The Sun. — London, England, 1863-10-28 00:00:00

TR: 3 POLISH INSURRECTION. (From, the S. .pecial Correspondent of the Times.) WARSAW, Oct. 20. The great, incident here of the last few days has been the destruction of the Townhall by a fire, which th , ..,se who saw it, as I did, from close by, must kno w to have been the work of incendiaries. I cannot say who lighted the fire nor why it was lighted,, but the Russians made the greatest exer tions t,o put it out as quickly as possible, saved the erchi ves, saved the furniture, and prevented the flames from reaching a part of the building in which a number of political prieoners were confined. Twice during the last week the word has been passed from mouth to mouth in Warsaw that " some thing" would take place in the evening, and that it wou Id not be safe to be in the streets after seven —the anti-curfew hour. But everything passed off quietly, except that a few nights since a man named Dombrowski was attacked by "national gendarmes" and left for dead (though he is still alive) in the street called " Long." On Sunday naarning, however, at twelve o'clock, the tramping infantry, the galloping backwards and forwards of Cossacks, and the rushing to and fro of crowds of excited men and women gave the thoroughfares in which all this movement took place the sound and aspect (so familiar to Continental travellers of the last fifteen years) of a coming disturbance. Insurrection in Warsaw at the present moment could only mean the exposure of a portion of the inhabir,ants to massacre, and perhaps of the whole city to bombardment from the citadel. Neverthe less, a rising, in the desperate position in which the inhabitants of Warsaw and the Poles generally now find themselves, is just possible ; a rising has certainly been meditated, and though, owing to the precautions of all kinds taken by the R assians, it becomes more difficult every day to carry out the plan, whatever it may have been, there was some reason on Sunday for supposing that it was on the point of being put into execution. Many persons here imagine that a cruel measure of r epression, such as in the present temper of the Russian soldiers would undoubtedly be the resu l t of any attack , or of any organized resistan ce on the part of the Poles, might lead to an expression of indignation in Franco or England so decided as to leave the Governments of these countries no option but. to declare war against Russia. This appears to me the saddest of all political speculations, for, even if deliberately provoked, the Russians could scarcely do worse in Warsaw than they have already done, and are now doing daily, in the provinces. The western Pavers have shown that they can tolerate —not with complacency, nor without the strongest condemnation —but that they can tolerate, never theless, sue la acts of barbarism in Poland as might have callealfor their interference even if no distinct right on. their part to interfere had ever existed. To be stare, oneoutrage in Warsaw does really cause a great 21' outcry abroad than a hundred similar ones canamatted in the country ; but, at the same time, it is aaer feetly well-known that states are devastated PeasP.nts raised against proprietors, and proprietors imPr isoned, maltreated, and their property confis cate d, even when they are thought to have only aithai the insurrection, in which persons of all classes are well known to have taken an active part. If the indignation produced by the knowledge of such facts a a these is not efficacious, what advantage is to be expe - .:ted from a catastrophe in Warsaw, about which the only thing certain is that it would show us a d ,efenceless city in the position of a city taken by s .orm ? one riot in the confidence of the National Go verririent can say with what object the Town-hall of 3.rsaw was set on fire. In the meanwhile it is certain that it did not take fire by accident. The riffir dal account of the affair simply sets forth that fig nos were first seen issuing from a room on the second floor in which certain archives were stowed as ray, and that some time afterwards they burst forth trora another part of the building in which the polic k records were kept. lam also told by an evewitn ess that utter the fire had been partly sub dued it broke out again in quite a fresh place. The genere,l rumour in the town was that the fire had begun in the roof and is several places at the same time, and when I saw the building, the conflagra tion having then lasted about six hours, the whole roe.' was in a blaze, though in many of the rooms itv mediately beneath it. there seemed to be no fire c - scept what proceeded from the embers that had fallen from above. All the upper stories, ho wever, of the right and left wings, as seen from the front, were in flames, and the left wing was also burning at the back. Let no one hasten to say that the Poles did not set their own Town-hall on fire, for the National Government may be preparing, at this moment, some patriotic and sophistical justification of the act. I beard !numbers of respectable Poles deny with indignation the accusation brought against the National Government of having planned and di rected the attack against Gen. Berg, until at last the National Government coolly assumed the re sponsibility of the crime. Do not, above all, let it be said that the Russians set the Town-hall on fire in order to have an excuse for increasing their measures of severity against the inhabitants of Warsaw. A s i m il ar unfounded and ridiculous explanation of the attack on Gen. ghe was circulated for a few days—which, by Way, the Journal de St. Petersbourg, with its usual effrontery, has attributed to the gimmes. It tr u a t ry th a mefaieht is the Russians rule Poland in so arbi trary a manner that they want no excuses for any of their misdeeds. The y have not, however, as y et taken to burning down Polish cities—as at least one porti on of -w7 on Sunday bad thereengines been a littl e more w i n d an d no Government The bu rn i ng or ht at hand. the result, o f aceidenet. Warsaw Town-hall was not I n considering what may have been the mo ti ve of thiB deliberat e a ct o f ineen diarisan, I can o n l y think that it m a y h ave b een rariant as a protect against the imposition imposition of the new tax—if riot with the more direct motive of burning the lists of taxpayers. It was at the Town-hall that the 8 per cent. income-tax w as to hepaid, and I men tioned in a previous letter that f thee omnrsoon:thhthlo2 had seper y alreadcent. who do not pay before the end of this will be required. Some 20 p settled with the Government on score were publicly warned last week in a a proclamation" issued by the "Ch i ef of the Town." T heir name on published, and they themselves summ oned to swere appear befc,re one of the "revolutionary tribunals," It a, on this question of the 8 p er cent. inco me - tax for . "car purposes that the great contest is now ta k ing 'place between the National Government and the Government of Russia, and it will be curious to see whether the inhabitants of Warsaw will positively disobey the former or obey it, and by doing so ren der themselves liable to an extra payment of 50 per cent. in favour of the latter. The only thing certain about the matter is that, at least, no further pay ments will be made until the very last day, and that for the next few days—as the Town-hall is destroyed —no payments will be made at all. It was evident that the fire of yesterday caused the Russians considerable alarm, and if they really desir e d a rising in Warsaw they need only have ' , ept th e t roo p s i n b arrac k s f or an h o ur and they would have had it. The fire might h ave been a 81gnal,hat was apparently nothing of the kind or • it mi g h t hay _ , a numb e r be en lighted with the view of draw ing the town ao a of troops to one particular quarter of to leave the other quarters compara tively u neecal , gular tight ai dt all, ' or, without any notion of a re and simply i n the hope that it would le a d to ciumi"' disturbance, cud such bloodshed as would the West. In any case be c ure to b e t a lk e d a b ou t i n the Russians did r i g ht in taking every p oss ib le were brought out into l l t 7cantinn• All the soldiers the public gardens ; ant i al l ' l trt= cts, the squares, and til the next morning, the th da y , all night, and un ughfares leading to the large open space a, Hall stands (its wells are , d t e t of which the Town closed to the public. and the a7pdrnilg "till), were by intlntry Cossacks. ebea guarded It did not seetn to be necassary, haw _ the Cossacks abould use their w hi pi 114 " 0..1 7, that crowd, and even single out quiet an d per f t e the ti inoffensive persons for their assaults, as sometimes happened. A Warsaw cvowd under existin g cit ._ camstanoes would no doubt