The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—If we may rely on the text of a despatch
which we transfer to our columns this friornir*frtim
the Independance Belge, the language in:which Lord
Russell has commented upon the Gastein Conven-
tion is most decided. He does not appear to have
addressed a direct remonstrance to the partitioning
Governments, as we may now, -without hesitation,
designate Austria and Prussia. Such a proceeding
would, indeed, be useless, and until the final act of
spoliation has been accomplished it may be more
dignified to avoid exposing the claims of public law
and the formalities of civilisation to unnecessary
contempt. The numerous protests which have
already been made have expressed to Prussia and
Austria both the general obligations of European
law, and the individual rights of the great Powers
and of the German Diet. All such protests have
been set aside either with duplicity or with open
contempt, and it would for the future be paying too
high a compliment to the German Governments to
assume that they will be in any degree influenced
by appeals either to justice or to courtesy. Accord-
ingly, the despatch of Lord Russell appears only in-
tended to instruct our representatives in what sense
they are to speak of the Gastein Convention when
the occasion arises. For this purpose Lord Russell
points out, briefly but distinctly, the main charac-
teristics of this now notorious proceeding. The
matter, indeed, lies in a nutshell, and no amount of
that diplomatic art which consists in using words
so as to conceal their meaning can possibly explain
it away. It consists of a few very simple facts,
which it is only necessary to state in order to ex-
hibit the native ugliness of the transaction. The
Dukedom of Holstein, with a seat in the Germanic
Diet, was assigned to the King of Denmark by.
the Treaty of 1815—that is, by the same autho-
rity in virtue of which alone the Germanic Diet
itself exists, and from which alone Prussia and
Austria themselves derive possession of many
of the territories they now occupy. A subsequent
Treaty in 1852 bound all the European Powers to
recognise the present King of Denmark as the legi-
timate Sovereign of that country, and, therefore,
also as Duke of Holstein. With the alleged pur-
pose of vindicating the prior and inherent rights,
first of the Germanic Diet, and, secondly, of the
population of the Duchies, Austria and Prussia
declared war against Denmark and conquered the
Duchies. As Lord Russell reminds them, they in
the first instance professed that they intended to
vindicate their rights without violating those which
were created by the Treaties of 1815 and 1852.
They subsequently, however, announced that they
considered the war to have abrogated those Treaties,
and that they were at liberty to make future ar-
rangements in entire disregard of their stipulations.
The plea was sufficiently violent, but it could not
be technically denied. The Duchies, therefore, were
taken from Denmark, and the conquerors were free
to consult the rights of the Diet and of the popula-
tions, with the advantage of being completely un-
fettered. Europe had for some time been expecting
to see these rights established, when the Gastein
Convention informs us that they will not be con-
sidered at all. Having served their turn like the
Treaty of 1852, they will, like that Treaty, be
thrown aside. Prussia and Austria now proclaim
themselves the sole possessors of the Duchies, and
assert their intention of disposing of them by ar-
rangement between themselves, without reference
either to the Germanic Diet or to the population.
" All rights," in short, " old or new, whether based
upon a solemn agreement between Sovereigns or
on the clear and precise expression of the popular
will, have been trodden under foot ' • the authority
of force is the sole power which has been con-
sulted and recognised. Violence and conquest—
such are the only bases upon which the dividing
Powers have established their Convention." This
is strong language to be applied in the year
1865 to the conduct of two civilised nations ;
yet, after the facts which have been enumerated,
it cannot be considered too strong for the occasion.
Lord Russell has exactly hit the characteristic which
forms the unpardonable element in the Gastein
Convention. That element is that in reliance upon
mere force the two Governments have disposed of
the Duchies without any consideration of existing
rights. It is scarcely so much that they have violated
rights; they have refused to consider them. They
possess the Duchies, and they do with them, not
what they ought, but what they can. Lord Russell
has perhaps wisely confined himself to exhibiting
this flagrant offence in its most naked guise, and
has abstained from remarking upon its accessory
circumstances. We may, however, not unfittingly
point out how greatly the character of the act has
been aggravated by the duplicity which it has been
accompanied. There is one circumstance, in parti-
cular, which it is impossible not to consider in this
light, of which even Germans have not hesitated to
express the strongest reprobation. If there was one
thing more persistently asserted than any other by
Prussian lawyers and diplomatists, it was that the
King of Denmark had no sound title to the Duchies,
and that the Duke of Augustenburg was the legiti-
mate possessor. This was so much relied on that in
the London Conference of last year the Plenipoten-
tiaries of Prussia and Austria actually made the
following distinct proposal, which we quote from
the summary officially presented to Parliament—it
" had for its object to demand a complete separa-
tion of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from
the kingdom of Denmark, and their union in a single
State, under the sovereignty of the Hereditary Prince
of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg."
