Sedan

“ Sedan is a small old-fashioned fortress, lying in a depression between two ridges which converge in the plateau of Illy about 21/2 m. north-east of the town. The only part which its defences played, or might have played, in the ensuing battle lay in the strategic possibilities contained in the fine and roomy bridge-head of Torcy, covering an elbow bend of the Meuse whence the whole French army might have been hurled into the gap between the German III. and Meuse armies, had there been a Napoleon to conceive and to execute this plan. ”

“ Surprised at the surprise that was your plan,
Who shaking and breaking barriers not a little,
Find never more the death-door of Sedan.
Must I for more than carnage call you claimant,
Paying you a penny for each son you slay? ”

“ It has waited—and waited, that old Sedan chair!
Oh, the scandals it knows! Oh, the tales it could tell
Of Drum and Ridotto, of Rake and of Belle,—
Of Cock-fight and Levee, and (scarcely more rare!)
Of Fête-days at Tyburn, that old Sedan chair!
“Heu! quantum mutata,” I say as I go.
It deserves better fate than a stable-yard, though!
We must furbish it up, and dispatch it—“With care,”—
To a Fine-Art Museum—that old Sedan chair!
Austin Dobson. “LE ROMAN DE LA ROSE”
POOR Rose! ”

“ Destiny never hurries, but it always comes. At its hour, there it is. It allows years to pass by, and at the moment when men are least thinking of it, it appears. Of this character is the fatal, the unexpected catastrophe named Sedan. From time to time in History, Divine logic makes an onslaught. Sedan is one of those onslaughts.
Thus on the 1st of September, at five o'clock in the morning the world awoke under the sun, and the French army under the thunderbolt. ”

“ Not long ago, in the garage at Salamis run by our friend Fred Seaman, we were admiring and examining a very beautiful sedan. Not that we had any idea of ever abandoning our cherished Dame Quickly, who means more to us than any other vehicle ever will or can. But, just in a contemplative spirit, and as a259 frustrated lover of luxury, we were admiring this sedan, and saying to ourself that if we were a person of wealth and standing that would be just about the kind of car we would like to own. ”

“ The sedan, with a violent jolt, was suddenly deposited on the ground, and its bearers were dashed aside, as she supposed, by foot-pads. Then a shriek of dismay escaped Dolores, when a man, whose face was half-concealed by a crape mask, threw up the roof of the sedan, opened the door and attempted to drag her out by the hand. ”

“ This disaster of Sedan was easy of avoidance by any other man, but impossible of avoidance for Louis Bonaparte. He avoided it so little that he sought it. Lex fati.
Our army seemed expressly arranged for the catastrophe. The soldier was uneasy, ignorant of his whereabouts, famished. On the 31st of August, in the streets of Sedan, soldiers were seeking their regiments, and going from door to door asking for bread. We have seen the Emperor's order announcing the next day, September 1st, as a day of rest. In truth the army was worn out with fatigue. ”

“ Immediately the German fire ceased and the negotiations for surrender began. At first General De Wimpffen refused the terms offered, but on the next day, September 2d, he signed the capitulation of Sedan, and the whole army, including the emperor, who became a prisoner of war. In his interview with the king the emperor was downcast but dignified. From Sedan he was sent to the castle of Wilhelmshohe, near Cassel, and so ended his career as ruler of France. Two days later came the revolution in Paris, the overthrow of the empire, the flight of the empress, and the formation of the republic. ”

“ About 25,000 prisoners were taken during the battle of Sedan, and 83,000 surrendered the next day. Among the captured material of war were 400 pieces of field artillery, 150 fortress guns, and 70 mitrailleuses. About 14,000 French wounded were found lying in Sedan and in the neighborhood, and 3,000 French escaped into Belgium, and laid down their arms. The great Army of the North thus passed out of existence. ”

“ Gerrish is carried in a Sedan to the Wharf and so takes boat for Salem." Again he writes on May 31, 1715: "The Gov'r comes first to Town, was carried from Mr. Dudleys to the Town-House in Cous. Dumers Sedan; but 'twas too tall for the Stairs, so was fain to be taken out near the top of them." The Governor had had a bad attack of gout.
On September 11, 1706, Sewall writes: "Five Indians carried Mr. Bromfield in a chair." And though I have never seen the sale of a sedan mentioned, several times I have fancied that the reference to the sale of a chair meant a sedan-chair. ”

