The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-02 00:00:00

THE WAR IN DENMARE,

(From the limes Special Correspondent with the Danish
Army.)
DANISH HEADQUARTERS, SONDERBORG,
March 27.
If the madern art of war consists in inflicting the
greatest possible injury upon an enemy with the
least possible waste of time, blood, and money,
then one may be permitted to doubt whether the
Prussians have attained any very high degree of
proficiency in the craft ; and if war is still to be, as
it was among savages, merely the art of killing men,
even then the Prussians may be looked upon as
mere bunglers in its pursuit. It is now no less than
a fortnight (from the 14th inst.) since they opened
fire from their batteries on the cliffs of the Broager-
land. The cannonade has never entirely ceased
throughout the whole of a day or night. No less
than 500 or 600 shots and shells have been fired on
an average daily; 7,500 of such missiles, on the
very lowest computation, have been thrown upon
the Dybbol bastions, yet it may be doubted whether
as many as 75 Danish men or officers have been
disabled by the cannon since all the noise and earths
quake began. The Prussians are thus purchasing
their enemies' lives at the expense of about 500 shots
per head, and I have already had occasion to state
in a previous letter the fact that 1,000 balls and
shells on Wednesday last had not produced a single
scratch or bruise to reward the artilleryman for his
trouble. The average of casualties in the Danish
forts hardly exceeds three or four men hors de
• combat daily,
As to any other results attained by the Prussians
with all the thunder of their artillery, we may fairly
set them down at nil. They kick up a prodigious
deal of dust, doubtless; they have almost levelled
with the ground one or two of the flimsily con-
structed blockhouses, and the traverses and parapets
are considerably scarred and furrowed in some of
the forts. But what of it ? We go out in the
evening, and find a good deal of havoc and confu •
sion in No. 2 or No. 6. The wooden gear of one
or two of the guns is being removed in splinters.
What of it ? We revisit the same spot in the
morning, and all the rubbish is cleared away, new
gabions line the parapets, the battery is as good as
new, the Danes rub their hands and shake the dust
from their long overcoats, waiting for the daily
shower of shot and shell, which they have learnt to
dodge with consummate skill, and at which they
can afford to laugh. At this present rate there is
no reason why the siege of Dybbol should not last
as many years as the siege of Troy.
Symptoms of a far greater activity began, how-
ever, to develops themselves yesterday on the Ger-
man side. The fire between 11 and 1 was exceed-

ingly brisk ; the aim, no one can deny, is excellent,
and if the cannonade were kept up for the whole of
the 24 hours, or at least from sunrise to sunset, if
it extended to the whole line, and if the attack were
brought nearer to the bastions, we might probably
have a different tale to tell. A new battery, of 16
pieces, was yesterday unmasked by the Prussians
on a vantage ground between the village of Dybbol
and Ragebol, opposite to battery No. 8. Possibly
we shall have some thunder w-day on that quarter.
Bet it must not be forgotten that all the Danish
bastions, with the exception of Nos. 2 and 6, are
altogether intact. Those two, as 1 have said, have
received no injury that is not repaired almost as
soon as inflicted. Up to this time the Danes have
been marvellously chary of their ammunition. They
hardly ever ans7.•er more than one to three of the
enemy's shots. Perhaps they wait till a greater
proximity neutralises the advantage of the Prussian
rifled artillery,—perhaps they disdain to waste
powder and shot against mere inert matter, and will

rot bestir themselves till they can point their can-
non at the brests of their assAilants. Were the Prus-
sians as familiar with the sort of men they will have