Nor was this assertion of the rights of the Prince of
Augustenburg made hastilyor in ignorance. The ques-
tion of the succession to the Duchies had been discussed
by all the learned faculty of Germany for years, and
the right of the Duke of Augustenburg had been as-
sumed as an axiom. No sooner, however, had the
Duchies been wrested from Denmark than the ques-
tion of the succession was referred by the Prussian
Government to the Crown lawyers, and these
sagacious authorities have now announced that all
their former decisions and the unanimous verdict
of German Professors are wrong, and that the King
of Denmark is the only person who had a sound title
to the Duchies. The practical conclusion is that this
title having been by war made over to Prussia and
Austria, it is now Prussia and Austria who have the
sole right to the Duchies. Such is the end of this
fresh investigation, and he must be charitable indeed
who can avoid the conclusion that it was also the
final cause. As we have said, the duplicity of
which this circumstance is but an instance, aggra-
vates the offence ; and it may be added that it in-
creases also the alarming character of the prece-
dent. It seems to show that the forms of civiliza-
tion, being in the hands of unscrupulous persons,
actually serve to facilitate instead of to obstruct
unprincipled designs. Unwilling as the Gavernments
of Europe were to interfere by force in so insignifi-
cant a quarrel, it can hardly be doubted that if
Prussia had from the beginning announced her in-
tention to act as she has subsepuently done the
other Powers would not have endured the outrage.
She assumed, therefore, a respect for establishing
obligations, with which she tricked Europe into a
reluctant neutrality. We could not believe but
that she must pay some regard to right, and we
thought it the least of two evils in some measure to
trust her. We shall not soon be guilty of such a
weakness again. Lord Russell justly observes upon
the insecurity of arrangements thus established by
mere force, and founded upon no right either of
formal law or natural justice. This is, indeed, the
aspect of the question which is so momentous to
the whole of Europe. The progress of civilisation
taught us, as we believed, some centu-
ries ago that the only security, whether
for individuals or for nations, lay in a strict ob-
servance of established law. It id upon this prin-
ciple that our liberties have been founded, and we
may add that it is upon this principle alone that any
man feels secure in the enjoyment of his possessions.
It is this principle which is the permanent reality of
the balance of power. The substitution, in fact, of
law for violence, of right for might, constitutes the
whole difference between civilisation and barbarism,
between Europe and Central Africa. That Prussia
should disregard such a principle is, indeed, not sur-
, prising. Her greatness was originally founded by
violence, and in defiance of established rights, and
by military force she exists. But that Austria should
lend any countenance to such an example is perhaps
the most extraordinary circumstance in the whole
transaction. Austria, a heterogeneous mass of
nationalities, which receive their connecting links
solely from public law and solemn treaties—a Go-
vernment which protests against the natural rights
of Italian nationalities on the ground of formal
treaties alone—Austria by such an act might seem
to have signed the instrument of her own dismem-
berment. We shall not attempt to look into the
future, and to speculate upon the ultimate issue of
this disgraceful transaction. As the genius of Fre-
derick has partly obliterated the memory of his
spoliations, so the success of M. von Bismark's
audacity may for a while throw a veil over his inso-
lence, and he has, indeed, already been rewarded
with the title of Count, and has been appropriately
honoured with a long visit from the successor of his
Royal prototype. But, as we are certain that no
State was ever yet established by iniquity or has
prospered by violence, we are equally sure that some
signal retribution will sooner or later vindicate the
supremacy of law, and teach Europe that it must
be observed and upheld.
