The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-14 00:00:00

MAILS BY STEAM TO AUSTRALIA.

(From a correspondent of the Morning Advertiser.)
The columns of several --of our contemporaries
have for a considerable time past teemed with most
fallacious and erroneous statements regarding the
quickest, the best, and most advantageous route to
Aus'tralia, for the conveyance of mails and pas-
sengers. As this is a subject of great importance,
both to those great colonies and the public, the
writer of this, who has taken great pains with the
subject, aad is well acquainted with it, in all its
details, considers it his duty to place the following
correct statements and details before the public,
in order that neither it nor the colonies may be any
farther misled on these important matters :

The distance in geometrical miles from South-
ampton to Sydney, by Alexandria and Aden, &c.,
stands thus :

Geo. Miles.
Southampton to Alexandria
• Alexandria to Suez
Suez to Aden . 1,321
Aden to Diego Gracia 2.180
Diego Gracia to Albany (St. George's Sound) 3,115 •
Albany to Melbourne
Melbourne to Sydney 550

11,704
But the Isthmus is equal to 500 miles, sea
distance, therefore add 330

Total, this route 12,034
Now the Post-office official list shows that the
time—take, for example, the mail of the Bth Jan.
.last from Calcutta—from the Post-office Aden to
the Post-office London, by overland route, is 21
days, and by the Mediterranean route 25 days (10
days in the one case, and 15 days in the other from
Alexandria), varying at times a day more or less
by each route. But let us take it at the rate
stated, and the rate of speed per day as fixed by
the Australian Association ; then from Aden to
Sydney the time will stand thus :

Days.
London by overland route to Men, and clearing it 21
Aden to Sydney, by Diego Gracia, 7,228 miles, at
240, is
Stoppages, coals at Diego Gracia and Albany,
and one day at Melbourne

London to Sydney, overland route [not 44 as stated] 56
Stop at Sy lney 3
Sydney to London, return by same route 56-1-

Total outwards and inwards
Or 5 days within 4 months for course of post.
By sea route, Gibraltar, &e., to Aden
Aden to Sydney, as above

LITERATURE.

The Great World of London. . Part I.' By Henry
- -

Mayhew. David Bogne.
According to that popular Americanism which
has been incorporAted with the " very body of the
time," by being mixed up in our daily vocabulary
—Mr. Mayhew's great work " progresses," and
progresses, we will venture in-observe moreover, to
admiration. The second instalment relates for the
most part to London considered in relation to the
twin subjects of Law and. Justice. Another capital
photograph, by Mr. Herbert Watkins, portrays
to us in a single page the appearance of a C9n-
vict and a Convict-ess ! Besides this there is a sort
of bird's-eye frontispiece, giving the reader a com-
prehensive view of London traffic, as observable
any clear day from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral!
Cabs,- 'busses, drays, carts, waggons,--.

" Whisky; buggy, gig, or go-cart,
Curricle or Tandem"—
owarmina,jostling, rumbling, to and fro, along the
tiny, far-down perspective of Ludgate Hill ! Steam-
boats, wager- boats, wherries, ferries,barges, smacks,
tugs, and all sorts of cockleshells sailing, rowing,
floating, flying, floundering in all sorts of fashions
about the surface of dirty old Father Thames
Factory chimneys smoking, and houses-chimneys
innumerable, and railways threading the crowded
jumble of streets with their iron-rails, and afford-
ing a groove for the smooth-gliding wheels of the
steam-engine and its attendant train of first; se-
cond, and third-class carriages ! London Traffic t it
is a Babel—a hurricane of industry—a whirlpool of
" toil and trouble"—a maelstrom of emulation and
excitement. Everything combines to assure' us
that if the work be only concluded as it is com-
menced it will be a very wonderful book indeed—
the product of a life—an authority—a standard
of reference—a repository of curious and com-
prehensive information. When completed,
Henry Mayhew's " Great World of Lon-
don" might have, as perhaps the most felici-
tions motto that could anywhere be selectee
for its title-page—will Mr. Mayhew accept our
suggestion in good-spirit and adopt it when the
time comes for the issuing of the title-page ?—the
following remarkably apposite passage from CAE...
LYLE'S Hero-Worship :
" This London City, with all its houses, palace?,
and steam-engines, cathedrals, and huge immea-
surable traffic and tumult, what is it but a
Thought, but millions of Thoughts made into
One,—a huge immeasurable Spirit of a THOUGHT,
embodied in brick, in iron, smoke, dust, Palaces,
Parliaments, Hackney Coaches, atharine Docks,
and the rest of it !" Led. v., pp. 266-267, ed.
1841.

