M. Guizot publishes a long and very generous letter to
excuse the Executive Government of France for its indecision and weak- ness in dealing with the revolt in Paris. The only excuse he offers, however, is that the necessity of attacking Paris placed M. Thiers and the Assembly in a very " painful position." They took time and gave time, and now they are acting with energy. M. Guizot knows France, no doubt ; but people in England fail entirely to see why an attack on Paris to-day is less painful than it would have been a fortnight since ; or why time, which was ex- pected to benefit the Assembly, should not have been expected to benefit the Commune, as it has done. Civil war is not less horrible on one day than another, except in this way,—that if commenced resolutely it may soon end, and if commenced languidly it may last till the nation has become exhausted.
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