Neither does strength depend on extent of territory, any more than upon number of population. Take up your masses, put the cluster of the British Isles beside the mass of South America, and then consider whether any race of men need consider how much ground they stand upon. The strength is in the men, and in their unity and virtue, not in their standing-room. A little group of wise hearts is better than a wilderness full of fools; and only that nation gains true territory which gains itself. I am, Sir, your faithful servant, J. RUSKIN. DENMARK HILL, S.E., _Oct._ 6. FOOTNOTES: [24] M. Edouard Frère and Mdlle. Rosa Bonheur were allowed to leave Paris and pass the lines of the Prussian army after the blockade of the French capital had been begun. For Mr. Ruskin's early recognition of M. Frère's power, see the "Academy Notes," No. II. (1856), p. 47, where some "cottage studies" are spoken of as "quite unequalled in sincerity and truth of conception, though somewhat dimly painted;"--No. III. (1857), p. 58, where his pictures are said to "unite the depth of Wordsworth, the grace of Reynolds, and the holiness of Angelico;"--and No. IV. (1858), p. 33, where this last expression of praise is emphasized and at some length explained. [25] See for the first two paragraphs of extracts following pp. 170, 171 of the original, and §§ 102-3 of the 1873 edition of the "Crown of Wild Olive;" for the third paragraph, pp. 116-118, and § 74; and for the last two paragraphs, pp. 186, 187, and §§ 113, 114, respectively, of those two editions. [From "The Daily Telegraph," October 8, 1870.] _THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR._ _To the Editor of "The Daily Telegraph."_ SIR: As I am always blamed if I approach my subject on any but its picturesque side, it is well for me that in to-day's _Times_ I find it announced that at Strasburg the Picture Gallery--with the pictures in it?--the Library--with the books in it?--and the Theatre, with certainly two hundred persons in it, have been burnt to the ground under an auxiliary cannonade, the flames at night being "a tempting target." It is true that in your columns I find the consolatory news that the Parisians are repairing those losses by casting a bronze Strasburg;[26] but if, as a poor art professor, I may venture an opinion, I would fain suggest to them that if their own picture gallery, with the pictures and bits of marble in it--Venus of Melos and the like--and their own Library--Royal, Impériale, Nationale, or whatever they now call it--should presently become tempting targets also by the light of their own flames, the casting of a bronze Paris, in even the most imposing of attitudes, will scarcely redeem their loss, were it but to the admiring eyes of Paris herself.