The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-14 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

In consequence of the treacherous nature of the soil on
which the fortifications on the Isle of Grain, commanding
the entrance to Chatham harbour, are being constructed, a
very serious settling of the foundation of the largest battery
has just taken place, which, it is feared, will necessitate the
taking down and re• erection of a considerable portion of
those already completed. In the other portions of the works
no signs of weakness have yet appeared.
It appears that the total amount of stock bought and
transferred by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the
National Debt on account of the fund for military savings
banks, pursuant to the Act 8 and 9 Victoria, cap. 27, sec. 5,
was as follows from Sept. 19, 1845, to Jan. 5, 1864:
Consolidated 3 per Cents, £119,457 16s 3d ; Reduced 3 per
Cents, £79,303 is 9d; and New 2 per Cents, £221,068 13s
7d, making an aggregate of £19,829 lOs 7d. The total stock
sold by order of the Secretary of State for War in the same
period was :—Consolidated 3 per Cents, £66,313 13s ; and
New 3 per• Cents, £16,118 Os Bd, making an aggregate of
£82,431 13s Bd. The total stock at the account of the fund
for military saving-banks on Jan. 5, 1864, was therefore—
Consolidated 3 per Cents, £53,144 3s 3d; Reduced 3 per
Cents, £79,303 is 9d ; and New 3 per Cents, £204,950 lb
I ld, making an aggregate of £327,397 16s lid. This no-
minal amount of stock was obtained by an actual definitive
cash receipt from Sept. 19, 1845, to Jan. 5, 1864, of
£303,721 98 9d.

The freight ship Avon arrived at Spithead on Saturday
from Ceylon, with the following officers and troops on
board from various regiments :—Lieut. Macgregor, 50th
Regiment, in military command; Lieut. Richmond, 50th
Regiment ; Asaist.-Surg. Stewart, in medical charge ; 63
invalids, 9 time-expired men, 5 women, and 3 children.
Three men and six children have died since the embarca-
tion of the troops at Ceylon on the 21st of November last.
The troops will disembark this morning from the Avon
under the supervision of Colonel E. Somerset, C. 8., the
invalids being sent to the Royal Military Hospital at Netley,
and the time-expired men to the depots of their respective
regiments.

