IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 |M 36 .^ li If IM 2.0 mm 1.4 III 1.6 1 ^ t.11 ^ u '\ %. (P /i °m ^h m- VI '^ >:' ? liura^Mu.I Kigl.t Humlred and Seventy-one, by /--. „ ^^. J \MES CAMPBELL, rrBLisH tui, Touoni'O, iu the Ortu'c of the Minister of Agrirulture. ClIAPTJ Chapt Chapt Chapt Chapt CONTENTS. UMvl Kiglit CiiArxER I. — From England to vSodciu 7 Chapter II. — Outlin<> of Plan and Movenionts of the rjiiillc of Sedan 16 CiiAPTEii III.— The Field of Sedan 22 Chapter IV. — Sedan to Verdun 42 Chapter V. — Verdun — its Bombardment 59 Chapter VI. — Verdun to Metz, by Gravelotte 75 Chapter A^II. — Metz to Brussels, via Saarbriick 91 IT Wimimm^fmimmen'^^fm i< i^ i m So mil between ihe cliffic to reacli Saarbi'iic theinselv drive al( rical spo . the neigl To sui time wli ground, tJhlans, tireiir's s from th( of use ii 'liround I If an ^st iJe mans, tpots ai ifcat he ;l INTRODUCTION, So iinich interest attaches itself to tlie scenes of tlie lute war Between France and Germany, that now that peace has removed the difficulties which heretofore beset the traveller in the attempt to reacli Sedan or Verdun, Gravelotte, Metz, Spicheren or Saarbriick, there will doubtless be many tourists who will avail themselves of the return of (piiet times and summer weather, to drive along the broad French chaussees connecting these histo- ^fical spots, and s])end a night or two in the little "auberges" of ^fhe neighbourliood. To such, an account of a fortnight's visit to these scenes at a time wheii the traces of the day at Sedan were fresh upon the ground, when Metz and Verdun still held out, — when Prussian Uhlans, as they patroled the roads, were unhorsed by the Franc- tireur's shot — and the ambulance flag drooped at every few yards from the village windows, may be of interest, and, perhaps, also of use in enabling them to realize more clearly what has gone on around them. - 'I If any one who reads these pages forms from them a more just idea than he had previously held of either French or Ger- mans, or finds them of service in helping him to picture the spots and incidents to which they refer, the writer will feel glad that he has published them. 1 / 6 I.VTUODUCnON. As lie mado his jounu-y in company with iinothoi'ofHct.'r upon the Statf, whose account of tlio vr.iv " From 8e(hin to Saarbriiok" is now familiar to the English public, ho must apologize for two things — first, for the mention of many matters which may perhaps only be of interest to military men, and, secondly, for the necessary similarity in parts between what is related by him, and by his fellow-traveller. BATTLE FIELD OF SEDAN. CIIAPTEIi r. FROM f:\GLAND TO SEUAX. Ix tlie month of Scptenibor, 1870, the interest of the war between France and Germany was not, as snhseqnently, centered around Paris ; but was nearly equally distributed between the march of the Prussian King towards the French capital and the opposing hosts of Prince Frederick Charles and Mar- shal Bazaine around iNlctz. The journals of the day were filled with the accounts of the great battle of Sedan, which had just been fought. The ])urning of liazeilles and other incidents of that battle — the Waterloo of the third French Empire — were in everybody's mouth, antl the telegrams eacli morning an- nounced the progress of the sieges or blockades of Strasbourg, Toul, Montmi'dy, Mezieres, Verdun, or some other fortified place of more or less importance in the north of France. It Avas under these circumstances that we (the writer and a friend), anxious to see something of the stirring military scenes that were going on abroad, and preparatory to leaving by the express train, en wide via Dover, Ostend and Brussels for Sedan, entered one of the London Clubs. The first thing that met the eye u]")on entrance was one of those pencilled telegrams upon thin tissue paper, so familiar since the war broke out. This announced tliat " Cholera and typhus fever were raging in the vicinity of Sedan, and that the air was tainted by the battle- field for twelve miles around." As we read this, thoughts of al)andoning the expedition flashed, we confess, through our minds. "We were neither of us 8 BATTLK FU'.Ll) OF SEDAN. about to tnivul to the tli«'atrt) of war IVoiii mere curiosity, l>ut were both (I iH'liev(f) aniiiuited witli the \\u\)Q that we sliouM gain by it in prolV.ssional knowledge. Still even tlie tliir.st for this may bo carried too far, and had we felt an unshaken faith in the truth of telei^ramn in general, we should j>robably not luive taken our tickets, a.s we did, for (J.stend that day. Fortunately we had no such faith, and thought it worth while to verify the report nearer to the locality itself, and a very (piick passage across the Channel, and a two hours' railway journey brought us safely to Brussels, where we soon satisfied ourselves that the telegram had no shadow of foundation. It was necessary to spend a day at Brussels, i)art of which we passed very pleasantly with the officers of a Belgian liattery of Horse Artillery, the remainder being well fdled uj) in the necessary ])re])arations for our Journey to the frontier, A few of the inluU)itants cd" ISiussels had gone a day or two after the battle to the field of Sedan (which lies just beyond the Ikdgian boundary line), and these having found every crust of bread eaten up, and every house and inn full, ami every horse and cart em- ployed, had been obligeassports ini])roperly filled in or signed, or to loitering about, as if anxious to avoid observation. Jjouillon is the last town of importance towards the French frontier, and so we went to see Colonel Charmet, the command- ant, lie was very kind, and gave us a ])aper requesting every one " to give us assistance ;" but, by a curious absence of mind, inserted one of our names, wliich is an essentially English one, as " j\rr. Yon Alvensleben." AVhat a (Jerman soldier or a Prench Franc-tireur would have tliought about an Englishman with such a name we did not know, and we were so anxious about it that we paid a second visit to the commandant to have the error rectified. On this occasion we asked him if he would advise our endeav- ouring to see something of the theatre of active hostilities, and thouglit a visit to it ])racticable. This he gave a peremptory " No" to ; and on one of his aid-de-camps, (who having less re- aponsilnlity and more youth, wsympathized evidently with our FROM ENGLAND TO SEDAN. 13 Avisli),— suggesting tliiit lie tluMiglit it very feasiljle, — turned upon him witli a "How ean you, Sir, give sucli advice as that 1 How would you as a soldier receive a man in civilian's clothes in your lines'? A\''ould you show him very much ; and mightn't you perhajjs slioot him ]" " No," said the aid-de-camp, " I certainly wouldn't slioot him, provided he had a passport." " Humph," replied the Colonel; "well, at all events, you'd send him hack again on foot, the way he came." This was evidently in the Colonel's opinion, who was a cav- alry officer, nearly as had a punishment as the shooting, and the aid-de-camp was temporarily silent, l)ut only to follow us after- wards down stairs and tell us not to he frightened by the " No " the chief had given us It was rather amusing to us while at Douillon to hear the Belgian villagiirs speak of the number of prisoners they had made. The disarmed French were looked upon (of course, I mean by the common people) as their own, and not German prisoners. ^^IVbiis aron-s fait hc.aucoiip de pnsonnier>i" was their common expression, delivered in tones of great self-satisfaction. As far as we could discover, no strong bias towards either Frencli or Germans existed among the villagers. A great im- pression seemed to have been made upon them by the way in which the French wounded were "neglected," (a natural conse- quence of defeat,) comi)ared witli the German wounded. Num- bers of the former were s[)read over Belgium, tendeil with the greatest kindness by the people — while the hitter had almost all been sent (i. e., those Avho could bi-ar to be moved) to Germany in waggons. The German successes, and the feeling that the French Avere more of a burthen to them, had, we suspect, however insensibly, tended to cool the sympathy which was originally, we believe, warmer towards the Fr<'nch. This, however, is only our impres- sion ; and, even if it were just, it would merely be attributing to the Belgians a very ordinary weakness of human nature. We were fortunate in obtaining a room and beds at the r^ 14 BATTLE FIELD OF SEDAX. " Hotel de la Poste," the inn where Napoleon stopped on his ■way as a prisoner towards Cassell. Deschanips, a Belgian gendarme, on duty at intervals before the inn, told us how he liad seen liim drive away from the door with liis staff, and with "tears upon his cheek," and on our doubting the lUerul truth of this, he asserted it again and again with vehemence, as a ])lain fact which he would not admit of having cpiestioned. Deschamps was of great .use to us. He showed us the way everywhere, and told us how we should best see the field of Sedan, which he had visited. One disinterested piece t)f advice lie gave greatly am\ised us. This was it : — " Only one thing," (witli iiis fijiger to the side of his nose,) " don't attempt to );ring away arms. The Prussians search every one on tlie frontier, and have said tliat any one found with arms shall be shot." ''• If (after a pause) you do want anything of that sort, come quietly to me, for I've a Chassepot and a sword-bayonet concealed that I don't mind sell- ing you." The Poste inn was comfortable enough as far as rooms Avent, but the sickeninglv nauseous odour from the cattle stables which pervaded it was worse than anything we ever remember to have met with, eitlier in IJohemia or Spain, which is saying a very great deal. One wonders how }testilence is not always rife in places of this kind. - An hour was spent, l)efore it grew dark, in visiting the fine old stronghold of Godfrey de IJouillon, whose ancient towers watch over the opposite side of the i\Ieuse, and within the walls of which we saw some French prisoners Avalking about — the first we had met with. After our return, and while we were preparing for bed, an appeal was made to us to come down and explain what some Prussian officers who had just arrived wanted below. The inn people either did not, or would not, understand their wishes, which were to obtain a conveyance, and go on through the night FROM ENGLAND TO SEDAN. 15 (liaving important business) towards Sedan, and when they did at last compreliend them, persisted tliat it was " impossible,'^ and as a residt tlie Prussians were obliged to sleep on a shake- down of straw until the morning, when they managed to hire a horse and trap. How they must have longed for the power to annihilate the few miles of neutral territory which intervened between tliem and tlie French boundary towards Sedan, where their slightest nod was law. The next morning we were off at G.30 a. m. (again on the roof of the diligence) towards Sedan, and after a drive along steep hill-sides clothed with Avood, wliicli we sliovdd have enjoyed far more upon a less swaying and lofty conveyance, we crossed the Belgian frontier and descended at La (yhapelle. Those who visit the field of Sedan will hnd it more conve- nient to descend at La Chapelle than to proceed on to Sedan at at once. Between this village and Sedan itself lies much of especial interest, and it is the l)etter plan to see this well upon the road to Sedan, and next da}^ to visit those portions of the field lying in other directions. As one enters the village of La Cliapelle a little house (one of the first on the right hand side) is seen with a sign, on which are printed the words " Lambert, Aubergiste." To this house we had been recommended at Bouillon for a guide, in tlie person of Lambert Jils^ and as we found him all that had been told us^ we recommend him to others. His lameness, youth and speech reminded us both of the de- scription of Erkuian Chatrian's " Conscrit" of 1813, and, like the latter, he could walk well in spite of being ^^hoiienx." r CHAPTER II. OUTLINE OF PLAN' AND MOVEMENTS OF THE BATTLE OF SEDAN. liEFORE describing Avliat we saw on tlie Lattlo field, we may mention tliat botli the i)lan of operations and events of the Lattle of Sedan are, lor several reasons — but principally on account of the extent of the field, the long turning movements of tlie ( rernians, and tlie numbers engaged — not very easily under- stood at first sight. The accounts of correspondents and letters from the seat of war, excellent though they may be, can seldom give a full narrative of what goes on beyond their own im- mediate sphere of observation, and we ourselves found that it was a soinewliat ditiicult matter to ol)tain, when upon the ground, a satisfactory notion of what had gone oil The ubiqui- tous Crown Princes of Prussia and Saxony seemed to be con- tinually marching in a circle and fighting at about five different points of the compass at the same time, and the French facing now to their front, and now to their rear, in as puzzling a manner. Consideiing that our difficulty may be felt by otliers, and remembering what a boon a short but connected description of the main design and features of the battle would have been to us at the time, we have thought it Avorth while to give such a description Iwre (collected from the Prussian official account, a Iii'rench pamphlet by an officer of the Emperor's staff, and other good sources), and have added a map which will both illustrate this and our wanderings over the field, A perusal of the remaining pages of this chapter will make, we hope, Aie whole of the circumstances of the struggle clearer to visitors to Sedan, but those who do not care to understand ir rf k P If \> |8 if k a ir «■ s r^ r /■i.s//f',>ft. liifV Cir" . ht" J'l{/l//r:v J. /.?. ff^'.if'f. f/^'/zod' /fit' /l/tfftM'/-,V 0/\'4>fpA' Oft l'///ti'f.\i(ft',V. /i. f'ut nit •/////.%■ (i . (ill4//y/,\' . '/'//,- 11' f'/// ////// //.vAt/f/u'i/ M/ f//4'//- 1'// /•/////, v ftff'/'.v /ft/ i? /ioo//f l':'f^ 'I'hf iii/DH /iitn/.vtf' f///i:\- ffft//<;i/*' f/fi' «/f/t'4//)///,\- in H'/ii4-/i /A' .wri'/v// /^r'4'r'i/i4f/k('4//-//.v iim Li. .\lif,:s- out: r.EF meiiti( Lattle accour of the stood from 1 media Avas a <'roun tons ( tiniial jfointf now juann Co: remei the II lis at descr: Fren( good this £ A we hi to tii OUTLINE OF PLAN AND MoVKMFNTS. 