The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-06 00:00:00

out delay, bills will be laid before the Diet required
for the convocation of a popular represen-
tation of the Federal State. How inconsis-
tent it seems that the Prussian Legislature should
thus arrange the affair of the other States, and
then insult them by declaring that they are free
and independent. With the Diet of Berlin to settle
their laws, and the Prussian generals to control
their armies, we shall certainly have a great deal to
applaud and admire in the independence of those
small States which have been the theme of so many
discussions, and given rise to so many conflicting
i opinions during the last few years.
No doubt it might have been a very good thing
for some change to have taken place in the con-
dition of these States, but we deny that it will be
a change for the better for them to be put under the
military dominion of Prussia. They would have her
more likely to prosper as they were previously,
and they could have made any alteration that the
force of circumstances demanded afterwards in a
more opportune fashion. As it is, when this sad
page in their history is written, it will be far
more true to say that they have come to Prussia
as part of the spoils of war, than to assert that
they are come together in a great organisation,
under the superintendence of that Power. The
very manner in which the matter is spoken of
shows what kind of a transaction it is
that is now taking place. Prussia has already
declared that she must take the initiative in this
work of the new Confederation, and the very fact
of her having had to draw the sword to enforce its
being carried out clearly demonstrates that it is an
affair of force, and not a work of sentiment or of
sympathy, politically or otherwise. The KING and
his Ministers only show their ignorance in declaim-
ing about the national development of Germany
taking place under their auspices. Peoples and
States can never flourish under the rule of tyranny,
and it is idle to say that they can. It will be for
Herr BISMARCK to give the word of command,
and all the arrangements and plans that tho inha-
bitants of these annexed provinces may form will
go to the winds ; and whenever the authorities of
Berlin seek to make a fresh war of encroachment
the devoted places must contribute of their citizens
to swell the ranks of the aggressive forces. It is a
delusion and a mockery to call the accomplishment
of such designs the achievement of a great work of
national regeneration, and time will surely prove
it to be such. All we can say is that if
the members of the Legislature pass the
Act of Indemnity to the Government for
their illegally carrying on the Administration they
will be committing a grave political blunder and
undoing the work of their predecessors. No doubt
they will allow themselves to be carried away by
the excitement and enthusiasm of the time, but not
the less will their conduct be unwise and the course
upon which they enter a dangerous one. King
WILLIAM and his subordinates are now regarded as
conquering heroes, but they will soon appear in their
old guise, and re-enact the parts in which they were
such adepts of constitutional uprooters and sworn
opponents to all freedom of action or language.

