The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-17 00:00:00

the apprehensions of the poor, innocent, primitive
population. He wished her Majesty's Government
to pretest in a loyal, manly, and straightforward
manner against this conduct on the part of France.
That protest would ring far beyond the precincts
of this house, and would rally Prussia, all Germany,
and Europe at our side ; for the annexation of
Savoy to France would not only affect the future
interests of Piedmont, and the future condition of
Switzerland, but it was the first step in the con-
spiracy which had been set on foot against the
rights and liberties of every European state.
Lord JonN RUSSELL felt himself in rather an
awkward sort of a fix, but felt no objection to pro-
duce the despatch which contained the account of a
conversation which Lord BLOOMFIELD had had with
Count SCIILEINITZ, the Prussian Foreign Minister,
and the French Minister at Berlin. He himself had
also held a conversation with Count BERNSTORFF, the
Prussian Minister in this country, and he was quite
aware that the Government of Prussia entirely agreed
in the views which her MAJESTY'S Government took
of the quest ion of annexation. IVith regard to Austria
and Russia, seeing the length of time that had elapsed
since heb ad communicated to those Courts the objec-
tion of England to that measure, it was certainly
matter of disappointment that as yet he had re-
ceived no information from them as to their inten-
tions. He certainly regarded as most extraordinary
and unprecedented the recent declaration of Count
CAVOUR, that, whilst Sardinia would not cede, sell,
or exchange Savoy, if the Savoyards were disposed
to attach themselves to another sovereign the King
of SARDINIA had no objection. It looked as if the
King of SARDINIA was not very unwilling to agree
to the project of annexation. The position of this
country was, therefore, very much influenced by
this state of things. Yesterday the copy of a de-
spatch from M. THOUVENEL to Count PERsiGNY was
placed in his hands, which laid the whole case for
the annexation of Savoy before her MAJESTY'S Go-
vernment. That despatch was very temperately
written, and abjured altogether the notion of
natural boundaries. It stated that the case of
Savoy was one of special interest, arising out of
special circumstances ; that the position of Italy
was changed, and that the position of France was
thereby rendered greatly worse. But although it
was alleged in the despatch that the question was
submitted to the wisdom and equity of Europe,
yet, looking at the entire document, he could
hardly say that the great Powers of Europe wore
consulted, or that it would be by their verdict that
the decision would be guided. The whole de-
spatch, and especially that portion of it which re-
lated to Faucigny, Chablais, and the Genevois, was
of such gravity and importance as to require the
most serious consideration, and he should lose no
time in laying it, together with his reply, upon the
table.

" Thus bad begins, but worse remains behind."

In fact, our Government, in their too great anxiety
to conciliate the Emperor NAPOLEON, have been
completely over-reached, and the precious one-sided
Treaty has sealed their doom. They have now a
foretaste of the truism, " put not thy faith in
princes," with a vengeance. But how avert the
effects of their misplaced confidence, or retrieve
their grave political error ? That is a question re-
quiring more delicacy than they have bargained for.
Their experience of the past does not appear to
have taught them wisdom to be wary for the future
in their dealings with one who justifies his conduct
by the success of his manoeuvres.
The game has answered expectation so far, but
how far it will be suffered to proceed time only can
tell. Let the indignation of Europe be but once
aroused from mutual apprehension of common
danger, and the star of his evil genius will look
very blue in the morning of disaster.