tt7 the pll:ienee even of the proverbially patient British policeman, for the sympathy and applause of the public are re served here for those who break the law ,nd the transgressor of the most necessary polic-, regulation is a popular hero so long as he is act' ally trans gressing, and a popular martyr if h 8 transgression entails punishment upon him. I cannot, as a cold blooded Englishman, see the slightest patriotic merit in disregarding orders issued with the view of saving a national building from destruction ; but on the other hand, in the present state of the public mind in Warsaw, it is not to be expected that in a conflict or simple dispute between a Russian and a Pole the former will, under any circumstances, be allowed to be in the right. A .light-heeled.haeded one may dodge an infantry soldier, a light defy a Cossack ; in either case thePol n e e i v n e s r u t r h e e s le t s la s e , approbation of his countrymen, ~who, t e h o a u d ld the n y ot thfeailditroectitorneatofwater offenders own with police, i h everything is for th e contempt. In short, worst in the worst-governed country p oss i. ble. The Russians say that the Poles have no notion of obedience even of the most in. dispensable kind, and the Poles retort that the Rus sians have no conception of any rule except that of brute force. The truth is that the Russians, for the 30 years which preceded the present movement, had governed the Poles without any reference to their 1 national character, or to the institutions which for centuries had formed part of their national life. I They put a ready-made Russian collar on the neck of a nation not fitted to wear it, and never thought for a moment that if the collar were rendered less galling the nation condemned to support it might prove more tractable. The notion of governing either man or beast without considering the nature of the man or beast to be governed is so preposter ous that if there were no despotisms in Europe, and if it were not found necessary to keep up Societies 1 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, one might imagine that it was no longer entertained. The Poles, however, have, and will probably now have for many a year, to take such government of the true Russian pattern as Russia chooses to give them, and if they only submit to it as long as they are exhausted, and endeavour at the first favourable or unfavourable opportunity to shake it off, that will no doubt be looked upon by the Russians as a fresh proof that the Poles are a naturally ungovernable race. At the present moment, however—a moment of exasperation and madness—the less that is said of the conduct of the Poles in Warsaw, if they are to be judged by their National Government, which of course claims to represent them, the better for them it will be. I do not know what the National Go vernment will say to the burning of the Town-hall, nor whether it is really responsible for its destruc tion. It may have been set on fire without orders, but it wee certainly fired with intention. I have mentioned one explanation of this act of incendia rism which seems probable enough. It is also said, however, that it was not intended as a" demonstra tion" against the 8 per cell. war-tax—far less as a signal for a disturbance; but that the building was burnt simply because there was no other way of getting rid of certain compromising papers which were concealed among papers belonging to the aussian Government, and could not with safety have been carried past ihe sentries at the gates now that every one is liable to be searched. The Rus sian official report merely states that the fire broke out in more than one place, without accounting for it. No Polish official report has yet appeared. At 6 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, when the fire was at its greatest height, hunger and an engage ment to dinner induced me to pass the Town-hall, which, by placing myself under the protection of a Russian officer, I was enabled todo without impe diment and without danger from the Cossack whip. The contents of the building, including records, portfolios, bundles of paperasses of all kinds, with tables, chairs, sofas, and such furniture of a lighter kind, were piled together in the middle of the square. Several companies of infantry were looking on, and the side streets were kept clear by Cossacks who rode backwards and forwards, and hit a man now and then when they had a good chance. At the beginning of the day I saw many persons threatened and several struck with the whip, and this, for the most part, without the least necessity, and in mere wantonness. Certainly, I saw no severe blow given, but the great objection of the Poles is to being treated like dogs, and such is the treatment offered to them on the smallest provocation, and sometimes without any provocation at all. It being Sunday the streets were,:crowded, and I had an opportu nity of judging whether the population of Warsaw generally had been terrified or not by the recent measures of the Russians. If they had beaten the Russians in a dozen engagements they could not have worn a more confident and independent air than they presented in face of the troops. On the other hand, all the troops, with the exception of the Cossacks, were as quiet and well behaved as London policemen, so that, as far as the proceedings of the day were concerned, there was no occasion for any serious alarm. As for the Cossacks, their whipping propensity seems to be a disease, but as it is a dis ease of a very malignant nature it ought to be checked. Like boxers preparing to give a blow, these whip sters are perpetually practising the use of their long leather thongs. Sometimes they strike in order to drive back some one who has transgressed the bounds beyond which he ought not to have passed, but others, also, as if from mere habit, and from a wish to keep their hand in. The Pole who is struck grins with a contemptuous grin, and those around him mutter execrations; and I saw no blow t a k en except with an expression of disdain from the re ceiver, which, I must add, seemed entirely lost upon the giver. The Cossacks rode along the pave ment as well as down the middle of the streets, and appeared to enjoy their wild liberty—with the exception of one whose horse, to the astonishment of no one, slipped beneath him and fell close to the scene of the fire. As I was leaving the neighbourhood of the Town hall, I noticed a gentleman wearing the " cylinder" hat of a respectability engaged in an animated dis• cussion with a Cossack, who wore the Circassian cap of the Kouban. "I was brought here by one of your own offi cers," said the proprietor of the cylinder hat. " Then," replied the Cossack, " it was his duty to take you to the house you were going to, put you inside, and shut the door atter you. Our orders are not to allow civil people to walk about here." "But," pursued the cylinder-wearer, " I have a big hat; you ought not to mind me." " There are very big hats worn by very big func tionaries," con ti nue d t h e di sc i pl i nar i an of the Kon ban; ; "but I should flo g them as civil p ersons j ust th e sam e if I caught them here now." " Well, what are you going to do with me 9" inquired the gentleman finally, to horn neither the cylinder hat nor the recent comp an i ons hip o f a Russian officer ,c \N , hy, I abllrawas any guarantee of saf e ty. flog you, that's all," sa id th e s t ern but not Prectifyasavage Cossack, when suddenly the have reason to intervention second cylinder hat, to whom I under some believeslight• the hero of the Kouban was satisfactory conclusion, ashamed Place inat findin— the discussion to One feels alm os t a .13 e 2i 11 i" Y obligations, brought in anything that takes g amusement city; but Eng resent deplorable position Warsaw during the lishmen have always been accustomed to an alter negitapart, nation of tragic with comic scenes grim humoar about the Cossack ferocity. Nor are the Cossacks, w h iu i ptplai more ferocious than the other troop s service, nor the Russian troops generally/nor:i" fero cious than the soldiers of other military desp ot i m in all of which the army is looked upon, not as the 9 protector, but as the enemy, of civil society and i ia all of which no truly legal discipline does or can exist. ___ To complete my budget cf Warsaw news I must add the common-p!ace intelligence that since I last wrote two men on the national side have been hanged, and three on the R,us.:. - iian side murdered, or stAbed almost to death. Tho hanging was done on Aloaday. One of the men wa3 a " national gen darme," in other words, an assassin at the c)rnmand of the secret Government, which if it does not mend its ways, th e h onest men of Polan d Will have to caavow, as one of the noble6t among them dis nrowed it, almost publicly, some