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

PUBLIC FEELING IN BORDEAUX.

In a communication from Bordeaux, the special corres-
pondent of the Daily Illsws remarks :—I have noted with
pleasure the opinions of many competent authorities that
, the taking of Paris would not imply the conquest of
France. The " conquest," in the sense of the annexa-
tion or permanent occupation of the country, certainly
would not follow ; but from all I see, it seems to
me a forlorn hope indeed to expect that, once Paris
capitulated, or was taken by force, the provinces could
oppose any effectual resistance to the victorious invader.
Doubtless they ought to do so. Doubtless there would yet
remain in France men enough, arms enough, and money
enongh to expel from the violated soil an enemy well
nigh exhausted by an effort which he could not greatly
prolong. But fatal experience in the East, West,
North, and in Paris itself, seems to show that
Frenchmen of the present generation have lost their fight-
ing qualities. The Mobiles have had quite drill enough
to make them as good fighting soldiers as the dregs of the
German Landwehr and Landsturm now brought against
them ; but the " sleep in a whole skin principle "
is stronger in them than in the most miser-
able Germans, and no threats or cajolery will
induce them to risk their lives in the way the
Germans do. This rooted disinclination to be food for
powder, even for the chance of glory, is stronger than all
M. Gambetta's rhetoric. It is at the bottom of all the
French disasters. Neither treason nor incapacity on the
part of generals would have produced such uniform un-
success, with large material means, had it not been
for the great element of cowardice in the
French masses. I believe this disease— a transitory one,
perhaps, in the nation—to be incurable as far as the
present war is concerned, and therefore I have small
faith in M. Gambetta being able to achieve the noble
object of his ambition—the restoration of his country
to her old place in the world. What I anticipate is
(and Heaven knows I hope I may be wrong), that
after the capitulatinn of Paris the provinces will fall
away from M. Gambetta, and then some one of the
various pretenders patronised by the invader will easily,
by means of released Pretorians and the state of siege,
put down all the active and courageous patriotism of the
country ; and under the specious pretext of heal-
ing wounds and putting a stop to slaughter,
step into the enjoyment of power and wealth at
the expense of a degraded, mutilated, and ruined nation
I do not feel the loss of Alsace and Lorraine in the
way that Frenchmen do, and I think it would
have been wise to have accepted that dismemberment
as a consequence of Sedan and the Emperor's policy. A
good and great France would have been left with-
out those Rhenish provinces. But if now France
is not only to lose these provinces, but after the plunder
of a fourth of her territory to pay a war indemnity which
will condemn her sons up to the end of this century to
toil for the foreigner, her condition will be worse than
Egyptian bondage. The executioner of Wilhelmshohe
is quite willing to accept these or any other
terms which will restore him and his satellites to their
former rank and emoluments. The Orleanists, saying
truly enough that they are not responsible for the present
disasters, would take a Crown and a Civil List upon the
best conditions on which they could get them ; but all
enlightened French citizens would feel that they were
precipitated from the place they had been taught to hold
in the world, and that France was sold to "chains and
slavery."

All the recruits who have been enlisted during the
last six months were inspected on Tuesday by Major-
General C. A. Edwards, C. 8., at Woolwich.

The Queen has been pleased to appoint James
Sant, Esq., R.A., to be Principal Painter in Ordinary to
her Majesty, in the room of Sir George Hayter, deceased.
—Gazette.

It is understood that General Schenck, the newly-
appointed United States Minister to England, is not ex-
pected to arrive in London earlier than three weeks from
the present date-

Mrs. Bickford, the widow of Major Bickford, has
purchased for over £l,OOO the site of the drill griund and
armoury of the Cambrone Volunteers, and has presented
it to the corps.
The vote of want of confidence in Messrs. Dalglish
and Graham at Glasgow was carried, not (as reported by
telegraph) because they voted for the conventual inquiry,
but because they voted against it.
Hull holds the best position in the mortality
returns for the past week by having the lowest annual
rate of mortality, while the highest falls to the lot of
Lvierpool.

A Liverpool firm have decided on making an
attempt to establish a trade between Liverpool and
Dundee by sea. It is not intended that the vessel shall
run through the Caledonian Canal, but go round the north
of Scotland.

The Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday, dis-
charged the rule nisi for a criminal information for
libel against the proprietor of the Newcastle Chronicle,
which had been obtained on behalf of the Rev. Canon
Greenwell, one of the visiting justices of the Durham
county prison.

The Admiralty has refused the application of the
Greek Government to enter more of their officers in the
navy, in the place of those lost on board the Captain.
At the preliminary examination in arts of the
Apothecaries' Hall, Dublin, on the 30th ult., Mrs.
Leggatt passed very creditably, her papers being of a high
order of merit. This is the first instance in Ireland of a
lady having enrolled herself as a medical student.

The Rev. G. . Gruebor having addressed a long
letter to the Archbishop of York impugning the judg-
ment of the Privy Council in the case of " Martin v.
Mackonochie " as inconsistent with that of the same
tribunal in " Westerton v. Liddell," his Grace has replied
substantiating to a great extent the grounds upon which
their lordships declared judgment.
ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.—At the next meeting
of the committee of the Royal Humane Society, Sir
William Fraser will move that a deputation wait upon the
President of the Privy Council to suggest that swimming
be taught in all schools which come under the recent Act.
THE NEW CUSTOMS REGULATIONS.—A deputa-
tion, consisting of representatives of steamship owners
and agents or Hull, Grimsby, Goole, Newcastle, Leith,
and West Hartlepool, with Mr. Irvings, from the port of
London, has had an interview with the Right Hon. J.
Stansfefd, at the Treasury, to obtain a modification of the
new customs regulations relative to the mode of entering
goods exported and imported. The deputation was
introduced by Mr. J. Clay,
M.P., and Mr. Nor-
wood, M.P.
THE AUSTRIAN PRESS AND BISMARCK.—The
Austrian press unanimously condemns the conduct of
Bismarck in refusing Jules Favre the safe-conduct. Even
those papers which previously applauded the Federal
Chancellor censure alike the form and substance of his
reply to Favre, which they consider injurious to the general
sentiment of humanity and insulting towards England.
The New Free Press of Vienna goes so far as to say that
it would have been less disastrous to Germany to have
lost a great battle than to have so alienated the sympathies
of nations. The Tetablalt belimves that Bismarck's argu-
ments conceal his desire to annihilate the Republic in
France. Other journals, though less outspoken, alike
condemn the refusal.