And Mr. Mayhew's enormous book is this same
aggregated Thought at last duly and moat ex-
pressively articulated !

Great Rieges : Ancient and Modern. A Lecture
by the Rev. R. S. Brooke. Dublin : Oldham :
1856.

Out of the many Discourses, Orations, Prelec-

tions, appropriate to the Recent War, &livered
during the course of the last three years in all parts
of the United Kingdom—this Lecture upon "Great
Sieges : Ancient and Modern," by the Rev. R. S.
Brooke, may be very well selected as something
" out of the common," as one entitled to par-
ticular consideration. It was originally de-
livered in the Dublin Rotunda on the sth
of last February. It has since been published in
the form of a little threepenny pamphlet, and we
doubt not will secure to itself, in the fulness of
time, a pretty wide circulation. Wherever it is
read we are satisfied that the Christian amenity,
to say nothing of the judicious patriotism of the
speaker, will be recognised upon the instant
by every rational mind—a Christian amenity and
a Judicious patriotism so signally evidenced where
the reverend lecturer talks of the Religion of. our
generous and heroic allies the French as a Temple
—" full of idols and rags "—" full of spiritual beg.
gary "—" full of moral filth"—full of " ignorance,"
of " falsehood," of " absurdity," of " tawdriness"
and the like ! Anything more thoroughly Christian-
like, anything more truly patriotic in its tendencies,
anything more graceful, more delicate, more gra-
ciously and decently temperate,- both in argument
and language—(hearing in mind the " subject" of
the Lecture, and the " time" of i's delivery, and
the " profession" of the orator)—we, surely, can
, none of us call to recollection The Discourse stands

forth for these reasonsconspiouously among all kin=
dred and contemporary discourses, and must be con-
sidered therefore quite per se—it is a manifestation
ofspatriotic ardour wisely directed to the conser-
vation of a great national friendship, and an evi-
dence of Christian magnanimity overflowing 'with
fraternal tenderness—such as cannot fail, of course,
to excite a very general and a very profound admi-
ration ! Sufficient for us—cherishing as we do
certain carious opinions as to what really
constitutes the Genius of Civisni and the
Spirit of Christianity—sufficient for us (view-
ing the matter thus) if we here point to
this same Lecture upon " Great Sieges, an-
cient and modern," an index-finger expressive of
anything you please excepting—of course—either
scorn or indignation The argument of the lecturer
being, as we have already remarked, so distin-
guished throughout by the judiciousness of the
Patriot and the amenity of the Christian.