POST.—The overland mail just arrived brings us
the intelligence that vigorous preparations are being
made for a second campaign in Bhootan. About
a month since a rumour somehow or other reached
Europe that the war forced upon us by the
Bhooteas had come to an end, and that pledges
had been given by their Government that in
future no depredations should be committed on that

portion of the English territory adjoining their
dominions. Thin report, however, tarns out to be
unfounded ; the Government of Bhootan remains as
obstinate, as heretofore, and no choice 13 left to us, if
we wtivild vindicate our own authority and protsrct
those who live Undid citir rule; but to continue hos-
tilities until we have obtained sufficient reparation
for past outrages, and secured adequate gtia±antees
against the commission in future of others of it
similar kind. Our quarrel with Bhootan is of long
standing, and however eager we may have been in
other regions of India to avail ourselves of any
plattsiblo pretext for invading or annexing the ter-
ritory of our neighbours, it cannot with justice be
said that we have pursued a similar policy on the
present occasion. The Bhootans inhabit a hilly range
which runs down, in a south-easterly direction, from
Thibet towards the plains of Assam ; and,
,availing
themselves of the inaccessible nature of the country
in which they live, they have for many years been
in the habit of making incursions into the lowlands
and carrying off the cattle, crops, and other pro-
perty of the inhabitants, and in many instances
consigning the latter to hopeless captivity. Against
these outrages the Indian Government again and
again protested with no other result than to receive
from the Government of Bhootan assurances of
future good conduct—assurances, however, which
were violated as soon as made. At length the Indian
Government decided on despatching a special mission
to Bhootan. Mr. Ashley Eden was selected as the
envoy, and this gentleman, together withhis retinue,
despite the serious physical difficulties presented by
the country he was compelled to traverse, succeeded
in penetrating to the capital of Bhootan. The jour-
ney, however, proved worse than unavailing ; for
not only did the Bhootan Government refuse to
make the required reparation and liberate their cap-
tives, but they made the envoy himself a prisoner,
and liberated him solely on condition of executing
in the name of his Government a treaty which pur-
ported to cede to the Bhooteans the territory which
had been the scene of their previous depredations.
When Mr. Eden returned to Calcutta, it is needless
to say that the instrument thus obtained by coercion
was forthwith repudiated by the Government, and
that preparations were at once made to avenge the
insult offered to the Ambassador, and to secure the
population of the plains from future incursions.
Owing to the mountainous and, for all military pur-
poses, practically inaccessible nature of the country
occupied by the freebooters, the Indian Government
at first resolved on merely taking possession of the
several passes opening from Bhootan into the ad-
joining plains and annexing them to the English
territory. For this purpose a strong military force
was despatched about a twelvemonth since to the
frontier, and not without some little difficulty ; and
on one occasion at the cost of a discreditable, if not
a very damaging, repulse they succeeded in making
themselves masters of some of the principal defiles.
The commencement of the hot weather, however,
necessitated a suspension of hostilities, whilst at the
same time the ravages made by fever were such as
to threaten almostthe total annihilation of the troops
engaged in the campaign. Every succeeding mail
brought accounts of the heavy losses incurred through
pestilence, and it became apparent that if the war
was to be prosecuted with success, the Government
should resolve on annexing, not only the lower defiles,
but the higher grounds above them, where the troops
might enjoy that health which was denied to themm
the jungles at the foot of the hills. For the ap-
proaching campaign a force has aiready been told off
which many seem to consider too large and numerous
for the duty which it will be called upon to perform,
but as probably a considerableportion willbe retained
as a reserve, whilst the remainder is employed in the
hills, the numbers will not prove to be unnecessarily
great. The Government have not yet decided on the
choice of the commander of the expedition ; it is,
however, believed that the post will be given to
Gen. Showers, an officer well versed by experience
in all the dangers and difficulties of Indian campaign-
ing. Of the final result of such apetty war as that in
which we are now unfortunately engaged there can,
of course, be but one opinion ; the only doubt which
it or any wars of a similar kind can ever excite in
the mind is whether the price we may be compelled
to pay may not prove rather extravagant, consider-
ing the smallness of the returns we can- reasonably
