The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-17 00:00:00

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were the same as we have noticed in the 12 pounder,
except that one man worked the gun with much
greater ease, firing it, without the least attempt at
hurry, four times in less than four minutes. The
sound of the projectile also was scarcely audible.
The first shot fired entered the sand at 4,171 yards
distance, and only six yards to the left of the line;
the second struck at 4,179 yards at only four
yards to the left ; the third at 4,224 yards, and five
yards to the left ; and the fourth at 4,122 yards, at
two yards from the line.
The elevation was then altered to 20degrees, the
same charge of 71 ounces being continued for the
range of posts from 6,000 to 7,000 yards distant.
The first shot at this tremendous range struck the
sand at 6,760 yards, and only five yards to the left
of the true line. The second struck at 6,784, and
12 yards from the true line in the same direction ;
the third, at 6,720, was 16 yards out of the line.
This deviation to the left was contrary to the usual
deviation of the gun, and arose from a rather strong
wind which had set in from the sea. The gun was
therefore laid more to the right, and threw a fourth
shot 6,910 yards' distance, and only two yards to
the left of the true line! The charge of powder
was then increased to eight ounces, and the
elevation of the gun raised to 35 degrees. The
practice then made was really extraordinary. The
first shot alighted in the sand at 8,970 yards.' dis-
tance, only 22 yards to the right of the line. The
second fell at 8,930 yards, and only 10 yards left of
the line ; the third at 9,059 yards, 10 yards to the
right ; and the fourth at the immense range of 9,164
yards and 22 yards to the right. Midway between
the guns and the t trget the flight of the projectiles
over head could just be heard, and no more.
The 80-pounder was then loaded at five degrees
elevation, with 121 b. of powder, with which charge
it threw a 901 b. projectile, with a fearful roar, a
distance of 2,550 yards, when it ricochetted at right
angles and buried itself in the sea at an immense
distance. A second shot, with the same charge,
first grazed the sand 2,620 yards distant from the
gun, and only two to the right of the true line
From this point it glanced upwards, but continued
a straight course ()award, alighting in the sand at a
distance of over 6,000 yards from the gun. Had this
piece been mounted so as to permit of it being fired
at a high degree of elevation there is not the least
doubt but that it would have thrown its ponderous
shot a distance of 8,000 or 10,000 yards, a distance
that has never yet been gained by any gun with a
projectile of such weight.
To day SirJ. Burgoyne was present at the experi•
ments, which gave the same astounding results as
those of yesterday, but our notice of these must
necessarily be deferred to a future occasion. The
greatest trial of all takes place on Wednesday next,
when the SO-pounder will be mounted on a stand
that will admit of its being fired at any elevation.
This trial, from which great results are anticipated,
is looked forward to with the deepest interest.

FR _INCE AND 32 VOY.

(Front the Timncs.)

