The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-01 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPT. 1, 1864.

It is satisfactory to fine that Mr. LINCOLN'S re-
election is by no means so certain as his friends and
ardent admirers would have the world believe.
This is an important step gained, at ail events, for
ie cannot be denied that a prolongation of his tenure
of office would bode ill for the interests of peace,
see be a blow to the expectations of these who are
ieek:ng a peaceful issue to this protracted war. The
fact i 9, that matters have been pushed too far, and
because at first there was so much excitement mani-
fested concerning the war, Mr. LINCOLN has
made the mistake that the feeling would continue
in its first vigour even when the circumstances that
leave rise to it had se materially changed. In this
he will be undeceived in all probebility before very
long, and it will be all for the best if it prove so, for
the interests of all demand a speedy settlement of
affsirs. There is a strong feeling springing up in
the States that too much sacrifice has been made
already for an idea, and that some compromise
should be made. Mr. LINCOLN'S dream of success
is, therefore, very indefinite, and it will be seen
that all accounts from America agree in asserting
that a reaction has taken place in the minds of
mazy who hitherto have been stedfast adherents to
the cause of the Union. It must be confessed that
enough has occurred to damp the ardour and quench
the enthusiasm of even more inveterate disputants
than these combatants, if such they could be. We
hear of unparalleled lcsses and injuries
to trade and commerce, but with these
and hundreds of additional evils, who has
yet been able to tell us of one decided gain ?
There is neither gain nor glory to be found in the
war on the Federal side at all events. The Con-
federates have made themselves most conspicuous
by their courage and constancy, but they have had
a cause to fight for. Their independence has been
their slavery, but their opponents have been put to
their wit's end to find an equivalent to this stirring
incentive. They have shouted the Union to little
purpose, and now, it is universally admitted that
the restoration of the Union is impossible. They
then had recourse to the notion of slavery, bat that
has also !ailed them. It is, then, not be wondered
at, that slowly but surely a sentiment has sprung
up which condemns the farther persistence in a
war which is grievous, costly, and unproductive of
effects. A strong patty of Democrats are in favour
of an armistice with the view of coming to terms.
In short, it may be premised from the intelligence
received on all sides that a strong is growing
up. Ie may be very possible, as yet, for interested
parties to shut their eyes to it, but no less surely is
the tide rising which is destined to submerge their
plans in its gulphe, We may be, however, disape
pninted if we are in too great a hurry, or these
things take time, and it is idle to eXpect a mighty
war to cease in a alert time. It is something gained
that any indications of a peaceful tendency are ob-
servable, and it will be our anxious task to watch
for further revelations o° the came satisfactory
tendency. It will not b© surprising if
the prolongation of the war does not, in
the end, make m.ire Seceaioni2ts than
there were at the commencement of the out-

breek. When we hear the manner in which the
authorities on the Federal side act, it is not to be
wondered at that so strong a feeling of doubt exists
in 'the minds of men relative to the restoration of
the Union. General BURBRIDGE is a good sam!?le
of the Federal armies, and his exclamation the
other day, on hearing that he had been premature
in ordering a Confederate Lieutenant to be shot in
place of a man on the other side who had only been
wounded, was significant of the terms upon which
the contest is being waged. He was delighted that
a loyal man was alive, whom he supposed dead,
and one more Confederate in hell. When we hear
of such anecdotes it seems astonishing that before
this some decisive attempt has not been made amone,
the enlightened of the community to put an en-, to
this cruel contest.
It is greatly to be regretted,
that no efforts have been mede by the Powers of
Europe to put a stop to the carnage and contention.
It has been often disputed as to whether it were
wise and practicable so to do, but the general
opinion has generally been adverse to it. Expe-
rience has surely shown that what has been done,
or rather left undone, for the best, has not turned
oet so favourably as was hoped it would. Beyond
mere pacificatory mediation, if at the outset of the
war England and France had boldly inaugurated a
policy, and recognised the South, how
differently things would have turned out.