“ This village, some two miles southeast of Sedan, being of importance, was defended with great obstinacy, the French contesting from street to street and house to house the attack of the Bavarians till near 10 o'clock, when, almost every building being knocked to pieces, they were compelled to relinquish the place. The possession of this village gave the Germans to the east of Sedan a continuous line, extending from the Meuse northward through La Moncelle and Daigny to Givonne, and almost to the Belgian frontier. ”

“ We quote from “Coach and Sedan,” the curious little publication before referred to:—
“Coaches and Sedans (quoth the waterman) they deserve both to be thrown into the Thames, and but for stopping the Channel I would they were, for I am sure where I was wont to have eight or ten fares in a morning, I now scarce get two in a whole day. Our wives and children at home are ready to pine, and some of us are fain for means to take other professions upon us.” ”

“ It had been hitherto so thick that the line of the Meuse, and even the town of Sedan, had been scarcely distinguishable; but now it drew up like a curtain, and I could see the troops of Lamboy descending toward the bridge of boats, and gradually passing the river, in as fine unbroken order as if on a review.
Shortly after, the bridge of Sedan began to be occupied; and pennons, and plumes, and standards, and flashing arms, and all the pageantry of war, announced that the princes were on their march to form their junction with the imperial army. My eye then turned anxiously towards Torcy ”

“ Verona, the older daughter, cried, “Oh, Dad, if you do, why don’t you get a sedan? That would be perfectly slick! A closed car is so much more comfy than an open one.”
“Well now, I don’t know about that. I kind of like an open car. You get more fresh air that way.”
“Oh, shoot, that’s just because you never tried a sedan. Let’s get one. It’s got a lot more class,” said Ted.
“A closed car does keep the clothes nicer,” from Mrs. Babbitt; “You don’t get your hair blown all to pieces,” from Verona; “It’s a lot sportier,” from Ted; and from Tinka, the youngest, “Oh, let’s have a sedan! ”

“ I have read all that has been written about the battle of Sedan, as well as about the unhappy adventures of the luckless Seventh Army Corps, in which is placed the fictitious regiment which plays the leading rôle in my novel. And the digestion has not been an easy task. Each general, for instance, has a different version to give of the why and the wherefore of the defeat. Each claims to have had a plan, which, if it had been followed, would have [Pg vi] averted the disaster. ”

“ The sedans were made of bamboo, covered with oil-cloth, and carried on long poles. A great many sedan-chair-bearers have no fixed homes, living day and night in the open air, and buying their food at stalls on the road. They take care to keep their chairs in very good condition, ready to hire out whenever they are needed. Leonard was charmed with his bearers. ”

“ I therefore postponed my visit until the nest day, and lay at the 'France's Arms,' the best hotel of the town, and the ordinary rendezvous of all the officers; for Sedan is a garrison town, and is well fortified; the streets have a warlike air, and even the shopkeepers have a martial look, which seems to say to strangers, 'We are fellow countrymen of the great Turenne!' I supped at the general table, and I asked what road I should take in the morning to go to the chateau of the Duke de C——, which is situated some three leagues out of the town. ”

“ In the north of China, wheel carriages for various purposes are in common use; but here, all kinds of produce and merchandize, and men and women themselves, are carried, either in boats, or by human strength. The sedan, in which people ride, is made quite like a chaise top, with poles, like thills, extending an equal distance before and behind. Only one person is seated in the sedan, and two strong men stooping down take the poles on their shoulders, and then rising up, lift the sedan about a foot from the ground. ”

“ Sedan chairs have been in use in China from ancient times, and at the present day, in all parts of the country, they are looked upon as an important article in a civil officer's equipment, the rank of the owner being indicated by the number of bearers and followers attached to his sedan. ”

