THE-MAGIC OF BEING UNDER MOLTKE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1031, 21 January 1911, Page 8

THE-MAGIC OF BEING UNDER MOLTKE.

! . A CRIM PART. , ! THE HOST .WAS HAUNTED, ; [Br Gyro.] ' • "Obsolete, Sir! I toll you all that's dead; and . done. with. Tliey-couldn't— '. pass; t-ho EaJt; please !-do it liow.. Modern ..weapons, nty • dear . sir, J modern • weapons have—Orderly I What-sort'of • •fJ or &! 0 >'£» «?U this? As. I was say- , aro behind tho J w2?Jm , hy ' 'L thoJ V tried " 'now wo 'mi i- . wou ld— Some- vegetables s . | Tha P^! -Any.Territorial officers? rncss; - 9% a somewhat- distinguished minor-; ;. . Kitchener fcfr one—belidvd's | '/■'that the following strange events aro i . as-feasible-now. as'they were in 1S70; ond. that tliey would bo faithfully re-' i ■ pcated .in some future war for . which f our .Territorials are now' supposed to bo " training. It is tlie story of how ISO,OOO men wore haunted night'and day by' : figures on the hill-tops, and eventually j. driven:'insane. ; Recently a well-known Wellington f:;;. resident gave his, reminiscences of what i may he called The Perfect War 'to ' a j ■ DpaiNio:.' representative, and these j , cave, proved so-interesting that it has been decided to continue the series. His .story-forms the strong lights of i ; , tho picture, but tho strong lights must .J a vo;their.complementary shadows or the picture fails. Our informant* saw :. •«nd._t<tok part in the battles which de-. i : strayed liazaine^—Spicheren wliero Bazj-, • ame's,-morale was* spoilt, Mars-la-Tour I • • whoro.-;Bczaiiio?s jVowerto' niauoeuvre ! .uas spoilt, and Gravelotto where Baz^ • . ; aine', himself was spoilt. A'little re- [ . .imoved:' from, this -turmoil,* however;-ex-v , actly the. same' thing ; was: happening- to ; ' ;'tiie Army of . Marshal- M'Mahon, only j. 'the Frenchmen were coming tlirougli it r with greater travail and agony. AVeis■Benburg. blotted iout ? ! \\> oerth blotted / out- \fo, ;• • manoeuvre, . and then, -'amid /indescrib-. • . able squalor •. and .. tragedy and -Tsnffcr--f ••. • ing, Sedan jrolled* down;.tno 'cdr,tain; on j ; ;tliem • altogether; '. y: : .n .• ■ . -'Early, after AVoorth- certain' half -seen. •, .. ngures on. >tho hill-top liiegan to ;, ■. M'Mahon, and : ,presently ])i.s'nicii. : weiit. »••• If . one' would conc.eivo ,-what a: ■ ' imodern European-, ; :war; .would. bo" likei •he needs. to, • benji; lijs'-: wl<ole attention'-."-to this .part;Qf;tlid;;piciuto.'for it-is the; • ; ; and effective answer to . tlie t-ri^a; of writers .n;lir> invade' Gormaiiy cyery' ' lyear and heap l ridiculo on tho German' -manoeuvres!.' • ' i: '- .sun, iii,Compeigno. in those daj-s , . lookedj.down -on miles ; and miles-, of;: j-S l ?!sjP°t'-,-opfles rand dust where, M'Jlahon's ,180,000 were; sweating for- ; . . TOTd to -.their CivalryVat -.Sedan, and,' - nights, ..tlie stars siiWj' them jump in' -their sleep ..and -call.' Halto-la! for no^ ; .. 'reason at all. ; On the men'' audibly ridiculed..their.,officers, and tlie' :• ~'corporals anH sergeants; tlirashed tlio,' r. , men. Sometimes, 'wheuut was purposed. •that the Airmiy should .'be, met in the . . v evenings hy.'wagons) and'fed, the men, - :-strangelyv-onough''; declined ,to marchj,/another but justv^hrew' themselves "■ on the;grounji.for:'they.knew very wolK : ; • -.from past, experience- that',it was likely* v.' :that. the limiting, figures : oii. tlio. hill-- , ; tops would- Jjave seized the wagons long ; • ; 'before..' • i 1... _ Forsomatimes an' hour they would be ; .: ; from Argus-eyed affliction." then, therfs;.,would bo a little merri- • j-.. : . nrent. ,'A hoise wonld bo killed, and ; .perhaps had. a couple 'i lof carrots o : r;:a beet in his helmet.. They rsatnered wjfjjnd tho' l meal with drawn - faces but, ever it was .touched, . ' someone, w:(iujd jump up arid,, pointing ; • to the sky-Jline,. exclaim in tones of t ' rror ~"%vW'' a ! Cos Prussians.''And ; - ill. n arise among them a 'ihundrcd. cries and. sentiments, romc-' J,.. . 'times ver^'audibly"united in the o'no" "W.e-Prussians are the ileas of God." ' "-U. a •;- no - distillers wouitl' just' ' ! - ''wii or .tivelye,. men, standing riear- .a ibuilding or aTcopse, and; silently'watch- ' ' i; knew, did the poor.: <• renchmen,. th.at. everything; concerning ■ numbers, tlieir condition, ;; Tyhiit they'; had .to eat,' w.ould Be •; " '■ that evening, .'and that - MoltKe,.maybe, w'ould then ,sit 1 down ! > and - write three ,or four.: lines' - which ! would their Golgotha 'more ' -in-: Med, perfiaps. , . jUardly be explained that these pcrsist- . tent; haunting -watchers .'wfire- the Ger-i'!inan_cavalry--4he celebrated and dread- ; icd Uhlans—reconnoitring M'Mahon with' ' i - .a; screen. 