The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It is curious that we should be
able at this moment to turn to Germany for
an explanation of the fanaticism of America. The
oldest group of States in the world is now im-
pelled to extraordinary action by the very same
yearning and passions which are convulsing the
country of Washington and Franklin. The Fe-
deralsare bent upon recovering political union, the
Germans upon recovering political unity. What
Germany has been for ages, that the American Re-
public might be expected to become in the event of
Southern success or Northern failure. We should
see a Prussia on the Hudson, and an Austria on the
Mississippi, with Hesses and Hanovers perhaps
in the North-West, and Badens in the South. The
result would be precisely the same loss of public
strength which Germany has long experienced. All
the national power would be consumed at home.
For external action the resources of the Continent
would be next to useless. One of its divisions
would counterbalance another, until the efficiency
of the whole would be neutralised, and united
action would be almost as impossible in America as
it is found to be in Germany. There is one feature
in the case, however, from which the Americans
may derive a little instruction. The Federals are
are never tired of asserting that the Uoion can only
be dissolved at the cost of eternal war. N tw, if
that is really the truth, it must be owing to the
inherent pugnacity of democracies, for certainly the
balance of power in the Germanic Confederation has
proved eminently favourable to internal peace. The
Germans have been prevented from fighting other
people, but they have at any rate not fought each
other, and their political stagnation has been
sweetened by profound repose. But they are not
satisfied with it, and they are now about to make
one more attempt at military unity. France has a
population of about 35,000,000; Germany of about
45,000.000, and yet Germany stands in awe of what
France may do. This is because France is one State
and Germany 30. These 30 States get on comfort-
ably enough in ordinary times, but when war
looms in the distance they find their body corporate
paralysed. Austria is a great Power, and Prussia is
a Great Power; Bavaria and Wurtemberg have
each their armies, but Germany is nowhere. It is
hardly a political entity. Before it could act in its
confederate capacity, before a real "German" force
worthy of the name could take the field, a modern
war would be over, and whole territories might have
changed hands. Cannot the German house be set in
better order, so as to hold its forces disposable, and
play a good part against any challenger, whether
on the East or on the West ? That is the question
which Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria and Chief
Sovereign in Germany, proposes to ask of his brother
Princes at Frankfort. The quaint old city has seen
a good many strange gatherings, but none stranger
than that now contemplated. The representative of
autocracy, conservatism, and prerogative calls a
Royal mass meeting, a democratic convention of
crowned heads, to arrange a " platform " on strong
popular principles in the broad light of political
day and with the utmost publicity of procedure.
His Imperial Majesty hopes to make Germany a
military, if not political, reality, and to see Father-
land counting for a little more than at present in the
ld. For this he fore the
European
whis chance
g
house, and as he has of late had
traditions of
some experience
of constitutionalism as well as of
war, he is willing
i`o make provision for the latter
contingency by some is esh work of the former kind.
It is certainly a strong tei7lptation. We may gauge
the value of unity by the usesto which France can
carried
0 bynuf a the
political
insa-
tiableturnitj.
aaußhei Relying
ton g
tuhpeo
utmostfusion
per f e
amalgam, France asserts her will wits anis u
abs thatsolute
serenity of confidence. She quietly tei,
Europe can only be at peace while she is satisfied,
and the boast is actually justifiable. Partly from her
unexampled advantages of geographical position, hut
mainly from the consummate unity and compactness
of her political constitution, she can dictate to her
neighbours, and either loftily pronounce that
" the Empire is Peace," or " go to war for
an idea." She shows her appreciation of
her privilege even by
.her jealousies. She does
not approve unity in other quarters. She
has declared without disguise that a united Italy
would be prejudicial to her, and that a strong, well-
amalgamated Power either beyond the Aips or be-
yond the Rhine must be regarded as menacing her
with injury and loss. She prefers Federations, con-
veniently constituted and comfortably balanced, the
members or which can be elevated or depressed by
the weight of her powerful hand. This is perfectly
natural. On the European Continent real genuine
unity is at present the privilege of France, and the
gift would be damaged by diffusion. But Germany
has a right to bid for the blessing, and, what is
more to the purpose, has the power of doing so. She
cannot, like Italy. be hindered in the work. If she
is determined, she can have her way ; but will she
snow any such resolution ? We doubt it. It is the
old story of private jealousies conflicting with pub-
lic spirit. Now and then, at great crises of history,
perhaps the Princes of Germany may sigh for that
unity which confers strength, but for the most part
they, and perhaps their people too, will prefer, like
the Southern States of America, to maintain politi-
cal independence at the cost of political power.
