The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-04 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1866.

Conspicuous among the New Ministerial arrange-
ments are the several advancements to the Peerage
which have been decided upon by the in-coming
Prime Minister. Two of these, axd hut two
only, admit already, it is true, of immediate
announcement. It is perfectly well understood,
however, that a considerable addition to the
ranks of the Ministerial party in the House
of Lords will be made very shortly by the
Earl of DERBY, by vi ay of counterbalancing the
wholesale, and we will even say, unscrupulous
promotion adventured upon in that way by the
Whigs during their long tenure of office, but more
particularly of late years. These two new Peers who
are at once to be summoned to the House of Lords
simultaneously with the instalment in power of the
third DERBY Government, are (as every one
very naturally expected would prove to be
the case when the new Cabinet was first
announced as in process of formation) the
Right Hon. Sir EDWARD BULWEII LYTTON,
who goes to the Peers with the title of Lord
LITTON of Knebworth, and the Right Hon. Sir
WlLLtax JOLLIFFE henceforth to be known
by the name, style, and title of Lord HYLTON. The
advancement of the latter is to be regarded, of course,
as purely the reward, the well-earned recompense,
of long good services done by him to his party,
both when in office and when in opposition. The
elevation of Sir BULWEIt LITTON to the Peer-
age, on the other hand, will be recognised
far and wide, not only in this country, but abroad,
and in our most distant and scattered colonies, as
not merely a tribute of honour paid by the Crown
and the Country to a distinguished Statesman and a
great Parliamentary Chief, but, far more than that,
as a signal recognition of the genius of a great
Author who has won for himself the highest distinc-
tion in almost every department of our Literature.
The Peerage thus awarded by a Conservative Pre-
mier to Lord Lv-rroN in this way may be regarded
as comparable to that bestowed by a Whig Premier
upon Lord MAC ALLAY. One regret the admirers of
BLLWEB will have, nevertheless—meaning the total
mergence henceforth of the name he has hitherto been
known by in English literature as Poet, as Novelist,
as Dramatist, in the new title thus attached to his
ancient name as Lord LYTTON of Knebworth. A
casual reference, we observe, has been made, absurdly
enough, by a contemporary, to what it speaks of as
the " infirmities" of Sir B L LWEE LYTTON, as furnish-
ing a reason for his removal to the House of Peers,
if not actually incapacitating him from undertaking
the toils of office as the head of one of Our great de-

partments. The reference thus made is so far
nothing less than ludicrous for inasmuch as these
same hypothetical infirmities certainly have in no
way incapacitated the right honourable baronet from
very recently doing the most signal service to
his party as an orator in the midst of the
late important debates, any more than they have
militated in any way against the success of his
later achievements in authorship, or any more
for that matter than, during the period of the last
Derby Administration, they tended in any degree
to lessen the vigour of his rule as an administrator
while he was presiding over the affairs of
England's Sixty Colonies. Who the other new
Peers are to be who will shortly follow Lord
LvrroN of Knebworth and Lord HYLTON of
Merstham, to the Upper House of Parliament,
will speedily enough be announced. Those two
at any rate have been already indicated, and will
in due course, at the beginning of next week,
take their seats in the House of Lords, as the first
evidences of the fact of a fast-approaching and very
considerable creation of Peers by the Conservative
Government.

