Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-03-14 00:00:00

SARDINIA OUTWITTED,

THis is what they are calling the scurvy trick
which Louis NAPOLEON has played his dear friend
and cousin, VICTOR EMANUEL. Sardinia, they say, is
outwitted by the wily Emperor of the French.
He has failed in his truth, and left his Sardinian
Majesty in the lurch. " But then," says a shrewd
moralist, " the world calls it outwitting a man,
when he is only out-knaved." The moralist aforesaid is
right ; and the case in hand, is a case in point. Louis
NAPOLEON may have cheated VICTOR EMANUEL,
but he has not overcome him by stratagem. He has
deceived him ; he made engagements with him which
he is failing to fulfil. All Europe, or nearly so,
thinks he is right in drawing back from doing that
which would have been keeping his engagements ;
but then he ought never 'to have made them. The
King of Sardinia has doubtless good reason to
complain. It is at his sacrifice that the peace of
Europe is not, after all,, to be disturbed ; and it is
just the sort of sacrifice which one cannot have
much commiseration with the victim of. Their
bargain was an indefensible One ; and the breach of
faith in it, therefore, save at Turin, can excite but
little indignation. There is an old saying, that
" when plaintiff and defendant happen, to, be
crafty knaves, there is equity against both."
In citing it, we mean nothing personally offensive
to the Royal and Imperial Personages in question.
But certainly there is a principle in it which bears
closely upon their present case, and it is one which
must of necessity deprive of one's sympathy, alike
the cheated and the cheater.

The Sardinian Minister, Count Cavour, is marked
out by the public at home as the person principally
taken in. The popular feeling at Turin is repre-
sented as very indignant —as well as that of his
Majesty. " The King," observes a letter of late date,
"is said to have betraYed much bitterness of feeling
and Count CAVOUR threatens to resign."
Then, as regards the indignation out of
doors, in vain is it reported that the
Cabinet has received private communications
from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
softening down the language of the official article,
and suggesting that its only object was to check the
progress of military preparations in Germany. But
this is not credited by the public, which speaks of
the whole business in terms favourable to neither
France, our .Court, nor CAVOUR. That the latter
should have allowed himself to be outwitted will not
be readily forgiven." The same communication
remarks, that "the result of this declaration of
France may be to inflame. the mind of the
nation and of the King, and to hasten a
conflict with Austria, even single handed." But
this we do not believe ; and for this good and
sufficient reason, that the. Government of Sardinia
must know very well any army they could bring out,
would soon be overwhelmed and annihilated by the
outnumbering hosts of Austria. Even with the
armies of France marshalled along with their own,
the struggle would have been a desperate one ; but
without them Sardinia could be resisted, and put
hors de combat in no time.

Of course Prince NAPOLEON has had his explana-
tions to give, his disappointments to relate, and his
excuses to make.to his royal father-in-law. That
part of the bargain in which he is so personally and
delicately concerned, is the most awkward part of
the affair of all. The French Prince has got the
Sardinian King's daughter to wife for nothing !
The Princess was to • have been paid for, under the
Imperial pledge, in troops and ammunitions for the
coming campaign. But all this now is repudiated.
The bill which Sardinia drew on France to that
amount, and which France accepted, is virtually
dishonoured. It is true, say the accounts, that
" the displeasure of the Court has been somewhat
diminished, by the receipt of several telegraphic
dispatches from Prince NAPOLEON, in which the
husband of- Princess CLOTILDE professes strong
hostility towards the official note, and 'towards the
sentiment which inspired it ;" and they'add, that "it
is by no means impossible that he will very shortly
visit Turin and await events." But this will not
win& the matter as respects the French Emperor, by