Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-05-21
HIS PAROLE.
Gen. Thtbd'tdi'a and HIS Parole of Honor.
from the London Broad Arrow.1

Gen. Ttibd'Gdin and HIS Parole of Honor.
from the London Broad Arrow.I
The challenge given by the German
military authorities to the French Min
lister of war, Gen. Thibaudin, continues
to engage the attention of the Berlin
papers, and the laundering attempt at
justification made by the accused officer
IN the Chamber of Deputies, leaves lit
tie if any doubt as to the facts of the
case. tits allowed, even by Gen. Thi-
baudin's most partial friends, that he
spent singularily naaeI0Gis quart
@he2tTe when opposed to the incisive
heterogeneous of M. Paul de Cassagnac,
whose calm and cutting politeness was
impervious to the clamor and fury of
the Jacobin majority. M. de !Cassagnac
delicately but plainly invited the ac-
cused to give satisfactory explanation
of his change of name during the
Franco German war of 1901, and to
deny for the honor of the French army
the accusation of having broken his pa
role" Gen. Thibaudin, thus run to
earth, had no alternative but to ascend
the tribune and explain that, during the
last few months of the war, he had
fought under the name Of Comagni.
Repeated Interruptions, and even
threats, did not disconcert M. de Cas-
sagnac from playfully pursuing the I'M
palatable subject, and the Generals
lame attempt to show that he had
merely added his mothers name to his
own, and that a French military court
Of inquiry had fully exonerated him
from all blame, completely broke down
in the face of the official statement of
The German authorities. In his excel
lent work on Bismarck, during the war,
DR.. Busch states, dating Feb. 10, 1871:
"The Chancellor wishes to have printed
n the Mo11iteur the long list of French
officers who have broken their parole
and escaped from Germany. I send it
on, and you will find that, beside three
well-known Generals, there are 142
names, including Col. Thibaudin of the
6iyty-seventh regiment of the line, two
Lieutenant Colonels, three Majors and
thirty Captains"
NJ. lie Gen. Thibaudin has no author
ity whatever for stating that the French
court Of inquiry decided that his con-
duet was blameless in serving after he
had given his word of honor not do SO.
The whole mass Of evidence is as clear
as the sun in MONDAY. Col. Thibaud-
in of the Sxty-seventh regiment was
taken prisoner of war at the end of the
battles round Metz, shortly before its
surrender by Marshal Bazaine. He
was sent with other French officers as
q prisoner to Mayence, where he re-
manned with number Of his comrades
on honorable parole, in almost com
plote liberty, till toward the end of
December he failed to answer his name
at the usual daily rolI-call. His brother
officers for some days hoped that some
accident prevented his appearing, and
lis name was answered by them to save
his reputation. At length his dishon-
orable fight could be no longer con-
caale,l, and on Dec 10, 1870, the Prus-
sian Minister of War inserted in Militar
Wochenblatt the name of Col. Thibaud-
il IS q defaulter for his pledged word
as q soldier and he was consequently
tried in his contumacy, and condemned
to death il his absence. As Henry
C0magai" he easily found command of
some Of Gambetta's new Ievies, and by
coll.Aa2d of the war ministry of the
times Was promoted to the rank of Gen
era: under that name. Gen. "Comag-
Ii, alias Thibaudin, did not quite es-
cape ccnsure, for his case was con-
sideral so serious that, by a military
decree Of Nov, %, 1871, he was placed on
compulsory retraite, where he remained
in oi's"!lfity in Algeria till reinstated as
Co1ote, in the Thirty-second regiment
OF the ,ine.