The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 11, 1866.

to be responsible, and her alone. She forced on the
war, while she declared that she was driven into it ;
she was not content with victory, but she must
needs appropriate a great deal of territory ; and so
on to the end of the chapter she carried on a series
of arbitrary arrangements, and established a new
reign of terror. No one can justly blame the
French EMPEROR for interfering to prevent a dan-
gerous and unscrupulous Power from becoming too
strong, and allowing a treaty to be signed which
would give a virtual sanction to these proceedings.
The public will watch with anxiety to hear the
result of these negotiations that are now engaging
the chief men in Paris and Berlin, and, perhaps,
after all, there is not much to be surprised at
under the circumstances. Those who took a com-
prehensive view of Continental matters felt con-
vinced all along that France would interfere at
some juncture of the affair, and not allow war and
peace to succeed each other and leave her in the
lurch while Prussia took the lion's share of the
•
spoil.

DENMARK AND THE PEACE.

The Dagblad of Copenhagen contains an able and
interesting article respecting the peace preliminaries
and the position of Denmark with regard to the
proposed restoration of the northern portion of
Schleswig, in which it says :
" The other contents of the peace preliminaries
sink down into insignifiance to us in Denmark com-
pared to the one passage that touches us so closely.
The world did not care much for us in our days of
trouble, and it is therefore excusable if we now think
most of ourselves. While Europe and the European

press are speculating upon the demands of Prussia,
the concessions of Austria, and the future position

of Germany, we may be allowed to fix our attention
on the final settlement of the Elbe Duchies,' or
the future fate of Danish Schleswig. We have not

wished to mention it beforeto avoid adding another
bitter disappointment to those already suffered, but
as the proposal is now placed beyond any doubt it

would be unnatural if the Danish press were to re-
main silent upon a question which of all is nearest

to the heart of the Danish nation. Such silence

might be misinterpreted by those who have exerted
their mighty influence on our behalf, and make them
think that the Danish people were indifferent to the
reunion with their Danish brethren in Schleswig,

and did not most warmly appreciate what has been
done to bring about such a happy consummation.
We think we are justified in hoping that the ex-

pression, ' the districts of Northern Schleswig are
to determine their future by the plebiscite,' means
that this vote of the people is to fix the line of divi-
sion to be drawn, as no such line has been men-

tioned. We need not say that only such an inter-
pretation would do justice to the hopes of all Danes,
in Denmark as well as Schleswig, and to the prin-
ciple of nationalities. For it is only by virtue of the
rights of nationalities and the free choice of the
peoples that there can be any question at all of
restoring to Denmark any part of what was
torn away from her by superior force. But
these great principles which are about to
form the basis of a new law of nations will not
be carried out if an arbitrary line of frontier be
drawn separating people of the same nationality. It
would be dangerous to Denmark if the plebiscite
were to restore so much that a question of nationality
might again arise and cause a pretext for foreign in-
terference. But it is injustice to Denmark and
a sin against the nationality principle if the line be
drawn through districts the ithabitants of which in
language and education mentally and physically be-
long to the Danish nation, and have no more ardent
wish than to be reunited under the same King and
Constitution. We must remain silent in deep humi-
_ _

of a cruel difference and to stop the effusion of LATEST INTELLIGENCE
blood."
A German paper says that the venerable M. de (REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
Munch-Bellinghausen, formerly the President of
the ex-Diet, died suddenly on hearing that he had
lost two of his sons in the late battle.
Prince Antoine Hohenzollern has died from his
wounds.
There is another change in the weather, and for
the worse. To-day it has been cold, wet, gloomy,
and miserable, and with no sign of improvement up
to post hour.
The Tribunal Civil of the Seine has given its
decision in the case of the will of the Duke de
Grarnmont-Caderouse, the particulars of which are
well known. The Duke, by his will, constituted
Dr. Declat, his physician, universal legatee. The
family pleaded against the will, on the ground that
Article 909 of the Code Napoleon renders null any
gift or donation to a doctor who attended the de-
ceased testator. The Court set aside the will, and
thus a large property goes to the relatives of the
Duke.
A new piece was produced last night at the
Vaudeville, " Les Don Juan de Village," by
Madame George Sand, of which I shall probably
have something to say.

