New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-21
Bazaine, the Adventurer.


of the Marshars Imprisonment in the fort of
St. Marguerite. The President of the French
republic is man so simple minded that we
may assume that he did not think nything
at all, and that he committed the sentence
simply because he considered it unkind to
execute a brother in arms and friend.
If, however, he had been capable of justly
appreciating the circumstances of the case,
he would have seen that there could be but
two issues to it, either to shoot Bazaine as
soldier who, though not exactly traitor,
had done enough to forfeit all the honors
that his past success had brought upon him
and whose life would hencefOrth be dis
graced; or else to do exactly what has been
done, that is to say, to lock him up in such
way that he could make his escape the very
moment popular excitement had cooled
down.
This is the usual way in dealing with 20.
litical adventures in times of great po-
litical crises. Serrano, Garibaldi, Prim,
Mazzini, and dozens upon dozens of minor
political heroes, have all IN their turn been
condemned to death, locked up, and made
good their escape.
That Bazaine was Marshal of France
and commander-inchief of the army makes
no difference, for notwithstanding the off,
cial dignities he held under the empire, he
was never anything but military bravo at
venturer himself. The supposition that
Bazaine escaped from St. Marguerite in
order to lead a more comfortable life at
large is absurd. We shall not have to wait
long before we learn that he has embarked
in some new undertaking, or that he has sat
down to write his memoirs, which, If out
spoken, will certainly be the most interest
ing contribution to the modern history OF
France that has ever been published. There
4, ypuo, nhanco hOvyovnr Of his a kiDp
to this last sort of pursuit, for he is barely
sixty-three years Of age, full of health,
ambition, and everything else that makes a
man go ahead; and there are countries like
Mexico, Spain, and Egypt, where he can
find plenty Of work and plenty of oppor-
tunity to make the world talk Of him.
The supposition of several of our con-
tempOraries that he is dead man, and that
he will not find any country in the world to
live in, is very childish. He is now more Of
hero than he ever was, and he has by his
side a heroine instead of the Mexican
woman who was very much disliked in
France, where few could forgive the fact of
her having married the man whose first
wife was 80 nl-treated as to commit suicide.
1t is the general belief that Bazaine.
through the rude treatement of his former
wife, drove her almost mad. caused her in
a moment of despair and under the in
huence of his infdelity, to seek refuge in
an affection which she ought not to have
sought; and when the fact was disclosed to
the husband he assumed an attitude which
left the poor woman no other escape but
suicide. And few months later a rich
Mexican took her place by the side OF the
Marshal.
But these are revolving facts, of which we
have just now quite enough at home. So
the less said of them the better. What is
ho-ond 1ouh$ iS hat in \
the Marshal got much more useful part
ner in life, notwithstanding that the Herald
speaks of her with certain air of contempt,
as of lady who never saw a boat in her
life except on the lake Of the Boie de Bou.
lOgne.s Nine. Bazaine has never been a very
fashionable woman, but she has always been
handsome, full of the hot blood of her
country, and full of courage to act when
ever the moment for action came. Though
it may turn out that she did not herself row
the boat in which the Marshal escaped, a
telegram states that she made all the ar
rangements for the escape, and for the sake
of the name che bears, and out of feeling
of natural pride, she will probably not
allow the Marshal to remain quiet, and to
lead the miserable life of an escaped con.
vict
Besides Bazaine's own disposition does
not admit of it. He was not fully twenty
years VI ago Wucu, dNorS0 tO any regular
study in the Polytechnic School for which
he was being prepared, he entered the ranks
of the army as a simple volunteer in Africa.
After three years of desperate fighting with
the Arabs he was lieutenant and cheva.
lier of the Legion OF Honor, and since that
time his whole life has been one effort to
rise as high as any man ever could aspire.
He never waited for a chance for distinc-
ton to present itself to him; he hunted up
these chances. When he saw, after having
obtained the rank of captain, that promo.
ton in the regular army would become
more difficult, he joined the Foreign Legion,
which France, in conjunction with England
and Portugal, sent to Spain to fight the
Carlists. Subsequently he was in Morocco,
in Syria, in Algeria again, everywhere
where fighting was going on. After
twenty y-five years service of this sort he
was a brigadier general at the outbreak of
the Crimean war, and it is only since that
time that his connection with the French
army can be considered as regular.
As soon as he had obtained post of i'm
portance, Bazaine directed all his capacity
for intrigue, and all his ambition toward
reaching the highest dignity the Empire
could give him. His first success and first
step toward popularity was his governor
ship of Sebastapol. During the Italian
campaign he managed to get wounded
slightly, and took prominent part in the
battle of Solferino. When, in 1862, the
Mexican expedition was undertaken, he
went out as commander of division, but
soon succeeded Marshal Forey in the gen.
eral command. The ferocity with which he
treated the partisans of Juarez, his double
dealing with Macmillan, and his evident
intention to seize the supreme power in
Mexico will be well remembered. On his
return to France he was seriously attacked
by the radical party, but that did not pre-
vent him from quietly taking his seat in the
Senate, waiting for the moment when the
same opposition would call him through
their mouthpiece, Gambetta, ''the sublime,
the heroic Bazaine."
the Rhine, he was appointed to the general
command Of it in the place of Napoleon,
whom he declared to be incapable, and un-
Ger whom he said he would not hold any
responsible post, he was by far not the
senior of the Generals; but his impudence
and his ambition helped him to jump over
all of them, including the Emperor himself,
and the whole of France applauded the
event. Had the war outside Of Metz taken
q less fatal course, and had the republican
party not come into power, we have no {
doubt that Bazaine, stimulated by his am
bition, would have managed to get out of |
Metz, even if it were at the loss of half of |
his army, but as things took turn which |
predicted but little chance of success for |
him in Paris, he very stupidity preferred to
negotiate with the enemy and to expose
himself to the accusation of treason. 1t was
treason, but not military treason; it was
political treason; and his capitulation of !
Metz was not the act of c0wardly or in. |
capable soldier; it was the surrender Of q |
yreat adventurer such as history presents |
more than one example of. True, it is very |
Easy to comment upon facts and to explain |
hem when they have taken place; but it |