Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-01-09
THE MARsHAL's PLEDGE.
An Extraordinary Story Of the Recent
Crisis In France.


Richard Whiteing writes from Pari.
to the New York World: Several ac-
counts Of the marshaPs submission have
been given. They are all more or less
inaccurate or defective, and that of the
London Times has just been denied on
authority. The reason is because it
gives only half the truth. The other
half is us follows;
For the past fortnight MacMahon per-
sonally has been anxious to submit.
This is no new discovery Of mine.
have said SO over and over again in let
tiers written before this final event.
have also said that he was prevented
from submitting by those about him.
did not then know the secret of their
power over him. know it now. He
was under promises to the party that
elevated him to power on the fall of NJ.
Thiers-not verbal promises, written
ones. De Broglie held his bond He
was to be purely and simply party
chief. The general purport of the ne
gotiations preceding the overthrow Of
Theirs was set down in black and white,
The marshal was not TO govern hr the
nation, or even for himself, but for the
De Broglie rings. l do not profess to-
know the contents of this paper; only
know that it existed in the form of n
letter written to the chief of tho band
of conservative conspirators, and so art
fully framed rs to contain the most ex-
|plicit assurances under the form Of
general guarantees.
The letter was held IN terrorum over
the marshals head De Broglie had
only to produce it under given circum-
stances to prove that the marshal had
broken his word. He had only to
threaten to produce it to throw the mar
shal's wife at least into an agony Of
terror-and it is she who has all along
been the chief Intermediary between
her husband and his despotic advisers.
She was all the more ready to act in
their interest because she sympathlzed
with their views. The publication of
the letter would have lowered her in
the eyes of her "set" and she would
have felt the degradation. This explains
the marshals frequent illusions to him.
self as purely party chief-allusions, l
frankly own, Of which ut first failed to
see the full significance. In the inter-
views with Grevy and Audiflret Pasquier,
you remember, he seemed to say that
he did not dare take the course they
suggested out of respect for his ZEN
gagements." This was quite unmean-
ing so long as only verbal engagements
or differences from public declarations
of nOlicv were understood.
He had not pledged himself to bring
about restoration Of the monarchy.
He, with all his faults, WIS too loyal.
and his conscience-keepers, with all
theirs, were too cunning for that. Such
a pledge would have rendered the par
ties concerned liable to nh impeachment
for treason. He rather bound himself
to do nothing. and let the others work.
They were to be his occult chief advis-
ers, and the overthrow of the republic
was their sole concern. "On the oath
of May, 1873, the Due dc Broglie told
me / had been chosen as the soldier
hands Of the radicals; that was to do
fend the imperiled interests Of the
country, like sentinel guarding post,
but that, rs to politics, he understood
all that At that moment, and ever
after, regarded NJ. Broglie AZ a second
president. / was the military presi.
dent" These are the marshaPs latest
words as quoted by the Times cores
pOndent and the accuracy of the report
of them is not in the least affected by
the several denials of the truth Of the
letter in which they were given to the
world Il was the "second president
who prompted and sanctioned the mar
shal's choice Of the Jules Simon min
istry, in order to have plausible excuse
for the act Of the 10th of May. After
that date the second president, who had
all along been secretly in power, came
openly to the front.
Help came from u quarter in which
few lad thought of looking for it.
Poyer-Quertier was one of those who
were seriously alarmed at the turn
events were taking. He is man of
fortune, and ne did not want to make
himself responsible to the extent of his
means for the illegal collection of taxes
levied without parliamentary vote.
He held u consultation with his friends,
and at last, at their pressing solicitations,
he undertook to bell the cat-in other
words, to get the letter. He left Paris,
he saw De Bro lie, and he got the letter,
by what means have not been able to
ascertain. If one-half Of the things
that are said about De Broglie's present
financial position be true, the task could
not have been 40 difficult rs might have
been imagined. He is deeply in debt,
and he has besides rs much reason to
dread social as does the marshal politi
cal exposure But these, ! confess. are
mere gucsses. The one thing certain is
that Pouyer-Quertier got the letter, and