THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2662, 29 August 1871, Page 3

THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY.

OEM. TROCIUI OX THE DEFENCE Ct' P iEIH. General Trochu rendered homage to Gen. Ducrot’s bravery, his allusion thereto being received with much applause by lire Assam bly. He • eealle.d the memory of the Genera’s killed in the lighting from November 30 to December 2, and paid a tribute to the efiorts Generals Chanzy, Faidherbe, and Bourbaki, who did all that was humanly possible with the impoverished armies at the r dispcsxl. Gen. Trochu expr ssed regret that the enemy never met him otherwise than with artillery. He believed that if he could have come into contact with the German infantry the latter would have been defeated. It was with the object of forcing the Prussians to bring forward their infantry that he attempted the battle of the 21st of December, but the enemy persisted in fighting with artillery only, and the excessive cold had caused the operations to be stopped. Gen. Trochu declared that contrary to the usages of civilised countries, the Prussians commenced bombarding Paris without previous notice being given, ami directed their fire chiefly against hospitals and asylums He stigmatised this bombardment in severe tenn»,°an<l said that the .inhabitants were moreover threatened with famine, a Ufing that the distress was felt less by the working population than by the middle classes during the siege. Being anxious to make a last effort, he again give battle on the 19 th January. He spoke highly of the courage evinced on this occasion by the National Guards; but the disorder which reigned among them was a source of great danger, and General Trochu said he believed that one-half of the French soldiers killed and wounded on this occasion, owed their fate to the fire of the National Guards. This was why he hesitated so long before deciding upon taking them to the field. Replying to an interruption from M, Longs Blanc, Gen. Trochu said • Diming the seige M. Louis P>l<T.ne placed {he Governor of Paris in as difficult a position as a prisoner at the bar. Alluding to the affair of the 31st of October, Gen. Trochu said that the insurgents were all armed with the Remington rifles. Up to that moment there had been no sncli weapons in Paris, and he could not say whence they came. General Trochu explained how it was" that the ringleaders were not arrested by saying that the Government did not possess the strength necessary to sanction its right. He stated th. t the e treme demagogues, obeyed a watchword from without They wore instm ted to proclaim s, war to the bitter eucl, bn{ to be earcM not to commit the Prussians. They were told to cu'h et all the arras and ammunition ihey could. This was why General Clement 'lhonias followed them up so closely and unveiled their schemes; they revenged themselves by assassinating him. In conclusion, General Trochu said “In seeking the cause of our military disasters, it must bo borne in mg'd that the nun and the events of the September'were but the iif-ctsfary seqmuce of our foi mer ber tjud should 1:c given up to execration hut the ■ ato of the declaration of war, which was determined upon in pride, and made ■yrithout preparafipn and without allies. ”

CHAHOAKN IKll'.S DEVKXCIS. The old spctph in the Assembly jg thug noticed in the Times; ‘f Considerable interest was felt in General Changaruier’s promised explanations, but the Chamber was disappointed by them when they can.c. The poor old soldier, bowed down bv yea is of exile, tottered into the tribune, and spoke for half an hour -inaudible for the most part, to all but those who sat near him. He briefly sketched the campaign of last summer, from the time when Bazaine took command of the Army of the Bhine, in the month of August, dow'p tp the date of his being shut up in Metz. Neither his facts nor hi? compipnts Vpi’p favorable to (lateral and the general impre^iop

left by his speed) was that the army deserved a better leader, and might have done much more under a general of greater skill and decision. Uc praised Bazaine for his conduct at Gravelotte, and the French army for its gallant struggle against superior numbers at Borny, but he blamed the want of activity and foresight which, when the army was compelled to retire npon_ Metz, prevented the then easy accumulation of cattle and other stores from the fertile plains of Chanqagne. On the 26th, he said “tie General-m-Chief held a council of war. When a General-in-Chief has energy, he merely summons his aides de camp and gives his orders.” He dwelt upon the sufferings of the Army of Metz, which he declared to have been very great; and he clearly let it be understood that, in bis opinion, Bazaine, with such troops as were under his command, might repeatedly have broken through the beleaguering army. Changarnier's object in yesterday’s speech was to vindicate the honor of the French army, and he could not do so without inculpating its commander; but he did so in no malignant spirit, and only as far as absolutely necessary. All private considerations yield, in Changarnier’s case, to anient love of his country, the only passion, as he on a former occasion said, which still remains as strong as ever in his breast. To defend the honor of the army he loves so well, and of which he ever was so bright an ornament, be would not spare his own brother, were that brother to blame. “On the 31«t of September,” he said, “an attack was ordered ; but the enthusiasm which ought to be transmitted from the General-in-Chief to the last soldier did not animate us. Nevertheless, the action began well. At bight the enemy received reinforcements, and our army retreated ; many could not understand why. I thought, and I still think, that we should havs endeavored to reach the Vosges and the Valley of the Upper Seine.” The General spoke of mission to Prince Frederick Charles, to ask for an armistice with leave to re-victual and permission ro transport the besieged army to Algeria. H? referred to the report circulated, that the Prince received him ill and spoke disdainfully of the Army of the Bhine. “Our interview,” he said, “lasted three hours ; had those reports been well founded, it would have been much shorter.” 'the Chamber loudly applauded the General’s quiet dignity. He declared that Pr nc Frederick Charles condoled with him and showed sympathy with the misfortunes which had fallen so heavily upon him as a soldier and as a Frenchman. Asa mark of respect for the army which had fought so bravely, a battalion was to have been allowed to march out of Metz with colours Hying and to embark for Africa. This honourable condition was not carried out, because (so far as it was possible to understand the General, whose emotion rendered this p;ut of his speech particularly indistinct, the French Commander Lund it impossible to select a battalion for such release and distinction where all had done their duty alike. When he came to speak of his parting from the Army of Metz Changarnicr wept. This uncontrollable emotion touched the Chamber, which applauded him and called out for a suspension of the sitting, while not a few of the numerous ladies in the galleries wept for sympathy with the poor old man ; but he mastered himself, and concluded his speech, then near its end, Marshall Bazaine, he said, had made many mistakes, and had the great mi-fortune not to he present at the batt 1 e of Borny, hut it was false hat the soldier who commanded at Gravolotte had voluntarily led the army to its min, and he implored the Chamber not to grant its esteem to. the man who had cast upon him so odious a suspicion.