The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENtNG, JULY 4, 1864

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(From the times Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, June 21.

Federal victories seldom improve upon acquaintance. In
the first hasty reports from the battlefield they loom large
and splendid on the horizon. They take captive the imagie
nation of the people. The credulous multitude (and never
since the world began was a multitude so credulous as that
of New York), persuades itself, without reflection, that all
is over, and that peace at home, and a glorious foreign war
are immediately to make America the first power in Chris-
tendom, without whose consent no gun shall be fired in any
part of the world. The exuberant enthusiasm lasts for a
day, or at most for two. As the letters come in—as the re-
ports from the other side are compared with the rosy hued
despatches of the War Secretary, and as military teithism
—friendly as well as unfriendly—is brought to bear upon
the facts, the glorious victory grows thin and impalpable.
By the third or fourth day the obstinate Confederates are
found to be as strongly posted as ever. The victory tarns
out either to have been a drawn battle or a small success ;
while, if it were an advantage, the coat 'at which it was
achieved proves to be immensely disproportionate to its
value. Before a week has passed the victory or the defeat,
whichever the loyal er the disloyal may choose to nail it,
disappears from the field of vision, and the sanguine people,
always deceived, but seldom discouraged, is too fully oscu-
pied with a new sensation to devote a 'thought to the old
one. Such has been the case with the great Federal victory
at Petersburg. It is but five days since the public were told
to throw up their caps and fire salutes of rejoicing for Grant's
achievements, but the five days have been more than suffi-
cient to dispel all illusion on the subject. It is true that
Grant made an unopposed movement from the Chickaho-
miny—that he marched 65 miles by a long detour to the
James River at a point nearly opposite Bermuda Hundred
—that tie crossed on pontoons the stream 2,009 feet wide
and 84 deep, losing neither man nor horse nor a pound of war
material by the way, an exploit which well deserves and will
certainly receive the admiration both of friends and foes—
and that taking the enemy unawares he attacked and cap-
tured the outer lines of the defences of Petersburg—a city
22 miles to the south of Richmond—putting his negro troops
in the post of honour and danger, and meeting with com•
paratively slight resistance. But this is all. The Confede-
rates, if thrown off their guard by the belief that Grant would
make a prior attempt to reach Richmond by Bottom's •
bridge, or some other point on the Chickahominy, before
resorting to the last and desperate manoeuvre of attacking it
by the rear, no sooner discovered his plans than they set
vigorously to work to repair the mischief they had per-
mitted. They strengthened in a night the second, or inner,
line of the defences of Petersburg, and when the Federal
army, flushed with the easy triumph of the previous day, re-
newed the assault on Friday morning it had a reception which
must have convinced even the "dour," cold-blooded, and
obstinate Grant that he was yet a long way, both in time
and distance, from the coveted city ot Richmond. The Con-
federates, commanded by General Bauregard in person, re-
pulsed their assailants with enormous slaughter, as, with
mad bravery, they dashed against the entrenchments, mow-
ing them down by hundreds in a minute. But the carnage
of Friday does not appear to have surprised or shocked the
the Federal chief. Doubtless it entered into his computa-
tion of the price to be paid for Petersburg, and was endured
accordingly. On Saturday he renewed the effort, and was
again repulsed, with a loss this time of upwards of 5,000
men. It is scarcely possible for the hottest war zealot to
avoid asking himself the question whether Grant can con-
tinue to afford such losses much longer, without depleting
or demoralising his army. Even should he succeed in
carrying this line, it is clear that his work will not be ac-
complished. There will still be a third line of intrench-
ments, which may cost him as many thousands
of men; and after that there is the city itself, which
the Confederates will sell as dearly as its in-
trenchments, and from which, if found untenable,
they can retire across the Appomattox to the suburb
of Pecahontas, burning or destroying the bridges, and
leaving Grant in possession of a barren trophy, separated
from Richmond by two rivers, and 22 miles of hilly ground,
at every half mile distance of which forts and intrenchmenta
can be constructed in a night, sufficiently strong tc cost
10,000 or 20,000 lives and a week's time to capture anyone
of them. "It's a far cry to Lochaw i " Grant may reach
Richmond, but, if he do, he may find it of no more use than
Moscow was to Napoleon, with this aggravation of ill for-
tune—that his opponent's army at the end of the contest
may be so much stronger than his own as to be ready to
assume the offensive, and carry the war to Washington or
any other place that may better serve his purpose.
