The Betrayal of Metz: being a new and revised edition of 'The Fall of Metz,' with a postscript containing a summary of the proceedings of the Court-Martial upon Marshal Bazaine ... with a map, etc

Front matter

THE BETRAYAL OF METZ. THE BETEAYAL OF METZ: BEING A NEW AND REVISED EDITION OF "THE FALL OF METZ," WITH A POSTSCRIPT CONTAINING A SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COURT-MARTIAL UPON MARSHAL BAZAINE. BY G. T. ROBINSON, F.R.I.B.A. (AVHO WAS INSIDE METZ DURING THE SIEGE. ) " The narrative of Air. Robinson, who was in Jletz during its investment, is fully corroborated by the evidence produced at the trial." WITH A MAP OF THE ENVIRONS, SHOWING THE MILITARY POSITIONS. LONDON : BKADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., 8, 9, 10, BOUVERIE ST., E.C. * 1871. [The Bight of Translation is reserved.) LONDON : BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, TYHTTEFHIAKS. TO J. E. TAYLOR, ESQ., AS THE ON1Y MEANS I HAVE OP ACKNOWLEDGES HIS KINDNESS TO ME AND MINE DURING A TIME OF MUCH ANXIETY, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.

Preface

. The first edition of my narrative of the siege of Metz having long since been absorbed, and many demands made by the public for another, I have waited until the trial of Marshal Bazaine was over before reproducing the account of what I saw during that painful episode of the Franco-Prussian war. In some quarters my record was deemed a pre judiced one. Knowing that it was not so I preferred to wait until a judicial inquiry had been held on the conduct of the marshal, rather than to reissue that record whilst so important a trial was pending or in progress. That trial now being ended, I have no longer any reason for not complying with my publisher's request, and in retelling the tale I alone as an Englishman can tell. In doing this I have in some slight degree remodelled the manner of it, and

PREFACE.

. expunged some matter which reflected upon persons since dead, when that matter related to their per sonal conduct rather than to the history of the events I had to record. As for the rest the evidence given at the trial of Marshal Bazaine so fully corroborates all my state ments, that I have contented myself with extracting the conclusions arrived at during the several stages in its course, and embodying them in a postscript. To have given the depositions of the various wit nesses would simply be to have reiterated and amplified my previous narrative of the events which led to the betrayal of Metz. London, 1874. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE 1 METZAVARD 1 II. METZ, PAST . . 14 III. METZ, PRESENT . . . . . ' 31 IV. THE CONCENTRATION OF THE FRENCH TROOPS . . . 51 V. THE BATTLE OF BORNY 68 VI. MARS-LA-TOT/R — REZONVILLE — GRAVELOTTE . . . . 87 VII.

GRAV7ELOTTE — ST. PRIVAT . . . 107 VIII. BLOCKADED 123 IX. THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 152 X. OUR BALLOONS 172 XI. STREET SCENES 192 XII. OUR FORAGING EXPEDITIONS 200 XIII. AN OUTPOST . . 221 XIV. LADONCHAMPS — sfeM^COURT 236 XV. PRESS AND PROVISIONS X CONTENTS. PAGE XVI. THE COMING OF THE END 276 XVII. OUR LAST HOPE 295 XVIII. IN EXTREMIS 309 XIX. THE END 326 XX. HOMEAVARDS 348 POSTSCRIPT THE BETKAYAL OF METZ.

Chapter I. Metzavard

August 9—10. Twelve o'clock was sounding from all the towers and steeples of Paris as I left the station of the Chemin-de fer du Nord. The 8th of August was ended, and the 9th begun, and for the first time I found Paris in a state of siege. We had talked of this in the train, Avondered if Paris Avould differ from its normal condition, and were rather disappointed at finding that it did not, hut Avas much the same Paris still, for at this period the difference Avas only nominal. There Avere more persons than usual hanging about the corners of the streets, spelling out the latest proclamation by the dim gas-light, for the battle of Weis semburg had just been lost. The shadoAv of the coming evil was visible, and France was already putting on her mourning. Inflation Avas on the Avails, but depression in the hearts of her people, and I sought my hotel Avith a Avondering feeling as to Avhat the morning's sun might shine upon.

