, 1866-04-20

mean war, and we confess,-always with
the proviso that the lying is not unusu-
ally portentous,-we see no escape from
the belief that sooner than suffer Prus-
sian dictation in Holstein, sooner indeed
than see Northern Germany absorbed in
Prussia, the Hapsburgs will fight, will
fight now, and will fight hard. If they
are compelled to fight, we are in presence
of another European war of which no
man now living can predict the end or
the duratlon-a war which will probably
engage Italians and Danes, Frenchmen
and Turks, which will make widows in
Sicily us we'll as iceland, and leave as
many children fatherIeSs in France as in
Hungary or Brandenburg. 1t is useless
TO talk of Austrian weakness, and chatter .
about tariffs, and mutter about m6tGAiqNeS,
and quote sophisms about Hungary's
opportunity and Venetia's hatred. If we
are in presence of war the Kaiser will
issue an order which will be obeyed by
six hundred thousand trained soldiers,
whom he has the means to move and to
feed, if the rest of his subjects s~tarve;
and the movement ofsix hundred thousand
men to actual conflict is a calamity which
it is not in the power of human language
to ~exaggerate.
But will the Kaiser be compelled to
fight? There is one, and but one,
pacific circumstance in the whole situ-
alton, and upon that we try to base what
is really only an instructive hope. PruS-
STA must begin the contest, must actu ally
strike a blow before anything overt
happens. The Kaiser need do nothing.
He is not the offender he simply says
the administration of HolStein belongs
by public law and solemn agreement TO
him, and as his troops are in HOlstein
and his Commissioner rules the Duchy,
DEGREES and dispatches to the contrary
are singularly unimportant. To com
mence the war the King of Prussia must
do something very violent, say arrest
DIR. May, editorial person in Holstein,
who upholdS the Duke of Au%gustenburg
contrary to Prussian decree, and the
question is whether he will do this. We
feel that he will not, will rather %enunci-
ate some magnanimous platltude as o
reason for not doing so, but we think he
will. All Germany will understand if
he does not that Prussian threats have
one limit, and that is Austrian resistance;
the Prussian people will understand that
they have not sacrificed their liberty to
secure the future of Germany, but TO be
ruled by a person who breads action
and the Prussian Army will understand
that its new organization and the victory
of Duppel have not made it the supreme
army upon the Continent. Finally, the
Duchies will understand that in pleading
for their autonomy they have armed
Austria at their back, and not merely an
inactive, though friendly, public opinion.
The King can scarcely desire 10 let in
so much light upon the subject, more
especially as by the latest accounts he
is secure of the neutrality of the minor
States, and if he gives himself the rein
the war is as inevitable as it may be
disastrous. Still there is the instinct by
which we, as we'll as the next een-grocef
who reads these lines, decide that this
war can never be.
Fortunately, there is one point upon
which instinct and reason cannot in this
matter be at variance, and that is the
action of our own country. We have
nothing whatever to do with the quarrel.
We opposed the original robbery, and if
fho hnrrlorC ohanco 70 C.o~~ol 0ryo~T <h0