The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-27 00:00:00

RE SUA LONDON, TUESDAY, :SEPTEMBER 27, 18%.

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FRENCH WOUNDED FUND.—The following
Letter recently appeared in the "Times," " Morning Post,
and " Standard " :

" Sir, —I wish, through the medium of your paper, to address
to the special donors to this Fund the earnest thanks of our
Society for their generous and much needed help, which has fur-
nished means for aiding thousands of grievously wounded men
and alleviating their terrible sufferings.
"The Society, thanks to the abundant resources placed at its
disposal, has been able to send forth as many as three and four
ambulances per week, costing from 60,000 f. to 200,000 f. each,
each ambulance accompanied by a staff of surgeons and- infir-
miers, with tents, beds, linen, medicines, surgical instruments,
and all possible necessaries. Help has been sent to all towns
where the sick and wounded have been lodged. The entire dis-
tribution of the wounded over the whole of France (given over
by the Intendance Militaire to our Society) has been organized.
Ambulances have been established iu every railway terminus,
and at many important stations, where a day and night service
is established, to receive the wounded on their first arrival.

"These are some of the services which our Society has been
able to render, besides many others too numerous to detail,
owing to the generous spmpathy which has been shewn on its
behalf, for which our dear country and her poor soldiers are
deeply grateful.

FREN WOUNDED. DONATIONS are
earnestly solicited ; and every article that can be consi-
dered useful and beneficial to the wounded will be gratefully
accepted and duly forwarded by Piesse and Lubin, acting for
the Societfi des Secours.

13,

hostilities should be agreed to, during which the
Constituent Assembly might meet and decide the
competence of the Goiernment to conclude a
peace. Germany would thus have a guarantee
that the terms arranged between. M. JULES
FAVRE and the CHANCELLOR of the CONFEDERATION
would be accepted. But the delay would be advan-
tageous to France, would enable her to better re-
organise her armies, and therefore a counterbalancing
gain must be offered Germany in the shape of the
three fortresses. This proposal was not a hard
one. Toul has actually surrendered ; Stra4-
.bourg, in spite of the unquestionable ability of
General UHRICH, cannot resist much longer; and
Verdun, the well-known place situated between
Chalons and Metz, is of no use whatever to the
French at present. It would appear at first sight that in
rejecting such an offer the French FOREIGN MINISTER
culpably threw away an excellent chance of saving
his country from further woe. There is, how-
ever, more than one consideration which may have
powerfully contributed to this negative decision.
In order to give the Germans possession of the most
important of the three places--Strasbourg—it would
be necessary that General UHRICH should be willing
to surrender it, and it is by no means certain
that he would consent to do so. He
took the command of the fortress in the Im-
' perial service ; he may refuse to acknowledge or
obey the Republic. It is not known that he so
disowns the new Government, but if he does, the
Ministry may be excused for sparing themselves the
humiliation of his open refusal to obey their mandate.
Of greater influence still may be the temper of the
Paris populace. Cut off from all communication
from without, any Government whatsover now
established in the capital would be at the mercy
of the armed people, much more a form of rule which
the people themselves set up. The power which
created can as easily destroy. It is certain that
M. FAVRE and his colleagues can have no power, at
the present juncture of imposing terms which are
unacceptable to the inhabitants of Paris. The neces-
sity may be unfortunate, but the Republican
Ministry can hardly be blamed for it. It would
not be easy to find a Government which could main-
tain its freedom of action under such circumstances.
It must not be forgotten, likewise, that the armis-
tice would not be a peace, but only a preliminary to
one; and it would be quite useless to strike
the initiatory bargain if there was no pros-
pect of arranging the final one. This consideration
has probably had more influence than any other
in determining the answer of the Provisional
Ministry. All the world knows the basis
on which Count BISMARCK is prepared to treat
for peace, and M. FAVRE must be equally well, if
not
.better, informed. If he learned that the
differences between the two parties were irreconcil-
able it would be idle to waste time about pre-
liminaries. We nave expressed the opinion that the
German terms, hard as they are, ought to be
accepted. There seems not to be the slightest
prospect of gaining better by sacrificing Paris. But
if the French Government think differently, it would
be useless to raise false hopes bv.an armistice.

