The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-12 00:00:00

THE WAR COIMICATIONR.

The quarrel in which the Kmperor Napoleon
seems to have entered does not appear to the Times to be
one of his own seeking. Unfortunately, the cession to him
of Venetia has given the matter a wrong turn, and it is
not to be wondered at that Prussia should decline to
permit a change in her position with respect to her
adversary which might eventually alter the issue
of the straggle, and that both she and her
ally should be pushing on their military operations
as far as their utmost energies will enable them. The
Prussians at the present moment look forward to the ,
chance of trying conclusions with their adversaries under
the walls of Vienna. The movements of the armies of the
belligerent powers on all sides have been as free and active
as if no word about an armistice had been spoken, and it
is no wonder, under all the circumstances, if the Emperor
of the French felt as if all parties conspired to maks light
of his authority. At all events, however, Italy, by the
master stroke of the Austrian Emperor, has been shut out
of the lists, and do what it may, must have Venetia gratis or
not at all. Even were the Italians to join the Prussian army,
any amount of glory they might acquire north of the Alps
would never do sway witk the fact that they stood up,
half a million of men, to wrest Venetia from the hands of
Austria, end that it was to the victories of another people
that they owed the emancipation of their own. If, how.
ever, the fretting of the Italians can be of no great weight
at the Twlerke, it is not to be supposed that the great
peacemaker can look with equal indifference on the de-
meanour of Prussia. Should he, indeed, be bent ea
" armed mediation" in a purely German question, Europe
might have to bid a long farewell to those hopes of peace
totwhich the short paragraph in the Moniker so lately gave
rise.

Both the Times and Daily News sketch broadly a plan
of the great battle of &adorn, formed from the detailed
account* which have now reached this country from the
camps of both armies. The TiMell observes that if Briinn,
which is the next object of Prussian attack, be taken,
there is nothing between the Prussians and Vienna. To
the Daily News one thing is tolerably clear, that further
resistance by Benedek's army is impossible. If the
Prussian troops are to be stopped, it must be by a fresh
army. The Austrians, it must be admitted, have good
reason to complain of the blunders of their generals. It
was surely unpardonable in any officer to leave his right
flank completely unprotected by earth-works when he
knew that an army of 100,000 was within 10 miles dis-
tance. But, perhaps, it was even more unpardonable not
to keep himself continually informed during the action
of the position of the Prussians, so as to have enabled
him to make preparations to meet so formidable an
attack.

The Daily News doubt. the statementa of the Vienna
Gatte u to the action of France, though the acceptance
of Venetia no doubt was really the first step of a practical
alliance with Austria, and was sa good as a reinforcement
of the Austrian army by 150,000 men. But nothing save
the intoxication of flattery, and the abject position which
the Emperor of Austria hat taken up, could explain
the pretensions of the Emperor Napoleon to transfer to
Paris the work of reconstituting Germany, and we may feel
perfectly cure that the statement that the British govern-
ment is associating itself with these efforts is altogether
untrue.

The Post assumes as an acquired fact that Venetia is to
go to Italy without any compensation to France, and that
the treaty of September is to be loyally carried out. In
the meantime the armies are hurrying forward, and the
Prussians and Italians evidently hope to shake hands in
Vienna. But the terms offered by France, according to
La Preset, are magnificent for Prussia, and she had better
at once take heed lest a taiunvh within her grasp should
end in a permanent humiliation.
The Telegraph thinks that an authoritative recommenda-
tion by the three neutral powers, which has already been
actively discussed, might sober even the excited passions
of the disputants, and induce them to listen to the voice
of reason and the dictates of humanity.
The Herald continues to write strongly against both
Prussia and Italy, and to look hopefully and confidently
for a chastisement of both by Louis Napoleon.