The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC/ JOURNALS.

TIMES.—In the opinion of most of its members,
the late House of Commons had enough of Lieut.-
Colonel Dawkins and his grievances, but it is not
impossible that one of the first duties of the new
house will be to give its- attention to another
Dawkins debate. The gallant gentleman, having
been grievously injured by his military superiors,
is now treated with equal indignity and injustice
by his political opponents, and these he defies with
the same courage, and rebukes with the same temper
and courtesy. Mr. Alfred Seymour and
Mr. Pender were candidates for the borough
of Totnes. Colonel Dawkins, desirous, no
doubt, to crush Lord Hartington and his other per-
secutors, aspired also to the honour of representing
that pleasant little borough. But to effect this it
was necessary to defeat either Mr. Seymour or Mr.
Fender. Colonel Dawkins was not the man to quail
before such work. The two Liberal candidates
found in him' a man burning with ardour to expose
their misdeeds. A correspondence which we publish
tells the whole story. The genius and temper of
Colonel Dawkins shine oenspieuong. The first thing
we learn is that Colonel Dawkins had on the hust-
ings made an "observation" on Mr. Pender's
" bribery." Now, though small boroughs may not
always be immaculate, nor rich candidates always
solicitous to mark what their agents do with the
sums which they confide to them for " necessary
expenses," yet bribery is a serious thing, and a gen-
tleman does not like to be charged with it on the
hustings. We cannot wonder, then, that Mr. Fen-
der should use the decided expression " It is false."
But Colonel Dawkins is indignant that any one
should give him a flat denial even to a charge im-
puting a legal offence, and at once he published a
letter in a local paper demanding that Mr. Pender
should publicly state that he is prepared to affirm
on oath that " none of those electors who signed the
requisition to me either have or will receive Mr.
Pender'a money, or money from any one else, to
elect Mr. Pender." Otherwise Colonel Dawkins will
consider Mr. Pender's " intemperate words" as ap-
plicable to his own contradiction of the Colonel's
statement. The notion of accusing a man publicly
of bribery, and then stigmatising his necessary
denial as "intemperate," would enter only into
the mind of one so confident of his own virtue as
Colonel Dawkins. But a personal dispute with one
candidate was not enough. Having challenged Mr.
Pender to the ordeal of oath, he calls forth Mr.
Seymour to that of battle. Mr. Seymour, alluding
to Colonel Dawkins's recent retirement from active
service, said that though the Colonel's trade had
been fighting, it was so no longer. Some good-
natured friend probably wrested this harmless ex-
pression from its original meaning, and when it
reached the Colonel he at puce thought it necessary
to prove that his fighting capacity remained. Mr.
Seymour, as he thinks, having declared that he is
" not a fighting man," he is " prepared to relieve
him of his error as soon as be likes at Wormwood
Scrubbs or elsewhere, and thus, probably, relieve
Totnes at once of a representative not of her choice."
It will be seen by the correspondence that this double
challenge is contained in a letter which Colonel
Dawkins sends to his adversaries jointly through the
medium of the Western Morning News. The two
successful candidates probably never attached much
importance to the letter, in spite of its importance
to Totnes and the world. They may have looked
upon it as a bit of election effervescence, which
would soon subside and be forgotten. But Colonel
Dawkins is not a man whom any one must neglect
to take seriously. His challenges were not meant
to be evaded. He still awaits one opponent on the
platform, the other at Wormwood Scrubbs. Al-
though defeated at the hustings, he is not to be got
rid of by silence. Hence a whole fortnight after
penning his original challenge, he repeats it by
calling the attention of the two returned members
to it. He sends them a copy of the newspaper con-
taining it, " in case it should have escaped their
observation." Mr. Seymour simply replies by stating
what his expression really was, and declines to give
the Colonel an opportunity of creating an imme-
diate vacancy for Totnes. We must say that, in
our opinion, Colonel Dawkins had better send no
more letters to the Totnes members or the local
newspaper. Although a fortnight after the writing
of his first letter was not long enough to convince
him that he had been acting absurdly, about a
month has now passed, and it is to be hoped he haS
found at length a better judgment. As to the words
used by Mr. Pender, they were justifiable under the
circumstances ; and as regards the expression attri-
buted to Mr. Seymour, a little reflection might have
convinced Colonel Dawkins that it could not have
been intended to cast a doubt on his courage. The
cause of Col. Dawkins's retirement is well known,
and had not nothing whatever to do with so dishon-
ourable a charge. The explanation of Mr. Seymour
is perfectly satisfactory, and, indeed, supplies the
only intelligible meaning to his words.
POST.—It can scarcely be necessary to say that
the rumours respecting the pending negotiations be-
tween Austria and Prussia should be received with
reserve. There is no reason to suppose that war is
imminent. The Prussian military may sketch the
plan of an imaginary campaign, and the Austrian
journals may boast of the courage and loyalty of
their army, but the Governments of both countries
are under heavy recognisances to keep the peace.
That the fire which is being banked up will at some
future time burst into a flame, and, if measures of
precaution are omitted, produce a calamitous con-
flagration, is more than probable ; but at present
it is incumbent on the two Powers to control the
rivalry they cannot conceal. They can never live
together in Germany on friendly terms, but at this
moment they cannot afford to bring their differences
before Europe. An appeal to arms would be equi-
valent to applying for a divorce. The Germanic
Confederation might be blown away in the dorm.

