The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The German journals have recently
made some angry allusions to a despatch addressed
by Lord Russell to M. Biatnark. It referred to the
terms Denmark has been compelled to accept from
her two powerful enemies as the price of peace.
Without ascertaining why the despatch was writt( 0,
and having but an imperfect knowledge of its con-
tents, tae German critics built on a slender text a
very wordy and abusive comment. The English
Minister, it was said, had again gone out of his way
to insult Germany, and sneer at the great work it

has accomplished. In the hour of success men
are net usually so sensitive and ready to find
offence ; but, perhaps, all is not perfect satis-
faction in Germany, notwithstanding its mili-
tary achievement. Austria has been tempted
into a transaction of which most of the profit
has gone to her rival. The minor States are
reduced to something less than they ever were, and
the Democracy discovers it has exactly played the
game of its strongest opponent_ Some or all of these
may feel slightly duped as to the results they have
obtained, and some latent ill-temper may well exist
in many quarters, constrained to put a good face on
disappointments. It is some consolation in such a
state of things to fall in with an additional piece of
English correspondence and exhaust on it the strong
language that some circumstances of the time are
calculated to inspire. It may tend to a more
moderate view of this matter to state that the brief
correspondence, of which Lord Russell's despatch
is the briefer moiety was interchanged in the
mouth of August, and was commenced by M. Bis•
mark. When the preliminaries of peace were
concluded at Vienna, on the Ist of the month, M.
Bismark wrote to the Prussian Minister in London
stating the conditions 'which Denmark had signed,
and requesting him to communicate them in the
usual manner to the English Foreign Secretary. In
the accompanying despatch M. Bismark challenged
the opinion of the English Government on these con-
ditions, almost insisting that it should regard the
terms as highly favourable to the Danes—in fact,
exceedingly generous. M. Bismark hopes at the
outset " that the British Government wiil not re-
fuse to recognise the moderation and placability
which have been displayed by the two German
Powers." The British Government, doubtless,
wonld not refuse to recognise anything as what

it proves itself evidently to be; and it the two
German States had " lightly laid their chasten-
ing hand" on their suppliant's head, full credit
would have been given them by public opinion
for a very small display of magnanimity. But if
through all the conditions neither moderation nor
placability is to be found, but much the exact re-
verse of both, how is it possible to give the
desired recognition ? Lord Russell could not look
on the harshest and most exacting policy that ever
embittered the military overthrow of a nation as the
virtues of which the conqueror might be proud. He
stated to M. Bismark why he could not "recognise"
the qualities claimed for the two German Powers in
the terms so rigidly exacted of Denmark, and the
reasons given are the grounds of the passionate
articles of the German press. As we publish both
despatches it is easy to examine in M. Bismark's the
conditions for which a character of moderation and
placability is claimed. Lord Russell's reply shows
clearly why the terms appear to other than German
eyes so very unlike M. Bismark's description. The
spirit in which the war was conducted has in-
spired every Article of the Peace. Tile real test of
how it will press on the losing side must be what the
Danes are required to do, not M. Bismark's declara-
tions of what Germany wished to be satisfied with,
though from some inexplicable cause she never could
carry her milder impulses into effect. Germany, as
described by M. Bismark, appears to have some hard
partner in the background, who will not allow Prus-
sia and Austria, singly or combined, to indulge their
generous disposition to its full extent. Some" pitiless
demon " is ever holding them under constraint, and
compelling them to exact the utmost fraction of the
forfeiture they say has been incurred. What is this
invincible influence that we must infer from M. Bis-
.

..
mark's statement is stronger than armies, and obliges
two great military nations to show mercy to the
feeble neighbour they have knocked down ? M. Bis-
mark once calls it " national feeling," and attributes
toit all that has appeared harsh in act. In intention
the two Governments were tenderness itself. When
Lord Bloomfield expressed to M. Bismark the hope
of the English Government that Prussia and Austria
would not exact from Danmark " conditions too
hard and unbearable," the Prussian Minister gave
an assurance that " noth'ng was further from their
intention than an unjust severity," and that they
should only make the demands which were " the
necessary result of the situation," Those who
created, controlled, and still maintain the situation
might have given it any kind of result they pleased.
