The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-27 00:00:00

PARIS AND THE CAPITULATION.

The Times, commenting on the negotiations going on
between the two contending parties, says :—The rumours
respecting the impending capitulation of Paris are con-
flicting, and the only positive news seems to be that the
negotiations are in progress. Paris consents to parley.
She is, therefore, ready to capitulate. The Govern-
ment of National Defence have sent M. Jules Favre
to Versailles, not so much with any hope of obtain-
ing favourable terms as from a necessity of submitting
to any terms. They 'have ventured upon advances that
must needs be construed into a desire to surrender.
With that rashness which seems invariably to charac-
terise the utterance of French public men at this junc-
ture, General Trochu in a recent proclamation de-
clared that "the Governor of Paris would never
capitulate." The 'stubborn fact is the Governor of
Paris, whoever he may be, ' must either surrender the
place or "burn it like a second Moscow," and M.
Gambetta himself, who talks of adopting this latter
alternative rather than allow the enemy to take posses-
sion of the town, would think twice before he set fire
to it. The Governor of Paris must submit to the
enemy's conditions, and it is by no means difficult to foresee
what those conditions will be. • They were sketched by
us in anticipation from the moment the earliest tidings
of negotiation reached us. Substantially those con-
ditions must rest on two principles. The Germans
must above all things consider their own safety,
and then the feelings of the vanquished Parisians.
Whatever in Paris comes under the denomination
of an army or of a fortress n.ust be delivered up
to them—all the fighting men, all the forts, and all the
ramparts. With the city itself they will not interfere
more than they can help, for their next object must be to
shew forbearance to their vanquished enemy and spare a
generous and only too susceptible people. It might be too
much, perhaps, to say that the city will not have to
receive a foreign garrison ; but with good will on both
sides there need be no permanent occupation. 'What
Government Frame may choose to place at her head
after the conclusion of peace must surely be a
matter of indifference to Count Bismarck. The only
point which really concerns him is with what Go-
vernment he can make peace. It is this enormous
difficulty which has made him turn his thoughts to
Wilhelmshohe and Chiselhurst. But the convocation of
a National Assembly would afford a much better solution
of the difficulty than any such melodramatic formality,
and it is but Ast that neither should war be continued or
peace conclu*d without the people having a voice in the
deliberation.
The Telegraph says :—Up to a late hour last night no
official communications had reached London concerning
the discussions at Versailles. The head-quarters'
rumours which have been received, however, are
probably founded on fact ; and, though the ' final
issue may be delayed while propositions and
counter-propositions are duly considered, the end
is near and certain. It is clear that the disastrous failure
of the last sortie and the fatal news from the provinces
have destroyed the fond illusions which had hitherto
buoyed up the brave Parisians, and they behold them-
selves in the cruel strait of having to choose bet Ween
the tender mercies of Count Bismarck on the one
hand, or the ravages of famine on the other. It
is a sad alternative ; but there is no humiliation
in submitting to the inevitable. Paris will have deserved
none the less of France for having despairingly suc-
cumbed to an irresistible fate. She has fulfilled, far
beyond the hopes of. her friends and the calculations of
her enemies, the task which she undertook so bravely.
She Ikas given the provinces time to provo
whether they could organise armies sufficient to raise
the investment, and the provinces have responded
gallantly, but ineffectually, to her appeal. Self-
sacrifice for a noble object is a sublime virtue, but self-
sacrifice without purpose would be a crime. It would
have been no boon to France that the population of Paris
should be decimated by hunger, and the beautiful
'city herself laid low by the fire of the be-
siegers. On the contrary, we believe that next to
the fury against the Germans would be the indignation
against the Government of National Defence if they
allowed any feeling of false pride to bring about
useless destruction of life and property. There
is scarcely a capital in Europe, except our own, which
has not been obliged, within the memory of men still
living, to open its gates to an enemy ; and perhaps \lie owe
our immunity, at least in part, to the fact that we are
" compassed by the inviolate sea." Paris need not fear
lest the world should fail in doing ample justice to the
self-restraint and brave endurance which have enabled a
population of two millions to hold out for more than
four months against the privations and dangers incident
to a close investment.
At the time- we write, observes the Standard, nothing is
known in London of the purpose of the journey of M.
Favre to Versailles, or of the discussions he p-)ssibly may
have had there with Count Bismarck, except, perhaps,
at the Prussian Embassy. From all that we do
know we are forced to suppose that this story of
a proposal for a capitulation made by M.
Jules Favre, and rejected at once by Count
Bismarck, had really no better foundation than a request
on the part of the French Minister visiting Versailles, in
order to make it or to ask for a safe conduct to London, to
know upon what terms the Emperor of Germany would
allow Paris to surrender. That such a question should
have been put was, under the circumstances, very natural.
That the men in power in Paris contemplate a capitula-
tion this week or three weeks hence is very possible.
But that Paris is ready to surrender at discretion without
another struggle, that the capitulation announced as
practically achieved will, upon the most unfavourable
assumption for France, happen for some few days,
we see no reason to believe. Paris can certainly
hold out. for two or three weeks ; and weary as
the population may be of the siege, such an
answer as Count Bismarck is reported to have given to
the proposal for surrender would nerve it to the utmost
endurance, might drive it to an act of desperation, the
German
and
h
consequencei of which, fearful as they might be for
ruinous
ofall
Paris,opes.
and
But forfo
r the France,
moment
no
speculations can only rest upon imaginings more or less
probable, or at the best upon calculations more or
less sound. That the Government of Paris has yet made
any proposals for a capitulation is very doubtful, and
probable enough, assuming them to have been made,
as the answer ascribed to Count Bismarck may be, it is
but common prudence to wait before we speak
of the capitulation of Paris and the terms
upon which it is to be made, until those who
have to negotiate show some sign of such an intention.
At present there is no positive information upon the
point, and probable enough as the surrender of Paris
within a few days appears, it appears still more probable
that it will only be made after a contest which for fierce-
ness and carnage none of those yet fought before the
walls of Paris will have paralleled.

