The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-14 00:00:00

D E (YE M B E'R' 14. vs 5t%

' dered the proposal of France premature. How-
ever," he added, " the rumour of this proposal
transpired, and was not unconnected with the
unexpected impressement with which Russia—
weakened, moreover, and undermined by a cor-
rupt Administration which she is at present mak-
ing speed to reform—accepted the proposals of
peace, which were so strongly recommended to
her by her two German. neighbours. You see,
gentlemen," remarked the PRINCE in conclusion,
" that the West, and more especially France and
the EMPEROR, were inclining in our favour—the
EMPEROR who ever extends to us his magnani-
mous protection. But circumstances frustrated
his calculations ! The peace of Paris has restored
Europe to the condition in which it was previous
to the war." "0 most lame and impotent con-
elusion I" It is here, precisely here, that we
conceive the atrocity of that disgraceful compro-
mise with Russia lies heavily and remorsefully
upon the conscience of the Allied Govern-
ments. Again Poland was sold, basely and
miserably sold, for the petty sake of a
purely temporary convenience. Every additional
fragment added to the history of her downfal and
disruption, is, in truth, but another damning
blot, another indelible brand of shame and guilt
upon the chequered annals of Christendom. It
is all, indeed, in perfect keeping from the earliest
date marking the very commencement of its Par-
tition : when—as one of the most eminent men
of our ago has witheringly remarked (we mean
L)rd BROUGHAM)—dropping these weighty words
of his upon the page with a blighting air
of mingled scorn and abhorrence " Was
arranged that execrable crime against the
rights of men and of nations, which has covered
the memory of its perpetrators with incomparably
less infamy than they deserved !" Elsewhere,
indeed, has it not' been observed by the same
noble lord, when commenting upon that same
heinous atrocity—has it not been remarked
by Lord Thou Guest, in regard to the Par-
tition of PolandAthe words occur in his
masterly analysis of the character of FREDERICK,
miscalled the Great, Chief among those arch-
robbers) :—" Then it was that public prin-
ciples were torn up, and scattered before the
usurpers of the day ;—then it was that England
and France poorly refused to suspend their ani-
mosities and associate in support of right, when
other States, forgetting greater jealousies, were
combined to violate the law ;—that it was that
power became the measure of duty—that ambi-
tion learnt all the lessons which it has since been
practising of arrondissements, and equivalents,
and indemnities—that an assurance of impunity
and success was held out to those who might
afterwards abandon all principle, provided
they were content with a share of the
plunder, and that the lesson was learnt
which the settlers of Europe practised in
1814 and 1815, the lesson which they again
practised in 1839, of transferring from the weak
to the strong whatever portion of territory it may
please them to take without consulting the wishes
"of the inhabitants, more than the cattle that drag
the plough through the fields."
Possibly one of the longest, if not also one of
the most involved sentences in English Literature :
but one made up of very memorable words—
' words it would be well for us all to lay to heart at
some fitting opportunity I
Completing his impassioned commentaries upon
that great crime of modern Europe, Lord
BROUGHAM has yet further remarked in the same
place—" While we look back with detestation,
then, on the conduct of those Powers who perpe-
trated the crime, and most of all on FB.EDERICK,
who contrived it, let Its also reflect with shame on
the pusillanimity of those who saw, yet hdped not."
England to wit, and France : who have now in
these later times, with consistent pusillanimity,
refused, [not as of yore, "to suspend their mu-
tual animosities," but even] t 3 employ their
common friendship, their community of in-
terests, their offensive and defensive alliance
in arms for the vindication of outraged Poland, for
the revival of her national independence. This—
indeed—is a New Crime I It is the deliberate,
and therefore the doubly infamous endorsement
of the first dastardly connivance at the over-odious
Partition.

THE ENGLISH OPERA AT THE LYCEUM.

