The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—By putting forth all their strength, and
making full use of the resources which a long study
of the art of war hes given them, the Prussians
have attained the object for which they persevered
in the campaign of Schleswig. This object was
the maintenance of their military reputation. Pro-
bably when they first entered the Peninsula they
had no strong desire to push the Danes to the last,
or to inflict upon them a humiliation which might
set lasting enmity between the two races. In spite
of some enthusiasm on the part of the Royal family,
the Government ef Berlin entered into the war more
to take the matter out of the hands of the King of
Bavaria and the Duke of Saxe. Coburg than with
any wish to destroy the Danes. M. von Bismark's
Ministry acted because it was necessary to do some-
thing, and the occupation of Schleswig was the best
antidote to the excesses of the Federal army and the
vagaries of the Prince of Augustenburg. But as
the war advanced the honour of the Prussian army
became involved. Chance, the superior activity or
the more complete readiness of the Austrians, took
from the Prussians the opportunity of distinguishing
themselves in the early part of the campaign. No-
thing remained but to conquer Dybbol. But Dybbol
was strong, it was energetically defended, and the
world was becoming unpleasantly interested in the
contest. The Danes defied their opponents, and a
belief spread that their boast of being able to hold the
place indefinitely was not without foundation. The
Prussians hurried up more troops, with heavy guns
and all the materials for an important siege. The
more they brought the more necessary was it that
this powerful force should not return unsuccessful.
If the Conference met and proposed an armistice, it
might be that the campaign would come to an end
while the Danish flag still floated over Dybbol. In
such a case there would be no end to the taunts
against the Prussian army. If even the matter
ended in something like a surrender by Den-
mark of the chief points in dispute, it would
ever remain in history that the Prussians had in-
vested a line of Danish works and had been unable
to take them. The Danes would have boasted of
the impregnability of their stronghold, and the
world would have been apt to believe them. It
can be easily imagined that a people so sensitive as
the Prussians looked at this prospect with appre-
hension. Accordingly the approach of the Con-
ference only roused them to redoubled energy. Not
even the French could have pushed a siege with
more activity and a faller determination to be
stopped by no obstacles. All ranks felt that the
thing had to be done, and that the campaign must
be carried on at any cost until the place was
taken. This has now been accomplished. Happily
for the reputation of the Prussian arms, the Danes
were as obstinate as their opponents. Bishop Mons
red and his colleagues repelled the proposed Cone
ference until the enemy was ready to take his full
vengeance upon them. They took care not to disap-
point the invaders by a timely concession. They
decided that Dybbol must be held at all hazards,
just as the Prussians were resolute that it should be
taken at all hazards. The consequence has been that
all King William or his subjects could desire has been
accomplished. The Conference begins its sittings
amid the blaze of a Prussian victory; the Prussian re-
presentative will speak in the name of a Power which
holds the Danish Peninsula at its mercy, the pride of
the Copenhagen Government will be abated, and the
Prussian army will be regarded with respect even if
its achievement does not quite extort our admiration.
Although the Danes are said to have again re-
fused to concur in the proposed armistice, and are
willing apparently to try their fortune still further,
yet it will be a good thing for all parties, and we
verily believe an honour to Prussia, if the campaign
be now allowed to come to an end. If it be allowed
to find any consolation in such a melancholy event
as the slaughter at Dybbol, we may say that it
makes the settlement of these questions somewhat
more easy. It would be a cruelty to the Danes to
encourage them to rely further on their power of
resisting the invader. The German Powers have
shown that they are entirely masters of Schleswig.
They have 70,000 or 80,000 men, and can increase
their numbers indefinitely, while the Danes have
probably only some 18,000 or 20,000 in Alsen. The
Sound is narrow, and can be crossed with ease by,
the Prussians, supported as they are by such tremen-
dous artillery. If the campaign continues, no-
thing can be expected but the destruction of
the remains of the Danish army by an over-
whelming eeece. It is a child struggling in
the grasp of two strong men, and though the
courage of the wear party deserves all ad-
miration, yet to counsel resistance would be a
crime in a neutral ; to take as.lvantage of it to in-
flict further chastisement would ungenerous in a
belligerent already victorious. Why, then, may not
the campaign now cease ? Every one will acknow-
ledge that Alsen can be conquered, and if the Allies
held their hand now, Europe will give them full
credit for having virtually conquered it. If they
could not recede with reputation before the assault
on Dybbol, that cruel point of honour is now
satisfied. They may concede an armistice, and
stand higher than if they killed a few thousand
more overmatched Danes in their last refuge in Alsen.