If Mr Stanton's telegrams have proved so untrustworthy
as regards Petersburg, it seems, from an admission made
this morning by that functionary, that at least one of the
generals with whom he is in daily communication is as little
to be depended on as himself. General Sherman now con-
fesses that he was misinfot med in telegraphing to the Sec-
retary at War that General Joseph Johnston was in full
retreat across the Chattahoochie, and that he (Sherman)
would follow immediately. General Sherman pleads that
he was misled by the reports of some ot Ida corps comman-
ders, and asserted that Johnston has not retreated, but
etrtngtheneti his position on the iienceaw Mountain. The
truth seems to be that Sherman is in imminent danger—
menaced teeth in the front and the rear, cut off from his
supplies and base, end liable at any moment to be forced to
accept battle at a heavy disadvantage. But this circum-
stance excites little attention in this city. The whole inte-
rest is concentrated rn the movements of Grant, and, until
than general be either greatly victorious or as greatly- the
the reverse, it will continue to be fixed en him to the exclu-
sion of everything else.

Though Mr Chase's loan of 75,000,000 dollars, interest
payable in gold, has been taken at a fair premium, and
though he has led the banking interest to believe that he will
endeavour by means of such loans now and hereafter to pre-
vent any inflation of the greenback currency, the premium
on gold maintains it high rate, with a palpable tendency
to a further rise. The business world does not see ha way
clearly. The victories of the Federal arms do not come
according to premise. The New Internal Tax Bill is regu •
lated rather for purposes of protection than of revenue.
The taxes are not collected, and the expenses of the war
acquire fresh volume every day, partly because of the
enormous force maintained, partly because of the stupen-
dous frauds perpetrated upon and in every department of
the Uovernment, and partly by the depreciation of the
currency, which. virtually doubles the price of every erticle
of food, clothes, or military and naval supplies which the
Government requires. Under such circumstances the price
of gold not only goes up, but keeps up; and defies all the
attempts of the Administration to pull it down. Yesterday,
when it was notified that the President had signed what is
called the Gold Bill, and that this egregiously stupid
measure had become law—the price, instead of falling, as
Mr Chase and the Government anticipated—actually ad-
vanced 1 per cent. To-day, all the little operators having
been elbowed out of the ring, and
alarmed at the penal
consequences of any speculative venture in which they
might indulge, the gold trade was left entirely to the levi-
athans. The consequence was that the premium speedily
reached the long-predicted rate of 100 per cent, and steadily
advanced during the afternoon to 108 e. There is scarcely
a merchant or financier in the city who does not laugh at
the measure, ostensibly aimed at the gamblers in gold, but
in reality against the transaction of the most legitimate
banking business, and which, if it were possible to carry
out its provisions and penalties, would send all the gold out
of the country, and seriously interfere with the whole im-
port trade from Europe. A meeting of bankers is convened
for to-morrow afternoon at the rooms of the Chamber of
Commerce to consider the subject in all its bearings, with
a view to the repeal or modification of the law. The
measure is a farce from beginning to end ; and could never
have passed either House of Congress if the members of
those bodies had been even partially composed of merchants
and men of business, or anything but trading politicians
and third-rate country attorneys.
