The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-03 00:00:00

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ft- E SUN, LONDO:N, THURSDAA; NOVEMB.Eft 3,

CAPITULATION OF METZ.

,The correspondent of the Daily News at Metz, writing
or the 29th October, furnishes the following particulars
respecting the surrender of that fortress :
At twelve o'clock yesterday forenoon each of the out-
lying fortresses was taken possession of by two battalions
of Prussian infantry, a squadron of cavalry, one heavy
battery without tumbrils, 100 artillerymen with the com-
plement of officers, and an engineer detachment. The
following is the apportionment of the force of occupation.
The troops occupying
St. Quentin were found by 15th Infantry Division.
Plappeville „ „ 3rd Army Corps.
St. Julien Ist Army Corps.
Queleu If IP Bth Army Corps.
St. Privat „ „ Hessian Division.
At the same hour a battalion of the 7th Army
Corps marched forward, and took possession of La
Porte Serpenoise, one of ' the gates of Metz, and
another battalion from the same corps occupied the
Porte Moselle. Two hours before the occupation
of the fortress, I should observe there were sent
forward from each of the occupying detachments
an artillery officer and a small body of under
officers, accompanied by engineers, to take over the
powder magazines and the respective forts, and they sent
Out the report to the effect that all was in order before
the troops were allowed to march in. This precaution
was no doubt dictated by a recollection of the catastrophe
at Laon.

THE FRENCH LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS.
At one o'clock yesterday it was ordered that the French
army should formally lay down its arms. There was no
set ceremony, yet the affair was imposing from its very
simplicity. It was conducted in detail, each corps laying
down its arms in theneighbourhood of its own station. I saw
the 3rd Army Corps—that of Lebceuf —disarm itself. The
Marshal himself came first, a scowl upon his swarthy
features. He wheeled to one side, and stood by the single
Prussian-officer whose duty it was to superintend the stack-
ing of the arms. Regiment after regiment, the men defiled
past, piling their arms in great heaps at the word of com-
mand from their own officers, who gave their parole, and
were allowed to retain their swords. This applies to most.
There were, however, some who declined to accept the
terms, and who preferred going with their men
into captivity in Prussia. These laid down their
swords as the men did their Chassepots, building
quite a little heap of them to the right of the
great stacks of rifles. The disarmed French
troops then returned into their bivouacs, which they
occupied for one night more, before quitting for other
bivouacs, round which shall stand Prussian sentries. For
this last night they preserved a semblance of freedom.
The Prussians left them to themselves. Except in the
forts and at the two gates I have mentioned, not a spiked
he. -
-
_

met was to be seen nearer Metz than had been seen
before. The feldwachts were mounted as usual, the re-
plies were established, and the troops stood fast as ever in
their long and weary watch around Metz.

THE FRENCH TROOPS SURRENDERED TO
THE PRUSSIANS.
This morning the Frenchmen came forth and rendered
themselves to their captors—corps by corps, and under ,
the command of their own officers. The Sixth Corps
(Caurobert's) came from its bivouac by Woippy to Laden-
champs, where on the 7th so many of its members had
stained the soil with their blood. Their prison-bivouac is
on the plain in the rear of the wrecked and burnt village.
The Seventh Corps, that of Ladmirault, came out over
the ridge between St. Quentin and Plappeville, and
found quarters, inhospitable, enough, I fear, on the bleak
plateau of St. Maurice. The Imperial Guard marched down
to Longeville, crossed the railway bridge at Tournebride,
passed on to Frescati to the left, and found their bivouac
in the plain between Orly and Auguy. The garrison of
Meti itself, consisting of about 20,000 men, chiefly Mobile
Guards, marched by Le Sablon, past the ruined vil-
lage of Magny, and so forward to the outskirts of St.
Thiebault. The Second Corps (Froissard's), with Laveau-
cenfied's division, and the 4th brigade came out past La
Posette on the great Strasburg chaussee, and found their
bivouac behind the village of Gila. The Third Corps
(that of Leboeuf) came out among us of the Ist Prussian
Army Corps along the chaussee leading to Saarlouis.
Each corps, as it marched out, was received by
the Prussian troops covering tho respective section
of the environment. They were led by their own
officers, who formally handed over their men to
the Prussian officers, and then those of them who
had given their parole were at liberty to quit the ranks
and return to Metz. The men under the command of
their under-officers were then marched out to the bivouac
places, which had previously been partly prepared, wood
for fires having been collected and a supply of provisions
being ready for distribution.

