The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-26 00:00:00

...............*.l---•.••••I.....
then and there made against Berlin statesmen. It
is no wonder that the journals in the Duchies are on
such bad terms with each other when strife and
disregard prevail at head-quarters.
It is evident that at Paris doubts are entertained
as to the present position of affairs in the Duchies,
fcr the Prussian Ambassador there has gone
to Berlin for a short time to report to the authori-
ties as to the state of feeling that prevails in France.
The extraordinary step taken by Prussia in prohi-
biting the papers of Schleswig from calling
the Duke of ALTGUSTENBURG by that title, and
of adverting in any way to his claims
on Schleswig-holstein, ha 3 been justly called
in question by Herr SA3IVER, the Coburg Berlin
Minister. A more inconsistent course could not
have been pursued than has been adopted by
Prussia respecting this unfortunate Prince. When
we remember that the war was originally instituted
in order to prosecute his claim, it is indeed too much
for Berlin effrontery now to repudiate his rights
altogether in this arbitrary and summary fashion.
It appears, however, that we may nowadays expect
anything from that quarter, and the unwise course
pursured by our Government towards Prussia dur-
ing the Dano-German war has fostered and
encouraged that Power in the pursuit of her policy.

The closing of the Prussian Chambers has not
taken any one by surprise, for it was becoming evi-
dent that the Government could not much longer
go on with a hostile and criticising Parliament. The
fact is, that the Deputies were getting unmanage-
able, and proclaiming to the world that the affairs
of the State were in an unprosperous condition.
No doubt the present state of affairs in the
Duchies precipitated the closing of the Chambers,
and Herr VON BISMARCK considered that he had
better be off with the old enemy before he com-
menced with the new.

It is astonishing to reflect upon the great en-
croachments made by the Berlin Government upon
the rights and privileges of the Constitution. They
have now prorogued Parliament before the Budget
had been at all under the consideration of the
house, and thus broken the charter. With an in-
solent defiance of truth and justice, the Cabinet
had already intimated to the House that the Depu-
ties were themselves violating the rites of the
State, no doubt hoping, by this device, to avert
notice from their own delinquencies. They pre-
tended to be very much shocked at the
step taken by the house in counselling Government
to prosecute the police officials who prevented the
Banquet at Cologne last summer. Another offence
was annulling the right of his Majesty to the title
of King of Lanenberg ; and a great wrong was done
by the Deputies in denouncing the decree of the
Supreme Tribunal respecting the restraints put upon
liberty of speech in Parliament. Taking all things
into account, the state of affairs in Prussia at the
present moment is anything but reassuring to those
of her citizens who love liberty, or to those even
who merely desire peace. Whether we look to ex-
ternal or internal matters we find events tending
in one direction, and are threatening a complete
revulsion of policy, and if not a speedy one, a cer-
tain one when it arrives. Unless some great change
takes place in the state of things in the Duchies
war between Austria and Prussia will be inevitable,
although it is to be feared that it is now too late
for the prophecy to be fulfilled which speaks of the
advantages that accrue from dissensions among
thieves.

The arrival of the 'Virginia from New York has
been speedily followed by that of the Africa from
Halifax and Boston, with four days later news. The
old war of parties is still going on, and while the
PRESIDENT is constantly receiving assurances of
approval and support from various parts of the
country, the Radicals in the House of Representa-
tives are very ready to denounce himself and his
policy. The negro, who has so long been the diffi-
culty of American statesmen, legislators, and
patriots, is, of course, one of the main subjects of
difference. The general principles upon which the
Radicals base their policy is that in the Southern
States there shall be no distinction what-
ever made between the white man and the-
black—that the personal, civil, and political rights
of both shall be on an absolute and unconditional
equality. At first sight the apparent justice and
fairness of this principle may commend itself to an
Englishman, but when we come to look a little fur-
ther into the question, we shall find that practically
it is less promising. They are not machines, and
will not act in direct unquestioning obedience to the
guiding hand of the master. It is impossible to say
to a passionate, unsdisciplined, ignorant race,
" Thus far shalt thou go, and no further." If our
most democratic politicians in this country hesitate
to recommend the adoption of universal suffrage,
not because they do not wish the rights and claims
of every man to be respected alike, but because they
feel that the sudden elevation of an ignorant mul-
titude to political power would be disastrous to
themselves, as well as to the whole of the other
classes in the community, much more may a thought-
ful and temperate American pause before granting
unconditional equality to a body numbered by millions
belonging to a race which has none of the self-con-
trol, the patriotism, the independence of the lowest
ranks of uneducated Englishmen. The critical
position of the two races, the violent disruption of
all the old ties, and the removal of all the customary
restraining influences of the negro, all alike render
the present crisis a most unsuitable and dangerous
epoch for attempting a sudden change in the political
position of the former slave. President JOHNSON,
whose opinion on this subject carries weight, not
only from his present position, but from his former
experience, has declared unmistakably his convic-
tion that any attempt to elevate the negro
too suddenly -to an unconditional equality
with his former master would give rise to a war of
races. He readily admits the obligation of the Go-
vernment to protect the interests of the negro, to
raise him from want, and to take all possible
measures for improving his moral, mental, and
social position. He has confessed before now that
he is not sanguine as to the success of such efforts,
but openly announces his belief that it is the duty of
the superior race to make the effort. Notwithstand-
ing the formidable party of his former supporters
which now oppose him in the Congress, and the
storm of :abuse levelled at him by quondam
allies, Mr. JOHNSON remains unshaken. To
encourage the ill-feeling existing between
tho two races is in his opinion a political blunder as
well as a moral error, and thus neither threat nor
appeal will induce him to retract his declarations
on the subject. A Radical member having
asked the PRESIDENT to consent to a compro-
mise respecting the Columbia Suffrage Bill,
he replied that it was impossible to palter with such
a question.
" There will not," he said " be a poll-
ing booth at which blood will not be shed if this
Bill becomes law, and if negro suffrage be insisted
upon in all the Southern States against their will,
you provoke an inevitable war of races. I know
' the negro better than you do, and I say that the
more you increase the old antagonism between the
freedman and his master, the more certain you
render his extermination." It is this knowledge of
the negro, as he is in the mass, that the Northern
legislators for the most part want. They judge