The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-12-03

French Officer has Not Received the
Consideration He Merits-To BE
lily Rewarded for n Performance
Far Beyond the Endurance of
Most Men-The British Commander
and His DOGGY Comprehensive
liant Work of the sirdar Among
the Africa Wilds.
| I shall speak Of the"Bogey'' first be-
! cause he has not received the co.sidera-
| tion he merits as a brave man-not even
from his own countrymen, who are quite
| capable of making a scapegoat out of him
| when he has served the purpose of the
| government by drawing popular atten-
| ton for the once away from the doleful
| Dreyfus tragedy. So says Walter Little
| field in the New York Times. If Com
mandant Marchand succeeds in doing this
| he will have served we'll the army whose
| uniform he wears. But his Ultimate fail
| ure will be registered in the minds of
| the French people when he makes the
inevitable journey down the Nile at the
| expense of the British government His
| toiling' journey of 1900 miles eastward
| through swamps, over mountains, along
! sluggish stagnant water courses, and
among wild men and amid all the fever
and pestilence Of an equatorial Africa will
be forgotten; he will be reproved for, not
having reached Tashoda earlier, and he
| will receive as q reward for one Of the
| most remarkable Journeys ever made a;
premature old age OF seclusion and abli-
Won. and the DECORATION Of the French
Geographical society. The latter will be-
as hard for his adventurous spirit to en-;
| dure as the former There is no possible
| escape for him from either. J.
AS to Kitchener, Gen Lord Kitchener
Of Khartum, he will receive the re-
wards that parliament always showers up
| on a thoroughly popular and substantial
hero, and his old age will doubtless be !
| spent in a comfortable chair in Downing
street or in the House of Peers, where
| he will fight over again to full benches
the conflicts with the enemies of Eng
land and Of civilization just as the Duke
Of Wellington did. The sirdar, like poor
Marchand, will have no choice in the
| matter. 4rr,-,-. 49, to- .,'e,", -
| Imagine for a moment the positions of
! these two men reversed: suppose that
France, and not England, had crept up
the Nile, and with a fatalism worthy Of the
believers of the Koran, after three years
of careful elaboration and consummate
generalship, had annihilated the dervishes
at Omdurman. only to find that a brisk
England officer had forestalled her at
ffFashoda-what eulogies would not the
Anglo-American press have sung! And
| the British lion aroused would straight
way have made his position impregnable.
The outburst of racial pride and enthusl-
asm would not permit him to suffer the
fate OF g. Gordon, and Americans would
vie with their British cousins IN exc1aini-
ing, "Oh, what glorious day for the
Anglo-Saxon race!' But because the bold, |
patient, and lont-sufrerlng little COM
mandant is Frenchman, and hence cit
zen Of declining nation whose army
chiefs just now are held up to the execra-j
ton of the world, it is all very dinferent.i
Marshand has deserved a different fate.
He had the misfortune, however to be
born a Frenchman.
Commandant Qately Captain) Marchand.
about forty-tWo years of age and Isl
scarcely taller than Napoleon I. His
African career began in 1896, When he
| was sent out from the Congo to M,
Liotar's assistance with twenty men
| and some Senegalese tirailleure. He
remained at Tambura for a while, and
then organized two expeditions, one under
Lieuts. Margin and Largeau, whose OBJ
jective7 point was Meshraer-rek and the
other under his own command. He bore
orders. it is said to put up the tricolor
wherever possible, and to make treaties
OF protection" with the local chiefs, and
to place as far as possible belt of terri
tory from the Congo to Abyssinia within
the sphere of French influence. His expe-
dition, after various reconnaissance took
up its line of March in August 1897; in
October it was heard of at Fort Hassin,
ger, the extreme French post on the Up
per Ubanghi; the rumOr arrived in Paris
n December that he had reached Fasnoda
Subsequent events, however, have shown
this to be premature. Between Octobr,
1897 and June 1898, no authentic news
came from him to the civilized world. But
the presidency with which the rumor of
his alleged arrival at Fashoda was con-
stantly reasserted was remarkable. At
length In June last his family received
from him letter dated on the Such, Dec
1, 1897, in which he mentioned that he
was about to embark on the Such for
Abyssinta." On July "a. Capt. Marchand,
in recognition Of hts African services
was placed on the list Of next promotions
as ,Commandant. His full commission to
that rank has lately been sent out from
Paris. ~, -
After leaving Fort Hassinger Marchand
probably ascended the Such, and made
northward $50 miles to Wau. This town
Is not without it's sometime Importance.
for aGessi Pasha had at one time the
intention Of making it the chief station.
Of the Bahrel- Ghazal province It IL well
situated at point of the river whence
large hat-bottOmed craft could convey
goods throughout the year to =Meshra-er-
rex. a distance OF about $50 miles, was
doubtless traversed In the early part Of
the year. Junker made the journey from
the latter place to Fashoda in 1880 in
twelve days time.
Behold the little Frenchman at Fashoda!
His best officers have fallen victims OF
disease or the bullet, the Senegalese have
been reduced to a handful Of starving,
mutinous men, and there are no Abyss
sinians to use the 5000 reserve rifles that
he has brought with him. But he has
obeyed orders; his work is complete. He
has covered by reconnaissance large
and important tract Of country, has
covered 1t in a thorough and systematic
manner. with q view to securing q per-
-manent influence In those regions. But
where are his promised 4reinforcements?
Where = Prince Henri d. Orleans, he
who hat promised to rescue" his little
countryman by French rifles In the hands
Of his friends. the subjects of the genial
Marchand believed that his doom was
called: he could see before him only
.eath like that which had befallen the
.eglected Gordon; his brave little band
had but to die as the old guard had
persisted at Waterloo. Possibly in his
distress and desperation he felt like
hinging at his superiors in Paris the word
that Cambronne is said to have cast In
the teeth Of the English on that memor-
able field. Still the dervishes did not ar
rive. At length came the sidar, and ex-
planned why Marchand had not been an
initiated. The sidar had annihilated the
dervishes,
Lord Kitchener Of Khartum is six
years older than his DOGGY" and he
stands several inches over six feet, and
with steady. passionless eyes he looks
imperiously; above mems heads. His
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