The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-20 00:00:00

THE EMPEROR AT WILIIELMSHO

A correspondent of the Times, writing from Wilhelms-
hohe on the 7th instant, says :—" I had the pleasure of a
conversation to-day with the Emperor, since my arrival
at Wilhelmshohe, and repeated to him the principal points
of information imparted to me by the Prussian
Commissioner, The reply of the Emperor was that
there could be no prospect of peace, near or remote,
on the basis of ceding to Prussia a single foot of French
territory, and no Government in France could attach its
signature to such a treaty and rennlin in power a single
day. The Emperor, to whose presence I had not the
least difficulty in penetrating, is looking in remark-
able good health, though he has been suffering fur
a day or two past from a slight attack of gout,
brought on, no doubt, by a marked change in the
weather, which is to-day cold and rainy. The high
and exposed situation of Wilhelmshohe is such
as to render the winters very severe, and I should be in-
, clined to think that a prolonged sojourn at this place
would be very trying to any one unaccustomed to the
rigours of a northern climate, and particularly to a tem-
perament like that of Napoleon 111. 11e himself seems
to think little and to care less about his own per -
sonal comfort, every thought being evidently pre-
occupied with unhappy France, now, alas ! further
removed than ever from peace and tranquillity. The
Emperor, in spite of the flood of abuse and calumny
heaped upon him by the Republican press, is resolved to
say nothing or do nothing of a nature to engender fresh
complications, or throw obstacles in the way of the defence
of France. tle spoke in warm terms of the numerous
proofs of the kindly sympathy entertained for him in Eng-
land which he is in the constant habit of receiving from
every quarter of the United Kingdom, and alluded also
with a sad smile to the dastardly attacks made upon him,
a prisoner, by too many of his own countrymen, Who, one
would suppose, whatever their opinions, might at least
shew some respect for the great misfortune of the man
who has in the past done so much for the honour and
prosperity of France. While I was conversing with him,
a letter from Southern France was brought in, which
turned out to be one of the cowardly anonymous missives
sent to Wilhelmsehe, and containing a number of doggrel
verses, of which I give you a sample, copied from the
crumpled paper the Emperor contemptuously cast
aside :

" Maudissez donc cette horde avilie
Qui, non contente encor des beaux ecus
De notre France, et l'avoir asservie,
A fetranger nous a memo vendus."
Bon voyage,
Clique a Mandrin,
Einbarquez-vous pour un autre rivage ;
Bon voyage,
Clique a Mandrin,
Bien loin de nous portez votre venin."
Such trash as this daily comes here, the anonymous
senders hoping to embitter the irksome hours of the
prisoner of Sedan by even such pig22ros d'epirufic as this.

OUR COTEMPORARIES—This Morning

WILL THE WAR END WITH THE FALL OF PARIS?

The Times asks whether it is possible for irregular forces
who cannot face the enemy in the field to render such
assistance to the garrison of " Paris, by harassing the
investing army, by cutting off detached bodies of
soldiers and intercepting supplies, as to stave off
the capture of the city ? We cannot suppose it pos-
sible. If the Germans persevere, and are content to pro 7
long the strain upon their resources, which must already
be severe, the capture of Paris and of Metz is inevitable.
The important question, however, then arises, Will this be
the end ? Suppose Paris to have fallen. After an amount
of destruction not to be contemplated without horror,
suppose the capital to be taken. Is the war over?
We see no reason to assume that it will be. It
appears not only possible but probable, that, just
as the Emperor Napoleon at • Sedan renounced all
authority to speak in the name of France, so the
Provisional Government at Paris will simply disown
all pretence to assume such a function. They may
declare that they formed the Government of Defence;
they attempted to defend Paris and failed, and have be-
come again no more than simple citizens. Whe-
ther they adopt this attitude or not, we may
be confident that, if Lyons be not by that time
taken, Lyons will refuse to be bound by any submis-
sion they may make. The same thing may be said of
Marseilles, of Toulon, of the whole of the South and West
of France, if not also of the naval arsenals and of the navy.
If the present temper of the country be maintained—
and it daily becomes more bitter rather than more sub-
dued—the capture of Paris would be followed by the
disintegeation of France, but not by its submission.

PARIS AND THE PROVINCES,

It looks just now, says the Daily News, as if the in-
exorable tendency of events had resolved to compel the
French provinces and the great cities to act for them-
selves, independently of the capital. A cloud has
swallowed up Paris. For all guiding and ruling
purposes she is practically lost to the nation. A
Minister may ascend now and then in a balloon
from her midst, and descend on some provincial city,
amid storm and thunder, like an antique god. But the
provinces could not be expected very long to keep the
resolves necessary to their own safety waiting until some
such Deus ex machind should come down to untie the
knot of the difficulty. With Paris baleaguered as she
now is the other parts of Frace will be compelled to
look at things with their own eyes, and decide by the light
of their own intelligence. Orleans has already learned
how little the capital can do for itself. The same lesson
will imprint itself on Marseilles and Bordeaux, on Rouen
and Havre. So far from being able to advise and help the
provincial cities, Paris has now plaintively to
appeal (when she gets the chance of utterance) for coun
sel, and aid to them. Now, we hold that great as is the
calamity which causes this political and intellectual disin-
tegration of France, the decentralising effect is an almost
unmixed benefit. In the nature of things the public opinion
of a city which has been for time out of mind the seat
of Empire and of fashion, cannot be always healthy,
disinterested, and wise. No Englishman of any judg-
ment would regard it as aught but a misfor-
tune if England were to be governed by Lon.
don. In almost all our recent political and economical
struggles the earnest, energetic agitation of the manu-
facturing cities and the North of England has been
an influence of inestimable power and value on the right
side. Every measure adopted in this country has to be
weighed and valued by Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds,
Birmingham, and Sheffield, by Edinburgh and Glasgow,
by Dublin and Belfast, before it can pretend to receive
the assent of the nation.