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

-4-

SATURDAY REVIEW.—The moment seems to have
arrived when the country may fairly claim that the
Government should state distinctiy what is its
policy with regard to the quarrel between Germany
and Denmark. Hitherte, great indulgence has
been shown to the Government, and very rightly.
The origin of the quarrel is obscure, the facts on
which it rests are complicated and disputable, the
sympathies of England are divided, and there is no
certainty on which side the interests of England
lie. Any Ministry, therefore, that set itself in such
a business to maintain peace, and to preserve the
national honour, would be sure of a fair amount of
support. In difficult negotiations, much weight
also is sure to be given to the claims of personal
character and reputation. If we have got the ablest
men we can get at the head of affairs, it seems
natural to trust them with the management of a
delicate and intricate matter. The strength of the
present Government lies in the extreme difficulty of
saying precisely what ought to have been or to be
done at any one stage of this quarrel about the
Duchies, and in the general conviction that, if Lord
Palmerston and Lord Russell have made mistakes,
Mr. Disraeli and Lord Malmesbury would have made
twice as many. If there were not such a marked
disparity in ability and reputation between the
heads of the present Government and the heads of
any Government that could be found to replace
them, it is impossible to suppose that the House of
' Commons would have been so long-suffering, not
to say meek, as it has been. But the present state
of uncertainty cannot g 3 on much longer. The
Ministry is beginning to trade on the reputation of
its leaders, and on the unwillineness of Parliament
and the country to quarrel with the Premier. It
is adopting the very line which we have been
taught by bitter experience to detest most thee
roughly. It is sliding into a boundless Dead Sea
of fruitless negociations, relieved by denunciations
which it knows to he as safe as they are unheeded,
and by menaces which frighten nobody. Beyond
a certain point it is very undesirable that negocia-
lions should go on at our instance. It is not for
England to run about for ever, like an old hen,
cackling to the foreign chickens, and begging them
not to do anything dangerous. If we cannot get
listeners we can at least hold our tongues. Nor is
it at all probable that these frantic adjurations
to the combatants in the name of peace are likely
to do much good. England as a calm, resolute
Power can do much to promote peace—she has then
got her navy at the back of her arguments; but
England as a fussy, irresolute Power, is much more
likely to stir up strife than to effect a reconciliation.
Perhaps nothing has given the Germans so much
pleasure in the whole business—not even the glory
of a battalion of Prussians engaging in a fierce pro-
longed, and ultimately snccessful struggle with a
couple of Danish sentries—as the discovery that
England may be safely provoked to fume and blus-
' ter, and write and argue in vain. '['he account of
of their policy which Ministers give is some-
thing like this :—" We wish to keep out of the
war, and to bring it to an end ; and we go
on trying to effect this by talking to all
the parties who, however remotely, are inte-
rested in the matter. Our own view is that the
Treaty of 1852 should be upheld, but no one agrees
with us who has any power of giving effect to an
opinion. Nevertheless, our arguments appear to us
unanswerable, and are constantly repeated. If this
treaty—which France has declared impotent, and
which has been completely set aside in, as we think,
a most disgraceful manner by Austria and Prussia
—is to have no further effect, we can form no notion
what ought to replace it. We are not prepared to
say that the Germans in the Duchies ought to have
a:foreign Sovereign forced on them, and still less are
we prepared to say that a foreign Sovereign ought
not to be forced on the Germans in the Duchies.
It appears to us much more iniquitous to kill Danes
in Jutland than in Schleswig, and it would be in-
finitely worse still to kill them in Funen or Zealand,
but we cannot see either that we ought or ought not
to prevent this last stroke of wrong. At the same
time, it is a great comfort to us to have the Channel
Fleet in se handy a station as Plymouth, and to feel
sure that, although we do not intend to employ it,
yet, if w© did employ it, we should employ it effec-
tively." This is the Ministerial programme, and
because some Peers, most of whom are, on ordinary
occasions, very good friends of the Government,
have hinted that there is something weak and in-
consecutive in it, the House of Lords has been
soundly abused by the daily press, and all sorts of
dreadful responsibilities have been heaped on its
shoulders. If a Conservative Government had been
in office, the same critics would have been the first
to point out that Peers of good standing and inde-
pendent position are the very persons to whom the
country ought to look when a warning has to be
addressed to a Ministry that has so many claims
on the regard and confidence of English-
men. Lord Harrowby, more especially, is
exactly that sort of respectable, amiable,
esteemed friend who can gently let his old associates
see what others think of them ; and he would be a
very bold man--unless indeed he were a young
Whig, if there is :such a being—who would deny
that the country has begun to dislike the endless
purposeless flux of diplomatic talk, accompanied by
allusions to the Channel Fleet. No amount of
despatch writing will alter facts, and that Schles-
wig is in the hands of the Germans is a fact. The
English Government must accept it, if it does not
intend to reverse it by force of arms. But the re-
sistance of the Danes still continues, and they still
hold a fragment of Schleswig. The English Go-
vernment may say that it will offer no opposition to
the attempt of the Germans to dislodge the Danes
from this corner of the Duchy. But, if so, nego-
tiations are obviously useless. France takes this
line, and takes it consistently. For France does
not object to see the Danes driven out of the
Duchies ; and it only concerns France to see how
the Duchies, when once obtained by Germany, are
disposed of by her. She may think it worth her
while to demand a compensation if they are given
to Prussia, but at present she can afford to sit still
and not say anything. We have had our say, and
had better end it, unless we are prepared to do more
than France thinks it her interest or duty to do.
Or, if we are prepared to draw a subtle distinction,
and to say that although the Germans may attack
the Danes by land, whin we cannot prevent, yet
they shall not attack them by sea, which we can
prevent, nothing would be so sure to prevent this
sea attack as to announce openly that the Channel
Fleet would be at once sent to the assistance of the
Danes if an Austrian man-of-war has appeared in
the Baltic. As it is, we shall some day hear that
an Austrian man-of-war has appeared in the Baltic,
and we shall scarcely know whether this is an in-
sult to England or not. We shall remember that
Lord Russell threatened dim horrors if this were
lone, but we can never be sure whether Lord
Russo'' utters threats on his own account or in the
name of England.

