The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-10-03
THE CRE4M0FTHE VAR NEWS.

Plan to Escape C0untermandeu oS
the Emperor.
An officer who had not quilted General De
Wimpffen all the morning of the lst, writes as
follows to the Paris Debats:
On that morning the Prussians, having ter.
minated their movement, attacked us on our
right, in order TO drive us on the fresh troops,
who awaited our descent from the plateau, be-
fore deploylng all their forces. For moment.
General de Wimphen was deluded, anu pc
had before him more than 100000 enemies. In
the evening he resolved to open passage for
his troops tO the Belgian territory. or to march
rpon Carirnan. He would doubtless have
succeeded, as the enemy, half dlsorganlzed by
the contest, had remained in position on the
field of battle, but the Emperor, who SILL held
de tucto the chief command, prevented him,
and paralyzed his best efforts by calling up the
Prussans with white flag, and by addressing
q letter to the King. General de Wimpffen,
after a warm alteration with the Emperor
and his suite on the subject, returned to his
quarters and gave In his resignation. Napo-
leon refused to accept 1t, and wrote to him the
following note:
ssGeneral-You cannot resign at the moment
when the army may be still saved by an hon
orable capitulation. You have done your duty
all Q1I, QO IL SIlll. lou p" "ui iSlHSA " ..
service to the country. The King has accepted
the ormistice, and am waiting for his propo-
sitions. Believe In my friendship:
The General, being then persuaded that only
one course was open; that In retiring alone, as
he could still do, he might avoid persona! cap
tivity, but would abandon the gallant soldlers
who had braved death under his orders during
the whole day; seeing also that in SO acting he
ftrnnf nf
chief placed In his hands by the fortune OF war,
decided 10 remain at the head OF the army, to
share the lot Of all, and to set his name to the
capitulatlon-t terrible act which closes by
an immense disaster, by an unforeseen catas-
trophe, one of the most brilliant OF military
careers.
General Pelle also refused to adhere to the
capitulation. a letter addressed oy MIN 10 his
wife says:
II am prisoner OF war with the whole army.
Never has any people had to undergo such an
affront Tell your brother that II he reads the
report of the council Of war held for the sur
render ofthe army, he will see that two gene
rails refused to submit. They were not named,
but the world should know that the dissenti-
ents were Generals pelle and and Carre de Bel
lemare.n
Napoleon's Conduct Mt Sedan.
The officers Of the personal staff of Napoleon
have published q letter, In which they give
relation Of the course OF the late Emperor In
the battles before Sedan. The letter has crl-
rious interest as showing the confidence which
must have prevailed among the French in the
last hours OF the great series Of battles before
Sedan:
The letter which appeared In the Patrle on
,l, nrS
TO an officer of the staff of General WlmpfTen,
implicates in so grave and so unjust manner
the responsibility Of the Emperor In the catas
trophe at Sedan, that the officers who had the
honor to remain with his Majesty cannot allow
sucb assertions TO be made without stating
the true facts OF the case. When the different
commanders of army corps came to warn the
Emperor that their troops were repnlsed, dis
perscd, and in part driven back Into the town,
the Emperor sent them to the commander-in-
chief. in order that he might ascertain from
tbpr; the actual situation. At the same time
th., commauder-n-chief sent 10 the Emperor
two officers of his staff with a letter, In which
he pronosed to his Majesty not to save the
nrmy, but to save his person, by plac-
inc linn in the midst Of q strong column,
with which he said an attempt might
be made to reach Carignan. The Empe-
ror refused to sacrifice q large number
of S soldiers in order to save himself; 'besldes,"
said he. "Carignan Is occupied by the Prus-
slams: but if the General thinks he can save
some norton Of the army let him do So AT
Lhe same time that the reply of the Emperor
reached the ommander-ln-chlef, the latter
mnarted 10 General Lebrun, the commander
Of the Twelfth Corps, Ills project to collect 2Oo0
Or 5000 men, to put himself at their head, and
,ebrun answered him, "You will cause three
thousaud more men to be killed, and you will
moi succeed, but If you wish to try it will will
indy 20 there with you." They lett each
1t6er. indeed, and less than half hour after
ward General Wimpfen was convinced that
his ATTEMPT was impracticable, and no other
course was open to him except laying down
lrms. General Wimpfen went back TO SEDAN,
aud considering that 1t was hard FOR him, wne
had only taken the command Qd tnserins, 10
,fIix his signature to capltuat1on, he sent
his resignation to the Emperor In the loilo"lng
terms:
::Sire-1 shall never forget the marks OF
kindness which you have accorded to me, and
should have been happy. for the sake both Oh
France and OF yourself, to have been able to
terminate to-days engagement BY glorious
success. have not been able to bring about
lie result, aud think shall do well II [ leave
to others The duty Of leading our armies.
Under these circumstances deem u my
uuLS lO fSSlSll pOst Va o'~-'
and to ask that may be allowed to retire.
Il am, &C.. DE miArfFLS.
The Emperor refused to accept the resigna-
lion. It was necessary, indeed, that he VINO
had had the honor OF the command during the
hattie should secure, as far as possible, the
safety OF what remained Of the army: The
General understood these reasons. and With
drew his resignation. 1t was then o'clock
IN IN The evening and the firing had ceased at
nInhtlall. 1t IS entirely false to say that the
General was opposed By the Emperor in his
IDEAS and in the orders he was able to give.
for his Majesty only met him tor moment on
the field OF battle, between and 10 o'clock.
The General was coming from Balan, and the
Emperor asked him how the battle was pro-
ceedipe on that side. The General replied:
Sire, things are going on as well as possible.
and we are gaining ground"
To the observation which his Majesty maze
that an officer had just warned him that con con
corps OF the enemy was oulfianklns
orr left, the General replied:
VERY well. 80 much the better. IL is neces-
sary to let them do so; We will drive them INTO
the Meuse and We shall gain the victory"
These are the only relations which the En-
peror had with General Wimpffen during tae
action. AID it is equally false to say that there
-; o9torootion hptwppn the En-