The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

DAILY NEWS.—The illegal and arbitrary decree
by which the King of Prussia has assumed a power
of life and death over the newspapers in his domi-
nions, is the most. despotic measure on which his
Majesty has hitherto ventured. But it is in perfect
conformity with his antecedents. The King has.
openly broken with the intelligence and Frahm
spirit of the nation, and having insulted and dis-
missed the Chambers, which were its constitutional
organ, was not likely to tolerate its free manifesta-
tion through the press. And as the Constitution
guarantees to every Prussian the right to express
his opinion freely, by writing and printing, and for-
bids any restrictions on the liberty of the press
otherwise than in the way of legislation, the Con-
stitution is again violated. The decree of June 1
makes the dependents of the King the absolute dis-
posers of that liberty, and empowers them to prohi-
bit and suppress any journal with the tone, tendency,
or "attitude" of which they may be dissatisfied.
No reason is given, and none can be pr\etended, for
this new violation of the rights of the subject. No
foreign war or internal commotion menaces public
tranquillity. The Prussian journals, like the people,
are moderate and self-restrained under the grossest
provocation a nation ever received. In the Ministe-
rial report, which in the Prussian Afoniteur precedes
the Royal decree, it is expressly said that the Go-
vernment is compelled to assume an arbitrary power
over the press, because the newspaper articles most
objected to contain "nothing of which the law can
take hold, nothing which can be made the
ground of a prosecution." It is, therefore, the
utility and not the abuse of the press that
the Government seeks to destroy. It is no light
thing for a nation pre-eminent for education
and enlightenment— a people among whom
intelligence is diffused more widely than among any
other in Europe—to be exhibited to the world as
the helpless victim of a Government which is dis-
tinguished for nothing but ignorance and brutality
and the suspicion and jealousy which always accom-
pany misrule. The downward course in which the
King has made such rapid progress since his coro-
nation has compelled the meet moderate of Prussian
patriots to ask themselves and one another what
the country has further to hope from a family which
for the last 40 years has done nothing but betray
the confidence of the nation and obstruct its pro-
gress. The new outrages, which the King covers
with his name and which too faithfully represent
his character, are of a nature to destroy the last
link that connects the constitutional party with his
throne. There is one person in Prussia who cannot
be an unconcerned spectator of this movement. The
Crown Prince does not like his father persistently
shut his eyes to all sources of intelligence. He may
not be aware of the extent to which national feel-
ing is being gradually but surely alienated from his
house. But he surely has the good sense to know
what is the irresistible tendency of the policy pur-
sued by the King. His interests for the present, at
all events, are identified with those of the people,
for his rights are endangered in proportion as those
of the nation are placed in jeopardy. The present
is a time to try his temper and show what stuff he
is made of. Whatever delusion the King may be
under, he has only a life interest in the Crown, and
the Prince is not bound to stand idly by and see
his own rights and those of his chil-
dren sacrificed. The Prince appears to be
aware that some manifestation of opinion, some
act that will separate him from the policy of the
Government, is proper in his situation. We fear,
however, that the speech he has just made at Dant-
ziC will do little to revive the enthusiastic feeling
for the Crown which the King has done so much to
extinguish. The Prince confines himself to a cold
and barren statement that he took no part in the
deliberations which preceded the ordinances, and
that their publication took him by surprise. This
is all the Prince thought it necessary to say of an
act which not only subverts the most essential
liberties of the nation, but humiliates Prussia in the
face of the world. It appears, however, that the
utter prostration of political liberty is net inconsis-
tent with such glory as his Royal Highness desires
for the nation, for he makes the astonishing remark
that "under his Majesty's sceptre Prussia is se-
curely approaching the greatness which Providence
has marked out for her." The Crown Prince is help-
less and hopeless indeed if he imagines that great-
ness of any kind is attainable by the path in which
his father is conducting Prussia.
1 TIMES.—We may search history in vain for an
authentic record of a change so vast and wonderful
as that which has just come over the destinies of our
g eat Oriental Empire. We have been in the
1 h bit for many years of referring with excusable
p i dcee
nto t
rtahl the brilliant
Iti
annals
onlyfive-and-twenty
ofour
progress,ears
a d contrasting it with the"chequered story of our
a ventures, wars, and negotiations among the faith-
-1 ss Sovereigns of India and the indomitable tribes
since the attention of this country was absorbed by
