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Black Republic of Letters

Note - Gustave Zédé

Gustave Zédé (1825-1891) was a French naval engineer. He helped develop submarine technology. Learn more about Gustave Zédé.

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"Miscellany" Translation:
A Parricide - A peasant's greed
Beauvais, 30 August

A horrible murder has just been committed in Monceaux, a canton of Liancourt. A son killed his mother with a billhook. His name is Gustave Droupy, married and the father of two children, who was to pay his widowed mother an annual rent of 75 francs. He did not pay it regularly. Having been given notice to comply, he brought 20 francs to the court bailiff at Liancourt; but at the same time he also gave himself up to a number of alcoholic drinks.

Returning to Monceaux, Droupy made his way, armed with a billhook, to his mother's home. Forcing the door opened, he threw himself in a rage on the unfortunate woman, who was asleep with the murderer's young sister, aged 17. The latter ran in fear out of the house in her night gown.

Droupy then set to blindly thrashing, aiming for his victim's head.

The widow fought back, and although she was covered with blood, she managed to get up and make it to the door; but her son followed her, and she fell down dead from the final blows, ten metres from the door.

As soon as his crime was accomplished, the murderer went to give himself up as a prisoner at the town hall. The police were summoned and took him to the prison at Clermont.

Droupy did not express the slightest remorse.

(From the newspaper Le Matin)

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Universal Scientific Alliance
The universal scientific alliance has just opened in the four corners of the world, its quinquennial search for a new president and its first vice-president.

It is known that this association which has delegations—essentially scientific consulates—in more than 400 localities, aspires to furnish, for intellectuals, men of letters and artists who are travelling, on their arrival in each town, all information that they might need and to immediately put them in contact with the most important people in the place who are involved with the same studies. In the case of sickness abroad, its members are cared for, free of charge, by special doctors.

Among the people presented for the presidency by the Central Committee, we note: Mr. Léon de Rosny, the outgoing president who succeeded Messrs. Carnot, the senator, and de Sarliges, the former ambassador; Mr. Baron Al. Kraus, delegate general of Italy in Florence; Mr. Auguste Lesouef, commissioner general in Romania, and Mr. Célestin Lagache, the former senator. For the vice-presidency: Mr. le Chevalier de Saint-Georges d'Armstrong, well known for his important work on international law, and Mr. G. Eloffe, officer of the academy, president of the Oceanic Society of France.

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Redskins and Civilization
It is known how much tenacity the Redskins are exerting to resist the Anglo-Saxon efforts to make them completely disappear. Lately, to show their vitality, they have dislodged the inhabitants of an island and taken it over. This recent undertaking will assure them the sympathy of all our philanthropists. Those of us who have arrived at civilization will work to civilize others. They will open schools, create learning workshops, farm schools, etc.

Furthermore, instead of mixing with other races, they group together further among themselves, an essential condition for their decimated race not to disappear. All of these ideas were discussed in a series of conferences in New York and Boston by two Redskins, and will be happening in Europe and even in Paris.

We will have more for our readers later.

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American Fantasia
The Justice says that a cyclist from Cincinnati has recently proposed to the administrators of the Eiffel Tower to ascend up to the third story by covering the stairs that connect the second and third story with a helical plank.

This fantastical proposition was not accepted.

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The Navy of the Future
The Gymnote, the submarine boat constructed by the care of Admiral Zédé, has just carried out the most conclusive experiment.
We wanted to determine if we could depart from the Toulon harbour and enter it again, despite a blockade and attentive torpedo boats.

Many of the latter were thus spread out between Cap Cépet and Sainte-Marguerite, with the order to survey the Gymnote and to follow it if it was perceived.

At the indicated time, the submarine, posted at the shelter of the seawall, weighed anchor and came out from the small passageway, directing itself in a straight line toward the open sea by a dive that lasted 40 minutes; it thus crossed the line of torpedo boats without being seen, and, more than two and a half miles away, it returned to the surface, only letting its periscope up above the water in order to establish its position.

It found that it was exactly where it had intended to be at the moment when it dove; there, it turned while diving once again, and headed back, this time toward the large passageway. Crossing the blockade line, it passed just under a torpedo boat, which caught sight of it for an instant, but not clearly enough to track and follow it.
(From the newspaper La France)

La France thinks that submarine torpedo boats are set to overturn, in the foreseeable future, the rules of naval tactics. This newspaper hopes that the French navy will be reformed in this way.

