Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-17

also an embodiment of that aspiring, half
dasparing France that hop.s, almost
against hope, to keep up with the process
SION of the twentieth century. For the
more sanguine-and for those who would
exploit him-he is even the man whom
destiny seems to hold in reserve, who will
rise, in his proper hour, to stgmatiZe the
regime of Intrigue and corruption, untruth
and cowardice under which France suffo-
Gates" All of which seems strange to an
outsider. Certainly there must be many
other honest and brave officers in France.
Marchand cannot be such an exception!
Marchnnd and Dreyfus.
Tho argument seems to be something
like this: AT the hour when France was
feeling most keenly the humiliation of the
ugly DreyfHs imbroglio, Marchand was do
ing clean work, to the honor of his coun-
try, in central Africa. 1t is refreshing TO
gaze at him. Here We take leave of sense
to enter the domain of rhetoric Those who
are roofing most Vehemently for the COM
mandant, the anti-Semites of the Drumont-
RUchefort type, argue that the refreshing
contrast is against the dark picture of the
plot to save Dreyfus In obliginS this
hSrolc officer to give UP to the English
! ashoda, his glorious conquest; in inffcting
on him such a humiliation before the enc
my, how could the band of international
tramps doubt that the France of Du Cues
elm and Bayard, of Jeanne dan, and Ma
pcleon, oppressed and soiled by herd of
politicians in the pay of financiers would
ney erthelesS Immediately see herself reborn
in him and see in him the very image of
the patrie!'
They even make contrast between
Marchand and Dreyfus. Dreyfus is the SON
OF lnlllonalre parents; reared in abundance
ne was able to pursue the higher studies re-
served Tor the favoriteS of fortune March,
ard is the son of little country carpenter.
through youth of labor and priyatiun he
vas able to gain only a secondary educa-
Ion with one year of college. Dreyfus
came out of the Polytechnic School a sub-
lieutenant, and had only to let himself drift,
10 arrive at the highest grades MarchaEd.
alter working five years as notarv's
clerk, volunteered as a private and con-
quered, one by one, his stripes only by
pfodlgles of will power, work and courage.
Marchand at Fashoda.
Tie point of departure for making the
Commandment Marchand, willingly or I'M
willingly, the popular hero who should res
cue the cause of the stay-at-home etat-
major was certainly his now famous letter
to the artist Forain. 1t was on the 2lst of
September, at Fashoda, when the Marchand
party, having been ten months without
news OF Europe, received, through the cour-
tesy OF English officers, n bundle of old
newspapers. Il have only two lines to
add, wrote Marchand to the French artist
whose cartoon had touched him. ..One hour
after having opened those newspapers the
ten French officers were Weepiug and
trembling. There we first learned that the
Dreyfus affair had been reopened with a
horrible campaign of infamies And during
thirty-siX horrs not one of us was able to
say word tC the othersr'
Nhen, on his return to France, Capt. Bar
alter brought back the order to cvacuate
fashoda, the scene was again a sad one
'Baratter did not dare to look at Marchand
The latter, with presentiment of bad
news, sougth 10 pe1etrate the bottom of
his comrades soul. Then Baratier de-
Jecedly let fall his arms. Marchand under
stood. He seemed to grow wild with rage
The two walked away. Let us respect the
torture of the first interview! From that
moment, how ever, Marchand became silent:
and during the dinner offered to him by NJ
Thovenet, chef de service of the SueZ Canal
Company, the brave officer could not retain
his tears
All that is necessary now is to complete
the argument to persuade Marchand and
the people of France that had not the
Dreyfus affair divided the country France
would not have been obliged to give up
FaShoda tc the English, On the one hand
Dreyfus. On the :ther hand Marchand
The Explorers Family.
The exploitation of the poverty of the
youthful Marchand is being carried on with
energy. Thoissy is a nice enough little vii
lage in the Burgundy district. Here Mar
chand was born, and here still lives his
sister Constance and his father. A brother,
Auguste, is government clerk at Bamako.
Another, Constant, fifteen years of age is
preparing to enter the navy. A third
brother, Petrus, a on-commissioned officer,
was killed in the Soudan in 1885. AS to the
pere Marchand. the French papers say that
he Is simplicity itself. ITO all the compile
ments addressed him on the extraordinary
exploits Of his son, he responds, smiling;