The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-30
SEDAN.
Before
and After.
ARCHIBALD FORBES
Tells of Downfall of Louis
Napoleon.

Archibald Forbes Life of Napoleon
the Third" is alive with the unusual
observations that might have been ex-
pected from that acute author. Among
the strongest in the subject matter
Of the book is that which tells Of the
final catastrophe which led to the
downfall of the second empire.
Writing of the events before the bat
tie of the Gravelotte and Sedan, Mr..
Forbes says:
This was on the night between Au-
gust IA and Is What happened the
next morning was told me in Zulu
land, by the prince imperial He was
asleep in the bedroom next to his IA
/ theirs. A crash awoke the lad, and
/ he was still bewildered when the em-
| peror rushed into the room: Get up
and dress quick, Louis, quick! The
/ German shells are falling through the
roof 1t was so; a Prussian battery
| had galloped up on the opposite bank
of the Moselle to within range and the
| gunners had opened fire on the Chat
eau of Longueville.
LAS the prince looked out Of the win
dow while he hastily dressed, he saw
a shell fall on the table in the garden
at which some officers of the guard
were breakfasting; and when the smoke
| of the explosion blew aside, three of
the officers were dead men. The car
/ riages and baggage might follow
| Grayelotte was the rendezvous given;
but meanwhile the business in hand
was to get from under that shell fire.
| There was a hurried cup of coffee for
Louis and his father; then they and
the suite went quickly to horse and
! the abominable German shells We're
soon left behind
! Near the village of Lessy the high
road to Gravelotte, numbered with the
/ impediments of a disorderly retreat,
! presented an absolute block. An inter-
minable delay threatened to befall the
imperial party. But Prince Louis dur
ing the early days at Metz, While as
vet the Germans were afar OFF, had
done much riding about the adjacent
country. Quietly bidding some sol
diers to make a gap in the Fence, he
| called out, Follow me, fathern and
led the way across the country by a
vineyard track, the trend Of which he
| knew.
80 the lad conducted his/ seniors
| down into the valley by Chatel, then
/ up on the ridge which three days later
was to be Uttered with corpses, past
| the auberge of st. Hubert, not yet
| battled into dust and blood, down into
the Nance ravine, not then & CHASTITY
| shamble, and so up the slope between
| the poplar tloes to the village of GRAY
| elotte, lying in the angle where BIZ
furcate the upper and the lower roads
! from Metz to Verdun.
! "Thither at least as yet, came no
! German shells, and the hunted Ma
poleons could draw breath. The en-
! peror, after resting an hour, took to
| tramping to and fro in front of the
post house which he had made his
| quarters. 1t was his habit in trouble.
saw him later doing just the same
thing in the potato patch of the
weaver's garden On the Donchery road
on the way from Sedan during the in
terval when Bismarck left him.
"As Napoleon stalked up and down
bordering uneasily, he was unconscious
| ly making history, and just as uncon-
| sciously he was moving in the heart
of a scene waiting to be made histor-
| ical ere many hours had passed, for
| over against him was the old church
of Gravelotte on the edge of the
I graveyard, of which the dead of the
/
for breastworks.
ITO the emperor about one of the at
| ternon, came the harassed Bazaine.
Like Martha, the marshal was
careful and troubled about many
| things. He tells: I complimented his
majesty on his fete day "a cheerful
fete day trulyD by presenting him
with a little nosegay l had gathered
in the garden of my last nights quar-
ters.'
"The emperor gave thanks for the
courtesy; and then his trouble recur-
ring on him, he asked, Must I quit
the army? Bazaine, in surprise, be-
wilderment and embarrassment.
begged of him to at least await events
yet little longer. So Napoleon turned
to his table and said, We viii remain,
| gentlemen, but do not have the bag
gage unpacked. During this collo>
| guy says Bazaine, the soldiers mel
ancholy and beaten out, continued to
defile along the road in front of the
| post house. Not single cheer, not
one "Vive lEmpereurl" came from
the broken and struggling ranks at the
sight of that sovereign and his son, so
enthusiastically acclaimed but few
| days before.
THE moral influence of the retreat
had already so lowered the tone of the
/ y. Is II not d SOIlDfS elcnlnR bitter
! in deeply by few strong StrOkeS?"
In his vivid picture Of the scenes af-
| ter Sedan. Forbes says, writing of the
! interview between General Wimpffer
of the defeated French army, and
Won Moltke: After an embarrassing
pause, Wimpffen asked what were the
conditions which the Prussian king
| was prepared to accord. They are very
simple, was the reply, the whole
! French army to surrender with arms
and belongings; the officers to retain
| their arms but to be prisoners of war
along with their men, Wimpffer
secuted those terms, and demanded for
his army that it should be permitted tc
withdraw with arms, equipments AND
the war lasted.
"Moltke adhered inexorably to the
conditions which he had specified. and
was adamant to the pleading of the
| Frenchman. Losing temper, the latter
exclaimed: I win appeal to the honor
and heroism Of my army, and will cut
my way out or stand on the defense
of Sedan. Moltke's reply was crush
| ing.
"A sortie and the defensive. he quiet.
! ly remarked, are equally impossible
| The mass of your infantry is democrat
led we took today more than 20 0OC
unwounded prisoners, and your whole
! force is not now more than so 00C
/ strong. You cannot pierce our lines
! for ! have surrounding you 240 900 men
with 500 guns in position to fire on Sc
dan; you cannot maintain your defen-
sive there, because you have not pro-
visions for as hours and your ammuni-
ton is exhausted. If you desire | will
/ send one Of your officers round our po-
sitions which will satisfy you as to the
accuracy Of my statements.
"Wimpffen declined the offer. and
when assured that there could be nc
mitigation of the terms. exclaimed:
Then ii is equally impossible for me
to sign such a stipulation: we will re-
new the hntflet Mnltke,s nniet c1lrt