The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-24 00:00:00

If you ask me whether I think any person in this country
expects any results whatever fro..n the proceedings of the
London Conference, I shall not hesitate to give you a
frank negative answer. The Danes think they have
gained little, as yet, from their deference to foreign
Powers, and bitterly regret their compliance with well-
meant but improvident advice. " Had it sot been espe-
cially for England's officiousness," they say, "they would
not have yielded their ground inch by inch at the outbreak
of the war, nor would they have consented to the rasing
of the blockade at the armistice. It was not her sympathy
for the weaker side, nor regard for the justice of their cause,
that England listened to." They say, " She merely con
suited her own c Inmercial interests,,, and satisfied Denmark
to her anxiety for the general
freedom of the seas. T. 'peace and the uninterrupted
-..Lose objects are henceforth more
easily to be attair:„d by dropping than by sustaining the
rights of the I:, an 18 h nation, and when, after the loss of a
month o: two, the London negotiation breaks up, as sensi•
ble tnen foresaw it would from the outset, leaving matters
exactly as they were, England will consider she has done
her duty by Denmark, and the latter will be left at the
mercy of her overbearing foes." It is not for me to inquire
how much justice there may be in this complaint, which is
everywhere audible here. Unquestionably, by their dila-
toriness and by their lack of energy in carrying out their
own resolutions, it would appear as if the statesmen now
assembled in London were not greatly in earnest. The
skein is tangled beyond the unravelling powers of all human
ingenuity, and there is hardly a man who would not shrink
from proposing to cut the knot by that terrible sword of a
European war, to avoid which so many other questions of
vital importance have been for many years left in abey •
ance.

The writer of these volumes has endeavoured to
express no personal opinion, but to maintain (ac-
cording to examples in Ligh quarters), a strict neu-
trality. As a background
picture of the war, he
has given a very pleasing view of the home
life and customs of Denmark and the Danes. Here
is a charming glimpse of what the author de-
scribes as

DANISH CIVILISATION.
The style of building, even of the meanest peasant
dwellings is a
perfect marvel to the beholder. The people's
' love for a thatch, as the best shelter in their opinion, both
for winter and summer, their preference for high-slanting
roofs, quaint
gables, vanes, and chimney stacks, do not de-
tract from the solidity of the masonry, from the neatness
and elegance of the design of even the most unpretending
abode. There is no such thing as a hut or hovel in the
whole land, not an ill-fitting or shattered door, not one
broken pane of glass in the small low casements. Tidiness
and comfort, most fastidious cleanliness in barn, stable, and
dairy, flower-pots behind the window, and bird. cages hang-
ing from the ceiling, all that can go towards making a mere
house a home, was contrived here. The subdued influence
of a severe climate seems to have a softening effect on man
and beast. There is hardly a horse here but seems to be
born thoroughly broken ; you can scarcely fall in with a
snarling dog, hardly with one that will bark even in fun.
There is a friendliness, a good nature, a thorough sterling
honesty, whi..h bind all creatures, and render them fair and
considerate towards each other, happy and well-pleased
with each ether. It is not a tittle to be said in favour cf
Denmark, that war can be waged here without marauders,
camp followers, or other bad characters ; without the price
of a single article being enhanced by the sudden and exten-
sive demand. The closer I come into contact with it, the
more intimate I become with it, the stronger grows my
sympathy with this
plain and unpretending, but real and
well-grounded Dsnish civilisation. You meet hardly a
man here but seems to be contented, and deserving to be so,
and desirous, as far as in him lies, to contribute to yours
and everybody's contentment. Whatever may be said
about the force of climate, however much I may myself
feel inclined to ascribe to it, it is evident that much of this
universal well-being must be owing to the disciple of wide-
spread education, and goad, provident, liberal government.
This is one of the most valuable works that have
yet appeared upon the
Danish War, giving as it
does a comprehensive view of the first rise and pro-
gress of the invasion.

ty
eal.s
Nichols. of American Life. By Dr. Thomas
Two Vols. Maxwell and Co.
'A° v
interesting glimpse of the Americans by
one rof themselves, ry
Dr. Nichols introduces himself
to our notice, and at once claims our sympathy and
attention as art emigrant who has turned for a
refuge to England,
in order to escape taking part
in the civil war. Himself a native of the North,
but fully recognising
the justice of the claims of
Southern independence, he protests with indigna-
tion against the idea of the Federal war. "War
for the Union! Fraternity or Death! Be my
will kill you! Unite with me or I
will exterminate
orerm I
inate
you."
Such, he says, is the lan-
guage of the upholders of the Union, With these
opinions Dr Nichols could take no part in the war.
"Fight the South I could not. There was no pre.
tence or right to nerve my arm or harden my heart.
I felt the war to be unjust." Neither was he dis-
posed to take up arms on the other side, in which
he numbered "neighbours, friends, and near rela-
tions,' As the happiest extrication from a difficult
situation, be took refuge with his family in Eng-
land. Here he is sometimes troubled with send-
counts of compunction at
_having abandoned his

