The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-02 00:00:00

will tend to encourage our financiers to lighten, as
far as may be, the public burdens, since every wise
and prudent reduction not only tends to increase the
comfort and content of the populace, but actually
in the end to increase the revenue, while putting it
on a surer because broader basis.

No fresh news of importance has reached us from
he Continent, and despite the exciting intelligence

of the last few days no very great result appears to
have been attained. It is disappointing to find that
the successes which the Austrians met with at first

have not been followed up as might have been ex-

petted, and that the Prussians have succeeded in
maintaining their position in places from which they
were driven at first. So far the latest telegrams

appear to favour the Prussians ; but, of course,
nothing that has taken place of late can be looked
upon as decisive. Marshal BENEDEK'S army is fully
equal to any that his adversaries can bring against

him, if not, indeed, superior to it, and the battle
that will shortly be fought may be regarded as far
more indicative of results than anything that has

gone before it. It is believed that the King of

PRUSSIA and Count BISMARCK have so arranged
their plans as to gain an opportunity of witnessing
the great fight. Of course, even after this contest,
so eagerly looked forward to, much may occur that
will change the aspect of affairs, but for the time
being its result may decide which of the two

great German Powers, once so closely allied,
but now so hostile to each other, is to be

at the head of Germany. The despatches which the
Crown Prince of Prussia has sent home are most

enthusiastic in respect to the gains achieved by
Prussia, but we question whether they are not too
highly coloured. Some successes have certainly
fallen to the share of the royal forces, and the last
accounts state that they have taken " Gitschin" on
the 29th. From this place they were driven out
by the Austrians after their first occupation, so that
they have thus gained ground. We learn from
Vienna that the First Austrian Army Corps and
the Saxony Corps were repulsed by the Prussians,
and that in consequence of this repulse the Austrian
army fell back upon Konigsgratz. Of course, this
intelligence cannot be doubted, but it is the first
decided defeat the Austrians have sustained. The
Prussian advantages have been more the fact of

their gaining coveted positions than actual victory in
combat, and thus, as we said before, the real fight
was yet to be fought, and the struggle for supre-
macy had not yet been made. Some bulletins
from Prague inform us of the successes of the
Austrians in various directions, but these are not of
a very important nature. The Prussians have eva-
cuated Bahmnisk and Kamnitz. The Austrians
appear to have lost a considerable number of men
at this comparatively early stage of the proceed-
ings, it is indeed announced that the number
must be fixed at twenty-thousand. This war in

Germany is indeed no make-believe affair, but

bona fide fighting.

It will be long before the

effects of these hostilities pass away ; and sorrow-

ing cities and mourning households will have bitter
cause to denounce and deplore the fatal greed for
territory and the lawless thirst for power which
were the exciting causes of the war.

To judge from appearances the Prussian forces

are bent on concentration, doubtless with the
view of being prepared to encounter the charge
of BENEDEK'S army in full force. The Italian plans
appear to have been sadly damaged by the battle
of Custozza, and they have not recovered from its
effects by any means so far as we can tell from their
proceedings. Even GARIBALDI, from whom so
much was at first expected, seems non-plussed, and
compelled to keep in obscurity. Of course, this
perioJ of quiescence on the part of their eager an-
tagonists has been improved by the Austrians, and
their forces have crossed the passes and driven the
Italians before them. It is well, indeed, that the
Imperial forces should thus have been able to re-
pulse the Italians so speedily and so decisively,
and this signal success may be considered to be
a substantial advantage, and in some measure to
counterbalance the effect of the Prussian gains.
The Italians are so fitful and capricious that it is
extremely difficult to say what they will do next ;
but no doubt their defeat at so early a period of the
war has greatly damped their ardour, and, indeed,
they aro not likely to recover themselves sufficiently
from the shock as to get up again the same amount
of excitement or enthusiasm as at first. As matters
stand at present, indeed, we do not anticipate that
any decisive movements will be made in a hurry by
the armies of King VICTOR EMMANUEL and of General
CIA LDIN I. They must by this time have recognised
the mistake of their former movement, which preci-
pitancy was indeed so fatal to their fortunes. No-
thing appears to be doing by the Federal Army
under the Prince ALEXANDER of Hesse, but it is
impossible to foretell at all accurately what turn
events may take in the ever-shifting scenes and
amid the chances and changes of war. The sur-
render of the Hanoverian forces has been most
unfortunate, not only in the loss of their services,
but also in the circumstance that their giving in has
relieved the Prussian forces from the necessity of
watching their movements, and thus permitted them
to rejoin the main body of the army.
The more we reflect upon the events of the war
in Germany the more convinced must we feel that
the Austrians have committed a great error in letting
the Prussians have all the ground to themselves for
so long a period. We do not despair of their
eventual success, if they act in unity and let their
opponents gain no advantage of time or opportunity,
but they will have harder work to win, and also '
they will have less chance of gaining their point so
effectually as they had at first. Considering the
length of time during which the disputes
and discussions lasted between the German
States it is almost incredible that no more should
have been effected in the way of preparation by the
GovernmentiOf Vienna. No doubt in a short time
we shall hear tidings of a decisive contest being
fought, and it is not too much to say that much
depends upon the result, and that it is greatly to be
desired that the victory should be on the side of
Austria; not because ofbuantybpeacratuicsuelairt
is
accru-
ingmertitheonly
interposed to that Power,
check that can be to the intolerable
success would be a t unfortunate event.
an-
noyance and undue pretensions of Prussia, whose

'
The arrival of the Africa from New
York on the
21st brings us news which proves the Radicals are
least coming to their senses, so far at as the Southern
States are concerned. The report of the minority
of the reconstruction committee declares
that the
Southern States are in the Union, and that they
have never been out of it ! Long ago President
JOHNSON showed how this principle was the main-
spring of the Northern argument, and that the
Southern claim to establish national independence
was answered by the declaration of Northern states-
men that the Confederate States bad no power to
leave the Union. To preserve the Union unbroken
was one of the:great objects which every Northerner
proposed to himself as the end of the war, whether his
anxiety were founded on public or private grounds.
When the end was achieved at the cost of a

tremendous outlay of men and money, it was
not a little singular to find the victors turning
round and denying the very point they had been
fighting for ! The Southern States, it was