The several answers of Lord John Russell last
night in the House of Commons explain perfectly
the present position of affairs with respect to
the annexation of Savoy. The Foreign Secretary
sufficiently indicated the grave state of the
question, and the tone of his replies was au
earnest that no effort will be spared by the
British Cabinet to prevent so wanton a wrong
as the dismemberment of the Sardinian Monarchy.
Lord John Russell stated that communications
had passed between the British and Sardinian
Governments, that the former had inquired
whether there was an engagement or inten-
tion to cede Savoy to France, and that the
answer had been generally that there was no
engagement on the subject, and that Sardinia
had no intention to cede Savoy. So far the infor-
mation given to the house was perfectly satisfac-
tory. It seemed clear that, whatever discussions
may have taken place on this subject before and
since the war, King Victor Emmanuel had never
consented to relinquish his most ancient
province, and that he will now resist both tempta-
tions and menaces, from whatever quarter they may
come. The continuation of Lord John Russell's
remarks was, however, calculated to excite anxiety,
and it called up Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald. Lord
John Russell, in answer to a question concerning
the neutrality of Switzerland, spoke of what the
Government intended to do " in case of annexation,"
and observed that he had been afraid Switzerland,
induced by the offer of certain districts, would
favour annexation, but was happy to assure the
house that such fears had proved groundless. As
from these remarks it was evident that annexation
was really imminent, Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald put
a further question, and then the whole truth came
out. In fact Sardinia has not agreed to cede Savoy,
and does not wish or intend to do so, but the French
Emperor has demanded Savoy as the price of his
consent to the annexation of the Italian Duchies
and the Romagna to the dominions of Victor Em-
manuel. "It has," said Lord John Russell, "to
my knowledge been communicated to the Govern-
ment of Turin that if the kingdom of Sardinia were
aggrandised to any considerable extent by the
annexation of Central Italy, France would think
that her frontier was not secure without the an-
nexation of at least some part of Savoy."
Such, then, is the latest development of the
Italian Question. The Emperor of the French, in
whose strange character the two opposing qualities
of vigour and vacillation seem to meet, is now,
at the eleventh hour, endeavouring to throw
difficulties in the way of that Italian union
to which he had apparently given his consent. It
is plain that the demand for a part of Savoy is as
much intended to dissuade the King from extend-
ing his dominions southward as to induce him to
give France the French slopes of the Alps. The
demand is, in fact, a return to the policy upon
which the Emperor entered in May last, when Prince
Napoleon was sent to Tuscany to head the revolu-
tion. Then it was scarcely concealed, though it
has been vehemently denied since, that the plan
was to establish a kingdom in Central Italy under
the sceptre of the Prince whose marriage had
united the Houses of France and Sardinia. Events
marched, however, too quickly for the fortunes of
the Prince. Both war and revolution left him far
behind. Austria was driven from Lombardy in a
few weeks, and before the French division, with
the new Tuscan levies, could be brought into the
field. There was no opportunity for them to show
their valour against the Austrians, for the Aus-
trians were swept away before Prince Napoleon
had time to reach the Mincio. The Emperor
seems then to have abandoned his earlier scheme,
and to have made peace with as little thought
for his cousin as for his ally. Thus the scheme
for an independent kingdom of Etruria would have
perished had the people been as passive and as
submissive to the despotism of potentates as 60
years ago. But the Tuscans and their brethren
had tasted independence, and were not inclined to
give it up even to please the liberator of Lom-
bardy. They determined on annexation to Sar-
dinia, and have been since as hostile to the forma-
tion of a separate kingdom as to the restoration of
their former Sovereigns.
The world had thought within the last few
months that the French Emperor had made up his
mind to accept the annexation to Sardinia, and that
the renewed alliance with England was a pledge of
this wise policy. But it is one of the shortcomings;
of a despotic Government that so much is left to a
single mind, which the habit of irresponsibility is
apt to make capricious. The French Emperor has
seemingly sacrificed everything to the policy which
England has had the credit of initiating. He has
declared to the Viennese Court that he will not re-
store the Italian Sovereigns, nor allow Austrian
troops to enter the rebellious territory. He has
thus exposed himself to the charge of violating the
Treaty of Zurich, and the press of Austria and
Southern Germany has been pouring forth invec-
tives against him for the last three months as a
traitor. Then he has broken utterly and irrevo-
cably with the Pope. He has sanctioned a pamhh-
let containing political doctrines which no Protes-
tant statesman has ventured to propound; he has
enforced the submission of the French priesthood
with a high hand, forbidding the publication of
episcopal manifestoes and suppressing the most
.
notorious organ of the clergy.
politi-
cians may b excused for believinEg
gntlahtal fo
lsh
thirs
portended the acceptance of Italian nationality,
they cannot conceive how a ruler should take so
much trouble and expose himself to so much obloquy
without having finally made up his mind.
Now, however, after having
be with,
g declared that the
people of Central Italy shall
. i
not
and having thus acquiesced in the annexation f
their country to Sardinia, Napoleon comes forward
and tells Victor Emmanuel at what a price he must
purchase the permission to accept the sovereignty
which is tendered to him. So preposterous a pre-
tence as that put forth by the French Government
for the annexation of Savoy has probably never
come under the notice of Europe, France, with a
standir, army of 600,000 men, with a powerful
fleet, with a system of railways constructed ex-
pressly with a view to the carriage of troops, with

NEWSPAPER
Enro 1,":“ j'artlt
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a compact territory, with a ee)
tion, and with every State in ,n_
its internal tranquillity, affects to vi,
the formation of a too extensive king 4
"If Sardinia be aggrandised to any ,
extent France would think that her frontier was
not secure without the annexation of some part of
Savoy." We really wonder that any Government
should venture at the present day to put forward
such a pretext. Statesmen may often say what
they do not believe, but it argues a cynical con-
tempt for opinion to utter that which they cannot
expect to be believed by others. We can hardly
think that the Emperor Napoleon will persist in a
scheme so much at variance with the character for
justice and moderation he has declared it his am-
bition to obtain. He cannot but see that the exten-
sion of his frontiers on military grounds will create
an alarm in Europe which threatens to undo all the
good his recent policy in Italy has effected.

(Front the Morning Post.)

