The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-17 00:00:00

LONDON, MON DAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 17, 1855.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC ,TOURivIALS.

( Prom the Times of this day.
The splendid ceremonial with which the Emperor
of the French proceeded on Thursday last to Notre
Dame to return thanks to Almighty God for the
victory which had crowned the arms of the Allies,
and the public rejoicings in Paris and in many other
parts of France to celebrate this great event, were
uoubtless intended by the French Government to
convey to the nation a lively conception of the
magnitude and importance of this achievement.
In this country the enthusiasm called fn,rth by the
glorious termination of the siege of Sebastopol has
been genuine, universal, and entirely spontaneous.
The Government has done nothing, beyond the
firing of the. Park guns, to excite or encourage the
exultation of the country, and it must be said that
among us no fugleman was needed to lead the .
public rejoicings. Throughout the United Kingdom
the siege of Sebastopol, the sufferings of the army,
the heroic valour of our troops, and the ultimate
success of the expedition have been for nearly
twelve months the familiar household thoughts of
every member of this community. The operations
of the army have been watched with all the in- I
tensity of passionate interest. The convictions
of the wise and the instincts of the ignorant
pointed to the same end, and we all felt alike
that the honour of England and her allies was
pledged to succeed in this undertaking. Sebastopol,
in every form, by charts, by prints, and by the
ever-varying records of the siege, was continually .
before us, and the people of England may fairly
be said, during the whole period, to have given
their undivided attention to this object, and to
have sacrificed it to every other consideration. We
owe this concentration of the national will, and
this deep national interest in the common cause,
mainly to the freedom of discussion which has
never ceased among us. The English press, com-
manding means of observation not enjoyed by its ,
continental rivals, and possessing a degree of liberty
to which they have long been strangers, has power-
fully contributed to kindle and sustain this moral
element of our national strength, and our Parlia-
mentary debates and inquiries have, of couree, pro-
moted the same object. Take away those great
and living organs of national life, and you may
have official rejoicings and splendid pageants, but
you lose the union of interest and intelligence which
gives birth to enthusiasm. In France the war has
hitherto been less popular than in England, be-
cause less was known about it—it was less under 7
stood. The reports published by the journals of
the Government are read with distrust, and that
portion of the press which is adverse or disaffected
to the Government had used its influence to lower
the confidence of the public in the operations of
the army. It required, therefore, an extraordinary
display of the magnificence of the Court, a solemn
thanksgiving, and a popular festival to satisfy the
public that an event of such incalculable import-
ance had actually taken place.
In England the effect of General Simpson's
modest and unpretending despatch was instan-
taneous, universal, and complete. No man required
to be told twice the meaning of the words, " Sebas-
topol is in our hands ;" for they were no more
than the fulfilment of our confident expectations
and our ardent hopes. We have watched with some
curiosity the differenteffects produced by titi intern-
gence on the continent, where they have been upon
the whole less forcible, but not less instructive. The
fall of Sebastopol, happening when it did, appears
in a great measure to have taken by surprise those
persons on the continent who aro most favourable
to the policy of the Western Powers ; but far more
did it surprise and confound those who derive their
information from St. Petersburg, and who had
been duped to the last moment by Russian agents.
Probably we have yet to learn that those who re-
ceived the news with the greatest astonishment of
all were the Russians themselves, though the ad-
missions of Prince Gortschakoff's last despatches
might have prepared them for a catastrophe. Titus, •
struck by the calamity they had hoped to avert,
appalled by the superiority of position which this
victory gives to the Western Powers, and alarmed
by the obvious failure cf the Russian army, a large
proportion of the German and Belgian press have
either received the news in sullen silence, or affect
to discredit the circumstances proclaimed by the
English press to the world : while one Belgian
paper, notoriously a Russian organ, has the un-
paralleled impudence to assert that the loss of the
south side of Sebastopol is rather a gain than other-
wise to the army commanded by Prince Gortscha-
koff. We do not believe this state of things to- be a
correct representation of public feeling on the con-
tinent. We have no doubt that the fall of Sebas-

