mained a short time, and then retired to the castle of Arenen-
burg, where his mother still resided. Soon after his arrival
there, the Duke of Reichstadt, the only legitimate son of Napo«
3
34
THE GREAT WAR
leon I, died, and Louis Napoleon became the legal heir of the
family, and the claimant of the imperial throne of France. His
efforts were secretly directed, from this time, to the overthrow
of Louis Philippe, and he had succeeded in winning the favor
©f some of the distinguished men of the time to his projects.
Outwardly, during this time, he appeared to be very quiet. He
wrote, between 1832 and 1835, three works, which attained a
small and limited circulation ; but he was never sufficiently well
educated to be master of a good French style, and his grammat¬
ical and rhetorical blunders greatly marred the effect of these
and all other of his literary performances. The books prepared
at this time—" Political Reveries," " Political and Military
Considerations in Regard to Switzerland," and a " Manual of
Artillery "—were the crude productions of a young man of
imperfect education, unaccustomed to profound thought, and
with very little knowledge of human nature. The " Manual
of Artillery," a mere technical book, is incomparably the best
of the three, and received from some of the military journals a
favorable notice.
But he was restless, and sick of this quiet life. Some of his
correspondents in France had encouraged him in the belief that
France was ripe for a revolution, and he resolved to attempt it.
There was always a melodramatic tendency in his mind, and
this led him to model his intended attack on the return of
Napoleon I from Elba. His associates in the plot were Colonel
Vaudrey, of the 4th Artillery, then stationed at Strasbourg, and
M. Victor Fialin, afterward better known as the Duc de Per-
signy.
On the 30th of October, 1836, Louis Napoleon suddenly
made his appearance in Strasbourg, was presented to a part of
the garrison by Colonel Vaudrey, who at the same time an¬
nounced to the soldiers that a revolution had taken place in
Paris, ard was accepted by the 4th Artillery and a portion of
NAPOLEON m., LATE EMPEROR OF FRANCE.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY,
31
some other regiments. The prompt action of Gen. Voirol and
Colonel Tallandier arrested the movement. The troops hesi¬
tated ; in a few minutes more, the epaulettes and decorations of
the would-be Emperor were torn from him. He was arrested
without delay, and forwarded to Paris. Louis Philippe felt too
secure in his place to be vindictive ; the attempt, in fact, illus¬
trated its own impotence ; and the culprit was dealt with very
leniently. Within three weeks he was shipped to New York,
without any conditions being attached to his release, and $3,000,
the gift of Louis Philippe, in his pocket. He was first taken to
Rio Janeiro, where the vessel delayed but a few days, and then
sailed for the United States. He was landed at Norfolk, in
March, 1837, and thence made his way to New York, where he
remained until some time in May. His residence in America
was not marked by any events at all to his credit. His rela¬
tives, Joseph Bonaparte, at Bordentown, and the Patterson-
Bonapartes at Baltimore, turned the cold shoulder to him. His
hare-brained adventure at Strasbourg had stamped him as an
adventurer; his personal habits were reckless, and his associa¬
tions not at all respectable ; and he had not the passport to good
society.
The news of the serious illness of his mother recalled him to
Switzerland. He reached Arenenberg shortly before her death,
which occurred on the 3d of October. In the following year his
account of the Strasbourg affair was published by Lieutenant
Laity, who had also been concerned in it. Louis Philippe took
offence at the statements it contained, and demanded his extra¬
dition from the Swiss Government, which, in spite of Louis
Napoleon's citizenship, would probably have been compelled to
accede, had he not relieved it from the embarrassment by
migrating to England. Here, in 1839, he published his Idée»
Napoléoniennes, which were widely circulated. They reiterated
the assertion of his Reveries Politiques, that France could only
38
THB GREAT WAR
be developed by a Napoleonic ruler, and assailed both the policy
of the Orleans family and its right to the throne.
Although, in 1840, the Orleanist rule was still firmly estab¬
lished in France, Louis Napoleon, yielding less to the impatience
of his small band of followers in London, than blindly and reck¬
lessly trusting his fortunes to chance, organized a new attempt
Accompanied by Count Montholon (one of the companions of
Napoleon at St. Helena) and about fifty others, he crossed the
Channel in a small steamer, and landed at Boulogne. One of
the " properties " of the expedition was a tame eagle, which—
according to the gossip of the day—had been trained to alight
on the Prince's head by the lure of a piece of raw beefsteak
attached to his hat. The landing was made, the bluffs ascended,
and the garrisoD summoned to acknowledge their legitimate
commander ; but the eagle forgot his lesson, and the soldiers had
not yet lèarned theirs. The first alighted upon a post, instead
of the selected head, and the second charged upon their self-
styled sovereign and his adherents. Plunging into the sea in
bis endeavor to regain the steamer, Louis Napoleon was dragged
out, dripping and collapsed, and forwarded a second time to
Paris. This attempt was even more disastrous than the first ;
for at Strasbourg a part of the garrison (deceived by Colonel
Vaudray) had actually declared for him ; whereas at Boulogne
not a single soldier appear : to have done him reverence.
Louis Philippe, it must be admitted, acted with great moder¬
ation. The life of the conspirator, who had abused his first
forbearance, was in his power ; but he brought him to trial
before the House of Peers, where he was defended by Berryer,
then the first advocate in France, and acquiesced in the sentence
of perpetual imprisonment. Nay, more ; it was reported, and
generally believed, that the escape in 1846 was accomplished
with the knowledge and tacit connivance of the French Govern¬
ment Louis Napoleon's imprisonment in Ham—a small place
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
39
near St. Quentin, about half-way between Paris and the Belgian
frontier—was voluntarily shaded by Dr. Conneau, a physician
who had faith in his destiny. During the six years at Ham,
however, the prisoner was not idle. He occupied himself
chiefly with political studies, and wrote three works—" Historic
Fragments " (published in 1841), a comparison between the fall
of the Stuart dynasty in England and certain features of French
history ; an " Analysis of the Sugar Question " (1842), in which
he took ground against specially favoring production in the
French colonies ; and, finally, an essay on the " Extinction of
Pauperism," which was the most important of all, inasmuch as
it indirectly favored the communistic theories which were then
rapidly taking root among the laboring classes of France. He
proposed that the Government should advance funds to establish
settlement and cultivation in all the waste districts of the coun¬
try, and that the profits of the undertaking should be appropri¬
ated to the support and elevation of the manufacturing classes.
He asserted, moreover, his own intention " to act always in the
interest of. the masses, the sources of all right and of all wealth,
although destitute of the one and without any guaranty for
attaining the other."
Toward the end of 1845, the ex-King Louis, then ill at Flor¬
ence, made an appeal to the French Government for the release
of the only son who bore his name. After a long consideration,
the appeal was refused ; but the refusal was followed, in May,
1846, by the escape of Louis Napoleon from Ham. With Dr.
Conneau's assistance, disguised as a workman, he walked out of
the fortress carrying a board upon his shoulder, easily made his
way to the Belgian frontier, and thence to England.
His long confinement, and the evidence of literary ability in
his published works, had by this time p.-rtly removed the
impression of folly and pretension which the attempts at Stras¬
bourg and Boulogne had cast upon his name ; and during his
40
THE GREAT WAR
second residence in England he appears to have associated with
another and better class of society. He was welcomed to Lady
Blessington's receptions at Gore House, was a frequent visitor of
Sir John (then Dr.) Bo wring's, and made a strong impression
on Walter Savage Landor at Bath, by declaring to him, confi¬
dentially, that he would yet reign in France. Generally, how¬
ever, he was reticent, impassive, and abstracted ; his destiny was
credited by very few, and his abilities doubted by most. Dis¬
appointment, ridicule, exile, imprisonment, and privation, had
taught him prudence.
Then came, startling all Europe, the revolution of February,
1848. Louis Napoleon's shrewdness and self-control at such a
crisis contrast remarkably with his former recklessness. The
Bonapartist faction in France was not large at that time, but it
was very active. Lamartine, originally a Legitimist, knew the
power of a name among the people, and the Executive Com¬
mittee (in May), probably at his suggestion, laid before the
National Assembly a proposal to renew the decree of 1832, and
banish the Bonaparte family from France. This was rejected
by the Assembly, and Louis Napoleon, who had been brought
before the people as a candidate by his followers, and had been
elected Deputy from four departments, was free to visit Paris.
Nevertheless, he still delayed, from an apparent disinclination to
create trouble. After having announced to the President of the
National Assembly, on the 14th of June, that he was ready to
perform any duty with which the people might charge him, he
forwarded a letter, the following day, resigning his place as
Deputy in the interest of peace and harmony. This step greatly
increased his popularity, and he was immediately rechosen
Deputy by four other departments.
Thereupon h j left England, reached Paris on the 24th of
September, anu, on the 26th, took his seat in the National
Assembly. He made a short address, taking strong ground in
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
41
favor of the preservation of order and the development of demo
cratic institutions. His manner as a speaker was stiff and un¬
impressive, his accent was slightly foreign, and General Cavai-
gnac, then temporary dictator, and candidate for the Presidency,
seems to have greatly under-estimated both his ability and the
chances of his popularity.
The Bonapartists had used every means in their power to
unite the numerous discordant elements in the nation upon him ;
and, thanks to their adroit management and the lack of any
popular name for a rallying-cry among the other parties, they
were successful. The election was held on the 10th of Decem¬
ber, 1848, and the result gave evidence of an almost complete
union of all other parties against that of the Republic of Order
represented by Cavaignac. The latter received 1,460,000 votes ;
Louis Napoleon, 5,500,000 ; and Lamartine a comparatively
trifling number. The two monarchical parties designed mak¬
ing use of Louis Napoleon as an instrument to weaken the
Republicans, trusting that his own incompetency would com¬
plete the work, and hasten a counter-revolution. When, there¬
fore, on the 20th of December, he was installed as President
of the French Republic, it was under auspices seemingly very
fortunate, because the hostile influences were temporarily held
in abeyance. Cavaignac, a noble Spartan nature, had restored
France to order, although the blood he had shed in saving the
country lost the country to him. The new President, with no
record of offence except against the banished dynasty, took quiet
possession of the realm which another had made ready for his
bands.
His policy, which was speedily developed, was to improve
the social and business condition of France, and at the same
time to pursue a gradually increasing system of repression, till
he had crushed out the last vestige of liberty. The French
people of the middle and lower classes love to be ruled with a
42
THE OREAT WAR
strong hand, so that their social prosperity is assured and their
love of glory gratified ; and he succeeded more easily, perhaps,
than even he had anticipated. A system of internal improve¬
ments was planned and put in execution ; industry of all kinds
revived, and the change from the depression produced by the
uncertainties of the previous year was felt as a happy relief by
the whole population. All this time the liberty secured by the
Constitution was steadily contracted ; the Government became
firmer and more repressive in its character ; the restless move¬
ments of factions were dealt with more severely as the mass of
the people became more contented under their new prosperity.
Although the point to which this policy tended was now toler¬
ably clear, it was still difficult to point to any act as specially
indicative of it. "While violating the spirit of the Constitution,
while advocating or opposing universal suffrage, according to
the exigencies of his policy, his speeches were so worded as to
make it appear that he was the sole defender of the Constitution,
concerned only to shield it from the aggressions of the National
Assembly.
In January, 1851, a completely Bonapartist Ministry was
appointed ; but the Assembly, having voted its lack of confi¬
dence, another Ministry was substituted. An attempt was then
made to change the Constitution in such a manner that the
President's term of office might be extended, since an immediate
réélection was prohibited ; but, after a very fierce and stormy
discussion, the proposition failed to receive the requisite major¬
ity of three fourths. The Assembly was soon afterwards ad¬
journed until November, which gave the Prince-President time
to mature his plans. His term would expire the following
Spring ; the Prince de Joinville was already named as a candi¬
date ; the elements of opposition, although without combination,
were increasing in strength, and the temper of the French peo¬
ple was anxious and uneasy. In this juncture, he called about
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY,
43
hiiu men wno were equally cunning, daring, and unprincipled-
General St. Arnaud (who was made Minister of War in October,
1851), De Morny, Persigny, and Fleury. All of these appear
to have been made acquainted with his plans, and two of them
—St. Arnaud and De Moray—were his chief instruments in
carrying them into execution.
On the 13th of November, 1851, the National Assembly, by
a large majority, defeated the proposition for universal suffrage,
and the Prince-President and his co-conspirators speedily deter¬
mined upon a desperate measure; Before daylight on the morn¬
ing of the 2d of December, 1851, seventy-eight prominent men
were seized, many of them being dragged from their beds, the
National Assembly forcibly dissolved (220 of the Deputies hav¬
ing been arrested and imprisoned the same day), Paris declared
in a state of siege, and the people called upon to elect a Presi¬
dent for ten years, with power to select his own Ministry, and a
Government consisting of two Chambers, with limited powers.
All legal opposition and protest was crushed under foot. Paris
arose against the outrage, and, until the night of December 4,
its streets ran with blood. Entire quarters of the city were
given up to murder and plunder. Men, women, and children,
natives and foreigners, were shot and bayoneted indiscrimi¬
nately. The greatest pains have been taken to suppress the
dreadful details, but the number of persons butchered cannot
have been less than 5,000, and may have been twice as many.
Within the next month, according to the Bonapartist, Granier
de Cassagnac, 26,500 persons were transported to the penal
colonies of Cayenne and Africa, where the greater number of
them died.
The blow was so sudden and terrible that the spirit of the
nation was utterly paralyzed ; even indignation was lost in the
deeper sense of horror and fear. The mask was removed, and
the Empire in a. nearly absolute form already existed. The
il THE GREAT WAR
people knew this when they were called upon to vote ujion the
questions proposed by Louis Napoleon. Public opinion was
equally suppressed throughout the provinces ; the most alarming
socialistic dangers were invented and threatened ; every promi¬
nent man was ordered to declare himself instantly for one side
or the other ; the business classes were kept excited by rumors
of plots and outbreaks ; the press everywhere was effectually
muzzled ; and when the election was held, a few days later, the
result was : 7,500,000 yeas, 650,000 nays.
In January, 1852, he ordered the confiscation of all the
property belonging to the Orleans family ; in February, the last
vestige of liberty was taken from the press ; in May, the Napo¬
leonic eagles were distributed to the army ; and in December
the Prince-President, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, became Napo¬
leon III, Emperor, " By the Grace of God and the will of the
French people " I Having assured himself that resistance was
paralyzed for a time, his next objects were, first, to allay the
distrust of the other European powers by showing that the Em¬
pire was Peace ; and secondly, to bring about a war, in ordei
to satisfy his army.
After various unsuccessful attempts to ally himself by mar¬
riage with some of the reigning houses of Europe, he abandoned
the,quest, and in January, 1853, married Eugenie Marie de
Guzman, Countess de Téba, a Spanish lady, though descended,
on her mother's side, from a Scottish family.
In the summer of 1853 he succeeded in forming an alliance
with England, which, a few months later, was riveted by the
Crimean war. In this war, through the ability of his generals
and the inefficiency of some of the English officers, he managed
to secure the lion's share of the glory for France, and, under a
great show of disinterestedness, to cause the material successes
to enure to h's own advantage, while the heaviest burdens came
upon his ally.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY
45
The Empire was not Peace, but it seemed to be Order. The
country was covered with a network of railways, harbors were
created, a fleet built and manned, Paris was pierced in all direc¬
tions with broad and splendid streets, the Empress inaugurated
a new era of luxury, labor was plentiful, money was plentiful,
morals were pleasantly relaxed, and the French people were free
to enjoy the good things of this life, so long as they abstàined
from meddling with politics. The material justification of the
Empire became popular throughout Europe, and even with many
Americans. An Imperial Prince was born in March, 1856—an
only one, and again a resemblance to Napoleon ! Even persons
not superstitious began to incline toward the theory of " des¬
tiny." With his positive power and his increasing prestige, it
was now possible to relax somewhat of his former caution, and
for a few years the world, convicted of having undervalued him,
persisted in atoning for its offence by interpreting his stolidity
as depth, his reticence as wisdom, his straining after theatrical
effect as the force and daring of genius. From 1853 to 1861 he
was the most over-estimated man in the world. Every turn and
winding of his apparently subtile policy, every new disclosure
of his seemingly impenetrable plans, was accepted as an evidence
of greatness by a majority of the civilized races.
It would, perhaps, be unfair to say that sympathy for the
Italian cause had no part in bringing on the war of 1859. He
was scarcely insensible to so many early associations ; he knew
the tremendous under current of resistance and aspiration in
Lombardy, the Komagna, and the Duchies, and felt that there
were the seeds. of great popularity, if not power, in his policy.
But there were two other equally powerful considerations : he
would abolish the relentless determination of the Carbonari, and
he would increase the territory of France by the annexation of
Savoy. (There is little doubt that the latter clause was agreed
upon when Cavour visited Napoleon III at Plombières, befort
46
THE GREAT WAR
the war.) His course being decided, there remained only the
finding of a pretext, which Austria blunderingly furnished, in
April, 1859. Although Napoleon's Ministry were reported tc
be unfavorable to the war, it was hailed with great enthusiasm
by the masses of the people.
After entering Piedmont, the Emperor delayed three weeks,
plotting and planning, before commencing hostilities. He'had
an interview with Kossuth, and agreed with the latter upon a
plan for cooperating with the Magyar and Sclavonic population
of Austria. Tuscany had already risen, the Romagna was stir
ring, and there were movements in Naples and Sicily. The
Emperor's design was to'secure the former for Prince NapoleoD
and the latter for the Murats ; a united Italy was the farthest
thing possible from his plans. But he was forced to simulate a
generosity he did not feel, and to give battle with no other gain
than Savoy and Nice assured in advance. After a small engage¬
ment at Montebello, the battle of Magenta, on the 4th of June,
gave Milan and Lombardy to the French and Italian armies.
The Emperor's reception in Milan was warm and cordial, but a
storm of uncontrollable joy surged around the path of Victor
Emanuel. Tuscany had by this time claimed the latter's protec¬
torate, and the drift of popular sentiment throughout Italy was
no longer to be mistaken. The Emperor found himself em¬
barked on a new current, and his first business was to withdraw
successfully.
Taking this view of the matter, the battle of Solferino was a
piece of great good luck. The Sclavonic conspiracy had so far
succeeded that the Croat regiments in the Austrian army refused
to-serve; the Emperor Francis Joseph trusted in Gyulai, the
most incompetent'of generals; and Venice, in the Austrian rear,
was thoroughly prepared, and only awaited the signal to rise.
On the other hand, Napoleon in appeared to the world as com¬
mander of the united French and Italian armies. His mistakes
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
47
were skilfully concealed by bis Marshals, and even the blunder
which so nearly made him an Austrian prisoner was so retrieved
as to make it seem an act of personal daring. The victory was
more complete than that of Magenta ; it satisfied French vanity,
gave Napoleon III the very position he desired, and enabled him
to convert his real disappointment into apparent forbearance.
By this time other forces were fast developing into form, and
he took good note of them while seeming impassive and imper
turbable. The Pope, in spite of the French garrison at Rome,
threatened excommunication. The spirit of Germany was thor¬
oughly aroused, and even in Prussia the phrase was current,
"The Rhine must be defended on the Adige." This was geo¬
graphically false, but politically true ; for the plans of Napoleon
III, from the moment his rule was assured, embraced the exten¬
sion of France to the Alps (which was now accomplished), then
to the Rhine, from Basle to the sea, including Belgium. This
was the price he meant to pay France for the permanency of his
dynasty. Moreover, had he not already said, in the Idées Napo¬
léoniennes, " After a victory, offer peace"? The peace of Yilla-
franca, which cut Italy to the heart, betrayed Hungary and
Croatia, bewildered Europe, but gave relief to the anxious
nations, and increased prestige to the Emperor, was the inevitable
result of his policy.
His disappointment, however, was bitter. Basing his own
imperial power upon the Plebiscite, he was powerless to inter¬
fere, when all Italy, except the little Roman territory held by
French troops, pronounced for a united nationality under Yictor
Emanuel. Savoy and Nice were acquired, it is true ; the names
of Magenta and Solferino were added to those of the Alma and
the Malakoff; the influence of France was more potent than
ever in the councils of Europe : but more than this was neces¬
sary. The doubt in the permanence of his dynasty was general,
even among his own adherents. The French appetite for glory,
THE GKEAT WAR
he knew, was only satisfied for a little while by such nuno!
results as he had obtained in the Crimea and Lombardy ; it
craved undiluted success, overwhelming victory. Meanwhile,
the benumbing horror of the coup d'état of December, 1851,
was beginning to fade from men's minds ; the undying Repub¬
lican instinct of the mind of France began to show signs of its
life ; and even the intelligent un-Republican classes, who had
acquiesced in the Empire, recognized the social and moral de¬
generation which had followed its establishment. His great suc¬
cesses were beginning to be followed by indications of a change
of fortune. His own health, from a complication of disorders,
was precarious ; his boy had been frail and sickly from his earli¬
est infancy ; the Empress, with the already perceptible waning
of her beauty, was coming more and more under the influence
of her confessor and the Jesuits every year; and her Spanish
bigotry was loosing her hold—never very strong—upon the
hearts of the nation. The Republican element was becoming
strong in the cities, and it was evident that something must be
done, or there was slight hope for the continuance of his
dynasty. À great European war was not to be undertaken with¬
out a better pretext than he could find just then ; but he sought
a quarrel with Mexico, meaning to use it as a pretext for inter¬
fering in our war, and used his best endeavors to drag England
into a bold intervention with him on behalf of the Southern
Confederacy. How miserably he failed in both projects, is
within the recollection of all ; and the execution of the gallant
but unfortunate Maximilian, whom he made his tool and dupe in
his Mexican enterprise, and the plaintive laments and lifelong
insanity of the hapless Carlotta, must even now fill his soul with
horror for his treachery.
He also made some small experiments in the way of war in
Cochin-China and China, but his success was not commensurate
with his expenditure, and there was not glory enough to satisfy
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
49
the greed of the French nation. He promised constitutional
and political reforms, the freedom of the press, the liberty ol
interpellation, the partial control of the finances by the Corps
Législatif, or House of Representatives ; but his reforms were
so much less than his promises, that they only excited discontent
and induced no gratitude.
In the midst of these vain strivings after .a success which
constantly eluded his grasp, a severer blow fell upon him than
any he had yet experienced. Prussia, which he had ever re¬
garded as a second-rate power, declared war against Austria in
1866, and his tender of assistance to Austria for a consideration
(the Rhine provinces and Belgium) being rejected, he offered his
assistance to Prussia on similar terms (Baden and Wurtemberg
being substituted in this case for the Rhenish provinces), only to
have it rejected with contempt. In seven weeks Prussia had
thoroughly defeated Austria, fighting a great battle (that of
Sadowa), which entirely overshadowed his own battles of
Magenta and Solferino ; and this seven weeks' war had led to
%
changes in the map of Europe the most important which had
occurred since 1815 ; changes, too, in regard to which he had
not been consulted. He was rash and foolish enough to demand
from the victorious party a share of their territory ; but his
demand was promptly and justly refused.
It had been his boast that he ha«d made his uncle, Napoleon
I, his model, and he had written a " Life of Caesar," for the
purpose of demonstrating the divine right of great commanders
to absolute authority over the people, and their right and duty
to transmit this power to their nephews, or other heirs ; but hère
was a state of things to which there was no parallel in his
ancle's career, and he was wholly at fault. The prestige of the
Bonaparte name was fast passing away both at home and
abroad, and it was a serious question how it could be recovered.
From the day of the-rejection of his proposed treaty with Prus-
4
60
THE GREAT WAR
aia, in 1867, it had been evident to him that he must fight Prs&
sia, and seize and hold the Ehenish provinces and Belgium, 01
lose his throne. The measures he had taken for the reorganiza¬
tion of his army, and for arming them with improved weapons,
we have already detailed. What the result was, we shall see
presently. It is, nevertheless, a sad commentary on our boast¬
ed progress in the nineteenth century, that an unprincipled
adventurer, with no higher intellectual ability than Louis Napo¬
leon possessed, and guilty of so many and so great crimes, could
have ruled one of the foremost nations of the world for twenty-
one years, and have been recognized by the other monarehs of
Europe as their peer.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
53
CHAPTER III.
mHE ruling spirit of Prussia, since 1862, Has been Count
A Karl Otto yon Bismarck-Schonhausen, one of the most
able and remarkable statesmen of the present century. His
great ability has been shown quite as much in his skill in lead¬
ing, controlling, and influencing King William I to adopt meas¬
ures which were directly in opposition to his views and preju¬
dices, as in any of his direct ministerial acts. The King was,
partly by nature and partly as a result of his education, a firm
believer in the divine right of kings, an intense absolutist, opin¬
ionated, wilful, and stubborn, and it required the utmost tact
and magnetic power to lead him in any other direction than that
in which he had determined to go. But this stern, positive,
wilful old man has been moulded by Count Yon Bismarck into
almost another being, and has now the personal love of those
who, in 1864 and 1865, were bitterly hostile to his measures.
The man who could accomplish such results, and, while keeping
peace between king and people, lead both forward in unity, har¬
mony, and progress, to a higher and Jbetter condition as ruler
and ruled, is deserving of honor and fame as a great statesman.
Karl Otto von Bismarck was born at Schonhausen, in the
province of Saxony, April 1, 1814. He was of an ancient and
noble family, who had long been in the service of the Prussian
and Saxon rulers. He was educated for the legal profession, at
Gottingen, Berlin, and Greifswald, and entered the army for a
time after obtaining his degree of Doctor of Philosophy, serving
3rst in the light infantry, and afterward as an officer of the
54
THE GREAT WAR
Landwehr, or Reserves. He did not enter on public politico,
life till his thirty-second year, being elected to the Diet of Sax¬
ony in 1846, and to the general or United Diet in 1847. In the
latter he soon became the leader of the Junkers, or conservative
party, and distinguished himself for eloquence and logical abil¬
ity. He opposed the adoption of the constitution offered to
Prussia, fought most vehemently against the prevalent democ¬
racy of the period, and, it is said, declared, in one of his most
brilliant speeches, that the great cities of Europe ought to be
razed to the ground, because they were the centres of democracy
and constitutionalism. He has grown, since that time, to like a
constitutional government better than he did, but he is, to-day,
far from being a democrat.
His course in the Diet attracted the attention of the King,
Frederick William IY, and, in 1851, he assigned him to the
difficult and important post of Privy Councillor to the Prussian
embassy at Frankfort. In this position he laid down the princi¬
ple that Prussia could not fulfil her mission in Germany until
Austria should be driven out of the Confederation. In 1852 he
was sent on a special mission to Yienna, and there,, as at Frank¬
fort, showed himself the constant and vigilant adversary of
Count Rechberg, the Austrian premier. A pamphlet, written
with great ability, appeared in 1858, entitled " Prussia and the
Italian Question," and was very generally—and probably cor¬
rectly—attributed to him. It had no small influence in shaping
the subsequent course of Prussia in the war between Austria
and France and Italy, in the ensuing year. In 1859, Yon Bis¬
marck was Minister to St. Petersburg, and in 1860 he visited
Paris. In May, 1862, he was transferred by the present King
of Prussia to the French embassy, but remained at Paris only
till September, when he was summoned to Berlin as premier of
the new Cabinet, with the double duty of Governor of the
King's household and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 55
He had a ready attained high distinction as a diplomatist and
parliamentarian, but his new position was one of much greater
difficulty, and requiring a higher order of talent, than any he
had previously filled. He inherited from the Ministry which
had preceded him a chronic quarrel with the House of Deputies
(answering to our House of Representatives) of the Prussian
Legislature. The King and his Cabinet had deemed it indispen¬
sable to reorganize the army, and substitute for the militia a
system of military training which should make every able-bodied
man in.the realm an educated soldier, owing and giving to the
nation three years of military service, and subsequently forming
a member of the Landwehr, or reserve force, liable to be called
upon for service in actual war. Connected with this were
changes promoting greater efficiency ampng the officers of the
army, and training the whole nation in the use of arms. The
necessity of this reorganization grew out of the position of Prus¬
sia in relation to Germany. Either she, a nearly pure German
power, or Austria, whose population was largely made up of
non German nationalities, must lead Germany. If Prussia was
to take this place, she must be prepared to fight for it ; if she
yielded it to Austria, she became only a second-rate power,
without any considerable influence in Europe. If, as was prob¬
able, Austria would not relinquish her position without fighting,
Prussia must be prepared to contend with a power superior to
her in numbers and her equal in resources. It was the duty of
the Prussian Government to be prepared for such a conflict, yet
to give any hint of its probability would be to court defeat.
The King, therefore, under Bismarck's advice, though himself
opposed to a war with Austria for any cause, went forward and
reorganized the army, expending large sums and doing his work
very thoroughly, and then demanded from the Diet the neces¬
sary appropriations for it. These the House of Deputies per¬
sistently refused, and, when the House of Nobles voted them,
56
THE GREAT WAR
impeached their action as illegal. The Ministry insisted on tht
appropriations, and were vehemently denounced by the Depu¬
ties. At length the King, finding the Deputies intractable,
closed their-session by a message through Bismarck. The next
House elected under this excitement proved equally intractable ;
they could not or would not understand the necessity for this
reorganization of the army, and urgently demanded that no
money should be withdrawn from the Treasury for the purpose.
Bismarck was firm and decided against all this opposition, and,
when the press became abusive, he warned and finally sup¬
pressed the most noisy of the papers. Meanwhile the war with
Denmark drew off a part of the opposition ; and when, in 1866
the crisis came, and Prussia, having formed an alliance with
Italy, declared war with Austria, defeated her in seven weeks,
and reorganized the German Confederation, with herself at its
head, and all the German States, except Austria, either confed¬
erated or bound to her by treaties offensive and defensive, the
wisdom of Bismarck's course became obvious, and those whc
had denounced him most bitterly were now loudest in his praise.
Gifted with a remarkable insight into the motives of men, and
especially of monarchs and political leaders, Count Yon Bis¬
marck has measured his strength as a diplomatist with the ablest
men in Europe, and has invariably maintained his position. He
was aware, after the battle of Sadowa, that war with Prance
would come as soon as Louis Napoleon could find a tolerable
pretext for it ; and, while carefully avoiding any act of provoca¬
tion, he had been quietly using all his energies in making ready
for it. Thus it happened that, when the declaration of wai
came Prussia was all ready to take the field, and France was
not.
In person, Bismarck is a portly but intellectual-looking man,
with a keen, brilliant eye, great self-command, yet with a quick,
nervous manner, partly perhaps the result of ill health He is *
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
5."
fine scho ar, thoroughly familiar with most of the languages ol
Europe, and speaking them fluently, and even idiomatically.
His herculean labors for the past five years have permanently
impaired his health, and compelled him to take long vacations
for its partial restoration ; but he possesses great executive abil¬
ity and remarkable powers of endurance.
"While Germany is indebted to Count Yon Bismarck for the
political and diplomatic measures which accompanied and fol¬
lowed her recent remarkable reorganization, the strategical plans
of the successful war of 1866, as well as those of the Franco-
German war of 1870, are due to the extraordinary scientific and
military ability of General Yon Moltke, a man every way as
remarkable in his special department as Yon Bismarck is in his.
Karl Hellmuth Beenhard, Baron Yoij Moltke, was born in
Parchim, Mecklenburg, October 26, 1800. He was from an old
and distinguished Mecklenburg family, which had contributed
several statesmen to both Denmark and Germany. Soon after
his birth, his father, a military officer, left Mecklenburg, and
acquired an estate in Holstein, where young Yon Moltke spent
the first twelve years of his life ; and this ' has led some of his
biographers incorrectly to speak of him as a native of Holstein.
He and his brother were sent to the Military Academy in Copen¬
hagen, and the iron discipline, thorough training, and military
frugality of that institution, exerted a favorable effect upon a
mind constituted as his was, and laid the foundation of an admi¬
rable character. In 1822 he entered the Prussian army as cor¬
net. His parents having at this period lost their entire fortune,
he was left without any means whatever, and suffered very many
hardships in maintaining himself in his position, the pay of the
subordinate officers in the Prussian army being at this time very
imall ; yet he managed to save enough to acquire a very thor¬
ough knowledge of the modern languages of Europe, which sub¬
sequently proved of great advantage to him. His favorite
58
THE GREAT WAR
studies, however, then and since, were the physical sciences
Not Alexander Von Humboldt himself studied with more care
ai?.d zeal the minute topography and the geological structure of
the adjacent countries, than did this young and accomplished
officer. Though without powerful friends to facilitate his promo¬
tion, his eminent abilities soon procured him a favorable position
in the general staff ; and his advance, solely from his merit, was
remarkably rapid for a Prussian staff-officer. In 1835 he was
sent by the Prussian Government to Turkey and Asia Minor, to
make inquiry concerning the war between the Sultan and Me-
hemet Ali. He remained in the East for four years, and his
report shows that he had made himself a complete master of the
whole Oriental question.
After his return, he published anonymously several works of
great merit, descriptive of the country and the Egyptian war.
He was advanced, in a short time, through the different ranks
to that of lieutenant-general, and, finally, to be chief of the gen¬
eral staff of the Prussian army. In this capacity he drew up,
even to its minutest details, the plan of the reorganization of the
Prussian army and Landwehr, or Reserve, and to the perfection
of this plan is unquestionably due much of the success which has
since attended the Prussian warfare. At the commencement of
the Aiistro-Prussian war of 1866, his wonderful topographical
knowledge was made manifest. His plans for the movement of
the Prussian armies indicated a most intimate and thorough
acquaintance with every hill, mountain, defile, ravine, and
stream in their course. Even their places of encampment were
designated, and the progress they would be expected to make
and the obstacles they would have to encounter, were all desig¬
nated. His strategic prescience was equally remarkable. He
foresaw the fatal delays of Benedek and the unavailing impetu¬
osity of Clam-Gallas, and had so arranged the time of marching
of the different armies as to render their junction at the right
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
59
time morally certain. The unexpected obstacles which delayed
the Crown-Prince, and prevented his reaching the battle-held of
Sadowa till afternoon,- had well-nigh produced a disaster ; but
even here Yon Moltke's careful allowance of time brought all
right in the end. Both Prince Friedrich Karl and the Crown-
Prince had been his pupils in military science, and especially in
strategics ; and the latter especially was a great favorite with
him. That he had for years foreseen the Franco-Prussian war
of 1870, is certain ; and more than one of the French peasants
and bourgeois have recognized in the grave, silent general-in-
ehief, so absorbed in his maps, a venerable Professor of Geology,
who, some three years ago, hammer in hand, and with a younger
companion (the present Crown-Prince) who had a great predilec¬
tion for botany, rambled over the ramparts and suburbs of Stras¬
bourg, Weissenburg, Toul, and Metz, examining most carefully
the fortifications, chipping off here and there a bit of stone as a
geological specimen, and, with his companion, exploring every
stream, ravine, and hill, in search of botanical specimens for
their herbariums. So careful was their survey,. that, with the
aid of their excellent maps, they were far more familiar with the
minute topography of the entire theatre of the war, and the
weak points of all the fortifications, than all the French staff
together.
When General Wimpffen hesitated in regard to surrendering
at Sedan, General Yon Moltke demonstrated to him, in the few¬
est possible words, that such was the position of the German
troops, and so complete their command of every avenue of
escape or of resistance, that his surrender had been a foregone
conclusion since the previous day.
General Yon Moltke is a man of dignified and imposing per¬
sonal appearance, but of great modesty and simplicity of man¬
ners. He is reserved and taciturn, but always, whether in con¬
versation, in giving commands to his officers, or in the heat of
GO
THE GREAT WAR
battle, maintains the same composure and equanimity. The
army have given him the surname of " The Silent ; " but when
he does speak, his words are well worth hearing. He is said
to be, to this day, more fond of physical than military science ;
but his reputation in the future will rest mainly on the fact that
he has been, in a much higher sense than the distinguished
Carnot, " an organizer of victories."
Of the French premiers, war ministers, and chiefs of staff in
the last days of the Empire, there were none who compared
with Bismarck and Yon Moltke for ability or diplomatic skill.
The diplomacy was of less consequence, since the Emperor him¬
self managed the intercourse of France with foreign powers,
and inspired the correspondence, which his Ministers put in form.
The position of Chief of Staff, which was often, in France,
associated with the office of War Minister, was one of great
importance and responsibility ; but Napoleon Ill's theory of
government required that this officer also should be his tool and
do his bidding. It resulted from this theory that, whether the
premier were Ollivier or Boulier, and the chief of staff Leboeuf
or De Palikao, they were alike the creatures of their master,
bound to do his will and discarded at his pleasure.
Of Ollivier and Bouher it is hardly necessary to say much.
The latter was a man of considerable ability, but intensely abso¬
lutist in his views, and the supple tool and mouthpiece of Napo¬
leon III. Ollivier had been a Bepublican, and for some years a
leader of the Opposition, but, since 1863, his fidelity to that party
had been suspected. He continued from that time to cultivate
more and more friendly relations toward the Emperor, whom he
had formerly attacked with great bitterness, and, after receiving
from him several lucrative temporary appointments, he was, in
the winter of 1870, called to take Bouher's place as Prime
Minister. His administration was every way weak and unfortu
nate Irritable, and possessing little dignity of manner or char
LEHŒUF.
L'ADMIRATJLT.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY
63
acter, lie was goaded most unmercifully by his former associates,
the Republicans ; and, uneasy in his position, which he could not
but feel was a false one, he lost his temper under their sharp
questioning, and alternately wrangled and threatened, till he
presented a most pitiable spectacle. Questioned concerning
government delinquencies which he knew, but had neither the
tact to conceal or defend, he became, at times, furious in his
threats, which he had not the courage to put in execution. At
the declaration of war, there was a momentary hush of the dis
cord ; the feeling of patriotism for the time dominated over the
hostility of the Opposition to the Emperor, and a man of shrewd¬
ness and tact would have availed himself of this opportunity to
regain the prestige he had lost ; but Ollivier had not the ability
to accomplish this, and very soon he was again wrangling with
Favre, Gambetta, and the other Republican leaders.
At his first reverses the Emperor did not hesitate to throw
overboard this man, who had sacrificed his reputation and char¬
acter for his favor, and for a brief period the Count of Palikao
took his place as premier.
Of the Count we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
General Edmond Leboeuf, Minister of War and Chief of
Staff of the French army at the beginning of the war, had a
good, though by no means the highest, reputation as a military
leader among the French generals. He was born November 5,
1809, and received his military education at the Polytechnic
School in Paris and the School of Artillery at Metz. At
twenty-eight years of age he was a captain, and, nine years later,
major of a regiment of artillery. In 1848 he was made assistant
commandant of the Polytechnic School, where he remained till
1850. In 1852 he was promoted to a colonelcy, and during the
whole of the Crimean war served as chief of artillery. In 1854
he was made brigadier-general, and in 1857, general of division,
[n the Italian war of 1859 he was again chief of the large artil-
THE GREAT WAR
ery force there engaged, and distinguished himself for bravery
and skill, receiving the rank of Grand Officer of the Legion of
Honor from the Emperor in August, 1859. He was subsequent¬
ly appointed aide-de-camp to the Emperor, and made head of
the Artillery Bureau. On the death of Marshal Niel, in 1869,
he was made Minister of War, and'introduced some essential re¬
forms in the organization of the army. The taint of corruption,
however, had attached to him. On the appointment of a com¬
mission to decide upon a new breech-loading rifle for the French
army, there were many patterns offered, but he excluded all
except the chassepôt, in the manufacture of which be had a
large interest ; and this gun, though inferior to several of the
others, was supplied in immense quantities to the French army.
With his downfall, the reputation of the rifle fell also ; and in
the midst of the war, the French Provisional Government, and,
indeed, the successor of Leboeuf, began to order American pat¬
terns of rifles, which stood the test of actual warfare much bet¬
ter, but which Leboeuf had rejected because he could make no
profit on them. It is averred, also, that large quantities of the
chassepôt rifles, of imperfect and defective construction, were
passed by the inspectors and placed in the hands of the soldiers,
by the orders of this corrupt War-Minister. Subsequently to
his removal from office, he is said to have acknowledged that he
knew that neither the nation nor the army were prepared for
war, but that he did not dare to tell the Emperor so, lest he
should excite his displeasure.
Charles Guillaume Marie Appolinaire Antoine, Cotjsin-Mok-
taubast, Comte de Palikao, the successor of Leboeuf as Minister
of War, and subsequently for a brief period also premier, is an
old man of higher military reputation, more executive ability,
and probably of greater honesty and integrity, than his prede¬
cessor ; but, educated in the Algerian wars, and naturally of a
stern and cruel nature, he was not the man to be the leader
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
67
either in war or diplomacy of a great and générons people, lte
was born June 24, 1796 ; educated at the Polytechnic school.
At twenty-eight years of age he was a cavalry officer, and had
won distinction in Algeria. At forty years of age he was
major ; and, nine years later, colonel of Spahis (the irregular
hut terrible dragoons of the African army). In 1851 he had
been promoted to he brigadier-general, but was actually in com¬
mand of a division. His promotion to the rank of major-gen¬
eral came in 1855, and with it the military governorship of Con-
stantine. Not long after, he was recalled to France and placed
in command of one of the grand military divisions—a post to
which his forty years of active service entitled him. In 1860
he was appointed commander-in-chief of the joint expedition
against China of the French and English forces. His move¬
ments here were marked by great celerity, and success. The
forts of Takn, at the mouth of Peiho, were captured, after a
severe engagement, on the 20th of August ; the successful battle
of Palikao fought September 21st ; the summer palace oi
the Chinese Emperor destroyed, and the victorious troops en¬
tered Peking, October 12th ; the treaty of peace negotiated, and
General Montauban left China in December of the same year.
\
Abundant honors were heaped upon him for this service. The
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor (its highest decoration) was
conferred upon him in December, 1860. He was appointed
Senator in 1861, and created Count of Palikao in 1862, with a
liberal dotation, which, however, was strongly resisted by the
Corps Législatif. He was made commander of the Fourth
Army Corps in 1865, and a member of the Cabinet in 1870.
His lifelong experience in fighting Kabyles, Berbers, and Chi¬
nese, had not qualified him specially for civilized warfare, and
it was alleged by the Prussians that to his counsel was largely
due the employment in this war of the savage Turcos and Spa-
bis, whose excesses and brutality have here, as elsewhere
68
THE GREAT Wi.R
brought down upon them thé reprobation of the civilized
world.
Of the French military commanders distinguished in former
warn, several, as General Ohangarnier—a Republican in politics,
but one of the ablest of the French generals in his day—Marshals
Raudon, Yaillant, and Baraguey d'Hilliers, and the Count De
Palikao, were too old for active service ; others, as General Tro-
chu, were not specially in favor with the Emperor, and were only
grudgingly allowed inferior commands. Those designated to the
three armies were Marshals MacMahon, Canrobert, and Bazaine
A brief sketch of the previous career of these men may be ot
m ter est, as throwing light upon their action during the war.
Marshal Marie Edme Patrick Maurice de MacMahon,
Duke of Magenta, born at Sully, July 13, 1808, is a descendant
if an old Irish Catholic family attached to the Stuarts. He
entered the military school of St Oyr in 1825, won his first
laurels in Algeria, where lie fought in numerous battles and
minor engagements. An incident in the African campaign
shows his intrepid character. At the close of the successful
battle of Terchia, General Achard wished to send an order to
Colonel Rulhieres, at Blidah, between three and four miles off,
to change the order of his march. This commission he entrust¬
ed to MacMahon, and offered him a Bquadron of mounted chas¬
seurs as an escort. He declined their protection, and rode off
alone. His journey lay entirely through the enemy's country,
which was rugged and irregular. About six hundred yards
from Blidah was a ravine, broad, deep, and precipitous. Mac¬
Mahon had ridden close to the ravine, wlien suddenly he beheld a
host of Arabs in full pursuit of him from every side. One look
told him his chances. There was no alternative but to jump
the treacherous abyss or be butchèred by his pursuers. He set
his horse's head at the leap, put spur and whip to it, and cleared
the ravine at a bound. The pursuing Arabs, dismayed, ventured
BETWEEK FRANCE AND GERMANT.
71
no further, and only sent after the daring soldier a shower of
bullets as horse and rider rolled over on the other side, with the
poor steed's leg broken. At the attack on Constantine he re¬
ceived further promotion. His superiority as a tactician became
soon apparent, and was fully appreciated and rewarded by
rapid advancement. His long career as a military commandei
in the colony, and his never-ceasing activity in behalf of the
firm establishment of French authority in Northern Africa,
were interrupted, for some time at least, by his recall to France
in 1855. It was not, however, the intention of the Government
to let him remain inactive ; he was, on the contrary, imme¬
diately assigned to the command of a division of infantry form¬
ing part of the army under Marshal Bosquet. Here he laid the
foundation of his military glory. On the 8th of September, the
perilous honor devolved on him of carrying the Malakoff, which
formed the key of the defences of Sebastopol. The impetuous
ardor of his troops proved irresistible. They entered the works
and maintained for hours a desperate conflict with the Russians.
Pellissier, the commander-in-chief, believed the fort was mined.
He sent MacMahon orders to retire. " I will hold my ground,"
was the reply, " dead or alive." Success crowned his bravery,
and the tricolor soon floated above the fortress. In 1857 he
returned to Algeria, forced the revolting Kabyles into submis¬
sion, and was soon after appointed commander-in-chief of all the
French forces there on land and sea. The outbreak of the Ital¬
ian war, in 1859, caused his return to France, when he was
assigned to the command of the Second Corps of the Army of
the Alps. Here his brilliant movement on the Austrians, turn¬
ing a threatened defeat into a victory at Magenta, and conceal¬
ing the blunders of his imperial master, were rewarded by the
conferring on him the titles of Duke of Magenta and Marshal
of France, on the field of battle. In November, 1861, he was
sent tc Berlin to represent France at the cm ..nation of William
72
tiie gkeat war
I, the present King of Prussia ; and .n the spkndor of liii
appointments, and the magnificence of his retinue, outshone al
the other representatives of foreign courts. In October, 1862
he succeeded Marshal Oanrobert in the command of the Third
Army Corps ; and, two years later, was made governor-genera)
of Algeria, where he introduced many administrative reforms.
He was recalled from Algeria shortly before the opening of the
Franco-German war, and took an active part in organizing the
army for service. Marshal MacMahon bears the reputation of a
gallant, manly, and honest officer; and though his long expe¬
rience in Algeria had partially disqualified him for civilized
warfare, and made him reckless of those details on which, in a
contest with an able and intelligent foe, all success depends, yet
he deserves the reputation of being the best of the French army
commanders.
Marshal François Certain Canrobert, born in the Depart¬
ment of Gers, June 27, 1809, was admitted to 't]^3 military
school of St. Cyr in 1825, which he left in 1828, to enter the
47th Regiment of the Line as second lieutenant, and soon after
joined the military expedition to Mascara, fought bravely in
several engagements against the hostile tribes in Northern
Africa, and assisted at the storming of Constantine in 1837. He
was sent back to France in 1839, for the purpose of forming a
battalion for the foreign legion out of the dispersed bands of
Carlists. He succeeded in this, and returned to Africa in 1841,
where ho was entrusted with the command of a battalion of
light infantry and of the 64th Regiment of thè Line, suppressed
the rebellion of Bon Maza, and, during eight months of desper¬
ate fighting, forced most of the revolting tribes of Kabyles into
submission. He was engaged in various parts of Northern
Africa for nearly eight years, led* some of the most daring and
adventurous expeditions into the interior, and everywhere distin¬
guished himself by his coolness, bravery, and quick adaptation
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
73
to the warfare to which he had to resort. Returning to France
he proved, by his services to Louis Napoleon, that he meant tc
be a firm supporter of the new régime, and has ever since been
one of the stanchest friends and adherents of the second empire.
He was made general of division in 1853, took part in the expe¬
dition to the Crimea, and when Marshal St. Arnaud felt his end
approaching, he transmitted the command of the entire French
army to Canrobert. This was in accordance with an order
given in a private letter by the Emperor Napoleon himself.
Having won new laurels at the sanguinary battles of Inker-
mann, Balaklava, and Eupatoria, he conferred with Lord Rag¬
lan, commander of the British forces, and urged him to partici¬
pate in an immediate assault on Sebastopol. The two command¬
ers being unable to agree, and Lord Raglan sternly refusing to
cooperate in the intended movement, Canrobert resigned in
favor of General Pelissier, and left the Crimea two months after.
During the Italian campaign, in 1859, he commanded the Third
Army Corps, fought at Magenta, and afterwards contributed
most essentially to the decisive victory of the French army at
the battle of Solferino, sustaining Marshal Niel at a critical
moment against the furious assault of a powerful Austrian
column. By virtue of his rank as Marshal (to which he was
promoted in 1856), Canrobert is a Senator of France, and, in
that capacity, opposed strongly the maintenance of the temporal
power of the Pope in March, 1861. He commanded the camp
at Chalons from June to October, 1862, and was then promoted
to the command of the Fourth Army Corps at Lyons, which he
yielded, two years later, to Marshal MacMahon. During a few
years past he has been' residing in Paris, attending the sessions
of the Senate, and watching over the interests of the army. He
is a man of. considerable ability, but not free from the taint of
the corruption and demoralization which has pervaded all
classes m connection with the imperial court.
7à
the great war
The third of these army-commanders, and incomparably th«
worst, was Marshal François Aohillic Bazaine, born February
13,1811, a descendant of a family well known in French mili¬
tary history, who studied at the Polytechnic School in Paris,
and entered the army in Africa when twenty years old. After
six years of uninterrupted warfare against the Kabyles and
other hostile tribes, he was assigned to the foreign legion, and
sent into Spain, in 1837, to suppress the Carlist movement in
that country. He returned to Algeria in 1839, joined the expe¬
dition against Milianah and Morocco, and was for several years
governor of the Arabian subdivision of Tlemcen. During the
Crimean war, where he was in command of a brigade of infan¬
try, he is said to have distinguished himself by his bravery and
by his talent for organization. When the Russians had evacu¬
ated Sebastopol, Bazaine was made Governor of the place. He
took no part in the campaign against Austria in 1859, but was
entrusted with the command of the first division of infantry of
the expedition to Mexico, in 1862. The Emperor Napoleon,
taking advantage of the civil war then raging in the United
States, conceived the idea of establishing an empire at our
Southern frontier, hoping thus to prepare the way for the final
supremacy of the Latin race on this continent. The attempt
proved a failure. French pride was humiliated, and the army
compelled to reëmbark, towards the close of 1866.
General Bazaine succeeded Marshal Forey in the command
of the expedition in October, 1863, and continued to be its chief
till his hasty departure in 1866. His whole course was marked
by a cruelty and barbarity which would have been disgraceful
in a savage chief. Regarding the Mexicans as barbarians, he
showed himself far more cruel than they. He organized, from
the vilest desperadoes he could hire, what he called " counter-
guerilla bands," to fight the irregular Mexican troops ; and the
rtrocities committed by these wretches, and never reproved by
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY
77
him, exceed belief. His unscrupulous rapacity, and his constant
intrigues against the heroic Maximilian, would of themselves b«
sufficient to stain a character none too fair without these blots,
m 1864, Bazaine was made Marshal of France, having, the yeai
oefore, received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. Cor¬
rupt, rapacious, and false even to his friends, Bazaine's appoint¬
ment to a high command in the army in the war of 1870 was
the most discreditable to the Emperor of any act of his in con¬
nection with the war ; and it is no more than fair to believe that
it was only because Napoleon III was too fully in the power of
this bold, bad man, to help himself, that he assigned him to this
position.
Of the côrps-commanders, General Frossard, the late chief
of the Emperor's household, and governor of the Prince Im¬
perial ; General De Failly, first distinguished in the Italian war,
and subsequently (in 1867) sent to Rome to put down the Gari-
baldian movement ; Count Ladmirault, late commander of the
Second Army Corps ; General Douay, an active officer of the
Mexican expedition, and General Bourbaki, an officer of Greek
family, distinguished both in the Crimean and Italian wars, were
the most prominent.
Later in the war, General De Wimpffeut, a brave and gal
lant officer, came from Algeria, where he had served for several
years, to join MacMahon's army, to take command in conse¬
quence of MacMahon's being severely wounded, and to surren¬
der the army, all within thirty-six hours.
General Trochu, who was at first ignored as being out of
favor with the Emperor, but eventually, in the time of his dis¬
tress, assigned to the command, of Paris and its fortifications,
bears the reputation of being an honest, brave, and capable
officer, on whose character, public or private, there is no stain.
He was born in the department of the Morbihan, March 12,
1815; was educated at St. Cyr, and at the staff school. À
76
THE GREAT WAR
lieutenant in 1840 and a captain in 1843, he was attached to
Marshal Bugeaud's staff in Algeria, and, like all the rest of the
French officers, took his ten years' or more of training there
In 1853 he was aide-de-camp to Marshal St. Arnaud in the
Crimea, with the rank of colonel ; and, in 1854, had risen to
the rank of brigadier-general. In 1859, as major-general, he
wept through the Italian campaign, winning distinction for
bravery and military skill. He was made grand officer of the
Legion of Honor in 1861. As we shall see further on in this
history, he has displayed, since the commencement of his com¬
mand in Paris, great skill and remarkable executive ability
under the most trying circumstances in which a commander
could be placed, and has won the confidence of all as a patriot,
who sought his country's good in preference to his own, or tb';t
of any aspirant to power. Such men are so rare, that it is but
right that their names should be honored when they are found.
GENERAL TROCHE, GOVERNOR OF PARIS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
SI
CHAPTER IV.
WITH brief sketches of a few of the principal German com¬
manders, we hasten to the consideration of another branch
of our subject.
The ablest of the Prussian commanding generals—the ven¬
erable chief of staff always excepted—though by no means the
oldest, is Prince Fkiedeich Kabl Alexander, son of Prince
Karl, and nephew of the King of Prussia. He was born March
20, 1828. Like all Prussian princes, Friedrich Karl had to
enter the Prussian army when scarcely ten years old, it being
considered necessary that every descendant of the house of
Hohenzollern, no matter what his individual inclination may
be, should become fully acquainted with the military service of
his country, and that, whatever career he may ultimately follow,
he may be called upon at any moment to draw his sword for
the defence of Fatherland in times of danger. With Friedrich
Karl, however, there was no need of compulsion. The war¬
like spirit of his ancestors animated him even in his earliest
youth, and induced him to devote himself with enthusiasm to
his military studies. The result of this innate love of every
thing connected with the army soon became apparent in the
rapid progress he made in the military school of instruction.
The study of the life and glorious deeds of Frederick the Great
filled his leisure hours, and it is said that he was on several occa¬
sions severely reprimanded for passing entire nights over the
history of the " Seven Tears' War," and the study of the plans
of battle adopted by that illustrious captain. At the outbreak
6
82
THE GREAT WAR
of the first war of Schleswig-Holstein, in 1848, he was assigne J
to the staff of tho commander-in-chief of the Prussian forces,
General Yon Wrangel, when, at the battle of Schleswig, his
impetuosity and his entire disregard of all danger, while im
perilling his life at every instant, did not fail to encourage the
troops, and materially aided in securing the victory to the Prus¬
sian eagle. During the campaign in Baden in 1849, he likewise
distinguished himself on various occasions. Fifteen years of
peace now followed, during which the Prince resumed his theo¬
retical studies of the science of war, made himself familiar with
all branches of the army, and showed conclusively his superior
talent for the organization as well as for the skilful disposition
of large armies. The disregard of treaties by Denmark result¬
ing in a declaration of war against that power by Austria and
Prussia, the second campaign in Schleswig-Holstein was soon
entered upon, and, although General Yon "Wrangel was at first
appointed commander-in-chief of the combined armies, the com¬
mand of the Prussian division was intrusted to Prince Friedrich
Karl, December 15, 1863. He at once recognized the forti¬
fied place of Duppel to be one of the greatest Danish strong¬
holds, and a formidable barrier to the advance of the German
armies into Danish territory. He therefore decided upon a
regular 6iege and investment, of the position. The severity of
the winter in these northern latitudes interfered considerably
with his operations, and it was not until April, 1864, that he
thought safe to order first the bombardment and then the storm¬
ing of the fortifications. Twice the assault was repulsed with
serious slaughter, until, at last, the intrepid commander grasped
the flag of the regiment of Royal Guards, and, personally lead¬
ing his troops to a third attack, drove the enemy out of his
stronghold and gained a decided victory, the Danes losing over
5,000 men and 118 pieces of artillery. Being defeated in several
jther important engagements, the Danes saw the impossibility
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
83
of further resistance, and a treaty of peace was signed on Octo
ber 30, 1864. At the outbreak of hostilities between Prussia
and Austria in 1866, Prince Friedrich Karl was called to
the command of the first division of the Prussian army, imme¬
diately marched his troops to the frontier, which he crossed on
June 23, and, in ordering the attack upon the forces of the
enemy, addressed his men with the words : " May your hearts
beat toward God, and your fists upon the enemy." A succes¬
sion of splendid victories at Liebenau, Turnau, Podol, Miinch-
engrâtz, and Gitschin, having forced the enemy into the interior
of Bohemia, Prince Friedrich Karl, who knew the Austrians
to have occupied a formidable position on the heights beyond
the Bistritz, requested the Crown-Prince Friedrich "Wilhelm to
come to his assistance with the second division of the army, but
attacked the enemy on the morning of July 3, without awaiting
his arrival. The Prussians fought desperately, but the position
of the enemy was so well chosen and their artillery so favorably
placed, that the Prince could not gain a decided advantage over
them, and it was not until the arrival of the second division,
under the Crown-Prince, that the enemy lost ground, retreated
under the deadly fire of the Prussians, and was finally com¬
pletely routed, running in all directions and in the wildest con¬
fusion. This ended the celebrated battle of Sadowa. The
enemy was pursued from the 5th to the 12th. Briinn was taken,
and the Prussian troops found themselves near the capital of
Austria, ready, at a moment's notice, to march upon Yienna.
The interference of France resulting in the treaty of Prague,
this ever-memorable campaign was at an end, Austria humili¬
ated, and her former military prestige lost forever. As might
be anticipated from a man who had taken 6uch a conspicuous
part in the brilliant achievements of the Prussian army, our
hero, although proud of his troops, and willingly admitting their
superiority over any European army which could then be mar-
84
THE GREAT WAR
stalled against them, had nevertheless become aware oi some
serious drawbacks and errors hitherto overlooked in the organi¬
sation of the Prussian army, and at once concluded to advocate
each reforms as his experience had convinced him to be abso¬
lutely necessary. Meeting with opposition in high quarters, he
is said to have resolved to submit his opinions to the approval
of the highest military authorities ; and it is generally believed
that he is the author of an anonymous pamphlet published in
Frankfort, which has attracted the greatest attention from the
(government, and has been the cause of the recent importaut
reforms in the Prussian army.
It appears that the views, expressed in this publication gained
the approbation of the Chief of Staff, Von Moltke; and the
consequence was that, after a free conference with the Prince,
changes were made which have, during the recent campaign,
demonstrated that the Prussian army is in every respect by far
the best in Europe. Of the part taken by the Prince in the war
of 1870, we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
Scarcely inferior to Prince Priedrich Karl in general military
ability, and, judging from his admirable generalship in the
recent campaign, fully his equal in handling his troops, is the
Crown-Prince, Friedrich Wilhelm, eldest son of the King of
Prussia, and heir-apparent to the German throne. The Crown-
Prince was born October 18, 1831, and received the thorough
scientific and military education which all the Prussian princes
are required to obtain. He was a diligent student, and particu¬
larly fond of physical science. Later, be was a pupil of Von
Moltke, and learned from him the principles of strategy and
tactics which he has since so skilfully reduced to practice. He
took part as a corps-commander in the Danish war of 1864,
came to the rescue at Sadowa in 1866, and turned what had
nearly been a drawn battle,, if not a defeat, into an overwhelm'
ing victory. In the campaign of 1870, as we shall see, he has
«ENERAL STEENMETZ
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
8?
h*d the command of the army which has done the hardest fight¬
ing ; and, in the fall prime of manhood and the maturity of his
powers, he has displayed a tact, judgment, and skill in handling
his troops, and in his rapid movements and persistent pursuit of
his enemy, which rank him among the great generals of Dur
time.
The other general who has been most distinguished in the
campaign of 1870 is the veteran Kabl Fbiedbich Yon Stein-
metz, " The Lion of Skalitz." He is one of the veterans of the
Napoleonic wars (1812-15), and, though a little too much inclined
to adhere to the old traditions of the Prussian army, is never¬
theless a very able and skilful officer. Yon-Steinmetz was born
December 27, 1796, was sent to the military school at Culm at
the age of ten years, and soon showed a decided predilection for
the army. He was a little over sixteen years old when he was
ordered to Berlin and assigned to the corps of General York.
Two years later he received his commission as lieutenant, was
wounded at the battle of Dannigkow, fought with distinction at
Kônigswartha, where a ball took away one of his fingers, while
another wounded him severely in the thigh. But such was the
ardor of his warlike temper, that, although unable to walk, he
insisted upon taking part in the battle at Bautzen, in May, 1813,
on horseback. He fought in France in nearly all the engage¬
ments of 1814, and entered Paris with the armies of the Allies.
During the long term of peace which now followed, he studied
military science to great advantage, and, after advancing rap¬
idly to the rank of captain, he was soon after assigned to the
staff. During the dispute between Austria and Prussia, in
1850, on account of the Electorate of Hesse, Yon Steinmetz was
ordered to Cassel, and afterward appointed commandant of the
place. Although it was his earnest desire to participate in the
second campaign in Schleswig-Holstein in 1864, he was ordered
elsewhere, and had to remain inactive against his will. During
88
THE GREAT WAR
the campaign against Austria, Yon Steinmetz commanded the
Fifth Army Corps, and vanquished and dispersed three different
Austrian army-corps within the almost incredible short space of
four days. Here it was that the Prussian cavalry, who had been
hitherto considered as inferior to the Austrian, or rather Hunga¬
rian, horsemen, proved that they were not only their equal, but
in many respects their superiors. His triumphant victory at
Skalitz, against forces of more than twice the numerical strength
of the corps he commanded, procured for him the name, " The
Lion of Skalitz." Throughout the entire campaign Yon Stein¬
metz did not meet with a single reverse, although he was often
compelled to fight with the odds decidedly against him. He has
been accused, like many other great generals, of being too reck¬
less of the lives of his troops when intent upon gaining a vic¬
tory, and this fault is said to have led to his being relieved of
the command after the battle of Gravelotte ; but while there
may be truth in the charge, these men of relentless wills, after
all, sacrifice fewer lives by delay, sickness, and despondency,
than men of less decided purpose and energy. At the begin¬
ning of the war General Yon Steinmetz was assigned to thé
command of the First German Army, consisting of the First,
Seventh, and Eighth Army Corps ; the Second Army being
under the command of Prince Friedrich Karl, and including the
Second, Third, Ninth, and Tenth Army Corps ; and the Third
Army under the Crown-Prince of Prussia, composed of the
Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh, and the two Bavarian Army Corps.
There was also a Fourth Army, composed of the Fourth and
Twelfth Army Corps and the Saxon and Prussian Guards, under
the command of Friedrich August Albert, Crown-Prince of
Saxony, a well-educated and skilful officer, born in 1828, and
who commanded the Saxon contingent of Austria in the war of
186G. ' A Fifth Army, composed of the Wurtemberg and Baden
contingents, under the command of General Werden, has also
THE GRAND DUKE OF MECKLENBURG SCHWERIN.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
91
participated in the war, being engaged in the siege of Stras
bonrg ; while the Landwehr, or Reserves, formed the Sixth and
Seventh Armies, the former under the command of Friedrich
Franz, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a brave and
accomplished officer, and the latter under General Yon Canstein,
at Berlin, and General Loewenfeld, in Silesia. The corps-corn
mandcrs were all men of experience and ability ; and the whole
army, composed as it was of different natioialities of the Ger¬
man race, manifested the most remarkable harmony and obe¬
dience.
92
THE GREAT WAR
CHAPTER V.
THE financial condition of tlie two countries which are the
principals in this war is an important item in its relatione
to their ability to endure a great war. It is, however, a matter
of no small difficulty to arrive at the exact facts in relation to
the financial condition of France, since the statements of her
Ministers of Finance under the empire were irreconcilable with
themselves and with each other. In the first place, they gave
the " project of the budget," or estimate of the receipts and
expenses of the next year ; then, a year or two later, the " recti¬
fied budget," or corrected estimate for the same year ; and, a
year or two later still, the " definitive budget," or ascertained
amount of the expenses of perhaps three years before ; and
these estimates would vary from forty-five to fifty millions of
dollars from each <?ther. And, what was worse even, these de¬
finitive statements did not represent the actual expenditure;
and, in the course of sixteen years, loans were contracted in all
to the amount of five hundred and fifty million dollars, to sup¬
plement the current revenue. There is too much reason to
believe that fraud and peculation were rife in every department
of the Government. As nearly as can be ascertained, however,
the following statement represents pretty accurately the financial
condition of France in the beginning of 1870.
The tstal revenue received in France, in 1869, was $425,-
744,360, being $54,800,612 in excess of that of the United
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
93
States. This sum was raised by customs duties and an elaborate
system of inland revenue, which directly affects all interests in
the empire.
The principal items of this revenue were :
These figures serve to show the sources relied upon for reve¬
nue in France, and which will have to bear, in the future, a
large portion of the present war expenditure.
The estimated expenditure for the same period was $44D,-
668,130, formed of items such as the following :
Interest on the funded and floating debt $74,449,153
Ministry of the Interior. 40,049,587
Ministry of War 74,172,155
Ministry of Finance 23,889,565
Ministry of Marine and Colonies 32,267,684
Collection of revenue 46,855,022
The military expenditure of France during a year of pro
found peace was, it appears, in round numbers, $74,000,000;
such being the burden entailed by the French standing army of
404,000 men, irrespective of their forced withdrawal from pro¬
ductive industry. The marine, in addition, exacted, including
colonial expenditure, the sum of $32,267,684. In the presence
of this large revenue it cannot be said that France has been, as
the United States were at the commencement of hostilities, free
for years from heavy taxation, and consequently all the better
prepared to meet the burdens of war. On the contrary, her
expenditure was augmented in the following extraordinary pro¬
portions, and has since these years rather increased than dimin¬
ished.
Direct taxes
Registration, duties,, and stamps...
Customs and salt duties
Departmental and Communal taxes.
Wine and spirit duties
Tobacco monopoly
$65,903,732
86,789,200
20,724,600
45,(649,166
46,943,200
49,531,600
94 the great war
1853 $371,000,000
1853 441,600,000
1854 416,800,000
1855 434,000,000
1856 423,400,000
1857 457,400,000
The ordinary revenue in the twelve years from the establish¬
ment of the empire till the end of 1863, increased from $297,
400,000 to $452,800,000 ; while the expenditures augmented in
the same twelve years from $302,600,000 to $457,400,000.
With the exception of 1855, when the revenue was raised high
above the average by special means, there was not a year with¬
out a large deficit. To cover the ever-recurring financial de¬
ficits, the Government, between the years 1854 and 1870, pro¬
cured a series of loans, seven in number, in sums, as to nominal
capital, varying between $50,000,000 and $150,000,000. These
loans were raised on a new principle—that of borrowing not
from a few large banking-houses acting as agents, but directly
from the people, or the mass of small capitalists, both in France
and other countries. This course was highly successful. The
fifth loan, for instance, which was offered in 1859 and issued at
66 francs, 30 centimes—bearing 3 per cent, interest, was received
with the offer, on the part of half a million persons, of
4,487,000,000 francs, or sixteen times the amount required.
The following shows the cost of the three principal wars of
the empire, and the drain upon the population which they
caused :
Cost. Loss of mon.
Crimean war $1,700,000,000 80,000
Austrian war 300,000,000 60,000
Chinese and Mexican wars 200,000,000 65,000
Total $2,200,000,000 205,000
In connection with the increased expenditure referred to, it
should be borne in mind that the material wealth of France has
GENERAI FRANSEOKY.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
97
rapidly increased, mainly owing to tlie intervals of peace which
she enjoyed. Her home industries have suffered from the opera¬
tion of the commercial treaty with England, but, despite that,
their expansion has been great and general, if we except ship¬
building. The imports and exports in 1860 and 1868 contrast as
follows :
Imports. Exports. Total.
I860 $379,466,965 $455,425,383 $834,892,188
1868 679,714,400 581,358,000 1,261,072,400
One legacy which Napoleon III will leave France is an
enormous increase in her national debt. It was, in 1853,
$1,103,238,940. In 1868 it was $2,766,344,622, or two and a
half times greater. This is exclusive of a floating debt amount¬
ing to about $173,200,000, consisting of Treasury bills, funds
from savings banks, the Army Dotation Fund, and other liabil¬
ities.
This debt, as stated in the revenue returns, entails an annual
interest of $74,449,153, which is, however, much below the total
expenditure, on account of interest, pensions, and annuities,
which, in 1869, amounted to $128,225,000, or very nearly the
interest on our debt the same year. Despite the increase in the
national debt, French credit has improved. On June 29, 1870,
before the fears of war awakened the tremulous capitalists,
Rentes bearing 4£ per cent, interest sold for 104, and 3 per
cents, for 72.65.
The computed value of the real property in France is
$16,000,000,000 : the rural properties are valued at $10,000,-
000,000, and the town properties and buildings at $6,000,000,000
Turning now to the financial condition of Germany and
Prussia, we find a different state of affairs. The finances of
both the North German Confederation and the Prussian king-
dom were in a good condition, and the debt comparatively small.
7
TOE GREAT WAR
The revenue and expenditure of the North German Confed¬
eration for federal purposes is not large. The federal budget foi
the year 1870, passed by the Diet, April 24,18*69, was based upon
an estimate of expenditure, in round numbers, of $56,000,000,
to be covered to the extent of $39,000,000 by Prussia, and the
remainder by the other States of the Union. The total expendi¬
ture for 1869 was calculated at 72,734,601 thalers, or about
$54,550,950, of which the ordinary and extraordinary disburse¬
ments were distributed as follows :
Thalers.
For the Federal Chancellery, &c.... 193,913 = $145,435
For Consulates 275,650 = 206,738
For the Federal Army 66,340,275 = 49,755,206
For the Federal Navy 1,868,979 = 1,401,734
EXTRAORDINARY EXPENDITURE,
Thalers.
For the Federal Chancellery 150,000 = $112,500 •
For the General Post Administration 27,999 = 21,000
For Telegraphs 322,780 = 242,085
For the Federal Navy 3,550,000 = 2,662,500
The estimates for this year are, of course, now far below
what will be required.
*
The revenue of Prussia, according to the budget accounts in
1869, was $125,652,370, and the expenditure the same. The
revenue and expenditure of Prussia has, since 1865, been almost
stationary, and no deficits have marked her annual financial
returns—a feature unusual in most European budgets. This
revenue, in 1869, was raised to the extent of $31,500,000, from
direct and indirect taxes, to the amount of $14,180,443, which
includes the share of the Zollverein customs.
The State railroads, mines, forges, and other Government
monopolies, yielded the greater part of the balance. In the
estimate for 1869 the branches of expenditure were as follows :
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 90.
EXPENDITURE FOE THE YEAR 1869.
Current Expenditure.
Thalera.
Ministry of Finance 17,617,117
Ministry of Commerce and Public
Works 41,603,775
Ministry of State 73,256
Total current expenditure.... 59,294,148
Administrative Expenditure.
Ministry of Finance 32,026,658
Ministry of Commerce and Public .
Works 9,018,874
Ministry of Justice 15,943,780
Ministry of the Interior. 8,242,488
Ministry of Agriculture 2,283,648
Ministry of Public Instruction
and Ecclesiastical Affairs 6,222,004
Ministry of State 394,659
Ministry of Foreign Affairs 914,630
Charges for the Hohenzollern ter¬
ritory 220,628
Total administrative expenditure. 75,267,369
Charges on Consolidated Fund.
Addition to the " Krondotation "
of the King 1,500,000
Interest on Public Debt, includ¬
ing railway debt 16,973,637
Sinking fund of debt 8,178,433
Annuities . 429,753
Chamber of Lords... 40,910
Chamber of Deputies 243,000
Miscellaneous 122,807
$127,537,543
4.114.82H
Total charges on Consolidated
Fund 27,488,540
Total ordinary expenditure 162,050,057 =
Extraordinary expenditure 5,486,437 =
167.536,494 =
$125,052.371
100
THE GREAT WAR
The public debt of Prussia is very light, and has been almosi
entirely incurred since 1850. While six and a half years of the
large French annual revenue is represented by the amount of the
French debt, that of Prussia amounts to only one and a half
years of her moderate annual receipts. The total debt of the
kingdom, both old and new provinces, amounts to $188,497,520,
.exclusive of the small liabilities incurred by the annexed prov¬
inces for the establishment of State railroads.
The revenue and expenditure of the other German States is
unimportant. The same economy is apparent in their financial
affairs as in the Prussian, the standing armies being the only
serious burden.
It follows, from the solvency and well-managed finances of
Prussia, that her credit is untarnished. During fifty-five years
the - German people have (excepting the recent Austrian war)
been undisturbed by war, and have been enabled to develop the
immense resources of their fertile territory and accumulate
large material wealth.
The social condition of the two countries offers an equally,
striking.contrast. In Germany, and especially in Prussia, edu¬
cation is well-nigh universal. The population of the North
German .Confederation, in 1867, was 29,053,038, and that of
South Germany 8,869,328 ; making a total of 38,522,366. Of
this population, only an infinitesimal proportion are unable to
read and write, while the greater part have a good public-school
education.
The great advantages of this thorough education have mado
themselves visible in the improved social condition and greater
intelligence of the masses, and have made tliem vastly better
soldiers in a cause where their patriotic feelings were enlisted.
It has resulted, too, in a larger measure of thrift and business
enterprise throughout the whole of Germany. Nearly every
town has its thriving manufactory ; and though the price of
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
101
labor is low, it is advancing, and with it the wealth of the com¬
munity.
The social condition of France is not so good. The wealth,
intelligence, and business activity of the country, and, to a large
extent, its poverty and crime also, have been concentrated in
Paris and two or three other large cities. Education is very
much neglected. Thirty per cent, of the conscripts (who repre¬
sent very fully the male adult population of France) cannot read
or write. The school-age of children is only from seven to thir¬
teen, and nearly a million, or about one fifth of the entire num¬
ber of children between these ages, do not attend school.
Morals are, as is well known, at a very low ebb. One eighth of
the births (taking city and country together) are known to be
illegitimate, and a still larger proportion are concealed by infan¬
ticide, which is so prevalent as to make the percentage of
increase of population in France smaller than that of any other
European State. As a nation, the French are brave, full of
dash, and, when properly trained, good soldiers ; but under
existing circumstances they have been badly led and but indif¬
ferently trained, and the lack of high intelligence has made
them less effective as soldiers than the Germans. The country
communes are, for the most part, very poor, and there is much
less intelligence and enterprise than in Germany. The peas¬
antry in Germany do not live any too well, but they have more
and better food than the same class in France.
The statements which were at first put forth in regard to the
military and naval strength of the two countries proved subse¬
quently to be erroneous, the errors being, however, in opposite
directions—the army of France being greatly overrated, and
that of Prussia and the North German Confederation singularly
jnderstated. In regard to France, the overestimate was the
result of two causes : one, the national tendency to exaggeration,
and to regard the official statements of the army on paper as
102
THE GREAT WAR
having their full equivalent in the actual dépôts and barracks ;
and the other, that neither the public, the Emperor, nor any one
of his officials, knew the full extent of the 6ystem of frauds
which had pervaded every department of the service.
The underestimate of the Prussian Government of its forces
was also attributable to two causes : the natural cautiousness of
the Prussians leading them to make allowances beyond the
actual deficiencies ; and the indisposition on the part of the Gov¬
ernment to lay before the people the vast amount of their mili¬
tary strength, lest, as in previous years, it should be regarded as
in excess of their need, and a useless expenditure.
The French army, it was reported, when war was first de¬
clared, including the active army, the reserve, the National
Guard, and the numerous less important branches, would make
up the imposing array of 1,350,000 men. The active army,
according to the official statistics, comprised : staff', 1,082 ; gen¬
darmes, 24,548 ; infantry, 250,900 ; cavalry, 61,583 ; artillery,
37,959 ; engineers, 7,845 ; military train, 8,954 ; commissariat,
11,208. It was said to be commanded by 8 marshals, 86 gen¬
erals of division, and 160 generals of brigade. To this active
army of 404,794 men was to be added the reserve of 400,000 ;
318 battalions of infantry of the National Guard, numbering
508,800 men in all, and 123 batteries of artillery, and .5 compa
nies of pontoniers, numbering together 29,923 men.
Beyond this vast force, it was said, were the Garde Mobile,
answering to the English disembodied militia, as the National
Guard did to the Volunteers. The Garde Mobile consisted, it
was said, of about 600,000 men, who had a skeleton organization
of officers, but had not been called out for any actual service ;
but it was believed by the French people that they would be a
veiy formidable addition to their military force, and probably be
fully capable of meeting on equal terms the German soldiers of
the line. Here, then, were military organizations which could,
TITO ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK IN THE CATHEDRAL
OF STRASBURO.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
105
on an emergen 3y, throw nearly two million soldiers into the
field. This was not, to be sure, an extravagant estimate, as the
population of France was about thirty-eight millions. But the
sanguine French people forgot, or rather did not know, that
such had been the facilities for procuring substitutes by a money
payment, that not less than one fifth of the conscripts of any
year released themselves from service by the payment of a com*
mutation, which, instead of being employed by the Government
in hiring substitutes, was perverted to private purposes ; another
fifth was declared exempt for various causes more or less just ;
and a third fifth, though nominally on the rolls, and pay and
rations drawn for them; had their existence only there. Thus it
happened that, of a conscription nominally of 125,000 men, not
over 50,000 or 55,000 were actually in the service. Thus,
though, as stated above, the army on the peace-footing amounts
to 404,000 men, and the first reserves to as many more, yet from
both there were at no time more than 350,000 men to take the
field, and it is doubtful if even this number ever actually report¬
ed for duty.
On the 2d of August the strength and position of the French
army were reported as follows :
First Corps, MacMahon's, 45,000 men, at Strasbourg ; the
Second Corps, Frossard's, 30,000 men, at St. Auld ; the Third
Corps, Bazaine's, 30,000 men, at Metz ; Fourth Corps, L'Admi-
rault's, 30,000 men, at Thionville ; Fifth Corps, De Failly's,
30,000 men, at Bitche and Saorguemines ; Sixth Corps, Can-
robert's, 30,000 men, at Chalons ; Seventh Corps, Douay's,
80,000 men, at Besançon and Belfort ; the Eighth Corps, Bour-
baki's, 30,000 men, at Metz. (This was the Imperial Guard.)
Cavalry, 34,000. Total, 309,000. With artillery and the re¬
serve cavalry, nearly 350,000 men. It is not probable that these
army-corps were all full, or indeed, very nearly so. Far sooner
than should have been necessary, both the National Guard and
THE GREAT WAR
the Garde Mobile were called out ; and yet, outside of the gar
rison of Paris and the other great cities, it would seem to have
been impossible to keep up an army of much more than 300,000
men. Early in the war there were bands of Franc-tireurs, a
kind of guerillas, not uniformed, and recognizing no special alle¬
giance to any particular corps, organized in all parts of France ;
and these, like guerillas generally, while fighting in their irregu¬
lar way the .common enemy, took occasion also to do some plun¬
dering on their own account among their countrymen. Includ¬
ing these irregular troops, the armies in the field, and the garri¬
sons of Paris and other cities, there may have been possibly a
million of men in all in the field ; but deducting the dead,
wounded, and prisoners, and the deserters, it is doubtful if there
were, on the 15th of October, 650,000 French troops under arms.
The following statement of the military strength of Germany
at the beginning of the war is condensed from an elaborate ar¬
ticle in the Frankfv/rter Zeitung (Frankfort Gazette), the highest
German authority on the subject, and is undoubtedly drawn
from official sources. It is evident, from several circumstances,
that the computation was made in April, 1870, and, therefore,
when there was no immediate prospect of war. It is remark¬
able that, before the 1st of October, the King of Prussia should
have been able to bring into the field a force considerably ex¬
ceeding this computation, notwithstanding the inevitable shrink
age of troops when called into the field.
The North German Confederation comprises 23 States, in¬
cluding Hesse, the northern part of which alone belongs to the
Confederation. Prussia has military conventions with the king;
dom of Saxony, with several Thuringian States, with Hesse,
Mecklenberg-Schwerin and Strelitz, with Oldenburg, &c., where¬
by the armies of all these States are closely bound up with the
Prussian forces.
TUE SHARPSHOOTERS OF THE VOSGES LYING IN AMBUSCADE AND
ATTACKING A GERMAN CONVOY.
between FRANCE AND GERMANY.
109
The forces of the North German Confederation are as fol
k ws *
Line.—Infantry : 4 Prussian regiments of Foot Guards, 4
Prussian regiments of Grenadier Guards, 1 Prussian regiment
of Fusilier Guards, 15 regiments of Grenadiers of the line, 77
regiments of Infantry, 13 regiments of Fusiliers, 4 Ilessian regi
inents of 2 battalions each, 1 Prussian battalion of Chasseurs of
the Guard, 1 battalion Sharpshooters, 16 battalions of Chas¬
seurs ; total infantry, 118 regiments and 18 battalions—368
battalions in all.
Cavalry : 10 regiments Cuirassiers (including two regiments
of Guards), 11 regiments Dragoons (including 2 regiments of
Guards), 18 regiments Hussars (including 1 regiment of Guards),
21 regiments Lancers (Uhlanen), (including 3 regiments of
Guards), 6 regiments Light Cavalry (including 2 regiments of
Guards). Total cavalry, 76 regiments.
Artillery : 1 regiment of Field Artillery (Guards), 12 regi¬
ments of Field Artillery, 1 Hessian division of Field Artillery,
1 regiment of Siege Artillery (Festungs Artillerie) (Guards),
8 regiments of Siege Artillery, 4 divisions of Siege Artillery, 1
division Rocket Train ; in all, 13 regiments and 1 division Field
Artillery, and 9 regiments and 1 division of Siege Artillery.
Engineers: 1 battalion of Pioneers of the Guard, 12 bat¬
talions of Pioneers, 1 Hessian company of Pioneers.
Train : 13 battalions and 1 division of Baggage, Ammuni¬
tion, &c., Train.
Landwehk.—97 regiments of infantry, two battalions each—
194 battalions ; 12 reserve battalions—12 battalions ; 4 regi¬
ments of the Guard, three battalions each—12 battalions.
Total, 218 battalions.
If we summarize the foregoing, we have the following result :
Field-Aemt.—Infantry, 394,310 men ; Cavalry, 53,528 men :
Artillery, 1,212 pieces.
HQ
tiib great war
Reserve.—Infantry, 145,944 men ; Cavalry. 18,991 men;
Artillery, 234 pieces.
Garrison Troops.—Infantry, 143,924 njen ; Cavalry, 10,208
men ; Artillery, 234 pieces.
In the above computation are not reckoned the armies of the
allied South German States, which now follow :
Bavaria.—16 regiments of Infantry of 3 battalions each ;
10 battalions Chasseurs ; 10 regiments of Cavalry ; 2 brigades
of Artillery; which give 69,064 men in Field troops, 25,757
men Reserve, and 22,614 Garrison troops ; making, in all,
117,435 men and 240 guns.
Wurtemberg.—8 regiments of Infantry of 2 battalions each;
2 battalions of Chasseurs ; 4 regiments of Cavalry ; 2 regiments
of Artillery; which give, in Field troops, 22,076 men ; Reserve,
6,540 ; Garrison troops, 5,064 ; making, in all, 34,680 men and
66 guns.
Baden.—6 regiments of Infantry of 3 battalions each ; 3
regiments of Cavalry ; 3 Field divisions of Artillery ; giving
16,656 Field troops ; 3,995 Reserve, and 9,640 Garrison troops ;
making, in all, 30,291 men and 64 guns.
Thus the auxiliary troops which the three South German
States would bring to the aid of the North German Confedera¬
tion amount to the respectable figure of 169,802 men, and 370
guns.
The aggregates are: Field Army, 555,634 men and 1,584
guns ; Reserves (Landwehr), 201,207 ^aen and 234 field-pieces ;
Garrison troops, 192,450 men and 234 pieces of artillery.
Grand total, 949,291 men and 2,052 guns. That the German
army in the field since the beginning of the war has consider¬
ably exceeded 1,200,000 men, does not admit of a doubt.
But if the Germans had a decided preponderance in military
strength, the French were, in turn, greatly their superiors in
naval power. In this direction, indeed, France claimed to be
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
Ill
second to no nation in the world, and only equalled by Great
Britain, which for so long a period had boasted of " ruling the
waves." The French people, it is true, do not naturally take
to maritime pursuits; their commercial marine has been at all
times smaller and less efficiently manned than that of many
smaller nations, and their very large and well-appointed navy
was not so well manned as that of Great Britain, ità vessels
being supplied with crews by conscription, and these not always
from the coasts ; bo that, though the French navy has had no
important naval battles to test its prowess, it is hardly to be sup¬
posed that it would be found much superior in fighting ability
to its old reputation.
The French naval force consisted, in January, 1870, of
74,664 officers and men. There were 2 admirals, C. Rcgnauld
Je Genouilly and F. T. Trehouart ; 6 active vice-admirals, and
80 active counter-admirals. The fleet, on the 1st of January,
L870, was composed as follows :
Number. Gum.
Screw steamers, iron-clad 65 1,032
Screw steamers, non-iron-clad 233 2,618
Wheel steamers 61 116
Sailing-vessels 100 014
Total 439 4,680
Besides these there were 8 screw steamers, iron-clad, with
68 guns, and 23 non-iron-clad, with 144 guns, building.
