The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-26 00:00:00

then and there against Berlin statesmen. It
is no wonder that the journals in the Duchies are on
such bad terms with each other when strife and
disregard prevail at head-quarters.
It is evident that at Paris doubts are entertained
as to the present position of affairs in the Duchies,
for the Prussian Ambassador there has gone
to Berlin for a short time to report to the authori-
ties as to the state of feeling that prevails in France.
The extraordinary step taken by Prussia in prohi-
biting the papers of Schleswig from calling
the Duke of AUG tiSTENBURG by that title, and
of adverting in any way to his claims
on Schleswig-Holstein, has been justly called ]
in question by Herr SAMVER, the Coburg Berlin
Minister. A more inconsistent course could not
have been pursued than has been adopted by
Prussia respecting this unfortunate Prince. When
we remember that the war was originally instituted
in order to prosecute his claim, it is indeed too much
for Berlin effrontery now to repudiate his rights
altogether in this arbitrary and summary fashion.
It appears, however, that we may nowadays expect
anything from that quarter, and the unwise course
pursured by our Government towards Prussia dur-
ing the Dano-German war has fostered and
encouraged that Power in the pursuit of her policy.

The closing of the Prussian Chambers has not
taken any one by surprise, for it was becoming evi-
dent that the Government could not much longer
go on with a hostile and criticising Parliament. The
fact is, that the Deputies were getting unmanage-
able, and proclaiming to the world that the affairs
of the State were in an unprosperous condition.
No doubt the present state of affairs in the
Duchies precipitated the closing of the Chambers,
and Herr VON BISMARCK considered that he had
better be off with the old enemy before he com-
menced with the new.

It is astonishing to reflect upon the great en-
croachments made by the Berlin Government upon
the rights and privileges of the Constitution. They
have now prorogued Parliament before the Budget
had been at all under the consideration of the
House, and thus broken the charter. With an in-
solent defiance of truth and justice, the Cabinet
had already intimated to the House that the Depu-
ties were themselves violating the rites of the
State, no doubt hoping, by this device, to avert
notice from their own delinquencies. They pre-
tended to be very much shocked at the
step taken by the House in counselling Government
to prosecute the police officials who prevented the
Banquet at Cologne last summer. Another offence
was annulling the right of his Majesty to the title
of King of Lauenberg ; and a great wrong was done
by the Deputies in denouncing the decree of the
Supreme Tribunal respecting the restraints put upon
liberty of speech in Parliament. Taking all things
into account, the state of affairs in Prussia at the
present moment is anything but reassuring to those
of her citizens who love liberty, or to those even
who merely desire peace. Whether we look to ex-
ternal or internal matters we find events tending
in one direction, and are threatening a complete
revulsion of policy, and if not a speedy one, a cer-
tain one when it arrives. Unless some great change
takes place in the state of things in the Duchies
war between Austria and Prussia will be inevitable,
although it is to be feared that it is now too late
for the prophecy to be fulfilled which speaks of the
advantages that accrue from dissensions among
thieves.

