Saturday, January 7, 1S71.]

TH E TABLET,

3

“ doubt as to the answer.” . . . But, “ you could obtain the “ real vote only where the German hand had not y e t been “ felt. In Alsace and Lorraine . . . you could get no r e a l “ vote. In the Champagne districts, in the greater part of “ Burgundy, in the valleys of the Seine, and the Marne, and “ the Aube you could get no r e a l vote." This is all very w e ll; but why is not the same simple justice and common sense applied to the Roman plebiscite taken under the bayonets of 60,000 invaders and a host of reckless em ig rati l The Spectator should add ; perhaps it will add, for it is an honest journal ; “ In Rome you could get no r e a l vote."

Signor Lanza, Prime Minister of the King-

civiuzation rï°m ° f Italy, said in his opening address on the

debate on the so-called Papal Guarantees, that the continued existence of the Temporal Power was incompatible with modern civilization. This declaration surely furnishes an apt commentary on one of the condemned propositions of the S y lla bus : “ The Pope ought to reconcile “ himself with modern civilization.” The journals invidiously represented the Pope to have declared in these words war against civilization in general; not modern only, but all human improvement, gas, railways, the electric telegraph, and the rest. It is needless to expose the absurdity of such attacks. But in Lanza’s words we see precisely one thing, that the Pope will not and cannot reconcile himself with. It is that principle in modern civilization, which was not found in ancient civilization (bad as that was in many respects), namely that the Church and the Church’s Head ought not to have any temporal power : which means in effect that there is no place for them in the social and civil system created by modern civilization ; or, in other words, that modern civilization is hostile to the existence, and much more to the development, of the Church in the world as an external and objective fact. It is this and other antiChristian principles, accidental to it, which create the necessity for modern civilization to reconcile itself with the Pope, and not demand that the Pope should reconcile himself to it. He will not remain irreconcilable, when it shall have put away its worser part, and contented itself with its better half.

No signs of flagging appear as yet in the ob-

T m m m stinate energy with which the great war is waged

on both sides. The news of slaughter and o f suffering is, if possible, more copious than ever. From east and north, from south-east and south-west, telegrams, thick and fast, have been telling all the week through, in this more than Arctic winter, of battles and manœuvres in the open field. Surely modern war is growing even less humane than war of old. In autumn, Cæsar tells us, as the merest matter of routine, that he “ led his army into winter quarters ;” little heeding if the Gauls meanwhile should hatch fresh conspiracies and organize new rebellions. It was thought a wonderful hardihood in the days of Gustavus Vasa and the other warrior King Charles X I I of Sweden, when campaigns went on in winter as in summer, and the Swede fought best, it was said, when he could see his own breath. But now men are as deliberately (sacrificed to frost as to shot, and “ congelation” ranks among the regular casualties of the campaign. To particularize but one or two of these horrors -During the nights of the 21st and 22nd ult., when the sorties of Ducrot and Trochu obliged the troops to bivouac between Paris and the Prussian lines, the morning found many soldiers frozen to death ; others lost limbs from the keen bite of the north-east wind ; while others had their “ eyes frozen.” And after a recent battle on the Loire 56 carriages filled with wounded were found, on arriving at their destination, to be nearly all frozen to death ! How many men these 56 carriages contained we are not told. Similar facts are reported in abundance. By the severity of the hardships to which the troops are subjected, we may form a notion how hard and stern are the demands of strategy and of policy that must perforce carry on the war during a season, of itself it would seem almost enemy enough. “ General January” conquered (it was said) the French at Moskow, but the Prussians boast that they are well provided against his attacks in the matter of food and clothing.

the war: Notwithstanding the paralyzing frost of the

France. season the field-operations throughout France have continued with unabated, or rather with increased activity. Up to Tuesday last there had been battles reported almost daily by the French under Faidherbe in the North, under Generals Roy and Pettingeas, who now command at or near Havre; underChanzyin theLoire districtnear

