The Express.
London, England, 1866-06-16 00:00:00

THE WEEKLY PRESS.

It is observed by the Saturday Review that when
war once commences the contest will lose the eh--
hitherto imposed upon it by the passing wantonness
M. Bismarck, and will grow into a vital battle between
the liberal and the conservative elements in Germany.
The ultimate issue of the contest, should it assume
such a form, can scarcely be doubtful so long as
France, armed and watchful, is seated among the
row of interested spectators ; but much blood will
be spilt before even Germany itself awakens to
the nature of the problem to be decided. It
will take some time before the populations forgive M. Bis-
marck for wrapping their homes in the flames of war ; but
in the long run it is doubtful whether Austria will find it
as easy to retain the sympathy of the German people as to
secure the immediate adhesion of the German courts.
Great wars, like great lawsuits, are not often in these
days decided merely according to the pleadings ; and a
month or two of intense and eager German excitement
will cause the shortcomings of M. Bismarck to disappear
before the real significance of the cause which M. Bis-
marck's lawless folly obscures and discredits.
On the Reform Bill question the opinion of the Satur-
day Review appears to be that supposing that the govern-
in,nt measure cannot be carried within the ordinary limits
of a session, it is at least to be de-mired that parliament shall
h eve shown what sort of a bill it is prepared to pass ; but
that the government scheme has not at present reached
t Ist stage.
In the opinion of the Spectator, the Emperor Napo-
'ern adds distinctly to the magnitude of issues which seem
to grow daily greater. Italy adheres to her original demand
for Venetia as it stands ; but Prussia, scorning to
put forward the Duchies as the ground of quarrel, now
demands a reconstruction of the Bund, with Austria ex-
pelled from its limits, with herself, that is, alone and
supreme among a world of little states. She is to control
German policy, and the German fleet, and the German
army, though the command-in-chief may be shared with
Bavaria, under an arrangement evidently not intended to
en lure. The princes may continue to live as lord-
lieutenants, in a monarchy one and indivisible, but all
substantial political power will pass to the Emperor-King
of Germany and Prussia. This is the very contingency
which the Emperor Napoleon in his manifesto con-
siders so grave—the disturbance of the equilibrium of
Europe for the benefit of a single power. On the
other hand, all accounts from Vienna concur in the
statement that the war in the south is regarded as of
minor importance, that Kaiser and people are resolved to
punish the " insolent audacity "of the rival house. Prus-
sia is to be crushed and compensation for Venetia found
in a great acoession of strictly German territory—an object
which Prussia will resist almost to the death. Her dynasty
will not surrender the province won by so many years of
battle and suffering, nor will her people consent to be
regarded once more as citizens of a second-rate state. As
the courts get excited the issues widen, till the masses
begin to perceive that they are vital, and we seem once
more on the threshold of a war in which tho combatants
will be nations as well as armies, in which the prosperity
of whole countries, the bone and sinew of entire popula-
tions may be engulfed.
The Examiner thinks it impossible to suppose that, with
a splendid army assembled within two days' march of the
frontier of Silesia,Marahal Benedek will be left without or-
ders to enter and reclaim that ancient appendage of the im-
perial crown, wrested from it, under circumstances the most
miserably infamous, by Frederick, yclept the Great. There
would be something of poetic justice in the descendant
of Marie Theresa re-conquering that oft-ravaged pro-
vince from the lineal successor of the spoiler.
The population, long since changed, evicted, and reple-
nished, are now, indeed, if we are to credit Prussia, re-