By 3 o’clock, the French being in a desperate and hopeless situation, the King ordered the firing to be stopped, and at once despatched one of his staff—­Colonel von Bronsart—­with a demand for a surrender.  Just as this officer was starting off, I remarked to Bismarck that Napoleon himself would likely be one of the prizes, but the Count, incredulous, replied, “Oh no; the old fox is too cunning to be caught in such a trap; he has doubtless slipped off to Paris”—­a belief which I found to prevail pretty generally about headquarters.

In the lull that succeeded, the King invited many of those about him to luncheon, a caterer having provided from some source or other a substantial meal of good bread, chops and peas, with a bountiful supply of red and sherry wines.  Among those present were Prince Carl, Bismarck, Von Moltke, Von Roon, the Duke of Weimar, the Duke of Coburg, the Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg, Count Hatzfeldt, Colonel Walker, of the English army, General Forsyth, and I. The King was agreeable and gracious at all times, but on this occasion he was particularly so, being naturally in a happy frame of mind because this day the war had reached a crisis which presaged for the near future the complete vanquishment of the French.

Between 4 and 5 o’clock Colonel von Bronsart returned from his mission to Sedan, bringing word to the King that the commanding officer there General Wimpffen, wished to know, in order that the further effusion of blood might be spared, upon what terms he might surrender.  The Colonel brought the intelligence also that the French Emperor was in the town.  Soon after Von Bronsart’s arrival a French officer approached from Sedan, preceded by a white flag and two German officers.  Coming up the road till within a few hundred yards of us, they halted; then one of the Germans rode forward to say that the French officer was Napoleon’s adjutant, bearing an autograph letter from the Emperor to the King of Prussia.  At this the King, followed by Bismarck, Von Moltke, and Von Roon, walked out to the front a little distance and halted, his Majesty still in advance, the rest of us meanwhile forming in a line some twenty paces to the rear of the group.  The envoy then approached, at first on horseback, but when within about a hundred yards he dismounted, and uncovering, came the remaining distance on foot, bearing high up in his right hand the despatch from Napoleon.  The bearer proved to be General Reille, and as he handed the Emperor’s letter to the King, his Majesty saluted him with the utmost formality and precision.  Napoleon’s letter was the since famous one, running so characteristically, thus:  “Not having been able to die in the midst of my troops, there is nothing left me but to place my sword in your Majesty’s hands.”  The reading finished, the King returned to his former post, and after a conference with Bismarck, Von Moltke, and Von Roon, dictated an answer accepting Napoleon’s surrender, and requesting him to designate an officer