The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-17 00:00:00

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans
Northern 920 .. 915
New ditto Bl5 .. 810
Lyons and Mediterranean 875 .. 875
Geneva 525 .. 522 60
Southern
Western 575 .. 580
Eastern
Sardinian. 4lO
Austrian
Lombard .
Exchange on London, at sight, paper, 25f. 15e. ; money,
251 121 e.; three months, paper, 24f. 971 c.; money, 241. 95c.

The Siecle contains the following :
" The imagination of our newsmongers is most
active at present. It was necessary to allege some
plausible reason for the journey of the King of the
Belgians, and they have discovered a score. We
will be content with mentioning the most curious
of these inventions, and which declares that King
Leopold is simply gone to Biarritz to ask for the
throne of Central Italy for his second son, Count
de Flandre, who, in case the return of the Italian
Dukes is found impracticable, will have the sup-
port of Austria, and reign constitutionally. This
prince would also be supported by England. Others
say that the candidate for the Italian throne is
not the Count de Flandre, but the Duke de Bra-
bant himself. If accepted, he would renounce his
claim on Belgium, which at Leopold's death would
be restored to France as a compensation for her
sacrifices. We need hardly remark that we men-
tion these rumours solely lan account of their ab-
surdity."

The Italian correspondent of the Siecle, writing
from Florence, on the 12th, says :
" All that passes here •is truly novel. These re-
volutionary governments are solely occupied with
one thing—with putting down all the germs
of revolution ; these men, whom the reactionary
journals decry as the enemies of order and law,
watch with the most vigilant care over every-
thing that might cause excitement. At Bologna
they arrested a man (a stranger) who was singing
verses containing a personal attack on the Hely
Father. At Florence, M. Ricasoli, president of
the council, suppressed, by a single stroke of his
pen, a journal which published caricatures against
the Grand Ducal family. Perhaps you think the
people will be irritated by such measures ? Nothing
of the kind. This intelligent population is fully
aware that liberty itself must be temporarily sup-
pressed to assure the triumph of independence, and
therefore support the Government. The Tuscan
people are the gentlest, most pacific, and most
easily governed in the world. Remove from their
sight the phantom of Austria, incarnate in the
Grand Duke, and they will be perfectly satisfied.
A Florentine remarked to me : I cannot kelp
smiling when I read in two or three of your Paris
journals that we are revolutionists. Strange re-
volutionists, truly ! For the last three months we
have been on our knees imploring Europe to let
us have a King.' The sincere conviction I bring
back to Paris after this short tour in the
Duchies and Romagna, is that with every
Italian, no matter to what part of Italy he belongs,
two ideas prevail over all others—those of na-
tionality and unity. When offered constitutional
guarantees with an Archduke, he smiles bitterly,
or seems not to understand what is said. The Ita-
lian would prefer despotism with a national prince
to liberty with a foreign sovereign, and he is right.
Before thinking of political liberty, a nation ought
to secure its independence from all foreign influ-
ence. A constitution, however liberal it might be,
given by the Archduke, would satisfy nobody, be-
cause behind the Archduke they would always see
Austria, and every Italian looks upon Austria with
religious horror. Ask the first Tuscan you meet,
whether noble, tradesman, or labourer, what he
thinks of the Grand Duke, and he will answer,
He is not a bad man ; but he is an Austrian.' To
sum up, all, I may say that with national inde-
pendence there will be peace, order, and oblivion of
the past; with the restoration of the Grand Duke,
war, vengeance, and perpetual disorder."

THE 78th _HIGHLANDERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—When will the authorities at the Horse
Guards learn real practical wisdom ? They find a
difficulty in obtaining a sufficient number of recruits
for the army, and yet they can so act as to damp,
not kindle, the military spirit among our people.
The 78th Highlanders—that gallant regiment which
did more than any other to save India at the crisis
of its peril—has just arrived on the shores of Eng-
land, and instead of being allowed to land, that they
might be seen and honoured by the people, the
authorities at the Horse Guards have ordered them
to be transferred at Gravesend from one ship to an-
other, and sent off at once up to Inverness, where
they are to be stationed. This, I happen to know,
is a sore disappointment both to officers and men,
as it must be to all their friends and relations living
here in England. It must not be forgotten that,
though this is a Scotch regiment, it contains many
who are either English or Irish, both among the
officers and the men, and that the parents even of
those who are Scotch live, many of them, in or near
this great metropolis. Surely, then, it was very
unwise to disappoint and disgust all these persons,
especially when, by allowing this noble regiment
to land and march through London, in their own
picturesque and magnificent uniform, the military
ardour might have been Kindled in many of our
stalwart youth to offer themselves to fill up the
places left vacant by the brave dead ? The sight
of such a number of soldiers returned safe from
all the hardships and dangers of the Indian
campaign would have inspirited them, while the
soldiers themselves would have felt rewarded for
all that they had endured by the honour which
they would have received at the hands of the people.
As it is, they have been permitted only to creep,
as it were, silently back to England, and then have
been smuggled off in equal silence to the remotest
extremity of Scotland, as if they had covered them-
selves with shame, and not with glory.
It may not be generally known that the 78th
Highlanders landed in India from the Persian war
at the very crisis of India's danger; that their first
act was, by a sudden night march from Chinsurah
to Goruckpoor, to put down an intended mutiny
there of the sepoys, and a descent upon Calcutta ;
that immediately after this they hastened up to
Ailahabad, where the immortal Havelock took
command of them, together with the 64th Regi-
ment and the sth Madras Fusileers ; that thence
they proceeded to the relief of Cawnpore, and beat
the Nana Sahib and his troops against great odds
in five successive engagements ; that after having
relieved Cawnpore they made three attempts,
fighting battle after battle. and in the third attempt
succeeded in relieving the beleaguered garrison at
Lucknow, holding the place till Lord Clyde arrived ;
that subsequently, under Sir J. Outram, they kept
the enemy at bay for a long time at the Alumbagh ;
and that, finally, they held Bareilly till, the war
being over, they were ordered to return to England.
Surely it was not good policy to allow the deeds of
such a distinguished regiment to pass unnoticed, if
we wish our country to be securely protected against
all coming dangers ? It is true,
we are not a
demonstrative people, but if we would have the
martial spirit exist among us against the time of
id i
need, we must, the French do, cultivate it by
honouring the brave.—l am yours,
London, Sept. 13. HIGHLANDER.

SWIMMING MATCH IN THE THAMES.—Yester-
day morning a swimming match, which created much in-
terest among persons who are inclined to such sports, took
place in the Thames for the championship and a purse of
£6O. The competitors were Beckford, df the Lambeth
Baths (the present champion), and Walker, both swim-
mers of first-rate character. The start took place shortly
before eight o'clock, and the swim was from Hammersmith
to Putney. Beckford had the advantage throughout, and
won by more than a hundred yards, thus retaining the
championship and gaining the more solid advantage of 60
pounds. . .