A FAMOUS WAR CORRESPONDENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9991, 30 November 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

A FAMOUS WAR CORRESPONDENT.

EPISODES IN THE CAREER OF MR. 1 ARCHIBALD FOIIBES. ' Mr. Archibald Foubk in his "Memories I and Studies" has some striking stories to i tell of the Francj-German war. When at ' Saarbriicken they were expecting that tho J French Army Corps might overwhelm the j town at any uioment, and a young German I girl can\o to 9ay farewell to her sweetheart, • a sergeant of the Hohenzollerns. Some of ' (he livelier spirits who knew tho facts. ' suggested that the pair should get married 1 before tho farewell s houl(l be said. Both ' were willing, and all was hurriedly got in ! readiness for the ceremony, when the bugle ] sounded tho alarm:--The bridegroom ' hurriedly embraced the bride, buckled on 1 his accoutrements, and darted off to the 1 place of rendezvous. In ten 'minute? more J the combat was in full intensity; tlie French had carried tho height* overhang- ( ing tho town, and wero pouring down upon ' it their artillery and mitrailleuse fire. Our ' hotel was right in the line of fire, and soon 1 became exceedingly disigreeable quarters. ' Wo got tho women down into the cellar. ! and waited for events. A shell crashod 1 into the kitchen, burst inside t.he cooking Stove, and blew the wedding breakfast, : which was still being kept hot, into what an American colleague called " everlasting smash." It was too hot to stay there, and everybody manoeuvred strategically to the 1 rear. A fow days later was fought, close to Saarbriicken, the desperate battle of the 1 Spicheren, in which the bridogroom's regiment took a leading part. The day after 1 the battle I was wandering over the field 1 helping to i'elieve the wounded, and gazing ' shudderingly on tho heaps of dead. 1 Suddenly I came upon our bridegroom in a 1 sitting posture with his back resting I against a stump. He was stone dead with '■ a bullet through his throat! ' A TIIP.tLLIS'd VICTOKV. , Perhaps the most thrilling episode in the i colossal struggle of 1870 was, Mr. Forbes i thinks, the singularly dramatic climax of i the battle of Uravelotte. The long summer '• day of fighting was, waning into dusk, and i the fortunes of the battle still trembled in ] Iho balance, when the last reservo of tho ( Germans went forward into tho conflicts " The strain of the crisis was sickening as < we waited for the issue in a fort of rapt i spasm of sombre silence. The old King I sat with his back against a wall on a ladder, t one end of which rested on a broken gun- 1 carriage, tho other on a doad horse. Bis- c raarck. with an elaborate assumption of s coolness which his restliness belled, made i pretence to be reading letters. Tho roar ( of tho close battle swelled and deepened, i till the very ground trembled beneath us. 1 The night fell like a pall, but the blaze of t an adjacent conflagration lit up the anxious group here by the churchyard wall. Prom ; out of the medley of broken troops littering f the slope in front rose suddenly a great £ shout, that, grew in volume as it rolled I nearer. The hoofs of a galloping horse I rattled on tho causeway. A mornont later .< Moltke, his face for once quivering with ox- t citement, sprang from the saddle, and, I ruoning towards the King, cried out: 'It i i? good for us; we have restored the posi- i tion, and the victory is with your Majesty !' ! The lung sprang lo his feet with a fervent i 'God be thanked 1' and then burst into I tears." Bismarck, witii a great sigh of ' relief, crushed his letters in the hollow of i his hand, and a simultaneous hurrah welcomed the glad tidings. i AX EMPEROR'S fIRATITODK. It was in tho Rosso-Turkish campaign | that Mr. Forbes' had 'the honour of being ' presented to the Emperor Alexander 11. 1 After the struggle in the Scliipka Pass, Mr. Forbes started off qp tlio journey'to Bucharest,' where the nearest telegraph was, a journey of 170 miles. After tiding all night, without, food or drink or rest, he arrived at the "Russian "Imperial headquarter?, hp IgnatidlT.' "Where from now ?" said the general. "From the Schipka," was the reply. "I left there late last night." " Tlie devil you did exclaimed Ignatieff; ''you have beaten all our messengers by hours. Your; must be the last news; you must set? the Emperor and tell' him." Mr!' Forbes proceeds fgn'atieff went inside and 'awakened his Imperial Majesty, who had been asleep; and he presently ushered me through the Cossack guard into the dingy alcove which formed the hall of audionce. Tho Imperial quarters were a dismantled Turkish lioiiso, the balcony of which, where the Emperor stood, was enclosed with common canvas curtain?. There was not eyen a carpet on tho rugged boards. A glimpse into the bedroom whence His Majesty had emerged showed a tiny bin with mud walls, and a camp tied standing on n mud floor.' The Emperor received too with great kindness, shaking haqds, and paying a compliment to my hard riding.' lie was gaunt, worn, and haggard, his voice broken by nervousness and by t|ie asthma that afflicted him. Some months later I saw His Majesty in St. Petersburg— very monarch, nprighf of figure, pro|)d of gait, attirpd in a brilliant uniform, and covered \vjtli decorations. A glittering court and suite thronged around tho stately man with enthusiastically respectful homage. The dazzling splendour of the Winter Palaco formed the setting of the sumptuous picture. And as I gazed on the'magnificent scene I could hardly realise that the central figure in it, in tho popip of his Imperial state, was of a verity the self-same man in whose presence I haft stood in the squalid Bulgarian hovel—the same worn, anxious, shabby, wistful man who, with spasmodic utterance and t|ie expression in his eyes as pf a limited deer, had asked me breathless questions as to the episodes and issuoof the, fighting. IgnatiefT fetched paper and pencil, and Mr. Forbes niado a rapid sketch, explaining all the details as he procepdod. Tho Emperor was very uratpfni, said hp had heard of Mr. Forbes' cojiduct in succouring the pounded before l'levnn, and bestowed on him the Order of St, Stanislaus.