Beyminstre. By the author of "Lena," " King's
Cope," &e. 3 vols. Smith and Elder.
The writer of this tale is already favourably
known to the world of novel readers. The pre-
sent work will not diminish her reputation, as
the characters are interesting, the plot possesses
some originality, and the dialogue a great deal of
spirit and liveliness. The heroine, Regina Howard,
is of an attractive, though somewhat uncommon,
character. She has been brought up by her grand-
mother, a clorming "old lady, the daughter of a
French emigre. Regina is often incensed at the
neglect her grandmother meets with from their
wealthy, though vulgar, neighbours, who, when
she was rich, had paid her assiduous attention.
She was the widow of the rector of the parish, and,
at his death, her income was greatly diminished.
Her granddaughter frequently wished for riches,
and subsequent events proved to her that our
wishes may be often ,granted and not fulfilled.
They form the acquaintanCoof a Mrs. Willingham,
who comes to live in retirement to escape the no-
tice of her husband, who had already spent her
large fortune, and was new persecuting her to ob-
tain a small income she had reserved for her son.
This son, Alban Willingham, ou his visits to his
mother meets Regina, and they are eugiged. His
father is by this time reported to have died in
America, and he looks forward to inheriting Bey-
mins're, the old family seat. His uncle, the pos-
sessor of it, had been the early lover of his mo-
ther, but she regarded him with indifference, and
eloped with his brother a short time before the day
appointed for their marriage. Too late she disco-
vered her mistake, and that Colonel Willingham only
cared for her fortune. Of course Sir Herbert Wil-
lingham saw them no more. The disappointment
embittered his life. But the estate being entailed,
both Alban and his mother confidently anticipated
his being one day the owner. He had been his
mother's great support in her troubles, and she re-
garded him with the greatest affection. He was
the total opposite of his father, of a firm and re-
served disposition, his only defect was that pride
which so often mars noble and elevated natures.
While affairs are in this position his regiment is
ordered to India, and his mother dies shortly after.
Sir Herbert 'Willingham comes to the death-bed of
his early love, and there meets Regina. Ile had
previously known of her engagement to Alban,
and, dying soon after, leaves all his property, the
much-desired estate of Beytninstre, to her. It
then appears that Colonel Willingham had agreed
to cut off the entail for a sum of money, and that
Sir Herbert, repenting the anger that had made
him vow none of his family should inherit the
estate, left it to Regina, thinking thus to atone for
it. But he was totally mistaken. Alban was still
in India, and the pride of both parties prevented
either making any advance. At length Mrs. Ar-
nold, the grandmother, wrote to him, telling him
of nor grand-daughter's intention to resign the
estate as soon as she came of age. This letter re-
ceiving no reply, for the simple reason that it did
not reach him, Regina concluded he had become
indifferent to her, and a complete estrangement
was the result. She still preserved her intention of
giving up the estate, however, which made her
miserable ' • but many legal difficulties were in the
way: At length, on the day of her majority, she
announced her resignation, when, to her horror,
Beyminstre was claimed, not by Alba]) to whom
she intended to resign it, but by Colonel Willing.
ham, long supposed to be dead, who had sud-
denly returned from America ! How the story
concludes, how the long-estranged lovers are re-
conciled, and what becomes of the estate which has
caused so much perplexity, we leave the reader to
discover. Suffice it to say that the conclusion is
satisfactory, and, the interest maintained- to the
end. A great variety of characters are introduced,
in all classes of society, and their individuality skil-
fully preserved. 'The most remarkable of these is
Miss Winny Hopper, whose prototype may per-
haps be found in many village towns, though on ei
less exaggerated scale. The dialogue, a pOint in
which so many writers fail, is sparkling and bril-
liant, and will, no doubt, materially contribute t©
the success of the work with those who desire to be
amused. The episode of Edith Carleton is melan-
choly enough, but she is of too weak a character to
excite much interest. The novel altogether pre-
sents many attractions to the readers of fiction,
