The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—With professions of the most friendly
understanding with each other, Austria and Prussia
have nearly concluded the tret.ty of peace between
Germany and Denmark. The peace is made in the
name of the whole of Germany, though it is, in fact,
dictated .by the two great Powers that hold the
sword. The secondary and minor German States,
and all the National party, have for some time sus.
pected that their wishes would be as little consulted
in the settlement of the terms of peace as they were
in the conduct of the war. While the plenipoten-
tiaries of Austria and Prussia, therefore, have been
arranging matters to their own entire satisfaction at
Vienna, another Conference or Congress has held a
sitting at Weimar, and, equally in the name of Ger.
many, disavows and condemns most of the proceed-
ing. The feeling of discontent is not so briefly ex-
pressed in the document the disappointed National-
ists of Germany have published ; but under their
superfluous verbiage, and the phrases that wind
round a disagreeable topic so cautiously, it is easy to
read their vexation, and something like despondency.
As nothing connected with the Schleswig-Holstein
question strikes a very deep root in the public me-
mory, distributed as it is by greater tempests from
other quarters, it is necessary to explain what is the
precise organisation of the malcontents who have
now found a voice, and why they speak in the name
of Germany. Before the war began the minor States
could express their views in a formal manner by
their votes in the Diet of Frankfort,to which Prussia
and Austria pretended up to the last moment to
yield obedience. The submission was complete as
long as the policy the Diet approved was their own ;
but when that body ordered the military contingents
of Saxony and Hanover to form an army of execu-
tion in the Danish Duchies, the order was set aside
in the most summary manner. Prussian and
Austrian regiments undertook the work, and the
armed forces of the two minor States were pushed
into the background and kept there, not without
slights and indignities very galling to the military
spirit. The National party discovered it was
equally powerless. The claims of the Auguste's-
burgs were quietly dropped by Prussia, which pur-
sued its course regardless of petitions, memorials,
and protests, and, whatever may be its future objects,
has succeeded in realising all its past plans. What
is now the German Opposition soon perceived how
the game was turning against it. But what could
it do ? German armies had already been set at de-
fiance. If the smali States went through the form
of meeting and voting in the Diet, their votes
would be disregarded. They were reduced to watch
and wait, letting things take their course, and recog-
nising where the material power of Germany really
resides. This is exactly what the German National
party has done. From the Chambers and legislative
bodies of the small States deputies were named as a
G;mmittce of Vigilance. It did not bear that name,
but to watch the course of events was its function.
Its duty was to report from time to time the state
of affairs, and this duty was discharged by a manag-
ing sub-committee. What mode of proceeding they
adopted we are not told. But we can suppose the
members devoting their days and nights to the per-
usal of all the newspapers, in every known language
of the world, in order to obtain a thorough and com-
prehensive knowledge of the opinions of the universe
on the last phase of the Schleswig-Holstein guess
tion. To be sure, the determining incidents of the
war occurred almost under their own eyes, but
opinions founded on mere observation are likely to
be one 'sided, like an Englishman's, or superficial
and French. We have no doubt that, however formed,
the opinions stated in the debate on the report pre-
sented a few days since to the Assembly of the whole
body of members of the German Diets are the result
of mature reflection, and reproduce most of the views
laid down in the report itself. Twelve German States
were represented in the Committee, and the two
cities of Hamburg and Frankfort. It must be borne ,

in mind that the delegates were not officially ap-
pointed, and in no degree represent the Government
of the States from which they come. They are
nominated by the local Chambers, in some cases
only by the opposition in those bodies. This will be
evident enough when it is perceived that there are
in the Committee delegates from Prussia, which
has grasped the largest share of success, as well as
from Hanover and Saxony, which gained nothing
but humiliation. The Assembly thus composed has
taken into consideration the whole movement from

the death of the late King of Denmark up to the
present time, and likewise the results to be "ob-
tained by the impending conclusion of peace." It
is a happy peculiarity of losers ',hat they can always
find some grounds of consolation. Thus, the Ger-
man National party, though it admits it has failed
to obtain most of the main objects of the agitation,
cherishes a conviction that Prussia and Austria
have always aced under the expression of the na-
tional will. The direction the two Powers took
was wrong, and what they did and have left un-
done alike to be deplored, but this is no fault of
those who gave the impulse. As an illustration,
the delegates say Prussia and Austria began the
war with the determination to enforce only the
terms of the Treaty of London, and that they
marched their troops across the Eider, " not to
wage war against Denmark, but merely to take
Schleswig in pledge upon the basis of the London
arrangements." This was what the Prussian Go-
vernment professed, we know, bat it is a very con-
fiding simplicity indeed that can believe the pro-
fession to have been sincere. All the subsequent
incidents prove that what Prussia has done she in-
