The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-05 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, JAN. 5, 1864.

The oracular utterances of the ancient Sibyls
were not regarded with a more anxious interest, or
subjected to a closer or keener scrutiny, than is
bestowed. upon every syllable which falls from the
Imperial lips of NAPOLEON 111. Happily at the
present moment, like the fairy Princess who
scattered pearls and roses with every sentence, fair
promises and peaceful assurances continue to shower
down with every word of the modern arbitrator
of European peace and war. The apparently casual
and complimentary remarks addressed on New
Year's Day by the French SOVEREIGN to the
foreign Ambassadors have been analysed with the
most searching investigation, but no lurking poison
has been discovered intermingled with the honeyed
assurances. The most significant incident upon
which busy rumour can remark, is the absence of
any observation of consequence, or, it is even
hinted, of any observation at all addressed indivi-
dually to the Ambassador of England. That the
EMPEROR should have exhibited any remarkable
taciturnity towards our Ambassador, is not in the
least degree probable. Had he done so, indeed,
the tact would would not have been mentioned
as a doubt. A thousand " good-natured friends"
on both sides of the Channel would have
blazoned it forth with trumpet tongues. The
EMPEROR. was too wise to manifest any
marked discourtesy, but he passed by his
good impracticable ally, with a passing
salutation, signifying nothing. What, in fact, could
he say applicable to the circumstances ? The time
for reproaches has not yet arrived. The happy
results of the coming Congress will be the magnifi-
cent justification of the EMPEROR'S proposition,
while any failure in those results will most indubit-
ably be attributed to England's obduracy—as time
will sh 3W.

Yet more remarkable than the reticence, observed
towares the British Envoy, was the EMPEROR'S
friead iy bee ring in regard to th. 2 Russian diplomatist.
To that Minister he is said to have expressed a
corqdent oonviciion that France and Russia would,
" heocefo:!th," be upon most amicable terms. This,
if it means anything more than a complimentary
protestalion, does not, sore say, augur welt
for the hopes so dear to our hearts in regard
to Poland. Nevcrth&ess we shall refuse to
lend credence to any such idle rumour,
founded upon an isolated expression. Let us rather
hope that the future amity of Russia, and
France will be induced by some wise concessions
on the part of the former, rather than by any fal-
tering in the liberal promises of the latter. If
the great NAPOLEON imperilled hia vast power
by an untimely invasion of the Russian Territories,

his successor must avoid the opposite extreme, and
not risk his influential position by too close an
alliance with the Northern Autocrat. Any
connivance with the despoilers of Poland
would be more disastrous to the destinies of the
Second Empire than were the snows of Russia to
the First. Such an apprehension is, we fully be-
lieve, :utterly groundless. NAPOLEON 111. is
too wise to fall into any such fatal
error. He is now in a position of
almost unparalleled prominence as is clearly
evidenced by the vast importance attached to his
every word and syllable. The extent of his respon-
sibility will be a guarantee for his discretion. By
a due recognition of the liberal spirit and require-
ments of the age. and by that alone, he will ensure
not only the peace of Europe, but his individual
popularity and the prosperity of his throne.

The King of DENMARK has, it is said, gone to
put himself at the head of his army. It is to be
hoped this decided step indicates a firm and re-
solute policy, which will not consent to sacrifice, or
even subordinate, the interests of the Danish Crown
to the menaces of the Diet or the persuasions of
Earl RUSSELL. It is an intimation alike to the
aggressors and to the neutral Powers that the
patience of Denmark is fairly exhausted ; that her
King will not consent to remain inactive while his
dominions are being quietly parcelled out among
the German States; that her Ministers perceive
their true course is to meet diplomatic subtleties
with straightforward determination to pre-
serve their country's rights, and that the
Danish people themselves will cheerfully
bear the hardships and privations of war, for the
maintenance and integrity of the Danish king-
dom. The Danes of every rank are beginning to
act upon the truth—

"In native swords, and native ranks,
The only hope of freedom dwells,"

