The Franco-German War, by R. W. With supplement and history of the Commune by his father (J. Wilson), also biographical sketch by ... J. Ker ... With maps, etc

Front matter

FRANCO-GERMAN WAR Home iMaadonald, Edinr' yfiy^zAy THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR Bv ROBERT WILSON WITH SUPPLEMENT AND HISTORY OF THE COMMUNE BY HIS FATHER ALSO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY THE REV. JOHN KER, D.D. AND LETTER BY THE REV. ROBERT MOFFAT, D.D. SOUTH AFRICAN MISSIONARY WITH MAPS AND PORTRAITS MDCCCLXXXI Printed by R. & R. Clark, Ediiiiurgh. THIS POSTHUMOUS WORK OF A BELOVED AN ONLY SON IS DEDICATED BY HIS FATHER Jit JStcmoriam TO HIS AFFECTIONATE MOTHER AND EIGHT LOVING SISTERS CONTENTS. PAGE Preface ....... xi Biographical Sketch ..... xiii Letter from Rev. Dr. Moffat .... xxii Author's Preface ...... xxv

Part I

Rising power of Prussia — Hostile feeling between France and Prussia — Secret preparations for war — Pretext for declaring war — France declares war — King William of Prussia and his staff — Napoleon and his staff — Preparations for war — Neutrality of other nations — Position of the French army — Position of the German armies — Strength of the rival Powers — Baptism of Fire — Capture of Wissembourg and Geisberg — Battle of Woerth — Battle of Forbach — Change of the French Ministry — Bitche and Strasbourg invested — Prussian Uhlans — Fighting near Metz — Napoleon resigns command of the army — Battle of Mars-Ia-Tour — Battle of Gravelotte — Blockade of Metz — Feeling against Napoleon — Defeat of the French at Beaumont — Battle of Sedan — Napoleon delivers up his sword — Capitulation of the French army — Superiority of the German organisation — Naval superiority of France — Siege of Strasbourg — Sortie from Metz — Paris prepares for a siege — Republic declared in Paris — Flight of the Empress and Prince Imperial — Comparative strength of the armies . . . Pages 1-54 CONTENTS.

Part II

Germans advance towards Paris — French Government removed to Tours — Paris besieged — Defences around Paris — Italian Government takes possession of Rome — Surrender of Toul — Capitulation of Strasbourg — Prussian head-quarters at Versailles — St. Renny and other towns besieged — Garibaldi takes up arms for France — Battles of Artenay and Orleans — Burning of St. Cloud — Capitulation of Soissons — Francs - Tireurs — Capitulation of Schlestadt — Sorties from Metz — Capitulation of Metz — Bazaine accused of treason — King William's address to his soldiers — Germans take possession of Dijon — Capitulation of Verdun and other forts — French victory at Coulmiers — Orleans retaken by the French — French determine to raise the siege of Paris — Capitulation of Thionville — Battle of Amiens — Germans take possession of Rouen — Battles sought round Orleans — Second capture of Orleans — Trochu organises an army in Paris — Fighting on the Marne — Sorties south of Paris — Numbers killed during sorties — Britain sympathises with France — Proposed establishment of German Empire— German conquests — Resources of Paris — Positions taken up by the French generals . . . Pages 55-110

Part III

French Government removes to Bordeaux — Battles on the Loire — General Barray evacuates Blois — Havre threatened — French Army of the North marches towards Paris — Phalsbourg and Montmedy capitulate — Battle of Vendome — Germans capture Nuits — Battle of Pont-de-Noyelles — Capture of Ham and St. Quentin — Bombardment of Paris begins — Comparative numbers of the rival armies — Capitulation of Mezieres — Battle of Bapaume — Rocroy taken — Capitulation of Peronne — Scarcity of food and fuel in Paris — Movements of Bourbaki's army — Fighting around Villersexel— Battle of Le Mans— Battle of St. Quentin — Bombardment of Longwy— Battles at Hericourt— Great sortie from Paris — Trochu CONTENTS. IX resigns his command — King William proclaimed Emperor of Germany — Gambetta urges on the war — Germans abandon the siege of Cambray — Capitulation of Longwy — Germans burn Fontenoy — Battles at Dijon . . .

