The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-29 00:00:00

FRANCE AND AUSTRIA.

(From the Times.)
We have felt it our duty from time to time to protest to
he utmost of our power against the attitude which France
has, since the beginning of the year, seen fit to assume with
reference to Italy. We have pointed out how futile were
the pretests on which she thought fit to throw all Europe
into confusion, to arrest the course of industry, and to
threaten us, it may be only too truly, with the calamities of
a causeless and bloody war. We have shown that, at least
so far as France is concerned, there is no just cause of of-
fence against Austria. If Austria has occupied and forti-
fied the Roman Legations, France has occupied Rome
itself ; the difference between the two cases being, that the
Austrian occupation is understood to be with, and the
French without, the consent of the Pontifical Government.
We have further urged that if Lombardy be discontented
with the Austrian Government, no Government which
France, Sardinia, or any number of European Powers could
establish would give content, and that the rights which
Austria possesses she exercises under a treaty from which
we have no power to dispense ourselves. We shall not,
therefore, be suspected of any ill-feeling to Austria if we
suggest that she on her side also has duties to perform, if
she would avert from Europe and from herself the dread-
ful visitation of a war the end of which no man can foresee.
Whatever be the abstract rights of Austria, the present
attitude of France is one that must give her serious and
well-grounded uneasiness. Austria has accumulated in
Italy a noble army, excellently equipped, and she has,
after her ordinary practice, strengthened her position,
naturally defended by a succession of rivers, and
resting on the mountain fortress of the Tyrol, by I the
resources of defensive art. Still, though prepared
to resist aggression, Austria cannot possibly desire
war. Her finances by no means in a condition to bear a
large drain, her Eastern provinces not yet fairly cemented
into the compact fabric which it has been the policy of the
present Emperor to construct, and her relations with Russia
always doubtful and dangerous ever since her accession to
the alliance of France and England, all counsel to modera-
tion and peace. It is not merely from the open or the
secret acts of France that she has to dread hostilities.
France has placed herself in a position in which she is not
altogether mistress of her own conduct. She has gone so
far in supporting the cause of Piedmont against Austria
that she has placed it in the power of that small State to
drag her into hostilities whenever she pleases. Let a revolt
arise in one of the Duchies or Legations now occupied by
Austrian troops; should Piedmont seize upon the occasion
to intervene on the other side, she can by a single precipi-
tate escapade render it impossible for France, with any
respect for her honour or consistency, to avoid a declara-
tion of war against Austria. Austria has advanced her
forces to the left bank of the Ticino, the Sardinian army
confronts her on the right, every day is full of danger, and
the first shot that is fired may find a dreadful echo in a
hundred battle-fields as yet innocent of human blood. If
this be the present state of affairs, Austria is bound to do
all that is possible to avoid the risk of war, and if then
she be compelled to fight, she may conciliate to herself the
sympathy of Europe. It is one thing to be acting in strict
accordance with treaties and the rights they secure ; it is
another thing to be acting so as to deserve and obtain the
good will of the enlightened nations of Europe. A sense
of the arbitrary and dictatorial conduct of France has raised
up for Austria many friends, but she .requires in the
threatened contest to rely on more positive grounds of
sympathy.
Now, there is one part of the conduct of Austria
which it is impossible to regard without serious disapproba-
tion. It is perfectly notorious that the Emperor of the
