FURTHER PARTICULARS.

Otago Witness, Issue 986, 22 October 1870, Page 10

FURTHER PARTICULARS.

THE DEATH OF GENERAL DOI7AY.

The Pall Mall Gazette gives the following account of the death of this gallant officer : —

General Abel Douay, whose loss is much regretted, is said to have perished in the following manner :— When the battle was lost he stood upon a mound watching the last regiments of his division as they descended the hill, decimated by the enemy's fire. He had done everything which was possible 'to retrieve the day. He had no longer a battalion or a company to fight with. He gave orders to the officers on his staff which dispersed them in various directions, and he deBcended the slope alone. Arrived at the bottom, he drew a pistol from his holster, killed his charger, and sword in hand began to ascend the hill in front of him. Soldiers belonging to various regiments and various arms threw themselves in his way and tried to stop him, " Where are you going?" they cried.. "To the enemy," was the answer ; and he marched on, followed by a handful of soldiers. A terrible fire flashed from the summit of the Prussian position, and here and there struck down the men electrified by the stoical calmness of their general. More soldiers arrived, and again attempted to persuade < their chief to retire ; but he pointed with his sword to the top of the hill, and continued to advance. For a time he escaped the balls which killed those marching at his side ; but at last he staggered, a soldier rushed, forward and caught him in his arms— General Douay was dead. THE INVESTMENT OF STBASBCTRG. The Pall Mall Gazette says :— The investment of Strasburg appears, as far as yet learned, to be conducted chiefly by the Badish troops, whose general, K. Beyer, a Prussian officer, as is well known, has summoned the place to surrender. Strasburg must have nearly 100,000 persons shut up in it, and could hardly bear the process of starvation by investment very long, even if [ its raw garrison kept their hearts, and the commander his head. Its works, though off a very old type of fortification, would be formidable enough, if seriously defended, to call for great exertion in a regular siege - against them. : AFTER THE FIOHT AT REIOHSHOFFEN. j The Morning Post has the following :—: — | Amongst the heroes who fell at Reich- i shuffen are mentioned Colonel de Vassart, i Count de Septeuil, the Marquis d'Espeuilles, : and Count Robert de Vogu6, brother of ] Count Me'chior, chief of the ambulances of < the Society for Succouring the Wounded, i After the combat the body of Count Robert ■< was recognised on the field of battle by some I Prussian officers who had. .known him at < Baden. The Prince Royal,, being informed < that Count Melohior was not far off, sent for ' hjni And uftid ia » grave »n4 pad tone :— 1

" Monsieur, I have to announce some painful news to yon. Do you comprehend ?" "My poor brother ?" exclaimed the French, gentleman. " Yes," replied the Prince, "he has fallen as a hero -worthy of his came. His body is there, Count. You shall have every facility for removing those glorious remains." Ther-74th Regiment lost at Weissenburg 48 officers killed and wounded, among whom were two of superior rank. Of the 33,000 men whom Marshal M'Mahon commanded, he was able to rally but 18,000 after the affair of Reichshoffen. He lost his treasurechest, baggage, papers, and plan of the campaign. There was not much in the chest, as 3,000,000fr, wanted for the next day's payments, had not been received. SCRAPS FROM PARISIAN SOURCES. A letter in the France speaks of a detail in the construction of mitrailleuses, according to which the removal of a single piece suffices to spike them, and render them useless to the enemy if captured. The secret has not yet been mede known. Three theatres, the Vaudeville, Palais Royal, and Variete'a, were obliged to close their doors on Monday evening from the want of firemen, employed elsewhere in the place of the regular troops. The Liberte publishes an extract from a letter from its former correspondent, Albert Duruy, now a volunteer in the Ist Regiment of Tirailleurs, who was at the battles of Weissemburg and Preoscheweile, and who writes from Saarbruck, dated last Monday. He says : — "We charged three times successively with the bayonet, and drove the Prussians | back more than a kilometre. But we were compelled to give way to numbers. Within four days we have been twice beaten, aud have marched without bread ; scarcely even a bit of biscuit. We are dead with fatigue ; from six o'clock yesterday morning to three o'clock this morning we have not halted. I Out legs require rest, bat not our hearts. Assuredly the balls and the grape do not like to hit me. My company was at the head of the battalion for the whole time, and j out of the 120 men of whom it consisted | there remain 40. Our officers are admirable." The writer of the above had never before been under tire, and was more accustomed to the pen than the Chassepdt. He had been but 15 days with the army. The Vblontaire makes the following calculation : — At the last census France counted, men between 20 and 30, 3,760,000 ; from 30 to 40, 3,128,000. "And are we to be uneasy," adds M. Clement Duvernois, "on account of three or four battles lost? We should become the laughing-stock of Europe ?" A BELGIAN ACCOUNT OF FORBACH. The correspondence of the Independano Beige says of the battle of Forbach, writing on the Bth inst. : — " The Prussians admit 2800 killed. They have lost a standard, bat they have taken twe from the enemy, as well as five mitrailleuses. To-day at soon, a proclamation ! made with beat of drum gave the inhabitants of Trevea notice to lay hi provisions for three days, and to prepare to receive three times the number of soldiers already billeted upon them. On the same day 1000 wounded men were brought into the town in 50 carriages, the convoy being under the charge of Count Stolberg, in the habit of a Knight of Malta." Sisters of Charity also arrived to give their aid in tending the wounded. The people of Luxemburg have transformed a barrack into an hospital, and have made every preparation to receive 2000 wounded from either army. Physicians came over from thence to Treves, bringing with them presents of linen and provisions, as well as 40 volunteer attendants. The writer goes on to say that the bodies on the field of battle have been robbed and stripped by the peasantry, and the children of the villages are playing at soldiers, smothered in the uniforms found on the field. . GOSSIP ABOUT THE WAR. The following is from French and Belgian aoarcea :—: — La liberte* of the 26th. July intimates that the Empress of the French at that time saw very clearly that the fate of the JSapoleonio dynasty was bound up with the issues of the war, and expressed herself to that effect to her personal friends. The exact words made use of by Her Majesty are said to have been these :—"lf: — "If we are beaten, nothing remains but to make room for the Orleans family." It is stated that, in the conversations which took place on the subject of Belgium being absorbed by France, the representative of the latter nation made it a sine quA non that Mayence should be evaouated by Prussia— a proposition to which Bismarck would not listen for a moment. The following appear to be the true particulars of the memorable interview between Bismarck and Benedetti, as related by an Italian diplomatist, who was at Berlin when the conversation took place, It is well known that when Bismarck visited the Emperor of the French at Biarritz, before the Austro- Prussian campaign, the wily diplomatist promised his Majesty that there should be a rectification of the Rhenish frontiers of France and Germany ; and that, after the battle of Sadowa, Bismaiok announced the impossibiJity of fulfilling those promises. This was a source of incessant complaint on the part of the French ambassador at Berlin. One day, when M. Benedetti was repeating some of these polite reproaches to Count Bismarck, the lacter, by way of drawing the French diplomatist out, addressed the leading question to him, "But why shouldn't you take Belgium ?" and then j he commenced scribbling some words on I

