The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—For the Galicians the downfall of Aus-
tria has not yet gone far enough. They are Poles,
and their dream is of a Polish nationality. To '
enable them to obtain all they desire it would be
necessary that Prussia should be bent on the utter
annihilation of Austria, and compelled to carry into
effect that scheme of a Polish Kingdom from which
the first Napoleon shrunk. Prussian Posen and
Austrian Galicia, these sanguine patriots argue,
would, under King William's auspices, become the
embryo of an Eastern State, a bulwark to Germany
against Russia ; and Prince Frederick Charles, who
has so well deserved of the Hohenzollern dynasty,
is far more entitled to reign at Cracow or Warsaw,
as the head of a minor branch of his House, than
his distant cousin was to win for himself a Princi-
pality at Bucharest. But, while waiting for the
realisation of these bright dreams, the Galicians are
not less loud in pressing their grievances or in call-
ing for redress. Nor less importunate or less ex-
acting are those Styrians, Illyrians, Dalmatians,
who still send up loyal addresses and professions of
devotion to the Kaiser. Every service performed
or merely tendered is backed by a corresponding
demand. The Austrian bark is stranded and its
crew of various nationalities is turned into a gang of
wreckers all intent on making their own profit out
of the common ruin. Under such circumstances it
is intelligible that Austria should either strive to re-
trieve her fortunes by another great battle which
she might yet have won, or that, if she was com-
pelled to give in, her submission should be complete
and unconditional, and that she should make a
friend of that Prussia with whom she could no longer
cope as an enemy. Evidently this latter course has
been pursued by the Austrian negotiators. The con-
dition of life for Austria is that she should remain
German. By withdrawing altogether from the
German Confederacy, by allowing Prussia an un-
controlled ascendancy over the whole Fatherland,
Austria has not only disarmed all the wrath of her
adversary, but has actually enlisted her in her behalf.
As an ally and dependant on the great State that
Prussia is striving to constitute in Germany, Aus-
tria is entitled to the future sympathy and support
of her conqueror. As soon as Austria ceases to be
a rival she becomes a natural ally and auxiliary to
Prussia, and as such it: is for the interest of Prussia
not only that she should retain as much of
her strength as this war will leave her, but, also,
that her strength should be founded, as it was be-
fore, on the supremacy of her German over her
non-German elements. Blood is thicker than water,
and it is not to be expected that Prussia, after work-

