The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-10-15 00:00:00

commence at least, though it he a little late for her, by
showing an example to them."
The French floating rhinoceros, La Gloire, is said to
be now on her way from Toulon round to Cherbourg.
It will be remembered that considerable stir was
made a few weeks ago about an alleged seizure of an
English vessel by some Garibaldians, and upon the
allegations of the complaining party a steamer of the
Mediterranean squadron was sent to capture the
" pirates,' The Maid Tidies has the following on the
subject :—" Captain Paul Pilotti, Signor Settembrini3
and others who were sent here as prisoners on board the
Csar, charged with seizing and running away with the
English steamer Orwell, have been set at liberty, the
home authorities having confirmed the opinion of the
local government, that no lawful ground existed for
their arrest and detention."

The British army has lost One of its most distin-
guished ornaments in the person of Lientenant-Genel.al
Sir Harry Smith, whose services during a long career of
glory, in many parts of the w'orld, reflected the greatest
honour on himself, and were Of the highest importance
to his country. He rose to high rank in the service,
and every step he attained was entirely due to merit.
He married a Spanish lady, but leaves no issue by her.
That splendid but apparently ill-fated vessel, the
Great Eastern, is to remain in her prey nt pssition, at
Milford Haven, "for some months," as the spring tides
will not be high enough to float her till Christmas.

The Defiance, iron-plated ram-frigate, Wilding on the
Tyne, by Messrs. Palmer Brothers, for our Government,
is being rapidly completed. She will carry 36 heavy Arm-
strong guns. Her iron casing will be 41 inches thick on
the outside, next to which will be 20 inches of timber,
and inside of that will be the iron framing of the ship,
which will be as strong as any already used for the
largest-sized vessels in the merchant service. Her deck
beams are Made of flutterby patent beam iron; and
the decks to be laid thereon Will also be of iron.
The vessel will have water-tight wing passages, with
water-tight doors; so that, in case a shot should be
fired through the enormous casing of iron and timber, the
men may pass through the doors into the compartment
and plug up the shot-hole. Failing to do so, they can
shut the door, and cut the compartment off from the
other parts of the ship, keeping the water within the
chambers. The sternpost of the ship is perhaps the
heaviest iron forging ever made in this or any other
country. The stern of the vessel will also be of enor-
mous strength, and will, in addition, be fortified with
plating. With the exception of the ends, which have
heen kept back by the difficulty in forging the stem and
stern, the whole is plated. Many of the armour plates
are on the premises. }eathering and 'grooving these
plates will be commenced at once. . _

Owing to continued ill-health, Vice-Admiral
Charles Howe Fremantle, K.C.8., will not rehoist his
flag as Commander-in-Chief of the Channel fleet.
According to present arrangements, the two divisions of
the fleet will winter at Portsmouth and Devonp'art, re-
maining under the command of the port admiral at the
respective ports. _ _ .

In America the Prince of Wales is pursuing his
journey, and winning great popularity wherever he
goes.

WHAT NEXT BY LOUIS NAPOLEON ?

THE darkly intriguing and ever insatiable French-
man is again, and more than ever, the perplexing
object of anxiety and suspicion to all interested
in the maintenance of peace and order in Europe.
Beyond all question, it is part of Louis NAPO-
LEON'S policy to keep himself continually sur-
rounded by a halo of mystery, which shall
attract towards himself and his Government the
attention of all men, exciting and puzzling the
curious in their attempts to divine his purposes,
and raising the wonder and astonishment of the
superficial and uninitiated by the impenetrability
of the mask he delights to wear. When all
Europe declares that it is impossible to divine
the French Emperor's intentions, or to scan his
policy for the future, Louis NAPOLEON listens to
and hears such a confession with that zest and
internal glee which spring only from the entire
realisation of one's most darling ambition. It
feeds his inordinate vanity, by giving him credit
for inscrutable wisdom and sagacious depth of
purpose, accompanied, it is assumed, by a rare
talent for silence and self-possession, until the
arrival of the precise moment for successful
action. Thus, whether he really does act upon
any one grand, self-tonsistent, and unvarying
plan or not, he enjoys, more or less, the reputa-
tion of doing so, and reaps, no doubt, many cor-
responding advantages. Not the least valuable
recommendation of this great taciturnity, in the
estimation of the present ruler of the French, may
be the facility it affords him for pursuing a
tortuous, or even a vacillating, course of secret
intrigue, or of open action. Notwithstanding
Louis NAPOLEON'S reputation for far-sighted
penetration and unswerving adherence to some
mysterious programme, the truth seems to become
more and more manifest, and to be now very
generally accepted as demonstrable, that he is
quite as much the creature of circumstances as
most men ; and that, after all, perhaps, his only
policy is that of patiently lying in wait for favour-
able " accidents," and that his greatest talent is
in knowing how to turn these most effectually to
account in promoting his own restless and un-
scrupulous ambition.

