The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBSIC ,TOURNALS.

, .
from these that there has been, upon the whole, a
material increase in the import of those articles
for which we' are largely indebted to Rtis.sia, during
the six months last past, as compared.with.the six
corresponding Months last *year. These figures,
which- are strikingly illustrative of the• practical.
inefficiency of the blockade, as it is at present car-
ried out, are as follows : •

(Front the Tines of this day. )
The re ult of the Vienna Conferences has lowered
Austria very considerably in the opinion of Europe,
and also, if wo-mistake not, not a little in her own.
She has tried how a war with Russia would feel,
and the sensation has been so disagreeable that hhe
has evidently no intention whatever of repeating
the experiment. She has deliberated, bat the end
of her deliberations has been that which is usually
ascribed to the consultations of a council of war—
a determination not to fight. She is highly ap.
plauded in this magnanimous resolution by Mr.
Gladstone and politicians of his stoma), but Austria
is an eminently practical power, amt seems deter-
mined to show us that we are no more now to rely
on her love of peace than we ought to have relied .
before on her resolution to make war. Austria no
longer threatens the Russian frontier, her troops
are withdrawn froth Galicia, and 200,000 or
300,000 men, it is said, released by.the retrograde
movement of our ally, are to pour themselves into
the Crimea. But Mr. Gladstone, who professes to
be a lover of Italian independence, will hear with
little satisfaction that in :proportion as Austria, is
weaeening her forces on the Russian frontier she
is strengtlicalinfz her army_ on Alma side of Italy.
150,000 men, at least, are said to be concentrated
under Marshal Radetzky, and the attitude becomes
every day more threatening. There is, indeed, con-
siderable cause for alarm both in the present position
of the Austrian Government, the tendencies and the
laspirations of the Marshal, and the movements on the
part of the Liberal party, whichseems only waiting the
signal to break out. So long as Italy is governed by
the civil tribunals it is-difficult for the military chief
to assume,abeoluee power, and the central Govern-
ment, though always weak in its control over
generals in remote provinces, still retains over
then some. semblance of authority. But so soon
as martial law is' proclaimed all things pass under
the dominion of the sword, and the substance of
power is to him who wields it. The Field-Mar-
shal is well known to bo Russian in his feelings
and tentlenties, and he and his staff are said to be
seen constantly decorated with orders received
from the Court of St. Petersburg. Placed at the
head of a numerous and well-disciplined army,
with no prospect anywhere except that of imme-
diately enforcing his will at the point of the
bayonet, ,the Austrian Marshal seems to be ga-
thering up hie strength as if. to strike some mighty
blow, and create, on behalf of Russia, some se-
rious diversion. France is said only to retain
2,000 men to garrison Rome, and it is not sup-
posed that Piedmont, with the flower of her army
absent in the Crimea could bring into the field
above 18,000 or -20,000 regular troops. The
crisis is indeed inviting, and might tempt a
more scrupulous man than Marshal Radetzky has
ever proved himself to be. Still, with so much
power, and so much will to do mischief the exe-
cution of the plans of conquest might' probably
have been held in abeyance had no excuse offered
itself fen commencing so ominous a struggle.
Italy, in addition to her other misfortunes,
possesses
,a Republican party, and a leader of
that apparently more thoroughly devoid
of reason and common sense than the heads of
such combinations generally prove themselves. In
M. Mazzini the reactionary party and their police
have an agent.ever ready to carry out their designs
with the fullest conviction that he is carrying out
in the best manner possible the interests of liberty,
fraternity, and equality. He is a conspirator who
is for ever revealing his plots to any one, who
thinks it Nverth while to listen to them, and a
leader who Would, in the simplest good faith, take
any sum of Russian money for the purpose of as-
sisting hinr.to promote his principles, without re-
flecting. that the funds inuat be supplied for pur-
poses diametrically contrary to those for which he
means to employ them. This unlucky personage
is at this moment believed to be active in Italy,
and all that we know of his previous indiscretions
heads us to suppose that, he will be deterred by no
prudence or warning from once more ruining the
hopes of his party, and °nee incite giving thdir
enemies the desired excuse to crush them. In this
matter, as in all others, Piedmont is Setting a
glorious example to all Italy. She is seeking
by every means in her power to arrest these in-
cendiaries, and to prevent the breaking out of a
combination so perilous to Italy and herself. It
is, however, highly improbable that she will
succeed in this prudent and praiseworthy atteinut,
and much more likely that the gold of Russia, tne
reckless folly of Mazzini, the discontent of the Re-
publican party, the irritating cenduet of the Ads-
trians, and, perhaps, some little assistance from
their own police—incomparable at getting up a
conspiracy to order—will produce some outbreak,
add thus giVe Marshal Radetzky the desired oppor-
tunity of making the weight bf his sword felt, not
only in the Milanese and Venetian provinces, but
in the States'of the Church, the Duchies, and pos-
sibly even in Piedmont herself;
,„
It has been felt to be
,ve4 difficult all along to
prevent this War tom passing, like the Thirty
Year' W ar,
into a war of opinion, and it will at
least be singular if that Power, which has more
than any other in Europe to loge by a war of
opinion, should'be herself OR, very first to provoke
it. By what judicial blindness is it that Austria
fails to see that, though she may begili such a
struggle, she can form no reliable opinion as to
where it will end ? Made up of discordant elements,
existing by balancing the hatred of one portion of
her suects against the other, she has everything
to dread from an excitement of that national feel-
ing which might well unite Poles, Hungarians,
Croats, and Italians in a league against their
common oppressor. Thoroughly prepared as she
seems now tobe, and even anxious for an outbreak,
she cannot, perhaps, be easily put down by armed
force in the first instance, but France and England
will hardly stand by and permit her to derive a
scandalous and undeserved profit from her with-
drawal from the Western alliance, and from con-
centrating her forces in that part of her dominions
where they can give least umbrage to Russia, and
least defend those points which Austria was bound
to assist France, and England in defending.
And yet we are accused by Mr. Gladstone and
his friends, in tones of almost frantic bitterness, of
having needlessly protracted the war by refusing
our assent to a Tropoeition at Vienna which Aus-
tria never promised us to support by a recourse to
arms, and which she told us at the same time Rus-
sia was not likely to accept ! The line of conduct
which Austria is adopting in Italy is the best an-
swer to such reproaches, for it were surely better
to leave to Russia at once the power of naming to
use the terms of capitulation than to intrust the
power of arbitration to a Government feeble and
vacillating whenever it finds itself in the right,
and only strong and resolute when its cupidity is
excited by the hope of fresh plunder, and its ener-
gies renovated by the congenial stimulus of being
entirely in the wrong,

IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED EINGDOM IN TUE MONTH
OF JUNE.

1854. • 1855.
Flax lsB,lBB,ewts
Hemp' ']o6;Bo7 ,;
Tallow 54, 123 „ 93,000 „
Such wore the total imports fOr the two periods
in question of the articles for which we have. in
times past mainly depended upon RuSsia. The
exact proportion; derived in each year from that
quarter we have not the means of ascertaining ;
but we have no doubt it will be found that the in
crease in the imports both of hemp and talloW has
been considerable, during the present year. Of the
latter article. Russia is still by far the largest ex-
porter. We can obtain flax from many quarters,
and our Indian dominions alone are capable of sup-
plying us with hemp in any quaritity;but it is from
Russia that our imports of tallow principally come,
and we have no doubt that it is to the' increased
and increasing. facilities affordeCto, 'the overland
traffic that _the otalatity we receileinfirjune last lo
far exceeded that in the corresponding month of the
previous year. We regret the factof this increased
importation for' two reasons—first, ' because it
is a positive gain to Russia ; and, secondly, because
it must tend to check the, consumption of those
articles which serve as a. substitute for tallow.
Should the war continue, as it is but too likely to
do, we may soon have to lament that we did not
from the first encourage the import of palm oil and
similar substances, Which would both have deve-
loped a lucrative trade, and have rendered us in a
great measure independent of our enemies, whether
declared or wearing the mask if neutrality.
While the blockade of the Russian ports is thus
systematically evaded in the North, it appears that
means are being taken to effect, on the same grand
scale, a similar object in the South: In other
words, an attempt is being made to organise,
through certain of the provinces of 'Austria, an
overland traffic in. Russian produce similar to that
which has been so successfully established in Prussia.
The extract from a letter which recently appeared
in the columns of a contemporary, stated that
" active measures were being taken to -.organise a
regular system of transit for the produce of the
southern provinces of Russia through the Austrian
dominions, thus to neutralise the effects of the
blockade of the ports on the Black Sea. -The agent
of an American house, established' in Odessa, was
at Galatz making arrangements with the. Vienna
:
Steam-boat Company for the conveyance to the
Austrian capital of a large quantity of Russian
lwool
ikelytoo be beultliptphe:praetl-ußdeentio' and this appeared
much more exten-
sive operations," do. If this intelligence is true,
and it bears every mark of probability, an outlet
'may thus be found for the produce of Southern.
Russia still more convenient than that established
in the North. It may be carried by the Danube-
to Vienna, and thence by railway to Trieste, with-.
out an obstacle, of any kind. Shipped from the
latter port in neutral vessels, the produce of the
enemy will be secure on every sea, while our
cruisers are condemned to inglorious inactivity.
Such are the inevitable results of our present ma-
ritime policy, which, if the war continues,. we be-
lieve it will be found impossible to maintain.

