The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-18 00:00:00

NORTHERN ITALY.

According to the correspondent of the Paris Presse,
it would appear that difficulties have unexpectedly
arisen between the mediating Powers and Austria
with regard to Venice. That journal publishes the
following communication :
" A difference has just arisen between the Imperial
Cabir et on the one part and the Cabinets of France
and England on the other, relative to the non-fulfilment
of certain clauses of the armistice, concluded at Milan on
the 0:h of August last, by the Sardinian and Austrian
Plenipotentiaries.
" It is known that according to articles two and four
of that convention, the city of Venice was included in
the number of places which were to be delivered up to
the Austrian troops within three days after the ratifies-
Lion of the armistice by the King of Sardinia. That ra
tification having taken place on the 10th of August,
Venice, according to the above stipulations, should have
been evacuated by the 13th at the latest.
It would occupy too much space to recount the nu
merous app
lications made by Marshal Radetzky to King
Charles Albert relative to the carrying out of these con-
ditions of the armistice. On the demand of Sir R.
Abercrousby, the English Minister at Turin, the King,
Charles Albert, at length sent orders to Admiral Albiui
and General Marmora to evacuate Venice.
" But here an unforeseen difficulty arose. At the
same time that the Austrian Government received from
Admiral Albini the official assurance that the fleet and
the Sardinian troops should leave the place, the same
Admiral sent a messenger to Trieste, saying that the
fleet would not leave the waters of Venice, without an
assurance from the Austrian Government, that no at-
tack should be made against that city by the Imperial
troops.
" This formal declaration of the Sardinian Admiral
coincided with the protest made by the representatives
of France and England at Vienna, in case of hostilities
commencing against Venice after the departure of Ad-
miral Albini. In a note, dated the 7th inst., and ad-
dressed collectively by Lord Ponsonby and M. de La-
tour to the Baron de Wessenberg, these diplomatists
declared that by the sole fact of having accepted the
Anglo-French mediation, Austria was tacitly inter-
dicted from the right of recommencing hostilities
against Venice, the special object of the mediation
being to put an end to the war by the use of conciliat-
ing means.
tcheeCsinaobi,neatndofifVwieenanrae wwaesli-ninoftorlmonegd
waited for
reply of
dforonthis ca
Tahnpoitiifi a notification
periodit was to the following purport:—
of
fthe
wahrmenistCieheaorifesMAilalnberwasna
fa:; e accompli
the Court of Austria accepted the Anglo-French me-
diation. Consequently the acceptance of the media-
tion could not by right have any retroactive effect on
the stipulations of the armistice. The Imperial Go-
vernment doubtless admits the principle of the st6tu,
quo as the basis of the negotiations to bo opened with
the mediating powers; but it cannot admit any other
status quo than that which was regulated by the ar-
mistice itself, and the consequence of that act should
be to replace the belligerent parties in the same
position with regard to territory which they occupied
at the commencement of the war. That being the
ease, Austria feels herself justified in imposing on
Venice the stipulations of the armistice, from which
King Charles Albert has already reaped considerable
advantages, particularly the restoration of his park of
artillery, abandoned by him at Feschiera, and the free
passage granted to his troops.
" From these motives, Austria, in her turn protests
against the obstacles which the mediating Powers would
throw in the way of the accomplishment of the armistice
of Milan, and she reserves to herself with regard to
Venice, full liberty of action, the acceptance of the me-
diation in her opinion in no way destroying previous
rights given her by the armistice.
" This counter protest of Austria appears the more
serious, as the armistice of Milan expires on the 21st,
and King Charles Albert and Marshal Radetzky are pre-
paring to resume hostilities with renewed vigour, unless
before the above date a prolongation of the armistice
should not be agreed upon.
" In this state of things the French Government has
invited the English Cabinet to unite with it in pressing
forward the negotiations. In consequence of the close
of the Parliamentary session in England all the Mini-
sters have retired to their country seats, but Lord Pal-
merston has promised to return to town on Monday next
to have a conference with M. de Beaumont as to the
means of overcoming the difficulties which the mediation
has thus met with at its outset."

WEST LONDON LITERARY
INSTITUTION.

A lecture of a very interesting character was deli-
vered on Friday the 15th instant at the West London
Literary Institution, in aid of its funds, by Dr. Thomas
George Tilley, a gentleman who has already attained
considerable celebrity as a scientific lecturer, more par-
ticularly on subjects connected with chemistry.
" The Chemical Phenomena of Organized Life" was
the subject selected by Dr. Tilley on the present occa-
sion, and the ability with which he handl( d this in-
teresting topic t licited the warmest expressions of ap-
probation from the auditory. lie first briefly described
the state of the ancient world as :shown by the discove-
ries of modern geologists, its fluidity, its high tempera-
, rature, and the atmosphere that surrounded it composed
nearly, if not entirely, of ea,Tbonic acid, and its unfitness
for the support of animal life. Vegetables of the sim-
plest forms only were able to exist in that primitive
atmosphere, but in life and decay they prepared the soil ,
and air for the growth of plants of mere complicated and
higher organization. These again, in the exercise cf
their several functions, decomposed the elements of the
surrounding medium, retained the carbon as their owl
food, and sent out the oxygen to prepare for the recep-
tion of the simpler kinds of animals. Man, the latest
and noblest link of this great chain of life, was at last