The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-09 00:00:00

THE BATTLE OF SEDAN.

MacMahon went into action at Sedan with little more
than 80,000 men. It is true that during the day a por-
tion of Vinoy's.division increased this number by nearly
10,000 of all arms ; but the Prince of Sax,my's army
was also increased about midday by the arrival of
the Prince Royal of Prussia, at the head of
at least 80,000, and by a portion of the army of Prince
Frederick Charles, bringing up the numbers of the united
Prussian armies to 230,000 men, of whom 150,000 were
perfectly fresh when they went into action about mid-
day, and against whom MacMahon could only
oppose 90,000, who had been fighting since four
a.m. Be it remarked that in the Prussian army, as I
am happy to say in our own English army, 10,000 men
means within a score or two of that number ; but in the
French army--at least in these days—ten thou-
sand men means that there ought to be that
number present, but that from them must be
deducted what they call "les trainards," or the
laggers—we have no word meaning the same
thing in our English military vocabulary—and they may

amount to any number you may please to name. And
this brings me to the most important part of my letter,
and gives the reason why the French were finally crushed
at Sedan. The discipline of the French army has for some
years past been getting worse and worse, At the com-
mencement of the present campaign it was bad enough,
but latterly the men would only obey their officers,
when and how it seemed to themselves good that they
should do so. Seeing that he was outnumbored, and de-
termined not to be out-flanked, MacMahon gave orders
to fall back upon Mezieres, intending to halt the army
for the night about Sedan, or rather behind Sedan,

towards Mezieres, where his communications with Paris
would be open, and where he could the next day
either await Vinoy, move again towards Bazaine, or fall
back gradually upon Paris. But the fates were against
him, or rather against General de Wimpffen, who had
taken command early in the afternoon, when Mac-
Mahon was wounded. No sooner did each regiment
approach Sedan than the men made a rush for the
gates of the town, and, in spite of all that
their officers could say or do, into that fortress they would
go, many of them even threatening the lives of the
officers who tried to prevent their loing so. Sedan is a
small fortified town, but without either provisions or
ammunition to stand a siege. With 10,000 men well fur-
nished with all they could require, it might stand against
even a large army for a couple of months. But, with
60,000 or 70,000 pouring into it,• and these in such utter
confusion that they formed simply an armed rabble,
the place was untenable for a single day. The Generals
and other officers saw the terrible alternative that pre-
sented itself, and tried hard to get the men to form
up and make a dash for IVl4zibres before it
was too late, and before the Prussian army had
completely surrounded the town. But what can be done
with men who will not obey, or with an army in which
the last traces of order and discipline are lost ? Two
thousand men were got together, but they were driven
back by the Prussians, and an hour later the whole of
Sedan was completely surrounded by the united armies of
the Prince Royal and Prince Frederick Charles.—Corre-
spondent of Telegraph.