The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-16 00:00:00

(From the Times.)
We are informed that the Emperor and Empress
of the Freneh will pay an early visit to the Em-
peror of Austria at Vienna. Emperors of Austria
must hereafter be added to the category which here-
tofore was considered to comprise only " a spaniel,
a wife, and a walnut tree." The more you beat

Emperors of Austria " the better they be." There
is something, however, to be said for the placability
of Francis Joseph. In the days when " fastness
was fashion, it was not uncommon for a spirited
young Mohawk, confident in his skill in the noble
art of self-defence, to pick a quarrel with some sturdy
stupid drayman. He fought him from mere
gaiete de cceur, and he thrashed him to a standstill
by sheer science. When he thought he had pun-
ished him sufficiently he tossed a guinea to the de-
feated giant,`and bade him drink his health. The
sulky colossus felt that after all he was the better
for his drubbing, so he swabbed his face, and, as he
went off to indulge his thirsty propensities, he mut-
tered " that after all the gentleman was a gentleman,
and had behaved as such." There is certainly no rea-

son why Austria should bear rancour against France.
France has kicked her up stairs. Napoleon 111. has
a right to be received as a benefactor by Francis
Joseph. If it be true that when Monarchs rave
their people weep, the converse of the apophthegm
should be seen at Vienna. The Austrian populace,
who cheered their Emperor when he went forth to
war, will now see him as tame as a horse which has
been under the hand of Mr. Rarey. All that he
can do will be insufficient to show his affection for
his generous conqueror. The palace of the German
Ciesars will outshine itself, and the reviews upon
the glacis will exhibit once more to Louis Napoleon
the perfection of Austrian drill. It must be a plea-
sant and fully compensating thought to some re-
leased conscript among the crowd who carries a
ball in his kneepan, or to some girl whose sweet-
heart lies ten feet deep in a pit at Magenta, or
to some woman whose husband is dying at Sol-
ferino, that the two Emperors are so happy ; that
their little tiff is over, and that they have learnt
to understand the identity of their interests, and,
like two virtuous men, to exclaim—" Brother,
brother, we were both in the wrong !" These un-
reasoning spectators may perchance look back and
sigh over dashed hopes and crushed happiness,
and the disabled conscript may grind his teeth
under the pain of that sharp twinge. and may
wish that his master had found out his mistake
before Magenta had crippled him for life;
but these are rebellious and forbidden thoughts.
There is no more in common between subjects
and Emperors now that legitimacy is so strong
in Europe than there is between the ivory
pieces on the chessboard and the immortal beings
who play the game. Shall the pawns complain
because they have been sacrificed in a game on
which no stake depended ?
How sweetly will the acquaintance commenced
at Villafranca grow into friendship and strengthen
into intimacy at Vienna! The familiar intercourse
of every day will discover new chords of sympathy.
There can be no want of topics both for merriment
and for serious congratulati: n. Even Francis
Joseph, struggling through fierce indignation, may
at last see the comical point of his friend Kossuth's
present position. Perhaps he may propose to his
ally, pour combk to the excellent joke, to hang the
Hungarian before he has quite recovered from his
surprise, or while he may even yet consider him-
self the ally of France. Cavour s position, also,
will be food for exquisite mirth, boisterously in-
dulged by the Austrian, and still more keenly
relished in quiet sardonic internal enjoyment by
the Corsican. Victor Emmanuel, also, who has
been treated with an indignity which even Austria
must think revenge enough, and who so humbly
thanks the magnanimity of the Emperor and trots
off with his bone—he also will afford food for
many a jest. He does not know so well as France
and Austria know what the future is preparing.
There will be also so much to settle as well as to
laugh at. Who is to restore those Grand Dukes ?
If Austria does it, it must as a member of the
new Italian Confederation, and it may be a useful
precedent to her, whereby she may in all after
time claim free passage for her troops over all the
land of Italy. By the retention of Borgoforte she
has secured a safe passage of the Po, and immediate
access to Modena, Parma, Tuscany, and the States
of the Church. The most witty thing to do would
be to make Sardinia restore these exiled Grand
Dukes as the price of her new acquisitions. Or
France might reach them with her fleet through
Leghorn. There are advantages in each of these
courses, and the interest of the conversations at
Vienna cannot flag while such topics remain to be
discussed. Moreover. the Emperor of the French
will have to expound to Francis Joseph all the
advantages of his position as acting President of
the new Italian Confederation. He will doubtless
remind him that he now is to Italy what he is to
Germany—the great dominant Power, who does as
