The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-15 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 15, 1850.

The Italian question was last night ventilated
in both Houses of Parli anent. In the Peers by
the veteran Lord LYNDHURST—in the Commons
by Lord JOHN RUSSELL. No divisio❑ was taker
in either case. The sole object was to direct
public attention to the existing state of affairs,
and to elicit as much inform%tion respecting th*
course about to be pursued as the Government
might feel disposed to afford. That was accom-
plished, and adthoug.there was no party conflict
no trial of strength that could damage the Admi-
nistration, there were few evenings during the
session applied to better purposes. It is scarcely
necessary to say that Lord LYXDHURST main-
tained his well-established reputation—that he
made a lucid statement, which placed the actual
facts clearly and distinctly before the nation,
and made a powerful appeal to the sympathies of
the People, ou behalf of the victims of misgovern-
ment and injustice, in its most oppressive forms.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, too, went far to retrieve his
former character. Could we forget the deplorable
break down at Vienna, and the striking contrast
between his previous " saying" and his then
doings, wo might anticipate great things from one
who could utter such " prave ords." But,
unfortunately, that weakness can never be for-
gotten. Those who witnessed the renowned
"Ancient" swallowing his leek at the dictation

of FLNIILLEN, could scarcely be expected to repose

any great reliance on his future declarations.
L.• Confidence once forfeited cannot easily be regained;

and Lord 'I-011N having yielded to Austria on
matters of vital importance, could not be ex
pected again to display the inflexible resolution
required on the part of ono to whose charge the
honour and interest of Great Britain might bt•
confided.

Whatever may be said of the gross misgovern-
ment in the States of the Church—in Naples,
in Tuscany, in Parma, or Modena— there
can be no doubt that Austria is the party chiefly
responsible for all the evils. Were it not for her
military occupation the soi disant Governments
would be compelled to conciliate their subjects ;
to endeavour to rule by love rather than by fear.
But strong in the hope of Austrian support,
knowing that the German bayonets are at hand
to suppress any emeute, they laugh to scorn the
remonstrances that are tendered, and like the
"PHARAOH'S" of old harden their hearts against
every warning of impending danger. It is from an
implicit faith in Austrian support that King
Rate), has dared to treat the communications of
the French and English Governments with con-
tumely—that he has the audacity to treat so
grave a subject with such trifling, such mockery,
such insul t It is that which induces him to
repudiate the interference of England, and al-
though more amenable to the operations of a
Maritime Power than any other potentate that
could be named, to brave our authority, and
listen to our reclamations with supercilious
scorn. Ile does this because he vainly imagines
that any insurrectionary movement on the part of
his subjects will be suppressed by the German
troops, and that under the prevailing German
influences England will not venture on any direct
demonstration that may involve her in difficul-
ties with the Power that keeps Saxc-Coburg under
her thumb, being enabled to elevate it to a
kingdom or keep it in its present subordinate
condition.

In the Legations, too, as in Parma, Martial
_taw is maintained, the " most effective, most
fatal instrument of tyrants." Lord LYNDHURST
has well described its baleful operation. The

