The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-27 00:00:00

in a strain which evoked the cheers of both sides
of the House, simply by telling the truth. Now
we forewarned the Government months ago to be
on their guard, for there was " evil betiding "
in the affairs of Italy. The grand " idea"
was merely a mistake, but it had its meaning.
There was duplicity combined with ambition from
the outset. The hint given to Baron HUBNER
proceeded from a motive best known to the Impe-
rial mind at the time. That hint has been acted
on, and served only as the precursor to others.
People may now ask why has the Emperor
NAAOLEON constructed such a menacing fleet ?
Why, but to back up his pretensions—and they
are many, by reference to the immensity of his
armaments. If his demands be refused—however
arrogant they be—he makes a sign, and the nations
are startled at his frown. Prudence shrinks
from the assertion even of just rights and national
respect. The absorption of Savoy and Nice, and
the neutral provinces bordering on Switzerland,
are but the beginning of the move—the march to
the Rhine will follow in due course, and the nations
will stare. Aye, they must move too; but they
will be too late if they do not take time by the
forelock, for the French are ever ready for a rush,
in the hope of a successful surprise.
That our Government have been taken in is now
clear. They believed, in a too frank spirit, the
professions of NAPOLEON, while his Ministers
were beguiling k them with their eyes open.
And now that they feel the sting of the
deception they speak out in the anguish
of their spirit. Lord JOIIN RUSSELL said :
Sir, my opinion as I declared it in July and Janu-
ary I have no objection now to repeat—that such
an act as the annexation of Savoy is one that will
lead a nation so warlike as the French to call upon
its Government from time to time to commit other
acts of aggression, and therefore, I do feel
that, however we may wish to live on the
most friendly terms with the French Govern-
ment—and certainly I do wish to live on the most
friendly terms with that Government—we ought
not to keep ourselves apart from the other nations
of Europe, but that, when future questions may
arise—as future questions may arise—we should bo
ready to act with others and to declare, always in
the most moderate and friendly terms, but still
firmly, that the settlement of Europe, the peace of
Europe, is a matter dear to this country, and that
settlement and that peace cannot be assured if it
is liable to perpetual interruption, to con•
stant fears, to doubts and rumours with respect
to the annexation of this one country, or the
union and connection of that other—but that the
Powers of Europe, if they wish to maintain that
peace, must respect each other's rights, must respect
each other's limits, and, above all, restore and not
disturb that commercial confidence which is the re-
sult of peace, which tends to peace, and which
ultimately forms the happiness of nations.
And to this complexion have we come at
last! What will be the fate of the Treaty ?
—will it be torn to rags, too, like all our
ill-founded hopes on and belief in the sayings of the
"great" man ? The nations of Europe, or as they
are termed, the great Powers, hang aloof from va-
rious motives best known to themselves ; each
is endeavouring to overreach the other ; but
in the end we suspect that a sense of
mutual danger will unite them in a common
cause. It is impossible that they can feel any
degree of safety while a firebrand is
ever on the alert ; and no precaution can be trusted
to until that torch of danger be utterly extinguished.

Indian finance has now become a serious matter

to England. Not long ago there were reasonable
fears that we might be called on to nay a very heavy
bill for our great Eastern Empire, and that the
monument to the memory of CLIVE might be the
addition of a hundred millions to our national
debt. And though most of our leading men
said, with bated breath, that India must bear
her own burdens, they seemed to shrink from
the assertion that, in the last resort, England
must not be the reliance of those who held property
in the Indian debt. The most potent argument
against such a result was that the stock-holders had
obtained a rate of interest they could never have
asked had the security been English. The one
thing wanting, however, to full satisfaction—the
proof that commercially it were not better for us to
get rid of India at once,—..was just what Mr. WIL-
SON has done, to repudiate unconditionally
an Imperial guarantee for the Indian debt
confidence
—to look the annual deficit boldly in the
ee a scheme of
finance
Indian Exchequer.
face,
whichencand,t shouldhen,tol aydow i
s an a
entire
create
Mr. WILSON has not p
before
quite noticiug particulars, is enough to show that
he has succeeded. Not a keener, more jea-
lous set of money-lenders exists on the face
of the earth than those of our Indian Em-
pire. Till lately the Indian Government
could hardly obtain money from them on any
terms. The rate of interest commanded no atten-
tion, for the financial skill of the Government itself
was distrusted; but no sooner had Mr. WILSON
offered his loan, and on terms so low, too, for India,
than it was swallowed up in a couple of hours, and
before the day was out was commanding a hand-
some premium ! What would not Austria give for
a JAMES WILSON ! His loan must be regarded as
one of the greatest trium ?hs of a modern finan-
cier. To us, on this side the water, it is the
best proof we can have that Mr. WILSON'S whole
scheme will work. Some of his taxes will be, it is
said, not easy to collect, but Mr. w ILSON'S motto
is, that it is the business of public servants to con-
quer difficulties ; and, he has this evidence, that
they can be conquered—the men who thoroughly
know their countrymen from whom those taxes ai e