If this large number of vessels were all in commission, or
capable of being rendered readily effective, it would indeed
have been the most powerful of navies ; but this was very far
from being the case. A little analysis of the vessels composing
the navy will readily demonstrate this. Of the 63 iron-elads
afloat and building in 1869, 2 only were ships of the line—the
Magenta and Solferino ; 18 were iron-clad frigates, varying from
800 to 950 horse-power, carrying from 12 to 32 guns, and having
crews of from 570 to 600 men, and the greater part were costly
112
THE GREAT WAR
experiments of untried models ; 9 were iron-clad gunboats, of
several different models, carrying usually 12 guns and 310 men,
and probably, for real service, the most efficient vessels of the
navy ; 7, described as iron-clad coast-guards, were of very
varied capacity and horse-power, for the most part carrying
only 1 or 2 guns. Among these was the Rochambeau, origi¬
nally named the Dunderberg, built in New York for our Gov¬
ernment, but, not exactly meeting its views, sold, in 1867, to
the French Emperor ; another was a cupolarship with a powerful
ram, named the Taureau. The remaining 27 were floating bat¬
teries, of use for the protection of their own rivers and coasts,
but not adapted to offensive warfare. Of these, 12 were so
constructed that they could be taken to pieces and transported
overland to navigable rivers for warfare along their banks : 6
or 8 of these were sent to Strasbourg, to be put together there
and sent down the Rhine, but fell into the hands of the Ger¬
mans on the capture of that city. Of the non-armored screw
steamers very few were in commission, 27 of the 29 ships of the
line of this class being laid up in ordinary, with very little
probability of their ever being commissioned again ; 112 were
despatch boats or transports, as were 44 of the paddle steamers.
The 100 sailing-vessels were mostly employed as guards of the
fisheries. Still, after making these deductions, there remained
a formidable naval force, from which great things were expected.
The blockade of the German coast was assigned to 16 of the
iron-clads, mostly of the frigate class, and to 11 of the best of
the despatch boats not armored. Other vessels of the navy
hovered around neutral ports, like Liverpool and New York, in
the hope of catching some of the German steamers. Owing to
their great draught, however, the iron-clads were not capable of
approaching near enough to the German ports to do any mis¬
chief, and their only exploits up to the 15th of October had
been the capture of 15 or 20 unarmed merchantmen.
®HE FRENCH MITRAILLEUR.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
115
The Prussian navy was small, hut its vessels were well con*
structed, and some of them were more than a match for any
single vessel of the French navy. The following was their nam
ber, January 1,1870 :
Number. Gun».
Iron-clada 6 70
Frigates and corvettes 9 202
Gunboats 23 54
Yachts 1 2
Paddle-corvettes 3 15
Sailing-vessels 59 315
Total 101 658
The aggregate horse-power of the steam portion of the fleet
was 7,020, and the crews, officers, and marines numbered 3,878
men. The great success of the Prussian armies soon rendered
naval action of very little importance, and, shortly after the
revolution occurred, the blockade of the German ports—never
very effective—was practically abandoned. Let us next con¬
sider, as one of the problems materially affecting the success of
the war, the armament of these forces, whether on the land or
the sea. It has often been said, though incorrectly, that Prussia
owed her victories over Austria, in 1866, to her superior artillery
and her needle-guns. Theëe victories were due, in the first
place, to the genius of von Moltke and the thorough organiza¬
tion and training of the Prussian forces ; but it is not to be
denied that the artillery and needle-guns in the hands of thor¬
oughly trained soldiers contributed largely to the result.
The cannon in use in the German army are mostly of steel,
breech-loaders, of different sizes and calibres as required, but
mostly of one general pattern, devised by Herr Krupp, a Prus¬
sian founder, at whose extensive works most of them were made.
The steel of which they are made is of the low but malleable
grade produced by the Bessemer and other kindred processes.
Most of these cannon are rifled, and their range, accuracy, and
116
THE GREAT WAR
toughness is extraordinary. A French authority, writing of the
battles around Sedan, states that, on the morning of the surren¬
der, the Emperor was, with his staff, suddenly subjected to a
terribly severe cannonade, the shot and shell being thrown with
most uncomfortable accuracy, and, on inquiry, found that they
came from a Prussian battery 4,900 metres (a little more than
three miles) distant. One of the best of the French batteries
was put in position to reply to it, but its shot and shells fell into
the Moselle, not over 1,500 metres, or less than one mile, from
the battery.
The French cannon are mostly of bronze, muzzle-loaders,
and of the pattern claimed by the Emperor as his own, and
named " Napoleons." They are greatly inferior to the Prussian
guns in range, accuracy, and ease of handling, and not superior
to them in tenacity. The French, in the war of 1870, have,
however, introduced one weapon which, with some modifica¬
tions, seems likely to play an important part in wars hereafter.
It is the mitrailleuse, or, as it is sometimes called, the mitra¬
illeur, a weapon analogous to, though hardly as effective as, our
Gatling battery. The principle of this new and destructive
weapon is somewhat like that of the revolver, or the many-
chambered pistol, applied to a species of field-piece. A num¬
ber of barrels of a calibre sufficient for an inch-ball are grouped
around a central steel staff, and, metallic cartridges being sup¬
plied, they are, by a simple crank-movement, forced into the
several barrels, and discharged with great rapidity, from two to
three hundred per minute. The range which presents any con¬
siderable accuracy, in the French mitrailleuse, does not much
exceed a mile, but within this range the weapon is exceedingly
destructive. The Prussians had examined the Gatling battery,
acknowledged to be the most effective of all the guns of this
class, but had not been favorably impressed by it ; but their
late experiences have probably changed their opinion. The
THE CHASSEPÔT.
F'g- 1.—Chas3epôt Rifle : breech closed. Fig. 2.—Ready for reception of cartridge : 1. Lever for opening and locking breech ; 2. Head of the
plunger, containing needle for exploding cartridge ; 3. Chamber for cartridge. Fig. 3.—Rifle loaded and closed : 1. Plunger drawn out ready
for explosion of cartridge ; 2. Sight raised for long range.
118
THE GREAT WAR
Fosberry battery, or mitrailleuse, does not seem to be the most
perfect form of this destructive weapon, experiments in England
proving the decided superiority of the Gatling battery to it in
all respects ; but there can be no doubt that it will in some form
add a formidable weapon to the armament of civilized nations.
It will not take the place of cannon, and it will be liable to be
destroyed by cannon-shot and shell at long range ; yet the expe¬
rience of the war proves that it has its place, and an important
one, in both offensive and defensive warfare. There have bead
rumors of a steam mitrailleuse worked with the frightful velocity
of which that powerful agent is capable, but there are evidently
difficulties to be overcome before this combination can be made
practicable.
The weapons with which the rank and file of the two armies
were provided also deserve our attention. The Nâdelgewehr,
or needle-gun of the Prussians, has now been in use in their
armies more than twenty years. It has been, slightly modified
and improved in such a way as to increase its certainty of dis¬
charge, and, perhaps, slightly its accuracy, but the principle <
the gun is the same as in 1848.
The Prussian needle-gun is the invention of Hekk Dreysi..
a gun-manufacturer, who spent thirty years in trying to cor
«struct a perfect breech-loading rifle that would be of practie*
use in war.
There is no necessary connection between a breech-loading
gun and the method of firing by the penetration of a needle
into a detonating cap or fulminating powder within the cartridge ;
but the desire to dispense with the separate application of the
percussion cap, as his predecessors had done with the more
clumsy mechanism of the flint and match-locks, led Herr Dreyse
to seek the best and simplest method of combining these two
qualities—loading at the breech, and firing by a needle. The
greatest, as it was the earliest, objection to breech-loading fire
THE PRUSSIAN NEEDLE-GUN.
Fig. 1.—1. Lever that locks in cylinder ; 2. Needle drawn back ready for projecting into cartridge. Fig. 2.—3. Chamber for
cartridge ; 4. Cylinder holding needle-case ; 5. Cylinder that passes under band ; 6. Trigger that pushes on spring, F, in
Fig. 3. Fig. 3.—Case containing needle : F, spring lifted by trigger, 6, in Fig. 2. Fig. 4.—Section of cartridge : P, powder ;
D, detonating powder in hole of sabot ; S, sabot holding the ball ; dotted line shows passage of needle on to detonating
powder at D, through the gunpowder, marked P. A, needle in spiral spring ; B, ball ; C, sabot containing ball ; D, detonating
powder at end of sabot.
td
M
H
g
M
H
1J
W
S
o
H
t
O
O
M
ta
S
4
120
THE GREAT WAR
arms has been their tendency to foul by the escape of a portion
of the gases of the powder and the residuum of water and in¬
combustible, or, at least, unconsumed matters left after repeated
firing. There are two methods of overcoming this difficulty,
which is in danger of preventing the perfect closure of the
breech upon the barrel. The first is by a method of closing
which shall effectually prevent the escape of gas at the breech ;
the second, by the adoption of a cartridge which shall cleanse
the barrel and joint at each discharge. There are difficulties in
both. Obturation, or the complete closing of the breech upon
the barrel, is effected in three distinct ways :
1. By inserting a cylinder into the barrel, or by inside or
internal obturation.
2. By shoving the open end of the barrel into the movable
elosing-piece so that the latter encompasses the end of the barrel,
called outside or external obturation.
3. By closing the end of the barrel with a flat, massive piece
of metal, which method is denominated flat obturation, and can
only be resorted to where metallic cartridges are used, like those
invented for the Lefancheux gun, the Spencer or Henry rifle,
&c., &e.
Of these three methods of obturation, the first is objection¬
able and imperfect, inasmuch as the cylinder to be inserted into
the barrel of the gun comes into immediate contact with the
gas-development, and with the dirty residue of the powder, in
consequence of which the free forward and backward movement
of the closing mechanism is soon materially checked, and the
rapid loading of the gun seriously interfered with. The third
method depends wholly upon the use of metallic cartridges, which
are too expensive for a large army. The firing of these breech¬
loaders is also much less rapid than that of the Prussian needle-
gun and the Chassepôt, as it is necessary, after each discharge
of the gun, to remove the metallic cap or the cartridge, often
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
12]
firmly inc-osed in the rear end of the barrel, except where, as
is the case with some American rifles, there is an automatic
arrangement for throwing out each shell by the firing of its
successor.
The Prussian needle-gun is, we believe, up to this day, the
only one in the manufacture of which the external obturation
has been resorted to, in preference to the other methods. And
just to the application of this system one of the most essential
advantages of the needle-gun can he attributed, as the metallic
plates coming into contact in the process of obturation are not
directly exposed to the danger of becoming overheated, and the
closing mechanism is kept free from all obstruction by the resi¬
due of powder, from which the Chassepôt, with its internal
obturation, suffers so severely. This inconvenience, which is
called, in French, "crachement" has been partly overcome by
the application of India-rubber knobs, which, however, become
in their turn dangerous to the working of the needle.
The needle-gun consists, as regards its breech apparatus and
needle-lock, of three concentric hollow cylinders, with a solid
cylindrical bolt, to which the needle is affixed, inside the inner¬
most. The rear end of the barrel is firmly screwed into the
head of the chamber which is fixed to the stock of the piece,
and is open at the rear end. The upper half of the cylinder is
cut away at the front end for rather more than the length of the
cartridge, to secure its ready admission. From the rear of this
opening to the back of the chamber a groove is cut sufficiently
wide to allow the square pillar of the breech-handle to pass
along it. In the middle of this groove is a right-angled shunt
Btopping the breech-handle when drawn backwards, unless it is
turned downwards, when it may be completely drawn out at
the rear end. This breech-handle is connected with and forme
part of the breech-piece, a solid steel cylinder moving within
the chamber, and having its front end bevelled with an inward
122
THE GREAT WAR
«lope to fit the external bevel of the rear end of the barrel, thug
closing it perfectly, and forming the external obturation of
which we have already spoken. Firmly screwed within th»>
breech-piece is a solid block of metal, with a conical projection
extending to the base of the cartridge, called a tige, or pillar.
Through this block is the channel in which the needle works.
Inside the breech-piece cylinder is another, with its springs con¬
stituting the lock of the gun. It slides within the breech-piece,
and is retained from falling out by a spring, which catches in
a notch at the rear end of the breech-piece. Along the bottom
of this cylinder is a groove to admit the passage of the trigger,
and at the back of the chamber is a short upright handle, by
means of which the weapon is cocked. Lastly, within the lock
is a solid steel bolt having the needle firmly fastened in its front
end, and its motions regulated by a strong spiral spring. When
the cartridge (which is of paper) is thrust into the chamber, and
moved forward by the act of half-cocking to its place, the point
of the needle and the end of the tige touch the base of the
cartridge, hut the spiral spring is relaxed, and without power ;
when the gun is at full-cock, the spring is compressed, the bolt
to which it is attached drawn back and held in place by the
trigger, which catches upon a shoulder of the bolt in front of
the spring. In the act of firing, the trigger releases this shoulder
of the bolt, the spring asserts its power, and the bolt shoots
forward, driving the needle unerringly to the fulminate in the
centre of the cartridge. Here is no opportunity of fouling, for
the cartridge wipes out the barrel, and the closely-fitting bevel
allows no escape of gas. The construction of the gun is so sim¬
ple, that, without screw-driver or any other implement, it can
readily be taken to pieces and cleaned or repaired. Its weight
—eleven or twelve pounds—is an objection to it, but it has good
qualities sufficient to balance this.
The Chassepôt rifle is a needle-gun, but varying in manj
GENERAL VON KIRCHBAUH.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
126
and important particulars from the Znind nadelgewchr, or Pru»
sian needle-gun. It was invented by M. Chassepôt, the French
Inspector-General of arms, in 1863 (but improved in 1866), tc
supply the demand of the French Government for a gun which
should be different from, yet equal to, the Prussian weapon. A
much smaller amount of time has been expended over it than
over its rival, and it has several serious defects. Its method of
closing the breech is by internal obturation, or the thrusting the
chamber into the barrel ; and hence, for the reasons already
stated, is more liable to foul, and to have its free movement in
loading checked and obstructed. This difficulty has proved so
great in the war of 1870, that the French have abandoned the
gun, and are supplying their troops as fast as possible with the
Kemington rifle, an American weapon. Its spiral spring is
shorter and weaker than the Prussian, and hence more liable to
fail ; and the rubber knob on the end of the cylinder, intended
to close the joint completely against fouling, is apt to press on
the needle and form a crust, which interferes with its free
motion. The French fire rapidly, and after a number of rounds,
in all the recent battles, they invariably manifested their im¬
patience at the foulness and obstruction of their rifles by blow¬
ing into them, shaking them, and trying to clear them—which
only made them worse,
M. Ignatius Neumann, of Liege, Belgium, a gun-manufacturer
of great intelligence and experience, an acknowledged atuhority
on all subjects relating to fire-arms, after long experimenting
with the two guns, thus gives his verdict in regard to them :
THE NEEDLE-GUN•
" 1. It is impossible to open
the gun as long as the spiral
spring is strained, while, on the
other hand, the spring cannot
THE CHASSEPÔT.
"1. The mechanism of the
gun is such as to necessitate the
straining of the spiral spring
previous to the opening of the
126
THE GREAT WAR
be strained unless the gun is
completely closed. Thus all
danger from want of precaution
in opening and in closing the
gun is averted, and it is just
as fully secured against an un¬
foreseen or accidental explosion
when loaded as when unloaded.
This may be considered the
beet and most perfect " rest."
" 2. The Prussian needle-gun
is the only breech-loader which
has the external obturation, by
which it is protected against all
' crachement,' as well as against
all other obstructions to the free
movement of its closing mechan¬
ism.
" 3. The gun can be taken
apart by any soldier without the
chamber. Therefore, the load¬
ing of the gun takes place, and
all the movements of the cylin¬
der have to be executed, with
strained spring ; and the slight¬
est touch on the trigger is sure
to cause the projecting of the
needle into the percussion-wa¬
fer, thus exploding the gun and
endangering the lives of those
around. Admitting the Chas-
sepôt to be a weapon the effi¬
ciency of which it would be im
prudent to question or to sneer
at, we cannot be blind to the
fact that, in the hands of a nerv¬
ous and excited French soldier,
it may eventually prove almost
as dangerous to his own com¬
rades and superiors as to the
enemy.
" 2. The internal obturation
produces ' crachement,' and in¬
terferes with the proper loading
of the gun through accumula¬
tion of dirt from powder-resi¬
due and gas. This takes place
as soon as the India-rubber knob
at the head of the cylinder loses
its elasticity and is not replaced
in due time.
" 3. The closing mechanism
is not as easily taken apart as
BETWEEN" FRANCE AND GERMANY.
necessity of using special tools
for that purpose; its cleaning
is very easy, and repairs, while
seldom necessary, require but
little time and skill.
" 4. The cartridge is undoubt¬
edly the best hitherto invented,
while its manufacture is easy
for the initiated ; the igniting
material lies in the solid case of
the fulminate, cannot be pushed
forward through the action of
the needle, and is sure to cause
the explosion of the powder-
charge without fail. The posi¬
tion of the fulminate, between
the projectile and the powder,
insures its instantaneous remov¬
al from the barrel of the gun at
every shot.
" 5. The needle-gun is of sim¬
ple and solid construction, and
just heavy enough to make it
useful in a bayonet-charge when¬
ever the contending armies come
into close contact."
127
is the case with the Prussian
weapon. The closing cylinder
moves up and down in its en¬
casement on a little screw, which
is easily broken by any impru¬
dent or too forcible pull, when
the gun is rendered unfit for use.
" 4. The cartridge is of diffi¬
cult construction, and is not
sufficiently protected against
spoiling when on the road for
any length of time. The pro¬
jectile does not always get free
from its paper cover in due
time, in all which cases the ball
drops short of its destination.
" 5. The Chassepôt is too
light, and its construction is not
sufficiently solid for a weapon
of thrust. In a close encounter
its inferiority will no doubt soon
become apparent."
Besides the defects and disadvantages above enumerated, the
Chassepôt labors under another serious drawback in the rapid
formation of a crust on and near the point of the needle, com¬
posed' of India-rubber and the residue of the igniting matter
128
THE GREAT WAR
and the powder-charge ; the needle becomeB useless, as it faili
to effect the explosion of the powder through the percussion-
wafer. If the percussion-wafer was placed in front of the
powder-charge, so that the needle would have to pierce through
the same before reaching the igniting matter (as is the case with
the Prussian needle-gun), the needle would not become ineffi¬
cient, and would remain clean without any interference on the
part of the soldier. But the spiral spring of the Chassepôt is
too short and too weak to admit of any such change of con¬
struction. The objection recently made to the Prussian needle-
gun, that its spiral spring was apt to get weakened and unable
to propel the needle with sufficient force to pierce the cartridge,
is futile, as nothing occurred either duting the campaign in
Schleswig-Holstein in 1864, or during the memorable ten days'
campaign in Bohemia in 1866, to warrant such a surmise. It
ie also asserted that the calibre of the Prussian gun is too large,
and the projectile consequently too heavy, rendering the carry¬
ing of a great number of cartridges extremely onerous to the
soldier. We are enabled to refute this statement also, for the
construction of the needle-gun is such as to admit of the use of
small projectiles in spite of the large calibre. The circumstance
that the ball is imbedded in the fulminate, wherewith it forms
one compact mass, and obtains its rotation by means of the
fulminate entering into the four grooves of the barrel, facilitates-
the firing of smaller projectiles than those originally used. To
sum up, Neumann says :
, "The Prussian nèedle-gun does not shoot better nor fire
further than any other breech-loader, but its material advan¬
tages over all those invented in France, Belgium, England, and
elsewhere, cannot be denied. It is entirely erroneous to suppose
that it was not introduced into the armies of other European
powers on account of its real or alleged shortcomings or defects.
France especially was actuated in its decision in the premises by
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
131
petty jealousy only. They didn't want it because they did not
want it; they were unwilling to admit its superiority because
somebody else had possessed it before them whom they couldn't
think of ever imitating. Such is human nature."
132
THE GREAT WAS
CHAPTER VI.
WE have deemed it necessary, to a full understanding of the
position of the two contending powers, to go thus fully
into the history of their antecedents, their financial, social, and
military condition, the history of their leaders, and the peculiar
weapons of the opposing parties. We now proceed with the
narrative of the opening of the war. There had sprung up,
partly, perhaps, from the coldness and jealousies of France, a
very cordial feeling between the Spanish Government since the
revolution of "1868, and Prussia, and there had been a more than
usually frequent interchange of civilities. General Prim, who
was personally very friendly to the French Emperor, had sounded
the Prussian Minister to Spain in regard to the candidacy of
one of the Hohenzollern princes for the. Spanish throne, indi¬
cating his preference for the elder brother of the family of
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, but the proposition not being very
favorably received, it had been allowed to drop, not, however,
till the General had alluded to its possibility before the Cortes.
In May, or early in June, General Prim had an interview with
the French Emperor at Biarritz, and, almost immediately after
his return, proposed to the Spanish Cortes the name of Prince
Leopold, second son of Prince Carl Anton, the head of the
house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, for the vacant throne of
Spain, and a large majority of the Cortes accepted his candi¬
dacy. A correspondence with the Prince resulted in his expres¬
sion of his willingness to be the candidate of the Cortes for the
position.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
133
Prince Leopold was from an independent branch of the
Hohenzollern family, having no claims on the succession to the
Prussian throne, and were not in any sense directly responsible to
it for their action, unless it was treasonable to the reigning house
of Prussia to the Prussian King. The Prince was about thirty-
five years of age, highly educated, very wealthy, and a Catholic,
and held the nominal rank of colonel in the Prussian army.
The King of Prussia was, when the matter was laid before him,
prompt to express his disapprobation of it, believing that it
would prove another Maximilian affair, and that the Prince
would lose his head.
In spite of this disapproval, the Prince gave his consent to
be a candidate. On the 4th of July, 1870, General Prim ad¬
vised Senor Olozaga, Spanish Minister at Paris, of his selection
of Prince Leopold, and the sanction of it by the Cortes. On
the 5th of July, Baron Werther, Prussian Minister at Paris,
left that city for Ems to consult with the King relative to this
affair. On the 6th of July, the French Government sent a note
to Count Benedetti, the Emperor's Minister at Berlin, instruct¬
ing him to demand the disavowal of Prince Leopold's candidacy
by Prussia, and the withdrawal of his name from the list of
candidates for the Spanish crown, on the ground that Franca
would consider his elevation to that position as a check and
menace to her, which she would not under any pretext permit.
Count Benedetti, himself a Corsican, and of very fiery tem¬
per, acting also evidently under instructions from the Emperor,
made haste to present the matter as offensively as possible to
the King of Prussia. Mr. George Ripley, of the Tribune staff,
was in Berlin at this time, and has given a most accurate and
graphic account of the series of interviews between the Count
and the King, the truth of which is certified to by the King and
bis personal suite.
The first audience, Mr. Ripley says, took place on July 9,
184
THE GREAT WAR
at the request of Count Benedetti. It was demanded by him
that the King should require the Prince of Hohenzollern to
withdraw his acceptance of the Spanish crown. The King re¬
plied that, as in the whole affair, he had been addressed only as
the head of the family, and never as the King of Prussia, aud
had, accordingly, given no command for the acceptance of the
candidature, he could also give no command for withdrawal.
On the 11th of July, Count Benedetti requested a second audi¬
ence, which was granted. In this interview he was urgent with
the King to prevail upon Prince Leopold to renounce the crown.
The King replied that the Prince was perfectly free to decide
for himself, and that, moreover, he did not even know where he
was at that moment, as he was about to take a journey among
the Alps. On the morning of July 13, the King met Benedetti
on the public promenade before the fountain, and gave him an
extra sheet of The Cologne Gazette, which he had just received,
with a private telegram from Sigmaringen, relating the with¬
drawal of the Prince, remarking, at the same time, that he him¬
self had heard nothing from Sigmaringen, but should expect
letters that day. Count Benedetti replied that he had already
received the information the evening before from Paris, and, as
the King regarded the matter as thus settled, the Count wholly
unexpectedly made a new demand, proposing to the King that
he should expressly pledge himself never to give his consent in
case the question of the candidature should at any subsequent
time be revived. The King decidedly refused to comply with
any such demand, and, when Benedetti returned to his proposal
with increasing importunity, stood by his answer. In spite of
this, a few hours after, the Count requested a third audience.
Upon being asked what subject was to be considered, he gave
for answer that he wished to renew the discussion of the morn¬
ing. The King declined another audience, as he had no answer
but that already given, and, moreover, all negotiations must
M. BENEDETTI.
LOUIS II. OF BAVARIA.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
137
now take place through the Ministry. Benedetti requested
permission to take leave of the King upon his departure from
Ems, which was so far granted that the King bowed to him as
the latter was leaving the railway station the next -day for
Coblenz. Each of the interviews of Benedetti with the King
had the character of a private conversation. The Count did
not once pretend to be acting in bis official capacity.
In the preceding statement, which is sanctioned by the King
himself, no mention is made of the rudeness of Benedetti in
forcing himself upon His Majesty while indulging in the recrea¬
tion of a walk on the crowded promenade of Ems. It is gen¬
erally regarded, however, as a studied insult on the part of the
French Minister, and is commented on with indignation by the
German press. Such a violation of diplomatic courtesy could
hardly have been accidental. Not even the excitement of a
sudden surprise could excuse the incivility ; but there was no
surprise in the case ; the Count had received the news the night
before, and had at least twelve hours to meditate his course of
action. The affair was witnessed with astonishment by the
numerous spectators of the scene, who drew their own augury
of its probable consequences. It was interpreted as a sign of
hostility toward Prussia, and two days after came the declaration
of war.
The actual demands of the French Government upon the
King are contained in a subsequent despatch from Baron
Werther, the Prussian Minister at Paris. In a conversation
with the Duke de Gramont, the latter remarked that he re¬
garded the withdrawal of Prince Leopold as a matter of second¬
ary importance, but he feared that the course of Prussia in
regard to it would occasion a permanent misunderstanding be¬
tween the two countries. It was necessary to guard against this
t»y destroying the germ. The conduct of Prussia toward France
had been unfriendly. This was admitted, to his certain know-
138
THE GREAT WAR
ledge, by all the great powers. To speak frankly, he did not
wish for war, but would rather preserve amicable relations with
Prussia. He hoped that Prussia had similar dispositions. He
was satisfied with the intentions of the Prussian Minister, and
they could accordingly freely discuss the conditions of recon¬
ciliation. He would suggest the writing of a letter to the Em¬
peror by the King, disavowing all purpose of infringing upon
the interests or the dignity of France in his authorizing the
acceptance of the Spanish crown by Prince Leopold. The King
should confirm the withdrawal of the Prince, and express the
hope that all ground of complaint between the two Govern¬
ments would thus be removed. Nothing should be said in the
letter concerning the family relations between Prince Leopold
and the Emperor.
The refusal of the King to accept the humiliating conditions
proposed by the French Government has called forth the liveliest
approval and sympathy in all parts of Germany.
As early as the 8th of July, the Emperor had ordered two
corps d'armée to be ready for immediate movement, one under
the command of Bazaine, the other of Lebœuf. This, it will
be noticed, was the day before Benedetti's first interview with
the King. On the 12th, French troops passed through Paris on
their way to the frontier. On the 14th, the French fleet sailed
to blockade the German ports. On the 15th, war was declared
by the French Corps Législatif against Prussia, at 1.50 p. m., on
these grounds : First, the insult offered at Ems to Count Bene-
detti, the French Minister, and its approval by the Prussian
Government ; ,second, the refusal of the King of Prussia to
compel the withdrawal of Prince Leopold's name as a candidate
for the Spanish throne ; and third, the fact that the King per¬
sisted in giving the Prince liberty to accept the crown.
On the same day Count Bismarck warned German vessels to
hasten to ports of shelter ; Holland ordered the mobilization of
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
139
her army ; Austria professed neutrality, unless a third power
intervenes ; King William returned to Berlin from Ems ; the
German army was ordered to be put in motion ; the President
of the United States recommended to Congress a temporary and
partial relaxation of the navigation laws.
On leaving Ems at an early hour on the morning of the
15th, King Wilhelm found a great crowd of citizens assembled
to witness his departure, and said to them in parting, " God is
my witness that I have not desired war ; but if 1 am forced into
it, I will maintain the honor of Germany to the last man." The
enthusiasm for the war, forced upon them by France, was intense
throughout Germany, the patriotism and war-like spirit of the
people of South Germany and Schleswig-Holstein, both of which
had been a few years before at war with Prussia, apparently
rising higher even than that of the citizens of the North Ger¬
man Confederation. Addresses of the most earnest character to
i
the King were adopted everywhere, and the legend, " With God
for King and Fatherland," blazed out all over Germany. The
Prussian Legislature, called in extraordinary session at Berlin,
was a unit for prompt and vigorous war. The King opened the
session with a brief address, which was greeted with the wildest
enthusiasm. The King said Prussia had no interest in the selec
tion of the Prince of Hohenzollern for the Spanish throne,
except that it might bring peace to a friendly people. It had,
nevertheless, furnished the Emperor of the French with a pre¬
text for war unknown to diplomacy, and, scorning peace, he had
indulged in language to Germany which could- only have been
prompted by a miscalculation of her strength. Germany was
powerful enough to resent such language and repel such violence.
He said so in all reverence, knowing that the event was in God's
hands. He had fully weighed the responsibility which rested
on the man who drives into war and havoc two great and tran¬
quil nations yearning for peace and the enjoyment of the com*
140
THE GREAT WAR
mon blessings of Christian civilization and prosperity, and foi
contests more salutary than those of blood. Those who rule
France have shrewdly studied the proper methods of hitting the
sensitive pride of that great neighbor-nation, and, to promote
selfish interests, have misguided it. " Then," concluded the
King, " as our fathers before us have done, let us fight for liberty
and our rights against the wrongs inflicted by a foreign con¬
queror ; and as He was with our fathers, so God will be with
us in a struggle without which Europe can never enjoy lasting
Deace."
After the King's speech had been delivered, a loan of
120,000,000 thalers was carried unanimously, amid the wildest
expressions of enthusiasm by all parties. The enthusiasm was
not so great in France, nor the Legislature so unanimous ; there
were a considerable number of the Republican members who
perceived that the war was proclaimed in the interests of the
Napoleonic dynasty, and therefore opposed it; but the French
people are excitable, and the cry of glory and conquest rendered
most of them deaf to reason for the time, and the war could be
said, in general, to be popular with them.
As we have already said, the Emperor delayed his departure,
as it was thought at the time very singularly, from Paris, after
the declaration of war. It is now known that he was astounded
to find how utterly unprepared his army was for moving, and
made vain and desperate efforts to undo the evil wrought by
years of corruption and fraud. Finding, at length, that his
enemy was fully ready for him on the frontier, he issued, on
the 23d of July, the following address to the people of France:
" Frenchmen : There are in the life of a people solemn mo¬
ments, when the national honor, violently excited, arouses itself
irresistibly, rises above all other interests, and applies itself with
the single purpose of directing the destinies of the nation. One
TWO MURDERERS OF WOUNDED GERMAN SOLDIERS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
143
of those decisive hours has now arrived for France. Prussia, to
whom we have given evidence, during and since the war of 1856,
of the most conciliatory disposition, has held our good-will of
no account, and has returned our forbearance by encroachments.
She has aroused distrust in all quarters, necessitating exaggerated
armaments, and has made of Europe a camp where reign dis¬
quiet and fear of the morrow. A final incident has disclosed
the instability of the international understanding, and shown
the gravity of the situation. In the presence of her new pre¬
tensions, Prussia was made to understand our claims. They
were evaded and followed with contemptuous treatment. Our
country manifested profound displeasure at this action, and
quickly a war-cry resounded from one end of France to the
other.
" There remains for us nothing but to confide our destinies
to the chance of arms. We do not make war upon Germany,
whose independence we respect. We pledge ourselves that the
people composing the great Germanic nationalities shall dispose
freely of their destinies. As for us, we demand the establish¬
ment of a state of things guaranteeing our security and assuring
the future. We wish to conquer a durable peace, based on the
true interests of the people, and to assist in abolishing that pre¬
carious condition of things when all "nations are forced to employ,
their resources in arming against each other.
" The glorious flag of France which we once more unfurl
in the face of our challengers, is the same which has borne over
Europe the civilizing ideas of our great revolution. It repre¬
sents the same principles ; it will inspire the 6ame devotion.
" Frenchmen : I go to place myself at the head of that gal¬
lant army, which is animated by love of country and devotion
to duty. That army knows its worth, for it has seen victory
follow its footsteps in the four quarters of the globe. I take
with me my son. Despite nis tender years, he knows the duty
14À
THE GREAT WAR
his name imposes upon him, and he is proud to bear his part in
the dangers of those who fight for our country. May God bless
our efforts. A great people defending a just cause is invincible.
" Napoleon."
In this address there is evident not only a disposition to mis¬
represent the real causes of the war, but a somewhat flippant
appeal to the French passion for glory, and a manifestation of
that tendency to theatrical effect which has given a tinge of the
ludicrous to so many of his public performances. The allusion
to his son, a backward and very mediocre boy of fourteen, was,
to say the least, in very bad taste.
The Emperor did not, however, leave at once on the promul¬
gation of this address ; at least, he did not reach Metz, with his
very luxurious and amply provided train, until the 28th of July,
when he at once issued the following address to the soldiers on
taking command of the army. When we consider that he knew
folly the condition and weakness of his army, and was, at least,
tolerably informed concerning the powerful and perfectly organ¬
ized foe with whom he had to contend, some of its assertions will
be thought remarkable :
" Soldiers : I come to take my place at your head to defend
the honor of the soil of our country. You go to combat against
one of the best-armed of European countries ; but other coun
tries, as valiant as this, have not been able to resist your valor.
It will be the same to-day. The war which now commences
will be long and hardly contested, for its theatre will be places
hedged with obstacles and thick with fortresses ; but nothing is
beyond the persevering efforts of the soldiers of Africa, Italy,
and Mexico. You will prove once more what the French army
Is able to accomplish, animated by a sentiment of duty, main-
tafoed by discipline, influenced by love of country. Whatever
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
145
road we may take across our frontiers, we will find upon it
glorious traces of our fathers, and we will show ourselves worthy
of them.
" All France follows you with ardent prayers, and the eyes
of the universe are upon you. Upon our success depends the
fate of liberty and civilization. Soldiers, let each one do his
duty, and the God of Battles will be with us.
" Napoi.eon.
" At the General Headquarters at Metz, July 28, 1870."
During this period, when both nations were summoning
their forces into the field, but before any serious conflicts had
occurred, Count von Bismarck, the Prussian Premier, on the
29th of July, addressed to the Representatives of Prussia at the
Courts of neutral powers a circular giving an exposé of secret
propositions made by Napoleon III to Prussia in May 1866. and
since repeated with slight variations, and always accompanied
with threats, which showed most conclusively what were the
motives which prompted him to declare the war just com¬
menced.
Before the Danish war, says Count Bismarck, the French
Legation at Bei in urged an alliance between France and Prus¬
sia for purposes of mutual aggrandizement. France, antici¬
pating war with Austria as a consequence of the Danish war,
made overtures relative to the restoration of the Luxembourg
frontier of 1814, the acquisition of Saarburg and Landau, while
a broader settlement of the boundary question on the basis of
language was not to be excluded. These instances, in May,
1866, took the form of propositions for an alliance offensive and
defensive, the manuscript original of which is in the Foreign
0 ffice here. These propositions are as follows :
First. Should the Congress of the powers assemble, Italy to
bave Yenetia and Prussia the Duchies.
10
14H
THE GREAT WAK
Second. Should the Congress disagree, alliance offensive and
defensive will be made between France and Prussia.
Third. Prussia to open hostilities against Austria within ten
days after the dissolution of the Congress.
Fourth. Should no Congress meet, Prussia to attack Austria
within thirty days after the signature of the present treaty.
Fifth. N apoleon to begin hostilities against Austria as soon
as Prussia begins, despatching 300,000 men during the first
month across the Rhine.
Sixth. No separate treaty shall be made by either power
with Austria. When a joint treaty is made, the following are
to be the conditions : 1. Yenetia to go to Italy. 2. Prussia to
select German territory at will for annexation, the number of
inhabitants not to exceed 8,000,000 of souls ; the territory thus
acquired to become a part ' of the kingdom of Prussia, without
federal rights. 3. France to have a liberal share of the Rhine
provinces.
Seventh. A military and maritime allegiance to be made
between France and Prussia, to which Italy may be a party
should she so desire.
This programme, the circular states, was r jected in June,
1866, in spite of the threatening urgency of I ranee. The pro¬
posals were incessantly renewed with modii cations sacrificing
Belgium and South Germany, but they were never seriously
entertained by Prussia. For the sake of peace, however, it was
thought best to leave Napoleon to his delusions. No word
implying approval was returned ; time was counted on to revo¬
lutionize France, and extinguish the scheme ; hence the long
delay and silence. The attempt against Luxembourg failing,
France repeâted her former propositions, making the specifica¬
tions clear in regard to the acquisition of Belgium by France,
and South Germany by Prussia. These last propositions were
formulated by Count Benedetti himself, and it is improbable
MAJOR-GEN. VON DOERING.
AïAJOR-GEN. VON CRAUSHAAR.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
149
tfcut he wrote them without the authority of the Emperor, at
they are the same which were made four years ago under threat
of war as the alternative of their refusal. Any one acquainted
with these antecedents must have known that, had Prussia
acquiesced in the seizure of Belgium, France would soon havo
found another Belgium in Prussian territory.
Some effort was made by the imperial Government to weaken
the force of this damaging exposure, and to convince the neutral
powers that the propositions had been suggested by Prussia,
but the falsity of this was so apparent that it obtained no cre¬
dence from any body. The neutral powers, which had at first
given indications of sympathy with the Emperor, were, after
the publication of this document, and the circulation of photo¬
graphic copies of the manuscript of Benedetti, much less dis¬
posed to depart from the strictest neutrality, and thus the con¬
test was narrowed down to the two belligerents.
Efforts, however, were not wanting on the part of other
powers to effect a reconciliation, and to avert a war which, it
was evident, must be so terrible in its results. Great Britain,
Russia, and Austria exerted all their power with both parties,
but in vain ; the French Emperor would not, and Prussia, as
she was situated, could n.ot, make any such concessions as would
have secured peace. One of the most noteworthy of these efforts
for reconciliation was that of Pope Pius IX, who, in the midst
of troubles which shortly after deprived him of his temporal
power, which France had for some years maintained for him,
addressed letters both to the Emperor and King Wilhelm, of
which latter the following is a copy :
" Your Majesty : In the present grave circumstances it may
appear an unusual thing to receive a letter from me ; but, as the
Yicar on earth of God and peace, I cannot do less than offer my
mediation.
150
THE GREAT WAR
" It fs my desire to witness tho cessation of war-like prepara¬
tions, and to stop tlie evils—their inevitable consequences. Mj
mediation is that of a sovereign whose small dominion excite?
no jealousy, and who inspires confidence by the moral and reli¬
gious influence he personifies.
" May God lend an ear to my wishes, and listen also to those
I form for your Majesty, to whom I would be united in the
bonds of charity.
" Pius.
" Given at the Vatican, July 22,1870."
A postscript adds :
" I have written identically to the Emperor."
What reply, if any, the Emperor made to the letter addressed
to him, is not known ; but the King of Prussia promptly re¬
turned the following courteous answer, which, however, effect¬
ually forbade all hope of any successful result from the proffered
mediation :
" Most August Pontiff : I am not surprised, but profoundly
moved at the touching words traced by your hand.
" They cause the voice of God and of peace to be heard,
llow could my heart refuse to listen to so powerful an appeal ?
God witnesses that neither I nor my people desired or provoked
war.
" Obeying the sacred duties which God imposes on sovereigns
and nations, we take up tho sword to defend the independence
and honor of our country, ready to lay it down the moment
those treasures are secure.
" If your Holiness could offer me, from him who so unex¬
pectedly declared war, assurances of sincerely pacific dispositions,
and guarantees against a similar attempt upon the peace and
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
151
tranquillity of Europe, it certainly will not be I who will refuse
to receive them from your venerable hands, united as I am with
vou in bonds of Christian charity and sincere friendship.
(Signed) " Wxlhelm."
The blockading fleet sailed from Cherbourg on the 25th of
July, and the Emperor being unable to be present at their -
departure, 6ent the Empress with a proclamation to be read to
the officers and crews. The Yice-Admiral of the squadron
having delivered a somewhat boastful address, full of laudation
of the imperial family, the Empress read, it was said, in tones
full of emotion, the Emperor's proclamation, as follows :
" Officèks and Seamen : Although I am not in your midst,
my thoughts will follow you upon those seas where your Valor
is about to be displayed. The French navy has glorious remi¬
niscences. It will prove itself worthy of the past. When, far
from the soil of our country, you are face .to face with the
enemy, remember that France is with you; that her heart throbs
with yours ; that she invokes upon your arms the protection of
Heaven. While you are combating at sea, your brethren in
arms will be struggling with the same ardor for the same cause
as yourselves. Do you reciprocally second each other's efforts,
the same success will crown them. Go ! display with pride our
national colors. On beholding the tri-colored flag floating over
our ships, the enemy will know that in its folds it bears every¬
where the honor and the genius of France.
" Napoleon.
" Palace of St. Cloud, 23d July, 1870."
The headquarters of the French army and its Emperor and
commander tvere at Metz, but the advance was thrown forward
to the Rhine as early as July 19, though in small force. On
that day a comj any of French skirmishers crossed the frontier
152
THE GREAT WAR
and seized a small custom-house on the frontier near Saarbrutfc.
No resistance was offered. On the 20th a French soldier was
shot by a Prussian fusileer. On the 23d a Prussian force from
S^ar-Louis crossed the border, and made a reconnoissance in the
direction of St. Avoid and Metz. There was some skirmishing,
but no serious engagement. On the 26th there was another
slight engagement, and the French were repulsed. . The 27th of
July was observed as a day of fasting and prayer throughout
the North German Confederation. The period between the
declaration of war and the 1st of August was industriously
occupied by the agents of the Emperor in circulating hundreds
of thousands of addresses to the people of South Germany, of
Hanover, and of Schleswig-Holstein, urging them to unite with
France against their old enemy, Prussia, or at least to paralyze
her by their determined neutrality. Never was so vast an
amount of advice so perfectly wasted. Without a dissenting
voice, the South German States—Hanover, and foremost of all
Schleswig-Holstein—had hastened to declare their adherence to
Prussia and Germany in this war for God, King, and Father¬
land, and there was no evidence that, among those twelve mil¬
lions of people, the Emperor Napoleon III had a single adherent
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY
CHAPTER VII.
ÂS we have already said, the Emperor reached his head¬
quarters at Metz and took command of the army in person
on the 28th of July. King Wilhelm left Berlin for the froDt
with his chief of staff, General von Moltke, on the 31st, and,
arriving at his temporary headquarters at Mayenee on the 2d
of August, issued the next day the following brief address to his
troops :
" All Germany stands united against a neighboring state,
which has surprised us by declaring war without justification.
The safety of the fatherland is threatened. Our honors and oar
hearths are at stake. To-day I assume command of the whole
army. I advance cheerfully to a contest like that in which, m
former times, our fathers, under similar circumstances, fought
gloriously. The whole fatherland and myself trust with confi¬
dence in you. The Lord God will be with our righteous cause."
On the 1st of August the French attacked the Germans near
Saarbruck in small force, and after some fighting were repulsed.
On the 2d of August the strength and position of the con¬
tending armies were reported as follows :
The Fi^tch army.—First Oorps, MacMahon, 45,000 men, at
Strasbourg. Second Corps, Frossard, 30,000 men, at St. Avoid
Third Corps, Bazaine, 30,000 men, at Metz. Fourth Corps*
l'Admirault, 30,000 men, at Thionville. Fifth Corps, De Failly,
80,000 men, at Bitelie and Saarguemines. Sixth Oorps, Can
156
THE GREAT WAR
robert, 30,000 men, at Chalons. Seventh Corps, Douay, 30,000
man, at Besançon and Belfort. Eighth Corps (Guards), Bour-
baki, 30,000 men, at Metz. Cavalry, 34,000. Total, 309,000.
With artillery and reserve cavalry, about 350,000 men.
The left wing had before it at this time the Moselle and the
French Nied, the centre the Saar, and the right wing the Lauter
in front.
The German armies having been assembled at camps on the
Rhine, began to move forward. The entire regular German
force consisted of eighteen corps d'armée, containing 40,000 men
each at their normal strength. The First Army, under Stein-
metz, had the First, Seventh, and Eighth Corps ; the Second
Army, under Prince Friedrich Karl, the Second, Third, Ninth,
and Tenth Corps ; the Third Army, under the Prussian Crown-
Prince, the Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh Corps, and the two Ba¬
varian Corps. The Fourth Army, under the Crown-Prince of
Saxony, containing the Fourth and Twelfth Corps, and the
Saxon and Prussian guard, occupied in the regular advance the
right of the Crown-Prince ; the Fifth Army, under General
Werden, had the Wurtemberg and Baden divisions, engaged in
the siege of Strasbourg ; the reserves were composed of the
Sixth Army, under the Grand Duke of Meeklenberg-Schwerin,
on the Rhine, and the Seventh Army, under Generals von Can-
stein at Berlin, and Loewenfeld in Silesia. The defence of the
northern coast was committed to these reserves. The advance
to the French lines was made by the First Army, against the
French left wing ; Second Army, Prince Friedrich Karl, against
the centre; and the Third Army, Crown-Prince of Prussia,
against the French right wing.
The French forces being scattered over a line of eighty-five
to ninety miles in length, MacMahon, after a council at Metz,
received orders to make a fiank march toward De Failly, at
Bitche. He sent the corps of General Douay to Weissenburg
between france and germany.
to cover the movement. General Frossard, with the Second
Corps, advanced on Saarbruck, and, after seven honrs' fighting,
drove out the three battalions of infantry, three squadrons of
cavalry, and three guns, which formed the German force there
The Emperor was present with the Prince Imperial.
On his return to Metz, after the battle, the Emperor sent tho
following despatch to the Empress :
" Louis has received his baptism of fire. He was admirably
cool and little impressed. A division of Frossard's command
carried the heights overlooking the Saar. The Prussians made
a brief resistance. Louis and I were in front, where the bullets
fell about us. Louis keeps a ball he picked up. The soldiers
wept at his tranquillity. We lost an officer and ten men."
On the 3d of August the French commenced fortifying the
Spicheren hills, back of Saarbruck. The next day, August 4th,
the Third German Army, under the Crown-Prince of Prussia,
crossed the Lauter and advanced upon the corps of General
Douay, posted behind the fortifications of Weissenburg, thus
entering upon French territory as the French had the day pre¬
vious invaded Germany. A glance at the map and a reference
to the position of the two armies will show that this movement
was made by the advance-guard of the German army of the left,
under the Crown-Prince of Prussia, against the French right,
under Marshal MacMahon. The defences behind which the
French general and his troops were posted extended from the
town of Lauterburg, northwesterly to Weissenburg. After cross¬
ing the Rhine at Maxau, the Baden and Wurtemberg troops
marched against Lauterburg ; the Fifth and Eleventh Prussian
Corps marched west of the Rhine against the centre of the
works ; and the Bavarian Fourth Division against Weissenburg.
The first shot was fired at 8.30 a. m. The Crown-Prince stood
on the Schweigen hill, north of the town. Weissenburg was
158
THE GREAT WAR
occupied by the Seventy-fourth French regiment, and on the
Gaisberg hill, south of the place, were the First Turco regiment,
Fifth and Fiftieth line, three light batteries of artillery, and one
of mitrailleurs. These troops also occupied Altstadt, on the
right of the French position. Altstadt was quickly taken by
the Ninth Prussian Division; Weissenburg, after sharp resist¬
ance, by the Bavarians and some battalions of the Forty-seventh
and Forty-eighth regiments, and the Grenadiers marched against
the Schafenburg hill, where the mitrailleurs were stationed.
The mitrailleurs did not, in this action, do the terrible execution
expected of them ; the German columns steadily advanced with¬
out firing a shot, and the position was taken. There was no
fight at Lauterburg,. which was found to be unoccupied by the
French, and, after midday, all the German troops were concen¬
trated: for the action at Weissenburg. The defeat of the French
became a rout, which was continued in disorder to Woerth.
Thus in this first combat between the veteran troops of the
French and the citizen-soldiers of Prussia, the former were not
only completely beaten, but showed an ominous lack of steadi¬
ness and morale. . The German losses were over. TOO in killed
and wounded. The French losses were much greater in killed
and wounded, and one gun and 1,000 prisoners were also taken
from them.
The report of this action, made to the King by the Crown-
Prince of Prussia, adds the following particulars :
"The French infantry in action at Weissenburg and Gais¬
berg belonged to the First Corps, the cavalry to the Fifth Corps.
Except an attack undertaken to cover the retreat, the French
stood on the defensive during the whole engagement. Most of
the French troops in the engagement conducted themselves with
much spirit, and held their ground manfully. Only after retreat
had become inevitable did they appear as if seized by a sudden
THE SHOT THROUGH THE DRUM.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
161
panic. At this crisis troops of the Corps MacMahon, which
had not jet been under fire, threw away their caps, knapsacks,
tents, &c., and decamped, leaving even their provisions behind
them. The Algerian troops exhibited the same temper as the
French. There was no perceptible difference between them and
their Enropean comrades.
" The infantry, whose battalions were not above 800 strong,,
opened fire at 1,500 paces. This makes hitting a mere matter
of chance, and has a tendency to demoralize a man in the nse
of his weapon. Our practice of forming company columns and
outflanking the enemy's tirailleurs has fully answered. The
French cavalry, even if numerically equal to our own, invari
ably declined attack. Our artillery fired slower, but much more
effectively than the French. The mitrailleuse battery fired three
rounds at a distance of 1,800 paces against our artillery, but did
no damage. It was soon silenced by our guns."
The next day, in their onward march, the Third German
Army (the left wing) found all the villages filled with French
wounded, and the impression made by the defeat at Weissenburg
far more profound than they had expected. The inhabitants of
these villages had believed a defeat of the French impossible.
Leaving the left wing of the German forces to pursue their
enemy to "Woerth, let us turn our attention westward along the
German line to Homburg, in Rhenish-Bavaria, almost forty
miles distant, where the German centre (the Second Army,
under Prince Friedrich Karl) are preparing to cross the Saar.
The Prince, who is accounted the ablest of the Prussian gen¬
erals, issued, on the 5th of August, the following order to his
troops :
" Soldiers : By command of the King you begin to-day the
forward march against the enemy. The sons of Prussia have
11
162
TEE GREAT WAR
always distinguished themselves in presence of the enemy. On
this occasion, too, you will win laurels, so that the fatherland
can look upon you with pride. Show, by a calm demeanor
toward friend and foe, that you are worthy children of Prussia.''
The point toward which this army, like the others, is march¬
ing, is Metz, then the headquarters of the French armies ; but all
three of the armies on the frontier are destined to see severe
fighting before they reach that city.
The First German Army, under the veteran General von
Steinmetz, also move forward upon Saarbruck, crossing the Saar
on the 5th of August, and as they are about to come into con¬
flict with the enemy, the lion-hearted old commander addresses
them in these words :
" Soldiebs : You will very shortly have the opportunity of
standing in presence of the enemy. "With God's help you will
maintain your old fame, and add new laurels to those on your
standards of the year 1866,v when I had the honor to lead you ;
and the fatherland will look with pride upon her sons. Show
that you belong to an army worthy of the civilization of cen¬
turies, by a calm and friendly demeanor, temperate bearing,
respecting the positions of strangers, whether friend or foe. On
each one of you rests the responsibility of maintaining the honor
and fame of the whole fatherland."
Sooner even than their commander had expected, the First
German Army was called to a fierce and bloody battle ; one
fought at such odds, and under such discouraging circumstances,
that it is a wonder that the Germans could ever have won the
victory. The losses on both sides were very heavy ; heaviest,
of course, on the German side, since they were the attacking
party, and had to climb the very steep Spicheren hills undei
BETWEEN ERANCE AND GERMANY.
ion
a terrible fire; but their victory was complete. The battle is
known as the battle of Spicheren heights, or as the battle of
Forbach. The official report of the battle by von Steinmetz
states the facts without, exaggeration, and with more complete
fairness than most reports of its class. It is as follows :
" On the forenoon of August 6, the Seventh Corps d'Armée
pushed its vanguard to Herchenbach, one and a quarter German
miles northwest of Saarbruck, with outposts stretching as far as
the river Saar. The preceding night the enemy had evacuated
its position on the drilling-ground of Saarbruck.
"Toward noon the cavalry division under Generpjjfc Rhein-
haben passed through the town. Two squadrons formed the
van. The moment they reached the highest point of the drill¬
ing-ground, and became visible to spectators on the south, they
were fired at from the hills near Spicheren.
" The drilling-ground ridge overhangs a deep valley stretch¬
ing toward Forbach and Spicheren, and bordered on the other
side by the steep and partly-wooded height named after the
latter village. These hills, rising in almost perpendicular ascent
several hundred feet above the valley, form a natural fortress,
which needed no addition from art to be all but impregnable.
Like so many bastions, the mountains project into the valley,
facing it on all sides, and affording the strongest imaginable
position for defence. French officers who were taken prisoners
on this spot confess to having smiled at the idea of the Prussians
attacking them in this stronghold. There was not a man in the
Second French Corps who was not persuaded in his own mind
that to attempt the Spicheren hills must lead to the utter anni¬
hilation of the besiegers.
" Between 12 and 1 o'clock the Fourteenth Division arrived
at Saarbruck. Immediately proceeding south, it encountered a
strong force of the enemy in the valley between Saarbruck and*
164
THE GREAT WAR
Spieheren, and opened fire forthwith; Upon this General Fros-
sard, who was in the act of withdrawing a portion of his troops
when the Prussians arrived, turned round and reoccupied the
Spieheren hills with his entire force. A division of the Third
Corps, under General Bazaine, came up in time to support him.
" The Fourteenth Division at first had to deal with far supe¬
rior numbers. To limit the attack to thé enemy's front would
have been useless. General von Kamecke, therefore, while
engaging the front, also attempted to turn the left flank of the
enemy by Stiring ; but the five battalions he could spare for this
operation were too weak to make an impression upon the much
* stronger numbers of the French. Two successive attacks on
his left were repulsed by General Frossard. Toward 3 o'clock,
when all the troops of the division were under fire, the engage¬
ment assumed a very sharp- and serious aspect.
" Eventually, however, the roar of the cannon attracted
several other Prussian detachments. The division under Gen¬
eral von Barkenow was the first to be drawn to the spot. Two
of its batteries came dashing up at full speed to relieve their
struggling comrades. They were promptly followed by the
Fortieth Infantry, under Colonel Rex, and three squadrons of
the Ninth Hussars. At this moment the vanguard of the Fifth
Division was espied on the Winterberg Hill. General Stiilp-
nagel, whose van had been stationed at Sultzbach the same
• morning, had been ordered by General von Alvensleben to
march his entire division in the direction from which the sound
of cannon proceeded. Two batteries advanced in a forced march
on the high road. The infantry were partly sent by rail from
Nuenkirchen to Saarbruck.
" At about 3.30 o'clock the division of Kamecke had been
sufficiently reenforced to enable General von Goben, who had
■ airived in the meantime and assumed the command, tc make a
■ vigorous onslaught on the enemy's front. The chief aim of the
K-ir.T.TT) TN THE TRENCHER.
BETWEEN FRANCE ANp GERMANY.
167
ai tack was the wooded portion of the declivity. The Fortieth
Infantry, supported on its right by troops of the Fourteenth
Division, and on its left by four battalions of the Fifth Division,
made the assault. A reserve was formed of some battalions of
the Fifth and Sixteenth Divisions as they came up.
" The charge was a success. The wood was occupied, the
enemy expelled. Penetrating further, always on the ascent, the
troops pushed the French before them as far as the southern
outskirts of the wood. Here the French made a stand, and,
combining the three arms of the service fpr; a united attack,
endeavored to retrieve the day. But our infantry were not to
be shaken. At this juncture the artillery of the Fifth Division
accomplished a rare and most daring feat. Two batteries liter
ally clambered up the hills of Spicheren by a narrow and pro
cipitous mountain-path. With their help a fresh attack of the
enemy was repulsed. A flank attack directed against our left
from Aislingen and Spicheren was warded off in time by bat¬
talions of the Fifth Division stationed in reserve.
" The fighting, which for hours had been conducted with the
utmost obstinacy on both sides, now reached its climax. Once
more the enemy, superior still in numbers, rallied his entire
forces for a grand and impetuous charge. It was his third
attack after we had occupied the wood ; but, like the preceding
ones, this last effort was shortened by the imperturbable calm¬
ness of our infantry and artillery. Like waves dashing and
breaking against a rock, the enemy's battalions were scattered
by our gallant troops. After this last failure the enemy beat a
rapid retreat ; fifty-two French battalions, with the artillery of
an entire corps, stationed in an almost unassailable position, bad
thus been defeated by twenty-seven Prussian battalions^ sup¬
ported by but the artillery of one division. It was a brilliant
vpctory indeed. We had every thing against us—numbers,
guns, an d the nature of the locality—yet we prevailed,
168
THE GREAT WAR
"Darkness fast setting in afforded its valuable aid to the
enemy in effecting his retreat. To cover this backward move¬
ment the French artillery were stationed on the hills skirting tlio
battle-field on the south, where they kept up a continuous but
harmless fire for a considerable time.
" The ground was too difficult for the cavalry to take any
part in the action. Nevertheless, the fruits of the victory were
very remarkable. The corps under General Frossard being
entirely demoralized, dispersed. The road it took in its hasty
flight was marked by numerous wagons with provisions and
clothing ; the woods were filled with hosts of stragglers, wan¬
dering about in a purposeless way, and large stores and quan¬
tities of goods of every description fell into our hands.
" "While the battle was raging at Spicheren Hill, the Thir¬
teenth Division crossed the Saar at Werden, occupied Forbach,
seized vast magazines of food and clothing, and thus forced
General Frossard, whose retreat was covered by two divisions
of General Bazaine, which had come up for this purpose, to
withdraw to the southwest, and leave free the road to St.
Avoid.
" The losses were very serious on both sides. The Fifth
Division alone has 230 dead, and about 1,800 wounded. Tho
Twelfth Infantry has 32 officers and 800 men dead or wounded ;
next to this the Fortieth, Eighth, Forty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and
Seventy-fourth have suffered most. The batteries, too., have
encountered terrible loss. The number of killed and wounded
on the enemy's side is at least equal to our own. The un-
wounded prisoners in our hands already exceed 2,000, and are
'increasing hourly. We have also captured 40 pontoons and the
tents of the camp."
A correspondent of the New York Tiribune, who was on the
field four days later, and carefully gleaned the particulars of the
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
169
battle, sent to that paper a very graphic description of it. Un
der date of August 11, he says :
" Yesterday I went over the field of Spiciieren, where there
was a very sharp fight on Saturday—in fact, what would have
been called a battle before the present century, there having
been more than 20,000 men on each side engaged. Taking the
road from Saarbruck to Forbach, one climbs a hill which com¬
mands the town, and which was used by the French, in then-
attack, as a place for their batteries. Once on top of the hill,
a level plateau, from 1,000 to 1,200 yards deep, extends as far
as the hills which rise to the left of the village of Spicheren.
On these hills the French took position on Saturday last, their
line extending for about a mile from the hills, across the high¬
road for Forbach, in front of a manufactory, and down to the
railway-cutting. They were enabled completely to sweep the
plain in front of them * and, looking at its level, unbroken ex¬
panse, one wonders how a single Prussian ever passed it alive.
"The French position on the hills was naturally a very
strong one, and that on the plain had been strengthened by an
intrenehment thrown up in front of the troops. About 10
o'clock in the morning the Prussians began the attack with
eight pieces of artillery in position on the crest of the hill above
Saarbruck. -But these pieces did small execution, as their fire
had little effect on the French sharpshooters on the rocks above
them.
" After about an hour of artillery-fire from the Prussians,
with slight effect, the heights were ordered to be stormed by
two battalions of the Fourteenth Regiment (from Pomerania) ;
these men, some 2,000 strong, flung down their knapsacks and
rushed across the intervening plain and up the hill, the artillery
and the rest of the division covering the advance by their fire.
But the French fire from the brow of the hill was too fearful,
170
the great war
and, in spite of the leading companies having actually reached
the top, it was impossible to drive out the French ; nor was the
attack on the plain directed against the village of Spicheren
more successful. The French were strongly posted in a manu¬
factory at the entrance to the village, and swept all the plain
for nearly a mile with their Chassepôts, After a little time the
Seventy-fourth Regiment, Hanoverian (this should be noted as
showing how little foundation there is for the idea that the
Hanoverians will not fight against the French), went at the
heights again. They succeeded in gaining the top, but could
only just maintain themselves there, and were thinking of retir¬
ing, as night was coming on and the French had brought three
mitrailleuses, which did much execution at close quarters, into
action. Suddenly drums were heard on the right of the French
position, in a wood which they believed would effectually pro¬
tect their left flank. This was the advance-guard of General
Zastrow's corps, and their arrival settled, the battle, the French
being completely outflanked, and compelled to retire in some
disorder to Forbach, losing many prisoners, as some of their men
were caught between the two bodies of Prussians.
" But the Prussian victory was not obtained without terrible
".qss on their side. Of some 20,000 men .engaged, there were
over 2,000 killed and wounded, or more than one in ten. On
Wednesday, when I visited the heights, there werç still many
French and Prussians unburied, some of them looking as if only
asleep. "What has been said about the frightful effect of the
Chassepot bullet does not seem to have been exaggerated, for
many of the wounds on the Prussian bodies were horrible to
look at. I noticed one man whose whole face was one big
Wound, a ball having struck him just under the eye and made
a, hole one could have put one's fist into. There was little con¬
tortion in the bodies, as was to be expected, most of the wounds
being gunshot ones. There was, however, some hand-to-hand
MAJOR-GENERAL VON DIEPENBROIK-GRUTER. DIED, SEPT. SO, 1870.
Wv-AXN,
GENERAL VON FRANCOIS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
173
fighting in the final struggle for the top of the hill. The mus¬
kets and bayonets which covered the ground were broken and
bent with blows given and received. Even the French officer/1
taken prisoners admit the great dash and bravery shown by tha
Prussians in their attack on hills which I can say from expe¬
rience were difficult to climb without an alpenstock. They own
that the mitrailleuses used by the French were very deadly at
close quarters, but they affirm that at any distance the balls fly
so wide that they are little to be dreaded. Though some of the
bodies are still unburied, most of them are interred, and pious
hands have raised rough wooden crosses above the graves, with
the names of those who sleep below inscribed on them. Fros-
sard's division made so precipitate a retreat from Forbaeh, that
they left many baggage-wagons and the whole of their pontoon-
train behind them. Thus it happened that they did not break
the railway up at Forbaeh ; not a rail, as far as I can see—and
1 have been all along the line from St. Avoid to Saarbruck—has
been disturbed."
The casualties of this battle, as subsequently ascertained,
were : General François, killed ; the French (Frossard's Second
Corps) retreated in great disorder, losing 3,000 to 4,000 prison¬
ers, and probably as many more in killed and wounded ; quan¬
tities of stores, trains, and camps were captured. The Fifth
German Division lost 239 dead, and 1,800 wounded ; the Twelfth
Regiment, 832 dead and wounded ; other regiments and the bat¬
teries also lost very heavily.
While this severe fighting was in progress between Saar¬
bruck and Forbaçh, and the First German Army were gallantly
and successfully struggling against superior numbers, a greater
and more destructive battle was raging the same day between
the Third German Army (the left wing, commanded by the
Crown-Prince, Friedrich Wilhelm, of Prussia) and the French
174
THE GREAT WAS
riglit wing, led by Marshal MacMahon, the bravest and ablest
of the French generals.
We left the Crown-Prince in close pursuit of the French,
whom lie had defeated and routed on the 4th of August at Weis-
senburg, and who fled toward Woerth. This is a village of
about 1,300 inhabitants, on the eastern slope of the Yosges,
twelve miles S. W. of Weissenburg. On the heights we9t of,
Woerth the French found a favorable situation to make a stand
against the CroWn-Prince, and being largely reënforced, and
commanded by MacMahon in person, they were sanguine of
victory. Nowhere during the war did the French troops mani¬
fest more determined and desperate valor, and nowhere did they
approach more nearly to a great success than in this battle.
The Crown-Ppnce's report of it does full justice to the bravery
and skill of his antagonist. He says :
" On the 5th of August reliable intelligence was received at
the headquarters of the Third Army, that Marshal MacMahon
was busily engaged in concentrating his troops on the hills west
of Woerth, and that he was being reënforced by constant arrivals
by railway. In consequence of these advices it was resolved to
lose no time in effecting a change of front, which had been de¬
termined upon a few days previously, but not yet executed.
The Second Bavarian and the Fifth Prussian Corps were to
remain in their respective positions at Lembach and Prenseh-
dorf; the Eleventh Prussian Corps was to wheel to the right
and encamp at Holschloch, with van pushed forward toward the
river Sauer ; and the First ^Bavarian Corps was to advance into
the neighborhood of Lobsahn and Tiampertsloch. The Cavalry
Division remained at Schônenburg, fronting west. The Corps
Werder (Wiirtemberg and Baden Divisions) marched to Reimers-
willer, with patrols facing the Haguenau forest.
" The Fifth Prussian Corps, on the evening of the 5th,
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
175
pushed its van from its bivouac at Prenschdorf on to the heigh'
east of Woerth. On the other side of the Sauer numerou ^
camp-lires of the enemy were visible during the night, the
French outposts occupying the heights west of the Sauer, oppo¬
site "Woerth and Gunstett. At dawn of the 6th skirmishes com¬
menced along the line of the outposts, which caused the Prussian
vanguard to send a battalion into Woerth. At 8 o'clock steady
firing was heard on the right (Bavarian) flank. This, and the
fire the enemy directed against Woerth, caused us to station the
entire artillery of the Fifth Prussian Corps on the heights east
of this place, and try to relieve the Bavarians. A little later
the Fifth Corps was ordered to break off the engagement, it
being the intention of our generals to begin the battle against
the concentrated forces of the enemy only when the change of
front had been effected, and the entire German army was ready
to be brought into action. At 7.45 o'clock the Fourth Division
(Bothmer) of the Second Bavarian Corps (Hartmann), induced
by the heavy fire of the outposts near Woerth, had left their
bivouac at Lembach, and, proceeding by Mattstall and Langen-
Salzbach, after a sharp engagement penetrated as far as Nesch-
willer, where they spread, fronting to the south. At 10.30
o'clock this Bavarian Corps, supposing the order to break off
the engagement, which had been given to the Fifth Prussians,
to extend to themselves, withdrew to Langen-Salzbach. The
enemy being thus no longer pressed on liis left, turned all his
strength with the greatest energy against the Fifth Prussians
at Woerth. Reënforcements were continually thrown in by rail.
Finding the enemy in earnest on this point, and perceiving the
Eleventh Prussians to approach vigorously in the direction of
Gunstett, the Fifth Prussians immediately proceeded to the
attack, so as to defeat the enemy, if possible, before he had time
to concentrate. The Twentieth Brigade was the first to defile
through Wcerth, and marched toward Elsasshausen and Frosch-
176
THE GREAT WAR
wilier ; it was promptly followed by the Nineteenth Brigadd
The French stood their ground with the utmost pertinacity, and
their fire was crushing. Whatever the gallantry of our Tenth
Division, it did not succeed in overcoming the obstinate resist¬
ance of the enemy. Eventually, the Ninth Division having been
drawn into the fight, the whole Fifth Corps found itself involved
in the sanguinary conflict raging along the heights west of
W oerth.
"At 1.15 p. m. orders were given to the First Bavarian Corps
(Von der Tann) to leave one of its two divisions where it stood,
and, sending on the other as quick as possible by Lobsann and
Lampertsloch, seize upon the enemy's front in the gap between
the Second Bavarian Corps at Langen-Salzbach and the Fifth
Prussian Corps at Woerth. The Eleventh Prussians were or¬
dered to advance to Elsasshausen, skirt the forest of Niederwald,
and operate against Froschwiller. The Wurtemberg Division
was to proceed to Gunstett and follow the Eleventh Prussians
across the Sauer ; the Baden Division was to remain at Sauer-
burg.
" At 2 o'clock the combat had extended along the entire line.
It was a severe struggle. The Fifth Prussians fought at Woerth,
the Eleventh Prussians near Elsasshausen. In his strong posi¬
tion on and near the heights of Froschwiller, the enemy offered
us a most intense resistance. The First Bavarian Corps reached
Gorsdorff, but could not lay hold of the enemy fast enough;
the Second Bavarian had to exchange the exhausted troops of
the Division Bothmer, who had spent their ammunition in the
fierce fights of the morning, for the Division Walther. While
the Division Bothmer fell back, the Brigade Scleich of the
Division Walther marched upon Langen-Salzbach. The Wur¬
temberg Division approached Gunstett.
"At 2 o'clock fresh orders were given. The Wiirtemberg
Division was to turn toward Reichshofen by way of Ebersbach,
GERMAN TROOPS PASSING THROUGH WOERTH AFTER THE BATTLE.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
179
to threaten, the enemy's line of retreat. The First Bavarian waa
to attack at once and dislodge the enemy from his position at
Froscnwiller and in the neighboring vineyards. Between 2 and
8 o'clock the enemy, bringing fresh troops into the field, and ad¬
vancing with consummate bravery, assumed the offensive against
the Fifth and Eleventh Prussian Corps. But all his assaults
were beaten off. Thus the fight was briskly going on at Woerth,
neither party making much progress, till at length the brilliant
attack of the First Bavarian Corps at Gorsdorff, and of the First
Wiirtemberg Brigade on the extreme left at Ebersbach, decided
the fate of the day.
" Toward the close of the battle the French attempted a
grand cavalry charge against the Fifth and Eleventh Corps,
especially against the artillery of these troops. Our artillery
awaited them in a stationary position, and repulsed them with
severe loss. The infantry did so likewise. This last experiment
having failed, the enemy, at 4 o'clock, evacuated Froschwiller,
and retreated through the mountain-passes in the direction of
Bitche. The cavalry of all our divisions were despatched in
pursuit.
"The cavalry division which, on account of the difficult
ground, which allowed little scope for its manœuvres, had been
left at Schônburg, were ordered, at 3.30 o'clock, to advance to
Gunstett. On the morning of the 7th this cavalry corps began
the pursuit in the direction of Ingweiler and Bronstweile^. All
the troops who had taken part in the engagement bivouacked
on the battle-field, the cavalry at Gunstett, the Baden Division
at Sauerburg.
" Our losses are great, but cannot, as yet, be exactly esti¬
mated. The enemy lost 5,000 unwounded prisoners, thirty guns,
six mitrailleuses, and two eagles. The enemy's troops arrayed
against us were General MacMahon's army, and the Second and
Third Divisions of the Sixth Corps."
180
THE GREAT WAR
The French attempted to make a stand at Niederbronn with
their artillery, hut the guns were captured by the Bavarian
troops, and active pursuit was made on all the roads by the
German forces, the French flying in confusion. The military
chest of the Fourth French Division was captured. At Saverne,
twenty-five miles S. "W". of Woerth, Marshal MacMahon rallied
his disheartened troops, and from thence, on the 7th of August,
despatched his official report to the Emperor. As the army of
the Crown-Prince, however, occupied the territory between him
and Metz, his communication with'the Emperor was broken,
and was not resumed for several days ; so that, for ten days or
more, the right wing of the French army was entirely cut off
from the remainder.
The Marshal's report was as follows :
" Saveeite, August 7.
" SntE : I have the honor to acquaint your Majesty, that, on
the 6th of August, after having been obliged to evacuate Weis-
senburg on the previous evening, the First Corps, with the object
of covering the railway from Strasbourg to Bitsche, and the prin
cipal roads connecting the eastern and the western slopes of the
Yosges, occupied the following positions : The First Division
was placed, its right in advance of Freichsweiller, and its left
in the direction of Reichshoffen, resting upon a wood which
covers that village. Two companies were detached to Neun-
viller, and one company to Joegersthal. The Third Division
occupied, with the First Brigade, some low hills which run from
Freichsweiller and slope toward Guersdorff. The Second Bri¬
gade rested its left on Freichsweiller, and its right on the village
of Elsasshausen. The Fourth Brigade formed an uneven line
to the right of the Third Division, its First Brigade facing
toward Gunstedt, and its Second Brigade opposite the village
of Marebroun, which, on account of insufficient strength, it was
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
181
unable to occupy. The Division Dumesnil, of the Seventh
Corps, which had rallied to me early on the morning of the 6th,
was placed in rear of the Fourth Division. There were held iD
reserve the Second Division, in rear of the Second Brigade of
the Third Division, and the First Brigade of the Fourth Divi¬
sion. Finally, still further in the rear, was the Brigade of Light
Cavalry, under the command of General Septeuil, and Division
of Cuirassiers, under General de Bonnemain. Michel's Cavalry
Brigade, under the command of General Dechesmes, was sta¬
tioned in the rear of the right wing of the Fourth Division.
At 7 o'clock in the morning the enemy appeared before the
heights of Guersdorff, and opened the action with a cannonade,
which he immediately supported with a sustained fire from his
tirailleurs upon the First and Third Divisions. The attack was
so vehement that the First Division was obliged to effect a
change of front, advancing upon its right wing, in order to
prevent the enemy from turning the general position. A little
later the enemy largely increased the number of his batteries,
and opened fire upon the other position which we occupied on
the right bank of the Sauerbach. Although even more heavy
and more strongly marked than the first, which was still main¬
tained, this second demonstration was but a feigned attack,
which was warmly repulsed. Toward noon the enemy directed
his attack toward our right. Clouds of sharpshooters, supported
by considerable masses of infantry, and protected by upward of
sixty pieces of artillery placed upon the heights of Gunstedt,
rushed upon the Second Division and upon the Second Brigade
of the Third Division, which occupied the village of Elsass-
hausen. Despite repeated offensive movements vigorously exe¬
cuted, and notwithstanding the well-directed fire of the artillery
and several brilliant cavalry charges, our right was broken after
many hours' obstinate resistance. It was 4 o'clock. I ordered
k retreat. It was protected by the First and Second, -rçhich pre
182
the great war
sented a bold front, and enabled the other troops to retire with¬
out being too closely harassed. The retreat was effected upon
Saverne by Nicderbronn, where the Division of General Guyot
de Lespard, belonging to the Fifth Corps, which had just arrived
there, took up position, and did not withdraw until nightfall.
I submit inclosed with this report to His Majesty the names of
officers wounded, killed, or missing, which have been reported
to me. This list is incomplete, and" I will forward a complete
return as soon as I shall be in a position to do so.
" MacMahon."
King Wilhelm telegraphed to the Queen, on the night after
this battle, as follows :
" Good news. A great victory has been won by our Fritz.
God be praised for His mercy. "We captured 4,000 prisoners,
thirty guns, two standards, and six mitrailleurs. MacMahon,
during the fight, was heavily reënforced from the main army.
The contest was very severe, and lasted from 11 o'clock in the
morning until 9 o'clock at night, when the French retreated,
leaving the field to us. Our losses were heavy."
The two defeats (of Frossard and MaeMahon), both* occur¬
ring on the same day, were a very severe blow to Napoleon
HI, but, with his accustomed stoicism, he telegraphed to the
Empress :
" Marshal MacMahon has lost a battle. General Frossard,
on the Saar, has been obliged to retire. His retreat was effected
in good order. All can be reëstablished."
The next day further disasters to the French cause were
reported. Haguenau, a considerable town of Alsace, was cap*
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
185
tared by the Baden Cavalry, the French taken prisoners, 01
driven out, and the town occupied by the Germans. The same
cavalry overran the greater part of Alsace, taking many oris-
oners, and beleaguering Pfalzburg, Bitche, and Luneville. At
the west, Saargemund was occupied, and Forbach taken after a
slight action. On the Yth of August the Emperor telegraphed
to the Empress :
" My communication with MacMahon being broken, I had,
until yesterday, but little news of him. General Laigle informed
me that MacMahon had lost a battle against very considerable
forces of the enemy, and that he had withdrawn in good order.
The battle began at 1 o'clock, and did not appear very serious
until gradually increasing reënforcements came up on the ene¬
my's side, without, however, compelling the Second Corps to
fall back. Only between 6 and Y o'clock, as the enemy became
constantly more compact, did the Second Corps, and the regi¬
ments from other corps which served as his supports, fall back
upon the hills. The night was quiet. I go to the centre of our
position."
Major-General Lebceuf, commanding the French forces, re¬
ported the same day to the Minister of the Interior :
" After a series of engagements, in which the enemy brought
heavy forces into the field, Marshal MacMahon was forced to
fall back from his first line. The Corps of General Frossard had
a fight yesterday, from 2 o'clock in the afternoon, with an entire
army of the enemy. Having held his position until 6 o'clock,
he ordered a retreat, which was made in good order."
dp to the evening of the Yth of August all unfavorable news
had been carefully kept from the people of Paris. The battu#
186
THE GREAT WAR
of "Weissenburg had been represented as a French victory ; but
this deception was suspected and resented by the people, and
the Empress found herself compelled to acknowledge partially
the misfortunes which had befallen the army. Accordingly, the
following proclamation was made public in the evening, though
dated in the morning.
"Frenchmen: The opening of the war has not been favor¬
able to us. We have suffered a check. Let us be firm under
Wis ieve.se,' and lee us nasten to repair it. Let there be but one
party in the land—that of France ; a single flag—that of the
national honor. I come among you, faithful to my mission and
duty. You will see me the first in danger to defend the flag of
France. I adjure all good citizens to maintain order. To agi¬
tate would be to conspire with our enemies.
" Done at the Palace of the Tuileries, the 7th day of August,
1870, at 11 o'clock a. m.
(Signed) " The Empress Regent,
" Eugenie."
This proving unsatisfactory, as giving no details, the Minis¬
ters very reluctantly published the despatches of the Emperor
and Marshal Lebœuf ; and as they were by this time thoroughly
alarmed, they appended also the following appeal, signed by the
Ministers then in Paris.
" Details of our losses are wanting. Our troops are full of
élan. The situation is not compromised ; but the enemy is on
our territory, and a serious effort is necessary. A battle ap¬
pears imminent. In the presence of this grave news our duty
is plain. We appeal to the patriotism and the energy of alt
The Chambers have been convoked. We are placing Paris with
all possible haste in a state of defence. In order to facilitate the
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMAT
187
execution of military preparations, we declare the capital m a
state .of siege. There must he no faint-heartedness, no divisions.
Our resources are immense. Let us pursue the struggle without
flinching, and the country will he saved.
" Paris, the 7th of August, 1870, at 10 p. m.
" By order of the Empress Regent."
In connection with these demonstrations, other changes
were dictated by Napoleon m and made by the Government.
Among these were the dismission of Marshal Lebœuf from the
command of the army, and the appointment of Marshal Bazaine
in his place, and the promotion of General Trochu to he Major-
General in the army and commander of Paris. Ollivior was
also compelled to resign his premiership, and Palikao made
Premier.
ISS THE GREAT WAR
CHAPTER VIII.
THERE were, indeed, at this time, indications of the speedy
approach of a revolution in Paris, hoarse mutterings of the
coming storm which -was destined to overthrow the dynasty of
the Man of December—the despot who for twenty-one years had
crushed pitilessly the liberty which he professed to cherish, and
to which he owed his own elevation to power. A few days more
of grace were left to him, but most of them were passed in fierce
battles and overwhelming defeats.
We resume our narrative in chronological order. While the
First Army (General von Steinmetz's) and the Third Army (the
Crown-Prince Friedrich Wilhelm's) had both done some des¬
perate fighting with the French, and the latter, in particular,
had signalized its valor both at Weissenbnrg and Woerth, the
Second, or Army of the Centre, commanded by Prince Friedrich
Karl, and with which the King of Prussia had his headquarters,
had not been in any engagement. Indeed, they did not leave
their position around Homburg, in Rhenish-Bavaria, until the
Gth oi August, and the King did not move forward until the 8th
or 9th. On the 6th, before marching to the frontier-line on the
Saar, Prince Friedrich Karl issued the following order, bearing
evidence, like most of the German proclamations, of the des're
of the German commanders to conduct the war on civilized and
Christian principles :
" Soldiers of the Second Army : Ton enter upon the soil
of France. The Emperor Napoleon has, without any reason,
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT. l'Jl
declared war upon Germany, and his army are our enemies.
The French people has uot been asked if it wished to carry on
a bloody war with its German neighbors. A reason for enmity
is not to be found. Meet the feeling of the peaceable inhab¬
itants of France with a like sentiment; show them that, in our
century, two civilized people do not forget their humanity even
in warring with each other. Bear always in mind how your
fathers would have felt if an enemy—which God forbid !—over¬
ran our provinces. Show the French that the German people
confronting its enemy is not only great and brave, but also well
controlled and noble-minded."
A
Two days later the King issued from his headquarters at
Homburg the following general order to all the armies in the
field :
" Soldiers : The pursuit of the enemy, forced back after
bloody fighting, has already carried a great part of our army
over the frontier. Many corps will enter upon the French soil
to-day and to-morrow. I expect that the self-discipline with
which you have heretofore distinguished yourself will be also
especially maintained in the enemy's territory. We carry on
no war against the peaceable inhabitants of the land ; it is, on
the contrary, the duty of every honest soldier to protect private
property, and not to allow the good reputation of our army to
be marred by even one example of lawlessness. I depend upon
the excellent feeling which possesses the army, but also upon
the vigilance and rigor of all commanders."
On tho same day the veteran von Steinmetz, from his head¬
quarters at Saarbruck, addressed his troops, already baptized in
blood in the fierce fight for the possession of the heights of
Spicheren, in the following determined language :
m
THE GREAT WAR
" Soldiers of the First Army : By command of Hi#
Majesty the King, the First Army will to-morrow cross the
French boundary. Let us greet this first tfesult of our previous
efforts as we enter upon the enemy's territory with a hearty
hurrah for our wise, supreme war-leader. Of your good conduct
in the struggle which awaits us with an equally brave army, I
am assured by your love of the fatherland, your courage, and
your just pride, which forbid you to suffer the insults cast upon
us by an intemperate opponent, to remain unnoticed. But the
peace-loving citizen and countryman, as you will say yourselves,
stands under the protection of the humanity which is compre¬
hended in Prussian discipline. I trust that you will never
falsify either the one or the other by excesses which can never
be countenanced by your superiors. When and where the
enemy confronts us, I expect that he will be attacked with the
greatest determination. For the cavalry it is already a principle
of long standing that it always attacks first. The excuse, that
there was nothing to be done, I can never allow, when the
thunder of the cannon can be heard. On the contrary, each
detachment of troops must march toward that direction, and,
arrived upon the battle-field, inform itself upon the condition
of the fight, in order to attack at once, in the best way. The
same sound must also serve as a guide to each superior com¬
mander in a pitched battle. One thing more. What can be
done on one day must never be distributed over two days.
Only with the greatest energy can great results be attained, and,
with them, the peace which God will give us after victorious
combat."
On the 9th of August the Baden contingent of the German
army approached Strasbourg, and summoned it to surrender
General Uhrich, the French commander, refused, and the next
day issued the following proclamation :
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
19c
" Disturbing rumors and panics have been spread, either by
accident or design, within the past few days in our brave city.
Some individuals have dared to express the opinion that the
place would surrender without a blow. We protest energetic¬
ally, in the name of a population courageous and French, against
these weak and criminal forebodings. The ramparts are armed
with 400 cannon. The garrison consists of 11,000 men, without
reckoning the stationary .National Guard. If Strasbourg is
attacked, Strasbourg will defend herself as long as there shall
remain a soldier, a biscuit, or a cartridge. The well-affected
may reassure themselves ; as to others, they have but to with
draw.
" The General of Division, Uhrioh.
" The Prefect of the Bas-Rhin, Baron Pros.
K Strasbourg, August 10."
On the 11th of August the three German armies forming
the advance all stood upon French soil, and King Wilhelm
addressed to the inhabitants of the departments then in posses¬
sion of the German army the following proclamation :
" We, Wilhelm, King of Prussia, give notice to the inhab¬
itants of the French departments in possession of the German
army as follows: After the Emperor Napoleon had attacked
by sea and by land the German nation, which desired, and still
desires, to live at peace with the French people, I assumed the
chief command over the German armies in order to repel this
attack. In the progress of events I have had occasion to cross
the French boundary. I make war with the French soldiers,
and not with .the citizens of France. These will, therefore, con¬
tinue to enjoy a perfect security of their persons and their
property just so long as they do not deprive me, by their own
hostile acts against the German troops, of the right to extend
196
the great war
to them my protection. The generals •who command the dif¬
ferent corps will establish by especial regulations, which shah
be brought to the knowledge of the public, the measures which
are to be taken against communities or against single persons,
who set themselves in opposition to the usages of war. They
will in similar manner fix every thing in regard to requisitions
which shall be demanded by the necessities of the troops. They
will also fix the rate of exchange between German and French
currency, in order to make the single transactions between the
troops and the people easy."
The defeat of Marshal MacMahon at Woertli, with the sub¬
sequent slight but disastrous engagements at Niederbronn and
Iteichshofen, was found to be even more appalling than was at
first supposed. His losses, as ascertained some days later, were
more than 9,000 killed and wounded, and 6,500 prisoners,
besides a very considerable number of deserters. Making the
best of this great yet inevitable misfortune, he issued, on the
9th of August, the following order of the day to his remnant of
an army :
" Soldiers : In the battle of the 6th of August, fortune
betrayed your courage, but you yielded your positions only
after a heroic resistance which lasted not less than nine hours.
You were 35,000 against 140,000, and were overwhelmed by
force of numbers. Under these conditions defeat is glorious,
and history will say that in the battle of Frosehweiler the
French showed the greatest valor. You have suffered heavy
losses, but those of the enemy are much greater. Although you
have not been successful, you see a cause for your misfortune
which makes the Emperor satisfied with you, and the entire
country recognize that you have worthily sustained the honor
of the flag. Let us show that, though subjected to the severest
BETWEEN FRANCE ARB GERMANY.
197
tests, the First Corps, forgetting these, closes up its rai-ks and,
God aiding ns, let us seize great and brilliant revenge."
The necessity for strong reënforeements compelled MacMahon
to summon to his aid General De Failly (a portion of whose
corps had already been with him at Woerth) and Generals Can
robert and De Caen, both of whom were in southern Alsace.
