The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-24 00:00:00

absurd a law has always been rendered practically' a Confederation in which there were so many jeal-
innocuous by legislation. With regard to real pro- ousies, and where there were but two other members
perty, the difficulty has ceased since the reign of who could boast a larger population than herself,
Henry VIII. By an Act passed in that reign a such a condition seemed tolerable enough. She could
definite number of years was assigned after which incline to either of these two principal states, ac-
it should be impossible to recover a claim. But in cording as self-interest directed, in the hope that her
all other matters the rule remained that usage must weight would just decide the wavering balance be-
have existed since the time of Richard I. It is tween them,:ancl the one which she favoured would
obvious that if such a rule had been strictly applied, compensate her for her useful partiality out of the
DO form of possession would have been secure for a territories of the smaller ones. Unluckily for her,
year, except that of real estate or that by definite when the real moment for decisive choice ar-
grant. The process by which the Judges eluded the rived, she made a mistake not only in her cal-
difficulty is singularly characteristic. They first laid culation as to which was the stronger of the two,
down what the Chief Justice calls " the somewhat but also as to which was the more unscrupulous.
startling rule" that from the usage of a lifetime Austria, to whom she applied, was not ready to
the presumption arose that a similar usage had ex- bribe her with promises of winked-at theft from
isted from a remote antiquity. Next, as it could Baden or Darmstadt ; and it soon turned out
not but happen that in the case of many private that even if Austria had been capable of counte-
rights such a presumption was impossible, " judicial Dancing the proposed disloyalty, her countenance
astuteness had recourse to the questionable theory would have been of no avail. Now, therefore,
of lost grants." Juries were told that from usage Bavaria finds out the things that are for her peace.
within living memory they might presume a grant " Bavaria needs a protector," her Foreign Minister
or deed to have existed, but to have been lost. declares to her Chamber of Deputies. " She must
" Next, they were recommended to make such a lean on a great Power." What Power is it to be ?
presumption ; and lastly, as the final consummation It used to be Austria on whom she usually leaned,
of judicial legislation, it was held that a jury should though in the days when she thought she could turn
be told, not only that they might, but that they the balance between Austria and its rival she would
ought, and were bound, to presume the existence of have resented the idea of her requirine. "a protec-
such a lost grant, though neither Judge nor jury, tor." Now, however, she herself proclaims'' that she
nor any one else, had the shadow of a belief that absolutely needs it ; but she is too courteous of
any such instrument had ever really existed." At course to say that Austria has become too weak to
length, in the reign of William IV., or after another afford her the protection which she requires. Ac-
three centuries, the Legislature again intervened, cordingly she invents another excuse, which is at
and in respect of real property " and certain speci- once more eivil, more convenient, and apparently
fled easements" fixed certain periods of possession less ungrateful. She cannot now lean on Austria,
or enjoyment as establishing prescriptive rights ; because "in Austria the German element is now far
but " with regard to all other prescriptive rights or from dominant." Note the patriotism of her choice •
customs, not pravided for by statutory enactments, of " protectors." She is Bavarian, it is true ; but,
the law remains as before." Our readers are now more than all, she is German. The integrity of
in a position to recognise the point upon which the Germany and the union of the branches of the
Court was divided. The doctrine of presumptions Fatherland are the object of all her efforts. The
unquestionably amounts to so much as this—that greatest part of Germany must be placed under a
from a usage or custom of perhaps only 20 years sole central Power with a parliamentary representa-
it may be presumed that the usage or custom tion. Prince Holienlohe, speaking for the Ministry,
has existed since the time of legal memory, how- and, indeed, for the State, will not hear of a South-
ever improbable this may be. Nothing could re- ern Confederation, whether under the protection of
but the presumption except proof, either as a a foreign Power—by which, of course, France is
matter of fact, that the custom did not exist, or alluded to—or under the leadership of Austria. Such
that it was impossible it should exist. On the a Confederation would only widen the abyss be-
latter principle, in the case of tithes, the amount of tween the South and the North of Germany. To
a claim had been admitted as sufficient evidence bridge over this abyss would now appear to be the
against it. There was no difficulty in proving a destiny of Bavaria. But for this purpose, as we have
similar impossibility in the present case. Consider- said, she must lean on a great Power. The Minister
ing that, in those days, the price of a bull was at last, after considering every other possible cone-
