mile outside St. Vincent. Towards morning, two of the captured gendarmes attempted to escape, and had mastered the sentry placed to watch over them, when the other Uhlans, awakened from their sleep by the noise of the struggle, rushed to the assistance of their comrade, and again secured both prisoners. They were shot at break of day, and it is added that they died with courage and composure. These parties of scouts and advanced guards had to endure great fatigue. Some of the soldiers of the Line did not take off their shoes for eight or ten days after crossing the French frontier, and were obliged to sleep under the open air in rain and mud. "The horsemen," said a correspondent of the Cologne Gazette, "hardly ever quit their saddles, and the poor beasts, harnessed for whole days together, throw themselves on the ground immediately on coming to a halt. They are as thin as cats, and many of them quite exhausted; nevertheless, the mass still holds on, particularly the horses of Eastern Prussia, which have Arab blood in their veins, and support the fatigue of the campaign better than any other. Those of Hanover, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Pomerania, are less good. We have already tried to replace our animals unfit for use by others taken from the French, especially when we can get those of Algerian origin; but they are in a worse state than The mass of the French cavalry is much reduced, and the horses past service." Somewhat late in the day, the French endeavoured to emulate the achievements of these useful bodies of troops. A free corps of scouts was formed at Rheims about the period of Sedan. The men established their quarters under the trees of the promenade, and, like the Germans, lay contentedly on the earth. Their uniform was dark, and resembled that of the Foot Chasseurs; and their special duty was to reconnoitre for the army. our own. Great complaints were made by the Germans at this time, and later in the war, of the position occupied by the bodies of irregular French troops called Francs-tireurs-a kind of guerillas formed immediately after the first reverses of the Imperial armies. It was alleged by the enemy that these men were dressed in a fashion so similar to that of the peasantry that they could not be distinguished; that, protected by this disguise, they made treacherous attacks on the German soldiers, and then, throwing away their weapons, claimed the protection due to civilians; and that they wore the red cross on their arms, without being in any way connected with the service of the sick or wounded. There can be no doubt that the red cross was often much abused, not merely by combatants, but by idlers and marauders; and that the rules of the Geneva convention, the only object of which was to secure particular immunities for the attendants on the sufferers from war, and thus to diminish the sum of human misery, were, like many other good and noble things, turned to bad account by the thoughtless and the malignant. But, with regard to the general question of the Francs-tireurs, it is evident that the Prussians resented their very existence, and that they made it a crime that Frenchmen should do the best they could to defend their country. We have seen from the Uhlan's narrative that the mere fact of a man having soldiers or Gardes Mobile in his house, even if they were not acting hostilely, subjected him to death, with the destruction of his dwelling by fire. The Prussian military authorities gave notice that the Francs-tireurs would be looked on as banditti, unless, "besides the authorisation of the Minister of War, they were subject to French military law, and commanded by French officers." It seems to have been thought that, the regular armies having been defeated, the country was in decency bound to submit, without giving any more trouble. This was certainly not the way in which the Prussians themselves acted when their country was conquered by France at the commencement of the century. A correspondent of the Standard opportunely pointed out the rules laid down by the Prussian Government of 1813 for the formation of the Landsturm, a body similar to the Francs-tireurs. Three sections of the order ran thus : "Sec. 7. On the Landsturm being called out, the fighting for which it is summoned becomes a fight for existence (Nothwehr), which sanctions every means that may be employed. The severest and most unrelenting means are the best, because they are the most likely to bring the just cause soon to a successful issue. "Sec. 8. The object of the Landsturm is to arrest the march of the enemy as well as to bar his retreat, to annoy him incessantly, to capture his munition, couriers, and recruits, to surprise him by night, to break up his hospitals; in short to harass, trouble, and molest him in every conceivable way, and to destroy him singly or in detachments, whenever or wherever it may be possible. . . "Sec. 39. A special uniform or distinctive dress for the Landsturm is not allowed, because this would betray the wearer, and render him more liable to be pursued by the enemy." The English papers began to talk about the terms of peace even before the battle of Sedan. Under date, "Clermont-en-Argonne, August 29th," a correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette reports a conversation he had had the previous evening attractions for Germany. But we must have securiwith Count Bismarck as to the possible demands ties against an attack