French feels a sincere anxiety for some improvement
in
the government of the Papal States—an anxiety which
during the last year has been much quickened by the appre-
hension of a second attempt similar to the desperate enter-
prise of Orsini. The Emperor of the French has been
caught in his own trap; he occupies Rome, but his occu-
pation gives him no power or control over the Government,
because the Pope is in no degree moved by the threat of
abandoning him to the mercies of his justly incensed sub-
jects, well knowing that if the French should withdraw
from one side of his capital the Austrians would enter it on
another. Thus the Emperor of the French is placed in the
painful position of being responsible for misgovernment he
cannot control, and appearing to support by armed force
injustice which he is unable to prevent. We cannot say
that this is an unjust retribution for the original seizure of
Rome, and it is not unnatural that Austria should enjoy
the embarrassment arising from a step taken avowedly for
the purpose of countermining her influence. The entertain-
ment, however, is a dangerous one. France is in a position
in Rome which she can neither maintain with honour nor
retreat from with safety, unless assisted by the good offices
of Austria. It is Austria alone which stands between the
Roman people and the improvement of their government.
If she joined France in her remonstrances, they must be
immediately attended to, for the Pope well knows that,
unless supported by some external power his reign would
be of very short duration. Why should Austria seek to
perpetuate misgovernment in the Papal dominions ? Why
should she throw her shield over a state of things notori-
ously full of the most intolerable corruption and oppression ?
What has she to gain by the misery and discontent which
prevail throughout every part of the States of the Church?
Non-Italian Powers who seek:for their own selfish purposes
to obtain a footing in the Peninsula may not unreasonably
strive to foment and perpetuate the cause of dis-
content; but Austria, whose policy is simply to preserve
intact the existing order of things, can have no
reason whatever which should induce her to tamper
with the smouldering elements of insurrection and revolu-
tion. We are now speaking of an immediate withdraw
alfrom the Legations,--a step which, in the present statea the
of
men's minds, would only too probably be accepted as
exerted over the mind of the Pope and hiss such
nisters as.
signal for an immediate outbreak, but of
h
tardy duty of re
would lead them at last to undertake the
formation.
Pretty nearly the same thing may
to lenity,
Naples. Though never particularly inclined
both for mercy
Austria undoubtedly lowers her reputatioon
that cruel and
be said of the affairs of
and justice when she lends her support t
Austria is, no
degrading tyranny. In the case of Rome
n ecclesiastical support
doubt, thinking of her Concordat, a
securing by still further sacrifices that
The state of tl e
which she has paid so fearfulo tocP.
be-t to her nothing but a
rid coef toth eobetixpaned;iebnucty la
NKinapgledsomshoof
fineness, would put it out of th
a temperate
cause of weakness and anxiety,
o
wNitha les further to outrage humanitye,
can
the hla'vweo n i es; icehs
whereasc abili
redress
,Kui rngge do
of
Austria owes it aims and the
to herself to do,
of a Fraieh influence. These things, whether
establishment
anpofolvdgriewreokilr tdheefeosr ever clorsewtarn.e, door to Muratist el •
gdone peace them, she may not Unreasonably
she is to haven
without hope
that she has conciliated any loss of dignity a dan-
gerousand, having
and incensed adversary, or, if this should not be the
case, that she has, at any rate, given proof of fairness and
moderation, and enabled mankind to wish for her success,
and, perhaps, to arm in her behalf, without blushing for
the cause for which their swords are drawn or the principles
with which their policy is identified.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

