The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-28 00:00:00

THE ITALIAN QUESTION.

A Paris letter in the Semaphore of Marseilles
mentions a new solution of the Italian difficulty:—

"It is proposed to divide the territory of the
Duchies into three parts ; one of them, Tuscany,
in order to please Austria, will retain its old Go-
vernment and Urand Duke ; the second, Parma,
out of deference to the wishes expressed by the
popular assemblies, will be annexed to the king-
dom of Victor Emmanuel; and the third, Modena,
will remain independent; but the Duke of Modena,
for reasons easy to understand, will retire and
cede his rights to the Duchess of Parma. The dis-
possessed Duke of Modena will retain his title and
rank of sovereign prince, and will also receive a
considerable pecuniary indemnity. In diplomatic
phrase, he will be mediatised. It is manifest that
this division of the territories gives Piedmont
a perfectly natural and regular frontier line
to the south, while its neighbour, on that side,
is a small state placed under the authority of a
princess whose liberal ideas will not form a too
striking contrast with Sardinian institutions. The
Duchess will form, between the constitutional
King of Piedmont and the sovereign of Tuscany, a
well-devised and easy transition. On one side,
she will touch upon her old States, where she
leaves many friends, and on the other, upon
the States of a prince of the House of Lor-
raine, with whom common interests always
kept her on good terms. On his part, Ferdi-
nand IV., taught by experience, will restore the
Tuscan constitution and govern in conformity with
the spirit of the age. Bologna and Romagna will
remain under the authority of the Pope ; as the
promise made by the Emperor to the Holy See, that
no encroachment shuuld be made on its temporal
power, cannot be disregarded. The Pope will
give satisfaction to the desires of his subjects there
by establishing at Bologna a consulta, whose de-
liberations will suggest reforms which the Pope is
to carry out as far as advisable. Lastly, there re-
mains Venetia. If we may believe a very prevalent
report, it was partly with a view to deciding the
form of government to be adopted in this portion of
Northern Italy, that the King of the Belgians
lately intervened. He proposed, in the name of
Austria, the establishment of a vice-royalty
to be given to his son-in•law, the Archduke Maxi-
milian. This Prince, whom the treaty of Villafranca
would place in a position altogether independent of
the Austrian empiro, would endow Venice with
liberal institutions. Venetia would also have a
native army in accordance. with the stipulations of
Vil la frau ca."

A letter from Turin, in the Union, says :
" War in the spring is here considered certain,
and I may add throughout the whole of
Italy, as the inevitable result of present indici-
sions• and agitations; every one now begins to
think that not only the Conference of Zurich, but
the Congress itself, should it assemble, would be
powerless to prevent that eventuality. The ar-
ticle of the French official journal, • that of the
Constitutionnel, the French despatches which have
for some time past rapidly succeeded each other,
and, more particularly, the confidence of the King
in the future and in France—all is explained in a
warlike sense, having the complete independence
of Italy for basis and for object."
The following is a text of the despatch, dated
the 4th, addressed by the Austrian Minister of
Foreign Affairs to Count Traun, Austrian Minister
at Dresden and Coburg, with reference to the atti-
tude assumed by the Duke of Saxe Coburg on the
German reform question :
" Among the different party programmes which
have latterly treated of the transformation of the
Germanic COnfederation into a Parliamentary Fe-
deral State placed under the direction of Prussia,
there is one which has particularly struck us, be-
cause it expresses with special earnestness a demand
for the exclusion of Austria from reconstituted
Germany. In this declaration, published at Gotha,
the idea of a well-known party, which represents
itself to be the National party, is set forth with
unaccustomed frankness, and in a mariner which
shows that it is desired to place the Imperial Ger-
man State, in its future relations with Germany,
on exactly the same line as Denmark and the
Netherlands. And subsequently we saw not with-
out strong, regret that 1.11. the Duke of Saxe
Coburg Gotha had not cnly received a deputation
which presented him with this programme and
with an address, but that he made use of language
of assent and of absolute encouragement without

