The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-16 00:00:00

THE BOMBARDMENT OF PARIS.

In a communication from Margency—the Headquarters
of the Crown Prince of Saxony—dated December 11, the
special correspondent of the Daily News says :—Will
there be, after all, any necessity for a bombardment ?
Paris may not be utterly mad—not maniacal enough to cling
to a hopeless resistance, after the dissipation of expectations
which must have been formed in a very sanguine spirit.
If Paris will tardily listen to reason, now that the
Armies of the Loire, of the West, and of the North are
practically annihilated, it is possible than an opportunity
'will offer for a termination of the siege on terms to which
she may without derogation submit. She has made her
effort, and failed. That the effort has been worthy of
her, nobody acquainted with the circumstances
will deny. Will she now be still more worthy
of herself, and bow with grace to the inevitable ? If so,
there is reason to hope that, as regards this vicinity at
least, the war may speedily terminate. It is reported that
Count Bismarck is prepared to transmit, if, indeed, he has
not already transmitted, an ultimatum to the authorities
in Paris, offering terms for acceptance within a week.
These terms, if their nature is correctly stated, are such as
Paris neednot be ashamed to accept. Her citizens are to be
spared requisitions. No troops will be billeted upon
them. The thousand and one objects of fine art in the
Queen of Cities will be scrupulously respected. The
officers of the army will be treated with the fullest con-
sideration. There are other items in the proposed ultima-
tum of a decidedly tempting character, according to .the
rumour I have heard, which, in the absence of confir-
mation as to its authenticity, need not be further
alluded to. It may, however, be assumed that
the rejection of such an ultimatum, if tendered, will be
followed, when events shall have taken their natural
course and Paris shall have been forced to a capitulation,
by the rigorous enforcement of those exactions
from which a present cession would give immunity.
In the utter absence for the present of any current news,
is it worth while to speculate on the results if Paris should
yield to these blandishments of the Prussian Count ?
Hardly ; and yet it is not a little striking that one
hears here in these later days a reputation of a
prognostication which was rife so long ago as the
latter weeks of the siege of Metz. Then it was the
topic of discussion in the First and Second Armies,
with whom, accepting as a certainty the early cession both
of Paris and Metz, the German authorities could conclude
a peace? It takes two sides to a bargain—where was the
other side? Anarchy appeared to rule in France. If
Paris was ready for peace, who could guarantee that
Lyons would not be pugnacious ? Who would pledge
himself that the South-West would not laugh at the
pact ? The puzzle is a puzzle still, for the conditions are
hardly altered, although the crisis draws nearer.
The Republican Government, such as it is, may be ready
for peace ; although, since the duration of the war, and
the duration of its existence may be taken as syncronous
this is hardly likely. But, granting all these things
to be the case, who or what can satisfy

France, or give the conquerors an assurance
that the nation, or the State, or the country,
or whatever body can be held as giving reasonable
weight to a pact, will ratify that pact ? It may be that
after I have seen the Prussian sentries on the ramparts of
Du Nord and La Briche, I may have to watch the siege
of Cherbourg. When Paris capitulates there will be nearly
half a million French military prisoners in the German
hands. The larger proportion of these will be profes-
sional soldiers—ready to work for the hand that pays
them. Let the Emperor be brought to Paris, and, backed
by French bayonets, . let him conclude a peace with
Germany, and then enforce it and internal pacification
by the troops which the suspension of hostilities would
place at his disposal. Such a solution of the deadlock
involves, indeed, conditions sufficiently humiliating
for France—since the Germans would take for the time
substantial guarantees, no doubt, for the faithful per-
formance of the pact, by the occupation of the forts sur-
rounding Paris and by other means ; but Napoleon may

be reckoned, to adopt a vulgar proverb, to be sufficiently
hungry to eat very dirty pudding.