Pages m-160 NOTES 161-166 SUPPLEMENT. Coronation ceremony of the German Emperor — French hopes crushed — Jules Favre and Bismarck open negotiations for peace — Armistice and treaty of capitulation — Decree issued for a National Assembly — Paris forts occupied by the Germans — Paris supplied with food — Last days' fighting at Dijon — Retreat of Bourbaki's army — Battle of Pontarlier — Total defeat of the French — Napoleon's proclamation from Wilhelmshohe — Napoleon deposed — Dissension between the Governments at Paris and Bordeaux — Proclamation by the Paris Government — Gambetta resigns — First meeting of the National Assembly — Garibaldi resigns — Thiers elected Head of Executive ■ — Ministry chosen — Terms of peace agreed on by Jules Favre and Bismarck ratified and signed — Germans prepare to enter Paris — Review in the Bois de Boulogne — The entry into Paris — Conduct of the French during the occupation — German army leaves Paris — Emperor and Crown -Prince return to Berlin — Glories of war — Abstract of French losses .... 167-215 RISE AND FALL OF THE COMMUNE IN PARIS IN 1871.

Communistic feeling in France — Outbreaks during the war — M. Flourens and others condemned to death — Versailles chosen as the seat of Government — Agitation increases — Revolution in Paris — Proclamation by the Government — Defiant position of the Commune b CONTENTS. X — Concentration of Government forces — Commune supreme in Paris — Communists threaten to attack Versailles — Despatch of German Chancellor to Jules Favre — Communistic rising in Lyons — Divisions in the Assembly. at Versailles — Commune formally proclaimed in Paris — Communist Government formed — Insurgent army march out to give battle — Fighting at Courbevoie — Fierce battles around Paris — Paris again in a state of siege — Insurgents prepare for defence — Fighting continues outside Paris — Citizens leaving Paris — Successful movements of the Government — Decree by the Commune to destroy property — Three days' terrible cannonade — Government troops enter the city — Murder of the Archbishop of Paris — Extensive arrests and trial of Communists — Capture of the last stronghold — Final overthrow of the Commune — Numbers killed and wounded — Property destroyed — Discovery of seditious papers — Amazons of Paris — The citizens resume their peaceful occupations — Establishment of law and order by the Government — Peace reigns throughout France . . ' Pages 217-268 ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portrait of Author To face Title Map of France To face page 1 Portrait of Emperor of Germany ... ,, 4 „ Emperor Napoleon .... ,, 6 Marshal Macmahon ... ,,26 Count Moltke „ 80 Prince Bismarck . . . . ,,168 ,, M. Thiers n rg6 Map of Environs of Paris ,,217

Preface

. None but those who have lost an only son can realise the feeling of gloom with which a parent who has sustained such a loss looks on every object around him, and which for many days makes him shrink from taking any interest in the ordinary concerns of life. That melancholy blank caused by the death of a son — an only son — which is even aggravated by the sympathy of kind-hearted friends, is ever before the mind in all family arrangements, affecting as it does every movement of the parents' social position. Under such sad impressions, the desk which belonged to the author of the principal portion of the present volume was kept sacredly closed for nearly two years after his decease. When it was opened at last, among many interesting notes were found two sealed parcels containing this short his tory of the Franco-German War, all written in pencil and apparently not revised. The concluding notes, referring to the capitulation and terms of peace,

PREFACE.

. had not been quite finished when the state of his health caused him to go south for the winter, where, alas! he died at San Remo on 17th January 1874. It may be noticed here that, in addition to reading carefully, about all the events of the war as they occurred, he had frequently visited France, and knew the country, which helped him greatly in following the movements of the armies during their seven months' conflict. His father, at the wish of kind friends, desires to print this work for private circulation in memory of his son — the manuscript being closely followed with only a few necessary verbal corrections. At the same time he deems it advisable to extend the concluding notes, and trusts the description he has added of the capitulation and terms of peace, with the incidents following thereon, as also a short narrative of the Commune, may prove an interesting sequel to this short history of a war which for extent and carnage has no equal in modern times.

