The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1870-10-19

who sign an agreement not 10 nght against Prussia
during the war, may return TO their homes the re-
mainder to be sent TO garrison towns in Germany.
Many officers refuse to sign preferring to share the
captivity Of their men, On Saturday, the whole
force laid down their arms Not few soldiers, In
their rage broke, rather than give up, their arms
and the streets were Uttered with fragments OF all
kinds OF weapons, broken swords, rifles, pistols,
helmets, cuirasses, and mitrailleuses covered
the ground, and, in place, where the Meuse
through the town, the heaps OF such fragments
choked the stream and rose along the surface. The
mud of the streets was black with gunpowder. The
horses bad been tied to houses aud gnn-carriages,
but nobody remembered to feed or water them, and,
in the frenzy of hunger and thirst they broke loose
and run wild through the town. Whoever liked
might have horse,-even officers horses, which
were private property,for the trouble Of catching
them. When the Prusslans came into the town
they very and angry at the sight Of all this
destruction and waste. What must have pleased
them still less the state in which they found the
military As soon as surrender was resolved on,
the French officers were told to make out the best
accounts they could, present them Immediately, and
receive payment Naturally the statement thus
brought in soon proved sufficient 10 empty the
Treasury. l know Of officers who demanded and
received payment for horses that were not killed,
and baggage which had not been lost DemoFaliza-
tion showed itself in every way Even standards
burned buired-an act of bad faith not to be
paated even by the griefand rage Of beaten army.
Their rage is greater against than General De
Failly. He had a room in the hotel where I was
staying on Friday. great multitude Of soldiers
gathered before the house, the doors Of which were
closed, demanding General De Failly, with such
shouts and menaces, that the landlord thought II
prudent to hurry him out at back window The
soldiers, could they have reached him, would have
torn him to pieces Since my return to London,
found it stated that he shot by one Of his own
men, but no such event had happened on Saturday,
and could not well happen later. II relief on
Saturday when the PrussisDs came and occupied
the town and restored order. l sorry to have to
acknowledge that all through the campaign the
French have acted much more like eonquerng
army, in a hostile country than the Prussians Ali
the annoyance have experienced personally came
from my own countrymen, from the peasants, above
ALL who saw a spy in every stranger. When I fell
into the hands OF the Prussans, found them eour-
tesy itself
q wrote the last Of this letter in London On
leaving Sedan and thence to the frontier In passing
through Prussian ports was stopped. ! bad but
and was at once sent kindly forward. On the back
of my French military pass the Prussian staff had
endorsed a Prussian safe conduct Afterwards was
not obliged even to show my papers. My word was
taken and once out of Sedan came specially through
When left Sedan Sunday morning things were get
ting rapidly to rights The streets were cleared Of
dead horses and men. The indeseribabIe filth ofthe
town was being swept into the river. Shops were
oDeninr aVafn and dfscinfiua had taken he rIaco
CT disorder. saw enough of the Prusslaa orgaui-
zation and energy to change If the grievous defeat
of a noble army bad not already changed. fhs opin-
ion have so often expressed to you that ultimate
victory for France was sure Ihave followed McMa-
hon from the day when / found him re-OrganiziHg
his army at Chaons to the fatal day at Sedan, when
he surrendered the last organized force In France,
save the remnant Of that shut up in Metz. Certainly
when was at the camp at Chslons, and then at
Rheims, had observed that the number Of strag-
glers enormous, aud continually met soldiers
who did not know where their regiments were.
had seen men and officers disabled by wounds, which
French soldiers Of other days would have despised
had remarked how untidy and eaieless the men
were allowed to be about their equipments. These
things, slight but significant to military eye, had
caused me, no doubt, some misgivings as to the
rapidity Of success we had the right to expect.
saw, also how prone the French officers were TO
avoid the fatgues Of long marches and discomforts
OF bivouaces. l remember how often traversed
the French lines at the dead Of night and at early
dawn, and never heard qd vfvs never came across
a French vdette, fallen in with a party Of
Eelairns. On the other hand how often have eseen
officers spend the time that ought TO have been given
to their men in cafes or in poor village inDsG How
often even, officers of staff have neglected their du
tics for paltry amusements, showing themselves ig
norant sometimes, of the names Of the depart
ment in which they were, so that ! have known a
French General obliged to ask bis way from peasants
at the meeting of two roads, / struggled long
against all this kind Of evidence but the end is only
too clear Painful It is to me, but am bound to
declare my belief that any further oort France may
make can only cause useless bleodshed, and that
means of escape from her peril must now be sought
otherwise than by arms"