The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-27 00:00:00

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

In a second letter the correspondent of the Daily News,
who accompanies the Prussian army, continues his ac-
count of the battle at nravelotte or Rezonville. In his
preceding letter he had reached the point (2.35 p.m.)
when the Prussian left began to snake a steady advance.
He continues :—At that time the Prussian batteries
above Malmaison had almost silenced the French bat-
teries occupied in shelling the farm-house ; at 2.45 the
Prussian right had pushed so far forward that the left,
as I have said, also advancing, the troops on the right were
compelled to retire a little in order that the cross fire
from their own left might not reach them. One of their
batteries was brought from the right flank to the centre
and opened a sharp fire on the Verdun road. This hap-
at 2.50 ; at 3 o'clock the Prussian infantry opened a sharp
fire both on the Verdun road and against the French
sharpshooters in the woods beneath it. By a quarter
past 3 the Prussian centre advanced in front
of Gravelotte, and some of the sharpshooters
crept up the hill and exchanged shots with the
French behind their entrenchments. But this ad-
vance was premature, for the French returned to the
attack on the burning farm-house at Malmaison, and so
shelled it that the Prussian troops were compelled to
leave it and wheel to the left. A Prussian battery, how-
ever, soon compelled the French to mind themselves and
forced them to leave Malmaison alone. At 3.30 the
Prussian cavalry was advanced both on the right and left
in order to be ready to charge up the road from
Gravelotte to the French hill. On the left flank, as
they—two regiments of Cuirassiers, two of Uhlans
(Lancers), and one of Hussars wheeled by
fours in squadrons to the right (in parade
order) I had a splendid sight of them, being some 100
yards behind on the Gravelotte road. As they wheeled
to the right to gain the road, the batteries pf the Imperial
Guard above Malmaison pitched half-a-dozen shells
among them very neatly. I was so close to them that I
could see with the naked eye the shells bursting in their
ranks. One was too high and came clean over the
cavalry, and burst about 80 yards in front of me.
From the sharp angle at which it fell it did little
damage except to the potatoes. The cavalry
going at a gallop soon gained the shelter 'of the
houses of Gravelotte. Now began the grand attack on
the French position. A tremendous fire of artillery from
120 pieces was kept 'up all along the line on the French ,
works, bad Ifter half an hour's shelling the 33s'd Prussian
Regimen* 4 ,thed up the bill. When they got lalf way
up Le mitrailleuses opened on them dirld

terrible execution at oloee quarters. The men,
however, pressed on, though they fell literally
by hundreds ; they actually got in the works, and a
half-battery of 4-pounkrs, which had followed
them, got more than half-way up the hill. But the
French ran their mitrailleuses 400 yards farther back be-

:ore they could be caught, and from them and their guns,
which had been drawn back a couple of hours before,
opened so deadly a fire that the 33rd was compelled to re-
tire down the hill. Then the French mitrailleuses were
dragged forward again, and sent a terrible fire into
the retreating infantry. The half-battery endeavoured
to return their fire, but it was silenced, and
all the horses being either killed or wounded, the
guns had to be left on the hill side. Of course their
breech-pieces were withdrawn, so that they were uselees
to the French, who besides did not dare to take them, the
Prussian tirailleur fire being far too severe. Then an
attempt was made to charge the hill with cavalry, the
Cuirassiers and Uhlani dashing up the roads at the
batteries, but men and horses rolled over into the hollow
road, and they were in turn compelled to retire. Then
another infantry regiment, the 67th of the Line,
tried the attack, but on a different principle —that
is, in skirmishing order instead of in column,
Their men crept from bush to bush, and from rock to
rock, taking advantage of the slighest inequality of ground
to shelter themselves. Another attack was then tried up
the road, covered by a tremendous artillery fire, but
though the men again got to the French works, they
were again shot down in such numbers that they could
not hold their ground. In fact, no living being
could exist on the road. At 5.15 the King rode slowly
a'ong the Gravelotte Road, looking very serious, and
doubtless grieving over the terrible slaughter of " meine
Kinder," as he loves to call them. At 5.30 there was a
partial cessation in the firing. The Prussians brought up
more ammunition and got a battery (the 3rd) in position
just to the right of the Gravelotte road, and about 1,500
yards from the French post. They then commenced
shelling the farm house of La Villette, which commands•
the hollow road, and from inside which, and from its
garden, a terribly destructive fire had come. At
6.35 the firing had greatly slackened, and was con=
fined to the skirmishers on either side. The Prussians
brought up reserve ammunition, nearly all their batteries
being short of powder and shot, and at 6.50 another
tremendous attack began. The 72nd regiment was
brought up ready to charge, and again the artillery began,
especially firing at the farm-house of La Vilette, which
was by this times in flames, though its garden was
still held by the French troops. At 7.20 the final
attack began ; the 72nd charged up the slope, followed soon
after by a regiment of Hussars. After more than
an hour's fighting in the dark the French began
to retire, the mitrailleuses protecting their retreat.
At this time occurred a curious incident. The village
of Malmaison, which had been slowly burning all day,
burst out into a mass of 'flames visible far and wide
in the summer night. The Prussian troops occupying it
naturally came pouring out of the burning village, and
some foolish bystander raised an alarm that they were
retreating before a fresh French flank attack. Then
there ensued a general sauve qui peut. The Kranken-
tragers galloped to the rear, followed by the reserve
ammunition waggons, and even by some of the cavalry,
who, however, only retired with a view to
checking any pursuit on the part of the
French. The troops around Malmaison behaved
splendidly, for without stopping to ask whether
the report was true or not they formed up in line,
and stood ready to meet an attack, should there really be
one. The King, who was at Gravelotte, instantly set
spurs to his horse, and galloped off to Malmaison, not
listening to the remonstrances of his staff. When he got
to the first• regiment he began to remonstrate, but seeing
the steady attitude of the troops, stopped while the
officers explained to his Majesty how the alarm
had arisen. The King then rode slowly along the
line, the troops cheering him loudly. About 9 o'clock
there was a lull in the firing. The French had retired be-
fore the moon rose to Fort St. Quentin and Fort Destas-
riers, and the hardly won hill was the Prussians ; and
the French army, consisting of three corps, that of Mar-
shal Bazaine, of General Frossard, and of General Lad-
mirault, were cut off from Paris and the rest of the
French army. But the Prussian loss has been frightful.

An American paper says that a gentleman in Philadel-
phia has received a letter from a well known American in
Berlin, on intimate terms with the Government of the
North German Confederation, which states that a propo-
sition to place the Prince of Hohenzollern on the Spanish
throne was purposely concealed by that Prince from
King William for some time, but when that mo-
narch was consulted on the subject, the project
received his prompt and unqualified disapprobation,
the King arguing, that considering the peculiar tempera-
ment of the Spanish people, such a proceeding would be
a second Maximillian affair, resulting in the loss of the
Prince's head. The writer further says, the King held
these views up to the time that the French Government,
hearing of the invitation, made its-peremptory demand
through Benedetti for an explanation. Nothing but the
tone and manner in which the demand was made, after-
wards followed up by one for guarantees, prevented any
further reference to the subject by the King.-
The
_Gait/pis gives an . account, of a visit paid by
the Prince of to the French fleet. The story is told