occupied; but the fight about Balan lasted much later. Here it was, according to Bavarian reports, that the Emperor, declaring that he only served as a private soldier, went with an attacking column, composed of the remnants of various regiments, to drive out the Bavarians. But the artillery on the heights above the river and the cross fire from the heights above the road were too much for troops shaken by incessant fighting and frightful losses. Shell and shot rained fast about the Emperor, one of the former bursting close to his person and enveloping him in its smoke. The officers around entreated him to retire, and the Bavarians quickly following occupied Balan and engaged the French on the glacis of the fort. I cannot say whether this was previous to the period referred to by General Wimpffen in his address to the army. He speaks therein of a supreme moment when it was necessary to make a final effort and cut their way through the masses of the enemy at any hazard. But of all the great host of 90,000 men, there were only 2,000, he says, left who answered to the appeal. Of the remainder there were probably 20,000 in the hands of the Prussians, but 60,000 men, deducting killed and wounded, had by this time become an utterly disorganized mass, without cohesion "willing to wound, but yet afraid to strike," and crushed out of all semblage and military vitality by an overwhelming and most murderous artillery, of which the moral effect was at least as great as the physical. The bitterness of recrimination between officers and men shows that long before the battle a radical element of force was wanting. There was not only a deficiency of cordial relations in their kind between the officer and the soldier, but a worse evil still—an actual apprehension on the part of the officers of those whom they were to command--a fear to enforce the ordinary rules of discipline, lest the soldier should become unmanageable altogether. The scene can neither be imagined or described which occurred when the army, or that uniformed rabble, had been fairly driven in by the beaters, to be shot down at will. The French artillery had practically ceased to exist as a protecting arm. The guns on the works are ridiculously small ordnance of the date of 1815, with a few heavy pieces here and there, and Sedan, commanded completely from the south bank of the Meuse, was to all intents and purposes an open town, with the inconvenience of having a walled enceinte to embarrass the movements of the 440 SURRENDER OF NAPOLEON III. troops. The Emperor retired, I believe, within the place, but not, surely, for safety, but rather to escape from the surging mass of impotent soldiery. There was a rain of Prussian and Bavarian bombs upon the town, filled with terrified citizens, who had had no time to escape. The troops outside had been fighting without food since the morning, and there were no resources within the city to meet their wants. They were in an angry and terrible mood, upbraiding their officers, mutinous, and every shell that fell increased the evil of their spirit. To one of the many missiles was now reserved a great mission. A shell fell into a warehouse or manufactory in which was stored some inflammable material. A vast volume of flame rushed for a moment into the air, a volume of thick white smoke which towered and spread out so as to overshadow half the city gave a rise to the apprehension on one side and expecta tion on the other that some central magazine had gone up. But no noise ensued. Still, at the moment the resolve was taken that Sedan and all that it contained should be placed in the power of the victor, in the belief that it was impossible to resist with any prospect but that of ruin, complete, however lingering. The Emperor could not oppose counsels dictated by obvious prudence, nor could he encourage the despair of brave men. A white flag was called for, but none was forthcoming. A Lancer's flag was raised aloft. General Lauriston stood upon the battlements and waved it, while a trumpeter sounded, but in that infernal din neither sight nor sound attracted the besiegers, and it was only when the gate was opened, after attempts in which officers and men were killed and wounded, that the Prussians recognised the first omen of their stupendous victory. The firing suddenly ceased after the discharge of a few dropping shots, and then, as all along the bloodstained hills and valleys in which the smoke of battle had been hanging, the news, or rather the instinct, prevailed that the enemy had asked for terms, there rose, I am told, cheers such as only can be given by a triumphant soldiery. Shakos, thousands of helmets and caps, thousands of bayonets and sabres rose in the air. What an additional pang of agony that must have been to the wounded French, who felt that they had given their blood in vain, while the Prussians beside