MARSHAL BAZAINE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 252, 2 January 1874, Page 2

MARSHAL BAZAINE.

| The slow process of change in the ideas find characteristics of a nation is strongly exhibited in the passing history of France, When first the charge of treachery - was brought against Marshal Bazaine we were inclined to believe that it was only a political expedient, intended to divert popu~ llr indignation IfiromtKe" whb £ "*- possibly might contemplate msumingr his tlirone when opportunity offered. Sacriin the history of European wars. Our own country Has been disgi^Hby~Mini3~=~77 tries' throwing the blame.of their incom-S-i petency upon unsuccessful naval or mili-" tary officers; and either"exposing them, to almost - inevitable .death' if i they theif duty, as in the„case,of Sir John Moore; or to trial and execution as Admiral Byng. ' Increditableas--it may seem, there are~ no facts - better established-than - that both those eommanr ... "• ders were sacrificed ,by_the. Ministries -of the day, through, being expected to effect specific objects with very inadequate means..,, Moore fell honorably on the field af'terachievingavictorywhich"wasnearly*:.as disastrous as a defeat; while - Byng returned 1 to Britain after a gallant effort-Ion;a the part of his fleet, although it was said itweakly was participated in by his own vessels One ot his biographers informs us that popular " clamor, raised at Home, was more , directed against the Ministry, who had ',, neglected to fit out the fleet properly* than againsfr the. j Admiral, • who had fought languidly." " The intrigues of his po-"~-litical enemies" prevailed; the Press was - employed- against him; ..Mallet, an able but, venal- writer, led the' van ; and inspite of many representations'in hisfavor,' Byng was sentenced to be shot, but unarii- ~ tnously recommended as a proper object--mercy." The parallel between-his ease—' and that of Bazaine ceases with the sentence passed. "Byng acted" under 'orders in opposition to the unanimous opinion of '• a council ol war" that-it was impossible the object of the expedition—the' re- - lief - ofALinorca—could - bei effected-- t by the force under his command. He did - not attempt what proved impossible. BuP "Bazaine has not -been -able-to—i. prove that he acted'so. straightforward'a- - paft. The accounts of trial published in £ the leading journals, lead to the irresistible--conclusion-that he preferred his own) ajg—7a grandiwnent to that of-the Empire that lie served; and to advance his own interestshe, sacrificed the Emperor "his, army, and,his country. We do„not suppose * "that c3 ~ the political result of the war, so far at , Germany is concerned, would have been materially had he faithfully and . gallantly fulfilled his duty. The contest* might have been prolonged, and 'Paris 1 might have been more obstinately defended/- have been ; a greater sacrifice of German life in the reduction of„ Vletz and Paris;, but it is * also probable there .would not have been.-„ T a red revolution, and thai fewer political^ 1 P®'Pjp*ities would have arisen thaijhaye .since been found" so difficultTof The whole .history of the war 3 proves P' that the Government of Louis Napoleon—was a most-hollow affair, and that Himself was by seeking, '.unscrupulous men, ready sac-, rifice everything to secure their own ends. ■>< The Emperor an army, the chief use of which, during a greit part of' his reign,< was to keep in checklthe ments of disorder at Home, ready) to nurst their bonds'as- soon as the presswre that kept them down was removed. - His com-— ~ missariat, .that he. thought po^welfi organised, proved corrupt enough to (wink at contractors substituting cartridges! of sawl " dust for gunpowder, and thusexposing gallant men to inevitable defeat or death through depriving them of the ve*y mWn* on which they.. relied for . andhe " entrusted one of the most important com-r.u} mands to a man ready to riskhorior, famearmy, and Empire to his own [personal ambition. We do not believe that" the 1 Emperor of his own will would have entered upon a foreign war; but nofglory is " gained by, an army maintained] merely, forpurposesof. repression, and glorWisthe god of a military commander. "K 0 «itf — no glory" is his motto. The tr&itionai policy of European GovernmentTtq become great by crushing a neighbor no dduKt had something to do with the matter, but we cannot conclude otherwise th^n ; ' that Napoleon's chief object was to the *' army thoroughly to his dynasty, )ih the hope that no difficulty would preol'Vt:.- - self to his son's accession to the'throne. "■ ; We are inclined to this view frornthfr ■following remarkable passage 'in the the 'Union Medicate* of. July/ 1870: ." On July 1, 1870. the -Emperor Napoleon feeling very -ill, a consultation took place. between Doctors Nelaton. Ricord, Fayel. Corrisart, and See.- Their diag- ' n.osis was that of stone;~and ah immediate was ~ recommended.; from political.coiutderatiQiw ♦< ;was allowed to goonfortwo years and a hialf.'" The Emperor sacrificed himself to'the . interests of his son ; Bazaine sacrificed ajyi—Emperor, Empire. and army to servehimself Condemningwarasthegreat. est curse that can' fell* upon or , the world, so lorig as that curKrt endures, it is aggravated by dependent upon soldier for even' the trifling chance of escapefrom Wound or death thaVmodern; warfare affords,. a W desertion or cowardice by privates »" punishable with - death. We iknow no treason, whv wholesale desertion like-that induced, by Bazaine should be -more leniehtly • dealt with, or why greater consideration be shown to. the great delinquent than to •' the small-t -the selfishness in eacn is parallei, one exhibits it in an en- ' ileavor to escape from niilitary gervice r the. other in sacrificing frienas comrade* ' to:periS(mal * Star;*

Judge (to prisoner con vidid' of .grand » larceny)—" itave anything tJ offarto the *ouit before .sentence is'passed on- you ?I* •Prisoner, —"No, judge' j/mt;broke. chad ten dollars when I came', in here, but my-lawyer's got that-teu dcillar» 1