The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY; 162 184 t

The French Circular on the Conference,

The following is the text of the Note addressed
by M. Drouyn de Lhuys to the French Ministers at
the minor German Courts relative to the Conference
proposed by England:—
M. le Ministre,—On the 31st December the English Go-
vernment forwarded a communication to the Government of
the Emperor, in which it proposed the assembly of a Con-
ference, either at Paris or London, which should be sum-
moned to consult upon the affairs of the Duchies. It would
consist of representatives of the Powers by which the Treaty
of 1852 was signed, to whom would be added an accredited
envoy from the German Confederation.
When the Government of the Emperor was first sounded
on this subject, it felt itself called upon, in order tc avoid
every error, to point out clearly the materifd difference exist-
ing between a Conference which discussed a special question
and between the general or more restricted Congress, the
idea of which emanated from the Emperor.
A Congress which is to regulate interests of the most
various kinds offered elements of arrangement which, of ne-
cessity, would be wanting when the deliberation is confined
to an isolated interest. While the Emperor allowed himself
to be guided by this reflection, and as he was, in addition,
no longer willing to take a negotiation under his auspices,
from which he would have been obliged to exclude several
of the Powers who had assented to the idea of a Congress,
no other course was open to him but to decline to permit
the Congress to assemble in Paris.

But the Government of the Emperor is not on that:ao-
count less desirous to support the attempt which may be
made to prevent more serious complications. The preserva-
tion- of peace was the aim of my august master, when he in-
vited the Sovereigns to an explanation among themselves
to fortify still further the political system of Europe. The
object of the Emperor is still the same, and, although he
still remains convinced that only one way can lead to it, he
has yet no absolute objection to the combination which has
been announced by the English Government. Certain pre-
liminary explanations would, notwithstanding, be necoc-
sary, and the same have been offered by the Powers.
The London Conference of 1852 has only accomplished
an impotent work, as the present condition of affairs more
than abundantly proves.

Its resolutions are contested at the present time by the
majority of the lesser States, as well as by some of those by
whom it was agreed to. If they were to ;assemble again at
the present time it would be mainly to come to resolutions
which would be calculated to give hopes of a more satisfac-
tory result. In the first place, it is of importance not to
place the Conference in opposition to the Federal Diet by
inviting the Plenipotentiaries to discuss questions which
may practically already be decided, and the Government of
the Emperor has applied to the Powers to learn if they were
inclined to take the actual status que in Schleswig and
Holstein as the point of departure—that is, to reserve the
pending question.
At the same time the Emperor, actively engaged on one
subject which appears to be of great interest for Germany,
is of opinion with the English Government that the parti-
cipation of the Germanic Confederation in the negotiations
which may ensue would be of great assistance. But it is
questionable if the Federal Diet would decide to adopt the
line of action.

In the midst of a general or more restricted Congress,
which discussed other questions besides that of the Duchies,
the German Diet, as I believe, would have no hesitation in
laying its affairs before Isla European tribunal. Ono of the
advantages of this conciliatory plan was to make a just share
of allowance for the sensibility and interests of each. But
since the Federal Diet has on several earlier occasions de-
clined all the prepositions which had for their object the
arrangement of their difference with Denmark by the
Powers who signed the Treaty of London, the Emperor must
first be convinced whether the views of the German States
in this respect have undergone any change before he on his
part accepts the proposition of the English Cabinet.
This is the communication, 111. le Ministre, which I am
directed to transmit to you. I should, therefore, esteem it a
favour if you would place me in a position to announce to
my Government whether the idea of a Conference is ap-
proved by the -- Government, and whether it would be
inclined to vote at Frankfort that Germany should be re-
presented at this assembly by a special plenipotentiary.

don after all was not unfruitful. They had a good budget.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer had £300,000,000 to dis-
pose of, which he divided between the rich and the poor by
taking off 2d. from the income tax, and sd. from tea and by
a little doctoring of tobacco. They had also some excite-
ment about the proposition for the purchase of the Exhibi-
tion building, which created such a now in the house that
anybody would have taken it to be drunk. (Laughter.)
There was also an excitement with reference to Mr. Somes's
bill, for which he had voted. (Applause.) The state of Lan-
cashire had also been discussed, and the Public Works Act
had been the result. Emigration had been suggested as a
remedy for Lancashire distress, but he was no advocate for
traqsporting people by thousands, which he thought would
be a desperate remedy for the ills of the country. The only
system of relief was more cotton, and he was glad to say
there was a prospect of a good supply from Egypt, Africa,
Greece, Italy, Algiers, and some of our colonies. He had
himself tried, he believed with success, the experiment of
cultivating cotton in the West Indies. Rascality and dis-
honesty had disappointed them in reference to India, but
even from there they might expect a greater quantity and a
better quality. Upon the dispute in Amo ica and the affairs
of Schleswig-Holstein, our course should be that of neu-
trality. He wished to see old England weather the storm
—looking upon the storm indeed, but taking no part in it
ourselves ; but husbanding our strength for a better time.
He was glad to bel.eve that there was a prospect of a re-
turn to a state of prosperity. Let us but have a supply of
cotton—the means cf employing the people—and old Eng-
land would again be one of the most prosperous countries
under Heaven. (Lard cheering.)
Several questions vere put to the hon. gentleman. Mr.
Barnes was asked if he would support the Permissive Bill
of Mr. Lawson, merther for Carlisle.
Mr, BARNES said he could not say what he should do
until he saw the bill.
Mr. Alderman HARWOOD moved a vote of thanks to
Mr. Barnes for his services during the past session of Par-
liament.

