The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TniEs.—By putting forth all their strength, and
making full use of the resources which a long study
of the art of war hes given them, the Prussians
have attained the object for which they persevered
in the campaign of Schleswig. This object was
the maintenance of their military reputation. Pro-
bably when they first entered the Peninsula they
had no strong desire to push the Danes to the last,
or to inflict upon them a humiliation which might
set lasting enmity between the two races. In spite
of some enthusiasm on the part of tlie Royal family,
the Government of Berlin entered into the war more
to take the matter out of the hands of the King of
Bavaria and the Duke of Saxe•Coburg than with
any wish to destroy the Danes. M. von Bismark's
Ministry acted because it was necessary to do some-
thing, and the occupation of Schleswig was the best
antidote to the excesses of the Federal army and the
vagaries of the Prince of Augustenburg. But as
the war advanced the honour of the Prussian army
became involved. Chance, the superior activity or
the more complete readiness of the Austrians, took
from the Prussians the opportunity of distinguishing
themselves in the early part of the campaign. No-
thing remained but to conquer Dybbol. But Dybbol
was strong, it was energetically defended, and the
world was becoming unpleasantly interested in the
contest. The Danes defied their opponents, and a
belief spread that their boast of being able to hold the
place indefinitely was not without foundation. The
Prussians hurried up more troops, with heavy guns
and all the materials for an important siege. The
more they brought the more necessary was it that
this powerful force should not return unsuccessful.
If the Conference met and proposed an armistice, it
might be that the campaign would come to an end
while the Danish flag still floated over Dybbol. In
such a case there would be no end to the taunts
against the Prussian army. If even the matter
ended in something like a surrender by Den-
mark of the chief points in dispute, it would
ever remain in history that the Prussians had in-
vested a line of Danish works and had been unable
to take them. The Danes would have boasted of
the impregnability of their stronghold, and the
world would have been apt to believe them. It
can be easily imagined that a people so sensitive as
the Prussians looked at this prospect with appre-
hension. Accordingly the approach of the Con-
ference only roused them to redoubled energy. Not
even the French could have pushed a siege with
more activity and a faller determination to be
stopped by no obstacles. All ranks felt that the
thing had to be done, and that the campaign must
be carried on at any cost until the place was
taken. This has now been accomplished. Happily
for the reputation Jf the Prussian arms, the Danes
were as obstinate as their opponents. Bishop Mon.
rad and his colleagues repelled the proposed Con-
ference until the enemy was ready to take his full
vengeance upon them. They took care not to disap-
point the invaders by a timely concession. They
decided that Dybbol must be held at all hazards,
just as the Prussians were resolute that it should be
taken at all hazards. The consequence has been that
all King William or his subjects could desire has been
accomplished. The Conference begins its sittings
amid the blaze of a Prussian victory; the Prussian re-
presentative will speak in the name of a Power which
holds the Danish Peninsula at its mercy, the pride of
the Copenhagen Government will be abated, and the
Prussian army will ba regarded with respect even if
its achievement does not quite extort our admiration.
Although the Danes are said to have again re-
fused to concur in the proposed armistice, and are
willing apparently to try their fortune still further,
yet it will be a good thing for all parties, and we
verily believe an honour to Prussia, if the campaign
be now allowed to come to an end. If it be allowed
to find any consolation in such a melancholy event
as the slaughter at Dybbol, we may say that it
makes the settlement of these questions somewhat
more easy. It would be a cruelty to the Danes to
encourage tt ena to rely further on their power of
resisting the invader. The German Powers have
shown that they are entirely masters of Schleswig.
They have 70,000 or 80,000 men, and can increase
their numbers indefinitely, while the Danes have
probably only some 18,000 or 20;000 in Alsen. The
Sound is narrow, and can be crossed with ease by
the Prussians, supported as they are by such tremen-
dous artillery. If the campaign continues, no-
thing can be expected but the destruction of
the remains of the Danish army by an over-
whelming force, It is a child struggling in
the grasp of two strong men, and though the
courage of the weaker party deserves all ad-
miration, yet to counsel resistance would be a
crime in a neutral ; to take advantage of it to in-
flict further chastisement would be ungenerous in a
belligerent already victorious. Why, then, may not
the campaign now cease? Every one will acknow•
ledge that Alsen can be conquered, and j the Allies
held their hand now, Europe will give the: n full
credit for having virtually conquered it. If they
could not recede with reputation before the assault
on Dybbol, that cruel point of honour is now
satisfied. They may concede an armistice, and
stand higher than if they killed a few thousand
more overmatched Danes in their last refuge in Alsen.