from France. So long as of Prussia. "We might," said the Federal Chan- she possesses Strasburg, the whole of South Gercellor, "form Alsace and Lorraine into an indepen- many is at her mercy; we have no fortress till you dent neutral State stretching from Luxemburg to get to Ulm. Strasburg therefore, and Metz prob marck said on the 28th of August, the German demands greatly increased with the prolongation of the French resistance. This, however, was but natural, whatever we may think specifically of the particular terms enforced. A belligerent has the right to enhance his terms in proportion to the amount of trouble given him by the enemy. Every belligerent is justified from his own point of view; and, where he has the power, he will of course exact from his opponent the full measure of compensation which he conceives to be due. The French were unlucky; but they had rashly commenced the war, and the evil consequences accumulated with every succeeding month, To a correspondent of the Standard, Count Bismarck, on the 12th of September, said that they did not propose to bombard Paris, but to cut it off from all communication with the rest of the world, and so compel its surrender by famine. it. That is her affair.' I pointed out that it would be extremely difficult for the French people at the present moment even to employ the means necessary for ascertaining the national will. That is their lookout,' replied his Excellency; we know what we want, and that is enough for us.' This observation led up to what Germany will consider indispensable conditions of peace. Count Bismarck disclaimed all desire of increase of territory or population for mere increase sake, and said it was a nuisance to have German subjects who speak French. But,' he continued, the present is the twenty-fifth time in the space of a hundred years that France has made war on Germany on some pretext or other. Now, at least, our terrible disease of divided unity being cured, we have contrived, by the help of the hand of God, to beat her down. It is idle to hope to propitiate her.'" The Count then spoke of taking Strasburg and Metz, as he had done to the correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, and proceeded :-" At the com "When," continues the correspondent, "I suggested mencement of this war, had the Emperor display.d that whilst Paris was being thus starved into sub-energy, he might have attacked Southern Germany mission, time would be given for the formation of a new French army south of the Loire, he replied, 'Not an army; only numbers of armed people. We took 1,500 of such near St. Menehould with a single squadron of Dragoons. It is possible that the Frenchman may be made a good soldier in three months; but we shall not give him three months, and in any case the so-called army will be without officers deserving the name. If they insist on fighting, well and good. They will be slaughtered. But it is a pity.' Touching upon the prospects of peace, he inquired, 'With whom? Through whom? With the gentlemen of the pavement and their representatives? When I saw the Emperor,' he went on, after his surrendering himself a prisoner, I asked him if he was disposed to put forward any request for peace. The Emperor replied that he was not in a position to do so, for he had left a regular Government in Paris, with the Empress at its head. It is plain, therefore,' continued Count Bismarck, 'that, if France possesses any Government at all, it is still the Government of the Empress as Regent, or of the Emperor.' When I asked if the flight of the Empress and of the Prince Imperial might not be regarded as an abdication, he said, very positively, he could not so construe it. The Empress had been forced to go by the gentlemen of the pavement, as the Corps Législatif had been obliged to suspend its sittings; but the action of the gentlemen of the pavement was not legal. They could not make a Government. The question was, Whom does the fleet still obey? Whom does the army shut up in Metz still obey? Perhaps Bazaine still recognises the Emperor. If so, and we choose to let him go to Paris, he and his army would be worth considerably more than the gentlemen of the pavement and the so-called Government. We do not wish to dictate to France her form of Government; we have nothing to say to before we could have done anything. Why he did not do it we do not know to this day. He had an army of 150,000 men, ready to be moved in a day. We cannot do that we are too poor. But France can afford it; and having missed doing the ener getic and daring thing once, she would know better next time, and would do it if we did not take precautions, and make it impossible by improving our frontier. Had the attack been made at once on South Germany, we should have lost its assistance; not because the South Germans are not well disposed, but because they would have been crushed." He illustrated this by repeating what the late King of Wurtemberg had one day said to him. His Majesty put the matter thus:-"You are always very frank with me; I will be frank with you. If the French were to pounce upon my people, and I were eating a soldier's bread in your camp, how should I feel? My people, oppressed with exactions, would beg of me to come home and make terms with the conquerors. The shirt is nearer to the skin than the coat, and I should have to do it." Count Bismarck was exceedingly frank with the newspaper correspondents; and it is curious to