The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-25 00:00:00

Under the supervision of a skilled man of letters like
the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
aided by three or four clerks from the General Cir-
cumlocution Office—(and a pleasant interruption
this wholesome little burst of work might have been
to the polishing of gun barrels with silk
handkerchiefs, and the spreading of jam
with paper knives, as described by our Master
Humouriat)—the copy might soon enough, certainly
in less than a fortnight's time, have been in the
hands of the Parliamentary printer, and in course of
distribution among his compositors. As to the rest
of the work, the purely mechanical work—that we
all know, that the daily press of itself is every morn-
ing and evening plainly demonstrating, to be capa-
ble of very rapid performance indeed. The Blue
Book, we are told, when completed, will not much
exceed, even if it at all exceeds, an extreme length
of 700 pages. An amount of printed matter—
as Mr. DISRAELI took occasion to remind the
House a few evenings since, under, rather than over,
the extent to which the two blue-books ran, at the
commencement of the famous session which witnessed
the outbreak of the Crimean war. Yet, then, the
blue-books were not dawdled over in this disgraceful
manner at the Foreign-office, they were swiftly put
together and promptly laid upon the table immedi-
ately the business of that memorable session com-
menced. Instead of which, it will be remembered,
that not the faintest prospect was held out by
Government at the commencement of this session
of any papers at all being forthcoming in connec-
tion with the diplomatic negotiations, notoriously
carried on by England with various among
the leading Powers of Europe immediately ante-
cedent to the shameless opening of the Danish
war, all of a sudden, by the banded armies of Aus-
tria and Prussia. Insomuch was a rigid silence
observed in regard to those abortive negotiations in
referenee to those numerous but inoperative de-
spatches, that the Leader of the Opposition, as, in
his responsible duty as such, he was in truth only
bound to do, was constrained to ask, upon the very
first night of the session—How about Denmark
How about that Danish Correspondence ? The
cavalier tone in which the Premier replied there
and then forthwith to that surely most natural
inquiry—who does not remember ? It was
with a careless, off-hand good-humoured sort
of contemptuous indignation that Lord PALMER-
STON replied—the meaning of his reply being
visible in the very shrug of his shoulders,
in the very lifting of his eyebrows, ',in the
very inflection of his voice—Why, of course, those
papers will be laid upon the table with all con-
venient expedition ! The noble lord adding, with
a whimsical delivery his words that led to the
drowning of his sentence in the general
laughter of those who were listening to him—And,
remembering the immense number of these papers,
that are now in readiness to be produced, the Loin
help those who may have the courage, &a. ! While
we are writing, however, there come to us from the
Foreign Office—welcomer in some sense than flowers
in May because looked for so eagerly, and hitherto so
vainly all through this weary dreary month of
February, the leaves of No. 2 of these long delayed
diplomatic papara " Denmark and Germany" they
are headed. No. 2 extending to 145 pages, and includ-
ing in them just exactly 138 distinct documents,
dating from the 21st of January, 1863, down to the
30th of last September, each inclusively. So that at
length we are beginning, in earnest, to have a taste
of it ! Time, indeed, that we should do
so—now that the session is fast advancing to the
period of the Easter recess. Hardly before Easter
shall have passed by can we look for the bringing
forward in earnest, at last, of the inevitable discus-
sion which must arise now in the end, when " the
pear is ripe"—that debate which to mark the session
and which must inevitably one way or another lead
to a modification in the existing scheme of the
Government. Whether this is to be accomplished
by a change of Ministry or not, is, comparatively
speaking, of little or no importance. What is
wanted is—not that this set of men shall be
in office and that in opposition, but that
the services of the country shall no longer
be so conducted that—at home things have long
since come pretty well to a dead lock, while—abroad
the name of England has dwindled down until
it has become an object either of absolute indiffe-
rence or of open derision.

