THE BATTLE OF SAARBRUCK.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 737, 8 October 1870, Page 3

THE BATTLE OF SAARBRUCK.

[fkom the special correspondent of the times.] Paris, August 8. It has been out of my power to send you any sort of communication, either by letter or by telegram, since the evening of Friday, the sth, when I left Paris for " the front." The occupations of the interval have been of a very picturesque variety certainly, but they have kept me for the most port in a state of locomotion, and always in situations where access to postofiice and wire were alike impossible, even if the authoiities would have permitted the use of either, which was scarcely probable. 1 now propose to give you, as shortly as possible, an account of my stewardship from the night of Friday, the sth, when I left Paris for Metz, down to this, the afternoon of Monday, the Bth, wheu I find aiyself back in Paris by the force of circumstances over which I have had no control. The fact that the Imperial head-quarters were still at Metz, decided me in its favor : aud for Metz 1 accordingly took my ticket. The train by which I travelled literally " dragged its slow length along," its slowress and its length increasing perceptibly after everj stoppage, by reason of the fresh detachments of troops which each successive station contributed to our cargo. The stoppages were long, the work seemed to be done in a leisurely, chatty sort of way, and at every halt there was an abundance of general conversation, always, of course, on the all absorbing topic By what mental process it was reached I cannot tell, but as the train, approached Metz I had arrived at the conclusion, the result 1 suppose of some unconscious digestion of all the talk of the past night— that the wisest thing I could do would be to leave my baggage to look after itself at the station, and go on in the same traiu to Forbach, the French frontier town in the direction of Saarbruck. Forbach is, 1 should think, between forty and fifty miles from Metz, but the journey took us fully four hours, owing to a continuance of the interruptions which had impeded our progress during the night. It was ten o'clock when we left the train and went into the town to see if it might be possible to get any means of conveyance to Sarlouis, where it was rumored that an engagement was likely to come off that day. 1 found, however, that there was no sort of transport to be got, and moreover that to attempt to cross the frontier was strictly prohibited. Under the circumstances, I resolved to console myself with breakfast and a stroll afterwards to the French froutier, with the vague intention of seeing what could be seen of the relative positions of tha two armies. The little town was full of soldiers, but there was no appearance of bustle or excitement. I found a crowd of officers breakfasting in the hotel to which I went, and outside a cafe, on the opposite side of the ' street, cheery groups were lounging, i smoking, and chatting, all wearing a pacific and unexpectant air, truly disheartening to a man who had smelt the battle afar off and come to see it. The breakfast supplied to me was not of a quality to induce much delay over it, and shortly before 11 o'clock, accompanied by a country guide, whose services I had secured to pilot mo through the woods in case of ness^ity, and by my own servant I started ofF along the road leading from Forbach to Saarbruck. The distance between these two towns is I should imagine, some six or seven miles Forbach lies at the end of a valley, which runs for eight or nin*! miles in a northeasterly direction— a fertile, very level valley, varingfrom one and a half or two to four milies in width, and bounded on either side by densely wooded slopes and

eights, which are however, of no great altitude in the neighbourhood of the plain. At the other extremity of this valley, and on its left hand side looking from Forbach, lies Saarbruck, but the two towns are not visible from each other, the latter being buried in a hollow of the hills. Sarregue-mines (within the French frontier) lies at a somewhat greater distance from Forbach, in a south-easterly direct'o i — that is to say, on the right-hand side of the valley, and at the extremity opposite to that in which Saarbruck is situated. In plain terms, if you looked straight up the vale from Forbach, you would have Saarbruck on your left front, while Sarregue-mines, also hidden from view by the heights, would be on your right — perhaps slightly to your right rear. It is difficult, after a hurried view of the position, and a hasty comparison of the map on the spot, and during the excitement of an action, to be sure that one's description is accurate. I can by no means vouch for mine but must be understood only to state the impression which I brought away of the general lie of the land. Proceeding along the road in the direction of Saarbruck, we began to pick up some information as to the actual state of things, and I found to my great surprise that the French Division which had occupied the heights overlooking Saarbrnck, on the Forbach side, had volun- \ tarily abandoned that position on the previous evening, and retired within their own frontier, being at this time disposed about Forbach, but how aud where I could not then precisely ascertain. At about two kilometres from the town, in the direction of Saarbruck, the long valley narrows itself slightly. Here the road turns at a sharp angle to the left, and with the trues which are planted beside it and the village of