The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNAL

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TIMES.—The news from the continent which We
have to announce to-day will, if substantiated b;
subsequent advices, be received by all classes in this
country with unfeigned regret. Within the last few
days the hopes that peace would be preserved have
become strong and general. The scruples of tn
Prussian King, the natural abhorrence of his people
e
from a policy which would tend to imbrue their
hands in the blood of their kindred, the position
r
taken by Bavaria, Saxony, and the other minor
States, and, not least, the reproof which the Frn
sian pretensions had met with from the enlighten t':
opinion of Europe, gave reason to believe that
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more aggressive Power would be restrained Iru
to o violence.pens t r
ißf
eu But
has,no an
araec
informed,w hi
quarter whence it was least expected. Austria
unable to be consistently prudent. After bringwol
the world to her side by the comparative justice he
her cause and the moderation of her language,lsneo
ellmaycoPmessftilin!treo
throws away these advantages, and hastens to pii,e
herself in the wrong. Far more important than the
immediate settlement of Schleswig-Holstein isl`ti
maintenance of peace, and if Austria be content o
stand on the defensive in the name of German
~,
liberty and the rights of the Confederation, the
question of the Duchies may be settled peaeeabl t
some future time under the advice of friendly to
Powers. But an unaccountable fatality seems A
urge the Court of Vienna to take the wrong step
the most critical moment. If the Emperor's 'V;
enemies had been at his ear, they could hardly °
given him more evil advice than openly to threaten
his adversary, and to seem to precipitate a contes'd
And yet this, it is said, he has done. We are toon
that at a Council held yesterday at Schonbru
the Emperor and Count Mensdorff, against' re,
is added, the advice of some other Ministers' :aa
solved to withdraw Count Karolyi, the Austin.,
Ambassador, from Berlin, and this decision ball;
been made known to M. de Werther the Prussian
Ambassador at Vienna, it was expected that hew o.wte
take his departure immediately. The inunedl,l
cause of this rupture is said to be that Count }OS;
dorff, after receiving the Prussian answer of r,
15th, telegraphed a repetition of the Austriall,lo
mand of the 7th, and received a fresh refusal
Thursday. A Council was then held, alla "io
opinion of the Emperor and his Minister beinGe
favour of the bolder course, it was adopted. .”
fear this act must be looked upon as somethiej,o
more than one of those suspensions of diplonla'ns
intercourse which are usual when Courts or nat;eof
are irritated with each other. The withdrawal
the two Envoys is also, if we are correctly inforlar,e
to be followed by a military movement which
world will regard as made in anticipation of war,
An order was to be despatched to the General el.'
cer commanding the Austrian troops in Holstel
ordering him to fall back through Hamburg an
Hanover, leaving only a few companies in t;re
Duchy. There will be naturally a tendency to glee
great importance to this last piece of inteHige,ll.4;
If we find that Austria abandons the Duchy Icia"„f
she occupied, and leaves it open for the advance,'"
the Prussians, people will conclude that the Eon;
ror purposes some military movement himself .°e
that he feels certain that Prussia is about to strr„
a blow. It may be that the latter reason 1104,1
fluenced him. We have more than once remarlbo
that the dangerous point in this dispute was, it
isolation of an Austrian corps in a position where
might be easily overwhelmed. Such a temptatt
might be too much for the virtue of an arebitiaa
Minister. Count Bismark has been able all al the
to treat Austria as if she were at his mercy in
"
Duchies, and the consciousness of this tended to la
crease Austrian irritation. Whether it be that Alifsa;
tria has received what she thinks to be proof of
.„„f
intended attack, or withdraws her unprotected Arl:hdo
Corps in order to be herself able to assume I—t
offensive, it is equally certain that the abandonla
of Holstein—if it actually takes place—will be g a
to be an act in anticipation of war, and will elle
general alarm. A few days will better define ttho
course of this unhappy dispute. We hope that, hi
Emperor will not allow his counsels to be swayed
anger, and that time will be given for reflection a„
d
an
the efforts of peacemakers. It may be that, we'll'o
with the violence and subterfuges of Prussiag,at
desires to bring matters to a crisis, believing tue,
the boldest course is the safest and the most peoof
ful: But every one will be disagreeably remincle4oo
the rashness which hurried Austria into an invasion
of Piedmont seven years ago. At that time ti'ehe
were not wanting active friends of peace. 'rig
course of events might have been notably altere
Austria had remained on the defensive, and a'l,
dared that her sole purpose wits to defend her Our
rights as guaranteed by treaties ; but from the hour
that the Austrian army crossed the Ticino theca'
was lost. Even if an attack on the Holstein Core,
were imminent, it would be better to leave to CO
Bismark the dishonour of such an outrage, the suji
cess of which would bring no discredit on the mas
Austrian force thus overwhelmed. We ate inclined
to think that, whatever the temptation, the Prusslo
Government would hesitate to seize the duchy whi
the Austrians held it. There are limits to the eoill;
tempt which the most high-handed; ruler ca.,
show towards the public law of Europe,_ esPect
,i
ally when it is under the guardianship of a gr.ei,
military power. Although we cannot but an
pate a greate increase of the difficulties of this quF6
tion from the imprudent action of the Anatriao
Government, we do not by any means look upon
the peace as broken, or war as inevitable. There
+;a
is, happily, a great distance between diploma is
rupture and actual hostilities. The act of Austr
will probably be followed by an increase of arms,
ments and a concentration of forces by the two „
ponents. There will be fresh despatches and man."
accusations and recriminations. But as long a
A;
blood has not been shed, there is no reason to
i,-;
spair of a settlement. It becomes, therefore,
duty of humane and conscientious statesmen hot!'
in Germany and elsewhere to be more energe_dtle
than ever in dissuading these wrong-headed povirc',„
from the course on which they seem to hal"
entered.