The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-27 00:00:00

T H E

X F ORD

6, OXFORD-STREET.

The architectural beauty, elegance of ornamentation, and
brilliancy of lighting of this noble building, render it one of
the sights of London. Open Every Evening. The pro-,
gramme is varied, and includes Selectirns from "La Tra-
vlit ~" "Un Ballo in Maschera," ctc., (by a full company of
principals, powerful band, and chorus). Solos by Miss Bryait
en tl!e Piano Forte, and by Mr. Russell on the Trombone.
Old English Ballad, by Miss Green, -,cotch Duets by the
3Eises ititart, and other vocal and instrumental music of the
hiL':hest order. Conductor, Mr. F. Jongtmans. The Comic
portion of the entertainment is supported by Messrs. M. P.
looster (in his " Life Sketches"), Sam Collins, Harvey, and
French (the Nerves), E. Marshall, and W. Randall. Hall,
sixpence; s3alcony and Stalls, one shilling. Private Boxes,
Its. td.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tars DAY.—Morning, sh. 40m.—Afternoon, sh. 56m.
To-nowhow.-Morning, 6h. 16m.—Afternoon, 6h. 36m.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, AUGUST 27, 1861.
THERMOMETER, IN THE BHADB.
70—highest since noon yesterday.
56 —lowest this morning and during the night.
71—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-30.35.
WIND-W.-N.-W.-light, and fine.

''"?
rte,
41. i. • _

T E SUN.

LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1861.

The Illoniteur yesterday condescended in the
most imperial manner to give the " lie direct" to
Mr. ROEBUCK. It said, " Mr. ROEBUCK has
recently affirmed that he knew of the existence of
a convention, by which the Island of Sardinia
would be eventually ceded to Prance And it
added thereupon--" We give a formal denial to this
assertion. Not only does such a convention not
exist, but even the thought of entering into nego.'
tiations on this subject with the Cabinet of Turin
has never occurred to the EMPEROR'S Government."
Now, what—we should very much like to know—
does this positive denial by the Moniteur instantly
remind one of ?Is it not—of the equally explicit,
the equally emphatic, deliberate, and categorical
denial of any intention whatever of absorbing the
territories of Nice and Savoy into France by the
Imperial Government ? Why, the denial in that
instance was, if possible, still more positive, and
was, if possible, denied to the world still more
authoritatively. It was not simply, then, that the
imperial journal denied it The understand-
ing, said to have been come to with Sardinia, to
the: end that Savoy and Nice should be ceded as a
quid pro quo by that (save the mark !) disinterested
and magnanimous " Liberator of Lombardy." It
solemnly declared to be nothing better than an idle
rumour—this not once, but again and again—not
merely by the official organ of the French Govern-
ment, but by the EMPEROR himself and by his Minis.
te.rs. This was asserted, moreover, by word of mouth
in Paris and in London. It was declared in printed
documents and in written documents. There could
be no Possibility of mistake about it. If credence
was to be given to a great reigning Sovereign, if
reliance was to be placed upon the assurances volun-
teered by
-I-misters of State and Ambassadors Ex-
traordinary, the could not be a moment's hesita-
being necessarily compelled to
tion about our
believe that the preservation of Savoy and Nice to
VICTOR EMMANUEL was f
Per ectly well secured.
,nibas„ed theor were
Yet we all know the result now hut too well. The
EMPEROR and the E
:JUROR'S Ministers,..
Im-
perial journal, and the Imperial
proved after all to have been—how
express the fact in any aypolitely,
or with any possibly
can we
semblance of courtesy—well, we will say—in error.
been error. Savoy aa4
They w ere proved to have
hough the ?rind
Vice were ceded to France _what t

of the MAJESTY )1 Vrance. had been pledged
against it ! Without any exception, it was the
dirtiest trick that a great Prince was ever guilty
of. MACAULAY, in the last volume of his
"History of England," the fifth volume, pub-
lished the other day posthumously, has taken oc-
casion incidentally to speak of the partition
of Poland as the greatest crime ever perpetrated
in modern Europe. So—we may speak of this
cession of Savoy and Nice to France as we have
spoken of it—namely, as, without any exception,
the dirtiest trick. Particularly after all that had
been written and all that been said. Nay, certain
are we that by nothing has the Emperor NAPOLEON
111. damaged his reputation more seriously than
by this. For it turned out to have been from first
to last the merest shuffling, and shuffling too of the
most paltry and contemptible kind. After that—
who was to believe the most solemn and positive
assurance given to the world in the name of the
French Government?

Yet, here—with the most consummate effron-
tery the official organ of the French Go-
vernment comes forth as recently as yester-
day morning with an assurance just as
solemn, just as positive—and in the name of
decency in regard to what ? Why, actually in re-
gard to the very same question as to a further
cession of territory to Imperial France ! What an
exceeding probability there is upon the very face of
it that the majority of dispassionate observers
throughout Europe will believe what is said by
the Moniteur. Remembering that affair of Savoy
and Nice, we have much reason to be credulous !
Yet as we have seen the official journal of
France is not simply content with giving out
this plain denial (the value of which we have all
long since learnt how to estimate !) but it must
needs, while doing so, condescend, as we have ex-
pressed it, to give the "lie direct "—in the politest
way, of course—but still to give tho " lie direct" to
Mr. ROEBUCK.

