The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-04 00:00:00

CONQUERORS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

In a communication from the King's Head-quarters,
Versailles, the special correspondent of the Standard thus
comments on the despatches of those who describe the
war :—When it once became clear that war was to be
between France and Germany, and that no with-
drawal of princely candidates for an empty throne
and no admirable supplications from happy Eng-
land could stay the rival rush of murderous batta-
lions, there arose once more the important question
Will newspaper correspondents be admitted
into camp, and will the great non-combatant nation which
gazes with academical tranquillity across a streak of silver
sea at the fury of a less fortunate Continent, be supplied
with those descriptions of marches, battles, retreats,
blood, ruin, and slaughter, without which, in
time of war, the morning meal cannot reason-
ably be expected to be palatable? How the question
was answered the whole world knows. At Paris
negatively, at Berlin affirmatively ; though even at the
latter the concession was at first not unlimited. There
was a certain amount of picking and choosing, and a
crowd of applicants were sent away, some without a
hearing, others with an explanatory and polite
refusal. Nevertheless, by the time the san-
guinary drama began to move, though not a single
English pen was permitted to chronicle the fortunes of
Imperial forces, there was no London journal of conse-
quence which had not at least one correspondent with the
German armies. The victories of the latter were as un-
broken as they were surprising, and one had but to
register a succession of successes in language which could
scarcely keep pace with their rapidity. No paeans could
be too loud to attend such triumphs ; and the writer
felt himself bound to the chariot wheels of the
conqueror. It will readily be imagined that the
relations of sword and pen were under such
circumstances, of the most agreeable kind. It was some-
thing to have the opportunity of describing to an eager
world feats of arms so wonderful as perhaps never to
have been rivalled, certainly never to have been surpassed;
and it could not but be gratifying to princely victors, and
all those attendant soldiers and statesmen who shared
their blushing honours, to see that their resplendent
fortune was narrated in words more profuse, high-
sounding, and attractive than can be hoped for
from the economical reticence of a submarine wire
or the meagre stateliness of a dilatory official
d4patch. Accordingly, there had never been so great a
nation as Germany, or such charming historians as your
humble servants. Everything was for the best on the
best of all possible battle fields, and in the columns of the
best of all possible newspapers. This entente cordiale,
which wag beaptiful to witness at Woerth and at
Spicheren, had become almost superhuman in its cordia-
lity at Mars la Tour and Gravelotte ; but when these were
crowned by Sedan, and an empire and a nation seemed to
be whelmed in a common calamity, brotherhood is a
weak word to express the tie which united conquerors and
correspondents; and has it not been written in imperish,
able records, that on the eve of that day, and in the very
centre of the battle-field, they drank beer together?
Could a good understanding go further? Nearly four
months have elapsed since 250,000 soldiers, electrified by
the marvellous result of their prowess and the genius of
their leaders, shouted with one exultant voice, "Der
Kaiser ist da !" and one strove to send home some idea of
a scene which it was probably felt by all could never
be adequately described. During those four months
victory has not deserted the banners under which we write,
but the course of the campaign, though still and almost
uninterruptedly favourable to the German arms, has
borne more resemblance to the proverbial ups and downs
of war than it did at the commencement. Paris has still
got a tight iron hand on its throat ; the Army of the
Loire has not fulfilled the promise of its spring ; Gari-
baldi has been more fatally hit than at Aspromonte
or Montana ; and the French Manchester and the
French Brighton hays alike been visited by the hungry
stranger. Still it has not been all "skittles and beer," as
it was up to the famous evening of Sedan. Paris, despite
the tight hand, does not choke ; a couple of phoenixes--
one in the West, another in the South—have arisen
from the ashes of D'Aurelle de Paladines ; and
the persevering Manteuffel has still a foe in front of
him. In a word, the conquerors have not carried
everything before them, and their friends, the corre•
spondents, have had to say so. Have they not written that

Paris displays a firm upper lip, a brave heart, an tmdaun•
ted front ; that it is not yet taken—nay, even that it never
can be taken, except by famine, and perhaps not even by
that unmartial method? Have they not blazoned it to
the world that the forts which surround the city can not
only bark, but bite too ; that they are strong, terribly
strong, probably inexpugnable, indubitably so against
any ordnance that is likely to be brought against
them ? Have they not published the fact that there
was an Army of the Loire, and that it was only half
beaten after all? Do they not occasionally hint that the
war has lasted too lone., that there aro Germans who
would like to see it brought to an cad, and that Father-
land i, . I.ing over its heavy losses? And these men
call theia, :,.‘; our friends ! I have !been hsured more
than once of late that all cor respondents are going to be
banished from the camp. They are a greater nuisance
even than the French wounded. Such, I can assure you
is the situation, and I think it need'occasion no surprise.
Anybody might have prophesied the violent end !of an
attachment not altogether natural. It is the duty
of the commanders of vast armies to win victories
—if they can. It is the office of correspondents, I take
t, to tell the truth—if they don't. But was that the
bargain? Bargains that are not reduced to writing are
always open to double interpretations; and I will not
presume to decide what was expected of the gentlemen
who were, on one side, allowed to communicate freely
with the English public on the subject of French and
German valour. I can only say that, evidently, some•
thing was expected from them different from what they
have given ; otherwise they could not have caused dis-
pleasure.