Wo are glad to fiad that the proclamation of the
King of Denmark does not command any acts of
impossible valour, or declare that the war shall be
indefinitely prolonged. Its tone is becoming, but
the document has one fatal defect—it is not issued
at Sonderborg by a King sharing the dangers of
those who are fighting in his cause, but is dated
from Copenhagen. The defence of Dybbol will,
as his Majesty says, be memorable not only on ac-
count of the inequality of the contest, but also for
the heroism which the beaten army displayed. We
trust that if the resistance of the Danes be still
continued it will be under circumstances which will
allow their heroism a chance of better fortune.
That this can be found by continuing to resist the
Allies in Alsen we can hardly believe. Happily, the
actual armistice does not depend on the consent of
the Danes. Stung by their wrongs, and believing
that the representatives of Prussia, Austria, and
the Diet will insist on concessions as fatal to Danish
independence as conquest itself, the Danes natu-
rally desire to keep their fate in their own
hands as long as they can, '[hey think, perhaps,
that they can insure their own free action and
preserve a chance of deliverance only by appear;ng
to maintain themselves in the field as a bellige-
rent Power. To give up the right of striking a
blow would be, perhaps, in their opinion, equivalent
to an abandonment of their due share in the settle-
ment of the questions in debate. But in spite of the
unwillingness of Denmark, the actual question of
an armistice rests entirely with the Allies, who are
answerable to European opinion, and can best satisfy
it by abstaining from the further shedding of blood.
Let them only refrain from an easy and inglorious
victory over the few thousand men who aro now
left in Alsen, and an armistice would prevail even
without any formal agreement.
HERALD.—The case of the Tuscaloosa, which
last night engaged the attention of the House of
Lords, is a fair illustration of the systematic partia-
lity which the Government, whilst professing to be
neutral and impartial, have shown the Federals
throughout the war. The Conrad, a barque sailing
under the Federal flag, and belonging to Federai
owners, was captured last June off the coast of Brazil
by the famous Alabama. Captain Semmes put
some guns on board his prize, and fitted her out as
clonfederate cruiser. Under that character she
entereed Simon's Bay to repair and refit, and became
the abject of the anxious attention of the British
,
naval commiee'd
the notorious Sir Baldwin
Walker. Sir Bain win
was of opinion that the Tus-
caloosa, in entering
S 5 non's Bay, violated the pro-
clamation of the Queen, forbidding either of the
belligerents to bring their prie'S into her ports ; and
further, that as the Tuscaloosa I.;.`'d not been con-
demned by any court she was no legit mate prize,
and should be seized oy her Majesty s ne,avernmen t
and restored to her original owners. The Atiorney-
General of the colony, to whose authority the Go-
veneer acceded, was of a different opinion, and thy'
Tuscaloosa, having obtained what she wanted, sailed
away unmolested. The circumstances were, how-
ever, reported to the Home Government, whose at-
tention had in the meantime been called to the
subject by Mr. Adams, and the Duke of Newcastle
wrote to Governor Wodehouse, expressing his dis-
agreement with the opinion of the colonial legal
authorities, although without giving any special
instructions for the governor's future guidance.
Instructions, however, prepared by the law ()facers
of the Crown were sent out subsequently to the
commanders of all her Majesty's naval forces, Sir
Baldwin Walker amongst them, which directed
that in any similar ease the vessel should be seized.
Unconscious that he had been the object of so
much correspondence and controversy, the com-
mander of the Tuscaloosa revisited Simon's Bay
some four months afterwards, and the vessel
was then seized by Sir Baldwin Walker. The
Confederate lieutenant protested against a proceed-
ing so unjust and unfair even if it were legal, and
her Majesty's Government found themselves in the
end constrained to release the ship. So far, there-
fore, as the Tuscaloosa is concerned, the Confede-
rate Government has sustained no more damage
than the brief detention of the vessel. But all the
ports of her Majesty's dominions are closed by
virtue of these instructions to nay cruisers which
the Confederate Government or its duly constituted
agents may equip out of their prizes, and the
British navy is ordered to the assistance of the
Federal navy to capture them. If these instruc-
tions, however, were based upon well-established
principles of international law, however hardly,
they might bear upon the Confederates, to what-
ever degree they might convert our professed neu-
trality into a practical assistance to the Federals,
no one would complain. The fact, however, is—as

Lords Chelmsford and Kingadown proved—that.-welleen
these instructions are thoroughly illegal ; that
recognised doctrines of international law have b
violated in order to satisfy the Federal Govern-
ment, and that the law officers of the Crown have'
allowed the political necessities of their chiefs to,
mislead them into stating as international law that
which was clearly not so. Lord Chelmsford con—
tended, and he challenged contradiction from the'
Government, that all that a neutral which has re'
fused to allow prizes to be brought into its ports can.
