The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-29 00:00:00

THE CAPITULATION OF METZ.

The Times, in discussing the results of the capitulation
of the vifgin fortress, says :—Can there be a doubt of the
course which France ought to take ? Will not her best
friends now tell her that she has done all she can do, and
that to persevere in a hopeless resistance is not
wisdom, but only a false heroism ? The war can
now only be maintained as a horrible guerrilla,
in which the impotent efforts of the French will
be mercilessly punished by the invading armies.
Is half of France to be dealt with in this way, and the
country which is the chief centre of civilisation to dspend
for its deliverance on bands which must fight with the
fate of brigands before their eyes? No ! The time has
come when France must recognise that the arbitrament
of war has been against her, and that the least evil which
can now befall her is to accept the terms of
her adversary. The only efficient machines for the
carrying on of war are those regular armies on which the
States of Europe have spent so much, and France has
now no regular army, she has not even the smallest chance
of forming one. It would be an injustice to the men who
now bear rule in France not to admit that they have given
proof of a wish for peace. General Trochu, M. Favre,
and others like them have the sense to know that the
disasters of the present campaign are irreparable.
They have offered an indemnity, large, indefinite in
amount, " all the money we have," as M. Favre said ;
and they, perhaps, would go further if they did not fear
the multitude which for the moment obeys them. But now
the time has come when, as men of honour and conscience,
they must form a decision and announce it boldly. If
they see, as all the world can see, that the terms
of Count Bismarck must be accepted, it would be
criminal to protract the war until France be more com-
pletely overrun and Paris reduced to starvation. The
Germans demand a territorial cession, and though we re.
gret it, and believe it to be fraught with dangers to them-
selves as well as to the peace of Europe, we have no hope
that the French can resist it. It is a hard condition, but
France may remember that territorial cession is the ordi-
nary result of defeat. Some territory she must cede,
and it only remains to determine its extent. In the
negotiation she may have the opportunity of making
better terms than have been demanded by popular
opinion in Germany. The district which the Prussian
Government demands has never been officially indicated,
and there may possibly be a field for the advice and re•
monstrances of the Neutral Powers. But the principle
of a territorial cession must be acknowledged if France
will not continue to nurse the delusions which are bringing
her to ruin.

The Standard, in commenting on the effect of the capi-

tulation, says :—Suppose Trochu and Fevre were to
sign a treaty surrendering Alsace and Lorraine, and,
further, the French fleet—to leave the money question
out of consideration—how far would that treaty be
recognised beyond the Prussian lines ? Of course,
such a treaty might obtain a certain kind of
acceptance. A Constituent Assembly might acknowledge
the hopelessness of any attempt to upset the treaty for
tde moment, but it would hold it the chief business of
the new Government of France to prepare for the war
which should restore France the provinces the
larger portion of which have been French more
than three hundred years. General Trochu and
his colleagus, by signing such a peace as Prussia asks,
and some of their English sympathisers so urgently, not
to say so Judas like, recommended, would damn them-
selves for nothing. We must not expect of
them a " self-denial "—to use the politest word—so
excessive and so absurd. But in truth the situation will
hardly appear in their eyes so desperate as the Prussians
not unfairly represent it. Awkward as is the
material, French armies, considerable in their numbers,
and formidable in their enthusiasm, have been formed, or
are forming, in the south, in the west, and in the north
of France. Despite, too, the absurdities of the men
whom the revolution of the 4th September put into
high place in some of the great towns, arrange•
ments for the defence of those parts of France yet
free from the invader have been made, of a character

which, if the contest is continued, will give him no little
trouble. Again, General Trochu is getting the army he
commands in Paris into shape, and so far as the number
of men is concerned he has all along been superior to his
adversaries. We do not expect, therefore, that the
capitulation of Metz will exert any immediate influence
upon the duration of the war. It will necessarily hid
the Prussians very considrrably in more than one point.
But it will not materially help them against the real
difficulty they have to encounter, the anarchy
they have created by their victories, and seeing
very little hope that the present Government
of France will accept the Prussian terms of
peace, assuming those terms to imply the surrender of
Metz to Germany, we are perfectly certain that France,
if her opinion is fairly asked, will not endure them; and
that Germany will have for many years to hold the
annexed provinces at a cost utterly disproportionate to
their value.

