The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-05-09
A Section of Victor HugO's History
of Crime.

Inc ClTCle was CUM oocu 40 ioiiO"o'
The Bavarians, right wing, at Bayeilles,
on the Mouse; near the Bavarians the
Saxons, at La Moncelle and at Daigny !;
opposite Givonne, the Royal Guard; the
Fifth Corps at Saint Menges and Don
cherry, the Wurtembergers; Count Stol
berg and his cavalry at Donchery; in
front, toward Sedan, the second Bavarian
Army.
All this was achieved in spectral fash
ion. in order, without breath. without
noise, through the forests, the ravines,
and the valleys. A sinuous and sinister
march. A dragging along of reptiles.
Scarcely was murmur audible be-
meath the thick foliage. The silent battle
swarmed in the darkness while awaiting
daybreak..
The French army slept.
Suddenly it awoke.
1t was a captive.
The sun rose, splendid as it shone to-
ward God, terrible toward man.
Let us define the situation.
The Germans nave numerical strength
on their side; they are three to one-four
perhaps; they confess to having 100000
men, but it is certain that their line of
attack was thirty kilometres in length;
they hold the positions, crown the heights,
fill the forests, they are covered by all
the sleeps, they are masked by all the
shadows, they have matchlcss artillery.
The French army is in hollow, almost
without artillery and ammunition, naked
under their grape shot. The Germans
have ambush on their side, the French
have on theirs nothing but heroism. 1t
is a fine thing to die, but good thing to
surprise.
This achievement at arms is a sur
prise.
Is it fair war; Yes, but if this be fair
war, what is foul war;
Thus much said, the battle of Sedan is
recounted.
We would stop here. But we cannot
Great though the horror of the historian
be, history is a duty, and duty must be
fulfilled There is no more imperious
slope than this to tell the truth, whoever
ventures upon it rolls to the bottom. 1t
must be so. The Judge is doomed to
justice.
The battle of Sedan is more than bat
tie which is fought; it is syllogism
which finishes itself; dread prcmedita-
ton of destiny. Fate never hurries, but
always attains its goal. Its hour strikes
and it is there 1t lets years go by, then,
when least thought of, it appears. Sedan
is the fatal unexpected. From time to
time, in history, divine logic makes sor-
ties. Sedan is one of these sorties.
So, on the first of September, at five
O'Clock in the morning, the world awoke
under the sun and the French army under
the thunderbolt.
Bayeille's takes fire, Givonue takes fire,
Floring takes fire; the thing begins by Il
furnace. The whole horizon is atlame.
The French camp is in this crater, stupe-
fed, scared, startled in funeral swarm.
A ring of thunderbolts encircles the
army. determination hens it ia.
The immense murder is carried on on
all sides at once. The French resist, and
they are terrible, for they have nothing
left them but despair. Our guns, almost
all old fashioned and carrying badly, are
Immediately dismounted by the terrible
and precise aim of the Prussians. The
density of the rain of shells upon the
valley is such that "the earth is ruled, y
says witness, las by rake" How
many guns2 Eleven hundred, at least.
Twelve German batteries on the Moncelle
ONLY: the third and fourth dbtheilung, a
frightful artillery, on the crest OF Gil
yonne, with the Second Horse Battery in
reserve; opposite Daigny, ten Saxon and
two Wurtemberg batteries; the curtain of
trees in the wood north of Villers Carnay
conceals the dbtheilung with the Third
Heavy Artillery as reserve, and from
this gloomy thicket is poured formi-
A.dable fire; the twenty -four pieces of heavy
artillery form battery in the clearing
near the road from La Moncelle to La
Chapelle; the battery of the Royal Guard
sets fire to the wood de la Garrenne; the
bombs and the bullets riddle Suchy,
Francheval, Faura Saint Rerny, and the
valley between Helbes and Givonne; and
the triple and quadruple row of guns ex-
tends, without break, to the cavalry OF
lily, the most remote point of the horizon.
The German soldiers, seated or recum-
bent before the batteries look upon the
artillery doing its work. The French
soldiers fall and die. Among the corpses
which cover the plain is one, that of an
officer, upon which they will find, after
the battle, a sealed paper containing this
order, signed by Napoleon; "7his Sep
TENDER rest for the nhole army" The
valiant Thirty fifth Regiment of the Line
disappears almost entirely under the
crushing mass of shells; the brave ma
rines hold the Saxons and Bsvarians in
check for an instant, but, being over
flowed on all sides, fall back; the whole
admirable cavalry Of Marguerrite's di-