The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-11-09
Marshal Bazaine.

formidable fortress of France, togeth-
er with its enormous garrison OF $50,
600 regular troops, would be, in a
military point of view, the most amaz-
ing event of ancient Or modern times,
if not considered in other lights
The c~apitulation of such a number of
men and such a vast amount of costly
preparations for defence, under the
circumstances described by the tele-
graph, can only. be, explained upon
hypothesis that it was the result of
diplomatic intrigue and not OF martial
proves. 1t is ploin rs Gen. Coffin
iere states, that the fortress could
have baf1ed the besiegers for months
to come; but it is palmer still that
Marshal Bazaine did not feel author
lied to sacrifice his army ut the be
hest of a Paris government from
which he had never received an au-
thentic order and to which he owed
no allegiance other than that enforced
by a mob, and executed by a self
constituted committee composed of
notorious and violent enemies of him
self and the government he served
Bazaine had carried his marshal's ba-
ton in his knapsaek as a private sol
dier; every prom otien he. had receiv-
ed was from Napoleon; all his COM
missions were stamped with the seal
and sign-manual of the imperial head.
could he, With honor, have transferred
his allegiance from his Unfortunate
sovereign to another usurpation of
which he necessarily knew nothing
officially? He simply stood by the
authority that had commissioned and
sworn him, and from his position he
could not do otherwise than obey its
orders, as that government was the
only recognizable one in France. He
obeyed the orders of his superior, and
surrendered Metz, not from military
necessity, but from the just dread of
assuming the responsibility of sacri-
fcing a mighty army, without having
the semblance of authority to COM
mand it. Therefore Bazaine's capitu-
lation looks moro like the result of
diplomatic intrigue between the Prus-
sian, court and the Bonapartes, than
like q military triumph. Bazaine and
his army are as much opposed to the
republic of the Paris streets and the
members of the left Of the Legislative
Chamber, az is King William himself,
and the c%apitulation of the. M was
sinisterly in the interest of the other.
The foolish and frantic government
of Tours DECLARED themselves too soon
and before they knew the forces they
had to depend upon. They assumed,
through eagerness for office, the re-
sponsibiIity of disasters justly cliarga-
BILE to the Imperial Government
The results of their maneuvers have
COMPOUNDED them, and they are as IN
competent to restore, as they were
potent to destroy France. Old Theirs
is probably the only sincere man
among the agitators He wisely pro-
tested against the commencement oil
the war because he suspected France
was not thoroughly prepared; he he
roically volunteers his services tc
paeify the warning parties, at the risk
of his life and great reputation.
Marshal Bazaine is against the
French Republic. We happen tc
know something of him from II who
was intimately connected with him il
the Mexican campaign, which ended
in the assassination of the unfortu
nate Maximillian and the reduction
of Mexico to its chronic stat e of anar-
chy. Bazaine is a man cruel anC
~exacting in the extreme, butas prompt
to obey orders as to execute them, a:
his desertion of Maximillian attests
He stands charged, as do many o:
Napoleon's supporters, with having
an itching palm, and is accused of hav
ing made vast sums of money out OF
the Mexican neutrality-suspicious. by
his marriage or by public and officia
influences is not for US to say of an
old soldier of undoubted intrepidity
and conceded abilities. But these ole
, traditions; return to darken the SINGER
itv of his surrender of Metz, and mus
forever hold him amenable. to tin
suspicious of his country zen. 1.-THE
j.. only relief he con find is in the excuse
!, that he. was working in. darkness for
master whose fate he could not com
prehend, and that alter the overpow
ering victories of the Germans hac
c .osed him up in Metz, and Seda1
: had settled the fate of the empire h
r served, he knew no other recourse o.
salvation than submission to the enc
e my in the field in preference to allie
e glance to an unknown Committee h
: could not recognize:
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