The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-07 00:00:00

•41 4.1 -
tug' : Nit Mit

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1866.

,X2l-", ...r.inni-;nn of AT,. T nrirt, RING'S Real Estate
Intestacy Bill by the House of Commons yesterday
was only to be expected. If such a measure should
be eventually carried, there will be a very strong
opposition to overcome first, and a gradual change
to be worked in public opinion. There is no doubt
a good deal to be said on both sides as to the prin-
ciple of the measure. Like most social questions it
has various aspects. On the one hand there is the
plea for the equal rights of all the members of a
family to share in the inheritance— a right freely
admitted with regard to personal property in cases
of intestacy; on the other hand there is the not un-
reasonable fear that reiterated subdivision will tend
eventually rather to impoverish the whole than to
enrich all alike. An estate which may give compe-
tence and comfort to one may be comparatively
valueless to half a dozen, although the expectation
of receiving a share may encourage the younger
branches of the family to a life of listless expecta-
tion rather than of active personal exertion. It is
true that Mr. LOCKE KING'S measure was relieved
of many of the less favourable features of a bill of
this kind from the fact that it only referred to cases
of intestacy. If a man has landed property which
' he wishes to preserve intact for his eldest son, it is
Inot too much to expect from him that he will leave
a statement of his wishes behind him. Some of the
opponents of the bill brought forward a more for-
midable objection, when they asserted that its result
would be to throw many small properties into the
hands of the lawyer and the auctioneer: Mr.
BRIGHT naturally spoke strongly in favour of the
measure, and pronounced the tendency to accumu-
late large estates in one hand to be one of the most '
deplorable features of the times. Mr. HENLEY,
however, declared his belief that the proposed mea-
sure would rather increase than diminish this ten-
dency, since it would not prevent the accumulation
of large estates which are for the most part strictly
entailed; but it would necessitate small estates being
brought to the hammer in cases of intestacy, when
those who wished to accumulate land would have
increased facilities for doing so. As we have said,
there was little question that the bill would be re-
jected by a decisive majority in the present position
of affairs.
ume
some
ct ei r
pad e byto customre
eonaiantyionco.nsli-t
Englishmen are naturally cautious and
grw
iel la ttlayk einsflo cile thandetansstooc
derable change in the manner of transmitting land.
At the same time, it would be well to examine the
question, and without prejudice, in all its bearings.
We have plenty of opportunities for information in
the statistics of neighbouring countries. Let us
therefore frankly consider how much we can profit
by their experience or avoid their errors.

The article in the Wiener Abendpost, the official
journal of Vienna, naturally excites attention at
this juncture when the course pursued by this
power has given rise to so much animadversion, and
caused so much dismay in certain quarters. This
long discourse seeks to vindicate the policy of the
Austrian Government. The Treaty of Vienna is
the grand text upon which all proceedings are
based, and the course followed by Vienna is stigma-
tised as contrary to the principles of that treaty.
It is emphatically declared that the treaties "confer
Upon Austria and Prussia the right of seeing that
„
right be done.
of Certainly this is a fairer in-
terpretationnotion of the matter than any that the
Prussians put uponi,t .
,
right at all. they seem to ignore the
The h
chiefte argumentdeclaration
i n thi s
article referred to rests
upon
that
the Schleswig-Holsteinquestion ought to be referred
to the Diet ; that
seems to
be the tlesire of the
Vienna Government, and to give great offence to
that of Berlin, perhaps for the same cause, and it

takes off the responsibility from the two German
Powers. It is indeed to be regretted that this de-
cision was not earlier made by Austria, for it would
have prevented the Prussians from obtaining such
an ascendancy in many ways, as they have
done. Very true were the reproaches here
made about the course pursued by the Prus-
sians throughout this affair, and it is said with
perfect justice that had the two Powers agreed upon
a definitive settlement " of the treaties, there would
have been no need of this appeal being made ;" but
it is added, " all the efforts of Austria directed to-
wards obtaining the concurrence of Prussia to an
arrangement which all the rest of Germany recog-
nised as right and lawful were unavailing." The
pertinacity with which the Prussians upheld the
right of Federal execution now militates against
them in various ways, and, as the Abendpost states,
it was not as a European Power, but as a member
of the Confederation that she acted against Den-
mark ›"Very strong is the force of this satirical
passage.—." If momentary advantages do not con-
stitute the fundamental principles of her policy, if
she has preserved, despite her system of military
conventions, separate alliances, and dallying with
foreign Powers, one remnant of fidelity to Federal
rights, she will submit to the decision of the Diet,
as Austria has determined to submit herself." We
quite agree with this article in its denunciation of
the policy that has of late been pursued by the
Cabinet of Berlin, a belief in the destiny of the
Prussian monarchy, has for a long time exercised a
" dominating influence " upon them, and ;the
sooner they change their tactics the better.