"I wish you a .safe arrival at Ispahan."
" Why," inquired the new diplomats, " talk of
Ispahan. Surely my journey of three thousand
miles is enough, without sending me four hundred
and fifty further to Ispahan. Know that Tehran
is the capital of Persia since 1786—is it not so in
the copy-books ? " Other acquaintances evince
similar ignorance, and the intending traveller's
perplexities are thus amusingly described :
As I walked away I met another acquaintance, who, on
hearing I was going to Persia, asked if the Parsis were not
worshippers of the sun, A. third friend consigned me to
Baghdad, and a fourth envied my coming propinquity to
Cashmeer, and supposed I should often run up in sum-
mer.

Those remarks of my friends, intelligent parties enough,
struck me as a very good index of the indifference and igno-
rance about Persia which aro so observable in England,
and which, it is said, were the cause of an incurable indi•
gestion to the last Persian atubassador, who went back and
died from it—though, to be sure, he was old enough to have
died any way. The same thing returned to my recollection
as I found, myself in the train on my way to Tehran. I
felt positive disquietude in going to a place that no one
seemed to know or care about.

" Really, it is curious," thought I; "of ancient empires,
not one was so splendid as the Persian ! Greece, Rome,
and Palestine excepted, no ancient country fills so many
pages in history as Persia—yet who knows and who cares
aught about Persia as it really is ? A region thrice as large
as la belle .France, with ten millions of the wittiest, hand-
somest, most agreeable people in the world for its inhabi-
tants, ought to be more in the market than this. Such
were my ruminations as the Dover express hurried me along
on my way to take up my duties as Secretary of Legation
at Tehran. " Secretary of Legation, that's very, well, but
at Tehran, ah I that spoils it. Hand me the scales of
judgment that I may weigh the question—Persia or Eng-
land ? I begin to think I have been wrong in changing.
Let me see, pleasure of visiting new countries, leisure for
learning new languages, possible promotion, wider sphere
of usefulness. Drop that into one scale ; now for the
other. Comfort and cleanliness, general immunity from
filth, fleas, flies, and fevers, civilised society, England,
home and no mosquito curtains wanted I Hi I stop the
train—l will return. Well, it is too late now to talk of re-
turning ; let as see, as the Persians say, what the veil of
the future will disclose."

From this extract it may be seen that any one
anxious to gain an easy and agreeable acquaintance
with Persia and the Persians, may do well to accept
Mr Eastwick as their cicerone.

the Invasion of Denmark, 1864. By A. Galenge,
Special Correspondent of The Times at the Head-
quarters of the Danish Army. Two Vols. Richard
Bentley.
A melancholy interest is atteched to these two
volumes, which were written during the crisis of
events in Denmark by one well qualified for the
task. The rise and progress of the war, and every
event and incident of importance are fully de-
tailed, and the whole picture is complete, until
that dreadful climax of hopes and fears
doubts, difficulties, and disppointments the
Conference. So dilatory (as we all know) was that
Conference, that the author could not wait for its
termination ! " I have hesitated,' he writes
in his concluding chapter, dated June 15, " for
several days about making my few remain
<.s labours ere
ing pages ready for the press, because I hosed the
London Conference would come to the end of
the time stipulated for the accomplishm,:„t of my own task.
1:;15 instance, outstripped
The historian has, however, in
diplomatist, and I must close
my narrative of the invasion
whether the tale has an end
of Denmark, without knc±wing
as©r whether my last chapter only
dropsv the 4.lnolDn'-';ghe first act of a drama, of which time
11l as
cu a
rt bae'
and event are to work 'out the denouemero at a distant
;period. Up to this moment the London Conference' has
a:A:tiered nothing, and all that remains for me to do is to
throw out some conjectures as to the probable results of its
final proceedings."
Those results (or no.results) being now only too well
known, we need not dwell upon them. The Danes
were many of them well-prepared for disappoint-
ment, according to this account from an eye-
witness ;