3 SEPTEMBER 1870, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

TEIE week has been a heart-breaking one for France. The last military chance has failed, and the country, if saved at all, must be saved by a popular war. The same inexplicable vacil- lation which appeared on the frontier has frustrated MacMahon's audacious design, and delivered him, bound hand and foot, into his enemy's hands. His army may be considered hors de combat, its relics having been driven into Sedan, where he may have supplies, but also may not, and where his communication with Paris may be cut off. The general result of the week, therefore, is that the French army is locked up in Metz and Sedan ; that the road to Paris is open to the Germans ; and that the reliance of France must now be on a defence of Paris, either before the walls or within them, by the Parisians and the three armies hastily gathered together at St. Maur, Lyons, and Blois, numbering, probably, 240,000 good men, but imperfectly organized.