The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-11 00:00:00

AUSTRIA, .POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL.

If the contrast between the political capacities of
France and Austria is strongly marked, the diffe-
rence which exists in the extent of the material re-
sources of the two countries is not less striking.
The productive capacity of France is already taxed
to the utmost, while thai of Austria retains all ;ts
elasticity. By a redistribution of the land-tax, not
by any increase in its amount, that impost, which
previous to the year 1847 produced about 37,000,000
florins per annum, has since the reform of 1848
yielded from 62,000,000 to 63,000,000 yearly to the
treasury ; a result gained without any diminution
having been produced upon the taxable capacity of
of the country. At this moment Austria, tried,
worn, " moribunda," as she has been called, can,
after such a year as the last, export corn to a large
amount ; France, on the other hand, is so ill-
managed agriculturally, that she now imports,
whereas she ought reasonably to export, large quan-
tities of corn. The enormous productive power of
Austria, and her richness in material resources, sug-
gest to us one most important commercial reform, in
which it must be the interest, as it is the duty, of
our own country to assist, and which we would
fain hope has already been proposed by our Go-
vernment. There can surely be no reason why
our commercial negotiations should be confined
to the one country in Europe which has
the least to give us in return for our produce.
Every reason which has been urged by the Govern-
ment in favour of a commercial treaty with France
applies with tenfold force to a commercial treaty
with Austria. She can give us in abundance those
rags which are denied us by the French treaty, but
the free importation of which has been rendered
doubly necessary by that treaty. She can supply us
with unlimited quantities of timber for the hulls,
and of hemp for the sails of our ships ; and furnish
us with linseed, linseed oil, and tallow to any
amount. The reduction of the now existing export
dues on these articles by Austria would impart an
immense stimulus to her own commerce, and enable
us to make good not only the most important defect
in the French treaty, but reduce the cost of mate-
rial for our " naval defences." We, on the other
hand, as our China trade developer, could supply
Austria with those silks and poplins which she
formerly obtained from Lombardy, but for which
she is most unwilling to depend now either upon
Sardinia or France. The reduction in our favour of
the present import duty of 15 per cent. upon our
silks, and a similar reduction of the duties on our
Irish linens, which pay an ad valorem duty of 10,
7, or 6 per cent., would enable us successfully to
compete with the silks of Sardinia and France, and
with the linen of Saxony, in a country which con-
tains upwards of 60,000,000 of inhabitants—a mar-
ket of a magnitude not to be despised. There can
be no doubt, viewing the present liberal temper and
progressive policy of the ♦ustrian Government,
that even a less skilful negotiator than Mr. Cobden
might succeed in inducing it to consent to the con-
cessions which we have indicated above, and we
most earnestly hope that no unworthy considera-
tions of foreign policy will prevent the Government
from taking advantage of the present opportu-
nity to retrieve, by honest free-trade principles, the
ground they have lost, and thus prove to the world
that commercial treaties are not mere diplomatic
expedients, to be- ade use of as an element of poli-
tical intrigue, but that they are indeed what a
recent Parliamentary orator eloquently described
them to be, " processes which, like the silent aid
ceaseless processes of nature herself, would bring
into play a thousand beneficial influences on the side
of peace throughout the world."—London Review.

