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

against the interests of European commerce as
much as against the Imperial Government, and
against all feelings of humanity. What is this fleet
going forth to effect ? We do not ask what the plan
of operation may be, for in all probability none has
yet been resolved upon—but what are its general
objects? These have been already stated with more
or less precision, but as the explanations are buried
in reams of diplomatic correspondence they have
not been read by the public. Let IV, then, cull such
information as we can obtain from the Blue-books.

In the first place, this Anglo-Chinese fleet goes to
establish Imperial authority on the Yang-tze. In
this object political and commercial considerations
equally combine. In a despatch from Mr. Wade
which is printed in the Blue-book before us it is
clearly shown that the Taepings have never " held"
any province of China, although they have infested
several. They have, however, held one city. Pil-
laged, ruined, and decayed as is the once magnificent
city of Nankin, broken to potsherds as is its Porce-
lain Tower, burnt or dispersed as are the celsbrated
libraries of the Golden Island, desecrated as is the
cemetery of the Ming dynasty, whom these Tae-
pings commenced by professing to revere, Nankin
nas still been undoubtedly " held" by these people.
Nankin was the southern capital of the enormous
Empire. If there had been any life or constructive
power in the Taepings, it might have been the
capital of a new empire carved from the too un-
wieldy old one. Ten years experience has, however,
proved that there is nothing of these qualitiesin the
Taepings. Instead of being the capital of a Go-
vernment, Nankin is the stronghold of robbers,
whence they issue:and to which they return. As a
matter of prestige to the Imperial arms the
first serious task impose upon Captain Osborn
will be to recover
.Nankin. The Taepings
foresee this, and are using their best endeavours
to provide against it; but, as they have
already ruined the city and exhaustki the neigh-
bourhood, it is not probable that the defence will
be much prolonged. This will be a blow upon the
head of the rebellion, but it will also be good ser-
vice done to honest traders. The Yang-tze river in
China—an empire without roads—ia the great high-
way ; and as Nankin is oil the Yang-tze, the esta-
blishment of this piratical power at Nankin is like
the establishment of a confederacy of highwaymen
half way up Cornhill. Any set of policemen who
would destroy such a nest of depredators would de-
serve our thanks. We shall be very glad to hear of
the fall of Nankin, and of its being held, to prevent
bloody reprisals, by Capt. Osborn's force, To ex-
plore the inner waters, re-open the traffic upon the
Grand Canal, establish telegraphic communications
along the principal thoroughfares, and teach the
Chinese the use of steam, is the second and not less
important object of those who are now going out to
China. There are many great rivers in China yet
to be surveyed, and
many great commercial cities
still unknown. It is not that civilisation is wanted,
but there is in China a hitch in its progress. After
running Jar ahead of the rest of the world it has
stopped, and has allowed the rest of the world to
pass. Clothed with imperial authority, and having
conquered Nankin, Capt. Osborn will be able to pre-
sent steam and electricity to minds perfectly capable
of understanding their practical importance directly
t
steamch
andelectricityo
interior; andifof
commercial instincts of the people who dwell there,
the hitch . is
removed, and civilisation will march
forward . again there as it does here. A third
object is to put down the piracy which
now exists between the open ports. But all -these
are second to the first great necessity of breaking
up the nests of the Tae in robbers and putting
the Imperial Government in a position to protect
its own people and discharge its obligations towards
other Powers. Tne first is a necessary preliminary
to the other two. All these, however, are objects
which must command the sympathies of every one
who does not seek to make money by supplying the
Taepings with the instruments of robbery and mas-
sacre, or who does not desire to use the Taepings as
a covering party to some operation of smuggling, or
who is not under the influence of some incurable
delusion. There are persons, of course, in each of
these categories, but they are, we apprehend, very
few in number, and utterly without consideration
either here or in China.
HERALD.—The Danish Government has taken a
step which promises to bring its dispute with the
German Confederation to an issue. It has adopted
the Eyder-Danish programme. By a proclamation
in which he records the failure of his efforts. to com-
bine the different portions of his monarchy in a com-
mon constitution—a failure which he attributes to
the interference of the Federal Diet in the interior
affairs of the monarchy—the King announces his
intention to give Holstein an independent and,
to a certain extent, an isolated position in the
monarchy. It is to have its own army, the strength
of which the Estates and the King will determine,
nnd.-r the supervision, we ought to add, of the Diet
at Frankfort. It is to share with the rest of the
monarchy the civil list, the appanages, the public
debt, the navy, the department of foreign affairs,
the domains, the customs, and the postal arrange-
ments. The Estates are to have a deliberative voice
in all these arrangements, and if it is found that no
agreement can be come to between them and the
Rigsraad on the part of Denmark proper and
Schleswig, a further separation is, when pos-
sible, to be made. Holstein is, in fact, to be
governed by the King of Denmark as its Duke
without any interference of the Danish Ministry or
nation, and in co-operation with the Estates cf Hol-
stein. It is to hold much the same position towards.
