The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-29 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1855.

A very important interrogatory will this even-
ing be exhibited to the Representative of Great
Britain at the late Conferences at Vienna. Sir
J. WALSH has given notice that he will
ask the Noble Lord the Secretary of State for the
Colonies whether it was correct, as stated in a
recent despatch of Count Buol, that the Noble
Lord and the French Ambassador showed them-
selves deCidedly in favour of the Austrian proposition
in regard to the Third Point, and undertook to recom-
mend the same to their respective Governments ?
When the duplicity and insincerity of Austria has
attracted so large a proportion of public attention
--when her attempts to put forward plausible ex-
cuses for the palpable evasion of her deliberate
and solemn engagements—have so greatly excited
contempt and indignation, and materially influenced
the popular mind, it should be ascertained beyond
the possibility of doubt whether she received any,
and what, encouragement from the Plenipotentia-
ries of the Western Powers, and whether she was
induced to believethat the propositions, which have
since been unconditionally rejected, would have been
favourably received and acted on by the Cabinets
of Paris and London. Many people declare, and
with much apparent reason, that Austria put for-
ward a proposition which she well knew could not
be accepted by the Allies, merely as a plausible
excuse for evading the solemn obligations into
which she had entered.

Although we do not consider that any
declarations of Lord JOHN RUSSELL) exceed-
ing the limits of his instructions, could be
regarded as a justification fcr Austria,
it is still right that authentic information should
be obtained as to the real state of the facts,
which, although they may not serve as an apology
for Austria, may furnish abundant reasons for
regretting the selection of Lord Jorrrr RUSSELL
for he mission to Vienna, and for his following
the course adopted by M. DROITYN DX L'Huys_
of retiring for a time from the public service. If
a change has occurred in the Ministerial mind--
if tL ley are determined now to reject any terms

but those which, in the opinion of the country,
will lead to an honourable and permanent peace—.
it is fitting that the country should know
when that salutary alteration of sentiment took
place, and whether it is participated in
by the Noble Secretary for the Colunies.
We trust, then, that the Noble Lord will return
a full, distinct, and unequivocal answer to the
important question, and with the manliness of
character for which he was once remarkable, dis-
dain to shelter himself under any diplomatic sub-
terfuges or quibbling evasions. A direct and
positive assertion, very damaging to the reputa-
tion of the Noble Lord, has been advisedly put
forward byCount &cm, and if unfounded there can
be no possible reason why he should rest patiently
under the erroneous but damaging imputation ;
while, on the other hand, if it be too true—if he
has indeed so far yielded to the blandishments of
a pretended friend, he should candidly avow his
mistake, and retract, or at least attempt to justify,
the views in which his colleagues do not par-
ticipate.

It is said that Lord RAGLAN has at length re-
cognised the necessity of giving place to a younger
and more vigorous Commander in the Crimea,
and that he has anticipated his probable recall by
a voluntary resignation. It would have been well
for the British nation had the Noble and Gallant
Lord—for that he is brave and gallant is beyond
the possibility of doubt or dispute—earlier learned
this painful but salutary lesson. We might have
been spared many deplorable calamities, and thou-
sands of gallant men might have still survived to
their friends and country but for the undue de-
ference exhibited towards one connected with the
highest branches of the aristocracy. General Snu-
sox will, it is said, be his successor. We hope
that the Gallant General will justify the
selection, and the high eulogiums pronounced
in Parliament on his military experience
and judgment. Should these prove well-merited
it will indeed be a fortunate change for the
country, and we shall at length have the intense
gratification of seeing "the right man in the
right place "—the most important place, too,
under existing circumstances.
The deaths of Brigadier-General ESTOOURT, and
Captain LYONS, of the Miranda, who so greatly
distinguished himself in the command of the expe-
dition to the Sea of Azoff, will be deeply lamented
by all classes throughout the length and breadth
of the land. The gallant General, who held the
position of Adjutant-General to the forces in the
Crimea, fell a victim to cholera, that fell scourge,
which spares neither peer nor peasant, general
nor private soldier. Captain LYONS perished
from the effects of a neglected wound in his leg, '
received while in the performance of his arduous
duties. The nation has thus lost one of its most
efficient and valuable officers, in the very prime of
life, one who had on many occasions proved him-
self the worthy son of a distinguished sire, and
gave every possible promise of achieving the high-
est honours in the national service. Sir E. LYONS'
merits, and the loss of a son, will receive the
highest commiseration and sympathy of his fel-
low-subjects. It is hard at any time to lose a son—

