The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-27 00:00:00

11:1E GOVERNMENT PAPERS
The eagerly looked for Correspondence "respecting the
Negotiations Preliminary to the war' between France and
Prussia, have at last, according to promise, been pre-
ented to both Houses of Parliament by command of her
Majesty. They are in the hands of the members of the
Legislature. They are in possession of the public at large.
Lying before us at this moment they extend to 77 pages
in all, numbering as many as 124 distinct and separate
documents. The dale of the first, which is from Mr.Layard,
is the sth instant, being in effect a mere telegraphic
communication,through which her Majesty's representative
at Madrid informed Lord Glanville as Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs that overnight a council of
Ministers had been held for the purpose of considering
the condition of the hereditary Prince of Hob enzollern-
Sigmaringen. That laconic intimation from Mr. Layard
is, as we have said, No. 1 of this portentous correspon-
dence. The last communication enshrined in the mo•
mentous blue-book—No. 124—is a letter addressed
by the Due de Grammont that Lord Lyons, under date
the 23d instant, with reference to the decision of the
French Government as to neutral ships bound for
neutral ports and freighted on neutral account prior to
the date (viz., the 19th inst.), when war was finally de-
clared. Scanning the whole of the intermediate corres-
pondence between the date of these two communications
extending'over little more than a fortnight in all, i.e., from
the sth to the 23rd inst., it is impossible not to recognise at
every stage of these deplorable transactions that the
most strenuous efforts were made by her Majesty's
Government in the interests of peace between the two
angered and impulsive and impetuous principals, now un-
happily belligerents, The gravity of Mr, Layard's tele-
gram could hardly have been suspected by anyone, run-
ning simply as it did as follows—" The Council of Ministers
assembled here last night, under the Regent, have de-
cided upon proposing the hereditary Prince of Hohen-
zollern-Sigmaringen as a candidate for the Throne. The
Cortes is summoned for the2oth of the month, and it is ex-
pected that he will be accepted by the requisite majority."
It was the first rising, however of that cloud—then no
bigger than a man's hand—that has since covered the
whole sky, and from which the thunder and lightning of
battle, with its rain of blood, must burst forth now almost
immediately—that terrible storm of war, of the,devastatons
of which all Europe is now in breathless expectation.
Simultaneously with Mr. Layard's startling telegram
from Madrid came the Duc de Gramont's distinct
intimation at Paris 'to Lord Lyons that France
" would not permit it "—that is, the candidature
—that she would use her whole force to preVent it--that
she would regard it as an insult. Those declarations of
the French Minister were accompanied by a request to the
English Government to negotiate with the Imperial Go-
vernment of France in endeavouring to ward off an event
fraught with so much danger to the peace of Europe.
Hence Lord Granville addressed a very strong dispatch
to our Minister at Berlin, pointing out that the
enforcement of the claims of the Prussian Prince to the
Spanish throne would be " sure to lead to great and dan-
gerous irritation." Between Berlin and Paris, however,
between the Duc de Gramont and M. Benedetti on the
one hand, and on the other King William and his chief
Minister, M. Bismarck, the angry controversy continued
in stormier accents until the earnest voices of the
peacemakers were drowned and lost, and in the
end were utterly silenced. Prior to the actual rup-
ture between France and Prussia, however, Lord
Lyons pointed out to the Due de Gramont
that further persistence in the quarrel would totally
change the position of France, the candidature of the
Prince of Hohenzollern being by that time withdrawn'
" If war took .place now," he said, " all Europe would
say that it was the fault of France ; that France rushed
into it without any substantial cause, merely from pride
and resentment. France," he added " would have
public opinion throughout the world against her,
and her antagonist would have all the advantage
of being manifestly forced into the war in self-defence."
That is really the drift of the whole conclusion arrived at
on a most careful examination of the correspondence.
The conciliatory spirit with which the whole of these nego-
tiations were carried on by her Majesty's present advisers
cannot be too highly commended at the same time that
they are marked throughout by great firmness and un-
doubted sagacity. If upon no one else, the correspondence
now published reflects the highest credit, at least, upon
the responsible members of her Majesty's Government.