The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-02 00:00:00

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LONDON, MO_VDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1865.

The King of PRUSSIA is now in a very awkward
position. lle is obliged, perforce, to go through
certain ceremonies, and yet even he must feel how
empty and fulsome are the doings and speeches
which take place during the celebration of such
affairs. On the 25th of last month his MAJESY

arrived at the frontier of Lauenburg, and the usual
formulas were gone through, with all the display of
triumphal arches, all which seem never to be so

plentiful as when there is least reason to rejoice,
and least cause to approve of the real meaning of
the affair actually celebrated with pomp and circum-
stance. The KING made a speech, upon his entry
into the Duchy, which contained the usual amount
of fair-sounding phrases and hollow professions.
lle met the people will full confidence, he said, and
he also trusted that he should receive equal confi-
dence from them. Not content, however, with the
auspicious present, the KING went on to predict
still better and brighter things for the future, and
therefore he looked upon it as an assurance of hap-
piness for the future that the union of Lauenburg
should take place this year, when already four pro-
vinces have thanked the KING for keeping the pro-
mises made by his illustrious ancestors. The next
day the solemn act of homage to the KING as Duke
of LAUENBURG, from the nobility and gentry, took
place, and his MAJESTY appeared, with the CROWN
PRINCE on his right hand and Count BISMARK on
his left. A sermon was preached on the occasion
and psalms were sung. Prayers and blessings seem
very out of place on such an occasion as the one re-
ferred to, but some persons will not be satisfied
unless they carry out a thing in its complete en-
tirety without regard or reference to consistency or
to propriety. Count BISMAEK has a new project
in his head now, and purposes to obtain an inter-
view with the EMPEROR to arrange about the
completion of the schemes on the Duchies.
Doubtless to give a fair colouring to his proposals,
the wily diplomatist will make some offers or other
to the EMPEROR, but NAPOLEON 111. will not show
his accustomed wisdom if he consent to the artful
propositions of so crafty a man. France will never
gain anything from an alliance with Prussia, and it
is earnestly to be trusted that the affair may come
to nothing allowing the interview takes place.
The annexation of Lauenburg is an anomaly in
these days, and an outrage on the good sense and
right feeling of the people of all civilised countries.
Had any one predicted such a consummation of
tho Duchy question at the outset of hostilities
how many would have laughed at him, and
declared that it was quite absurd to propound such
a notion. Public opinion has been outraged in the
most barefaced fashion by these
schemers on one
hand and shufflers
the other. Nevertheless we
must deplore the result of the deliberations, and
lament the issue of the affair, for it all ends in a
decided triumph of might against right, after a
fashion more consistent with the usurpations of old
times than the enlightenment and progress of these
cur latter days. It is a step in a backward direc-
tion that cannot be too much reprobated, for it is
a most peruicious example to rulers, and a ruinous
illustration of force laying down the law indifferent
to the claims of justice or the calls of honour.
It must not be supposed, however, that we have
even in our days seen the end of this Schleswig-
Holstein affair; it cannot be that with the present
advanced state of progress such cruel usurpation
of the rights of others should be suffered to meet
with success, and that the course pursued by the
tyrannical despoilers should flow smoothly on as if
it was in accordance with a nation's designs, and
fulfilled the hope and expectations of those who
came wider the sway of the powerful