The English Opera season at this theatre is
rapidly drawing to a close, Saturday next being
the last night of the season. Most sincerely do we
congratulate Miss Pyne and Mr. Harrison upon the
great success which has attended their laudable ex-
ertions in the case of English opera. Their com-
pany leave us we hope soon to return again ; for
that there is every inclination on the part of
the public to support an English opera, if pro-
perly done, the results of the present undertaking
abundantly prove. Mr. Harrison and Miss Pyne
take their company from the Lyceum into the pro-
vinces, commencing at Hull, on the 28th inst., and
afterwards appearing at other towns in the north of
England, and in Scotland. Before leaving, how-
ever, each takes a benefit this week, Mr. Harrison
this (Monday) evening, when he will play his origi-
nal character of Thaddeus in the " Bohemian Girl,"
and Miss Louisa Pyne on Friday, when she will,
for the first time for some years in Londox, enact
the Sonnambula, one of her earliest triumphs. We
trust the public will show, by flocking in crowds to
the theatre on both occasions, their appreciation of
the exertions of the present managers of the
Lyceum.

PICCOLOSIINI, GIUGLINI, AND TF]l! " BERLIN CRITIC."
—ln a long artic!e on Pic9olomini and Giuglini, the
celebrated German feuilleoniste, Herr Rellstab, writing
in the Berlinische Zeitung, thus speaks of Piccolo's-14d
and Giuglines performances at Berlin :—" Signora Pic-
colotnini pours out an entire cornucopaut of graces and
charms. Her admirable technical skill is constantly
surpassing itself. She does not really sing the air, she
smiles it, she laughs it, she revels in it exultingly, with
graceful insolence, and yet the flowery, aromatic bond
of attractiveness binds up every detail into the most
charming whole. Most decidedly she has borrowed the
girdle of Venus for this bright blending of blessed-hap-
piness and pert delight." Of Signor Giuglini, he says,
" his performance was masterly, delicate, always correct,
and also, even from a distance behind the scenes, so
skilfully supple, that the most perfect ensemble was the
result. lie taught our singers a lesson, which hardly
any of them now know, namely, that a tone taken with
the fullest power may still maintain its artistic nobleness.
A. volcanic bust of applause showed how these brilliant
lightning-flashes of tone had struck the audience.
Finally, the pair of artistes gave us the end of the same
opera, 'The Trovatore,' and their performance was so
extraordinarily beautiful, their execution so astounding,
that we must declare it to be the very acmd of tragic
effort."

Madame Ristori is now in Paris, and was at the
Italian Opera on Thursday night.
Miss Kemb!e, a daughter of tho late lamented John
Mitchell Kemble, is about to m.►ke her firat appearance
in "The Messiah," which is to be the next of Mr. llul-
lab's sacred concerts.

Madame Viardot has accepted a short engagement to
sing in opera at Warsaw, and is by this time there.
Rumlur says (we quote the Athenc?3Un2) that Madlle.
Piccolomini is studying the heroine's part in " L'Etoile
du Nord," with a view to that opera being presented
during the coming season at her Majesty's Theatre.
SAM COWELL'S BENEFIT.—This unrivalled comic
voJalist takes hi; benefit this evening at St. Martin's
Hall, and. puts forward a most attractive bill of fare.
As provincial engagements demand his immediate depar•
turo ft im town, the lovers of fun and harmony should
avail themselves of the golden opportunity afforded them
tc•night.
VISIT CP SIR JAMES BROOKE TO ENGLAND. —We learn
by a tolef;raphic despatch from Cagliari that Sir James
Br is a passenger from Singapore by the present
m ail st:.tamer.

A Cabinet Council was held on Saturday, at the offi-
cial residence of the First Lord of the Treasury in
Do Nning-street. The Ministers present were —Viscount
Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, Sir
G. Grey, the Earl of Clarendon, Mr. Secretary Labou-
acre, Lord Pawl-lure, the Chancellor of the Exllrequer,
Sir C. Wood, the Right Hon. R. Vernon Saila), Lord
Starl,y of Alicrley, the Duke of Argyll, and the Right
icon. T. Baines.

LIVERPOOL, Dee. 12 —This afternoon the Cunard
steam-ship PerAia, Judkins cornrnanch.r, sailed halos for
Now York with a small cargo, 70 passengers, the usual
mail., and about 10,0001. in specie.