The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-10-30
HOW GREAT GENERALS
HAVE SURRENDERED.

From the st. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Gen. Williams. you have made
yourself a name in history, and pos
terity will stand amazed at the endur-
ance, the courage. the discipline which
this siege has called forth in the re-
mains of an army. Let us arrange a
capitulation that will satisfy the de-
mands of war without disgracing hui
manity."
In these noble and generous words
did the Russian General Mouravieff
address the gallant man who for six
months had conducted the defense of
Kars against overwhelming odds. And
1t was only when cholera had devasta-
ted his garrison and there was no
longer a scrap of food left that the
intrepid Fenwick Williams would even
listen to such a word as surrender.
When the great Napoleon had played
his last card and realized that the
game was over he wrote this letter
to the Prince Regent: Royal High
ness-A prey to the factions which d.
vide my country and to the enmity
of the greatest powers of Europe,
have terminated my public career, and
! come, like Themistocles, to seat my
pie. place myself under the protec-
ton of it's laws, which l claim from
your royal highness as the most pow
erful, the most constant and the most
generous of my enemies"
Then Napoleon walked with proud
step and gallant bearing on board the
Bellerophon and surrendered himself to
Capt. Maitland-the first stage of his
journey to exile and death in st. Hell
ena.
Another historic surrender was that
of Gen. Lee to his adversary, Grant,
in the Civil War. When, at the end of
his long and keenly fought duel with
Grant, the Confederate general found
himself hopelessly henmed in by an
overwhelming force of the enemy, he
accepted Grants invitation to Surren-
der Gin order to avoid useless effusion
of blood" The conditions were made
easy and honorable for him by his gen.
erous foe, and on April 9, 1865, Gen.
Lee handed his sword to Grant at the
AppomattoX Court House, while the
remnant of his once great army, now
reduced to 27,S00 men, followed in his
wake, leaving their weapons behind
them. Thus one of the most destruc-
tive wars in human history came to a
dramatic and honorable close.
At that supreme moment in the des-
tiny Of Napoleon III, when he found
himself at Sedan with the demoralized
remnant of his defeated army, sur
rounded by 100000 of the enemy's
troops, he sent the following note to
his conqueror. the Prussan King: My
brother, as l am not able to die at the
head of my troops, l place my sword
at your majesty's feet"
On the following morning the crush
ed Emperor and Bismarck met in the
sordid upper room of weaver's cot
tage, and the terms of surrender were
arranged. ''It was the most uncom-
Portable hour ever spent in my life,"
Bismarck used to say later. In fact,
/ felt more awkward than when. as a
young man. I had a, partner at a dance
who wouldn't, or couldnlts talk" The
surrender, we need scarcely recall, was
absolute. Napoleon was sent "a cap
tive to the castle of Wilhelmsohohe.
near Cassel: and 80 generals, $50 staff
officers and $4,000 men became prison
ers of war.
But perhaps the most gallant gem
eral who ever surrendered to the enc
my was Osman Pasha, the immortal
defender of Plevna. Surrounded by an
UNNECESSARILY superior army of Russia,
Osman kept his flag flying for 142 days,
INJECTING a loss of over 10000 men on.
the enemy and losing 10000 of his own
garrison; and 1t was only when both
provisions and ammunition failed that
he decided on that desperate attempt
to cut his way through the investing
army.
The attempt, one of the most daring
and resolute in history, failed, and Os-
man was at last compelled to throw up
the sponge. So impressed, however,
were the enemy with his valor that, as
he was carried wounded through their
ranks. they greeted him as conqueror
with cheers and presented arms.