The Democratic party, after many misgivings and consi-
derable hesitation, has finally decided not to oppose the
Chicago Convention, which will therefore meet on the 4th
of July, the day originally proposed' Though General
Fremont has endeared himself to the Democrats by his
bold denunciation of the illegal acts and general imbecility
of the Administration, and Aill probably carry away a good
many votes from the independent members of the party, it
is not likely that the Convention will separate without
agreeing upon a candidate of the orthodox democratic faith.
The candidate will be General Grant if he takes Richmond,
which no one now expects he can do before the 4th of July,
if not, it will be General M'Clellan. Mr. Lincoln's pre-
tensions to re-election do not grow in popular favour. His
friends in Baltimore rather damaged than advanced his
cause, and the supporters both of Fremont and M'Clellan
vie with each other who shall speak of him most contemp-
tuously. As in a hotly contented election in an English
borough every opponent of a candidate considers himself
privileged to rake up every possible scandal, public or pri-
vate, against the man he wishes to defeat, so in America,
which at the time of a Presidential election is but one huge
rotten borough, seething with political hate and animosity,
the candidate must wear much whiter robes than those
from which the designation is derived, if he would escape
the aspersions of his enemies, and be purer than the angels,
if he would not be bespattered by foul abuse and persistent
malignity. While Mr. Lincoln was simply President he
was not treated with much discourtesy even by his hostile
political foes. The worst that was publicly said of him was
by his friend, Mr. Wendell Phillips, who called him an
"imbecile," Privately he was called a "buffoon" and an
"obscene jester;" but these epithets seldom or never found
their way into print. Since his appearance as a candidate
for re-election, however, thcugh he has not formally
accepted the Baltimore nomination, all delicacy in this
matter has been set aside. It is as if the tongues in a
thousand Billingsgate had been suddenly united, and
each were er4loyed in the most shameless and
shameful as well as most forcible and unsavoury vernacular
in hurling vile epithets against the President. The leading
Democratic journal of this city, in an article "On calling
things by their names," justifies the change of tone adopted
towards Mr Lincoln because he desires to be President for
another term, and has therefore to be as unreservedly spoken
of as any other citizen aspiring to the same position. " It
would have been indecorous," it says, " to call Mr Lincoln
the buffoon that he is, if he had been merely our chief
magistrate; but the truth must be told when b.e is a chief

magistrate seeking re-election t" and, acting upon this
principle, it assails hint as morally unfit for his high posi-
ion, cites the opinion of a leading member of one of the
great religious organisations who went on a deputation to
Washington, that " Mr Lincoln's demeanour and language
were those of a buffoon and a gowk" (Scottici, a fool I) and
of a senator of the United States, who tinolared that " lie
was compelled to leave. the rresitient's presence because his
self-respect wohl not permit him to listen to the filthy
language which he employed." When to th9Be assaults
upon Mr Lincoln's person and manners have to be added
the attacks thundering on him from every side accusing
him of violation of the law and the toristitution, of imbe-
cility. cf Intermeddling, of corrupt practices, of mismanage-
ment of the V 7 and declaring the obvious tendency of al
his priblM acts to establish a despotism for his own behoof,
or that of some abler member of his party) it is eat.;' to see
that the apprdaching election will be fertile In inVective and
denunciations, and impossi`►ile not to fear that the passions
that will be drated, the more especially in the not impro-
bable base cf military reverses and financial disaster in the
interval between this and the first week in November, may
lead to scenes of violence that have had no parallel in Ame-
rica, and that may imperil the stability of the Government
as much as the loss of a score of battles. Were Mr Lincoln a
truly wise man he would refuse to listen to the Baltimore
charmers who wish to make a tool of him, and leave th e
exalted position which he so uncomfortablp—and, without
disrespect to him, it may be said so ungracefully and ineffi-
ciently—occupies to some bolder statesman, some more ac-
complished gentleman, some higher principled philosopher,
and some astuter politician and manager than himself. As
a President he is the worst failure that America has ever
produced, and both parties in the State admit him to be so.
