The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-06-30
COMMANDER R1v1ERE.
The M-Starred Leader Of the Ton
quin Expedition--History
Of the Expedition--Ri-
viere's M~isoi7ings.

that he was gifted with second sight,
and had y presentiment that the COM
mission he held, to add the valleys of
the Red and Black rivers to the colo.
MES of France, was his death war
rant. He had long wished for an op.
portunity tn play there q hero's part,
and willed del ,berately and steadfastly
that be should be sent out to take up
the running of GARNER, who was
killed nine years ago in TOnquin.
No sooner was his desire satisfied
than the conviction arose in his. mind
that he had done a bad thing for him
self and had tempted fate. Some
thing told him that he was doomed
to q cruel death. The merning on
which he left Paris he said: II feel
like q man who is going to execution.
Il was never in my life SO sensible to
the beauties of a wintry climate. 1t
is the last time I shall enjoy them in
Paris"
Commander Riviere was as strange
looking as he was peculiar. He
looked taller than he really was, had
broad shoulders, q deep chest, and q
physiogAomy that was at once elo-
auent in its power to express his
many-sided Intellectual and moral
nature, interesting and ugly. The
eyes were black as Erebus. When
the soul behind them was at rest,
they looked dreamy and somber.
But when it was aroused by sociality
or discussion, and when the cerebra-
ton was active, the literally blazed
and spoke. His lips were thick to
c-oarseness, and the mouth was wide.
The other features were massive, but
at the same time mobile. A shaggy
mass of hair gave O leonine aspect to
the head. The whiskers were long,
and the parts of them that had
turned gray were dyed. In giving
orders, Rochefort, who knew Com
mander Riviere in New Caledonia,
says that he did SO, whether in
ordinary circumstances or in dan
ger, in a deep, fun voice and
with q tranquil manner. He believed
in crowding out bad passions In the
human heart by appealing to good
sentiments. In pursuance OF this
bell If he determined when he had,
in New Caledonia, to deal with q
formidable instruction of the abo-
rhymes, to arm the communists and
turn them into an auxiliary army.
They behaved 50 admirably, although
they. might have massacred the regu-
lar soldiers and escaped to Australia.
But none of them showed any dis
position to mutiny. Riviere- took
home the first batch of those who
were amnestied, and was SO kind to
them as to win their gratitude. Yet
to hear him talk at Madame de Ner-
ville's table one would say that he
was an utter sceptic and had made
up his mind that virtue had no abid-
ing place in the human heart. He
was a very brilliant talker. But as
years crept on him he became a mon
ologist. Latterly he was deaf. 1t
was q maxim of his that France had
been too long governed by gallant
kings through vicious women for
petticoat government of the least re-
spectacle kind not yet o'be q great
power in the state. This is why, he
said, he made it q point to keep on
friendly terms with the demi-monde
actresses.
It was one of these sirens, Mile.
Valtesse, who interested Gambetta in
the Tonquin expedition. She ma
pauvered in this wise before
she made her attack on the
great orator: First, to fix on herself
public attention she gave at her villa
at st. Clouda seditiOus banquet, to
which Imperialist leaders and Name
lukes were inyited, and a General
and field officers belonging to IN adj
jacent camp. A grandiose show of
fireworks attracted humber soldiers
and civilians to the entrance of the
grounds. Mile. Valtesse treated them
and got them to cry: "Vive PEm-
pire !" The whole press of Paris for
several days after talked of nothing
but her fete. While the impression
was fresh she wrote to Gambetta to
crave an audience of him at the
Palais Bourbon. There she read to
him a memorandum on Tonquin,
and its agricultural aud mineral re-
She said that she herself was the
author. But it was written by Com
mander Riviere. A second audience
was asked and accorded, and Gam
BETA and Mile. Valtesse remembered
they were neighbors and often saw
each other a. st. Cloud and Vile
d'A vray. He thoroughly adopted
the rules set forth in the memo1an-
dunn, which by his orders were pub
lished in the Opportunists prints.
When he formed a cabinet he lost no
time in sending Riviere to take Ha-
MOI and a civil engineer, M. Fuchs
to inspect the coal, copper, iron and
other mines discovered by Dupuis.
Mile. Valtesse on the day of Gam
betta's funeral sent to a Monarchist
ournal photographs of the letters
that had passed between him and
her. Such is the history of the Ton
quin affair.
Riviere was a free thinker, and vet
superstitious and a believer in spirit
ual and physical agencies. He was
persuaded that miracles could be
worked by wishing and willing with
intense strength. The last year he
was at home he found that his will
was fiaccid. This alarmed him.
Without overweening strength of
purpose be felt that he could not,
with. the mere handful of soldiers
and marines forming the corps he
was to take ON to HANOI, hold his
own against the armed multitude
that would be sent to attack him.
In short. he lost faith in himself. !
The latest advices state that he was
defended by $50 marines, at
The head of which he made his sortie,
and that the 200 linesmen who fol-
Jagged behind when they saw
hat he was attacked. He was CAP
;ured alive, taken to a native strong
1old, and with some other captives
mpaled.-Pdris Corr. Ncw York
Tribune.
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'ver the news from Europe concern