manner in which respectable citizens are

Our soldiers ought to be very grateful. A
Prince of the Blood is really, after all, it appears,
to take their case in hand as the newly-appointed
Commander-in-Chief. Not, it is true, H.R.H.
the Prince CONSORT, but—next door to him—
H.R.H. the Duke of CAMBRIDGE. The Court
whisper to which we alluded yesterday had ac-
tually about it the rather unusual merit of
veracity. It has been resolved, somewhat tardily,
in compliance with the long cherished wish of one
very near to the Throne, that the chief post at
the Horse Guards shall, in spite of everything
snd everybody in any way opposed to the design,
ho occupied by none less exalted than a Royal
Highness. Wherefore the Lsrd Viscount HAR-
DINGE is succeeded at once by H.R.H. the Duke
of CAMBRIDGE. It is rather remarkable, we can-
not but think, that the Government organ, in the
very act of announcing this resolute and splendid
Court appointment should take the opportunity
of acknowledging, as explicitly as possible, the
immense evil at head-quarters under which our
military system has, during the last four or five
years, suffered so severely—the vast and perilous
evil of which we ourselves have so repeatedly
►nd openly complained. Speaking of " the Pa-
tronage Department " at the Horse Guards, the
Times of to-day confesses bluntly, in these very
plain terms—" the Commander-in-Chief is gene-
rally regarded, and we believe justly, as THE ORGAN
OF THE COURT." A wonderfully candid avowal
certainly, to come to us at length from the great
Ministerial journal upon the very morrow of my
Lord HARDINGE'S resignation ! Precisely the
identical thing we have been all along maintain-
ing—what we reiterated only last evening,
pointedly enough we conjecture, when we spoke
of the late F. M. Commanding-in-Chief
as H.R.H.'s Military Secretary. But Why, it
may be asked in wonder, at such singular temerity
on the part of our morninge ontemporary—Why
loes the Times venture to couple this hardy con-
fession with the actual announcement of the
nomination of the Duke of CAMBRIDGE to the
supreme military post of Commander-in Chief ?
The reason becomes ridiculously enough apparent
but a few sentences afterwards ! When it posi-
-ively appears that the othsial organ of the Go-
sernment, among the leading morning newspapers,
►cknowledges thus clearly the hitherto disputed
eetention (virtually) of all patronage by the Prince
CONSORT during the period of Lord Hartiorsostes
tominal sway at the Horse Guards—solely to the
and, that it may be flagitiously insisted
upon immediately afterwards, that what
vas notorious in the instance of Viscount
FIARDINGE, is impossible in that of the Duke of
CAMBRIDGE ! " If," argues the Times upon
this point, " the Commander-in-Chief is to be
left in possession of patronage—[that is to say, in-
itead of waiving that highest and most coveted
)f all his privileges in favour of the new-born
Minister of War, as some have suggested] —ths
mmander-in-Chief ought to exercise that patronage
himself, according to the promptings of his owe
judgment, and not under the direction of auy
ittperior power. Now," continues our contempo-
rary, " this is exactly what his high rank and
independent position enables the Duke of CAM-
BRIDGE to do," &a—adding, "The wishes of the
Court, however difficult it rasy be for an
n-divary subject to resist them, will not be
accepted as an excuse"—and so forth ! Was
ever anything more preposterous than this ?
Was here ever to more flagrant non sequitur ?
So, then—according to the Times the influence
of the Court is to be regarded (when it is all
over !) with jealousy in reference to a mere
Cairtier like Lord HARDINGE, but is to be viewe I
with the most confident and implicit reliance
that no harm can by possibility come of it, when
applied to an integral portion of that very Court
itself, in the person of H.R.H. the Duke of CAM
BRIDGE ! You may expect a man to have some
influence with his valet de chambre, but none at
all—("Oh, no, certainly not, not by no means," as
once upon a time said the Artful Dodger —abso-
lutely none at all with his uncle, or his nephew,
or his cousin, or his brother-in-law. This is
literally, and without any distortion of it, the
reasoning of the great daily organ of the present
Government. The Duke of CAMBRIDGE is the
Cousin of Prince ALBERT, and, therefore, there
cannot possibly, we are told, be any fear at all of
his Royal Highness the Duke falling " under the
direction of any superior power." Tue danger
is in A Court►er, don't you see—not in A Cousin !
And yet, strangely enough, it so happens that
both of these unfortunate names have somehow
got a taint upon them from their association with
the abstract idea, and alas ! wa very much fear
also the practical experience of subserviency !
Cozening, for that matter, is not a jot less of a
dictionary-word than Nepotism ! And so -it
comes to pass quite comprehensibly to all the
readers of SHAKSPERE, when they note Sir
Huarr EVAN'S, in so many words,
warning Mine Host of the Garter—" there is
three couzin-germans that has cozened all the
hosts of Readings, of Maidenhead, of Colebrook,
of horses, and money." Cousin-Germans, quotha!
Troth, but they know a vast deal, do these cousin•
germans about that same cunning verb, of cozsn-
ing ! Yet the Ministerial organ bids every one
interested in the well-being of the Horse Guards
beware of Courtiers, but heed not at all the sup-
positious dangers arising in any way from the
purely hypothetical and monstrously improbable
chance of any influence being employed either
for good or for e►il in regard to mere
Couzin-Germans ! For ouraelves, plainly and

bluntly, then at once we cannot feel this supreme