Chapter XXXIII: Epilogue

A quarter of a century has elapsed since the occurrence of the events which I have described. When I view the scenes of those eventful days through this long vista, and when sometimes for a moment one particular picture of hospital or camp life presents itself before my mind, I start as if awakened from a troubled dream, to find there still the shape and form of fact.

The years have come and gone, and with them have passed away many of the principal actors in that great drama.

Wilhelm, Napoléon, Moltke, the Crown Prince, the Red Prince, Gambetta, d'Aureille de Paladine, Bazaine, MacMahon, have disappeared from the stage.

Modern surgery and medicine have lost some of their ablest pioneers in Langenbeck, Nussbaum, Esmark and Marion Sims; and I personally have to mourn for many who were kindly and helpful to me in those days, amongst them M. and Madame Proust and General Charles Brackenbury.

I have often wished to revisit Sedan and Orleans; but the desire to make the most of a somewhat limited holiday-time, and to gain fresh experiences, has always led me to new districts and countries previously unknown to me, and I have never had my wish fulfilled. I am glad to say, however, that I never quite lost sight of my old friends M. and Madame Proust, and a visit from their nephew revived all the old associations and remembrances afresh.

It may interest my readers to hear something of our ambulance surgeons. Sir William MacCormac, who succeeded Marion Sims at Sedan, is now one of the greatest living authorities on military surgery and gunshot wounds. His colleague Dr. Mackellar is distinguished on the staff of St. Thomas's Hospital, and Dr. Parker is an eminent London specialist. The others, scattered over the face of the globe, I have lost sight of, but would fain hope one day to meet some of them again.

One object I have had in view in publishing these notes may be worthy of mention.

As I have tried to write down exactly what I witnessed, they may help to afford some idea of what war really means,--war as a hard practical fact--stripped of all the glamour, and poetry, and pride of conquest, that are so attractive when seen in history.

Even from my own observations I could gather that all is not victory to the victors themselves.

When the German soldiery learnt that Louis Napoléon was present in the trap at Sedan, there broke out among them the wildest exhibition of delight; for they believed--wrongly as it came to pass--that his capture would end the war and enable them to go back to their homes. And when peace was finally proclaimed, the Germans in Orleans were no less demonstrative and enthusiastic than the French, whose cup of suffering had been filled to overflowing.

Now-a-days there is perhaps a tendency to undervalue this aspect of the case. People talk very lightly of the great European war that is said to be inevitable. It can do no harm to measure as far as possible what such a war may mean.

Those who count the cost in advance are far more likely to be able to meet it, should the necessity arise, and to bear themselves resolutely and bravely to the end, whatever the event, than those who rush blindly forward, depending mainly on enthusiasm for organisation, and on the reputation of the past to achieve victories in the future. That seems to be the great lesson taught by the war of 1870 and 1871.

There never was, perhaps, a more flagrant instance of disregard for that wise Shakesperian saying familiar to us all:--

"Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel: but, being in,
Bear it that the opposed may beware of thee".

However, my readers will probably be disposed to form their own opinions on these subjects, and will have far more attractive material elsewhere on which to found them.

Before concluding, I think I am not out of order in mentioning a notable occurrence which took place during the year 1895, and which to my mind affords a favourable augury for the future of France. I mean the celebration at Orleans, with all the pomp and ceremony due to the occasion, of the festival of Jeanne d'Arc. From the general enthusiasm then displayed by the French people, I cannot help thinking that greater things and brighter hopes are in store for that beautiful country, the fortunes of which have ever been as dramatic in their circumstances as they are interesting in themselves.

Finally, I wish here to record, if I may, my own admiration, sympathy and delight in the bright and genial character of the French, and to bear witness that as this feeling was at first so it is now; nor do I think it will ever change.

My task is finished. Though the re-writing of these notes has been a source of great pleasure to me, bringing back as it does old memories and picturesque scenes so vividly, yet I lay aside the unaccustomed pen with--perhaps not unnaturally--some little sense of relief, trusting to the indulgence of my readers that they will overlook the blemishes incidental to a first literary performance. And thus I bid them farewell.

THE END.

INDEX.

A.

Ambulance, Anglo-American: staff, 27;
labours at Sedan, 47-59, 79;
routine, 71;
discipline, 73;
additional staff, 89;
number of operations, 93;
use of antiseptics, 96;
transferred to German side, 108, 143;
fresh arrangements, 115;
leaves Sedan, 116;
at Orleans, 160 to end;
routine there, 166;
at battle of Coulmiers, 194-207;
evacuates terminus, 215;
given French _infirmiers_, 223;
visited by M. Crémieux, 231;
critical position, 232;
at battle of Neuville, 242, _seq._;
at Patay, 253;
at Beaugency, 283;
disbanded, 343.

