The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-02 00:00:00

Sovereigns who rule the land, and, supreme in
the right of possession, give the nod of fate.
Austria and Prussia will reckon without their host
if they suppose that they can go on at this game
much longer. Aided and abetted by circumstances
they have been allowed carte blanche, as it were, for
some time lately ; and they will, perhaps, make the
mistake of thinking that the nations of Europe are
too ignorant or too indifferent to care what
they are doing, or to trouble themselves much about
the consequences of all these charges. Such is not
the case, however, and they will soon discover that
if power 1;e unscrupulously acquired at Berlin, and
money hoarded up after an ignoble fashion at Vienna,
that the respect and the confidence of the
friendly and allied Powers will be forfeited.
Prussia in particular has lost caste in this country
to a great extent of late years. It would seem, in-
deed, as if the alliance with England, from which
so much was predicted, had completely turned the
heads of the authorities in Berlin, and that they
had imbibed, somehow or other, the mischievous
notion that they could do as they liked, and no one
would call them to account. Sad as it may be, it
is very evident that principle has nothing to do with
the management of affairs in Prussia, and that mis-
rule and violence are the chief agents and presiding
spirits of those who are at the head of affairs. The
shameful manner in which our Government allowed
judgment to go by default in the whole of the
transactions of the Schleswig-Holstein affair has
been one of the predisposing causes of the disastrous
and disgraceful effect which was the other day con-
summated in the triumphant annexation of

Lauenburg.

The elasticity of the Revenue is one of those
subjects on which everybody may congratulate
themselves. In spite of continual reductions, in
spite of all hindrances and losses, the public money
gives unfailing evidence that the general condition
of the country is highly prosperous and thriving.
And yet the last few seasons have been by no
means exceptionally fortunate in their external cir-
cumstances. The cotton famine produced in some
parts an almost unparalleled state of distress ; last
year's crops were below the average, while even
now we are suffering from the infliction of the cattle
plague and the consequent exorbitant price of pro-
visions. But the industrial energies of the nation
rise superior to every adverse influence, and the
Revenue Tables of every quarter give Englishmen
increasing reason for thankfulness. The contrast
between our own exchequer and that of less fortu-
nate Continental treasuries points the moral still
more strongly. The English financier has not,
however, always an easy task, for he has to please
a whole nation, instead of merely consulting the
interests or exigencies of a superior power. Every
party or class has some rival object which
is resolutely pressed upon the notice of
the Chancellor, while sometimes the faithful
Commons claim the right of interference, and
boldly dictate to the unhappy financier what
they think he ought to do. ➢ir. GLADSTONE has
conducted himself with ability and adroitness under
all these difficulties;. and for the last two or three
years he has contrived to ingratiate himself with
the tax-payers by remitting a good many oppressive
burdens. The reduction of the Fire Insurance
duty was not, indeed, entirely spontaneous on his
part, but the remission of a good part of the duty
on tea is certainly due to him. • This has proved a
great boon to the working-classes, and will go much
further to encourage sobriety than any importation
of light wines could do.

The immense increase in the consumption of tea
consequent upon the reduction of the duty is proved
alike by the Revenue Tables and the Board of
Trade Returns. The estimated decrease for the
quarter just over was £944,500, while the result
shows only a loss of a little over £330,000. Every
item shows an increase with the exception of the
Customs, the Excise, and Miscellaneous, and the
Customs, as we have said, shows far less alteration
than was looked for. The losses expected from the
reduction in Tea, and last year's reduction in sugar,
have been partly counterbalanced by the stimulus
given to consumption, and thus the Customs, which
were estimated to show a difference of £1,868,000
for the year, exhibit only a deficit of £335,000 on
the quarter. Here is a lesson for financiers, and
one which we hope will encourage Mr. GLADSTONE
to make further remissions. The Post-office, always
one of the principal items on the Creditor side of
the public ledger, manifests a steady increase, and
a rise of £lOO,OOB in the quarter testifies to the
active circulation of letters, books, and newspapers.
Altogether the tables are calculated to give fresh
stimulus to enterprise, and exhibit in the strongest
colours the practical advantages of a Free-trade
policy.

