The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-26 00:00:00

,PRi-cfk,',N7GOTIATIONS.

theA'ines, in'anarticle on the propoSed armistice, says:
We believe the Government of 4 Defence will as flatly re-
fuse to,corisent in principle to a cession of territory as
Count Bismarck will. refuse to enter upon negotiations
for an armistice unless this stipulation be admitted. The
Government of Defence may be under the grossest delu-
sion as to their powers.of ' resistance in adhering to their
resolution. They may misapprehend the sentiment of
honour which is involved in it. They may be betrayed
by a false patriotism into inflicting terrible injury on their
country which might be avoided were they wise and
prudent. But the principle of conduct they follow
is precise and unwavering. The people of Alsace,
they say, are as passionately Frenchmen as the
people of the Gironde, of Normandy, or of the
Isle de Prance itself. To surrender Alsace to Ger-
many would do violence to the feelings of its inha-
bitants, and the rest of France could not, abandon
them until it had itself felt humiliation as keen
and bitter. Alsace may be torn from France, but no
Government could suggest that Frenchmen should
buy immunity for themselves by abandoning their
countrymen to their fate. This 'may appear Quixotic,
but it is the governing principle of those who lead the
people, and there is no chance of its being superseded by.
other considerations so long as Paris remains untaken.
We yoblish a letter to-day from M. Guizot which is as
thorough in the assertion of this principle as the
Circulars of M. Jules Favre. The resolution
of Germany to insist upon the coveted Provinecs
is at least as stubborn, and when two incompatible princi
pies are thus opposed it is impossible that belligerents can
oome together and agree to a cessation of war. To try to
persuade ourselves to the contrary is to nurse a delusion.
The suggestion of an armistice cannot arrest the progress
of the siege of Paris, which must soon pass from an
investment to an active attack, culminating in a bom-
bardment. •

The Standard, fn face of the demands of Prussia for
Metz and Strasburg, Alsace and Lorraine, and the deter-
mination of the French people not to yield these fortresses,
has not much hope of a favourable issue to the negotia.
tions for an armistice. It is said, the Standard remark;
that the Government at Tours has received with
the utmost sympathy the suggestions of the English Go-
vernment; and it may perhaps be, that M. Thiers,
convinced that France has nothing more to
hope for from foreign Governments but profes-
sions of sympathy more or less ia arm and
more or less false, is quite ready, de, son chef, to
make peace upon the Bismarck terms. But what is the
Government at Tours ; and who or what, in such a
matter, is M. Thiers ? Their views at this moment
count for nothing more than the reason which may
underlie them, and, probably enough, will not count in
the decision of the question even for that. The
Government of the National Defence in Paris will
not allow its delegates at Tours to make peace for it.
General Trochu and M. Jules Favre will not eat their
own words, and be guilty of what they have declared
would be their eternal dishonour, because M. Gambetta
and M. Thiers recommend them that " happy dispatch."
And, after all, Paris is even more at this moment,
although isolated from France, the decider of the destinies
of France than at any previous period of its history. The
Prussians will not and cannot make a peace to which
Paris does not agree, and the Government at Tours
would not venture upon the responsibility of such a
treaty,

The Telegraph, in discussing the subject of the pro•
posed armistice, asks what prospect has France of so
changing the situation that Bismarck would be forced to
abate his terms ? That question, as we have stated before,
cannot be answered by mere strategists ; for it involves
an estimate of the moral forces at the com-
mand of the French people. If they were pre-
pared to risk the chance of fresh dipmiter—if
they were careless of treasure and life—if they
fought with rash obstinacy so as to give the Gardes
Mobiles of the South time to harden into soldiers—then it
might still be possible for them to achieve some substantial
success, although such a result would be improbable ; and
it might also be in their power so to weary out the German
people that Bismarck could no longer resist the
demands of that party which is already de-
manding peace. France has abundance of men, and
her supply of effective arms is rapidly increasing. She is
drilling day and night ; and in the coming battles, she has
everything to gain and nothing to lose. Such, actually
and contingently, is the state of things by which she is
confronted, while her friends demand an armistice. A
Moltke and a Trochu might estimate the chances
differently; but even the French soldier would admit that
the situation of his country is the reverse of hopeful.
Will the nation at large—above all, will Paris recognise
the plain truth, however painful ? If they do, there is
some hope for the peacemakers ; otherwise, the moral
forces of France will only be evoked to prolong a struggle
in which success seems hardly practicable, while failure
would aggravate the victor's resentment and increase the
stringency of the terms he might exact.

