The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—Those who have followed the operatiors
of the Schleswig campaign.iare ewers) that tne siege
of Debeel bein.g. preesto with increasing vigour
by the Prussians, and that in a few days it is likely
that a general assault will be made. The telegraph
informs us that firing has begun from the third
parallel. Our correspondent, writing nearly a week
ago, speak§ of the terrific fire which the Prussians
were paring in. The shot and shell thrown by
them averaged ten in the minute, thus re-
calling the hottest days of the siege of Sebas-
topol. It is not matter for wonder that the
Prussians should thus bring all their strength to
bear on the Danish positions. The war has been
throughout one for reputation and influence, and
the Prussian Government thinks its honour and its
position in Germany involved in success against
these obstinate Northmen. Unhappily the former
actions did not give its soldiers the opportunity of
distinguishing themselves ; the Austrians carried
off the chief credit of these encounters, and the
fiercer rivalry which subsists between Prussians and
Danes forbids the former to refrain from the con-
flict without h sving inflicted on their enemies a
signal defeat. On the other hand, the Danes are
as obstinate as ever. They have suffered and are
suffering mueh. The enemy vastly outnumbers
them. They have fewer in their camp. They are
exposed to the inclemencies of the weather far more
than their enemy, because the smallness of their
numbers makes their work more incessant. "The
Danish army," says our correspondent, " begins
to suffer from over-exertion nearly as much as
it did when it was deemed expedient to remove
it from the Dsnnewerk." And yet there is not
the smallest inclination to yield. The Copenhagen
Government would probably not allow another re
treat. In spite of the 11 betieries from which the
Germans are pouring in their shells continually, in
spite of a numerous enemy ever threatening an
attack, the Danes are apparently determined to hold
out to the last. The enthusiasm of the nation, the
pride of the soldiers, the conviction that in fighting
for Schleswig they are fighting for a province essen-
tial to the very existence of the monarchy, inspire
them to bear up under all the ills which exhaustion,
atckness, and the sword of the enemy are bringing
upon them. If there were no Conference in prospect ;
if there were no public opinion in Europe; if there
were no rival Austrians looking upon the Prussian
soldier; if there were no France with its immense
armaments and its uncertain policy ; if there were no
tear of continuing_ too long the anxieties raised by
this struggle, the Prussians might h(• content to pro-
long the siege and wear out the Danes by the slow
process which is now going on at Dybbol. But
there is reason to believe that a bolder and more
adventurous style of warfare will be, attempted. It
is desired to waster the Danish positions before the
Representatives in the coming Conference can meet
and give utterance to the opinions on the war which
are held by all neutral nations. B.d as the matter
is now, gratuitous as is the slaughter, it would be
worse if the Prussians were to be pouring shells
among the army of a Power with which their Go-
vernment was engaged in negotiations. We cannot
but think, therefore, that the vigour with which
the siege has been pressed during the last fortnight
ht tokens that an assault will be made on the whole
Danish position within a few days. If this be so,
we may expect the most bloody battle of the war to
ensue. fhe D :nes are inferior in number to their
adversaries, but in case of an assault they would
be fighting behind !heir own works, in a position
they have been strengthening for weeks, and they
would be roused to the greatest efforts by the belief
that a signal repulse of the enemy would restore
their own reputation, stained by their retreat from
the D innewerk—and that it might possibly lead to
the intervention of other Powers. It is is painful
thought that at any hour we may bear of a sangui-
nary conflict, entirely useless, only engaged in to
satisfy the miserable point of honour, and certain not
on!y to cause untold human stiff, ring, but to en-
genthr hatreds which wili survive for years, and
perhaps nullity all the labours of the coming Confer-
ence. Is it impassible, than, even at this hoar, to
prevail oil these beliigerentsto consent to an armis-
? Surely enough has been done for honour and
military reputationiand the nem.nds of the German
people ? Tee D ieieei have proved the sturdy valour
ol• tt eir race; every one who has seen their army
agrees that it is composed of men whom any
nation might be proud to match in the field. If
they sheathe the sword to-day, they are certain of
the respect of Europe for the gallant manner in
which they have made their stand against the great
armies of Germany. We say this because the objec-
tions to the armistice were at first very strong on
the part of Denmark, from the belief that its army
had a certain part of its renown to recover by a
further resistance. But it is, of course, with the
Germans that the decision must really rest. The
Danes are on the defensive, and will not stir out
of Dt bbol. lf, then, the Prussians will simply
withhold their fire for a few days, until the Con-
ference meets and the Representatives agree, if

possible, on some preliminary principles, an artnis-
.ice will be aclAially established, and all that the
Mends of humanity can &sire will be acc(m-
plisherl. We e,cnnot hut hope that the Prussian
and Aumtri in Goverornews will refrain from pr. s-
in, no th,se bootless operations. Can Prussia

ppoSP tint any reel reputation, any permanent
credit in history, wili be gaited by driving the Danes
across the Sound into Aisn? The neighbours of
Prussia know what her military resources are ; she
his shown that her regiments are brave, well com-