They will have no wish to take their Fatherland out
of the regions of poetry. They know full well that
they cannot, any more than the Americans, have
two things at once-State sovereignty and a strong
central Government. The King of Prussia looks
at this matter very much like Governor Seymour of
New York. Francis Joseph and Abraham Lincoln
are both desirous of welding a great Power together
to the terror of all opponents, but what the Pre-
sident and the nation gain the constituent coun-
tries must lose. It is only in the capacity for ex-
ternal action that all will be winners together, and
in the eyes of phlegmatic Germany the occasion for
such action would not often occur. Better live,
they may think, as they have lived, fairly balanced,
not uncomfortably settled, and relieved from the
charges as well as the glories of conquest. Nation
ality is a fine thing, but it costs a great deal of
money, and often something more than money too.
Mr. Cobden was right when he said that small
States were generally happier than large ones. Your
mighty empires are very apt to be aggressive, and
to promote their own "destinies" in a very expensive
manner. We have got two of these fabrics already
—a French empire in the west, and a Russian em-
pire in the east. Would the peace of the world be
promoted by another, equally formidable and equally
ambitious, established between them ? Would our
quiet friends the Germans like to be started in a
race of this kind? They are now, it must be owned,
a less powerful people than they might be. The
great Teutonic mass is never thrown into the scale
all together, and is outweighed therefore by the
superior organisations of Celts and slaves. But they
are tolerably happy without either colonies or des-
tinies, or, if they could believe it, even without a
fleet. They have not much active power, but they
could do a great deal in the way of resistance, and
t heir popular prejudices are wonderfully consulted
by their State divisions. They have an element of
disunion among them which is wanting in America.
The war between the Federals and Confederates,
bitter as it is, is, at any rate, not a religious war.
Francis Joseph, the chief man in Germany, wants a
"strong Government" in place of a Federal Execu-
tive so weak as to be good fornothing. That is ex-
'actly what the Washington politicians want-. This
Executive has hitherto been the weak point in both
the American and Germanic Confederacies, but we
see what it costs to strengthen it in the former case.
What the Northerners say about unity and strength
is undoubtedly true, but they forget that national
power is not the dearest object of every man's
heart. Mr. Jefferson Davis knows just as well as
Mr. William Seward that divided America will lose
weight in the councils of the world, but that loss is
a long way off, and is not half so impressive a con-
sideration as the loss of immtdiate self-government.
The truth is that millions of men diffused over an
enormous Continent have never yet permanently
concurred in their estimate of what ought to be
their political object. Different conditions create
different views, different views establish different
interests, and different interests lead to separate
communities. The old Empire of Germany crystal-
lised into independent States in obedience to the
gradual operation of natural laws. That these have
never lost the old tradition of unity is perfectly true,
and we sincerely wish that they may discover some
method of giving it a more practical form, but sec-
tional jealousies and State claims are formidable
things to deal with whether in the Old World or
in the New.
POST.—The cotton trade in Manchester and the
surrounding districts has reached enormous pro-
portions during the last half century. Immense
fortunes were made, which in some cases were in-
vested in land ; a school of politicians arose from
this branch of industry which attempted on various
occasions to prove that the cotton interest was supe-
rior to that of any other in the kingdom, whether
connected with agriculture, shipping, foreign trade,
or the like. Suddenly, however, the civil war in
the United States demonstrated the fact, which had
often been predicted previously, that cotton was not
such an absolute monarch in this country as had
been imagined. A collapse was the result; and
while the nation cheerfully responded by liberal
subscriptions to the cry of distress, ingenuity tried
to find a substitute for the raw material which had
hitherto employed thousands of hands, as well as
contributed to the national prosperity. A gleam of
hope shot through the darkened horizon when it
was announced that zostera marina, a brittle sort of
seaweed was about to supply the place of the plant
dissipatedsrcC.
from the
tbi
tuut t
e at o
a m orait's in
tion of thisproposed
the illusion, and 'he hopes of the nation then centred

on flax. Now, flax is a substantial fibr e. 1 t has
always been cultivated in this country,.