BETTING AT MAN-CHESTER-Fumkr.

LIVERPOOL STEEPLECHASB.
100 t 9 6 agst Ghika (taken)
100 to 6 agst Tho Brewer (taken)
20 to 1 agst Weathercock (taken)
25 to 1 agst Any other.

CHESTER CUP.
100 to 6 agst Drogheda (take 20 to 1)
25 to 1 agst Polestar (taken)
30 to 1 agst Satinstone (taken)
40 to 1 agst Underhand (offered)
66 to 1 agst Rara Avis (taken)
66 to 1 agst The Brewer (taken)
100 to 1 agst Fisherman (taken)
DERBY.
100 to 6 agst Marionette (take 20 tQ ) freely)

THE SUN.

SATURDAY. JANUARY 29, 1859.

Mr. BRIGHT is pursuing an honest and straight-
forward course, so far as the Reform Bill is con-
cerned. Even those who may differ with respect
to some of the details of the proposed measure will
cheerfully recognise the manliness and integrity of
purpose by which he is actuated, and the unflinch-
ing determination with which he has flung himself
into the breach, and planted the Reform standard
on the very citadel. Rotten boroughs, which obey
the dictates of patrons, and all those which have
not a sufficient number of inhabitants to
justify the returning a member to the repre-
sentative branch of the Legislature are to be
disfranchised. Others are to be shorn of a
moiety of their Parliamentary representation and
the seats thus obtained are to be bestowed on
populous districts well entitled to the privilege.
But, above and beyond all, there will be full pro-
tection to the voters in the exercise of the extended
franchise which is intended to be bestowed on
them. These are good points ; but, better still, they
will compel the production of the measures an-
nounced by the rival competitors for the Premier-
ship, and render it indispensable that they fully
come up to the mark required by the community.
Lord PALMERSTON will scarcely congratulate him-
self on his protracted taciturnity, or the elaborate
care which he took to prevent the slightest inkling
of his intention from oozing forth, or the public
from being enabled to even grasp at the nature of
the dainty dish prepared for its palate.
Mr. BRIGHT has grappled with the Times in
respect to the disfranchisement scheme. The hon.
gentleman is so fully capable of speaking for him-
self that he requires no advocate. -we therefore
give his own words ; they are as follow
" The Times said the other day that it did not find
so much fault with my scheme of disfranchise-
ment, but with my redistribution ; and I think it
said it was a gigantic fraud to take eighty-seven
seats, as I proposed, from boroughs in schedule
A, from one side of the house and interests, and
put them on the other side, meaning the commer-
cial or popular interests; that it would make a
difference on a division of 174 votes ; and the Times
assumed that these 87 seats were seats in very
small towns connected with the landowners in the
neighbourhood. Now, the Times has a short me-
mory, for but six weeks ago it proposed, what I
thought was a little extreme, to disfranchise every
borough under 10,000, and that no borough under
25,000 should return more than one member. Now,
if I had carried out that plan I should obtain
from disfranchised seats not less than 47 seats more
than those which I have obtained. Now that I call
extreme, and I say that my plan is more reasonable,
for I only go up to 8,000, and I take 120 seats,
whereas the journalist would take 170 ; and for.
getting what he had written six weeks before, he
condemns my plan as very extreme, and, happily
for us, introduces a rival scheme of his own. I:am
told that in the Times of this day there is a con-
siderable correction of this rival scheme. That
soherac was what is called a plagiarism. I don't

wish to speak offensively, but the scheme was
stolen from my schedule. They took my child and
stripped it of its decent clothing. They put on it
rags of their own, and they scarred its countenance
in order that it might excite pity."

He was no less powerful on the extension of the
franchise—more especially to county electors. It
is really hard that because a man lives outside an
imaginary line he should, although paying rates
and taxes to a greater amount than the borough
voter, that he should be made a political cypher on
the mere question of venue. Mr. BRIGHT says,
on this point :—" I have not the slightest doubt
that when the next Reform Bill passes, if it does
establish a county franchise at the rate of £lO,
very few years will elapse before there will be
motions in the House of Commons for the purpose
of bringing it down, if not to the level of the
borough franchise, at least to a lower level than it
is likely to be fixed by the coming bill. The fact
is, the more the people who look at the question of
the franchise examine it and handle it, and see how
it works, the more their fears vanish. The fear
of the rich and the great of the votes of the
people is a fear arising from a suspicion which I
believe is based almost entirely upon ignorance—
first of the character of the people, and secondly of
the effect which the possession of a vote has upon
the minds and actions of the men in possession
of it."

He also states what he wants, and that dis-
tinctly and explicitly. There can be no mistake in
the following declaration :—" What we want is
this—not that you should transfer great political
powers from great landowners to great merchants
or manufacturers. What we want is that equally
through all parts of the kingdom all interests, all
wishes, all opinions should be equally represented,
that the members who get into Parliament should feel
that they are not the members of any section, but
the members of the great body of the people, and
you would then find that as opinion grew it would
act gently, steadily, omnipotently on the House of
Commons, and instead of our having to contend
with our rulers for every change, we should find
one sole incentive in the Government, the Parlia-
ment, and the people."
But although we give Mr. Bright full credit for
what he has done, and is doing, we cannot accept
all that he boasts of. He has spoken of his esta-
blishing cheap newspapers—that 300 journals are
published for a penny each. He has forgotten to
say how many survive, and a still more difficult
point would be to say how many pay their
expenses. We do not wish to assail any contem-
porary, but as we cannot understand how the
necessary expenses can be defrayed, we do
not think Mr. BRIGHT entitled to claim
much credit on that part of the question.
There may have been 300 cheap newspapers. Of
how many have the obituaries been recorded ?
It would have been far better if the
Honourable Member had taken greater care
to instruct himself on the currency question,
to have proved that he was fully informed on every
important topic. We are, however, proud of Mr.
BRIGHT, and if compelled to censure for any mis-
takes, it is in sorrow rather than in anger.