who will uo doubt derive considerable eritetteliz•
went fro 4 its pages;.

( From the 31orniny Post of this day. )
The Government, since peace has been pro-
claimed, have been defeated twice, and are now
underlying a challenge to combat et routrance,
from one of the subordinate members of the ex-
tinct Cabinet of Lord Derby. Parliament and its
factions, conceiving -that the country is brought
safely into the hiven where it should be, consider
that they are now at liberty, and that now is the
proper time, to throw into the sea the pilot who
managed the business for them in the storm. We
wish to do every one, even an opponent, justice,
and it is only just to say for the large party who
occupy the Opposition benches, that their political
conduct throughout the late war has been of a
much higher charaCter than that which has here-
tofore been exhibited by Parliamentary parties in
a like position. We have, thank Heaven, had
had none of that open advocacy of the cause of the
enemies of the country, for the sake of discomfiting
the Ministry, which distinguished the Opposition
in the days of the Peninsular War. Nor have we
been scandalised in this our day by avowed exulta-
tion, on the part of the politicians out of office, at
failures resulting from the operations of adminis-
trators in office. It is but just to give Mr. Disraeli
and those who act with him credit for this. They
have been generally discreet, and some times for-
bearing, and we will not attempt to diminish aught
of the honour which may accrue to them therefrom
by stopping to inquire for ourselves, or suggest to
others, how much of this discretion and forbearance
might be attributable to the consciousness of want
of cohesion in their own party or of inability. We
will not stay to discuss the probability of this ; how-
ever interesting and attractive its consideration
may be, it is a mere matter of party politics, and
the present state of public affairs is too critical to
spend time upon its entertainment.
It is evident that combinations of parties or fac-
tions in the House of Commons are possible, by
which, at any moment, the existing Government
can be put in a minority, and from them that it
must be evident to every one who has watched with
care the temper of Parliament since the proclama-
tion of peace, that not only has some such combi-
nation been put on foot, but that it has been al-
ready put into active movement, and been brought,
on more than one occasion, to bear upon the policy
and conduct of the representative body. It in-
fluenced the treatment of the nomination of the
Select Committee upon Local Charges upon Ship-
jug, and carried the Motion of Mr. Cowan against
the Government on the militia question. Soine
such kind of combination—a combination of the
many Derbyites, the few Peelites, and the scat-
tered Radicals may possibly, whenever it COlll, s on,
enable Mr. Baillie to eount for his motion upon
'America, more Ayes than Noes. Houses of Com-
mons' as they have been constituted since the Re-
form Bill, have ever been full of caprice, and the
very Abbots of Unreason, nor do they seem to be
capable of attaching themselves 'o any Minister,
however able, however, successful, or however po-
pular, for more than two or three years. The Re-
formed Parliaments have ever been restless and
greedy of change, awl the excitement of party
strife and it is quite on the cards that, now that
they feel themselves safely landed out of the great
struggle in the East, they may join a Mr. Baillio,
,or a Mr. Anybody else who will constitute himself
a lever for the occasion, to have a heave at the
Statesman who has landed them, for no better rea-
son than that they want a new play and a fresh
set of actors on the stage.
We trust they will have more consideration and
more true sense of the present position of the coun-
try and its public men. We cannot conceive any-
thing mere untoward than a defeat of the Govern-
ment of Lord Palmerston in the present juncture.
It could scarcely be expected that Lord Palmer-
ston, governing through a Parliament elected
before the war, and called together under the in-
fluence of his political opponents, would yield his
position without an appeal to the country; it would
not be just to the-country that he should do so,
and a general election at this moment, with
Europe, though declaredly at peace, unsettled
from east to west and from north to south, would
be-only one degree less hazardous and harmful than
an abrupt change of Councillors and of Councils.