17 the object of tlie luirticuljir luovt'iuciits of tlic iiniiics liad Ix'tlt-r ski]) th(!in, iis they must he neccHsarily soTiu^whiit dry. On the evening of the 30th and morning of tlie 3lst of August, the French army, under Mar.slial ^facMalion, having retreated in some disonU'r before tlie (lernums and fallen back behind the Mouse, took up the f(dl(twing defensive position, with the determination to make a stand against tin; enemy : — The 7th (.'orps ((Jeneral Douay) was posted uiion the higli ground between Floing, near the road to Mezieres, and Calvaire d'llly. The 1st Corjjs ((Jeneral Ducrot) along the ridge l)etweeii Givonne and La Petite Moncelle, occupying the villages of Givonne, Haylies, and Daigny, and pushed forward also to the high ground east of them. The 12th Corps (General Lebrun) from La Petite Moncelle to Bazeilles, occupying the villages of La Petite Moneelle, La ^lon. celle, and Jiazeilles and the eastern height. The 5th Corps ((.general de Wimpffen) partly in Sedan and partly on higli ground to the east of it. This position was in many respects strong — /. <>., the whole of it was along tolerably commanding ground ; the two wings rested npon the Meuse, an unfordable river, which, by means of dams, had been made to overlloAV and inundate tlie low ground betAveen Sedan and Bazeilles ; Sedan was a fortified town, and the various villages covering the line were capable of a good defence. Its weak points were that from the heights upon the other side of the Meuse, the line from Bazeilles to Givonne could be enfiladed by artillery; the lines of retreat were very bad, for the army could only fall back towanls France by defiling round by the Mezieres road, or by crossing the bridges of the Meuse, Avhich river, it can be seen, takes a very awkward bend to the north of Sedan, so that troops retiring across it between Iges and Sedan must traverse it twice. F'or a defeated army to cross many narrow bridges under fire is a dangerous operation, generally ending in confusiim, rout, and disorder. r 1 18 BATTLK FIKLD OF HEPAN. SeiliUi, tliMU^'li fortitii'd, was (MHiimandcd by lun^'lits on all si(l(!S, luul if these wore taken it V)eeiinie unteniihle. Theri' is no doubt, wo inia^dne, that tlie Freneh army was at this timt' in a vi-ry (Uispoiuhiit state, and l)y no means in good ■discipline. Tlu.' ollieers probably had no great control over their men, and things were hUowcmI to take; their chance. It is, at all events, cvithmt tliat no .^^unicient i)recautions were taken to watch tlie (lerinan movements; tlie course of the ^leuse was not properly guarded, and llif enemy's attemi>t to tin-n the position not, as far as one can judge, ever considered as a possilnlity. The Gurnian army extended round the French that evening in a large semi-circle. On the German riglit the patrols of the 12th ('orps were close to Villars Cernay and Francheval, its advanced guanls were at Pouru aux I»ois, Pouru St. Remy and Douzy, and the bulk of the corps at Mairy (a mile south of Douzy). TIk- Corps of Guards was behind towards Carignan. The above troops were under the command of the Crown Prince of Saxony. The Third German Army, under the Crown Prince of Prussia, continued the semi-circle thus (all being on the left bank of the Meuse) : — Ist Jjavaritm Corps at Pemily. 2nd bavarian Corps at Raucourt, about three miles so\ith- west of this. 5th Corps at Chemery, west of Pcancourt. 11th Corps near Douehery. Wurteml)urg Division at Boutaucourt, four miles or so west of Douehery. The 4th Corps was near Sedan, and properly belonged to the army of the Crown Prince of Saxony. The 6th was coming round by Attigny and Semuh, some eighteen miles to the south- west of Douehery, to try and interpose l^etwecn the enemy and France, It was thought by the German commanders that the French f OUTI-IXK OF PLAN AND MOVKMKNTH. 1!) on all was at ill <;()<)(l rer their a, at all iikoii to WHS not position [ity. ^ evening s of the eval, its nny and joutli of Crown Prussia, K of the s south- [■ so west 3d to the coming le soutli- eniy and c French might emlcavour to make otl in tiie night westward towards Mt'/icrcs, and in order to intercept them, if they did so, and also in the event of their standing to surround tlieir position, onlers were issuetl for the ilth Corps and tlu; "NVurtcm])urg Division to cross the ^^euse in the night, which they did hy tinowing hridges beluw l)ouchery and at Doni le Mesnil, some two miles or so to the west of it. At tlayligiit the lltii Corps, followed hy tlu; r)th from Chem- ery, and by some; cavalry, were to march nortliwards towards Hriancourt, the Wurtemburgers remaining near Douchery as a reserve. At the same time a general attack was to be made by the rest of the army, as follows : — The 1st Bavarian Corps was to cross the iNFeuse by throwing bridges i. ■ u Itismily, and also by passing the railway bridge south-west of Baziiilles — which by some extraordinary oversight on the j)art of the French was not blown up — and attack Daz- eilles and J]alan. Tart of the 4th Cor[)S anil all the Corps Ar- tillery were to assist in tliis. The 2nd ]javarian (Jorps was to move up towards ^N'adelin- court, south of Sedan and Frenois. The ll^th Corps (leaving a reserve at Mairy) and the Corps of Cluards were to move against the French line between Givonne and La INToncelle — the former on the left, connecting itself with the 1st Bavarian Corps. As the Guards were the longest dis- tance off, they could not come into action until some time after the 12th Corps. From the direction of the Belgian frontier, it can be seen, that if the advance of the Crown Prince with tlie lltli and 5tli Corps was sufficiently (juick to intercept the French, tliey had then no way of escaping from tlieir position, except by breaking through the German army, or retreating into the neutral territory of Belgium, where they would be obliged to lay down their arms, or incur the hostility of England. The Germans also, it will have been noticed, had reserves at Douchery and Mairy, near the two main lines along which the ry n 20 BATTLE FFELD OF SEDAN. French would desire to broak out — /. >'., towards Mezieres and Cariguan. The force of the { lornian army was double that of the Frencli. It is saui that the strcnj^th of tlu; former was about 2oO,000 men and about 000 guns ; of the latter 110,000 men and 4-1:0 guns. At daylight the whole of the German army was in motion, and at iJa/eilles a very determined o[>position was made to the 1st llavarian Corps. Part of the 2nd came to its assistance, but it was not for several hours tliat the French were driven out of Dazeilles, and also of Balan, and thrown back towards Sedan. Fighting went on here till the afternoon, and an attempt was. made liy the French to break tlirough towards Carignan, but in vain. The 12th Corps had a very hard struggle near Daigny and La Moncelle, but in the end took both these vUlages, driving the French ■^'i'< in tlteir position. La Moncelle fell about 9.30 ; Daigny about 12 o'clock. The Corps of Guards arrived (coming through Yillars Cernay) in time lur part of it to suj)port the fighting towards Daigny and Haylies. The whole French line from Givonne to La AEoncelle being at last forced, 100 guns were got upon the cap- tured ground to play on the enemy, and the Guards (supported by the 12th Corps following them) passed on through Givonne towards Illy to try and encircle tlie enemy. In the meantime the 11th Corps, on the extreme German left, followed l)y the 5th, had reached Lriancourt about 7.30 m. a. without meeting the French, and then received the order to move towards 8t. Menges. It here came into collision with the French, who had thrown out troops to that pt)int, and who le- treated after a sharp resistance to the main position on the tongue of land above Floing and the high ground extending from this village towards Illy. The Crown Prince now prepared to attack this high ground. The 11th ''orps took up a position at ISt. Menges. The 5th moved round by Fleigneux. Artillery from favourable ground OUTLINE OF PLAX AND MOVEMENTS. 21 deres and 3 French. 1,000 men guns. 11 motion, ,<.lo to the Lssistaiico, Iriven out lis Sedan, iempt was an, but in ly and La riving the mt i).30 ; •s Cernay) Is Daigny lie to La n the cap- supported 1 Givonne near these villages i)layed for a long time ui)on tlie French, and at length, about one p. m., the Prussian infantry advanced across tlie low intervening ground and stormed tlie hills, drivin'^ the enemy l»ack from the direction of Floing and Illy, throufdi the woods of La (iaronne upon Sedan. The hghtiug b(itween Illy and Floing was very severe, and several ('a\'alry charges were made along the Spar above Floino- but w^ere immeiliately repidsed by tlie breechdoading fire of the Prussian companies. The ground near Illy having been thus carried, the 5th Corps at 3 o'clock jcjined with the Guartls coming through (rivonne the cavalry moved round to block up the road to Bouillon, and with the exception of a few hundred French, who had previously escaped by tlie opening between Illy and Givonne into Belgium, the whole of the enemy's army was then surrounded by a well- connected circle of Germans, which drawing closer and closer drove it down in confusion into the fortress of Sedan, where it lay at the mercy of a commanding artillery. After half an Hour's shelling from the guns posted near AVade- lincourt and Fresnois, the French Emperor sent out and de- manded terms. rman left, 7.30 m. a. iT to move with the ul who le- )n on the extending ;h ground. The r)th le ground CHAPTER Iir. THE FH;LD of 8K1)AX As we passed throngk the \'illage of La Cliapelie wo saw many cuikvalesceiit French woimded standing deject(3dly near the doors of the houses where they were hilletecL One poor fellow was sitting doul)l>3d up hy tlie road side witli his arm in a sling and Ids face huried between his knees; another had an empty sleeve, and a third, who had his head swatlied round with bandages, made signs to us to show that Ids chin (a fearful vround, after which one was surprised at the man's living) had been com- })letely torn away. Through the open door of tlie church, which (liko almost all the churches in the neighljoiirhood) had ]:)een turned into a hospital, the surgeons and nurses of the Ambulance ilollandaise could be seen moving about, dressing and attending to their patients, and on tlie church walls the splintered stojic showed M'herc one or two of the German shells had struck. Still no damage of great consequence was done to La Chapello by the German ai'tillery. Such siglits of desperately wounded men hll one with pity, and though nothing tends more readily to your intentions being suspected tlian to he seen in conversation with prisoners or v/ounded men, we exchanged a few ^vords with them in the str'^ets, and otfering a cigar or two, which was always an ac- ceptable present, passed on through the village towards the scene of the battle. Our guide Lambert, instead of taking us along the main road towards Givonne, Immched oft' a little to the left after passing out of La Chapelh^, and led us by a narrow saw many tlie doors ellow was sling and ity slcevp, bandages, ;iid, after )eeii com- Imost all il into a 'llandaiso ; to their c showed Chapelle I'ith pity, ons being soners or u in tlu? ,ys an ac- the scene ' us along e to the a narrow i fB THE FIELD OF SEDAX, 23 road to the top of a hill slope in order to point out the spot upon Avhich two Prussian batteries came into action against some few Trench flying through La Chajjelle, and from wliich the shells which liad struck the church and other buildings had been tired. Tliough we afterwards saw many artillery positions of this kind, we saw none which struck us' more than tliis. The wheel tracks left by the guns and limbers, tlie marks of the trail, the toi)s of a belt of young oak trees cut down by the gunners with axoe in order to give a clear range, the exploded friction takes, pieces of waihling, &c., strewn about, and the fresh graves of horses, all enabled one to form a vivid picture of the batteries a« they had stood in action upon the brow of the slope a few days b(.'fore. From this spot the village of Yilhirs Cernay and Francheval could be seen in the low ground to our left front. "From Yillars Cernay," said our guide, "tlie THdans were lirst perceived as they came reconnoitering in that dinn'tion the evening before the battle ;" and tlien he went on to tell us hnw he, in common with most of tlu; neiglil)ouring peasants, fled towards the forest on the approach of the ( lei'mun army, — that a French Franc-tireur lired at him as he was getting over a fence, and that several others were about to do so, when he calJed out " La Fraui'P. .'" and managed to stop tiiem just it time. It was u great mistake," he said, " flying fro:u the villages." His father, being an old man, chose to remain, and after the l)attle no damage was done to their house, the ( rermans only talcing what was necessary for eating and drinking ; but that when tln'y found a house deserted by its owners and l<»"ked up, and thus no ludp or food to be got from it, they " smashed everything in it and did great damage." After leaving the position of this l)attery we d':'scended to (livonne, passing on our road some scattered French knai>sacks and accoutrements, and crossing just before our entrance a little stream which flows througli the village towards Bazeilles. Givcnne is a iilace of some size, built (»f sulistantial stone H%a mtm 24 BATTLE FIELD OF SEDAN. houses. One or two of tliein liad heen burnt to the ground by- shells, but this seeuieil to have been tlie extent of the damage it had suffered. A lew Prussian infantry guarding some captured Freneh wag- gons were in the streets, and tlie usual village life and bustle (it was market day) was g(nng on around. Jleerossing tlie stream, we went on through Haylies, which is a suburb of (iivunne, and consists of a collection of manufactor- ies, to iJaigny, and from Daigny to La Moncelle. Up to this point we had seen comparatively few of the destructive traces of the battle, whicli, however, soon now became thick. To eyes unaccustomed to the wreck of villages in war, the ruins of La ]\Ioncelle would be very striking. At this place there was a severe contest, and its streets as we passed through bore marks of it in liiie liullets, cartridges, French knapsacks, Prussian infantry helmets, water-bottles, and various other dehn'tt of the tight. Only two or three of its houses were left standing, the rest having been turned into mere blackened shells by the artillery lire of the contending troops. In the middle of the high road lay a laige piece of a Prussian shell, and not far from it a soldier's postal ticket pierced by a bullet and stained with blood. These tickets, called " Fdd corres/tond&ntz-hxrtc,^' are issued to all soldiers, that they may write upon them home to their friends, and are very similar to our postal cards, the idea of Avhich must have been borrowed from them. In one of the most exposed i)arts of the village, and in the very mid«t of b;irnt and ruined houses, stands the church, un- touched by a single bullet. In future ages the interposition of its patron saint ought, if the days are not too sceptical, to be believed in here, for nothing short of a miracle can, indeed, fairly account for its marvellous escape. As one leaves La ;Moncelle, the road runs close to the little stream we have spoken of as flowing through Givonne to Baz- eilles, and on each side of it the ground, smooth and cultivated, rises up to a ii:u;h liigher level by a tolerably gradual slope. —TV -y ■ round by liuiiagc it ncli Avag- bustle (it Avhich is iiiufactor- p to this traces of war, the his place I through napsacks, ler (lehrlti standing, Is by the [e of the far from ned witli re issued to their idea of d in tlie ircli, un- )sition of al, to be , indeed, he little 3 to Baz- Itivatedy I'lpe. it THK FIELD OF SEDAN. 