We are glad to find that the proclamation of the
King of Denmark does not command any acts of
impossible valour, or declare that the war shall be
indefinitely prolonged. Its tone is becoming, but
the document has one fatal defect—it is not issued
at Sonderborg by a King sharing the dangers of
those who are fighting in his cause, but is dated
from Copenhagen. The defence of Dybbol will,
as his Majesty says, be memorable not only on ac-
count of the inequality of the contest, but also for
the heroism which the beaten army displayed. We
trust that if the resistance of the Danes be still
continued it will be under circumstances which will
allow their heroism a chance of better fortune.
That this can be found by continuing to resist the
Allies in Alsen we can hardly believe. Happily, the
actual armistice does not depend on the consent of
the Danes. Stung by their wrongs, and believing
that the representatives of Prussia, Austria, and
the Diet will insist on ctencessions as fatal to Danish
independence as conquest itself, the Danes natu-
rally desire to keep their i'ste in their own
hands as long as they can- Ihej think, perhaps,
that they can insure their own fro' action and
preserve a chance of deliverance only by appearing
to maintain themselves in the field as a ,hellige-
rent Power. To give up the right of strike;;: a
blow would be, perhaps, in their opinion, equivaleo
to an abandonment of their due share in the settle-
ment of the questions in debate. But in spite of the
onwillingness of Denmark, the actual question of
an armistice rests entirely with the Allies, who are
answerable to European opinion, and can best satisfy
it by abstaining from the further shedding of blood.
Let them only retrain from an easy and inglorious
vietory over the few thousand men who are now
left in Alsen, and an armistice would prevail even
without any formal agreement.
HERALD.—Tke case of the Tuscaloosa, which
last night engaged the attention of the House of
Lords, is a fair illustration of the systematic partia•
lity which the Government, whilst professing to be
neutral and impartial, have shown the Federals
throughout the war. The Conrad, a barque sailing
under the Federal flag, and belonging to Federal
owners, was captured last June off the coast of Brazil
by the famous Alabama. Captain Semmes put
some guns on board his prize, and fitted her out as
a Confederate cruiser. Under that character she
entered Simon's Bay to repair and refit, and became
the object of the anxious attention of the British
naval commander, the notorious Sir Baldwin
Walker. Sir Baldwin was of opinion that the Tus-
caloosa, in entering Simon's Bay, violated the pro-
clamation of the Queen, forbidding either of the
belligerents to bring their prizes into her ports; and
further, that as the Tuscaloosa had not been con-
demned by any court she was no legitimate prize,
and should be seized oy her Majesty's Government
and restored to her original owners. The Attorney-
General of the colony, to whose authority the Go-
vernor acceded, was of a different opinion, and the
Tuscaloosa, having obtained what she wanted, sailed
away unmolested. The circumstances were, how-
ever, reported to the Home Government, whose at-
tention had in the meantime been called to the
subject by Mr. Adams, and the Duke of Newcastle
wrote to Governor Wodehouse, expressing his dis-
agreement with the opinion of the colonial legal
authorities, although without giving any special
instructions for the governor's future guidance.
Instructions, however, prepared by the law °facers
of the Crown were sent out subsequently to the
commanders of all her Majesty's naval forces, Sir
Baldwin Walker amongst them, which directed
that in any similar case the vessel should be seized.