“ In the midst of these mournful deliberations Captain von Zingler, a messenger from Von Moltke, entered, and the scene became still more exciting. “I am instructed,” he said, “to remind you how urgent it is that you should come to a decision. At ten o’clock, precisely, if you have not come to a resolution, the German batteries will fire on Sedan. It is now nine, and I shall have barely time to carry your answer to head-quarters.” To this sharp summons De Wimpffen answered that he could not decide until he knew the result of the interview between the Emperor and the King. ”

“ With that book, and maps and plans, I have carefully studied every phase of every battle-field from Sedan in the North to Strasburg in the South, and I find I could not write upon the subject without expressions of opinion that would be very unpleasant to many men now alive. ”

“ Sir John said how few people there were now who remembered the origin of the word ‘fly’ as applied to a carriage. In the last century people almost always went out to parties in sedan-chairs—a great fatigue and trouble to their bearers. Gradually the sedans had wheels, and were drawn. Then it began to dawn upon people to substitute a horse for a man. ”

“ Sedan-chairs. First made at Sedan, France.
See how it pans out. Originally a miners’ phrase in the Far West. To separate the gold grains from the earth in which they are found a pan of water is brought into service; when the pan is shaken the gold collects at the bottom.
Seekers. The original designation of the Quakers, because they sought the truth with the solicitude of Nicodemus, the Jewish ruler (John iii. 1-21) .
Seething Lane. A corruption of Sidon Lane, after the name of the first builder on the land. ”

“ There is no mode of traveling known to civilization where the accommodations are so wretched, and the mental and physical discomforts so great, as in riding on a rail after the American system. The only thing in its favor is its cheapness, as it is generally quite gratuitous.
In Europe, before the adoption of wheeled vehicles, those who could afford the luxury, were carried in chairs by two or more porters; the conveyance was said to have originated in Sedan, France, and thus became known as the sedan chair. ”

“ A long, rakish sedan, which had been parked 239further along the street, leaped ahead, and swung around the corner behind the taxi which was carrying Jim Hill and the final draft of their radio script. ”

“ Thousands of men were present twenty-five years ago at the celebrated cavalry charge during the battle of Sedan, and yet it is impossible, in the face of the most contradictory ocular testimony, to decide by whom it was commanded. ”

“ ROYAL CARRIAGE, Versailles, France.—In the Museum of Carriages at Versailles is a collection of royal vehicles from the time of the first Emperor to the baptism of the Prince Imperial in 1856, besides sledges of the time of Louis XIV., and sedan chairs. The royal carriage in the picture is that of Charles X., afterwards used by Napoleon on various occasions, the letter "N" being still seen on the drapery adorning the seat. The carriage is valued at $200,000, and considered one of the finest vehicles of its kind in the world. ”

“ The condition of the streets and public thoroughfares would, in ancient times, have rendered the employment of vehicles impossible, and thus persons who did not go on foot went on horseback until the sixteenth century, when the use of the so-called “Sedan-chairs” became general. Wheeled carriages were not absolutely unknown, but in Francis I.’s reign there were but two, one belonging to the king, the other to the queen. ”

“ Where traveling by water is impossible, sedan chairs are used to carry passengers, and coolies with poles and slings transport the luggage and goods. The distances covered by the sedan chair porters are remarkable, being sometimes as much as thirty-five miles a day, even on a journey extending over a month. ”

“ The “monstrous width” referred to in Coach and Sedan confirms the statement by Taylor that sometimes “two pairs of legs” occupied it, the proprietors of the legs sitting back to back. “No trace of glass windows or perfect doors seems to have existed up to 1650” (Thrupp) , so we can well understand that the passengers who were obliged to occupy the boot of a stage coach (for these as well as hackney coaches were so built) on a prolonged journey would have an exceedingly uncomfortable seat in cold or wet weather. ”

“ We pulled into Boulzicourt and discovered that the camion had moved on to a place called Flize, which is on the way to Sedan.
75
77 78A camion came bowling along so we hopped aboard. Of course it was going to the wrong village, but we didn’t worry—one can always catch a ride. At Mézières the truck pulled up and we jumped off. It was still raining and we weren’t what you would call dry. Hungry and not a thing could be had in the way of food. Nothing in the shops, but we did manage to get coffee. Along towards night, we ran into a Frenchman that set us up to one fine supper with wine and rum. ”