The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-06 00:00:00

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NEWEPAPEh
•
COUNT WBLEW c'EL
4.4
,47/44,.7
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Mont the Thum)
A rumour for some days rife has been verM:
Count Walewski, the French Minister for Foreicsn
Affairs, has ceased to-hold office, and the .111oniteur
of yesterday informs Europe that M. de Thouyenel
has been recalled from, Constantinople to sit in his
place. Thus another enigma is propesed to the in-
genuity of curious pollticians, and another leaf is
turned in the poliCy our-perplexing ally The
career of the Minister who is thus superseded is in
itself a riddle, and hardly more readable as a con-
sistent whole than the policy of his mart r. Ceuta
Waleweki's first appearance in England was is
1831, as the emissary of the Polish A ssoeiatio
Ilis name seemed to ally him indissolubly with the
championship of oppressed nationalities. To him,
claiming name and maternal descent from the no-
bilitity of a people who had ceased to be a nation,
the great Conservative Powers of Europe were na-
tura l enemies. Austria and Russia had trodden out
his country. He was accepted here as the man of
all others most committed to ultra views, and hole-
spended to the expectations of the party which
welcomed him. He was a fierce Republican. It is
not all of us who recollect the enthusiasm of those
days, when large public subscriptions poured in,
when Duchesses became lady patronesses to Polish
balls, and when the House of Commons was com-
pelled by the popular voice to draw the national purse
strings. The impetus, however, was so great that it
was carried on with a languishing energy even to
recent times. In all this Count Walewski was a very
prominent, if not the most prominent, actor. Time
wore on, and the enthusiasm for a hopeless cause
wore out. Walewski, who held the memory of the
first Napoleon in affectionate respect, attached him-
self, after many other adventures, to the fortunes
of the nephew. How he walked with him in the
strange path which led Louis Napoleon to the pits-
nacle we all know ; and no one wondered to find
him advanced by Napoleon 111. to posts of
dignity and power. We congratulated ourselves
when Count Walewski was Ambassador at our
Court at having a mail to deal with who had lived
among us so long, who knew us so well, who could
appreciate so accurately the currents of our national
impulses, and who was so capable of preserving
unbroken the cordial understanding which this
generation of Englishmen has always desired to
maintain with our powerful neighbours. After a
time, however, it became evident that, although
Walewski knew us, we did not know Walewski.
The Polish enthusiast had found a count/3', and had
forgotten all his wrongs. Oppressed nationalities
had in hismind passed from the category of martyrs
to that of rebels. Austria and Russia were no longer
robber -and tyrant Powers. Every one congratu-
lated himself that the representative of a revolu-
tionary empire had cured himself of his earlier exag-
gerations, and had become so moderate. But Wa-
lewski became Minister, and our English politicians
began to diminish their satisfaction ; far Walewski's
conversion from extreme Liberalism was becoming
too complete. From a fierce Republican he had
become a sort of Imperial Tory. He had grown not
only to detest all insurgent nationalities, but to
visit with his severe discouragement all constitu -
tional Governments. When Europe was startled
by some threatening demonstration which pro-
voked every free people to anger, it was Walewski
who ostensibly bore the odium of the act. It was
Walewski who insisted upon " regulating" Bel-
gium. It was Walews!.:i who proposed to compel
England to banish Bernard. When the Emperor
allowed himself to be carried away by a " generous
impulse," and went forth .to emancipate Italy, it
was Walewski who opposed the war. When Austria
was worsted it was thought that it was We lewski
who suggested that enough had been done. When
the convention of Villafranca had been signed it
was Walewski who interpreted it to mean the re-
storation of Italy to Austria and her satraps. Now,
when the Pope is threatened, the Imperial thrcat
comes forth in an anonymous pamphlet, and it is
Walewski, the responsible Minister, who under-
takes to reassure the Pope and place official France
by the side of the old Tory Powers.
We hare tong been perplexed to know what this
meant. Was it thought to be astute policy that the
official language of France should always be in
direct contradiction to her national action? Or did
the Emperor take pleasure in exhibiting to the
world what a mere empty pageant was the Imperial
entourage of Ministers and Secretaries? Was
Walewski commanded or was he only allowed to •
parade these preferences for despotism ? The
enigna is still hard to guess. All we know is that
ho is for the present cast aside ; and all that we
can infer is, that the Emperor of the French is
desirous at this moment, and for this moment,
to shuffle off the Conservative face which ne had
kept turned towards Austria and Russia, to break
through all the bonds which he had twined round
himself at Villafranca, and to return to the atti-
tude he affected when he went forth to make war
for his idea." Napoleon ILL is now in the diffi-
culty with commonly besets clever people who play
a double game, he has only a choice of two evils.
