The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-07 00:00:00

L T)ON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 18t7

FREDERICK WILLIAM is determined to bluster
until the last moment. There is, however, a
degree of ostentation about his proceedings hardly
reconcilable with true bravery. He loudly pro-
claims his sanguinary intentions, and announces
that " the day of grace" will speedily depart. He
voluntarily assumes the badge announcing
"fcenum habet in cornu," the declaration that he
is " dangerous," and that ample room must be
conceded by all who may chance to oppose the
prevailing humour. An Irish "fire. eater" of the
last century, when no man who had not " smelt
powder" could hope to occupy a respectable place in
society, could not possiblybe more fastidious on points
of etiquette. He has apparently closely studied
the laws of the "duello," compiled by the delegates
from Galway and Tipperary, and given to the
world by the late Sir JONAH BARRINGTON, and
he will not budge an inch from the even tenour of
his way to preserve the peace of Europe or to
save the effusion of blood, objects for which lie
professed such profound reverence when the true
honour of Prussia demanded decided action. He
•
may, however, ponder on the homely adage which
declares that " the cock which crows most loudly
is not always victorious in the fight." The quiet
but inflexible determination of the Swiss Confe-
deration afforded a striking contrast to the swag-
ger of the quondam " Angel of Peace." We
almost intuitively perceive the unequivocal
" pluck" of the one ; we cannot help doubting the
valour of the other. The latter is rather prema-
turely displaying all
" The pomp and circumstance of glorious war."
The former steadily preparing themselves for a
formidable contest, if it shall be forced on them
—standing on no ridiculous forms, but resolved
to sacrifice no particle of principle.

The Manifesto of Baron MANTEUFFEL, published
on the 28th ultimo, announcing that the "mobi-
lisation" of the Prussian army is to take place on
the 15th instant, and that "the light cloud" will
by that time have vanished " from the face
of the moon," and that there will be no
future locus penitentice for Switzerland
closely followed by the military demonstration,
ostensibly given in honour of the Jubilee
to the Prince of PRUSSIA (and in which we re-
gret to observe that England took a part so lead-
ing and so utterly uncalled.for) may be displayed
by heralds on an " escutcheon of pretence"--a
highly appropriate designation. The magnificent
sword, with its handle of pure gold weighing half
a pound, the value of the material enormously
enhanced by the skill of the artist. The Angel—
not of Peace, but—of Victory ; the Genius of
Justice ; the groups of angels spreading their
wings to guard the bearer's hand and the
trenchant blade. The elaborately ornamented
shield of pure silver—better calculated for orna-
menting the festive board. The splendid
easque of silver and gold. The other
sword, with its handle also of pure gold,
the column of silver-gilt to represent the stability
of Prussia's pretensions at Neuchatel—a better
emblem than was supposed, as it manifested the
total inadequacy of the intrinsic value to the out
ward show—and, pro 4 pudor, the Grand Cross,
Star, and Collar of the Order of the Bath—all
combined to make up a gorgeous spectacle, while
the " doomed " Swiss, arranging their rifle-
clubs, and from every chalet and village
in their mountain homes, hastening to array
themselves under the national standard, with a
steady determination to die rather than relin-
quish their independence, exhibit themselves in a
more trustworthy point of view. It is the diffe-
rence between the " silver candlesticks" of Sir i

CHRISTOMIKIL MUSGRAVE, •and the hardy High-
lander, AINGus MAGA:CLAY. Every man prepared
to die at his chieftain's command, and therefore
far mores valuable than the dead, though highly
embossc%l metal. As one of our greatest living
authors declared—" An Eton boy in his second
form would not hesitate to sport his crown on the
less pretentious combatant !"

Should the conflict take place, it would be
sacrilege to doubt the result. But, as we have
already stated, "the bark of OLICQUOT is far waur
than his bite," and, therefore, we may reasonably
anticipate that he will pause before he finally
cries " havoc, and lets slip the dogs of war."

Some people don't believe in luck, others do ;
but even the sceptics is the matter somehow can't
do without the word. Who of thorn has not
found himself sometimes muttering, "lucky PAL
MEASTON." Recovering themselves, perhaps, the
reasoners add, No, 'tisn't exactly luck that a cat
always lights on its feet, and it can't be all luck
that PALMERSTON always lights on his. It was
not all luck that ABERDEEN, and NEWCASTLE, and
GRAHAM, and Co., all had to walk out that he
might walk in. Still, he had nothing to do with
the ill winds from the Crimea which blew them
out of office and him into it—and which blew
away, too, all the obstructions which H. R. H.
And his Germans would have put in his way. 11l
were those winds indeed ; and it would be hard
to say to whom they blew good, if not to Lord
PALMERSTON.

