The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-09-03
BAzAlaE's ESCAPE.
How it Was Effected...The Excite.
ment in Paris-.The Details of
the Flight.-.Mme. BaZaine's
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Correspondence New York Times.]
ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE,
August IL, 1874.
The news of the escape of Marshal
Bazaine reached me upon tie Terrace
of St. German, and I interrupt my
promised repose to give you the de-
tails as they are now reported. AS ac-
customed as the French are to sudden
and startling events, this news caused
deep and widespread emotion. 1t
was coup de theatre which has been
for some days the prominent topic Of
conversation. As could have been
foreseen, the appreciations of the jour
nails are extremely varied. The organs
of the extreme Republican party do not
hesitate to accuse the govern
ment of connivance, or, at least,
of complaisance; for insFrance parti-
san feeling is mingled with everything.
Those who rejoiced at the escape of
Rochefort from Eoumea, and who were
very careful not to incite the Govern
ment on to rigorous inquiry, are now
loud in their furious and Indignant cries
at the escape of Bazaine. Some 60 so
far as to say that owing to the great
age and enormous bulk of the ex-Mar-
shall, it would have been impossible for
him to have scaled the walls of Sainte
Marguerite, and let himself down a dis
lance ef thirty-five yards with the aid
Of rope, and intimate that he went
out of the front door, with the full
knowledge Of some one who knew we'll
what he was doing. In plain language,
this means that Marshal McMahon
was privy 20 the escape. But in the
same way Louis XVIII was accused of
aiding and abettine in the escape of NJ.
De la Valette.
The details given of the escape are a
little romanesque, but I give them as
related in the most widely accepted YER
sion. First, however, return for a
moment to the preliminary facts. On
Monday, October 6, 1873, the first
court-martial met at Versailles, under
the Presidency Of the Duo d'Aumale
to sit upon the case of Mar
shall Bazaine. The charges were first
made by Gambetta, and formulated by
two officers of the Army Of Metz, bit
terly hostile to the Marshal NJ. Theirs
would never consent to his being put
upon trial. on the ground that it would
tend to lessen the respect of the army
for superior authority, and this emf
nent statesman has since expressed his
regrets that he had not taken the re-
sponsibility of sending Bazaine out Of
the country before resigning. On the
Oath of May a Government came in
bitterly hostile to the Empire, and the
trial of Bazaine was then regarded as a
blow to that party. The calculation
in this respect was not entirely accur-
ate. On the 18th of December, 1873,
the court-martial found Bazaine guilty
Of failure y his duty, but not of trea-
son, and Of surrendering an army to
the enemy in the open field. The pen
atty was death, and the Due d 'Aumale
sentenced Bazaine to military deg.
relation and to death. But, by
what process Of reasoning no one has
yet been able to divine, the men who
had just sentenced Bazaine to be shot
signed, with unanimity, petition to
the President, recommending him to
use his right of clcmency. MacMa-
hon could not do otherwise, under the
circumstances, than commute the death
penalty to Imprisonment for twenty
years. Bazaine was sent to the fortress
of Sainte Marguerite, the prison-house
of the "Iron Mask of Archbishop De
Broglie, and several other illustrions
State prisoners.
A short time ago, or after the ex-
Marshal had been some seven months
in prison, Mime. Bazaine asked MacMa-
hon to change the penalty into exile
for life, and while he would have gladly
done so, if he could with safety or with
out raising popular clamors against
him, the President felt obliged to de-
cline the petition at this time. 1t was
not until this and other attempts had
failed that the plan of escaping was &C
cepted by Bazaine. He was
urged to it by his
wife, who pleaded with him daily, and
who used one very strong argument.
In France, she said, revolutions were
frequent, and one might burst upon
the country at any moment. If the
Radicals were to succeed to power
again, by any chance, their first act
would be to sign the death war
rant Of Baza:ne. Although this is an
exaggeration. there can be no manner
of doubt that his life would be in dan
ger. 1t was by this constant pleading
with him that the faithful wife finally
won his consent to leave the island.
Some of the journals pretend that
he was on patrol, but this is
absurd. A prisoner does not prom
Use not to escape unless he was
some privileges in return. and Bazaine
has had none whatever. He has been
constantly subjected to rigid prison dis
cipline, has never been allowed to walk
except upon the parapet, some ten feet
square, and has been refused nearly all
the privileges he has ever demanded.
He had right to escape, therefore, if
he could, but whether it was good poll
cy to do so is a question which can
hardly be decided at this time.
All the arrangements for the escape
had been completed a week ago, and
the parties concerned only awaited a