The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-08-04
AMBASSADOR TO PO.wUHAL.

Soon after this, Lar-cs was sent as an
Ambassador to i'or;E&a!. ard feeling too
much the power B0nagare and France
welded, treated with JnaC Independent
nation as If its King and ministers had
been su bOrGirateS in the army. He was
better at the head OF column than in
the Cabinet, and got no honor To himself
from his office as Ambassador. This very
b!untness end coarSeneSs, which rem
dered him fit only for the camp and the
battlefield, and which indeed was the
cause Of his receiving this appointment,
were sufficient reasons for his not having
il.
Recalled to the army, he fought at
AuSterlitZ, Jena, Eylau, and Fnedland
with his accustomed valor. In the cam
paign of EyIau, at the battle of Pultusk,
ne advanced with his corps of IS, 600 men
in the midst OF driving snow squalls, and
l<nee-deep in mud, up to the very ,muzzles
OF 100 cannon.
In 1903 he was sent to ioin the army in
Spain. In crossing the mountains near
Mondragon he came very near losing his
life. His horse stumbled and in the effort
to rally fell back on him. crushing his
body dreadfully by his weight. He who
had stOrmed over so many battlefieldS
and been hurled again and again from
his seat amid tramplng sGuadrons as his
horse sunk under him, and yet aped
death, was here on quiet march we'll
nigh deprived OF his life.
The surgeon, who had seen a similar
operation performed by the Indians in
Newfoundland, ordered a sheep to be
skinned Immediately, and the warm pelt
Sewed around the wounded MarShal'S
body. His extrcmities in the meantime
were wrapped in bot fanncls and warm
drinks were given him. In 10 nsi"utes he
was asleep, and shortly after broke into a
profuse perspiration, when the dangerous
| symptoms passed away. Five days after
| he led his columns into battle at Tuedla,
| and completely routed an army OF 10000
men.
SIEGE OF SARAGossA.
The next year he was appointed to take
| charge OF the siege ..aSaragossa, which
| had been success ely under the com
mand Of Money md Junot. The camp
| was filled with drmurs and complaints,
| For nearly a month they had environed
| the town in vain. Assault after assault
had been made; and from the I'd OF
January, when Junot took the command
till the arrival of Lannes in tie latter part
of the month, every right hid been dis
| tinguished by some bloody fights. and vet
the city remained W nqueEed.
| Lannes paid no heed to the com plants
and murmurs around him, but innmedi-
ately, by the promptitude and energy OF
| his actions, infused courage into the
hearts Of the Responding soIdiery. The
| decision he was always wont To carry into
battle was soon Wis bic in the siege The
soldiers poured to the assault with firmer
purpose, and fought with more resolute
courage. The apathy which had settled
down on the army was diSpelled. New
life was given To every movement; and
on the 9Th, amid the toling Of the tower
bell warning the people To- the defense, a
grand assault was made, and after most
sanguinary conflict the walls Of the town
were carried; and the French soldiers
fortified the mselTeS in the convent at st.
Joseph.
Unyieldng to the last, the brave Sara
gossans fought on; and, amid the pealing
Iof the tOcsin, rushed up to the very
mouths Of the cannon, and persisted by
hundreds and thousands in the streets of
the city. Every house was fortress, and
around its walls were separate battle
fields, where deeds of frantic valor were
done.
Day after day did these single-handed
fights continue, while famine and pesti-
lence walked the city at noon day and
slew faster than the swords of the enemy
The dead lay piled up in every street, and
on the thick heaps OF The slain the living
mounted and fought with the energy Of
despair for their homes and their liberty
F., In the midst OF this incessant firing by
night and by day, and hand-to- hand
fights on the bodies of the slain. ever and
anon mine would explode. blowing the
! living and dead friend and foe together
| in the air.
| An awful silence would succeed for q
moment and then over the groans of the
dying would ring again the ralIying cry of
the brave inhabitants. The streets ran
torrents of blood, and the stencil of putri-
fed bodies loaded the air. Thus for three
weeks did the fight and butchery 60 on
within The city walls, till the soldiers
grew dispirited, ard ready to give up the
hope OF spoils If they could escape the
ruin that encompassed them.
TERRoEs or THE SIEGE.
Yet theirs was n comfortable lot TO that
OF the beSieged. Shut up in the cellars
with the dcad-pinchcd with famine.
while the pestiiencc rioted without mercy
and without resistancc-they heard
around them the incessant bursting Of
bonn BIS, and thunder of artillery, and ex-
blossoms of mines, and crash of falling
houses, till the city shook night and day
as If within the grasp of an earthquake.
Thousands fell daily, and the town was
a mass of ruins. Yet unconauered. and
apparently unconquerable, the inha bit
ants struggled On. Out of the dens they
] had made for themselves amid the ruins,