The New York herald., 1873-12-25

f~'SS soAo'VAC w oon SofCc mcuh9 N ~A~SA
that he might have the glory Of winning bS title
unaided and so earn hts marshal's baton. Tnis,ts
certainly the truth; but, on the other hand. marsha
Bazaine was heard to say with sneer on the af
terno0n or the 5th:-"Fros3ard has been studying
the position OF Forbach for three years and thinks
II an excellent one for an engagement Well, he
has now what lie wants.u
Ii is obvious that there was i'll blood and jealousy
between all the generals at this period, each one
| being anxious to distinguish himself alone, and
being, furthermore, hopelessly ignorant as to the
| real strength OF the enemy. Bazaine may be ex-
cused for not sending to the relief OF Frossard, the
more so as this singular General was breakfasting
coolly with the Mayor OF F0rbach while his troops
| were being beaten; but, alter Forbach and
| Wcerth, Bazaine has no more valid excuses to
orer for the truly unaccountabe series OF errors
which he perpetrated, after the other, and it
here we reach the beginning OF what the prosecu-
ton terms
HIS POLITICAL NTRIGUEs.
The defeats OF Forbach and Woerth caused a
wsil Justified panic IN Paris: One defeat would
have been serious enough but the two together
were felt with good reason to be calamitous, and
public 0piai0n loudly demanded that the command
in-chief should be removed from the Emperor's
hands and given to some one more capable. On
the 7th Bazaine's wife called. at eight O'Clock In
the morning, on Count de Keratly. one OF the FORE
most members the opposition in the Corps Legis-
latif, and urged upon him to insist that the COM
mand should be delivered to Bazaine. She showed
him letter. in which the Marshal stared that he
could save France II left to do it in his own way
but that he could not act under the Emperor's
incompetent orders. Bazaine's counsel alege that
Nine. Bazaine's visit to Count Keratry was one
OF simple friendship, and that no military or po-
litical questions were touched on during the inter-
view. But visits OF friendship from lady to
gentleman are not paid at eight O'Clock In the
morning and 1t is positive that on the 7tn Count
Keratry stirred up the whole opposition to
camor for Bazaine's appointment. He was
successful On she 18th Bazaine was, gazetted
to the command-in-chief and two days later
the Emperor left his headquarters ct Metz for
Cnaions, whittier MacMahon was understood to be
retreatng with his shattered forces and such rein
forcements as were being sent every day from the
different depots- Between the 9th and the 14th
eight precious days had been lost In discussing
and rejecting the impractcable idea OF ooncen-
tratng all the French forces round Metz, and 1t is
due to Bazaine to state that he was the first to
point out that the plains OF Chalons would be
much better battle field for the French than the
Lorraine country. The French armies were ia
mliar with Chalons; the position was strong one,
and might be fortified to any extent; and, admit
ting the improbable hypothesis or defeat. there
would be far shorter and easier retreat from
: Chalons to Paris than from Metz to the capital.
These counsels prevailed, but no sooner was
Razaine in possession OF the loo, 600 men and $40
guns which the Emperor had handed over to him
than he changed his ideas and wanted to fail back
on Nancy He himself asserts that he had per-
ceived the impracticability OF the Chalons
scheme and had only yielded to 1t because 1t had
struck the Emperor's fancy. The prosecution main-
tain that Bazaine grew averse to the Chalons plan
simply because 1t was generally believed to be the
Emperor's, and because, ifsuccessful, he (BaZaine
would not reap all the glory or 1t. Another con-
structlon put upon his conduct IS that he lost his
head on finding himself in command OF loo, 900 men
and felt utterly unable TO manage such host.
This very probable; for, like all the French gen.
erals trained in Africa, Bazalne had no experience
of large armies. In Mexico he had never had more
than &c, 900 men at time under his orders IN the
field, and even this number had seemed to him un.
wieldly. However that may be- Bazaines behavior
from the 18th was utterly wild and extraordinary.
Instead ofdistributing his army over several roads,
to make their retreat the more expeditions, he
massed them on the single road from Metz to
Graveotte and neglected to reconnoitre the ap-
proaches to his eft where the enemy were gather
ing prepared to attack him in 1ank. The conse-
quence OF this strange neglect was that the army
was delayed an excessive time In crossing the
Moselle and leaving Metz; its march was
an opportunity which they promptly seized OF
heading him on his retreat, and barring the road
to Chaons The battle OF MARSHA followed on
the 16th-and murderous battle 1t was. The
French fought splendidly, repulsed the enemy with
loss ana remained masters Of the field. II Bazalne
had renewed his attack on the 18th, as Prince
Frederick Charles expected and feared he would,
1t Is admitted that he could have reached the
Meuse unhindered, for the Germans were not yet
f. kx,&o rr<t.
of advancing, he began backward movement on
Metz, allowing the Germans to bring their REIN
forcements and on the 18th took place the san
culinary battle OF Gravelotte which definitely cut
oil all Bazaine's communication with Chalons and
drove him into Metz for good. Bazaine's own
version OF this matter is that his army
had neither ammunition nor food enough
to continue the march to the Meuse
after the 10th; but these assertions are contra.
dicted by facts. The prosecution have brought evi
dence to show that there was no want either OF
food or OF ammunition, and they infer that Ba-
zaine's object in retreating was to play wholly
independent part in the war. He calculated tnat
after the Emperor and MacMahon had been beaten
at Chalons he himself from the snug security OF
Metz could treat with the Prussians on mis- own ac-
count and then with his army, 100000 (for 10000
had been killed or disabled in the battle of the
16tn) march on to Paris as the master OF France.
At first 1t looked as II this dream-if so IL be that
Bazaine had ever dreamt twas likely to be
realized, for after three desperate battles the
Meuse MacMahon was finally vanquished at Sedan,
the Emperor taken prisoner TO Germany, and
Bazaine's army remained as the only one in France
that appeared capable of fighting.
BAzAINE IN METZ
However, Bazaine had not reckoned Paris. He
never supposed that city so large could think OF
standing siege and when news reached him that
General Trochu and the Parislans were actually
preparing for resistance he soaced himself-so
argues the prosecution-by rejecting that the
giddy, unwarrior-ke capital would soon be forced
to yield, and that then his plan of concluding peace
with the Germans and pacinp himself at the head