It is a pity that he cannot see himself in the same light,
and that he does not earn the respect of his true friends
and the forbearance of his foes by retiring into private
life. That he may yet do so is possible. Ic will be
happy for himself as well as for his country if such be his
determination.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

CRAVEN POLICY OF MINISTERS.

SATURDAY REVIEW.—It was impossible to
read Lord Palmerston's speech of Monday even-
ing last without much surprise and much dia.
appointment. Lord Russell's was bad enough,
but Lord Palmerston's was worse, The history
of the Conference was clearly and ably given,
but then came the announcement of what the Mini-
stry was prepared to do, and certainly no Premier
ever eubinitted a feebler statement to the considera-
tion of the house and the country. The main view
of the Government was one that might easily have
been justified. The Germans had broken through
a European treaty without any other plea than
their superior strength, and Europe might have re-
dressed the wrong, But Europe did not choose,
France and Russia were qaite willing to adhere
themselves to the treaty they had signed, but they
were indifferent if other persons chose to violate it.
It was not therefore the duty of England to uphold
single handed the public law of Europe. This is an
account of the matter which—thougb not absolutely
correct, because it omits to notice all the circum-
stances under which the treaty of London was con-
cluded, the events which have made it obsolete, and
the express declaration of France that it was vir-
tually at an end—is a plausible and intelligiote ac•
count, and near enough to the truth to come from
Ministers who consider themselves obliged to ads
here to diplomatic traditions it theory atter they
have abandoned them in practice. Further, Lord
Palmerston stated the Danes had agreed, for the
sake of peace, to yield a portion of Schleswig, but
they persisted in fighting rather than yield any
more, and so the war was now reduced to a mere
contest about a little slip of territory of very slight
value to any one. This is not a very fair way of
stating the case, and does the Danes injustice. The
Danes are fighting, not only for a slip of territory,
out for a slip of territory which, as they think, is
necessary to their military security, just as Eng•
land might be fighting for a little slip of terri-
tory if it were fighting for the Isle of Wight;
and the Danes are also fighting because on this
slip of territory live a certain number of Danes who
have been assured the enjoyment of a native Go-
vernment. But Lord Palmerston's statement may
be pardoned as a rhetorical expression, intended
Merely to convey that the loss to theDenes,whatever
it might be, which the cession of Schleswig would
involve, was but a trifle as compared with what
England would risk by a war. All that Lord Pal-
merston said on the Inconveniences a war would
cause to England was perfectly true. We should
suffer very heavily ; but we should have to spend
money profusely, and pour out blood like water.
We should have, in fact, to wage war as a great
Power contending with other great Powers is
obliged to wage it. One war might easily lead to
another, and we might find ourselves engaged in a
contest at sea with the Federal States at the same
time we were engaged in a contest with Germany
by land. This would be very awkward and very
embarrassing, and might very properly make any
Ministry pause before recommending the nation to
encounter such complicated dangers. Besides, as
the Russian organs have kindly taken the earliest
opporl unity to point out, it may fairly be argued
that the time for action on the part of England has
gone by. It has gone by in pr:uciule, for the time
for England to take up the case of Denmark on the
basis of the Treaty of 1832 was when that treaty
was violated by tne invasion of Schleswig. And if
has gone by in fact, for although England migh.
easily have rendered substantial assistance to Den-
mark while the line of the Daneewerke was intact,
nothing great can be done on land now that not
only Schleswig, but .Tutlaud, is completed at the
mercy of the invaders. This, then, being the case of
the Government—that it was no more the business
of England than of the other great Powers to up-
hold the Treaty of London, the. the Danes were
fighting for a small strip of territory, that
England would risk too much by going
to war singlehanded, and that the time for efficient
action was past—how did the Government explain
tUe course it had taken, and how did it propose to
act ? This was where Lord Palmerston broke down,
and this is where so great and so unnecessary an
opening has been given to the Opposition. The ques-
tion raised between Ministry and Opposition is not
that to which MrKinglake's amendmen t points. It is
not whether, at this conjuncture, war or peace is
advisable. It is whether a Government Chet holds the
views which the Government describes itself as hold-
ing should have acted as the Government has acted.
