The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-11-05 00:00:00

THE CAPITULATION OF METZ
DESCRIBED.

(From the Special Correepondent of the Daily News, under
date Mete, October 30.;
My telegramsof the 26th, from Esch, left the capitulation
of Mete still inhomplete. On the evening before, the German
Chief of the Staff had left Frascati very much discouraged,
scarcely hoping for any agreement, as the French appeared
intractable and obstinate. Nevertheless I knew from private
sources that Metz could not hold out, and accordingly told
you to expect thu capitulation to take place shortly. At
noon 'Wilms Bent the Prince an autograph latter, sulking
another conference, and accordingly the Germans sent
General Stichle, Chief of the Staff of the Second Army, and
Count Wartemsleben, Chief of the Staff of the First Army,
once more to Frascati.

The interview, which took place In the afternoon, lasted
about three hours. It was at first stormy on the tart of the
French Commissioners, but resulted in their conversion to
the main pointa of the German terms. The first difficulty
was concerning the officers keeping their side-arms, on which
Marshal Bazaine Insisted. The point was finally referee Ito
the King, and conceded by his Majesty in a despatch received
at 3 a.m. on the 27th. By agreement, the conference was re-
sumed early the same morning. sni It lasted until eight
o'clock at night, when the capitulation was signed for the
absolute surrender of Mete and all Its fortifications, arma-
ments, stores, and munitions, and for the surrender, on the
same conditions as were arranged at Sedan, of oil the garrison
and the whole of Bazaine's army, consisting of three marshals
of France, 60 generals, 6 000, officers, and 173,000 troops.

_
The Germans are astounded at thin result—an army and
fortress capdulating to an Investing army larger than itself
by only • mall fraction. The French Commissioners were
Marshal B.salne's Chief of the Staff General Jarvis, and Co-
lonel lay and Major Samuele, on the part of the commander
of the fortress to the 28th, Major sandkuhl, Chief c,f the
Engineers of the .20t1 Corp., was to enter, by stipulation, at
10 a.m , to withdraw the mines from under the forte, prepa-
ratory to the safe entry of the 7th Corp., which Into remain
to guard the city and prisoner', while the remainder of the
First Army will departifor Paris and the south, where Prince
Frederick Cherie. Is to have Lyons for his headquarters At
one o'clock he French army were to lay down their
arm.. All this was postponed for twenty.four hours In con-
lequmace of the backwardneas of the French authoritlea
arising eat of Internal disorder..