to meet in the breach as nearly two months' con
tact with them has made me, they might well be
excused if they shrank from coming to close quar-
ters with them. There are not in the world more
robust frames or more resolute :countenances than
those of these gentle, inoffensive, and, on the whole,
untrained and uncouth Danish soldiers. Such
thick-set limbs, such round high chests, such square
shoulders, such high cheek-bones, such massive
nether jaws, st:ch firm flesh, such fresh blood, I
scarcely ever thought could be the common charac-
teristic of a whole Lost. I pass them ia ri,vitw daily
as they go in and out from outposts to night quar-
ters, and from night crierters to cutposts. I view
them in the mass and scan them one by one with
all the love of a professed physioghomist,end I assure
you I look in vain for one individual whom I coule
feel disposed to describe as a weakling or a craven.
The movements of these heavy bodies are generally
slow and deliberate, the gait is clumsy and awke
-ward, the expression of the faces dull and sedate ;
but in the mass their array is wall like, the mere
weight of their tread appalling. On an open ground
and breast to breast,l am really at a less to say how
many Prussians it may take to make them budge an
inch. We have new arrivals daily. The Danish Go-
vernment strain every nerve to send in their reserves.
55000 recruits are being drilled at Copenhagen.
I have so often croaked and grumbled about the
dull wretchedness of our existence at this place that
I think it right to notice the great improvement
that these later days have brought about in our posi-
tion. In the first place, the weather has been de-
iightful,—bright, dry, and by no means colder than
-we should have it in England at this time of the
year. Then we have daily additions to our num-
bers, and it is clearly a case of " the more the mer-
rier." Besides seven or eight quill-drivers, repre-
:serving the Press of most European nations, we have
curious travellers in flecks, chiefly English officers,
whose first instinct prompts them to seek intercourse
and communion with us civili ins. Some half-score
cif us are always clubbing together, and our after-
dinner talk enlivened by quips and cranks disguised
under the motley garb of a polyglot jargon, racy
and spicy with the peculiarities of national character
helps us to while away the dreary hours which had
bitherto hung so heavily upon us. Attic salt from
the Boulevards mixes not unaptly with Cornhill
c.leaff. Friendship springs up at the shortest notice,
-and the good humour and cordiality inseparable from
camp life readily extend to the wretched inns where
we fare comme a la guerre. The soldiers are used
our visits at all hours; they greet us with " God
dag" or " God nut," or only whisper with great un-
concern among themselves that " Englanderne," or
" Engelekmmadene" are coming. All that is odd,
rash, impudent, or importunate is set down as pure
English idiosyncrasy. No amount of impatience on
our part has power to ruffle their unconquerable
Northern temper. The officers are all invariably
courteous and obliging, withhold no information,
shun no conversation into which we may choose to
enter. I never saw an epauleted Dane who was not
every inch a gentleman, and, as I said before, never
tell in with a cross, a route, :f,y or cru
, orill-be-
haved soldier. One drunken fellow I certainly
chanced to meet on the very main street of Sender-
burg on Sunday. He was the first man I saw iu that
Plight. But it was an exception, only proving the
rule; and the manner in which his comrades pushed
and shaven him along, Helot like, with scorn and
wrath in their countenances, showed that intoxica-
tion is as unpopular among them as among the
Spartans of old. These Dines are certainly pleased
to see us &here their toils and, to some extent, their
dangers. They look at us, as we trudge along with
them in the naud,with a wondering gaze, as if plainly
asking how we like it, and if we are at times caught
inside their forts when a shell comes rattling in thL
air, they
lay hold of US laughing, bidding us duck
nod crouch in the most approved fashion, and drag
us into the holes and corners, where experience has
taught them the projectile
may be awaited with
almost perfect impunity. At no hour of the day or
might can one feel quite sure of visiting the bastions
without coming in for a share of the stupid fire of
the Prussians. The morning up to 10 or 11 o'clock,
about 4 or 5 p.m. till daybreak,
and the night from
are the periods of comparative repose, and we time
our excursions aecordingiy ; but still the Broeger-
land batteries may be said never to be absolutely at
rest at any hour of the day or night. An occasional
shot comes through the air almost as regularly as
the toll of a church-clock bell striking the seas.
Whenever this happens in the
is sublime. The loud deep still night the effect
boom of the heavy piece
reproduced through the air by the echoes of the

hilly land and craggy seacoast, the whizzing and
fizzing, or, more properly, whining and fluttering
of the shell as it rattles on its path, snake•like,
meteor-like—all this makes up a treat for the eye
and ear which the most consummate pyrotechnic
art can scarcely rival, and well worth the trouble
and the very little risk it may cost us to enjoy it.
Such are the pains and pleasures, the joys and
sorrows, the advantages and drawbacks of our ex-
istence. Weigh the pro and con, and then let me
ask, " Who would not be a correspondent ?"

MARCH 27, Evening.

