The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-19 00:00:00

issued wounded and mangled men, and rumours It is our old friend the King of Dahomey who ob-
that this or that General was killed, that this or tains this advantage from the hand of the French
that regiment 'was reduced to a corporal's 1 lion-hunter, and we are pained to find that the
guard, traceable to no authentic source, neither Gallic view is even less favourable to Dahomean
believed :nor disbelieved: by the listeners, rose, Royalty than our own. It requires a very modest
as it were, out of the ground." Such is war, amount of Conservatism to be restrained from enter-
and, with this before them, there is unquestionably ing a caveat against the contemptuous standpoint
an appetite for fighting which the continuance of from which M. Gerard looks down upon a King.
war produces. There can be no doubt, according Evidently he is no fit person to edit the " Court Cir-
to our correspondent, that it was n the cry for im- cular," if Dahomey should betake itself to one. He
mediate battle" which impelled General Lee to the describes his Majesty as well built, with a head
attack of the Federal position at Gettysburg that like a bulldog, illustrated by an expression of
ended so disastrously for the Confederates. "A cry mixed cunning and cruelty. The divinity that cloth
for immediate battle, louder and more peremptory hedge in a king demanded surely a more courteous
than ever ascended from the Highlanders of Clever- detail of the facts. We are told that his black Ma-
house or Montrose, swelled the gale—timid and jesty retains his fanaticism for old traditions and
hesitating counsels were impatiently discarded, customs; continues his old love for slave-dealing
and, as it appeared to me, the mature and cautious and sanguinary spectacles; and his moral quality,
wisdom of General Lee had no choice but to float in keeping with his physical conformation, is by no
with the current." In the thick of the fire General means the better for being seen close. This is what
Longstreet was obliged to silence the cheering of the painters would call hard, matter-of-fact, dry,
his men, and from the very "ambulances, bearing physical handling of a subject. It shows how little
their ghastly loads of wounded men. to the rear," of the genuine feeling of loyalty exists in modern
there issued the loudest hurrahs as General Lee Frenchmen, and sets us thinking what the country-
passed. War certainly does bring out a class of men of M. Gerard would have thought of a sketch
fine qualities in human nature, and brings them out in the same style of a Louis XIV. or a Louis Napo-
in a way in which no ocher life can. Unfortunately leon. The biting cynicism of the Frenchman actu-
in the great mass it produces a counterbalance. ally luxuriates when it brings into play the singu-
The very man who is a hero on the field is a brute lar accessories by which the King endeavours to
when the battle is over. He is insolent, arrogant, give effect to his court grandeur. The palace is corn-
and selfish, and his government is a curse to the posed of huts, and the two columns which help to
soil he has won. And that is the curse under make the gateway to it are so many chaplets formed
which a large part of the United States now groans. by human heads. M. Gerard was assisted to a very
There is a flash of heroism while the storm of the lively comprehension of the power of his Majesty
battle lasts, but the steady temptations of every- by the exposition of a pool of blood two yards in
day life in a hostile country sap a moral foundation width between chaplet and chaplet. The Daho-
which was never strong, and make the soldier too mean ideas on taste seem equally primitive and
often a grasping tyrant. Unfortunately America original on other matters. The music which deat-
now feels his iron grasp, and it may be long before ened the Frenchman delighted his Majesty, and the
she is released from it. distaste of the polite Frenchman is all the more
POST.—We have little doubt that there will be as extraordinary that the Ministers of State and the
many projects as princes at the Frankfort Confer members of the blood royal shared in grotesque
once. The Emperor of Austria leads off the dance; dances and joined in playing an African pantomime
but there will be many ready to figure in it be- in his honour, to the accompaniment of " the most
sides Francis Joseph. But we may for the infernal" noise. A royal procession got up in hon-
moment content ourselves with the Austrian propo- our of the French visitor did not win a more fay-
sitions. They form an indication of the direction ourable acceptance. A thousand women, some
which the attention of the Conference will first carrying bottles of water on their head, others car-
take. The dispute of the different German news . rying a brass foot-bath consecrated for the reception
papers in regard to the precise detail of them is not of the blood of human victims, others baskets full of
important. All we require at present is their general human skulls, others the drum of death, varied by
tenor, and on that point there is a pretty general processicnistsbearingimagescf St. Lawrence and the