A TALE OF MYSTERY.—The following curious
statement appears in the Freeman's Journal:—Tarbert,
Friday.—The discovery on Wednesday last of a fearful
attempted assassination has startled the good folk of Tar-
bert, and has occasioned considerable uneasiness to the
family against whom the annihilation was intended. It
appears that about three weeks ago a nice little box was
directed to Col. Patterson, Tarbert-house. On the direction
card were the names of several lady members of his family,
and intimating that a letter would be found inside, which
would explain all. The colonel, struck with the singularity
of the affair of receiving a box of which he knew nothing,
and fancying that there might be some hoax connected
with it, determined not to open the mysterious consignment
until further information might elucidate its meaning.
Accordingly it was locked up in a room, and continued
there for three weeks without any information being
received respecting it. Several members of his household
having shaken the box, pronounced its contents to be either
sand or powder ; eventually, however, in order to see what
it did contain, the wary old soldier on 'Wednesday last,
having placed it at a distance of 100 yards or more, fired a
pistol at the lid, when bang went the box with a loud report,
shattering into pieces a large stone against which it was
placed. Amazed, thelcolonel rau up, and to his astonish-
ment
discovered that his "little present" was nophingi
nor less than an infernal machine. It was filled withno. powder,
and had a dozen Weiler matches so arranged in
the in side
that if the box was opened in the usual way certain destruc-
tion would be the consequenc,. A magisterial inquiry will
be held this day (FrillaY)-
[ADTERTISEMENT.]-110110Way'S Pills and Ointment—
. surpasses Science.—ln the cure of all diseases expe-
rience is the grand hand-maiden of nature . to watch the
proper moment and to give the appropriate medicine is the
chief art in subduing
ailments. As Holloway's medi-
cinesal remove all obstructions to perfect action, as the watch-
maker cleans the works of an ill-going timepiece, they must
necessarily restore regularity and order. Such being their
benign action, they can never be used at the wrong time,
nor improperly if attention be given to the instructions
which accompany every package of pills and ointment.
The weakest as well as the strongest may advantageously
use them, their action being so cooling, healing, purifying,
and restorative,

Foreign affairs, and the way in which they are
treated by politicians, seem at present to partake
of a kind of brusqueness to which they were for-
merly strangers. Under the guidance of Welling-
ton and Louis Philippe, Metternich and Nesselrode,
the European machine worked easily. Its action
was slow ; it sometimes seemed almost to cease al-
together; and when in motion there was plenty of
oil and plenty of skilful engineers. Excepting the
absorption of Cracow, no serious breach was
made in the European system for many years
before '4B, and the despatches of Secre-
tariesand ambassadors were written with all
the vagueness and decorum of a Queen's speech.
But in these times there are more stirring events,
and statesmen of a less urbane character. The
Emperor Napoleon has torn some treaties, and is
vehemently suspected of meditating evil to others.
His subordinates are not so much Ministers as
tools; or rather they are secretaries in the original
sense of the word, and, having no care for an Euro-
pean reputation, indulge in a recklessness of asser-
tion and argument which is almost without a paral-
lel. But in the English Foreign Minister they have
in one respect found their match. Seldom has it
been our lot to read such bold and straightforward
despatches as those of Lord Sohn Russell, both on.
the affairs of Italy and those of Savoy. The Foreign.
Secretary feels evidently that the old style of quiet
suggestion and courteous remonstrance is as useless
in dealing with M. Thouvenel and his master as the
delicacy of Sir Charles Grandison would be to an
Old Bailey counsel. The annexation of Savoy has
been effected by duplicity towards the European
Powers and something like violence to the people
of part of the country. It is in violation of inter-
national law, and of the understanding which was
assumed to prevail with England; the machinery
of universal suffrage used for its completion is at
least new, and may involve principles fatal to the
security of other States. When such an act as
this has been performed, and justified in cavalier
despatches, an English Minister may feel that it is
time to throw aside the forms of an embarrassing
,politenet,s. ford John Russell treats the question
in a manner which shows his real opinion of this
act of France, and he clearly lays down the course
which i, to be pursued by England.
We are not able even now to discover any ade-
quate motive for this extension of territory by
France. The pretext that the kingdom of Sardinia
had become too strong, and that the Alps were
necessary for the safety of the Empire, may be as-
serted by diplomatists and believed by Frenchmen;
nor do we attach much importance to the facilities
which the possession of Chablais and Faucigny
give for an invasion of Austrian territory.
France has had at any time the power of
striking a blow at Austria, and at present, if the
suspicions of the world have any weight, it is not
against Austria that the eyes of French ambition
are directed. France has gained a little territory,
has incurred an obloquy which is general if net
outspoken, has set Central Europe on its guard,
and brought the German Princes into a kind of
union ; and all for what ? We cannot imagine any
other reason than that it was necessary to accustom
Europe to the idea of an extended French frontier,
and that Savoy was the safest district to incorpo-
rate. It may also be that the French were anxious
to break the spell which seemed to debar them from
a development of their political strength, and that
the Emperor has endeavoured to satisfy them with
the least dangerous morsel which it was in his
power to provide. This is, perhaps, the light in
which Napoleon is desirous that the transaction
should be viewed, though we doubt much whether
it be the true one. For this purpose M. Thouvenel
laboured to quiet the Cabinets of Europe, and the
Emperor undertook his journey to Baden. On the
19th of last March the French Minister addresses
to Count de Persigny a despatch in which he
draws a distinction between the annexation
of Savoy and the annexation of anything
else. The world is not to draw false analogies, and
out of them to sow mistrust. It is absurd to believe
that there can be any thought of aggression in the
North. " Does there really exist," asks the indig-
nant statesman, " any relation between our position
with regard to the Alps and our situation on the
Rhine ?" On the Rhine and in the Low Countries
the modifications of the Treaty have given security
to France, and therefore in that quarter she has
nothing to ask, and will make no aggression. " On
the Rhine the peril has disappeared, while in the
Alps it has increased. Thus the situations which