Since the establishment of the English Protec-
torate over the Septinsular Republic in 1815, the
lonian Islands have had about the worst imaginable
kind of Government. It has been all along a sort
of complicited and elaborated political experiment.
And the experiment has failed—totally and noto-
riously failed. At the best the Government out
there has been all these four-and-forty years past
simply a Provisional Government. It has worked
ill throughout. It has been a perpetual source of
disquietude. It has proved altogether unsa-
tisfactory to the lonians themselves. It has caused
a chronic vexation and annoyance to be experienced
at frequent intervals by its protecting rulers in this
country ever since the period of its anomalous inau-
guration. It has existed all this while, so to speak,
upon sufferance, as that incongruous and impossible
and preposterous phenomenon among Governments
—a State having republican institutions under a
monarchical protectorate. The government of the
lonian Islands, under these circumstances, has
alternated between anarchy and despotism. The
policy pursued in its regard by the English has
been relaxed to the utmost stretch of conciliatory
weakness, as during the recent epoch, when
Sir JOHN YOUNG held the reins of office
loosely—ready to slip from his grasp at
any moment apparently—as Lord High Com-
missioner. At other times the lonian policy
inaugurated in Downing-street has been as severe
and rigid as delegated tyranny could well be ; as
when General Sir CHARLES NAPIER, in his work
entitled " The Colonies," wrote in regard to the
Lord High Commissioner in 1822, " The feudal
chiefs were still intent to make both the law and
MAITLAND [Sir THOMAS MAITLAND] bend to their
passions ; wherefore he created himself Dictator
and Ms Residents Despots." It is true that NAPIER
added to this intimation the words—" but to sus-
tain, not overrule law." Remembering, how-
ever, that the course pursued in any case depended
upon the fallible judgments of these Despots the
Residents, and of that formidable Dictator the
Lord High Commissioner—the margin left for
possible injustice and possible cruelty was suffi-
ciently alarming to disquiet any nationality, how-
ever sanguine or however susceptible. Take, as a
case in point, one of these vicarious despots,
NAPIER himself, the Resident at Cephalonia—for-
tunately a man of noble heart and resplendent
genius, at once most humane and most conscien-
tious. But what a licence was that committed
to his trust—supposing in his place there
had chanced to be a bad man, a cruel
man, or one in any way incompetent. Take his
own account of his position out there, as described
by his own hand, in a letter addressed to his mother,
on the 12th of March, 1822, and dated from Argos-
Dear mother," writes Sir CHARLES, " my
kingdom is of sixty thousand people, and martial
law exists ; that, is the courts of justice are closed,
and I can send any one to death without trial or
appeal. This," he adds himself, " is a fearful power
in the hands of one man ; but feeling no inclination
to be unjust or cruel, it does not annoy me ; I even
like it. If compelled to hang any one, it shall be
done on the perfect conviction that it is right to do
so.
My hope is not to be very cruel ; but, &c.
•
Added to this, however, there is no small
. •
responsibility and exertion ; for your Greek is
litigious, and all the financial as well as the crimi-
nal and military business is on my hands"—and so
forth. For an unconscientious man there were op-
portunities not merely for cruelty, but for corrup-
tion also. Recollect what had occurred to another--
years previously, among more tempting oppor-
tunities—when after the victory won at Plassy, as
the great biographerof the Indian hero has written of
him in the famous Essay, " CLIVE walked between
heaps of gold and silver, crowned with rubies and
diamonds, and was at liberty to help himself "
MACAULAY adding, thereupon " He accepted
between £200,000 and £300,000." A proceeding
in regard to which Lord CLIVE exclaimed, with
I characteristic impetuosity when under examination
before the Committee of tha House of Commons,
" By God, Mr. Chairman, at this ravravnt I stand

