The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-06 00:00:00

MILITARY TROUBLES IN FRANCE.

Writing from Bordeaux, December 31, the special cor-
respondent of the Daily News observes :—There were some
serious military troubles a week ago at Bernay, near
Lisieux, in Normandy. The regular troops in the town,
commanded by a General named Guilleime, being under
the utterly erroneous impression that they were
threatened by a corps of 16,000 Prussians, -determined
to retreat upon Lisieux. The National Guard and
the people, terrified at the prospect of being left to their
own resources, turned out to prevent the military from
going away. The General was pulled about by the
mob, his cap was taken off by the poke of a National
Guard's bayonet, he received two slight bayonet wounds
in his breast, and after two shots fired in the air he was
fired upon, had one of his thumbs shot off, and re-
ceived a very bad wound in the groin. He fell into
the arms of a M. Lemercier, who carried him off to
the Louvier Ambulance, of which he was a member.
Some tradesmen of the town then addressed the crowd,
assured them that the general was a countryman, very
much esteemed, and succeeded in calming the efferves-
cence. Some hours later General de Lauriston arrived
from Lisieux, assumed the command, and announced that
the troops would not leave the place. There was then
great enthusiasm, and it appeared to be forgotten that a
crime had been committed. General Guilleime is re-
ported out of danger, but it can hardly be that the
National Guards who fired upon him should re-
main unpunished. The resolution taken by the
delegated Government two days ago, and which was
conformable to the generally expressed opinion
of the Paris press not to send any plenipotentiary
to the London Conference unless England first
recognised the Republic, was modified yestefday by
balloon despatches, from which it appears that M.
Jules Favre wishes to go to London and General Troehu
wants to send him. But I am informed that in limine
the French plenipotentiary on the occasion of
the exchange of powers will claim a full and
absolute recognition of his Government, and in case of
refusal will take his hat and leave. Count de Keratry,
who after his resignation of the command of the Coolie
Camp still retainedhisbrevet rank of General, has thought
fit since the demonstration against him in the great Breton
town of Nantes to throw up his commission, and tbe Ho-
niteur now announces that he no longer- belongs to the-
auxiliary army.

The Aberdeen Presbytery of the Free Church has
adopted unanimously a protest against Mr. Gladstone's
letter on the Pope's independence.
Several scholarships at Caine College, Cambridge,
will be awarded in March next to candidates who are not
at present resident in the university. They arc tenable
for four years.
THE CHURCH OF THE PRESENT.—At the annual
business meeting of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's
church, Brooklyn, held last month, the clerk of the church
reported the number of members to be 1,982, of which
number 1,210 are women. The admissions in the course
of the year were 173; the baptisms' 64. The pew rents
produced $56,000, and the church collections $15,846.
The collection for the schools produced $1,611, and for the
poor $1,500 ; making a total of $74,957. The expenditure
on the choir amount,ed to $6,000.

OUR COTEMPORAIUMa—This Morning

The Times, in feretring
FRANCE AND THE CONFEBENCr.
to the refusal of M. Vane ts
attend the Conference, says :—For the sake of France,
moreover, in her future relation to European politics,
we would gladly see her place filled at the Conference.
We do not believe, and we desire that no one else shall
believe, that the influence of the French is to be
annihilated. No greater evil could befall Europe; but,
happily, there is no danger of it. In a few years—
we had almost said in a few months—after peace is
made France will be again a great Power—weak and
exhausted for the time, it is true, hut a great Power in
her aims, her influences, and her capacity of future effort.
When that time comes, it will prove advantageous to the
world that she has not been extruded during her tempo-
rary misfortunes from her seat in the councils of Europe.
IYhateVer may be the decision of the French Government,
England has done her part in urging its participation in the
Conferefiee'l This sufficiently disposes of the assertion
that some undue influence prevents the recognition of the
Republic by the British Government. Every one who
takes the trouble to think on the matter becomes aware
that the only reason the French Itepublic is not recog-
nised is simply that it does not exist. Ile such Govern-
rxfent has been ever formally proclaimed, much less
legally' eonstituted. The proper name of the present
authority i " the Government of N4tiolla
Defence," and it is, by the admission of M.
Gambetta himself, essentially provisional. General
Trochu, who is a member of it, expressly disclaimed the
assumption that it was a Republican Government. For
these reasons diplomatic intercourse cannot take its regu-
lar form, but the practical difference amounts to nothing.
Lord Lyons is substantially the Queen's Ambassador to
the Government of M. Favre and M. Gambetta, and
the invitation to them to send a representative to the
Conference shews that we not only recognise their
Government as de facto the supreme authority in France
at this moment, but hold that its decisions will bind
any future Government which may be established in the
country. ~.

' ,'l'l,

TNE MORALITY OF FRANOZ AND PRUSSIA.

Commenting on the moral developments of the two,
nations, the Standard remarks :—ls Prussia such a para-
dise of all excellence, moral and intellectual ; France so
peculiarly iniquitous as we are taught to believe? Is
it the ease that if we want to discover the
source of all the malign influences—moral, mental, and
religious which hate affected European civilise-,
during the last century, We must turn our eyes to
France ; that if we would see the nursery of all.
virtues, we must lift up our vision to the land of,
the German ? Or -is it possible that the whole of this
el great argument " may be nothing more than the re-
enactment On a new stage, and with changed appoint-
ments, of the old episode of the Pharisee and the Publi-
can ? These are.- the points to decide, and facts
fortunately exist which can guide us to the decision.
Because Parisian vice —we use purposely the strongest
word we can select—wears a dress different from
that assumed by the vice which has the sainted
land of the Teuton for its habitat, is it therefore
worse? Are Vienna, Berlin, or, for the matter of that,
our own London, perfection by the side of Paris? The
Frenchman is essentially impulsive, opens dp,monstrative
What then ? Is secretiveness such a virtue? Is the
man Who sins systematically, and is silent, such a para-
gon in comparison with him who talks as much
about his failings, parades them as much as, and
more joyously than, the peeuclo-saint his virtues ?
In no other region of the habitable globe are there purer
ideals of domestic existence and family virtue to be met
with than in France. Only let us set in juxtaposition
the atmosphere in which the French labourer or mechanic
and the English representative of the same order have
their being. Large eapitals can never be Edens of purity.
Their life is and must lie more or less artificial. What
Paris is other capitals are, and worse ; while to the
provincial life of France there clings something
of delicacy and refinement which we may look for in
vain elsewhere. What is likely to be the result in the
way of morality that may be expected from the two
nations in the future? It is true that a nation is nothing
more than an aggregate of individuals and family groups
—that what the individuals and families are the
nation will itself be. But political immorality on the
part of the rulers inevitably tends to degrade the
private morality of the ruled. Are we to expect to'find a high sense of the obligations of law, order,
principle, displayed in the everyday life of a people whose
prestige has been attained by systematic fraud, violence,
spoliation, and hypocri4. on the part of its rulers? Ger-
many laid the foundation of its greatness under the shadow
of the war of liberation. May not the verdict of history be
that France has laid the foundation of a greatness greater
and nobler than it has ever yet achieved under the shadow
of a war of invasion ? • • ,