A very curious telegram was sent this week from the
King of Prussia's head-quarters at Bar-le-Duc, representing that the Em- Teror of the French was certainly not with MacMahon's army, -and that there was reason to suppose he was shut up in Metz. There could have been no ground for this except his temporary absence from the head-quarters of MacMahon, for he has never been near Metz since he left it on the 14th August, and his whereabouts has since been pretty accurately known from day to day. It does, however, seem certain that he has often travelled privately, and on different roads from the army, though re- joining Marshal MacMahon from time to time ; and a report of his health, given, as it is asserted on good authority, in the Medical Journal, asserts that Mr. Prescott Hewitt, who has quite recently been summoned to the Emperor, found his disease, an affec- tion of the prostate gland, so much aggravated by the fatigues and anxieties of the war, and his weakness so great, that " at any moment very startling announcements might be made." There is, at all events, no want of nerve in an Emperor who, under a most • depressing and fatal disease, shares the fortunes of an army in the field, and, as it is said, takes part even in its engagements. Even of brave men, few would fight to the last against two mortal diseases, one assailing the man, and one assailing the Emperor, at once.
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