The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

'IMES.—When a man speaks, not because he has
something to say, but because he has to say some-
thing, it is not surprising if he fails in producing
any practical result. He strikes at the air, and,
though the blow may be admirably delivered, it is
difficult to see that it has any effect. There is a
great consumption of powder, a great flash, and a
loud explosion, but as the discharge is irregularly
and loosely delivered, and as there is no mark
aimed at, the display amounts to little more than'a
letting off of fireworks. Mr. Disraeli was in just
this unhappy position last night. He had nothing
to propose, and, indeed, only took advantage of an
accidental motion for adjournment. He had no
definite question to ask, and no definite charge to
make; but it was some days since the house and
the country had been informed of the existence of
'an Opposition, and it was necessary to make a re-
conaissance to remind us of the fact and to keep his
own followers awake. Under such circumstances
the subject very naturally "dropped ;" and if we
make a few remarks on the short discussion, it is
by way, if possible, of saving any one for the pre-
sent the unnecessary trouble of resuming it. But
this speaking without definite purpose has its ad-
vantages as well as its drawbacks. You are not
fettered to a definite argument or a particular point,
and you can say anything that happens to come in
your way. The same amount of powder produces
a much finer display in the form of fireworks than
as the charge of a 100-pounder Armstrong. It is
not all concentrated in a particular groove for a
.single effect, but may be spread out into different
constructions with various displays. So Mr.
Disraeli was free to expatiate, unfettered, upon
any part of our foreign policy within the last few
years that could possibly catch the eye of a
spectator. "It is pleasant," says the Epicurean
philosopher, "to stand upon the shore and see
ships tossed upon the sea," and Mr. Disraeli, being
stranded for the present, appears to appreciate this
pleasure to its fullest extent. There is a very
respectable storm gathering now, and the Govern-
ment ship is rather uncomfortably tossed, and Mr.
Disraeli seems to find an endless satisfaction in
asking the pilots how they feel, and what they are
going to do. They are old hands, however, and
decline to make any display either of their feelings
or their intentions for his amusement. But he
easily finds other resources. The difficulties of the
unfortunate ship which had to weather the storm
of the Crimean War afford him, even at this dis-
tance of time, an instructive retrospect, and, though
he does not know the condition and bearings of the
ship at present before him, there is ample oppor-
tunities for speculating on what they might be.
He does not know the rocks ahead, but it is easy
to imagine any number of them. The Government
are confessedly steering for a Conference, but
Conferences are dangerous things in general,
and the present pilot, the Foreign Minister, having
already been rather unfortunate in passing through
one of them, may, except that he has probably
learnt experience, be unfortunate again. The con-
sent of the French Government may be with condi-
tions or without conditions, it is impossible to say
which, but it is possible to speculate on the conse-
quences of either or both. If a course of action has
been proposed, it may be one thing or it may be
another, and objections may be found to everything,
and Mr. Disraeli is prepared to object to everything
that he can imagine. But if a course of action has
not been proposed " What will happen then ?" Mr.
Disraeli is seriously of opinion that " the Spring
will at last arrive," and there is no saying what
may happen in the Spring. The Emperor of the
French may be master of the situation, there may
be a Confederation of the Rhine, a rectification
of the Rhine frontier, and " What will happen
then ?" "There will be a great noise in this house,
and probably in other Houses of Parliament." No
doubt of it, and there will be " screaming" speeches
and " terrible invectives, like those that have not
yet succeeded in expelling" Lord Palmerston from
the Treasury Bench or Lord Russell from the Foreign
Office. There will be a great demand for " diploma-
tic rubbish," and Mr. Disraeli will; do his best to
light a fire with such waste papers; and, if he fail,
he will denounce the laborious preparation with
which Lord Russell has rendered them incombusti-
ble and will boast that if he had had the making of
them he would have converted the rags and shreds of
torn treatiesinto paperscombustible enough to set not
only the House of Commons but all Europe in a blaze.
After all this superfluous expenditure of breath
Lord ralritereton had only to get up and ask what
it was all about. What did Mr. Disraeli really
want? As to papers, ho complained loudly a short
time back about not having them, and now he had got
some of them he came down to say he could make
nothing of them, and did not believe he should be
able to Shake any more of what were to come. Those
he had did not tell him what he wanted, and he
was " not too sanguine" that those promised
would. We cannot pretend to regret that he is dis-
sstisfied. What would most delight the Opposition
Would be to find that the Government have com-
mitted the honour of she country to the support of
Christian IX. in Holstein and Schleswig, to the
forcible expulsion of Austria and Prussia from Jut-
land, or to any other course of action which might
involve us in a European war, and would certainly
involve the Government in a general want of confi-
dence. Instead of that the papers already produced
only show that Lord Russell has been doing his
best from first to last " to conciliate difference:: to
bring together parties who are holding opposite
and apparently incompatible opinionseto endeavour
to modify exasperations, and to obtain a peaceable
settlement of that which threatened to be the cause
of a European war." So long as he and his col.
leagues confine themselves to doing this they will
receive the support of the country, and will afford
no ground for an attack by Mr. Disraeli and his
friends; In short, if Mr. Disraeli wishes to find fault
effectually, it must be with something definite. It
is open to him to attack either the past policy of
the Government or its present course. If, as the
past conduct of this Danish affair is detailed by the
gradual publication of the papers, he is unable
to fix upon any mismanagement or to ;find
any sufficient ground of censure, he would do
much more wisely to say nothing. The present
conduct of such delicate negotiation 3 ought, on the
other hand, unless there is grave reason for sus-
pecting it, to be left almost entirely in the hands
of the Government, and the country is as yet con•
tent that it should be so. But it is alike useless and
mischievous to waste the time of the House of Com-
mons in speculating on what might have been, or
may be at present, or may in future be, the policy
of the Government, and in conjuring up imaginary
charges on this speculative foundation.
POST.—It cannot be denied that the Opposition are
fairly entitled to demand from the Government some
information respecting ihe basis of the proposed con-
ference on Danish affairs. Whether the policy
hitherto pursued by Great Britain in her relations
with Denmark and the German Powers has been
sound or otherwise, there can be no question that
the present juncture is extremely critical, and that
the general peace of Europe is seriously endangered.
It may be, and it doubtless will be found to be so,
that the course pursued by the British Government
was eminently conducive to more satisfactory re-
sults, but that countervailing circumstances pre-
vented its being crowned with success. But still,
in the present position of affairs, no one can be
blamed for regarding with some little anxiety, if not
suspicion, the further prosecution of diplomatic ne-
gotiations which up to the present have, to say the
least, been so uniformly unsuccessful. The Dano-
German dispute may now be said to have passed
through every possible stage, except the last one
which, by the conclusion of a formal treaty, marks
the termination of a quarrel. We have had what
may be termed the diplomatic stage in which nego-
tiations and proposals, and suggestiona and demands,
are freely interchanged between the principal parties
to the dispute, and such others as deem it to be their
duty or their interest to tender their advice or in-
terpose their authority. Then we have had the
belligerent stage, in which, negotiations having
failed, the disputants attempt to solve all difficulties
by the employment of the final argument of kinge.
We have still, however, to wait for the last stage in
which diplomacy again intervenes and separates the
wearied combatants. At this point we have not yet
arrived, and it is whilst war is still progressing
with unremitting rancour on both sides that another
attempt is being made to solve at the council table
difficulties which are simultaneously left to the issue
of the sword. 1% bile, however, it is extremely un•
certain whether the scheme even in its inception will
receive the assent of those for whose special benefit it
has been devised, and whilst, if assented to, its pos-
sible results are extremely problematical? it cur-