The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-31
SPIRIT or TEE PRzss.
Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Journals
upon Current Toplos-Compiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
THE SURRENDER OF METZ.

tory conclusions as to the motives by which
Marshal Bazaine has been brought to the
grave step of surrendering the city of Metz,
and with the city of Metz the last regular
army of any size or Importance which the
fallen empire had bequeathed to the rising
republic of France. We have been repeatedly
assured by well-informed correspondents
during the past fortnight that Marshal Ba-
zaine was actively negotiating on some mys-
terious subject with the Gernan headquarters
at Versailles, with the Emperor Napoleon at
Wilhelmshohe, and the Empress at Chiselhurst.
General Napoleon Boyer, who was with Mar
shal Bszaine in Mexico as his chief of staff,
and whose association with his commander
is not only of old standing but personal and
intimate as well as official, was despatched by
him some time ago from Metz, with the con-
sent of the German commanders, on mis-
sion which seems to have embraced a COM
plete circuit of all the existing recognized and
unrecognized authorities of France, from the
Gagged eagle at Cassel to the unclaimed demo-
cracy at Tours. During the performance
of this cirouitous embassy by General Boyer,
negotiations have been set on foot by Eng
land, at first with the apparent support of
Austria and Italy, then alone, and now, as
a telegram telegram informs us, with the re-
newed concourse of the governments of
Florence and Vienna, for the purpose of
securing an armistice between the bellige-
what terms, would be practically equivalent,
in the actual state of the war, to peace. 1t
would be difficult certainly, and there are
many reasons to hope that it might be found
to be impossible, to bring either the German
or the French people back again, after even
brief suspension of hostilities to the cruel
and senseess work in which they are now so
disastrously, both for themselves and for
mankind, employed.
&c To ha1in
that no armistice could now be effected be-
tween France and Germany save on terms
decidedly unfavorable to the former power.
1t is peri ectly true that less than one-sixth of
the territory of France has been touched by
the invaders, and not less true that after
putting forth her utmost strength in the war,
Germany has been unable to keep in the
field, with all her victories, men enough to
do much more than to observe the army Just
surrendered at Metz and keep watch and
ward around the greater part of circle
which encloses Paris. The Pail Mall Gazette.
an English journal of extremely pro-Prussian
sympathies, in a series of carefully prepared
papers on the state of the war in France, has
recently demonstrated this fact. 1t has
shown that, even after the fall of Strasburg
had set free the Baden troops for active
operations, Germany finds herself absolutely
incapable of getting into France and moving
more than sixty thousand men free to under
take anything more than the sieges of Metz
and of Paris.
But while Germany has not shown herself
able to put forth power enough to subdue
France, she has put forth power enough to
make it vitally important to the reorganiza-
tion of the French resistance that her forces
should be nailed as long as possible before
the great fortified cities of France. And
nothing but the reorganization of the French
power of resistance anssecure France from a
humiliating cession of French territory.
If, then, it should prove to be the case that
Marshal Bazaine has liberated the forces of
Prince Frederic Charles from before Metz,
not in obedience to the sternest military
necessity but in furtherance of any dynastic
or diplomatic schemes, it cannot be denied
that he will be Justly subjected to the severest
imputations upon his capacity, if not to the
darkest imputations upon his character.
And as nothing has yet been made public
which would warrant the formation of q de-
cisive opinion on this point, it is due to the
Marshal, both as soldier and as French
man, that foreign observers should await
further developments before making up
verdict on this particular great event
of the war, so far as concerns its origin and
determining causes. AS to its probable in
huence upon the future course of the struggle
we may speak with more confidence. 1t is
quite doubtful whether the army of Marshal
Bazaine had not already done for the national
cause by its prolonged defense of Metz at
least as much as could have been expected
from it in the open field. The regular army
of France, upon which General Trochu three
years ago pronounced guarded but distinct
verdict of condemnation, more than justified
this verdict in the opening passages of this
dreadful strife. When the empire went to
pieces at Sedan, the unparalleled army went
to pieces with it. Had Marshal Bazaine and
the marshals who were with him in and
around Metz reappeared at the head of theii
organized troops in the open field
it is perhaps quite as probable that
they would have impeded and demoraized as
that they would have assisted and recruited
the new organization of the forces of France
which has been pushing on with such energy
and enthusiasm by the republic under the
inspiration of the national uprising and IL
conformity with the counsels of the single
minded and clear-headed soldier who has
command at Paris. The true strength of the
military blow struck at the republican cause
by the surrender of Metz consists less in the
subtraction of Marshal Bazaine and his army
from the French side than in the addition Of
Prince Frederick Charles and his army to
the German side of the account. This addi
ton, if we assume the mos
liberal estimates of the best
informed authorities, will bring up the
now inadequate German forces before Paris
to total of perhaps three hundred Thousand
men, and swell the strength of the German
army disposable for further field opera
tions to perhaps a hundred thousand more
Beyond this point it is utterly unlikely tha
any effort can now press the German re
sources fer conquest. Whether the French
resources for resistance shall prove in tht
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