THE GERMAN DEMANDS.
So confident are the Germans in the power they wield,
the Daily News remarks, that the future fate of Alsace
and Lorraine has been sketched out —it is said, with the
consent-of the Government. The old line of the Vosges,
which was at first mooted, has apparently been abandoned.
The Germans have increased their demands in proportion
to the obstinacy of the defence; and the new fron-
tier will begin, not with the Moselle, but with the Meuse.
According to this scheme, the frontier of the district
which it is expected Prince William of Baden will
rule over as Vice-Regent or Statthal ter, must begin at
the peak of the department of the Ardennes, follow the
line of the Meuse southward, include Toul on the Moselle,

then strike down by Epinal, and finally join Switzerland
at the southern extremity of the Department of the
Haut Rhin. If there be any truth in these
rumoured projects, all pretence of reclaiming territory
which once telong,ed to Germany must be given up.
At best, that plea was far from satisfactory ; for it
left out of consideration the fact that although the land
was once German, the people who owned and tilled it had
become during two hunthed years almost wholly French
in feeling. But no such excuse can be offered for the
annexation of such thoroughly French towns as
Metz and Nancy. Metz, indeed, was once a free

city, over which the German Empire held protection;
but it was no more a German city than Paris was an

English city when the English held possession of it

for six years. The victors at Versailles, if they
effect the seizure of French' land, must either

plead military reasons, or else abandon all excuse
and boldly claim the rude rights of war, which give to a
conqueror whatever of his enemy's territory he thinks it
prudent'or possible for him to keep. In the former case,
it would be difficult to persuade Europe that a
frontier along the Moselle- or the Meuse would be
safer for*Germany than the line of the Vosges. In the
latter case, there is not a nation in Europe which will
not deprecate a return to principles of warfare
which it was fancied had become obsolete. we
do not believe that any other European nation--whatever
may be its past history—would now annex a large
piece of territory without even consulting the wishes of
the people dwelling on it. And if such a thing were
to happen, none the less would it be incumbent
on Europe to pronounce judgment on so barbarous an act
of spoliation ; for it is necessary that we should have a
court of public opinion, even though the ancestors of the
judges have been themselves criminals.