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get. [ can mention more than one brave officer who did not fear to own that he shrank from the sight of what had become a mere massacre. Those who were safely out of the way as prisoners, whether offi cers or men, needed no pity. When, after a time, it became clear that there was no sign cf Bazaine, the hopes of the French again departed. A sullen sort ot fight sti;l went on. The guns of the town an swered the Prussians. An aid-de-camp of the Emperor went by on foot, and I heard him ask the officers near by to help him in {nitrirg r n end to the fire. Such being the Cujperor’s wish, at leng'h THE WHITE FLAG was hoisted on rhe citadel. The cannon ade cea?ed suddenly about 4L Eager as we were to know the cause, we cannot, leave the b( use, for the street is impassable, and we have to be content with learning the mere fact of the surrender. As night drew on, the crowd a little diminished, and ty some effort it was possible to make one’way about the town. The spectacle if off red was more horrible than war. Dead were lying everywhere; civilians and soldiers mingled in the slaughter. In one suburb I counted more than 50 bodies of peasants and bourgeois—a few women among them, and one child. The ground was s’rewn with splinters of shells. Starv ing a', iciiors were CUTTING UP DEAD HORSES to cork and eat, for provisions had again failee ns as everything has failed since this campaign began. I was glad to get away from the sight of our disasters and lose their remembrance in a few hours of sleep. NAPOLEON A Pr.ISONER. The next day we were told that the Emperor lmd gone to the King’s headquar ters to treat for a surrender. At 11 hie household and carriages left the town and we knew that lie was a prisoner and the Empire no more. About the same hour there was posted in the streets a proclama tion from Gen. De Wimpffen '.saying that notwithstanding prodigies of courage, the army having no more ammunition found itself unable to respond to the summons of its chiefs and force its way to Montmedy. That being surrounded ho had made the best conditions he could; conditions such as would inllict no humiliation on the ar my These conditions prove to he the sur render of the whole army, not less than 100,000 men, as prisoners of war, with all their arms, baggage, horses, standards and guns. The officers who sign an engage ment not to serve against Prussia during the war may return to their homes, the remainder to be sent to German towns in Germany. Many officers refuse to sign, preferring to share the captivity of their men. BAD FAITH OF THE FRENCH. On Saturday the whole force laid down their arms. Not a lew soldiers in their rage broke lather than give up their arms, and the streets were littered with frag ments of all kinds of weapons broken: swords, rifles, pistol*, lancers’ helmets, cuirasses, even mitrailleuses covered the ground ; and in one place where the Meuse runs through the town the heaps of such fragments choked the stream and rose above the surface. The mud of the streets was black with gunpowder. The horses had been tied to the houses and gun-car riaces, but nobody remembered to feed or water them, aod in the frenzy of hunger and thirst they broke loose and ran wild through the town. Whoever liked might have a horse —even officers’ horses which were private property—for the trouble of catching them. EMPTYING THE MONEY CIIEST. When the Prussians came into the town they were very sore and angry at the sight of all this des*ruction and waste. What must have pleased them still less, was the state io which they found the military chest. A' soon as the surrender was re solved on, the French officers were told to make out the befit accounts they could, present them, and receive payment. Naturally, the statements thus brought in soon proved sufficient to empty the trea sury. 1 know of officers who demanded and received payment for horses that were not killed, and baggage which had not been lost. Demoralization showed itself in every way. Even the stanuards were burned or buried, an act of bad faith not to be palliated even by the grief and rage of a beaten army. GEN. DE FAILLY. Their rage is greater against no one than Gen. De Faillv. He had a room in the hotel where I was staying. On Fri day, a great multitude of soldiers gathered before ttie house, the doors of which were closed, demanding <lei. De Failly with such shouts and menaces that the land lord thought it prudent to hurry him out ot a back window. The soldiers,! could they have reached him. would have torn him to pieces. Smce then, I have heard the report that he was shot by one of his own men ; but no such event had hap pened on