The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-13 00:00:00

Wool—The prize £lO, to No. 9. the Duke of Rich-
mond, Goodwood, Chichester.
Class 3. For tht six best fleeces of Gloucester
Wool--The prize, £lO, to No. 15, Samuel Pratt, of
Bubbenhall, near Kenilworth, Warwick.
Class 4. The six best fleeces of Shropshire or
mixed Wool—The prize, £lO, to No. 32, Thomas
Horton, of Harnage Grange, Shrewsbury, Salop.
With reference to wools, it may be noticed that
in class 3 there was only one exhibitor, but the
quality was extremely good. The exhibition of
specimens of wool promises to be one of the most
interesting features in the future exhibitions of
the society. The show of cheese was moderately
good
The cattle exhibition will be first-rate. In the
foremost rank of excellence will be that fine breed
of horses for agricultural purposes for which this
part of the country has long been so famous.
There are many samples of agricultural manures
exhibited. Messrs. Proctor and Ryland, of Bristol
and Birmingham, and Chester, and Warwick, and
other places, occupy their usual post of eminence in
that department of agrcultural science.
The show ground was filled to-day with the
curious in agricultural pursuits, and in every respect
this exhibition of the Royal Society can scarcely
fail to be a success. Warwick and Leamington
are full : the streets and towers of Warwick, so
full of historic associations, are gaily decorated; and
the Royal Society has never been better " housed."

FRANCE AND AUSTRIA.

