The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-27 00:00:00

cidents connected with the struggle—thus: about one
o'clock, M. Biezio had come to him to ask him to send
200 men to clear the Rue St. Jacqiies. General Ca-
vaignac, with his usual vivacity—(On ! oh !)—repli d
by a decided negative, declaring that he ceul 1 riot con-
sent to disseminate his troops, and weaken his fu: ce.
M. Bixio implored him to send the mere declaring diet
in half an heur it would be too late; the General abso-
lutely refused. Similar sci•nes occurred several times
during the day until about three o'clock, when the
General went out on horseback, and proceeded to the
Faubourg du Temple. Ile remained out until halt-past
seven ; that absence produced considerable inconveni-
ence, as a vast number of messengers arrived, and could
not deliver the dispatches which they had for him.
The Executive Committee were obliged to act, and
about five o'clock MM. Garnier Pages and Marie sent
off by the railways for all the troops that were dispos-
able in the towns surrounding the capital. Meanwhile
suspicions had arisen amongst the National Guards, in
consequence of the absence of the troops of the army.
It was well known that amongst the Executive Commit.
tee there was one member whose opinions went far he-
yond his fellows, and the Naiiiinal Guard began to fear
that they were betrayed. It was only when the troops
arrived that these apprehensions subsided. The docu-
ment then speaks of the plan of General Cavaignac to put
down the insurrection--it was to mass the troops in large
bodies, and then pour them on the barricades; and the
General, it is said, promised to carry on the war in the
streets of Paris as he would have done in the plains
of Africa. He was not acquainted with the war of
the barricades—he had not been in Paris during
the outbreaks of 1830, 1832, and 1834, and his ex-
perience in such warfare was absolutely nega-
two. It was well known to every one ac-
quainted with the subject, that the real plan was to pre-
vent the erection of the barricades, in place of att :thing
them when formed. Every one who knew anything of
street fighting, and particularly of the insurrection of
June, knew that if bodies of 150 men had b en made
to circulate on the Friday evening, the erection of the
whole of the barricades could have been prevented. The
only measure of energy which General Cavaignac then
determined on was to send to Vincennes fur a certain
force of artillery; but it was only the next day at twelve
that this reinforcement arrived. The suspense of that
period was dreadful; and it is now well known that the
National Guards threatened to proceed to the most ex-
treme measures against the Executive Committee. The
document then proceeded to narrate the meetings which
had taken place amongst the members of the National
Assembly. At that of the Rue de Poitiers, on the
evening of the. 22d, M. Adelsward arrived with an inti-
mation that if the meeting desired to support him,
General Cavaignac was reedy to assume the burden of
the Executive Power.—(Sensation.) The Executive
Committee proceeded to ,the Natiottal Assembly, where
M. Gamier Pagas addreised the House, and where the
House gave him and his colleagues the assurance of their
full confidence. The night wore on, and General Ca-
vaignac still persisted in his plan of not sending out
troops. Several times he was asked by various persons,
as well as by the members of the
aTedechuetivceonCs
otamnmtleiittreee-,
how many troops were in Paris,
plied that he really could not tell in the absence of Col.
Charras, the Secretary of the War De; artment. Gene-
ral Cavaignac, about half-past two o'clock in the morn
ing, flung himself on the sofa arid fell asleep. During
the time that he was thus placed, several demands to see
him were made by bodies of the National Guard,
who wanted to know where were the troops. The
next morning (Saturday), about eight o'clock, the
Executive Committee were applied to to give in their
resignation. This was done by certain delegates of the
Palais National, but they decided that at the moment
of danger that would be impossible. The Ex-
ecutive Committee then preesed Getter.:! Cavaignac
to commence the attack; but he refused, declaring that
"he could not scatter the troops—that the lelsnonal
Guard were there to defend Paris—that if a single one
of his troops were disarmed, he should consider himself
dishonoured, and would blow out his brains."—(Great
uproar, some praising, and others giving signs of dis-
approbation.) The Executive Committee were egein
applied to to resign, but refused. During the time that
they were deliberating, the General had exclaimed,
" What I do you still hesitate, when in half an hour you
may him Paris in the hands of the insurgents," the
Hon. Representative then gave en account of the election
of General Cavaignac to the place of Chief of the Exe-
cutive Power, and after again criticising his e,,eneral
mode of acting against the insurgents, concluded by de-
claring that a slight cloud still hung over the proceed-
ings of the Executive Committee, which the present dis-
cussion would most probably clear up.
General Cavaignac, President of the Council, said—
Before I reply to the charges now brought on, I have to
say there is nothing new in all that has been just stated.
Every part of it has been brought forward before. I have,
therefore, to ask the gentlemen who wish to speak, to
present at once all their ascusations, that I may reply to
them all together.—(Hear, bear )
M. Gamier Pages—ln reply to what the Gallant
General has just said, I have to inform him that these are
the principal facts which we have to bring forward. I
cannot take upon myself to bring forward others, except
as suggested by the discussion.—(Oh, oh.)
The President of the Council—l accept the discussion,
even as just put forth by the Hun. Representative. I
here repeat that I have no intention whatever of attack-
ing the Executive Committee. There is, no battle
between them and me. The only difference in the
case is between MM. Garnier Pee*, Duclerc, Bar-
thelemy St. Hilare, and Pagnerre. (Hear, hear.)
