The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1861-01-21 00:00:00

France ; which is the conclusion that all impar•
tial persons will arrive at. A key to this conch'•
sion is furnished, at least in a sense, by the state,
meat of the Au sburg act:,°eitc, which declares
that a treaty has been entered into between
Austria, Prussia, and Russia, which guarantees to
Austria the possession of Venetia. The Debats
of Friday last, while doubting the accuracy of
this assertion, thinks it highly probable that very
intimate relations have been established between
Austria and Prussia; and that the forriier has
agreed; iti order to secure the co-operation of the
latter in the V.enetia question, to following the
Prussian policy with regard to . the Danish
Duchies, and even to leave Prussia, if necessary,
to take the supreme command of the federal
army. But after all, assuming these rumoured
preparations and combinations to be true, the
question comes to be, do they necessarily lead. to
the breaking out of a War i By no means. •On
alb Contrary; they may ultimately prove the only
real safeguards to the preservation of the peace
of Europe.
The whole of the French fleet has retired from
before Gaeta. There are some contradictory
accounts respecting the reactionary movements in
the Neapolitan Prokinces, and we must wait for
rtirther information.
The Moniteur announces another reduction of
duty of some importance on merchandise im-
ported into France.
On Friday a number of colonists of New South
Wales entertained Sir John Yelling at dinner pre'
viotts to his depaitlire to assume the government
of that colony. The Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Mr. Cardwell, and a number of distinguished
guests were present.
The energy, ability, and zeal of the Earl De
Grey and Ripon have so impressed, the leaders of
the yohnlteer inoi'enienti that it has been pio-
posed by them to select the occasion of his tem-
porary retirement from the War-office to exhibit
their sense of the services he has rendered to the
cause. Accordingly, on Saturday afternoon last,
a numerous and most influential meeting of com-
manding officers of the Middlesex Volunteer Rifle
Corps was held at the Volunteer Service Club,
under the pibsidency of Lord Dad; *hen it vas
unanimously proposed to present Lord De Grey
and Ripon with an address, expressive of the
value attached by the volunteers of the kingdom
to the services of the noble lord in connection
with the movement. A deptitation was appointed
to wait upon hiS lordship fOr the ptirPOSe in the
ebdise of nest
Tables have been issued showing the order
of proficiency of rifle shooting attained by regi-
ments of the line and militia during the past
year. The 47th Regiment stands first in order of
merit.; Stirling Militia, 31 ; Cheshire, 37 ; Fer-
managh, 40 West York, 56,
There is a rumour of a new station being
shortly established ter tfansailatitiC paeltets oii
the- ShannOti, and it is said that a deputation
.of
the directors of the Atlantic Company is now in
London, for the purpose of making arrangements
for the transfer of the Galway station to a new
one on the Shannon, on the ground that the latter
would afford greater facilities than Galway sta-
tion fOr the due performance of the coritradt.
it IS Stated that the haq estimates Will show
an important reduction in the number of seamen.
The Havre journals speak of a new order for
200 gunboats having been given to private
builders.

dEitSiANI- WING TO *Ali WITH

DENMARK.

GERMANY not merely resounds with rumours of
war, but intensely occupies itself with earnest and
extensive preparations for active hostilities. The
new King of Prussia has declared hiri def6kinina:
tion to adopt instant arrangements for his army
taking the field. It might be rash to say that the
drib object in view is the final adjustment of the
old quarrel with Denmark as to Schleswig-Holstein
but it seems probable that such is the more imme-
diate purpOse for Which otir hazy and droWsy Ger-
nian cousins are abont once more to draw the sword:
In contemplating the chances ot this titidertaking
to settle an old and much vexed question by a
decided appeal to arms, it is well to keep in view
that not only has Austria countersigned the de-
mands of Prussia, and those German States whom
the latter generally represents, but the Federal
Diet itself has formally given its sanction to the
proposed expedition against Denmark, and, there-
fore; the war wheri*aged will be something more
than Prussian, it will be out and out tiernianic.
Some may under-estimate the probable duration
of such a canipaign and certainly there is a
vast disproportidn between ntll Germany and
the little Danish Kingdom. tut it is to be
remembered that the present King of Denmark,
unlike his Shaksperian prototype; is a courageous
and skilful soldier at the head of an intelligent
and spirited people who enjoy a free constitution,
and possessed of all the advantages of an exten-
sive seaboard. However; be the struggle brief or
protracted, it is impossible for the people of
England to view with indifference an trifled
conflict between two nations like Germany and
Denmark, for both of whom we have so many
good wishes. Under such circumstances, our first
and most natural question is, What is it all
about ? Which party is in the wrong
If one-half the statements which have reached
us be true, Denmark has very clearly the worst
side of the question ; and, if so, Prussia seems only
to blame for having been so dilatory in vindicating
the rightful cause. The two Duchies of Schles-
wig and Holstein, although distinctly separated
from each other by the river Eider, were anciently
united under the sway of the Duke of Schleswig-
Holstein—a union which has ever been cemented
by the good wishes of thd population of those two
provinces. When those Duchies became admini-
stratively annexed to the Crown of Denmark, the
King of that ancient kingdom became bound to
govern them as Duke and not as King, and also
to maintain inviolable the immemorial union be-
tween the two provinces of the Dukedom. Ac-
cordingly, when the present King came to the
Mulish throne, in 1818, he took the usual corona-