COMPARATIVE CABINETS.

(Prod?, tie Preis) •
No divining wand is needed to forte!l the catastrophe
4 ! • of a Cebinet beaten twice in ono week. Peace_ being
• proclaimed, the weakness of the Ministry becomes pall)-
. - 7 able to all. The progress of events has brought Go-
vernment into a position which mey be described as
status. quo ante " CsialitienS' Whoever examines the
. list of the Russell Cabiust, as it stood in 1850, will find
. that in representative tone aed official aptitude it was
con‘idera,bly superior to the Ministry over which Lord
Pelmerston presides. The country, however, was not
tatisfled with the old Whig families, and it expired of
exhau-tine. The present. Ministry has now I:11
longer the factitious,, suppio-t of a continental war to
divert scrutiny from its pretensions, and to 101 l
• the dissatisfaction with its dehilty. If Lord John
Russell, with his united "great Whig party," was not
able to aiminister affairs; how can a psteh work connec•
Lion strive against the pressure of the House of Cemmons
recovering with peace ite right of free ingtiry ?
The prs,eht Gevernment is manifestly weak. both col
lectively and individually. As a Csbinet, it represents
no policy ; as a ininistry, it has little Speol,l reline ta-
lent. Its Premier has passed the p, rind when the mind
arts adinst itself to urgent calls for vigorous effort. Mr.
happily Se.rnindsd the noble viscount of the am-
bignity of a career in whieh rnany yeees were spent, ere', r
the ;tutelage of Lords vertenl- and Castlereiteh.
• • • When I Palmer-ton was yeeng he was a dubious
• Liletral'in his speeches, and a zealous Tsry ie his v.,tii
when he is aged he .is a Preiiiier of a " rat" one
„ nection, nhich suspectB Liip of reins "an old Tern"
in
fa,!Se colours. Though fatalleetecile with his pen and
Speech, Lord aJohn Russell weS at least zealous as an
administrator ; but the conduct of L'ord Palmer.ten in
the Horne-office shows how little the ceuntry can ex-
pect from nun on education, administrative n•forms or
the amendment of the law. .Whether from the levity of
his character, or A peculiar incapacity for discerning
tieal principles; Lord P;drnersten has never shown that
nutral vision inherent in a eroataefing nature. He was
never the chosen leader of a'Parliainentary party, and
accident alone precipi.:ated • him into the Premiership.
The age demands energetic epnlication of sound princi-
pies. Force and freshness are necessary for the ft. -at-
inept of the social problems that press for solution ; but
iu so cenventiorial a character es that of Lord Palmer-
, stonit would be vain to leek for profound ideas. To
. carpet with opposites, wed to en.ll.;raco nothing heartily,
has been the inherent vice of his _flashy system of poll-
. tics, at once unstahle and uns iund.
• ' Next tothe Prernferehip the' office of Lord Chancellor.
"_is the most impOrtailt, and iii- that post the Russell
Cabinet had the superiority. Nobody ever hinted that
Lor I Cotteribana was a failure on the woolsack, and lie
- bad great weight with the. profession, while, as a law
reformer, he slid not fall Shorter of expectation than the
present- keeper of the Great Seal. In the secretariat
departments of administrationehe Russell Cabinet, weak
• as it was, again had the advantage. As to the Foreign-
office we, shall allow tie friends of the Earl of Clarendon
and of Viscount Paitherston to. decide which- was best
" • suited for the post. In both C:Ainets Sir G. Grey filled
he office of Herne Secretary, and of late there have been
some manifestations that the lively but not nowerfUl barn-
• net has not so ready an accsss to the ear of fhe house
as
•• in former times, but his efficiency has been impaired by
his want of stamina. In the Colonial-office- it
would be absurd to dwell on the decree of
intellectual difference between Es,rl_Grey and Mr. La-
• bouchere. The first had a philosophical intellect, though
spoiled by its propensity to crotchets ; but originality
•, was -never imputed to the pecsent Secretary for the
Colonies.
•
h the ffiramerilalnpatittnetit, and we are cer-
s ist !that the c g
olfea ues of Sir C. Levis will admit that
•
sir C' 'weed bad more aptitude for the post. In saying
• •that we-.do not at all corn
than
moreinentir C: NVood. e his trai, .
sng was more official than that ofhis uredecessoiStttnd his
.easly,.expeeience ae.priVata secretarito Earl Grey gave
enttensamiliarity with the. .cite-nt . . .
,eternal city," and in' Wiliest) h*But it is in t
'archaeology, that Sir C. LewiiPsihe'el dissertations on its.
d his chief. speciality.
literary
-critics, will rib,iuttthhaist
He is, Without question au eyit,. t
scholar
greatest friends, like his
he has not as much weight in, politics applaud Ll 3 learning, but • • •
a 4 ia lett .
▪ Colleges' may
dispute his budgets. esPitaa„se-eiii
Lord Minto, as a Lord Privy Seal, ;Sas not so retie • id speech as 'Lord 11-irro why ; yet we cannot forget Zat
z in the:Maynooth Commission, over which Lent
sa,„S
roVeby presided, portinns of the evidence were pram's.
safely disclosed to the Court ef .arid, though Lor
• Ilai•rowby is an incarnate cyelnpee !la iii vari,ey of know.
ledge, in a long Parliamentary career hiel.,rdship hen
never shown emineet talent fer.„affeire. Like his ac-
: • ootnpliebed father,' Lerd Harr,:w by belongs to " thy:
waverer, " the political interest in our domestic
ibi which the Premier most cultivates. Lord Mint°,
" a t leaSt; was head of the Ellietts,. and kept all the
Scotch cousins quiet, besides , pus :.casino what Sir
• James Graham would " a short cut" to IV?-
burn 'Abbey. We incline, alai, to think that Sir
•as Fi first t Lord of the Admi-
t l' cis" --Baring,
-
.4.seliemore popular with the Navy than
• Sir'Phaefelesvieja; Lord, Broeghton (Sir J. C. Hob•
' hoeseyesseno, atipeate7e • for India ; his successor,
• Mr.eVinisinAitlif,"l9--a'bigl4-11 reVeCtable. gentleman
istiofitfeyegood personitl r isionisenteS.tveenot perceiye
14144411afretreet. faculties for dealing that Ipighti
Qs ntal ISt
which requird,s in'ore*:teer4ie,n.thais.
r 'The se: given to itlershieelileeeeteu Whigs. of.out tnissee
Tql4l,lolllirioriv is manifest iiil46.itni. tern
"din ate gFr4 theventve Cabinets. Mr. TaineS
left. hisplace' at the P` X9O•
h4friiiibne Of the 4liestezill -
=l3-nerd from eatitt);
elupernumerariesNT
we tiinitot'faiget that
oftataeof Chaneellor of ifik
pfde4:of Lancaster was held (utider the Russell Minis,'
;trjo Camlshell,
_with abilities great as his ever'y
;and exifetiehS; The I.:feels-lent of the Board of Trade
• was Mr. -Laboitcherti who had important connections ;
land theOfnee 120*. oceqieds
stildeeireeSisseee• foalified its. an._ 'Lord Stanley of
electioneering ally
tLan ec o nem: oat adm
.poatmak,,,
' ter-Geuettal of the 13 ttaseil (P, 4%zif Was
.4 •

TEE CONFERENCE.

