WHAT OUR EYES HAVE SEEN
“Nous sommes prêts, archi-prêts. Il ne nous manque pas un bouton de
guêtre.”--MARSHAL LEBŒUF.
In the dead of the night the springless waggon containing two doctors of
a Sanitäts-Corps and myself rumbled through the streets of hilly
Clermont, at that moment[96] the headquarters of King William, first
German Emperor. I had made my way from Saarbrücken (escaping in a
soldiers’ train) to Pont-à-Mousson, had seen something of the Bavarian
bombardment of Toul, and had visited Commercy and Bar-le-Duc. These
eastern districts were occupied by the German troops, and side by side
on the walls of the Hôtel de Ville at Commercy were the Emperor’s
placards, headed “Souscription en faveur de l’armée,” and King William’s
announcement, “La conscription est abolie dans toute l’étendue du
territoire Français occupé par les troupes Allemandes.”
I found the Prussians in high feather. “We shall be in Paris in a
fortnight from now,” said some of their officers to me at table d’hôte;
and I thought of the prediction when, three weeks later, I was “before,”
but not yet “in,” Paris with them. My greatest anxiety had been to catch
up the royal headquarters, so that I might apply for a “legitimation,”
which would enable me to move about free of interference; and, thanks to
Count von Podbielski, the King’s Adjutant, I obtained this precious
document at Clermont. It was here that I met the King--here that, for
the first time, I saw Moltke and other giants of the sword, and
Bismarck.
The one long, steep street of Clermont was ankle-deep in white mud. Each
side of it was lined by baggage-waggons and carriages--such carriages!
In every house soldiers were billeted. At No. 21 in the main
thoroughfare King William was lodged. This was the royal
“haupt-quartier”--a plain, white building, nothing like the grand
residence which the King had had at Saarbrücken. There was no flag
flying. Two soldiers were doing “sentry go”--that was all. As the church
clock chimed eight our hearts were stirred by the clash of music, and a
Bavarian battalion marched through the town, their band, forty-three
strong, playing the march from “Sardanapalus,” to which, four days later
(September 1), I stepped at Bazeilles, while shells were flying and
bullets whistling, and the mitrailleuses furnishing a growling, snarling
accompaniment.
As the Bavarians--the ill-fated King Ludwig’s lissome Bavarians--passed
No. 21 the King (he was seventy-four then!) came to the open window and
gravely saluted the Captain of each company with a nod of his silvery
head. “Hoch!” shouted the men--“hoch! hoch!” Presently came another
battalion, and then the King came downstairs and stood in the street,
chatting to his Staff as if it had been a review day in the Tempelhof,
and not a pouring wet morning in war-time. King William was in the
uniform of a general officer--tunic and trousers of blue, pickelhaube,
low boots, cloak, and the blue-and-gold star common to all his Generals.
All the officers of the battalion were called to the front, and forty or
fifty were presented to His Majesty, who made this little speech:
“Gentlemen, I am very much pleased to see the troops of Bavaria with
those of Prussia. It has also given me a great deal of pleasure to
observe the bravery which you have displayed and the zeal you possess. I
hope that this unity of all the German armies will long endure, and that
you will gain yet more glory.”
Von Moltke and two or three other officers stood close by, and in
attendance on the King was Count von Alten, brother of the Duchess of
Manchester. (The Duke of Manchester of those days was with the Prussians
for some time in the early days of the campaign.) Spectators of the
incident were General Sheridan, of the United States Army, and a couple
of other Americans. As I stood in the muddy streets of Clermont that
morning, my attention riveted on the King, I little thought that ere the
week was over I should witness two of the most sanguinary battles of the
war, and see Napoleon III. and his army surrender to the white-haired
old gentleman who had greeted his Bavarians so pleasantly opposite No.
21.
The hotel at Raucourt--a small town some two or three miles from the
battlefield of Sedan--was full of German officers on August 31, but no
hint was dropped to the three civilians (two English and one
Austrian[97]) in the house that the next day would be an eventful one.