iSatuiday, and could not well happen later. FRENCH ANNOYANCES AND \ PRUSSIAN COURTESY. It was a relief on Saturday when the Prussians came in and occupied the town, and restored order. I am sorry to have to acknowledge that all through the cam paign the French have acted much more like a conquerir g army io a hostile country ihan the Prussians. All the anrryance 1 have experienced personally came from my own countrymen ; from the peasants who, shove all, aw a spy in every stranger. Vv’hen I fell into the hands of the Prus sians I-fund them courtesy itself. On leaving Sedan and thence to the frontier, in passing through the Prussian posts, I was stopped often, I had but to say,. *‘l am the correspondent cf an American journal,” and I was at once sent kindly forward. On the back of my French military pass the Prussian Staff bad in dorsed a Prussian Often I wa3 not obliged even to show my papers, my word was taken; and once out of Sedan I was speedily through. When I left Sedan on Sunday morning things were rapidly getting in order* The streets were cleared of dead horses and men. The indescribable filth of the town was swept into the river. The shops were opening again. Discipline had taken the place of disorder. I saw enough of Prus sian organization and energy to change, if the grievous defeat of a noble army had not already changed, the opinion I have so often expressed that ultimate victory for France was sure. WHY THE FRENCH WERE SO OFTEN SUR PRISED. I have followed MacMabon from the day when I found him reorganizing his army at Chalons to the fatal day al Sedan, when be the last organized force in France, save the remnant of that which is shut up in Metz. Certainly, when I was at the camp of Chalons, and then at Rhcims, I had observed that the number ot stragglers was enormous, and I continually met soldiers who did not know where their regiments were. I had seen men and officers disabled by wounds which French soldiers of ether days would have despised: I had remarked how un tidy and careless the men were allowed to be about their dress and equipments. These things, slight, but significant to a military eye, had caused me, no doubt, some misgivings as to the rapidity of the success we bad a right to expect. I saw also how prone French officers were to avoid the iatigues of long marches and the discomfort of bivouacs. I remember how often I have traversed the French lines at dead ot night and at early dawn, and never heard a challenge, never came across a French vedette, never have fallen in with a party ot scouts. On the other hand, I have seen officers spend the time that ought to have been given to their men, in cases or in poor village inns. Often even officers of the staff seemed to neglect their duties for paltry amusements, showing themselves ignorant sometimes even of the name of the Department in which they were ; so that I have known a French General obliged to ask his way from peasants at the meeting of two roads. I struggled long against all this kind of 1 evidence, but the end is only too clear. Painful it is to me, but I am bound to de clare my belief that any further effort France may make can only cause useless bloodshed; aud that a means of escape from her peril must now be sought other wise than by force of arms. EXERCISES OF THE SOUL TO PREPARE ONE FOR THE SA CRAMENT OF PENANCE AND THE HOLY EUCHARIST. ‘ TRANSLATED FOR THE BANNER, BY MISS MARY MOON. SHORT EXPLANATION OF THE APOSTLES* CREED. IV. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into Hell. In order to consummate the great work of our redemption, this amiable Saviour was willing to suffer the most humiliating indignities, the most unheard-of cruelties. Arrested by the Jews, enchained as a malefactor, be was presented to Pilate, Governor of Judea, for the Romans; ac cused before the judge, as He did not wish to save His life, He would make no reply to His accusers. What did He not suffer at this Tribune from the bands of blood-thirsty men, who appeared to have divested themselves, in his case alone, of every sentiment of humanity ! Affronts, mockeries, poignant insults, these were only the preludes of His tor ments. A bloody scourging, a crowning with thorns; this again is only to prepare Him so to speak, for the punishment of the Cross, to which they condemn Him. He is innocent, however, and of what could He be guilty ! He is the author of all justice. But we are all criminals, and it is for us that this Lamb without spot is willing to suffer. He did suffer, in fact all that we have merited. He was, then, fastened to the Cross, He died, thereon ; yes, 1 believe that the Author of life truly died, that is to say, that His soul was really separated