The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-29 00:00:00

ia
We expected nothing less, but nevertheless it is
very harsh and unfair. The unfortunate small
States have been duped from the outset, and inas-
much as they had no part or share in the spoils of
the late war. Why should they be dragged into
this new dispute that has arisen out of the affair.
Of course this Circular Note gives all the blame to
Austria, who has violated it, says the Convention
made at Gastein, and, furthermore, has assumed
a threatening attitude. The fact is that the Vienna
statesmen made the mistake of being too
timorous and far too vacillating in their
policy. Directly Herr VON BISMARCK adopted
a blustering tone they gave in, and let all their
protestations go to the winds. Of course, as is
always
,the case under such circumstances, when
the injured party really makes a stand and thinks
toleration has been exhausted, the former aggressors
professes a great deal of virtuous indignation, and
disclaims all share of the blame of the transaction,
let the issue be what it may. The despatch con-
tinues in these emphatic words, " It is urgent for
Prussia to know if, and to what extent, she :may
rely upon assistance in case she should be attacked
by Austria or forced into war by unmistakeable
menaces.

We have, indeed, approached nearer and faster I
to the climax than we anticipated a few weeks
hack, but thera is no depending upon precedents
or counting with certainty upon possibilities when
unscrupulous parties are under consideration, and
without Austria found out in an indirect manner
that she was likely to be hoodwinked if she
trusted to any more diplomatic arrangements as
implicitly as she had hitherto done. Every thing
tends in the same direction, and proves in an un-
mistakeable manner that Austria is in earnest
'now, and will not be trifled with any more. The
semi-official paper points out dangers which
Prussia may incur from the Austrian arma-
ments, and infers that in consequence of
this state of things steps have already been taken
to organise military measures in order to provide
for the emergency. It is stated also in some private
communications from Vienna that Austria is quite
resolved to " put an end to the provisional state of
affairs in the Duchies, and that, if necessary, she
will propose that the question should be referred to
an European Congress." This is what the French
Emperor proposed two years ago, but our Govern-
ment refused to acquiesce in the arrangement,
knowing that beforethe nations of Europe the claims
of Prussia could not be advanced in the same
daring and unscrupulous manner as they could
when matters were carried on at home. Had Louis
NAPOLEON'S proposition been carried out long before
this time the vexed question of the Duchies would
have been settled somehow or other, but wilful peo-
ple will have their own way; and thus it has turned
out with the statesmen of Berlin, who, with the aid
of falsehood and fraud, and backed up by most
mistaken friends, have been allowed to ride rough-
shod over all law and justice, honour and honesty,
and to offer an example such as the world of late
has seldom witnessed of unscrupulous demands and
arbitrary conduct. NEMESIS has sprung up for
them, however, in a place and after a fashion in
which they least expected to find it, and their late
accommodating ally now threatens to become a very
formidable enemy. Perhaps it will be all for the
best if war is declared between these Power ; for,
through the indifference of the other kingdoms of
Europe, liberty was quite at a discount in Germany,
and all that seemed respected was tyranny in one
form or another. It is hard, however, upon those
those who will have to suffer the consequences of
the horrors of war.

Easter week is close at hand, and meteorological
science is rapidly rising in importance. Every one
is hoping for " a fine Easter," since those to whom
the dais of leisure are a matter of personal indif-
ference are humane enough to feel some interest in
the thousands who escape from toil to snatch a
breath of sea air or to look at the violets and prim-
roses peeping out under the hedges. But this fes-
tival epoch may very suitably be allowed to recal to
our recollection those who have no holidays, and
those who, whatever their occasional " day out,"
are kept at the round of continual toil, without even
the brief respite which the hours of darkness secure to
most of us. To the latter class belong the journeymen
bakers, whose grievances have been so often brought
before the public that there is really no excuse for
not heeding them. Every now and then, however,
we get a startling warning, a reminder of a truth
which in the midst of more exciting topics of politics,
science, and polemics, we are very apt to forget—
' that human beings are not machines. If the neces-
sary amount of natural rest is denied, health, reason,
life itself, must inevitably succumb. In every
rank, and among the members of every profes-
sion, there may be found cases in which
individuals have been aetually sacrificed to
over work, either from a too ardent and absorbing
pursuit of some especial object, or from ignorance
of the fundamental laws of health. But the evil
which is most to be deplored belongs especially to
what are called the working classes. It is a cruel
thing for man, woman, or child to be forced by the
laws of trade and the necessities of poverty to kill .
themselves by excessive labour ; yet this tragedy is
being repeated every day on every side of us. If the
Registrar-General could tell us the real origin of the
diseases which carry of so many of our population
in their prime, we should hear some truths which
might startle the community and shame the em-
ployers of labour.
There are trades, no doubt, which are injurious
in themselves, but the worst of them may usually be
mitigated by proper precautions. Very often where
the masters provide the proper appliances, the men
from ignorance or indifference neglect to use them ;
but in too many cases the manufacturers and
their foremen appear to look upon those in their
employ as the South American planters were said
to do on their slaves, as mere agents for getting
through a certain amount of work, whom it was
cheaper to wear out' and replaced by new than to
trouble about preserving. It is very possible for the
loudest professors of the rights of man abroad to be
domestic tyrants at home; and we English had better
take care that all our sympathies are not expended
on behalf of the negro in Virginia or Jamaica to
the absolute exclusion of white men, toiling, suffer-
ing, and dying at our own doors.
The story of GEORGE SPRIGGS iE a short and simple
one. He was one of those martyrs of trade whose
sufferings it is nobody's business to redress, and
whose grievances:no one.' has time to listen to. His
hours of labour would not exactly have suited the
framers of the Factory Bill. They extended from
five p.m. one day till two p.m. the next. Then
came three
hours rest in his clothes (which were
on him for eight das), and when he set to work'
again. Such were they a
cts adduced at the inquest,
and the master attributed hie Slei• n
than neces-
sary tooh is
Crossdislik dislike
at on traversing
oftenerthee g on the sacks
distance between
because of his sore feet.
iforlin
18a o r 20 hours
iswoonlldtehrem There is not
much maws feet
reason
nfohre
ngievitinhgerlpvaeyrhaps, looking at the matter -of fact view
of
_life usually itaken by small tradesmen, need
we be astonished at Mr. WHEELER'S Coolly
remarking at the inquest that the man laept