My diary during the last great war

Front matter

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Preface

ttt;

Tbe following pages merely preseiri; a condensation of the matter which has appeared in the columns of the Army and Navy Oazette during the last two years. In order to render it more suitable for publication in book form, the Author has subjected it to careful revision, without^ however, introducing any important alteration in the information afforded.

Chapter I

Special Correspondents — ^The War-Office Decision — French refuse Foreign Correspondents — Mr. Cardwell's "Non-Possumus" —The Outbreak of War->Tbe Ferer of Preparation— The Queen of Prussia's Arrival in Berlin — ^Berlin in War Time — Interview with Count Bismarck — ^The Christeniog at Potsdam — The Crown Prince — The Delays of Ofi^e ....

PAOK

CHAPTRE II.

The Jonmey — Mayence— Count Bismarck — My last Interview with Pemberton— Arrival at Worms — Enter France — Our Arrest > Head-Quarters at kst— Battle of W5rth— Our Bad Fortune— The Night after the Battle— The French Prisoners . 39

Chapter III

Departure from Souls— The Battle<Field— Merzwiller— The Egerter Family — Departure from Merzwiller—Obermodem— The Prince of HohensoUem — His Candidature— A View of Phalsbourg — ^Battle in the Aix-Sarrebourg — Feast of St. Napoleon ^March to Luneville — The Terrible Intendant — News from Mets 80

VIU COKTENTS.

Chapter IV. Page

LuneyiUe~Nancy~The Lomioe Maseam— Pmssiaii Proclamations »The Johanniters— Yauooulears — The Maid of Orleans — Departure from Vaucoolenrs — MacMahon*s March from Ch&lons ^My Friend's Departure — Bazaines Character— Start from St. Menehoold — Blamenthal's Prophecy . . .121

Chapter V

A Night Scene — The Grand Doke of Cobarg — The coming Battle — ^The Enemy ia Sight— The MitrsuUense^A Night at Oches —How the Princes fared— Duke of Augastenburg — The Sacking of Raucoart— Bazeilles — Eve of Sedan — Sammons to the Battle— The Crown Prince's Attack — Floing — Confusion visible 154

Chapter VI

The Three Fates— The First Prussians — Charge of the Cuirassiers —Their Fate— Floing— The Fifth Jllger Battalion— The Tiger in the ToiU— "Kaiser Captirt "— " Arm^ Capitulirt "-Visit to the Battle-field— Doncheny to Sedan — The Man of Destiny —Colonel Pemberton— The Famous Cottage . . . .195

Chapter VII

The Unburied Dead— Curious Table d*H6te — Reminiscences of the Emperor — Arrival in Bouillon— A Sad Errand— Start for England — Arrival in London — Return to Sedan— State of the City — In Pursuit of the Crown Prince— Arrival at Rethel — Rethel to Rheims— Count Bismarck's Staff— A Retrospect . 235

Chapter VIII

Rheims to Epernay — An Unpleasant Adventure — The Charcoal- Burner — Reflections on Fate and Impossible' Neutrality- Capture of Correspondence— Nach Paris— March to Chaumes — The Sound of Battle— A Lobt Chance- Surrender of Versailles — Investment of Paris— Feeling of the Qermans — View of the Battle-field— The captured Redoubt — Paris at Last . 262

CONTENTS. IX

Chapter IX. Paqc

The Ride to Venailles—My Last Visit— Refleetions^My Billet, 29, Avenue de Paris—The Forts open— Hdtel des Reservoirs—The Ch&tean as an Hospital— Visit of the Crown Prince — A Terrible Calm^SpecnUtions on Peace— Critical Position of the Besiegers — Justification of their Temerity — Introspect of both Positions 297

CHAPTEB X.

