The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-12-13 00:00:00

At M. Lachand's r.quest the Dec d'Aumale decided
that there should be a sitting on Sunday.

PARre. Sunday Night.

M. Lachaud, was anxious that the impression pro-
dumid by General Ponrcees speech should not remain tor
torty-right hours unchallenged. These WWI= immense
crowd, and the Sunday visitors to Versailles hung in
great numbers about the precincts oi the Trianon all
diirwiihnut the slightest chance of getting in (says the
Daily .11cays' correspondent). M. Lachatid, with his
mannerism, his snmlar, ungraceful action of the arms,
ndirrii.g the ,• le•idiii erect c driage of the head And
body, he snit-anis and stit.e whispers, hut
with that never-failing power and arc of lining atten-
‘l,ll4 which dilitlllgnitlh ban, opened the ewe for the
defence. The Court never once iuterruotti, and the
audience listened in the deepest silence ali day.

M. Lachaud commenced thus:—" Is our most
glorious soldier a traitor? The prosecution asks you
to say ' Ye. ' and act! this ihame to all our reverms.
Must we dter three years' interval furnish to the
wimiti the spectacle of our inteetine dimensions? Only
weak natitlne seek a victim t Mons dote. Let us avow
our adobe tun-o, and m shindy prepa•e for the future."
He said tnat as th- prosecution had dragged one of
the 'Mat bribiatit nom. in Fiance through the mire,
he would read Bazaine's list of services. Tide he did
with much effect and pathos, waiving his rapid rue by
merit mem the position of private soldier to that ii
Houten:into denel • and to contradict General Pourcet's
assertion th .t he bad learned duplicity in Africa, read
a letter daed 1849 troin Gsneral Covoignac expresive
of tloi highest confidence, and another dated 1850
from Marshal MacMahon styling him his beet friend.
Paaaing from his well-known bravery in the Crimes,
M. Lachaud come to Mexico, and characterised
as odious calumnies the asaertions that he thero
amassed scand don., riches, and intended ti remain
from traitorous ambition. Poor he went out and poor
he route home, bringing no other treasure hut • yoneg,
&outdid, and acc,mplished wife i 1 good family, but
with no fortune. Maximilian, it is true, gave him on
hio wedding day an estate which he might have !mid,
hut he kept it pinusly as a pouvenir, and it was con-
fiscated when Maximilian fell. Affectionate letters
from Maximilian almost up to the cloy of his execu-
tion ; fern the unto ippy Empress ('had .tte ; after wards
from Napoleon 111., and his Minister, Marshal Niel,
disproved the assertion that Biz sine had betrayed, or
sought to betray, any one in Mexico.
-

,
Coming more directly to the case, M. Lachand
severely attacked M. de li6estry for inventing the
story that Marehal Bazaine solicited, through his wife,
a command in 187.), and 'Veered to the ev,dence
of Geretal Palikao, M. Jules Fevre, and M.
Picard, who know lambing of the aaeertione ef M.
de Ktiratry, Alleged to have been made in their
presence. M. Lachaud insisted on the contradic-
tion of Generd Pourcet's argument, that Baeaine that
betrayed the Emperor, and at terwards betrayed
France to nerve the Emperor. He traced to the
pamphlets of twe colonels, Andlau and Vinenoisy,
the commencement of the crusade in the prime
against Bazaine. It was not the province of the
counerl or the Court to criticise BliZaille.ls judg-
ment or capacity as Commanderdn.Chief, end he would
only refer to the battles of Horny and Gravelotte for
the purpose of showing that liar. dee. Co far as his in-
formation went, amidst the excitement and fabicue of
battle, sent true and faithful reports to the Emperor.
That certain peasants who knew the country got in cod
mit of Metz when Colonel Magnan, coming back from
Chillonx, could not, was no evidence of a desk con.
emery to prevent Heroine receiving the Emperiiie
ingrurtionr, which, moreover, as Commanderdn-Chief,
it would hove be, n his duty to disobey if he disapproved
of them.

The defence would disevoint the expectation of the
prosecution, that Marshal Hemline, to defend himself,
would throw blame on his lieutenants. %le accused no
one, covered all his reterale, and essiumed full respon-
sibility for everything done at Metz. In this great
trial the prosecution, M. Lachatid said, constantly
fell bock on miseratily petty detain Such was the or-
cturoticn that liz sine wilfully neglected to semi reserves
to succour Cirurobert at St. Privet. The fact was he had
ordered Grner.d Hourieski to march, when the news
come that Courobert mei.el no eroistance. Later the
Marshal found that he did, and gave the order which
circnnistan _ie. rendered inoperetive. He treated as de
tails bi-neath the in -tire of a Commander-in Chief the
charges of the prooecution ahout cutting, or not cutting,
certain bridges. The °pink. that daring the night after
Gravelotte it might perhaps have been possible to have
pushed on wee chivalrously suggested by the dashing
officer Bourbaki, who, towever, said the commander
was the best jusise, and [Hershel Canrobert ant others
did not think it possible. Assuming that General
S ilei had exaggerate-I the scarcity of ammunition,
Marshal B izaine in perfect good faith sclopted his
report for the Emperor's information. Marshal
B zeine, styled a coward by General Bourret, had
excited remonetrances fr in generals by appearing at
great personal risk in the thi_kest of the fight. He
rervived a severe contusion from a ball, the mark of
which was now visible on his epaulette, aiid tne tree
against which he leant at Gravelotte was cut in two
by a shell above his heed.

