The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-29 00:00:00

-1.34 4 ..

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1866.

The hopes that were entertained a short time ago
of a peaceful settlement of the differences between
the two great German Powers have been speedily
dispelled, and we are more justified in thinking that

war is imminent than that we shall see diplomacy
carry the day in the arrangement of matters. In
Berlin there is a great deal said and written of the
probabilities of war, and also of the preparations
that are being made to that end. The organ of
Count BISMARCK gives detailed accounts of the
Austrian armaments. Certainly if the Vienna
Government thought that by settling things quickly
they would steal a march, they have been greatly
mistaken, because all their movements and
plans seem well known to their oppo-
nents. It can scarcely be that the Aus-
trians expect to avoid extremities, for they have
taken steps for the organisation of their forces, and
been at great pains and considerable expense in order
not to be taken aback 'Thus we find that the city
of Cracow is being fortified and armed in all haste
in order to serve as the central point of the first
corps. The towns are being garrisoned along this

route, and the third corps:is gathering in Bohemia,
and is so strong in artillery that the Norddeutwhe
considers it is intended especially to act on the offen-
sive, while the first and second corps respectively
stationed in Cracow and in Austrian Silesia, are

supposed to be for defensive purposes ; and
these things indicate a special plan and
purpose, and show in an umnistakable manner how
far affairs have progressed. Besides these accounts,
it seems that special trains are conveying Austrian
troops to various destinations, and at Cracow im-
mense exertion is being used. Night and day labour-
ers are engaged in working at the fortifications, and
the furlough men are called in. Garrisons are
being posted in spots hitherto unoccupied, and in
several miner ways great speed is being used to ar-
range all things in readiness. The IVorddeutsche
very truly observes that, if, as has been indi-
cated in Councillor IIETZ'S letter, that this war-

like preparation is safely intended to protect the
Jews in Bohemia, it is strange that the
Viennese journals should have been requested to
take as little notice of them as possible, because the
more they were commented on the better the pur-
pose would
naN
a vered. But the Prussian organ
concludes that .
ll not pass an opinion upon the
point, for " even the
fortifications of Cracow, for the
itnoltzin'l:-autinae
has
proctection of the Jewish
Bohemians, in a measure
it fails to understand, unless, perhaps, the Austrian
Government r that city a new
not been
Jerusalem." lin'rttc;(llBa
idle, but has forwarded a Cireiii
ar despatch
to the minor German States, in wh.ch
she
lays great v,-eic.zilt on the insufficiency 4 of
appeal to the Federal DiJ to arrange the present
dispute. In this Circular Note it is declared to be
imperatively necessary for the Minor States to take
up one side or the other in the event of a struggle
taking place; and it is added that the probability:of
such an event is rendered more and more imminent
through the armaments prepared by Austria. Of
course this really signifies that Prussia will consider
herself at war with all those lesser States and prin-
cipalities that do not side with her at the outset,
and assist her defensively and offensively. Such an
arbitrary announcement is only in keeping with
what has gone before, and is indeed quite worthy
of the Government from which it emanates.

----
We expected nothing less, but nevertheless it is
very harsh and unfair. The unfortunate small
States have been duped from the outset, and inas—
much as they had no part or share in the spoils of
the late war. Why should they be dragged into
this new dispute that has arisen out of the affa h.
Of course this Circular Note gives all the blame. to
Austria, who has violated it, says the Convent don
made at Gastein, and, furthermore, has assunied
a threatening attitude. The fact is that the Vi(nina
statesmen made the mistake of being too
timorous and far too vacillating in their
policy. Directly llerr VON BISMARCK adopted
a blustering tone they gave in, and let all their
Iprotestations go to the winds. Of course, as is
always the case under such circumstances, when
the injured party really makes a stand and thinks
toleration has been exhausted, the former aggressors
professes a great deal of virtuous indignation, and
disclaims all share of the blame of the transaction,
let the issue be what it may. The despatch con-
tinues in these emphatic words, " It is urgent for
Prussia to know if, and to what extent, she :may
rely upon assistance in case she should be attacked
by Austria or forced into war by unmistakeable
menaces.