The Telegraph says : Now that Metz has fallen there
has once more come to Germany a magnificent opportu-
nity to make an end of this fearful war. Even so tre-
mendous a disaster may not, and probably will not, teach
the French people that Germany cell wring Alsace and
Lorraine from their reluctant grasp. But the blow at least
breaks the monotony of events with fearful emphasis,
forms a new starting ground for the contest, and enables
Count Bismarck to enter upon peace negotiations
with a prospect of success presented at no previous
stage of the war. Peace may lie within his grasp, if only
he acts with his wonted knowledge of human nature and
skill; or peace may be postponed for weeks, and even
for months, if he address France in the words of an
uncompromising dictator. On the one hand, he may
harshly announce to M. Thiers or M. Jules Fevre that
Germany will not abate one jot of her pretensions ;
that she will not trouble herself to negotiate unless the
diplomatists of France declare beforehand their readiness
to cede Alsace and Lorraine ; and that submission must
be as complete as the capitulation of Sedan and
Metz. If Count Bismarck should address such words
to the French envoys, the war may be waged with
desperation throughout the months of winter. What
Prussia demands is peace and the guarantee of peace.
Well, to her and to Europe the annexation of Alsace and
Lorraine will certainly bring war. France will not
believe that these provinces are hopelessly lost, until she
has made another gigantic effort to wrest them from
Germany. The dignity of a religious mandate
will be given to the precept, that she must drill,
arm, and educate herself for an hour of extreme
revenge; and so surely as night follows day, the present
war will only be the forerunner of another, waged by
France after vastly greater preparation and with indefi-
nitely greater skill. Whether the possession of Alsace
and Lorraine would compensate the Fatherland for
the losses which must be sustained in preparing
for such a contest and in carrying on the combat, is
another question which we submit to intelligent Germans.
Meanwhile, the one word that must be addressed to the
belligerents is, "Take counsel together." The summoning
of a Constituent Assembly must precede the negotiations
for peace.
The Daily News, referring to the event, says the pre-
sent moment is a singularly opportune one for a serious
effort to negotiate. The loss of Metz is a sufficient excuse
for an advance on the side of France, and its gain is a
sufficient reason for a response on the part of Germany.
If France will say she needs peace there is
everything to induce Germany to reply that she wants
peace. M. Thiers is said to be prepared with that admis-
sion, and perhaps when Bazaine's capitulation is
believed both at Tours and Paris, it may have some effect
in preparing the French Government for such an admis-
sion. The one thing needful is for France to know her
own position. So logical and acute a people as the French
are sure to make their expectations correspond to the
facts when they know the facts. Rightly or wronly,
Germany has resolved on some territorial compensa-
tion for the war; and it is useless for France to
stop all negotiations by. declaring such compensation to
be impossible when the enemy actually holds the territory
with overwhelming and irresistible strength. Germany
may hold Metz against the consent of 1 ranee, but she
might possibly be induced to yield it up for,
the sake of French acquiescence m some smaller
concession. For France to refuse to negotiate
is simply to give up all that there is to
negotiate about. While France is protesting that she
will never yield territory, the territory is gone ; while
she is refusmg to give up a stone of a fortress, the for-
tresses themselves, with all their vast material, their
elaborate armaments, and their brave garrisons,
are passing into the enemy's hands. Even
the money indemnity, which a treaty might concede, is
already being paid in the shape of ruinous exactions
levied on towns and cities by flying corps of the enemy.
To refuse to recognise these facts is not patriotism, it is
infatuation.

YOST-CARDS IN LiERmANY.-I'he Germans nave
their post-cards as well as we, and abuse the new insti-
tution in about the same manner. At Dresden a gentle-
man received a card conveying the following message :
" I have lost my purse yesterday at the Elbe Baths, with
three Napoleons in it. I dropped it close to the water.
mark, where it must lie still. As you are a good diver
pray go a bathing with me this evening at six." The
gentleman kept the appointment, and was surprised to
see two or three postmen go into the baths just before
him. On the platform his astonishment increased,' for irs'
spite of the unusual hour there were numbers of Pose,
office clerks there. They took uncommonly long dives. Thii
writer of the card was sitting at a little diatance'enjoyinif
.the Eight:,