This being Easter-day, the Prussians thought they
would treat us to a cannonade of unprecedented
briskness. The fire opened after 12 o'clock at noon,
but for more than half an hour it was so heavy that
we could count no less than six, and even es many
as ten, discharges in a minute. The batteries on
the Broagerland are more numerous, or rather they
have been run into one another till nearly the whole
coast presents but one continuous line of fire. By

two o'clock the fire slackened, and soon ceased alto■
gether. Really it would seem as if the Prussians
had a certain number, say 500 or 600 shots and
shells, apportioned to them for daily consumption,
and it mattered little whether they burnt all their
powder in a few minutes, or whether they spirted
it out by driblets, so as to keep up the noise for the
whole day. One may feel tempted to ask for the
twentieth time, "Is this fighting in earnest F'
A few of our party ventured out this afternoon,
as soon as the Prussian fire gave signs of being about

to cease. They visited Battery No. 2, into which
about 327 shots and shells had fallen between 12
and 3 o'clock. The parapet had been knocked about
a good deal, and the mere ruin of a blockhouse had
nearly disappeared. But the bastion was still, on
the main, intact, end the cannon answered the
enemv's fire to the last. The casualties were only
two men wounded. Yesterday the wounded were
three. _ _

From Battery No. 8 one could very distinctly see
the Prussian battery constructed between the vil-
lages of Dybbol and Nagebol, at about 2,000 yards
from the Danish line. Only six embrasures are
visible. The guns are not yet mounted.
A Frenchman, who came in from Jutland yester-
day, tell ❑s that the siege of Fredericia was raised
because the Hungarian and Venetian troops under
Gablenz were in open mutiny. That disaffection
should be ripe among part of the Austrian soldiery
would be natural enough.

DANISH ACCOUNT OF THE PRUSSIAN
ATTACK UPON DUPPEL.
COPENHAGEN, March 29.
The following official report has been issued by
the War-office :
" Despatches received from headquaeters, dated
10 a.m. yesterday morning, announce that at three
o'clock the Prussians attempted to surprise the posi-
tion at Duppel, penetrating suddenly between
works No. 4 and No. 8. After a vehement engage-
ment, lasting without intermission until 7'30 a.m.,
our garrison in the works and entrenchments drove
back the enemy to his former position. Fighting
was general all along the line. On the left wing the
ironclad battery, Rolf Krake, took part in the en-
gagement, her fire upon the ravines at Venningbund
preventing the advance of the enemy, while she was
herself engaged by the Broager batteries without
't ffect or loss. Twenty-six Prussians were brought
in prisoners to Sonderberg, two of the number being
officers, and all belonging to the 18th Regiment,
which was foremost in the attack. Our loss cannot
yet be distinctly stated, but, notwithstanding the
violent musketry fire, is not great.
" Advices received from North Schleswig lead to
the conclusion that the Prussian troops in Jutland
have withdrawn to the southward. The monument
in Skamlingsbank is reported to have been pulled
down and demolished. Proclamation is stated to
have been made in the churches the day before
Good Friday that Prussian currency is henceforth
to be the circulating mediam of the country, and
that in future none bat German money will be re•
ceived in public offices."
Dagbladet has published the following telegram,
dated Sunderborg, March 28, 11.25 a.m.:—
" At 3.30 this morning the enemy made a deter-
mined attack our works. Vehement fighting fol-
lowad along the whole line. The enemy was repulsed
several times. Rolf Krake fired upon the enemy's
right wing with good effect from Venningbund, and
was herself bombarded from Broeger. Our troops,
among whom were the North Schleswig men, fought
bravely. Our loss is not large ; the enem,Y6 vary
considerable-24 privates and two officsrs were
brought in prisoners, one of the officers wounded.
The hand-to-hand encounter lasted four hours ;
but the fire of the works continued longer."
The Ministry of Marine reports as follows—
" At 3 this morning the enemy's batteries began
to fire upon the position at Duppel. Rolfe Krake
tripped atchor and steamed in towards Venning-
bund. At dawn she ran into the creek, and was
met by a heavy fire from the Broager batteries.
After remaining two hours in the creek shelling
the enemy's troops, the battery withdrew upon the
enemy's retreat. Rolf Krake has suffered no
material damage, and is reported by the Comman-
der-in-Chief to have made excellent practice."
The following additional details have just been
published by the War-office :
" Our loss yesterday was as follows :—Officers
killed—First-Lieutenant Secher and Second-Lieu-
tenant Dichmeiss, of the 2d Regiment; First-Lieu-
tenant Petersen, of the 10th, and Second-Lieutenant
Benzon, of the 6th. Officers wounded—First-Lieu-
tenant Hammeley and Second-Lieuenant Gold-
schedt, of the 10th Regiment, badly ; Cept. Ross, of
the 2d Regiment, slightly. Col. Harbon received
a contusion from a spent ball, and will not be fit for
service for some time. In non-commissioned officers
and privates our loss was 30 killed and 108
wounded. Four of the enemy's officers (three
wounded) and 27 non-commissioned officers and
privates were captured. During a truce agreed
upon from eleven to one o'clock the enemy collected
and carried away many dead and wounded; his lose
must have been considerable.
" The attack was made with about 6,000 men,
behind whom very considerable reserves were held
in readiness, but not brought under fire. The in-
tention of the attacking party is believed to have
been to trace a parallel as close to the line of works
as possible. When the engagement had terminated
the fire of the batteries et Broager was renewed
with vigour."
Much interest is felt in Copenhagen in the evi •
dent change which has taken place in the plans of
the allied armies before Fredericia since the 21st.
Military operations have almost completely ceased
since the attack made on that day. Referring to
the subject the Schleswig Rolsteinische Zeitung of
the 23d says
" Field-Marshal von Gablenz was appointed to
an independent command in Jutland some days ago,
:inn in that capacity furnished with extended mili-
tary powers. Oa the occasion of the attack upon
Fredericia on the 21st, a collision is reported to have
occurred between the Field-Marshal and General
Von der Mulbe, the commander of the Prussian
Guard division, which compelled the Austrian com-
mander to make use of his authority."
The latest advices received by the Berlingske
.Tidente assert that Jutland has been evacuated by
he Prussians, and that only a small force of Aus-
rians is to remain in the southern part of the pro-
tin co.