The word “Sedan” was not even mentioned. But the constant passage of
troops, all moving in the same direction, warned us to be on the alert.
At half-past seven on September 1 two of us joined the procession,
stimulated to hasten forward by the continuous roar of the guns from
afar.
Pontoon bridges had been built over the Meuse, and on these we crossed
with artillery and infantry--thousands of both. Here was the
battlefield, extending over miles of ground, hill and valley, with
sheltering woods here and there. It was a sweltering day--blue sky and
fierce sunshine. The French gunners were very active, and, as we skirted
the welcome coppice, their shells flew over our heads and burst at a few
yards’ distance. Parched with thirst, I parted company with my friend,
whom I thought rashly venturesome, and retraced my steps in the
direction of a large château, in the hope of getting a glass of water.
On guard at the entrance-gate was a helmeted soldier, who barred my way.
I produced my “permit,” signed only two or three days before by the
King’s Adjutant, General von Podbielski; but this had no effect upon
him, and, but for a happy accident--or, rather, two accidents--I should
never have seen any more of the fighting. I ran up to a mounted officer,
showed him my “legitimation,” and had the satisfaction of hearing him
shout to the man at the gate to “let me in,” as I was a privileged
person, entitled to go whither I listed.
Much relieved at this recognition of my status, I was tramping on
towards the coppice, in the hope of picking up my companion, when a
sergeant in charge of some ammunition waggons passed. To my surprise he
stopped, inquiring, in my own tongue, “Are you an Englishman, sir?” I
assured him that I was, and, moreover, a newspaper correspondent.
“Well, then,” said this friend in need, “if you will come with me, I
will take you to our battery, which is in action on the top of the hill,
and introduce you to the Captain, Von Richter, who I dare say will allow
you to be attached to us upon seeing your ‘legitimation.’ Otherwise you
may find yourself in trouble.”
It was soon done, and I was made free of the battery, and permitted to
share its fate.
I found that this battery was part of the Fourth Army Corps, commanded
by the then Crown Prince of Saxony, who became King Albert some years
later. The battery was pounding away all day, and I never left it. I had
smelt powder previously--at Saarbrücken, when the little Prince Imperial
received his “baptism of fire,” and at the battle of Beaumont, at the
end of August. Then, however, I was constantly moving about, and at
Saarbrücken, when Von Pestel’s 1,000 fusiliers and three squadrons of
Uhlans retreated, leaving the Emperor and Frossard’s force of 30,000 (!)
masters of the field, I had an hour’s run at top speed with the defeated
troops until we were out of reach of the French fire.
It was different on September 1. I was in the best position to see the
fighting, throughout the day, until it was all over, and I was cautioned
against roving about. On rising ground, near Richter’s battery, were the
King, Moltke, Bismarck, Von Podbielski, Von Alvensleben, and
others--General Sheridan amongst them. I should have preferred the
position of a “galloper” to that of a mere spectator, standing up, hour
after hour, as it seemed to me, to be shot at. The firing from this one
battery alone deafened me at first, but I soon got used to it. The time
dragged on very slowly. I cannot conscientiously say that this period of
looking on was particularly exciting. Our battery was engaged in a duel
with a French battery on a distant hill. To these Saxon gunners it
seemed not to matter what happened elsewhere. They were only an atom of
a vast mosaic. What our battery was doing was being done by other
batteries all over an illimitable area.
Down in the valley we watched the lines of blue-tuniced Germans always
advancing. Havoc in their ranks was made by the mitrailleuses, whose
diabolical grinding rattle was terrifying; but the wearers of the spiked
helmets seemed to be traversing a field of poppies, so thickly was the
ground strewn by the red-trousered killed and wounded. Every now and
again our battery took up a fresh position, and as we advanced the
closer we got to Bazeilles, Willers-Cernay, and Waldincourt, all in
flames.
