New-York tribune., 1902-01-12

| The French narrative, clearly and cOncisely
| drawn up, is based upon information taken from
| all trustworthy sources. Out of the 1167 pages
| $50 are occupied by history and SO7 by ap-
pendices of official documents. 1t will be recol-
| lected that the German official account after
describing the slowness of the French concen-
| tration, contains a statement that French
| diplomacy might have delayed the outbreak of
hostilities until the army was ready to strike
but 1T now for the first time appears that the
| delay was the very last thing French diplomacy
| thought of, which was, the contrary, doing
| everything to hasten hostilities Even so late as
June, 1870, the French leaders were so blindIy
confident of their supposed superior rapidity of
mobilization that General LIE Brun, who acted
as the emissary to the Austrian court was au-
thorized by Marshal Lebouf to state that the
minimum effective force Of four hundred thou
sand men would be on the frontier in fourteen
days and begin operations the fifteenth. Ac-
cordlng to the French narrative one great cause
or the disasters was the pernicious incucation
into the French army since 1867 of exaggerated
views Of the superiority of defence over offence
owing TO the Improvement in firearms. The mar
ratVe also places in strong relief the absence of
a strong man at the head of the army, which
would have minimized the difficulties arising
from the unprepafedness of the quartermaster's
commissariat and equipment departments. The
Emperor is severely blamed for intensifying
these difficulties and is described rarely de-
pending on his own judgment. We find him con-
sulting now one general, now another-no
preme direction. unity of purpose. 1T is not
unusual" writes General Jarras, acting as chief
OF staff at imperial headquarters, for the EN-
peror to issue orders without my knowing any,
thing about them. The Emperor even went so
far as to dispose of divisions separately thus
rendering useless the orders of their corps COM
manders; so the commanders simply waited,
with their arms folded. for something to turn
up"
In commenting this astounding official
narrative. Lieutenant Colonel Picquart states
that the terrible lesson to be deduced from this
history is the clearness with which it shows
that unless the military system of a nation
breeds strong generals and competent staff Of
ficers the creation of an army is merely prepar-
Ing for the slaughter of hecatombs of human
victims
NJ. Lepne. Prefect of Police is so well salts
fed with the experiments of his canine brigade
attached to the police force for saving the lives
of the extraordinary numbers OF persons who
fall or jump into the Seine that seven new New
foundland dogs have been added TO It. The
names Of the new recruits Cesar, Turk Sui
tan. Paris Pelvoux. Jack and Diana Every
day dummy bodies tossed into the river.
The dogs now plunge in and bring them out
"iIAOuli d5 d IeW Gays ago, having a nSnC De-
tween themselves to the victim IN which
the dummy usually torn to shreds owing to
their Jealous rivalry.
The official statement of the receipts of twen-
ty-three leading Paris theatres shows that dur
ing the month of December SAT- 200 were taken
in at the doors, amount larger than the
ceipts for the corresponding month for five years
past. This is conclusive evidence that the sup
posed theatrical crisis Partisan dramatic critics
are so fond Of talking about is purely imaginary.
Albert Carre. manager Of the Opera Comique,
has Just engaged for three years a young Amer
lean soprano, Miss Elizabeth Parkinson one Of
Mime. Marchesis most promising pupils. Miss
Parkinson will make her debut next autumn.
Book collectors gathering in Paris for the
sale Of the library of the late Jules Simon which
will be sold Tuesday at the Sale Silvestre
Library. II took the eminent statesman and
philosopher fifty years to form his library. He
began buying books on the quays. then Tauch-
nitz publications. and subsequently rarer vol
umes and he used 10 stint himself 10 buy books.
The collection contains many remarkable works
on political economy and statecraft, being essen
TALLY the library OF a politician and literary
man. c. l. b.