The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-03 00:00:00

LI) i UN, LONDON, TH URSDA Y , NOVEMBER 3, 1870.

that there are two sides to this question, and that
much may be said on both. We have on former
occasions urged the arguments that may be
pleaded in favour of the German view. But Count
BERNSTORPF ought not to forgot that the
change is ° one wholly beneficial to Germany as a
military power, and wholly prejUdicial to England
as a naval power. Yet he does not hesitate to ask a
single nation to alter of its own accord the clause of
international law by which the conduct of all States
is at present regulated—to wit, that the exportation
of arms by a. neutral is permissible, but that a belli-
gerent is free to capture them if it can. Surely if
this rule be modified at all, the change should be
made, like other changes, by agreethent between a
majority of civilised Governments. Count BERNS-
TORFF, however, not only asks the English
Cabinet to act in the matter without
concert with other Powers, - but demands
that the alteration be effected in the midst of war,
to the direct prejudice of one of the combatants.
Most amazing fact of all, he applies to England,
whilst no serious representations are made • to
America, which supplies France with an infinitely
greater number of weapons than the defeated nation
obtains from England, and which, moreover, is in
high favour with Germany. Surely, if Count BERN-
STOUFF'S representations were founded upon a sense
of just treatment, his diplomatic brother at
Washington would be furnished with the same in-
structions as those upon which he is acting so ener-
getically. Is it surprising that such impudent
unfairness should generate the suspicion so openly
expressed in the Times's epistle from Frankfort ?
But a celebrated historian surpasses this fine
achievement-of the diplomatist. Herr Von SYDEL
makes it a ground of complaint that Englishmen
have presumed to condemn-the annexation of Alsace
and Lorraine as unjust and impolitic. The
course taken by a large section of
British writers has been perfectly logical,
but it is open to the objection of being, in
German esteem, decidedly lukewarm. France is in
England generally urged to submit to the loss of
territory, because it would save her from overwhelm-
ing calamities, and would not be incompatible with
her future greatness and prosperity. It is conceded
that Germany was unjustly assailed, requires pro-
tection against future outrages, and, in her
, policy of conquest, is doing no more than France
[ would have done, had victory inclined to the
opposite aide. At the same time, it is pointed out
that the wishes of several hundred thousand people
ought not to be wantonly disregarded, that it is high
time morality played some part in the decisions of
governments, and that a future war for the re-con-
quest of the provinces is an absolute certainty. Herr
VON SYBEL and his countrymen are offended at this
qualified judgment. In the first place we ought,
they say, to have prevented the war by a
prompt denunciation of the wrong contem-
plated by France ; and now we ought to
finish it by uttering the unqualified assurance
that the territorial transfer is in all respects
right and advisable, without the shadow of a plea on
the other side, and that the sooner France admits
both the necessity and the justice of yielding the
point the better. Unfortunate England I To restrain
from war a potentate who was so bent upon fighting
that he risked and lost his crown in the enter-
prise, and to bring to reason a people and
a Government whom neither Metz nor Sedan
can subdue—such is the modest task set this long-
suffering State. And what should we get in return P
The goodwill of Germany. Unhappily it is not
certain that even this recompense would accrue
to us. We hoped for at least this goodwill
at the time when we subsidized Prussian forces, and
fought wars which ended in a great increase of Prus-
sian territory, and in a proportionately great increase
of the British national debt ; but neither good-
will nor anything more substantial was
ever returned. We have no friends on the
Continent, and, as the Times pertinently instances,
not a single soldier, nor even this valuable moral sup-
port, was given us in the time of our greatest trouble
—the Indian Mutiny. With the best desire to live
on good terms with her neighbours, Eng-
land long ago ascertained that their friendship so far
as practical results are concerned, was not worth
having.
No wonder that the behaviour of German publi-
cists should produce irritation in this country. The
contest is deplored on all hands, but Von SXBEL him-
self admits that the balance of opinion here is in favour
of,his nation. Ample tribute is accorded to the skill,
enterprise, and valour which have led the Germans
to their astonishing successes. Lack of admiration
at those successes there is certainly none. Excellent
as is the German press, its achievements in narrating
with the utmost justice the events :of the
war are hopelessly eclipsed by the brilliant efforts
made in England. That more substantial service
was rendered, in restraining the neutral states from
taking sides by England's emphatic_ declaration that
France was in the wrong, is the not unfounded opinion
of many here. But if the Germans expect that we
should assist them in needlessly humiliating a brave
people, whose greatest fault is that they submitted
tamely to the will of a wicked Government, it is
high time for an unmistakeable assurance that nothing
of the kind need be looked for.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

DIE BALLOON MAIL.