Distribution of the Iron Cross — Visit to St. Clond — Municipal Election in Versailles- -A Visitor from Paris — Captain Johnson's Adventures — The Sortie of September 30th— Entrenchments round Paris— Breech-loaders vertiu Muzzle-loaders —

Daily Life at Versailles- The Countess Delia . — Capture

of the Duke of Cobnrg— Startling Disclosures— Arri?al of

the King 828

CHAPTER XL

General Bnmside — Sortie from Metz— The King at Louis XIV. *s Chapel— Count Bismarck's Telegram — An Afternoon Ride— The Interview — The Telegram again— The Departure of the American Generals— General Sheridan*s Opinions — Head- Quarters at Les Ombragee— Condition of Affitirs inside Paris — Excitement in Versailles — Threatened Outburst from Paris 858

CHAPTER XIL

Wailike Symptoms— Ducrot's Sortie— View of the Attack — Excitement in Versailles— Is Paris to be bombarded ?— Divided Opinions— Reminiscences of Balaklava — Count Moltke's Birthday^ Capitulation of Metz- French Preparations for a Siege— Muzzle-loaders and Breech-loaders — M. Thiers' Mission — His Interview with Count Bismarck — ^Probability of an Armistice— The AfOur at Le Bourget— Count Bismarck's Difficulty . . .889

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER Zlir.

PAGE

Rumoured Insorrectioii in Paris — Inkerman Day — M. Thiers' Conference vith Jales Favre — Capitulation of Yerdan^Occapation of Troyee — Capture of a Frenoh Balloon— The English Exodus —News from Paris— The gathering Storm — Defeat of Yon der Tann — The ^^aro— Inside Paris — ^The iHfficulties of a Sortie — A Change in the Situation 419

CHAPTER XIV.

The Doeumenis of the Tuileries— Mr. Richard Wallace's Charitable Efforts — Return to Yersailies— A False Alarm —Errors of the French Generals outside Paris— Prospects of a Bombardment— Count Bismarck's Yiews — Its probable Results — ^Arriyal of Mr. Odo Russell-^The News of the Day — Apprehensions of British Interference— The Ring's Dinner— A Retrospect — Count Bismarck's Idea of the Russian Difficulty— The Mysterious Messenger 452

CHAPTER XY.

Mr. Odo RusseU's Message^Irrita^on against Ghreat Britain — Importation of Arms to France — Mr. Odo Russell's Yisit to Count Bismarck — Rumours of a Ghrand Sortie — Anticipations— Miseiy in Yersailles — Count Bismarck's Position — Paris awakening— Yersailles Asleep — My Expedition after Truth- The Road to Clamart— My Return— Yersailles at Night —Defeat of Garibaldi— The 5th Jttgers .... 481

CHAPTER XYI.

Results of Night Cannonades— B(r. Odo Russell's Mission— News of the Sortie— An Excursion— Our Return to Yersailles — The Conyention of Geneya— Chances of War — ^We Three meet again — A Retrospect— The Gortsehakoff Circular— Colonel Claremont and Captain Here's Arriyal from Paris— The Army of the Loire— Arrest of British Officers— General Faidherbe*- Military Special Correspondents— Christmas Day . . 509

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTEE XVir.

PAGK

Naoh PariB^A Berlin— Grown Prince's Opinion of tbe W&r— Of GambeUa — New Yearns Day — My Imprieonment — The Opening of the Bombardment — ^Farie in Fliones^French Soccees reported— ^Paris shelled — The Prince Imperial of Qermany^A Strange Visitor— The Great Day— Count Bismarck— The Last of the Sorties— Proposal for an Amiistice~M. Jules Farre^ The News in London — The Negotiations-^St. Clond burned — Visits to Paris— The Bntiy of the Germans— My Trials and Tronbles— Departure from Versailles — ^The Flight of the GoTemment-The End 536

THE LAST GEEAT WAR.

Chapter I

Special Correspondents — The War-Office Decision — French refose Foreign Correspondents — Mr. Card well's "Non-Possnmus" — The Ontbreak of War — The Fever of Preparation — The Queen of Prussia's Arriyal in Berlin — ^Berlin in War Time— Interview with Count Bismarck — The Christening at Potsdam— The Crown Prince — The Delays of Office.

The record of the impressions of the moment which constitutes most of what is called the special correspondence of newspapers partakes of the merits and failings of all first impressions. These merits and ftiilings must be measured by the mental power of the recorder — his capacity of forming a sound judgment, his ability to appreciate what he sees and hears, his knowledge and critical skill ; in fact, the Special Correspondent is very much exposed to the influences which operate on journalism in general, and oblige