With all these troops, however, he could only gather from
50,000 to 60,000 men, so far had the real numbers of the French
army-corps fallen below their nominal standard, and so numer¬
ous, even in this first 6tage of the war, were the deserters. The
nommai strength of these four army-corps had been 200,000
men. Having obtained these reënforeements, MacMahon fell
back to Nancy and Toul, his objective being Paris by way of
Bar-le-Duc and Chalons, as he saw very clearly that, unless a
strong force was interposed between Paris and the Prussian
armies, they could not be checked in their victorious march
toward the French capital ; and the probability of their reach¬
ing that city was much greater than that of the French entering
Berlin as conquerors, as the Emperor had promised them at the
beginning of the war. It was necessary, moreover, that lie
should be in a position to receive the large reënforeements yet
to be sent out from Paris, that he might attack the Prussians in
flank, while Bazaine, who was now in chief command under the
Emperor, and was gathering a large army in the neighborhood
of Metz, should attack them in front. These plans, however,
were destined to be suddenly and completely frustrated. The
Crown-Prince of Prussia, who, after the battle of Woerth, ascer¬
tained what was the line upon which MacMahon was retreating,
and had drawn his own army northward to Saar-union, to within
reach of the other armies, commenced a relentless pursuit of the
French general through Nancy and Toul, leaving to the German
eserves the siege an 1 reduction of the small fortified places on
19S
the great war
the route, and pressed oil'his rear through Commercy, Bar-le-
Due, and Chalons, not relinquishing the pursuit when Mac-
Mahon turned northward and attempted to create a diversion in
favor of Bazaine.
Meanwhile, as we have already intimated, Bazaine, falling
back from St. Avoid, which had been for a time his headquar¬
ters, concentrates as large a force as possible in the vicinity of
Metz, the strongest and best-provided of the French fortresses,,
but found, to his great annoyance and dismay when he reached
the Moselle, that an infantry force, the advance of Prince Fried-
rich Karl's army, had secured an eligible location for crossing
that river at Pont-à-Mousson, less than twenty miles south of
Metz. With his large army, now numbering probably 150,00C
or more troops, it would not answer for him to be shut up ana
besieged in Metz by the Prussian armies ; yet he was in great
peril of being caught there, for General Frossard, who came in
with his corps from St. Avoid on the 13th of August, reported
himself pressed closely all the way by the Germans ; the ad¬
vance of von Steinmetz's army and the Second German Army
(Prince Friedrich Karl's) were known to be coming in great
force from the south. The Emperor and the Prince Imperial
thought it necessary to leave Metz, and did so at 11 a. m. on
Sunday, going, however, no farther than Longueville, near Metz,
that day. He left the following address to the inhabitants of
Metz, which was posted about the city after his departure :
" On quitting you to fight the invaders, I confide to your
patriotism the defence of this great city. You will never allow
the enemy to take possession of this bulwark of France, and I
trust you will rival the army in loyalty and courage. I shall
ever remember with gratitude the reception I have found within
your walls, and I hope that in more joyous times I may be able
to return to thank you for your noble conduct."
• 3îD»J>....
200
THE GREAT WAR
This effort to withdraw Bazaine's army from Metz had been
in spite of the attempted secrecy, observed by the Prussian com¬
manders, and a reconnoissance in force oidered to prevent
it. Bazaine was moving his advance across the Moselle, on
the Verdun road, when the advance-guard of the First Army
(von Steinmetz's) fell upon his rear-guard about 4 p. m., and
compelled some of his divisions to face about to resist the attack.
The First and Seventh Corps of the First Army soon came up
to support the attack ; and the Ninth Corps of the Sec'ond
Army, having arrived from Pont-à-Mousson, joined in. The
foregoing plan of the roads and villages west of Metz, and of
the position of the Prussian and French forces, will materially
aid our understanding of this and the battles of the following
days.
The battle of Sunday, August 14th, was most severe on the
east side of the Moselle, toward which the different corps of the
First Army were rapidly marching to cross the river at Jouy,
Coiney, and various other points between Metz and Pont-à-Mous
son. Bazaine, desirous of making good his retreat upon Ver¬
dun, and finding that the Prussians were in large force in the
woods around Borny, a small village east of the Moselle, at the
junction of the Boulay, St. Avoid, and Forbach roads, and in
the villages to the northeast of that village, determined to re¬
pulse their attack ; and when they opened fire upon the out¬
works of Metz, l'Admirault's corps, which was just starting for
Verdun, together with the Third Corps, De Caen's, and the
Imperial Guard, under General Bourbaki, and the garrison of
Fort St. Quentin, advanced to the attack. The battle raged
from a little after 4 p. m. to nearly 9 p. m. The French make no
mention of their position at the beginning of the fight, but only
speak of the German force as near Borny ; but the Germans say
that the French line at the beginning was Nouilly, Noisseville,
Montay, and Colombey, and that they were forced back into the
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
201
fortifications of Metz, and held there by the threatening position
of the Second Army, which was across the Moselle, and com¬
manded the road to Yerdun by Mars-la-Tour. The accounts of
the two parties are conflicting, but both agi ee that it was a very
severe action, and that the losses were heaviest on the side of
the Prussians, though they accomplished their object of detain¬
ing the French in Metz until they could bring their own troops
across the Moselle, and flank and defeat all the efforts of the
French general to retreat toward Paris.
The German account of the battle, which is official, but gives
very few details, is as follows :
"The v mbats of the 14th, 16th, and 18th of August are
closely connected with each other. After the defeat sustained
by their advanced guard at Saarbruck on the 6th, and in conse¬
quence of the complete dissolution of their right wing under
Marshal MacMabon, the bulk of the hostile army retreated on
the line of the Moselle. The fortress of Thionville and the very
important position of Metz, with its intrenched camp, gave
extraordinary strength to this line. A direct attack upon it
would have been difficult. The armies were, therefore, directed
south of Metz toward the Moselle, in order to pass the river
above the fortress, and so attack the enemy. The movement of
great masses, which could only be carried on in a considerable
breadth of country, had to be secured by special precautions.
The First Army, consequently, undertook to cover this march.
" As the enemy for a time seemed disposed to await an attack
on the east side of Metz, on the right bank of the Moselle, in a
"trong position on the French side, the nearest divisions of the
Second Army were so approximated to the First Army as to be
able promptly to support it. Meantime the other corps of the
Second Army had already crossed the Moselle. The enemy
consequently saw himself forced, in order not to lose his com-
2U2
the great war
municâtions with Paris, to evacuate the right bank of the
Moselle before Metz, as he could not venture to attempt an
attack on our movement. The advanced guard of the First
Army, pushing on toward him, promptly discovered this retreat,
and in the encounter of the 14th of August threw itself on the
French rear-guard, forcing it forward on the marching columns
of their main army. The enemy was obliged to move round
some of his divisions to support it, while on our side the entire
First and Seventh Corps, and some detachments of the nearest
(Ninth) Army Corps of the Second Army, joined in the engage¬
ment. The enemy was forced back and pursued till under
shelter of the cannons of the Metz forts on the right bank of
the Moselle. This combat had, moreover, this great advantage,
that it delayed the enemy's retreat. This advantage it was pos¬
sible to profit by."
i
Correspondents on both sides supply the following additional
items respecting the battle :
i
" With all the caution used by the French in attempting to
conduct the evacuation secretly, they could not escape the vigi¬
lant Germans. About 4 p. m. the preparations of the troops
lying among the advanced works of Metz were so apparent, that
two divisions were ordered to reconnoitre these troops. One
division marched along the highway from St. Avoid, the other
by another road south of the former. The latter got into action
first, and attacked so boldly that De Caen's coips, and parts of
Frossard's, were forced to face about. The French occupied, in
the beginning, Servigny, Noisse ville, Montay, Colombey. On
the right (German) wing the First Army-Corps advanced against
Noisseville and Montay, and on the left wing the Seventh and
half of the Ninth Corps were engaged. While the infantry
were maintaining a heavv fight, the artillery of the First and
A PICKET POST DISTURBED.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
205
Thirteenth Divisions, fourteen batteries in all, succeeded in
taking up a position in the general form of a horse-shoe on the
hills north of Montay, and poured a concentric and well-deliv¬
ered fire until nightfall upon the enemy's line, which proved
very effective, in spite of the setting sun and an unfavorable
wind. The French showed less skill in using their guns. The
French were gradually driven backwards, and their positions
repeatedly stormed. Toward evening General l'Admirault,
determining, as a last resort, to make an offensive movement,
attempted with his Fourth Corps to turn the right wing of his
enemy toward Servigny ; but General Manteuffel, bringing up
his reserves, repulsed the attack. At 10 o'clock the Germans
returned to their bivouacs. The French were held back for a
day more, which invaluable time was put to good use by the
troops hurrying over the Moselle at Pont-à-Mousson, where
Prince Friedrich Karl was pushing northwestward toward the
French line of retreat. Losses heavy on both sides. French
accounts say that most of their men were wounded in the feet.
Marshal Bazaine was said to be slightly wounded in the foot by
a shell which killed his horse : 1,200 to 1,500 of their wounded
were brought back in Metz. The Germans were thought to
have lost 2,600 to 3,500.
" The regiments most closely engaged on the French side
were the Sixty-ninth, Ninetieth, Forty-fourth, Sixtieth, Eighti¬
eth, Thirty-third, Fifty-fourth, Sixty-fifth, and Eighty-fifth of the
line ; the Eleventh and Fifteenth Foot Chasseurs ; and the Eighth,
Ninth, and Tenth batteries of the First Regiment of Artillery.
Those which suffered most were the Forty-fourth and Ninetieth
of the line, and the Fifteenth Foot Chasseurs. The colonel of
the Forty-fourth was killed ; the colonel of the Third Horse Chas¬
seurs, and Generals Duplessis and Castanier, were wounded."
King Wilhelm sent the following despatches on the 15th :
206
THE GREAT WAR
" Yesterday evening victorious combat near Metz, by troop»
of the Seventh and First Army-Corps. Details still wanting.
I am going at once to the battle-field.
" The advance-guard of the Seventh Corps attacked, last
evening towards 5 o'clock, the retreating enemy, who took up
a position and called reënforcements from the fortress. Parts
of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Divisions, and of the First
Corps, supported the advance-guard. A very bloody fight
spread along the whole line ; the enemy was thrown back at all
points, and the pursuit was carried as far as the glacis of the
outworks. The neighborhood of the fortress permitted the
enemy to cover his wounded to a great extent. After our
wounded were cared for, the troops withdrew at daybreak into
their old bivouacs. The troops are reported to have all of them
fought with a wonderful energy and gayety not to be expected.
I have seen many of them, and have thanked them from my
heart. The joy was overpowering. I spoke with Generals
Steinmetz, Zastrow, Manteuffel, and Gôben."
The French official account is less extravagant than that of
the correspondents, but greatly exaggerates the Prussian losses,
while underrating its own.
" On taking command, Marshal Bazaine, seeing the country
invaded on three sides by the armies of Prince Friedrich K.arl,
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, and Marshal Steinmetz, contemplated
uniting the scattered French troops at Metz, in order to be able
to confront the enemy. One point in this movement was at
Borny, a small village at the junction of the Boulay, St. Avoid,
and Forbach roads. There the enemy advanced, confident of
triumph after his easy victory at Sty ring. While, therefore, on
Sunday, August 14th, the enemy had decided to cross the Mo¬
selle and leave Metz behind him, a great movement was taking
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
207
place in the French camp. General 1'Admiranlt was preparing
to turn Metz on the north, and thus separate himself from Gen¬
eral De Caen, who would enter the city, when the enemy, who
was well posted at Noisseville, Montay, and Coiney, had the
boldness to open fire on us. The troops halted. The soldiers
of l'Admirault, who had already left by the ravine of Yalliere,
returned and advanced toward the Prussians. In an instant the
fire thus opened from Yalliere to Grigy by way of Borny, being
a length of nearly six miles. The Prussians never resist such
an attack. The cannonade continued from 4 to 5 o'clock. It
ceased then for an hour, to allow the infantry and mitrailleuses
to do their work, and recommenced at 6.30, ceasing only when
the enemy had entirely abandoned their positions. It was one
of the most glorious feats of the war. The enemy left 8,000
dead on the field, while our loss was scarcely 1,000. General
Picard, commander of one of the divisions of the Imperial
Guard, told me, next day, that he had never seen any thing so
terrible as the battle-field of Borny. Bows of men were lying
in the order they stood ; and the wounded were, in some cases,
under the dead. This was the work of the French mitrailleuses.
It must be said, however, that the Prussian steel-cannons did us
considerable damage."
The Emperor sent the following despatch to Eugenie, dated
at Longueville, on Sunday night, at 10 o'clock :
" The army began to cross to the left bank of the Moselle
this morning. Our advance-guard had no knowledge of the
presence of any force of the enemy. "When half of our army
had crossed over, the Prussians suddenly attacked in great force.
After a fight of four hours, they were repulsed with great loss
to them.
" Napoleon."
208
THJS GREAT WAR
But, though boasting of his success in repulsing tne enemy,
Bazaine was too skilful a general not to be aware that it was a
vital necessity of his position to be able to retreat to Yerdun.
After this severe battle, then, the whole night of the 14th was
spent in moving his army across the Moselle, leaving General
Ghangarnier with a strong garrison in Metz. An armistice of
twenty-four hours was asked by the Germans, to bury their
dead who had fallen the previous day in the battle of Borny,
but their reconnoissances demonstrated the fact that all the
French army except, the garrison had left Metz, and been placed
by Bazaine in echelon right and left from Bezonville, facing
southwestward, with headquarters of the Emperor and Marshal
Bazaine in Gravelotte. The Guards, Second, Third, and Fourth
Corps of the French army, lay between Metz and Doncourt in
two lines, facing southwest. The two roads leading to Yerdun,
the one by Mars-la-Tour, the other by Con flans, have their point
of junction at Gravelotte. The possession of one or both these
roads was indispensable to Bazaine, and he was prepared to
fight fiercely and persistently for it.
He knew that the Second German Army (Prince Friedrich
Karl's) had been, since the 13th, diligently and rapidly pushed
forward from Pont-à-Mousson" across the Moselle to Thiancourt,
and thence to Mars-la-Tour, and that it was blocking the south¬
ernmost of these roads ; but he was not probably aware that
the left and centre had been, since Sunday, crossing the Moselle
south of Metz, and were taking position east of the Second
Army, but within supporting distance of it ; nor was he aware
of the other important fact, destined to turn the fortunes of the
terrible battle of the 18th, that the right wing of the First
Army, under the immediate command of von Steinmetz him-
»elf, was at this very time (the 15th and 16th of August) pon
tooning the Moselle north of Metz and between that city and
Thionville. and would at a critical moment be hurled with
between france and germant.
211
crushing force on his right wing, effectually cutting him ofl
from the Conflans road. For the present, however, he was
simply concerned to regain possession of the Yerdun road by
Mars-la-Tour, and for this, on Tuesday, August 16th, he fought
another desperate battle. The advance-guard of Prince Fried-
rich Karl, which had been hurrying forward by forced marches
from the right bank of the Moselle, reached the southernmost
Yerdun road near Mars-la-Tour early on the morning of the
16th, and attacked the left wing of the French army. General
von Alvensleben, with the Third Corps, opened the conflict, and
a bloody battle, with divisions from all the corps under Bazaine's
command, was gradually developed as the troops on each side
came up. The Fifth German Division (General Stiilpnagel)
fought from 9 a. m. until 3 p. m. without supports. Then the
Tenth Corps, the Seventeenth Division of the Ninth Corps, and
the Hessian Twenty-fifth Division, one after the other, came up,
and after six hours more the defeat of the French was complete.
The positions they had occupied were in the hands of the Ger¬
mans. They lost 2,000 prisoners, among whom were two gen¬
erals, and seven guns. The victory was claimed by both sides ;
•\
by Bazaine, because he had nearly held his position (he was
driven back nearly to Gravelotte) ; by the Prussians, with more
reason, because they had held possession of the road, and had
inflicted on the French much heavier losses than they had sus¬
tained. It was clear, however, that the battle was indecisive,
and that another must be fought before it could be determined
which side should finally win.
The German official report was as follows :
" Two roads lead from Metz to Yerdun, the direction which
the French army had to take in case of a retread upon Paris.
Those corps of the Second Army which had already passed the
Moselle were immediately directed against the southern road.
212
THE GREAT WAR
the one most easily reached, in order, if possible, to arrest the
enemy's flank-march on that side. This important task was
brilliantly accomplished through a bloody and victorious battle.
The Fifth Division (Stiilpnagel) threw itself on the Frossard
Corps, which covered the enemy's flank. The French army,
with almost all its corps, was gradually engaged, while, on the
Prussian side, the rest of the Third Army-Corps, the Tenth
Army-Corps, a regiment of the Ninth Corps, and a brigade of
the Eighth, took part. Prince Friedrich Karl assumed the com¬
mand. The ground first won by us in a twelve hours' struggle
was victoriously held, the south road from Metz to Verdun was
gained and retained, and the enemy's retreat to Paris by this
road cut off. The conduct of our troops was truly heroic. Oxfl
loss was very considerable, but that of the enemy infinitely
greater, as could be seen by examination of the battle-field.
TJntil the 19th it was impossible to bury the French dead, and
the great number of corpses of the Imperial Guard evidenced
the enormous losses of that élite force. In the French official
account the strength of our troops is reckoned at double its
actual numbers. The Emperor's proclamation on leaying Metz,
as also other French official documents, leaves no doubt that the
main army had the certainly quite natural intention of retreat¬
ing to Verdun."
On the other hand, Bazaine reports :
" This morning the army of Prince Friedrich Karl directed
a spirited attack against the left wing of our position. The
Cavalry Division (Torton) and the Second Corps (Frossard)
maintained a stout resistance to the attack. The corps, which
were placed in échelon right and left from Rezonville, appeared
gradually upon the battle-field, and took part in the combat,
which continred until nightfall. The enemy had deployed
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
213
heavy masses of men, and attempted several attacks, which
were stoutly repulsed. Toward evening appeared a new army-
corps, which attempted to cut off our left wing. We have
everywhere maintained our position, and inflicted heavy losses
upon the enemy ; our losses are also great. At the moment
when the battle raged at its height, a regiment of Uhlans at¬
tacked the general staff of the Marshal ; twenty men of the
escort were put hors de combat, the captain commanding killed.
At 8 o'clock the enemy was repulsed on the whole line."
On the 17th Bazaine writes again :
- u Yesterday, during the entire day, I gave battle between
Vionville and Doncourt. The enemy was repulsed. We
remained in our positions. I interrupted my movement for
some hours in order to bring up ammunition. We have had
Friedrich Karl and Steinmetz before us."
The following additional details of this battle were published
in Paris :
" Prince Friedrich Karl attacked our right, and was firmly
met. The corps of General Argand, at Rezonville, hastened
into the action, which ceased only with night. The Prussians
repeatedly attacked us, and were as often repulsed. Toward
night a fresh corps sought to turn our position, but was beaten
off. Our losses are serious. General Battaille is wounded.
By 8 o'clock in the evening the enemy were repulsed along the '
entire line. He had 120,000 men engaged."
Yionville is nine miles west of Metz ; Doncourt three miles
north of Yionville. The French General Le Grand was killed ;
he was commander of a cavalry division, Fourth Corps. The
214 the great war
*
Emperor, after leaving Metz on the 14th, jiroceeded no fiirtheï
than Gravelotte, eight miles. Leaving that place on Monday, h«
passes, in advance of his escort, through Jarny, fifteen miles
from Metz, on his way to Yerdun. Hardly was he out of sight,
when the town was in the hands of the German dragoons.
The flank-march by the north road, or by making a wide
détour further north, still remained possible. Although such a
retreat entailed on the French commander great dangers, it
appeared possible that he would undertake it, as the only mode
of escape from a highly unfavorable position, since otherwise
the army was cut off from Paris and all its means of assistance.
On the Prussian side, the 17th was turned to account in bring¬
ing forward for a final struggle the necessary corps, part of
whom were already over the Moselle, while part had, in the
night, thrown various bridges over it above Metz. At the same
time the movements of the French forces were carefully watched
by the German cavalry. King Wilhelm remained on the spot
until, from the advanced hour of the day, no further movement
of the enemy was to be expected.
On the 17th, Napoleon III, not deeming himself or the little
Prince safe at Yerdun, proceeded to Kheims.
On Thursday, the 18th, the final struggle of this week of
battles occurred. The most complete and intelligible account
of this fearful battle of Gravelotte, evidently compiled from
official sources, is that of the Army and Navy Journal of Sep¬
tember 2é, 1870, which we append :
" At daybreak the First German Army, with the First,
Seventh, and Eighth Corps, stood off the hills south of ftezon-
>-ille. The Second Army, with the Third, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth,
and Guard Corps, were on the left flank south of Mars-la-Tour
and Yion ville. The southern branch of the Yerdun road, west
of Kezonvillc, was in the hands of the Germans. The northern
THE BATTLE OF GKAVELOTTE.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
217
branch as far as Cautre was held by the French, whose line
extended from Amanvillers, through Yerneville and Gravelotte,
to the Forest of Yaux. Towards 10 o'clock in the morning,
after having already spent six hours in visiting the corps in
position, the King, from the heights of Flavigny, ordered the
Ninth Corps, in position there, to move toward the woods be
hind St. Marcel ; while the Seventh and Eighth Corps marched
against the Forest of Yaux, south of Gravelotte. The latter
had orders to push the enemy very slowly, in order to give time
to the Guards and Twelfth Corps to make a long détour on the
left, by way of Joua ville, Batilly, and S te. Marie. The Third
and Tenth Corps were in reserve, and but few of their troops
were in the fight, these being mostly artillery. The principal
movement was that on the left. Preceded by Prussian and
Saxon cavalry, the Second Army advanced, still maintaining
communication on the right with the First Army. The Twelfth
Corps took the direction by Mars-la-Tour and Jarny, while the
Guards advanced between Mars-la-Tour and Yionville on Don-
court, and the Ninth Corps crossed the highway to the west of
Rezonvillc, toward Cautre farm, north of St. Marcel. Their
purpose was to gain the central and northern roads. They
quickly found that the French were not retreating, and moved
to the right, meeting at Ste. Marie and Koncourt resistance,
which was overcome, and, after another struggle among the
steep hills at St. Privat-la-Montagne, that place was gained.
The right flank of this Second Army, holding the centre of the
whole German line, had been earlier engaged with some ad¬
vanced forces of the French, and toward noon the Ninth Corps
was engaged at Yernevillc. The Guards and Twelfth Corps
reached St. Privât about 4 p. m., and immediately moved south
and east against Amanvillers. The fighting here was exceed¬
ingly severe. The Germans lay in a long curve, sweeping from
St. Privât, where the Saxons fought on the extreme left, through
218
THE GREAT WAR
Ste. Marie and St. Ail (Guards), Verneville (Ninth Corps),
Gravelotte (Eighth Corps), and Forest of Vaux (Seventh Corps),
across the Moselle, on the right bank of which a brigade of the
First Corps and artillery from the reserves were engaged. The
French army fought with its back to Germany ; the Germans
had Paris in their rear. Bazaine's entire army was in line,
including those troops which had been prepared for the Baltic
expedition. On the left wing the flanking column, after meet¬
ing with resistance at every point, pushed its enemy back
through Ste. Marie, Roncourt, St. Privât, St. Ail, Habonville,
the wood of La Cusse, and Verneville, until, toward evening,
two small outworks of Metz lying northeast of Gravelotte, and
named Leipsic and Moscou, were reached. All three roads out
of Metz were then firmly in the grasp of the Germans.
" The right wing had great difficulties to overcome. Early
in the day its work was to press the French lightly in the Forest
of Vaux. Back of this wood was the strongest part of the
French position. It was covered by a deep road with sides fifty
feet high, back of which was a plateau 325 to 600 feet in height.
Behind this is the Rozieriulles hill, along the slopes of which
the highway to Metz runs. This whole steep was covered with
rifle-pits in three tiers. Behind these werp the infantry ; behind
the'infantry the artillery. The highway as it runs along this
hill is only 5,000 yards in a straight line from Fort St. Quentin,
one of the strong outworks of Metz. But the crest of the hill
intervenes between them, and by the road the distance is nearly
twice as great. The French soldiers, driven from this last posi¬
tion and crossing the ridge, wpuld find themselves directly under
the guns of their forts. When news of the successes on the left,
and the evident abandonment of the retreat by the French, was
brought to the King, he moved forward to a hill near Rezon-
ville, and ordered more positive action on the right wing. The
French, however, maintained their post with great détermina-
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
219
tion. Driven from it at one time, they retook it by a counter¬
charge. The King, to whom news of the success had been sent,
arrived on the hill back of Gravelotte only to see his cavalry on
the wrong side of the defile, on the opposite side of which the
enemy stood. The fire of the artillery ceased ; the troops had
iOst so heavily that the position seemed to be beyond their grasp.
The King, however, ordered another attempt, and after an hour,
during which night came on, the troops were re-formed. They
were no sooner in motion, than the whole face of the hill re¬
vealed such rows of artillery and infantry delivering an ex¬
tremely rapid and deadly fire, that General von Moltke sent an
officer to recall the troops. Before he was out of sight the men
appeared themselves, returning down the hillside, fully repulsed.
Just then the Second Corps, which had been on the march since
2 o'clock in the morning, came up, and as soon as enough regi¬
ments showed themselves, they were sent to take the hill from
which their comrades had so often returned in failure. Follow¬
ing the withdrawing storming party came the French in counter¬
attack. Their success was so great, that the German troops
showed symptoms of serious disorder. Some parts of the line
began a disorderly retreat, and the moment was critical. Gen¬
eral von Moltke, who had anxiously awaited the coming of the
Second Corps, rushed up, and himself gave them the word to
advance. They sprang forward after him, and when the reën-
forcement was well up the hill, the repulsed troops were again
sent forward, going thrôugh their terrible experience for the last
time, as it proved, with great steadiness and spirit. This attack
succeeded, and at 8.30 o'clock the last position of the French
was in the hands of their enemy. During the night they with¬
drew completely into Metz. The losses in this battle, as in the
encounters immediately preceding it, were immense. Even now
they are not officially known, though an account from Paris says
that Bazaine officially reported his wounded at Gravelotte at
220
THE GREAT WAR
18,000 ; but this probably includes the losses in all the battles
west of Metz. Estimating the dead at 5,000, and adding the
captured wounded, 3,000 (up to August 22d), the whole French
loss would be 23,000. From 6,000 to 10,000 prisoners were
taken in the battles east and west of Metz. On the German
side, with the exception of prisoners, the losses must have been
still greater ; and for 18,000 killed and wounded that Bazaine
lost, his enemy must have lost at least 25,000. An official report
of the losses on the 16th of August has been published. It
shows that there were 626 officers and 15,925 men placed hors
de combat. Eighteen hundred and thirty-two horses were lost,
not including those of several South German cavalry regiments."
The King's despatch from Rezonville says :
" The French army attacked to-day in a very strong position
west of Metz, under my leadership, in nine hours' battle com¬
pletely beaten, cut off from its communications with Paris, and
thrown back on Metz."
He writes, on the 19th, from Rezonville :
" That was a new day of victory yesterday, the consequences
of which are not yet to be estimated. Early yesterday the
Twelfth Guards and Ninth Corps proceeded toward the north¬
ern road from Metz to Yerdun as far as St. Marcel and Don-
court, followed by the Third and Tenth Corps ; while the
Seventh and Eighth, and finally the Second, remained opposite
Metz. As the former swerved to the right, in thickly-wooded
ground, toward Yerneville and St. Privât, the latter began the
attack upon Gravelotte, not heavily, in order to wait until the
long flauk-march upon the strong position, Amanvillers-Chatel,
should be accomplished a6 far as the Metz highway. This
HOLT JOS ANNOUNCING TO KING WLLHELM THE VICTORY AT ORAVELOTTK
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 223
column did not get into action until 4 o'clock with the Pivo/
Corps; the Ninth at 12 o'clock. The enemy put forth sto1^
resistance in the woods, so that ground was gained only slowly
St. Privât was taken by the Guards, Verneville by the Ninth
Corps ; the Twelfth Corps and artillery of the Third then went
into action. Gravelotte and the woods on both sides w.ere taken
and held by troops of the Seventh and Eighth Corps, and with
great losses. In order to attack again the enemy, who had been
driven back by the flank-attack, an advance beyond Gravelotte
was undertaken at dusk, which came upon such 'a terrible fire
from behind rifle-pits en étage, and artillery-fire, that the Second
Corps, which just then came up, was forced to attack the enemy
with the bayonet, and completely took and held the strong
position. It was 8.30 o'clock before the firing gradually silenced
itself in all quarters. By this last advance the historical shells
of Koniggrâtz were not wanting near me, from which, this time,
Minister von Roon removed me. All troops that I saw greeted
me with enthusiastic hurrahs. They did wonders of bravery
against an equally brave enemy, who defended every step, and
often attempted offensive attacks, which Were each time repulsed.
What the fate of the enemy will now be, pushed into the in¬
trenched, very strong position of the fortress of Metz, is still
impossible to determine. I dread to ask about the losses, and
to give names ; for only too many acquaintances will be named,
and often incorrectly. Tour regiment (the Queen's) is said to
have fought brilliantly. Waldersee is wounded severely, but
not fatally, as I am told. I expected to bivouac here, but found,
after some hours, a room where I rested on the royal ambu¬
lance which I had brought with me ; and since I have not a
particle of my baggage from Pont-â-Mousson, I have not been
undressed for thirty hours. I thank God that he vouchsafed ug
the victory.
" WlLTIELM."
224
THE GREAT WAR
In such a battle, extending over thirty or forty square miles,
no eye-witness can see the whole, or can comprehend fully all
the movements of the various corps and divisions. "What one
man could see, however, of this battle, which up to its date
must he considered the severest of modern times, a corre¬
spondent of the New York Tribune has described with wonder¬
ful accuracy and life-likeness. Portions of his description are
not necessary to our work, but those which portray the actual
incidents of the battle we gladly transfer to our pages.
" The troops," says this correspondent, " had been passing
through Pont-à-Mousson almost continually for several days
previously ; but now the tramp through every street and by¬
way made between midnight and dawn a perpetual roar.
Hastily dressing, I ran out into the darkness and managed to
get a seat on a wagon that was going in the direction of the
front, now understood to be a mile or two beyond the village
of Gorze, some twelve miles from Pont-à-Mousson. On our
way we met a considerable batch of French prisoners, who were
looked upon with curiosity by the continuous line of German
3oldiers with whom we advanced. The way was so blocked
with wagons that I got out of my wagon and began to walk
and run swiftly ahead. At Mouvient, 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. Quickening my own
steps, I first heard the thunder of the cannonade, seeminglv
coming from the heart of a range of hills on the right. Pass¬
ing through the village and ascending the high plain beyond, 1
found myself suddenly in a battle-rfield, etrewn thickly, so far
as my eye could reach, with dead bodies. In one or two parts
of the field companies were still burying the dead, chiefly Prus¬
sians. The French, being necessarily buried last, were still
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
22b
lying in vast numbers on the ground. A few of those that 1
saw were not yet dead.
" As I hurried on, a splendid regiment of ca fairy came up
from behind me, and when they reached the brow of the hill
they broke out with a wild hurrah, and dashed forward. A few
more steps and I gained the summit, and saw the scene which
had evoked their cry, and seemed to thrill even their horses.
" From the hill to which I had been directed by good
authority to come, the entire 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 amid ghastly
corpses, and the air was burdened with the stench of dead
horses, of which there were great numbers. I was standing
on the battle-field of the 16th—the Prussian 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 the lines of poplars which stood against the
horizon on my left ; and on, as far as the eye could reach,
toward Metz, with military regularity, strung on this road like
beads, were the pretty villages, each with its church-tower, all
of which are really only a hundred yards apart, although they
have separate names—Mars-la-Tour, Flavigny, a little south of
the road, Yionville, Rezonville, and Gravelotte, which is divided
into Great and Little Gravelotte. On my right were the thickly-
wooded hills behind which lies the most important village of
the neighborhood, which I had just left—Gorze. So environed
was the foreground of the battle, which should, one would say,
be called the battle of Gravelotte, for it was mainly over and
around that devoted little town that it raged. The area I have
indicated is perhaps four miles square.
" I arrived just as the battle waxed warm. It was about
noon of the 18th. The headquarters of the King of Prussia
were then at the spot which I have described. The great -epre
15
226
THE GREAT WAR
sentative men of Prussia, soldiers and statesmen, were standing
on the ground watching the conflict just begun. Among them
I recognized the King, Bismarck, General von Moltke, frince
Friedrich Karl, Prince Karl, Prince Adalbert, and Adjutant
Kranski. Lieutenant-General Sheridan, of the United States
Army, was also present. At the moment the French were
making a most desperate effort to hold on to the last bit of the
Verdun road—that between Kezon ville and Gravelotte, or that
part of Gravelotte which in some maps is called St. Marcel.
The struggle was desperate but unavailing, for every one man
in the French army had two to cope with, and their line was
already beginning to waver. Soon it was plain that this wing
—the French right—was withdrawing to a new position. This
was swiftly taken up under cover of a continuous fire of their
artillery from the heights beyond the village. The movement
was made in good order, and the position, which was reached
at 1.30 o'clock, would, I believe, have been pronounced impreg¬
nable by nine out of ten military men. When once this move¬
ment had been effected, the French retreating from the pressure
of the Prussian artillery-fire, and the Prussians as rapidly ad¬
vancing, the battle-field was no longer about Kezonville, but
had been transferred and pushed forward to Gravelotte, the
junction of the two branching roads to Verdun. The fields in
front of that village were completely covered by the Prussian
reserves, and interminable lines of soldiers were steadily march¬
ing onward, disappearing into the village, and emerging on the
other side of it with flaming volleys.
" The second battle-field was leBS extensive than the first,
and brought the opposing forces 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 one hundred feet
deep, and, at the top, three hundred yards wide. The side of
the chasm next to Gravelotte, where the Prussians stood, is
RECONNOITERING. "KEEP QUIET."
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMAN f.
229
much lower than the other side, which gradually ascends to a
great height. From their commanding eminence the French
held their enemies fairly beneath them, and poured down upon
them a scorching lire. The French guns were in position far up
by the Metz road, hidden and covered among the trees. There
was not an instant's cessation of the roar. Easily distinguish
able amid all was the curious grunting roll of the mitrailleuse.
The Prussian artillery was posted to the north and south of the
village^ the guns on the latter side being necessarily raised for
an awkward, half-vertical fire.
" The French stood their ground and died ; the Prussians
stood their ground and died—both by hundreds, I had almost
said thousands. This, for an hour or two that seemed ages, so
constant was the slaughter. The hill where I stood commanded
chiefly the conflict behind the village and to the south of it.
The Prussian reënforcements, coming up 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 whatever for four hours in the
march of men out of that wood. It seemed almost as if all the
killed and wounded revived and came back and marched forth
again. Birnam Wood advancing to Dunsinane Hill was not a
more ominous sight to Macbeth than these men of General
Gôben's army to Bazaine, shielded as they were by the woods
till they were fairly within range and reach of their enemy's
guns. So the French must have felt; for between 4 and 5
o'clock they concentrated upon that spot their heaviest fire,
massing all available guns, and shelling the woods unremit¬
tingly. Their fire reached the Prussian lines and tore through
them ; and though the men were steady, it was a test to which
no general carra to subject his troops long. They presently
swervrd a little from that line of advance, and there was no
230
THE GREAT WAR
longer a continuous column of intantry pouring ont of those
woods.
" The attack of the Prussians in the centre, was clearly
checked. About 6 o'clock, however, a brigade of fresh infantry
was again formed in the wood, and emerged from its cover
Once out from under the trees, they advanced at double-quick.
The French guns had not lost the range of the wood, nor of the
ground in front. Seen at a distance through a powerful glass,
the brigade was a huge serpent, bending with the undulations
of the field. But it left a dark track behind it, and the glass
resolved the dark track into falling and dying and dead men.
Many of those who had fallen leaped up again, and ran forward
a little way, striving still to go on with their comrades. Of
those who went backward instead of forward there were few,
though many fell as they painfully endeavored to follow the
advance.
" Half an hour afterwards great numbers of troops began to
march over the hill where I was standing, and moved forward
toward the field where so hard a struggle had been so long pro¬
tracted. These also were, I think, a portion of General Gô-
ben's troops, who had been directed upon a less dangerous route.
" The battle from this point on the Prussian left became so
fierce that it was soon lost to us, or nearly lost, by reason of
the smoke. How and then the thick cloud would open a little
and drift away on the wind, and then we could see the French
sorely tried. To get a better view of this part of the field I
went forward about half a mile, and from this new standpoint
found myself not far from Malmaison. The French line on
the hills was still unbroken, and to all appearances they were
having the best of the battle. But this appearance was due,
perhaps, to the fact that the French were more clearly visible
in their broad height, and fighting with such singular obstinacy.
They plainly silenced a Prussian battery now and then. But
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
231
the Prussian line also was strengthened by degrees on this north¬
ern point. Infantry and artillery were brought up, and from
far in the rear, away seemingly in the direction of Yerneville,
Bhot and shell began reaching the French ranks. These were
the men and these were the guns of Steinmetz, who there and
then effected his junction with the army of Prince Friedrich
Karl, and completed the investment of Metz to the northwest.
" "With reënforcements for the Prussians thus continfiallj
arriving on both sides of the field, the battle grew more and
more obstinate. There cduld be no doubt that the French well
understood the meaning of the movements of the Prussians,
and of the gradual development of their line to the north.
" Steinmetz was able to extend his line gradually further
and further until the French were outflanked, and began to be
threatened, as it appeared, with an attack on the rear of their
extreme right wing. So long as the smoke from the Prussian
guns hovered only over their front, the French clung to their
position. The distance from headquarters to where the Prus¬
sian flank-attack stretched forward was great, and, to add to the
difficulty of clearly seeing the battle, the darkness was coming
on. The puffs of smoke from the French guns, mingled with
the flashes, brightening as the darkness increased, receded grad¬
ually. The pillars of cloud and flame from the north as grad¬
ually and steadily approached. With that advance the French
fire every moment grew more slack. It was not far from 9
o'clock when the ground was yielded finally on the north, and
the last shots fired on that terrible evening were heard in that
direction.
" 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 noticed that his attention was divided between -the exciting
scenes in the distance, and the dismal scene nearer his feet, where
they were just beginning what must yet be a long task—to
232 THE GREAT WAR
bury the French who fell in Tuesday's battle. On them he
gazed silently, and, I thought, sadly.
" Count Bismarck could not conceal his excitement and
anxiety. If it had not been for the King, the Count would
clearly have gone forward where the fighting was. His tower¬
ing form was always a little in advance of the rest.
" When the French completely gave up their hold upon the
road up to Gravelotte, the horses of the headquarters party were
hastily called, the entire party mounting, and, with the King at
their head, dashed down to a point not very far from the village.
Then Bhouts and cheers arose, and followed them wherever they
passed.
" A little after 4 o'clock a strange episode occurred. From
the region where Steinmetz was supposed to be, a magnificent
regiment of cavalry galloped out. They paused a moment at
the point where the Conflans road joins that to Metz. Then
they dashed up the road toward Metz. This road between
Gravelotte and St. Hubert's is cut through the hill, and on each
side of it rise cliffs from forty to sixty feet high, except at the
point where it traverses the deep ravine behind the village.
When it is remembered that at the time the culminating point
to which that road ascends was held by the French, it will not
be wondered at that only half that regiment survived. Their
plunge into that deep cut on the hillside, where next day I saw
so many of them and their horses lying, was of that brave,
unhesitating, unfaltering kind which is so characteristic of Ger¬
man soldiers, among whom stragglers and deserters seem to be
absolutely unknown.
" At a moment that seemed critical, there appeared on the
field, occupying ground before held by a portion of the forces
of Prince Friedrich Karl, a large body of troops. They moved
tto position un 1er the eyes of the King, yet neither the King
noi any of his staff could account for their appearance. They
PRUSSIAN FIELD POLICE DISTRIBUTING PROCLAMAT.ONS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
235
passed the point which in the morning had been the royal head¬
quarters. Their march was begun at the time I have mentioned,
and their advance did not cease till dark ; but the mystery that
hung over them was not dispelled. "Whose was this new army ?
"Whence did it come? The staff insisted that at the point
whence it moved there were, or at any rate ought to be, no
troops of the armies of either Steinmetz or of Prince Friedrich
Karl. The rumor began and spread among the group of men
who surrounded the King that this fresh, mysterious force was
a part of the army of the Crown-Prince, and that a new junc
tion had been effected. I know of no reason to suppose this
true. Doubtless the staff soon ôleared up the matter to their
own satisfaction, but it happened that I was away in another
part of the field before the riddle was solved.
" In any event, it cannot be doubted that the presence of
that large body of men made itself felt upon the fortunes of
the field. They were visible to the French as well as to us.
Hère was another example of the moral effect that may be and
so often is exerted in battle by masses of men whose presence
k known to the enemy, but who may not fire a shot in the
actual conflict. From their line of march it is clear that the
divisions were finally posted a little in the rear and on the left
of the Prussian centre at the time when the attacks so long
directed against the key of the French lines had ceased—in
fact, had failed for the time. It was possible that the French,
having suffered far less in holding their ground than the Prus¬
sians in attacking, might have advanced in their turn and have
undertaken a vigorous offensive movement. If they had any
such purpose, it is not unlikely that they abandoned it on sight
of the Prussian reënforcements.
"Instead of advancing, the French now contented them¬
selves with the mere occupation of the ground to which, earlier
in the day, they had been driven back. At no time did they
THE GREAT WAR
seriously strive to regain the westernmost line of hills which
had been theirs in the morning. At no time did they recover
or seek to recover, by any vigorous forward movement, the
junction of the roads at Gravelotte. From 7 to 8 o'clock the
weight of the battle tended more and more to the north of the
road. There was a lull, the meaning of which the French failed
apparently to interpret. By 7 o'clock they may have believed
themselves partly victorious. They were still perhaps, in con¬
dition to renew on the morrow the struggle that had gone on all
day for that fated road from Metz to Yerdun. If they had not
gained the road or the battle, they had not clearly lost the latter.
Two hours later they had lost both.
" A little before 8 o'clock a large white house on the height
beyond Gravelotte caught fire. It seemed through the gloom
to be a church. Its spire grew into flames, and a vast, black
cloud of smoke arose, contrasting strangely with the white
smoke of the battle. More and more picturesque grew the
whole field. As evening fell, the movements of the troops
could be followed now by the lines of fire that ran flickering
along the front of a regiment as it went into action. Tongues
of fire pierced through and illuminated the smoke out of the
cannons' mouths, and the fuses of the shells left long trains of
fire like falling stars. No general likes fighting by night in
ordinary circumstances, for chance takes then the place of skill ;
but the flanking movement on the French right had been
resolved on by daylight, and it was the necessity of moving
troops to a great distance over difficult ground which delayed
its execution, and brought about what seemed a renewal of the
battle after the day was done.
" To leave the French in their positions during the night
would have been to imperil the plan on which the Prussian
commander had resolved. So, from 8, or 8.30 to 9 o'clock, the
decisive blow was struck. When the battle of Gravelotte had
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
237
actually ended, we knew that the Prussians held the strong
heights beyond the Forest of Yaux, which commanded the sur«
rounding country to the limits of artillery-range from Metz ; we
knew that two great Prussian armies lay across the only road by
which Bazaine could march to Paris for its relief, or for his own
escape; we knew that a victory greater than that of Sunday,
and more decisive than the triumph of Tuesday, had been won.
We believed that the French army, which had fought as val¬
iantly and as vainly as before, was now hopelessly shut up in
its fortress.
" As I went back to the village of Gorze to pass the night,
I turned at the last point to look upon the battle-field. It was
a long, earth-bound cloud, with two vast fires of burning build¬
ings at either end. The day had been beautiful so far as Nature
was concerned, and the stars now looked down in splendor upon
a work of agony and death such as no one could ever wish to
see again."
Another correspondent who witnessed the battle, and also
went over the battle-ground on the following day, after stating
that the battle will rank with the bloodiest and most hardly-
contested that have ever been fought in Europe, goes on to say :
"As I rode up the hill leading to the French position, I
wondered not at the frightful files of corpses all around me, but
that such a position could be taken at all. On the further side
of the road the French had thrown up twelve small épaulements
about breast-high ; in eight of them they had placed mitra¬
illeuses, for the empty cases were scattered all about. In one
épaulement alone I counted forty-three empty cartridge-holders.
Now, as each of these boxes contains twenty-five cartridges,
1,075 shots are fired by one during the day. Doubtless many
more had actually been fired, for nearly every one did as 1 did,
238
THE GREAT WAR
and carried off an empty case as a relic. The slope imrue
diately beneath the French position, on the Verdun, was a
frightful spectacle. Hundreds of Prussian corpses were strewed
in quite a small space on the fatal slope. "Where the Prussian
battery had been placed (of which I spoke in my last), there
were thirty horses lying almost touching one another, many
with the drivers beside them, still grasping their whips. Most
of the corpses were on their backs, with their hands clenched.
This position was explained by the fact that most of the men
had been shot grasping their muskets,\nd their hands clenched
as they dropped their weapons and fell. Many corpses of Prus¬
sian officers lay by those of their men, with their white glove
on their left hands, the right ones being bare, in order better to
grasp the sword. In the hollow road itself the bodies of men
and horses also lay thick ; the corpses all along the sides of the
road, for nearly 1,000 yards, made one continually unbroken
row. A little lower down I found the tirailleur corpses. Many
of these men had still their muskets in their hands, many fore-4
fingers being stiff on the trigger. On the left of the French
position were two small cottages which had been a mark for the
Prussian cannon, and their shells had made a complete ruin of
the buildings. One roof was completely gone, and the whole
front wall of the upper story of the other had been blown in.
On the plateau behind the French earthworks all the ground
was ploughed and torn by the Prussian shells, which, when they
got the range, were admirably aimed. One third of its horses
lay dead beside it. A shell had burst beneath one of the horses,
and had blown him, the limber, and one of the gunners, all to
pieces. All the French prisoners with whom I have spoken
agree in asserting that it was the terrible accuracy of the Prussian
artillery which forced them to yield their position. The farm¬
house of La Villette once stormed and held by the Prussians,
the earthworks on the Verdun road became untenable, as from
COLONEL VON BOEDER DIED AT ST. PRIVAT. ADO. IStil 1»ÎU
COLONEL VON EOKERT. DIED AT MARS-LA-TOUR. 15TH AUG.. 1S7U
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
241
the yard of La Yillette tlie Prussian jaegers could shoot right
into the twelve French earthworks. Seeing this, one could not
help asking why so terrible a sacrifice of life was made by send
ing the infantry straight up the road at the French works.
Perhaps it may have been thought necessary to make- a mora,
impression on the French, and to show them that nothing would
stop the Prussian infantry.
It is admitted here that the mitrailleuses did much execu¬
tion at close quarters. That the stories about their doing execu¬
tion at 2,000 metres were pure invention, I now know ; for, had
they really shot that distance, I should, in all probability, not
be writing this now, for I was within 1,500 yards of them, and
never heard of any of their balls coming near us. All that did
come were Chassepôts. After all the talk we had been treated
to about their great superiority, one would have expected them
to do better. But the fact is, the French soldiers do not do
justice to their weapon, which is undoubtedly better than the
needle-gun—a totally superannuated weapon, though it is made
to do all it is capable of by the Germans, who never dream of
drawing trigger until they feel sure of their aim. Their fire is,
therefore, less rapid than that of the French, but far more
deadly. Now, nothing so encourages young troops as to find
that the ' swish,' ' swish ' of balls is not followed by any very
serious results. On the other hand, it is not at all encouraging
to find that nearly every shot fired by the enemy tells. So
much so was this the case on Thursday, that those who were at
the ' taking ' of Saarbruck by the ' infant Louis,' remarked that
the French artillery-practice against the station was good, and
in some cases excellent. But yesterday it is said to have been
much inferior to what it was at Saarbruck, when they had
greater opposition. I myself thought the Prussian artillery-
practice slow ; but when I got up on the top of the plateau
occupied by the French, I saw how accurate it had been."
16
242
THE GREAT WAR
On the 19th the French army of Marshal Bazaine, which
had, during the night, rested on its arms near the western out¬
works of Metz, withdrew sullenly into its fortifications, having
lost in the three days' fighting, in killed, wounded, and prison¬
ers, not far from 60,000 men. Their own reports acknowledge
12,000 dead and 6,000 unwounded prisoners ; while the Ger¬
mans have sent into Germany full twice that number, besides
the many thousands of the wounded. The French name the
battles of the 14th, 16th, and 18th of August respectively, Cour-
celles, Yionville, and Gravelotte. A general order of Marshal
Bazaine, bearing date Gravelotte, August 16th, was found on
the battle-field, which gives directions to the officers of the
several army-corps for the marching of their troops to Yerdun
by the two roads via Conflans and Mars-la-Tour.
On the 19th the two German armies completely enveloped
Metz, and its siege was formally commenced.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
243
CHAPTER IX.
ROM Chalons, to which city he had betaken himself early in
this week of battles, the Emperor, on the 17th of August,
sent to Paris the following decree :
" The General Trochu is named Governor of Paris and Com-
mandant-in-Chief of all the forces' charged- to provide for the
defence of the capital.
" Done at Chalons. Napoleon."
On the 18th Général Trochu issued the following proclama¬
tion to the people of Paris :
" Inhabitants of Paris : Amid the peril in which the
country is, I am named Governor of Paris and Commandant-
in-Chief of the forces charged to defend the capital in a state
of siege. Paris seizes the part which belongs to it, and it wishes
to be the centre of grand efforts, of grand sacrifices, and of
grand examples. I come to join in them with all my heart.
That will be the honor of my life, and the proud crowning of a
career which, until this day, has remained unknown, for the
most part, to you.
" I have faith the most complete in the success of our glo¬
rious enterprise ; but it is upon one condition, the character of
which is imperious, and without which our common efforts will
be struck with impotence.
" I refer to good order ; and I mean, by that, not merely
2*4
THE GREAT WAR
calmness in the street, but calmness at your firesides, calmness
of your spirits, deference to the orders of the responsible author¬
ities, resignation in presence of the trials inseparable from the
situation, and, finally, the serenity, grave and collected, of a
great military nation, which takes in its hand, with a firm reso¬
lution, amid solemn circumstances, the conduct of its destiny.
And to establish the situation in that equilibrium so desirable, I
do not turn to the powers which I hold by the state of siege and
from the law. I demand it of your patriotism, and I will obtain
it from your confidence, in showing myself, to the population of
Paris, a confidence without limit.
" I appeal to all men of all parties, belonging to none myself
In the army no other party is known than that of the country.
" I appeal to their devotion. I demand of them to hold in
bounds, by moral force, the hot spirits who do not know how to
restrain themselves, and to do justice with their own hands to
those men who are of no party, and who see in the public mis¬
fortune only an occasion to satisfy detestable appetites.
" And to accomplish my task, after which, I affirm, I will
reenter into the obscurity from which I emerge, I adopt one of
the old devices of the province of Brittany, where I was born :
' With the aid of God, for the fatherland ! '
" At Paris. General Tbochu."
On the 19th, by imperial order, a Committee of Defence was
formed in Paris, consisting of General Troehu, president ; Mar¬
shal Vaillant, Admiral Rigault de Genouilly, Baron Jérôme
David, General De La Tour, General Guiod, General d'Aute-
marre d'Ervillé, and General Soumain. It possessed the fullest
powers, and had a special executive committee that met daily in
the War Office, receiving reports on the state of the defensive
works, armament, munitions, and provisions in store, and all
operations. These reports went subsequently to the Minister ol
FttENCH FKISONKKS "TAKE A KiUNK."
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
247
War, and thence to the Council. All the acts of the Corps
Législatif were to take effect without imperial decrees confirm¬
ing them or directing their execution.
On the 20th General Trochu published an address to the
people, explaining how he desired to aid tliem. In this address
he said :
" The idea of maintaining order by force of the bayonet and
the sword in Paris, which is so agitated and given up to grief,
fills me with horror and disgust. The maintenance of order by
the ascendency of patriotism, freely expressed by the knowledge
of the evident danger of the country, fills me with hope and
serenity. But this problem is arduous, and I cannot solve it
alone, but I can with the aid of those having such sentiments.
That is what I term moral aid. The moment may arrive when
malefactors, seeing us defending the city, will seek to pillage.
Those the honest must seize. The error of all Governments I
have ever known is to consider force the ultimate power. The
only decisive power in the moment of danger is moral force."
On the 21st he issued the following appeal :
" To the National Guard, to the Garde Mobile, to the Troops
and Seamen m the Army of Paris, to all the Defenders of
the Capital:
" In the midst of events of the highest importance I have
been appointed Governor. The honor is great, the perils also.
I depend on y.our patriotism. Should Paris be subjected to a
Biege, never wa3 there a more magnificent opportunity to prove
to the world that long prosperity has not effeminated the coun¬
try. You have before yon the example of an army which has
fought one against three. Their heroic struggle compels the
admiration of all. Show by your conduct that you have the
feeling of the profound responsibility resting upon you."
248
Villi GREAT WAR
The German reserves, to the number of 200,000, were nov
called out to fill up the gaps in the regiments and occupy the
territory which had been run over, so as to enable the soldiert
of the line to go to the front. The bombardment of Strasbourg
commenced on the 19th, and continued for several days. Yitry,
a fortified town of some importance on the Marne, on the rail¬
road from Chalons to Nancy, surrendered, and with it a large
amount of arms, cannon, and ammunition. The French mined
and destroyed at several places the railroad between Sedan and
Thion ville.
Since the 8th of August Marshal MacMahon had been en¬
gaged in collecting all the troops in Alsace and Lorraine which
could be spared, and had received large reinforcements from
Paris and elsewhere," till his army numbered somewhat more
than 150,000 men. With this army he pushed on as rapidly as
possible on the route to Paris as far as Chalons, the Crown-
Prince of Prussia pursuing him, and often pressing him closely.
Up to the 24th of August MacMahon remained at Chalons.
The German cavalry had pushed on in advance, and some bat¬
talions of Uhlans (Lancers) had appeared around Epernay. The
Third German Army, after the battle of Gravelotte, had been
joined by the Guards, Fourth and Twelfth Corps, which were
organized as a Fourth Army under the Crown-Prince of Saxony,
and preparations were made for the immediate investment of
Chalons.
On the 25th the German forces learned that, the night be
fore, MacMahon had evacuated Chalons, and, instead of inarch
ing upon Epernay, had gone northwestward to Rheims, where
the Emperor had preceded him on the 21st. The Emperor
meantime had gone on to Rethel. The object of this movement
was evidently to draw the German army northward, and aid
Bazaine in raising the siege or environment of Metz. There
were several strategical difficulties in the way of this movement,
EDAN
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250
THE GREAT WAR
which should have made a skilful commander hesitate long be*
fore attempting it. It required a very considerable detour, and
it is not easy to take a large force rapidly over a long road,—
especially when, as was the case here, it is much of it a forest,
and traversed with difficulty,—when it is constantly pressed by a
foe fully equal and possibly superior in numbers, and flushed
with victory. Then, again, the route lay for a considerable
portion of the way close to the Belgian frontier, the territory
of a neutral ; and their enemy, approaching them from the
south, could easily force them over the line, where they would
be disarmed and held as prisoners. Tho German forces around
Metz, the First and Second Annies, were more than sufficient to
Hold Bazaine in check, and were being largely reënfoiced from
the reserves, so that they could easily spare from 50,000 to
100,000 men to take the French in front, while the Third and
Fourth Armies were pressing upon their flank. The opportu¬
nity was too tempting a one for the Germans not to avail them¬
selves of it, and, conquering the French armies in detail, soon
make themselves masters of France.
MacMahon and his army were making a rapid progress
northward toward Bethel and Mézières, having passed the nrst-
named point with part of his force on the 27th, while the re¬
mainder was marching in a line with it eastward toward the
Meuse. The country is difficult; the Argonnes forest, better
known as the forest of Ardennes, occupying at least one half
the territory, and the country being hilly and broken.
The movement of tho German armies to cut MacMahon off
from a junction with Bazaine commenced on the 26th of August.
At their commencement eight and a half army-corps lay in a
long line, north and south. This front had to be changed for
one at right angles to it—a task the difficulty of which was
greatly increased by the fact that the line of march lay partly
amid the forests of the Argonnes. The operations were so
directed as not only to prevent MacMahon from reaching Mc:z,
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
251
but also to cut him off from returning to Paris, thus compelling
him to fight with the alternative of surrender, or of retreat to
Belgium in case of defeat.
"Within the next three days, notwithstanding these difficulties,
the front of this great army had not only been changed, but
they had pushed forward until their advance-guard, part of the
Twelfth (Saxon) Corps, had reached Nouart, and the whole
army were occupying a line nearly parallel with the Meuse, and
extending from near Steuay westward beyond Youziers. A
skirmish took place at ISTouart, seven miles southwest of Stenay,
on the 29th of August, between the Saxon advance-guard and
the head of the French column (Fifth Corps), which was attempt¬
ing to reach the Meuse. The French troops were stopped and
cut off from the road by which they were marching. Yoncq
was also stormed the same day by two dismounted squadrons of
German hussars, and a large number of prisoners taken.
Pressed thus closely by his enemy, MacMahon had only the
alternative of giving battle in this forest, and retreating into
Belgium in ease of defeat, or of crossing the Meuse if he could,
and resting on Sedan. By this movement, though brought still
nearer to the Belgian frontier, he would have a strong fortress
to protect his right wing, and the advantage of a more open
country to fight in. He chose the latter alternative, but found
himself so hard pressed that he was obliged to accept the battle ■
forced on him on the 30th, before he could cross the Meuse..
MacMahon's army lay between the Ardennes mountains and'
the river Aisne, the left, foimerly the right wing (since they had'
faced the other way in this movement), resting below Tourteron,
while the right wing was attempting to cross the Meuse at
Mouzon. The lines on which the various corps and divisions of
the German armies moved, and their action through the day,
are given as follows in their reports. (For the pfaces, see plan
on page 171.)
253
THE GREAT WAR
" According to the orders given the Third Army, the Firsl
Bavarian Coips,. which on the 27th had been advanced past
Vouzicrs, on the road to Stenay, as far as Bar and Buzancy, was.
to go via Somraauthe toward Beaumont. The Second Bavarian
Corps followed behind the First. The Fifth Prussian Corps
moved from Breguenay and Authe toward Pierremont and
Oehes, and formed, therefore, the left wing of the Third Army
The Wurtemberg Division directed itself from Boult-aux-Bois,
via Châtillon, against La Chêne. The Second Prussian Corps
moved on the left of the Wiirtembergers, via Vouziers and
Quatre Champs ; and a side column of this corps occupied
Voncq on the Aisne. The Sixth Corps was to extend itself
from Vouziers southwesterly, or toward Chalons. The Fifth
Cavalry Division marched toward Tourteron, the Fourth toward
Châtillon, the Sixth toward Semuy, with advance troops toward
Bouvellemont, cutting the road to Mézières. The Second Divi¬
sion of Cavalry moved toward Buzancy. Headquarters of the
Crown-Prince were moved at 8.3Q o'clock from Cernuc, via
Grand Pre (where the King's quarters were), toward Breguenay,
before which place three regiments and some artillery lay in two
rows about half a mile long. Precisely at noon came the first
shot from the hills before Oches, where some French artillery
had posted itself, and was directed against the German artillery
back of Buzancy, nearly 5,000 paces distant. There was, how¬
ever, no attempt to make a stand, and the. position was deserted
so soon as German cavalry approached. The artillety retreated,
following the chain of hills on which it lay, hack to Stonne, its
highest point. Although the ground here was very favorable,
the retreat was soon continued toward Beaumont, where the
French centre had been driven in after a sharp fight. The bat¬
tle here was opened about midday by the Fourth Corps, which,
making a sbdden attack upon Beaumont, swept so suddenly
upon the French, that a camp from which not an article had
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
255
been removed fell into their hands. This corps was supported
on the left by the First Bavarian Corps, placed in the Petit-
Dieulet wood, where, being attacked on its left flank, a return
attack, was made, and the enemy thrown back on La Besace.
On the right of the Fourth was the Twelfth Corps, operating
against Letanne. Beaumont having been brilliantly seized, the
Fourth and Twelfth Corps of the Fourth Army moved against
the Givodeau wood and Yillemontry, fighting at every step, and
steadily extending its left wing, in order to occupy the hills
which enclose Mouzon. From 6 to 8 o'clock,a tremendous artil¬
lery and mitrailleur battle was kej.t up here, to which night
alone put an end. The Fourth Corps then occupied the place.
As the bridge here was the line of retreat for a great part of the
French army, its crowded columns suffered terribly in crossing.
Large quantities of baggage and material were also abandoned
Meanwhile, the western wing of the French army, formerly the
right, now the left wing, crossed the river at Bazeilles. Part of
the First Bavarian Corps having advanced in a northeasterly
direction toward Yoncq, driving back on its way a force that
had been withdrawn without a fight from a strong position at
Stonne, attacked them late in the day, and in its turn won guns
and prisoners, and inflicted severe loss on the retreating columns.
The German army bivouacked on the line Raucourt-Yillemontry.
The advantages gained during this day were, the winning of so
much ground that the passes of the Ardennes remained entirely
in German hands, and an approach to the frontier so close that
the ground between it and the Meuse could be occupied as a
base of operations. In addition, the number of guns and pris¬
oners taken was enormous, amounting to more than thirty guns
and 5,000 prisoners. The French appeared to have withdrawn
toward Sedan, the main body having crossed the Meuse at
Mouzon, under cover of heavy artillery-fire from the high right
bank of the river. Mouzon is six miles north of Beaumont and
25 G
THE GREAT WAR
ten miles southeast of Sedan. Bazeilles is about four rnil»>
soutlieast of Sedan."
The next day, August 31st, the King telegraphed to the
Queen :
"We had yesterday a victorious action by the Fourth,
Twelfth (Saxon), and First Bavarian Corps. MacMahon beaten
and pushed back from Beaumont over the Meuse to Mouzon.
Twelve guns, some thousands of prisoners, and a great deal of
material, in our hands. Losses moderate. I return immediately
to the battle-field in order to follow up the fruits of the victory.
May God graciously help us further, as thus far. Wilhelm."
This despatch shows that the Fourth Army, under the
Crown-Prince of Saxony, which was moving between the
Crown-Prince and MacMahon, had been reënforced from the
Third Army.
This battle was of great importance to the German armies,
as, although the greater part of MacMahon's army was not
engaged in the fight, only De Failly's corps suffering largely,
yet the whole French army was held back and prevented from
concentrating so speedily as its commander had intended on the
east 6ide of the Meuse, and more time was given to the Germans
to close around it, and, by hemming it in at Sedan, compel its
surrender.
The 31st of August was mainly occupied by the Germans in
bringing their forces across the Meuse, and by MacMahon in
concentrating his forces around Sedan, most of them having,
during the night of the 30th and the morning of the 31st, crossed
at Bazeilles and Remilly. There was, however, some hard fight¬
ing by the Twelfth (Saxon) Corps from 5 a. it. to about 10 a. h.,
•11 tl e vicinity of Douzy. There was also a long artillery com-
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
257
bat at Remilly between the First Bavarian Corps and the French,
which resulted in the latter being driven back, and the forme?
occupying the position ready for crossing.
On the morning of the, 1st of September the two contending
armies occupied the positions indicated in the annexed map.
As the German troops had been making forced marches and
fighting for three days, and it was evident that MacMahon was
in a trap from which he could not escape, it had been the pur¬
pose of the King of Prussia to give his troops a day of rest on
the 1st of September, before dealing the finishing stroke to the
French army ; but the enthusiasm and ardor of the men were so
great, and their desire to complete the work so earnest, that, late
in the night of August 31st, the decision was made to move
forward the ensuing day.
At midnight the necessary orders were issued by the Crown-
Prince of Saxony, and the battle was to begin at 5 o'clock in
the morning. His army occupied the right flank, the Twelfth
Corps as advance-guard, behind them the Fourth, then the
Guards, and, finally, the Fourth Cavalry Division. Those
troops which remained west of the river were to cross at Douzy.
On the left, and lying on the left bank of the Meuse, were the
First and Second Bavarian Corps ; their bridge was thrown over
opposite Bazeilles. On the left flank the Eleventh Prussian
Corps laid down its bridge, 1,000 paces below Donchery, and
close1 by the Fifth Corps crossed ; on the extreme left flank the
Wurtemberg troops crossed, at the village Dom-le-Mesnil. The
Sixth Corps was in reserve between Attigny and Le Chêne.
Opposed to these bodies were the French corps of MacMahon,
Failly, Canrobert, the remains of General Douay's forces, and
the newly-formed Twelfth Corps. Sedan was the centre of their
position, and their lines extended from Givonne on the left, along
the spurs of the Ardennes which lie behind the fortress, to the
neighborhood of Mézières, upon which their right flank rested,
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BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
,259
Headquarters of the Crown-Prince were established on<a hil,
near Château Donchery, from which not only the positions of
all the German troops, but all the developments of the battle,
could be plainly seen.
A thick fog overhung the country as the Fourth Army put
itself in motion, a little after 5 o'clock, and at 6.30 steady artil¬
lery-fire was heard from behind Sedan, where the right wing
had attacked "the enemy on his left flank. His position here
was very strong, lying in a wooded and hilly country by the
villages Floing, Illy, La Chapelle, and Tillers, and traversed by
the valley in which lies the village of La Givonne. In spite of
stout efforts on the part of the Germans, the conflict at length
came to a standstill for an hour. During this time the Eleventh
Corps pressed forward over the small hills which lie on the plain
between Donchery and Sedan, and the Fifth Corps undertook
the tactical march of the day, passing along the high hills north¬
west of the fortress to the rear of the enemy. Its object was to
unite with the extreme right of the Fourth Army, and thus
envelope the French. The Wurtemberg troops, and, later, the
Fourth Cavalry Division also, were to hold the plain against any
sortie of the enemy—an event that could hardly have proven-
fortunate for him, as the river-crossings all lay in the hands of
the Germans.
The Wiirtemberg troops were also charged with repulsing;
any movement made from Mézières. It was directed to cross at
Nouvion, on the right bank, and take position near Viviers-an-
Court on the road from Sedan to Mézières. Breaking camp at
6 o'clock in the morning, the river was crossed on a pontoon
bridge which had been thrown across at daybreak, and at 9
o'clock Yiviers-au-Court was reached. Here they were ordered
to advance eastward, toward Brigne-aux-Bois in battle-order.
In front of the latter place the Fifth and Eleventh Prussian
Corps were met, who were in march toward St. Menges. At
260
THE GREAT WAS
10.30 o'clock the order was to take tip position near Donchery
While in this place, at 3 p. M., word came that a column from
Mézières was marching in the direction of the pontoon bridge,
and a detail of one regiment infantry, one squadron cavalry,
and "a field-battery, was sent to head it off, which was success¬
fully done. Toward 5 p. m. the artillery was advanced to a
point west of Sedan, for the purpose of bombarding the place.
To go back to the main operations : At 9.15 o'clock the
Eleventh Corps had finished its extension in the ground west of
Sedan, and begun a heavy fire from its batteries. At this signal
the Saxon troops on the right flank, who had not before exhib¬
ited their full strength, attacked in force, and even at this early
hour the French showed in some points a disposition to retreat.
But the troops who resorted to this movement only fell into the
hands of the flanking columns. West of Sedan, where the
Eleventh Corps "had posted strong batteries, the French made
two cavalry attacks, which were conducted with great courage,
and, by some regiments, as the Chasseurs d'Afrique, with the
greatest valor. The infantry, however, showed less spirit, and
the number of men taken without arms in their hands was con¬
siderable even at uoon. In the meantime the Fifth Corps had
accomplished its flanking march, falling in, toward the end of
its movement, with those portions of the Fifth French Corps
which had begun the retreat. The artillery, which, by the
Emperor's orders, had been directed against this flanking corps,
was quickly driven back, and the commander sent word that at
the most only a few disordered bands could have found their
way to the frontier.
The attention of the German leaders was now directed to
Sedan itself and the ground near it, the only remaining refuge
« for an army that had retreated from so many fields. But even
' this line of retreat was rapidly cut off. The batteries of the
right and left flanks approached each other rapidly. In this
ATTACK OP THE CHASSEURS D'AFRIQUE AT FLOING. NEAR SEDAN
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
263
part of the field lay Bazeilles, a village which became the scen«
of one of the most terrible events of the war. Already, on
August 31st, some houses had been fired by shells, because they
harbored French soldiers, who endeavored to oppose the crossing
of the river. During this day's battle some Bavarians advanced
against thevtown, but met with so destructive a fire from some
houses that these, too, had to be burned. The fight afterward
extended through the streets, and, after several hours of very
bloody work, the place was taken. Members of the Sanitary
Coips advanced to bring off the wounded who were lying in
the streets. The Germans report that these were received with
a murderous fire, and six of them were wounded. Some troops
then advanced to scour the town, and men, women, and children
were driven from the houses with arms in their hands. But the
French seemed determined to make a Saragossa of the place.
No sooner had the soldiers passed by than the houses filled
again, and firing from the windows was resumed. Several sol¬
diers were shot, and orders were given for the destruction of the
place. In the terrible scene which followed—soldiers, citizens,
women, and children were burned to death ; and for days after¬
ward the place is said to have been noisome with the stench of
A* i
half-roasted, half-putrid flesh. Scenes of dreadful cruelty oc¬
curred ; and each side charges the other with dragging and
throwing the living into the flames.
Continuing on, the Bavarians took the village Balan, and
towards midday Yillette was shelled from one of their batteries.
The church-tower was immediately in flames ; the French artil¬
lery withdrew ; and the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps had now
Qolhing in their way to Sedan. The French were hastening in
lark masses to the fortress, and at the same time beyond the
lino of German troops thousands of prisoners were descending
the hills to be collected in squads in the plain and transported
to the rear. A little before 2 o'clock the junction of the right
m
THE GREAT WAR
and left wings had been accomplished, and a double line of Gen
mans stood around the town and its crowded refugees. Ill iso¬
lated positions a few troops still kept up the Contest ; but the
great cannonade had ceased, and a pause began, during which
the conquerors awaited the course of their enemy. No sign was
made, and at 4.30 o'clock the batteries were ordered to open
again. In a quarter of an hour a straw-magazine was in flames ;
and immediately after a white flag appeared upon the fortifica¬
tions. The further history of this important event we will leave
to be told by King Wilhelm, General von. Moltke, and Count
Bismarck, who have written accounts in every way remarkable,
of the surrender, and the extraordinary occurrences which pre
ceded and followed it.
The letter from the King says :
" Vebdbesse, September 3d, 1870.
" You now know from my three telegrams the entire extent
of the great historical event that has occurred. It is like a
dream, even when one has seen it develop hour by hour.
" "When I remember that, after a great, fortunate war, I had
nothing more glorious to expect during my reign, and now see
this world-historic act completed, I bow myself before God, who
alone, my Lord and my Helper, has chosen me to fulfil this
work, and has ordained us to be instruments of His will. Only
in this sense did I venture to undertake the work—that in
humility I might praise God's guidance and mercy.
"Now for a picture of the battle and its consequences, in
condensed terms :
" The army had arrived, on the evening of the 31st, and
early on the 1st, in the positions before described, round about
Sedan. The Bavarians had the left wing at Bazeilles on the
Meuse ; near them the Saxons, toward Moncelles and Daigny ;
the Guards still on the march toward Givonne ; the Fifth and
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
267
Eleventh Corps toward St. Menges and Fleigneux. The Melise
makes here a sharp carve, and therefore from St. Menges to
Donehery there was no corps placed, but in the latter town
Wiirtembergers, who at the same time covered the rear against
attacks from Mézières. The Cavalry Division of Count Stolberg
was in the plain of Donehery as right wing ; in the front toward
Sedan, the rest of the Bavarians.
" The battle began at Bazeilles early on the 1st in spite of a
thick fog, and a very heavy fight gradually spread, in which we
were obliged to take house by house, which lasted nearly the
whole day, and in which Scholer's Erfurt Division (from the
reserve Fourth Corps) had to take part. Just as I arrived on
the front before Sedan, at 8 o'clock, the great battery began its
fire, against the fortifications. A tremendous artillery battle
now spread on all sides, continuing for hours, and during which
ground was gradually won by our side. The villages named
were taken.
"Very deep-cut ravines with woods made the advance of
the infantry difficult, and favored the defence. The villages of
Illy and Floing were taken, and the ring of fire drew itself
gradually closer and closer around Sedan. It was a grand sight
from our position on a commanding height behind the before-
named battery, before and on the right of Frénois village, above
St. Torcy.
"The determined resistance of the enemy began gradually
to slacken, as we could discover by the disordered battalions
which ran hastily back out of the woods and villages. The
cavalry tried an attack against some battalions of our Fifth
Corps, which maintained an excellent bearing; the cavalry
rushed through the intervals between the battalions, then turned
around and back by the same way ; which was repeated three
times by different regiments, so that the field was strewn with
corpses and horses, all of which we could clearly see from oui
2Q3 THE GREAT WAR
standpoint. I have not yet been able to ascertain the number
of this brave regiment.
"Inasmuch as the retreat of the enemy lapsed in many
places into flight, and every thing—infantry ^ cavalry, and artil¬
lery—crowded into the city and immediate neighborhood, but
still no sign that the enemy proposed to withdraw himself by
capitulation out of this dubious position showed itself, nothing
remained but to order the bombardment of the city by the
above-mentioned battery. After about twenty minutes it was
already on fire in many places, which, with the numerous burn¬
ing villages in the whole ring of battle, made a shuddering
impression. I therefore ordered the fire to cease, and sent
Lieutenant-Colonel von Bronsart of the general staff as flag of
truce, to propose the capitulation of the army and fortress. \ETe
was immediately met by a Bavarian officer, who informed me
that a French flag of truce had presented itself at the gate.
Lieutenânt-Colonel von Bronsart was admitted, and upon his
inquiring for the general-in-chief lie was unexpectedly led before
the Emperor, who wished to give him at once a letter to me.
"When the Emperor asked what messages he had, and received
for answer, ' To demand the surrender of army and fortress,' he
replied that for that purpose he must apply to General de
Wimpffen, who had just then taken command in place of the
wounded Marshal MacMahon, and that he would also send his
Adjutant-General Reille with the letter to me. It was Y o'clock
when Reille and Bronsart came to me. The latter came a little
in advance, and from him we first learned with certainty that
the Emperor was present. You can imagine the impression it
made upon me, above all, and upon all ! Reille sprang from
the saddle, and handed me the letter of his Emperor, adding
that besides that he had no message. Before I opened the
letter I said to him, ' But I demand as the first condition that
the army lay down its arms.' The letter began in this way ;
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
269
' N'ayant pas pu mourir à la tête de mes troupes, je dépose mon
épée à Yotre Majesté '—(Not having been able to die at the bead
of my troops, I lay down my sword to your Majesty) ; confid¬
ing all the rest to me in secrecy.
" My reply was, that I complained of the style of our inter¬
course, and desired the sending of an authorized representative
with whom the capitulation could be concluded. After I bad
given the letter to General Reille, I spoke some words with him
as an old acquaintance, and so ended this act. I empowered
Moltke as commissioner, and instructed Bismarck to remain
behind, in case political questions came up ; rode then to my
wagon, and drove here, greeted everywhere on the road with
stormy hurrahs from the advancing trains, while everywhere
the popular hymns rose in chorus. It was thrilling ! All had
struck lights, so that one drove for a time in an improvised
illumination. At 11 o'clock I was here, and drank with those
around me to the health of the army which had fought out such
a conclusion.
" Since I had received on the morning of the 2d no in¬
formation from Moltke upon the terms of the capitulation which
should have taken place in Donchery, I drove somewhat down¬
cast toward the battle-field. At 8 o'clock in the morning I met
Moltke, who came to me to obtain my acquiescence in the
capitulation which he presented, and at the same time pointed
out that the Emperor had left Sedan at 5 o'clock in the morn¬
ing, and had also come to Donchery. Since he wished to speak
to me, and there was a little castle in the park, I chose this for
the meeting. At 10 o'clock I arrived on the height before
Sedan. At 12 o'clock Moltke and Bismarck appeared with the
completed teims of capitulation. At 1 o'clock I placed myself
in motion with Fritz, accompanied by the staff cavalry escort,
I alighted before the castle, where the Emperor came to meet
me. The visit lasted a quarter of an hour. "We were both
270
THE GREAT WAR
very much moved at thus seeing each other again. All that 1
felt, after having seen Napoleon only three years before at the
summit of his power, I cannot describe.
" After this meeting I rode from 2.30 to 7.30 o'clock through
the entire army around Sedan.
"The reception by the troops, the sight of the decimated
Guards—all that, I cannot describe to you to-day. I was pro¬
foundly moved by so many proofs of love and fidelity.
" Now, lebe wohl. "With an agitated heart at the end of such
a letter,
" WlLHELM."
According to French papers, the terms of capitulation were :
J
" Between the undersigned, Chief of the General Stafi* of
King Wilhelm, Commander-in-Chief of the German armies,
and the General commanding the French army, both furnished
with full powers from their Majesties, the King Wilhelm and
the Emperor Napoleon, the following convention has been con¬
cluded :
" Article I. The French army placed under the orders of
General Wimpffen, finding itself actually surrounded by the
superior troops about Sedan, is prisoner of war.
" Article II. Considering the valorous defence of that French
•army, exemption for all the generals and officers, also for all the
superior officials having the rank of officers, who give their
parole of honor in writing not to carry arms against Germany,
md not to act in any manner against her interests, up to the
end of the present war. The officers and officials who accept
these conditions retain their arms, and the effects which belong
to them personally.
" Article III. All the arms, as well as the material of the
army, consisting of flags, eagles, cannon, munitions, &c., shall
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
27]
be delivered at Sedan to a military commission appointed by
the general-in-cliief, to be sent immediately to the German com
missioners.
" Article IV. The place of Sedan shall be placed in its
present condition, and at the latest on the evening of the 2d,
at the disposal of his Majesty the King "Wilhelm.
"Article V. The officers who do not accept the engagement
mentioned in Article II, as well as all the troops, disarmed,
shall be conducted, ranged according to their regiments or corps,
in military order. This measure will commence the 2d of Sep¬
tember, and be finished the 3d. These detachments shall be
conducted to the ground bounded by the Meuse near Iges, to be
delivered to the German commissioners by their officers, who
will then surrender their command to their under-officers. The
surgeons shall without exception remain at the rear to attend
the wounded.
" At Frenois, fcicr timber 2,1870.
" Moltke and De Wimpffen."
The King's telegram announcing the success of his army was :
" Since 7.30 o'clock continuously advancing battle round
about Sedan, Guards, Fourth, Fifth, Twelfth Corps, and Bava¬
rian. Enemy almost entirely thrown back on the city.
" "Wilhelm."
The King also sent the following despatchc from Sedan at
1.30 p. m. :
" The capitulation by which the entire army in Sedan [be¬
come] prisoners of war, is just now concluded with General
Wimpffen, who takes command in the place of the wounded
Marshal MacMahon. The Emperor has surrendered only him-
272
THE GREAT WAR
self to me, since he does not occupy the command, and hands
over every thing to the regency in Paris. I shall determine his
residence after I have seen him at a rendezvous which take?
place immediately; "What a change of fortune through God's
guidance 1
" WrLHELM."
" What a thrilling moment, that of the meeting with Na¬
poleon ! He was bowed, but dignified and resigned. I have
given him Wilhelmshôhe, near Cassel, for a residence. Oui
meeting took place in a little castle before the western glacis of
Sedan. From there I rode through the army about Sedan.
Xou can imagine the reception by the troops—indescribable 1
At dusk—7.30 o'clock—I had finished the five hours' ride, but
returned here only at 1 o'clock. God help further !
" WILHELM."
On the 2d of September General von Moltke, the Chief of
Staff of the Prussian army, issued the following order for carry¬
ing out the capitulation :
" Headquarters, Frénois, September 2,1870.
" The French army lying in and about Sedan has capitu¬
lated. Officers will be liberated on their word of honor ; the
under-officers and common soldiers are prisoners of war. Arms
and army material will be given up." (Here follows the text
of the capitulation already given.) "The prisoners of war,
whose number is not yet ascertained, will be assembled in the
bend of the Meuse, near Villette and Iges, and afterward con¬
ducted away in échelons. The Eleventh and Twelfth Koyal
Bavarian Army-Corps, under the general command of General
von der Tann, are appointed to the first guard. The supplying
»f the prisoners, for which, according to the promise of the
THE LAST CHARGE OF THE FRENCH AT SEDAN.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
275
French general commanding, stores are to be brought from
Mézières to near Donchery by railroad, will also be regulatecï
by General von der Tann. That no difficulty in the approach
of trains is laid in the way, is carefully to be observed. An
infantry regiment from the Eleventh Corps will be placed in the
fortress as garrison to-morrow after Sedan shall have been evacu¬
ated.
"The withdrawal of the prisoners in two lines by way of
Stcnay, Etain, and Gorze to Remilly, and Buzancy, Clermont,
and St. Mihiel to Pont-à-Mousson, will be conducted by the
army under his Royal Highness the Crown-Prince of Saxony
and the royal commander-in-chief of the Third Army, according
to the order of this morning. In order to avoid every doubt, it
is to be remarked that the French officers captured yesterday in
battle, and to-day before the close of the capitulation at 11
o'clock, are to be treated in accordance with the rules previously
in force.
" Officers and officials who give their parole must themselves
prepare the proper notification. Both classes must report as
soon as possible to the quartermaster-general of the army. The
horses to be delivered on the part of the French army shall, in
accordance with the orders of his Majesty the King, be distrib¬
uted for the benefit of all the active German forces, and the
army commanders will be hereafter informed upon their respec¬
tive quotas.
" The clearing up of the battle-field is the duty of tbe Gen¬
eral of Dépot-Inspeetion of the army of his Royal Highness the
Crown-Prince of Saxony. The burial of the dead is to be hast
ened by means of the civil authorities.
" Yon Moltke."
The following letter from Count von Bismarck describes his
part in the negotiations :
276
THE GREAT WAR
"Donchery, September 2, 1870.
" After I had come here yesterday evening, according to youi
Majesty's order, to take part in the negotiations upon the capitu¬
lation, the latter were interrupted until about 1 o'clock at night
by the granting of time for consideration, which General Wimpf-
fen begged after General von Moltke had decidedly declared
that no other condition than the laying down of the arms would
be accepted, and that the bombardment would begin again at 9
o'clock the next morning if the capitulation were not concluded
by that time. At 6 o'clock this morning General Reille was
announced, who informed me that the Emperor desired to see
me, and was already on the way here from Sedan. The General
returned immediately in order to inform his Majesty that I fol¬
lowed him, and shortly after I found myself perhaps half-way
between here and Sedan in the neighborhood of Frénois, in pres¬
ence of the Emperor. His Majesty was in an open carriage
with three superior officers, and an equal number in the saddle
near by. Of the latter, Generals Castelnau, Reille, Vaubert,
and Moskowa were personally known to me, the last-named
appearing to be wounded in the foot. Arrived at the carriage,
' I dismounted from the horse, stepped to the side of the Empe¬
ror, and, standing on the carriage-step, inquired after the orders
of his Majesty. The Emperor then expressed the wish to see
your Royal Majesty, apparently under the impression that your
Majesty was also in Donchery. After I replied that the head¬
quarters of your Majesty were at present fifteen miles distant, in
Vendresse, the Emperor inquired if your Majesty had fixed
upon a place to which he should go at once, and afterward what
my views thereupon were. I answered him that I had come
here in full darkness, and the neighborhood was therefore un¬
known to me, and placed at his disposal the house occupied by
me in Donchery, which I would immediately leave. The Empe¬
ror accepted this, and rode slowly toward Donchery, but drew
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
277
np some hundred paces before the bridge leading over the Meuse
into the city, in front of a laborer's house standing alone, ana
asked me if he could not descend there. I had the house in¬
spected by Councillor of Legation Count Bohlen-Bismarck, who
had meantime followed me. After he had reported that its inte¬
rior was very bare and small, but that the house was free from
wounded, tho Emperor descended, and desired me to follow him
within. Here, in a very small room, containing a table and two
chairs, I had a conversation of about an hour with the Emperor.
His Majesty expressed chiefly the wish to obtain more favorable
terms of capitulation for the army. I declined absolutely to
consider this subject with his Majesty, as this purely military
question was to be settled between General von Moltke and
General de Wimpffen. In return I asked the Emperor if hie
Majesty was inclined to negotiations for peace. The Emperor
replied that, as prisoner, he was not now in a condition [to treat
for peace] ; and to my further question to whom, according t«
his views, the Government of France would now revert, his
Majesty referred me to the existing Government in Paris. After
explanation of this point, which was not to be decided with cer¬
tainty from yesterday's letter of the Emperor to your Majesty,
I perceived that the situation to-day, as yesterday, offered no
other practical question than the military one ; nor did I conceal
this from the Emperor, but expressed the necessity which result¬
ed therefrom to us of obtaining before all things, by the capitu¬
lation, a substantial means of securing the military results which
we had won. I had already, yesterday evening, weighed the
question in every direction with General von Moltke, whether it
would be possible, without injury to German interests, to offer
better terms than those fixed upon to the members of an army
that had fought well. After due consideration, we were both
forced to hold the negative of this question. When, therefore,
General von Moltke, who meanwhile had approached from the
278
THE GREAT WAR
city, went to your Majesty in order to lay before your Majesty
the wish of the Emperor, tins was done, as your Majesty knows,
not with the purpose of supporting the same.
" The Emperor next- went into the open air, and invited me
to seat myself ' near him before the door of the house. His
Majesty laid before me the question whether it were not possible
to allow the French army to go over the Belgian" ifontier, in
order to have it disarmed and disposed of there. I had also dis¬
cussed this possibility with General von Moltke the evening
beforef and quoting the motives indicated above, I declined to
go into the discussion of this method. In regard to the political
situation, I took, for my part, no initiative, and the Emperor
only in so far as he bewailed the misfortune of the war, and
declared that he himself had not desired the war, but had been
forced to it by the pressure of public opinion in France.
