The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-26 00:00:00

<lll. -::. 41,
FimNik,

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCT. 26, 1865.

The hard and unscrupulous policy of Austria and
Prussia is being worked out with all the malignity
and malevolence that generally distinguish those
arbitrary Powers. Herr VON BISMARCK'S last Note
is almost unparalleled for its effrontery, and its
tone throughout is arrogant in the extreme. It is
addressed to the Prussian Envoy in the free town
of Frankfort. If the two Powers are allowed their
way the term " free" applied to this city will soon
be a lucus anon lucendo. A clear insight
has been gained by the Berlin Minister
into the discussions of the " Delegates, "
held at Frankfort on the Ist instant. Thereupon
Herr BISMAIICK goes on to state that up to the last
moment " we" entertained hopes that the Senate
would prevent this meeting. The reasons for this
expectation were that the Senate should have been
conscious of its engagements towards the two
gt great German allied Powers," and should also
have remembered the remonstrances that were made
on "previous and similar" occasions by Austria and
Prussia. This is a very significant commencement,
and the continuation of the Note fully realises
the ideas that are entertained by itsopening. Herr
BISMARCK speaks his mind pretty plainly in no very
measured words or courteous phrases. He regrets
that the ruling Powers have been disappointed, and
that they are compelled to believe that the Senate
is " willing for Frankfort to become the source of
all senseless schemes." This last epithet is a relative
term, and can be applied according to the pleasure
of the speaker. How or why it was more "sense-
less" for the Delegates to meet at Frankfort than for
the Emperor and King of the allied Powers to hold
a Convention at Gastein, or for the redoubtable
writer of this Note to rush off to Biarritz in pur-
suance of his tortuous scheme ci policy, is neither
here nor there, However, it suits the purpose Of

some people to arrogate all possible rights to them-
selves, and to refuse others any latitude at all.
Judged by the standard of Herr BISMARCK, no other
State or Principality has any business to express an
opinion of its own, or to make any demonstrations
of a public or domestic character. They should
keep profound silence until they had the mandate
of the august representative of the Sovereign ruler
of Prussia.

At any rate there will be no further excuse for
such mistakes being made, for Herr VON BIS-
MARCK does not mince the matter, but anr ounces
his intentions in these unmistakable words—" We
can no longer tolerate such indulgence to revolu-
tionary tendencies." Nothing can possibly be
more explicit than this outspoken declaration, and
it will, of course, be readily understood by those to
whom it is addressed. Still, however successful
for the present may be the efforts that are
strenuously made by both Austria and Prussia,
those who watch events cannot but speculate upon
the ultimate consequences of such manoeuvres.
When it comes to " we cannot permit" it is serious
indeed, and matters are approaching a crisis. In
this state Herr BISMARCK as good as says that they
will proceed to extremities if due care and attention
be not paid to the intimation now given. The
crime is indeed a dreadful one, which
would undermine the " authority of the two
first German Powers," and it appears that
the late demonstrations at Frankfort have that
appearance in the eyes of the sapient judges of
Vienna and Berlin. The Senate of Frankfort is
blamed in an unsparing manner, and no hopes are
held out that any more lenity and toleration will
be shown if a renewal of these offences takes place.
On the contrary, Herr YOVBISMARCK goes on to
declare that the Berlin Government agrees with
that of Vienna in the opinion that the "recurrence of
such a public scandal, even in the form of a discus-
sion, leading to no result, cannot be permitted."
This Note, so replete with virtuous indignation,
and so full of righteous scorn for wrong-
doers, concludes with an earnest exhortation
to the Prussian Envoy to impress upon the Mayor
that in this matter his superiors are acting quite in
concert with the authorities at Vienna, and there-
fore that he must so order affairs in Frankfort that
there may be no necessity for the interference of
the two great German Powers to " prevent the
further consequences of an indulgence which
has already been carried too far."
The Austrian Government, of course, fellows suit
in this untoward affair, and the Envoy of the Ex-
PEROR is duly apprised of his duties in impressing
upon the recusant Senate and the Mayor of Frank-

