The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1870-09-17
PRUSSIANS-FRENCH.
TIE SURRENDER.

About five O'Clock there was
q sudden suspension of the can
nc made along the whole line. Ma
ny were the speculations as 10 the
cause, but nobody seemed TO di-
vine the truth. You must judge
of our surprise when, five minutes
later, we saw French officer es-
cor.ed by two Uhlans, coming az q
handsome trot up the step bridle
p1th from Sedan to our post, one
of the Uhlans carrying :. white
duster on tags gotstick, as flag
of truce. The messenger turned
out to be a French colonel, como
to ask for terms Of surrender.
After very short consultation
between the King and General Won
Moltke, the messenger was told by
the General that, in a matter SO
important as the surrender of at
least 80, 600 men and an impor-
tant fortress, it was necessary to
send an officer of high rank. "You
are, therefore" said the General.
ito return to Sedan and tell the
Governor Of the town to report
himself Immediately to the. King
of Prussia. If he does not arrive
within an hour our guns will again
open fire. You may tell the com
mandant that there is no use Of
his trying to obtain any other
terms than unconditional surren-
DER" The parlenaentaire rode back
with this message. When he was
fairly out of ear-shot has mission
was most eagerly canvassed.
AT $50 there arose sudden cry
among the members of the Kings
staff-"Ger Kaiser ist da.'--and
then came loud hurrah. Soon
we began to look anxiously for
the arrival Of the second flag of
truse. In ten minutes more Gen
eral Reilly rode up with letter
for the King of Prussia.
AS soon as the French Generalj
was in sight, the slender escort of
cuirrassiers and Dragons we had
with US was drawn up in line, two
deep Behind the King, in front
of tie escort, was the staff; and ten
yards in front Of them again, stood
his Majesty, King William Of
Prussia, ready to receive General
Reilly. That officer, as we soon
learned, was the bearer of an au-
tograph letter from the Empe-
ror Napoleon to King William
The Emperor of the French wrote:
Gas cannot die at the head of my
army, lay my sword at the feet
of your Majesty" ..Ne pouvant
pas mo :rir a la tete de mon arme,
je viens METRE mon epes aux
pie .s de volre Majestic
On receipt of this most astound-
ing letter there was a brief consul
tatton between the King, the
Crown Prince, who had come over
from his hill on the arrival of
the flag of truce. Count Bismarck,
General Won Moltke, and General
Won Room. After few minutes
conversation the King sat down
on a rush-bott ed chair and wrote
note on another chair held as 8
table by two aides de camp) to the
Emperor, asking him to come next
morning to the King Of Prussia's
headquarters at Vendresse.
The next morning His Majesty,
Napoleon III, arrived in his trav-
eling carriaga and reported him
self prisoner to King William -
Such was the end of an illegitimate
and self constituted sovereign, who
had reigned successfully over
France for almost twenty years,
and under whose reign the people
had enjoyed a prosperity equal to
the most favored and superior to
some populations of the European
constitution. How so successful
sovereign could have SO prodigi
ously blundered to SO speedy a
destruction, is one of the prob
lens requiring time to completely
solve.
Thus was the French Empire
| terminated. The surrender at Sc
| dan is unparalleled in history. The
surrender of an army of $4,000
men, after the loss of about half
as many in series of actions
fought on three days, is som ething
that was never before heard of,
and it is not probable that the his
tory of warfare will again be illus
trated by an occurrence SO gigan
tic. The surrender of Ulm with
0,00O men was considered mar
velous event in 1905, and it re-
mained unsurpassed till the sur
render of Vicksbnrg with almost
$4,000 men in 1868; but surren-
ders as these seem but small af-
fairs in comparison with the sur
render of Sedan with $4,000 men.
Thus the name of Sedan is ad-
ded to that long and melancholy
roll Of French military disasters in
which occur Crecy, Poitiers, Aim
cour. Pavia, st. Quentin, Blen-
ham. Ramilles. Oudenarde. Malp-
laquet, Ninden. the Tre5bia, Novi,
the Russian disaster of 1912, Leip-
zig, and Waterloo, and many more:
| for though the French are of the
bravest people, and have won ma
ny of the greatest battles, it is
nevertheless true that they have
experienced the greatest number
of great defeats of any race OF
10 odern times.
The very next morning the
K ny and the Crown Prince, with
their undiscovered, powder smear
ed soldiers were on their way to-