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From The Spectator, 7th April. give up to threats her right to influence in ENGLISH SYMPATHIES IN GERMAN

AFFAIRS.

Germany, or to be bullied out of a province which was allotted to her not by Europe, but by the Power which is now trying to THE news of the week from Germany is, take it away. Whether judged by the old if anything, a shade more pacific. It is public law or the new, the faith of treaties true that the text of the order placing the or the will of the people concerned, her Army on a war footing has appeared in argument is impregnable, for she offers the Prussian Gazette, and that the export of either to obey the Convention of Gastein, horses from Austria has been prohibited or to submit the fate of the Duchy to a vote lest they should find their way to Berlin. It of its own Estates. But Austria being in is true, also, that notes have been inter- the right, is Prussia so absolutely in the changed between Berlin and the smaller wrong? If we look for one moment bePowers, in which the King's Government yond the technicalities of diplomacy, and announces its unalterable determination to the minor question of her claim to govern remodel the Confederation, which since the Holstein because she has half a right to do breach with Austria has become unmana- so, the position of her statesmen is clearly geable. It is true, also, that a pamphlet has this. The unity of North Germany is worth appeared in Paris recommending an alliance a war. That arrangement would open to of France with Prussia, and announcing twenty-five millions of people, one in lanthat Count von Bismark is ready to cede guage, in literature, in aspirations, and in the district of Saar-louis, with its coal-fields the main in creed, a noble career, would so much needed by French commerce. consolidate peace in Europe, would interBut the initiative of action now rests with pose a new and strong barrier against SlaPrussia, and there is hesitation in Berlin-vonic aggression, which threatens civilian inclination, it would seem, to doubt zation, and is, on the whole, desired by whether after all the diplomatic possibilities the mass of the people affected. All that can have been exhausted. The hesitation is strictly true, and the omitted circumdoes not amount to much, for the situation stance, that the Hohenzollerns will benefit remains unchanged, and the King understands that if he recedes he gives up his last chance of dispensing with Parliamentary aid, and his best prospect of cementing his power over all Northern Germany. But hesitation means time, and with time the sense that war between German States is civil war may perhaps grow strong. The probabilities are still in favour of war, but they are not stronger than they were last week, and in the lull it would be well if this country asked itself to which side its sympathies ought in the long run to incline. The merits or demerits of the combatants may be about equal, but there seems some danger lest the final judgment should be based upon a false issue. The flood of sentimental wash with which it is the custom in this country to receive any declaration of war is a little larger in volume even than usual, than it was, for example, before the Italian war - a war at once just in inception and most beneficent in result. The talkee talkee about ambition, and unscrupulousness, and violence may of course be accepted as the kind of remark always volunteered when anybody threatens to break the comfortable monotony of European life, but many of the journals descend to most unreasonable particulars. Austria, to begin with, usually in the wrong, is in this instance in the right. She simply refuses to

rather more than anybody else, is a mere accident of the situation. The unity of North Germany would be a great benefit to the world, and to talk of "stealing provin ces," and " reviving territories," and conquering free peoples, is as unreasonable in North Germany as it ever was in Italy. The people want to be "conquered," for if they do not they can strengthen Austria's hands till conquest is out of the question. Their Courts are quite willing to sanction an uprising, or for that matter to organize a levée en masse. The wretched little Kings, and Electors, and reigning Dukes who are to be relegated to the position of enormously wealthy nobles, the Hanoverian person who courts France, and the Saxon gentleman who is always sending his treasure to fortresses, and the Mecklenburger who has re-established the stick, and the Hessian who receives his Ministry in his opera-box are all astounded with the immorality of Prussia, all quite willing to fight if anybody else will. But nobody else will. The Princes are in the position of the Italian Dukes, with this difference, that, not being foreigners, they are, except in Hesse and Hanover, not personally detested, and are for local and pecuniary reasons rather liked in their capitals. But as sovereign rulers their part on earth has been played, and Prussia in dismissing them