This question no longer adds to the complica-
tions of Europe.
It arose out of circumstances not within the
control of France. The Emperor Napoleon had
foreseen and urgad a Confederation in Italy. The
course of events pointed in the direction of an
Italian kingdom. In such an event it was obvi-
ous that great inconvenience would arise from the
French slopes of the Alps being a portion of that
kingdom. Hence the suggestion for the cession of
Savoy.
The French Government has now, however, ex-
pressed its willingness to defer to the decision that
may be arrived at by the great Powers of Europe
on the question ; and all fear of collision may
therefore be considered as definitively obviated.

From the .horning Herald.
Slowly the mist is rising which has so long ob•
scured the magnanimous "idea" of the Emperor of
the French._ We are beginning to realise the un-
selfishness of the projects of the " Soldat de Dieu."
The fable of the wolf and the lamb is to receive a
new illustration in European history, and Sardinia
is to suffer because France is toe weak to &fend her
frontier. The question of Central Italy seems indeed.
likely to receive a very summary settlement. Just
as Victor Emmanuel is about to seize on his hardly-
et.rned si oils France puts in her veto. It is not
enough that he has paid for the assistance he
has received from his powerful ally in
hard cash ; he must pay for it in terri-
tory, in the cession- -of the oldest possession of
his house, and the infraction of the most solemn
obligations to Europe. He must abandon Tuscany,
or dliver up the keys of the Alps. He must be
content with the morsel allotted to 'him by his vic-
torious friend and his vanquished enemy, or defy
both. Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald's question has at
length elicited the truth.
. .

'hie French Government, true to its traditional
policy, objects to a strong Italian state. Sardinia,
strengthened by Lombardy and Tuscany, and the
Romagna, would be too formidable a neighbour for
France and her 40millionsofpeople. If she persists
in her designs, then—bon gre, mal gre—France, true
to the spirit of nationality which she invoked
in the late contest, will annex Savoy. Of course
it is useless to argue against the unanswer-
able logic of facts. Savoy has declared its wish to
be annexed—at least the Patrie says so; and what
is right in Florence is not wrong in Chambery.
Sublime spectacle ! Napoleon, the chief of 800,000
soldiers, li!Aening to the appeal of the people
abroad as well as at home! The elect of universal
suffrage in France delivering the Savoyards from
the bondage of their hereditary monarch. After
this let no man doubt the honesty of the Emperor
of the Fren,h. Let Prussia remove her garrisons
from her Rhenish frontier, and Belgium abandon
the projected fort itie ttion of Antwerp. Above all,
let England bind hers-lf to tapply c)al as long as
France shall nec d it, and persuade the Emperor to
keep the peace by swallowing as much inferior
Bordeaux as her neighbours can spare. It needed
but the spoliation of Savoy to prove the value of
the close approximation of French and English
policy, and the true worth of Lord l'almerstou's
Commercial Treaty.

COMMERCIAL OPINIONS UPON THE

BUDGET.

THE TIMBER TRADE.

On Wednesday last a meeting of the inland tim-
ber merchants of Yorkshire was held at the White
Horse Hotel, Leeds—Mr. Richard Harrison, of
Leeds, in the chair—for the purpose of considering
the Chancellor of the Exchequer's proposition for
the reduction of the timber duties. There were
timber merchants present from York, Leeds, Brad-
ford, Huddersfield, Keighley, &c.
Mr. ILLINGWORTII, of Leeds, proposed the first
resolution, which was as follows :
" That this meeting, while it approves the proposed re-
duction of duties on foreign timber and deals, as announced
in the Budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, yct
deems it but an act of simple justice to the inland timber
merchants, who have, as usual at this period of the year,
just laid in large stocks for the spring trade, that a draw-
back should be allowed by Government on their duty-paid
timber and deals."

This was seconded by Mr. J. KAY, of Nuiders-
field, and cariied unanimously.
The following resolution, propoted by Mr.
BROWN, of Leeds, and seconded by Mr. SINGLETON,
of Bradford, was carried in the like manner :
"That it is necessary to obtain an interview with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer at the earliest possible period,
in order to place before him the anomalous position of the
inland timber merchants, and the great loss to which they
will be subjected, should the proposed reduction be made,
regardless of their interests."

The following resolution was also carried unani-
mously, on the motion of Mr. WATKINSON, of York,
seconded by Mr. MAUDE, of Leeds :
" That it is desirable there should be a meeting of the
inland timber merchants in London, and that invitations
therefore be immediately sent to the merchants of other
inland towns to send representatives to meet at Tindall's
Hotel, New Palace-yard, Westminster, on Saturday next,
the 18th inst., at 12 o'clock at noon, to determine en further
proceedings."
Other resolutions for the purpose of carrying the
foregoing into effect were likewise agreed to unani-
mously, and the proceedings closed with the pass•
ing of a vote of thanks to the chairman.

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