ing out her purpose with her rival, would suffer the
Magyar, the Pole, or the Slave to have the upper
hand of his German fellow subject, or to destroy
that German organization which has been the secret
of Austrian strength for so many centuries. For
the interest of Prussia and of all Germany Austria
must either continue to be what she is, or she must
cease to exist. It is through Austria only that the
banks of the Danube, the Black Sea, the Adriatic,
and the Mediterranean are opened to German.
enterprise. Left to themselves alone with their fel-
low-subjects, the German Austrians might soon be
overpowered ; and Austria would find herself in the
condition of the " Sick Man " of the Bosphorus, at
the head of a feeble ruling race, against whom the
subject races would invoke the assistance of power-
ful neighbours. All of Austria that was lost to
Germany would easily fall a prey to Russia on the
east and to Italy on the south. But against any
chance of a further dissolution of the Hapsburg
Monarchy Prussia at the head of Germany could
easily provide. A timely conclusion of peace
leaves Austria in possession of her army ; and
that army, although freely recruited among all the
peoples of the Empire, is owing to the prevalence of
officers from all parts of Germany, a strictly
German institution. The mere mere strength of "big
battalions" and the support of a neighbour who was
but yesterday an enemy would seem to be but a
poor basis on which to ground the freedom or
the dignity of a State ; but it is not easy to devise
a better state of things for Austria ; and, after all,
whatever may be said of the brilliant qualities of
the Pole or Hungarian, there is no doubt that all
the civilisation which can ever make its way to
those Eastern regions must necessarily be the
result of the spread of German influence there.
The reasons why Prussia show no hesitation
in signing the preliminaries of peace at Nikols-
burg are sufficiently obvious—she only accepted
terms of her own proposing. It is equally easy to
understand how it was that Italy, no matter with
what repugnance, had to yield her assent to the
basis of negotiation—she was defeated by land and
sea ; and, although doubtless in a condition to re-
new the contest, she was aware that she could
neither fight single-handed, nor compel Prussia to
prolong a struggle in which all the objects of the
alliance had been obtained on either side. The only
point which requires explanation is the motive
which induced Austria to consent to conditions that
could hardly have been made worse by any series
of new and irreparable disasters. By all the ac-
counts that reach us from Vienna, it would seem as
if the Imperial army greatly outnumbered the'Prus-
sian force arrayed against it. It has the advantage
of a formidable position a vast entrenched camp ; a
broad, deep, and rapid river ; the basis of a great
city. It is animated by the most indomitable spirit ;
no trace is left of the sense of recent defeat, save in
a burning desire to avenge it ; while in the south a
few scanty but well-tried garrisons and a handful of
hardy mountaineers hold aloft the Austrian flag in
Tyrol and Venetia, ready to re-assert their sway
over the as yet unconquered, though alienated pro-
vince ; and Admiral Tegethoff, at the head of his
victorious squadron, not only secures the Istrian
and Dalmatian coasts from invasion, but offers to
turn the Adriatic into an Austrian lake. The Em-
peror and the Archduke Albert never felt more con-
fident of an immediate turn in the tide of fortune ;
yet, in the very midst of these reviving hopes, they
come to a resolution which only despair could sug-
gest ; they surrender at discretion to Prussia.
THE " ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES."--We lately
published a correspondence on the subject of
the damages done to American commerce by
the piratical cruisers under the Confederate flag.
The letters of our correspondents were unanimous
in considering compensation due to American citi-
zens from the Government of Great Britain. This
opinion is universally held in America, and on this
side the Atlantic there is a large party who be-
lieve the Americans claim no more than is justly
due. Where such an opinion is so generally enter-
tained the simple solution of the difficulty is to refer
the matter to an impartial judge, and let the ques-
tion be decided on evidence and on its intrinsic
merit. This is the demand made by the United
States, with every appearance of moderation and
justice. The main point involved is one of maritime
law. The questions concerning the destruction of
a belligerent's property at sea have been deeply
complicated by the shameful cruises of such vessels
as the Alabama, Shenandoah, Florida, and others.
The nation most vitally interested in the sup-
pression and strong legal condemnation of these
cruisers is England herself. Whether a commissiond
ship of war is justified in seizing and burning at sea
its captured prizes, and to commence its cruise with
the avowed intention of thus destroying the com-
merce of the enemy, is a question which should now
be clearly and finally settled. If so, the captain of
such a ship is constituted the sole judge of the in-
tricate questions to which a single capture may give
rise. With the prize destroyed goes the cargo ;
and that cargo, in part or in whole, may be the
property of neutrals. In the ship may be passen-
gers,
the subjects of neutral powers, and the fate
of these persons may be decided at the will of the
hostile commander. If international law decides
that a captured prize must be taken into a port to
be adjudicated ou, such proceedings as marked the
career of the Alabama would cease. If it be further
decided that a ship of war must be commissioned in,
and issue from, a port of the country to which she
claims to belong, another safeguard would be pro-
ao•ainst such cruel and wanton destruction.
If it be further settled that the country in which
such ships were built, fitted out and despatched
to sea became responsible for the damage done
by them, the strongest inducement would rest
on every neutral to prevent their resources from
being made available to either of the belligerent
Powers. In dealing with the questions caused by the
proceedings of the Confederate cruisers, England
cited the case raised by Portugal against the United.
States. We do not propose to enter on this su bect,
but it appears clear that if the United States werej
.t
wrong in their decision on the Portuguese claims,
will not justify England in following the example.
Two wrongs cannot make a right. And the very
proof here furnished that sooner or later the sins of
a nation come home to that nation, ought to
make this country the more careful
such enormous
in allowing such
a precedent to be established a
crimes to be perpetrated under the sanction of In-
ternational Law. The claims of Portugal against
the United States were a mere bagatelle when com-
pared with the losses inflicted on the latter country
by the Confederate cruisers fitted out in England.
If the question remains now unsettled, the losses
English commerce may hereafter sustain from

cruisers fitted out against her by some belligerent
Power in the neutral ports of the United States
may complete the Rule of Three sum—as the Portu-
guese claims were to the United States claims, so
may be the English claims to the sum to be worked
out. It is clearly for the interest of England,
merely taking the chances of the future into account,
to urge a settlement of the United States claims,
and at the same time, in conjunction with that
and other Powers, to revise and lay down dis-
tinctly the Maritime Law on captures at sea.
Thomas Rawlings, Esq., puts the expediency
of this settlement from another and scarcely
less important point. He says that the kindred
peoples which form these two leading nations of
the world have now only this one heart-burning
subject of dispute between them. That re-
moved, nothing then remains to cheek the
cordial amity which will probably grow and
strengthen with time, and he asks, what are a
few millions in comparison with such a result ?
The sum required fully to compensate for the
ravages committed by these lawless vessels is
so vast that the most wealthy nation must approach
it with caution. The object to be attained is, how-
ever, worth the sacrifice, and we have little fear that
those who know how and when to spend their money
will agree in this with Mr. Rawlings and ourselves.
The subject is one which can only be disposed of
by arbitration, and there is no use in trying to
shirk the issue. It will rise again and again ; it
will crop up in every international difficulty ; it.
will embitter every international dispute, and if it
remains in its present state it may years hence fur-
nish the groundwork for action on the other side of
the Atlantic which may make the hair of the Liver-
pool and London merchants stand on end with
horror. Questions of this sort are always better
met speedily and settled amicably. The charm of
concession is lost if it be granted only after a long
and acrimonious controversy, and we agree with
our correspondent that the present is a peculiarly.
graceful moment for England to waive any sup-
posed right, and to concede the arbitration desired.
Although we agree with a " Britisher" that such a
gang as the Fenian& are powerful only for incen-
diarism and murder, and for embittering the rela-
tions between the countries, yet we hold that it
would be worth a great deal to England to render
this conspiracy wholly innocuous, wb.i.ch would be
done at once by the concession here advised. Months
of argument will leave the qu.cf,stion virtually as it
now stands—a question of money on the one side
against political, social, and legal gains on the
other, which the more the subject is considered will
be found the more to outweigh the cost. When
the question was lately put in the House of Com-
mons by Mr. White, Lord Stanley;met it fairly,
and showed no disinclination to submit the matter
to arbitration ; and we judge from the whole tenor
of what he said that the present Government, having
been in no way mixed up in the previous contro-
versy, will meet the claims if now put forward fairly
on their real merits. The great advantage of bring-
ing forward these claims at the present moment is,
that her Majesty's present advisers would not have
to condemn themselves, and if the Inquiry proved
the greatest negligence in allowing the Alabama to
proceed to sea, these Ministers, at least, would be
innocent of all blame.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