25 i "We mounted the height to our loft hand (/. ^., to the east of La "Moncelle), and walked along it to the village of Bazeilles. The remains of fires, with pieces of biscuit and pork scattered near them, and collections of broken bottles, most probably out of the pillaged wine caves of IJazeilles, showed that this plain had been the site of a bivouac. Lambert told us that it was a bivouac of Franc-tireurs ; but we observed, generally, that every- thing either said, done, or suttered, by the Freivh in the war, was always said to have been said, done, or suffered, l)y a Franc- tireur. They are the pet heroes of the villagers of France. The mixture of French and Prussian accoutrements, and French and Prussian cartridges (chassepot, needle-gun and tabatiere), the carcases of horses still un})uried, and the graves of men (marked .simply by two little boughs tied together in the shape of a cross), vshowed also that the struggle for this part of the position was fierce and obstinate. Close to Bazeilles, on the banks of the little stream, we came upon a heap of mitrailleur cartridge hold- ers ; each holder — square in shape — was of tin, covered with a sort of waterproof canvas, and with receptacles for twenty-five cartridges. The cartridges are turned by one motion out of these cases on to a plate opening into the breech of the gun, and then shut into the barrel. Although we had never before seen these holders, th','re was no mistaking what they were, by any one who had read the descrip- tion of the engine with which Napoleon IIL was going to over- whelm Germany. Describing the assault of the ridge between Bazeilles and Daigny, the Prussian official account says : — '' A very violent artillery and mitrailleur fire led in the fight. The French took the offensive. Gen(.u'al and vehement assaults were repulsed ; at length the 23rd Division (of the 12th Corps) came up and took La Moncelle." After spending some little time upon this ground, we entered what had once been the village of Bazeilles. So much has been written about the burning of this village — some of the houses of 20 BATTLE FIELD OF SEDAN. $i ^ Avhicli wcro still smouldering — that it is unnecessary to describe it here. We can only say that nothing could exceed the conr pletenoss of the desolation and ed before the batth'. still lingered among the scenes of their ruin, searching amiavarian tr<:tops, and that on this account the village was set on tire, and every person, including innocent villagers,, endeavoring to escape from it, was shot ; and not tliis only, but that the day after the liattle, the IJavarians returned to bum down the few remaining houses still standing, and led out several more peasants to be shot. One Avuman with a ehild in her arms, which was crying (for want of food, she told us), and who brought us a cup of water out of the ruins of her cottage, was loud in her lamentations. " j\Iy husband," she said, giving a convulsive rock to still her child, " was an inoffensive villager, but was seized in the street by a Bavarian officer, who would have shot liim had he not con- fessed where some stores in tlie village lay concealed ; for this, his life was spared, but w(; are all ruined, all ruined." Poor people, they were certainh/ in this battle passed under the harrow without nierey, and if future visitors to the spot are pestered beyond endurance — as from certain signs of our visit. THE FIELD OF SEDAN. 27 even at the short interval after the hattle, we believe tliey may be — by begffing little boys holding boxes for "les nuilheureiix de Bazeilles," let tlicni, in memory of this certain trutli, keep their patience, and jxTliaps give a few lialf-pence to theii), if they are able. To look npon the other side of the (juestion, and in spite of the sufferings of the inhabitants of liazeilles, it is not, we nuist remember, upon their statement alone that the guilt or otherwise of the burning of tha villaldi(?r with Avhom Ave never met, but the (lermans describe him as being frequently dressed in an ordinary villager's blouse, Avith a belt sometimes over, but as often underneath it, and, in fact, as bearing no sort of certahi mark of f)eing anything ftut a peasant carrying a gun. This renders it impossible, they say, for their own safety, to treat them as soldiers ; as, if tlu^y diart3' of the battle field we had not as yet visited. Going out from the town towards tlie suburb of Torcy, we* crossed, by a stone bridge, tlie canal Avliose overflowing waters, had caused the inundation we spoke of near Balan and IJazeilles,. and which extended slightly to this point also. Just inside the- outer ramparts we came upon a trophy of war, I suppose hardly rivalled in history, consisting of some 400 field guns and 70' mitrailleurs, packed close together in a large open space. If it is considered that, in addition to tliis, some 100,000 C'hassepots are said to have fallen into the Germans' hands, the material gain of their triumph in this war (and this is saying nothing of what has since been taken at Met'/.) becomes apparent. The German officers with whom we conversed all spoke in praise of the Chassepot, as compared Avith their c»wn needle-gun^ though its bullet does not smash and kill so nuu;h. Its range is several hundred yards greater, a more important point, and it Avas.' not, they said, very improbable that they avouM, iiaving taken; such a multitude of these Aveapons in the Avar, serve tliem out toi their own army for future use. The mitrailleur, or the French .Montigny Aveapon, they have a poor opinion of, preferring, if they are obliged to take an engine of its size (that of an ordinary field gun and draAvn like it by- horses) out Avitli them, to take a field gun at once, Avhich, under four circumstances out of five, in a campaign is far more useful. The mitrailleur they thought Avoukl be valuable for raking narrow roads or bridges and for protecting the ditches of ffl 32 BATTI.K FIKLI) ()!•' SKKAN'. fovtrossos, l)ut its Imllels aro tlirowii in too groat a shower togetlior at closo ranges, and tliiia an; wasted — one iiiau who is killed l)eing i)rohal)ly pierced hy several halls. As wo went out to, and returned from, this sight, waggons filled with rilles, colleeted on the lield, kept passing us on tlu; road, and wo saw l)oys and men tisliing for arms with poles and grap[)ling irons in tin; canal and over the inundatcid ground on both sid«!Sof the bridge, now l)ringing up a sword, now a rifle, now a knapsack, and so on. The French soldiers liad evidently throAvn these into the water in their anger and rage when they were ordered t(» lay them down and capitulate. Having seen the captureil i-annon, we nitraced our steps, and issued this time from Hedan l)y the road leading towards Caval and Floing. .Fust after leaving the gates we were rath(;r dis- agreeably confronted by a notice to the eifect that any one found wandering on the field of battle ^^ sann hnt" (/. c, without some n struck down,. pv u HATTLE FIELD OF SEDAN. pointed out to us the positions of the German batteries, and gave ns some interesting particulars of the fight at this point. He, in common with all the Frencli whom we sj)oke to, threw great blame upon their leaders, accusing them of " treason," and say- ing that all the superior officers Avere inefficient. " One of our generals, he said, " was asleep in that little cottage over there, Avhen they told him that the ]*russians were moving round so as to enclose us ; but he took no notice of it, and said it was all nonsense." " We heard a gun hred by the Prussians about 1.30 a. m., which was evidently the signal for their troops to march. There was no attempt to stop the enemy in crossing the ■\Ieuse, .and no knowledge of the country. Our officciL- did nothing, and we were completely surprised." The assertion as to treason is, wo may confidently decide, groundless, and is too readily resorted to by the French ; but the fact of the railway bridge over the ]Meuse, near Bazeilles, by which the Bavarians crossed, ni)t having been destroyed is true, and the efforts which might have been made to retard the enemy in his passage of the river were certainly not made. This voun-ded soldier said that he had reniaiiied three days lying upon the field, and mentioned also that some of the troops Avho fought in the battle had been taken from Floing as con- scripts only two weeks before, and had no knowledge of their drill. He was soon joined by two or three other Frenchmen, " Our captain," said one, (an artilleryman belonging to the mitraillour battery), "wouldn't believe that the troops marching round us were Prussians, and several times orderei] us to cease fire, otherwise they m'ouII never have taken the hill." " I saw them go down there," pointing to some little mounds of earth (graves) about 900 yards off in tlie valley, " l)y two hundred at a time," (evidently he exaggerated a little from pride in his weapon), " under tlu; discharge of the battery, and up to ten o'clock we had good hopes [hoiDie espemnce) that they would bo beaten." While talking to these soldiers and examining the position of THE FIELD OF SEDAN. 35 this Floiiig spur witli regard to the surrounding guns of the Germans, Ave saw that it wouhl have bacn impossible f>r the Frcncli ))attei'ies to have been so placed upon it as to have ])een sheltered from reverse or entilado tire, Tlusy Avero, in fact, taken at a heavy disadA^antage. After moving to the extreme edge of the spur, so as to see more closely the village of Fioing (but M'ithout going doAvn to it, as it had not suffered much in the battle), Ave Avalked up the spur in the direction of the Avoods at its summit, and past the little isolated red brick cottage Avhere the French soldier said his general had lain asleep, our attention being turned more to the nortlicrn (or left hand) side, up wldch the Gorman troops of the 11th Corps came to the assault. The sl(i])e is here of about 15'^, smooth in most parts, except close al)0ve Fioing. Avlu're it is broken and coA'ered Avith bushes. Infantry C(»uld ascend it Avithout diUiculty, l»ut ti) carry it under tire, c\ on after its de- fenders had been shaken l)y a tAvo hours' cannonading, inust have ref^uired great })luck and determination. A^ong the greater part of the ridge no attempt at iutrench- luents had been made 1)V the I'rench; Ijut bevond the little led cottage — Avhere tlie crest of the hill bends hi tlie direction of Illy, so that from behind it a iianking fire can be brouglit across the northern slope up Avliich the Germans attaci-ced — commenced a line of entrenchment, Avhich ran aAvay in this direction for a distance of apparently souie -^00 yards. It Avas the only example oT shelter trench AvJiich Ave saAV at Sedan. A Avell-directe'l army in good spirits could certainly have done far more, eA'on In the short time, to strengthen this naturally strong, position (Avitness Avhat Avas don ., Meade's army on the night of he 1st June, 1863, before Gettysburg). It Avas very much of tlie form of the ortlinary four feet Avide and two feet deep shelter trench Avhich the infantry soldiers of the English army are now uiuglit to construct. Its defenders jiad evidently been shelled hoaviiv, as namerou>« pieces of shell were met Avith here. Xear the Lop of tl'.e Fioing spur, and not ^i 3G BATTLE FIELD OF ISEDAX. very far from the woods, Ave saw several large gim pits, Avliere tlie Germans had placed their guns of position, on the morning after the battle, in readiness to j)lay upon the French in Sedan if their ternis were not agreed to. In the midst of all tliese signs of war one could see the first steps toAvard.-^ their obliteration, and tlie return to tlie old natural look of times of peace. Sheep were cropping tlie grass near the shelter trench, and men were already at work filling in this and the gun pits, so that soon all trac3 of them Avill have passed away. AVe may mention that in no part of the field did we see batteri;.'S with embrasures, only hastily constructed sort of square pits, over the edge of wliicli the guns fired "en barbette." Before ending our remarks upon what we saw upon the Floing spur, we ought to say that all along it, where the infiiTitry fighting as vrell as the cavalry cliarges of the French had taken place, the grounn liis, les mauvais coups qui se prejiarent." •' AVe have received your letter, from M'hich we have learnt that you are very unha})py. We send you 10 francs to lessen fiightly your wretchedness. Commend yourself always to the noly Yiigiii. She will protect you for us. Day by day we pray iiiat ; ;-nay ^e so. " The pa, . culars of the hardships tliat you endure pierce my 3 ii 1 w^m 38 15ATTI.L FIKI.I) OF SEDAN. tw la'- heart ^Fay tlio f,'rc'iit Goil of lieaven de'v^n to k(M'p far from yuu, iiiv sun, the evils that are in store." After reaching the top of tlie spur, we passed straiglit on into a thick co]»se of beech and und<}r\vood, and just ])efore we entered it eanie across a (piantity of scattered music sheets, showing where a French band had lightened itself of the burden before l')Iunging into the. wood. The " Rhiiif \\(ls>- " was marked on one of those we picked up. AVe issued from this wood close to a farm house, near which MacMahon is said to have b(.'en wounded. A road towards Sedan runs past it, bounded on one side by a largish ditch, so that le story of the Ma,rshal having been "left wounded in a road-si(' ' ," after vain attempts to retrieve his- i'ortunes, may be possilji/ . •■ 'ided upon fjict. From this house we walked up the road in a northerly direction (aAvay from Stidan), and soon came to a point where the wood on our left ceased, an ouen valley siu'cceding to it, while the wood ran on our right. Along the valli^y a strong l)ody of the French had evidently retreated, from the number of the knapsacks (principally belong- ing to the marines) strewing the ground. It is the natural line which the defenders of the shelter trench, which we have alluded to, would have taken in endeavouring to. escape towards lielgium ; and from the little heaps (jf mitrailleur cartridge holders, it was evident that at all events one or two- mitrailleurs had here come into action repeatedly — and often, owing to the undulations of the ground, at necessarily very short, ranges (say 200 yards or so) — to try and stem the torrent of the j)ursuit. The edges of the wood on the right bore marks of the fight in broken and torn branches, but the interior would have been- too thick for anything but a close hand to hand struggle, which' we imagine there was no halt made for by the retreating troops. After following the boundary of the wood for some distance, we entered it, passing by a mound of earth, froin the surface of THE FIELD OV SEDAN. 39 Avhich glittered sonietliing, wliicli oar guide, wlio was in advance, stooped and seized, drawing out, hefore we could stay his Land, a sword bayonet, and pulling nj) iU sheath and belt lialf out of tiiesoil. Here then, just where he fell — on the very patli itself — and with his aecoutrenients untouched, a few shovelsful of earth had been thrown over the remains of some Froich soldier, whose dream in the morning had been perhaps of the glorious march to tlie liliine, or of the marshal's baton, which, by tradition, his own and all the pillaged knapsacks of liis companions, lying on this lost battle-lieid, held. We replaced the sword, and after walking a few yards furtlu'r, came into some open ground, wliere troops had bivouacked a very few days ]ireviously, and close to which stood the remains of a large, better class of country house or chateau, burnt to the ground. Near it, several hundreds of the French, Ave were told, had laid down their arms ; and in evidence of this, outside its walls we saw great hea])s of cartridges, and many sets of accoutrements and knapsacks placed together in regular rows beside each other. T])e destruction of this chateau Avas a striking evidence of the complete ruin caused by Avar. "Walls T)urnt and Idackened, I'nrniture scattered in the yard (probably for defence) and de- stroyed — shrubberies trampled doAvn, iloAver-beds torn up, foun- tains and statues broken and overturned — spoke mutely to the curse Avliich lights upon those about Avhose lields and houses is fought out a deadly struggle such as this. From the chateau Ave returned to Sedan by the high road leading past the citadel, Avhich our guide said, on the evening of the battle, Avas strewn Avith horses and men, as the French fugi- tives (Avho, cut oti" from Belgium, endeavoured to get doAAUi it into Sedan) Avere taken at long range in front by the Prussian artillery from tlie lieights far aAvay in the direction of Wadelin- court, as Avell as fired into from tlie rear. The sides of tliis road AV3re still thickly streAvn Avith the signs of the rout. We luid noAV seen the held of battle Aveli from the French positions, but Avishing still to vicAV it as it must liave appeared to I i 40 B\TTLK FIKLC OF SEDAN. 