The grateful acknowledgments of his parents and sisters are tendered to their beloved friends, the Rev. Dr. Ker and the venerable Dr. Moffat, for the biographical notice and the family letter which appear in the volume. JOHN WILSON. Robert Wilson, with whom this Memorial is connected, was born at South Bantaskine, near Falkirk, March 26, 1 8 5 1 , and died at San Remo, Jan. 17, 1874, so that he had reached no more than twenty -two years of age. But in that short time he had given much promise, and made a place in many hearts outside his own family circle. The object of what follows is to give those who knew him some means by which they may retain a hold of his memory, and be able to think of what he was, and of what he might have been, if the providence of God had spared him to live on. Many of the facts came to the knowledge of his own family after his death ; for, though full of home affection, and open in showing it, he had a pleasure in pursuing his mental work in quiet seclusion, and in storing up the results under his own eye.

His education was begun by private tuition, after which he went to the parish school of Falkirk in BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 1859. In 1863 he went to Blairlodge Academy, where he remained till 1868. As one of its pupils he was selected for the Oxford Local Examinations, and, having passed successfully, was declared an Associate of Arts of the University of Oxford. From Blairlodge Academy he entered the Univer sity of Edinburgh, and studied there three Sessions. The chief classes attended by him were those con nected with the physical sciences, and in all of them he took a prominent place. He received a certificate of merit for chemistry from Professor Lyon Playfair, for mathematics from Professor Kelland, for natural philosophy from Professor Tait, and for rhetoric and English literature from Professor Masson.

In Pro fessor Crum Brown's class he received the bronze medal, and the certificate of merit from the Faculty of Medicine. He took the first Hope Scholarship, and in chemistry he was first in a class of 236, having 87 per cent of available marks. A scholar ship founded in this class commemorates his name. One of his latest studies was engineering under Pro fessor Jenkin in 1870-71. The naming of these classes will give those who are acquainted with them an idea of the amount of work that was done ; but during the whole time he was diligently engaged in private pursuits which showed the bent of his mind to history and natural science. When a schoolboy, he began a systematic collection of butterflies, moths, and birds, of fossils and coins, and it was continued throughout his life. He was only eight years old, and had not learned to write, when he composed and printed in his own way a story, the plot of which lay in the discovery and working of a mine of precious ore.

The draw ings which are made to illustrate it show a curious and remarkable union of knowledge and fancy. The books which he read, from this time on, would form a little library, and the great feature of them is that by choice he avoids the trifling and sensational, and takes to works that give knowledge and wisdom. A long list might be given from Robertson's Charles V. down to De Quincey. The careful reading given to them is seen in the notes that are taken, and in the abridgments of them that are frequently made for his personal use. He had a nature that went beyond books and mere derived learning to careful observation of almost everything that came under his eye. His journeys, at home and abroad, led him into descrip tions of the people, their past history and their present condition, written out in diaries, and copious notes stored up and arranged for future service.

The markings of the thermometer and the state of the weather day by day are preserved and compared with those kept at home. Evidently there was a mind at work which felt deeply interested in all the features and events of the world in which he lived, in all the works and ways of his fellow-men, a mind that spared no pains to gain an understanding of them ; and all this not for ostentation or talk, but in humility and true love to the lessons, and to the book in which God had written them. That there was a regard to the great Author was evident, not only in the spirit of his life, but in his bearing and utterances ere his short history on earth was closed. His health began to fail after his academical course was finished, and all that could be thought of by affection, and by the suggestions of medical skill, was done to re-establish it.