hope to expect. Confident in the natural strength
of their country, the Bhooteas have not only set us
at defiance, but have within the past few months
refused to pay the usual annual tribute to the Thi-
betan Government, and treated its envoy with the
same disrespect that they showed to Mr. Eden. It
is therefore scarcely probable that we shall reduce
them to submission if we merely content ourselves
with taking possession of a few of the outlying
passes which mark the boundary of their moun-
tainous home. It is considered at Calcutta that an
attack should be made on one of the most important
of their posts, known as Punakha, but which, from
its elevation above the plains, and the rugged nature
of the approaches, cannot be taken by troops with-
out much difficulty and danger. With Punakha in
our possession, it would be unnecessary to garrison
the lower defiles, and the important advantage of
obtaining healthy quarters for our troops would be
secured. But Puuakha, it is conceded, will not bo
taken without a struggle, and military men do not
require to be reminded of the difficulties which be-
set the path of an attacking force in a narrow
mountainous defile. But if we had nothing more
serious to contend with than the prowess of the
Bhooteas we might well be satisfied with the pros-
pect before us. Disease, however, not unfrequently
destroys more than the sword, and our experiences
up to the present have not been encouraging. Some
of the regiments have suffered so severely from the
ravages made by what is termed the jungle fever
that they are said now to be merely regiments in
name. Added to this, the supply of medical offi-
cers in India is so scanty that, in their extremity,
the Indian Government have been compelled to
telegraph their wants to the authorities. The
Government, however, have only themselves to
blame if they are now without an efficient medical
staff. If they refuse to offer suitable inducements
to educate gentlemen to enter their service, they
must not be surprised if, as on the present occasion,
their troops are left nearly destitute of medical
I assistance.

‘; The Saturday Review" on the Bristol
Disappointment•

No one who has a human heart to feel will doubt that
the Bristol operatives have been very hardly used. A cus-
tom which in this age may be called venerable, as it has
now exAnded over ten years, has established that a Prime
Minister's vacation is the lawful property of provincial
audiences. It is evidently only by a piece of extreme mal-
administration that Lord Palmerston has had the gout at
such a time. It is a defiance of the lawful prerogative of
the working-man, and an interference with his most im-
portant interests. A Prime Minister may be useful during
the session of Parliament in passing measures which faci-
litate the workman's labours. But his business during
August and September is far more vital, because he then
interferes with the workman's enjoyment of his holiday.
To those who have no sympathy with the spirit of the age
it is, indeed, a strange kind of holiday. The only salient
point of the speech which the Prime Minister would have
made, if he had gone to Bristol, would have been a bad
joke about the young women present, and the probability
of their being soon married. A joke of equally good calibre
would probably have been furnished them by their own
rector, whenever he undertook to improve their minds by a
suburban lecture. But it is something to hear a great
Prime Minister make a very small joke. The conscious-
ness that a man for whose decision France and Russia have
looked with anxiety is improvising small chaff to grinning
females for your amusement, is ennobling to humanity,
and raises a man in the scale of sentient beings. Besides,
the appearance of a Prime Minister as part of an autumn
raree-show is in itself a sublime testimony to the progress
of civilisation in our great country. There was a time
when the working-man was content with far loss elevat-
ing sights. The agility of a long-tailed monkey, or the
conjuring tricks of a mountebank, used to furnish the holi-
day enjoyments of those who now insist upon Prime Mi-
nisters and Chancellors of the Exchequer. Every symp-
tom of a more fastidious and more delicate taste in the
working classes is to be hailed as an improvement, no
matter what the, nature of the enjoyment upon which it is
exercised. That distinguished politicians are now required
to excite the same curiosity which used to be easily raised
by the grosser performers who preceded them, shows that
the working men are becoming thorough connoisseurs.
The fact ought to take its place in the catalogue of merits
by which Mr. Baines annually establishes their right to
the six-pound franchise.

The regret, however, has not been confined to the in-
habitants of Bristol alone. Their loss is easily. repaired.
There are plenty of younger "lions" about, even if the
king of autumnal exhibitors is away. They have already
made an attack (though an unsuccessful one) upon Mr.
