The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-14 00:00:00

OUR COTEMPORARIES—This Morning

THE IMPOLICY OF ANNEXATION.
The Times considers that the Army of the Loire, though

defeated, has shewn that it knows how to fight.

resisting, in the face of superior artillery, the capture of
an open town like Orleans, for nine hours, it must be
allowed to have done its duty. Its struggle proves that
the new levies of France will soon be able continually
to harass and thin the ranks of the enemy.

bet Paris be besieged and be taken, let the North-East of
France be reduced to the depths of despair, let the
coveted provinces of Alsace and Lorraine be
appropriated by the conqueror, and the conquered
be unable any longer to resist the appropria-
tion ; and what then ? What would be the condition
of France in the years to follow? What the condition of

Germany ? Freedom, peace, progress—these are the

watchwords of the present generation; we might cherish
them still, but in France and Germany they would become
idle phrases. France is accused, and justly, of being

enslaved by the jealousy of military powers. Would
this vice be uprooted by a standing proof of military
defeat ? The evil side of the French character
would be strengthened rather than subdued by

such a mode of correcting it. The nation would hail any
leader who promised to restore their lost brethren.

Germany, too, would suffer the penalty of yielding Ito
that temptation of conquest no nation appears strong

enough to resist. If freedom of discussion cannot be

tolerated when the annexation of Alsace is but a project,
hew will it be compatible with order and the integrity of the
new Empire when Alsace is annexed ? No one in the
province itself can be allowed to discuss its position. The
province must be absolutely ruled as an Imperial territory
or as a Crown colony; and every motive of patriotism
will operate in Germany to strengthen the party of
military force, and to weaken that growth of free-
dom and self-government which would otherwise be
inevitable.
THE TRIPARTITE CHARACTER OF THE CAMPAIGN.

Our columns, remarks the Daily News, have lately given
abundant proof that though beleaguered Paris is the chief
centre of warlike interest and attraction, it is by no
means the only sphere of the active operations of the
struggle. The gigantic preparations for offence
and defence which have the capital as their object,
do not exhaust the efforts of the combatants. The tri-
partite division of the campaign which seems to have been
the original principle on which Count Moltke designed it,
appears to characterise it all through. Paris is the centre
of operations, but far away to the north-east Metz is one
great wing both of the German attack and of the French
defence, while far south of Paris the river Loire is another.
The great river of Western France, which almost divides
the country into two parts, was selected by the Pro-
visional Government as the ultimate line of defence in the
struggle for national existence. Its western course
runs through historic ground. Blois, and Tours, and
Angers, and Nantes, are all associated with the historic
greatness of France, and Orleans is the very birthplace
of its legendary glories. It was in a period of utter
discouragement, when foreign armies were in pos-
session of the soil, and a foreign King was
in possession of the spot then dedicated to all
the glories of France, that deliverance came from
the banks of the Loire, in the shape of that
inspired shepherdess—half prophetess, half enthu-
siast—who is known as the Maid of Orleans. But
in the present calamities of France, no deliver-
ance has come from Orleans. There is the old courage.
but not the old enthusiasm ; there are the raw material
of soldiers, but no Heaven-sent general to mould them
into invincibles. The Army of the Loire has had its first
battle, and experienced an overwhelming defeat.