B

2 THE liAST GREAT WAR.

men to form and deliver on the instant opinions on events as they arise before them, and often before they have attained their full development. With considerable experience now of war and generals, I may say that the same observations apply to military operations. The greatest leaders may have had the precious gift of instantaneously determining the value of a military success or the bearing of a foilure. There are and have been leaders with great reputations who certainly have not evinced that quickness of apprehension at the very moment of victory. There is sometimes a torpor, short, indeed, but generally vital, supervening before the flush of triumph comes with its intoxicating energies. Military successes, too, often take us by surprise, and find the general, unless he be a grand captain, obliged " to collect himself Tliere seemed to be no one capable of turning the result of the Battle of Idstedt to immediate account. For some hours aft^r the Battle of the Alma there were officers quite unable to understand that the Allies had won a great action and brilliant victory. Mr. Kinglake points out the hesitations and weaknesses which prevailed after the chequered operations of 25th October had ended in a retrograde movement of Liprandi from Balaclava. So of the capture of the Malakhoff and evacuation of the Redan. Lord Clyde sat down before Lucknow, and was expecting several days more of hard fighting, when he was surprised by the good news that

A BETBOSPECT. 8

his troops had gob into the Kaiserbagh, but his dispositions did not prevent the escape of the enemy even next day. Solferino led to an armistice and a peace. In the hands of the old Napoleon it had produced at least immediate pressure and another victory. Even after Koniggratz there was a great lull, and the Anstrians were permitted to gather breath on the march to Olmiitz. Among the generals who stood on the heights over the Meuse, surveying the terrible spectacle which was displayed as if on a stage before their eyes on the 1st September last year, there was not one who at 3 o'clock in the afternoon ventured to think that ere the sun went down the Emperor and his army yonder would be prisoners of war. Nor were there any who thought that Paris would offer a prolonged and desperate resistance after the German armies had completed the investment. Illustrations abound in my own experience of gi'ave misapprehensions and miscalculations on the part of the very best heads ; and I well remember how, on the 16th October, 1854 — a long way back now, I regi*et to say — there was the most perfect confidence in the whole army, high and low, that before nightfall next day, the guns of Sebastopol would be silenced, and its defences in ruins. I say this to excuse, to some extent, the erroi's of judgment of which I am conscious as I read the pages of the Diary I kept during the war, in accordance with my custom for many years back, and to extenuate faults attribu-

B 2

4 ^bE List gSeAt waR.

table in some degree to the situation which I occupied. There has been, of late years, a tendency on the part of newspaper correspondents to mistake narmtives of personal adventure for records of military operations. It is a natural error, and to the general public it is of little consequence. At the ^close of a day's fighting, extending over many miles, the brigadiers cannot give an account of what all their regiments have done, much less the divisional generals, still less the generals of the corps d'ai^Tnee and generals-in-chief But the correspondent cannot wait for " returns,'* and "states," and "despatches.*' He must write that night. Jaded and worn, with fevered pulse and throbbing brain, excited by all the horrors and splendours of battle, he must sit down then and there, and send off a full and particular account of the conflict, which will come long after the telegraph has discounted the value of his tale. The " there " may be a wayside hedge, a comer of a plank by a bivouac fire, a table in an inn filled with coarse soldiery or wounded men, a cabinet in a deserted chateau ; it Is all the same, just as it is all the same if the man be well or ill. He does his best or liis worst ; and perforce generally describes what he has seen, so that, for the readers of seme London jouraal, the correspondent becomes the principal figure of the battle, and round him are grouped a particular company of horse or of foot to which he may have attached himself, and the oflScers cf which are the heroes of the

6PSCIAL COnHESPONDENTS. 5

fight. No one c;in see now-a-days without being liable to feel too. The correspondent attached to a staff is as much exposed as any officer in it, unless he shirks and goes to the rear. He must make up his mind, nevertheless, to be regarded as a spectator merely, whereas the man who rides in rear of him with a sword by his side will be accepted by all the world as one " who fought in the war, and was through it all/' But what I particularly want to impress on my readers is, that it is a penalty the public must pay for the greed of immediate intelligence in being put off with crude impressions or with £inciful inventions.