1 '.i.\!i..r-' i i tm tlio Gorinans, wo w.-nt out iigaiu noxt morning through Torcy, and so u]) to tiic liciglit, al)out sonio two-and-a-half niil'js off, between tlio wood of Li Marfee and tlie chateau of Doncliery, and ahove thi; village of ('hevcuge, upon which, on a small potato tield, tlie King oi' Prussia .stood during the battle, and where he reeeiveil the letter of Xapoleon, saying, that unable to And death at the head of his army, he delivered up his sword. The view from this hill is very extended, taking in a great portion of the entire held of battle, and, with the exception of parts towards and beyond Da/eilles and the northern slope of the Fl(jing spur, we could trace from it with a glass almost all our wanderings of the previous days. jNLiny points also, Avhich could not be seen from the French positions, are here visible, iucluding ])art of tl- ourse of the river ^leuse. Near \'illette is seen a liroken railwav bridge, the; onlv one which the French 'l-strn- -^ and between it and P'resnois lies the chateau of JicUevut', vvhere the Em])eror had his interview with the Prussian King. During the battle, eolunins of the ( uu-man troops were drawn up in the low ground at the foot of the hill of Clieveuge, where the hollows and undulations afford (though it would hardly ap- pear so from the summit of the hill) complete concealment from an enemy occupying, as the French did, the Floing spur and the high ground above Sedan. AVe should imagine that the neighl:)Ourhood of a great battle- field could seldom offer a more perfect position than this from which — comparatively speaking, in safety — to watch the contest and to direct the movements of a large army ; and to no one wdio has stood as we did u})on these heights, and upon the spur above Floing (where the heavy guns of the Germans were placed the morning after the Ijattle), can it be longer a matter of sur- prise why the P'rench army, after their defeat and retreat into Sedan, surrendered as prisoners of war. It had no alternative, being caught as it were in a rat-trap, from which it could not liopo to issue, and resistance in which would only have brought npon it a complo+o rlo<5truction. ' THE FIELD OP SEDAN. 41 After nearly an hour spent on tliis hill, wo returned to Sedan, and as we did not like to leave the town without seeing for our- selves the ambulance of the Anglo-American Society, concerning whose charitahle exertions we had heard so nuich, -we walked up to the citadel, within the gates of Avliicli, in a large empty barrack, it had its (quarters, and by permission of the surgeon went through the Avards. Everything here seemed in nu)st perfect order, the rooms airy and good ; and as many of the less severely wounded had gone home, there was no over-crowdinc'. We believe that some of the surgeons of the ambulance, while dressing the wounded near tliis very p])ot on the afternoon of the fight, were themselves struck by ])ieces of shell lirod from the German guns. The town of Sedan, though under fii'c for some half-an-hour from the enemy's guns before the French, huddleil togetlu'r in its streets, offered to ca})itulate, bore but few traces of damage done. Shot marks on tlie Torcy gate and several other spots were to be seen, but that was all. The scene of anarchy that its streets must liave presented as the French army crowded into it uudcu* fire can l)o easily pictured, We Avere told by IMadame Tellier, one of the prin- cipal booksellers of Sedan, that no Avords coidd express the sort of "pandemonium" that the place became. Before the battle even, it was, she sai 1, bad enough, for the troops had by that time lost heart and become discouraged by d(ifeat. From all we saw and heard at Sedan, we imagine, as we have before alluded to, that the French troops both b(^gan the figlit on the 1st September without confidence in their leaders or themselves, and that as the day wore on, and they found them- selves outnumbered and surrounded, this feeling of despcmdency rapidly increased into all abandonment of hope for, and every united aim at, success. Desj)erate bravery was shown by individuals^ and small bodies of men, but connected and well-directed efi'orts were wanting, and the tone and condition of the army Avas certainly, on the Avhole, bad. Si V nr? CHArTER IV. SEDAN TO VERDUN. About three o'clock in the afternoon we left Sedan and set off towards Mouzon. Our object was to reach the German army near Verdun, as we had been told by some officers at Sedan that there *fas a possi- bility of that place being shortly bombarded. A battery of guns captured at Sedan had been sent to the force around Verdun, and as at ^leziores and Montmedy nothing very active was looked forward to, it appeared our best course to try and gain Verdun, and perhaps afterwards pass on to Metz. xill our efforts to obtain any kind of conveyance had failed, for every cart and horse was in recpiisition for the transport of the wounded, or for bringing in arms from the field of battle, and on the Commandant's advice we set off on foot, trusting to being able to procure some kind of vehicle further from the scene of the great tight. Time being an object to us, made us grudge every delay caused by this slow mode of travelling ; but had it not Ijeen for this, no one could have desired a more pleasant way of moving over the country in the i)erfect weather which we were fortunate enough to enjoy. On our road to-day we entered into conversation with a French peasant, who, on hearing that we were Englishmen, told us that he had just seen a stone cross near Balan which was to be put lip to the memory of some English officer, M'ho had l)een killed in the battle of Sedan. Possibly this now marks the spot where the mu(;h-rogretted HF.U.VX TO VMUDrX. 43 C'olonol Pt'iiil)crtoii fell, but wliosc liody we were gliul to sco has l)cen borne to an Enf,di.sh lioiuo. This officer, formerly in tlie (Ircniidier Ouanls, was killetl by a French ritlonian while acting as "War Corrosi»on(lcnt to the Times with thu German army, his desire to sec the action having led him too far into the tight. It was nearly six o'clock l)efore {rln IJa/eilles aniining to shoot at ^''ou ;' so I had to go, and one big Prussian, who could not see the cross on my arm, was just going to fire when I called out to liim — and then the shells •coming ' pliut,' ' phut I' — Ah ! en ii ctait p't.'.' Joli da lout, ihi had!'' " Xow," he said (encouragingly), " I must turn back here. The country is full of jobbers ; it's a fine time for them, and no •one cares whether you're murdered or not, if you ain't a Prussian." Our road to-day lay through the villages of Moulins, Inor and Martincourt, and 3ver a lovely country. Long stretches of mea- dow land bordered the Mouse, dotted over here and there with grazing cattle, and on each side of us spread away a succession of sweeping hills, deeply wooded, — from the nooks and valleys among which peeped out the church spires of red tiled and picturesque French villages. Lut these villages, though they j)leased the eye at a distance under the bright morning sun, hKDAN TO VlinnUN, 47 told thitt inces, niun- rs from the from En;;- . horse had V the name indaut tliat ^K-Prussiiiii s throats of oaring this, a convey- or so, upon tiired Swiss id who had may, where ry amusing Lsty things ! ' Here, you hey make a ro, and on(^ I, was just the shells {(lit tout, dii were dreary and dcserteddookiug enough when yon entered tlieir streets. Half the inliaMtants had left their houses and tied ; and as we ])assed through Martineourt, a wretehed-looking htiing, finding we were English, asked if we thought lie could ohtain ■employnnmt as a wood-turner in England, his o(,'eupation heing goni', and he and his family heing at tlie point of starvation in Martinecmrt. We noticed that the telegra])]i wirrs aloiig tlie -oad to-day bore marks of iiaving Ix-en cut and replaced again in very many ])arts. On entering StcMiay, whi(di is an open town of .some size, we saw a detachment of the 4th (lerman Hussars just come in from hofon^ N'enlnn. 'iliis detaclnuent, wearing a sort of dark, cho- colate coloured uniform, with tight breeches and Ijutcher boots, and mounted on small horses in good condition, had the look of thoroughly workmanlike campaigners, tliougli their a])poiutments liad none of the polisii that we get in time of peace in Englaml. They carry a lu'eech-loading carl)ine, stra])pe(l to the saddle after onr old clumsy fashion. Uut they were lighter in appearance than the Uhlans (Lancers), wjio are as heavily elain clothes, had nothing to fear. AVant of tinu^ and the lionest look of tlie driver made us settle upon his plan, and Ave agreed to sleep at Sivry that night. Our French hosts at Stenay did not appear to hav(^ suffered much i'rom tlie Avar, tliough they Avere v(?ry se t(t tlie en- traiue marks the spot wliere an old woman, in November of 18G9, had been devoured alive by a hungry wolf. Scarcely a human being was to be seen in th(^ diity — filthily tUrty — streets, a7id anytliing more suggestive of an abandoned, plague-stricken spot can hardly be imagineil. There are tlu'ce places which, from their dreary, ruined look, have impressed themselves above all others upon our minds during our life time — Cawnpore, after the massacre and the sacking of the l^uugalows ;. J^azeilles, near Sedan, and Sivry. The little avdjerge wliere we ])iit up for the night, and which had its sign removed in the hopes of escaping Prussian visitors — who. the landlady told us, had on a foamer occasion cleared her out (»f everything, one soldier linally nourishing a bayonet and forcing her to show him to the cellar in order to get her best wine — was uninviting cnougli outside, but inside we were made fairly comfortable. The woman of the house spoke both 'discontentediy and very (lespondingly of her owai ])rospects and of tliose of her villag(\ (hie son was sliut up in Yerdun, from the direction of wJiieli place cannonading had been lieard throughout that moi'uing; another was in ]Montmedy. Her cattle had all dieil of tiie dis- ease wliich was raging there, and she looked forward witli certainty to the approaching visits of ty|)hus and cholera, and other plagues bred by the poisoned air. In short, . of all the 52 BATTLE FIELD OF SEDAN. rrencli villagers we had met with, she seemed to he the one who liad felt the war as a personal calamity the most. A lean pointer dog and a hungry cat, which mewed to us for food, shared the dinner with us ; and after sitting for half-an- hour round the kitchen tire Avith the keeper of the auberge, the landlady, our driver, and a dark-looking man, who appeared from we knew not where, and discussing the general raisery caused hy the war, we went up stairs to our bed-room in any- thing but a buoyant or cheerful frame of mind, one of the last questions which the landlady sent after us being, if Ave meant *' to return that way," followed l)y a scolding injunction, as av(> touched the handle of a wrong door, not to " enter any other room but our own." When once in the latter we were soon asleep, but were not destined to enjoy a very peaceful night of it. About tAvelve one of us awoke, and not liking the sounds which came at this time from the lower part of tlia house, called to the other, who proved to be awake also, and to have liked them still less. Our discussion of these noises and the plan of action wo adopted on account of them, make us smile now ; but at the time we felt in a very serious and anxious mood indeed, and though the story we are about to tell may raise a laugh against ourselves, we will relate it. The possi])ility of our being in evil quarters flashed upon us. All the tales we had read of murders in Spanish and Pyreneean inns, of descending smothering beds, of missing travellers found buried under floors, and of the evil character given by the Prus- sians to some of the French p^jsantry, flashed through the mind. We now saw how tempting a prize we must appear to any lawless men. We were evidently not Prussians, and therefore iK.it likely to be enquired after, had money with us (for had W(! not agreed to pay a good sum for a conveyance ?), and to all ap- pearance (and we knew it to be tlie case ourselves) were without arms. Everything looked suspicious. Had the people at Stenay been civil to us only to induce as to go to Sivry 1 Was the si; DAN To VliKDrX. driver in Ica^no witli the iuu-kcejtcr I AVliy liiid the istmnge- looking man coiiie in? "Was tlievo anytliing conoealcMl in the room, tho door of ^vliicli wc were so scolded for toiicliiiic;" ? autl. ilually, Avliy ^vero tlio}'- up at so late an lionr 1 Not being- aide to answer lliese ([uestion.^ satisfactorily, we jj,v*t np, silently dressed by the mooidight, and prepared as far as v.'e conld for an emergency. To barricade the door well (thongli v»'0 dis knife- bearing) peojde, Ixdced, though it vra-^ mooted, to be foolish bravery, so at last Ave resolved, as a linal resort, and if the door vras attempted, to drop from tlie window, some ten feet or so, into the street, and make for tlie Prussians t(nvai-d-; Dun. All we can say to those who laugh at us, is, "• ^tlay you never f.uicy yourselves in a like predicament !'' How the noises had stop])ed when we talked, — how we lay awake from twelve obdock till dawn.-- how once again Ihey were renewed and again ceased, — how, linally. f-tejis were heard com- ing up the stairs, whitdi, on our sliowing unmistakeably that -Jve were awake, paused and came no I'lirtlu^r. would not \>r iutere.-t- ing if described at lengtli. Suffice it to say, that we u-eleoiiied the dawn, and lliat ^ve i>elieved that we experienced two-thirds of tlie pei'haps exciting, but most un})leasant sensations, of the individuals -whoso tab-s of escape from Spanish and I'yreneeau inns -a-e have before alluded to. The next morning the landlady en([>iired how we had slept, iuid whether we W(ndd " return that way T' AVe said '' ])crhaps," bait inwardly determined that we never should ; and though we are willing now to believe that our imaginations made fodls of i)oth of us that night, we resolvc^d to stick in future to Prussian ]»osts, and to the advice of their ( 'ommandants,^ and v/cre not sorry to say good In'e at length to Sivry. Aliout eiuht o'clock wo s(>t out again in our wau'gon for Ihas. one of the outposts of the Prussian force that was blockading the 4 .