now accomplished." The King did well in placing General von Roon even before Moltke; for the extraordinary perfection of the Prussian military machine, by virtue of which the successes of the war were achieved, was due, in the greatest measure, to the capacity and unresting care of the War Minister. It is seldom that a monarch has had three such servants as Roon, Moltke, and Bismarck.

The month of September was to a great extent a month of sieges. Besides those of first-class importance, such as Paris, Metz, and Strasburg, there were others of some gravity, of which one of the principal was Toul. The town so called is situated in the department of Meurthe, a district of France mainly formed out of the old duchies of Lorraine and Bar, and peopled by a grave, industrious, and intellectual race, of mingled French and German descent. Toul stands at the foot of picturesque hills, traversing a fertile plain on the Moselle, and is distant twenty-one miles by railway west of Nancy. Though not a place of great note, it is a fortress of strength and value. As early as the 14th of August the surrender of Toul was demanded by a body of Prussian cavalry, and refused. Shortly afterwards the town was invested, and during September it was subjected to a severe bombardment. On the south-east bank of the Moselle, along the low ridge between Dommartin and Chaudenay, six Prussian field-batteries were placed, and kept up a vigorous and well-directed fire. In front of the Prussian batteries, two Bavarian field-batteries, each of six guns, were brought into position upon the summit of Mont St. Michel. The first cannonade commenced at a quarter to nine in the morning, and was sustained by a quick succession of shots from the Bavarian batteries. The town was soon on fire in several places from the shells that were thrown into it; but a heavy rain from ten to eleven extinguished the flames. The distance from the batteries to the front lines of the ramparts was about 1,200 yards, so that the guns told with considerable effect.

"Three shots," says a correspondent of the Cologne Gazette, "were directed against the tower of the cathedral, as it was being used as an observatory by the enemy. All three shots struck the platform of the tower, and splintered some of the ornamental portions of the pilasters, but without materially injuring in any way this marvellous monument of the middle ages. As no more observers were to be discerned upon the towers, our artillerymen were glad to be spared the necessity of making them a target for their firing. At the commencement the French replied vigorously to

our cannonade with 24-pounders, with shells and grape from pieces of smaller calibre, and even musketry fire from the chassepôts, some of the bullets from which nearly reached our batteries. None of the enemy's shots did any damage, most of them burying themselves in the sides of the mountain below us, while others burst in the air, or flew in a wide semicircle over our heads to the other side of the mountain. The whole fortress, constructed according to the principles propounded by Vauban, lies in a deep valley, and is completely commanded by the surrounding heights, none of them being protected by forts or bastions. The French seemed to be in a terrible mess. No sooner had they pointed one of their guns, and got our range accurately, than we opened fire upon the gun, and silenced it. Thus they were prevented from effectually answering our fire." At a quarter past one the bombardment was temporarily suspended, and a flag of truce, borne by a body of horsemen from Dommartin, was sent to the fortress, with a demand for its surrender. The commandant of Toul, however, refused to give up the stronghold, and the cannonade was accordingly resumed at half-past five in the evening, and continued for a short time, when the German commanders, finding that no breach could be made in the walls by guns of such slight calibre as those with which they were furnished, determined to wait until their heavy siege-trains should have arrived and been placed in position.

In a few days a number of heavy guns were brought up, though not without a good deal of difficulty, owing to the steepness of the roads. The town was defended by only a few regulars, and 2,000 Mobile Guards. A gallant resistance, however, was kept up for some weeks; and when, on the 16th of September, an assault was made by the Germans, all the male inhabitants that could procure arms assisted in repelling it. On the 23rd, at daybreak, a concentrated bombardment of the works began. The firing continued throughout the day, and the response of the garrison, though active, was not powerful. By evening the town was on fire in twenty-three places, and the commandant was obliged to yield to the pressure of the inhabitants, and to make an offer of capitulation. This offer was at once accepted by the officer in command of the siege corps, and Toul was entered at seven o'clock. The conditions imposed were the same as those at Sedan. Strange to say, there was not one regular artillerist in the garrison. Five hundred of the Mobiles had been trained during the siege to work the guns, and they seem to have discharged their duties fairly. The commandant

town was found to be a good deal damaged. The Gothic chapel of St. Gengoulph, dating from the year 814, was almost ruined; but the fine Byzantine cathedral of St. Mausay, believed to be still older, was but slightly injured. Order had been well maintained in Toul; there were few wounded in the town, and the maladies specially attendant on sieges were wholly absent.