SURRENDER OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD
Writing from the Headquarters of the German Army
before Metz on the 29th, the correspondent of the Tele-
graph thus details the surrender of the Imperial Guard as
prisoners of war :—Eagerly every eye was strained in
the direction of the bridge which with a single
arch spans the railway, to catch the first
glimpse of the red trousers ; but nothing was to
be seen, and the rain descended in torrents—the heavier
showers wetting all to the skin. Presently the scream of a
railway engine, pushing before it a single first-class car-
riage along that line of railway that had so often proved
the scene of outpost fights, came into view. The carriage
contained Marshal Bazaine and staff, going to the resi-
dence of his Royal Highness, also to surrender them-
selves. Slowly the moments dragged on, still no
appearance of the French advanced guard. It was
now whizpered that the officers had lost all con-
trol over their men ; that there was no discipline ; and
that this was the reason they had been compelled to give
up their arms before marching out of Metz. But a
greater libel against the discipline of the French Guard
was never circulated. The Prussian troops piled arms,
and stood at ease, some waited and speculated, and
watched the inhabitants of Metz as they straggled along
the road in detached parties. At three p.m., 'an
aide-de-camp came galloping up to say that the troops
were coming ; the soldiers stood to their arms, and pre -
sently, over the railway bridge, appeared the long-waited-
for prisoners. Riding at the head of the first detachment
was the Town Major, a Colonel in the French Army,
attended by a mounted orderly in full uniform wearing
his sword. Approaching General Franseky, he took
off his cap, and reported the arrival of the
' Guard to surrender themselves prisoners of war. I was
not near enough to hear all he said ; but he was evidently
so much affected that he could scarcely give utterance to
a word. General Frankseky replied courteously—his

Royal Highness being some forty yards off, to the rig
The first regiment then marched by ; they were the
Hussars of the Guard. The colonel of the regi-
ment, riding up to General Franseky and saluting ,
handed to him the effective strength of his regiment; then
he rode off, followed by his officers, all still wearing their
swords. The Empress's Dragoons came next; then a
regiment of Chasseurs de la Garde ; then the artillery.
As each regiment approached; the commanding
officers went through the same formula, presenting
' the " states" of their regiments. I never saw more
perfect order, or a more quiet, soldier-like demeanour,
than that exhibited by this splendid body of men, as they
marched past in perfect silence. Not a word was spoken.
All that could be heard was the measured tread of
thousands of feet, as they splashed along the muddy
road. The officers, some of them with tears in their eyes,
some with haughty and bold countenances, silently shook
hands with their soldiers; for the order was, that so soon
as the officers had marched their regiments to the
quarters assigned for their bivouac, they were to
ride back to Metz, and there await further orders. Im-
mediately following the above-mentioned regiments came
the Guards Grenadier Regiment, so well known to
Englishmen—so familiar at the gates of the Louvre, at
the Palace of the Tuileries, and before the principal
buildings of Paris. Poor fellows—how I pited them
as, with a steady, soldier - like demeanour, they
strode past, as if they were going to a field-
day, and not to prison ! The Prussian officers gazed with
wonder and surprise upon this fine body of men, most
of them between 19 and 23 years of age ; and as regi-
ment after regiment, to the number of at least 30,000, filed
past, our soldiers whispered to one art other how fortu-
nate it was that they had no longer to fight against such
men. During the whole time that the melancholy proces-
sion went by, not a man opened his lips, either in the
French or the Prussian ranks, except. to speak in a
whisper.

VICTORIA.—A Melbourne letter states that one of
the longest and most inclement winters ever known in the
colony of Victoria culminated recently in an almost
continuous deluge of rain, which, causing heavy floods
throughout the country, worked destruction and ruin in
every direction. From Melbourne to the Murray, and
from east to west, comes the same sad tale. Rivers and
creeks overflowing their banks into the neighbouring farms
and vineyards ; district:; covered by water;
bridges and roads and fences damaged or destroyed; crops
washed out of the ground, and farmers ruined. Melbourne
itself on one day presented a scene the like of which has
never been seen since the year 1856. Some of the lower-
lying streets were for several hours converted into little
rivers.

870

THE SURRENDER OF INIETZ.
BRUSSELS, November 2 (Afternoon).
As yet, it is not possible to get into Metz. Things do
not seem to go on quite smoothly in that town since
Bazaine's surrender. At least L'Echo du Luxembourg and
L'Echo du Nord affirm that on Sunday a battle took
place within the maiden fortress itself, the garrison of
which refused to acknowledge the capitulation made in
its name. To speak my own convictions, I should say
you ought to hesitate before putting faith in this rumour.
An officer who escaped from Metz has ear-
nestly assured me that, in each of the sorties
made by the army of Bazaine during the
months of September and October not including,
evidently, the great outbreak of August 31st and
September Ist, in which Bazaine endeavoured to reach
a hand towards MacMahon—there were never more than
15,000 or 20,000 French soldiers actually engaged with/
the enemy ; that the sallying troops were never fairl3)
supported from the fortress itself, and by the army round
its walls ; and that, though they won advantages,
they were never able to pursue them. For a long
time, he said, a sourd hostility against Bazaine
reigned throughout the ranks of his army, and
even amongst the evil population of the fortress. The
Marshal, It is affirmed, kept a couple of mitrailleuses
planted in front of his private residence. While the
Chief of the Army of the Rhine is thus taunted with
cowardice and incapacity, every homage is rendered to
the courage of General Ladmirault and Marshal Leboauf.
The last, it is said, more than once thrust himself in
advance of the French troops, and braved the German
fire in the attempt to meet death.—Correspondent cit the
Telegraph.