The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-07 00:00:00

eagerness for war under ordinary circumstances as
a source of glory to himself and of strength to his
dynasty, and, consequently of hope and of good
fortune almost indescribable to his son, evidences at
this juncture not one jot less reluctance than any
one among the most prudent and peace-loving con-
stitutional statesmen of England having a seat in
Lord PALMERSTON'S Government, This exceeding
reluctance to take the initiative in the declaration of
a war against Russia, in vindication of •the rights
and liberties of Poland, being, in point of fact, com-
mon, at this moment, to all the rulers, wheth©r
Statesmen or Sovereigns, of each of the Great
Powers of Christendom. The one consideration
constituting, in very deed, the while, the
sole source of this reluctance, so common to
them all, "to each and every of them," being the
profound sense in the heart and conscience of each
not of the hazard, great no doubt though that
hazard is, but of the enormous and all but over-
whelming responsibility ! For—the time has lung
since past by when a war in Europe could by any
possibility be a merely partial or a stri:ctly local
war. Whenever this next European War—a war
that sooner or later is quite inevitable,, the question
now in regard to it being simply as to the extent of its
postponement—whenever this next Europeanahaalutey dead
certainty dWadr
does come at length, as come for an
certainty it must and will, and.that moreover out of
the very elements now brooding over andte
principalagitating
more or less profoundly, th a whole of the
States of Christendom, it will prove beyond
all manner of doubt, as we took occasion
to remark in these crjlumns but very recently, not
only a General War, but a war of Principles. It
is the responsibility of this indefinite expansion of
the war, when once commenced—beyond the limits
of Poland Proper, beyond those of the more isolated
question of revivifying the Polish Nationality, and of
securing anew the perpetuation of its independence
—it is appreciation of this immense, imminent, and
expansive responsibility which causes the rulers of
the nations of Europe to decline, as yet at least, the
tempting opportunity —to take the initiative !
Nevertheless, at any moment the initiative
may be taken. By whom ? As at once the
most far-seeing, the most daring, the most
ambitious, among all the Sovereigns, States-
men, Diplomatists, Warriors, Optimists, Innovators
in Europe, the Emperor NAPOLEON 111. again fixes
upon himself, but this time more absorbingly than
ever, the eager attention, the breathless expectation
of all Christendom.

The Prussians do not seem to have learned their
lesson so well as their KING would have expected.
The utmost discontent and uncertainty prevail con-
cerning the state of affairs. The mortgage business,
which is generally very flourishing in Berlin, has
been stopped by the hesitation of capitalists to
embark in any speculation at this juncture. This
has caused great loss to many, since, in consequence
of the stoppage to business, three hundred houses
are to be taken and sold by public auction. Of
course so many going to the hammer at once will
greatly deteriorate in value, and hence the proprie-
tors will be ruined entirely, and the mortgagees
will sustain heavy losses. It is also expected that
many more such disasters will speedily occur, and
in the new quarters of the town entire streets will
be sold. It is not to be wondered at that great dis-
content should prevail in consequence of all this,
and it is reported that the state of the public mind
is getting worse daily through these scenes of irri-
tation and annoyance. A significant fact is men-
tioned regarding tha funeral of Prince FREDERICK.
The Town Councillors who were invited to attend
refused, being determined to ignore Court events
altogether until after the reception of their late
address, which complained of the ♦iolation of the
charter. All over the country there have been
violent addresses to the KING. The most decided
in its tone is one from the Town Council of Stettin,
which complains of the Government forbidding
the transmission of a paper of "constitutional im-
port" to the KING. This address is most strong
in its language, and bitterly complains of the new
course taken by the KING and his Ministers. In