manded, excellently armed, and that she possesses an
artillery hi:zhly creditable to the military admini'-
tration of Mrlin, What more can the Prussians
desire ? if ever a time comes for them to measure

themselves with any great Power of Europe, their

enemy will judge their strength by his own observa-
tion of the efficiency of their armies, and not by any
remembrance of their having, after grievous losses,
stormed the works of Dybbol. Lord Ciarendon is
now in Paris, communinitmg with the Fiench Go
v,rnment on these Danish questions. As a member
of the Cabinet, he is able to speak with authority,
and the object of his mission is to unite the two Go.
vernments by a clear uncerstanoing of each other's
views before the conference meets. The postpone
ment from the 12th to the 20th wes at the request

of Prussia and Austria, in order that the Federal
that mi4lat be able to choose its representative.
Althougn this delay may possibly be the cause of
bloodshed at the seat of war, it has had the good
ffect of enabling the two Governments to commu-
nicste orally by means of a member of 'she Cabinet
accustomed to diplomacy and to foreign Courts.
Every friend of peace will hope that Lord Claren-
don will be able to induce the Emperor to join this
country in placing before the German Powers a
se Led scheme for the reconstitution of the D3Dish
monarchy, and urging it upon their acceptance.
But a scarcely less desirable result of the mission
would be the establishment of an armistice, either
formally by agreement between the belligerents, or
practically by the cessation of the Prussian fire. It
Lord Clarendon can prevail on the Emperor to urge
this humane proceeding on the Prussian Govern-
ment, the Conference will meet with better chances
of success, and the questions may be clt bated with
more deliberation, than if Germans and Danes were
destroying each other in a useless siege.
POST.—The House of Commons, by a majority of
three hundred and forty-seven against ninety-nine,
have decided on the expediency of remitting the
dwy on sugar in preference to that upon malt. The
rival claims advanced on the part of these com-
modities to a remission of taxation in many re-
spects resembled those put forward three years
ago on behalf of paper and tea respectisely. At
that time it was urged that, in the interests of the
labouring classes, the surplus at the disposal of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer should be made
available for the reduction of the impost on a com-
modity which had b. come a necessary of life ; and
n iw, curiously enough, those who are opposed to
Mr. Gladstone's pres-nt scheme adopted a
similar line of argument when they demanded are.
mission of the tax upon malt in preference to a re
duction of that upon sugar. It was comparatively
easy to demonstrate, three years sinc,,, that the
labouring classes needed cheap ford more than they
did cheap literature; but, last evening, those who
supported Col. Barttelot's resolution found them-
selves obliged to contend that beer was to the work-
iog man even more necessary than sugar. In an-
other particular the !opponents of the Government.
laboured under a greater disadvantage than they did
on the occasion of the memorable contest of paper
versus tea. The available surplus at that time in
the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer would
have been equally exhausted had the counter pro
onsition of the Oppositiou been accepted ; whereas,
in the present instance, the advocates of a repeal in
the malt tax would scarcely have been contented
unless such a reduction were sff-cted as would hive
absorbed a much larger portion of the existing sur-
plus then could have been fairly appropriated to it,
regard being had to other claims the sufficiency of
which is universally acknowledged. It is manifest
that in all questions of remission of taxation there
are two points essentially distinct from each other
which must be taken into consideration. The one:
is the extent of benefit conferred upon the com,mu-
nity, and the other the effect produced upon the
Exchequer. Now, it is not too much to say that
the latter of these was entirely ignored by those
speakers last night who advocated the remission of
the duty upon malt. It was asserted, indeed, by
Colonel Barttelor, and those who supported his re-
solution, that in the case of malt, es in that of other
commodities upon which taxation has been remitted,
increased consumption would in time replenish the
Exchequer to the extent of its immediate loss.
that assertion was supported solely by empty sur-
mises) which the experience of the past must cam%

