The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-22
aP1A1x OF xHn RRnss.
Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Journals
upon Current Topios-CompiIed Every
Day for the Evening telegraph
THE NEW REIGN OF TERROR - Is
PARIS STILL FRANCE?
Ron the NJ Y. Herald.

lT1r
make the heart sick. No such disheartening
news to those who loved the French people
has been received in the memory of living
man. We forget not the whole interval since
July of last year, nor, indeed, the interval
since 17S9-a long interval, certainly, but in
the history of French sorrow not by any
means to be overlooked. 1t is fair, we think
to say that the news of the last few days has
made the name of France almost stink in
the nostrils of every man who was angry
with Germany and who persisted in hoping
for France.
What is the situation? After war of more
than eight months France has been compelled
to bow to the conqueror. Her Emperor has
been for over six months prisoner in the
hands of the enemy. His Empress and all
those, including his son, who belonged to
what was called the Regency, have been for
the same space of time exiles in England. As
nearly as possible, four hundred thousand of
the picked men of France, the best and most
trusted generals of the empire included, have
been, since Sedan, prisoners in fortresses
absolutely under German control. Since
Sedan France has revealed no lack of pluck;
but the six months fighting, whatever we
may say of the pluck, has served mainly
to exaggerate Frances misfortunes; and,
what is more important still in the
premises, the French people, accepting
the fate of their country, have, in a consti-
tutional manner, made peace with the con-
queror and persuaded the armies of the con-
uuerer to retire. The French people cannot
deny that by fair, constitutional vote the
present National Assembly was elected and
M. Thiers made President of the republic.
There are few men who will refuse to admit
that the terms imposed upon France by the
German leaders were hard and, indeed,
heavy; but the Germans went about their
work with so much caution and consideration
that no man of intelligence, no matter how
much he sympathizes with France, can help
confessing that the French people fairly
tested and fully endorsed the peace policy
of the government of M. Theirs. In
good faith the Prussians have been
gradually evacuating the conquered
strongholds and leaving France to the French.
For time the promise was bright. It was
the opinion of many thoughtful men that
although the money demands of Prussia were
something unprecedented, the demand for the
cession of territory something more than
humiliating, and the whole peace arrange
ment altogether too hard, France had mag
unanimously bowed and done the best she
could do in the circumstances. To-day every
well-wisher of France and of the French peo-
pie has changed his mind, and the universal
sentiment is that the French are absolutely
unfit for self-government. 1t was once a
proud boast to be Roman citizen. 1t is a
source of pride at this moment to be able to
say 81 am an American, or Britisher, or q
German;" but where is the man who is not
ashamed to confess 81 am q citizen of
France?" The deeds of the last two days
have appalled, the world, and many look
upon France as another Poland which
ought to be occupied, partitioned, extin-
guished.
The treachery of the soldiers, and the cold
blooded murders of General Clement Thomas
and General Lecomte ,(and while we write
who can tell how many moreO revive the
worst memories of the past. We think of
the storming of the Bastile, of the July
horrors, of the September massacres, of the
Goddess of Reason and the associated bias
phemies, of the fUSi0adeS, the s0yGdes, the
guillotine, and all the otherhorrors-real and
imaginary-of the Reign of Terror. Another
Committee of Public Safety, another Danton,
another Marat, another Robespierre rise up
before us, and we ask, How is this fresh out
burst of revolutionary violence to end? Are
we to have another feeble Directory, another
Consulate, another Empire Are new names
to figure in the destruction of another Direc-
tory? Is Gambetta, or some such, to figure
rs a new despot by the special will of the
French people?
These questions are not by any means out
of place in present circumstances. No one
can tell what may happen. Anything-every.
thing is possible. We are willing to believe,
however, that Paris, in spite of appearances,
is no longer France in the ancient sense,
The railroad the telegraph, and the news
paper have made wondrous changes during
the last sixty years. Already the order-loving
people of the capital city talk of appealing to
the provinces or to the Germans for relief
We have not much faith in the provinces, fol-
the reason that the provinces are controlled
by the large cities. The provinces cannot save
Paris except by vote but if anarchy reign'
in Paris it is difficult to see how a provincial
vote can be obtained. King William, it il
said, has halted in his homeward march, anC
as the Germans are now as much interested il
the peace and prosperity of France as are the
French themselves, it is not at all impossible
that King William will send back Manteuffe
or some other skilful general, at the head oi
a sufficient number of men, to do for Francl
what France in her agony confesses she can
not do for herself If the German troops
should be ordered back, they will of course
occupy Paris only temporarily. King Viii
liams business will be to give Francs
government, as did the allies in 1914 ant
1915. With all the facts of the last sil
months before him, he cannot for a mo
ment think of a republic. Felled before
the peace, its present feeble efforts canno
but be Sespised. The choice is between
the House of Orleans and the House of Bona
parte. We have until now clung to the hop
that the Count de Paris at the end of all thi
confusion would find himself in the palace o
his ancestors. The Count of Paris
as the head of the Hons
of Orleans, seemed to us to present tn
best possible solution of the tangled politica
net which this war has woven. The modera
tion expressed by the French people in TIA