Vendome; and again on the Doubs, where 200 Frenchmen are said to have crossed the frontier and to have been disarmed and interned by the Swiss troops waiting in readiness for that purpose. Nearly all these engagements are, as usual, reported on either side to have been complete victories. In a brief space it is impossible to discuss their respective credibility, or to give conjectural accounts of the general plan and results of the strategy. What is evident is, that as yet nothing like a decisive action has occurred, and that the French certainly, and probably the Germans also, are practising that stratagem of war which consists in deceiving, not so much the enemy as their own men, by putting forth reports much more flattering than the facts of the case w’ould warrant. As a specimen of bewildering contradictions we quote the telegrams published iu London on Thursday evening, announcing a battle, evidently important, that seems to have been fought by the troops under General Faidherbe on Monday. These are the French despatches; they contain several obvious contradictions, such as the destruction of Bapaume and Peronne.—

Lille, January 4,—Yesterday was a day of great triumph for the Army of the North, The losses of the Prussians were enormous ; those of the French great. Bapaume and Behargnies were entirely burnt. Peronne was bombarded, and almost destroyed but it still holds out. Exact details are wanting. Afternoon,—A despatch from General Faidherbe, dated fromAvesnes-le-Bapnume, announces that a battle was faught yesterday belowBapaume from8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Gen. Faidherbe says :—“ We drove the Prussians fromall their positions and all villages. They suffered enormous losses ; our losses were serious.” Another telegram says :—“ Faidherbe’s victory was gained by the help of heavy reinforcemenrs and more'are still on their way. Manteuffel’s forces, on the other hand, were scattered about, and it was believed in Lille that most of them were withdrawn to Paris to resist the supreme effort expected from Trochu. The German commanders were completely deceived respecting the efficiency of the North Army. The Prefect telegraphed troin Arras to Boulogne last evening that he returned from the head-quarters of the Army of the North on Tuesday ; it was a very glorious day forthe Trench arms, and six villages were successively taken from the enemy. The army stopped before Bapaume, which might easily have been taken had not General Faidherbe recoiled from the extremity of bombarding and firing the town. More than 3,000 Prussians were placed hors de combat. The French artillery was better served and superior in fire and precision to the Prussian. A battery captured by the Prussians was retaken at the bayonet’s point. Another telegram to the Daily News says Bapaume was occupied, and the Prussians pursued beyond the town. On the other hand we are told from the Prussian headquarters, apparently in reference to the same battle, that, “ General von Goeben has dispersed Faidherbe’s army. The “ 8th Cuirrssiers charged and broke up two regiments.” Further and more authentic information only can enable us to assign the victory (if victory there has been) to the right side.

The hotly-contested plateau of Mount Avron fau is . was captured by the Prussians after two days bombardment. They found (they say) the guns removed, but 1 7 corpses of French officers in the place, and a large quantity of small arms thrown away by the defenders in their hasty evacuation. The neighbouring forts of Rosney, Noisy, and Nogent, have been subjected to bombardment, but had not been taken. Their fire, however, was nearly silenced, and the bombardment of Paris has been going on in spite of a thick fog since Tuesday on the east front on the south-east side.

Two very different, though both important,

new y e a r s demonstrations occurred in France on the day Ver sa il l e s ° f die new year. At Versailles, within hear­

ing of the French cannon—hardly out of the reach of their heaviest projectiles, King William I held his court. With truth he said to his assembled guards, that great events must have happened to unite them all on such a day and at such a place. The turn of the war has been no doubt little less to the astonishment of himself and his army than to that of the French. The most sanguine hopes of the Prussians, when they marched to the Rhine at the end of last J uly, could hardly have exceeded the expectation of several rapid and brilliant victories, after the fashion of Sadowa, ending in a treaty more or less humiliating for France. The fall of the Empire, the collapse of the French power, the over-running of the country, the almost certaiq capture of Paris, the probable extinction of France for many years to come as a military Power—these are the things which they see on New Year’s-day as the results of their operations. 1 he King added that his hopes were “ directed “ to the crowning of the edifice by an honourable and last“ ing peace.” A las! What hopes are there of it for France ? She suffers under an obsession. The demon of the Revolution throttles her. Its gripe is more ruthless upon her than even that of the German foe. It blinds her eyes and stops her utterance, while it goads her