The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-04
THE REPORTED ARMISTICE.

IT is reported, on apparently good authority,
that an armistice has been, or shortly will be,
definitely arranged between the French and
Germans There has not yet been an official
announcement on either side of its final rati-
fcation, but accounts from all quarters agree
that it is under consideration; and while one
rumor states that the exchange of signatures
was made yesterday, others affirm that they will
be exchanged to-day. M. Theirs has evidently
been assduously endeavoring for some time
to attain the end which now seems so near at
hand. Trochu also desires it as manifest
necessity for beleaguered Paris. The German
leaders are not unwilling to grant it, and the
principal opposition springs from some of
the members of the Tours Government (who
seem to fear that if new Constituent
Assembly is elected they will lose power,
and from ultra Red Republicans.
An armistice, during which elections can
be held throughout France, has become such
an obvious necessity for the common good of
all concerned in this terrible struggle that
we have no faith in the patriotism or COM
mon sense of the Frenchmen who oppose it.
There is now no real government in the
country. The Provisional authorities are
pewerless for good purposes. They have not
only failed to relieve beleaguered cities, but
they have confessed their inability to supply
arms to the people, and their edicts have
ceased to command obedience or respect. It is
said that Napoleon still claims to be the true
head of the nation, but even the Bonapartist
pretensions are apparently divided between
the imprisoned Emperor and the exiled Re-
genoy. Practically, at the moment when
union, concentration, and an all-powerful
government are more imperatively needed
than at any former period in French history,
anarchy prevails. The invaders have no foe
worthy of their steel, and there is no army
in the field to arouse their antagonism. In
Paris the citizens have prepared
for gallant defense, but they
cannot struggle long against the impending
danger of starvation, and since the Tours
Government has totally failed to send troops
to their rescue, or to reopen their communi-
cations with the outside world, they have
every reason to fear that, in the event of
continuance of hostilities, their escape from
the dangers of bombardment would be quickly
followed by the loss of hundreds of thousands
of lives by famine. All the horrors con-
burg and Metz would be intensified hun
dred fold in the protracted defense of Paris,
and it is wicked folly to impose such fearful
miseries upon her citizens at time when no
good national object can thereby be achieved.
The Tours Government is so nearly a non.
entity that it matters little whether it con-
sents to the armistice or not The chief
Importance of its acquiescence would arise
from its assistance in ordering elections
throughout France and in increasing the
general disposition to abide peacefully in
their result. If it persistently refuses, how
ever, to give the people an opportunity to
decide for themselves the questions in which
they are so vitality interested, at time when
its inability to protect them is SO painfully
apparent, it will soon lose all the little influ-
ence it now possesses and vanish into abso-
Lutte nothingness at the first onset of more
vigorous administration.
From the armistice and the elections of
Constituent Assembly will probably spring
peace between France and Germany. AS this
peace, however, will inevitably be repulsive
to the national instincts, it is quite likely that
all who are identified with it will become OBJ