The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-11

Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Journals
upon Current Topios-CompiIed Every
Dsyfor the Evening Telegraph
FRANCE AROUSED.


Ror ths NJ Y. Tribune.
The banks of the Moselle no longer de-
mand our first attention-the interest of
Europe centres on the banks of the Seine
All France is in uproar, and Paris revolu-
tionary.
A French levy en mdSse is terrible and a
dangerous thing. Men now from one end of
France to the other are rushing together,
clamoring for arms and leaders, chanting the
Marseillaise, and shouting "a bds Ia PrusSe!"
A real enthusiasm for war has seized upon the
whole nation. There is no doubt that the
Government, if it had means of transporta-
tion and subsistence, might to-day throw
upon the Prussian lines almost every
Frenchman capable of bearing arms,
and these men would fight to the death to
drive back the hated invader. But a
populsce in arms is not an army. A large
proportion of the new levies are doubtless
men who have served already in the army or
the National Guard, and could soon be made
effective soldiers. We are told also, that the
French are people of military tastes, which
is quite true; yet the average French peasant,
before he has been made over by drilling
and discipline, is one of the most unmartial
creatures in the world A long stay in camp
or barracks is necessary to fit him for the
field. So if the full strength of the empire
is now called forth, only small part of it
will be Immediately available at the front.
On the other hand, levy of this kind, if
not Immediately formidable to the enemy, is
very apt TO be formidable to its own COM
manders. The patriotic enthusiasm kindled
by disaster does not readily brook delay, and
the French populace, in their present temper
if not led at once against the Prussians, will
be apt to turn their arms against the Govern
ment that has got them into trouble. They
are not satisfied to enlist quietly and go
where the generals want to have them. They
insist upon taking the reins into their own
hands, and declare that in a crisis like this
every citizen midst be EARNED and ready"
1t is easy to see what this means. If another
victory should be won by the Prussians, those
arms would never again be under the COM
mand of Napoleon. The soldiers would over
turn the throne for the sake of saving the
country. The events of last week have
shaken the dynasty almost to its fall, and
we see little probability that Napoleon will
recover the prestige he has lost His inefi-
cheney as commander, which military men
knew well enough before, has now been
manifested to everybody. If his fortunes
should be retrieved by victory at Metz, the
credit will not belong to him and will not be
given him. Perhaps in the course of the
campaign some great military genius may
arise among the French host as great mill
tary genius arose in the last century among
the hosts of revolutionary France, and the
people, after marching to victory under him,
may place him at the head of the nation. But
the sick man who lies suffering and beaten
at Chalons will never again enkindle their
ardor. 1t is not for him that France has
arisen
1t may soon prove, indeed, that it is against
him France has arisen. The French Chamber
votes want of confidence in his Ministry.
The Ministry, in turn, does what it can to
alay the rising storm, by ignoring alike EN-
peror and Regent. Appeals to Paris are
officially promulgated, which implore that
there be no rising, on the avowed ground
that it would place the French army between
two fres. And all this we learn over wires
guarded with the most jealous surveillance,
by what is left of the French Government
When the official censorship permits so much
to be known, as the best face it can put on
affairs, what must be the worst /? That
Napoleon is not expected ever to enter Paris
again comes to us in despatch from one of
our correspondents there, and the prediction
seems an easy one. That the Empress is
preparing for flight is rumor no longer hard
to believe Paris seems trembling on the
verge of revolution.