topol has been hailed throughout Europe as a glo-
rious and auspicious event, and a heavy blow to
Russia, and that the' terms in which we have at-
tempted to describe its effects have been circulated

in every European language, and read with joy by
the nations sitting in darkness and afar off. But
such is the slavish condition of a large portion of the
continental press, that it is only by borrowing and
translating the sentiments of an English journal
that they express their own opinions, and the Ger-
man newspapers are evidently less free than they
were a year ago to hail the defeat of Russia as a
national triumph.
To the Austrian Government we have no doubt
that the fall of Sebastopol is a welcome event. It
terminates one act of the war, and insures one of
the disputed conditions of peace ; it materially
weakens Russian influence and power, and destroys
the spell which has so long hung over Eastern
Europe. These advantages are, however, balanced
by the consideration that the Western Powers,
having accomplished the most difficult part of their
undertaking unaided by Austria, will be less than
ever bound by the mutual engagements she has
declined to fulfil. The state of Italy presents se-
rious grounds of anxiety, and the gallant conduct
of Sardinia in this campaign entitles her to that
support from the alliance which Austria has for-
feited. In short, although this event is one which
the Cabinet of Vienna has long desired, no sooner
has it occurred than the consequences of the deser-
tion of the treaty of the 2d of December by that
Power 'will become more strikingly obvious and
palpable. It happens, perhaps unfortunately for
Austria, that a Russian despatch by Count Nessel-
rode has transpired just at this moment, though
written as long ago as in June last, in which that
wily Minister affects to establish a perfect identity
of views between " the Imperial Courts" on all the
conditions of peace ; but, on the other hand, Count
Buol has so far been enabled to remain faithful
to his own political, relations with the Western
Powers that he has rejected all the overtures and
insinuations of Prince Gortschakoff, on the ground
that Austria is bound by treaty to enter into no
separate negotiation with Russia on the subject of
the war: These transactions were, however, ante-
rior to the great event of the past week, and we
are still entirely ignorant of the effect which the
loss of Sebastopol and the critical position of Prince
Gortschakoff's army may produce on the attitude
of the Russian Cabinet towards the rest of Europe.
The Emperor Alexander has chosen the present
time, it seems, for an excursion to Moscow and to
Warsaw, the latter capital being probably his real
destination. The moment at which he will enter
the Kremlin is not a fortunate one ; nor will he
find much more ground for satisfaction in the Polish
provinces. But it remains to be seen whether the
sacrifices of war and the pangs of defeat will rouse
the fanaticism of the Russian people or will depress
their courage. At St. Petersburg the party of the
Grand Duke Constantine, who is passionately en-
gaged in the war, is said to exercise an undisputed
influence, and the changes recently made in two of
the principal departments of the Government are
all favourable to the same destructive policy.
These are the men who are really exhausting the
resources and destroying the political and military
character of their country, and it is on them that
the burden of humiliation and defeat ought justly
to fall. Nor can we doubt that the evacuation of
Sebastopol will produce a feeling of consternation
in the Russian capital, which will probably be fol-
lowed by still stronger efforts for the defence of the
empire.

( From the Daily News of this day.)
We learn from our Roman correspondent that
the inhabitants of the " eternal city" have been
somewhat mystified by a visit from two Russian
generals en route for Naples. These unexpected
visitors, it is true, appear to have spent most of
their time at Rome in the studios of the artists,
from some of whom they made purchases. The
Romans, however, cannot be persuaded that Russia
can spare its generals at present on dilletante plea-
sure trips ; and the notorious leanings of the Nea-
politan Court have rendered them doubly suspici-
ous of these northern Mmcenases. For our own
part we fear little from any Russian agents, who
travel about after a fashion that rather courts than
repels publicity ; and no doubt Russia, like our-
selves, has some generals whose services in time of
war may safely be dispensed with. But we have
no doubt that the diplomatic annoy of Russia is at
this moment extremely active throughout Europe,
i and that we have more to fear from its activity
than from the armies of the Czar, The singular

unanimity and persistence with which the organs
of Russia in the European press continue to repre-
sent the war in the East as calculated to promote
. .

