The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 30, 1869.

like those, one reads of in fiction—but happily not in
history—as disgracing the army of England. It is
otherwise in regard to the foremost army in the
world, the army of France. Instances are
on record in the annals of that army—
instances patent to the whole world —in
which soldiers of European reputation have deserted
their colours and gone over to the enemy. The fact
that it is so, or rather that it has been so, has within
the last few days been recalled to the world's remem-
brance by the death, in his ninety-first year, of one of
the greatest military historians of France—the
French Sir WILLIAM NAPlER—General HENRI JOMINI,
the writer, in Fifteen Volumes, of the Histoire
Critiques et Militaire des Guerres de la Revolution.
A Swiss by birth—that is his only excuse, if, indeed,
it can be regarded as one in any point of view—born
as he was on the 6th of March, 1779, at Payerne, in
the Canton de Vaud, HENRI JOMINI served
in the French army, received the pay of a
French soldier during a long series of years ; ob-
tained, in 1804, the grade of Chef de Batallon ;
was, in 1805, nominated Colonel ; was, in 1806,
created a Baron of the Empire by NAPOLEON ; be-
came, in 1807, Chief of the Staff of Marshal NET ;
in 1808 accompanied that illustrious patron of his
fortunes into Spain ; was, in 1811, promoted to the
rank of General of Brigade, besides having conferred
upon him, about the same time, the title (unused
since the time of MARMONTEL) of Historiographer of
France ; was, in 1812, made Governor of IN ilna—
but—for all that—in 1813, in the midst of
the war between France and Russia, somewhere
about the time of the great battles fought at
Lutzen and Bantzen—deserted to the enemy,
forsook his colours, went over to the foe, took rank,
money, patronage from the Czar ALEXANDER. From
the field of Bautzen on the 16th of August, 1813,
NAPOLEON wrote to the Duke of BASSANO :—" Gene-
ral JOMINI has passed over to the enemy.''
On that same day the EMPEROR wrote to the
Duke of FELTRE :—" Brigadier-General JOMINI,
Chief of the Staff toathe Prince of the MOSKOWA, has
deserted to the enemy without having previously re-
signed his functions." Baron of the Empire, Briga-
dier-General in the Imperial Army, Governor of
\Vilna, Historiographer of France, Chief of the
Staff of Marshal NEY—it mattered nothing to him
what the benefactions he had received from his
adopted country, from his individual patron, from
the Sovereign to whom he had sworn allegiance--
HENRI J oMINI, deserted to the then arch-foe of France,
to the foremost of the many antagonists of NAPO-
LEON, and entered the service, and assumed the uni-
form—wore the livery, as one may say—and
received the honours, and obeyed the mandates
of the Emperor ALEXANDER. General J °MINI, as it
happened, however, stood not alone atthat time in the
infirmity of his desertion. There was another soldier
of France, and not simply like JOMINI, " another
soldier," but one of the greatest Captains of the
French Army, a great Captain second only in
genius as a Commander to the Great NAPOLEON
himself—General JEAN VICTOR MOREAU, the
hero of Hohenlinden —who had yet more infamously
gone over just about the same time and taken
service in the army of the Allies. It is
only fair to the memory of General JOMINI
to add that he at least had the decency to
decline accepting any active command in the Russian
Army, as against France, until the war was over. Not
so was it with MOREAU, who personally joined the
army of the Allies and fought against France,
against his own countrymen, at the battle of
Dresden, when—as one of the most memorable
lu.i,a.cca of poetical iustice recorded in history—he
received his death-wound before Dresden, having
both his legs shot away by a cannon ball discharged
from a gun which had been, strange to say, pointed
by the hand of NAPOLEON ! From that wound
MOREAU died in great agonies soon after-
wards, thereby passing away by one of the most
infamous deaths ever recorded as having befallen a
great soldier. JOMINI, at any rate it should be said,
however, :never went the length of taking arms
against France. But he was, for all that, on the side
of the enemy. He had deserted from the French
tamiri
eummeyboafe
rnidn
hisghdatedhs
eatrtatkni
one
nne
fact,
trhaenrkei
tawmiesro
elan
nga
all kinds
ncßideurs s sot ihfaanrtus,
n ato': tuthe
tFaosr
e no
hise
hbbi
benefactor
ten treachery
nn
td ,t ot
so
ot
his
ieesr
epFi
agrtnernntenhheAalEra mrms yhp
aealrnd oNr
Eto , A
al
,t
nho
de-
N
LEON.
mtltiaotyffn‘
tv,
hao
esuf
psFi
‘a.
itr i
to the
Marshals tsby ehhhea
lspt oil
NmamnEee tofhf
was
his
he a
operations
ha desertion add d
owi d t
have
disclosed
vso
eswce
ren-
dered nee
which
oht hfi
sethreennsesi
a:qhuisainehteadr.aetFerrosnm f
athr,isthcehraerfgnere,hvei
nwdais-
whom ? By the Emperor NAPOLEON, atd
Seddaeett.freeedndli—deehlbdeinin
y,
a—NAPOLEON there observing, in regard
to
it—magnanimously, but at the same time it al-
most seems to us contemptuously_t, It is an error
to accuse JOMINI of having disclosed to the Allies
forr did not
ege know
general
ral
the secret of the operations of the campaign, and
the situation
3f r
rnR
00,
sf NET'Splans.
The corps.orderj ' N th the E
movement, which was sent to each of the mar-
shals, had not been communicated to him ; and,
even bad he known it, the EMPEROR would not
accuse him of the crime imputed to him." NAPOLEON
even added, in speaking of JOMINI, "He did not
prove a traitor to the flag, as others did. He had to
complain of the great injustice done him. He was
led away by an honourable sentiment (!) ; he was not
a Frenchman ; and the love of country could have
no hold upon him." The exculpation thus, as
it seems to us, extravagantly, accorded to JOMINI by
the Great Captain from the ranks of whose army he
had deserted, meant simply, as we conceive, the more
sternly implied censure of the arch-traitor of all to
the flag of France, the Conqueror of Hohenlinden.

