The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—It is now about a hundred years since
Stanislaus Pcniatowski aseetiu's the throne of
Poland. He owed his elevation mainly 1.%2 the Em-
press Catherine of Russia, With whom he was be-
lieved to be united by ties more tendef than those of
mere political sympathy. It might have beet sip-
posed that the same Power which placed him on
the throne would have lent him aid to maintain
himself there; and so ft might have been but
for the aggressive and rapacious genies of the
King of Prussia. He held out to Austria the
allurement of an accession of territory by the par-
tition of Poland, and, when he had gained over
that Court, he arranged, with infinite bargaining
and haggling, the share which Russia was to receive
in compensation for the abandonment of her friend
and ally. The whole thing was managed by the
three Powers with a mixture of barefaced injus-
tice and odious hypocrisy. They seized upon the
territories which they had allotted to themselves,and
they published a manifesto, in which they repre-
sented themselves as actuated by justice, benevo-
lence, and generosity. They pointed to the internal
dissensions of Poland. They expressed apprehen-
sions for the welfare of surrounding nations, unless
something were done to check them. They were
anxious to settle the ancient Constitution of Poland
and to establish its national and popular liberties
on a solid basis; and, as they foresaw that the har-
mony and friendship then existing among them
might uo! always continue, they insisted on the re-
cognition of particular claims to various territories
which they did not wish to expose to the hazard
of future contingencies. Their dignity, they said,
and their regard for justice wou:d not permit them to
yield beyond a certain point to the dictates of their
natural moderation. The essential interest of their
Crowns would not permit them to renounce their
claims ; and if the King of Poland had any com-
passion for his people, he would not, by refusing to
call a Diet, expose them to violence and injury.
The Diet was elected under the bayonets of three
invading armies. It surrendered all that was de-
manded, and the King flung his hat on the floor
and told them if no greater territory than that hat
covered were left him, he would still be in the eyes
of all Europe their lawful but unfortunate King.
Such was the first act of that long tragedy which
for a hundred years hes exhibited the insolent
triumph of might over right, and made Poland the
just object of the sympathy, the compassion, and
the indignation of every civilised country in the
world. These evil deeds let loose a host of the most
grievous evils upon Europe. They co-operated
with the new philosophy which was sapping the
foundations of society and government, and taught
mankind to believe that Kings could be as wicked
and statesmen as base as the pen of Rousseau or
Condorcet could represent them. If the French
Revolution shook down the edifice, its pillars were
loosened and its foundations undermined by the
partition of Poland. The blood and tears of a
quarter of a century of war and desolation have not
effaced the traces of the partition of Poland from
those countries of Europe which were least con-
cerned in the event. He must be an inattentive
observer indeed who does not trace in the events
which are now passing before our eyes, if not an
exact historical parallel, at any rate a resemblance
sufficiently striking to encourage the most gloomy
anticipations. Ever since the partition of Poland all
Europe has been pretending at least to deplore and
condemn it. Nobody justifies it now. In words, at
least, it is universally repudiated. The Kings, the
Ministers, the Generals, the diplomatists who
brought it about are held in universal execration ;
and yet we seem likely to see acted before our eyes
a repetition of all the most hateful parts of this
execrable drama. We have the same injustice and
covetousness, veiled under the same specious and
honourab:e professions. That which the love of
peace and order and the apprehension of territorial
disturbance was to the Powers who dismembered
Poland the desire of supporting a distressed and
kindred nationality is to Prussia and Austria. While
lamenting over the wrongs of a people condemned
to speak the Danish language and to be severed
from their own free and happy fatherland, Prussia
is merely regarding her little neighbour with the
same feeling as turned the eyes of Ahab towards
the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Her talk is
autorion• y and personal union ; her thoughts are of
cities and harbours, of bays and islands. Pretext
after pretext has been adopted and thrown aside
with cynical recklessness so soots es it has served
her turn. The first masquerade was played off
under the visor of scrupulous legality. The Getman
Confederscy took up arms to vindicate the wrongs
undergone by the Duchy of Holstein at the hands
of a foreign Prince on whom the dukedom had de-
scended. Holstein was occupied for the purpose of
Federal execution, just as Poland was occupied that
the Diet might deliberate freely. Thu pretence
nerved its purpose, and was scornfully cast aside.
Schleswig must next be seized, end the only ground
that could be invented for seining it was the not
very specious pretext that a material guarantee was
needed that full justice should he done to Holstein,
and, as it was begun to be suggested, to Schleswig
also. War appeared in its most hideous form,
Thousanls of innocent and industrious people wore
reduced to misery. To make the whole thing com-
plete, the Powers who had bound themselves by
solemn treaties to respect the title of the reigning
monarch—indeed, to whom, like Poniatowski, he
rutty be said to be indebted for his throne—brought
with them a Pretender, whose claims had been pur.
chased for an ample consideration as a preliminary
to the treaty establishing the right of the present
King of Denmark, to which their signatures were
affixed. This Pretender, who dared not remain a
day in the country without their patronage and en-
couragement, his been further assisted by the dis-
missal of the officials established by the lawful
and has been suffered to enter into relations with
the people of the Duchies utterly inconsistent with
the attitude of neutrality implied in the idea of
a Federal execution in one Duchy and the seiz-
ing on a pledge or material guarantee in the
other. The Danish army, like the Poles, has
offered a brave but an unavailing resistance, but the
effusion of blood could not be stayed, because Prus-
sia felt it her duty to distinguish herself in war,
and had gained one of those happy opportunities
where a small nation, being piqued on the point of
honour, must fight, even though defeat to itself, and
consequently victory to its antagonist, be absolutely
certain. It may be doubted whether even this pros
fession was sincere, and whether the pretence or a
desire to acquire cheap and inglorious laurels did
not hide the wish to place Denmark absolutely at
the mercy of the invaders, and thus to remove the
only obstacle to territorial aggrandizement. The
obstinacy of the Danish Government has been a
most powerful auxiliary to the covetousness of its
invaders. It has fought just enough to give them
the excuse they needed, and not enough to throw
any serious obstacle in the way of their progress.
It is not, indeed, as it was a hundred years ago,
when such things could be done by the strong
against the weak without any serious protest or
remonstrance. The Powers involved in this course
of double-dealing must give an account of their acts
before an European Conference. Opinion has been
able, so far at least, to assert its claim to be heard,
even amid the promptings of ambition and the ela-
tion of success. But here, we greatly fear, its
triumphs are destined to end. Austria, though
having in the instance of Denmark no direct terri-
torial acquisition to strive for, is, nevertheless, too
fearful of compromising her relations to the smaller
Powers of Germany, and toosubservient to Prussia,
to sop short in the course of which she is destined
to share the discredit without gaining the substan-
tial advantage. Prussia, with the game almost
within her grasp, stimulated by an aristocracy ett:er
above al! things to turn the mind of the nation
from domestic to foreign policy, and elated by a
cheap success, is even less likely to give way ; and
France seems inclined, with all the enthusiasm of
a convert, to overact the part of a peacemaker, and
to neutralize her influence in the hope of extin-
guishing all distrust of her intentions. We greatly
fear the result will be triumph of the men of action
over the men of words, the overthrow of the just
policy of the Western Powers by the superiority
always obtained by those who are ready to appeal
to force.

