The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-23 00:00:00

the boasted military system of Austria. The giant '
has collapsed at the bullet of a French rifle. Dis-
cipline, physical strength, the commissariat, the
strategy, the transport—everything has failed in the
hour of trial, excepting only the courage of the men,
who have been marched up, famished, sleepless, and
sun-stricken, to be shot down without a chance of
even selling their lives dear. It now turns out to be
an immense army, or rather an immense crowd of
raw lads, without training, without skill, without
stamina. Such is the stuff of these huge German
armaments, that make so great a show on paper, but
vanish at the first crossing of bayonets or the first
sound of the cannon. This is to play at armies. Let
all the Powers of Europe, great and small, see that
they have real armies, of real soldiers, who can en-
' dure a march as well as fight ; and let them see that
the rest of their system is adapted for the field as
well as the parade, and then they need not be much
concerned for the fate of an Italian campaign. As
to ourselves we need a fleet as well as an army, and
it will be our own fault if we have not one equal to
all that can be brought against us. For the general
interests of the human race it were to be wished
that Austria and France found better use for their
men and money ; but they are not rendering them-
selves more dangerous to the rest of Europe by de-
stroying one another on the other side of the Alps.

(From the Daily News.)

" His Majesty the King of the Belgians arrived
to-day, on a visit," &e. This is one of the regular
entrées of a London season, as regular as the Derby,
the Ascot Cup-day, Almaek's, or Cremorne • and
we are certainly not among those who are inclined
to attach any special meaning to a perfectly natu-
ral and customary incident, Limited monarchy,
however strictly interpreted, is not supposed to be
impersonated by a Monarch whose doings and
goings are limited to the tether of his own
domain, and it would be a monstrous imperti-
nence, as well as cruelty, to grudge qur excel-
lent cousin, King Leopold, whose palaces are small,
and whose subjects are few, an occasional change
of air and scene. Besides, Laeken, we cannot help
admitting, is a little dull, and Brussels politics are
not the liveliest in the world. A trip to Dover is
an excellent "constitutional," and at a time like
the present it is an absolute tonic to an old gentle-
man who takes a warm and conservative interest
in other people's affairs_ It would be hard indeed
if royal personages were not permitted to pay a
family visit, to take a peep at old friends, to enjoy
a fortnight's run, without incurring the dark sus-
picions of uncourtly Radicals, who can never be
persuaded that Kings and Princes sometimes-talk
about the weather, like the dullest of ordinary
mortals. It is a grave symptom of something or
other, this morbidly indiscreet curiosity about what
is called " the Court policy," so prevalent of late ;
as if our boasted responsible Government had sub-
sided into the pitiable condition of a screen for
secret agencies unamenable to Parliamentary and
national control. So that when a wise and under-
standing Prince, who was an English nobleman
before he was a foreign King, comes over once or
twice a year to the adopted country of his early
life, a solemn buzz and murmur rises up ; a wfully
vigilant and acute observers whisper audible
surmises, and shake their heads protestingly. This
disposition to regard King Leopold as the grand
fly wheel to the dynastic machine of Continental
Europe cannot be said to date from the memorable
occasion when' were assured on the highest au-
thority that " Constitutional Government was on
its trial ;" but that oracular utterance is certainly
responsible for having quickened a jealousy which
was almost extinct. Of course it is idle to affect to
doubt that the King of the Belgians pays some at-
tention to what is passing beyond the frontiers of
his interesting and industrious little kingdom, and
the present crisis in the South of Europe is calcu-
lated to excite not only his interest but his emo-
tions, and to recall vividly to his mind the circum-
stances under which he ascended a throne which
he has filled with so much credit and advantage
to the monarchical principle in general and to
the Belgian people in particular. We could not
recommend his Majesty a better course of
reading during his present stay in London than
Liansard's Parliamentary Debates for the years
1830-1832. We are persuaded that the perusal of
the debates on the Belgian question and the Con-
ference of London will strengthen his perceptions
of the true bearings of the Italian question, and
enable him to take a clear and generous view of the
rights and wrongs which are now in discussion on
the Mincio. When he is asked whether Austria
can lose a province, or the Treaty of Vienna a
clause or two, without disturbing the equilibrium
of Europe, and subverting the foundations of pub-
lic law, he will be ready to reply that had Austria
not lost a province, and had the Treaty of Vienna
remained intact, Belgium was no kingdom and
Leopold no King. It will, we imagine, be infi-
nitely amusing to him, after 18 tranquil and pros-
perous years, to read the doleful speeches in the
British Parliament, in which the treaty-rights of
Holland, that ancient ally of England, were not
unjusty or unreasonably invoked by Tory members
who insisted that the integrity of the kingdom of
the Netherlands had been purposely established as
a barrier to France, and expressed their apprehen-
sions that Prince Leopold would hereafter look up
to France as his natural ally and protector, since
it was France that had helped him to his throne
and Belgium to her independence. It will be plea-
sant to him to note the foresight of the Whigs,
who began by fearing that Prince Leopold could
not sufficiently separate himself from England, but
afterwards argued that, by applying to France, in
the first instance, for 50,000 men, he had consulted
his own safety, and set himself free from the' ob-
jection of his too great leaning towards England.
These debates, and the events to which they relate,
compose the best of sermons on the late Foreign
Secretary's " pedantic observance of treaties," and
no man in Europe is better calculated to improve
the text and to enlarge on the discourse than our
good friend the King of the Belgians, whose recol-
lections will suffice to inspire him with some con-
sideration for Italy in her struggle for deliverance
from Austria, and even suggest excuses for her ap-
peal to French bayonets. We need not the wisdom
of any Mentor or of any
.Ulysses to,enlighten us as
to the value of Austria in preserving the balance
of power according to Metternich. We do not
need any oracle to remind us that it was Metter-
nick who permitted Russia to encroach in the East
of Europe, while he was busy forging chains for the
populations in the South ; and that when the. Otto-
man Empire was declared in danger and France and
England in arms, Austria was insincere and doubt-
ful in negotiation, selfish and vacillating during the
war, obstinate, and embarassing in Congress ; that
she presented no barrier against Russia in 1849,
when she called in Russian troops to her aid, no
defence to Turkey when she held back from joining
the Allies. But 1830-1832 is already a distant epoch.
Times, and men, and kings are changed since then.
Belgium, of all states in the world, has contracted a
near and dear alliance with Austria ; and an amiable
lady, who bears a name familiarly fond and sad to
English ears, has exchanged the cheers and smiles
of a loving population for the sullen silence and
averted looks of a people that owes no loyalty to
oppressors. We can hardly believe that the impres-
sions of the Princess Charlotte can have convinced
King Leopold that Austria has a better right to
Lombardy than Holland had to Belgium.
Perhaps, however, the King of the Belgians may
be more interested just now in our recent change of
administration than in foreign politics, and may. be
solicitous to know the reasons for the change, since
Tories and Liberals alike proclaim neutrality. He
will find the reasons admirably stated in the debate
on the Address in November, 1830, by Henry
Brougham In a monarchy, I say, the doctrine
of measures not men is irrational, and men, as well
as measures, must be looked to. The men may
make a treaty which will make war inevitable at
some distant day, unless the honour of the country
be sacrificed ; and, as long as the men can act
secretly, we must look to them and their character
as well as the measuresthey avow." Again : " The
people of England are enamoured of their own
liberty, and they are the friends of the liberty of
others." Words so explicit and so frank as these
dispense us from regarding with jealousy the visit
of any king—be his relations, his correspondents,
his predilections what they may—with jealousy or
disfavour : still less the " mission" of the venerable
Prince Esterhazy, who has come again after an
absence of twenty-one years, not a poorer but a
sadder man, after closing the eyes of Metternich,
to tell his surrivins friends in London how it hap-
pens that Austria is bankrupt, Italy emancipated,
and Hungary once more ripe for insurrection.