it -is attempted to assimilate offer no- resem-
blance, and those powerful considerationsjwhieh
oblige us to demand the annexation of Savoy
have no possible application to the state of things
in the East and North of France." The morality of
this language has been formerly commented on.
The principle contained in it is, that France has the
right to " demand the annexation" of every fron-
tier territory which is useful to her in a military
sense. But we have quoted it to show the desire of
the French Emperor that it should bethought that
the recent act is the first and last of his annexations.
Lord John Russell seems not to have been paci-
fied by those reassuring explanations.
•0n the 15th
of May he addressed to Lord Cowley a despatch
giving the Ambassador instructions as to his be-
haviour in the event of a Congress being held,. and
stating that in the very plainest terms the opinion
of the British Cabinet on the conduct of France
and Sardinia. That the neutrality of Chablaisand
Faucigny was established in the interest of Swit-
zerland and Europe, as well as of Sardinia, in his
fundamental proposition. He declares that it was
the duty of Sardinia to confer with the Powers
which signed the treaty of Vienna,. and that if
Sardinia failed in this duty, it ought not to have
been neglected by France. France, at least, ought
to have given such ample guarantees as should be
a substitute for the security which Europe has lost.
Such a guarantee the British Government would
find in an arrangement which " should, giving a
military frontier to Switzerland, comprise the
southern shores of the Lake of Geneva and the
Alpine passes to the Valais." Such „übstitute
for the old state of things
Gt
ho vreersnpme
cetn
tot , France has refused, and
has not offered anything which,i
in the opinion of
the British
would have at all the same
value.
the course to be adopted
llr
by England in the face this •
of accomplished fact,
Lord John Russell declares that while he thinks
Switzerland would not be justified in resistance,
yet " Her Majesty's
Government must decline to
take any step which may confer additional vali-
dity on the Treaty of Turin
of the 24th of March."
" In the Conference
your Excellency will hold
no other language than that which is con-
tained in this and my former despatches.
• • . You will, of course, fully understand that
nothing is changed in that part of the Treaty.of
Vienna which binds the Powers who were parties
to it to maintain the neutrality of Switzerland."
In our opinion nothing more nor less can be done
than is here indicated. Force must prevail within
certain limits. The world• cannot be plunged in
war for every excess of one of its pote.
ng about itsntates. The
wrong is not forgotten, and it may bri
ng
own retribution, but for the present it must be
borne. We disapprove and protest, and let the
thing go.—Timcf.

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THEATRE-ROYAL, H AYM A RICHT.
Lessee, Mr. J. B. Buckstone.
For the Benefit of Mr. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING the performances will nornmenee with
(first time) a new comedietta, entitled HIS EXCELLENCY,
in which Mr. and Mrs. C. Mathews will appear.
After which, DOES HE LOVE ME? Messrs. Howe,
Chippendale, and Buckstone ; Miss Amy Sedg-wick and Mrs.
Wilkins.
Followed by a Divertissement : the Leclercqs.
Mr. Buckstone will deliver his Annual Address.
And THE HAPPIEST DAY OF
at 7.MY LIFE.
Commence

ItOY AL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.-
Lessee, Mr. A. Harris.
THIS EVENING, will b 9 performed THE MERRY
WIVES OF WINDSOR. Sir John Falstaff', Mr. Phelps.
To conclude with BOWLED OUT.
Commence at 7.

