The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-21 00:00:00

ALLEGED GERMAN BARBARISM.

The Daily News remarks that when the Schleswig-
1-1-1-tein war was opening and there was yet some talk of
E uoa,nd taking arms against the two great German
Powers, Punch had a cartoon which aptly illustrated
the condition of British feeling and knowledge as re-
garded Germany. An English soldier and sailor of
the magnificent conventional pattern were depicted
eyeing with utter contempt and disgust a couple of loutish,
awkward German soldiers, with lank hair on their heads
and long pipes in their mouths. The sailor says to his com-
rade, "'Well, Bill, they can't expect us to fight such
fellows as those, but we'll kick them, of course, with plea-
sure." Such was the absurd and discreditable ignorance
which then existed in England, and this cartoon quite
fairly represented the British Philistine's notions of the
German army. Since then facts which no Philistinism of
skull could resist have considerably changed the public
estimate of the German's warlike capacity ; and we are
pretty sure to have no more sarcastic pleasantries on that
subj ect at all events. But it' seems by no means
certain that the public mind is much better informed
now than it was then on the place in civilization and
freedom which the Germans justly claim to have
attained. We read every day letters in the public
papers from Englishmen—English Liberals some of
them, who oue'ht to be better informed—the object
of which would seem to be to prove that the Germans
in the field are no better than the hordes of
Attila or Alaric ; and that the Germans at home are
plunged in the -depths of the most barbarous
feudalism. Now, this sort of stuff is pardonable,
perhaps, in excited Frenchmen, such as the eminent
journalist who, the other day, said the Ger-
mans were destroying, like Redskin savages, the
libraries they could not read. Allowing for the nationality,
the excusable excitement, and the characteristic igno-
rance of all foreign countries which may be observed in
Frenchmen generally, one could understand how an
enemy in arms might thus speak of a people who rank
far beyond any other European race in education. But it
is less excusable when sober Englishmen, uninfluenced by

;he war pussion, go about telling each other, and all who
listen, that the Germans are the slaves of feudal kings and
. __.

^ustoms, that caste is as rigid in Germany as in llin-
lostan, and that liberty is absolutely unknown from the
Rhine to the Vistula.

THE CHANCES OF PEACE.

Commenting on the visit of M. Favre to the Prussian
camp, the Telegraph remarks that the deepest anxiety
has all along been concentrated on the question of soil ; in
fact, there is now no other question. France will give all
but territory, and Germany is said to care only
for territory. The ominous silence preserved by
the King and his councillors casts some doubt,
but not much, upon the matter ; for if there was little
thought at first of annexation, the prodigious success of
the German arms, the stout resistance offered by Metz
and Strasburg, and their demonstrated excellence as bases
of attack, have made it too likely that " Metz and
Strasburg " are now the minima of the victors' programme.
Suppose Count Bismarck has plainly told his visitor that
Germany means to have Metz and Strasburg coute qui coute.
not is the true point to deal with for those who wish
for peace, and it is conceivable that an arrangement
might not be utterly hopeless even then. It might suit
the present Government, as well as the victors, to
take the opinion of the country upon the double
question of " Peace " and the " Republic," or

` War " and the " Revolution." If M. Favre does not or
will not submit the proposal of mutilation to his country,
then the last hope is that Count Bismarck may have an
alternative plan, failing which there can be nothing for it
but a renewal of bloodshed at awful cost to both countries
to terminate, possibly, in the paralysis of France and her
surrender at discretion.

THE INTERVIEW BETWEEN BISMARCK AND M. JULES

FAVRE.

Baseless, observes the Standard, as any expectations of
immediate peace built upon the consent of Count Bis-
marck to receive M. Jules Favre appear in the light of
the latest declarations of the two Ministers, the result
of the interview has been looked for with the live-
liest interest, and the very fact that it was to
take place has given confidence to those who,
hoping against hope, yet trust Paris may be spared a
siege, and France and Germany be rescued from a mur-
derous and seemingly endless combat. We can share none
of these hopes, and indulge in none of these illusions. We
have not received any statement, officious or official, as to
the result of the interview. We do not even know at
this moment whether it has taken place, but believing
Count Bismarck to be a man of his word, who only
declares his intentions when he has made up his mind
as to what he shall do, and givinE M. Jules Favre
also credit for the honesty and patriotism which
he is too fond of claiming for the particular sect of
Republicans of which he is the prophet, we cannot con-
ceive the possibility of the visit of the French Foreign
Minister to Meaux resulting in anything more substantial
than his introduction to the Chancellcr of the North Ger-
man Confederation. Count Bismarck has said, with the
frankness which distinguishes him, a frankness which is not
the less commendable that it is singularly politic, that
Germany must settle once for all with the neighbour who
has been always seeking to remove her landmarks, and
whose aggressive spirit has kept her for centuries
in alarm and almost in terrified inaction. He
is tc e sensible a man to attach the slightest
impottance, except so far as they may represent a force
of public opinion that must be considered, to the argu-
ments of the professorial politicians who demand Alsace
and Lorraine, upon grounds which, if worth any-
thing, would justify them in asking for the whole
of Burg..ndy, for Provence, and, in consistency with
which, they should swallow up Belgium—quite as integral
a part of Germany as the three bishoprics, and to a much
later time nominally a portion, or rather a member of the
Empire.