compare his utterances in August and September with the subsequent course of events. The aristocratical pride of the man comes out very characteristically in his phrase about "the gentlemen of the pavement." The Emperor Napoleon went up greatly in the Count's estimation after the events of that Sunday in Paris. CHAPTER XI. Advance of the Germans on Paris-Occupation of Rheims by the Invaders-The King's Head-quarters there-Character of the City-Progress of the German Armies, and Effect on the French People-Arrival at Versailles-Memories of the Town, its Palace, and Gardens-The Crown Prince and his Germans in the Château of Versailles-Engagements with the French on the Road to Paris, and in Front of the Southern Fortifications-Action of the 19th of September-Cowardice of some of the French Troops-Paris completely invested (Sept. 19th)-Burning of Forests in the Vicinity of the Capital-Scene on the Martyrs' Hill-Opinions against and in favour of the War-Addresses of Victor Hugo and "Citoyenne Delavier"—-French Love of Declamation-The Fortifications of Paris-Desolation in the East of France-Alleged Inhumanity of the Germans towards the French Prisoners-Contradictory Accounts-The Emperor Napoleon's Private Means-Entry of the Italians into Rome. FOLLOWING up their prodigious success at Sedan | which they paid for. An old man threw himself with that alacrity which distinguished all their on one of the soldiers, and said they should never movements, the Germans immediately set their eat what they had got. The Hussar struck the old faces towards Paris. The advanced guard of the man with the butt-end of his pistol, but, failing army at the captured fortress started on their grand to make him loose his hold, fired at and wounded expedition as early as the 3rd of September. Others, him. The cavalry then galloped out of the town, belonging to the third and fourth armies, followed and a young man, with more spirit than discretion, in the course of a few days, leaving in their rear fired after them. At three o'clock the whole squadthe fortresses of Strasburg, Metz, Thionville, Mé- ron appeared, and the Mayor went out to meet. zières, Longwy, Montmédy, Verdun, Toul, and them, and formally surrendered the town into their Soissons. The Crown Prince of Saxony proceeded hands. Shortly afterwards the main body of the by the valley of the Marne, and the Crown Prince Germans arrived, composed of 25,000 men, with of Prussia advanced by Montmirail, Coulommiers, the King of Prussia himself at their head. The Charmes, and Brie-comte-Robert. The difficul- King's head-quarters were established in the episties of the march were overcome with the usual copal palace close to the cathedral, and the headskill and energy of the Prussians. A writer in the quarters of the Wurtemberg corps, which garQuarterly Review for January, 1871, remarks that, risoned the city, were in the hotel before the "In order to take up the position relatively assigned cathedral door. The Mayor advised the townsto them before Paris, and owing to the positions people to abstain from violence, and the appeal respectively occupied by them round Sedan, the was not urged in vain. The Prussians were received third and fourth armies had to cross each other's with a kind of gloomy quiet, and they in their turn line somewhere on the route. This they did at abstained from needless outrage. Their requisiRheims; and that one army of 80,000 men, with tions were made on the city, so that the individual all its trains and impediments, should have been citizen had only to provide for the soldiers actually able to cut across the march of another army, quartered on him. With the poorer classes, hownumbering 120,000, without serious inconvenience, ever, this was in itself a great hardship, and the is a proof of the excellence of the working staff. Prussian authorities accordingly established a comEvery parallel road was utilised. Each army thus missariat for troops billeted on those who were marched in parallel columns, the lateral communi- unable to support them. cations between which, as well as between the two armies, was kept up by the cavalry; and in particular the outward flanks of both armies were protected by strong bodies of cavalry. The front of both armies was at the same time covered by a chain of advanced guards in communication with each other by means of cavalry patrols, thus forming a continuous circle, either for protection or information, enveloping the head of the line of march of both armies, at a distance of from twenty to thirty miles in advance." On the 5th the invaders occupied Rheims. A little past noon four cavalry soldiers rode into the ane old cathedral city, halted before the shop of a confectioner, and asked for some biscuits, Rheims is a city in the department of the Marne, situated eighty miles in a straight line, and 107 miles by railway, to the north-east of Paris. It was a town of some note in the days of the Roman Empire, and was then distinguished for its literary character. In the twelfth century it became the place where the monarchs of France were crowned a ceremony which, with a few exceptions, including the first Napoleon, was performed there until its abolition in 1830. Rheims has always had a great name in French history. It was besieged by our Edward III. in 1359; but, though he remained before the walls for seven months, he failed to take the town. It was captured by the English, however, in 1421, and was recovered by |