The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-28 00:00:00

THE IVEATHER..--SUN OFFICE, MAY 27, 1860.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
67—highest since noon yesterday.
45—lowest this morning and during the night.
58—this day at noon.
BAROMETER-29.80.
WlND—North-Westerly ; strong and squally, with fine
sunshiny weather, but cool and cloudy.

MIT 28.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
62—highest since noon yesterday.
50—lowest this morning and during the night.
56—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-29.67.

WIND—W. to W.N.W, ; strong gales, with heavy gusts,
and occasional showers. It blows a hurricane in the
Channel.

lIIGII WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 7h. 24m.—Afternoon, M. 57m.
To-mottnow.-Morning, Bh. 31m.—Afternoon, 9h. Gm.

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THE SUN.

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 28, 1860.

-~-- --

The annexation of Nice and Savoy to France has
yet to be accomplished. The treaty, of which this
double cession on the part of Sardinia is the most
important provision, has yet to be formally accepted
by the Piedmontese Parliament: Just as the Com-
mercial Treaty negotiated at the Palace of the
Tuileries by our unofficial diplomatist the member
for Rochdale, although signed, sealed, and de-
livered before the commencement of the present
session, had to be yet further authenticated by the
explicit sanction of the Legislature. As a preli-
minary to the momentous division which is to pro-
nounce—with the usual cabalistic yea or nay of all
deliberative assemblies—the fate of the annexation
treaty, an animated discussion has been maintained
during three or four days in the Sardinian Cham-
ber, in which the hopes and fears of Italy have
found expression. A telegram from Northern
Italy may now apprize us at any moment how
the division at the close of the debate
has decided the vitally important matter at issue.
A considerable majority is looked for by the advo•
cates of the Treaty, or to put the matter in the
plainest possible terms at once by—the Sardinian
Government. Count CAVOUR himself has spoken
and spoken only too comprehensibly. He has de-
clared in so many words that Savoy and Nice must
be resigned to France by Sardinia, and that there-
fore it may as well be resigned with a good grace.
The Minister fails apparently at this moment to
perceive how formidable a precedent this act of
secession will be to the French Government in the
future re-arrangement of the Italian Peninsula !
What has been done in the instance of Nice
may be done later on upon just as good a
plea in the instance of Genoa. As France as acted
in the matter of Savoy, she may act, not a very long
while hence, in the matter of Tuscany. Count
CAvorn closes his speech, amid great applause, by
averring that " If the acquisition of Venetia were to
Cost a foot of Italian soil he would refuse it !" It
sounds very chivalrously, and very magnanimous.
y in the name of fortune, did not the same
Minister sayprecisely the same thing prior to those
other and already accomplished acquisitions' Why
did not CAVOUR,at any rate, act during the past few
months as theuglibe had declared quite as distinctly
in the midst of the cheers of the Turin Chamber
" If Lombardy were to cost a foot of Italian soil I
would refuse it !" Instead of saying which, instead
of doing which he has given up not a foot merely of
Italian soil, but such a number of feet that he has
yeilded up with the territory itself, a population
of an odd millio n—handing over the Savoyards
and Nizzards (as though they were so many live
cattle) to NAPOLEON, the despotic ruler, from their
old allegiance to the Constitutional Sardinian Sove•
reign. But, in mitigation of this act, and in depre-
cation of the blame possibly consequent upon it—.
Quoth CAVOITR—" The passages of the Alps will re-
main with us," adding—" The policy of Italian in-

dependence rendered the treaty necessary." As to
which necessity, however, others may surely be al-
lowed at least to hold a different opinion. Count
CATOUR conceives, he tells us, that " Since 1848
the policy of concluding an alliance became
expedient." He insists sententiously that the
Emperor having shown sympathy for Italy, Italy
must naturally be " attached to France." Surely
—" attached" so far as the sentiment goes. This
is reasonable enough. But—attached literally—
attached to the actual extent of a positive territorial
cession on the one part and annexation on the
other—No ! That, whatever Count CAT OUR may
think or say upon the matter, was neither natural
I nor necessary.