the advance of Persia to invest Herat, and shortly
afterwards by our own unexampled calamities and
reverses in the Affghan War which followed. Herat
i 4 again besieged, but the quarter of a century
which has passed has taught us some useful lessons.
wlf the world has advanced in nothing else, it has
ade considerable progress in the very important
akt of distinguishing between the substance and the
shadow. Nobody now troubles himself with the
siege of Herat, but the most eager attention is fixed
oil a scene which has just been passing in Calcutta,
Where an elderly gentleman, leaning back in an
1 arm-chair, has been reading to an attentive audience
a pamphlet of some five-and-thirty pages in a man-
ner by no means calculated to attract the approba-
tion of a critic in the art of elocution. But the
Indian public are right, for while they have dis-
covered that Herat may be taken and retaken a
Hundred times without perceptibly influencing their
destiny, they know that the Budget of their Finance
Minister is the very corner-stone of their past hopes,
the talisman of their future destiny. After 20 dreary
years of wars and deficits, India has at length
emerged into a period of peace and surplus, and she
knows well that the connection between these two
things is by no means accidental. The financial
statement of Sir Charles Trevelyan, studiously
guarded in its estimates and moderate in its hopes,
is nevertheless one of the most satisfactory docu-
ments of the kind which it has ever been our lot to
peruse. Let us begin with the year 1861-2, for
which Mr. Laing estimated a surplus of £239,000.
This surplus Sir Chas. Wood converted into a deficit
of £595,000, by certain alterations in items carried
to one or other side of the account ; but the revenue
has been so elastic that it has filled up £580,000,
and left only a deficits of £15,000. For the year
1862.3 Mr. Laing estimated a surplus of £179,000,
Which Sir Charles Wood by the same inexorable
process transformed inta a deficit of £284,000. But
again the revenue came to the aid of Mr. Laing,
and this time so effectually that there is a clear
surplus for the financial year 1862.3 of £936,925.
The gross revenue for this year isi4s,ooo,ooo,while
the expenditure amounts to £44,000,000. Thus
are banished, we hope for ever, all those chimeras
of Indian debt and difficulty which so long depre-
niated the securities and overshadowed the future
f India. We see an excellent result of this im-
roved state of pu'olic credit in the first attempt
i) supersede that most objectionable system of
guarantees under which Indian railways have been
hitherto forced by the construction, without gua-
rantee, of a loop line on the East Indian Railway.
Some items in the expenditure of the year must be
regarded with particular satisfaction. The total
sum appropriated for public works in the current
year is £5,250,000, and if we add £4,000,000 for the
payment of interest guaranteed to railways, the sum
total amounts to no less than £9,250,000. So com-
pletely are the days gone by that we used to plead
in vain for the investment of money on public works,
however reproductive, that we are now informed
there will be no difficulty as far as money is con-
cerned, the real point being the difficulty of
getting value for the outlay. The Indian Govern-
ment is ready with any sum that can be profitably
employed, but it requires for that profitable em-
ployment, tolerably cheap labour with honest
and effective supervision—two things which, in the
present state of India, it is very difficult to procure.
In the same way the grant for Education seems only
to be limited, like our own, by the demands of the
people, and not at all by the necessities of the Go-
vernment. India enjoys three sinking funds—the
proceeds of waste lands, and of the redemption of
rents due to Government; the reserve, which can
be employed in buying up Government securities,
after leaving sufficient to exchange against any notes
that may be presented; and the cash balances in
the exchequer. From these resources £4,000,000
have been applied towards the reduction of the
debt. While the debt has thus been reduced it is
satisfactory to know that for the last four years the
Indian revenue has increased nn an average by two
millions and three-quarters each year. With all
this liberal expenditure the estimate for the current
year shows a surplus of £815,000. The distribution
of this surplus is to reduce the duty on iron, that first
necessity of a country in earnest in the construction
of railways, from 10 to 1 per cent. ; to reduce the
duty on beer from 3d. to 1,2-id. a gallon, to impose a
duty of 13 per cent. ad valorem on wines, and to
take off one-fourth of the income-tax. These things
will still leave Sir Charles Trevelyan with a balance
of £480,000, which he reserves to meet unforeseen
contingencies. A thorough revision of public esta-
blishments, with a view not so much to economy as
efficiency, is also promised. This is the Indian
Budget, and it certainly well bears out the assertion
with which we commenced, that history affords no
parallel to a revival so complete and so satisfactory.
HERALD.—The Volunteers' Bill, which or. Thurs-
day evening passed through committee, failed .0

