The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 3, 1897, Page 17

SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY MORNING OCTOBER ny church spires may be seen tor is convinced that the n been informed. near the church doors and the law-makers reverently enter, further believe that something ¥ gain actuates the deeas fty spires rices Metropolitan Methodist S GH RZVQSE: SOoN 5, ¥4 / R 0 g M Church, where Pr | ships. This church, unlike any other | theeightyearsof his administration Presi- Methodist Episcopal church ot the coun- | dent Cleveland worshiped there, and for a try, belongs to no special conference, bav- | year and a half the President of the best been built by contributions obtained | Government on esrth listened alternately ighout the entire country and pas- ! to the sermons of Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage, tors are sent it from any conferenc:. | who has been catled “‘the greatest word The cornerstone of this b ing was | painter on any continent of the earth,” | laid in 1854, the church being organized mn | and of Dr. Byron Sunderland, one of the ), with Rev. Jobn P. Newman, D.D., | oldest and most influential pastors of the as pastor. Twice since that pastorate Dr. , Newmen, now Bishop Newman, has been | recalled to the church. Within the walls of this noble sandstone structure mural tablets of bronze and marble comm emorate the fact that Gen- eral U. S. Grapt and General John A. Logan worshiped ihere. The keystonein | tue arch above the pulpit is from Jerusa- | lem and inscribed ‘‘Jehovah Jireh.” The pul pit is partiy made of olive wood from | — | the Holy City. In the vestibule is a por- tion of marble pavement from the debris Solomon’z Temple. | Prominent Methodists tbroughout the | country have set apart pews 1o be kept, unless they decline to use them, for the of P lent of the United Siates, the Vice- | ETHODIST President and the Uniel Justice. General = Grant occupied his pew eight years, al- | P | EPISCOPAL ways slipping out at the pastor’s door and | CHURCH. down the side steps during the sineing of 1297 the doxology to avoid the gaze of the curi- | First Presbyterian Church at Three ous. Vice-President Colfax v:wd bis dur- Periods. ing four years, and Chief Justice Chase bis for the same ‘ength of time. Pews|denomination. President and Mrs. Cleve- are also set apart for several of the States | land were ever devoted in their attentions r larger cities. General Grant and | to this pastor, who joined their hands at Chief Justice Chase were members of the | the marriage altar. riginal board of trustees. Upon the bells | of the mes are inscrited the namesof | shady lane sutficed to hoid the good Pres- Juolia Dent Grant and Neliie Wade Colfax. | byterians of Washington. This was re- The present pastor, Dr. Hugh Johnson, | bniit in 1812 on an enlarged and improved popular one even without the | trict school. 5 aid, The First Presbyterian Charch bas held When Dr. Sunderiand was | calied as pastor, ® forty years ago, he | found a smart loekiog church on the from Conada, is calculated lo make his|scale somewhat resembling a modern dis- | ident McKinley wor- la unique place among her sisters. During | grounds occupied by the present building, Y in the then aristocratic part of the city, and there he preached the gospel of the freedom of both black and white from the bondage of all slavery. He himself says: “My little trampet gave forth no uncertain sound during the hotdays of war.” There were not many pastors then in the city who dared speak boldly on this theme. The city in its growth has leit the brick 1897 | church, with its plain brownstone trim- mings, down in its business porticn, and | built more elegant places o1 ! among the wealthy residences. | cburch, and from 1its pulpit is heard the simple gospel from the people’s preacher. Dr. Talmaze was installed co-pastor in | October, 1895, and each Sunday the build- | ing is crowdea to its utmost capacity with bim one of the chiei attractions of the capital city. The largest church on Capitol Hill, and { one of the most beautiful buildings of the city, is the Eastern Presbyterian Church, | sandstone trimmings. high round tower is among the first ob- jects seen from the car window on enter- ing the capital from the north or east. sion was opened a few blocks from the | present church site, which scon outgrew | its small quarters, built larger ones and | engaged a young minister to preach every | Sunday. In May, 1875, the Eastern Church structure, the cornerstone of which was laia in April, 1892. T.e building was openea one year after, and a few days later the present pastor, Dr. T. C. Easton, formerly pastor of the Calvary Presbyte- rian Church, San Francisco, was installed. He is one of Washington’s most popu- worship | However, | | the building is well situated for a people's | people from far and near, who consider | | built of Potomac bluestone with Ohio | The edifice is on | | such high ground tkat it may be seen | | from remote points ot the city, and its A quarter of a century ago a little mis- | wes formed, worshiping in the mission | In 1795 & queer little building on a|chapel until the erection of the present | lar preachers, his audience-room beinyg al- ways well filled and lines of people fre- quently forming in front of the church to await the opening of its doors on Sunday evenings waen the doctor is expected to | preach on themes of especial interest. | Douring the four yearsof Dr. Easton’s min- | istry over 400 have united witk the church. 