We did not know the “motive” of the battle, which, as General Pajol
afterwards put it, was to drive the French into the “mousetrap” of
Sedan. What we did know, towards the late afternoon, was that we had
assisted at a great German victory, and that the white flag (which, from
our position, we could not see) had been hoisted within Sedan. What we
saw, about four o’clock, was the German cavalry scouring the valley and
cutting down the retreating enemy. Then our battery ceased firing, but
we heard the occasional growling of other guns until sunset. Next
morning early, when the bands were playing “Nun danket alle Gott,”
General von Schöler told me many astounding things--how the Emperor
Napoleon had personally surrendered, and how the whole French army had
capitulated. Von Schöler, like so many others, thought the war was over,
but on the 3rd the victorious armies began the famous march to Paris.
And that march is a thing to remember, for by the 19th the invaders had
encircled the capital.
At 8.30 p.m. on Thursday, the never-to-be-forgotten First of September,
1870, when Napoleon, although he had formally surrendered, was not yet
an actual captive, General de Wimpffen said to him: “Sire, if I have
lost the battle, it is because your Generals refused to obey my orders.”
Towards the end of August the Emperor had confided the supreme command
to Marshal Bazaine, and left Metz for Châlons, where he found the débris
of the 1st Corps (MacMahon), the 5th (Failly), the 7th (Douay), and the
newly-formed 12th Corps (Trochu). Napoleon followed MacMahon’s corps,
which was in very indifferent case.
On August 30 the whole of the French corps were at a point between
Mouzon and Carignan. Failly, who had just been badly beaten, found that
he was in close proximity to the greater portion of the German forces,
and felt unable to march to Metz; as a consequence, MacMahon ordered him
to retreat to Sedan, and told the Emperor (then at Carignan) also to
proceed to that place, now the rallying centre of the army. When, at 11
p.m., Napoleon reached Sedan, he was urged to continue his journey to
Mézières, where he would have been safe, and could have gained Paris. He
refused, however, to leave the army, declaring that he would share its
fate.
The four French corps were so placed as to surround Sedan, the left bank
of the Meuse remaining open. This was an unfortunate disposition, as it
made it possible for the Germans to pass round the town by that bank of
the river. A Bavarian and a Prussian corps soon occupied that position,
thus preventing a French retreat in that direction.
The battle of Sedan began at 5 a.m. on September 1, the Germans first
attacking from the Bazeilles side, vigorously defended by the 12th
Corps. MacMahon immediately roused the Emperor, who rode towards
Bazeilles, followed by his Staff. On the road he met MacMahon, already
wounded and hors de combat. The Emperor rode on until he came to
Vassoigne’s division of marine infantry, a splendid force. The
Sovereign, finding that shells and bullets were coming from all sides at
once, ordered the officers accompanying him to join a battalion of
foot-chasseurs, who were sheltered by a wall, until the time came for
them to advance in line. The Emperor, anxious to see the disposition of
his troops, rode onward, accompanied only by his aide-de-camp of the day
(General Pajol), his orderly officer (Captain d’Hendecourt, who was
killed), his principal écuyer (Comte Davilliers), and his doctor (Baron
Corvisart). Napoleon proceeded to an exposed point, where Commandant St.
Aulaire’s battery was in position, remaining there for an hour under a
withering cannon and rifle fire.
At 6 a.m. MacMahon, wounded, had placed the command in the hands of
Ducrot, who, in order to prevent the turning movement, which had been
fatal to the French in previous battles, and also to preserve the one
line of retreat remaining open--viz., the Mézières road--had placed on
the heights of Floing two divisions of the 7th Corps, whose artillery
faced Mézières; and at the same time he ordered the commander of the
12th Corps to execute his retreat in échelons by brigades. That movement
was ably performed by General Lebrun (vice Trochu), whose force never
ceased fighting during the operation.