astonished at my own moderation." If the finan•
cial matters of the island at the absolute disposal of
the despot at Cephalonia in 1822 were utterly in-
significant and contemptible as compared with the
Indian spoils within reach of the plundering hands
of CLIVE, there is also to be borne in mind that the
Resident then holding supreme authority was as
good in heart as he was great in genius, that his
hand was ever as unsullied in holding the balance
of justice as it was terrible when wielding the
sword of battle. But the fact was there, neverthe-
less—the opportunity was clearly there for both
cruelty and peculation.
Latterly our policy in reference to the lonian
Islands has been running into the very opposite
extreme of laxity and over-indulgence. Sir JOHN
YOUNG was instructed to conciliate as much as
possible, and his efforts at conciliation have been
rewarded, as we have seen, by the most flagrant
and :the most insolent insubordination. To put
an end satisfactorily to a series of difficulties
that have only been growing more and more
complicated during the last forty-four years, re-
quires obviously for its accomplishment the exercise
of no ordinary abilities. Insignificant though the
lonian Islands are in themselves as a state, the Sep-
tinsular republic is so associated directly or in-
directly with the Greek interests and the Turkish
interests, with the Russian interests, with the
interests of the eastern part of Europe generally,
that it assumes to itself a certain inferential and
relative importance. It is because of his recog-
nition of this importance that Mr. GLADSTONE
has entered upon his remarkable raizsion—
first as Extraordinary, and more recently as
Ordinary, Lord High Commissioner. The comple-
tion of the design sketched out in that mission has
it is true, been somewhat retarded and increased
somewhat in delicacy and difficulty in several re-
spects by the untoward publication of the GUERN-
SEY Despatches. But eventually—there is scarcely
a moment's doubt of it—Mr. GLADSTONE will
succeed in the enterprise upon which he has with
such manifest self-abnegation thus chivalrously and
magnanimously adventured. It is expected, indeed,
that the spring will not long have advanced when
the Lord High Commissioner will have re-
turned to give an explanation of his pro-
ceedings to Parliament. Until his return
of course a respectful reticence will be shown
in regard to the lonian Question, both within and
without the walls of the Legislature. When the
Right Hon. Gentleman has returned to his place
in the House of Commons will be time enough for
the elucidation of a hitherto obscure difficulty—a
difficulty that there is now every reasonable expec-
tation will, by that time, have resolved itself into
one of the most signal triumphs, won in the teeth
of every imaginable obstacle by the accomplished
statesman now guiding the delicate and complex
machinery of the Colonial Department.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess
d'Aumale are staying on a visit with Frances Countess
Waldegrave and Mr. Harconrt, M.P., at Nuneham Park,
where a distinguished circle of guests are assembled. The
party will separate on Wednesday next. _

_
His Excellency M. Isturitz has returned to the
Spanish Legation, from visiting Viscount and Viscountess
Palmerston, at Broadlands, Hants.

The Duke of Rutland, who is entertaining a
select circle at Belvoir Castle, is expected in town on Wed
nesday next.
The Marquis de Croisie has left the Brunswick
Hotel, Jermyn-street, for Paris.
The Earl and. Countess Cawdor will arrive in
own on the 7th proximo, from their seat in Wales, for the
season.

Count Alexander Mensdorff Pouilly, formerly
the Austrian ambassador at the Court of St. Petersburg,
will, it is positively stated, be sent as military governor to
Milan.

The Marquis of Hastings, who accompanied his
Hoy al Highness the Prince of Wales to Munich, has ar-
rived at Vienna from Prague, and intends proceeding in a
few days to Corfu.

A correspondent at St. Petersburg states that
the Government, " in order to prevent any embarrassment
to the financial state of the country," is on the point of in-
terdicting the creation of any new joint-stock companies for
some time to come.

