THE RESURRECTION OF FRANCE.

Marlborough Express, Volume V, Issue 265, 17 December 1870, Page 7

THE RESURRECTION OF FRANCE.

Under the above heading a London journal observes :

“ France will he saved, but there is no evidence that she will take the trouble to save the Second Empire too. Louis Napoleon was always going about behind his army, seeking ‘ the centre of the position but he never succeeded in finding it.

“ Utterly defeated and crushed, the armies of France, in the field, had nothing to do but surrender. The French soldiers fought as bravely as men could fight, but they were both out-numbered and outgeneralled. What about that miserable poltroon, the Emperor—the author of all these disasters, and of all the miseries that has fallen on France 1 What has he done 1 And where is he 1 Has he ever been in the ‘ centre ’ or the thick of the fight 1 No. Has he forgotten the magniloquent, bombastic telegram to Paris but one month since, to the effect that he would return there either dead or victorious 1 “ And now he has surrendered with a whole skin, to the King of Prussia, doubtless hoping and expecting sooner or later to return to the French capital. His whole life has been a lie, and he stands confessed before the whole world both a fool and a coward !

“ It would be useless as yet speculating as to the turn events may take by the surrender of M'Mahon and Bonaparte; but the general opinion is the war will be brought to a speedy termination thereby. And we trust that the downfall of the Emperor, the incubus to the Empire, has passed away.

“ The terrible features of war as a penalty to peoples were never' so clearly illustrated as by the acts of this ‘ one man ’ who has made all these murders. It is calculated that 75,000 Germans are killed, wounded, or missing; 50,000 Frenchmen are hors de combat , and 25,000 are prisoners in German fortresses, and 100,000 are detained in Metz. Worse still, it is said that fever has broken out in Metz, and the report is only too likely to be true ; whilst there is also reason to believe that in the ranks of the Germans the cloud of pestilence has appeared in the form of cholera. The wounded die for want of help ; the dead can scarcely be buried between one battle and another ; the horses cannot be buried at all for want of men, and yet the work is as necessary to the health of the army as the burial of the braves who have fallen in the field.”