Year: 1870

the campaign that no human force could make them


listen to the signal for retreat when reverse ID hand
40 little did they expect to be short Of ammunition that
no human force could prevent them from eXpendng the
| cartridges they had with the utmost ayishness.
| DIsAFFECTIOS OF THE SOLDIERS


And tho greater was their assurance Of victory the
more were they afterwards dlspirited when the over
welming forces Of the enemy proved mat defeat vas
nosse The cries which were heard on the battlefield,
from the dying well as from the flying soldiers,
against tho Generas had something sinister in them.
And it was sufficient that couple OF soldiers who es-
| oaped from Weissenburg Forbach or Worth, should
meet fresh regiment and tell it what was going on in
the lines for the mumur OF discomfort to be extended
over troops who had not yet made single shot, such
troops by repeated unnecessary Journeys from
| ChaIons to Metz, Nancy and back, journeys
which were ordered and countermanded under
| the influence OF the successive defeats, and
| tho absence of any plan, had already badly
| DISPOSED the troops, and made them much more
unreasonable TO the unpleasant tales which their de
feaed had to tell sthem Returning 10 Cha-
Ions provincial town. these fresh but already
infected troops communicated their disposition OF mind
TO the Garde Mobile whence the discOntentment trans
forming itself into panic spread itself all over France
But IL the soldiers had this real for complaint the
ciy population had scarcely any, for at tile moment
they circulated the most absurd sOries they had not
suffered in any way whatever had no contributions to
pay and soldiers TO keep In their houses as nave
the population in Germany. The real sufferers the
peasants OF the bordering districts who had then already
lost everything hid themselves and suffered quietly
while the townsfOlk Of Nancy and kindred places con-
Quoted themselves in way which has constantly caused
me to ask wherefrom decentralization took his
originals for painting the heroes of Alsace and Lorraine
CONDUCT OF FRENCH WOMEN.


am sorry that in the picture attempt to sketch OF
the state OF France must give very bad part to the
fair SEX Not only all habits Of my Turkish nation
aIffv INIT all fendencps OF heart and soul
strongly inclined toward the ladies' But all thoughts
against them for Notwithstanding all the acheVe-
ments the Indies attribute to themselves and all the
rights they claim, have seldom seen yet that they
should, a body, anywhere conduct themselves prop
erly Wherever you go, France. for instance the
greatest disturbances and the greatest mischief are
| done by tho ladies. The greatest panic Is spread
by them No has ever supposed OF MacMahon
that he anything else than brave soldier or that
he was not General ready to all imaginable means
with the view OF eXtermnating the enemy He passed


through the School OF Algeria and is certainly not hu
manity that one learns there. French ladies, however
found that MacMahon was too delicate. There was a
forest somewhere Hagenau or Worth where 10000
Germans reported to have hidden themselves How
far this was true ascrancd nOw but all the


ladies Of France reproached MacMahon for not having
set fire to the and roasted the whole 10000 Prus-
slams and Bavarians concealed therein How was the
wood TO be set on flrel How long would 1t take To
! burnt How were the Prussians to be kept IN ltf
| Nothing OF this inquired into but the ladies'
OF France wished the wood to be burned and the Prus-
slams roasted i'm it, And they talked so long on the
subject that great part OF the male population of East
ern France began to repeat the thing saw lots
OF young and old women who had fled from F0rbach ana
sayerne, and all Of them described atrocities OF the
| Prussans which never perperated (and
suerings Of the French troops which would not be pos
sibe under any circumstances whateyer) A Few killed
or wounded soldiers raised their Imagination into some
thing quite monstrous and in the comparatively quet
places to which they fed for shelter they spread the
unntelgibe panic (under which they themselves
labore with reference to spies, again, the men have
never attempted to oarrest great number OF EngSh
| and even French citizens the women have DONE ana
while the former have invariably insisted upon sIs-
pcious person being examined "a to his personality or
elected from the country, the latter have constantly
excited the mob by demanding that the person should be
Immediately to pieces In speaking thus, refer, or
course particularly to the lower classes of French
women; but in the educated circles things
hardly standing better. While few honest and kind
hearted ladies did give themselves up to the service OF
the hospitals and ambulances, the great body Of them
ran cowardy away, thinking only about carrying with
them all the dresses the jewery and money they could
| possibly scrape together. Corrupted by an ndOent ex
| istence deprived OF all sorts Of knowledge, and
physically weakened by abnormal manner Of living,
| none OF them thought for single moment
that they answerabe for great deal OF the mis-
chief caused their country. Were they better edu


Gated they would form better wives and better mothers.
| The better wives and better mothers would better
| influence their children and husbands who would thus
be made better citizens, better soldiers, and better poll


cians. sovereign would never be able to enter
with population not disposed TO it, and the poll
tcians would never permit themseyes o be drawn into
negotiations critical 10 lead TO war II they were
selected from among better citizens. The Emperor the
Court, fashionable Paris with its fashionable shops
| selling fashionable dresses would never have
temtped reasonable women so far as to forget
that all that briancy has its dark side,
| enormously costly in money and inevitably leading
finally still greater cost of lives. And when all this
is done when France thrown into the mseries it now


finds itself n who II that seeks that the honor OF
the country should be sacrhcedi Again a woman and
Of the highest circles 1t they who begin to talk OF
mediation, II they did not know that not single
Frenchman will to fight till he himself, not other
people, acknowledges that the country is vanquished
and that there is absolutely hope Of rescung France
from political degradation and military dishonor. The
ladies present must speaking frankly about
their sex; but in the first place, company present
always excepted and in the second my chief intention


is to expose here what think to be true not to make
| compliments.


| THE MORAL STATE OF FRANCE.


Painful however this picture OF the moral state OF
France may SEEM must say that 1t old Since
the first impressions OF the French defeat, everything
| has changed The country became accustomed to the
idea that its territory invaded hnd sound courage
has quietly taken the place of panic previously panic
took the place OF enseess bravado. There less sing
ing OF the Marseaise" >" less cries OF ga Berlin"
People begin TO understand that their position may be n
a few days much better than they would have thought,
and than they told by foreign newspapers. SEQ
that notice for second time the unfair treatment to
which France Is subjected by OF the organs Of the
| English press. I sorry for having done this, as
think that the persistency with which cotempo
rares their readers that the position OF France


is desperate, is the result rather of misunderstand-
ing than anything else and perhaps also the reminder