The Daily News observes that while hoping the best
from the interview to take place between M. Thiers and
Count Bismarck, it will be well not to forget the limits
of the interest we have in the matters they are to
discuss. A certain tone of anxiety in some of the
reflections that are being offered to the public
makes it opportune to remark that, whatever may
be the result of our endeavours to reconcile France and
Germany, under no circumstances can we suffer anything
like a check. Our meditation is from first to last friendly
and impartial. We have acted with the sincere desire
to promote the interests of both the great
nations now at war. It has seemed to our Government
that the time has come when France and Germany may be
asked to desist from the work of mutual destruction, and
calmly consider their joint and several interests apart
from the distractions of the battle-field. But we have
mingled neither complaints nor approaches with our
friendly representations. We are not saying, as we
are told they say at some European capitali,
that the war is intolerable, or hinting that
failure of persuasion must be followed by resort to force.
If we fail, it will be with profound regret that two nations
with which we have long been closely united by those
fruitful interchanges which are the sign of good neigh.
bourhood should not be able to see their interest as we
feel confident they will see it when they shall
look back upon the circumstances of the present
time. Our conduct will, however, be the reverse of wise
if, in our eagerness for peace, we hasten to assume a
burden which has not been laid on us. When we are
told that, in order to " make the tender of our good
offices really effective," we must " face the emergency,"
it is evident that the limited conditions of our
mediation are not always kept in view. The danger of
such exaggerated susceptibility is, in this case, not that
we may be carried beyond our pacific intentions and drift
into war, but that we may go heedlessly on until we find
ourselves in a thoroughly false position, and then
have to extricate ourselves by some degrading expedientt .;

Mr. W. Vernon Harcourt distributed the prizes to
the students of the Schools of Science and Art in the
Town Hall, Oxford, on Monday evening.
RECLAIMING LAND FROM THE SEA.--The Lin-.
colnshire men still keep fighting the sea, and conquering,
as the Dutchmen have done for ages on the opposite
shore of the German Ocean. The latest feat has been
the inelosure of one thousand acres of valuable alluvial
land in the parishes of Kirton and Frampton, near
Boston. The embankment, about four miles in length,
has been completed in the short space of six months.

Last week the cattle fed in the Home Park,
Hampton Court, the property of Her Majesty the Queen,
were sold by auction by Mr. Cowles, acting under the in-
structions of Colonel Maude. There were eighty-one
beasts, polled and horned Scots ; they realised £1,829, an
average of £22 11s. each—au extraordinary high price for
beasts of their size. Mr. English, of Kensington ; Mr.
Ines, of Hampton Court ; Mr. Poulter, of Hounslow ; and
Mr. Withers, of Twickenham, wore the largest buyers.

A CABMAN'S LICENSE REVOKED.—ENDANGERING THE
LIFE OF A FARE.—Mark Mayhew, cab driver, badge
13,411, was brought before Mr.Tyrwhitt, at Marlborough-
street Police-court, charged with being drunk, and furious
driving in Oxford-street on the Bth inst. The prisoner
was summoned for the offence, but having failed to attend,
was now brought before the Magistrate on a warrant.
Police-constable William Pratt, 45 E, said that on the
Bth instant he saw the prisoner driving along Oxford-
street at the rate of 10 miles an hour. When the prisoner
got near Great Portland-street he called to him, but he
took no notice, and went on, and when at the Regent
Circus he appeared to lose all control of his horse, which
swayed from one side to the other, and at last the cab
came against the guard post in the centre of the Circus and
was overturned, the prisoner being underneath it. He sent
the prisoner to the Middlesex Hospital in a cab which
was passing by, while he remained to extricate the gentle-
man, who fortunately was not injured, though much
shaken, from the cab. On going afterwards to the
hospital, he found that the prisoner had refused to go in,
stating that he was not hurt, and had told the cabman to
take him home. After two hours' trouble he found the
prisoner at his home in Jockey's-fields, Bedford-row, in a
state of intoxication. A summons was taken out against
him, and as he failed to attend a warrant was applied for.
Mr. Tyrwhitt fined the prisoner 40s. for being drunk and
furious driving, and revoked his license.