Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-10-19
Napoleon at the Battle of Sedan-He
Courts Death. but is Rejected.

COuTtS Deatn. DuC Is keI6ctcd.
Paris Sept. y Correspondence of the Cincinnati
Gazette.
When the battle of Sedan began the
Emperor might have escaped, and down
to within five hours of the surrender his
escape was easy of achievement. But he
preferred to remain. Upon setting out
from st. Cloud to Metz, he could only rea-
son: This is no place for me if l am de-
feated. When the battle ragged at Sedan
he could but say: McMahon's ruin is mine.
I had better be conducted out of the coun-
try captive than to sneak out of it an e1-
lie.
When Paris went mad for the war the
Emperor had to choose between abdication
and the chances of war. He chose the lat
| ter. When the chances of war failed him
he had to choose between surrender and
| fight. he chose the former. Never was
a ruler more the victim of circumstances
or more martyr to his own confiding
He had been the dupe OF his friends; he is
now the prisoner of his foes. If Paris had
been as strong against the war when it was
declared, as she is now that it has been
| lost, the Emperor would now be happy
upon the throne and Paris happy upon
| hers.
The Emperor had no command. He had
resigned his powers into the hands of Ba-
zaine upon leaving Metz. He joined Nc
Mahon's army at Chalon, and (perforce)
accompanied it in its fatal attempts to re-
inforce Bazaine.
The Emperor was in undress uniform
during the three days fight. When it
commenced he was in the village of Bolan,
two miles from Sedan. There he glided
into the ranks of small column which
ushed out OF the fortress. He was recog-
nized by both officers and men. The lat
ter cheered and the former begged him to
retire, as success was impossible, ard
death certain. But death was not certain
could not be made certain. The desperate
monarch was at one time completely envel-
oped in the smoke end dust of a bursting
shell. But he was hurled back with the
attacking column into the fortress.
| On the morning of the LIST he left his
carriage, which is the easiest mode of loco
motion for one with his terrible malady;
and, notwithstanding the suffering which
horseback riding necessarily causes, he
mounted his favorite stallion and rode to
the right wing at Bolan, where General
Lebrun's corps was hard pressed. From
there he rode slowly toward the centre,
doing what he could by exposing himself
to ball and bomb, and by inspiriting words
ard actions to turn away the impending
doom. The bullets whistled by him, the
shells crashed around him. At that mo-
ment he would have thanked the chance or
Providence that brought his long and troub-
lous life to an end. Upon this point we have
the cuir< Mt testimony of eye witnesses
iu both armies. The death that the feeble
and suffering old monarch courted and
desired was denied him. His friends join
with his enemies in repining over the
denial. He could not lead his army as at
Magenta and Solferino bodily (and men
tally because bodily he was unequal to
the task. He could only drift with it
wh1thersoever the tide of war might carry
it, It carried him not to victory, as in
Lombardy, but to defeat, utter and COM
plete He did not, as in 80, receive the
sword of an Emperor in Lombardy cot
tage, and return to Paris amid the accla-
nations of s'Republicans," he gave up the
sword Of an Emperor, and has gone cap.
tive monarch to the Palace Of Wilhelms-
hohe, ''dignifed in his bearing and re-
signed"-sayE the testimony of the con-
queror.
At another period and point of the sarug-
gle he rode about among the troops, his
face giving every indication of intense
bodily torment from his disease, while the
hurricane of projectlles refused to do him
| the desired Office of determination.
| He galloped into Sedan to see MacMa-
hon, who was PROSTATE with two dreadful
wounds. Again his Majesty repaired to
the field; but by this time the French were
driven in from all points, and were tumb-
| ling into the streets and forts Of Sedan in
perfect disorder. The town is command
ed by semi-circle of hills. These hills
were covered with Prussian artillery. The
Emperor pressed his way through the wild,
compact and squeezing mass. Again he
sought the death of soldier with unavail-
ing persistency. have it from person
who saw him st this moment, the houses
were burning all around him; several
| wounded men were literally torn to frag
ments near his feet, and but a few rods
away General Guyot de Lespars was in
stantly killed by a cannon shot.
| You will observe that the Journal Off
ciel of Provisional government comedies
with all other reports in the situation of
the Emperor at this awful and disastrous
moment. cat noon," says the official ac-
count, sshe went to the field to learn the
result of the battle which had commenced.
A he returned. That was on the 30th.
On the 31st the Emperor ''passed the
night at the Su-Prefecture. On the LIST
she mounted on horseback and proceeded
to the field" and returned at about g..
So runs the official and intensely anti
Napoleon report, which of course omits
what the German official supplies from eye
witnesses, and what is also overwhelmingly
confirmed by French eye Witnesses
Unequal to the task OF generalshiD, he
was shut up to the alternative of dying
among his troops, or flying from the scene
of their defeat Dead or victorious" he
said he should be when he returned to
Paris. He meant it. He courted both alter
natives; he WAS accepted by neither.
In that drama on the banks of the Meuse,
under another cottage roof, there was
another scene The two personages who
met there were not Francis Joseph and Ma
poleon, but Napoleon and Bismarck, the
former a captive in the tolls of the latter's
diplomacy. How can We believe our eyes
When Napoleon was in the meridian of his
glory, the great Prussian Count came to
Paris to begin his rise to his present re-
nown. This interview also remains unre-
ported. The aides-de-camp lounge in
groups upon the grass. They start to their
feet and uncover. The two illustrous IN
triguers come out of the cottage and retire
to shady bank. They are very friendly.
They are chatting upon matters of lndlffer'
ence. The days for their interchange oi
political opinions are over. The capltula-
ton, too, is in other hands.
The King and the Emperor had another
interview at Sedan. The King extends his
hand; the Grown Prince extends his. The
two morarchs retire into an apartment OF
the chateau. "Frltz" steps up quickly AND
shuts the door behind them. What die
they talk about?
On the Sd the Emperor left for Cassel
accompanied by Princes Ney and Murat
Generals Castelman, Pajol, Vaubert and
Reille. The Emperor's horses, carriages
and servants were allowed TO remain with
him. he reached the castle on the 9th
the Castle of Wilhelmshohe, once the resi-
dence of his Uncle Jerome, King of West
phalia. The Prince Imperial occupies. IL
, the hotel at Hastings, the room next te
that where his then (as now exiled father
many time walked the floor in agitatec
meditation"
Terrible Earthquake in China, Thibe
and Burmah.
European mail advices state that th'
| u I.4 Of Rofo