The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WLDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 15, 1863

Prince William and the Greek Throne.

COPENHAGEN, April 10.
The Dagbladet this morning contains the follow-

ing leader :

" Prince William's candidature for the Greek throne,
which at first appeared to be an Oriental story or fanciful
frolic, has quickly, even too quickly, become a notorious fact.
The English Government proposed him, France seconded
the proposal, the Greeks elected him without much ado,
and already a deputation, amongst whose members we find
names as renowned as Grivas and Kanaris, is on its way
from the Greek to the Northern Athens to bring official in-
formation of the election and present the crown, which, after
having fallen from King 0 tho's weak head, has been offered
and rejected at least half a dozen times. The whole afilir
is so far settled and clear, but one thing is wanting—the

consent of the King, the Prince, and Denmark.
" How it is with this very important condition is still un-
certain. It may be taken as settled that the preliminary
consent, which was communicated to the world with such
great haste, has never been given. If his Royal Highness

Prince Christian has acted less correctly after his meeting

with King Leopold at Lacken, if he has given England any
reason to believe in his approbation of the plan, or if the-
whole tale of the ' family conference' and its consent -i.s
nothing but an English stratagem to cut short all hesitation
and circumlocution—time must show. At all events, that
consent which is necessary to accept the election has not
been yet given, and it is therefore not too late to sift the
matter somewhat closer.

" At the first glance it looks very brilliant that the Glucks-

burg dynasty, which, little more than ten years ago was

but a younger branch of a small and poor German princely
family, all at once should rise to so prominent a position in
Europe. The right of succession to Denmark's old throne,

a daughter married to the heir to England's throne, a
younger on called to th© Greek throne, in near and pro-
bable prospect a daughter's marrying the future ruler of
Russia, and the union of the eldest son with the only

daughter of the King of Sweden and Norway. This is, in
a short time, a much more powerful development of the
family's power and influence than the advancement of the

envied Coburg family, by degrees, to one of European con-
sequence. It may be understood if such prospects tempt to
accept without further consideration what here is offered.
The Crown of Greece contains, as we might say, in itself, a

sort of promise of future greatness, of a restoration of the
Byzantine empire, which, by its position and extent would
beceme one of the greatest powers in Europe; and why should
this promise not be fulfilled when England and Russia, both
connections by marriage, thereby could meet in the East?
But behind these proud dreams we espy reality with less
inviting prospects, Greece is a small state, whose restless

ambition is neither supported by outer power nor inner ability;

is poor;, it is far behind in intellectual and material civi•

iisation ; its finances are in an endless disorder, its credit
is destroyed; it is demoralised by oppression during centu-
tries, and the weakness of a bad government ; it is rent

_
asunder by factions whose patriotism does not govern their
passions; it is a ball for intrigues and plots, acted by Greek
puppets, but led by foreign strings. And, into this whirl-

pool, which has frightened able and ambitious men away,
a young boy of eighteen is now to be thrown, a good-
natured and merry midshipman, whose greatest trouble
hitherto has been to get through his lessons and to escape
being caught at his little tricks. To this land that must be
raised by its King, and which cannot raise him, a poor
Prince without experience, without serious interests, with-
out reliable councillors, is now to be sent, where he will
risk being thrown forward and backward between parties
whose ideas he cannot value, between efforts whose

spirit is strange to him, to end at last, like King Otho,
in flying from his thorny crown, rich in nothing but
contempt. This fate, which is quite probable as the
fulfilment of the Byzantine Imperial dreams, no father
could wish for his child. His Majesty the King, who so

jealously guards the interests of-the Royal house, and
Prince Christian, who has earned his best claim on affection
as the father of a family, would not either be dazzled by
fantasies, but keep reality before them; and the young
Prince himself, whose youth saves him from any great

measure of ambition, has every reason to consider well
before he sacrifices a peaceful and undisturbed life for the
cares and bitter disappointments which, according to all
reason, await him in a more prominent position,
" However, the personal question is neither the only one
nor the most important one. Denmark has also an interest
in this matter, and from the moment that the Glucksburg
family waa called to the succession, it becomes its inviolable
duty to consider the interests of the country before its own
dynastic grandeur. The right of succession is limited to
Prince Christian and his three sons by Princess Louise;
these, and only these and their male descendants in one
continued male line, are heirs to the Danish monarchy. It
must not necessarily have been so ; the treaty of London of
May 8, 1852, supposed, on the contrary, that the agnatic-

