The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1870-10-21
THE WAR.
by THE ATLANTIC CABLE.
PRUssIA's TERMS OF PEACE.

ters OF Germany that the people are anX-
ious for peace.
Bismarck has authorized the Prussian
Minister at Brussels to give the Great
Powers to understand that Germany is
willing to propose a settlement on a basis
Of the disarmament of the frontier pro-
vinces, provided the ratification Of the
frontier line of Rhenish provinces and
small money indemnifeations are guaran-
teed. q
THE LAST soRTIE AT METZ.
LONDON, October ia letter dated
Mezieres les Metz, of the 9th inst, from
the ITi6Une'S special correspondent saws :
To-day's battle was the most important
effort Bazaine has made since the Prus-
SLAMS have thrown their belt of men, guns
and earthworks around the fortress. He
had at least fifty thousand men engaged.
About one o'clock the guns of the Prus-
sian batteries by Semocourt began to give
tongue. Only a few Frenchmen who were
loalng around at. La Donchamps were
observed. One of the officers said there
would be nothing serious to-day. There
IS too much mist in the valley. Certainly
1t seemed as if he must be right. When
l was on the heights of ~Semocourt, 1 could
not see the villages in the valley
below, and the Cathedral at Metz was
utterly invisible. But the roar of the
guns grew louder, and then came the
first one great boom, and then another
from big guns lying behind at Semo-
court.
Bazaine had laid his scheme with great
art under the cover of a dense fog; he had
made his dispositions with such adroit-
ness, that when it lifted a little past one
nInlOnE fhau Taro al ~oolr 81 III 49,
plete. In the first instance he directed a
strong assault on La Donchamps. The
Landwehr outposts held the place as if
they were 10000 instead of 100 men. The
attack, however, was only a diversion.
Suddenly the villages of Grandes and
Petites, Etapes, of Stenay and Moaxe were
overwhelmed by the cataract of French
men. The 59th LandweLr in Stenav
would not fall back as 1t should in COM
mon prudence, but stood up in the street
until the French, having PLAYED upon it
with artillery, and received chassepot and
mitrailleuse bullets, and finally pushed
backwards the shattered remnants on to
the chausee by dint of sheer numbers
The Fusileer battalion OF the 58th occu-
pied Grand Etapes, and it occupies Grand
Ftapes now, but the occupation consists
of the dead and wounded.
The battalion would not give ground
and NAV be said to be annihilated as it
stood, the men being with their backs to
the wall and their faces to the foe. The
other battalions of the same regiment
suffered terribly. So far Bazaine had sue
ceeded. He had occupied the chain of
villages athwart the valley, and had got a
few batteries of artillery out on their front
to reply to the PIussian fire, but this
statI quo he neither wished to, nor could
retain. The Prussian artillery throwing
their projectiles from the sides of the par
a%llelogram interfered with the comfortable
realization of the latter conception. As
regarded the former, it seemed clear that
Bazaine would not have done what he
had if he did not contemplate something
more. That something, l have not the
lemOtest doubt, was a sortie to establish
the connection with Thionville. His tao
tics were well conceived. From Stenus
and the two Etapes he kept the Prussian
line engaged with musketry and artillery.
He sent forward from Grand Etapes great
swarms of Tiralleurs, who Jared extremely
Ill at the hand of the Landwehr, but be-
sides this he massed a great body of men,
nearly 10000 in all, on the bank of Mo-
selle, under the cover of the houses OF
MOaxe, and sent them forward to cut
through the PrussiaQ environment where 1t
was weakest, close to the river. The
movement was a critical one. The Land
wehr had all been sent forward against
the villages, with the exception Of one
brigade and reserve, but the Tenth Army
Corps had been crossing the pontoon bridge
and massing between the river and Anne
elange. There General Won Vorght was
IN command Of the operations IN the rear
GA1 gave the order for several regiments
ADVANCE. 1t was a sight to be for
gotten, First came the fusifeers, extend
ing at a rapid u into astonishing order
and covering the whole plain with their
long, thin liasS. Then the dense columns
OF companies Of grenadiers, the bands
playing and eofors unfurled. Unwonted
sight ! But all the work was not left for
infantry to do. The artillery entered the
village alone, and concentrated their fire
on the French columns advancing along
the Moselle.
The only reply came from the sullen
sides of Mount St. Julien, or from the
ramparts OF Fort st. Eloy, but the mira
llleuses venOmously sounded their angry
whlr, compelling the skirmishers to recoil
as they crossed the line of fire, and tearing
the chAsseHrs in the front of the solid
masses, Of which they were the forerun-
neEs, The artillery and skirmishers were
enough for the French. The dease col
umns staggered and then broke.
Through my glass 1 could see a con-
tlnuOus sauce que puet into the village OF
Moaxe, but when they had once got stone
and lime between them and the PTussians
the follows were obstinate and would 90
no further. In vain the Prussian artillery
fired OF the village, advancing closer and
closer IN alternate order Of batteries, with
a precision and rapidity that could not
have been exceeded on parade. That OBJ
stinate battery in front. of Grand Etapes
would not shut up, and the French TRIAL
leurs sbn lined the chausse in its front.
By this time it was nearly four O'Clock.
A staff officer galloped along to the front
with orders for a general advance, to take
the hill by storm. The advance, he told
me, was to consist of four brigades of the
Landwehr, with two brigades of the Tenth
Army Corps supporting. In a few min
utes more the command came sounding
along the line, and the men sprung from
their W. and went forward with that
steady quiekstep so characteristic of Prus-
sian marching. The shells from a battery
in front of the Grand Etapes tore through
the line.
The mitraiileuse and chassepot bullets
poured againstit the leaden hail, but still
the Landwehr, silent and stern, went
steadily to the front. I never knew a
more furious fire than that to which the
center of this line was exposed. General
Won Brandensteis, commanding the Third
Brigade of Landwehr, was shot down, and
several of his staff wounded. At length
the intrenchments were reached, behind
which were lying the shattered remains
of the Forty-ninth and ~Fifty-eighth Land
WEIR.
The determination consisted in the cry
of Murray Preuissin l". and then, "Vor-
warts INNER forwarts 1" and the line
threw itself to the front in a run. The
gunners from the battery drove on, and
had barrel Sine to round the corner before
the Landwehr were upon them. With
the guns they left per force in the villages,
the French made a last stand. The Land
wehr, with less of the conventional war
rlor than the Line, are not so much in
cl!ned to give quarter as the professional