With these few remarks I shall write the narrative of my life at the head-quarters of the Crown Prince of Prussia as I find it in the pages of my Diary, suppressing only passages relating to domestic matters or personal affairs, and remarks which cannot interest general readers. It is impossible for any nation to feel the keen interest in the vicissitudes of <v war in which they take no part, which they would experience in the smallest phases of a contest of their own. Germans care little about our Crimean experiences, and we are not much moved by wars in Mexico or Morocco, so that a correspondent with a foreign army is always at a disadvantage. He is too enthusiastic to suit his own countrymen. He is not up to the mark for those among whom he lives and has his being. With the war of 1866 I hoped my experience of foreign armies and, indeed, my acquaintance with camps and campaigns^ had ended. True, I had no occasion to take the smallest exception to thoSe among whom I had lived. Of the courtesy and kindness of Count Mensdorff I have every reason to retain the liveliest recollection, and to Feld-Zeugmeister v. Benedek, whom I joined in a sea of troubles, I owe a debt of gratitude which can only be paid by sympathy in his misfortunes. But it was my ninth year of campaigning. There could be no promotion from the east or from the west for me. If not rude jam donatus there were younger and better men rising up to bear the heat of the day, and professional soldiers were learning that it was not an unpleasant or unprofitable way of seeing service and gaining experience in drawing the pen under the standard of Mammon. I felt it was time to retire, and that I had done my work. But it was otherwise decided. I was called on once more to leave family and friends, and return to the old business, of which I may say, that with all its intense interest, its pomp and circumstance, its grandeur and its meanness, the more I see of it the less I like it. There is a strange fascination about war. Much as I detest its acts and scenes, when present to the eye, there is both in the retrospect and in the prospect something which attracts and dominates. We all know how agreeable the remembrance of danger and hardship is. When we think of them we seem to be heroes to

DOUBTS AND DIFFICULTIES. 7

ourselves. " You Lave passed through such and such dangers unscathed; you have been tested aud not found wanting/' Then the desire to behold events which stamp history indelibly masters you, and once within the vortex you whirl madly round till peace breaks out. I had been spending the summer down at Maidenhead, and was engaged in writing a book on "Modem Egypt/' when one day, about the 10th of July, I got a short note to ask whether, in the event of war, I might be relied upon to proceed to the head-quarters of one of the hostile armies. It was natural, from his experience in the campaign of 1866, that Captain Hozier should be selected to accompany the Prussian Army, and he had received an intimation from Berlin that he vrould be welcome on the Staff of the Crown Prince, For me there only remained then the French camp if I went at all. Well, I answered " Yes," scarce knowing what I said. Captain Hozier's miasion to German head-quarters seemed quite certain, but there had been a declaration of hostilities agninst " Special Correspondents " in France. A mania, for which a word was coined, raged too against spies. Inoffensive strangers were insulted, mobbed, and sometimes severely ill-treated. Newspaper correspondents were especially obnoxious to the mob. I am not going to write their eulogy, but, with the light of facts to guide us, it may be said, now, that had special coiTespondents been admitted to the French armies, the system of deception and falsehood which paralysed the energies of the nation would have failed at the outset, and Frenchmen would have known the truth which they never knew until it was too late. The War Minister who informed France that the Army was ready for war to the very last button of the soldier's gaiter, and who allowed the armies of France to ent^r upon a campaign without tents, medicines, transports, supplies, shoes, or maps, was perhaps aware that keen eyes of neutral observers might perceive the deficiencies which correspondents of the French Press either could not detect or were afraid to indiciite. I was informed, but with what truth T cannot say, that the Emperor had said I would be received at his head-quarters, but that no correspondent of the journal which I was to represent would be permitted with the French Army. In that case I should have had no raiaon d'Stre, What is quite certain is that Marshal Le Bceuf refused permission to any foreign correspondents to accompany any of the Army corps. That prohibition extended to the military officers attached to the embassies of the neutral Powei-s. The Emperor was appealed to, but in vain. Marshal Le Boeuf gave permission to a certain number of gentlemen connected with the Paris and provincial papers to proceed to various quarters occupied by the French Array, but if I am to judge from the brief career of these correspondents, their principal mission was to glorify the French arms, to paint in brillin-nt coioum

WAR OFFICE INTERVENTION. 9

the scenes of camp life, to praise the French soldier and " fool him to the top of his bent," to abstain from giving information of any kind, and, above all things, to sing to the praise and glory of the Emperor and bis generals. Looking back now I cannot but think how different my fate might have been had I been allowed to join the head-quarters of MacMahon or of Bazaine 1 How very opposite would have been my experiences at Worth and Sedan, and the scenes I should have witnessed in all the mazy marching between the Mame and the Moselle !

While attempts at negotiation were going on in Paris through various channels, and while Acheron was moved in default of the superior Powers, a new incident perplexed all our calculations.

