The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-31 00:00:00

TERMS OF PEACE.

The Standard says that Germany will err in making an
attempt to exact territorial gain from France. Let us,
it says, frankly admit that she would be in her right
in possessing herself of Alsace and Lorraine.
France went to war intending to take the left
bank of the Rhine ; neutrals who did not resist
that pretension have no right to complain if
Germany proposes to advance her frontier to the Vosges.
And this is, we fear, the present hope and purpose of the
Prussian Government and other German people. We
cannot blame them, but we think it mistaken policy. In
the first place, it will certainly prolong the war. France
will fight to the last gasp rather than cede a territory so
thoroughly Frenoh, and so valuable to France by
its wealth, its resources, and its enterprise ; and so
long as France fights Germany must endure the losses
and the risks of war. Nor is the prize worth the risk.
The German frontier is strong enough already; stronger
than that of France. United Germany is stronger than
France ; and if not, a disaffected province would detract
from, not enhance, her military power. The differences
between north and south will entail sufficient trouble
on -the Federal or Imperial Government without
the acquisition of a German Ireland on the west of the
Rhine.. It cannot be argued that such a "material
guarantee " is necessary to remind France of the hazards
of a German war. Long before France could be induced
to give up Alsace, she must be so thoroughly beaten that
she will have acknowledged her defeat and given up the
idea of revenging it, at least single-handed. The
possession of Alsace will not help to secure Germany,
and its loss will rankle for ever in the heart of Fran. e.
Nor is this the worst. There is too much reason already
to fear the political consequences of this war. The Em-
peror at most shares the responsibility of the nation ; but
a disposition has been shewn to make him bear it alone.
Now, the abandonment of Alsace would certainly in-
volve the dethronement of the dynasty, and m all
likelihood the establishment of a Republic, and ,that
the Republiquee Democratique etSociale, the Red Republic.
A Republic socialist and propagandist, established in
France, means Republicanism in Spain, revolution in Italy,
disturbanoe, sedition, and disorder everywhere.. It is
the interest of all Europe that France should not be
driven desperate, for the desperation of France implies re-
course to measures which will agitate Europe from the
Ural range to the Atlantic.

PRUSSIA'S MISSION.

The Daily News observes that to unite Germany—to
collect the scattered States have been a prey to
neighbouring nations for centuries into one great
and powerful country such has been the end
and aim of Prussia's political and military
efforts. She undertook the task armed with a
wise and elastic system of organisation, and with a
series of educational and other institutions which have
shown a singular power of reconciling incorporated States
to their lot. She had before her eyes, too, the repeated
failures of Austria, whose system was to create a number
of petty States, over which she ruled with a more
or less efficient authority. And, singular enough, it was
the French themselves who paved the way for Prussian
leadership, by knocking to pieces the old Empire which
had existed for nine centuries, with Vienna for its capi-
tal. It was the army of the Revolution that abolished
the German Emperor, his Aulic Council and Diet, and
allowed Napoleon to establish the Confederation of
the Rhine. The News thinks there is nothing to show
that Germany need be feared as an aggressive Power
To fear such a thing is to insult the earliest pro-
cesses of reason. The German army is not an
army of invasion ; it is an army of defence—an
army that must know why it is wanted to fight
and which will not lightly buckle on the sword.
The history of France—the firebrand of Europe—tells a
different tale. In this very war France went out to lay
violent hands on whatever she could find ; and there can
be little doubt that, had she been victorious, the Emperor
and his advisers would not have been able to withstand
the popular clamour for the annexation of Belgium.