Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-04-07
THE THREATENED WAR BETWEEN
AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA--WHAT II
Is ABOUT.

/
From the New York Express.I
The City Of Paris, it viii be seen, bring
intelligence Of the highest Importance, a.
TO the relations of Austria and Prussia-th,
sum and substance Of which is, that as Prus
sia seems to have made up her mind TO an.
mex the Duchies, Austria has determined tC
resist, and to that end is making active
preparations to send powerful army to the
frontier. Some reports say that army is one
hundred thousand strong, and that before
many days it will be on the borders of Bo-
hemia. There are rumors contradicting. OF
modifying this little, but the latest tele-
grams say these are not to be relied upon,
and that their crisis is sufficiently alarming
to create the conviction that conflict is in
eyitable.
Though the history of this new complica-
tion in European politics must be familiar
to the reader, who takes an interest iu Euro
pean politics, brief resume of its origin and
progress may not be uninteresting. Prussia
now openly declares that the Duchies were
taken from Denmark, not to be made an in
dependent State, nor to maintain the rights
of Augustenberg, but to strengthen the
Prussian Monarchy.
For a year past Count Bismarck has
scarcely thought it necessary to make any
concealment Of this purpose, and now he
boldly avows it. Annexation is proposed
by the Minister, and the press which sup
ports him and il is also apparently APP
proved by the Prussian people On the
other side, Austria, with the more or less
timid support of the minor States demands
that the will of the Confederation and the
rio of ehan IL at,l
Passing over conferences, convictions, mis-
sions, and dispatches, this represents the
real question now at issue. 1t is one upon
which negotiations has been exhausted, for
where one party is determined to yield
nothing, the other must take the alternative
Of submission or of war. That is the po-
sition Of Austria. Count Bismarck has
carried matters with so high hand that
Austria is, as it were, driven to the wall.
He has, apparently, made no more account
Of her than if she were one of the minor
powers whose enthusiasm led to the spolia-
ton from which they were to gain so little
Austria, however, embarrassed as she is in
her finances and in her relations with her
great dependency, does not shrink from the
contemplation of war. Hence, preparations
for war are made on both side
In both capitals military councils are
held, generals nominated, plans of cam
paigns discussed, and the question whether
the territory of the neutral States of Ger
many shall be turned into battlefield for
these great territorial rivals to fight outtheir
battle upon is discussed as if the rights of
those States and the interests of industry
and civilization were of no account. On the
18th the King of Prussia held a council of
war, and in Vienna we learn that the Gov
ernment has consulted the military COM
manders as to the readiness of the army to
take the field, the state of the Bohemian
fortresses, and the points in the kingdom of
Saxony which could be occupied by the In
perial forces. According to custom, men,
Der of the reigning House is appointed to
high command. Archduke Albrecht has
been named as one of the leaders, if not the
General-ih-chief of the Austrian army
Field-marshal Benedek and Baron Hess,
known for their services in foreign cam
paigns, have also been consulted.
Continental Europe is thus again on the
threshold of great events, the issue of which,
or the new complications to which it may
give rise, it is impossible just now to foresee.
1t is only certain that the news we are to
receive from that quarter, for some time to
come, will be Of extraordinary and exciting
interest