The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 522, 1863

the malcontents of the Duchies base their objection
to the new Constitution. King CHRISTIAN declares
it to be a misunderstanding on the part of the
Powers which prevents them from recognising the
treaties on account of the edict of the 18th of
November ; but we are glad to see that he an-
nounces no intention of withdrawing that edict with
the view of conciliating his enemies. He says,
boldly enough, that a desire to dismember
the Danish monarchy has arisen in Ger-
many, but expresses a hope, though not
a very confident one, that Europe will maintain his
rights. He further tells the Rigsraad that although
he does not recognise the Federal execution as jus-
tifiable, he has thought it advisable to withdraw hie
troopsacress the Eider to avoid a collision. It is
to be hoped that the Danish Government will take
that river for a limit beyond which the invaders
must not be suffered to pass, and England should
intimate pretty plainly to her German allies that
she will not regard the passage of that boundary by
armed troops as a casue bell. Had she done so years
ago, when the Pruth lay between the Russians and
the Danubian provinces, she would have spared
Europe the Crimean war. Another struggle, in-
volving many Powers, and stimulated by many con-
flicting interests, is now imminent. It may be
averted by a bold and manly policy on the part of
our Government, but 'will they act in such a spirit ?
How have Lord PALMERSTON'S frank and straight-
forward words, at the close of the Session, been fol-
lowed np by the foreign policy of his Cabinet ? A
representative of their views has been sent to Den-
mark, indeed, to congratulate King CHRISTIAN on
his accession to a troubled and doubtful dignity.
All that has yet been learned of the mission of Lord
WODEHOUSE is that he has counselled conciliatory
measures, and recommended important modifica-
tions in the constitution of the 18th of November.
If this is the best aid that England can give in such
a crisis her Prime Minister should not have spoken
so boldly. If his denunciations of German ambition,
and the vision of a German fleet riding in the har-
bour of Kiel, as the real motive-springs of the dis•
satisfaction with Denmark, were to be Vox et pre-
terea nihil, they hays merely served to mislead the
nation which trusted his good sense and clear judg-
ment to take more active measures when occasion
called. Whether, like the old story of the lion, he
thought it advisable to let the Germans into the
Duchy for the pleasure of turning them out
again, we cannot say, but it is certain that
being in virtual possession of Holstein the Germans
will be troublesome customers to dislodge. The
public enthusiasm in the Fatherland was in no way
diminished. At a public meeting of the members
of the different German representative bodies held
in Frankfort on Monday, 900 members were present,
as well as great numbers of the public. The reso-
lutions passed were unanimously in favour of the
Prince of AUGUSTENBURG. In the Prussian Upper
House it was on the same day boldly proposed that
Prussia should withdraw from the London Treaty.
It was not, however, happily for Prussia, sufficiently
supported. It is therefore not too soon for England
and her representatives to assume some decided
attitude, and the sooner she does so the more effica-
cious will her aid be to the Danes, and the better
for the credit of Lord PALMERSTON'S Government

There is no quality which Englishmen think more
of than fair play, and in cases where it is grossly
violated the offender is certain, sooner or later, to be
called to account pretty sharply. A more notable
instance could not be given of bias and prejudice than
that evidenced by the conduct of our Government
with regard to the policy of neutrality, as it is
called, towards America. President DAVIS may
well speak of the "marked partiality of England
towards the Federate," and the strange inconsis-
tency which pervades their conduct in respect to
the purchase of supplies by the belligerents. A
glaring instance of this has recently come to light.
All the employees of Government at the dockyard of
Sheerness who volunteered to fit out and equip the
Rappahannock are discharged, for. breaking the
laws of the country which apply to neutrality. Also,
it is stated, that those of the Royal Naval Reserve
who belong to the Alabama, Florida, and Georgia
are struck from the list, with the loss of all pay and
pension. Now this may suit the views of those in
authority at present, but while a spark of their old
fire animates the minds of Englishmen, it will be
pronounced as truckling policy and arbitrary use
of power, which should only be entrusted to those
more worthy of exercising it. The Government do
not withdraw their support from the establishments
which furnish arms and ammunition to the Federate,
so that their hard and harsh decrees have not even
the merit of consistency to bear them out, and can-
not lay claim to being the result of a strict scrutiny
into the justice of the case. Such conduct is sc,
unfair that the most bitter opponent to the Minis-
terial cause will feel more regret and shame as
Englishmen that such an order should emanate
from our Statesmen, than satisfaction at the con-
viction that they are dealing a blow to their own
reputation, such as no rival could inflict or contem-
porary occasion. It comes to this, if we are to have
one law for one belligerent and another for the other,
we had better leave off all talk about our indepen-
dence as a nation and our impartiality as a Go-
vernment. Nothing can be more extraordinary
than the measures which have been lately adopted
in regard to America ; and it is to be hoped that
when Parliament meets a strict investigation will
be made, and the honour of the country vindicated,
even if it should be at the eleventh hour that the
affair is taken up in the right spirit.

BRAIN SPECTRES.—The brain makes ghosts both
sleeping and waking. A man was lying in troubled
sleep when a phantom, with the cold hand of a corpse, seined
his right arm. Awaking in horror, he found upon his arm
still the impression of the cold hand of the corpse, and it
was only after reflecting that he found the terrible appari-
tion to be due to the deadening of his own left hand of a
frosty night, which had subsequently grasped his right
arm. This was a real ghost of the brain, which the awaken-
ing of the senses and the understanding explained. M.
Gratiolet narrates a dream of his own which is singularly
illustrative of how the brain makes ghosts in sleep. Many
years ago, when occupied in studying the orginisation of
the brain, he prepared a great number both of human and
animal brains. He carefully stripped off the membranes
and placed the brains in alcohol. Such were his daily occu-
pations, when one night he thought he had taken out his
own brain from his own skull. He stripped it of its mem-
branes. He put it into alcohol, and then he fancied
he took his brain out of the alcohol and replaced it in his
skull. But, contracted by the action of the spirit, it was
much reduced in size, and did not at all fill up the skull.
He felt it shuffling about in his head. This feeling threw
him into such a great perplexity that he awoke with a start,
as if from nightmare. M. Gratiolet, every time he prepared
the brain of a man, must. have felt that his own brain re-
sembled it. This impression awakening in a brain imper-
fectly asleep, whilst neither the senses nor the judgment
were active, the physiologist carried on an operation in his
sleep which probably had often occurred to his fancy when
at his work, and which had then been summarily dismissed
very frequently. A pursuit which had at last become one
of routine, and the association of himself with his study
explain the bizarre and ghastly dream of M. Gratiolet. A
sensation from the gripe of a cold hand, misinterpreted by
t_l
e
imagination acting without the aid of the discerning
facilities, accounts for the ghastly vision of the other sleeper
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