months ago. Like THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 28, 1863. it. The first question, however, is the Ministry, which nobody confides in or will treat with. M. von Bismark is looked upon, not without cause, as the arch-enemy of the Constitution, as the incarnate principle of an insolent and unreasoning despotism. It may be that one who has al ready shown himself so docile to the Royal will is prepared to set his sails to a fresh breese at his master's bidding. Also it is possible that, were the arruy question got over, fresh advisers might be found willing to second the Crown in the grateful task of retracing certain ill-advised steps, and in pursuing the path of Constitutional progress. Un fortunately, things have come to pass here, that the people have lost all confidence in their rulers. They demand deeds instead of fair words, or conditional pledges. It is to be feared that it would be fruitless to urge a compromise on such a Chamber as that which in two or three weeks will assemble at Berlin. And whatever is to be done in that way should be done before the Diet meets ; because, when once the Ministers and Deputies are in presence of each other, there is no saying how soon a fierce action may com• mence and the quarrel become more envenomed than ever. The advanced Liberals talk of assuming the offensive at the very beginning of the session, of declaring the ordinances against the press illegal, and entailing prosecution for high treason (violation of the constitution), on all who shall assist in carrying them cut; a declaration in accordance with the opinion obtained from the legal faculty of the Uni versity of Heidelburg. With respect to those ordinances, we hear that the Government proposes introducing them first into the Upper Chamber, there to have them detained until such time as the Lower Hcuse shall have been dis solved. In this manner the Government will not have to incur the scandal of re-enacting the ordinances after the rejection by the Deputies, the which would be a more flagrant violation of the Constitution than their original enactment. It has been stated in certain journals that Denmark had returned an irritating or defiant answer to the summons from the Frankfort Diet, but that is not the case ; for, up to three days ago, no answer had been sent, or even drawn up, and there is no probability of its being, in tone or form, of the tendency above referred to. The Kreu: Zeitung, of the 24th announces contemplated changes of garrisons " in the interest of military discipline." You are aware that it is the custom in Prussia to quarter troops in the provinces in which they are raised. In this arrangement there are certain obvious advantages. The ill fed and worst paid Prussian recruit finds himself among his own people, and his lot is doubtless thereby somewhat improved. But there are also disadvantages, at least at a time like the presen, when it is urgent to preserve him from political contamination. Such changes of garrison being unheard of in Prussia, their announcement attracted much notice, coming, as it did, from a paper which supports the Government, and is supposed often to act as its organ. It soon appeared that the Journal of the Cross had broken bounds and imprudently let the cat out of the bag, for, in its following number, it declared the news to have been based on a misunderstanding, and that the army, com pletely uninfected in all its parts by the subversive ideas of the present day, had not given the smallest occasion for a measure of this kind that had been announced. Nobody supposes the Kreuz Zietung to have blundered so much as to say that he has. Fortunately, its position secures it against the warning which an opposition paper that had made such a statement would hardly have escaped. the pirates who went to sea with a Decalogue in which the eighth commandment had been marked out, the National Government thinks to get on without observing the sixth. The exper i ment, however, has been triedbcfore, and it has never yet been found to answer. The second man hanged was a clerk in the Post office, and had been found guilty of having trans mitted correspondence for the National Government —which nearly every man who has ever got a friend to take charge of a letter from Warsaw to Cracow, or from Cracow to Warsaw, has done. The offence of the Post-office clerk executed last Monday was of course greatly aggravated by the fact that he was in the Government service, but at the same time his txecution is a fresh proof that if the Russian Go vernment cannot catch the men who have been found guilty of heinous crimes, it is determined, in lieu of them, to put to death such comparatively innocent ones already in its hands as it may think fit to make an example of. The Russian Government in its notices of punish ments to be inflicted does not go lower than capital ones. It must draw the line somewhere, and in announcing the coming execution of the said Post office clerk publishes the following description of his crime :—• " Stanislas Swiezyneki, clerk in the Post-office, has been found guilty of high treason by court-martial, and by his own confession, of having been connected with the revolu tionary organisation known as the National Government, and of having accepted an appointment as agent to the said organisation ; and of having made use of his position in the Post-office to forward parcels and messages to the insur gents, and even warlike implements ; and for his activity in furthering the views and objects of the insurrection." Two nights before the execution of Swiezynsk and the "national gendarme" a man, named Dom browski, was stabbed in the street, and followed and arrested instead of his would-be murderer. Dom browski still lives, and the assassin has escaped altogether. The day after the execution, towards dusk, a policeman was stabbed by another "national gen darme," and a soldier who ran to his assistance was badly cut :n the neck. This " national gendarme" also got away. I have heard it said that for every Polish life taken at the citadel or elsewhere, a Rus sian life is to be exacted. But this may be only a foolish rumour, on a par with M. Bullier's story of Generals Berg and Korff having fought a duel, and of General Berg having adopted infamous means for getting possession of the Hotel de l'Europe— which, by the way, though it is in actual possession of the m:litary, has hitherto not been confiscated. In any case, hanging and shooting on the part of the Russians and stabbing on the part of the Poles continue as before. PRUSSIA. A letter from Berlin, dated Oct. 25, says ; On Wednesday next the general election takes place, and no doubt is entertained that by the middle of November, at latest, the Prussian Diet will have been opened—whether by the King or by commission is still uncertain, and not very important. The exact date is not known to be fixed ; the 10th was spoken of, and latterly the sth was named—an ominous day, whose explosive associations gave rise to some comment and to unpleasant parallels between kings that were and kings that are. As to the composition of the Chamber there is little room for speculation; since it is pretty well known beforehand. People speculate rather upon the probable tactics of Government and of the Oppo sition, and, as the moment for action approaches, the anxiety increases of those who fear a bitter conflict, and would fain see peace restored between King and subjects. Difficult as it a pp ears to b r i ng about such a rec onciliation, there yet are courageous and persevering spirits who will not admit it to be impossible, and who indicate the mutual concessions by which they bold that it still may be effected. I need hardly remind you that the whole quarrel between the Government and th e na ti on t oo k i ts or i g i n in the mili tary question. It m a y b e p er f ect l y t rue, as many believe, that th e Ki ng ' s C ons ti tut i onal and Libera l t e ndencies have never h a d an y rea l ex i stence, a l thoug h the decep tion may not have been wilful on his part, but may have been practised on himself as well as on the world at large. Bearing in mind the events of the last two or three years, the majority maintain that his Majesty has in reality always been at heart as much a military despot as any Hohenzollern who ever wore a crown, and far less dispose to bona-lick Constitutional re forms than his amiable and kind-hearted but most unprac tical brother and predecessor. But the immediate cause of quarrel and of the present extremely unfot tunate state of affairs has undeniably been the military question. Now it is asked whether sufficient basis does not exist for build ing up a reconciliation between a King whom many believe to be at bottom well meaning and a people long famed for loyalty and attachment to their