At ten o'clock am. yesterday the forts were taken posses-
sion of by the Artillery of the 7th Corp.. At one o'clock the
third division, which Is to depart south-westward Imme-
diately alter the 4th, was reviewed by the Prince—the dis-
play being a brilliant pageant—on the Nancy and Metz road,
near Tourtebride. Thereupon the Imperial Guard, the Bite
of the French army, marched out of Metz with their arms,
and laid them down at Frescati, while passing In review before
the Prince. This honour was accorded to the Imperial
Guard alone, all the rest of the troops having deposited their
arma In the Metz areenals, and then marched into their can-
tonments outside the town to await their tranefer to Ger-
many. The Imperial Guards were received by the Prussian
troops with respectful dignity, and not a jeering word was
heard, nor an indecently exultant look seen. But previously,
at the other review, the cheering was loud and persistent.
At four o'clock lathe afternoon the French companies which
still mounted guard at the various gates in the city, and at
the depots and arsenals, were relieved by the Prussians, two
regiments of infantry and one of cavalry having entered into
the town. The German military governor, General von
Zutrow, commander of the 7th Corps, took possession of
the government of the city and fortress, where he tells me
he expects to find the portrait of one of his ancestors, who
was at some early period also a military governor of Metz.
The tragedy was completed, but its gadded side remains to
be recorded. •
According to the statement of General cot. Z tstrow, who
held the Ms de Vain on the morning of the 19th of August,
'famine could then have avoided being shut up in Meta
After he ovaa there he could, according to Metz statements,
have readily made a sortie and rejoined MacMahon far
more easily than MacMahon could have rejoined hlm.
After most of Me cavalry and artillery horses had been
eaten, this tel course was more difficult. But still his move.
manta are said to have lacked determination, and even to
have been frivolous in the last two sorties. These facto
are put down to the account of a " eomplot " with
the Regency, according to which his army was to
try to remain in Mau quo until the conclusion of
the war in Western France, and then become available,
with Prussian consent, for Bonapartist purposes, Bergin°
himself expecting in that case to be the governor of the
Imperial Prince cad the virtual Regent. Nearly all the
people of Metz seem to believe this, and many of the most
influential have admitted so to me. During the whole of
the investment Baratta has never been seen In the camp
except on extraordinary occasions; never at all In the
ambulances, which are partly constructed in numerous
railroad carriages on the Place Royale, and hardly ever In
the city. The civil authorities had to find him at St.
Martin. He would not once appear at the Maiden He
rarely, if ever, said a word to encourage the troops. Canrobert
sometimes cheered their patience a little, and then they
would cry, V Ire Canrobert r " A has Becalm !" Towards
the last, he dared not, it is said, for fear of assanination,
show himself to hia own men. And the terribly relaxed
discipline was assuredly the cause of the hasty surrender at
a time when there was still another week's rations for every-
body on hand. On the morning of the 29th, five soldiers lay
dead of starvation at Montigny, while the staff still indulged
In luxurious meals, and four days' tattoos were given to the
entire army that morning, while they had received none for
two days previously. No beef or pork had been obtainable
at any price for a week, but on that morning before anything
had arrived In the town the shops had plenty. This la
adduced as proof of the charges current In the town that
speculators lead seized much food, and that a rational system
of apportionment, such al existed during the last ten days,
If introduced at first, and combined with stringent regula-
tions, would have prevented much waste, and enabled the
fortress to hold out a month longer. The staff used to feed
their horses on bread at first. Recently prices had advanced
to the following maximum :—Sugar, per pound, 30 francs;
salt, lb francs; one ham, 300 francs; one potato, 4,5
centimes; one Won, 60 centimes. A little pig caught near
Gravelotte was sold, it is said, at 748 francs.

For the last five weeks the amputations have been per-
formed without chloroform Or ether, and the wounds dressed
without carbolic acid. There are more than 19,00 sick and
wounded and 35,000 persons have died In the town alone
during the siege the greater part from lack of proper care
The prevailing diseases are varfole, spotted typhus, and dy-
sentery. Scurvy has not prevailed, though even the sick
have for more than three weeks received their horse steaks
and horse broths without salt. The reported discovery of a
saline spring at St Julien was a hoax, got up by putting salt
Into a spring, to encourage the army.
When the surrender became known the people were
furious. The National Guard refused to lay down their
arms, and on the 29th, in the afternoon, a Dragoon captain
appeared at the head of a body of troops, who swore they
would sooner die than yield ; while Albert Collignon, editor
of an ultra-Democratic daily paper, the Journal de Metz,
rode about on a white horse firing a pistol, and exhorting
them to sally out and seek death or victory, to escape the
impending shams. Ile was followed by a lady singing the
" Marseilialse," which produced terrible excitement. The
doors of the cathedral was bunt open, and the tocsin and
funeral bell rung nearly all night. When General Coffiniere
appeared, to pacify them, three pistol shots were fired at
him. Finally, by the aid of two line regiments, he quietly
dispersed the snob. But all night the sounds of
grief, indignation, and terror were kept up. Respectable
women ran about the streets tearing their hair, and flinging
their bonnets and laces under their feet, wildly crying aloud,
" What will become of our children r Soldier s, drunk and
sober, tumbled hither and thither in irregular groups, with
their caps tit and their sabres broken, crying, sobbing, and
weeping like children. "Oh, poor Men ! once the proudest
of cities What a misfortune ! What an unheard of
catastrophe! We have been sold. all is lost. It is all up
with France, ' and so on. The civil functionaries asked
each other aceou the streets, "Who will be our master ?
Who will govern us / Where shall we go so that we may not
see the ruin that has come upon the nation?"
- - -

Yesterday I was closeted with the Mane and City Council
for two hours, while they detained me as the first stranger
who had entered the town they asked me all manner of ques-
tions, some really childish, in their agitation, uncertainty,
and tenor. What would the Prussians do? How would
they do It? How would they have to he met 1 They asked
If their already empty larders would still have to nourish
the troops? and whether they would be personally maltreated
In the event of inability to furnish the objects demanded
They were relieved immediately by hearing that a thousand
waggons were ready at Courcelles to bring provisions
thither, and also that there are funds in London waiting to
be applied to their relief, In response to the appeals of the
Mains of Ltriey and other communes, published in the
British and American journals some weeks since. The
entire army besieging Nista voluntarily gave up their bread
rations yesterday to feed their French captive.. This
deeply touched the people of Metz, and did much to relieve
the fem.

