The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It may be too much, perhaps, to expect ; but the Times
is convinced that it would be well for Austria if she con-
cerned herself as little with the internal arrangements of
Germany as she does with those of Italy. It is only by
altogether abstracting herself from Western politics that
Austria can fulfil her true mission. It was not without

good reason that for so long a period in modern history
the leading State in Germany bore the name of " °ester-
reich," or the Eastern Empire. The main interest attached
to the introductory statement in the " Red-book" just

published naturally centres upon the Eastern question, for
it is in that quarter that Austria's influence can be
most beneficially exerted. The great object pursued
by Austria in her Eastern relations has been, we
are told, the independence and integrity of the
Ottoman Empire, consistently with all possible improve-
ments in the condition of the Christian subjects of

Turkey. Asa Conservative State and as a near neighbour,
Austria is directly concerned in the fate of Turkey, while,
besides the ties of religion which she shares with all the
other European States, she has her sympathies ..ousted in
behalf of those Christian subjects of the Porte who are
connected by consanguinity with her own people on the
frontier. With the result of the Cretan insurrection, and
with any complication arising between the Porte and the
kingdom of Greece, Austria has no greater interest than
her Western allies, and her anxiety has invariably been so
to frame her policy as to ensure the co-op ration both of
France and England. But it is far otherwise on the
Danube, where Austria's interests are identical with those
of Turkey. Left to himself, as Austria is well aware, the
Turk is as competent to hold his own against internal
enemies as any other independent potentate ; and by the
" Eastern question" nothing else is meant than the danger
of a disruption of Turkey, not so much by the vio-
lence as by the intrigues of her ambitious neighbours.
Against foreign attacks, no less than against foreign in-
trig,ues, the natural protector of Turkey is Austria.
Indeed, Panslavism is as formidable an enemy to the
Kaiser as to the Sultan. The best hope of safety for
Turkey lies in the antagonism between the Teutonic and
the Selavonic elements on the Danube. It is as a vanguard
of all Germany that Austria can aspire to guide the des-
tinies of the East. Freely, yet indissolubly, associated
with Hungary, Austria cannot fail to establish an undis-
puted ascendancy over those half-civilised races on her
frontier which constitute a far greater danger to Turkey
thanany by which she may be threatened in her maritime
possessions. Already, as we learn from the " Red-book,"
it has been in the power of the Vienna Government
to put a check on the movements of Servia and
Montenegro, and to establish friendly relations with
Wallachia and Moldavia. Her influence will soon,
as it seems, have the best opportunity to exert itself to the
same effect during the troubles which are almost daily
expected in those same To keep order among
Servians and Roumans would be no very arduous task for
the combined forces of Austria and Turkey, if there were
no other foes in the field. It is against the Northern ally
of those turbulent races that Austria is in need of
auxiliaries, and it is chiefly among her old German con-
federates that she must look for them. If Austria will
really follow a policy of her own, free from exclusive
deference to France and from jealousy of Prussia, she will
be able to take up such a position in the East as will
exercise the most beneficial influence on the interests of
European peace.

The Post is by no means sanguine with regard to the
Abyssinian expedition. Our contemporary does not
desire to re-open the question of policy ; but when it calls
to mind that the justification offered by the Government
for the precipitation with which they acted, and for having
gone so far without the sanction of Parliament as to rendtt
it impossible for the House of Commons, however averse
it might be from paying the cost of a war in Abyssinia, to
refuse the necessary supplies, the question may be fairly
asked how far that justification has been vindicated by
facts. We were told that if the Government had not
acted with promptitude there would have been no proba-
bility of concluding the war before the month of April
next—a period at which it was agreed upon all hands the
Cimate of Abyssinia would necessitate a suspension of
hostilities. In a word, the Ministry saw a chance of over-
powering the Emperor Theodore by a coup de main ; and,
however desirous they might have been of ascertaining the
wishes of Parliament, they could not, without exposing
themselves to just censure, allow the golden opportunity
to slip. And accordingly war was resolved upon, a com-
mander-in-chief of the expeditionary for;:e appointed,
transports chartered, contracts for the supply of a large
commissariat concluded, baggage animals, from elephants
down to mules, bought up in considerable numbers, and
even a staff of officers sent to reconnoitre the approaches
to the country which we were about to invade. Every-
thing to effect the success of the intended coup de main was
done ; but somehow or another, everything leads us to be-
lieve that after all it will be nothing more than a coup de
force.

