The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-08-27 00:00:00

COt gotoulribge 01)setter.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1870.

HOPES OP PEACE.

Amid the rolling thunders, the dark clouds,
and the lurid lightning flashes of War there is
a break on the horizon, and a faint glimmering
of " the star of Peace," but it is scarcely per-
ceptible. There is indeed some faint prospects
of peace, but not yet. It is said that the Em-
press of the French a short Buie ago wrote to
Queen Victoria, urging her to use her influence
in mediating between the two contending powers
who are now ravaging some of the fairest por-
tions of Europe. The Queen is said to have
replied, regretting her inability to mediate, and
adding that in England mediation roust proceed
from the Cabinet, but that the Cabinet did not
think the time come This statement has since
been flatly contradicted by the French Ministry.
Whether this statement be strictly true or not,
we know that our Government did all that lay
in its power to prevent the war breaking out;
that the new treaty concluded with regard to the
neutrality of Belgium was entered upon with a
view to prevent either power from doing any.
thing that would force us into the war; while
there is good reason to believe that the Premier
and the Foreign Secretary have subsequently
used their influence in favour of peace, though
the time for actual mediation may not even yet
have come.

At present it would seem that this awful war
must go on to "the bitter end." A special cor-
respondent of the Telegraph, writing from Paris,
says, "It is all very well for the English jour-
nals to prate about making peace, but an Eng-
lishman who ventures on such advice in any
French room will be apt to repent that be has
been so ill-advised as to name a word which is
an insult to every Frenchman." This is strong
language, but there is doubtless much truth in
it. Tile very idea of peace must, under the pre
sent circumstances, be repugnant to the feeling
of Frenchmen. Hut they must submit to fact-.
nevertheless. They have suffered a series ~1
terrible disasters. Weissemburg, Woerth, a m
Forbach were calamitous defeats, by which 1
French forces suffered immensely, and sl
queutly oi,i,der has followed upon disaNter. A
Prussian official dispatch reckons the loess • of
the French at Coureelles, Vionville, and Grave
..otte (Rezonvillej at between 12,000 and 15,000
~IPII, in tic,ri shin., and e-ti.eatf,s th” total
It.c7nding wounded and prisoners, at fA!"
„..,. I.—ea ent It
JeLei eharseterbaii by exager4Ln at•
Prvindb.o that those initinisouu ure

4137 k; for even the Fit mit account,, ot
saute of Gravelotte state that their loss on Lim
• ecattiun was 15,00 cenuded, "without count-
ing the dead.- A Prussian dispatch, dated on
the 22nd, relative to the battle of Rezonville,
moreover states that the losses could not then
he even approximately estimated, and that the
Prussians took several thousand prisoners. Sim-
ultaneously with these statements we find ano-
ther to the effect that the German looses in
killed and wounded up to the same point um.
minted to about 40,000. It may be regarded
therefore as a very low estimate of the killed
and wounded on both sides up to the battle of
Rezonville if we place it at 100,000. And then
sickness and disease are playing havoc with both
armies. As we write, a more awful battle than
any that has yet taken place is expected, and
even this is not thought likely to be the culmin-
ate battle of the war. The news from Paris,
it will be seen, is of the most alarming charac-
ter. Perhaps the most beautiful city in the
world, the home of refinement cod civilisation
is preparing for a state of siege, and if the cal-
amity take place, no tongue will be able to tell,
no pen to write, its horrors. Earnestly it is to
be hoped, in the interests of civilisation, that
the world will be spared this awlul termination
to the horrid drama of war that is now being
played. It may be that the very horror of such
a siege, the prospect of the destruction of the
holiday resort of people from all parts of the
world, may lead to intervention before the vic-
torious Prussians commence to mar the beauty
of the place, and scatter ruin and destruction
around. But the inhabitants of Paris are pre-
paring for a state of siege, "the time of jib.
sinus being past. The entire " situation " is
thus sketched by the Daily Asetes:—" And now
the invader ii invaded ; the aggressor is put on
his defence ; the army that dashed forth for its
gay march over prostrate Germany, lies broken,
though not dishonoured, in Lorraine, while the
avenging German hosts are marching over pros-
trate France. Three weeks ago the French
Emperor and his splendid 'Army of the Rhine'
were all preparing for their swoop on Reale, and
now the Crown Prince of Prussia and 150,000
men have passed the Emperor and his artuies
by, as things, of no account, and are marching
upon Paris.

'At such a critical time earnestly are hopes of
peace expressed in many qui:titers. How long,
.t is ahked, are two civilized peoples thus to
slaughter and murder each 001,r, to ravage
towing and %%fleets, to wake hullo a desolate,
jhi tureu father:cis, and wis. wbrow.ii ? What
sit all for The nations tneuiselves had not
oarrelied when side fierce war first broke out,
out national hatreds have been engendered as
the war has proceeded. It is chiefly the sove-
reigns end the Cabinets of the two countries
that have been to blame, and, as far as can at
present be seen, the sovereign that is chiefly to
blame mast fall. Imperialism in France has
received a fatal blow, and Napoleon 111, bids
fair to be the last reigning Bonaparte. But if
this lie one of the articles of the peace that we
trust may ere long be concluded, we would fain
hope that France, as a nation and a Power, may
not be made to suffer too severely. What the
world most yearns for is some definite arrange-
ment between the great Powers that would ren-
der impossible, or, at least, highly improbable,
another such an awful war as that under which
Europe now groans.