Although we have no fresh news of encounters
taking place, we are enabled to realise in a great
degree the fearful extent of those engagements
which have already taken place. The losses appear
to have been tremendous. It is stated by the Prus-
sian accounts that the Austrians have had as many
as 40,000 men disabled. The Prussians preserve a
discreet silence concerning their own losses, which
circumstance naturally leads us to conclude
that they will bear no inspection. If they
were to succeed in comparison with those
of their opponents, why do they not put
them down in triumph ? However, we are, un-
fortunately, not able to doubt that the slaughter has
been very great in all directions. It is also certain
that the " pitched battle" now so imminent will be
far more serious in its consequences, and swell the
list of killed and wounded in a remarkable manner.
The calm that now prevails is only the lull that
precedes the storm, a storm that will indeed burst
with terrific violence over the devoted heads of
the combatants. We may give partial
credence to the Berlin reports as to the
immense loss among their enemies, but we
attach no importance whatever to their sinister re-
marks as to the disaffection which prevails among
the Austrian troops. They aver that their authority
is the account rendered by Austrian officers who
have been taken prisoners ; and this, an ingenious
dodge enough in its way, may appear credible at
first sight to the uninitiated ; but no reliance can
be placed upon it. Is it likely that the Austrians
would be so ill-advised as to expose any weakness
of the kind to the enemy, provided it existed,
which we question very much. No want of zeal
has been discernible among their forces, and the
mischances which they have met with have been
chiefly owing to circumstances beyond their control.
Time was lost in allowing the Prussians to advance
so far, and another great drawback to the success
of their efforts has been their inferiority of weapons.
The Prussians have certainly shown great skill
and foresight in their preparations for this war,
and the famous " needle-gun," which they so
vaunted, appears to have realised, if it has not ex-
ceeded, all the expectations formed of it. It seems
that to this magic power the Prussians owe the
great advantages that they have met with. Before
the Austrians had had time to reply to the charges
of the enemy the Prussians were enabled to fire
three times.

According to the accounts of the affair it seems
I,llllt. Lilt, tllll,l. 1,,al Iva It/ VI.
availed them nothing in comparison with the
decided losses they incurred in consequence of the
superior prowess of their opponents. The conse-
quences have been serious, indeed, to the troops of
the EMPEROR; and we are more fully able to ap-
preciate than ever the great disadvantages which
have occurred from their not hastening to the as-
sistance of the Northern States of Germany. Had
they at an earlier period withstood the efforts of the
Prussians, in all probability by this time they would
have been in a far better position, even if they had
not actually gained their point. Why she should
have been in such haste to hurry forward
the war in Vienna, when they were so ill-matched
with respect to weapons, seems indeed extraordinary,
and can only be accounted for by the sort of in-
fatuation which at times possesses alike individuals
and nations. - The same means of improvement
were open to the Imperial Government that were
available to the authorities in Berlin, and the dif-
ference seems to have been that one improved the
opportunity and the other neglected it. It is gene-
rally the chief fault of the Austrians that they are
too tardy, too slow, to enter upon the consideration
of those matter which other nations think are of
so much moment.

Now that the two chief Powers are for the
moment inert, it is natural that attention should be
diverted from them to watch the course being pur-
sued by the other Governments of Europe. France,
of course, is of the most importance, and so far as
things have gone as yet there seems no reason to
doubt the fulfilment of the plan originally
proposed, of maintaining a strict neutrality.
M. BONIFACE has written an article in the
Constitutionnel, in which he seeks to show that
there is no cause for disquietude in the
public mind. The policy of the EMPEROR, he de-
clares, is the same, and adds, that although France
had no cause to be associated with the passions of
war, she cannot be indifferent to the results of a
great struggle. The " double resolution" of the
Government, as it is emphatically styled, is well
known to all. While it seeks not the occasion of
war, it will not. admit the propriety of one of the
belligerents following up its successes by securing
those advantages which might "modify the state
of Europe, and thus create fresh causes of disturb-
ances." Only in the event of grave circumstances
occurring will the EMPEROR deem it advisable to in-
terfere. Whoever comes out of this contest as
victor will, it is presumed, have sustained sufficient
loss to dread recommencing the struggle with
France, and therefore will be quite willing to avoid
the establishment of those grievances which will
offend the just "susceptibilities of France." So
speaks the French politician, and no doubt he has
confidence in his assertion but we question very
much if, in the event of Prussia being victorious,
she will condescend to care much for the
wishes or to respect the scruples of France.
In her most adverse moments she never seems to
care much what is expected of her by those who
seek to uphold the faith of treaties and wish to con-
form to the rule of nations ; and it is not likely
that, flushed with success, she will either hear or
heed the counsels that may be given to
her • If,
however, the Prussians should gain the day in
Bohemia we shall not grudge them the chance of
offending France, and, with the EMPEROR against
her, she will not find it so easy to effect her pur-
pose and carry on her triumphs.

The Fourth of July is an important day in the
world's calendar, and it will be celebrated in many
a distant country, and amid very varying scenes.
The Declaration of Independence has left its mark
behind it, and great as were the capacities, and
dauntless the energies of the men who governed
America in that day, they would probably have
been not a little surprised could they have foreseen