Ambulance, Belgian, 21.

Ambulance, French, 16;
want of discipline, 82, 103, 114;
broken up, 121.

Ambulance, German: treatment of French wounded, 81;
at Floing, 107;
amputation, Dr. Ryan's first, 166.

Antiseptic treatment, 96.

Ardennes, Forest, 113.

Arlon, 115.

Arpajon, 153.

Artenay, 154.

Asfeld, Caserne d', 39-49, 59.

B.

Bavarians: cavalry, 140;
occupy Orleans, 176;
fighting there, 176;
their religious behaviour, 185;
losses, 189;
evacuate Orleans, 190;
at Coulmiers, 195;
retreat, 196;
leave dead on field, 200;
at Beaugency, 285;
despised by Prussians, 284.

Bayonne, Père, 43, 94.

Bazeilles, burning of, 53, 56, 85;
visit to, 87.

Beaugency, battle, 282, _seq._

Beaumont, village, 35.

Beck, 89, 107.

Berthe, Soeur, 235, 303, 348, 351.

Bilotte, Intendant Militaire, at Sedan, 72.

Bismarck, Count, 83, 147, 217.

"Black and Tans," the, 113.

Blood poisoning, 91;
open-air treatment, 108;
at Orleans, 179, 183, 310.

Bonjour, M., 252.

Bouglet, Dr., 345, seq.

Bouillon, town and castle, 112, 117.

Bourbaki, General, 226.

Brackenbury, Captain C., 115, 121, 334-337.

Brussels, 5, 8, 118, 120.

Burnside, General, 142.

C.

Cahirmee, Horse Fair, 119.

Carignan, village, 22.

Caserne d'Asfeld, 39, _seq._, 49, 59.

Caserne St. Charles, at Orleans, 217-219.

Cases, remarkable, 179, and _passim_.

Cathedral, Orleans, desecrated, 280.

Charlie, Nigger, 61, 94, 142, 233, 307, 339, 342.

Château Bellevue, 83, 114.

Château Mouville, 56.

Château Renardier, 196, 207, 354.

Châtelet, Marquise de, 324.

Châtelet, Quai du, 160 to end.

Cavalry, African, 255.

Cavalry, Bavarian, 140.

Chevilly, village, 56;
battle, 251, _seq._

Chivry, 318.

Chizelles, Vicomte de, 32.

Churches desecrated, 153.

Colombier, M. and Mme., 353, _seq._

_Conscrit, Le_, incident resembling, 99.

Corbeil, 312, 314.

Coulmiers, battle, 191, 193, 209;
visit to field, 353 _seq._

Crémieux, M., 231.

D.

D'Allaine, M., 217.

_Débâcle, La_, accuracy of, 57.

D'Iges, Isle of, 75, _seq._

Dilger, Martin, 181, 218, 309, 313.

Donchery, village, 41.

Douai, General, killed, 100.

Douzy, village, burning of, 42.

Ducrot, General, 48, 251.

Dupanloup, Bishop, 289.

E.

Étampes, 154, 197, 338.

Eugénie, Empress, 17.

Euverte, Ste., Church of, 252, 273, _seq._;
evacuated, 310.

F.

Failly de, General, 34.

Flavigny, Count de, 29.

Floing, Plain of, 39.

Francs-Tireurs, 126, 177.

Francs-Tireurs, American, 226.

Frank, Dr., 26, 35, 55, 56, 115.

Frazer, Captain, 232, 287.

Frederick Charles, Prince, enters Orleans, 274-276.

French: commissariat breaks down, 34;
Marines, 46;
also at Orleans, 228;
bravery at Patay, 261;
prisoners, 75;
wounded, 81;
miserable clothing, 212;
want of physique, 214;
imaginary victories, 248.

Frénois, village, 40, 83.

Fritz, Dr., 312.

Fugitive peasants, 157.

G.

Gaillon, 124.

Gambetta, M., 197, 217.

Garde Nationale, 23.

Garenne, Bois de, 53, 64, 67.

Geneva Convention, 223.

German: ambition, 276;
treatment of French prisoners, 281;
character and manners, 170;
piety, 185.

Giant, a Bavarian, 204, 274.

Glenbane, 132.