Mr. LocKE KING'S motion for the reduction of
the County Franchise has long since been ranked
among those questions which are perseveringly
brought forward year after year by their resolute
and unwavering advocates. There appears at first
to b 3 little hope of their ever reaching a successful
issue, and after they have been scornfully dismissed
two or three sessions running, their annual appear-
ance comes to be regarded almost as a joke by
members on both sides. Gradually, however, the
cause, if it be founded on just princip:es and popular
necessities, gathers strength ; gradually the little
band of supporters grow into imposing numbers;
the matter is warmly taken up by the organs of
popular opinion, and until the laughers and the
scorners are transformed into open disciples, the
Government of the day is forced to yield to the
general voice, and the victory is won. We have
watched this course of events with regard to nearly
all those liberal measures which have marked this
generation. Most of the great reforms of the
last half century indeed have been carried not only
against a formidable opposition, but after having
withstood the severe trial of a long course of ridicule
end neglect. The public mind requires to be
familiarised with a cause, to be made thoroughly
acquainted with its features and characteristics,
before the necessity for an innovation comes to be
widely recognised. The slow but sure progress of
such a measure is marked in the history of Mr.
LOCKE KING'S motion. Fourteen years ago he first
introduced the measure, and since that time there
have been changes of Government, dissolutions of
Parliament, and projects and promises of Reform,
bat the bill is not yet carried. Still progress has
been made, and the motion which " used to receive
a bold and distinct negative, had lately been put
by the timid and faltering negative of moving
the previous question.' How far this is
done in the case of the present Ministry
to the openly expressed indignation of the
country et the indefinite postponement of Re-
form, and how much to an increased perception of
the merits of the bill ; at any rate there is no
doubt that the measure is gaining ground. The
four Reform Bills which have been brought forward
Within the last few years, only to come to an igno-
minious end, have all accepted the principle of the
extension of the county franchise to occupiers, and
three of the font fixed the franchise at the same
sum as this bill—ilo. Mr. L. KING went through
the whole story of the fluctuations of its carter, and
pointed out the inconsistency of the present state of
things since the wealth and population of the coun-
tryhOars aatcat uyae-lal yr sd, iwmhi ni lies htehde.
has rapidly increasedtelnnt years the county population hasty voters y
I n numbert
the lasto f
twenty
risen about two millions, while the electors have de-
creased in numbers about three thousand. This is
the more preposterous since it is admitted on all
hands that education has made most rapid strides,
and political knowledge has become widely diffused
among the masses. While in proportion to the ad.
vance of such knowledge and the cultivation of
the reasoning powers the people are becoming more

and more qualified to form a sensible and just
opinion on the national affairs, and are less likely to
be influenced by mob orators and ranting dema-
gogues. The measure, it must be acknowledged by
its most inveterate opponents, can be passed with
perfect safety. There is certainly no great danger
to the State likely to result from the votes of LlO oc-
cupiers; in fact the Conservatives, who usually fight
the territoriarbattle, ought to welcome it heartily,
as admitting a larger number of the agricultural
class to political influence. The fact that the leaders
of both parties have thought fit to introduce
the principle of this measure into their own Re-
form Bills, proves indisputably that they do not
really see any solid reason against it. All these
contemplated Reform Bills have come to an un-
timely end; one after another they have disap-
peared from the scene of Parliamentary existence
either from the coldness of their friends or the
warmth of their enemiev. The former danger has
been the most fatal, Lord DERBY'S Bill having
been, as Mr. LOCKE KING said, the only bill that
was fought in earnest. "All these bills having
fallen through," said Mr. LOCKE KING, "I would ask
whether it is not desirable to give Reform in frag-
ments, and to pass some small and moderate mea-
sure like the present." Such certainly appears to
be tho most rational mode of proceeding, and we
heartily advise all who have the interest of the
Liberal cause really at heart to support such mea-
sures as those we are speaking of, even though
they may regard them as isolated and partial.
They are steps in the right direction, at ail events,
and in the present troubled state of Europe gradual
and progressive changes may perhaps be wiser and
safer than a more sweeping and comprehensive
change. No one can pretend that the adoption of
such a measure would produce a social convulsion
or revolutionise Parliament; and since, so long at
least as the present occupiers of the Treasury
Benches retain their seats, there is no immediate
hope of that " comprehensive measure of Reform"
which we have been promised so often within the
last :ten years, Liberals must make the most of
their unsatisfactory position; and not refuse to take
some partial steps if they cannot go the whole jour-
ney: The warning given by Mr. KING to the right
hon. gentleman the Leader of her MAJESTY'S Op-
position, and which he coupled with thanks for the
assistance he had already lent him, is applicable to
both sides of the House. Sooner or:later the bill
must pass, and it will be far wiser and better to
pass it now with a good grace than be forced to
submit to external pressure in the days when
Reform will be extorted—not demanded.

