Port Royal commercial and Beaufort County Republican. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1873-1874, 1874-01-08
Bazaine's Sentence.


the trial and condemnation of Marshal
Bazaine to speak for themselves, says
the New York Times, it may be we'll to
explain the grounds on which he was
arraigned by the Council of War, which
the evidence taken before that council
tended to establish, and from which the
sentence of death followed as a natural
consequence. The military law Of
France is several centuries old, and re-
mains to day pretty much in the same
form as it had in the age of Louis XIV.
1t absolutely prohibits the commander
of fortress from negotiating with the
enemy; it is equally explicit in forbid
ding General to concern himself with
politics, and the capitulatlon of an
army is held in all cases to be utterly
unjustifable. These provisions logi-
cally follow from the idea of the fuuc-
tions of the Government that the mill
tary officer serves, and to whom alone
it belongs to enter into negotiations,
and to determine the force of political
considerations. Under these three
heads Bazaine's guilt has been fully es-
tablished. His offense would have been
technically as great had he commanded
the least important of the strong places
of France. But it is, of course, impes-
sible to regard his crime apart from the
fact that he was intrusted with the very
key of the destinies of France that the
army under his command was the only
fully organized one at the service of the
Government, and that, though the sur
render at Sedan preceded that of Metz,
it was owing to Bazaine's weakness and
duplicity that MacMahon was induced
to direct his march toward Montmedy,
and that two armies fell into the trap
prepared for them at Sedan.
If the Emperor and his remaining
Generals had not relied upon .Bazaine's
confident assurance that he could break
through the German lines when it be-
came necessary, the crowning disaster
of September, 1870, would at least have
been deferred, and, as Frenchmen
think, altogether averted. Nevertheless,
Bazaine's judges, though admitting in
evidence such testimony to the gravity
of his offense, have doubtless been led
to condemn him simply for the breach
of the strict letter of the law. 1t is
equally certain that their recommends
ton to mercy must have been dictated
by a regard to the peculiar circum-
stances under which Bazaine thought
himself justified in disobeylng that
law. His defence was substantially as
follows Cup to Sept 10, / claim to
have strictly conformed to both the let
ter and the spirit of the military law.
But after that date there came into ex-
istence a state of things equally new,
unforeseen, and unprecedented. France
had no longer any tangible Govern.
ment, any central authority all that
was legal had disappeared amid the
tide of ruin. The law which 1 was
bound to observe never contemplated
such situation, for it is based on the
idea that there is above the General q
Government qualified to negotiate and
to relieve him from the necessity OF
concerning himself with politics, !
found myself in the position of being
my own government, and under these
circumstances could not perform what
I considered to be my duty without q
technical violation of the law" Sophis-
tical as is q good deal of this, it is
natural enough that the dc .facto
Government of September should have
been viewed by the judges of Bazaine
as a Government dc jure only with
some necessary reservations. Their
recommendation to mercy can hardly
be justified on any other ground, and
as President MacMahon is in no danger
of failing to see the strength of these
recommendations, the life Of Bazaiue is
perfectly safe.
The decision of President MacMahon,
of France, in the case of Bazaine is an
nounced. The sentence of death
against the Marshal. is commuted to
twenty years seclusion. He is to bear
the effects of degradation from rank,
but will be spared the humiliating cere
mony.
Marshal Bazaine addressed q letter to
his counsel, thanking them for theil
efforts in his behalf, and concluding as
| follows:
shall not appeal against the sentence, no
wishing to prolong in the eyes of the world the
spectacle of such a painful struggle. l reques
you to take no further steps. l look no Longer
to men for judgment. Strong in my con-
science which reproaches me with nothing
confidently await the justification which vii
come with the lapse of time and the subsistence
of party passions.
The Conservative press generally ap
prove of the communication of the sentence
The Steele says it will create painful
feeling of surprise in the country.