Mr. Alderrnan:OLToN:seconded the motion, which was
carried by acclamatim.
Mr. BARNES acknowledged the compliment, and the
maeting terminated with & vote of thanks to the chairman.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—A number of concurrent indications
prove only too clearly that the last desperate struggle
of the Polish nation is drawing to a conclusion. One
by one the insurgent leaders are captured, their
bands dispersed, and themselves consigned, after a
decent interval of a few days, to the gibbet or to the
bullet. It is rather mortifying to reflect that the
present success of the Russians is in a great measure
owing to the misappropriation of a loan contracted
ostensibly for the purpose of restoring the value of
their currency. Still, if the insurrection is to fail,
the shorter the agony the better. No one can hear
without regret and indignation of the cruelties and
enormities that have been perpetrated, and we may
reasonably hope that at least the extremity of
rigour will cease with the cessation of the cause
whence it arose. Assuming, however, that the
Emperor has successfully disposed of the question
of serfdom and of the Polish insurection, he has yet
to deal with another problem perhaps more diffi-
cult than either of its predecessors. Russia expects
from the hands of its present monarch a Constitu-
tion, and he is under some engagement to meet her
expectations. Now, Russia is a country to frame
a Constitution for which would, we think, have
very seriously puzzled even the Abbe Sieyes. The
Emperor, in granting a Constitution, has not, we
believe, the slightest intention of doing what in
most cases is nearly identical—effecting a vast re.
volution. He professes himself friendly to progress
andwilling to allow his people a voice in their own
affairs, bat we have no idea that he moans for
one moment to divest himself of absolute power,
or to descend from the position of Emperor, Auto-
crat, Head of the Church, and almost a Deity on
earth, to that of a chief magistrate, exercising cer-
tain delegated ettribut ons under the advice of Mini-
sters responsible to a freely-elected Parliament.
The first question the Emperor of Russia will have
to consider is how he means to treat his aristocracy,
Is he prepared to place the supreme powers of go.
vornment virtually in their hands ?. Such an act
would be one of signal self-sacrifice; but, supposing
the objections of the Emperor to despoil himself of
absolute power have been overcome, it is quite cer-
tain that the good of the country would be pro-
moted by an act which would give it many masters
instead of one? The Emperor may call to his aid
the moat enlightened advice, and when he has ascer-
tained what is best to be done he is so immeasurably
raised above his subject that there would seem to
be nothing to disturb his judgment. Would this
state of things be mended by placing the supreme
power in the hands of an aristocracy hitherto,
for the most part, inexperienced in public affairs,
and having little knowledge of any profession
except the use of arms ? Of course the removal
of a supreme authority would at once split the
aristocracy into factions, and the direction of
public affairs would be contested with a cor-
ruption and violence exaggerated by the magni-
tude of the stake, the uncivilised state of the mass
of the people, and the great power placed in the
hands of the combatants. For the present century
the Russian aristocracy has renounced the privilege
of tempering autocracy by assassination. Is it quite
certain that the Crown could' enter into partnership
with this powerful body without running some risk
af a recurience to ancient practices? Shall, then,
the Emperor create a House of Commons, to vote
the Supplies and share with himself and the nobility
the powers of legislation ? For such a body, in the
English sense of the term, we fear there ere in Russia
no materials. The Russian middle class can hardly
yet be said to have any existence. The House that
would be elected would represent the peasants ; it
would naturally be bitterly hostile to the nobility,
from whose hands it had only lately been emancipated
and would probably seek to place the Emperor at
its head with a view to changes in a Communistic
sense. Looked at even in this general way, the
prospect is not at &et eight very encouraging. The
difficulty of finding a Constitution for Russia is,
however, very greatly increased when we consider
the vast numbers of the population, and the im-
mense space ,of land over which they are spread.
In many of the western provinces, for instance, the
opinion of the educated part of the community is
so decidedly Polish that popular Assemblies could
not be relied on even for the first essential requisite
of loyalty to the Crown. In Siberia, where there
are no nobles, the landowners are said to be animated
by a free and independent spirit very different
from the slavish ideas which have so long prevailed
in European Russia. What is to be done with
Poland? Can Russia afford to leave her out of the
scheme of the Constitution, or will she venture to
include her in it ? The first would be anomalous,
the second highly dangerous. There is indeed a
*solution which we believe has been thought of, but
to which the Emperor is understood to be opposed,
that is, to avoid the difficulties arising from dis-
cordant political opinions and jarring interests by
placing power in the hands of a class which, ',sunk
in ignorance and till lately in slavery, is below
the region of politics, and would fled, as we have
said, in the Emperor its natural guide and pro-
tector. No doubt, for the present at least, if the
Emperor chose to ally himself with those who
were lately serfs, he might, under the form of a
free constitution, be nearly as absolute as ever.
Universal suffrage would in this, as in most
other eases, evince its affinity for arbitrary power,
and its hostility to every class that intervenes
between the lowest and the highest. Yet the
Emperor may well pause before he exchanges his
position es the head of a brilliant aristocracy and
the earthly Providence of so vast a nation for the
Dictatorship of an enormous predial democracy,
ignorant, fanatical, inconstant, and unreasonable4to
be indulged with the extreme of license, or kept
within bounds only by military violence. Among
so many difficulties it is not wonderful that the
Russian Government should hesitate, and though
pledged to give a Constitution in the early part of
the present year, should be still deliberating what
that Constitution is to be. It is not unlikely that
the result may be the abandonment of the idea of a
general Legislative Body for the whole Empire, and
the substitution for it of some sort of local machi
nery. Nay, it is, we believe, not improbable that
provincial Parliaments will be found nearly as im-
practicable as Imperial Assemblies, and that the
Russian Constitution may, after all, end in the ap-
pointment of Councils to manage the affairs of every
parish. We are far from undervaluing even such
a concession as this, for which the machinery
already exists in every Russian village. But doubt-
less a proposal for a new Constitution which should
end in the appointment of a number of select vestries
would hardly escape the ridicule which attaches to
an anti-climax. The truth is that a Constitution
which is intended to work ought to be the reflex
and result of the existing state of society in the
nation for which it is intended. To invest
12,000,000 slaves just emancipated, and perhaps
three or four times as many persons who can neither
read nor write, with political power, would be to
give influence in the Government to classes which
have as yet been able to assert for themselves no
social influence at all, and to surrender power which
ought to be confided to rational and skilful hands
to something worse than blind chance—to igno-
rance, stupidity, and brutality. And yet a Consti-
tution which pointedly excluded the whole body of
the people must appear ridiculous in the eyes of
foreign countries, and illusory in the eyes of that
people themselves. Serfdom may be abolished by a
change of law, Poland may be subdued by the sabre
and the bayonet, bat Russia has still to contend
egainst her own internal barbarism, and that will
neither yield to laws nor suffer itself to be dragooned
into intelligence. Before he can give a satisfactory
Constitution, the Emperor must educate a new
generation to understand its rights and perform
its duties.