It did shine, and shone upon Paris ; and as I rushed from the Bourse to the Prefecture in search of neAvs, I found it a very hot sun indeed. EveryAvhere dis satisfaction and discontent were rampant. News it was B THE BETRAYAL OP METZ. difficult to obtain, that is, reliable news ; for at each corner was some Avild rumour of strategic combination of the forces, of sudden movements of the army, of dissension in the legislature, of the Empress taking the field in person, of everything and of nothing. Where to go or Avhat to do I hardly kneAV, so I sought Truth at an unlikely source, and found it. I Avent to the editors of the " Debats " and " Galignani." With these courteous gentlemen, to Avhom my errand Avas introduction enough, I discussed my future plans, if discussion that conference could be called Avhen they advised me to return to England and I Avas determined to proceed on my errand.

" It is useless to proceed," they said. " I must," said I, "but Avhere ? " Where Avould the next Hoav be struck? Opinions differed. "Mullhouse," said one, " Metz," said another; " but if you Avon't go back to England, stay in Paris," said they both. " You know, of course, that all the English correspondents have been sent out of Metz," said one. That decided the question ; I didn't know, or I should not have Avaited a moment in Paris ; but directly I heard that all the English correspon dents had been ejected, and that mo.st of the French had fled, my wavering mind Avas made up. Go I must. Having SAvept their house clean, the authorities at Metz would look no more for those noxious animals, and I should be safe, or at least able to lie hidden until I had learned something others could not know — go I must.

Noav came tales of men throAvn into prison, and acci dentally or designedly forgotten. How that for eight days a friend of theirs had lain in gaol, under suspicion of being a spy, and, hoAV that all the influence they could bring to bear was but just sufficient to get him out again. In Metz — a stranger, Avith no one to seek for me, such a fate METZ WARD. might be mine, only prolonged until death or accident released me. The picture they painted was strongly tinc tured Avith the local colour just then prevailing in Paris — everything looked black. " Obstinate as an Englishman " Avas the comment they made on my expressed determina tion ; and, wishing me a better fate than they saAV in store for me, Ave shook each other's hands with a glimmer of my hope penetrating through their fears as we looked forward to a future meeting.

The meeting with one of us three has already passed aAvay into the long future. Poor fellow ! even in Metz I read in a stray scrap of neAvspaper, rifled from the pockets of a prisoner, that he had been killed in a railway accident, Avhilst I, in the midst of all these dangers he dreAv so \dvidly, still lived. Having made up my mind where to go, the next thing was to find Iioav best to get my body there. At the Stras bourg railway station I found that they Avould endeavour to send a train to Metz next morning* at 8 o'clock, but would not guarantee that it Avould ever arrive ; the line was encumbered Avith troops, with provisions, Avith artillery ; the enemy Avas advancing ; if I liked to try, I might go, but the shoulders expressed Avhat the tongue thought better to repress. In spite of the pantomime, I liked to try, and deter mined to go as far as anyone else could, so made my arrangements accordingly.

That settled, I had noAV time to stroll about Paris, and study the people from a street point of view. Crowds stood round the print and picture shops, and the prints and pictures which attracted them Avere those relating to the early stages of the Great Revolution. Here it was the calling out of the volunteers of 1792. There the victory b2 of Valmy, the day which preceded the declaration of the Republic. The comments of the croAvd were all prophetic,. but little did I think then that betAveen the prophecy and the fulfilment so short a time Avould pass. The beginning of the end Avas already at hand, for hardly had I extricated myself from the croAvd of the pavement Avhen the roadAvay itself was thronged. The Ollivier Ministry had fallen. All along the Boulevards come the blouse-Avearers, there is a dense blue fog of them.

The Ioav, growling hoAvl man utters when he loses his reason and makes a Avild beast of himself comes nearer. There is a rhythm in it noAV ; — there is a rhythmic cadence in the howl of all animals. As I flatten myself against the Avail to avoid contact Avith the passing folly, I find the cry resolves itself into Avords : — " II n'y a pas un Ministre, II n'y a pas un Ministre, A bas Ollivier, A la lanterne ! " shouts hoarsely the unwashed multitude as it surges by. CroAvd after croAvd folloAvs, repeating the same mono tonous cry. Each member of it thinks himself a patriot because, now that his country is engaged in external, he assists in internal strife. The Ollivier ministry might have been a Aveak one, but it Avas Aveaker still to change at such a moment, and I felt, even then, that the ebb and Aoav of history Avas obeying the unknoAvn laAv Avhich regulates it.