What Louis NAPOLEON means by recently
flooding the position he holds in the very centre
of Italy with French troops, and by the more
recent threat, through the Constitutionnel, that he
will hold Sardinia responsible for the annexation
of the Roman States and the invasion of the
Neapolitan territories, as having " deviated from
the proper course of the respect due to the laws
which are binding on all States, because founded
on justice, civilisation, and the interests of peoples,"
have been the subjects of much anxious and elabo-
rate criticism. In the opinion of some there has
taken place an important change in the Emperor's
Italian policy. Others see in them preparations
for the development of another and an essential
part of the grand Napoleonic " idea"-,--whatever that
may mean. Not a few have looked upon them
as mere changes rung upon the oft-repeated acts
of hypocritical diplomacy with which the Franco-
Sardinian plot has hitherto been wrought out.
May there not be still another and sounder inter-
pretation put upon these facts? Without sup-
posing that they indicate any serious change or
new development of LOUIS NAPOLEON'S foreign
policy, on the one hand, or treating them as
meaningless, on the other, may they not be re-
garded as important steps, the actual value of
which is yet undetermined even in the imperial
mind, and the practical effect of which may de-
pend upon circumstances yet unforeseen, and of
which the astute Frenchman is. now as ignorant
as ordinary mortals to whom a very limited gift
of prescience has been vouchsafed ? In a word,
may they not be considered in the light of mere
technical but most valuable precautions ? May
they not be compared to those formal protests
and appeals which a cautious and wily lawyer
takes at certain critical stages of any important
and difficult case, which he fears may go against
him, and through the timely recording of
which, in an extremity, he may eventually
come off triumphant,' or at "least save his
costs ? In diplomacy, as in the field, good tactics
demand of every leader that he keep open a door
of retreat, and see that his flank is not turned.
France may not, by these threats or protests,
meet, at present, any opposition to Sardinia; and
yet they may possess far greater significance than
can be attached to mere " decent hypocrisies," as
they have been termed by the leading journal.
Are they not serious indications of a determi-
nation on the part of Louis NAPOLEON to throw
his alliances
with VICTOR EMMANUEL unrelent-
ingly overboard, should anything occur in the
progress of events to render its perpetuation
troublesome or inconvenient ? The consciousness
of such a weakness in the bond that for the time
being maintains the Franco-Sardinian alliance,
in effect prevents independent action on the part
of the Italians, and enables Louis NAPOLEON to
hold the key of the .position: If by these warn-
ings—merely formal as they may be in the
meantime—France is enabled to dictate terms
to Italy,. surely they are something more
than " decent hypocrisies," and yet something
less than indications of a change of policy ?

