The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-02 00:00:00

A FRENCH OFFICER'S ACCUSATION.

The Independant de la Moselle, which was brought to
Brussels by a fugitive French officer,contains some remark-
able reflections on the conduct of the commander-in-chief.
The writer is supposed to address himself to the Marshal.
His speculations were committed to paper on October 12th,
a fortnight before the capitulation. "If I were in a
position to interrogate you," says the officer, " I should
put some such questions as these. Why did you not
give battle on the 26th of August, after having by a
single route massed all your army in front
of St. Julien? You gave the bad weather
as a pretext for not fighting ; but the rain
was the same for the Prussians as for us. You were
evidently aware—you could not be ignorant, indeed—
that MacMahon's army was advancing by the north,, and
I believe that you must have succeeded in reaching him,
for the enemy had not then those terrible fixed batteries
with which he began to surround us some days after-
wards. Why, on August 31; did you not pursue during
the night the advantages which the army obtained dur-
ing the day? Why did you not keep the positions con-
quered at such a sacrifice of blood? Why, since then, did
you not unite all your forces, all your artillery, upon a
given point ? If you had acted like the bull, charging with
lowered horns, you must have passed through. Why
after having taken the Maxes did you not occupy them
until the immense stores of provisions which were there
had been taken into Metz ? Instead of doing this, you
retired after having carried off for the staff only some
sacks of corn and trusses of straw. The Prussians then
came back during the night, and kindled an immense fire,
which we all saw. Not a house was spared. Now, every
day, we are told that nothing remains, nothing whatever,
for the support of the horses. Is that carelessness ? Is it
lack of foresight ? Is it something else ? After the
horses will come the men, and yet you still wait.
What has become of General Bourbaki? Where has he
gone? I have not finished. There are some other ques-
tions. Why did you engage in a great combat, on the 7th
of October, in the plain of Thionville ? What could you
do in that direction--revictual, as it is said? Well, you
did, as on all previous occasions, embark in the contest
with a great numerical inferiority of troops, and you
opposed only very few guns to the innumerable batteries
of the enemy. If, on the contrary, you had massed your
artillery on the attacked point, like the Prussians,
who ought to have taught you by this time,
you would infallibly have silenced the guns of the
enemy ; and instead of leading to battle some regiments,
an army corps, or two if necessary, ought to have been
sent out. In spite of these faults our brave men suc-
ceeded in seizing the Grandes Tapes (a small village in the
plain of Thionville), where there were some well-stocked
granaries. But you did not wish for success. One would at
least be tempted to believe it, for after having gained the
object in view, at the cost of about a thousand men, you
ordered a retreat. I saw the affair, and I pronounce it
infamous. What is the meaning of those councils of war
which you hold with the generals and the chiefs of the
army corps? It is said that in one of them a capitulation
was discussed. Is that true ? One is tempted to believe
it, for an officer of the Gar de Mobile said, at i
the Cafts Parisien, that it had been voted
unanimously, and one who is very intimate with you an-
swered, " You are mistaken, sir, only one-third voted for
it." Finally—most serious question of all—Why have
you not fatigued and harassed each day, each hour, the
blockading army of the enemy by sorties in
force upon given points. Such enterprises were
easy for you, since, as yo'i occupied the central
circle, you could at will have caused the enemy losses
which would have exhausted and demoralised it, if you
did not gain any decisive success. At least you could
have ensured fresh stores of provisions at the expense of
the enemy."

" France ! " adds the Iredependance to this accusation,
"do not cry out against the army which has valiantly
fought, and which demanded to continue the struggle to
the last extremity. It is to thyself that thou
shouldest take the fault of our disasters. It
is the servile and corrupt votes of thy former
representatives which have prepared these cala-
mities, in leaving at the head of our administration,
at the head of all the powers of the State, infamous men
who had no princip'e, who believed in no just and honour-
able sentiment, and who ridiculed the motto on their
breast, "Honour and country !" They saw in it but one
thing—an income of so much a year.