Styrcn-Wendel (consisting mainly of the buildings connected with a large factory) divides the valley, as it were, into two sections. In front of this quasi- barrier — that is to say, in the outer section of this valley —we came upon a regiment of infantry and a battery of artillery, which were the furthest advanced troops we could see at that time. The arms of the infantry regiment were piled, the men were lounging about in easy deshabille, some of them lying in their tentes d'abris, some cooidng, some cleaning their accoutrements ; the same symptoms were observable among the gunners ; nothing betokened any expectation of trouble or disturbance from the enemy. We had scarcely made these observations when of a sudden the roar of a cannon was heard, sounding quite close to us, and, on looking through my fieldglass, I saw that a Prussian battery, posted on the external slope of the heights which the French had abandoned the night before, and in front of a largo farmhouse (to which, for convenience and because of its red roof, we gave during the day the name of the " Maison Rouge"), had opened fire on some French troops at the further extremity of the valley, which were then invisible to us, but which afterwards represented in the battle the French Right. Immediately all was hurry and bustle. Orderlies and aides-de-camp began to tear back and forward along the road to Forbach. The battery of artil-

lery was got into position facing up the \ valleys, the arms of the infantry ' were unpiled, their tents were struck, I and, as quick as lightning, a working' party were hard at work throwing up an N entrenchment in front of their position. At this time we were ordered back, and we turned off the road and clambered up the wooded heights on the right of the valley, in the hope of seeing to advantage all that passed. Nor were we unfortunate ; of course we had constantly to shift our ground in defereuce to sundry projectiles which came "unpleasantly near us ; and in shifting about among the woods and hollows we were obliged, every now and then, to lose sight of the battle for a time, and thus to drop, as it were, the thread of the argument ; but, on the whole, we did very well. When we first reached the summit we found ourselves behiud the French right-centre ; on the right their artillery was replying with considerable vigour to the Prussian guns, which wera firing at them across the valley from a plateau in front of the " Maison Rouge." The Prussians seemed to be very strong in artillery, and every now and then a new battery was brought into action, moving for the most part (at this time) along their own left, and thus forcing the French to extend their right in a way which, considering the manifest inferiority of their numbers, must have anade their position, I should imagine, a very critical one at this part of the day. A little later fresh Prussian batteries began to descend straight into the plain from the direction of the "Maison Rouge," and the French right and rightcenore appeared to me to begin to fall back. Regiment after regiment, indeed, descended in skirmishing order into the plain, and, fighting like heroes, did their best to check the forward movement oi the* Prussians ; but they were always obliged to recoil before the superior numbers of the latter, and to withdraw up the heights on their own side of the valley. At this time we, the spectators, began to find our position rather a hot one, ami beat a retreat in the direction of the French left, working our way through the dense woods, always in search of some coign of vantage whence some part of the action might be visible, and kept on the gui vive by occasional stray bullets from the Prussians, which rattled through the branches over our heads. At this time also — that is to say, some two hours after the commencemant of the action, or about 1.30 p.m. — I believe the French right must have been reinforced, and particularly in artillery, for one coukl see by the line of smoke from the French guns that the backward movement was not continued. On taking up our position behind the French we found that the woods on the opposite side of the plain were by this time filled with Prussian infantry, who were keeping up a murderous tire on the French infantry in the open, and on some artillery which was replying to certain Prussian guns now in position in the plain below the "Maison Rouge," and firing up the valley in the direction of Forbach. It was here where the heaviest losses of the French must have been sustained. Obviously they fought at a tremendous disadvantage ; and the effect produced by the fire of their mitrailleurs upon the enemy, who kept themselves carefully concealed, must have been infinitely less than of that which was directed against them from the dense cover of the woods. It would be impossible to overrate the dash and valor of the French infantry at this point, or to pay too high a tribute to their endurance under such trying circumstances. A hundred times they advanced close up to the wood with a desperate impetuosity, bat, although they did all that could be expected of mortal men, they were always obliged to retire, and from our position we could see them dropping in scores at each successive advance or retreat — a, truly lamentable sight. This sort of fighting appeared to me to go steadily on for a couple of hours, the artillery being engaged incessantly on the right, and the contest which had been i^oing on at intervals between the Prussian battery firing up the plan from below the " Maison Rouge" and the