Triey have chosen that this result. shall be the worst
possible. " We were obliged to insist on the entire
cession of the three Duchies as an indispensable
demand." National feeling would not be satisfied
without it. But as the same national feeling has
been entirely disregarded in the disposal and go-
vernment of the Duchies, and has many checks and
rebukes in store for it in the future, it is suspicious
to see so much deference paid it when it insists on
seizing all. This national feeling has taken from
Denmark from 200,000 to 300,000 of the Danish nits
tionality, alleging that these Danes are like chattels
—conquered, they must go with the soil of Schless
wig. For Austria and Prussia to assert gravely that
they could not allow this population to remain un-
der the Sovereignty of Danmark is to demand too
much for belief. They could have done whatever
they pleased. They held the whole of the soil of the
Duehies, and might have left the Northern and
Danish part of Schleswig to its own nationality. In
keeping it for no intelligible reason but because they
had got it, they have only retained a source of dis-
quiet and agitation. M. Bismark even grounds a
claim of genercsity on the fact that the German
Powers did not demand a part of Denmark proper,
"though they held completely in their hands a large
and important province (Jutland) without any pos-
sibility of the Danes depriving them of it." These
proofs of clemency and mercy Lord Russ
sell cannot admit without much qualifipation.
" Her Majesty's Government would have pre-
ferred total silence to the task of commenting on
the conditions of this peace." But, challenged
by M. Bismark to recognise the moderation and
fairness of Germany, the Foreign Secretary felt
bound to express the sentiments of the Government
" without disguise." His despatch is a brief resume
of the opinions he has so frequently stated on the
policy of the war itself. It was neither justifiable
nor necessary, but a mere aggression ; and the
peace is only the completion of the work of vio-
lence. It has dismembered the monarchy of Den-
mark, the integrity of which Austria and Prussia
had engaged to defend. It violates the very prin-
ciple of nationality the war was commenced to
uphold. Danes are forcibly included in German
territory, so that the old quarrels about language
the war was to have terminated will be revived,
with the parties to it reversed in position. Finally,
if the plea of conquest is urged in defence of the most
rigorous treatment of the conquered, then Lord
Russell reminds Austria and Prussia that " it is
out of place to claim credit for equity and modera-
tion." The despatch concludes with a hope that,
now the German Powers have possession of all they
desired, they will "consult the wishes of the inha-
bitants of the Duchies" as to their Government, for
arrangement that " would set aside these wishes
and suppress free institutions would only be a new
source of disquiet and disturbance in Europe." It
is difficult to see what is the sting of these re-
marks that they should have excited the Germans
to such wrath. They merely express what most
Englishmen have thought from the beginning.
DAILY NEWS.—The Prussian administration of
the Duchies proceeds, as it began, in violence and
contempt of decency. We are far from believing
the Prussians to be the worst natured people in the
world, but certainly they have the knack of doing
things, disagreeable iu themselves, in the most
offensive manner. No delicate fiction is employed
by their governors, commissioners, or military com-
manders to mitigate the distress, or veil the degra-
tion of the people they enslave. In their case the
moral arts of war do not share in the improvement
of its material instruments, and Prussian conquest
is as naked, harsh, and brutal as it was when their
ancestors brandished the spear, unsuspicious of
rifled ordnance and needleeguns. We know with
what conciliatory address our nearer neighbours
across the Channel can annex provinces, invade
States, and almost persuade those whom they con-
quer that all has been done not only for their good,
but even at their pressing request. A few of these
. blandishments, a little of this geniality of temper
and consideration in handling a defeated race,
would be very acceptable now in Schleswig could
the Prussians but learn the trick of it. The measures
, which have just been announced in Schleswig in
the name of the Commander-in-Chief for repressing
the most pacific, most natural, and most legitimate
manifestation of the wishes of the people, are need-
, lessly and wantonly oppressive. The people of the
Northern districts of that Duchy, of whose strictly
3 Danish nationality there never was any doubt,
I lately joined in a memorial to the King of Den-
) mark, expressing their unwillingness to be separated
from the nation of which they had so long formed a
[ part. They also presented to the Prussian and

Austrian Commissioners an address bearing rriere
