The Express.
London, England, 1866-09-06 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1866.

PRUSSIA.

(ram otra smug. col

merr.)

BKRLIN, BKPT. 3.

There is undeniable dulness in the Prussian
capital at this moment, though it is not accom-
panied by the " depression" which we learn to asso-
ciate with dulness in trade bulletins. Berlin is
well pleased with itself, as being for ever raised
above the level of Hanover and of Dresden, well
taken care of by its police, and apoplectically dull
in the full contentment of victory. The soldiers
have not yet returned, but peace has been con-
iduded, and all demand for extra news sheets has
long ago ceased. " Long ago !" a phrase which
would sound absurd in presence of limping con-
valescents only just strong enough to use their
watches, did not the length of time since the
campaign was finished at Nikolaburg already
exceed the length of that campaign. Yes ; I may
talk of " long ago," on the Biamarckian scale,
and may look back to those dim forgotten ages
when the Prussians believed in Marshal Benedeles
strategy as much as any one. Were they not hope-
less of holding Silesia, and anxious about their
troops in Dresden ? Had they not great respect
for the Austrian cannon and cavalry ? It is easy
now to talk of having known how matters would
go all the while, but even the moat confident
friends of Prussia overrated the Austrian strength
in those same forgotten ages of June, 1866. To
my mind King William's subjects deserve more cre-
dit for their bold attitude before what they ima-
gined to be a formidable enemy, than for the tre-
mendous force of the knock-down blow which they
presently administered. I am often tempted to
wish that Francis Joseph had done, as Europe sup-
posed that he would do—sent his chief strength
against Prussia, and merely fenced with
Italy. We should then have seen how much the
Prussian system could bear without becoming disor-
dered, and people of anti-Italian predilections (more
numerous in North Germany than with us) would
not have been able to decry a brave but unlucky
army. As it was, his Imperial Majesty sent at
least as many men to fight the Italians as to fight
the Prussians, so no wonder that he held his own
to the southward, and was utterly extinguished to
the northward. True that Admiral Tegetkhoffs
fleet was in some sort necessary to the empire,
yet here was another instance of turning
strength towards Italy. The fleet cost in hard cash
money enough to equip half a million of men with
breech-loaders, and Austria, although desirous to
have better weapons, could not afford such
theoretical experiments—won Lissa instead of
Sadowa, which was rather a bad exchange.
Should I not add, that while several fortresses
were maintained at great expense in Venetia, there
was not a single entrenched camp in Bohemia in
which beaten troops might rally ? Everything
Istrong was towards the weaker opponent, save

only Benedek's two hundred thousand soldiers
(some say 180,000), and these constituted but a
slender force wherewith to resist a military power
like Prussia. Whatever may be our view of the
three belligerents, of their respective institutions,
character, and progress, it is hardly to be denied
that the Italian alliance was worth more to Prussia
than even the needle-gun, Liaaa and Custom& to
the contrary notwithstanding.
This mention of Italy does not purport to
crumple one leaf on the well-earned laurel
wreath of my blue-coated friends. But cer-
tain journals in this country have sneered at Its
lien help, and certain other journals have taken
them to task for sneering. The matter has
been discussed with warmth amongst the Prus-
sians, for they suspect detraction from their glory
in every word of praise to Italy, and it would seem
that in reckoning up what has been done they
would rather think of their ally as a looker-on,
rewarded for saying " ugh" at regular intervals
whilst they drove home the rammer.
Here is a break in the dulness of victorious
Berlin. lam confuted before the letter has
been finished in regard to there being no,
soldiers, for a whole company of infantry,
with fife and drum, is marching up under the
Linden. A whole company of soldiers, with 300
small boys at their heels, so I fancy that the men
are returning victors. In any case there will be
plenty of such among us before long, as the guards
are to make a solemn entry, headed by King
William himself, on September 15th, and there is
soon to be an opening celebration at the new
Jewish Synagogue, whereat it is reported that
Bismarck will appear. The new synagogue is one
of the finest buildings in the city.

CHARLES SumNzn.—Charles Sumner had been
tent to the Senate by Maasachussetts to undo all that
Daniel Webster had done. Be was a scholar and a hard
worker, so much so that he could master the literature or
the history of any subject in a night, and be ready to
speak on it next day , he was a good speaker of the colder
Northern style—he hated slavery with absolute personal
hatred—to him every mitigation of the slave's fate was an
additionally devilish trait added by the Send to soften
our feelings toward it. If he could have spoken when
Preston Brooks knocked him on the head, he would have
said "Thank you slavery! it is only your Southern gene-
rosity that I fear ; this is just the kind of logic I wish
you to use." But it was a fearful period ! The writer
of this was among those who stood by the side of that
conch on which the giant frame of Charles Sumner lay,
awaiting the physician's slow decision as to whether life
was destined to depart through that fearful gash. During
all this time, when the decision was yet ungiven, the
senator lay calm, patient, with even a certain joy about
his eyes. But, when one day in answer to a stern demand
as to his fate, the physician having said he would live
I was further compelled to admit that be bad fears that the
reason might be permanently impaired, poor Sumner
could hardly bear up under it. Mr. Sumner has indeed
series' faults—be is somewhat egotistical, and be lacks
both humour and imagination, but these very faults,
whilst they hays alienated some who might have become
followers, have leaned to the side of the particular virtues
which were required by the North from the time be
entered Congress up to the present day ; that is, they
helped him to stand upon the dry issue, to stand by it as
a matter of life and death without diversion, and to
identify himself with it. He wee possessed of a trait
which was then considered more Southern than Northern
—he was absolutely without feu. Nothing could have
been more certain than that such bitter denunciations as

Mr.-Sumner hurled upon slavery and its defenders must
bring blows upon his head. Indeed, I know that the
Southerners regarded themselves as having been remark-
ably forbearing in his case. There was, however, some
awe mingled with the anger when the senator returned
from Europe in strength to redouble his assaults on slavery
above the very paves, as it were, of the two Southerners
who bad been moat nearly involved in the assault. " I
am not unmir.dful of the graves that have opened," be
said when be began his first epsech after his recovery, on
" The Barborism of Slavery.* That terrible piece of de-
nunciation which followed produced a toilful scene in
the Senate. The Southerners were lashed to fury ; they
walked about the chamber during its delivery, uttering
audibly their angry threats, and several of them passed
close before him and shooktbeir fists is hie face. Another
assault seamed imminent. Mr. Sumner, however, did not
pause nor falter, but pursued his elaborate and ornate
anathema to the end. After this he was shunned by
nearly ever one in Washington ; and, being without
family. his life was solitary enough. Nevertheless, when
the thick of the battle was reached the radical party came
to the front, and he was its natural leader ; and if to
bear the banner in the vanguard of his party, and sever to
lower it, however tern or scarred it er he may be, makes •
true Ueda', he Lone. Comparatively young, he bears
the narksof a Morsa.—ltsiseir's Altspasiag for September„