Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 720, 1 October 1859, Page 5

Miscellaneous.

v • THE PEACE. (From the' Times.')

It is notoriously very difficult to get at the meaning of Louis Napoleon. - He is the great modern Sphynx,'and his very existence depends upon his not "being found out. But of all the riddles he has proposed to Europe none is more puzzling and intricate than this treaty of Villa Franca,'the sense of which wehave attempted to read iv the description he has himself given..

It is usual .when we doubt as to the authorship of an. act to ask—for whose benefit was it done? Herej however, we ask this question in vain. The treasure is spent and the blood is shed, the war is ended and the peace is made; but no one, so far as we can see,1 is the better for the fight. Sardinia is" not. quite so happy in her new possession, and even Victor Emmanuel "will find in liombardy a poor substitute for the enthusiastic affection of all Italy. France has gained no accession to her territory and no friendship from the oppressed populations of the earth. She lias gained nothing "bnt the knowledge that her emperor' is able to manoßuvre an army. She has not even at this moment the consolation that his sparing Austria ■was an act of unmixed generosity. The Emperor now says that he stayed his hand under an apprehension that the struggle was likely to assume larger proportions than he desired.

it is not a very chivalrous reason x to give to an army which has just fought a campaign, and lost thousands of its comrades, for no result which any one of them would have desired. These soldiers •want work, and'glory, and promotion. To tell them he made peace for fear the war would spread, could only be to set them guessing who it was who had thus stayed them in their full march of conquest. It was not-Eiigland, Was it Prussia ? It is not very probable, unless this pause in fighting should be rather a diversion than a cessation. Was :it Russia? Did Eussia think Austria had been beaten enough ? Was Eussia acting all the time as the surgeon with his finger upon the pulse of the patient, and did she give the. signal to-cease-when that symptom of' Hungarian fever developed itself? All or any of these reasons-may have operated. Or, the Emperor Napoleon might have known the state of his own army best. There is indeed a last supposition we offer to the consideration of .those who were not long ago so fiercely' scolding us because we doubted that Napoleon was about -to set up a free constitutional government in Italy. Perhaps the French Emperor ■ has imposed some secret 'obligation upon Austria never again to interfere in .the affairs" of Italy. If this should be 80 then all Is right. The Pope and the Grand Duke are put up in pride .of place merely to' give Napoleon's government principle, the sovereignty of %he people, a clear stage,- if they can hold their own ground; if they- cannot, then down topple Pope and Kaiser, and Italy, left to herself, works out.her own regeneration. There is no limit to human credulity, and there may he credulous iddlators of chaos, who even at this thirteenth hour may believe in such impossibilities as these. The sane men of the age, however, know better.: They recognise in this new settlement nothing biftan universal land irresistible despotism. We yesterday announced that Cavour, disgusted by the disappointment- of all his hopes, had thrown up his employment. The telegram of to-day confirms our previous, information, and' announces that the king of Sardinia has accepted Count Cavour's resignation; and has replaced him % Count Arez. This, .then, determines the nature of the peace.. Ca^qiir was an earnest man. He believed in Italian independence as a'future work of Napoleon 111. It was by means of the confidence lie felt in himself, and inspired in others, that Mazzini and his emissaries were discredited throughout Italy. It was Cavour who gave the signal for the successive risings in the smaller Italian states. It was by means of his influence that the revolutions in Florence, Parma, and Modena were bloodless, and that florae remained.,tranquil. Cavour believed in a constitutional unity, and, unfortunately, he believed that the Emperor Napoleon entertained the same views as himself. Warnings were thrown away upon him. Patriots . and young ladies have a faith, in men's promises, which no expositions can shake,and .which nothing hut bitter personal experience can destroy. _ Poor Cavour, he once had a, great .career, before him, for he was honest and zealous, but he was credulous | and impatient, and he became the tool of. crafty I selfish men. History tells' us what passed at Tilsit; and some French, memoir will doubtless at a future day retail what was the conversation at Villa Franca. It is not; necessary, however, to wait for the .authentic report; the result suggests what the conversation must have been.. Surely we •can imagine Fr.ancis Joseph .to have said: "My Imperial brother cannot intend to revolutionise Hungary and to establish a focus of insurrection in Italy ? Not the least in the world. I care no wore for these Italians than you do.' This matter las gone quite far enough for my purpose.. You 8t« now that France is necessary to Austria. We will settle this, affair, and I will leave you stronger '/' Italy than you ever were. I will make everything straight between jou and Russia. You shall J'e one of us, and we three together will impose Won Europe," Is it to be wondered at that Francis Joseph, witli' a beaten army and bankrupt was not proof agairißt Buch temptations f FRENCH lOSB AT1 SOLFERINO. The ' lloniteur' of the 4th publishes the rePorts of the commanders of several corps d'armes e"!,'agfld in the battle of Solferioo. They are all addressed to the Emperor, and give in minute detail the movement* of .each corps during,the day. Marshal Regnaud de St. Jean d'Angely, Comman-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard,.especially no-

