The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-28 00:00:00

FRANCE AND SARDINIX,

The 'AtArgttiA of N0.P..,74AN13Y rose to put a question to
-1.1.1 ila President of thy'. Council with regard to
~oex-uiou of the Duchy of Savoy and the

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tannty ot Nice by Sardinia to France. When he gave no-
tic-0 o:* hie qa,stion on the previous evening, he stated it
nc't Li, intention to go into details on the subject, or
; tfects of the proposed arrangement, in viola-
tion of it treaty England and the other powers of
turope wero t)antid to maintain. But though he still ad-
borel to trji it he on that occasion, ho thought it duo to
blots ,1f to ,teto that the public mind of Europe was so in-
tent upou the chancre. that he felt bound to ask his noble
tri.toid what was the actual state at nresent of the negotia-
ti,o! ; ? lit g:ving that notice he felt he was departing from
iPq wituti custom, and he would not have done so it the
tiOVer-.ment acre 1 as they formerly did, by giving in the
riot i Speech ev,ry information. During late years we
SJUI s ores-ion of surprises, affecting the national re-
lations ald the policy of this country. 'Phis question had
been !•:•,.,:e 1 i i newapltper
.para.zraphs an l anonymous
p a. "rhe sta*ment hest appeared in two newspapers
ii. I..w:s q iestion had artived at such a pint th,.t
or an ex planaiion must be given. A statement
d in twm of the habitual, though not official
of the Imperial Government, ; it was first inserted iii
1 ;it-Icy-wards in La Pattie, an 4 in the Inclepen-
a piper tke largest circulation of any paper
'1 I.ey would find the first was the most
ergan.s, while the latter was blamed fur
cs in too great a hurry, but the statements :t
re generally found to lie pretty near the
stant la- stated that t waa th-3.l:tterttiosa