the exclusive interests of England, and to insist
that France is beguiled into subserviency to the
ambitious views of this country, has for its object
the weakening of the alliance between those Powers
by awakening mutual jealousy and distrust. The
device is stale : it was exposed by Tal:eyrand in
1831, as is apparent from a letter of that statesman
which we published a few days ago.
It is, however, worthy of remark that the idea
of alienating France from England by systematic
misrepresentations of this kind originated with an
Austrian Minister. Talleyrand directly charges
Metternich with having suggested this insidious
policy to Russia. And now, as then, we find Aus-
trian diplomacy hunting in couples with that of
Russia. The frantic King of Naples makes no
secret of his Russian partisanship ; and Austrian
agents are indefatigable in their preparations to
protect that monarch from the consequences of the
indignation which his conduct has excited through-

,
out Italy. "An Imperial Commissary," so writes
our Roman correspondent on the 10th inst., "has
been recently visiting the frontier city of Ascoli,
which would be on the line of march from the Le-

gations, through La Marca, to the Neapolitan pro-
vince of Aquila, to see what supplies of provisions
and forage can be depended on for the Altstritin
forces to be detached in support of King,Bomba's
throne." Our correspe4de.ot adds thif Count,
Esterhazy, brother to the—Xlistiiatt -elate d'Af-
faires at the Papal Court, paid a flying visit to
Rome about ten clays ago, and, after an inter-
view with the Pope and Cardinal Antonelli, de-
parted in haste for Naples. In connection with
these incidents must be taken the systematic endea-
vours of the Austrian press in Lombardy to dis-
seminate groundless suspicions as to the ulterior
objects of the English Government in raising an
. _

Italian legion in Piedmont. Austria is conspiring
with the King of Naples to find work for France
and England in-Italy that may create a diversion
in favour of Russia. This is no more than might

have been expected. The interests of Austria and
Russia—as understood by these Governments—are
in a great measure identical. Both are insatiable
in their desire to aggrandise themselves at the
expense of their neighbours, and both are morbidly
afraid of the progress of liberal opinions. Slight
differences do occur between them at times, when
unluckily both have set their hearts on the acqui-

sition of the same territory ; but these are soon
got over from a conviction that their interests are
in the main the same. We have just had an ex
ample of this in the conduct of Austria with regard
to the Danubian Principalities. The Austrian Go-
vernment coveted and attempted to gain possession
of these provinces long before Russia had made
sufficient progress in the Ukraine and the Crimea
to be able to lay her hands upon them. Austria
still covets them, and hence she has played fast and
loose with France, England and Turkey, until she
hasbeen allowed to take military occupation of them.
Confident that they cannot now be rescued from
her grasp—no longer afraid of seeing Russia get
hold of them before her—Austria returns to her
alliance with the Czar, who, hard pressed by the
Western Powers, is obliged to wink at the trick
which has been played him by the Cabinet of
Vienna.

To a Sardinian Government belongs the honour
of having been the first to call the attention of the
European Powers to the complicity of Austria and
Russia in the project of despoiling the Ottoman
Government. In 1783 Austria and Russia were
availing themselves of the discord which prevailed
among the Western Powers to extend their joint
spoliation of the Sultan. The war between France
and England, which arose out of the American Re-
volution, was terminated in that year, but peace
sometimes implies merely a cessation of hostilities,
not the establishment of friendship and concert. In
this state of affairs it was the effort of the Sardinian
Government of the day to unite the Western Powers
in opposition to the ambitious designs of Austria
and Russia failed, but its indefatigable efforts to
this end are apparent from an interesting collection
of diplomatic papers that have recently been pub-
lished at Turin. As a sample of these documents
we invite attention to the following extract from a
despatch to Count Foralana, extraordinary envoy
of Sardinia at the Court of Berlin, which is dated
the 29th of Septemher, 1783, signed by the King
Victor Amadeus 111., and countersigned by his
Minister for Foreign Affairs :
As in the actual crisis of Europe your mission to Ber-
lin becomes daily more important, we have deemed it
time to give you a precise idea of the view which we take
of affairs now on the tapis, in order that you may be in
a condition to act and speak as circumstances may de-
mar d.
To this end we begin by informing you that, whatever
reports may have been spread to the contrary, we are
unhampered by any engagement. But as it might have
happened that some of the European Power=, who have
a more direct interest than we have in averting the storm
which threatens the Ottoman Empire, and imposing a
check on the vast projects of the two Imperial Courts,
should have claimed our co-operation without leaving us
tune to see what turn affairs were likely to take, we
deemed it necessary to give urgent orders, a few months
ago, to place our troops, arsenals, and magazines, on
such a footing that we should have at our disposal an
army of 25,000 men. We also took measures for the
augmentation of this corps as soon as it should be neces-
sary. . .