It would have been the best service
that could have been rendered to the Federals them.
t elves, for they have involved themselves in a series
of confusions that this generation cannot see them
(merge from. As the chance of foreign aid, direct
Jr indirect, is now, however, pretty well over, it
remains with the Americans themselves to settle
their disputes and arrange their affairs. It is then,
on the whole, to be considered that some prospect
of peace is dawning upon that distracted country,
and amidst the many wars that have desolated the
various countries of the world at different times,
there can never have been one that more leerily
called fur a cessation on the highest grounds. Hu-
manity, the ties of kindred, the claims of interest,
all earnestly demand a cessation of the overwhelm-
ing struggle, and well will it be for the right cause,
the calve of peace, if Mr. LINCOLN is worsted in
his efforts et supremacy. He has made a most
signal failure from the outset of his career, and it
is not often that one for whom so much was expected
fails so utterly and egregiously in his attempts to
carry out his policy. We learn from the sins and
sufferings of others, and this transaltantic contest
is rife with lessons of high import, bat perhaps
no individual case stands out in bolder relief than
the experience of ABRAHAM LINCOLN as President.
It is, indeed, a career to point a moral as to the
vanity of human wishes, and the folly of indulging
in vain expectations.

The Schleswig-Holstein question is not yet
finally at rest, even retrospectively, and treaties,
protocols, letters, remonstrances, and addresses are
still quoted and referred to, discussed and re-dis.
cussed, by those who want to find a plausible pre-
test for rather suspicious-looking conduct.
Prussia having taken firm hold of the Duchies,
despoiled their property, and maltreated their in-
habitants, talking all the While very loudly about
the rights of nations, and the fulfilment of sacred
duties, is now very much disinclined to give np her
" material guaranteee." Her statesmen and writers
are, therefore, very busy in trying to prove that
the Duchies belong of right to Prussia. that she
never cordially approved of their union with Den-
mark (which is likely enough), and that she always
intended to appropriate :per conquests, even when
she was proposing to be only the agent for the
enforcement of Federal rights. The experience of
the past might certainly have taught the Diet that
they were performing a rash act when they suffered
Austrian and Prussian troops to represent them in
,he Duchies, for that such customers were easier
admitted than dislodged. The tone of German
morality on this question is curiously shown in a
letter addressed by Count USEDOM, now Prussian
Minister at Turin, to the son of Baron BUNSEN,
whose name, as we all know, was appended to the
famous Treaty of 1832. Baron von BUNSEN was
himself opposed to that Treaty, and many of his
friends objected to his signature being affixed to a
document of which he disapproved, but Count
USEDOM affirms that Baron BUNSEN declared that
he would affiz his signature, in order not to render
still more heavy the sacrifice which the KING, his
master, had to make. The sacrifice of pretensions
which are totally unjustifiable, and based on no
surer grounds than the rapacity of the strong
against the weak, and crazy ambition of an exclu-
sively military nation to become a great naval
power. It seems, indeed, that in Baron BUNSEN'S
view the whole Treaty was merely a temporary
device to pacify all parties for the time being,
waiting for a fair opportunity of again bringing
forward Prussian pretension. " It was," says
Count USEDOM, " a pragmatic sanction, raised
up artificially by parties unconcerned in
the matter against the wishes, the rights, and the
interests of those really concerned—in short,
against the nature of things." It is curious that
the diplomatist should make use of the epithet
" pragmatic sanction," which at once recals to the
reader the days of CHARLES the SIXTH and MARIA
THERESA, and the very questionable means by
which Prussia became possessed of the fair pro.
