New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-12-11

pire the officers had gradually become &C.
customed to tolerate laxity, and found
refuge from resistance in isOlati0n-had, to
use an expressive, though unjust common
phrase, become "afraid Of the men," till they
hardly dared issue an unpleasant command,
till the tradition of obedience had disap-
peared, while the proclamation OF the re-
public had of itself destroyed the tradition
Of mere Difference. Difference, at no time
strong in French army, where the private
may be the social superior OF his OFFICER,
could not be restored; but obedience might
be, and it was. Rising fully to the height
of the situation, the stOutish Italian advo-
cate who for the hour represented France,
decreed that in this supreme hour
of danger, every soldier guilty OF dlsobe-
dience, characterization. OF pillage. should
be treated as he would be in the Prussian
army-tried by cOurt-martial Of officers only
and executed there and then. A stern hint
was at tho same time given to all general
officers that this order had no limits, aud
was meant to be executed as well as read,
if they intended to remain in command.
The new power, which exists as an
ultimate power in every army in the world,
was, therefore, rclentlessly but justly APP
Piled, and executions, said to have ex-
ceeded one hundred in number, completely
restored discipline in the army Of the Loire
discipline of the Old and true kind, under
which soldier dare no more plumber the
peasantry without orders than he dare
retreat befare the enemy without signal.
Correspondents ragged and talked Of dis
content and the certainty that d'Aurelles
would be shOt-as if that mattered-but no
army ever mutinied against discipline yet
the officers recovered their places and their
confidence, the men found once more that
they were led, and once again, for the first
time since Woerth, it became possible to
execute maneuvers and to move men swiftly
without leaving One-half of them behind.
1t had come to this with the French army
that march of ten miles a day reduced it
to disorganized crowd.
The instrument Of which the Prussians
make such use 1.-THE field telegraph has
been organized; and, finally. by the APP
lutte power of making acquisitions, to ac-
company the army. NJ. Gambetta has
removed the last and most serious difficulty
in the way OF the intendence, has enabled it
to levy supplies from the country, without
demoralizing the army by = employing
soldiers in task which, if left to them, de-
generates iutO unauthorized plumber. AS a
result of all these DEGREES, France has again
an army which can fight battle i'll the
field. We have taken every fact in this
article from the letters of men who are bit
terly hostile TO Nj. Gambetta; who consider
him a foe of the army, an upstart, and a
lunatic; who are never tired of shrieking
for a military dictator, and consider that
France is lost because. her representative
''loOks like bOmrgeois'-a remark, by the
way, which is only true, SO far as it is true,
of so many French and Italian statesmen,
who are apt to want the impassiveness most
Englishmen and all Germans of rank are
accustomed to affect.
And we ask our readers deliberately
whether the man who has done AL this for
his country, who in two months has re.
established order in the great cities and
discipline in the. armies OF France, who.
amid unleard of disasters has struggled
against national despair, with one hand
beating down anarchists, and with the other
building up armies, and who, in the very
midst of a work which be believed to be on
the edge of success, halted to accept an ar
mistice he detested tbecause his beleaguered
colleagues had approved it-a man, that is,
who has displayed the energy of a Jacobin
and the selfrestraint of an English Cabinet
Minister'S man to he so utterly despised!
Our prayer is that when England's hour of
danger shall arrive. we also may find such Il
man, with the one additional quality of
silence.