Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1870-10-27

patriotism, and the Verdun delegation
had been headed by sort Of vestryman,
named Cord;er, who, being fond Of the
sound of bis own voice, had thought the
occasion good one for declaring in the
face Of the Assembly. ''Le commandment
de Verdun ct lie battalion do Mainc-et
Loire ont jure de ne Sc fendre qu a la
mort" Beaurepaire had sworn nothing
of the kind, but be was chivalrous enough
to consider himself pledged by the tall
talk of vestrymap. and SO. when the may
or and deputation came whining to him
| to give in, replied, "Never." Lamatine,
in his "Girondins." here asserts that
Beaurepaire killed himself there and then.
in the presence of the mayor. exclaiming,
''Survivez votre honte. QUAINT moi
je meurs libre. Jc legue mon sang en-
opprobre aux laches ct en- exemple aux
braves" This, however, was not the
way which the commander of Nerdun Sc
lected. Bcaurepaire had nothing STACEY
| in him. He lot no one into the secret of
his intentions, but went quietly home
and shot himself in the silence of the
night. The Duke of Brunswick was SO
much affected at the recital of this suicide
that on coming into Verdun he asked for
the pistol with which Beaurepaire had
done the deed, and vowed that it should
thenceforth have the place of honhour in
his armoury.
Verdum having capitulated, the Prus-
sian general Kalkrenth was sent to take
possess ion of it, and with him came the
| Kings two sons, who had obtained leave
from their father to accompany the gen.
eral on condition that they should take off
their orders and pass as bis aides-de-csmp
The eldest of these two princes (after-
ward Frederick William ILL was then
two and twenty. His rank in the army
was major general, and he appears to have
been quick and humorous observer as
we'll as a clever officer. To book of
memoirs which be published later, under
the title "reminiscences of the French
| Campaign" he enters into the minutest
particulars of all he saw and did in France
not even 70. getting such details as the
following ION the Both I smoked a
pipe with tolerable success" '.On the
End, when l was half dead with hunger
after days march, the King sent me a
plateful Of lentils and pork. Ensign
Turbe nheim, who brought the dish, laid
it on drum. | was changing my boots
at the time, and before I was ready to eat
French dog belonging to NJ. d'Herbelin
put his lose into the dish and went away
with the pork. Turbenhcim vas very
much excited. and wanted to 60 after the
dog aud kill him, but told him this
wouldn't bring back my dinner. I dined
off the lentils.' On the 10th there were
fowls at the Kings table, and the officers
appeared to think it strange that. al
though his Majesty invited the Prince Of
Nassau and Luchesini, he paid no atten-
ton whatever to me. The table was
spread outside the Kings tent, and 1
looked on FROM distance" What ap-
peared to strike the Crown Prince most
on his entry into Verdun was the light
hear tedness of the inhabitants and she
noisy welcome they gave him. They
clustered aouud u.s." he writes, ''and ore
of them. laying a finger on my brothers
coat at the spot where he usually wore
his star, "Ah, you must be prince.
here il the mark of an ORDER They told
us they were glad to see us, and profess
ed great esteem for Prussia, comparing
cur kings with their own, and saying
many things that were highly compliment
tary. If l had stayed few days among
them believe they would have asked me
to become their king One Of them did
honour me with this proposition, which l
presume was only pretext for talking;
but it sounded strange to me in French
mouth" Further on be observes:-
"Their officers do not seem to be as
we'll educated as ours. One of them,
who, I learned was colonel of the Civic
Guard, Informed me that he had cousin
in the Prussian service. I asked him
where. He said at Munich" However
the capitulation of Verdnn was not to pass
off in mere exchange of civilities, for as
General Kalkreuth and tae princes were
riding out OF town on their way back to
the camp, after ratifying tho conditions
Of the surrender, an officer of their suit,
the Count of Henkel, lieutenant in Koch
er's hussars, was shot dead in the streets
by somebody firing out of BARRIERS
window. Whether this murder was the
result of an accident, or an idle freak
or piece of misplaced patriotism has
never been correctly ascertained; but the
occurrence led indirectly to the most mel
ancholy drama OF the revolutionary an
mails which Delille, Lamartine. and Vic
tor Hugo have all sung as the "matry.
dom of the virgins of Verdun."
They were eight in number these vir-
gins Of Verdun, and their tale is indeed
a p itiful one. The news of the murder
had no sooner spread through the town
than immense CONSERVATION seized hold
Of everybody. and Of course the mayor
was the first to gallop after Kalkreuth,
and assure him that every reparation
should be accorded if only the Prussians
would take merciful view of the un-
lucky affair But the General, who was
scared and furiors, answered that the rules
OF war were peremptory. that the shot had
been meant for him, and that Verdun knew
now what it had to expect. One can
conceive the dismay of the Mayor and
panic among the citizens, who at once
made sure that the Prussians would come
and massacre them all, and afterwards
put their town to the sack--no unlikely
contingency as times went. In the midst
of the confusion, while everybody was
wringiug his or her hands. and uttering
lamentations, o lady stepped forward and