The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-16 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1864.

It has long been decided that the age of chivalry
is past, and surely if any confirmation were wanting
to the fact the Dano-German war has furnished
proof positive to that effect. • From the commence-
ment to the close of this unequal struggle we have
witnessed nothing but extravagant extortion and
cruel aggression on the part of the German Powers.
Their course has been unparalleled in the annals of
modern times for rapacity and revenge, and this,
too, on a harmless people who had done them no
injury. Whatever there has been to denounce cn
the part of the Russians in their conduct towards
Poland, and to deplore in the sufferings of that
wretched land, it is certain that where once des-
perate natures have held sway they are not likely

to lose their hold without making a most desperate
resistance. The prey once grasped is still hen-
.' kered after, and it is no easy matter to make the
spoiler yield his prize, however unlawful might
have been the means that once put it into his pos-
session. This reason, for it cincot be called an
excuse, does not in any way bold good in respect
to the attitude assumed by the Germans in regard
to Denmark and the Dines. They never held
dominion over the place they now so ruthlessly
attack, nor ruled over the people they relentlessly
persecute. Their vehement course, their violent
demeanour, and their fierce fighting for territory
show the bent of their grasping minds and the want
of consideration that actuates their course. If any-
thing could have aroused the inaction which uu
fortunately seized upon Europe at the time when
the united armies proceeded on their cruel expedi•
tion, surely it must have been the manner in which
the theories were put into practice, and the designs
executed by the aggressors. It was bad enough
to go to war at all, but to carry on the contest in
such a style as has been chronicled was outrageous
in the extreme. In times when honour was more
thought of an universal outcry from all the nations
of Christendom would have been raised against the
depredators, who in plenitude of power and pride
of possession marched on to carry desolation into
smiling provinces, and make the homesteads of
happy peasants the scene of slaughter. It would
appear from the testimony of all witnesses
and the general aspect of affairs, as if the
desire of the German Powers had been to erase
Denmark altogether from the map of Europe, and
ea incorporate her ravished territories with those
of her enemies, that the next generation would have
had nothing of a tangible nature to remind them of
the existence of that gallant little kingdom which
sent forth such brave armies to meet the advances
of a Powerful and pitiless foe. Doubtless the
general expression of public opinion in England,
aed the strong language employed in the great
debate on foreign affAirs towards the close of the
session, in some measure contributed to stay the
sacrifice and modify the catastrophe. In France,
political reasons nothing was
also, although for
done of a material nature to afford assistance, the
sympathy of the press and people were warmly
ex-
pressed on behalf of the assailed State; and all
these secondary interpositions combined to elle,
viate the horrors of the final scene. Yet, when we
refl'Jet upon the tidings that reached us of the reode
in which the warfare was carried on, the unneces.
nary violence added to the inseparable horrors of
war, the brutality in which the Prussian troops in-
dulged, and the mews into which their officer*.