The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-02 00:00:00

WAR POSSIBILITIt S.

The time has gone by when wars between nations were
simply the affairs of Governments and dynasties. Old
Esop has a fable, in which the owner of a donkey was
striving to hurry off the obstinate quadruped, lest he
should be seized by the enemy. " But," expostulated
John Donkey, "if the enemy gets hold of me, will he
double my load ?" " No," was the answer. " Then I'll
not budge," said that wisest of donkeys. " Whether you
are my master or somebody else, it is all one to me." But
the wisdom which was once confined to the fable is now
found in fact. The uneasy people may take advantage
of the situation of war to toss off their packs and when
Governments go to war, an important item in the pro-
bable cost is what the uneasy thousands may choose to
do while their rulers are waging war or thinking of mak-
ing war upon each other. It is said, and it is probable
enough, that Italy is on the eve of rising and proclaiming
a republic ; and that in Spain a similar event is appre-
hended. It would, indeed, be curious if the war, which
ostensibly dates from the question of the Spanish crown,
should result in deciding that there is no need of a king in
Spain. It would be curious, too, if the Italian crown, the
work of the French Emperor, should be abolished by his
loss of prestige. The protection of France is withdrawn
from the Papal chair, and if Victor Emmanuel on the one
part and the Italian Carbonari on the other make a dash
for the Holy City, Austria of old, the defender of the
Church, but latterly somewhat estranged from Rome,
may interpose and still more complicate matters, while no
other outside interference is likely to be brought to bear.
Whatever has been his success or want of success in the
field, Napoleon haz certainly lost ground in Paris. In
the Corps L6gislatif and other departments of the Govern-
merit we fail longer to see the usual exercise of the
Emperor's resolute will. Things are moving without
him ; and though the compromise Ministry of his
appointment has been displaced in favour of a Cabi-
net said to be more decidedly Napoleonic than
the retiring Ministers, the next turn of the wheel
may supplant the present Ministry in favour of one less
friendly to the " Empire," or the administration of the
affairs of the nation may even pass into the hands of a
committee of safety or a Provisional Government. One
thing, and one thing only, can avert this, and that is such
a success of the French arms as will heal the wounded
pride of the nation ; and such an identification of Napo-
leon with the success as will restore the] favour he has
clearly lost. We are aware that upon apparently good
authority the Emperor claims that the war is one on
which the nation insisted, and that he could not resist the
force of the public will. Something more is necessary
than the Imperial word to prove this, though we do Louis
Napoleon the justice to concede that he believes it. It is
a " Napoleonic Idea," and, of course, he believes it. The
Napoleon, under the shadow of whose great name Louis
has reached whatever of imposing grandeur his attitude
possesses, never, if we are to credit his own assertions, un-
dertook of his own motion, or by his own desire, to
disturb the peace of the world. He was " the child
of destiny." But Louis Napoleon without success is a
lost monarch. The Imperial heir can be Imperial only by
inheriting success. If the war is Louis Napoleon's war
he will be held to a stern account for its future. And if
it is a national war so much the worse for him who does
not carry out the national dreams of glory. The national
pride will sacrifice the man who assumed to lead, but only
made abortive the national will, and brought defeat where
the people demanded victory. But the intelligent reader
will imagine possibilities and probabilities for himself.
One thing is next to sure, and that is that the war now in
progress, terminate as it may, will be disastrous to
absolutism. Its effects upon the future of Europe and of
the world cannot be over estimated. Every war in the
present day in Europe tends to the ultimate elevation of
the subject into a citizen. When great political truths
need no more be veiled in fable, but are the subjects of
outspoken speech, it is no longer the donkeys who reason
with Esop--himself a slave. They are the donkeys who
do not reason.--Pnilaclelphia Ledger.

DANIEL O'CONNELL.—A. bust of Daniel O'Connell
has just been unveiled in Union Park New York. It is
a plaster of Paris cast by a young Irish sculptor, Mr.
William R. O'Donovan, and is intended to be the original
of a bronze statue to be erected in Central Park. It is to
be fourteen feet high, and is to be surrounded by twelve
colossal figures, representing twelve epochs in the history
of Ireland.—Freeman's Journal.
THE RULES OF SCALPING.—A Western (American)
paper says that the friends of people killed by Indians
can know what tribe the murderers belong to by observing
a few simple rules laid down for scalping by the different
tribes. Tlie Cheyennes remove a piece not larger than a
silver dollar from immediately over the left ear; the Arra-
pahoes take the same from over the right ear. Others
take from the crown, forehead, or nape of the neck. The
Utes take the entire scalp from ear to ear, and from
forehead to nape of neck.

We regret to hear of the death of Sir Thomas
Montgomery Cuninghame. He is succeeded in his title
and estates by his son James. captain of the Rifle Bri-
gade, who was born in 1834. His family, which claims
the earldom of Glencairn, traces its descent from Mal-
colm, son of Fresken, who, when Prince Malcolm fled
from Macbeth after the death of Duncan in 1039, con-
concealed the prince from his pursuers. After Malcolm
was restored to his rights and the throne of Scotland, he
conferred on his preserver the thanedom of Cuninghame,
from which the family takes its name.
The Lord Chancellor has nominated the Rev.
Arthur Charles Wilson, D.D., of Christ Church, Oxford,
senior assistant master of the Grammar School, Chigwell,
to the head-mastership of the Queen's School (formerly
the Holy Ghost Chapel School), at Basingstoke. Dr.
Wilson took his B.A. degree in 1848.