The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-09 00:00:00

THE IMPENDING CAPITULATION OF PARIS.

The siege of Paris is entering, or has already entered,
onjts final stage, remarks the Daily Nem. At the very
time when the cruel process of starvation, which is prac-
tically making war on the weak to reduce the strong, is
beginning to tell with the most distressing force, the piti-
less strategist whose iron will and nerve directs the besieg-
ing armies is pushing the long-delayed military measures.
It has gradually become once more improbable that any aid
whatever can come to the beleaguered city from with-
out. The provinces have nobly responded to the call of
the capital, but their utmost efforts have been, and con-
tinue to be, altogether unavailing for its relief. It is no
discredit to its long and heroic resistance that the city
itself should be a little losing heart. The past three weeks
have been a period of trial such as no great city has ever
_ _

passed through in modern times. Brave as is the front it pre-
sents to the foe, there is suffering within the walls such as not
even the most enthusiastic admirers of Paris ever believed
the population could endure. That there should be com-
plaints of General Trochu, and demands for a more active
and energetic resistance, must be regarded as the natural
and necessary consequence of the increasing suffering.
Whatever may be before her in the future, Paris can at
least afford to face it. The long resistance of the great
capital of fashion and pleasure is far less military
than moral and social. General Trochu, with much of
that simple sense of duty which distinguished our own
Wellington, has indeed transformed a mob into an army,
and made the city almost impregnable to assault ; but it
was not by assault that Moltke and Bismarck wished to
take it. They reckoned on aid, indirect and
unintended, but still effectual aid, from the
citizens themselves—Paris was to cook in its own
grease. There was one thing Parisians could not
bear, and that was the very evil it would cost the Ger-
mans least to inflict. Paris would man its walls, barricade
its streets, fight like a roused lion for its freedom ; but
Paris would not lie still and starve ; would not see its
children die of hunger and its poor perishing of want;
would not bear the pinch of the least privation; but
would come out and invite the besiegers in for
the sake of the plenty they would bring in
their hands. But in reckoning on this aid from within,
the besiegers reckoned without their host. Nearly four
months have passed, and Paris still chews no immediate
signs of yielding, notwithstanding unmistakable signs
of suffering and the frightful figures of the death-rate.
Whenever and however these sufferings end, the
end cannot be dishonourable. Out of the fire
of these fearful days the great city will carry an

imperishable memory, and the generation which
submitted to a Louis Napoleon and tolerated a Persigny
and a Morny will not only have wiped away such stains
upon its honour, but will have bequeathed to after times
a tradition of heroism which, even though it may be de-
feated, will more than divide with its conqueror the
honours of the present, and will concentrate upon itself
all the respect and regard of the future. Defeat after such
a resistance may prove in the long run as creditable as
as victory.