As might have been expected, no sooner does
the approach of the cold weather season facilitate
the active prosecution of the war against the Bhoo-
tanese than those worthies resume their talk about
peace. Of course every one would prefer the speedy
settlement of the affair by treaties and diplomatic
discussions than by a harassing campaign and the
further expenditure of valuable lives. The diffi-
culty, hoivever, is a double one. The former con-
duct of the Bhootanese proves how little they are
to be trusted, and there is good reason for sus-
pecting that they would willingly prolong the
affair, talking about peace during the cold season,
and leaving our men to die of their pestilential
marshes in the summer time. The other side of the
difficulty is that the Bhootanese authority is so
divided between the rival factions that it is very
doubtful who has the power to make an effectual
peace, and to secure the maintenance of the terms:
If both those dangers can be guarded against, the
negotiations should be pushed on while the season
is in our favour and the cold weather gives us the
power to advance. Fear may bring the whole of
the rival parties to some sort of understanding, and
if a properly determined front is shown matters
may be finally settled before the return of the hot
season. The DEB RAJAH is said to be anxious for
peace, and has despatched envoys to Col. BRUCE.
A draught treaty has been submitted to the
Governor-General in Council and approved. The
conditions on our part include the surrender of all
prisoners on both sides, so that the Governor-Gene-
ral intends to secure some guarantee of the real
power of the DEB RAJAII. It will be matter of con-
gratulation if this empty and unsatisfactory war be
really brought to a close, and we hope it will be
Some time before we suffer ourselves to become
entangled in another.
Little of political importance reaches us from
China or Japan. The newly-appointed generalis-
simo is said to be anti-foreign, while Prince KUNG,
now at the head of foreign affairs, is not very
friendly to the 'Western Powers. He can, however,
hardly afford to quarrel with them, even though
the Imperialist forces are in the ascendant in the
North. There has been
a talk of establishing a
direct telegraphic communication between Shanghae
and London. Marvels Will
never
fairly carried out. The notion of
change of thought and news betweenf
the
world of early and effete civilisation oldi this
stately b e
scenes of modern enterprise is certainlyn a strange
one. It is proposed to carry wire via Tientsin and
Pekin, through Russia to London. The passage

Naval and Military Intelligence.

On Saturday, Mr. G. W. Beardslee, from the
United States, who has been engaged at Chatham
during the week in making the necessary prepara-
tions for the torpedo experiments about to be under-
taken in the Medway, had a preliminary trial of the
invention, in the presence of Capt. W. H. Stewart,
C. 8., superintendent of the dockyard, and other
officials. One of the torpedoes was deposited by Mr.
Beardslee in the river, and at a given signal was ex-
ploded. No vessel of anykind was allowed to be near,
and from the violence of the explosion this precaution
was necessary, as fatal injuries would have been in-
flicted on any craft in the immediate vicinity. Dur-
ing Saturday Mr. Beardslee deposited one of thevery
large test torpedoes in the mud and sand at the en-
trance to Chatham harbour, at a spot which for ob-
vious reasons was kept secret, but which is not in
the track of vessels entering or leaving the port.
This torpedo will remain submerged until the day of
the trial arrives, when it will be exploded, the ob-
ject being to show that although sunk to any depth
the destructive powers of the torpedo are not in the
slightest degree diminished. The place at which the
Terpsichore—the vessel placed at the disposal of
Mr. Beardslee by the Admiralty to be blown up—
was originally moored having been found rather in-
convenient she has been removed to some distance
up the harbour, where the depth of water at all stages
of the tide is greater, and where there are more fa-
cilities for giving full effect to the trials about
to be undertaken. The operation of filling and pre-
paring the numerous torpedo shells intended to be
used during the experiments has occupied several
days, and has been effected on board the Volage,
floating powder magazine, under the personal direc-
tion and superintendence of Mr. Beardslee, every
facility connected with the undertaking being given
by the dockyard officials. The total number of tor-
pedoes intended to be exploded is 30, from the very
largest and most destructive kind to those required
for destroying small craft and boats.
The screw frigate Racoon, 22, Captain Count
Gleichen, arrived at Spithead during Friday night
from the Mediterranean, and will steam into Ports-
mouth harbour to-day to be docked. She brought
to England a number of naval invalids and time-
expired men, who were transferred from her on Sa-
turday to the Victory, by the Pigmy steam tender,
Master Commander Petch. Lieut. Prince Alfred
was to have joined the Racoon at Malta, and served
on board her in the Mediteranean until his promo-
tion to Commander's rank in the spring. The out-
break of cholera, however, in various ports of the
Mediterranean has been the cause of the Racoon's
recall to England.
A new rudder on Lumley's patent is being con-
structed for the screw troopship Orontes, Capt. H.
W. Hire, at Portsmouth dockyard, and will be fitted
to that vessel on her return to England from her
present China voyage. The Lumley rudder, which
is fitted to her Majesty's ships Columbine, Scotia,
and six other vessels in the navy, is one of the most
simple, yet efficient, forms of steering that can be
applied to single screw ships, yet, strange to say,
none of our large ironclads have yet been fitted with
it:
According to the present amended arrangements,
the Helicon and-Salamis, paddle despatch vessels,
are ordered to be in readiness to leave Portsmouth
on their competitive trial to-morrow.