Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-09
Gen. ChanZy.
From the Temple Bar I


 After the fall of Paris Gen. Chanzy was in- vited to present scheme of operations to the French government in the event of 8 re- newal of war. We shall quote few passages from his masterly dispatch, the whole of which should, however, be studied. Without concealing the perils of France Chanzy showed with truth that she had still great re- sources: ''We had immediately available 222, ,0OO infantry, 10000 cavalry, 33,9o0 ar tillerymen, l, 332 field pieces with 242 rounds for each piece, and 1, 900 wagons for parks and as resources to be organized 354, OOO men in the territorial divisions and Tn the de- pots of Algeria, 132, ,000 recruits of the class of 1871, AS guns, mounted, though without horses, 398, 900 projectiles, 1,20O wagons Tn our arsenals, F, 900 horses which could be delivered within six weeks. Final Iy, we possessed country with population of twenty five millions of souls, on which the invader had not set foot" A universal and fierce resistance, like that which Spain op- posed to Napoleon, which, avoiding general engagements in the field, should compel the Germans to divide their forces and to main tain armies at many points, and should aim at wearyiDg them out at last, was obviously the true course to follow: ''The troops at our disposal, we must not forget, have no as yet either sufficient organization or coher- ence, and are not sufficiently trained to war to form armies capable of manosuvring and fighting consistently against those which the enemy can array in at least equal numbers. We must therefore avoid battles which might become decisive. The object to aim at is to make resistance national and continuous at all points, and thus to force the enemy to disseminate his troops, to compel Germany to maintain in France an army or at least 5OO. 900 men, and to subject her to losses which at last will tire her out 50 we can await the time when, with organized forces. we shall be equal to great eHort, ana snail L. oI,I laaS favorable conditions. to expeI the enemy from the country" A puerrilla warfare of this kind however, re. 6uired a real army in the field to maintain solid and lasting defensive, and continually to hold the enemy in check. For this pur pose Chanzy proposed to move the Second Army to the south of the Loire and thus to make head against the invaders. The ability with which he marked out the lines of de- fense for this supreme contest, and the stern confidence with which he declared that he would carry the war to the last man or France without doubt of the final issue, If the nation was worthy of it's own renoWn, re- minds us of Wellington at Torres vedras "Our organized armies, established m strong positions prepared for defence, could thus resist as long as possible, yielding ground when forced to do so, but only retreating uDon new positions chosen beforehand, and so obtaining the result which we must aim at, the prolongation of the contest This re- sistance could be carried in parts of the coun- try. in succession, which would present in creasing difficulties to the enemy, especially in Auvergne, and so we should acquire solid ity and strength, for we should gain time to organize and maintain our resources" Rec- oliecting what Chanzy had accomplished, who shall say that this project was chImer1. cal had this great soldier bean In supreme command? Ohanzy believed that uitimsSe success was probable, and after the war de- !