Besides —it does not even harmonise with
NAPOLEON'S own programme. It does not ac-
cord with the language of the Milan Proclama-
tion. When reading that famous document people
shrugged their shoulders bewildered, asking each
other " Whether is this man a QUIXOTE or a
MACCHIAVELLI ? " If any were really in doubt
then upon the matter, they know perfectly well
now to which horn of the dilemma of this alterna-
tive they are driven. They are conscious at last
that while France is (as her ruler declares of her)
the only nation of Christendom that makes war for
an " idea"—in the instance of this war in Italy
it turns out in the end a very sordid idea
indeed. 0 you suffering nation—sighs France—
accept an alliance with me, and your emancipation
is accomplished ! The same winning call has been
heard before now in that portion of the poultry-
yard sacred to the birds that saved the capital—
" Dilly, dilly, come and be killed." True, it is, the
letter of the bond has been rigidly adhered to and
carried into effect by France. Sardinia has been
put in possession of Lombardy. But if VICTOR
EMMANUEL has gained Lombardy and Milan, he
has lost Savoy and Nice. The Irishman's blanket
has again been cut off at one end for the purpose
of lengthening it at the other. The Imperial Eman-
cipator of Italy has done precisely what he intended
to do—to begin with. He has got upon the moun-
tain tops of Savoy that standing ground for his
! fulcrum sighed for by ARCHIMEDES. So far
as Sardinia is concerned the ball is in a great
measure at the foot of NAPOLEON. It yet remains
to be seen now whether in aspiring to obtain the
whole Italian boot, the warrior-king has not in the
commonest sense of the phrase just simply put his
foot in it. The French Alliance threatens at any
rate to militate seriously against the real interests
of Sardinia. Recent events in connection with that
alliance have shown, anew, the world of wisdom
latent in that little apologue of the Giant and the
Dwarf, related episodically in the " Vicar of Wake-
field," by OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Already—while the
Sardinian Monarch has gained new glory upon the
field of battle as the armed champion of" Italy for the
Italians," and with this accession of glory grasped
too a large amount ofbooty, of the spoils of confliet—
Lombardy, Parma, Modena, Tuscany, the Romagna,
—has he not even now lost, so to speak an eye in
Nice and an arm in Savoy—may he not yet like
the dwarf in the apologue (unless he break away
betimes from that ruinous partnership with his
friend the giant) lose his other limbs in time, and
then a good share too of his hard earned booty after-
wards ? But—again it is the voice of CAVOUR that
objects and that objects too in the solemn voice of
warning " The state of Italy does mot permit us
stop." To stop—in what ? In going further still
in the downward direction of cession after
cession—in the giving up, as the farther
price of this French alliance, of another Nice (say
Genoa), of another Savoy (say Tuscany) ? Count
CAVOUR does not particularise. He simply contents
himself with saying :—" The state of Italy does
not permit to stop —." But he then sums up the
situation thus—" Austria has not recognised the
annexation, and we are threatened on all sides. The
POPE has rejected our overtures, and has opened a
crusade against Italy. We meet everywhere with
the grave dangers of war. The armaments which
are going on prove it. We cannot, therefore, modify
our policy, which necessitates the maintenance of
an alliance with France. All parties in France not
being favourable to Italy, it was necessary to
satisfy them by ceding Savoy and Nice, as other-
wise the Emperor would have been unable to con-
tinue to manifest his sympathies with us." So that
Savoy and Nice are avowedly and undisguisedly just
a quid pro quo It is the price of the French
alliance that Sardinia is required now to pay down
on the nail—the price, that is, just so far. We
may be tolerably certain that after such a feast
as that, " there be pippins and cheese to follow,"
as Sir HUGH EVANS says. The chivalrous aid ac-
corded to Italy through Sardinia turns out thus
clearly after all to be a purely mercantile
transaction. As a mercantile transaction, the
" idea" for which France made war was
a capital idea at bottom. She lost a good many
men, it is true ; but that is, of course, neither here
nor there—for has she not won new glory at the
point of the sword and at the mouth of the cannon ;
and now, still more, has she not gained, at the
point of the pen, Nice and the Nizzards, Savoy
and the Savoyards ? There is a good deal
of what we call sharp practice in all
this ; but as to the Chivalry, as to the
Magnanimity ! Well, :perhaps the less said about
that the better. The striking of the balance of
accounts just now between France and Sardinia
is really in some respects not much unlike the pay-
ment of the black mail levied in the olden time by
the Border marauders.