to an honorable retirement will but change a feudal organization unsuited to the times into a scientifically organized native monarchy, not yet free indeed, and penetrated with the disease of militarism, but fairly governed, open to commerce, free from obscurantism, and sure to be in this generation once more constitutional. There is no particular reason why we should rave at such a probability as that, or affect an immense regard for the forty or fifty oppressive and greedy little families whose power of doing evil will be reduced in the process. We o not like, any more than the Daily News, the mode of the operation. War, though not the greatest of evils, is a great one, and Count von Bismark, though not the most insolent of mankind, has a frankness which is based on contempt, but war and the Count are temporary nuisances, and the dual organization of Germany is a permanent gain again because it unites a great people under a form admitting of action, a gain because it prohibits their union in a form which would be a menace to Europe. Liberals no more want to see a united Germany threatening all the world, with the secret sympathy of the Royal caste in every country, than they want to see Lippe Limberg maintained in his possession of the right of life and death. Doubtless the means might have been better. We should have greatly preferred to see the ablest and wisest heads of Germany assembled at Frankfort in peaceful parliament, there to decree a union instantly carried out; but how much chance is there of all that, or is the world to wait for its great objects till kings surrender thrones from generosity, and armies disband themselves from a conviction that war endangers the soul? Let us form any judgment acceptable at once to the reason and the conscience, but let it at least be a masculine one not based on a factitious regret for States which, had the Congress of Vienna done its work thoroughly, would by this time have been forgotten.

The charge against Italy is still more unjust. She, forsooth, is allying herself with the oppressor to disturb the peace of the world, and is gravely told that if she assists a despot she will lose the sympathies of liberal Europe. Did we lose them when we allied ourselves with Napoleon in order to defend the Asiatic horde whom it suits our interest to permit to desolate the fairest corner of Europe and the richest provinces of Western Asia? Nobody argues that Italy has not a right to fight Austria for Venetia if she likes, and most Liberals would argue that it

was her bounden duty to do so whenever she saw a chance. Then why is she so wicked for choosing what seems to herself an admirable opportunity? Because she will interrupt English investments in Hungarian railways, or why? We have not common patience with such emasculated politics. Better a dozen wars than that Venetia should remain crushed down, as she is, by sheer brute force, than the spectacle of wrong permanently triumphant, and the priest and the soldier combining successfully to trample down a free race of a higher civilization than their own! But Prussia will cheat the Italians? Very possibly, if she could, though an abler than Bismark tried that game and was beaten within six months; but Prussia can't. The "price" to be paid to Italy is simply this that she can enter the Quadrilateral rather more easily while Prussia is threatening Bohemia, than while Prussia is supporting the German right to Venice. If she does not enter, she has fought as she would have done without Prussia; if she does enter, let Prussia swindle her out of her regained property if she can.

We would far rather it had been regained in another way; that the Hapsburgs, taught by their conflict of centuries, had at last made Venetia the dower of an Archduchess, and entered the struggle sure of the friendship, if not of the sympathy, of the only free Power which can give them serious aid. But as they will not relax their grasp, why is it so wicked to strike them fairly on the knuckles? - so evil to ask aid from Bismark when it was right to take it from Napoleon ? -so immoral to fire on Mantua when it was noble to batter Gaeta? Italy is tricking nobody, is ungrateful to nobody, is not even breaking with a friend. She simply strikes for her own, accepting such aid, bad or good, as circumstances may yield her. When the passer-by stops the thief, we do not ask his previous moral history.

The root of all this injustice and preference for sentiment over policy is the secret dread lest France should in the long run be aggrandized. We do not wish that, any more than our neighbours, but how is it likely to happen? "The Rhine " as Engglishmen understand the phrase, i. e., Belgium, Napoleon will not get without fighting England-the last enterprise he is in any degree likely to attempt. As against any other aggrandizement, say the possession of Saar-louis, or even of trans-Rhenan Prussia, we have these counterpoises to con sider. That a free State of twenty-four millions of people, with a mountain fron

tier, will be seated on the Mediterranean, served by the visibly fearful consequences with its existence and prosperity dependent which will follow its interruption. The Govon the freedom of that sea. That on the east ernment of corporals at Berlin is no pleasantFrance will be bounded by an Empire of er to us than to any other Liberals, but that twenty-five millions of brave men, strongly is no reason why we should be blind to the eforganized, and penetrated by an immovable fects which its action, selfish or sincere, as it social, political, and intellectual dislike of may be, must ultimately produce. "BlindFrance. That on the north-west France will ly the wicked work the righteous will of be bounded as now by a kingdom feeble in- Heaven," and Count von Bismark in annexdeed, but felt by a great military monarchy to ing a Duchy to keep down constitutionalists, be the buffer which protects herself and may help materially to lay the foundation France from the chances of a daily collision. of a European system in which standing France, even if nominally aggrandized, will armies shall be of little account, and freebe really restricted; there will be no terri- dom therefore the only permanent possitory left to acquire at a cost less than that of bility. a war for existence, and peace will be pre