At 110011, a Prussian railway Mapes:tor maae Lila juul ha/
Irons Are to the Union Station, situated one mile south of
Mete by rail, and to day perfect railway commuttication exists
between Saarbruck, Meiz, nod Nancy. The road was little
Injured.
Only a few German prisoners were found In Mein. The
French had not kept those they took when able to return
them. On leaving Metz last night I noticed on the faces of
all the German soldiers an unmistakeable look of quiet sathr
faction, nothing more. of the French officers and soldiers
who swarmed Al over the place not one, even when intoxi-
cated—which was surprisingly rare—bore any other mores--
slim than that of the deepest sadness and of proud
defiance. The latter expression, however, was rare, and was
seen chiefly in the younger officers. lam informed that the
French loss in killed lu the various affairs since Malin t 10,
added to the deaths from sickness in town, were 42,00 a.
Bomb,. himself declined the generous proposal of the rriLICS
to let all the troops lay down their arms outside the works
In view of their victors, Instead of laying them down in
the arsenal. He could not guarantee their behaviour
in such case. The Imperial Guard alone had pre
served their discipline well enough to be deemed
worthy of the trust of passing in armed review, The Inhabi-
tants never ceased to hope until the last for the arrival of
Bourtalas army from Lille, but the troops within the last
few weeks would no longer be deceived, as they got better
Information through the German outposts. Hence their de
moralization, due largely to hunger, was bitterly and openly
complained of by their officers.
_ . - -- • • --

At four yesterday afternoon linable passed through Ars,
on IMs way to Wilhelmahtihe, in a close carriage, marked
a Ith his name, and escorted by several Officers of his staff
on horseback. The women of the viit.ar had heard of his
arrival, and awaited him with exclam .. of " Traitor !"
" coward !" "sneak !" "thief !" , are our
husbands whom you have betrayed? .1 re us ha •r chil-
dren whom you have sold!" They evim attacked tn.. c 'eve
and broke the windows with their fists, and would 1 ,ve
lieched him hat for the interventint of the Prussian gen-
darmes Three days ago when I scut the Brat newt of the
capitulation, I told everybody on my way of the astound-
ing reality of which they had heartk tso.t romenn
so many weeks. The German officers vu detached posts
actually huggcd me, much ngah.st Iv will. as 1 ma. in
haste, while the French pa pie uttee cnoies on es by*
gads. There are still ma iy peopl e who cannot believe
wbob has taken place. Tb i ere con vlnect that Mets mutt
abaolutely have provision. ir ten, N teen, aay twenty years.
Yet the civilians' ration. in Met, too amply as many
proved by what they had ' 1, were eOO grs.nnt,s of bread
daily, the troops 150 to 200, and 7*.i tO horse. he general
impression in the country now to that Ira te exists no
longer. They credit Parts with lei, resisting force than
Mete; more reflecting people, however, believe that the
war will not end till alter the tall of Per'

In connection with this memorable siege and sur-
render, "J. M. D." thus writes to The Times:—
Those who are accustomed to compare the events which
are passing in the present war with the history of the
poet will tied the siege of Metz a very singular instance
of what may be termed, according to the point of view from
which it is regarded, either the repetition or the retribution
of history. Metz has just surrendered to the Germans
after a siege of 7t) dam In the month of October, 1552,
the same city was surrounded by the German troops under
the Emperor Charles V., and underwent a siege of precisely
the same length—TO days—only with the opposite result,
that at the expiration of that period the German forces re-
tired baffled and defeated. Probably not all of the readers
to whose ears Metz, Toul, and Verdun have lately become
such familiar names are aware that "Lee trois Borchelt," as
the part of Lorraine which contained these famous sees,
whose bishops were feudal lords of their respectful dioceses
was called, were wrested from Germany by Henry It. of
France, and it was the futile attempt of the Germans to re-
gain them that led to the nosuccessf at alege of Metz. Carlyle
(who refem to the event in bls Life of Frederick the Great)
remarks, with his usual terseness of expression, The French
keep these three bishoprica and Tentchsland laments the loss
of them to this hour." It will be for the future biographer
I of the Prussian Monarchs to reverse this sentence when be
I tells of a conquest such as the great Frederick never dreamt
of, and describes the success of an enterprise which baffled
the military genius of Charles the V. and drove him to end
his days In the Monastery of St. Just.