Sovereigns. Things have gone far, it is true; but through the gloom of the present situation a bright opening may perhaps be discovered, and this some persons are disposed te find in a document already noticed in your columns—in the King's letter to the village of Steingrund. With re spect to the taste and judgment shown in addressing a Royal missive to that petty rustic corporation, little that is favour able can be said. Steingrund, a place which you will hardly find in any but Prussian local maps, returns an elector and a half. That is to say, its primitive voters choose one man and, in conjunction with other small communes, another man, who gave their voices at the election of a deputy to the Chamber. It reminds one of the military contingents of certain infini tesimal and German States, whose contribution to the com mon defence consisted of a couple of infantrymen and half a hussar. Now, if the royal letter was intended to carry weight and include a promise such as the country might welcome, it might more suitably have been addressed to a large city. There would nowhere have been a dif ficulty in furnishing his Majesty with a pretext for such a communication, which might also have been made, as has not unfrequently been the case in other countries, by means of a letter to some distinguished individual. Since Stein grund, however, was selected for the honour, let us see what is the value of the reply to the question " Whom are we to elect ? " Persons (the King in the first place answers), who are firmly decided to support my Ministers in the perform ance of the tasks I have confided to them. Hostility to my Ministers is incompatible with fidelity to myself." This is intelligible enough. The King wishes to support the only set of men who in Prussia can at the present moment be found ready to carry out his views, and he accordingly iden tifies himself with them to the fullest extent, declaring those faithless to him who are adverse to them. But then comes a paragraph including a promise which the Opposition call an electioneering bait, and optimists an opening for a transac tion, The King says : "The work the carrying through of which I, above all, have committed to my Ministers, is the establishment of that organisation of the army which I have recognised as necessary to the security of the country, and useful and just in respect of lightening the burden of the older men liable to military service. I should violate my duty towards my people did I not, in the most decided manner, strive for the attainment of that aim. So soon as it is compassed, peace will again, and permanently, be founded in the country, and the carrying out of my views for the further prosperous de velopment of legislation, on the basis of the Constitution, will be ensured." These words, which certainly imply a. sort of promise, should, it by some is said, be treasured up and acted on by the Opposition. The moment is a critical one in Europe— many look forward to a war in spring. It is not the time to diminish Prussia's military force, but rather the moment to make sacrifices for its increase. At the point to which mat ters have come, it is idle to suppose that the King may be yet induced to yield on the question of army organisation. It is through that question that the Absolutist party has worked upon him to the extent of violation of the Constitu tion —persuading him all the while that ho was remaining within its limits. His relatives (not his nearest, but those who have, at the present moment, unfortunately the greatest influence over him), his personal intimates and most fre quent advisers, all do their very utmost to keep him stanch to his resolve; in short, it has become a point of honour with him to maintain the present military establishment, and obstinately to resist, no matter at what cost, every at tempt at interference with what he considers his right and prerogative, both as :King and supremo chief of the whole Prussian army. Of the impossibility of moving him in that matter all parties are now I believe fully convinced. But, it is urged by the advocates of conciliation, would it not be wise and well, seeing that the moment is really inopportune for any reduction of the army, to yield to the King on this point—deferring, if not to his wishes or wisdom, at least to his position and to expediency—and so to remove the sole obstacle to those concessions on his part which, it cannot be doubted, he would then be disposed to make ? There exists an army of upwards of 200,000 men, but that is not one man too many for Prussia under present circumstances. Grant it, then, for the present, and, by so doing, pave the way to obtaining Constitutional guarantees such as shall enable you hereafter to control, by means of the Budget, the mili tary expenditure of the country. Eschew questions of mere form, forget recent irritation and recrimination, have regard interests 'Arty f?eling to Prob a bl e i mpending contingencies, and take a bread and patriotic view o f th e present pos i t i on of Prussia, its perils its necessities. C ons id er i ng, a b ove a l l, whether the crificeofilnd security not on l y o f t h e country, but of the sa i on, may no t b est b e advanced by some resent real s'`eniGe° "- and by a conces ' ;:ion involving no maintain. Principle or di sa d vantage to the cause you deal to be said i n favour of oefn°ugh' and there may be a great All this sounds fairly apprehen there will ibte soins e uch a li ne o f argument, b ut I position to entertain . the Op- Since h ifficulty in gAting the Constitutional t yi e l d budget question has been r a i e d , the mero e military question h a s dropped somewhat int o the background, ro 11 1?d, but I d ou bt whether there be en increased disposition The Retirement of Sir James Hudson. The following papers were published yester day : (No. 1.) "EARL RUSSELL TO SIR J. lIuDsoN. " Foreign-office, Sept. 10. "Sir,—As you have expressed a wish to retire from your post of Minister at the Court of the King of Italy, her Majesty has taken this opportunity to signify her approVal of your long and laborious services by conferring on you the Grand Cross of the B tth. The Lords of the Treasury have obtained the Queen's approval to th© grant of the pension to which you are entitled by the length of your service in a mission of the first class. " For my own part, I reflect with pleasure that the policy which her Majesty's Government have pursued in Italy has been represented by you with a zeal and intelligence de serving of the highest praise. " Accordingly-, no man has obtained so completely the confidence and regard of the Italian Government and people as yourself. " In the period during which I have had the honour to hold the seals of the Fureign-office, there has been the most cordial agreement between us on all m, tters relating to the public service. " Nothing, therefore, but your own desire to quit the mission where your efforts had been attended with such memorable success could have induced me to recommend to the Queen any other person to represent her Majesty at Turin. Had any of the principal embassies been vacant I should have asked her Majesty's permission to offer it to you. But as this was not the case, and the post you hold has been one requiring incessant vigilance and causing continual anxiety, it has been my duty reluctantly to advise the Queen to consent to your retirement. "I accordingly forward you your letter of recall, which I request you to present, if possible, to the King in person. "You will state to the King that his Majesty will always find in the British Government a firm and sincere supporter of the independence of Italy and of his Majesty's just rights. —I am, &e., " RUSSELL." (No. 2.) " SIR J. HUDSON TO EARL RUSSELL.—(Received Oct. 7.) " Turin, Oct. 4. " My Lord—With reference to my despatch marked sepa rate of the 30th ult.,* I have the honour to report that this day I had an audience of the King, when I delivered to his Majesty my letter of recall, and stated that I was instructed by your Lordship to say that his Majesty will always find in the B r iti s h G o vernment a firm and sincere supporter of the independence of Italy and of his Majesty's just r i g hts. " His Majesty having been pleased to ask me why I quitted his Court, I replied that I had conceived myself bound by an engagement with your lordship to do so. Offered promo tion in March, 1862, I had obtained permission to decline it, and to cont:nue to reside at his Majesty's Court till such time as my pension for public service was due to me. "His Majesty upon this was pleased to express his ap proval of the manner in which I had fulfilled my diplomatic functions at his Court. " It only remains to roe to request your lordship to lay at the feat of our most gracious Sovereign my thanks for those marks of her most gracious favour 'with which she has been pleased to accompany my retirement from the public scr • vice. "To yourself, my lord, I beg to be permitted to offer my acknowledgments for the confidence which you have placed in me, and the kind consideration which you have always extended to this mission—a consideration which, while it lightened the toil and relieved the anxiety inseparable from affairs, greatly advanced the public service.