The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-24
FIRST EDITION
THE WAR IN EUROPE.
Liberated France.
Rafting" in the Dynasty.
Napoleon at His Prison.
THE FALL OF TOUL.
The Courageous Garrison Succumbs at Last
The Town and Its History.

The Town and It's History.
A telegram from Berlin announces that the
of the capture of Toul was made public in
that city last evening, and this morning the
report is fully confirmed by another despatch
which states that the surrender took place at
sunset Yesterday. Several days ago the sur
render of Toul was announced with a great
flourish by the papers not connected with the
Associated Press; but, like all their 'great
BEATS" the news proved to be bogus.
On Friday, August IL, Marshal MacMahon
abandoned Nancy, which was Immediately
taken possession of by the Prussians. The
French retreated to Toul, which is IL miles west
of Nancy, and it was expected that they would
make a stand there, as the fortress would afford
a rallying point for MacMahon's demoralized
army. But this Generalization had become too
great and MacMahon, leaving in Toul as large
a force as it would conveniently shelter, con-
tinued his retreat toward Chalons. A portion of
the Crown Princes army was detached to besiege
the place, but this was soon withdrawn, and the
task allotted to the Landwehr and a powerful
siege train. The garrison made vigorous re-
sistance and frequently INDUCED in sortie,
but although they held the Prussians at bay
and frequently inflicted serious loss upon them
in repelling their assaults, they did not succeed
in dislodging the enemy, and the fall of the
fortress was merely question of time.
Toul, whose heroic and protracted resistance
to the enemy presents fitting parallel to the
grand defense of Strasburg, is one of the oldest
cities of Europe, and is mentioned by Julius
Caesar under the name of Tullum. 1t sustained
from the earliest ages, a military reputation
and was attacked by all invaders. Goths,
Burgundians, Franks, and Huns ravaged
and devastated it in turn. After the bar
barians came the teudal lords of the
middle ages, with whom there was constant
war, and lastly the bishops and the burgesses
qsarrelled for two hundred years until the
seventeenth century, when it was transferred
from the Count of Champagne to the French
crown. During all this period it was consi-
dered military post of great value, and 1t was
finally fortified by Vauban. But the more for
midable defenses of Metz, which is thirty miles
distant, in an E. N. E. direction, have latterly
dwarfed its fortifcations and impaired its i'm
portance as a strategic point
The city is situated on the left bank of the
Moselle, 12 miles west of Nancy, on the line
of the railroad from Paris to Strasburg. At the
outbreak of the war it had population of about
5000 souls and manufactures of lace, calico, and
hardware of some Importance There is a
chalybeate spring in the neighborhood. In ad-
dition to an arsenal and cavalry and infantry
barracks, Toul possesses Gothic Cathedral OF
the fifteenth century, with two towers, mag
nfcent grand entrance and a beautiful oriel
window. This cathedral is regarded as one oi
the architectural wonders of France.