We copy the following from the Paris correspon-
dent of the Times, dated yesterday evening, on the
question of Switzerland, touching Savoy, &c.:--
" Amid the general silence of the Governments of
Europe on the annexation of Savoy, one State—and
that not the most powerful—has raised its voice
against that act. Switzerland, remembering, per-
haps, the stand she made on the Neuchatel, affair
two or three years ago, or the memorable courage
of less recent date, when she braved the anger of
Louis Philippe's Government, and the invasion
of her territory by 25,000 French troops, ready to
punish her for the asylum she afforded to Prince
Louis NAPOLEON in 1838—Switzerland has' belled
the cat. I sent you a telegraphic message last
night, announcing that Dr. KERN, the Swiss Mi-
nister in Paris, has deposited in the hands of the
French Minister of Foreign Affairs, a protest si:
miler to that which has been forwarded to the
Sardinian Government. I hope the wires have
done their duty, and faithfully delivered their
charge. Switzerland, thinking she has cause for
uneasiness at the consequences which the abso-
lute absorption by France of the provinces of Fan-
eigny, and Chablais would create for her own
neutrality and independence, taking her stand
upon existing treaties, appeals to the Great Powers
who have signed them. She may take her stand,
among other things, on the 92d Article of the Final
Act, signed at Vienna by the Plenipotentiaries of
Austria, Spain, France, Great Britain, Portugal,
Prussia, Russia, and Sweden, specifying that
' the provinces of Chablais and Faucigny,
and the whole of the territory of Savoy to the north
of Ugine belonging to his Majesty the King of
SARDINIA, shall form a part of the neutrality of
Switzerland, as it is recognised and guaranteed by
the Powers ;' the act signed at Paris on the 20th
November, 1815, by the Plenipotentiaries of Aus-
tria, Prance, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia,
declaring, inter alia, that the Powers signing the
declaration of the 20th March recognise in an au-
thentic
manner, by the present act, that the :neu-
trality and the inviolability of Switzerland, and her
independence of every foreign influence, are for the
true interests of the policy of all Europe ;' and,
again, the protocol of the Plenipotentiaries of
Great Britain, Austria, Russia,
and Prussia,
signed at Paris Nov. 2, 1815, providing that 'the
o f ao line
the drawn
south
territory 'which Switzerland shall be extended to the
ich is to the north
from Ugine, comprehending that town, to
of the lake of Annecy, and thence to the lake of
Bourges as far as the Rhone; on the sample princi-
ples that it has been extended to the provinces of
Chablais and Faucigny by the 92d article of the
final' Act of the Congress of Vienna.'"
The note which . Switzerland addresses to the
Powers who have guaranteed her neutrality will
doubtless be fortified by additional arguments. In
the meantime I give the terms of the protest to
which I alluded yesterday. It is as follows :
"PARIS, MARCH 15.
"M. KERN, MINISTER Or SWITZERLAND, .TO M. DE

THOUTENEL, MINISTER. OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

" Monsieur le Ministro,—in consequence of a despatch
from Berne, I am to inform your Excellency that the
Federal Council have addressed to the Government of his
Majesty the King of Sardinia a note in which they demand
the maintenance of the stipulations of the Treaty of 1.564,
confirmed by the Treaty of 1816 between Sardinia and
Switzerland, in so far as they relate to the cession of the
actual territory of Savoy to another Power..
" I am to add that my Government regards in a particular
manner any annexation of the neutralitkad provinces; Cha-
blaiß,
Faueigny, and the Genevois, to another Power, as in
contradiction to the stipulations of the Treaties of 1815,
which guarantee these provinces, in the interest of Swiss
neutrality, as if they were an integrfil part of the Con-
federation, and declaring' thetthey are to enjoy the neutre.-

lily of Switzerland in the same manner as if they belongod
to her.'

" In the meantime, and with reference to the considera-
tions which I had tho honour to explain to you in the
audience which you were good enough to grant me on the
13th of March, my instructions impose on sue the duty of
protesting formally, in the name of the Swiss Confederation,
against every measure which may have for object to annex
these provinces to France, till such time as the Powers of
Europe, to which the Imperial Government has itself de-
clared that it would submit this question, shall have de-
cided,--I avail myself of this occasion, &c.,

"KERN."

The Chinese question was again brought forward
for discussion on a vote of credit being asked for
carrying on the war. Sir DE LACY EVANS, much
to our surprise, objected to our resorting to mili-
tary operations in order to bring the faithless
Chinese to a sense of justice for their treacherous
conduct. The gallant General has become
wonderfully peaceful of late, no doubt from
motives of humanity, feeling that he can-
not join in the fray. We regret this; but we
cannot coincide with him. No doubt if the Chinese
had acted in the spirit of their professions and had
ratified the treaty instead of butchering our gallant
men in an ambuscade, there would be nonecessity for
the expedition now on foot to vindicate our honour
and avenge the loss of our people. But we are bound
by every sense of duty and self-respect to convince
the Chinese that they have grievously wronged us,
" outer Barbarians" though we be ; and that we
are resolved to " do or die" in the attempt.
We refer to the speeches of Lord JOHN RUSSELL
and Lord PALMERSTON for the policy proposed to
be carried out—a pacific policy if the Chinese meet
us in a temperate manner, but the reverse if other-
wise much to the horror of the hon. member for Bir-
mingham.