Now, before we have done with this mat-
ter, it may perhaps be just as well to re-
' peat here as nearly as possible the very words
uttered by Mr. ROEBUCK upon the occasion referred
to. That occasion, it will be remembered, was the
banquet given in the Free Library at Sheffield on
Wednesday last. When—upon a great variety of
subjects—JOHN ARTHUR ROEBUCK, M.P. for
Sheffield, spoke right out. Whether right or
wrong, at any rate he spoke right out : particularly
in regard to America, in regard to Austria, and in
regard to France. As to his remarks upon America,
we dare say if the hon. gentleman cared to afford
some of the free and enlightened citizens on the
other side of the Atlantic an opportunity at any time
for so doing, they would have the greatest pleasure
in life in providing him (in return for those observa-
tions of his about themselves) with a complete suit
of tar and feathers. In reference to what was said
last Wednesday down at Sheffield by Mr. ROE-
BUCK in regard to the Government of Vienna and
the Imperial house of Austria, we observe that one
of the Electors of Sheffield ingeniously proposes,
through the columns of our contemporary the Daily
News, that we should duly celebratet hose remarks
by providing Mr. ROEBUCK with some appropriate
testimonial. Whereupon he says, " I beg to pro-
pose that a subscription be at once entered into for
the purpose of presenting Mr. ROEBUCK with a
handsome suit of Austrian livery." As the'Aue-
trian uniform is White—and if only Mr. ROEBUCK'S
coat be lined, as it ought to be, with that same
colour (supposing that white, can strictly speak-
ing
be called a colour)—perhaps the simplest plan
would be for Mr. ROEBUCK to be quite honest about
it, and just turn his coat inside out ! But now as to
the hon.and learned gentleman's remarks at Sheffield
on Wednesday last about France ! These remarks
in respect to which the Moniteur only yesterday
gave so very coolly this plump denial. They are
worth giving, as we gave them in our own columns
yesterday, as nearly as possible in his own words.
They are these : Mr. ROEBUCK said (we doubt not
with an air of wonderful gravity) that "he would
now make known a secret He, knew there had
been a compact entered into with the King of ITALY
that the Emperor of the FRENCH should have the
Island of Sardinia as soon as he withdrew from
Rome. He was stating a fact, not what he
thought but what he knew, and he knew also that
the people of England would not allow that.
There was hanging over us now a cloud threaten-
ing war, and that man at the head of the Admini-
stration was ready to battle against such aggran-
disement on the part of France. What he had said
wculd be verified before many months elapsed."
Now, notwithstanding the positive denial given
to all this yesterday by the Moniteur—we prefer
(remembering the affair of Savoy and Nice) to give
Mr. ROEBUCK'S assurance that margin of a few odd
months. Within which interval, he tells us, his
assurance will be verified. "I'll take the Ghost's
word for a thousand pounds, HORATIO !"

Whether the South will ever be subjugated by
the North, and, if it cannot be, how long it will
take the Ncrth to find it out, we cannot pretend to
conjecture. We may acknowledge, however, that
the power of resistance seems greater than had
been anticipated, and the power of attacking much
less. Nor need we anticipate that the future will
much change the relations of things in this respect.
If 1114CLELLAN takes time to reorganize and drill,
he gives the same time to BEAUREGARD ; and if
volunteers enlist to avenge the disgrace of Bull's
Run, so they enlist on the other side, to sustain
the honours won by the South.
But one thing, we think, must strike all who look
on the American " difficulty" from this side the
iwater—the fitness of the retribution. Be their
theology of retribution what it may, let them regard
it as the direct infliction of HEAVEN, like the
heathen thunderbolts of JOVE, or as the arranged
sequence of crime and its punishment, the appro-
priateness of the punishment to the crime is too
striking to escape even cursory observation. The
great, the crying sin of the Free States has been'
their complicity with slavery. Two principal rea-
sons were at the bottom their unrighteous
aversion to their coloured fellow Americans,
and their desire to retain the Slave
states as a part of their immense Union. The
Union was their God ; the negro their offering to
it ; their gain a protective tariff in the North, and
the security of slavery in the South.
Now their God has fallen in his own temple, and
broken himself, like the idol of old, before the object
of his triumph. The Union is no more ; and exten-
sion of slavery is the question which split it into
two, and even into three fragments. The North
abased itself in every way to content the slave-
holder. It accepted his Presidents and Govern-
ment, it passed the most humiliating laws to reclaim
Fugitive slaves—it humbled itself and bowed down
before the Slave Power, and now that very Slave
Power rises up to its confusion. The North ven-
tured on one free act ; and the South instantly
turned its heel with contempt on the States which
had always succumbed, told them to go and mind
their own business and they would take care of
theirs.

Pennsylvania, by her treacherous vote, reinstated
BUCRANAN, She hoped to secure protection for
iktusylvtuian Manufaotuns through a pro-Pleery