The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-02 00:00:00

WAR TOPICS:

When the French Emperor demanded Savoy and Nice
as indemnification for the assistance he had rendered
Victor Emmanuel in the acquisition of Lombardy, Mrs.
Browning wittily remarked that " Italy was awakening
from its Third Nap.' Cannot ,the phrase be now more
appropriately applied to France than it could then be to
Italy? When. we find Deputies boldly asserting in the
Corps L6gislatif that the safety of the State is of more
vital importance than the perpetuation of the dynasty,
and M. 'Tiers publicly foreshadowing the dawn of a new
republic, it is evident that the nation is arousing itself
into vigorous adlidn from a state of lethargy into which
it had sunk under the narcotic influence of Imperialism.
A few short weeks may solve the problem.—At the open-
ing of the war the hopes of Mamie were fixed upon
Marshal McMahon; but his first battle (Vsloerth) was a
great defeat, and he disappeared from the military
leadership. Marshal Bazaine was then appointed to
the chief command of the army ; but at his
first battld (near Metz) he was surprised and badly
damaged. Marshal Cartrobert is doubtless ambitious now
for glory as the Vreffeli Commander-in-Chief ; but we
imagine that he would turn ea the poorest of the whole
lot of Marshals in handling a large body of troops.—The
French blockade of the Prussian ports Was not completed,
or at least announced to the world, until August 15. Ten
days only were allowed from that date for the'departure
of neutral vessels. The delay of the French in estab-
lishing the blockade or in making an attack on some of
the North Sea or Baltic ports, is inexplicable. It now
appears that the chances of success, if attacks should be
made, are greatly diminished, and it is not improbable
that the French may have to content themselves with
blockading the principal ports. Considering that
the object of France in making war upon Prussiu
was the seizure of the Rhine provinces, it is prepos-
terous in the Paris Constitutionnel to accuse Germany
of inaugurating the " policy of spoliation of French
territory." The invasion of France by Prussia is for the
purpose of preventing French aggressions upon Germany.
—lt is a remark of both French and German military
writers that French soldiers very quickly lose confidence
in their commanders, in case of a display of anything like
incapacity. In this view nothing can be more damaging
to the prospect of French success than the blundering that
has been displayed by some of their most prominent
generals during the last month.—We find in the Cologne
Zeitung a patriotic article, written by a German lady in
reference to the moral and social effects of the war with
France. She gives much excellent advice, and, among
other things, strongly expresses her hopes that the stirring
up of German animosity against France and the
awakening of German spirit and life and feeling, will
be the means of suppressing throughout Germany
the immoral and indecent can can which the French
have of late years introduced to German cities.
We trust that Miss Lewald's hopes in regard
to this matter will not be disappointed. If one of the col-
lateral results of the war be the suppression of the can can,
throughout the world, it will not be altogether without its
moral and social advantages. In the present war, as in
previous wars, both parties loudly implore Heaven for
triumph. The form of prayer which has been authorised
for use in the Lutheran churches of Prussia is very im-
pressive, and a correspondent has described the solemnity
with which the congregation sang Luther's grand hymn,
" A strong fortress is our God." One of our Paris letters
published yesterday described the Empress Eugenie as a
devotee at the shrine of Our Lady of Victory, whom she
has just presented with a splendid candelabra. Daily the
Empress repairs to the shrine, prays, deposits her offering,
and departs. It seems, however, that all the votaries at
the pious shrines in Paris are women, which is a fact not
creditable to the masculine population of France.—New
York, Tribune.