Year: 1870




Prusslans are pressing without halt or pause


No armed opposition is made TO their progress


except so far as to blow up some bridges and


offer feeble impediments of that kind. Their


advance yesterday was but forty miles from


Paris. There are, In fact, no French forces In


the field to oppose them. Bazaines army ia


still shut up in Metz, and Its only prospect OF


getting out seems to be by capitulation aud


surrender, negotiations for which arc said to


be in progress. The gallant MacMahon is
dead and his brave army is on the way to
Germany to grace the triumph of its conqueror,
preceded there by him whose ambition has
brought France to Its present pitiahe state


vinoy's corps, and what is designated the
Army Of Lyons, under the command of Count
Palkao, are both within the walls of Paris
and are not In a condition to bar the progress
of the Prusslans 1t is, therefore, expected
that the beleaguerlng of the doomed city will
be undertaken in the early part of next week.
Indeed, 1t is stated as q positive fact in our
special telegraphic correspondence from Paris
! sbat the King OF Prussia has ordered chateau
i IN the neighborhood to be prepared for his re-
cep.ion by Sunday next.


On the other hand, the idea of seeking or
consenting to peace that might be regarded
IS humiliating to the pri,e Of France does not
seem to be entertained either by the people or by
the new republican government. Rumors are
prevalent Of offers of mediation being made or
intended, but no actual movement of the kind
appears to have taken place. The prepara-
tions for the defence of Paris are being made
with great energy by General Trochu and tho
Committee of Defence, which has declared
itself in permanent session. No one in Paris
breathes whisper looking to submission, and
yet, according to our special correspondent,
the most deadly apprehension of the impend-
ing siege prevails am ong tae inhabit ants, and
desire for peace on any terms. An order for
the expulsion Of women and children was
anticipated yesterday, and there Is
general exodus of strangers from the city.
Where to escape is the pressing question with
them, for communications are stopped No
gas any longer illumines at night the lately
brilliant city, and many Of the miseries of
state Of siege are making themselves felt
already. But the new government flinches not
in its ideas of patriotism and duty. Gambetta,
the Minister Of tho Interior, urges the Projects
of Departments throughout France to postpone
every thought save that of the national defence,
and Favre, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and
President of the Ministry, who accepts with
gratitude and profound emotion the act of the
United States in so promptly recognizing the
establishment of the republic, declares that
France cannot consent to yield rood of terri
tory.


We have already commented upon the re-
markable change of sentiment that has taken !
place in the United States on the question of |
the war since the fall of the imperial govern |
meut and the substitution of that of the repub-
lie. President Grant himself was one of the |
foremost to realize the altered phase which
those events gave to the war, and he imme-
diately directed the Secretary of State to in
struct Mr.. Washburne, our Minister at Paris,
to recognize the new order of things the mo-
ment that de tacto government was in exist
ence. This Mr.. Washburne did on Wednesday
last in the most friendly manner, offering the
congratulations and sympathies of the United
States to France. Formal though the act may
have been, the manner in which it was per-
formed carried with it an assurance of sincerity
which could not fail to be appreciated at this
momentous crisis in the affairs of France. 1t
justified the respect recently shown by the
populace in Paris to the American flag and the
eloquent allusion to it in Victor Hugo's speech
the other day.


1t is not merely with the people in the mass
nor with the President aud high officials of the
United States that that change of sentiment in
favor of France Is manifested, but even the
republican party, which has hitherto been
counting the German element in this country,
has felt the influence Of the altered state of |
things. Remarkable evidence of this Is fur
nished by the platform adopted on Wednesday
last in the Republican State Convention held |
at Saratoga, one Of the resolutions hailing
''with unmingled joy the new republic Of
France" and another giving back-handed |
slap to King William by recommending Ger !
many to adopt the like free institutions.


We are aware, therefore, that we reflect the
predominant sentiment Of the country in ex-
pressing the ardent desire that France may
be spared from further sacrifice and humilia-
ton. Its armies under tho Emperor were
fighting for territorial extension aud for the
permanence of the Bonaparte dynasty. Under
the republic the shattered remnant of those
armies and the whole people are but defend
ing the national existence. We had naught
but condemnation for the one; we can have
! naught but sympathy and best wishes for the
other. If any mediation on the part of foreign
governments can avail to save France from