The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-09 00:00:00

England, however, more especially. It were
I
an infamy to us as a great Power, as one
of the mightiest Powers of the earth,
both by sea and land, if within less than a year from
the date of the nuptials of the young Danish Prin-
cess with his Royal Highness the Prince of
, WA LES, we should complacently stand out of
harm's way, while Austria and Prussia were
with brutal deliberation and in flagrant dee
fiance of all attempt at remonstrance to take all
the preliminary steps towards the dismemberment
of the Danish Kingdom. Hitherto the Ministers
of the Crown here in England have been bold only
in words, As Earl RUSSELL was, for example, last
evening—" roaring" once more against Austria and
Prussia, but roaring as usual " like any sucking
dove." Qaoth the noble earl the Foreign Secretary,
at the very close of his last speech in the House of
Lords last evening :—" I.:should not think that
any fleet of Austria or of Prussia would venture
to encounter:a squadron of out*" Than which—
two millions ! And, even when that has been said,
it is an understatement of the atrocity now transpiring
in broad day under the observation of all Christen-
dom. Whereas the population of Denmark is
2,600,000—the population of Prussia is 18,500,000,
and the population of Austria 35,000,000, to-
gether (Austria and Prussia) 53,000,000, An
unprovoked war, an unjustifiable war as the
Foreign Secretary of England himself called it last
evening in the House of Lords, a war of this
shameful and audacious character, begun by
two such huge Powers against one so small,
is an outrage in itself to each and all of the
other great Powers of Christendom. It is especi-
ally and peculiarly an outrage to the pride, the
majesty, and the honour of England. Under any
conjuncture of circumstances, as we have said,
England holding itself aloof from the war now
desolating the southern provinces of Denmark
would be a disgrace to us. It is, how-
ever, a disgrace to us of a peculiar poign-
ancy, now that the Heir Apparent to the
Crown of England has, barely a year ago taken
to wife the eldest daughter of Denmark, the fair
young princess who has but so vary recently become
the mother of a future Sovereign of these realms,
a Princ© who in his turn, let us hope, is fated to
become the progenitor of our Kings to be. It
is true that we are in no way whatever dis-
posed to adopt the argument of those who would
maintain the necessity of our Government mould-
ing their foreign policy upon the hints suggested
purely by our dynastic alliances. In effect,
there is proof positive, in the actual " situation,"
that .this is by no means the present scheme
of our argument. Dynastic al iances far more
necessary, some of them of long duration, and
all of them most intimate, would rather tend to
warp the Foreign Policy of England towards the
side of Germany, to give a bias to the rolling of
England's wheel of fortune towards Prussia, and,
together with Prussia in this matter, towards so
many of the lesser powers of Germany ! There are
dynastic considerations, of course, on the side of
Denmark, having great weight with us at this epoch
is the history of the two countries. But these con-
siderations are but subsidiary to others of a far
weightier import, to considerations of Justice, of
Right, of Honour, all seriously ineplicated in this
matter. The war now being waged by 53,000,000
against 2,600,000 is a crime against the sense of Jus-
tice, of Right, of Honour common to all Christendom.
Iteffects the Honour, the Right, and the Justice of
remembering that our fleets are as quiescent in the
matter of this Dano-German war as possible—we
don't know of any more impotent specimen of what
is vulgarly, but expressively, called Bounce.
Much Austria or Prussia care for these big
words of our loud-talking and bold-writing ad-
ministrators ! They care for it all, so very much,
they are so extremely alarmed by the valiant
attitude assumed by England in this war, that they
prosecute their designs against Denmark with the
utmost possible coolness and deliberation, Latterly
our English Ministers both in the Lords and in the
Commons have been taunting the Opposition with
simply finding fault, instead of finding for them
(her MAJESTY'S responsible Ministers) what they
have, to all appearance, been quite unable to find
for themselves—A Policy ! In other words they
are clamouring to their political antagonists to
tell them what attitude they ought to assume in
the matter of this Dano- German war. For ourselves,
we should feel rather disposed to euggest that if Earl
RUSSELL'S big words and small doings are to
be accepted as typical of the Ministry, as a
whole, we would earnestly suggest to them, one
and all, to Earl RUSSELL and his Colleagues, as
Mr. Punch suggested years ago to poor King
BO2IBA, when in a like state of bewilderment, to
get under the bed by all means as qui.;;LOy as
possible.

The speech of the Chancellor
on Monday evening will be read , of the Exchequer
with the greatest
interest and attention -by thousands of readers in
all parts of the country. It deals with a most im-
portant part 0,1 our social life, and although intro-
clueing
wtiat is in some respects a new and uncer-
tain Paineiple, it shows so clearly the immense evils
ala•eady in existence, and the terrible amount of
suffering and pauperism occasioned by them, that
there is little doubt that the project set forward in
the Government Annuities Bill will commend itself
to the acceptance of the country. There is no
quality more generally peasessed, or more highly
valued among Englishmen, than that wise and
kindly Providence which induces the head of a
family, while yet in the full vigour of his faculties,
to lay by a store for the benefit of those dear to him,
when he shall be no longer able to supply their
wants. The principle of Life Assurance enables
him to do this with ease and security, giving him
the reward of his prudence and self-sacrifice before
it is actually due, in the event of his sudden or pre-
mature death, and empowering the man who can
only put aside his twenty or thirty pounds a year
to bequeath to his family an amount which the
prudence of the longest life would not, unaided,
have enabled him to acquire. The immense advan-
tages of such a system to the man of uncertain in.
come and of limited means are immediately apparent,
and the extraordinary extent to which this branch
of business has developed affords sufficient proof of
the public appreciation of its merits. But although
conferring such benefits on its members, if fairly
and Efficiently conducted, it must be evident to the
most inexperienced that an insurance company, if
under dishonest or incompetent management, may
be the means of creating the direst distress, instead
of relieving anxiety, That this
is not often
the case among the wealthy or middic c!ass is
reedily acknowhdged, and c'early shown by the
established reputation
our large insurance ffi
° ces ; but among the lower
classes there is an amount of
and accumulated capital of
wretchedness and
disappointment too often
occasioned, which has
occasi
long been a matter of regret and indignation, and
which Mr. GLIDSTONE'S project of
Annuities is designed to remedy. rr Government
the registrar on the condition of Friendhley report
oi
es,
t eof
Which was published in the autemn
of lastc
excited a good deal of public attention.
It proved
year,
what the applications to our znagistrates for as-
sistance had often given reason to suspect b
e

t"4. _ I-

;fore.