The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-11 00:00:00

FRANCE'S REVERSES.

The worst enemies of France cannot deny, the Daily
News observes, that the later phases of the war evolved
many of the nobler qualities of the French national
character, There has been something grand in the con-
tinued resistance that we were at first almost in-
clined to lament. In this almost hopeless attempt to
save the honour of France, generous blood has been
shed in deluges. But it was not men that were wanted,
but genius. At a glance Napoleon would have seen where
to plant the battery that would have scattered Moltke's
finest plans like so many cobweb. A glance, and his
columns would have fallen like thunderbolts on Saxon
and Bavarian, and struck the German army in two as
a scythe chops a snake. The road was there by which
that critical march could be taken ; the road v 4 as there by
which those guns could be dragged into position : but the
great man did not come from east or west, and at last the
worn-out nation yielded Paris and threw up its arms.
Who can foresee the evils that will result from
this war ? the dragon's teeth of future discord it
will sow? The good which it will generate is less difficult
to imagine. How far it will cure France of the habit of
military promenades through Europe, and of alarming
poor, weak, and easily alarmed Prussia, we do not know.
But this we do think, that out of the furnace of war
Franca will emerge a nobler nation. The vices and selfish-
ness of the Empire will have passed away with its frauds,
deceptions, and tyranny. Hardened to a more Spartan
mood, young France will pursue a nobler ideal, and
strive for more worthy prizes. Trade will be less greedy
—wealth less self-seeking—the nation will become more
tolerant of truth. If these changes follow sorrow
and suffering, the war will not have been in vain. Horrors
that seem like a dream, slaughter that one shudders to
think of, will have had great results. The lessonhas been
a bitter one to France, the punishmenthas been as sudden
as it has been terrible—the foray on an unoffending
people has been cruelly expiated. One result, at least,
is certain, that unless Europe is rolling backwards
fast into barbarism, all civilised nations must have learnt
from the events of last year the folly, savageness, and
progressive wickedness of war, and how soon the fresh
gloss and glitter of its chivalrous professions and its pre-
tences of justice wears off as it passes into lower and
more ghastly phases of cruelty and retaliation.

THE FRENCH ELECTIONS.-THE ORLEANS PRINCES.

The Telegraph remarks : —lf our estimate be correct,
the election of two of the Orleans Princes is a matter of
historical importance. W11,41,Pr on. election they could
talce their seats in the A, ,nbly would be a nice
question for Constitutional jurists to discuss. The
membt.rs of the House of Orleans are banished
from France in virtue of a law passed in 1848,
and which has never been repealed to the present
day. The Committee of National Defence has
declared, on the other hand, that the freedom of choice by
the constituencies is unlimited. But, whatever abstract
opinion may be entertained as to the weight of the disabili-
ties imposed upon the Princes by the law of 1848 or by
the Bordeaux decree, it seems to us impossible, in the
face of the whispered successes of the Orleanist
candidates, that any serious attempt will be made to
contest the right of the Duke d'Aumale or his brother to
fulfil the electoral mandate with which they have been
entrusted. We expect, therefore, that when the Assembly
meets at Bordeaux, the Princes will be found amidst
the Deputies summoned to decide, in the first
instance, on the issue of peace or war, and, in
the second, on the nature of the instituticns by
which France is henceforth to be ruled. In such
an Assembly, met at such a crisis, the sons of Louis
Philippe cannot fail to play a conspicuous part by the
mere fact of their presence. It is reported that the Pre-
sidency of the Chamber may be offered to the Duke.
The tribute thus paid to his character for ability and
patriotism would be well deserved ; but the honour
would be, to say the least; a doubtful advantage. To
take the lead in arranging a peace which in-
volved the cession of French territory would be an
ungrateful and unwelcome task ; and it would seem more
natural to impose the duty on some veteran statesman,
associated with the destinies of France in the past. Be
this as it may, the world will watch with interest the part
that the sons of the citizen king play by their votes, if not
by their speeches, in the deliberations of an Assembly
convoked to decide on the destinies of France in the hour
of her supremest need.

BREAKFAST.—EPPS'S COCOA.—GRATEFUL AND COM-
FORTING.—The very agreeable.charaeter of this preparation has
rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Service Gazette re-
marks :—" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which
govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a
careful application of the fine properties of well-selected cocoa,
Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors'
bills." Each packet is labelled—JAMES EPPS & CO., Homoeo-
pathic Chemists, London. Also, makers of Epps's CacaOine, a
very thin evening beverage.—Advt.