Mr. BRIGHT is surprised at the country's show-
ing so little resentment at the vote of the Lords
last Monday. But surely the reasons lie on the
surface. The -income-tax is felt by almost every
elector in the kingdom as a real grievance; of the
paper duty, unless told about it, hardly one elector
in fifty knows even the existence ; just those who
have to cancel the excise labels know of it, and the
general public does not feel the burden at all.
When, therefore, as a gratuitous supplement to all
the hazards to the revenue of the French treaty,
the Government added the abolition of the unfelt
paper duties, and that by the imposition of an ad-
ditional load of the hated income-tax, they took
the `very way to make the repeal of the duty
worse than a matter :of indifference, there was a
general feeling—we had rather the duty had re-
mained on till it could be abolished without the im-
position of a fresh and more annoying burden.
Nor is this all—war duties on tea and sugar yet
remain. This is now understood by every ' old
washer-woman, and by every female head of a
household throughout the country. In their chat
on the matter over the tea-table, who can doubt that
the mi,tress of a family, whose husband is taxed
under schedule 1), or, indeed, under any schedule,
if the income be limited, reasons thus with her
spouse—" eight shillings and fourpence for each
hundred pounds of our income—hem !" Multiply
that by two, three, four, as the case may be, it comes
to something ; I had rather that money were spent
in paying for a little more tea or sugar, or both .
we older ones could relish a little stronger cup of
our evening beverage, and our children and servants
are never tired of sugar. As to paper, I don't care
a farthing about it. I should not save a penny a
year on that."

It is the Government itself, then, Which has put

the question of repeal in a false position, in the first
instance ; and the repealers themselves by attempt-
ing to bully the Lords, in the second. It is remark-
able that so little is the burden of the paper dity
felt, that even the cry that we have bought its
repeal by the penny additional of income-tax, does
not tell. The vast majority reason that the penny
they must, indeed, pay ; but even if the three-half-
pence per lb. duty be abolished, they shall not feel the
difference, while next year, through want of it,
perhaps Mr. GLADSTONE will demand his favourite
five per cent. income tax ! So far as our own social
intercourse extends, and as the information from
casual conversation with strangers goes, not to
speak of direct communications from the more
politically minded who address themselves to
editors, there is a kind of common-sense judgment
that the Lords have done, financially, the right
thing. The rejection of a money bill is felt to be a
startling deviation from what had been supposed to
be settled practice ; but, again, it is asked, why did
the Commons provoke them to it ?
We certainly had thought, at first, that the new
course taken by the Lords would have aroused the
warmer Liberals more generally than it has done.
It seems, however, that the calm tone of the Go-
verment has communicated itself to the country. It
is but small knots of Reformers who here and there
pais strong resolutions. The cheap Press is, indeed,
terrifically loud—almost savage in its language.
This, however, is but natural. We tried to ascer-
tain, as carefully as we could, the amount of duty
probably paid by the greater part—not the whole
—of the penny daily and weekly literature of the
present time in London alone, and we made out
nearly £lOO,OOO per annum ! The penny daily
journal, which on account of its rather unpopular
principles has the smallest circulation, would gain
not less than £6,000 a year by the repeal of the duty.
The most popular, much more than double that sum;
men must be more than human if, with such pecu-
niary inducements before them, they did not make
their voice heard for repeal.