agreement. The Emperor of Austria's proposals King, with certain old carriages and Bath chairs, the
appear to concern—first, the organisation of the King himself bearing the emblem of Christ on his
Federal Diet; and, secondly, its powers. We must breast, formed what is called " the spectacle of the
ac.anowledge that they seem to point very much in royal wealth." The scene was not precisely the sort
the direction of a re-establishment of the old Ger- of thing which the ceremonial of "Le Grand Monar-
manic Empire. They form, in effect, the machinery que" would have provided to astound the imagine-
of the old Imperial Diet, to a great extent at least, tion of a traveller from foreign parts. But then it
with the artificial substitution of a Directory for an was his taste, which was of course the taste of his
Emperor. The Executive is to consist of a Direc- kingdom ; and why should not the rule "De
tory, to be formed, according to one account, of five Gustibus" be as appliable to a king or kingdom in
representatives, and, according to another account, Africa as to a king or kingdom in Europe, where it
of seven. Austria, Prussia, and Bavaria are to be is less needed ? M. Gerard is too polite a French-
represented singly and severally. The minor Ger- man not to have had a word for the King's Amazon
man Powers are then to elect either two or four army. They are twelve thousand strong, he tells
representatives to act conjointly with the Austrian, us, and " manoeuvre with the precision of a flock of
Prussian, and Bavarian delegates. Such is the sheep." But if their movements are somewhat wild,
proposition of the Emperor Francis Joseph for the their courage is beyond dispute, and they have
constitution of the Federal Executive. We next helped their Sovereign to some important acquisi-
come to the legislative part of it. There are to be tions of territory. The Mahee territory has been
two Chambers, according to this proposition. The his Savoy, and, thanks to them, the King of
Upper House is to be a Chamber of Princes, an Dahomey now reigns over a population of a quarter
aristocracy limited to that rank. Whether they also of a million. Let us add, to cover a multitude of
are to be representative, or to embrace the whole sins and to supply a defect of M. Gerard, that he
number of their order, does not directly appear ; reigns over one of the best-cultivated and the richest
but the absence of a limitation of number inclines agricultural countries on the whole continent of
us to the supposition that this aristocratical element Africa. He may black his face with coal and
is to coincide with the total number of Princes dance in mad revelry with his soldiers at one of his
throughout the Confederation. We then turn to country's feasts—but then heencourages agriculture,
the Lower House. These are to be professed dole- and farms are met even in the far interior, where
gates. It is not proposed that they should be our civilisation has rarely been ever heard of, that
directly chosen by ordinary constituencies ; but would do honour to many a country in Europe.
they are to be chosen by the different Diets of the s______ _
different States of the Confederation. This regula-
tion would, it is obvious, involve some difficulty in
regard to such States as have not at present repre-
sentative legislative assemblies. But at the same
time it would tend no doubt to operate as a whole-
some premium upon constitutional government
throughout the Confederation, inasmuch as the ab-
sence of it in any one State would diminish the
voice and importance of that State in the Federal
Assembly. This Lower House of the Federal As-
sembly is to be composed of representatives from
both Houses in each of the State Diets. Thus the
Lower House in each State Diet is to elect two •
thirds, and the Upper House one third, of the aggre
gate of the Federal Assembly. The Lower House of
the Federal Assembly would therefore be, on this pro-
posal, of a highly composite character, as well as
very indirectly elected. It would comprise both
the popular and senatorial element in each German-
State-constitution; and even the popular element
would be chosen, not by the usual constituencies,
but by representatives already chosen by such con-
stituencies. As it is not proposed to render the
designed Federal Assembly for Germany a highly
popular body, we do not know that there is any
sound objection to raising this broad interval between
its members and the action of public opinion in Ger-
many. But the disproportion between the popula-
tions of the leading States and the comparative num-
ber of representatives whom their respective Parlia-
ments are to send to Frankfort is rather marked. It
is said that Austria and Prussia are together to send
one half the members of the Lower House of Fede-
ral Assembly to Frankfort, and that the minor
States are to send the other half. Now, Austria and
Prussia, reckoning, of course, only the Germanic
territory of either, present a proportion of fully
three-fifths of the population of Germany, we might
almost say two-thirds. There are fully 25,000,000
Germans in these two States againstunder 15,000,000
in the minor States. At first sight this would look
like remarkable moderation on the part of Austria.
