The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—No great invention entirely overthrow-
ing pre-existing practice was, we suppose, even in-
troduced without occasioning some countervailing
disturbance and trouble. Possibly a more unmixed
good was never provided for mankind than the in-
vention of the electric telegraph. It has outdone
all that the wildest imagination could conceive of
the wonderful and supernatural, and armed us with
a übiquity of knowledge, the very best gift that the
most sanguine enthusiast would have expected from
the hand of science. It is rapidly creating for us
one of the most useful of all practical branches of
knowledge—the science of meteorology. It is draw-
ing our vast and scattered empire together into one
compact whole, and it is giving to friends or cos•
respondents in remote positions many of the ad-
vantages which result from inhabiting the same
metropolis. Yet even this great and marvellous
agency, the most beneficial as well as the most won-
derful that the world has ever seen, carries with it
some not inconsiderable drawbacks. The fault is
not in the machine itself, but in our experience and
inability to use it properly. It is a truism to say
that in order to judge properly of any subject
nothing is so valuable as the absence of prejudice—
of the iaseumption of arbitrary and preconceived
opinions. It is one of the highest efforts of candour
and fairness to keep the mind unbiassed until a
story has been fairly told out from beginning to
end. The natural tendency of the mind is to con-
vert particulars into generals, or exceptions into
rules, and when it has once done so to enlist all its
obstinacy and all its self-love in the task of uphold..
ing a conclusion rashly assumed from imperfect
data. The person who sends a telegraphic mes-
sage founded on long despatches must necessarily
give a mere summary, and because it is a summary
an imperfect appreciation of their contents. A great
part of the public, we apprehend, take their ideas
of remote events almost entirely from these sum-
maries, without giving themselves the trouble to
verify them by subsequent investigations of the
doctrines on :which they are founded. It is thus
that the electric telegraph may, and often does, be•
come the means of promulgating inaccurate infor-
mation. No one is to blame for this, but the pos-
sibility is one against which people ought to be on
their guard. Thus we have recently laboured under
the agreeable mistake that the war in New Zealand
is at an:end, and now awake to the chilling con-
viction that out of the many tribes which have
taken up arms against it is only one section that has
laid down its arms. The Tauranga tribes, which
have just submitted to us, are of all others the most
likely to have taken such a step ; for, although they
have taken up arms against us, they have always
conducted the war in a chivalrous, humane, and even
Christian spirit, which shows that the instruction
we have communicated to them, however imperfect
it may have been, has not been without valuable
fruits in mitigating the horrors of savage warfare,
even if it has not been able to prevent the occurrence
of that warfare altogether. The tribes have been
very mercifully dealt with. They made an absolute
submission, declaring that they placed their persons
and their property entirely at the disposal of the
Governor. In order probably to make the deeper
impression upon them, Sir G. Grey took a night to
consider his decision, and then announced to them
that their submission was accepted; that they were,
so far as their persons were concerned, fully par.
Boned; that the prisoners of war of their tribe whom
we had taken should be released ; that all those
who had come in and given up their arms should be
immediately settled on locations on their own lands,
to be as far as practicable chosen by themselves ;
that as they were without food, and had lost e very
thing by the war, seed potatoes should be given
them, as well as implements and other things neces•
sary to enable them to settle on their locations; that
the forfeiture of their lands should not extend to
more than one-fourth; that the precise quantity
within these limits should be afterwards settled.
The Tauranga tribes expressed themselves most
grateful, as well they might, for the clemency shown
them, for certainly fairer terms were never granted
to a vanquished enemy. It is besides agreeable to
know that these terms were granted to the natives
with the assent and in the presence of t Wei members
of the Parliamentary Government of New Zealand ;
so that there is some reason to hope that a collisio❑
between the Imperial and Colonial authorities,whioh
at one time seamed imminent, may now be entirely
avoided. This news is excellent, as far as it goes,
but no one can say that it amounts to anything like
the close of the war, or a pacification of the Northern
Island. We must expect in the coming New Zealand
summer, which is now just commencing, that mili•
tary operations will be carried on at Taranaki, and
very possibly in other districts. Of the extent and
probable duration of these operations men will judge
according as their temper is sanguine or desponding.
It would be a great mistake of course to regard the
New Zealand tribe as a compact confederacy, ani-
mated by one spirit or actuated by one will. They
may be more aptly compared to those Highland clans
so formidable when they can be gathered together
in a single field with a single purpose, but so liable to
melt away like snow under the influence of jealousies
and motives entirely incomprehensible to a stranger.
But this very disunion and disorganisation, which
has made them less formidable iu war, will also re-
tard the conclusion of peace. Still there can be no
doubt that the merciful treatment extended to the
first tribes which have made their submission wi