fort the intentions of his Government respecting
the late course pursued in that city. Count MENS-
DORFF is as usual more moderate in his expressions
than Herr VON BISMARCK, but, at the same time,
he leaves no room to doubt the meaning of his re-
marks, and doubtless he will be duly appreciated
by those whom he addresses through his circu-
lar. He, also, like llerr VON BISMARCK,
concludes by expressing a hope that the Senate
" will relieve us from the necessity of delibe-
rating upon other steps to prevent in future such
illegal attempts as have hitherto been made
at the seat of the Federal Diet." Can
any courso be more inconsistent than that
pursued by the two Great German Powers, as they
so delight to call themselves, or more subversive of
their true interests in the end ? The fact is, that,
disguise it as their partisans may, the day of liberty
is over for the present in the varied divisions of the
Fatherland, and it is useless to expect that any
satisfactory tidings can reach us from either Vienna
or Berlin. The wily Ministers who rule the coun-
cils of the Sovereigns at these places are
determined to crush out all hope of liberty,
and already they are succeeding beyond their hopes.
Never was wrong-doing more speedily avenged than
in the instance of the minor States of Germany
joining heart and soul in the crusade against
Denmark. They have gained nothing but shame
and obloquy, and now their own privileges are
being mulcted away from them. In time this
oppression must react on its perpetrators ; but for
the meantime Europe must be scandalised at the
attacks made on constitutional rights by Austria
and Prussia.

The Oxford Local Examinations are annually
rising in public interest and importance, and the
yearly distribution of the prizes obtained by the
successful candidates at Manchester, with the address
delivered on the occasion, is consequently growing
more and more a matter of general instead of local
attraction. As it happens, the committee who
manage these affairs have been peculiarly happy of
late in the selection of the President on the occa-
sion, having last year invited the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and this year the Bishop of Oxford, to
distribute the rewards, both of them being especially
qualified for the office, both as Oxford celebrities
and as speakers of the very highest order.
The address of the Bishop of Oxford
on Tuesday last will be read with interest and
profit by every one who is concerned in that impor-
tant question, the education of the youth of our
middle classes. It is becoming more and more
valued, because it is felt that the education of the
middle classes will have an abiding influence on the
future of England—that out of these youths, whose
attainments are sifted, and whose mental training
is tested, at these examinations, the Parliaments of
the next generation, the municipalities, the leaders
of thought and of feelings, the thinkers and workers
of their time, will be most probably recruited.
There can be very little doubt that till within the
last few years the education of the middle classes
has been, as a whole, imperfect and superficial.
The instruction given in the private academies and
grammar schools was too often conducted only
with a view to the temporary gratification of the
parents and the immediate profit of the schoolmaster;
so that, as the Bishop of OXFORD justly observed,
when the time came for the lad's attainments to be
tested in the busy world of life it was too late to
remedy the error. The higher classes who send
their sons to the various Universities have the
guarantee of the searching examinations con-
ducted by highly educated and experienced men.
The lower ranks, though perhaps themselves in-
different to its value, receive a sound educa-
tion for their children, as certified by the
careful examination into their acquirements, con-
ducted periodically by duly qualified and totally
impartial persons. But the middle classes, those
classes who furnish the very bone and sinew of our
country, are, or rather were, left hap-hazard to the
chance of their schoolmaster being an earnest and
intelligent instructor, a mere plodding machine,
or a specious impostor. It is only fair to a highly
honourable and very laborious profession to con-
clude that the latter class furnished at all times
a small proportion of its members, but with the
best intentions many instructors are not them-
selves sufficiently well-informed to be able to test
their
pupil's deficiencies or acquirements, and are
not qualified to impart that deep and comprehensive
knowledge which it is perhaps within his capacity to
obtain. The Bishop of OXFORD did not spare those

instructors who sought rather their own profit than
their pupil's advantage, and with graphic humour
he showed up the system pursued in tome schools,