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

SPEECH OF M. GAMBETTA.

A.t the close of the review of the National Guards at
BordeaUX, ari lq6vr Year's Day, M. Gambetta, addressing
the troops, said In tlig 6166 of this magnificent spec-
tacle, in face of all the citizens assenibie'cl here to welcome
the dawn of our success, which is due to the perseverance
and tenacity of our efforts, I say that our success is
Tell merited, for two reasons. Firstly, because France
has had faith in herself ; secondly, because, alane in
the universe, Friirft# to'-clay represents justice and right.
(Prolonged applause.) it ad; let it be for ever
closed, if possible—let it be for eijet effaced from
our me— ory, this horrible year of 1870, whick While
it has 'sod the fall of the most deceitful and most;
corrupt of Governments, has also handed us over to the
insolent fortunes of the foreigner. We must not forget,
citizens, that this reverse of fortune against which
e are battling id-day is the very work of
Bonapartist intrigues abroad. Let each oue bear his
Share of responsibility to history. It was in this
Very town that the Man of December, the Man
Of Sedan, the man who tried to gangrene France, uttered
the remarkable imposture, The Empire id peace.'
His reign, we must confess, had to be endured for'
bur own expiation, for we are to blame for having so long
submitted to it. Nothing, just or unjust, happens in his-
tory but what bears its fruits. It is because we have sub-
mitted to this reign of twenty years that we must submit
to-day to foreign invasion up to the walls of our glorioui
Capital. And it is because all the sources of power
and of grandeur were systematically drained in this
country—it is because we had lost that retriev-
ing power, Wvithont which nothing can either en-
dure or triumph in this world, namely, the idea
of duty and of virtue—that it was thought for a.
moment France was about to disappear. (ContEmed
applause.) It was at this moment that the Republic,
springing into life, for the third time in our history,
assumed the duty, the honour, the peril of saving France.
(Enthusiastic cries of Long live the Republic I') It was
on the 4th of September, the enemy was advancing by
forced marches on Paris, ourarsenals were empty, half our
army captured, our resources scattered and frittered away
on all sides—a double Government—one captive, the
other flying ; a Chamber 'whose past servility made it
incapable of seizing the helm. Oh ! on that day
no one gainsaid the legitimacy of the Republic. It was
later on, when the Repulilio had been brought to a state
of sacred inviolability—(` Bravo')—when it' became patent
that the Republic had redeemed its promise of the 4th of
September to save the honour of the country, to
organise the defence, to maintain order—when it
was proved that, thanks to the Republic, France
Would not perish, that she must triumph, that,
through her, right would overcome brute force
—it was then that the adversaries of the Republic, to
whom it now ensures quiettide and security, began to
contest its legitimacy and question its origin. (Coil,
tinned cries of 'Long live the Republic! ') The Republic;
devoted and linked to the defence and the welfare of the
country, is irrevocably established. It is immortal. Do
not, however, confound the Republic with the
members of its Government, who, by the force of
events, have been temporarily lifted into power. When
they shall have fulfilled their task, which is to expel the
foreigner, they will relinquish their power and submit
themselves to the judgment of their fellow-citizens. This
task, this mission, which has to be Wrought out to the
end, must be accomplished at any price—to the entire
exclusion of self-interest. What we must attain to, under
heavy penalties, is--first, the safety and the respect of
the liberty of all—perfect liberty—liberty even so far as
to submit to disparagement, to calumny, to abuse; secondly,
respect, on the part of all friends and dissentients, for
right and the authority of Government. Speech must be
as free as thought, and respected in all its digressions,
up to that fatal point where it would become a barrier to
acts. If this boundary is overstepped—and I here give
expression to the opinion of all the members of the
Government—you may rely on energetic repression.
(Continued cheering). 1 will not close without telling you
that the Government, having union for its base,
expresses, serves, and presumes to serve, only public
opinion, in cpposition to those despotic Governments
which have preceded us, and have only been
guided by their dynastic lust of power. I thank the
patriotic population of Bordeaux, as well as the inhabi-
tants of the neighbouring towns and country parts, who
are gathered here to-day, for the striking support
which they afford to the Republican Government
by this imposing manifestation on the first day' of
1871. I thank them especially in the name of our
dear besieged brethren —in the name of our heroic
Paris, whore example sustains us and guides and incites
us to emulation. Al ! would they could be witnesses,
those dear besieged ones, of all the sympathy and self-
devotion roused within us by their valour, their faith in
success would be increased, if, indeed, any increase thereof
be possible, We will transmit your good wishes, citizens;
soon may we, cutting our way through the enemy's lines,
convey them via race, together with the expression
of the world's admiration, and of the profound and
imperishable gratitude of France ! `Long live France !
Long live the Republic !'"
At the close of M. Gambetta's address, indescribable
emotion was manifested by the immense crowd that had
assembled, and prolonged shouts were heard of "Vive la
France !" " Vive Paris !" " Vive Gambetta !" " Vive la
Republique !"—Reuter's Telegram.

