The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-29 00:00:00

WEYMOUTH PETITION.

Mr. EGERTON announced that the committee on this
petition were rianimously of opinion that Mr. R. Bruce
and Viscount Raynham were duly elected.

SAVOY AND NICE.
Mr. M. MILNES said that he hoped the' hon. member
for Bridgwater (Mr. Kinglake) would postpone the motion
of which he had given notice relative to the proposal of the
annexation of Savoy and Nice. The papers necessary for
properly discussing the subject had not yet been laid on the
table, and therefore hon. members were not in a position to
enter on the consideration of the question. (Hear, hear.)
Sir R. PEEL differed from the last speaker, and in °rile:
to enable him to address hon. members, he would move the
adjournment of the house. Rumours were afloat which,
he feared, were only too well found I on truth, and he
thought the present time was the best to enter on the con•
sideration of the subject. He thought Min;sters should
avail themselves of the earliest opportunity of placing their
conduct in a clear and intelligible'"ht before the house and
the country. If the Government proved that they had
acted in reference to this matter in a proper and straight-
forward manner, they would receive the support ot hon.
membllrs. (Hear, hear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL said that the papers which he would
shortly lay on the table would place the house in a better
position than they were at present to discuss the subject
fully and fairly. (Hear, hear.) They would also be better
able to judge whether the conduct of the Government was
praisewcrthv or the reverse.
Mr. KIgGLAKE said that it was not his intention by
his motion to censure her Majesty's Government, because
it would be unfair to do so without the papers alluded to by
the noble lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He con-
sidered that time was of vital moment in regard to this
question, and therefore he purposed to press his motion.
The motion for the adjournment of the house was then
negatived. . _

THE HALFPENNY STAMP.
Mr. DAWSON asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer
whether he was prepared to consider the propriety of com-
mencing the scale for the transmission of printed matter at
a halfpenny stamp for the first two ounces in weight ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
he would withhold any statement on the subject at present.
SAVOY AND NICE.
Mr. KINGLAKE then rose to move for copies of the
correspondence which had taken place between her Majesty's
`Government and the Governments of the Emperor of the
French and the King of Sardinia, in respect to the proposal
for annexing Savoy and Nice to the Empire of France. The
hon. gentleman said he was now about to call the attention
of the house to the rumoured annexation of Savoy and Nice
to France, and he should endeavour to confine himself
strictly to the matter in hand, not because there were not
neighbouring topics of great interest and importance, but
because he believed that by so limiting himself he should
do the best to obtain that which was the main object of his
motion, namely, such an expression of opinion on the part
of that house as would show that they were almost, if not
entirely, unanimous in their views upon this question.
(Hear, hear.) The conjunction in which those two pro-
vinces were placed was so strange that he should find it
difficult to discover any parallel for it. Here were two
countries side by side, and so far as we know the sovereigns
of both living upon terms of amity and friendship. They
were comrades in the late war, and he was not aware of any
grounds upon which one would be disposed to despoil the
other of his territory. • And yet suddenly it became known
or believed that a portion of the provinces of Sardinia was
by some process or other to be transferred to the territory
of the Emperor of France. In the autumn of last year he
received a communication from Paris, which was very short
and pithy, and was in these words : " Savoy and Nice are
about to be annexed by universal suffrage." The rumour
went on and gained strength, and in the early part of this
year an impression that those provinces were to be severed
from the territory of Sardinia became so general that the
loyal subjects both of Savoy and Nice met in their respec-
tive states in large numbers, and publicly declared their un-
altered loyalty to the ancient House of Savoy. These
demonstrations soon called forth some angry denuncia-
tions from that portion of the Parisian press which was
supposed to express the views generally of the Impe,
rial Government. The Pat?* and the Constitutionnel
were foremost in this matter. The pretences for this annex-
ation were so strange that if for a moment they were enter
tamed it would be difficult to say to what country they
Would not have a similarapplication. One of these pretences
Ile asked
atakehatdthe people- of Savoy spoke the French language.
if they were askedwheter that was a sound principle to set up ; for
to consent to this annexation on the
ground of Byre
Nice themselves he thought the people of Savoy and
proposition, and
hanad given the most distinct answer to that
remaining
in the strongest expressions
their intention of
objections
faithful to the sovereign of
Sardinia. The
;againsth annexation were of the
most stringent kind in
north of Savoy, that portione\ firstlneh place a portion of the
consisted of Chablais,
me not, In the full and completev the term, a
part of the kingdom of Sardiniatiesseer rstorifet naturally-
,belanged to Switzerland, and t'he great Powers hail by
treaty guaranteed this portion of the North
the same strictness as they had guaranteed to Eauvrooyptltomn'tihtohef
integrity and neutrality of Switzerland. If this
Savoy became a portion of the empire of Prang 1.3,Z WCs
to become of the guarantee of neutrality ? It' France‘ had
this new department, which was, ho believed, spoken of a 3
the department of Mont Blanc, would she not avail hetrserl!,
of it to march troops across it instead of briogipg he
round by a circuitous route. It was quite clear that for all
purposes whatever, if this portion of Savoy were annexed
to France, the security which Europe had endeavoured to
obtain in the neutrality of Switzerland, would be frustrated.
If there be one thing which more than anotherprevents that
p art of the world being desolated by conquest, it is that
dh 'trict being of a mountainous character. Our fathers so
r.s.l.aed it that they engaged in the most solemn manner
for tL e neutrality of Switzerland; and he was pleased to
hear the noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs tell the
house t that distinct and decisive language of which e
N vta iiivh a master, that by the treaties of 181h5