tended to do from the beginning, and the avowal of
the German patriots that they still believe Prussia
was then an instrument in their hands appears to
us to prove nothing but their own inveterate ten-
dency to become political dupes. They assert that
the maintenance of the Treaty of 1852 was far less
than the German nation required. So the Assembly
just gathered at Weimar held.a sitting at Frankfort
last December, and, by putting a " moral pressure"
on the minor States, and through them on the two
military Powers, "drove them further and further
past their original limits, so that at last the loose tie
of personal union was all with which they attempted
to hold fast to the London Treaty.,' Thus, the
German Liberals actually claim the responsibility
of having impelled Prussia to all that appears to
Europe so violent and unjust in its conduct to
Denmark. We cannot believe they are half so
guilty as they paint themselves. Prussia set her
army in motion with a full knowledge of what it
would be ordered to do. The invasion of Jutland—
of which the delegates say nothing—the exhaustion
of the resources of that province by the Prussian
troops, to the profit of the Prussian Exchequer, and
the total prostration of Denmark, were all predeter-
mined measures. All the nationality movement did
was to furnish Prussia a plausible excuse, and an
opportunity of carrying into effect a long calculated
policy. In fact, the minor States are beginning to
discover that when they believed they were Powers
they were only instruments that have been most
unscrupulously employed. They still avoid acknow-
ledging the humiliating truth, and encourage every
illusion that may veil it from their own eyes. But
the vexation and mistrust running through the
whole of the Weimar debate indicate a painful per-
ception of the real state of the case. After the first
singular expression of complacency the discussion
records little but suspicions, distrust, and a course
of unavailing protests. Before the meeting of the
London Conference, the delegates of this National
Committee "protested" against any settlement of
the "future of the Dachits" without consulting the
opinion of the inhabitants. When it was proposed
to divide the territory of Schleswig the Committee
protested a second time ; and it made its third pro-
test when an Oldenburg set up a claim to the suc-
cession in opposition to the Prince of Augustenburg.
The policy of Prussia having required three hos ile
protests, the Committee, in consideration of the
military services of that Power, expresses a faint
general satisfaction as to the past, but ventures to
suggest that this degree of approvcl "must not go
so tar as to lead us to easy security, and tame resig-
nation to all that may happen." The sub-com-
mittee is ordered to continue its vigilance, and the
national movement, which Las proved such a mate-
rial adventago to the military power of Prussia
and its political reactionists, "is to be continued
with all possible energy," for the exclusive benefit,
we presume, of the National Committee. At least,
that body expresses itself confident of ultimate
success, although we cannot trace in the past any
probable basis for its calculation.

POST.—In the absence of war news (if we except
the rumour that the Confederates have recaptured
Atlanta), the Peruvian brings political intelligence
which is far from unimportant. The results of the
State elections in Pennsylvania and Maryland are

now known, and with this knowledge the public
equally acquire a certain conviction of what will
be the attitude of those States at the forthcoming
Presidential election. In Pennsylvania we are
told that the Democratic party have earried the
"ticket" by a majority so large as to render it in
the highest degree improbable that the votes of
such members of the State as are serving in the
Federal armies will, when taken, turn the scale ;
and in Maryland the elections have equally resulted
in a majority against the Government, which it is
• believed will not be shaken by the vote still to be
taken in the field. In Indiana and Ohio we learned
by the preceding mail that the Republican party
• had secured the victory; but these successes have
been more than counterbalanced by the defeats
sustained in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The
election of a President is made by persons nomia
nated by each State specially for that purpose, and
the States are entitled to appoint as many 'electors
as they send senators and representatives to Cans
gress. The number of senators nominated by each
State is limited to two; but that of representatives
is regulated by the population. Now, as the popu-
lation of Ohio is close on two millions, and that of
Indiana nearly one million, whilst the population of
Pennsylvania exceeds two millions and a quarter,
and that of Maryland is about six hundred thou•
sand, the aggregate population of each pair of
States is nearly the same. Assuming, therefore,
that the results of the State elections are now ac-
curately ascertained, the delegates subsequently
sent to the electoral college by these four States
will counterbalance each other, and the result of
the Presidential election will depend on the votes
of the majority of the remaining States, But,
although the four States we have just named have,
so to speak, paired off for the forthcoming election,
the defeat of the Republicans in Pennsylvania
and Maryland is not to be measured by the mere
number of votes of which they have been thus
deprived. The weight of these States in the Union
cannot precisely be apportioned by the numbers of
their population. Maryland is a slaveholding
State, and no Unionist would seriously maintain
that her adhesion to the Union was due to any
other cause than the control which the Federal
Government with their capital at Washington are
enabled to exercise. That Maryland should sup.