THE strike at Preston threatens to be very wide-
spread and obstinate. It is a quarrel on which there
is a good deal to be said for both sides. On the part
of the masters there is this strong argument—they
are working at a serious loss, and rather than con-
tinue to incur, it it would be better for them
to stop working altogether, and lose their rent
and the interest on their capital. The ope-
ratives are by no means silenced even with the
strong logic of necessity against them. They say
that as they do not share the master's gains at a
time when he is making large profits, they
ought not to be called upon to share his losses. The
rate of wages is fixed upon an average of good times
and bad times, and they have no intention of being
treated like " lives " by an insurance office, which,
having formed its scale of premiums upon
the bills of mortality, rejects all the unhealthy
applicants, and pockets handsome bonuses. The
operatives claim either a share in the prosperity, or
to be relieved from participatioh in the adversity, of
the masters. Moreover, they assert—and there seems
some ground for the assertion—that the present
depressed state of the cotton trade has been brought
about by unskilful trading. There has been
unhealthy speculation in the raw material, which
enhanced the price for a time; and now that this is
over the material has fallen so much in value that
it is impossible to obtain for the manufactured
goods a price which will yield anything like a suitable
return upon the original cost. Independently of this,
the masters have been over-manufacturing, and
turning out goods with reckless indifference to the
state of the markets. The consequence is just
what it was some dozen years ago, a state

of " glut " which renders manufacture unprofit-
able. Then the glut arose from the extreme
cheapness of the raw material ; now the case
is, in one respect, even worse, for the over-
manufacture has taken place at a time when the raw
material is dear. Nor is there any hope of im-
provement for some time to come. Since the
American War came to an end a large number of
new mills have been built, so that the manufacturing
power largely exceeds the demand, and competition
will be sure to keep down profits. The millowners
cannot hope to find new markets for their goods.
To them, for the most part, we owed the China and
Japan Wars. There are no more of these worlds to
conquer ; to say the truth, they are not much worth
conquering, for Manchester goods do not go down
well there. Were they worth ever so much, it is
scarcely a Ministry having Mr. GLADSTONE and Mr.
BRIGHT for its chief members which would under-
take the conquest.