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Statue of the Inventor of Photography
The American Society of Photographers, gathered in Washington for their annual convention, have just inaugurated, in the rotunda in the National Museum, a magnificent monument, raised by subscription, to the memory of Daguerre, the inventor of photography.

This monument, entirely of bronze, is the work of a New York sculptor, Mr. J. S. Hartley; he personifies Fame, respectfully placing a crown on the head of this great French inventor, who comes off on a medallion.

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Related articles:
Foreboding of War With the benefit of hindsight, it is impossible not to see hints of the upcoming Great War in the pages of La Fraternité. France had suffered a devastating loss to the emerging German empire in 1870-1871, and the unresolved tensions between the two countries were still palpable in the press twenty years later. Often, rumours of a possible future war appear in "News in Brief" articles in La Fraternité. Below, you'll find a growing collection of brief articles (plus some excerpts of larger articles) that are clearly describing the very processes that led to the First World War some two decades later.
27 August 1890:
Miscellany: The Disarmament of Europe
The interest in Wilhelm II's recent trip to Russia consists less in the interview between these two emperors than in that of their respective chancellors.

It seems that, among the questions approached in the conversation of General de Caprivi and Mr. de Giers, that of general disarmament was not able to bring about any agreement between the two diplomats.

"The question of disarmament is nothing but a chimera," said the Soleil. "To achieve this good dream, renewed by Abbé de Saint-Pierre, there would need to be resolution to the Bulgarian question, to the question of Alsace-Lorraine, the Romanian questions, that of Trieste and of Trentin, as well as twenty other questions of which any one could set fire to Europe."

And according to the same paper, Mr. de Giers should have replied: "Germany can disarm if it considers its position to be so strong. This would set a good example and be a curious humanitarian experiment. But Russia, if you please, would not follow suit."
Meandering:
Consider the way Europe is avoiding war: armed peace. The States are staring each other down. It is up to the one who portrays itself as the most fearsome, who has the most perfected engines of war. And as soon as one country has finished arming its troupes with a new model gun, another newer model suddenly appears. Thus, the Italian war committee has just been presented with an automatic weapon that has the speed of 51 shots per minute.

There is also Mr. Paul Giffard's gas pistol. It's a clever idea. The principle behind the invention is the expansion force of liquified gasses coming back to the gaseous state.

A heavy-duty case, containing liquid carbonic acid, is placed under the barrel. The movement of the trigger acts on a valve system to let a drop of liquid through, which turns to gas in the bore of the gun, and shoots the bullet forward.

Let's hope that the inventor hurries to make the necessary perfections for it to be adopted in use.

2 September 1890:

News & Rumours: The Political Situation in Europe
According to the newspaper La France, the conclusion to draw from the interview between the tsar and the emperor of Germany is as follows:

"Russia and France, equally strong and powerful, form the best guarantee of peace, and it is very evident that as long as this alliance lasts, thanks to common interests, there will be no need to fear a change in the status quo in Europe.

" The triple alliance will not start a war of aggression, they will have too much to lose. For their part, France and Russia do not want to start a war whose consequences could be terrible for Europe as a whole."
Miscellany: The Navy of the Future
The Gymnote, the submarine boat constructed by the care of Admiral Zédé, has just carried out the most conclusive experiment...

...torpedo boats are set to overturn, in the foreseeable future, the rules of naval tactics. This newspaper hopes that the French navy will be reformed in this way.

10 September 1898:
Bulletin of Europe and America
France – ... The arming is continuing, in view of the next war; the French see this as the guarantee of the security and the tranquility of their country.
Italy – Mr. Crispi [Italian PM] still thrashing around in the gears of the Triple Alliance. He has derailed the attempts at a reconciliation between France and Italy, which many of his better intentioned and perspicacious compatriots are working for. Semi-official speeches have shown that Italy shares the sentiments of hostility of its minister, and that, commercially and militarily speaking, the best thing to do on both sides of the Alps is to keep arms at the ready and to stay alert...
Russia – Russia is still the counterweight of the Triple Alliance, the supreme dispenser of peace or war in Europe. From time to time nihilists, to affirm their existence, blow up something or someone. The links of friendship with France still reach out and strengthen themselves more and more...
Germany – Since Emperor Wilhelm's voyage to Russia, he has hardly produced news worth reporting. On this subject, in Berlin there is much talk about a sensational article in the newspaper Annales Prussiennes which said that the voyage was a deception, and that the Russian court entertained its imperial guest with a series of pointless theatrical parades, while the military administration had ordered very serious manoeuvres on the western borders, just as the parade was finishing. It even adds that the Prince of Bismarck is visibly the instigator of this failed voyage.