The red tinge of a Republic was just blushing. As for the respectable world it took no part in the ebullition, the scum always boils first. The authorities evidently thought the wisest way to get rid of it was to let it boil over ; per- METZAA'ARD. haps it might put the fire out too. Well-to-do citizens evacuated the pavement and ensconsed themselves in •corners of the cafes ; those almost, but not quite, Avell-to-do sat moodily outside, smoking in silence. Not a soldier was seen, and Avhat few officers were in the streets hid themselves from vieAv. Even the balcony of the Cafedu Helder, the grand stronghold of militarydom, did not display one single uniform. Not one policeman Avas visible on the Boulevards, but in the side streets, flattening them selves up against the Avails, hiding in alleys, they peopled desolate places, and Avere ready, in case of any overt breach of the peace, to issue into sight and action.

Here and there an excited orator mounted a three legged stool, and spouted forth his Avell-learned short harangue, but the people themselves Avere too busy shout ing to look favourably on anyone Avho Avanted silence, so he simply earned his money. One of these I folloAved, he was dressed in the costume of that Chemin-de-fer de l'Est I Avanted to leave by on the morrow ; so, in the intervals of his present business, I inquired about his ordinary one to find if the railway were yet open, or if these recent events Avould effect a change. I found him one of the most communicative of men, he had already talked himself hoarse, but as he had three hours' more talking to do, I suppose he thought it better to keep his throat in constant exercise. From him I leamt sundry by-Avays of getting on to Metz in case the iron higliAvay should be found im passable, and in return I listened patiently to his oft repeated, short, lecture to the feAV people Avho would listen.

Its burden Avas a good one. " The sacred soil of France was invaded, let the nation rise like one man ; let the enemy be repelled first, and the political situation of ihe country considered aftenvards." The language in Avhich his discourse was couched was so different to the verna cular in which he talked to me, that I began to think he had a dual existence. He descended from the loftiest sentiment and his three-legged stool at one and the same moment. On an expressed wonder, on my part, at his eloquence and his ability to resume a common-place con versation after so exalted a parenthesis, he informed me that his oratory was paid for at five francs per hour, and that that man there, pointing to a friend who had closely followed us, accompanied him to see that in each hour he orated for thirty minutes at least.

Patriotism assumed a neAV light to me. He had spent half an hour over me, and he didn't at all object to be paid at the same rate for it. For 7 fr. 50 c. no doubt he avouM preach Red Republicanism Avith an interlude of the guillotine. Patriotism I always knew had a price, but I did not think it had descended in Paris to so Ioav a market price as five francs per hour. Wondering if these things were always so, I Avandered back along the Boulevards, listening to a few more five-francers, and sought in the Cafedu Helder the cup of consolation and a friend. Here I learned someAvhat of the cost of Avar, already I found friends had died, and that many other officers whom I had hoped to make friends of had already fallen. We looked over the Annuaire Militaire, the French army list, and found many a black cross of Avhich the ink Avas yet hardly dry ; and as I left I shook hands Avith a grey moustached old officer, Avhose military career com menced under the first Napoleon, and Avho Avas volun teering his aid again.

His ancient enemy had shot his only son, and as he had but death to look fonvard to noAV, he wished it might be met Avhere his life had been spent — before his country's foe. That was a better sort of METZAVARD. patriotism than the five-francer's, but then it cost more. There might be doubts about the political necessity of the foe, but there was none about the soldier's duty, and pondering these things over, I packed and prepared for to-morrow. On the morning of the tenth, my journey to the memorable city of Metz, Avhich for nearly three months Avas to be my involuntary home, commenced. My ticket was given me Avith a Avondering stare, the porters eyed me with curious interest, and the guard regarded me with excited suspicion. I Avas the only passenger voluntarily making tlie journey. All the officials in turn came up to look at me, and amusement or pity Avas legibly Avritten on their countenances as the idiosyncrasy of the spectator varied.

