The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-04 00:00:00

THE TERM OF PEACE.

The Times, in reconsidering the demands of Count
Bismarck, says :—We earnestly desire that peace should
be made between France and Germany, and, having long
believed that further resistance was useless, we cannot pro-

fess the least hope that better terms can be ex-
torted by the threats of M. Gambetta or
,the
obstinacy of a National Assembly. We do
however hope something from the wisdom and pru-
dence of the German rulers, the influence of European
opinion, and the mediation of the neutral Governments.
Countßismarck must be asable as the rest of the world to
see that, as it is impossible to destroy the French people,
it is good statesthansbip not to crush them with burdens
too heavy to he home; Or to degrade them intolerably,
If France had but one neck, and he wished to make
an end of her at a tioviri his course might be
clear ; but a nation of 38,000,600 must continue
to live and hate, and be ready for mischief if goaded by
indignities that can never be forgotten. It la little to say
that we do not think the terms of peace transmitted from
Berlin will be enforced, for that is clearly impossible so
far as regards the indemnity, and almost equally sa
as regards the ships of war, which the Germans cannot
capture, nor even prevent from being transferred to a
foreign Power. But we feel a strong persuasion that the
attempt to extort these terms will not be seriously made.
There is reason to believe that they have emanated from
Versailles, and that the German Government is not un-
willing to let it be thoughtthatit is determinedtowring the
uttermost franc from the conquered. We do not pretend
to guess at the considerations which have influenced the
German Chancellor. To our thinking, his ends would
be attained more surely and completely by encourag-
ing the Peace party in France, and by foiling M.
Gambetta and the Southern Democrats. But if we
take the facts as we find them, various solutions will
present themselves. The Germans may wish to
begin, like an Ea,tern shopkeeper, by asking three (r

four times what they mean to take, and if they remit the
bulk of the indemnity they have claimed, they will, of
course, treat it as a favour, which must put an end to any
remonstrance on the cession of territory.

Reviewing the conqueror's demands, the Nandard re-
, marks :—Four hundred millions sterling in hard cash,
over and above the enormoussums already exacted by way
of requisition from provincial towns, over and above the
eight millions sterling extorted from Paris— Alsace and Lor-
raine, with all their fortresses, with half the mauufacturing
wealth of France—one moiety, and that the best, of the'
French navy—and Pondicherry, the relic and monument
of French achievement and dominion in India. Such are
the demands of Count von Bismarck and his Imperial
master. Such the sacrifices by which the despairing-
people of France may be permitted to purchase the with-
drawal of the German hosts from their wasted soil, and
the lives of their remaining sons. Not even Napoleon I.
ever offered to a vanquished enemy conditions no cruel, so
oppressive, so humiliating. Never, since civilisation was;
fairly established in Europe, and the conquering hordes
which had overthrown the Roman Empire settled down
into separate nations, each with a definite terri-
tory, and a recognised existence, has victory
been more shamefully abused. What will be
our reply ? We cannot undertake to anticipate the
action of the Ministry. We know not whether they aro
most afraid of Germany or of England—of the armies of

the Emperor William or the Parliament of great Briton.
But we have no doubt about the feelings and wishes
of the British nation. France leas atoned her
original fault by a willingness to make a peace which

she knew would entail painful and costly sacrificer,
She is justified in renewing the war rather than make

such sacrifices as are now demanded of her—sacrifices of

honour, power, prosperity, physical well-being, and moral
greatness, of all that makes national life worth having.
Germany is committing the fault of all faults most odious

in our.eyes—a cruel, vindictive, greedy treatment of a

vanquished foe. There is but one feeling among the
great majority of Englishmen—a feeling that this
is too bad, and that England ought not to suffer it.
And this is the dictate of policy as well as of
feeling. England, as the first of Neutral Powers,
should combine all the Neutral States in a solid

league against the covetous ambition and lawless
conduct of Germany—a league to uphold the public
law of Europe, and to maintain that unwritten law

which Europe has adopted from ancient Greece, that no
State once admited into the European A mphictyony shat
be destroyed by a conqueror, or blotted out from the roll

- -
of European Powers ; that victory shall never be strained
to the point of conquest, and that defeat shall not involve

national degradation.

THE WORK OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

Once more, the Daily News observes, the destiny of

France has been placed in the people's hands. Dictator-
ships, animated by the best of motives, have once more
failed, and power has reverted to its natural possessors.
The course of events in France seems predestined to lead
round by every possible channel to this result. Monar-
chy, old and new, despotic or constitutional; Empire
which was war, and Empire which was peace ; Provisional
Government, Dictatorship, or Republic--it always comes
at last to the election by the great body of the nation of a
ruling Assembly. Every man who tries to rule France
fails, and is either swept away by a revolution, or in some
way or other has to give back his power into the hands of
the people. Some day perhaps a method of doing this
with order and peace and quiet may be found, and then
France will have rest, but that time is not now.
The National Assembly which the French people are now
called on to name, will have imposed upon it in almost
unparalleled responsibility. France has had many such
elections before, but never in such painful circumstances
as these. The capital is in the enemies' hands, every
provincial army is dissolved and dispersed, and the Go-
vernment itself is split into two possibly antagonistic
parts, ruling from two capitals. The Assembly now to be
elected has, therefore, a greater work to do than its memor-
able predecessors of 1791 and 1792. It has to decide the
momentous issue of peace and war, and it may have to
construct the Government, and to essay the rescue of
France, to organise the provinces, and to deliver the capi-
tal. The country lies prostrate and bleeding under the
blows of an enemy to whom its self-seeking rulers
olive by wanton aggression the opportunity of
offence;l' and the Republic, with its inevitable reference
to the expressed will of the whole people, is called in to
save it from ruin
neanhdutdeaspruaiinr.ous peace
ewl b
willlpe m
rothelydipsasay
heavily .
trous than war, and tired as the people are they will fight
on, if need be, with the new resolution they will gather
from despair.