GENERAL BOULANGER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1493, 26 February 1887, Page 3

GENERAL BOULANGER.

M, Gabriel Monod, whoso oocaaronal papers on "Contemporary life and Thought m Franco" are the moat impartial comment a upon|French affairs that appear m the English Press, has this month ('Contemporary Review,' November, 1886) told us Bornethiug about a man wbom .Englishmen are probably tempted to tinder-estimate. General Boul&nger's truthfulness is bo ranch less than questionable, and the points on which he has been proved wrong are points lying bo entirely within his own cognisance, that people m this country assumed — far too haßllly — that hia career m Franca was over. It will be remembered that he declared m the Chamber that the Due d'Aumale had had nothing to do with his promotion to be a General, and that when confronted by a letter expressing enthusiastic gratitude to the Duke for tho service he had done him, ho promptlydenied its authenticity. Unfortunately the letter turned out to bo his, and the Due d'Anmale had really faterested himself m his advancement. General Boulanger, therefore, had commltted himself to two statements which , were demonetratedly untrue, and it was very generally believed m England that hia career must necessarily be at «n end . With this stain resting on bis reputation, he could not, it was said, remain Minister of War, even if he were permitted to remain m the army. The Be who reasoned m this way were qaite wrong m their esti. mate of Frenchjopinlon. "In Bplte of this unpleasant occurrence," says M. Monod, " General Boulanger is itlll popular.. H« is the first Republican statesman since the death of M. Gambatta who has made ardent partisans, and above all has been able to excite the enthusiasm of the crowd." To Englishmen this is surprising, and rather shocking. Such a man, they cay, has no business to put himself forward ; he should be thankful if he ia allowed to slip unnotloed through life. And if he does put himself forward, it is the business of his countrymen to see that he is properly repru&sed. Somehow this is not the opinion of Frenchmen, at least of tho French democracy. A ialsehood doe^i not seem to tlnm the unpardonable blq that it is commonly accounted In England. General Boulanger pleasaa the Freuch people and the French Army, and they are not going to lose the services of a commander they trust because on one or two occasions he has not spoken the truth. After all, falsehood is m his case no evidence of cowardice ; for though he was quite ready to deny his own words and hta own handwriting, he was equally ready to challenge any man who said that be had denied them ; and this being so, a large number of his countrymen are willing to condone what he has done. He is too valuable to be parted with.

Why he is ao valuable wa may learn from M. Gabriel Monod. General Boulaoger fa popular at once with the people and with the army ; and this la a combination which has of late been hard to find m France. Her best generals have been folio «ers of loet oauses. They have been Eo/allata or Imperialists. Cot* eeqrjently, the more they have been liked by the army, the more iliey have been distrusted by the Republican Govornment. General Boulanger, on the contrary, 1b a sound Radioal, a friend of M. Clemenceau's, and yet he is liked by the aoldifary. So long as he h Minister of War, the Cabinet gain m his popularity, whereas his departure from office would, especially if it were the result of any aotion on tho pait of the Prime Minister, expose them to a good deal of obloquy. A Government which does not command the confidence of the 'army is destitute of one main support on which Governments are wont to rely : and there caa be no worse road to a soldier's confidence than the dismissal of a commander whom ho thinks his friend. M. Monod euros up m a senfenoe what It fa that has giren General Boulanger his prestige alike with officers and men. With the officers it Is that the army once moro fills a place and makeß a noiao m the world; with the soldiers, it is that he gives them leave of absence and Additional time out, that he has decorated them with a beard, and relieved them of a knapsack. It is the things he has done to gain the hearts of. the Bold (era that most testify General Boulanger's superiority over hfc predecessors. In a profesaional army the affection of the men may be won by the same arta, that win the affootion of the officers. Both alike " are delighted to see the army once more filling a place end making a noise In the world*" But with an army reorulted on the prinoiple of universal service for three years, these considerations hold but a very small place. The average so.ldier is only anxious to see the three years come to nn end j and he is shrewd enough to kn«w that the events which would enable the army to fill a place and make a nofae m the world are |ast those that would keep him with the colors, instead of sending him borne as soon as his time is up. It is General Boulanger's merit that he has understood this distinction, end has appealed to the ambition of the officers, and fo tho aenße of comfort of the soldiers.— Spectator,

A rather singular accident, says the Auckland Herald, happened to one of the officers of the Nelson on Thursday evening at the Northern Qlub, He was m the aot of making a stroke at billiards when hia hand slipped, and his right shoulder was put out. There were four doctors m the room at the time, and the dislooated shoulder was fortunately soon restored to its position,