The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-18 00:00:00

GERMANY TIRED OF THE WAR.

It has been so long assumed that France must of neces-
sity be beaten, observes the Daily News, that the rising
doubt whether, after all, the German victory will ever be
really secure, has come upon European opinion with all
the force of a discovery. It has been assumed all
through this war that France will know when
she is beaten, will accept defeat, and will make
the best terms she can with her conqueror. But
this is just what France will not do. Paris may fall,
army after army may be beaten, but the Republic will nut
yield. Even should active resistance be no longer pos-
sible, a passive resistance will take its place, and French
pride will try with German persistency a game of wait-
ing. Is there no possibility that even in this game
France may win ? How can Germany bear the strain
which such a war would make on her resources? France
accepts ruin, and puts all thought of pleasure, business,
politics, and science aside till her soil is purged of the
foreign enemy ; but can Germany afford to do the same
in order to hold France in submission ? The effort for
Germany must be quite as exhausting as France.
The German army is filled by the breadwinners
of German homes and the workers in German
manufactories, and if they are kept away indefinitely, not
only will a cry for peace go up from a million German
families, but the very power of the country to support the
armies will be weakened and broken. There are
many signs that the German people are already
beginning to feel these evil effects of a war
of conquest. The King who entered Paris as a
'
his old age has
a hist
Versailles, andma in
be well content that the
war should continue ; but the people at home are be-
ginning to ask, what good is to come of it for them. The
he
King has got out of it a promised offer of the
conquerorld i s
Imperial Crown, and Germany, as a whole, has
won the European championship. The smaller
States of Germany are beginning to see that the chief
glory of the war falls on Prussia, and that while they pay
their full share of the cost and sacrifice, the Prussian
Throne gets all the advantage. In helping to subdue
France, they are giving themselves a master. The
German democracy sends its sons to die that the Prus-
sian aristocracy may confirm its rule at home by vic-
tories abroad. It is not, therefore, solely from
sympathy with Liberal France that we deprecate the
continuance of the war ; we do so even more from sym-
pathy with Liberal Germany. These two great nations
cannot afford to ruin each other, nor can European civilisa-
tion afford that they should be ruined. It is like cutting
off the right hand or plucking out the right eye of
Europe. For the thoughtful and meditative intellect of
Germany to be given over to- dreams of conquest
and visions of national revenge ; for the bril
liant, versatile, and incisive genius of the French
people to be turned from the pursuits of
science and politics to think only of self-defence,
and devise only machinery of war, is a double calamity,
which must put back the shadow on the sun-dial of pro-
gress. All Europe has an interest in bringing this war to
an end, but Germany most of all ; and it is impossible not
to believe that some effort will soon be made to bring the
combatants to a parley, and that such a parley will result
in peace.