Having adopted these precautions, prudence dictates
that we should wait twee° what part the great powers
of Europe are about to take : whether they will allow
the Russians and Austrians to ruin the Ottoman Em-

pire, or whether they will unite to hinder the too great
aggrandisement of the courts of Vienna and St. Peters-
burg. It is obvious that these two powers aim at no-
thing less than a vast extension of their territories, the
monopoly of the Levant, and ultimately of that of
India. It appears, therefore, to flow from these pre-
mises that all the other European Powers have the
greatest interest in arresting designs which threaten
some of them with the decline of their trade, others
with the loss of their preponderance in the European
system, or even in part of their national independence.
The wars of the French revolution soon, came to
divert attention from the warnings of Victor Ama-
deus. For a long time Austria had other things to
think of than aggrandisement at 'the expense of
Turkey. Russia persevered, though at times in-
terrupted by the necessity of defending herself
against the enterprises of Napoleon I. And now at
the eleventh hour France and England have been
obliged to arm to avert dangers pointed out to them
by the Sardinian. Government of 1783. Austria,
having soothed her amour propre--disturbed by
the start Russia has got of her in the interim—by
the dexterous piece of legerdemain which has played
the Danubian Principalities into her hand, is now
again making common cause with the Czar. In
joining the Anglo-French alliance the King of Sar-
dinia is true to the hereditary policy of his dynasty;
and he has good cause to be so, for Austria threatens
him more nearly than she did Victor Amadeus in
1783. A cry has been attempted to be got up in
certain quarters that attention has of late been
drawn to the troubles impending in Italy for the
purpose of diverting attention from the Ottoman
question ; but the historical retrospect in which we
have been indulging shows that the Turkish and
Italian questions are inseparable.

MINES.—We have had nothing very new or striking
in the market this week. The amount of business trans-
acted, as will be seen by the official list, `has been
limited, and prices have been flatter, with one or two
exceptions. Devon Great Consols advanced to 400.
Rosewarnes have declined. Alfred Consols, Stray Park,
South Tamar, Tincroft, Tamar Consols, Trewetha, and
North Robert inquired after. Sortrldge Consols and
West Sortridgo Consols have been dull, especially the
latter. The buoyancy which the news from the East
would otherwise have given to the markets generally has
been more than counterbalanced by the demand for
money, and .the fear which seems to be general that it
will, before many months, be much dearer.—Mining
Journal.
THE IRON. TRADE.—In consequence of the great im-
provement which has taken place in the aspect of the
iron trade, the ironmasters of South Wales have ge-
nerally determined to advance the wages of their
workmen 10 per cent., and, in several instances, this
was carried into effect at the last pay-day. Messrs.
Crawshay and Hill were the first to promise the in.
crease, and their example has pretty generally been
followed by the other works. The iron trade. now is
in a very steady condition, orders being good, and
there is every prospect of the trade continuingilleta,
The exports of iron still are large ; heavy shipmen,to
of rails and bars are being sent abroad.
THE LATE LIEUT. PRESTON.—A Southampton corre-
spondent writes:—Last March a military officer, quite
a lad, took a watch to Mr. Pegler, a watchmaker in
Southampton, to be repaired, and wished to have it again
at two o'clock, as he was going to embark for the. Crimea.
It was thought he meant two o'clock the next day. Soon
after midnight he came rapping at Mr. Pegler's door,
and it was then discovered that he wanted the watch at
two o'clock in the morning, as he was about to embark
very early. This was Lieut. Horatio Preston, of the
Connaught Rangers, who fell gloriously in the Crimea,
within a few weeks after he had landed there. The
watch was returned to his family. It was in a battered
state. On the 31st August his brother, Lieut. George
Berthon Preston, of the 97th Regiment, fell fighting in
the Crimea. Both the brothers were killed in the trenches
before the Great Reda%

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

GLASGOW, Sur. 14.
SECTION A.-MATHEDIATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE.