Animadverting on the memorable surrender of Metz
The Times has the following leader :
. . _

The particulars which reach us respecting the last day in
Metz represent the surrender of that Fortress as one of the
most deeply affecting scenes ever performed on the World's
stage It is not merely because • far stronger place had to
be given up, or a much larger and more valiant army had to
lay down Its arm., that the catastrophe at Metz so greatly
exceeds the disaster at Sedan. It is not because the losses
of France in the maiden Fortress of Lorraine were so much
greater than those endured in the minor stronghold of the
Ardennes. It is the nature of the blow itself that aggravates
its severity at Mete. At Sedan we had only the result of
panic and confusion. An army already in a state of almost
hopeless disorganization, overwhelmed in the field by superior
numbers and blindly following the guidance of a blind
leader, rushed pa,: mei, into the first shelter at hand
only to find Welt caught in a trap, encompassed all
round by a thrice victorious foe, and threatened wipi Instant
destruction by a tremendous array of artillery from all the
surrounding heights. The army had no one to think or pro-
vide for it ; its commander disabled by wounds ; his lieutenant
a fresh arrival from Algeria: and a Sovereign the most irre-
solute of men in great emergencies, ant here ailing, dis-
heartened, paralyzed by the consciousness of his undefined
position, an encumbrance not to be turned to any use, yet
not easily to be set aside. fhe army at Sedan surrendered,
we hardly know by whose act. It was lost almost before it
was well aware of ital fate. Rut it was otherwise with
Metz. Here the end was seen coming from afar,
slowly, yet irresistibly. Death set In with lingering
but inexorable steps. There was a seventy days'
agony. As the last man entered the Fortress after that
terrible day at Gravelotte, there was something of the
ominous sound of the "Relinquish hope, 0 ye who enter
here," in the clang of the gates that closed behind html
Ever since Gravelotee, Baraine himself, as well as ail military
men within and without Metz, must have felt that the gar-
rison could never liberate itself by its own unaided effort.
The Army of the Rhine had strenuously endeavoured to force
its way through the enemy during those three bloody August
days which cost it so many thousands of its best soldiers.
After those defeats relief must have come from without, or
the army must perish.
The great foe to be contended with from that tine was de.
moralisation. With the weariness of long inactive days
hopeless disorder set in. Famine wore out the soldier'.
constancy, not because provisions were altogether exhausted,
but because, owing to deplorable mismanagement, they
could not be obtained. By a provident distribution of ra-
tions, by timely measures against waste, and by stringent
requisitions the place, it Is supposed, could have been made
to hold out another month. But that the soldier's food, no
matter trorn what cause, was scanty and unwholesome, is a
pull, conclusively proved by the many sick found in hos-
pital on the day of surrender, and by the large propor-
tion out of the 35060 deaths occurring during the
siege which are set down to the score of disease But
far more actively than any physical complaint, moral dis-
order ate into the very heart of the army, and rapidly un •
&mitred the authority of its Commander. It seems that
Bauble had early fallen into sulky despondency. ills
soldiers saw little or nothing of him, and while Canrobert
monopolised the goodwill of the troops, it was murmured
that Hardee shut himself up in his quarters from fear of
assaaaination. The truth Is the discipline of the army was
not of a nature to withstand the weariness of a siege Want
of faith in himself made the French soldier distrustful of
others. No word since the first reverse of Wissembourg has
been more recklessly bandied about than that of "treason,"
and that base word oft,e i begets the evil against which it is
intended as a warning. Distrusted by his soldiers, a Ge-
neral is apt to despair of them. From the date if Mac.
al ahon's surrender the idea of his own capitulation probably
never left liszaine's mind We will not here Invire into the
real drift of those underhand negotiations in which Bourbaki
and Boyer appeared as agents, and with which liszeine was
believed to be mixed up. What most be looked upon as
evident is that, upon the failure of those intrigues, Baraine
came to the conclusion that he had nothing more to
hope for, sad offered to capitulate almost on the cue iny's
own terms. But between yielding to necersity art betray-
ing ones trust there hi a wirle Eterval, and before we venture
to twe an otioion against liszaine we must boa in
mind that, by whatever motives his resolution may have
been actuated, those motive, must have appe eyed of
sufficient weight to his Couocil of War—to canrobert
and Letreuf, and especially to Changunier, • man
who ought to be &bore suspicion, and who 'would
hardly have accepted the mission with which he was in.
trusted, had he not been able to conclude, as he did In a
paroxysm of grief after his interview with Prince Frederick
Charles upon the terms of capitulation, that the Army at
Metz "had fallen, but not without honour." The truth Is
that between a soldier's and a civilian's notions of military
honour the difference is considerable, and that Bazaine at
Metz may not be chargeable with any greater dereliction of
duty than Uhrich at Strasburg. The same disgusting scenes
of riot and drunkenness which disgraced the last hours In the
one place were reproduced in the other. At Metz the popu-
lace of the town, joining the mutinous portion of the soldiery
made the night hideous by their clamour and violence: idiots
were tired at General Coffinirre, the officer In command of
the Fortress, and it was with difficulty that liszatne himself,
as he drove from the place in the ensuing day, on his way to
Wilhelmshiehe was rescued by Pruden Gendarmes from the
fury of the mob at Are-Mir-Moselle, where the crowd closed
around him, calling him "Coward " and "Traitor," break-
ing his carriage window., and threatening him,withsummary
vengeance for the brave men wham he had "sold" and
"betrayed "
. . . . .

