The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-06-18 00:00:00

meantime, all is ecadeur de rose. Is it not true
that " the Empire is peace ?" Could the Emperor
have had any other object in view than to assure
Germany and Europe that his intentions are
entirely and unequivocally pacific ? Could
German kings, princes, and dukes doubt the
word or good faith of a NAPOLEON ? Why does
the world look suspicious of such interviews ?
It may be difficult to answer, but it is so.

LOUIS NAPOLEON, as we have said, is a versatile
genius, like his great uncle. He has gained
no small reputation in various walks of life.
As a politician, diplomatist, statesman, and
warrior he has been almost equally successful ; as
an architect and mason he has almost rebuilt Paris,
and many of the cities and edifices of France; as
a geographer he has commenced the reconstruction
of the map of Europe on the principle of " natural
boundaries," and compensating concessions to
France for territories gained by others with her
sanction and aid. The annexation of Savoy and
Nice is un fait accompli. That is not all.
A rumour has been afloat in London since
late on Saturday - afternoon to the effect
that the King of Sardinia has been
called upon to surrender to France, Genoa, and
the island from which he derives his title—Sar-
dinia—as part of the bargain made by him with
the French Emperor on the cession of Lombardy.
This rumour had been in circlation some time pre-
viously, but it was forgotten. It is now, it may
be, revived for a special purpose. Months, it will
be remembered, before the cession of Nice and
Savoy was claimed by Louis NAPOLEON, the
prevalent rumour to that effect was alternately
affirmed and denied, and then for a while for-
gotten. Nay, the Foreign Minister of France
assured the Foreign Secretary of England that
there was no foundation tor the rumour. The
world now knows what are the facts as to Savoy
and Nice. We are now at that part of the Germanic
performance in which vague rumours are afloat
about the Rhenish frontiers, and the probability
of that being the next card in Louis NAPOLEON'S
hand. There are points of similarity discover-
able already between the treatment of VICTOR
EMMANUEL and the PRINCE-REGENT of PRUSSIA.
Savoy and Nice were not won by conquest.
They were ceded out of gratitude to a powerful
ally. What if soma tempting bait has been
offered for the cession of the Rhine frontier ; and
a bargain has been struck that will seemingly
aggrandise both Prussia and France, and appear
to recompense Germany for her sacrifice of the
inalienable rights of some four-and-twenty Sove-
reigns by a fiction of unity ?
Louis NAPOLEON was or may not have suc-
ceeded, but; either way, we have now undoubtedly
seen another great act of the Napoleonic drama.
We are not without confidence in the wisdom and
fidelity of the PRINCE REGENT OF PRUSSIA. He
may have made a great mistake in consenting to
such an interview ; but it is not to be denied
that he has adopted a truly Germanic policy in
surrounding himself with so many German Princes
an the present occasion. It remains to be seen
whether he and they have fallen into the snare
supposed to have been prepared for them. What-
ever may be the plans of the French Emperor,
if the crowned heads with whom he has just
`conferred have had 'a sufficient sense of their
own interest and that of Europe, and strength of
mind to declare themselves determined that, in
spite of all her divisions, Germany will resist, as
one nation, any encroachment upon her territory,
Europe will have no cause to regret the Congress
at Baden-Baden.