THE startling news respecting the proposal of
BAZAINE to surrender his beleaguered army is im-
portant indeed, if true ; but the report must not be
accepted in its entirety without further information.
It is officially announced that the Marshal sent a
letter to Prince FREDERICK CHARLES, which missive
was forwarded to the KING ; but there is as yet no
authentic intelligence as to its contents.
Rumour naturally enough suggests that the
letter must have contained proposals for a
surrender, and it is asserted that BAZAINE was wil-
ling to capitulate on condition that his men, retain-
ing their arms, were allowed to go free on giving
their parole not to serve against Germany again
during the next three months. Several objections
to this hypothesis present themselves. In the first
platy it is not new, for it was mentioned by the
correspondent of the Cologne Gazette several
days ago ; and it is likely that if a pro-
posal of this kind had been made at
that time we should have heard more about it
ere now. In the second place, it is not a very pro-
bable theory, for if the French general were in a
position to demand such favourable terms, he would
be in a position to hold out altogether. His resist-
ance is so important that if he is possessed of nearly
all the energy with which he is credited, lie will de-
fend himself to the last extremity, and then he will
be in no condition to ask that his troops should
betake themselves and their accoutrements to
any place they may select, to recommence fighting at
the end of three months. It is not easy to conceive
how anybody, in or out of Metz, can credit the
Germans with the folly requisite for agreeing to such
a proposal. The mere fact that BAZAINE made it
would be sufficient to convince his enemies
that by a little longer waiting the fortress
and all the troops in it will become abso-
lutely theirs. Lastly, this presumption that the
French Marshal is not in a position to hold out any
longer, is at variance with the general tenor of the
latest news from Metz One or two persons who
have been imprisoned within the place testify to the
abundance of food. An officer, wiiting to one of the
German papers the other day, said that some time
must elapse before Metz could be starved out. The
Daily News • correspcndent, writing from
Frankfort, says that the German officers he
has met with all' agree that the fortress is
thoroughly impregnable, and well stored with
provisions and ammunition. The limes correspon-
dent, on the 21st, took a view of Metz front the
adjoining heights, and saw by the banks of the
river, cattle enough "to convince one that from
famine, at all events, the garrison need not capitulate
for some time to come ; unless, indeed, .the rinderpest,
which is rapidly spreading in the surrounding district,
should find its way into the place." Of course
BAZAINE may be beset by grave difficulties of which
the outside observer can know nothing : but food is
the principal consideration, and 430 long as a supply
remains it is difficult to conceive of any misfortune
which would induce a marshal of France to abandon
the last hope of his country, if there be any hope.
BAZAINE'S assistance is of the utmost importance. In
order to keep him safe in the fortress 150,000 Germans
are required to guard the works which have been
thrown up around it, and thus the besieging force
around Paris is so reduced as not to exceed in num-
ber the garrison inside. BAZAINE could scarcely
perform a more important work, if he
and his men were at liberty, provided always
that he possesses supplies and mewls of
holding out. All things considered, it would be
unwise to hastily conclude that this last terrible blow
has befallen France. If the news, however, should
prove correct the mishap will furnish an overwhelm-
ingly powerful reason why the Provisional Govern-
ment should accept whatever terms of peace can be
procured.

wish to hwniliate Prussia, and when war was de-
clared in July, there were decided outbursts of enthu-
siasm in Paris. The members of the present lklinietry
have clear consciences, but a large proportion of the
inhabitants of the capital are guilty. The hostility
shown through many years by France towards
Prussia has been sufficiently general in the country
to justify the German statesmen in exacting an assu-
rance that it shall not again take an active form. But
the French people cannot be held responsible for this
war in the same way that the English are respon-
sible for an act done by their rulers, say the passing
of the Irish Land Bill. Englishmen discussing this
responsibility question are apt to forget that the late
Imperial Government arrogated to itself the express
mission of saving the people the trouble
of deciding for themselves. It was personal
rule, fatherly and independent of the people's will.
There was no " appeal to the constituencies" on any
great question. Only at fixed periods, quite irres-
pective of great crises, was there a sham appeal,
which only brought out in stronger relief the absolute
nature of the real ruling power. If such a Govern-
ment has any meaning at all, it must surely mean
that the sovereign stands or falls I y his
deeds, and that if he reserves to himself the glory of
his reign, he ought not to throw upon the people Co
weight of the discredit. If NAPOLEON was forced
into this war by the weight of public opinion, it may
be pertinently asked why he refused to do so many
things which the nation wished, and persisted
in doing so many things to which the nation
objected. A despotic Government must govern
well, or the reason for its existence is
wanting. The fact that NAPOLEON took all sub-
stantial authority into his own hands may have
no influence with the Germans, but it ought to in-
duce Frenchmen to finally decide that the system
has proved itself unworthy of the interests committed
to it, and must never be tried again.— Western
Morning News.

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