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Mr, Roebuck on the Science of Politics.

On Thursday evening Mr. Roebuck, M.P., delivered an
address to the members of the Hull Church Institute, at the
Public Schools, Parrat•street, Hull, his subject being, " Why
should the science of politics form a portion of the education
of every Englishman ?" The room was densely crowded.
The chair was taken by Dr. Bell, president of the institute,
who briefly introduced the hon. gentleman, After a few
pi efatory remarks,

Mr. ROEBUCX. said, that if there was one thing more than
another which it really imported the people to know, that
thing was politics, Some people said, "We have enough
of politics in the newspapers and from wandering politicians

—for heaven's sake don't trouble us with that," That was
not wise, He was about to discourse on the subject of poli-
tics in a sense very different from that in which other people
used it, What, then, did he mean by politics? If, we, by
putting on a wishing cap, could get what we desired there

would be no use of government. But that was not the fact,
A large portion of the objects of human desire was the re-
sult of labour, Labour was pain which every man desired
to shun, and if a man could avoid all the labour of gaining
his subsistence and throw it upon others; what would hap-
pen ? The strong man would oppress the weak, and make
the weak to work for him. But the weak combined against
the strong; they united and formed what was really govern••

ment, to keep down the strong man who wish to coerce and
live upon the weak man. But the very men who combined
for the purpose of preventing the coercion of the strong
teen had exactly the came interest as the strong man to

rob the public, and if left to themselves would rob the pub-
lic. In order to prevent them from doing this certain means

were required, and the fashioning of those means, making
what is called the constitution, formed the science of govern-
ment. This science he included in the word politics, as well
as the science of legislation and the administration of the
affairs of the nation at home and abroad. Coming now to ano-
ther word in the question which was the subject of his address
—the word Englishmen—he had to make another explana-
tion. When a naturalist used the word man he included

woman, and when he (Mr. Roebuck) used the word Eng•
lishman he meant also to include:Englishwoman. He mean

to insist upon this, that as far as his proposition went women
should receive an equal education to men. (Applause.) If
they only consiaerbd the great influence of a mother upon
the education of her children, and how that child's mind
and character were formed by the mother who bore him and
educated him, every one with a grain of sense would say