" From information received in the city, and especially
through examination by the officers of the general staff, it was,
in the meantime, between 9 and 10 o'clock, ascertained that
Bellevue Castle, near Frénois, was suited to the reception of the
Empéror, and also that it was not yet filled with wounded. 1
reported this to his Majesty, in the form that I pointed ont Fré¬
nois as the place which I would submit to your Majesty for the
interview, and therefore put it to the Emperor if his Majesty
would go there at once, inasmuch as a stay in the small laborer's
house was inconvenient, and the Emperor would perhaps require
some rest. This his Majesty willingly entered into; and I
escorted the Emperor, who was preceded by an escort of honor
from your Majesty's body-guard of cuirassiers, to Bellevue Cas¬
tle, where, meanwhile, the remainder of the suite and the equi¬
pages of the Emperor, whose arrival from the city appeared to
have been considered uncertain until then, had gone. Also
General de Wimpffen, with whom, in expectation of the return
of General von Moltke, the discussion of the negotiations re.a-
napoleon and bismarck at sedan.
macmahon wounded at sedan-
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMAN Ï.
281
tire to a capitulation, which had been interrupted yesterday
were resumed by General von Podbielski, in presence of Lieu¬
tenant-Colonel von Yerdy and the chief of staff of General de
Wimpffen, which two officers were charged with the treaty. I
took part only in the beginning, by laying down the political
and legal conditions in accordance with the revelations furnished
rue by the Empertir himself, inasmuch as 1 immediately there¬
after received, through Count von Nostitz, as messenger from
General von Moltke, the information that your Majesty would
not see the Emperor until after the close of the capitulation of
the army—a notification by which the hope of receiving any
other te rms than those previously decided upon had to be given
up. I then rode, with the intention of reporting to your
Majesty the position of the affair, toward your Majesty at Che-
hery ; met on the way General von Moltke with the text of the
capitulation signed by your Majesty, which, after we had en
tered Frénois with him, was at once accepted without opposi
tion, and signed. The bearing of General de Wimpffen, as well
as that of the other French generals, the night before, was very
dignified; and this brave officer could not restrain himself from
expressing to me his deep pain that he should be just the one to
be called, forty-eight hours after his arrival from Africa, and
half a day after assuming the command, to place his name under-
a capitulation so ominous to French arms ; nevertheless, the lack,
of provisions and munitions, and the absolute impossibility of
any further defence, laid upon him the duty, as general, of re¬
straining his personal feelings, since, in the existing situation, a'
further shedding of blood could alter nothing. The acquies¬
cence in the dismissal of the officers upon their-word of honor
was recognized with great thankfulness, as an expression of your
Majesty's intention not to trample upon the feelings of an army
which had fought bravely, beyond the line which, in view of
our political and military interests, was necessarily drawn.
282
THE GREAT WAR
General do Wimpffen has also subsequently given expression to
this feeling, in a letter in which he spolce his thanks to Genera:
von Moltke for the considerate forms in which the negotiations
have been carried on from his side.
" Count Bismarck."
The severe wound received by Marshal MacMahon on t]ie
31st of August prevented his presence in the final battle or the
capitulation, and also prevented his rendering any report of the
battle. General de Wimpffen, who was in command during the
battle, issued an address to his soldiers after the capitulation, of
which the following is a translation :
" Sedan, September 3, 1870.
" Soldiers : On Thursday you fought against a force greatly
superior in numbers, from daybreak until dark. You resisted
the enemy with the utmost bravery. When you had fired youi
last cartridge, were worn out with fighting, and not being able
to respond to the call of generals and officers to attempt to rejoin
Marshal Bazaine on the road to Montmedy, you were forced to
retreat on Sedan. In this desperate effort; but 2,000 men could
be got together, and your General deemed the attempt utterly
hopeless and impracticable. Your General found, with deep
regret, when the army was reunited within the walls of the
town, that it had supplies neither of food nor ammunition j
could neither leave the place nor defend it, means of existence
(being alike wanting for the population. I was therefore reduced
:to the sad alternative of treating with the enemy. I sent, yes¬
terday, to the Prussian headquarters, with full powers from the
lEmperor, but could not at first bring myself to accept the con¬
ations imposed by the enemy. This morning, however, men¬
aced by a bombardment to which we could not reply, I decided
to make ,a fresh attempt to get honorable terms. I have ob-
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
288
tained conditions by wbich we are saved much of the possible
annoying and insulting formalities which the usages of war gen
erally impose.
" Under the circumstances in which we find ourselves, it
only remains for us, officers and soldiers, to accept with resigna¬
tion the consequences of this surrender. "We have at least the
consolation of knowing a useless massacre has been avoided, and
we yield only under circumstances against which no army could
fight, namely, want of food and ammunition. Now, soldiers, in
conclusion, let me say, that you are still able to render brilliant
services to your country, without being needlessly slaughtered.
" De Wihpffen,
" General Commanding-vn- Chief."
A member of General de Wimpffen's staff soon after the
battle published an account of the General's part in it, reflecting
very severely on the management of the whole matter by the
Emperor, asserting that he refused to De Wimpffen the opportu¬
nity of making an escape with the greater part of the army,
and, when he sought to resign, compelled him to continue in the
command and capitulate in consequence of his own blunders.
To these charges the Emperor's adjutant-generals replied, and,
' though admitting his offer of resignation, demonstrated the im¬
possibility and folly of his attempting to escape with any consid¬
erable portion of his force.
But though there are no official reports of the battle and sur¬
render by French officers, there are not wanting graphic and
unusually accurate descriptions of both by French correspond¬
ents. One of these, from the pen of a French officer, a corre¬
spondent of the Tribune, we append, as perhaps the best account
extant from a French standpoint :
" I pass over all that has happened since I wrote you from
284
THE GREAT WAR
Mézières, to come at once to the events of August 31st and Sep.
tember 1st—the latter the saddest day the French arms have
ever witnessed.
"Early in the morning of the 31st orders were given to
bring into Sedan all the wagon-trains and oxen which had been
left outside the glacis. By this time the streets were blocked up
by troops of every kind, which had entered the town during the
night. I tried to ride down to the Porte de Paris, where the
train was stationed, to carry the orders. I was obliged to get
off my horse and make my way as best I could between the
horses and caissons, which choked up every street and square of
the town. As I reached the Porte de Paris, I met the wagon-
train entering as fast as possible, followed closely by the rushing
oxen, and intermingled with the weeping and terror-stricken
peasantry of the neighborhood flying into the town for protec¬
tion. They little knew that it was about the worst place they
could have chosen. The gates on that side were immediately
afterward elosed, while the troops slowly filed out through the
opposite gate toward Douzy, where all MacMahon's forces were
posted, expecting to be again attacked by the Prussians, who
had closely followed up the French army.
" About 10 o'clock that morning cannonading was heard six
or seven miles away, toward the village of Bazeille. I went up
on the rampart overlooking the country in that direction.
Thence I could see the Prussian position, and, with my field-
glass, could watch the firing ; but I could not see the French
lines, which were hid from me by trees about a mile from the
town. I therefore, at noon, walked out of the town at the Porte
de Balan, and ascended, on my left, the rising ground which is
close by the town. Not more than half a mile from the gate I
passed through regiments of reserve infantry. Their arjns were
piled and the fires smoking, the soup not having long been
eaten. I continued ascending, and everywhere passed reserve
BETWEEN FRANCE aND GERMANT.
285
corps of infantry and artillery. I got higher and higher, from
hillock to hillock, till I reached a battery of reserve, the guns of
which were unlimbered and placed facing the rear of the French
left. This battery was so pointed as to fire over the crest of th<
rising ground on which I stood. About a quarter of a mile dis¬
tant, in front of a little churchyard, stood also several officers of
the different corps which were stationed on my right and left, all
being of the reserve.
1 " From the point I had now reached a charming prospect
was within view. The French line of battle extended right in
front, spreading on the slope of the ground which forms one side
of this basin of the Meuse. In front of the centre of the French
lines, and lower down in the vale, was the village of Bazeille.
which was then beginning to burn, the Prussian shells having set
fire to it. Parallel almost to the front of the French positions
ran the Meuse, crossed by a bridge a little to the left of Bazeille.
The French right was upon a knot of wooded ground held by
tirailleurs, the wooded ground extending nearly to the grounds
of Sedan. The left was lost to my sight behind the inequalities
of the ground toward the road to Bouillon. As far as I could
see, on the right and left and in front of me, were massed regi¬
ments of all arms ; but toward the left, on the second line, was
a very large force of heavy cavalry—dragoons and cuirassiers.
" The sun was shining brightly, and every thing was plainly
visible. The glittering of weapons, the bright and showy colors
of the French uniforms, the white smoke curling under the blue
sky, or lingering like vapor beneath the trees, the lurid flames
rising from the burning village of Bazeille, all seen from a com
manding position, formed a spectacle such as one has but rarely
the opportunity to witness. The principal Prussian batteries
were directly opposite the French centre, on a plateau or table-
and which terminated abruptly, and made it a very strong posi-
ion.
236
THE GREAT WAR
" For Bome time cannonading continued on both sides. At 2
o'clock a force of Prussian infantry advanced across the bridge
in the village of Douzy, and immediately there began a very
sharp fusillade, lastiug, however, not more than ten minutes. I
think the French must have lost ground in that encounter,
although I could not see it, because of some trees that inter¬
vened ; but a battery of six mitrailleuses advanced and opened
fire through the trees. • Six volleys came all at once. The Prus¬
sians fell hurriedly back, leaving whole ranks behind, which had
gone down like those leaden soldiers which children play with.
"At about 4.30 o'clock the firing had ceased everywhere.
The village, which had been blazing all day, was still smoking.
The French remained in the same position. Though the day had
apparently been without result, its description is a necessary pre¬
lude to the bitter story of the morrow. At 5.30 o'clock 1 re¬
turned to the town.
" The Emperor, who had arrived during the night, had issued
a proclamation which was posted on the walls, saying that he
had confided the command of the armies to the generals whom
public opinion had seemed to select as most capable of leading
them, and that he himself intended to fight as an officer, forget¬
ting for a while his position as a sovereign.
" The next morning—Thursday, September 1st—I returned,
as soon as the gates of the town were opened, to my post of ob¬
servation on the elevated ground where the battery was still
placed. The French positions did not seem to me much altered,
but the right was now on the other side of Sedan. At 7 o'clock
the cannonade began in earnest, some slight firing having taken
place earlier. The Prussian batteries facing us appeared to me
much more numerous ; indeed, it seemed to me there were bat¬
teries everywhere. They roared from every point of the Prus¬
sian line, which then stretched nearly parallel in front of the
French. I could follow the falling of their shells, which ex-
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
287
ploded as they touched the ground, and fell with wonderful pre¬
cision. I noticed, also, how quickly they changed and corrected
their lire. As soon as a French corps took up a position, it was
instantly assailed by shells. The first would perhaps fall a few
feet short or beyond, but the second or third was sure to find its
way to the troops and do its awful work among them. The
French shells, on the contrary, exploded generally before they
reached the ground, and the smoke of the explosion formed
innumerable little clouds at different heights, some at such an
elevation that the shell could do no harm, I should think, to the
enemy.
" I noticed some inexplicable movements. A few squadrons
of Prussian cavalry made as if they would charge a French force
which was toward the left. Immediately two regiments of
French cavalry charged in turn upon the Prussian squadrons,
which fell back and fled. But at the same moment a Prussian
corps of infantry opened a murderous fire upon those too eager
French cavalry regiments, and they came back sadly shattered
from their rash pursuit. About 9 o'clock I could not help fan¬
cying that the Prussians were extending farther to the left ; for,
on asking whether certain new batteries were French, I was told
they were Prussian. The Prussian line was evidently curling
around us.
" I have learned since that the Crown-Prince had crossed the
Meuse during the night about five leagues from Sedan, and that,
this had not been known to MacMahon. A large force of Bava¬
rians must also have arrived after the commencement of the bat¬
tle, for it was Bavarian troops who began pounding us from the;
left. At 10.30 o'clock the advance of the Prussians was percep¬
tible on both wings at the same time. Some French infantry
which was close to the town on the east side gave way, as it
seemed to me, rather quickly. Soon afterward shells were com¬
ing from behind my left, and it became evident that the French)
288
THE GREAT WAR
position had been turned, and that a fresh German corps had
taken a position in our rear.
" The reserves were now necessarily directed against these
points. The battery near which I stood was already in action,
and I thought it quite time to beat a retreat. The place was
becoming as dangerous as any in the field. Among the guns
close to me, thé Prussian shells began falling with their usual
beautiful precision ; so I got on the other side of the slope, and
made my way toward the town.
" As the road to Bouillon, which crossed the field of battle,
was wholly closed to me now, I also perceived that I should be
shut up in that circle which the Prussians had been drawing
about the army and the town, and which was ultimately com¬
pleted. I made my way as fast as I could, by the safest paths..
When I reached the suburb before the Porte de BaJan, I found
it encumbered with soldiers of all corps, hastening, as I was, into
the town. It was a defeat, evidently, yet it was not 11 o'clock,
and the battle was destined to continue at various points for
some time longer, though continuing without any real hope of
victory.
" To one entering the town as I did, there was no longer any
battle to describe. It was first a retreat, and too soon a rout. I
thought myself lucky to get away from the field as I did ; for,
an hour afterward, the rout of those forces that had been near
by me was complete. Already soldiers were crushing against
each other in the struggle to get inside the town. Dismounted
cavalry were trying to make their way, some even by the ram¬
parts, leaping down from the counterscarp, others forcing their
way in by the postern gates. From a nook of the ramparts,
where I rested a moment, I saw also cuirassiers jumping—horses
and all—into the moat, the horses breaking their legs and ribs.
Men were scrambling over each other. There were officers of
all ranks—colonels, and even generals, in uniforms which it waa
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
289
impossible to mistake—mixed in this shameful mêlée. Behind
all came guns, with their heavy carriages and powerful horses,
forcing their way into the throng, maiming and crushing the
fugitives on foot.
" To add to the confusion and horror, the Prussian batteries
had by this time advanced within range, and the Prussian shells
began falling among the struggling masses of mem On the
ramparts were the .National Guards manning the guns of the
town, and replying with more or less effect to the nearest Prus-.
*sian batteries. It was a scene horrible enough to have suited
the fancy of Gustave Doré himself. I could form but one idea
of our unhappy army—that it was at the bottom of a seething
caldron.
" I hurried back as best I could to my hotel, following the
narrow streets, where the shells were least likely to reach the
ground. Wherever there was a square or open place, I came
upon the bodies of horses and men quite dead or still quivering,
mown to pieces by bursting shells. Reaching my hotel, I found
the street in which it stood choked, like the rest, with wagons,
guns, horses, and men. Most luckily, at this moment the Prus¬
sian fire did not enfilade this street ; for a train of caissons filled
with powder blocked the whole way, itself unable to move back¬
ward or forward. There was every chance that these caissons
would explode, the town being then on fire in two places ; and
I began to think Sedan was a place more uncomfortable than
even the battle-field over which a victorious enemy was swiftly
advancing.
" From friends whom I found at the hotel I learned that the
Emperor, who had started early in the morning for the field of
battle, had returned about the same time that I did, and passed
through the streets with his staff. One of my friends was near
him on the Place Turenne, when a shell fell under the Emperor's
horse, and, bursting, killed the horse of a general who was be-
19
290
THE GREAT WAR
hind him. Ho himself was untouched, and turned aiound and
smiled ; though my friend thought he saw tears in his eyes,
which he wiped away with his glove. Indeed, he had cause
enough for tears on that fatal 1st of September.
" Meantime, shells began to fall in the direction of our street
and hotel. We all stood under the vaulted stone entrance, as
the safest shelter we could find. I trembled on account of the
caissons still standing in the street, and filling all the space from
end to end. It was at this time when we waited, watching pain¬
fully for the shell which would have sent us all together into*
another world, that General de Wimpffen came past, making a
vain effort to rally and inspirit his flying troops. He shouted,
1 Vive la France ! En avant ! ' But there was no response.
He cried out that Bazaine was taking the Prussians in the rear.
News which had been current all the morning at intervals, com¬
ing now from the mouth of General de Wimpffen, seemed to be
believed, and a few thousand men were rallied, and followed him
out of the town. People began to have hope, and for one brief
moment we believed the day might yet be saved. Need I say
that this intelligence was a patriotic falsehood of brave General
de Wimpffen ? Mad with anguish, and in direct opposition to
the Emperor's orders, he had resolved to rally what men he
could, and make a stand. He could not have known that he
was bound in the grasp of at least 300,000 men.
" The bugle and the trumpet ring out on all sides. A few
thousand men hearken to the sound. My friend Rene de Gui-
roye, of the Chasseurs d'Afrique, whom'I have just met, after
losing sight of him for ten or twelve years, got on horseback
again and joined the General. The sortie took place thus :
They went out at the Porte de Balan. The houses of the
suburb are already full of Prussians, who fire on the French
out of every window. The church, especially, is strongly gar¬
risoned, and its heavy doors are closed. The General sent off
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
291
De Guiroye to bring two pieces of cannon. These soon arrived,
and with them the door of the chnrch was blown in, and 200
Prussians were captured and brought back with the French,
who, in spite of all efforts, were themselves soon obliged to
retire into the town. It was the last incident of the battle—
the last struggle.
" While this took place at the Porte de Balan, the Prussian
shelling went on, and the shells began to fall into the hotel.
Shocking scenes followed. A boy, the son of a tradesman
around the corner of the street, came in crying, and asking for
a surgeon. His father's leg had been shot off. A woman in
front of the house met the same fate. The doctor who went to
the tradesman found him dead ; and, returning, attempted to
carry the woman to an ambulance. He had scarcely made a
step, when she was shot dead in his arms. Those of us who
stand in the gateway and witness such scenes have got beyond
the feeling of personal fear. Any one of us, I will venture to
say, would give his life to spare France on this dreadful day.
Yet we stand pale and shuddering at the sight of the fate which
befals the poor people of the town.
"I care not to dwell upon horrors, which, nevertheless, I
shall never be able to forget. I can mention more than one
brave officer who did not fear to own that he shrank from the
Bight of what had become a mere massacre. Those who were
safely out of the way as prisoners, whether officers or men, need¬
ed no pity. When, after a time, it became clear that there was
no sign of Bazaine, the hopes of the French again departed. A
sullen sort of fight still went on. The guns of the town an¬
swered the Prussians. An aid-de-camp of the Emperor went by
on foot, and I heard him ask the officers near by to help him in
putting an end to the fire. Such being the Emperor's wish, at
length the white flag was hoisted on the citadel. The cannonade
ceased suddenly about 4.30 o'clock. Eager as we were to know
292
THE GREAT WAR
the cause, we cannot leave the house, for the street is impassable,
and we have to be content with learnJng the mere fact of the
surrender. As night drew on, the crowd a little diminished,
and by some effort it was possible to make one's way about the
town. The spectacle it offered was more horrible than war.
Dead were lying everywhere ; civilians and soldiers mingled- in
the slaughter. In one suburb I counted more than fifty bodies
of peasants and bourgeois—a few women among them, and one
child. The ground was strewn with splinters of shells. Starv¬
ing soldiers were cutting up the dead horses to cook and eat, for
provision had again failed us, as every thing has failed since this
campaign began. I was glad to get away from the sight of our
disasters, and lose their remembrance in a few hours of sleep.
" The next day we were told that the Emperor had gone to
the King's headquarters to treat for a surrender. At 11 o'fclock
his household and carriages left the town, and we knew that he
was a prisoner, and the Empire no more. About the same hour
there was posted in the streets a proclamation from General
de Wimpffen, saying that, notwithstanding prodigies of courage,
the army, having no more ammunition, found itself unable to
respond to the summons of its chiefs and force its way to Mont-
medy. That being surrounded, he had made the best conditions
he could—conditions such as would inflict no humiliation on the
army.
"These conditions prove to be the surrender of the whole
army, not less than 100,000 men, as prisoners of war, with all
their arms, baggage, horses, standards, and guns. The officers
who sign an engagement not to serve against Prussia during the
war may return to their homes, the remainder to be sent to Ger¬
man towns in Germany. Many officers refuse to sign, preferring
to share the captivity of their men.
" On Saturday the whole force laid down their arms. Not a
few soldiers, in their rage, broke rather than give up their arms,
NAPOLEON ON HIS WAY TO THE HEADQUARTERS OP KING WILHEUL
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
295
and tlie streets were littered witli fragments of all kinds of weap¬
ons broken : swords, rifles, pistols, lancers, helmets, cuirasses,
even mitrailleuses covered the ground ; and in one place, where
the Meuse runs through the town, the heaps of such fragments
choked the stream and rose above the surface. The mud of the
streets was black with gunpowder. The horses had been tied to
the houses and gun-carriages, but nobody remembered to feed or
water them, and in the frenzy of hunger and thirst they broke
loose and ran wild through the town. Whoever liked might
have a horse—even officers' horses, which were private property
—for the trouble of catching them.
" When the Prussians came into the town they were very
sore and angry at the sight of all this destruction and waste.
What must have pleased them still less, was the state in which
they found the military chest. As soon as the surrender was
resolved on, the French officers were told to make out the best
accounts they could, present them, and receive payment. Natu¬
rally, the statements thus brought in soon proved sufficient to
empty the treasury. I know of officers who demanded and
received payment for horses that were not killed and baggage
which had not been lost. Demoralization showed itself in every
way. Even the standards were burned or buried—an act of bad
faith, not to be palliated even by the rage of a beaten army.
" Their rage is greater against no one than General de Failly.
He had a room in the hotel where I was staying. On Friday a
great multitude of soldiers gathered before the house, the doors
of which were closed, demanding General de Failly with such
shouts and menaces that the landlord thought it prudent to
hurry him out of a back window. The soldiers, could they have
reached him, would have torn him to pieces. Since then I have
heard the report that he was shot by one of his own men ; but
no such event had happened on Saturday, and could not well
happen later.
296
THE GREAT WAR
" It was a relief on Saturday when the Prussians came in
and occupied the town, and restored order. I am sorry to have
to acknowledge that all through the campaign the French have
acted much more like a conquering army, in a hostile country,
than the Prussians. All the annoyance I have experienced per¬
sonally came from my own countrymen—from the peasants, who,
above all, saw a spy in every stranger. When I fell into the
hands of the Prussians, I found them courtesy itself. On leav¬
ing Sedan, and thence to the frontier, in passing through the
Prussian posts, I was stopped often. I had but to say, ' I am the
correspondent of an American journal,' and I was at once sent
kindly forward. On the back of my French military pass the
Prussian Staff had endorsed a Prussian safe-conduct. Often I
was not obliged even to show my papers—my word was taken ;
and, once out of Sedan, I was speedily through.
" When 1 left Sedan on Sunday morning things were rapidly
getting in order. The streets were cleared of dead horses and
men. The indescribable filth of the town was swept into the
river. The shops were opening again. Discipline had taken
the place of disorder. I saw enough of Prussian organization
and energy to change, if the grievous defeat of a noble army
had not already changed, the opinion I have so often expressed,
that ultimate victory for France was sure.
" I have followed MacMahon from the day when I found him
reorganizing his army at Châlons to the fatal day at Sedan, when
he surrendered the last organized force in France, save the rem¬
nant of that which is shut up in Metz. Certainly, when I was
at the camp of Châlons, and then at Rheims, I had observed
that the number of stragglers was enormous, and I continually
met soldiers who did not know where their regiments were. I
had seen men and officers disabled by wounds which French
soldiers of other days would have despised ; I had remarked how
untidy and careless the men were allowed to be about their dress
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
£97
and equipments. These things, slight, but significant to a mili¬
tary eye, had caused me, no doubt, some misgivings as to the
rapidity of the success we had a right to expect. I saw, also,
how prone French officers were to avoid the fatigues of long
marches and the discomfort of bivouacs. 1 remember how often
I have traversed the French lines at dead of night and at early
dawn, and never heard a challenge, never came across a French
vedette, never have fallen in with a party of scouts. On the
other hand, I have seen officers spend the time that ought to
have beep given to their men, in cafés or in poor village inns.
Often even officers of the staff seemed to neglect their duties for
paltry amusements, showing themselves ignorant, sometimes,
even of the name of the Department in which they were; sc
that I have known a French General obliged to ask his way from
peasants at the meeting of two roads. I struggled long against
all this kind of evidence, but the end is only too clear. Painful
it is to me, but I am bound to declare my belief that any further
effort France may make can only cause useless bloodshed ; and
that a means of escape from her peril must now be sought other¬
wise than by force of arms."
Not less vivid and graphic are the descriptions of the battle
and surrender from correspondents who were in the Prussian
headquarters and on the field during the whole of that terrible
day. One .of these descriptions, from the same pen that fur¬
nished to the Tribune the glowing description of the battle of
Gravelotte, is deserving of a place. We give portions of it :
" On the evening of Wednesday, from 5 to 8 o'clock, I was
at the Crown-Prince'B quarters at Chemery, a village some thir- «
teen miles from Sedan to the south-southwest on the main road.
At 5.30 we saw that there was a great movement among the
troops encamped all around as, and we thought, at first, that the
Si98
THE GREAT WAR
King was riding through the bivouacs ; but soon the 37th regi
ment came pouring through the village, their band playing ' Dû
wacht am Rhein ' as they marched along with a swinging stride
I saw at once, by the men's faces, that something extraordinary
was going on. It was soon plain that the troops were in the
lightest possible marching order. All their knapsacks were left
behind, and they were carrying nothing but cloaks, slung around
their shoulders, except that one or two bon vivants had retained
their camp-kettles. But if the camp-kettles were left behind,
the cartouche-cases were there—hanging heavily in front of the
men's belts, unbalanced, as they ought to be, by the knapsacks,
Soon I learned that the whole Prussian corps—those lent from
Prince Friedrich Karl's army, the Second Army, and the Crown-
Prince's—were making a forced march to the left, in the direc¬
tion of Donchery and Mézières, in order to shut in MacMahon's
army in the west, and so drive them against the Belgian fron¬
tier. I learned from the officers of the Crown-Prince's staff, that
at the same time, while we were watching regiment after regi¬
ment pass through Chemery, the Saxons and the Guards, 80,000
strong, on the Prussian right, under Prince Albert of Saxony,
were also marching rapidly to cloBe on the doomed French army
on the right bank of the Meuse, which they had crossed at Re-
milly on Tuesday, the 30th, in the direction of La Chapelle, a
small village of 930 inhabitants, on the road from Sedan to
Bouillon, in Belgium, and the last village before crossing the
frontier.
" Any thing more splendid than the men's marching it would
be impossible to imagine. I saw men lame in both feet hobbling
along in the ranks, kind comrades, less footsore, carrying their
needle-guns. Those who were actually incapable of putting one
foot before another, had pressed peasants' wagons and every
available conveyance into service, and were following in the
rear, so as to be ready for the great battle, which all felt sure
BETWEEN FBANCE AND GERMANY.
299
would come off on the morrow. The Bavarians, who, it is gen¬
erally believed, do not march so well as they fight, were in the
centre, between us at Chemery and Sedan, encamped around the
woods of La Marfee, famous for a great battle in 1641, during
the wars of the League. When I had seen the last regiment
dash through—for the pace at which they went can really not
De called ' marching,' in the ordinary sense,—I rode off, about a
quarter past eight in the evening, for Vendresse, where the
King's headquarters were, and where I hoped to find house-room
for man and beast, especially the latter, as being far the most
important on the eve of a great battle.
" When I got within about half a mile of Tendresse, going
at a steady trot, a sharp ' Halt ' rang out through the clear air.
I brought my horse to a stand-still, knowing that Prussian sen¬
tries are not to be trifled with. As I pulled up, twenty yards off,
I heard the clicks of their locks as they brought their weapons
to full cock and covered me. My reply being satisfactory, I
jogged on into Vendresse, and my mare and myself had soon
forgotten sentinels, forced marches, and coming battles, one of
us on the straw, the other on the floor.
" At 7 o'clock on Thursday morning my servant came to
wake me, saying that the King's horses were harnessing, and
that His Majesty would leave in half an hour for the battle¬
field ; and as a cannonade had already been heard near Sedan,
I jumped up, seized crusts of bread, wine, cigars, «fee., and
crammed them into my holster, taking my breakfast on the way.
" Just as I got to my horse, King Wilhelm drove out in an
open carriage with four horses, for Chevange, about three and a
half miles south of Sedan. Much against my will, I was com¬
pelled to allow the King's staff to precede me on the road to the
scene of action, where I arrived myself soon after 9 o'clock. 1
was impossible to ride fast, all the roads being blocked ;witl
irtillery, ammunition wagons, ambulances, «fee. As I rode on t:
300
THE GREAT WAR
the crest of the hill which rises sharply about 600 or 700 feet
above the little hamlet of Chevange, nestled in a grove below, a
most glorious panorama burst on my view. As General For¬
syth, of the United States Army, remarked to me later in the
day, it would have been worth the coming, merely to see so
splendid a scene, without ' battle's magnificently stern array.'
In the lovely valley below us, from the knoll on which I stood
with the King and his staff, we could see not only the whole
Valley of the Meuse (or Maas, as the Germans love to call the
river that Louis XIV stole from them), but also beyond the great
woods of Bois de Loup and Francheval, into Belgium, and as far
as the hilly forest of Nu mo, on the other side of the frontier.
Right at our feet lay the little town of Sedan, famous for its for¬
tifications by Vauban, and as the birthplace of Turenne, the
great Marshal. It is known, also, as the, place where sedan
chairs originated. As we were only about two and a quarter
miles from the town, we could easily distinguish its principal
edifices without the aid of our field-glasses. On the left was a
pretty church, its Gothic spire of sandstone offering a conspicu¬
ous target for the Prussian guns, had General Moltke thought fit
to bombard the town. To the right, on the southeast of the
church, Was a large barrack; with the fortifications of the citadel.
Behind it and beyond this to the southeast again was the old
chateau of Sedan; with picturesque, round-turreted towers of the
sixteenth century, very useless, even against foar-pounder Krupp
field-pieces. This building, I believe, is now an arsenal. Be¬
yond this was the citadel—the heart of Sedan, on a rising hill
above the Meuse to the southeast, but completely commanded
by the hills on both sides the river, which runs in front of the
citadel.
"The French had flooded the low meadows in the valley
before coming to the railway bridge at Bazeille, in order to stop
the Germans from advancing on the town in that direction.
GENERAL VON GERSDORFF. DIED, 13th SEPTEMBER. 1870.
MAJOR-GEN. VON WENDELL.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
303
With their usual stupidity (for one can find no other word for it),
the French had failed to mine the bridge at Bazeille, and it was
of immense service to the Prussians throughout the battle. The
Prussians actually threw up earthworks on the iron bridge itself
to protect it from the French, who more than once attempted
early in the day to storm the bridge, in the hope of breaking the
Bavarian communication between the right and left banks of the
Meuse. This they were unable to do ; and although their can¬
non-shot hâve almost demolished the parapet, the bridge itself
was never materially damaged.
" On the projecting spurs of the hill, crowned by the woods
of La Marfee, of which I have already spoken, the Bavarians had
posted two batteries of six-pounder rifled breech-loading steel
Krupp guns, which kept up a duello till the very end of the day
with the siege-guns of Sedan across the Meuse. Still further to
the right flank, or rather to the east (for our line was a circular
one—a crescent at first, with Sedan in the centre, like the star on
the Turkish standard), was an undulating plain above the village
of Bazeille. Terminating about a mile and a half from Sedan,
at the woods near Bubecourt, midway—that is to say, in a line
from Bazeille north—there is a ravine watered by a tiny brook,
which was the scene of the most desperate struggle and of the
most frightful slaughter of the whole battle. This stream, whose
name I have forgotten, if it ever had one, runs right behind the
town of Sedan.
" From the woods of Fleigreuse on the north, behind the
town rises a hill dotted with cottages and fruit-laden orchards,
and crowned by the wood of La Givonne, which runs down to
the valley of which I have just spoken. Between this wood and
».he town were several French camps, their white shelter-tents
standing out clear among the dark fruit-trees. In these camps
one could see throughout the day huge masses of troops which
were never used. Even during the height of the battle they
304
THE GREAT WAR
stood as idle as Fitz-John Porter's at the second battle of Bull
Run. We imagined that they must have been undisciplined
Gardes Mobiles, whom the French Generals dared not bring oui
against their enemy.
" To the Prussian left of these French camps, separated from
them by a wooded ravine, was a long bare hill, something lite
one of the hills on Long Island. This hill, on which was some
of the hardest fighting.of the day, formed one of the keys of the
position of the French army. When once its crests were cov¬
ered with Prussian artillery, the whole town of Sedan was com-
oletely at the mercy of the German guns, as they were not only
above the town, but the town was almost within musket-range
of them.
" Still further to the left lay the village of Uly, set on fire
early in the day by the French shells. South of this the broken
railway-bridge, blown up by the French to protect their right,
was a conspicuous object.
" Right above the railway-bridge, on the line to Mézières,
was the wooded hill crowded by the new and most hideous
' chateau,' as he calls it, of one Monsieur Pave. It was here the
Crown-Prince and his staff stood during the day, having a rather
more extensive but less central view, and therefore less desirable
than ours, where stood the King, Count Bismarck, von Roon, the
War Minister, General Moltke, and Generals Sheridan and For¬
syth—to say nothing of your correspondent.
" Having th as endeavored to give some faint idea of the
scene of what is, in all probability, the decisive battle of the
war, I will next give an account of the position of the different
corps at the commencement of the action, premising that all the
movements were of the simplest possible nature, the object of the
Prussian Generals being merely to close the crescent of troops
with which they began into a circle, by effecting a junction be¬
tween the Saxon corps on their right and the Prussian corps on
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
305
Jieir left. This junction took place about noon, near the little
village of Olley, on the Bazeille ravine, behind Sedan, of which
I have already spoken. Once their terrible circle formed and
well soldered together, it grew steadily smaller and smaller, until
at last the fortifications of Sedan itself were entered.
" On the extreme right were the Saxons—one corps d'armée,
with King "Wilhelm's Guards ; also a corps d'armée in reserve
behind them. The Guards had suffered terribly at Gravelotte,
where they met the Imperial Guard ; and the King would not
allow them to be again so cruelly decimated. Justice compels
me to state that this arrangement was very far, indeed, from
being pleasing to the Guards themselves, who are ever anxious to
be in the forefront of the battle.
" The Guards and Saxons, then about 75,000 strong, were all
day on the right bank of the M'euse, between Kubecourt and La
Chapelle, at which latter village Prince Albert of Saxonv, who
was in command of the two corps which have been formed into
a little extra army by themselves, passed the night of Thursday.
" The ground from Kubeçourt to the Meuse was occupied by
the First Bavarian Corps. The Second Bavarian Corps extended
their front from near the Bazeille railway-bridge to a point on the
high road from Donchery to Sedan, not far from the little village
of Torcy. Below the hill on which the Crown-Prince was
placed, the ground from Torcy to Illy, through the large village
of Floing, was held by the First and Third Prussian Corps, be¬
longing to the army of Prince Friedrich Karl, and temporarily
attached to the army of the Crown-Prince.
"This was the position of the troops about- 9 o'clock on
Thursday morning, September 1, and no great advance took
place till later than that, for the artillery had at first all the
work to do. Still further to the left, near Donchery, there were
20,000 "Wurtembergers ready to cut off the French from Mézi-
ères, in case of their making a push for that fortress.
20
306
THE GREAT WAR
" The number of the Prussian troops engaged was estimated
by General Moltlce at 240,000, and that of the French at 120,000.
We know that MacMahon had with him on Tuesday 120,000
men, that is, four corps ; his own, that lately commanded by
General de Failly, now under General Le Brun ; that of Felix
Douay, brother of General Abel Douay, killed at Weissenburg;
and a fourth corps, principally composed of Garde Mobile, the
name of whose commander has escaped me. MacMahon, al¬
though wounded, commanded in chief on the French side.
" It is almost needless to say that the real commander-in-chief
of the Prussians on that day was von Moltke, with the Crown
Prince and Prince Albert of Saxony, immediately next in com
mand.
" There were a few stray cannon-shots fired, merely to obtain
the range, as soon as it was light ; but the real battle did not
begin until 6 o'clock, becoming a sharp artillery-fight at 9, when
the batteries had each got within easy range, and the shells be¬
gan to do serious mischief. At 11.55 the musketry-fire in the
valley behind Sedan, which had opened about 11.25, became
exceedingly lively—being one continuous rattle, only broken by
the loud growling of the mitrailleuses, which played with deadly
effect upon the Saxon and Bavarian columns. General Sheridan,
by whose side I was standing at the time, told me that he did
not remember ever to have heard such a well-sustained fire of
small-arms. It made itself heard above the roar of the batteries
at our feet.
" At 12 o'clock precisely the Prussian battery of six guns, on
the slope above the broken railway-bridge over the Meuse, near
La Yillette, had silenced two batteries of French guns at the
foot of the bare hill already mentioned, near the village of Flo-
ing. At 12.10 the French infantry, no longer supported by their
ai cillery, were compelled to retire to Floing, and soon afterward
tne junction between the Saxons and Prussians behind Sedan
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT
307
was announced to us by General von Boon, eagerly peering
tbrougb a ;arge telescope, as being safely completed.
" From this moment the result of the battle could no longer
be doubtful. The French were completely surrounded and
brought to bay. At 12.25 we were all astonished to see clouds
of retreating French infantry on the hill between Floing and
Sedan, a Prussian battery in front of St. Menges making accu¬
rate practice with percussion shells among the receding ranks.
The whole hill, for a quarter of an hour, was literally covered
with Frenchmen running rapidly.
" Less than half an hour afterward—at 12.50—General von
Eoon called our attention to another French column in full
retreat to the right of Sedan, on the road leading from Bazeille
to the La Givonne wood. They never halted until they came to
a red-roofed house on the outskirts of Sedan itself. Almost at
the same moment General Sheridan, who was using my opera-
glass, asked me to look at a third French column moving up a
broad, grass-covered road through the La Givonne wood, imme¬
diately above Sedan, doubtless to support the troops who were
defending the important Bazeille ravine to the northeast of the
town.
" At 1 o'clock the French batteries on the edge of the wood
toward Torcy and above it opened a vigorous fire on the advanc¬
ing Prussian columns of the Third Corps, whose evident inten¬
tion it was to storm the hill northwest of La Givonne, and so
gain the key of the position on that side. At 1.05 yet another
French battery near the wood opened on the Prussian columns,
which were compelled to keep shifting their ground till ready for
their final rush at the hills, in order to avoid offering so good a
mark to the French shells. Shortly afterward we saw *1±_ first
Prussian skirmishers on the crest of the La Givonne hills, above
Torcy. They did not seem to be in strength, and General Sheri¬
dan, standing behind me, exclaimed, 1 Ah ! the beggars are toe
308
THE GREAT WAR
weak ; they can never hold that position against all thoes
French.'
" The General's prophecy soon proved correct, for the French
advanced at least six to one ; and the Prussians were forced to
retreat down the hill to seek reënforcements from the columns
which were hurrying to their support. In five minutes they
came hack again, this time in greater force, but still terribly in¬
ferior to those huge French masses.
" ' Good heavens ! The French cuirassiers are going to
charge them,' cried General Sheridan ; and sure enough, the
regiment of cuirassiers, their helmets and breast-plates flashing
in the September sun, formed, in sections of squadrons and
dashed down on the scattered Prussian skirmishers, without
deigning to form a line. Squares are never used by the Prus¬
sians, and the infantry received the cuirassiers with a crushing
' quick-fire '—scJmelïfeuer—at about a hundred yards' distance,
loading and firing with extreme rapidity, and shooting with un¬
failing precision into the dense French squadrons. The effect
was startling. Over went horses and men in numbers, in masses,,
in hundreds ; and the regiment of proud French cuirassiers went
hurriedly back in disorder ; went back faster than it came ; went
back scarcely a regiment in strength, and not at all a regiment
in form. Its comely array was suddenly changed into shapeless
and helpless crowds of flying men.
" The moment the cuirassiers turned back the brave Prussians
actually dashed forward in hot pursuit at double-quick, infantry
evidently pursuing flying cavalry. Such a thing has not often
been recorded in the annals of war. I know not when an ex¬
ample to compare precisely with this has occurred. There was
no more striking episode in the battle.
" When the French infantry saw their cavalry thus fleeing
before foot-soldiers, they in their turn came forward and attacked
the Prussians. The Prussians waited quietly, patiently enduring
NATOLEON A PRISONER ON HIS WAY TO WILHELMSHOHE.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
311
a rapid and telling fire from the Chassepôts, until their enemies
had drawn so near as to be within a hundred yards of them
Then to the fire of the Chassepôts they returned a fire as rapid
from their needle-guns ; and the French infantry could no more
4
endure this Prussian fire than the cavalry, to whose rescue they
had come. The infantry fled in its turn, and followed th? cav-
airy to the place whence they came, that is, behind a ridge,
about 500 yards on the way to Sedan, where the Prussian fire
could no longer reach them.
" The great object of the Prussians was gained, since they
were not driven from the crest of the hill they fought to hold.
Holding it thus against cavalry, the Prussians persuaded them¬
selves that it was possible to establish artillery on this hill.
" ' There will be a devil of a fight for that crest before it is
won or lost,' said Sheridan, straining his eyes through his field-
glass at the hill, which was not three miles from us. The full
sun was shining upon that hill ; we, gazing upon it, had the sun
behind us.
" At 1.30 French cavalry—this time, I presume, a regiment
of carabiniers—made another dash at the Prussians, who, on
their part, were receiving reënforcements every moment ; but
the carabiniers met with the same fate as their brethren in iron
jackets, and were sent to the right-about with heavy loss. The
Prussians took advantage of their flight to advance their line
about 200 yards nearer the line which the French infantry held.
" This body of adventurous Prussians split into two portions,
the two parts leaving a break of a hundred yards in their line.
We were not long in perceiving the object of this movement, for
the little white puffs from the crest behind the skirmishers, fol¬
lowed by a commotion in the dense French masses, show us that
these ' diables de Prussians ' have contrived, Heaven only knows
now, to get two four-pounders up the steep ground, and have
opened fire on the French. Something must at this point have
312
THE GREAT WAR
been very much mismanaged with the French infantry; for
instead of attacking the Prussians, whom they still outnumbered
by at least two to one, they remained in column on the hill ; and,
though seeing their only hope of retrieving the day vanishing
from before their eyes, still they did not stir. Then the French
cavalry tried to do a little Balaklava business—tried, but without
the success of the immortal six hundred, who took the guns on
which they charged. The cuirassiers came down once more, this
time riding straight for the two field-pieces ; but before they
came within 200 yards of the guns, the Prussians formed line, as
if on parade, and, waiting till those furious French horsemen had
ridden to a point not fifty yards away, they fired. The volley
seemed to us to empty the saddles of almost the whole of the
leading squadron. The dead so strewed the ground as to block
the path of the squadron following, and close before them the
direct and dangerous road they had meant to follow. Their dash
at the guns became a halt.
" When once this last effort of the French horse had been
made and had failed—failed, though pushed gallantly so far as
men and horses could go—the French infantry fell swiftly back
toward Sedan. It fell back because it saw that the chance of its
carrying that fiercely-contested hill was gone, and saw, also, that
the Prussians holding the hill were crowning it with guns, so
that their own line could not much longer be held facing it. In
an instant, as the French retired, the whole slope of the ground
was covered by swarms of Prussian tirailleurs, who seemed to
rise out of the ground, and push forward by help of every slight
roughness or depression in the surface of the hill. As fast as
the French went back these active enemies followed. After the
last desperate charge of the French cavalry, General Sheridan
remarked to me that he never saw any thing so reckless, so
utterly foolish, as that last charge. ' It was sheer murder.'
"The Prussians, after the French infantry fell back, ad-
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
313
vaneed rapidly—so rapidly that the retreating squadrons of
French cavalry, being too closely pressed, turned suddenly round
and charged desperately once again. But it was all no use.
The days of breaking squares are over. The thin blue line soon
stopped the Gallic onset.
" It struck me as most extraordinary that at this point the
French had neither artillery nor mitrailleuses, especially the lat¬
ter, on the field to cover their infantry. The position was a most
important one, and certainly worth straining every nerve to de¬
fend. One thing was clear enough, that the French infantry,
after once meeting' the Prussians, declined to try conclusions
with them again, and that the cavalry were seeking to encour¬
age them by their example. About 2 o'clock still other re-
enforcements came to the Prussians over this long-disputed hill
between Torcy and Sedan to support the regiments already
established there. ,
" All the time that this great conflict was going on under
Fritz's eyes, another was fought not less severe and as murderous
for the Bavarians as the one I have attempted to describe was
for the French. If there was a want of mitrailleuses on the hill
above Torcy, there was certainly no lack of them in the Bazeille
ravine. On that side there was, for more than an hour, one con¬
tinuous roar of musketry and mitrailleuses. Two Bavarian offi¬
cers told me that the loss in their regiments was terrific, and that
it was the mitrailleuses which made the havoc.
" At 2.05 in the afternoon the French totally abandoned the
hill between Torcy and Sedan, and fell back on the faubourg of
Caval, just outside the ramparts of the town. 'Now the battle
is lost for the French,' said General Sheridan, to the delight of
the Prussian officers. One would almost have imagined that the
French had heard his words—they had hardly been uttered when
there came a lull in the firing all along the line, or rather circle,
as such it had now become.
314
THE GREAT WAR
" Count Bismarck chose that moment to come and have a
talk with his English and American friends. I was anxious to
know what the Federal Chancellor had done about the neutrality
of Belgium, now threatened, and my curiosity was soon gratified.
4 I have told the Belgian Minister of War,' said Count Bismarck,
4 that, so long as the Belgian troops do their utmost to disarm
any number of French soldiers who may cross the frontier, I will
strictly respect the neutrality of Belgium ; but if, on the con¬
trary, the Belgians, either through negligence or inability, do
not disarm and capture every man in French uniform who sets
his foot in their country, we shall at once follow the enemy into
neutral territory with our troops, considering that the French
have been the first to violate the Belgian soil. I have been
down to have a look at the Belgian troops near the frontier,'
added Count Bismarck, 4 and I confess they do not inspire me
with a very high opinion of their martial ardor or discipline.
When they have their great-coats on, one can see a great deal of
paletot, but hardly any soldier.'
" I asked His Excellency where he thought the Emperor was :
4 In Sedan ? ' ' Oh, no ! ' was the reply ; 4 Napoleon is not very
wise, but he is not so foolish as to put himself in Sedan just now.'
For once in his life Count Bismarck was wrong.
44 At 2.45 the King came to the place where I was standing.
He remarked that he thought the French were about to try to
break out just beneath us, in front of the Second Bavarian Corps.
At 3.50 General Sheridan told me that Napoleon and Louis were
in Sedan.
44 At 3.20 the Bavarians below us not only contrived to get
themselves inside the fortifications of Sedan, but to maintain
themselves there, working their way forward from houBe to house.
About 4 o'clock there was a great fight for the possession of the
ridge above Bazeille. That carried, Sedan was swept on all
sides by the Prussian cannon. This point of vantage was car-
BETWEEN- FRANCE AND GERMANY. 317
tied at 4.40. "When carried there could no longer be a shade oi
doubt as to the ultimate fate of Sedan.
" About 5 o'clock there was again a sudden suspension of the
cannonade along the whole line. Many were the speculations as
to the cause, but nobody seemed to divine the truth. You must
judge of our surprise when, five minutes later, we saw a French
officer, escorted by two Uhlans, coming at a handsome trot-up
the steep bridle-path from Sedan to our post, one of the Uhlans
carrying a white duster on a faggot-stick as a flag of truce. The
messenger turned out to be a French colonel, come to ask for
terms of surrender. After a very short consultation between the
King and General von Moltke, the messenger Was told by the
General that, in a matter so important as the surrender of at
least 80,000 men, and an important fortress, it was necessary to
send an officer of high rank. ' You are, therefore,' said the Gen¬
eral, ' to return to Sedan and tell the Governor of the town to
report himself immediately to the King of Prussia. If he does
not arrive within an hour, our guns will again open fire. You
may tell the commandant that there is no use of his trying to
obtain any other terms than unconditional surrender.' The par¬
lementaire rode back with this message. "When he was fairly
out of ear-shot his mission was most eagerly canvassed.
" At 6.30 there arose a sudden cry among the members of
the King's staff, ' Der Kaiser ist da! ' and then came a loud
hurrah. Soon we began to look anxiously for the arrival of the
second flag of truce. In ten minutes more General Reilly rode
up with a letter for the King of Prussia.
" As soon as the French General was in sight, the slender
escort of cuirassiers and dragoons we had with us was drawn up
in line, two deep. Behind the King, in front of the escort, was
the staff; and ten yards in front of them again, stood "His
Majesty, King Wilhelm of Prussia, ready to receive General
Reilly. That officer, as. we soon learned, was the bearer of au
318
THE GREAT WAR
autograph letter from the Emperor Napoleon to King Wilhelm,
The Emperor of the French wrote : ' As I cannot die at the head
of my army, I lay my sword at the feet of your Majesty '—[' Ne
pouvant fas mourir à la tète de mon armée, je viens mettre mon
êpée aux pieds de votre Majesté '].
" Why Napoleon III could not die, as did thousands of his
soldiers, sword in hand, with his face to the foe, is not so clear.
" On receipt of this most astounding letter, there was a brief
consultation between the King, the Crown-Prince, who had come
over from his hill on the arrival of the flag of trucé, Count Bis
march, General von Moltke, and General von Roon. After a
few minutes' conversation, the King sat down on a rush-bot¬
tomed chair, and wrote a note (on another chair held as a table
by two aides-de-camp) to the Emperor, asking him to come nest
morning to the King of Prussia's headquarters at Tendresse.
" While the King was writing this note Count Bismarck came
up to Generals Sheridan and Forsyth, and myself, and heartily
shook our hands. ' Let me congratulate you most sincerely,
Count,' said General Sheridan. ' I can only compare the sur¬
render of Napoleon to that of General Lee at Appomattox
Court-House.'
" When it came my turn to grasp the Chancellor's hand, I
could not help saying, after I had warmly congratulated him,
'You cannot but feel a pride, Count Bismarck, in having con¬
tributed so largely to the winning of to-day's victory.' ' Oh 1
no, my dear sir,' was the mild answer ; ' I am no strategist, and
have nothing to do with the winning of battles. What I am
proud of is, that the Bavarians, the Saxons, and the Wurtem-
bergers have not only been on our side, but have had so large a
share—the largest share—in the glory of the day ; that they are
with us, and not against us. That is my doing. I don't think
the French will say now that the South Germans will not fight
for our common Fatherland.'
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 3^9
" I asked His Excellency whether Louis was taken with his
papa, and was told that no one knew ; and I think that no one
much cared where that little man was.
" "When the King had written his letter, he himself handed
it to General Keilly, who stood bareheaded to receive it—the
Italian and Crimean medals glittering on his breast in the fading
sunlight. Queen Victoria's image and superscription have not
often been seen on the uniforms of men surrendering without
conditions.
" At 7.40 General Keilly left for the beleaguered town, es¬
corted by the Uhlans. The duster which had served as a flag of
truce was offered to me as a souvenir of that memorable day ;
but it had a strong resemblance to other dusters, and I declined
the proffered relic.
" As soon as General Keilly was gone I was most anxious to
be off to the Belgian frontier, in the hope of getting messages
through ; but Count Bismarck's aid-de-camp assured me that it
was physically impossible to go that night, and that I must wait
till morning, and even then must be careful not to fall into the
hands of stray French soldiers, wfio were known to be dispersed
in all directions along the. Belgian frontier, and to be little better
than bandits. So I slept at the village of Chevange, a mile be¬
hind our post, after a little hunting for quarters, actually getting
a bed.
" Next morning early I started for Belgium. As I rode along
I suddenly came first on a knot of Uhlans ; then on two lackeys
in the green and gold Imperial livery. Directly behind them
came His Majesty Napoleon III, in his travelling carriage, on
his way to report himself a prisoner at King Wilhelm's head¬
quarters at Tendresse, a little dirty village 6ome eight milea
from Sedan."
320
THE G RUAT WAB
CHAPTER X.
WHILE this desperate fighting, terminating in an inevitable,
if not an inglorious, surrender, was going on around Se¬
dan, Marshal Bazaine, for whose benefit and release MacMalion
had perilled and lost his army, attempted to break out of Metz
by a sortie from the northeast. Why he selected this point,
which would, if successful, have carried him still farther away
from MacMahon's army, does not exactly appear; possibly
because he may have believed the German investing force weak¬
est at that point.
The sortie was commenced on the morning of August 31st,
at which time the army of Marshal MacMahon was not less
than seventy miles distant, and the railroad connections broken
and in the frauds of the Prussians. The German force on the
east side of the Moselle besieging, or rather isolating, Metz,
belonged to the Second Army, and that corps, consisting almost
entirely of East-Prussian line-troops and Landwehr, was under
the special command of General von Manteuffel. This corps
lay in almost a semicircle from Malvoy and Olgy, eight or nine
miles north of Metz, to the river Sille, three miles south of the city.
The fighting commenced between 9 and 10 o'clock in the
morning of August 31st, the French troops massing heavily, and
hurling themselves on the German left wing just at Colombey
and Bellecroix, villages nearly due east from Metz. They were
vigorously supported by the fire from Fort Bellecroix and Fort
St. Julien, as well as from some batteries hitherto masked.
There was a feint of attacking the German right wing lying
between Malvoy and Charly, but it was only a feint. About 3
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
323
p. m. the French, under command of General Lebœuf in person,
made a most determined and resolute attack upon the German
centre at Servigny, Retonfay, and Noisseville, supported bj>
concealed batteries and the forts. The fighting was of the most
desperate and obstinate character. Servigny, Noisseville, Re-
tonfay, and Poixe were each taken and retaken several times,
much of the fighting on the German side being done with the
bayonet. The battle did not cease till 11 p. m., and the troops
on both sides rested on their arms.
Fighting was resumed the next morning at 4 a. m., although
the whole field was covered with a thick fog. The ground about
the village of Noisseville was again fought over obstinately, the
village itself being captured and lost three times by each party.
On the left flank, Flanville and Corney were captured by the
Germans ; and on the right, after desperate fighting, the French
were driven southward and into Metz, being pushed into and
through the Grimont wood, and Grimont itself, under the guns
of Fort St. Julien. Once more the French centre advanced
against Servigny, and its right flank took and retook, but finally
lost, Mercy le Haut ; but their attacks were delivered with less
force than at first, and finally ceased about midday, September
1st. The loss on the German side was about 3,000, officers and
men ; on the French side, considerably heavier. The full reports
of these battles have not yet, we believe, been published, but
we subjoin the despatches of two of the German generals.
From Malaincourt General Stiehle (chief of staff to Prince
Friedrich Karl) telegraphed on the 2d of September :
" From the morning of August 31st to midday of September
1st Marshal Bazaine has almost unceasingly attempted, with
several corps from Metz, to break through toward the north.
General Manteuffel, under chief command of Prince Friedrich
Karl, has repulsed all these attempts in glorious battles, which
324
THE GREAT WAR
may be united under the name of Battle of Noisseville. The
enemy was again thrown back into the fortress. The First and
Ninth Corps, Kummer's Division (line and Landwehr), and the
Twenty-eighth Infantry Brigade, took part in the battle. The
principal fighting took place at Servigny, Noisseville, and Ileton-
fay. Night-surprises were repulsed with East-Prussian bayonets
and clubbed muskets. Our losses not yet ascertained, but not
very large proportionally ; those of the enemy heavy."
General Manteuffel telegraphed :
" Since yesterday morning Marshal Bazaine has been in bat¬
tle day and night with his entire army, against the First Army-
Corps and Kummer's Division ; and yesterday night and to-day
he has been everywhere driven back. The French have fought
with the greatest courage, but have to give way to the East-
Prussians. Prince Friedrich Karl, the commander-in-chief of
the blockading troops, has yesterday and to-day expressed his
recognition and his good wishes for both victories. The Fourth
Landwehr Division took a distinguished part in to-day's victory.
" von Manteuffel."
The French troops, finding all their efforts to break through
the cordon of troops whi-ch surrounded them unavailing, with¬
drew, in the afternoon of September 1st, within their fortified
lines.
Strasbourg, Laon, Toul, and Pfalzburg still held out, and
these, with Metz, detained nearly 200,000 German troops to
isolate and besiege them. There was, however, no lack of Ger¬
man soldiers, notwithstanding the terrible slaughter of the bat¬
tles already fought. On the 4th of September the King of
Prussia, at the head of the First, Third, and Fourth Armies—■
a force of not less than 300,000 men—was marching toward
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
325
Paris. Subséquent reënforoements brought up the entire Ger¬
man armies in France to above 700,000 men, notwithstanding all
losses.
While this surrender was going on at Sedan, and the at¬
tempted sortie at Metz was proving unsuccessful, what was the
condition of affairs at "Paris? There had not been wanting indi¬
cations of the speedy downfall of the Empire. Even as early as
the battle of Woerth, on the 6th of August, the OUivier Minis¬
try had tried in vain to repress the bold questioning and the
daring and inconvenient interpellation of the Radicals in the
Corps Législatif ; and after the downfall of that Cabinet, the
Palikao Ministry found themselves compelled to allow the Radi¬
cal members a share in the Committee of Defence. Denuncia¬
tions of the Emperor's policy and generalship had become alarm- '
ingly frequent, and, though the Palikao Ministry had persistent¬
ly deceived the people, representing nearly every defeat as either
a victory, or, at most, a drawn battle, and on the very day of
the surrender, and at least ân hour after the preliminaries of the
capitulation had been agreed upon, had published a despatch
from the Emperor, saying, " All goes wonderfully well ; our
plans all succeed," yet there was a restlessness and impatience
which betokened the coming storm. And a fearful storm it
proved.
" The commotion," says an eye-witness, " commenced on
Saturday, September 3d. The news of the Emperor's surrender,
and the capitulation of MacMahon's army, were made known to
the Empress at 7 o'clock in the evening. She imrfiediately re¬
tired into her apartment, and refused to receive even intimate
friends. Toward 9 o'clock the broad facts were known to a few
persons only, but a general uneasiness prevailed, and angry
groups assembled. At 11 o'clock on Sunday, while the Mobiles,
on their way to camp at Saint Maur, accompanied by a small
326
THE GREAT WAR
crowd, were proceeding up the Boulevards towards the Bastille,
they sung the Marseillaise, and some shouted, 'La Déchéance!
—' The Overthrow ' (of the Empire). This cry had been already
heard in other localities.
" Opposite the guard-house of the Police Sergeants, on the
Boulevard Bonne Novelle, the police charged a crowd with
drawn swords and revolvers, killing a Garde Mobile, a National
Guard, and injuring several people. The mob turned upon the
police and drove them back. The news of this act excited great
indignation, and cries of ' Down with the Police Sergeants ! '
were heard everywhere. The crowd had also assembled in the
Place de la Concorde and about the Chamber of Deputies.
This crowd was also charged by the police, and many individu¬
als were hurt. The bridge was barred to the public, and
paraded by the police and troops till midnight.
" At the sitting of the Chamber, at noon, Count de Palikao
made the following official statement of the disaster to Mac
Mahon's army, and the capture of the Emperor :
" ' Frenchmen : France has encountered a great misfortune !
Alter three days' heroic fighting by MacMahon against 300,000
enemies, 40,000 men were made prisoners. General Wimpffen,
who had assumed the chief command of the army in the place
of the severely-wounded Marshal MacMahon, subscribed the
capitulation. This terrible misfortune shall not shake our cour¬
age. Paris is to-day in a state of defence. The military foreeB
of the land are organizing themselves, and within a few days a
new army frjll stand under the walls of Paris. Another army is
forming on the banks of the Loire. Your patriotism, your
unanimity, your energy, will save France. The Emperor was
made prisoner in this battle. The Government unites with the
great bodies of state. They will take every measure which the
gravity of the occasion demands.'
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 327
•
,{Jules Favre demanded a vote of déchéance, but tbc Cham
ber adjourned till next day at 12 o'clock. The news was not
generally known till after 9 o'clock on Sunday morning, when
the Ministerial statement appeared on the walls and in the
morning papers. Soon immense excitement was apparent every¬
where. By noon the Place de la Concorde was crowded, and
the passage of the bridge interrupted to the public -by the Police
Sergeants, gendarmerie on horseback, and the troops on the
bridge and around the Chamber. Popular Deputies were recog¬
nized, and met with acclamations and cries of '■La Déchéance ! '
and ' Vive la République ! ' As the day wore on the crowds
augmented. On the passage of companies of National Guards,
the people shouted, ' Vwe National Oarde ! ' ' Vive la Répu¬
blique I ' and the Guards reciprocated.
" At 2 p. m. the gates of the Tuileries garden were closed,
and had remained so since morning, watched by the Zouaves
and other detachments of the Imperial Guard. The people on
the outside were trying to shake the gates on the side of the
Place de la Concorde. At 2.30 o'clock a rush was made by a
part of the crowd, headed by some of the National Guard. The
Police Sergeants and gendarmerie made an armed demonstration
of resistance, but suddenly yielded, and the crowd rushed by,
shouting, 'La Déchéance ! ' and ' Vive la République ! ' People
fraternized with the gendarmes and troops, and these with the
National Guard. There was no resisting the masses who fol¬
lowed, and soon they surrounded the Chafnber, and finally
invaded it. At 3 o'clock shouting and commotion in front of
the Chamber were heard. I saw the crowd from the Place de la
Concorde. A procession marched slowly along the quay. The
members of the Left recognized that they were being escorted
to the Hôtel de Ville. Then came a rush of the mob from the
other side of the bridge, the National Guards, the Mobiles, and
the troops shouting, lLa Déchéance ! ' and ' Vive la République ! '
828
THE GREAT WAR
" It becomes known tbat the Emperor is deposed by the
Chamber, and that the Republic is declared. The people rush
npon the Police Sergeants and disarm them. One National
Guard has his head gashed with a sword, and is led away. The
Police Sergeants get off the best way they can. The people
assail the gates of the Tuileries. The Guards, after a menace,
consent to a* parley. The men clamber up and wrench off the
eagles from the gates. The gates are presently opened, and the
people flock in, going toward the palace. The flag is still flying
from the top of the central pavilion. The crowd approaches
the private garden. There is a detachment of troops there.
The officer is summoned to open the gates. He refuses, but
says he can let his men be replaced by the National Guard.
This is done, and the officer saves his honor. The people walk
in, and immediately invade the interior of the palace. The flag
is torn and handed down. The Empress has left. The Mobiles
and people amuse themselves looking at the albums and the
Prince Imperial's playthings. They notice that the draperies of
the windows are partly removed. The people write with chalk,
1 Death to Thieves.' They respect property. The whole palace
is visited, but nothing removed.
" Meanwhile, in the morning, at an earlier hour, the Depu¬
ties were returning to appoint a committee to consider the three
proposals submitted by Palikao, Thiers, and Favre. These were
as follows. That of Jules Favre, presented the previous day,
was :
"1 Article I. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and his dynasty are
declared incapable of the powers which the Constitution has con¬
ferred upon them.
" ' Article II. A Commission of Government will be nomi¬
nated by the Corps Législatif, composed of ... , which
•vill be invested with all the powers of Government, and which
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
329
has for its express mission to resist invasion to the uttermost, and
to chase the enemy from the country.
" ' Article III. M. the General Trochu is retained in the
functions of Governor-General of the city of Paris.'
"This was signed by twenty-eight members. The sitting
adjourned at midnight.
"Meeting again at noon, the Minister of War, Count Pali-
kao, read the following proposition for a law :
" ' Article I. A Council of Government and of National
Defence is instituted. This Council is composed of five mem¬
bers. Each member of the Council is named by a majority
absolute of the Corps Législatif.
" ' Article II. The Ministers are named subject to the ap¬
proval of the members of the Council.
" ' Article III. The General, Count Palikao, is named Lieu-
tenant-General of this Council.
" ' Done in the Council of the Ministers, the 4th September,
1870, for the Emperor, and in virtue of the powers which
he has confided to us.
" ' Eugenie.'
" M. Thiers then read the following proposal, signed by forty-
five or forty-six members :
" 1 In view of the circumstances, the Chamber names a Com¬
mission of Government and of National Defence. A constituent
assembly will be convoked as soon as the circumstances per¬
mit it.'
" The Minister of War announced that the Government wag
perfectly willing to consult the country. It is agreed to discuss
the three propositions together. The Chamber adjourned for a
short time. A company of National Guards having charge of
330
rHE GREAT WAR
the gates shouted, lLa Déchéance ! ' and, as the Deputies passed!,
Bome few Nationals mounted the steps of the Palace of the
Corps Législatif, and signalled their comrades from the Pont de
la Concorde. Presently the latter rushed forward, followed by
the crowd, all classes intermixed, and shouting ' Vive la Répu¬
blique ! ' Once inside the palace-gates, the people spread them¬
selves all over the building, except the hall where the sessions of
the Deputies are held. The next hall was occupied by troops,
who fraternized with the people.
" Crémieux addresses the people. They demand the with¬
drawal of the troops. Palikao appears, and promises that the
troops shall be removed. Schneider, president of the Corps
Législatif, led by two officers, crosses the courtyard, pale, hag¬
gard, and with tears in his eyes. He disappears into the hall
where the sessions are held. Attempts are made to force its
doors. General Motterouge orders the National Guards to de¬
fend the entry. There are loud cries of ' Déchéamce ! ' and
' Vive la République ! ' The Deputies of the Left pass out and
receive acclamation. Gambetta recommends calmness, and says,
' The maj ority must proclaim the Déchéance.'
" In one of the galleries somebody begins a speech. A few
Deputies of the Eight enter, but suddenly, as if panic-stricken,
they retreat precipitately. Schneider now appears. He at¬
tempts to speak ; grows foggy ; becomes unnerved ; puts on his
hat and leaves the chair. At this moment a small side-door
under the galleries opens, and about thirty push through. A
National Guard causes them to withdraw, and closes the door,
locking it. On the tribune there are shouts and gesticulations.
Every body speaks at once.
" Another party of citizens forces its way in. The presi¬
dent's cry of 1 Order ! ' is drowned by shouts of ' Vive la Répu¬
blique ! ' Palikao endeavors to obtain a hearing, and, failing,
puts on his hat and quits the Chambers. The president tries
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
331
unsuccessfully to allay the uproar, two Deputies going to his
assistance, and all three very violently gesticulating. Tht
Deputies of the Left address the people, striving to quell tht
tumult. Then Gambetta appeals to them to preserve order, and
to await the arrival of the Representatives, as they will bring in
the question of Déchéance.
" It is now 3 o'clock. Suddenly a crowd of people rush into
the hall. The Deputies try to keep them back, but the hall is
entirely invaded. The president puts on his hat and leaves the
hall, declaring the session closed. As he quits his seat, Rational
Guards and people come crowding in. There are general cries
of ' Vive la République ! ' The Deputies of the Left mix with
the people, and all cry, ' To the Hôtel de Yille ! ' Gambetta
and other Republican leaders leave the Chambers and go in
procession down the Pont de la Concorde, followed by the
crowd.
" Meanwhile, outside the Chambers men climb up to the
statue of Law, over the portal, and destroy the eagle which
adorns the baton in the hands of the image. Then it is itself
destroyed—the head first, then the arms. Gambetta and the
procession pass down the Quai des Tuileries. Soldiers applaud
and shout with the crowd. A lieutenant-colonel cries, ' Vive la
République ! ' The procession stops and fraternizes. The Tur-
cos and the Spahis at the barracks of the Quai d'Orsay wave
their turbans. The flag over the pavilion of the Tuileries is
hauled down. In front of the Préfecture there are cries of
' Down with Pietri ! ' The Préfecture is closely shut.
" Arrived in front of the Hôtel de Yille, the crowd forces its
way in. Jules Favre and Jules Ferry go to the further end of
the great hall. Two Gardes Mobiles, with drawn swords, clam¬
ber up the ornamental chimney and seat themselves in the lap
of a marble nymph. Gambetta, Crémieux, and Kératry press
in and take a place beside Favre, followed by Picard, Etienne
332 the great war
Arago, Glais-Bizoin, Schoelcher, and others. Gambetta, Cré-
mieux, and Kératry are by themselves at the Mayor's table.
" Amid the tumult, Gambetta declares the Republic a fact,
and that Emmanuel Arago is appointed Mayor of Paris. The peo¬
ple shout approval. The Bureau is constituted. Kératry is ap¬
pointed Prefect of Police. The Bureau retires to constitute a
Provisional Government and Ministry. At 4 o'clock the Bureau
returns, and Gambetta declares the Provisional Government,
constituted under the title of Government for the National
Defence, consisting of Arago, Crémieux, Favre, Simon, Gam¬
betta, Ferry, Glais-Bizoin, and Garnier-Pagés. The people
shout Rochefort's name. It is added amid acclamation. The
members of Government again retire. There is a discussion
whether the tri-color or the red flag is to be adopted. Schoel¬
cher says ' tri-color, ' and it is adopted.
" The Rochefort episode was as follows : A hundred of
Rochefort's constituents met, by appointment, at 3 p. m., at the
Great Market Hall. At a given signal the leader raised a cane
with a flag attached to it, and, with a shout, ' To Sainte Péla¬
gie ! ' ascended. The group was joined by other men who up to
that time had been lurking in the immediate-vicinity, making in
all about 300 when they reached the prison. There were three
marines acting as sentries outside. One of them made believe
to lower his bayonet. It was raised by his comrade. The
crowd took the guns and broke them, but fraternized with the
marines. There was no opposition from the wardens. Rochefort's
cell-doors were burst in, and .he was taken out.
" There was no coach at the door. A lady passing in one got
out of it, and made Rochefort get in. He was driven to the
Hôtel de Yille, arriving there at 5 o'clock, and was carried in
triumph to the throne-room, where, amid the shouts and con¬
gratulations of friends, he learns that he is a member of the new
Republican Government."
DEAD.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
335
The first act of the new Republican Government was to issue
the following address :
" To the Army : When a general has compiomised his com¬
mand, it is withdrawn from him. When a Government has
placed the weal of the fatherland in danger by its mistakes, it is
set aside. That is what France has just done. In displacing a
dynasty which is responsible for our misfortunes, it has at one
stroke completed a great act of justice in the eyes of the world.
France has executed the judgment which had long been secretly
expected of her by all. France has at the same time performed
an act of salvation. The nation has for its preservation only the
necessity of raising itself, and, besides that, to hold to two
things : its determination, which is unconquerable ; and its hero¬
ism, which has not its equal, and which has aroused the aston¬
ishment of the world during undeserved disasters. Soldiers, in
the terrible crisis through which we are hastening, we have
seized the helm, but with it we have not in any way sought
party ends. We find ourselves not at the helm, but in battle.
We are the Government of no party, but we are a Government
of the National Defence. We have only one object, only one
desire : the good of the fatherland by the army and the nation,
which gathers around the glorious symbol which eighty years
ago drove back Europe. To-day, as then, the name Republic
means: Thorough concord between army and people for the
defence of the fatherland.
" General Trochu,
Emmanuel Araqo,
Crémieux,
Jules Favre,
Jules Ferry,
Gambetta,
Pelletan,
E. Picard,
Rochefort,
Garxier-Pagés,
Glais-Bizoin,
Jules Simon."
336
THE GREAT WAR
Jules Favre, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, notwithstanding
the gloomy outlook in regard to the war, issued the following
circular, which bears the appearance of expressing a courage an<
resolution which he could hardly have felt :
" The policy of France is peace, leaving Germany the master
of her own destinies. The King* of Prussia had said that he
made war against the dynasty, and not against France ; yet the
dynasty is gone, and France is free, yet is this impious war con¬
tinued. Will the King face this responsibility before the world
and before history? France yields not one foot of soil, not a
stone of a fortress. A shameless peace means the extermination
of our cause and that of Europe. We are undismayed. The
army is resolute and provided. Three hundred thousand com
batants can hold Paris to the last. They can hold the city for
three months, and conquer. If crushed, France will arise and
avenge it. Let Europe know that the Ministry have no other
aim or ambition than peace ; but, war proving inevitable, we
will continue the struggle, confident of the triumph of justice."
One of the first things which engaged the attention of the
new Government, as being more pressing even than the reorgan¬
ization of labor—the favorite hobby of French Republicans—
was the necessity of some negotiations for peace. They had,
unfortunately, committed themselves, at the outset, to the posi¬
tion that they would not relinquish a foot of territory or a stone
of any fortress. Thus hampered, M. Jules Favre, while solicit¬
ing the good offices of the neutral powers to aid in his efforts for
peace, sought and obtained an interview with the Prussian Pre¬
mier, von-Bismarck. He was met at once by a serious prelimi¬
nary difficulty : on the supposition that he and Bismarck might
agree upon some terms for peace, whc was to guarantee their ful¬
filment ? The Provisional Government was merely the rule of a
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY,
337
few self-chosen persons, who had taken advantage of the confu¬
sion of the period to place themselves in power. They had n«
vote of the people to sustain them in their position, not even the
sanction of the popular voice in the cities of France. They
were wholly irresponsible—much more so, even, than the impe¬
rial dynasty they had assumed to displace. M. Favre urged
that, if they could agree upon terms, they might be submitted
to a popular vote within four or six weeks ; but Bismarck re¬
plied, that this was asking too much ; that, if their treaty should
be rejected, and the Germans had remained inactive while wait¬
ing for the decision, they would be greatly worse off than to go
on as they were now doing ; they would, in fact, be thereby
relinquishing almost the entire results of their victories thus far.
He insisted, as the necessary condition of an armistice looking
to peace-negotiations, that they must have material guarantees
of the good faith of France, and named, among these, the pos¬
session of Metz and Strasbourg—both of which must soon capit¬
ulate at all events—and the temporary occupation of some one
of the forts of the outer cordon around Paris. As M. Favre did
not dare to accept these propositions, the interview terminated ;
Count von Bismarck intimating that any treaty of peace must
include the surrender of the two fortresses of Metz and Stras¬
bourg, and perhaps some other territory, together with a consid¬
erable money indemnity.
On M, Favre's return, the propositions of Count von Bis¬
marck were indignantly rejected by his colleagues, and M.
Favre was rebuked by them for even listening to them ; and on
the 24th of September the following was issued from Tours, to
which city, since Paris was placed in a state of siege, the Gov¬
ernment had migrated :
"Proclamation to Fromce : Before the siege of Paris, Jules
Favre desired to see Count von Bismarck, to know the inten-
22
338
THE GRÉAT WAR
tions of tho enemy. The following is the declaration of the
fenemy : Prussia wishes to continue the war in order to reduce
France to a second-rate power. Prussia demands Alsace and
Lorraine as far as Metz, by right of conquest. Prussia, before
consenting to an armistice, demands the rendition of Strasbourg,
Toul, and Mont Valerien! Paris is exasperated, and will rather
bury herself beneath her ruins. To so insolent pretensions we
can respond but by resistance to the last extremity. France
accepts the struggle, and counts upon her children.
" Crémeux,
Glais-Bizoiw,
Fourichon."
Meanwhile,, von Bismarck addressed to eaeh of the North-
German representatives abroad the following Circular :
"Meatjx, Friday, September 16, 1870.
" Tour Excellency is familiar with the Circular which M.
Jules Favre has addressed to the foreign representatives of
France in the name of the men at present holding power in
Paris, and who call themselves 'Le Gouvernement de la Défense
National."1 I have learned simultaneously that M. Thiers has
entered upon a confidential mission to the foreign courts ; and I
may presume that he will endeavor, on the one side, to create a
belief in the love for peace of the present Parisian Government,
and, on the other side, will request the intervention of the neu¬
tral powers in favor of a peace which shall deprive Germany of
the fruits of her victories, and for the purpose of preventing
every basis of peace which would make the next attaek of
France on Germany more difficult.
"We cannot believe in the sincerity of the desire of the pres-
ent Parisian Government to make peace so long as it continues,
by its language and its acts at home, to excite the passions of
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
330
the people and to increase the hatred and bitterness of a popula¬
tion stung by the sufferings of war, and to repudiate in advance
every basis acceptable to Germany as unacceptable by France.
By such a course it becomes impossible to 'make peace. The
people should be prepared by calm words, and in terms corre¬
sponding to the gravity of the situation.
" If we are to believe that negotiations with us for peace are
honestly intended, the demand that we should conclude an
armistice without any guarantees for our conditions of peace
could be meant seriously only on the supposition that we lack
military or political judgment, or are indifferent to the interests
of Germany. Moreover, the hope entertained by the present
-ulers in Paris of a diplomatic or material intervention of the
neutral powers in favor of France, prevents the French nation
from seeing the necessity of peace. When the French nation
become convinced that, as they have wantonly conjured up the
war alone, and Germany has had to fight it out alone, they must
also settle their account with Germany alone, they will soon put
an end to their resistance, now surely unavailing.
" It would be an act of cruelty to the French Government
3y the neutral powers to permit the Parisian Government to
nourish among the people hopes of intervention that cannot be
realized, and thereby lengthen the contest.
"We are far from any inclination to mix in the internal
affairs of France. It is immaterial to us what kind of a Gov¬
ernment the French people shall formally establish for them¬
selves. The Government of the Emperor Napoleon has hitherto
been the only one recognized by us. Our conditions of peace,
with whatever Government legislating for the purpose we may
have to negotiate with, are wholly independent of the question
how or by whom the French nation is governed. They are pre¬
scribed to us by the nature of things, and by the law of self
defence against a violent and hostile neighbor.
g^Q THE GREAT WAR
" The unanimous voice of the Germanic Governments and
the German people demands that Germany shall be protected by
better boundaries than we have hitherto had against the dangers
and violence we bate experienced from all French Governments
for centuries. Su long as France remains in possession of Stras¬
bourg and Metz, so long is its offensive strategically stronger
than our defensive, so far as all South Germany and North Ger¬
many on the left bank of the Rhine are concerned. Strasbourg
in the possession of France, is a gate wide open for attack od
South Germany. In the hands of Germany, Strasbourg and
Metz obtain a defensive character.
" In more than twenty wars we have never been the aggres¬
sors of France ; and we demand of the latter nothing else than
our safety in our own land} so often threatened by it. France,
on the other hand, will regard any peace that may be made now
as an armistice only, and, in order to avenge the present defeat,
will attack us in the same quarrelsome and wanton manner as
this year, as soon as it feels strong enough in its own resources
or in foreign alliances.
• " In rendering it difficult for France, from whose initiative
alone hitherto the disturbances of Europe have resulted, to re¬
sume the offensive, we at the same time act in the interest of
Europe, which is that of peace. From Germany no disturbance
of the European peace is to be feared. Although France had
been trying to force the war upon us for four years, we, by our
care, and by restraining the feelings of our national self-respect,
so incessantly outraged by France, had prevented its occurrence.
We mean now, for our future safety, to demand the price of our
mighty efforts. We shall demand only that which we must
have for our defence. Nobody will be able to accuse us of want
of moderation, if we insist upon this just and equitable demand.
" Your Excellency will make these views your own, and
advocate them in discussions. Bismarck."
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
343
Daring this period of ineffectual negotiation the Germans
were by no means inactive. The First, Third, and Fourth
Armies, largely reënforced, pressed on toward Paris, and on the
20th of September the investment of Paris was complete. On
the 23d, Toul surrendered, and Strasbourg followed on the 27th
of September. The garrison of Toul was very small (Only about
2,350), but the fortifications were of such strength that they had
endured a long siege. The amount of war-material surrendered
was large. Tiie garrison of Strasbourg numbered 17,000 men
and 451 officers, aside from the large population of the city.
The events of the 1st and 2d of September, followed by the
revolution of the 4th of September, seemed to have so confused
and stunned the minds of the French leaders and people as to
render them incapable of any judicious action. Even General
Trochu, the only one of their leaders who had any clear idea of
their difficulties aud dangers, confined his efforts to fortifying
Paris, regardless of the fact that, with a population of two mil¬
lions in the city, and an army of 430,000 cut off by the si ige
from any active movements, a capitulation must be inevitable
within a short period—not more, certainly, than ten or twelve
weeks—and that capitulation would involve the surrender of
this great army, and the virtual annihilation of the entire French
military power. Of the entire armed force which France had
been able to put into the field, or could in any emergency bring
into service, estimating it in round numbers at 1,000,000 men—
though that number was never under arms at once during the
war—not less than 150,000 were hors de combat from sicknews,
wounds, or death on the field of battle. 60,000 men had been
taken prisoners previous to the surrender at Sedan ; over 100,000
were made prisoners there ; nearly 30,000 at Metz, in the battles
of August 31st and September 1st, and the subsequent capitula¬
tions of Toul, Strasbourg, &c. More than 200,000 more were
shut up in Metz and eventually surrendered ; and these 430,000
344
THE GREAT WAR
being withdrawn from active service, there would be left, in the
event of their surrender, but a mere handful of troops to defend
France against the invader. It seems never to have occurred to
these leaders that 150,000, or 200,000 men at the utmost, could
defend Paris better than twice that number, and that, with fewer
mouths to feed, they could[ protract the siege proportionally
longer ; while their armies in the field might inflict such damage
upon the enemy as to compel him to raise the siege of the capi¬
tal. But the greatest misfortune which afflicted France during
the whole of this war was the want of honest, capable, and
efficient leaders. The people were brave and patriotic, though,
except the regular army, they were unskilled in the use of arms ;
but their leaders, when not traitors—as some of tbem undoubt¬
edly were—lacked knowledge of military affairs, and capacity
for the important and responsible positions in which they were
placed. The siege of Paris illustrated this most painfully
With two millions of people shut up in that great city, the accu
mulated supplies dealt out by weight and measure, and thèir
enemy carefully guarding every avenue by which further sup¬
plies could reach them, the great mass of the population seem to
have been turbulent and troublesome, improvident, and insensi¬
ble to the dangers which threatened them. Crime was rampant,
riots frequent, and the sorties to drive back the foe and raise the
siege infrequent and ineffective. At the same timê, their ten¬
dency to boasting and exaggeration seemed constantly to in¬
crease. Every little sortie, however badly conducted or speedily
repulsed, was magnified into a wonderful victory. They had
slain 15,000, 20,000, or 30,000 Prussians, with a loss of only a
hundred or two themselves ;—the Prussians had become disgust¬
ed, and were about to abandon the siege ; indeed, they had
already abandoned it, and the way was now open to all parts of
France ;—the German leaders were wounded or killed in these
sanguinary battles, or had died of typhoid fever, or become
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
345
maniacs from remorse ;—von Moltke, Prince Friedrieli Karl, the
Crown-Prince of Prussia, the Crown-Prince of Saxony, the
Duke of Mecklenb'urg-Schwerin, and General Manteuffel, were
all reported as dead, and the King of Prussia had gone hack tc
Berlin in a straight-jacket, under the care of Count von Bis¬
marck. If it had been only idle, sensational papers which had
propagated these silly stories it would have been bad enough,
for the immense crop of falsehoods would have indicated that
the people were ready to be deceived ; but it was their leaders—
such men as Gambetta, Crémieux, Glais-Bizoin, and Ferry—
who reiterated these falsehoods, and, in default of any founda¬
tion upon which to base them, fabricated, in their proclamations,
the details of conflicts and victories which were entirely ficti¬
tious.
The sympathy of the friends of free and liberal government
were at first heartily with the newly-proclaimed French Repub¬
lic ; they hoped to see a sound Government of the people, for
the people, spring from the corruption, rottenness, and decay of
the Empire ; but a Government founded upon falsehood, and
maintaining its hold *upon the people solely by the grossest mis¬
representations, whatever may be the motive of those falsehoods,
soon loses its hold on the-confidence or sympathy of right-think¬
ing men of all nations. For the people they may feel the ten-
derest concern ; for their leaders, their only emotion can be that
of disgust.
When the German armies were about closing around the
doomed city, a part of the Provisional Government removed to
Tours, and there «exercised their functions. At first it was only
Crémieux, Glais-Bizoin, and Fourichon who thus attempted, to
govern from Tours. Keratry subsequently joined them, and
Gambetta, after remaining awhile in Paris, finally escaped from
that city in a balloon. Trochu, Favre, Ferry, Rochefort, and one
or two more less prominent, remained in Paris. The Tours sec-
346
THE GREAT WAR
tion postponed the election of a Constituent Assembly indefi¬
nitely, and, while making the most frantic appeals to the Euro¬
pean powers to intervene and secure peace, constantly proclaimed
that they would not give up one foot of territory or one stone of
a fortress.
Great efforts were made to raise an army in the south of
France, to be called the Army of the Loire. Only undisciplined
and raw recruits were available, with few exceptions, for this
army, but it was expected to do great things. General Bour-
baki, who, by an adroit manœuvre, had succeeded in getting out
of Metz before its surrender, was to have command of it, and its
numbers were variously stated at from 100,000 to 150,000 men.
At length, in the last days of October, General Bourbaki assumed
command ; but, finding that it had at no time mustered over
60,000 men, and that these were thfe rawest of recruits and con¬
stantly deserting, , he offered to resign, but was not allowed to dc
so. Garibaldi, the Italian hero, was called to command one of
the armies of the Republic, and, though crippled and suffering
from the still unhealed wounds of Mentana, he came, only to find
that all his efforts would be neutralized by the jealousies of Gam-
betta and his associates, and that not more than 5,000 men—not a
quarter of them well equipped—could be allowed to gather around
his standard. The Franc-tireurs, a class of guerillas or brigands,
formed themselves into bands of considerable numbers, and occa¬
sionally raided on the German lines ; but finding that, under the
wholesome though rigid regulations of Ring Wilhelm, they were
liable to be marched immediately to execution when caught, they
very generally preferred the 6afer if less honorable plan of plun¬
dering their own countrymen.