♦ ices tho effective service done by the artillery of, his corp4; ho Rays, " The Artillery of the Guard, distinguished itsolf by the precision of its fire and the successive choice of its positions. Whenever it had to encounter tho enemy's batteries, it very soon silenced thorn." The losses sustained by the Guard are not stated in the report. Marshal Paraguay d'Hilliers, Commander of the Ist corps, after describing its successes adds that "they were not obtained without serious loss." Two generals, Ladmiraulfc and Diou, were wounded " dangerously," and General Forey, slightly; four colonels—Taxis, Hrincourfc, Pinard, and Barry are wounded; also four Lieutenant-Colonels—Valet, Moire, Hemar, and Sevier. ' A Lieutonaut-Colonel, Ducoin, and t'ouv chefs debatailion—Klebev, SaintPaer, Angenin, and Guillaume, are killed. Ten chefs debataillon are wounded. The total of offiV cers killed and wounded in the Ist corps is 234 * of privates about 4000. Marshal M'Mahon describes ■ the loss of the 2nd corps as "unfortunately very heavy, it could not be otherwise." General Auger, the commander of the artillery of the corps, had his arm torn off at the beginning of the engagement by a cannon ball; three colonels—Douay, ILaure, and Herment, are killed; the total of officers killed is 19; wounded, 95; privates killed, 192; wounded, 1266; missing, 300: The 3rd corps had 3 officers killed and 12 wounded; privates killed and wounded, 250. The 4th corps, under Marshal Neil, lost 46 officers and 386 privates killed, 207 officers and 3417 privates wounded; 7 officers and 541 men are returned as mis- I sing. The report of the Sardinian army states that, all the four divisions of which it is composed were engaged, and that its loss is 49 officers killed and 167 wounded, 642 privates killed and 3405 wounded, t with 1258 missing. In one division J three, colonels were killed, and some of the regi- j ments lost one-fourth of their whole number.

Vienna, July I.—The' Austrian Correspondence' says the loss at the battle of the 24th ult., as yet ascertained, is 1900 killed and 8100 wounded. Further information will be published. THE ROUNDED. Milan, July 5. —A ramble at the present moment through the district between Milan and the Mincio, however interesting, is rendered anything but pleasing by the immense amount of human suffering one everywhere encounters. There seems no, end to the wounded. If one did not bear in mind that a few hundred men occupy a very large number of carts and railway wagons, where many of them are in a recumbent position, one would be tempted to believe that the largest estimate yet made of the recent losses of the armies was much below the mark. Ido not think I exaggerate when 1 say that while moving about on road or railway I met, on an average, at least one convoy of wounded every hour. Some of these were not very numerous -—perhaps a dozen carts, each with three or four men. These horse carts have generally an awning, but on the railway one sees many'uncovered trucks, which probably are used for the slightly hurt, since the state of seriously injured men could not be but. aggravated by the present sun heat. The trainsthat bring the wounded return with freshmen,either discharged from hospital as fit for duty,or reinforce-' ments from the rear. The mass of damaged humanity is exchanged for fresh food for powder. The starting of one of these monster trains of wounded is an interesting, although a shocking, sight. During more than an hour the other evening, at Brescia, I observed the loading and preparation of one of them. There must have been 600 wounded, both French and Austrians, the former in the majority. For a considerable time before the hour of starting the rooms and corridors of the station were strewn with the unfortunate men, many of them evidently in much. pain. On the platform wns a heap of stretchers, on which to transport those who were in no state to walk, limp, or be supported on the carriages. Just as I got down, some Austrian officers arrived in cabs. They^were attended bysomeof their own soldiers, who showed great care and goodwill in assisting them. : One poor fellow, a captain, ■ivas wounded in two places, but he did not wish to be carried, and, being still able to.use one leg, he contrived to reach the platform with the aid of a couple of' men. But for the silver stars on his collar one would never have recognised the smart Austrian, officer in the haggard unshaven invalid, with torn unbuttoned uniform. Beside the wounded soldier* that lay about the floor stretchers were laid, and they managed, most of them unassisted, to writhe themselves on to the «anva&. But to some if was ?evidently an agonising -effort, and more than one might be seen to fall back before it was completed, with the sweat breaking out upon his forehead. The Austrians were for the most part silent and downcast, and when conversing among themselves generally spoke in a low tone. There, are many more severe wounds among them, in proportion to numbers, than among the French. This arises from the difference of ammunition. The French bullet is a far more formidable missile than that employed by their opponents. The wounds it inflicts are extremely severe, while the small Austrian bullet is little worse than that of a pistol. Of course, they will kill equally wellif they hit the right spot; but when no vital part is touched the wound made by the Austrian bullet is much the less serious. Of the French wounded at the battle of Solferino I am assured on excellent authority that a large proportion are but slightly hurt, and will soon be under arms again. . : . ■ AUSTRIAN LOSSES. The ■'Osterreichische Corresponded' publishes ,an official accounfrof the battle on the 24th June, according to which the total Austrian loss is as follows:—Killed, 91 officers, 2261 privates; wounded, four Generals, 485 officers, and 10,100 privates; missing, 59 officers, 9229 privates. From those missing are to be deducted those who have since rejoined the different bodies to which they belonged.

