The French ex-Emperor's letter to the Generals who com- manded
at Sedan,—a letter at once sent by every one of them to. M. Thiers,-- has been published. It is a magnanimous letter in its way, taking the whole responsibility of the capitulation on
self, but it would have been much better without its final sentence, its peroration. "The immolation of 60,000 men," he says, "could' not have saved France, and the sublime devotion of her chiefs- and soldiers would have been uselessly sacrificed. We obeyed a- cruel but inexorable necessity. My heart was broken, but my conscience was tranquil." Broken hearts, one perceives, do not prove fatal to Emperors, any more than to young ladies. And the- Emperor has never hitherto over-expressed his feelings except. for a political purpose,—which in this case we do not discern.
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