POST.—To those who watch with interest the pro-
ceedings of the Conference (and who does not ?) it
may possibly occasion some surprise that obstacles
should be raised in limine to the conclusion of an
armistice. The ostensible object with which the
Danish territories were i❑ the first instance invaded
has been attained, and the Prussian troops have
covered themselves with what to them at least
appears military glory. Schleswig is now, from
the Baltic to the German Ocean, in the occupation
of the allies, and both on the D3newirke and the
redoubts of Duppel sufficient Danish cannon have
been taken to suffice for the construction of a grand
military trophy to commemorate to the most distant
posterity the prowess of the German arms. The
head-quarters of the Danish army have quitted
Alsen, and probably' within a few days that little
appurtenance of Schie,wig will share the fate of
that Duchy. Germany has now all she demanded,
cud, so far as wa have the means of judging, all
which she desires, and yet still we receive daily ina
telligence of the onward march of Austrian and
Prussian legions into the province of Tutlard, and
still the appeals made by the great neutral Powers
in the cause of peace fall upon deaf ears. It was
announced, and with truth, that when the Confer-
ence met an armistice would be proposed by the
Engiish plenipotentiaries. That proposal was sup-
ported by the representatives of the neutral Powers,
but was coupled with conditions which the German
representatives professed themselves unable, with.
out instructioes, either to refuse or to accept. The

