The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-22 00:00:00

FRANCE WEARY OF THE WAR.

The special correspondent of the Standard thus con-
cludes a a letter from Havre, under date December 19 :
The only gleam of sunshine, the only ray of hope that
shoots through the night of French despair, is afforded by
the heroic conduct of Paris. In the capital, as in many
other towns, there are probably many thousands who
would only be too glad to give in, who care very little
about Alsace, less about Lorraine, and would purchase
at any price a release from the privations and horrors of
war. But the one fact which should keep up our hopes,
and which in itself is a sufficient rebuke for the unworthy
sneers which the resistance of France meets with
in many quarters, is that Trochu—no rash politician, no
fanatic—the man of all others whose horror of unnecessary
bloodshed would prevent him continuing to " fight for
fighting sake," is still determined on resistance, and has
obtained such a power over the most fickle of large
modern cities that his decision is not questioned even by
those who disagree with it. This great fact is not, I
think, sufficiently appreciated by those who discuss the
prospects of France with a heartless flippancy which to
me, I confess, is revolting. The admirable accounts of the
fighting from Paris though written from utterly different
" points of view," are singularly concurrent in chewing
the desperate character of the fighting, and the very
narrow •ecape of the Germans from utter defeat. Why
should another action not bring about the desired result ?
We know that in the German camp weariness does exist
at the unexpectedly protracted character of the war, that
the men are longing for a sight of their homes, and that
this very season of Christmas now approaching renders
still more gloomy and depressing the effects of
camp life and privation, with the prospect of no
speedy release but that of the grave. We also know that
by the power of example far more than the power of per-
suasion, Trochu has trained every man whom he leads
forth to a sortie to make the sacrifice of his life, and all
these men have an enduring faith that their country can-
not perish, and that every day they prolong their resist-
ance is a step gained towards the object their trusted
leader has in view. France is now fighting for
that which Prussia fought for in 1813—which
Spain fought for for so many years—and I cannot but
think that every generous heart must be with her in the
struggle.

MILITARY DISORGANISATION IN
FRANCE.

From Lille, under date December 19, the special corre-
spondent of the standard writes :—I had heard before
leaving England of the extent to which suspicion exists
in France, but to realise it ono must come to the country
itself. And yet I can hardly blame the people. They
are no longer waging a war ; they are fighting for their
lives. Freely as they are sacrificing their lives,
however, they find themselves betrayed on all
sides. My sympathies with the French cause are
even stronger now • than when I left England.
A nation in arms, and burning with revenge, is a
terrible engine of war if methodically organised ; but this
is exactly what the French appear to lack—method. The
fact is every (French general as soon as he gets a com-
mand, attempts impossibilities, in the hopes of outvieing
his predecessors ; the consequence is that their success lies
chiefly in the magnitude of the disasters they bring on
army they command.. One cannot, feeling this, see the
crowds of men clothed in uniform, in every direction,
without a deep sense of sorrow and sympathy. I had
until now always considered the French a comparatively
puny race, but this is certainly not the case. If Paris can
only hold out for some time longer, and one man with the
genius of organisation comes to the front, France will
have by March an army in the field that will overrun
Europe. But to attempt pitched battles at present
against the veteran soldiers of Germany is but to court
defeat. Frenchmen who have spoken to the prisoners
have told me that they one and all • declare that
the rank and file of the German army are sick of
th 6 war. And I believe it is true. It is all very
well for the Jewish habitues of the cafes at
Berlin to hold out for the • annexation of Alsace
and Lorraine. Let them try a month's campaigning in
France at this season of the year, and then ask them
what their opinions are on the subject. I suspect that
even Bismarck himself does not contemplate Lorraine
being embodied h the German Empire for any length
of time. He wants it now, but chiefly as so much stock
in trade. The mouth of the Rhine, in other words,
rfallandiais ,what. he has set his eyes on. and if the