Smyrna times., 1888-04-11
FALL OF NAPOLEON.
STORY OF THE FRENCH CAVALRYls
REPULSE AT SEDAN.

Gen. Phil sheridan's Comment While
Gazing at the Battle-MOItke Brings
Up Fresh Batteries-A Flag of Truce.
A Pitiful EpistIe.
zone afternoon of the Sedan battle King
William and his staff looked down from the
Hill of FrenOis on the amphitheatre of car
mage and cannon smoke, in the heart of which
the doomed French army still fought gal
lantly on in the face of fate The command
ing elevation gave a view northward far
away beyond the gray fortress, and nearer
the combats about Bazeilles, and we were
watching the gradual closure of the net en-
| Veloplng the French army, as the Fifth Ger
man corps from the left and the guards from
the right, drawing nearer and nearer each
other, diminished the gap in the environment
of blood and iron
| THAT environment was not to be consum-
mated without gallant, but despairing pro-
test We saw the splendid brigade of French
culrassiers draw out and form on a gentle
slope below the cavalry of lily, facing
against the German infantrymen in the hol-
low below. The massive horsemen gathered
way III a headlOng charge as they rode in
! glittering steel clad splendor down the
smooth slope As we gazed and listened we
could see the flash of armOr and seemed to
near the thunder Of horse hoOfs. The mailed
cavalry OF France in their furious gallon
We're within 2OO yards of the silent infantry
men IN blue tunics and spiked helmets. With
them it seemed all over How couId tbo,,
stand against that swift, strong torrent rag
ing down upon them9 Suddenly from the
steadfast ranks flashed a witherino volIav
then another and another, and 10. the pano.
phed array Of French cavalry was writbiDp
IN the dust, a shattered wreck.
MAN IN BLUE UNDREss.
"A quivering silence had pervaded The
group OF leaders and staff officers upon tba
hlu OF Frenois. King William had risen
from MS camp chair and was standing with
MS eye at a great field telescope mounted on
a tripod. The strained silence was crrionsI,,
Droken as the French cuirassier brigade met
its fate by the snap of a closing binocula,
followed by the quite decisive words:
It's all over with the French now,
"All eyes turned on the speaker short
compact, reSOlute man in blue undress mi
form that was not German. He was nono
other than Gen. Phil Sheridan. ranr.senta-
tive of the United States army attached to
the royal headquarters. At the word the
German chiefs ran to shake the foreign
soldier by the hand, for they knew the com
ment came from the past master in the art Of
war u
An hour later, the same afternoon If v,as
no longer battle, but massacre. Save for the
casual spatter OF musketry among the smold-
erlng ruins OF Bazeilles and the loud bicker
Oh ol IRE on the shaggy woodland above
Glvenne, French resistance had died out
YET, proud and stubborn, the army whose
ancestors had conquered at jena and Amer
stadt would show no token of surrender
Moltke, with practical eye 10 the psvcholog-
zeal moment, gave the word to bring m
fresh batteries
But King William, a soldier to the core
and cOnqueror as he was. would make the
first advance, and babe Col. Bronzart of the
general staff, take flag of truce into Sedan
and point out the futiity of further resist
ance. Bronzart, at his steady trot. dison-
peared within the outwork of Torev and
was no more seen. The lurid dav was wan
ing, the sleeping sunbeams falling on the
mangled ghastliness Of the dead and wounded
that Uttered the plateau of Honig. on the
gray fortress hall, mantled in a swart of
smoke Of fires which the shell fire had lit in
the distracted town, on the broken French
army covering up to the time worn ram
parts.
The crown prince, with his stalwart. sol
diery stride, had walked across from Don
cherry hill, whence he had directed his share
OF the battle, and stood by his fathers camr
char talking to his king and sire.
THE WHITE FLAG WAVING.
AT length there is the white fag wavinc, |
from the summit of the Sedan proiecture |
and there is Bronzart with his trumpet. and !
beside him rides an officer in uniform which |
afar off we discern is French. The little |
party ride up the steep ascent at a gallon |
Bronzart, a short distance off. halts the |
trenchman, and, dismounting himself. walks
up to King William and utters a single short
sentence, at which William starts violently
and leaps to his feet.
Der kaiser ist da,' was what Bronzart
said, with arm Outstretched toward Sedan
The king repeated the words in loud. sur
prised accents, and they found surprised
echo from every lip, for there had been no
surmlse that Napoleon, having forsaken the
fortune OF Bazlne's army, was now sharing
the fortunes of MacMahon's.
'BrOnZart was hidden to bring nm Con
Count Reille, the French officer who had ac-
companied him, and who, it appeared, was
the bearer of a special communication from
Napoleon.
Strange contrast of condition. Three
years before Reille had been the officer in
waiting on King William, during his visit to
the Tuileries. Now he approached William
again as an emissary from his master on the
verge of dethrOnement, of captivity, bowling
low with quiet dignity beseeming a good SOL
der and gallant general in the hour of adj
versity. Reille handed to King William a
letter from his still imperial master. The
world knows the contents of that pitifuI
epistle
"'Unable to die at the bead Of my army.
tender to your majesty my sword
The terms presented an embarrassment.
and the king called on Bismarck and Moltke
for consultation, while the crown prince.
with instructive courtesy, softened the strin-
gency of Relies position by entering into
with him. The answer was
written and Reille was dispatched with it,
The king read NapoleOn's letter aloud. and
then turned to his son and clasped him in a
warm embrace
"A mild babel of discussion and mutual
followed, and as the sun
went down King William was on his way to
night quarters in the historic Chateau de
Chemery. Every day in that momentous
autumn was fully charged with history
From Archibald Forbes "reminiscences.
A~ogus4 ttpo,nro,t, Z .4.ooAs...