Gravelotte, battle of, 312.

Gunboats on Loire, 229.

H.

Haveland, Major de, 305, 337.

Hayden, Frank, 37, 60, 74, 77, 83, 112, 345, 347.

Hewitt, Dr., 43, 68, 115, 118, 125, 145, 154.

Hohenzollern, Prince of, 141.

Holt White, Mr., 306.

Horses, suffering of, 48, 74.

Hospital: at Sedan, 39, 52-116;
at Balan, 56;
at Orleans railway, 162;
invaded by townsfolk, 202;
au Grand Marché, 217;
at Caserne St. Charles, 2, 8;
at Ste. Euverte, 273-310.

Hozier, Colonel, 232, 287, 307.

I.

_Illustrated London News_, 89.

Isle d'Iges, 75, _seq._

J.

Jean the Turco, 116, 167, 339.

Jeanne d'Arc, 160, 192.

Jews, 314.

Journalism, French, 248.

L.

Labouchère, M., 19, 21, 25.

Lagny, 315, 323.

Langenbeck, Prof., 286.

Léopoldine, Soeur, 308, 339.

Lévy, M. Michel, 14.

Libramont, 118.

Lille, 122.

Lloyd-Lindsay, Col., 27, 143, 333.

Loire, Army of the, 158, 254, 263.

Lundon, Mr. W., 132.

M.

MacCormac, Dr. (now Sir W.), at Sedan, 47, 68, 70, 90, 97, 111, 115.

Mackellar, Dr., 89, 145, 209, 224, 282.

MacMahon, Marshal, 31, 83.

Madeleine, La, 16, 28.

Manners, French, 161;
German, 148, 172.

Mantes, 135, 138.

Maps, requisitioned, 231.

Marfée, Heights, 35, 41, _seq._

Marly, 140.

May, Dr., 36, 47, 49, 71, 97, 99, 114, 245, 282, 340.

McLoughlin, Miss, 89, 260.

Mejonelle, Mr., 306.

Melun, Vicomte de, 4, 8, 15, 16, 18, 20.

Metz, 22;
surrendered, 176, 188.

Meuse, river, 37;
bridge over, 84.

Mézières, village, burnt, 139.

Moltke, General, 147.

Monod, M. Chaplain, 94.

Mont Valérien, 140.

Mouzon, village, 38.

N.

Napoléon III., 33, 38, 83.

Neuville, 236;
fighting at, 243, 251.

Nicholl, Dr., 47, 115.

Nihil, T., Fenian exile, 131.

Nussbaum, Prof., 162, 340.

O.

O'Hanlon, Mme., 178.

Olivet, 350.

Orleans: march to, 154;
entering, 158;
in Quai du Châtelet, 160, _seq._;
at railway, 162-215;
Place Martroi, 168;
state of siege, 172;
shop windows, 172;
Bavarians evacuate, 190;
hospital invaded, 203;
ambulance returns, 207;
French enter, 210;
French Marines arrive, 228;
Ste. Euverte, 252;
French retreat upon, 254;
German assault, 263;
street fighting, 269;
surrendered, 270;
Red Prince enters, 274;
chronic hunger, 277;
prisoners in cathedral, 279;
Christmas Day at, 292;
fined 600,000 francs, 311;
evacuated by Germans, 349.

Ostend, 4, 333.

P.

Paladine, General de, 197, _seq._

Paris, 11-25;
siege of, 317.

Parker, Dr., 95, 107, 115, 193, 202, 270, 312, 343, 347.

Patay, battle, 251-260.

Pauline, Mère, 307, 339.

Peace, signed, 341.

Pearson, Miss, 89, 260, 347.

Peasants, 134.

Peyen, Louis, 99, 101.

Poniatowsky, Princess, 26.

Pontoon bridge over Meuse, 84;
over Loire, 277;
burnt, 266.

Pratt, Dr., 95, 115, 120, 137, 141, 151, 158, 161, 184, 226, 287,
311, 343.

Prince Frederick Charles, 276.

Prince of Hohenzollern, 141.

Prince Pless, 141-3, 337.

Prisoners at Orleans, 279.

Property, rights of, in war, 137.

Proust, M. and Mme., 274, 346-350, _seq._

Prussians, 35, 41, 123, 140, 276, 349.

R.

Raucourt, village, 35.

Reilly, Colonel, 232.

Renardier, Château de, 196, 207, 354.

Rouen, 123.

Rüdiger, 308.

Russell, Dr., of the Times, 45.