4s. of a cow the same, of a plough-horse the same, bination, does not hesitate to declare what Power it
of ,a
sheep with fine wool 10d., of a sheep with
must be. " This great Power can be but Prussia."
coarse wool 6d., of a sow ls., and of a boar ls., He then goes on to say that Bavaria's programme
it is certainly absurd to suppose that agricultural must be a federative alliance with Prussia, and even
labourers paid 13s. to get married. Mr. Justice professes to regret that the union cannot be closer.
Blackburn was the dissentient judge, and a great
He would have us believe that "Prussia's recogni-
part of his judgment consisted of ingenious special tion of the Maine boundary is lamentable," and
pleading, to show that we do not know the exact points out how this unfortunate decision of Count
value of money in those days, and that it is quite Bismarck is to be countervailed. It can only be done
possible the clergy may have driven hard bargains by thoroughly carrying out the programme stated
in the reign of Richard I. But he substantially above, of a federative alliance with Prussia. This
confessed that, if the question were reduced to one
involves the placing of the Bavarian army, in case
of simple fact, it must be admitted to be impossible
of war, under Prussian orders, and renders indis-
that such a payment should have been made for
pensable a reorganisation of the army after the
marriages in the reign of Richard I. ; and he
Prussian model. A plain hint is then thrown out
seemed to wish, therefore, to carry the convenient
that this could be more efficaciously done, if the other
doctrine of presumptions one step further. He
southern states would only reorganise their armies
thought it might be enough if it were made out
after a similar pattern. It is impossible to exagge-
that the custom was for a reasonable fee, and that
rate the importance of this speech. It is as valuable
the customary fee at the present day was a reason-
an indication of which way the wind is blowing in
able one. At all events, he urged that the case Germany as could be had. The official journal at
of the tithes was the only one in which the amount
Vienna has already protested against portions of the
of the fee was itself considered sufficient evidence
Prince's address, but the protest will carry no weight.
against a claim, and he would have laid it down
Bavaria in reality wishes to preserve her independ-
that in all other cases the largeness of a customary once and autonomy, and she thinks that her best
chance of preserving them is by making up to
tion of legal origin.
payment is not alone eTnohuoglai
rtgourmebotoitt tohfe
tpirleesuompther-
Prussia. It can scarcely he said to be Prussia's
three Judges appears, however, conclusive against habit parcere subjectis, but she certainly crushes the
this well-intentioned reasoning. It was all very resisting without pity. The Minister's declarations
well, they said, to presume the existence of a of Bavaria's policy are a most striking tribute to the
custom in the face of improbabilities, however estimation in which the power of new Prussia is held
great; but it is another thing to make the in Germany. We do not believe for a moment that
presumption in the face of an absolute impossi- they represent any real consent on the part of the
smaller state to be absorbed by the larger one.
bility. This was too much even for a legal GOD-
science, and the ingenious contention of legal Quite the contrary. They are the gifts and com-
fictions could, therefore, be carried no further. The plimeats by which a feared opponent, it is timidly
Judges have struggled against the law successfully hoped, may possibly be disarmed. " Please, don't
for several centuries, but they are at length fairly eat me ! "Bavaria seems to say to Prussia, "and I
beaten. There are few who will not share the will do so and so to please you, and get my neigh-
opinion of the Chief Justice, that a laW which thus hours to do the same." We do not for one moment
"requires prescription or custom to be carried back put out of sight the genuine craving for unity which
for a period of nearly 700 years is a bad and a mis- exists throughout Germany, and exists nowhere more
chievous law, and one which is discreditable to us strongly than is Bavaria. It is partly with the ob-
as a civilised and enlightened people." But the ject of conciliating the party which looks to this
course of legislation by which the law was brought object that Prince Hohenlohe s weighty words have
into this state is not less characteristic than the law been uttered. If Prussia should ultimately have to
itself. Our ancestors persistently refused to recog- descend from her all but imperial supremacy in some
nise the creation of a right to property by future German Confederation, Bavaria will be able
virtue of mere prescription or usage. Even when to point to her programme as not having really
a species of prescription was admitted with re- sinned against that consummation. Should Prussia
contrive to retain its present hegemony, Bavaria
spect to real property, it was only by an indirect
method. It was not enacted that after possession
would then have a powerful " protector."We con-
for a c,iven number of years the right of property demo the rank selfishness, past and present, of Ba-
shouldt'be acquired, but only that the adverse claim- varian policy, but we cannot fail to see how much it
