Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1914-09-05

On the eve of the great po''iN Sedan. sometimes called "lhe ""'. loo of the Second Empire' "A sealed the fate of France, lnousl lnol roaca was not concluded for se'eia a' p,ontbs thereafter, the French "eiD se sadly demoralized. Paris was cut oi. from communication with the arlllie' and q new German corps cAaer oo.n v mand cf the Corwn Prince o1 o"NT5 n,no was advancing on the capital .o citv was being hastily fortli'eu . withstand siege. Food and fuel i were scarce within the gates anu 'no exportation of foodstuffs rom 'A'N was forbidden by edlct. ,oao;,o.s
 Communication between oez'ihe ' and MacMahon's armies was eA''eilo lv difficult. Bezane was pot'aeu up i in Metz. and another part of tue French army was hemmed III at strassburg. MacMahon's army i'll 'he field was badly shattered. uo
 In the last days of August MacMa, hon. accompanied by Napoleon anu ahout 15O.O00 men set off to the re, lief of Metz. The third and toufth
 
 Prince of Prussia and the eroWh Prince of Saxony pursued hlm. A!'el short battles at Beaumont, and l'ouzy in which the French were defeateu' on Aue. 30 and 31, MacMahon was forced 10 retreat and he made his last stand at Sedan.
 At a. m. on September 1 the fight ino began between Sedan and Douzy and it ragged all day and far Into lae night before the issue was decheu The French were crushingly defeated MacMahon was wounded On the sec ond day. September 2, 1870, after desultory skirmishing Emperor Ma poleon III surrendered to King Will liam 1 of Prussia, and the entlre French army capitulated.
 About 14,O0O French officers and men were killed and wounded. About 25,000 French troops were made prls ! cners during the battle and S3.oOo i surrendered the next day, together with 70 battery guns, 100 field pieces and 150 fortress guns. Some 5000 Frenchmen escaped into Belgium, where they laid down their arms and refused to fight further.
 The battle of Sedan was fought mainly with artillery and at first the Bremen were apparently victorious. For four hours Napoleon stood lges I exposed to the German grendes but he refused to retire and personally directed the movements of his men.
 No estimate was made of the Ger man casualties, but it is known that they lost heavily, perhaps as many killed and wounded as were lost by the French. 1t was 3:30 in the after noon when MacMaAon was wounded. Gen. De Wimpffen was hastily placed in command of the French army. There was brief halt in the fight ing, while the opposing Commanders and rulers discussed terms. De WjmEffen flatly refused to accept the terms of surrender offered by Bis marck and the battle was resumed.
 On the second day Emperor Ma rclecn neld a conference with King William and the Grown Prince, at he end of which the French capitul- atcd. The terms of surrender were signed by Field Marshal Von Molke and Gen Wimpffen.
 During the battle Of Sedan, Ba- zaine's men made a desperate sorte from Metz, but were repulsed and driven back within the Notifications Thus with most of her soldiers killed wounded and prisoners and the res, shut up in Metz and Strassburg France was almost defenseless
 With Napoleon a prisoner in the castle at Wilhelmshohe, formerly oc. cupied by his uncle. Jerome, wner King of Westphalia MacMahor wounded and Bazaine unable tc escape from Metz, France was prac tically without military command CT of dependence. Fighting went or between French reserves and the Ger mans, but in almost every case tho Germans were the victors. At Busanc, tn French were repulsed with heav, loss and whole regiment of chas seurs was annihilated.
 With but little resistance, tn, Prussians, commanded by the Kin,