cognatic succession of the Lex Regia should continue in
force for the Danish state; bur, the hereditary law of July
31, 1853, cut this historical tie in a very melancholy way,
and the consequence is now, that not only the integrity of
the Danish monarchy, but even the cohesion of the Danish
state, depends on Prince Christian's three sons and their
agnatic descendants. Experience teaches that Royal
houses often degenerate or become extinct ; and the three
lives on which our succession depends, therefore, give so
small a security for the future that every diminution thereof
becomes really dangerous. This objection cannot be dis-
missed by saying that Prince William may take his
Danish right of succession with him to Greece. It is
not sufficient for us that there are eventual Danish suc-
cessors in Athens, educated in the Greek-Catholic
religion, foreign to our land, our language, our manners,
our whole way of thinking. We cannot be satisfied if we
should some future day have to send a deputation to
Athens to fetch a King, as the Greeks now send one
to Copenhagen. Prince William's acceptance of the
Greek throne would thus diminish the dynastic guarantees
which the Danish Monarchy possesses, and there is not the
least reason why we should make such a sacrifice, if no
compensation is offered. The full security for the succes-
sion is so very important because the interior constitutional
relations are in a disturbed state of fermentation, and be-
cause grasping neighbours make use thereof to undermine
the integrity. If the interior relations were finally settled,
peace and quiet eEtal.lished, the possibility of foreign inter-
meddling excluded, then the danger arising from an even-
tual interruption in the line of succession would be less to
be feared. It therefore announces itself as a natural condi-
tion that the Powers which are so eager to get a king for
Greece, make good what Denmark loses in dynastic security
by helping it to put an end to the constitution question,
and prevent the encroachments of Germany. Let England
and France acknowledge Denmark's right to settle the
affairs of the monarchy on the basis of autonomy for Hol••
stein, and the complete amalgamation of Schleswig with the
kingdom, and let them promise it an active support against
the possible attacks of Germany, then we would have gained
something which could counterbalance the loss of security
for the succession, and Prince William might then go to
Greece with the feeling that whatever ho might do for his
new fatherland he would have deserved well of the one he
had left.
" The necessity of making this condition seems so clear to
us that we cannot understand how any Danish Government
could undertake the responsibility of not doing so. The de-
mand is not greater than what the two leading Powers might
very well agree to, and their own interests would induce
them to do so. It is not to do Denmark a favour or to hon-
our the Glucksburg family that they recommend and sup-
port Prince William's candidature, but solely from political
motives, and they have gone so far, they have compromised
themselves so badly before the Greeks, that they cannot
draw back. Experience has next taught us that the Great
Powers have no other object in the Dano-German question
than to bring it to an end ; they touk Germany's part
when they thought thereby to frighten us into com-
pliance, and they would assist and support our cause if
some interest or other could be served by it. But, it is
said, it does not look well to impose conditions on great
powers that offer a crown I It is odious to trade with Prince
William, to sell him to foreign Powers, and bargain for the
30 pieces of silver I If this sort of considerations were de-
cisive there would be no more to say. But they seem to us
very simple, much too childish. Let us take a look at the
way in which England has acted; how it has used Den-
mark and the Danish Prince without the least ceremony,
as if they were chessmen without a will of their own in its
hand ; how the King of Denmark has been taken no notice
of at all ; how every regard has been put aside in order to
create a fait accompli; how it lot its envoy, Mr. Elliot, call
forth the election and then leave Athens, as if the whole
affair were thus settled ; and lastly how it, in order to crown
the cynic regardlessness arranges a regency by the Coburger
Ernest, 'the hero from Eckernforde,' for the Danish Prince.
Is there one single trait in the whole of these proceedings
which calls for gentle modesty on Denmark's part ? Is it
not, on the contrary, quite clear that there is no getting on
with such a political system as Earl Russell's if you do put
all delicacy and fine feeling aside ? We have stood on our
right, we have explained our right, we have given up our
right, all to no purpose. If, now that there is an opportu-
nitye
that case will not
ipt!_.:ntalgntl
dna dtrarmaw
ai
rumour
be the
s c,ocorrect
expected
tdt
ro
thatrmino Prince
eki
Christian
roiasfjteii
sat
t.ny
to get our right acknowledged, we do not make use of
y
favour of the Greeks,itshaetipiriensgenint
disinclined to accept the election of the Greeks on his son's
and his future demands
come to a resolution contrary to the wishes
it toafkdeppe
of the Prince. Where be an inclination to decide in
guarantees for his independence etat the r eagnadr
fdo :oar
realthe younge a n stPrinceuti
elai
government. And the interest Inamcearuknder
the sacrifice which the country sufficient
.demandsthat
h a
t
the wishes of Europe is compensated
byfamily make to
support of the two great Powers in the for
Btu powerful
of
our quarrel with Germany in a manner conformablee with
our right A prudent use of the moment would ensure the
fulfilment of both conditions."