CORPORATION PETTY EXPENSES.--Are the offices
of " yeoman of the Channel" and " train bearer" con-
sistent with the order of things in 1859 ? and do not the
small amounts of £25 and £l5 set against them re-
present the collander theory of Corporation finance ?
The Thames Conservancy costs £6,000 a-year ; the
short-hand writing at the Central Criminal Court, for
twelve sessions. is entered at £9OO ; cloth for Ministers
and other great officers of State costs £l2O 12s. 6d.;
"working the ventilator" at the Central Criminal
Court figures at £5B 16s. 8d ; and the clock at the New
Cattle-market is on the grand scale of the whole of that ex-
pensive affair, £940. During two years, sculpture for the
Mansion.-house cost £3,230 16s 6d. ; a medal to commemo-
rate the visit of the King of Sardinia, with • cases for the
same, cost £551, and ornamentally writing an address,
£136,1 We say not a word about water-bailiffs • we make
no complaint of the allowance of £l,BOO a-year a Mr. Bun-
ning, the City architect ; we even think the comptroller
not over-paid at £l,OOO a-year, or the City solicitor bht
fairly dealt with at £2,000 —for his tasks are neither few
nor small ; but we, nevertneless, enter a protest against the
ccaitinnsuee of payments for anything except substantial
civic utilities.—City Press.
The Suffolk is announced from Melbourne with
47,934 ounces of gold, valued at £192,000. About £lOO,OOO
lin Russian gold has also arrived.