have the very best effect upon native opinion
throughout New Zealand. There is no excuse now
for what may be called the argument of desperation
—for the feeling that all is lost by surrender, and
therefore nothing is endangered by continuing the
war. The best argument is thus taken out of the
mouths of the native agitators. Bat how speedily
this consideration may work we cannot pretend to
guess. It is only just to the Secretary of State for
the Colonies to observe that this favourable turn in
the affairs of New Zealand is in a great measure to
be attributed to the despatches which were sent
from this country during the spring of the present
year. It is a signal instance of the wisdom—nay,
of the necessity—of interposing the due and para.
mount authority of the Imperial Government iu all
cases where Imperial interests are directly con.
cerned. Under the excuse of self-government the
Australian Colonies claim to exclude from all com•
munication another colony which had fallen under
their displeasure, and there was some reason to ap-
prehend that under a similar claim the Assembly of
New Zealand might employ her Majesty's forces,
supported out of Imperial funds, for the extermi-
nation of her Majesty's subjects, the aboriginal na•
tives of New Zealand. The attitude taken by the
Colonial-office has, we are happy to believe, put an
end to this danger. The New Zealanders will be far
readier to consider the terms of pacification now that
they feel they have to deal, not with the local Mi-

nistry representing an interest directly contrary to
their own, but with the Imperial Parliament, which
can have no other interest than to act impartially
between the two races. They feel they are not
going to be handed over to the mercy of irritated
and victorious enemies, but that they stand before
the tribunal of a Power which can and will do them
justice. We doubt not that we owe to these con-
siderations the pacification of the Tauranga tribes,
and we entertain the strongest hopes that this is
only the commencement of a movement destined
shortly to restore peace to New Zealand. The same
policy has also, we believe, very favourably influ-
enced the deliberations of the responsible Ministry
of New Zealand. The announcement that after the
close of the present year the burden of the war ex-
penditure will fall in a great measure on the colony
has, we have reason to believe, operated a most bene-
ficial change, if not in the opinions, at any rate in
the projects of the Colonial Government. They are
disposed to be moderate, because it has been made
quite clear to them that the cost of a violent and
aggressive policy will have to be borne by them-
selves. No amount of confiscated land, the only
property of which it is possible to deprive the nas
tives, would compensate the colonists for a few
months of that expenditure which has hitherto been
borne by the home Government. It is their interest
to conclude the war just as they conceived it to be
before their interest to continue it, and we doubt
not that they will govern themselves accordingly.

POST.—The announcement that a motion for the
annexation of Lauenburg to Prussia has been agreed
to by the Landtag of that Duchy will probably sm.%
prise those who have not forgotten that at the com-
mencement of the late war, when Schleswigers and
Holsteiners were rejoicing in the prospect of a speedy
severance from Denmark, the population of Lauen-
burg declared their willingness to link their fate
with that of the Scandinavian monarchy. But in
the present instance it would scarcely be fair to
ascribe the change in the popular sentiment to mere
fickleness. If Lauenburg does in truth desire to be
annexed to Prussia, the idea did not in all probaa
bility originate with herself. Straws indicate the

current of the wind, and the motion to which the
Upper Chamber of the little Lauenburg Parliament
has given its assent may possibly denote the policy
which, if it be possible, Prussia intends to pursue,
not only in that Duchy but in those of Schleswig
and Holstein. Lauenburg always stood on a dit•
ferent footing in its relations with Denmark to either
of the other Duchies—for, although, like Holstein,
forming a portion of the Germanic Confederation,
it was not like it interested, in that much vexed
question whose solution was finally to be effected
by the dismemberment of Denmark. The loyalty
evinced by Lauenburg to the Crown to which she
has been so long attached furnishes, perhaps, the
most conclusive answer to the charge so frequently
advanced against the Danish Government of having
drawn a distinction between German and Danish
subjects to the prejudice of the former. The
population of Lauenburg is almost exclusively
German, and the attachment they have evinced to

