The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-16 00:00:00

OUTSIDE PARIS.

In a letter dated from the Royal Headquarters at
Versailles, December 11, the special correspondent of the
Telegraph says:—Every morning and evening a few salvoes
have been fired from the French forts and earthworks ;
but I imagine that the artillerymen have merely • been
emptying long-loaded guns, or testing new ones—for no
loss whatever has been caused to the German forces by
these spasmodic, discharged. I am told to-day that
a pldbiscite has actually been held in Paris, and
that its result is an overwhelming majority in
favour of war to the knife ; but, although I
have made researches in various quarters invariably the
most promptly supplied with intramural intelligence, I
cannot obtain any trustworthy confirmation of this state-
ment. Rightly or wrongly, the belief has established
itself here, in the highest military circles, that Trochu
and Gambetta possess means of communication which
have hitherto escaped the spades, nets, and general watch-
fulness of the investing army. D'Aurelle de Paladine's
inconceivable retreat from a fortified position which,
I am assured by English officers of great experience, he
might have held for an almost unlimited period of time
with 30,000 men against six times that number, may have
been one move in a game that has been prearranged by
himself and the Commander of Paris. That he should
have been offered a new command, ere the Commis-
sion of Inquiry appointed to investigate his con-
duct in abandoning Orleans has pronounced its
verdict, is an altogether inexplicable circumstance,
which looks very much as if the French Go-
vernment were endeavouring to throw dust into Prussian
eyes. The vote for guerre a outrance would also go far to
prove that Paris is much more abUndantly victualled than
any unprejudiced testimony, such as has reached the
English press from its agents within the walls, has
hitherto led us to believe. The capital may be
still provided with stores of food that will
enable it to hold out-until the end of February. If
our generals make up their minds that such is the case, I
do not see how they can well postpone any longer the
prosecution of active siege operations. Germany is
getting uneasy about her sons, and furious at the obstinacy
of her enemy, who will not admit himself vanquished.
She will insist—and, considering the peculiarly national
character of her army, she has undoubtedly a right to do
so—that the sufferings of German men shall not be further
prolonged on account of any sentimental considerations
whatsoever, nor because differences of opinion with
regard to the most expedient method of reducing
Paris arise between exalted military personages
at the Royal Aeadquarters. The - great guns—
nominal 75-pounders, that throw shell weighing about 2
cwt.—will have to be brought up, at whatever cost ; and
horses will have to be found for their transport between
Lagny and their ultimate positions, whether these horses
be supplied by the Ministry of War or by the train of the
armies in the field. If Paris have still two months' pro-
visions on hand, far too much time has been lost already,
and a great many valuable lives have been uselessly sacri-
ficed. Trochu, in that case, has been allowed materhlly
to improve his means of defence, to the evident detriment
of the German soldier's interest. Observing, as
do, that a strong conviction with regard to the resources
of Paris, exactly the converse of that as earnestly enter-
tained a fortnight since, is daily gaining ground among
the men here who hold the reins of military power in
their hands, I cannot but think that the long-talked-of
bombardment will shortly be commenced ; that is, so
soon as the chief of the artillery, to whom its execution
will be entrusted, shall have accumulated so.vast a store
of ammunition and projectiles that, once his terrible task
begun, he shall run no risk of its being interrupted by
any shortcomings in the rear of his batteries.

CRYSTAL PALACE. -- One Shilling Day, Fri-
day, December 15th, 1870.—Admissions by season tickets
2,068 ; ditto on payment, 1,036 ; total visitors, 3,104.

DEATH OF AN IRISH CLERK OF THE PEACE.
The Freeman's Journal announces that Russell O'Shaugh
nessy, Esq., J.l'., solicitor, Clerk of the. Peace for the
the county of Limerick, and who has not been long in the
enjoyment of the office, died at-his residence, Charleville,
on Monday, alter a protracted illness. He succeeded the
late Mr. John O'Donnell in 1869. The situation is said
to be worth £5OO a year. Mr. O'Shaughnessy was a
consistent and thorough Liberal, and is much regretted
by all who knew him.
A GENTLEMAN CHARGED WITH ASSAULT.-Mr. Charles
Hunt, of No. 74, Tavistock-crescent, Westbourne Park,
and who had previously given name and address as Capt.
Hunt, Brickban. Hall, Morton, Kent, was charged before
Mr. Knox, at the Marlborough-street Police-court, with
behaving in a disorderly manner at the -Portland-road
Railway Station. Mr. White, superintendent of the
Metropolitan Railway, watched the case. Inspector
Joseph Armsbury, of the Metropolitan Railway, said
that on the previous evening his attention was called to
the prisoner, who was on the platform of the station
using grossly obscene language, and who, he was informed,
had insulted a lady. The lady came to him and claimed
his protection, stating that the prisoner had very much
insulted her. He took the prisoner into a room, and he
gave his name and address, and then went out on
the platform and began cursing and swearing, and said
he would fight any of them, and asked the lady who she
was, and as his language became very bad he had to give
him into custody. Mr. Joseph Luckie, poulterer, of No.
117, Great Portland-street, deposed that on the previous
evening he was sitting in a recess at the station, when a
lady told him the prisoner had annoyed her, and asked
to be protected, on which the, prisoner said, " You call
yourself a laily, you are not, you are only a -- woman,"
and on his expostulating with the prisoner, he said,
"What the devil is it to. you," and called him a " City
'clerk " and other things, and on his telling the prisoner
he had better go away he threatened to knock him down.
Mr. Richard Tabb, relieving officer of St. Marylebone,
proved hearing the prisoner make use of very bad lan
guage, and on his advising the prisoner to go away he
said he -would fight any amongst them. He (Mr
Tabb) told the inspector_ that if he did not

