The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-03 00:00:00

Commence at 7 o'clock.

VERDI'S OPERA OF MACBETH. The
whole of the first Act of this Opera, now produced
for the first time in this country (the remaining three acts
being in course of rehearsal), is sung nightly at the CAN-
TERBURY HALL CONCERTS.
THE DELEPIERRE FAMILY,
consisting of three Juvenile Violinists, viz., Jules, Julieand
tte,
and Julia Delepierre, aged, respectively, FOUR, SIX,
EIGHT years.
The perfect execution by these Lilliputian Artistes of some
of the most difficult and brilliant Solos, Duets, and Trios ever
written for the violin, has excited mingled wonder and admi.
ration in Continental Musical Circles, and drawn forth enthu-
siastic tributes of praise from the Public Journals of France
and Belgium.
They will perform TWICE EACH EVENING, in addi-
tion to the usual Entertainments.

THE WEATHER.--SIIN OFFICE, SEPTEMBER 4.
xiimincoltzTzß, IN THE SHADE.
67—highest since noon yesterday.
58—Lowest this morning and during the night.
66—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-29.8C
WIND, North-Westerly; light and fine. There was
heavy continuous rain all yesterday afternoon.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tsui DAY.—Morning, sh. 40m.—Afternoon, 6h. Itn.
To-MORROW-Morning, 6h. 23m.—Afternoon, 6h. 47m.

The great Foreign question of the day is yet
to be settled. From the first it was obvious that
the hurried "make-up" at Villafranca might serve
as a basis, but could not be termed a settlement. It
was more a truce, either to convenience or policy,
or perhaps to both. The Emperor NAPOLEON, act-
ing upon the spur of the moment, and while yet
the flush of victory cheered on his army to enthn-
siastic daring, still felt discretion to be the better
part of valour, and proposed an armistice to his
vanquished but not fallen foe.
In doing this he followed the bold policy of his
immortal uncle in taking the enemy by surprise.
The bait took readily, and the armistice was soon
followed up by a patched negotiation which seemed
to serve both parties without compromising either.
But though peace was hushed up unexpectedly,
the end was not yet. No doubt the struggle in the
closet at Villafranca was sharp as it was short,
and much was conceded for the time being to make
matters pleasant.
But the Emperors seemed to forget that in
settling matters so amicably they yet even reckoned
without their host. They agreed to sheath the
sword, but in so doing they opened the floodgates
of public expectancy. The people of Italy were
either staggered at the sudden cessation of
the war or were thrown into a sort of wondering
ecstacy at the idea that they were free—free from
the hated Austrian domination.

Acting on this belief they met everywhere to con-
gratulate—to concert—and to confirm their liberty.
It was, indeed, an event supposed by some to be too
good to be true, while by others, more resolute, it
was determined to make it true. Hence the delibe-
rations in the several Duchies, and hence their
combined agreement on the proper course of action.
They all decided upon prudence, and so modified
their plans as to avoid the danger of rashness by
any undue precipitancy. In fact they so modified
their plans as to come far within the letter of the
law rather than trespass beyond its bounds. In this
they showed their wisdom, and so took the wind
out of the sails of their enemy—whose number was
legion, and whose rage was like Vesuvius on a
stormy night, bursting with fire and fury.