Gladstone, who, if he cannot provide jokes for the women,
can preach a lay sermon as well as any man ; and there
still remains Sir Charles Wood, whose speeches, if they do
not charm the ear, impose a severe and profitable exer-
cise on the understanding. The Bristol folk will make a
great mistake if they do not send for Sir Charles Wood,
for they hardly know what a Minister really is until they
have seen and heard him. Whoever they may succeed in
trapping, their show will be just as lively. But this refusal
of Lord Palmerston has an ominous look. Graver interpre-
tations are affixed to it than the newspapers care to print,
and doubts aro freely expressed whether he may not be
compelled some months hence to forego a meeting of more
importance than the Bristol gathering ; and the substitute
proposed by the men of Bristol naturally suggests the in-
quiry whether Mr. Gladstone will be "sent for" to replace
his chief at a more distant period. The position of Mr.
Gladstone in reference to the succession of the leadership
of the Liberals, which must fall vacant before long, has
altered a good deal within the last few months. His mis-
hap at Oxford was due to a variety of causes, soma of them

creditable to the University and some of them very much
the reverse. But it has had one effect, little intended pro-
bably by those who brought it about. It appears to have
convinced Mr. Gladstone that his declarations in favour of
universal suffrage, and his open flirtations with Mr. Bright,
Were not so popular as one time he imagined they would
be. The fact that a majority of the lay portion of the con-
stituency has rejected him is a fact which cannot fail to
tell upon his mind. Though they may be very sincere
Christians, the laity are not usually so sensitive to ques-
tions affecting; the Established Church as the clergy. They
are apt, rightly or wrongly, to treat the seiisitiveness of
the clergy upon such points as exaggerated, and to set
down the questions upon which clerical appreheraSions are
the liveliest as mere questioxi of detail. It was no ecclesi-
astical quarrel that induced the lay members of the Oxford
constituency, speaking of them as a whole, to dissever the
University from Mr. Gla,dstone:s splendid fame. That
speech in favour of manhood suffrage told upon the edu-
cated classes with a fatal effect which no Pbsequent apologies
or prefaces could dispel. But Mr. Gladstone, quick as his
perceptions are in many respects, is slow to .recognise the
movements of opinion, and especially of the educai,'d opinion
by which in England all political issues are decided. The
speeches, however, which he delivered at Manchester and
Liverpool give a fair groundforhoping that, under the stem
teaching of the Oxford election, he has at last recognised
the danger of his course. Tnose speeches paid a deference
to the feelings and apprehensions of the propertied classes
which for many a year he had not displayed. The dulness,
again, of his last oration at Hawarden seems to show—
unless, indeed, like Addison, Mr. Gladstone has some
special reason for being intentionally stupid—that he re-
cognises, in the necessities and prospects of the present
moment, the policy, or at lean the safety, of humdrum. It
is dangerous to predict anything concerning his futurO
course. His moderation in Lancashire may be but a pass-
ing phase of opinion, such as many others by which hie
political life has been marked. But he has arrived at a.
time of life when "phases of opinion" should cease. If
he again changes, and, in obedience to the fancied neces-
sity of the hour, holds out his hand once more to the ex-
treme Radicals, he will have created a deep-seated distrust
which he is now too old to dissipate.
There can be no doubt that the Bristol workmen were
right; and that in fame Mr. Gladstone is only second, if
second, to Lord Palmerston. But in England something
more beside surpassing gifts of oratory are needed to
qualify a ruler. No talent will reconcile the really powerful
classes in this country to a democratic leader. Democracy
has of late years achieved no success so brilliant as to
abate the natural dislike which the possessors of property,
be it large or small, entertain to the idea of consigning the
power of taxation to those who have no property to tax.
The dominant opinion of England desires progress ear-
nestly and intently, but it would wish it not to be left to
the caprice of the uninstructed multitude. Progress, under
the protection of the educated minority, is the end to
which all that is best and most powerful in England tends.
It is for Mr. Gladstone to say whether he will be the
leader of such an enterprise or not. If he enters heartily
into such conditions, it is not likely that any power will
be strong enough to displace him from the primacy
which his marvellous ability naturally claims. Personal
antipathies or bitter memories will have lost their power
against a position based on a foundation so secure. But if
he persists in making himself the Minister of democracy,
he will have raised against himself a phalanx of powerful
interests and tenacious animosities against which no dis-
plays of talent will avail. The decision that he will form
within the next few months will be momentuous for his
own career, and not without grave influence upon the
destinies of England. It will remain for him to decide
whether the rank which the Bristol workmen have given
I him shall or shall not be his rank in history.