The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-09 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1856.

There is a new aspirant for maritime fame. A
great naval power (!) "looming in the future ?'
England will speedily be compelled to hide her
diminished head. The lag—
" . . . that braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze !"
must yield to the Austrian bunting,' and
the Union Jack give way to the double-
headed Eagle ! Yes, Austria, encouraged by
the extraordinary concessions she obtained—
we might almost say the servile flunkey ism dis-
played towards her during the Eastern difficulty,
and oblivious of the embarrassed state of her
finances, has determined to consolidate her naval
forces in the Adriatic, in order to transform that
splendid sea, once the scene of Venetian glory,
Into a German lake. She has taken a leaf from
the Muscovite book, and endea►oured to play a
similar game in the Adriatic to that attempted
by the Autocrat with respect to the Euxine and
the Baltic.

The recent failure of the Northern Potentate
has not discouraged the Red Emperor. Ho en-
deavours to succeed by craft rather than by force,
Just as he contrived to get peaceable possession of
the Principalities, the reckless seizure whereof
brought on the Russian war, and he manifests
considerable cunning in the management of the
affair. He has procured the services of a not
very distant relative of the House of Coburg, and
therefore looks to the co-operation of England al-
most as a matter of certainty, just as NICHOLAS
dismissed the Austrian element from his calcula-
tion when deciding on the distribution of the sick
man's effects.

The way, however, is not altogether so clear
as may be anticipated. Despotic Sovereigns seem
to think that iu securing Court favour they have
done all that is needful. But some allowance
should be made for the co-ordinate branches of the
Legislature, with whom the fact that " Eng-
land has neither brothers nor cousins" has be-
come an axiom. They have, unquestionably,
exhibited, in too many respects, a toadying
servility ; but there is still a foundation
of British spirit that may eventually over-
turn the best-concocted schemes ; and no
English Minister could consent, under existing
circumstances, to the cession of such ports as those
of Slek and Sutarina by the Turkish to the Aus-
trian Government.

We may, however, see what even the suspicion
of Germanism has brought on the country. We
all know the proverb respecting CxESAR'S wife ; it
may well be extended to the husbands of Queens
regnant. Many attempts are made, relying on
the underhand influence said to be in operation,
which would never be ventured on under other
and less favourable circumstances, but for the
Coburg Alliance—and, we may add, the wanton
surrender of those unquestionable principles of
international law, that in the olden time insured
the maritime supremacy of what was then Great
Britain. But now—nous changeons tout cela—we
have abandoned the positions which NELSON bled
to maintain ; we are engaged in bandying
courtesies with Imperial, and Regal, aye, and
Grand Ducal Despots. We are ashamed of the
homely
simplicity of our old maxims, and are ar
parentily striving to reduce the United Kingdom
to a third-rate Power. The People, however, will
have at last to speak out, and to neutralise the