The public will certainly be disposed to agree with
the concluding sentence of Sir JOIIN PAKINGTON'S
speech on Saturday, in answer to Mr. SEELY'S at-
tack upon Admiralty extravagance. " The whole
system of our dockyard establishments" does cer-
tainly require to " be carefully and jealously
watched." Unfortunately, whatever differences
there may be as to minor details, however com-
pletely some charges may be rebutted and others
explained away or the offence mitigated, there
always remains a heavy accumulation of matter
for inquiry and complaint. The vices are no doubt
those of the system, but they are perpetuated by
esprit de corps existing among all the officials
and employes on both sides. " There seemed to be
a rule," said Mr. SEELY on Saturday, " perhaps, to
some extent a good one, for the heads of Depart-
ments to leave matters to their subordinates, who
tried as far as they could to make out a good case,
and nearly all the Departments joined together in
defending each other, while past and expectant, as
well as present officials, but too often combined in
trying to put down an independent member." It is
very probable that Mr. SEELY may fail in substan-
tiating some of his charges, but there is no doubt
that the expenditure in the various Departments of
the Admiralty is excessive. The repairs, of which
Mr. SEELY complains so much, seem now to be
accepted as a regular part of shipbuilding. A ship
is altered and repaired before she has gone a single
voyage, and in many instances, when the vessels
are not new, the repairs are more costly than the
original construction. Mr. SEELY gave instances of
this. " The Niger, Highflyer, and Sparrowhawk
cost, in the shape offrepairs, £190,000, whereas the
cost when new would only have been £140,027."
The original building is often much too costly
when compared with the outlay in private
yards, and Mr. SEELY was probably not far wrong
when he maintained that the Admiralty were doing
work at nearly double its worth. " The Irresistible
was built at a cost, adding percentage, of £183,970,
whereas the cost ought really to have been £109,186,
showing an excess cost of £74,784. The Victoria,
again, cost £329,858, whereas the amount expended
on her should only have been £191,191, showing
an excess cost of £138,657." The extravagances
to which he had called the attention of the House
amounted, said Mr. SEELY, to upwards of a
million of pounds. It is only fair to the
Admiralty officials, past and present, to add that
some of the member for Lincoln's charges
were disproved, and many of the particular items in
his bill of indictment were contradicted owing to
errors in transcribing the figures. Thus the charge
of £66 for repairing a cutter, which, newly-built
and fitted, would have cost but £3O, was really for
repairing three cutters. Again, the state-
ment that 83 boats were repaired at a
cost of £5,685 was inaccurate, the figures
of two different lines having been conected through
an inadvertence in copying. The sum of £5,685
stood for 282, not for 83 boats, as stated by Mr.
SEELY. Nevertheless, these explanations, though
gpetahretricularreassiuterme s in
question, did not a
satisfactory as to thelto
the
house. They accepted, of course, Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON'S explanation unreservedly, but the
general feeling was expressed by Mr. AYRTON,
who declared his belief that if his hon. friend, Mr.
SEELY, remained in the House of Commons
for the rest of his life he would never
exhaust the abuses of the Admiralty, and
that the whole system of Admiralty accounts was
one of mystification. Mr. CORRY said that he had
always believed there was great room for improvement
in the management of the dockyards, but he did not,
think that things were quite so bad as they were
represented. The reason he gave for this belief was
amusing. " A few years ago," he said, " the late
Secretary to the Admiralty discovered that between
£4,000,000 and £5,000,000 of the public money
had been wasted by the Admiralty, but when he
got into office he was never able to substantiate
this statement." Mr. CORRY. appears to have
overlooked the possibility of the inaction complained
of being clue not to want of ability, but lack of in-
clination. Office is apt to throw a wonderful spell
over the most energetic Reformer, and it is

nothing new to find eloquent denunciations
in opposition succeeded by consenting silence in
place. The point of view from which such matters
are regarded exercises a potent influence over the
inquirer, and, when once he is shown into the magic
circle the esprit de corps, of which Mr. SEELY com-
plains, makes him ready and willing not only to de-
fend his friends and associaties, but to fight the
battles of his predecessors and smooth the way for
those who come after him, though they may be
his enemies.

But there is another aspect of the case
which is even more unsatisfactory. No doubt
iu every public department more money is
spent than is strictly necessary, and although this
reflection is unpleasant to the taxpayer, still there
are few expenses more cheerfully borne by an
Englishman than those necessary for the maintenance
of an efficient navy. The House of Commons
yearly votes enormous Estimates, and the members
are never called to account by their constituents for
their votes in this respect. But how is the work
done? On Saturday evening, before the discussion
on the dockyards, Mr. GRAVES asked the First
Lord of the Admiralty the names of the ships at
present available in the reserve for immediate ser-
vice. Sir JOHN PAKINGTON did not give the names,
but significantly said that if he did so the list would
be a very short one. The right hon. baronet's
words on this occasion deserve especial notice. " I
regret to state I find the reserves by no means
in a satisfactory condition, or indeed in such
a state as I had a right to find them—so
much so that the Admiralty have great
difficulty in finding relief for the ships that return
from foreign service." This is satisfactory certainly
after the annual outlay. How is it that we have so
few ships in reserve ? What have the Admiralty
been about during the last few years, when
the aspect of affairs has certainly not been
especially pacific? Sir JOHN PAKINGTON has not
shown himself at all disposed to censure his prede-
cessors, or to hold up their shortcomings to criticism.
We must, therefore, conclude the case to be really
a very bad case, and we can only hope that he will
speedily inaugurate a better system. If we have
barely enough ships to relieve our foreign stations,
what should we do in the event of a war with any
two allied Powers ? Our commerce would not need
less protection than it does now, but more, and we
should find ourselves asking with good reason what
the Admiralty had been doing with the public
money.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Sunday Evening.