General de Wimpffen now appeared. He had visited the outposts, had
observed the admirable attitude of the 12th Corps (Lebrun’s) and its
energetic resistance on the Bazeilles side, and predicted a successful
issue of the battle. It was still only nine o’clock. For three hours
Ducrot had been in supreme command. De Wimpffen now handed him a letter,
signed by the War Minister, in virtue of which he claimed to succeed the
wounded Marshal. Ducrot at once complied, and explained to De Wimpffen
all that had been done. The new commander treated Ducrot’s explanation
very lightly, and expressed the opinion that the enemy’s movements were
nothing but cavalry manœuvres!
As the Emperor now wished to proceed to the distant heights, which were
apparently the key to the position, he led his Staff down to Givonne,
where they met General Goze and his division. Here an officer of
chasseurs-à-pied approached the Emperor, saying: “Sire, I am a native of
these parts, and know the country perfectly. If we allow the Garenne
wood to be turned the army will be surrounded, and will be in a most
critical position.”
Napoleon at once sent one of his Staff to find De Wimpffen and give him
this information, which bore out what Ducrot had previously said. De
Wimpffen rode up to the Emperor, remarking: “Your Majesty need not be
alarmed. In two hours I shall have thrown them into the Meuse!”
General Castelnau grasped General Pajol’s hand, exclaiming: “I hope to
God _we_ shall not be thrown into the river!”
All were now alive to the supreme danger of the French forces. The
ground on which the Emperor and his Staff were standing was torn up by
shells coming from all sides. The troops had already concentrated in the
ravines which surrounded Sedan; the roads leading to those places were
blocked by commissariat and artillery waggons and by regiments of
cavalry; all these thousands were trying to escape from the storm of
shells and bullets, but the majority succumbed to the terrible fire.
The result of De Wimpffen’s change of plan was now evident. At one
o’clock the 1st and 5th Corps got into confusion. The Generals
endeavoured to re-establish order by going to the front; but all was of
no avail, and the troops retreated to Sedan in such disorder that
General Lebrun had the gates of the town closed. Even this was useless,
for the defeated troops scaled the ramparts with the aid of ropes and
ladders let down by the men within the citadel.
The Emperor had fully realized the situation since eleven o’clock. For
five hours he had been in the thick of the fighting, under a cross-fire.
Shells burst around him and his Staff. General de Courson and Captain de
Trécesson had fallen gravely wounded close to the Emperor. In retiring
the troops had compelled His Majesty to fall back, and he was jammed
against the walls of the town. When, at half-past eleven, he freed
himself, more than 30,000 men were heaped together in the streets of
Sedan, pell-mell. The enemy’s shells fell in their midst, as they were
still falling on the battlefield itself, and dealt out the same
destruction. On the bridge a shell burst two yards from the Emperor,
killing two horses by his side. The marvel was that he escaped with his
life and uninjured.
After visiting Marshal MacMahon, the Emperor tried to remount his
charger. As the confusion rendered this impossible, His Majesty went to
the Sous-Préfecture, and there awaited the dénouement. The commanders of
the various corps soon joined him, declaring that the troops were all in
such disorder in the streets that further resistance was impossible.
General Pellé, who, next day, voted against the capitulation, said to
the Emperor: “Sire, I am only a soldier. I want to save your Majesty,
but at this moment you cannot leave the ramparts. To attempt to do so
would be useless.”
The Emperor replied that he would not sacrifice the life of a single
soldier to save his own, and that he had made up his mind to share the
fate of the army.
Having minutely questioned the Generals as to the state of affairs, the
Emperor sent General Lebrun to find General de Wimpffen, and tell him,
since it was useless to continue the struggle, to ask for an armistice.
A full hour having elapsed without any answer from De Wimpffen, and the
murderous fire of the Germans continuing, while the French guns remained
silent, the Emperor himself ordered the white flag to be hoisted on the
citadel. The King immediately sent an aide-de-camp to demand the
surrender of the town. The Emperor, believing that in delivering himself
up to the victors he would obtain better terms for the army and for
France, despatched one of his own aides-de-camp to the King with the
message that the Emperor placed his sword in the Prussian Sovereign’s
hands. On the following day (Friday, September 2), at a Council of War,
composed of thirty Generals, presided over by General de Wimpffen, it
was recognized that capitulation was inevitable, only two Generals
voting against it.
