THE GERMANS LEAVING FRANCE

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1695, 9 January 1874, Page 2

THE GERMANS LEAVING FRANCE

A correspondent of the Datty News telegraphs from Metz : — The soil of France is once more free. At 20 minutes to 10 o'clock this morning, the last armed German crossed the frontier, under the shadow' of the, tri-color, with the cry of' " Vive la France !" ringing in his ears; It was the first time for three ; years; that the cry of French freedom . had been heard on that ; grave-studded ' plain ; ib was the last time,. that the tramp of German troops- and. the .sound ;pf German music was to be heard on the French side of the lineiamong the graves which; the hewn : stones mark athwart the ground. ' 1% was early moniingi when General yon Gluemer and his staff rode out from Metz to meet General Manteuffel. Already, however, with firm and sturdy step, the troops that had belonged to the army of occupation were striding along the'muddy road, or halting by the roadside. They had piled arms in the high street of-Lon-gueyille, where Napoleon had stayed before he quitted Metz. As they passed through the vineyards of Ghapelles,;the : strains of "Die Wacht am Rheih" rose •toward the lofty summit of Sk Quentin. With most the talk was of the war drama, for in the most stirring scenes, oi: that drama moat of them had taken part.' It was easy to guess of what. Yon Ghiemer was thinking when the cavalcade reached the plateau of- St. Hubert,- and cauie among the graves. -At -Von Zastrow's bidding he had ; led his division down from that bluff of Gravelotte over against; us; into the wooded ravine below us, and had tried long and arduously, beforehesucceeded ' to carry the verge of the plateau on which we were now- riding/ Tne monuments all around told of dead friends, and comrades,- Th.c nameless grave-mounds spoke not less eloquently of; staunch and worthy; enemies. The most reckless cavalry subaltern checked his sprightliness as we rode past ; the shattered ruin of the Point dv Jour tnn, with the resting-place of its 'dead over against it, and men looked and. wondered in silence as they 1 rode down the slope up which the Westphaliaii Uhlans ihad charged. Of them and. of their comrade artillerymen were the graves down in! the meadow. And then we rose.f again to -Gravelotte, whose gardens are fertilised by blood, and in which the grave crosses rise amid the fruit trees and flower. ' ; ; Gravelotte, full as it was, of troops, had something of the aspect of the old fighting days, but to-day no unburied deadjay in its precincts, no wounded men groaned in i|s barns and cottages, no weeping women wrung theip hands despairingly as with red eyes they shudderingly ; beheld • the horror around them. Children now were playing jn the churchyard where the dead wgre stacked in tiers, and singing birds I hung in cages outside the cottage doors. Leaving on the left the memorable plain of Vionville/ we struck northward by the Conflans road past, the detached, farhi of Mpgador, wher,e qii: ;the ; af ternodn ,of Gravelotte the fierce flames raged around 200 victims unable from their" wounds to escape. Past Malmisspn, .whither erstwhile Goeben'B men »yere.carried.;as they went down in the hailstorm of lead jthat swept through the trees :of the neigh' boring'woods, where men on the march home from France are now strolling. among the graves of their 'comrades, and s£ to the farm of B.agnieux, whence Goben's artillery had. tried , in vain to [beat down the cannonade of Leboeuf's guns on the; opposite slopes of rSt.- Hubert. At frequent- intervals, both before and' and. after Gravelotte, we had. met', detachments of the recent army of; occupation tramping along through the blinding rain. | There were few men more now to come, and we, too, were near bur journey's limit. As we passed Bagnieux and rode down the gentle slope to the spot 'where the road traverses the gap betweeu the woods, across which gap runs the frontier lints, we, met a company of the 64th Regiment with the band playing " Hail to .the German Fatherland." In strictness, no .'doubt, they were entitled to hail as Fatherland the territory they had now entered upon," but in very truth it had been to them any? thing rather than hospitable soil— -nayji a, veritable field of death. Many men with medals on their breasts could recognise — ; and ' ! shudder, at the recognition — the pointed spire of Vionyille church rising away there to the right beyond the woods of St. Marcel. It is hot without cause : that a monument in the. centre of Vionvilleinow commemorates the dead of the 64th Regiment, which carried the. village at the bayonet point against a greatly superior force. ; And now there has entered -France this new invasion of some few dogen staff officers and a little, detachment' of orderlies^ Yet for one half-hbur such invasioH 'was not illegal. Would that all' invasions were as harmless and shortlived I The spot is a solitude. We ride . a kilometre further and then -halt, turning:: off the' road '.tq' the shelter, of the beech trees. that form 'the avenue to the Chateau of Villers aux Bois. Men dismount and gossip. There i 8 a renewal of old acquaintance between men who have not met since- the 1 war times, and much jovial calling up of reminiscences. The party, ; it may be stated,' , consists of ' General von ; Gluemerj commandant of the district.; .GeneraL;. von, Horn, commanding the Brigade ; Colonel Schrptt and Major Hersitz, of the Engineer; Staff ; Colonel Kameke, Commandant of Metz ; Major.. Schu'lze,: .Artillery Staff; Major ivon; Steeklerjd and the bfficersof the East Prussian 1 '• Dragoon cßegiment. As we stand under the beech trees there comes news that General Manteuffel is already at hand. We mount and ride out upon