Either the Government at Paris is resolved to keep
the provinces in ignorance of what passes within the
walls, or the weather has continued. untavourable,
for no news has come from the French capital since
October 19. That is the latest date of our own des-
patches by balloon, and we have seen none by
a more recent mail published in any other paper.
The Times of Wednesday contains a Paris letter, but it
is dated the 19th. Probably the weather has caused
this break down, for it would seem that attempts
have been made to keep up the communication.
According to the Precurscur d' Anvers, the balloon
Vauban left Paris on the 27th. It made an extraor-
dinary voyage. In order to insure great elevation
whilst passing over the German lines, the balloon was
made very large,and the gas purified as much as possibl9.
The machine in consequence shot up into the clouds
immediately the ropes were loosened, and it was
blown to the north-east with such rapidity " that in
an hour it was close to Metz." The balloon was
there suddenly driven close to the ground, and the
cradle several times dashed against the earth. It
WAS afterwards driven into a wood and torn to
pieces, the cradle remaining fixed in the upper
boughs of a tree. The travellers succeeded both in
getting down and in escaping the notice of the
Germans. They finally fled into Belgium, but alas!
without their despatches. From which story, if true,
it seems a fair inference that ballooning will not do in
winter.

secured against attack. In now demanding Elsass
and German Lothringen, the Germans, Herr Von
Sybel asserts, are doing nothing more than what
France must consider permissible and fair. Either
France, at the beginning of the war, he holds, re-
garded German national honour as a thing of no
account, or her present declaration that the cession
of Elsass would be incompatible with her dignity is
an empty phrase. The Germans think it bettor to
choose the latter alternative, and could they, after
their bitter experience of French aggression, enter-
tain the slightest doubt of the desirableness of the
demands they make, it must vanish at once before
the late utterances of French statesmen. If ever a
nation entered on a war with a good conscience, the
Prussians did so in 1870. Men speak of the balance
of power being disturbed, and point to the
speeches of Jules Favre without learning that what
he means by the balance of power in Europe is the
preponderance of France. If a nation forbids the
Romans to join Italy, the South Germans to join the
North Germans, the Spaniards to choose an Hohen-
zollern for their king, the Swiss to carry a railway
over the St. Gothard, that nation, too ostensibly,
makes a comprehensive claim for its own supremacy
in Europe. Knowing German resolution and forti-
tude as he does, Von Sybel concludes his letter by
saying that in directing appeals for moderation
and concession to Berlin and Versailles, in-
stead of to Paris, the neutral Powers are not helping to
accelerate the termination of the war.
PIGEONS AT SIEGES.

Carrier-pigeons have played an important part in
other sieges besides those of Paris and of Metz.
When Brutus was besiged in Modena, by Antony,
he was informed through the medium of pigeons of
the arrival of the Consuls llertius and Pansa.
While the Crusaders were besieging Tyre, they per-
ceived a pigeon in the air, who appeared to be dir-
ecting his flight towards the town. The army raised
such a shout that the bird was frightened
and fell among the besiegers' lines. The message
which he brought, came from the Sultan of
Damascus, and announced that he was coming with
all speed to the assistance of the city. The Bismarck
of that epoch substituted for this message another
despatch, announcing that the Sultan was himself
very much pressed by the enemy, and was compelled
to abandon Tyre to its fate. The pigeon was then
released, and arrived in the town as the bearer of the
false news. The garrison believed the intelligence
which was thus communicated to them, and relying
no longer on the assistance of the Sultan, which had
been confidently looked for, surrendered themselves
immediately to the Crusaders.
THE ITALIAN MINISTRY.

The disunion of opinions in the Italian Cabinet
induces the belief that ere long there must occur a
Ministerial crisis. The defections in the Cabinet are
not wholly attributable to the line of policy adopted
with reference to the Pope. Opposition is mani-
fested among the Constitutional majority by which
the Lanza-Sella Cabinet has so far been supported.
The Nazione reprints a lengthy address by Broglio,
Minister of Public Instruction in the early part of
the Menabrea Ministry to his constituents of Bassano,
accusing the Cabinet of precipitation in going to
Rome at all, and of rashness in persisting in a deter-
mination of removing thither the seat of Govern-
ment, placing Victor Emmanuel with his Holiness.
On the other hand, Ex-Minister Bargonia taxes the
Cabinet with not going far enough, and calls upon it
to hasten the transfer of Rome. He suggests that in
its respect for the Pope it is guilty of gross disrespect
to the express provisions of the Charter and to the
authority of the two Chambers. A third, and numeri-
cally stronger party of opposition in the old majority,
consists of those politicians who declare that the
Cabinet has committed an act fraught with the most
serious consequences in having declared its willing-
ness to accept a collective guarantee, from all the
powers having Catholic subjects, of those provisions
for securing the spiritual independence of the Pontiff
which Italy may propose to them. A proper appre-
ciation of the strong opposition which it will
encounter has probably led the Ministry to depart
from the resolution originally taken, and instead of
issuing writs for a partial election of the additional
fourteen deputies to represent Rome and the annexed
Papal provinces, to dissolve Parliament and risk the
verdict of a general election.