The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-07 00:00:00

where they lay in greatest force, made his recon-
noitringsuited in the battle of Montebello, and gave to the
advance to the south of the Po, which re-
French and Sardinians the prestige of the first
victory, and the trophy of 200 prisoners as its living
commemoration, and its certificate tr: 'Line citizen;
of
ATlOthr movement was also made
in e Marseilles,
oabout this time, It is singular that
rh
nothing more was ever heard about the Austrian
corps which crossed at Lake Maggiore. Whether
it recrossed, or whether it marched southward to
Novara we do not know. About the 21st, how-
ever, General GARIBALDI, the very man for the
work, undertook a diversion there on the Austrian
right. By the 23d of May he was certainly at
Varese ; soon after at Como, which illuminated for
him. Immediately after we read that the Valteline
was in insurrection ; and though, according to
Austrian accounts, they had " put salt on his tail,"
he managed to slip through their hopeful fingers,
and we find him again atVarese, which the Austrians
had entered in Ms absence, sending them about
their business, and stopping them in the act of
plundering a town in the territory which they yet
call their own. All was done by 8,000 infantry, vo-
lunteers, with no artillery, except some which he
soon took from the Austrians.
We now come to the dates at which details will
need further verification. It is however plain that
the Austrians would like to have lived a little
longer at the expense of the Piedmontese civilians,
for they had made themselves a strong position at
Palestro, six or seven miles south-west of Vercelli.
It was in forcing this position on the 30th of May
that the Sardinians, assisted most admirably and
courageously by a French Regiment of Zouaves,
inflicted on the Austrians two bloody defeats,
one that morning, and another the following
morning. Palestro had been contested ten
days previously ; the French and Sardinians
then attacked the Austrians, and drove them
back to Orfengo ; but the Austrian supports
coming up, they in turn drove back the Allies
to the west of the Sesia. Such, at least, was the
Austrian account. On the 31st they had to tell a
very different story to that which they told on the
21st; had to evacuate Novara and even Mortara,
and in connection with getting away from the latter
suffered the grand defeat which we had to record
yesterday, and with the details of which will pro-
bably be concluded the history of the affair of
the ultimatum, and the villanous raid into the
plains of Piedmont.

The remarkable facts about the Liberal meeting
J esterday in Willis's Rooms are—that it was the
assembly of a positive and deplorable minority,
and that that minority had not even the advantage
of being by any means unanimous. Altogether—
after such a -wonderful flourish of trumpets—there
were only 274 there in answer to the round-robin
circular. And yesterday, by four of the clock,
there had been sworn in 584 members in the House
of Commons. An aggregate of 584 M.P.s had
taken the oaths and signed the parliamentary roll
before Mr. SPEAKER on the afternoon of the very day
when 274 members answered the joint summons of
Lord PALMERSTON and Lord JOHN RUSSELL.
Compare that sum total of 274 with the aggregate
of the members of the House-654--and there re-
mains obviously a balance of very nearly four hun-
dred members who did not respond to the Siamese
Summons to the fashionable concert room in St.
James's. Altogether, 380 were not in -Willis's
Rooms, leaving a clear majority of 106 to
the :non-respondents But even comparing the
aggregate of those present yesterday afternoon to
listen to the opinions upon the present crisis ex-
pressed by Lord PALMERSTON, by Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, Mr. BRIGHT, Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT, and
the rest—comparing this assembled crowd of 274
M.P.'s with the total of those members actually
sworn in before the Speaker by the close of yes-
terday's sittings, the majority against them even
then was one of no less than 310—a result giving
a clear advantage of 36 to their antagonists, or at any
rate to the non-sympathisers ! Even regarding
this assembly of 274 at its best—it was a
meeting of a minority, as we have said; 'with-
out the advantage of unanimity. The Times puts
the dissentients at three. But how the Times, or
any other authority, could possibly fathom the
minds, and breasts, and consciences of those 274
members and arrive at a distinct conclusion upon
the matter baffles all conjecture, when it
is remembered that the meeting was in
no way put to a test, either by a show
of hands, or by the ballot —by any
scrutiny on way or the other—parliamentary or
unparliamentary. It is only certain that three, out
of the 274, avowed their want of confidence in the
double leaders—" double, double, toil and trouble."
But how many, of those who did not give utterance
to their individual intentions, sympathised with
those who spoke out, and that, too, it must be con-
fessed, pretty plain, the Times cares not to inquire.
Even Mr. BRIGHT, himself the great card of
all to be won over to the noble friends—
the par nohile fratrzon—even Mr. BRIGHT declared
explicitly that if he were satisfied that the continued
neutrality of England would be better preserved
by maintaining the present Government in power,
nothing should induce him to aid in destroying
Lord DERBY'S Administration. As for Mr. ROE-
BUCK he endorsed every word uttered by him with
such remarkable emphasis very recently down
at Milford Haven. He proclaimed in the noble
lord's own hearing his utter want of confidence
in the leadership of Viscount PALMERSTON. His
wholesome abhorrence of the Old Whigs we all
know, and we know more than that, that this same
abhorrence of the Whigs has latterly been rising to
the magnitude and importance of a national senti-
ment. Insomuch does Lord JOHN himself reeog-
nis3 that the day of anything like pure and simple
Whig domination has passed away from the grasp of
the Great Families,that he acknowledges himself now
the necessity of bringing together the various sec-
tions of the Opposition, if any serious intention is
to be entertained of transforming that Opposition
into a Government—of blending in the cup of
health to be offered to BRITANNIA the wine, and
oil, and vinegar of the Old Whigs, the Peelites (so
called withont a PEEL amongst them), and the
advanced Liberals ! The only question now re-
maining being one as to the possibility of
their amalgamation. Under what cooling
down in one way, under what warming
up in another, the wine, the oil, and the vinegar
are to be mixed, remains yet to be brought by a
happy experiment to the triumph of a successful
demonstration. There are some ingredients in the
potent mixture that already refuse absolutely to
coalesce—stringent political alkalis like those sup-
plied by the boroughs of Stroud and Sheffield.
However, through hope, and through fear, the
magic spells are now working
g, Radical and Whig, Liberal and Grey,
Mingle, mingle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle may !"

We commend this new Shaksperian reading. to
the consideration of Messrs. COLLIER. and HALM-
WELL.

The Austrians do not admit the accuracy of the
French statements respecting the battle of Magenta.
It seems, however, certain that they were taken