The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The strange events of the Danish war
aro reviving some of the oldest questions of history.
Every schoolboy learns, or used to learn, that when
Saxon England etas invaded by the Danes, Danes
and Saxons could understand cash other's speech
and talk together as if they had been one eteople.
If, again, the young pupil had the precocity to con-
sult a map and see where these people came from,
he would find that the country from which the Saxons
came was that which is now called Denmark, and
that Angles and Jutes derived their descent from
Schleswig and Jutland. So, when our correspondent
now writes that the Danes, after ages of antagonism
consummated by a cruel war, are regarding the Ger-
mans with little and are, indeed, attracted
towards them rather than towards. Sweden and
Norway, we can understand the sentiment, unex-
pected though it be. Still, though there may be no
irreconcilable enmity between these races, the
division has been so long and so well established
that " Denmark for the Danes" is a natural cry,
and it is the cry which now prevails at Copenhagen.
The Danes demand a kingdom and country of their
own, be it small or large. Europe in Conference
may "rectify" the frontiers of their territory, but
they claim that the line of demarcation, wherever it
may run, shall be clear, distinct, and impassable. It
must be a line beyond which no German can claim a
footing. If the ancient landmark of the empire is to
be moved northwards, let the movement be final.
Such are the views now prevailing in the Danish
capital, and they certainly express a justifiable po-
licy even if they rest upon doubtful speculations.
This position of the case shows the almost incon-
ceivable insignificance of the alleged cause of war.
The ancient frontier of Denmark was the river Eider, '
one of the clearest and most natural boundaries
that could be well imagined. North of this stream
the soil was Danish, south of it German. But the
province immediately south of the Eider, though a
German Duchy,- pertained to the Kings of Den-
mark, who were Dukes of Holstein. The footing
thus possessed by Denmark in Germany was not
much calculated to benefit the former State, but it
might have produced little disadvantage had it not
been for an extraordinary and unaccountable de-
vice adopted some centuries ago. Somebody con-
ceived the idea that Schleswig, which was a
Duchy, though Danish, should be joined in poli-
tical wedlock with the German Duchy of Holstein,
and that the union should be declared indis-
soluble to the end of time. That preposterous
claim on behalf of an obscure transaction of conve-
nience has been made the foundation of a great
European difficulty. It lies at the bottom of the
Danish war, and of the intrigues which led to it. It
enabled German professors to compile a case for
enriching Germany at the expense of Denmark.
If the question bad only concerned the disposal of
Holstein, we should never have heard of the present
embarrassments. Denmark would have let Holstein
go, and Germany would have hardly cared to pick
it up. But the addition of Schleswig to Holstein
made the whole worth having, and so the Germans,
knowing that Holstein was their own, elaborately
paraded its union with Schleswig as a sacred work
which no human power could undo. In reality the
transaction was just as reversible as any other politi-
cal arrangement. Scores of "unions" have been simi-
larly invested with " perpetuity," to be dissolved at
the next peace or the next treaty ; but the learned
professors of Germany have loudly maintained that,
though the whole face of Europe might be changed,
the union of Danish Schleswig with German Holstein
must remain intact. So the Germanic Confederation
took under its care not only the Germans of Hol-
stein, but the Germanised Danes of the Schleswig
border, and when it was found that some of these
had been sent to school to learn, not German, but
Danish, there arose the clamour which, owing to
the opportunities of a disputed succession, has now
culminated in war. The sole charge against Den-
mark is that in a portion of her territories where
two races touched she was disposed to favour the
establishment of her own. There is not a State in
Europe where the same instinct of Government has
not operated in precisely the same way. But now,
to complete the hollowness and absurdity of the
whole cause, it is probable enough that a war based
upon the eternal union of Schleswig and Holstein
may be finished by separating one from the other.
If the claims of nationality are to regulate terri-
torial adjustments, these claims must at length
put an end to the connection worshipped as
indissoluble, for though it is quite certain
that " Schleswig-Holstein " is not purely Danish,
it is no less so that it is not purely German.