Whatever dreams of dynastic and national
aggrandisement in connection with the Italian

revolutions may have flitted through Louis NAPO-
LEON'S brain, we believe that the realisation of any
parts of his hopes, even according to his own
calculations, depOd.s *holly upon the nature
of events: in. that future which is happily
screeneA:from the vision even of Emperors. The
great NAPOLEON' had to bend to circumstances.
Bitter experience had taught his proud and im-
perial nature that he could not make circum-
stances bend to hint. As he gaffed from the bleak
prison rock of St. Helena; in mid-ocean; he
could behold a fit emblem of his own fate, as
the mighty waters were dashed by an uncon-
trollable power against the beetling cliffs below
his feet, from which they ever and anon recoiled
in pithless foam. The nephew of his uncle
must recognise the same truth, or, defying it, he
shall incur the same penalty: Hitherto; with all
his intriguing activity, he has, above, all things;
been guided by the current of events. To this
he has owed his success. He has watched the
tide of affairs, and learned how to catch it at the
flood. We hate seen him trim his sails and
adjust the rudder; to 6flit the changing breeze of
public opinion. He has silo-ii that he possesses
the skill required to shoot the rapids of iet..rolti;
tionary epochs, and to steer clear of the fatal
whirlpools of the more antiquated and exploded
despotisms. The fact that, like his uncle, he is a
fatalist and believer in the doctrine of necessity
supports our theory that instead of being guided
by a Axed plan of hiS own, Ile is in reality subject
to great vacillation as to his fdtiire policy or if
he has a plan at all, that it is one of precatitiOns
and preparations, by which he shall be ready to
act promptly and efficaciously on any sudden
emergency. Thus he has his troops or his secret
agencies, more or less numerous and active, in every
corner of the world, when there is the slightest pos-
sibility of any political capital or advantage being
sooner or later realised. According to this view
of Louts NAPOLEON'S tactics in Italy and else-
Where) we May be left as much in the dark as
ever ds its *hat may be his next move ; but
there is comfort and encetragentetit in it)
inasmuch as it directly teaches us the inipor=
tant part we have to perform. By doing
oar duty to ourselves and to Europe, we may let
our voice be heard with irresistible effect. Supine-
ness, indifference, or unwatchfulness in regard
to foreign affairs on the part of the people of
England, is far more to be feared than the
existence of any deeplaid scheme secretly pre-
determined in the conspiracy-breeding brain of
the third NAPOLEON. With all his half million
of bayonetS, his4enormous fortifications, and steel-
clad fleet,—with all the vain-glorious boasting of
the Emperor and his satellites as to the paramount
power and influence of France, he and they know
full well that England is still the mistress of the
seas and the umpire of the nations, not more by
reason of her naval and military preparations,
than by that great and unparalleled moral in-
fluence which she owes to the freedom of her
institutions, the intelligent patriotism of her sons,
and the inexhaustible nature of her resources.
Our only danger is in too much self-confidence.
Louis NAPOLEON is only dangerous when we
cease to watch him,—when we neglect to remind
him that as a nation we know our duty to our-
selves and to Europe,—or should we fail to make
it abundantly manifest to him and to the world
that we are prepared to defend the right.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

