The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-20 00:00:00

THE AUSTRIAN PARTY IN ENGLAND

A writer in a contemporary says :
The attitude of Prussia at the present crisis
demands the serious attention of all that is free
and independent in England.
The committee of the Prussian chambers reports
that Prussia ought to maintain a state of armed me-
diation and not of neutrality ; an armed mediation
in support of Austria, which is nothing less than a
prospective and eventual declaration of war against
France ; it imports that Prussia shall arm and hold
its army in reserve for Austria. Prussia secures
Austria against the penalties of defeat, and thus
encourages her to refuse all concession, and becomes
the abettor of all her tyranny and usurpation in
Italy.
It is not, perhaps, generally known that since the
retirement of the old King and the appointment of
the regency, the Prussian Cabinet has been identified
in its foreign policy with the Tories in England. It
is commonly reported that the Prince of Prussia has
often declared that he waited but a wink from
England to fall upon France ; and we may venture
to surmise that, if the wink has not been already
given, it will not long be wanting if our present
Ministry continue to swaythe destinies of England.
The Austrian party both here and abroad, allied as
it is politically and spiritually with the Church of
Rome, is the irreconcileable enemy of all freedom, and
will never be brought to acknowledge the indepen-
dence of Italy. It is a power of vast weight and
infinite resources ; mighty in its unity of purpose ;
mighty in its ancient connexions, established influ-
' ence, and present dominion ; mighty in its crowd
of fortresses and well-appointed armies ; but mightier
still in its priestly artifice, secret action, and mys-
sterious influence. We have seen some manifesta-
tions of its secret power at the late elections ; it has
arrayed a great portion of the press against the
cause of freedom, that press which ought to be the
Palladium of our liberties ; it has brought our very
burgesses and independent electors, the chief pillars
of the constitution, to vote against their own inte-
rest, and swell the ranks that would reinstate the
Austrian ministry. Let the people look to it. If
they have forgotten the events of our past history ;
if they have forgotten that day of humiliation when
the sovereign of England submitted to be flogged
by the Pope's legate ; if they have forgotten the
fires of Smithfield, and the parcelling out, in our
own day, of this kingdom into bishoprics by th e
Pope's cardinal, they may find in the establishment
of an Austrian ministry a power that may refresh
their memories and compel them to an acquaintance-
ship with like events. Secure from all the effects
of popular indignation in the appliances of a power-
ful executive, and the new and unprecedented dis-
coveries of military science, such a ministry might
calmly and fearlessly conspire the destruction of
our liberties; even while maintaining an outward
seeming of respect for the constitution, they might
destroy its spirit, and render our great charter but
a dead letter.

Napoleonhas made a mistake, and against France
he has perhaps committed a crime, in responding
to the call of Italy. Surrounded as he is by open
enemies and treacherous friends, he has imperilled
not only his own crown, but the independence of
France. Yet it was a brave action ; and the mouth-
piece of the Austrian party speaks falsely when it
asserts that the movement and the occasion were
the work of France, and that France is the aggres-
sor. There is a sanctity in truth, and it is an im-
piety to violate it.