APOTHECARIES' HALL.—Names of gentleman
who passed their examination in the science and practice of
medicine, and received certificates to practise, on Thursday,
Jan. 27, 1859 :—James Buckley, Manchester, and William
James, Harris.

A SIGN OF WAR.—On Tuesday a large quantity
of saltpetre was sold by a firm in London to the Sardinian
Government. On Thursday a still larger supply was pur-
chased here for the French Government, to be delivered in
Piedmont.

TILE HON. MR. SrmNER.—An American paper
says :—" Charles Sumner, we much fear, will never stir the
senate of the nation again with his eloquence. It is stated
that Paris physicians, who have been consulted in his case,
agree in the opinion that he will never recover from the
effect of the injuries from which he has been suffering for
the last two years."
STATIONERY FOR PUBLIC DEPARTMENTS.—In
the year ended the 31st of March, the stationery for public
departments amounted to as much as £349,630.

The Red Sea Telegraph Company have notified
that on the 14th of February the Treasury will pay the
guaranteed interest of 41 per cent. upon the paid up portion
of the capital of that undertaking for the six months ending
January the 31st.

The report of the Peel River Company, pre-
paratory to their meeting on the 11th of February, states
the sales of live stock for the half-year at £1,137, the land
sales at £344, and the receipts from licenses at £3OO. A
purchase has been effected of 34,043 sheep, 47 cattle, 30
horses, and stores for £32,297.
THE RED SEA ELECTRIC TELEGRAPII.—The
screw steamers Imperatrice and Imperatore left the Mersey
yesterday (Friday) morning for Madeira, Cape of Good
Hope, and Suez. These vessels carry out a portion of the
electric cable which is to be laid down in the Red Sea,
and which was manufactured at Birkenhead by Messrs.
Newall.

CURIOUS EFFECTS OF A THUNDERSTORM.—It
is now rather more than two years since that a foreign
family went to reside at Bideford. One of the young
ladies was then bedridden, and continued so up to about a
month since. At that period the neighbourhood was
visited by a terrific thunderstorm, and the effect of it upon
the patient was that she was suddenly restored.— Western
Times.

Mr. Brunel. has left Cairo on a trip to the upper
couutry, and Lord Dufferin has also sailed from Alexandria
for the latitudes of Southern Egypt and Nubia. Mr. Brunel
on his return to Cairo will probably visit Suez in accord-
ance with a request made to him by the Viceroy, who is
desirous of having his opinion as to putting into execution
the long-talked of project of transferring the port of Suez
to the Bay of Ataka, some ten miles south of the present
landing place.

TIIE FATAL AFFRAY IN THE HAMPSTEAD-ROAD.
—Yesterday, an inquest was held at the Prince of Wales'
Feathers, Hampstead-road, respecting the death of John
Henry Burrows, which occurred in the manner described
in our report of the examination of John Plows, at the
Marylebone Police Court, on Thursday. The coroner hav-
ing stated it was desirable that Mr. Plows should be pre-
sent, the summoning officer was despatched for him, and
on his return stated that he was unable to find him. The
inquiry was then adjourned till Thursday next.
BILLS FOR RAILWAYS AND PUBLIC IMPROVE-
MENTS.—Yesterday the examiners, Messrs. Smith and
Frere, declared that the standing orders of both Houses of
Parliament had been complied with in respect to the fol-
lowing bills.—Before Mr. Smith :—Fishguard Harbour
Improvement—Tra.vellers and Marine Insurance and Ac-
cidental Death Insurance Companies—Bury St. Edmunds
Gas—Droitwich Roads—Hinckley and Melbourne Roads—
Shepton Mallett Waterworks—Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway. (Station at Manchester)—Hertford,
Luton, and Dunstable Railway—Poole and Bournemouth
Waterworks.—Befom Mr. Frere :—Tottenham and Ed-
monton Gas—Tralee ;and Killarney Railway—Cork Butter
Market—People's Provident Assurance Society—Falmouth
Docks and Harbour--Leeds and Huntslet Road—Liverpool
New Exchange Buitdino-s—Liverpool Sanitary Amend-
ment Act—lsle of -Wight .Ferry—North Western Railway
of Ireland—Londonderry Bridge.
REPRESENTATION OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY.—It
is rumoured that should a vacancy occur in the representa-
tion of the University the Right Hon. T. 11. Sotheron
Estcourt, now M.P. for North Wilts, and President of the
Poor Law Board, will be solicited to become a candidate.
The hon. gentleman was a " gentleman commoner" of Oriel
College, and graduated in 1823, taking a first class in
" Litetis Hurnanioribus," in company with Lord Ashley,
the Very Rev. the Dean of of Peterborough, Dr. Pusey, and
other eminent personages. Mr. Sotheron Esteourt is the
son of the late Mr. Thomas Grinston Bucknall Escourt,
who succeeded Mr. Richard Heber as M.P. for the Univer-
sity in 1826. Mr. Estcourt sat as the colleague of the late
Sir Robert Peel until the latter vacated his seat by the
acceptance of the offiQe of one of his Majesty's Principal
Secretaries of State. Mr. Estcourt from that period up to
1811 retained the seat in company with Sir Robert Harry
Inglis, being succeeded by the right hon. gentleman whose
mission to the lonian isles will, it is expected, cause a
vacaucy,—,liodloy

