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Leader (1850-1860), 8th September 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 6

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      The Present And The Future Of Italy. [Th...

      securityof thafcKon . au Emperor , who nearly two tkou , sand years ago sought refuge on that little islet from . the vengeance . o £ his subjects , and , the . still more awful stuurestions -of ; hi * u > wn . heart ! . Let it nafe bA-thought that we are indulging in rhetorical display or . reading the story of modern . Naples . although , its were a chapter from . the Amnal & oi : Tacitus . Last-week we puhlished an account of the precautions ^ used a £ Castallamare , where strangers , arriving , by the railroad ; or bv- any other conveyance , are not allowed-to remain . " Passron ^ pass- onr—the King i * here . ! " Can the ; history of any . nation in Europe produce a parallel , to , this , agony of apprehension . ? Alexander , the Russian Czartowards , the close ofhis fitful career , was urged to

      , his rapid- and almost : perpetual journeys by the stings of remorse ,, not by dastard terror of the assassin ^ knifealthough no- one knew better than Alexander how a Biissian Czar , may- die . The Eleventh Louis of French history—wicked and fearful as he was—never showed so craven a . front , to the world aa this . It must indeed be admitted : in . the King ' s favour that , if half be true of all . that is charged against his police agents , it is not so wonderful , that he should live in fear of the avenger ' s steeL The streets of Maples are the scene of saturnalia in which- the . s 6 ir > ri . and police agents , reign triumphant .

      . . . The Neapolitans are served , in . fact , just as the wretched Hindoo peasants are by the native peons in our own Indian dominions ; and all this in Italy , in the latter half of the nineteenth-century ! The insolence of the ruffian agents of the police exceeds all belief . When we . find it recorded that one of- them actually dared the other day to insult a gentleman connected with the diplomatic service of Great Britain , it may be readily supposed that their own fellow-subjects—? their appointed prey—receive but scant courtesy at their hands .

      The question ; is , how long is all this to last ? Would it be amiss , when the French and English cruisers are passing backwards and forwards in the Mediterranean , if-they were to put into the bay for a few hours ^ and set-matters a little to rights ? France holds Algeria at the present moment as- a compensation for an affront to a consular agent not more gross- than that which was offered the other day by tu scoundrel chef de police at Naples . to am English employe . France has not been more civilly treated- than ourselves on many occasions . If .-any other reason , were wanting , surely it would be well if the two . greatest nations in the world were by a simple effort of . their will to put an end to such a hideous amount of suffering as is indicted by this half-crazy monarch and his police upon so many thousands—not to say- millions—of our fellow-creatures . Lord Exmouth could show no better warrant for his proceedings at

      Algiers than : this , and his errand was approved by the civilised ., world . We are very confident that we but express the' feelings of every intelligent Frenchman and Englishman when we say that neither of our countries would accept a . rood of King . Bomba ' s territory , beautiful , aa it is , as a free gift . It is , however , a question if France and . England are not traitors to their high mission when they acquiesce in the infliction of such intolerable evila-upon the defenceless population of the Two Sicilies .- Let the King of Naples keep his countries and govern them , in his own way , if he can do so without a > constant outrage upon humanity—we have no wish to meddle in Italian affairs . Indignation , however , may one . day be stronger than policy . If King Bomba / s subjects should ' . ever be strong enough to take the matter into their own hands there is no one in Western Europe but would bid them God speed !

      ( From the Economist . " ) The state of . Italy is very disquieting . There ara several indications of approaching difficulties , if not actual disturbances . The continuance of the war , though- aai yet confined to the East ,, has not unnaturally excited a vivid and general sensation . No one believes that the > present condition of that wretched land can be perouinent ,. and therefore every political movement arouses , at tonoa the hopes of . the oppressed and the ¦ fears of the opraeaeora . The spirited behaviour of . Piedmont , in

      gallantly joining , the Western Powers ?; , the recruiting for an . Anglo-Italian . Legion ; the attempt of Austria to throw duat in the eyea of Europo and to offer a . sop to hort own aubjeota by the proposed , revival of those miserable mockeries of representative institutions—the Lambarda -Venetian Central . Congregations ; and the stupid and brutaL proceedings of the King of Naples and . hia * poliae — whom alarm . seem » to have driven actually frantio—ace all so many significant symptoms of coming change .

