The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-04 00:00:00

ally. But if they choose to run the risk of becom-
ing annexed to the United States they will find
themselves in a very different position. There are
plenty of seaports round the magnificent coasts of

the States, and the maritime provinces of Great
Britain will only be valued because they
once belonged to their hated and dangerous rival.
Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers are not

likely deliberately to prefer annexation to the '
States to union with Canada ; neither will Eng-
land suffer them to be forcibly incorporated with
America Schleswig-Holstein fashion, but by their
refusal to join in the proposed confederation scheme
they May bring about serious evils. The old fable
of the bundle of faggots has been illustrated too
often in history for its lesson to be overlooked,
and every politician knows that the weakness of
republics and small States lies in their perpetual
disunion and division. We hope that with these
various reasons for delay too much time will
not be lost in beginning the necessary prepa-
rations; but no doubt the Canadian Government
is actuated by sound motives, and wishes to avoid
any appearance of defying its neighbour at this
juncture of the Treaty question. The Intercolo-
nial Railroad is still admitted by all parties
to be a matter of the first necessity ; and Mr.
CARTIER reiterated the conviction of the Ministry
that it was indispensable to the accomplishment of
the confederation scheme. We learn by the news

from Quebec that the surveys and estimates for this
undertaking have been submitted to the Canadian
Parliament. The route proposed is via River du
Loup, Fredericktown, and Picton to Halifax, and
the estimate is 25 millions, or $440,000 per mile.
As regards the loan which has been talked of, the
home Government has expressed its willingness to
arrange all terms in the manner most favourable to
the province ; so that, should the colonial Ministry
decide upon applying for a guaranteed loan, there
will be no difficulty in settling the details.
The most important question that is likely to
be brought before the Canadian Parliament this year
is that of the North-West Territory which presses
for settlement„ The colonists have wisely deter-

mined not entei:aporka long and costly lawsuit with
the neW cOmpany, who have most improperly been
favoured by the British Government with the re-

newed monopoly. They prefer to enter into an
arrangement by which they can indemnify the com-
pany for any reasonable claims, but even with this
condition there is good ground to fear that the com-
pensation demanded will be a heavy pull on the
finances of the colony. Under these circumstances
a guaranteed loan would be the best means of re-
conciling difficulties, and the- advantages to be
gained by throwing open the rich and fertile terri-
tories of the north-west to the enterprising settler
would speedily reimburse any temporary outlay.

The French are particularly brilliant in their
criticism on political matters, especially foreign ones,

and the writer in the Revue des deux Monde has I
achieved a great success in his epitome of the Ger-
man tactics of late years. He has taken up the
subject con amore, and not allowed himself to be
mystified with the confused statements of preju-
diced partisans. This theme is now well-nigh
worn threadbare, but still in this article we find
much to suggest matter for observation and reflec-
tion. In point of fact no one can treat the affair
in a proper style who does not recognise
in the first place the gross fraud that has
been committed by the diplomatists of
Berlin, and the artful manner in which they
have contrived to outwit and cajole all dissentients
into real or affected acquiescence. It must be ad-
mitted by all that the Prussian Minister has shown
himself master of his peculiar line of policy,• and
in this, as in many other such cases, the opinions
of the apparently most acute have been shown to
be erroneous. Not alone do those who tread the
usual round of conventionalism, and follow the
beaten track of mediocrity, achieve the most signal
successes and make themselves the most prominent
in their generation. The sapient diplomatists of
Europe have made rather a mistake in this matter,
and the writer in this critique aptly discourses
their oversight. The conclusion they arrived
at in respect of this alienation was a very
unfavourable one, and now he has out-
distanced them in the race, and stepped in to
win the prize, while they are left without, blank and
discomfited. Whatever grave errors he may have
committed, and however contrary his practices may
be to the notions of honour and high principle, it is
very certain that there is now no occasion to laugh
at Herr VON BISMARCK'S war. This is only proof
of the mistake which people make when they at-
tempt to be too clever, and measure their estimation
of character by rule, instead of taking that broad
view of human nature by which only individuality
can be discovered in its tendencies and power. In
the case of Herr von BISMARCK, it is a success
which is perilous, and which contains within itself
the germs of decay. It is founded on those
doctrines that were much in vogue during past gene-
rations, but which these present days of enlighten-
ment and progress have almost wholly discarded.
It is not probable that such a wholesale robbery as
that which has just been consummated at Gastein
can be allowed to continue in its integral form, but,
with one circumstance and another, it may last for
the present.

This writer remarks in a very impressive manner
upon the supineness of Austria in this question, and
there can be no doubt that that country has abne-
gated many of its indefeasible rights, and :retro-
graded to a great extent by its many concessions to
Prussia. We could not have a better instance of
the rapid growth of evil, and the great respon-
sibilities which those incur who allow matters to go
by default, instead of arousing themselves in the
right spirit, and addressing themselves to the case

before them, whether it be pleasant or otherwise.
Had Austria, for instance, been more on the alert,
or had the minor States of Germany been more
patriotic, the results must have been very dif-
ferent. It is most painful to dwell upon our
share of these transactions, for sins of omission may
he as great as sins of commission, and worse, if we
attempt to deceive ourselves and others by declaring
it is no concern of ours. This argument might
beenhate
valid had it been made respecting any
line of policy France and Russia had thought fit
to pursue ; but, in the case of Germany, we are so
raised up in the interests of those States, and so
deeply involved in all that concerns the policy of
the leading Powers, that it is an insult to common
sense to say that there was nothing we could have
done. Well may the eloquent writer above re-
ferred to exclaim against the apparent " ana-
chronism of the GASTEIN Convention," and
state the swindle and confiscation of the Duchies
may " render us more indulgent for the generation
that allowed the partition of Poland."
There has not, indeed, been one valid reason
given why all this confusion worse confounded
should have occurred in Germany, and only
the rights of the Danish Sovereign should have been
sequestered, for that they were rights has been
admitted by the Crown lawyers of Prussia, them-
selves advisers of the arch conspireors at head-
quarters. Can anything exceed in downright
swindling and organised hypocrisy the conduct thus
so properly described—" Certain pr4exts were put