The Cost of Carrying the Irish Union.—As a part of the measure for the completion of the Union, Lord Castlereagh proposed and carried a bill for compensating the patrons of the disfranchised boroughs. The sum allowed for each borough was £15,000 which was to be | apportioned among the* patrons, if there was more : than one, according to their several shares in the interest. Commissioners were appointed under the Act, for making the apportionment; and the total sura awarded by them was £ 1,260,000. A list of the persons compensated, and of the amounts received by each, is published in this work (vol. iii., p. 321). This sum, together with some official appointments, peerages, and pensions—all of which were as public as the Boroughs Compensation Act —constituted the real price paid by the Government for the Parliamentary support which enabled them to carry the Union. It has often been supposed that some secret and unavowed means of corruption Jwere used for overcoming the: opposition to this measure; but the correspondence published in the ample collections of the Cornwallis and Castlereagh Papers' refutes this supposition; there are several applications to the English Government for secret service money; but the remittances made were insignificant in amount, and could only have been used for the payment |of subordinate agents, who rendered literary or other assistance to the government. On the other hand, it may be mentioned that, at the opening ofv the ession of 1800, the anti-Union party offered £5000 in ready money for a vote in the; Irish House of Commons. .. There is no doubt that a majority m the S Parliament was obtained for the Union by SbhaS by places, pensions, peerages, and com?ensSn Suppressed seats;, the tr = tu>^ .was a bargain, but it was a bargain in marketo>ert The means employed were not unobjectionable ; but they™** I*. objectionable than.forceJjhwh J« the only practicable alternative; and, such as they were, they alllie within the cognisance of history. —EAinbuHjh lieview.

RBFi-boTiONs on A Sku£l.—Sucli of our reafieri (a' fast-lessening baud'!) as were■ pupils of" that remarkable man and-iirst«rate. teacher-. Dr. John Barclay,— must reinembei1 well his sudden bursts of this kind, made %U the -more^lemorable, that he disliked formal moralizing upon his favourite science. There was one occasion whoa he never failed to break out. It wasxhen.concluding his description of the bones of the skull. His old pupiis knew what was coming, the iiow ones were set a wondering; all saw some suppressed emotion working within him, —his langiiupe was more close and rapid; that homely, sensible, honest face, was eager with some unacknowledged central feeling^ and after finishing the Sella Turcica, and the ■ clinoid processes, he threw down the sphenoid bone, and the time being up, and his haird on the open door of that well-known arena in which he moved, he seemed as if leaving; indeed, we beiieve.he intended then to leave, when turning rouiid\upon.the class with- a face serious almost to a.ng'er, ai?d a joice trembling with feeling, he said, "Yes, gentleman! there is a God, omnipotent, omniscient, .and eternal;" and. vanished under a gallery, in to his room. Depend upon it, this single sentence mavle a deeper inipression on his hearers than any more elaborate demonstration after the manner of Paley, The ardent old man did not linger among particulars, but passed at once, and in a sort of passionate fervour, to the full absolute assertion.— Locke and Sydenham.