The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The public will read with much satis-
faction the confirmation by Lord Stanley last night
of the intelligence already published, that France
and Prussia have accepted a conference on the
Luxemburg question and that consequently there
are well-grounded hopes that the recent dispute
will be ‘, speedily and amicably settled." We have
had too recent an experience of a Conference for
the prevention of a war in the case of the Danish
quarrel to take it for granted that a peaceful
arrangement must necessarily follow a meeting
of diplomatists; but in the present case the interests
of the two principals lie so plainly in the mainten-
ance of peace, and the intervening Powers are so
sincere in their promotion of it, that we have every
reason to hope that the Conference will not be un-
successfa At least, we may congratulate our-
selves that the Government of this country
has laboured effectively in bringing the antagonists
to reason. The action of -England, Russia, and
Austria has been such as becomes first-class States
which feel themselves the guardians of European
interests. They have taken the fairest and, as far
as we can judge, the most prudent course with the
two antagonists. They have seen that two great
Powers, sundered by jealousy on the one side and
suspicion on the other, were face to face on a ques-
tion of no great importance in itself, but made
dangerous in the highest degree by the temper
and position of the two rivals. There can
be no difficulty in apportioning the blame ; nor
ought we to shrink from speaking the truth on the
matter. France was the first mover in the affair,
and her action was such as made it difficult for
Prussia to avoid deeming it a challenge. Although
Prussia had no legal right to keep a garrison in
Luxemburg, her troops were, at any rate, in posses-
sion, as they had been for 50 years. Prussia did
nothing new, She only continued to hold the fortress,

Ls it had been held during nearly two generations.

For the French Emperor to make a bargain with a
minor Sovereign to whom Luxemburg has been
committed in the interest of Europe—for him to
stipulate for the transfer of a fortress in which there
was at the very time a Prussian garrison, was as ill-
judged an expedient as could have been adopted.
Assuming that the destruction of the old Confedera-
tion took away the right of Prussia to garrison what
was no longer a Federal fortress, and that it was the
duty of France to demand that a military change
should be made consistent with the new political con-
dition, still the proper mode of taking action in the
matter would have been by addressing Prussia her-
self and the great Powers with whose sanction Prus-
sia had originally held Luxemburg. A bargain and
sale behind the back of the garrisoning Power, and
when all was done,l a summons to march out since
Luxemburg had become, by the complaisance of the
Dutch King, a French Department, was an offhand
way of doing things in which Prussia could not be
expected to acquiesce. It is, indeed, wonderful that
a man of the experience, the tact, and the know-
ledge of national feeling possessed by Napoleon
should have thought that a powerful State would
allowitself to be so treated. In all this, the first
part of the business, we hold France to have been
in the wrong. Since then, however, the position of
the controversy has altered. France, therefore,
now stands on different ground, and in submitting
to the three Powers the question of Prussia's right
to garrison Luxemburg the French Emperor raises
a discussion which he has a right to raise, and the
decision on which ought to be independent of his
attempt to incorporate the territory himself. We
may approach the controversy as if there had
been no b
bargaining with his Majesty of Holland,
and consider it as referring merely to a recti-
fication of military arrangements rendered neces-
sary in consequence of last year's events. We
must suppose that the neutral Powers have seen
matters in this light, since they urge Prussia
to abandon her right of garrisoning Luxemburg.
This has by some been unaccountably considered as
if they had taken part with France. No accusation
can be more unfounded. On the proceeding with
which the dispute began—the attempt of the French
Emperor to obtain possession of the Duchy—the
three Powers are not now called upon to pronounce
an opinion,. since, either spontaneously or in defer-
ence to their opinion, the Emperor has renounced
such a pretension. The difficulty during the last
fortnight has been to bring Prussia to agree to the
conditions which the three Powers think just, and to
which France was the first to assent. When of two
parties to a dispute the one agrees to the proposals
of the arbitrators, while the other rejects them,
it must needs happen that the arbitrators will seem
to take part against the obstinate one, although it
may well be that the other was originally the
more to blame. In this sense only have the medi-
ating Powers been unfavourable to Prussia. Their
demands, so far from being inspired by hostility,
have been framed with a real regard to the interests
of Germany. The settlement proposed by them
seems the most just and feasible under the circum-
stances. It is proposed deliberately, and with the
solemnity of a judicial award, and Prussia can ac-
cept it as the judgment of Europe, and without any
apprehension of being thought to yield to menace.
If the friends of peace have found it difficult to
reason with Prussia on this matter, one ought not
to be surprised. The Germans know that French
statesmen of the highest rank have openly advocated
a war of conquest to obtain possession of the Rhine,
and that this ambition possesses in an extraordinary
degree the people and the army. They remember
the demands of last year, they remember the
Auxerre speech, which preceded them. But in yield-
ing Luxemburg under the conditions proposal Ger-
many does not really suffer any loss. If the terri-
tory be neutralised and the fortress razed, the new
Confederation will be really stronger than if it held
the mightiest fortifications oeyond its own limits.
The illegality of keeping soldiers on foreign ground
would always rankle in the minds of people and
avert the sympathies of the world in any future dis-
pute. On the other hand, a disposition to defer to
the wishes of the chief States of Europe will attract
to Prussia and the new Confederation an esteem
which will be worth a dozen Luxemburgs. When
the territory is neutralised under the sanction of all
the great Powers, and when Germ any finally retires
within her own political limits, it will be difficult
for foreign ambition to assail the Confederation
without bringing on itself the censure and hostility
of all Europe. To obtain such a condition of things
is worth a greater sacrifice than the abandonment
of almost any fortress.
THE " WESTMINSTER GAZETTE" ON FRANCE AND
PRUSSIA.—The present moment is a critical one for
the French Empire. Accustomed hitherto to look
upon herself as the leader in European politics,
France has herself contributed to the rapid rise of a
power which bide fair to displace her. europe, dur-

