Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-06-29
FRANCE AND GERMANY.

ltalN sun Cllnbs 10 inc lOflOfn nope
Of forming combination which shall
shake the heavy hand of the French
Republic from the longcoveted bays
and valleys Of the Tunis regency.
Active intercession with the Court OF
ST. James has been going on ever since
the treaty eXtorted from the Bey was
published, but Beaconsfeld's action at
Berlin renders any covenant OF the
two powers against France impossible.
The mischievous Italian Consul, whose
insolent aggression against French
merchants invoked the French Gov.
ernments interference, has been re.
called, under form of vacation, not,
however, before he saw the iniqultous
railroad grant that he had cheated the
French out of taken from his proteges
and returned to the originators, the
French company The Sultan, proba.
bly, inspired by italian influence, makes
proclamation that he refuses to recog.
nize the new order Of things and that
he alone is sovereign in the last resort
VI Iuulh anu lbh ClllLbnHs
Gladstone gave the tone to the En-.
glish discussion of the French seizure
of Tunis 50 soon as the case could be
brought before Parliament. The mad
inveotive which at first saluted the
publication of the French treaty with
the Bey was at once turned to diplo.
matte expression of regret that the Re
public should have been so fatuous as
to play the very game that Bismarck
would have chosen for her above all
Others. The Liberal organs were pro-
fuse in warnings that for the mere
temporary gain of the fine harbors of
the Regency France had war of re.
venge, which is the first waking
thought and the last before sleeping of
the Gaul. We may be very sure that
if France had not taken care to be
armed with the authorization of Glad. |
stones predecessor, the Republic would |
never have ventured at this crisis to |
put in action her long-settled policy OF
strengthening her colonial possessions
in Africa by the seizure OF Tunis. But
even if, as thesolicitous English iourn- |
ais assert, the Tunis action has post.
poned the war Of revenge, the real
friends Of France cannot regard that
as an unmitigated misfortune. Every
day that wari is deferred makes France
stronger and does not strengthen Ger
many. France needs years to recuper.
ate the waste of 1870. Germany, on
the contrary, to keep its mastery on
the continent must fight while the men
and armies of 1870 are at her disposal.
In the course Of nature il cannot be
long before Won Moltlle and his com.
rades, who studied that campaign for
twenty-five years before putting it in
execution, will have passed away,
leaving only their traditions to q staff
that can be seen already to be weaken
ID by colossal and easily won triumph
Of the last campaign. History shows
hat Germany has already gone throgh
.he same experience. The battalions
hat the great Frederic trained, and
Nith NhiNll hO NOl bubu miraculous
were but a generation re.
moved from the armies of the luckless
Duke of Brunswick, routed by the
indSsfr' otRsft6ifnmnfvI nnmlnE9y.,os
they were annihilated at
ena by the Republican conscripts In
'evenge, ten or fifteen years later,
.hese troops, trained IN a constant
school of defeat, turned the tide Of
conquest at Leipsic, Baut-
,on and Waterloo. If the occupation
If Tunis has therefore postponed the
war of revenge the Republic didn't DO
! bad stroke OF business, for the mere
necessity which Germany is under to
Keep up an enormous establishment is
loing work to the nation quite as
destructive as French campaign end
ng in the tri-color flying over the
Brandenburgh gate and Alsace and
Lorraine restored.-Phiid. Times.