The British Government has made a final effort at mediation.
It has requested Count Bismarck to receive M. Thiers, who goes to Versailles to ask an armistice. It is believed that Count Bis- marck has complied, but M. Thiers has first to obtain the author- ization of the Provisional Government, which, as we have argued elsewhere, he is not likely to get, unless either General Trochu is disheartened, or the German Chancellor is prepared to moderate his demands. No news whatever of the progress of this nego- tiation had reached London up to Friday evening, and another attempt to make peace through an intrigue with the Empress has also failed. The Empress was asked to visit Versailles and sign a peace surrendering Strasburg and a zone round it, but with un- expected spirit and judgment peremptorily refused. She hopes, she affirms, for a restoration ; but will not regain her throne either by intrigues, or at the expense of France. " The Govern- ment at Tours is right." We are no friends to Imperialism, but it is clear from a letter found in the Emperor's cabinet and pub- lished by the Committee of Inquiry, from the answer to Bis- marck, and from her manifestoes in the Daily News, that the Empress is a brave woman, whose capacity has not been sufficiently recognized. She protested against the idea of a coup d'etat, which, it seems, hovered before her husband's mind, arguing that sequence in policy was the only proof of strength.