«■ - T^'- 54 HATTLi: IMKI.I) OV tSEDAX. towii iuul fortress of Verdun. As during yesterday's journey, sd upon to-day's also, all the little villages on the road appeared abandoned and desolate, and much distress had' evidently been caused l)y the disease among the cattle. A company of foot artillery (probably going to Sedan) passed by us this morning, their knapsacks and accoutrements, we noticed, being carried for them in waggons ; and from one of the officers wc heard tliat tliere had been a sortie from Verdun the day previously, Avhich had been repulsed with slight loss, and hence the cannonade wliich had reached the ears of the landladv at Sivry. A two liour.s' drive, [)rincipally up hill, brought us to Ilras, where we called to report ourselves to ^Cajor Von Dobscliiitz, the Commandant. At this point, l)efore going on our visit to the Germans near Verdun, we iiupe it will not be thought tedious if we give our impressions (gathered through our whole trip frm Sedan to Mctz) of tlie feeling of the peasantry in general towards those whom the fortune of war had brought to them as uninvited guests ; and an account of the Prussian system of requisitioas — whicli is tliat followed by the whole German army — by which they obtained their supplies and transports in the various vil- lages. Some misap))rehension wc tliink exists in many cpiarters on tliesc subjects. T(^ beuin with, we must sav that in all the villaws, without exce})tion, through which wc passed, the peojtle did, reluctantly but invariably, admit that the German soldiers and officers con- ducted themselves well as a rule. We heard .m abuse of the Germans as individuals. The tale of the landlady at Sivry, of the bayonet having been llourished at her, (and it must be re- membered that the violence went no further) was the worst we liad related to us. The usual plirase was " Non, MojU'^ttfur, /As sunt asse:: gent lis !" That great suffering is, and will l)e, the result of the German occupation and of the war, in conso(j[uence both of the consump- ti(.m of food and forage, and the withdraAval of almost all the 8KDAN' TO VKKKUX. 55 uriioy, so appeared iitly been ii) passed leiits, we 3110 of tlio erdun the loss, and B landlady irouglit us [ajor You ruiaiis near 'c give ouv Sedan to vards tliose uninvited uisitions — hj wliicli arious vil- ly (|uarters |os, without nductantly ,)llicer3 cou- )Uso of the tt Sivry, of Inuist be re- 10 worst we Iho German ic consump- liost all the active men and the boasts of burden from the tillage of the soil, is very certain ; but, at all events, this evil did not appear to have been aggravated in any of the occupied districts wo saw- by wanton brutality or even by bullying language. The manner of the German officers, thougli that of masters who meant to have their way, was always, as far as wo observed it, rather markedly courteous. It would appear from the statements subsequently received from tlio scat of war around Paris, that this was not true of the Germans in tliat quarter, but wc only speak of what we saw witli our own eyes, and lioaril on the spot in Lorraine ; and the peasantry, it must be remembered, Avhen told tliat we were Englisli, wei-(; never reticent. Tiio expressions of " lis out tout pris," " lis out jiille ixir- toiit," so very common, referred to the eatables and drinkables of life, and to horses ; and the Geriiiau army system bore very hardly, as wc will exjilain further on, ui>on the villagers in tlieso respects, but tlieir misery was ascribed iuvaria1)ly not t<» their visitors, the Germans (wliom wc often saw playing with and nursing tlieir children,) but to " la guerre." T]]0 people of Lorraine "vvore, as a rule, (tho old (nirdo do Gliassc at Stenay was an exception) seemingly indifferent as t<> whether the Germans went or staid, jjrovided they hud " la tranquilite." " ?»Ta foi I" was tho usual burden of their answer to our (lucslions regarding their feelings at tlif' ])rospeet of annexation to Prussia, " Qu' est (pie c'est le Gouvernement a moi ? flo suis ouvrier ; jo desire soulomont la paix ;" or, " oMa foi I ([u' est qu(^ c'est a moi so jo suis Franrais on si jo suis Allemand T' tV;c. The bitterness of the language of the peasantry seemed en- tirely directed against the much abused Xapoleon III. ''Quand j'ai vu cette malheurcuso famille {/. c, the Emperor and his son) ontrer dans notre ville," said a woman to us in Sedan, " j' ai dit ' maintenant nous soinmes perdus.'" One is, of course, well aware of the little weight or import- anco that should be attached to sayings like the above. It is ryQ IJAITI.K lHA.'i) (M' hi:i)AN'. easy to luulcrstaiKl liow llif yirouiid-ilown peasant, 'wliu .sliaivs none of tlin .u'l"n'» ^'^it pays tlio penalty of war, may feel such a longin.c; aspiration after " hi /rai/qiiili'fr" even at the price of heoominj^- a (lerinan, thouoh lie is a Frenelmian at lieart, and at the first sign of weakness or reverse on tlie part of his enemy would rise and crush him witliout mercy ; and we also under- stand how xovy loudly those of the French who now alnise Napoleon 111. and call 1dm the sole originator of this war would ]jave asserti'd tlieir houndlcss admiration hoth for his pi-rsou :iud Ids p(di(,'y had he heeu smnn'ssful ; yet. with all this, the result of the many conversations which Ave hehl on our journeys i.mong the peasantry in the Ardennes and Lorraine, was to con- vince us tliat the ]K'01)1(! in this part of the country would put up Avith a just and orderly (lerman government far more chot.-r- fully than people in Euglaml Avould he inidined to heliove, and lliat after some years of such a lirin and unoppressive goveru- liunit tlui enthusiasm necessary for a patriotic rising against ( ler- man occupation Avould he sought for in vain. AVitli regard to the German method of payuieut for their sup- plies, Ave had our preconceived ideas ]nuch altered. Jt is com- liion to hear the remark that the Germans '" pay in pa})er" for what they take, or that they '• give an acknowledgment on paper Avhich is hinding on the Government," i^'c., and AVe art.' tolerahly certain tliat a very connuon impression in J'higland is lliat this pa])er i)ledges the German (JoA'ernment to hand that peasant, or the village ollicial Avho represents lum, in cash, at tome future time, the value of Avhat Avas taken from him. No thing is more erroneous than this idea, and no system of paynicnt could Avell he devised Avhieh Avould carry out the First Napoleon's theory that " War shouhl support Avar" (without exasperating more than is unavoidahle the inhahitants of a country) mor(3 tiioroughly than does the Geruian one. Tlie German re(piisition is made for all necessary carriage, forage, food, tup- {. is coni- ;iper" tov nicnt oil 1 wr are ij^land is and that (•a>[' a ^■illage, er oilier oiiieial, tlirough Avhom IIh! supplies are got. that they in reality Avere got, and //the ( loverniiKJut of France chooses in the future to re-imlmrse the jieople for Avhat they have lost, through no fault of their o-\vn, hut through the i'ortune of war, these reipiisitions -will enable the right sums to he ap])ortioned out to the mayors, &v., of the villages, and through tluiu to the villagers. This, however, it can he at once seen, is a ahut diflerent; thing from ''iKiyment for all sup])lies" as it is understood and jiraclised in Avar in the liritish Service, and, in fact, hinds the (ienuan (lovernmont to nothinu' at all. Tlie villagers as a rule do not (pute grasp this, and to obtain I* formal piece of pa})er acknoAvledging the supplies looks like the pi'obability of i)ayment, and is far nu)re satisfactory than uo jiapor at all. A'ery probably, indeed, the French CJovcrnment Avould in any case consider these re^cen that though the (lerman Government in reality pays, and 58 JJATTLK FIKM) OK MKDAX. binds itself to i)iiy, iiotliinj^' to the French lor the food and irimsport of tlie army, it deals in these matters ^vitll the villagers indirectly (/. c, throiigli the i\[aire or French official), and gives to liini a i)aper acknowledgment, ■\vhieh may some day, at the end of the war, be to the peasant worth something; and that, on the otlier hand, where any direct relation betw(>en its soldiery and the individual villagers takes place, it insists upon cash, and the correct sum in cash, being given. It would be, we think, dilficult to devise a system combining practical economy, with the advantages of conciliating the popu- lation dealt with, more than this does. AVe are not .sure that, though a hard and ungenerous system, it can bo termed an unfair one. The English Government jtays for everything in war, o\qb though the war })e forced upon it, and does so at an enonaouij expense to tlie English people ; and yet why shouhl the English l)eople be out of pocket more than the people of the country causing the war. The French pay for nothing (at least so it is generally asserted of them by those who have served with tliem), and thus make ] titter enemies of the inhabitants of the countries thev make war on. The Germans, as far as possible, hit the medium between the two extremes. We shouhl be sorry though, for all this, to see the Euglisli system changcMl, for it is a generous and noble one ; and under any other, the peasantry of a country — Avho, as a rule, have but little to do with causing wars — must suffer for a time more grievously tlian any subsecpient itayment can make up for. In a long war, also, (if the days of long ones are not past) the English practice will jirevail, as it gains the good-will of the. inhabitants. UlIAPTK]'. V. VF:UDUN' — ITS nOMHAllDMKNT. ^m TnK ('oininaiulaiit at Uius ,i^avc us not only a courtoou.s, but a most friondly reception, and at our request, after liavint; asked some questions to satisfy liimself as to our trustM'orthy cluiracter, permitted us to visit tlie advanecnl posts and sentries on the heights of l*.en(;ville, aecompanie'l hy one of liis olfieers, who '.ifthinteered most kindlv to do evervtliinletely surround(?d. Our guide, a Staff officer, rode by our side for about one-and- adialf miles out of IJras along the Vcrduu road, li' one i'ollows this road for about that distance, one will see a suiall copse of wood to the right, just where the road begins to descend towards Verdun. Here on(; of the German pickets Avas placed. l>ut before coming to it wo turned olf to the li^ft into a country i>ath, and, after making a detour of some distance and keejnng in the low ground to avoid observation, we came to another ])icket, to which our guide entrusted his h(U-se, remarking that wi^ were now within short cannon range of the enemy's guns, and that the French, who had plenty of ammunition and signalmen on the look out in the Cathedral tower, invariably sent a shell after any one, especially on horsoT)ack, who exposed himself. Then turning into a thick copse of low beech trees, he h.'il us through it to its further edg(i, Avhich lined the crest of f»ne of -T'rfirtf^ tji> IIATII. rii;i,i» (iF si:i».\N. till' liiU- (III the pliitciiu of J'.clluvillc overlookiii^' tlif valluy of tlu' Mcuso. Here piirtiiilly partiii;^- tlic bninrlu's iiiul carfriilly placin^u; his swonl nii oik! oido to •^iiard against its flitter l)cing seen, he sUowcmI ms Ycnluii lyiii.L;" at our I'oct. Tlio nearest bas- tion of the fortress (•(•ul ho seen holding Hags f the work-^. A'ordini, lying as it does in low ground surrouudeil by liill.>, must always at the javsent day be at the mercy of an enemy p.r oviile The ( d Avitl 1 sR'<''e ar tille rv Jermaiis, however, had no guns of greater calibre tha; tile >ix-poundrr Kriip]) bnjeeh-loading held gun used in thei own service, and a l»attory of French twelve-i>ounder iieLl gun captured at Sedan, just arrived, aiul Avhose tleparture from tli latter place we liave befor(>. mentioned tluit we liad been i;: formed of. These batteries wouhl, it is to be noticed, corres}>ond rcs[iei lively to about twelve and twenty-six (or perha}»s lieavie' gun in the English service ; lt)r the (lormans and Fre"'^ artillery in pounds by Avhat Avould be tlie weight shot of the diametei- of the bore, whereas we na,. tl 101 r ,1 s |)heriea it 1- th weight of the lieavy elongated projectile really used. Thus their guns may be considered as being in truth doubly as formidable as guns calknl ].»y the same number in the I'^nglish army. \ KKDL.V ll'.S li'»MUM;i».Mi;M. <^1 Th'.J iii'tillcry of tlif lortri'.ss dI' Vciilmi v,-;i-' junaiiliilili' riioii'4h easily in ovcinnwc;' I he six-poiiuilcr ;;iims ;it iiny xwu'j^v at which the lattc'i' (•ould (ht luiicli (liuiiagt; ti» tin- \V(>i'k>, ami thf l''r(Mu;h t\velve-}»iiiii(l('i-s liaviiiL;' (Hily rccfnily hccii ivccivod, no 1ii)iul)ar(!- innit liad us yd Ikcu atti'mplcd, tli.- active liostilitics licin,!,' coiiliiied ti» tlic i'('iuil.;c, of a:i orcasinnal sortie, aiid iiitcriiiittcnt tirir:^; to harass tlic (Icimau pfi.sts. Til" KL-ntrics ou tlic ('athr(h-al towcv "Wcre a souivc of '/jc^i, aiiiicyaiico to tlic (ici'maiis, iis they weiv einiiiimally on llnj ak-rt, and :'roni tlicii* I'h.'vated ]iositioii were ahlo to see iind dircet .-hells to 1)0 iired iijmih }»atni]>, tVe.. that would o1herwi->e havo t'sca]nHl ol)S(.'rvati< mi. AVith the (.'Xceptioii of the-;e sentries ami llie occasional i^litter of .-t'jcl (sng^i'stive oi' a hayoiu't) a]»|)earin-- alon;;' tlie rampart.^, there "Was nothin.i/ in the town whieh indicated tlie I'roseuct! of lmir.:in liJ'e, and for some time not a sound hreakinj;- tlu' extrciuo stillness of the day arose from its streets. At leii,c;tU the report of a -aunoii lired tov.'ards ii (h-rnuin outp(.»s'L 0:1 tlie side opiuxsitc to us hoomed upon the iiir, hut tiujre ^vas wo ar.sv,-(>r to the sho'., and e silence once auain reie-nei I unl >roktn. To .Lja/.c U]»on this l»elea;.;ured town had to us a sort of fascina- tion in it dithcult perhaps to cxiilain. l»ut whicli we cnufess to having felt. Ap}iarently asleep or dead. Ave luiew it to he in- stinct witli a watchful and danger on- life, :;r.d thoic^h its ram- part>', and walls, and buihlin,ns, must have Itorne luVvch the same look .IS tliey had doui; in peaceful times, the imagination helped to elutlie them Avith one entirely djiferent. "We stood for some time looking down ujxin the tjuiet town, ('(U'eful lest hy a hreak- ing twig or crackling leaf we shoidd arouse it from its slumher, and. 'jause it t.o cry out Avj-ithfiilly at us from tlie hla(d< mouthis of the cannon pointing in menace I'rom the end)ra.sur(\s Tl len i-oi ng ipuetly hack, we were led hy our guide to many other V :is Avliere Ave eould obtain dilferent views, antl finally— after a visit to .some of the advanced sentries, and to the infanti iiul cavalry pickets, which wr came ujton unexpectedly round tl 10 ;tt G2 HATTLi: ni:i.i) ok !sm[)an. corner of a wood !:■- Ill's, ^ burnt ,p]e." iausR it nco tho Franc-tireurs, tliough not acknowlod<4(;d as soldiers, wciv hy some at all events admitted to have a sort of right to kill, which v/as denied to villagers. It was different afterwards, when blood- shed and retaliation so disgraeefidly embittered the war. To our (juestion of whetlier the French officials and villagers were not as a rule courteous and civil to them 1 the answer was, " Oh, when we're in bodies, currishly civil (houndixrh firiiiidJichJ, but wlien alone, they murder us like dogs," After our coffee, we visited the battery of French twc>Iv •- pounders, and then left for Eix, the head(piarters of the force/ round Verdun, bearing with us a note from one of the Bras officers to an aiu-de-camp (^n the Staff of General Von IJothmer, who commanded at that point, and witii the hope that we might liave the opportunity of seeing from thence some shots c\- clianged Avith the fortress next day. As a lesson in out-post duty, our visit in the morning to the pickets and sentries thrown out from JJras had been we felt more practically useful and instructive than many mornings' [>lay ut the same brancli of a srddier's education in a ]K>;ic('ful garrison or camp. It was not that we saw much that reqiiiivd any ]tarti^",dar explanation or that was strikingly new to us. As in the English service, the Crcrman ad\auced senti'ius arc invariably (this they lay great stress on) jiostcfl double, luver single, and the system carried out here of the furnishing an can! with Avliich the spiked ]jO::uet Avas taken oil", or the steel s(.'ahl)ard moA'ed out of the Avay, so that tliere nnght he no tell-tale gleam from the rays of tr.'J sun : tlie avcU concealed spots chosen I'or the iires at Avhicli ■tr.o I'ickets cooked ; and many other small hut interesting points. g:;-e a sen.