A DELPHT, NEW THEATRE-ROYAL.
Sole Proprietor and Mana,er, Mr. Benj. Webster.
Reproduction of the powerful Adelphi drama, " The Flowers
of the Forest."
Eleventh week of the American Actress, Miss Julia Daly.
TR'S -:VENING, THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.
Messrs. J. L. Took, P. Bedford, Billincton, Stuart, Eburne,
C. J. Smith, Powell, Romer ; Miss Woolgar, K. Kelly, Mrs.
Billington, Miss Laidiaw.
After which, OUR FEMALE AMERICAN COUSIN.
Messrs. Stuart, C. Selby, Billington, Eburne, Miss Julia
Daly, K. Kelly, Laidlaw, and Mrs. Chatterley.
Commence at 7.
Box-office open from 10 till 5.
Private boxes, £2 2s. ; Family Boxes, It
Orchestra Stalls, 55. ; Balcony, 4s. ; Front Circle Stalls, is. •
Pit Stalls, 28.; Pit, Is. 6d. ; Amphitheatre, le ; Gallery, 6d.
Acting Manager—Mr. Wm. Smith.

RENCH PL AY S -ST . J AMES'S THE ATRE .
Directeur, M. Talexy.—Lessee, B. Chatterton.
EVERY EVENING.
Madlle. Delphine Fix.—Positively the last Week but Three.
TO-NIGHT,
LES PROJETS DE MA TANTE.
And LES PATTES DE MOLTCHE. Madlle. Delphine
Fix and M. Paul Devaux.
Orchestra Stalls, 7s. 6d. ; Balcony Stalls, ss. ; Pit, 2s.';
Gallery, Is.
Private Boxes, from Two Guineas.
Commence at 8.
Box-office open daily from 11 till 5.

A STLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.-
.r.A. Proprietor and Manager, Mr. WM. BATTY.
In consequence of the immense success of the MID-DAY
PERFORMANCE, ONE MORE will take place on Saturday,
July 14, to commence at 2 o'clock.
On Monday, July 9, 1860, and during the week, to com-
mence with the immensely successful Grand Historical
Spectacle in Three Acts, entitled " FAIR ROSAMOND, or
the AmAzoN CRUSADERS." To be followed by Scenes in
the Cirque, supported by Madlles. De Berg, Monet, and
Leontine ; Messrs. Fernando, L'Epine, F. Watson, and Herr
Christoff, &c. Izo., artistes of unequalled celebrity. Conclud-
ing with a Laughable .
Doors open at half-past 6, performance commence at 7.
Box-office open daily from 11 till 4.
Stage Manager—Mr. W. WEST.
Director of the Arena—M. Felix Revolti.

CONCERTS.-

_ -
CANTERBURY HALL
THIS EVENING.
C. H. GOUNOD UST.'S OPERA.
FA
First Time in this Country.
Faust Mr. Henry Herbert.
Mephistopheles Mr. C. Bernard.
Siobel Mrs. Anderson.
Marguerite ..... Miss Russell.
Conductor Mr. Jonghmans.
And selections from
Dinorah. Trovatore, Macbeth, and numerous other
Entertainments.
Balcony, ls, Hall. 6d.
Comic Vocalists —Messrs. George Hodson (the Irish Come
dian and Mimic), and C. Marshall.
The ETHIOPIANS, consisting of 17 performers (organised
expressly for this Establishment). for the performance of
Vocal and Instrumental Music, Comi nandnddition Sentimto the, usuental, with
Negro delineations, anecdotes, &c., ial
entertainments.
The gallery is open from 5 till 11 on Sunday Evening.

THE WEATHER.—Surr OFFICE, JULY 11, 1860.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
58—highest since noon yesterday.
54—lowest this morning and during the night.
66—this day at noon.
BAROMETER-30.07.
WlND—South Easterly; light, with dull sultry weather.