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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Timm—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. Pruisian 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 nolonger
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."—WO 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 on, 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-
vided against such cruel and wanton destruction.
If it be further settled that the country hi 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, Engliiitned
cited the case raised by Portugal against the U
States. We do not propose to enter on this subject,
but it appears clear that if the United Staeleasima,
wrong in their decision on the Portng:etsiee
exam it
ple.
will not justify England in following
1
the very
Two wrongs cannot make a right. And
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 in allowing such
a precedent to be established and such enormous
crimes to be perpetrated under the. sanction of In-
ternational Law. The claims of Portugal against
b
the United States were a mere agatelle 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
Englieh commerce may hereafter sustain from