EXAMINER.—Most people well acquainted with
foreign politics express astonishment that the Danes,
whilst showing a hostile and defiant lace to Prussia
and to the Northern powers of Germany, should not
have at least have conciliated and kept well with
Austria and with the southern states of the German
empire, who have really so little interest in the
sovereignty and government of counties upon the
Eider. All the small states in and about Germany
have always had the same policy, never to quarrel

with Austria and Prussia together, but by all means
get one of them to defend it against the other. The
army of Denmark did observe the rule in 1850.
Austria came forward then, as she does now, rather
to outrival and eclipse Prussia in the north, than to
act as a true ally, and therefore, in the final settle-
ment, the Danish Government negotiated with, and
made promises to, Austria almost exclusively. These
promises may have been ill judged and imprudent
to make, but Ferdinand VII. made them, and the
point ought to have been either to observe them, or
in breaking them, to convince the Austrian Govern-
ment that it was impossible to avoid it. Had the
Danish Government last summer been sufficiently
cautious it might have perceived that Austria was
engaged in absolutely courting the minor powers of
Germany for some purpose, and that the Court of
Vienna was likely to show itself ultra-German for
the nonce. The Danish Government took no heed
of this, and Mr. Hall went on chaffering as before,
like another Mr. Seward, except that he had no
doubt a patriotic sense of right and a good cause.
But the important consequence was the complete
alienation of Austria from Denmark. At the present
moment to what power might Denmark most hope-
fully look for fair and moderate terms ? To Austria
certainly. And yet it is with Austrian troops that
the battles are fought which fill the Danes with
exultation and pride, but which really are most
hurtful to their cause. Had they sallied from
Duppel and inflicted a severe defeat on
the Prussians, every one would have ap-
plauded, but by the prolongation of the war in
fierce encounters with the Austrians the Danes are
rendering their question very hard to solve. It is
true that they have not now, as they once had, the
choice of their antagonist, and pity 'tie 'tis true..
The Danes fight while they can. Our hearts go with
them, for they do what Englishmen would do in
the like case. If there had been any strong im- ,
pulse of popular English feeling in the direction of
a common action with the Danes, it would have
found, we believe, leaders among the chiefs of either
of the great English parties. But when this country
goes to war, it is not a Ministry that draws the
sword, it is a people ; and if the people do not find
sufficient reason for the breaking of their peace, it
must remain unbroken. The Danes still hope that
the wrong they suffer may provoke a European
struggle. Yet how is it to arise in a manner likely
to diminish the pressure upon them ? If Napoleon
interfere in favour of the German Diet it is plain
that he must embrace the anti-Danish policy of the
Diet. Russia, Prussia, and Austria seem to have
renewed a kind of alliance. And England, hesitat-
ing at the first to interfere, is now less tempted to
do so than ever, partly because the conquest of
Slesvig is an accomplished fact, possible to have
been prevented but very difficult to be undone—
partly because any attempt to undo it by force
might place England at the head of European coa-
lition against France—its old position—but with
France at the head of a European coalition against
herself. We must say, after looking over the re-
cently published volume of diplomacy, that its
efforts seem to have been often wasted on vain work.
There is a great deal of menace and objurgation
employed towards the smaller court of Germany,
which are deeply and passionately interested in the
quarrel, and upon which, in consequence, our re-
monstrances fell idle. They excited ingenious
evasions from Bismark, or rude retort from Beust,
without having made any useful impressions
upon :either. Had our endeavours been more
constantly and adroitly directed towards the South,
we cannot but think that Austria and Wurtemburg,
and even Bavaria, might have been persuaded that
they were not pursuing a wise or national policy in
seeking to dismember Denmark.
LONDON REVIEW.—There is no indisposition in
any quarter at present to depreciate the splendid
services of Sir Rowland Hill. But his recompense
has as yet been altogether disproportioned to his
labours and his genius. He gave many years of
anxious and arduous toil to the inception and
working out of the plan of the penny postage. The
obstacles, both public and private, which he had
to surmount were stupendous. At last the Mel-
bourne Government gave him a subordinate post in
theTressury. The Derby Government sent him adrift
altogether. He was afterwards placed in the Post-
office as Secretary to the Pcstmaster-General; but
the vexations and obstacles against which he had
to contend were by no means at an end. The full
salarylof the office he has resigned is only £2,000,
while the pension allowed to him by the superan-
nuation rules of the Civil Service will be something
under £6OO a year ! Of course the rules which re-
gulate the civil servants were never meant to apply
to cases like his. A world-wide stigma would
attach to the nation which rewarded services so
transcendent with a beggarly pension of £6OO a
year. The only question, we trust, is whether the
Legislature shall secure him by Act of Parliament
his full salary of £2,000 a year, or whether, consi-
dering Sir Rowland Hill's age (69), and the shat-
tered and precarious state of his health, it would
not be still better to vote him one lump sum, on a
scale in some degree commensurate with his ser-
vices. Harrison received £20,000 from the House
of Commons for his chronometer which determined
the longitude. There is another precedent still
more to the purpose in the Post-office itself. Par-
liament gave a pension of £3,000 a year for life to
General Palmer, who originated the system of mail
coaches, and it also voted him a special grant of
£50,000. No friend of Sir Rowland Hill's need con-
tend that this was an extravagant reward fur a liniited
yet important service. But the great postal revolu-
tion of which he was the author, his signal adminis-
trative skill and faculty for organisation, and his
incessant labours for a quarter of a century, place
him, as a public servant,.upon an infinitely higher
pedestal than General Palmer, and he ought to be
crowned with at least an equal recompence. We are
glad to observe that the Postmaster-General, Lord
Stanley of Alderley, in his place in the House of
Lords on Tuesday, bore generous testimony to the
unexampled benefits, commercial and social, con-
ferred upon his countrymen by Sir Rowland Hill.
Lord Stanley of Alderley expressed his opinion that
the establishment of the penny postal system was
not only one of the greatest improvements of the
present age, but had perhaps conferred more benefit
upon mankind than any other invention. Birming-
ham has gracefully taken the lead in doing honour
to Sir Rowland Hill, who spent his early life in
that town. The men of Birmingham, in public
meeting assembled, have determined to erect a
statue to his honour, and are signing a petition to
the House of Commons in favour of a fitting national
grant. If Sir Rowland Hill were a member of some
great aristocratic house, his "order" would be justly
proud of him, and his family would receive from the
State a substantial if not splendid reward. Let the
British public remember that Sir Rowland Hill is
a "man of the people ;" that the middle and lower
classes have pre-eminently benefited by his genius ;
and that it is their duty to strengthen the hands of
the Government in voting a fitting gift from a great
nation to one who has ennobled the name of Eng-
lishmen throughout the globe.