The Moniteur du Soir, in its bulletin last evening,
stated the reservations that Austria made to the ac-
ceptation of the Conference, and these had the ef-
fect of preventing any " thorough examination" of
the Austro-Italian difference. It is said that the
Baron Von WERTHER has presented to Count
MENSDOEFF the Prussian despatch, protesting
against the convocation of the Holstein Estates,
and accusing Austria of a violation of the Gastein
Convention ; and this despatch is regarded as the
prelude to the ultimatum which Prussia is expected to
deliver to-morrow at the Federal Diet, so that it
may be considered as the beginning of the end.
'We have no' doubt that the Berlin Government will
piefer to go to war rather than draw back from
their previous assertions and allow the Diet to settle
about the Duchies. The news from Berlin asserts
that the measures announced in the Diet by that
Power violate the treaty of Gastein, and cause the
suspension of the co-possession existing hitherto in

the Duchies. The two Powers are now restored to
the position and rights accorded to them by the
Treaty of Vienna, which retains its " European
validity." There is nothing in this affair so
ridiculous as the way in which these treaties are
declared valid or invalid in order to serve the turn
of the disputants. The announcement of the
French EMPEROR that he detested the Treaties of
1815 was the prelude to various other declarations
for and against them in many directions. Here we
have Prussia declaring that she will stand by these
Treaties, and Austria asserting that the course pur-
sued by Prussia has violated them.

Notwithstanding all these appeals to treaties,
valid or invalid, as-the case may be, it appears very
probable that recourse will be had to an agency
which reverses treaties and changes the plans of the
wisest and strongest. The war which now seems

imminent will no doubt have the effect of pro-
ducing a new order of things. Prince FRE-
DERIC CHARLES and the officers of his staff
had a farewell audience of the King of Pnussi A.
yesterday, and they will proceed to the headquarters
of the army in Silesia. It is expected that the
KING will also proceed there in a short time. All
is being done to incite and encourage the Prussian
people to the contest. It is said by the semi-official
Provinzial Correspondenz that the neutral Powers
have thanked Prussia for her readiness to support
their efforts to preserve peace, and declared that
she is now completely free to take her own course.
This journal adds that Prussia, having decided to
protest against the convocation of the Holstein
Estates, will "no doubt follow up her protest by
active measures." The troops are indeed already
on their way to take possession of the Holstein
garrisons that are unoccupied by Austria, so that
this is in fact in some degree the commencement
of hostilities. By next week, in all probability,
some definite step will have been taken that will
precipitate matters, and in the meantime there is
sufficient to do in watching the various preparations
that are in progress in various directions, all tending
to the same lamentable result.

Among all the startling revelations of workhouse
management which have lately shocked the public
mind, the Strand Union has usually appeared in a
very favourable aspect. By common consent it has
been one of the best managed in the metropolis—
the master and matron have been represented as
unusually humane and intelligent, and the medical
officer laborious and self-denying. The Commis-
sioners of the Lancet, who render such
valuable service in exposing the miseries and
deprivations of the wretched denizens of our
vast State hospitals, fully confirmed those favour-
able impressions of the Strand Union, although they
denounced the building itself as totally unfitted for
its purpose. The situation of the workhouse is in
itself unfortuate, and the buildings were declared
by these gentlemen to be, on the whole, less
suited to an infirmary than those of any other
workhouse, although seven-eighths of the beds
are occupied by sick or infirm paupers. Still
their opinion of the management was, on the whole,
favourable, and yet the revelations before the Poor-
law Board during the last day or two show a con-
dition of things which no person of the commonest
humanity can contemplate without horror. At the
root of all the unnecessary sufferings endured by
the sick in these establishments is the miserable
system of pauper nursing, a system which has been
repeatedly and empathically condemned by every in-
dependentand experienced observer. Mr. FARNALL'S
views on this point are well known, and surely if
there is any undertaking in which a certain degree
of natural aptitude requires to be improved by
careful training and patient experience it is that of
nursing the sick ; yet in these establishments the
mere fact of a man or woman being willing to
undertake the duty is considered sufficient, no
matter how ignorant, incapable, or infirm
they may be. Sometimes their physical
incapacity produces the most disastrous effects, as
in the case of a male nurse in the Strand Union,
who was unable to lift a bedridden man, who was
consequently afflicted with a dangerous bedsore.
The revelations at these inquiries show not so much
isolated errors or misconduct, but something radi-
cally wrong with the whole system, which must be
entirely remodelled and reorganised if we would
escape a national disgrace.

TIIE ROYAL MARRIAGES.—We believe we are
correct in stating that the, following ladies will be
her Royal Highness Princess Helena's bridesmaids:—The
Lady Margaret Scott, the Lady Caroline Gordon Lennox,
the Lady Bertha Hamilton, the Lady Katharine Phipps,
the Lady Alexandrina Murray, the Lady Ernestine Edg-
cumbe, the Lady Elizabeth Parker, and the Lady Muriel
Campbell. Her Royal Highness Princess Mary's brides-
maids will, we understand, be Lady Aneta Yorke, Lady
Cornelia Churchill, Lady Cecilia Molyneux, and Lady
Georgiana Hamilton:4*i Out

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.