The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-06 00:00:00

suffrage and the ballot.

That hope must now be pretty well gone. We
have therefore a magnanimous disclaimer—cheap
magnanimity—of the manifesto of LUCIEN MURAT.
But there is yet a question. How can the EMPEROR
bring himself to give up Rome without a considera-

tion ? To lose not only the position for annoying and
disturbing Italy, but the prestige of " the French at
Rome"—although they got there by a most atro-
cious crime, and keep there in defiance of the
people whom they came "to liberate"—to lose both
military position and an importance gained by
crime, for nothing—can it be endured ? The only
compensation supposable is, another slice of terri-
tory. Money Italy has not to spare ; and to
be bought out of Rome would be really too
degrading, but territory is an honourable compen-
sation for renouncing other stolen territory—and
Sardinia is the only portion of Italy that France
would now care about. Our Foreign Office has,
we hope, therefore apprised Count CAVOUR, and
the EMPEROR too, that the cession of i'ardinia to
France would be considered by England as a casus

As to the rumours of possible hostilities this
spring or summer, while they could surprise no
one, we yet cannot see that there is much in the
few facts to which they seem to owe their origin.
Austria dare not, and Italy will not, move yet.

True, Garibaldi is at Turin, but it is quite as
likely he is got there to be talked over into
quietness, as because he is wanted for some
warlike project. Old BENEDEK, too, is no
doubt very desirous to renew the conflict with the
Piedmontese, in which he fought so fiercely, and
was so nearly successful, on the Austrian right
against the Sardinian left, at the Battle of Solferino.
He probably thinks that he could, as Commander-
in-Chief, do for the whole army what he did for his
own division. But BENEDEK cannot command in
Hungary and in Italy too. Nor is it by any means
certain that in a hostile Venetia, and with a nation
fighting for their newly-gained liberties, he would
not find himself overmatched. The hope of peace
on the side of Italy is that no Government there
but France is in a position to fight; and that,

however much Austria might like it, she dares no

begin the conflict with Hungary on her back. As
to the Northern chances of war, we should hope
England will be able to keep the foolish Prussian
Government quiet, and if so, the King of DENMARK,
under our advice, as a thoroughly friendly power,
will take no step which shall bring a French army
to the Rhine.

It is gratifying to learn by the last arrivals from
India that the Government there is taking up the
subject of cotton growing, at the same time with
earnestness and prudence. It proposes to do all
that Government can do, but carefully to avoid
putting itself in the place of the private trader.
The Governor-General's circular to the Presidential
authorities observes :—" First—That no- measure
which places Government in the position of the
private capitalist, cultivator, or speculator, or
which in any way interferes with private enter-
prise can be otherwise than permanently injuri-
ous in itself and detrimental to the object in view.
Therefore, all attempts to stimulate cultivation or
labour, by any exertion of Government authority
directly or indirectly, are out of the question. The
same objection will apply to model farms and ex-
perimental cultivation conducted by officers of
Government."

The present object is to tell on the production of
the coming Indian crop; all canal and railroad
schemes are, therefore, out of place; not even the
solution of questions respecting land tenure can
much avail towards the immediate object. Two
things the Government thinks must be chiefly
attended to immediately :—First, every effcrt must
be made to diffuse information in the districts
where cotton is grown, on the probable demand
for it, the prices it will command, and
the means of getting it ready for market. zeuunaly, ,
in a rough and ready the present means of
conveyance tobey considerably improved.
portmay Wa
Thu Government also proposes to permit the mer-
chants to use, under certain regulations, its local
treasuries as banks, where there are none, and offers
facilities to commercial agents in visiting the cotton
producing districts. -

We do not know that the Government could do
more. Manchester must be her own chief agent.
If she sends suitable persons among the native cul-
tivators to apprise them of the prices she can afford
for the quality of the cotton they grow; if,

' good care is, of course, taken that no one shall be
in a position to do that. But it cannot be denied
that we are just in the crisis in which, if Louis
NAPOLEON acts like Louis NAPOLEON, just such a
report may reach us, even before Parliament is pro-
rogued, as that Sardinia is to h put -I,,,thr ;nt
screw of a -French Universal Suffrage and Ballot,
that Count CAvoug declares that it can-
' not be otherwise, that Rome is in future
)to be the Continental capital of Italy,
and that considerations of " natural boundaries"
(to French ambition) require that La Maddalena
be never occupied again by any English, or even
Sardinian NELSON, watching thence by repeating
frigates the French navy in the harbour of Toulon.
We are sorry to seem even suspicious; but, if we
are so, the fault is not ours. The subject has slept
some time, or rather England and Europe have
slept over it; but we have been "caught napping"
before, and we shall have but ourselves to thank if
we are caught so again. Our great ally seems to
think such international pranks as harmless as
those of schoolboys ; and we took the last so quietly
that he may well believe we should be as good
tempered if he tried it on again. We warn him,
however, that he will find himself quite mistaken.
Savoy lay so entirely between the two coun-
tries; it had no trade with us, and was un-
approachable by our übiquitous navy, that
while we did not loathe the roguery and fraud the
less, we had yet no direct national interest in the
dirty transaction. Altogether different will it be
with Sardinia. Our naval position in the Mediter-
ranean will be directly assailed. Malta will be
checkmated. The naval power which alone aspires
to be strong enough at sea to invade our shores at
a day's notice will be enabled to watch our Medi-
terranean fleet with every advantage, and so far
to neutralise the indirect aid which it would furl
nish to our channel fleet at home. England can-
not allow Sardinia to belong to _France.
On the other hand, we wish Italy to have it. We
care not how strong she becomes in her Mediter-
ranean harbours. We feel a confidence in her consti-
tutional Government, and in her growing free trade
with England, and in the goodwill engendered by
our perfectly unselfish support during her struggle
for liberty, which assures us that the stronger Italy
is, as a naval Power, the better for us. Italians well
understand that but for the powerful moral support
of England, backed as it was by a fleet which made
our policy respected, the fate of Italy might have
been widely different. Instead of a united and
strong Italy, the man of Villafranca and of
Gaeta would have kept her divided, and unsettled,
and disunited, that France might be the real head
of half a dozen petty kingdoms ; and probably that,
in time, some of these little royalties might have
chosen a NAPOLEON for its ruler by universal