ant should be debarred from prosecuting his suit. proves, nor can we wholly regret its direction. Ab-
But, when this was done, our ancestors did not sorbing or absorbed by Prussia, Germany is to be
name a certain number of years after which posses- one ; and we cannot but rejoice over that promised
sion should pass into a right, but fixed a known date unity. Bavaria for one, "will not enter into any
as the point of time from which the limitation should Southern Confederacy under the protectorate of a
run. Consequently, the period of limitation varied foreign power." Those who run may read what
from year to year. With each year it became longer, the declaration signifies.
and, of course, with every addition to the length of
the period the inconvenience increased. With a
view, perhaps, to remedy this inconvenience, the
date from which the period of limitation ran was
altered from time to time. At one time the date
fixed was that of Henry I. In the reign of Henry
111. it was altered to that of Henry 11. ; and, lastly,
in the reign of Edward I. it was altered to that of
Richard I. There, for some inscrutable reason, it
has remained fixed ever since. Our ancestors seem
to have modified the inconvenience of their prin-
ciples by constant adjustments. We have carefully
retained the principles and the original arrange-
ments, but have omitted the adjustments. It is
very like the story of rotten boroughs. By the in-
genuity of our judges we have hitherto escaped
without much practical inconvenience, and, no
doubt, even these anomalies themselves have been
turned to good account ; but we have now come to
a dead-lock. The Legislature must at last intervene
to solve the difficulty and to place the doctrine of
prescription upon a sounder footing ; and it is to be
hoped this will be done at once. When a Chief
Justice, in his place on the Bench, remonstrates
against " the vice and badness of the law" which he
is required to administer, it is time that some com-
prehensive amendment was introduced.
HERALD.—The important speech made by Prince
Hohenlohe in the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies,
not only has to be read three or four times before
its complete drift can be mastered, but it must be
perused in the full light and recollection of the re-
volution which took place in Germany last summer.
The very first sentence of the Prince's address gives
the key to all that follows, though at first sight it
seems to be strangely unconnected with the declara-
tions which it introduces. " The dissolution of the
Confederation, and Austria's exclusion from it,"
says the Bavarian Minister for Foreign Affairs,
"have endangered the situation of the middle states."
What the Prince would have said had he been speak-
ing nothing but his own mind and that of most of
his hearers,iwas that those events had endangered
the situation of Bavaria. From the time that it
was erected into a kingdom by Napoleon in 1805,
and maintained iu its new dignity by the allies in
1815, that little thriving state has displayed the
keenest and most watchful regard for its own inte-
rests. Its position as the third, but only the third,
most powerful member of the old German Confede-
ration, made it at once both ambitious and timid.
But whenever caution and love of aggrandisement
are found united it is the latter quality which shows
itself most in times of peace ; but the former which
preponderates in time of war, and at the moment
for decided action. There is, unfortunately, but
too much ground for believing that, at the com-
mencement of the conflict between Prussia and Aus-
tria, Bavaria sought to obtain from the latter power
the promise of certain advantages at the cost of the
neighbouring South German States as the price of
her siding with the House of Hapsburg. These
somewhat treacherous advances came to nothing,
owing perhaps to Austria's good faith ; and one of
the consequences was that the Bavarian contingent
was so manipulated as to he of no service to
Francis Joseph in the hour of his bitterest need.
Perhaps Austria lost little in reality by this virtual
defection on the part of the leading state on whose
support she had counted, and in order to back up
whose rights and behests she had engaged in the
fatal duel with Prussia. But certain itis that Bavaria
gained by her own comparative inaction. Had her
insidious propositions been listened to by Austria her
troops might, perhaps, have shared in the disaster of
Sadowa, and her fortunes been very different to
what they are now. She might have been threatened
with the fate of Saxony, without finding, like the
northern kingdom, a foreign patron to throw the
aegis of his intercession between her and the de-
spoiler. As it was, her small show of resistance to
Prussia cost her very little. She came off wondrous
cheaply in the final moment of annexation and ter-
ritorial slicings. Some small districts north of the
Maine, embracing a territory of 291 English square
miles, with a population of 32,000 souls, mark the
extent of the transfer from Bavaria to Prussia. But
though her mingled ambition and cowardice hap-
pened to serve her well in the critical. moment of
Austria's downfall and Prussia's aggrandisement, she
is by no means at her ease as to the future. Were
she to rest contented with her actual condition.
Prince Ilohenlohe assures us that " she would be
isolated." This of course would never do ; the
peril would be too great fora kingdom scarcely com-
prising 5,000,000 of inhabitants. Asa member of