There were, indeed, occasional sorties of some magnitude both
from Paris and Metz ; but these seldom rose to the dignity of
battles, and were invariably unsuccessful, though one or two ot
them inflicted considerable loss upon the Germans, but a muck
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
349
greater one on themselves. The most noteworthy of these at
Paris was one of the 19th of September, and another early in
October. Neither seem to have been in any respect a success
for the French, though both were vaunted as such. The affair
of the 19th of September originated in an attack made by Gen¬
eral Ducrôt, who, in violation of his parole of honor given at
Gravelotte, had taken a command again in the French army,
upon the Germans who were occupying the woods of Meudon,
Clamart, Chatenay, Fontenai, and Choisy, a line of six miles on
the south of Paris. Ducrôt had about 40,000 men, and occupied
a strong position at Villejuif, and the heights of Chatillon and
Clamart ; but, attacking rashly, and without knowing what force
was in his front, he threw himself against the corps of Yogel do
Falkenstein, over 100,000 strong ; and though a part of his
troops fought well, others were panic-stricken, and, in the end,
he was soundly whipped, and lost his fortified position—a serious
disaster to the French cause. Subsequent to this, there were
three or four successive sorties made in the same direction by the
French, but their only result was that, after considerable severe
' fighting and heavy losses, the Germans each time gained some
ground they had not previously held.
The Germans were meanwhile overrunning and capturing
other cities of France. Epinal, Etampes, Angerville, Orleans, a
large and important city on the Loire, the granary of France,
Gien, and later Dijon, were taken and held by their troops, and
Tours, Lyons, and Marseilles threatened.
The new troops raised outside of Paris after its isolation were
raw recruits, a small proportion (the Gardes Mobiles) capable,
with sufficient training and good officers, of making very superior
troops, but, under the circumstances, entirely unable to cope with
the thoroughly-trained German soldiers, commanded as they
were by the best military talent of the.century. The greater
part of the French levy, whether known as National Guards,
350
THE GREAT WAR
Partisans, Franc-tireurs, or by other titles, were utterly incapa¬
ble, and either ran or surrendered after the first fire. Knowing
nothing of the use of fire-arms (since Napoleon III had pro¬
hibited their use, except in the regular army), they had no confi¬
dence in themselves, and could not be made to fight, except
where the objects of their assault were unarmed.
The contempt naturally felt by the German soldiers for such
foes is well illustrated by an official report of a commission sent
by the King of Prussia to ascertain the exact state of affairs in
the eastern and central provinces of France, made at Versailles,
October 10th, 1870 :
" Kecent events throw light upon the forces at the disposal of
the French Government over and above those enclosed in Paris,
Metz, and some other fortresses. Several marches southwest of
Strasbourg the corps d'armée, under the command of General
von Werder, fell in with a body of troops whose composition
proved that the production of fresh regular forces need be no
longer feared in France. It had been organized some weeks
since at Langres, and belonged to the Southern Army. The re¬
cruits had come from the Haute-Marne, Saône, and Tonne, Côte
d'Or, and the country near Dijon. If at all capable of playing
a part in the war, it ought to have marched north, and endeav¬
ored to relieve Strasbourg while there was time ; but consisting
chiefly of Mobiles, it could not venture on so independent a step,
and contented itself with troubling our southern communications
between Alsace and Paris. Its greatest exploit was an attempt
to surprise Nancy, which, however, was so easily foiled by one
Landwehr battalion that we could not even boast of having had
an engagement. Such were the troops General von Werder
(with General von Dagenfeld under him as chief of the Baden
Division) attacked near Epinal. He put 2,000 hors de combat,
ourselves losing less than one eighth of this number. This has
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 35g
probably disposed of the Southern branch of the French army fo
a little while.
" Further west the Bavarian First Corps, reënforced by one
Prussian division of infantry and two Prussian cavalry divisions,
under the command of General von der Tann, assumed an ener¬
getic offensive against the hosts congregating on the Loire.
Some time ago, when we had completed the investment of Paris,
two Prussian cavalry divisions, among them Prince Albrecht's,
had been despatched to patrol the country south of the capital,
in the direction of Etampes, Pithiviers, and Orleans. They had
had many skirmishes with Francs-Tireurs, who abounded in that
neighborhood, and though unable to resist our attack in any one
single instance, yet clung to their hiding-places in the woods, and
were apparently intent upon organizing a guerilla war. These
FraiScs-Tireurs came from the Seine and the Southern Depart¬
ments.
" When our cavalry had penetrated as far as the forest of
Orleans, the Crown-Prince ordered General von der Tann, who
had his headquarters at Longjameau, to proceed in the direction
of that city, and further on to Tours, the seat of the Provisional
Government. With General von der Tann's Corps marched the
Twenty-second Division of the Eleventh Prussian Corps, as also
our two cavalry divisions. This force arrived on the 7th at Ar*
pajon, and on the 8th reached Etampes, by Etréehy. At Etam¬
pes the van were engaged by the enemy, who, seemingly show¬
ing light, caused our troops to prepare for batt e. Our infantry
marched through a ravine in the direction of AngerviHe, with
cavalry on both sides. Had the enemy remained in their former
position we should have outflanked and might have seriously in¬
jured them by this movement ; but on getting near Angerville,
where the defile widens into a vast plateau, we found the French
had retreated on learning the approach of a considerable force.
Only the village of Monnerville, south of Etampes and Anger-
23
354 the great war
ville, was still occupied by a small rear-guard. On this occasion
we became acquainted with a new description of troops called
Partisans, forming a sort of body-guard to the Government at
Tours. In the account-books they had with them their pay and
other emoluments from the Republican authorities were accu¬
rately stated. They were mostly men above 40, or youngsters
between 16 and 18, those between these two extremes having
been previously drafted into the Mobiles. Directly we got to
Etampes and Angerville the Partisans remaining in those towns
were either taken prisoners or ran away. They were, indeed,
unable to defend themselves, being totally ignorant of every
thing military, and, moreover, armed with Minié rifles, which
eannot compete with modern weapons. In reply to our ques¬
tions, they said they knew nothing of the service, and altogether
represented their situation as pitiable. The peasants would not
give them any thing to eat, nor even direct them how to find
their way across the country. The fear of the Germans was so
universal in those parts that every body shunned intercourse with
the indigenous troops. The costume of the Partisans consists in
a short black coat, black trowsers, gaiters, and a red sash round
the waist. They wear hats with broad brims, those of the cap¬
tains being about four times as large as those worn by the pri¬
vates. The Commander-in-Chief of the body taken prisoners at
Angerville was a private gentleman from Nantes. Most of them
had the words Partisans de Gers on their hats. The Depart¬
ment de Gers being 400 miles south of Paris, and only 150 miles
aorth of the Pyrenees, their presence in the Orleannois would
seem to prove that the central Departments are already drained
of most of the people that can be induced to join.
" Since then Orleans has been taken by General von der
Tann. It is one of the wealthiest cities in France. The region
north of it, the so-called Beauce, is certainly the most fertile dis-
<rict we have as yet entered. It provides Paris with enormous
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
355
quantities of excellent wheat, ground by the steam and watei
mills in the province. It also abounds in oats (which will he a
great acquisition for our cavalry), and produces grapes and every
variety of fruit in such plenty that, in addition to supplying
Paris, its choice articles are exported to foreign countries. The
possession of the Beauce will sensibly diminish the number of
our provision trains from Germany.
" The occupation of Orleans is also important from a strategi¬
cal point of view. Situate on the right bank of the Loire, and
being the point of junction for the Central Railway and the
lines from Nantes, Bordeaux, and Toulouse, it protects our army
from attack from the south, and all but prevents our enemies in
the North holding communications with the South. By blowing
up a single arch of the two magnificent bridges over the Loire,
each of which has cost 2,000,000f., we render it difficult for a
Southern enemy to penetrate North, the next two bridges at Jar-
geau and Beaugency not being strong enough for artillery to pass
over. Gien, higher up the river, is already ours, and the Sologne,
which is the name of the country lower down, beyond Blois, is
so barren and destitute of roads that it serves as a natural safe¬
guard from that side. Orleans is known for the pacific disposi¬
tion of its inhabitants, and has large barracks and other buildings
which will be useful should the campaign be prolonged. '
An added difficulty which the French Provisional Govern¬
ment had to encounter, was found in the diversity of opinion
among the people, and the want of cordiality which existed tow¬
ard them in many parts of France. In Marseilles and Lyons,
she Red Republicans were largely in the majority, and organized
a provisional government of their own, whose object was to pro¬
claim the doctrines of the Revolution of 1791. " Down with the
aristocrats ! " was their cry ; and these ruffians were disposed to
seize the rehrs of government, and rule révolutionnaire/ment. A
350
THE GREAT WAR
fear of the German troops, and a disposition to conciliate them
by good treatment and ready surrender, prevailed very widely
among the smaller towns and villages of France, and it was not
easy to raise volunteers for the army in any section to which they
had penetrated.
The tract, sixty or seventy miles in width, and extending
from the Rhine to Paris, over which the conquering armies had
passed, was thoroughly stripped of food for man and beast, and
the horrors of famine were felt throughout the whole district
early in October.
On the 29th of October Metz was surrendered by Marshal
Bazaine, although it was said there was provision sufficient for
the army for four months longer. Yet, as a capitulation must
come sooner or later, and there was no hope of the raising of the
siege, it was perhaps humane and wise to give up before starva¬
tion came. By this capitulation an army and garrison of
173,000 soldiers, and over 20,000 sick and wounded, were sur¬
rendered, the details being as follows :
" 67 infantry regiments ; 13 battalions of Foot Chasseurs ;
18 fort and dépôt battalions ; 36 cavalry regiments, namely :
10 of Cuirassiers, 1 of Guides, 11 of Dragoons, 2 of Lancers,
3 of Hussars, 6 of Chasseurs, and 3 of Chasseurs d'Afrique;
also, 6 dépôt squadrons ; 115 field batteries ; 17 batteries of
mitrailleuses ; 69 eagles belonging to infantry, 2 of which were
captnred at Mars-la-Tonr, and 36 eagles belonging to cavalry.
" Including the garrison surrendered, the army originally
comprised 221, battalions of infantry and 162 squadrons of horse.
The original .numerical strength was 210,000 infantry, 21,450
cavalry, 690 guns, and 102 mitrailleuses.
" Besides the foregoing, there were three marshals—Bazaine,
Canrobert, and Lebœuf ; three corps eommanders—-Frossard, De
Caen, and 1'Admirault ; 40 division generals ; 100 brigadier-
jj-y x y
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
359
generals ; of sound prisoners, 90,000 sent to North Germany,
and 50,000 sent South ; the sick and wounded being distributed
in the same proportion."
Thirty-five thousand had perished in the siege and the sorties
made by the besieged, not including those who were slain in the
three battles of August 14th, 16th, and 18th.
The intelligence of this surrender was received at Tours by
the Provisional Government with great rage and indignation.
Marshal Bazaine was denounced as a traitor, and the resolve to
continue the resistance unflinchingly was duly promulgated in
the following proclamation :
" French Republic.
" Liberty—Equality—Fraternity.
"Proclamation to the French People.
" Frenchmen : Raise your spirits and resolution to the fear¬
ful height of the perils which have broken upon the country.
It still depends on us to mount above misfortune, and show the
world how great a people may be who are resolved not to perish,
and whose courage increases in the midst of calamity.
" Metz has capitulated. A General, upon whom France
counted, even after Mexico, has just taken away {vient cf en-
lever) from the country, in its danger, more than a hundred
thousand of its defenders, Marshal Bazaine has betrayed us..
He has made himself the agent of the Man of Sedan and the-
accomplice of the invader; and, regardless of the honor of the-
army of which he had charge, he has surrendered, without even.
making a last effort, a hundred and twenty thousand fightings
men, twenty thousand wounded, guBS, cannon, colors, and the-
strongest citadel of France—Metz-Virgen ; but for him, to the
contamination of the foreigner, such a crime is above even tile
punishments of J ustice 1
360
THE GREAT WAR
"Meanwhile, Frenchmen, measure the depths of the abyss
into which the Empire has precipitated you. For twenty years
France submitted to this corrupting power, which extinguished
in her the springs of greatness and of life. The army of France,
stripped of its national character, became, without knowing it,
an instrument of tyranny and of servitude, and is swallowed up,
in spite of the heroism of the soldiers, by the treason of their
ehiefs.
" In the disasters of the country in less than five months,
230,000 men have been delivered over to the enemy—a sinister
sequel to the military coup de main of December.
" It is time for us to reassert ourselves, citizens ; and, under
the aegis of the Republic which We have determined not to allow
to capitulate, within or without, to seek, in the extremity even
of our misfortune, the renovation of our political and social
morality and manhood.
" However tried by disaster, let us be found neither panic-
stricken nor hesitating. Let it be seen that we are ready for the
last sacrifices ; and, in the face of enemies whom every thing
favors, let us swear never to give up so long as there remains an
inch of sacred soil under the soles of our feet. Let us hold
firmly the glorious banner of the French Revolution. Our
cause is that of Justice and of Right. Europe sees it; Europe
feels it. In the presence of so many unmerited misfortunes,
Europe, of her own accord, receiving from us neither invitation
nor encouragement, is moved, and begins to act. No illusion is
now left. Let us no longer languish or grow weak, and let us
prove by our acts that we can ourselves maintain honor, inde¬
pendence, integrity—all that makes a country proud and free.
u Long live the Republic, one and indivisible !
" Ceémieux,
Glais-Bizoih,
Gambetta."
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
361
This proclamation had the merit of being more truthful than
those which had preceded it, but it did not come up to the full
measure of the misfortunes of France. At this very time ovei
three hundred thousand French soldiers were prisoners in Ger
many ; one hundred and fifty thousand more had perished by
sickness, or had fallen on the field of battle ; the regular army,
except a few regiments on garrison duty, or who had but jus+
returned from Algeria, was completely destroyed ; the more
than four hundred thousand troops shut up in Paris were com¬
posed of National Guards, Guard Mobiles, and other raw re¬
cruits, not only wholly undisciplined, but completely ignorant
of the use of fire-arms, having been forbidden to possess them
during the whole of Louis Napoleon's administration. The
armies which Gambetta was trying to raise and arm in the
provinces were equally undisciplined and ignorant. There were
no generals of known reputation left except Trochu and Ducrot,
who were both in Paris, and Bourbaki in the Army of the Loire,
whose fidelity to the Provisional Government-was probably un¬
justly doubted. The energy and executive ability which Gam¬
betta had displayed, and which had enabled him to improvise
large armies, was very creditable to him under the circumstances
in which he was placed ; but if he permitted himself any mo¬
ments of sound reflection, he must have seen that his task was a
hopeless one. The errors already committed in the defense of
Paris rendered its surrender at no very distant day inevitable ;
and the irregular and undisciplined troops he had collected and
could collect were not only incompetent to compel the raising of
the siege of Paris, but were unable to withstand the thoroughly
trained and disciplined German troops whenever they met in
anything like equal numbers. There was nothing to hope for
in the future, except a peace made on terms which would be
more severe and distressing with each added day of resistance.
Meanwhile the winter months were drawing on, and the crops,
3C2
THE GREAT WAR OF 18Ï0
unusually scanty as they were, had been in many sections eithei
harvested, or seized by the invading forces ; the French peas
an try, never too provident, and living almost from hand to mouth,
were famishing, and looked forward in grim despair to a winter
of famine and death.
Already, too, were the hoarse mutterings of another revolu¬
tion heard from various quarters, and the Provisional Govern¬
ment found its authority denied, and its orders unheeded in
Southern France.
Tet the pride and conceit of the French leaders and of the
French people was unsubdued. Though almost everywhere de¬
feated, they insisted that every reverse was a victory, or, at the
most, but a blessing in disguise ; and until they were sufficiently
humbled to own their weakness, there seemed no hope of their
relief.
Alas, poor France ! how bitterly dost thou suffer for all thy
dns in the past ! The blood of thousands of martyrs slain by
thy kings ; the terrible disorder and anarchy of thy great Revo¬
lution; the greed and vain-glory which led thee to crave and
take, whenever thou hadst the opportunity, the lands and spoil
of other nations ; the insane love of glory which has made thee
willing to plunge into war on the slightest pretexts, and thus
rendered thee the terror of all thy neighbors ; and, above all,
the licentiousness and corruption which have eaten out thy life,
and rendered thee seemingly only fit for destruction—all these
thy crimes rise up in judgment against thee, and cry for ven¬
geance on thy head. But if thou wilt be wise, there is still hope
for thee. When thou hast passed through the furnace, and thy
dross is thoroughly p,urged from thee, there shall arise a new
France, purer and better than the old, and take its place among
the sisterhood of nations, a regenerated and truly great people.
UENBRAI, WERDER'S ENTRANCE INTO STRASBOURG. SOtii SEPTEMBER. IKK).
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
3(5
CHAPTER XI.
IN continuing our narrative of the events of the war after the
surrender of Metz, we must confine ourselves mainly to two
topics : the siege of Paris, with its sorties and final surrender ;
and the efforts made in the provinces to compel the raising of
the siege of Paris, and also to defeat the Germans in other parts
of France. Though distinct from each other, these two topics
were so connected that they can only be considered properly
together.
We have already detailed the approach of the German armies
to Paris, their partial investment of the city on the 15th of Sep¬
tember, and the more complete beleaguering of it by the close
of the month ; but one or two items in relation to this invest¬
ment are worthy of notice, though ante-dating the capitulation
of Metz.
The German armies first deployed, about the middle of Sep¬
tember, before the northeastern defences of Paris. This part of ,
the line of investment was established without serious opposi¬
tion, greatly to the surprise of the Germans, who anticipated
resistance at the passage of the Seine. Trochu's troops were
certainly unfit at this time to be trusted in battle, and could not
have prevented the investment, though they might have retarded
it under a skilful general, without jeopardy to themselves. If it
was wise, however, not to oppose the passage of the Seine with
such troops, it was madness to attempt, as Trochu did four days
later the reoccupation of the elevated country south of Paris.
The extension of the German line from the Seine to Versailles
»
366
THE GREAT WAR
in front of the southern line of forts, brought on an engagement
(September 19th) known to the French as the Battle of Chatillon,
and to the Germans as that of Sceaux. Lying between the two
towns thus named, and commanding the country round, and the
French forts in its front, is a range of hills known as the Heights
of Sceaux ; and it was for the possession of this position that the
battle was fought. General Trocha, with apparently culpable
negligence, had failed to seize and fortify this important position.
He had declared his intention to remain strictly on the de¬
fensive, until he could arm, organize, and discipline the immense
mass of Gardes Mobiles, marines, and volunteers who had
crowded into Paris for its defence. He doubtless had also some
indefinite hope of aid coming from the army which had already
begun to form on the Loire at Orleans ; but dependence on this
force, or on his own unskilled soldiery, was, as events proved,
mistaken confidence. But after resolving that nothing remained
to him but to hold the defensive, Trochu was weak enough to be
overruled by the advice of subordinates, and the wishes of his
associates in the Government, and consented to make an effort
to retake the Heights, which he had permitted the Germans to
seize without opposition. If it was folly not to have secured
them before the approach of the Germans, it was insanity to
attempt to recapture them with a single corps of half-drilled,
untried troops. The unwisely-ordered attack was badly directed
and tardily conducted ; the troops displayed great gallantry, but
they also displayed their want of discipline, and their efforts
naturally resulted in positive repulse.
The movements of the Germans in strengthening their lines
south and west of the city more than once induced Trochu to
make reconnoissances, which in one or two instances resulted in
brief yet serious engagements. On September 30th two columns,
operating from Chatillon and St. Cloud, advanced to develop
changes which had been made in the investing line in front of
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
369
these positions, bnt they had hardly deployed before overwhelm¬
ing numbers of Germans were advancing from their bivouacks
to meet them. The French were driven back at both points,
and, being flanked on their right by the overlapping lines of the
Germans, suffered severe losses. The only result of the affair
was to reveal precisely what the French did not wish assured
them—that the Germans were daily transferring forces from the
east to the west side of Paris, and preparing to bombard the city
on its weakest front. By these movements, masked by the
Heights of Sceaux and their own strongly maintained lines, the
Germans finally disposed their great forces around the city in
the order named on our map, which illustrates the operations of
the siege.
The Saxon Corps, a brave body of troops, but weakened by
their heavy losses in the battles around Metz, were first in order
on th( north-northeast of the city, overlooking La Briche, St.
Denis, and the Fort de L'Est. Next in order, northeast of the
city, were the Prussian Guards, the finest corps of the Prussian
Army, having in their front the Fort of Aubervilliers ; next, at
the east and southeast, lay the Wiirtemburg Division, the troops
which distinguished themselves at Sedan. Between these and
che city were the strong forts of Bomainville, Denois, Bosny,
and Nogent. South of the city, and to the south-southeast, lay
the small Fifteenth Prussian Corps, the Sixth Prussian, and the
Second Bavarian Corps, and along the front of this line bristled
some of the strongest forts of the Parisian defences—Charenton,
Ivry, Bieetre, Montrouge, Yanvres, and Issy. At the southwest
and west the Eleventh and Fifth Prussian Corps held strongly
fortified lines, having the great fortress of Mont St. Yalerien,
occupying a neck of land formed by a bend of the Seine, in their
front ; while the Fourth Prussian Corps extended from the op¬
posite bank of the Seine to Pierrefitte, where it joined the Saxon
Corps.
24
370
THE GREAT WAR
The circle thus completed about Paris was never broken ; but
it must not be supposed that the whole army was stretched out
along the positions we have named. From the five or six pickets
who watched from the entrenched posts nearest the enemy the
every movement of the besieged, to the last cantonment of the
corps in the rear, fully five miles of ground intervened. The
picket posts were all shell-proof earthworks, hardly larger than
the " gopher holes " of our own troops, but much more elab¬
orately built. Behind each of these posts their reserves of a
company were posted in farm-houses ; behind these a regiment
in some convenient hamlet or chateau ; behind these, again, a
brigade cantoned in the comfortable dwellings of the nearest
village ; further still to the rear a division lived in camps, or
chateaus, or towns ; and, last of all, distant, yet not so far away
that it could not promptly deploy to aid the advance when at¬
tacked, were the corps in possession of the larger cities, as Ver¬
sailles, St. Germain, &c. This disposition gave the Germans
every facility for concentrating immense numbers on any threat¬
ened point to repulse the sorties of the French. The system on
which the Germans conducted the siege was different in many
respects from that in vogue during our own war. The advanced
posts, where small bodies of men kept vigilant lookout on the
proceedings of the French in the city and forts, were strongly
entrenched with the design of being held until supports could
come up. In their immediate rear larger forces were posted in
camps, or stationed in convenient farm-houses, villas, and fcha-
teaus ; while divisions and corps, still further to the rear, were
cantoned in the numerous villages and towns which form sub¬
urban Paris. With houses to live in, warm beds and rich linen
to rest upon, wine in the cellars, fruit on the trees, and vege¬
tables from near and distant gardens of the occupied depart¬
ments, the besiegers had little to dread from delay, and could
afford to wait until famine forced capitulation. Strong as this
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
873
line was known to be, the French did not despair of breaking
through it; and while the Germans prepared for the bombard¬
ment, their enemy made two or three fruitless efforts to raise tha
siege and escape. The most of these were made against Trochu'a
judgment, and, badly supported and worse directed, failed igno-
miniously. The first of any note, made on October 28th against
Le Bourget, on the north of Paris, appears to have been per¬
mitted as a sort of concession to a corps of Paris volunteers,
led by noted Communists. It is significant of the condition of
Paris at this time, that, on its failure and the repulse of their
corps with heavy loss, Communists of Paris invaded the Hotel do
Ville, captured Trochu and the members of the Government,
proclaimed a new Republic, and for several hours were in pos¬
session of the Government. A corps of Mobiles happily arriv¬
ing, thrust the new leaders out, and restored the Committee of
National Defense, else France would have been again revolution-
I
ized by a Paris mob.
But while this siege was thus daily enclosing more firmly in
its iron gripe the doomed city, what was doing in the provinces
in the way of effort to compel the German King to raise the
siege ? Justice requires the acknowledgment that their exertions
were great ; and if success had been possible with their undisci¬
plined troops, the great obstacles in the way of organization, and
the scarcity of able and efficient generals, they would have gone
far toward achieving it. After the failure of M. Favre's efforts
to obtain an armistice and negotiate a treaty of peace on terms
which he and his associates considered admissible, no further
efforts were made in that direction for some months, and all the
energies of the fiery, but not always wise, Gambetta, were turned
toward the organization of new armies, and, as his proclamations
phrased it, hurling back the invader. We have already men¬
tioned his escape with Fouriehon, Cremieux, and Glais-Bizoin
from Paris in a balloon, and the establishment of one branch t >f
372
THE GREAT WAR
the Government at Tours. He had no sooner arrived there thar
he undertook the work of rallying and organizing and training
•forces for the purpose of taking the 'field against the Germans.
He inspired the people with his own enthusiasm, and, by sheer
force of personal character and energy, he brought comparative
order out of chaos, and organized three great crimes, great
in numbers, but still fatally and necessarily lacking in that dis¬
cipline which was indispensable for success. Camps were estab¬
lished at Lille and Rouen in the north, at Confie in the west,
and at Orleans, Bordeaux, and Lyons in the south ; and to these
flocked the recruits who had not, undirected and unwisely, hud¬
dled in Paris. The formation of the most distant of those camps
was not interrupted by the Germans, whose main forces were
still engaged before Metz and Paris ; but General von Moltke
seems early to have contemplated a dispersal of the forces which
were concentrating, with more daring than discretion, at Orleans,
only forty miles in the rear of his position south of Paris. A
small army, detached from the investing force at Yersailles,
under General von der Tann, advanced upon Orleans on Octo¬
ber 10th, surprising the French advance at Artenay on that day,
and driving the main body of the Army of the Loire out or
Orleans on the following day. Beyond Orleans, von der Tann
durst not venture, and the result of the expedition was simply
to push the recruiting French a little further south. At the
same time, von der Tann's right became exposed to attack from
the troops forming at Confie, behind Le Mans, and thus he was
placed on the defensive, in a position which demanded his
utmost vigilance. He was glad to remain quiet until a month
later, when the surrender of Metz gave him promise of large
reënfbrcements from the disengaged army of Prince Friedrich
Kan. Ho sooner had this event occurred (October 26th), than
von Moltke resolved on the dispersal of the French armies in
the provinces. Yon Steinmetz's old army, recruited to 75,00C
NEW MITRAILLEUR, EMPLOYED BY YON DUR TA TEN", AT ORLEANS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
375
or 80,000 men, was given to General Manteuffel, and directed
against the camps about Lille and liouen, and the fortified posi¬
tions in the north. Prince Friedrich Karl, with the old Second
Army, was pushed westward, with orders to disperse d'Aurellcs
de Paladines below Orleans, and Chanzy at Conlie or Le Mans.
Yon Werder was already forcing the advance-guard of the
Lyons Army further southward, and debouching from the Vos¬
ges into the Saône Y alley.
The French Minister of War at Tours no sooner heard of the
surrender of Metz, than he resolved (after absurdly stopping in
his rage to outlaw Bazaine and set a price on his head) to throw
the Army of the Loire in overwhelming force on von der Tann
before Prince Friedrich Karl could come up, hoping to crush
him, and perhaps reach the rear of the investing line about
Paris. Some sort of unity of action appears to have been
secured by communication with Trochu by carrier-pigeons, but
all plans failed. Chanzy and d'Aurellcs were hastily concen¬
trated for the attack, the former making also a flank movement,
from Le Mans to the rear of von dor Tann's position at Artenay.
But the German was too well aware of the danger menacing
him to relax in vigilance. Constant reconnoissances of his cav¬
alry warned him of the French movement ; and, though forced
to abandon Orleans on November 9-10, he did not yield without
a struggle, which delayed the French advance, and hastened the
approach of Prince Friedrich Karl from Metz.
Anything like victory had been so unusual with the French
in the progress of the war hitherto, that their success in driving
von der Tann out of Orleans almost crazed them. The GermaD
General had yielded, not without a stubborn resistance, to a
force more than three times that of his own army, and by his
resistance had effected a delay which enured to the benefit oi
the German army subsequently ; but the losses he sustained were
far less than the French journals, with their extraordinary talent
376
THE GREAT WAR
for exaggeration, represented. Such announcements as the fol
lowing, in a battle where the entire loss in killed, wounded, and
prisoners could not have exceeded 2,000, and by the defeated
party was stated at but half that number, are even more absurd
than some of the glowing despatches of our own war :
" The Prussians have lost over 10,000 men in killed and
wounded, and 1,800 prisoners, in the battles around Orleans, and
are retreating toward Chartres and Etampes. A large number
of guns, thrown away by the enemy, have been picked up, and
distributed among the National Guards at Orleans. The entire
Army of the Loire is advancing."
The last item, like much of the rest of- the despatch, was
entirely false. The entire Army of the Loire were not advanc¬
ing, and, with their knowledge of the speedy approach of the
army of Prince Friedrich Karl, did not dare to advance.
In justice to General d'Aurelles de Paladines, who, in conse¬
quence of this victory, was exalted from comparative obseuritv
into one of the greatest commanders of modern times, it should
be said that he was not so much disposed to over-estimate his
success. His despatch to Minister Gambetta was as follows :
" We have taken possession of the city of Orleans, after a
fight which has lasted two days. Our aggregate losses in killed
and wounded do not reach 2,000, while those of the enemy are
much larger.
" We have made more than 1,000 prisoners thus far, and aru
continually adding to them as we follow up the fleeing enemy.
Among the property captured are two cannon of the Prussian
model, twenty ammunition-wagons, and a great number of vans
and provision-wagons. The hottest of the fight took plaoo
around Coulmier, on Wednesday, the 9th. Notwithstanding the
NiiTWEEN FRANCE ANE GERMANY.
371
bad weather and other unfavorable circumstances, the élan dis
played by the troops was remarkable."
His congratulatory order to his officers is in still better taste
" The action of yesterday was a glorious one for our army,
Every position of. the enemy was vigorously carried,, and the
enemy is now retreating. I have informed the Government of
your conduct,.and am instructed to return to you their thanks
for your victory. Amid the disasters in which France is
plunged, her eyes are upon you, and she counts: upon your cour¬
age» Let us all make every effort, in order that this hope may
not be mistaken.
" D'Aukelles oe Paladestes,
" Commander-in-Chief.
" General Headquarters, November 10, 1810."
M. Gambetta, with that rashness which often leads impulsive
and energetic men to jump at conclusions, decided that in Gen¬
eral d'Aurelles de Paladines he had found the commanding;
officer he had sought amid the number whom he had been
obliged to reject, and gave him full control of his newly-organ¬
ized and not thoroughly-disciplined Army of the Loire. The.
other armies of the provinces were commanded by General
Bourbaki, the only one of Napoleon's old generals, except
Ducrot, who was in Paris, who was not a prisoner» General
Chanzy was at this time second in command to General d'Au¬
relles; He was another new man, but apparently a good
officer, if his troops and his subordinate officers could have been
depended upon. In the north of France another army, likewise
raw recruits, was put under the command of General Faidherbe,
an officer of considerable ability, who had been for some years
Governor of the French colony of Senegal, on the west ccast ni
Africa.
378
THE GREAT WAR
The German General von der Tann fell back from Orleans tc
Toury, and subsequently to Angerville, in the direction fron
whence he expected recnforcements from the army of Prince
Friedrich Karl ; but he showed no panic and no disposition to
avoid attacks.
Meanwhile, M. Gambetta had issued a proclamation to the
army, announcing that the Government expected the deliverance
of the capital from its valor. But, greatly to his surprise, Gen¬
eral d'Aurelles de Paladines did not follow up his success so
promptly as had been expected. Day after day he remained
near Orleans in a state of inactivity which the Government
could not account for. He saw, more clearly than the Minister
of War did or could, that his success had been merely tempo¬
rary, and in some sense accidental, and that a forward move¬
ment, until Orleans had been put in a state of complete defense,
would, with his imperfectly-trained and not very steady troops,
imperil what he had gained. During these two or three weeks,
then, he had been exerting himself to the utmost to put the city
into such a condition of defense that it might be able to repel
any attacks of a considerably superior force. He had formed an
entrenched camp before the city, and fortified it with ninety-five
naval guns manned by seamen from Cherbourg. Behind this
defense he believed his army might hold its ground under any
circumstances, while drawing reserves and supplies from the
country behind the Loire.
But while he was making these preparations for defense, as
early as the middle of November, General von Yoight Rhetz,
commander of the Tenth German Corps, part of the army of
Prince Friedrich Karl, had arrived atTonnere with 20,000 men ;
and the Duke of Mecklenburg, with the right wing of the Ger¬
man army on the Loire, no longer regarding the French general,
marched westward, occupied Dreux after a short engagement,
marched across the Department of the Eure et Loire, and then
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
37P
through the Orne and the Sarthe as far as Bellême. Not with
standing the weakened condition of General von der Tann, whc
remained behind, General d'Aurelles still remained in his posi
tion before Orleans, instead of striking at him before the Ger
man reënforcements could come up.
The Duke of Mecklenburg, in his march westward, had only
encountered a feeble resistance from small bodies of ill-organized
•troops raised in the west. When, at last, toward the end of No¬
vember, General d'Aurelles was ready to move, his army of the
Loire formed a semi-circle around Orleans from the Forest of
Oercottes, which it occupied, to the environs of Meung. His
extreme left, the Seventeenth Corps, under command of General
de Sonis, was at first stationed at Chateaudun, an advanced and
dangerous position, so far from the remainder of the army that it
was in danger of being cut off. This position it was found
necessary to abandon, and draw his lines closer to Orleans. The
Sixteenth Corps, under command of General de Chanzy, lay
next, on the left ; the centre, with the headquarters, was occu¬
pied by the Fifteenth Corps, under General Martin de Pallieres ;
on the right lay the Twentieth Corps, commanded by General
Crouzat, who had been summoned in great haste from Chagny.
The extreme right was formed by the Eighteenth Corps, which
at first was stationed at Gien, but took up a position at the
extremity of the Forest, and in front of Montargis. The Ger¬
man right was commanded by the Duke of Mecklenburg, the
centre by General von der Tann, and the left by Prince Fried-
rich Karl, who, when he arrived on the field of battle, ranked
both the other commanders. The plans for the whole move¬
ment, it is hardly necessary to say, had been projected by jthat
consummate strategist, General von Moltke.
On the 28th of November, General d'Aurelles attacked the
Tenth Prussian Army Corps and First Cavalry Division, form¬
ing the extreme left wing of the German Army, at Beaune de
380
THE GREAT WAR
Rolande, and had very nearly overthrown them, when the arri
val of Prince Friedrich Karl, who took command in person
changed the fortunes of the day. Beaune de Rolande is twenty
seven miles northeast of Orleans and sixteen miles northwest of
Montargis. The French loss in this engagement, in killed,
wounded; and prisoners, was not far from 7,000. General d'Au-
relles was slightly wounded. The German loss did not exceed
1,000 men. The object of General d'Aurelles in giving, battle
at tllis point, so far from Orleans, was undoubtedly to furnish
moral aid, and, if possible^ substantial assistance, to the sortie
which, under General Trochu's direction, General Ducrot was
then making from Paris. Beaune de Rolande is only about
twenty-two miles, or one good day's march, from Fontainebleau,
which was to be the point of junction ; and if the commander
of the Army of the Loire could succeed in breaking through
Prince Friedrich Karl's lines, and Ducrot could force his way
through the ranks of the besiegers of Paris, there would be some
hope of raising the siege of the capital. It was unfortunate for
General d'Aurelles that he could succeed in bringing Only a part
of his force into action at Beaune de Rolande—only the Twen¬
tieth Corps being in full force, and some brigades or divisions
from the Fifteenth and Sixteenth. The result, though not
regarded as a serious defeat at the time, proved a very serious
disaster subsequently in its effect. Ducrot's sortie, unsupported
by this diversion, proved, as we shall presently see, a failure,
and with its want of success perished the last well-grounded hope
of raising the siege of Paris. Moreover, the planting of the
German force across the only available route to Fontainebleau
bloejced all movements in that direction, and rendered all efforts
to reach the weakest point in the besiegers' line unsuccessful.
On the" 1st of December, undaunted by liis repulse of the 23th
of November, General d'Aurelles suddenly and vehemently
attacked the German centre, under General von der Tann, while
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
383
he was reconnoitring on the old road to Chartres, and drove him
in a northwesterly direction past Lorgny. The four days which
followed were days of severe and heavy fighting, though at nc
time, except perhaps on the 4th of December, were the greatcs
part of the forces of either army engaged. On the 2d, General
de Chanzy, who was in command of the corps making this move¬
ment, continued his advance as far as Orgeres and Bargneux ;
but in the afternoon of that day the Duke of Mecklenburg re-
enforced von der Tann, and drove de Chanzy back as far as
Artenay, and a part of his force still farther, to Poupry. Gen¬
eral d'Aurelles now found that the time for offensive action had
passed, and that he must mass his troops for the defense ol
Orleans, which Prince Friedrich Karl was evidently bent on
recapturing. He had, unwisely, made his lines too extensive ;
and now, so rapid were the Prince's movements, that his Eigh¬
teenth and Twentieth Army Corps, which were stationed at and
near Montargis, could not be brought up for the defense of the
city. Prince Friedrich Karl sent his Ninth German Corps to
Toury Bazoches, his Third to Pithiviers, and his Fifteenth, with
three brigades additional, to Boyne ; thus interposing a force of
more than three corps between the two outlying corps of d'Au¬
relles and the other three corps on which he" was obliged to rely
for the defense of Orleans., The Ninth German Corps, which
the Prince joined on the morning of the 3d of December, was
the centre, and marched on the road from Paris to Orleans ; the
Third Corps formed the left, and moved on the road from Fon¬
tainebleau to Orleans ; and the Fifteenth, with the Duke of
Mecklenburg's divison and the Tenth Army Corps, occupied the
Chartres and other roads. The Eighteenth Division (the Duke
of Mecklenburg's) advanced to Artenay, which the French had
already evacuated, and at Moulin d'Anvilliers, a few miles far¬
ther on, overtook the French troops, and defeated, them aftei
some severe fighting, and continued their advance to Chevilly.
884
THE GREAT WAR
which, though the key to the -wood of Orleans, fell into then
hands without farther fighting. On the evening of the day, the
Third German Côrps, after taking Sancerre, which was strongly
fortified, and Chillers-aux-Bois, had advanced as far as Toury.
The Ninth Corps had only reached Crottes and Aschires, as
Château St. Germ ai n-1 e-G rand had !been Strongly fortified. The
Tenth Corps had taken Neuvelle-aux-Bois and driven the French
back into the wood. On the 4th of December the attack was
renewed. The Ninth Corps advanced, and was met by a sharp
fire from the wood. General von Blumenthal took Cercottes
after some very severe fighting. In the mean time, the 36th
Brigade advanced about four miles beyond St. Live, where the
way had been strongly barricaded. On the right wing, the
Grand Duke had gradually driven the French backward toward
Orleans ; and on the left, the Third Corps had reached St. Loup
with but little fighting. In the evening the German troops
occupied the north, west, and east of Orleans. The road to the
south alone remained open to the French, and by this thej
effected their retreat on the night of the 4th of December, the
Germans reôccupying the city. In this series of battles the
French lost nearly 20,000 in killed and wounded, and 14,000
prisoners taken at Orleans, *T7 guns, a great number of military
equipages, and four armed steamboats. A still more serious dis¬
aster was, that the Army of the Loire was eut in two, the Eigh¬
teenth and Twentieth French Corps being compelled to cross the
Loire and go south toward Bourges ; while the three Army
Corps, which were immediately before Orleans, fled at first to
Blois, and subsequently, fighting desperately, made their way
toward Le Mans. On their way to Blois they were overtaken
by the Germans between Meung and Beaugency ; and from the
7th to the 12th of December, after severe fighting, were com¬
pelled to retreat, losing 2,000 prisoners and six guns, besides a
large number of killed and wounded. The other half of the
UHLANS TRACKING- A BALLOON.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 3^7
French array, in their retreat toward Bourges, were pursued in
the same way and with similar results. This series of disasters
led the officers of the Provisional Government at Tours to deter¬
mine to remove the capital to Bordeaux ; but Minister Gambetta
endeavored to conceal this violent disruption of his best army,
by promptly issuing an order creating two armies of it, one
under Bourbaki, former commander of the Imperial Guard, and
the other under General Chanzy. General d'Aurelles was re¬
moved from command. This defeat was commented upon as
" a blessing in disguise " by Paris papers, one of which, deter¬
mined to see only the bright side of things, èxultingly declared,
"We have now two great armies where was only one before."
Gambetta made the further great mistake of sending the escaped
forces under Bourbaki on an ill-considered expedition against
von Werder in the Yosges, instead of concentrating it upon
Chanzy in the west.
We turn now from this disaster at Orleans, to give some
account of the sortie led by Ducrot, to which we have already
referred. This was by far the most important attempt made by
the besieged garrison of Paris to break through the lines of the
besiegers, and, though it failed to accomplish its object, partly
from the contemporaneous failure of General d'Aurelles, already
noticed, and partly from the extraordinary facilities possessed by
the Germans for concentrating their forces on a given point, yet
it was stubborn enough, and inflicted sufficiently heavy losses
upon the German army to demonstrate what French troops,
properly trained and skilfully led, would be capable of accom¬
plishing.
The sortie, which had been long in contemplation by General
Trochu, had for its objective the district lying on the bends of
the Marne, east-southeast of Paris, beyond Yincennes. There
were also feints made against the lines of the besiegers, on the
south and west, to divert attention from the true point of attack
3S8
THE GREAT WAR
The leasons for selecting this point were sound. Much oi
the tract could be rendered untenable for German troops by the
fire from forts De Nogent and De Charenton, which swept a con¬
siderable portion of the two peninsulas formed by the double
bend of the Marne ; the investing line was weakest at this point,
being held by Saxon and Wurteinburg troops—excellent sol¬
diers, but decimated by their previous terrible fighting around
Metz ; they had Yinccnnes for a base of operations, and held
already some of the small villages adjacent; and, finally, this
was in a direct line toward Fontainebleau, the proposed rendez¬
vous witli* the Army of the Loire. General Ducrot, who com¬
manded this expedition, was one of the old officers of Napoleon
III, who had been taken prisoner at Sedan, but, as he declared,
did not accept a parole, and subsequently, in consequence of the
carelessness of the guard, made his escape. He possessed con¬
siderable military ability and skill, and was regarded by General
Trochu as his most trusty lieutenant. The force put under his
command consisted of about 150,000 selected troops, a part of
them belonging to the Garde Mobile, but all very carefully
drilled. General Trochu was on the field in person, though
devolving the command of the sortie entirely on General Du¬
crot. On the 29tli of November General Vinoy led a moderate
force toward L'Hay and Choisy-le-Roi, on the south of Paris ;
but this was merely as a feint. On the same day Generals Tro¬
chu and Ducrot addressed the army in the most energetic lan¬
guage, on the greatness of the issue of the intended operations,
and the duty of shrinking from no sacrifice for the country.
In the night of November 29th-30th, General Ducrot issued
from the Forest of Yinccnnes, crossed the Marne at several
points with a force of about 120,000 men, and fought obstinately
throughout the day (November 30th), to break through the lines
held by the "Wurtemburgers and Saxons. He succeeded in
advancing a considerable distance, but, when night fell, had
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
389
been compelled to fall back to Brie and Champigny, on the
river, where, however, he remained. By a reference to our map
of Paris and its vicinity, the reader will observe that the Mar no
runs nearly due west from Oournay for some distance, then
makes a sweep south ; on the eastern bank of this sweep stands
the village of Brie, and then the river forms a couple of loops,
within the most northerly of which are the villages cf St. Maur
and Champigny, and, some distance to. the east of the wide neck
of the loop, the larger village of-YiUiers-sur-Marne. It was in
and around the three villages of Brie, Champigny, and Villiers,
that the bloody drama of November 30th was enacted. Brie
and Champigny, at nightfall, remained in the hands of the
French, and Yilliers was as stoutly held by the Saxons. On the
next day there was no fighting, but hostilities were resumed on
the 2d of December.
We have the following brief reports of the events of the
sortie, from the pen of General Trochu :
" Chateau between Brie-suh-Marne and Champigny, )
November 30, 3 o'clock. )
" The right wing has maintained the brilliantly-taken posi¬
tions. The Mobile Guard, after wavering somewhat, has carried
itself bravely, and the enemy, whose losses are serious, was
forced to withdraw himself .behind the ridge of the hills. The
situation is good. The artillery under General Frebault has
fought excellently. If it had been said, a month ago, that an
army would form in Paris capable of crossing a difficult stream
in the face of an enemy, and of driving before it the Prussian
army intrenched on the hills, no one would have believed it.
General Ducrot has behaved wonderfully, and I cannot honor
him here too much. Susbiele's division, which, outside of and
an the tight wing of the general engagement, had with groat
courage taken the position of Montmesly, was not able to main¬
tain itself there against superior forces, and has returned to Cre-
390
THE GREAT WAR
teil, but its diversion was very useful. I pass the night at the
scene of the battle, which will be continued to-morrow.
" General Tbochu.
" Rosnt, 7.42 p.m.
" The end of the d$y has been good. A division of General
d'Exea passed the Marne and resumed the offensive ; we remain
in the positions. The enemy has left us two cannon, and left hia
wounded and dead on the field.
" [These two guns were taken at Epinay, east of St. Denis.]
" December 1.
" Our troops remain this morning in the positions which they
took yesterday and occupied during the night. They remove
the wounded left by the enemy on the battle-field, and bury hia
dead. The transport of our wounded is completed with the
greatest regularity. The army is full of courage and determina¬
tion.
" Plateau between Champignt and Villiebs, )
December 2, 1.46 noon. J
" Attacked this morning at daybreak by enormous forces.
We have been more than seven hours in battle. At the moment
of writing to you, the enemy gives way over the whole line, and
surrenders to us again the heights. As I hastened through our
tirailleurs from Champigny to Brie, I have received the honor
and the inexpressible joy of the troops exposed to the heaviest
fire. There will be, without doubt, offensive counter attacks,
and this second battle will, like the first, last a whole day. I do
not know what future awaits these proud efforts of the republi¬
can troops, but I grant them this acknowledgment, that, under
tests of every kind, they have made themselves well worthy of
recognition by the fatherland. 1 add to this, that to General
Ducrot the honor of these two days is due.
" General Tkochu.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 39}
" Paris, Nogent, 5.30 p. m.
" I return to my quarters in the fort very tire<^ and very con¬
tented. This second great battle is much more decisive than the
previous one. The enemy attacked us at the hour of reveille
with reserves and fresh troops. We could oppose to him only
the combatants of the second day before, fatigued, with incom¬
plete supplies, and stiffened by the winter nights, which they
had passed without covers, since, in order to lighten us, we had
been obliged to leave them behind in Paris. But the astonish¬
ing courage of the troops has replaced all. We fought three
hours in order to retain our positions, and five hours to take
those of the enemy, in which we remain. That is th% balance
of this hard and splendid day. Many will not see their hearths
again ; but these lamented dead have won for the young repub¬
lic of the year 1870 a glorious page in the military history of
the fatherland. General Trochu."
On the 3d of December the French forces recrossed the
Marne, destroying the bridges, and concentrated themselves in
the Forest of Yincennes, ostensibly to follow ont their opera¬
tions, in reality because their effort to break the German lines
had proved a failure. They had taken about four hundred pris¬
oners. The next day they returned to the fortifications. Their
losses were officially stated as 1,008 killed and 5,022 wounded,
prisoners and missing not given.
It must be confessed that this narrative of the three days'
fighting by General Trochu is sufficiently vague. Fortunately,
we have the means of knowing more fully the incidents of the
three days' battle, though the narrative is from a neutral (the
correspondent of the London Daily News) in the German
camps :
" The whole Saxon forces (says this correspondent) engaged
in the recent operations numbered but 10,000 men. They occu-
m
THE GREAT WAR
pied positions at Noisy-le-Grand, Champs, Cournay, Yilliera,
and in their vicinity was a division of Wurtemhurgers, com¬
manded by General von Obernetz, a Prussian officer. The
Wurtemburgers occupied positions at Ormesson, Chennevières,
and Noiseau, and in their vicinity was a brigade of the Second
Corps. This force was made up of contributions from various
other portions of the same corps, and was commanded by Gen¬
eral von Fransecky, who had nominal direction of all the opera¬
tions, supervised, however, as regarded the Saxons, by Prince
George in person, whose heedlessness of danger must have sorely
tried the nerves of his staff.
" A contingent force supported the "Wurtemburgers ; the
Saxons had no backing but their own valor. In all, the Ger¬
man troops engaged and immediately supporting amounted to
22,000 men. This force, it seems, had been detailed for an offen¬
sive movement, and the programme was. greatly complicated by
the unexpected counter-offensive movement of the French pro¬
jected against Yilliers, and with hopes of ultimately breaking
through the cordon surrounding them. It thus happened that,
as the Germans were pressing in to drive the French out of Brie
and Champigny, the French were simultaneously pouring out to
take Yilliers.
" On the road that passes through Noisy, the south bank of
the Marne is low, with a gradual rise, furrowed by inconsider¬
able rectangular depressions. As one reaches Noisy and looks
southward, he sees toward Brie, and athwart the thick part of
the loop of the Marne, a broad, flat space, offering a favorable
scope for military evolutions. From this plain toward Yilliers
there rises gradually a low but shaggy elevation, covered chiefly
with copse-woods and vineyards. This elevation is not continu¬
ous to Yilliers. There are occasional depressions, debouchments
of which cause the trivial hollows that occur on the road tc
Nosy The general tendency is, nevertheless, upward, so that
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
393
the table-land at the back of which Yillietfs lies is higher than
any ground between it and the plain. The ridge, therefore,
though hampered by hedges and brushwood, would form no bad
position for resistance to a force which, having deployed on the
plain, should attempt to carry it, if it were not swept by the
direct fire from Fort Nogent at easy range, and enfiladed at
longer range, but still effectively, by batteries on Mont Avron.
" When I crossed the river, at 9 o'clock, Noisy was an eligi
ble point from which to observe operations. Shells from Mont
Avron were coming very thick ; now there was a shower of
slates as a shell crashed through a roof, lifting the solid rafters as
if they were laths; now half the side of a house went down
bodily as some huge projectile struck and crushed it. Brie
divided with Noisy the attentions of the French batteries, and
Brie is more open to attack. The 107th Regiment had made a,
dash into Brie out of Rosny early in the morning, and I won¬
dered much how it had fared with them—hard enough, no doubt
—but could they hold the place under such ding-dong pelting R
By 10 o'clock the question was resolved. First came a drove of
French prisoners, red-breeched regulars, up toward Noisy, along
the slight shelter afforded by the road ; then Saxon soldiers and
more prisoners ; and, finally, the bulk of the 107th, in very open
order, making the most of the few opportunities for cover. It
was not a pleasant way to traverse. Forts fired heavily on cap¬
tors and captured alike. More than one Frenchman was slain
by missiles from French weapons.
" As the struggling columns eatne up, I learned that the
107th, in a rapid rush in the morning, had surprised the occu¬
pants of Brie, some asleep, others drinking coffee. There was a
trifling resistance. Nearly 500 prisoners were taken, including
eight officers. The reason for relinquishing Brie was, that the
terrible, persistent fire from the forts rendered it utterly un-
ter able.
394
THE GREAT WAR
" The prisoners looked like sturdy fellows, anything but ill-
fed. One of them bade me good morning, and told me cheerily
that, if any one indulged in the anticipation of the speedy capit¬
ulation of Paris, he was extremely out in his reckoning. Food
was plentiful, he said, with a laugh, and the programme was
'sorties every day, in every direction.' The prisoners were
escorted back to Ohelles, where, later in the day, I saw them
penned in the yard of the town-hall.
" As the Prussians from Brie finished filing through Noisy,
an ominous sight met my eye in another direction as I peered
through a loophole I had contrived there. On the gradual slope
of the further bank of the Marne, under the wing of Fort
Nogent, and extending right and left along the Chaumont rail¬
way, were dense columns of French infantry. How they came
there, I know not. It was as if the spectacle had sprung up by
magic. Now they stood fast, closing up as the fronts Of battal¬
ions halted. Then there was a slow movement forward, as the
head of the column dipped out of sight between the village of
Nogent and the river. Then there seemed to be a final halt.
The dense masses stood, their bayonets glittering in the snn, as
if the men had come out for a spectacle.
"But little by little there was a gradual trickling off down
to the bight of the river between Nogent and Brie. There was
a railway-bridge (the Chaumont Railway)—a lofty viaduct—-but
a gap in one arch had rendered it useless. Presently, on the
plain to the south of Brie, a knot of red-breeches became visible,
that grew denser and denser every moment. Simultaneously,
the whole sprang into life. From the farm-buildings about Le
Tremblay, from St. Maur and Joinville, there poured out vast
bodies of French troops, deploying at double-quick. The line
seemed to extend right athwart the neck of the loop of the river.
"At Champigny, I am informed that Wurtemburgers, after
desperate fighting, had driven the French out not long after 8
RUINS OF THE BURNT PALACE OF ST. CLOUD, NEAE PARIS, FIRED BÏ"
FRENCH SHELLS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
397
o'clock, to be in turn subjected to violent attack ana pai tia. ex
pulsion. The sharpshooters dashed into the thicket lining the
foot of the rising ground, and scrambled through. The troops
oehind them followed—a serried column. Whence had thev
•/
come? They had crossed during the night and occupied the
loop. Their bridges must have been between Joinville and
Nogent ; and the nullification of Brie enabled the utilization at
a later hour of a bridge between Brie and the railway viaduct.
"The Bois de Grace, lying in front (south) of Champs,
afforded favorable cover for a detour into the rear of Yilliers,
whicli evidently was the point for which the French advance
was intended. Their force—I refer exclusively to that section
of it that threatened Yilliers—must have been at least 20,000.
Bow large was the force with which the Wurtemburgers had to
deal toward Champigny, I had no means of ascertaining. In
those dense columns standing in support under Nogent, there
could not have been less than 20,000. There were 20,000 of the
left advance, with whom 10,000 Saxons had to cope—not with
them alone, but with those terrible projectiles, a storm of which
incessantly clashed into the upper ground where Yilliers stands,
and into the glades behind.
" The French skirmishers were thrown out with as much
regularity as if the day's work had been but a peaceful parade.
The forces were deployed with surprising rapidity and apparent
discipline ; but there appeared considerable looseness in their
formation ; a total want' of intervals, and, indeed, in places an
overlapping of battalions. Had there been nothing else for the
Saxons to do but to repulse an assault on Yilliers directed solely
against it, the task would have been comparatively simple, and
not very sanguinary, notwithstanding the artillery-fire by the
French. But the advance, threatening, as it did, in the evolu¬
tion by which it was deployed, to sweep right on, overlapping
Villi era up the space between that place and Noisy, and so U
THE GREAT WAR
get through upon Champs, called for other tactics. V.lliera
could only serve as a position on which to lean the Saxon left ;
it became necessary to meet the French in the open space.
" From behind Villiers several (German) regiments came out
to the rightof the brow of the hill under the 6hell-lire. As the
French came up the gentle acclivity, the guns of the forts con¬
tinued playing without interruption. So narrow was the margin
between the combatants, that I question much whether a shell or
two did not fall in the French ranks. I stood by the 108th
Regiment as it quitted a position in which it had found some
shelter. Two lieutenants gayly shook hands with a hussar aid-
de-carnp who had just rode up with an order, as they passed him
to go out into the battle. On went the regiment in dense col¬
umns of companies, shells now crashing into the ranks, now
exploding in the intervals.
" The line was formed, rear files closing up at the double-
quick, and, in a twinkling, less than fifty yards separated the
combatants. Then came a volley, then sharp firing by file, and
the French broke and gave ground, only to get back to the next
dip of the ground, to let the guns of the fort go to work again.
The Saxons had to find what cover they might. When the regi¬
ments came back—they had not been gone twenty minutes—
thirty-five officers out of the forty-five had gone down. Neither
of the blithe lieutenants were to the fore. Now there came a
lull in the musketry-fire, as a few moments before there had been
a lull in the cannon. The Saxons could not get their artillery
into action with advantage. The ground itself was unfavorable,
while the fire from the forts must have speedily silenced their
field-guns ; therefore this great advantage was lost to them.
" All this took place before noon. After a little time the
artillery-fire from the forts slackened considerably. The French
infantry made no demonstration. On the German left, however,
about Champigny, it was evident that hard fighting was going
BETWEEN FRANCE AN J GERMANY.
399
on. About 1 o'clock the French made another advance, having
received considerable reënforcements. The Saxon infantry con
fronted them with the old result, but a different policy was this
time adopted. It was plain that the only escape from the thun¬
derbolts of the forts lay in getting at close quarters with the
French infantry, unless, indeed, a retrograde movement was to
be made—and that was not to be thought of. So, when the
French fell back, the Saxons followed on, as if they would settle
the question with the bayonet's point. It was the old cry,
" Vorwarts, immer vorwarts ! " but the vorwarts was very slow.
" What happened in the next hour, I could only guess by the
constant crackling of small-arms. The forts confined themselves.,
apparently for the chief part, to firing into and over Champigny
and Villiers. At length the French were slowly and stubbornly
falling back across the north side of the neck of land, the Sax¬
ons pushing them hard, the French ever and anon rallying. On
this position of the plain, south of Brie, there was a prolonged
struggle. The Saxons were striving to get at and cut the pon¬
toon-bridge; but this became an impossibility when Fort Nogent
went to work again with the frightful accuracy of which the
short range admitted. The combatants parted about 3 o'clock,
both sides falling back. The fire of the fort continued some
little time longer.
" What shall I say of the result ? Not much have the Sax¬
ons gained. Was there much to gain? The Wurtemburgers
hold one end of Champigny. Brie stands empty and desolate ;
there were French in it this morning ; later, there were Saxons
That is all. But look at the bloody side of the picture. The
number dead I cannot ascertain, but the German wounded were
over 1,000. The French, if they lost fewer killed and wounded,
lost 1,000 prisoners. Had it been possible for the Saxons to
hold Brie, the French advance would have been impossible ; its
flanking fire would have prohibited breasting the slope toward
400
THK GREAT WAR
VillierSi The French had a mitrailleuse somewhere in the plain
At any rate, the day's work was the final failure of the French
hopes. The German line stood everywhere unbroken. Paris
was no more free than before."
In an order of the day announcing the termination of the sor¬
tie, General Ducrot. said, that " if he had persevered in his plan
after the resistance he had encountered, he should only have
courted disasters, and imperilled the cause of the defense." This
was the last important sortie made before the capitulation of
Paris.
PICKET POSTS. WITH SHELL-PROOF EARTHWORKS. BEFORE PARTS
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
CHAPTER XII.
THE French armies had been defeated at Orleans, at Amiens,
and before Paris. Aside from the temporary success of Gen¬
eral d'Aurelles de Paladines at Orleans in November, and a few
'rilling engagements between small bodies of men on either side,
they had been uniformly unsuccessful throughout the war; but
though there was cause for grave apprehension, there was, even
yet, none for discouragement. Numerically, notwithstanding
the three hundred and fifty thousand or more French troops who
were prisoners in Germany, the French armies outnumbered the
Germans on French soil. They were, indeed, for the most part,
raw recruits, innocent of any knowledge of the use of fire-arms,
or of any military training or drill, and so not a match for the
veteran troops of the German Emperor ; but they were fast
learning, and they were fighting for their homes and their coun¬
try. They were badly officered ; their generals and their subor¬
dinate officers knew little or nothing of the topography of the
country where they were fighting, and there was no master-mind
to plan engagements and combine the forces for victory, as von
Moltke did for the Germans. Gambetta, who really possessed
considerable organizing power, was young, impetuous, hasty in
action, and seldom well-informed in regard to the localities
where the German troops were, and hence made grievous blun¬
ders. His judgment of men was defective, and he repeatedly
proclaimed that he had found the men who could organize vic¬
tory, and, within five or six weeks, denounced the same men
THE GREAT WAR
as traitors to France. His notorious exaggerations of trifling
actions, or even serious defeats, as great victories, eventually led
the people to distrust his statements. Troehu, more calm and
frank in his character, seemed to lack heart in the enterprises he
undertook, and, though promising constantly to make sorties or
to concentrate his forces against the enemies of France, always
found reasons for delay.
We should not judge these men too hardly. Their circum¬
stances were peculiarly trying, and in these great emergencies
they doubtless felt that they were unequal to the occasion. Yet
there was but little more of zeal, energy, skill, and faith needed
to have given them the victory on several occasions. Orleans
was lost unnecessarily, by the too great expansion of the French
lines. Had General d'Aurelles had his men well in hand, and
manning strongly their crescent-shaped lines in front of that city,
Prince Friedrich Karl, skilful general as he was, must have re¬
coiled from a fight in which the odds would have been so great.
Still nearer to a victory did the French come under Troehu
.and Ducrot, in the sortie of November 30th to December 3d,
which was described in the last chapter. If, instead of with¬
drawing across the Marne, and giving up the fight on the 3d of
December, Troehu had flung his reserves against the Saxons that
day, with that elan which used to be the characteristic of French
troops, he would have broken their line, and, as the Crown-
Prince of Saxony frankly admitted, have compelled the Ger
mans to raise the siege, for the time at least.
But it was the misfortune of the French armies throughout
the war to have leaders who were not thoroughly in earnest in
their efforts for the preservation of the nation. So it happened
that while, on the 12th of December, with suitable leaders, the
cause of France would not have been wholly desperate, yet the
measures which were taken before that time had rendered.he
overthrow of the nation, under its leaders, inevitable.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT
405
Apparently unaware that his only hope of success lay in con¬
centrating his armies and hurling them against the weak points
of that mighty cordon which surrounded Paris, and encouraging
the Parisian garrison to cooperate with them by well-planned sor
ties, Gaihbetta sought rather to scatter his troops as widely as pos¬
sible over France ; thinking, perhaps, that it would be more diffi¬
cult for the Germans to capture them. Thus, when Prince Fried-
rich Karl had cut his Army of the Loire in two, and Bourbaki,
with his half, had gone southward to Bourges, and de Chanzy,
with his Corps d'Armée, west-northwest to Blois, Vendôme, and
Le Mans, instead of bringing Bourbaki westward to Tours, where
he might have been within supporting distance of de Chanzy,
Gambetta sent him almost two hundred miles to the eastward, to
attack General von Werder, in the vicinity of the Swiss frontier.
Garibaldi, with 30,000 men, was kept in the vicinity of Dijon—
nearly as far distant, and in the same direction ; while Genera)
Faidherbe, with two corps, was in the extreme north of France,
and General Laysel, with 30,000 more, in the vicinity of Havre
Some of these troops were indeed prevented from concentration
by the interposition of moderate forces of German troops be
tween them and Orleans ; but, in most instances, a resolute will
would have found a way of pushing through. The camps of
instruction were said to contain 250,000 men—not well trained,
it is true, but still capable of being of some service.
Yet, from the 12th of December, the outlook constantly grew
darker and darker to the final surrender ; while, with an infatua¬
tion which would have been ludicrous had not its consequences
been so sad, Gambetta sent a despatch to Trochu, on the 14th of
December, as follows :
t
" For four days I have been in Bourges with Bourbaki,
busied in reorganizing the three corps, namely, the Fifteenth,
Eighteenth, and Twentieth, of the First Army of the Loire,
THE GREAT WAR
which, in consequence of forced marches in the most terrible
rain, had been thrown into very bad condition. This work
requires still four or five days. The positions occupied by Bour
baki cover at the same time Nevers and Bourges ; the other pari
of the Loire Army retreated, after the evacuation of Orleans,
toward Beaugency and Marchenoir, in which positions it has
resisted all the efforts of Friedrich Karl—thanks to the uncon¬
querable energy of General de Chanzy, who appears to be the real
warrior whom recent events have brought out. That army^ con¬
sisting of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Twenty-first Corps,
and, according to General Trochu's arrangements, supported by
all the powers of the west, has accomplished a wonderful retreat,
and inflicted the severest losses upon the Prussians. De Chanzy
withdrew himself from a great flank march of Friedrich Karl on
the left bank of the Loire. Friedrich Karl attempted in vain to
cross the Loire at Amboise and Blois, and to threaten Tours. De
Chanzy is to-day in the most perfect security in La Perche, ready
to take the offensive in the direction of as soon as his
troops have rested ; the latter have fought steadily and in the
most extraordinary manner, against superior forces of the
enemy, since November 30th and up to December 12th. You
see that the Army of the Loire is far removed from being de¬
stroyed, as the Prussian falsehoods have given out. It is divided
into two armies of equal strength, which are ready to take the
field. Faidherbe in the north is said to have taken La Fère,
with much munition, artillery, and provision. But we are very
uneasy as to your fate. For nearly eight days we have no news
from you, either direct or through the Prussians, or from other
nations. The cable to England is interrupted. What is hap¬
pening ? Believe us from our anxiety, and improve the oppor¬
tunity offered by the southwest wind to send off a balloon,
which will then probably fall in Belgium.
» The withdrawal of the Prussians becomes more and more
THE TURCO PRISONER IN GERMANY.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 4.(19
noticeable. They appear to be tired of the wai If we can
keep on—and we can, if we really will it—we will triumph over
them. According to trustworthy accounts which have reached
me, they have already suffered immense losses. They supply
themselves only with the greatest difficulty. But we must give
ourselves to the greatest sacrifices, not lament much, and fight to
the death. In the interior reigns everywhere the most astonish¬
ing order. The Government of the National Defense is every¬
where respected, and finds obedience everywhere."
At this very time Prince Friedrich Karl was watching every
movement of de Chanzy, much as a cat watches a mouse which
she has already captured, but which she permits to run within
certain narrow limits. Blois had already fallen, and "Vendôme
was entered two days later ; Montmedy had capitulated, and
Amiens was tottering to its fall. The German forces on French
soil were officially stated at 728,000, of whom more than 510,000
were effective, and the calling out of 124 battalions—equal to 62
regiments more of the Landwehr Reserves—did not strongly
indicate that the Germans were withdrawing, or that they were
very weary of the war. On the 20th of December, the German
column on the right bank of the Loire pursued de Chanzy's army
in the direction of Le Mans ; while that on the left bank ad¬
vanced toward Tours, finding 6,000 French wounded, abandoned
without medical attendance, on the road. The next day (21st of
December) an official despatch from Versailles announced :
" The Nineteenth Division reached the bridge before Tours
to-day, found opposition by the inhabitants, and therefore threw
thirty shells into the city. White flags were then raised, and
the city begged for occupation by the Prussians. The division
contented itself, however, in accordance with its instructions,
with destroying the railroad, and withdrew to its appointed can¬
tonments."
410
THE GREAT WAR
By a reference to our map of France, it will be seen thai
de Chanzy's army, instead of approaching toward Paris, and so
being ready to second any further sorties, was being pressed
gradually away from it toward the southwest. This pressure
became still stronger a week or two later, a portion of Prince
Friedrich Karl's army being thrown between it and the outei
line of the besiegers at Nogent le Rotron and Chartres. The
approach of French armies toward Paris from other points was
guarded against with equal care. General Faidherbe, who had,
at the head of .a considerable force (60,000 or 70,000 troops),
approached as near to Paris as the vicinity of Rouen (about
ninety miles), when General Manteuffel, who had been detached
from the army of Prince Friedrich Karl, commenced driving
him northward and northwestward, causing him to retreat
through Rouen, Beauconnet, Montigny, Frechencourt, Querrieux,
Pont Noyelles, Brissy, Becquemont, Daours, l'Haller, and on the
23d of December, after a severe action at the last-named point,
the German forces occupied Amiens, taking 1,000 prisoners, and,
on the 25th, pnshed on after Faidherbe toward Arras.
On the 21st and 22d of December the French garrison in
Paris again made sorties against the position of the Saxon Corps,
somewhat north of their previous battle-ground ; but their attack
was not steadily maintained by a strong force, and more than
1,000 of their troops were taken prisoners. In order to divert
attention from their movements, they made two feints at the
same time from Mont Valerien, on the west of Paris, toward
Buzenval and Montretout, and on the north, from St. Denis,
toward Pierrefitte and Stains. General Ducrot commanded the
-column operating against the Prussian Guards, whose position
was northeast and north-northeast of Paris ; and Generals Mal-
roy and Blaise commanded the right wing in the attack upon the
Saxon Corps. All told, 100 battalions were in line. The French
occupied 'he villages Courneuve, Bobigny, and Bondy, 2,000 to
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
411
3,00C paces in advance of the forts, with their advanced posts :
Drain-y, 2,000 paces further, being occupied only at night, as the
German line was but J},000 paces distant. The Prussian outpost
line extended from Pierrefitte through Stains and Le Bourget,
about 4,000 paces from the line of forts. The main body of the
Guards was posted 3,000 paces to the rear* in the line Garges,
Dugny, Pont Iblon, Le Blanc Mesnil, Aulnay, and Sevran on
the Ourcq canal, and the railroad to Soissons. Here began the
Saxon (Twelfth) Corps, whose line extended to the Marne.
Many points of this principal line were within range of the forts.
French troops marched out of St. Denis December 20th, proceed¬
ing toward Aubervilliers, while three brigades threatened the
left of the Guards, in front of Bobigny. Le Bourget was first
attached at 7 o'clock in the morning. Strong detachments
moved from Courneuve toward Dngny, leading the Germans to
think that the attack would be on the south and west ; but, sud¬
denly changing their direction, the French attacked at the north¬
ern gate, which, with the churchyard, was taken, and 125 men
captured. The attack on the south gate failed, and, reënforce-
ments being sent, the Germans succeeded in driving out the
French after a hot fight from house to house. In storming the
churchyard, the last point held by the French, the Germans took
359 prisoners. According to the reports of the latter, the rela-
'tive strength of the contestants was—Germans, 2,000; French,
6,000. At Stains, on the right wing of the Prussian corps, a
severe attack was repulsed without a single house of the town
falling into French hands.
Elsewhere the operations of the day were begun by a tremen¬
dous fire from the forts along the whole front, and missiles of the"
heaviest calibre were thrown a distance of 8,000 paces ; but the
excessive range so interfered with the aim, that very little injury
was done. Protected by the fire from the forts, the French artil¬
lery opened with two batteries before Courneuve, ten field and
412
THE GREAT WAR
three mitrailleur batteries uorth and northeast of Drancy, neai
Groslay Ferine, sweeping the whole field as far as Dugny, Pont
Iblon, Le Blanc Mesnil, Aulnay, and Sevran. This fire was
returned by the batteries of the Second Division of Guards froin
positions between Le Blanc Mesnil and Aulnay. At noon, two
of these batteries crossed the river at Pont Iblon and took posi¬
tion 2,000 paces from the French, and, being followed by two
more, showed themselves superior to the French ; the two bat¬
teries on the French right wing were silenced after two hours'
lively work, and the fire of the others was weakened. Two
other German batteries advanced, the fire of which completed
the work. The French batteries gradually became silent, the
infantry retired, and the sortie was repulsed. The losses of the
Prussians were 14 officers and 400 men. The strength of the
columns operating against them was estimated at 40,000, but
Only the regular troops were really in action at Le Bonrget and
Stains. The Mobiles and National Guards were l-etained at such
great distance, that the reserves on the German side were not
deployed.
The Twelfth, or Saxon Corps, stretching from Sevran to the
Marne, had no fighting of importance until noon, when la French
division advanced from Nenilly and passed the advanced posts
in Maison Blanche and Ville Evrart. A freshet in the river pre¬
vented an attack upon the position at Clielles, and the Wurtem-
burg artillery was able to bring a flank fire to bear on the
French. At five o'clock the German commander ordered the
retakinsr of Ville Evrart and Maison Blanche. The latter was
©
easily accomplished ; but Ville Evrart is composed of strongly-
bnilt houses standing alone, and in this small labyrinth the battle
continued until midnight. General Blaise, commander of a
French brigade, fell here. Some of the houses remained in pos¬
session of the French until morning, when the increasing fresh( t
in the Marne compelled the Germans to leave at three, and the
BAVARIAN OUTPOSTS BEFORE PARIS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 415
>
French at eight o'clock. The other sorties from Mont Valerien
and from St. Denis were only demonstrations, and the fighting
was nowhere severe.
On the morning of the 27th of f)ecember the Germans lv>
gan a steady bombardment of Fort Avron, a large and strong
work lying east of Paris and 3,000 paces beyond Fort Rosny.
Thirteen batteries, mounting 76 guns, played upon it incessantly
during the day from a distance of 5,000 paces ; and so accurate
and destructive was their fire, that the garrison abandoned it the
same evening, and the Germans occupied it the next day, and,
as soon as they could rearrange its guns, opened upon forts
Noissy, de Rosny and de Nogent, which were silenced before
the new year. The loss of Fort Avron was a very severe one
for the French, as its fire had protected them in their previous
sorties. On New Year's day, Mezières, a strongly-fortified town
west-northwest of Sedan, after a long siege and a severe bom¬
bardment, capitulated, more than 2,000 prisoners and 106 guns
being surrendered.
On the 2d of January, 1871, Count "Wartensleben, command¬
er of the Fifteenth German Division and of a cavalry detach¬
ment, both forming a portion of General Manteuffel's army,
overtook General Faidherbe's troops at Salpignies, near Ba-
paume, in the north of France, and, after two days' fighting, the
Germans were victorious, the French losing about 4,000 in killed
and wounded, and 500 prisoners, and the German loss in killed,
wounded, and missing being 1,066. The French retreated in the
direction of Douai and Arras, on the 4th, and lost about 800
more prisoners.
The besieging army before Paris, having their heavy batteries
in position, commenced, on the 5th of January, the bombard¬
ment of the southern and south-southwestern defences of the
city—i. e., the forts Issy, Vauvres, and Montronge, the Pont du
Jour, and the gunboats in the Seine. These points were all out-
*16
THE GHEAT WAR
side of the city walls, but formed a part of the first line of de¬
fences. It did happen occasionally, however, that the shells
fired at long range fell inside of the city walls. Fort Issy was
soon silenced, ana the other forts not long after, as we shall see
by and by. Meantime, on the 5th, Rocroy, a strongly-fortified
post near Mezicres, was captured, with 12 guns, 300 prisoners,
and a large amount of stores.
The Army of Prince Friedrich Karl, which had been engaged
since the 12th of December in a careful watch and observation
of every movement of General de Chanzy's .army, and had
promptly followed each with a blow, discovered, on the 5th of
January, by their reconnoissances, that he was again in motion
near Azny, and the Prince immediately started in pursuit. On
the 6th he came up with two French army corps at Azuy, five
miles northwest of Yendome, on the road to Le Mans. A heavy
battle ensued, in which the French were driven out of the town
and closely pursued. They retreated for the next three days,
stopping every few hours to fight, and, though new troops, stood
their ground well. The number of stragglers from the ranks
constantly increased, however ; and as they were pushed by the
Germans through Nogent le Rotron, Sarge, Savigny, La Chartre,
St. Calais, and Ardenay, they lost over five thousand prisoners
and many guns, aside from the killed and wounded. At length
the time arrived when de Chanzy felt that he could not retreat
farther without destroying the morale of his troops ; he must
stand, and deliver battle. He arrived at this decision a little too
late. Prince Friedrich Karl had already sent the Grand Duke
of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, with a large force, to make a detour
to the north and come in upon the left flank of the French,
while he should attack them in front.
In the afternoon of the 10th of January the two armies con¬
verged upon the French within five miles of Le Mans. An eye¬
witness of the battle thus describes it :
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 447
" The French Army of the Loire, the last ht>pe of France,
has been defeated to-day in a bloody battle fought within five
miles of this city (Le Mans). "We heard the roar of the cannon
all day, and the population crowded to the housetops and sub
urbs*and through the thoroughfares, watching the progress oi
the fight. I have never before witnessed such intense excite¬
ment, although the French people have become accustomed to
the roar of cannon.
" At nine o'clock this morning the right wing of the French
army in position east of Le Mans was suddenly attacked by the
vanguard of the German forces, which, emerging from the wood
on the extreme right of the French, moved forward to attack.
Upon the alarm being given, the advance-posts of the French
infantry wheeled into line of battle, and the artillery was pushed
forward, on the open ground between the severed ranks of the
various commands. The cavalry took up an advantageous posi¬
tion on the right and left wings.
" A more perfect line of battle could not have been formed
by the finest army in Europe. The artillery was well supplied
with ammunition, and the infantry had 100 rounds to each man.
In addition, the supply-trains were well posted, and easy of
access.
" Real bloody work soon began. The field of battle was in
a valley, and the two armies occupied heights opposite each
other, the French line forming a semicircle extending twelve
miles, overlooking the valley, which was covered by twelve
inches of snow. On the opposite heights the Prussians held a
somewhat similar position.
"Shortly after nine o'clock the Prussians'began a furious can¬
nonade from the wood near the extreme left. They were flanked
by an immense force of cavalry partly concealed by the wood.
Their position was where the German infantry massed with the
evident intention of turning de Chanzy's right. The artillery-fire
27
418 THE GREAT WAR
on both sides was continued without intermission until the am
munition was nearly exhausted. It was a fierce, well-sustained
duel, the German and French artillerists displaying marked skill
and courage.
" At length the Prussian commanders gave the order for an
advance, and the German infantry moved forward. The French,
equally rapid, advanced along their whole line, and the opposing
armies met in the valley in a fair hand-to-hand fight. The mus¬
ketry-fire was very severe and effective. The German troops
were cool and collected, and the French impetuous and gallant.
Indeed, both armies behaved with notable bravery until near
noon; when the Gardes Mobiles began to waver, and, being un¬
able to hold their position, a retreat commenced. Meantime the
dead and wounded lay upon the battle-field by thousands, and
the snow-fields were red with human blood.
" The carnage was fearful on both sides. Before five o'clock
in the evening 15,000 French soldiers had fallen, and at this hour
the whole army started in full retreat. The French and German
forces were about equally matched. I should judge that they
numbered 60,000 men each. Although the French have been
beaten, they have not been routed."
The battle was renewed the. next day with more decisive
results. The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, who had moved
southward from Chartres, fighting heavily all the way, succeed¬
ed early that day in following out the strategy which had been
so successful at Orleans, and isolated the French Twenty-first
Corps, so that it could render no aid to de Chanzy. He reported
10,000 prisoners taken, with small loss on his side. Meantime
the fighting between de Chanzy's main army and Prince Friedrich
Karl was desperate, but resulted finally, as all the previous bat¬
tles had done, in the defeat of the French, though more deci¬
sively than before. The same correspondent who witnessed the
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMAN!
m
previous day's battle was also present at this, and thus de
scribes it :
" After the battle of the previous day, General de Chanzy, dis»
playing much energy, rallied his broken columns, and, having
received reënforcements, determined to strike another blow to
retrieve his fortunes, knowing that the whole hope of France
centred upon the ability of his army to break through the strong
opposition of the Red Prince, and advance to the relief of Paris.
After a night of unceasing labor and anxiety, daylight found the
French forces prepared for the conflict. Their army consisted
of three corps, the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Twenty-first re¬
spectively, under the command of Admiral Jourequiberry, and
Generals Colomb and Jouffroy. These corps averaged 50,000
men each, making an effective force of 150,000 men, the whole
under the supreme control of General de Chanzy. By ten o'clock
in the morning Jourequiberry's corps had taken up a position on
the right bank of the river Huisne, General Colomb's on the
plateau of Auvours, arid General Jouffroy's on the right, cover¬
ing the village of Brette.
" The Prussians advanced along three roads, and are said to
have been under the command of Prince Friedrich Karl him¬
self. They were apparently 100,000 strong. Soon after ten
o'clock sharp firing was opened by the Prussians from well-
located ^batteries on the left of the French. It was replied to
with spirit. Very soon a large force of German infantry, flanked
by cavalry, advanced under cover of a heavy artillery-fire, strik¬
ing the right of Admiral Jourequiberry's position. The assault¬
ing column was met by a fierce artillery-fire from many guns,
including a number of mitrailleuses of the new pattern. The
struggle now became exceedingly severe, and was well-contested.
But although the Germans suffered heavy loss, they finally suc¬
ceeded in driving back the French, capturing early two guns,
and taking and holding the important position near the river.
420
THE GREAT WAR
" General de Chanzy, perceiving the danger which threatened
his position, moved forward his reserves of artillery to the sup¬
port of Admiral Joorequiberry. These opened a terrific fire,
which checked for awhile the further advance of the Germans
in fliat direction. Two or three severe assaults were made by
the Germans to secure further advantages, the object being to
take the position held by the French at La Tillere. The French,
however, were strongly posted, and fought with great courage
and determination. . Each assault was repulsed with serious loss
to the Germans, the French also losing heavily.
" Meantime an equally fierce attack was made on the French
line covering the railroad to Chartres and Paris. After two
hours' desperate fighting the French centre was driven back. It
retreated, however, slowly and in good order for a short distance
only, to a position in rear of that first occupied, and where the
rising ground afforded good facilities for the artillery. Here a
heavy force of guns was parked, which, manned by the marines,
opened a severe and well-directed fire upon the advancing ene¬
my. This not only checked the Germans, but compelled them
to fall back in turn. A heavy counter-fire soon opened from the
German batteries, which, during the engagement, had advanced
to a commanding position on the left of the railroad.
" The superiority of the German guns in firing soon became
apparent. After an unequal duel the French fire slackened, the
Germans causing great loss to the French lines. Still, the
French infantry maintained their position heroically, and an¬
other attempt to dislodge signally failed. For some time the
engagement had the character of an artillery duel ; but when
the German lines had taken the positions assigned them, a more
active attack commenced, evidently with a desire on the part of
the Germans to capture the position on the right bank of the
Iluisne, in order to execute a flanking movement, with the
THE BATTLE OF LE MANS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANI
423
object of cutting between the army and Le Mans, and capturing
a large number of prisoners.
" At four o'clock the tactics of the Germans seemed to be
changed. A heavy massing of troops took place on the French
right, under cover of the wood, near the village of Blette, which
was held by the French. The wood was' on the extreme left of
the Prussian position, stretching for miles to the southeast of the
plain between the road and villages, and were commanded by
the Prussian artillery, which was well-posted on the left, under
cover of the wood. A sharp and precise needle-gun fire was
opened on the French line and position left of the village of
Brette, not more than 700 yards distant. It soon became evi¬
dent that it would be impossible for them to long hold the posi¬
tion unless the Germans were dislodged. The heavy fire of
artillery directed on the woods had apparently but little effect.
A large body of French infantry advanced in good order across
the plain, but were compelled to retire with heavy losses before
a murderous fire from both artillery and musketry. The contest
for the possession of Brette was kept up at this point till dark,
when an order reached the French to fall back upon Le Mans.
As the French infantry slowly fell back, the artillery was
brought to the front, and it maintained a steady fire upon the
German line, successfully covering the retreat. The Germans,
apparently in contempt of their partial success, seemed disin¬
clined to pursue the advantage they had gained in the day's
fighting. General de Chanzy actively superintended the retreat,
which was never disorderly at any time. Thus, after a bloody
encounter, lasting until dark, in which the carnage had been
fearful on both sides, nothing decisive had been gained by the
Germans. All their successes had been negative, and the French
officers and soldiers remained hopeful.
" But an event occurred which made a total change in the
prospects of the French. It was an event common enough in
4:24
THE GREAT WAR
the history of war Had it failed, the result would have been
disastrous to the Germans. It succeeded, and shattered the
hopes of the French. Darkness had fallen upon the battle-field,
or rather, I should say that day had gone ; for the evening was
not very dark. One could see the vast fields of snow, dotted
here and there by dark objects—the bodies of the victims of the
day's struggle—while the patches of woods rose up grimly from
the midst of the white fields. Suddenly, and without theii
preparations attracting attention, a strong force of Germans
renewed the battle. Making toward the French right at La Til-
lere, the most important position held by the Army of the Loire,
immense masses of infantry, supported by a large force of cav¬
alry, advanced with the utmost rapidity, scattering in all direc¬
tions the French forces opposed to them.
" The attack was not anticipated by the French. The sud¬
denness and rapidity with which the movement was executed
took them completely by surprise, and but little resistance was
offered. At the onset the Gardes Mobiles of Brittany were
seized with panic and fled in great disorder. This completely
destroyed the French line of battle, as their whole force on the
right bank of the Huisne was compelled to make a rapid retreat
to save itself from capture. The defeat was complete ; or, if it
lacked anything of being so, the movement of the next morning
by General von Yoights Retz, who, by a neatly-accomplished
flank movement, entered Le Mans, which the French had in¬
tended to occupy, and compelled their retreat in disorder toward
Alençon and Laval.
" The losses of the Germans in the pursuit of de Chanzy's
army from January 6th to 12th were 177 officers and 3,203
men. They captured 22,000 unwounded prisoners, 2 eagles,
19 guns, more than a hundred loaded wagons, and great quan¬
tities of arms and war-material. General de Chanzy's effective
force numbered, in the beginning, 122,000 men, so that its losses
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
425
by capture amount to one-sixth its strength, while the killed and
wounded were more than 8,000 more."
General de Chanzy felt this defeat very keenly, the more so aa
it had, aside from the actual losses, almost entirely destroyed the
morale of his army. In an order of the day issued on the 13th
of January to the remainder of his army, he said :
" After the successful engagements in which, in the valley of
the Huisne as well as on the banks of the Loire at Yendome,
you gained victories over the enemy—after the success of the
11th at Le Mans, where you resisted the attacks of the hostile
forces under the chief command of Prince Friedrich Karl and
the Grand Dulce of Mecklenburg, maintaining all the positions,
a shameful weakness, axi inexplicable panic, has suddenly come
upon you, which partly compelled the surrender of important
positions, and endangered the safety of the whole army. An
energetic effort to make this good was not attempted, although
the necessary orders were immediately given ; and we therefore
had to surrender Le Mans. France has its eye upon its second
army. We must not halt. The season is severe ; your fatigue
is great, and you have been compelled to suffer privations of
every kind ; but the country suffers heavily, and when a last
effort may be sufficient to rescue it, we must not refusé it.
Know, too, that for yourselves safety lies in the most determined
resistance, and not in retreat. The enemy will appear before
our positions ; we must receive him steadily, and wear away his
powers. Range yourselves about your leaders, and show that
you are still the same soldiers who conquered at Coulmiers and
Yillebon, at Jaunes and Yendome."
This studious concealment of the gravity of the situation
from the army is an artifice so often adopted by military leaders,
espe dally with a faking cause, that perhaps it calls for no re-
m
THE GREAT WAR
mark ; but we cannot conceal from ourselves the belief that
de Chanzy knew that his cause was hopeless, except under some
unforeseen and unexpected reverse to the Germans, from the daj j
in which he evacuated Orleans ; and that the month of fighting
which followed was, so far as he was concerned, merelj the grim
conflict of despair.