It would seem as if there was a Nemesis that
avenged the injuries of Denmark through the
complications that are now assailing the German
Powers. There is no misunderstanding this un-
happy state of things when we peruse the various
items of intelligence that arrive from these quarters.
Each Power is trying to put itself forward at the
expense of others, and to keep those others in the
background—the whole resulting in a complete
confusion and entanglement which promises little
for their future welfare, and certainly compromises
their dignity to a great extent. Nothing can be a
greater mistake than for the several parties who are
planning any movement or representing any idea
to dispute amongst themselves. Uaity is strength
has often been proved, but its veracity seems always
doubted by the component parts of the Germanic
Confederation. They split straws in their minute
investigations of trifles, they equabble over the
merest trifles, the veriebt nothings assume
colossal proportions, and are invested with gigantic
interest, and what the great Powers of Europe would
only laugh at they pass over as if their religion
was in jeopardy, or some one had proposed that
they should abrogate their rights as independent
citizens. Perhaps the origin of the present differ-
ences may have a better foundation for its basis
than the general run of petty discussions that
abound in that locality, and are so prevalent among
the races of the Teutonic clime. The small States
aro apprehensive lest their turn shall come in the
work of devastation, confiscation, and annihilation
going on. There is some ground for this apprehen-
sion, because no one can possibly predicate that the
cause of the two chief Powers will be guided or
regulated by anything approaching to moderation
or respect for the rights and privileges of others.
Besides this, it is always so easy to take advantage
of the confusion that exists in the chaos and be-
wilderment consequent on war to take steps and
to form plans which in sober moments in a quiescent
period would be impossible, and never would be
attempted. The Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin are
the objects of great disfavour among the participa-
tors in the Conference, they are using all their
efforts to outwit their manoeuvres and baffle their
machinations. This may not be so easy, but it is
always wise to be prepared. Forewarned is fore-
armed, we all know, and therefore these per-
plexed little principalities are right in
their present purpose of arousing attention to the
danger that exists and works in the background to
overwhelm at any given moment, with the dan-
ger which only covert designs can create. It is,
therefore, satisfactory to notice that these small
States are raising their voices now, for anon it
may be too late. The Wurzburg Conference has
been a very decisive movement, and sufficiently
reveals the position of affairs. On the other hand,
Austria and Prussia seem resolved to carry out
their own purposes and to brave all things, rather
than yield a little of what they consider their
heaven-born rights. With affairs in this com-
plexity, it seems difficult to decide what is at all
likely to occur: At all events, there is this nega-
tive good in the evil state of German politics, that
their discomfiture bodes good for Denmark. Near
or remote as the struggle may be, it will be a great
source of strength to that oppressed and persee
cuted nation, that its enemies' citadels are divided
against themselves, and exposed to dangers near
and far. This must weaken the power of any
belligerent, and more especially one like Germany,
which is 50 divided and sub-divided. Unless
there is a well-founded sentiment that com-
mands the sympathies of the diverse nationali-
ties, it is idle to expect that anything
like permanent success can be theirs, or any very
lasting advantages can be gained. It is melancholy
to look back for the period of a few months, and
notice the high hopes that have failed, the bright
expectations that have vanished, and the compre-
hensive projects that are nowhere. When the
Frankfort Congress met many persons were quite
enthusiastic as to the results of the mighty gather-
ing. Now, where are they, departed into the
shadow of bygone greatness, and cast into the
limbo of broken promises and forgotten vows. The
free and ameliorated States that were to rise out of
that conclave, are, now torn by distracted doubts and
a prey to bitter misgivicgs. Had FRANCIS JOSEPH
really been in earnest, in his efforts at so, called re-
form, would he not have eschewed the very mention
of the present aggressive scheme, instead of enter-
ing into it heart and soul. The prophecies which
herald the advent of princes on the throne are often
most vague, or else delightfully falsified. Of the
latter class have been the declarations that hailed
the accession of King WILLIAM and of the Emperor
FRANCIS JOSEPH. It these Sovereigns are liberal,
the exponents of progress, And the friends of liberty,