elicit any strong expression of opinion from the
House of Commons. Whether from the circum-
stance that it was the Gold Cap Pay at Ascot, or
simply a feeling of inctiarenee, it is ceri,in that the
legislative Nvisdom assembled at St. Stephen's on ti :e
evening in question languidly passed those ob-
noxious clauses in the bill which have created no
little excitement out of doors. It is true that ob-
jections were raised, and that several members
spoke, but only one alteration was insisted upon.
The house fortunately would not permit the clause
which prescribed that Volunteers should, if neces-
sary, be engaged in quelling riots, to become law ;
and consequently it was withdrawn. As for the
rest of the measure, Government had its own way.
Four or five amendments were put forth, and after
being pleasantly gosaipped over, were withdrawn ;
one was certainly pressed to a division, that of Sir
Robert Clifton, which proposed in lieu of command-
ing officers having absolute power of dismissal that
a court of inqniry ehould be instituted, and the
Volunteer accused of any military misdemeanour
fairly tried. But this amendment was rejected by
a considerable majority„ Whatever maybe said by
the friends of the new bill, we can safely affirm that
for several causes it is unpopular with the majority
of Volunteers, whose wishes have not been con-
sulted in the matter, and who will now find them-
selves governed by laws which are derogatory to
their dignity. As soon as -the new bill is passed
every Volunteer corps may be likened to a petty
state, ruled over by an absolute monarch, vested
with powers of the most despotic nature. Reluc-
tant as we are to make the statement, we feel com-
pelled to own that we see in the measure no fair
legislation for the mass of Volunteers, but only
enactments calculated to gratify the vanity of a few
commanding officers. If this be not so, what, we
would ask, is the reason for retaining the clauses
which have given so much offence, unless, indeed,
the bill be framed with the express view of so crip-
pling the movement that its existence would, for
all practical purposes, be at an end. In regard to
the power given to officers to dismiss Volunteers for
any cause they, the commanding officers, may deem
sufficient, Lieutenant-Colonel Luard, assistant in-
spector of Volunteers, distinctly stated before the
commission that it was a power which ought not
to be in the hands of Volunteer officers.
Hardly with any exception the press has raised its
voice against, this clause, which is in every respect
contrary to the constitution of our country. Colonel
Sykes, who is no mean authority on military mat-
ters, also spoke against it on Thursday evening, and
well pointed out that although the Volunteer had
the right of appealing to the War Office, when dis-
missed, some independent court of appeal should be
established. Upon what grounds the Marquis of
Hartington forms his opinion, that not to give a
commanding officer authority to dismiss would
strike at the root of the discipline and efficiency of
the Volunteer movement, we are at a loss to under-
stand, for his remark might be applied with equal
truth to the regular army. It is, too, little short of
an absurdity to allow an appeal to the War Office
against an arbitrary decision when it is perfectly
easy to constitute in each volunteer corps a court
for the trial of offenders which would pass sen-
tence after hearing evidence and fairly investigating
the charge submitted. If this were done, Volun-
teers would no longer have occasion to be jealous of
enormous powers being in the hands of their com-
manding officers. That the authority is felt to be
excessive is evidenced by the fact of its being in-
tended to introduce in the interpretation clause
words defining Volunteer to mean " non-commis-
sioned officer and private." Now, we hold that in
a Volunteer army what is " good for the goose is
also good for the gander ;" and if a colonel be not
allowed to dismiss the commissioned officers under
him, neither should he be granted that power over
the sergeants, corporals, and privates of his corps.
The House of Commons, however, thinks differently,
and the fiat may now be said to have gone forth
which places Volunteers in a very unpleasant posi-
tion with their commanding officers. The clause
also which allows the latter to refuse to strike out
of the muster-roll those who desire to resign, was,
after some slight opposition, agreed to ; so that, al-
though a member of a corps may have complied
with all the conditions laid down by Government
he will be unable to retire should his colonel choose
to refuse to accept his resignation—unless, indeed,
he put himself to the trouble and expense of an ap-
peal. As to the clause which allows officers and
members of Volunteer corps to make new rules and
alter old ones, but allows the far greater power to
commanding officers of refusing to transmit the
same to the lieutenant of the county, the com-
mittee passed it without a murmur, and Sir Morton
Peto's motion was in sporting language " nowhere."
Thus, then, three of the clauses in the new
bill that were most obnoxious to Volunteers have
been allowed to stand. The only gain of any im-
portance is exemption from employment in suppress-
ing riots; and as every man of sense has seen, ever
since the movement was first sec on foot, that to use
Volunteers on such a service would be an act of
folly little short of madness, the rejection of a clause
which prescribes such a duty was felt to be an ab-
solute certainty. Look at it either from the point of
view of a commanding officer or that of a private,
we do not see any sufficient cause for retaining the
regulations laid down in the clauses to which ob-
jections have been taken. Colonels must feel that
they will have placed in their hands powers re-
quiring the nicest discrimination and the utmost
delicacy. Privates must feel that they are in many
respects Volunteers only in name. The grant of
money made by Government would have done much
towards consolidating and rendering more efficient
our army of civilians, but we fear that the House
of Commons, by the decisions it arrived at on
Thursday night, will go far towards utterly disor-
ganising one of the best institutions that the present
age has given birth to. At any rate, Volunteers
have to thank Government for giving them a
grievance.