A report of the proceedings at the annual meet-
ing of the National Lifeboat Institution appeared
in our impression of yesterday. The general yearly
meeting was held at the London Tavern on Thursday
last, and was attended by a numerous and influential
assembly. We have often directed the public
notice to .the merits of this institution, which pos-
sesses a claim on our sympathy and active assist-
ance second to none. Admirable as are most of our
philanthropic societies, and great as are the benefits
they offer to the sick and needy, there is assuredly
none that makes so powerful an appeal to ,the sym-
pathy of a maritime nation. We have the melan-
choly certainty of the long number of wrecks and
disasters at sea, to prove to us the necessity of its
establishment ; we have often the mournful con-
viction that, had an efficient lifeboat been at hand,
when catastrophes occurred, many valuable lives
would have been saved ; and we have also the most
satisfactory testimony to the efficiency of its
management, and the noble courage of its men in
the numbers they have rkseued from imminent
peril. The report which was read at the meeting
by Mr. LEWIS, the able secretary of the institution,
was full of interest. It stated that the total num-
ber of life-boats now in the possession of the society,
including those in course of construction, amounts
to 101. Mr. LEWIS remarked that though this
noble fleet was outnumbered by the navies of Com-
merce and War, it was the largest life-saving fleet
the world had ever seen. The past year, unfortu-
nately, has been particularly productive of wrecks
and disasters on our coasts. During that time, we
learn from the printed chart, the number of vessels
wrecked on the coasts and in the seas of the United
Kingdom was 1,416. Of these 527 were total
wrecks, 58 were sunk by collision, 540 were
stranded and damaged so as to require to discharge
their cargo, and 291 otherwise injured by collision,
making the total number reach the vast aggregate
of 1,416, and the loss of life, as far as can be
ascertained, amount to 1,646. In the case of two
wrecks alone, those of the Royal Charter and Po-
mona, upwards of 800 persons perished in the
darkness of the night, without the possibility of
assistance reaching them. We are glad to find
that JOSEPH ROGERS, the Maltese seaman, of the
unfortunate Royal Charter, has received the gold
medal of the institution, in recognition of his ser-
vices, in swimming through the heavy surf to the
rocky coast of Anglesey, with a line round him,
which was subsequently the means of saving the
greatest part of the scanty number who survived the
awful catastrophe. It is an honour very rarely
bestowed, and, like the other honours of the
society, is never granted except when life has been
risked in the service of others. When we bear
this fact in mind, the list of rewards affords no
slight testimony to the heroism of our seamen.
"During the past year one gold medal, 20 silver
medals, 13 votes of thanks inscribed on vellum,
and £l,lOB 15s. 3d. have been granted for saving
the lives of 449 persons on the coasts and outlying
banks of the United Kingdom. Many of these
services have been of the most gallant and noble
character, performed at imminent risk of life." The
following incident is one of many instances

"It should be borne in mind, that the services of a life-
boat are usually only called into requisition when it would
not be safe for any other kind of vessel to approach the
wreck. One illustration may be given on this point :—On
the 30th January last the ship Ann Mitchell, of Glasgow,
was wrecked on Arklow Banks. Several fishing smacks
attempted in vain to approach her. The steamer Ruby,
bound for Bristol, laid-to for five hours with the view of
laudably succouring the crew; but the sea was so very
heavy that neither smacks nor steamer could even come
within hail of the wreck. Tho Arklow life-boat, belonging
to this institution, made her appearance. She nobly ran
through the heavy breakers, and succeeded in taking off
the whole nine men on the wreck."

Mr LEWIS gave the following brief summary
of the events of the year :

" The lifeboats of the Royal National Lifeboat Institu-
tion had, at various points of our coasts, been actively called
into operation on 61 occasions during the past year. Two
hundred and eighteen lives had been saved from 39 wrecks,
and five vessels had been assisted safely into port. For
these valuable exertions the total sum paid to lifeboats'
crews was £733 18s. 9d. On these occasions, and on those
of quarterly exercise, the lifeboats were manned by about
4,000 persons. Nearly all the services took place in stormy,
weather and heavy seas, and often in the dark hour of the
night."

The operations of the committee were summed
up as follows :--
"Since the formation of the institution, it has expended
on lifeboat establishments £36,948 ss. Bd., and has voted
82 gold and 658 silver medals for distinguished services in
saving life, besides pecuniary awards, amounting together
to £12,759 15s. 3d. During the past year expenses had been
incurred on either additional new lifeboat stationsor the re-
placing of old boats, transporting carriages, and houses, by
new ones, repairs, stores, and alterations of beats, carriages,
And houses, and for exercising the crews of lifeboats,
amounting altogether to £11,120 18s. 34.' This 'great and
national work had, however, only been Accomplished by
the society incurring liabilities to the extent of a further
sum of £3,834. The receipts of the institution from all
,o
sources, amounted last year to £11,652115. 6d."
sThe report concluded by alluding to the satisfac-
tion which the supporters of this institution must
feel in finding its operations so widely extended.
Its utility is recognised by all the maritime powers,
and many Governments have had lifeboats built
under the superintendence of the institution.
Some of these boats have already been instrumen-
tal in saving life on the shores of the Black Sea
and Australia. Englishmen residing in distant loca-
lities also, we are told, frequently send tokens of their
approval, and we cannot suppose that Englishmen
nearer home will neglect so forcible an appeal to
their sympathies and assistance. The real merit
of the work rests with—

" ' the gallant men who go,
In face of death, to seek and save the stranger or the foe."
If they are so ready, with the risk of life and limb,
in this good cause, surely the public at large need