The correspondence about the monstrous accusation brought against Sir Robert
Morier by the German Press has been pretty active during the week, and has brought out most conclusively that, in the first place, Marshal Bazaine could not have been first informed by Mr. Morier or any one else on the night of the 15th or the morning of the 16th August, 1870, that the Germans had crossed the Moselle and were in his neighbourhood, since his troops were engaged with the German troops by that time, and, indeed, the Times of August 15th had told all the world of the German advance ; in the second place, that the German papers are themselves getting ashamed of their conduct, and after actually going so far as to hint that Sir R. Morier must have himself forged the wretched French of poor old Marshal Bazaine's flat denial that he had ever said anything of the kind, or that anything of the kind had happened, now endeavour to withdraw the whole accusation by suggesting that it was some other Mr. Morier, and not the diplomatist at Darmstadt, to whom the early disclosure was due. As it appears perfectly certain that no telegram sent on the day named could have contained any early news for the Marshal of the German movement across the Moselle, it becomes obvious that the whole story is a fabrication from beginning to end, and is worthless except to illustrate how great the wrath of the Bismarcks against Sir Robert Morier must have been. What was the secret of that wrath, we have yet to learn. Certainly it was not any attempt of Sir R. Morier's to meddle (dishonestly or otherwise) in the defence of France.
