The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-09-08
q -E.s.enman,a YAews.

THE following leLCtI W"o
known Frenchman IAN adopted eiIl1eh u
| Richmond, now IN q visit to Pariso 20 q
gentleman in this city. 1t presents, In the
;nd,unant spirit so natural under the cir
cnmstances q s~uccinet view Of the wretch
| ed Encouragement which brought France
| 70 the low level of humiliation I:
PARIS, August %, 1870.
NV Dear General,-There are many things
in the events that have taken place during
| tent must have taken you by surprise. l
! confess they did so with me. Scales nave
fallen from my eyes, and by the painful opse-
ration, my eyes, ] assure you, were mace
sore, speaking fgurativeiy. l took II lor
| granted hat France was ready. she was
not. Far from It. She is not SO even now.
| It must be said, however, that matters are
| progressing. The arming OF France ID
going on, and the country feels Lnat We are
| lust ajotit beginning the war. why rnnru
wos so unarmed and tnprepared Is very
e "m for me now to account for. Two
lcadinq causes exist. One of them is ma"
yidual.. the other is a general one, ana .ne
| hitter has even at this time an influence mat
certainly puts the country In Jeopardy.
THE first one consists in the disappearance
by dnath of Marshal Mel from the War De-
nartment. He was the great organlzer-sH
acknowledged by friends and foes, ana,
which 10 better still, so confirmed by 1s
deeds. In an Incredibly snort ulhe ne
brought to existence what there Is no" Oh
French ar~mament-the .chassepot q tne
new military law. But since MS uenl1se
matsass; stood still. Nothing more We
done. The military law was not carried
ont No. not euen in pdrt-not a particle
Of it. There was nothing standing
Int the old regular army, and that
hss hGi si'0i is It notyS There was
NOT a sin1le man from the Mobiles
nr the preserves" to back them. Each one
Of those denominations gives from 4Oo,ooo
10 $50. COO men. The "Mobiles" are men
from twenty-one to twenty-five years ola,
that is to say, conscripts when pelonS i"
the classes of 1866, '67, 'GS, ,69, ana 20,
which were not drafted into the army, D on6
left ont because, for instance, OF 200,0oo
conscripts 100, 900 only was drafted in, the
other 100. 900 being left out, but liable to
he called forth to form the Garde Mobile.
The "reserve" Is just the reverse. Ihose
are the men who were in the army ana
served their time out, In war or IN peace
time: These are liable to be called back AGAIN
Ia serye FIR the 4oar; as long as they are noC
more than thirty-tive years old. From thirty;
five TO forty-fve then comes the "Natlondi
Guard" which it is not necessary 10 con-
slider here, although it might play an I'M
portant part, since 1t reckons noIe Ihah
two millions of men.
The few battalions of "Mobiles" now
orranized and uniformed since the 18th Of
;JuIv-not more than 10000 men in all
have not up to this day received all their
arms. They were sent back from Chalons
to Paris two days ago. Only three bat
talions were armed and had q chance to ire
a shot. The whole army of BaZaine ana
MacMahon still consists of the old regular
army only. and the brave fellows-God
bless their SOILS and bodies-are tghtlng a
whole nation Of nations combined. NO
such q thing was ever seen before.
Now, you may ask me why were not the
Mobiles" and the preserves" armed
and equipped and thoroughly, organized
throughout the empire. Simply because
the "Government were and are afraln OF
arming France. They dare not 90 IL before
the ''plebiscite" for fear of becoming un-
popular thereby, and for the further Tear
of arming political enemies, which
must need exist in an army OF one
million and Il half of men. The
Government was always more afraid
of the French people than Of Prus>la. 1t Is
a sad thing to Tell you, but it must be ac-
knowledged. 1t is not without reasons
that it was and is so. some people here IN
Paris make me indignant. They will not give
up their political sQuabbles when the enc
mics are driving us like sheep from battle
field to battlefield. The first week OF my
stay here was 4 great trial to me. LOOK
my stand against the unpatrlotlc and sclh>n
petty politicians on the "Boulevards ana
in the .scafe<." The result was that at the
-I q So las 7 ry,c hnrc rio nnf11hTf NV
voice was Worn out, eXtinguished by eXer-
ton so that I could hardly utter a whisper.
l would speak by signs to the waiter like a
deaf and dumb creature. ] soon rallied,
however, and at the end of another lour
DAYS I was in full blast again, and l truly
believe | did some little good.
Nv dear General, it is useless to say more
than that. The blunders that characterized
the debut of our campaign belong to his
tory Just as much as the great achievements
of Marengo, Jena, and Austerlitz. What
teachings, good God! Can men bear the
same name and be so unlike $50, fortune,
Uoiia de ties cOues i"
fer not to be where she is but [ think she
is not afraid of facing the music. Our SOL
diers have behaved we'll before the enemy,
although I must say they are dlsgracefully
treated by the German press, the English
press, and, 1 am afraid, by some of the Amc-
can press.
Never mind, we French can stand war
even with such official impediments in the
WAY, which have prevented the wal from
being a national one in France, while it Is
quite a national one in Prussia. 1t is called
here q "dynastic war;" and they damn it
on account of it; but then there is the
French soil invaded, and that begins to
wake up our people. Truly, yours, L.