(From t 1 Mites of tltiB day.)

The present position of the Limited Liability
13il1 is watched with the utmost anxiety by its
well-wishers--that is to say, by infinitely the
largest part of the public: We remember no ,
measure which has so entirely commended itself
by its own intrinsic merit, the success of which is
owing so entirely to unsolicited and unpremedi-
tated co-operation, and which owes so little to the
authority or influence of the class of professional
statesmen. For a long while some members of no
Very remarkable note had been nibbling at the
question, a committee or two had been appointed
*hich seem to have been totally unequal to grapple
with it, and this, inability was more strikingly
a Rol Commssion evinced by by the rei7,f."
of
? .WAlpolei in 1852.
pointed at the instance s.f Mya
,qtriapay.selected for
Ibis body have been.-
their work, for being' appointed
iikeicial la*, they atati that they hate n0,.-'lade
their minds whether the natio laws should be L.:
pealed or not. Little Woridet, then, if they proved'
ludierdusla' inedequite to dean with the far more
complicated and less thoronghlY investigated ques-
tion of limited partnership. They disconnteuenced
the change proposed, but the evidence they took
brought, that conviction to the minds of thinking
men -Which it-failed to ithpreae en their own. From
the tithe this adiante report Was published the prin-
ciple was tirtiiallY Carried. The disfaVour of the
Beard of Trade authorities, and, as has generally
been understood, of the Peelite section of Lord
Aberdeen's Ministry, might retard the course of the
changes, but its ultimate triumph was inevitable.
When Mr.Colliet brought for ward the question in the
house last yeati members were astonished to find that
on a subject which had enjoyed Belittle official patron=
age they were all of one mind, and that the only
points left to be discussed were the extent to which
the dbange flhould be carried out and the machinery,
best adapted for the purpose., It is due to the pre-
sent Board of Trade to say that they seem to have
considerably liberalised the bill bequeathed them
by their predecessors. The only complaint the
public can. Justly Make is, that a measure, so ear-
nestly'clesired, so Unattimduily approved, so right,
so liberal, and so useful, should have been elicited
to linger in the House of Commons till its safety ,
has been ericlanpsered by the delay, while Tenants'
Compensation Bills, scotch Education Bills, and
other abortions of the sameolass, have been allowed
to occupy the prediOns hours that might have been
devoted to popular and practical legislation. At
last the time came, after everything trivial, useless,
or mischievous had teen discussed to satiety,'
and then it WaS seen how very little real
strength there was in the Opposition to the bill.
Forty thentbeta to 10 wets ell that donld lie
mustered to vote fok deferring the questieti, and
15 to 78 was the minority which divided in favour
of claUsea intended to Curtail and fetter the free
operation of the assdciation of Capital. With the
exception of Mr. Hestia and Mr. Mitchell; pro-
fessed , opponents; the principle of the bill had
or scarce concealed
etiemieitsswieurileetwharreme—suMplir.orCaerrds well, Mr. Glyn, and
Mr. Cairns—=and, with these exceptions, men of all
partjea, avocations, Etd positions, combined in
hearty approval.
This is the rheasure Which new awaits acceptance
or rej'edtiOn from the House of Lords, and, wete it
to be considered on its merits, we should not enter-
tain the slightest dotibt of the result. It is only
dtte to the Poeta to say that they hate shown in
many instances of late years a commendable respect-
forlpublio opinion' and a liberality of sentiment-,-,
is in the Case of the admission of Dissenters to the
two Universities--;-fully equal to that which could
be found in the more popular branch of the Legis-
latUre. We sbduld also expect that the great law-
yers who adorn the House of Lords would express
the unanimous opinion of the legal profession, that,
litnited liability IS nothing More than a torah in a
Om-Arad, and that, if, that term be agreed upon by
both parties, it ought, according to the principles
of political econorny and sound jurisprudence to
be made by the law valid and binding upon bOth.
We might also expect that those who still smart
under the tedoneetion of the battle of free trade
would feel a not unnatural satisfaction in rigidly ap-
plying to traders and manufacturers those very prin-
ciples of unrestricted competition which the latter
were so readyto put in fotce against the agricultural
elaes, but from which, When tried upon themselves,
some of them appear to flinch. The law forbidding
contracts by which the aggregation of small capi-
tals 11143 r be brought into competition with large
ones is as purely protective in its nature as that
forbidding foreign corn to compete on equal terms
with English produce, and the Law of Limited
Liability may fairly be considered the Corn Law
of the capitalist. There are also several Peers
honourably known as interesting themselves in the
improvement of the dwellings of the poor, and in
promoting sanity enterprise. There is no enter-
prise, from the founding of a school to the making
of a sewer, from the building of a cottage to the
draining of a marsh, which will not be immediately
and greatly facilitated by the passing of a Law of
Limited Liability. On the merits, therefore, we
see no reason to think that the measure of the Go-
vernment has any serious risk to run in its passage
through the House of Lords. It has defied the
opposition of greedy traders and crabbed officials,
and it has little to dread from such a scrutiny as
I the House of Lords will give it.
But there is some risk that the Lords will main-
tain that the measure has been sent to them too
late, and decline to consider it during the brief
remnant of the present session. We candidly con-
fess that were the question one merely between

