The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-11 00:00:00

A SKETCH OF GENERAL BOURBAKI.

General Bourhaki, the collapse of whose bola move.
merit to the r.lief of Ili-Port will long be rernemb,reil
as one of the most remarkable episodes of the war, ie
nail not to have hem a Frenchman by extractior, hut
a Greek. Eatering a Zonave regiment, he gained hie
that military laurels in Algt ria, and afterwards took
part as a General of Brigade M the Crimean campaign
of 1854-6, and was present at the Alma and Inkernutim
and the fall of Sebastopol. In 1857 be was made a
Guiteral of Division, awl he held a command in the
Italian War of 180. It,, was also one of the Froml.
effi,T, who received decorations at the hands r
King of Prussia in 1864, In 1869 hi, held the
mind of the Camp at Chalons, en I any vio y °pular
with the Emperor a well as with Lis nun. Ilis
mysterious disappettiance him Metz, the Cu pinion
which originally prevented the Provisional Guyon.
mint from accepting his aid, then the confidence which
they thought tit to repose in him, and the strange ea.
ploit upon which he rtarted when, As the event roied
he should have kept with Lis army near Paris, am all
remarkable incidents, and such as will not escape the
notice of the Inturs historian of the war. His more

waa rash, and could have only have been made by one
who knew that the game depended on a last stroke,
but who saw in the east of France a chance, aildm-
portant if the player should win, but on that accona
doubly hazardous. With the failure of his attack on
General Weeder went the bet chance of retrieving
the fortunes of France. llourbaki wee thus described
six mouthi ago by the correspondent of a contem•
porary :—'lie lea wonderons swordsman, and oiten,
It is said, performs the feat with wbich Sr Walter
Smitt rendered Saladin famous—laying a silk hand-
kerchief on the Ilade of hii scimitar, and shreddin7
it in two will an almost imperceptible movement of
the arm. It is said that General Bourbaki can even
excead the dexterity of Musa, the Saracen chief, made
so renowned by Lord Lytton."

Noticing the above, Cbarls Townahend Wi'eon, of
Bryanstone-square, London, writes
In justice to a brilliant, but unfortunate soldier, I should
like to add a word to the notice of General ii.rurbaki. The
extraordinary crimes of the battle of hiker:nano pushed
me and a few British rank and lite among the Feench when
limit det's corp, attacked the twoigim battery. The advanced
brigade was commanded by General Iliourbaid, who per-
sonally gisee me directions as to the disposal of toy men.
I shall never ferget the apt, laded mutt of B..urbski's
Z mares and Ttrallleurs algtriens, the last belug led by
another brava mil illistaried officer—Colonel, now General,
de Wimptan. With admiration I remarked the chivalrous
bearing and serene it treptdity of liourbaki—as was s ild of
Gouvion St err, lou;our4 it cher& a Is tie des lroupe,"
Both IC pet sin and in act be presented the beau id la of •
French general. Ile should have lived 70 yen. ago. Napoleon
I. we uld have 14 Aced in him. Pardon my Intrusion. That
these few lines are trivial is likely enough. Nevershelos, In
a tame of deep t fit cabin I cannot refrain (rem Warp what I
know uf so gallant and so unhappy a victim of this :lastest-
able war.

A correspondent of the Daily Telegraph writes :

Poor General Bourbakes attempt to kill himself is a very
sad attar Suspected of being an Imperialist, he had sines
placed near him in every quarter; and, a, he Oat, making
the greatest rats:Vous Ca delver hat army trout the superior
strategy of the Germans, he received a telegram front the
War Onion here. blaming him for Ids tardy marching. The
gallant old fallow could not s'md balug rt proved by men
who knew no more of soldiering ti an he did of aielpbuelettt g;
and, belhalug that no matter what bee il he would be found
fault with, In a moment of despair he took up a pistol, and,
putting it to bit temple, pulled the trigger, lie in not yet dead,
but is tearfully mutilated, and no Lopes whatever ate enter-
tained of his recovery. filmy of our readers must remember
the gallant old soldier at the Alma, where he commanded the
Ist Z mares. I had along talk with blue at Tours just after
he had been deprived of the command of the Army of the
North, the real reason for which was that at Douai lie would
not cry Vice la Republique I' A braver man (Cr a better
sold'er never lived but, an he said the last time I spot. o to
hint' soldier. ought to be commanded by soldiers, and not
by clvillaus.