He spent one winter in Nice and Mentone with benefit, but the seeds of the disease were not removed. The records of what he saw and learned there were found afterwards in his desk, carefully noted and systematised. He returned in a second season to the Riviera of Italy, where he spent some months at the town of San Remo, and where he closed his earthly life in January 1874. It was there that the writer of this notice first got to know him. He had a nature shy at first from its sensitiveness, but it opened up on intercourse till one could see how much of quiet thought and deep feel ing lay concealed from a passing stranger. The alternations of his complaint, and the sway of the balance between hope and fear, must have caused a severe inward struggle ; but onlookers could not perceive it. This world was not only bright to him with the throb of youth in his heart, but deeply interesting from its laws and life, which he had such a strong desire to explore.

He was in one of the most beautiful parts of it, looking out daily from his window on the blue Mediterranean, and round on olive gardens and orange groves climbing the hills behind. No doubt he found it hard to part with such scenes, with the prospects of study and work that were opening to him, and still more with the home affections, in the midst of which he had made for himself so large and warm a place. But he never murmured, nor gave, in word or sign, the least token of want of submission to the will of God. His latest words brought out what we cannot doubt was the strength of his life — the secret with which, in deep natures, strangers and even friends find it hard to intermeddle — his hold of a heavenly Father, and his simple trust in His mercy through Jesus c BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Christ.

So he fell asleep very calmly by the border of the Great Sea, and now he lies in his native land, close to where, not many years before, his life began. The life thus briefly sketched has few events, and none of an outwardly striking kind, but it has much in it to those who knew him, and something to all who can think and feel. It opens up some ques tions that do not press on us so much when we see one come to his grave in a full age ; and we may say it helps us also to answer them. We cannot tell certainly what he might have been, or might have done, had he lived his natural term of years ; but we are permitted to anticipate. He had abilities not of a common order, the habits of the student in a remarkable degree, with an eye for practical application of the knowledge he possessed ; and it is reasonable to expect that he would have left a mark on some im portant branch of inquiry.

Seldom do we find a thirst for learning, from the pure love of it, begun so early, and carried out with such perseverance and method. If there is deep regret that his sun went down ere noon, there is a memory of the morning dawn, very bright and untroubled. It is something to thank God for when He gives us a recollection of our friends that has no sting in it except what comes from their loss — when they leave us a blank in their departure, but no blot. He had a singularly plea sant nature, and, as it passed out of our sight, it gave evidence that nature was touched by grace, and was passing forward to have a better and fuller day than any that shines in our world. It is here that an early death such as his helps us to lay hold ot another world. Our thoughts cannot be satisfied without some sense of completeness, without the hope that the broken pillar of a youth like his is to be made a pillar in the temple of God to go out no more at all, and that the thirst for knowledge which but tasted the cup is to be satisfied when it looks to the God of all wisdom.

This God, who is our God for ever and ever, has different books of nature and history and grace, and they will be studied in another world as well as here, only that the book of grace will then shine more fully upon the others, will free them from all dimness and perplexity, and give to those that read them full time for learning, even " length of days at God's right hand, and life for evermore." Let us think then of the true humble student as still pursuing his course among the great works of God, which are " sought out of all them that take pleasure therein;" and, when he is missed from home and friends, we should look for XX that time when the Lord Jesus shall touch the bier, and say, "Young man, arise!" and the whole family in heaven and earth shall be brought together. It only remains to be added that the narrative which is subjoined was discovered among his papers after his death.

Under the sore stroke, it was left unread for a year, and was then found to contain a connected account of the Franco- German War of 1870-71. Ten years ago, all Europe could do no thing but fix its gaze on that gigantic struggle, and, though just ending his college course, he was absorb ingly interested in it. The narrative which he gives is drawn direct from the reports and documents of the time as they reached this country. The latter part was not fully written out, but sketched in notes, and these have been arranged, while the brief history of the Commune has been added to make the story complete. This narrative has been selected from other papers left by him, not merely to show his great industry and faithfulness in collecting materials for subjects that arrested his attention, but also as an example of his power of selection and arrange ment, and of throwing what was, at that time, a complicated tissue of diplomatic and military movements into a clear and connected history.

