The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-27

the answer which ought to be given TO this
alternative. If Bsmark remains obstinate,
France will and must fight. There are. doubt
less, many and weighty reasons why Napo-
leon should not wish, just at present to un-
dertake the responsibility and to encounter
the risks OF war Another time certainly
might be more convenient: and we NAV rest
assured that war will not be proclaimed until
the arts of diplomacy have been fairly and
fully tried. But Napoleon has never been in
the habit of consulting mere convenienoe when
his own honor and the honor of France has
been at stake Directly, therefore, it be-
comes manifest that dishonor Is inse-
parable from delay, he will 'let slim the
/ dogs of war;" Nor will it be possible for him
to do otherwise, even if he were willing, The
blood of France is up. There is nothing of
which Frenchman is so proud as of the
position which his country occupies among
the nations of the earth There is nothing
which he so much breads as that that proud
position should be lost. On more than one
occasion recently the French people have
tasted the bitterness of humiliation. Prussia
herself has already touched them on the sore
and sensitive part. They have borne it, it
is true but they have borne it with impa-
tience, and have never ceased to long for
their opportunity. IT, therefore, Napoleon,
yielding to an extreme desire to preserve peace
were to remain passive under this fresh insult
"a SuDDOSlllOu III llb ldSJ upRI6e UNLIKELY
their pent-up feeling of indignation would
prove too much even for his restraining iniu-
ence: they would burst, and, like a fierce
torrent would cast him aside or hurry him
helplessly along with them. If, on the other
hand, he filings himself on the people and asks
their support, they will leap in obedience to
his summons; all that is loveliest and noblest
! and best in the land will be consecrated to the
| cause: the stirring strains of the old Marseil-
L.. a1I 10,
and France will be aroused as she has not been
reused since those memorable days of the first
| republic, when she rose as one man and drove
| the invader from her soil. In this one thing
| Frenchmen of every class and of all shades oi
| opinion will unite; and, if the Emperor will
| put himself at their head, he will broaden the
foundations of his throne, and strengthen the
hopes of his dynasty. Of this no one is more
| fully aware than the Emperor himself. 1t is
| impossible, therefore, to doubt the course he
| will follow.
Should war be proclaimed, it is impossible tC
| predict what disastrous consequences may
| follow, or where or how it may end. The
| French iron-clads for certain will sweep the
\ flag of Prussia from the sea. They will
] blockade her ports both in the Baltic Sea
and German Ocean, and carry death and de-
| struction along her entire seaboard. The
! blockade will be all but certain to beget
| serious difficulties with England, who will
strive to make capital out Of this war, as she
has made out of so many others; and in &
naval warfare of unparalleled magnitude the
| value of iron-clads will be permanently set
| tied. Whether France or Prussia shall bC
ultimately victorious is question of minor
Importance, in comparison with the other anC
more momentous questions to which it is Ger
tain the war will give birth. War is little
likely to confne itself to France and Prussia
The contagion will spread. The hands o
rulers being tied, democracy may awake t.
Europe, involving thrones and dynasties il
| general ruin. We shall not regret the chaos
if better and nobler Europe emerge from its
| bosom.