150 : miles long. I ".it do?" writes one of -Tt renchmell to his . wife'in Paris . 'f we sent "out a few men the Uhlans W_- ! T, od °: them down, and speared tliem; ■ 'I V* sent.'jout many., it. was only a ; ; . '■ Jard gallop, mf the twilight foi-notiiing. ■ ? r vagabonds' disappeared, and then reappeared on some other hill, still ;■(Teconnoitring-us. We soon ; found wo i , ;wero knocking-up all the cavalry horses : chasing shadows. In the daytime they 1 .. ca P.turo our wagons, and at night'. th'ey, ; eat our fond and wo lio hungry; Tlio : *• fi : iArmy is going mad." . Another ; French' officer \ (Colonial . tßome) has, left this on record:-— 1 , Arrived s at'San-ebourg-the regiments ' i ' were re-formed, and wb were then rtble | ,to furnish tho'lists of Irilled, woinided, ' : h .-and missing, which were truly fright- . I:'' • ' ' V ; ,w om "'at moment the 1 'r Uhlans watched lis lmceasingly. Link- i ,ed to their^"army by-horsemen,' they ' i • , ' BJi-e.an exact account of our position l ;, 1 .of our halts,,of our movements, and , ;as they watched -ns from feme little" -distance, incessantly appearing and i . disappearing, they spread greatest un- , . easiness. V ~ ;■ 1 All tho time M'Mahon was heading . north intending eventually to relievo t poor. Bazamo .whom our recent AYcl- i ; Jington informant and all tlio First and, ; . becond German Armies ; ; ; sieging in Metz. The Third and Fourth' , German Armies were on the heels of M Jlahon,, and Golgotha. was coming - < j , -unexampled in . .tho'...'Clcrmoiitais :! . they must liavo been, and' well worth ! : 'reading about,' even if ono has to sit I ■with concentrated attention', over the l serious -and dry official literature, for ; were.is'only. popolSrJaccoiillt \ : ot it in- England—Zola's "Downfall"— * and, with many, that novelist is ta- 1 | -booed. * But Zola took years to ; .ascertain~his ! , tacts and he paint-s his pictures with ! . a bold big brush. He presents," espoci- "■ i : ally, a very- graphic account of tho i i" night -but one beforo Sedan. Tho ] French had lit fires and the long line ! of flames dancing oil the river "made • a magnificent sight. In the torchlight ! tho heavy cavalry were crossing , ■ the Meuse. The interminablo white cloaks which the cuirassiers wore (some J of . them splashed." with blood like ! butchers), went on hour after hour, ' and. 150,000, infantry arriving .at ,the " choked bridge threw 'themselves down ; , and slept. Tliey, had.long.since,ceased to 4 fight their, -officers, and only a' few of the bolder- spirits still roamed among .' the peasants' .houses aiid, failing any' 1 other provender, ato tho soap. Mean- j ( while, the watchers 011 the hill-tops looked on, and looked 011. Moltko got J his budget:of reports a yard high evdry ! night: and, everv t\vo days or so, ho < /' • sat ' down and wrote, perhaps—two ' lines, - ' The Uhlans, it may.be added, had a ! , dual duty to carry but. They not only 1 scouted; ' but-they prepared 'the "way ! for tho bluo infantry divisions coming up behind them at thirty miles a day. '■ They adventured into . tho towns J and "explained"- things -to -the mayor. So imany houses 'would bo ' required for '.billeting, so' many rations ' perhaps, so -many . skilled railway men 1 . and telegraphists.' The 'majors Qf tho 1 French municipalities, understood, quite well, and, . though tlio Uhlans seldom expressed it in, so many words-,-these' j mayors, understood'also that the-Teu-' 'i

ton. only carried, one grim parcel, -by •way of alternative with him, and that parcel was cleaflf. Few'of'tlio maydrs ever wished -to see tho grisly packet opened in their midst, and tho' operatives, and* the other • things, worn generally forthcoming. .M'Mahon, in the -heart* of-his own-country- coulcl not get them, bufc-the..Crown Prineo's amy, .whieji was pursuing, him, .could. > .On .the« morning of September 1;--1S70, the haunting of M'Mahon's host, like, all weird things, canio to an end. The sun rose, fiery like a copper ball, pushed back tho mists of- the morning, and disclosed a, white town, girt by a bluo river, .and. gardens, and orchards, and cows grazing in tho meadows, and nursogirls wheeling children out. in tho park of Montvilliers. A'nd, towards this, tho pursuers, guided by tho indefatigable Uhlans, wcro moving at fivo miles an,hour.Tho stage.was set, .and the curtain was'rising on,the terriblo.battle ! of-Sedan. -'