The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-16 00:00:00

A STRUGGLE FOR PEACE.

The Times says :—As often as it is urged that neutrals
have their duties as well as their rights, and flail not the
least of their duties is to attempt, and again attempt, to
assist in making peace between belligerents, the ready
answer comes that the task is full of difficulty. There is,
no doubt, great foundation of truth for the plea.
We are told from Berlin that as Neutral Govern-
ments must be aware that Germany will on no ac-
count deviate from her conditions of peace, their efforts
at mediation must be exclusively directed to the labour of
persuading France to submit. This declaration imputes to
Neutral Governments a knowledge they do not possess.
What are the German conditions of peace? No statement
of them has over been communicated by any authority to
the Neutral Powsrs, and the first object of any mediator
must be to ascertain, bath from France and
Germany, upon what terms each would consent to a sus-
pension of hostilities. There would of course, be a con-
siderable divergency between them, and it is the proper
office of diplomacy to lessen this. If, when all is done, it
should appear that the pretensions of the belligerents
are still absolutely irreconcilable, neutrals would be
compelled to abandon their benevolent efforts ; but be-
fore this stage could be reached something would have
being realised. If Germany proposed terms which a
'neutral thought Vrance might accept, and the Provisional
Government hesitated, it would be right to insist
upon the propriety of referring the question to
the people. If the French Government expressed
their willingness to assent to terms which ap-
peared to neutrals adequate, and Germany refused
them, the possible danger and the certain cost of refusal
could be at least indicated. Under either of these
hypotheses the guilt of protracting the war would be
fixed on one or the ether belligerent, and it would be
worth the pains if this were accomplished. Only on the
supposition that both combatants proved utterly unreason-
able would the attempt to mediate prove an utter
failure, and the risk of this contingency cannot justify
neutral Powers in remaining in a state of inaction which
was never very honourable and is becoming almost
criminal.

The Daily News, on the name subject, observes :
We are fully aware of the vast difficulties which stand in
the way of intervention. No sane person would ask that
Lord Granville should merely invite the Neutral Powers
to express to Prussia an opinion that the war had
gone far enough. To ask the German armies
to pack up their baggage and go home would be
worse than ridiculous. All that can be asked is
that Germany in her own interest, not less than in that of
France and of Europe, shall moderate her demands. A
compromise might be urged on both sides. Neither side
has a right to insist on its full claims, and each might
fairly be asked to grant something to the susceptibili-
ties of the other. If Frenchmen resolve not
to tr►at while a single hostile foot is on their
soil, we may admire their heroism, but we must put off
till some far remoter period all hopes of peace. If France
chooses to suffer rather than to ask for peace, we shall
still regret her miseries, but we must resign all idea of
bringing them to a speedy end. On the other hand, if
Prussia insists on extravagant demands, French
resistance must go on. Germany has less to lose
by any peace than France has. If the German
soldiers never set foot in Paris, Germany would have all
the security she needs. The great duel has not only
proved lief to be the stronger, but made her so, by giving
the German people that political union which is
solitary strength. Moreover', France, if she be capable
of profiting by cruel experience, must have unlearned
the evil lesson of military glory, and, having found
the Napoleonic legend to be a delusion, seek to cultivate
her resources and consolidate her freedom. Why cannot
two such peoples be brought to terms ? Why must they
fight on till one or both are exhausted ? Both want
peace, and one is too proud id offer it, the other too proud
to ask it ; why, then, cannot the diplomacy of Europe
propose to them ?