The prospect, therefore, is very gloomy for both
parties, and it is not surprising that each should be
endeavouring to mitigate the evil for itself at, the
expense of the other. The Preston operatives know
well that a reduction accepted now will have to be
borne for a long period, and they will not agree
to a loss of income which perhaps may never
be restored. They have, indeed, made an offer to
the masters, and have expressed their willingness
to accept a reduction of 5 per cent., instead of the
10 per cent. whereof the masters have given
notice, but the masters have rejected the proposal.
Unfortunately another offer has met with no better
reception. The operatives have suggested that the
dispute shall be referred to arbitration, and the
masters have also declined this reference. There is
always a prima facie supposition that the party refus-
ing arbitration is afraid of it, and is, therefore, in the
wrong. We do not assert that this is the case in the
present instance, but there is at least an appearance
of it. 4ny way, it is much to be lamented that in
these days, when the relations between capital and
labour are better understood than they ever were,
that in these days of courts of conciliation there
should be no means of preventing a conflict a
outrance between employers and employed in our
chief industry. We have, happily, found some way
of settling international quarrels, though these are
always far more difficult of adjustment because arbi-
tratorsarefar less easily obtained. We have, by means
of conferences, prevented the Luxemburg dispute from
leading to a war between France and Prussia, and
the Cretan dispute from leading to a war between
Turkey and Greece, and so have spared Europe
seas of blood. We have agreed to refer our
very serious and complicated misunderstanding
with the United States to arbitration, and so
have avoided a fratricidal war. Is it impossible
to devise some means for preventing the misery
and the suffering which must overwhelm Preston
as it did in 1854, and all Lancashire, if, as is not im-
probable, the strike should become general ? Such a
calamity would be far worse than the cotton famine
of six years ago, for then all classes came to the
help of the sufferers. In the present instance
the sufferers would have only each other's help,
with the prospect of having to yield at last for
want of funds, as they yielded on that dis-
astrous May day fifteen years ago. And after
all a strike, like a duel, proves nothing so far as the
main question is concerned. It is the more weak,
not necessarily the more unreasonable, of the two
combatants which has to give way. A bully may
murder a saint in an encounter with swords; the
operatives may have justice wholly on their side, and
yet be forced to capitulate.

LATEST INTELLEGENCE

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, March 29.
The Guion steamship Nevada, from Liverpool,
arriveu CV

QUEENSTOWN, March 30.

The Cunard Royal Royal mail steamship Tripoli,
from New York, arrived here at 7.50 a.m. to-day,
with 41 passengers. She landed 7 passengers and
despatches, and proceeded at 8 a.m. for Liverpool.
All well.

CROOKIIAVEN, March 30, 10.30 a.m.

The Inman steamer City of Baltimore, from New
York on the 20th inst., is now passing Browhead
Signal Station, en route for Queenstown.

INDIA.

BOMBAY, March 29.

The Viceroy returned the visit of the Ameer
Sheere Ali at Umballa to-day, presenting his own
sword to the Ameer. Earl Mayo declared that the
British would always be friendly to hitn.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(nom OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT:,
PARIS, MONDAY, March 20.

We have had a queer Easter. Sunday was bright and
brilliant, and everybody was rejoicing at the advent of
spring. The crowds that thronged the public promenades
were enormous, especially at the Place du 'Prone, where
the annual fair of spiced-bread always goes on at this
season. But to-day all is changed. We woke up to see
a white world, and the thermometer at about
zero (freezing point). Since then the sun has come
out, and we are in a state of slush, most unpleasant to
everybody, especially to holiday-takers. From other
parts of Europe we jiave news of far more severe weather
even than we have been visited with. A letter from the
Col de Tende says that snow has fallen to the depth of
three metres (nearly ten feet), and that even the poles set
up to mark the road have been covered. On the
Simplon twenty-one Piedmontese masons were overtaken
by an avalanche, and only seven of them escaped alive.
The Pyrenees are covered with snow, and bears have been
coming down into Pau, and carrying off the cattle in the
neighbourhood. In Algeria, even, there have been severe
snow-storms. In fact, winter has come three months'
after date.

