The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-11 00:00:00

Austria and any auxiliaries that might come to her
assistance, on at least equal terms. It is tolerably
notorious that Great Britain will not interfere
to sustain the throne of the POPE, propped
up by foreign bayonets that she anxiously
desires that both the French and Austrian occu-
pations of Rome and of the Legations may cease
and determine ; and indeed, the voice of public
opinion has complained very earnestly that
no steps have been taken to procure the cessation
of the unconstitutional system. Very unexpectedly
LOUIS NAPOLEON has proposed to withdraw" his
troops, provided the Austrians also withdrew theirs.
The latter, however, know too well the value of
" possession," to give it up readily. They are quite
willing that the French troops should depart, but
they would instantly fill their places, and the people
would have no cause to rejoice at the change. To,
parody a celebrated passage that may be heard at
the Princess's—" The French baked meats would
coldly furnish forth the Austrian banquet."
Now this cannot be longer tolerated. If FRANCIS
JOSEPH desires to obtain the sympathies, or, what
is. perhaps, no less important, the support of Britain,
he must be prepared to come into court with clean
hands, and to consent to the removal of all his
troops now stationed in the States of the Church.
He should also commence setting his house in
order, so as to render a good account of his steward-
ship, when called on, and to no longer shudder at
the talismanic words—Lombardy, Hungary, Gal-
licia. Were it not for the former, he would not re-
quire Austrian forces in the Legations, would have
nothing to fear, even if there should be intestinal
commotions in Italy. But he well knows that the
stringency of his rule, the iron nature of the chain
which he has wound around every Lombardo-
Venetian, makes his Government one of
fear, not love, and that all classes, from
the peer to the peasant, are only pining for
an opportunity of flinging off the hateful yoke at
Milan and Mantua, Verona and Venice. The alle-
giance that can only be preserved by steel and
gunpowder, by the bayonet and the musket, must
be of a very doubtful character, and can scarcely
be deemed worth retaining.
He has tried the experiment of coercion suffi-
ciently long. Its failure is palpable and noto-
rious. Might he not try the effect of a little
conciliation--see what he could do by offering
free and liberal institutions ? He might take a leaf
out of the book of VICTOR. EMMANUEL, and try the
efficacy of an alternative. Ho may be assured
that it is his.only chance of retaining any territory
in Italy. We do not want, however, the interfer-
ence of France or Piedmont. If liberty is worth
having it should be gained by the parties them-
selves. Let them have " a clear stage and, no
favour ;" and if they cannot obtain it, they are not
deserving of it. We should, however, be disposed to
doubt the advantages that had been obtained by
French intervention. We should rather repeat
with the late DANIEL O'CONNELL, the celebrated
lines of BYRON—
" Hereditary bondsmen, know you not,
Who would be free, themselves should strike the blow !"

The Plutarchian contrast between the English
and French Navies, recently,exhibited to Europe
in the columns of the Conversations Lexicon, has
elicited from Admiral Sir CHARLES NAPIER a very
sensible communication, conveying to the First
Lord of the Admiralty a variety of timely and some
of them most important suggestions. Read by the
light of our latest naval exploits, the letter of the
gallant Admiral, it is true, assumes to itself at
times (quite unconsciously) a tone of melancholy
satire. For example, at the very commencement
of this remarkable epistle, Sir CHARLES observes
that the article which appeared the other day in the
German newspaper already particularised will

have shown Sir JOHN PAKINGTON " that on the

Continent the prestige of the British Navy is very
much damaged, if not lost." An observation (thus
coming to us) irresistibly suggestive of the inquiry
—How this prestige has become " damaged if not
lost ?" Not certainly because of the inadequacy of
the maritime armaments sent out against the enemy
during the last war. For never throughout
the whole of the great wars of NELSON
and NAPOLEON, never previously upon any
occasion recorded in our history had such a fleet
left the shores of England as the one despatched
into the Baltic four or five years ago. No—if
" damaged," if " lost "—it has surely been helped
to this very lamentable anti-climax, it has been
expedited in its descent to this miserable bathos
by a maritime campaign beginning with immense
promise, but ending not even in smoke—in the
burning of a few broadsides of gunpowder off
Cronstadt. But for the reminiscences provoked
by- the gallant Admiral through this reminder, we
should certainly have been content to let bygones
be bygones. But when Sir CHARLES NAPIER
volunteers the remark, that "on the Continent the
prestige of the British Navy is very much damaged
if not lost," it would be impossible, it would be
cruel affectation, it would be a shameful reticence
not to cast one wistful look askance at the memo-
ries of the Baltic expedition. Enough said,
he-Weyer, in regard to the Past—letus look rather
to the Future, as Admiral Sir CHARLES NAPIER
looks to it now, hopefully and encouragingly.

Almost immediately at the commencement of his
letter, the sailor M.P. for Southwark reminds Sir
JOHN PAKINGTON that, upon coming into power, he,
the First Lord of the Admiralty, distinctly enough
gave the country to understand that he would fit out
a Channel Fleet, and altogether put the Navy of
England into a much better state of efficiency.
After taking the whole of the existing and much-
neglected maritime difficulties categorically into'
consideration Sir CHARLES ends his letter with
these words—" To do all this would cost very little
more than our present system. It is so simple that
if the Government do not put itin force they ought
to be displaced by the House of Commons ; and I
for one will assist to do it." Bravo, Sir CHARLES !
This is plain speaking—a fair broadside—a raking
fire—clearing the way fore and aft, as effectually as
a charge of the 88th to the cry of Faugh-a-ballagh,
and to the tune of Garryowen. And what is " all
this" which can be done at so little cost and with
so much simplicity ? Sir CHARLES NAPIER ex-:
plains this as clearly and unmistakeably as we have
seen he intimates his intentions in regard to the
treatment of her MAJESTY'S Government. He care-
fully sums up the whole of his argument as to the
improvement of the navy and the permanent esta-
blishment of a Channel Fleet—an argument pre-
viously considered by him in detail clause by
clause—he sums all up very happily and minutely
towards the close of his elaborate and ingenious
communication. After remarking with start-

ling and encouraging brevity, " I see no
difficulty in manning the fleet, on an emer-
gency, in a week provided our peace establish-
ment is kept on a proper footing," Sir
CHARLES proceeds at once to explain his plan
succinctly. A Channel Feet of at least ten sail of the
line—that to begin with—that as a sine qua non.
Each of these ten ships to have a full complement
of. 900 thorough seamen, with 100 marines. Ten
thousand fighting men in all as the strength of this
efficient Channel Fleet. Supposing war to arise—
one watch from each of the ten ships to be dis-
charged into the other line-of-battle ships now in