The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-13 00:00:00

TUE PRUSSIAN ALLIANCE.

One of the most pointed arguments we ha ea heard
in favour of the Prussian alliance—a favourite idea
in certain dynastic and diplomatic circles—is that
Prussia and England can never under any circum-
stances come to blows. Au between Prussia and
unliakrel
England is said to be as
fight between a dog and a fish—the e proceedingßritish
it should seem, being the big fish in
this atpdol
and our German cousin the noble doniestieae mem-
ber
of the brute creation. Whether the nation,ogasu oa
improba-
bility of any hostile contact between the dog and
the fish be a sufficient reason for an attempt to
establish intimate relations between the two, is
a point we leave to diplomatic fishmongers to de-
termine ; the big fish can at all events suffice for
its own preservation in its native element ; the
hook and the net have still to be invented
which are to catch and land it on German
soil. Nor is England in a condition to be dragged
about like a blind impostor by any whining dog with
a plate round his neck. Great efforts, however,
appear to be in progress among certain recognis-
able influences in this country and at Berlin to
convert a family bond into a political compact,
and a domestic connection into a political alliance.
The Foreign Minister of England, it seems, as-
sisted at a grand pigsticking solemnity in the
neighbourhood of Coburg the other day, and has
since been heard of at Coblentz in close confabula-
tion with Baron Schleinitz. From these two inci-
dents, diverse in character yet tending to a common
object, it is gravely concluded that the policy of
England is becoming more and more German,
and that the Fish is biting in Rhenish waters
at an Austrian hook ingeniously suspended,
after the fashion of the most approved cadger,
from the collar of the Prussian Dog. For that
the British Fish has got into Rhenish waters—to
its cost—is only too notorious. The misadven-
tures of her Majesty's tender Fairy, between
Emmerich and Mayence abundantly bear witness
to the auspicious inauguration of the precious
German alliance which is destined to supersede
the French, and to the conveniences and advan-
tages of a new and promising connection. Three
weeks ago the public in this country were some-
what startled by the account of a savage outrage
perpetrated on an inoffensive English gentleman
and his family at Bonn, by some officials of the
Rhenish Railway Company. This outrage was
preceded and provoked by an act of flagrant and
brutal violence on the part of a Prussian medical
man, and followed by a still more savage outrage
on the part of the police and law authorities at
Bonn. An English gentleman was actually
dragged off to gaol, refused bail, denied access to
his friends, lodgei in a dark cell on a straw pallet,
and after six days of imprisonment befitting a com-
mon malefactor, or a political malcontent in Aus-
tria, browbeaten and insulted by a public prose-
cutor in a court of justice, and fined, for the
offence of having suffered the grossest indig-
nity and violence without resistance or redress.
Not only were all these outrages and indignities
heaped upon an English gentleman at a German
town in which thousands of pounds sterling are
annually spent by English residents and tourists,
but a Prussian court of justice was profaned by
deliberate insults to the English nation, uttered
by the public prosecutor, a law officer of the
Prussian Crown. This agreeable incident may be
noted as a sort of prelude to the solemn overtures
performed at Coburg and Coblentz. The grand
symphony of an Anglo-Prussian alliance com-
mences with a few simple prison bars for a mere
English traveller at Bonn.
__

