The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-19 00:00:00

TEE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 19, 1866.

But that could not be worked out except after a long time,
and even then you would not get rid of the:second portion
of the inequalities, which, while they are inequalities just
as objectionable with reference to the political franchise,
are inequalities which, for the purposes of local taxation,

you are bound to maintain. If a. house in one case requires

repairs at tie rate of 5 per cent., and in another case re-

guiles repairsat the rate of 20 per cent., the effect of taking
rateable value as your basis would be that of two men pay-
ing equal rates you would enfranchise one and disfranchise
the other. The right hon.-gentleman went on to show that

even, fixing an equal rate of deduction would be a gross
injustice with reference to the purposes of local taxation;
that any errors in the gross estimated rental system went

forward in an aggravated form in the rateable value column,

in which were errors peculiar to itself. He called atten-
tion to the fact that there was property in this country not
rated at all, which the proposal of the noble lord would dis-
franchise. He pointed out that the scot and lot system, so
far from being in favour of the noble lord's proposal, had

nothing to do with rating value, as it had nothing to do
with any amount. The old precedent of scot and lot was
in favour of household suffrage—(hear) —for the fact of

being rated, no matter what the amount, conferred the suf-
frage. (Hear.) A man paying 6d. scot was just as good a

voter as a man who paid £6. Coming to the proposal to

oust the revising barrister, the right hon. gentleman re-
gretted that such a proposal should be raised incidentally
by mixing it up with a subject which was complex enough
in itself. I confess, he went on to say, that that is a ques-
tion of very great difficulty, and it appears to be desirable

:o raise and discuss that question by itself. I admit it would

be a benefit to get rid of the cost of registration courts—
(hear, hear)—but you would lose the benefit of that object
if you were to introduce the very same class of questions,

to be decided by bodies less judicial and less competent.
The effect of that would be that although you change the
tribunal you increase the litigation. It is a most serious
matter. I am not aware what precedent is alleged from
Parliamentary history to say that you are to commit the
political rights of those whom you deem worthy to be en-
franchised to be decided in relation to the question of amount
by local government and local authority. (Hear, hear.)
But, again, a large majority of the small boroughs of this

country are boroughs where town parishes are united for
poor law purposes with a great number of rural parishes in
the neighbourhood, and every parish is represented at the

board by a separate guardian, the result being that boards

of guardians are composed of an overwhelming proportion
of rural guardians, and the proposal is in effect that those
rural guardians shall have the power of fixing the franchise
in boroughs. (Cheers.)
Mr. HUNT—The assessment committee of the unions,
and not the boards of guardians, acts in the matter. (Op-
position cheers.)
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—That is
in effect the board of guardians. (Cheers.)
Mr. HUNT—The ,boards of guardians have to appoint
them. They appoint a certain number of magistrates and
a certain number of ratepayers. (Opposition cheers.) It
is not likely the rural parishes would override the town
parishes. -
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—That does
not mend the matter much, because there will be an over-
whelming number of guardians of the rural parishes.
Sir H. CAIRNS—Let the right hon. gentleman read the
whole clause.

The CHANCELLOR of theEXCHEQUER—The clause
of the Act of 1862 provides that the boards of guardians
shall every year appoint from among themselves not less
than six and not more than twelve to be an assistant com-
mittee, such committee to be composed of not less than
one-third ex-officio guardians.
Sir H. CAIRNS—The town council have the power of
appointing an equal number.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—Yes,
where the union and the borough have the same limits.
(Cheers.) Does the hon. and learned gentleman think I
would take the statement from his assurance ? (Opposition
cries of " Oh, oh!") If I did, what a pretty predicament
I would find myself in—(cheers and laughter)—from his
most erroneous assurance—erroneous, not from intention,
but inadvertence. With respect to the transfer of this
authority for fixing the political franchise for local pur-
poses from the revising barrister to persons who are mixed
up in politics, and not restrained as he is by judicial habits
and judicial knowledge, I will take the case of a small

borough, _in which suppose the assessment corn•

mittee, with a view to politics, underrate 100 voters—a
number generally sufficient to turn the scale in small con-

