Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1870.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 847, 21 October 1870, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1870.

Events have followed each other with rapid strides on the European Continent (hiring the short period comprised between the departure of the mail via Marseille*, and that via San Francisco. Public opinion seems also to have undergone a change, and sympathies which were generally on the side of Prussia appear to be more in favor of France. This arises, we think, from the bloodthirsty way in which Prussia is carrying out the war, and her determined resistance to any mediation or effort on the part of the French nation for peace. Since the proclamation of the French Republic, of course there has been no Imperial Cabinet, and the members of the late Ministry have had to fly from Paris, and are now scattered lav and wide. Yet, King William persists in ignoring this fact, refuses to acknowledge the new regime, and declares that he will treat only with a Cabinet that does not exist. Now, as we know that he had professed his quarrel to be only with Napoleon, and not with the French nation, this action has much the appearance of a determination to carry on the struggle to its bitter end. The effect of this conduct on the French people is, as may be imagined, very exasperating; and as, at the latest dale, the Prussian troops were closing on Paris, and the enthusiasm of the citizens increased as they approached, wo may believe that a still more horrible state of affairs has supervened. France, too, goaded to fury by the protracted siege of her cities, lias been guilty of acts of dreadful atrocity. We may instance the destruction of Laon. The city had surrendered, and opened its gates to the Prussian army } but as soon as they were in possession a mine was fired, blowing up the citadel and destroying numbers of them., Also in turning out the peaceable German citizens from Strasbourg, and exposing them to certain death from the tire of both parties;—to. say nothing of the murder in cold blood of captured Germans. In retaliation, too, for the persistence of King William in refusing to treat with the Republic, it is threatened that " not a Prussian shall return to tell the tale."

The internal state of England is, also, sufficiently alarming when we read of excited, meetings in Hyde Park and St. James' Hall, at which the names of the Queen, and the Prince of Wales were received with, hisses and groans ; of an intensely bitter feeling against the Royal Family and the Government in qXL

ranks / of seditious placards being posted on the walls of Buckingham Palace; and lastly, though not least, of the Times and other leading journals declaring that Britain's foreign policy is dictated by the Queen's personal prejudices and the interests of the Royal Family. We fear that whatever faint hope of a speedy ppace existed up to the date of this latest news, must now be con* sidered at an end; and much as the neutral powers may deprecate war, they will not be able much longer to keep out of the struggle. Prussia has lost a splendid chance of dictating terms of peace, honorable and advantageous to herself, which she might have done in the flush ot her first victories; but with the feelings of the rest of Europe against her, and in favor of Republican France, she vill, by her persistence, lose all, and more than she might have gained. One solution is offered to the enigma of her monarch's conduct in this matter, and one ihat is perhaps the truth, —" The King of Prussia is reported to he insane"