The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-14 00:00:00

OUR COTEMPORARIES--This Morning

THE TERMS OF PEACE,

The Times, in noticing the arrival Of M. Thiers, says :
—" The nature of the message he bears from the Govern-
ment of Defence gives no hope that his mission
will conduce to the speedy re-establishment of
peace. Disaster has not yet led the Govern-
ment of France to see the truth apart from the
delusions of national vanity. Blow after blow has been
struck at France, and at this moment the forces of her
enemies are before the walls of Paris, and yet it
does not appear that a single Frenchman has been
led to suspect that there is anything in the cha-
racter of his nation to explain this terrible visitation.
Cremieux declares, in the address he has just
issued from Tours, than "an odious and incapable
Government has permitted an enemy to invade
France ;" and this explanrtion clearly satisfies
the popular conscience. It is forgotten that
the war was one of aggression on the part of France.
Paris remembers nothing of the cries " A Berlin." The
people do not dream that they approved an attempt to
inflict upon peaceful Germans the calamities they now
suffer themselves. They only know that the invader is in
France. They cherish as their first article of faith the belief
that France must be saved from all loss in the interest of
the world, which would suffer irremediable injury were
her greatness diminished. This alone can explain the
mission of M. Thiers, and it demonstrates the hopeless-
ness of a speedy termination of the war.
The Telegraph has reason to believe that the terms
which M. Thiers is empowered to submit are of the fol-
lowing purport :—He has instructions to represent thathis
country not only wishes, but most ardently desires,
to put an end to hostilities. She is prepared to pay
a heavy indemnity in money, corresponding to the
proved expenses and losses of Germany, possibly up to the
sum total of one hundred millions sterling. She will con-
sent, under certain conditions, to surrender the half of her
fleet to the victors, and to dismantle the fortresses of Metz
and Strasburg. These things she will do to atone for
her fault ; but she will not yield one inch of Alsace
and Lorraine. Rather than that she will defend
Paris to the last extremity; and, when Paris is laid
in ruins, she will carry on the war to the bitter
end from town to town throughout the land. Such
is an outline of the instructions confided to M. Thiers,
in order that he might urge the British Cabinet
to favour a speedy settlement, as he will sub-
sequently urge the Governments of Russia and Austria.
Of course, M. Thiers does not fail to point out
that the present ruling men in Paris are moderates, and
may preserve an ordered society and acceptable foreign
relations, while, if they be driven to ruin by the war, their
places might be taken by a violent faction, in which case
France would be abandoned to wild counsels and a most
desperate Administration. The submission thus prof-
fered by the defeated nation is very marked, and the
Telegraph can only hope that the motives of wisdom and
generosity may be mingled in the minds of the victors
with those sterner designs which have hitherto deterred
negotiation.

The Standard, commenting upon the mission of M.
Thiers, says :—" The neutral Powers know by this time
what conditions of peace France is prepared to submit to.
M. Thiers has not let the grass grow under his
feet, and the telegraph has informed the Courts
of Vienna and St. Petersburg of the substance
of the declaration he made to Lord Granville
yesterday afternoon. Practically, the Ambassador Ex-
traordinary of the new Republic could tell the Govern-
ments to which he is accredited very little that they
were not already aware of. But he has given formal
and official expression to the views of his Government,
and. what is much more, he has asked them to
interpose and endeavour to negociate a peace which the
Republic can accept. That is the real importance of M.
Thiers' mission. He has come to London, not to say that
the Republic desires to be at peace with the world,
or explain and vindicate its origin, but to ask the
neutral Powers to endeavour to negociate a peace which,
being concluded on the basis of the almost unbroken suc-
cesses of Prussia, shall give that Power all the satisfac-
tion it can wisely ask, and shall yet be a
peace that France can accept with the desire
and the determination to keep it. It is an
appeal ad misericordiam that he makes. True,
he admits the unfortunate condition in which his country
stands ; but he declares, on the other hand, that France
will .resist to the last rather than submit to con-
ditions which could only be imposed in the intention of
degrading her. What he asks is, that the great Powers of
Europe—that England, to whom France has long been
a cordial ally—that Austria and Russia, should exert their
influence to put an end to a struggle by which France
may indeed appear to be the chief sufferer, but in the
results of which Europe is most deeply interested, and
the continuance of which will be very much at her
cost.

In reference to M. Thiers' mission to England, the
Manchester Examiner remarks that in the present position
of affairs the best terms procurable for France are those
which might be obtained by a frank appeal to
the magnanimity of the King and the political
sagacity of Count Bismarck. France went in to
win or lose heavily, and she has lost. The inference is
unpalatable, but it is inexorable and not unjust. All we
oan do is to put in on her behalf representa-
tions of a friend and to employ our good offices
in mitigating the terms upon which the victor may
insist. In these efforts our best reliance will be placed
upon the political sagacity of the statesman who repre-
sents the diplomacy of Germany, and the Examiner is
not without hope that a calm review of the state of
affairs will show him the prudence as well as the glory of
magnanimity.