any reserve. The Imperial Government respects '
every sincere conviction, but the words which fell
from princely lips at Gotha do not enter into the
limits of free individual opinions, but concern a
collection of very positive and very important
rights and obligations. His Highness Duke Ernest
himself cannot but see that the object to accomplish
which efforts are being made to form a new pre-
tended national party, by means of elements taken
from the democratic ranks and the Gotha party,
implies an absolute negation of the relations founded
on the treaties existing between his Austrian Ma-
jesty and the other princes Of the Germanic Con-
federation, including the Duke of Saxe-Coburg
also, and therefore that any countenance or aid
given to the efforts of this party is equivalent to a
renunciation of the Federal treaty. The Imperial
Government has the' the right, but it thinks
that it has. still more the patriotic duty, to remon-
strate in time, and expressly as it does by these
presents, against the act by which the Duke
has manifested his sentiments. It has at heart
the welfare of the whole German country, and can-
not forget that the disastrous errors of the same
party which can now boast of an appoval given to
it trom so high a quarter has already delivered up
Germany at a not very distant period to the greatest
1 confusion and to the danger of civil war, danger
from which it was not saved by constitutional doc-
trines narrow and without foresight, but by the
noble German feelings of our Emperor and master,
014 by the moderation arid love of peace of the two
great German powers, In conformity with the
iiitt2ntions of the Emperor Francis Joseph, I beg of
your Excolleney to tpelie care, by leaving a copy of
the present despatph with the Minister of State of
the Grand Duke, or in any other form which may
appear suitable to you, that the preceding observa-
ttons, and eivccipily alp legal reserves pp*, shall
be brought to the knowledge of the Duke.,--
Wccive, cue., "RECHBERG."

The Diritto of Turin relates the following oc-
currence:—On Sunday last, when the royal train
arrived at the station at Alessandria, another train
with 800 Hungarians, who had formed part of the
levy effected in Piedmont during the war, was about
to start for Genoa. The Hungarians, on perceiving
the royal train, greeted it with an interminable
" Elien !" which means " Long live the King !"
His Majesty, touched with this cordial manifesta-
tion, sent for General Klapka, who accompanied
the Hungarians, and requested him to thank them
in his name; he further expressed sympathy for
the Hungarian cause, and encouraged him to hope
—a just and noble cause could not fail to triumph
in the end. The words, being repeated by General
Klapka to his countrymen, produced an immense
sensation.

THE LOSS OF THE NEPTUNE.

OFFICIAL DESPATCHES.

From Major Charles Swaffield to Brigade Major at
Fort William, Calcutta, dated Akyab, August 6,

1859.

Sir,—l have the honour to report, for the infor-
mation of his Excellency Lord Clyde, the Com-
mander-in-Chief, the wreck of the Neptune, with a.
detachment of her Majesty's troops on board. The
Neptune sailed from Calcutta on the 12th of July,
1859, and shortly after leaving the Sand Heads fell
in with very bad weather, which lasted for nine
days, the last three of which it blew a furious gale.
On the 28th ultimo we lost our mainmast and very
important spars. I should mention that for many
days we had been drifting on a lee shore, our dis-
tance from which we did not know. On the morn-
ing of the 29th we lost our most useful, and as it
afterwards appeared, our only available boat.
During those nine days our position on the chart
Was not known, as neither sun, moon, nor stars
were visible to enable the master to take an obser-
vation. On the 29th it cleared up, and we found
we were near the head of the Bay of Bengal. After
a consultation, it appeared that Akyab, a seaport in
Arracan, was, in our then crippled, condition, the
best port to make for. On nearing it we again
broke our foreyard, which had been repaired, and
could then do:nothing but drift before the wind. We
anchored that night, the 31st ult., after narrowly
escaping striking on a reef called the Oyster reef.
On the - morning of the Ist of August we parted
from our anchor and drifted on to a reef; the ship
first struck at about 12 o'clock (noon), and con-
tinued to strike and drift with the tide and sea till
two o'clock of the next morning. We expected
every moment that she would go to pieces ; she
finally settled at a place, I believe about 18 miles
north-west of Akyab. On the morning of the 2d
there was a very heavy sea and surf, and a raft
could not be constructed ; we were about two miles
and a half from shore, and consequently had no
hope of saying life, not having an available boat.
It was evident that at high water her decks would
be swept ; we were at prayers, and had given up
all hope when the joyous sound was heard of a
" steamer in sight." She proved to be the Neme-
sis, Capt. Goodwin, come out to search for us from
Akyab, where our guns had been heard. • Shortly
after coming to an anchor, her boats were sent, and
continued to ply between the two ships until every
soul was taken out of the Neptune and put on board
the Nemesis. An officer's wife, a soldier's widow,
and the sick were first lowered into the boats, and
then' the men Slid down into the boats by a rope
from the forecastle, and latterly (the ship having
sunk deeper or the tide risen) stepped into them
from the fore chains.