from His body. In order to attest His death, His body was buried, was kept in a tomb; the tomb was sealed with the public seal, guards were placed around. And why so many precautions ? Ah ! it was, according to the designs of God, to serve as authentic proofs of the great miracles which was to consummate the demonstratiau of onr faith in Jesus Christ. In the meantime His soul descended into hell; that is to say, into the place where the just were awaiting His coining, in order to be put in possession of the celestial glory into MBIII ©S BBSS B©Bm. which He should first enter, and the en trance to which He w r as to open to the human race. O ! What was the joy of , the holy souls, when they had at length the happiness of seeing Him whom they had desired, after whom they had sighed so long, whom they awaited. What consolation did they not taste during these three days that He passed with them from His death until his resurrection ! V. The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Al mighty. Ok ! what joy for me to felicitate you now upon your triumph, O my amiable, my adorable Redeemer ! How consoling it is for Christians to see your holy humanity thus avenged, thus recompensed for all the sorrows that it has suffered for us ! Yes, I believe ; my mind is perfectly convinced, but how does my heart, es pecially, delight in this truth ! I believe that from the first dawn of morning of the third day after your death, you rose again, O my God, my Saviour, by your own virtue. Ah ! what doubt could I be able to entertain about this incontestable truth, in which originated the confusion and the despair of your enemies, and the con solation of your faithful Disciples? You were crucified; you died, they buried you ; your tomb, sealed by public au thority, was carefully guarded by soldiers. O incredulous Jew, tell us, then, in short, what has become of this crucified, buried body, if thou dost persist in not believing those who testify that they have seen it rise again ! These Apostles, so weak, so timid, who did not dare to follow Him to Calvary, nor even to avow themselves His Disciples, have carried it away! You say so. But also tell—what, then, did this guard that the Governor had permitted you to put at His tomb ? Into what profound sleep, or, rather, into what lethargy were your soldiers then plunged ? They neither heard break the public seal that you took care to place upon the tomb, nor heard they the enormous stone roll away, nor the body being carried away. The noise, trie lights; (for it was, you say, during the night), nothing aroused any of them. If this be so, it is a miracle almost as great as that, that you refuse to believe. The guards slept, you say. Ah ! How did they know, then, whether the body was carried away, or whether it rose again ? To what were they able to testify ? And of what weight is the testimony of peo ple who testify to what passed while they slept? As for me, my God, I believe. Ah ! would that I were able, by the vi vacity of my faith, to indemnify you, in some sort, for the outrage that so many obstinate unbelievers do you! I believe especially in the testimony of your Apos tles, of more than five hundred Disciples, to whom you showed yourself after the resurrection, with whom you did not dis dain to drink, to eat, to converse as be fore your death. For I believe what holy books teach me, that after your resurrection you re mained yet forty days on earth. I be lieve that during this time you finished instructively your Apostles, by prescrib ing to them yourself, emphatically, all that they have transmitted to their suc cessors, although it may not be written in the history of your life, that is to say, in the four Apostles. I believe that afterwards, by the same virtue that you resurrected yourself, you ascended into heaven; that is to say, that your holy humanity was carried into the heavens, when your Father, the Eternal Father, has placed it at Ilis right hand. But in so much as Man, you reign there sovereignly over all creatures, you reign especially and particularly over your Church, that you do not cease, and will not cease, until the consummation of the ages to govern, eternal Pontiff, only Me diator, only and sovereign Judge. \ iew Mont, Albemarle county, Va., July 26, 1870. (to BE CONTINUE*.) MARTYRDOM OF ST. IGNATIUS* There are but few Christians outside the clerical profession who have much acquaintance with the history of Christiani ty in pavst ages; but few are aware of the sufferings to which the early Christians were exposed. The following brief ac count of the martyrdom of Iguatius will probably be read with interest. At the commencement of the second century Ig natius was