ITALY.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The important and rapid march of political
MILAN, Oct. 10.
events have, till now, prevented my giving to
your readers any particulars of the Annual Exhi-
bition of Fine Arts at the palace of the Brera,
consequently, I propose to leave politics aside for
one day, and dedicate the present to a brief review
of the principal pictures and sculptures. It is a
general impression among Englishmen that in no
country in Europe is the Fine Arts so generally
patronised as in Italy, and that every nobleman's
mansion is adorned with the most famous works
of Raphael, Michel Angelo, Rubens, Corregg,io,
Paul Veronese, Titian, Levino, Leonardo da
Vinci, Canova, and other great geniuses of Italy,
as well as the works of the most celebrated
modern painters and sculptors. This is a very
lamentable error ; the enthusiastic admiration and
encouragement of the fine arts that distinguished
the sovereigns and nobility of the continent in
the fifteenth, sixteeth, and seventeenth centuries,
and the tastes and patronage of the present day,
sadly correspond with those brilliant periods, and
which have been too lamentably proved in the
exhibitions of the Brera for the last 15 or 20
years. Many of our very excellent painters and
sculptors, instead of being encouraged in the
highest order of their art, and giving to the
world similar productions to • the above-named
illustrious painters and sculptors of Italy, are
now but too happy to grasp at the passing politi-
cal events of the day,in order to please the appe-
tites of the general public, and pick up a strong
commission or purchaser, and whose poverty
compels them to abandon the more sublime
order of their subjects, and dedicate ,their
canvas to every imaginable episode of
bayonetting Croats, sharp pointed mustachioed
Austrians, Zouaves smoking pipes, drinking n
bumper to 1' Italia libera, unmercifully giving
knock-down blows to the advancing Germans,
&c.,—all characteristic of the Garibaldini
and Franco-Sardo campaign of 1859. So nume-
rous are these subjects, that the visitor to this
exhibition at almost every step finds the walls
literally covered with advanced posts,, skirmishes,
ambulances, bivouacs, encampments, battles, re-
treat of Austrians, embarkment of the Garibaldini
volunteers, and every description of portraits of
Victor Emmanuel and the Italian hero, nearly an
of which are such frightful daubs, and so abse-
lately opposed to all resemblance to the illustrious
persons they are intended to,
represent, that •F-
-cannot understand how the commission was ee
blind as to allow them to be placed. Th 9 histo-
rical and religious pictures this year are, in con-
sequence, very few;
and of those few, with the
exception of Bertini's, without the slightest merit
to deserve even the briefest description. The
only pictures which are worthy of mention are
those of Domenico Induno, entitled Il bollettino
del 14 juglio. The subject chosen by this clever
artist is the garden of one of the many alberghi
in the suburbs of Milan and the hour four in the
afternoon, the time when the Milanese who can
afford to treat themselves to a good dinner never
forget to find themselves in great numbers, espe-
cially during the summer months. The effect
produced upon this miscellaneous group by the
entry of one of the well-known ragged boys,
bawling out La Lombardia, despaccio telegrafrov
announcing the preliminaries of the armistice
of Villafranca. The variety and natural ex-
pression of the assembled group in the front
and back ground, while a young volunteer is
reading over the despatch, are portrayed with
that exquisite truthfulness of nature and artistic
skill which distinguish 'all the works of this artist-
The same has two other pictures of the same
merit as the above. La Fruittavendola (“The
Fruit-seller ") and II Ritorni del Soldado Lom-
bardo alla'Sua Fidanzata (" The Return of -the
Lombard Soldier to his Betrothed.") Gerolorno
Induno, the brother of the above, exhibits this
Year several works of great merit, especially his
. large picture of La Presa di Polestro (" The
Taking of Palestro,") a commission of Victor
Emmanuel, which is superior to his Battalia di
Cernaja, exhibited two years ago, also a com-
mission from the King of Sardinia. This yoting
soldier artist gives the most splendid proofs Of
becoming one of the best painters in this branch
of his art that.we have in Italy, and has recently
been deservedly decorated with the Order of SS-
Maurice and Lazarus, not only for his skill as an
artist, but for his brilliant services as a volunteer
and lieutenant in the famous Cacciatori delle
Alpi, in the memorable campaigns of 1848-49-69-
Scattola, whose pictures are something after the
style of Domenico Induno, and a close resemblance
to C. W. Frith, of our Royal Academy, exhibits
two pictures of considerable merit, La Ratings,
dell' Oro (" The Victim of Gold,") and Il Litorno
dell' Ballo
subjects of (« The Return from the Ball,") the
which are, unhappily, but of ten
frequent occurrence: the greedy and profligate
mother bartering with licentious old age for the
sacrifice of the virtue and innocence of her own
child--the other the prostrate and bleeding body;
of a mask, the result of one of those many fate'
quarrels which but too often occur during the Car-
nival. Professor Casnedi has three small pictures
which are of such exquisite beauty that it is to be
regretted that his commissions limited his talents
to such small, almost miniature, pictures. The
subjects are, Leonardo da Vinci in the act
the
painting the celebrated "Last Supper," in Du!
Convent of Santa Maria della Grazia; the othe.r
two are scenes representing those robust frtt
'
women that the traveller so often meets 7,
the streets of the Eternal City. Rota exhibits_ ,t
beautiful picture of " A Venetian Fishing Scen,"t
and who, like Riccardi and Stefani (the iv",l
named now residing and gaining great fame
London), are precisely of the same school o 0.