UNSUCCESSFUL VISIT TO LONDON-GOES TO PARIS TO WITNESS THE G - THE BESIEGED CITY ENERAL BURNSIDE was in London, negotiating for the sale of the bonds of the Covington and Vincennes Railroad, when the declaration of war between France and Germany deranged the English money market, and made it impossible to place American securities. General Burnside was cordially received by the leading statesmen and soldiers of Great Britain. He was made an honorary member of several of the London clubs, and was not only invited to the fashionable city entertainments, but to the country houses, so justly famed as "the rural homes of England." As the German army defeated the French and advanced on Paris, General Burnside felt a strong desire to witness the hostilities between these two great powers, and finally left for the headquarters of the King of Prussia, at Versailles. Mr. Alexander Forbes, celebrated as a war correspondent and as a lecturer, has kindly furnished for this work the following account of General Burnside's first introduction to the German Army before Paris : General Burnside and Brigadier-General Duff, U. S. V., who represented the New York Herald (and who, by the way, was a brother of the late Ardrew Halliday, the dramatic author), were struggling their way from Lagny, the interior terminus of the Chemin de fer de l'Est, about twenty miles east of Paris, toward the front. The Saxon Army Corps (Twelfth German Army) occupied that section of the environment rising due cast of Paris, from about Le Blanc Mesnil south to Villiers le Bel. The two Americans, forging straight to their own front as if they had been on the prairie, struck from the rear the covering picquets of the Saxon corps. They had no "laisser passer” of a kind to be accepted as satisfactory; they could speak no German; they were eminently suspicious-looking characters, in flannel shirts, flap hats, and mud galore. So they were summarily apprehended. But the Saxons are a courteous people, and an officer sent them on to the headquarters, in Le Vert Gallant, of Prince George of Saxony, who commanded the Saxon corps. They looked not a little mean, as, travel-stained and embarrassed, they were brought into the drawing-room of the Prince's chateau, just as the suite and staff had gathered for dinner. But Prince George, a man of the world, at once recognized the situation; had seats prepared for them, one on either side of himself; gave them quarters for the night, and duly forwarded them next day to Versailles. Bismarck, from the first, conceived a curious, magnetic regard for Burnside. He was always trying to be with him, and would smoke and gossip with him by the hour. There was some affinity in the straightforward, rugged bluntness of the two men, apparently. If Burnside cared he could have thrown some curious sidelights on the story of the motives and springs of that Franco-German war, derived from Bismarck's free speaking. I do believe that Generals Burnside and Sheridan had more of Bismarck's confidence—almost brutally frank and cynical as it was- than any other persons who were spectators of the momentous melo-drama. Dr. Russell (of Bull Run fame), in a letter to the London Times, written soon after General Burnside's arrival at Versailles, gives the following graphic picture of the Prussian headquarters where General Burnside met General Sheridan, General Hazen, and General Forsyth: The foliage is now in its greatest beauty, but the slightest touch of the invisible fingers of the wind scatters the leaves in showers, and thins the screen of rich russet, orange, red, and brown which yet hides the trunks and branches of the forest trees. There was a living margin to the two parterres, clear of people, to whom the fish were an attraction, and the Allée de l'Orangerie and the Allée des Trois Fontaines were filled with saunterers. Another mass, tolerably compact, grew up along the front of the terrace, enjoying the spectacle of their fellows below, and looking out on the Tapis Vert of the Grand Canal, in placid enjoyment of a scene not often to be met with amid the realities of war. These became animated and excited, particularly the French, when some great people arrived, just dropping in without formality or attendance - no aides, or officers of ordnance, or orderlies - and walked about, or stood chatting with their friends. 