Bishop of the Church in An tioch. He had occupied the post for forty years, and had obtained a very high reputation for devout character and Christian zeal. The Emperor Trajan, passing with his victorious army from the banks of the Danube, to combat the barbarians in the East, stopped for a time 'ot Antioch. Ignatius was brought before him, charged with the crime of being a Christian. The Emperor sternly inquir ed of him : “Why do you disobey our orders, and influence others to ruin themselves by doing the same ?” Ignatius replied : “I must be obedient to God, whom I bear in my heart.” “Whois the God,” asked Trajan, “whom you bear in your heart ?” “Jesus Christ,” was the reply. “And do you not believe that we bear in our hearts those gods who combat with us against our enemies?” was the response of Trajan. The Christian Bishop boldly replied : “You deceive yourself in calling the demons of the Geutilvs gods. There is but one God who has made the heavens, and the earth, the sea, and all which they contain; and there is but one Jesus Christ, the only son of God, to whose kingdom I aspire.” Trajan replied : “Do you speak of Him who was crucified miner Pontius Pilate ?” “Yes,” responded Ignatius, “He lias made atonement for my sins, and has put all the malice of Satan under the feet of those who carry Him to their hearts.” “Do }ou then carry Him who was cruci fied within you ?” “I do,” was the response, “for it is written, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk with them I’ ” Trajan was irritated, and angrily re plied : “Since Ignatius confesses that he carries within himself Him that was cruci fied, we command that he be conveyed in chains, under a guard of soldiers to Rome, there to be thrown to the beasts, for the entertainment of the people.” The venerable Bishop was hurried by his guard to Seleucia. There he took ship for Smyrna. In that city ho had an interview with the illustrious Polycarp, who was soon to follow him in the path to martyrdom. From Smyrna Ignatius was conveyed to Troas, and thence to Neapolis. Having found a ship in one of the seaports of the Adriatic, lie sailed to Ostia, near Rome. Here lie was met by a large number of Christians who were overwhelmed with grief. The holy Bishop, however, who was cheerful and even happy, as he looked forward to his approaching martyrdom, consoled them with touching words of love and affection. The hour for the sacrifice came. The Coliseum was crowded with the jeering multitude, filling* all its vast expanse to enjoy the spectacle The venerable Bishop was placed in the centre of the arena. As the iron doors of the dens were opened, a large number of ferocious wild beasts, gaunt with famine, with loud roarings, and lashing their sides with rage, rushed into the enclosure. Short and sharp was the agony which this benevolent disciple of Jesus was called to endure. The famished beasts, lions and tigers, leaped upon him, and scarcely one moment elapsed ere be was torn limb from limb and devoured. Nothing re mained but one. or two of the larger bones. A hundred thousand pagans rais ed a shout of applause. But louder was the acclaim as the clustering angels gathered arouud the Christian who has been faithful unto death, welcoming mar tyrdom as the crown of iife. —New York Independent. * [communicated.] GENERAL HANCOCK AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG- Altoona City, Pa., Sept., 1870. Dear Banner .*■ —Having found some where, an old number of your truthful paper, and seeing therein an account of the Battle of Gettysburg, I will write a few lines on the same subject. The nar rator, (whose account of the battle you have published,) does not tell what por tion of the “Army of the Potomac” was in the centre. I am proud to say that I was one of the number in that position who received the fire of the 145 Confede rate cannon, and met the charges of in fantry, and I on that day saw tears glis tening iD the eyes of some of our most brave and battle-tried soldiers, when they saw your best blood of the South, move forward in awful grandeur, upon their fatal errand, viz.: to break the Federal lines. I think it was the determination of every man, (at least every Pennsylva nian, ) of the Army of the Potomac to do his best; and had they not done so on that occasion I am afraid lew other opportu nities would have been presented. Al though they were nearly worn out by marching, the situation was such that they were compelled to forget fatigue, and fight as their enemy ot the Sinitli ! bad taught them how—with a bull-dog tenacity, actuated by patriotism and mili tary pride. And here I may state, that the amount ot generalship displayed by the Federal forces cannot be