The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-12 00:00:00

OUR CO rEMPORARIES—This Morning

THE RE-OCCUPATION OF 01ILEANS BY THE FRENCH.
The victory of the Army of the Loire, says the Times,
is a gleam of sunshine for the French nation. Its
importance will probably be exa;4gerated in France, and
there is at least an equal probability that it will be
underrated here. The moral effect of an undisputed
victory would have been of great value to the
French cause, under whatever circumstances it had
been won, but a victlry such a; has been achieved
on the Loire is doubly important. It shows that .the
power of the German hosts to roam about wherever they
list, south or south-west of Paris, is, after al., limited.

The Germans may securely reckon on getting all they
demand if they can keep their circle of iron around Paris
unbroken, and can maintain their communications with
Germany, and at the same time detach a corps or two to
break up any army that may appear to be gathering against
them. They must be able to do all these things to be
certain of success, though it remains highly probable that
they will get what they ask if they can manage to insure
the first and second conditions to which we have re-
ferred. If they can keep Paris shut up and the roads
to Germany open, Paris must fall. There is as yet
no sign of any part of the 30,000 cavalry coming
on the stage, of whom au observant general lately
returned from France is understood to have said that if

he had then, as he once had, such a force under his
command, he would make the King of Prussia beat
a precipitate and disastrous retreat. The communica-
tions with the East are iaterrupted only by the casual
action of Francs-tireurs, which are insufficient to
interfere with the prosecution of the German plans.
But the victory on the Loire shows that it is not possible
for the victorious Army to spread out below Paris at
pleasure. Prince Frederick Charles, Von Werder, and
Von der Tann are formidable leaders, but in dividing
their forces they may be overmatched. had they gone on
from victory to victory without a check, the desolation of
France would have been complete. Wednesday's success
is in this way an omen of more friendly fortune. It
came not before it was wanted, and its effect em the
spirits of the nation will not be less because it seems to
have come unexpectedly.
The Daily News observes : The course of the German
arms has been steadily onward. Now, for the first time,
we hear of a retreat—a retreat, it may be, only pour
mieux sautes. The Germans have really eva uated Orleans.
They have retired before a stronger force, fight-
ing as they went. But they have fallen back,

it would seem, only to oollect their strength.
General von der Tann has effected a junction with the
armies of General Wittich, Prince Albrecht, and the
Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh; and it is probable that
the reoccupation of Orleans by the French will be of but
a temporary character. Still, so far as it goes, and
while it lasts, it is success. The French Army of
the Loire has won its spurs. It has been proved possible
to take at least one German commander by surprise, and
to confront him with a force stronger than that which
he could oppose to it. The German prestige of absolute
invincibility, of preparation, everywhere and always,

for whatever might happen, is slightly very
slightly, it is true - impaired. The first gleam of
success has shone upon the French arms, for the fire-
baptism of Saarbruck was but an ignis fataus. It is vain
to speculate upon the vicissitudes of the French temper.
The valour of our neighbours needs especially to be
encouraged, and it can draw hope from the slightest achieve-
ments. it is possible, therefore, that this casual
success at Orleans may have moral consequences out of
proportion to its military importance. Whether this
would be for good or for evil remains doubtful. Such a
revival of hope and courage as should allow the war to be
continued without affecting its ultimate result would, phy-
sically speaking, be a calamity to France as well as to
Germany. It would mean bloodshed and devastation on
a larger scale than ever, and increased exasperation and
hatred. On the other hand, it might be something to
restore the tone of French feeling, and to arrest the
nation in the course of that swift descent on which it has

entered.
We may take it for granted, says the Standard, that
General Von der Tann, the hero of Bazeilles, retired, as
the King of Prussia puts it, because the force of the enemy
was superior—that is to say, because he could not help
it. The Bavarian commander executed a strate-
gical movement, which in all ages and all coun-
tries has been approved. If he had stopped
at Orleans he would have been cut to pieces, so he
retired upon Toury and reinforcements. General Von
der Tann, whose presence, or the presence of some
namesake of whom, where fighting goes on, is the
refrain of a popular German song, commemorating the
exploits of the Schleswig-Holstein war of 1848, did what
the circumstances required of him, but his abandonment

of Orleans and retreat towards Paris is not the less a

signal advantage to the French, and one the effect of
which will not be destroyed if he should be able with
the troops sent him from Chartres and Paris to hold his
position, and even to force the French to retire. That is
a question upon which we will not enter here. The great
fact is, that the rupture of negotiations has been followed
by the one real succes of the French in the present war.
We ought, indeed, perhaps to describe the repulse
at Montmedy as such a success, but its influence on
the course of the war has hardly been greater than
that of such successful resistance to flying columns of
the enemy as was offered at St. Quentin and other
places. For the first time, at Orleans, a considerable
German force has been driven back a considerable dis-
tance, and been compelled to seek its safety in
an abstraction from the forces investing Paris.
The effect of that intelligence throughout France
cannot fail to be enormous. For the first time the
country will hear of a real French success, and a success
which is, moreover, extremely important, dealing with the
question politically, because a success organised by the
Government of the National Defence. For the first time
the tide of invasion, hitherto checked only by those scat-
tered forts in the defence of which the honour of the
the French army has been vindicated, has been driven
back. No defeat the army which has occupied Orleans,
and apparently menaces the Bavarians and their supports
at Toury, may sustain, will avail to destroy the encou-
raging and stimulating effect upon the nation which the
announcement of this success cannot fail to exert.