SPECTATOR. —There is a little cloud in the horizon
which thirsty Danes will watch with longing eyes,
but as yet it is only a cloud. It almost seemed
on Tuesday night as if Earl Russell, the man
who could command the Channel fleet or under-
take an operation for the stone, were at last sated
with humiliation ; but the fleet is in harbour still.
England has only just reached the stage when,
feeling her blood on fire, she begins screaming " I
will net fight," in order to re-assure herself of
her own pacific intentions. Her heart is growing
very hot, and a look coining into her eyes which
wrong-doers do not like; but the Northman blood
is still in her veins, and that cannot thaw at once.
The steps by which England nerves herself to begin
work which, once begun, must be finished are trans-
acting themselves after their way ; the short ques-
tions in Parliament and the curt replies which tell
the questioner less than silence, the desperate efforts
at negotiation, the rapid interchange of views with
an ally, the rumours of Cabinet dissensions, the
sort of cheer sent forth from the Peers, half discore
dant because it sounds like a premature word of
command, the awakening attention of the people,
all the ereakings with which the vast mass
prepares itself for launching, are audible in the
air. The last and most certain sign of action,
the clear assertion of the Times that action is
impossible, has already been heard, and the
final resolve is evidently very near at hand. It
is not taken, however, and while it waits the op-
pressors have for the moment their own way. Step
after step has been taken this week towards the
subjugation of Denmark, the final abandonment of
the pretexts with which the war began. Holstein
was occupied that King Christian might be com-
palled to keep his word, and the occupiers imme-
diately welcomed his rival. Schleswig was invaded
that the Constitution might be abolished, and, before
Denmark has refused to obey, the Imperial and
Royal Commissioners have abolished the coinage
of the Kings their Courts are daily pledging them-
selves to recognise—have actually made all Ger-
man coins legal tender throughout a non• German
province. This, however, is a trifle. Without
declaring war, without pleading any cause for
hostility outside the Duchies, the two Powers
have now passed into Jutland and com-
menced the Pleasing task of gutting an
independent State. " Requisitions," says Mar-
shal Von Wrangel, " will be levied in Jutland,"
and so the free little Peninsula, where there is no
poverty, and no discomfort, and men talk without
fear of spies, and write what they think fit, and
dare smile at a subaltern without being cut down
for the atrocity, is to be ravaged that its invaders
may be fed, and that "Denmark may never again,"
says the Kreuz Zeitung, " be in a position to appear
defiant of Germany," which, giving kings to all the
world, has of course a right to rule it. That, how-