accredited to General Meade alone, but to one who is now villified and insulted by Radicals, who never gave a dollar toward the prosecution of their war, nor did anything else but make anxious inquiries why the army did not move and annihilate the enemy, just as if that was a matter ex pected. The General to whom I allude is W. S. Hancock, who represented Meade on the field, and, with other Gene rals, chose the position of the line which turned the scale in favor of Yankee arms and mortally wounded the Confederacy. I dare not say that General Hancock's military ability won the fight, but I will say he had no superior on that field; but since he has shown himself a Democrat, a soldier, aDd a gentleman, the Radicals, both high and low, ignore his services, and steal from him the honor due him and confer it upon such men as Howard, Butler, and Banks. I only write this to you to show that all of the Federal soldiers were not Yan kees, and that Yankee Generals, taken as a class, were a fraud upon the Nation ; and 1 think history will show that the Yankees of New England did tar less than their share of the fighting, notwith standing their boasting to the contrary— but as to stealing and destroying private property, they usually did the largest portion of that. And there ore many farmers in Cumberland Valley, Pa., who will say that one Company of Federal militia did more thieving and destroying than a Regiment of Confederate troops. I know that to tell of fighting against patriots is not seeking honor, but it has been so and can not now be remedied. I think there is not a man in the North but feels proud of bis enemy, and as they fought for their homes so bravely, we are bound by conscience to respect them; and I know there are hundreds in the North who would rally to the call of any Southern State should any trouble arise from any outside party. The Confedera cy was badly wounded at Gettysburg, but its dying spasms in the Wilderness will never be forgotten by the living generation. If the battles in Virginia in 1864 were not as evenly contested as was the battle of Gettysburg, there was much more stratagem and military skill required by both parties to guard against fatal blunders. 1 have met many ex- Confederate soldiers since the close of the war, and very seldom did we disa gree in opinion after each had laid aside his military prejudices; but no soldier of the U. S. A., nor of the G. S., A. can charge his old foe with lack of pluck; Where the soldier of the North was bet ter clothed, fed, and armed, than those of the feouth, tlie latter had the advan tage of fighting behind works, had the inside track in most flank movements, and knowledge of the field. A true Northern soldier can not do else than honor his Southern brother for his bravery, patience, hardihood, and patriotism. Let the cause of secession be just or not, a rebel was a patriot, and we honor him as such now, but, during the war, we gave him all that was in the stuff! I lease excuse me for intruding upon your time and patience with this long letter, for I began it only with the in tention of letting you know who held the Federal centre. I cannot tell you what other troops were there, as several changes were made during the fight, but know that Hancock’s Second Army Cos ps was there, and, as I have already said, that much of the Generalship dis played on that occasion was due to him. Very Respectfully, &c., Trefoil. The Promise to the Dead. —To the Into member tor Mayo, the late George Henry Moore, the Prime Minister 'of England gave a solemn promise, before the British Commons, that when peace was restored in Ireland the political prisoners would be liberated. Peace has been restored. The prisoners are in fetters still. Peace has been restored. We have the testimony of English Ministers to that elTect, excusing their conduct in impos ing on Ireland the Algerine Coercion Act by its success, and arguing that the end they aimed at justified the means. If there is not peace, then their Coer cion conduct is divested even of this paltry plea of justification. If there be peace, then their conduct in not releas ing the prisoners is a shameless breach of faith towards the Irish People. M e submit to them this dilemma for their edification. Their Viceroy has spoken in plausible terras of the pacific state of the country—his speech is a condemnation of his Government, which promised to grant an amnesty when, peace was obtained, and which—having got all its coercive acts passed—refuses to perform its promise, and retains its prisoners. If this is to be the conduct of English Ministers, the worst days of Russell 0 and Palmerston were no more discreditable. ... WSli _ Tke Irishman. 5