It is inconceivable the House of Commons should
allow itself to be led away from the only real point
of controversy. What has to De decided is, whether
a Ministry determined not to act without the support
of powerful allies, and thinking the losses with
which Denmark is threatened trifling as compared
with the evils of war to England, should have en •
couraged the Danes with the hope of assistance,
should have threatened and insulted Germany, and
should have left it to the last moment to announce
that this assistance was not to be rendered, and
that these threats were only simply bragging. The
country enjoys a certain amount of influence abroad,
because it is thought that England does not go to
war lightly, but that when she goes to war she
makes war in earnest. That influence is necessarily
impaired when, through her Government, she en•
courages friends and threatens enemies without
having any intention of going to war. It is the
part of a very little and very mean Power to trade
upon intentions it does not possess and upon strength
it fears to exert; to make a show of indignation
and virtue and courage, and all the time to know
that it shrinks from war singlehanded, and thinks
the cause of the war it threatens is not nearly worth
the risk the war will entail. No one can say that it
does not lower the reputation of England when this
course is the course taken by the English Govern-
ment. For the last few months England has been
teaching Denmark that she is protected by an indis-
putable treaty, that she ought not to stand alone,
and that the English navy is ready for action. For
the last few months England has been telling Ger-
many that it has been guilty of a great wrong, that
the fundamental pacts of European law have been
set aside, that the invasion of Schleswig and Jutland
has been a monstrous and brutal outrage. The simple
question is, whether this is the language towards
friends and foes which ought to have been held by a
country determined not to stir without its allies,
and thinking the cause at issue a trifling one. Arad,
as if Lord Palmerston were determined there should
be no doubt about this issue, and as if he were fully
prepared to stake the existence of his Ministry upon
the right he claimed for it to utter impotent menaces,
and while acquiescing in present discomfiture, to
utter vague mysterious hints of some tremendous
policy of action in the event of some remote contin-
gency happening, he took upon himself to declare
what he would do if the war took a new phase. He
pictured the Germans triumphant by sea as well as
by land, Copenhagen taken by assault, lives of its
peaceful inhabitants sacrificed, the father of the
Princess of Wales taken as a prisoner of war. H,
held up this dreadful prospect to the imagination of
his hearers, and then he announced what would be
the consequences if this picture became reality. It
was not that England would interfere to prevent
this accumulation of disasters; it was not that she
would spring to arms, or hurry her fleet to the scene
of horrors, but he would not say that if all this hap-
pened, or were likely to happen, the position of
the country might not be a subject for reconsidera-
tion." This was what was said to the listening
world on behalf of England, and it was Lord Pal-
merston who said it, Solon was certainly right
when he told Crcesus that, until a man was actually
dead, there was no knowing what he might not
come to.

THE SPECTATOR Councils of war never fight,"
and the Council of Friday, though it called itself a
Cabinet meeting, proved no exception to the maxim.