But it is a moderation in which Prussia would have
to join, for the German population of Prussia is
fully as large as the German population of Austria.
To say the truth, the proposal seems to be so designed
that that Power which promises to possess the
greatest influence with the minor States shall,
through them, rule the Confederation. We need
hardly observe that, es matters at present stand, that
Power is Austria. We must confess that we look
with greater distrust to the operation, or rather to
the feasibility of the laws which are here put for-
ward to govern the powers of this Federal Assembly.
As to the proposed power of determining a general
right of domicile, we see every ground to applaud it.
Few practical matters of German law have been
beset with greater intricacy, from their very variety,
then the law of domicile. But when we come to
the question of a " general press law," which the
Emperor of Austria proposes, we have at once an
infrinsement on the municipal rights of sovereign
States, which a jealous and powerful State such as
Prussia is certain to resent. We readily concur in
a general law of domicile, because it was a matter
of international concern, and even of international
law ; and it is one, therefore, on which all States
may be expected to agree and to consent to a com-
mon compact and arrangement. Of course, if a
general press law could be passed and be submitted
to in practice, there would be every occasion to re-
joice at it, though an infraction of the sovereign
rights of single States. The objection is that
powerful States are likely to resist the infraction,
and possibly to resist the whole measure, on the
grouud of its inroad on their domestic sovereignty.
The same, too, must be said of the scheme of a set
of supreme Federal tribunals, that is to do away
with the judicial sovereignty of single States—and
yet more, to do away also with the Sovereign's pre-
rogative of clemency and mercy in criminal cases.
Of course,_ if all the States approximated in power,
it would be practicable to substitute for the exist-
ing Confederation of States a Federal State, such
as the Helvetic Republic, or what the United Pro-
vinces used to be. But we gravely doubt whether,
if the present King of Prussia will not submit even
to a Prussian Legislature, any King of Prussia
would submit to a German Legislature controlting
his own internal sovereignty. And we venture to
entertain some doubt whether even an Emperor of
Austria would either, if the machinery of the pro-
posed Federal constitution were not to promise him
a substantial indemnification in the shape of Ger-
man:supremacy.
HERALD.—As if the love of enterprise were only
another name for the equally restless love of noto-
riety or fame, M. Jules Gerard, the lion siayer, is
just as busy in chronicling the achievements
which remind us of his model Hercules, as in per-
forming them. The labours which carried the con-
queror of the Nemean lion from theePsielleamrs ofto Hhaevre-
cules to the Mountains of the Moo
tempted M.Gerard into an even widerof
seaarechouopf fleamoet;
and the last of our news consists
letters, addressed to the Duke of Wellington and
M. H. Claudet, from points near the western coast
he tells us, to
trhhea
tu.onrt haunts
thein
ad
mofaCkeenhtirealwAe
yfribcya.T
confidence
gv
ee
nr it au,
voone de
jaol
ol or we
es
yi I niii,labienmu idess te:Pl °fur
itrt
twPoe °BehBliivsliem
r undermo
an°
Al
possession of the traveller
of success which has a better foundation in the well-
known courage and ;self-
pro.
pthoas
ens itno tthreavcehvaerea.c t,errh
oerfethaerectiougnrterayt whichmany hazards
against against our having a Gerard as a gift from nature,
and still more that we should have him safe and
sound for the conveniences of a London summer
season after going through so long a series of perils ;
and as we hear of the drawing-room hero of two
great countries risking among remote savages so
precious a life for the satisfaction of e travelling
whim, it is hard not to fear that the nulla vestigia
retrorsum may stand between this new visit to the
arida matrix leonum and the return we shall be glad
to weleo.no as the sensation of a season. In the
meantime ore rsceive frets him a pen and ink sketch
of the first Alrlcala KN,. he ILls mtt in his travels,