The Emperor (General Pajol asserts it most positively) was entirely
ignorant of the strategical movements which led the army from Châlons to
Mouzon, and from thence to Sedan. To charge Napoleon III. with being
militarily responsible for the capitulation of Sedan is an injustice, as
Marshal MacMahon was perfectly free in all his movements. The Emperor
has been personally charged with wrecking the army. He could but try to
save the crew of the ship, of which he was no longer the captain. This
is what he endeavoured to do when, at three o’clock in the afternoon, he
ordered the white flag to be hoisted. Half an hour later one or other of
the Generals would have given the order, but in the meantime thousands
more lives would have been sacrificed.
The politicians tried to throw the whole of the responsibility of Sedan
upon the Emperor, whom they would certainly not have credited with a
victory, had there been one. But Marshal MacMahon, whose noble
simplicity and loyal character are known to all, wrote, in October,
1870, a letter to the Emperor, dated from Pouru-aux-Bois, in which he
said: “The Emperor may be assured that I should never think, for the
purpose of defending myself personally, of misrepresenting the events
which I witnessed in the last campaign.”
These words do the Duc de Magenta honour, and cast upon each individual
the responsibility of his acts.
“Such is the true story of this deplorable day. I have given the details
in sober language. Desiring only to tell the truth, I have related only
what I myself saw.”[98]
Were the Emperor’s cheeks rouged on the day of Sedan? Zola has asserted
that they were so coloured “to make him appear juvenile, and even
jovial.”[99] Personally I can neither confirm nor deny the allegation,
for, although I was with the Saxons during the battle, and remained on
the field the two following days, I failed to get a glimpse of the
Emperor, who had been within an ace of being captured on August 29 and
30 by the troops I was then accompanying. His Majesty (so they assured
me) was bundled into a third-class carriage of the last train used by
his forces, and so escaped capture by the skin of his teeth.
It is quite possible that some of those numerous informants of Zola,
from whose stories he mainly compiled his marvellous narrative, may have
inadvertently led him astray in this particular matter, if not on some
other points. I have conversed with a French gentleman who was close to
the Emperor an hour or
[Illustration: NAPOLEON III. AT SEDAN.
From an unpublished photograph, privately taken at the instance of the
Comte de La Chapelle, of the picture painted by the distinguished French
artist, Olivier Pichat. Lent for this work by the Vicomte de La
Chapelle.
_To face p. 216._]
two before the surrender and with a Prussian officer who was one of
Napoleon’s escort. Both closely scrutinized the captive, but neither
noticed any unusual colour in his face. Zola was not the first Frenchman
to accuse Napoleon III. of cowardice (for that is what is implied by the
story of the painted cheeks); he may have borrowed the idea from
Kinglake, who describes the Emperor at Magenta turning green, yellow,
and white under the Austrian fire.
Those who enjoyed the personal acquaintance of the Emperor are unanimous
in the opinion that he was less of a poseur than most men. There was
nothing of the “roi du théâtre” about him. Throughout the short campaign
which finished for Napoleon III. at Sedan he was, both physically and
mentally, unstrung by his malady. It was indispensable that he should
begin the campaign in good health, and be able to keep the saddle for
several hours at a stretch. Gamble, the Scotsman, who superintended the
imperial stables for many years, and stood by the Emperor on the day of
Sedan, said that His Majesty “did his best to court death,” despite the
entreaties of his officers; and Gamble’s testimony is confirmed by many
other eye-witnesses.