The surrender of this fortress placed in possession of the victors 109 officers, 2,240 men, 120 horses, I eagle, 197 bronze guns, 3,000 rifles, 3,000 sabres,

the garrison, and besiegers and besieged soon began to share the contents of their flasks. The townsfolk made holiday, and excursions into the country were at once set on foot, as a compensation for the dreary imprisonment to which the people had been subjected.

Simultaneously with these events Montmédy. Thionville, Verdun, Phalsburg, and Bitsche, were being either attacked or watched. The bombardment of Bitsche commenced on the 10th of September. Some hours before it began the commander

of the German troops, who were Bavarians, sent a parlementaire into the place, to apprise the Mayor and the inhabitants of the impending siege, and to suggest their leaving at once, as, after the expiration of the interval allowed, nobody would be permitted to pass the lines. Several civilians immediately took advantage of this offer, without awaiting the decision of the French commandant, who subsequently objected to any further emigration, on the ground that the townsmen would have to co-operate in the defence. Only the women and children might leave. The greater number of the women, however, refused to depart without their husbands; and the Mayor thereupon begged the commandant either to alter his decision, and permit the men to go, or to surrender the fortress, as, in the event of continued resistance, the town would certainly be destroyed. The commandant is said to have replied that the fate of the town did not matter to him, and that, besides, he knew how to protect it. As to the fortress, he would defend it to the last man. The bombardment proved to be very severe, and the town was soon seriously injured. Sorties took place from time to time, but with no great effect. The French troops occupied an advantageous position, being posted on heights from which they could observe all the German movements, while they could make their own arrangements for sorties secretly in the subterranean ways with which the place is provided. Yet little could be done against the terrible fire which the Bavarians poured into the town. After awhile, the population took refuge in the citadel; but even this stronghold was greatly injured. The barracks, the Governor's house, the hospital, and a chapel, all situated in the citadel, were destroyed by the storm of shot and shell; and even the granite rock on which the town is built was cracked and splintered. On the 19th of September the bombardment of the town was suspended, and the fire of the whole of the guns was then concentrated on the fortress, which is built in successive tiers, rising one above another. The place is surrounded by strong stone walls, and entered through iron gates. An iron door leads into the fortress, and the communication between the different tiers is made by stone staircases and covered ways. Bitsche is situated in a pass of the Vosges, thirty miles north of Strasburg, and fifteen east of Sarreguemines. The town stands at the foot of a high cliff, near a wide but shallow lake, from which the river Borne takes its source. The number of inhabitants is not above 3,000; they are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of pottery and glass. The rock, which is vaulted and casemated, with four bastions

and a half-moon battery, mounted eighty pieces of cannon at the time of the siege. The approach on one side is by a zigzag footpath, on the other by a winding carriage-road. Both roads meet at a drawbridge leading to a gate at the entrance to the fort, which, in September, 1870, was protected by the fire of ten heavy guns. "The entrance," says an interesting paper in All the Year Round, "is by a tunnel cut through the rock, one hundred and twenty feet long, with a massive gate at each end, and one in the centre. The rock is cut through in two places as low as the ditch, one extremity being called the Grosse Tête, and the other the Petite Tête, and both are connected with the body of the fort by drawbridges. On the west side there is a mortar battery. In the centre of the fort stand two large barracks, and at the end are storehouses and magazines. The rock is hollowed to contain the garrison and the provisions, and is divided by compartments connected by narrow passages with massive doors. There is also a subterranean passage communicating with the town below. Although the fort is of solid rock, cut down perpendicularly ninety to a hundred and fifty feet, it is faced nearly all round with masonry. The place cost so much to fortify that Lous XIV., when asked for more money to complete it, inquired, with a smile, if they were building it of louis-d'ors." Bitsche was the place of detention of a number of English sailors taken prisoners in the great war.

An energetic attack on Montmedy was made by the Prussians on September 5th; but it was successfully resisted, and the besiegers retired for a while, only to renew the assault on the 8th and subsequent days. A few days earlier than this a lamentable event had occurred at Vitry. It was at first resolved to defend that town; but when the Prussians were approaching, it was determined to send the Gardes Mobiles forming the garrison to Château Thierry, and the guns on the ramparts were spiked and thrown into the fosse. The Prussians appeared in front of the town before the departure of the Mobiles, some of whom made a show of resistance, but, being ill-armed and halfdisciplined, were massacred by the enemy, who for a long while refused to regard them as soldiers. The affair could hardly be called a battle; it was simply a piece of ruthless slaughter.

On the 30th of September Beauvais-an ancient episcopal city of Picardy, now the capital of the department of Oise-was taken by the Prussians by surprise, a watchman who was stationed on the tower of the cathedral having had no time to give the alarm. The town was occupied by 2,000 infantry and 700 cavalry, followed by, 200 carts