COUNTRY MARKETS.

SALISBURY.-TUESDAY.

- -
A larger number of sample sacks was pitched at market
this morning than for some time past. A moderate busi-
ness was done in wheat, at last week's prices. Barley was
plentiful, at late quotations. Beans andwitu
peas met
about the usual inquiry, the turn of prices being againsct
buyers. Flour has now reached a very high figure, au.
to-day the trade was inactive, buyers only meeting present
requirements.

'I he following are the quotations :—Wheat realised from
55s to 65s ; barley, 37s to 53s ; oats, 24s to 30s ; beans, 463
to 58s; and peas, 40s to 52s per qr. Tares, from 4s 6d to
5s 6d per bushel ; Best bread, 15d ; household ditto, 14,1
per 81b loaf. Flour, 45s to 49s per sack.

HULL.—T UESDAY.
At our market to-day there was a fair show of Englishwheat, which sold readily at last week's prices, but no Of,
vanco was obtainable. Malting barley was without altera-
tion, and of new nothing offered. Beans and peas 11.110;
changed. Fine oats inquired for. For linseed the po
was firmly maintained, especially for fine qualities, buye'',
being very cautious.

English white wheat, 62s to 67s • red, 62s to 65s ; pant
sic and Konigsberg, 62s to 70s :Baltic red 62s to 61)s)
Danish and Hamburg, 58s to 60's ; Russian, 55s to PP.
Barley, English, 36s to 50s • grinding, Mediterrane.o'
34s to 35sfid. Oats, new English, 26s to 28s; Russian's
26s to 275. Beans, old English, 58s to 60s; foreign, 70
to 445. Peas, English blue, 42- to 44s Od ; foreign Whit
44s to 455; grinding, 43s to 44s Od per qr.

LYNN—MONDAY.
There was a small market to-day, and a moderate
of wheat, which met a steady sale at last week's rad"
gaitivg
except damp parcels, which were easier to buy.
and grinding barley was quite as dear. Oats and beans
firm.

New wheat, 54s to 58s ; now red, 40s to 48s ; old 0
Wilirt,,°'r
Gls to 71s ; old red, 59s 0 63s per 36 stone. Barley
malting, 46s to 52s ; secondary, 37s to 38s. Oats 1143‘'
24s to 28s per 24 stone. Beans, small, 42s to 445. Oats,
36s to 40s per 28 stone.

GAINSBOROUGH—TITESDAY. of
At our market to-day there was a good average s,w, 6SO
wheat, which met a fair sale, at extreme rates-01'1,6a
to 70s; red and mixed, 63s to 64s per 36 stone. bigloatS
barley rather improved iu price, and more doing.
sold at high rates. Beans firm.

Births.
EnwAn stiloP7 ns—On the 21st inst., at Ness Strange, tlO
wife of Colonel Edwards, of a daughter. tr
HONYWOOD —On the 19th inst., at Evington Place,
Lady llonywood, of a son, stillborn.
RnopEs—On the 21st inst., the wife of Wm. W. Ith°ased:
of the Borough, and 1, Stoneleigh Villas, Gresliaerr",,
Brixton, Esq., of twin daughters.
SwmunNE—On the 12th inst., at Upham Cottage' ,11.$'
the wife of Commander W. Swinburue, of 11"
Mutims, of a daughter
Marriages.
no
mcALLum— WARREN— On the 22d inst., St..liar.7
Church, Arthur Edward M'Callum, Esq., 91st
lauders, to Rosa, daughter of the late R. IVarreDl
of 87, Gloucester-place, Portman-square. boo
WAttuEN—Gwicx--On the 22d inst., at St. 310510 to
Church, John Warren, Esq., Ist Royal Drago,°9:,',o.
Adelaide Constance, daughter of the late Major
Deaths.
.CAllit—On the 21st inst. , Mr. John Carr, of Churcb-
Whitechapel, aged 71. wAget
DOGENDORP—On the 19th inst., at Utrecht, the D°
Countess Van Dogendorp. • ,stotif
KINGSTON—On the 21st inst., Robert, Earl of 1:113,"
age 70.
SNOW—d On the 22d inst., at Littleton House, near. Valja
ford, the Rev. Thomas Snow, aged 81.
WARRENDER —On the 21st inst., at Bruntsfie..,
Edinburgh, Sir John Warrender, of Lochouell

aged 81.—
London : Printed and Published byWILLIAI A.- so. 1-
of No. 112, Strand, Printer at TELE SUN 01-11.0 c, g
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the 00—
Middlesex.—Thursday, January 24, 1867.

MONMOUTIISIIIRE—TUESDAY.
The supplies at the various markets have been good O.!,
most descriptions of grain, and wheat came to hand in vo'J
fair condition. A good show of barley, mostly foreigui
best malting qualities moved off freely at late rates, an
grinding sold at enhanced quotations. English and foreign
beans commanded old values. The oat trade was not so
brisk as last week ; still a moderate business was done,
prices ruling firm.
red,
7s following are the average quotations:—Wheat,
7s 3d to 7s 6d per bushel ; white, 7s 9d to 8s Od ; inferior,
6s Ud to 6s 6d ; malting barley, 46s to 52s per qr ; grind-
ing ditto, 31s to 34s Od; beans, 44s to 50s ; white oats, 27$
to 28s ; black ditto, 24s 6d to 25s 6d.