The late M. Paul de Cassagnac gave Zola credit for his account of Sedan,
but emphatically denied the rouging story. De Cassagnac was a good
witness, for he was with the Emperor at Sedan. “It was on my shoulder,”
he has told us, “that Napoleon III. leaned when, seriously ill and
suffering terribly, he got into the carriage in order to surrender
himself as a prisoner.”
The question was even discussed by M. Melchior de Voguë, who affirmed
that Zola was wrong.[100] Princesse Mathilde, cousin of Napoleon III.,
“refused to believe that the Emperor would have acted so theatrically on
such a momentous occasion.” She had certainly never told anyone that her
relative was rouged. M. Robert Mitchell corroborated Paul de Cassagnac.
He was a volunteer in the 3rd Zouaves at Sedan, often saw the Emperor,
and was certain he was not rouged. M. Mitchell argued (and military
experts will agree with him) that no writer, “not even Zola,” could
adequately describe what happened at Sedan without having been actually
in the battle. We may believe Paul de Cassagnac and Robert Mitchell, and
may be certain that Zola was misinformed.
I pass on to the final phase of Sedan.
In newspapers, in magazines, in volumes of memoirs, in histories of the
war, there have appeared, year after year, ever since the autumn of
1870, as many different accounts of what passed the day following the
battle of Sedan, at the interviews which Napoleon III. had, first with
Bismarck, and next with the King of Prussia, as would fill volumes. It
is natural that it should be so, for at the meeting of the Emperor and
the King no third person was present, and the Emperor’s talk with
Bismarck was heard by only one other man. What passed between the two
Sovereigns was related to his son, the then Crown Prince, by the King,
and recorded by the Prince in his “Diary,” in his royal father’s own
words. The Prince-reporter’s account of the interview is as follows:
The King began by saying that, as the fortune of war had gone
against the Emperor, and as the latter had handed his sword to the
King, His Majesty had come to ask Napoleon III. his present
intentions. Napoleon replied that he placed himself in the King’s
hands. The King rejoined that it was with a feeling of real
compassion that he saw his adversary in such a position; the more
so as he knew that it had not been easy for the Emperor to resolve
upon war. This assertion was visibly welcome to Napoleon. He warmly
assured the King that he had given way to public opinion when he
decided upon war. Thereupon the King remarked that, as public
opinion had had that tendency, those who had excited it were the
more culpable. Then, recurring to the immediate object of the
Emperor’s visit, the King asked Napoleon if he wished to enter into
negotiations.
The Emperor replied in the negative, observing that, being a
prisoner, he had no control over the Government. And upon the King
inquiring where the Government was, Napoleon replied, “At Paris.”
The King then turned the conversation upon the Emperor’s future,
and offered him the château of Wilhelmshöhe as a residence--an
offer which he immediately accepted. He appeared particularly
satisfied when the King said he would give him an escort of honour
which would insure his safety to the frontier. As Napoleon, in the
course of the conversation, appeared to suppose that he had had
against him the army of Prince Frederick Charles, the King told him
that it was not so--it was the army of the Crown Prince of Saxony
and my army. The Emperor having inquired where the army of Prince
Frederick Charles was, the King, emphasizing the words, replied,
“With the 7th Army Corps, before Metz.” The Emperor, painfully
surprised, took a step backwards. On his face there was a sad
expression, for now it was made clear to him that he had not been
opposed by all the German army.
The King praised the bravery of the French, which Napoleon
willingly recognized. The conversation lasted a good quarter of an
hour, and then both retired. The tall figure of the King dominated.
The Emperor saw me, and held out one hand, while with the other he
tried to dry the tears which rolled down his face. He uttered words
of gratitude to me, and for the generous manner in which the King
had treated him. I spoke naturally in the same sense, and asked him
if he had been able to get some rest during the night. He replied
that chagrin and the thought of his family had banished all
possibility of sleep. When I expressed my regret that the war had
been so terrible and so sanguinary, he said it was, alas! too true,
too terrible, especially as “they had not wanted war!” He had not
received any news of the Empress and the Prince Imperial for a
week, and asked if he might send her a private telegram--a request
which was granted. We shook hands as we parted, Boyen and Lynar
accompanying him. There was something sinister-looking about his
suite in their new uniforms, in marked contrast with ours, so
damaged by the war. When he had gone a telegram from the Empress
arrived, and I sent it to him by Seckendorff.... Some fears are
expressed lest the results of the war should not come up to the
expectations of the German people.
