The Daily Reckoning
Paris, France
Good Friday, 9 April 2004
The Daily Reckoning PRESENTS: How did the word 'French'
become synonymous with 'yellow-belly'? Bill Bonner peruses
the blood-stained pages of history...
IN PRAISE OF COWARDS
by Bill Bonner
"Rien ne saurait interrompre les actions généreusement
bienfaisantes de la France en Indochine."
(Nothing can stop the generous good works of France in
Indochina [Vietnam].)
- Indo-China Governor-General Pierre Pasquier, 1930
A joke made its way around the Internet following the train
bombings in Madrid:
"In response to the terrorism events in Madrid, the French
government announced a change in its alert status... from
'run' to 'hide.' If the threat worsens, the French may be
forced to increase their level of security, declaring a
move to 'surrender' or 'collaboration' status as events
develop."
One of the many conceits Americans permit themselves is
that they bravely face up to the world's terrorist menace,
while others - most notably, the French - cower in fear.
Elsewhere, in the International Herald Tribune, comes a
letter to the editor in which the writer takes issue with
an apparently widespread report that John Kerry is worried
about looking "too French" and that this is a sign of
"weakness" in the eyes of the lumpen voters.
We stop still in our tracks. We hold our breath. There must
be a price to be paid for such arrogant dumbo-ism. But
Americans are ready to believe anything - if it flatters
them.
Anyone who has ever cracked open a history book couldn't
help but know that French history is drenched in blood.
When it came to butchering each other, what the Gaullic
tribes didn't know about it probably wasn't worth knowing.
And then, there were the wars with the Romans... and with
the English... and religious wars... and wars with between
princes... between kingdoms... wars for no reason. Weakness?
Cowardice? A group of Norman French fighters no bigger than
a small-town police force invaded and captured all of
England. Bonaparte took on all of Europe... and almost beat
them all.
General Marbot records an incident in the campaign against
Russia in which a group of French soldiers is cut off from
the main force, but visible from the Emperor's commandpost.
Realizing that they could not expect reinforcements, the
brigade sent a message to Bonaparte - 'We, who are about to
die, salute you.' Then, they fought to the last man.
Later this month comes the anniversary of the Battle of
Camerone. Napoleon's nephew sent troops to Mexico in the
1860s. In the action surrounding the siege of Puebla, a
group of 60 French foreign legionnaires was cut off and
confronted by an army of 2,000 Mexicans. The Mexican
commander asked for a surrender. Instead, the French vowed
to fight to the last man. Trapped in an inn, the soldiers
had nothing to eat or drink. Then, the Mexicans set the
place on fire.
"In spite of the heat and smoke," explains a report on the
Internet, "the legionnaires resisted, but many of them were
killed or injured. By 5 pm on April 30, 1863, only 12 men
could still fight with 2nd Lieutenant Maudet. At this time,
the Mexican colonel gathered his soldiers and told them
what a disgrace it would be if they were unable to defeat
such a small number of men. The Mexicans were about to give
the general assault through the holes opened in the walls
of the courtyard... [they] once again asked Lieutenant
Maudet to surrender. Once again, Maudet scornfully refused.
"The final charge was given. Soon, only 5 men were left
around Maudet; Corporal Maine, legionnaires Catteau,
Wensel, Constantin, and Leonard. Each had only one bullet
left. In a corner of the courtyard, their backs against the
wall, still facing the enemy, they fixed bayonets. When the
signal was given, they opened fired and fought with their
bayonets. Lieutenant Maudet and 2 legionnaires fell,
mortally wounded. Maine, along with his 2 remaining
companions, were about to be slaughtered when a Mexican
officer saved them. He shouted: 'Surrender!'
"'We will, only if you promise to allow us to carry and
care for our injured men and if you leave us our guns.'
"'Nothing can be refused to men like you,' answered the
officer."
And this spring also marks the 50th anniversary of the
Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Writer Graham Greene visited the
French just before the shooting started. He found them well
supplied - with 48,000 bottles of wine. But after the
Vietnamese terrorists captured the airstrips, the French
were cut off and doomed. Still, they held out - hoping a
diplomatic solution could be found. It did not come.
After a 56-day siege, French general de Castries radioed
his superior in Hanoi: "I'm blowing up the installations.
The ammunition dumps are already exploding. Au revoir."
"Well then," came the reply, "au revoir, mon vieux."
After the fall of Indo-China, the French renounced their
"civilizing mission" foreign policy. Now, it is America
that tromps over the planet, claiming to make the world a
better place.
But when it comes to blockheaded bellicosity and desperate
courage, Americans have nothing to teach the French.
In comparison to Napoleon's grand campaigns, America's
early wars were piddling, tawdry affairs. Its wars against
the Mexicans and Spaniards, for example, were more sordid
than glorious. Even its Revolutionary War was merely a
minor engagement in comparison to the Napoleonic wars, and
only won because the French intervened at a crucial moment
to pull Americans' chestnuts out of the fire. Here, we
quote Charles W. Eliot's history, in which he describes how
the patriots had fallen "into a condition of despondency
from which nothing but the steadfastness of Washington and
the Continental army and the aid from France saved them."
In WWI, the French battered themselves against the Germans
for two years - and suffered more casualties than America
had in all its wars put together - before the Pershing ever
set foot in France. Again, in WWII, Americans waited until
the combatants had been softened up... before entering the
war with an extraordinary advantage in fresh soldiers and
almost unlimited supplies.
Americans have no history. Probably just as well. The
French, on the other hand, have too much. Practically every
street in Paris reminds them of a slaughter somewhere. Upon
the Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides, and dozens of other
piles of stone, the names of towns in Germany, Spain,
Italy, Poland, Russia... or North Africa... are inscribed.
Each one marks the deaths of thousands of French soldiers -
gone early to their graves for who-remembers-what important
national purpose. Every town in France, even the most
remote and forlorn little burg, has at its center a pillar
of granite or marble - with the names of the men whose
bodies were torn to bit by flying lead or corroded by some
battlefield disease. A whole race of orphans grew up after
WWI... and special seats on the subway were designated for
those "mutilated in war" including thousands of "sans
gueules" - men who had had their jaws blown away and yet
survived, too horrible to look upon.
The French have had enough of war - at least for now. Let
them enjoy a well-earned cowardice. We will get our chance.
Regards,
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning
Editor's note: Bill Bonner is the founder and editor of The
Daily Reckoning. He is also the author, with Addison
Wiggin, of the international bestseller: Financial
Reckoning Day: Surviving The Soft Depression of The 21st
Century (John Wiley & Sons).