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

WEYMOUTH PETITION.

Mr. EGERTON announced that the committee on this
petition were traanimausly 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 It. PEEL differed from the last speaker, end in orde:
to enable him to address hon. members, ho would move the
adjournment of the' houie. Rumours were afloat which.
he feared, were only too well founded on truth, and he
thought_ the'piesent time was the best to enter on the con•
sideration of the' 'subject. He thought Ministers should
themselves of the earliest opportunity of placing their
conduct in a clear and intelligible light 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 of hon.
membors. (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 Gdvernment was
praiseworthy or the reverse.
Mr. KINGLAKE 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 f'or the adjournment of the house was then
negatived.

THE HALFPENNY STAMP.
Mr. DAWSON asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer
whether ho was prepared to consider the proptiety 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 shoeld 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 ho
received a communication from Paris, which was very short
and pithy, mid was in these words : "Savoy and Nice are
about to be annexed by universal suffin." 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 Petrie 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 sitnilarapplication. Oneof these pretences
was that the people of Savoy spoke the French language.
He asked whether that was a sound principle to set up; for
if they were asked to consent to this annexation on the
around of sympathy, he thought the people of Savoy and
Nice themselves had given the most distinct answer to that
preeprosition, andhad proclaimed in the strongest expressions
t_hari..innitention of remaining faithful to the sovereign of
most stringent
The objections against annexation were of the
north oaagent kind ; in the first place a portion of the
.sce.
not, In
that portion which consisted of Chablais,
part Of the kingdom the full and complete sense of the term, a
belonged to 4.lotzne of Sardinia ; those districts naturally
ud, and the great Powers had by
treaty guaranteed this portion of the North of Savoy with
the same strictness asl
sh,:..a guaranteed to Europe the
integrity and neutrality of
Savoy became a portion of the empire If this portion of
.of France, what was
become of the guarantee of neienutheirraelbt,,tly ? If France had
to
row department, which was,
1001,rtment of Mont Blanc, would spoken of as
sllieevnedi
otthhfeiist:i
0.
march troops across it instead of not avail
by, c;rcuitous route. It was quite clear that forg
shoal
were a
round
put-pose 4 whatever, if this portion of Savoy
to France, the security which Europe had endeavoured annexedto
obtain in the neutra,l itr of Switzerland, would be frustrated.
If there be one thing s,lich more than anotherprevents that
part of the world being desolated by conquest, it is that
district being of a mountainous character. Our fathers so
engaged in the most solemn manner
valued it that they
for 'the neutrality of Switzerland, and he was pleased to
hear the noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs tell the
;louse in that distinct and deci language of which he
h a waste, that by sive
thane treaties of 1815
s.
v `4i SOX