The bolder members of the Government were over-
ruled, and by Saturday it was known that the Ad-
ministration had reconsidered its half-formed resolve
that the preparations commenced were useless, and
that the Cabinet which had retreated from its own
ground,
.when Holstein was "executed," when
Sehleswig was occupied, when .intland was taken
in pledge, and when all up to the Schlei had been
surrendered, was about to retreat once more. Few,
however, expected that the retreat would be justis
fled by such reaeotto as these prednced4 that a Pre-
mier whose hold upon the country is his reputation
for pluck would confess that he thought it danger-
ous to risk war without an ally, that a Foreign
Secretary who had hardihood enough " to command
the Channel fleet" would hesitate to defend Euro-
pean brdek beam* theie might be an "interruption
of our relations with the United States." The scene
which awaited the Ministers as they entered the
houses might have roused the blood and fired the
heart of the most apathetic orator. The Commons
were thronging on the benches like bees, dozens of
men were standing unable tofind seats, ti e ea/It:ties
were bursting with tenants, who overflowed into the
lobbies, the passages, the staircasess everywhere
where they thight hope to Catch a ruinotir of the
drift of the explanati. ns Throughout the assets
blage of men, each one of whom possessed himself
some appreciable fraction of power, there was that
hush of suspense,that compressed thrill of excitement
which is seen only when great audiences have caught
the meaning of a great situation, or know that a
great event is at hand. Beforesuch ahouse so roused
had Lord Palmerston to acknowledge and to accept
a humiliating failure, to confess that he had menaced
without meaning action, to explain with masterly
lucidity how deeply Denmark had been wronged,
how defiantly Germany had broken every pledge,
how absolutely "Might he d" in his own words, "over
right," and then to show, less lucidly indeed,
but with painful clearness, how easily the Govern-
ment had pardoned the wrong-doing, how care-
lessly it had condoned the perjury, how submissively
it intended to much before the menace of superior
might. "We believed," he said, and as he said it
he seemed for half a moment not humiliated—" we
believed that, from the commencement to the end of
these last events, Denmark had been ill-used
(cheers); that might had overridden right (renewed)
cneering); and we knew also that the sympathies
of almost the whole of the British nation were on
her side." (Continued cheering.) And therefore
" we do not think it consistent with our duty to
recommend Parliament and the country to make
those great exertions, and to undergo those great
sacrifices, which would have been the necessary
consequence of entering into a conflict with the
whole of Germany." Denmark was originally in
the wrong, France declined interference, Russia
would not move, the weight of a war would fall
upon this country alone, and it was his duty to ad-
vise the country and his Sovereign to shrink from
that great risk. As if this were not sufficient for
humiliation, the old Premier, burning with inward
rage at his position, broke into what we believe to
have been either a fierce taunt at his own colleagues
or a hidden promise to the Prince of Wales, but
what sounded like a fiftieth menace of future action.
If, he said, witb a bravado which, after such a
speech, and while revealing such a policy, was
almost ludicrous, if " we had reason to expect to see
at Copenhagen the horrors of a town taken by
assault . . . . the capture of the Sovereign as pri-
soner of war, the position of this country might be
a subject for reconsideration." He would not war
for a country or for honour, but if a city were
threatened—; be 'would not fight for the indepen-
dence of a free nationality, but if a German prince
were prisoner—! then, the Cabinet might rise to
the height of its position in Europe, and gravely
and solemnly reconsider whether, when all was
lost, it might not be expedient to do grand battle for
nothing at all! The house, quiescent as it was, and
disposed to accept its humiliation with patience,
could endure no more, and a storm of ironical cries
almost daunted the Premier, and relieved the pent.
up feeling of rage, annoyance, or regret. There has
been no such exhibition of a great man made in our
time, and in the Lords matters were little better.
Earl Russell, indeed, amidst an audience almost as
numerous and excited, was more clear and consistent
in his statement, but it was because he was not
afraid to produce reasons for abstinence, such as are
rarely heard from the lips of statesmen who have
wielded the power of Great Britain abroad. He
supported peace because he was afraid of war. Be-
sides all the arguments offered by Lord Palmerston,
he adverted to the extreme difficulty of the under-
taking, the impossibility, as he assumed, of protect-
it.g Denmark by the fleet alone, feared " we should
suffer considerably if our commercial marine was ex-
posed to depredations such as might take place in the
event of our being at war with Germany," dreaded
lest our relations with the United States with its
" great army" and " formidable" navy might suffer
interruption, hesitated to risk the " great commerce
which has grown up in China," considered our im-
mense possessions in India," mentioned the surplus,
and, in short, expressed his belief that we were so
great, so successful, and so rich that we were corn
paratively powerless in the world. We could not
operate in the North without an ally, and ltus-ie
would not move, while France would demand com-
pensations which, said Err! Russel!, with an old
reminiscence of the time when England had infin-
(lce on the Continent, "might disturb the balance
of power"—that European law which he refuses to
prevent germany from violating. As to the South
he held that it was the duty of t his country to bee
have better than Austria and Prussia, not to light
up a flame which might extend over the whole of
Europe, but to endeavour to confine the war within
the narrowest limits. He, like Lord Palmerston,
ended with a menace, but he kept its conditions in
reserve, did not state that if Copenhagen were borne
herded the Government might consider the possibi-
lity of further remonstrance, and with the Prince of
Wales opposite him avoided the insult to Denmark
of imagining her King a prisoner in the, hands of
his enemies.

