The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-11 00:00:00

farce.

rian spirit, the most awful tragedy and the liveliest

THE EXAMINER ON THE DUKE OF NEW-
CASTLE.—There is but one teeliug of regret at the
retirement of the Duke of Newcastle, who has won
a high place in public rF spect by sheer force of
character and conduct. Few men, indeed, have
gone through so trying an ordeal as the Duke of
Newcastle went through unscathed and with
honour. He was hardly judged for the faults in
the management of the Crimean campaign, and
was blamed for what were really defects of a sys-
tem. He had the mortification of being set aside
as incapable—a sore mortification indeed to a man
with a due share of the pride of intellect. But
during the time that he took his seat in the House
of Lords as one who had been tried and found want-
ing, never did he manifest any resentment for the
hard measure he .had received, never did he evince
any pique, or seize on any of the many opportuni-
ties that offered of recrimination, He was tco
high minded and just a man to be swayed a h7ir's-
breadth in his public conduct by any personal con •
sideration. He acted as if he had never been ag-
grieved, never had had a slight put upon him,
never had felt the smart of an unmerited mortifi-
cation. He bore fortune's buffets as one in suffer-
ing all that suffered nothing, like the man Hamlet
wore in his heart of hearts. We hardly know of
another instance of a man in similar circumstances,
wh put himself so completely beside himself, if we
may express it, as regarded past grievances, look-
ing to nothing but present duty. How excellently
he acquitted himself of his charge in Amsricl, we
need not call to mind, nor how efficiently and con-
scientiously he discharged the duties of his teface.
Nor need we say how affectionately he is regarded
in private life, where his frank, unpretending man-
ners and cordiality made themselves most pleas-
ingly felt. Heartily do we trust that the duke's
retirement will only be temporary, and that re-
stored health will soon give back his services to
the country.

THE LONDON REVIEW ON HER MAJESTY'S LATE
PRONUNCIAMENTO.—An article appeared the other
day in the Times which it would be affectation to
regard otherwise than as a direct expression of the
sentiments of the highest personage in the realm.
The mode which her Majesty has adopted in com-
municating with her people is undoubtedly unpre-
cedented; nor can we conceal from ourselves that
it is one which might be fraught with serious incon-
venience. Bat under the peculiar circumstances of
the present case, we are not disposed to press any
objections which we may entertain to so direct an
appeal from the throne to the nation. Her Ma-
jesty may well feel that the criticisms to which her
personal conduct has been subjected require a more
personal reply than can be afforded tb rough the me-
dium of her constitutional advisers. We are therefore
more disposed to accept with gratitude the gracious
assurances of the Queen, than to cavil at the chan-
nel through which she has seen fit to convey them.
We have no doubt that the people will do full jus-
tice to the spirit which animates what we must
describe as the Royal message, and that they will
readily respond to the demand which it makes upon
their forbearance. With great good feeling her
Majesty expresses her hearty appreciation of her
subjects' desire to see her. And although not
directly, she impliedly contradicts the assertion that
she has laid out for herself any scheme of seclusion,
by the assurance that " whenever any real object is
to be attained by her appearing on public occasions,
any national interest to be promoted, or any thirg
to be encouraged which is for the good of her people,
her Majesty will not shrink, as she has not shrunk,
from any personal sacrifice or exertion, however
painful." At the same time she reminds us of that
which ought to have been lost sight of, that she
has now to perform—alone and unassisted—other
and higher duties than those of " mere representa-
tion ;" and she remonstrates gently, but firmly,
against being asked to expend on state ceremonies
the health and strength which she requires for the
discharge of "other duties which cannot be ne-
glected without serious injury to the public inte-
rests." She promises, however, that she will do
what she can to meet " the loyal wishes of her
subjects, to afford that support and countenance
to society, and to give that encouragement to
trade which is desired of her." We should enter
with infinite reluctance upon any discussion of
assurances graciously vouchsafed by the Queen
to the solicitude of her subjects. But we are
relieved from the performance of so embArrassing a
duty, by a conviction that it is quite sufficient to
express our perfect confidence that her Majesty
will not have thrown herself in vain upon " the
kindness and good feeling of her people," and
that she will not find on their part any desire to
exact from her more than she finds herself able to
perform.

THE SPECTATOR ON THE COMING CONFERENCE

—The chances of an acceptable peace as the result
of the Bluish conference grow less us the meeting
draws near. The great Powers are all in one way
or another e;:pressing their " views," and the effect
of the expression is to show that the hope of agree-
ment among them all is of the faintest kind. Earl
Russell, in his despatch of March 9, not only avows
that the idea of Great Britain is to maintain the