>i' of reality to Avhat Avas going on. and therefore left an impression all the more clear and lasting. ':"lie (Jerman ir(X")ps at Jh'iis consisted for the most jtart of La.'jlwt'hr, and reserve, Avith an internnxturc of the line. This liiijigling of the trooj)s of ditfcrent lengths of service Ave found to hold very giMU'rally (the Landwehr lu'cdominating) at th" various ])oinLS hclwcen Sedan and tin.' neighhourhood of jMctz ; S!^3;;o of the olficers — and, 1 think, almost iuA'ariahly the senioi' oj: ; — heing otlicers m jn'riii/uir,n'r^ !. r., regular ollicers. The Englishman, IVom assoi-iation of ideas, very often con- sid'.iv- — and in s])ite of all one has read of the Prussian organiza- .tio?:, (wliich will now he the model for all (Jcrmany,) until one a; : ;ally sees the men themselves it is dillicult to avoid th)ing so — :hat the La,ndv,-chr and re.^ervi^ must he a less practised hody ■of i;ien than tlu', line, in fact men corresponding to his oAvn i.viJitia and rcsei-ve forces in comparison Avith his oavu lin(>. Xothing could he Avider from the fact than this idea, every IVissian having nei;essarily to serve three years (])eginning at tlvj age ol" tv\-cnlv) Avilh the colours, and then four Avitli the L,i.:dAA-ehr. The LandAvehr, man or ollicer, is merely one in the prime of iif" Avho has gone through his full three years' regular training, :\\\ \ some intermittent soldiering Avith the LandAvehr as Avell ; .a::! as the Avars with Denmark and Austria (in 1804 and ISGG) ■li m VEHDUN ITS H.).\I IJAHDM i,N T, r:> have been so recontl}'- fouglit, a ,i;Toat propoilidu (.f tln' men v,o Miw liad served a campaign, and 'wciv dfcoratcd v.itli niu'. t /.o^ and sometimes more medals. The fact of the German arm}-. In' n^K-'Dn of tlu- lute wwj^^ ])eing so exceptionally trained just r.ow (Landwehr and all) i or aetive service, has not, avc think, hi^m <''enerallv sufhcientlv cr-r- sidered. The nation is not only a uatuni ot" soldiers, hy reasdn of vAcrr man having to serve and go throui^h drill. Itut cxcfptidiially jr.st ■ ;0Av a nation of eaiupaigucrs. "With regard to the stain}) ol' the Laiidwchr and reserve- uHicei's (to nse a term which is expressive in England), it is only natural that, nniler a system which obliges all classes to sorN*- ;:i some capacity, the ofhcci-'s rank v»-ill he sought for and ohtaii. mI as a rule hy men of coniparaliNcly good position, or of .sonic ki';.d ■f influence. It results from this, thai as tlu' uuniiicr of oiiiccrs re([uireil I-- large, the upper and upju'r middle clas^c.^ appear to furni'-li. Ihem. For instance, of those we met around N'erdun, one v,-;\- a nobleman of property ; another a gentliMiian fanner, who mear.t. ;!t the conclusion of the v\ar, to ,uo to .f'dinburgh to learn u* manage his farm: a third was ])utting in his time in tlic college which (pialilies in (h-nnany for the ni>])artment of A\'ooils a'..;l Ffjrests, and hoping to iiml. I'ventnally, (as othris hav(! d..:Mv and as some of our olhcers do) employment in that departmer.t iinder the I>ritish Ooverninent in India : a fourth was a miniiig engineer; a lifth a man of means, wlio had left London s;v,l- •lenly to return to CJermany and d') his duty with liis regiment. As a class, in fact, they eorrespond very nearly to that whicli oiiicers tlie English army. All of the oiiicers above alluded to, though called away at the outbreak of the war from civilian employment of all kinds, (arjl not ashamed to admit that they longed for peace), looked pcr- I'ectly at home as soldiers, into Avhicli career they had been fully initiated, and all liad tiie manner of gentlemen. •■ it <)G IJATTLK I'IKLU OF SEDAN. ID Prussia they do not approve of any but gentlemen holding <-omTnissions, and it '.vas evident that, whether from prejudice or not, the officers had been strengthened in their views by their , VKUDUN ITS IJOM IJ.MIJJMHNI, C" !n liolding •cjudicc or s bv their c of til civ [loM's that s, and wliu I from the 5 rank and te cordial'' nor, every up at the d caste of European of excep- pndcr tluit : has. spects the rnian, and aistcred a.^ w of what In minor le to h3arii ■tillcry. k of both lund to all ecimens of Idiers, but usk while th of Ver- .inijstance.s a decided mistake. In the first idace wv lost llic. wav. thoucli only for a time, and the sensation of dnin;;- this at njoht in an unquiet district is not agreeable ; in the next })lace Ave had a small difficulty ■with one of tiie (rerman posts, which Avas ag- gravated, if not caused, by our T)eing abroad at so late an hour. At every village we had passed through after leaving IJra.^ we had been asked for our i)apers by the examining party of a non-commissioned officer and three or four men at tlie entrance ; but about dusk wc reached the village of Fleury, and not being stopped, passed on toAvards tlie centre of the i)lace, expecting there to have to show our papers, Avlicn we were suddcidy and A'cry sharply ordered to halt and descend, and w(;ro brought by some soldiers before an t)t]i('er, whom we saw Avas in a toAvering passioii. lie asked us Avliat Ave meant by avoiding his sentries and en- tering the village, and Avho Ave AA'ere 1 and to our reply that no sentries had challenged us on the road, and that av(! Avere travel- lers taking an interest in his ])rofcssion, and avIio AA'anted to see the Avar, he ansAvered by sending in great indignation for the sentries, aa^io Avere soon confronted Avith us, telling us at the same time in French that travelling at nightfall through the outposts of any army for the " pleasure of seeing Avar " Avas hardly, in his opinion, a likely story, that no sDhh'i'.r,^-, as avc said Ave Avere, Avould attemjit to jiass a sentry ; and that, at all events, we'd better stay till the folloA\ing morning in liis guard-room, Avhen he'd escort us out to see some monr French sliells [oIvk) than lie thought Ave'd care about. All tliis time he Avas too angry to ])ay mucli attention to our passj)orts, tfcc, Avhich \\\\ kept trying to show to him, and his ill-temper Avas still further increased by a sergeant, Avho Avhis- pered to him in (Jerman, '• Lieutenant, you forget that you are speaking in French; the people here (by that tune a small croAvd of curious villagers had collected near us) have heard you men- tion tlie intention to open lire in the morning." "AVho are your sympathies AvitliT he noAV said, turning to us, i .m \n ,-rf* C8 liATn.i; 11 KM) (IF SKDAX. (ratlier a iian'ow-iiiiiKlcil iviuurk, ])y tlio ^vay,) and on onr :cpl\-- in;.r, " AVitli yon, anense. This admission of tin; siMitries mollified our friend's disposition towards us, and on a careful ]K'rusal of our passports, and especi- ally of the h'tlcr wr hore with us from the officer at Bra-s, he made every apology for his hastiness and ]iasscd us on to lux. The inconvenience we suffered was not vcrv great, l)ut it is uni»leasant to have one's assertions roughly «jUestioned ; and any traveller arriving so Lite with a m 're jiassport (or without any ]>rivate letter), es[>ecially ii' weak in languages, would proLably ];ave passed the night iii the guard-room. AV^hen we arrived at Eix Ave reported ourselves [it (k-i.eril Von liothnier's heath piarters, and found him and his Staif at a late dinner, and upon sending in our passports and letter, v/ero received Avitii great kindness, heing at once asked by the Cleneral to Join them at table and olfered a begin at a.m., from the different French bat!?rie.-i VERDUN — ITS BOMBAllDM KNT. G9 around tlic town, and of which Ave had received some inkling before leaving Bras. As it happened that the General, some of his ofiicer.^ and our- selves had mutual ji-!iuaintances in Hanover, this meeting was all the more pleasant for us, and after an onjoyalde two hours we turnetl in, feeling that we werv? very lucky to he in our pre- sent (Quarters, instead (elleville Ave had been on at Bras, and stopped at Belleville, al)out tAvo-and-adialf miles otT, passing on the road one of tlie field batteri(?s on its Avay to take up its positi(jn. A " Good morning," called out by one of the olncers to the men of the Ixittery, Avas responded to l)y a veiy cheery and uni- versal " ]\Iorgen, ]Morgen" from the latter, a sort of interchange betAveen the diiferent ranks upon the line of march, Aviiich sounded strangely to an English ear, but very Avell and hearty. notAvithstanding. Arrived at our destination, Ave rode Avith Graf Yon Kospoth, Avho remained Avith us through the morning, ti) a point from Avhence Ave could see Verdun lying beneath us at Bras, but at a greater distance olf, and Avliere Ave stayed Avaiting till the puffs of smoke shoiiM rise from the crests ])ehind Avliich Avere the German batteries. At length they curled upAvards from some three different points into the air, and the bombardment began. As Ave have before,- mentioned, the German guns Avero of small calibre, and the olyect of the day's firing Avas not so much to do any great damage to the Avorks, Avliich could hardly be hoped for, as to shoAV the besieged that they Avere noAv surrounded, and thus deter them from further sorties ; to try and drive the signal- men from the Cathedral toAvers, and to test the range and power of tlie captured French battery. To fiie upon a cathedral is generally considered an act of A^andalism in Avar ; but, at the same 5 70 battlp: field of skdan. time, it is clear tliiit if its towers are used openly as advantage- ous positions for si,<4iialnien, tlie general wlio respects tlioni Avill be cliarged, and justly so, by bis own soldiers as liaving niore regard for tlie preservation of buildings tlian of tlieir lives. In fact, if tiiey are to be viewed as sacred, they ought not to bo made use of as a means of actively annoying the besiegers. The German oflic(;rs expressed regret, which, from their manner, I believe was sincerely felt, at having to direct their shot against the tower, and it is only fair that those (as Ave ourselves have ofter. done), who exclaim loudly against tiring at catliedrals, should hear the German side of the question. For some twenty minutes there was no response from the fortress to the German challenge — the garrison, which had hith- erto been left pretty well to itself, being evidently miprepared for so early an attack upon it. At length, however, the citadel, one of the bastions and a ravelin began to reply, and from that time the firing went on steadily from both sides for some three- and-a-half hours, wh(m General Von Bothmer ordered the German batteries to cease. There is something, after all, i)artaking of the monotonous in a bondjardment. The little clouds of smoke, the booming reports, and the rattling of the shells as they burst in the streets, are repeated again and again, and though exciting at first, the interest ceases before long, and Ave Averc; not sorry Avhen at length the French Avere left in peace. The result of the morning had been to prove that though the field batteries could not to any useful extent oppose the heavier artillery of the Avorks, the French ammunition and guns could be Jiandled Avith good effect. Twice the toAvn appeared to have been set on lire, ])ut the llames Avere on both occasions speedily got under. 'J'lie loss on the German side Avas very slight, being only one sou-'-oHicer killed, and some four men and an oflicer Avounded. Of the French loss, of course, Ave Avere ignorant. It Avas stated to be tlie intention to Avait until the arrival of heaAy guns from Toul, Avhicli had just fallen, before rencAving the bom- bardment.'* * .-ubsfiiu. til.iy ;i loiiliuauua the lioin the lieuvy guns I'.aii.sed tlie sniTcnder of the plui'e by LSaniii Giieriu de WiiKlcrsbaeii, the Uovenior, witlujiit awaiting im assault. VKUDUX — ITS BOMIJAKDMRNT. 71 Duriii.t:^ tlic l)()inl)ar(liii('nt we vodc to many (lifrcrciit ])uiiits, visiting, as at liras, some ot' the advanced ])i(!kels and sentries, and seeing nmcli tliat was of interest. The acenraey ol' the French artiUery iire, and tlie fact of their tiring at any clianet; liorsenien (as assert(.'d at Bnis) was ck'arly })roved to ns ; for at one time our companion, having previously sent forward some men to (dear a neiglihouring vineyard from any chance Franc-tireur, had taken us uj) to witlnn ahout 1.700 yards of the outworks, where we were liaving an exceUent view, aa we hojied, unohserved. To oui' serious disappointment we found we liad l)een perceivi'i], a ejoud of smr»ke came diit of a hitherto sihmt emhrasure dii-ectly in our front, an the Verdun l)atturics a wider berth for tlie remainder of the morning. After returning to Kix. ami while the tJeneral and his Stall' were at the busiiu^ss of the dav, we amused ourselves in walking about the grounds of the small French chateau in whi'di we were quartered, and, to while away the time, sat down by tlu^ side of a iisli i»ond full of carp, wdiich came swimming up to us to be fell, and wrote up our note bocdcs, which for two or three days had been allowed to fall beliind-hand. The owners of tlii.-^ chateau had evidently been fond of field sports, for there was a kennel on the grounds containing several dogs, all with more or less of the fox-hound and pointer breed in them — one, accord- ing to a French servant's asserticm (though we must M'ithhold our corroboration) being pure Englisli. "• Ah I" he said, as they paAved the bars and were clamorous to get out, " lis n' iront pas a ia chasse cette aniiee !" What a change the war had caused in the surroundings and brought to the owners of this bright-looking country house ! Outside the Hower-beds were trampled down and neglected? the walks unswopt, the lawn strewn with leaves and rubbish ; while inside the enemy clanked about the passages, and lounged on the sofas, and spread his maps upon the table, planning the conquest of the French garrison not four miles distant, of which, perhaps, the owner of this very property formed a part. About one o'clock we had luncheon with the General and his Staff — the IMayor, ncminally in honour of our visit, l)ut a good deal, we imagine, to conciliate the Prussians, coming in person to look after us, and sending in his best wine, curacoa, cigars, and all kinds of luxuries. T am a<^-Viamed to s-iy we did full ■^ VKUUUN — ITS liOMBAKDMKNT. 