The Herald has a word to say about the defective I
organisation in some departments of the Abyssinian expo-
clition. This has nowhere been more visible than in the
transport service, on which the success of the expedition
depended. Special correspondents have told us how ani-
mals have been allowed to die of hunger and thirst, how
the transport train itself is composed of officers at discord
among themselves, and how they have not provided veteri-
nary or other surgeons for either men or beasts. It was
not in the expectation of such grave defects of organisation
as these that the country consented so willingly to the
long delay and the heavy cost entailed by the slow advance
of so large a force, instead of urging the rapid advance of
a flying column to do or die in the attempt. But we have
not called attention to these lamentable shortcomings in
the transport department of the army merely to find fault
with what there is to blame in this particular instance.
Our object is to show the absolute necessity for prepara-
tion, if success is ever to be obtained at a reasonable cost ;
not the preparation which begins when the troops ought
already to be moving, but that which keeps every part of
an army always ready to move. Can there be a more
melancholy contrast than the months of delay, with their
subsequent result, in shipping this small force to Abys-
sinia, and the hasty shipment the other day of the French
force for Rome ? We spend a huge annual income on our
army at home and abroad, but, shortsighted in our policy,
we stop short of making our army mobile ; and doing this
we spoil all. Soldiers with weapons in their hands, but
without proper transport organisation, are like a trunk and
arms without legs. The Abyssinian campaign will not be
an unmixed evil if it enforces this lesson at any cost.

We are certainly, the Daily News tells us, in a worse
position than we were a year ago. Leaving out the ques-
tion of the Abyssinian war and the Fenian troubles, the
worst feature to be noted is the discredit that has fallen
upon the railway interest, causing in more than one
instance the practical insolvency of some of the larger
companies. It is no light matter for a parent, guardian,
or trustee to face the new year when deprived of his
income for an indefinite period. It is plausible enough t
say that, whatever inconvenience he may feel, the nation
in general has not been the loser, since the money that has
been extravagantly spent still remains in the kingdom.
Unproductive expenditure, however, on a railway,
whether in ordinary stock, preference shares, or deben
tures, is actually as great a waste of labour, time, and
material as if the whole money had been cast into the sea.
What concerns us most, however, is that the purchasing
power of the nation at large is diminished. Business is
slack, which means that earnings are falling off ; property
hitherto emisidered worth £loo'or £l2O has fallen to £45
or M. Foreign commerce, also, is very dull ; and the
only consolation the News has to offer is that the question
is merely one of time and endurance.

The hope the S:anclarel expreSsed a few days ago that
the French Government would persevere with the new
Press Bill has been fulfilled. The Emperor has not been
diverted from his liberal purpose by the hostile reception
given to the measure by the Opposition, nor by the
strongly-expressed fears and dislikes of the majority. He
had plenty of excuses for withdrawing the bill, and must
have been sorely tempted to avail himself of them. The
men to whose demands it might be considered a con-
cession, instead of acknowledging the advance made by
the Emperor,
and aiding him to convert the bill into a
law, seized the opportunity of its discussion to make the
bitterest attacks upon the Emperor which have yet been
heard in the Pala,is Bourbon. They admitted grudgingly
that the abandonment of the arbitrary power of life and
death over the press was a benefit ; but, because the bill
did not go as far as they wished, because it did not esta-
blish a license which, when they were themselves in
power, they energetically resisted, they condemned it with
unsparing severity. The Emperor, however, being most
deeply interested, has confidence in the loyalty of his
subjects, and he extends their liberties, sure that they will
not be employed against him. That is sufficient reason to
accept the bill as a safe concession, whilst the opposition
of the majority proves that it is a large one. The firm.
1)053 of the Emperor has secured to France the new fiber-
*: f which the self-styled champions of liberty had
marly 12au:ked her.