1 The Sabbath-school is the second largest |in the District of Columbia, numbering { over 800 “A Young Men’s Literary Club | is one great feature, drawing and ho ding | EASTERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. large numbers of young men. In fac the church bas more active, wids.awake young Cnristian workers than ‘any other Presbyterian church in tha city. Dr. Easton’s relations with his old friends, Dr. Talmage and Dr. Sundertand, are very close and intimate. Goorrcs A Crufhll anywhere near the Rhine, and, conse-,enforce the French troops farther north. | quently, the Germans were enabled to | Dcuay’s ~iision was pretty much isolated enemy from the very start with | atthe time, but haa received orders from iperior forces, thereby gaining the grea: | MacMahon to accept a battle at Weissen- advantage of carrying on the war on the | burg if attacked by the Germans. soit of their aggressors. position of the French division was well | Oanly afew unimportant skirmishes had | chosen from a strategic point of view, as | taken place till, on the 4th day of August, | the town of Weissenburg, as weil as all ]a part of the third German army, com- | the localities occuped by the French, | manded by the Crown Prince, met the | were on highly elevated ground, had been | first division of Marshal MacMahon's | 'i B army at the little town of Weissenburg, | and offered many points of vantage from . o {in . This French division, which | whicn an enemy could be repulsed with | was commanded by General Douay, con- | great loss. The natural and artificial ad- | sisted of on'y eighteen battalions infantry, | vantage of the position had been greatly | eight squadrons cavairy, eignteen gu augmented by heavy rains, which had so and a number of mitrailleuses, as a part saturated the soil that the German cav- | of the diviion had been ordered to re- | alrycould notgetup the steep and slinpery on July 15, 1870, tbe | nch empire declared war | against Prussia, Napoleon III | e of the few Frenchmen s of But his pleasing his people had been | nd tie siability of imperial- | e was undermined to such | he was ob iged to sati<fy the ra war with P-ussia, reatened to extin- | recominance of France | » Government had foreseen | a war with France could | ny length of time, | ff bad mage the mi- | ns for such an emer- | beless, at the time of the | declaration of war ail Germany was taken | by surprise, thought that (he volontary withdrawal of Prince Leopold | of Hohenzoll his candidatesuip | for the throme o bad, at least tem- porarily, removed all e for French in- | terference. But the 4 perial Government | as well as the French vle were bound | to war with Prussia under any pretense whatever, and M. Ollivier, the imperial Premier, instructed Count Benedetti, the French Charge d'AfE to the Prussian court, to demand of g William adecla. ration to the effect tha ! the future no Prince of Hobe T snould be per- mitted to aspire to t throne of Spain. To render such a declaration was ap im- zency. 23 he was not:the head of that part of the house of Leopoid Hobenzollern 0 which Prince ! belonged; besides, the mere de the declaration constituted an i a2 gross breach of etiqueite on the part of Benedetti. The insuit was evidently in. | tended, in order to insure the refusal of the King, which was immediately giyep | in,unmistakabie terms, and was followed | by -the sudden declaration of war by | Ftance. | An order for the mobilization of the | Frénch reserves had already been issned on July 13, sothat tke movement of the French armies toward the Rhine could commence on the very day the war was | declared. The preparstions of the Prussian general staff under the direction of Von Moitke were socomplete that, not- withstanding the time advantage of the French, a German army of over 300,000 soldiers came pouring into French terri- tory within two weeks’' time after the declaration, and more than 1,000,000 Ger- man soldiers were getting ready to follow 1bem. The German movements were conducted with such precision and quick- ness that only a few advance gusrds of the French armies had been able to come | Major-General von Voigt-Retz, ! Grenadiers. AFJER THE BATTLE OF WEISSENBURG, AUGUST 4 This picture represents the surrender of the Castle of Geisberg, which had been defended by 600 French soldiers and 31 officers against the Prussian King’s The officer in the middle of the picture who salutes the French officers with his sword is} Only 200 unwounded Frenchmen and 17 officers capitulated. Thoe | 1 hills, and had to be employed in cutting | off the retreat of the French. The attacking army consisted of the| Eleventh Prussian and Second Bavarian army corps and outnumbered General Douay’s forces four to one. At the com- | meacement of the battle the Prussian and | Bavarian infantry simultaneousiy climbed up the hills leading to the French posi- tion and succeeded in driving the enemy | not without sustaining severe losses in | killed and wounded, as the Frenchmen { fouzht with great bravery and did not re- linquish their favorable position untl jit had become untenable. Weissenburg had been taken by the Ger- mans at the very beginning of the fight 1870. 