The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-18 00:00:00

TIIE NEW GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE

M. Scherer, a well-known writer in the Temps, has
published an article on the state of affairs in France. He
believes that the National Assembly will,be a Constituent
Assembly. The most important question they will have
to decide upon is the form of Government which is to
govern France. It remains to be seen if she is to be plunged
afresh into dynastic troubles, or to take her place among
the strong nations who are resolved to remain the arbiters
of their own destinies. France is a Republic and ought
to remain so, monarchy is dead in the country because it
has proved unequal to its work and has ever been produc-
tive of revolutions. The Republic is the only thing
which can save France from further' revolutions
and it is besides the only correct form of government for
an advanced people. All other kinds of government take
for granted that a nation does not know how to conduct
its own affairs, and the natural tendency of all
societies is towards Republicanism. We may hope
that in the midst of all these horrors, France
will rise to a high place among free nations,
and that she may afford the Old World an example of
that which has hitherto been confined to the New World.
In old days France possessed a Republic, but it was
violent and stormy ; to-day she must establish one that is
solid and liberal. Should she succeed in such an attempt,
she will have made the greatest and the most durable of
all her conquests.

UNHEEDED WARNINGS.

Great excitement has been produced in France by the
publication of the reports of Colonel Stoffel, the French
military attaché at Berlin prior to the war, since it ap-
pears that Colonel Stoffel gave ample warning of the
strength of the Prussian forces to the reckless Imperialists.
" Beware of the Prussian Staff," said he at the close of
his first report. In the second he writes more strongly.
"I am convinced that there is in France the most com-
plete ignorance respecting the Prussian army and the
Prussian nation. How can it be otherwise when a young
Frenchman receives no information of the important part
played in modern history by the nations around him, and
is not taught their languages ? From one generation to
another the ignorance is maintained. Is there a single
person in France who has followed the remarkable de-
velopment of Prussia since 1815? Here is a nation full
of life, whose population has doubled in fifty years, who,
basing the social edifice on two great principles—compul-
sory education and compulsory military service, has placed
itself in the first rank of the enlightened
nations of Europe, has organised a formidable
army, equipped with an unequalled armament
and led by the best instructed officers in the world. Never-
theless, the spectacle remained unnoticed until the people
revealed themselves by a thunderclap in 1866. We then
began to inquire, but already this powerful, energetic,
and unscrupulous nation, whose frontiers are only nine
days' march from Paris, without any natural obstacle,
reckoned 30,000,000 souls, and had 1,000,000 soldiers ! "
Colonel Stoffel then proceeds to compare the character of
the Germans of the North with the Austrians, who are
of lighter mould, and prompt to pardon an injury. It
was the defeat of Jena and the resolve to revenge the
insults of Napoleon which made the Prussian
nation. Should war break out hereafter, he says, beware
of thinking that France will only have to deal with Aus-
trian troops. The Prussian army 'will shew us a vigour, a
daring, a military science which we did not find in Italy.
How would the Prussians have acted in 1859 ? As soon as
hostilities had broken out, they would have been in Turin
before a single French army had crossed the Alps? At
Solferino the 4th French Corps would have been broken
before mid-day. This is not doubtful, if we consider the
energy and intelligence shewn in 1866. The Prussians
were quick to profit by the experience gained against Aus-
tria, and remedied every perceptible defect. The King
is devoted to the army, to the exclusion of all other sub-
jects. All favours are reserved for the army, and every
effort made to raise its importance in the eyes of the
nation. In the religious services the prayers are first for
the King and the army, afterwards for the great bodies of
the State. Colonel Stoffel was in the same carriage with
General von Moltke when the King of Prussia visited the
Paris Exhibition in state. King William and his suite
were amazed and impressed by the spectacle. General
Moltke said to Colonel Stoffel, " T am glad the King has
seen the magnificence of Paris. He is engrossed by the
army ; but now he can see for himself that a Sovereign
without neglecting the army, for yours is excel-
lent, can interest himself in all that contributes
to the greatness of a nation. I have a right to say this,
for I have no personal reason to complain of the King's
predilection for the army." But General Moltke forgot
that the tastes and habits of a man of seventy-two are not
likely to alter. The King remained what he was before
he visited Paris, and his passion for the army did not
decrease. He held reviews in the • depth of winter,
inspected separate companies with unwearying patience,
and, in fact, suggested all the reforms which have been
introduced in the Prussian army of late years.

Marshal MacMahon and the French prisoners elected to
the National Assembly have passed through Frankfort,
en route to Bordeaux.

A statement appears in the Paris press to the effect thal
the International Association has placed two hundrec
thousand francs at the disposal of the members belongin
to their society at Bordeaux.

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It is proposed that a grand concert be given at Paris
in honour of the delegates sent over to distribute the Eng-