-German Dthaant me ta w
thei
Germanear has been
possessed
t o this
overwhelm
peculiar
ing preponcleranee in respect to land forces, the
Danes had an almost exclusive command o Or.
sea. The only use, however, to which Denma 5-
has been enabled to turn her naval superiority be:
a "wash:
;,,en to blockade the German ports,
which, 2however injurious to at 2 enemy's "Laraertce;
is rather of a negative than a
Powerlese at sea, the German Powers are said
have made it a necessary condition of the "IP be
talon of hostilities that the blockade should e
raised and their commerce relieved fromtit.b
I,,ositive chars.c
serious restrictions at present imposed I.'pefl..inn
Under ordinary circumstances such a cot. elf".,_
might seem reasonable, but that in the presen..•
stance it is not so must appear on a little reflect' on
The German Powers have second posseasior; of
Duchies, and if an armistice were agreed upol'
companied by a suspension of the existing bloc
the aggressive Powers would have no motive
bringing the proceedings of the Conference teto
speedy close. They could loae nothing, whet on
they might gain much by delay. An arraistio
_a
the basis of the military uti possidetis would 851.7;5
them every facility for revolutionising the Doeb.l,,
and effecting such changes as would render it
possible for the signitaries of the Treaty of Loo&Pa
to require that they should subsequently be resteriejo
to Denmark. Against such a contingency. in
Danish Government are bound to provide, ao°' c,l
desiring to reserve the maintenance r,f the right° ia
blockade, they simply wish not so much to rett"o,
the means of injuring Germany, as to furnish ah
ducement to the German Powers to bring rasa
tit
to a speedy conclusion. Germany has throtiglici°ot
assumed so high a tone that we are not surpri6e to
the disdainful manner in which the official purl, ,
in Vienna and Berlin have treated a suggeett
which at the Conference received the support of to
6,
neutral Powers. But, after all, an armistice in 6°113%.„
shape or other is only a matter of time ; and, ha.
ever desirous the Germans might be of prosecatir''''
hostilities, their possible sphere is so extreme!). Iv.
stricted that it would soon become physically ire'
possible for them to find fresh territory to invadbe.,
Jutland is almost entirely defenceless, and might
occupied in the course of a few days. One of tln‘
latest telegrams informs us that the General 1„
command of the Danish forces in that province tr't,
retreated without accepting battle; nor is 0)1
astonishing. considering the relative proporliee.,"
of the German and Danish armies. If the war cone
tinned, Fredericia would undoubtedly share tu
fate of Duppel, and Funen, together with Alse9,;
would pass into German hands. It is thereie't
impossible, however the question is regarded, t",
the Dano-German war can be of long continutoore'
and, such being the case, there is the greater pt°l
bability that the preliminary difficulties raised ‘A
the Conference will be speedily cleared away'
suspension of hostilities will, however, be only Prof
fatory to the discharge of the proper functions
the Conference. Matters have unfortunately now
'-
rived at that pass that Denmark is powerless
give effect to any dissent to which she might thin"'
it consistent with her dignity to give eepressievi.
Her fate depends exclusively upon the petit°
Powers, and on them she will be compelled to rely
If they should assent to a proposal for her disinter
disintergratioo, nought would remain for her but to Wi
mit. She might retire from the Conference, hut.
the withdrawal of her plenipotentiaries would
b
avert her destiny. It may be, however, that he.
very helplessness will be to her a source of strengt'd
The representativesof the Western Powers are wen
aware that there is something more at stake th,fl„-
the form of administration thenceforth to be 0';
blished in two obscure Duchies in Northern EureP'S
The true nature of the issue was candidly avowe,
by the Prussian Prime Minister in December la%
in a conversation with Lord Wodehouse, It is
contest between despotic and liberal instituti"s;
between constitutional government and that spec'e',
of rule to which enlightened Austria and PraBl;
are willing to submit. " Peace," said Count J3-a"
mark, " will never subsist between Germany 55
Denmark so long es the latter encourages demorB.
tic institutions." It will certainly be establishiq
a strange precedent if the Western Powers shoal'
by endorsing the demands of the German Stet Eh
countenance aggression based upon such a in.":,,;
cation. We now dismiss from consideration t'f
claims which Denmark has to the protection fn
France end England, and throw out of account
serious disturbance to the balance of power
Europe which would be effected by the trunstnat"; .
Lion of Germany into a naval Power. When, 10;
ever, these considerations are also borne in ati",.'
it is impossible to avoid feeling that howevc'
great may be the straits to which Denmark
driven, her interests will be carefully ploteete e f
at a Conference to which the representatives if,
France and Great Britain have admission. 5e ;o.
interest furnishes the strongest of all motives
human action, and it may be a source of satisfaolie,[.
to Denmark to know that, feeble though she is, ti";
force of circumstances has made her cause equally
that of the two most powerful maritime Power° ;'-
the world.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

