The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-01 00:00:00

We say nothing of the fact that Holstein belongs in
the first place to the Federation, for the Kaiser maY.,
at heart approve a savage snub to the Diet, and
nothing of the injury done to the Duchy, for Francis
Joseph cares very little about duchies, but we con-
fine ourselves to the slap on the cheek thus dealt out
to him. Is it possible that the Austrian House alloy/4
property to which it has legal right to be dealt with
by the Parliament of its hereditary rival as matter
of purely domestic concern ? And yet if it does not,
then we are driven back upon that secret alliance
which involves such extraordinary trickery °
for u
conceivable end. Austria and Prussia in settling
the destination of the Duchies violate no interna-
tional law, break no promises which will hurt the
consciences of Hohenzollerns or Hapsburgs, neglect
no principle the force of which they have ever ac-
knowledged. As to external interference, they ha"
only to announce their union to make such inter-
ference hopeless, or at least to place themselves in s
position in which defence would not involve more
risk than the prize is worth. Why, then, should they
be at the pains to act out an intrigue which can",
deceive themselves and will deceive nobody else,',
We believe that the second solution is, despite all
apparent difficulties, the true one, and that Aus-
tria, is really unable for the moment to run the
risk of any act, or even any remonstrance,
might provoke the Prussian Court to an app&
to force. So numerous and inveterate are her ea"
mies, so wretched is the condition of her finances,
and so dispirited is her Court, that even
the support of the minor States she fele
unequal to a great war. The prosperity of e
people and the popularity of the reigning h°llgial
possible sway in North Italy and certain power
Germany, have all alike been sacrificed to the Ise;
tion of a magnificent army, and now, whe,44,41
11
rival makes a clutch at the one object of airtyS
left on earth to a Hapsburg, the old Imperial Col
that army is found useless because inca
pableth°o
movement without a crash which would bring
old fabric down. Never was there such a satire 0
military monarchy. The population of Austria
forty millions and that of Prussia barely nineteer
her revenue is more than double, her army pear
threefold in number, her German alliances at leas
eight times as powerful, and yet Prussia takesavrat
a port which half belongs to her " without goilligt
through the formality of first asking permission' 0.
is a strange position for the House of HaPskill %
and it involves this very important result. Pi.-
eat
von Bismark has only to come to some age a
with the French to swallow the Duchies whole,f
see North Germany at his feet. All other posse
rivals have been beaten. Russia needs supPo,,mn-
Berlin to keep the chronic revolt in. Poland
bounds, is at this moment sending out acrid eire_ Pc
about the danger to which the revolutionary c"
of Europe--i.e., the Bonapartes--continue to efc,
pose her. Austria, as we have seen, is powerlessie
interfere. Great Britain would be, on the vill°bi'e
rather pleased to see Prussia become a considera,,
maritime power, and does not forget that when al',
said Berlin does not love the Pope. Italy vielce°lol
anything which gratifies her well-founded &alike it
Vienna, and the Diet—well,. the Diet, knowiogut
cannot avoid being cooked, is chiefly anxious a„,„,b°eri
the sauce. There remains France alone, and if J"
von Bismark can offer France compensation, Fran•es
is not to be feared. We utterly reject all the elle,
which exiles are always repeating of bargaina, to
tween Napoleon and the ci-devant Ambassaae.Atje
his Court, of concerted cessions and planned •
campaigns for plundering territory from Bavaips,
and accept only the one visible fact. Two
both daring, both ambitious, both unscrupulous'
and and both desirous for solid reasons of territorial
grandisement, can, if they will but agree, grits
their passion. One does not perceive under 10 be
circumstances what the " balance of power* call
considered worth.