      It would be hard indeed if the present European struggle should pass over without bringing some good to that oppressed peninsula . It is not only wild patriots and chimerical republicans who now grieve over Italian sorrows ,, and ; grow indignant at Italian wrongs . ;; Qonsorvatives , ' as wall as * Liberals of every grade , are baginr ning to feel and to avow that there are exceases ; of despotism that cannot be borne , and cruelties bo brutal and- degrading that neighbouring , nations , more advanced in civilisation , ought not to stand tamely by and Bee them perpetrated , without protest . It is beginning , to be . admitted , oven among the ruling , classes , of better lands * ., that-, thera are > tyrannies which , ^ natify rebellion ,

      and monarchs so . bad that brother potentates . must not stain their characters by endeavouring ,, or even wishing , to uphold them . It is felt * , that the sway of Russia —which we are in arms to restrain . —is not . more ^ barbarising or benumbing than the sway of Austria at Milan , or of the Pope at Home ,, or of King Eterdinand at Naples—to which , hitherto we have afforded , at least countenance op aid . It is felt , finally , that the condition of . the Christian subjecteof the Ottoman . Porte , which themselves

      the Allied Powers have in a manner pledged- to » ameliorate , is-in no degree more suffering or enslaved than that of the Proteatantsof Tuscany , or . tha moderate and constitutional Liberals of Lombardy , Naples , or Romagne . There is nothing , new in : these circumstances - —scarcely any aggravated feature ; what is new is . the higher and more conservative class of . politicians ,, here and . elsewhere ,, who have opened- their eyes to the factsr and . are slowly admitting the inferences to . be drawn from them .

      Moreover ,, the conduct of Piedmont , both in government and . war , is gradually creating in the minds of our more timid , liberal , and suspicious Tories a * juster appreciation of the manly and solid qualities of the Italian character . Till 1848 , the foolish , ill-contrived > and abortive attempts of , the various insurgent bodies in that country ; , their inability to make any head against the smallest bodies of regular troops , or to organise their own . raw levies ; their hasty explosions , followed by surrenders as hasty and yet more disreputable , had worn out popular sympathy and discredited the whole people . But the movements of that great revolutionary year caused in all close observers & marked revulsion of opinion . T ! he rapid and signal successes of

      the first Milanese outbreak , when in five days they drove every Austrian out of Lombardy , or confined them within a few citadels and fortresses , showed energy where it was least suspected ; while the gallant defences of Rome and Venice , and , still more , the admirable internal government of those cities during the Republican regime , gave evidence bath of fighting and organising talent rare enough in any land , and . wholly unexpected there . NeTOr ,. it is now admitted , was there more perfect seiffgnventment , or leaa crime and disorder in any State , than in- Venice during the dictatorship of Manin , and in Rome under the triumvirate of which Mazzini was the chief . But these spirited . and well-conducted experiments fell beneath overwhelming foreign , forces ,

      and the proofs of capacity and worth they gave might have been forgotten or denied , had not the Sardinian Government survived to show , by indisputable evidence , what Italians when left to themselves can do . Starting in the spring of 1848 with a . judicious constitution granted by the King , passing- through , the perilous crisis of a -war forced upon , them partly by the extreme democrats , at home , partly by the general excitement around them , the Piedmontese , by the most admirable andJeven dexterous management , have steered their young vessel safely through all imaginable dangers during seven eventful years . Yet these dangers have been of the moat imminent and deadly nature . The Piedmontese Liberals had no experience in the

      management of constitutional forms—a problem ; which-we : know , from the failures of other nations , to be of the most difficult solution ; yet thej r have managed them as skilfully as Englishmen themselves . They had to contend at one and . the same tuna ; against two opposite foes ; the Reactionists—aided Uy the priests , who abhorred the very name of liberty or constitution—and the Republicans , who were reckless enough to assume a hostile attitude towards any Government that did not go their length and adopt their intolerant and narrow creed . And while steering this delicate and anxious course , and making head against both these contradictory opponents , they had also to carry on a subtle war with the Court of

      Rome , which ; waa- striving to bring them back under its crushing inoubuq and to baffle and withstand the underhand intrigues of Austria , who saw the full meaning and peril of suffering the successful establishment of a really free and prosperou & State so close to her own contrasted dominions . They had to throw off priestly domination—and no people had been ao priest-ridden as the Piedmonteso—without alarming or offending the sincerely Catholic feelings of the nation ; and they had to watch with , the most jealous care lost the violent and discontented among themselves should , by outbreak ov intrigue , give any excuse for Austrian interference , or in any degree turn , away the wanm . sympathies of the more liberal states'of Europe .

      All this they have done with the most consummate skill . Born Anglo-Saxons could not have done it better , and would scarcely have done it ao patiently . The maintenance of freedom has . invigorated industry and restored commerce . Railways and other public works have given a vaet stimulus to enterprise , and wealth and revenue are steadily increasing . During : this period , too , the constitution of the Sardinian army has been entirely remodelled . It used : ta bo nearly as aristocratic as our own , and . was sadly infected both by favouritism and cor- , ruption . Now ,, without flying into the opposite extreme , the door has been opened to all merit , and closed against all incapacity ; the troops are , wo believe , among the finest ) and bast equipped ; in . Europo , and have already shown in the Crimea , that they are not inferior to those of Franco and England either in courage or in discipline

      The effect of" all this upon the future prospects of Italy — i £ only the . Italian , patriots will be patient and bide their opportunity- —cannot be too highly estimated . The Foreign Italian- Legion , composed : of men drawn from every corner of the peninsula , and trained by the hard experierioe-of actual ; warfare , will furnish a nucleus for aa Italian army whenever there shall be a real Italian State ; and will supply leaders , officers , and -organisers whenever the day of . liberation shall dawn , and the war of emancipation , shall , begin . And the Sardinian troops willireturn home * after their work is done , veteran soldiers , fully competent to defend their country against the unpractised regiments , of Austria , and to put . to shame her armies ,, while their , liberal monarch puts to shame her despotic Emperor .

