The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-26 00:00:00

School, however active and ingenious in demon-
strating the striking difference between the virtue
of exporting arms and ammunition from Birming-
ham, and the wickedness of building unarmed war

vessels on the Mersey or the Clyde, have not been

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able to effect much on behalf of their unrepresented
or bribed and intimidated countrymen. They have
shown us that they can defy the commercial and
manufacturing classes when their industry is not of
a congenial character; they have declared themselves
regardless of any party considerations ; they are
always thundering away at the malpractices and
shortcomings of the aristocracy ; they have never
troubled themselves too much about the really poor
man. What is it, then, that paralyses their energies in
the matter of Reform ?—and since it seems that they
are the autocrats who are to decide whether the doors
of the temple of Janus are to be open or shut, what
prevents them from throwing the whole weight of
their Parliamentary influence into the scale of Re-
form? Is it a fear that in that case OTHELLO'S
occupation would be gone, and public oratory be at
a discount ? Mr. MILNER GIBSON at least pleads
guilty to no such impeachment. Everything with
him is couleur de rose, and if his constituents at
Ashton-under-Lyne are not thoroughly satisfied
with the excellence and efficiency of the present Ad-
ministration, it is certainly not his fault. As for the
aspect of commercial- questions, all that is not now
absolutely perfect is in a fair way of being so. ;Every
alteration that has been made in taxation has been
" wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best." In regard to
foreign affairs, every elector ought to rejoice that
this country had not been drawn into the struggle
about the Duchies ; and if Denmark chose to put too
much faith in the promises (of Whigs 1) it was her
own fault. The newspapers, which are so busily
engaged in putting wrong everything which Mr.
COBDEN, Mr. BRIGHT, and Mr. GIBSON put right,
are also to blame for misleading the little kingdom
whose " gigantic opponents" must certainly be much
flattered by the awe which they inspire in the minds
of gentlemen whose ancestors did not trouble them-
selves very much about fighting two or three such
giants at a time. And history does not record that
they were much the wome for the. encounter. The
much-abused newspapers told these nervous admi-
nistrators of ours that the simple announcement of
the British intention to regard the passing of the
Eider by German troops as a cans belli would have
not only stopped but prevented the war. Not a
shot need have been fired, not a life lost, nor a home
desolated. The Peace Party in England has to
answer for the consequences of that war, and its
final results are not yet seen. Like all injustice, it
will bring about more evil, and this generation may
probably see a struggle which shall involve half
Europe brought about by the cowardice and bad
faith which England has just shown to Den-
mark. When we come to Mr. GissoN's decla-
ration of his views on the American ques-
tion, we are no more sympathetic. By a most
unfortunate illustration he compared the South to
partners in a firm who had separated from the rest
without cause, but he did not tell his auditors by
what law it was possible or justifiable to retain such
receding partners against their will. If the Union
was a purely commercial connection founded on
mutual interest and advantage, it could surely be
dissolved when one of the parties thought it no
longer profitable, and the events of the last few
years have shown us only too plainly how little
sympathy of thought or feelings existed between the
North and the South. As for Mr. Gls soN's going
back to the old platitude about the war being really
a struggle between slavery and freedom, we are sorry
to see it, since it either argues wilful blindness, or
very defective political vision. At a moment when
the North cannot pass an Abolition Bill through
Congress, and the South are discussing the enlist-
ment of their negroes with a view to subsequent
manumission and the gift of land, it is certainly
somewhat inappropriate to talk thus. His colleague,
Earl RUSSELL, put the case more truly when he said
that it was a conflict between Empire and Indepen-
dence, one of those aphorisms in which the noble
earl can put more spirit than into his foreign policy.
The Confederacy had not, said Mr. GIBBON, shown
signs of being able to establish upon lasting founda-
tions the empire which it shadowed forth to the
world, but it has shown signs of being able
to resist the dominion of the. North with a
unanimity and a resolution which argues
well for its power of self-government. It
is the North, and not the South, that seeks for
empire ; but the edifice is shadowy, indeed, and
rests neither upon the cordial support of the people
nor the wisdom and sagacity of the administrators.
The member for Ashton concluded by professing,
on behalf of his colleagues, a desire for strict neu-
trality, and by expressing a hope that the close of
the war might see a permanent friendship estab-
lished between us and the States, and the abolition
of slavery. The last wish must be felt by every
Englishman, but it requires a very sanguine spirit
to infer a lasting peace from the present attitude of
the Federal Government, who, in any case, will be
very glad to employ their idle forces across the
Canadian border. The question is, whether we
shall have the Southern army engaged on a similar
exploit, or ready to assist us in the enemy's rear ?
But the peace party, of course, could not entertain
any proposition which hinges on the possibility
of war.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY.

VIENNA, JAN. 26.

The Neue Freie Presse of to-day says :—" We
learn from reliable sources that the decree convok-
ing the Hungarian Diet will be promulgated on the
15th April, and that the Diet will be opened on the
15th May next."

The same paper states that the military tribunals
have been ordered to terminate the pending trials.

DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES.
BUCHAREST, JAN. 25.
The Senate has presented the address to Prince
Couza.

The reply of the latter was received with enthu-

siasm.

The Chamber is now discussing the bill on the
organisation of the superior clergy.
The Constitution has received a warning for an
article defaming the Jewish religion.

SPAIN.

MADRID, JAN. 25.