Ryan, Arthur (now Canon), 352;
diary, 353, _seq._

Ryan, Dr. C. E., leaves Dublin, 3;
at Paris, 10-30;
joins Anglo-Americans, 27;
arrives at Sedan, 31;
first sight of Germans, 35;
during 1st Sept., 1870, 43-59;
goes over battlefield, 61, _seq._;
at Isle d'Iges, 75;
visits Bazeilles, 86;
work in Caserne, 102;
rides to Bouillon, 112;
leaves Sedan, 116;
goes to Brussels, 118;
to Rouen, 123;
in Seine Valley, 125;
captured by Francs-Tireurs, 126;
to Mantes, 134;
sees fighting from Marly, 140;
at Versailles, 141-150;
marches to Orleans by Étampes, 153-160;
enters to sound of cannon, 157;
remarkable cases, 179;
at battle of Chevilly, 195;
visits that field, 352, _seq._;
in French camp, 199;
back to Orléans, 207;
sees French enter, 213;
at Neuville, 242;
sees battle of Patay, 259;
and French retreat across Loire, 264;
and burning of bridge, 266;
during assault on Orleans, 271;
sees entry of Red Prince, 274;
at Ste. Euverte, 252-310;
night duties, 292, _seq._;
leaves Orleans on furlough, 312;
journeys home by Lagny, Strasburg, etc., 315-332;
recalled, 333;
loses papers in Seine Valley, 335;
at Versailles, 336;
in Orleans again, 339;
falls ill of typhoid fever, 345;
recovers and leaves Orleans, 351.

S.

Sailors, French, 46, 228, 261;
German, 288.

Schrenk, Captain, 177.

Schroeder, Henry, 274, 285, 307, 343.

Sedan, arrival at, 31;
no surgeons or medical appliances, 38;
defences, 39;
battle, 43-53, _seq._;
number of wounded, 53;
field after the battle, 62-65;
operations in hospital, 70, _seq._, 93;
inhabitants shut up, 85;
captured guns in Park, 101;
ambulance leaves, 116.

Seine Valley, 124, 336.

Sentinels, French, 207;
German, 230.

Sheridan, General, 142.

Sherwell, Dr., 89, 208, 311.

Sims, Dr. Marion, 27, 28, 31, 70, 73, 94.

Sims, Harry, 27.

Soissons, 30.

Soldiers' burials, 62.

Southern exiles, 142.

St. Aignan, Church, 350.

St. Aubin, Louis, 45, 96, _seq._, 116.

St. Cloud, burnt, 146.

St. Germain, 139;
forest of, 336.

St. Pierre, village, 124.

Ste. Euverte, 252, 273, 276, 291, 306, 310.

Steel, General, 10.

Strasburg, 328-330.

T.

Tann, Von der, his proclamation 174.

Tilghman, Dr., 27, 36, 47, 184, 200, 209, 282.

Torcy, gate of Sedan, 32.

Trochu, General, 251.

Turcos, 51, 212, 240.

U.

Uniforms, German, 169.

Urbonouski, Mme., 145.

V.

Vercourt, M. de, 4, 330.

Verdière, M. le, 20.

Versailles, 145;
the Château a hospital, 147, 287, 337.

W.

Walsh, Dr., 2.

Warren, Dr., 89, 105, 193, 202, 253, 269, 342, 345, 347.

Webb, Dr., 70.

Weissenburg, battle of, 1, 50.

William I., king and emperor, 147, 323.

Wimpffen, General de, 34, 48.

Wörth, 1, 50.

Wounded, number at Sedan, 53;
in hospital, 70-93.

Wyman, Dr., 115.

Z.

Zouaves, 241.

Zouave, Well of the, 90.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Obvious errors of punctuation and diacritical markings were corrected, although "Orleans" appeared frequently without the accent aigu and was not modified.

Hyphen removed: "bomb[-]shells" (p. 317), "towns[-]people" (p. 152).

The following words appear both with and without hyphens and have not been changed: "dead-house", "side-arms", "station-master's".

P. 217: "Coulmier" changed to "Coulmiers".

P. 229: "univeral" changed to "universal" (universal scramble of excited Frenchmen).

P. 248: "befel" changed to "befell" (befell the French arms).

Index: Many page numbers seem to be wrong but have been left as printed. Entry "Madelieie" changed to "Madeleine". Entry "Nihill" changed to "Nihil". Entries moved to their correct alphabetical positions: "Frénois, village" "Hayden, Frank" "Loire, Army of the"