It is certain, at all events, that lie attempted no further offen¬
sive movements, but, withdrawing his troops from Alençon,
which was occupied by the Prussians on the 16th, he concen¬
trated them in the vicinity of Laval, and there awaited the not-
distant end of the war.
With a brief sketch of General de Chanzy, whose merits as an
officer seem to have been equal to those of any of the French
leaders, notwithstanding his repeated defeats, we close this chap¬
ter.
General de Chanzy is a native of the Department of Ardennes,
and was born in 1823. His early predilections were for a sail¬
or's life, and at the age of sixteen he ran away from home and
went to sea. A year of this kind of life sufficed, and in 1840
he entered the military school at St. Cyr, and, after graduating
there, was ordered to duty as lieutenant in Algeria, where lie
remained for about fifteen years, rising by merit to the rank of
major. He took part in the Italian war of 1859, where he was
promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy. In 1860 he was sent to
Syria to quell the difficulties, and served with such ability as to
be advanced to a colonelcy the same year. On his return to
France he was, at his own request, sent again to Algeria, where
he attained successively the rank of brigadier and major-general.
He remained in Africa until September or October, 1870, when
he was recalled by the National Government of Defense, and at
first placed in command of a division. He took part in the bat¬
tle of Coulmiers, on the 8th of November, and subsequently^
being made commander of the Sixteenth Corps, carried the
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
427
/strong positions held by the right wing of the German army al
Patay. Of his subsequent career, both at the recapture of Op
leans by the Germans, and that long, and, on the whole, disas¬
trous retreat which terminated at Laval, we have given sufficient
account in the previous pages. One radical defect seems to have
been characteristic of all the French generals who had had their
military training in Algeria : they regarded everything like
strategy with contempt, and all topographical knowledge as use
less, placing their entire reliance on the elan, or first impulsive
movement, of their troops ; and if they failed in that, retreating
somewhat dispirited, for a new attack on another day. Their
tactics were those of the lion or tiger, who, regardless of all out¬
ward circumstances, makes a sudden but carefully-calculated
spring, and, if he fails, slinks back to try the experiment again
after considerable delay. A German general at Le Mans would
have studied well his battle-ground, have guarded carefully
against surprises and flank movements, and especially would not
have suffered himself to be so adroitly crowded out of Le Mans,
and compelled to run the gauntlet toward Alençon and Laval
THE GREAT WAR
CHAPTER XIII.
FTlHE other wing jf the Army of the Loire, which, under com-
A mand of General Bourbaki, had retreated to Bourges attei
the recapture of Orleans, and subsequently been sent by Gam-
betta to attack General von Werder, who was in the Yosges De¬
partment of the Haut-Saône, besieging Belfort, and keeping the
newly-acquired German territories, Alsace and Lorraine, in
order, comes next in place for review. We have spoken with
Borne severity of Gambetla's want of judgment in sending Bour¬
baki on this expedition, instead of concentrating his troops to
raise the siege of Paris. Let us, however, do justice to the fiery
young War JV^inister. While results have demonstrated that the
policy of concentration would have been the wiser one, there
were still not wanting powerful arguments in favor of the course
he adopted. The possession of Alsace and Lorraiue was the
great bone of contention between the French and Germans ;
Belfort, a strongly-fortified town of that region, was the only
French fortress which had held out under a protracted siege, and
its brave garrison deserved support. "With its fall, the préserva
tion of French territory intact would be impossible ; with its
preservation, and the raising of the siege so long protracted, the
old French prestige might be recovered. More than this: the
region beyond the Yosges was the weakest and least-protected
portion of the German frontier ; who could tell whether Bour¬
baki, who had a great reputation as a fierce fighter, might not,
.MOVrW HEAVY SIEGE GUNS AT THE SIEGE OF PARIS.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
431
if properly supported, be able to follow the example of the Ro¬
man general, and, while the enemy were thundering at the gates
of the French capital, carry the war with relentless severity into
their own homes, and even cause Berlin to know the terrors it
was visiting upon Paris? Gambetta was bold and daring
enough to risk all upon a single chance ; and, looking upon the
matter in the light we have indicated, he is not to be too hastily
condemned for what proved, in its results, a stupendous blunder.
Having determined to send Bourbaki on this expedition, it is
but justiee to him to say that he did all in his power to make
the expedition successful. Recruits were gathered and armed
with great promptness, till it was announced, early in January,
that his force, which, when he left Bourges, was but 60,000, was
increased to 200,000 men, well armed and equipped. This, like
most of the French reports, was doubtless an exaggeration ; but
there is some evidence that he did have, for a short time, 150,000
under his command. He maintained for a time his old reputa¬
tion ; attacked with great rapidity and pluck first one wing and
then the other of von Werder's army, which he largely outnum¬
bered, gained some trifling successes, and, assisted by a vigorous
sortie from the garrison, gave the sturdy old Teuton, for a time,
a surfeit of fighting; but very soon von Werder, who had shown
no disposition to raise the siege of the beleaguered fortress, was
largely reënforeed, and then came his turn. On the 13th of
January General Bourbaki made a feint on Yisoul, and, after
severe fighting, was repulsed, though the action was not deci¬
sive. General von Werder the next day evacuated Yisoul, and,
on his way to a position before Belfort, encountered and repulsed
a part of the French forces at Yillerseul. On the 15th Bourbaki
again assumed the offensive, attacking von "Werder at Montbe-
liard and Chazny, six miles southwest of Belfort, but was again
repulsed. On the 16th the fighting was renewed at Ghazny and
Bethoncourt, but with the same result. On the 17th, after a
432
THE GREAT WAR
hard day's fighting, he was defeated, and began to think seriously
of a retreat.
He softened this necessity, in his report to Gambetta on the
18th, under the euphemism of a " return to-inorrow to the posi¬
tions we occupied before the battle ; " but the fact was, that the
retreat had already begun. His report was as follows :
" I ordered to-day (18th) a general attack on the enemy from
Montbeliard to Montvaudois, endeavoring at the same time to
cross the Lisameat, Liettencourt, Busserel, and Hericourt, and to
capture St. Valbert. I also gave orders that the left wing
should try to turn the enemy, in order to facilitate the opera¬
tion ; but the troops which were destined to make this move¬
ment were threatened by an attack on their flanks, and they
were obliged to maintain their positions. We had to contend
against considerable forces of the enemy supported by formida¬
ble artillery, and reënforced from all sides. The enemy, in con¬
sequence of these favorable conditions, the strength of the posi¬
tion he occupied, and the intrenchments he had erected, was
able to resist all our efforts, but suffered serious losses.
" The attack we made on the 15th was renewed on the 16th
and 17th, and if it has not produced the desired effects we ex¬
pected therefrom, in spite of the courage displayed by the
troops, it has inspired our enemy with respect, and he has
deemed it prudent to remain on the defensive.
" The weather is so bad that it renders difficult any forward
movement.
" I have decided to return to-morrow to the positions we
occupied before the battle."
It was time ; for, although he had verified his old reputation
as a brave and stubborn fighter, the odds were becoming too
heavy. Yon Werder's force, as now reënforced, alone was too
Btrong for him ; and two or three days later he found that Man-
GENERAL VON WERDEE.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 435
teuffcl. who had so persistently followed and so thoroughly de¬
feated Faidherbe in the north of France, leaving von Goeben tc
look after thè wreck of the French army, had transferred his
choicest troops to the east, and was now in his rear. On the
25th, Manteuifel crossed the Doubs, an 1 occupied St. Yit, Quin-
gey, and Mouchard, thus crowding him toward the Swiss f'ron
tier. There was no alternative for him except capitulation, 01
escape into Switzerland, where his troops would be disarmed and
held as prisoners. Between the 17th and the 26th of January
Bourbaki had lost 20,000 of his men as prisoners, aside from the
killed and wounded, and besides about 10,000 previously cap¬
tured, killed, and wounded in the continuous and severe battles
of January 13th-17th. Frantic with his losses, and determined
not to witness the culmination of these disasters, the fierce and
desperate French general attempted suicide, but, though severely
wounded, he did not succeed in taking his life; and General
Clinchart, who succeeded him in the command, could only
march the remainder over the frontier into Switzerland, which
be did 011 the 28th and 29th of January. Eighty thousand
French troops were thus surrendered to the neutral authorities
of Switzerland ; but one division, under command of General
Cremer, managed to escape and make their way southward.
We have already alluded to the final defeat and roul of Gen¬
eral Faidherbe's army in the north of France. That general,
after falling back to Cambrai and Arras before Manteuffel,
attempted to retrace his steps in order to aid another sortie
which had been determined on by the Paris garrison, and threat¬
ened the line ot La Fère, Chauncy, Noyon, and Compiegne.
He knew that the German force in his front had been weakened,
and that General Manteuffel had left to General von Goeben the
task of finishing the defeat which he had himself begun ; yet,
with his troops weakened by defeat and sickness, and with the
knowledge that von Goeber's veterans greatly outnumbered his
436
the great war
partially-trained troops, it was a very hazardous and unw.se;
though a very daring, act in him to attempt to take the offen¬
sive. General Faidherbe was really one of the ablest and best
of the French générais, and the motives which he declares
prompted him to this bolC movemont were undoubtedly the true
ones, and reflect credit upon him both as a soldier and a man.
The effort was, however, in every respect, unsuccessful. It ac¬
complished nothing in aid of the Paris sortie, which, as we shall
see, was, equally with this, a failure ; and it only sacrificed an
army which under other circumstances might have rendered
some service to the French cause. On the 18th of January
when Faidherbe's command had reached the vicinity of St.
Quentin, von Goeben stormed the railway station of the town
and, confronting him on that and the succeeding day in a very
severe battle, defeated him and drove him out of St. Quentin,
and compelled him to fall back upon Cambrai. The French loss
in killed and wounded was very heavy—not less, probably, than
that of the Germans, which was over 3,000 ; but the French lost
also 7,000 unwounded and more than 2,000 wounded men as
prisoners, and six guns. General Faidherbe's report is as follows :
" Sir : I have the honor to forward you a short report of the
battle of St. Quentin.
" Comprehending the necessity of advancing, in order to
assist the sortie of the Army of Paris, I proceeded, on the 16th
instant, toward the southeast, in order to turn the army which
was opposed to me, and to threaten the line of La Fere, Chaun-
cy, Noyon, and Compiegne. I was sure I should draw upon
myself a crushing force ; but there are circumstances in which it
•is duty to sacrifice one's self.
" It was before St. Quentin that I threw myself against the
main body of the Prussian troops coming from Eheirns, Lalm,
La Fèrc, Ham, Peronne, Paris, Amiens, and Normandy.
GENERAL VON GOEBEN, THE HERO OF ST. QUENTIN.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
439
"As I informed you in my telegram of the 20th January,
the Army of the North, which had given proofs of great brav¬
ery, completely maintained its positions, which were very good,
until the evening ; hut then the continual arrival of fresh troona
to the enemy, and the exhausted state of our troops, rendered it
necessary that the order to retreat upon Cambrai should be
given. The corps of General Lecomte was ordered to take the
road by Cateau ; that of General Paulz d'lvoy, that by Caste-
let ; while I, with the cavalry, took an intermediate road which
passes by Monbrechain.
" The heads of two Prussian columns then entered St. Quen¬
tin, one by the Xa Fère road and the other by the Paris road.
" The enemy commenced to collect, first, the wounded ;
second, a large number of men who, under different pretexts,
had remained in the town instead of being in their places in the
battle ; third, all those unfortunate men who, worn out by
fatigue and suffering from hunger, after four days of forced
marches and two days of fighting, were unable to effect a re
treat of eleven leagues through the mud on a cold, dark night ;
fourth, finally, some of those brave soldiers who sacrificed them¬
selves in the rear-guard to cover the retreat. This is the extent
of their trophies. They made no prisoners on the field of bat¬
tle ; and we have brought back intact our twelve batteries of
division and our three batteries of reserve. Our four divisions
being reduced by six weeks of operation and fighting to 6,000
or 7,000 men each, we had but little more than 25,000 combat-
* .
ants at the battle of St. Quentim The First German Army,
having been reënforced by several corps, may be estimated as
double the estrength of our forces. Notwithstanding this reverse,
I hope that the Army of the North will be able to prove, in a
few days, that it is not yet reduced to powerlessness.
" Faidhebbe."
440 the great war
Tlie hopo expressed in the closing sentences of this report
was not destined to be realized. His losses in killed, wounded,
and prisoners in the* battles before St. Quentin, and the subse¬
quent retreat, proved to exceed 15,000 ; and the retreat itself „
was disorderly and broken, and did not cease till a portion of
the panic-stricken and wearied troops had reached Lisle. Of the
50,000 men who had taken the field in December, it would have
been difficult, on the 25th of January, to have rallied 15,000.
Longwy, an important fortress near the Belgian frontier, had
been summoned to surrender early in January, and refusing, the
German forces had commenced bombarding it on the 18th of
January, and, after seven days' endurance of a very severe fire,
it capitulated on the 25th, 4,000 prisoners and 200 guns being
taken. In the vicinity of Dijon, the Garibaldis, father and son,
with their Italian compatriots and the force under the command
of the younger Garibaldi—about 30,000 troops in all—after some
trifling successes, were nearly surrounded by Prussian troops,
and in two or three days more would have been compelled to
surrender.
On the night of the 13th of January a series of resolute sor
ties, though made by an insufficient number of troops in eacb
case, was made from Paris, toward the north, against Le Bourget
and Drancy, the position of the Prussian Guards, and toward the
southwest against Meudon and Olainart, the Eleventh Prussian
Corps and the Second Bavarian. Each attack was promptly
and fully repulsed, and the French in some parts of the line fell
back in disorder.
On the 19th of January General Trochu led another and the
last sortie against the Germans. His force at this tyne engaged
was 100,000 men. The sortie was intended to keep up the cour¬
age of the people of Paris, and to assure them that the Govern
ment was doing all in its power. It was also expected to compel
the Germans to relinquish for the time the bombardment oi
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
44J
Paris, which was beginning to be troublesome, though never
pushed with any great severity, and especially to prevent theii
taking up any new positions for bombardment. The Germans
, held St. Cloud, Montretout, the heights of Buzenval, and Fort
d'Issy, which they had silenced and occupied some days before.
General Trochu made the strong fortress of Mont Yalerien his
base, and at daybreak of the 19th the three army corps under
his chief command issued from the fort. The right, commanded
by Ducrot, attacked in the direction of Reuil and the heights of
La Jonchere. The centre, under Bellemare, took Montretout,
part of St. Cloud, and the heights of Buzenval. The left, under
Yinoy, went upon a reconnoissance toward the stone mill in
front of Issy.
At first, as usual, the French troops met with some success.
The German troops were taken by surprise and driven out of
Montretout ; the other two corps were repulsed from the first.
But as soon as the magnitude of the sortie was discovered, the
Crown-Prince Friedrich Wilhelm took command, and, the Prus¬
sian batteries being brought to bear on the French, soon checked
the ardor of their advance, and presently forced them to retreat.
Notwithstanding the formidable army of French troops, the
attack was very feebly sustained, and in the evening Montretout
was retaken by the Germans, and no resistance was made by the
French. The German losses in this sortie were 39 officers and
616 men killed and wounded. The French losses were about
6,000 men, over 1,000 dead being found on the field, and almost
300 being taken prisoners. On the 20th, General Trochu sent a
message to ask a forty-eight hours' truce to bury the dead, but
was refused unless he would make a written application. Per
mission was given, however, to remove the wounded. The fail¬
ure of this sortie caused great discouragement in Paris, and led
»
to the removal of Trochu from the command of the city, which
was assigned to General Le Flô.
442
THE GREAT WAR
Meantime, the bombardment of the southern portion of the
city was increasing in severity, and the losses of life and the
destruction of property in that section were daily becoming
more serious. Several hundreds of citizens, a considerable num¬
ber of them women and children, were either killed or wounded
by the shells, which fell very thickly in that portion of Paris.
The outlook was becoming increasingly dark and gloomy.
Nowhere on French soil were the arms of France successful ; or,
if there was a temporary success, it was speedily followed by a
disaster so complete and overwhelming that the memory of the
trifling good-fortune was obliterated from the minds of the peo¬
ple. The War Minister, M. Gambetta, had attempted to keep
up the courage of the people by bulletins of victories whose ori¬
gin was wholly in his own fertile brain, or which, at the best,
were mere skirmishes ; while of the heavy disasters which fol¬
lowed he made no report. The Army of the Loire was divided,
and both sections were broken, defeated, routed, and entirely
de'moralized ; the portion under command of General de Chanzy,
though still numerically the strongest of the French armies out¬
side of Paris, had been so thoroughly beaten and dispirited, that
its commander did not dare to risk another battle with it, and it
had lain at Laval for two weeks, a mob rather than an army.
There could be no hope of relief to beleaguered Paris from that
source, though there was said to be 100,000 men on its rolls.
The other half of the Army of the Loire, subsequently the mag¬
nificent Army of the East, commanded by General Bourbaki,
was in rapid and disorderly retreat, with the stern and resolute
yon Werder in close pursuit, and Manteuffel on its right flank,
pressing it constantly nearer and nearer the Swiss border ; its
general sick of life, and desperate from his misfortunes, seeking
an escape from his troubles by attempted suicide, and his suc¬
cessor completing the tragedy, by a surrender of a third of
France's great armies to the neutral Swiss.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
443
The patriot-hero Garibaldi, whose love of liberty was so in
tense that he worshipped even the name of a Republic, and who,
despite his age, his infirmities, and his still bleeding wounds, had
come with his noble sons and his trusty Italian compatriots to
fight the battles of a nominally free Government, had found his
way hedged up by all conceivable difficulties, and, though he
persevered in his struggle against the Germans, felt that
the cause for which he was contending was hopeless ; and,
after perilling his own life and the lives of his comrades with¬
out result, was at length compelled to withdraw to bis owr
nome.
The gallant Faidherbe, after contending for months against o
greatly superior force, and undertaking, with a daring which
strongly reminds us of the days of chivalry, to advance toward
Paris in the face of dangers, which made the attempt the most
forlorn of " forlorn hopes," was driven back in disorder and dis¬
may almost to the shores of the Atlantic.
The schools of instruction for new soldiers had nominally,
250,000 men in tliem—really, perhaps, half that number ; but
•hey were the rawest of raw recruits, unacquainted with the use
of fire-arms, and so verdant that a dozen German Uhlans would
chase a thousand of them. The conscription for 1871 could be
called out, but the people were çick of war, and there was not
power enough in the Government of National Defense to compel
them to come into the service.
In Paris matters were approaching a drisis. The population
had borne the trials and sufferings of a state of siege better than
could have been expected. They were for the most part a peo¬
ple fruitful in resources ; and so, when beef gave out and mut¬
ton was not to be had, they took to horse-steaks, mule-roasts, and
asinine cutlets, without serious grumbling. When even these
became too high for the consumption of the poor, the flesh of
logs and cats, and even rats, was prepared into toothsome dishes
THE GREAT WAR
The wild beasts of the Jardin des Plantes furnished an addi
tional supply for their lean larders ; and birds of all sorts, from
the pigeons of the streets to the sparrows which abounded on the
house-tops, became recognized game even on the tables of the
wealthy. Bread, the great article of food with the French, had
deteriorated greatly in quality, and this caused more grumbling
than the meat-famine. For the bread of Paris, usually prover¬
bial for its excellence, there had been substituted, perforce, a vile
compound of wheat, rye, oatmeal, and the poorest quality of
rice, the last three ingredients predominating; and the bread
was black, heavy, and unwholesome.
Under this famine of bread and meat the sickness of the city
had greatly increased ; small-pox, typhus and typhoid fevers, and
the asthenic diseases induced by famine, cold, insufficient fuel
and clothing, and depression of spirits, had a notable increase.
The deaths, toward the last, reached nearly or quite 3,000 per
week, and, as usual under such circumstances, little children
were the largest sufferers. The morals of the city, never very
high, had not improved under the state of siege, yet the depre¬
ciation was rather in the general moral tone of the community
than in acts of outbreaking crime and violence. There are, how¬
ever, in Paris, at all times a very considerable body of lawless
people who would delight in nothing so much as the reign of
anarchy and terror ; and there is hardly anything in this world
more terrible and destructive than a Parisian mob. This class
had been kept under for some months, but now there were not
wanting evidences that it was likely to make itself heard and
felt. The clamor which, after the failure of the sortie of the
19th of January, 1871, compelled Trocliu's resignation, was
largely instigated by this class ; and if they once gained the
ascendancy, the scenes of the French Revolution would be re-
enacted with all the diabolical additions of cruelty and fiendish
ness which their depraved imaginations could invent.
RETURX OF OARRFER PTGFON.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
447
Throughout northern, eastern, and central France there was
universal ruin and disaster. The French peasants, whose means
of living are never much in advance of their actual necessities,
had been unable to gather full^ their crops, which this year
were but scanty, and had been plundered of everything they
had reserved, either by their own soldiers or by the German
Uhlans, and, in the midst of an uncommonly severe winter, they
were starving.
There was no room to hope for any military success which
would justify any further continuance of the war.
It was probably as much from the conviction of the dangers
which menaced France from within her capital, as from the con¬
sciousness of the utter hopelessness of any good result from the
contiunance of the struggle, that Jules Favre, the wisest, ablest,
and coolest of the members of the Government of National
Defense, for the third time during the war, sought an interview
with Count von Bismarck, to solicit an armistice, with a view to
the organization of a Government which might be duly empow¬
ered to treat for peace.
M. Favre held a conference with Count von Bismarck-on
the 24th of January, before the crisis had fully come, although
it was evidently fast approaching. In his previous interviews
with the Prussian Premier, M. Favre had been unwilling to con¬
sider the subject of yielding any territory or surrendering any
fortress ; but times had changed very greatly within two or
three months. In November, 1870, though somewhat crippled,
the French nation was yet unconquered ; its armies were strong
in numbers, well-equipped, and, though not well-disciplined,
they were capable of making a good fight ; Paris was yet strong,
and famine, though not far off, had not yet crushed the spirit of
its people. Now, there was no power of further effectuai resist¬
ance. Paris was subdued by famine ; the armies of the prov¬
inces were defeated, routed, demoralized, and many of them
THB GREAT "WAR
prisoners ; all France, in the depth of its suffering and sorrow,
was praying for peace—all, except the Red Republicans, who
babbled about eternal resistance, the assassination of kings and
princes, and other measures of like character for maintaining the
war, but who had no feasible plans to offer, and were only pow¬
erful in schemes of mischief.
There was, of course, some difficulty in arranging terms for
an armistice which would be acceptable to Germany without too
deeply wounding French sensitiveness. It was not in human
nature to forget the cruel arrogance with which the first Napo¬
leon, after the battle of Jena, had dictated the harshest of terms
to the Prussian king at Tilsit ; yet it must be acknowledged that,
with France entirely at his mercy, the German statesman was
quite as magnanimous as could be expected. The agreement for
an armistice was signed January 28th, and we are indehted to
the Emperor "Wilhelm for •». brief but accurate summary of its
terms. His telegram to the Empress was as follows :
" Versailles, 2 r. 11., Sunday, January 29th.
■" Last night an armistice for three weeks was signed. The
Regulars and Mobiles are to be confined in Paris as prisoners of
war. The National Guard will undertake the maintenance of
order. We occupy all the forts. Paris remains invested, but
will be allowed to revictual as soon as amis are surrendered.
" The National Assembly is to be summoned to meet at Bor¬
deaux in a fortnight. All the armies in the field will retain their
respective positions, the ground between opposing lines to ba
neutral."
The armistice covered land and sea (excepting only the De¬
partment of the Jura, where Bourbaki then was), and was to
expire at noon of February 19th. As we have already stated,
Bourbaki's army within a day or two crossed the frontier into
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
449
Switzerland, and surrendered themselves as prisoners of war
The line of division between the German and French forces sepa¬
rated into two portions the Departments of- Calvados and Orne.
The Germans held the Departments of the Sarthe, Indre-et-
Loire, Loire-et-Cher, Loiret, and Yonne. At Paris the Germans
held all the forts, and the Parisians retained command of the
city wall, but it was dismantled, the gun-carriages being taken
away. At the same time, heavy guns were moved into the
forts, to make sure that the Paris population did not take the
law into its own hands. Within four days postal communication
was opened, and the supply of food began to come into the city,
the German army supplying the people and garrison for the first
two or three days from its own rations. The city paid a contri¬
bution of 53,000,000 francs—equal to $10,600,000—to the con¬
querors.
By this armistice, and the surrenders which accompanied it,
the number of French soldiers who were prisoners of war was
increased to more than 700,000, aside from nearly or quite
250,000 who had .died in the field of battle, or from sickness or
wounds. Of these 700,000, a very large number would not live
to return. When we add to these losses of fighting men the
very large number of German artisans driven out of France at
the beginning of the war, and the population of the ceded prov¬
inces, we shall find that France had decreased in inhabitants
materially since its quinquennial census of 1866.
The meeting of the National Assembly at Bordeaux was
fixed for February 15th—a date which necessitated an extension
of the armistice, which was granted, eventually, to the 1st of
March; At first the decree of Gambetta, which disqualified for
election to the Assembly members of families reigning over
France since 1789, all persons who had acted as Imperial official
candidates in past elections, held office as Ministers, Senators, or
Councillors of State under the Empire, and Prefects who had
450
THE GREAT WAR
accepted office between the 2d of December, 1851, and the 4tt
of September, 1870, seemed likely to thwart the design of the
armistice. It was lys design, by this extremely injudicious de¬
cree, to keep out of the National Assembly all the Bourbons and
Orleanists and their adherents, and every one who, by having
received office from Louis N apoleon, might be supposed to sym¬
pathize with him. The effect of this decree would have been tc
array all classes of monarchists against the Republicans, who
were not at any time a majority in the nation. Count von Bis¬
marck at once protested against it as unjust, and preventing a
free expression of the opinion of the nation, and demanded, as
preferable, the re-assembling of the Corps Législatif, which had
been irregularly dissolved on the 4th of September. Jules
Favre and his associates of the Paris portion of the Government
of National Defense repudiated Gambetta's decree at once, and
declared that the elections should be free ; but Gambetta defend¬
ed it very warmly, and indulged in language toward the Ger¬
man Premier, in relation to his supposed desire for the reinstate¬
ment of Louis Napoleon, which was, to say the least, in the
worst possible taste. The power of the French "War Minister
was gone, however, and MM. Favre, Pelletan, Garnier, Pages,
and Emmanuel Arago, repairing to Bordeaux on the 7th of Feb¬
ruary, issued immediately an order by telegraph to the Prefects
of all the Departments of France, annulling Gambetta's decree
as incompatible with the principle of universal suffrage. They
also removed Gambetta from his position as Minister of War,
though they could not turn him out of the Cabinet.
The elections proceeded with great activity from this time,
and, though the effect of the first promulgation of Gambetta's
decree had been unfavorable, the political complexion of the
National Assembly was undecided, none of the five or six par¬
ties having a majority of the 700 votes of the Assembly. The
Orleanists were somewhat the mo6t numerous, and next, per
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
451
haps, the Bonapartists ; the moderate Republicans numbered
about 100 ; and there were smaller factions of the adherents to
the Bourbons of the elder branch, the Red,Republicans, and the
Constitutional monarchists, who had no particular fancy for any
of the Imperial or Royal aspirants of Bourbon, Orleans, or Bo
nap arte stock.
At a preliminary session of the Assembly held on the 13th
of February, for the purpose of ascertaining the probable com¬
plexion of the Assembly, and taking some measures toward an
early organization, Jules Favre, for himself and his associates,
resigned the powers confided to them as the Government oi
National Defense, the resignation to take effect as soon as a Pro
visional Government could be organized.
• \
At the first regular session of the Assembly, M. Grévy, a
moderate Republican, though with some monarchical leanings
but a man of high character, was elected President of the As
sembly, receiving 519 out of 538 votes.
On the 17th, M. Adolphe Thiers, well known as one of the
ablest of French statesmen, an earnest Royalist and adherent to
the House of Orleans, and Premier of Louis Philippe, was cho»
Ben Provisional President of the Republic?, with power to select
his own Ministers. On the 19th, he announced as his Cabinet
the following :
Jules Dufaure, Minister of Justice.
Jules Favre, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ernest Picard, Minister of the Interior.
Jules Simon, Minister of Public Instruction.
Felix Lambrecht, Minister of Commerce.
General Le Flô, Minister of. War.
Admiral Pqthuan, Minister of the Marine.
Louis Joseph Buefett, Minister of Finance, and Fiesidem
>f the Council.
A committee of fifteen, with which President Thiers, M,
452
THE GREAT WAR
Favre, and M. Picard, of his Cabinet, were associated, was ap
pointed by the Assembly the same day, and proceeded, on the
20th, to "Versailles, and entered upon the negotiations for peace.
The discussions upon this subject with the German Commission¬
ers were very earnest, and many propositions and counter-propo¬
sitions were made. The British Government used its influence
to induce Germany to require a smaller amount of indemnity
than was at first demanded, and it was said to have been
through their influence that it was reduced from six milliards
of francs, equal to $1,200,000,000, to five milliards of francs, or
$1,000,000,000. Germany demanded the possession of Belfort,
which had surrendered after the proclamation of the armistice ;
but this France was unwilling to give up. The terms finally
settled upon and announced by President Thiers to the National
Assembly at Bordeaux, February 28th, as having been agreed
upon by the Commissioners on the 26th of that month, were as
bilows :
" France cedes one-fifth of Lorraine, including Metz and
Thionville, and all of Alsace except Belfort, and pays an indem¬
nity of five milliards of francs—one milliard this year, and the
remainder in 1872 and 1873. The fortified cities of Lunéville,
Nancy, and Belfort are left to France. Longwy, Thionville,
Metz, and Saarrebourg go to Germany. The German troops will
gradually withdraw from French territory as the payments are
made. The armistice is prolonged to the 12th of March ; and,
last of all, the Germans are to enter Paris. The Champagne
country will be held by 50,000 Germans, with Prince Friedrich
Karl as Governor, until the indemnity is paid."
This preliminary treaty, as it was called, was ratified by the
National Assembly on the 1st of March by a vote of 546 yeas
against 107 nays. The Red Republicans, and some of the more
MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
455
moderate ones, voted against it, on the ground that there should
be no cession of French territory.
The following detailed description of the lines laid down in
this preliminary treaty was subsequently published :
" The line of demarcation between France and Germany, as
at first proposed, is retained, with one exception. It commences
in the northwestern frontier at the Canton of Cattenom, in the
Department of the Moselle ; runs thence to Thionville, Briery,
and Gorze ; skirts the southwestern and southern boundaries of
the arrondissement of Metz ; thence proceeds in a direct line to
Chateau-Salins, and at Pettoncourt, in that arrondissement, turns
and follows the crest of the mountains between the valleys of
the rivers Seille and Yezouze, in the Department of Muerthe, to
the Canton of Schirmeck, in the northwestern corner of the
Department of the Yosges; thence it runs to Saales, divid¬
ing that commune, and, after that, coincides with the western
frontiers of the Upper and Lower" Bhine Departments, until it
reaches the Canton of Belfort ; thence it passes diagonally to
the Canton of Delle, and then terminates by reaching the Swiss
frontier*
" An alteration made at the last moment in these boundaries
gives Belfort to France, and cedes additional territory around
Metz to Germany.
" Germany is to possess her acquisitions from France in per¬
petuity.
" It is agreed that, as soon as the preliminaries are ratified,
the Germans shall evacuate the Departments of Calvados, Ame,
Gorthe, Eure-et-Loire, Loiret, Loire-et-Cher, Indre-et-Loir, and
Yonne, and all territory on the left bank of the Seine. The
French troops will retire behind the river Loire until peace is
finally declared, except from Paris and other strongholds.
" After the payment of two milliards of francs the Germans
THE GREAT WAR
will occupy only the Departments of Marne, Ardennes, Haut
Marne, Meuse, Yosges, Meurthe, and the fortress of Belfort.
" Germany will be open to accept suitable financial instead
of territorial guarantees for the payment of the war indem
nity,"
An attempt was made by M. Conte, a former private secre¬
tary of Louis Napoleon, who was a member of the National
Assembly, on the day of the ratification of this treaty, to justify
the action of the Emperor. This occasioned some commotion,
but led to the introduction, by M. Targe, of a resolution decree¬
ing the fall of the Empire, and stigmatizing Louis Napoleon as
the author of the misfortunes of France. This was passed by
acclamation, no voices being heard in the negative.
The Germans were very moderate in their claims in regard
to entering Paris. But 30,000 troops were permitted to go
within the walls, and these were ordered to confine themselves
to a triangular section of the city, of which the Seine formed
the east side, the enceinte from Point du Jour to Porte des
Ternes the west side; while the Faubourg St. Honoré and the
Avenue des Ternes from the Rue Royal to the enceinte, the north
side or base. It included the Arc de Triom/phe, in which the
first Napoleon had long ago inscribed his boast, now strikingly
falsified : " At the approach of the Conqueror, the German
Empire has come to an end."
There were some slight disturbances, and the Paris mobs
seemed determined to wreak the vengeance which they dared
not visit on the German troops, upon the French police, trades¬
men, and guides, who showed any civility to the Germans ; but
thanks to their wholesome terror of the invaders, and to the
careful arrangements made by General d'Aurelles de Paladines,
who commanded the National Guard of Paris, there were no
serious outbreaks of violence. On the 3d of March the German
GERMAN TROOPS HALTING FOR A PASSAGE DURING THE MARCH OF ENTRY.
GERMANS LOUNGING AT THE TUILLER1ES.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
-159
troops marched quietly out of the city, and were presently od
their route homeward.
The preliminary treaty was formally ratified by the Ernperoi
Wilhelm at Versailles on the 3d of March, and was announced
to the Empress in the following despatch, which was received
with great demonstrations of joy in Berlin :
" Versailles, March 3
" I have just ratified the conditions of peace, which the Bor¬
deaux Assembly have accepted. Thus far the work is complete
which was through seven months of battles to be achieved,
thanks to the valor, devotion, and endurance of our ineom
parable army, and the sacrifices of the whole Fatherland. The
Lord of Hosts has everywhere visibly blessed our enterprises,
and by His mercy has permitted an honorable peace. To Him
■)e the honor ! to the Fatherland the thanks.
" Wilhelm."
•
On the 1th of March the Emperor reviewed 100,000 of his
troops in the Bois de Boulogne, Prince Friedrich Karl, General
(since Field Marshal) Count Von Moltke, and Prince Bismarck
being present. The emperor set out for Berlin on the 12th of
March, but did not arrive at his capital till the 15th of the
month, when he was received with great rejoicing. Strong gar¬
risons were left in the forts on the east of Paris, and the army of
occupation held the other positions named in the preliminary
treaty of peace. The remainder of the German army commenced
their homeward march between the 6th and 20th of March.
This treaty, which concluded the war, was, it will be remem¬
bered, only a preliminary one ; there were still many details to
be settled, many difficulties to be overcome, and commissioners
were named on both sides to negotiate a final treaty. The
French commissioners were, M. Jules Favre, M. Pouyer-Quartier,
é60
THE GREAT WAR
and M. C. de Goulard ; the German, Prince Bismarck and tlm
Councillor Arnim. The place first assigned for the negotiation
of the treaty was the neutral city of Brussels, but in consequence
of the insurrection in Paris it was deemed advisable to adjourn
to Frankfort-on-the-Main. The disturbed condition of France,
which excited doubts,concerning the stability of the French
government, the insurrection in Paris, which delayed the pay¬
ment of the first instalment of the indemnity beyond the time
specified in the preliminary treaty, and the desirableness of mak¬
ing some change in the boundaries as at first laid down, together
with the firmness and sternness of Prince Bismarck, protracted
the negotiation of the treaty, and it was not completed and signed
until the 10th of May, 1871.*
Article I. The distance from the city of Belfort to the line of the fron¬
tier, as it was at first proposed at the time of the negotiations at Versailles, and
as it is found marked upon the map annexed to the instrument ratified at the
preliminary treaty of peace of the 26th of February, is considered as indi¬
cating the measure of the radius which, ih virtue of the clause relative thereto
in the first article of the preliminaries, should remain to France with the city
and fortifications of Belfort.
The German Government is disposed to enlarge this radius to such an extent
that it shall comprehend the Cantons of Belfort, Delle, and Giromagny, as
well as the western part of the Canton of Fontaine, west of a line- drawn
from the point where the canal from the Rhône to the Rhine leaves the Can¬
ton of Delle, at the south of the Chateau of Montreux, up to the northern
boundary of the Canton between Bourg and Félon, where this line joins the
eastern boundary of the Canton of Giromagny.
The German Government meanwhile only cedes the territories indicated
above upon the condition that the French Republic, on its side, shall consent
to a rectification of its frontier along the western Mmits of the Cantons of
Catenom and of Thionville, such as shall leave to Germany the lands to the
east of a line starting from the frontier of Luxembourg, between Hussigny
and Redingen, leaving to France the villages of Thil and Villerupt, extend¬
ing between Erronville and Aumetz, between Beuvilliers and Boulange, be¬
tween Brieux and Lomeringen, and joining the old line of the frontier between
Avril and Meyeuvre.
This treaty, which has not hitherto appeared in English, is translated from
the official French text expressly for this history.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANT.
461
The International Commission provided for in thé first article of the pre¬
liminary treaty shall, immediately after the exchange of ratifications of the
present treaty, return to this region to execute the labors imposed upon it, and
to make a drawing of the new frontier in conformity with the preceding data.
Art. 2. French subjects, natives of the ceded territories and actually resid¬
ing in them, who may desire to preserve their French nationality, shall enjoy,
up to October 1, 1872, the right, provided they make a previous declaration
before a competent authority, of removing their domicile into France and estab¬
lishing it there; and this- right shall not be affected by the law of military
service, their condition of French citizenship being maintained. They shall
be free to retain their landed estate situated in the territory annexed to Ger¬
many.
No inhabitant of the coded territories shall be prosecuted, disquieted, or
annoyed, either in his person or his goods, in consequence of any political or
military acts committed by him during the war.
Art. 8. The French Government will deliver to the German Government the
archives, documents, and registers appertaining to the civil, military, and judi¬
cial administration of the ceded territories.
If any of these titles have been removed, they will be restored by the French
Government on the demand of the German* Government.
^ Art. 4. The French Government will deliver to the Government of the
/Empire of Germany, within six months from the date of the ratification of
I this treaty—
1. The amount of the sums deposited by the departments, the commîmes,
and the public establishments of thé ceded territories.
2. The amount of premiums for enrolment or substitution appertaining to
native soldiers and sailors of the ceded territories, who shall prefer a German
nationality.
3. The amount of bonds of the officers of the State.
4-. The amount of the sums deposited pending judicial decisions in conse¬
quence of measures taken by the administrative or judicial authorities in the
ceded territories.
Art. 5. The two nations shall enjoy equal privileges in that which concerns
the navigation of the Moselle, the canal from the Marne to the Rhine, the
canal from the Rhône to the Rhine, the canal of the Sarre, and the navigable
waters communicating with these routes of navigation. The right of raffing
shall be maintained.
Art. 6. The high parties contracting, being of the opinion that the dio¬
cesan boundaries of the territories ceded to the German Empire should coin¬
cide with the new frontier determined by the first article above, will act in
concert after the ratification of this treaty, without delay, upon measures to be
agreed upon for this purpose.
!—Tliose communities which appertain either to the Reformed Church or to"'
I the Augsburg Confession, established upon the territories ceded by France,
1 will cease to be dependent upon their French ecclesiastical authorities. Tht
462
THE GREAT WAR
I communities of the Church of the Confession of Augsburg will cease to be
/ dependent upon the Superior Consistory and Director sitting at Strasbourg.
I The Israelite communities of the territories situated to the east of the new
frontier will no longer be dependent upon the Israelite Central Consistory sitting
at Paris.
/"• Art. 7. The payment of five Jiundred millions of francs will marg in
[thirty days after the re-establishment of the authority of the French Govera-
{ment in the city of_ Paris. One thousand million francs willjre pai^during
"the current year, and five hun<L-ed~millions more on tTie 1st of May' 1872.
The last three thousand'niinjons remain payable on the 2d of March, 1874, as
was stipulated in the preliminary treaty of peace. Beginning with the 2d of
March of the current year, the interest of these three thousand millions of
francs will be payable on the 3d of March of each year, at the rate of five per
cent, per annum.
All sums paid in advance on the last three thousand millions will cease to
{ bear interest from the day on which the payment_is_made.
"~A11 payments will be made in the principal commercial cities of Germany,
and will be received in gold or silver, in bills of the Bank of England, the
Bank of Prussia, the Royal Bank of Netherlands, the National Bank of Bel¬
gium, in bills payable to order, or negotiable letters of exchange of the first,
class, at their recognized value.
The German Government having fixed in France the value of the Prussian
thaler at three francs seventy-five centimes, the French Government accepts the
conversion of the money of the two countries upon the basis thus indicated.
The French Government will inform the German Government three months
in advance of any payment which they intend to make into the treasury of the
German Empire.
After the payment of the first five hundred millions of francs and the rati-
[ fication of the definitive treaty of peace, the departments of the Somme, of
the Seine-Inf6rieure, and of the Eure, will be evacuated, so far as they may
still be occupied by German troops. The evacuation of the departments of
Oise, the Seine and Oise, the Seine and Marne, and the Seine, as well as of the
forts of Paris, will take place as soon as the German Government shall con¬
sider the re-establishment of order both in Paris and throughout France suffi¬
cient to assume the execution of the engagements contracted by France. In
any event, this evacuation will take place on the payment of the third five
hundred million francs.
The German troops, for the purpose of safety, have the control of the neu¬
tral zone lying between the line of German demarcation and the enceinte of
Paris on the right bank of the Seine.
The stipulations of the treaty of the 26th of February, relative to the occu¬
pation of the French territories after the payment of the two thousand mil¬
lions of francs, will remain in force. Any deductions which the French Gov¬
ernment shall have the right to make shall not be attempted till after tha
payment of the first five hundred millions of francs.
BETWEEN" FRANCE AND GERMANY.
463
Art. 8. The German troops will continue to abstain from requisitions in
kind and in money in the occupied territories, this obligation on their part
being correlative to the obligations contracted for their maintenance by the
French Government ; but in the event of the French Government delaying to
execute the said obligations, notwithstanding the reiterated reclamations of
the German Government, the German troops shâll have the right of themselves
procuring that which may be necessary for their sustenance, by levying imposts
and requisitions in the departments occupied, or even beyond them, if their
resources are not sufficient.
As to the alimentation of the German troops, the regulations now in force
shall be maintained up to the evacuation of the forts of Paris. In virtue of
the convention of Ferrières, of March 11, 1871, the reductions indicated by
that convention will take effect after the evacuation of the forts.
When the effective force of the German army shall be reduced below five
hundred thousand men, the reduction made below that figure shall be reck
oned to establish a proportional diminution in the price of maintenance of the
troops paid by the French Government.
Akt. 9. The exceptional arrangement heretofore made in regard to the pro¬
ducts of industry in the ceded territories, intended for importation into France,
"shall be continued for the space of six months after the 1st of March, on the
conditions made with the Alsatian delegates.
Art. 10. The German Government will continue to send back the prisoners
of war in accordance with its understanding with the French Government.
The French Government will return to, their own homes those of these prison-
era who have served out their term of enlistment. As to those who have not
completed their term of service, they will place them in camps behind the Loire.
It is understood that the army of Paris and Versailles, after the re-establish-,
ment of the authority of the French Government at Paris, and up to the
evacuation of the forts by the German troops, shall not exceed 80,000 men.
Up to the date of this evacuation the French Government shall not concen¬
trate any of its troops on the right bank of the Loire ; but it may provide
regular garrisons to the cities situated within this zone, according to their
necessities, for the maintenance of order and the public peace.
In proportion as the evacuation takes place, the chiefs of the army corps
shall together fix upon a neutral zone between the armies of the two nations.
Twenty thousand prisoners will be sent without delay to Lyons, on the con¬
dition that they shall be forwarded immediately after their organization to
Algeria, to be employed in that colony.
Art. 11. The treaties of commerce with the different States of Germany
having been annulled by the war, the French Government and the German
Government will take for the basis of their commercial relations, reciprocal
obligations on the footing of the most favored nations.
There are comprised under this rule the rights of entrance and clearance,
transit, customs formalities, the admission and the treatment of the subjects
of the two nations, as well as of their agents.
464
THE GREAT WAR
Meanwhile theTe will be excepted from the rule aforesaid the favors which
either of the contracting parties by treaties of commerce has accorded or may
accord to any other States than those which follow : England, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, and Russia. Treaties of navigation, as
well as the convention relative to the international service of railroads in their
connection with customs, and the convention for the reciprocal guaranty of
property in works of literature and art, will be continued in force.
Nevertheless the French government reserves to itself the power to levy du¬
ties of tonnage and the flag, upon all German ships and their cargoes, under the
reservation that these duties shall not be higher than those which they charge
upon the ships and cargoes of the aforementioned nations.
Art. 12. All Germans expelled from France will retain the full and entire
enjoyment of all the property which they have acquired in France. Those
Germans who have obtained the authorization required by the French laws
for their domicile in France will be restored to all their rights, and may in con¬
sequence establish their domicile upon French soil
The delay stipulated by French laws in obtaining naturalization -null be con¬
sidered as not being interrupted by the state of war, in the case of those per¬
sons who may avail themselves of the privilege before mentioned of returning
to France, after a delay of six months after the exchange of ratifications of this
treaty, and the time passed between their expulsion and their return to French
soil null be reckoned as if they had never ceased to reside in France. The
conditions already stated will apply in perfect reciprocity to all French subjects
residing or desiring to reside in Germany.
Art. 13. German ships which were condemned by prize courts previous to
March 2d, 1871, will be considered as definitively condemned. Those which
had not been condemned at the date above indicated will be restored, with
their cargoes, if these are still in existence. If the restitution of ship and car¬
go is no longer possible, their value, fixed according to the price of sale, will
be returned to their owners.
Art. 14. Each of the two contracting parties will continue upon its own soil
the labors undertaken for the canalization of the Moselle. The common inter¬
ests of the parties separated from the two departments of the Meurthe and
the Moselle will be liquidated.
Art. 15. The high parties contracting engage mutually to extend to their re
spective subjects such measures as they shall judge desirable to adopt in favoi
of those of their people who, in consequence of the events of the war, have been
unable to arrive at their homes in season for the protection or preservation of
their rights.
Art. 16. The two governments, French and German, engage reciprocally to
cause to be respected and preserved the graves of the soldiers buried on their
respective soils.
Art. 17. The regulation of minor points, upon which a mutual understand¬
ing ought to be established in consequence of thi3 and the preliminary treaty,
will be the object of ulterior negotiations, which will take place at Frankfort
between franck and germany.
465
Art. 18. The ratifications of the present treaty by the National Assembly
and the chief of the executive power of the French Republic on the one side,
and on the other by his Majesty the Emperor of Germany, will be exchanged
at Frankfort after a delay of ten days, or less if possible.
In faith of which the respective plenipotentiaries have affixed their signa
toes and the seals of their arms.
Done at Frankfort, the tenth of May, 1871.
fx., s.] J ut.es Favre. [l. s.] Pott ver- Q uertie r.
[l. s.] Von Bismarck. [l. s.] Arnim.
[l. s.J C. de Goulard.
Additional Articles.
Art. 1, § 1st. At the time fixed for the exchange of ratifications of the pre¬
sent treaty, the French Government will use its right of redemption of the con¬
cession granted to the company of the Eastern Railway. The German Govern¬
ment will assume all the rights which the French Government would have
acquired by the redemption of the concessions in that which concerns the rail
ways situated in the ceded territory, whether completed or in progress.
§ 2d. There will be comprised in this concession :
1. All the lands appertaining to the said Company, whatever their situa¬
tion, and also termini and station-houses, sheds, workshops, warehouses, look¬
outs, etc.
2. All the real estate which belongs to these, and also barriers, fences,
sidings, switches, tum-tables, water-tanks, hydraulic cranes, fixed machines,
etc., etc.
3. All combustible materials and movables of all kinds, furniture of sta¬
tions, tools of workshops and termini, etc., etc.
4. The sums due to the Company of the Eastern Railway, in the way of sub¬
sidies granted by corporations or individuals resident in the ceded territories.
§ 3d. There will be excluded from this cession the rolling stock. The Ger¬
man Government will give up that portion of the rolling stock, with its acces¬
sories, which may be found at that time in the possession of the French Gov¬
ernment.
§ 4th. The French Government engages, as towards the German Empire, to
discharge the railways ceded, as well as their dependencies, from all claims
which third parties might bring against them, to wit, the claims of bond¬
holders. It also engages to substitute itself, for the German Government,
should the case occur, in relation to all demands which may be brought
against the German Government by the creditors of the railways in question.
§ 5th. The French Government will assume the satisfaction of all demands
which the Eastern Railway Company may raise against the German Govern¬
ment or its attorneys, in regard to the employment of the said railway, and
, the use of the objects indicated in the second paragraph, as well as to the roll¬
ing stock.
The German Government will communicate to the French Government, at
30
£66
THE GREAT WAR
its request, all the documents and information wliich may aid in ascertaining
the facts on which the doniands above mentioned may be based.
§ 6th. Tho Germ an Government will pay to the French Government for the
cession of the proprietary rights indicated in paragraphs 1 and 2, and in tha
way of an equivalent for the guarantee made by the French Government in
paragraph 4, the sum of three hundred and twenty-five millions (325,000,000)
of francs.
They will deduct this sum from the war indemnity stipulated in Article 7.
§ 7th. Having seen the situation which has served as the basis of the conven¬
tion concluded between the Eastern Railway Company and the Royal Grand
Ducal Society of the Railway William Luxembourg, under date of June 6,
1857, and January 21, 1868, and that concluded between the Government of
the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the societies of the railways William
Luxembourg and the French East, under date of December 5,1868, and which
have been modified essentially, so that they are not appb'cable to the state of
things created by the stipulations contained in the first paragraph, the Ger¬
man Government declares itself ready to assume the rights and charges result¬
ing from these conventions for the Eastern Railway Company.
In case the French Government should obtain the control, either by repur¬
chase of the concession to the Eastern Railway Company, or by a special agree¬
ment, of the rights of this society, in virtue of the conventions above indicated,
it engages to yield gratuitously, after a delay of six weeks, its rights in it to
the German Government.
In case the said substitution shall not be effected, the French Government
will only relinquish the concessions, for the lines of railway appertaining to
the Eastern Company and situated in French territory, on the express condition
that the party to whom it is conceded shall not work the lines of railway
situated in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
Airr. 2. The German Government offers two millions of francs for the
rights and properties which the Eastern Railway Company possess in that
part of its system of railway situated in Swiss territory, from the frontier to
Basle, if the French Government will gain its consent to a delay of a month.
Art. 3. The cession of territory around Belfort, offered by the German
Government in article 1st of the present treaty, in exchange for the rectifica¬
tion of frontier demanded west of Thionville, will be augmented by the fol¬
lowing territories and villages : Rougemont, Levai, Petite Fontaine, Romagny,
Félon, La Chapelle-sous-Rougemont, Angeot, Vauthier-Mont, La Rivière, La
Grange, Reppe, Fontaine: Frais, Foussemagne, Cunelières, Montreux Château,
Bretagne, Chavannes-lès-Grands, Chavanatte, and Suarce.
The route from Giromagny to Remircmont, passing in a balloon from
Alsace, remains to France throughout its whole extent, and will serve for a
boundary, inasmuch as it is situated outside of the Canton of Giromagny.
Done at Frankfort, May 10, 1871.
(Signed) Jules Favre. De Goulard.
Pouyer-Quertlkr. Von Bismarck.
Arnim.
TRIUMPHAL ARCH ERECTED AT FRAHTCFORT.
between france and germany.
469
This treaty was ratified, not without considerable urgency on
the part of M. Thiers, by the Assembly on the 17th cf May, 505
voting for it, and only 11 against it. It was ratified on the part
of the G erman Emperor on the 19th.
The Triumphal Entry of the German Troops into Berlin.
The final treaty ratified, and the larger part of the German
troops withdrawn from France, there was a strong desire through¬
out Germany to commemorate by a grand festal day the victories
of the German arms. The government willingly responded to
the demands of the people, and it was determined to have the
triumphal procession at Berlin, and on the same occasion to un¬
veil the equestrian statue of Frederick William III. (father of
the Emperor), which had long been in process of erection, but
was now completed. The 16th of June was the day fixed upon
for the festal occasion ; and as it would have been too tedious
and altogether impracticable to have the great mass of the army
there, it was decided to have only representative troops take pari
in the procession. The first division of the Emperor's Guards
held the first place on the right and were present in full ranks ;
on the left was a combined battalion of the Ki/ng's Grenadiers,
the arm of the service to which the Emperor belonged, and which
he commanded before he came to the throne. The representa¬
tives of these regiments, and of the bands of music connected
with them, numbered 1,062 men.
The Second Division consisted af the comMned battalion of
the German a/rmy, representing by a single subordinate officer or
soldier, each infantry regiment of that grand army. They num¬
bered six hundred and eighty-eight men, and bore with them
eighty-one standards, eagles, and banners captured from the
French. On their left was a combined squadron of cavalry, one
hundred and thirty representatives of the entire regular cavalry
force of the German army, and forming a most brilliant array.
470
THE GREAT WAR
Those were followed by a combined battery— six batteries oi
artillery—representing the whole artillery force of the army, with
one hundred and thirteen men, and these in turn by the repre¬
sentatives of the train, the engineers, pontoniers, commissaries
purveyors, etc., as well as the medical and sanitary departments
the chaplains, etc., sixty-three men in all. A deputation from
the Marines followed. To each division there was attached a
guard either of infantry or cavalry. Commanding these divisions
were the great generals of the war, the Prince Augustus of Wur¬
temberg, the Counts of Brandenburg, Generals Manteuffel, Yon
Pape, Dannenberg, Alvensleben, Tumpling, Yon Goeben, etc.
The Triumphal Way for this occasion was the noble Unter den
Linden, into which the procession, entering by the gate of Halle,
came.
As the forty-five thousand troops forming the procession ap¬
proached the gate, the Emperor, his staff, and cortège rode along
- the lines to review them.
On the right flank was the staff of the Emperor and the Em¬
peror himself on a dark bay horse. He was followed by the Em¬
press, the Crown Princess, and eight carriages containing princes
and ladies of the household of the Emperor. As they rode up a
royal salute was given, with three ringing cheers. The Emperor
proceeded rapidly along the front, several divisions of infantry
presenting arms by brigades. Each division then instantly
marched to take position for entrance at the Gate of Halle.
The civic dignitaries of Berlin, under the gigantic equestrian
statue of Frederick the Great, waited to welcome the troops.
Field-Marshal Wrangel and other superannuated officers led the
procession. The fighting staff, led by Blumenthal, chief of tht
staff of the Crown Prince, followed. Then came the Militarj
Governors, succeeded by corps commanders, and other command
ers of the armies. Next came Prince Bismarck, Count Moltke.
and Herr von Boon, who were received with tempestuous cheering.
ILLUMINATION IK BERLIN.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
473
They were followed by the Emperor William, the Crown Prince
011 a chestnut horse, Prince Frederick Charles on a bay horse, and
most of the other German princes in glittering uniforms.
With steady tramp came the stalwart infantry guard. Drums
might beat, and the music swell in mighty volumes, but the tre¬
mendous cheering prevented their sound from being heard.
Thus, amid the waving of handkerchiefs and clapping of hands
and loud vociferations of the populace, the long anaconda-shaped
mass of fighting men entered the city. On passing through the
gate the Emperor halted and received an address of congratula¬
tion from a bevy of young ladies of Berlin, and kissed the
speaker, Frâulein Blasai*. At the head of Unter den Linden he
received an address from the Burgomaster of the city, who
was accompanied by the magistrates.
The procession passed along Unter den Linden under the
symbols of victory and between the captured cannon (more than
two thousand in number), flanked by a sea of human beings
rising in billows to the tops of the houses. The procession
passed the Palace, the University, and the Opera House, to
where the statue of Blucher stands in bronze, where the mem¬
bers of the Imperial Diet were also assembled. Here the Em¬
peror wheeled his horse around, and with the royal princes,
generals, and members of the staff on either side, the troops
marched past in review. The squadron of horsemen made a
gallant show. From the terraces of the Imperial Castle royal
ladies smiled and showered greetings on the conquerers. The
appearance of the men was superb, and the enthusiasm of the
great masses of spectators, as they passed by, was unbounded.
Each regiment as it entered the Pariser Platz, where the crowd
was the greatest, was cheered with unfailing enthusiasm. Some
of the regiments, well known to the Berliners and others, which
had particularly distinguished themselves during the campaign,
received special ovatioiiSj the people breaking into their ranks
474
TIIB GREAT WAR
crowning them with wreaths, and overwhelming them witl
towers.
The troops formed three sides of a square in the Lust-Garden
around the veiled statue of William III. In front of the fight¬
ing-men stood the musicians and trumpeters in three ranks
Fronting the Palace were the standard-bearers, with the captured
trophies from the hall and museum. Behind all were the full-
medalled veterans, invalids, old warriors, yeomen of the palace,
and royal gendarmes. The seats fronting on the Palace were
packed with the officers and guards of the garrison, and around
the statue gradually collected a dense group of Ministers, Coun¬
cillors of State, municipal officers, and clergymen. The Em¬
peror and suite and the Princes entered the square, and took
positions under the awning between the fountains. The troops
presented arms, and the bearers of the trophies laid them at the
foot of the statue amid the loud and prolonged roll of the drums,
while the cathedral choir burst into a hymn of praise, and the
Chaplain-General, standing on the steps of the monument, after¬
wards offered a short* prayer.
Prince Bismarck then approached the Emperor, and asked
leave to unveil the statue. The Emperor bowed, and Bismarck
moved his hand, when the canvas fell from the statue, while the
drums rolled, trumpets blared, and the standards of the guards
were lowered toward the statue. The troops presented arms
and cheered loudly, and a salute was fired of 101 guns, the
church bells broke into an instantaneous ringing, while out of the
turmoil the national air resolved itself.
The Emperor, helmet in hand, then approached his father's
statue and walked slowly around it. Then, standing at the foot
of the statue he addressed the vast audience briefly, closing with
these words—
" This monument, which was projected in a time of profound
peace, now becomes the memorial of one of the most brilliant,
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
m
though bloodiest of modern warn. May the peace so dearly
achieved be a lasting one ! "
The ceremonies closed with the conferring of honors on the
victorious commanders. Numerous orders were,granted by the
Emperor, and the hereditary command of the most distinguished
regiments was given to various Generals and Princes. Among
those who received these marks of fame from the hands of the
Emperor were Prince George of Saxony and Prince Leopold of
Bavaria. Gen. von Eoon was elevated to the rank of Count
of the Empire, and Gen. von Moltke was made Field Marshal of
the Imperial army.
Congratulatory dispatches were received from all the German
cities, and Vienna, through its German citizens, gave utterance
to its rejoicings over a united and victorious Germany. In the
evening the whole city was illuminated, and patriotic inscriptions
greeted the eye everywhere.
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
477
CHAPTEE XIV.
WITH a brief review of the leading incidents of this great
war, we take our leave of it.
When, on the 15th of July, 1870, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
declared war with Prussia, the numerous vicissitudes of bis
eventful life may have suggested to him the possibility that the
war, if long protracted, might prove unfavorable to his hopes ;
but no seer could have predicted to him that, in seven ^weeks
from that day, he would be defeated, dethroned, and a prisoner
to the one man among all the crowned heads of Europe whom
he most hated ; and that all the hopes and dreams in which he
had indulged of the perpetuation of a Bonaparte dynaBty in
France would be utterly dissipated.
And yet, as we look upon the matter now, it seems the most
natural thing in the world that just this thing should have hap¬
pened. He knew that he was unprepared for the war he had
most wantonly provoked ; but he did not know that the frauds
and moral corruption of which he had been guilty had perme¬
ated the entire body politic ; that all his subordinates, finding
their chief defrauding the nation, had undertaken the same
game for themselves.
He knew that Prussia was strong in her armies, her finances,
her resources ; but he did not know her condition of preparation
for war, her complete military organization, the genius of her
great strategist, nor the enthusiasm which would be awakened
throughout Germany by her going to war in a just cause.
478
THE GREAT WAR OF 1870
And, after the declaration of war, in the three weeks which
followed before a blow was struck, amid all his boastingg and
declarations of the necessity by which be was driven unwillingly
intq war, was there no fear of a retribution for his numerous
crimes against the nation, and against the God who rules over
the nations ; no misgiving that the time was approaching when
his conduct as a ruler should be judged impartially by the
nations whom he had attempted to dupe ? Whether this was
so or not, there was a marked and manifest difference between
his manner and proclamations and those of the Prussian King.
The one was boastful, defiant, and appealed to the passion of
his natiou for glory ; the other, quiet, and confident of tho
justice of his cause, looked to Heaven for aid and success.
The slight affair at Saarbruck on the 4th of August possessed
no significance or importance in itself, but was made the occa¬
sion of a vainglorious despatch by the Emperor, and the an¬
nouncement of the weeping of his veterans over the tranquillity
of his wonderful boy. The more serious battles of Forbach and
Spicheren Heights, and of Weissenburg on the 6th of August,
showed the boastful Emperor that victory would not always
perch upon his banners ; and when this was followed, on the 8th,
by the decisive battle of Woerth and the precipitate retreat of
MacMahon, it was almost pitiable to see how quickly his tono
was changed from vaunting to terror. " Frossard has lost a
battle," he telegraphs. " MacMahon has been defeated, with
heavy loss, at Woerth. All can yet be reestablished." Bad
news followed fast and faster. Strasbourg, Pfalzburg, and Toul
were besieged. MacMahon, while doing his best to collect
reënforceraents, was pursued pitilessly and îelentlessly by the
Crown-Prince. Bazaine's army, with which his headquarters
were, and which had thrown out its advance toward Saarbruck
and Forbach, was compelled to fall back in hot haste to its forti¬
fications at Metz, and, pressed by the greatly superior force of
between france and derm ant
479
the Geraian King and his trusty Lieutenants von Steinmetz and
Prince Friedrich Karl, found itself compelled to attempt to gain
the open country and the highways leading from Metz to Paris,
to avoid being shut up in the fortifications of Metz.
The attempt was made too late. The battle of Courcelles
fought on Sunday, August 14th, detained Bazaine in Metz to
save the city, which was threatened with instant capture if he
left it. The delay of the 15th to bury the dead gave time tv
the army of Prince Friedrich Karl to cross the Moselle and plan!
themselvqs strongly across the lower road to Verdun and Paris,
at Mars-la-Tour, while a sufficient number of Steinmetz's vete¬
rans threatened the upper or Conflans road, to make a passage
by that difficult, if not impossible.
Bazaine had waited too long ; but, convinced more fully
than before of the absolute necessity of his controlling one or
both these roads, he made, on the 18th, his final effort to obtain
possession of the lower, and, failing in that, of the upper road.
But he had by this time more than 250,000 troops opposed to
him ; and, though the fighting on the French side was more
gallant, earnest, and obstinate than in any other battle of the
war, and they returned to the charge again and again with an
energy and resolution worthy a better cause, yet, at 9 p. m., they
were thoroughly beaten, and driven into the fortifications of Metz,
from which most of them only emerged as prisoners.
Thus far the Germans had been uniformly successful, rather
from their ability to endure " hard pounding," their persistence
and determination, than from any remarkable displays of skill
on the part of their leaders. Their losses had been heavy—
heavier, somewhat, probably, than those of the French; but
(heir superior size, weight, endurance, and intelligence had given
Lkern the advantage even over the vaunted and really deadly
mitrailleuse.
From this time forward the victories of the Prussians-weir
430
THE GREAT WAR OF 1870
as much the result of strategic skill as of hard fighting Ba-
zaine being shut up, or, to use an expressive phrase of General
Grant's, " bottled up " in Metz, a large army of observation was
required to hold him in check ; for this purpose the Landwehr,
or reserves, were ordered up, and, meanwhile, the greater part
of the First Army (Steinmetz) was put in marching order for
Paris. At Chalons it formed a junction with the Third Army
(that of the Crown-Prince), and a Fourth Army, made up from
the Saxon troops, the Royal Guard, and a corps from Prince
Friedrich Karl's army, joined the two.
MacMalion, who had been marching swiftly on Paris, had, on
reaching Chalons, been ordered by the Emperor, now at Rheims,
to turn northward and make a détour by Rheims, Rethel, Sedan,
and Montmedy, in the hope of relieving Bazaine and raising the
siege of Metz.
The movement was a stupendous blunder, and the great
strategist von Moltke saw ft, and at once improved his oppor¬
tunity. No sooner had MacMahon fairly turned northward,
than von Moltke commenced pushing his troops toward the
north between the Aisne and the Meuse, through a difficult coun¬
try, the forest of Argonnes and the Ardennes mountains, and,
in spite of the difficulties of the route, was soon on the flank of
MacMahon's advance-guard. True to his strategical principles,
he struck a heavy blow just as they were attempting to cross a
river.—the Meuse ; and, meanwhile, he was sending over the
Fourth Army, under the Crown-Prince of Saxony, at a higher
point, while he obstructed the passage of the French. The next
day, the eventful 1st of September, the battle began early.
Pressed in rear and on either flank, the French army could only
fall back upon the fortified town of Sedan. MacMahon was
dangerously wounded early in the day, and the command de¬
volved upon General de Wimpffen, though Napoleon III was
present and directed in part. It was about 3 p. m. when the
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
481
jaded and beaten French corps attempted to enter Sedan. Ah
order was lost ; it was more a mob than an army, and part ot
the town was already in possession of the Germans, who had
entered with the French. There was no alternative but snrren
der. German troops occnpied every height, and were in such
position that, while they could soon make the town untenable
there was no way of escape. Under these circumstances, the
Emperor, .General de Wimpffen, and the entire army, 127,000
strong, including sick and wounded, were surrendered. This
event precipitated the revolution already- imminent in Paris,
The overthrow of the Napoleonic dynasty was demanded by the
people and accorded by the authorities ; the Corps Législatif
perished with it ; the Empress took her flight to England ; the
Tuileries was taken possession of by the people, and a self-
elected Provisional Government, professedly in the interests of
the Republic, but composed of men of all shades of opinion,
took control of the national affairs.
" The Government of National Defense," as this new and
almost self-constituted body was called, while denouncing in the
strongest terms the deposed Emperor for bringing the nation
into such great aud sore troubles, yet was equally vindictive
with him toward the Germans, and hurled its anathemas agamst
them, while it frantically implored other nations to intervene to
procure for them" a peace. At this juncture,.peace might have
been made with Germany on comparatively favorable terms.
The line of the Saar might have been prolonged through the
Vosges so as to include Belfort and Strasbourg, and some mod¬
erate indemnity demanded ; and this would then have fully sat¬
isfied Germany; for neither Strasbourg, Pfalzburg, nor Metz
had yet capitulated, nor was Paris besieged. But, with a most
unwise determination to tickle the ears of the mob, the new
Government raised the cry, " Not a foot of territory nor a stone
of1 a fortress shall ever be surrendered!" And, though they
482
TUE GREAT WAR
Bent Favre to negotiate for peace with the German statesman
Bismarck, they had so hampered him by these war-cries, that he
was unable to effect any arrangement looking toward peace
and an angry correspondence followed, in which the cool and
diplomatic German had greatly the advantage.
It was at first proposed to hold elections for a Constituent
Assembly ; but the War Minister, Gambetta, opposed it, be¬
cause it was decidedly uncertain whether such an Assembly
would allow them to retain their power.
Meantime, the Germans prosecuted the war relentlessly.
Paris was reached by their troops on the 15th of September, and
its investment commenced on the 20th ; and though the circuit
of their lines around it was almost ninety miles, and they had
not for some time more than 200,000 troops which they could
employ for this siege, their cordon, once formed, was never bro
ken. The railroads leading into the city were severed, and its
supplies cut off ; the Government divided—Gambetta, Cré-
mieux, Glais-Bizoin, and Fouriehon going to Tours, while Favre,
Trochu, Emmanuel Arago, Gamier, Pages, and Pelletan, re¬
mained in Paris. During the month of September ' the new
French Government contented itself with abortive negotiations
for peace, missions to neutral powers, and somewhat high-sound¬
ing proclamations ; but when, on the 27th of that month, Stras¬
bourg, with 17,000 men, capitulated unconditionally to the Ger¬
man forces, and Orleans was bombarded and occupied by von der
Tann's army on the 11th of October, the French War Minister
was roused to almost superhuman exertions ; and, while occa¬
sionally sending out absurdly exaggerated proclamations of
French successes which proved to have been French defeats, he
certainly deserved credit for the energy and executive ability
with which he gathered armies from all parts of France, organ¬
ized, armed, supplied, and put them in the field. lie formed, in
the vicinity of Orleans, a great army of over 200,000 men, most
BETWEEN. FRANCE AND GERMANY.
483
of whom, indeed, had never borne arms, but, under skilful offi¬
cers, could soon be made serviceable troops. The skilful officers
were, to be sure, not readily to be obtained, for most of those
who had seen service were prisoners. But it was not alone this
Army of the Loire which was to be organized and officered
Another ot equal numbers was formed in the north of France,
and placed under the command of General Faidherbe. Still
another, though of less extent, was organized in the east in the
vicinity of Dijon, and Garibaldi's Italian Legion was made its
nucleus. Schools of instruction for troops were established at
all the military dépôts, and within two months he had gathered
in these over 250,000 troops, independent of the conscription of
1811, which was being' called out as rapidly as possible. In
addition to these great assemblages of regular soldiers, a consid¬
erable force of irregular troops, to perform the duties of scouts,
rangers, and guerillas, were organized under the names of
Franc-tireurs, Partisans de Gers, &c., &c., which were intend¬
ed to render similar service to the French army with that per¬
formed by the Uhlans for the Germans. In thus reorganizing
the French army from the population which for twenty years
had not borne arms, M. Gambetta certainly displayed great
executive ability ; and though there were, every now and then,
examples of his impulsive nature, such as that proclamation in
which he declared that Bazaine was a traitor, and outlawed and put
a price upon his head ; or those in which he announced succes¬
sive victories, whose details he had manufactured to encourage
the French troops ; or those in which, with fiery indignation, he
denounced the Germans and their king as foes to universal hu¬
manity, because they would not grant an armistice on the terms
he desired ; or vented his wrath on generals whom he had a
week or two before exalted as almost demigods, when their snc-
sesses turned to fa lures ; yet much can be pardoned in a man
who, with all his failings, showed a truly patriotic spirit, and
484:
THE GREAT WAR
who, in the midst of a corrupt and demoralized nation was thor¬
oughly and unimpeachably honest.
But these great executive abilities were not sufficient to save
France, or to drive out the German force which had planted
itself so strongly upon her soil. The work of conquest went
steadily forward. Closer and closer were drawn the lines around
Paris, and nearer and nearer approached the grim spectre of
famine ; and the feeble sorties made from time to time could not
sever the cordon which bound the beleaguered city. Outside
of Paris, after the fall of Strasbourg and the capture of Orleans,
which we have already chronicled, there was such a succession
of disasters as never before befell a brave and warlike nation.
Metz capitulated on the 27th of October, together with Ba
zaine's army, consisting of 3 marshals, 66 generals, 6,000 officers,
and 173,000 privates. Dijon surrendered on the 30th of Octo¬
ber, New Breisach on the 6th of November, and Verdun on the
9th. Thionville, after obstinate and protracted resistance, capit¬
ulated on the 25th; and the sorties from Paris, from Mezieres,
from Belfort, Montmedy, and La Fère, were promptly repulsed,
with heavy loss on the part of the besieged. There was, indeed,
a temporary relief from these great disasters in the repulse of
the Prussians at Coulmiers and Patay ; and the recapture of
Orleans by the Army of the Loire, under General d'Aurelles de
Paladines ; but it was only temporary. The German Genera,
von der Tann, soon after his evacuation of Orleans, was re-
enforced from the army of Prince Friedrich Karl, and soon be
gan to make demonstrations looking to the recovery of his lost
ground. The most formidable sortie from Paris made during
the war, under Trochu and Ducrot, from the 29th of November
to the 2d of December, proved a failure after two or three days
of hard fighting, though another day's conflict would probably
have resulted in success. A succession of severe battles around
Orleans, in which Prince Friedrich Karl managed to separate
BETWEEN PRANCE AND GERMANT. 485
and isolate two corps of the French army, resulted, on the 4th
of December, in the surrender of Orleans, and the retreat of the
sundered French Army of the Loire, one portion toward Tours,
Blois, and Le Mans, and the other toward Bourges. The retreat
was attended with considerable losses. M. Gambetta, with
ready tact, organized the two divisions into two armies, one
under General de Chanzy, the other under General Bourbaki ;
the former commander, General d'Aurelles de 'Paladines, being
under a cloud for his want of success.
The tide of disaster continued to swell. Rouen was occu¬
pied by the Germans on the 5th of December ; Beaugency on
the 8th ; Dieppe on the 9th ; Pfalzburg, a strong fortress and
bravely defended, capitulated on the 12th ; and Montmedy,
almost as strong, on the 14th. The French were driven from
Yendome on the 16th, and from Nuits on the 18th. Tours
capitulated on the 20th ; Sangre, Blois, and Bapaume were cap¬
tured on the 25th and 26th ; and Fort Avron, the strongest
of the defences of Paris on the east, bombarded and occupied
on the 29th; and Forts Rosny, Noissy, Nogent, d'Issy, and
Yanvres, on the east and south of Paris, bombarded and si¬
lenced.
General Manteuffel had had, during the month of December,
numerous conflicts, generally but partial ones, with "General
Faidherbe's army in the north of France, and had pushed it
back through Rouen, Amiens, and Bapaume, to Arras ; but
early in January, Faidherbe, under instructions from Paris, be¬
gan to move southward again ; and General Manteuffel and his
trusty lieutenant, General von Goeben, moved against him as
speedily as possible. This was part of a concerted movement of
Gambetta's, in which General de Chanzy, who was not far from
Le Mans, General Faidherbe, who was to move southward in the
line of Rouen, and the Parisian garrison, who were to make a
sortie to the southwest and west of Paris, were to cooperate. It
486
THE GREAT WAR
proved a failure in all its parts. Faidhcrbe found himself resist¬
ed by a superior, or at least a more resolute force, under General
von Goeben, and was driven back with heavy losses, and his
army demoralized, through St. Quentin to Arras and Lille.
General de Chanzy, who had been followed closely and watched
carefully in all his movements from the time he left Orleans, on
the 4th of December, found that he must fight Princê Friedrich
Karl's entire army before he could approach any nearer to
Paris ; and, after four days of severe fighting (December 9th-
13th), being twice flanked by the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-
Schwerin, was thoroughly defeated and routed, losing about
15,000 in killed and wounded and 22,000 unwounded prisoners,
and compelled to retreat to Laval, with his troops almost disor
ganized. Through some misunderstanding, the sortie from Paris
was not rightly timed, and, being feebly made, only resulted in
heavy loss of prisoners.
In the east of France, Garibaldi had had some trifling suc¬
cesses over the Germans in the vicinity of Dijon ; but when the
siege of Belfort by von Werder, and the movements of Bonr-
baki with his Army of the East, had led to the reënforcement
of the German forces from Manteuflel's army and a portion of
Prince Friedrich Karl's, Garibaldi's little army of about 30,000
men was in great peril, and only escaped capture by reason of
the armistice.
Bourbaki undertook to raise the siege of Belfort, and to
drive von "Werder's army across the Rhine ; but after four days
of hard fighting (January 13th-17th), repulsed each day but
returning to the attack, he was compelled to commence a re
treat, in which he lost heavily both in killed and wounded and
in prisoners, and finally, outflanked by Manteuffel and crowded
upon the Swiss frontier, he attempted suicide ; and his successor,
General Clinehart, about the 1st of February, surrendered to the
Swiss the remainder of his army, said to number over 80,006
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY
487
men. Meanwhile, Abbevilliers, Longwy, and finally Belfort.
surrendered.
On the 24th of January, 1871, M. Jules Favre, the ablest
diplomatist of the French Cabinet, commenced his third effort
to arrange with the German Premier, Count von Bismarck, for
an armistice of sufficient duration to permit the negotiation of a
treaty of peace which would be binding. In his previous
attempts M. Favre had been greatly hampered by the refusal of
his colleagues to submit to any cession of territory, or anything
less than the whole of their demands, some of which were utter¬
ly untenable, and hence both the former attempts at negotiating
an armistice had failed. Now, however, their pride was hum¬
bled, and they began to comprehend how fatal would be any
further resistance if peace was attainable, and hence did not put
him under such limitations as they had done previously. The
discussion of the points involved in the armistice occupied three
days; and on the 27th M. Favre returned to Paris, and an
armistice was agreed upon, which was to commence on the 29th
of January and last twenty-one days. It was subsequently ex¬
tended to the 26th of February, to the 1st, and, finally, to the
•3th of March.
This armistice provided for the surrender of the fortifications
of Paris, for the laying down of the arms of its garrison, except
a division of 12,000 men, to whom was assigned the duty of
keeping order in Paris during the armistice. It also prescribed
the lines which should bound the captured territory, réquired an
indemnity of $40,000,000 from the captured city, and permitted
its revictualling, and the exchange of prisoners. Provision was
made, further, for the election and assembling in Bordeaux, on
the 15th of February, of a National Assembly, who might author¬
ize the negotiation of a treaty of peace, and who should be
qualified to ratify it.
Some obstructions were thrown in the way of the carrying
488
THE GREAT WAR
out of the measures agreed upon by the contracting parties tc
this armistice, by Gambetta and Trochu ; but they were speedily
■repudiated by the other Members of the Government of Na
tional Defense, and their authors were removed from office.
The National Assembly met, elected M. Grevy its presiding
officer, and, receiving the resignations of M. Favre and his col
leagues, chose M. Adolphe Thiers President of the Provisional
Government; and he appointed M. Favre his Premier. The
preliminary treaty of peace, whose provisions we have already
cited,' was negotiated by MM. Favre and Thiers on the French
side, and Count von Bismarck and Herr von Arnim on the Ger¬
man, and ratified by the National Assembly on the 3d of March,
and by King Wilhelm (who had been crowned, on the 19th of
January, by vote of the Confederated States of Germany, Em
peror of Germany) on the 5th of that month. On the 1st of
March 30,000 German troops entered Paris, and marched out on
the 3d ; and within the following ten days all except the Army
of Occupation returned to Germany.
Thus ended the most remarkable war of modern times—re¬
markable alike for its rapidity of movement, the vast masses of
men put in the field, its terrific slaughter, its stupendous surren¬
ders—for the Germans had, on the 10th of February,, in their
hands and in the hands of neutrals, over 900,000 prisoners of
war ; four of the largest armies of modern times, viz., McMa-
hon's at Sedan, Bazaine's at Metz, Trochu's at Paris, and Bour-
baki's in Switzerland, having surrendered within five months,
besides more than a hundred and fifty thousand prisoners taken
in the various engagements of the war. It was remarkable, too,
for the new weapons brought into use, and the extent to which
modern appliances in chemistry and the arts were made subser
vient to military purposes. The mitraillewr and the various
breech-loading r-ifles were tested far more thoroughly than ever
before, some of them, indeed, for the first time in actual warfare
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
489
The superiority of the rifled steel cannon of Krupp over the
French bronze guns was conclusively shown ; and the folly of
dependence upon a navy, however perfectly constructed, armed,
or manned, in a war between two powers whose lands are con¬
tiguous.
Terrible and destructive as this war has been both to human
life (for it is estimated that, from wounds and sickness bred in
the camps, and from death on the battle-field, more than six hun¬
dred thousand men to-day lie dead because of this war, and per¬
haps two-thirds as many are hopelessly crippled and maimed) and
to property ($2,500,000,000 will not cover the losses of France,
alone, including the indemnity), it is yet destined, we firmly
believe, to prove beneficial to civilization, and for the ultimate
advantage of both nations, in the political changes which will
ensue from it. In France, it has broken forever the power of
one of the least progressive and the most mischievous and bel¬
ligerent people of Europe^ and the one which has most disturbed
the general peace for ages. In Germany it has suddenly ele¬
vated to the position of arbiter of Europe the most peaceful and
domestic of races. It has reduced from the first position that
one of the great powers most positively committed to the false
policy that its national prosperity depended on the misfortunes
of its neighbors, and that to embarrass other powers and to con¬
tract other influences was the surest way of extending its own
importance. It has elevated to the first rank that nation which,
of all others in Europe, believes that individual and national
greatness depend on the general prosperity. It has destroyed
an Empire whose policy was War, while its cry was Peace ; but
it has at the same time created a greater and a better one, whose
nndoubted policy must be Peace. In France it has pricked and
instantly exploded a despotism, which might have continued for
a generation of peace to enervate the people it tyrannized over.
In Germany it has not less suddenly aroused a spirit of nation-
m
THE GREAT WAR
ality, which renders at once possible that long-coveted unity of
the German race which an age of peace might not have consoli¬
dated. "While the French Empire existed, there could be no real
peace in Europe. While the German Empire remains, there can
be no war without its consent ; and the past policy, the fixed
principles, the natural sympathies of her people, not the mere
written records of her Government, violable at the will of one
man, are pledges of her peaceful purposes. Let us sympathize
with the race which has been so painfully humiliated ; but let us
also rejoice with that larger civilization of all Europe which
gains by what the French have lost. The war is yet to find its
most important result, its chief apology, and its greatest bless¬
ing, in the increased impulse it will give to a higher and better
civilization in Europe. It is in their enlarged liberty that the
French are yet to see themselves blessed by their own overthrow.
France has not merely been relieved of the cancer of the Em¬
pire that ate its heart out, but her people have been liberated
from false and enervating direction, and are free to enter upon a
sounder and truer education than that which has heretofore
made them a race of polished but frivolous people—smooth and
elegant of exterior, but too deficient in the great impulses which
belong to more earnest and progressive races. We shall not be
many years—the French will not be a generation—in recogniz¬
ing that the war has been one of the mysterious agencies of civ¬
ilization, spreading knowledge, which is the only true source of
power ; the unsnspected means of developing industry, which
ereates wealth. By the war, France is relieved of a ruler, an
army, a system of government which absorbed and wasted her
prosperity ; and not only she and Germany, but all Europe, will
be saved henceforth much of that cost in wealth and loss in
national spirit which follows the maintenance of large standing
armies. Relieved of these dread incubi, France may become the
rival of England and Germany in manufactures ; for the deli-
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
491
sate taste, the natural appreciation of the beautiful in art and
mechanism, and the deftness and skill of her operatives in all
the finer manufactures, assure lier a ready preeminence in this
direction ; and, once educated beyond the belief that the glory
of a nation is found in its prowess in war, not its peaceful pros-
peritshe may become, as a manufacturing state, more prosper¬
ous and truly influential than at any period of her former exist-
«
epce.
The influence of the war, also, in favor of religious liberty,
and the progress of that freedom of religious worship which lias
so long been withheld in France, cannot but be beneficial. The
war had its origin in part, and in great part, in the machinations
of Jesuit managers to humble Prussia as the great Protestant
power of the Continent, and to place upon the throne of France
a ruler fully committed to reaction, to religious persecution, and
to the enforcement of the Roman Concordat. It closes with
Prussia at the head of the German Confederation, more power¬
ful and influential than ever before, and France humbled, but
more hostile than ever she was in the past to the sway of a des¬
pot, or the intolerance of Rome. The war has shown France
the evils of fraud, corruption, and deception. It has made her
citizens a sadder but a wiser people ; and with the disappearance
of their former frivolity and thoughtlessness, and the inordinate
conceit which has marred their character, we may well hope
there will come a disposition to profounder and more serious
thought, a greater earnestness of purpose, and a higher moral
principle. If this result shall follow, we may rejoice in the
belief that the present misfortunes of that fair land have worked
out for her greater blessings than any material prosperity could
have done, and that all Europe, and the world, will participate
with her in the benefits which have come to her from adversity.
To nations, as to individuals, there should, and generally
does come, in seasons of disaster, that penitence for past errors
m
THE GREAT WAR.
and that desire to begin a new and better national life, which
causes these afflictions to be subsequently recognized as " bless¬
ings in disguise," and as having wrought out a higher and
nobler national destiny.
But if, alas ! these bitter lessons should all be lost, and
France, despite her heavy burdens and her sad experiences, be
come again what she was under the Empire—vain, thoughtless,
frivolous, and corrupt
FTo 1 no 1 we have not the heart to portray, or the words to
describe, the ruin which must come upon a nation so often and
so terribly admonished, if it does not heed the warnings it has
received.
Of-. s
6 A ct&vre. .
; *" . Jl fofe/ e/e li/A? ■
t ft (^/'w>^y%/v
C . £/i/sees ■
/ A/ote/ c/e*>Y" iff/fetes
ff. yyôtre. Y/ccnte .
4, jPocl- Y CU,kc//> Avz/rrj-
t. y^Actn/fe ct*
MAP OF PAIUS,
I, DESIGNED TO ILI-U^1"ATE "PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE.'
CHAPTER XV.
Pabis under the Commune.—A Second Reign ov Terror.—
Anarchy, Murder, and Madness.
Note.—The Insurrection in JParis, and the attempted rising in three or foui
other cities of France, though growing out of the Franco-German war, and
perhaps, under the circumstances, an inevitable result of it, was not strictly a
part of that war. The German troops occupied their military posts near Paris,
and their intervention was more than once threatened, while their presence and
position unquestionably afforded a moral support to the Thiers Government and
helped to awe the insurgents ; but the fighting was wholly between Frenchmen
—the adherents to the Provisional Republic, and the Red Republicans, or, as
they styled themselves, " the Commune "—anarchists, who to accomplish their
visionary schemes would overturn all government, laws, and order.
Yet, following as it did so closely on the heels of the preliminary treaty of
peace, and involving the question of the government of France under its new
masters, it seems so essentially a part of the great conflict that we should not do
justice to our subject or our réaders if we neglected to give an account of those
months of frightful and bloody misrule.