'and the French solaiers occupying it had il | joined their comrades in the entrench- | ments on the Geisberg, which had to be taken one after the other, and manv of | them at the point of the bayonet. The | mitrailleuses, of which the French bad expected so much, proved of little valae | and were driven from the field as soon as | the German guns opened fire on them. The most exciting episode of the battls | provided with extensive emtrenchments | from entrencament to entrencnment, but | was the storming of the castl- of Geisberg | | by the King’s Grenadier regiment, This | | castle is situated on high ground, and at that time was surrounded by an inner and | outer wall fifteen feet Ligh, and outside of The town of | these walls were vegetable gardens, whicn | | were also surrounded by low stone walls. | | The castle, therefore, offered splendid | | the | several FIRST BATTLE OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR means of defense, of which 600 French soldiers ana 36 officers had not failed to take prover advaniage. When the order for the storming of . the casile was given the King's Grenadiers advanced in qrick- step without firing a shot, cleared the vegetable gardens with their bayonets and commenced to batter in the great gates of the walls, All this could not be done without great loss in killed and wounded, as the French were well under cover. When the castle was taken oniy 17 un- wounded French officers and 200 men capituiated to the Germans, but the King’s Grenadiers had suffered even more, as 31 of their officers and 347 men had been either killed or wounded. General Douay, the French commander, was killed during battle, probably by an explosion which had occurred in one of the mit- railleuse batteries. Thetotal German loss in killed and wounded was 1104 men. The loss of the French in thisrespect has never been actually a-certained. They lost.1100 awounded prisoners, one gun and their entire baggage and encampment utensils. The French had displayed much bravery, but were no match for the superior num- | bers and discipline of their adversaries. The gain of the first vattle of a war is always of great importance, and the battle of Weissenburg caused much joy in all parts of Germany, principally because in this battle North and South Germans had for the first time fought shoulder to shoulder. The Bavarians in this and all subsequent engazements proved them- selves as good soldiers as the Prussians, and their defeats in former wars seem to have been due to the inefliciency of their leaders. The overconfidence of the French peo- ple and officersin the invincibility of their army and the ignorance of the officars of all matters appertaining to Germany and ber army were really surprising. Toward the end of the battle a company of Bavas rian riflemen captured five. cartioaqs of: baggage beionging to Freuch -officers. This bacgage had to be opered, as’ most of iheir owners could not be ascer- tained. The writer of these lines hap- pened to look on when an old. Bavarian sergeant opened the trunks: and. valises: one after the other. That was a sightt The very first trunk produced:three dozen pair of white kid gloves, labsled "'io Be - used at the balls in Berin™j six “fancy boxes with bonbons, with which the: ‘“'seconde lieutenant’’ - intended to..wim. the good graces of German maidéns; pairs of patent-leather.. shoes,. white waistcoats and ‘three or jour: fullk’ dress uniforms. Other trunks bad:similar contents, and as every officer seemed to- bave at least four or five pieces of :bug- gage it may be imagined with what ideas: these fellows had gone into the wir. The. kitchen and table utensils, as: wéll as the: - choice wines, liquors and delicacies; ex: | cited the admirstion of the zcoi:Bava: rians, and proved very their palates. : In conclusion, it may be stated that the result of the battle of Weissenburg' cotld not well have been different, as the" Gér: mans had such superior forces at their commsand. But MacMahon deserves se-" vere censure for exposing the iscl'ate Division Douay to the attack of th: Crown Prince’s army, whose strencth he knew or ouzht to have known. He repeated the same mi-take a few days later ai Worth and Froschweiler, where he suf: fered a much more serious defeat than at Weissenpurg. ‘Wistiax Loprsasw; - acceptable. .to