The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-24 00:00:00

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

According to the Independance Beige negotiations for
peace have been and are yet going on ; but it does not
appear that their progress hitherto has been very pro-
mising. The Powers concerned, says the Belgian paper,
were more anxious to hinder each other from joining in
the struggle than to interpose between the belligerents.
In fact the first impulse came from Vienna.
Austria was eager to come to an understanding
with Italy relative to their common attitude of neutrality;
England, foreseeing the danger of this combination, at
once interposed, in order to remove from it any contin-
gent character, by extending it to the other neutral
Powers, and by submitting a precise formula, by
which those Powers should bind themselves not
to act singly, either in . the endeavour to
re - establish peace or to regulate the condi-
tions of peace. Russia hastened to support the
English proposition, and Italy decided to give her adhesion.
It is not yet known whether Austria has given her reply,
but it is probable that she will abandon her separate con-
vention with Italy in order to accept the convention pro-
posed by England. The Berlin correspondent of the
Times maintains that Italy had previously concluded a
treaty of alliance with France, and that the Prussian
Minister at Florence had thought it necessary to
visit Caprera, to come to an understanding
with Garibaldi, in order to hinder the action of an
Italian army beyond the Peninsula. But in this case the
adhesion of the Florence Cabinet to the English proposi-
tion which it has officially announced, would be either an
act of duplicity towards England or of treason towards
France ; and it is not possible, without conclusive evi-
dence, to believe either ono or the other. Let us add
(says the Independance Beige), that this is the first we have
heard of the movement attributed to the German diplo-
matist who could hardly, had he performed it, have
remained at his post at Florence. The same
correspondence contains other pretended revela-
tions which are alike improbable, whether they
refer to an appeal for intervention addressed by the
Empress Eug4nie to the Queen of England and refused by
her, or to a project started by England for the formation
of Alsace and Lorraine into a neutral State. This last
scheme, which has perhaps been dreamt of in some circles
at Berlin, would assuredly be rejected with indignation by
France. Nothing could be more calculated to render the
establishment of peace impossible, or to give the war a
character of extermination, than the design, under what-
ever form it be disguised, of trenching on the integrity
of the French soil. England is well aware of this, and is
also well aware of the fact, openly acknowledged by the
Germans themselves, that Alsace and Lorraine are as
much attached to their own nation as any other part of
France. According to a despatch received from our
special correspondent in Loudon, concludes the Belgian
paper, England and Russia on the contrary have agreed
to oppose any dismemberment whatever of France.

THE POSITION OF THE TWO ARMIES.
'We will not venture to estimate the force of the French
Army now falling back from Chalons, or what resources
it may find among the volunteers . and National
Guards now mustering and drilling in Paris. The
French War Minister and the Commander -in - Chief
have strained every nerve to bring up all the detach-
ments which had been left in charge of public order
in the great centres of population, the Fourth
Battalions from the Depots, the Marines, the
Gendarmes, the Custom-house officers, the men of all
arms who were subject to military training and disci-
pline. It is a heterogeneous army, and its nucleus, con-
sisting of the lately routed corps of MacMahon, De
Failly, and Canrobert, still, according to the evi-
dence of eye-witnesses, bears traces of the tremen-
dous exertions which the battle and the retreat de-
manded of it. Still it would be rash to ex-
press any doubt of its efficiency, particularly under the
influence of the enthusiasm which will be sure to welcome
it on its approach to the endangered capital. The Chalons
Army was described as mustering 100,000 strong, and
about half that number will be added to it out of the
present Paris garrison. With such a force one more
battle before the gates of Paris may yet be risked. It may
save the honour of the capital, even though it may
achieve no more. But, after that, the defence of the detached
forts and of the National and Mobile Guard will, we
believe, be of little consequence. The Parisians would
doubtless fight very well if they were put to it, but
neither themselves nor their chiefs, nor their enemies,
will bring matters to such extremities.—Times.
We know very little indeed of the strength of the army
at Chalons. The corps of Canrobert and Douay, which
are always quoted as a reserve, appear never to have
had any existence in that capacity. Regiments
which, according to the original constitution of
the active army, promulgated five weeks ago,
ought to belong to one or other of those two
corps, turn up hero and there in a battle, and
straightway the Prussians report that they have had
Canrobert's or Douay's corps against them ; but nobody
ever saw the corps. At present it would be premature to
conjecture what force will meet the Crown Prince, as it
would certainly be to predict with what force he will
march upon Paris. All we know is that in the capital
itself no faith is placed in the power of MacMahon to
stop the Crown Prince's army.—Daily News.