It surely was luck, too, when, twice having
incurred several petty defeats in the House—
defeats which made him less firm in his seat—his
enemies twice concocted and persisted in motions
against him, which gave him, when he seemed
weakest, overwhelming majorities. Mr. WHITE-
SIDE'S motion on Kars, and Mr. MOORE'S on
American Enlistment, were nice windfalls for the
"lucky Premier." Then the Peace, too—the
" precious Peace,"—all the nation grumbled at
it ; yet (no one can say why) the grumblers quar-
relled with Lords CLARENDON and COWLEY only,
and the hungry WALEWSKI j and Lord PALMER
STOAT got the credit of all the resistance to Russia,
i.nd they of all the yielding. The Premier had
the good luck to pass for a grumbler too.
And then the shower of Bishoprics ! Surely
Bishops did not become superannuated, or die, by
Any skill or any conjuring of our " lucky Pre
(flier." Surely that was luck. "No Bishop, no
King," said the English SOLOMON ; and the Pre
mier is the next man to the King, although there
is one between him and a Queen. It must
be something to grant to the Chapters
of Metropolitan London and Golden Dur-
ham not to mention Bath or Ripon
leave to elect Right Reverend Fathers in
GOD to hundreds of churches and thousands of
clergymen, and Barons holding much-coveted
temporalities, and Peers Spiritual of the realm.
Object to Life Peerages ! Why, our " luck)
Premier" has created them by wholesale ; and
now—surely he never will sink—he has actually
got a Bishopric of Cork in his hands ! We ad-
vise BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Esq., and Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, and H.R.H. to note the omen—do what
they will the Premier will swim.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer's income Tax
has seemed likely to embarrass him of late ; bui
no : Admiral BERKELEY pledges himself for the
Premier's honour at least ; Lord PANMURE offers
to do with 20,000,000/. less than last year ; and,
best of all, Commerce—and the Premier could
whisper no word in her ear—has set him up vith
4,000,0001. more for the national revenue ti,an
was obtained last year. The lucky Premier !
Exports and imports, navigation returns, and tl ‹
year's income, fiscal tables, and those of ecclesia
tif.:al mortality, all scatter roses in his path.
And Lord PALMERSTON'S last, how luel i• !-1
Southampton is embroiled with an election. A
Radical Coachmaker and Whig Governor of 4'.ie

Bank of England fight like the lion and the int
corn for the Liberal cause ; and the Tory gem

- -
man thinks he has a good chance between the tx

and perhaps he may have. Now, the Prom
thinks Mr. WEGUELIN is the man for the LiberE
he is just the man for a Premier to talk w.

about the Bank Charter and about money matt rt.
in general. The Coachmaker, so many time
Mayor of his native borough, may do well snot 31)
for that office, but member of Parliament is qt
another thing. To be sure he would repres

Southampton, for he knows it thoroughly ; b
Mr. WEGUELIN would represent Bank Stock a
bullion, and the rate of discount, and, above a
the luxurious monopoly of issuing 14,000,00 k.
of notes, in addition to receiving 3 per cen•
interest on that sum—to issue them on the sect
rite of the nation, and to take just now 6i pet
cent. for it all. That's the man for our easy-goin,
Premier.

But how to get at the ears of the electors—
that was the difficulty. If Lord PALMERSTON:
the Prime Minister, should proffer his advice i,
were all up ; electors of every grade would kick
at official interference ; he would but insure tilt
return of the worthy coachmaker. But, as luc.
would have it, a hot Weguelinite, in the persen
of Mr. LANKRSTER, came to Broadlands on 46 pro-

sessional " business ; there the Premier was Pr

mier no longer. He was but the Hampshi'
landlord ; and, business ,lone, why should he not
gossip on local politics as any other landlord
would do ? So Mr. LANKESTER and the Premier
of England, "as Hainpshire gentleman," chat
over the Southampton election, and the male
pertinax lord allows himself to be duly pumped by
the Southampton ironmonger. As luck would have
it, too, the Premier forgot to remind Mr. LAN-
KESTER, that the conversation was confidential ;
and, as luck would have it again, Mr. LANKES-
TER forgot that an undress chat was necessarily
confidential ; so that between the lucky presence
of Lord PA.LMERSTON near Southampton, and the
two lucky forgets of the Lord and the Iron-
monger, it leaked out for the benefit of all South-
ampton that the first servant of the Crown was
for WEGUELIN ! Letters, honourable to both
sides, immediately pass between the Coachmaker
and the Lord, but the job is done. With Lord
PALMERSTON'S usual luck he has contrived to
avoid injuring his man by irritating officiousness,
has even gained sympathy for himself as a man
wronged by a breach of confidence, while yet he
has given his client the full benefit of his great

name. How many Lords or Premiers had ever
such luck as this ?

Already 1857 is assuming to itself a character.
It has not yet entered upon its teens, and lo ! all
the crimes of its tainted predecessor are instanta-
neously surpassed in atrocity by the initial murder
of the twelvemonth—that perpetrated on the 3d
instant, in a Church at Paris, by an unfrocked
priest,
upen the venerable person of the Gallic
Primate,
Monsignor SIBouR, the Metropolitan
Archbishop. The infamy at once achieved for
himself by VERGES exceeds proportionately with
the sanctity of the place in which the deed of
blood was clone, proportionately also with the
nobility of the victim sacrificed by this unparal-
leled act of assassination, the most odious of the
many wretched Criminals whose blood-guiltiness
has imparted so much horror to the mere reeol•