THE PROUD CHARACTER. The chief window came the bellow of a cow, which made and common companion of pride is ignorance. the church ring, and drowned the sound of the Our pride feeds itself by dwelling upon the pos- organ. I looked up to the huge instrument, session of some ornament which we believe to with its rows of gigantic tubes, realizing in my be extraordinarily brilliant. But did we see the fancy the tremendous bellows and the man precious jewels which adorn many others in blowing them in the sweat of his brow; and like circumstances, we would shun to wear then going to the window I looked at the cow, ours, and would meekly set ourselves to in- a comparatively little animal, six feet long and crease our store of grace. When the savage five high, and thought of its little throat, from points proudly at the glass beads that adorn his which the powerful note proceeded. And I neck, or a schoolboy plumes himself upon being said to myself, "We have much to learn yet beable to spell out a common word, we cannot fore we shall be able to rival nature's sounds!" help laughing at their foolish ignorance. One The man who has some idea, however dim, day, when sitting in an express train, I noticed of the boundless ocean of knowledge and a swallow flying along- now far ahead, now science, whereof that which we do know is but far behind, making flying circles, as it seemed, a little drop, will deem nothing more absurd round the train. "I wonder," thought I, than proud self-elevation over the little know"what that little creature would say if it could ledge we have; and it may be safely affirmed that describe the impression which our highly-prized a proud man, even though he were the most invention must make upon it. It must be much eminent among the learned or gifted, must be amused at the huge engine, with the puffing an esprit borne a man whose range of view is, chimney, and all the snorting, whistling, hiss- after all, sadly limited. Nor is this applicaing, and rattling, while it, without the slightest ble only to science, but to every other sphere of noise or effort, but only with a pair of tiny mental development. A man who puts himwings, which one might put into his waistcoat self forward on the ground of his moral expocket, accomplishes a speed of from eighty to cellence, can only do so by shutting his eyes to ninety miles an hour. Surely we have not the faults which he has left uncorrected, and to yet learned all the art of locomotion, even the impure motives which disguise themselves with our six thousand years' studying and try- under the mask of his moral integrity. Moral ing!" Once- it was a week-day-I stood in or spiritual pride is always a sign of want of a large country church, and looked at the self-knowledge. A wise builder will never consplendid organ which towered up to the ceiling. tinue building up a lofty tower after he knows It was just being tuned, and the organist sent that there are rotten spots in the foundation. forth a powerful roll of sound. Adjacent to-Sunday Magazine. the church was a meadow, and through the open

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No. 1145. Fourth Series, No. 6. 12 May, 1866.

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THE LIVING TEMPLE; OR, SCRIPTURAL VIEWS OF THE CHURCH. By John S. Stone, D. D., Griswold Lecturer in the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. New York: A. D. F. Randolph.

THE RESTORATION; OR, THE HOPE OF THE EARLY CHURCH REALIZED. By the Rev. Henry A. Riley. Philadelphia: Smith, English, & Co.

THE GIANT CITIES OF BASHAW, AND SYRIA'S HOLY PLACES. By the Rev. J. L. Porter, A. M. New York: T. Nelson & Sons.

POETRY, LYRICAL, NARRATIVE, AND SATIRICAL, OF THE CIVIL WAR; Selected and Edited by Richard Grant White. New York: American News Company.

DR. KEMP: THE STORY OF A LIFE WITH A BLEMISH. New York: American News Co.

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CORRESPONDENCE.

WE beg pardon of "Churchman," for delaying answer to the following letter, which alludes to a notice on the cover of 1141. We had been so much impressed by the Prayer for Congress:- "That all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all gener ations; that we thought it worthy of being used by people of all Christian denominations.

If we did not quote the "Old Book" from which it was taken, the letter of our correspondent will make all right. We will readily join him in the "Prayer for the President"- too.

Sunday, April 15, 1866.

EDITOR LIVING AGE. Dear Sir-In my Church this morning, I heard and used the "Prayer for Congress" which you commend in your No. 1141. For nearly fifty years, I have heard it, and well known it by heart, as it is in that "Old Book" called the Prayer Book of the Episcopal Church, where, also, you can find a prayer " for the President of the Uni ted States and all others in authority!"

Both these prayers are now, as (formerly), used in the Episcopal Church North and South, on every occasion of Public Worship, by rubric, the prayer for Congress being omitted, only when Congress is not in session. I am very glad you have got out a new Boston notion on the subject, and think you should do justice in publishing in what "Old Book" the prayer is to be found. By so doing, you can condone for publishing as Literature, articles like "Black and White children in Richmond," all well enough in their way; but of which the daily political papers furnish quantum suff., and don't leave them even the merit of novelty. Yours,

CHURCHMAN.