Many qualities of mind and heart known to those who were more intimately acquainted with him could not possibly appear in this production. But the powers of observation, of making a calm and wide survey of facts and events, of grouping them, and advancing from step to step to the conclusion, are brought out in a remarkable way. It will thus be for friends who knew him in years bygone a memorial by which they may recall some likeness of him, and to which they can add many things that this brief Preface has sought very imperfectly to suggest. JOHN KER. MURRAYFIELD, EDINBURGH, 8th November 1880. LETTER FROM REV. DR. MOFFAT. My dear Mr. Wilson, I duly received your kind and welcome letter, giving me news of Falkirk, in which I take so much interest. Many thanks for your kind re membrance of me on my eighty -second birthday ; and what shall I say of the photograph you sent of, to me, by far the most interesting part of Carron shore — my mother's house,1 where the greater part of my youthful days was spent ?

How exquisitely correct ! I looked and looked again, but did not open my lips. I gazed at one thing, and then another, with eyes suffused, but I cannot give ex pression now to what I feel ; I will do so by and by. You have referred to my dear son-in-law, Livingstone, and his work. Livingstone's cherished desires are being partly accomplished ; how he would rejoice could he witness what is now being done for the inhabitants by the three great interior lakes of the 1 Dr. Moffat had not been in Carronshore for fifty years. LETTER FROM REV. DR. MOFFAT. XXIII vast continent of Africa, for the welfare of which he lived and died ! The prospect of the Nyassa Lake is most encouraging, and the plans of the London Missionary Society are in progress to com mence a mission on the Lake Tanganyika. My daughter and her husband Mr. Price are busy making preparations for his departure to Zanzibar ; he intends leaving in April or May.

My engagements are many, and pressing me daily, which compels me to appear what I really am not, forgetful of friends. I am in dear M.'s debt ; she will forgive me. I will write to her soon. My daughter J. and I often speak of your dear family ; we do hold everything about Bantaskine and our frequent visits in sweet remembrance, though it is somewhat chastened with thoughts of one now safely and for ever housed from all the storms of life. Your dear son, so full of promise, I cannot forget ; nor can I express the gratitude I felt in reading the manuscript left by him of the Franco-German War. The labour he must have had in producing such a complete sketch of those scenes of bloodshed must be esteemed of the highest character. I do not remember reading anything more descriptive or so striking.

The pictorial description given makes one feel as if he were an eye-witness of LETTER FROM REV. DR. MOFFAT. XXIV the graphic scenes described. It was not till I read this brief history that I fully realised the extent of the carnage and suffering of that lament able war. Oh ! when shall He whose reign is " peace on earth, and goodwill to men," make bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations ? May I now repeat what I expressed to you at Bantaskine, that I think it would be a pleasant memorial of your son if you were to get this little book printed? From the influence the reading of the MS. had on my own mind, I feel sure it will do good, exhibiting as it does the battle of the warrior and garments rolled in blood. I have heard it stated that Lord Wellington once remarked to a friend that, if people knew but the half of what he had witnessed of the horrors of war, no one would be found to engage in it. I am, Very sincerely yours, Robert Moffat. 64 Knowle Road, Brixton, London, zith fan. 1877. AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

. If this little Book falls, perchance, into other hands than mine, I would like it to be known that I do not mean it for a real History. A History is a Record of Facts. Accordingly the Author should only gather his information from sources which leave the truth of the assertions undoubted. Now the matter of this work was almost entirely derived from the daily newspapers, issued while the War was raging. It is therefore liable to contain inaccuracies, although I have done my best to sift out the grains of truth, by comparing one account of an event with other accounts of the same, and so on. " Your materials being so doubtful," the Reader may say, "why then did you write the Book ?" My answer is this. I watched the progress of the War with great interest, took notes of events, and tried to form as accurate an idea of the state of affairs as was possible. From these notes, and from parts of newspapers which I preserved, I began before the War was ended to write this Book, and, finding it d AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

. an interesting employment, I persevered until I had all but finished it, and, I hope, not without some profit to myself. I have at least fixed upon my memory a good knowledge of the principal events of the War (for these at least are true), and have added to my store of geographical knowledge, and improved my powers of composition ; and it may not be uninteresting for me, at some future time, to compare this work with some great history. ROBERT WILSON. South Bantaskine, 1873. FRANCO-GERMAN WAR FRANCO-GERMAN WAR.