THE BOMBARDMENT OF THE FRENCH

FORTS.

In a letter dated Berlin, Dec. 28, the correspondent of
the Telegraph says : —The beginning of the bombardment
of Paris has been hailed with immense delight here. It
the only subject spoken of since yesterday, and the
gamins here, as active and impudent as their London
brethren, have been all day long plunging through the
thick snow in pursuit of every sleighwith nobeste Depeschea
in their hands. I should think theirs must be the liveliest
trade in Berlin just now. The scantiest telegram is sold
for a groschen, something more than a penny ; and
such is the excitement caused by the war that the
thriftiest Berliner, strictest of a thrifty race, rarely re-
fuses his coin on the chance of learning something new.
From my window thismorning I watched one little wretch
selling hundreds of copies of a telegram which said nothing
more than the bombardment of Mont Avron was to be
continued to-day. After all, this is only a preparation
for the real bombardment, for Mont Avron is merely an
entrenched height, under the shelter of which the
Parisians made their sortie of the 21st. The Berliner
Frenalenblatt, a much snore important organ, by
reason of its connections, than its name denotes,
says of the present attack that it " is directed against
a threatening position which positively must be taken."
When this object is accomplished, not only will the
approach to the nearest forts Forst Rosny, for
instance —be much more easy, but it may even
be possible to bombard the nearest portions of
the city. All preparations have been completed since
the beginning of December, when the scattering of
the Loire army dispelled any fear there might have
been that the works should be disturbed from out-
side ; and at this moment there are more heavy cannon di-
rected against Paris than have ever been collected in a
single spot. The task which is now to be accomplished
is the most extensive and difficult of the entire cam-
paign. The forts are in themselves very formidable, and
they have been much strengthened by newer works ;
they are, moreover, admirably armed and well defended.
It will, therefore, cost much hard fighting to take
some of the forts, in order to make Paris feel
the full destructive fury of a bombardment. But
the terrible task will be accomplished so much the
more safely, the less reason the investing army has
to fear an attack from without. " concludes the
article—" while the Second Army under Prince Frederick
Charles, in combination with the army division of the
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, will hold watch towards
the south and west—on the Loire and the Sarthe—and
the First Army, under General von Manteuffel,
will keep off any attack from the north, the
Third and Fourth Armies, under the Crown Princes of
Prussia and Saxony, will bring the so-called `sacred
city' to a conviction of its helplessness and of its great
fall. It is to be hoped that, with its capital, France will
then submit to its unavoidable destiny." That the Ger-
mans are determined to leave no stone unturned in order
to make that destiny unavoidable there cannot be any
doubt. Some two hundred thousand Landwehrmasreres,
more or less recently called out, are actually on their way
to the seat of war, or on the point of starting.
ilt
is
reported that sixty thousand have passed through Carls-
ruhe within comparatively few days. The latest plan
seems to be to employ the Landwehr for the occupation of
Alsace and Lorraine, in order to liberate the regular
troops as much as possible for the active operations

Mr. Sidney F. Jones has been elected a scholar of
Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Mr. Jones, the late judge of the Mid Wales circuit,
retires with a pension of £l,OOO per annum.
It is said that extensive orders for shoes for the
French army have been received at Northampton, and
that their execution is rapidly proceeding.

