New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-04-05
THE HOPE OF FRANCE.

The French Assembly has entered upon us
Easter vacation, and Mr.. Theirs has taken
leave of the Deputies in a speech IN which he
Guaranteed oIdcr at home and safety from at
tack from abroad for the three weeks of the
duration of the holidays. 1t seems like very
modest boast, but the fact that 1t can be con-
fidently made and implicitly trusted shows
that the condition of France is, after all, not
so precariOus as many have appeared to
imagine. There is peace within her borders;
perfect quiet and order in the cities and in the
country the nation is meeting all its Oblga-
tons as fast as they arrive, and even antici-
pates, in one important particular, the matu-
rity of her obligations. The army is in SPLEEN
did condition, according to the statement of
Mr.. Theirs. He has 10000 men fully trained
and equipped, ready to take the field at mo-
ments warning. lie anticipates no trouble
from any foreign power, but wishes to be
ready for any contingency. He desires that
France shall regain something of her former
weight in the balance of European equilibrium.
He can think of no better way to accomplish
this than the improvement at once of the
financial and the military condition of the
nation. He protests, OF course, that all the
French Government and people desire is peace
In recent interview with a journalist who
was starting for the East, he said: "Tell any
zone whom you may meet that France is
"healing her wounds, is studying. is working,
mot for war but for peace, for the worlds re-
"pOse and her own"
Although these pacific utteranccs are not en-
tirely shared by the people at large, they are
undoubtedly sincere with the President of the
TIa ,,Io ip1t
any one else the hOpelessness of renewal of
the struggle with that colossal nationality
which, even before its political organization
was completed, destroyed the French Army in
a single campaign. But there is no doubt
that the one controlling thought which to-day
anmates the people of France is first to get the
Prussans out of the country, and then to devise
ways and means of revenge. In the cafes of
Paris it is the one word which is Oftenest
heard over the evening absnthc. At the
theater, every verse which contains any hint
of this idea is wildly applauded. 1t pervades
the literature and even the science of the day,
and exercises a strong influence on all the
currents of daily life. NJ. Sarcey, writing the
other day in favor of the national subscription
for the payment of the debt, compared the
herman AIDly vi OCCupdlloH w d HtHu-OlStn
under your window, whose presence prevents
your thinking of anything else, and to which
you will throw all your sous TO be rid of it.
This immense indemnity is in itself power
full incentive to future wars. 1t will furnish
the military chest of the Germans and so dis
pose them to accept with alacrity any gage
of battle which may be offered them; while to
the French it will always remain deb to he
paid at some future time, principal and inter
est. Every Frenchman already regards those
five miliiards as the property OF France, not
to be reclaimed without war, bnt which will
Justify and reward any war which oan he
begun with any chance of Success
OF course no one dreams OF going to war
alone. The hope OF France from this time
onward is in alliances. The nation is entering
that cycle of diplomacy in which the political
mind of Italy found such free exercise and
gained such triumphs. Aiter her statesmen
were once thoroughly convinced Of The impos