The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-03 00:00:00

ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES.

At A moment when we are all turning over new leaves,
and meeting the opening year with promises of better
things, remarks the Daily News, it would be well that
England and the United States should turn over
a new leaf in their relations with each other.
Those relations are distinctly entering on a new
phase. The past year inherited the Alabama
difficulty from its predecessors, it leaves a
fisheries dispute side by side with the inherited difficulty
as a double legacy to its successor. There is, however,
nothing at all hi these questions to raise any fear of
serious quarrel. Our willingness to make honourable rem
paration in the one case, and just concession in the other,
is as complete as our resolve not, in any case, to go beyond
what justice dictates, and our own honour demands.
Nor do we believe that on their side the Americans
are in any way disposed to push their diplomacy be-
yond the bounds of reason. What they want is just
what we want, a speedy, complete, satisfactory, lasting
settlement. They would be glad to shake hands, and be
friends—nay, to strike hands and be allies. But with
this deeply-rooted friendliness on both sides, how is it
that our relations are not more openly friendly ? We
believe it is due in great degree to the fact that each mis-
understands the other, and each believes that
all the friendliness is on its own side. It
is the old mistake of reasoning from feelings
instead of from facts. There is soreness between
us ; let that be freely admitted. We think the Ameri-
cans have been exacting in their demand for sympathy,
and have failed to give us credit for the good feeling so
often shewn by very friendly acts. But in approaching a
new era in the negotiations between us, it would be at
least an advantage if we could begin it with a better
understanding of each other. Let us have no more talk
about the determined unfriendliness of either side, but
assuming that a desire for a settlement exists in both, let
us endeavour to arrive at an arrangement as speedilyas
possible. War between us ought to be impossible. The
good sense and good feeling of each nation believe that it
is impossible, and the only thing which can make it
possible is the mutual suspicion of each other's hostility.
We are not and cannot be enemies so long as we are will-
ing to believe that we are and can be friends.

THE FALL OF PARIS.
The Times says :—lnformation which reaches us from
good sources leaves little doubt as to the early fall of
Paris. The sufferings of the great mass of the population,
which famine had already rendered intense, have been
greatly aggravated by the severe weather. As
it happened at Metz, money will still purchase
even luxuries for the privileged few ; but among
other necessaries of life, fuel begins to be very scarce,
and its price has risen to a height quite beyond the
means of the lower classes. There is, indeed, no lack of
intelligence of a very different nature in circulation.
The news telegraphed by our Correspondent at Versailles
respecting the great importance attached at the German
Headquarters to the capture of Mont Avron, and the
heavy discouragement thrown by its loss among the
besieged, cannot easily be reconciled with the balloon
tidings published at Bordeaux, according to which the
Prussians were " repulsed from Mont Avron with
"a loss of 7,000 to 8,000 men killed." But we can be
at no loss for a tolerably correct idea of the real state
of affairs. The ineffectual defence made by the French
batteries at Mont Avron, in despite of the very heavy
artillery with which they had been armed, and the
almost absolute impunity with which two companies
of Prussian light infantry were allowed to push
forward to the very walls of Fort Rosny, aro
gravely and somewhat bitterly commented upon
by French critics, at a loss to see the drift of
General Trochu's tactics. After effecting a lodgment in
the abandoned French outwork at Mont Avron, the
Germans followed up their advantage on Thursday and
Friday last by directing the fire of their artillery against
Fort Rosny, the fort immediately facing Av ron on the
vest, as well as against the other Forts of Noisy and
Nogent, placed at no great distance from Rosny, respec-
tively to the north and south of that fort. Should the
besiegers find Rosny and the tw3 other forts to be made
of no sterner stuff than the outer French bulwark,
Paris might be as easily stormed as starved ; but there is
no reason to anticipate such extremities, for hitherto,
though the French have fought very bravely, there has
not been a single instance, out of se many fortresses whose
defenders had vowed they would die to a man and in the
breach, of their awaiting the supreme ordeal of an assault.
From the very remissness exhibited by General Trochu in
the defence of the forts at present attacked, it would
seem natural to infer that he is acting upon his plan of
withdrawing into the entrenched camp at Mont Valerien
—a preliminary movement, allowing a chance for the ne-
gotiation of an armstice and for a discussion of the terms
of peace.

ROYAL ALBERT HALL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES.
—The band of the Ist Life Guards, conductor Mr. Water-
son, played in the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday after-
noon in order to test the building. with a full band. Sir
Michael Costa and other distinguished musical authorities
were present. The results were as satisfactory as on pre-
vious trials.