The only witness of the meeting (September 2, 1870) between Napoleon
III. and Count Bismarck at Donchéry, the day after the battle of Sedan,
was Colonel Freiherr Josef von Ellrichshausen (who died in September,
1906). After the Colonel had ridden out with his men to take over a
convoy of wounded French officers and prisoners, and while thus engaged,
the carriage with the Emperor in it appeared. At the same moment several
horsemen, amongst whom was Bismarck, rode up. Von Ellrichshausen
reported to the Chancellor the presence of the Emperor, whereupon
Bismarck at once sprang from his horse, and, in the Colonel’s own words,
“approached Napoleon almost with humility, and the words, ‘Sire,
qu’est-ce que vous désirez?’” As conversation in the small wayside house
(the only building near at hand) was impossible owing to the presence of
many dead and wounded soldiers, Von Ellrichshausen and his men brought
out two chairs, upon which Napoleon and Bismarck sat while discussing
the situation.[101]
The late Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, accompanied by Sir Henry James (Lord
James of Hereford), happened to be at Verviers when Napoleon III. was
being taken to Wilhelmshöhe. Drummond Wolff found the Emperor looking
anything but ill, nor did his features betray any traces of that deep
emotion which other eye-witnesses have dwelt upon so eloquently. The
Emperor “leant somewhat heavily on the arm of the gentleman who assisted
him to alight” from the carriage which had brought him to Verviers. His
Majesty read a despatch which was handed to him, “sat down at a table in
the waiting-room, and was engaged in writing for some time.” He then
took a turn up and down the platform, returned to the waiting-room, and
read _l’Indépendence Belge_ until the moment came for him to enter the
special train which took him to his destination, Wilhelmshöhe. Sir Henry
Drummond Wolff noted with the Emperor General Chazal, who was in
command of the Belgian army of observation on the German frontier, and
at whose earnest request the Emperor wrote a full explanation of the
causes which, in his opinion, led to his defeat at Sedan.[102]
To the list of English journalists who suffered from the spy mania
in the Franco-German War, and whose cases were recorded in the
_Star_, may be added the name of Mr. Edward Legge, who was at that
time the youngest of the war “specials.” As the representative of
the _Irish Times_ he was present at the first engagement (the
“baptism of fire”) at Saarbrücken, and the next morning started
alone (the fighting having scattered the reporting battalion) to
overtake the Germans, who had retreated the previous day. He was
not long in coming up with the wearers of the “Pickelhaube,” and in
being arrested by a cavalry picket. The imaginary “French spy” was
put in a springless waggon, and taken from one place to another,
and before one General after the other, until he felt somewhat
weary of the involuntary promenade in full view of König Wilhelm’s
legions. Appearances were decidedly against him, but nobody seemed
disposed to give the order to put a bullet through him, although
that was the fate which he hourly anticipated. The hectoring
General von Steinmetz first believed and then relegated the
prisoner to General von Goeben, who liberated him on condition that
he went straight off to Cologne, and did not return to “the front”
again. The required promise was given--and broken, and a week
afterwards the correspondent was back at Saarbrücken, where he read
the news of his death in the _Old Free Press_ (Vienna) and also in
the _Times_ (which later contradicted it under the pleasing heading
of “A Revenant”). The youthful “special” passed scatheless through
the battles of Beaumont and Sedan, accompanying a Saxon battery
into action on the memorable First of September, and remaining “in
the thick of it” until nightfall; and the next day marched with the
same battery to Paris, or, rather, to Montmorency and St. Gratien,
where he remained during several weeks of the siege.--_Star._