French battery (or its successor) which I mentioned as being in position at the end of the plain at the beginning of the day, was suspended for a time by the explosion of a caisson in the rear of the French battery. The effect tfus tremendous, the battery was put entirely /tors dc combat ; everything was a wreck; remarkable enough, all that remained of the battery was one poor horse, which by some singular chance remained alive and erect, standing pathetically motionless among the debris. Another French battery was brought up, I think, but the Prussians did not seem to push their advantage. Their tirailleurs in the wood, however, seemed to redouble their efforts, and for the first time in the day ventured out of cover, threatening to advance from the corner of the wood and effect a lodgment about the factory buildings in Styren-Wendel. A battalion of Chasseurs de Vmcennes, who occupied this position, \ery effectually checked the proposed movement, dashing out across the open with immense elan, with fixed bayonets, it is said, charging the enemy, who at once gave way before the vigorous onslaught, and made a hasty and undignified retreat to their friendly woods. I am told that on this occasion the mitrailleuse was also used, but no part of the day was I able to see the effect produced by it. lam told the French are disappointed with the new weapon, which was relied upon with an almost supei'stitions faith ; but, after all, if it was only tested upon troops protected by thick cover it is scarcely fair to condemn it from this one trial. From this time, which was, I should say, about 5 o'clock, the battle Ivuigvushed a.li aloug the iine, and, in fact, died out altogether for a'little, so much so that we considered the affair at an end, and began slowly to return through the woods towards the town. By the time we had reached a height just overhanging the town, and from which we had an $ipen though distant view of the field, a tremendons cannonade had recommenced, principally in the Saarbruck directiou, and large reinforcements — four or five regiments of Chasseurs and Dragoons, and several regiments of infantry — arrived about the same time for the French, from the Sarregue-mines direction. The cavalry pushed rapidly up the inner section of the valley, and 1 lost sight of them for a time behind the road and the trees, in the directiou of StyrenWendel, but I believe they took up their position somewhere thereabout, and were not advanced into the outer plain. The infantry, on the other hand, were thrown at once into the woods on the right, through which we had just passed, and

were, I presume, advanced to reinforce the French line all along its extent. The battle now raged with redoubled ' vigor, but the efforts of the Prussians were apparently directed for the time chiefly against the French right. The Prussians were also at this time strongly reinforced, and I saw an immense column of their infantry descending into the plain, in the distance, from the Saarbruck direction. Their cannonade then became more and more vigorous, aud I could see by the line of the smoke that the whole French line was gradually giving way. At this critical juncture we were startled by a sudden cannonade in a totally new direction, and quite close to us. The Prussians had suddenly descended from the heights and shown themselves in force opposite the French left, which their fire — directed across the railway and high road — was threatening to turn and cut off from their communication with Metz. The French reply was as feeble as possible, and already along the road ominous symptoms of retreat began to be visible. The Prussians had evidently been strongly reinforced simultaneously at either extremity of their line, whereas the French reinforcements must have been sent away to their right and right centre, and there was nothing to meet the Prussian attack when it fell thus unexpectedly on their left. The battle was clearly lost, and it became seriously necessary for us who were spectators to "consider our situation. ;> It was evident that our return to Metz by any regular route was impracticable, and it occurred to me that the best thing we could do was to take to the hills with the villagers, who were now rushing from the village in a state of frenzied terror, and try by a circuitous route to make our way to Metz. I had, however, left some little property in the inn in the morning — a bag, containing, among other things, some valuable maps and other effects which I was unwilling to lose, besides a greatcoat, railway rugs, &c, and eventually we (my servant and I) descended into the village to try to recover them. Wo had scarcely got into it, however, when we found ourselves under the Prussian fire, shells bursting round us in all directions, and bullets whistling over our heads in a manner that was not soothing to the nerves. French soldiers, too, and villagers were tearing madly up the street in such a way that I never doubted the Prussians were close at their heels. Perhaps they were. We did not stay to find ou+, but fled with the rest ; and I know I performed prodigies of velocity in the way of up-hill running of which I could not have believed myself capable. I will reserve till to-morrow the account of our subsequent adventures, which were singular enough, terminating with our arrest at Metz and expulsion from that town — a fate, however, which is now awarded to all aliens, and which is a precation necessary for the French to take in self-defence, the Prussian spy system being, as I am informed, carried