Unconscious that he had been the object of so
much correspondence and controversy, the com-
mander of the Tuscaloosa revisited Simon's Bay
some four months afterwards, and the vessel
was then seized by Sir Baldwin Walker. The
Confederate lieutenant protested against a proceed-
ing so unjust and unfair even if it were legal, end
her Majesty's Government found themselves in the
end constrained to release the ship. So far, there-
fore, as the Tuscaloosa is concerned, the Confede-
rate Government has sustained no more damage
than the brief detention of the vessel. But all the
parts of her Majesty's dominions are closed by
virtue of these instructions to any cruisers which
the Confederate Government or its duly constituted
agents may equip out of their prizes, and the
British navy is ordered to the assistance of the
Federal navy to capture them. If these instruc-
t]. qie,. however, were based upon well-established
principles of international law, however hardly
they might bear upon the Confederates, to what-
ever degree they might convert our professed neu-
trality into a practical assistance to the Federals,
no ono would eehapieia. The fact, iluwever, is—as

Lords Chelmsford and Kinasdown
these instructions are thoroughly illegal
; that we s
be
recognised doctrines of international law have e
violated in order to satisfy the Federal Goverce
meat, and that the law officers of the Crown
bt.,:ato
allowed the political necessities of their cuicaat
mislead them into stating as internaiional law 105;
which was clearly not so. Lord Che,
itnsford ea,
proved--that
tended, and he challenged contradiction from re,
Government, that all that a neutral which has
ca`
fused to allow prizes to be brought into its port•
do, if one of the belligeaents violates that prohliuze
tion, is to order the offending vessel away-1°5;30e
and detain it was clearly indefensible—and tha' $
Tuscaloosa, as a ship of war in the charge o
legally commissioned officer of c belligerent pow ;
not only ought not to have been warned, bat
e!,
entitled to the usual hospitality accorded to Toter
of war. Lord Russell did not venture to deny eitt'he
of thesepropositions. He admitted, in fact, Vila! are
instructions were incorrect, and that the fei';)3o
of the Tuscaloosa was indefensible. /' to
a Minister admits that his measures " are open to
further consideration," and that it is a " nio P°i`loa
whether they were justified or not, he raaa•es re
ample a confession of the justice of the eettsh.
passed upon him as is consistent with minister is
nature. But his lordship defended Sir 8a1.c1%
Walker's opinion upon a question of internato„
law on the ground that it was " common sense,
ea
system of interpretation which, if it were admit.te9t'
would enable any man to make out of any lawflo
what suited his interests and prejudices; 311" to
volunteered an opinion which will be in terestiog
lawyers, that naval officers, having the iristructi°!
of the Government and works upon internationia
law by them, were very excellent authoriaies nra
that law. Commodore Wilkes will be d elighter
with the noble lord's dictum. That ill usecl cf6,,cpeli
found by his books that Messrs. Mason and ~l'",1;0
were contraband of war, and took them out nt
hje
mail packet Trent. A torrent of indignation opt
presumption was his reward. Lord Russellhasn'fi
justified him. His error was the venial one coroni°o
to all lawyers, if error it be, of sometimes taking. 0
different view of a law from that which obtallr
with the judges. Let us hope, at least, that if °ll
admirals and post captains are to set themselves
as authorities upon international law on the faith„c&
their study of text books, they may be furnisLijr
with every edition as it comes out. Sir B.
had, it seems, founded his opinion upon a passf*er
which appeared in the first edition of Wheaton, ft
which he had a copy, but which had bee° lee,
out as incorrect in all subsequent editi°/34
The remarkable speech in which 3-40„"
Kingsdown laid down, with irresistible cogati
the true doctrine relative to captures, comPletee
disposed of the last excuse of Ministers. Lord Jl'lls'e
down did not consider it necessary to ifiquhlip
whether the Tuscaloosa was converted into a s"of
of war. He proved the illegality and injustice to
her detention, and the proposed restoration of he4so
her original owners, by showing that those olvni,`
had ceased to have any property in her—their tio'ci,
only reviving in the event of recapture. The c°,i6
tention of Sir Baldwin Walker, adopted tro
Government, was, he observed, that a prize rern°l;(l
the property of the original owners until conder°l3l4
by a prize court, and that any Government cle,
seize and restore it, but that contention was tlof
gether unwarranted and against the clear letter: r
international law. The obligation of condemnat,,°e;
said the noble lord, quoting the highest authct"ls
in his support, only exists with regard to vess-0•
sailing under a neutral flag. The capture is Ili,
elusive as soon as made; and, as between betbe
gerents there is no occasion for condemnation,
captor can destroy his prize. When he cannot hrl7o
that prize into port nothing, indeed, is left to bile
but to destroy it—nay, it is his duty to do so, a ale
of law which fully justifies the course which :fig
Alabama and her consorts have taken in aestros;lll
their captures. So far, therefore, as the Britt t;
Government is concerned, it is bound to treat ;be
prizes of the Confederates where made upc° iDB
Federals as Confederate property ; and in sozi(l
and restoring them to their original owners it 10"1,,
commit a flaigrant robbery. In vain the Lord Chs,,o;
cellor attempted, by quoting cases which were mfe
pertinent, to weaken the effect of Lord Kitagsd°lchi3es
powerful argument. Even the Government benc"3
felt that it was unanswerable; and a debate th°;,
damaging to the Government closed with the 'O,
claration of the Lord Chancellor that the in6trube
tions of which the Opposition complained are 0.01
recalled, and fresh ones more in accordance VI
law and justice issued.