To-tlay :nakes Fri2.l.and, in the opinion of the Te/efirapn,
011cr.i s.';aiit in the history of matikh;ll:l really and truly
`• of the Seas." 110 w long that prowl title may
to 11•4 nobody en,n prcsibly tell in these times of in-
c.7,.7.ant rivalry 1-icily:xi-I gun.; and plates; but when the
ha I been float c,l Gilt from the doelc there is little
toot the strongest awl most formidable vessel in the
\% c:1,1 is ilt fly the standard of England. Our contemporary
says this with no feelings of pride or self-complacency.
After describing, the "floating castle" her teak padding
and iron plates, her skin, her beam, her eight guns, and
her immensely powerful 1,200, or rather 7,200 horse
power engine, the Telegraph concludes : If the Her-
cules never fires a gun in anger she will, perhaps, have
done us no less a service ; for until some mightier man-of-
war shall cumber the complaining wave, there can be no
broadside fleet extant, and not many fightinc, craft of any
kind, that could come within hail of the Hercules as an
caemy and takes the news home again. . .

7IIE ACTIONS AGAINST E.1.-GOV.ERNOI2
_LYRE.

On Saturday, in the Queen's Bench Chambers, before
Mr. Brewster, two applications were made in the civil pro-
ceedings that are being carried out against Ex-Governor '
Eyre, arising out of the Jamaica disturbances. After
the refusal of the Shropshire magistrates to commit Mr.
Eyre on the charge then brought against him of
the murder of Mr. George William Gordon, Mr.
Alexander Phillips and Dr. Robert George Bruce each
brought actions against Mr. Eyre to recover damages, in
Mr. Phillips's case for false imprisonment and assault,
and in Dr. Bruce's for false imprisonment. In the appli-
cation in " Phillips v. Eyre," Mr. Warburton Pike, in-
structed by Messrs. Sheen and Roscoe, appeared for
the plaintiff; and Mr. Petheram, speeial pleader, instructed
by Mr. James Anderson Rose, represented the defendant.
Mr. Pike said that the defendant had pleaded not guilty
to the action, and also that he was indemnified by the Act
of Indemnity passed by the Jamaica Legislature shortly
after the disturbance had been suppressed ; and the
plaintiff by the present application sought to join issue
upon the facts, to demur to the plea of indemnity; to new
assign further acts, and to allege that part of the tres-
passes complained of were committed out of the jurisdic-
tion of the Jamaica Legislature. Mr. Petheram objected
to everything. except the joinder of issue, and urged the
blaster at once to refer the matter to the judge then
sitting (Mr. Baron Pigott), as it was one of such great
importance. The Master said he would not be justified
in referring a summons to the judge without some valid
reason, and in this instance he could discover none. It
appeared quite clear to him that the plaintiff had as
much right to raise an issue law to be tried by the
court, as he had to raise an issue of facts to be tried by a
jury, and he thought his application should be granted,
in order to enable him properly to bring the case before
the court. Mr. Petheram said it was so clear that the
defendant was protected by the Indemnity Act, that the
demurrer raising that question could only be for the pur-
pose of delaying the case, and he would again respectfully
urge the Master to refer the question to the judge. The
Master said that if when the demurrer was delivered it
turned out to be frivolous, the defendant could take out a
summons to set it aside ; but he did not see that because
the defendant was the Ex-Governor of Jamaica he should
do that which he should not do in an ordinary case. He
decliued to refer the summons to the judge, and granted
the plaintiffs application. The application in " Bruce v.
Eyre " was for an extension of three months' time to
deliver his declaration in this action. After reading the
affidavits, the Master said Mr. Shaen must have time to
commuiicate with his client in Jamaica, and he would
therefore grant the necessary time within which to deliver
his declaration. The result of the present applications is
that one at least of these actions will be tried at the sit-
tings after Trinity Term.