The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-21 00:00:00

which alone would, in his opinion, render it worthy
of an intelligent body of Englishmen. Its purport
was—
That this meeting, while repudiating the idea of British
intervention in the present struggle between France and
Austria, yet desires to express its deep conviction of the ne-
cessity of recognising the independence of Italy, as much
in the interests of the peace of Europe as of too long de-
layed justice to the Italian people."
Mr. TAYLOR was proceeding to argue in favour of
his amendment, but being interrupted by numer-
ous cries of " Sit down," and other expressions of
disapprobation, he took a show of hands as to
whether or not the meeting would hear him, and
as a ludicrously small number of hands were held
up in his favour he at once resumed his seat.
The amendment having been seconded,
Mr. GILPIN, M.P., objected to it on the ground
that its adoption would give to the meeting an ap-
pearance of partisanship, which the promoters of it
were anxious to avoid. There were two sources of
danger of England getting involved in the war.
One was the generous sympathy of the true-hearted
people of Britain for the oppressed of every nation,
and the other the notoriously German sympathies
of some portions of the community. (Applause.) If
even in the interests of the nationalities they still
implored, demanded, !insisted upon neutrality—
(cheers)—they could with greater force require that
those who sympathised with despots should observe
it. (Cheers.)
Mr. TAYLOR said that Mr. Gilpin's speech had
shown that his amendment might be understood in
a sense in which he did not intend it, therefore he
begged to withdraw it. (Cheers.)
The resolution was therefore unanimously agreed
to.

Mr. NICOLAY moved that a memorial embody-
ing the foregoing resolution should be prepared and
presented to Lord Derby by a deputation, consisting
of the Lord Mayor and. other gentlemen.
The resolution having been seconded by the Rev.
NEwMAN HALL, and unanimously assented to,
Thanks were voted to the Chairman and to the
Lord Mayor, and the proceedings terminated.

COU.RT OF COMMON COUNCIL.

Yesterday a Court was held for the despatch of
public business.
ADDRESS TO THE QUEEN ON THE NEUTRALITY OF
ENGLAND.

Mr. Deputy WHITE rose to move :
" That a dutiful and loyal address be presented to her
Majesty expressive of the deep regret of this Court at the
commencement of hostilities between Austria and France
and Sardinia • and its decided conviction that the best inte-
rests of England will be c•nsulted by the observance of the
strictest neutrality consistent with the security and honour
of the nation."

In framing that resolution he had not been un-
mindful of the right which the Corporation pos-
sessed to approach the Throne and express its
opinions upon matters affecting the policy of Go-
vernment—a right not without its responsibilities,
and which ought only to be exercised upon ques-
tions of the highest importance. Occasions of this
kind but seldom occurred, but the commencement
of hostilities between Austria and Sardinia and
France affected the interests of England, and made
it a duty incumbent upon the Court, on the part of
their fellow-citizens, to express an opinion as to the
course which should be adopted on so important a
crisis as the present. (Loud cries of " Hear.")
No doubt Lord Derby, at the Mansion-house, and
Mr. Disraeli and Lord Stanley, on the hustings,
and more recently a Royal proclamation, had de-
clared in favour of neutrality ; but the speeches of
Cabinet-Ministers were liable to be misunderstood

—a mistake to which the united expression of the
people of England in favour of non-intervention
could not be subjected. (Hear; hear.) It was a
principle from which nothing would induce them
to depart but the necessity of the defence of their
liberty and honour. In order to give proper forco
to their declaration of neutrality, it was necessary
that they should clearly understand the principle
expressed by-the term, and the more clearly they
defined it the less likely they were to become com-
promised in the quarrel, and the less would be the
injury inflicted upon their commercial and indus-
trial interests. It was an important step calmly to
consider the danger which menaced them, since
the depreciation of public securities, owing to the
outbreak of the war, amounted to no less than
£150,000,000. (Hear.) Then, .again, they saw
that every day other vessels were preferred to Eng-
lish vessels, on the supposition that England would
probably become involved in the war, and the sup-
position that America would not. Mr. White then
continued as follows :—We find that Austria
has attacked Sardinia, whether wisely or justly is
not now a queEtion for us to discuss, and France
has allied herself with Sardinia to resist the attack

and to liberate Italy from the domination of the
Austrians. If they prove successful, and Italy be-
comes free, we, as freemen, shall welcome her as
another nation born into the family of liberty, but
no one will say that this in any way directly or
indirectly involves the necessity of our intervention.
_ _