Somewhere or other, at some point of your journey
as you advance northwards from the banks of the
Elbe towards the borders of Jutland, you will come
to a country where the people are thorough Danes,
and where everything is Danish. To bring this coun-
try under the sway of a German Power would be to
practice for the benefit of Germany the same policy
which has been stigmatised as so intolerable when
practised for the benefit of Denmark. The grievances
of the people of Holstein, which Germans have com-
bined to denounce, would then become the grievances
of the people of Schleswig. Here the Geramns will be
in a dilemma. Their case, such as it is, rests on two
claims—first, that Schleswir, and Holstein from one
State, indivisible by mortal authority ; and, next,
tnat a German population must be protected from
the Government of an alien race. But, as a Danish
copulation is equally entitled to protection of
the :ame kind, it will become absolutely im-
possible to maintain the indivisibility of a State
I inhabited by two distinct races. One of the two
things must be gk ven up. If the old decree of ter-
ritorial union is to go:-ern, the theory of nationali-
if nationality is to have
ties must be surrendered;
the preference, the Duchies ne ust be cut in two by
a line dividing Danes from GermaelEh and, as the re-
suit of a war for Schleswig-Holeteien, Schleswig-
Holstein will cease to be. No doubt, the Germans,
who would never hear of such a thing as Schles-
wig's carrying Holstein with it despite its popula-
tion of Germane, would be perfectly ready to seee
Holstein carry Schleswig with it despite its popu-
lation of Danes. That is a natural view to be taken
by a nation of 40 millions when contending with a
nation of two millions, but it will be hard to sus-
tain such an argument in a conference of Powers
charged with impartial mediation. Hitherto Den-
mark has eked out a somewhat scanty dominion
by a footing on Germanic territory, but she now
appears convinced of the error of the system.
It has cost her the present war. True, she
did no more than has naturally and necessarily been
done everywhere and by all Governments alike under
similar conditions. She only tried to perfect the
tenure of an outlying domain by assimilating it to
the body of the monarchy ; but this process, which
has gone on everywhere, went on in this case under
the eyes of the populous and powerful nation from
which the debatable fragment had been clipped, and
the Germans not only took it to heart, but turned
the attempt against their rivals. Denmark now sees
that this chance of aggrandisement was dearly pur-
chased by the hold it gave to Germany on Danish
affairs. The Danes in losing the outlying domain
would fain be rid of the danger it induced,
Ali they now say is, "Draw the line beyond
which Germany shall not step. Draw it where
you will, or where you must, but draw it so
that all within the line is. ours." Denmark for
the Danes, and the Danes for Denmark—those
are the claims now advanced at Copenhagen.
Twelve months two the Danes wanted a little more
than this, but the game, though played safely enough
elsewhere, is n't,:e"gerous when played against an over-
powering neighbour, They must forego their chance
of getting a bit of ertne2 v ; it. remains to be seen
what Germany foregoes in -doh...ling with Germany.
alarmed ap-
POST.--The shipowners of Liverpool,
parently at the success and impunity with ..hich the
Alabama has destroyed the commerce of the Fede:ale
are desirous of preventing other vessels from leaving ,
our ports for the purpose of taking part in contests
in which this country is not engaged. Nearly a
twelvemonth ago they presented a memorial to
Earl Russell on the subject, and they have very
recently addressed themselves in nearly the same
terms to the House of Commons. The Liverpool
shipowners state in their petition that " they
view with dismay the probable future con-
sequences of a state of affairs which permits a
foreign belligerent to construct and send to sea
from British ports vessels of war, in contraven-
tion of the provisions of the existing law." Tney
add further, " That the immediate effect of placing
at the disposal of that foreign belligerent a very,
small number of steam cruisers has been to pt,:ra-
ly se the mercantile marine of a powerful mari-
time and naval nation, inflicting within a few
months losses, direct and indirect, on its ship-owning
and mercantile interests which years of peace may
prove inadequate to retrieve." They further state
that they cannot suut their eyes to the fact that
the precedent thus unhappily established may be
turned against ourselves even by the most insigni-
ficant naval Power with which we may in future
happen to be at war. Finally, with the view of
putting a stop to these evils, both present and
contingent, they urge upon the Legislature the
expediency of rendering the Foreign Enlistment
Act more stringent than it now is. Since this
recommendation of the Liverpool shipowners was
first made to Earl Russell a twelvemonth ago, the
trial of the Alexandria has taken place. Toe rem
sult of the multifarious proceedings in that much
litigated case has been to render the constrution of
the Foreign Enlistment Act more doubtful than
ever. But the controversy as to its true meaning
and intent will be speedily revived. Ie the case of
the steam rams seized in the Mersey, and in the
case of the Rappahannock, the construction of the
Act in question will agian afford boundless field
for discussion. We sincerely trust that in these

cases the questions in dispute will be fairly raised,
and definitively settled. It will be a serious re-
preach to the administration of the law if these,
cases "go off"—as the lawyers express it—upon.