stituencies. Suppose that instead of £8 they rate the
houses at £6 15s. ; the difference of this would be only
£125, which would not be thought too much to pay for
political influence and for disfranchising 100 persons.
(Hear, hear.) Suppose there is here and there a man who
is by no means a rogue, but an unscrupulous partisan
either of one side or the•other, who would take a liberal
view of the value of a certain sot of houses, and make a
liberal deduction to the landlord on account of what he
calls necessary repairs. Am I to be told that the party
can appeal to havo the rate raised? As I understand
the question, no such right of appeal exists. I win
also suppose a case in which the assessment committee

rate a number of houses too high—say at £7. That
can be done cheaper still, for at £7 the difference
upon 100 houses would be so small as to afford an induce-
ment to raise the rating for political purposes. No doubt

they would be entitled to appeal if the rating were too
high, but the assessment would take care not to overrate
except in cases where parties were willing to be overrated.
You Would by this be introducing into tho electoral system
a number of elements that aro apparently of considerable
danger. Whether it may be possible now or hereafter to
control these elements so that we may run the risk I will
not undertake to say. I admit the great value we would
derive if we could establish such a test as would enable us

tacking the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose manner

he characterised as irritative, saying that his case was

either extremely bad, or a spirit of enthusiasm had carried
him beyond ordinary tactics. He thought the amendment
of the noble lord was put in a very able and efficient man-
ner, and did not deserve the rebukes passed upon him.
It was his opinion that the rateable franchise was desirable

in boroughs, as the parish books were drawn up with the
greatest care, and each one looking to his own interest
and watching the officials lest he was charged too much.
He spoke as a supporter of the Government, but he

found that outside the house there was a growing
dislike for this Reform Bill. Referring to the Govern-

ment, he said it was a Palmerston MiniStry without Pal-
merston, and the want of his wisdom and judgment was
now felt by the Government leaders. He must, therefore,
support the amendment, and he did so because he did not
wish to bolster up a scheme which he thought was not
palatable to any one within the house or without it.
_ _ .

_
Mr. BRIGHT said the committee would agree with him
when he expressed a hope that the hon. member for Tam-.
worth felt himself happier and greatly relieved after the

opportunity he had had for pouring out the history of his
personal grievances. (Oh, oh, and hear, hear.) He began
by charging the Chancellor of the Exchequer with a man-
ner unfriendly and irritating. (Hear, hear, by the Oppo-
sition.) He ventured to say that if the noble lord had
thought the Chancellor of the Exchequer irritating at all,
the thought had not entered his mini until it was pointed
out by the right hon. baronet. He undertook to say
nothing could be more fair—(oh, oh)—nothing could be
more generous—(oh, oh) —than the ,views which the right
hon. gentleman took of the speech of the noble lord the
member for Galway—because he gave him full credit for
sincerity in wishing to amend this bill, shutting out alto-
gether and entirely any suspicion he might have that the
object was to limit the franchise. The question as between
rating and rental or value, as a matter of practical advan-
tage,had been discussed almost as much as it could bo with
any great advantage to the committee. The real object
of the amendment, and the cause why hon. gentlemen
opposite were so unanimous in its support, was that it
prOposed to meet the Government proposition of a £7
household franchise in boroughs by a proposition which

would raise that limit to £9. It was true that in the

Reform Bill he (Mr. Bright) had prepared he proposed that
the rate book should be the basis of the register ; but
then he proposed that every one whose name was on
the rate book should be placed upon the register.
If the rate book and any particular figure was chosen,
the franchise might be limited very much beyond
what it would ba if that figure were taken as clear annual

value. If the noble lord intended that the franchise
should remain as extensive after the amendment were car-