Afar different scene was in the nu anwhile exhibited at
the gates of Metz on that same Saturday morning. The
whole French army marched out of the couquered Fortran,
having at Ita head the Imperial Guard, which were
allowed as a a signal distinction to retain their arms.
It is pleating to hear of the "respectful dignity" with
which the victorious German soldiers gazed at their
vanquished enemies as they filed cif between their
ranks. 'Not a jeering word was heard- not an in-
decently exultant llok was seen." Indeed, the trium-
phant feelings of the Germans only exhibited themselves
in "a look of quiet satisfaction, and nothing more ;" and, as
• more substantial proof of their sympathy with unsuccesaful
valour, we are told that "the entire army before Metz gave
up their bread rations on Saturday to relieve the hunger of
their French captives." On one point the accounts we have
as yet received el this momentous transaction leave
us somewhat In doubt. The Staff of the army of Metz,
three Marshals, 190 Generals, and ff 000 Officers, con-
stituted a little army in itself—such an army as in
the Middle Ages often decided the destinies of empires.
All this epauletted multitude at Metz were by the
ordinary rules of war entitled to leave the fortress on
parole, in the full enjoyment of their liberty, but under en-
gagement not to serve against Germany during the war. Such
were the terms allowed to men of the same rank at Sedan
and Strasburg, and there would have been no difficulty In
extending the same privileges to the officers at Metz, had
not the flagrant violation°, his pledged word of which General
Ducrot has been accused induced the Germans to refuse the
parole of French officers for the future. We dare hardly say
to what extent General Ducrot may he deemed to hsve exone-
rated himself from the charge that has been brought against
him. It might seem hard, even holding him guilty,
that his offaibe should be visited on the whole French army,
were It not that apparently the whole French army, with
General Trochu at their head, have accepted Ducrot's apology
as fully satisfactory, Awl thus incurred complicity with his
act. It seems that in France people do not know how to
assign the limit, beyond which even patriotism 0005 05 to be
a virtue. At the request of Prince Frederick Charles, how.
ever, it seems that King William of Prussia has so far re-
lented from his rigour as to allow the French officers at
Mel zto retain their side arms. But whether they are also
to be released on parole has not yet been distinctly at abed.