The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-14 00:00:00

THE LATE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

On the whole, gays the Daily News, we cannot gainsay
M. Jules Favre's argument that the GoVernment of Paris
was bound to refuse the terms offered it. They meant
nothing less than the laying down of arms. But it does not
follow that Count Bismarck was bound to offer any better
terms than he actually proposed. It might have
been generous, it might have politic to do
so. But no obligation to act otherwise than he has
acted rested upon him. The idea of an armistice pre'
ceeded on the assumption that the victorious belligerent
was willing to make some slight sacrifices of his over-
whelming advantages, a sacrifice so slight thatt, it would
leave them practically nearly as overwhelming as
before, in order to facilitate a peace. This
assumption has proved a mistake. The Germans, acting
within their perfect right as belligerents, have determined
to push their military advantages to the utmost, and to
conquer and dictate, rather than negotiate, a peace.
In this determination,whethor it be Count Bismarck's own
or whether it has been forced upon him by higher in-
fluence, the instinct of the soldier has, we fear, predomi-
nated over the foresight of the statesman.
The Tel says : Peace seems now to be further off
than ever. The hint of insubordination on the part of
Bavaria, important as it may be prospectively, does not
tell upon the actual state of the contest ; and the victory
at Orleans will stir the heart of France like the sound
of the trumpet. Brittany, with ip fierce fanatical
peasantry who believe this to be a war of reli-
gion; Lyons and Marseilles, with their great ouvrier class,
which finds a religion in the tenets of '92, and which fan-
cies that France has fallen from her place among the
nations because she has forsaken the red flag of Revolu-
tion ; the Conservative North, with its Orloanist sympa-
thies, its wealthy manufacturers, and its crowd of com-
fort-loving citizens—will all take courage to renew the
fight. And, even if it be true that France is hopelessly
beaten, the task before Count Bismarck and General
Moltke is long and terribly perplexing. In Bourbaki,
General Manteuffel must defeat one of the best soldiers of
France, backed by the great fortress of Lille; D'Aurelles
de Paladine presents the obstacle of a large and
victorious army on the Loire ; Count Keretry
has already prepared a great fortified camp in
Brittany; the whole Sotith of France is armed and eager
for combat, while the indefatigable Gambetta has ordered
the establishment of a Camp of Instruction at Toulouse,
for the formation of a new Army "of the South-west.'
Behind the French forces stands the grim spectre 4-)f
anarchy, more ominous to Count Bismarck than a great
defeat. Although ho must now push blindly on, he
knows that in the moment of final victory France
may fall to pieces in his hands, and leave him burthened
with the responsibility of reorganising a bankrupt and
and shattered State. Meanwhile Russia is coming to the
front with her long-deferred claims ; the circular of
Prince Gortsckacoff may be the cloud no bigger than a
man's hand which is soon to cover the whole
East with a veil of darkness. Midnight is the
forerunner. of dawn : is it permitted us to hope, that in
the truly faithful complication of warlike omens, threaten.
ing to involve the whole of Europe, literally from the
Atlantic to the East, from the North Sea to the Mediter-
ranean, we may discern the climax of that " worst'
which will usher in a happier future for the troubled
natious?