The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—The Prussian game is now almost
played out. The fall of M. de Radowitz is the signal
of the defeat, and, we hope, the abandonment of that
policy of the Court of Berlin which had sacrificed
the just influence of Prussia in the Confederation,
and her national weight at home, to a chimerical
union of the minor German States, which prolonged
the Danish contest by a singular mixture of vacilla-
tion and bad faith, and which threatened at last to
embro'.l the whole of Germany in actual war. Like
Id. Thiers in the autumn of 1840, the Prussian Mi-
nister has lost his footing at the very moment when it
became necessary to resort to the most extensive mili-
tary preparations to support his policy ; but there is
this important difference between the two cases—
that in France the King perceived the danger of his
position, and turned out the Thiers Ministry by his
refusal to authorise their armaments; whilst in
Prussia Frederick William has himself been the
most eager partisan of this desperate and im-
practicable line of conduct, and the check which
has removed M. de Radowitz from office
falls with equal, or even greater force, on
the person of the Sovereign. In this respect the mo-
derate members of the Prussian Cabinet have gained a
constitutional victory over the heated and violent ad-
visers of the Court, and Count Brandenburgb, with
M. de Manteuffel have rendered fresh services to the
stability of the monarchy and the peace of Europe.
The plans which M. de Radowitz had brought for-
ward and promoted for a time with so much eagerness,
had, in fact, crumbled under his feet before the late
crisis; and his position became the more ludicrous
as he was rushing to the verge of war in defence of
a project which had already lost all shape and cohe-
sion. The question was, in fact, reduced to a mere
point of personal vanity and consistency. Individually
M. de Radowitz could not recede from the position to
which he had pledged himself ; but his resignation
happily removes the principal difficulty which de-
layed or prevented the settlement of these differences.
There seems to be no doubt that Count Branden-
burgh was authorized to propose at Warsaw the
abandonment of the scheme of the Prussian Union,
and to accede, under certain conditions, to the reor-
ganization of the Germanic Diet. A negotiation
was opened upon these terms, and Russia declared
herself adverse to the rejection of them. If, as we
hope, there exists on both sides a sincere desire to re-
store the federal union of all Germany, the conditions
cannot present any invincible difficulty, and the Aus-
trian Government would be highly reprehensible if it
attempted to avail itself of the present turn in the
affairs of Germany to impose any sort of onerous
conditions on the Prussian party, or to assume a tone
of recrimination and menace. In the meantime the
Federal party and the Frankfort Assembly have
shown that they are quite prepared to act in support
of the authority they claim The mission of the
Austrian officer to Kiel, which has recently been ad-
verted to, was intended to convey to the Stadtholderate
the terms of that resolution of the federal authority
which was taken on the 26th of October for the termina-
tion of the war, and published by ourselves a few
days afterwards. As we had anticipated, the mission
of the Prussian agent, General Hayn, proved a com-
plete failure, for what he recommended under the
shape of an armistice was, in truth, a prolongation of
the burdens of the war without any prospect of a de-
finite result. The intimation of the Frankfort au-
thority is of a different character, for it is, in fact, that
summons to desist from hostilities which we have so
long hoped for, proceeding in this instance, from the
federal power which is competent to enforce it, with-
out any violation of the territorial rights of Germany.
It becomes a matter of perfect indifference, under
these circumstances, whether Lord Cowley's signa-
ture of the ratifications recently exchanged is or is
not a recognition of the Power with which he
signed. For, happily, the time is past when the
dilatory and nugatory mediation of this country
can be made a pretext for prolonging the hostilities
Lord Palmerston bad undertaken to terminate.
It is very much to be desired that the German
States themselves should take effectual measures to
heal the wounds and repair the injuries which have
mainly been caused by their guilty connivance ; and,
if the obstinate resistance of the Kiel Stadtholderate
should render any armed intervention necessary, the
presence of federal troops in Holstein is infinitely pre-
ferable to the invasion or occupation of any part of
the Danish dominions by any foreign Power. It
would even seem possible that, in the event of a posi-
tive interference, Prussia would herself anticipate the
march of the federal corps by preparing to occupy
Holstein, as she has done a part of Hesse. We have
no doubt whatever that Lord Palmerston will
pa
wel
g be
even-
tually recognise the restored Germanic Confederation,
butic t
a itn
cwe. whatl
had b e withbhe ee nm
agl is
hi this
have
far-seeing
o m
rno
difference,
d pa
rt
a heeit tihc wsl ial
as e i
compelled by the force of events to accept with re-
ed:h
ness , for, if the part he has taken in the affairs of
Germanyu
has been blind and petulant, we should not now
have to regret the humiliating extension of Russian
ascendancy over the whole of Germany, nor should
we have any reason.
