THE WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 259, 4 November 1870, Page 2

THE WAR.

With the Australasian of Saturday last was published a War Supplement from which we extract the following items of —

it unrol itself hour by hour; but when I consider that after one great successful war I could not expect anything more glorious during my reign, and that I now see this act, destined to be famous iu the history of the world, I bow before Q-od, who alone has chosen my armies

and allies to carry it into execution, and ■lias chosen us as the instruments of His will. It is only in this sense (hat I can conceive this work, and in ail humility -praise God's guidance and grace." Then follows an account of the battle of Sedau It was 7 o'clock when Reille and Broussart came to mp, the latter a little in advance; and it was first through liim I learnt of the presence ■of the Emperor. He sprang from his .horse and gave me the letter of the Emperor, adding that he had no other orders. Before I opened tho letter I said to him, •"But I demand, as the first condition, that •the army lay dowu its arms." The letter begins thus : — " N'ayant pas par mourier ii la tete de mes troupes, je depose won ipee a voire Majeste" leaving all the rest to me. My answer was, that I deplored the manner of our meeting, and begged Ihat a plenipotentiary might be sent with whom we might conclude the capitulation. I gave Moltke powers to negotiate, and directed Bismarck to remain behind, in case political questions should arise. I *hen rode to my carriage and drove here, greeted everywhere along the road with %he loud hurraliß of the trains that were •marching up and singing the National Hymn. It was deeply touching. Candles were lighted everywhere, so that we were driven through an improvised illumination. As ou the morning of the 2ud I had received no news from Moltke respecting negotiations for the capitulation which were to take place in Donchery, I drove to the battle-field, According to agreement, ■at 8 o'clock, and met Moltke coming to obtain my consent to the proposed capitulation. He told me at the same time that the Emperor had left Sedan at 5 o'clock in the morning, and had come 'io Donchery as he wished to speak to me. At 1 o'clock I started again with Fritz (the Crown Prince), and, escorted by the cavalry and the stJiff, I alighted before ihe chateau, where the Emperor came to aneet me. We were both much moved at -seeing each other again under such circumstances'. What my feelings were — I Jiad seen Napoleon three years before at lhe summit of his power — is more than I can describe. After this meeting I rode past the whole army before Sedau. The reception given me by the troops — the -meeting with the Guards now decimated — all these are things which I cannot describe to-day. I was much touched by so many proofs of love and devotion. .How, farewell. A heart deeply moved at the conclusion of such a letter. "Wilhelm." SEDAN. "" The scene within Sedan ," writes Dr. Buesell, " could be compared to nothing but ■*' hell broke loose." There was confusion -worse confounded, mutiny, and anger and 'fierce despair. Night fell aud the French could see a bright belt of watch fires ..girding them close round. Morning came and the whole strength of the Prussians stood out in threatening array. Masses of •infantry blocked every road, unnumbered guns frowned from every hill, and huge squadrons of cavalry stood ready to sweep the plain. . . . General Wimpffen -declared that he would rather perish than sign a disgraceful capitulation. But the terms of tbe Prussians were absolute, and declared that if the capitulation were not signed by noon to-morrow, they should re-open fire." The correspondent of the Australasian -says, — "A victory more absolute is not recorded in history. The military trophies alone surpass in their magnitude all that is recorded of the greatest battlefields. The capitulation of an entire army, with an emperor at the head, is, in -fact, without precedent in the aunals of war. Fourteen infantry and five and a half cavalry divisions, with a whole train of artillery, some 500 guns, and 200 mitrailleuses, 50 generals, the entire personnel and materiel of Marshal Macmahon : — these were the fruits of the three days of Sedan. The loss of the French in killed and wounded was enormous, that of 3th e Germans comparatively slighr. The result of this crowning day of Sedan was to leave France practically without eithei 4i Government or an army. MODERN WARFARE. A correspondent of tbe Cologne XZeilung, in describing his explorations oi the battle-fields of Metz, after picturing 4he frightful scenes which these human • shambles presented immediately after each engagement, breaks into sudden apostrophe : — " When will the war have au end ; vihis horrible necessity detested by all

