The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-05-26
COL. DEM. -. VOL. XXXV.. NO. IA

ward he hoped to evade the Germans
under the Crown Prince, whose legions,
passing to the south, were marching on
Paris; and by attacking the army ly..
ing across the path of Bazaine, place IT
between two fires, and thus destroy IL.
His purpose was, however, quickly dis
covered by King William, and the en-.
ergies of the Prussian commander were
taxed to Illustrate 1t. The march Of the
Crown Prince diverged from the line 1t
had recently taken his strong columns
were joined to the troops which could
be spared from the Investment of Metz;
and the whole were hurled against Nc
Mahon and De Failly, not far from Sc
dan. The result Of the battle was
disasterous to the French, but not
decisive. Three days afterwards, on
the morning of September 1st, the
hostile lines were again fronting
each other. AT early dawn the eager
under De Fally, and in a short
time the action became general, and
the fighting desperate. Time passed
but the hours were perhaps never
more heavily laden with events. Charge
after charge was made; the thunder of
artillery, the measured howl of the
n,itrdiiuSe, the sharp rattle of musketry
and the clash of the heavy cavalry sabre
were heard in every part of the field.
Morning passed, and noon came to find
the scale not yet turned. The hopeful
impetuosity Of the earlier hours had
settled down into sullen determination.
Column after column of the spike
helmeted Germans was hurled back
but as the day wore away, the French
| lines slowly rcceded. One after another,
the villages around Sedan, while send.
ing lurd light and heated smoke up
through the sulphurous cloud of battle,
were given up to the invaders. The
| French ilanks were forced TO retire on
the centre, and the advancing Germans
soon formed 4 Gordon of bayonets and
a wall of fire around them too strong to
be broken. at five O'Clock the firing
ceased. The thick black cloud which
ovcrhung the weary combatants slowly
| lifted, and the wreck of battle lay be-
fore them. Dismounted guns and shat
tered caissons told where the battery
had been posted. Where the ground
was spotted with stiffened horses, the
cavalry, fleet, impetuOus, and terrible,
had charged! The long swaths of men
dead and dying, marked the places
where the infantry, that most numerous
arm of war, had long and courageously
stemmed the tide of battle. On every
hand were abandoned rifles, cast Off
knapsacks, and blood-staincl garments.
Behind the hedges, in Clurnps OF trees,
and along the streams of water were
thickly scattered, in squads and at in
tervals, great numbers of wounded men
among whom the surgeons busted them
selves, their keen instruments wading
deeply into human flesh, while stacks
of human limbs indicated the business
of the day. 1t is at such points that
the miseries of battle field are congre-
gated. The restrained agonies of the
strong, and the low meanings of the
weak, the fair haired boy with fast
glazing eye debating last message to
Il widowed mother-such and similar
scenes will ever dim the eye of a soldier
|, albeit the cause may be ever so just.
,, The humble French peasant emerged
from his lowly cellar, where himsel
and family had burrowed while the
; battle ragged, and with stealthy steI
reached the corner of his shot-riddleC
cottage. His good dame came behinC
! him, and, after her, the little flock
: with trembling limbs and quiverin.
= lips, clinging tightly to the materna
J., skirt. "Thcy have ceased to fire." sale
the man "and | see flag of truce
I hear the wild huzzah The battle mus
IT,,
! mother; and with eyes fast fixed upor
the heavens, she mutely stood too deep
j., ly moved to utter more.
o. The thunder of Sedan was stilled. J
was the one decisive battle of the war
and was won by the Germans just thirt,
(, days after the first hostile gun was fired
= fOrty.six days after war was declared b,
the French, and only tifty.tlve day
> after Leopold was announced as can
: didate for the Spanish throne.
t In "OW late unpleasantness," the frs
: engagement at all general in its charaC
g ter, was fought ninety.tive days afte
t the Presidents call, and more than 10
f days after the erection of confederate
= batteries had been commenced il
!. Charleston harbor. The time spent b,
/ our people in sharpening up their sword
for the first Bull Run was more thar
g twice that required by the Germans t,
n shatter the military power of France
/. or course, our people did well afte
; they got ready. Bull Run speaks vol
}, umes, especially the run" part, for tn
!. improvised armies engaged. But tn
n lesson which the French should hav
/ learned from this fight was to be draw
: from the expedition with which ou
# side got away from the battle field, afte
Y
q saved, ia few American Congressmel
: had been at Sedan to show French sol
i diers, after being defeat d, how to max
. Il straight coat tail for he capital of tn
a nation! Applause AMI laughter.
S The battle of Sedan was, as has beel
= said, decisive. 1t WAS the crushing u
g of the last of the Imperial armies.
e left the French people powerless to dc
e fend. In short, it suhjugated France
d and made her Emperor a prisoner c
Q war.
s The affairs Of nations, like those c
y individuals, are seldom well conducte
T. in times of great excitement. EspeC
!. tally is this so in elective government
i during periods of war. The raising {
', men for the field always eXcites tn
e masses to a high degree. 1t in effec
Il intoXicates the multitude, and lik
Q wine distributed to a crowd, brings
} the surface sometimes the best and mo;
u brilliant, but often the most boisterou
l. and turbulent of men. AS soon as tn
9 disaster of Sedan became known {
le Paris, there was great commotion anon
ot its citizens. The Empire had failed
Is maintain the prestige of France. I'll
y glory of her arms, so brilliantly su
l, tanned in the Crimea, was not only din
iiSu, put No,uiiy NNlipsSu. iIph u i.
), the Empire!' nd"Long livethe Repul
OF blic!"were the constant eXclamations
n, thepopulace; and the Empire went dow
OF and from its ruins sprang what the
u, called n republic. The Empress Ell
'd gene, whose excellence of mind an
III manners made her the idol of fastidiol
ne Paris in its days of prosperity, had q
IN ready abandoned the grandly appoin
lg ed apartments of the Tuilleries and,
IS, travelling disguised, in a market car
re eventually reached the shore of the Sc
n and embarked for strange land, ad
tz ing one more to the unhappy throng
,,s' eXiled royalty.
u, But if France was not match (
~ united Germany under the leadersh
~, of tried statesmen and warriors, s
'bSs could scarcely hope for deliverance
nv ~ the hands of novices. The supply
Ia. men, however, seemed entirely ad
ar quate for the great emergency. NJ
VI armies were placed in the field as If
magic Scarcely a fort nipht had ella ms