liation if anybody tells us that every bit of land re
stored is a gracious gift from a powerful hand which
we ought not to refuse ; but if the restoration is
not an act of grace, but the carrying out of a great
principle, we have a right to expect that it will be
extended so as to do full justice to that principle.
The expressions of the German organs and the ad-
dresses of Prussian officials and magistrates may
have deceived public opinion in Europe as to the
real feelings of the Schleswigers ; but it is a fact,
which is even admitted by the German party in
Schleswig, that only is the north of Schleswig
Danish, but that in Sundeved and the island of
Alsen the Danish feeling is unconquerable. A
popular vote in Schleswig must comprise all the dis-
tricts where the inhabitants speak, think, and feel
Danish. The line must be drawn southof Flensburg,
whose vote will determine which side that city is to
belong to, and on the west it must be at Bredsted.
Only then can it be said that the population of
Schleswig decide their own future, and only by this
means will justice be done to the great principle of
nationality.
" It would in reality be no great sacrifice on the
part of Prussia to restore such part of Schleswig as
should declare that it wished to go with Denmark.
What Prussia has arrived at is getting access to the
sea and obtaining good ports, the conditions for the
development of her naval power. She has attained
this in the invaluable harbours of Kiel and Eckern-
forde, and the proposed canal through holstein will
connect those ports with the Bay of Jande and the
naval establishments at Geesteniunde and Emden,
taken from Hanover. On the part of Prussia it is ac-
knowledged that they only laid claim to Schleswig
to stop the mouths of the bawlers about the heredi-
tary rights of the Augustenburger. It is now settled,
in the most unmistakable manner, that the Augus-
tenburger, that wretched ' squeezed-out lemon,' has
no right to any part of the Duchies, and Prussia is
supported by the feeling in Germany in shelving him
altogether. There can therefore be no reason for
Prussia to claim a country and a population whose
wishes go in another direction. The new fortifica-
tions at Duppel cannot be of any strategical import-
ance to Prussia against Denmark ; the great supe-
riority of her army requires none such, and when in a
few years her fleet will also be superior to that of
Denmark, neither Alsenn or Duppel will be of any
value to the latter for the purposes of defence. The
half-sentimental value formerly attaching to the
place on account of the Prussian blood shed at Dup-
pel cannot have any weight now Prussia has gained
such immense military glory that she does not re-
quire the additional lustre from the taking of those
earthworks levelled to the ground through the in-
cessant firing of weeks, nor from the victory over
our few exhausted soldiers ; much larger streams of
Prussian blood have been shed at Nachod, Skalitz,
Gitschin, and Koniggratz, without Prussia deeming
it necessary to incorporate those trophies in her em-
pire. After the enormous triumphs and great advan-
tages achieved by Prussia she can afford to be mag-
nanimous to an opponent to whom she herself ac-
knowledges to have done some injustice, and whose
obstinate defence against two great Powers through
four months loses nothing on a comparison with the
occurrences in Germany from the 15th June to the
26th July.
" But should the popular vote even be extended
to all the Danish parts of Schleswig the victory is
not yet gained.
Care must be taken that the plebes-
cite become a real and free expression of the feeling
of the people. Officials who aro now as eager parti-
sans for Prussia as they formerly were for the
Augustenburger, and other unscrupulous political
renegades, coupled with a Prussian occupation of the
duchy during the vote, are no particular safe guaran-
tees for the freedom of the latter. Yet we have that
confidence in the faithful Danish Sehleswigers, who
with such enthusiasm cling to the hope of being de-
livered from foreign rule, that they will be strong
enough to resist all temptations and overcome all
difficulties ; and we know them too well not to feel
sure that they will organise from the Kongeaa down
to the southernmost Danish parish. Yet we have
deemed it necessary to call attention to what is re-
quired if the vote is to be really a free and indepen-
dent one."

COUNTY REVISION.—By an Act of Parliament
passed last year no court is to be holden by a revising bar-
rister for the revision of the lists of any county before the
20th of September in any year. Hitherto the period was
from the l'oll of septerabex to the end of October.