than a thousand signatures, in which they said el`
plicitly :—" We wish to remain united with INe'
mark. We would prefer a division of Schleswig ae:
cording to the nationality of the population to „
union with Holstein and annexation to Gernsen.`i%
There wits nothing in these peaceful representaticcf
to entitle German allies to visit their authors sytt"
penalties. Through the events of war the Dane'
in Schleswig have lost the protection of the Sove-
reign they prefer, and the people to whom they
naturally belong. King Christian pretends to ne,
rights over them, havingconceded all ho ever claitheu
to his victorious enemies. The North Schlesvvigers
well understand the defenceless situation in whte'
they arc placed, with no arms but those of ressool
and tire under no temptation whatever to resort to
foreign intrigue or domestic conspiracy. They 'col
that Prussian power is practically irresistible, na
they do not attempt to resist it. Their country
might be held for Germany by a corporal's guard'
Abstinence from opposition by the (le facto auttle"
rides is enjoined on them by civilised usage rieW,
that the comparative military power of their friends
and their foes has been fairly tested, and finiillY
decided in the field ; but more than this the Germs°
are not entitled to require. The future lot of the
Duchies is undecided, such at least is the diplomatic
hypothesis set before Europe. Thera has not, there;
fore, been, for there could not be, any transfer 01
the allegiance of the Schleswigers. Under these,
circumstances, it is most natural and desirable that
the people who have the greatest interest in the
settlement of the question should declare their
wishes. Such a declaration does not involve the
claim to make the future political connections of the
Duchies or particular parts of them dependent solely
and absolutely on the will of the inhabitants ; it
simply implies that their opinions and feelings coil;
stitute one element or the question. The people
North Schleswig could not have taken a more pauil'ai
course than they have done. Nobody can pervert
the meaning of their address to the beaten, abaed
doned, despoiled King of Denmark, who is the loot
person in the world from whom anybody wouid
expect material succour as against Germany. Lib.°
the memorial to the German Commissioners theta'
selves, that address was and could be nothing but
a peaceful manifestation of wishes which can be
efficacious only so far as they are agreeable to tbo
public reason, and warranted by public right'
And now let it be remarked how these pool
people have been dealt with. They have hae°
loaded with penalties such as might have been is'
flicted on men who had conspired against their osvil
lawful government; such as might, for instance,
have been imposed on the people Magdeburg, 1
they had petitioned the King of Saxony and the
Germanic Diet for annexation to his dominions'
A Prussian paper, the Cologne Gazette, observes
that " the prisons in Schleswig are full of persona
whose only crime consists in having signed ell,
address." And the Prussian Commander-in-Chief
has issued a proclamation prohibiting the signature
of petitions under penalty of the rigorous enforce,'
ment of martial law, reminding the people—whiall
was surely unnecessary—that the state of war con;
tinues. This last fact, however true, has no rational
connection with the matter. Prussia never pro'
fessed to make war on the population of the Duchies'
The state of war has placed those provinces wholly
in the hands of Prussia, whose power nobody 11;
Schleswig dreams of resisting. It is not disputed
that the people must accept the fate to which 01°
Prussians may consign them. The authority of thet
government now placed over Schleswig is paramnue.
and unchallenged. But by its nature and denonW
nation it is provisional and transitory, and tb,°
manifestations of the Sleswigers have reference OW
to that permanent state of things which is to foil° .
when it shall have passed away. Even if Europe
had no interest in knowing the desires and attach'
ments of the people of the Duchies, it must be el"
pedient that those people should express WI
wishes for what they are worth before their fate is
irrevocably fixed. Prussia undoubtedly can disPciee
of Schleswig as she likes, but it is desirable, ccerl,
for her own sake, that she should know on the bee'
authority whether she is engaged in realising the
fusion of a homogeneous people, or combining re
pugnant elements in a forced or unnatural union'
If the Prussian Government discovers, as it must
long since have suspected, that the connection it is
effectuating;is of the latter character, nobody doubt;
its ability to accomplish it. But at this poi°
Prussian hardihood seems to fail. Even irresistible
power has its fears, and the conquerors of DriPPel
are unable to endure the light which is reflected ,
their actions from a simple declaration of unarmed
and helpless citizens.