That being said, I 'enter on the matter before
the House. I am accused, first, of not having had a
sufficient number of troops in Paris at the time of the
insurrection; secondly, of not having got artillery in a
proper manner, and in fitting time, from Vincennes;
thirdly, of the inefficiency of the general measures which
I took for putting down the insurrection; and, fourthly,
of the manner in which I arrived at the head of the
Executive Power. The Gallant General then entered
on the first point:—He arrived on May 17 from Algeria,
and at once proceeded to the Executive Committee.
Having been appointed to the department of War, tie of
course took from them orders relative to the number of
troops in Paris. He declared that all the orders which
he had received had been obeyed, until the number of
men in and immediately round Paris amounted to nearlj
50,000 men, including the Garde Mobile. He then al-
luded to the motives attributed to him by M. Barthe-
lemy St. Hilaire, of keeping back the troops for purposes
) of personal ambition: he absolutely repelled such an in-
sinuation, and declared that when the reply to the legal
advocate had been given, he w ould reely like a soldier.
The Honourable Gentleman then alluded to the precau-
tions which he had taken, immediately on entering on
office as Minister of War, to make as much barrack room
as possible to allow the troops of the line to enter in
Paris. He could appeal to his friend General Bedeau,
who was in command of the Garde Mobile, if he (Gen.
Cavaignac) had not called on him to press his men to-
gether as much as possible, in order to afford more room
for the troops of the line.
General Bedeau (from his place)—l can declare that
that statement is perfectly true.
The President of the Council then proceeded to read
documents to show what movements of troops had been
effected by him, day by day, in consequence of orders
received from the Executive Committee. Ile brought
down the account to June 23, showing that there were
then 25,000 men in Paris, and 29,000 in the imme-
diate neighbourhood. He asked whether it was
possible that the committee of enquite could have
left this important point of the number of troops
in Paris at the time of the insurrection without
being carefully inquired into ? Most certainly the
strictest investigation had been instituted, and every-
thing had appeared perfectly satisfactory. He then re-
ferred to the proceedings connected with the defence of
Paris. He commenced by declaring that no representa-
tions or complaints had been made to him up to June 22
of a want of troops in Paris. The defence of the capital
had been considered insured, it was only after the insur-
rection that the complaints had originated. M. Barthe-
lemy St. Hilaire bad spoken of two battalions sent for to
defend the Place du Pantheon, but ho had mistaken the
word battalions for that of regiments.—(Movement.)
That fact could be proved by the original order given. It
was natural for a person not much conversant with mili-
tary affairs to make such a mistake. He (the Gallant
General) here readLthe original order, from which it ap-
peared that it was not two battalions, but a regiment of
infantry and a-aroopP•of cavalry that had been sent for.
But there wai'stillehe observed, a greater mistake made
by the honourable kentleman, as it was not for the Place
du Pantheon that these troops were demanded, but fur
the Luxembourg—(Hear, hear)—and what was more,
they had been sent; as he could prove also by documents
He then read a paper from M. Marie, speaking of
their arrival. The Honourable General then referred
to some other cases where troops were demanded, and
said that he could explain them in referring to his
method of defence, which he should then proceed to
touch on. He could have either stated his plan to the
Executive Committee or not. If he had declared it he
was not certain that they, in their ignorance of military
matters, would have approved of it; or if they had, they
might have taken on themselves to carry it ow, and
perhaps failed. He, therefore, had taken on himself
to keep it to himself. His plan was to act with large
bodies of troops, so that wherever an attack was made,
it must have a decided advantage. He had called to
his councils before the battle—forjbattle it certainly wase—
Generals Bedeau, Fouchet, and others, and had exposed
to them both his plan and the mode of carrying it
into execution. Not any remark whatever had been
made against it. In considering his plan it must
be borne in mind that this was nu longer a mere police
matter—it was a veritable battle. If he had consented
to disseminate his troops, the consequence would have
been—what it must always be in combats in a town—
that their force would be much impaired and the success
of the attack endangered. Ile therefore resisted all
the demands made to him for troops, unless is cases
where he conceived that they were absolutely requisite.
The Gallant General then referred to several episodes of
the struggle in June, to show that his plan bad been
successful. As to the reproach of not having prevented
the barricades from being raised, he declared that in
order to do so he should have been obliged to scatter his
troops, which would have been the very thing he had
determined to avoid. Once his plan d tided on, to act
by masses, he could not depart from it without endan-
gering the safety of the city. It had been. said that
the attack had been negligerrly vireo:ed., and with
great loss of life to the troops. Ile might declare
that it was only on the 24th that the attack had been
dr tided on, and that previously to that point.the lots was
not of any great amount. Thus, from the returns sent
in, it appeared that there were only 35 killed and 160
wounded; whereas, on the subee gin nt days, the loss was
much greater. In fact, on the 23d, he was obliged to
see what forces were opposed to him at so important a
moment. Let it be borne in mind that the very exist-
ence of Paris was at stake ; and it was that feeling,
and the idea that such an immense responsibility
weighed on him, that bad drawn from him the declara-
tion that it the army was worsted in Paris ho shbuld