In spite of the Easter festival there has been not a little
political excitement. A large number of arrests were
made here on Saturday, and the inference is that the
Government has discovered a conspiracy. The nature and
the extent of it are not known.

The election campaign is becoming active, albeit no one
knows when the elections take place. If the session is allowed
to continue until the end of May the Corps L6gislatif ex-
pires by efflux of time ; but if it should be dissolved
before then the Emperor has the right to postpone
the elections until six months after the dissolu-
tion, so that it is possible they may not take
place until the autumn. Is the meanwhile the Govern-
ment is beating up candidates, many of them very
obscure men. The Democratic party in Paris are discus-
sing what they shall do as regards the deputies for the
nine districts into which the capital is divided. It is under-
stood that in five the sitting deputies will be re-elected,
that MM. Darimon and 011ivier will be opposed if they
offer themselves for re-election, and that the attitude to
be assumed towards MM. Thiers and Gu6roult has
not yet been determined. 011ivier has received a re-
quisition, inviting him to stand, from the electors
of He',rault, and he has consented in a letter
thoroughly characteristic of the man. He says : "As to
the success which you promise me, I hope for it without
disquieting myself about it. Some souls have no need of
victory ; to deserve it is with them more important than
to obtain it." Need I say that, in the opinion of M.
Emile 011ivier, that gentleman thoroughly deserves
success. Still speaking of him, I may say that
the publication on M. 011ivier's pamphlet of the
Pope's letter to the Archbishop of Paris has led to
serious complaints an the part of his Holiness.
The semi-official Etendard announces in its largest type
that " the Pope has informed the Emperor of the painful
impression made upon him by the publicity given through
M. 011ivier's pamphlet to the confidential letter, and
without any bearing on the events of the day, which His
Holiness wrote several years ago to Mgr. Darboy. This
regretable indiscretion, useful perhaps in order to bring
the pamphlet into notoriety, will be the object of a minute
investigation ordered by the Vatican."
The Emperor is obtaining no little laudation from the
semi-official journals because he has graciously deter-
mined to distribute some of the surplus treasures
of art which belong to the Crown, among the
museums in the departments. It appears that during the
last fifteen years these treasures have been' increased by
no fewer than 43,000 works, consisting of pictures,
statues, antiquities, &c. The Louvre, even now that it is
all but finished, will not hold these, the Imperial Museums
in Paris are well supplied, so it is resolved that the works
shall be sent to the various museums in the other towns,
and thus spread there the taste for art.

Queen Christina of Spain, mother of Isabella, has
arrived at Paris, but her arrival excites very little atten-
tion. Far more noticeable a person just now is the
" Nabob of Bengal." A great crowd of persons on Satur-
day blocked up the entrance to the Grand Hotel, where
his Highness is staying. The Nabob is accompanied by
one of his wives, by his two sons, and by a daughter,
whose beauty has caused quite an excitement in the
Bois de Boulogne, by four great personages of his Court,
by his secretary, Mr. Fox, by Colonel Layard , and by a cloud
of attendants. He is only 40 years of age, but his hair is
so white that he looks 60. He has thirteen wives (only
three of them recognised by the British Government), and
nineteen sons and twenty daughters. He speaks English
very' well, and also other European languages. He
performs all the rites of his religion with great fervour.
TT:loenn bAre at the grand mass in the Tuileries
yesterday. The Emperor, the Empress, and the rriuce
Imperial were present.
A very important work is announced. It is entitled the
" Grand Dictionnaire Universel," and will be an encyclo-
paedia of the nineteenth century. It is under the direction
of Pierre Larousse. It is said to be entirely written from
the letter A clown to the article " Zwingle." It will
appear in half-yearly volumes, and to subscribers the whole
work is offered at 120, with the assurance that tc
non-subscribers it will be at least twice that amount.