Maitre Itschand restimed bie address on Tuesday,
and entered at leogth into the question of the quantity
of privisione in Metz Bastog his argument upon the
oepoeition of M. Bouchotte, be en :esvonftd to prove
that all that was postoble had been done. M:•Fre
Lichand then said: "There is a voice which most be
heard in this place, thnuoli it is the voice of an enemy.
I am speaking to Generals who know that honour is to
be found everywhere." He then read a letter from
Prince Freder c Glisrles, dated the 28 11 of November,
and couched in the f &owing terms :

- -
'' I dee'are by the pre ent le't r that nev.r dnrintr the
eiette ot Metz t. id Mar h Bash. cone to my hmo qua erg
at Borny I .4 w (ho Manila/ for the rlret time after the cal
totation of Met "

Another letter, dated 13,rlin, the flth of December,
1873. and sent epontanwn ly by the Prince to Maitre
Lschand, was read se follows :

I declare Oat I entertain retry etteem for Marshal
B z Ire, e.p,c ally On account of the energy trlth which he
tot ealLd in de eying the Wel espltulttivn of Metz "
The reading of tnia let:re wee received in court with
prolotuA oilence.

Last year the cod of reformatories and industrial
sonodis In Ireland was nuo,sse

MR. ARCH'S MISSION TO CANADA.
In London, on Tuesday evening, Mr. Arch attei.ded
a soiree and public meeting, held in the Lambeth
Rath., to welcouie bun on his return from Canada.
coegra'ulate him on the 1111C4Xei of his mission, and
wish him success in hia future effurts on behalf of the
a.hicultural labourer. The nametieg wam a large and
el.thudisAic one ; the company more than half filled
the large bath, and the people were compelled to sit
very doer together becau.e the fog rendered it difficult
to see the platform and the eptakers from the opporite
end of the room., . .

Mr. Cox. of Derby, occupied the chair.
A resolution expressing the sympathy of the meets;
ing with Mr. Arch wan moved by Mr. Galbraith.
seconded by Mr. Sinclair, and supported by the Rev
Llewely n Davies. The latter gentleman add he at.
tended and spoke bananas he WAS a clergyman. If
no clergyman chd so, it would be supposed the clergy
did not sympathise with the cause, and he knew
many of them who looked upon this movement with
iearty sympathy mid With ea nest hip.., He nail re
cently received a printed arldrnan, in which the Rector
d Klmberley, in Norfolk, vindicated this nv iouistlmove-
a,ent with remark ible manliness, Ile regretted that the
attittv le of the cl.4y, on the whole, had not been more
friendly; but we must pass a temperate jodtment
upon them, and making allowance for their cottlicting
duties ; and he WWI glad to belfry, that their hrst fears
were being dispelled, and that they were beginning to
regard the movement with favour. No doubt things
had been said on both sides whDli had better not have
been said; but that was of no great consequence; it
was a mistake to attach too much importance to the
incidenbr of a stru4gle itstead of looking rather to the
substantial character of a movement. The speaker
ooncluded by wishinr prosperity to the Labourers'
Union, _

1 - Ice. resolution having been pulsed with great
MA renewed cheering, Mr. Arch returned thanks.
He declared that the note motive which actuated
him was the desire to do good to his class and his
country, and reiterated his conviction which had
been di«puted by his critics that the strength of •
country depended upon the cultivation of its laud
In the United States he had been told, on the
uighest authority, that the maiustay of the country
thioughont the pmic was the fact that its broad
acres had been well cultivated. At home we were in.
ereaeing our population without increasing our produb
tion. The land of the country was nut producing one
half of what it would produce if it was well cultivated.
thousands of acres remained uncultivated while idle
labourers starvel in the winter. Wiry should it not
be let out to labourers at a rraeonable rent? Their
aapital, which was their labour, would make it produc-
tive between November and June. The only object
than ho had heard was this t "If you let these men
have land for themselves they won't work for the
farmers." income places the labourer and his family
offered more to be paupers than they could barn
by work; and that could not be • healthy state of
things. It was nonarnse to tell men with such
wages that they ought to be provident It war not
true, in a large sense, that they spent their wages in
the publichonae ; and, if they did, that was no reason
for keeping the wagesdown. What Eogland denied to
lab turers Canada offered, an I that freely. Its winters
were not severe to men who could live on beef and
pork, instead of tea-kettle broth and bread and onion.,
as in England. gext spring he hoped to ga to the
United States to rep ott upon the prospects offered to
agrLultural emigrants. At first be did not him-elf
advocate emigration ; he p rinted out to farmers the
folly of rending labourers out of the country, and
the reply made to Must was, " We have • surplus of
labourers and eau well afford to spare some;
and if too many go we can turn the land into
paettire and so do without them." Yes, but why should
the labourer be baniahed front his native soil any more
than the prince? (Cheers.) His proposition was that
land should be let to labourers at the same rent as to
the farmers instead of at 40 per cent. more. The
question directly concerned the artiaans of the towns
who paid Co dearly for their provisions, and he asked
to, 111 to consider what they would do if the millionaire
had to give at the rate of a guinea a pound for a
b-efstealc. They, however, had political power,
and the farm labourers would soon have it. (Great
cheering).

Colonel Demean, the Special Commissioner of the
Government of Ontario, then addressed the meeting.
He WAS tient over to watch this movement and rep. rt
upon it; and in Canada he was directed to do all he
could to facilitate the mission uf Mr. Arch, whoee in-
quiries were in si; thorough and practical. Colonel
D,l/13011 proceeded to give an account of Canada, its
extent, and pr glactiveness, its trade, ',hipping, and
taxotion, and is social condition, dwelling upon the
demand for Isbour, the oufficiency of wagee, the
absence of pauperism the provision of free education,
and the shoenee of an Edafbaned Church.
The proceedi, p closed with a vote of thanks to Mr.
Cc: for presiding.