out with great andicity and cleverness. August 9. There were one or two points which the limited time at my disposal compelled me to omit in the account which I sent you yesterday of the battle of Forbach, and points which, under ordinary circumstances, would certanly not be left to the last moment— among others, the number engaged and the losses sustained on either side. On these points, however, I can still only offer remote conjectures, having been able to obtain no further information at all to be relied on since the closing of my last letter. I sent you last night what I believe to be an authentic detail of the French troops who were present in the action during the gf eater -part of the day. I think, however, that it does not include reinforcements which arrived, with, fatal tardiness, towards the evening ; nor does it take account of the artilllery, which, however, would be presumably the usual complement attached to a corps d'annee. My own conjecture — valeen quantum — is that there were probably from 25,000 to 30,000 French troops engaged first <o last. As to the Prussians, I have, of course, nothing to go upon but what I could observe of their l : ne under great difficulties, screened as it was by the dense woods and the undulations of the ground. I believe that their right and their left were simultaneously reinforced — each by a couple of brigades — within an hour of the termination of the action, aud it was the turning of the French left by these fresh troops which arrived on the extreme Prussian right who appeai-ed to finish the affair. I hazard the conjecture that the PrussiansoutmimberedtheFrench by three to one, and I am certain that in artillery, their numerical advantage was even j greater ; and the oaly wonder is how, with this superiority and the advantageous position which they held (most mysteriously ceded to them by the French on the previous evening), they were not able to finish the battle many hours before. I can hardly say it i 3 wondevfnl, howevor, when I remember the i splendid valour of the French and their heroic endurance, which it is impossible to think of now without the deepest emotion. As to the numbers killed and wounded among the Prussians I can say nothing. The cover of their woods must have made their loss very much less than that of the French. Still, no doubt, they suffered severely. The French loss must have been prodijious. I saw regiment after regiment go into action and retire fearfully reduced. The 76th and 77th infantry of the line and the 3rd Chasseurs a Pied were all but annihilated. In one of my own movements of retreat through \ tha woods I met with a captain and six i men of )he 77th regiment. The rest of his company were dead or wounded on the field, and these men were retiring, their ammunition b?ing exhausted. Many thousands mu3t have fallen on the French side. My narrative broke off last night where the Prussians, having turned the French left, were chasing them and the retiring villagers from the town in the direction away from Metz. Among this retreating and panic-stricken crowd we found ourselves, and we thought it better to continue with them and avail ourselves of their knowledge of roads byways, whereby to get, at all events, a more comfortable distance from the PiU3sians. When we had reached the summit of the heights, and were actually out of immediate danger of thePrnssian shot and shell — when, in fact, the poorppoplecnuld think of something beyond the instant peril of life and limb — they seemed suddenly to realise the entire ruin which had fallen upon them ; they also began to think of

their families and friends who were all scattered, flying in desperation through the deep woods, where the darkness was deepening with the falling night. Such scenes of anguish and misery I never saw before, and hope never again to see. Mothers who had lost their children seeking for them with frantic cries and gesticulations — old, tottering men and women stumbling feebly along laden with some of their poor household gods, silent with the silent grief of age—little children, only half conscious of what all these things meant, tripping along, often leading some cherished household pet, and seeking for some friendly hand to guide them — husbands supporting their wives, carrying their little ones (sometimes two or three) on their shoulders, and encouraging the little family group with brave and tender words — the woods ringing with shrieks and lamentations, with prayers to the Saviour and the Virgin. It is impossible to describe in language the sadness and the pathos of that most mournful exodus. If all the world could only catch a glimpse of such a scene, I will venture to say that war would become impossible ; that fierce national pride and Quixotic notions of honor, and the hot ambitions of kings and emperors and statesmen, would be for ever curbed by the remembrance of all the pity and the desolation, of the spectacle. After we had proceeded some miles into the interior, leaving Metz on our right, we came to a village, the name of which 1 do not know, and here the great body of the retreating peasants seemed resolved to remain for the night. Therefore, when I left this place, my party was reduced to three, including myself, the other two being a French gentleman of Nancy and my servant. We struck the high road on leaving the village, aud this we found to be a road leading to Metz. We had not proceeded far along it when we met a very large force of French artillery, reinforcements — coming up as usual, too late. They