And, abnormal, irksome, and embarrassing as the
actual situation undoubtedly is, there remains in it a
certain security which Austria appreciates, and which
Prussia may find is still capable of moderating her
ambition. There are, in fact, obligations that, if
not avowed, are understood, and which render a
reference to the arbitration of the sword impolitic.
On the other hand, however, the circumstance that
hostilities are avoided on such considerations is in
itself significant. That which is now a subject of
congratulation may hereafter be regarded from an
entirely different point of view. It is evident
enough 'that Austria and Prussia are restrained by
arguments which they admit reluctantly. If they
were in a position to fight out their quarrel it is im-
probable that the interests of Germany would be
suffered to stand in the way. As it is, too, they are, as
they think, mutually requiring strength for an inevit-
able struggle. Prussia seeks to annex the Duchies for
the purpose of obtaining a preponderance of power
in the Federal Diet, and Austria is rallying all the
forces of her empire. Immediately they are not
prepared for a conflict, nor can they make certain
that it would be tolerated by the neighbouring
Powers ; but eventually, like the war with Den-
mark, the controversy may be revived and decided
when the European system of police happens to be
out of working order. For many years past Austria
and Prussia have governed Germany by a series of
compromises between themselves. The latter Power •
is, it would appear, now desirous of putting an end
to this anomalous arrangement. Prussia, in reality,
aspires to German sovereignty, and on the ground
that Austria, although recognised as a great Euro-
pean Power, is properly but a secondary State in
the Germanic Confederation. The Prussian people
are, it seems on the whole, in accord with the King
and his Ministry on this point. The Liberals are
not disposed to assist Herr von Bismarck in any
enterprise, no matter how much they may desire
its success ; but they conceive, and it must be said
reasonably, that Prussia would gain not only power
but constitutional freedom by the association. And,
in that sense, the realisation of the Prussian idea
might also prove advantageous to Germany. It is,
indeed, not unlikely that it would, if the indispen-
sable conditions of such a modification were com-
plied with. But, in the form suggested, it means
neither more nor less than the aggrandisement of
the Prussian monarchy at the expense of the inde-
pendence of Germany. German independence, it
may be contended, is not worth much, and,, in
truth, it is the shadow of a lost substance ; still,
it does not lie in the mouth of Prussia to deplore
a state of things which her policy has most mate-
rially contributed to bring about. The Prussian
Government has coerced Saxony, made Hanover
her instrument, lorded it over Hesse and Baden,
and not only seriously interrupted Bavaria and
Wurtemburg because Austria and Russia might
have resented its interference. But the indepen-
dence of Germany, as it is internationally inter-
preted, constitutes a guarantee which it is manifest
Europe would not be justified in exchanging
for a simple Prussian bond, and the force of the
guarantee consists mainly in the non-German power
of Austria. This may be an anomaly ; but, if ano-
malies are to be abated, there is an abundant crop
of them bending to the sickle. Austria is the weight
in the balance against Prussia, and the object of the
Confederation was to preserve the equilibrium. It
may be expedient to revise the settlement, but the
revision must comport with the end originally con-
templated. Austria and Prussia are almost equally
averse from pressing directly to a solution the ques-
tion that has become conspicuous through their dif-
ferences. The hesitation of Prussia is quite intel-
ligible, but it is not so easy to apprehend the motive
of the Austrian policy. Herr von Schmerling ima-
gines, indeed, that at no remote period Germany
will be governed from Frankfort by a Representa-
tive Assembly, and, if Austria felt competent to play
this as her trump card, it would serve to test the
consistency and the patriotism of the Prussian Libe-
rals. The casting vote might be virtually in their
hands. But it is idle to speculate on a German
Republic, for that it would be in all save the name,
as the result of another Jena or even a repetition of
the Olmutz penance. The difficulty experienced in
connecting the Old World with • the New by means
of electricity is not greater than that which impedes
the union of Germany. If Prussia were guided by
a Cavour her chance of success would not warrant
the attempt ; and if Austria cannot rely on Germany
to resist the Bismarck policy; she may well despair
of German support at any future period. It is rea-
sonable to' assume that PruSsia is now in a state of
transition. The nation is submitting to a Govern-
ment the days of which are numbered. Moreover,
the reconstruction of Germany on the model of the
United States is a transparent illusion. Prussians
and Bavarians, and Saxons and Hanoverians, have
all distinctive ideas of independence. German
unity is a poetical and professorial dream. All
that is substantial in the theory admits of a
thoroughly practical explanation. However it
may answer to its European purpose, the
Germanic 'Confederation is to the Germans a
barren and useless institution. The Federal Diet is
powerless in the presence of Austria and Prussia,
and the connection it establishes between those
powers only tends, through their irreconcilable an-
tagonism, to retard the progress and prejudice the
interests of Germany. This fact shines clear through
all the obscurity of the existing entanglement. It
is the point that immediately arrests observation,
the source of the altercation, and the cause of its
protraction. The Diet is, in the first instance, re-
sponsible for an unrighteous war, a war undertaken,
as is now admitted, in pursuance of an illegal
assumption ; and that which had its origin in demo-
cratic passion has so far resulted in the ascendancy
of unmitigated despotism. In the consequent com-
plications the sentence of retributive justice is dis-
tinctly pronounced, and the warning is as emphatic
as the judgment is stern. At Gastein, or at Salz-
burg, a hollow truce may be concluded, but the
peace of Europe cannot be permanently ensured
while the touchwood foundation of the German Go-
vernment is the battle-ground of two great military
powers.