that the education of that mother's mind was a matter o,

great importance to society at large. (Applause.) The
small wit that was employed against learning in women
was very silly and very mischievous. He wished that women
might be so educated as to form good, worthy, honest, and
honourable citizens. He was not going to introduce any-
thing like party polies ; he was going to be a prophet, and
to mention some things which he believed would take place,
although he did not say that he desired them. During the
last 30 years a great change had taken place in this coun-
try. When he began to turn his attention to politics the
government of England was a very narrow aristocracy, and
the feelings of one class of people towards the others were
anything but cordial. After the great war with Napoleon,
certain writers arose who spread their views among the
people, and used language which led eventually to the Re-
form Bill of 1832, but which language, if carried to its ulti-

mate consequences, would have gone a great deal further.
It made the working classes and the great body of the
people believe that the political power which was extended
by the Reform Bill ought to be conceded to them; that
feeling had not died away, and he would predict that the
political power they desired wculd be extended to the masses
very quickly, though perhaps not in his lifetime. That
being so, he asked himself if his labouring fellow-country-
men were worthy of and prepared for the exercise of that
vast power which Government possessed. (Hear.) How
could they prepare for this contingency? Why, by educat-
ing the people, by fitting them for the exercise of that great
franchise which would be theirs as surely as there was a sun
in heaven. The time would come wnen the great body of
the people would govern the country. He might be asked,

did he expect every working man would be a statesman and
a legislator, He replied, No. The American Indian, if he
felt ill, went to his medicine man, who mut'ered certain
incantations over him, and if he got well it was thought to
be the consequence of those incantations. In this country,
if he (Mr. Roebuck) went to a doctor. although he himself
was not learned in physics, he thought he was able to tell