- The aggressor
el
yi sfi. Ar ut
Years ttrr ieaaaf,
ttaeynr dsyhheeae
rrmha
aagdsger thisef so sri oat ngh
gec
roems
en-
slavementeced w
sion continued, as Austria continued to stretch her
mailed arms over the Italian States. The last State
to be crushed was Sardinia, and Austria was fast
closing her toils around her. Vast fortresses at
Piacenza and Laveno commanded the main routes,
while 200,000 soldiers hung upon the frontier.
Sardinia was upon the point of strangulation when
she appealed to France.
Napoleon hurried to the rescue, but he was not
armed ; and had not the providence of Almighty
God opened the windows of heaven against the
Austrian, and swamped the ground before him, not
a woman in Piedmont, not a lady in Turin, but
would have undergone the violence and barbarity
of the Croatian soldiery.
Yet, in the face of these facts, our Austrian mini-
sters and our Austrian press don't blush to assert
that France is the aggressor, and the ambition of
Napoleon has plunged Europe in war; and our
people are blind enough to believe them. We are
dunned with the history and designs of the first
Napoleon, and menaced with a repetition of his suc-
cesses in the first empire, although it is notorious
that the circumstances of Europe are so altered since
the time of the first empire that such designs would
be as absurd in the conception as impossible in the
execution. Germany can produce three soldiers for
every one of France, equal in discipline and phy-
sically superior; and Austria herself, single-handed,
is too strong to suffer any serious reverse at the
hands of France
Let the people look to it. The independence of
Italy which we are taught to despise, the well-
being of France which we are taught to hate, may
yet be essential to our own liberties. The Austrian
that holds Italy in chains has a twin brother in our
own ministry, and all Germany waits upon his
wink. The day may come—it may not be far
distant—when we, who are now so confident in the
enjoyment of our liberties, may have cause to sym-
pathise with the oppressed of Italy ; may- turn in
despair from Austrian ministers at home to the
strongholds of German despotism abroad, and find
neither a France nor an Italy able to make its
voice heard for the liberties of mankind.

THE NEW PARLIAMENT.—It is expected that the
Queen's Speech will be delivered on the 7th of June. The
days between the 31st and 7th will probably be occupied in
swearing in the members of both houses.

The -marriage of IVldlle. P. Vilain XIV., daughter
of Viscount Ch. Vilain XIV., ex-minister of Foreign
Affairs of Belgium, with Baron Valet de Villeneuve, of
Paris, was celebrated on Tuesday at Brussels, in, presence
of a numerous and distinguished company.
• FOREIGN AND COLONIAL MAlLS.—Notice was
given yesterday by the Postmaster-General, that ship mails
for New York will be made up in the General Post-office,
to be conveyed out by the steamer City of Washington, on
the 25th inst. ; for Malta, by the steamer Thessalia, on
the 27th inst. ; fey Lisbon, Cadiz, Mogadore, Lanzarotei
Grand Canary, and Teneriffe, by the steamer W arrior,
June 1; for Iceland, by the steamer Arcturus, I ate -Victor
Emmanuel, on May 22 ; for Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria,
and Beyrout, by the steamer Scamander, May 20 ; for Gib-
raltar, Genoa, and Leghorn, by the steamer Tibpr, May 24;
and for Gibraltar and Cadiz, by the steamer l'enin.sular,
May 20.

LATEST NEWS.

THE WAR IN ITALY.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office

PARIS, MAY 20.
The Moniteur of this morning contains the fol-

lowing :
The Council has instituted the Councillor of
State, M. de la G-ueronniere, in the post of Director
pro tempore of printing, of the library, of the press,
and of the street sale of publications.

The Moniteur publishes the following tele-
gram :

ALESSANDRIA, May 19.—The Emperor inspected
to•day the positions of the first and third Corps
d'Armee at Tortona and Ponte-Curona.

Yesterday the Austrians endeavoured to fortify
and to block up the windows of a house on the left
bank of the Po, and by entrenching themselves
with it to dispute the passage of the river at
Valenza. A few discharges, however, of French
cannon, from a distance of 2,600 metres, sufficed to
dislodge them from their sheltered position, which
they have since abandoned.
At 11 o'clock this morning the Austrians with-
drew from Vercelli, and have blown up the bridge
over the Sesia.

SPIGNO, MAY 17.

Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian returned to
this place shortly before the French squadron was
in view at Ragusa.

TRIESTE, MAY 19.
The Austrian bark Genio, laden with coals, has
arrived here from Liverpool.
Twenty Austrian vessels have been captured by
the French.

TURIN, MAY 19.
OFFICIAL BULLETIN (No. 39).
(PUBLISHED TO-DAY AT 10.10 P.M.)

Yesterday evening several detachments of the
Austrians advanced to Capriasco, near San Ger-
mano, driving off cattle and firing at the peasants.
Our troops desiring to fight, awaited the enemy
at San Germano, but they withdrew to Vercelli,
which they this morning evacuated, after blowing
up two arches of the bridge over the Sesia.
Our troops occupied Vercelli at 4.30 this after-