The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-26 00:00:00

i'llE 61IN, I,ol\ ON MONDAv

DAY by day the faint flush which we thought to
be the dawning of the .Sun of Peace has been waning,
until we were almost in despair at the darkness which
seemed to be fast settling again over Europe. We
lament to say that these gloomy forebodings have been
realised. The mission of 111. FA VRE has failed. The
French FOREIGN MINISTER most unfortunately
signalised his accession to office by a declaration which
would have been suitable only if the French troops
were still encamped upon the Saar and the Rhine,
were still occupying the positions which they took
up at the commencement of the war. The
announcement that he would yield neither
an inch of territory nor a stone of a

fortress would not bear the criticism of calm

reflection. M. FAVRE went to the German head-
quarters prepared to yield the second condition, ready
to assent to the dismantling of Metz and Strasbourg.
It does not appear how he proposed to guarantee that
Marshal BAZAINE and General Unnrcit would fulfil
the necessary preliminary of capitulation. The
Marshal is in no immediate stress, and therefore
would not have been driven by necessity to recog-
nise the self constituted Government of September 4.
But even if this difficulty had been overcome—
if the as yet only two unvanquished French
generals had consented to surrender the
fortresses which they have so bravely . defended,

the most formiiable obstacle to the restoration of
peace would not have been surmounted. A fort-
night ago Count BISMARCK declared that lie did not
want to annex Alsace and Lorraine ; that in fact the

possession of those provinces would be a hindrance

rather than a help to German defence. But the public
opinion of Germany has become too strong for him,
as it became once before. Four years ago he would
have yielded the country about the Saar as payment
of NAPOLEON'S neutrality during the Austro-Prussian
war ; but Germany would not hear of this, and the
French EMPEROR had to put up with the disappoint-
ment. So on the present occasion, though the
CHANCELLOR does not desire to incur the trouble of

ruling an alien population, he finds his fellow-country-
men bent upon regaining the " Elsass " and " Loth-
ringen " which were stolen from them generations
ago. Thus it comes to pass that he is compelled to
make the cession of at least a portion of these pro-
vinces a condition of granting peace. On the other
hand the French Minister dares not consent. Not
only would it be stultifying his own words—this
every defeated nation and its representatives must
expect to do—but as yet the French people have
not been brought sufficiently low to endure

such a sacrifice as this. The nation would refuse
to ratify it ; Paris would overturn the Government

which made such a peace as that. In fact milder
terms than these have been rejected by M. FAVRE
fie required an armistice in order that the Con-

stituent Assembly might be elected, and a Govern-
ment constituted, which would satisfy all German
scrupleq, and be authorised to conclude a

permanent peace. Count BISMARcIi was
willing to grant the armistice for that purpose
provided the fortresses of Toni, Strasbourg, and
Verdun were surrendered. These seem to us mild
terms, knowing, as we know now, that Toul has been
compelled to surrender, that Strasbourg may be
expected to fall any hour, and that Verdun will pro-
bably be unable to resist a serious bombardment.
Yet these terms M. FAVItE, after consultation with
his colleagues, has rejected, and the war is to go on.
And now what is to follow ? It is terrible to
imagine. France is called upon to elect a Constituent
Assembly, to organise a constitution and Government,
when one half of France is occupied or threatened by
hostile troops, and when the capital—the centre of
life to a degree that no other capital is—is
surrounded in a strait and hopeless beleaguerment
The tide of misfortune has not been rolled back, but
almost under the very walls of Paris a fresh defeat
has been sustained, and troops of the line fled shaffle-
fully without firing a shot. It is a desperate position,
to be rendered still worse we may fear, by intestine
strife. From this position France will probably ask
the other Powers to help her. 'They are not

likely to do so. England certainly will not. We must
deeply regret the failure of negotiations, but we
cannot help it. If we are asked for counsel, it must
e to yield all that Germany now demands, because
fresh delay will give rise to fresh and more onerous
requirements.

Soon after Mr. LOWE came into office, he, casting
about in every direction for fields in which he could
•actice his favourite virtue of economy, found one
a very unlikely quarter, to wit, the Ritual Corn-
The reverend, very reverend, right

Lission.

reverend, and most reverend, members of the Com-
mission had been for several months sitting, and,
apparently, with very little other result than the
consumption of much wine and many biscuits pro-
vided at the public expense. The " intelligent
Albino," (vide "Letters from London," by
G. M. DALLAS, late Minister of the United
States at the British Court,) who presides
over the revenues of this kingdom, holds the very
sound opinion that he who will not work neither
shall he eat, and he gave notice to the Commissioners
that henceforth they must be contented with half
their previous supply of sherry and Huntley and

Palmer. It was a very small economy, doubtless ; it
was a piece of " cheese-paring " unquestionably; yet
never was parsimony more justly exercised. Looking
at the report which the Commissioners have just
presented, we are disposed even to grudge them the
ball glass and one crackuel which Mr.
LOWE allowed them to retain. Never was

there such an abortive birth after protracted
labour. The mouse brought forth by thn parturient
mountain is a respectably sized offspring compared
with this "Final Report " of the Ritual Commis-
sioners. Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, Professors of
Divinity, experienced parish priests, learned eccle-
siastical lawyers, thirty ill all, have, after some
hundreds of conferences, extending over between

three and four years, produced a document which
must abundantly console Mr, MIALL and his fellow

Powers still On amicable terms alike with Prussia and
with France, should cry " Hold, enough 1" as articu-
lating as the toothless gums of Diplomacy permit.
Blood and tears enough have surely been poured out
during these last ten weeks, to satisfy even the most
infuriated thirst for vengeanCe. Germany can hardly
desire to see France more profoundly humiliated than
she is already. Dismantle the frontier fortresses, let
Count BISMARCK, if he needs must ; let him leave
not a stone upon a stone ; let him raze Metz and
Strasburg to theground, and strew the site of each with
salt; let the boundary line of demarcation for France be
contracted northwards, alike in Alsace and Lorraine,
but at least let them desist from further carnage
now that the two contending armies have piled up
their hecatombs of slaughter. Supposing even, for
the sake of argument, that not an inch of territory
'were conceded by France to Prussia, supposing the
former gave up to the latter not one single
stone of her fortresses, it is idle to dream
of the peace of the German Fatherland being
imperilled for many long years to come by
its Gallic neighbour, after the overwhelming defeat
to which the legions of the French Empire have
been again and again subjected during this most
astounding campaign. The prestige lost to France,
the prestige gained to Germany, are the two grand
and material guarantees for the maintenance, when-
ever it shall have been arranged, of the coming
pacification.