'* The best laid schemes of men and mice gang aft aglee."

The War OflSce came to the resolution to forbid officers on full pay to repair to the quarters of either belligerent. Probably there was a little prompting on the part of the Hoi'se Guards, which may have felt dislike to officers being attached to foreign armies as newspaper correspondents. It is likely that the Foreign Office may have had something to do with the decision of the War Minister. Anyhow, Mr. Cardwell put down his foot; Captain Hozier was refused permission to go with the Prussian head-quarters. So for the time the leading journal was iiien^ced with the absolute exclasioij of its correspon-

10 THE LAST aBEAT WAB.

dents from both armies. All manner of influence^ personal and political, social and friendly, were set at work ; but with Mr. Card well the setting down of the foot is a very decisive operation. He was tenax propositi in the House and out of the House — in the War Office and at home. Attacked front and sideways, he resorted to a masterly non-posawmua. Thus while the armies were actually hastening to the thin frontier, and every day brought the hosts to the verge of battle, the English Press, which displayed such activity and acquired such a high position during the conflict, was threatened with ostracism and paralysis.

The 16th July came with a decisive and final negative from Paris : " No foreign correspondents with the French armies." So France was out of the question. If Captain Hozier then could induce Mr. Cardwell to raise his leg, it seemed doubtful whether my services would be needed at all. Like many Englishmen who had been in the Crimea, I had a kind of regard for the French Army, and if I could not go with them I had no very great desire to leave home for the seat of war. I had, if I may qse the term, served against the Prussians in the Austrian campaign of 1866, and, with every admiration for the Crown Prince, I could not forget that

*' Fast before his father's men Three days I fled together,"

after the fatal day of Koniggratz. I was by no

MB. oabdwell's " non-possumus." 11

means singular in thinking that the French would win in the early battles of the war, and I have been paying to various friends small sums lost in backing that opinion before I left England, though I always held the belief that in the long run the Germans would have the best of the contest. In the military clubs it was generally supposed that not only was the French Army prepared, but that the declaration of war would be followed by instantaneous action, and that the French would catch the Prussians by surprise. Every one likes to be on the winning side, and I was not exceedingly anxious to join the German Army. So much I am now free to confess. Still, if no one else was available, I could not refuse to accept the mission. There were several military men on full pay waiting, in the hope that the War Office would give way. The Horse Guards did not appear very much opposed, but there, as at the Foreign Office, there were no doubt objections to their employment. Time pressed. The armies were on the march. Still Mr. Card well said " No." As Captain Hozier was thus prohibited from going to Prussia, an application was made to the War Ministry on my behalf. On the last day of the second week in July a communication was received from Berlin to the effect that I would be willingly received at the German head-quarters. Then came the difiBculties — the work to be neglected, tie arrangements to be made, all the things which men in the humblest affairs 6nd themselves called upon to provide for on the eve of hurried departure, not to speak of domestic ties to be snapped or rudely stramed.

How the war burst on the world at last ! There Lad been a considerable tootling of Pandean pipes a short time before — always a bad sign. And the Peace Society had been active — just as petrels are restless on the eve of a storm — which is even ominous, judging by past experience. It was only on 6th July the leading journal wrote that the choice of a King for Spain should not be made in haste, or " without such explanations as may satisfy French susceptibility." Three days after it expressed a belief that if the nations of Europe did their duty the war cloud might pass away. Then, five days later, there was the "intense relief" caused by the renunciation of Prince Leopold. " France will ask nothing further.*' But the day before M. Benedetti had asked for something more, and on the 15th July the telegrams from Berlin with details of the famous interview at Ems appeared simultaneously with the news of the French declaration of war. Mediation was declined — M. Tliiers protested — and the London journals prepared for the field, and put themselves (vicariously) on a war footing. As soon as it was known that I was going out there were many offers made to me of "assistance" of all kinds. I was supposed to need secretaries, aides, translators, and general retainers and staff by friends and strangers, who were ready to go

COLONEL PEMBERTON. 13

anywhere and do anything " in order to see service." Others were desirous of " accompanying " me, as if I could be of the least use to them when I had my duties to attend to, or could refuse permission to any one to come in the same train with me. It is a great comfort to have a companion in ordinary travel and a comrade in danger, but there are certain sorts of travel and of danger which do not well admit such solace.