He must break his engagements with Austria and
protect Italy against foreign interference, or he
must keep his engagements with Austria, abandon
Italy to her fate, and confess before the world that-
his " idea" was a delusion, and Magenta and Sol-
ferine but hideous blunders. If he adopt the first
alternative he risks a collision with all the Catholic
Powers of Europe; if he adopt the latter he be-
comes ridiculous in the eyes of a nation which can
better endure a grinding tyranny than a stinging
epigram. The dismissal of Walewski is a declara-
tion that Napoleon 111. is disposed to commit him-
self to the more liberal and generous line of policy,
to cast himself into the Italian cause, and to main-
tain it against all the powers of despotism, and all
the hostility of the Church.
Under these cirenmstances NapoleOn 111. natur-
ally looks with anxiety to England. Will England
undertake to help him to guarantee the soil of
Italy from the tread of foreign soldiery ? e
think we can answer the question. It is the best
service that can be done to the Emperor, now
that ho is in the dilemma, of which we have often-
times and long ago warned him to tell him can-
didly what he has to hope from this country. There
are many matters of high import which depend
upon the Ministers of the day, but matters of
the very highest arc decided by the general popu-
lar will. As Tacitus said of our German ancestors,
so it is with their descendants,—" De minoribus
rebus principes consultant, de me joribus omnes." If
we know anything of the sentiments of our coun-
trymen, nothing is more certain than that-this na-
tion would not endure any Ministry which should
propose to pledge England to an offensive alliance
with France against the rest of Europe. We wish
well to Italy, but we " do not go to war for an idea."
If we did so we should prefer to do so upon our
own policy, and with confidence in our own right.
If we did so we should, moreover, prefer to have
some control over our own position and some confi-
dence that our allies would fight the whole fight
out with us, and not make peace at inconvenient
seasons. If we did so we. should like to go into it
unfettered by any such engagements as might com-
pel us, perhaps, to look on with approval while our
ally pushed on an army to the Rhine, and to sub-
'mit hopelessly while he made a compact for the dis-
memberment of the East. It is a very generous
part which Napoleon has assumed, but, as the bar-
barous civil law maxim says,—" Qeii cant advan-
&iglu capita steam disadcantagia." To him be all
the glory, but to him also ,be the labour. It is his
idea, not ours. It is an engagement which he has
undertaken for himself, under no encouragement
from us. It is not for us, at this last moment, to
imitate a conduct which we have persistently con-
demned ; it is not for us to play the part of Sar-
dinia without Sardinia's excuse. We will honour,
glorify, sympathize, admire, but in this quarrel,and
under these conditions, we will not fight.

DESPERATE BURGLARY IN YORKSHIRE.—AbOIIt
2 o'clock on Sunday morning the residence of the Rev. J.
Winn, Nappa-house, near Askrigg, Wensleydale, York..
shire, was entered by burglars, and the sum of £23 or ,t 25,
wrapped in en old black kid glove, was carried off. The
house stands in a lonely spot about a mile from Askrigg,
and nearly the same distance from the high road leading to
that town. The inmates at the time of the burglary were the
Rev. J. Winn, his housekeeper, and a boy about 12 years
of ago. They were
hearing a poise c9used by
aroused from their sleep at the time
Winn immediately arose and encouLtored the
two men ransacking the
isitt:
ed. bym r
men, one of whom was armed with a hay spade, and threat-
ened to take his life if he did not instantly deliver up his
money. A scuffle ensued, in the course of which the rev.
gentleman received a severe blow on the head, and fell down
in a state of unconsciousness. Having obtained the money,
the men made their escape by leaping from the staircase
window. The two servants had already left the house, and
an alarm leas speedily given. The police were acquainted
with the facts, and a number of young men from the neigh-
bouring town and villages offered their services to assist in
capturing the burglars. The surrounding country was
ranged during Sunday by the police, and also by numbers
of both horsemen and footmen, but the men had not been
arrested. They were traced by the police to Richmond, and
a waistcoat marked' with blood and having two razors in
the pockets, was found near Leyburn Shawl. Men answer-
ing the description of the thieves were seen at Redmir at an
early hour in the morning, and from the knowledge which
the police possess of one of the men, for whom they have
for some time been watching, it is highly probable that the
thieves will soon be in custody, andmect with their deserts.
The men are described as of middle stature, but both were
disguised when committing the burglary, and wore caps.
The taller of the two wore a rounded jacket, light trousers,
and navvie boots. It is very remarkable that a burglary
was committed in the same house about six weeks ago, for
which two men have been apprehended by the police ; one
was liberated, and the other committed to
.York for trial.
They obtained £25 on that occasion, on which three men
were engaged; and a strong probability exists that at least
one of them was concerned in the burglarious attack on
Sunday morning.—Manchester