whether or not the doctor was fit to cure him. What he
asked, then, was, that the working men should have the
power of understanding the intellectual and moral character
of the person whom they chose, and for that purpose he
wished them to employ a rational power. This would pre-
vent their listening to a charlat in who promised them every •
thing if they would only put him into power. From the
days of early Grecian history, we learned how men had thus
been put into power, promising that the people should see
what would come of it, and the foolish people did see what
came of it. (Laughter.) It was with pain, but he thought
with truth, that he saw such a wonderful ignorance in al
parts of England that he would hesitate very much at the
idea of putting into the hands f the people the power to
regulate their destiny. (Hear.) Only a few days ago a
woman and man were tried for causing the death of a poor
old deaf and dumb man because they believed lee was guilty
of witchcraft. Not many years ago a crack-brain impostor
who called himself Courtenay, persuaded the ignorant
peasantry of Kent living within 50 miles of London, that
he was invulnerable. He induced them to rise in insurrec-
tion against the Government. and they would not believe
that he was vulnerable until ho got shot. Some cottagers
near his (Mr. Roebuck's) house in the country believed
that a string of toads hung around the neck would cure
persons ill of consumption. Would it be wise, safe, or sane
to put the destinies of England into the hands of people
like those ? No man in England had a greater desire
than he to see his country exalted ; his whole life had
been devoted to the great end of raining men. He had no
hatred to those above h.m, whom he had seen employing
their means kindly and faithfully towards their fellow-men,
but he had a great desire to lift his countrymen up—and
how could this be done ? There was only one way to make
them fit for that power which the rushing tide that was
going on faster than they could go would inevitably confer
upon them. During the first 25 years of his political life
there was a great desire on the part of liberal men to con-
fer on the working °lasses the franchise they desired.
Events had happened quite lately on the other side of the
Atlantic in which the Liberals in England had seen things
that frightened them. It was no use hiding the fact that
the doings in America had a mischievous effect upon the
Liberal cause in England. (Hear, hear.) Ho did not want
to see the same things happening here. He had been and
still was a thorough-going Liberal, but that terrible example
in the United States had frightened him, and he was not
liable to be frightened. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) There-
fore he said to the men and women before him—put your
shoulder to the wheel and do what you can to educate your
fellow-man. What sort of an educatioon could be given to
them ? The first thing to be done was to prepare an educa•
tional literature for the purpose of educating children on
the topics on which ha had been speaking. The Irish na-
tional school books were very admirable for their purpose.
They hardly attained what he desired in this respect. To
make a working man understand what he ought to do with
the power entrusted to him was totally distinct from any-
thing he learned in those books. The first thing he shouter
be taught was what legislation could do, supposing the
great body of the people were to receive the franchise; and
they would be surprised to hear how easily
that might oc
cur. The very small change proposed in the Reform Bill
brought in by Lord Derby's Government would have in-
creased the number of his constituency in Sheffield from
7,000 to 18,000 ; therefore it must not be supposed that a
great change in the go,. erning power of this country was as
far off as many imagined. The number in Sheffield added to
the 7000 would be the vast majority, andby them would be de-
termined the fate of the election. (Applause.) The unedu-
cated whom ho had met believed the Government had tlO3
power of determining the rate of wages, and one of the first
things that would be propounded by an ignorant constitu-
ency, such as he had described, would be that there should
be a minimum of wages. The consequence of that would
be the utter destruction of the power and greatness of Eng-
land. Manufactures would be driven from the country,
and under the notion of relieving themselves from the
misery of low wages, which depended on circumstances
totally beyond the power of Government, tue people would
ruin the country by insisting that their representatives
should establish a minimum of wages. (Applause.) It had
been attempted more than once to keep
down wages by ac!
of Parliament, and the attempt had failed; wages could
neither be raised nor kept down by law, and that ought to
form a portion of the science of politics imparted to the
working man. (Applause.) Again, wealth was very un-
equally distributed in England. It' power were in the hands
of the uneducated poor, they would say, " Cannot we, a
patriotic Government, make everybody happy by making
everybody rich ? Shan't there be an equal distribution of
property ?" This was attempted in a neighbouring country
some years ago, and though it failed, the attempt brought
riot, confusion, and terror over all the land. The same would
be the consequence here if the people were endowed with
power without having knowledge to guide hem in the exer-
cise of it. (Hear, hear.) The first thing, then, to teach the
people was the limits which surrounded legislation; what,
in short, the power of Government could do. Then came
the pertinent question—what Government ought to do.
Government could be so regulated that every man might
think, say, and do what he pleased, so long as he did not
injure his neighbour. When that was attained the end
for which Government was established was attained. (Ap-
plause.) If by act of Parliament a man's creed was forced
upon him the rule ho had pointed out was broken. He did
not mean to say that the instructed did not endeavour to
lead the uninstructed. The power of mind over mind
he honoured and venerated. What he opposed was the
power over will; what he desired was that thought should
be entirely free from coercion, while at the same time it
might be guided by thought. They might get up as many
educational institutions as they could, and teach what they
liked, but they must teach, not force. This had not been
done until quite lately, and it was one of the most marked
characteristics of this country that every man might believe
what he liked. (Applause.) Then came the pith of the
question, might he say what he liked ? Being a lawyer he
had heard all his life about the law of libel ; he wished that
law to be entirely done away with, except so far as applied
to a wan when he endeavoured to injure his neighbour.

Let a man say what he liked ; if he chose to say that any
one of the theories of Euclid was false, did any believe that
Euclid coule be aided by gnus and trumpets, swords and
powder and shot ? Not a bit of it. Let a man, then, say
what he liked, PO long as he did not vilify his neighbour.
When they had a government really and sincerely desiring
the good of the people the people would be allowed to think,
say, and do what they liked. When the working man had
been brought to understand that, and all the various ele-
ments that went to the comprehension of it, they would bo
prepared for the exercise of that franchise for which they
were certainly destined. Again, there might be a good
government and good laws, but they might be unfit for the
people. If the best form of government that could be de-
vised was given to a body of ignorant savages, they would
be as unable to employ it as he would be to use an Arm-
strong gun. In this country an education was going on
among a large body of the people—a political education—
which was the marvel of nations abroad, and it was this
that made England what she was. We had the coroner's
jury, the parish vestry, the board of guardians, and the
municipal corporations, all managing their several affairs
and consisting of assemblies of the people. The power of
this country did not simply depend upon her wealth, nor
upon the thews and bravery of her citizens. If the people
were so ignorant that 'hey did not know the business of the
Government, England would not be what she was, they
would have that abominable nuisance called a paternal
government, and the people would be slaves, This was
what had happened in the countries of Europe, where, how-
ever, the multitudes were wakened up ; and it was to Eng-
and that they pointed for an example. To England they
looked because we were a self-governed people. (Applause.)
He believed that this country exhibited such a spectacle as
the world never saw. The upper classes exercised the
powers possessed by them most kindly, generously, and
virtuously ; and the lower classes regarded them with kind-
ness and consideration. We were now a really united
people, and cm.fident against the world at large. (Applause.)
There was, however, a danger looming in the distance,
which could only be avoided by our doing something for
the education of the masses. A great deal was being done,
but there must be more done ; there must be no no-
tion that the people were not to learn this, that, or the
other. It was commonly said that knowledge was power ;
but knowledge might be used for selfish purposes just as
much as any other power; if an ignorant man was put
beside a wise man, the former would certainly be the slave
of the latter. He had said a great deal which he hoped
would induce his audience to think. They must not run
away with the notion that the danger was put off ; that the
people of England were so terrified with what was occur-
ring in various parts of the world that they would be
thoroughly content with their present prospects. Depend
upon it it would not be so. He felt confident that we should
shortly see peat demands for a change. They should
bear in mind what was taking piece around them. Had