As I write there rises up before me the eager ])1easant face of one who, during these anxious houi*s, fairly haunted Pall-mall. Those who knew Lieutenant- Colonel Pemberton need not be told how dear he was to his friends. Energetic and resolute, he was so in the smoothest, softest, possible manner, and he won his way by a curious admixture of strength and ease in what he sought. When he first mentioned his desire to go out as special correspondent I did my best to dissuade him. I told him of the desagremens, hardships, and dangers of a life which had no glory. He made light of them all. He was determined to go. Having gained a success in his first novel, he set his mind on the career of a man of letter, and saw his chance in the niidat of a war in which all eyes would be turned on names illuminated by such a tremendous conflagration. No one could be better suited for the work ; — a ready writer and a capital soldier, bold, courageous, fond of adventure, a sportsman, a good rider. *' Kit Pemberton " would, no doubt, have become king of war correspondents had his life been spared. An offer had been made to him by another newspaper, but he was anxious to be attached to the Times, not, as he said, because it was the first journal, but because he would be with his old friend. His modest estimate of his own powers made him attach one condition to his service in case he was accepted. He would only go if he could serve with me and under me. Accompanied by liis faithful poodle, he hovered about clubs and pounced upon his friends, with the one aim and object of getting to the seat of war. He was not, indeed, singular in this desire, for soldiers and civilians put themselves to their wits' ends for the same object. There was another friend to whom I had made a promise — scarcely realising its meaning — "to take him to the war," and he, too, packed up and got him ready for foreign parts, whither it was supposed by his friends I had instigated him to repair. " Error ! '* as French journalists say. I shall call him '*L. Q.,*' and many will recognise him under these initials, though they might not have done so had they seen him a few days later on the war path enveloped in the dust of marching columns, and attired as if for the sports of the field. Ifil Trie pcenitet hujus amid.

Here comes a page from my Diary : — July 19. — Fever approaching its crisis. Reports of small actions along the frontiers. Courier over*

STABT FOR THE WAR. 16

whelmed with many cares. Peat quite equal to a tremendous order for saddles and accoutrements, holsters, wallets, &c., to be ready for three of us this evening. The memory of the day is like that which one has of some crisis in terrible illness. Bushing about for letters of introduction to foreign personages, and paying respects and farewell visits to people in town. I do hot venture to look at a newspaper, lest some telegram should report the armies aiix prises. The start for the scene of war was well nigh disastrous. It was a supreme effort to get away, and was effected in three columns. We had to go in the first instance to Berlin of course. The first sign of war, the steamer to Ostend, crowded with Germans repairing to their various military districts, full of fight and enthusiasm, which did not yield even to the mal de mer. The conversation was all about war. An active speculator paid for a first-class ticket in order that he might sell revolvers to the passengers. The station at Brussels was crowded with Belgians in all the glory of military array, elated with that war footing which calls for the performance of all military duties save the unpleasant one of fighting, and quite ready for that. Railway bridges were blown up at one place, viaducts in another. To think that we lost eight mortal hours at Brussels because the Custom-house authorities would insist upon examining our luggage I Off at 5.40 P.M., and got on to Cologne, which presented a

maiss of excited citizens, and military detachments in the streets. Station blocked with trains. On the platform a surging multitude of soldiers. A guard of honour awaited the Queen Augusta on her way from the Rhine. The " Rhine-Song/' " God Save the Queen," stentorian cheers, and Hochs greeted Her Majesty, who was led to the Roj'al carriage amidst enthusiasm which spoke volumes for the fire which burns beneath the cold exterior of the German. And when the Queen spoke a few words from the carriage to the crowd, Elizabeth at Tilbury had not a greater ovation. We tried to warm up to it ; but the time is distant when the heart of one man can beat like that of another of different nationality. At midnight the train, with the Royal carriages attached, glided on. Through the night we were conscious of stations lighted up, of helmets, bayonets, and glistening ac* coutrements, the noise of many voices, and cheering. Eager faces, hands offering beer, wine, and sandwiches, pressed against the windows, so that we seemed to be dozing away in the midst of some great theatrical performance like that of the procession in the Prophite commingled with a perpetual banquet. As the early morning light stole out over the fields, we could see that the villages were almost tenantless,. though the waving crops were nearly ready for the sickle. Those who should have handled it were trudging along the dusty roads or crowded into the railway carriages, which crawled in endless procefcsion down to the