the road. The rain clouds have blown away, and the sun breaks out over the soaked fields and draggled foliage. As caps show on the road beyond,) Gluemer -into there is a headlong char ge.along the road which ends:su'adenly in the/tableaux of' General Manteuffel and Gluemer shaking hands. There 'irS^dnTuiM"'ln^n^W^L the staffs, everybody i Bhaking hands with everybody else. Here comes Von- der Burg en his black charger, and stalwart old Linsingen with the grey beard flowing over the broad breast. When Manteuffel has shaken hands with everybody, the cavalcade proceeds, this time with, faces set towards Fatherland, Behind thl Staff tramp, through the 'mire the',three"companies ,of fortress ■ artillery that ; ' had^ constituted part of the^ garrison of Verdun. For them; 'after havitjg toiled in many a bombardmentj' is ' rese'rVed^ 'the honor of being the last to quit.tHe^soil of France. .> . ■ ? Presently, as the f rontier/is nea^red, the Staff halt, and drawv.toi either fsictajpf the ;way, leaving General, BlanteuffeL stand- - ing alone. But ' there . Has "' been a little blunder. We are not yet 'standing 6n the boundary ' line. ?■ 'Gluemer takes from his holster the inevitable map; and lapses into a study of it which lasts till an orderly happens to note and, point out the . stones mdi eating 'the ' frontier., All move there,' and f Manteuffel^ '^ith his Staff behind, him; draws. to^ thf i r^gtti side of the road, the.. Metz, partyVmoTing to the. left.-.-; No crowd,, has,. gath,er§d to witness this fall f of. -the droprßcene,^! the terrible^war tragedy,- anioeveuibf surely all the more thrilling in that it occurs on the very spot where one of the most memorable acts of that tragedy was played out, and within ' sight of 'another ' nol less memorable, although mot so decisive. On the. .bank, .behind General Manteuffel stand two Frenchmen, one in grey, the other a countryman in a blouse. These are,: the only outside spectators. At a signal -"fr'dm Von ; der i Burg,,, the bandy bursts forth into a x'rash-df ! triumphant -^ music. At the head- of- the little-party rides brave old CLinsingen, the very picture of "a coplj -collected, easy-going, jovial philosopher. There follow him the band, and then the artillery column. The superb" bearing of the itambour-jnajor is a sight to see. The band wheels Jo one side and plays the JSfational Anthem f while the last company is: tramping'p'ast^ Behind the company comes .ah' ambulance, with the red cross flag of Geneva flying ,-—po inapt emblem'of ia concluded war —and then a tumbril, in the rear of which" marched the/last German soldier to quit the soil of France, a solid, [broadfaced Brandenburg.er, .who performed a S great, j historical . act .with . all , the nonchalance of unconsciousness^'arid audibly muttered exclamations against the weatheras he' inarched 6ri. J :> Nevertheless, let me do what I hiayto : 'furnish the world with particulars concerning this 1 historical ohaV racter. Bis name is Augustus Welok, a native i of : Brandenburg: fHe is twentytwo years old, aud belongs to the 64th Regiment, ■'■'''i >■■>■<■ :>\ /.-.<•• O .iil^|" Was this, then, f t 6 1 Was' France to be free and tnake' no sign? By no means. .As Welck' stro'de^'a|t, f thfe French spectator in'gfey stobpe'd, 7 pi6ked ! up a flagstaff, unfurled the tricblour) !i and' with a shout of ,"- : Vive la. France," joined in by the. blouse, waved the banner of France aloft. Manteuffel, who was standing just inside the boundary, line, then rodo away. As he turned, s ialt4ady French soldiers stood on" the frontier line. Gendarmes who had -beeh^waifing in the adjacent 'wbrid'ipushed on, < and 1 forced iin Tdfouble column across the road, in case thl Germans should: change /their, •mindsjj But they did not.! .They made their way across the grave-flecked battle-field. The troops <h&lted in Gravelotte. > Mauteuffel, with his cortege, rode on s into JMetZf As he crossed the Point' du/r«Jouryi Eort Manteuffel,' fiirmerly. fofti -St. ri Julien, thundered forth a salute to the chief from whom it take's its new 'name. On his arrivaljin the courthyard of the" Hotel de l'Europe, Manteuffel was welcbmedsby all the. officers of [the garrison at iMetzf