Napoleon went directly from the weaver’s to the Chateau Bellevue, and about 10 o’clock the King of Prussia arrived from Frenois, accompanied by a few of his own suite and the Crown Prince with several members of his staff; and Von Moltke and Wimpffen having settled their points of difference before the two monarchs met, within the next half-hour the articles of capitulation were formally signed.

On the completion of the surrender—­the occasion being justly considered a great one—­the Crown Prince proceeded to distribute among the officers congregated in the chateau grounds ’the order of the Iron Cross’—­a generous supply of these decorations being carried in a basket by one of his orderlies, following him about as he walked along.  Meantime the King, leaving Napoleon in the chateau to ruminate on the fickleness of fortune, drove off to see his own victorious soldiers, who greeted him with huzzas that rent the air, and must have added to the pangs of the captive Emperor.

CHAPTER XIX.

RIDING OVER THE BATTLEFIELD—­DESTRUCTION OF BAZEILLES—­MISTAKES OF
THE FRENCH—­MARSHAL BAZAINE ON TO PARIS—­A WEEK IN MEAUX—­RHEIMS—­ON
THE PICKETLINE-UNDER FIRE—­A SURRENDER—­AT VERSAILLES—­GENERAL
BURNSIDE AND Mr. FORBES IN PARIS.

The Crown Prince having got to the bottom of his medal basket-that is to say, having finished his liberal distribution of decorations to his officers—­Forsyth and I rode off by way of Wadelincourt to Bazeilles to see what had taken place on that part of the field, and the sight that met our eyes as we entered the village was truly dreadful to look upon.  Most of the houses had been knocked down or burned the day before, but such as had been left standing were now in flames, the torch having been applied because, as it was claimed, Frenchmen concealed in them had fired on the wounded.  The streets were still encumbered with both German and French dead, and it was evident that of those killed in the houses the bodies had not been removed, for the air was loaded with odors of burning flesh.  From Bazeille we rode on toward the north about two miles, along where the fight had been largely an artillery duel, to learn what we could of the effectiveness of the Krupp gun.  Counting all the French dead we came across killed by artillery, they figured up about three hundred —­a ridiculously small number; in fact, not much more than one dead man for each Krupp gun on that part of the line.  Although the number of dead was in utter disproportion to the terrific six-hour cannonade, yet small as it was the torn and mangled bodies made such a horrible sight that we turned back toward Bazeilles without having gone further than Givonne.