had only heard some vague rumour of a disaster at Forbach, from some of the flying villagers probably, and >ye had to give them a hurried account of the affair. Loud were their vows of vengeance ; and the Prussians were to evacuate Forbach before the dawn — of that we might be satisfied. Passing on, we overtook a convoy of ambulances in retreat. The officer in charge put us to the question, pretty closely, as to our business there and destination. However, he let us proceed, and a mile or two further on we came to another village. The night was desperately hot, the exertions of the day had been great, and we had had nothing to eat or drink for some twelve or fourteen hours ; so we stopped at an auberge, and with some difficulty got a little biead and wine, which was very consoling. It was rather a fatal halt for us, however. It gave time for the ambulances to overtake us, which they did about the centre of the village after we left the atiberge, and a dragoon of the escort rode after us, ordered us to halt, and told us to show our papers. These we produced, but it was too dark for him to make anything of them, and he left us without saying whether we were prisoners or not. Silence giving consent, we prepared to resume our journey, when suddenly a mob of villagers came tearing up the street with shouts and cries of execration, and pounced upon us, pinioning our. arms, and handling us pretty roughly, to the cry of " Prussian spies !'* It was in vain I protested that I was an Englishman, my servant that he was a Swisi, and our French companion that he was not only French, but an officer of their Garde Mobile. Nothing would satisfy them. My complexion, the shape of my moustache, and my whole appearance were, as they said, entirely Prussian — and that was enough to condemn all three of us. As for my being an Englishman, said one of my guardians, who clasped me in an embrace not made the pleasanter by the large amount of garlic which had evidently seasoned his last meal — as for my being an Englishman, that, in his opinion, did not mend matters much ; II ni Prussien, ni Anglais" was to be found in this Alsatian village, under ptnalty of rough treatment, or perhaps la lanteme. Matters looked rather ugly at one time. They dragged us np the i street, and at last some one got a torch, and they looked at our papers. Probably \ none of them could read even in their I own language, so this move was not particularly in our favor. An intelligent bystander then suggested that we should be taken to the Maire. Some were for this step, some against it ; but, at last, in the middle of this swaying, shouting, execrating mob, we found ourselves, to our relief, hustled into the presence of the Maire. With him was seated the Maire of Forbach, who had effected his retreat from his town before the entry of the Prussians. He was a wide-a-wake, sensible fellow, understood our case at once, and, what was better still, managed to make the Maire of the place (a very owlishlooking old man) comprehend 'it. The latter expressed himself satisfied, and told the mob, who had burst with us into the room, that we were all right and dans nos droits, that they must leave his house, and let us go on our way in peace. The mob hesitated, and it was not till the vigorous man of Forbach had harangued them, abused them, and threatened them with a formidable cudgel which he carried, that they grudgingly retired. After a couple of hours walking across country we struck the line (a branch line at least) close to a station called Homboui'g, and now we began to hope that our difficulties were at an end. It was a beautiful morning, and even if we had to march the rest oi the way — some thirty miles — to Metz, it was after all no great hardship, and so we went on cheerily enough for a mile or two. But our hopes were again destined to be blighted. Suddenly, on our right and from no great distance, we heard the sound of cannon, followed by the sharp rattle of musketry, and from a village some quarter of a mile j off wo saw the villagers beginning to make a hasty retreat. A little further on we saw, about three miles off on our right, Prussian artillery in position in a plain, and on some heights nearer us Prussian tirailleurs skirmishing with some French troops who were retreating ; and a little further on still we came in sight of the high road to Metz, along which French troops, baggage waggons, guns, and ambulances were rapid iy retiring, their retreat covered by skirmishers, who were extended in the fields to the right and left of the road. The Prussians had evidently made the earliest use of their success of the previous day, and were either attempting to reach Metz or to cut

oT the defeated army of yesterday from that town. Either alternative was equally inconvenient for us, and it was imperatively necessary that we should either reach Metz before the Prussians or get beyond the point where their force would intercept the French before that manoeuvre had been completed ; and so we pushed on as fast as we could, comforting ourselves with the reflection that simple pedestrians ought to outmarch troops who were keeping up a run- j ning fight en route. Here the Maire I of Forbach left us. Presently the line crossed the road, and then began to run parallel with it on the same level, and before long we came up with a convoy of French military stores, escorted by infantry and some gendarmes. One of the latter espied us from the road, and immediately halted us, and called on us to surrender. We told our oft told tale, produced