The Rev. Professor KELLAND in the chair.

IVlLmfAisr WHITEHOUSE, Esq., read a paper on " Ex-
perimenial Observations upon an Electric Cable," giving
it as his opinion that, for commercial purposes, for a sub-
marine telegraphic communication between England and
America,.a, cable similar to those at present in use would
be quite sufficient for the purposes required.
Professor W. THomsorr' in remarking on the paper
just read, expressed some doubts at the results arrived
at by Mr. Whitehouse, assigning as a reason that, while
experimenting upon a short cable, results materially
different,. in his opinion, would be obtained when a
lengthened cable was experimented upon.
The following papers were then read by—
Professor PIAZZI SMITH, on "Solar Refraction."
Professor NICHOL—" Remarks on the Chronology of
the Formations in the Moon, with a notice concerning
the great Breadalbaue Reflector in the Glasgow Obser-
vatory."
Professor STOKES, F.R.S.,
a Double Object Glass."
Professor W. THOMPSON, "On the Use of Observa-
tions of Terrestrial Temperature for the Investigation
of Absolute Dates in Geology."
Dr. ApAmsorr, " On the Fixing of Photographs."
ANTOINE CLAUDET, Fsq., F.R.S., "On the Poly-
stereopticon ; a new Instrument to exhibit Stereoscopic
Pictures."
Dr. GREEN, " On a Machine for Polishing the Specula
of Reflecting Telescopes."
A:J.-ELLIS, Esq., 8.A., "On a more general Theory
of Analytical Geometry, including the Cartesian as a
particular class."

"On the Achromatism of

SECTION 8.-CHEMICAL SCIENCE.

Dr.. LYON PLAYFAIR, in the chair.

Baron LIEBIG read a paper " On a new form of Cyanic
Acid." In the course of some experiments on the ful-
minate of mercury, he observed that. that compound,
when kept boiling in water, changed its colours, and
lost its fulminating properties. On examining the change
which had taken place be discovered a new acid, which
had exactly the composition of cyanuric acid. Salts were
produced remarkable for their beauty, and for the dis-
tinctness of their crystalline form.
Professor PENNY read a paper on the phosphorescence
and cempoiition of plate sulphate of potash.
Dr. DAIIBENEY laid on the table some fine weights,
for chemical purposes, made from the new metal formed
from clay, viz., aliimnium.
A paper was read by Dr. ROSCOE, which had been pre-
pared by W. Bunsen of Heidelber, and himself, on pho-
to-chemical researches, with particular reference to the
laws of the chemical action of light. Dr. Roscoe stated
that two years bad been spent in making experiments.
The results were complicated and abstruse. They will
shortly be published in a scientific journal.
Professor RAMSAY, of Glasgow, F.R.S., read a paper
on a process for obtaining lithograph by photographic
process. The process is as follows :—A. common litho-
graph stone is obtained, upon which is poured a solu-
tion of bitumen in sulphuric ether. The ether evapo-
rates, and leaves upon the stone a thin dello ite coating
of bitumen. The stone then exhibits a blackish surface

like a plate for etching. A negative picture is then taken
upon glass or wax paper. This is applied in the ordi-
nary manner to the lithographic stone, prepared with a
coating of bitumen, and placed in the light of the sun.
It gives a communication faintly displayed on the bitu•
men ; the negative is removed, and the stone is placed
in a bath of ether. The ether dissolves the whole of the
bitumen not acted upon by the light, and then a picture
is produced in the undissolved bitumen. The atone may
then be given to the printer. Professor Ramsay received
the thanks of the section.l
Mr. BARNET read a paper on photographic researches.