The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-06 00:00:00

revenue.

One thing is, howeer, wanted : something like
good government and security for the investment
of capital. The traditional exclusive government
of the company must be got rid of. The Civil
Service of India hates European " interlopers," as
they haughtily term them. They resist in all pos-
sible ways the acquisition of land in fee simple
by Englishmen; they resist, that is, the grand con-
dition of the most effective cultivation of the
country, and of inducing capital to flow to India.
All this must be changed. We must have justice
in India as accessible as in England, and not
only the abolition of the company, but of its bane-
ful traditions.

Shall the fate which not so very long since befell
Savoy and Nice be allowed also to befall the neutral
provinces of Switzerland ? That in a few words
was the purport of the inquiry addressed last even-
ing in the course of an exceedingly able speech by
the hon. member for Bridgewater to her Britannic
MAJESTY'S Government. The integrity of the
dominions subject to the head of the House of Savoy
was guaranteed to the princes of that dynasty by
the Treaty of 1815. So in likewise did that Treaty
of Vienna guarantee to Switzerland the indepen-
dence and integrity of what are called the neutral
provinces as well as the independence and integrity
of the integral portions of the Swiss Confederation.
But the Treaty of 1815, the Treaty of Vienna—
torn originally by the swordpoints of the Northern
Emperors, by those of the Austrian KAISER and
the Russian AUTOCRAT—has been rent asunder by
the more audacious sword of the Conqueror of
, Magenta and Solferino. It is now little better, we
all know, than so much waste paper—and, for any
value that it has for the preservation of what is
called the Balance of Power in Europe, it might as
lief long since have been sent to the butter-shop or
the trunkmakers. Savoy and Nice—we are refer-
ring of course to an event which we are aware is as
much a thing of the past as though it were divided
from us by a dozen centuries, and yet an occurrence
in itself so recent as an outrage upon public opinion,
that it almost seems as though it had taken place
but yesterday—Savoy and Nice every one remem-
bers to have been cleverly' hocuspacused from the
possession of VICTOR EMMANUEL into that of his
Imperial Ally, his generous and magnanimous
Ally, NAPOLEON 111. The neutral provinces of
Switzerland may follow—probably will follow in
the natural course of things—are absolutely certain
to follow,
policy
toTllow,asthe simple development of the BONA-
of Annexation.— Unless ! "Unless"
—What ? Is it not obvious ? Unless, simply, in
half-a-dozen words—England sees that it does
not ! That is the only remaining guarantee
for the maintenance of the integrity of
Switzerland for the vindication of the
threatened independence of the neutral pro-
vinces. It is because he recognises this fll u y
and absolutely, that Mr. KINGLARE recalls the
attention of the House of Commons to it ; and,
while doing so, endeavours to elicit as plain an
explanation as our mysterious habit of diplomatic '
reticence will permit from the responsible member
of her MAJESTY'S present Government. In obe-
dience to this earnest entreaty, to this almost
solemn adjuration from the hon. member for
Bridgewater, who was supported in his appeal by
the equally earnest, though less solemn, arguments
of the hon. baronet the member for Tamworth—
Lord JonN RUSSELL expressed his opinion frankly
enough, it must be acknowledged, to the House
of Commons yesterday, when referring to the pre-
sent situation and future prospects of the Swiss
Confederation. Frankly enough, we again confess
—but hardly, after all, satisfactorily ! One remark
of Mr. KINGLAKE'S, however, should certainly be
borne in recollection before we go any further into
the consideratiou of this matter—in reference,
that is, to the " securine.c, of the neutrality and inde-
pendence of the Swiss Confederation," as (we might
almost say) promised in Her Most Gracious
MAJESTY'S
Speech from the Throne at the com-
ment of the present session of Parliament. It should
be especially borne in mind, then, with how much
reason the member for Bridgewater thus described
the course, nowadays, pursued by the reigning Eat- _