do, if one of the belligerents violates that prohibi-
tion, is to order the offending vessel away—to seize
and detain it was clearly indefensible—and that the
Tuscaloosa, as a ship of war in the charge of a
legally commissioned officer of a belligerent powe;
W i
not only ought not to have been warned, but e,
Is
entitled to the usual hospitality accorded to ve.se
either
of war. Lord Russell did not venture to deny
of tLesepropositions. He adrni tted, in fact, that the
instructions were incorrect, and that the sWeizu 1182 re
of the Tuscaloosa was indefensible.
a Minister admits that his measures " are open 'l,
further consideration," and that it is a " nice point
whether they were justified or not, he meXes
es
ample a confession of the justice of the censure
passed upon him as is consistent with ministeriA
nature. Bat his lordship defended Sir Baldwin-
Walker's opinion upon a question of internationals.
law on the grounat that it was " common sense,
system of interpretation which, if it were admitted,
would enable any
mem to make out of any lawjt
ne
what suited his intn-este and prejudices; and te
volunteered an opinion which will be interesting to
lawyers, that naval office rs, having the instructions
of the Government and works upon internationa.
law by them, were very excellent authorities upoll.,
that law. Commodore Wilkes wi I be delighted
with the noble lord's dictum. That ill used officer
found by his boors that Messrs. Mason and Slidell
were contraband of war, and took them out of the
mail packet Trent. A torrent of indignation at hie
presumption was his reward. Lord Russell has no
justified him. His error was the venial one coalman
to all lawyers, if error it' be, of sometimes taking eg•
different view of a law from that which obtain
with the judges. Let us
a
elope, at least, that if our
dmirals and post captains a
re to set themselves ng
as authorities upon international law on the faith 01
their study of text books, th,"Y may be furnished
with every edition as it comes o,at. Sir B. Walker
had, it seems, founded his opinio a won a passage;
which appeared in the first edition of Wheaton, 0'
which he had a copy, but which Ilan'
out as incorrect in all subsequent editions.
The remarkable speech in which Lord
Kingsdown laid down, with irresistible cc.',genc3's'
been left
the true doctrine relative to captures, comp 2etelr
disposed of the last excuse of Ministers. Lord leliVss
down did not consider it necessary to ireantre
whether the Tuscaloosa was converted into a alliPf
of war. He proved the illegality and injustice,
her detention, and the proposed restoration of her to
her original owners, by showing that those owners'
had ceased to have any property in her—their rights
only reviving in the event of recapture. The CO"
tention of Sir Baldwin Walker, adopted by the
Government, was, he observed, that a prize remaiq
the property of the original owners until condemnedby a prize court, and that any Government 00111'
seize and restore it, but that contention was trite;
gether unwarranted and againet the clear letter 01
international law. The obligation of condemnatiool
said the noble lord, quoting the highest authorities
in his support, only exists with regard to vessels
sailing under a neutral flag. The capture is con-
clusive as soon as made; and, as between belli-
gerents there is no occasion for condemnation, the
captor can destroy his prize. When he cannot bring"
that prize into port nothing, indeed, is left to him
but to destroy it—nay, it is his duty to do so, a rule
of law which fully justifies the course which tbe
Alabama and her consorts have taken in ciestroYirl
their captures. So far, therefore, as the British
Government is concerned, it is bound to treat the
prizes of the Confederates where made upon 01°
Federals as Confederate property ; and in seizin,F,
and restoring them to their original owners it would
commit a flagrant robbery. In vain the Lord Chan
cellor attempted, by quoting cases which were lot
pertinent, to weaken the effect of Lord Kingsclowne
powerful argument. Even the Government benchea
felt that it was unanswerable; and a debate roost
damaging to the Government closed with the de'
claration of the Lord Chancellor that the instrue'
tions of which the Opposition complained are to be
recalled, and fresh ones more in accordance with
law and justice issued.