MR. WYLD'S NEW MAPS.

The Islands of Japan. By Jaines Wyld.

English Map of Representation. By James Wyld.
Our distinguished geographer has here given
two really remarkable evidences of his enterprise.
Immediately before the re-assembling of Parlia-
ment he has issued two maps that will be more
welcome to the legislators of both Houses, and to
the country at large, than any perhaps that he
could very well have published. A blue-book of a
deeply interesting and eminently historical character
will, of course, speedily follow the re-assembling
of the Lords and Commons—a blue-book recounting
succintly the diplomatic triumphs of the Earl (soon
doubtless to be Marquess) of Elgin in China and in
Japan. With many of even the long-sealed
mysteries of the Celestial Empire we have been
made acquainted from time to time through the
medium chiefly of the Jesuit missionaries. Of the
hidden wonders of Japan we have, however,
scarcely an inkling. Our information as to the
marvels of Japan has yet to begin, as the story
books say, with the beginning. The key-note will
be struck by the blue-book to which we have now
alluded by anticipation. Before one morsel, how-
ever, of this information is given to the country—
here is Mr. Wyld instantly at hand with his
magical map of the Japanese Islands. With that
admirable map spread out before us, we wait with
increased eagerness for the coming blue-book,
certain of seeing our way more clearly through it,
thanks to the prompt and timely labours of our
great geographer. As prompt, as timely have been
the labours applied by him to the other map, illus-
trative of the distribution of representation in
England and Wales. It serves to throw a flood of
light, in the very nick of time, upon the contrasting
problems of enfranchisement and disfranchisement.

SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.

LATEST NEWS.

THE APPROACHING IMPE-
RIAL. MARRIAGE.

TURIN, JAN. 28.

This day the members of the Municipal Council
of the City of Turin, and forty Communal Coun-
cillors had the honour to present to her Royal
Highness the Princess Clotilde a rich work of art
in silver, beautifully wrought.
The Mayor of the city addressed Prince Napoleon
in a speech remarkable for its patriotic sentiments;
and his Imperial Highness, in reply, declared that
he would do all in his power to promote the happiness
of the daughter of the King, the worthy inheritress
of the virtues of an illustrious and heroic family ;
and requested the Mayor to assure his fellow-
citizens, in his name, how sincerely he prayed for
the happiness and future prosperity of Sardinia.

FRANCE.

PARIS, FRIDAY.