he pleases. If Germany, with its obstinate and
self-reliant race, and its 16 millions of popula-
tion in her minor States, and if Prussia, with
her 15 millions, can make no head against Austria
in the German Confederation, how smooth will
be her ascendancy in Italy ! If Bavaria, and
Hanover, and Wurtemberg are so invariably
attracted to her in her orbit, is she likely
to have trouble with Lucca or San Marino.?
Before the treaty of Villafranca Austria was only
five-and-thirty millions, Lombardy included. Now
she is fifty millions. Before Solferino, Austria was
only an intruder in Italy ; now she is as one " to
the manner born." Francis Joseph will learn to
bless the happy day when his Imperial brother first
determined to conquer his friendship. Before that
time all Europe was importunately requiring
Austria to keep within her own boundaries, and toe
,eive up that political and military influence in the
States south of the Po which had, as Sardinia
and England asserted, been the chief cause of mis-
government, and misery, and discontent in Italy.
Now she leads back her satraps in triumph to those
Duchies, and has become their Protector by virtue
of Villafranca. She will count their votes in the.
Confederation, and use them upon every necessary
occasion, in conjunction with Naples and Rome, to
reduce the influence of Sardinia to a nullity.
There is another advantage upon which the
Emperor of Austria deserves to be congratulated.
When the Americans were discussing the pro-
priety of annexing Texas, a shrewd old repre-
sentative of one of the back States opposed it,
because, he said, if this place became one of the
United States there would be no place to run to.
So it was in the old Roman Empire. So it will
now be in Italy. As soon as this Confedera-
tion is formed there will be an end to the nuisance
of Italian patriotism. There will be no running
from Naples or from Rome to Genoa. The Con-
federation will, of course, be upon the German
model, for there is no other. Each and every State
will engage to assist each and every other against
national attack and internal disturbance. People
have gone about saying " Leave the Italians to
settle their disputes, and rely upon it that improve-
ments will take place." That was what might
have been feared at Vienna. To banish this fear
Napoleon, the saviour of Russia, the benefactor of
Sardinia, and the protector of Austric , has invented
this scheme of Confederation, which closes the
prospect of all opposition and of all political im-
provement. All these must be pleasant subjects of
conversation at Vienna; but the loudest laugh of
all must be when the Emperors remember that
there were dupes in the world who believed that
all these great battles were fought for great princi-
ples, and that the French Emperor was attacking
the Austrians in order to make Italy free.
We have no right to be indignant at all
this. The Emperor Napoleon has not deceived
us, for we have never trusted him, or even
affected to trust him. It is not against us that
those jibes and pleasantries can be pointed which
our correspondents at Paris and Vienna now speak
of. We have never been of those who expect grapes
from thorns or figs from thistles. We have always
felt and said that a man of the Emperor's charac-
ter can have only one set of instincts and one course
of policy. He can deceive only those who desire
to be deceived. By this peace he has annihilated
the Moderate Constitutional party in Italy, and he
has given the lie to the clumsy calumny that his
course of action was ever influenced by personal
fear of the emissaries of the Red Republicans. In
the interest of despotism he has done wisely in sup-
pressing this, to him, most dangerous Moderate
party, and in placing the antagonism once more
between crazy revolutionists and absolute rulers.
Henceforward Italy is to have no choice except be-
tween order enforced by tyranny and disorder
threatened by enthusiasts. The Emperor has done
his work with strength and craft, but he could not
have effected it so easily had he not had the most
obstinate self-deceiving fools of our age to work
Iwithal.

THE GREAT FLOAT AT BIRKENHEAD.—At the,
meeting of the Mersey Dock Board yesterday, Mr. Boulf;
asked the Chairman of the Works Committee whether th;
attention of the committee had been directed to the poser'
bility of converting the large low-water basin at Birkenhes'
into a dock, with the view of saving the expense of sluice!?
&c. and whether any communication. had bee He
made wit fi
the, railway companies upon that subject. e expresse tik
some doubt upon the ultimate success of the project, bi
was stopped by the chairman from entering into that sill r
ject, on the ground of its being irregular. The theirs:oo
of the Works Committee replied, that they never had COr.
templated, nor did he believe they ever would conterapill,
any deviation from the plan of the Birkenhead works ,
prescribed by the existing Act of Parliament; but if.".
change should at any time be deemed desirable, any prgt
positions would receive their careful consideration.
present, however, the committee had but one intention'
and that was to carry out the authorised !plan in its Pi