New-York tribune., 1870-10-01
TREATMENT OF FRENCH PRISONERS Bl rHE
PRUSSIANS.
The London Standard of Sept. - publishes

the following corr spondercc:
srR incose translation of letter received fonl my
Lgnc should You feel inclined publish it you may do
20, only do not wish either my name or tlat oi my
should you like the original letter, written in the
French aEguage, will send II to you with pleasure II
camr to hand tLis morning Excuse my translation, II
il not in good English, but great English scholar.
You can you choose t my brothers letter mt" bet
Lodd0H, sept. T..
"BouuIoy. s,pt. 9, 1870.
"Mr DEAR A.: hope You received my telegram, in
forming yOU WAS among the saved. ! have no doubt
you have informed good mother that was tl alive.
have not written 10 her. for am afraid my letter would
not reach destination You write to her aud tell her
that I am safe. and that nothing in me Is broken. not
my poor heart that have thought Of her in all
those tremendous battles, where my life has been so
wonderfully spared. Let God he praised, for II Is only To
His mercy that my not only having escaped the
Prussian bucts hut the Pnsslan treatment of their
prisoners. Oh, the Prussans II You but knew what
wretches they are shall never forgive them the way
they treated me. when. after The battle ~ sedan.
asked TO surrender with the others, haty refused to
give my word OF honor that should not take mp arm,
against the Prssias were let free Win great many
officers, and about, should say, $1,000 or perhaps even
10000 men, We were mafched mo Home neus'
where In the pouring iaiu without rhrr great coat or
fire, without single moTsel Of food, We were kept for
two days On the third day Bavaran officer came up
to me and asked whether would not be better 0
give my word Of quietly returning home refused An
hour afterward they brought Ms some bread which we
out OF twenty had already died Of cold and hunger
You cannot fancy what itlwas There were no tent for
US, great COATS no fires II was raining continually
lay In the deep mud, wei through, in fact just rs II
had been soaked in the water We had all been robbed
by the soldiers Fortunately for me had AL my gold in
my leathern belt and IL escaped their notice. In the
afternoon they allowed Tor the first time, To thy dnd
light some fires My limbs were so stt that could
hardly A few wounded men were lying by my
side; they died during the nlght Inc men used To lean
against each other so as to Keep little OF the cold away
Whenever man used 10 die, his iclothes were taken
from him. so as to Try and Keep the ram away When
Prussians used to half murder him with the butend
Of their rifles On the next day SOUP in the
morning were formed into battalions, and should
fancy 5000 or 10000 of us marched OF to Prussia,
we were told. You know how well speak German.
asked Prussian officer "a captain as MYSELF where we
going to- his answer was Hold your tongue, yOu
was playing some national airs as we were marching
along An immense number of Bayarans aud Prussians
were looking at us making te mort snamsiul Jokes ~ us
Whenever man. feeling too weak ana tired 10 move along
used to STOP he received knock with the butt end Of
rifle with the word Forwartz. II too III and too weak
to he able to get up and march we used to he kicked and
knocked about till unable to move any longer We
then side OF the road and there left 10 die
We marched all day, about 70 klloneres and under
strong guard were allowed to hght fires ana go
to sleep. The only food We got little
bread for tho soldiers and bread aud sausage for the
officers. IL then escaped. How did II could not
ditch in which there fully so cenmeers OF water
then came TO small wood, ana aftr three houIa
marching reached village called Escomhe, hut hearing
voices left IL to the right, and meeting peasant took
him as guide 10 take me to the Belgian frontier Near
ing watch to arrest the French gitiyes The peasant
left Inc, and through some woods reached Belgium IL
was then about o'clock there was town before me-
knocked at door woman came out, and allowed me
TO come In. was az l5ouillon: The kindness shown 20
get to bed In their only bed, and slept q hours
without waking. II the two poor Bel sians who
woke me up at last being afraid was dead. They
gave some broth, and felt better. asked the
man to go and buy me suit OF clothes. Fortu
natcy the Prssians had not noticed my lcathern belt
put the private clothes ON instead Of my uniform. aud
am now writing 10 you. My intention Is To leave Bou
Ion toni ght II feel too weak, tomorrow for Namur
and thence to Lille. Then shall ~ tO Paris and then
hope to ayenge myself 80 help me God, swear by
every thing that sacred In the worG, that shall never
forgive the Pussians for the way In which they hnNe
treated their unfortunate prisoners During ny 'Iay ~
Algeria and Mexico saw many prisoners badly treated
hut then they simply put to death; hui the Irus
slams have behaved as SaNages would behave. Ihc4
used 10 sneeT aud laugh when they saw poor fellow
diving of cold. wet, aud hunger. The way they used o
push their prisoners and knock them down win their
rifles was sickenng look at who would not stand
II killed ny bayOnet thrusts. A. long as live
shall forget H. II people only knew what tRer
treatment to has been would ever he found To
shake hands with a German.
% hope TO he In Paris ON Monday. NV regiment has
suffered much. jules died at sedan-at least have been
told They say he had bullet through his body. A.
10 my SELF my has been slightly cut by bullet; II
bled for six hours, but IL Il already healed
The papers will tell you more than can tel you.
The place here s full of soldersFrcneh. Beiei,n, ANA
even few Germans
% " shall write again from Lille II have time.
Adieu. Kiss my mother for me " yOu ever sec me
again, u will only he afteri have avenged the Insults
which those sayages have inflicted on my poor country
men Iyress your hand. Your brother who loves yon