The behaviour of the troops was most admira-
ble ; they were stationed on the poop until the sea
washed over that part of the ship, and came for-
ward as their names were called. There was not
the slightest symptom of a disposition to rush or
even to hurry to the boat, though it was perfectly
evident that the ship was in momentary danger of
going to pieces, and before the last of the troops
left, the sea washed over every part of the vessel.
I attribute our being saved, under God, to Captain
Goodwin, of the Nemesis, and to those who so gal-
lantly commanded her boats at the imminent risk
of their lives, amongst whom were Captain Porter,
marine assistant commissioner, and Mr. Earle,
chief mate of the Nemesis, who were both volun-
teer . for this most dangerous service. There was•
a fearful sea running at the time; nothing was saved,
or could be saved, except life and the things we
stood in. I believe it to be my duty to call the atten-
tion of his Excellency to the extreme risk attending
the despatch of troops down the Bay of Bengal in a
sailing vessel at this time of the year, when it has
to beat against the south-west monsoon. On reach-
ing Akyab everything was done for the comfort of
the troops by Major Garstin, of her Majesty's Indian
service, and commanding at the station.
In moments of danger the master of the vessel
was at his post and exerting himself to the. utmost;
he was the last man to leave his ship. The troops
will return to Calcutta in the BiLinah steamer.

From Captain R. Goodwin, Commander of her
Majesty's steamer Nemesis, to Major G. Verner,

Commissioner of Arracan.
Sir,—l have the honour to report the arrival of
her Majesty's ship Nemesis, under my command, at
this place, at 6.20 p.m. of this day, from the wreck
of the troopship Neptune, wrecked off the mouth of
the Myoo river, with the following passengers

saved
Her Majesty's Troops 31st Regiment—Major C.
Swaffield, commanding troops ; Lieut. Pepper,
George F. Adams, assistant-surgeon ; 64 privates,
and Mrs. Swaffield, with one European maid ser-
vant.
Her Majesty's Troops 6lth Regiment—Eighteen
privates, one warrant officer, and two camp fol-
lowers.
Her Majesty's 74th Regiment Light Dragoons
—One private.
Crew of the Neptune—Captain L. T. Fillan, two
mates, seventeen men (European), and five natives.
In all 106 passengers saved, and one mail bag, of
letters, &c., wet.

• The Due de Chartres, who served with the Sar-
dinian army in the DE liancampaign, has recently been on a
visit to the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, who is nearly re.,
latcd to his mother, the late and lamented Duchess of Or-
Jeans. The stay of his royal highness at Schwerin was not
of long duration, and he has now proceeded to Switzerland,
en route to join his regiment at Piedmont or in Lombardy.
SIR C. TREVELYAN AND THE NATIVES.—A na-
I ire correspondent—a warm admirer of Sir C. Trevelyan—
says that his Excellency had recently been cultivating the
go :d graces of the poorer classes of the native community
by teveral acts of condescension and courtesy. "A few days
since his Excellency visited the garden of a poor native, and
proceeded to pluck some of the flowers. Observing that the
owner was attentively watching his motions, heinterrogated
him whether his act amounted to trespass, and was assured,
in reply, that the distinguished honour which he had con-
fen ed upon the poor man's flowers would cause them to
bloom earlier and blush redder for all time to come. His
Excellency then showered a handful of coins upon the de-
lighted Hindu, and went on his way." Another instance is
related by the same correspondent of the Governor's good
nature. , Riding down Popham's Broadway with his body-
guard, he was graciously pleased to pause and witness " the
antic sports" of a " tiger, who, with attendant tom-toms,
had been for some hour' delighting the neighbourhood by
his performances. Sir Charles, with his accustomed libe-
rality, showered out another handful of eoins. "It is
needless to add," says the writer, " that his Excellency left
th 9 spot-with the blessings of the multitude."—Honeward