P. S. The Prayer for Congress and that for the President were both prepared and adopted by the Convention of the Episcopal Church, immediately after the adoption of the Constitution, and have been printed in Every Edition of the Prayer Book for more than three quarters of a century.

AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF THE QUEEN TO MR. PEABODY. The following graceful letter has been written by the Queen to Mr. Peabody:

"WINDSOR CASTLE, March 28, 1866. "The Queen hears that Mr. Peabody intends shortly to return to America, and she would be sorry that he should leave England without being assured by herself how deeply she appreciates the noble act of more than princely munificence by which he has sought to relieve the wants of the poorer classes of her subjects residing in London. It is an act, as the Queen believes, wholly without parallel, and which will carry its best reward in the consciousness of having contributed so largely to the assistance of those who can little help themselves. The Queen would not, however, have been satisfied without giving Mr. Peabody some public mark of her sense of his munificence, and she would gladly have conferred upon him either a baronetcy, or the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, but that she understands Mr. Peabody to feel himself debarred from accepting such distinctions. It only femains, therefore, for the Queen to give Mr. Peabody this assurance of her personal feelings, which she would further wish to mark by asking him to accept a miniature portrait of herself, which she will desire to have painted for him, and which, when finished, can either be sent to him to America, or given to him on the return which, she rejoices to hear, he meditates to the country that owes him so

much."

The London Times says: It is to an American that we are indebted for the greatest boon ever given to the poor of London, and it is to a citizen of

the United States that the Queen has thought it right to address this personal expression of gratitude. We cannot but believe that such an occurrence will have no little influence in augmenting the good feeling which should prevail between the two countries. Mr. Peabody has done more to foster among us a kindly feeling for his countrymen than could have been effected by a generation of statesmen, and the Queen's letter will, we hope, be received by the Americans as a conspicuous evidence of the friendly regard toward them which such acts have called forth on our part. Between no two countries are friendly relations more natural than between England and America, and we trust that this story of munificence and of gratitude may long be remembered in both nations as a pledge of peace and friendship.

MR. PEABODY'S REPLY TO THE QUEEN. - The following letter appears in the "London Times" of the 12th inst., with the remark that it was transmitted to the Queen through Earl Russell:

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"THE PALACE HOTEL, BUCKINGHAM-GATE, LONDON, April 3. "MADAME, -I feel sensibly my inability to ex press in adequate terms the gratification with which I have read the letter which your Majesty has done me the high honour of transmitting by the hands of Earl Russell.

"On the occasion which has attracted your Majesty's attention of setting apart a portion of my property to ameliorate the condition and augment the comforts of the poor of London, I have been actuated by a deep sense of gratitude to God, who has blessed me with prosperity, and of attachment to this great country, where, under your Majesty's benign rule, I have received so much personal kindness, and enjoyed so many years of happiness.

"Next to the approval of my own conscience, I jesty's letter conveys to me of the approbation of shall always prize the assurance which your Mathe Queen of England, whose whole life has attested that her exalted station has in no degree diminished her sympathy with the humblest of her sub

jects.

"The portrait which your Majesty is graciously pleased to bestow on me I shall value as the most Precious heirloom that 1 can leave in the land of my birth, where, together with the letter which your Majesty has addressed to me, it will ever be regarded as an evidence of the kindly feeling of the Queen of the United Kingdom towards a citizen of the United States.

"I have the honour to be your Majesty's most obedient servant, GEORGE PEABODY.

"To Her Majesty the Queen." "The Times" devotes an editorial to the correspondence, and remarks:

"The virtue of which Mr. Peabody is so admirable than Her Majesty of properly appreciating, and an example is one which no person is more capable that she should have broken through the customary Peabody's merit is the highest honor which his restrictions of royalty in order to acknowledge Mr. munificence could have received. But Her Majesty's letter bears no less significance as proceeding from the Queen of England, and from the representative of the whole English nation. In the letter which Mr. Peabody will so justly prize he has been, as it were, publicly thanked in the name of England for the benefits he has conferred on this country, and such an honour, we are justified in saying, is the greatest which a private citizen can receive. Great for, if the honour is almost unique, the virtue which as it is, however, it is only worthy of the occasion, has called it forth is unprecedented. We should have been more than unworthy of Mr. Peabody's munificence if we had failed to acknowledge it in the most conspicuous manner in our power, and Her Majesty has consulted no less her own feelings than the wishes of her people in thus recording her own and the national gratitude."

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