,he first place complaints are made as to the con-
duct of the principal officials who had deterred
them from sending their address to the KING on
the subject of the constitutional innovations, and
the " calamitous consequences" that resulted there-
from to trade and every branch of commerce. Then
they proceed in plainer terms to state their opinions,
the first of which declares that " there never was
a country so despotically governed as to make a
prayer a crime." Most truly is it declared that a
Government cannot condemn itself more effectu-
ally than by preventing the voice of the people
reaching the throne. Then they proceed to show
that it is in vain that the " art of subtle inter-
pretation, which has been powerful enough to
make the constitution no constitution," is employed
to regulate the authority of municipal boards. It
is in vain they go on to say that the Government
declare that "as a municipal authority" they have
no right to take cognisance of political matters.
Surely this sentence in the address is suffi-
' cient to impress the most wilful as to
the temper they are producing among the
people by their rash experiments and arro-
gant assumption of authority, without law to
give it sanction, or reason to render it excusable :--
"Never was there a time in Prussia when the KING
did not graciously condescend to hear the prayers
of towns, districts, and even individual subjects."
King WILLIAM has fallen low indeed in his own
estimation, and the opinion of his advisers, if they
think it unsafe for him to hear what is said of his
policy. That there is mistake, indeed, when its
occupier must shut out the world from his sanctum,
and refuse to listen to warning, expostulation, or
remonstrance. The Town Council of Stettin have
come forward boldly to vindicate their rights, and
they could not have done it in a more effective
manner, or with more zeal and assiduity. They
their
say that hitherto no constitution was
a s
needed
KING,to
give them the privilege of addressing
anexpressly
granted that the right of beenpetitionhrausiand every
granted in the charter to every Prussian
corporation in Prussia, and " it is we that are the
municipal corporation of Stettin," they finally de-
clare. They very truly remark that it is the business
of him to whom the prayer is addressed to say
whether or not he will grant it, and that never
before has an official prejudiced the Royal
judgment so far as to announce the
impropriety of a prayer before it is pre-
sented, but such a thing has n3w taken place.
"Nothing could have tended more to provoke the in-
indignation of the people than thus to ignore the
right to Bend addresses to the Crown." This insult
to the corporations corning after the harsi mea-
sures adopted in high
quarters will make matters
ten times Worse, and
Pave
The address concludes by
on has been broken, and
give expression to the
the
general disturbance. way perhaps to. a
stating that the constituti
"
that it is their duty to
painful feelings animating the inhabitants of the
town at the existence of an unconstitutional Govern-
ment,
of it for
and the pernicious consequences
Stettin." If words mean anything the sentences
of
this address can bode no good for the existing state
of things, and may portend ominous eventseventsfor the
originatorsings' of that policy. It is felony by the
Prussian law to declare that roe KING acts in ac.

cor dance with a Government who have broke the
constitution, so that these men have not hesitated
to run a great risk rather than to keep silent
when their liberties were at stake, and
the honour of their country was com-
promised and its rights emperilled. Things
do not promise well for King WILLIAM just
now, and it is not to be wondered at. Prussia
has been too long in the ranks of enlightened na-
tions for people tamely to submit to such a system
as has lately been inaugurated for them. They do
not wish to stultify themselves in the presence of
the nations of Europe by giving in a willing adhe-
sion to the dictates that deprive them of their liber-
ties, deform their laws, and altogether completely
change the style of their Government. Political
privileges are worth too much to be sacrificed with-
out an effort to save them, and no people that has a
park of national spirit or an iota of national inde-
pendence will yield them tamely without a struggle.
It is impossible to foresee the end of all this discon-
tent, whether Prussia is to be plunged into the
thhoer rsocrasl
scale
of o
fa
nrae
tvioolnust,i ofnr
0,
mo ragfrradee usa
tl
al yt
et ot
ob ea Betio nu kn t
riyn
that is governed despotically. The only solution
gthat
rwaol us ladt
ims
fart
ci nt
itoani n pis oe ancee,t
hrestore onrdeo tr,
seem
da
t giveall
likely to occur, namely, the prospect of King
WILLIAM resuming a wiser course of policy, and
listening to the advice of those who would counse
a happier course of action.