At 8 Ave were ready, but in consequence of oft-recurring telegrams, it Avas not till 8.35 that Ave started. Of the earlier part of my journey I have nothing especial to relate. It Avas an ordinary raihvay journey through an ordinary character of country, nor Avas it until the Champagne district Avas entered and Epernay reached that any indication of an unusual state of things was manifest. Here we began to encounter enormous trains laden Avith horses, artillery Avaggons, and huge convoys of com missariat stores. Here, too, a serious intimation of a coming scarcity became obvious, from the fact that the buffet of the railway station was emptied of all its con tents, liquid and solid — by no means a pleasant prospect for a man whose only foundation for the day's Avork Avas a cup of cafe au lait, and who, by a misplaced confidence, had relied upon the usually Avell supplied condition of French refreshment-rooms for his daily bread.

It was the shadow of a coming event which, as our journey proceeded, became more and more evidently a dread reality. A swarm, as of locusts, had passed before us, devouring everything eatable and drinkable throughout the land, and a stray crust and a glass of water Avas the sole dejeuner obtainable. Noav the train became croAvded Avith young blouses going to be enrolled in the Garde Mobile, and it Avas very evident Avhere that wine so much desired by others had gone to. Their patriotism was rampant, and developed itself in the most martial of songs, sung very much out of tune, but with an excess of vigour Avhich Avas evidently of vinous origin. When some of this surplus force had expended itself, and calmer moments succeeded, a very logical reason Avas found for their leaving their homes and encountering the risks of Avar.

It was that France was invaded, and that it Avas the duty of every citizen to assist in repellingthe invader. The five-franc preacher was not needed here, though a suspicious similarity in the sermon struck me — perhaps they did not pay for their Avine. By-and-by Chalons is reached, and the recruits are changed for grave earnest men of the ambulance corps. They are as silent as the late oecupants were noisy, and the grimness of their calling seems to have impressed itself already upon them. Again Ave change them, and our delays grow more serious and longer, till Ave reach Commercy, where Ave encounter a tedious one of tAvo long hours' duration, caused by the collision of tAvo trains in front of us laden Avith troops. The time seems as though it would never pass, but is relieved by the discovery of a «' Madelaine."

We pounce upon her and devour her. She was small, but rather dry, and is a species of local manu facture of the nature and similitude of a sponge-cake IIETZAA'ARD. flavoured in some peculiar manner, and forming the staple manufacture of the place. It Avasn't much, but it Avas something, and for small mercies Ave Avere noAV beginning to be greatly thankful. The soldiers had not drank the Avine here. They Avere discriminate ; it Avas too soui to drink undiluted, and much too thin to need the pro cess, but there was a delicious spring of cold Avater, and after seven hours' dusty riding in hot carriages, a drink of cold water is a glory beyond description. Starting again, Ave creep sloAvly on until Ave reach Toul, the scene of the disaster. Here the line is torn up, and streAvn Avith fragments of carriages, some shivered into splinters, and others bent and broken into the most erratic shapes.

The shock must evidently have been a very violent one, and the damage to the occupants severe, but to what extent it was quite impossible to ascertain, the reticence of a French official being utterly unassailable. He takes off his hat, rubs the back of his bristly head, shrugs up his shoulders, and exclaims, " Dieu-de-dieu-de dieu," but beyond this not a word is to be extracted from him. Patiently Avaiting — impatience Avas Avorn out long ago — until the line is cleared, Ave once more resume our journey. A feAV miles further Ave are brought to another standstill, and in weariness Avander listlessly about the raihvay banks until the Avelcome sound of "En venture, Messieurs !" sets us off for almost another mile, when a longer pause takes place. At last even French patience is exhausted ; the majority of the passengers leave the train Avith the intention of walking on to Frouard — those who are going short distances only, Avith the intention of seeking some more rapid means of locomotion than a,grande vitesse and mail train affords in time of war. .After a Aveary Avhile we, Avhose baggage causes us to remain Avith the train, arrive at Frouard too, to find this, the junction Avith the main line for Metz, in Avhat our conducteur calls " a fog of trains."