ried, as it would be by the proposition of the Government
being sustained by the house, he would have told the
house that if his amendment were carried, he proposed to
substitute £5 for £7 in the clauses of the bill. The figure
£6, as suggested by the hon. member for Wenlock, would
not be so extensive as the £7 in the bill. The real ques-
tion before the house was whether they world agree to £7
of clear annual value, or to a £7 rateable value, which was
substantially if not exactly £9 of annual value. If the
amendment were carried, the great object of the bill would
be entirely defeated, and the claim of the working men
would be in effect rejected. Referring to the position of
the working men who are the managers of the Rochdale
co-operative societies, the hon. member showed that 17 of
those men lived within the borough, of whom the Govern-
ment 1,7 proposition would enfranchise 11. If the £7
franchise were changed to £B, only two out of the 17
would be enfranchised, and if the rating proposition of the
noble lord were adopted and the figure £7 remained, not a
single man out of that 17 would be enfranchised. (Hear,
hear.) He asked whether they were prepared to extend
the franchise to 11 of those 17 select working men to whom
he had referred, or only to two of them, according to the
proposition of the hon. and learned member for Guild-
ford, or were they prepared to deny it to every
one of them according to the amendment of the noble
lord, if the word £7 remained in the clause ? Now, these
were what might be called select men, of whom any coun-
try might be proud, and yet it was proposed to shut the
door of that house in their faces, and deny them an en-
trance there, not in their own proper persons, but in the
persons of any representatives. It was to his mind ono
of the most lamentable things that the great body of the
working classes should be divorced from tho political in-
terests and institutions of the country. Since those dis-
cussions commenced, a gentleman showed him a letter
from a gentleman with whom he was himself well ac-
quainted, in which he stated that he regretted to see among
his workmen a stronger interest in American politics than
in the politics of their own country. He happened to meet
the writer of the letter some time after, and he asked him
whether what he stated was the fact ; and his answer was
that in his own mill there were as many American news-
papers as there were newspapers published in this country.
Hon. gentlemen might think this had nothing to do with
the question, but he would tell them that such a state of

things among the population of Lancashire and Yorkshire
was not a healthy state of things, and demanded the
attention of the house. (Hear, hear.) All of those who
employad labour looked to the passing of the bill as a means
of increasing the desire for education, stimulating self-
respect, and improving all the social relations of the people.
The'noble lord the member for Huntingdonshire spoke of
the state of things in Europe, a state of things calculated
to fill all their minds with grief, and argued that because

of that state• of things the bill could not be wisely pro-
ceeded with. He should argue from it precisely the reverse
(Cheers.) The war in Europe might end differently from
the idea of kings and persons looking on. It might end in
a fever of revolution in Germany —might end in the pro-
mulgation of opinions not favourable to settled order—
(hear, hear)—and no one know to what extent those
opinions might spread. Ho was not speaking now in the
interests of the working-men, but he regretted from the
bottom of his heart to see the constant endeavour that
was made to create a gulf of eternal separation between
the great body of the working classes and the middle
class. (Cheers and counter cheers.) They might rely
upon it that the setting up of a barrier of that kind was
bad in every way, but it was especially perilous when
advocated by a great and powerful party in that house.
' Between 400 and 500 public meetings had been held in
favour of this bill, and especially of the clause
now under consideration; but, so far as he was aware,
there was not one meeting held to condemn the
bill as dangerous to the institutions of the country, or
even calculated to extinguish the Conservative party. If
they carried the amendment, if they rejected the bill,
and overturned the Government, this question would still
remain. (Cheers.) Don't let them, imagine that the right
hon. member for Bucks would come there to defy the ivhole
Liberal party of England, and tell them that the measure
of their political franchise was full. Depend upon it the
right hon. gentleman would not do that. Therefore, this
question would remain—to break up a Government, it
might be—to weaken every Government that sat upon that
(the Treasury) bench, and to create excitement everywhere
throughout the country, and afford opportunity for the
discussion of fundamental principles at every public meet-
ing. (Cheers.) All that they were about to bring about
because the noble lord had imported into this country a
proposition from the county of Galway—(loud cries of "Oh,
oh")—which was wholly foreign—(cries of " No, no ")
anything that had over existed in England and Wales on
this question, and for which there could be no foundation
found in the kingdom of Scotland. Ho would ask hon.
gentlemen whether it was worth their while to take a
course which might land them in many difficulties, and
whether it would not be better frankly to accept this
measure—(oh, oh)—and to give to the people of England
a manifestation of their confidence in them, and of their
great generosity to the people. From what he know of
the people of England, ho would undertake to say that if
they treated them with generosity and justice now, they
would make an ample return in. obedience to the law and
loyalty to the Crown. (Loud cheers.)
Sir H. CAIRNS said, after the rebuke which had been
administered to the noble lord the member for Galway by
the hon. member for Birmingham seine apology was due,
perhaps, that he, an Irish member—(Opposition cheers)—
should presume to take part in the discussion of an Eng-
lish Bill. (Renewed cheers.) He might, however, ask
the hon. member for Birmingham whether, if none but
English members had voted on and discussed the bill
they should to-night have been in committee. (Loud
Opposition cheers.) It was not his intention to contend
whether the manner of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
was fair, generous, and courteous to his opponents—(a
laugh)—which was, after all, a matter of opinion.
He confessed his inability to understand the principle ad-
vocated by Government of making a deduction with re-
gard to local rates, and refusing to do so with regard to
repairs. If the argument for the'deduction was applicable
in the one case, it was equally SU in the other. With re-
gard to the gross estimated rental system of which the
Government were so enamoured, ho pointed out that it
worked most unsatisfactorily. In some places he found
that there was a deduction of five, and in others of ten, per
cent. made from the rental before the gross estimated rental
was arrived at. In the case of London the surveyors
valued the premises for rateable value, and the clerks in
the counting-house added 10, 15, or 20 per cent., as the
case might be, to the ascertained value, with the view of
attaining to the result so much desired by Government.
The hon. gentleman proceeded to refer to the Irish bill, in
which he maintained the rateable formula was obtained in
exactly the same way as in England. With respect to the
revising barristers, he submitted that they were no judges
at all of the value of a house. Yet that was the appeal
which the Government proposed on every question of law.
In conclusion, the right hon. gentleman protested against
the Chancell6r of the Exchequer announcing that he
wenn not recede from the position taken up by the Go-
vernment, because it reduced the discussion of the com-
mittee to a matter of mere form.
Mr. OSBORNE, while expressing the opinion that au
Irish county member had as good a right to bring for-
ward the amendment as an English member, pointed out
that the Irish system, though admirable for that country,
was totally inapplicable to England, because no English
borough would submit to Government valuation or Go-
vernment interference of any kind in local affairs. After
pointing out the extreme variation between rateable value
and gross estimated rental, which, on the authority of a