Treaty of 1852 through a " personal union" between
Denmark and the Duchies, but bids the Danes re-
member that although "he does not pretend to
dictate," they may, if they are as obstinate as Eng-
lishmen would be, obtain worse terms than that.
The German Powers assent to that view, but de-
mand in addition that the united Duchy of Schles-
wig-Holstein shall possess an equal vote with Den-
mark upon all matters affecting ttie whole monarchy,
in other words, that Germany shall govern the
policy of Dliehiae, peninsula, and islands all toge-
ther. M. Drouyn de Lhuys, on the other hand, in
a despatch dated 20th March, announces Isis mas-
ter's opinion that " it is impossible net to recognise
the obstacles to the precise and exact execution of
the Treaty of 1852," and that it is needful to ap-
peal to the political " higher law," the law which
condones all breaches of faith among nations and
between nations and their relers---universal suffrage.
Finally, Russia don't publish despatches, but asks
amidst the cannon for a Danish princess as wife for
the future Czar, strong evidence that the idea of the
Romanoffs is not to dethrone King Christian alto-
gether ; Denmark, in fact, Wants to keep Schleswig
as a dependency. Germany wants to seza Schles-
wig and make Denmark a dependency ; England
wants to take Schleswig from both and give it to
King Christian ; France wants th
referred to a mljority of the moste whole question
ignorant of all
the parties concerned andßussia wants any arrange-
ment which will most effectually enable her to
menace the independence of Sweden. All these con.
flicting interests, and ideas, and purposes are to be
thrown into a vat together, and E ,r 1 Russell hopes
by diplomatic chemistry to obtain some solid and
useful outturn. He may, brut we venture to affirm
that it will only be by precipitating a resi-
duum the stench of which will not be
pleasing either to him or to the v.-orlcl.
It is not hard to perceive which of the hall dozen
plans suggested will be the one adopted more or less
reluctantly by the Conference. It is that proposed
by the only Sovereign who c-in if he pleases at once
arrest the march of the German armies, who wields
the force of Sweden and Italy as well as that of
France, and who has a pressing motive for wishing
that contracts should be only respected when both
parties are willing to keep them. The Elect of
December is consistent when he demands that the
classes whose vote released him from his oath should
release Europe from its obligations, no other power
save Denmark is likely to hold out long, and as for
Denmark, vce victis is the secret thought of most
of one's deareet friends. France cordially endorses
a Principle under which she can annex Belgium and
could only lose Algeria; England obviously will
accept any proposal which ensures even temporary
peace, would, we verily believe, submit the whole
matter to the arbitration of Pekin, if only the can-
non could then be compelled to cease firing ; Ger-
many feels secure that the Schleewigers will vote
for the "superior nationality," which is one day to
be united, and free, and respected; and Russia only
asks that she may be the protectress of the divided,
powerless, and contemptible morsels of Scandinavia.
The Danes, of course, must give way, for doctors do
not ask the consent of the animals whose vivisection
is ,6 profitable to science," and they may even in
their despair consent, for at least the plan rids
them of the chance of " personal union" which is
for them the most ruinous of all the devices Earl
Russell and the professors have as yet
schemed out, and leaves them though power-
less and ruined by exactions freemen still.
There may be peace, but at what a cost to Europe
and the world! The system of public law which,
however imperfect in itself, has enabled one quar-
ter of the world to keep up a continuous political
advance will have been overthrown. Any power has
henceforward only to pour immigrants into a neigh-
bouring province, then excite them to rebellion, and
then declare that treaties cannot be carried out, and
the only appeal will be the will of the ignorant
masses of the people. France may seize Belgium,
Russia all provinces inhabited by S,o aye, Italy Dal-
matia and half the Tyrol, and Greeee the fairest
sections of the Gctoraan dominions, with no other
consequences than ratification by vote, No mai'
Power has any longer a right to exist, and
"-
smallest segment of a people, so th.e
some speciality of rac-
nose ph., _ •

u have but
~;;quires a moral right to
. - worthless compact among nations which
diplomatists were wont torespect as European order.
If the Germans in Schleswig can justify the con-
quest of Danes by Germans, why should not the
Frisians in Schleswig vote their section over to
Russia, or Dalmatia declare herself Italian, or the
Czechs of Bohemia assert that their true kinship is
with the Poles, or the people of Cornwall announce
that they intend henceforward to be goyerned only

-
by descendants of Llewellyn ? It wi!l not do to assert
that strong governments would deal with revolt
without calling in the rest of the world, for Deng
mark is only too eager to accept that very principle,
that doctrine of non-intervention which only five
years was reckoned almost a political evangel. Let
but the Germans retire, and with absolute freedom, a
freedom so complete that Danes were denounced
within the capital itself without the police trying
to interfere, there will be as little disorder in
Schleswig as there now is in Wales. All territorial
arrangements, and politics have no other basis,
rest henceforward on the simple right of mili-
tary power, diplomacy becomes a system for ex'
citing fractional populations to discontent, and
treaties ere degraded into documents which,
not to overstate the case, are "incapable of precise
and exact execution," and may be set aside by any
aggregate, however small, of ploughmen's
votes.
That is the pleasing result of a diplomacy which in-
terferes nominally to protect the ancient allies of
the British people, and the conditions we forced on
those allies, but is really guided by a determination
that England shall not wait a year to reduce the
duties on sugar. If that is the result which the
people of this country at heart approve, there is
nothing more to be said, bat in that case let us at
least reap the benefit of our quiescence, and cease to
spend thirty millions a year in order that the world
may have one organised " Power" strong enough
when the hour comes to strike a stroke for the right.
Thirty millions a year on armaments, and we cannot
venture to say that Prussia shall not try her Ile°
artillery upon the defenceless town of an ally ! That
is what the Prussians are doing, not in Asia, where
though the moral guilt is the same violent wrong
is no breach of the tacit contract among nations,
but here in the Europe which with unconscious
irony we call civilised. There is not the smallest
military reason for destroying Sonderborg, which
ties as much out of the way of the enemy as Kentish
Town out of the road of a foe attacking Hampstead
from the north. The people in it have not only done
nothing to injure Germany, but Germany is
actually bombarding them out of the fullness of
her national love, killing women and children in
order that the men may Le free of the Dance
who are fighting for them all. The single reason.
is to try the force of the new artillery, to ascertain
accurately whether shots frrom a certain (devil'
will destroy in a staffi.Aent manner. When an
Asiatic prince buys a sword be sometimes
tries its temper by hacking up a fat slave, and
Englishmen scarcely believe while they avenge
the atrocity. The Prussians are killing victims
by the hundred in order that the survivors may 11
able to vote that they love the Prussians best, and
even that bizarrerte of murder stirs us up only to
shrill womanish abuse. The Germans, we doubt
not, will be shelling Sonderborg while Europe le,
debating how Sonderborg can moat freely vote itself
cordially German.