to deplore the means by which
even this pacification
will have been effected. We
sincerely desire the termination of the Danish war,
and of the unhappy dissensions which have now for
many months torn asunder and weakened the prin-
cipal German States. As to those objects, there
be no difference of opinion between an
states-
man and the Emperor himself. Nicholas But the
question was, and is,whether these objects are, to be
effected in a manner favourable to the advancement
of liberal principles and to the connexion of Germany
with England, or whether the result is to beat-
tained by the sacrifice of liberal principles, and by
an increased subserviency of German interests and
powers to the policy. of Russia. The result is,
by that result,. the whole policy
un-
happily, one which he who runs may read. Judged
es-
tranged this
.count.r.y from Austria and Bavaria,
and staked their creait. on the success of the visionary
schemes of Prussia,. is a total failure, since it bas
ended in the ruin of the. cause our Government affected
of those who
to favour, and the triumph of an
authority essentially
opposed to our own. In the various emergencies
which may arise, either in the East or in the West of
Europe, the prodigious diplomatic advance which
Russia has indubitably made will, sooner or later,
prove to be an event of the most serious importance.
if her attention were again actively directed to the
Ottoman Empire, we have lost, and she has gained,
the support or acquiescence of the German Pea ers in
that quarter of the globe. If events in France should
give rise to another change less favourable to the
character..
maintenance of peace, the Emperor of Russia would
persuaded
findhimcsoealfliwtioitir
of
ft atnheeffmorotstat
formidable ihdeaandleof a conti-
nental
are at a loss to discover any adsgrraenatta
fromtt
ai stcounourtrya
Emperor
traiosorhdoa elf r i
Russia
e policy,uds s from o
amoowd tss
wea m
ge
portionwhich
cohf
aarkreed deviation
his ascendancy in Germany to the eccentric and un-
rty
friendly attitude of England. Lord
aPalmets
it
s
courted, rsto
courted, it is true, the revolutions
leaders with incredible eagerness and credulity. lie
based the alliance of the two nations on the duration
of their ephemeral power, but when they lay buried
under the ruins of their own topheavy schemes, he
found himself without a friend among the regularly
constituted authorities of the nation. e hope that
with the cessation of these projects and theoverthrow
of that dangerous policy of which the
of Radowitz
was the ostensible leader, we may enter upon a more
rational period. It is impossible, for their own dig-
nity and security, that the German States can cherish
the idea of a strict Russian alliance ; and, even now,
a skilful and friendly policy on the part of t
ihis coun-
try would remind them that Great Britain s not less
concerned in their union and their welfare. With
Prussia, especially, we may renew the most amicable
relations whenever she abandons or discards the men
and the measures which have suspended our confi-
dence and forfeited our esteem ;..an.d we should view
d the position of danger and humiliation i i
n whch she is
placed by the enormous forces opp.ose to her on the
Russian and Austrian frontiers with more sympathy
and apprehension, if we could forget.
.that she has ac-
cumulated these impending calamities by her own
folly and injustice on her own head.
DAILY NEWS—The abandonment of all the
popular principles of G-erreanunity, and the sacrifice
of all independent and constitutional system of go-
vernment in Germany, having been consummated in
Warsaw, in accordance with the
desires and congratu-
lations of our contemporaries, it is quite misplaced of
them to continue to commiserate Prussia, or to repre-
sent it, as the Times does,
i threatened by a dismem-
berment of Silesia. Let t not be supposed that it
absolutist
reciu
and
ds military,
is, that
Prussia accords with either Russia's policy or interest to
weakenrossia
shouldPrussia.be,
Alllike
herself,th atßussia
and in the concerns of Europe, that the voice and the
weight of Russel, of aaestria, and of Prussia should
go together, as they were wont to do in the good
old times. This triple alliance being fully restored,
Russia, instead of seeking to curtail the territories of
Prussia, will be inclined to extend them. The events
of the last weeks have formed a kind of campaign,