LONDON REVIEW.—On Monday evening last,
Lord Palmerston in one House and Earl Russell in
the other, went through what must have been to
them the disagreeable task of explaining their
Danish policy and its results. It is impossible to
suppose that even the two noble lords did not feel
the ignominy of the confession which they were
compelled to make, or that they were entirely desti-
tute of some sense of shame as they recalled the
recollection of their promises unfulfilled, their pro-
fessions belied, and their menaces disregarded. Into
their past policy we need not enter here on the
present occasion. It is defended by scarcely
anyone, and affords pride or satisfaction to none.
Even those who rejoice at the practical conclusion
at which the Government have arrived—to do
nothing—do not pretend to justify the steps by
which they have reached it ; and if they venture to
say a word or two in hesitating defence of Eerl
Russell's acts, they are forced to abandon his words,
his writings, and his diplomacy to the contempt or
the indignation of the country. Our Ministers,
however, appear so much enamoured of their faults
that they are never weary of repeating them. In
the same speeches in which the Premier and the
Foreign Secretary set forth the failure of their im-
potent exertions, and the fruitlessness of their
empty threats, they launched out into fresh intima-
mations of great and brave things to be done by
them—some of these days. In the very act of eat-
ing the leek they burst out into valorous protesta-
tions of pugnacity, in cage Copenhagen should be
attacked and King Christian taken prisoner. It is
not surprising that each language received in both
houses the well merited condemnation of the Oppo-
sition leaders ; and that the indignation of the House
of Commons found vent in a manner still more en •
pressive and decided. Almost everyone seemed to
feel that it is only adding new insult to the old in•
juries to hoid out once more to Denmark hope of
assistance never destined to be realised, and the
prospect of a support sure to be withheld at the last
moment. It is not requisite to support or justify
by an elaborate process of reasoning the instinctive
condemnation which the feelings of a high-spirited
people have pronounced on the policy of the Eng-
lish Government ; but, at the same time it is not
right that another Government should be allowed
to escape the censure which it also richly merits.
Fee Emperor of the French may be thus far free
trom blame, that he has never given Denmark any
hope of assistance. If he has not fulfitled the duty
which he owed to the cause of international right,
he has at least avowed from the first that he in-
tended to be a bystander while wrong was done.