CAUTION TO CAB PROPRIETORS AND DRIVERS.—Chas.
Case, foreman to a cab proprietor, of Doughty-mews, ap-
peared before Mr. Knox to answer the complaint of Mr.
Wm. Love, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals, of causing a horse to be cruelly ill-
treated, by being worked while in an unt t state.
A man named Davy was charged before Mr. Knox, by
Sell, officer of the society, with working the horse a few
days, and fined 10s.

Sell stated that the horse was unfit for work, being
badly managed.

Mr. Cherry, the Government Veterinary Surgeon, said
he had examined the horse in Mr. Love's presence, and he
found it extremely diseased, and defendant must have
known it was so.

Mr. Knox remarked that ho saw the horse on the last
occasion, and it was totally unfit for work.
Mr. Cherry said the horse was in a worse state than if it
had the glanders.

The defendant, on the advice of the veterinary surgeon,
who said the horse was curable, promised to keep the
horse away from others, and not to work it till it was
in a fit state.

Mr. Knox inflicted a nominal fine of ss. and costs.

T HATES.

SAVAGE SAULT. —James Hickey, au Irish cabman, was
brought before Mr. Paget, charged with violently assaulting
Henry Edwards, the landlord of the Dublin Castle beer-
house, in Burr-street, Lower Aldgate, and Phillip Bradley
a police-constable, No. 152 H.
A few evenings since the prisoner entered the Dublin
Castle intoxicated, and made a disturbance there. He also
smashed up a quart pot, and otherwise misconducted him-
self. The landlord put him out, and he came in again, and
made a fierce attack on the landlord, who was savagely
kicked and ill-used. The prisoner attempted to bite the
landlord's thumb. Mr. Edwards entered into a long and
violent struggle with the fellow, which was ended by the
arrival of Bradley, on whom the prisonsr turned. He kicked
the policeman about the legs and body and on a vital part
of his person, accompanying his atrocious conduct with
fearful language. Bradley was thrown heaviiy a dozen
times, a brick was thrown at him by a loose woman, and
he was completely disabled. lie has been under the care
of Mr. Phipps, surgeon, of Spitle-square, since he was
assaulted.

Mr. Phipps said the constable was affected with in-
juries on the arms, hip, and scrotum, and had received a
severe kick on the groin.

The prisoner said he was drunk when the affray oc-
curred.

Mr. Paget—lf you think proper to render yourself per-
fectly uncontrollable you must answer for it when sober.
My only doubt is whether I ought not to commit you for
trial. I sentence you to be imprisoned for two months
and kept to hard labour for the assault on Mr. Edwards,
and an additional two months with hard labour for the
assaut on the policeman.

MARKETS.7-This Day.

COVENT GARDEN.
The market is well supplied with both fruit and vege-
tables. The trade is steady at our quotations.
FRUIT—Pine apples, 5s to 6s; grapes, 2s 6d to 5s ;
cherries, Os 3d to Os 9d per lb ; apples, is 6d to 2s 6d ;
gooseberries, 2s Od to 3s Od ; currents, 2s 6d to 3s 6d ;
plums, 3s Od to 3s 6d per half sieve ; strawberries, 4d to
9d ; raspberries, 5d to 9d per punnet ; oranges, 8s to 14s ;
lemons, 3s 6d to 8s per 100 ; foreign pines, 6d to 2s 6d each.
VEGETABLES—Red cabbages, 2s Od to 2s 6d ; white do.,
10d to 1s 6d; cauliflowers, is to 2s 6d ; horseradish, is to
2s Od per doz heads ; greens, 2s 6d to 3s Od ; turnips, 2s
to 2s Od ; carrots, 3s 6d to 4s Od ; onions, 9d to is 6d per
dozen bunches ; cucumbers, 3d to is 6d each ; peas, Os 9d
to is 3d ; French beans, is 9d to 2s 6d per half sieve ; new
potatoes, 8s to 14s per cwt ; cos lettuces, 6d to 10d per
score,