The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-25 00:00:00

and in the withdrawal of which the Confederate
Government were equally unconcerned, and which
interested the North German Confederation only so
far as the Government of a friendly country
,appeared
to base upon its success the hopes of acquiring for a
sorely tried people a pledge for regular and peaceful
government, afforded the EMPEROR of the FRENCH
a pretext for a casus belli, put forward in a manner long
since unknown in the annals of diplomatic intercourse
and adhered to after the very removal of the pretext
itself." The words which we have quoted are, it
may be said, ex parts statements, and must be treated
with equal disregard. That, however, is neither a
judicial nor a judicious course. It is of the first
importance that we should form an accurate opinion
as to the real cause, or, in other words, the
object of this war. A judge does not refuse
to give judgment because both parties are
equally ready to swear to contradictory
statements. We who are judges now, but who may
have, we know not how soon, to become parties to
the suit, ought to sift these statements, and ascertain
for our own guidance which is the better founded.
The remarkable letter from the Madrid cor-
respondent of the ?lame, published on Friday,
declares that the French Government must
have been fully aware of the candidature
of Prince LEOPOLD, for so long ago as
June 12, the French Ambassador was present at
the Cortes, and heard PRIM refer toPrince LEOPOLD.
He was not, indeed, mentioned by name, but he was
alluded to in such a way as to leave no doubt as to
who was meant. That this was so wouldeseem to
be the fact because M. LEMOINNE, of the Journal des
Debats, who was sitting by the side of the French
Minister, in consequence of what Plum said, wrote
openly of Prince LEOPOLD'S candidature as a well-
ascertained fact. The Madrid correspondent, there-
fore, infers that the DUKE of GRAMONT'S
surprise was feigned, and that the reason why the
EMPEROR did not earlier denounce the nomination
of LEOPOLD was because it did not suit him to speak
until he had Prussia completely in the mesh and his
legions ready to march to avenge the affront of
Sadowa. If NAPOLEON complains of this statement
he has his own favourite counsellor to blame. M.
ROUHER, addressing him in the name of the Senate

told the EMPEROR that he had waited for four years,
and complimented him upon his self restraint which
would not let him rush into war until he had completed

his preparations. For the greater part of the four
years M. ROUHER was the most intimate and prin-
cipal adviser of the EMPEROR. He it was who was
Minister of State—" VICE-EMPEROR," men Called
him—when the measures were passed for reorganising
the army and restoring the conscription. When his

longer continuance in office would have brought
about a revolution, he was promoted to be Pre-
sident of the Senate, and it was in that capa-
city that he blabbed his master's secret last
week. M. OLLIVIER has confirmed the tale. The
French Premier declared a few days ago that he took
office on the condition that there was to be no war
with Germany—a pretty clear proof that
he had reason to suspect war was probable.
If we seek for evidence in Prussia we
shall find it fully in accordance with this from
France. The Berlin correspondent of the Times
declares that the sights which King WILLIAM saw in
the war of 1866 made him resolve never to go to war
again. " Conscious of his pacific intentions, he no
doubt hoped that his determination to keep the
peace would exempt him from the necessity of
unsheathing the sword again." When the war was
forced upon him, this brave old King shed tears.
This does not • look like a thirst for war, or
a lust for conquest. But, it may be . said,.

it is not King WILLIAM, it is his Minister who has
rendered war inevitable. Well, if the unification of
Germany, the dream of his life, be a fair cases belli,
then BISMARCK is responsible, is the aggressor.
But we who remember how Italy has become united,
has become a great power, out of a congeries of
feeble States, and how the first impulse to Italian
unity was given by NAPOLEON, cannot admit
the right of France to object to German unity.
A united Germany had nothing to gain in the way
of territorial conquest. If it deprived France of the
predominant power which it possessed before
Sadowa, that, it might even be said, was to the ad-
vantage of Europe, for it was a guarantee of peace.

TEE Education Bill, which came into the Com-

mons like a lamb, has gone out like a lion. Friday
afternoon witnessed a very stormy and passionate
scene. The combatants were on the same side of
the House, and belong, at least nominally, to the
same party. But there are Liberals and Liberals.
There are some, for instance, who think that there
can be no real progress except over the necks of van-
quished and prostrate Tories; while others,
less " advanced " in the cant sense of the word,
but more really Liberal, estimate their onward
movement by the ground which they traverse, not
by the number of victims whom they trample under
foot. To the first section belong Mr. MALL and his
friends ; to the second belong Mr. GLADSTONE and
the great majority of the Liberal party. Mr. MALL,
able man though he is, is nothing unless a sectary.
The pith and marrow of his very narrow religion is
hostility to the English Church. Professing to be
deeply concerned for the education of the people he
hoped to have made the Education Bill a weapon for
dealing a deadly blow at that Church. His love of
knowledge, which we do not question, was
powerless as an incentive to action when
compared with his hatred of the "establishment."

That the children of the poor should be taught was
well, but that they should be taught by Churchmen
was ill—so ill that he would sacrifice the good to
prevent the evil. Hence when Mr. GLADSTONE re-
fused to beoome the instrument of his bitter hostility
Mr. MIALL exploded in fierce wrath. The disestablish-
ment of the Irish Church had pleased the member
for Bradford, not as an act of justice
to the nine-tenths of the nation who
did not belong to the pseudo-national Church,
but as the commencement of that long list of
measures which was to result in the overthrow of
the Establishment in England as well as across St.
George's Channel. The Education Bill, the Burials
Bill, and the University Tests Bill were all in his
eyes directed to that end. The two last have failed
to become law this session; the first has left the
Church where she was—if, indeed, it has not
strengthened her position. So Mr. MIALL is full of
bitter words against the men who have led
him through the Valley of Humiliation in-
stead of into the Beulah of Disestablishment.
In the extremity of his disappointment he threatens
Mr. GLADSTONE, with all kinds of serious conse-
quences in the future, including a general "To your
tents: 0 Israel," on the part of the Nonconformists.
It was not to be expected that Mr. GLADSTONE
would sit quiet under this denunciation. In the
first place he had the right to challenge Mr. MIALL's
claim to be considered the spokesman or the Non-
conformists. As we have more than once pointed
out, and as the member for Bradford him-
self confessed on Friday, Nonconformists are
not unanimous with regard to the Education Bill.
Colonel I3Enlisronn, who represents an essentially
Dissenting constituency, declared that he had pre-
sented petitions from 23,000 members of one, and
that a by no means numerous body of Dissenters—
the Primitive Methodists—in favour of the bill, and
that Mr. SPURGEON, who could gather under his