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of the lempeeor strictly to sad on
the 2'2d of January there appeared a peregseph pointing di-
rectly to the bur-pose:l snnexetien. The noble marquis, in
a voice which was nut unfrequent'y inaudible, proceeded
to quote scraps from French newspapers. From the
journal lest teen' o :ed he Tine I the expression
that "it was no mere peseible to mains Savoy Italian
than to eurprese the he" New he thought it would
puzzle, the writer to show hrnv Sevoy could be called French.
How could it be sa it t I as Savoy was lees Itelien now than
it had been for many ernituries past ? The state neat was, in
fact, merely ad captvidam. The writer went on to say that
" it was evident the d iy was drawing nigh when the super-
structure raised by diploneniets roust disappear before the
power of logic and the course of events." As to what had
been written about the principle or doctrine of nationality he
had apprehensions far beyond the mere annexation of Savoy
or Nice to France. 'i'liere were contingent dangers—dangers
attending the eetehlishment of a doctrine which threatened
almost every Ear e)-)en State---leneers which we mast not
and could net overlook. Could it be for oneraornent imagined
that England had no interest in the assertion of such a doe-
trine? Why, let us look at our own possessions, scattered
over the face of the globe, and then see how far we could
recognise the principle of nationality. How could England
stand this test? How about the Mediterranean and the
lonian Islands ? (Hear.) What of Gibraltar, or India, oz
our dependencies in another hemisphere? Why, if such
were to be admitted as a valid ground there would not be a
single country in Europe the foundation of whose title would
not be shaken. Such a doctrine would be quite subversive
of those tree ties and of that order and regularity which 40
years' peace hod brought about. Russia, indeed, prided her-
self upon her net loeality. Now, as regarded Poland—did he
think they could collect the scatterer remnants of a national
existence'? The restoration of Poland to nationality would
almost remind one of Mr. Canning's expression regarding
the repeal of the legislative union :—" Repeal the union—
restore ahe t neley." Well, then, as to Prussia and this
elae;-, Inc .‘f nationality—see how it worked from Posen to
Aix-la-'. b.lpelle Again, witness its application to Austria.
And-here he must say that he looked upon the stability of
Allßtria es one of the main elements of European security •
and he hepel and believed that, es regarded Hu-notarial;
.the
donate )11:4, the loyalty of the itu‘ngarian people was not yet
shaken. The noble marquis went on to quote from the
newspaper which eulegised the disinterested motives of
France. and urged the desirableness and ex" eliency cf an-
nexing the county of Nice, for which the writer said the
reasons were mere satisfactory and conclusive than even in
- the case of Savoy. The two die not, in fact, stand upon
the seme footing; for the truth was that Nice was far
more
Italian then even Piedmont itself. Nor could he at all per-
ceive any reason there existed for confounding Nice with
Savoy. . The noble marquis next melted from the IndeP e 7
dance Belfp, which stated that England was more desirous
of extend ire,- Piedmont to the Marshes, rather than Central
Italy, and that the treaty of commerce which England was
about to conclude with France would incline the former to
back up the policy of the latter, induce England to main-
tain strict neutrality, and with the consent of the cabinet of
Turin permit France to enlarge her frontier. ,Now, it was
not pleasant for an Englishman to read that the British
Government was about to neglect high considerations of
policy, and to overlook the welfare of Europe merely in
order to benefit and promote her material interests. (Hear.)
And even as regarded this much boasted of commercial
treaty, it Right after all turn out that
we" had g.,,t the worst
of the bargain ; therefore, he was anxious to know what in-
form nini-his noble friend could give him upon the subject.
• Ho would not allow himself for a moment to suppose that
the answer of his noble friend would be that he knew no-
thing of the subject, for it was very evident that public at
tention on the continent, and more especially in France, had
looked upon the matter with deep interest, and ho could see
no reason why our Government could not obtain informa-
- ten from an ally with whom we had each close and inti-
mate relations. During the administration of any of the
nine foreign minis. ens who presided at tile French Foreign-
office during the last six years he ventured to say, that had
- he, as a British minister, taken dig paragraphs in question
to the Foreign-office and asked if there was any founda-
tion for them, he would have received a satisfactory and
a categorical answer. ,lie had experienced this him-
self upon the Swiss question, towards the close of the
rein). of Louis Philippe. In 1848, M. De Lamartine said
that' the people of Savoy were averse to annexation with
France , but now it was .said in Paris that the Savoyards
were unanimously in favour of the annexation. It would be
estrange indeed_ it' such a change could, in so short a time,
Come over a people who were of so opposite an opinion so
recently,
piaeed unlie%
A. race, too, who had so long lived under thecon-
stitutionala Savoy—(hear, hear)—now to desire to
ehe obtained under the sway of a despotic Government. Unless
Q:
Ile
no me answer from Governement he
would, in
mber of the Opposition thought fit to
bring forward
feel it to be his
duty
pot°rt do
so, regarding as he did the ques-
noble marquis concludenee to the security of Europe. The
minisutteor.mlation on the state of the nego-
they had received any I`_.?,y asking the Government whether
tiations which the
journals of Paris said existed
between France anent isle
for the annexation of the
the Emperor of the French.
Duchy of Savoy and the county of Nice to the dominions of
Earl GRANVILLE expressed his
regret that lie had
quite misconceived the intention of the
noble marquis, for
he had been of opinion that it was to b°
put to the, Government, which questiona question
Government, was prepared to answer..
Whatever that the aoble marquis meant to graolnhetaoda uvVideetya
of questions on foreign affairs calculated to
that house. He must own he was not prepared,. dniesebtawtti?thine
standing the interesting speech of the noble marqu
into a discussion upon the diplomacy, the policy, the' i o,ugor
naliere, the geography, and the literature of Europe. "‘en);
could he be expected to canvass those various personal
cases of autobiography which the noble marquis had
favoured their lordships with. (A laugh.) To the hypothe-
tical queries of the noble marquis upon statements in certain
foreign newspapers it was not necessoiry to advert at length,
'because he declined to give any answer whatever to them.
(Hear.) IVhat he was prepared to do was to give a direct
answee te the (levet ion on the paper, and that answer was,
• nee , ii 0•• 'motion of

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