—l am, &c., "JAMES HUDSON." (No. 3.) EARL RUSSELL TO MR. ELLIOT. " Foreign-office, Oct. 10. " Sir,—l observe that in Sir James Hudson's despatch of the 4th inst. he states as follows : " His Majesty having been pleased to ask me why I quit ted his Court, I replied that I had conceived myself bound by an engagement with your lordship to do so. Offered pro motion in March, 1862, I had obtained permission to decline it, and to continue to reside at his Majesty's Court till such time as my pension for public service was duo to me. "The circumstances were these : " There was a report in 1860 or 1861 that an intention existed of appointing Sir James Hudson to an embassy. This report bad no foundation—no such intention existed. " In March, 1862, I had reason to suppose that an embassy of importance might soon become vacant. Casting about for a fit person to recommend to her Majesty for a difficult and very responsible post, I could think of none more able or more deserving of promotion than Sir James Hudson. But out of regard for him I consulted him beforehand ; and as I found that, though ready to accept an embassy, he did not wish to leave Turin, the matter fell to the ground. "I made no engagement with Sir James Hudson, and never expected that ho would resign till it should suit his own convenience to do so. When, therefore, in the spring of this year, he intimated to me his intention to resign his post, I concluded that, after more than 30 years of public service, he wished to retire from an anxious and laborious post. " I never supposed that Sir James Hudson was bound to me by any engagement, nor, till very recently, did I imagine that he considered himself to be so bound. You may re peat this statement to all who may inquire from you as to the cause of Sir James Hudson's resignation. You will also send a copy of this despatch to Sir James Huds'on.— I am, &e., " RussELL," (No. 4.) " MR. ELLIOT TO EARL RUSSELL—(Received October 25 " Turin, Oct. 11. _ "My Lord,—As it appeared from Sir J, Hudson's des patch, marked separate, of the 4th inst., that he had stated to the King that his reason for resigning his mission was that he was under an engagement to your Lordship to do so when duo for a pension, I thought it right in tho course of my conversation with his Majesty, to assure him that Sir James had laboured under an entire misapprehension in entertaining the bel.;.ef that you wished to remove him from Turin. " I informed the King that your Lordship had officially conveyed to Sir James the entire approval of her Majesty's Government of his conduct during the time he had repre sented her Majesty at this Court, and that it was with much regret that you had consented to his request to ho allowed to retice.—l have, Sce. 6 4 j-j G. ELLIOT." * Reporting his having. asked for an athlience. MADAME TUSSAUD'S.--A visit to this public place of instruction will well repay not on l y the wonder-s eeker but even the man of science, while every lover of the arts must feel delighted at the perfection which the enterprising proprietors of this most interesting exhibition have brought their models. We do not know of any place in this great metropolis in which so much instruction end amusement are combined as can be met wit Et at Madame Tussaud s; and to any person net having yet visited it, we would say, go without delay. THE GIANT BALLOON. The following letter (No. 2) Written by M. I Eugene d'Arnoult tc , the Nation, contains the fullest account that has yet appeared of the adven tures of the balloon in Belgium, Holland, and Germany : "We passed I know not how much time in contemplat ing the enchanting scene around us—but at length we all felt the necessity of going downwards to see where we were. Presently the balloon came so near to the earth that we could readily distinguish the tall chimneys of a great many flaming furnaces. If We were to fall upon some of them,' said Mongolfier, anxiously. These furnaces told us very clearly that we were in Belgium, and, besides, the Flemish songs that continually reached our ears left no doubt upon the point. Godard, Nadar, all of us, called out frequently to the people below, Where are we ?' but got no other answer than shouts of laughter. There were two bells in the car, and Yon and myself rang them as hard as we could, while Nadar roared through his speaking trumpet. I had an opportunity of observing that the purity of the air in no degree attenuates the quantity of false notes lodged in the throats of certain individuals. Our serial Charivari at length provoked a corresponding one on earth,and we could hear dogs barking, ducks quacking, men swearing, and women screaming. All this had a droll effect; but time went on, the wind blew hard, it was dark night, and our balloon drove on with prodigious rapidity, and we were not able to tell exactly where we were. I could not see my compass, and we were not allowed to light a lucifer match under any pretext whatsoever. From the direction in which we had passed over Lille, we judged that we must be going towards the sea—Louis Godard fancied that he could see lighthouses. We descended again to within 150 yards of the earth. Beneath us we saw a flat marshy country of sinister aspect, and indicating plainly the neigh bourhood of the coast. Every one listened with all his ears, and many fancied they heard the murmurs of the sea. The further we went on the more desert the country became—there was no light whatever, and it be came more and more difficult to guess where we were going. ' I am entirely out of my reckoning,' exclaimed Louis Godard, and my opinion is that the only thing we have to do is to descend at once.' What, here in the marshes ?' remonstrated all of us ; ' and suppose we are driven into the sea.' The balloon went driving on still. "We cannot de scend here,' said Jules Godard, 'we are over water.' Two or three of us looked over the edge of the car, and affirmed that we were not over water, but trees, It is water,' Jules Godard persisted, Every one now looked out attentively. and as the balloon descended a little, we saw plainly that there was no water, but without being able to say positively whether there were trees or not. At the moment when Jules Godard thought he saw water, Nadar exclaimed, I see a railway.' It turned out that what Nadar took for a railway was a canal running towards the Scheldt, which we had passed over a few minutes before. Hurrah for balloons I They are things to travel in —rivers, mountains, custom houses—all are passed without let or hindrance. But every medal has its reverse; and if we were delighted at having safely got over the Scheldt, we by no means relished the prospect of going on to the Zuyder Zee. ' Shall we go down ?' asked Louis Godard. There was a moment's pause. We consulted together; suddenly I uttered a cry of joy; the position of the needle of my compass indicated that the balloon had made a half turn to the right, and was now going due east. The aspect of the stars confirmed this assertion. Forward I' was now the cry, We threw out a little ballast, mounted higher, and started with new vigour with our backs turned to the deprecated Zuyder Zee. It was now three in the morning, and none of us had slept. Just as we began to try to sleep a little my diabolic compass showed that the balloon was turning back again. Where are you going to take us to ?' cried out Yon to the immense mass of canvas which was °sell. lating above our heads. Louis Godard again proposed to descend ; but we said 'No ; forward, forward I"rwo hours sped away without our being able to tell where we were. At five o'clock day broke, and broad daylight came on with marvellous rapidity. It is true that we were at a height of 980 metres. Novel writers and others have so much abused descriptions of sunrise on mountains and on the ocean that I shall say little about this one, although it is not a com mon thing to see the horizon of fire below the clouds. The finest Venetian paintings could only give an idea of the luxu riant tones of the heavens that we saw. Such dazzling magnificence led me to wonder that there is no revival of sun worship, since men must necessarily have some mate rial representation of the Divinity. It is true the sun is not made in man's image I We now had beneath us an immense plain, the same probably that we had passed over in the night. There is nothing more