THOUGH alidhe friends of France may have hoped.that after
the disastrous termination of the war with Germany her
people would be:wise enough to remain quiet,-and endeavor, by
patient industry and enterprise, to repair the devastations, of war
and restore their country to its former place among the great
powers of Europe, those who knew the French people best, could
hardly have expected it.
The French people are not homogeneous in their character,
like the Germans, the Spanish, and the English. The first Revo¬
lution (1789-93) made manifest to the world the intense hatred
which had so long brooded in the hearts of the peasantry of
France (including the entire working classes, and also a large
portion of the literary class) against the nobles and property
holders. There was unquestionably much reason for this : they
*06
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
had been cruelly oppressed, wronged, and robbed by the aristo¬
cratic and middle classes. They had been scorned and crushed
when they sought for peaceful redress, and at last the savage
element in their natures—inherited, it may be, from those fierce
robber hordes so long the terror of Phrygia and Mysia, from
which they originally sprang—found vent in deeds of carnage,
anarchy, and terror, which have ever since made the world shud¬
der.
But if they had some real provocation for this mad outbreak
it was also in part the result of false teachings. The age was
infidel and godless ; the tendencies of the public teachings of
the philosophers, politicians, and scholars of the day all tended
to agrarianism, lawlessness, and bloodshed. Human life was of
very little account ; especially were the lives of kings, princes, and
nobles the prey of the masses : they had no right to live, and if
they did save their lives by exile, they should henceforth be only
allowed to live in obscurity and wretchedness. We all know the
reactions which followed this revolution,—how the Corsican
became First Consul, Dictator, and Emperor, and proved himself
as great a tyrant as any of the Bourbons, how, in 1815, the
Bourbons were restored and the old traditions of the pre-revolu
tionary period were re-established; how, in 1830, the people
again revolted, and introduced, with the citizen king, a new and
dangerous doctrine, or rather a doctrine which had been held in
abeyance since the first revolution, viz., that it was the duty of
the State to provide work for the laboring classes, or, failing in
that, to support them without it. This doctrine, which had
proved the destruction of the Roman Empire in the plenitude of
its power and glory, became henceforth the cardinal doctrine
of the working and vagrant classes of the French people, and was
constantly proclaimed by the ambitious and unprincipled dema
goguee, who were too numerous for the good of the nation at al
times.
HOISTING THE RED FLAG ON THE DOME OF THE PANTHEON.
OR, THB RED REBELLION OP 18TL
499
We need only glance at the subsequent history of the nation
to 6ee how this pernicious doctrine, constantly reiterated and am¬
plified by hot-headed Reformers, had poisoned the blood of the
masses, and led directly to the fierce civil war of the spring of
1871.
Louis Philippe owed his downfall, in 1848, mainly to the con¬
viction of this proletarian class that he was not their tool, but
possessed reactionary tendencies ; and the revolutionists were
only prevented by Lamartine's tact from raising, at that time,
the red flag, and enacting scenes of blood such as have recently
been witnessed, Louis Napoleon, in his bid for the Presidency,
recognized this doctrine, and indeed professed, as he had previ¬
ously done, to be the reddest of Red Republicans ; but once in
power, he pursued a more despotic system of repression than any
of his predecessors. He had, however, sufficient tact to propitiate
this Cerberus of the populace by occasional largesses, and at¬
tempted control of the price of bread and the labor market; but
the leaders of the proletariat were kept in exile or imprisoned,
unless they gave in their submission to his usurpations. There
were, meantime, other classes which had become powerful in the
government, and in the maintenance of the existing order of
things. The great reliance of Napoleon III. was upon his army,
which he had taken great pains to attach strongly to himself and
his dynasty; but, with the most inconceivable folly, he had per¬
mitted and encouraged its participation in the prevalent corrup¬
tion and frauds upon the national resources, till the soul of honor
was eaten out of it, and it was too rotten to be a real dependence.
The Empress, on her part, had sought to conciliate the Pope and
the Jesuits, and had become their dupe ; and while these wily
coilrtiers were loud in their professions of Bonapartism, they
were really intriguing to bring back the old Bourbon rule, as
more easily controlled for their purposes. But the strongest
pillar of the Bonaparte dynasty was the bourgeoisie or middle
32
500
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
class, the traders, shopkeepers, property-holders, and the new
aristocracy which had sprung from them. This class sustained
Napoleon III., not because of the prestige of his name, or any
special reverence or love for him, but because they wanted a
strong government, one which would protect their property, and
give them better opportunities for money-making. They would
have been just as warm friends of an Orleanist prince, if they
could have had the same assurance of success in money-getting
and material prosperity under his rule. Between the bourgeoisie
and the peasant, class there has existed for years the bitterest
hostility ; during the Empire the large majorities for Republican
members of the Corps Législatif al ways came from this class in
Taris and other large cities, the bourgeoisie always voting solidly
for the Emperor's candidates. When the Empire fell, the
Government of National Defense, composed, as it was, of men of
all opinions, did not dare to submit its claims to popular suffrage
in Paris, knowing that they would be voted down as not radical
enough to suit the Reds ; but Rochefort, and at first Flourens,
were put into the Government as their representatives. They
«6
were, during the siege, furnished with arms, which Napoleon III.
had always withheld from them, and there being probable need
of their services, they were enrolled into the National Guard (the
French Militia), which indeed, in Paris, was mostly made up of
these working-men, and the idlers a,nd vagabonds who always
abound in large cities, and in none more than Paris. The Ouvriers
and Ouvrières (working-men and working-women) of Paris, whose
numbers were estimated at 750,000 before the war, differ very ma¬
terially from the working classes in other large cities, in possess¬
ing less of the home sentiment. While many of them are peas¬
ants from the country, a very large proportion are foundlings and
illegitimate children, the waifs and estrays of the great city, with
no ties or attachments to bind them to the city in which they live.
Life has been a hari struggle with them. Their toil biings them
THE PANTHEON.
OK, THE KED REBELLION' OF 1871.
503
little more than a meagre subsistence, and that little is squandered
upon the lowest amusements and such vices as they can afford.
Naturally vivacious, they have no pleasant outlook fpr the future,
and they enjoy what they can, as the time passes. This lack of
home ties and the home sentiment leaves them without barriers
against a vicious life, and they but too often glide into it. Dur¬
ing the 6iege these new National Guards were with some difficulty
kept tolerably quiet ; two or three times the insurrectionary spirit
broke out, as when under Flourens they took possession of the
Hôtel de Ville and deposed the government, and when, after the
sortie of January 15, they insisted upon Trochu's removal ; but,
receiving their daily pay as National Guards, and having only tri¬
fling duties to perform, they were more quiet than was to have
been expected.
The working-women, and those of the men not enrolled in the
National Guard, fared harder. "With the exception of such kinds
of work as were directly connected with the war—the casting of
cannon, repairing of firearms and other weapons, manufacturing
cartridges and army equipments, soldiers' clothing, &e., and the
necessary production of bread and preparation of meats for the
market—almost every kind of manufacture had stopped ; the ten
thousand industries of Paris had all - ceased, and the scores of
thousands employed in them must find other employment or
starve. That very many did starve is, unhappily, too well estab¬
lished by the testimony of Mr. "Washburne, Mr. Labouchere, Mr.
Sheppard, and others who were in the besieged city, as well as by
the frightful bills of mortality which, with a constantly decreas¬
ing population, grew larger every week.
When the city was surrendered, and provisions again began tc
flow in, the old bitterness against the bourgeoisie began to revive,
and there were many demonstrations, of trifling importance in
themselves, which yet indicated that there was beneath the appa¬
rently placid surface a seething, boiling volcano. The sullen and
504
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
contemptuous forbearance manifested when the German arm)
entered Paris (March 1-3), the jaws resolutely set, the breath
held hard, the muttered curses and the clenched fists, all indicated
how fierce was the desire for revenge on them, and how bitter
their hatred of the French leaders who had brought them into the
condition of humiliation.
Whether, under any circumstances, the outbreak which followed
so soon after the ratification of the preliminary treaty of peace
could have been prevented, it is impossible to say with certainty.
There had existed before the close of the siege a secret organiza¬
tion of working-men and some of the more restless of the infe¬
rior leaders, which seems to have formed the nucleus of the sub¬
sequent " Commune." At first everything seemed to be in their
favor. The new government of M. Thiers, organized in great
haste, had not had time for consolidation. It knew little of the
army, and had but slight influence over it, and none over the Na¬
tional Guard, which it had most stupidly stipulated was to be
permitted to retain henceforth its arms, even while the regular
troops were required to surrender theirs, and this National Guard
—composed of Red Republicans, working-men who had lost all
desire for work, vagabonds who never had any, and visionaries,
demagogues, humanitarians, and adventurers, who were unani¬
mous on only one point, that the present government must be
overturned, and they be allowed the opportunity of trying their
erude and mad schemes—were to be the protectors of Paris and
the preservers of order. A portion of this guard had already,
under patriotic pretences, fortified themselves on the heights of
Montmartre. Finding that they really possessed a formidable
amount of power, the Reds immediately commenced exercising
it—at first moderately, but presently with a violence which roused
hostility, and only showed that the craziest of their visionaries
had taken the reins.
At first they objected to General D'Aurelles de Paladines. who
OB, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871. 507
had been appointed Commandant of the city, and to General Vinoy,
the second in command. A part of their demands being acceded
to, though there seem to have been' no reasons offered for them,
they were emboldened to make further claims : the National As¬
sembly must be dissolved and a new one chosen to sit in Paris.
Their pay of one and a half franc per day must be continued ;
they must be permitted to elect their own rulers, and govern
themselves and Prance as well; their fortified positions must not
be disturbed, and they must be allowed to dictate who should be
the prefect of Paris.
Uncertain how far he could depend upon the troops, many of
whom seemed disposed to affiliate with the Reds, and knowing
that ruin would be the consequence of defeat, M. Thiers tempo¬
rized and parleyed with the insurgent party, conceded some of
their demands, and hesitated before resorting to force. Ilis first
attempt to compel the malcontents of the heights of Montmartre
to yield proved a somewhat disastrous failure. The soldiers
(themselves mostly National Guards), who had surrounded the
insurgents, began to yield to their clamors and entreaties, and, re¬
fusing to fire upon them, deserted their officers and guns and fra¬
ternized with the revolt. The mob now became the masters of
the situation, captured several of the leading Generals of the
Republic, two of whom they subsequently put to death, took
possession of the Hôtel de Ville, organized what they called the
Central Committee of the National Guard, thirty in number,
which presently gave way to "T^e Commune," and drove out
the officers of the Government, and proceeded to erect barricades
to defend Paris from the Republican Government, which they
alleged had betrayed them.
M.-Thiers, on his side, fortified Versailles, and waited, first to
ascertain whether other cities were infected with the spirit of re¬
volt ; next, to see if some pacification was not yet possible, or if
this mongrel government, composed of all manner of disoordant
508
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
elements, would not fall to pieces of its own weight ; then to ac¬
cumulate a sufficient force of trusty troops to make sure that his
next blow should be both successful and terrible, and when the
fulness of time had come, though not till " old chaos had come
again " and the horrors of the first reign of terror had been re¬
peated, with added atrocitios, he delivered those sudden and
repeated blows which crushed out the insurrection, deprived Paris
forever of its prestige as the soul of France, and after frightful
carnage, and terrible destruction of much that was precious in
history and art, both by his troops and the insurgents, made it
possible to maintain a government of law and order in the
French capital.
For the first time in five hundred years Paris has ceased to rule
France, and has, in her turn, been subjected to the provinces. It
has been demonstrated that a weak government, hardly organized,
and with an army of doubtful loyalty to it, had been able to ac¬
complish what powerful kings and mighty emperors have essayed
in vain. Paris, the proud, the haughty, the magnificent and im¬
perious, is thoroughly humbled and subdued, and that by one of
tier own sons. Her pride, her corruption, her infidelity and reck¬
lessness have brought this terrible calamity upon her. What
other and greater evils, or what restoration and triumph, may be
hers in the future, no man may now say ; but for the present she
has been compelled to drink to the dregs of a bitter cup of
humiliation and anguish.
CHAPTER XVI.
With the preceding brief summary of the insurrection and tha
causes which prompted it, we proceed to enter, into more minute
details of its history. As we have already said, the circumstan¬
ces were favorable for an outbreak of Communism.. A large
proportion of the population remaining in the city were either
Red Republicans or partially sympathized with them. The mem¬
bers of the !N ational Assembly elected from Paris were all Radi¬
cals, and several of them subsequently leaders in the insurrec¬
tion. Among them we find many names familiar as leaders in
the ranks of the opposition in the days of the Empire, and some
during the war. Gambetta, Garibaldi, Rochefort, Delescluze,
Felix Pyat, Blanqui, Milliere, Louis Blanc, Quinet, Victor Hugo,
Admiral Saisset, General Langlois, Victor Schoelcher, Tolain,
Lockroy, and Gustave Flourens were among them. Of these,
Garibaldi returned to Italy; Gambetta remained in the prov¬
inces ; Rochefort, Delescluze, Pyat, Blanqui, Milliere, and Vic¬
tor Hugo sided with the Commune, though some of them left
it subsequently in disgust, and others were either slain in battle
or executed by the Versaillists when taken prisoners. Victor
Schoelcher, Saisset, and Lockroy attempted, but unsuccessfully,
to mediate between the insurgents and the Thiers government ;
and Louis Blanc, Quinet, and Tolain, with the last three, re¬
mained members of the Assembly.
There had existed for some years m most of the European
States an organization known as the ' International Association
of Workingmen," having its chapters or auxiliaries in each coun-
510
PAKI8 UNDER TITE COMMUNE ;
try. It was a less formidable and less revolutionary Association
than the Carbonari ; but seems to have had a mild tendency to
revolt. M. Assi,\the leading representative of the Association in
Paris, a weak-minded and half-crazy Frenchman, gave in his ad¬
hesion to the insurrection very early, and endeavored to rouse the
auxiliaries in other States to aid them ; but, probably from lack of
confidence in him, hardly any of them responded. Beyond the
popular favorites we have named, who had been elected members
of the National Assembly, there were many others : unsuccessful
military adventurers, or discontented lawyers, or workingmen
who aspired to the government of Paris, and through Paris
of all France: for it was a maxim of these reformers that they
and they only had the right to govern France ; that the ignorant
peasantry and bourgeoisie of the rural districts were incapable of
governing themselves, and needed to be controlled and managed
by the philosophers, visionaries, and adventurers of Paris. Seve¬
ral of these, like General Cluseret, of whom we had some
experience during the earlier portion of our own war ; General
Dombrowski, General Bergeret, General Duval, General Eudes,
General Granier, and General Brunei had been military adven¬
turers, most of them, as we should say, " Militia Generals " of no
very good reputation, but determined at this emergency to come
to the surface. Others of equal ambition, and no greater mental
calibre, like Blanqui, Greusset, Raoul Rigault, Felix Pyat,
Amouroux, Billioray, Vallès, and Courbet, had never been in
military life, but desired and obtained, for a very brief period,
prominent civil positions. But among them all there was no
man possessing any high order of talent—the capacity to rule—
which enabled him to take the lead and control these restless and
fickle masses by the power of his imperious will. Had there
been such a leader, the struggle would have been longer, fiercer,
and, in the end, more disastrous.
The sullen mood of the Parisians after the signing of the pre-
PROCLAMATION OP "THE COMMUNE" IN FRONT OP THE HOTFL DE VILLE.
CANNONS POINTED FROM MONTMARTRE TO SWEEP THE CITY OP PARIS.
SHOOTING OF GENERALS LECOAIPTE AND THOMAS,
OS, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871.
513
liminary treaty, and the departure of thè German troops from
Paris, on the 4th, 5th, and 6th of March, was ominous of a com¬
ing storm, and to M. Thiers, whom the Eeds openly denounced
as a traitor because he had signed the treaty, it must have been
anything but reassuring. He had, in the hope of pleasing them,
been so weak as to stipulate that the National Guard of Paria^
whom he knew to be disaffected, should be allowed to retain their
arms, man the forts, and be the protectors of order in Paris,
while the soldiers of the line in that city were required to surren¬
der all their arms. He had thus put into the hands of these
revolutionists weapons and power, which with an able leader
would have proved fatal to his authority.
: He proceeded, however, with the concurrence of the National
Assembly, to assign officers, both civil and military, to duty in
Paris, and on the 11th of March procured a vote for the removal
of the National Assambly, on the 20th of March, from Bourdeaux
to Versailles. t
As we have said elsewhere, the National Guards occupied forti¬
fied positions at Montmartre and Belleville, suburban districts
of the city, and they refused to leave these at M. Thiers' request.
Presently, under the influence of some of the demagogues whom
we have named, they began to make demands on the President.
General D'Aurelles de Paladines, a really brave and meritorious
officer, who had taken Orleans from the Germans in October, and
whom President Thiers had placed in command of the National
Guard, was not at all satisfactory to those Guards who had seen
little or no fighting, nor was General Vinoy, the second in com¬
mand, any more so. They demanded, then, ihat both should be
removed, and they should have thé privilege of choosing their
own commander. M. Thiers assigned General D'Aurelles to
duty elsewhere, and made General Vinoy chief,- but he could not,
of course, yield to them the election of their commander, and
they went away dissatisfied. Presently they returned with other
514
FABIS tTNDEB THB COMMUNE;
demands—they must be allowed their thirty sous a day wages fca
an indefinite period—it was so much easier to play soldier than
to work for a living. They demanded further that tliey should
be allowed to elect their own municipal officers, and that Jules
Ferry, a noisy demagogue, should be appointed Prefect of Paris
in place of the able M. Yalentin. They persistently refused to
give up their cannon meanwhile, and daily fortified their position
on the heights of Montmartre. Louis Blanc, Yictor Schoelcher,
and Admiral Saisset, all recognized as Radicals, visited them and
endeavored to act as mediators ; but so far were they from relax¬
ing any of their demands, or making any concessions, that they
daily grew more imperious and insolent.
M. Thiers was in a critical position. His authority must be
maintained and no large concessions made, or all was lost ; yet he
eould not tell how far he could rely upon the loyalty of his troops,
themselves National Guards or Volunteers, in a conflict with
these insubordinate National Guards ; and yet until the soldiers of
the regular army, who were prisoners in Germany, could return,
he had no other dependence but these troops of doubtful loyalty.
Then, too, if an insurrection commenced among these " working-
men," would it be confined to Paris ? Would not Marseilles and
Lyons, Havre, Toulouse, Toulon, Bourdeaux, Nantes, and the other
large cities rise also ?
He temporized as long as it was possible, insisting each day
that the Guards should relinquish their fortifications on the
heights of Montmartre, and surrender their cannon, as a condition
precedent to further concessions on his park
At length, finding them determined not to obey, and satisfied
that further delay was ruinous, he caused General Yinoy, on the
night of March 17th, to post a cordon of troops around the
heights of Montmartre, and plant mitrailleuses at the approaches.
At an early hour on the morning of March 18th the insurgents
were summoned to surrender ; important positions were occupied,
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
515
and the grins of the revolted suburban National Guards were
abo it to be removed, when the soldiers began to yield to popular
clamors and entreaties, and soon all bonds of discipline were
loosened, the mitrailleuses abandoned by the artillerists, the
officers deserted by their men, and the revolters, aided by
National Guards from other quarters, became masters of the situ¬
ation at Montmartre, as well as at Belleville and La Villette.
Thus re-enforced, the insurgents turned at once upon the officers
and the remnant of Republican troops which remained loyal to
the Government. General Surville was killed, General Yinoy
was pelted by a mob, General Paturel was wounded, and Gen¬
erals D'Aurelles de Paladines, Clément Thomas, and Lecomte,
and subsequently also General Chanzv, who was most brutally
beaten and maltreated, were taken prisoners. General Faron
was surrounded, but, his detachment of troops remaining faith¬
ful, succeeded in cutting his way through. Other detachments,
refusing to fight, withdrew to the left bank of the Seine, and
after a short time the Hôtel de Yille, the general headquarters
of the National Guards of the capital, the ministries, the mayor¬
alties, and the prefecture of police were in the hands of the in¬
surgents, the bulk of the National Guards remaining passive;
and all the members of the Government, with the undisbanded
remnants of the public force, finally withdrew to Versailles.
The headquarters of the insurrection before this triumph were
in the Rue des Rosiers, Montmartre, where a " Central Rev¬
olutionary Committee," subsequently superseded by the "Na¬
tional Guards Committee," had established itself in a public gar¬
den. Before that revolutionary body, composed, as it seems, of
men of little note, as no names are mentioned, the captive gen¬
erals were brought. Two of these, Clément Thomas and Le¬
comte, were after a brief trial, worthy of the days of Septem¬
ber, 1792, condemned to suffer death as traitors to the Republic,
and " taken out and shot." " All accounts say they died bravely."
33
516
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
The last words of the brave and liberal-minded Clément
Thomas, who but a few weeks before commanded the largest
body of the defenders of Paris, under Trochu, is reported to
have been, " Cowards ! " The fate of Chanzy was left un
decided.
General Yinoy, who was at the head of the Government troops,
escaped the clutches of the executioners, and succeeded in reor¬
ganizing a portion of the forces under his command. Consterna¬
tion and stupefaction reigned in Paris, and the revolutionists
were left to do their work unchecked, although the press next
morning mustered courage enough to brand the proceedings as
atrocious and fatal to the republican liberty of France. Men of
prominence fled the capital, various quarters of which were
strongly barricaded. All approaches to it were ultimately
closed, and some of the forts occupied by the Nationals.
On the next day Yinoy withdrew his troops, a miserable rem¬
nant, to the left bank of the Seine, and awaited further develop¬
ments ; while the insurgents manned the defences of Paris and
took possession of all its inner line of forte.
The position was critical, and had the Reds at this time pos¬
sessed a leader of any ability they might have effected almost irre¬
parable mischief ; but, fortunately, there were too many aspirants
for the command, and not one of them possessed any capacity for
ruling. " The National Guard Committee," having taken posses¬
sion of the Hôtel de Yille (the City Hall of Paris), issued procla¬
mations thick and fast. In one of these they extolled their late
action, declaring that it was done " in defence of the Arch of
the Liberties of the Republic—the only government that can
close the era of invasion and civil war ; " in another they modestly
declared to the people of Paris, "We have driven out the Govern¬
ment which betrayed us. Our mission is fulfilled, and we now
report to you." In another, issued the same day (March 21), they
decree immediate elections for the Commune ; and in still
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
517
another, announce that they have sent their ultimatum to the
Versaillists, demanding as the price of peace and harmony the
appointment of Langlois as Commander-in-chief of the National
Guards, of Dorian as Mayor of Paris, of Billault as Commander
of the Army of the Seine, and of Jules Ferry as Prefect of Po¬
lice.
The elections, which were little more than a farce, took place
very quietly on the 26th, but less than 200,000 out of 500,000
voters cast their ballots. Four days previously there was a riot
and massacre of a considerable number of unoffending people.
Attempts at reconciliation had been made by the Versailles Gov¬
ernment, and from an unwillingness to shed blood, and an uncer¬
tainty in regard to the position of other cities, and the sympathies
of the army in relation to the insurrection, M. Thiers had
offered greater concessions than he ought ; but the insurgents were
not to be placated ; all overtures looking toward reconciliation
were rejected, and even their own ultimatum repudiated.
Troops from the departments were coming in, and the soldiers
of the line, who had been prisoners of war, were returning, and
were eager to put down the insurrection. The condition of the
Government at Versailles was daily improving, that of the many-
headed despotism at the Hôtel de Ville was constantly growing
worse.
On the evening before the election the " Committee of the Na¬
tional Guard " prepared, and early the next morning issued, two
or three more proclamations, one of which declared that the Gov¬
ernment at Versailles, after having betrayed Paris, was intent on
betraying the Republic ; another promulgated the falsehood that
the Due d'Aumale had been appointed Lieutenant-General of the
kingdom. A third, giving counsel to the voters, was more
adroitly and carefully worded : in it the Committee stated that
they were about to resign their functions into the hands of the
newly elected council, and exhorted the bitizens in the selection
518
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
of representatives to distrust ambitious men. who advise the peo¬
ple only in their own interest—" those talkers who are unable to
pass from words to acts, and who will sacrifice everything to
speech, an oratorical effect, or a clever word," and " those whom
fortune has too greatly favored." " Seek men " (the proclamation
added) " with sincere convictions ; men of the people, resolute
and active, who are well known for their sense of justice and
honesty. Give your preference to those who do not canvass for
your suffrages; the only true merit is modesty; it is for the
electors to know their men, not for the candidates themselves to
come forward." ,
This was very good advice, but both those who gave it and those
to whom it was gi ven did not desire that it should be taken too
literally. While there was no considerable • disturbance during
the elections, there were not wanting insane men like General
Lullier, and restless and ambitious destructives like General Clu-
seret, who went about haranguing the crowds, and endeavoring to
stir them up to insurrection.
The elections, of course, resulted in large majorities for the Red
Republican leaders, who had hitherto kept in the background and
controlled the ostensible Committee of Thirty,who, under one name
or another, had had the reputation of governing. These leaders,
Blanqui, Felix Pyat, Delescluze, Assi, Flourens, and Yerinorel,
were mostly elected, and on Tuesday, the 28th of March, "the Com¬
mune," as these leaders called their government, was proclaimed in
the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, where a platform covered with red
cloth had been erected, on which was placed a bust representing
the Republic, wearing the Phrygian cap of liberty ornamented
with red ribbon. Round the platform and in the square, tricolor
and red flags were hoisted. The members of the Communal
Council delivered speeches, which nobody heard. The square,
the Rue de Rivoli for a considerable distance, the adjoining
quays, aâjd the Boulevard de Sebastopol were crowded with Na-
NATIONAL GUARDS ON THE STAIRWAY OF MARS IN THE HOTEL DE VILLE.
THE TUILLERIES AND CARDEN.
OB, THE KED EEBELLION OF 1871.
521
tional Guards, who several times in the course of the proceedings
raised their caps in the air on the points of their bayonets, and
uttered tremendous shouts of " Long live the Republic ! " Salvos
of artillery were fired from a battery on the quay. In the evening
the members ctf the Commune, 106 in number, assembled at the
Hôtel de Ville, and separated at midnight without having come
to any understanding, in consequence of the violent character of
some of the propositions advanced. A banquet was served them
by lackeys in grand livery, and the splendid service of plate of
the Hôtel de Ville was brought out. The Commune made a fur¬
ther requisition on the Bank of France, and obtained an advance
to the amount of 500,000 francs. The Bank removed near to the
Imperial printing-office, with the view, it is believed, of facilitat¬
ing the issue of a paper currency. The Director-General of the
Post-office declined to surrender his office on the demand of the
Commune, and threatened, if removed, to send the mail wagons
to Versailles. The employés were placed under the surveillance
of the Hôtel de Ville. The red flag was hoisted on all the pubb'c
buildings in Paris, and additional precautions were adopted
against a surprise of the Commune from the direction of Ver¬
sailles.
The programme of the " Commune," as laid down by it® leaders,
was : First, the compilation of a charter, such as in old times had
been propounded by the friends of freedom, which should guar¬
antee the municipal autonomy of Paris. Paris, it was further de¬
clared, should be federated with the communes of the other large
towns of France by a treaty, which the National Assembly should
be called upon to accept. If the Assembly accepted this, the
" representatives of the national unity " should impose upon the
Assembly the promulgation of an electoral law, " by which the
representatives of the town shall not for the future be absorbed,
and, as it were, drowned by the representatives of the country
district®."
522
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE
Wliile " the Commune " was thus preparing to seize the su¬
preme authority and rule all France in its anarchical way, as
Paris had ruled it through the past, how did the other cities and
departments stand affected toward the Thiers Government?
Were they ready to follow the lead of these Parisian anarchists?
The first reports seemed to threaten danger from these places,
but subsequent accounts showed that the disturbance was com¬
paratively trifling. At Lyons the excitement was short, and
order was completely re-established in a few hours. At Marseilles
the Commune was proclaimed on the 25th, and the Prefect,
Mayor, and local Commandant were made prisoners without
bloodshed ; the city was declared in a state of siege, and business
was at a stand-still. In a few days, however, order was restored
and the power of the Government re-established. At St. Etienne
the insurgents took possession of the Hôtel de Yille on Friday
night, but it was afterwards retaken by the authorities with the
assistance of the National Guards, and the city was reported
quiet. At Perpignan an attempt at a rising was made >n Mon¬
day evening. The rioters kept the Colonel and Mayor in custody
for a short time, but on perceiving the attitude of the great
majority of the inhabitants, they released their prisoners and
attempted to escape. The disturbance was at an end. At Tou¬
louse the Commune was proclaimed, but M. Thiers, in a circular
to the prefects, stated that M. de Kératry, who had been stopped
at Agen, entered Toulouse on Monday, and dispersed the revolu¬
tionary commune. Five hundred men, aided by the citizens, were
said to have been sufficient for the purpose of restoring order.
Throughout the remainder of France there was no disturbance.
" The Commune " at-Paris was, meanwhile, carrying matters with
a high hand. All prisoners, except those who had offended against
the Commune, were set free ; the duty of assassinating all princes
and kings was publicly proclaimed ; policemen weie no longer to
be employed, and the papers of the police office were burned,
OB, THE BED EEBELLION OP 1871.
523
thus destroying the evidence against criminals of all sorts. It
was directed that no one in any office in Paris should obey any
instructions from Versailles. It was furthermore ordered that
the rent for the last three quarters up to April should be wholly
remitted. Whoever had paid any of these three quarters should
have the right of setting that sum against future payments. The
same law was to prevail in the case of furnished apartments.
No notice to quit coming from landlords was to be valid for three
months to come. Sales of pawned articles were suspended. It
was forbidden to post notices on the walls of Paris emanating
from Versailles.
Conscription was abolished, but every able-bodied citizen was
ordered to enter the Guard ; the title of Commander-in-Chief
was prohibited, and the red flag of the Universal Republic was
made the flag of the Commune. Eudes, an adventurer who had
been the leader of a riot at La Villette in August, 1870, was ap¬
pointed Delegate Minister of War ; Bergeret, a printer of the city,
Chief of Staff ; and Duval, whose previous employment had been
that of chief claqueur at the theatres, Military Commander, Pre¬
fect of Police, and Judge. Duval and Bergeret were to organize
immediately twenty-five battalions of infantry and fifteen
mitrailleuse batteries for active service, and twenty batteries of
reserve artillery. They were empowered for this purpose to make
all needful requisitions. The Bank of France was "persuaded"
to make the necessary advances, and a number of officials in the
v '
Department of Finance were dismissed for disobedience.
The Sub-Central Committee appointed from the Communal
Council of 106 elected on the 26th, seemed to be full of busi¬
ness, and found it necessary to delegate some of its duties to an
Executive Committee, composed of Duval, Bergeret, Eudes, Pyat,
and Vaillant. A part of their work consisted in imprisoning and
jondenming to death all who were not of their way of thinking and
acting. Two of the members of the Committee itself were thrown
524
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE Î
into prison, and another condemned to death as a Bonapartist
Wilfrid Fonvielle, a brother of Ulric Fonvielle, the companion
of Yictor Noir in his fatal visit to Pierre Bonaparte a year before,
was sentenced to death on suspicion of an attempt to aid his
brother in organizing a body of loyal guards at St. Germain.
Death was denounced by these men against all who would not
declare their adherence to the " Commune." The Postal Director
was summoned to surrender his functions to an appointee of the
Commune, but refused, and the affair resulted in the total dis¬
organization of the service. The judicial benches were deserted,
all the judges having fled. A general exodus of the wealthier
people of the city began. The workshops were closed, the opera¬
tives being engaged in the more important business of playing at
National Guards and governing Paris.
But both the Executive Committee and the Sub-Central Com¬
mittee found their duties too onerous, and on the 30th of March
surrendered them to the Commune, and the Communal Council
selected and appointed a new Executive Committee, consisting of
Gustave Fburens, Pyat, Eudes, Delescluze, and several other
members of the Council who had no previous notoriety.
OB. the bed rebellion of 1871.
525
CHAPTER XVII.
The Administration of the Commune in April.—Its Constant
Changes.—Its Horrible Doctrines, Gross Cruelties, and
Utter Corruption.
The government at Versailles was fast regaining its confidence
and power. Day after day new bodies of troops came in, either
the National Guards from the provinces, who were not infected
with Communism, or, better still, the soldiers of the regular
army now returning from Germany, where they had been detained
as prisoners of war. President Thiers was, however, disposed to
be cautious in his movements ; the failure of the attempt on
Montmartre had shown him that National Guards were but a
poor dependence, and knowing the fickleness of Frenchmen, and
their liability to be influenced by various motives, he preferred
to temporize with them, and to make use of the means at his
command for bringing them to a reconciliation without further
bloodshed. His government had nothing to lose by this delay,
while it was likely to prove fatal to the insurgents. As we shall
see by and by, too, he knew his countrymen so well that he had
strong faith in his power of corrupting the leaders of the insur¬
rection, and procuring, by means of money, a victory which,
if less honorable, would be also less destructive than one won in
the battle-field. Meantime he neglected no measures within his
power for crippling the strength of the insurgents. He had
inflicted a very severe blow upon them by the arrest and confine¬
ment in the prison at Figiac of their master-spirit, Blanqui,
which he effected on the 19th of March, and he had assured
himself of the loyalty of the troops who still held Fort Mont
526
PARIS UNDER TIIE COMMUNE ;
Valérien, the strongest of the suburban fortresses of Paris, and
the one which guarded the only possible route from Paris to
Versailles.
The insurgents had expected that the Versailles Government
would renew the fight at once, and were puzzled by the delay.
At length they came to the conclusion that it was prompted by
fear of their prowess, and they resolved to march at once to
Versailles, and demand that Blanqui should be released, or they
would put the Assembly to death at once. Some of the leaders
were in favor of breaking up " the insurgent government," as they
called it, whatever conditions they might offer. In this march
they must, as we have said, pass Fort Mont Valérien, but as they
had not yet been fired upon by it, and the garrison treated them
with apparent indifference, they concluded, without evidence,
that they were really their friends. The movement began on
Sunday, April 2d, with the sending some battalions of National
Guards (the Commune's troops) to occupy Courbevoie and
Puteaux, suburban villages to the northeast of Fort Mont Valé¬
rien, but near enough to be raked by its fire ; but as the com¬
mandant did not fire upon them, their belief in his friendliness
was confirmed. General' Vinoy, on being informed of this
advance of the insurgents, sent a division from the army of Ver¬
sailles to meet them.
A captain of gendarmerie (police), who was sent forward with
a flag of truce, was fired upon by the Communists and killed,
and their skirmishers also began to fire upon the patrols and
vedettes of the Versailles army. An artillery fire was then
opened by the Government troops upon the National Guards,
who, after a brief engagement, were completely routed, and
retired in disorder across the bridge of Nenilly, across the Seine,
into Paris.
The news of this defeat caused great excitement in Paris, and
not a little anxiety at the Hôtel de Ville, the Communist Com-
GUSTAVE FLOUJtENS.
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
529
mittec not knowing what might be the intentions of the military
chiefs at Yersailles. Preparations were immediately made for
renewing the fight next day. Camps were improvised in the
open spaces within the city, and towards dawn on Monday morn¬
ing, the 3d instant, the Communist forces again advanced from
the city to the number of about 100,000, in three columns, the
left marching by Châtillon, south of Paris, the right by Neuilly
and Clichy, northwest of the city, and the centre by the Point du
Jour, southwest, on the direct road to Yersailles. They were
commanded by General Bergeret, a printer, and perfectly desti¬
tute of military knowledge ; General Duval, late a claqueur (hired
applauder) at the Theatre Beaumarchais, and General Flourens
was left at Neuilly with a reserve. The three columns were to
converge upon Yersailles, the object of attack. Under the
impression that Mont Yalérien would not fire upon them, they
advanced close up under the guns of the fort, and when the com¬
mandant, who left them undeceived as long as possible, and
allowed a large number to march by unmolested to ïf ant erre and
Beuil, west and northwest of the fortress, at last opened fire, the
National Guards were taken by surprise and thrown into utter
confusion. A large number returned to Paris, crying out that
they were betrayed ! This retreat began before eight o'clock,
and continued some hours. The rappel was beaten to collect
reinforcements, but was little responded to. Meantime, those
who had passed beyond Yalérien found their retreat unexpect¬
edly cut off by the fire of its guns. General Flourens, who went
to the rescue, was killed early in the fight, and General Duval
about the same time. The left wing of the insurgents, which
was massed before and around the forts of Issy and Yanvres,
made the most stubborn fight, as it appears that at this point the
contest lasted nearly all day, but the Government troops were
ultimately victorious. The right wing, under BeYgeret, was cut
*
in two by the fire of Fort Mont Yalérien, and that portion (f it
530
PARIS UNDER TIIE COMMUNE;
which had passed beyond the fort to Nanterre and Reuil, about
15,000 in number, were taken prisoners. The losses of the left
wing in the vicinity of Châtillon and Meudon were very heavy,
two thousand under General Henry being captured, and in the
whole battle four or five thousand slain. On Tuesday, April 4t.h,
Vinoy again attacked such of the insurgent troops as were out¬
side of the fortifications, driving Bergeret and the remnant of
his command northward toward Colombes and Gennevilliers, and
routing them with heavy loss.
During these three days of fighting, the Government troops
showed none of that sympathy with the insurgents which Presi¬
dent Thiers had feared and the Commune had hoped for.
They cursed and ridiculed the prisoners, exhibiting no compas¬
sion even for the badly wounded, and whenever a man was found
among them wearing the uniform of the regular army he was
immediately shot down as a traitor. On Tuesday night the in¬
surgents were driven out of Châtillon (south of Paris), and on
Wednesday tried in vain to retake it, but were repulsed with
considerable loss. They occupied the forts of Issy and Yanvres,
and from these fired with considerable effect upon the Govern¬
ment troops.
On the night of Wednesday, thé 5th, the Parisians made ai.
attack on the bridge of Sèvres, on the Seine, southwest of Paris,
held by a detachment of the Yersailles army, but were repulsed.
On the following day considerable cannonading took place be¬
tween the southern forts, Montrougé, Ivry, Bicêtre, and Charen-
ton, and batteries erected by the Government troops at Châtillon,
and positions farther east. The Government forces also made a
vigorous assault on the insurgents at Courbevoie and Neuilly, and,
aided by the fire of Fort Mont Yalérien, pressed them back
towards the Seine, at the same time baffling the attempts of Ber-
geret's troops to pierce their lines and return to Paris.
On Friday, the 7th, fighting was resumed by the Yersailles
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
533
army at Neuilly, northwest of the city, with renewed vigor. The
insurgents were forced to retire behind the bridge over the
Seine, which is here very wide, which' they barricaded. The
assailants then shelled and demolished the barricades, inflicting
heavy loss on the defenders, and throwing them into temporary
disorder. The latter succeeded, however, in extricating their
cannon, and took up sheltered positions on the east bank of the
Seine. After an artillery duel from the opposite banks, the Ver¬
sailles troops pushed across the bridge, and, in spite of new barri¬
cades erected in their way on the Neuilly avenue, and a brisk fire
from the guns of the Paris ramparts, ultimately drove the insur¬
gents out of the suburb and compelled them to retreat to the
foot of the enceinte, or city ramparts. The Versailles Govern¬
ment states the loss of the Parisians to have been immense, but
admits that its own was serious, and names three of its generals
among the killed and wounded. The chief command was held
by Marshal MacMahon, and the whole army of investment was
divided into four corps, of which one was in reserve, under Gen¬
eral Vinoy. Who commanded the insurgents in the engagements
of the 6th and 7th, is not stated. Subsequently, however, we find
a Pole, Jaroslas Dombrowski, " appointed to succeed General
Bergeret in command of the National Guard," the latter hav¬
ing been "arrested for military failure and insubordination."
On Saturday, the 8th, Fort Mont Valérien and the advanced
batteries of the Versailles army began the bombardment of the
Maillot Gate, of the enceinte, between Neuilly and the Arc de
l'Etoile, their shells falling beyond the latter, in the Champs.
Élysées. The cannonade was continued throughout the day, dur¬
ing the night, and also all Sunday, brisk firing being simulta¬
neously kept up between the southern forts and the position»
opposite them. Everywhere the Government troops gained
ground. They advanced almost to the enceinte, occupying
Boulogne, Sablonville and Longchamps. The drawbridge and?
534
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE J
Iloor of tho Maillot Gate were broken. The Nationals momen¬
tarily evacuated the Champs Flysées, seeking shelter in the adja¬
cent streets. Subsequently, however, they reinforced their artil¬
lery at tho Maillot Gate, as well as at tho adjoining Porte des
Ternes, and threw up huge barricades in the Champs Ely sees,
the Place de la Concorde, and their environs, opened a cannonade
upon Courbevoio and Puteaux, and made some desperate sorties
to the south and southwest. Thovsouthern parts of the city were,
even on Monday, the 10th, so much annoyed by the bombardment
directed against Forts Montrougc, Issy, and Yanvres, that an elec¬
tion appointed for that dajT, to fill vacancies in the Commune,
had to bo postponed. At the western gates, however, the fire
slackened on Monday, and the Yersailles troops fell back to some
distance, MacMahon determining to make the main attack on the
city from the southwest, with the co-operation of a flotilla of
iron-clad gunboats on the Seine. On the 11th of April the insur¬
gents were in possession of Asnières, near Courbevoie, on the
west bank of the river, northwest of the city.
While this severe but not wholly decisive fighting was in pro¬
gress, and for a week or two subsequent, the " Commune " was
indulging itself in a reign of terror which, in the atrocity of its
horrors, surpassed the ever-memorable infamies of the epoch of
the First Revolution; Blan.qui was not released by the Yei-sailles
Government. Assi, the representative of the International Associ¬
ation of Workingmen, had fallen under the ban of bis colleagues
of the Commune as not radical enough, and with Gauibon and
Borgcrct, poor fellow, who tried to be a general when he was
■only a printer, was thrown into the Mazas prison. Twenty-two
other members of the Commune, out of one hundred and six in all,
had been driven to resign, as not sufficiently advanced in then- ideas.
Gustave Cluscret, a French adventurer, dishonored and degraded
from the army some years before, and for a time, with a horde
of other adventurers, foisted upon our army in our civil wai ;
gexebal clusebet.
OR, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871.
subsequently the editor of an abusive sheet in New York and in
Paris, a malcontent promoting insurrection in the Franco-Ger¬
man war, now seized control, and as Minister of "War, proceeded
to issue decrees which were simply fiendish in their character.
Take the following specimen from the Journal Officiel (the organ
of the Commune) of April 5 (we omit the preambles) :—
The Commune of Paris Decrees :
Article I.—Every person suspected of complicity with the Government
of Versailles shall be immediately brought up for examination and impris¬
onment.
Art. II,—A Jury of Accusation will be organized witliin twenty-four
hours, to take cognizance of the crimes which are referred to them.
Art. III.—The jury will remain in session forty-eight horn's.
Art. TV.—All the accused retained in consequence of the verdict of the
Jury of Accusation shall be the hostages of the people of Paris.
Art. V.—Every execution of a prisoner of war (i. e. by the Versailles
Government or its army), or of a partisan of the regular government of the
Commune of Paris, shall be, upon the spot, followed by the execution of
three times the number of the hostages retained in virtue of Art. TV. ; and
these shall be designated by lot.
Art. VI.—Every prisoner of war shall be brought before the Jury of
Accusation, who will decide whether he shall be immediately set at liberty
or retained as a hostage.
Under these infamous decrees many thousands of the best citi¬
zens of Paris were arrested and imprisoned, and those who could
do so made haste to escape from the city, 120,000 leaving within
the next three days. The malignity of the Communist leaders
seemed specially directed against the clergy, who did not sympa- ,
thize with their doctrines or practices. The venerable Archbishop
of Paris, a man greatly beloved for his kindness to the poor and
suffering, and who had during the siege labored incessantly for
the sick and wounded National Guards and soldiers, was arrested
under these decrees on the 6th of April, with his sister and about
seventy priests, the most prominent in the city. The nuns of the
538
PAEIS UNDUE THE COMMUNE ;
different convents and the Sisters of Charity were sent to the
prisons, and no position or station in society, high or low, was safe
from suspicion, which led to instant incarceration, and very often
to foul murder. The houses of " aristocrats " and churches were
pillaged. All men between the ages of seventeen and thirty-
five, then all unmarried citizens, and finally all between nineteen
and forty were called under arms, and domiciliary search was
made for the fugitives. The " International Aid Society for the
Care of the Wounded," an International Sanitary Commission,
which during the war had accomplished a vast amount of good,
and was now, with its ambulances, its field hospitals, its surgeons,
nurses, and attendants, bestowing its tender care on the wounded
in the battles which had already taken place, and making*god -
the notorious deficiency in the medical service of the Communal
Army, was dissolved by Cluseret's order; its stores of wine,
brandies, medicines, and food seized and turned over to the Com¬
mune, its funds confiscated, and its surgeons and nurses insulted
and imprisoned. Each day witnessed some new outrage on prop¬
erty, life, or morals ; and growing bolder with each hour's impu-
lity, they speedily evolved the cardinal articles of their creed,
xhich were neither more nor less than these : The total denial of
the existence of God and of a future life, the prevention of any
religious-observances, and the treatment of priests and ministers
as impostors ; the abolition of marriage, and the substitution of
temporary connections, based on the inclination of either of the
parties ; the rearing and education of children by the Commune
/is in a vast foundling hospital ; the outlawry of all persons not
living by the labor of their hands, or, in other words, the creation
of an aristocracy of ouvriers ; the expulsion of the literary or
educated class from all places of trust or dignity ; the substitu¬
tion of " natural justice " in the courts of law for all artificial
lystems of jurisprudence; the appropriation of all property to
public use, and the provision of labor for all persons able to labor,
OK, THE BED REBELLION OF 18TL J,3<>
and support for those who were not able, out of the public purse.
Is it possible to conceive of any state of society which would
more nearly resemble pandemonium than one thus organized ?
Will it be credited that this infamous monster Cluseret, while
thus setting all law and order,' human and divine, at defiance,
was all the time endeavoring to negotiate with M. Thiers' agents
for the betrayal of Paris to the, Versailles Government !
Marshal MacMahon, who, on his return from Germany, had
been assigned to the chief command of the Government army,
took the field on Monday, April 10, and found that the troops of
the Commune were pushing Out on the northwest of the city to
Asnières, Neuilly, and even their advances as far as Colombes,
with the view of operating against the left flank of his army. He
directed his main attention to these points, and to the relief of a
small detachment of his troops who were on the island of Grand
Jatte, in the Seine, opposite Neuilly, which the insurgents were
trying to drive back toward Fort Mont Valérien. At the same
time he maintained his position at Châtillon, and thus held a con¬
siderable portion of the troops of the Commune at the south of
the city. His special efforts were directed, so far as immediate
aggressive warfare was concerned, to driving back the Communal
troops from Neuilly inside the ramparts, and thus gaining the op¬
portunity of bombarding and breaching the Porte de Maillot (the
Maillot gate) into the city, the weakest and most exposed point
of its western defences. The western and southern sides of Paris
were much stronger than the northern and eastern, as the Ger¬
mans had found to their cost ; but the necessity of protecting
Versailles and the Assembly made it impossible for MacMahon to
attack elsewhere, and so stubborn was the resistance he met with
that he deemed it best to content himself with holding his position
and repelling advances until the reinforcements, now hastening to
his assistance, could be brought up.
The record of the next eight or ten days, then, was one of con-
540
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE J
tinuous but not very vigorous fighting, and without material re¬
sult. The Communist troops did not wholly abandon Àsnières,
though they drew back from Colombes ; they did not evacuate
Neuilly, but they could not drive the Government troops from the
island of Grand Jatte, and whenever they attempted to move for
ward the heavy guns of Fort Mont Valérien were trained 01
them with such effect that they recoiled. On the south of the
city the Government troops held Châtillon firmly, and though
Forts Issy andTanvres, manned by the Communists, bombarded
it almost constantly, they made very little impression and rarely
elicited any reply. Cluseret claimed victories for the Commu¬
nists, but even his own troops did not believe his proclamations.
MacMahon boasted of no victories, but claimed what was true—
that he was holding his own.
This state of things was improved on both sides by overtures
for compromise, publicly made, and by Cluseret by private offers
of surrender on the payment of 2,500,000 francs to him person¬
ally. All negotiations, however, failed. President Thiers was
willing to concede to the Parisians an elective self-govern¬
ment, subject, however, to the general government of France,
and even to allow the National Guards to be the sole defenders
and military force of the city,—a very unwise concession,—but he
would not in any way recognize the Commune or its leaders.
These, on their side, demanded recognition, and refused to be
satisfied with his concessions, their appetite growing with what it
fed upon. Cluseret's private offer was rejected, probably from
the conviction that he could not make the delivery which he
promised.
After the lamented failure of the valiant printer-general, Berge
ret, a Polish adventurer, Jaroslas Dombrowski, who had been suc¬
cessively a Russian subaltern, a leader in a gang of counterfeiters, a
prisoner sentenced to the Ural mines, a Russian police pimp, and a
Prussian spy, was promoted to the chief command of the Com-
OB, THE BED EEBELLION OF 1871. 541
muniflt forces, and, though subsequently deprived of this position,
managed to retain a prominent place till the downfall of the
Commune.
Under his direction the Communists had erected considerable
defensive works at Asnières, consisting mainly of huge barri¬
cades, on which they had mounted mitrailleuses. These works
were destined mainly to cover the various approaches to the
bridge over the Seine, which they held. Having no cavalry, how¬
ever, the insurgents could not reconnoitre, and were ignorant of
the fact that MacMahon's troops had erected heavy batteries
against them at G-ennevilliers and Colombes, north and northwest
of Asnieres. These opened suddenly a terrible fire upon their
right flank and front on the 18th, while two attacking columns
advanced against their positions. The Parisians answered the
cross-fire only by one volley from their mitrailleuses, and soon
began a hasty retreat across the Seine. General Dombrowski
sent for reinforcements and vigorously renewed the contest, lead¬
ing a desperate assault in person, but in vain. They were forced
from their positions on the left bank with heavy loss.
The Versailles troops did not occupy Asnières at this time, but
intrenched themselves west of it, on the railroad leading to Co¬
lombes, thus securing their left flank in their subsequent opera¬
tions on Neuilly. On the 20th of April the Government troops
made an assault upon Neuilly, and carried nearly half the barrir
cades erected by the Communists, capturing their cannon, and
driving them back toward the Maillot Gate. The fighting was
very severe, but the Communists still retained a part of their de¬
fences, and held with great tenacity their position before the
gate. The Versailles troops now resolved to return to their
former plan of bombarding their barricades, the gat<\ and the
city within the ramparts, from Fort Mont Valérien and their
other batteries, having, with the approval and assistance vf the
Prussians, cut off all supplies from Paris. Pursuing this policy
542 PARIS UNDER TUE COMMUNE ;
in regard to the western defences of the city, they now turned
their chief attention to the southern defences of it, and especially
against the Forts Issy, Yanvres, and Montrouge, which had suf¬
fered so severely from the Prussian fire during the siege, but had
since been repaired. A furious bombardment was opened against
them on Wednesday, April 26, and continued throughout the
night, with particular damage to Fort Issy. The barracks of
this fort were destroyed, its fire silenced, and a breach made in
the walls. On the morning of the 27th, Les Moulineaux, a vil¬
lage in its close vicinity, which offered an important new position,
was carried by the assailants. In the night of the 29th they car¬
ried a park and several buildings situated but a few hundred
paces from the intrenchments, whereupon the defenders of the
fort, half of whose guns were- dismouuted, were seized with a
sudden panic, mutinied, and most of them fled. Cluseret, in the
morning, hastened to the front, and succeeded in having the fort
reoccupied by fresh troops, under command of General La Cecilia,
an Italian adventurer whom he had brought into the Service. The
new garrison, exposed to a raking fire, was strongly disposed to
capitulate, but was prevented from doing so by some of its more
zealous officers, and by the failure of a plot for its betrayal by
some of the worthless adventurers placed in important commands
by the leaders of the Commune.
Meanwhile Cluseret's race was run : the Executive Committee
of the Commune, dissatisfied with his grand promises and his
meagre performance, terror-stricken at the peril in which their
southern defences were placed, and very possibly informed of the
attempts he had been making to sell out the city to the Versail-
lists (though almost any of them would have done the same), re¬
moved him from office, but did not imprison him, as they did at
this time Assi, the' representative of the International Society,
who had once before fallen under their displeasure, and Raoul
Rigault, their late delegate for Public Safety, or Chief of Po-
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
543
lice, who waa suspected, perhaps unjustly, of treachery. General
Rossel, another adventurer, but, like Cluseret, of French birth,
succeeded to the Ministry of War, but held it for only ten days—
long enough, however, to attempt to sell Forts Issy and Vanvres
to the Versailles government, making the atrocious proposition to
give up twelve or fourteen thousand of the Communist troops to
be butchered, without means of defence, if only he might receive
a million of francs for his treachery.
At the end of April, then, the Versailles army had made ma¬
terial progress, and could look forward hopefully to more. They
had not yet entered Paris, nor was that doomed city quite
surfeited by the experiences it had had of the rule of rep¬
robates who still held sway, but there was room for hope that
under their vigorous blows the rule of the mob would soon come
to an end. This hope was realized, but at a most fearful cost.
SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES.
544
paris under the commune;
CHAPTER XVIH.
A brief armistice occurred on the 1st and 2d of May, during
negotiations for the surrender of Fort d'Issy; but these nego¬
tiations failing, in consequence of the unwillingness of Mac-
Malion to pay a large sum to those who were willing to betray a
fort wliich it was evident must soon be his at only the cost of a
little longer bombardment, the bombardment was renewed on the
3d, and extensive batteries erected at Gennevilliers, on the north¬
west of the city, soon made Neuilly and the Maillot Gate unten¬
able for the Communists, who were driven back into the city.
The whole north-west, west, and south-west sides, and most of the
south side of the city were invested by a line of heavy batteries,
which were fast making breachès in the walls, and making havoc
with the dwellings and public buildings in those sections of the
city. On the morning of May 9th Fort d'Issy was captured, a
considerable portion of its garrison escaping by way of the cata¬
combs, where considerable numbers perished miserably. Fort
Vanvres held out for a few days longer, and meanwhile a severe
bombardment of Auteuil and Point du Jour, from the batteries of
Montretout and Brimborion, was maintained, which told with
frightful effect on the ramparts and on the dwellings of the west
side of Paris.
It had become evident by this ti&e to reflecting men, both in
and out of the city, that the Commune had bui a very brief exist¬
ence before it ; that in two or three weeks at the farthest the
eitv must be in the hands of the Versailles troops, and that those
who had been the leaders in this insurrection, and many of those
who had participated in it, must escape or lose their heads. The
arrest of the archbishop by the communists.
the fight at courbevoie.
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
547
leaders themselves, however, would not acknowledge any appre¬
hension. They were gaining victories every day, and intemper¬
ance, debauchery, licentiousness, and murder ran riot in the city
as they had done hitherto. Never had vice of all descriptions
been so bold and unblushing as it was now. Scenes were hourly
enacted which would have brought a blush to the face of the
lowest Ilottentot. The women of the ouvrière class, as well as
those more openly lost to shame, toolc part in the military move¬
ments, and mingled everywhere with the National Guards ; and
though they did not encourage them in genuine acts of bravery,
they made them more insubordinate and restless, and more
demonlike in their conduct. The National Guards were, in fact,
becoming almost worthless as troops ; tlicy would not obey their
officers, erected barricades wherever they chose, without any ref¬
erence to their availability for purposes of defence, and, wliile
constantly clamoring for reinforcements, they would run from the
points they were set to defend, upon the slightest symptoms of a
close or severe action.
After the fall of Fort d'lssy, General Kossel, whose efforts to
sell the city to M. Thiers for a large - sum, to be paid to him in
person, had failed of success, sent a communication to the Com¬
mune tendering his resignation as commander-in-chief of the
insurgent forces. In this communication he said: "I cannot
endm-e to hold the responsibility where everybody deliberates,
where nobody obeys orders, where nothing is organized, and
where the guns depend for service upon a few volunteers." In
continuation, he complained that reinforcemeuts had not been
granted him when urgently needed ; and that, in point of fact,
the Commune was incapable of the discharge of the duties per¬
taining to it. He therefore retired from its service. The docu
ment concluded as follows: "Two courses were open to our
forces, viz. : to break through the obstacles which environ Paris,
or to retire. The former has been found to be impossible, and
35
548
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
therefore wo have retired. I have the honor to ask of you a cell
in the Mazas prison."
His request was granted ; but the Mazas prison having not so
many charms for him as he had anticipated, he made his escape
from the prison, was active in a subordinate capacity for a week
or two, and finally was arrested, a month later, by the Versailles
authorities.
The old Committoe of Public Safety, which had preceded the
Commune, and most of whoso members were not elected as
members of the Commune, still maintained its existence and
attempted to exercise its authority. On the occasion of Rossel's
resignation, as on many previous ones, there was a very violent
collision between the two sources of authority, and the severest
recriminations occurred between the members, each party know¬
ing altogether too much of the other to make their discussions
pleasant. In the end, Delescluzè, who seems to have been from
this time the ruling spirit of the Commune, triumphed over the
conspirators of the Committee of Public Safety, and insisted
on their resignation under penalty of their immediate arrest a,id
execution if they refused. With an infatuation which seems
almost incredible, the Commune and its leaders now assumed
that they were 011 the high road to a complete victory over the
Versailles troops, and issued orders to their army to take the most
relentless measures towards the besiegers. "No soldier," says
this order, " will be allowed to depart in the slightest degree
from his duty, and all the troops are forbidden to cease firing
upon the Versailles troops who may attempt to surrender; while
fugitives and stragglers arc to be sabred when caught, or, if they
are in numerous bodies, are to be fired into mercilessly with can¬
non and mitrailleuses."
The "Column of July" in the Place Vendôme, erected by
Napoleon I. in commemoration of his victories, for the bronze of
which twelve hundred captured cannon were melted, and which
A BARRICADE IN PARIS.
BURNING THE GUILLOTINE IN THE PLACE VOLTAIRE.
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
551
was crowned with a colossal statue of himself,—a column justly
regarded as one of the finest art-treasures of Paris,—was doomed
to destruction by these Yandals, and Courbet, an artist from the
provinces, volunteered to superintend the work of overthrowing
it. On the 15th of May it was to be pulled down, but through a
failure of the machinery provided by Courbet, it was not de¬
stroyed till the next day.
On the 14th of May Fort Vanvres was captured and Fort Monti
rouge isolated ; the Auteuil gate, on the west side, was entirely
destroyed, and the ramparts so badly breached as to give hope of
an entrance into the city by the Versailles troops in a very short
time.
Inside the city, quarrels were still raging between the Commit¬
tee of Public Safety and the Commune, and each demanded the
execution of the other. M. Thiers' residence—one of the finest
buildings in Paris, and containing a vast collection of choice
bronzes, statues, antiques, paintings, and costly furniture, and a
fine library—was ordered to be destroyed, and all its valuables
confiscated, and the order was speedily carried into effect. Deles-
cluze, though still retaining the chief power, tired of the position
of Minister of War, and Billioray took his place. New Polish
officers were called to important commands—dancing-masters and
adventurers of all sorts, without reference to their previous his¬
tory and antecedents—and the Commune grew more and more
cruel and bloodthirsty with each day, as its power began to totter
to its fall. Quiet citizens who had remained in Paris, but had
taken no part in the insurrection, were arrested by scores and
hundreds, thrown into prison, and retained as hostages against the
Versailles Government, and many of them put to death. The
churches were plundered, and the plate, money, and statues and
images they contained used for the purposes of the Commune.
The Committee of Public Safety still refused to disband, and set
free those whom the Commune imprisoned, and arrested tlioee
552
PARTS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
who" were discharged by it. JBergeret, Cluseret, and several other
nromincnt men who had been thrown into prison wore thus
released, and took part in the fighting. Large bodies of women
were organized and aimed to arrest and punish deserters and
stragglers, who were becoming very numerous. They proved
more cruel and severe than the men. Women were also assigned
to other duties by the Committee of Public Safety or the Com¬
mune. Among these was that of setting on fire public buildings,
which now began to be one of the contemplated amusements of
the black-hearted villains who still held the reins of power in
Paris.
Other high-handed measures adopted were the demolition of
churches ; the turning of the Sisters of Mercy out of their con¬
vents ; the compelling of the non-combatants, whom they had
seized and imprisoned as hostages, to serve at the barricades, and
when the fire was so fierce that these unarmed men could not
longer remain there, marching them back to their prisons and
shooting them down in cold blood ; the suppression of all the
moderate journals, and the menacing their editors with death,
and the deliberate murder of some of them by the orders of that
incarnate fiend, Itaoul Rigault.
The last attempts of the Commune at resuming the offensive,
outside of the walls, were made on the lGth and 17th, by Dom-
browski's command, at Neuilly, and ended in failures. Batteries
at Montmartre vainly bombarded at the same time the position
of the Versailles troops at Châtcau-Becon. On the evening of
the 17th a powder-magazine exploded with terrible effect inside
of the western enceinte, spreading havoc and consternation all
around. Further south, fierce cannonading was kept up by the
besiegers against the gates of Antenil and St. Cloud, and from'
their new positions at Issy against Point du Jour and Grenelle.
On Thursday the 18tlr the two insurgent positions near Fort
Montrouge were ca ried at the point of the bayonet, but subse-
OB, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871.
553
quently abandoned. Some desultory fighting, with varying suc¬
cess, also took place on the two following days. The battering
fire was renewed with the utmost vigor on the night of Saturday
the 20th, and continued until immense breaches were effected 'n
the ramparts, which the defenders on Sunday gradually began to
abandon, re-entering the city in the greatest disorder. In the
afternoon, the Government troops finally entered the capital ;
General Douai marching in from the southwest, by the battered-
down St. Cloud Gate, at the Point du Jour, and General Cissey
from the south, by the Gate of Montrouge ; the latter having
shortly before occupied the positions at Petit Vanvres and Mala-
koff, and Fort Montrouge, without a struggle. On the two.
extremes of the field alone, in front of Batignollcs on the north¬
west, and between Gentilly and Ivry on the south-east, Generals
Dombrowski and Wroblewski endeavored for a time to continue
the contest outside of the encemte.
On Monday morning, May 22, Dombrowski still made two
assaults on the left wing of the Versailles forces, but his ranks
were broken, and he himself wounded, and finally a panic seized
his men, which was communicated to various detachments in the
rear. All fled in wild confusion. The Government troops now
advanced from every quarter, General Clinchant from the side of
Clichy, Douai and L'Admirault along the Seine, Cissey from the
south. There was hardly any resistance. The huge barricades
of the Avenue des Champs Êlysées and the Place de la Concorde
were speedily abandoned ; others but feebly replied to the guns of
the assailants ; the insurgents retreated towards Montmartre, hard
pressed by Clinchant and L'Admirault ; Cissey and Douai in the
meanwhile occupying the southern and central portions of the
city. In the evening General Clinchant occupied Batignolles,
and on Tuesday morning attacked Montmartre, the main strong¬
hold of the insurrection, from the A venu# de Clichy on the west,
and the Boulevard de Clichy on the south ; while General L'Ajl-
554
PARIS UNDER TUE COMMUNE ;
mirault attacked it from the southeast, having carried the fort*
fled Northern Railway station by assault. Early in the after
noon Montmartre was in the hands of the Government troops.
In the afternoon of the 23d, shortly after the capture of Mont
martre, General Vinoy occupied the Ministry of War ; Clinchant
moved by the Rue de Clichy on the New Opera House, and
L'Admirault's troops held the stations of the Northern and East¬
ern Railroads. The insurgents, however, continued to defend
their main central positions on both sides of the Seine, including
the Place Vendôme, the Tuileries, the Prefecture of Police, and
the Ilôtel de Ville. Their batteries on the Boulevard Hauss-
mann, the Place Vendôme, and in the garden of the Tuileries, still
presented a formidable front towards the we6t and north-west ; but
their right and rear were threatened by the flanking movements
of General L'Admirault, against which they were not sufficiently
guarded. This seems to have chiefly compelled their retreat in
the night, or on the following morning, May 24, towards the east¬
ern faubourgs, the beginning of which was accompanied by the
setting on fire of the Tuileries and Louvre, and of the Palaces of
the Legion of Honor and of the Council of State, on the opposite
bank of the river. The conflagration was exceedingly violent, so
that of the four palaces only a portion of the Louvre could be
saved, including its main treasure, the collection of art, while its
library became a prey to the flames. But this act of vandalism
was not to be the foulest stain on the memory of the Commune,
for, in the same night, scores of so-called hostages were slain by
its executioners in their prison, and among them Monseigneur
Darboy the Archbishop of Paris, the Abbés Susa and Duguerry,
sixteen other priests, and forty-four other hostages, mostly officers
of the gendarmes, or police, and the noted Mexican banker,
Jecker. Nearly a hundred more of these hostages—forty or fifty
priests among them—made barricades in their prison and fought
for their lives. The National Guard, by Raoul Rigault's order,
THE NEW GRAND OPERA HOUSE.
OR; THE RED REBELLION OF 187L
557
tried to burn them alive, but they were at almost the last moment
rescued by the Versailles troops. By orders of Bblescluze and
Billioray, hundreds of men and women were passing through all
the principal streets carrying concealed bottles and hand-gre¬
nades of petroleum, which they threw into the areas of dwellings
and followed with lighted matches, thus setting them on fire so
completely that very few of the buildings were saved. Others, in
the garb of firemen, under pretence of extinguishing the flames,
threw petroleum on them from their engines, and as the insur
gents retreated they threw from their cannon bomb-shells charged
with the same inflammable fluid upon all the streets where they
would do most mischief.
The Place Vendôme was occupied on Wednesday morning ;
the insurgents made a strong stand at the Bue St. Honoré, and,
on retiring, fired the Palais Royal ; the Palace of Finance, the
Barracks on the Quai d'Orsay, the Court of Accounts, the Pre¬
fecture of Police, and the Mont de Piété blazing up about the
same time with petroleum. The burning of this last building was
one of the most atrocious acts of these incendiaries. The Mont
de Piété was the Government Pawner's Bank, receiving its do-
posits by hundreds of thousands of articles from the poor, advanc¬
ing on them three-fourths of their just valuation, and charging
but five per cent, interest. It was said that at this very time it
held in pledge not less than 750,000 articles, many of them
deposited by these very ouvriers and ouvrières who set fire to it.
The Hôtel de Ville came next. The centre of Paris, on both
sides of the Seine, was thus enveloped with flames and smoke,
which spread towards the extremities. Still the fighting con¬
tinued fierce. The Versailles troops, having carried the barri¬
cades in the Boulevards Bonne-Nouvelle and Poissonnière, and
some adjoining positions, which were stubbornly contested, finally
became undisputed masters of the centre. The Quartier du
Temple was the next theatre of the carnage, which was merciless
558
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE;
on both sides. Women and Children shared both in the fiendish
fight and the pitiless retribution. From the Buttes Chaumont
the insurgents bombarded the city with petroleum shells. Num
berless insurgents caught with arms in their hands were shot ;
others were drawn from their hiding-places to share the samo
fate. Similar was the aspect of affairs in the eastern half of
Paris on Thursday, during which day the insurgents, after having
blown up or evacuated all their positions south of the Seine,
including the forts of Bicêtrc and Ivry, still held Bercy, Cha-
ronne, the Père la Chaise, Ménilmontant, Belleville, the Buttes
Chaumont, La Yillette, La Chapelle, and the environs of the
Place de la Bastille.
On Friday the Government troops attacked both Belleville—
upon which batteries of marine guns erected at Montmartre
poured a terrible fire—and the Place de la Bastille. The fight¬
ing at each point was very severe, and was soon extended over the
adjoining districts. The havoc among the insurgents became
frightful. Several thousands surrendered, others fled beyond the
ramparts, where they were disarmed and arrested by the Prus¬
sians. On the following day Picard announced in the Assembly
that " Generals Yinoy and Douai, after capturing the Place de la
Bastille, had occupied the Faubourg St. Antoine as far as the
Barrière du Trone, and that Generals Clinchant and L'Admirault
had advanced to the foot of the Buttes Chaumont." This an¬
nouncement summed up the results of the operations of Friday,
which were completed on Saturday, the 27th, by the capture of
the Buttes Chaumont and Ménilmontant by L'Admirault, and of
the Cemetery of Père la Chaise by Yinoy. The fighting at all
these places is described as desperate in the extreme, the Versailles
troops, after a last summons by Marshal McMahon, having ceased
to give quarter—" to man, woman, or child," says the report—
and men, women, and children were fighting. Remnants of
various bands, hunted up in their last place of refuge, the Boia
OR, THE BED REBELLION OF 187L
550
de Vincennes, surrendered on Sunday. General la Cecilia yielded
the Castle of Yincennes shortly after, with 6,000 prisoners, hav¬
ing first blown up the magazine and done what he could to de¬
stroy his garrison in that way.
The destruction of human life in these last ten days had been
frightful. Of the victims of the Commune, many of them inno¬
cent victims—men, women, and children who had no sympathy
with its horrible doctrines, and its more horrible practices—not
less than 35,000 were killed between May 22d and May 28th, and
more than 12,000 previously ; while of those who had been actors
in this fearful drama, 45,000 had been taken prisoners, many of
them among the wounded. The losses of the besieging troops
had been smaller, though they were very heavy during those six
or seven days of barricade fighting, and, according to the best
authorities, during the whole period from March 18th to May 28th,
were about 13,000 killed, and perhaps as many more wounded.
Here, then, were not less than 80,000 or 90,000 men either slain
or so wounded that they would eventually die of their wounds,
because a handful of mad fanatics and adventurers in Paris were
determined to seize upon the supreme power in the city and na¬
tion. Had these leaders of the insurrection all met with the fate
they deserved, there would be some compensation for this fright¬
ful los3 of life in the fact that the world was rid of so many of
those whose lives had been occupied with the endeavor to destroy
order, and ruin all with whom they were brought in contact. But
too many of them have escaped. Flourens, one of the best of
the bad lot, and Duval, fell early in battle. Blanqui is a prisoner,
and probably will be executed ; Delescluze, Dombrowski, Milliere,
Billioray, Raoul Rigault, Miot, Yallès, Ferré, Brunei, Varlin,
Gambon, Lefrançais, Vidal, Vilain, Salînslci, Thibôut, Bruneron,
•lourde, Moilin, Gaillard, Burget, and perhaps one or two more,
were either killed in battle or shot when captured. It was reported
that Cluseret, Cecilia, and Eudes had also been shot ; but there is
560
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
reason to believe that thoy have escaped. Assi, Rossel, Roche-
fort, Grousset and Felix Pyat are prisoners, and their fate should bo
prompt and certain. Whatever the intellectual abilities of these
men, and some of them undoubtedly possess a high order of tal¬
ent, fhey are too dangerous to community, and have done too much
mischief, for society to bo endangered by their further existence in
this life. Especially should we regret the escape of Cluseret and
la Cecilia from the doom which both so richly merit. The very
earth on which they tread cries aloud for vengeance on creatures
so unworthy of life.
. The destruction of property, though not to be named in the
same breath with this terrible destruction of human life; has yet
been such as has not been witnessed before during the present
century, or hardly during any century of the Christian Era.
Paris, the most beautiful of modern cities, with its grand and
sumptuous palaces, its magnificent public and private edifices, its
columns, arches, statues, and fountains, the wonder and admira¬
tion of the world,—Paris, not as it was in the days of the Six¬
teenth Louis, with its narrow streets, its alternations of palace and
. hovel, its dens of La cité and its broad parks and ill-constructed
royal residences, but the Paris of 1870, on which had been Rav¬
ished all the architectural and civic skill and the vast expenditure
of Baron Ilaussmann's .gigantic plans, now lies waste and deso¬
late. St. Cloud is in ruins, the Tuileries destroyed, the greater
part of the Louvre burned ; the Ilôtel de Ville, the Palais Royal,
the Palace of the Legion of Honor, the buildings of most of the
Government ministries, M. Thiers' residence, several hundred pri¬
vate residences, the Lyons station, five or six of the principal
theatres, several churches, the Napoleon Column in the Place
Vendôme, hstve all been destroyed, and many other public build¬
ings seriously injured. The Bank of France, the Great Hospital,
the Hôtel Dieu, and many other important buildings were found
to have vast collections of combustibles under them ready for the
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 568
torch ; but the overthrow of the Commune was too sudden to give
time to fire them. Indeed, the sudden destruction of the Ccm
mune was all that saved Paris from becoming a mass of ruins,
for the sewers had been charged with explosive compounds, aj d
within three days after the overthrow of the insurgents more
than a thousand electric wires, arranged to explode these com
pounds in every part of the city, were cut, and this wholesale de
struetion prevented.
"Wicked and depraved as Paris was, and seemingly given over
to all uncleanness, the hand of God, that God whom these Com ¬
munists had ignored and denied, was never more plainly visible
than in saving the city from the terrible doom which these mad
atheists strove to bring upon it. His hand alone arrested them,
and prevented its utter destruction.
We have long believed that no man or body of men were so
utterly depraved that there was not in them some redeeming
trait, some trace of the lost Eden, some possibility of good which,
under other and better influences, might have germinated and
brought forth at least evidence of some of the sympathies of our
common humanity and brotherhood ; but in the contemplation
of these stupendous crimes against man and against God, we
must own that our faith in the native goodness of the human
heart is staggered. The beings that could deliberately plan and
prepare for the destruction, by explosion, of a city of a million
and a half of inhabitants, who had no pity for the tender babe,
the winning innocence of childhood, the beauty and confiding
trust of woman, and the gray hairs of the aged, but were willing
and ready to whelm them all in a death so sudden and terrible ;
—the creature who could deliberately offer to sacrifice fourteen
thousand of his fellow-men to death, helpless and unarmed, or
who could deliberately set fire to the magazine of a fort, hoping
thus to rid himself of a part of his troops, taking care to be out
of the way of the explosion himself ; the villains who could mur-
36
564
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
der in cold blood the ministers of religion, and especially those
who had adorned a high station by the most consistent and self-
denying benevolence and charity; the wretches who conld be
guilty of such deeds as these, and others of like atrocity, are
surely so thoroughly depraved that even the demons of the pit
cannot equal them in degradation.
We would fain hope that with this terrible carnival of blood
the danger to France was forever averted ; that, henceforth,
sobered and saddened by the misfortunes and errors of the past,
she would become a wiser and better nation than if she had not
passed through such a fiery ordeal, and that a bright and glori¬
ous future was in store for her. But alas ! there seems to be but
little ground for such hope. Dark clouds, impenetrable by mor¬
tal eyes, shroud her future, and no friend of here, be he never so
hopeful, can find any gleams of light breaking through the
murky mass.
For a Republic, pure and simple, she is evidently unfit ; the
attempt to establish it would soon degenerate into another Com¬
mune, for the elements of disorder and mischief still exist and
in vast numbers. A Republic with oligarchical powers or a consti¬
tutional monarchy might afford a brighter promise ; but where is
the president or the king who possesses the ability to rule consti¬
tutionally over such a people? Thiers' administration, at the'
best, is but temporary ; and adroit as he is, he has not the weight
of character to awe into obedience the turbulent, fickle, restless
masses. Look where we may throughout France, there is no man
so great in goodness, so wise in counsel, so dignified and self-
centred, as to be able to make his influence felt throughout the
nation, and hold it in wise and judicious control. Shall the
French people return to the Bonapartes, whom they so lately
discarded ? We do not believe it ! The man of December has
proved himself so utterly corrupt, so palpable a fraud, that he
could not reign a montJ»; and neither Eugenie, alternately the
or., THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
565
devotee of fashion and the dupe of a Jesuit father confessor, nor
the poor simple-minded boy who calls her mother, have the abil¬
ity to rule in so stormy a time. Shall it be Bourbon or Orleans ?
Neither, we would fain hope, for the manifesto of Henri de
Chambord demonstrates that now, as in 1815, the Bourbons have
learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He proposes to govern
France by the old Bourbon traditions, to sign a concordat with
the Pope, and to pledge France to aid in restoring the temporal
power of the Papacy, which, to say nothing of any other result,
involves a war with Italy. The elevation of either of the Or¬
leans princes to the throne would involve measurably the same
results, since, though men of broader views and more enlightened
sentiments," they are pledged to maintain the Jesuit supremacy.
A hard fate it seems to be for poor, unfortunate, misguided
France that there is for her no middle ground ; that she must be
either atheist or papal, and that when all the nations around her
are rising to a higher conception of true liberty of thought and
action, in the fear of God, she alone cannot emerge from the
Valley of the Shadow of Death.
566
PARIS UNDER ÏIIE COMMUNE
CHAPTER XIX.
We have preferred to give the daily progress of this civil wai
in a continuous narrative from its beginning to its close, and then
to group together a few of the more striking incidents and epi¬
sodes of this rei'gn of terror, rather than to mar its effect by the
introduction of these into the narrative in a strictly chronological
order. We find ourselves embarrassed, however, by the profusion
of these incidents, communicated often by personal friends, and
containing in each case so much
" ôf horrible and awfu',
That e'en to name would be unlawfu'."
We might easily fill the pages of a volume larger than this
with narratives of the horrors of these two months, the murders,
the blasphemies, the treasons, the avowals of doctrines and the
commission of acts which fairly make the blood curdle ; but we
forbear. To us, and we doubt not to our readers, the whole sub¬
ject is inexpressibly painful, and the possibility that men formed
in the image of God could fall so low, is intensely humiliating
and distressing.
We shall therefore select only from the great mass of material
before us those incidents which have so much of historic interest
as to entitle them to a place in our record.
No more vivid picture of the condition of Paris during the
sway of the Commune has been drawn than that of M. Joseph
Garnier, himself a citizen of Paris during the reign of terror. It
bears date May 16th, while the Commune was still in power, and
was published in the Journal des Economistes for May, 1871
A BARRICADE.
OK, THE RED REBELLION JF 1871.
569
We have only room for a few passages. The first describes most
accurately the classes of which the Commune was composed :—
" No sooner had the Commune begun to be than it fell into the
hands of a motley crowd, in which honest labor was represented
by a minority. This minority was excited by a band of foreign¬
ers, some adventurers by profession, others planning revolutions
yet to be in their own country, all in search of a social position.
These led on a mass of men driven out of their habits by events,
—workmen, tradesmen, small manufacturers, citizens, artists, old
men, young men, some mystic believers in an ideal commune,
others in absolute need of pay of some sort, others forced into
action,—all bound together by self-love, by the common danger,
or by the horror with which the conflict soon led them to regard
Versailles, which in their eyes became a synonyme for the
empire, the Jesuits, the old monarchy, the reaction, and Cay¬
enne. Beside these were to be found a certain number of
sincere men bent on saving the republic, fearing lest a reaction
might destroy all liberty, and dreading above all things the con¬
tinued effusion of blood.
" Out of these elements arose the Central Committee,, chiefly
composed of members of the 'Internationale,' which at once
found itself compelled to elect a working government to be bap¬
tized the ' Commune.' This election took place hastily on the
26th of March, while Paris was in a state of panic, and eight
days only after the atrocious murders of Generals Thomas and
Lecomte. So great were the 'abstentions' that in many dis¬
tricts not even an eighth part of the legal votes were cast. Vet
of the ninety members elected only one-tenth were members of
the Central Committee ; the others were journalists, club orators,
spouters, agitators, for the most part belonging not to the work¬
ing classes, but to the bourgeoisie. The Commune, once elected,
divided itself into ten commissions, the chief of which, the Exe¬
cutive Commission, eventually made itself a sort of dictatorship
570
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
under the title of the ' Committee of Public Safety.' It was
understood that the Central Committee should retire after the
election of the Commune. But as the Central Committee was
left out in the cold by the elections, it refused to retire. And
the military authorities soon taking it upon themselves to disre¬
gard both the Commune and the Central Committee, it followed
that Paris found herself more and more confusedly governed
under the new system than she had ever before been in all her
checkered history."
The question has often been asked, " What were these Com¬
munists fighting for ? " and many have been disposed to censure
M. Thiers as being responsible for the ruin of Paris, because he.
refused to grant what they are pleased to call " the reasonable
demands of the Commune." M. Gamier, on the other hand,
insists and demonstrates that from the beginning it kept up the
civil strife by refusing to state for what it was fighting. M.
Thiers, after offering previously to comply with their reasonable
demands, and eliciting no reply, proceeded early in April to make
definite propositions and concessions, which, as we have already
said, were too liberal, but which were offered in the hope of
arresting the fratricidal strife. At first no reply was made to
this, "but finally," says M. Gamier, "on the 19th of April a
declaration was formally put forth to the effect that the Com¬
mune was fighting to found in France a federation composed of
all the communes of France ; these to be autonomous, independ¬
ent, legislating at home as sovereigns upon all subjects, and
associated voluntarily." And this conception of a voluntary
association of 36,000 independent communes was gravely put
forth as the fulfilment of the " largest and most fruitful revolu¬
tion which has ever illuminated history."
By the 10th of May another step forward had been made. On
that day Delescluze, the chief of the moment, announced to the
National Guard that Paris was fighting, not for municipal rights
A PROCESSION OF " VENGEREURES " IN PARIS.
OB, THE BED BEBELLION OF 1871.
573
or voluntary associations of communes, but " for social equality
and the emancipation of France and of the world." Meanwhile
the complex and kaleidoscopic governments of Paris had been
breeding decrees as a marsh breeds frogs. One of these decrees
confiscated all the workshops and factories " basely abandoned by
those who had directed them," or, in other words, the property of
all the unhappy manufacturers whose business had been destroyed
by the war, the siege of Paris, and the civil strife. Another or¬
dered the " female profession's, the washer-women, feather-makers,
fiower-makers, and linen-workers to send delegates to the Commit¬
tee on the Organization of Labor." Another declared all rents
abolished from the outbreak of the war, and ordered any sums
already paid since August, 1870, to be credited against rents
which should become due after the peace ! Another suppressed
all night-work in the bakeries, thereby changing at a blow all the
daily habits and diet of three-fourths of the people, of Paris.
Another forbade the infliction of fines or penalties of any kind
upon workmen as "involving an unjust diminution of their
wages." Another set up for sale at cost price the large supplies
of goods laid in by the Government in warehouses seized for that
purpose. Another confiscated all the funds and stores collected
by the " International Aid Society for Sick and Wounded Sol¬
diers " (a Sanitary Commission organized mainly through the
efforts of our Dr. Bellows in 1867), and dismissed or imprisoned
all its surgeons, nurses, etc.
M. Gamier thus describes the life which was developed out of
this condition of affairs :—" At the beginning the fever of the
revolt ; the murder of the generals ; the firing in the Place Yen-
dôme ; then many days of terror during the elections. From the
first of April forward the noise of cannons and of mitrailleuses
by night and day ; the bursting of bombs to the west and north¬
west ; the bugles and the drums everywhere sounding ; barricades
and torpedoes ; noisy marches out, dismal -marches home; fune-
574
PAEI8 UNDKB THE COMMUNE;
rals by day and by night ; all men from nineteen to 1 ;>rty forci¬
bly enrolled; constant liability to arrest by agents regular and
irregular ; domiciliary visits, perquisitions, and requisitions ; the
closing of churches ; the dispersion of the brethren of Christian
Doctrine and of the religious communities; the suppression of
the newspapers to the number of thirty-four ; nocturnal arrests of
many priests, including the Archbishop, of publicists, and of dep¬
uties; decrees on decrees, incessant prohibitions and proscrip¬
tions put up on the walls, from the Commune, from the Central
Committee, from the generals, from the municipality, the ex-
prefect of police, the committees, the delegates of all sorts, who
either had power or who assumed it ; on every hand angry conver¬
sations, irritated and irritating, excitement, intolerance; every¬
where fear, pity, regret, hatred, or vengeance ; in official quarters
distrust, suspicion, imprisonments, removals. Rochefort said of
these :—•' The Hôtel de Ville distrusts the War Department, the
War Department the navy; Fort Vanvres distrusts Montrouge;
Raoul-Rigault distrusts Rossel, and Vesinier distrusts me.' "
—A correspondent of the. New York Herald relates as
follows a conversation he held with Bergeret, the printer gene¬
ral of the first days of the Commune. The correspondent said to
him :—
"You have no religion, of course. Do you, however, believe
in the immortality of the soul ? "
" I believe in the immortality cf the human mind ; but not of
the individual soul. We live; we grow up; we fall and die as
the leaf, and return to the dust, from whence we came ; and we
are only immortal in our children."
" Do you believe in a God ? "
« No."
"Why?"
" Because it is not republican. Because, if there were a God,
He would be a tyrant. I fight God in the universe as I did the em-
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
575
pire in France. It is the one-man power, the pouvoir personnel of
Napoleon III. If there were such a place as heaven, and I went
there and found a God, I would immediately commence throw¬
ing up barricades. I would hoist the red flag. I would rebel.
It is contrary to justice, it is contrary to reason, it is contrary to
right that one should govern the many—that there should be
a God."
" What do you substitute for God ? "
" Universal harmony."
" What do you mean by that ? "
" The union of everything that exists in one harmonious whole.
Man, animals, flowers, plants, trees, stars, planets—everything."
" Otherwise the universe itself."
" Yes."
" Did this universe or universal harmony, as you call it, create
itself ? "
" Ah, that is a question I cannot answer. It is something the.
human mind cannot grasp ; probably because we lack a faculty.
As a person who is born blind cannot comprehend light, so we
cannot understand the Creation. I could ask you as well who
created God, and you would probably give me the same answer.
Try to think it out, and you will go crazy."
" Therefore, at this limit of the human understanding there is
a barrier which you call universal harmony, whereas we call it
God?"
" That is my meaning exactly."
Bergeret's views were not one whit more atheistic than those
of his associates in the Commune. One of the numerous victims
of the Communist leaders in the Mazas prison, finding himself
near death, urgently desired that he might be permitted to see a
priest. With great difficulty his request was granted, and when
the priest applied for a pass (without which he could not enter the
prison), he received it in these terms from Cluseret :—
576
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
" Pass into the Mazas Prison Citizen B., who styles himself the
servant of a person named God."
