The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TIMES.—In spite of the different causes inces-
santly at work on the tide of human events, there is
still obviously a singular tendency in history to re-
peat itself in its details. 'Whenever it happened that
the " Holy Roman" or German Empire, either owing
to organic weakness in its head, or to the ambition
of its members, or, finally, to the social and moral
dissolution of its body, was divided against itself—in
other words, whenevar there was war in Germany
—the contest hardly ever failed to extend to Italy ;
it hardly ever failed to lead to the more or less im-
mediate intervention of France. Only two days ago
there seemed to be every probability of a repetition
of this old phenomenon. It depended on the will of
one man whether or not we were to see a rehearsal
of the horrors of the Thirty or of the Seven Years'
War, condensed within a narrower lapse of time it
might be, but with an intensity proportionate to
that very limitation. So far as the belligerents them-
selves were concerned, the die, to all appearance,
was cast. The Prussian Cabinet called upon the
Italian Government to adhere to the terms of their
mutual engagement. It rejected as inadmissible an
armistice based simply on the cession of Venetia,
and insisted on its right to continue the struggle till
Austria was compelled to submit to the demands of
both Powers. For her own part, Italy testified her
readiness—nay, eagerness—to acquit herself of her
duty as a faithful ally, and hostilities were all the
time pursued on both sides without relaxation. A
Prussian detachment, 6,000 men strong, under Gen.
Mulbe, was close upon the gates of Prague. The
main armies of Prussia were advancing in three
columns on Olmutz, Brunn, and Iglau, and the cen-
tral one had established its headquarters at Czerna-
horn, three German miles from Brunn, while its van-
guard was said to have already reached Znaym.
Meanwhile, on their right, the Prussians, after rout-
ing the Bavarians at Kissingen, were pressing upon
them at Schweinfurt, and, further west, they
were threatening the position of the Federal
army in the neighbourhood of Frankfort. South
of the Alps Cialdini was pushing forward
from Rovigo across the Adige, up to Padua,
where an Austrian force was supposed to be awaiting
him, and where an engagement seemed imminent.
The King was reported to have proceeded from his
bead-quarters, on the Oglio, to Ferrara, probably
with a view to move forward the army under the
command of La Marmora to the support of Cialdini's
operations. Telegrams from Milan announced that
two Italian divisions belonging to the King's com-
mand had entered the Tyrol on way to Trent, while
the Italians had obtained some trifling advantages
in the Upper Valtellina. Such was and is the re-
spective position of the belligerents, such the very
plain determination of the allies to follow up their
advantage, and allow no respite to their enemy, On
the other hand, it seemed as if the Emperor Napoleon
had come to an end of all his pacific intentions. The
mission of Prince Napoleon to Italy had been coun-
termanded, and the French squadron of the Medi-
terranean was fitting out for sea. Two ships left
Toulon on Wednesday evening, and the rest were
to follow yesterday morning. Their destination was
Venice. Considerable activity, we were told, was
also observable in the harbour of Cherbourg, no less
than in the military commands both on the eastern
and southern frontier. Notwithstanding, however,
the large scale of these alleged preparations, the
fiat of the great arbitrator had not gone forth, and
there was a strong disinclination to believe that he
would proceed to the actual ex tremeties of an " armed
mediation." There could be no doubt, indeed, that
Prussia, and Italy also as her ally, were acting in
bold defiance of France, and it was natural that mere
lookers-on should be more alarmed at the eventual
consequences of their rashness than the very parties
who thus staked their all on the event. France,
however, could scarcely venture on a course fraught
with such momentous consequences to all Europe
without a certainty of the co-operation of the other
neutral Powers, and though this country was ready to
join France in her good offices to forward any arrange-
ment which might put a stop to the effusion of blood,
she would not follow France in an intervention likely to, extend and aggravate the evils it was intended to
mitigate. Any thr6at of foreign interference would
needs have had the effect of urging Prussia to still
greater exertions, not only against Austria, but also
against those Western German territories that still
make a semblance of resistance to her policy ; and if
Prussia could triumph over the Governments of
Nassau, Baden, and Wurtemb erg as easily as she
prevailed against those of Hanover, Saxony, and
Hesse, an appeal to the people of those States to
stand up in defence of the common Fatherland would
have found a responsive chord in most German
bosoms. Our apprehensions of an " armed media-
tion" are greatly abated. It begins to be tolerably
clear that Austria will bow to necessity. It is not
easy to see to what extent she may be satisfied with
the results of that application for French intercession
which was looked upon as a masterpiece of policy;
for, on the one hand, it has brought her no imme-
diate respite from her foes, and, on the other, it
must necessarily have damaged her in the opinion
even of such lukewarm friends as she still has in
Germany. No doubt both France and Austria her-
self had underrated the sense of duty and faithful-
ness to engagements which might actuate the King
and the people of Italy. The cession of Venice, they
too hastily concluded, would take one of Austria's
enemies off her hands. But the Italians, with a
chivalrous regard for their promise for which they
deserve the highest credit, refused to be seduced
even by so noble a bribe, and have not only engaged
the attention of a part of the Austrian army about
the Quadrilateral, but even threaten to follow it in
its retreat across the Alps, and to stretch out a
hand to the Prussians under the walls of Vienna.
The war between Austria and Prussia on one side,
and between Austria and Italy on the other, was so
portentous in itself that it seemed unnecessary to
look forward to further complications ; but the mere
hint at the possibility of an " armed mediation" on
the part of France opened a vista of unfathomable
evil. We have reason to believe that there is no
present danger of such an additional calamity.
Prussia makes no mystery of her design to drive
Austria out of the German Confederation ; but she
expresses no wish to destroy her position as a great
European Power. That position need not depend
on Austria's supremacy in Germany any more than
on her ascendancy in Italy—an ascendancy which
she has now spontaneously renounced. Prussia
puts forth uo claims to extravagant territorial ag-
grandisement ; but she does not disguise her deter-
mination to attain undivided control over Germany,
and to bring all the military and diplomatic power
of the German nation into her hands. This would,
no doubt, place enormous forces at her disposal, and
would make her a formidable neighbour to any one
who might
provoke her displeasure. But the for-
mation of a great nationality between the Rhine and
the Vistula, as well as of another between the Alps
and the Mediterranean, would not only be no cala-
mity, but it would be an inestimable blessing for
Europe and a security for the preservation of the
public peace. That this object could and should be
brought about with the least possible derangement
of the present state of things, the Emperor of the
French himself seemed to think at the time of the
outbreak of hostilities. As in the case of Italy, so
in that of Germany, his views were rather federal
than " unitarian ;" but he never shrank from the
contingency of seeing a strong Germany and a
strong Italy rising on the East and South of his
empire ; and when once those countries were en-
couraged to aspire to national existenceit was no
longer possible to put any restraint on the right
they certainly possessed to constitute themselves
upon those principles which might seem
to
them-
selves most conducive to their own security and in-
dependence.

ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES. - The speed and
accuracy with which intelligence of the campaign
in Bohemia has been forwarded to this country
has been contrasted by some newspapers with
the doubtful rumours that heralded the great
events of bygone years. The contrast is suffi-
ciently striking to arrest attention. In the begin-
ning of this century battles were fought which
decided the fate of Empires, and weeks elapsed
before the citizens of London had waded through the
most contradictory reports, which generally com-
menced by ascribing the victory to the wrong side,
went on by killing and capturing the victorious
generals, and ended by slowly conveying some real
idea of the truth. Even to this day many of the
principal events of the wars of Napoleon furnish
keen subjects for disputation. The crowning victory
of Waterloo has a French side, a Prussian side,
and an English side ; and to read any one of these
would appear like another battle to him who had
just risen from the study of either of the others.
Nowadays armies carry their historians into the
field with them ; and everything that can be said,
both by the losers and the winners, will be found
recorded within a fortnight after the action in the
columns of the Times. The leading journals of Lon-
don despatch to the scene of action the most graphic
writers, versed in all military matters, who obtain
the entrée and every means of intelligence through
head-quarters, who are courted as only those can
be who make and mar reputations. Nothing can
exceed the vivid pictures from both sides of the
Battle of Sadowa which the Times has given to the
world. Here, we have the whole scene in all its
living reality. No lifeless despatch, seeking to cover
failure by deceit, or to exaggerate an advantage into
a triumphant victory. The armies move before us
in all the terrible reality of war—mas,3es of men pass
on in endless battalions, squadrons, and batteries. 'We
see the cultivated country trodden down, peaceful
villages in flames, the inhabitants flying from their
homesteads, or wringing their hands at their door-
ways in despair. We see the military convoy stuck

in the mud ; the roads blocked up and jammed with
tumbrills, gun-carriages, waggons, and carts ; the
bivouacs, with the miles of sleeping soldiers. The
night passes; and dawn begins ; and we have the
hosts marshalled, as few in these hosts knew they
were arrayed. We have the positions described, we
hear the first roar of artillery—the advance,the attack,
and the defence. Every sway of the great battle
is described ; every chance on the changing scene
is calculated ; where the Prussian made good the
ground he gained ; where the Austrian drove back
the advancing foe ; how the victory hung for hours
in a balanced scale ; where the weak point was
through which the Prussians penetrated ; how bat-
talions and batteries rolled in through the gap ; and
how the flank was turned and the rear gained.
Then comes the great change. We have seen the
exulting armies, each side confident in its strength,
come up for battle ; we have seen the great fight
fought for hours in a long summer's day. Then
comes the detail of the Austrian disaster. The
whole panorama changes. No longer unbroken
lines advance to the front, and are lost in the smoke
of the battle ; no longer batteries rush up at the
gallop, unlimber, and open their cannonade. The
long line of the Austrian army is penetrated and
broken ; regiments are thrown back in wild confu-
sion on each other, cavalry form up to charge the
enemy's battalions pushing on in pursuit, a new line
of fire opens up behind where the Austrian
gunners have unlimbered whole parks of artil-
lery, and thus the battle rolls away to the rear,
becoming every minute more a thing of chance less
the conception of any one mind, and falling rapidly
into the impromptu action of commanders on the
spot. Then we have the retreat. The wounded, foot-
sore, and dejected masses are as vividly described.
The confusion of infantry, artillery, and material,
all hurrying along roads cut to pieces and over,
crops trodden to the earth, bridges breaking down
beneath the fugitives, and men drowning and guns
lost in the floods—the rumours of treachery and
incompetency, the accounts of the infernal and de-
structive fire of the needle-gun. Thus the pictures
are complete of the Austrian and Prussian armies,
both before the battle, in the battle, and after the
battle ; and another decisive action of the world has •
been added to the long list, the results of
which we are yet to learn. Whatever may be the
shortcomings of the Times, we must do the leading
journal the justice of acknowledging that no effort,
no trouble, expense, or influence is spared in ob-
taining the most clear and reliable intelligence
of events which excite such world-wide interest
and are of such extraordinary importance.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

WAKEFIELD .-FRrDAY.

At market to-day there was a limited supply of wheat,
the trade in which was slow. Sellers tried to realise the
full rates of last week, but buyers operated only to a small
extent. Other kinds of grain in small supply, at last week's
prices.