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.
A correspondent at Plymouth has received a
letter from Bermuda, dated March 21, which states

that the French ship of war Calumet, Commander
Faber, arrived on the 19th, five days from Guada-

- •
loupe.She was sent to receive the French invalid
sailors'and soldiers left in the hospital in the naval
yard by the French ships of war Vauban and Alba-

:rocs. As Admiral Alex. Milne had made arrange-

ments for their transmission in the Orlando to Eng-

,and, to be sent thence to France, he thought it better
:hat they should still procied in the frigate rather
:ban in the Calumet, which had to go to Fortress

Monroe and New York before she returned to

Guadaloupe. Commander Faber readily yielded to

the admiran suggestion. The Calumet was to
leave on the 22d of March. She had obtained coal

at the dockyard, with a supply of fresh provisions
and some oxen. The Orlando was to leave on

25th, and goes home to be docked, as she never
recovered from the injuries she received on her
passage out to Halifax last winter. The Nile,
78, Captain Edward K. Barnard, left on
the 13th for St. Thomas's, Nassau, and Havannah ;
she will be absent about Six weeks. The Galatea,

26, Capt. R. Maguire, left on the 20th for New
York, to await despatches from Lord Lyons. Pay-
master Henry Pengelley, the screw steam-sloop
Petrel, 11, Commander-M.W. Watson, died in the
Naval Hospital about a week since. Mr. J. T.
Snater, of the Admiral's office, has been promoted,

and appointed paymaster of the Petrel.

The Ri-

naldo leaves us in a day or two for Fort Monroe.
All the ships occupying the outer basin at Wool-
wich have been cleared out and laid up in ordinary

'or the purpose of commencing the works connected

with the enlargement of the entrance for the recep

tion of the iron-cased ship Caledonia, ordered to be
admitted by August 1. The Civil Engineer de-
partment, under the superintendence of Mr. Miller,
yesterday commenced driving the piles for the for-
mation of a cofferdam, after which the basin will be

thoroughly drained and the lower coping of the
entrance cut away, to give additional space for the
admission of the Caledonia, rendered necessary by
her unusual breadth and dimensions. The process
of armour casing the Caledonia is advancing, and
will be much accelerated by the aid of Messrs.
Smith, Beacock, and Taurett's powerful machinery,

specially ordered for that purpose. The " conning
towers," three in number, erected on the upper
deck, are nearly completed, and, together with the
general structure of the vessel, are highly creditable
to the builder's judgment and experience. Admiral
Robinson, Controller of the Navy, in his official
survey of the Caledonia on Thursday last, remarked
that he had no hesitation in stating as his opinion
that the Caledonia, when completed and at sea, will
be the most solidly built ship afloat. The ventila-
tion of the ship on a new principle is now occupy-
ing the attention of Mr. Turner, the builder. A
powerful force-pump will expel the vitiated atmo-
sphere and supply every compartment with pure air.
On board the iron-frigate Achilles, 60, building
at Chatham, the greatest activity prevails, and under
the operations of the 1,200 hands constantly em-
ployed on her very considerable progress is daily
perceptible. At the close of this present week all the
mechanics, shipwrights, and other hands engaged
on this vessel will commence working additional
hours, entering the dockyard at 6 a.m. and work-
ing until 745 p.m. This arrangement will be con-
tinued during the summer, the Admiralty being de-
sirous of having her completed and afloat by the
close of the year. On the port and starboard sides
65 of the armour-plates had been fixed up to yester-
day afternoon, and the operation of bolting the
slabs of iron to the exterior of the vessel will be car-
ried on as rapidly as the plates can be prepared and
turned out from the adjoining factory. Each plate
is laid on a backing of felt, and so evenly is the work
finished off that it is impossible to insert a penknife
blade between the edges even before the iron caulk-

