On the 6th inst., also, the Army of the Centre,
or King's Army, at first under General Goben, but afterwards under General Steinmetz, advanced to recover Saarbriick, and enter France by a second route. General Frossard, with some 35,000 men, was posted in a position the centre of which was the hill of Spicheren, a steep hill held by the French in three lines one above the other. The accounts of the battle as yet received are very confused, but it would seem clear the Germans first seized every eminence from which their artillery could reach the French ; then wore them out by successive charges up the hill ; and finally, using their numerical superiority, dispersed them by bringing up reinforcements at every point of the attack,—right, left, and centre. The French, though outnumbered by three to one, fought heroically, and General Frossard's command is said to have been literally " crushed,"—a phrase which means, as far as we can make out, that he lost a third of his men. The Germans did not pursue with much energy, but their cavalry has through- out the week been scouring the villages up to Metz, and a portion of it has even appeared between Metz and Nancy. On Thursday, it is believed, the North and Centre armies effected a junction ; but since the 9th inst. no trustworthy intelligence has arrived from the scene of action, and no intelligence at all except a few French guesses. All that is certain is that the French in Metz expect an action, and that the Germans, for some reason unknown, but probably to bring up troops from Mayence, are losing time. It is quite possible that the battle may be delayed until the fated day of the Napoleons,—the 15th of August.