vince of Silesia. Doubtless the London Treaty, in
the eyes of shrewd German politicians, even is the
days of its first existence, was regarded very much,
as FREDERICK, " commonly called the Great,"
regarded poor CHARLES the SIXTH'S elaborate pre-
cautions to secure to his daughter the undisputed
possession of her heritage. It was an en
formally entered into with all duo o gagement
and compliment, all fitting ceremonial)l riaanpdocfowasotriyd
phraseology, but it was a mask which it was o
convenient to wear for the time, and which cooed
ld
be flung off with very little scruple or delay when
L the time for action came. This conduct, though
not exactly what historians can approve or more-
lists extol, is at least comprehensive and con-
sistent, bat even in our high-flown and grandi-
loquent days it is rather uncalled for and aggravate
ing to find Prussia still protesting that she has
acted for the good of the Duchies, and that the
real likings and sympathies of the Schleswig-Hol-
steiners ever troubled the secret Cabinet at Sans
Sonci. We are told by the statesmen who knew
•
him well that the chief characteristics of FREDEs
RICK WILLIAM 11. were " an unchangeable human
benevolence and a genuine sympathy of heart,"
And that these qualities rendered it Especially
prompt for him to agree to the Treaty of Lon-
don. " AS a politician the King delivered up the
Duchies to their fate; humanly this resolve cost
him a hard struggle." This is likely enough,
but the struggle was rather with the dislike to
relinquish a share of his neighbour's goods than
any sensitive sympathy for the political hard-
Ships of the people of the Duchies. Prussia just
sno"maPnriefseasnttsasus with a spectacle of inconsistency
circumstances sowculd be ludicrous were not the
unconscious grave, yet she seems to be happily
of the ridiculous spectacle which she
offer's. A King and
in open collision vithatGheO.vernment who have been
their own subjects, who are
everywhere held sip as the representative of ail that
a moat tyrannical iu civilised authority, come foil

ward -professing the deepest concern in the injuries
of a mixed population who are allowed the use of
both languages, who have a separate representa-
tion and a share in the general government of the
Kingdom, and a dozen other advantages which the
Prussians have not. But the pretext is a very
flimsy one, and Europe has long been aware of the
real truth—that Prussia has been long determined
on enr.exing the Duchies, and that her assent to
the Ti eaty of 1852 waa never meant to be more
than a temporary evasion. Wast if France should
regard. the Treaty of 1815 in the same light, so far
Gr.—
tillany is concerned ?

For lack, perhaps, of more stirring subjects of
thought and discussion, sanitary measures are rising
into unwonted importance both here and in India.
The late season of the year, and the long continued
drought, perhaps account for the sudden anxiety
manifested among our rulers for details of the public
health, for disquisitions on the sanitary condition
of watering places, and similar topics ; while the
publication of the Reports of the Registrar-General
and the Officers of Health, have served to direct
attention to many other questions intimately
affecting the physical wellbeing of the
people. Lancashire, we know, is getting good.
out of evil by the carrying out of those
long deferred sanitary measures so greatly
needed by her large and densely packed population,
and all parties in that county are gladly availing
themselves of the favourable opportunity for reme-
dying past neglects. But in India, where those ne-
glects have reached a pitch never dreamed of in
clean and orderly England, while the exigencies of
the climate render every sanitary precaution most
imperative, the position of the would-be reformers
is anything but an agreeable one, It is impossible
for the most ignorant not to be aware that the utter
defiance of all sanitary laws and regulations in
which Hindocs live is not only fatal to themselves,
but dangerous to all aroand them. Any attempt
at official investigation brings to light a state
of things so shocking as scarcely to bear
repetition to English ears, but still the evil remains
more difficult to deal with. English authority
may indeed *lee unquestioned, but it is a very diffi-
cult if rot desperate task to deal with popular pre-
judice and time-worn custom. The quiet Hindoos
have also an inconvenient strength from their total
absence of that energy and activity which is the
mai❑ spring of English life. They listen and sub-
mit apparently to the superior wisdom of the sahib,
but they go on their own way notwithstanding,
following it with a stolid indifference to all results
that is perplexing to an English mind. One would
think that they were naturally sufficiently acute
to have gathered from actual facts enough
knowledge to be aware that impure water
is unwholesome, that swamps breed malaria,
that decaying bodies, whether human or animal,
and decomposing vegetable matter, of whatever
kind, are most prejuiicial to health, and that any
accumulation of filth near places of habitation are
apt to generate fevers. These plain and simple rules
might, one would imagine, have been drilled into
their minds long before this if only from personal
observation. But fever and pestilence go on their
way unheeded, and we hear of stagnant ponds used
for baths, waehhouses, and cisterns alike—of open
pits into which every description of refuse is flung
close to their places of abode—of graves in which
the dead are interred so near the surface that the
jackals dig them up at night. When we add to
all this the heat of an Indian sun magnifying
every evil, intensifying every danger, we need not
wonder that fever and cholera have their recognised
:swelling places in the native towns. It is very
difficult for the Government to act, yet act it must;
unless it is prepared to abrogate one of the chief
functions of an executive—the care for the lives of
its subjects. It is impossible to regulate all the
internal arrangements of a household by public
decree, yet something is within our ken, and much
may be done by a vigorous hand guided by a firm
will and a temperate and conciliatory dis-
position. It is very evident that the Hin-
doo is totally deficient of any sense of
cleanliness, decency, and order in his domestic
affairs, yet that is no reason why he should be
allowe to trifle with the public health by the en•
cenragement of nuisances which in a more tem.