But now comes the moral of their constitutional
conduct. They behaved so unexpectedly well that
France was taken aback, and found that she had
overdone the thing in one particular, while Austria
found herself non-plussed in all. Thus, very clever
men often prove themselves too clever by half.
They may contrive, plan, and settle matters, but in
dealing with brimstone and pitch they sometimes
get caught in their own trap, and have to bless
their unlucky stars for the unlooked-for dilemma.
The late Duke of MODENA has left some memorials
of his genius in writing, which have turned out to
be anything but pleasant. He had penned a docu-
ment or two on the character of the Emperor
NAt'oLsoN, which serve now to commend the in-
gredients of the poisoned chalice to his own ducal
lips! here is retribution with a vengeance! Re-
tribution which has pleaded the Duke's return to
despotic power, or any power at all, in a spirit the
very reverse of all his Bourbon hopes ! The Duke
penned a letter, and is now asked to expound it !
Verily the late war, though brief in its doings,
promises to be great, and we hope lasting in its
results, if it stamp the fiat of Europe on Italian
Independence. That matters strongly tend in that
direction may be indicated from recent events.
It was but the other day that Lord PALMERSTON,
on his return from Osborne, suddenly summoned a
Cabinet Council. The announcement startled the
public, for it was a very unusual proceeding. And
what was the occasion ? That's the question. It is
said that a Prophet has no honour in his own coun-
try, but we may learn the truth from another, and
we think the following, from Gallynani, will go
far to the solution of this grave point :
" A Paris letter in the Nord says : —"lhere
appears not to be any doubt that the Pleni-
potentiaries at Zurich cannot agree about many
points connected with the peas: signed at Villa-
franca, and the opinion is becoming every day
stronger that a Congress must be held. France and
Russia have already decided in favour of that meet-
ing, and it has also been demanded by Sardinia,
ever since the morrow of Villafranca. The Englishlo
a
Ministry, which had reserved its opinion,a
decided in favour of a Con grQsi at its last extra-
ordinary Cabinet Council. It will certainly be ac-
cepted by Prussia. The only doubt is, therefore,
as to what Austria will do. She was at first ex-
eaedingly hostile to the convoking of a Congress,
in which she was fearful of being completely iso-
lated. Bat in presence of the difficulties which
have arisen during the negotiations at Zurich, of
the march of events in Italy, and the manifesta-
tions of the national assemblies—in presence, too,
of the declaration of the French Government of its
detAnmination neiLlier to adopt nor tolerate any
violent measure against the free decision of the
Italian populations, the Austrian Cabinet begins to
perceive that there is nothing to be gained by re-

sisting the convocation of a Congress. The last
despatches from Vienna affirm that Austria is hesi-
tating, and that is not far from consenting under
present circumstances. The question of a Congress
may therefore be regarded as settled." On the
question of the King of SARDINIA consenting to
the annexations which have been voted, the same
letter says :—" The acceptation of the annexation
of Tuscany, Parma. Modena, and the Legations by
the King of SARDINIA becomes more and more pro-
bable, but the ratification of a Congress will be re-
quired. All these proceedings may seem rather incom-
patible with the preliminaries of Villafranca, but it is
impossible to deny that they are the logical and
almost inevitable development of the actual state
of affairs. It is impossible to come to any other
conclusion in presence of the disposition of the
French Government, which, after fairly exhaust-
ing all the means in its power to fulfil the stipula-
tions of the treaty relative to the fallen princes,
seems now to incline to a policy more favourable
to Piedmont and to satisfying the wishes of Italy.
This supplies a positive contradiction to all the
reports of dissensions between NAPOLEON 111. and
King VICTOR EMMANUEL. There has never been
any disagreement between them.'
_ _

The course of circumstance and the march of
mind have whispered moderation to the one, and
have taught humility and a sense of decorum to
the still would-be despotic supremacy of the other.
There must be a Congress for the benefit of
the Italians not less than for a prospect of rest for
Europe from the constant alarms created by in-
trigue and fostered by intolerance.
We see that King LEOPOLD, as usual, has an
eye to business. His family alliance with Austria
hampers him more than he bargained for,
and he finds it not only convenient,
but imperative, to send an envoy to the
Emperor NAPOLEON at Biarritz, to plead for Aus-
tria against Italy, and in favour of his Bourbon
cousins—the self-exiled, despotic Dukes. Really
this is too bad ; but nothing is considered too
good for such " a go-between !"

Will Lord JOHN RUSSELL be sent to repreent
England at the Conference ? If so, we hope he
will have the fear of another Vienna in Ills heart,
and keep the honour of England and the Indepen-
dence of Italy in his mind's eye.