revising barrister, he gave as from 5 to 40 per cent., the
hon. gentleman denounced the policy of those who sup-
ported the amendment as being avowedly intended to de-
lay the bill of the Government. (Hear, hear.) It was
patent to every one both in and out of the house that the
motion was nothing more nor less than another specious
pretext, by discussing a rateable clause, to get rid of the bill
and of the Government. The course taken by the Opposi-
tion was forcing many moderate men to the conviction
that if the bill was thrown out and they had a rating suf-
rage, it would be accompanied by household suffrage.
(Hear, hear.)
Mr. M'EVOY could not be accused of being opposed to
Reform, but he considered a rating franchise was the right
basis to rest upon. He would not support the amendment,
however, unless the proposer of it and those who sup-
ported him would agree to one uniform valuation through-
out the country, such as was practised in Ireland.
Mr. VILLIERS pointed to the defective state of our pre-
sent system of assessment, and stated that the Government
plan of a valuation rental would be far mere honest than
any rateable franchise.
Lord DUNKELLIN could not accede to Mr. M'Evoy's
additional words to his amendment, but would promise
that whenever an equalised assessment was brought for-
ward he would support it, and he hoped that would be
sufficient to obtain that hon. gentleman's vote. After re-
plying generally to personal remarks made during the de-
bate by several members, he left his amendment for the
committee to decide.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied to
some personal remarks made and commented upon during
the debate, and concluded by reiterating the statement he
had made in the former part of the evening, viz., that the
amendment was introduced for no other purpose than to
raise the franchise in boroughs, and he could accept it only
as fatal to the bill.

The house then divided, when the numbers were—
For the amendment
Against 304
Majority against the Government —ll
There was another of those excited scenes which have
been so frequent during these reform discussions. When
the clerk at the table handed the division paper to Lord
Dunkellin, shouts arose from the Opposition which were
repeated for some minutes. After the noble lord had read
the numbers, these were repeated with renewed en-
thusiasm.

