Note.--This letter did not reach its destination, but, together with the
entire post, was captured by franc-tireurs and published by a French
newspaper.
VENDRESSE, 3 September [1870].
_My Dear Heart_:
I left my present quarters before early dawn the day before
yesterday, came back to-day, and have in the mean time
witnessed the great battle of Sedan, in which we made about
thirty thousand prisoners, and threw the remainder of the
French army, which we have been pursuing since Bar-le-Duc,
into the fortress, where they had to surrender themselves,
along with the Emperor, prisoners of war. Yesterday morning
at five o'clock, after I had been negotiating until one
o'clock A.M. with Moltke and the French generals about the
capitulation to be concluded, I was awakened by General
Reille, with whom I am acquainted, to tell me that Napoleon
wished to speak with me. Unwashed and unbreakfasted, I rode
towards Sedan, found the Emperor in an open carriage, with
three aides-de-camp and three in attendance on horseback,
halted on the road before Sedan. I dismounted, saluted him
just as politely as at the Tuileries, and asked for his
commands. He wished to see the King; I told him, as the truth
was, that his Majesty had his quarters fifteen miles away, at
the spot where I am now writing. In answer to Napoleon's
question where he should go to, I offered him, as I was not
acquainted with the country, my own quarters at Donchéry, a
small place in the neighborhood, close by Sedan. He accepted,
and drove, accompanied by his six Frenchmen, by me and by
Carl (who in the mean time had ridden after me) through the
lonely morning towards our lines. Before coming to the spot,
he began to hesitate on account of the possible crowd, and he
asked me if he could alight in a lonely cottage by the
wayside; I had it inspected by Carl, who brought word that it
was mean and dirty. "N'importe," said N., and I ascended with
him a rickety, narrow staircase. In an apartment of ten
feet square, with a deal table and two rush-bottomed chairs,
we sat for an hour; the others were below. A powerful
contrast with our last meeting in the Tuileries in 1867. Our
conversation was a difficult thing, if I wanted to avoid
touching on topics which could not but affect painfully the
man whom God's mighty hand had cast down. I had sent Carl to
fetch officers from the town and to beg Moltke to come. We
then sent one of the former to reconnoitre, and discovered
two and one-half miles off, in Fresnois, a small château
situated an a park. Thither I accompanied him with an escort
of the cuirassier regiment of life-guards, which had meantime
been brought up; and there we concluded with the French
general-in-chief, Wimpffen, the capitulation by virtue of
which forty to sixty thousand Frenchmen,--I do not know it
accurately at present,--with all they possess, became our
prisoners. Yesterday and the day before cost France one
hundred thousand men and an Emperor. This morning the latter,
with all his suite and horses and carriages, started for
Wilhelmshöhe, near Cassel.
_THE SURRENDER AT SEDAN_.
Photogravure from a Painting by Anton Von Werner.
The surrender, at Sedan, in 1870, of the French army of 84,000 under
Napoleon III., MacMahon and Wimpffen, to the Germans, 250,000 strong,
under William I., was the signal for the downfall of the French empire
and the establishment of the republic. In the accompanying picture,
the figure seated at the extreme left is GENERAL FAURE; the middle
figure of the group of three, standing, is GENERAL CASTELNAU. GENERAL
WIMPFFEN, who succeeded MacMahon as commander Sept. 1 and signed the
capitulation Sept. 2, stands in a stooping posture, leaning upon his
chair and the table. Across the table, his right hand resting upon it,
and standing erect, is GENERAL MOLTKE, The seated figure in the
foreground is BISMARCK; behind whom, writing, stands COUNT NOSTIZ.
[Illustration]
It is an event of great weight in the world's history, a
victory for which we will humbly thank the Almighty, and
which decides the war, even if we have to carry it on against
France shorn of her Emperor.
I must conclude. With heartfelt joy I learnt from your and
Maria's letters that Herbert has arrived among you. Bill I
spoke to yesterday, as already telegraphed, and embraced him
from horseback in his Majesty's presence, while he stood
motionless in the ranks. He is very healthy and happy. I saw
Hans and Fritz Carl, both Billows, in the Second dragoon
guards, well and cheerful.
Good-by, my heart; love to the children.