In the lull of political strife resulting from the
suspension of the discussions at St. Stephen's
our statesmen find time to turn their attention to
rurai and agricultural matters. The member of the
Lower House meets his constituents, and tells them
of the great things he and his party have done in
the course of the session, the mistakes the Minister
has made, and the probable turn events will take
during another campaign. The landowner visits
his estates, takes part in cattle shows and agricul-
tural meetings, and tries to convince his tenants
that he has not lost his interests in crops and
shorthorns while descanting on the American War
or denouncing the atrocities of Russia. A member
of the Cabinet has just given substantial evidence
that the cares of State have not succeeded in dim-
ming his agricultural knowledge and the interest
he takes in the cultivation of the soil. At a recant
banquet given by the Highland and Agricultural
Society of Scotland, the Duke of ARGYLE, as chair-
man, delivered an address which is full of sound
sense and interest. He remarked in the course of
it that the progress of agriculture was more
dependent upon such societies than the purely
speculative sciences. The experience of a single
individual working in his laboratory or workshop
might, as he showed, affect the industry of the
world, and the same might still more be said
of the casual ideas and suggestions which lead
occasionally to our greatest discoveries. The
Duke of ARGYLE said that he had been told by a
distinguished Scotchman, Mr.JAMES NASMYTH, that
the idea of his great invention—the steam-hammer
—occurred to him while sitting by his own
fireside one evening. He was so confident of its
success that he wrote by the next post to secure
the patent, though the idea had never assumed a
practical shape. Such confidence and such. rapid
results do not belong to the world of agricultural
" The very shortest time any important
experiment in agriculture can be tried in is at least
one revolution of the seasons; and there are in-
numerable conflictions arising from varieties of
soil and climate which tend to confuse experiments
in agriculture—so that generally one experiment
cannot be successfully tested except in a long
course of years." The existence of societies which
called each man's individual experience into an
aggregate helps very much to assist the develop-
ment of agricultural science and to hasten the
conclusions it arrives at. What one man's experi-
ence affirms another contradicts; and it is only by
weighing the two together and seeing wherein they
differ, what peculiarities of soil, climate, or treat-
ment have effected the experiment, that sound
information can be arrived at. Agriculture, too,
is a science of a peculiar nature. The manufacturer
or the merchant's wares are ready evidence as to
the nature of his mode of conducting business. They
bear his name as guarantee ; and if there is any
peculiarity in the process of manufacture he is
generally the first to make it known. A farmer's
business, on the contrary, is carried on in some
quiet rural spot, and the success or failure of his
mode of treatment does not get much beyond hi s
own immediate neighbourhood, unless, like Mr.
MECHI, he carries out new schemes on a gigantic
scale. The owner of Tiptree Farm, however, can
scarcely be taken as a specimen of the agricultural
interest generally, and more especially of that part
of it which the Duke of ARGYLE was addressing
at the recent assembly. We fully agree with the
noble duke in thinking that the existence of a great
central society linking itself with local societies
throughout the kingdom, having annual
shows and assemblies offering prizes for' the
encouragement of agricultural science, and includ
ing in itself the men who are governed in such
science, is of great national value. As the noble
Duke observed, the power which man possesses of
influencing the productions of nature is truly one
of his most marvellous gifts, and the further our
knowledge extends the more widely can we exert
that power, and the more we learn how much
depends upon its proper exercise. The tendency
of the lower and coarser kinds of herbage to usurp
the grounds and smother the better and more
valuable grasses has been proved both by the

science.

scientific theorist and the practical agriculturist,

The incidental confirmation of Mr. DARWIN'S asser•

tion by Mr. WILSON'S knowledge is another proof
of the importance of inducing our tenant farmers to
embody the results of their experience in treatises
which may serve to give others the benefit of what
he has learned. A farmer who had paid but little
attention to the cultivation of grasses could not fail
to be struck at finding the substantiation of the
DARWIN'S theory in the records of Mr. WILSON'S
experience, and the scientific naturalist and the
tenant farmer thus confirm and enhance the value
of each other's information. " The practical far-
mer," says the Duke of ARaYLE," finds it perfectly
true that in the struggle for life it is the great
object to give the advantage to those kinds of
grasses which have been found to be of the finest
and most nutritious quality; and that the slightest
carelessness on the part of the husbandman may fur
years destroy a valuable pasturage. This is a de-
partment of agriculture to which the noble duke
ther countries
attaches very great importance. In the growth of
wheat he says we shall never equal ,
immenselywhose ad T a n s
ut apge er i
s are r e
in
what "year by year iss superior to ours, but we are
becoming more and more the staple of the British
the feeding of his
sfatoremke,r”s—antdheingretehnis crops
and
direction no rivalry is to be
feared. In conclusion, the Chairman paid a well
merited tribute to the enterprise of the Scottish

farmers, alluding to instances which had come

within his knowledge in which tenants had
expended several thousands ou their farms in the

course of a few years. Such e.tamples are praise-
worthy, and tend to give a stimulus to th,: better
cultivation of that which has been happily said to
"'Mine the elements of an art, an industry, and u
science.