The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-09 00:00:00

DANGERS OF THE SIEGE.

The Times remarks that the men of 1848 have gore
back with the Utopias of that miserable period. Long
years of exile have been thrown away upon them as
utterly as they ever.were on those incorrigible Bourbons
who " never learnt and never forgot anything." From the
very first moment General Trochu assumed the com-
mand of Paris lie warned the citizens that, while he under-
took to fight the foreign enemy outside the walls, they
would have to guard against the domestic enemies within.
Yet, when Trochu put forth the proclamation, France
• had still what had been, and was still considered, a strong
Government, and Paris and the other cities an all-
prying and dficient pollee. Now all that repressive system
is at an end, and the irresponsible classes are every-
where "masters of the situation." Order, it is said, has
hitherto Leen acmirably preserved, as it generally is
during the "honeymoon of a Revolution." Perhaps
there n-ny be no real danger, but the mere apprehension
of it must needs damp the ardour of true patriotism and
paralyze its exertions. It is as a house divided against
itself that Parisian society undertakes to resist the in-
vader._ In the midst of the frantic cries by which the
new Republican era was ushered in on Sunday there was
a " hurrah for commerce !" hut all the trade and induc-
t] y of Paii.3 is at a standstill, and the retail dealers, who
all eady think it FO hard to have to shut up their shops,
cannot look forward without horror to the chance
of having them sacked. Their hatred of the
Prussian invader can scarcely be as deep
as their dread of the armed mob that is to
be arrayed agdinst th(m. Paris would not be the first city
in which the entrance of a foreign enemy was liailechas a
deliverance from a clime:A:lc fee, nor would such a pheno-
menon be without a 1-'2 ececlo)t in I'aris

The Te/ebraph avers that to a surety the worst of the
discontented class,whese rhame is legion, mean now to have
that revenge on the Empire, on order, and on pros-
perity, which was deferred at the proclamation
of the. gepublic. The hideous threats now
used openly in the streets exemplify wide-spread
ideas—there will be violence, pillage, ruin, and horrors
of all kinds, we fear, to which the slaughter of the
siege will be, as it were, the happier side. Badly
provided with men and munitions, and shutting up
in her twenty miles of rampart such elements of crime
and such savage passions as sloth and luxury have
bequeathed, Paris is mad—she is suicidal—ifs he allows
this siege to begin. Yet, so long as she raves out"the doc-
trine that all other countries except France must pay for
unsuccessful wars with loss of soil, Euxope cannot save
her from the terrible experiences which are impending.
All that can be done is, at this last moment, to'

warn her Against the deadly dangers which she

shuts inside her walls, at the hour when she
closes her gates and finally defies the Germans.
The last and greatest self-deceit of all is to imagine
that a place like Paris can reproduce the com-
pact heroism of Fiaragos:a or Strasbourg. It is
too vast, too vatious, and, alas in many dark spots, too
wicked. That terrible power, the "mob of Paris" iS
now an armed mob ; it ban bad its Revolution, but not
its estit'atipn ; and, when the "respectables" are busiest
on the defences, " Hell will break loose."
TIIE NEW GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE.

The Daily 1l czes thinks M. Jules Favre and the
numbers of the Provisional Government for the
defence if France merit the sympathy and the com-
n.h.eratic nof Europe. They have been called to power
in a crisis which they did nothing to create, but all
they could to prevent, and they are altogether unable to
control it. The irony of their situation is such as their
most ingenious opponent could not have devised for
them. The Republic is the heir of the Empire, and the
&us of the fathers are visited on the children. Liberated
France cannot shake herself free from the past, the evil
deeds of the Empire came home to the Republic, and Jules
ram and Cremieux must complete-what Louis Napoleon
and the Due de Gramont began. A war that

they have denounced in its origin as iniquitously
unjust has fallen into their hands, and they can
neither carry it on with any hope of success,
nor end it with credit. They are too sincerely
liberal, and too thoroughly impressed with the hu-
mane ideas of the age, not to regard the war as unholy ;
_ _

they are too closely pledged to its continuance
and too characteristically French, to be able to make
amends for it and to end it. The Republic is unfortunate
in its origin. It has not been adopted from any love of
freedom, but from hate of Germany. It was not created
i)y a groat burst of righteous indignation against oppres-
sion, but by a spasm of anger at an Emperor who had
promised to conquer Germany, but who had let Ger-
many conquer France. Such a Republic finds its 'WAG
sympathies aralysed mid its real strength fettered. It
has the whole sympathy of Liberal Europe on its
but cannot take the step which would call that sym-
pathy out. It cannot repudiate the war, because it will
not and dare not accept the position in which the war has
placed it.

TUE ATTITUDE OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.
The Stehdard calls attention to the policy of the Go-
vernment as follows :—ls it not time for England to ask,
where is the Briti Government, and what is it doing?
Is there arty tue governing us at all during these days
of war and revolution ? While Europe is in the
throes of a mighty convulsion ; while dynasties are
falling an.': mpiros being shaken-- whi•e the battle on
which hat !lie most momentous is raging upon our
neighbont nd when no one knows how soon our
own count.; lie dragged into the fight—what is the
attitude of the appointed guardians of England?
Are they ready and alert at their respective
stations? Are they keel ing watch over the treasure
which is theirs to guard? Are they preparing for the
danger which may come? Is there any sign of their pre-
sent—of :heir prudent vigilance—of their intelligent fore-
sight ? Every one will admit that the occasion demands
the &ninon° qualities cf statesmanship. Now, if ever, is
the time for our rulers to prove that they are equal to the
duties of their post. The day for petty vestry routine
for parochial administration—for the. conventional work
of ordinary British Liberalism—is past. We have to sus-
pend the lopping of the upas tree and other fancy
timber business. History is making itself in Europe at a
rapid pace, and England, as a part of Europe, cannot
escape its share of the responsibility. We were told that
we are blessed with a statesman of the "old Roman type"
at the head of our affairs. Well, then, here is the very
opportunity for which the old Roman muse have been
pining. The old Romang, so far as we have understood
them, were a people with a remarkable aptitude for bear:

iug themselves creditably in time of danger. The old
Romanis were careful to prepare themselves in peace

for the burdens of war. The old Romans were
enabled to make their Imperial life extend

1 their

most distant extremities. The old

R(,mans, while frugal of their resources, spared nothing
to maintain the safety, the dignity, and the glory of the
empire. We cannot say that we have ourselves detected
any likeness to the. old Romans itt the gentlemen who are
now taking their pleasure in office as the British Govern-
ment, but this may be prejutlice. At the present
moment, when we look around for, our old Roraima,
we find them employed in a manner which, though doubt-
less classical, smacks rather of Rome in her day than
Turns im her strength. Our Romans are' of thaksohool
which thOught it (Area to see, from the shore, the toil of
those es-Lo were labouring with the winds and waves.
Europe may be rent by tempests, but for our Romans,
they prefer to

Ci
'.-.-..-.'''''''''''''' Lie beside their nectar,
On the hills like gods together, careless of mankind."

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