The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-06

| race, In personal nerOlSm ana readiness TO
sacrifice themselves for their country, the
French have no reason to be ashamed even of
this disastrous war. In all their brilliant past
no fields have been rendered more brilliant
| by the heroism Of the common soldier and
| the devotion of the officer than these which
have been the scenes of almost uuvarying
| defeat But there are moral defects which
have occasioned this great disaster to the
French nation, and they are deeper aud not
! so easily probed by those who would restore
her TO her former estate. Perhaps, indeed,
they are beyond the reach of any reform
M. Theirs has himself declared that, much
as the whole people were jealous of
the success of the Prussians, they would
never have been forced into the war sat
present" had the iect been allowed to be
discussed in the Corps Legislatif. The thing
which is utterly ineomprehensible to foreign
ers, at least of Anglo-Saxon origin, is that
powerful nation, with highly intelligent
governing class, should allow itself for twenty
years to be utterly at the beck of O military
adventurer of doubtful character and desti-
tute of genius, and shonld permit him to
expose all their vast resources and their we'll
earned fame to such calamities and disgraces
as the present. The lettering of free thought
for the last two decades, the prosecutions of
the great instructor of the populace, free
press; the crowding of all offices and the
Legislature with the tools of the Emperor;
the contemplate character of the officials
who pretended to lead great nation, and the
final cheat of the p5e5jScjtUm, have their
fitting and logical close in the disgraceful
campaign of 1870. All these wrongs and
expressions were patiently endured-indeed
may be said to have been created-by the
will of a people calling itself the most civil
lied in Europe
There IS here a lack of true moral and DO.
litical independence, capacity of being daz-
zled by the show of great name, and love
for the mere trappings of military rule,
which show superficial character that is no
match for the profound force, the deep
moral earnestness, the habit of submission
10 principle, and the fiery spirit of new
nationality, founded on popular liberty and
unity, Of the Teutonic peoples. It remains
to be seen whether calamity will call ont the
deep moral power which lies in the French
nature, and enable the people to see their
follles ana errors. If so, history may yet
record that the defeats of Woerth, Grave
lotte, Beaumont, and Sedan at length disci-
plined ''the great nation" to prefer self-con-
troll to anarchy, political progress TO military
glory, and the success which arises from long
struggles for self-government to all the
bloody honors of the battlefield.
CAN FRANCE PROLONG THE WAE?
From the ". T. Herald.
France has been stunned by the
intelligence of the defeat of MacMahon and
the surrender of Napoleon; but the war spirit
has not by any means been extinguished
The proclamation issued by the Council of
Ministers and the debate in the Corps Legis-
latif clearly show that the nation has not
made up its mind as yet to submit to defeat
We are not surprised by this intelligence. 1t
would be strange If great nation like France
should reconcile itself to a fate so hard all at
once. A few days more may convince even
the Council of Ministers that while France
might prolong the contest for q little she
would do better to make peace with the VIC
torious enemy with as little delay as possible
1t is undeniable that the French people might
yet make desperate and even glorious strug-
gle; but it is not our opinion that France can
prolong the struggle with any prospect of ulti-
mate success. The Ministers talk big of armies
which are forming. But all the world knows
what raw levies can do when matched with
trained armies in fine condition and flushed
with success If any large portion of the
splendid army which set out for the Rhine
some six weeks ago we're available the raw
levies might be usefully employed. But that
magnificent array of men, from whom so
much was expected, is virtually extinguished.
The army of MacMahon is no more. The
forty thousand who have survived the battles
of Saarbruck and Wissemburg, and Woerth
and Gravelotte, and those terrific four days
fighting near Sedan, are now prisoners of
war. The forces of Bazaine, demoralized.
are shut up in Metz, and Prussia will take
good care that not man of them shall es
cape till the war is ended. What is now to
hinder the victorious march of four or five
hundred thousand Prussians to Paris If
the flower of the French armies, the picked
soldiers of the country, led by the best men
whom France could supply, have failed, and
miserably failed to arrest the onward pro-
gress of the Prussian hosts, what reason is
there to hope that raw levies, imperfectly
equipped and led by second rate men, will
turn the tide of battle?
We have never denied that Paris is able to
sustain siege But we have never been able
to see what good could come from a pro-
tracted resistance of the capital city. Prussia
has marched on to victory in spite of Stras-
burg, in spite of Metz, in spite of many forti-
fed places which lay in her way, and so she
Will march on in spite of Paris. The resist
ance of Paris may prolong the war for little;
but 1T will only be for little. Sooner than
some of us are prepared to believe, the Prus-
slams will surround the capital, King William
will take up his headquarters at Versailles,
which is defenseless, and the cry will be
raised from one end of France to the other in
favor of peace. With five hundred thousand
men in the heart of France recruiting will be
vain and revolution impossible. If France is
wise, the unnecessary slaughter will cease
at once.
CAPITAL AND LABOR
From the N. Y. World.
IL the truth in relation to capital were