(From as illustrated London News.)

_ .
quis'ot Clauricarde ; his successor Duke of Ar-
ILE -POSITIOIV OF THE- GoVh.t-LvALEIN,T.
eyll, to whose merits as a states:nen justice alone could
be rt.ndere-I in one of his Grace's long lectures.
Ia the materials of such a Cabinet we do not see "the
men" fit for giving to the country "the measures" upon
whi3li it ha set its heart. A Whig Cabinet, with two
statesmen like Lord John Russell and Earl Grey exclud-
ed from it, is a political anomaly. The Ministry, there-
fore, is neither a party Cabinet, nor is it (what was called
in the last century)a "broad-bottomed Alministration."
It has no hold upon large and powerful. classes of the
community. The Peelites on one flank, and the politi-
cians of Manchester on the other, keep aloof from it,
and it has only lived for the last few months upon " the
chapter of accidents." Without a policy, distrusted by
its nominal followers, such an Administration cannot
stand. The lath-and-plaster edifice, with its varnished
stucco, must crumble before the first shock.

THE SUPPLE IfENTARY SITTINGS OF

For nearly forty years it was a matter of reproach
against British statesmen and the British people that
they habitually and systematically disregarded foreign
politics: The revolutions and insurrections of 1848, and
the war which ultimately grew out of them—and which
has just been brought to a sudden, if not a satisfactory,
conclusion—awakened them both somewhat rudely to a
sense of their mistake. It was a misfortune to this coun-
try,' no less than to the world, that •there was only one
or at most two English statesmen in the year 1853, who
knew the true relationships of the Continental States
towards each other, and towards this country ; or who
had studied politics, not alone with reference to the
narrow arena of the British Isles, but with reference to
the equilibrium of all Europe, and to the general in-
terests of the civilised world. Are the people and their
statesmen wider awake or better informed at the present
moment? Is the Peace of Paris—signed, but not yet
ratified—worthy of the efforts that have been made to
obtain it? And have the Plenipotentiaries, or the Po-
tentates who pulled the strings of their deliberations,
looked even five years before them ? They have done
couch for the passing day and its longings for repose ;
have they given a thought to the morrow and to the
troubles with which it is heaving ?
Let us consider for a moment what the war has settled,
and what the Peace has left unsettled, that we may be
the better enahled to judge both of the War and of the
Peace ; and of the state of affairs which has been inau-
gurated by the Col f renews. At Paris, "all has gone
oil merry as a marriage bell." The Russians have shown
themselves humble ; the Allies—England alone excepted
—have been all smiles and sunshine towards the toe ; an
ter has been born to the house of Bonaparte amid the
cengratulations of diplomacy ; the disput-s with Turkey
bas been adjusted to the apparent satisfaction of all con-
cerned ; the price of diamonds has risen twenty per cent.
in Paris, to the immense delight of the smug jewellers
of the Palais Reyal and the Boulevard des 'Wiens ;
Paris has given itself a holidgy ; Prussia has hugged
herself in the pleasant delusion that even she hes done
something towards the restoration of the P.,ace which
she prize ; arid the great Czar of all the Russias—
sharing the general satisfaction—has announced to his
people that the objects of the war are accomplished ;
that, the rights of the Christians in Turkey being secured,
he has sheathed his sword, and made terms with his
opponents upon whom he has thus imposed his own.
views and his own course of policy. England and
Austria have acquiesced in considering the war
a purely Turkish one ; Turkey, of course, had no
call to consider it anything else; and Europe,
by the intermediation of all who took part in the Cen-
f,rences, has narrowed the subject to this one issue. On
this one issue Peace has been proclaimed. Fr rose, Rus-
sia, and Prussia are happy; Turkey- is not very much
dissatisfied ; Austria is somewhat bewildered ; Great
Britain thinks she ought to be happy, but has a mis-
giving that, somehow or other, things are not so plea
sant or so right as her good friends and allies endeavour
to persuade her they are ; while gallant little Sardinia
boldly proclaims her dissatisfaction, and treats the Peace
as of little value and of problematical permanency.
Perhaps Lord .Palmerston and Lord Clarendon share the
opinions of Count Cavour in this matter ; but on this
point the public has no means of judging. All that it
knows is the Conferences are yet sitting, and that the
postscript of their deliberations, like that of a lady's
letter, may perhaps turn out to be more important than
the body of their note.
To heal a quarrel is a grand and a beneficent work ;
but to patch up a difference or a dispute for a day, with-
out heeding whether it may break out with increased
virulence to-morrow or the day after, is a work that
merits little praise, either for its wisdom or its benevo-
lence. We do not assert that the Peace which has just
been concluded is unsatisfactory, fur as yet we do not
know its terms. The French and the British Govern-
ments have both proclaimed it to be honourable to all
parties and humiliating to none ; and the public must
await the authoritative and official promulgation of the
treaty before it can deliver its verdict upon the contract
to which it has become a party. Yet it is impossible to
deny that there is an uneasy feeling in the public mind
of this country;—that the pacification is considered to
be too sudden and premature to augur a long continu-
ance --that having had it in our power to clothe tee
Angel of Peace with Lew garments, white and unsul-
lied, we have dressed her up in rigs and patches ;
that we have put out a fire in the forecastle, and taker,
no heed of the leak in the hold ;—that we have been so
anxious to bestow mercy and display generosity to a de-
feated foe, that we have forgotten or neglected to do jus.
tele to our friends—that we have driven the robher from
the door of Turkey, but have refused to take him int
custody; aid that in aeceptin,g Sardinia for an ally ee,
have tacitly accepted responsibi:ities towards that
Power, and towerlis tee Italy of which she is the hope •
and the representative, which we have failed t
ex,eot wit's empty pro mace and idle sympathies. This
Instinctive feeling on the part of the public may be right
or it may be wrong ; but it would be foolish to deny
that it exists, or that it will continue to exist, until the
tongues of our diplomatist, and Aatesmen are un!oos-
ened, and the true state of the case made patent to the
wit.Oe world.