have the prisoner locked up he would, as
his language was very disgusting, and the pri-
soner then said that he had been nine years
in the Army, that lie had plenty of money, and that he
would fight anybody. The prisoner said he had been
drinking out and taken a little too much to drink, and his
temper got the better of him. He did call the witness a
clerk, and was sorry for doing so, and if he had insulted
the lady he would give a written apology if it would be
accepted. He had been locked up all night, and had not
been well lately. Mr. White said the lady was unable to
attend that day. Mr. Knox said the prisoner talked
•of having been locked up all night, and had he, been
locked up for a month it would have served him right, as
he had not only insulted a lady, but abused those who
protected her. The highest penalty he could impose was
a fine of 405., and that lie should impose. If the lady
thought proper to take out a summons against the prisoner
she could do so, and he (Mr. Knox) would pursue the
matter to the end.i

OUR CO fiIiVIPO

,ARIi.]S---This Morning'

THE LUXE3IBURG QUESTION.
The Times remarks : The Cabinet assembled yesterday

afternoon to discuss the answer that should be returned
to Count Bismarck's circular on the Treaty of 1867, and

sAt several hours before the terms of the reply were defi-
nitely settled. We believe that in thus maturely delibe-
rating before deciding on the proper course to be adopted
the Ministers of the Crown have accurately reflected the
spirit of the people. We feel equally convinced that
their final decision will be emphatically supported by
the opinion of the nation. It is impossible to exaggerate
the reluctance we should all feel at being obliged to

confess that we were bound in honour to regard Count
Bismarck's denunciation of the Treaty of London, as in-
volving a possible cams bclli. The reluctance may
be attributed by our detractors to the cowardice
that fears danger, or to the selfishness that
loves ease, or it may be due, as we would
fain think ourselves, to a sencsible apprehension of
the horrors of war, but whatever its cause, the reluctance
exists. We admit it. On the other hand, there is an

equally profound sense that connivance at the pretensions
of the Geiman Chancellor would be fatal to the good
faith of international engegements without which Europe

would have to apprehend a succession of internecine con-
tests., such as we are now witnessing throughout France,

to determine the relative strength of nations. Under
the circumstances, what course was open to the Ministry?
One, and one only. England acknowledges the receipt of
Count Bismarck's Circular, and observes that the Chan-
cellor of the German Confederation denounces the

obligations of the Treaty of 1867, on the ground
that Luxemburg has violated the condition of
neutrality imposed by it on the Grand Duchy.
It cannot, however, fail to remark that the
Treaty placed the neutrality of Luxemburg under the
collective guarantee of several Powers, including the
United Kingdom, and under this Convention each of the
- _

signing Powers contracted certain obligations towards
its colleagues as well as towards the Grand Duchy
which was the primary occasion of the Con-
vention. The Foreign Secretary is bound, therefore,
to demur to the assumption that any one of the guaran-

teeing Powers can repudiate the obligations it has con-
tracted towards its colleagues before submitting a case to
justify the step, and giving an opportunity for exa-
mining it.
The Daily Ivews says :—Her Majesty's Ministers met
yesterday to consider the substance and terms of their
reply to Count Bismarck's abrupt repudiation of the
Treaty of London. Without pretending to information
as to Cabinet secrets, we may venture to assert that
the Queen's advisers are of one mind as to the attitude
which it is becoming that England should assume.

She cannot recognise in Prussia, any more than in
Russia, any right to tear up treaties at her will, and to
avoid her own obligations by renouncing them. The Treaty
of 1867 does not cease to be in force even though it should
not have been strictly observed by Luxemburg,

a point which yet remans to be proved. Stipu-
lations which have been lately interpreted, and
imperfectly acted on, may require to be more
stringently interpreted and more rigidly observed
in future; but the remedy for past neglect is not to be
found in discarding them, and declining to observe them

at all. Luxemburg is responsible for the observance of a
strict neutrality, not to Prussia only, but to the States to
whose collective guarantee she owes her present position.
It was not the duty nor within the right of Prussia to
declare the compact null and void the moment
that the alleged violations of it came to her
knowledge. She ought rather to have communi-
cated to the Grand-Ducal Government her causes

of complaint, to have demanded investigation into
them, and if they should prove to be real, to
have required indemnity for the past and security
against similar injuries in the future. Whatever
may be the action of individuals, it is difficult to
believe that the authorities of Luxemburg- can have