A Paris letter in the Nord of Brussels says :

" A great difference was perceptible between the
general aspect of the last ball at the Tuileries and
the first. Evidently less anxiety was felt. The
foreign presentations took place as usual before
their Majesties entered the ball room, and the Em•
peror was observed to converse frequently with
Baron de Hubner. Many eyes were turned to-
wards them, eager to catch from the expression of
their countenances what was the subject of their
conversation. M. de Persigny also talked very
gaily with the ambassador, who withdrew imme-
diately after, his court being still in mourning.
The Emperor and Empress entered at a quarter
past ten. At midnight their Majesties came into
the grand gallery, and after having made the tour
of it, took their seats in the middle, and a waltz
was danced before them. Their Majesties soon after
left the rooms and retired ; the Emperor, having
been shooting in the morning, was fatigued, and no
official quadrille took place. The toilette of the
Empress was, as usual, most beautiful ; her hair
was ornamented with leaves and diamonds. The
Emperor wore the uniform of a general of division,
and his decorations in diamonds."

According to recent intelligence from Hongkong,
Admiral Rigault de Genouilly has despatched from
Turon to China a staff officer and naval commissary
with the view of freighting flat-bottomed boats
proper for the navigation of the Hue, which is in-
accessible to vessels of war on account of its bar.

A letter from Hong Kong, of the 14th ult., gives
some account of the accident which happened to
the French corvette Laplace, which we have briefly
mentioned :—" The vessel had appoached the Chu-
san islands with a strong breeze and during a thick
feg, which caused one point of land to be mistaken
for another, and the steamer, instead of entering,
as was thought, into the regular passage, got into a
place where there was no outlet. The moment
this was discovered, her engines were stopped and
anchors let go, but so violent was the wind and
current that the cables parted, and in a moment
after the vessel struck on a bank of mud. A boat
was lowered to take a hawser on shore, but she
was swamped in an instant and three men
drowned. It was about noon when the vessel
struck, and as night approached the wind and sea
became more violent, and the vessel sank deeper
and deeper. At eight o'clock in the evening the
captain announced that he no longer had any hope
of saving the vessel, and every one consequently
prepared to reach the shore as best he could. Some
time after another attempt was made to send a
boat on shore, and an officer and some men were
fortunate enough to effect a landing. Letters were
immediately sent off by them to Shanghai and
Ningpo, requesting prompt assistance. The next
two days the situation of the persons remaining on
board the Laplace continued to be critical. The
vessel struck heavily and was sensibly approach-
ing the shore. On the Ist Dec. the weather be-
came finer, and Chinese junks began to make their
appearance. They took on board the guns, the
ammunition, the ballast and ether heavy stores
from the corvette ; and when thus lightened she
rode easier, and by means of an anchor, carried out
at high water, she was hove afloat in about eight
fathoms water. Her hull and her engines had not
received any material injury."

BOURSE, Jan. 28.—The market continues in a
feverish state, owing to the important operations
which must be closed for the liquidation. There
hare been vague reports of disturbances at Ravenna,
and of the sending of reinforcements of troops to
Civita Yeecha. Threes, after having been done at
68f. 65c., declined to 68f. 45c., and afterwards
rallied to 68f. 60e. ; Mobilier varied from 785 f.
to 775 f. ; Austrian, 565 f. to 562 f. 50c. ; Orleans,
1,330 f. to 1,325 f. ; Lyons, 837 f. 50c. to 832 f.
50e. ; Northern, 937 f. 50c. to 935 f. The following
were the last quotations:—

41 per Cents. 96 90
Do. end month 96 90
3 per Cents 6B 80

Credit Fonder 650
Belgian 41 99 50
Piedmonteso (5)
Roman B7
Austrian
Spanish Threes 44
Home Debt 4O

DO. end month....

68 75

Bank Shares 2940
Credit Mobilier 790

Do. Account ..... 787 50

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans
Worthern 937 50 .. 937 50
New ditto BlO .. —*—
Lyons and Mediterranean 842 50 .. 837 60
New ditto — ~
--
Geneva 567 50562 50
Midi
Southern
Western 595 .. 590
Eastern
Grand Central — .. —--
Sardinian 415 .. 416 60
Austrian
Exchange on London, at sight, paper, 25f. 121 c. • money,
25f. 10c.; three months, paper, 241. 9710.; money, AL 95c.