The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-10-22

dreadful day. Yet We stand pale and shuddering
ut the sight of the fate which befalls the poor
people OF the town-Civilians and even the jaded
soldiers, as helpless as they. l pass over details.
[ care not to dwell on horrors which, nevertheless
[ shall never be able to forget. l could mention
more than one brave officer who did not fear to
shrink from the sight of what had become a mere
massacre. Those who were safely out of the
way as prisoners. whether officers or men, need
not be pitied. When, after a time, it became
clear that there was no sign of Bazaine, the hopes
of the French again departed. A sullen sort OF
fight still went on. The guns of the town an
swered the Prussians. An Aid-de-Camp of the
Emperor went by on foot, and L heard him ask
the officers near by to help him to put out the
fire, such being the Emperor's wish. At length
the white flag was raised on the citadel. The
cannonade ceased suddenly at halfpast four.
Eager as we were to know the cause, we cannot
leave the house for the street is impossible, and
we shall have to be content with learning the
mere fact of surrender. As night grew on the
crowd q little diminished, and by some effort it
was possible to make ones way about town. The
spectacle it offered a few hours before was more
horrible than ever. The dead were lying every
where, civilians and soldiers mingled in the same
slaughter. In one suburb ] counted more than
fifty bodies of peasants and Bourgeois, a few
women among them and one child. The ground
was strewn with splinters OF shells. Starving
soldiers were cutting dead horses to cook and eat,
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failed since this campaign began. | was glad to
get away from the scene Of our disaster, and lose
their memory in a few hours sleep.
The next day we were told that the Emperor
had gone to the Kings headquarters to treat for
surrender. At IL O'Clock his household and car
riages left town, and we knew he was a prisoner,
and the Empire no more. About the same
hour was posted in the streets a proclamation
from Gen. Wimpffen, saying that, nOtwithstand-
ing ~prodigies of courage, the army, having no
more ammunition, found itself unable to respond
to the summons of it's chiefs and to force its way
to Mountmeady, that, being surrounded, he had
made the best conditions he could-conditiOns
such as would infict no humiliation on the army.
These conditions prove to be the surrender OF the
whole army, not less than 100 900 men as pris-
oners of war, with all their arms, baggage,
horses, standards and guns. The officers who
sign an agreement not to fight against Prussia
during the war, may return to their homes, the
remainder to be sent to garrison towns in Ger
many. Many officers refuse to sign preferring to
share the captivity of their men. On Saturday,
the whole force laid down their arms. Not a
few soldiers, in their rage broke, rather than give
nm their arms, and the streets were Uttered with
fragments of all kinds of weapons, broken swords,
rifles, pistols, helmets, cuirasses, and even mi
trailleurs covered the ground, and, in one place,
where the Meuse runs through the town, the
heaps of such fragments chOked the stream and
rose along the surface. The horses had been tied
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bered 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 a
horse,-even officers horses, which were private
, property,-for the trouble of catching them
When the Prussians came into the town they
were very sore and angry at the sight of all thu
destruction and waste. What must have pleaseC
them still less was the state in which they founC
the military. AS soon as surrender was resolves
| on, the French officers were told to make out thu
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ately, and receive payment. Naturally tn
, statements thus brought in soon proved suficlen
to empty the Treasury. know of officers wh'
demanded and received payment for horses tina
, were not killed, and baggage which had not beef
. / lost. Decentralization showed itself IN every way
, Even standards were burned or buried-an act o
bad faith not TO be palliated even by the grie
and rage of a beaten army. Their rage is create
against no one than Gen. DeFailly. He had
room in the hotel where | was staying on Friday
A great multitude of soldiers gathered before tn
house, the doors of which were closed, demanding
r Gen. DeFailly, with such shouts and menaces
that the landlord thought it prudent to hurry hin
out at a back window. The soldiers, could the
have reached him, would have torn him to pieces
Since nv return to London, [ found it stated tina
he was shot by one of his own men, but no sucl
event had happened on Saturday, and could no
well happen later. 1t was a relief on Saturda,
when the Prussians came and occupied the tow
and restored order. l am sorry to have to &C
knowledge that all through the campaign tn
French have acted much more like a conquerlnl
army in a hostile country than the Prussians
/ All the annoyance l have experienced PERSONAL.
came from my own countrymen, from the peas
ants, above all, who saw a spy in every stranger
II When fell into the hands of the Prussians,
. { found them courtesy itself.
wrote the last of this letter in London. d
leaving Sedan. and thence to the frontier, in pass
! ing through Prussian posts, l was stopped.
, | had but to say / was a correspondent OF al
American journal and was at once sent kindl.
forward. On the back of my French militar
pass the Prussian staff had endorsed a Prussial
safe conduct. Afterwards i was not obliged eve
to show my papers. My word was taken' an
once out of Sedan l came specially through
When / left Sedan Sunday morning things wer
setting rapidly to rights. The streets wer
cleared of dead horses and men. The indescriba
BILE filth of the town was being swept into tn
river. Shops were opening again, and disciplin
had taken the place of disorder. saw enOug
of the Prussian organization and energy t
change, if the grievous defeat of a noble arm
had not already changed the opinion l have g
often expressed to you, that ultimate victory TO
France was sure. | have followed Mcmahon froI
the day that 1 found him recognizing his arm
at Chalons, to the fatal day at Sedan, when b
surrendered the last organized force in France
save the remnant of that shut up in Metz. CeI
tainly when l was at the camp at Chalons, an
then at Rheims, I had observed that the numbe
II of stragglers was enormous, ana L contlnual
met soldiers who did not know where their reg
ments were. l had seen men and officers disable
by wounds, which French soldiers of other day
would have despised. L had remarked how IN
E tidy and careless the men were allowed to b
about their equipments. These things, slight
but significant to a military eye, had caused me
no doubt, some misgivings as to the rapidity &
success we had the right to expect. saw also
how prone the French officers were to avoid tn
fatlgues of long marches and ~discomforts {
| bivouacs. 1 remember how often l traversed til
French lines at the deadi of night and at earl
dawn, and never heard a gun Uiue, never com
II across a French vidette, never fallen in with
party of Eclairns. On the other hand how ofte
|, 1 have seen officers spend the time that ought t
have been given to their men In cafes or in poe
village inns? How often even, officers of sta
have neglected their duties for paltry amusements
81 1000. nnnnHnrnna uon u