The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-09-08
The French surrender.

1
A graphic account Of the battl
around Sedan telegraphed by a specia
correspondent Of the 1'fJane, conclude
with the following statement Of the in
cidents of the surrender : s','''--l 3
About five clock there was again 6
sudden suspension of the cannonad,
along the whole line Many were. thu
speculations as TO the cause, but nobody
seemed to divine the truth. You may
judge ofour surprise when four minute:
later we saw French officer, escorted
by two Uhlans,. coming at a hard tro
by the steep bridle-path from Sedan tc
our post, one OF the Uhlans carrying 9
white duster on faggot-stick as flag
OF truce The messenger turned out tc
be French colonel, come to make
terms of surrender. After very short
consultation between the King and
General Won Moltke, the messenger was
told that 'in matter so important as
the surrender of at least $4,000 men in
an important fortress, it was necessary
to send an officer Of high rank. There
fore, return to Sedan and tell the Gov.
ernor Of the town to report himself i'm.
medlately to the King Of Prussia. II
he does not arrive in one hour, our guns
will again open fire. You may tell the
commandant that there is no use Of his
irving to obtain any other terms than
unconditional surrender" The Pa liza
mentaire rode back with the message.
When he was fairly out Of earshot his
mission was most eagerly canvassed.
At half past six there arose sudden
cry among the members Of the Kings
staff, "der Kaiser list da," and then
came loud hurrah. Soon we began
to look anxiously for the second flag OF
truce, and in ten minutes more General
Reilly rode up with a letter for the
King of Prussia. AS soon as the
French General was in sight, the escort
of cuirassiers and dragons we had with
us was drawn up in line two deep be.
hind the King In front of the escort
was the staff, and ten yards in front OF
them again stood His Majesty, King
William of Prussia, to receive General
Reilly. That officer, as we soon learned,
was the bearer of an autograph letter
from the Emperor Napoleon to King
William. The Emperor of the French
wrote: "As | cannot die at the head
of my army, lay my sword at the feet
of Your Majesty, Ne pouvant pas
mourire a la tete de mon armee, je
viens METRE mon epec aux pieds de
votre majestic ,"
Why Napoleon III. could not die as
did thousands OF his soldiers, sword in
in hand, with his face to the foe, is not
so clear On receipt of this most as
founding letter, there was brief con-
sultation between the King and Crown
Prince, who had come over from
his hill on the arrival of the flag
of truce; Count Bismark, General
Won Moltke and Won Room; after a
few minutes conversation the King sat
down and wrote a note to Emperor,
begging him to come next morning to
the King of Prussia's headquarters at
Vendres. While this note was being
written, Count Bismarck came up to
Generals Sheridan and Forsyth and
myself and shook our hands. LET
me congratulate you most sin
cerely, Count" said General Sheri-
dan. Il can only compare the sur
render Of Napoleon to that Of General
Lee at Appomattox Court House"
When it came to my turn to shake his
hand, could not help saying, after
congratulating him, "You cannot but
feel pride, Count Bismarck, in having
contributed 80 largely to the winning of
to-day's victory" "Ob, no, my dear
sir" was the mild answer, ~ am no
strategist, and have nothing to do with
the winning of battles What / am
proud of is that the Bavarians, the
Saxons and the Wurtemburgers have
not only been on our side, but have had
so large share-the largest share in
the glory of the day; that they are
with US and not against us. That is
my doing" l do not think the French
will say now that the South Germans
will not fight for our common father
land. -
asked His Excellency whether Louis
was taken with his papa, and was told
that no one knew; and, / think, that no
one cared where the small young man
was.
When the King had written his letter,
he himself handed it to General Reilly,
who stood bareheaded to receive it, the
Italian and Crimean medals glitterlng
on his breast in the fading sunlight.
Victoria's image and superscriptlon
have not often been seen on the uni
forms of men surrendering without con-
dition.
At twenty minutes to eight Gen.
eral Reilly left for the beleaguered
town, escorted bv the Uhlans. The
buster which had served as flag OF
truce, was offered to me as souvenir OF
this most memorable day, but it had a
strong resemblance to other busters, and
declined the protfered article. Then
there was a general demand for some
thing to drink, and Count Bismarck
Aid de Camp produced two bottles OF
Belgian beer. One of them His Excel
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