Mr. AYRTON said that after the announcement which
had been made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the
Committee had no alternative but to report progress. The
hon. gentleman accordingly made a motion to that effect.
This having been agreed to, there was a loud cry of
" Till when ?"

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—TiII this
day at six. A morning sitting having been appointed, I
apprehend it cannot be rescinded ; but no Government bill
will be taken. (Loud cheers.)
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and
the house adjourned.

The Defeat of the Government.

(From the Times.)

The respective advantages of " rateable" and

" clear annual value" were debated at length in
committee last night ; and at the end the " rating"

test was adopted by a majority of 11 in a house o

619 members. The Government thus met with its
first serious check, for it was a check rather than a
defeat. The result can be a matter of surprise to
no one. On the one hand the weight of argument,
whether 'from convenience, from constitutional pre-

cedents, or from authority, was in favour of making
rating—the modern equivalent to the old payment
of scot and lot—the basis of enfranchisement. On
the other, all the weight of the Government was
thrown into the scale in favour of the test of clear
annual value. It was a contest between reason and
authority, and, not for the first time in history, rea-
son won the victory. The battle was fairly fought
and fairly decided. The fate of the Ministry ought
to be completely dissevered from the fate of the re-
form bill. It has been, on the whole, an advantage
to the cause of reform that it should be so, and there
can be no question that it is beneficial to the na-

tional interests. We can discuss the amendment of
the constitution without perpetually thinking of the
effect of a decision upon the position of the Minis-
try. The vote of last night is a practical instance
of this truth. It was a distinct repudiation of a
Ministerial proposal ; but, unless the Ministers are
resolved to sacrifice themselves to a feeling of
wounded self-love, it cannot be construed into a
withdrawal of confidence and support. They may
think it advisable on other grounds to suspend the
further progress of the bill, but it is not a neces-
sary consequence of yesterday's vote, and we are
satisfied that their abdication of office would be re-
pugnant to the wish of the House of Commons and
the country.

(From the Morning Post.)

At the close of an animated debate the House of
Commons divided early this morning on a motion
which struck at the root of the Ministerial measure
of Reform. Extraordinary efforts had been made
by the Government and the Opposition to secure

the attendance of every one of their respective sup-
porters, and, as a natural result, the house was full
to overflowing when the question was put from the
chair. The, speeches which concluded the debate
were received with manifestations of more than
ordinary impatience, and all seemed anxious to pre-
cipitate a division which it was believed would de-
termine the fate of the new Reform Bill. In a
house composed of 624 members, inclusive of the
Chairman and Tellers, 315 supported Lord Dun-
kellin's amendment, and 304 recorded their votes
against it. The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated
that he would announce the intentions of the Go-
vernment at the meeting of the house to-day. In
the presence of so large a majority against them it
is difficult to imagine that any other course is open
to the Ministers but resignation.

(From the Daily News.)

Whatever may have been the motive of Lord

Dunkellin in proposing the amendment which was
last night submitted to the House of Commons,

there can be no doubt as to the feelings of the ma-
jority which supported him. Their object, in which

they have succeeded, was to throw out the bill, and,
if possible, the Government with it. It is true that
Lord Dunkellin left open the question of the quali-
fication to be finally selected ; but the scope of his
amendment must be judged, not by his professions
and intentions, but by the undisguised sentiment of
that part of the house on which he depended for

support, and by the amendments which followed
his own upon the notice paper, and which did what

Lord Dunkellin refrained from doing, and fixed the
amount, of the borough franchise.
(From the Morning _Herald.)

Mr. Gladstone takes a view of his position as
leader of the House of Commons which is peculiar
in more than one respect. The eminent men who
have occupied that high post before the member
for South Lancashire have regarded it as their chief
duty in that capacity to conciliate the good-will,
consult the fair requirements of all sections of the
house, and to maintain and enforce those rules
which the house has agreed to for the proper and
convenient carriage of business. Mr. Gladstone, on
the other hand, ostentatiously insults the Opposi-
tion, arrogantly disregards the rights of independent
members, and, what is, if not so offensive, very much
more inexcusable, violates the rules of the house and
takes liberties—for so we must call them—with the
Speaker and the Chairman of Committees unheard
of before his time. Last night an impertinence of
this kind was summarily punished. Mr. Gladstone
repeated his declaration that the Government could
not accept the amendment, and the house divided
to pass the amendment by a decisive majority, and
dispose, if Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues act up
to their declarations, of the bill and the Ministry.
We congratulate the house and the country on this
signal triumph of the constitutional cause.
(From the Morning Advertiser.)

