New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-11-09


TO hazard his fate upon the chances OF
| war; further struggle for nine months en-
sued, when, the Car Alexander being unwil-
ling to sustain the war longer on behalf OF
| Prussia, the treaty Of Tilsit was made on the
| It'll July. 1907, by which the King OF Prussia
was compelled to accept such terms as Napo-
leon would grant. BY it he was deprived OF
more than half his territory. He was COM
PEELED to cede all lying between the Rhine
and the Elbe, to found the Kingdom OF West
| phalia for Jerome BOnaparte, and other por-
| tiOns of Prussia were given to Saxony. Inc
seaport of Dantzic had to be rellnqushed, ana
| what was left of the kingdom was closed
| against any trade with England as long AZ she
remained the enemy of France. He had to
surrender up tho Polish provinces OF Prussia.
| One part of them, Byalystock, was given to
Russia, and the residue was formed into the
Duohy of Warsaw and annexed to Saxony.
| He had to consent to the Confederation OF the
Rhine as established by France. and to recog-
| nize tho Kingdom of Naples under Joseph, and
of Holland under Louis Napoleon. In add
ton to this, the exactiOns made by France
| amounted in money to over five hundred MIL
lion francs, and Prussia afterwards, III
1903, had to pay one hundred and twenty mil
lion francs to procure the withdrawal of
French troops from Prrissian cities held in
| armed ocoupation for the fulfllment OF
these onerous terms. But this was not
ALI. Everything that could add to
| the humiliation of fallen enemy was
heaped upon the defeated Prussian monarch
The conqueror scarcely deigned to notice him
when settling the terms with the Car Alcxan-
der, and openly declared that he returned the
Prussian territories not to the King OF Prussia,
but to the Emperor of Russia, and that if the
King reigned at all it was solely by the con
sent and friendship of the Gar The public
war bulletins sent to France abounded with
contemptuous and sarcastic references to the
| King of Prussia, and in one OF them the
| chastity of his Queen was assailed, an inter
esting and beautiful woman. whose untlmely
death is believed by the Prussan nation to
have been FASTENED by her grief at the mis-
| fortunes of her country.
| 1t may be said these were the acts of Napo-
leon. and not of the French people. But have
ever the acts of ruler received both at the
time and afterward such unqualified approval
AZ has been accorded by the French people to
everything done in their name or behalf 10y
the First Napoleoni They drove out the dy-
nasty that supplanted him. They created
Citizen King whom in turn they overthrow to
create republic, and had scarcely got their
republic in working order when, by their free
| suffragas, twenty three years ago, they placed
| at the head of it the representative and heir
| of Napoleon. For eighteen years they not only
| admitted TO the restoration of the NapOleOnic
dynasty, with all its imperial attributes and its
policy. but ratified it few months
before the breaking ont of the present
war by an overwhelming popular vote
| of confidence in the man whom they
| now denounce as the author of all their mis-
| fortunes. They have been - politically de-
moralized by the Napoeonic rule that they
seem now to be incapable of understanding
their real situation. AS one military calamity
| follows another and the end il apparent to all
eyes but their own, they tseem to think that
there is a power in mere words. and continue
| to utter resolves which deceive nobody but
| themselves. At last they sought for an armis-
| tce, which the Germans were unwilling to
| grant, that legislative body might be elected
clothed with authority to represent and act
for the nation. This we may feel confident
| would not have been yielded without the
assurance that the temper of the people
| was undergoing a change since the surrender
of Metz. That it was no longer peace upon
such terms rs they might prescribe, but upon
the best terms they could get. That it was
dawning upon them, that it is usually the
conqueror and not the conquered that dictates
the conditions. But this. it appears, was an
error. The Provisional Government at Paris
has rejected the armistce acceded to
| H.. faft
result at which, the telegraph informs us,
the historian and apologist of the great
Napoleon shed tears Some allowance, per-
haps, should be made for people who thought
themselves the greatest military power in the
world, and who can scarcely realize the fact of
their mistake, the blow has been so sudden
and 40 stunning. The First Napoleon never
| made u peace that we can remember without
exacting an indemnity in territory. The French
people, therefore, will not be dishOnOred by
cOnceding in their present PROSTATE situation
what he exacted of other nations in like con-
ditiOn. France, notwithstanding her present
state, is still the richest country in Europe, and
will recover from the effect of this war
probably more quickly than Germany. The
Germans know this, and know also from bitter
experience that the French people, who have
learned little from historical lessons, with whom
the love of military distinction has been one of
themost enduring of passions, will no sooner have
recovered their strength and augmented their
resources, than they will be ready to plunge
into another war with Germany, to wipe
out the humiliation of their present disastrous
defeat 1t is al act of prudence, therefore, on
the part of the Germans, to retain the noun
/ s.... l.