25 NOVEMBER 1871, Page 1

It is stated that Rowel, the ablest officer who joined

the Com- mune, the writer who framed the plan for the reorganization of the French Army recently reviewed in our columns, and the only officer who desired to continue the War of Independence after the conditions of peace had been announced, WAS to be shot on Friday on the plain of Satory. As no announcement of a reprieve had been received in London up to Friday evening, it is presumed that the sentence has been carried out. The defence for this severity is that it would be impossible to shoot a soldier for desertion if an officer so well known to be guilty of the offence were let off, but motive surely is part of crime, and Rossel's motives were thoroughly understood, and indeed admitted. He did not desert for his own interest or to join the Corn- muue, but to avail himself of the insurrection as a force to be burled against the Germans. It was for this purpose he sought the Dictatorship, and his execution for an act committed with such a motive will be a lasting stain upon the Government which

condemn him. They might as well have shot Gambetta for trying to save the honour of France.