The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-04 00:00:00

THE LAST EIGHT NIGHTS.

GRACE EGERTON (Mrs. George Case),
at the POLYGRAPHIC HALL, King William-
street (her THIRD SEASON in London), in her New and
highly successful Characteristic and Musical Entertainment
entitled "A DRAWING ROOM TO LET." EVERY
EVENING, at Eight (except Saturday).
Faturday Mornings at Three.
Stalls, 9i. ; unreserved seats, 2s. ; area, Is.
Last performance March 12.

sympathy with the patriots might be dreaded, have
been despatched to carry out its nefarious pro-
jects on the shores of the Baltic; for be it remem-

bered the men who have achieved what little suc-
cesses the Allied plunderers can boast of, are
Gallicians, Hungarians, and Italians, whose ser-
vices their master would not have dared to employ
at home—the sons of Fatherland being kept in hand
1 to crush the attempts of those who may seek to

achieve their liberties. The " antiquated imbeci-

lity" of the Whigs, and those who support them,
would be ludicrous indeed were its consequences not
fraught with disgrace and loss of prestige to the

country. The perusal of the last official papers
published relating to Denmark and Germany must
revolt every honourable mind, and excite the in-
dignation of every true-hearted Englishman. Those
documents are but records of German faith-

lessness and British credulity. They exhibit
the low trickery of the RECHBERGS and
the BISMARKS, and the facility with which
our Government has been duped, to the very
last, by successive promises, each of which has
been regularly violated when the occasion arose
to test its good faith. The most solemn assurances
were given to our Ministers at Vienna and Berlin,
that the just rights of Denmark would be assured,
and that demonstrations in favour of the claims of

the Duke of AUGUSTENBURG would not be per.
mitted; but then those assurances were accompa
vied by declarations " that, if there should be war'
—which those very men themselves wero already
fully 'bent on commencing—" that then the
treaty of succession, and all other engagements,
would disappear!" And thus those tricksters
reserved to themselves the right of bieaking their
engagements, whenever it suited their purposes, by
commencing hostilities, the consequences of which
they affected so sincerely to deplore. It was only,
however, when Lord WODEHOUSE pressed M. de
BISMARK that the real object of the combined
Despots, and the real crime of Denmark, were dis-
covered." The fact is, the "Prussian Minister
frankly avowed that Germany would never be on
friendly terms with Denmark so long as the present
Democratic institutions of Denmark were main-
tained ;" and, well knowing the desire of the British
Government to secure peace at any price, he had the
audacity to suggest that a coup d'etat at Copenhagen
would be the quickest and beat solution of the diffi-
culty ;" and what was the reply of our Government
to this insulting proposition, made in the hope that
they would gladly have become participators in the
infamous design against the liberty of our allies,
by suggesting its adoption." What the tone of remon-
strance urged against the disregard of promises,
and the breach of treaties—why nothing more than
that BOTTOM roared" small," and capped the heap of
his " diplomatic rubbish," by solemnly declaring to
the statesmen who had scoffed at his inter-
ference, and rejected his guarantees, that her
MAJESTY'S Government would consider any
departure from the Treaty of 1862 by the
Powers who signed it, as entirely inconsistent
with good faith. " Well," exclaims Lord PALMER-
STON, amidst the cheers of the anti-war for-any-
cause party, "my noble friend could do no more.
We are prosperous, and at peace, and so we mean
to continue." Yes, we assert, a British Minister
who had the honour and interests of his country at
heart would have done much more; ho could and
would have assumed a firm tone, and shown a fixed
determination to insist on the fulfilment of the
Treaty of 1863, on the instant that BISMARK be-
trayed the real designs of the German Powers ; and
he would have told those conspirators against Euro-
pean liberty (for they are nothing less) that,
if need were, England would have -recourse
to arms to sustain it. Had our Secretary for Fo-
reign Affairs so acted, Austria and Prussia would
scarcely have dared to perpetrate their criminal
aggression. Had they persisted in the face of such
a threat, a short and inexpensive campaign, with
France and Italy as our allies, would soon
have brought them to reason. A second
Jena would have scattered the ill-disciplined,
and worse commanded, army of Prussia
like chaff before the wind, and restored the Rhenish
Provinces to France as a due reward for her exer-
tions in the cause of justice. And while we bum-
barded the Baltic ports and Trieste, and threw
arms, and ammunition, into Hungary—VlCTOß
EMMANUEL could easily have rescued Venice, and
founded his kingdom—and thus, without much sac-
rifice of men or money, we should have definitively
crushed this second holy alliance of despotism
against the existence of liberal institu-
tions, and fixed the peace of Europe on a
solid foundation. But, instead of following
this straightforward and consistent course of action,
the British Minister, after treating oar powerful
and well-tried friend, the French EMPEROR, with
a discourtesy which nothing could justify—then
truckled, to the Powers he should have bearded—
and now insulted and duped on every side, he has
left us without one sincere ally amongst the Conti-
nental nations. Should we, as we firmly believe we
shall at no distant day, be involved in war, in conse-
quence of the "meddle and muddle" policy of
our present rulers—we sincerely hope that before
then the destinies of England may be entrusted to
other hands than those of her Whig-Radi-
cal Statesmen—and that her power, when the
occasion comes for exerting it, may be wielded
by men who, while studying her interests, may
not be unmindful of her honour.
The time is ripe for the accession of the Conser•
vatives to office. The results of all recent elections
clearly show that the British people are disgusted,
and humiliated, by the policy of the Whigs; and
should the leaders of the Oppositicn hesitate to act
after such manifest signs of public sympathy, tlAy
will incur well-merited odium, as men who have
proved themselves untrue both to their country,
and their party.

Captain SrEKE's remarks are always worth
attending to, and his observations on the Slave
Trade on Tuesday are very much to the point. Ho
said, in the first place, what may be called the
most important suggestion of the whole, that our
exertions had been successful, and would so continue
as long as they were confined simply to the presence
of men-of-war along the coast of Africa. The
method which Captain SPEKE proposed was to enrol
the negro himself in this crusade against slavery.
One mode of enabling him so to do was to educate
him, and certainly this would prove a very effec-
tual resistance in itself against the attacks of the
marauders. At present the captors seem to lay
great stress upon the poor victims they seize being
little better than beasts of burden. Education must
infallibly render them more impervious to the
attacks of their cruel and unmerciful foes. Doubt-
less many persons at home are congratulating them-
selves on the improved state of things in Africa, and
flatter themselves that the exertions of philanthropic
individuals, and the efforts of their Government,
have conduced to work great benefits to the op-
pressed and persecuted sons of the soil. But these
had better take heed to the information furnished
by Captain SPEKE, who is au courant of the whole
affair, and whose evidence must be accepted as un-
doubted and incontrovertible. He informs us that
in some places—Zanzibar, for instance—the slave
trade still goes on at a considerable rate, and that
011 the White Hill it le Almost'` unpaniltied." So