The great manoeuvres and the inspection of the fleet at Kiel are currently demanding attention, with festivities and imperial receptions, all the subjects to keep up on.

The principal interest of the manoeuvres that took place on 6 September was the infantries' shooting with smokeless powder. It seems that the results were excellent. We can only cry alas! thinking about the murderous goal of all these great discoveries.

The Next War: Sub-Marine Boats
The rapid progress of modern science prevents the powers from keeping their secrets or their monopolies on discoveries for a long time. As soon as one of them has found a new invention, the others strive to penetrate it and have soon appropriated it for themselves.

In 1886, Messrs. Zédé and Goubet only had the Swede Nordenfeld as competition in the realm of "submarine" boats; today France is far from alone.

One can imagine the profound revolution that must take place in the art of naval tactics from the appearance of this new engine of rapid destruction.

What will the next war be, which, according to the most optimistic predictions, is only adjourned?

The most fruitful imagination is powerless to conceive of the horror. It will be something horrendous, unbelievable.

But who knows? If all of the powers make use of smokeless powder on land, submarines at sea, perhaps we will be able to say, like the old refrain:

When everyone has weapons, it is as if no one does.
"The Next War: Sub-Marine Boats" Translation:

The rapid progress of modern science prevents the powers from keeping their secrets or their monopolies on discoveries for a long time. As soon as one of them has found a new invention, the others strive to penetrate it and have soon appropriated it for themselves.

In 1886, Messrs. Zédé and Goubet only had the Swede Nordenfeld as competition in the realm of "submarine" boats; today France is far from alone.

From the first attempts of the Gymnote, all the maritime powers began studying the question, and most of them arrived at satisfactory solutions.

In Spain, the Peral, although it was rejected by the admiralty, gave, in various tests and experiments, notably results.

In Germany, they built at Kiel a submarine torpedo boat which moved underwater by way of stored steam. Its speed would be up to 9 knots during immersion. Three other submarine torpedo boats are currently in the experimental stage at State construction sites, and other submarine ships are being studied.

In Italy, the engineer Balmasello has just done tests at Civita-Vecchia of his "submarine," which is of spherical form and bears the name Belle nautique. According to a correspondence with the Figaro, this boat manoeuvres easily afloat, and, after diving, it descends to great and small depths, comes rapidly to the surface, exploding barks or conveniently place planks with dynamite cartridges, and finally it can extract items from the floor of the sea after they have been tossed there.

Up to this point, however, it seems that French submarines are superior to the others. Here, according to a learned study published in the Marine française: 1. the nautical methods of the Goubet, and 2. its attack methods:
The master quality of the Goubet is a perfect stability. It is always balanced amid the element that makes up its environment; it descends and rises always vertically.

The vessel being balanced, the forced need it to set it moving is very small; this mass of six tonnes is very easy to manoeuvre with oars by a single man. The slightest manipulation of its ballast makes it descend and rise with great speed. It thus has in its power all of the necessities to make it disappear from the sight of an enemy as soon as it has been noticed.

It was demonstrated, by the latest experiments that took place at Cherbourg, that the Goubet can be manoeuvred with such great precision that it can come up beside a ship without being noticed.

The Goubet possesses, moreover, the means of immobilizing a ship without sinking it. It can engage the ship's propellor.

The order to torpedo a ship having been given, here is what it does:

If it found itself at a great distance, it would navigate to get closer, and as soon as it arrived in proximity, it would descend so as to leave nothing but its optic tube in projection above the water. In this conditions it is invisible. Up to 100 metres from the battleship, the advance is by way of the engine, but from that point the Goubet advance by oar in order avoid producing eddies. Around 50 metres, the pilot identifies the exact position of the ship on a compass and, abruptly, retracts the optical tube in order to dive to 1 or 5 metres. It is at this depth that he advances, chooses his point of attack, triggers his torpedo and, still at the same depth, distances himself swiftly from the spot using the engine.

If he had been spotted, he would only have to change direction or descent a few metres lower to be sheltered from the most powerful pieces, and ultimately, it is the little submarine that wins the fight against the immense battleship.
One can imagine the profound revolution that must take place in the art of naval tactics from the appearance of this new engine of rapid destruction.

What will the next war be, which, according to the most optimistic predictions, is only adjourned?

The most fruitful imagination is powerless to conceive of the horror. It will be something horrendous, unbelievable.

But who knows? If all of the powers make use of smokeless powder on land, submarines at sea, perhaps we will be able to say, like the old refrain:

When everyone has weapons, it is as if no one does.
A commander on leave

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