port the Democratic party is not, then, in itself
very surprising; but the fact that the State in
which Washington stands should declare against
those who at present wield supreme power pos-
sesses no little significance. It is, however, the
Democratic reaction in Pennsylvania which will
supply the chief cause of apprehension to the Rea
publicans. Pennsylvania is next, after New York,
the most populous State in the Union; and in re.
spect to mercantile prosperity, and the value of the
stake which it holds in the Republic, it need not
yield even to the State which contains the corumere
cial metropolis of the Union. Pennsylvania sup.
ported Mr Lincoln on the occasion of his election,
and in no slight degree contributed to turn the scale
in its favour. She has now with no less emphasis
protested against the further prosecution of a policy
which, after nearly four years' experience, she is
convinced must end in ruin. It is notorious that
the results of the local elections in the more ima
portant States influence those which have yet to
follow by the accession of strength to the party
which is successful; and whilst success in Peensyl.
vania would have rendered Mr Lincoln almost cer-
tain of re-election,, failure has to a considerable
degree diminished his chances of again directing
the destinies of what is still left of the model Re- -
public of the West. There are but two candidates
in the field for the high office of President ; and
although to the parties whom they represent the
pending issue is of vital importance, it is more than
doubtful whether that issue in which Europe alone
takes an interest will be seriously affected by the
result, On the whole, it may be assumed that the
Democrats are more willing to pursue a peaceful
policy than their political rivals—or perhaps, to
speak more correctly, they are not so utterly uncom-
promising. Bat it matters very little if the
Democrats are willing to make more con'
cessions to the South than the Republicans,
if they nevertheless insist upon one condition of
peace which the Confederacy cannot porsibly accept.
It is perfectly idle for the Northern Democrats to
offer to the Southern States the right to maintain
intact the particular institution against which the
Republican party have been unceasing in their
attacks since their advent to power, if they require
them at the same time to acknowledge a supremacy
on the part of the Northern States which they are
determined to disallow. The peace party form but
a very small section of those who, if successful, will
place George M'Clellan at the head of the Govern'
went; and the indifference manifested for their
opinions by him who still remains their nominee,
proves how trifling is the weight possessed by those
most desirous of putting an end to the present war.
Indeed, by some it is believed that if the DLmecratic
candidate succeeds at the approaching election, the
war will be prosecuted, if possible, more relentlessly
and more vigorously than before. It. Is absurd to
suppose that M'Clellan would express sentiments
wheah he did nor entertain, and which would, as he
well knew, estrange from him many of his partisans;
and therefore it may be taken for granted that he
will act in accordance with the policy set forth in
his reply accepting his nomination by the Chicago
Convention. If the South will reaenter the Union,
then the Washington Government will entertain
propositions for peace. This is the Democratic
"platform," and it differs only from that accepted
by the Republicans in the more favourable terms to
which a Democratic Administration would assent
than those on which the Government now in office
would insist. But as it is precisely the re-establish.
ment of the Union to which the South objects, and
as it is for the maintenance of a national independ•
cries that it has struggled successfully during the
past four years, the Southern Confederacy will not
do that for a Democratic President which it has
refused to do for one who is a Republican. Whether,
therefore, Abraham Lincoln or George M'Clellan is
hailed as President on the 4th of March, 1865, the
progress of the war will be virtually unaffected.
We may, consequently, on this side of the Atlantic
await the issue of the Presidential contest with in-
difference. We do not, we cannot, believe that the
war can be protracted until the Americans are
again called upon to elect a President: but the
time of its termination will not be sensibly affected
by the result of the voting next month in the
electoral college.