them, maimed as they were, tried to swell with their feeble voices the chorus of joy! An officer related to me that he saw a huge Prussian who had been lying with his hand to his side in mortal agony rise suddenly to his feet as he comprehended the reason of the ringing voices, utter a loud Hurrah, wave his hands on high, and then, as the blood rushed from his wound, fall dead across a Frenchman. The officer who came out eventually and met General Moltke in consultation was, I believe, General Reille, who was the officer in attendance on the King when he was at Compeigne. He was the bearer of an autograph letter from the Emperor addres ed to His Majesty, and written in no agitated hand. You already know the terms :-"Mon Frère,-N'ayant pu mourir à la tête de mon armée, Je dépose mon épée aux pieds de votre Majesté.” This letter was immediately conveyed to the King, who, with Count Bismark, General Moltke, and his staff, was looking down from a height above Wadelincourt on the extinction of an Empire His Majesty's answer was courteous and firm, and meantime General Wimpffen was informed that the terms offered to the army was the surrender of the whole force, guns, horses, and material, to the Prussians. I do not know whether the officers were then exempted from the general surrender, but, any way, the French commander declared he would sooner perish in the field than sign such a disgraceful capitulation; and so the sun went down in the west, lighting the path of the King to Vendresse, through the most enthusiastic ovation from all the soldiery along the road south of the Meuse. * * * The hesitation to sigu the capitulation did not signify much, for a night's reflection, strengthened and matured by the sight of the preparations for maintaining possession of what remained of the French army by force, would, it was felt, render a positive refusal out of the question. Orders were sent to the various corps to close up round the town, and when the watchfires were alight Sedan seemed a black spot in a broad belt of fire, which lighted up the heavens. What a night it must have been for the wounded cannot be imagined by those who have not seen how great are the sufferings which kind nature, however, appeases generally as time wears on, and life ebbs away. At 10 o'clock the town was to be bombarded, and the French army around it to be shelled, unless the capitulations were signed. It is stated that the scene inside of the walls and out was, to use a strong expression, "Hell broke loose." When the Emperor, who had passed weary hours, looked out in the 442 AUFIDIUS AND CORIOLANUS. early morning he beheld a forest of steel and iron on valley and hilltop, batteries posted on every eminence, cavalry in all the plains, as far as his eye could reach the hosts of embattled Germans. His decision was taken at last. He would see the King, and seek to obtain from him some mitigation of the terms. Attended by a few of his staff on horseback, His Majesty proceeded along the road from Sedan in a brougham. * * * * * At 11.30 the capitulations were signed, as agreed upon by General Wimpffen and General Von Moltke, and the Emperor remained as a prisoner of war of the King of Prussia. -RUSSELL. AUFIDIUS AND CORIOLANUS. Cor. Hail, lords! I am return'd your soldier: The gates of Rome. Our spoils we have brought home The charges of the action. We have made peace, Than shame to the Romans; and we here deliver, Together with the seal o' the senate, what We have compounded on. Auf. Read it not, noble lords; But tell the traitor, in the highest degree Cor. Traitor !-How now? Auf. Ay, traitor, Marcius. Auf. Ay, Marcius, Caius Marcius; dost thou think You lords and heads of the state, perfidiously Cor. Hear'st thou, Mars? Auf. Name not the god, thou boy of tears Cor. Measureless liar, thou hast made Too great for what contains it. Boy! Oh slave !- I was forced to scold. Your judgments, my grave lords : (Who wears my stripes impress'd on him; that must be 1 Lord. Peace, both, and hear me speak. Cor. Cut me to pieces, Volsces; men and lads, Auf. Why, noble lords, Will you be put in mind of his blind fortune, Con. [Several speak at once.] Let him die for 't. Citizens. [Speaking promiscuously.] Tear him to pieces, do i He killed my son; my daughter ;-he killed my cousin Marcus my father, 2. Lord. Peace, ho!-no outrage !-peace! The man is noble, and his fame folds in Cor. O that I had him, With six Aufidiuses, or more, his tribe, To use my lawful sword! Auf. Insolent villain ! Con. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill him! [AUFIDIUS and the Conspirators draw, and kill CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS stands on him.] SAMSON'S DEATH. Messenger. OH, whither shall I run, or which way fly The sight of this so horrid spectacle, Which erst my eyes beheld, and yet behold? But providence or instinct of nature seems, |