The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-07-05
NapoIeOn's.Excuses.

| cuIpated IN the surrender at Sedan
seeking to vindicate them, and, pos,
sibly, to stop further inquiry by ia.
king upon himself all the RESPONSE
bilIty for that affair. This letter is
couched in the following terms, sc
far as the English translation of them
can represent the exact meaning Of
the French
81 am responsible for Sedan. The
army had fought herOically against
an enemy who was disposing Ol
| forces quite as numerous. After
| fourteen thousand men had been
killed or wounded, saw that the
contest was nothing more than an
act OF despair. The honor of the ar
my being safe, I exercised ma right OF
sovereign to cause the white flag to
be hoisted. It was impossible that
the immolation of $4,000 men could
save France. 1 obeyed a cruel aud
inexorable necessity. My heart was
broken, but my conscience was tran
quill
The surrender of Sedan took place
on the I'd of September, 1870, but on
the 31st of August, two days previ-
Ously, the Emperor had addressed q
proclamation to the soldiers of the
French army, which it would seem
His Majesty had forgotten when he
penned the above letter. The proc
lamation said: Soldiers, the open
ing movements of the war not hav-
ing been fortunate, I decided, while
laying aside all personal preoccupa-
tiOu, to give the command OF the
army to the Marshals who were es-
pecially pointed out by public Opin-
ion. Hitherto success has not
crowned your Efforts. Nevertheless,
l learn that the army of Marshal Ba-
zaine has reformed itself under the
walls of Metz, and that of Marshal
McMahon was but but slightly en-
gagged yesterday. There is, there
fore, no occasion to be discouraged.
We have hitherto prevented the enc
my from penetrating to the capital,
and all France is rising to repel the
invaders. Under these grave circum-
stances, and the Empress worthiIy
representing me in Paris, I haze pre-
feyred the T)art; Of Soldier TO that Of SoUe-
reign. shall spare no effort to save
our country; ahe contains still, thank
God, men of courage; and if there
are towards, martial law and public
contempt Will do them Justice. Sol
diers! be worthy of your eminent
reputation. God will not abandon
our country, provided every one
does his dutyp'
Contrasting these two documents
it would appear that at the close of
August Napoleon abdicated his mill
tarv authority in favor of Bazaine,
McMahon and Wimpfen, and his i'm
perial authority in favor of the En-
press, "preierring the part of sol
der to that of sovereign" so that he
was but the shadow of either an En-
peror or General. That being the
case, what authority had he to cause
the white flag to be hoisted? From
the evidence given before the Com
mission on Capituiation, now sitting
at Versailles, by Generals Vim pfen
and Ducrot, it appears that these
two officers, at all events, thought it
still possible to open a passage for
the blockaded army, either to the
East, by way of Carignan and Mont
medy, or to the West by Mezieres.
Gen. Wimpfen, in fact, made an at
tempt to drive the Bavarians across
the Meuse, and was continuing the
movement begun by Mcmahon, when
he perceived the white flag flying on
the ramparts of Sedan. At that mo-
ment the army under his orders
numbered more than $4,000 availa-
bic menl The original march to Sc
dan was ordered by the Emperor,
against the advice of McMahon, and
in spite of the protestations of Ba-
zaine, who knew that his force was
not strong enough TO encounter the
100000 Germans under King Viii
liam. McMahon's advice was to fall
back with the utmost rapidity and
cover Paris; but Napoleon wasted
time in useless movements and al
lowed himself to be surrounded.
His recent letter only makes his
feebleness and incapacity the more
apparent, and reduces to a mini
mum the chances of his restoration
TO the throne of France. It at the
same time withdraWs one disturbing
element from the arena of French
politics, aud increases the chances
of the stability of the Republic. The
Royalists just now are nowhere"
and the Orleanists have found it pru-
dent to "hide their dimisished
heads" for while at all events.
But what shall be thought of the n
consistency of the Em peror, who,
first of all, abdicated his powers,
then took it upon himself to suFren-
der his army. and then on giving up
his sword to the King of Prussia, de-
clared that he could not enter into
political negotiations, because he
rad left the political direction to the
Regency in Paris? The truth is,
that the Imperial cause was so com
pletely lost that he did not dare to
return to Paris; he had no object in
continuing the war, and he wanted
10 be out of the difficulty as soon as
possible. This object he affected by
slrrendering himself to the enemy,
leaving tho Empress to get along as
she could Philadelphia Ledger.
A married lady in Rock Island,
Illinois, had been in the habit of pla
cling needles in her mouth. Now
and then she swallowed one, and it
was sure to appear in some strange
locality a few months after passing
down her throat. During the last
five years seven needles have been
nvfrnc ncfnd frnnn her hndv In diffarant