ing the Austro-Prussian war, accepted the noti
that the designs of Prussia were fully understood
and allowed by the ruler of France. It was the
belief of the world that Countßismarck was permit-
ted to prosecute his plans upon condition that an
issue favourable to Prussia should also result in
some substantial advantage to France. The over-
(anda by France after the war pointed out
so peremptorily repelled by Count Bismarck)
point to the probable existence of a previous ar-
rangement between France and Prussia. The UP"
shot of the transaction has been very different from
what was anticipated by both France and Prussia.
Successful beyond her wildest dreams, Prussia,
at the close of an unprecedentedly short campaign,
found herself virtual mistress of the whole of Ger-
many. She had in one week struck Austria to the
ground, had rudely handled those of her enemYs
allies who had confronted her, and was following
up her successes on all sides with ruthless vigour.
France then threw her sword in between the
combatants, and succeeded, after much harrassing
negotiation, in bringing al out an arrangement.
Austria seceded from Germany, and left Prussia
full play. Count BisMarck appears, immediately
after the war, to have persuaded most of the Ger"
man Governments that France was more W be
feared by them than Prussia, . and to have driven
them into his toils much in the same way that
animals in the Cape are driven into a pitfdll. The
result is that Prussia has either under her inuee"
diate military command, or at her back, the whole
of Germany (with the exception of Austria's Ger-
man provinces), and is rapidly bringing them
under the organization which proved so effective
against her foes. The latest question which has
.
arisen between her and France shows her con-
fident both in herself and her allies, and de-
termined to make no concessions whatever
to her quondam friend and indirect supporter.
Meanwhile, France has to face the fact of a
united Germany along her frontiers, and to submit
to the humiliation of seeing the policy of the man
whom, in her enthusiasm, she called the " Arbiter
of Europe" completely and ignominiously check-
mated. This result is most galling to the French
people, and any careful observer cannot have failed
to mark how intense is the feeling of France upon
hand of Imperial Government so to gag the press
the matter, and how difficult it is even for
the strong that no symptoms of her profound emo-
tion may reach the outer world. We cantle'
but think that the Emperor. Napoleon hats
himself to thank for the cruel position in whiel
he is placed. He was the man who inaugurate"
in Europe those high-sounding fallacies whichl
were to supplant public right and international
law. He can hardly have been so innocent. as t°
imagine that the specious nonsense put forward by
him for his own ends would be admitted in his
case, and never urged in their own by the few un"
scrupulous statesmen whose successful treachery
has induced befooled. Europe to call them great.
The whole of his dealings with Austria in 1859'
his subsequent conduct in " defending " the tele:
poral power of the Pope by abandoning him ;
is
compact with Prussia, and the course pursued hie
him in the negotiations immediately preceding ,_ll,.
war, evince a complete disregard for all public rig-
The The Emperor Napoleon cannot complain of BO.;
marek and Italy for following his example. It
good he should see that abandonment of prineil'l
can never generate public and international mora.;
lity ; that when a man in the highest Place
Europe sets the example of utterly disregarding
treaties, and outraging public law, he is Bowie,
the wind, and must expect to reap the whirlwind'
Outraged justice is sometimes slow in its vell,:
geance, but that vengeance is none the less terrini;i
and inevitable. We trust that France may not be le7
by her indignation to throw herself into a war
n°o
which no man living could foretell the issue. One
conclusion, however, results clearly from the tran;
actions of the last twelve years—if Europe is n°
to be turned into a camp—if purposeless and bloody
wars are not to be enkindled—if nations are 01,
to live with the knife at their throat—if cons%
sion and chaos are not to be enthroned on to
Continent, rulers will have to fall back upon
th
old-fashioned notions of right and wrong, for which
their guilty ingenuity never can find a safe sub-
stitute.