San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-10-03
BAZAINE,
FUGITIVE EX MARSHAL OF FRANCE
DIED SEPTEMBER ODD.

L rd ncOlS ACnllle BaZalne was born
February 18th, 1911. He was twenty
years old when he entered the army,
Louis Philippe being then king of the
French. The young officer served in
Spain against the Carlists, and in A l.
geria, always with distinguished
courage and ability, recognized, by
his being given the Cross of the Lee
gion of Honor. In the Crimean war
he was made general of brigade and
general of division. He was promoted
to be commander of the Legion in
1856. In 1853 he served in the cam
paign against Austria. When the
French invaded Mexico, in 1862, he
held high command, and succeeded
Marshal Forey as head of the force,
| in 1868, when he received the Grand
Cross. The next year he was made a
marshal of France. In 1863 the En-
| perOr Napoleon promoted him to be
| cOmmander-in-chief of the imperial
guard.
The war with Germany, 1S70-71. fur
nished the scene of BaZaine's highest
distinction and of his historic dis
grace. At the outbreak of hOstilities
he commanded the Third army corps
near Metz. When the battles of
Worth and Forbach had been fought,
disastrously to the French arms, Mar
shall Bazaine took command of the
main armies of the Empire. On
August II, 1870, he began a retreat
from Metz, and fought and lost the
bloody battles of Mais-la-Tour and
GravelOtte before being forced back
into Metz. This strong hold was in
vested promptly by Prince Frederick
Charles, and on October p. 1870, Ba-
Zaine surrendered. One hundred and
seventy thousand private soldiers,
over six thousand officers, fifty gen
erals and three marshals of France
We're made prisoners of war OH this Oc-
casion, the largest number of men
ever taken at one time. Bazaine fled
to England.
This awful blow to the military
pride of the French people was fol-
lowed in 1878, by the trial Of Bazaine
by courtmartial, for having failed to
do his duty. He was sentenced to
degradation and DEATH MacMahon,
president of the French republic, com
muted the sentence to Imprisonment
for twenty years in fortress. Ba-
zaine was taken to the lie Sainte Mar
guerite, in the Mediterranean sea,
whence he escaped after nine months
imprisonment. He visited Germany
and England, then removed to Spain
and made his residence in Madrid,
where he lived until his death.
Five years ago he published a book
in which he described the part he
took in the FrancO-German war, and |
deliberately defended his conduct at
Metz.
On April 18th last year, Bazaine
was stabbed in the head by a French |
man named Hillairand, who called at |
the generals house, as he afterward |
declared, for the purpose of avenging
his country. The wound was severe. |
but not dangerous. BaZaine lived very |
plainly in Madrid, as his resources |
were not large. His circumstan |
improved in later years through |
property his wife inherited from her
mother. She is Mexican, and has |
stood nobly by her hus band in all h s |
trou bles. Their oldest son is a soldier |
II the Spanish army, and the old |
general and his family We're received |
in the society of the Spanish capital.
The bitter memories of the past |
clOuded all the later years of his life.
His countrymen never fOrgave him,
and whenever his name was men
toned in the newspapers he was al
ways sure to receive a batch of in
sulting letters from France.
THE Kansas City Journal in a re-
cent issue commenting upon the di-
vided condition of the New York
democracy, remarked:
I'm Medina, n. Y, the democrats
are said to have hung out banner in
scribed: For governor, David B.
Hill; for president, Benjamin Har-
risOn.' There is no doubt about it.
The democrats of New York are very |
badly split this year"