our papers, and was allowed to proceed without much trouble. The sun by this time was high, and the heat intense, and the want of food and rest for the last three days began to tell upou us. As a forlorn hope, therefore, when a despatch engine came slowly past us, we begged to be allowed to get on it, and our request was granted, to our great joy. The driver said he would take us to St. Avoid, a station a few miles further on, where he thought perhaps we might be allowed to proceed to Metz in a train that was shortly going up with some stores and officers. About half a mile from that station a railway official on the line signalled the engine to stop. It stopped, and he then ordered us to descend, and put the question, of which 1 have got desperately tired, " On, allez-vous /" There were the usual investigations, the usual production of papers, and, as the St. Avoid station was in sight, where there were a number of officers, he let us go on. Arrived there, we were immediately arrested by aome commissariat officers. Tlie did not seem quite to know what to do with us. The examination of our papers did not seem altogether to satisfy them ; but my servant having told them that 1 was an ex-officer of the English army who had served in the Crimea, he came up to me, and said, "You are quite sure you are not a German V My disclaimer of any connexion with Vaterland was apparently more satisfactory than my passport. We were released, and tokl wa m ;ght go up in their train, to Metz, which we did. There is, I fear, a great monotony in this narrative of perpetually recurring arrest, but I have very nearly finished, having only one' more to my credit at present, and I will describe it in as few words as possible. Arrived at the station, I sent my servant to reclaim the baggage which we had left there on the morning of the battle, and instructed him to go off afterwards and try to find rooms at some of the hotels. Meantime, 1 went to wait in the refreshment- room, and have some luncheon. There were many people sitting in the refreshment-room when I entered it. All looked curiously at me, aud several of them exchanged emphatic whispers I knew but too well what they were saying, " A Prussian spy if ever there is one,'" I almost began to believe I was a Prussian spy. I certanly felt that the " damnable iteration " of these accusations was having its effects upon my bearing, in giving me a lurking, hand-dog, suspicious look. It was almost a relief, therefore, when the inevitable gondavrae arrived and took me into custody. He wanted to take me off at onco to the quarters of the Etat Mnjor ; but I begged him to wait, assuring him that if he did he would bag a brace of spies instead of a single bird, and also have a carriage to take his game home in. So he waited till my servant arrived in the voiture in which he had been parading the town looking for lodgings, and then he took us both off. The town was all decorated with flags. One would have supposed that the news of a great victory, instead of something sadly the reverse, had just arrived. The people, seeing the gendarme's abomniable cocked hat in the carriage with us, began to take an interest in our destination, and by the time we had reached the place we had a large convoy — quiet, however. In the Place itself a large crowd happened to be collected, and as soon as we drove into it the people swarmed round the carriage, all shoving or pushing to get a sight of "the spies," and hooting and yelling as a French mob only can. When I stepped oui of the carriage the popular conviction was complete. "There's a German face for yon," was the universal cry. In the room where we were examined there was a large window down to the ground ; it was open, and through it the mob looked in, exulting in the prospect of our speedy condemnation, sentence, and — in these days I don't know whether they hang or shoot spies or simply imprison them, but I am sure that the milder alternative would have been the less popular one with the mob outside. Our examination was not long delayed. A general, whose name I did not catch, but who was extremely polite and kind, conducted it in the most gentlemanlike way, expressed himself perfectly satisfied, regretted the inconvenience we had been put to, pointed out that we had ourselves to blame for getting into the scrape, and finally requested me and my servant (our French friend wa3 not arrested on this occasion) to leave the town that night under pain of re-arrest and unpleasant consequences. I produced my commission from The limes. He said he had a great respect for England and for The Times, but that my expulsion was not exceptional ; that every alien whatsoever, be he journalist or tourist, was sent away ; that the French journalists also were expelled, and that even Frenchmen, not inhabitants of Metz, were forbidden to remain in it ; that the same rule would be enforced in all towns within the area of J the war ; and, in short, that I had better go to Paris by the seven o'clock train, which would give me an hour or so for dinner at the buffet under the superintendence of a gendarme. I was not sorry to obey the order and get out of this atmosphere of suspicion, which was most irritating, and so ended my three days with the French army. Whether these severe regulations will be relaxed in regard to war correspondents it is impossible to say, but in the meantime their occupation is gone, which is the only apology I can make for the large space which I have ventured to devote in this letter to my cwn personal adventures.