DAILY NEWS.—At length the Duke of Cam-
bridge has published his remarks on the Crawley
Court-martial. The result is that whilst Colonel
Crawley is directed "to resume the command of the
Gth InniskillingDragoons," Major Swindley, Lieu-
tenant Fitzsimon, and Surgeon Turnbull are re-
moved from the regiment. Nothing is said of the
other officers, non-commissioned officers and men.
But the Commander-in• Chief "trusts that the
Colonel will prove by tact and judgment in the per-
formance of his duties, that he appreciates the im-
portance of his position as a commanding officer,
and that the painful experience of the past will not
be lost upon him." Under circumstances so pece.liar
there must be every disposition to ,put such a con-
struction upon the conduct , of the Horse Guards
as will make it, if possible, consistent. But the
task is far from easy. According to the " re
marks," Colonel Crawley has been fully and
honourably acquittee by the court—its proceedings
have been confirmed and approved, and the verdict
we are told, " should now be carried out." "Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Crawley will therefore resume the
command" of his regiment. But why ? How did
the Duke of Cambridge arrive at this conclusion ?
The fitness of Colonel Crawley for command was
never before the Court-martial at all. That officer
has been tried upon two charges, and upon two
charges only—excessive severity toward Sergeant-
Major Lilley, and uttering a false charge against
Adjutant Fitzsimon. It certainly must have oc-
curred to the Duke, as it did occur to many reason-
able people, that Colonel Crawley might well be
acquitted of both those charges, and might never-
theless be utterly unfit to command a regiment.
Surely there are many things less heinous than
torturing a sergeant-major and slandering an ad-
jutant which ought to disqualify a man for the
command of a regiment. But what thinks the ante
of Cambridge on this question ? It is difficult to say.
If the Duke thinks that because Colonel Crawley
has been fully and honourably acquitted of the two
heinous charges for which he was tried he hag proved
himself fit for command,twhy does he allude "to the

