The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-28 00:00:00

THE RIGHT OF NAVIGATION.

The following despatch, of which a copy has been ad-
dressed by Count Bismarck to her Majesty's Ambassador
at Berlin, has been sent to us from the Foreign-office :
" Berlin, July 23, 1870.

"M. l'Ambassadeur.—l hasten, in answer to the
esteemed note which I had the honour to receive from
your Excellency yesterday, to inform you that the lards
hid down in the Paris Declaration of April 16, 1856, re-
specting the right of navigation in time of war, are legally
valid throughout the whole of the States of the North
German Confederation, and will certainly be respected
by the North German Confederation during the present
war.—l avail, &c.,

(Signed)
"Lord A. Loftus."

"" BISXARCZ.

The following royal decree has been published at Berlin
decree respecting the capture and seizure as prize of war
French merchant vessels, July 18, 1870.
" We, William, by the Grace of God, King of Prussia,
decree in the name of the North German Confederation
as follows :

" French merchant vessels shall not be subject to be
captured or seized as prizes of war by vessels of the
royal navy of the Confederation. This rule does not of
course apply to those vessels which would be subject to
capture or seizure if they were neutral vessels.

Given, &c.,

Signed, " WILHELM.
" V. BISMAIICK.

" Berlin, July 18, 1870."

Serious inundations have taken place in Eastern
Bengal.
The Porte has prohibited all demonstrations of troops
on the frontier. M. de Bouree, the French Ambassador,
left Constantinople yesterday for Paris ti Vienna.
In the Italian Chamber of Deputies a motion has been
made, censuring the foreign policy of the Government.
A vote of confidence was passed by 168 against 103
votes.

THE SECRET TREATY,
PARIS, TUESDAY.

A topic of discussion of no small interest has arisen at last.
Yesterday we were all languishing under a sense of pro-
found, but helpless irritation at the determined attitude of
the Government in prohibiting the publication of war
news, and under an equally profound and helpless
sense of ennui at the utter absence of intelli-
gence denoting progress. To-day we are startled
out of stupor by a most serious event. The Secret Treaty
published by the Times is indeed a sensation. We have
no proof of its authenticity, but the evidence in its favour
is so great that we have every reason to feel alarm. Nor
are the expressions of public opinion here at all reassur-
ing. Whilst the higher-class Liberal papers regard this
document with unfeigned doubt—whilst they make
no secret of their belief that, if genuine, it
will bring shame and discredit upon France, the
Government papers publish a ridiculing, rollicking denial
which is far from satisfactory. Some of them evidently
regard the treachery and injustice involved in the con-
quest of Belgium as no great matter after all. In fact
they are not at all sure that France has not
behaved with remarkable and unreasonable generosity
in refraining so long from annexing the
little State. In the first place it should be
observed that the treaty was not telegraphed here at all
on the morning of its publication. • The Agence "lavas
often sends doubtful news, or obnoxious news (which
amounts to the same thing), with a comment or a note of
discredit attached. But it ignored this document alto.
gether. We knew nothing of it until it arrived with the
newspapers from England. Now that it has come it
meets with a sorry reception. The Liberte calls the
treaty a pure invention of Count Bismarck, who, on this
occasion, has made a tool of the Times. The draught was
written out by a poor devil of a fellow who was formerly
a reader in a Frankfort printing office, and is
now the confidential editor to the Chancellor
of the North German Confederation. M. de
Savigny, formerly the intimate friend of Count
Bismarck, but now a little in the shade, has been the
coadjutor in the noble work; and the Times finishes off the
job. It would be absurd, says the Libert6, to seriously
deny such a wretched invention; Count Bismarck him-
self only put it forth as a joke. He thought he would
make fun of the bourgeois of the British capital ; he was
merely ridiculing the English statesmen who for the last
fifteen days have esp sed more or less discreetly the
cause of innocent and pacific Prussia—of Prussia and
Count Bismarck representing Right and Moderation.
Then this genteel writer proceeds to make
some fine disclosures out of his own private
resources. Everybody, says he, who has any pre-
tensions whatever to acquaintance with contem-
porary events must know full well that Count Bismarck
for three years, from the day when Francis Joseph pre-
sided over the German princes at Frankfort to the eve of
Sadowa, did not cease to offer France Belgium. At
Biarritz the Prussian statesman implored France to take
Belgium ! The request has been renewed goth at Paris
and Berlin; in fine, if we are to believe this writer, Count
Bismarck has for years past laboured under profound de-
solation and despair at the refusal of France to occupy
Brussels. So much for the Libertes style of dealing
with the secret treaty. If anything were calculated to
make one believe that the treaty was true, it is such
ignorant, false, and absurd talk as this. The Constitutionnel
says the treaty really exists, but it is the work of Bismarck.
Immediately after Sadowa, when France preferred the
demand for compensation in the shape of a: slice of the
Rhine frontier, Bismarck answered that instead of speak:
ing of compensation, France ought to take Belgium.
It is a new proof of the cynicism of the
Prussian that at the risk of receiving the lie direct,
he should attribute to the Emperor Napo-
leon projects of spoliation conceived by himself. This
ingenious paper, with many of its contemporaries, seems
to forget that Count Bismarck is scarcely the man to
commit an act of folly of this stupendous nature, to accuse
the French Government of one of his own treacherous
manoeuvres. They forget, too, that the benefits sketched
out in this treaty are almost all reserved for France. The
Patric also sees in this act of publication a Prussian
manceuvre for the purpose of frightening England, and
of influencing her against France. The very fact that
the document was published in the Indepeudance Beige at
the same time that it appeared in the Times is sufficient
to indicate the object desired to be attained. (The
Independance Belqe expressed its disbelief in the authen
ticity of the draught). These quotations will serve to
shew that the statements of the French semi-official press—
and the Patrie,Constitutionnel, and Liberte are all more or less
semi-official—are far from reassuring. These noisy refer-
ences to the duplicity of Bismarck mean nothing. A single
assurance that the honour of the French Government
is above such a scheme would be far better than these anti-
Prussian explosions. But no such assurance is given in
any paper. The Liberal Journal des Debats and the
Temps both publish the draught without comments. The
Republican Siecle hopes that the charge against the French
Government is calumnious. Should it prove true, it adds,
France will remain convicted of a scandalous outrage on
the rights of neutral States and on the faith of treaties.

As all war news is henceforth to be confined to the bul-
letins of the Journal Officiel, we have, not unnaturally,
looked with some anxiety for the first speci-
men. It is far from satisfactory. It tells uit that+
General de Bernis has met with and beaten a reconnoit-
ring party before Niederbronn. What was the force of
that party, what the force of the French troops which re-
pulsed it, whether the French side lost any men, and even
the time or day of the occurrence, are all important matters
on which the Journal Officiel sheds no light. We are in
great hopes that the next communication will be a trifle
more precise.

THE FRENCH FLEET.
CHERBOURG, MONDAY.

The visit of the Empress to Cherbourg is the most in-
teresting topic here to-day. Her Majesty visited the
Admiral's frigate, the Surveillante, on board of which
Vice-Admiral Bonet Willaumez presented to her all the
chief officers of the ironclad fleet. After the presentation
was completed, the Empress, her voice chewing great
emotion, read the proclamation of the Emperor to
the Fleet amid the profoundest silence. Mass
was then performed on board the Surveillante,
the Admiral and the principal officers of the
squadron being present. They afterwards breakfasted
with the Empress, who inspected the harbour from her
vessel, mid afterwards embarking in the. CulignSr; went
out bo sea for an hour. Dinner was served bn board the
Savoie, and thirty-five covers were laid, the civil and