'Is that really Von Moltke?" "Where?" "You see that tall, thin man, without any mustache or whiskers, his hands behind his back-the officer with the grayish hair, very short, and a face cut with many fine lines, his head slightly stooped, the eyebrows pronounced, and the eyes deep set? There is the man whom the Junkers of Berlin called the old schoolmaster.' What a lesson he has taught Austrians and French!" "Is that the strategist who caught Benedek in a vise at Königgrätz, mouse-trapped Bazaine at Metz, and netted an emperor, a marshal of France, and 150,000 men at Sedan, and who is now angling for such an enormous prize as the capital of France?" "He looks very grave." "He is always so. But there, you see, striding through the crowd, is a very different-looking person." "Yes! who is that frank, smiling major of dragoons? He comes this way. the officer in the white cap and yellow band, dark blue or nearly black doublebreasted frock-coat with yellow collar, taller than the tall officers around him?" "That is Count Bismarck!" There is a stir wherever he goes caps touched and hats raised. He makes straight for a little knot of Americans General Burnside in plain clothes, General Sheridan, General Hazen, and General Forsyth in uniform, but without swords. You hear his laugh above the murmurs of the crowd and the wave of sound in which his name, "Bismarck," is borne. How heartily he shakes hands with them, buoyant and free, elated as some officer might be who had just won promotion on a battle-field. All the world knows the soulless likeness, out of which even photography has failed, however, to take all expression; but one must have actual experience of the peculiar vivacity, or rather penetration, of his glance, as it is emitted from under those tremendous shaggy eyebrows, to measure the power of his facethe one grand, overwhelming force of which is, to my mind, intrepidity—an immense, audacious courage, physical and mental, and a will before which every obstacle must yield or be turned. Count Bismarck invited General Burnside to his quarters, which were in a house in one of the darkest streets of dismal Versailles. In the ante-rooms were a dozen clerks writing or filing papers. The room in which Count Bismarck received his visitors was full of tobacco-smoke, and uncomfortably warm. Two candles, stuck into bottles, were standing on the mantel-piece. In the middle of the room was a rickety table on which were placed a jug of beer, several bottles of wine, and some silver tankards. Count Bismarck spoke very freely of public affairs. “It is merely the self-love of the Parisians," said he, "which prevents them from surrendering. We will wait, if necessary. We will enter Paris. The king has quite made up his mind, although he wants to spare the Parisians as much as possible, not to sign peace except at the Tuileries. Whatever may be our conditions of peace, France is too vain, however, to forgive us for her defeats. She would in any case make war against us as soon as she was strong enough. Our policy, in the interests both of Germany and of all Europe, must therefore be, to diminish the territory of France as much as possible, so as to make her unable, for a long time, to disturb the general peace. As to the proposed armistice of Alsace and Lorraine, that is the will of the king, which is enough. The French, accustomed to be the plaything of adventurers, cannot understand our respect for a monarchy. In Prussia there is no will but that of the king. I am only the instrument of his political will, as the generals are the instruments of his military will. When His Majesty expresses a wish it is my duty to propose the means of realizing it, and it is my glory sometimes to succeed in this task. At this moment, however, my actions are absolutely subordinate to those of the military leaders, who are not always of my opinion." Count Bismarck (wrote Dr. Russell to the London Times) likes Burnside. Indeed, there are few persons of any nation who will not be touched by the cordial nature and uprightness of the man, by his solid good sense and kindliness of nature, and by his clearness of perception, unmarred by selfishness, or any affectation of statesmanship, which is perhaps the highest diplomacy. Count Bismarck has a penchant for Americans of a certain high stamp. He says, "I like self-made men. It is the best sort of manufacture in our race." The result of these interviews was a visit by General Burnside to Paris, accompanied by Paul Forbes, Esq. On the 2d of October, 1870, they were driven in an open carriage, accompanied by a trumpeter and a flag of truce, from the French outpost, at Sevres, to the bank of the Seine. After a "parley" they were taken across in a boat to the other side of the river, where they were met by some French officers. The officer in charge of the post there would not take the responsibility of permitting General Burnside to enter the city, and sent a dispatch to the governor of Paris, asking for instructions. After a detention of an hour or two, the answer came that they might proceed. They were blindfolded and accompanied by an officer waving a white flag, while on one side rode a mounted trumpeter, blowing lustily from time to time. In this way they advanced to Long Champs (about five miles from Paris), where they were stopped in an unpleasant manner, eight shots being fired at them in rapid succession. Their trumpeter sounded his trumpet, and their officer |