The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS;

TIMES.—The debate in the House of Lords last
evening represents with accuracy the present feel-
ings of the country upon the Danish question.
The anxiety and irritation of the public are ex-
pressed by Lord Ellenborough, the caution of the
administrator appears in the speech of Lord Rus-
sell, While Lord Derby speaks like one who knows
that his party were bent upon a Tote of want of
confidence, but who also knows that the
most complete success would only impose on himself
unwelcome responsibilities. The practical result of
the debate was an announcement from Lord Russell,
" disclaiming a threat of any kind," that " her
Majesty's fleet is fully prepared for any services
which it may be called upon to render." We know
not what effect these words will have upon the Ger-
man Powers, but if they indicate any tardy inten-
tion of the Government to support the King of
Denmark, and, as is rumoured, to insist that
Germany shall be content with the line of
the Schlei, they deserve most serious conside-
ration both by the two belligerent States and by
the petty Princes who have been urging them on.
It is the general testimony of persons writing from
abroad that the Germans are highly elated at the
victory they conceive they have gained over the
English Government, and by the impunity with
which they have shown their disregard of its re-
monstrances. They could not have conceived that
a Power with the past reputation and the present
strength of England would have allowed them to
advance to the destruction of a small State by such
a series of misrepresentations and broken promises.
They invaded Holstein and set up a Pretender,
after assuring this country that only a process,
called "Federal Execution," to carry out certain
definite objects was intended. They entered
Schleswig under engagements to our Govern-
ment, which they at once threw off when they
had gained a military success. The joint note of
Austria and Prussia in January expressly stated
that the two Powers recognised the succession
of Christian IX. in both Duchies, in accordance
with the treaty of 1852 ; yet within a few months
they declare that Treaty a dead letter, proclaim
their intention of wresting both Duchies, or all but
a small fraction of one of them, from the Danish
Kingdom, and coolly tell England that war has an-
nulled the treaty by which they, in common with
all the chief States of Europe, have solemnly bound
themselves. It is with a great effort of self-control
that the more impulsive part of the English people
have restrained themselves during the progress of
these outrages. On the one side are the sympathies
of the country, which have been so strong in this
matter that they have almost carried us into acts
of too hasty interference; on the other side have
been the calmer judgment which bids us refrain from
foreign quarrels, and the patience which endeavours
to settle the dispute by appeals to the conscience of
the invaders, and by showing them the reprobation
with which their actions are regarded by the world.
The German Powers will have themselves to thank
if the former impulses gain the victory and the
British Government finds itself unable to maintain
any longer its peaceful attitude. With the support
or the acquiescence of all political parties the Queen's
Ministers have tried for more than six months the
policy of patient expostulation. If the result be that
the German Powers reject all counsels, and pride
themselves on the military brusqueness with which
they treat us, it will be a difficult matter for the
Queen's Ministers to persuade their adversaries or
the public that the policy they have adopted is the
best to be used with such a people. Lord Ellen-
borough expressed feelings which are very general
out of doors when he said last night that the only
way to make Prussia give up its hold of Jutland
and North Schleswig was by distinctly intimating
that the British Government would not only pro-
tect the islands, but Jutland and Schleswig also, and
that they would give the assistance of a British
force to blockade the ports of Germany, in order to
protect these provinces. If these be the opinions
which possess the public mind after so many months
of patience, we cannot but consider that the recom-
mencement of the war by the German Powers must
lead to serious difficulties. There is growing up an
opinion that the honour of this country is concerned
in resenting behaviour like that of the Prussian and
Austrian Governments, and however clearly it may
be shown that we are not bound to support the
integrity of the Danish kingdom, yet no politician
can answer for the temper of the country under such
repeated slights. If any proof were wanted of the
effect which the duplicity and violence of the German
Powers have produced on the Continent, it would
be found in the general expectation that England
can no longer submit to see her wishes disregarded
and herself contemned, but must make the renewal
of the war on the 26th the beginning of a more
active police. England, which has been so long
blamed for its warlike tendencies, is now instigated
by invidious comparisons, almost by taunts, to take
up arms in this dispute. It is locked upon as a duty
which, in the division of labour which belongs to
the Great Powers, this country may fitly impose on
itself. France has shown her own chivalry and dis-
interestedness on many fields. The Italian and the
Mexican bear witness to the prowess France, as
the Turk did a few years before. Why should not
England follow this example ? We have large
arrears of heroism and philanthropy to make up.
Although we fought with our neighbours in the
Crimea and in China, we have shown ourselves of
leap slack in the pursuit of glory. For these reasons
it is intimated to us that we should do well to show
a little aleetness in the protection of our friends.
Other reasons leading to the same conclusion are
found in the suppostsel interests of England in the
Baltic, and in the famii.T alliance which exists be-
tween the reigning Houses. These last arguments
have been put for ward by the Constitutionnel in
an article of more than usual signifionce. In this
article the necessity which will compel England to
interfere is contrasted with the perfect liberty of
action enjoyed in France. Whereas a state of things
which the English Cabinet has created for itself
bids us send our fleets to the Baltic and our troops
to the Danish Peninsula, France, through the far-
seeing wisdom and moderation of the Imperial Go-
vernment, may look on with impartiality, and thus
avoid making general a war which the intervention
of England will, after all, not prevent from beibg
limited. All these are signs of the times, and should
indicate to the German Powers that the hour is
approaching when it will be difficult for this coune
try to avoid doing what a large class of its own
people, and nearly all foreign lookers-on, think that
it ought to do. War in such a case would be an
enormous calamity, as it would divide Powers
which have generally been allied in the affairs of
Europe, it would put enmity between nations that
have most in common, and would, moreover, lead,
in all probability, to territorial changes, some of
which are net desired by Englishmen. From war
this country has shrunk with a scrupulosity which
its neighbours cannot understand, and which, it ap
pears, its opponents interpret through the medium
of their own vanity, We still anxiously desire to
avoid it, all the more as the pretensions of the
Germans are based to some extent on the wishes of
the people in the Duchies, and Englishmen will
not willingly enter upon an attempt to coerce any
body of men. But that all danger of a conflict may
be avoided it will be necessary that the German
Powers return at length to the paths of justice and
moderation.