Denmark may therefore be regarded as evis
dente of the Danish rule not being so in-
, tolerable as it was represented to be in
Schleswig and Holstein. Now, however, that the
connection between Lauenburg and Denmark has
been to all appearances finally secured, and as the
claimants to the other Duchies do not pretend to
any title to it, the question of its disposal necessarily
presents itself for consideration. However desirous
of remaining united with Denmark the Lauens
burgers might be, the complete isolation of the
Duchy would render such a union geographically
impossible and politically useless. Two other solo'
tions alone remain, namely—the preservation of a
separate and independent position, or annexation
to another State. Between these two the Lauen-
burgers have now been called upon to decide, in
conformity with the modern usage which, in ap-
pearance at least, gives to a people the right of
determining its future lot ; and if the declared
opinion of the Landtag is to be received as ex'
pressive of the national will, the decision will
be pronounced in favour of annexation to
Prussia. If the inhabitants of a territory of three
hundred square miles are indifferent, as they
may well be, to the possession of that quasi inde-
pendence which the several petty German States
eoj they could not do better, perhaps, than con-
sent to absorption into the most powerful kingdom
in the Confederation. The annexation ofLauenburg
to Prussia could, however, scarcely fail to awaken
the jealousy of those minor States which have
watcned with alarm the aggressive and aggraudis'
ing policy which that Powi r has of late so steadily
and apparently so successfuiiy pursued. Not that
the addition of a Duchy about as large as Hertford'
shire, and not a quarter so populous, to the Prus'
sian monarchy would make the latter more terrible,
but simply because it is not easy to say where a
system of annexation may stop. The Duchies of
Schleswig and Holstein are, as we have said,
in a position dissimilar from that of Lauenburg,
but if the Legislature in the latter declare in
favour of being annexed to Prussia, it is neither
impossible nor improbable that the assemblies of
the former might by Prussian influence be brought
to express the same wish. It is true that the Duke
of Augustenburg, the Duke of Oldenburg, and one
of the Princes of Hesse lay claim to the throne of
the United Duchies, and it is equally true that the
Diet at Frankfort alone possesses jurisdiction to
adjudicate upon their different claims, but it must
not be forgotten that a Prussian army occupies
the Duchies and that the administration is in the
hands of the Prussian Government. Every one
knows with what extreme facility under such cira
cumstances numerously signed addresses might be
prepared and forwarded to Berlin, expressing just
whatever the Prussian Government was desirous of
having expressed, and the equal ease with which
the army of cccupation would take care that the
alleged wishes of the people were carried into effect.
We are far from saying that this policy will be
pursued, but the circumstance of one of the three
Duchies taken from Denmark gravitating to Prus-
sia might reasonably excite the alarm of those who
would unwillingly see the other two share the same
fate. Whilst the war was still in progress vea
hazarded the conjecture that at its termination the
aggressors would experience some little difficulty
in disposing of the spoil. That conjecture has since
been amply confirmed, and there is reason to be'
lieve that Prussia has met with several unexpected
obstacles to the realisation of her original scheme.
Notwithstanding her might, she cannot yet afford
to bid defiance to the lesser States of the Confede-
ration. The Diet is desirous of handing over the
Duchies to one of the pretenders; and, however
averse from such an arrangement, Prussia would
not, at least by an exhibition of violence,
attempt to prevent its being carried into effect.
The embarrassed state of the finances in
both Duchies coupled with the fact that Pruse
sia is a creditor in possession, will, however,
afford to that State a means, of which she will not
Hesitate to avail herself, of postponing indefi'
nitely that settlement to which the minor Powers
look forward with so much anxiety. If Prussia
makes the evacuation of Schleswig and Holstein
conditional, on being indemnified for the expert'
diture entailed by the war, she will retain posses-
sion long enough to leave the population no alter-
native but to perpetuate a rule of which it would bo
impossible for them to rid themselves. Count Von
Bismarck, no doubt, thinks that it is a mere quese
tion of time when Schleswig and Holstein will be'
come nominally as well as virtually a portion of the
kingdom of Prussia. We understand that his royal
master has conferred on him the rank of Chancel-
lor of State, in consideration of the skill with which
he has conducted his foreign policy. If success be
a test of merit, it will be impossible to deny that
the reward was well bestowed.