Of course we do not mean to insinuate
that they are not quite as patriotic as the
rest of us, and very clearly see the con-
nection between the nation's interests and their
own, and that the former have their full weight
with our low-priced contemporaries. It seems,
however, to be the fact that, but for the publishers
and patrons of penny literature, in London and the
country, we should, just now, have hardly a de-
mand for the repeal of the duty. Excise taxes are
disliked, and this one interferes doubtless with trade,
and yet neither the public nor the trade make any
effort for its repeal. The kernel of the agitation
is, we believe, the single class of persons to whom
we have adverted. It certainly is most remarkable,
that when it is proposed to repeal a tax on an
article which is in every ones hands, there is no
general movement in support of the repeal—still
more so, that the people seem disposed to acquiesce
in the Lords' refusal of what their representatives
had given up. It is plain that our low-priced,
contemporaries must wait till a real surplus
of revenue can be shown. Many may think
a penny newspaper a very good thing,
but all know a penny more income tax to be a
very, very, bad thing. When Mr. GLADSTONE
fulfils his promise of abolishing the income-tax
then and not till then, can we cordially agree to
the abolition of a tax which presses so lightly on
the people as the duty on paper.

THE COURT.—Her Majesty and his Royal High-
ness the Prince Consort, with the youthful members of the
Royal family, propose to leave Osborne on Wednesday
next, for Buckingham Palace. The Queen and Court will
remain three days in town, and then remove to Windsor
Castle for the Ascot races, during which her Majesty will
entertain a succession of distinguished guests at the Castle.
The Right Hon. B. Disraeli and Mrs. Disraeli
have left Grosvenor-gate for Hughenden Manor, Bucks.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cam-
bridge and the Princess Mary left St. James's Palace, on
Saturday, for Cambridge Cottage, Kew, for the holidays.
The duchess and princess will return to town on Thursday.
The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland left
Northumberland House on Saturday, for Sion House,
Isleworth.

The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland left Staf-
ford House, St. James's, on Saturday, for Cliefden House,
near Maidenhead, for the holidays.

The Duke of Argyll left Campden Hill, on Satur-
day, for Inverary Castle, N.B. The duchess, accompa-
nied by her youthful family, ha 3 gone on a visit to the
Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, at Cliefden Park, near
Maidenhead.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Cholmondeley
left town, on Saturday, for Westbrook Park, on a visit to
the Hon. Granville and Lady Georgiana Ryder.

His Excellency the Earl of Carlisle, who has
been staying- some weeks with the Duke and Duchess of
Sutherland, at Stafford House, St. James's, left town on
Saturday, for Dublin Castle.

Lord and Lady Lyndhurst and the Hon. Miss
Copley left town on Saturday, on a visit to Mr. G. G.
Harcourt, M.P ~ and Frances Countess Waldegrave, at
Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, where a distinguished circle
have assembled.

Captain Jolliffe, the member for Wells, and
the Hon. Mrs. Jolliffe are:passing the Whitsun recess with
their relation at Ammerdown Park, in Somersetshire.
A letter dated Vienna, May 23, says,—There is
a rumour in circulation that Austria will render assistance
to the King of Naples, but it is almost impossible to believe
that she can seriously think of taking a step which would
probably lead to a renewal of her quarrel with France.
The Queen has ordered a Conge d'laire for the
election of the present Bishop of Carlisle (Dr. Villiers) to
the see of Durham, vacant by the translation of Dr. Loan-
ley to the Archbishopric of York.
THE LATE MR. ALBERT SMITH.—The remains of
Mr. Albert Smith were interred at Brompton Cemetery on
Saturday. The funeral of the plainest description, Mr.
Smith having expressed a wish in his will that the expenses
connected with it should not exceed £2O. The body was
followed by his brother, Mr. Arthur Smith ; by his wife's
father, Mr. Robert Keeley ; and by his executor, Mr.
Arthur Barlow. It was buried in the grave in which his
late father was interred three years since.

