The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1865-02-21
How the English Conduct War.

No language can depict the horrors
which succeed a storm, and the follow
ing vivid but faithful picture of Bada
IjoS as it appeared on the evening aftei
it had Been carried, will convey some
idea of the dreadful outrages that en-
sued t' atI =
1t was nearly dusk and the few hours
while | slept had made a frightfnl
change in the condition and temper OF
the soldiers. In the morning they were
obedient to their officers, and preserved
a semblance of subordination, now they
were in state Of furious intoxication,
discipline was forgotten and the splen-
did troops of yesterday had become a
fierce and sangmnary rabble, dead to
every touch of human feeling, and filed
with every demoniac passion that can
brutalize man. The town was in ter.
rible confusion, and on every side
frightful tokens of military license met
the eye.
| One street, as approached the cas-
tie, was almost choked up with broken
furniture for the house had been gsut-
ted FROM Inc cellar to the garrett; the
partition torn down and even the beds
ripped and scattered to the winds, in
the hope that gold might be found con-
cealed. A convent at the end of the
Strada of Saint James was in flames,
and / saw more than one wretched nun
in the arms of drunken soldier. A
general officer had one of the soldiers
wives stripped of her petticoat by the
provost, of which he had got an inkling
either by secret information, or by its
obtruding itself on his notice from be-
ing ofred velvet bordered with gold
lace six inches deep, evidently the COW
ering of communion table. l..s
Further on, the confusion seemed
greater; brandy and wine casks were
rolled out before the stores; some were
full, some half drank, but more STAYED
In mere wantonness, and the liquors
running through the kennel Many q
narrowing scream saluted the ear of the
passer-by; many a female sqpplication
was heard asking in vain for mercy.-
How could it be otherwise when it is
remembered that twenty thousand flu
rious and licentious madmen were loos-
ed upon an immense population, among
which the loveliest women on earth
might be found. All within that devo-
ted city were at the disposal of an in
furiated army, over whom, for the time,
control was lost, aided by an infamous
collection of camp followers, who were
II possible, more sanguinary and pitt
less even than those who had survived
the storm. 1t is useless to dwell upon
a scene from which the heart revolts.
Few females in this beautiful town
were saved that night from insult. The
noblest and the beggar-the nun, and
the wife and daughter of the artisan
youth and age, were all involved in gen.
eral ruin. None were respected, and
few consequently escaped. The mad
ness of those desperate brigands was
variously exhibited. Some fired through
windows; others at the church bells,
many at the inhabitants as they fed in
to the streets to escape the bayonets of
the savages who were demolishing their
property within doors while some
wretches, as if blood had not flowed in
sufficient torrents already, shot from
the windows their own companions as
they staggered on below. What chance
had the miserable inhabitants of esca-
ping death, when more than one officer
prrished by the bullets of the very men
whom few hours before he had led to
the assault