But these most desirable Prussian allies of ours
are not content with treating English gentlemen
as their Austrian brethren treat Italian Liberals.
They must needs improve the occasion of the
Queen of England's visit to the home of her Con-
sort, and of the British Foreign Minister's inter-
view with Baron Schleinitz, by a ridiculous and
offensive attempt to waylay and search one of her
Majesty's yachts, and, to prevent British naval
officers from landing at Cologne. The moral con-
sciousness of German officials is, we dare say, some-
' what obtuse, and it is conceivable that by some
metaphysicsl process not understood out of
Germany, the Prussian mind is persuaded that by
imprisoning English travellers and insulting officers
of her Majesty's service it will impress the English
mind with the useful and ornamental qualities of a
Prussian alliance. Toryism in all its forms and dis-
guises is working might and main to put the British
fleet and treasury at the disposal of the Prussian
Government whenever the Court of Berlin shall in-
vite aggression from France by taking up arms for
Austria in Italy. Monarchical interests, as they are
understood in Central Europe, look hopefully to the
future junction of the Dog and the Fish. It is
the pet device of the diplomatic guild—this Anglo-
German combination. The conduct of Prussia and
of Austria during the Russian war was so bold,
straightforward, honourable, and consistent, that
the security of Austria is held to be more than ever
necessary, and the alliance of Prussia more than
ever indispensable to Great Britain. This respect-
able superstition still obtains, we believe, in Down-
ing-street. Of course it is ardently cherished at
Vienna, and Berlin, and especially among Liberals
of the Gotha persuasion. Recent occurrences at
Bonn, and Cologne, on the commonest thorough-
fare f British travel, arrive most opportunely for
the purpose of giving the English public a taste of
of
the quality of the laws, the manners, and the
civilisation of our intended allies. The "_"
of England, it is true, receives Austrian coin_
8 butely
Aliments and Prussian cordialities at Coburg,sbucrogart
at the same time the British p p
libelled by a law officer of the Prues° -le
Britishsi navy is
court of justice at Bonn, and the
officers at
insulted by Prussian Custom-housey• be tempted to
Crown in a
Cologne. The British people
r e f
ask, would such things
France, or in the new Italian
Inter-
nationalanaffinityalloiafnc h appe nmicsii
gtdhoemepm
erse principles and
sionutegrhetstisn;
and family compacts. We
I not in royal courtesies
Prussian. laws and manners
willingly recognise es
con fens that we
the force of Austrian and dfrßanakvlayrian affinities,f but
as Englishmen we m
ally IN ors.
desire better company. D

ALLEGED CHILD MURDER AT
THESTOK_ETEIGATHEAD.

On Thursday an adjourned inquest was held at
Stoketeignhead, Devonshire, on the body
of a newly
born child, found dead under circumstances already
described in our paper.
irohf csilgd's mother was
servant to a farmer named Bond. Mrs. Bond gave
evidence as to the girl's
given birth to a child.
William Bond, far that she had
the girl's confession,farmer
and, corroborated his wife as to
added—l was satisfied with
ceshin
her statement, and went to church. Being Sacra-
ment Sunday we came home earlier; things in
the back kitchen appeared to be in great dis-
order, and I fancied I smelt something very dis-
agreeable. I asked what she had in the fire ; she
said nothing more than what came from the
coal-box. I lifted the cover of the fireplace, and
there I saw the head of a child. I said, " What for
God's sake have you here ?" and taking the poker
drew it out on the hob ' • the servant declared it
was nothing more that what was in the box, and
this she persisted in saying. My father came im-
mediately after, and then she said—" For God's
sake say nothing about it for I shall be hung, and
if you say nothing no one will know anything about
it." I said, "I suppose you want me to be hung in'
stead of you." I then sent for the doctor, a police-
man, and the girl's parents. After some time the
girl was taken up stairs, and Mr. Brooks cameo
afterwards.
Mr. Thomas Brooks, surgeon, said—I When I
to see Elizabeth Hooper on Sunday. last! e
b charred
arrived I had produced for inspectionof
cinder at-
head of a child, with a large pie.ne
on
it.
I then
tached, with a portion of the btraeixo
mine Hooper:
was called
went up stairs, and proceeded
refused to lie down.
I had to
over my arm, which,
She was sitting on the side otftihioftbher
oSnhethaet
bed,
and in doing so I felt f
ad
ien oi
nf
gtht
be
e petticoat,hea dl
oss
tounrnbeedin I apronexamined her, and found that
trunk of a child.
birth to a child, but had not been
ogurteroobveedanfroamtcionnsti
she had given
properly confined.. Mr. Brooks then gave some
,further medical evidence, and deposed to the im-
portant fact that the lungssum had been
up,
the
efliy deli-
berated, inflated, and
that therefore the child must have been born alive.
The
beenb
Coroner
afterhavingnera
few minutes returned the fol-
lowing
be ra t edo C:v andn alive,e rd i ct : b
- - -u " tWh
oe w
or believe the child to have
by what means it came
by its death vve have not fa •
1.1 cient evidence to
show."