NAPOLEON III. AT SEDAN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 349, 1 April 1911, Page 6

NAPOLEON 111. AT SEDAN.

The Hoisting of the Flag of Truce. On September 1, 1870, the final battle between the army of Napoleon Third and the German Army began on the broken upland ground surrounding the fortified town of Sedan lying in a hollow. Here the Emperor had arrived the previous night on foot, followed by his aide-de-camp. As early as five in the morning, the booming of cannon announced that the engagement had begun. Waked by his servant from a sound sleep of exhaustion, His Majesty hastily dressed, drank a cup of coffee, and ate a piece of dry bread. Hs was then assisted into the saddle, and with a determined expression on his weary face that showed the settled project of his mind, he rode forward. His way was slow, for the narrow winding streets were thronged by men hurrying to and fro in confusion ; by artillery waggons blocking the way ; by fa'rmers's carts that had brought in provisions during the night ; by horses tied ly their bridles to win-dow-bars and door.posts, munching the hay flung to thorn, and neighing in fright and eagerness at the sound of cannon thundering in a distance that seemed to grow nearer and nearer every second. Passing at last under the heavy arch of an ancient town-gate, the Emperor saw before him, spread over the wide semicircle of the surrounding hills, the opposing armies his own more than twice outnumbered by the enemy. Engaged in a tierce fight, they stretched over field, and garden, and farm, line after line, battalion after battalion, multocoloured, appalling, their arms and accoutrements flashing fiercely in the morning sun, the whole a vengeful, terrible sight like some apocalyptic bision, now and then hidden by the

j;h;c--vey clouds of canuon smoke, the signal of devastation and death. Riding towards the village, of Bazeilles where the fight seemed most desperate, the Emperor met an ambulance carriage conveying Marshal MacMahon who had been severely wounded, back to the town. Having exchanged a few words with this gallant man whose fate he envied, the Emperor hurried forward. For the next five hours he remained in the saddle, unflinching under intense sufferings, always in the thickest of the fight, commanding and encouraging the men, whose blood boiling to madness struggled against overwhelming odds with heroic determination. But though persistently keeping in the forefront of danger, and exposed to a cross fire of artillery ; though a shell had burst at his feet, and four of his staff had been killed or wounded beside him, death passed him by. Hopelessly overcome, the French were driven back and back from th? battlefield, where fourteen thousand men were killed or wounded, until the retreating army, exhausted by the prolonged light, in need of food, disorganised by the merciless rain of shot and shell that fell upon them, those who were unable to reach the town seeking- refuge in the trenches. At than o'clock in the afternoon, General Wimpflen proposed to the Emperor that he should take what sc.it-U-i'cd troops he could collect and cut tin exit through the enemy's lines to Carignan ; but His Majesty refused to expose the men to further danger of to leave the army. Every moment the pnemy drew nearer, and the suffering within Wcdan grew worse. Gaining the sur. ro'inuiiur hills, the Prussians drop ned shells into the defenceless towu. the roofs of whose houses were blown to atoms, whose walls blazed, t'iviliar.s and soldiers rushed to and f'.o in wild confusion, seeking

shelter and not knowing where to find it : for buildings fell about their ears, the streets were literally ploughed by bombs, and those who escaped on Cue battlefield were killed m this merciless death-trap. Assured by three of his generals thai, further resistance was impossible, and unable any longer to endure the sight of the massacre of men, women, and children going on around him, the Emperor took the responsibility of ordering the (lag of truce to he noisted on the citadel.--From "Mlie Romance of Royalty," by Fitzgerald Molloy.

i''l<e,vcr.. ran now be kept by freezing. They are picked in the hud, and preserved by refrigerator while being transported. When unpacked ;u»d placed in water they slowly awe' en ami come into full bloom.