-

LIVERPOOL—FRIDAY.
There was a Letter attendance of the town and countl
trude to-day, and wheat met a good consumptive de130.1',.
at about 2d per cental dearer. Flour sells more readlJ;
but prices as before. Indian corn met an improved
be 0,"
quiry, and we quote 3d on the week. Oats Id per bue
and oatmeal 3d to 6cl per load against buyers. 130136
peas, and bailey all tending in the same direction.

LINCOLN—FRIDAY.
White wheat new, 33s to 42e Barley, grinding.. 27s to 01
Red do. 36s to 39s Oats, old, ..
421
,04
sss
ttt 000
422 :,,, i
Old white —s to —s New.do
Red do.. —s to —s Beans.
Barley, malting....33s to 35s f Beans, new 345 to 36/

WAKEFIELD—FRIDAY.
The wheat trade was firm, and the sales made Nvere,,.
rather over last Friday's quotations. Beans fully AS de'
In other articles there was no material change.
Averages for the weep :
Wheat '67B qrs., at 39s 21G1
Rye — .. —s Od

8ar1ey......... ,787 ^
Beans 5l .. 333 7u
Peas .... 80
Oats . 104

STAMFORD-FRIDAY.
White wheat, 39s to 425; red, 388 to 40s per 36 stemßarley, malting, 33s to 356; grinding, 29s to 32s per (1,„"
Oats, 18s to 22s per 24 stone. Beans, old, 40s to —8 Pr"
qr. ; new, 34s to 365.

The following were the quotations this morning gis
wheat, 8s Od to 8s 10d; white, 8s Od to Os 8d , barley'
ld to Os Od ; oats, 5s 8d to 6s 4d ; black do., 5$ 3d
53 6d.

C ORK-THURSDAY,

BRISTOL SUGAR—FRIDAY.
^
There has been a quiet trade doing, and notwithstOr(l
ing importers are willing to sell at fully 6d per cwt. I.)sreS
buyers will not purchase. Refined goods is deoline, 513
difficult to sell. In rum no sales to report.

COAL M
Melee of Coal per Ton al

the clOse of the market.

dI
A.

Walls End.
Heugh Hall 17 9
South Kelloe .. l/ 6
gaswell
S South Hetton ..1 5
Caradoc lB
Caw') l7 6
Hartlepool
Braddyll's Raton ..... 17 ,
Tunstall
Riddell
9
Framwellgate l6 6
East Hartlepool 18 9
K elloe
it, 120 ; sold, 83. ......17
_

s. d.
Eden Main .....17 3
Buddlo'sWest Hartley 17 3
Hastings Hartley ....17 3
North Pelton Ga 5..... 12 9
Cowpen Ilartley 17 8
Byass's Bebside West
__ _

Hartley ...17 3
Walker Primrose 12 6
Wylam 17 6
Gawber Hall (hard).. 16 0

Births.