On they come in a seemingly never-ending line, each train consisting of sixty or seventy carnages, and each drawn by tAvo of the enormous engines built by " His Excellency M. Schneider," at Creuzot. Even they, poAverful as they are, are hardly able to start their heavy laden burthen. On they come, noAV a tall dark train of covered luggage vans, filled Avith men, and looking like steam hearses, noAV a white shrouded train of ambulance Avaggons and litters, suggestive of a very harroAving con sequence of the pomp and circumstance of war ; now a singing croAvd of soldiers, Avho have decked their train Avith huge branches of avUIoavs, cut from the marshy lands Avhere they Avere last encamped. Out from the lamp-holes, tied to the stanchions, Avreathed through the door handles, everywhere hang out huge branches of the avUIoav.

Fortunately, the symbol is not understood in France as with us, or the omen Avould not be a cheerful one ; but as it moves along in the misty tAvilight, as the boughs bend, turning the glaucous hue of their Avhitening leaves tOAvards us, the train seems a weird and ghostly creature craAvling away Avith an aAvesome glimmer, and as it vanishes off into the thickening night, the thought of the Avillow symbol comes home to us. Often and often in my musings at Metz did that avUIoav Avearing ghost haunt me afterwards. Other trains are gloomily enshrouded in dark sombre-looking pine branches, Avhilst the oak, the chestnut, and the plane decorate those which MIoav ; indeed, it would almost be possible to point out by the foliage they bear from Avhat part of France each convoy comes. Whilst all this is METZWpARD. passing Ave are filled Avith Avonderment at the fact that no soldiers stay here ; all are rushing MetzAvard.

And yet this is the junction of the railways from Paris, from Metz, and from Strasbourg — in fact, it fulfils the function Metz once did. When high roads Avere the chief means of communication, the key of the district was the toAvn which rose at their junction, and in consequence those stupid old fogies, our ancestors, fortified them, making them as strong as they knew how to do. But then there Avere Avars and rumours of Avars in those days, and it was a vital necessity to command the means of communication. We knoAV better noAV-a-days. We live in a time Avhen Presidents of Republics Avrite learned treatises on the use of artillery, and Avhen Emperors make commentaries on those of Cæsar, and the Empire, it is Peace. So Ave leave a fine open country, Avith a river, a railroad, and a canal running through it, to take care of itself.

What is the use of all this civil engineering if it Avants military engineering to look after it 1 There are fine escarpments of rock, Avith Avooded crests, dominating the Moselle — fortresses by nature each of them. A few miles aAvay to the Avest is the fortified toAvn of Toul ; to the north is the great fortress of Metz. Nancy, a toAvn of 50,000 inhabitants, is five miles aAvay to the eastAvard, and the valleys of the Moselle and the Meuthe are both commanded by ,the position here. Why Avere not earthAvorks throAvn up upon these heights ? Why was not this made a military station ? Why, then, this hurrying on tOAvards Metz ? We had not solved the question before a gap in the croAvd of convoys occurred, in which we inserted our train, and Ave Avere craAvling Metz- Avard once more. Six more Aveary hours did those last forty miles occupy the rain fell heavily, the wet wind hoAvled mournfully, and very hungry and tired was I after my sixteen hours of anxiety, at each stoppage fully prepared to hear that the prophecies uttered in Paris might be fulfilled at that point, and that I should be turned back.

So I entered the station at Metz Avith considerable thankful ness, and in the hopes of food. But, alas ! my troubles Avere not yet over, for after Avaiting till my luggage was declared admissible, and after finding a porter to guide me, I trudged off in a soaking rain and through Avonder f'ully and curiously muddy streets, seeking rest and finding none. Not an hotel Avould open its doors to receive a foreigner at that time of night, and in the Act of Mercy which relates to the reception of strangers the Messians are lax. Back again must I go to the station, through the Avet and muddy streets, Avhere thousands of Avet tri colours are flapping in the damp and gusty air, striking against the windoAvs and causing many a crash of falling glass, and gladdening my vengeful heart at the thought of the glazier's bill those inhospitable citizens Avould have to pay to-morrow.

