Year: 1870

Grand opportunities are sOlnellihtS 'Hio"h
away by nations as Ivy individuals France
and Germany have each committed the error
of not taking the initiative in stopping de-
structive war Either could have done so not
only without danger, but with honor to itself
and humanity.


We shall never believe otherwise than that
King William sacrificed great opportunity
and failed to do his duty to Germany in not
proclaiming to the French people, after the
victory at Sedan, that having broken the
power of the Monarch, he had no wish to
destroy the nation. IL was not IN the line
of his duty to do this. When Napoleon de-
rlared he had no power to treat for peace,
there may have been left, as Count Bismarck
saws no entering point for an overture OF
"peace." King Williams mistake was in not
making one The assurances which Bismarck
made 40 Napoleon of his readiness to treat for
peace ought to have been proclaimed to the
people whom Napoleon no longer governed.
Such a proclamation would have had the inn
mediate effect of placing Germany before the
world in her true light of a generous con-
quercr-not only powerful but merciful.
The result would have been to pave the
way for peace proposals from the members OF
the Republican Government. Instead of re-
peating in unequivocal terms the earnest de-
sire of Germany for an honorable and gener-
Gus and trustful peace, King William has
advanced upon Paris, giving utterance
only TO the formal assurances of Bis
marck TO Napoleon. These declarations may
have been in accordance with diplo-
matte usage; but diplomatic rules and
diplomatic terms ought to have been thrown
| aside, and this occasion made sublime by
full and generous proclamation of the German
nation speaking through their King, declaring
all anmOsity buried and offering that peace
which both nations 80 grieyOuSly require.
What was wanted was not Bismarck'S formal
report, informing other nations Of Germany's
proposals, but one of the Kings kindest and
simplest dispatches telling the French people
of Germanys hopes and desires. King William
should not have been content with placing
himself right before the neutral Powers. He
should, of all things, have first set Germany
in her true light before France and before
history.


But while Germany has been negligent
France has been criminal. She has wasted
her grand opportunity by not at once de-
nOuncing the crime and the criminal She
will have to do in the end and in her humili-
alton what she might have done III the begin
ming with honor and self-respect. The Minis
try of the Republic, deriving their strength
from the blind rage of the pOpulace of Paris,
are restrained in their action by its unwisdom
and in Difference to Paris have compromised
! the interest of France. Their first declarations
were of war they had not the power to
make; declarations and defiance coupled with
protestatiOns of a wish for peace. In the face
of these, King William has advanced and
threatens to take Paris. His right to do this
under all the circumstances no one Will
question, though many will question the
wisdom of the act. France, in accepting the
war of the Empire, must accept also Its
! consequences. The men who as Legislators OF
! the Empire denounced the war, now proclaim
| and prosecute it as Ministers of the Republic.
| Their weakness less than their folly has
placed them in this equivOcal position, and
| only the generosity of Germany or the
| humiliation of Paris can relieve them.


They are seeking aid and mediation in every
place except at the right one The only effort
which promises success is that now reported
as making by NJ Theirs to induce the English
! Government to convey to the Prussian authOri-
ties the desire of the Republic for an armis-
tice and the arrangement Of peace. The
Ministers do not feel strong enough to make
proposals direct to the Prussian headquarters.
| They might have done so once. 1t is death to
attempt it now-death at the hands of the
populaCe that created Ministry and Govern
ment The present effort is an equivocation
which we cannot but condemn as unworthy,
but from which we hope for good results.