pleasant at first sight, nor more monotonous in the long run, than the sort of country which forms at least one-third of Holland. There are miniature woods the size of bouquets, fields admirably cul tivated and divided into little patches like gardens, rivers with extraordinary windings, microscopic roads, coquettish looking villages, so white and so clean that I think the Dutch housewives must scour the very roofs of their houses every morning. In the midst of every village there is a jewel of a church with a shining steeple. While riding along at a height of 700 metres we had beneath us a picture of Paul Potter's 50 leagues square. All at once the tableau became animated. The people below had perceived the balloon. We heard cries expressive of astonishment, fright, and even of anger, but the feeling of fright seemed to predominate. We distinctly saw women in their chemises look hurriedly out of windows and then rush back again. We saw chubby boys looking at us, and blubbering as if they were mad. Some men, more de termined than the rest, fired off guns at us. I saw seve ral mammas pointing us out to stubborn babies, with an attitude which seemed to say that our balloon was Old Bogy. Old women raised their hands against us, and at their signal many ran away, making the sign of the gross. It is evident that in some of these villages we were taken to be the devil in person. On this point it is apropos to cite a letter communicated to me which has been addressed to the Courrier de lianovre. I translate it textually : " ' This morning at about six o'clock we saw passing over our heads, at a prodigious height, an immense round form, to which was suspended something which looked like a square house of a red colour. Some people pretend to have seen animated beings in this strange machine, and to have heard issuing from it superhuman cries. What think you, Mr. Editor ? The whole country is in a state of alarm, and it will be long before our people recover their equanimity.' "At 7 a.m. we crossed over a lake near Yesel ; the wind then again pushed us in a new direction, nearly at right angles with that which we were taking before. In less than a quarter of an hour the balloon got into Westphalia, near Renheim ; then we crossed the great river Ems, the towns of Rheine and Ibbenburrhen, and returned to Han over a little above Osnabruck ; we traversed, without deign ing to take notice of them, a little chain of mountains, and by way no doubt of relaxation after so long a journey went all round a lake, which is called in German Dummersse. We then got into a great plain, through which runs a road. At this time the balloon became almost motionless. The reason of this was that the heat of the sun had caused the gas to expand. Louis Godard was very uneasy about this dilation. After two or three oscillations our aerial courser decided upon going off, rapidly in an eastern direction, with about two degrees variation towards the north. This course would have taken us to Hamburg and the Baltic, but we were all so completely absorbed by the splendour of the tableau before us that we took little notice of the change. Our hippogriff passed over Wagenfeld-Steyerberg, where there is a river which flows into the Weser. We came within sight of the great river and Nienburg, a considerable town on one of its banks. We saw a steamboat going down the river from the town ; the view here was charming. A rustling of the silk of our balloon made us look upwards, the monster, under the influence of the sun, now very hot, was palpably swelling. As it would have been supremely ridiculous, after having made such a first-rate journey, to have treated the inhabitants of Nienburg with the spectacle of seeing us blown up—to say nothing of the consequences of such a catastrophe to our own limbs—we resolved to come down. The remaining bags of ballast were got in order, the ropes and anchors prepared, and Godard opened the safety valve. ' The monster is disgorging I' exclaimed Thirion. And the balloon did vomit forth its gas with a tremendous noise, which may be compared to the snor ing of some gigantic animal. While our companion made this observation, we were descending at the rate of two metres to the second. To the ropes Ito the ropes I— hold on well I' cried the brothers Godard, who seemed quite in their element; 'take care of the shock.' Every one climbed up to the ropes which attach the car to the circular handles underneath the balloon. Madame Nadar, whose sang frola was truly magnificent, grasped two large ropes with her delicate hands. Nader did the like, but at the same time put his arms round his wife so as to protect her b o dy. I was on one side towards the middle of the sort of hurdle which serves as a balcony. I was on my knees and clinging to two ropes. Montgolfier, Thirion, and St. Felix were near ie. The balloon descended so rapidly that it gave us the vertigo. The air, which we had left so calm above, became a violent wind as we neared the earth. We are going to throw down the anchors,' said Godard, ' hold tight.' Ali I the car struck the earth with tremendous vio lence. I cannot imagine how it was that my arms were not broken. After the first terrible shock the balloon went up again, but the safety valve was opened—it again fell—and we suffered a second shock, if not more violent at least more painful to us than the first. Up we went again—the balloon dragged its anchors. Several times we thought we should be thrown out. The anchors are broken,' exclaimed Godard. The balloon beat the ground with its head like a kite when it falls down. It was horrible. On we went towards Nien burg, at the rate of ten leagues an hour.* Three large trees were cut through by the clr as clean as i f b y a ve wood man's hatchet. One small anchor remaine d to us. v threw it down, and it carried away the roof of a house. If the balloou had dragged us through the town i rose a inevitably have been cut to pieces. But forntudnwith as much against atei w y e t should little, and then bumped a the violence as before. Everyonnset of these rope of the our limbs I To complete our misfortunes the wrenched and tyro Eafety.alve shut safety-valve got loose from , uSau emptying itself.' It ling up we lost all hope of the went on by bounds of 25, 30, a nd balloon 40 m etres from the e arth, two places, that G odard , * A letter of M. L ouis aBsad3'rsi' in ven by the wind at the balloon, when descendin,, :A r • but this is provably a mis the rate of 6 0 leag ues an hour , print. and continued to fall upon its head. Everything that stood in the way of the oar was dashed to pieces. Every minute brought a new danger, and what danger ! Now lam terri fied to think of it; but I declare upon my honour that at the time not one of us entertained a thought of saving his own life at the expense of the community. Several times some one of us might have jumped out, and then the bal loon, being lightened of a considerable weight, would have ascended, to the great peril of the, others. Madame Nadar was supported by her husband, and I can affirm that our greatest moral suffering was to see her frail form so terribly knocked about—and yet this poor woman never uttered a cry. During these terrible moments when all our bones were cracking, she looked at her husband and at us so calmly and so sweetly, that we would all willingly have been crushed to have saved her." The above letter, it will be observed, does not describe the actual descent; it is probably intended to be followed by a third. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES.—In the course of last year's Session Sir M. Peto protested,with just indignation, against the lenient punishments inflicted upon the perpetrators of savage assaults in oar Police -courts. Sir G. Grey, in his reply, admitted the fact, and we might have hoped that the attention since given to the treatment of criminals would have secured us against a relapse into this all but direct encourage ment of street outrages. We cannot say that any such expectation has been justified. Every day the same class of crimes fills the reports of our Police-courts, and every month a long list of them, representing only the very worst, appears in the calendar of the Middlesex Sessions or the Central Criminal Court. Yet the apparent partiality of magistrates and judges for ruffians who have re. venged themselves for a taunt with the knife, or beaten unoffending persons within an inch of their lives, continues unabated. While fraud, embezzle ment, and other offences against property, are visited with relentless severity, acts which indicate the highest degree of wickedness, which occasion the highest degree of suffering to the victims, and which naturany inspire the highest degree of ter ror among others, are treated as if they were the most venial of misdemeanours. It is high time that this perverse and mischievous inconsistency should be traced to its true cause, if it has any other cause than judicial caprice, and that those who are guilty of it should be made to feel their responsibility towards the public. A. few specimens of the sentences passed at Clerkenwell during the past fortnight were lately furnished by one of our correspondents. A person convicted of receiving certain medals belonging to an officer, knowing them to have been stolen, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment; a man who had smashed both his wife's eyes at different times, thereby depriving her of sight, and had so brutally maltreated her for years as to make it a won der that she had lived through it, was imprisoned for two years. For stealing a watch, after former convictions, another prisoner got four years' imprisonment. For a vile assault upon a child twelve months were considered an adequate penalty. Another correspondent, in a letter wnich we pub lished yesterday, proves that the same standard of gailt is recognised in Cornwall. " William James, convicted of stealing a pair of boots, was sentenced to nine months' hard labour ; John Green, only 16 years of age, found guilty of stealing a shirt, was sentenced to three years' penal servitude." Oa the other hand, " John Willcocke, aged 34, a labourer, was charged with 'violently assaulting' a child two years and a half old with a leather strap and ' buckle,' after which he threw it, face foremost, into its cradle. The surgeon found its arms, thighs, and back "covered with seep bruises," and the mother believed it at the time to have been killed, as it well might have been. "The prisoner was sentenced to three months' imprisonment." We have only to turn to the police reports in our next column to find parallel instances. One man gets a month's impri sonment at Marlborough-street for knocking down a constable in the execution of his duty ; another gets two months at the same court for striking a policeman on the back of the head with a stone, while he called on his associates to " knife him," and vowed he would do so himself " when it was dark." At the same time and place, " William Payne and Samuel Webb were fined £3 each for being drunk and exciting the mob to assault the police." ' , A pork butcher, convicted of making a disturbance, together with other rowdies, in the course of which indecent assaults were committed on young women, was fined 20s. by Mr. D'Eyncourt, when he was liable to a penalty of £7. Another young man, to whom an assault of this kind was brought home, was fined lOs by Mr. Combe. Lastly, Thomas Hammell, who had struck one gentleman a furious blow in the face, had made the most violent resistance to being arrested, had sprung from the dock while the charge was being taken at the policeeo ffi ce, and knocked another gentleman down, and had been three times convicted of felony, was condemned by Mr. Partridge to one month's imprisonment with bard labour. We are willing to suppose that in one or two of these cases there may have been extenu ating circumstances which were not published. We are further willing to make allowances for the variety of theories held by experienced magistrates on such questions as the policy of punishing first of severely. Still, after all the deductions and concessions that can be made, we are struck by the monstrous iniquity of these sentences. No weaker word will fitly express the wrong done to society by an administration of the law which jealously vindicates the rights of property, whilst it give us no tolerable protection against personal violence. It is the characteristic of barbarous codes that they are more indulgent to the murderer than to the thief. Civilized Government ought to adopt the very contrary principle, and to place the security of life and limb above the security of property, however valuable. There is no test of criminality which can be applied to these two kinds of guilt which will not establish the greater atrocity of personal violence. Cruelty is the most detestable of vices, and the nearest approach to pure and per fect wickedness of which human nature is capable. It is possible that a starving man may be tempted to pick a pocket to pass a bad, shilling, or to obtain money by false pretences, out of sheer misery and despair. It is impossible—nay, it is inconceivable —that any man can deliberately inflict horrible suf fering on a fellow-creature, still more on a wife or a child, without having a heart so bad as to deprive him of all claim to mercy. Such cases are by no ramie rare, and yet how seldom is a proper sense of their enormity shown by those who try them, or the utmost rigour of the law employed to prevent their recurrence ! But it is not only the depth of depravity evidenced by the deed that should be the measure of retribution ; we are bound also to con sider the feelings of the victims. Now, there is really no comparison between violent assaults and common larcenies in respect of the pain and loss which they respectively produce. It makes one's blood boil to read of a man receiving bat half the punishment for nearly killing a poor girl that was inflicted on another for breaking a pane of glass. Who would not rather have his purse stolen than get a black eye ? And if this would be the estimate of an ablebodied man, what would be that of weaker members of the com munity ? We have a right to demand that the com mission of the more grievous outrage shall not be rendered the less hazardous, and, therefore the more common by the decisions of our magistrates. It argues a strange insensibility on their part to the moral aspects of criminal justice that any such tendency should have manifested itself. It would argue a still stranger indifference on ours to the safety and comfort of ourselves and our fellow citi zens if we failed to point out its inevitable effect in multiplying crimes of violence and defeating the efforts of the Legislature to check them. POST.—At a time whet; German ambition threatens the peace of Northern Europe it may not be out of place to inquire whether every possible step has been taken by those specialy interested in the maintenance of tranquillity to avoid hostilities. The power of Germany preponderates sr; vastly over that of Denmark that it might seem supeefluous to say that the Danish Government have done every thing in their power to appease their angry neigh bours, and to prevent a war in which, singlehandede they would be obliged to succumb. Bat although this is undoubtedly so, still the strong claims svfhtit Denmark can advance to the pr otections nletibly principal European Powers might just poreossmopftinhehrortooortesstisrtenjgustht .demlfain)do and rob ably sistance Sweden and Great Britain, that in the day of trial she can mammon to her as boutpthe France, she may feel as indifferent siamasartilrai ssecciPonnstic-igeutB); hew ere herself a first-class Power. em ployment of measures of co n A c t il t ia h t e io p n r a e a s s en if t juncture, and before any of these Statetsaerreeffiorneallnyeopelsesdagreyd tto inquire whether Denmarkl o take up her quarrel, er mo it is do therefore d not th . ink h e as o e f vianrcb ei that d traamthe lone read inesst hreatenedexecution e ff ec t, bat such an event is not impossible. The present is the time for deliberation, for no sooner will the advanced guard of the German army c ross , or a ttempt to cross, the Eider, than Denmark's shins must determine on the course they will adopt. How over interested the maritime Powers of Europe may be in obtaining the integrity of the Danish monar chy, they have a right to demand that the y w ill l have be compelled to take part in a qaarr e l w hi c h , by m the exhibition of a little forbearance, • been avoided. Let us then inquire whethe r, if this t Federal execution, and the war which it un !. doubtediy occasion, are inevitable. Denma r k, ‘ those who have counselled Denma r k, h ave done theirt utmost to avert the catastr o ph e . This quest i on has been critically and ably discussed in the reading Danish journal, the Dagbladet; and in the extract which we published yesterday the subject may be said to be exhausted. The Diet have, as is well known, based their present complaint against the Danish Sovereign on the publication by him of a royal ordinance in the month of March last, which gave to the population of Holstein a constitution to which, in respect to comprehensiveness, it would be impossible to find a counterpart in Germany. But why, it may be asked, if the boon is rejected by the Federation, does the Danish Government endeavour to force it on their acceptance ; why not rather with draw the despised gift, and remove the pretext for Federal intervention ? if the threatened aggres sion could be averted by cancelling the