The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-09-08
France Pierced to the Heart.

~ " hSsA
other SIGHT, of woe and humiliation.
France Pierced to the Heart.
The Courier dcS Etats Cus contesses,
with overlooking heart, the fate of France.
We copy q part of its sad confessions and
reflections:
"lt has been done. France has been
MERGED to the heart. A single month has
been sufficient to paralyze, II not TO annlhl-
late. the active forces OF one OF the greatest
and noblest Powers on earth, and by. the
same blow to displace the political aNls OF
the world. 1t is useles to disguise the truth.
The army, which has not surrendered, but
has been surrendered to the enemy, was
the flower of our military population.
With MacMahon destroyed INT Bazalne
helpless, France has left countless masses
fanatical with patriotism, ready to tnro"
themselves blindly upon the mouths OF the
Prussiau cannon; but she has no longer an
army. New masses, however full OF con-
tidence, are helpless against military
science, discipline, and, above all, against
modern arms. Once it was men who
made war; bravery Supplementary num-
beers enthusiasm made heroes. Now 1t
is rihed cannon and perfected musketry
that fight the man is no longer more than
the attendant of the weapon ; he counts
but for one, and courage without numbers
only makes victims. All France, with her
three millions of young men from twenty
to thilty years of age, rising as one, extern
porized into soldiers, and hurled IN tuil
career upon the solid, intelligent, well
armed, disciplined mass Of the victorious
and would not drive back one step the wall
of steel before her. No doubt France will
receive with a cry of fierce wrath, like the
lion fallen into q ditch, the story OF the sur
render signed in her name ; and that the
first movement will be a levy Of the whole
people and 4 leap towards new combats.
But this first frenzy over. cool reflection
will come to throw an icy shrOud on this
heroisIn, and we doubt if any man can be
found to take the lead in bringing on new
conflicts that is to say, the responsibility.
Of new disasters.
"The fate of the Empire is sealed. Our
first defeats were the signal of its fall. Ma
poleon III. is no longer more than a phan-
tom, and his dynasty dies with him. What
will succeed him is the secret Of the future.
Nor is it our part to predict at q glance
what changes these great events Will bring
to the political, moral, and material condi-
ton OF Europe. une prominent tact, now
ever. seems to us to be fixed. 1t is that this
atrocious butchery, this frightiul spectacle
given to q trembling world, this accurSed
holocaust, will put an end to war
Prussia takes up the sceptre OF military
greatness fallen from the hands of France,
but it is a broken sceptre. No longer the
glory, indeed, but glory that does not shine
on the future.
"The struggle henceforth is no longer
between the material forces of the nations
it is In their moral development, their civil
l~iZation, and their liberties. Thus France.
even mutilated, if it must be so, will still
remain, We hope, the great leading and Clio
rious nation. The day when, by the iated
march Of events, a day doubtless not ial
distant, the destiny, OF the people viii ne
longer he left TO the chances of battle
the day when a less barbarous jus
tice will settle the disputes anon:
men; the day when armies cease to con
sumo the brightest u and energie
OF the nations, to put at risk the equili
brium Of public forces, the genius OF Franc
will recover in moral power what she ha
lost In material power. Countries will n,
longer be measured by the extent Of thei
territory and the number of their people
but by the worth Of the progress they hay
. achieved and the liberties they have cor
y quered. On that day France, cured of he
wounds, will again, in spite of the crut
way in which she is torn, take the place
honor. which belongs to her in the front ran
among civilized nations"
These are melancholy reflections. 1t
the custom Of the unfortunate to philoso
phise. The Courier does not consider tn
magnitude of that revolution in mankint
which will result in the reputation Of tn
bloody arbitrament of the sword in the SET
Element of the disputes Of nations.
would be indeed a happy age in which me
would by common consent abandon wa
and determine disagreements by other an
peaceful means. But then such a revolu
ton could not take place while men ar
ambitious Of power and nations are coyetou
and vain, and anxious not only to protec
themselves, but to extend the area of thei
territory and become powerful enough t,
keep other nations in We.
In our religion and our philosophy, an.
in all we know about man, we find nothin
to justify a hope such as this. The mill,
mum win no doubt bring about what tn
Courier predicts; but until then we i'll
agine that men will go on settling question
of right and superiority by bloOdshed o
the field OF battle. Even France, now i
sack cloth and ashes, may in q few year
have a very different kind Of ambition fror
that predicted by she Courier. BlsAARo
thinks so for he declares that Prussia mus
have policemen TO look after France an
restrain her from venting her revenge o.
Prussia at some future day and thes
policemen, he intimates, are Metz m.
strasbourg.
Nevertheless, all good men will join II
the wish that war may be less frequent, ant
that peaceful means Of adjustment OF ma
fional quarrels may be more than ever re
sorted to. The powerful agencies of these
days ought to encourage this idea. Those
agencies tend TO the Capitalization of powei