(Prom the Morning Post of tizis del.)
We regret that Parliament is about to be pro-
rogued without discussing quettion important
alikp in itself and in its relation to the war, but
which, amid the noisy struggles of party, has been
of late entirely lost sight of. We allude to the
overland traffic in Russian prodtte which, in
spite of our entire command or the Baltic Sea.' is
not only still uninterrupted, but is now carried On
with greater facilities than ever. As doubts have
been expressed upon this point, we shall state one
or two elreumatances which have lately come to
light, and that ought to convince even the biost
sceptical of the great advantages derived by the
enemy from that mistaken policy which has been,
most unfortunately, as we think, adopted by trig-
land in the present war.
The Heine of Peers, as might be expected from
its inherent distrust of all violent changes has paid
much more attention to this subject than the lower
branch of the Legislature, and the public is, in our
belief, much indebted to Lord Albemarle, who, in
spite of the ties of party, has considered it to be hit
duty, to protest, upon various ocbaSiobs, with equal
energy and ability against our new doctrines of
maritime war. On the last occasion upon which
he spoke, he read a portion of a letter to the house,
wtitten by a person on the spot, from which it ap-
peared that the expense of the overland transit of
Russian produce had fallen considerably in the
present as compared with the last, and, moreover,
that next year it would fall lower still. Nor can
we be at all surprised at this. We know that'
commerce adapts itself with difficulty to a strange
channel at first. But, like a stream dammed up,
and compelled to seek for itself a new course, it
readily accommodates itself to the. change as soon
as that course is found. When we consider, there-
fore, the intimate relations subsisting between
Russia and Prussia, and the facilities for export
afforded by the British Orders in Council, it is easy
to comprehend why the obstacles which at first
stood in the way of the overland traffic should
steadily diminish. The results thus pointed out.
by Lord Albemarle are fully confirmed by the
latest returns of the Board Trade. We find

4) 4 (44
flit*
sA4ci 4'4
-1("ei

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 7, 1855.

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