The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-16 00:00:00

GENTLE

WEN'S CLOTHING CONTOUED :

Summer Tourist Summer Dress
Suits. Suits. Trousers. Trousers:
EVENING EDITION.
245. 245. 10s. 6d. 15s.
28s. 288. 12s. 6d. 16s. 6d.
LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1870.
365. 365. 14s. 18s.
—.
40s. 425. 15s. 6d. 21s. THE recurrence of the Fete Napolion could hardly
455. 48s. 175. 6d. 245. have been marked by circumstances more disastrous.
555. 525. 20s. 265. The "Grand Army," the army of the " Great
-- Nation"—already withdrawn from between the
Also at Also at Also at Also at
other prices. other prices. other prices. other prices Rhine and the Saare, and afterwards from between
, _,_ __L e____Ll__

THE recurrence of the Fete Napoldon could hardly
have been marked by circumstances more disastrous.
The "Grand Army," the army of the " Great
Nation"—already withdrawn from between the
Rhine and the Saare, and afterwards from between
the Saare and the Moselle—drawn back, yet further
to the left or southern bank of the Moselle, in
full retreat upon the camp at Chalons. Beaten at
Weissenburg, at Forbach, and at Worth, having
lost 10,000 of her warriors, as prisoners, almost all
of them unwounded, in the hands of the enemy ;
having had two eagles torn from her grasp in the
very first engagement, together with thirty cannon
and as many as half a dozen of those vaunted arms
of precision and destruction, the mitrailleuse—
France realises the return of the 15th of August in the
midst of a series of disasters only comparable to that
which marked the triumphant advance of the allied
armies from the frontiers to the very gates of
Paris at the close of the last great war. Strasburg

ORDERS by post are attended to with care and
punctuality, and the easy and accurate system of self-
measure introduced by E. MOSES and SON enables them to
guarantee a faultless fit.

invested, Nancy occupied, Metz beleagured—the
conquering forces of Prussia to the number of nearly
half a million of armed men, heartened onward by
their successes, successes that have from first to
last been uninterrupted, now behold the fairest plains
of La Belle France spreading unobstructedly
before them, with the Emperor NAPOLEON
and his Marshals at the head of the ac-
cumulated ranks of what has hitherto been
regarded as the greatest of all the military nations of
the Continent, still in full retreat along the whole
line—the Grand Army withdrawing, now,
as rapidly as possible to the Camp at
Chalons. Hardly an agreeable anniversary,
this Fête Napole"on of 1870 ! Hardly a holiday
calculated to awaken much national enthu-
siasm ! As sad a festival, almost, one would imagine,
as even Paris, that capital of stupendous catas-
trophes, both military and political, has ever known.
What renders this campaign disheartening and dis-
astrous in its influence far more than any loss of
men, even though to the number of ten thousand un-
wounded prisoners, of eagles (not of one merely, but of
two Imperial eagles), of thirty pieces of artillery in a
single struggle, and of six of those "weapons of the
devil" the mitrailleuse, at the very first serious encoun-
ter—what is far more disheartening, what is far more
disastrous than all these incidents and particulars
combined, is the loss of their prestige by the French,
and the enhancement, the astoundingly rapid
and enormous enhancement of the p; estige already
won to the German arms by the Prussian forces in
1866, and forced upon the recognition of all
Europe in the glare of the crowning triumph won
upon the field of Koniggratz.

The restoration of the prestige of France, now,
is only to be effected by a serious of almost
miraculous achievements. It is rather more than—

" The league-long roller thundering on the beach "
that we are all watching keenly as it sweeps onwards
over the broad and smooth plains to the
south of the Moselle. It is far more
than any "league-long roller " it is a
human wave, fully one hundred miles from end to
end, having at its back the whole weight of that
Atlantic of the Teutons, the vast mass of the German

nationalities, the forty millionsof the North German

Confederation. As far as it has yet advanced it has,
so to speak, overthrown and submerged almost
everything before it.. And there is no dyke to with-
stand its further-progress hitherto anywhere visible.
A fortress is left, here and there, islanded in the midst
of the conqueritg flood as it has advanced—as at
Metz, for example, and as at Strasburg. But at
Chalons at last, we may presume, the retreating
army of the French and the advancing army
of the Germans must give battle to each other deci-
sively. No partial success, but on the contrary, a
complete and overwhelming success, can alone re-
store to the Imperial cause the prestige it
formerly possessed, a prestige which has
now all but completely disappeared. how far
that might be in any way possible, the battle of
Chalons must announce almost on the morrow of the
Fete NAPOLEON.

WHAT looks uncommonly like another blunder is
announced to have resulted in a victory to the arms
of NAPOLEON. The statement is so directly in
violation of all the probabilities that the effect of
it is almost bewildering. According to the
EMPEROR'S despatch, dated from Longeville
at 10 p.m. on Sunday, the French army
before Metz had begun crossing over to the
left bank of the Moselle when, one half of the army
having already crossed, the other half was attacked
in great force by the Prussians. Evidently, there-
fore, the French were taken again at an immense
disadvantage—they were once more completely out-
generalled and outmanoeuvred. As the result of the
four hours' struggle, we learn from the French
EMPEROR that the Prussians " were repulsed with
considerable losses "—and at the same time we hear
from the Prussian KING that his soldiers have again
fought against the French " a victorious battle !"
The contrast of the two statements is all the more
striking, because of . the confident tone of the KING
and the anything but confident tone of the
EMPEROR. The former is positive, the latter
negative in his manner of making the announce-
' meat. WILLIAM I. claims a victory. NAPOLEON 111.
claims only to have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.
Everything considered—the divided position of the
French army, half of it on the right bank, half on
the left bank of the Moselle, when one moiety