The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1870.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 740, 22 November 1870, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1870.

About a mouth back, in reviewing the position of the belligerents and calling in question the wisdom of the hostile march upon Paris, we made reference to certain probabilities whieh, according to the last mail news, would appear to be assuming a definite sbap6. The remarks then used were—" With a strong and united republican government firmly established at Paris, an army forming under the walls of that city, and a second army «,t Lyons, a fresh army forming on their left flank on the Loire, and Bazaine with his army at Mete in their rear, the Germans will be yet obliged to exercise prudence, To advance upon Paris and to meet with a repulse or a defeat, with the forces in preparation on every side, would prove most disastrous to the German forces." The last news would certainly indicate dangers of the gravest kind as likely to arrest the glorious victories hitherto obtained by the German Armies. Disease, the rigcr3 of winter, the possible cutting off of ammunition and supplies from their base, and the general rising of the adult male population, may yet causß the King of Prussia to regret that the peace offered by Pavre was not accepted, or that the ambition of the invader had not been at least limited to the consolidation of the German rule in Alsace and Lorraine. Apparently well-informed correspondents of the London papers maintain that the latter policy was enjoined by Von Moltke and Bismarck, who expressed themselves averse to an advance on the capital. In expectation, however, that Paris would present a spectacle of discord, disorganisation, and abject confusion, thus offering an easy prey to a large and disciplined hostile army, the Germans insisted that the French nation should drink to the last dregs the bitter cup of humiliation, and the continuation of hostilities was preferred to the acceptance of a peace which, so far as Germany was concerned, could have in no way sullied her prestige or national honor. The details to hand become almost sickening in the intensity of their horrors. The fairest country in Europe is being given up to bands of hostile cavalry, who scour the provinces; and, without doubt, inflict serious outrages. One day we hear of 150 peasants being hung for dOton.3iv.gp *>> mr coniitrjr, OOO, villages fired at a dozen points, and women and children burnt; then follows an announcement from both belligerents that no prisoners are to be taken, and in retaliation for the outrages on her peasantry, France threatens to execute her German prisoners. The history of the present war will indeed constitute a wonderful narrative when it comes) to be written a few years hence. Every little village throughout the country, and more especially in the immediate seat of hostilities, will have had its thrilling experiences of war when this fearful campaign at last comes to an end ; and from the isolated fortresses that remain, little oases of French patriotism in the midst of the torrent of invasion that has flooded the country, there will surely come, in course of time, spiritstirring details of the privations and sufferings, the fears and anxieties that the inhabitants are undergoing, even while we write. What household in Strasbourg can be without its adventures ? And then in spots which have been altogether neglected, in the rush .of mighty events elsewhere, what complete epics of the war must have been enacted by half-forgotten detachments of t.roop.s, and far away groups of the French people? In an age when literature keeps a record of the merest trivialities, wiii the vast mine of mighty incidents and adventure.?.the desperate, yet in their failure ma£niL?cent efforts of the French soldiery to stfay the tide of invasion, thu tinparalleleu devotion of the people, and the boundless train of events, accumulating as the war proceeds, be left unworked ? We have the history of the Consulate and the Empire written by the graphic pen of a faithful historian, let us hope that the annals of the Empire and the Republic will also be recorded with a like genius and impartiality.