they not seen within a few months a great revolution in the
largest manufacture in England, the cotton manufacture ?
Thousands of persons have been thrown out of employment
and great misery had been the consequence, but not one
person had accused the Government 01 the t. (Applause.)
How different was this from the state of things in 1817,
when the whole country was patrolled by persons breaking
machinery. He hoped that what he had said might turn
to good profit, that it would enlarge their minds, soften
their asperities; and that the passion that they might have
felt on political subjects would entirely disappear. Then
they would be, what he hoped the great people of England
would be. roused, every man and woman, to a fine concep-
tion of the great destiny awaiting them, and surrounding
nations would say of them that they were a people to be
reverenced, honoured, and env ed. (Applause.)
A vote of thanks to Mr. Roebuck and the chairman con-
cluded tho proceedings.—Manclicster Examiner.

Position of Parties in the House of Commons

Easter comes early this year—but not earlier than it was
wanted. A fortnight's repos3 comes most acceptably to a

Government which has been, as Mr. Bright phrased

worried night after night with no ordinary severity ; give

them time to collect their thoughts, to count their resources

and to consider how they are to encounter the serious as-
saults foreshadowed by all this preliminary skirm,shing.
In January they were thought to be strong, not, indeed. in
numbers, but in prestige and popularity. True, Lord
Russell had made many scrims blunders, and got into con-
siderable disgrace. He had been pursuing his usual policy
with more than usual eclat he had been, as his wont is,

