The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-08 00:00:00

ugly dog well mu77led"—raising another laugh, ax,
little while afterwards (against himself, however,
this time) by pleading, in the mere tones of his voice,
almost, one might say, pathetically in behalf of the
Irish people as one rendered— by Whig misgovern-
ment—" a debased and mutilated race." A lapsus
lingute of which the Secretary for Ireland—in the
midst of his usual harum-scarum speech, reckless in
the use of unauthenticated statistics, and exagge-
rated not unfrequently to the length of absolute
misrepresentation—humorously and very effectively
availed himself. The hit of the evening, however'
was Mr. DANDY SEY3IOUR'S reference to Reform
in a speech formally arraigning the Ministry
before the bar of public opinion, upon the
charge of having robbed the country during
these last five or six years of all chance of
obtaining any reform at all—for the sake of securing
to themselves place, power, and its perquisites to
the cry of " PALMERSTON for ever ! No politics '
and no principles !" Another telling incident—
lightening the dullness of the evening for one brief
interval by a manifestation of genuine earnestness
and patriotic devotion, was the impassioned apos-
trophe in behalf of justice being at last done to
Ireland—an apostrophe addressed for the most
part to Ministers generally, though at one moment
individually addressed to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer as (probably) the future head of the
Liberal Party in the House of Commons—by Mr.
MAGUIRE, the member for Dungarvan. Otherwise
than in these few isolated particulars, the proceed-
ings last night in the Commons were as dull as dull
could be, and were utterly characterless. Every-
thing just now in regard to the Session, the Parlia-
ment, the Ministry, the no-policy, the no-principles
(alluded to by the member. for Poole), being really
pretty much all of a piece.

Prussia and her affairs are certain to engross a
certain amount of attention during this Session ;
and notwithstanding the immense excitement which
prevailed last year on the subject, it is not ex-
hausted, nor have we heard the last of the extraor-
dinary complication of affairs in that direction.
Nothing is more significant than the tone which has
been adopted in reference to the occupation *of the
Duchies, and he that runs may read the meaning of
their portent. The reply of Austria to the last note
of Prussia is enough to show that great things
are intended to be done in this respect. It is as-
serted that some members of the Progress party
have agreed to accept as a " definitive solution " of
the discusion, that the number of troops composing
the Prussian army should be fixed at 200,000 men.
This will be a singular manner of freeing the
Duchies, which was supposed to be the legiti-
mate object of the Dano-German War, or at
all events was said to be so. It will be a satire
upon the whole German policy in respect to the
Duchies, and the best retort that can be made to
those who have said that the intentions of Prussia
and her ally were honest and honourable. They
are neither the one nor the other, nor have they
ever been so from the outset. Day by day, we might
almost remark, brings fresh proof of the zeal with
which the Cabinet of Berlin is striving to effect its
objects and the ingenuity with which it frames its
plans. The Government Bill that was lately
brought forward in the Chamber of Deputies fixes
the annual military contingent at 14* in every 1,000
of the population ; the Minister of Marine has asked
for authority to " contract a loan of £3,000,000 for

le construction of a fleet.". This is another of

the mighty efforts so strenuously made for the
increase of the power of Prussia ; but zeal
without discretion is a very useless thing, and so

hese arch plotters and planners of German renown
will find one day, to their cost, all their tactics will
lot avail to render Prussia a naval Power, and they

may reckon without their host upon the support
and countenance of England. The things that have
been are not likely again to come to pass, for the
people of this country will be slow to tolerate
another Government that so unworthily conforms
to wishes of a foreign Power instead of consulting
the interests of England and the honour of the
nation. All this affair of a Prussian navy is per-
fectly ridiculous, and can only conduce at last to
the shame and obloquy of those who urge it forward
with such haste and vehemence. The armies of
Prussia have not been so distinguished of late
years, that the people should thus try to wing
their flight higher, and do wonders in another
direction. It is, however, very useless to seek to im-
part wisdom or to give warnings when those to
whom they are offered will not take them in good
part, or consider them in a right spirit. For the
benefit of others implicated in the affair, it may be
as well to view the question in its true light ; and
since our Ministers have so invariably pledged them-
selves virtually, if not officially, to support Prussia
in all things, it will behove the Opposition to look
out, and if they cannot prevent, at least protest,
against the practice of aiding and abetting that un-
scrupulous Power in her encroaching efforts and
extraordinary assumptions. If Prussia is determined
to be foolish to the top of her bent, she must do so ;
and if smaller States emulate the fate of the frog
who sought to swell to the dimensions of the bull,
there can be no occasion for England to share the
ridicule of the affair by seeming to assist at the
ceremony. Still less can there be any occasion for
us to be mixed up in the scandalous efforts that are
ever and anon made by the Germanic Powers to

increase their sway and augment their territories by
trampling upon the rights and liberties of others.
It would be a difficult task to endeavour to define
the limits which Prussia has fixed upon her domi-
nions, and we know from experience that neither
right nor reason will check her in her course, nor
impose a restraint upon her proceedings.

Wilmington has not yet fallen. The eager ex-
pectation of the North has not yet been realised ;
and it is highly probable that it will not be gra-
tified without a severe and prolonged struggle, if
indeed the object be gained at all. The importance
of Wilmington is so great that the Confederates
will make every effort to retain it, and the fact of
the communication between Richmond and the
assaulted city being intact affords them the op-
portunity of supplying reinforcements. It will
require a siege before Wilmington is finally sub-
dued, and we shall very likely hear of one or two
pitched battles in South Carolina, where the
interest of the war is at this moment centred.
The capture of Wilmington would interrupt the
communication between Charleston and Richmond,
the two great strongholds of the Confederacy ; and
of course, while the Smith is anxious to keep pos-
session, the North is proportionately eager for suc-
cess. DAVIS and LEE will not allow them that
satisfaction if they can help it, and there is good
t
ground for resistance, notwithstanding the absurd
telexanmiosiimaidontdo. be found from LEE saying that if
Caswell and Frazer were not held he could not
holde
gunboats were
Up to the 18th the Federal
were unable to advance, as the monitors
Come up the stream, and the Confederate
artillery
01l Fort Andrews was sufficient to destroy
the lighter draft gunboats. Northern accounts of
two days later admit that on a reconnaissance be-
ing made, the enemy was found in force two miles
off, that A tairMi4 ensued, 7after which the Fede-