STRASBURG AFTER THE SIEGE.--ALONG THE RHINE.--HOME, AND BACK AGAIN TO
VERSAILLES.--CAPTAIN BRACKENBURY.--I LOSE MY PAPERS AND HAVE TO GET
FRESH ONES.
At half-past nine we arrived at Strasburg, and were all billeted
together in the most central part of the town, at a grand hotel, where
we had the best of living and accommodation. There were about thirty
officers quartered there, with whom we messed. I strolled out in the
evening through some of the busiest streets. They were brilliantly
lighted up; the shops were open, and as much bustle and business seemed
to be going on, as if we were in the heart of a peaceable country, and
no siege of Strasburg had just taken place.
However, before long I learned that a large section of the inhabitants
looked upon the Germans with anything but friendly feelings.
Next morning, 12th January, we went out, six in number, to see the town.
We visited the fine old Cathedral, and hung about it for an hour,
examining every detail so far as time permitted. One of the chief
attractions was its famous clock, which I was quite ready to admire;
but the complicated details, and curious performances of this wonderful
timepiece are too well known to need description. When Sherwell and I
parted from our companions, we went to visit the ruins of the great
Library and the Theatre, both of which were burned to the ground during
the siege.
Our dinner in the evening was splendidly served, in the French style,
and with abundance of wines.
Next morning Sherwell, myself, and two of our old travelling companions
chartered a spacious waggonette, in which we set out, determined to see
all that we could in and around Strasburg. We first drove through that
part of the town which was destroyed by the besiegers,--a dreary but
most interesting excursion. So far as I could judge, about one fifth of
the suburbs had been ruined. When I say ruined, I don't mean simply made
roofless and windowless,--that might have happened in a huge
conflagration; but that whole streets were reduced to long heaps of
stones, with a few yards' interval between, which marked where the
roadway had formerly passed. Nothing could have given a more vivid idea
of the effects of a bombardment now-a-days. Even where the demolition
was not so complete, and where portions only of the house had been
carried away, the sight was appalling. Some of the furniture still
remained in its place on the half-shattered floors, being too high to
reach easily, or not worth the trouble and danger of removing it.
Here was a second edition of Bazeilles, on a far more extensive scale. I
believe one of the best accounts of what took place during the siege is
to be read in Auerbach's novel on the subject, called _Waldfried_.
Having wandered for a couple of hours through the ruins, we drove
outside the town. Then we alighted, and one of our party, a captain of
artillery who had been through the siege, acted as our guide, and made
all the particulars clear to us. Walking along the fortifications, we
arrived at the immense breach in the parapet which sealed the fate of
Strasburg. It was of great extent, and already hundreds of men were at
work repairing it;--but in the interests of Germany, not of France, from
whose dominion the city had passed, for who knows how many years?
Further on we saw a second breach, not so wide as the other. We now
proceeded a considerable distance along the parallels and rifle pits,
and visited the captured French lunettes, which seemed to be matters of
intense interest to my military friends. A curious fact I learned about
this siege was, that of the garrison in the town a comparatively smaller
number were killed than of civilians, who met their death in the streets
by the bursting of shells. This I was told by several who had been
present, and who were likely to be well-informed.
When we had explored the various evidences of the mining operations
during this memorable blockade, it was almost evening. We returned to
our hotel, overcome with admiration at the skill of those who had not
only devised, but successfully carried through, these intricate plans
for approaching, storming, and capturing a stronghold with such mighty
defences. Assuredly, the campaigns of 1870, in the open, and about the
historic fortresses of France, afford examples of science, courage, and
endurance which it will not be easy to match, and may be impossible to
surpass, in the future.
On the 14th, I was up early, went out to make some purchases, came home,
packed up, and set off from the station. We crossed the Rhine on the
beautiful bridge to Kehl, took our seats in a fresh train, and started
northwards. We went by Karlsruhe and Heidelberg, at the latter of which
places we halted twenty minutes; and soon after leaving it we found
ourselves in a hop-growing district, where there was nothing to be seen
but hop-stacks; we passed, also, through extensive vineyards: but, as
yet, had only an occasional glimpse of the Rhine in the distance.
During part of our journey, we skirted round steep mountain barriers,
which, at times, towered above us with their impenetrable masses of
fir-trees, at others, being thickly sprinkled with snow and tipped with
hoar-frost, shone resplendent in the sunlight, as if silver dust had
been shaken all over them, while here and there peeped out the
snow-capped towers of some old castle or baronial hall. I do not pretend
that these hills would have looked anything wonderful, had they not been
covered with snow, and had not the pellicles of ice, formed on the fir
trees by a thick fog the night before, first run into tears, and then
been frozen hard, covering the trees with brilliants which sparkled in
the sun. These decorations, indeed, gave them an air of fairyland.
On arriving at Darmstadt I took leave of Sherwell and my
fellow-travellers, who were going on to Hamburg, and took the train to
Mayence. It was very late when I got there, and I stayed the night at
the Railway Hotel; for, having a sick officer's pass, I could break my
journey where I pleased, which was a great convenience, besides being a
cheap mode of travelling. I had practically nothing to pay; my
sufficient warrant was the pass, stamped with the royal seal, which I
exhibited to inquiring officials.
Mayence is not interesting. I went on next morning as early as I could,
had to wait at Coblentz and Bonn to allow some special military trains
to pass, and did not get into Cologne till the afternoon. The Rhine
scenery, which one gets at times from the train, is very fine; but
somehow this was the grand disappointment of my journey. It did not come
up to my expectations; and I felt far more delight on viewing the
unrivalled beauties of our own Killarney, and of the river Blackwater.