but to lose such a son—at the very moment, too, of
his most brilliant triumph. It is, indeed, an un-
speakable calamity, the magnitude of which it is
almost impossible to duly estimate.
Another event of no ordinary importance has
also occurred, which will excite a deep sensation
in every English heart. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
—the heroine of Scutari—she who voluntarily
relinquished an enviable position, accompanied
with all the comforts and luxuries which wealth
and station could bestow, for the purpose of alle-
viating the pains and abridging the privations of
suffering humanity, has been compelled to return
home to seek the restoration of the health for-
feited, but we trust not irrevocably, in her
glorious efforts. She has, indeed, won
undying fame, and her name will ever
be hailed with enthusiasm, not only by those who
owe their very lives to her beneficent labours, but
by all who can appreciate the highest virtues be-
longing to a truly Christian lady.
The War is now to be waged in earnest. We
no longer look to diplomacy. The pen must give
place to the sword, and we must so far humble
Russia in the field that she will be com-

pelled honestly to relinquish, and to giv e
ample material guarantees against the resumption
of the aggressive policy which she has so long
maintained at the expense of her unfortunate
neighbours. The subservience of the German States
proves how much more serious was the danger
than was generally supposed ; and in proportion
to the severity of the disease must be the
stringency of the remedies which can alone prove

effectual, or produce a permanent and lasting

cure.

The fatuity of the aristocratic member for
Middlesex, in relation to his execrable Sunday
Trading Bill, is really pitiable. The monster de-
monstration of Sunday last has not convinced him
of the unpopularity and impolicy of the measure,
nor the plain palpable facts of the case, and the
incontrovertible arguments based on them by the
press of its injustice. He will not be persuaded
though one should rise from the dead. The noble
lord is Well-meaning and by no means a SOLOMON,
and the Pharisees of the Metropolis have got hold
of him. It should excite no surprise if, under
such circumstances, he is impervious to reason
and the claims of mercy, and longs for the ho-
nours of martyrdom when they are to be had so
cheap. He will go on with the bill.
The meeting in Hyde Park, in his opinion, con-
sisted of hoaxers and hoaxees. The great body
of the people were deceived. It was not his bill,
but an imaginary one, paraded about on a pla-
card, that excited their indignation and drew
them together. Yes ; the forty thousand people
present did not understand his measure—laboured,
in fact, under the most erroneous impressions
about it, and all owing to the wilful misrepresen-
tations of designing men. It was not, as they
said, a " bill to put down newspaper 3, shaving,
smoking, eating, and drinking, and all kinds of
recreation for body and mind at present enjoyed
by poor people." No, not by any means ! Yet
his Lordship admits it was a bill to prevent the
sale of newspapers after 10 o'clock, or during the
time when they were generally sold, to prohibit
shaving after the same hour, or before the over-
wrought labourer has risen from his hardly-earned
sleep and had time to visit the barber's. A
bill to shut up tobacconists' shops at the same
period, with a chance, to be sure, of a clause ex-
tending to them the hours of beerhousea, and a
certainty that without money previously in hand,
and forethought, the poor will have to go without a
whiff until night. A bill to prevent thesale in ordi-
nary shops of raw food after nine o'clock—an
hour when thousands have not earned the means
to purchase their breakfasts, much less their day's
food, and thousands on thousands more have not
raised their weary eyes to the day's light, and,
consequently, have not had the opportunity to
purchase the materials for their Sunday dinner.
A. bill that, where the ability to purchase meat on
the previous day exists, will, owing to the con-
fined dwellings of the poor, render that meat un-
wholek iome. Really to understand his own bill