The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-07 00:00:00

Politeness requires 'us to listen to the wisdom of
sage maidenhood, but the youngsters, one by one
slip off, and while we are submitting to edification,
they have found out the way to be happy in most
disorderly and unsymmetrical modes in the nursery
or playroom.

Lotus NAPoLEoN ought to know better. He
has had experience enough of many cities and
many men. Yet he cannot refrain from enacting
the political old maid. The leading men of the
Central Italian States, and their people, under their
guidance, know well enough how they can make
themselves politically happy. They see in the
constitution of Piedmont the means of representa-
tive legislation and administration in which they
would like to share. They see in the union of their
States with Piedmont a natural expedient for
strengthening themselves against Neapolitan and
Papal malignity on the South, and Austrian spite
on the North-east. They see in VICTOR EM-
MANUEL, and in his able Minister, not
men of unworthy ambition, but men of
hearty Italian sympathies, and of an ambition
worthy of Italian patriots—that of " being
foremost in the struggle for Italian independence 9"
All the parties seem made to make each other
happy, but the Imperial Aunty stands by with her
" No, no, my dears, you do not know what is best
for you, I can make you ao happy if you will but
listen to me. You, Piedmont, Parma, and Modena,
you join in this game—you, Tuscany, must play at
solitaire—and you, my dear Romagnese, you must
keep with your Holy Papa, only you will have
such toys as Uncle VICTOR puts before you."

Now, when will such a clever man, as the
"nephew of my uncle" unquestionably is, see the
folly of such prudery ? What can he gain by it ?
If he coerce, diplomaticaPy or otherwise, he only
ensures being wished out of the way by those he
would patronise. If he do not succeed, his at-
tempts are but additions to the list of his abortions.
At present he has the good-will—nay, we believe,
the gratitude—of Italians. Notwithstanding his
unfortunate blunder at Villafranca, they have
sense enough to know that, but for the
bayonets of France, they would have had no
chance of meeting at all to vote on the question
of annexation to Piedmont. At present, therefore,
gratitude seems to predominate over annoyance at
his desire to fetter their action. But this cannot
last for ever. If Tuscany and the Legations wish
to amalgamate with Sardinia, the reasons for which
are so obvious, and if the EMPEROR'S desire to bless
them in his way, not in their own, be persisted in,
they will certainly lose that cordiality of feeling
which is a far greater gain to France than would
be the " slopes of the Alps." They will think, at
length, more of the present meddlesomeness and
ungenerosity than of the battles which drove out
the Austrians. "Why," indeed, they may well
ask, " drive out the Austrians, professedly for
the liberation of Italy, and then slip your own yoke,
although a lighter one, on our necks ?"
Though expressed in mild language, the threats
of M. TIIOUVENEL and his master are unworthy
of the EMPEROR'S position. It is singular, too, that
they are absurdly illogical. In one paragraph the
attempt is made to show that the addition of Tus-
cany would be a source of weakness to Piedmont;
in another, that the strength she will obtain by the
annexation of the other provinces requires for
France the cession of Savoy as a better military
frontier. Of course the King of SARDINIA may re-
ply, "If you believe what you say, leave me and
Tuscany to our own wishes, and the Kingdom of
Piedmont being weakened, as you say it will by
our union, you can then do without the ' slopes of
the Alps.'"
The EMPEROR may reasonably calculate that
England will not fight for the northern slopes of
the Alps, nor for the country of Nice either. We
may let him alone, as we have preferred in private
' life to get a pickpocket under the pump, rather
than be at the cost and trouble of a prosecution.
But the EMPEROR ought thoroughly to understand
that from the moment he lays his hands on Savoy,
or any part of it, he takes rank with the tyrants
who seized on Poland, and comparatively recently
on Cracow. He will be like the Sovereigns of
Russia, Prussia, and Austria, one of the fraternity
of territorial brigands. He may begin with hum-
ble game. He may run off at first with an orange or
a pocket handkerchief, but the conviction will be
fixed in the minds of all continental States that he
is not to be tru_ted. 'We do not, indeed, see the
wisdom of mixing up the treaty with the question
of Savoy. They are so totally unconnected that
they ought to be each dealt with on their respective
merits. We ought, also, to take no action till he
does. His deeds have as often hitherto fallen short
of his words as surpassed them. What in truth he
has best succeeded in he has said nothing about till

he acted. We rather conclude then, from his having
said so much about it, that he may yet have the
prudence to reconsider his project on Savoy.

The Italians, however, have no time to lose.
They have carried everything hitherto on which
they have acted with decision. Let them not waver
now. FARINI, notwithstanding the Imperial warn-
ings, has put before the whole male population of
Tuscany, as well as the other States, the question
—" Annexation or separate Government." We only
hope the reply will be such as will stagger POPE and
EMPERORS, and all the in tcrmeddlers, and admonish
them that they had better attend to their own Go-
vernment, and leave their neighbours to them-
selves.

We have only room to point attention to the
important document of Count CAYOUR, just re-
ceived, which will be found in another part of our