We have some hope that one of the most sense-
less strikes on record is showing symptoms of
drawing to a close. It began with a class who
were not satisfied with as much wages for ten
hours as the millions of agricultural labourers
throughout the kingdom are thankful to obtain
for three times ten hours. No one could pretend,
therefore, not even the unionists themselves, that
this was a " sedition of the belly." It was a strike
avowedly to do less for the same money. Ten hours,
forsooth, was too much for a man to work ! We
only wish that we could do our work in ten hours,
and thousands of income-tax payers will breathe
most devoutly the same aspiration. The pretexts
were the most irrational and self-refuting conceiv-
able. The market was overstocked with labour ;
it was said, therefore, let us enhance the price of
the produce of our labour ! Let us make building
cost more—the inevitable result of employing
eleven men to do what is now done by ten—and
then we shall have more work ! The building
trades of London actually sold their good English
liberty to a glib-tongued orator or two, who could
persuade them that they would each have an hour
a day more to chat and smoke ; and that the men
now least worth employing, and therefore out of
work, would obtain it, if wages were raised, and
houses made dearer ! 'Were it not for the distress
entailed on thousands by this folly, it would be a
subject for ridicule merely.

But gleams of common sense are appearing, and
that amongst the workmen themselves. It requires
no ordinary courage for any man to contend against
the vast majority of his own class; to be denounced
as a traitor to his order, and to offend probably the
greater part of his immediate acquaintances. All
honour, therefore, is due to men like Mr. POMEROY
and Mr. PLUMMER, who can honestly denounce the
tyranny of the Unions, and vindicate the liberty
claimed for both masters and men by the now cele-
brated "document "of the former. We are sorry
that Mr. JAMES should ever have lent his name to
a denunciation of that document ; the more we re-
flect on it the more we are satisfied that the prin-
ciples enunciated in it are those merely of plain
English liberty. Mr. POMEROY'S lucid string of
questions in regard to it have never been answered,
nor can they be ; and Mr. PLUMMER'S very able
speech, delivered at the preliminary meeting of the
Anti-Strike Committee, really settles the whole
question. In a speech, which, for its ability, strong
sense, and practical character, would have been
cheered in the House of Commons itself, and which
presents a striking contrast to the senseless twaddle
of Mr. Secretary POTTER, Mr. PLUMMER observes
that, while it is indeed unfair far any master to
tyrannise over his men, the document states " that
it fully recognises the right of employers and em-
ployed, individually, to make any trade engage-
ment on which they may choose to agree."
" Why," he went on to remark, " this is a
distinct and positive acknowledgment of the
freedom of labour, or the right of every working
man to dispose of his labour to the best advantage."
Mr. PLUMMIER speaks of the Trades' Unions as
they deserve. Had they continued to be simply
benevolent societies, few, indeed, of the masters
but would have gladly contributed to their funds.
A hypocritical attempt has, indeed, been made to
represent them as still retaining that valuable
character ; but the strike, to their order, is the
answer to all such imposture. They are now, we
are told, and truly told, by an operative, " associa-
tions which have done more than anything else to
retard our progress, imperil our welfare, and
destroy our self respect." "The history of Trades'
Unions is one of strikes, quarrels, disputes, con-
fusion, ruin, and misery. They have seldom, if
ever, effected any good, or benefit, whenever they
have departed from their legitimate object of
assisting their members in sickness, distress, or old
age; and the sooner we have done with them,
when they depart from their proper sphere, the
better for us." He lamented the sums spent by
them in futile strikes, which might have been so
much better employed in the elevation of their
class; and added—let workmen ponder his words—
" Every working man is fully aware that no
tyranny or despotism is more exacting or relentless
than that exercised by a Trades' Union, and every
working man who desires to behold the , lifran-
chiscment of his class will not hesitate in denoun-
cing the evils inflicted by the arbitrary exercise of
power on the part of these combinations." This
witness is ute • l
37
true. It reads like the record of
experience.s

Mr. PLUMMIER told them that they were promised
nine hours' labour and more time to improve their
minds, while the fact was that their things were
going to the pawnbrokers' ; that they were to get
the benefit of machinery, while they were stimula-
ting inventive men to supersede labour by improved
machinery; that they were demanding more of
their employer's profits, which would drive him to
invest his capital in something better, leaving them
to starve; that Mr. POTTER wished them to be the

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THE SUN.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1859.