But I had not yet gone up the Rhine in a steamboat, which is quite
another expedition than the one I was taking just then.
From Cologne, which I explored in a few hours, I travelled by Aix la
Chapelle to Liège. At the Hôtel de l'Europe my quarters seemed
comfortable; but I had no longer a free billet, and might consider
myself to be now in the enemy's country.
It was the 16th, and I went off to call on my friend Vercourt, with whom
I spent the forenoon. Then by Ostend, London, and Holyhead, I prosecuted
my journey, and arrived in Dublin on the morning of the 19th, and at
home at Scarteen on the 22nd.
My furlough was made out for a month: but eight days after my arrival, a
telegram came from Dr. Pratt, saying:--
"I return to-morrow; go to Versailles as soon as possible, find out
Ambulance, and join it".
I had no alternative but to pack up and start next day, which I did by
the morning train on Jan. 31st. On reaching London, I called at the
English Society's rooms in Trafalgar Square, and reported myself to
Colonel Lloyd Lindsay. Mr. Pearce, the secretary, made me known to
Captain Burgess; and I met there my _confrère_, Dr. Frank, who greeted
me cordially, and sent many affectionate messages to his former
colleagues. It will be remembered that Dr. Frank was chief of that
section of our Ambulance which had a hospital at Balan and Bazeilles,
and which afterwards established itself at Épernay, where it worked for
some months before disbanding.
Having got all requisite papers and certificates of identification, I
started from London Bridge for Newhaven. As I was taking my ticket I met
Captain Brackenbury, who told me that he also was going to Versailles to
rejoin the headquarters of the Crown Prince, that he had a private
carriage at Dieppe, was going to drive all the way, and would willingly
give me a seat. This kind offer I gladly accepted, and was delighted to
have so entertaining and accomplished a host on my journey. At Newhaven,
as we were crossing by night, we turned at once into our berths, and
slept until called by the steward in sight of Dieppe.
Going up on deck I found it was a lovely morning, warm and genial, and
very unlike the weather we had been enduring of late. As we approached
Dieppe in the morning sun, we could see the glistening bayonets of the
ubiquitous Prussian sentries. They were pacing to and fro on the pier,
in what appeared to us an aggressive, not to say, menacing fashion. I
confess the sight startled me: we had the vision of England still in
our eyes, and these ambitious warriors seemed too dangerously near. I
felt that I should have liked to take them by the collar, and pitch them
into the sea. I could not help saying to Capt. Brackenbury that I felt
inclined to ask them what they were peering at across the Channel.
But, as he dryly remarked, their answer might be that they were peering
at a little island fortress on the high seas:--a mere speck in creation
when compared to the great German Empire which had just been proclaimed
at Versailles. He was in the right of it; and we had already held
conversations on this subject at Orleans, which I should like to set
down, were not my space fast running out.
The carriage in which we travelled from Dieppe was a large and
comfortable sort of landau, from which we could view the country at our
ease.
The weather was now mild and bright, the snow had disappeared, and our
journey became a pleasure. But when travelling between Mantes and St.
Germain, as I was getting out of the carriage to walk up a steep hill, I
had the misfortune to lose out of my overcoat pocket all my passes,
letters of identification and the other documents I carried with me. At
the gates of the Forest of St. Germain, a Prussian non-commissioned
officer stepped out, and demanded our papers. I was minus every
document which would have accounted satisfactorily for my being there;
and I should certainly have been arrested and sent off to the Commandant
of Versailles under an escort, had not Capt. Brackenbury assured the
officer on duty that he had seen the papers in question. I had, as it
happened, shown them to him that very morning. This satisfied the guard,
and I was allowed to pass; but I need hardly say that I was supremely
uncomfortable at the case I was in, and thought my journeys along the
valley of the Seine were always doomed to misfortune. Last time the
Francs-Tireurs had arrested me; now it was the turn of the Prussians.
When we reached St. Germain, we dined, in spite of my lost papers, and
visited the Palace and the Bois, from the terrace of which there is such
a glorious view, away to Mont Valérien and one or two other of the
forts. As we were looking about us, there was quite a stir, bordering on
excitement among the soldiers. King William, now the Emperor of Germany,
and the Crown Prince, were expected every moment from Versailles, and
the road was lined with infantry and cavalry to receive them. But we
waited an hour, and his Imperial Majesty did not arrive, so we resumed
our journey to Versailles.
There I left Capt. Brackenbury at a private house, where he and Dr.
Russell, the _Times_ correspondent, put up; and thanking him for his
great kindness I bade him good-bye. This was the last time I saw him. It
would be difficult to do justice to the character of this noble soldier;
a more generous heart or more gracious disposition, I never had the
privilege of knowing.
My business now was to search for lodgings, I could no longer
requisition one at the Mayor's, since I had lost all my papers. Having
secured a niche, I resolved to call at the Hôtel des Réservoirs, where I
knew I should find Prince Pless, or some one who would recognise me, and
get me these important testimonials. By way of introduction I looked in
at the office of the Military Ambulance stores, and inquired whether all
those belonging to the Anglo-American Corps had been taken to Orleans or
not. This was a happy thought; for they informed me that all the
particulars I required would be given by Major de Haveland in the Rue
des Réservoirs,--the Maltese knight to whom I have referred as visiting
us at Ste. Euverte. This was what I wanted. I called at once on the
Major, and he undertook to see the commandant of the place, and explain
the whole matter. Thus, thanks to his kind attention, I was given the
necessary papers next day, and that evening I chartered a car to
Étampes, from which place I could get to Orleans by train.