POST.—After a long and animated debate, and
by a small majority, the House of Commons refused
to endorse a vote of censure on the Government in
respect to their policy in the condlct of the Ashantee
war. Ministers have gained a victor v, but it must
be confessed that it was a close one. •i he House
was composed of four hundred and sixty-foui mem-
bers, including the Speaker and the tellers—t7o
hundred and twenty-six having voted in favour of

Sir John Hay's motion, and two hundred and

thirty-three against it. It was a fair trial of
strength on an issue which, as Mr. Disraeli observed,
properly constituted a party question, and the Oppo-
sition were defeated. With the verdict of the House

of Commons the country will concur. Much irrele-
vant matter was introduced into the debate, gut the
point at issue was extremely simple. The expedition
against the King of Ashantee was confessedly unsuc-
cessful, and attended with results which every 008
must deplore. Bat ill success and disaster do not
necessarily imply blame to the sufferers, and the
strongest arguments employed by the Opposition
rested upon appeals to sympathy, which, standing
alone, no one could have refused to entertain. But
though it was impossible to avoid a feeling of regret
that the war in Ashantee should ever have been
undertaken, the majority of the House of Commons
did not allow their sympathies to distort their

judgment. Fsilure may sometimes follow in the
train of the most carefully-devised projects, but, be-
yond failure, the Opposition could lay nothing to
the charge of the Government. The result of last
night's division must, therefore, be accepted as a
proof that in the opinion of the House of Commons
the Administration had done everything in their
power to secura success, and that, although they
cannot boast of its attainment, they have at least
deserved it. The circumstances under which the
unfortunate campaign against the King of Ashantee
came to be projected, though dwelt on in detail in
the course of last evening's debate, are already
known to the public. We possess a narrow strip of
land on the seashore in the immediate neighbour.
hood of Cape Coast Castle, and assume, on grounds
the policy, if not the soundness, of which may well
be questioned, the exercise of a protectorate over
a not very extensive line of country which inter-
venes between our possessions and the territory of
the King of Ashantee. A refusal upon. our part
to deliver up to the Sovereign two
,thieves Who
had fled from Ashantee and taken refuge in this

ueutral ground was followed by those acts of reta•