The onward march of events maintains its pace
Since Napoleon's arrival in Italy scarce a day has
passed without some startling fact. We have de-
scribed three great battles, and we have announced
a truce, and we had hardly time to calculate the
probabilities that out of this truce a Peace would
come, when hot upon the intelligence that an ar-
mistice was concluded come tidings of the sequel
we had predicted. Yesterday afternoon the news
reached London that the preliminaries were already
signed, and the Ministers in both Houses of Par-
liament were able to communicate the basis of the
peace. The whole seems to have been arranged
between the two Emperors at. the interview that
took place at Villafranca on Monday morning.
Louis Napoleon is true to the precedents of the
founder of his house. As Napoleon the Great
granted an armistice to the Emperor Alexander
after the great battle of Friedland, and three days
afterwards settled the outlines of a treaty upon
" the raft of Tilsit," so Napoleon, the Nephew, has
given to his victory at Solferino the historical
sequences of an armistice, an interview, and a pre-
liminary treaty. What happened on the raft at
Tilsit is all now history ; what happened in that
room at Villafranca we cannot yet know, but we
may hope with confidence that the conversation be-
tween the Imperial negotiators of 1859 did not com-
mence in the same words which opened the Confer-
ence of 1807. Alexander's first expression to Napo-
leon was " I hate the English as much as you do, and
am ready to second you in all your enterprises
against them." Francis Joseph did not, we imagine,
thus eommence ; nor did our good ally and fast
friend answer, as his uncle answered—" In that
case everything will be easily arranged, and peace
is already made." Happily, England has for once
nothing to do with this arrangement •, and, when
Austria and France make up their disputes, the
secret articles that may be agreed upon cannot with
any reason bear reference to jealousies or hatred of
this Empire.
The two Emperors met at Villafranca alone.
Doubtless there was at Villafranca, as at Tilsit, the
splendid staff, comprising Marshals of both Empires.
But there does not appear to have been any inter-
vention of professional diplomatists. Face to face
and mind to mind Napoleon 111. and Francis Joseph
discussed the present and determined the future.
Such is, as we know, the French Emperor's habit
in things of far less importance than the re-settle-
ment of Europe and the creation of two new king•
doms. Francis Joseph was fain to follow where
the more powerful mind led, and we may fairly
speculate that if it be French policy that peace with
Austria shall be lasting there is little left for any
European Conference to carp or cavil over.
But the Emperors seem to have been alone, not
only in the sense of having no Ministers clog their
counsels, but also in the still more important sense
that they had no allies to start difficulties or to inter-
pose pretensions. We hear no mention of Sardinia.
One of the principal topics dwelt on in the manifesto
that pretended to justify this war was that Austria
insisted, contrary to natural justice, on excluding
Sardinia from the Congress which was to bind her
to peace and order. Sardinia had been the cause,
or at least the excuse, for this harvest of glory
which is now being garnered. She has seen her
country wasted, her finances ruined, .and her army
cut up. She has fought with a bravery which gives
the friends of Italy fresh hope of an Italian nation.
On the day of the great battle she encountered with
credit double her own number of Austrians. It was
her cause that was risked upon the fortune of war,
it was her country that was devastated, it was to
her banner that all Italy was called upon to rally ;
yet we do not hear that the King of Sardinia, who
had been so conspicuous at Solferino, played as
large a part at Villafranca. This is rather a potent
symptom, and it already begins to look as if our
predictions of the rather tame part he would have
to play everywhere, except in the fighting, would
be fulfilled. Not that we ever anticipated that the
French Emperor would be ungenerous to his ally.
Napoleon is too grand seigneur for that. We felt
that he would be, and we now admit that he is,
even lavish of his spoil ; but Sardinia must be con-
tent to take it from the great man, and upon the
great man's conditions. Lombardy is ceded to the
Emperor, and the Emperor tranfers it to the
King of Sardinia. We shall hear no more of
uniting all Italy in one powerful kingdom under
Victor Emmanuel. If we would pursue the his-,
tory of the Sardinian nation, it must be to',
watch the fortunes of her constitutional institu-
tions, or to canvass the question whether the
result of the war has been to annex Lombardy to
Piedmont, or to annex Piedmont to Lombardy.
We may have also to mark whether the Lombards
are settling down contentedly under the Sardinian
rule, and whether Milan is satisfied to call 'Turin
her Metropolis. For the present, however, Louis
Napoleon monopolises the glory and the power.
He is evidently determined that the world shall
make no mistake as to who is the liberator of Italy.
It is he, Napoleon 111., who is imposing his will
upon the beaten Francis Joseph, and when it is
done the King of Sardinia will, of course, be per-
mitted to sign the conditions he has extorted. But
let Sardinia be grateful and Venice be thankful ; let
Tuscany wait for orders, and let the Romans refrain
from cheering General Goyon too boisterously.
The two eagles are in the air, circling in friendly
flight. Let every meaner thing cower on the earth
and beware the swoop.
Will Italy be content with this freedom from the
Alps to the Adriatic ? Is the Pope so popular in his
sovereign capacity that all Italy will congratulate
themselves upon being brought under his " hono-
rary" Presidency? Does Sardinia feel no suspicion
that there was some wisdom in the advice so often
tendered her, to labour out by peaceful means and
by the progress of industry and intelligence the
gradual emancipation of the Italian race ? We speak
not of Victor Emmanuel. Tie will receive a great,
accession of territory; he will have bartered a drea 11l
for a mode .ate reality, arid according to the ordinary
notion of ordinary Hugs he comes out a (ruiner. it is
true that he shines palely in the glare of his benefac-
tor's glory ; and for his dignity's sake he is a little
too much under the hand of his gigantic friend.
He has come to be thought for, and acted for, and
treated for ; but he has grown into a larger Power
under the patronage of his Imperial relative. It is
of the people of Sardinia that we would inquire
whether they are still so sanguine of the good ef-
fects of this French alliance as thay were four
months ago ? Have they no nervousness about
those constitutional institutions which they gave
up so loyally to the keeping of their King, to be
restored when the moment of peril should have
passed away.. And Kossuth—whose hand is ar-
rested when in the act of firing the train which was
to wrap Hungary in smoke and ruin—what thinks
he at this moment of the Emperor whom be eulo-
logised in all our manufacturing towns ? Matters
are not looking so well as they might look for these
apostles of confusion and enemies of peaceful ad-
vancement ; but they have nothing left to do but
to make the best of it. The Sardinians must hope
that the Emperor of the French will take care that
their former free Government is re-established in
Piedmont. The Lombards must hope that Consti-
tutional Government will be extended to Lom-
bardy, and upon a cheaper scale than it was
worked in Sardinia. Venice must hope that
her independence will not be a mere name,
and that the influence of France and Aus-
tria united will not be more unbearable than
the rule of Austria singly. The Romans must
hope that the " Italian Confederacy under the
honorary presidency of the Pope" will be
nothing like any government they have hitherto
known under these tooinfallible auspices. Kossuth
also must hope that the restoration of the kingdom
of Hungary is, although at present unreported, in•
eluded in the programme of the new treaty. All
this may be in the minds of the two Emperors, and
may be intended by the scanty hints we have of
the couditions of their alliance ; and, if so, Villa-
franca will in all ages yet to come take precedence
of Tilsit. The absence of Sardinia from the con-
ference will then be explained upon the supposition
that the two Imperial friends met alone in order
that they might prepare this most agreeable sur-
prise to the friends of humanity throughout the
Times.