royal ordi" nance of March, the refusal of the Danish Govern ment to do so would certainly be inexcusable. But such a result would not follow, because on the re peal of the royal ordinance the Danish Sovereign would of course resume his absolute and unrestric ted authority in the duchy, and the status quo would. be restored which led to the Federal resolutions of March, 1860, and February, 1861, withthe demands incorporated in which the constitution given to Holstein in March last was intended to be an act of compliance. If, three years since, a Federal execu tion was threatened because the Danish Sovereign would do nothing, the ground for intervention would exist unaffected if he were now to repeal what he has since done. The question at issae does not, as stated in the Danish journal, affect the autonomy of Holstein, but that of the Danish kingdom and provinces; and whether the Federa tion are satisfied or not with the constitution given to Holstein, they have no right to dictate a form of government to be adopted in territories entirely independent of their control. In truth, however, there can be no question that Denmark would. willingly adopt any measu res cons i s t en t w ith the 'preservation of her sovereign rights to retain friendly relations with the German Federation. Proposals without number have emanated from the Danish Government, with a view of obtaining a satisfactory solution of the long-pending dispute ; but they have invariably been met with counter proposals, which were alone made because they were known to be untenable. In the second de spatch transmitted by the British Foreign Secre tary to the Federal Diet the latter are reminded that the Danish Government are willing to modify the ordinance of the 30th March to the sense of the resolution passed by the Diet in March, 1860, and to make that ordinance provisional until the definite position of Holstein with regard to Ger many has been settled. To such a proposal as this it is difficult to understand what objections could be offered by the German powers, seeing that by this arrangement the Holstein Estates would. retain their constitutional privileges pending the settlement of their final status. The fact, how ever, that even this arrangement finds no favour with the Diet affords an additional proof that Holstein and its government are not the objects of the threatened execution. If the German Powers are inclined to overlook the immediate consequences of attempting to occupy Holstein in leaguing against themselves the chief mari time Powers of Europe, they ought not to disregard the inevitable complications with which in any event the Holstein question will be thereby invested. Even assuming, as Earl Russell points out, that the execution was confined to the latter duchy, the Danish Government would make reprisals by instituting a blockade, which could not but prove highly injurious to German commerce. " The war," writes the Foreign Secretary, " would thus become embittered, claims for damages would arise on both sides, and new difficulties stand in the way of a peaceful settlement." In the event of the war extending to the Danish territories, then, in accordance with the treaty of 1852, not alone Great Britain, but Austria and Prussia, would be bound to interpose to preserve the integrity of Denmark, and, as Earl Russell pithily remarks, " this obliga tion would of course be fulfilled, but might bring about fresh complications at Frankfort." However the proposed policy of the German Powers is re garded, the difficulties which it must occasion are so great that it is scarcely possible to believe any rational or responsible Government advocating its adoption. None other than the German Diet would ever counsel an aggression of Denmark at the pre sent time, and no other people but the Germans would hail their decision with satisfaction. As to Denmark, both the Sovereign and his subjects are of one accord as to the course to be pursued. The King has recently made a very remarkable speech, in which he has evinced his determination, if aided by his people, to resist the whole power of Germany —and finally, when worsted in the unequal contest, to descend from his throne and proclaim a republic. " History shall not tell that the last of the Olden burgs parcelled out Denmark. If, however, in the course of time we must succumb as being the weakest, and France and Sweden permit the most southern province of Scandinavia—the old Jutland of the south—to share the fate of Galicia, of Poland, and of Northern Italy, by being overpowered and suppressed by German Governments, then I will descend from the throne and proclaim the re public." The King of Denmark need be under no apprehensions—neither France nor Sweden, nor, for that matter, Great Britain, nill permit Den mark to be expunged from the map of Europe, simply to gratify the insensate ambition of Ger many. COUNTRY MARKETS. LEEDS-TUESDAY. The market was rather slow for wheat to-day. and in the little business dono last Tuesday's rates were main tained. Fine barley at fully last week's prices, but other sorts rather easier to purchase. Oats, beans, and other articles unaltered. NEWCASTLE-UND A fair supply of wheat to-d and late prices were fully real at extreme prices. Old white wheat..43s to 47s 1 Old red wheat, 42s to 44s New do. ..43s to 46s I New do. 39s to 43s Malting barley....36s to 40s I Oats. 22s to 305 Grinding d0.....28s to 31 s B eans 36s to Os R-LYME-MONDAY. lay. The demand ruled firm, Heed. Barley in good supply, LIVERPOOL-TUESDAY. At our market to-day there was a very good d eman d ex perienced for wheat, and all descriptions of American were purchased with difficulty. Oats supported the full curren cies of last Friday. Barley, beans, and peas quite as dear. Indian corn held more firmly. American flour saleable at former rates. MARKET HARBOROUGH-TUESDAY. White wheat, 42s to 445; red, 39s to 41s per 36 stone. Malting barley at 35s to 37s'per qr.; grinding, 30s to 3, 2 ° per 30 at , Oats, old, 26 s to 29 5; new , 20 s to 23 s per 4 5 at. ; beans, 37s to 41s per qr. MELTON MOWBRAY—TUESDAY. The following were the currencies :—New white wheat!, 40s Od to 45a Od ; new red, 408 Od to 42a per 36 stone! beans, 39s to 40s for old; new sorts, 36s to 38s per 38 sti ; barley, 35s to 37alfor malting, , and 28s to 32s per qr. grinding; new oats, 20s to 23s Od per 24 stone; old, 2 43 to 298. C ORK—T ITES DAY. The following were the quotations this morning wheat, 7s Od to 8s 7d; white, 9s 3d to Os Od , barley. 7 " 9d to 7s 6d ; oats, 5s Od to 686(1 ; black do., 4s 8d t° 55 6d. DUBLIN A small supply of wheat, barley, but in soft condttion. s. ds. d. 0, d. s. d. Wheat, white 23 0 . to 25 6 Bean —oto 0 Do., red 2O oto 2310 Bore ......... 12 otol3 0 Do., new —oto 0 Rapeseed •••• 24 0t026 0 Barley . 12;6 to 13 0 Oatmeal ..... 11 6t013 0 Oats Do., black — oto 0 I ndian corn .. 27 0 to 29 0 -TUESDAY. ioderato of oats, and large of Births. ' t., a a t t i t .h he e the wife of George Barker, Esq., of a daughter. square, Marine-parade, -111 D i o il l . ver, the wife of Captain W. W Pembdr H B AERs ::_ o n r :h th e e 26 2 t 4 h th in i s n t s . ton Ilesketh, of a son. Rwar.„,On the 27th inst., the wife of H. R ama da, f The Forest, Woodford, of a daughter. Bsq., LATEn.BooTIL—On the 24th inst., at Worthing, the Sp wife of G. Sclater-Booth, Esq., M.P., of a daughter. Marriages. DyER--BRITTEN.—On the 24th inst., at All Souls', Lail ham-place, Charles BAinson, fourth son of tke late ll' S. Dyer, Esq., R.N., to Catherine Ann, eldest daught er of John Britten, BET, late of Wollaston, NorthamPtell shire. HEWBY —PowELL—On the 23d inst., at Trinity Chur.e ll ' Ripon, William newly, E sq ., o f W est Grange, to B i.„l'4:; beth, youngest daught er o f James Powell, Esq., of " Mount, Ripon. Deaths. BAILEY.--On the 26th inst., at 35, Southampton -street, Strand, Joseph Bailey, Esq, aged 85. BuNittEv.—At Littl e Dalbv Melton Mowbray, sud denY ' Mr. Benjamin Bunney, ' late of 57, Wood-street, LOll den, BAKEWELL —On the 26th i ns t. at Kensington , the Eel.' John B a ke we ll, age d 62. ' DRUMMOND.—On the 24th i ns t a t Elmfielcl Lodgoei Southall, M anr i eo H enry D rum mond, younges t e°3 the Hort. Elniund Drummond, aged 7 years . T r o ia. LAIIBEET,—On the 26th i n st., at S u tton's-gate, .... church, Essex, Robert Lambert, Esq., aged 71. khouse PIPER.—On the 24th inst., at Brighton, i.0bt.3,10_11,.. Piper, of Shepherd's-bush, H am mersmith, aged t> r , ‘ ,., t . RAIKES.—On the 25th inst., a t Llwynegun 13a11, r"' chile, Henry Raikes, Esq., F.1.t.G.5., aged 53. _____...--_!"_- London: Prini,\:d and rubitshed by WILLIAM ANDltitl';"' of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at 'TIE SUN Office No. 1 1 i Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the Coosa itiblilegex.—:Wedneeday, October 28, 1863,