The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1870-09-15
ORDERS SOLICITED.


1 ~
ORDERS SOLICITED.
The Great Surrender. !,
The following II the account of the
surrender Of Napoleon and McMa-
hons army given BY the New York
1fibune's correspondent, who wit
messed it: F7f
aAbout 5 O'clock thero was sud
den suspension Of the cannonade
along the whole line, and many
were the speculations as tn the cause
but nobody seemed 10 divine tho
truth. You may judge Of onr sur
prise whom, four minutes lator, we
saw a French officer, escorted by
two Uhlans, coming at hard trot.
up the steep bridge at path from
Sedan to our post, one of the Uhlans
carrying q white dustcr on iaggot
stick as flag Of truce. Tho mes
senger proved to be a French Colonel
come to ask terms of surrender.
After very short consultation
between the King and General Won
Moltko, the messenger was told that
sin matter SO important as the
surrender of at least $4,000 men
and important fortress, it was ncces-
sary to scnd an officer Of high rank.
You are therefore to return to Sedan
and tell the Governor of the town to
report himself Immediately to tho
King Of Prussia. IF he does not
arrive in hour, our guns will again
open fire. You may toll the com.
mandant that thoro is no uso of his
trying to obtain any other terms
than those of unconditional surren-
der" The Parlaimontino 3de back
with the message. When he was
fairly ont of ear shot his mission was
most thoroughly canvassed.
At halfpast six there arose sud
don cry among the members Of the
Kings staff Of aDr kaiter Est d."
and then camc q loud hurrah. Soon
we began to look anxiously for the
second flag Of truce, and Ia ten min
ntes more, General Rsilley rode up
with q lettcr for the King Of Prussia.
AS soon as the French General was
in sight, tho slender escort of GURUS.
siers and dragoons we had with us
was drawn up in line two deep
behind tho King. On the front
of the escort wns the staff and
ten yards IN front of them again
stood His Majesty, King William Of
Prussia, to rcceivc General RcilIcy.
That officer, as NO soon learned, was
the bearer Of an natograph letter
from tho Emperor Napoleon TO King
William. Tho Emperor OF the
French wrote ~ follows:
al cannot die at tho head OF my
army. Hay my sword at the feet Of
your Majesty. lie pocdnt pas snou-
Iviere d Ia tete de mon sarn.ee. Jie
lrien p,ettere mon epuc 0er pieed dc
votre Majasta. =
Why Napoleon should NOT die, as
did thousands Of his soldiers, sword
| in hand, with his face TO the foo is
not clear. On the receipt Of this
most astounding letter, there was .
brisf consultation between the King
and the Crown Prince, who had
come over from his hill on the arrival
Of the flag ct truce, Count Bismarck,
Generals Von Meltke and Won Koom.
After q fcw minutes conversation, tbc
king sat. down on o srash-bettomed
chair, and wrote note on another
chair, held az table BY two Aides
de- Camp, to the Emperor, begging
him TO come next morning TO the
King of Prussia's headquarters.
While this note was being writton,
Count Bismarck came up 10 Generals
Sheridan and Forsyth, and myself,
and heartily shook our hands. aLet
me congratulate you most sincerely,
Count" said General sheridan !; IL
can only compare the surrender of
Napoleon to that Of Gen. Lee AZ Ap.
pomattox Court House, Whom it
came my turn 10 grasp the Chnnccl-
lor's hand, | could not help saying, af-
ter warmly congratulating him, "You
cannot but feel q pride Count Bis
marck, in having contributed so
largely to the winning Of to-day's
victory" 20, no, my dear sir" was
the mild answer, II am no strategist,
and have nothing to do with tho win
ming Of battles. What am proud
Of is that the Bavarians, the Saxons
and the Wnrtembergers are not only
on our aldo, but have so large q part
tho greatest share. The glory is
that they are with and not against
US. That is my doing, do not think
the French will say now that the
South Germans will not fight for our
common Fatherland.." I asked his
Excellency whether Louis was taken
with his papa, aud was told that no
ono knew, and / think that no ono
cared where that small young man
was. When the King had written
his letter, no himself handed it to
General Reilley, who stood barcLhead-
cd to receive it, tho Italian and the
Crimean medals glittering on his
breast ID the fading sunlight. Quecn
Victoria's image and snpersoription
have not often been seen on the uni
forms Of mon surrendering without
condition.
At 20 minutes to General Reilley
left for the beleagured town, escorted
by the Uhlaas. The duster which
had served as flag Of traco was Of
fered to me ss souvenier of this
most memorable day, but it had n
strange resemblance 70 other dustcrs,
and | declined the preferred reiic.--
Then there was q general demand for
something to drink, and Count Bis
marck's aid-de-camps produced two
bottles Of Belgium beer, one Of them
bis excellency shared with General
Sheridan, General Forsythc and my
self, saying that he drank TO the
closer union Of tho throc great Teu-
tonic peoples. Early next morning
I started for Belgium. As / rode
along suddenly came 6rst upon a
lot OF Uhlans, then two Pigcurs in
the green aud gold imperial livery,
directly behind them camo the trav-
cling carriage Of his majesty, with
Napoleon Ill. on his way to report
himself prisoner at King Williams
headquarters at Vendres, y little dir
~ v;iiaoo af,oe Ai0ht milea from &c.