(peoples, and yet exercised by all, cxcrated hy every statesman, yet avoided by none ? Not the morality preached from the school of the cathedral, in the chancul of the church, will do away with this butchery of thousands. War is outliving itself, making itself impossible. It has grown into a monster, for whose ravening appetite one no longer knows where to gather sustenance. Already are our weapons well nigh made perfect for the art of annihilation ; already our grenades, shrapnels, mitrailleuses, and Zunrlnadel guns devour so much human flesh, that it bas become scarcely within the power of the greatest empires to carry on a war longer than four weeks without completely exhausting each other. What will happen if further improvements are efiected, and, by greater quickness of manoeuvre, war exacts at least one third more human life than it already consumes ? The courage of our soldiers rises high above all praise. We have seen them storm the most unassailable positions of the enemy with the coolest contempt of death ; in the early days they pronounced it a tough piece of work, but gradually day by day, as tbey were called upon to perform similar impossibilities, the conviction grew up tha each fight was an almost certain death, and that at such a price only could victory be bought. And uow, whenever two brother officers meet, the salute is, ' What ! you still alive?' And the half of them, sometimes more, remain after each of these bloody storm-fights on the field. The soldiers no longer speak of it ns a gunfire; they describe it as a hurricane of hail, driving right in their faces, to come out of which with a whole skin, is a singular good fortune. The infantry advance to the storm, and are encountered with chassepot aud mitrailleuse bullets, which, from the nature of the ground, mostly stiikethe head or hands. The cavalry charge the foe, and are met by a rain of bullets, such as a mouse could not escape, much less a horse and man. The enemy's batteries are posted so far apart, and fire at such long distances, that they can hardly recognise their own troops, and these are plentifully provided in their rear with mitrailleuses, while in front our cavalry are greeted by the volleys of their adversaries ; and if, out of such a fight, the regiments emerge battalions, and the battalions companies, how long can a war last before it decimated the whole nation ? War will become impossible — it is already so — in fact ; but the one now begun must be carried to an end, and that a good one. Our men storm position after position, beat the enemy again and again ; but look at our battalions as they go into action, and again, in spite of all their victories, come out of it, and then tell us what nation, however inexhaustible it may be, is in condition to enter upon war and victory without decimatiug itself. The chassepot, wide ranging, and in its line of flight no way so defective as men believe, is perfectly adapted for a "keep your distance" implement. Yesterday some of our storming companies hardly saw a Frenchman, while they were being covered with a hailstorm of bullets. Iu the open field this is all very well ; both sides can play this game, but with what losses our brave fellows must pay iu storming hill positions one after another, the above narratives declare, which makes this a machinery war, where, for example, the hostile bullet organ-playing of the mitraileuses begins, the high notes of whose clatter predominate in the orchestra of the fights. Only faucy, if in the next war both adversaries plant themselves facing each other, and grind away their organs. Will that be called a war, or simply a butchery ? " THE EMPRESS AND PRINCE IMPERIAL. The Paris correspondent of tbe Australasian writes : — The Empress is now at Meysse, near Brussels. The young Prince Imperial, who parted from his father but a few days before the catastrophe , at Sedan, is also in Belgium, whence he is to repair to England. Yesterday _. only the poor boy learnt at Namur, from ( tbe governor of that city, his father's , captivity, the downfall of the Empire, and ' the flight of the Empress. I extract from a Belgian paper the following touching details: — " The young Prince, pale, out of heart, aud ailing for the last few days ? since his departure from his father's side, f listened to these terrible tidings without ; uttering a word. He sat a few moments ) with bowed head, then looking up be i said, 'All that will be nothing provided • France remains whole. 1 The Prince then , requested to be left by himself. He sat I there with his face inclined and buried in

his hands, and the servants of the house affirm that they could distinctly hear for a long time his tearful sobs."