painful experience of the past ?" If, on the other
hand, the Duke thinks that it is only by a happy
combination of temper, judgment, and discretion
that the command of a regiment can be properly
conducted, what evidence has been furnished dur-
ing the late court martial that Col. Crawley posa
sesses those essential qualifications? One of two
things—either the Commander in Chief has admi-
nistered a rebuke to Col. Crawley which is unde-
served, or he has replaced that officer in command
of a regiment without due :consideration, and in
violation of all consistency. Contrast for a moment
his treatment of Major Swindley with that of Major
Swindley's Colonel. In the remarks just published,
the Commander in Chief says:—" The Court has
remarked on the animus displayed by Major Swind-
ley in giving his evidence. He has not ceased to
entertain feelings which strike at the root of all
discipline :" " and Major Swindley will be removed
from the regiment accordingly." Only six months
ago the Commander in Chief said—" Col. Crawley's
rejoinder to Mr. Smales's defence his Royal High-
ness considered as exceedingly vindictive, and likely
to raise a spirit of resistance among his officers."
But, notwithstanding, his Royal Highness pro-
ceeds to say that he will allow the Colonel to re-
main at the head of his regiment. Thus the Major
who displays animus against his Colonel in giving
evidence is removed from his regiment because such
feelings strike at the root of all discipline, whilst
the commanding officer of this Major, whose con-
duct is denounced as exceedingly vindictive, and
likely to raise the spirit of resistance, is retained
in command. The army and the public have just
been reminded, by command of his Royal Highness
the Field-Marshal Commanding in Chief, that
without discipline an army is worse than useless,
and that under all circumstances it must and will
be maintained. It might seem superfluous to re-
mind a Commander in Chief that discipline, how-
ever essential, cannot be maintained unless the
chief has mind enough to distinguish be-
tween justice and injustice, and firmness
enough to act upon this distinction. But the
painful inconsistencies of which the Duke of
Cambridge has been guilty in dealing with the
Inniskilling Dragoons prove that principles so
elementary are either ignored or forgotten. After
all, however, neither the weakness and inconsis-
tencies of the Commander-in-Chief, the alleged
tyranny of Colonel Crawley, nor even the sufferings
endured by Lilley and his wife, are the real ques-
tions at issue. The real question is, whether the
law of the land can be overridden, and the rights of
the soldier violated in India or elsewhere with
impunity. There is no doubt whatever that three
non-commissioned officers were kept under arrest
from the 26th of April until the 25th of May, 1862.
And it has been admitted by Lord Hartington in
the House of Commons, by the Judge Advocate, and
the official prosecutor at Alderehot, that this con-
tinued arrest was illegal by the Artie !es of War, and
by the Mutiny Act. By the 99th articele of war,
" when any soldier or officer commits an offheace
deserving of punishment he shall be ordered
arrest or confinement until released by lawful
authority ; and no officer or soldier shall continue
in such arrest or confinement more than eight days,
or until such time as a court-martial can conve-
niently be held." The 79th article article says :
" Whosoever shall unnecessarily detain any prisoner
in confinement without bringing him to trial shall,
if an officer, be liable to be cashiered, or to suffer
such other punishment as, by the judgment of a
general court-martial, may be awarded.' Now, the
three sergeants were in arrest for much more than
eight days, and not one of them was tried by court-
martial. This was a grossly illegal act committed by
some person. Who committed this illegal act was the
question originally raised in Parliament by Mr. For-
tescae and others? That question has not yet been
answered. On the contrary, the utmost care has
been taken that it ehall not be answered. It is
our conviction, as it has been throughout, that the
officer really responsible for this grievous wrong is
Lieut.-Colonel Crawley, but ho has never been
distinctly tried upon this charge. At all events,
the responsibility lies between three men—Colonel
Crawley, General Farrell, and Sir William Mans-
field. It is for the Commander-in-Chief and the
War Secretary to find out and to punish the officer
who is really guilty. The penalties attached to
keeping an officer unnecessarily in confinement
furnish conclusive proof of the serious character of
the charge which some person or other is now bound
to answer. There is no such thing known to the
law of England as arbitrary arrest or imprisonment
for an indefinite period. It is needless at this time
of day for civilians to insist upon the necessity of
visitingthose who violate its provisions with condign
punishment. Soldiers aro equally entitled to the
Like privileges. Those who have dared to violate
them at M how mast be dragged to the light, and
tho common soldiers and non-commissioned officers
must be assured that their rights are to be guarded
with as much jealousy as the rights of the most
illustrious man who ever grasped a marshal's
truncheon ; and unless Parliament is content to
abdicate its functions it will see that right is done.