We have, indeed, approached nearer and faster
to the climax than we anticipated a few weeks
hack, but there is no depending upon precedents
or counting with certainty upon possibilities when
unscrupulous parties are under consideration, and
without Austria found out in an indirect manner
that she was likely to be hoodwinked if she
trusted to any more diplomatic arrangements as
implicitly as she had hitherto done. Every thing
tends in the same direction, and proves in an un-
mistakeable manner that Austria is in earnest
now, and will not be trifled with any more. The
semi-official paper points out dangers which
Prussia may incur from the Austrian arma-
ments, and infers that in consequence of
this state of things steps have already been taken
to organise military measures in order to provide
for the emergency. It is stated also in some private
communications from Vienna that Austria is quite
resolved to " put an end to the provisional state of
affairs in the Duchies, and that, if necessary, she
will propose that the question should be referrQd to
an European Congress." This is what the French
Emperor proposed two years ago, but our Govern-
ment refused to acquiesce in the arrangement,
knowing that before the nations of Europe the claims
of Prussia could not be advanced in the same
daring and unscrupulous manner as they could
when matters were carried on at home. Had Louis
NAPOLEON'S proposition. been carried out long before
this time the vexed question of the Duchies would
have been settled somehow or other, but wilful peo-
ple will have their own way; and thus it has turned
out with the statesmen of Berlin, who, with the aid
of falsehood and fraud, and backed up by most
mistaken friends, have been allowed to ride rough-
shod over all law and justice, honour and honesty,
and to offer an example such as the world of late
has seldom witnessed of unscrupulous demands and
arbitrary conduct. NEMESIS has sprung up for
them, however, in a place and after a fashion in
which they least expected to find it, and their late
accommodating ally now threatens to become a very
formidable enemy. Perhaps it will be all for the
best if war is declared between these Power ; for,
through the indifference of the other kingdoms of
Europe, liberty was quite at a discount in Germany,
and all that seemed respected was tyranny in one
form or another. It is hard, however, upon those
those who will have to suffer the consequences of
the horrors of war.

Easter week is close at band, and meteorological
science is rapidly rising in importance. Every one
is hoping for' a fine Easter," since those to whom
the days of leisure are a matter of personal indif-
ference are humane enough to feel some interest in
the thousands who escape from toil to snatch a
breath of sea air or to look at the violets and prim-
roses peeping out under the hedges. But this fes-
tival epoch may very suitably be allowed to recal to
our recollection those who have no holidays, and
those who, whatever their occasional " day out,"
are kept at the round of continual toil, without even
the brief respite which the hours of darkness secure to
most of us. To the latter class belong the journeymen
bakers, whose grievances have been so often brought
before the public that there is really no excuse for
not heeding them. Every now and then, however,
we get a startling warning, a reminder of a truth
which in the midst of more exciting topics of politics,
science, and polemics, we are very apt to forget--
that human beings are not machines. If the neces-
sary amount of natural rest is denied, health, reason,
life itself, must inevitably succumb. In every
rank, and among the members of every profes-
sion, there may be found cases in which
individuals have been actually sacrificed to
over work, either from a too ardent and absorbing
pursuit of some especial object, or from ignorance
of the fundamental laws of health. But the evil
which is most to be deplored belongs especially to
what are called the working classes. It is a cruel
thing for man, woman, or child to be forced by the
laws of trade and the necessities of poverty to kill
themselves by excessive labour ; yet this tragedy is
being repeated every day on every side of us. If the
Registrar-General could tell us the real origin of the
diseases which carry of so many of our population
in their prime, we should hear some truths which
might startle the community and shame the em-
ployers of labour.

There are trades, no doubt, which are injurious
in themselves, but the worst of them may usually be
mitigated by proper precautions. Very often where
the masters provide the proper appliances, the men
from ignorance or indifference neglect to use thorn ;
but in too many cases the manufacturers and
their foremen appear to look upon those in their
employ as the South American planters were said
to do on their slaves, as mere agents for getting
through a certain amount of work, whom it was
cheaper to wear out' and replaced by new than to
trouble about preserving. It is very possible for the
loudest professors of the rights of man abroad to be
domestic tyrants at home; and we English had better
take care that all our sympathies are not expended
on behalf of the negro in Virginia or Jamaica to
the absolute exclusion of white men, toiling, suffer-
ing, and dying at our own doors.
The story of GEORGE SPRIGGSiS a short and simple
one. He was one of those martyrs of trade whose
sufferings it is nobody's business to redress, and
whose grievances:no one hag time to listen to. His
hours of labour would not exactly have suited the
framers of the Factory Bill. They extended from
five p.m. one day till two p.m. the next. Then
Came three hours rest in his clothes (which were
onhim for eight days), and when he set to work
Sn
aagnadintite master
to his dislike to traversing
eartetnt.bhuetfeadethsisadsldeuepeeindgato
on the h
teh ien
sacksq u e t,
the distance between
Bow Cross and
way noxton oftenerTher than neces-
sarye
because of his sore feet.
much
c h reaso:hen h i fore
sZcite hem for wonder
18 or 20
a
man's ilisou feet'
set
iniNt
g;
neither perhaps, looking at the matter -of fact view
of
_life usually ,taken by small trarlesmen, need
we be astonished at Mr. WHEELER'S Coolly
remarking at the inquest that Le man slept