THE EXAMINER. De Retie says there are
circumstances of such complicated difficulty that
the best statesman who has the misfortune
of having to deal with them has only a choice of
errors. Whatever is done or left undone will
appear wrong. Certainly, pre-eminently of this
class of unmanageable cases was the Danish. From
a superabundance of forethought England has got
entangled in this affair. If we had never troubled
ourselves about the Danish succession we should
have been clear of this difficulty. But we must
settle that Denmark cotld not retain the indepen-
dence essential to the balaece of power in the
north without certain provincee, and now that those
provinces are wrenched from her the opposite
argument is to be maintained, and Denmark is to
he persuaded that the retention of the semi-German
Duchies would do her more harm than good. Ten
years ago the integrity of Demark was held indis-
pensable to the peace of Europe, but now that the
integrity is virtually no more Denmark is to be taught
that half is more than the whole, 7TXEOI, ;n2to-ti 7ravrin,
and that in losing her appanages she only gets rid
of focuses of disaffection and foreign intrigue. It
is unfortunate that, in 1852, the parties to the Treaty
were " casting the fashion of uncertain evils," and
providing upinst them with so little real foresight. ,

But it was then thought that paper rivets could
hold a kin&dom together, no matter what material
changes might be working in it by the progress of
population. Holstein was wholly Germanized and
Schleswig half Germanized in spite of the Treaty
that would have united them for ever to Denmarl ~
without regard to their wishes, and natural yearn-
ings for another disposal. It was an ill-assorted
union that we were bent uponfand the usual unhappy
consequences have followed. Let us take warning
from the example, and never more be partiee to, the
arbitrary disposal of nations in marriage. It is true
there was nd guarantee, but it would have been
better if there had been no settlement, no Treaty
appearing to commit us to carry out what has proved
equally undesirable and impracticable. Seeing the
result of se much misbestowed precaution, we must
say with the atitirist-
-0 Curas hominum 0 quantum est in rebus inane f
As usual in quarrels, there have been faults on both
sides, but tl.ve misfortune of Denmark has been that
he; right and wrotiro. Were at the wrong end of the
affair, and she did not tilt herself right till her
nacire powerful enemies had irretrievably put them-
selves wrong She now sees her continental terri-
tory disquantitiedj as Lear saw his train of knights.
And every diminution becomes an argument for the
farther diminution. Having given up so much, is
it worth while te stand out fora little more or a
little less, is the questiOn4 But the Danes are etub-
born, and, as Hamlet says,
Two thousand souls and twenty thotteand• ducats*
Will not debate this question of a straw.
Our statesmen have done their best for peace, but
have not carried their love of peace so far afti
to go to war for it. They have tried to part angry
combatants, but not succeeding, they have not said,
" As you will not be reasonable and just, and will
insist on going on with this iniquitous war, we will
take our share in the crime we cannot stop, and so
here's at you." But England's part would not be a
mere share in the war. It England plunged into the
war it would make it co-extensive with half Europe.
Our great, our only ally would be Revolution, which
would bring retribution home to Austria, Prussia,
and probably Russia ; but with what a cost of
ruinous trouble ! Wherever there has been mis-
government and oppression, there would be reyoit
and insurrection, and it would be years before order
could arise again out of so gigantic a disturbance.
" The World well Lost ; or, all for Love," is the
title of an old play, but how would sound " The
World well Lost ; or, all for Denmark P" To pre-
serve two Duchies to that small Power would it be
quite wise to set Europe on fire from the Baltic to
the Adriatic? Is the Helen quite worthy of such
a stupendous sacrifice ? We shall be told no one is
for a ar; but really the reproach intended for the
Government is that having gone so far in inter•
ference it has not proceeded to that dire extremity
or at least to the hazard of it. " Why," ask some,
" was not a demonstration made which might
have checked Germany ? Why was not the
fleet sent to the Baltic ?" But what if the
warlike demonstration had failed as much as the
Conference has done? So momentous an issue must
not be hung upon an if. And, after all, Lord
Palmerston's Government has only failed to pre-
serve peace between Auetria, Prussia, and Den-
mark, as Lord Derby's Government failed to pre-
serve peace between France, Italy, and Austria.
But no blame was cast on the Derby Ministry for
that want of success, though their bias against the
better cause was just matter of animadversion. But
why bark if not resolved to bite I' is the next ques-
tion. Why carry so lofty a sail if not prepared for
a breeze P Why talk big and act little ? Why
interfere at all, or, as it is phrased, wby meddle
and muddle ? For by this it is said the influence
of the country is lowered. Well, and what would
have been said if the silent system had been adopted?
The complaint would be, Why do ysu not raise a
voice of remonstrance ? Why do you not appeal
to the conscience of Europe ? Why do you not
protest against what you may not be able to pre-
vent P Why not at least try the moral influence?