bragging and backing out ; he had been patient with the
strong and peremptory with the weak; and as the strong
had been more brutal and outrageous, and the weak more
obstinate, than on previous occasions, the character of his
policy had come into clearer light, and its humiliating con •
trasts stood forth in more painful relief than heretofore. We
had bombarded and burnt Kegosima ; we had interposed
with vehement protests on behalf of Poland, had been well
snubbed for our pains,and had left Poland to her fate ; we had
taken strong measures against the Confederates, and endured
strong measures at the hands of the Federals. Our ir fluence
in Europe had been so employed that we were on terms of
coolness with France, and of reciprocal suspicion with Rus-
sia, Germany, hd ty the father-in-law of the Princess
Royal, was rushing on Denmark and her King, the father
of our beloved Princess of Wales ; and matters had been so
=tinned that we had quarrelled with Germany, and yet
left Denmark unassisted, No part of our foreign relations
was in a satisfactory or creditable state, Nevertheless, little
hope was entertained feat any Parliamentary punishment
would betel the author of all the mischief. He had been
wisely removed from the dangers and storms of the House
of Commons to the quiet and security of another and a hap-
pier place ; and though Lord Derby might scout got him with
stinging and cutting sarcasms, the House of Lords has little
direct power of inflicting the one penalty which he would
feel acutely—removal from office. His colleagues in the
House of Commons might trust to Lord Palmerston to de-
vise some means of parrying attacks directed against " an
absent man ;" and a vote of want of confidence in Lord
Palmerston himself seemed at that time impossible. Sir
George Grey, again, had done his utmost to damage
himself and his colleagues by one of those acts of unri-
valled perversity for which he is famous. But nothing
short of a case of actual corruption would induce the House
of Commons to interfere with the exercise of the royal pre-
rogative ; and Sir George Grey's worst blunders only incur
unpopularity, not censure. For the rest,the Prime Minister
was in favour with all parties, except the Rochdale school;
and the displeasure of Rochdale enhanced the satisfaction
of England, Lord Palmerston has never been able to un-
derstand that personal popularity will not make up for po-
litical shortcomings ; and that his own prestige, though it
may enable him to cover the scrapes of a Peel or a Cowper,
will not suffice to divert attention from the glaring misde-
meanours of those who stand almost on his own level as
leaders in the Cabinet and in Parliament. Relying on him-
self, he met Parliament cheerfully; and relying on him,
and on his inexhaustible resources, his party forgot the
ehanges•that had taken place since 1860, and the gradual
transfer not merely of numerical, but of effective strength,
which the last three years have witnessed.
The superiority of debating power is now on the side
of the Opposition. It may be granted that Mr. Gladstone
is unsurpassed as an orator in the House of Commons;
and that Lord Palmerston is as happy in retort or reply
as any living man. The Attorney-General is also a most
eloquent and forcible speaker, and a great addition to the
strength of the Ministry. But Mr. Disraeli and Sir Hugh
Cairns are fully a match for these champions of Liberalism ;
and when we come to the second rank of debaters, the
Ministry have no ono to oppose to Mr. Fitzgerald, Sir S.
Northcote, Lord Stanley, and Lord It. Cecil. Again, there
is a class of speakers in the house who carry great weight,
not by dint of eloquence, but by knowledge, wisdom, and
force of moral character. Sir George Cornewall Lewis
was the moat distinguished of these men; and his loss
has left the defence of the Ministry entirely in the hands
of those whose authority is merely intellectual. There
is no one now to answer Conservatives like Mr. Walpole
and Mr. Henley ; no man on the Liberal side whose voice
carries, as theirs do, much of the authority of an umpire,
anxious amid the war of faction only to protect the interests
of the State. Under these circumstances, it is not sur-
prising that every debate that has taken place this session
has been eamaging to the Government ; has shaken their
strength, and impaired public belief in their stability. In
January there was a general opinion that Lord Palmerston
had,r
the
h The
esvaeessresyifooirfii filerosut t.
night
of
hDt owning-street. Now there is as
-
general an impression that his Ministry is hardly likely to
see
betrayed their weakness, It is
u ual for the
Queen's speech to mean as little as possible :
as if it were thought unconstitutional for the Sovereign
to speak seriously and earnestly to the nation. But this
year the absence of meaning was made so conspicuous and
so glaring, that it was impossible for it to pass unchal-
of England's interest in, and duty
sal etunr
ogenexgdie.cstt
imagex Thepr
est
sr
ofiuo nncsLa toerdd
iptaus
ss
saegi s relating toi Denw h rkt—h e
e
towards, the Danish Government were made to stop sud-
denly short at the point at which a declaration of war
seemed the only possible conclusion—invited criticism ;
and criticism was not disarmed when it appeared that
Lord Palmerston thought the matter of so little consequence
that not a single paper had been prepared to lay before Par-
liament. The tone of the Prime Minister on that occasion
absolutely astonished the House of Commons. "If Parlia-
ment wanted the papers, of course he was ready to produce
them." But why had they not been produced. beforehand?
Was it possible that the Ministry could have supposed that
they would not be called for ? That so skilful a tactician
as Lord Palmerston should have put such a slight upon the
House—should have seemed to be bent on avoiding or poet-
polling the discussion of his foreign policy, and should have
shown himself' anxious to withhold as long as possible papers
which must be produced ere long—appeared very strange.
How he must have reason to dread discussion, if, to snatch
so brief a respite, he would risk so much obloquy as he
incurred by not causing the papers to be prepared before the
meeting of Parliament ! Thu non-production of the corre-
spondence damaged him much more than its subsequent
publication, and the Blue-books contain nothing half so dis-
graceful as the delay in printing them. Mr. Layard, woo
has great talent for giving offence, completed the provoca-
tion by declaring that it would take fully three weeks to
produce the papers—an announcement which called forth
such a storm of iudisnation that the Government took warn-
ing, and the correspondence came forth piecemeal, affadiug