73 justice to thorn ; I say (tslKiiind, i'or avc did not like liiiii nv his. civility (the excess of wliidi cduM have plcaHcd im (Hic) in our liciirts. These odicials had uinhjiililedly u hard ;.;aiiui to jiliiy ; hut making all due allowance for that, we can tiuite understand why the Frencli Kiiipernr ilismiss( d one oi" th"iii early in the Avar lor attention to th<; (I'l'iiians, whicli iu; consithred aiiiouiit"(l to want of patriotism. The General very kindly olfercd to forward \va on the next 8tfige to Etain in his carriai^e. a large sort of cuvertMl waggonette, the property in iieaceful times of the Mayor, hut n(»w at liis temporary disposal. AVhiic we were at luncheon, a lieutenant of Cuirassiers came in from Etain a make a report to las chief, the purport of which will serve to shoM' v.ith what weak detach- ments some of th(; liidvS of the ciiain of i-oninninieation hetween Verdun and ^[(;tz were held. It was (he told ns himself afterwards) that in eonsGipience of some changes he felt s(j dangerously weak, that he considered it his duty to ask the (nnK.'i'al foi- a rein'' icement. He had only twelve troopers in a town of several iiundred peo])le, (antl no other soldiers in it), "dolly little," he said, " to keep them in order." Yet he put a hold t'ace ujion it, and on the (leneral. for reasons hest known to hims(df, refusing mori.' men, appeared to dismiss the matter once for all from his mind. Such a weak party would seem almost to have courted nnir- der ; hut, of course, it was well understood in Ktain what the fate of the village anil iidiahitaiits would have heen. had it hcen attempted. hi a discussion at the tahle to-day, it was said ihat the French chassepot carried so nnudi further than the neeille-gun, that the Germans oft(in luulto march some 800 yards un'.<'., tlio (Icniiaiis) had tlie hal)it, it was said, of always giving three; distinct hurrahs ! ouc; after the other, just before going into a tiglit. At ahout three o'eloek, we said good hye to oui' hosts at Eix, "whose kind welcome (»f us wc shall never forget, and as wo set oil' in the carriage drawn hy four horses for Ktain, and acconi- ])anit.'d along the road hy tlie lieutenant of CUiirassiers, who wna rilling bacdc to his post, we could not licdp surmising what jiar- ticular description of grandee tlie [)easants, who doil'ed their caps to us along the road, nutst prohahly took us for; whether, being in plain clothes, only for JJismarck and his secretary, or for two greater autocrats in disguise. AVe say " greater autocrats," be- cause in military-ridden (Icrmany Ave have heard even lUsmarck himself (simply l)ecaus() he has for years been in civil employ) spoken of m a tone of half disparaginnent as only ''a mere eivi lian. ■VI CHAPTER Vr. VERDUN TO METZ, BV ., to settle it l)y oLtaining a conv(>yance, we Averc present at a scene AAdiich Avould liaA^e amused us, if Ave had heen ahle to look at the tiling only in its ludicrous light. \V<' may say here that it Avas always our custom Avhen avg ohtaiued Avaggons to jiay for them at liheral rates, and to obtain for tlirm a ])crmit from tlie (.iiMinan authorities to return at once ; liul tlie })('asants had heen so long unaccustomed to re- ceive money in retui'u for their services, and had so often been ju'csscd away for days together, that it Avas not very easy to pcrsua(U' them before starting that they would be paid, or in reality sent Itack. For these reasons it Avas occasionally difficult to proi'urc (;onv(\vances, even Avith the aid of the (commandant, the ])easants trying to dodge the requisitions as far as they pos- sibly dare. At (Juntlans this Avas the case ; the Mayor, on being sent for, affirnu'd positively that there was no conveyance, and that it Avas hit/)ossihJ(' to get one. He Avas told, " Mais, JSlonsieur le IMaire. il n'y a j)as d' im])o.ssible. II le fuut," and Avhile lie was gently invited to try in one direction, the Commandant walked Avith us to tiT in another. Still it Avas in vain at first that Ave siuight for a waggon ; everything that Avas ferreted out had wlion pitied iKU'ing nie of Ho coiu- vciit." )i('iioiis not be- iiotioe niing a ji-oll we get oil ;. r.., to a scene k at tlie ^•iien we oT)tain iturn at Q(l to re- ben been ■ easy to lid, or in difficult nandant, :hey pos- sent for, 1 tliat it iisicur le e lie was t walked i that we out had VECDUX TO m:;tz, by gravklotte. 79 something siuavshod about it and was not avnilalilo. At last, a tall sergeant camo up and whispered Avitli ii grin tiiat ho had seen a good light trap the evening before in the garden of a house close l)y, and volunteer(>(l to guide us to it. Tlu? trap was found, but the wheels were all gone, hidd<'ii, the sei-geant said, by the sly owners." " KSic sind so sclilan," (They are so sly,) was his indignant exclamation. Ilie owner contended, with an odd sort of logic, that as one of tht^ wheels had Ijeen broken, ho had been oblig('(l to send all for rcjviir ; but on being cross-exaniinee much protection to us in case of meeting any chance Fraac-tireur — the possible l)ogie whom we had to dread. Our journey at lirst was a xcvy slow one. Hitherto our ani- mals had all been too tin.'d to be tro'al)lesome. but this beast was an exception, and carried us l>y a sudden dash so nearly over the edge of ;i steep precipice, that we both junijied out;, fortunately lighting on our feet. To make a long story .short, ^ve were much relieved when, Avith hands :Mit l)y the rope reins (for we took to driving ourselves), we reai-heil ( Iravelotte, »•/■/ Doiwiourt, having liad many anxious moments on th<^ road, and shaves of going over e,ml)aukments, and into jiopL.r trees and ( Jerman de'tach- inents ; for as we continued on our mute wo W(!re pa'->sed at 80 BATTI.E FIELD OF SEDAN. fre(|ueiit intervals l)y parties of iiifaiitiy and cavalry, tlio latter generally escorting supplies. While approaching (Iravelottii our attention ^vas attracted by a grou]) of German soldiers stari.ig and pon:ting ui)\v<'irds, and following the direction of tiieir ga/.e we saw a balloon high in air, evidently just ccnie out of Metz, now about twelvi^ miles distant, and sailing along u.nder a lair wind towards Paris. It was far out of shot, so that no attemj)t was made to molest it. Arrived at Gravelotte itself, which is only about four miles from the fort of ^Umt St. Quentin, and the French outposts around ]\retz, the luimber of troops that we met insMvasetl. liifles. Avero piled and guns parked near the village, and cavidry troopers in twos and threes moved over the iields to tlie h ft of the road, clearly links in the chain which J'lince Frederick Charles had drawn around Marslial r>a/aine and his army, cooj)ed up in their stronghold. Not very far from the entrance of the village, and tr' the lei't hand, the bku kened walls of what was once the farn house of ]\[almaison, bore evidence to tke eifect oi" the French shells which were jioured into it, and its garden, held by the Germans, on the morning of the 18tli of August. We had no time to give more than a shctrt two hours to the field of (iravelotte, for it Avas necessary i\)Y ns to reacdi Corny, some miles olf, by a country road, whitdi was sure to be blocked up pretty veil by German convoys, and to find our (piarters there before night-fail. .Slill, m that two hours, we s;iw a great deal of the scene of the struggle at and around the village. First of all W(! bent our ste])s eastward rJong the ikletz i-oad, tf) the ])oint Avhere it crosses llie ravijie running between the linis des Ognons aiul Jiois dc, Vaux towards Ais, the further bap.k.of Avhi(di Avas the scene of the desperate assault of tlic < lerman^^ against the French left, protected by Mitrailleurs placeil behind entrenchments, tier above tier, ujxm the .dope. Passing along tliis read, raised hiu'h over the ravine, the (.ierman cavahv \va» mown doAvn as it endeavoured to charge across it and reach the French jiodtion on the other side. One can imagine uv attempt i VEUDUX TO METZ, BY GR.\Vi;[,()TT?,. 81 latter ted by Is, and li^li in '. miles ris. It t it. miles ulposts Kifles roopers le road, les had up in village, )ncp tlie of the held by 's to the I (Jorny, blocked (puirters V a great je. First I, to tho liois de3 bank .of (lermaiis il b( hind iiL'; alonj.; •ah'V wa» rciicii the attempt in war of a much more desperate nature than th.e advance of infantry and di d (til :avahy necessarily confineil to tho road itself) against an enemy's batteries massed on the opposing wooded lieiglits ; and that the Cb^rmans were successful here and at other spots, such as 8pich(M'en, wouhb if no other ])roof wen* forthcoming, staniji them as soldiers as daring and excellent in attack as troops can well 1)e. lleturning through (.Iravelotte we walked over th(} jdaieau which lies to the south of the vilLige 1)etwecn tlio .Rezonvill". road .md the thick woods of the IJois des Ognons aiii) OF SLDAN. tlie village, iindAvliieh flanked the plateau over Avhicli tlie(Jermaiis must have moved from the Bois des Ognans, adnrded an interest- ing example of rough loop-lioling. It was not a higli wall, perhaps less than live I'eet high, hut was pierced Avith two tiers of loop-holes by simjfly knocking out the stones. Tlw. loop-holes of the lower tier were not directly under those of the upper, hut one of them (speaking roughly) was placed underneath the centre of the s])ace between two u})per ones, thus, • • • • • • • This seemed to us a good practical way of combining a large number of loop-holes with convenience of tiring in a wall too luw to admit of the stereotyped method of two tiers of l(H)p ]ioles, OJie above the rttlier, with a platform for the upper rank di' men to stand on. All the men tiring could do so unseen, and the wall was not much Aveakc^ned. The troops ]iassing over the plateau under musketry and mitrailleur tire ought to have found it (as it seemed to us) more difficult even than they did to carry the village and ])ress on to the position beyond, The vil'age was comparatively little damaged by shells. The whole of the country around Clravelotte, Avitli the excejition of the sides of the deeply-wooded ravine where the French left rested, is of a gentle undulating character, passable, generally speaking, for all arms, but covered here and there with large belts of thickish wood. The French left resting as it did on the wooded hill side, might, we should imagine, have been made almost impregnable if the American system of felling the trees to form breastworks (although these trees are not so favorable for this as American fir trees,) had been resorted to. Leaving ( iravelotte between one and two o'clock, we drove down a winding and stee]) road along the densely- wooded valley of the ]V[oselle to Ars. From Ars we drove to Xoveant, where we crossed the Moselle, about eighty yards wide and with a dry bed, by a sus'^'usion bridge, and >*uon found oiUBelves in Corny, VERDUN TO METZ, V.\ r.[?AVEI/)TTE. S3 the }iea(l-([uart('i's of rrincc Frt'di-rick Cliarlfs. Tlu; licli wondcct scenery between Gruvelotte and Corny is of peculiar Ix^auty, and we should look forward with .t^n-eat pleasure to the pros))ect of seeing it again in times of [K'-acp. To-day heavy rlnuds of dust, partially ohscuring the view, hung in tlic air, raised ])y convoy after convoy of sui)]ilics, and by tronp after troop of f(jot and horse,, the incessant stream of which gave to us some faint idea of what tlie presence of such a vast body of soldiers really implied : and it was only after freipient halts, during which we choki-d pati- ently by the hot road sides to let the columns pour on, that we reached our destination as the, day was draAving to a dose. There Avas ai)parently but little excitement in Curuy that dav, but yet Marshall Bazaine had uuule u])ou it one of his i'ew eftbrts to disturb the German bcdeaguering army. A sortie had been made on a point of the German circle some distance from Corny towards Peltre, ^leray-le-Haut. and (,'olom- bey, which had been repulsed, the Germans l)urning these villages after they had defeated tlu^ enemy. Perhaps nothing could give a better idea of tlie magnitude of the German lines than the fact that yvf were unaware of the sortie until the following morning, and as it v/as not mentioned by any one in conversation, we believe that (with the exce[)tion, of course, of those at head-quarters,) no one at '„'orny was hetter informed about it than ourselves. We soon found that to obtain quarters here would be a difficult matter indeed. Every corner of the place was occupied by soldiers, and in the general squeezing, crushing, and scarcity of all the comforts of life that prevailtMl, civility seemed to be at a discount ; a cold " No," was all we (X)uld at first g(4 to c .r recpaest for a lodging, and after several efforts to obtain one, we at last thought ourselves in extreme luck, because avc secured the free use of the floor of the tap room of a little auberge, absolutely swarming Avith flies, and Avhere the Held post of onv. of the army corps Avas established. We ought to say xho free use of it after 10 p.m., for up to that hour the room AViis filled liy soldier.^, avIio s-t BATTLE FIELD OF SEDAN. «at drinking iuid talking M'itli groat (|uietii«\ss and order at the little tables, until the ])uglc8 siininioned them to their billets. As for a room to ourselves, or a Led anywhere, such a thing was .not to he had fur momn', and eatables were almost as unoh- tainahle. "Wo manag(}d to get a little ehocolato and bread, but meat was not to be i)roeured, and eggs, the landlady told us, were so scarce, that even those not over fresh sokl for fourpence apiece. To get a waggon, or any species of conveyance, or horse, would ])e, we were informed, an utter impossiliiiity ; so we came to an arrangemeni by which our driver mms given an official permission to take us on a stage further next day, he himself unwillingly agreeing to it, as we had 'laitl him already a fair sum, and the authority of the i)(;rmit set his mind at rest. How it must wear the lieart out of a human being to have to toil from morning until night, as the poor landlady of this auberge had, for those who are at deadly stiife Avith one's hus- band and children, and nearest and dearest friends. One of lier sons, she tcdd us, was shut up in Metz, whence the cannonading coidd bi! heard almost daily. Another was in Paris, and her husband was lighting in some third portion of France. Certainly this poor soul Avas given little time to think over her woes, for there was no rest in Corny for the auberge keepers, and, perhaj-is, all the hai)[)ier for them. During the evening we wandered up to the billet of one of the oflicers of the liead-(piarter Staff, to whom our hosts at Eix had given us a letter, asking him to get permission for us to travel by the railway from Courcelles towards 8aarbriick. This we obtained, as Avell as fresh instructions as to how we could best see ]Metz the following morning ; and then after a stroll through the village streets, and past the large wliite chateau where the band of the Guards was playing opposite Prince Frederick Charles' head-quarters, "sve went back again to the aidjerge, and sat lis- tening to the conversation of the soldiers as they talked and smoked at the tables. at the billets, iiij; was unol)- eat was scarce, , wouM le to ail rmissiou allingly and the have to of this ne's 1ms- le of her iionadiug and her link over ! keepers, of one of its at Eix 1 to travel This we Diild hest 1 through where the k Charles' nd sat lis- dked and vi:!:DUX TO :metz. ijy uhavi:t.<>tti:. 85 There was n<> no^y argument among tliese soldier.