The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, WNJJON, TUESDAY EVENJING, MAY 1, 1866.

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1866.

Prussia will not find it so easy to get her
own way as she has been imagining, no country
will subscribe to her requests, and in all probability
she will find herself in a far worse position when all
this dispute is over than she was before the question
of the Duchies was mooted at all. Austria has
stood firm throughout the affair and refused to be
any longer subservient to the dictates of Prussia,
or to yield to her innumerable caprices. It must
be admitted that the EMPEROR and his Cabinet
have shown themselves to be equal to the
emergency, and that any advantage which
the country has gained will be entirely
due to the zeal and ability they have
displayed under circumstances of peculiar difficulty.
In Paris, yesterday, a special Council of Ministers
met, under the presidency of the EMPEROR, to dis-
cuss the proposal which had been made by Prince
METTERNICH, the Austrian Ambassador, to the
effect that a simultaneous disarmament of Austria
and Italy should take place. In Paris the general
opinion is that war will take place, but when is not
so readily defined. It does not follow, however,
that these predictions will be realised, and th© time
that has now elapsed since the beginning of the
discussion seems to promise a change of senti-
ment. Count BISMARK is either not so daring
as he would have us believe, or else he does not
think, on mature reflection, that war will conduce
so much to the interests of Prussia as he supposed.
It is the surest proof that he has reckoned without
his host that he is now receiving unsatisfactory
replies from those States which, a short time ago,
would have been obliged to affect compliance with
his wishes, if they were diametrically opposed to
his own. Then we find that Baron VON BEUST
has given a verbal and evasive answer to the sum-
mons of Prussia to disarm. The Austrian Note,
referring to the Duchies, which the Prussian Go-
vernment has just received, will not be very
palatable to the authorities, for it is based on the
programme agreed on by the Ministers of the minor
States.

Nothing, however, can teach the Berlin Cabinet
wisdom or moderation, and we find that Herr Bis-
3IARCK has now forwarded to the German Go-
vernments a Circular, in which he tells them
that Prussia will give to the Committee of

the Diet general information respecting her
proposal of Federal Reform, but no details.
Can anything be more unreasonable than this
course of procedure, and is anything more likely
to irritate the States of Germany than such incon-
sistent language and arbitrary conduct? It is in-
sulting the Committee of the Diet thus to daily
with important information after this fashion, and
equally so is the notice that Prussia declines any
deliberation on the elements of the proposal until a
decision has been arrived at relative to the conven-
tion of a German Parliament. Count KAROLYI
has presented to Count BISMARCK two despatches
from Count AILNSDORFF, which, in the first
place, refer to the disarmament that is gra-
dually to take place in Venetia ; and, secondly,
to the settlement of the Duchy question, and states
that the moment has now arrived for the " solution
of the question." It has been considered that the
moment had arrived many times since the subject
was first discussed, but we have never got any
nearer to it, notwithstanding all the trouble taken
about the matter. The Duchies, says this despatch,
do not belong either to Austria or Prussia, and the
Diet must have the question submitted to it. If
Prussia refuses Austria will act alone at Frankfort.

This is speaking pretty plainly at any rate, and
perhaps in this communication more than any other
we may fully realise how much ground has been lost
by the infatuation of Herr BISMARCK. A short
time ago no one would have dreamt of Austria talk-
ing in this strain, but now all things are changed,
and if peace be preserved it will be at the cost of
some sacrifice on the part of Prussia. On the other
hand, if she go to war, or is driven to it
in spite of herself, she will infallibly lose
some portion of her Rhenish Provinces, so
that either way retribution is awaiting her.
It is said that Prussia will refuse to listen to
these propositions, and that, therefore, some media-
tion will be rendered necessary. If France consent
to assume that office, she will endeavour to make
Austria cede Venice. Here, again, springs up a
difficulty that would never have occurred had
Austria listened to wise counsels of late. No doubt
the two great German Powers will push matters to
such an extremity that they will have to change

;heir plans very considerably before long ; but this

may eventually turn out for the advantage of the
other States of Germany, and do more to maintain
the balance of power in Europe than if they had
always acted in unison.

In one of Beranger's famous chansons he describes
with all his wonderful skill the universal search
after happiness. The eager pursuers, whose con-
tinual refrain is—

" Courons, courons, doublons le pas,
Pour le trouver la-bas, la-bas,"
direct their search to most of those giddy altitudes
which appear to ordinary mortals to bestow such
great felicity upon their occupiers. After trying in
vain the thrones and dignities of Europe, they turn
their eyes to a fresh hemisphere and expatiate upon
the happiness to be found in America as President
of the great Republic. At the present juncture,
however, very few Europeans would be dis-
posed to repeat the mistake, or to select
the White House as the special abode of
happiness or tranquillity. If SHAKSPERE told
tts truly that " uneasy lies the head that wears a
crown," the experience of late years has certainly
tended to show that the supreme ruler who scorns
such baubles and tokens of sovereignty is not much
more secure or placid. The brief tenure of office
which is all that the American Constitution allows
to its chief magistrate is of itself a fruitful source
of disturbance and anxiety, seeing that if the PRE-
SIDENT hopes for re-election he is all the time plot-
ting, planning, and promising to secure it. If he is
others and the fulfilment indifferent, he is disturbetdofbybitsheowmnapchleidngateisongsiveonf
before election is of
cult part. The position o
itself a tfroAubNlDeßsoEmlve
jand omidsioffiN-,
tthioonu,gh in one sense highly honourable
as the result of almost unaided ability and resolu-
enthusisiast and enviable,
yetic far from fuElfivlelningwitthh
cast over the Presidency by the terrible death of his
eouvtistihoenssohiadtohwe
predecessor, the position of Mr. JOHNSON in the
oeh,
transition state of affairs is a trying and anxious
ocrnieticalltanisep she fortunate
ifor
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firm and temperate a hand ; that her chief
ruler is able to stand, as it
were, in the breach
between States and parties, to o uphold
the great principles of her free constitution, and to
resist with unflinching resolution thEassionate and