ing is applied to the seams. Although the ironwork
on board the Achilles is performed chiefly by ship-
wrights, who are employed as rivetters, platers, and
in other capacities, and the whole of whom until
within the last few months had been working ex-
clusively on wood, yet so admirably are they doing
the work that the results of their labours will bear
no unfavourable comparison with that of the most
experienced mechanics in that particular depart-
ment. In the interior of the ship the mechanics are
busy with the completion of the watertight bulk-
heads or compartments. The Achilles is intended to
be fitted with four masts, all of which will be of
iron and ship-rigged.
The Arethusa, 51, 400-horse power, the last of
the 50-gun sailing frigates converted at Chatham
o
Dockyard from a sailing ship to a screw steamer, is
to be prepared for the first division of the
steam reserve in the Medway, taking the place of
the Leander, 51, 500-horse power, which is daily
expected to be commissioned. The latter vessel,
having made good her defects and repaired the in-
juries which occurred on her recent trial trip, will
be taken to the trial ground at the Maplin Sands
to-day to test her rate of speed, when an officer
specially sent down from the department of the
Controller of the Navy, will be present to note and
report upon the results.
The screw gunvessel Jaseur, 5, 80 horse power,
Commander W. J. H. Grubbe,
fitting for service on
the west coast of Africa, has been taken out of the
great basin, and now lies at moorings in the Med-
way. The Jaseur will be succeeded by the screw
gunvessel Snipe, which is ordered to take her place
in the first division of the Chatham steam reserve.
The Curagoa, screw frigate, oompleting her stor-
ing and outfit in the steam basin at Portsmouth,
will be commissioned about Monday next by Capt.
Sir W. Wiseman, as Commodore's ship on the Aus-
tralian station, in the room of the Orpheus. Com-
mander Phillimore joins the Curagoa as her com-
mander.

A gang of upwards of 80 convicts are now om-
ployed in No. 10 dock at Portsmouth, in chopping
off with scrapers the composition and rust from the
two lower tiers of armour-plates on the sides of the
Black Prince iron , frigate. The oxidation on the
surface of the plates amidships has been consider-
ably in the wash of the water-line, as must naturally
be the case with slabs of iron only protected by
paint or patent compositions.
The Supply storeship, Master-Commander Bat-
listen, arrived at Spithead yesterday morning
from the Mediterranean. Her news from Malta has
been anticipated by the letter of a Malta correspon-
dent in The Sun of yesterday. The Supply is loaded
with Government stores for Woolwich ; she also
brings home 19 naval invalids and 3 men of the
Royal Marine Light Infantry, who were transferred
to H.M.S. Victory by the Sprightly steam tender,
Master-Commander Allen. The Supply will proceed
on from Spithead to Woolwich.
The court-martial on board H.M.S. Victory at
Portsmouth on Capt. Hillyar, C. 8., and Lieut. Lil-
lingston is still sitting. The case yesterday had suf-
ficiently proceeded to admit of evidence being re-
ceived on the latter part of the joint charge against
the prisoners for "cruelty, oppression, and unofficer-
like conduct, &c." When the case for the prosecu-
tion thus far is closed the prisoners will be called
on for their defence. Afterwards the Court will
have to proceed with the trial of Capt. Hillyar on
the charge of preventing entries being made in the
defaulter's book contrary to the regulations of the
service, &c.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Capt. W. K. Hall, C. 13., to the
Cumberland, vice Capt. Thompson; Capt. S. Gren-
L
fell, to the Russell, vice Capt. Hall; Capt. J. N.
S
ti re an.
nt .
F. R.
ge , to the
Br 0 n Cornwallisowie ; Lieut. G. W. Allen,
. A. P. M. Lake, and
,Lieut.
Lieut. J.W, F. Harvey, to the Marlborough ; Lieut.
S. Pulley, and Lieut. H. A. Monteith, to the Nile;
Lieut. H. B. Stewart, to the Sutlej ; Lieut. C. S.
Shuckburgh, to the Rattlesnake ; Lieut. H, F. R.

Yorke, to the 'Tribune; D. H. Speer, master, to the
Leander; G. Gordon, surgeon, to the Leander ; T.
S. Burnett and E. Malealey, assist. surgeons, to the

Leander.