The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-08 00:00:00

THE WAR.

ANARCHY IN METZ.

Accounts of the condition of Metz before the surrender
vary very much. Most of the German narratives are
unfavourable, and that in the Cologne Gazette, from Herr"
Wachenhausen, is the most gloomy of all. He says :
"The inhabitants, even the most patriotic, state that the
soldiers, during the last four weeks, broke into their shops,
houses, and cellars, took away what they found, and
perhaps threw down the money for it at the owners' feet.
They also confirm the dissensions of the commandant of
the fortress with Bazaine. They cry out about treachery,
and their newspapers protest that Metz will and cau never
become German, and that peace will be effected by pay-
ment of an indemnity. Rumours, too, are spread that
Garibaldi is advancing at the head of 200,000 men, that
the siege of Verdun is raised, and that the German army;
before Paris is perishing of famine. The inhabitants peep
out of the windows with stupid countenances, indicating
that they do not know whether to laugh or cry, for the
raising of the siege is welcome to them, but the
Prussian garrison hateful. Let nobody expect to win
the sympathies of these people for generations to come.
They hate us more intensely than than the French popula-
lation proper, and if Metz remains German, only an iron
rule will be possible here. Every forbearance and
mildness would be misunderstood, and good
deeds would fall on stony ground. Metz owes its fall to
the arrogance which underrated the enemy, and made
it the depot for war material on an invasion of
Germany. It did not occur to anybody that it should
be prepared for the defensive, as no one thought it
conceivable that the Germans would set their foot
on French soil. An army stronger and more persever-
ing in a defensive struggle would have held Metz longer
than the French, with the vigour and courage generated
by despair. The French army is not great in sufferingand
resignation. In a hundred instances in this campaign it
has been seen that soldiers on march, if things went wrong
with them, threw away their muskets, stuck their hands in
their pockets, and laughed in their officers' faces." De-
scribing the scene outside the city, the writer says :--
" Here and there still stood the tents, sodden with rain —the
whole way up to the bridge was filled with famished horses
mounted by drunken cavalry soldiers covered with mud
Pitiable horses grazed about and cropped the scanty
herbage which here and there peeped out of the.ground.
The French soldiers lounged about by hundreds, with
soiled uniforms, the mud rendering the red colour of their
trousers hardly perceptible. Drunken Zouaves and Chas-
seurs tumbled about, staring wildly and fighting with the
air. Overturned carts, bodies of horses, mules without
masters, sutler's waggons, round which a hungry group col-
lected, blocked up the passage. In long processions came
the waggons of the unhappy families who had fled from the
villages into the fortress. Chests and bundles, beds, mat-
tresses, sofas, and kitchen utensils rolled about. The
poor people were taking all their effects into their desolate
perhaps wasted houses, in order again to set up a home
and vainly, perhaps, seek the quiet happiness from which
the war startled them. Women and giris with reddened
eyes, men with exasperated countenances, nurses with
infants in their arms, old men and women, on whom,
only a few steps from the grave, destiny had cast
so sore a trial—it was a sorrowful procession,
which certainly comprised more wretchedness than their
physiognomy betrayed. From covered carriages, spat;
tered with mud and guided by private servants, aged,
gray-bearded faces peered out. They were the French
Generals on their way to Germany, who were leaving the
fortress in time to escape the contempt of their own sol-
diers and the insults of the people. A few drunken
soldiers of the Guards would fain have recognised Bazaine
in one of the carriages, and indulged in the coarsest
abuse. He certainly is loaded with the curses of all, and
to-day's Independance speaks of the infamy of Judas and
asks how much the Marshal received from Bismarck for
his treachery."