But the danger will arise, it is said, should the Aus-

trians be driven out of Italy, when the desire of
revenge for injuries by Piedmont, and the impetu-
ous valour of the French, flushed with victory, will
carry them beyond the Alps, and lead. them to in-
augurate afresh the career of the first Empire. Now,
I have no fears of the kind ; 50 or 60 years have
passed away since that time, and experience in-
structs nations as well as individuals, and " history
is philosophy teaching by examples." I would
deduce my reasons for thinking that will not be the
case from more recent events, and feel that I have
arrived at a correct conclusion. In 1848, it will be
remembered, Louis Philippe was suddenly driven
from his throne, and became an exile in this coun-
try ; our alarm at that time was so great that Con-
sols fell 10 or 12 per cent. French armies in idea
were seen marching to the Rhine, and a reign of
terror was immediately to be inaugurated; but these
fears were not realised, the prophecies of the savans,
lacking fulfilment, were forgotten, and after a few
convulsive throes France settled down under the
present Government. Still more recently, I would
instance the Crimean war, when two of the Powers,
France and Sardinia, were allied with us 0 arrest
the aggression of Russia against Europe. There
can be no doubt that if France, at the taking of
Sebastopol, had felt disposed to enter upon a
career of glory, the course fully lay open to her,
for nothing could exceed the eagerness and pre-
paredness of this country to continue the war, but
we did not find it so. France had achieved glory ;
the burdens of war were heavy ; Russia was hum-
bled, and there was an irrepressible desire on her
part for peace. But I will suppose that the
French have crossed the Alps and have again en-
tered Vienna in triumph, would that be a cause for
our intervention ? I decidedly answer " No." We
can have no sympathy with the oppressor, and Aus-
tria must pay the penalty of her misgovernment ;
but it may be thought otherwise by the confedera-
tion of Germany with Prussia at its head, and they,
fearing the power of France, may declare against
her, and the war become almost European in its
character ; but let Germany count the cost and the
risk well before she embarks in the enterprise, and .
having determined upon the conflict, let her with
her million men in arms rely upon herself, and let
her not think for a moment that England will take
part in the strife. Whatever may be the regrets of
this country, she will not interfere so long as her
neutrality is respected and her honour and security
unassailed. But fur these events to transpire much
time must elapse. and these results will be long
working out; and what during this will be the con-
dition of England, impregnable by her insular po-
sition, strengthening daily in her moral and mate-
rial power ? She will be enabled to fulfil the proud
and glorious mission which I believe awaits her—
that of mediator when the combatants, prostrate
and exhausted, shall seek her peaceful intervention,
and England will achieve for herself the glory—
that of being the arbiter of an honourable and last-
ing peace to Europe. (Cheers.)
Mr. C. REED seconded the motion. He said there
could be no question in that court that it was the
duty of England at the present moment to observe
a strict neutrality. The question had been asked
what they had to do with the war in Italy. Eng-
land held a very peculiar position at the present
time. Until the present time there had scarcely
been a war among the principal powers of Europe
without the participation of England ; but now she
found herself omitted, and it was the duty of the
country to see that nothing was done which would
be likely to commit them to take a share in the
struggle now being made in Europe. (Hear, hear.)
The contest was one between rival despotisms,
which, with liberty on their lips, sought in that
struggle to promote their own supremacy. With
regard to the proclamation of to. Queen, every
one must rejoice in the principle of neutrality con-
tained in it ; but he saw in that no reason why
the Court should not proceed with their address,
but believed rather that it threw upon them the
duty of supporting the Government in the course
which they had so publicly adopted. He consi-
dered the proclamation as her Majesty's answer to
the voice of the people, whO, from the hustings,
had demanded that peace should be preserved ; but
the voice of the people must have a still further
hearing. They bad heard of drifting into war ;
they had drifted into the Crimean war; they had
drifted into the Affghan war ; and, without great
care and circumspection, they might yet drift into
an war. (Cheers.) He was anxious,
therefore,
Europeanthat the Court should adopt the address,
so as to do all they could to prevent any Govern-
ment from drifting the country into the present
war. They had been told that they must respect
the treaties of 1815, but every contracting Power
had broken those treaties except England, and
should England engage
why, therefore, he asked,