ever, is not all. Austria is anxious for nationalitiqy
and her fleet manned with conscript Dalmatians to
1W
accordingly sent to the North Sea, in order to .'
the Danes for venturing to think they have nation'
ality too. Of course the Viennese Cabinet assure°
the world that its only intention is to protect Ger-
man commerce, but then it has all along affircleu
that it was slaughtering Dines in order to preserls
the integrity and independence of Denmark°
Despatches do not cost much, and the bombardme.h!
of Copenhagen would tame that very " democratic,
city, and may easily be described as a
measure of pacification." ./E,op, after all, did 11.0
understand diplomacy; his wolf was content with
an excuse for killing the lamb, and did not inval
a new one for every separate bite; did not talk e•
his victim's agnates as he enjoyed the liver, or clalte
his expenses for killing as ho swallowed the kidnei
fat. We are a little curious to see the next excuse
to be invented by the men among us who think felt
of one ally is sufficient excuse for allowing Boogie!'
to be suffocated. When Holstein was occupiedf
they said, and justly, " That is a German ducbr
what have we to do with that ?" When Schierl
was invaded they alleged that the treaty of 185
was based upon tacit conditions, and, of court'
England could never encourage weak persons
to
violating their engagements to the strong. If BO:
sia violates all engagements that is a differeT
affair, for ships will not sail to Warsaw, though
they will to Venice. When Jutland was invade':
first, that was declared to be " a strategic geeee
.
sity," and now it is invaded again it is said to be:
fair reprisal for the attack upon German cominerts
It only remains to invent a decent excuse for t'!,i
occupation of _ the islands, and then Liberals vi"
exultingly exclaim, " The Danish question WI?
ended, for Denmark has ceased to exist." We she!!
be told that we exaggerate, but we are understating
the case. The limes actually printed on Friday', in
its largest type, a letter from Sir F. Head, recocr
mending England to assist Germany in forcing the
conference on Denmark in order to secure person
union : i. e., to help Germany to conquer and alines
a Danish dependency. We do not know why We.
should protest, if the Radicals are in the righ';
Coercing Denmark would be the quickest a"
cheapest mode of restoring peace, and that is Ole
only object of politics. Honour of course is nothing'
or English soldiers would have been behind the
Dannewerke ; the balance of power is a delusioif
or we should not leave two millions to fight forth,
duty to an ally is satisfied by despatches, and og
for the protection of the weak, that is matter Pr
theologians. If it be just to force Denmark into
conference in which we intend to plunder her, Will
is it not just to send ships and do the work without
all that clatter and writing ?