paper, as though he were reducing the project to a proper form. Rising from the table and tearing up the paper, he continued, " But you write much better French than I do. Put it into shape ; I will show it to the King, and we will talk it over by and bye." Benedefcti, who has the reputation in Paris of being a very ingenuous and simple-minded man, walked straight into the trap which had been laid for him, framed the rough draft of the now celebrated treaty, and handed it over to Count Bismarck, who, fully aware of the valuable uses to which it might be afterwards turaed, as against France, carofully placed it under lock and key. Marshal Canrobert is a little fat man, with a good deal of pretension and vam'iy, and the general air of a well-to-do shopkeeper. He cultivates literary tastes, and composes for private circulation "Bouquets a Chloris." He is very fond of quoting Latin, in season or out of season. Sometimes he writes his orders in that language, and addresses his soldiers as legionaries and the sergeantmajors as centurions. He is never without an edition of Horace or Virgil in his pocket, and it is said that during the battle of Solferino he was reading Livy. He is brave and energetic when second in command, but responsibility unnerves him. In such cases Scipio becomes a Fabius. He exhibited this hesitation and indecision at the seige of Sebastopol. His personal courage in unquestionable ; and when he was a captain he wa3 always to be found at the head of his column, and was always the first under Jlre. General Frossard, who was the military tutor of the Prince Imperial, has the reputation of being a first-class strategist, cool, calm, and collected,- and better adapted for defensive than for offensive operations. He was accustomed to describe to his pupil all the great wars of the empire by manoeuvring little leaden Boldiers over a large map of Europe, the boy cannonading the enemy with smali pellets from wooden cannon. It is said that when the General described the Waterloo campaign, and placed the French army in retreat, the Prince Imperial would not hear of it, but bringing his toy-batteries to bear upon the enemy, swept the English and Prussians off the field, and consigned Wellington and Blucher to utter destruction.

Marshal M'Mahon is the commander in whom the French army placed the greatest confidence. He is a universal favourite, owing to the suavity of his manners, the simplicity of his habits, and the kindliness of his nature. He distinguished himself in the I Crimea, and saved the army at Magenta. A pretty incident occurred when the French army made its triumphal entry into Milan, after the Italian campaign. As he approached the arch of triumph erected at the city gates, a little girl three or four years of age advanced from the crowd, to present him with a huge bouquet of roses, The Marshal leaned from his horse and kissed the child. '* I should like to stop with you," said she. "So you shall," said he ; and, lifting her up, he rode through the capital of Lombardy with the radiant little Italian seated on th« pommel of his saddle, and clasping the roses in her dimpled hands.