ROYAL. ALBERT HALL.—The Queen has fixed
Wednesday, the 29th of March, for the day on which her
Majesty ptoposes to open the Royal Albert Hall at Ken-
sington.

OUR COTEMPORARIES—This Morning

THE FORTIMMINO CONFERENCE.
The Conference which is about to assemble for the con,
sideration of the Black Sea question, says the Standard,
has been accepted by France at the desire of England.
This is a proof of her desire to conform to the wishes of
this ccrtiiiir but can we seriously anticipate that
France, under eidsting circumstances, will be content to
confine herself to the qtieg6on of vessels in the Black Sea?
Is it, indeed, reasonable for Engla'rxl to seek the support of
France upon a question which at the present moment can
have but little interest for her, and at the same time to
allow; the continuation of the terrible massacre now being
enacted tipoli the Continent? It would seem impossible
to prevent tlic French plenipotentiary from raising his
voice with a view to iiiddcing the Conference to deal with
the question of the' restoration of peace and the true
interests of the European equilibrium. For if
Prussia, is allowed to continue her present work,
the decisions of the Conference cannot be other-
wise than stamped with worthlessness in advance;
and if Prussia becomes all-powerful, and thinkg Et to•
combine with Russia, what is to prevent her again doing
what she pleases—and at any moment—with the treatie3
of 1859 and 1897? If it should prove impossible to
stop Prussia now, when France resists with energy,
how is it likely to be accomplished later? Eng.!
rand ha.s already exhibited weakness enough in leaving
Mr. Oclo Russell at Versailles, the actual military and
political centre of Prussia, unless he possesses the right
to discuss the most important question of the moment--
viz., the situation of France, in which England and the
whole of Europs are so deeply interested. But shewould
andergo a greater htiMiliation still, if, at the suggestion of
Prussia, she stifled all reference to the most vital question
3f Europe, on the coming meeting of the representatives..
A all the Grab Powers.

The Telegraph says (—When M. Favre is at the Foreign
Office in London in consultation with the Ambassadors
of the foremost nations in Europe, we have the chances
of aft arrangement such as have not been pre-
sent since July of last year. The Atmosphere
will be one of conciliation. There is no doubt
as to the eager desire of England to terminate this =-
nappy war, anct we are equally bound to France and Ger- 1
many. We are not conscious of any proclivities either on
one side or the other. Our strong desire to sze the course
of hostilities arrested is nut founded on any fear of conse-
4uences to ourselves; it arises simply from the profound
grief we feel at the spectacle of the two, most highly
civilised race's of Continental Europe literally tearing
each other to pieves. The misery and loss accruing
to both Powers from a continuance of the war
:an never be balanced by any advantage that
either might hope to gain. We, who are dispassionate
spectators, make bold to say that we but express the'
apinion of all foreign and neutral nations, when we assert
Ghat in the long run Germany can never hope to subjugate
France, riot France Germany. For a time the Father-
land may have much the best of it, as France had a few
years ago ; but so slimly as time rolls on the wheel
will turn round and the fortune of war be different.
There is, doubtless, one way in which Prussia. could
attain her apparent end, and that would be by wholesale
extermination. If, however, the German statesmen and
generals have not made up their minds to go se far, they
would do well tc see that present magnanimity is their
More politic course. France can yet produce men by the
Million, who will be trained into soldiers as the war
goes on. Her monetary credit is practically unaffected.
She commands the seas, and the United States are her
unfailing arsenal. What will those millions of armed
and desperate men turn their hands to next, if they
are compelled for the moment to acquiesce in oppres-
sive and humiliating terms of peace ? We write it
with the deepest sorrow, for we sympathise with both
countries; but, if such a peace be the issue of the present
conflict, generations of Germans yet unborn will.
rue the day when their forefathers drove a powerful and
warlike people to despair. The plains of the Fatherland
will be wet with blood in their turn, and for years to'
come we shall be afflicted with the spectacle of eighty
millions of highly civilised people straining at each other's
throats, and converting Europe into a theatre of carnage
and desolation.