On Thursday evening the Academicians met in
Trafalgar- square to elect a full member of their body. The
choice fell upon Mr. Augustus Egg. Mr. Boxall run close
upon the successful candidate in the preliminary scratching,
but in the final vote Mr. Egg came in by a majority of five.
THE CATTLE TRADE.—NORIVICH, May 26.—At
to-day's market there was a very considerable number of
cattle, and, the supply of keep being now good, Ularge
business was done and a clearance was nearly effected, with
an upward tendency in prices. The same remark applies
to sheep, but the clearance was not so complete.
THE NAVY.—A return of the number of men
which would be required to provide the established or esti-
mated complements for the whole of the steam vessels afloat,
building, and converting, states that for our 59 ships of the
line we should require in all 50,620 men; for 43 frigates,
20,050; for 9 blockships, 5,535; for 4 iron-cased ships,
1,900 ; for 21 corvettes, 5,690 ; for 95 sloops' 13.515 ; for 27
smaller batteries, 1,987; for 192 gunboats, 8,086; for 8
floating batteries, 1,680; for 61 transports, tenders, &c.,
2,804 ; and for 4 mortar vessels, 840. In all, thetotalnum-
ber of men required would be 112,742 ; or 95,813 officers and
seamen, and 16,929 marines.
FIRE ON BOARD A STEAMSHIP AT BERMONDSEY.
—A fire of a most alarming character broke out on Satur •
day night on board the steamship Gannet, Captain Ingram,
belonging to Messrs. Robinson, of 64, Mark-lane, lying off
East•lane, Bermondsey. In a short time the flames corn.
pletely enveloped the engine-room, and thence extended to
the middle hold, filled with rum, cork, and oils, and it was
not until the engine-rooms, the middle hold, and upper
deck were nearly burnt out, the costly machinery damaged
by fire and water, and the rigging of the mainmast burnt,
that the fire could be got under. Tho origin of the fire is
not 'precisely known, but it is generally supposed to have
arisen from overheat in the stokehole.
A FALSE ONE.—The following instance of
feminine deceit is causing a dial of gossip in Cambridge ;
we forbear, however to mention names. Mr. ---, a
tradesman of Cambridge, was betrothed to a young lady,
Miss S., of F--, a neighbouring village, and Tuesday
week was the appointed " happy day." The cake wassent
home, the furniture all supplied, the guests invited, the
clergyman spoken to,"
the flies for the bridal party hired,
and the gentleman had sent two rings to the fair one for
selection. Two days prior to the Tuesday, however, he
received a letter from his lady love, stating that the Mar-
riage must be deferred fir a few days, under circumstances
which she would explain. On the following Wednesday
(the day after that fixed for the great event) the bridegroom
expectant received the following note :—" London, May.
Mrs. M. (late Miss S.) presents her compliments to Mr. 8.,
and begs to inform him that she was married this morning
(Tuesday) in London. All presents will be duly returned."
This precious specimen of female delicacy finished with
" Yours faithfully," &c. It appears that the bride has
b:en engaged for five years, and the jilt had really been
trifling with the affections of a young, confiding, and
worthy man. To add to the heartlessnes of the affair the
husband brought to Cambridge one of the rings sent, to
have it changed for one a little smaller.—Cambridge hole-
I pendant.

LATEST NEA:.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office :

NAPLES, MAY 25.

Garibaldi's troops are six miles distant from Pa-
lermo, and occupy the heights surrounding it. An
engagement has taken place, but without a definite
result. The insurgents have maintained their posi-
tions, and the Royal troops have entered Palermo.
Several Neapolitan vessels of war have arrived
before Palermo, and a bombardment was feared
should a rising take place in the city.

MAY 26.