The arrival of the Virginia from New York has
been speedily followed by that of the Africa from
Halifax and Boston, with four days later news. The
old war of parties is still going on, and while the
PRESIDENT is constantly receiving assurances of
approval and support from various parts of the
country, the Radicals in the House of Representa-
tives are very ready to denounce himself and his
policy. The negro, who has so long been the diffi-
culty of American statesmen, legislators, and
patriots, is, of course, one of the main subjects of
difference. The general principles upon which the
Radicals base their policy is that in the Southern
States there shall be no distinction what-
ever made between the white man and the
black—that the personal, civil, and political rights
of both shall be on an absolute and unconditional
equality. At first sight the apparent justice and
fairness of this principle may commend itself to an
Englishman, but when we come to look a little fur-
ther into the question, we shall find that practically
it is less promising. They are not machines, and
will not act in direct unquestioning obedience to the
guiding hand of the master. It is impossible to say
to a passionate, unsclisciplined, ignorant race,
" Thus far shalt thou go, and no further." If our
most democratic politicians in this country hesitate
to recommend the adoption of universal suffrage,
not because they do not wish the rights and claims
of every man to be respected alike, but because they
feel that the sudden elevation of an ignorant mul-
titude to political power would be disastrous to
themselves, as well as to the whole of the other
classes in the community, much more may a thought-
ful and temperate American pause before granting
unconditional equality to a body numbered by millions
belonging to a race which has none of the self-con-
trol, the patriotism, the independence of the lowest
ranks of uneducated Englishmen. The critical
position of the two races, the violent disruption of
all the old ties, and the removal of all the customary
restraining influences of the negro, all alike render
the present crisis a most unsuitable and dangerous
epoch for attempting asudden change in the political
position of the former slave. President JOHNSON,
whose opinion on this subject carries weight, not
only from his present position, but from his former
experience, has declared unmistakably his convic-
tion that any attempt to elevate the negro
too suddenly to an unconditional equality
with his former master would give rise to a war of
races. He readily admits the obligation of the Go-
vernment to protect the interests of the negro, to
raise him from want, and to take all possible
measures for improving his moral, mental, and
social position. He has confessed before now that
he is not sanguine as to the success of such efforts,
but openly announces his belief that it is the duty of
the superior race to make the effort. 'Notwithstand-
ing the formidable party of his former supporters
which now oppose him in the Congress, and the
storm of abuse levelled at him by quondam
allies, Mr. JOHNSON remains unshaken. To
encourage the ill-feeling existing between
the two races is in his opinion a political blunder as
well as a moral error, and thus neither threat nor
appeal will induce him to retract his declarations
on the subject. A Radical member having
asked the PRESIDENT to consent to a compro-
mise respecting the Columbia Suffrage Bill,
he replied that it was impossible to palter with such
a question. " There will not," he said " be a poll-
ing booth at which blood will not be shed if this
Bill becomes law, and if negro suffrage be insisted
upon in all the Southern States against their will,
you provoke an inevitable war of races. I know
the negro better than you do, and I say that the
more you increase the old antagonism between the
freedman and his master, the more certain you
render his extermination." It is this knowledge of
the negro, as he is in the mass, that the Northern
legislators for the most part want. They judge

him from the individual freedman mixing with the
white in Northern cities, a very different specimen
from among millions of his own race far away in
the Southern districts. The negro is, in fact, made
a political cry in the North, and the principle of
equalityand freedom is degraded into a mere excuse
for fanaticism and intolerance. When the leaders
of a great party in the boasted Republic declare
openly that they can keep the Southern States in
the condition of Poland, if necessary, and do not
scruple to remind the PRESIDENT of the fate of our
CHARLES the FIRST, it is time for more moderate
and thoughtful men to ask themselves whither they
are tending.
The treatment of the Southern people is another
great subject of division between the parties in
the North, although it is in reality a branch of
the negro difficulty. In their enthusiasm for the
black man the Radicals entirely overlook the com-
monest principles of justice in regard to their white
countrymen, and, as we have said, avow their wil-
lingness to keep the Southern States in the condi-
tion of a conquered country. The great point at
issue between the PRESIDENT and the Radicals is
whether the Confederate States are or are not part
of the Union. The PRESIDENT, as we know, holds
that they have never been out of it ; the Radicals,
on the other hand, affirm that they have left, and
must not be re-admitted without some guarantee
for future loyalty. But on this plea we should
like to know what excuse there was for the Northern
States enforcing the subjugation of the South ? The
object at the time was said to be the maintenance
and preservation of the Union, but the point once
gained, the Radicals turn round and declare the
Union to have been broken, and the Confederates
to have forfeited all claims to re-admission. Then
on what ground did they compel six millions of
whites to abandon their own form of Government ?
It is the old story of Democracy ending in Despot-
ism, and when we find the extreme Radicals of tho
most Radical country in the world openly taking the
Emperor of RUSSIA'S policy as their model, it is time
for our politicians to take the hint and the warning.
It is fortunate for America that she has at the head
of affairs a statesman so firm and so enlightened as
ANDREW JOHNSON. The President feels that he has
the support of tht great body of his countrymen,
with whom the Radicals are daily losing favour ;
and, notwithstanding the excessive majority of the
Radicals in Congress, he will, if ho has nerve
enough to hold his ground, be eventually victor.
The Republican press is now, for the most part,
ranging itself on his side, while the influence of
Generals GRANT and SIIERMAN is unreservedly
exerted in his favour. In fact every one who really
knows the South, and understands the condition of
its people, white and black, is of the same
opinion ; so that, as time goes on, and
the public mind grows morg and more
informed and enlightened the influence of the ran-
ters and fanatics will doubtless sensibly diminish.
We must hope that it will be so ; but in the mean-
time, as the position of foreign affairs becomes more
tranquil and less exciting, the interest of the Ame-
rican intelligence centres principally on the ques-
tions of internal legislation and policy.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FllO3l OUR OWN COIMESPONDENT.)
PARIS; Sunday Evening.