pel us to distrust. It is easy to show that, CO'
tently with that commercial policy which has Dovr
for several years been successfully prosecuted be
this country, the malt tax should, if
rapealed; and that argument would possess great_
weight if malt was tho sole commodity which wag
similarly circumstanced. tilt howelrer
may be the task, we are now compelled to de
cid!
between two imposts, both of them heavy., ll'e-a
both of them affecting seriously the price
possible,
articles of daily consumption in the homes of thet
labouring classes. The malt tax, Colonel Barttelo
urges, has been condemned for many years put,
,
and the authority of Sir Robert Peel was cited
by the gallant member to stow that on the repeat
of the corn laws that tax should have
been re-
mitted. But on the opposite side the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, as guardian of the public parse,
when malsiug his financial statement, pointed out
that altnough in the veer 1829 the beer duty was
repealed, and the malt tax practically lessenehalf, still, during the time which has since elapsed,
that impost had never realised within one quarter
of the total proceeds of the combined tries pre'
viously. If, therefore, within a period of five.o°d"
thirty years the Exchequer has not recovered the
loss infhoted by the remission of the beer duty, one
is justified in doubting the soundness of the Do"
elusions of these who confidently declare that
although a remission of one half of the existing tag,
would diminish the revenue to the extent 01
£3,000,000, yet the greater portion of that 109
would speedily be compensated by the greatly in-
creased consumption of a commodity whose pricei
would by this means be considerably cheapen"'
Mr. Cobden placed the matter in its true light when
he said that it was a short-sighted policy to ra's°
an antagonism between malt and sugar. So ioai
41 taxation exists there must be certain classes tat
the community, whether producers, traders, Or CO
sumers, who will conceive themselves more hardly
dealt with than others by the imposition of certain
burdens. But this arises from the necessil
things, and under any financial system, however
impartially conducted, is inevitable. Wnen
ea
opportunity presents itself for the remission of tale'
non, each particular class will conceive that its
claims to obtain a boon which cannot be granted to
all are paramount; and hence discussion such 5
that in which the House of Commons was engaged
last evening can occasion no surprise. But the
Government is compelled to act upon broad general
principles, and, when enabled to release the taxpayer
tram a portion of his burden, mast not look to the
interests of isolalted sections of the comnanDitit
hut to the common good of all. Nor can 11,
Minster of Finance lose sight of the demands 0'
the State, and the necessity of maintaining at
fitting' standard the revenues of the country. Speelv
ing generally, it may be said that in the remission
of taxation the -souadest policy is to diminish the
imposts upon those articles which are most !argil
consumed, and which there is the greatest reason to
believe will, through increased consumption, ulti°
matey compensate the State for a present abancon•
went of revenue. Viewed thus, there can exist Do
doubt in the mind of a dispassionate inquirer that
the Government exercised a sound discretion i°
proposing a remission of the duty on sugar in pre:
ferenco to that upon malt. The statistics of the pa"
few years have shown that whilst the consuniptl°r/
of the latter commodity has been comparativelY,
stationary, that of the former has progressively 50'
vastly increased. The reduction of the duty 0°
sugar malt, however, have the effect of still farther
increasing the consumption of that article, and tb°s
recouping the revenue a large portion of its inorDe:
diate icss. That the same result would have followed
on the remission of the malt tax is extremely pro'
bletnatical. The immense majority by wbich the
House of Commons decided in favour of the Govern
meat proposal proves, if proof were necessary, bOll
thoroughly satisfied the country is with that system
of finance which has produced the astonisbia
results that, a week since, the Ctiancellor of the
Exchequer was enabled to publish to the word.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

--

BIRMINGHAM—THURSDAY.
Thera was a large supply of wheat to-day, and English
sorts met a dull sale, at is per qr decline on previous quo"
rations. Foreign wheat is 6d cheaper. Barley unaltered.
Oats rather advanced iu price. Beans and peas ruled grtc?.
—English wheat was sold at 40s to 45s for white, and 36'1
to 438 per 36 stone for red. Barley, new malting, 30s to
388 per qr; grinding, 24s to 28s Oats, old, 22s to 305
per 30 stone ; Irish, 18s to 245. Beans, 34s to 40s per V'
Peas, 32s to 42s per 36 stone.

BURTON• ON• TR;
A fair shuw of grain at our
changed

Old white wheat..4ss to 47s
New do. . 44s to 47s
Malting. barley....33s to 37s
Grinding d0.....28s to 30s

EN r—THrEsDAy.
market, and prices were tire

O'd red wheat, , 40s to 43g
New do. 3Bs to 420
I Oath
Beans 3Gs to 415

MANCHESTER—TnunsnAv.
A very limited attendance at our market to-day, end
English wheat met with a dull sale, at 6d to Is per quarter
lower, while toreign was alcred at 2d to 3d per cental de'
cline without leading to business. Flour a very slow over
and 6d per sack lower in prices. Oats and oatmeal mere
dull, at abow former rates. English beans 6d per quarter
hightr in value, but Egyptian were unaltered. Indian con
was the turn in favour of buyers.

BRISTOL—THURSDAY.
English wheat iu tuuderare supply this morning, And At
about, the currency of this clay week. Foreign met with
au exceedingly slow demand. Fine malting bath), a ste94
s.tle ; grinding sorts in limited sale, and declining in price.
Oats scarce, and late prices were maintained. For malts
very little inquiry.

EDINBURGH GRAIN—APRIL 13.
To. day there was a fair supply of wheat, which suet
slow sale at abut last week's prices.
Wheat on the top 2s 6d down ..average is 10d doscrl'
Barley on the top 2s Od down average le Id dowil.
Oats on the top 180 d down average Os 6d up.
Beans on the top 2s Cd dcwa average Us 2d up.
Aver age Prices.
Wheat..
Barley 3Us I Id 1 Beans Ns

Total Supply and Sales.
Wheat ... 920 qrs Sold 519 qrs
8ar1ey........ 1112 qrs Sold 529 qrs
Oats
Beans 391 qrs Sold 437 qrs „,,
Flour sells as follows :—Whites, 39s Od ; extras, 378 Od,
superfine, 35s Od ; fine, 33s Od.