...5...
themselves either committed or connived at any viola-
tion of neutrality to the injury of Prussia. Common
prudence would dictate a course precisely opposite to- ,
wards a great and successful military Power at the very
moment when it _is talking of readjusting its frontier
at the expense of its neighbours, and of guarding
the enlarged border with a new line of strong-
holds. The moment which Russia chose for repudiating
the Black Sea Convention is censured even in
Prussia as having been selected because the Powers
who are partieS to the Treaty of Paris were occupied
in other matters. We should be sorry to think that the
North German Chancellor had chosen a time to carry out
a lawless project when, to the other complications of
Europe, a Russian difficulty hadbeen added, when Austria
was absorbed in the Eastern Question, and when the mili-
tary resources of Germany were in their highest state of
organisation and equipment, and not only ready for the
field, but in it.
The Telegraph, in discussing Count Bismarck's cir-
cular says :—As a matter of argument, Prussia will
doubtless declare that the exigencies of her military posi-
tion require her instantly to stop the system by which
Luxemburg is said to have become a city of refuge for her
enemies ; and, if she finds it convenient to occupy the
Duchy, she will represent the step as being undertaken
in self-defence. We may suspect that the occupation
is only the first step towards permanent annexation ;
but, in itself, the mere passage of the Luxemburg
frontier by German troops would not constitute such a
violation of the Treaty of 1867 as to necessitate the inter-
vention of the Powers that have guaranteed its neutrality.
.No doubt, if we thought it expedient to resist the occu-
pation, with the view of staking off the risk of fur-
ther encroachnients, we should be p erfectly justi-
fied in so doing ; but we do not believe that we are
compelled to choose between resisting this act or
repudiating our Treaty obligations. During the
Crimean War, the Western Powers occupied the Pirfeus,
in order to hinder Greece from furnishing aid to Russia;
and, in the same way, if Prussia were as free from any
suspicion of a wish to annex Luxemburg as France and
England were of any desire to seize upon the Hellenic
Kingdom, no great objection would be raised to the
temporary occupation of the Grand Duchy. It may be
urged, and with reason, that Prussia intends to
keep Luxemburg ultimately ; but there is all the
difference in the world between a temporary occupation
and a violent annexation. Prussia has committed many
high-handed acts, yet hitherto she has committed no
such flagrant breach of international law as would be
involved in the sudden seizure of a State belonging to
1 a kingdom with whom she is on terms of peace
and amity. We dwell upon this fact, not with
any view to palliate the conduct of the Prussian Govern-
ment, but in order to show that the question with which
we have immediately to deal is, not whether Prussia
should be allowed to annex Luxemburg, but whether, if
she were so minded, she should be permitted to occupy it
for military purposes. The importance of keeping these
two issues distinct and separate lies in the fact that our
own liability with reference to the Treaty of 1867
varies materially according as we assume that we
have to confront the contingencies of occupation or of
annexation.
The cases between Russia and Prussia being identical
the Standard remarks, it seems to us equally certain that
the action of England in the one ought to resemble that
which she pursued in the other. We met Russia's demand
with a firm refusal ; we ought not to hesitate to reject as
firmly the advances of Prussia. We do not care to con-
sider whether the Treaty of 1867 was politi-
cally desirable, or whether the Government of
this country ought to have joined in a col-
lective guarantee of the neutrality of a tract of
country in whose ownership we are in no way
directly interested. Such inquiries seem to us as much
out of place now as a review of the policy of 1856 was ill-
timed a fortnight ago. The plain fact with which wo
have to deal to-day is that the guarantee has been given,
and till that has been withdrawn, with the consent of a
majority of the guaranteeing Powers, the only honour-
able course which this nation can pursue is to hold
herself bound by it. We arc aware that we shall he
met by the oft-repeated argument that the neutrality of
Luxemburg is a matter with which we have no concern,
and that it is folly to embark in a war which can be
productive of no advantages, and which may involve
'us in the greatest difficulties. But observations
of this kind miss the whole point of the argu-
ment on which we are relying. We are prepared
to admit for the moment that it matters little to
this country whether the strongest fort of Europe
is in the hands of her greatest military nation or no; but
we are not proposing a course which we know may lead
to war for the sake of keeping the Germans out of Lux
euiburg. We are concerned in the far greater question
whether treaties, solemnly made and signed, are to be
shuffled off at thefirst convenientopportunity by the strong ;
and this question, it seems to us, is one which all who
wish for the peace of the world must consider worth a
struggle. We have a duty to France as well as to our-
selves, and While France is discomfited we are bound to
see that her acceptance of our proposals in 1867 is not
turned to her disadvantage in 1870.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1871. —Th e Earl
de Grey and Ripon, K.G., presided yesterday over a
meeting of the General Purposes Committee, appointed by
her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 3851,
to carry out the series of Annual International Exhibi,
tions, the first of which will be opened on the Ist of May,
1871. There were also present Sir Francis Sandford, Mr.
Cole, Mr. Gibson, Pr. Lyon Playfair, Colonel Ponsonby,
[ Mr. Thring, and Lient,-Col. Scott, R.E., Secretary.