The German papers received in Paris to-day, as
well as the Paris journals, attach much import-
ance to the present aspect of affairs in Germany.
The simultaneous departure of M. de Goltz and
M. de Budbcrg, the former for Berlin and the
latter for St. Petersburg, is supposed to have con-
nection with some arrangements between France
and Austria, and it is asked whether Prussia and
Russia are likely to adopt any energetic measures
in opposition to the desires of the two former
Powers. The Ost Deutsche Post, a journal of some
influence, supposes that the basis of a new ar-
rangement may be the cession of Venetia to the
kingdom of Italy for a consideration, which France
will undertake to provide. It is admitted by the
official Paris papers that the administrative reform
suggested for Venetia has excited considerable op-
position in that country, and that public opinion
is generally against it. Letters from Vienna affirm
that the Venetians still believe in the possibility
of regaining their national independence.
There is a schism in the management of the
Presse, and M. Emile de Girardiu, the editor in
chief, and Messrs. Duvernois and Vermorel retire.
According to the generally believed version, M.
Emile do Girardin advocates more energy and
liberalism, and the committee of management are
afraid of any course which might by possibility en-
tail the interruption of the publication of the paper
'o‘
neev earn);
notin ga
sbtyo
ntiusrhnesd and
tnothing
ol opnr
ige,t'o'
or its suppression. M. Emile de Girardin has been
rasilashlo tfiol dr
fear any sudden impulse in favour of rash radicalism
which might endanger their property without being
of any service to the cause of real liberty.
Accounts from Chili state that the blockade of
the coasts of Chili is now reduced to the blockade
of the two ports of Valparaiso and La Caldera.
The frigates the Ville de Madrid, the Blanca, and
the goelette Vencdora blockade Valparaiso. The
Numancia, the Berenguela, the Marques de la
Victoria, and the Matias Cousino, blockade la Cal-
dera. A skirmish took place on the 27th of De-
cember, in the roads of Caldera, between the
Chilians and the Spaniards. The armed boats
of the Numancia and the Berenguela succeeded in
entering a creek, and took possession of the Chilian
steamer Corbalau ; but a company of infantry kept
up a powerful fire, and compelled the boats to
abandon the steamer, which they had taken in tow.
According to the latest news, the commerce of
Chili has resumed its usual activity. A report was
in circulation at Panama that several Spanish
trading vessels had been captured by Chilian
corsairs.

An English three-masted steamer is now under
the surveillance of the authorities of Brest, in con-
sequence of her having on board munitions of war.
The name of the steamer is not mentioned.

A man named Joyard has just murdered his
wife at the little village of Sauvian in the depart-
ment of the Herault. They had been separated
about a year in consequence of the brutal character
and jealousy of the husband. The woman, how-
ever, is said to be of irreproachable character. The
husband, who had often threatened his wife, re-
turned to her a few nights ago and inflicted several
mortal wounds upon her with a chopper. The
darkness of the night favoured his escape, but the
police of Beziers obtained a clue to his place of re-
treat. He had shot himself near the house with a
double barrelled pistol. He discharged both barrels
into his head.

M. Camille Doucet has assumed his seat in
the Academie Francaise in the room of the
late Count Alfred de Vigny. The audience was
very numerous, and M. Doucet made a brilliant
and appropriate speech, in which he passed a high
eulogium upon de Vigny. He said that Chatterton
and Stello were always for M. de Vigny his works
of predilection. M. Jules Sandeau followed in a
strain of similar eulogy of Count de Vigny, and
proceeded to express his admiration of the beautiful
comedy of M. Doucet. He analysed the chief of
these comedies " Les Ennernis de la Maison," "La
Chasse aux Fripons," and "La Consideration," and
said that they seemed to revive the genius of Cor-
neille. The election of M. Prevost Paradol will
take place on the Bth of March, when M. Guizot is
expected to make a speech on the occasion.
Among the marvels of the Great Exhibition of
Paris will be au aquarium 49ft. deep. The most
rare and various fresh water fish will be kept in it,
and there will also be a miniature sea, with sharks
411 d other reinarckizble sea fish. The preparations