It Avas Avrong, perhaps, but I was hungry and miserable, and hunger and misery have many greater Avrongs to ansAver for. Back again all that Aveary Avay to the station, perhaps to pace its platform for Avhat was left of the night, Avet, Aveary, and very hungry. Fortunately the waiting-rooms Avere occupied by the medical staff of the ambulance service, Avho, on hearing of my dilemma, kindly rolled themselves a little closer, and made Avay for a damp stranger among them. Food they could not offer me, for they had it not ; but of such as they had they gave unto me, and their friendly shelter Avas a boon of great value, for Avhich I am profoundly grateful. It was an odd sight, that Avaiting-room. Packed METZAA'ARD. closely all over the floor were stretchers prepared for the purpose of carrying off the wounded, and on each lay an officer in the neat uniform of the International Society of Geneva for aiding the Avounded, ready to rise at any moment.

In the vacant spaces where the stretchers Avould not fit, chairs were placed, so as to afford sitting room fqr others ; and as the dim gaslight fell upon their uneasy-postured forms, the red cross on a Avhite ground bound round their arms and borne on their caps looked Avonderfully like blood-stained bandages, and as I dozed off to sleep I fancied I Avas in hospital. In two hours more they were up and off, to seek the quarters already assigned them ; and shortly aftenvards I Avas up and off, too, searching ravenously for a break to that fast of thirty six hours, Avhich initiated me into some of the delights of a special correspondent at the seat of Avar.

Chapter II. Metz, Past

War is a great inducer of the study of geography, and but feAv, save the very learned, kneAV much of Metz and its neighbourhood when the war broke out, yet its history is a very interesting one ; much of it is written very legibly on the town itself, and if I had had leisure and a quiet mind, I could have spent my time very happily in the midst of such records of the history of civilisation. Often in the events of the existing siege old episodes cropt up Avith new faces, and the names of half the villages around us are written in the old chronicles as scenes of similar import to those noAV being acted in them. Placed in the debatable ground which divided, or rather which overlapped, the' Latin and the Teuton poAver, Metz has ahvays played a principal part in the drama of history, and its plain has been the scene of battle and bloodshed in every age.

I am not going to commence, as did one chronicle with which I Avhiled aAvay some of the dulness of the siege, Avith a history of Metz before the deluge, but if you are frightened you can skip this chapter entirely ; I think it an interesting one, and one Avhich throws some light on present events, although the lamp Avhich illumines them was kindled so very long ago. Situated on the junction of tAvo rivers, one in early days, when craft were small, navigable even unto the Rhine, it Avas just the place for early settlers ; and the Belgæ, the most go-a-head of the Gallic race, soon seized upon it, and, of course, Rome soon seized upon them. These settlers, the Mediomatricii, amalgamating themselves and being associated Avith the victorious Romans, formed the sixth Roman legion of the Pseudo-Comitatenses, and Metz greAv up as the Roman city of Divodurum.

Here they built an amphitheatre ; it stood where the Redoute de Pate now stands. There was a naumachia doAvn by the river, where Roman galleys and Belgic coracles fought mimic combats. Luxurious baths rose up by the Porte St. Thiehault, where the granite of the Vosges and the porphyry of Egypt vied Avith each other, and a grand old bath of the latter uoav does duty as a baptismal font in the cathedral. There Avere other baths doAvn on the river, and Roman Divodurum must have been rather a pleasant place to live in ; I dare say the late Titus Varius Clemens, procurator for Belgium, prefect of the Spanish auxiliaries and of the British cavalry, made himself very comfortable. I often thought of him, and wondered if he Avas a relation of that Saint Clement, a converted consul, Avhom the Messins claim as their first bishop, as I, not exactly dropped a tear upon, but brushed the dust from his tomb stone in the museum, where there are so many interesting records of the Roman occupation.

They are heaped up there, too, in such Avild confusion, that you enjoy the pleasure of discovery. Bold Mediæval sculpture, delicate Renaissance carving, and fragments of all ages are piled together, and your Avant of knoAvledge is not insulted by that regular chronological arrangement Avhich shocks your ignorance, and renders orthodox museums so painful to the sensitive. You may pick an odd bit out here and there, fancy yourself a discoverer, and value the piece all the more for the supposition ; and I rather pride myself on the fact that I discovered my noble friend of the British light horse. Perhaps he lived in the big palace Avhich occupied the hill, noAV of the Holy Cross, the highest point of the city; at any rate, some of these other prefects did. This Titus Cælius, the " friend of Augustus," no doubt did.