The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-02 00:00:00

THE PROPOSED ARMISTICE.

We never supposed, says the Standard, that the so
called mediation of the English Government Was of a
character that promised to be effective. We could not
believe that such a Cabinet would speak with decision
conclusions to which it had deliberately come. But
we must confess that we were not prepared for
this paltry outcome of au intervention of which our
contemporaries have made so much. We supposed that
at the least Lord Granville would, whilst urging the
Delegation at Tours to accept Count Bismarck's armis-
tice, have urged with some emphasis upon the King of
Prussia and his Minister the wisdom and the justice of for-
mulating with some distinctness their demands, and of re-
ducing them as far as possible within such limits that
France could accept them. It appears from the officious
journals of Berlin that no pressure of this kind was
exerted upon Germany. Count Bismarck was only asked
by England to agree to an armistice of which he should
himself stipulate the conditions, and the Government at
Tours was pressedinto sending aplenipotentiary to ask the
Government of Paris to reconsider its refusal to submit to
this condition. No doubt Lord Granville meant well in all that
he has done, but he must feel himself that he has
played a poor if not contemptible part. Would it not
have been been better, if the Cabinet could only pluck
up courage enough to press upon the Delegation at
Tours the acceptance of a proposal rejected by the Govern-
ment at Paris, to have done nothing and to have
looked on immovable at the great tragedy which now
seems so near its end ? The position might have seemed
mean and cowardly, but it is no less mean and cowardly
than that which has been taken, and it would at least
have been far less ridiculous.

The Daily News, on the subject of the negotiations for an
armistice, says it is with the Government inside Paris
that the negotiations must stand or fall, and remarks that
the Delegate Government at Tours is obviously beyond
the pale of any possible compromise. We are glad to
see that the more thoughtful shall we say the
more respectable ? newspapers in France depre-
cate the frantic character of the latest proclama-
tions, as likely to injure the Government, alike
in the eyes of the country and in the o pinion of neutral
nations; and we are sure that a Constituent Assembly
—to which Gambetta is stated to be strongly opposed—
would refuse to endorse, without deliber ition or evi-
dence, the charges of treason which Marshal Bazaine
has taken the trouble to refute. "We have capitulated
through famine," says General Boyer in his letter of
exculpation, written from the Imperial headquarters at
Wilhehnshohe, which the Empress has also joined; and,
whether that be taken as representing the whole truth of
the surrender or not, it will at least be admitted that no
evidence could have reached the Triumvirate at Tours
to warrant them in publishing their heated ac-
cusation. The more we look at these proclamations
of the Delegate Government, the more personal in
tone do they seem. We do not wish lightly to charge
three Ministers, who are in a most difficult position, with
a desire to retain for themselves prominence and power
even at the cost of prolonging the agonies of their country,
and plunging Paris into such horrors as the world has
not yet seen. But the responsibility they incur in
declaring themselves irreconcilable is a very dreadful
one under the present circumstances. Paris lies exposed
to the Prussian guns. The departments are at the mercy
of four new armycorps, which are about to be turned loose
into them. The rawlevies which are being submitted for th e
first time to the rigours of a winter camp will be wasted with
cold and rain before the bayonet and the rifle overtake them.
Awl M. Gambetta stands on the deck of au imaginary
Vengenr, and declares that he and all the wretched people
who have been entrusted to his care will go down together
to perdition before the flag of the Republic shall be
struck.