Marshal Bazaine is a man about the middle height, fair and fat, with a cheerful disposition, and a confidence of success which subsequent events have not justified. He has two nephews in the artillery, and the head of his staff, Colonel Roger, is one of the most distinguished ofiicers of the army, with a great mania for collecting coleoptera, which he has indulged in Algeria, Mexico, the Crimea, and Asia. When he was in Syria, he has been seen marching at the head of his column with eight or ten beetles pinned to the holsters of his pistols. But most of the French officers have a hobby of some kind, while the soldiers have generally a pet dog or two attached to the regiment and following it; into action.

It seems that when M. Oilivier formed his Cabinet on the 2ad of January last, he did so on obtaining a distinct pledge from the Emperor that friendly relations should be cultivated with Prussia, and that if that power would second his efforts he himself would propose a disarmament. And all this time the Emperor was pushing on his preparations for war.

When the false despatch was promulgated in Paris on the 6th of, August, attributing the victory at Weissenburg to the French, the excited feeliDgs of the populace were wrought to such a pitch, that seeing Madame Sasse, the opera singer, passing along the boulevard in an open carriage, they compelled her to stop, just opposite the Rue Vivienne, and sing the Marseillaise, amidst the frantic applause of congregated thousands.

The news of the two defeats at Forbach and at Worth were received at Metz by the Emperor the same night, and produced a profound impression.- He ordered a special train to be got ready, and declared his intention of placing himself at the head of the guard, and meeting death on the field of battle. Cooler counsel prevailed, but at the same time it was acknowledged that his dynasty had received a death-blow. The Prince Imperial was sent to Paris, where the Empress proposed to hold a review of the National Guard in the Carrousel, with a view to counteract the painful despondency of the Parisian population ; but the officers of that force turned a deaf ear to the charmer. The Empress-Regent had already ceased to reign. A correspondent of the Independance Beige, writing from Metz on the 7th of August, gives a deplorable account of the panicstricken condition of that city, and of the blank ignorance in wnich the inhabitants were kept of the progress of the war. What news did reach them— other than that brought in by wounded fugitivea— was de.

tived from the English papers. Of the 78th 1 Regiment, all had been out to pieces excapt five officers and 80 men, and these complained bitterly of the impotence and incapacity of the generals. At one moment the officers cried, "Do not fire ; it is useless." And the men etood motionless to bo mown down by the terrible artillery of the Prussians. The streets of Meta wero filled with weeping women, and with men whose faces were I white with consternation. "It is not alone the enemy we have to fear,"' writes this correspondent, a Frenchman; "it is the inhabitants, who, although French by birth, speak the German language, and make common cause with the enemy. They do not quit their homes. They do not save themselves, but await the victors with confidence. They visit the fields of battle, despoil the dead, and rob the wounded of their money, jewellery, and even of their clothes." M. Edmond Texier, of the Sieclo, writing from Nancy, after having been at Saverne and Metz, presents a frightful picture of the condition of M'Mahon's troops after their rout by the Prussians. When the battle commenced, at six o'clock in the morning, the French had not had so much as a cup of coffee, and they fought until six at ni^ht in a half famished condition. It was not until the battle was over that any distribution of rations took place. "For four days," said ona soldier, "we lived on potatoes collected from the fields." Never (adds M. Texier) was there a spectacle of such utter disorganisation. Whole regiments have disappeared ; entire battalions have been cut to pieces ; and in six regiments of cuirassiers 122 officers were killed. Orders were given to charge the enemy, posted in dense thickets, from which they directed a murderous fire upon their assailants in the open ; and the French found themselves powerless— the authorities had forgotten to supply them with cart ridges ! Writing from Luneville on the 9th of August, the same gentleman says :—": — " It is believed here that three Prussian armies have penetrated into France— one by Forbach, a second by Weissenburg, and the third by Mulhouse ; and is it with the forces wliich we have at our command, in this moment, that we are going to oppose thiß avalanche ? . . In a few days, unhappily, I may have to date my letters from Chalons. We set out full of faith and enthusiasm for Berlin, and we shall be broutrht back under the walls of Paris. Arm, arm, one and all !" The wounded soldiers who were brought into the hospital at JVancy after the affair at Freischwiller designated the combat by a single phrase. "It was not a battle, but a butchery. We were compelled to fall back for the want of ammunition." According to a letter from Basle, published in the Si6cle, the inhabitants of Mulhouse are pouring into that town, with their household furniture and effects, in waggons, carts, omnibuses, and vehicles of every description, and as fast as the latter are unloaded the horses gallop back to bring in fresh cargoes. The people who are too poor to comply with the exorbitant demands of the fortunate owners of vehicles, aTe to be seeu staggering along the road under the burden of as much of their household gear as they can. cany on their shoulders. General Douay, who was killed at Weissenburg, was 61 years of age, and was in command of the 2nd Voltigeurs at the taking of the Malakoff in 1555. Ho also distinguished himself brilliantly at the battle of Solferino. General Colson, who fell at Worth, was 49 years of age. He won his first military | honours in Algeria, and added to them at the battle of Inkermann and at the Malakcff, where he was wounded. He was afterwards stationed with the army of occupation in Rome, where he was at the head of the staff.