The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-07 00:00:00

AUSTRIA.

A letter dated Vienna, March 4, says :—The
Austrian troops are not likely to be withdrawn
from the Papal States until all the usual for-
malities have been gone through. A formal
communication will be made to this Government
that the Pope wishes for the withdrawal of the
Austrian troops from 'his territories, and then, and
not till then, the terms of a convention for the
evacuation of the Papal States, for the payment of
certain expenses, &c., will be discussed by the two
Powers. As neither Rome nor Austria is quick in
its movements, it is not likely that the above•men-
tioried convention will be concluded and ratified be-
fore the fall of the year, by which time there will
either be a reconciliation between France and Aus-
tria or a war. Even though they should evacuate
Rome, the French will not be in haste to quit
Civita Vecchia,-and the Austrians are not likely to
leave Ancona and Bologna until the day for the
departure of the rivals from the Roman port in the
Mediterranean has been fixed.

" As the'greatest possible attention is shown to
Lord Cowley by the Imperial Court, the diplomatic
world believes that a compromise will at last be
effected, but facts have come to myknowledge which
induce me to. think that Austria will not make all
the concessions required by France. The Imperial
Government will not relinquish its reversionary
rights on Tuscany and Modena, and it will not give
up its right to keep garrisons in Piacenza, Ferrari
and Commachio, but it may perhaps consent to
annul those special conventions which enable it at
will to march troops into Modena and Tuscany—if
England and Prussia, as the mediating Powers, will
guarantee the security of those States against attacks
from Sardinia and from the revolutionary party in
Italy. Neither England nor Prussia is likely to
enter into such an engagement, and it may there-
fore reasonably be concluded that Lord Cowley's
mission will not be successful. His journey to
Vienna has, however, not been suite in vain, inas-
much as it has led to a discussion on the subject of
that secret treaty between Austria and Naples to
which allusion is made in the pamphlet Napoleon
111. et l'ltalie. As has already been said, the
treaty in question has been carefully kept from
the knowledge of the public ; but I am informed
that it places the King of Naples in such
a position that he is the vassal of Austria. A
monarch who gives to another sovereign a solemn
promise not to make any changes in his system of
government which are not in keeping with mo-
narchical institutions and with the principles
adopted by the Imperial Government in the Lom-
bardo-Venetian provinces, has no just claim to be
considered an independent potentate. It would
appear that the monstrosity of the treaty has be-
come apparent to this Government,—which has
always professed a profound respect for sovereign
right. When Ferdinand 11. becomes a free agent he
may perhaps be induced to treat his subjects like
men, and cease to pen them up like beasts of the field
if they venture to express a hope that they may be
governed more rationally. Before this subject is
quitted it may be well to remark that the public
Convention concluded between Austria and Naples
on the 29th April, 1815, was, " for the consolida-
tion of the state of peace and of the internal and
external repose of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
and of Italy in general."