POST,—Yesterday the protocol which formally
settles the Greek' succession was signed at the
Foreign-office by the Ministers of the three protect-
ing Powers, and also by the Minister of Denmark.
We heartily congratulate the Greek people that the
question of their future government is now settled,
beyond the reach even of the most improbable con.
tretemps. To-day it is understood that the Greek
Envoys who have so long been awaiting at Copen-
hagen the formal settlement that has now taken
place, are to be received by the King of Denmark,
and by Prince Christian and his son, Thus the
contract which was yesterday made between Den-
mark and the three protecting Powers of Greece
will be completed also to-day between Denmark
and the representatives of tht, Greek people. The
vessel of the Hellenic State may now, therefore, be
said to be launched anew, and with auspices incom-
parably fairer than on the previous occasion of a
Greek monarchical settlement. In each case, in-
deed, the choice of the protecting Powers devolved
upon a Prince too young to be judged of by his own
antecedents. But it will nevertheless be seen at a
glance that there is the widest difference between
the prospects to be drawn from the reign of King
George, and the anticipations which might have
been formed at the commencement of the reign of
Otho. The new King of Greece is a prince of a con-
stitutional dynasty which has been as firmly attached
to the principles of representative government as
the Hanoverian family in this country. His inti-
mate connection with the powerful and consistent
dynasty of Great Britain will serve also to cherish
and maintain the constitutional prepossessions with
which he has been brought up. The countries which
will surround his new monarchy now also present a
very different character from that which they wore
30 years ago when Otho ascended the Greek throne.
Italy was then split up into the harshest of all pos-
sible depotisms, and the worst, :If all conceivable
misgovernments. Turkey was then also convulsed
with civil war ; and whether Greece looked beyond
the Adriatic on the one side, or beyond the ./Egean
on the other, there was neither the spectacle of peace
and progress nor of rational liberty to encourage
her in a career of social and political improvement.
Now, however, Italy is at once free and peaceful
and improving ; and though Mahometanism is ne-
cessarily despotic, Turkey is as busy in the promo-
tion of the arts of peace as the most prosperous em-
pire of Western Europe. It may be fairly hoped,
therefore, that a people so apt as the Greeks to
shape their own conduct from the example of their
neighbours, will gain much by the contrast between
what those neighbours now are, and what they
were thirty years ago. In this contrast there lies
another difference,. even more substantial, perhaps,
than the force of example. A no inconsiderable
part of the trade which Greece is capable of deve-
loping must be carried on with the Turkish and
Italian empires. Both those States are now ready
to trade with Greece on a wider scale than when
they, were oppressed by domestic misfortunes of
their own. The west of Europe also can receive
much more of the natural products of the Greek
peninsula than have hitherto been exported from
it. Moreover, the annexation of the lonian Islands
will infuse both new blood
and additional wealth
into the enlarged Greek State. The lonians will be
found, in point of ability and education, worthy of
a foremost place in the government of the country; i
and n regard to the affairs of commerce there is no
doubt that the principal merchants of the new king-
dom of Greece will be found among them. The
leadinglonians, too, are for the most part a busy
and thriving race, and we should not judge of them
by those political declaimers at Corfu who make
themselves notorious in the newspapers, but who
are by no means generally the leaders of lonian so-
ciety, or men of consequence in lonian commerce.
We see reason to think, therefore, that the acces-
sion of the Septinsular Republic to the Greek mon-
archy will exert an important social influence upon
the Greeks, independently of the more obvious ad,

vantages derivable to any small State from an in-
crease of territory and population not so large as to
disturb its numeric.?! ascendant.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

The following appointments were made yes-
terday at the Admiralty :
Arundel Smith, assistant-paymaster, to the Royal Ade-

laide.

-----
George W. Bradley, assistant-clerk, additional, to the
Curacoa.

Benjamin Barker, chief engineer, to the Cumberland, for
the Salamander.
William Pell, to Indus, for Sanepareil.
Peter Samson, assistant-engineer.