mere technical points like that of the Alexandra..
In such an event the Liverpool shipowners will_
have excellent ground for contending that the law-
ought to be amended. At present, those who main
tain that the Foreign Enlistment Act is inefficient
for the purpose for which it was passed are prema-
tare in their conclusions. The case of the Alexandra,.
was exceptional. We must await in patience the:
result of the trials which are now in progress, before,
a final opinion can be pronounced upon it. We
need not, however, be surprised that the proceedings
of the Alabama, and of her sister cruisers, the
Florida and the Georgia, are watched by the ship-
owners of Liverpool both with interest and alarm.
The immediate results of the appearance of those
formidable vessels upon the high seas have been to,
raise most materially the rates of insurance upon
Federal vessels, and consequently to diminish the
demand for Federal shipping. To avoid the risk of
capture a large portion of the carrying trade has,
thus been transferred to British bottoms. The
escape of the Alabama, in short, has immensely in-
creased the profits of the Liverpool shipowners.
They were never, we believe, in a more prosperous
condition than at the present time. But while they
are busily reaping the fruits of what they appear to
consider our fraudulent neutrality, they tremble for
the future. War is no longer considered by the
commercial classes as an impossibility. Recent
events in Europe, as well as in America, have rudely
dispelled Mr. Cobden's dream of universal peace;;
and the shipowners of Liverpool are considering
what is to become of their property should we mi-
-1 happily become involved in war and innumerable;
Alabamas issue from neutral ports to prey upon
British commerce throughout the world. Suppose
that circumstances obliged us to espouse the cause
of Denmark against her ruthless enemies, would
not the German States hasten to follow the bad ex-
ample set them by the Confederates, and at which
the inefficiency of our law obliges us to connive ?
Some petty principality which boasts of a stand-
ing army of five hundred men, but not of a single
foot of sea coast, might fit out cruisers in neutral
ports to burn, sink, and destroy the commerce of
Great Britain ; and the enormous amount of damage
which may be done in a very short time, even by
a single vessel, we know from the history of the
Alabama. Such are the contingencies which the
Liverpool shipowners seek to prevent by inducing-
the Legislature to take some more effective means
than it does at present to preserve our neutrality.
No one can find fault with these gentlemen for the
views expressed in their petition. Their object is
a legitimate one, namely, to protect their trade
from interruption in time of war, and their interest
is also the interest of the nation. Washington first
perceived that it would be impossible in modern
times to preserve the neutrality o f States in time of
war without some special legislation respecting
shipping. He saw that France was preparing to
turn the ports of the United States into arsenals for
the equipment of her cruisers, and that if such a
state of things remained unchecked a renewal of the
war with England was inevitable. In spite, there-
fore, of much obloquy and oppositicm, he induced
Congress to adopt a measure prohibitiisfi• the fitting
out of armed vessels for the service of belligerent
Powers, and posterity will applaud the wisdom as
well as the courage of that great man in preferring
the permanent interests of his country t o present
popularity. We have followed the wissl example
of Washington in passing the Foreign Et }listment
Act ; and if it can be satisfactorily shown that its
provisions are not sufficiently precise and st ringent
it ought to be amended. It is for the interest of
this country and of all countries that we should
hold the balance equally and fairly between belli•
gerent States; and if this can only be dor to by a
further alteration of the law, the ahipow tiers of
Liverpool are justified in making their pre& ant de.
mend. Before we arrive at this conclusion,, how-
er, we must see the result of the cases and sr the
Foreign Enlistment Act which still remain to be
tried.