perate clime would be objectionable and dangerous,
but which in India are deadly. It has been sug.
gested that the Government should at once under-
take the sanitary regulation of the large towns,
since the task is manifestly too hard for the muni-
cipalities ; and this suggestion is, we think, a
wise one, since the native justices are worse than
indifferent in the matter. In all questions
of social routine or of points of internal
law, &c., the natives may fairly be repre-
sented ; but with regard to sanitary regulations
the full authority of the Government will
be necessary to carry out any important reforms,
It might be rendered a legal cffence to dig those
shallow burying places which are productive of so
much mischief—mischief of so revolting a charac-
ter, and which the Hindoo, who professes to be
so especially scrupulous regarding the disposal
of the dead, seems quite unconcerned about.
The Government itself is not conscience clear about
the water supply, but energetic measures might be
taken to enforce a separation of the laundress's de•
partment from the bath and the source of household
supply. Inspectors might keep a strict watch
over any open receptacles of rubbish and refuse,
and might render the owner of the house
or hut in its immediate vicinity liable to a fine.
Some such means will have to be adopted before we
get the public health in India to be at all what it
might be, and before the terrible epidemics of fever
and cholera become, as they may hereafter do, as
rare in Hindostan as in England.

BREECH-LOADING RIFLES.—The Secretary of
State for War is desirous of receiving communica-
tions from gunmakers and others on the subject of the best
means of converting the Enfield r:fle into a breech-loader,
under the following conditions :-1. Cost not to exceed £1
per arm. 2. Shooting of the converted not to be inferior
to that of the unaltered arm. Descriptions of methods pro-
posed, accompanied by specimenarme, should be sent to the
Director of Ordnance, War-office, Pall-mall, on or before
the 20th of September. These descriptions and specimens
will then be considered by the Ordnance Select Committee,
who will select such of the plans as appear to them prima
facie promising. Six rifles will be delivered for conversion
to each of those gentlemen whose plans have been selected
as above. They must be returned altered within five weeks
of the date upon which they are sent, accompanied by 1,000
rounds of such ammunition (and to be ignited in such
manner) as the competitors think most suitable. A sum of
£2O will be paid to each of the selected competitors, to
cover the expense of converting the six rifles and of the
supply of ammunition required.
A FELLOW-DE-CE-IYID.—A stranger last week
entered a druggist's shop in Maryport, and asked
for a strong dose of poison to l;i11 rats. The shopkeeper
observed something strange about the appearance of the
man, and made him up a packet of magnesia, labelling it
"poison." The stronger went immediately to a public-
house and called for a pint of ale, into which he emptied
the packet of supposed poison and drank it off. He then told
the landlord and others in the house what he had done,
showing them the paper labelled " poison," The supposed
victim then took an affectionate leave of his companions,
and left kind messages for his friends--still there was no
symptoms of approaching dissolution. In the meantime the
landlord slipped out to the druggist's and learned the secret
of the hoax. To punizh the fellow an emetic was admi-
nfstered, and some one, professing an anxiety to relieve the
sufferer proposed, for the want of a etcmach pump, to ins
troduco the landlord's spiril syphon, but the tubes were not
flexible enough. The after-sickness endured by the man it
is hoped will cure him for the future. lie was turned over
to the police, as he might have been, for hie deadly inten-
tica,— Cum berNn(t Pacqqet.