^, still loss. any potdiouse wrangling or drunkenness tlirough the, evening. In fact, from all we saw of tlie German private soldiers on this ti'ip, we should put them down us lieing gcncially a very Avell- behaved set of men, tliough we do not doubt that many isolated instances of liriitality and crime may be brouglit against them. After they had gone out tlie landlady l)rought u?^ a niattres.? to ])lace on the floor, and liaving opened the windows, to let in the .^Vcsh air and to let out tlie close smoky atuKisphere, we lay down for the niglit, our driver hixuriously occupying the top of a billiard talile in the same apartment. The next morning, after a rather uncomfortable niglit of it, we were ij> betimes, iind at H ii. m. were ciiml)ing the hill of 8t. lUaise, from which we knew that Afetz could be distinctly seen. That disappointment so often experienced by those who look forward to mountain views was in store for us now. Wiieu we readied the summit we could see no further than a few hundred yards. A field battery of t;velve pounders placed be- hind a stone wall, covered over and heightened with earth, and revetted with fascines, lay cb.ise at our feet in readiness to repel sorties. On our right was a small sort of farm house, with an enclos- ure, admission to Avhicli, by a recent order ])Osted up on the wall,, was stringently forbidden to all but the Head-fiuarters Stalf, for- whose use a large telescope had been erected within its precints,. To our left stood an old ruined tower, but below a dense fog hung in the air, obscuring everything from view. Some German artillerymen, ^oeing Ave Avere strangers, entered into conversation; Avith us, and told us that the mist did not rise generally before 10 a. m., so that down Ave Avent again to Corny, and after liaving breakfasted returned once more to the hill. If Ave had suttered' some little disappointment on our earlier journey, Ave Avere at aU events repaid for it by the glorious panorama Avhich burst upon us on our second A'isit. Metz, Avitli its Cathedral spires glittering in the morning sun. 6 i 8() HATTi.K FIKLD OF f''inn. 'ery riith- ing rnihs liat after- i^rees had Id wars of ,nd sword md (from le dav we VKIinUX TO Mi:rZ, UV CiUAVICLOTTK. f^7 arrived at Corny) it was dcterniineil to inako a rei'.onnaisanco in force from Mutz towards Peltn;, <'olond).'y, Mercy le Ilaut, and •otlier points, and to cndfavour during it to destroy a rierniau depot of provisions at the Peltrc railway station, and bring in •what eattlt!, grain, iS:v.., could ho got tlunv- to Met/. This sortie was so fir successful that the railway station at Peltre was reached, the provisions secured, and tin- (German outposts driven in. ^fr. Rn])insoii, who was a spectator of some jiorlion of the fighting, tlius describes it: — "^Meanwhile another ^toition of our f >ree ]»ushes on ra])idly to tlie village (Peltre), M'here, before the Prussians have recovered from their surprise, wv, are on thi-m. Tliey run to a convent — tlie convent of the Sisters of Providence it was called, — its walls are already loopholeil ; but undi'r a dradly tire' an entrance is forced, antl now commences a horrible sight f )r those poor, peace- loving sisters. Their church Avas turned into a eharnehhouse, their very sanctuary was stained witlv blood, aud the house of mercy hiMnuuo the house of vengeance, for there was no mercy there. T/'^a Pn/fisians cracfl, fhr Frenfh (jarv in, qiKirtpj-, and ilii-ht there was none." A similarly hloodv and vet more barbarons scene is described as hein;4' carried on simnltaneouslv at ^Mercv le Ilaut. " The Prussians have since our last visit turned it into a for- tress. The windows are boarded up and loopholed, and they have constructed an abattis of trees in fr()nt of the chateau. They are soon driven out of the first line of fallen trees, and then 'Comes the attack upon the house itself. Doors are smashed in, the wooden protection of the window's cut to pieces, ami, with a shout of ' Vive la Fraucr ." at them rushed the soldiers. It is vengeance now, the quick ])lood of the Frenchman is on lire, and the dogged resistance of tlic Teuton rendered more deter- mined tlian before. Each room on the ground lloor is a slaughterdiouse, and as it is impossible to ascend the stair-case, and the garrison won't yield, tlie infuriated soldiers hea}) up •©very thing inflammable and sd fire to it. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 in 1^ - IIIM '"' !!IIM Jil,4P IM 2.2 2.0 1.4 I— 1.6 v: <9 /} o e). ^m ^3 o /a m /a // / Photographic Sciences Corporation 4>^ s ^ V \ \ ^ % \ <5 A"- S'^ ... #^ ^ % n? 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 ' n? V &? % :88 BATTLE FIELD OF SEDAN. il; II i i ^' t. '• Good God ! it is horrible to think Avhat deiiious war makes men. Every despairing face that upi^ears at the upper windows is shut at ])efore the man Avho owns it has time to cry for quar- ter. The llames and the smoke mount upwards, liigher and higher ascends the smoke, higher an, " How are you, Yunk?" and so on, occasionally went on between the troop.^ of tlie Xortli and South in the late War of .Sei'es.>ion, As we were ujton the lull of 81. lUaife a company of Poles from I'russian Poland man-hed up, and struck us very much by their fine figures and martial bearing, (lenerally, they had the very fair hair and light blue eyes which form the type of the Saxon race, and wi re above tlie ordinary height. This Avas the finest body of men we noticed in our tiavels, although the (Jer- mans, as a rule, are strong and hirge men. About hali-i)ast eleven we '.vent down the hill once more towards Corny, passing by many small vineyards, where the grapes were rotting U])on the vines for want of hands to gather them, and were neaiiv nt tlie foot, when cannon shot after cannon shot from ii distance, and a long sort of cheer coming upon tlie air from the direction of Metz, sent us half-way up again for the third time. Before we reached the summit, though, all firing had ceased ; ..the sentry was pacing carelessly on his former beat. AVe could see the soldiers lounging about, evidently looking at nothing in particular, and so jditting this temjjorary excitement down to a few shots at sonu' rashly-exposed troops, we descended fmall}'', and M'ere soon afterwards drivin'jf towards Courcelles, the nearest Oerman railway station to ]\[etz now available, and from which the line was open to Saarbriick. Our rougli ([uarters and scanty food at Corny, and the uncer- tainty of whether for days anything .stirring would occur to break the monotony of the blockade (there was never any bombardment of the works, which the (Jerinans wished to keep intact for tlioni- selves) made us decide to stay no longer. \ -contury, Napier's 'liich tbo 11 Spain, rcluinges asionally . the late of Poles much l)y hail the )e of tho was the tho (Jer- ! towards pes were leni, and hot from from the 1 time. . ceased ; re could >thing in nvii to a L linall}', 3 nearest in which e iiiicer- to break ardment i;r tliom- "V CHAPTEL' VII. JIHTZ TO BUUS8ELS, VIA SAARBilUCK. Ouu drive, from Corny to Courcelles took us over .some fright- fully rough coiintry roads, and through the villages of Fay, Cuvry, and Fleury (the latter village less than three miles from tlie scene of the previous day's bloody affair at I'eltre), and so across the high road connecting jMet/ and Strasbourg to Courcelles. The whole of the villages along our route were occupied by German soldiers, who soenu'd to swarm lik(? locusts over the entire country. As you passed by the bivouac of a regiment of infantry, you came to the pickiitted liorscs of cavaby, and then to the parked guns of t]u3 artillery, and so on throughout the whole dusty drive. The eye bc(;amo wearied of gazing upon these symbols of war, and longed to have something new upon which to rest. No white tents added beauty to this large encampment of men; and one thing is worthy of remark, that not one single tent, exce])t a large open one erected over some stores, did we see on the trip we have been writing about. liougli huts hastily con- structed from Ijoughs of trees, formed staliles for the horses, and sometimes shelter for the men, but the latter, when not in the villages, always bivouacked in the open, with no canvas to cover them, and had to construct natural shelter as ])e.st they couLl. (Jur papers were examined at every village along the road, but we were d(>,tained nowhere, and arrived with a jade*' md half-famished horse at Courcelles, a straggling uninviting-looking village, about 5 p. m. At no point had we beeji able to get a feed for our o^'erworked beast, though the " Markettenderins" (Cantinicres) of the troops had supplied us once or twice with m 92 BATTLE FIELD OF 8EDAN. :[ I n tread and country wino for ourselves ; and now at Courcellos it "was evident tluit not a grain of corn was to be had at the small inns. Courcelles liad Ijoen converted, l)y building sheds, &(;., into a large provision depot for the army, and it made it all the more tantalizing to see in the open railway station sacks upon sacks of oats piled up, and wliich one could not touch. After half-an-hour's exploration, we found also that no lodgings or any sort of cover, except the open railway slied, was to be had ; and our faces beca!ne blank when we were told by the ticket issuer, wlio being overworked was not over civil, that no train would go before 8. 15. upon the following morning. But often, when things appear at the worst, the time of im- provement begins, and it was so in our case. A good-natnred station master, upon liearing our wants, allowed our driver to collect a large sackful of oats from tlie scattered grains strewn about the yard ; and we were also delighted by the news that a train was unexpectedly to go off in a few moments, in which we might find a place. After seeing our driver walk off with his sack, we contrived to stow ourselves, witli half-a-dozen others, in one of the trucks of this train, and were soon on our way to Saarbriick, where we arrived, via Forl)ach, before midnight. Saarbriick appeared to be an early closing town ; not a single liotcl was open at tliat hour ; and we were meditating a return to the railway station (after vain attempts to obtain entrance in many (juarters), when a man whom we spoke to in a small restaurant, offered us a lodging at his father's house. To go with a perfect stranger to a dirty little house in a side street of a large town, to pass the niglit there, is not what one finds an agreeable, or would deem, generally, a wise tiling ; and as our host, after piloting us to our abode, knocked at its door, and it was opened, after two or three em^uires of " Who's there?" by a slatternly- looking old woman, we had some misgivings as to whether the railway station would not have been our best decision ; but wo had by accident lit upon a good Samaritan; slept very peacefully eamam mmam MKTZ TO BRUSSELS, VIA HAARUKUCK. 1)3 upon two couolics until the morning, nmX tlicn sliouklering our knapsacks, set off in search of a gui(U> who wouM take us to see the scene of the assault of the famous heiglits of Spichcren. This we soon found in tlie person of a private of the Landwehr, who had been in Saarhriick at the time of the battle, and to judge from the medals u[)on his l)reast had seen several former campaigns. He told us, though, with a sort of candour and want of tendency to brag which one does not often enough meet with, that these had been gained by very slight services, and that he had never been in any general action. Under his pilotage Ave crossed the stone bridge over the Saar, a sluggish and dee]> river, about 50 yards wide, and out ak)ng the road, over which tlie Germans drove the French from the toAvn on tl::. uih of August. As one crosses the bridge, the heights upon which the Prince Imperial received his " Iwptism of fire " are in full view ; and beyond it, after the town has been cleared, rise on each side the terraced grassy heights, dotted with houses, across which the French skirmishers retired figliting out •of tlie place. Soon after tliis, one passes up the hill at tlie top of which Avas the first French position at Saail)riick, Avhich Avas held by them shortly before this l)attle, but at Avliich no fighting of consequence occurred. This hill is smooth, perhaps 100 feet in height, and of a slope of nearly 15 degrees. Along its crest Avas a breastAvork over Avhich the guns had fired. The earth had been taken from a ditch, about four feet Avide, cut in front, and shelter pits for the gunners AA^ere made behind. Between this trench and the main position of the Spichcren heights, stretches for a mile or so along undulating grassy 'plain, across Avhicli runs the French and Gcruian boundary line, and •which is entirely commanded by the heights beyond. Across this plain the German soldiers had to advance, continually under fire, and gaining no shelter except from the slightly undulating nature of the ground until they arrivcil pretty close under the Spicheren height itself. For the last half-mile of the advance, V !! 1 ii m BATTLE FIELD OF SKDAN, our guide told us, tlie loss was coinparidively small, as the Fivncli guns had to hv. doprosscd a grxxl deal, and the shells, ]n'oba1)ly fired with too much liaste, went over the heads of tho assailants. The hill or heights of Sj)icheron will always be pointed to as one of the most formidable positions ever attacked and carried in front, since the days of artillery and lire arms. It is very steep, a])out 2o degrees, perhaps, in slope, and 150 feet, as far as we could Judgo, above the plain. To climb up its side, Avhich is smooth and grassy, except in a few places, was an exertion, and so to carry it in face of a rifle lire from a trench along its summit, and after a long advance exposed to artillery, can be understood to have been a very exceptional feat of arms. It does not detract from the German bravery to say that the French may be said to have retired before the forces which wore turning the height on the right at the same time, and not before those advancing to their iVont. Th(,' wood on the Frei/ch rigiit of the jiosition was traversed by the Clerman troops, and the appearance of the latter througli it, and on their right ilank, naturally made the French unsteady. If a failure had occurred in the attack made directly over a wide plain, and under such a fire, and against such a position as this, the order for it would have been termed madn(!ss, but yet the determined character of the advance had its effect in drawing off the attention of the French from t' thick wood on their right, not sufficiently watched, and the lire from which upon their right tlank caused tlieir defeat. From the top of the heights of kSpicheren a very fine view can be seen toM'ards .Saarbriick, wliile in the opposite direction (to the south of Forbach) lies a stretch of level plain, over which, after the heights were carried, and the left os well as the right turned, the French retreated in headlong route. Many crosses to the memory of officers who fell were to be seen on the hill slope, and in the valley, mounds of earth, with an occasional Prussian helmet placed upon a stick thrust into JIKTZ TO imUfSSF.I.S, VIA J^AAHimUCK. 05 tliein, marked tlio resting jjlaoos of soliliiTs, Imt alroady (not two niontlis after the battle) all traces of tlie light, in tlie way ol pieces of shells, accontrements, tV^c, had Ikmmi colltH-ted, and little hoys moved alx)ut selling the chas.se]V)t and the needle hullets, and oll'ering one relics at ahout as high a rate of profit, as those at Waterloo oiler y