The Epoca of to-day states that the Minister of
the Colonies estimates the expenses of the war in
San Domingo at 200 millions of reals, and that the
war has besides occasioned a deficit of 100 millions
in the revenue of Cuba.

The Council of State has no yet discussed the
question of the Encyclical.
_ _ .

MADRID, Jan. 24.

The Epoca says :
" The advance in the form proposed by the Go-
vernment will cost an annual interest of 36,000,000
reals, and in four years, the middle period of the
redemption, 144,000,000.
" The amount of the advance, if issued in scrip,
could not be negotiated at more than 40 per cent.,
thus throwing 1,500 millions upon the market,
which represents a perpetual interest of 45 mil-
lions."

The same journal further says :
" It is stated that the Government will accept
any modifications in the measure recently proposed
that the Cortes may deem expedient for the coun-
try, provided always that the Cortes will grant to
the Government the means to meet the necessities
'of the tate."
In the Senate on the 20th inst., Duke de Torre
delivered a speech of great length opposing the
policy of the Government. He demanded a new
electoral law, the representation of the Spanish
Antilles in the Cortes, liberal solutions of foreign
questions, and the preservation of Santo Domingo
to Spain. The speaker dwelt chiefly upon the latter
point. He believed the annexation to be spontaneous
and national, and that the insurrection might have
been avoided. He considered that there should have
been a regular expedition commanded by a General
of distinguished ability. Nothing had been gained
by the sacrifice made in Santo Domingo, but on the
other hand the losses had been exaggerated. The
Duke de Torre said also, that according to informa-
tion a secret treaty for mutual support existed
between President Giffrard, of the Republic of
Hayti, and the Dominican insurgent, and he believed
that upon the evacuation of the Spanish part of the
island by Spain, it would be occupied by Haytians.
He further pointed out the serious consequences
which the abandonment of the Island might have
for Spain, and said,—On the day that the blacks,
thanks to the Treaty concluded with the United
States, takes possession of the Bay of Samana, the
Spanish trade between Spain and Cuba is destroyed,
since a vessel of three or four guns posted there
could altogether prevent navigation between the
peninsula and the coast of Cuba. The Bay of
Samamt is the most important port of America, and
the peninsula on which it stands forms an extensive
slip of territory, where refuge and land might be
afforded to those familiar, who, from their attach-
ment to our cause, might be obliged to quit the in-
terior of the Island. Here might be constructed
fortifications which would make it a second
Cronstadt or Gibraltar, and with this and
three or four other points on the coast,
we should, in the event of abandonment, follow
the same course in Domingo as in the Philippines,
where we only hold the coast and do not control
the interior.

LIFEBOAT SERVICES. - BERWICK -ON - TWEED,
Wednesday Night.—Yesterday morning one of our large
fishing boats having got aground on the rocks outside the
harbour, and being in danger of breaking up, the Albert
Victor lifeboat of the National Lifeboat Institution was at
once launched and went to its assistance, and succeeded in
getting the crew of six men out of the boat ; after which
they got the boat off, and brought it in here safely, with
but little damage done to it. The cost of this valuable
lifeboat, as well as of three others, was collected for the in-
stitution in Manchester by Robert Whitworth amongst his
friends and others, and the boat is named the Albert Victor,
after the infant prince, with the special permission of the
Prince and Princess of Wales, given at the request of the
Rev. E. Hewlett, of Manchester.

The speaker concluded by expressing his firm
conviction that the evacuation of the island would
be tantamount to the loss of Spain's influence in
America, and her consideration in Europe.
Marshal Narvaez replied, maintaining the pa-
triotism and necessity of the abandonment, and
stating that he expressed this opinion to the Mira-
fibres, Lersundi, and Mon Cabinets, and would do
so in a Council of Captains-General if convened by
her Majesty.

HARROW SCHOOL.—The new covered racquet-
court, built in the course of last year for the use of
the school, was opened on Saturday last. It has been
erected by contributions from old Harrovians and others
at an expense of about £2,000, the greater part of which
sum has been actually subscribed. The building was for-
mally inaugurated by a grand match, in which Messrs.
Dyke and Walker and the professionals Day and Ponten
took part. The gallery was crowded with visitors, who ap-
plauded untiringly now Mr. Dyke's brilliant hitting and now
a skilful "serve" of Day. At first the two gentlemen were
matched against the professionals, and defeated them in
three games out of five. Later in the afternoon, Mr. Dyke
played a single game against Day, giving him some odds,
but was twice vanquished: It is only necessary to add that
the court appears to answer its object in every respect.
A DARING BURGLAR.—On Tuesday night a some-
what singular capture of a burglar was effected in
Oxford through the instinct of a small terrier dog. Al-
derman Thompson and his wife, who reside in the
northern part of the city, retired to rest about their
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the bed, when to her horror she discovered a man,
crouched on his hands and knees. An alarm was in-
stantly given, and as soon heard by one of the univer-
sity police, who happened to be passing at the moment,
and, in conjunction with Mr. Thompson and his sons,
the fellow was dragged from his hiding place. Previ-
ous to his proceeding upstairs, he had left his shoes in
the front garden, and had managed to dose a large mas-
tiff with chloroform. On being searched a bottle of that
deadly poison was found in his pocket ; ho also had a
black bag with him, containing a complete set of house-
breaking implements. The prisoner, a young and power-
fully-built man, stated that he was Welshman, and a
native of Cardiff.

THE SUN,' LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26, 1865.1