Queen
Elizabeth insisted, in her arbitrary way, on its n ang. -
.
grown in certain proportions to the br eadtl; of
arable land. The ancient Assyrians and Eg)
dans were in the habit of clothing thema elves in
purple and fine linen ; and any person who has
seen an Egyptian mummy unrolled of any date
pretending to antiquity must have noticed the
almost innumerable Colds of linen with which the
whole was encircled. In fact, ttie linen trade.' of
the British isles has run a close ram with that of
cotton during the last 50 years, and it was mainly
owing to the abundance and cheapness with which
the latter could be raised in the Southern' Statee that
it finally succeeded in establishing its pre-eminence,
especially in long cloths, in the markets of the
world. When the blockade of the Southern ports,
then, stopped the main supplies of the raw mate-
rial, public attention began to be directed towards
flax, and our agriculturists were urged to gaovr
flax as a substitute for cotton, as it was supposed,
and truly so, that the war might last many year s,
and that our manufacturers and East Indian cotton
might not be able to adjust themselves to one
another for some tirre to come. The war still con-
tinues, and in all probability will last for years.
Cotton, it is true, arrives in considerable quantities
from the East and from other parts of the globe,
and our manufacturers are doing their best to adapt
their machinery to the staple which they have to
manipulate ; but in the meantime it may be in-
quired what are our agriculturists doing in order to
promote the cultivie ion of flax, which, be it ob-
served, when extended, may help to obviate the.
deficit in the supply of the other commodity ? We
fear not mucn. Things go on pretty much in the
old way. As long as beef, mutton, wheat, barley,
butter, and the usual products of a farm fetch a fair
price, our agriculturists pursue the even tenor .of
Their way, and never imagine that prices can alter..
In this delusion, however, they may be mistaken.
Wheat is now from five to six shillings a bushel;
there is a promise of an abundant harvest not only
in Great Britain but also throughout the world, and
in all probability wheat will fetch bat a moderate
price for some years to come. Would it not be a
judicious step, then, on the part of the British far-
mer to advance a trifle beyond the usual stereo-
typed system of cropping, and grow, say, an acre
of flax to every fifty of his holding ? This crop is
not an exhausting one, as many persons ignorantly
suppose. It is sown about the latter end of April
or first of May, and is ready to pull before any white
crop is fit for the sickle; and, as seeds are sown
with it, they always prove unusually heavy next
season. The seed of the flax, when saved, which.
it ought to be, is exceedingly valuable for feeding
stock, either by itself or in the shape of oil-cake;
and when our agriculturists consider the thousands
of pounds annually which they expend in purchas-
ing this latter commodity, the seed of which is for
the most part grown abroad, the question must
naturally present itself to their minds whether they
could not themselves grow this plant on their own,
land—which, apart from its valuable fibre as the
foundation of linen, is one of the most efficient
means, in the shape of oil-cake, for fatten-
ing sheep and bullocks. Almost any land
in England, with the exception of a still
retentive clay, will grow flax ; it occupies the
ground a shorter time than any white crop; it pays
well, and we are decidedly of opinion that more at-
tention ought to be devoted to fl ix than has hitherto
been, not only in a national point of view, but also
with respect to the individual interests of agricul-
turists themselves. The crop, in faot, has only to
be known in order to be thoroughly appreciated.
In Dorset, Somerset, Norfolk, and in certain por-
tions of 'Yorkshire, flax is grown in small quantities.
In 'Mater it is more generally cultivated, but the
great consumers of flax and hemp throughout the
three kingdoms are obliged to import the chief bulk
of their supplies from the North of Europe ; and it
certainly does seem strange that Russians, Belgians,
and Poles should be able to grow, manage, save the
seed of and dress flax better than Englishmen, and,
in addition, furnish them with that cake which costs
so much, as well as adds to the weight of their sheep
and bullocks. Wa certainly think that the time has
come when our agriculturists might, with profit to
themselves and advantage to the nation, set bbcut
preparing their land for sowing next spring a mode-
rate breadth of fl,x seed, and we have little doubt
that continued experience will induce them to per-
severe in their efforts.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

,V-

MANCHESTER—Aua. 13.

At our market this morning there was only a small at-
tendance of buyers, and the demand was extremely limited
for every article. There was, however, no material change
in prices from this day se'nnight.