Whi:st continuing to hips that the Peace m-,y de-
serve ad the favour with which the Frenel have greeted
we cannot shut our eyes w_aia-t the deep signifi-
, caeca of the remonstrances which Sardinia has made en
the affairs of Italy ; and on the unexoec,ed complica-
tions which may thence result in the international rela•
tions of those who were lately allies or toe,. • France,
fir Naueleonic purpose,, may have views with regard
to Ruins with which Protestant England may pcs.itlYy
eynipathise, and against which Greek Russia may have
nothing to allege ; but against which Austria nety fee:
herseq bound to prote,t, even if her protest thou d take
the term of Lay th itiand men at Ancona. The desigis
of Sardinia upon Limberly and Venice, while highly
agreeable to the It &ails in those provinces and else-
;there, may perhaps not be in any de4ree disagreeable
to the Emperor of Russia, who can have no great
amount of good towards his good friend Francis Just-ph.
Great Britain may in like manner be well disposed to
punish King Boulha ; but if it be a portion of his pun-
ishment, as it must, if this country have anything to
do with it, to insist upon some degree of constitu
tional freedom for the unhappy Sicilians, who de-
serve it ; and for the equally ill-governed but less
unhappy Neapolitans, who seem to have no great desire
for freedom—we do not well see bow the Emperor of the
French can be a party to the chastisement. We say
nothing of Poland, Hungary, or Germany. In flay
alone there are ample materials for the disqu',ettide of all
Europe, even though the Peace of Paris may, as regards
Turkey, be all that the friends of Turkey can desire.
It is a mistake to suppose that the War was merely a
Turkish one ; and that no other or higher interests were
involved in it than those of the Ottoman. Empire. It
is possible that all these things have been con-idered ;
and that at the supplementary sittings of the Conferences,
which are likely to continuo for several days, the affairs
both of the Scandinavian and the Italian peninsulas are
receiving the earnest attention which they merit, if the
Peace is to be as stable as it is said to he honourable.
In the mean time let it be noted, as a sign how the wind
blows, that, in proportion as Russia -shows herself in•
clined to curry favpur with France, Austria endeavours
to attach herself more strongly to Great Britain. It is
well no doubt to hello when there- is occasion for re-
joicing, but the British people in this case are not likely
to hollo very loudly till they are quite certain that they
are out of the wood."