THE FRENCH REVERSES.-A CRIME OF COMFORT FOR THE DEFEATED.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 224, 27 September 1870, Page 2

THE FRENCH REVERSES.A CRIME OF COMFORT FOR THE DEFEATED.

;The despkoiaeal of, Sunday evenpf, detailing %he suftve^s of- tfee Crown Prii|c^ of Prussia t>ver M;oM-»ihap apld^ his" comtnaiid, created •arnOTßour French'citizens the most profound astonishment. Napoleon was believed to have ■been^fu4fy-"prepaTed'-»foF«fche»war-whichhe»eo earnestly invited. McMahon was one of his piost /trusted Marshals, and every thing promised that the opening of the campaign, at lea»i.j:-would-be*a- brJlliant-oneJor-Jihe,ChraiuL Nation and her armies. Constant reference was made to the elan of the French troops. They were to carry everything before them as usual c at.the fir^t If the Prussian troops w4re lo be jßUOcessful at all, it woull hot to oft tHe first! second, or even the third battle. The proverbial German obstiaacy was to be their salvation; and as the cam,paigu_advanced, this quality would assert it self, slnd'"'Napoleon would find perhaps the stubbornnes3-o.f the German more tlian a match for the brilliant but effervescent courage of the mercurial''Gaul. Such were the con elusions arrived atk by many. But Vhommi propose, et clieu diifyose. The Prussians are on French soil, and a portion of the G/and sarmy,fcc-mmended by theVetertitfMcM^hbi^ iJ :flyingl'before them tqWard'Pdis, iivha-h'! is'only one hundred and twenty miles from Metz, the last point threatened. Napoleon, while admitting those disasters in his despatches, adds " all this/may be retrieved." How F Casting about''for some explanation of thid extraordinary state of affairs, they feel disposed" to advance a theory which grows naturally from the situation. They feel convinced that Napoleon knew when he left Paris, he left behind him the people divided in opinion on the justice and necessity of the war. The lllierfl, or peace, party, was stronger than their advicea from/Paris gave ( thera to believCi- /Thejtpnqpf Napoleon's antebellum proclamations, the processions of the pacifically disposed in the streets, tlie visit of the Jimpress Eugeniu to M. Thiers, immediately after the departure of her husband; for the front, and lastly, tlie murmuring and disaffection of the Mobile at Chalons, is strong evidence in support of this position. The lack of unification among; the French 1 "explains also tlie hesitation of tlie troops on the frontier. Under other circumstances, the aggressive was the plain and rational policy for the Emperor to' pursue;;' but this policy would not: do while disaffection prevailed at Paris. Ihe people must be compacted as a unit in his favor before the Eagles cro-sed the Rhine in force.* They think he-has succeeded,^y, the.aidpf the Crown Prince, in accomplishing (his McMahon's flying legions are the idee Napoliene to fire the national heart of France.; " The.Gnrsc National and, the Garde Mobile have hushed their murmurs, a'nd'have asked'to be allowed to join the array at the front." " The patriotic excitement, which had subsided,, has been revi/ed, and the national sentiments noW are Vetigeaivee forWlaih1 brethren;" - "The. Prince Imperial has been sent back to Paris," and, as one of the Government papers signifi cantly observes, the " camp will no longer be a/Oour.; out ofiplace." * Such is the tenor of the latest dispatches, which they think show that a little French blood has healed French dissensions, and indicate that the heroic Germans/will-soon find,the foemen.to be more worthy of their steel than they have proved themselves since the opening of the campaign.— .Daily Call, August 9.