The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-22 00:00:00

House of Commons, the Prime Minister of

a Do-nothing, Ncn-intervention, Rest-and-be-
Thankful, Cabinet was constrained (when clues.,
tioned, point blank, upon the subject) to
reprobate the movement as it deserved., Lord
PALMERSTON, it is true, declined to intimate, how-
ever vaguely or indirectly, what action her MA-
JESTY'S Government would take thereupon ; or if,
indeed, they would be disposed to take any
a icn at all under the sting of that
la st and fiercest goad. Nevertheless, while
maintaining a dogged silence as to the future
policy of the Cabinet, even contingently upon the
invasion of J Aland, the Premier, as only in truth
became him under the circumstances, designated so
very it an invasion as that, in the only terns
in which it admits in any way of being accurately
designated. Whether Jutland had actually been
invaded or not, remained for a while
matter of some uncertainty. It appeared altnost a
thing incredible—even after all the recent lawless-
ness of the Germanic Powers in their invasion of
Denmark. Tee announcement of the evacuation of
Jutland, however, is, in itself, conclusive. The
perpetration of that last and crowning outrage
upon the twofold rights of Danish Independence
and of the Danish Sovereignty, no longer admitted
of being simply hypothetical, when the intelligence
COMES of the actual reversal of the step after twc
days' interval in that direction, the distinct reversal
of it, namely, by the evacuation of that portion of the
peninsula. The allies, like Fear in CoLLINs's pee,
have " back recoiled"—but, probably, unlike their
prototype, they know full well " why." The occu-
pation of Jutland could hardly have been regarded
apathetically even by the meekest stickler for the
principle of Non- intervention, and for that E asy,
Dawdling, D nothing policy which has grown out
of it. Even if Ministers had shown themselves in
this matter fain to look on quietly while this last
shameful act was being perpetrated by the
Austro-Prussian army with impunity, we
can scarcely deem it probable that the Par-
liament of England would, to that extent at least,
have indorsed the non-intervention policy of the
Government. The Opposition must then, at length,
have been awakened from its protracted torpor.
The policy of Ministers must, at last have then
necessitated a decisive division for them or against
them. Another dilemma has, however, been so far
happily tidedlover by the Ministry, thanks to a pru-
dent afterthought revising the strategic movements of
the allies in the seat of this lamentable war in Den.
mark. Like the King of France in the old nursery
song, marching up the hill and then down again,
the Gorman soldiery have entered Jutland for a
couple of days—only to evacuate it, however, at
the end of the brief interval during which they
had thus indulged their insolence as aggressors. Sa
far, their evacuation of Jutland is a concession to
public decency. As it is, however, they have out-
raged all sense of right, and justice, and decorum,
before all Europe, by their temporary advance into
that purely Danish province of Jutland—as they had
done already, for that matter, by the brutal violence
with which, with a force of seventy thousand men,
they advanced into Schleswig against Danish forces
numerically so insignificant ! Presenting to view, all
the while—as they are doing—the spectacle of two
of the greatest Powers in Europe banded together
for the infliction of a cruel wrong by brutal violence
upon a lesser Power! That lesser Power being, up
to this present moment, left completely in the lurch
by the rest of the Powers (great and small) in
Christendom.

A matter of considerable provincial importance
was discussed on Friday evening in the House of
Commons. In the luil which is now preceding that
political storm which may be safely expected to
follow the production of the foreign correspondence
of our Government, minor topics rise to the surface
and occupy a degree of time and attention which
would hardly be accorded to them under other cir-
cumstances. All parties are resting on their oars,
as it were, and have leisure to spare for the consi-
deration of these internal arrangements which are
happily of a more peaceful and satisfactory nature
than those of most States. Instead of struggles for
supremacy between Crown and Parliament, in place
of anxious cogitation over army estimates and de-
fensive preparations against a foreign foe, or, worse
still, to make ready for the sudden emergencies of a
desolating civil war, we find our members delibe-
rating on the rival claims of two country towns to
the dignity of the assizes, It may be remembered
by our readers that it has been decided to hold a
separate commission for the West Riding of York-
shire, a district whose extent and importance ele-
vate it almost to the rank of a county. So far
back as 1852 the Law Commission reported in
favour of such a proceeding, the report bearing the
signatures of several eminent judges. Five years
later a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire
into the place where the assize should be held, con-
sisting of Sir JOHN PAKINGTON, Colonel WILSON
PATTEN, the late Speaker, and the ex-Lord Chancel-
lor as President. This commission were, it seems,
unanimous against the selection of Leeds as the
assize town ; two of the members, Sir J. PAKING-
TON and Colonel W. PATTEN bring in favour
of Wakefield, and the rest opposed to it. The
Home Office received the report, but the
Government came to no decision on the matter,
which wags übmitted to some members of the Privy
Council, who gave their opinion in favour of Leeds.
As yet, however, no order has been made upon the
subject, and therefore Sir JOHN HAY, in moving
for an address to her MAJESTY in favour of Wake-
field, expressed some hope that he was not too late
to obtain the granting of his petition. Accordingly
the partisans of Leeds and Wcolccfield came forward
valiantly on behalf of their respective clients, and
recounted all their claims to pre-eminence, and
rehearsed the arguments in their favour. On behalf
of Wakefield, the plaintiff in the cause, it was said
that the groat majority of the inhabitants, the
magistrates, the privy councillors, and the members
of the West Riding were on its side. Of 350 magis-
trates, nearly 200-had expressed themselves in its
favour, while only 59 were for Leeds. Its accom-
modation for judges, juries, and barristers was also
stated to be greatly superior to that of its rival,
the county building at Wakefield having cost
£250,000, whereas a rate must be levied on the
county to provide assize courts at Leeds. It was
further contended by Sir J. HAY that the selection
of Leeds would be a slight to the county town—a
somewhat sentimental reason, followed by the
weightier argument of the inconvenience of re-
moving the prisonl:re, who are all committed to
Wakefield before trial, to Lads for the assize.
Mr. LEATHAM, in a very amusing speech, brought
forward a whole catalogue of reasons and remon-
strances, in mingled jest and ear nest, in support
of the motion. Leeds, he said, was poisoned by its
dense population and its mass of steam machinery.
The atmosphere was murky, the vegetation decay-
ing, the court was the worst place in the world for
hearing, and on every ground its claim was lusuffi
cient. The hon. member drew a laughable pie-
tare of the surprise and delight of the good
citizens of Leeds at the dignity which
bad come so unexpectedly upon them, and new it
had been said that the Ministers had chosen the
town out of regard for the member for that borough
who overawed them by going about "carrying a
,koiagto-barreled Reform Bill at ful' cock." Then