THE WAR!

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 215, 12 September 1870, Page 2

THE WAR!

The King of Prussia has refused to receive the representative of France, and has let him know through an adjutant in his service that he had nothing more to say to him. To such insult there is but one answer— War ! Onr Government has done everything to avoid a conflict, It circumscribed the Franco-Prussian difficulty to a mere question of dynasty ; it has revived none of the grievances which might result from the non-execution of the treaty of Prague. It wished for peace, but a peace in which the national honor should be preserved. Prussia took our moderation for weakness. To the calm, dignified, and pacific declarations of our ambassador she has answered by an insult . . . . by a — In doing so she has followed her traditions, we will follow ours. One plays not with impunity with the susceptibilities of France. The recollections of 1814 were dormant ; the King of Prussia has brusquely awakened them. He wants war. Let it be. We accept it, sure of our right, confident in the superiority of our weapons. Prussia insults us ... . Let us pas 3 the Rhine. The soldiers of Jena are ready ! ! "

BELGIUM, The latest telegram in the Ave?iir National of Paris is to the effect that the French Government asked the Belgian Government whether Belgium was capable of defending her neutrality. If yes, France engaged herself to leave Belgium out of her strategical combinations. If no, the French army would occupy the Belgian territory. Belgium answered, she was capable of defending her neutrality, and immediate orders had been given for the protection of her frontier.

ENGLAND. The interest of England in such a war is not a remote one, for France cannot covet the Rhine without also desiring Belgium, and Belgium is, or ought to be, a country in whose independence England is a good deal interested. It is impossible to say what view the present English Ministry may take of England's duty in regard to these matters, but surely if there is any object worth fighting for on the Continent it is the independence of Belgium. If we are prepared to see the empire of the first Napoleon restored, and France permanently enlarged to her boundaries of 1810, it seems as great a waste of money to keep a Foreign Secretary as a Colonial Minister.