THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2351, 14 October 1870, Page 3

THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

The following graphic narrative of the progres■< of the war is taken from the A : Wc arc at length enabled to obtain something like a clear out’ine of the general plan of the campaign, although, owing to the brevity and the elliptical character of the telegraphic messages, we cannot pledge ourselves to perfect accuracy with respect to some points of detail. When the war commenced the three wings of the Prussian army seem to have entered France from the following points : —The right wing, commanded by Prince Frederick Charles, from Treves; the centre, led hy General Steinmetz, from Hombnrg ; and the left under the comma d of the Crown Prince, f om Landau. In the rear was the veteran strategist, General Moltko, directing the movements of the whole. The position of the enemy was this —The French left wing, under the command of Marshal Bazainc, occupied Metz, and would of course have to hold the Prussian right wing in check ; the centre, under Marshal Canrobcrt, was stationed at ' ancy ; and the right, led hy Marshal M‘Mahon, rested on Savcrnc ; each of these posts being in railway communication with Paris. If the reader wrl follow the operations of these divisions on the map, he wilt perceive that the right wing of the Prussian army commenced moving on the sth of August from Treves in a southerly direction to Saarlmrg and Saarlonis, with the intention, probably, of supporting the centre wing, if necessary, at Saarbruck. The left wing moved simultaneously upon Bitsch ; so that, should occasion arise, the whole mass of the army might be preoipjtat d on the enemy in a general engagement ; the throe wings of the army being so placed as to rend r a similar convergence on their part practicable in a few hours Seeing, however, that there was no prospect of a conflict of this kind the right wing of the Prussian army moved westward towards Thionvillc, which it invested. The object appears to have been to get in the rear of Metz, and break the communication between that fortress and Nancy, Marshal Baziinc, with tnc b ft wing of the French army, endeavored, but unsuccessfully, to cut his way through the enemy’s lines. There was three days’ hard fighting, from the 16th to the TStli of August, the principal scene of action being the village of Gravellotte, just outside of Metz, on the old high road to Paris; but the French were driven hack hy the right and centre wings of the Prussian army, with a loss of 50,01)0, 2 eagles, and 7 cannon of the Imperial Guard. The Emperor had left Montz for Chalons the day before the fighting commenced. Meanwhile Marshal M‘Mahon, whose first army had been annihilated at Haguonau, on the oth August, as wo shall subsequently have occasion to mention, had been furnished with a second army for the purpose of relieving Marshal Bazaine at Metz. In this attempt he was unsuccessful. His march was intercepted hy the Prus.-ian right army at Buzancy, midway between Mezieivs and Verdun, and after two days’ hard fighting, he was compelled to retreat upon Sedan ; out of which, hp had been driven, at the Uteat dates, leaving 90,000 prisoners in the hands of the enemy. Wc now turn to the operation of the centre wing of the Prussian army', a portion of which met with the only reverse of the campaign. This was at Saarbrnek, on the 2nd of August, whore 30,000 French were opposed to 6000 Prussians only. It was brilliantly retrieved, however, on that day week, at the same p’acc, v.fion General I'roi'Sard’s (•ovp was’ dispersed, and the entire camp ojt one division became the booty of the Prussians. From tlv ncc the ventre wing proceeded tq occupy Forbach, which was won and laid in ashes, after a tremendous engagement; and then advanced on Metz, ■where it distinguished itself in the manner m ntionod above. To the Prussian left wing, under the command of the Crown Prince, belongs the honor of a scries pf viciurks, commencing at Wcifact, berg pn thp'dtfi of August. Here two fortresses wese captured, aqd General Douay’s divjsjqn qf MarshalM'Mahon’s wing was defeated, and the general killed. This was followed up by the decisive battle of the Haguc’iau on the 6th, when the marshal himself, notwithstanding lie !pu| keen hcavilv mnfpvcyd from -Marshal Canrohert’s wing at Naqoy, sustained a crushing defeat, the contlict raging from eleven in the morning until nine at night. The remains of the throe wings of the French army then fell hack upon Nancy and Metz, hotly pursued hy the Prussians, who ra do themselves masters of Sarrehourg and Lunoville, Nancy was evacuated hy the French, and taken po-session, qf hy the cncniy, who had adi v ancy Eon the 2nd of September to Pont it M'ous.soii, midway between Nappy and Metz. At that date the departments of the Meuse and the Mipne were in tfic bands of the Prnssgd ls I Marshal M‘Mahon having abandoned both Chalops sur Marne and llheims to the Cvnwxi Prince, who was following him up through Vouziers and Sedan, The right of t’.ie Prussian army was occupying Verdun, the scouta of the left wing were at Epornay, about eighty miles from Paris, for the occupation of which capital a fourth Prussian army had been brought into the field ; while the Republican Government of France had declared its intention of laying tb.o metropolis in ashes rather than, goo Urn Prussians once more yygtur their horses in the Seine, and of emulating the patriotism of the Republican army of 1792. While these great events were being transacted by the military forces of North Germany, 00,000 volunteers from South Germany bad laid siege to the line old city of

S trashing. The military commander of the place was inflexible ; and after a bombardment which commenced on the 19th of .August, and was continued until the 2nd of September, laying the city in ruins and driving the famished inhabitants for shelter to the noisome sowers, the gallant officer still refused to capitulate. It will be. a misfortune to civilised mankind if the magnificent cathedral of iStiMsburo should have been involved in the general destruction ol the place. The King of Prussia seems determined to treat the ancient provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which are pretty nearly coterminous with the modern departments of the Meuse, Moselle, Meurthe, Vosges, and the Upper and L wer Rhine, as German territory by right of conquest, and has appointed governors general to take charge of them.