The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-13
sP1RxT or TzH PRESS.
Editorial Opinions OF the Leading Journals
upon Current Topics Compiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
THE DESPAIR OF THE REPUBLIC.


which ought to have been reached weeks
ago, the late failures of Ducrot and Pala-
dimes appear to have suddenly forced NJ
Gambetta, and he is eager to shift the re-
sponsibility of continuing or closing the war
to the shoulders of his associates or Con-
stituent Assembly. The statement which we
published yesterday from London, though
doubted by some and denied by other des-
patches, may be trusted, we think and hope,
as the true exposition of the new temper
which has come upon the French people and
officials.
NJ Gambettas perplexity is the despair of
the entire Committee of the National De-
fense. From the first he has been the con-
trolling influence Of the committee, and it is
he who has really ruled the republic. He
brought to the Government all of its energy
and vitality. Positive in thought, he COM
PEELED the Judgment of his associates enthu-
siastic in manner, he inspired faith in others,
and, untiringly Industrious, he impelled
others to great and daring abors. Never
methodical, he has vet organized the pro-
vinces and developed their resources to the
fullest extent, and through others has armed
and disciplined in two months an army of
more than one hundred thousand men COM
petent to be trusted in battle. Ever impul-
sive and not always prudent, he has yet ap-
peared at all times the ablest worker and the
he was the most positive; and though his as
sociates may not share his hopeless appre-
tensions or consent to his proposition of an
armistice, it cannot be concealed that the
man in whom France most reposed its conf
dence surrenders her cause.
The proclamation has another meaning,
which, though it may be lost on infuriated
Paris, will not be unappreciated by the astute
and cool headed statesman and soldier whose
L. Ia 81 81
beta left Paris after it was surrounded to
organize the provinces for its relief. He
made vigorous efforts and accomplished
much, and the best troops which the pro-
vinces could furnish gallantly sought to raise
the siege. They failed, and are now in rapid
retreat upon the temporary capital. M.
Gambettas application for an armistioe is not
only an acknowledgment of that failure, but
q plain, unmistakable notification to Paris
that it need no longer vainly depend on the
provinces for aid. In other words, the pro-
vinces abandon the capital to its fate.
His associates may not, but certainly the
military situation in France does, justify the
surrender of the Minister of War. Paris
remains nopelessly surrounded; and Ducrot,
in an official address, admits his failure in
the last sorties and his abandonment of the
position gained beyond the Loire. The Army
of the Loire is in retreat on Tours, and the
half of the Government which was there is
flying to Bordeaux. Rouen is in the hands
of the Germans, and Manteuffel, their COM
mander, has been fighting before Hsvre,
which he threatens to invest and reduce.
The eastern fortresses are captured, and the
engineers of the Germans are already making
the gates of Metz and Strasburg impregnable
to tue future Gaul revengefully demanding
the Rhine. Lyons, practically undefended,
is ipdefensible, if the Germans deign to de-
mand it. In short, Paris and the provinces
too are the prey of the Germans.
There are few Americans who will not
grieve for France in her melancholy situation.
Her people have fought gallantly, borne pri-
vation like heroes, sacrificed everything to
patriotism; but the folly of her rulers, quite
as much as the strength of the enemy, has
involved her in disasters such as no other
great nation has suffered since Prussia was
humiliated by the first Napoleon. I'M
perialism insidiously drew away all her
strength, and left her merely the outside
show of military organization, which
orumbled to pieces at the first blow; and re-
publicanism-if this is republicanism to
which she now trusts herself has allowed
her to drift into political anarchy almost as
pitiful to contemplate as the disasters on the
field of battle. Two months age
the Constituent Assembly, which
is now to be summoned
for the purpose of arranging terms of sub
mission, might have been called together
with dignity to discuss the conditions of an
honorable peace. Ever since the surrender
of Sedan King William has been eager fol
the establishment of a permanent authority
with which he could deal whenever the time
for negotiation came; and we have no doubt
that elections in districts overrun by the
German armies would be in the main free
far more SO than elections ever were in the
Empire of Napoleon III. But the Committee
of the National Defense did not want an cleo
ton; they distrusted the people; and they
feared that not only monarchical sentimen
but a peace sentiment would influence the
new representatives. They preferred to con
duct the war entirely by their own judgment
the result of which is that France has los
the opportunity to negotiate, and has ne
alternative but to submit. Whatever favora
BILE condition she obtains now will be granted
by the mercy of the conqueror, or extorte(
by the pressure of public opinion. 1t canno
be supposed at Tours that the terms o
armistice will be any easier than those pro
posed before, and we may safely assume tina
Gambetta is ready in his extremity to gran
all that the King demands. The who'll
civilized world viii hope that Prussia ma
give mankind on this occasion an example o
justice and generosity worthy Of her splendi
military career, and SO crown the most rs
markable campaign of modern times with
peace that will rank in history as one of th
great est of her glories.
ONE OF OUR NATIONAL HUMRUGS.
From the N. Y. Sun.
The eighth annual report of the Commi
sioner of Agriculture has been published
1t is bulky octave volume. The most int,
resting information to the taxpayer that