The Moniteur announces that, according to its
correspondence from Berlin, the negotiations for
peace with the Southern States of Germany will
commence in that capital immediately. The Minis-
ters of Foreign Affairs of Bavaria, Wurtembourg,
the Grand Duchy of Baden, and the Grand Duchy
of Hesse Darmstadt are about to meet in that
capital.
The Prussian troops are beginning to evacuate
Lower Austria in order to repair to the line of
demarcation fixed by the armistice.
The Memorial Diplomatique, which may be con-
sidered as the authorised representative of the Vienna
Cabinet, states that the cession of Venetia will in-
clude the territory of the ancient Lombardo-Vene-
tian kingdom, possessed by Austria in pursuance of
the Treaty of Zurich. The preliminaries of peace
signed at Nikolsburg, July 26, between Austria and
Prussia, maintain the integrity of the Austrian
Empire, Venetia excepted.
The fact mentioned in my letter of Friday of the
occupation by Prussian troops of the towns of
Heidelberg and Mannheim in the Grand Duchy of
Baden and of Wurtzbourg and Nuremberg in the
kingdom of Bavaria, the Moniteur says, " produced
some astonishment." The reason to which it is to
be attributed is that each of these States of the
South of Germany having negotiated separately at
Nikolsbourg for an armistice and a suspension of
arms, the orders to stop hostilities could only be
transmitted successively by the Prussian military
authorities to the commanders of the troops in the
field.

It is stated that the Grand Duchy of Baden has
declared that from this time it withdraws from the
Germanic Confederation, the last representatives of
which are still sitting at Augsburg. A private
despatch also announces, says the Illoniteur, that the
Ministers of the different Powers, who had followed
the Diet when it abandoned Frankfort to repair to
Augsburg, have quitted the latter city.
The announcement is made that the Universal
Exhibition of the Fine Arts will open on the Ist of
April, 1867, and close on the 31st of October of the
same year, at the Palace of the Champ de Mars.
The exhibition of the works of living artists will
take place from the 15th of April to the sth of
June, 1867, at the Palace of the Champs Elysees.
At the former exhibition works executed by French
artists since the Ist of January, 1866, and which
did not form part of the exhibition of that year,
will be admissible. Such works must be sent to
the Palace de l'lndustrie, in the Champs Elysees,
before tho 15th October next. The number is not
limited. All the works destined for the Universal
Exhibition of the Fine Arts will be submitted to the
examination of a jury.
The Imperial Commission has made arrange-
ments respecting the catalogue of the Great Exhi-
bition. It will be in 12 numbers, but each part
may be had separately. Thus visitors will have the
facility of purchasing at a moderate price such por-
tion as may relate to products in which they are
most interested.

The Government of Bade; which has notified
its secession from the Grand Duchy of the Germanic
Confederation, has taken the direct command of
the fortress of Rastadt, which heretofore depended
on the Federal power.

There was a Council of Ministers yesterday at St.
Cloud, at which the Empress presided. Shortly
after the Council the Imperial Prince, accompanied
by General Fleury, left Paris to join the Emperor
at Vichy. The Prince was received with very great
enthusiasm.

The Government has suppressed the newspaper
called the Courrier du Dimanche. The Minister of
the Interior, in his report to the Emperor justify-
ing this step, quotes a very dangerous and virulent
article, in which France is represented as despoiled,
overthrown, and rendered more brute-like every
day. The Minister also states that the Courrier du
Dimanche had previously received eight warnings,
two suspensions, and ono legal condemnation for
writing
as a bitoinnyagerhlyeatmmreaisdnea,h ficondvrocu in osntempt against the Govern-
ment. The measure will be applauded by every
France.effentlt is
this style
noto of
freedom rit ing
of the press when the press circulates documents
tending to humiliate the country and insult the
Government. As the Minister of the Interior justly
says, " Such language constitutes a systematic mis-
representation of men and things."
M. Villemain, the Secretary of the French
Academy, has for some time been indisposed, and
will not be able to preside at the usual distribution
of prizes which is to take place to-morrow. M.
Drouyn de l'Lhuys, the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
who has been with the Emperor at Vichy for the
last few days, has consented to perform the interest-
ing ceremony, and will return to Paris expressly for
the purpose.
The death is announced of Madame Thouvenel,
wife of the former Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Madame Thouvenel has been ill for some months.
She had not attained her 40th year.

The Droit, albeit not a journal devoted to
cookery and the palate, gives, under the head of
" Improvised Cookery," the following :—A young
man, who had no doubt paid visits to several wine
shops, rushed into an egg and butter establishment
in the Rue de la Ferronnerie, and, under the im-
pulse of a fantastic idea, threw himself auto a basket