They have been too long trusting to timorous and
vacillating allies, depending on tardy and doubt-
ful succour, until at length they find that almost
every point is conceded to their adversaries, and
that the pressure which should be exercised on
the German Courts is only directed against Den-
mark. They awake from their delusive hopes to
the conviction that the neutral Powers are among
the adversaries most difficult to deal with,
and appear resolved to struggle for their
own rights, leaving help to come from
where it may. It is true that the rumour of a
protest on the part of Earl RUSSELL against the
occupation of Schleswig has been circulated, but
the Danes are wise not to trust to paper defences,
but to present a goodly show of bayonets and
broadswords on the northern bank of the Eider.
If the Germans are allowed to obtain possession of
Schleswig, the question will be virtually settled,
and a thousand genealogical arguments will be
brought forward for the ready acceptance of the
Diet. The conduct of the Confederation in per-
mitting the so-termed " execution" to be a pretext
for allowing the Duke of AUGUSTENBURG to enter
the duchy as its Duke is open to severe condemnation,
A show of justice and impartiality should at least
have been maintained, instead of which we hear of
the pretender issuing proclamations under the title
of Doke of SCIILESWIG HOLSTEIN to his " faithful
subjects," of congratulatory deputations and torch-
light processions, all, if not exactly countenanced
by the Federal authorities, at least not interfered
with or protested against. On the contrary, the
Duke of AUGUSTENBURG has the coolness to point
out to his faithful subjects that the Federal Diet has
no right to occupy his territories, and that he ex-
pects the Diet to admit that the causes
which dictated the execution are no longer
in existence. He charges them, however,
notwithstanding his protest, to be careful to avoid
any conflict with the Federal troops. Certainly, if
the Holsteiners are sufficiently Germanized as to
refuse to fight for their old dynasty, it is not very
likely that they will draw the sword on behalf of
the Duke of AUGUSTENBURG. Another outrageous
act on the part of the Commissioners is the omission
of the KING'S name from all public prayers. This
is giving open evidence of the malign intentions of
the Diet towards the lawful King of DENMARK,
and adds another to the long list of deeds and
words that prove how little sincere are the
professions about legal right and popular
representation. The Prussians will scarcely rest
satisfied while a Dane rules over Copenhagen.
Austria, more moderate, proposed to the Diet that
the Duke of AUGUSTENBURG should be immediately
summoned to leave the Duchies, but this very sen-
sible proposition was rejected, though by a very
narrow majority. Austria cannot afford to quarrel
with England, and, with Hungary stirring like a
volcano at her feet, is unwilling to embroil herself
in a war which would give the longed-for opportu-
nity to the Magyar and the Venetian. Prussia,
with the infatuation that seems in this
instance to have spread from the King
and his Ministers to the whole population,
sees no reason why another province should not be
added to her patchwork domains after the same
fashion as Posen, Silesia, and one or two more. The
policy of FREDERICK the GREAT has been no less
followed by his descendants than the directions of
PETER by the Russian CZARS. The terrible reverses
which Prussia underwent in the wars of the first
empire have somewhat retarded her progress, but
the present seems to her a favourable opportunity
for securing her long-sought prize. She is blind
to the fact patent to all beside that she is in her
turn affording France the pretext for securing
the coveted frontier of the Rhine. Amid this entan-
glement of plots and counterplots, in which the
interests of peoples are sacrificed to the ambition of
their leaders, it is satisfactory to find the Danes
presenting a bold and united front, ready though
not rash in facing the danger before them.

Sir STAFFORD NORTUCOTE has come forward in
a very praiseworthy manner to celebrate the pro-
gress of Art in England ; and, as his remarks are
at all times most worthy of consideration, on this
attractive subject they are, of course, doubly
interesting. He alluded to the sweeping changes
which the Government have recently effected, and
the serious effect which these alterations will make
on many of those connected with these institutions.
This is the more to be regretted, because the claes
which will suffer the most are the most deserving.;
It is very desirable to make all reasonable reduc-
tions, but at the same time it would appear to many
that there are several forms in which saving is to
be effected without trenching on the departments of
art. The system now proposed may work well in
an economical form, hut how will it be regard-
ing the progress of art? If all are to be on the
same footing, emulation and the primary induce-
ment to excellence is put an end to. This is not a
reduction that reflects any credit on the part of our
authorities, and in all respects it is to be considered
as a great blunder. A master who has only passed
in one grade cannot be so efficient an instructor as
one who has passed in several ; and yet it is deter-
mined to place all on a level, and to give the same
sum to those who are only of one grade as to those
who are of several. When it has been everywhere
a universally acknowledged fact, that art was
in abeyance in this country—when it was
greatly