The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-06 00:00:00

if NAPOLEON 111. will but take yet more courage—
extend the freedom of opinion in his Legislative
Chambers, and gradually liberate the mind of
France from the incubus which has so long oser-
shadowed the land, he will do more to perpetuate
his own fame and secure his dynasty than all the
battles that were ever fought either by his great
uncle or by himself.

We copy the following from the intelligent Paris
correspondent of the Times :

" The Moniteur announces the retirement of M.
WALEWSKI from the Foreign Department, which
was anticipated in my letters for the last two days.
As I have already observed, his position, owing to
his excessive Austrian tendencies, had become un-
tenable; and his persistence in demanding the dis-
avowal of the brochure, 'Le Pape et le Congres,'
made it impossible for him to be kept any
longer. M. WALEWSKI, it is said, intends to
travel, now that he has ample time at his dis-
posal. Although it is natural that he should
regret the sweets of office, yet no one has such
little right to complain as this wonderfully
fortunate person. He quits office loaded with
marks of his SOVEREIGN'S favour, a fine estate at
Etielles, another in the Landes, stars and crosses
from, I believe, every Government of continental
Europe, as well as his own ; and, to break his fall,
a decree in this day's Moniteur, doubtless meant
expressly for him, ordains that henceforth the
members of the Privy Council shall receive a salary
of 100,000 fr. a year (X 4,000). It is, to be sure,
added, that the members of the Privy Council
who exercise functions paid by the State, or by the
Civil List, shall have no right to this allowance.
M. WALEWSRI is a Senator, and receives the salary
(30,000 f.) attached to the office, and one would sup-
pose that of Privy Councillor is incompatible. This
cumulative gain, however, is explained away; the
Senator, it seems, is merely a dignity and not afunc-
tion, and it is the dignity and not the function that
is paid. Whoever quarrels with this distinction,
M. WALEWSKI is not the man. 30,000 f., 100,000 f.,
yearly, two estates—one in the centre, the other in
the south of France—a very solar system of decora-
tions—such are the prizes, I dare say not above his
merits, which this unfortunate individual has
borne off. He must be unreasonable, indeed, if
they do not console him for not presiding at the
expected Congress. Who would not serve his
country, adopted or native, at such a price ? The
retirement of M. WALEWSKI was not decided, it
appears, till seven o'clock last evening. M. TllOl5-
VENEL, his successor, leaves Constantinople on the
ith or Bth. M. DE PERSIGNY leaves Paris for
London to-night."

By little and little we shall hear the views of
all our public men in regard to that English Na-
tional Guard, our now fast multiplying corps of
Rifle Volunteers. Two more notabilities have now
spoken out again very recently and very effectively
—one of the thorough-going Independent members
of the House of Commons, and one of those
High Mightinesses, the members of her MAJESTY'S
Government. The gallant Admiral, the
member for Southwark, has put his shoulder
to the wheel like a true blue tar as he
is—the occasion selected for this end by Sir
CHARLES NAPIER, being a meeting on Wednesday
last down at Lowestoft. His Grace the Duke of
NEWCASTLE—Ministerial ruler of our vast Colonial
Empire—spoke, too, on Wednesday " right out" in
his own part of the country—namely, ii North
Notts, addressing his remarks (upon this matter
of vital interest to us all), to the Worksop Rifles,
or, as the Duke would have them termed, with a
happy traditional reference to one of the old
world glories of romance in those forest regions,
the Robin Hood Rifle Volunteers !

Speaking throughout directly to the purpose, and
to a very congenial auditory, his Grace may be
said, by the very manner in which he treated
the theme, to have fairly put the men
of Worksop on their mettle. Nothing could
well have been more judicious or more felici-
tous than the contrast drawn between the relative
attractions of these Rifle Corps for the more
densely peopled town and manufacturing districts
and of the old Yeomanry Corps for the rural districts,
the wide, green country side, with its sparsely
scattered population. " The movement," said his
grace (this movement of the Rifle Corps), " was
not well suited to thinly-scattered populations, and
it was difficult for farmers living down on the banks
of the Trent to meet together at a certain appointed
place for drill without great inconvenience." For,
the Duke added, " Where persons had to travel
four, five, six, or seven miles to drill, and return
the same distance, the movement could not be kept
up." Therefore, said his grace, " The yeomanry
was best suited for farmers, because, possessing
good horses, they could meet with that body, and
find no inconvenience in attending duty eight days
in the year." Now follows the deduction of the
Colonial Secretary—particularly addressed by his
grace on Wednes3ay to the gallant young pa-
triots of North Nottinghamshire. "But," said
the Duke of NEWCASTLE, " in such towns as Ret-
ford, Worksop, Southwell, Mansfield, and Newark,
the case was different. In each of these towns one,
and in the larger towns two companies, could easily
be raised, the drill could be properly attended and
the spirit kept up." And, further observed the
Colonial Secretary, " by taking this step they would
not only be doing patriotic service to the country,
but they would benefit themselves, and at the same
time be improving their social position." Putting
the matter thus plainly before the able-bodied male
adult population of England, is at once tempting
and almost, one might say, shaming each man
amongst them into a cordial co-operation !

Supposing every one who could and ought
to respond to this kind of appeal, did actually
respond to it, should we find any difficulty, think
you, in increasing the aggregate of our Rifle
Volunteers from their probably proximate number
at present of some fifty thousand, to a grand total
of 200,000, of 300,000, nay, of 500,000 altogether ?
And, supposing that grand aggregate to be actually
attained (as it obviously might on the simple con-
tingency above specified)—by means of the electric
telegraph wires, now trailed far and wide over the
land, the signal for concentration at any given point
might be flashed simultaneously, in the twinkling of
an eye, through all England-! And the scattered corps
might despatch each its contingent to any spot that
might be designated, upon the wings of the wind,
borne along the lines of our railways by that
realised Fiery Dragon of the Nursery Fairy Tales,
the Steam Engine ! With a National Guard thus
numerous, well armed, and well disciplined—within
reach always (by telegram) of instantaneous sum-
mons—possessing always the capabilities (by rail-
way) of rapid concentration—we might, with our
Rifle Corps
well armed and thoroughly disciplined,
—with our Rifle Corps prepared, thus ever on the
alert, to aid our professional Defenders, our Daunt-
less Navy and oir Heroic Army—why thus &wiper
paratus, England might, under permission of Divine
Providence, set the " world in arms" at defiance!
SHAKESPERE has told us—as for that matter he
has told us almosteverything—the one simple con-
dition. The lines are, here again, " familiar
—but for
in our mouths as household words"

* " London Sowage—Shall it be Wasted or Econo-
mised ?" Effingham Wilson,
•