Denmark as Luxembourg does to Holland. And in
proposing to give this autonomy to Holstein the
Ing-Duke proposes to give it very liberal insti▪ tu-
tions. He orders that bills for the establishment of
a constitutional control of the finances, a liberal
electoral law, the liberty of the press, the right of
petition and association, and religious freedom, shall
be laid before the Holstein Estates. It has long been
evident that to this measure the Danish Government
must ultimately come. Naturally, it has put off the
evil day so long as there remained the faintest hope
that some solution of the question might be arri▪
ved
at which would establish the unity of the monarchy
without at the same time placing it entirely under
German influence. The grant of this independence
and autonomy to Holstein necessarily weakens the
, I monarchy, and Denmark, a very small state placed
in a very important position, can very ill afford the
loss. Praetlcally Holstein will cease to be an element
in its resources. The Holstein army will be under the
control of the Holstein Estates. Far more than the
fair proportion of common expenses will have to be
borne by Denmark-echleswig, and it may be safely
predicted that whenever the Government of Denmark
is obliged to make any especial call upon its people,
whether to provide men for the national defence or
money to pay them. the Holsteiners will not give a
man or a penny. But no other settlement is possi-
ble, and the question presses for settlement. For
fifteen years it has weighed like an incubus upon
Denmark. For years the gallant little nation
stood in arms tofldefend its rights; war was not
going on all the time, but an armistice only put
an end to actual fighting ; the armies stood ready
to renew the contest. Peace brought a nominal
settlement of the dispute, but it has not the less in-
flicted the greatest evils upon the people of Den-
mark. They have been obliged to surrender the
liberal consti'ution which the King freely gave
them, and would have faithfully maintained. They
have been obliged to keep their armaments upon a
war footing ; the weight of taxation has been great,
and the dove opulent of the national resources has
bsen checked. During all these years the Danish
Government has been honestly labouring to estab-
lish a common constitution, which, leaving to each
portion of the monarchy complete control over its
local concerns, would give it an influence, propor-
tioned to its population and taxation, in the deter
urination of affairs common to all. But it soon
found that the Holsteiners and the German Govern-
ments, whom it sought to satisfy, wanted something
far different. In vain did it obtain from the Danes,
in deference to the demands of Prussia, the surren-
der of a portion of their liberties; in vain did it
frame the common constitution in such a manner as
to give Holstein and Schleswig even more than their
due share in the national councils. In vain did it
propose to leave the Holstein nobility the same
overwhelming power in the Estates. The constitu-
tion was hardly established before the Holsteiners
raised loud outcries against it, and the German
Bund, on pretences which it hat. now thrown over-
board, since the abandonment of Denmark by the
Western Powers at Earl Russell's instigation, has
emboldened them to throw off the mask, insisted
upon its. abolition for Holstein and Lauenburg.
The Danish Government yielded. Since then it
has sought in vain to satisfy the exigencies of the
Confederation. What Holstein and Prussia, its
patron, have from the first sought and now ask is
a common constitution, whicri should place it in
the power of either Holstein or Lauenburg—of five
hundred or of fifty thousand people—to bring the
whole legislation of the monarchy of two millions
and a half to u deadlock. The demands of Prussia
practically amount to the pretension that Holstein
is to rule Denmark ; and that notable scheme is now
supported by Earl Russell. Two years ago he de-
clared it a monsti ous pretension, now he recom-
mends it, dressed up in his own phraseology, as the
best compromise for Denmark. In 1861 he aeclared
the demands of Prussia quite inadmissible, and suge
gested himself two or three schemes for the solution
of the question, one of which would have practically
arranged the difficulty in much the same way as the
Danes now propose to settle it ; hut Prussia would
not accede, and his lordship, determined to settle
the matter, turns round and puts the screw upon
the weaker power. The Danes will not, cannot,
accept a settlement which would immediately trans-
fer the vvernment of thi) monarchy from Copen-