      858 The Ii E Idee. [Ko. 285, Saturday, ^...

      858 THE Ii E IDEE . [ Ko . 285 , Saturday , ^ I

      When To Raise The Italian Tricolor. [We ...

      WHEN TO RAISE THE ITALIAN TRICOLOR . [ We beg to call the attention of our readers to the following reprint of an article which appeared in the Leader more than a year and a quarter ago . It will be seen that we had anticipated to a considerable extent the present posture of affairs . ] ( From the Leader , May 20 , 1854 . ) Certain facts , just now most important , must enter into all our considerations with regard to the magnitude , the duration , and the extent of the contest upon which we ! have entered . First of all , we must remember that we ! are not going to war only to maintain the integrity and I independence of the Ottoman Empire . In fact , the fate of the Turks , as Turks , is a matter of little moment , compared to the other vast interests at stake . The ex- , istence of the . Turkish Power at Constantinople happens to be a European necessity , at present ; hence we fight for it . At first , no doubt , statesmen on all sides , in- ; eluding the Emperor of Russia , were anxious to circumscribe the theatre of war , and confine it to the banks of the Danube ; but as the belligerent Powers approached each other , and , as the public attention grew excited , so the real questions at issue visibly increased in magni- * tude . Statesmen , anxious as they had been to stave off the evil day , could no longer conceal from themselves the I fact that the dispute , ostensibly Turkish , was really European ; and that although they only faced Russian I armies on the Danube ,, they faced Russian influence | everywhere . So the conflict grew in extent , until as we , = ; now see the elements of war appear everywhere , and the whole of Europe is , or will be , compelled to take i sides * Hence we must not only look towards the Baltic and the Bosphorus , but take in the whole range of g nations , from the Norwegian to the Italian Alps . | For Italy is not a . whit less interested than Turkey , England , and France in the curbing of Russian dominion . Over Turkey the Czar strives to obtain a physical dominion ; over Sardinia he exercises a moral pressure . Let us look upon the war , then , from the Alps as well as from the Baltic ; and listen to the throes of Italy as she labours under the burden of the Austrian sabre and of Russian ideas . Sardinia has won for herself a constitution , a- Parliament , responsible government . Sardinia represents the great ideas of Italian unity , for she boldly fronts the Pope , and maintains a stout attitude towards Austria . Close to her lies Switzerland , also menaced by Russian ideas , subjected to a forced neutrality , and smarting under Austrian insults and injuries . 1

      All Italy waits only the opportunity for self-assertion ; secure , it may be , of Swiss and Sardinian sympat / jies . Such , progress as has been made in Sardinia , such progress as will still be made in Sardinia , can never encounter from England anything but support ; and the plains at the foot of the Alps are the standing ground of Italian independence . How needful , then , for Italy to await the opportunity that is sure to come . How necessary to avoid any class movement especially , and any movement , before the right moment has arrived . It may be well for the Italian patriots to reflect that in England no success has ever been gained , except a » the

      fruit of a . national movement , as distinguished from a class revolution . We have no single instance of a class revolution in our history . When King John tried to overset the common law , the Barons forced him to declare it , at the point of the sword ; when Charles Stuart strove , to suppress representative government , the nation struck off his head ; and when James Stuart endeavoured to destroy British liberties , again the nation acted , and drove him forth . But no class did those things : they were done by all classes . To succeed , tho Italian movement must , in like manner , be national , embracing all classes . At all events no mere revolution will over command the sympathy of England .

      In tho great war now begun , tho opportunity of Italy will surely arrive . Austria is in a cleft stick ; and difficulties besot her on all sides . Austrian sincerity , this way or that , is not worth discussing ; for the Westurn Powers know her too well over to rely upon her . Sho will , at the best , bo only an auxiliary to them ; "i " they will thoroughly comprehend that she joins thorn only for her own ends ; to save , if possible , her province ^ and to gain something out of tho defeat ot llneoin . H Austria side with Russia tho course of Italy is extremely simple ; backed as she will be by the Western I ' oworti , by Switzerland ) and by Sardinia . If Austria aide witn

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 8, 1855, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08091855/page/6/