The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-10 00:00:00

THE HORRORS OF THE WAR.

The more melancholy tales of warfare, those which
relate to the death and injury of strong-hearted and
strong-bodied men and enthusiastic youths, are now being
told once again with respect to the new battle-
fields of the continent. The first who has ventured to
' depict the dying agony of veteran warriors, and the
heroic anxiety of mortally wounded lads even in the last
hours of their lives, is the eminent writer Edmond About.
Seeing the results of Weissenburg, he feels his heart
swelling and his head weighed down " as though he ha'd
a crime upon his conscience," and yet it was not

he who caused the disaster. Like the Prussian
sympathisers, who threw packets of tobacco and good
wishes to their French prisoners, he can feel pity and
respect for the Prussians brought in by the French con-
voy ; but his pity is very deep indeed, and his heart is
altogether very sorely touched, when these Prussians are
found amongst the wounded. He sees one whose face is

livid and swollen ; "a Chassepot bullet has gone through his
mouth ; think is given him through a straw ; he doesn't
complain. This poor creature, who has no lOnger any
feature of the human face, seemed indifferent to his lot.
One of -his comrades came to Forbach on the same hand-
, truck with a lieutenant of franc-tireurs, who was killed
under fire. The living man, leaning on his elbow beside
the dead, looked alternately at the corpse and the inqui-
sitive crowd without groaning, without moving a muscle.'
Edmond About thinks that the soldier when
dying sees the. reverse side of the medal for
which he has risked his life. He describes the
suspense of some, the terror and the peace of others as
they approach the end, but he has found in rdost cases
that after a few hours of stubborn bravery in the hospi-
tal, pain overcomes the most heroic of natures. On the
road to the hospital at Metz he encountered a procession
of the wounded a few days since, and he touchingly de-
scribes some of the scenes he witnessed in this cavalcade.
Amongst the number, was a boy, at most eighteen
year • s old, with a bright and quick expression of
face ; and what fire there was in his large black
eyes ! One of the townspeople approaches him and sayS,
" You enlisted as a volunteer ?" " Yes," he replies, and
lets himself fall upern the hay of: the waggon. :lAnoiher,
'not yet 20 yeareold, is' carried ort a truck ;. be, is hit in
both legs, and seriously. This one makes jokes, but only
he; all the othrs are already in a state of stupotir. Some-
times a man struggles agitinst his fate ; witness, for
instance, that little foot-soldier whose right arm is
broken, and who cries, " Give me my rifle.! I can
kill them very well with the left hand." He saw one
very painful case of recognition. As the carts file past,
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who carries his arm in a sling, and seems to
suffer cruelly, scarcely appears to notice ,this
warm sympathy; he thurniurs a few words confusedly,
and lets his bead fall forward. The cart goes on .