Last night the time of the House of Commons
was again devoted to a discussion on the Reform
Bill. The point at issue on this occasion was
whether the £7 borough franchise should be based
on rating or rental. The bill of the Government
recognises the principle of rental, whereas the
amendment of Lord Dunkellin was that it ought to
be based on rating. The amendment was stoutly
opposed by all the members of the Govern-
ment who spoke, and it was maintained on
the Liberal side of the house that a rating
franchise would practically be a£9 franchise. On
a division, Ministers were defeated by a majority of
11, the numbers being—For the amendment of Lord
Dunkellin, 315 ; against it, 304. The result of this
division will be fatal to the bill, for Mr. Gladstone
explicitly stated that it would be so immediately
before the division. Whether he also meant that it
would be fatal to the Government remains to be

seen. We shall know before another dal has passed
which way it is to be.
(From the Morning Star.)

To the last the Tories have been true to their
false tactics. They fought and yon last night a
battle after their own hearts—a battle in which the
real issue was not the nominal issue—a fight in
which a mere tittle of administrative detail was
made the subject of a discussion ranging over the
whole field of the great constitutional question that
awaited Parliamentary settlement. It was no fancy
picture of alarming contingencies that Mr. Bright
drew in the peroration of his last night's speech.
It is not long since Earl Grosvenor declined to vote
against the Government because he dared not take
the conduct of foreign affairs out of their hands.
Since then war has actually commenced. But it is
not only the danger of embroilment in war that is
incurred by the defeat of the Reform Bill. There
is the further danger of wilfully avoiding those acts
of grace and good understanding towards the
people which would render innocuous, so far as
England is concerned, all the events, however con-
tagious and inflammatory, of continental warfare,
which, beginning in the unbridled ambition of
princes and statesmen, may result in an unlimited
liberation of peoples and the re-establishment of
revolutionary ideas. A more unfortunate moment
for a Ministerial crisis can hardly be imagined. Nor
could such an event have been occasioned by any-
thing more ill-omened than the rejection of the mild
enfranchisement clause of a moderate Reform
Bill.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.

(From the Times' Military Correspondent.)
BRESLAU, June 15, 7 a.m.

The Bund has passed the Austrian motion for the
mobilisation of the armies of the Confederation
against Prussia. Prussia has declared that she con-
siders herself no longer bound to the Confederation,
and the commencement of hostilities appears now
to be only a question of a few hours.

Heavy masses of Prussian troops are drawn toge•
;her on the northern frontier of the kingdom o:

Saxony ready to advance at a moment's notice, if
requisite, against Dresden. In Silesia the army has
hitherto been scattered in cantonments at various
points along the frontier, but yesterday it has been
concentrated to a great extent between Briez and
the frontier. Whether the Prussian concentrations
are for offensive or defensive purposes no one even
now dares to pretend to tell certainly ; but probably
those in Saxony are for attack, as far as Dresden is
concerned. Those in Silesia may be intended to pre-
pare either for an e Rance into Moravia, or to op-
pose an anticipated attack by the Austrians from
that quarter.