Part I

From the time of the campaign of 1866, which ter minated so fatally for Austria in the battle of Sadowa, the jealousy of France was roused against the growing power of her neighbour Prussia. The latter, by the annexation of the Northern States of Germany, had created a kingdom which threatened soon to equal, if not surpass, the strength of the French Empire. When Prussian troops took possession of Luxemburg, the French could no longer for bear, but remonstrated strongly against the aggres sion, and prepared for war, which was only prevented by the intervention of the other powers, chiefly England, and the withdrawal of the Prussian troops from the State of Luxemburg. But though the dispute was thus settled, it stirred up a hostile feeling in the two nations, which went on increasing until it resulted in the War of 1870-71.

A FRANCO -GERMAN WAR. 2 During the three years which intervened, the two nations were each preparing for the coming struggle. The power of Prussia advanced with enormous strides. Large armies were raised in Schleswig- Holstein, Hanover, Saxony, etc., organised after the Prussian model. Her cannon too, mostly of the old smooth-bore type, were exchanged for those of modern invention. All political feeling in the lately annexed States and the South German States, formerly that of animosity to Prussia, was hushed by arousing throughout Germany a strong desire for the unity of the " Fatherland." The Germans were taught to believe that France was the only obstacle to the accomplishment of their desires. The French, thinking Prussia already too powerful, were determined to prevent the further extension of her sway.

France armed her soldiers with the chassepot to enable them to cope with the Prussian needle-gun, and added to the number of her troops. But in the organisation of the army, the morale of the men, and the general intelligence of the officers, the Prussians were far superior to the French. Amongst those who had the general management of French military affairs there was a corruption which was sure to bring on the country heavy loss, if not ruin. To escape the conscription, the rich French PRELIMINARIES. 3 youths were allowed to pay sums of money to the Government, intended to fit out substitutes ; but the money thus raised was employed for other purposes, and thus thousands of soldiers enrolled on paper did not exist in reality. Each Power went on arming itself, and each com plained of the warlike attitude of the other, and gave manifold assurances of its own peaceful intentions.

It was when the feeling of animosity between France and Prussia was thus strong that Prim chose Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, a Prussian prince, as a candidate for the throne of Spain, without con sulting France or Britain. This roused the French. With Prussia threatening them on the Rhine, were they to have a Prussian on the throne of Spain ? Prince Leopold, to prevent war, declined Prim's offer. This was not enough. Benedetti, the French ambassador, in the name of his Government de manded that King William of Prussia should, as head of the family and head of the State, disavow the candidature of Prince Leopold. The King refused to comply with this demand, and along with this refusal news reached the French Government that their ambassador had been refused admittance to the King's presence.

France then declared war against Prussia, and on FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. Sunday, 17th July 1870, the Emperor, Napoleon III., sent to Prussia the formal Declaration of War. France thus drew upon herself all the odium of having launched these two great nations into all the horrors of war ; but it is certain that Prussia was equally desirous for the struggle, and many believe that her wily minister was at the bottom of it all. Both were determined to try which was the stronger, and the ostensible cause of the war was a mere pre text for beginning the contest. Napoleon's motives for going to war can only be conjectured. No doubt he saw the growing feel ing in France of opposition to his rule (a large part of the army had voted against him .in the recently taken Plebiscite), and he hoped to divert the minds of the French from home politics by engaging in a brilliant and exciting war, which, if successful, would plant his dynasty more firmly on the throne.