The value of the National Guards (the Communal troops) as
soldiers seems not to have been very great, though foreigners had
during the early part of the siege overrated them. A correspond
ent of the New York Tribune gives the following result of his
observations on this point :—
" It is the fashion to say here (even among Americans) : ' Ah,
if these National Guards had only been allowed to measure their
strength with the Prussians, the issue of the war would have been
very different from what it was.' Most of the gentlemen who
venture on this kind of statements have probably not had an op¬
portunity of seeing, the National Guards under fire. Having
been out at Neuilly several times lately, I have formed a very
different opinion of the worth of the National Guards as trained
soldiers. An aide-de-camp of General Dombrowski, who accom¬
panied me in my rounds recently, did not care to conceal his con¬
tempt for the troops under the General's orders. ' For the de¬
fence of certain positions, ramparts and the like, my men are all
very well,' he said ; 'but to go in line of battle with them against
regular troops, above all such troops as the Prussians, would sim¬
ply be madness ; ' and I have seen much at Neuilly to confirm
this view. During the armistice, at every barricade there was a
clamor for reinforcements. 'Ah, reinforcements,' said a col¬
onel of National Guards to me, ' that is our great stumbling-
block; if we have thirty men defending a barricade, we are
obliged to have fifty more in reserve behind them. If we neglect
to do this, directly the men on the barricade find they are unsup¬
ported, even for an instant, they run away.' An officer, during
the armistice on Tuesday last, showed me a barricade. ' There,'
lie said, ' just look at that barricade ; it is not only useless but
actually in the way, and yet I dare not order it to be destroyed.
The men took into their heads to build it without waiting for
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 187L
577
orders ; neither will they obey me if I order them to destroy it.'
Dombrowski has been blamed for exposing himself as he does ;
but there is no doubt that he is right, for it is only his example
and that of his staff that keeps the men at their posts."
—The difficulty of obtaining all the money they wanted was
from the first a very serious one with the members of the Commune,
and it led in many instances to their offering to give up some im¬
portant posts or surrender the entire city for a specified sum to be
secured to them individually. These negotiations undoubtedly
brought them some money ; but it was often the case that they
resembled in this, as in so many other particulars, the being who
tempted our Saviour with the offer to " give him all the kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them ; " they offered what they did
not possess.
A statement of their receipts and expenditures from the 20th
of March to the 30th of April was published, and was as follows :
The total expenditure of the Commune in those forty days was
$5,027,600, of which $4,011,000 went to the "War Office, and
$362,000 to the intendance, while the different Mairies swallowed
up $289,000. To meet this outlay the Finance Minister found in
various coffers which were specified, $931,600 ; the octroi yielded
him $1,693,200 ; sales of tobacco brought in $351,800, and to
make up all deficiencies the Bank of France lent $1,550,000,
carrying the total receipts for the forty days up to $5,200,000.
It will be noticed that this professedly democr^c body obtained
nearly one-third of its receipts from the octroi tax—an impost
upon all goods entering the city gates—the most odious and offen¬
sive of the taxes of the old Bourbon times. They had learned
better, however, before the final collapse of the Commune. The
silver plate of the churches and of obnoxious citizens, the sil¬
ver and bronzes win eh M. Thiers had treasured up» in his long
life, and forced loans from the Bank of France, furnished them
with means in abundance for the next twenty-five or twenty-six
578
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
days. They had even gone so far as to send men to England to
negotiate the sale of the pictures of the Louvre, but we believe
had effected few sales, when the sudden overthrow of their power
left them no further opportunities for the negotiation. '
—The utter recklessness of the Communal authorities was made
painfully manifest on the 17th of May in the explosion of a large
cartridge manufactory at Grenelle, near the Champ de Mare, a
densely populated quarter of Paris, peculiarly exposed to the fire
of the batteries of the Versailles troops at Neuilly and Montre-
tout. In this manufactory the metallic cartridges for the Chasse-
pôt rifles were made, and the explosion not only caused the death
of over a hundred, and the serious wounding of some two hundred
more on the spot, but the bullets which rained down over the
whole quarter throughout a radius of five hundred yards wounded
very many others. The explosion was said to have been the
result of an accident, but it might very easily have been induced
by some of the constantly falling shells from the hostile batteries,
which killed many of the wounded as they lay on the ground in
the Champ de Mars.
—One of the most absurd and insane acts of the Commune was
the destruction of the Napoleon Column in the Place Vendôme.
The column was not the representative of a dynasty so much as
an impersonation of that military glory and renown which had
always been the special pride and boast of the French people,
and its destruction was a piece of puerile folly that men should
have been ashamed of.
A correspondent of the JVew York Tribune has given a most
graphic description of the scene.
" To-day (May 16) the Journal Officiel announced in due form
that the column would come down at two o'clock precisely, and
to the Rue de la Paix accordingly 'all Paris' found its way.
Long before two o'clock the street was so crowded that it was
with the greatest difficulty that I and two friends elbowed our
OE, THE BED KEJSELLION OF 1871.
5SJ
way through the densely packed masses of people. Hewe^er, I
was not sorry to go slowly, as I was anxious to hear the general
opinion as to the destruction of one of the proudest tributes to
French arms. Most of the people I spoke with seemed to be
quite indifferent as to the work of destruction. They hated
Napoleon, and appeared to think they were really doing some¬
thing to hinder the return—now only too possible—of ' Badin-
guet ' (Napoleon III.) to France by overturning the statue of his
uncle. No one was admitted on the Place Vendôme itself with¬
out a special ticket issued by the Committee of Public Safety.
Furnished with such a ticket, I was able to penetrate to the Place
Vendôme and observe the preparations which had been made foi
the fall of the famous column. They seemed at first sight totally
inadequate for so vast an undertaking. A large cable had been
passed around the top of the column just below the statue ; this
rope (or rather these ropes, for there were four of them) was at
tached to an anchor and capstan in the Bue de la Paix. But the
anchor and capstan were both so exceedingly badly fixed in the
ground that it was evident to the most inexperienced observer that,
unless the column fell of its own weight, something was sure to
give way in the tackling. The engineer (M. Abadie), however,
like most Frenchmen, was wonderfully self-confident, and assured
every one who chose to listen to him that the column would fall
whenever he gave the word for the ropes to be tightened. At
about 3 o'clock we in the Place were all driven back on to the
sidewalks by a line of guards, while a squadron of the newly
organized 'Cavalry of the Commune' drove back the anxious
crowds in the Rue de la Paix.
" Colonel Mayer, who commanded in the Place Vendôme, then
ascended the column in full uniform of the National Guards,
with a small tricolor flag in his hand. After walking around
the gallery at the top of the cc 'umn, and waving his flag to all
the quarters of the heavens, Colonel Mayer then tore the bunting
582
PARIS UNDER THE OOMMUNE J
and proceeded to tie it point downward to the rails surrounding
the crowning gallery. Halving accomplished this feat he took
off his cap, shook his fist at the statue of Napoleon above him,
and cried out, Vive la Commune. He then came down, and the
order to tighten the rope was almost immediately given by s
member of the Commune standing in the balcony of the Ministry
of Justice, just above where I was stationed. Rapidly the big
ropes became as rigid as bars of steel; all eyes were turned
towards the column, and we all thought its hour had come, more
especially because a rapidly passing cloud made it look as if it
already trembled on its base. But the capstan turned without
effect, when suddenly a loud crack was heard, and a block
attached to the capstan gave way, knocking over several sailors.
Nobody, however, was badly hurt, but we were told that nothing
could be done for two hours, as a new block must be obtained.
" There were no less than three bands on the Place, and each
struck up a separate tune to console us for our disappointment,
and the cavalry of the Commune proceeded to caracole on the
Place, to the no small amusement of the spectators. One or two
horsemen were very near kissing mother earth, but by dint of
great gymnastic ability contrived to retain their seats. The per¬
son most to be pitied at this moment was poor Colonel Mayer,
who looked very small indeed. "What a dreadful thing for the
poor Colonel if, after all his acting, the column were to decline to
fall. About 5 o'clock it was announced that all was ready, and
two new ropes were attached to the top of the column in order
to shake it so as to add to the steady tension of the ropes already
described. At 5.20 the six ropes began to tighten, amid breath¬
less expectation from the assembled thousands. For nearly five
minutes no effect whatever seemed to be produced on the majes¬
tic column, which still rose against the bright blue sky as bold
and majestic as ever, and seeming- to defy fate and the Com¬
mune. The men at the capstan strained and sweated, and the
THE VENDOME COLUMN OVERTHROWN.
OB, THE BED REBELLION 07 1871.
585
engineer ranabout from capstan to column and from column to
capstan like one demented. A band played tbe Marseillaise at
,'tbe rate of two bars to a 6econd. Suddenly there was a cry of
\ lIl tombe ' (be falls), and surely and slowly tbe buge bronze mass
J bowed and tumbled toward tbe Eue de la Paix, and fell on its
f bed of fagots, sand, and dung. Strange to say, as it fell it burst
into three or four pieces before it touched tbe ground. Striking
the bed with a loud report, it burled tbe fagots, and even pieces
of tbe bas-reliefs, right and left. A huge cloud of dust arose at
once, but the crowd rushed madly forward to secure relics of the
fallen monument. Like flies on a carcass, we were all busy in
ten seconds after the column had fallen in securing pieces of its
remains. Before the dust had fairly cleared away, Mayer and
several members of the Commune were to be seen frantically
waving red flags from the empty pedestal, and shrieking Vive la
! Commune. Bergeret scrambled upon the prostrate column, and
made a speech, abusing the First Napoleon, whose statue lay
broken and prostrate before him. Eochefort also attempted to
make himself heard from the top of the pedestal, but the dust
seemed to have got into his throat and no one could hear what he
said. Slowly the crowd dispersed, and as I quitted the Eue de
la Paix I heard a bystander 6ay, 'Ah, it is always true of us
Gauls, that Vœ Victis is ever our motto. Had Badinguet but won r
a victory on the Ehine they would have gilt the old column and
put up a bigger one than ever to the man they now despise.' "
j —The entrance of the Versailles troops into Paris in the night
/\of_May 21st was a surprise to the Communists, and was unex¬
pected at that time by the Versaillists themselves, although from
the constant firing of their heavy batteries the enceinte had been
so widely breached that their entrance in the course of two or
three days was confidently expected. That they did enter at that
time, and were thus enabled to prevent the entire destruction of
tbe city, which the Commune had intended, was due to the
586
PAJEI8 UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
energy and patriotism of an engineer named Dnranol, "who.
though a resident of Paris, had no sympathy with the Commune.
The Paris correspondent of the London Times thus relates M.
Duranel's very brave exploit:—
" M. Duranel was overseer of roads and bridges in the service
of M. Alphaiit, chief engineer of the works for the embellishment
of the town, and under this name has been for a long time in
charge of the works about Auteuil and Passy. M. Duranel, who
was formerly a non-commissioned officer of marines, is a man of
rare energy. Instead of allowing himself to be carried away by
the stream of emigration, he never left off communicating with
his chief, who was at Versailles. Being gifted with superior
talents, he was able to remember the fortifications erected by the
insurgents, made plans of them, and took them to M, Alphant,
who submitted them to the Chief of the Executive Power. He
went on with this till, the works being sufficiently advanced, he
felt that the hour had come when it would be possible to do more
active service. "When the time seemed near he was put in direct
communication with the military authorities, and more especially
with Gen. Douai, Commander-in-Chief of the Fourth Corps, which
was encamped at Villeneuve l'Etang and Marne, and was to enter
Paris by Passy and Auteuil. After several attempts, Duranel
signalled that the ramparts were abandoned, and that the con¬
fusion in the army of the Party of Disorder was increasing. The
more and more energetic leaders who succeeded each other in the
command did not long leave this part of the enceinte undefend¬
ed ; but when the batteries of Montretout had destroyed all the
houses which skirt the ramparts at the back, and the St. Cloud
gate was in ruins, its defence had become impracticable. It had
been almost abandoned for two dap, and the Federal soldiers
had taken up their position at the foot of the heights of Passy,
when M. Alphant's bold assistant saw that all the defenders of
the Commune had disappeared on that side, or, at least, that their
OS, THE BED EEBELLION OF 1871.
589
numbers were insignificant. This was on Sunday, the 21st of
May. At any cost it was necessary to inform the commander oi
the Fourth Corps what was the state of affairs. M. Duranèl
could only get at the General by going through St. Denis, so ho
started for the Chemin de Fer du Nord. It was about three in
the afternoon. Thinking over the precious time he was losing
while going this roundabout way, he was seized with fear lest the
Communists should reoccupy the ramparts. He ordered the car¬
riage to turn x'ound, and alighted as near as possible to the St.
Cloud gate. lie was intimately acquainted with all this part of
Paris, and was able to avoid the posts of the insurgents, and
evade the vigilance of the citizens placed in the houses. The
brave citizen got as far as the ramparts, where the shells of Mon-
tretout were falling ceaselessly. .Braving this danger he mounted
the salient angle of the bastion, waving his white handkerchief.
About 50 yards from the glacis, lying flat on their faces, con¬
cealed in the grass, were thirty sailors, commanded by Command¬
er Trêves. They had their orders, and were permanently estab¬
lished there, ready at any moment to avail themselves of an
opportunity. The officer heard Duranel calling him ; he raised
his head carefully. A voice called out, ' There is no one left ;
come on quickly.' The officer, fearing some new treachery,
answered, ' Come on yourself.' Duranel immediately ran to the
gate. The bridges were broken down, and to pass appeared im¬
possible. Making use, however, of some fragments of beams,
Duranel contrived to cross the ditch. Ho informed the officer of
the state of affairs ; but the latter, still on his guard, had him
conducted under a close escort to Gen. Douai, who had received
notice by telegraph, and had set out, soon followed by Bertaut's
and L'Hcrillicr's divisions.
" The meeting between Duranel and the General was at Billan¬
court. Whatever confidence Gen. Douai may have had in M.
Alphant's brave assistant, he warned him that if his troops met
590
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE;
willi a serious resistance in their entry he would blow his brains
out. In the mean time 600 men had been hastily got together.
Thirty sailors marched in front ; a body of sappers had hurriedly
placed planks across the ditch. Bertaut's Division followed im¬
mediately. It was about 6 o'clock in the evening. The Federal
post fled, firing their muskets, and some weak battalions advanced
to resist ; but the movement had been so sudden that they were
surrounded or dispersed, and at 7 o'clock the two first divisions
already held Upper and Lower Passy, threatening the Troeadéro,
" If this position could be gained the insurrection was crushed.
It was to be feared that, the alarm being given, considerable
forces would be met there. It was necessary to make sure. Du-
ranel again undertook this perilous mission. He made his way
across the little streets to the terraces, and returned immediately
to say that the troops might advance. As before, Gen. Douai
warned him that he would blow his brains out if compelled to
retreat. Duranel did not hesitate, although the Commune might
have rallied and returned to the attack during the march. He
was ready to give his life for the good of the city. An hour
later the Fourth Corps occupied the terraces which command the
Troeadéro, and established themselves strongly, ready the next
day to take the Arc de l'Étoile, the Pare Monceau, the Faubourg
St. Honoré, and the St. Lazare railway station. They had sur¬
prised the insurgents in the houses and behind their barricades,
without the latter being able to do any material harm to the
troops. There is no doubt that the army would have entered
Paris easily without Duranel's courageous act, but it would have
entered after a breach had been made two or three days later.
It is impossible to calculate what disasters three days of delay
might have entailed on the city of Paris."
The effect of this surprise on the Communal troops and on the
people of Paris was most graphically described by an eye-witness,
whom from the style we suppose to have been Major Forbes of
OK, THE BED REBELLION OF 187L
591
the London Daily DTewg. It is the most perfect specimen of
word-painting we have seen in the progress'of the war:
" Paris, May 22.—Yesterday evening at 7 o'clock Gen. Dom¬
browski received urgent summons from the Point du Jour quar¬
ter to make haste with succors, as the. holders of the positions
there were very hard pressed. Both the cannonade and fusillade
from that direction, and from our immediate front at Porte de la
Muette, continued to increase in warmth as we went down the
Avenue Mozart. AH the batteries of the Versaillists were in full
roar, and it. was not possible, had there been still serviceable guns
mounted on the enceinte, to respond effectively to the steady and
continuous fire of weighty metal. Some supports were waiting
for Dombrowski on the Quai d'Auteuil, sheltered from the fire
which lacerated the district by the houses on the landward side
qf the quay. Unpleasant tidings waited Dombrowski when he
rode into the Institution de Ste. Périne, which was occupied as a
kind of minor état Major. From what I could hurriedly gather,
there had been a kind of rally. National Guards had crowned
the shattered parts of the enceinte,, and lined the smashed case¬
mates between the gates of Billancourt, and Point du Jour, and
further northward to and beyond the gate of St. Cloud. They
had held to the positions with considerable tenacity under a. terri¬
ble fire, but had been driven back with severe loss, occasioned
mainly by the close and steady shooting of the Versaillist breach¬
ing batteries about Boulogne and the batteries at Brimborion.
The gate of St. Cloud, as well as that of Point du Jour, had, like
that, of Billancourt, fallen into the hands of the Versaillists, who,
haying occupied the enceinte in force, and the adjacent houses
hehind it, were detaching strong parties to reconnoitre up the
Bues Lemarrois and Billancourt, one of which at least had been
as far as the railway, but had been driven back.
" Dombrowski smiled as the news was communicated to him, and
1 thought of his 'second line of defence,' and-of his,assurance
592
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE;
that the ' situation was not compromised.' By this time it was
nearly 9 o'clock, and it seemed to me that the Yersaillists must
have got cannon on to the enceinte, the fire became so hot and
heavy about and into the Institution de Ste. Périne. Dombrowski
and his staff were very active and daring, and the heart of the
troops seemed good. There was some cheering at the order
to advance, and the troops—consisting chiefly of francs-tireurs
and men dressed in a Zouave dress, so far as I could see in the
gloom—were moved briskly up into the Rue de la Municipalité.
A couple of guns—field-guns, I fear—were got into position on
the Circular Railway, to the left of the Rue de la Municipalité,
and, under their cover, the infantry debouched with a rush. Of
cavalry I saw only a few scattered pickets. Soon there , was a
fearful disorganization, the result of a hot and close infantry fire
that came seemingly from over a wall which I learned bounded
the Cimetière des Pauvres. The Federals broke right and left.
Some made round the corner of the Rue de Michel Ange (which
bounds the cemetery on the right), under the leadership of a young
staff officer whom I had noticed in the Château do la Muette at
dinner-time. There was a close fusillade and attempt, which was
partly successful, to storm the cemetery, taking it on three sides.
It was said that Dombrowski himself headed the direct attack,
but the locality was too warm for me to satisfy myself quite fully
on this point. Meanwhile there seemed to be almost hand-to-hand
fighting going on all around in the space between the enceinte
and the railway. I could hear the incessant whistle and patter of
the bullets and the yells and cursing of the men, not a few of
whom owed what courage they displayed to profuse libations.
Every now and then there was a cheer and a rash, then a volley
which seemed to stay the rash, and then a stampede back under
cover. By 10J it was obvious that the Communists had nearly
lost their courage. Dombrowski I had lost sight of. One officer
told mo he had been killed in the churchyard, another that his
THE AJRCH OF TRIUMPH.
0E, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871.
595
horse had been shot under him, and that when last seen the dar¬
ing little fellow was fighting a Yersaillist marine with his sword.
There came a panic, in the thick of which 1 made good my
retreat behind 'the second line of defence,' which could not
easily be recognized as a line of defence at all. I fear Dombrow-
ski must have been gasconading. Once behind the railway, the
Communists held the new ground with stubbornness. One or two
attacks were made by detached parties of Yersaillists ; but their
fire gradually died away, and soon after 11 o'clock the quietness
had become so great that I thought the work was over for the night
and that Dombrowski's anticipations had been realized.
The pause was deceptive. The Yersaillists must have simply
held their hands for a time to make the blow heavier when it
should fall. No doubt they had their combinations to execute
elsewhere, and were pouring into the area between the enceinte
and the Circular Railway. While tliey were doing this they were
also packing the thoroughfares with artillery. We could hear in
the distance in our rear the general march beaten. A staff officer,
who spoke English perfectly, and who was as black as a negro,
from powder and smoke, came to where I lurked, and told me how
ho mistrusted the pause, and feared that the supreme hour had
come at last. The supreme hour had come. It was 2 o'clock, in
the morning. Suddenly a fierce fire opened on the railway.
Showers of shells poured upon it and in its vicinity, and upon it a
hail of musketry pattered. The Communists did essay a reply, but
it was extremely weak. Then there suddenly came on the wind
the din of sharp firing from the north. I heard some one shout,
' We arc surrounded ; the Yersaillists arc pouring in by the gates of
Auteuil, Passy, and la Muette ! ' This was enough. A mad panic
set in. The cry rose of Sauve qui peut, mingled with other
shouts. Nous sommes trahis. Arms and packs were thrown
down and every one bolted at the top of his speed, the officers
leading the way. I came on one party—a little detachment of
38
596 TARI9 UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
francs-tireurs—standing fast behind the projection of a house, and
calling out that all their chiefs had run away and left them.
Whether this was the case as regards the higher commanders I
cannot tell. I do not think that Dombrowski or any of liis staff
were the men to run. But certainly none of them were to be
seen. There was a cry, too, that there was an invasion from the
south, and so men surged, and struggled, and blasphemed confu¬
sedly up the quay in their confusion, shot and shell even chasing
them as they went. In the extremity of panic, mingled with
rage, men discharged their pieces indiscriminately, and struck
each other with their guns.
" I can hardly tell how 1 came to be on the Avenue du Roi de
Rome at about half-past five in the morning—my watch had run
down. The battery had been carried off. Looking down the
Boulevard de l'Empereur I saw a battery of horse artillery com¬
ing up it at a walk. A few corpses of Communists were lying
about the battery. Thase troops advancing with a deliberation so
equable were MacMahon's men coming into the Trocadcro. I did
not wait for them, but made for a side street toward the Champs
Élysées. I came out in the beautiful avenue, about midway be¬
tween the Arch of Triumph and the Rond Point ; and there stood
several battalions of soldiers in red breeches. They were packed
there seemingly as densely as the Bavarians had been on the 1st
of March, but they were not so pacific. There was no firing from
the big barricade at the Place de la Concorde end of the Tuileries
gardens, but National Guards were shoving about it, and now and
then making a shot at the dense masses of the Vcrsaillists, who
were very deliberate, and made quite sure of their ground before
advancing. They had a field battery in action just below the
A.ch, which swept the Champs Élysées very neatly. I saw seve¬
ral shells explode about the Place de la Concorde. Penetrating
casually in a north-westerly direction, I found danger again in
the Rue Billault, a 6ide street, nearly parallel to the Avenue de
OB, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871. 597 '
la Beina Hortense, which entends away from the Arch of Tri¬
umph, nearly at right angles to the Champs Élysées. In this
avenue a person I spoke with told me the Yersaillists had como
upon the Communists as they were throwing up a barricade, and
had saved them the trouble of completing it by taking it from
them at the point of the bayonet. There I got very nearly shut
in, for as I talked there was a shout, and here were the Yersail¬
lists, with artillery at their head, marching down the Avenue
Friedland toward the Boulevard Haussmann, and I had just time
to dodge across their front. I then tracked them by a side
street, and found they pressed on steadily, firing but every now
and then, till they reached the open space near the top of the
Boulevard Haussmann, in front of the Caserne de la Pépinière.
Here was a noble position, and no mistake. They could sweep
the Boulevard Malesherbes straight down to the Madeleine, and
so open their way into the Bue Boyale, and down it into the bacl<
of the barricade at its end facing the Place de la Concorde
There, too, they could sweep the Boulevard Haussmann along its
whole length, and, by a steady fire along these thoroughfares
prevent concentration, and cut that part of Paris practically int(
three districts.
"Becrossing the Boulevard Haussmann, I made my way by
devious paths towards the Palais Boyal. Shells seemed to be
bursting all over the city. They were time-fuse shells; and)'
could see many of them burst in a white puff of smoke high ii
air. Several fell on and about the Bourne as I was passing, ana-
the neighborhood was silent and deserted, except by National
Guards in small parties, or singly. I could not tell whether they
were advancing or retreating. Everywhere barricades were
hastily erecting, but I dodged them all till I got to the Place dn
Palais Boyal. Here two barricades were constructing, one across
the Bue St. Honoré, another across the Bue de Bivoli.* For the
latter the material was chiefly furnished by a great number ol
59S PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
articles which were hurriedly pitched out of the windows of the
establishment, and of mattresses from the Guards' barracks at the
Tuileries. The Rue St. Honoré barricade was formed of paving-
stones, cabs, and carriages, and I was compelled, nolens volens,
to assist in the construction of it. It is pleasant, even if you are
forced to do a tiling, to attempt doing it in a satisfactory manner ;
and, observing that an embrasure had been neglected in the con¬
struction of the barricade, I devoted my energies to remedying
this defect. I was not sorry, however, to be released from my
task after a quarter of an hour's work, the more so as the shell
fire was increasing in warmth and proximity. I noticed that
from the great barricade at the top of St. Honoré, the Commu¬
nists had got one gun at least into action, and were using it to fire
somewhere in the direction of the Arch of Triumph. It was
impossible to fulfil my original intention, which was to cross the
• river to the Ministry,of War, therefore I returned in the direc¬
tion of the Hew Opera House. Crossing the Boulevard I noticed
that the Versaillists must have gained the Madeleine, between
which and their position at the Pépinière Barracks no obstacle in
the shape of a barricade intervened. They had constructed
across the end of the Boulevard de la Madeleine a barricade of
trees and casks for artillery. The Communists, on their side, had
a temporary barricade, chiefly of provision wagons, across the
Boulevard at the head of the Rue de la Paix. By the Yef-
saillists had advanced considerably down the Boulevard Hauss-
mann, which they swept with a heavy musketry fire. Two lads
were shot down close to me at the end of the Rue de Lafayette.
There was no return fire of any account. Many Communists
passed me in retreat, declaring, as usual, that they had been
betrayed. As I stood, there was a Scramble for a barricade in
the Boulevard Haussmann, about 500 yards nearer Pépinière
4 than the Rue de Lafayette. It was carried by the Versaillist
marines. I could see them jumping up on the barricade*
ruins of the forte st. martin.
ruins of the hotel de ville.
OB, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871.
601
Everywhere, as I learn, the Versailhsts were led by gendarmes
and sailors or marines. The National Guards fell back, dodging
behind lamp-posts and in doorways, and firing wildly as they
retreated. This drew a still heavier fire from the Versailles bar¬
ricade. A bullet struck the front of a gas-pillar behind which 1
: stood, and fell flattened in the road, and a woman stepped out
from the gable of the Eue de Lafayette, picked up the bullet,
and walked coolly back, clapping her hands with glee.
"What curious ceremony is going on at the corner of the Rues
Lafayette and, Lafitte? There is a wagon, a mounted spahi,
nearly as black as night, and an officer. A crowd is all round,
and in the centre is a blazing fire of papers. Are they burning
the ledgers of the bank, or the title-deeds of the surrounding
property ? No. It is the papers of the battalion which are thus
burning, that they might not bear witness against the members, I
suppose. A sign surely, of the beginning of the end. Other
signs were not wanting. English passports were sought after ;
but when men talked of getting out it was found that, in the
morning, the Prussians had let out train after train, but stopped
each at St. Denis, and allowed nobody to go on. A woman is
said to have been fired on this morning on making an attempt to
get out. The Communists retreated, ever throwing up barricades
everywhere, so that circulation became almost impossible. They
seemed to bp heading toward Montmartre, which had opened fire
on the Trocadéro, from which the chief share of the Versailles
artillery fire seemed to come. The Versaillists seemed to under¬
stand this policy,'and made some haste to counteract it. By 12
they had gained the Place de l'Europe, near the western ter¬
minus, on the way to Montmartre, thus completing a definite and
well-marked line from the western terminus riverward by the
Madeleine and the Place de la Concorde. Of the other side of
the river 1 can say nothing. Some say the Versaillists are as far
as the Pont de la Concorde and the École Militaire, but there is
C>< >2 PA.RI8 UNDER TI1TC COMMUNE :
no certainty. It is now 4 o'clock r.M. At about 2 o'clock the
Versaillists had fairly established themselves in the line I have
described, and were making the Boulevard Ilaussmann terribly
hot quarters down to the very end. At the same hour they
began to shell, from their battery at the Madeleine, the Commu
nist barricade on the Boulevard des Capucines, at the top of the
Bue de la Paix. This was a crushing fire, and the barricade was
soon shattered. As I conclude, the Communists seem demoral¬
ized, yet are working hard everywhere erecting barricades, and
the générale is sounding. No generals are to be found."
The ferocity of the leaders of the Commune, upon thus finding
that all was lost, exceeds anything in history. Men who a day or
two before had been willing to sell to President Thiers the city,
its fortresses, and even their own souls, had they been worth the
purchase, now fought with the fiercest desperation, and as they
were driven back from one barricade after another, seemed filled
with a diabolical fury which could not be sated with destruction.
On the dead bodies of the leaders and military officers were
found orders to employ hundreds of persons to set on fire all the
buildings of the principal streets, the public edifices, many of
them associated in the minds of all Frenchmen with the glory of
their capital and the history of their nation. The soldiers were
ordered to charge their cannon with petroleum bombs, and to use
wadding dipped in petroleum in their rifles. Nay, more ; they
had devised plans for involving the whole city in a common de¬
struction by placing explosive compounds in all the sewers and
arranging electric wires to explode them ! Nothing but the sux--
prise, so well described, prevented this wholesale destruction.
Equally atrocious in its spirit was their treatment of their pris¬
oners. The murder of the venerable Archbishop Darboy and his
fellow-prisoners, a crime for which there was 110 possible justifica¬
tion, will long remain as a foul blot on the characters of the Red
Republicans of Paris in 1871. A prisoner named Evrard, in the
LATE ARCHBISHOP DARBOY.
OK, THE EED REBELLION OF 1871.
t>05
/ Bame ]>rison with the Archbishop (La Roquette), himself a Com¬
munist, but confined for some real or fancied offence against the
Commune, thus relates the execution of the venerable prelate :—
" On Wednesday, May 24, at 7.30 in the evening, the director
^oFthe prison, one Lafrançais, a namesake of the member of the
Commune, and who himself had spent six years at the Bagne, as¬
cended at the head of fifty Federals to the gallery where the
principal prisoners were confined. An officer went round to each
I cell, summoning first the Archbishop, and then in succession M.
Bonjean, the Abbé Allard, Fathers Ducoudray and Clair, and the
Abbé Dcguerry, Curé of the Madeleine. As the prisoners were
summoned they were marched down the road running round the
prison, on.each side of which, as far as I could see, were arranged
the National Guard, who received the captives with insults and
f epithets which I cannot transcribe. My unfortunate companions
were taken into the courtyard facing the infirmary, where they
, found a firing party awaiting them. Monseigneur Darboy stepped
\ forward, and addressing his assassins, uttered a few words of par-
) don. Two of these men approached the Archbishop, and, in face
of their companions, knelt before him, beseeching his forgiveness.
The other Federals at once rushed upon them and drove them
back with insulting reproaches, and then, turning towards the
prisoners, gave vent to most violent expressions. The commander
of the detachment felt ashamed of this, and, ordering silence,
uttered a frightful oath, telling his men that they were there to
shoot those people, and not to bully them. The Federals were
silenced, and upon the orders of their lieutenants loaded their
I weapons. Father Allard was placed against the wall and was the
\ first shot down. Then M. Darboy, in his turn, fell. The whole
fhsix prisoners were thus shot, all evin cing the utmost calmness and
' courage. M. Deguerry alone exhibited a momentary weakness,
which was attributable rather to his state of health than to ffear
After this tragical execution, carried out without any formal wit-
COG
PARIS UNDER TIIE COMMUNE ;
nesses, and in the presence only of a number of bandits, the
bodies of the unfortunate victims were placed in a cart belonging
to a railway company, which had been requisitioned for the pur¬
pose, and were taken to Pcrc la Chaise, where they were placed
in the last trench of the 1 fosse commune ' side by side, without
even any attempt to cover them with earth."
There were in all sixty-four of these prisoners in La Roquette
shot on the 24th and 25th of May. Similar barbarities were com¬
mitted at other prisons. Gustave Chaudey, one of the editors of
the Siècle, a man highly esteemed, fell under the displeasure of
the brutal Raoul Rigault, the " Delegate for Public Safety," and
was consigned to St. Pelagic. On Tuesday, May 23, Raoul Ri¬
gault came to the prison, and entering his room said to him, very
coolly : " I have come to announce that this is your last hour."
"How ? " cried Chaudey ; " you mean to assassinate me ? " " You
are going to be shot," was the reply. The guards of the prison
refused to shoot the prisoner, and Rigault had to go for other ex¬
ecutioners. They came into the court where Chaudey was set up
against a wall. Riganlt waved his sword as the signal to fire, and
they fired. But they had fired too high ; the poor victim was only
• wounded, and at last ho had to be despatched by being shot
through the ear with a pistol.
s The Communists had destroyed several churches and the resi¬
dence of M. Thiers before the Yersailles troops effected an entry
into the city ; but from the 21st to the 28th of May they seemed
possessed with an insane and uncontrollable impulse to destroy all
before them. In this work of destruction the women were even
more furious than the men ; thousands of them were arrested
either setting fire to buildings or shooting down the Versailles
troops from corners, from windows, behind barricades, or from
house-tops, and when arrested they fought like tigers. Many of
them were, it is true, of the abandoned class ; but others, wives
and mothers, hitherto of good repute, were nevertheless now
OE, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871.
607
maddened with the desire to destroy. It was sad and distressing
to see so many of these female furies marched to execution, and
shot down in squads by the Yersaillists ; and yet we cannot won
der that, finding them engaged in the work of destruction, the
soldiers should have had no pity. The Yersailles Government
has been very severely censured for the summary execution of sc
many prisoners, and our own leniency has been adduced in con¬
trast. We cannot help wishing that their justice had been tem¬
pered with a greater share of mercy, yet it must be urged in
their behalf that the two situations were wholly unlike. In our
case the soldiers and officers opposed to us understood and obeyed
the usages of war, and did not continue fighting when further
fighting was useless, nor did tlioy seek to destroy what they were
powerless to hold longer. The Communists, on the contrary,
acted like wild beasts, and sought to involve themselves and their
foes in a common ruin, and it was natural, though possibly not
politic, to treat them like wild beasts, whose extermination was
necessary for the safety of society. In the execution of the lead¬
ers of the insurrection they certainly acted wisely, and it is only
a pity that any escaped. In the slaughter of the undistinguished
herd it is not impossible that in some cases the innocent may have
suffered with the guilty ; but there seems to be sufficient evidence
that only those who were engaged in acts of murder or incendia¬
rism when taken were, knowingly, put to death. Still, we can¬
not help shuddering at such executions as the following, related
by one of the correspondents of the London Times : " On the
31st of May thirty-three Communists, among whom were seven
women, were shot in a body by a company of soldiers. Around
three sides of the square troops to the number of 1,500 were
drawn up, under command of Colonel Guizot. At 8 o'clock the
prisoners, who had been confined in the coal-cellars back of the
porter's lodge in the Hôtel de Yille, were brought out, their hands
tied behind their backs, and then marched out by the main gate-
008
FAK1S UNDUE TIIE COMMUNE |
way through a double file of soldiers, and having reached tho
centre of the wide area in front of the Hôtel de Yille, were
ranged in a row, and made to kneel down close together. There
was nothing on the whole plaza hut three empty scavenger carts,
which stood in a line at the rear of the prisoners. When the
company was in line and ready to fire, Colonel Guizot stepped for¬
ward and told the prisoners in a few words that they were to suffer
death for having been caught in the act of setting fire to buildings
.and dwellings of Paris. At this moment the women uttered a
piercing shriek, and began to sway themselves back and forth.
An officer advanced and made them keep still with the flat of his
5 sword. A few moments afterward a volley was fired, and when
the smoke cleared away a most horrible sight was presented.
Three of the women, who were in the middle of the row, be¬
tween the men, were still living, and writhing in agony. A sec¬
ond volley was fired, and a third, and not until the sixth did all
the prisoners cease to live. The dead bodies were then flung into
the three scavenger carts and carried away to be buried. There
were very few people on the scene."
Another case, related by the same correspondent, does not
awaken our sympathy so much as our pity :—
"You have heard, doubtless, of the vivandières of the National
battalions, who have marched brightly and bravely to the combat
with the corps, or with the men who claimed their wild and more
than half unwomanly devotion. One woman of this class,
straight, tall, splendidly set, with vigor in her face and beauty in
every limb—she could not have been more than 25, and she was
a woman perfectly made—I saw suffer a frightful fate. Cap¬
tured, I know not how, she had killed with a revolver, before her
hand could be stayed, a Versaillist officer and three of his men
She looked ' out and out ' a fury ; her handsome face was black
with powder, her lips especially made livid by hasty biting of
PRESIDENT THTKR»' HOUSE IN THE PLACE ST. GEORGE'S.
OE, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871.
611
cartridges ; her hair hung in dishevelled tangles about her hand¬
some but ferocious face ; and her eyes, gleaming with an over¬
strained courage that mounted even to madness, blazed defiance
on the red-breeched crowd who held her at their mercy. I will
not linger on the scene. Her hands were tied, and with her back
against a wall she died—pierced through and through with shots
from the rifles of M. Thiers' troops. I could not blame them—
but I could not help being deeply sorry for her."
But though several thousands thus perished by summary exe¬
cution, there were a still greater number who were prisoners,
taken with arms in their hands, or with incendiary grenades or
bottles of petroleum about them, ready to be used in setting fire
to the buildings of the city. These were reserved for trial, and
most of them would probably escape death, though perhaps not a
protracted imprisonment or banishment.
When we consider that fully one-third of the beautiful city of
Paris had been destroyed through the fiendish rage of these
Communists, and that the rest would have gone had they had
another day for the consummation of their horrible designs, we
can hardly withhold our sympathy with the Yersailles troops in
their determination to exterminate such wretches from the face
of the earth. Of the public buildings burned, some, identified
with the past history of the nation, cannot be replaced. Among
them the Tuileries takes rightfully the first place. Its history
extends over centuries. In 1564, Catherine de Medicis began its
erection. A prediction bidding her beware of St. Germain and
the Tuileries caused her to abandon the work, and leave it for
Henry IY. to extend and embellish. He began the long work
which joins the Louvre to the palace ; and the works suspended
oy his death were carried on and terminated by Louis XIII., who
fixed his residence there. Louis XIY having ordered Levan and
D'Orbay to harmonize the whole, an attic was added to the cen-
39
G12
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE
tral buildings, and other important improvements made. This
monarch resided in the Tuileries occasionally until the building
of Versailles, when the court entirely forsook the capital. The
Regent Duke of Orleans fixed his abode in the Tuileries during
the minority of Louis XV. ; but from that period till the forced
return of Louis XVI. the families of persons officially attached
to the court occupied it.
During and since the great Revolution the palace of the Tuile¬
ries was associated with many memorable scenes. The mob
entered it on the 20th of June, 1792, and it was attacked and
the Swiss Guards massacred in the August following. It was the
official residence of Napoleon when First Consul, and wrhen he
became Emperor it formed one of the imperial palaces. In 1808
Napoleon began the northern gallery, to serve as a communication
with the Louvre. After the restoration the Tuileries continued
to be the chief residence of the king and royal family. After
tire Revolution of 1830, when the people attacked and took the
palace (June 29), Louis Philippe fixed his residence in it, and
continued to inhabit it until the 24th of February, 1848, when it
was again invaded by the people, and the king made his escape.
By a decree of the Provisional Government of '48, it was to be
transformed into an asylum for invalid workmen, but that inten¬
tion was not carried out. During and after the formidable insur¬
rection of June of the same year it was used as a hospital for the
wounded. In 1849 the yearly exhibition of paintings was opened
in the Tuileries. During the reign of Napoleon III. it was his
official residence, and was the scene of magnificent balls and re¬
ceptions. A concert was recently held in the Hall of the Mar¬
shals, under the auspices of the Commune,
r- The exterior of the palace was grand and imposing. The
extreme length of the façade was 336 yards ; its breadth 36
• •
yards. Owing to the different periods at which it was built, its
architecture was not uniform. All that wealth and taste could
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
613
accomplish was employed under successive monarchs to embellish
its interior. The Emperor's private apartments were gorgeously
decorated. The theatre could accommodate 800 spectators, and
was used as a supper-room when balls were given at Court. The
chapel of the palace was rather plain, and had a gallery and ceil¬
ing resting upon Doric columns of stone and stucco. The Salle
de la Paix was used as a ball-room, and was 140 feet long by 35
feet broad, and contained splendid statuary. The Hall of the
Marshals was remarkable for its splendor. The names of the
great battles fought under the First Empire were inscribed on
its walls, and around the hall were busts of distinguished generals
and naval commanders, while portraits of the great marshals of
France adorned its panels. The furniture was ornamented with
green velvet and gold. This was used as a ball-room on State
occasions. Four other magnificent halls were conspicuous fea¬
tures. The carpets on them were of Gobelins manufacture, and
cost $200,000. These halls were the White, the Apollo, and the
Throne Halls. The Throne Hall, a splendid apartment, con¬
tained the imperial throne. The hangings were of dark velvet
of Lyons manufacture, with palm-leaves and wreaths wrought in
gold. The throne, facing the windows, was surmounted by a
canopy of the same, and the drapery depending from it was
studded with bees embroidered in gold. A description of the
remaining apartments would simply embrace a repetition of
decorations of unrivalled elegance, the results of lavish expendi¬
ture.
The Louvre, which fortunately was only partially destroyed,
was mainly constructed by Louis XIV., but was left in a com¬
paratively unfinished condition imtil 1802,• when Napoleon
resumed the works, and under him the Louvre was finished and
the surrounding streets and places cleared. Its internal arrange¬
ments were made principally by Charles X. and Louis Philippe.
Since the time of Louis XV. it has been devoted to the reception
614
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE !
of the various museums of the fine arts, and was occasionally
used for great ceremonies of state. The eastern front of the
Louvre was one of the finest pieces of architecture of any age.
The grand colonnade was composed of 28 coupled Corinthian
columns, fronting a wide gallery. The central part of the build¬
ing, forming the gateway, was crowned by a pediment, the raking
cornices of which were each of a single piece. This pediment con¬
tained a bas-relief executed by Lemot, and over the grand door¬
way was another by Cartellier. The gates themselves, made by
order of Napoleon, were of magnificently worked bronze. This
front was 525 feet long and 85 feet high. The southern front,
also the work of Claude Perrault, though not so bold, was very
fine. It was decorated with 40 Corinthian pilasters, and, like
the eastern, had a richly adorned pediment over the central com¬
partment. The northern front consisted of a central and two
lateral pavilions projecting from the main body. The western
front presented no special features of interest.
Almost all the interior of this palace was devoted to the muse¬
ums for which it was so celebrated. These consisted of magnifi-
cent apartments, filled with the rarest and most valuable antiqui¬
ties and artistic productions that France could secure through the
reigns of successive sovereigns, who made additions to it a sub¬
ject of pride and emulation. As the valuable paintings were
removed during the Prussian siege of Paris, the world will not
have to deplore the irreparable loss their destruction would entail.
Besides these, however, there was a library of great value, con¬
taining two choice collections of American books, and books on
the discovery of this country, and many other valuable works,
and vast collections of curiosities from America, China, India,
and Europe, which were entirely destroyed.
The Hôtel de Yille was the place of assembly of the Munici-
, pality of Paris, and was erected and embellished at an expense
)f upward of $4,000,000. It contained several magnificent state
OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871.
615
apartments, decorated in a highly artistic manner, and furnished
at immense expense. All the revolutions of France were associ
ated with the Grand Hall of this building. From it Louis XVI,
6poke to the populace with the cap of liberty on his head. It was
in this edifice also that Itobespierre held his council and after-
Avard attempted to destroy himself ; and it was at one of these
J windows that General Lafayette embraced Louis Philippe and
^presented him to the people.
The Palais Royal, which has shared in the general destruction,
was one of the most remarkable palaces of Paris, and was fitted
up in splendid style for Prince Jerome and Prince Napoleon.
Historical associations of deep interest were connected with it.
The Palace of the Legion of Honor was built in 1786. The
interior was decorated with elegance. It was the home of the
Grand Chancellor of the Order.
The Palais du Quai d'Orsay was a magnificent building, ap¬
propriated to the several departments of the administration. It
was begun while M. de Champigny, Duke de Cadore, was pre¬
mier, in the reign of Napoleon I. It was not, however, com¬
pleted until the beginning of 1S30, when Charles X. intended it
as a palace for the exhibition of the productions of French indus¬
try. The revolution delayed its completion, but it was at length
finished by M. Lecorday, under Louis Philippe. The edifice
consisted of four magnificent buildings surrounding a vast court,
and two wings enclosing two smaller courts. Toward the river
the front presented a long line of windows, formed by nineteen
arches, separated by Tuscan columns, above which was a series of
the Ionic order, and over this a mixed Corinthian attic, crowned
with an elaborate battlement. The lower story was flanked at
both ends with a balustraded platform laid out as a garden. The
central court was surrounded by a double series of arcades with
Doric and Ionic pilasters ; the lower frieze was inlaid with vari¬
ous colored marbles.
616
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
The interior of this grand edifice was on a scale commensurate
with the administrative offices of a great empire. The walls of
the staircases were ornamented with allegorical paintings. On
the first story was the Hall of Audience for the Court of Accounts,
which was decorated with paintings by eminent artists. The
ground floor, facing the river, was appropriated to the sittings of
the Council of State. The Hall of the Pas Perdus, on this floor,
was an elegant square apartment, in which four Doric columns
sustained a balustrade opening into a vestibule of the upper story.
There were five other halls magnificently adorned, and containing
portraits and pictures of great excellence.
On the ground floor was also the Salle des Séances Administra¬
tives, a saloon of great splendor, decorated with twenty Corin¬
thian columns of white marble, with gilt capitals, and portraits of
Richelieu, Colbert, D'Aguesseau, Fuger, Turgot, and other emi¬
nent Frenchmen. The coned ceiling was richly gilt in compart¬
ments, and contained five emblematical paintings. In the tym¬
pans of the arches intersecting the cones were thirteen medallions,
with portraits of distinguished French marshals and sa vans. The
| palace cost $2,400,000. In the destructif 11 of this building France
' has lost official records of national importance, and productions of
' artistic skill which cannot be restored.
-—An eye-witness thus describes the appearance of the captured
city on the 28tli of May :—
" The aspect of the Boulevards is the strangest sight imagina¬
ble. I followed them from the Porte St. Martin to the Rue de
la Paix. Strewn over the streets were branches of trees and
fragments of masonry that had been knocked from the houses.
Bricks and mortar, torn proclamations, shreds of clothing half
concealing blood-stains, were now the interesting and leading
features of that fashionable resort ; foot-passengers were few and
far between ; the shops and cafés hermetically sealed, excepting
where bullets had made air-holes ; and during my whole after-
OB, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871.
617
noon's promenade I only met three other carriages beside my own.
The Place de l'Opéra was a camping-ground of artillery, ths
Place Vendôme a confusion of barricades guarded by sentries,
and the Eue Royale a mass of debris. Looked at from the Made¬
leine, the desolation and ruin of that handsome street were
lamentable to behold. The Place de la Concorde was a desert,
and in the midst of it lay the statue of Lille, with the head off.
The last time I had looked on that face it was covered with crape,
in mourning for the entry of the Prussians. Near the bridge
were twenty-four corpses of insurgents, laid out in a row, waiting
to be buried under the neighboring paving-stones. To the right
the skeleton of the Tuileries reared its gaunt shell, the frame¬
work of the lofty wing next the Seine still standing ; but the
whole of the roof of the central building was gone, and daylight
visible through all the windows right into the Place du Carrousel.
General McMahon's headquarters were at the Affaires Étrangères,
which were intact. After a visit there, I passed the Corps Légis¬
latif, also uninjured by fire, but much marked by shot and shell
and so along the Quais the whole way to the Mint, at which
point General Vinoy had established his headquarters. At the
corner of the Rue de Bac the destruction was something appall¬
ing. The Rue de Bac is an impassable mound of ruins, fifteen 01
twenty feet high, completely across the street as far as I could
see. The Légion d'Honneur, the Cours des Comptes, and Con¬
seil d'État were still smoking, but there was nothing left of them
but the blackened shells of their n..n le façades to show how hand-
some they had once been. At this point, in whichever direction
one looked, the same awful devastation met the eye : to the left
the smouldering Tuileries, to the right the long line of ruin where
the fire had swept through the magnificent palaces on the Quai,
and overhead again to-day a cloud of smoke, more black and
abundant even than yesterday, incessantly rolling its dense vol¬
umes from behind Notre Dame, whose two towers were happily
618
paris under the commune
standing uninjured. The fire issued from the G-renier d'Abon
dance and other buildings in the neighborhood of the Jardin des
Plantes. In another direction the Arsenal was also burning. On
the opposite Bide of the river were, the smoking ruins of the
Théâtre Châtelet and the Hôtel de Yille. A large part of the
Palais Royal is burned."
We conclude this chapter of incidents and reminiscences of the
insurrection with brief sketches of some of its leaders, beginning
with
Louis Auguste Blanqui, who was for some time the leading
spirit and inspirer of this insurrectionary movement, and is a born
revolutionist and fanatic. He was born at Nice, in 1805. He is
one of the best educated men in France, a man of high attain¬
ments both in classical and modern literature ; but from 1827, when
he was implicated in the demonstration against Charles X., up to
the present time, he has either been engaged in conspiracies
against the governments of all sorts in France, or in serving out
his terms of imprisonment for such conspiracies. He was arrested,
tried, and acquitted in 1831, for one such attempt; arrested,
tried, and condemned to two years' imprisonment and 3,000 francs
fine in 1835, pardoned in 1837, involved in a new plot for insur¬
rection May 12,1839, and after six months' concealment in Paris
fell into the hands of the police, and was condemned to death in
January, 1840. This sentence was commuted to imprisonment
for life. In 1848 he regained his liberty; but in May of that
year he was plotting against the Republic, and was arrested, tried,
and condemned to ten years' imprisonment. He was set at liberty
by the amnesty of 1859, but in 1861 was arrested and sentenced
to five years' imprisonment as a member of the Carbonari. On
the part of most men there is naturally a feeling of repulsion for
this gray-haired fanatic, who regards the murder of those whose
political views are opposed to his as the most natural thing in the
world, and who more than once has coolly proposed a general
or, THE BED REBELLION OE 1871.
619
massacre of both sexes and all ages of those who did not consent
to the rule of the Red Republicans ; but his friends seem fasci¬
nated by him, and will do or dare anything for him. On the 31st
of October, 1870, Blanqui had attempted the overthrow of the
" Government of National Defence," and, failing, had made liiB
escape, and in his absence had again been condemned to death.
Finding that the insurgents of the Commune looked upon him as
their leader and counsellor, M. Thiers instructed his police officers
to arrest him wherever found. He was accordingly arrested in
one of the smaller cities of the south of France, on the 19th of
March, 1871, and put in the prison of Figeac, but managed to
keep up his communications with the insurgent leaders, who were
nevertheless impatient to have him with them, and about the mid¬
dle of April proposed to exchange the Archbishop of Paris and
several of the clergy, whom they had arrested as hostages, foi
him ; but M. Thiers was too shrewd to make such an exchange,
and Blanqui was kept in prison till the downfall of the Com¬
mune.
Gustave Flourens, a young, impulsive, and hot-headed revo
lutionist, of whom, had he lived, some better things might yet have
been hoped, was also eminent as a scholar. The. eldest son of the
eminent physiologist and author, Marie Jean Pierre Flourens, he
was born in Paris, August 4, 1838, educated at the college of Louis
the Great, and at the age of twenty-five filled his father's profes¬
sorship of Natural History in the College of France for a year
during his absence. He had at this early date already distin-
guished himself by an able physiological treatise, and by two or
three novels. On his father's return the son visited Belgium, and
from thence passed to Greece and to Candia, where he took an
active part in the Candiote insurrection against Turkey, became a
member of the Cretan National Assembly, and their Minister to
Greece. He returned to France in the autumn of 1868, and be¬
came at once a leader in the Opposition. He was arrested in
620 paris undku the commune
April, 1869, on the charge of offences against the Emperor, and
condemned to three months' imprisonment. On his discharge he
fought a duel with Paul Garnier de Cassagnac, who had attacked
him in his paper, and was severely wounded. Scarcely recovered,
he again took the lead in the opposition to the Emperor, was con¬
cerned in the rising in relation to the arrest of Pierre Bonaparte,
and was again imprisoned. Released by the " Government of
National Defence," he was at first a member of that government,
but subsequently resigned, and in December attempted tts over¬
throw, leading a party who took possession of the Hôtel de Ville,
and for the time deposed Trochu. He was arrested for this, but
subsequently set at liberty. He had gone with his whole soul
into this insurrection, had been named one of its generals, and,
more fortunate than some of his associates, fell in battle on the
2d of April.
Felix Pyat, like his associates Blanqui and Flourens, was
widely known for his literary attainments and his successful
authorship. He was born at Vierzon, in the Department of Cher,
October 4,1810 ; educated both in letters and law in Paris, and
admitted to the bar in 1831 but relinquished his profession to
become a journalist, and for ' the next seventeen years was con¬
nected either as sub-editor, editor, or feuilletonist with the press
of Paris. His caustic attack on Jules Janin in 1844 led to his
imprisonment for libel for six months. During these seventeen
years he had become favorably known as a dramatic writer, many
of his dramas meeting with a great success. But through most
of these, as throughout "his newspaper and review articles, there
was always a vein of intense socialistic democracy. He was a
lemocrat and a socialist to his heart's core ; not the less so,
perhaps, because his ancestry were all legitimists and stubborn
adherents to the old order of things. At the revolution of 184:8,
he abandoned all literary pursuits to devote himself heart and
soul to the promotion of his socialistic theories. He was an
or, the red rebellion of 187i.
621
active participant in the organization of the Bepublic ; was a
member of the Constituent Assembly, and a Commissary General
from Cher, and in 184:9 was re-elected to the Assembly. He took
part -with Ledru Kollin in his revolt against the system of repres¬
sion which in 184:9 had begun to be exercised by Louis N apoleon,
and was in consequence exiled from France. He at first resided
in Switzerland, but soon removed to Belgium, where for nearly
twenty years he remained in exile supporting himself by literary
labor^ and constantly increasing in the intensity of his hatred of
existing governments. He returned to France after the promul¬
gation of a general amnesty in August, 1869, and became one of
the editors of the Rcvgpel ; but he soon become obnoxious to the
Emperor, and in January, 1870, was condemned, under various
charges, to an imprisonment of seventeen months. He was set
free by the Government of National Defence, and remained quiet
though not inactive. He was elected a member of the National
Assembly of February, 1871, but soon abandoned his seat in it
because it would not meet in Paris and had made peace with
Germany. He was active in the councils, of the Commune, and
seemed to be one of its leading spirits, and as ultra as any of its
members, though he was more honest than most of them. True
to his old habits, he had edited during the insurrection a daily
journal with the ominous title of Le Vengeur. At the downfall
of the Commune he fled, and was not discovered for some time,
but about the 17th of June he was arrested and imprisoned.
Louis Charles Delescluze was, like Pyat, a journalist, and
has passed at least twenty of the past thirty-five years either iq
exile or in prison. He was born at Dreux, Department of Eure-
et-Loir, October 2,1809, was educated at the College Bourbon, in
Paris, and afterward at the School of Law of the University.
After the revolution of 1830 he became a member of the political
societies then so abundant, and in 1834 was arrested for partici¬
pation in a conspiracy, and in 1835 was implicated in a plot
622
PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
for which he was compelled to fly from the country. He took
refuge in Belgium, and there edited a political paper. In 1341
he returned to France, and became editor-in-chief of the Impar¬
tial du JTord at Valenciennes, where he soon subjected himself
to a month's imprisonment and 2,000 francs fine. During the
Reform banquets which preceded the revolution of 1848, he took
an active part in those at Lille. After the revolution he was a
Commissary-General of the Republic in the North of France,
but after the affair of the 15th of May, in which he was impli¬
cated with Blanqui, he resigned, and again commenced editing his
paper. In November, 1848, he founded in Paris two papers,
The Révolution, Democratic amd Social, and Republican. Liberty,
of both of which he was the manager. For some articles in these
he was imprisoned fifteen months and fined 20,000 francs. In
June, 1849, the first of these papers was suppressed, and M.
Deleseluze banished. After spending four years in England he
returned to France, when he was again arrested and sentenced to
four years in prison and 1,000 francs fine. This sentence was
executed with great rigor ; he was sent to the galley prisons, and
confined with the worst criminals, and often chained to them.
At the expiration of the four years he was again arrested and
sent to the French penal colony at Cayenne, from whence, by the
general amnesty of 1859, he was permitted to return. After a
few years of teaching he again attempted journalism in July,
1868, and very soon was condemned to fifteen months' imprison¬
ment and 7,000 francs fine. He, too, was set at liberty by the
revolution of September, 1870, and was a delegate to the Natiônal
Assembly of February, 1871, but withdrew and became one of
the members of.the Council of the Commune. At its downfall
he was found dead behind a barricade, having been killed on the
25th. On his person were found duplicates of orders for firing
the city.
The four men whose history we have sketched, though mis
or, the red rebellion of 187l
623
guided and almost crazy in their fanaticism, were not adven¬
turers who plunged into this insurrection in the hope of achiev¬
ing money or power. But with many of the others there was no
honorable motive, no high principle, even if a misguided one,
impelling them to action. Duval, who like Floureris fell in
battle, on the 2d of April, from utter lack of military knowledge,
had been a claqueur at the theatres, and in his very short admin¬
istration of not more than five or six days had found time to
plunder the treasury of the Commune.
Gustave Cluseret, born in the Gironde about 1820, entered the
French army at an early age, and after a period of active service in
Algeria returned to Europe, and won unusual distinction in the Cri¬
mean war, where he received the rosette of the Legion of Honor, but
left the service shortly after, professedly because he desired to de¬
vote himself to revolutionary projects, but really beaause he had
been detected in some dishonorable transactions and thefts which
made him afraid ever after to resume in France the decoration
of the Legion of Honor. After serving for a while with Gari¬
baldi, in Italy, he came to the United States early in the war of
the Rebellion, and engaged in service under the immediate com¬
mand of General Fremont. His principal military operation
consisted in handling a body of troops in co-operation with a
force under General Milroy, in Virginia, against Stonewall Jack¬
son, and in this he won a reputation as a dashing and tireless
leader. He did not remain long in the army, however, and
shortly turned up at Hew Tork in control of a journal called
The New Nation, which at once achieved notoriety by its viru¬
lent abuse of General Grant, then at the head of the armies in
the field. After this prelude, the real object of the establishment
of the paper, namely, the nomination of General Fremont for the
Presidency in 1864, was «disclosed. As usual in Oluseret's enter¬
prises, The New Nation shortly proved a failure. Meantime he
had quarrelled with his candidate for the Presidency. •
624 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ;
In January, 1866, Cluseret visited England, and examined the
principal arsenals and military camps. The British authorities
were greatly alarmed afterward on finding that' the inspection
was in the interest of the Fenian cause, and not, as Cluseret rep¬
resented at the time, for information of the military authorities
of New York. Tie next went to France, engaged in financial
projects and revolutionary schemes, and ultimately was expelled
by the French Government. He was in the city when the French
and German war broke out, but did nothing in connection with
it until the Government of National Defence came into power.
He quarrelled with its leading men, and received no command.
After the fall of Paris he stimulated revolutionary manifestations
in Marseilles and Lyons, and then went on to Paris, where he
was cordially received by the Reds. He was elected a member
of the Commune, and became conspicuous for his ultra-revolu¬
tionary doctrines. Having attained the perilous station of Min¬
ister of War under the Commune, he enacted a leading part in
the defence of Paris, attaching himself with singular desperation
to the fluctuating fortunes of the Communists, and displaying
considerable ability in controlling that turbulent faction. His
administration was, however, interrupted by a period of arrest
and imprisonment for permitting the garrison at Fort d'Issy to be
surprised. It does not appear that he afterward fully recovered
his former power as Minister, though nominally holding the
position.
Personally, Cluseret is described as having been tall, soldierly
in his bearing, and of a disposition which has caused it to be said
that, during a campaign, he was always either fighting or in pur¬
suit of some woman. Though able to speak English well, he had
a singular inability to write it. He was reported at first to have
been shot by the Versaillists, but the report proved untrue, though
according to late news he is a prisoner, and his execution extremely
probable.
ob, the red rebellion of 1871.
625
Henri, Viscoimt de Boohefobt-Lttçav, who, by the recent death
of his father, has become Marquis de Eochefort, was born in July,
1832. His father was a dramatist, but one of little note. As a boy,
Eochefort was impetuous and fiery ; even before the end of his
school-days he had fought his first duel, and physical bravery
was a marked feature of his character. At school and college
his satirical verses attracted attention and praise, and his repub¬
lican beliefs appeared even in his earliest writings. He is said to
have derived his political theories from his mother, a woman of
strong and fixed republican principle. In a collection of stories
of his boyhood is a striking account of his leadership ,of a school
riot, caused by his determined opposition to what he fancied
" tyranny." Chosen from his school to read a poem before the
Archbishop of Paris, he defied authority by the bitter satire of
his verses, and incurred the censure of his teachers ; but this did
not prevent his taking his degree at their academy in 1850. He
soon abandoned the study of medicine, which he at first pursued,
and secured, through family influence, a clerkship in a govern¬
ment office, from which he was afterward transferred to other
similar posts, though ultimately uiisuccessful in them all. After
these changes he found his career at last, and became an editor
of the Paris Charivari. In journalism he attained great success,
and in 1868 he was one of the prominent editors of the Figa/ro.
His few dramas also met with some favor, and his satires were
brilliant and cutting.
The beginning of his open and formidable attack on the im¬
perial government was his publication of the famous Lanterne.
The imprudent wrath which the government displayed against this
publication only added to the unexampled success of his satires,
which were most keen and bitter, though their literary merit was
not always so great as at their beginning. Banished for his per¬
sistent opposition, he continued the publication of the Lanterne
at Brussels, but returned to Paris in time to become involved in
626
paris under the commune ;
the agitations provoked by the shooting of Victor Noir, and for
his part in these he was imprisoned, only to be released by the
revolution of September. He was a member of the Provisional
Government, and took part in the defence of Paris ; but at the
end he found himself placed in a strange position by the estab¬
lishment of the Commune. Regarded as too fiery an agitator by
the Versailles Government, he preferred to remain within the
city ; but, throughout the turbulent days that ensued, he mani¬
fested little sympathy with the Communist leaders, used his
influence on the side of order, and was regarded with no little
suspicion by the men whose fanaticism surpassed his own.
It was while attempting to escape from Paris that Rochefort
was captured by the Versaillists ; and his trial is announced to
take place in July.
Bergeret, a printer, and atheistic braggart, ignorant, conceited
and pompous, had a very short career as Chief of Staff, being
arrested on the 7th of April for " military failure and insubordi¬
nation." He was succeeded by General Dombrowski, a Polish
adventurer and knave, once a subordinate officer in the Russian
army, and there a notorious counterfeiter ; then, to escape from
transportation to the mines of the Ural, a Russian pimp and spy ;
later a spy of Prussia during the war, and when his companion¬
ship with Clueeret had enabled him to grasp power, he too opened
negotiations with the Versailles government to betray the city to
them, but was removed from supreme command too soon to be
able to complete the transaction, but in some way regained his
authority, and, wounded in a barricade fight on the 22d, died the
next day at the Hôtel de Ville.
Louis Nathaniel Rossel, Dombrowski's successor, whatever
may have been his antecedents, was in haste to offer to betray his
trust, coupling it with the horrible proposition to leave twelve or
fourteen thousand of the National Guard to be butchered by the
government troops, without the means of resistance, and to deliver
OB, THE EED EEBELLION OF 197\
627
ap the forts Vanvres and Issy. He was in the battles jl the 21-
28th May, hut escaped from Paris, and returning thither was ar¬
rested, June 7. His failure and his imprisonment led to the ele¬
vation of General Eudes, a young ambitious man who, in August*
1870, had been condemned to death for exciting an insurrection
at Belleville, and was only kept from turning traitor by the en¬
ergy and decision of his wife ; " General " Wkoblewsei, a Polish
music-teacher, dancing-master, and thief, with no military knowl¬
edge, and so depraved that he had robbed his fellow Polish exiles
of a large sum ; Blllioeat, a worthless adventurer from Lyons,
formerly a hurdy-gurdy player, who, in his capacity as the last
Minister of "War, did all in his power to surrender the strongholds
of Issy and Vanvres to the government troops, but was taken and
shot in the final struggle, manifesting the most pitiable cowardice.,
Paschal Gkousset, a lazy, conceited dandy, who had been a
sub-editor of one of the Paris journals, but too indolent to gain
any very high position, was assigned by the Commune to the post
of Minister of Foreign Affairs, for which his only qualification
was his dress. He was somewhat less brutal than others of the
leaders of the Commune, and escaped for the time, but was ar¬
rested on the 4th of June and is to be tried in July.
Raoul Rigault, a thoroughbred ruffian, who delighted in shed¬
ding blood, was the Minister of Public Safety or Chief of Police.
He caused the murder of Gustave Chaudey, and gave the order
for the execution, without even the forms of law, of Archbishop
Darboy and his fellow-prisoners, after the Versaillists had entered
the city. His own career was very short ; for the next day he
was taken prisoner, and, being identified, was placed against a
blank wall and shot.
Of the remaining more prominent members of the Commune,
Assx, a weak-mmded but turbulent fellow, the representative of
the "International Society of Workingmen," who was always in
a quarrel with his fellow-members of the Commune, was taken
40
62S
paris under the commune ;
prisoner while trying to escape, and was remanded for trial at
the same court with Rocliefort, Amouroux, Jules Miot,
Jules Yallès, and Jules Ferré. Brunel, Yarlin, Gam-
eon, Lefrançais, Longuet, Yidal, Yilain, Sullter, who was
really insane, Salinsiu, Dombrowski's aide-de-camp, Bruneron,
Jourde, Treilhakd, and Moilin were shot, and Gaillard was
killed in a rencontre with a soldier. General Eudes was said to
have escaped ; but his wife, a young and beautiful woman of great
resolution, but a complete fanatic in her adherence to the ideas
of the Commune, was taken at Belleville at a barricade, arms in
hand, and shot. As the soldiers were ordered to fire at her, she
6aid, " What matters death, if it is for the good cause ! " General
La Cecilia attempted to commit suicide, but failed and escaped ;
but his wife was killed in the act of building a barricade.
In the whole number of these men of the Commune there was
no one whose abilities were such as to qualify him to become a
great leader. There was not one of those who were active in the
insurrection whom his associates fully trusted. Disbelieving in a
God, they distrusted all men.
The financial condition of France would be alarming to most
nations ; but the buoyancy and hopefulness of the French will
perhaps enable them to struggle along successfully with it.
The state of the case is about as follows :—
The debt previous to the war was, in round numbers
, ^ M. Thiers states the cost of the Franco-German War at
This is independent of local losses and requisitions, and ran¬
soms of cities and towns, which was nearly double this,
the indemnity required from Paris alone being $200,000-
000, and the destruction of property being enormous
The expense of the insurrection in Paris to the Versailles Gov¬
ernment was
And the Commune itself spent about
The loss of property, public and private, by the incendiary
fires and the other destructive acts of the Commune, all of
which must be replaced so far as possible, was more than..
y Add the indemnity to Germany
$3,000,000,000
600,000,000
1,200,000,000
87,200,000
25,000,000
100,000,000
1,000,000,000
$6,012,200,000
OB, THE BED EEBELLION OF 1871.
629
The deficit for the year 1870-71 was, including the suppres¬
sion of the Paris insurrection, 2,067,000,000 francs, equal to
$413,400,000, and part of this was met by a loan from the Bank
of France.
The burden of taxation is so severe that there is danger that it
may be escaped by an almost wholesale emigration.
Yet among the French people the credit of the State is good.
A subscription loan was voted by the Assembly to raise the |
monej to pay the first instalment of the indemnity to Germany, j
) and though the reports were not full at- the date of our writing J
(July 1), it was certain that 1,000 million dollars had been sub- II
) scribed, Jhejpoor and even servants offering their little hoards, and j
| large sums being taken by German bankers. The loan, it should I
I be Stated, was offered at 82 per cent.
If this spirit continues, the burden, though heavy, may not
prove ruinous ; but France is certainly under very heavy bonds to
keep the peace.
On the 2d of July, 1871, an election was held throughout
France to choose 112 members of the National Assembly to fill
existing vacancies. The election was of great importance, as the
permanency of the Republican Government now in existence de¬
pended largely on the political complexion of the new members.
ITo the surprise of most, the members elected were eighty-six
Moderate Republicans (supporters of M. Thiers), thirteen Radi¬
cals, who would generally support his measures, two Legitimists,
three Orleanists, and one Bonapartist. As several members were
elected by more than one constituency, there were but 105 in all
elected. This secures the continuance of M. Thiers's Adminis¬
tration for two years, if he lives so long.
CITIZEN RAZOUA.
APPENDIX.
PHILANTHROPY OF THE WAR.
IT is not so widely known as it should be, that, at the close of oui
war, and before the short war of 1866 between Prussia and Aus¬
tria, an International Sanitary Commission was organized in Central
Europe, mainly through the efforts of Rev. -Dr. Bellows and; some
other members of the United States Sanitary Commission, M. Aug.
Laugel, of Paris, and some prominent and philanthropic citizens of
Switzerland and Prussia.
This organization bore good fruit in the war of 1866, and secured
from France, Prussia, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, à pledge that the
badge and flag of its members—a red cross on a white ground—should
be protected at all times on the field.
No sooner was war declared, in the summer of 1870, than the Com¬
mission organized its branches and Ambulance Corps in both countries,
and made large preparation for the fierce battles which were soon to
come. In France, the Empress patronized and aided the Commission
in their work ; but the most efficient assistance they received was from
American and British citizens, who organized Ambulance Corps, and
contributed largely to the fund for supplies. Dr. Evans, who had ren¬
dered good service to our Sanitary Commission during our war, was at
the head of the American movement. In Germany, the Queen and
Princesses were all active in the. promotion of this good work, and the
King and Crown-Prince aided it by their influence, and • authority.
Queen Augusta took charge of the hospitals at Berlin ; the Crown»
634
APPENDIX.
Princess Victoria of those at Frankfort ; Princess Alice of Hesse of
those at Darmstadt ; the Grand Duchess Louise of Baden of those at
Carlsruhe ; and the Crown-Princess Caroline of Saxony of those at
Ilomburg.
The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a sistei of the Ger¬
man Emperor, was not behind her royal sisters and cousins in her devo¬
tion to the wounded. She had a large hospital for them under her own
special charge, and was ably assisted in its care, as well as in its organi
zation, by an American lady, Miss Clara Barton, whose services to the
sick and wounded, and to the dead soldiers of our own civil war, will
ever be held in grateful remembrance. Other American ladies who had
been active and useful in our war, also lent a helping hand in this good
work ; among the number, Miss Safford, so well remembered by our
soldiers as the " Cairo Angel," Mrs. Evans, <Szc., &c.
There was need of their best efforts : for, before the close of the
war, there were of the two armies almost half a million sick and
wounded. Ambulance Corps were organized, with their superintend¬
ents and attendants, in both France and Germany ; and in both coun¬
tries many English and German gentlemen and ladies enlisted, and. the
large sums contributed from America and England were faithfully and
carefully expended, and the supplies distributed. Rev. Dr. Bellows
gave to the French Sanitary Corps the benefit of his large experience
and great administrative ability, and was ably seconded by Dr. Evans,
of Paris, Messrs. Sykes, Swinburne, Johnstone, and other American
gentlemen and ladies who had been for some time residents of that city.
These generous philanthropists continued their devotion to their work
till the close of the war, and many of them endured great hardship and
suffering, and, as was often the case in our war, the overtasked body,
when the terrible strain was over, sank from exhaustion.
Many of the wealthy citizens of France vied with the German
princes in the largeness of their gifts to the suffering soldiers, not only
offering large sums of money, but giving up their chateaus and castles
for hospitals for the sick and wounded. Notable among these was the
Count Henri de Chambord, the representative of the elder Bourbon
line, and a claimant for the French throne. His extensive chateau,
APPENDIX.
635
amply furnished, and provided with several hundred beds, was placed at
the service of the Government for the wounded French soldiers.
Large contributions were made to the sanitary funds of both coun¬
tries by the people of the United States and of Great Britain. It was
estimated that nearly $1,500,000 was sent from the United States to
Germany, a considerable portion of it, of course, from citizens of Ger
man birth or family. To France the amount was not so large, but was
estimated at $500,000 before the close of the war ; and subsequently,
on the representation of the famine and suffering in those portions of
France which had* been traversed by the armies of the two nations, a
sum of more than $200,000 was made up and sent to relieve the sut
fering.
In consequence of the surrenders at Sedan, Strasbourg, and Metz,
and those of the smaller fortified towns, as well as the great number of
prisoners, wounded and unwounded, taken in the frequent engagements
and retreats of the French armies, many thousands of the French sick
and wounded fell into German hands ; and the testimony of these to
the tender care of their captors for their needs is almost uniform, the
few exceptions being due either to ignorance or the misconduct of the
patients themselves. The Zouaves and Turcos in some instances mani¬
fested a brutal and cruel temper, and returned injuries and violence for
the kindness they received. Of the few wounded Germans who fell
into the hands of the French, some complained of harsh treatment and
cruelty ; but this was, doubtless, generally the result of ignorance or
penury, rather than of intentional malice, though some of the cases
required a broad mantle of charity to cover them.
The record of the International Sanitary Commission and its branch¬
es during this war is the one bright spot in the midst of the horrors of
war. There was also an impromptu organization, something like the
Christian Commission in our war, which did a vast deal of good in the
distribution of portions of the Scriptures, and moral and religious
periodicals, tracts, and books among the soldiers. It was hot so thor¬
oughly organized, or prepared for so extensive and general a work, as
the Christian Commission, but it supplied to the soldiers who ocmld
read, much literature which was both instructive and profitable.
APfENDlX II.
M. LOUIS ADOLPHE THIERS,
PreHdent of the French Provisional Government of February, 1871.
The venerable statesman who was chosen in February, 1871, tc
guide the helm of State in France, at a time when she was in the con¬
dition of greatest peril, has been the subject of more vicissitudes and
changes, and has kept up a stouter heart and a more constant faith in
the future, than any other public man in France.
Louis Adolphe Thiers was born in Marseilles, April 16th, 1797
His father was a large manufacturer of cloths, and was ruined by the
Revolution. His mother was from the illustrious family of Chénier,
and her brothers undertook the education of the young Louis Adolphe,
who early manifested remarkable abilities. He entered the Lyceum
(collegiate school) of Marseilles at the early age of nine years, and at
eighteen graduated with the highest distinction. He studied law at
Aix, and was admitted to the bar in 1820, but soon became convinced
that, for him, the path to distinction lay in politics and literature rather
than in the practice of the law. The year of his admission to the bar
he contended for a prize offered by the Academy of Aix for the best
memoir of the Marquis de Vauvenargues, a French moral philosopher
and author, who had been a native and citizen of Aix. His memoir
was found to be the best ; but the judges, being Royalists, and regard
ing young Thiers as a Jacobin, postponed their decision to the next
year, to give opportunity for further competition, making the same
topic the subject for the next annual prize also. M. Thiers revenged
himself for this injustice in a characteristic way. He sent in his manu¬
script the next year without change, but wrote another memoir of Vau-
venargues in different style, which he dated and mailed from Paris, foi
the new prizp, and, when the decision was made, received both prizes.
APPENDIX.
637
lu September, 1821, he went with his faithful friend and classmate,
M. Mignet, to Paris, to seek his fortune. Both were poor and without
powerful friends, and it was at the most reactionary period of the Bom?
bon Restoration. They worked hard for a bare subsistence, and at first
found but slight encouragement. At length, just at the close of the
year, Thiers, through the influence of the great Liberal orator, Manuel,
obtained a subordinate situation on the staff of the Constitutionnel,
where his brilliant talents soon secured his advancement. His skill in
political discussion, his wide range of general knowledge, his extraordi¬
nary memory, and his complete fearlessness, made him invaluable to
the paper, which was the principal organ of the Liberal party. He was
not less brilliant as an art-critic than as a political writer, and his dra¬
matic criticisms attracted attention in all quarters. A narrative of a
short tour in the Pyrenees and the south of France, published in the
columns of the Constitutionnel in 1824, and subsequently issued in a
volume, gave him some additional reputation. It is not surprising,
then, that, before the close of 1823, he was in receipt of a liberal share
of the profits of the paper which he had already so greatly benefited
by his ability as a writer. His literary activity was even beyond the
needs of the Constitutionnel, and he added to his labors there the edit¬
ing of The Historic Tablets, a magazine of great merit, in which Mignet
and some of his other friends were his collaborators.
He went into society considerably at this time, and one of his friends
thus describes his personal appearance : " The smallness of his stature,
the extreme plainness of his features, which were half hidden under an
enormous pair of spectacles, his peculiar pronunciation, and his singular
habit of constantly shrugging his shoulders, and dancing (or, as a New
Englander would say, ietering) at every word, and an absolute lack of
the ordinary graces of manner, made him appear a being apart from all
others. But when he spoke, you could not refrain from admiring his
wit and vivacity, the glow of his Oriental imagination, and the vastness
of his attainments. Nothing seemed to be foreign to him ; he was
equally at home in science, literature, and art ; and, turning from the
most brilliant literary improvisation, he would discuss, the next mo¬
ment, with equal fulness of knowledge and soundness of judgment
638 APPENDIX.
questions of finance, political economy, war, or political action. He
was a great favorite, at this period, with Talleyrand, and the other emi¬
nent men of the Opposition."
Young as he was, he had already commenced the great literary labor
of his life, his " History of the French Revolution," the plan of which
he subsequently expanded to include the. history of the Consulate and
the Empire, the Restoration, and the Monarchy of July (the reign of
Louis Philippe). The "History of the French Revolution" appeared
complete in 1827, in ten octavo volumes ; and though, in subsequent
editions, some crudities were removed, and there was occasionally a
substitution of a maturer style of thought and a sounder judgment, yet
it was, in its first edition, one of the most remarkable works of the
century. We miss the stateliness of style of Chateaubriand, Lamar¬
tine, and Martin ; but in its profound knowledge and comprehension of
the whole subject, the rapid march of the narrative, its intensely dra¬
matic character, its admirable clearness, and its evident sympathy with
Republican freedom—a sympathy which it required some courage to
avow under the administration of a Government so despotic as that of
the Restoration—it has not been surpassed in modern times.
After its publication, M. Thiers entertained a project for writing a
general history, and resolved to prepare himself for it by an extensive
tour of travel. He had made all his arrangements, even to securing a
passage for a voyage round the world, in August, 1829, when the Polig-
nac Ministry was organized, and he resolved to remain at home to do
battle against that Cabinet, which daily advanced toward an absolute
despotism.
Feeling that the old methods and weapons of warfare of the Consti¬
tutionnel were not sufficient for a strife which had for its ultimate pur¬
pose the establishment of liberal opinions and government, M. Thiers
founded, with his friends Mignet and Armand Carrel, the National, of
which each in turn, for a year, was to be editor-in-chief. M. Thiers's
turn came first, and then began a struggle in which he put himself at
once at the head of the Liberal party, or Young France, as it was
called.
I The Polignae Ministry had for its object the subversion of the
APPENDIX.
639
French charter ; the National was devoted to its maintenance, even at
the cost of the overthrow of the Bourbon dynasty. Nothing could
exceed its fearlessness ; and when, after a succession of bold and uncom¬
promising articles, one of them bearing the title " The King reigns, but
he does not govern," the National announced the candidature of the
Duke of Orleans (Louis Philippe) for the throne, the Bourbon Govern
ment, exasperated beyond measure, prosecuted the paper, and con¬
demned it to pay a heavy fine. Thiers had so fully won the confidence
of the people, that a subscription was promptly started, which soon
raised the amount of the fine, and letters of sympathy poured in upon
him by thousands. From this time forward the paper assumed a defi¬
ant attitude, and day after day demanded of the Government why it did
not consummate its coup d'état. The Government, aware that it was
treading on dangerous ground, and fearing a revolution, hesitated long,
but finally, on the 20th of July, issued its decrees, one of which sup¬
pressed the National. A protest was at once drawn up and signed by
all the Liberal leaders and journalists ; and when the police officers
came to take possession of the office of the paper and prevent its fur¬
ther publication, M. Thiers answered that he should yield only to vio¬
lence. The Bourbons were too late ; the Revolution of July had
already begun, and on the 31st of July the Bourbon King and his Min¬
istry were in exile, and Louis Philippe Lieutenant-General of the king¬
dom, and, ten days later, proclaimed King of the French. The active
part which M. Thiers had taken in accomplishing this revolution indi¬
cated the propriety of making him a member of the Government. He
was assigned to a position in connection with' the finances. He was
promoted in this department four months later, under the Lafitte Min¬
istry. He was at the same time a member of the Chamber of Depu¬
ties from the College of Aix, and Counsellor of State. The next four
months he was really, though not nominally, Financial Ministér, and
showed remarkable aptitude for the position.
On the fall of the Lafitte Ministry he withdrew from office, and
made a visit to the south of France. In 1832 he was called into the
Cabinet as Minister of the Interior, and three months later was trans¬
ferred t© the post of Minister of Commerce and Public Works. In
640
APPENDIX.
this position he did much to beautify and adorn Paris, and to promote
a harmony of feeling throughout the nation. At his direction the statue
of Napoleon was replaced upon his column. The Arc de l'Étoile and
the palace of the quay d'Orsay were erected, the Madeleine restored,
and new fountains, boulevards, and canals were constructed. In 1834
he was again Minister of the Interior, and remained in power, though
with occasional attempts at withdrawal, in consequence of the rivalry
between M. Guizot and himself, until January, 1836, when he resigned.
In February, 1836, he was made Premier of a new Cabinet, and Minis¬
ter of Foreign Affairs, but resigned in August following. In 1834 he
had been elected a Member of the French Academy. A year of travel
in Italy and two years of opposition in the Chamber of Deputies fol¬
lowed, and in March, 1840, he was again Premier, and Minister of For¬
eign Affairs ; but, owing to disagreement with the King on some mat¬
ters of policy, and the rivalry of Guizot, he resigned in October follow¬
ing. For the following seven years, though in the Opposition, M.
Thiers did not devote so much time as previously to politics, but set
himself diligently to the work of preparing his great history of the
" Consulate and Empire." He travelled extensively over the ground
of Napoleon's triumphs and defeats, and collected material from all
sources in great abundance. The first two volumes appeared in 1845,
and the others (there are twenty in all) at occasional intervals up to
1862.. The work was crowned by the French Academy in 1861, and
received the prize of 20,000 francs ($4,000) ; but the prize was returned
to the Academy by M. Thiers, who made it the foundation of a new
prize to be called by his name. On the approach of the Revolution of
February, 1848, M. Thiers avowed himself in favor of it. He re¬
proached the Government of Louis Philippe with its weakness and cow¬
ardice, and its lack of a definite policy, and acknowledged his conviction
that another revolution was needful, and that the career of royalty was
completed. Just at the crisis, the King sent for him to form a new
Ministry with Odillon Barrot, but it was too late to accomplish any¬
thing. Though distrusted by the more radical Republican leaders, he
soon conquered fcr himself a position, and, as the advocate of the great
middle class in the Constituent Assembly and the National Assembly, he
APPENDIX.
m
became alike the foe of radical measures and of all reactionary tenden¬
cies. He sustained Cavaignac, acquiesced in the election of Louis Na¬
poleon as Prince-President, though he had at first opposed it, predicted
the coup dC'etat long before its occurrence, was arrested at the time
(December 2d, 1851), banished to Frankfort, but in the following Au¬
gust was, without any application on his part, notified that he would be
permitted to return to Paris. He did return, and for eleven years
lived in retirement, occasionally travelling in other countries, and de¬
voting himself sedulously to literary and art studies. In 1863 he was
elected to the Corps Législatif from one of the districts of Paris, not¬
withstanding the strenuous opposition of the Government, and took a
decided position in opposition to the Government. In 1866, after the
Austro-Prussian war, he reviewed the course of the French Government
in a speech replete with his old fire, closing with the memorable words,
"There remain no more errors to be committed." His thorough
knowledge of the administration of Government, his fearlessness, and
the fierceness of his invective, rendered him a terror to the imperial
Government ; and when he was again a candidate for election to the
Corps Législatif, in May, 1867, they made great efforts to defeat him,
but in vain.
The Ollivier Ministry of January 2d, 1870, was composed mainly
of his personal friends, and at first he seemed disposed to treat it with
some kindness, interposing in its behalf when it was too severely
harassed by the radical Republicans ; but when Ollivier became merely
the mouth-piece of Napoleonic ideas, Thiers applied the lash of his
invective unsparingly. When the war was announced, he opposed it
vehemently, and at no inconsiderable personal peril ; predicted disaster
to France from it, and refused to vote aid for it. After Sedan, he was
one of the most active of the Opposition in aiding in arrangement for a
Provisional Government, and visited most of the courts of Europe to
interest them in intervening for a peace ; and though his mission had
not the success he must have hoped for, yet it undoubtedly had some
influence in modifying the terms of the final treaty. The National
Assembly, which met at Bordeaux according to the armistice, elected
him, on the 19th of February, Provisional President of France, with
642
APPENDIX
power to select his own Cabinet. In the negotiation of the treaty which
followed, as well as in his counsels to the Assembly and to the French
people, he manifested that strong, clear common sense which has evei
been one of his most marked characteristics.
While not devoid of faults, M. Thiers is eminently a patriot. Ha
believes in France, and seeks her interests first and last. He has been
charged with fickleness, but his modifications of his views, when there
are changed conditions of affairs, is rather an indication of sound judg¬
ment than of fickleness. As statesman, historian, legislator, diploma¬
tist, and patriot, M. Adolphe Thiers has few equals, and no superiors, in
France to-day.
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