The railways are swarming with troops. It is
evident, too, from their appearance that 'Prussia has
made great exertions in order to place the army she
has in the field on a war footing. Boyish recruits,
who seem hardly able to carry their knapsacks and
arms, and grizzled landwehr men, who have long
left the ranks of the regular army, are equally en-
rolled in the regiments which have lately been sent
to the front. At every railway station detachments
of soldiers either get into or out of the trains, and
everywhere can be detected the busy stir and feverish
bustle which forbodes the gathering together of an
army for battle. Daylight this morning was ushered
in by a slow, drizzly rainfall, which soon made the
roads moist and sloppy ; but marching detachments
have been splashing along them since the earliest
dawn appeared, to gain the country railway sta-
tions, on the platforms of which, made greasy by the
moisture, the soldiers, wrapped up in their cloaks
huddled together to get as much shelter as possible
from the weather, until the time came for them to
get into the train.
Some of the detachments appeared to be recent
levies drawn from the neighbouring country. Many
of the men were accompanied on their march to the
station by women, who wept silently as they moved
almost mechanically alongside of the marching ranks,
and who strained with eager eyes after the train till
a turn in the line or distance hid them from our
view. The soldiers themselves looked grave, but
very determined. The news which came from
Frankfort last night has roused the war spirit in the
land; still there was many a wistful glance cast
back towards the cottages which, with black beams
built into their white walls, and high-thatched roofs,
look not unlike the homesteads of Cheshire or Wor-
cestershire. Nor does the appearance of the people
destroy the resemblance. Especially in the men
there is a marked look of the better agricultural
classes in England.
From every little village and every small town
soldiers appear to be hurrying to central positions
for the concentration of their brigades, divisions, or
corps. The large bodies marched yesterday to their
places of assembly ; this morning outlying detach-
ments and small bodies of men from distant parts
were being called up to headquarters. There are
also a few—fortunately very few at present—of
those detachments to their rear which have always
to be made daily from a large army to carry the
sick to the hospitals.
Breslau, no longer a fortress, for the fortifica-
tions have for some years been converted into boule-
vards and promenades, has to-day quite recovered
its military character. Brisk orderlies flit about the
streets, carrying huge letters with enormous seals,
and wearing such an air of importance that each
and every one of them might be the bearer of
immediate orders for the Crown Prince to cross
the border. Yet trade goes on quietly, the
banks and shops are transacting their usual busi-
ness as if there were no armed men in Silesia
and no Austrian advanced posts hanging upon
the frontier. The crops in the country around the
town are about high enough to reach to the knee of
a man standing up, and, wherever the clumps of fir
wood do not break in upon the cultivated ground,
stretch as far as the eye can reach. A few rays of
bright sunlight, which made an effort to struggle

through the heavy clouds in the early morning, lit
up the cornfields, studded with the darker foliage of
the pines, as if for a moment to show how fair a
scene is likely to be scorched and withered by the
hot tempest of war.
Nothing-is known of recent Austrian movements,
or at least, if any intelligence has come in, it is
kept most carefully secret. Although many who
pretend to know something of the plan of opera-
tions disdainfully reject the idea that the Prussians
will make an offensive movement, the sudden con-
centration of the armies and the bustle of rapid
preparation evidently forebode an advance. When
I say nothing is known of Austrian movements, I
allude only to the Austrian armies in Bohemia and
Moravia, since, although nothing can be certainly
known, an Austrian force is supposed to be assem-
bling at Aschaffenburg, possibly with a view of sup-
porting the minor allies of the Empire on an attack
on the Rhenish Provinces.
The King of Prussia had not left Berlin last night,
but it is thought that he will join the army to-day.
Hostilities may actually commence either to-day
or to-morrow, but as yet it is impossible accurately
to foretell what will happen. The military conduct of
a campaign is a problem which few can solve, and,
when it becomes intermingled with political consi-
derations, it becomes almost inextricably confused to
all except the few who have an insight into every
particular. About 36 miles southwards of the town
lies, near Freyburg, the castle of Furstenstein, where
till two days ago the Crown Prince had his head-
quarters. He has now transferred them more to the
east. The Berlin papers said yesterday that he had
gone to Neisze, which is about three hours by railway
from Breslau. Neisze is in Silesia what Olmutz is in
Moravia—the knot where the roads which lead over
the mountains on this portion of the frontier join an
advantageous point from which to invade Moravia
and strike a blow at the line of railway communica-
tion leading from Vienna to the Austrian positions
in Bohemia, or at which to concentrate an army to
resist an Austrian advance from Olmutz.
Breslau is in itself also an• important point, for
here unite the lines of railway from Berlin by Lieg-
nitz, from Berlin by Lissa, which connects Silesia
with all the eastern provinces of Prussia, the rail-
way to South-Eastern Silesia, and that to Freyburg,
which passes near Schweidnitz.