D G 552 E54 1859 MAIN UC-NRLF B M 153 717 ITS CONDITION. ilRARItb ^ES EAT BRITxilN: ITS POLICY, ^ Merits 0f Setters ADDSEaSED TO bRD JOHN RUSSELL, M.P. BI AN ENGLISH LIBERAL I'he spirit of freedom which this invasion [of Naples by Austria, iu 1821] had stifled was not luished; nor did the crnel punishments inflicted by Austria upon the illustrious patriots of 9 reconcile either the Italians or foreign nations to that odious dominion which -in ; of the people's unanimous desire, and in galling opposition to all their most rooted pre- ions and tastes -she exercised over the finest portions of the Italian Peninsula. The desire rty at home is, in all parts of that country, intimately blended with the love of national JQdence."-iord Brougham'* Historical and Political Dissertations, p. 122. Edition 1857. LONDON: lAMES RIDGWAT, 16 7, PICCADILLY, 1859. ITALY: ITS CONDITION. GREAT BRITAIN: ITS POLICY, % Scries flf Jetttrs ADDEESSED TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL, M.P. BY AN EKGLISII LIBERAL. " The spirit of freedom which this invasion [of Naples by Austria, in 1821] had stifled was not extinguished; nor did the cruel punishments inflicted by Austria upon the illustrious patriots of the Milanese reconcile either the Italians or foreign nations to that odious dominion which -in defiance of the people's unanimous desire, and in galling opposition to all their most rooted pre- possessions and tastes -she exercised over the finest portions oi the Italian Peninsula. The desire of liberty at home is , in all parts of that country, intimately blenJed witli the love of national independence."— iord Brougham's Mistorieal and Political Dissertations, p. 122. Edition 1857. LONDON: JAMES EIDGWAT, 16 7, PICCADILLY 1859. Ii will be obvious to the readers of the lollowing Letters thut they were written — indeed, they were printed — before ex- planations were given iu the Iloiise of Commons on Friday, the 2ol\i inst. The explanations touched only one, and that a small, although an important, part of the Italian question — the withdrawal of French and Austrian troops from the Pontifical States, to be followed by changes in the lloman Government. If these alterations have to originate from the Pope, they will be illusory and dangerous. No one in hLs States will now place the slightest confidence in Papal concessions, or in priestly promises, made to avoid war. No high-minded Italian layman of intelligence or capacity will submit to the humiliation of becoming the Minister of a Pope whose faith- lessness is unsurpassed by the treachery of any of his prede- cessors. The evacuation of the lloman States will still leave Austria dominant in Italy, will still leave tyranny and cruelty rampant in Naples, oppression and despotism stronger than ever in Lom- bardo-Venetia, and misery the fate of the people of the Duchies. Neither will that evacuation diminish the real danger of Italy — the antagonism between Austrian pride and Sardinian freedom. But it will associate all the hopes of Italy with the further and exclusive intervention of the French, and so augment the hostility of Austria and France. Nor can it be expected that the Italians, now that a dread of war has concentrated the fears of all Euro]X! on their wretchedness, will again make their independence a contribu- tion to tliat " Peace of Europe," during which their fetters have only been more cruelly rivet led. The success, therefore, of the limited niis.sion of Lord Cowley to Vienna will ailord no solution to the greater number of the Italian questions discussed in the following Ix;ttei"s. February '^0, IbDU. VC]55Z % Scries of fetters ADDRESSED TO LOED JOHN EUSSELL, M.R LETTER 1. THE CASE STATED. My Lord, — I have often wondered wliat interest our own country, the England of which we are all justly proud, could possibly have in keeping Italy down. I quite agree with those who are of opinion that to Englishmen the interest of England must be the chief consideration ; nor am I in the smallest degree disposed to recommend Quixotic interference on the behalf of Italy, or any other foreign country. But what I cannot, for the life of me, see, is the advantage we derive from helping the Austrians to misgovern Lombardy, from aiding the King of the Two Sicilies to turn his beautiful kingdom into a hell upon earth, and from propping up the tottering throne of that foul old Papacy which, on the whole, in the course of centuries, has done more damage to mankind than either gin or the small-pox. If the hour has arrived when, as far as Italy is concerned, the Pope, the King of Naples, and the Austrian Csesar, with his three little satellites at Tuscany, Modena, and Parma, must disappear into space, what is that to us ? Why should the sons of English mothers have their throats cut in any such quarrel? Why should your Lordship and myself, each in his degree, be called upon for war nine-pences and war half-crowns to maintain all this wickedness, and tyranny, and filth ? I address you, my Lord, with the deepest and most unfeigned respect, with that respect which high ability, earnestness of purpose, and active patriotism entitle their possessor to. For the last forty years, whenever there has been a chance of giving liberty a helping hand, I have always seen your Lordship's name in the van. The natural result has been that whenever some great constitutional dispute was to be settled, and the " Ins" and the " Outs" were in sore commotion, the regular cry of the B 2 Lohby, and the Clubs, an kIiohm \w\c ]>liirk tlimi Dio Ittdiiins Imvo done on tho«c occ»«ion« ? 11 course, not forthcoming at the first sound of the tocsin ; and an efficient cavalry cannot be created in a day. With all these deficiencies pressing upon them, it does not seem to me that the Italian militia, hastily levied from a population to which the use of arms had been sternly and habitually denied, was so very dis- creditable. The resistance ofiered at Rome and Venice to scien- tific attacks, delivered with overwhelming force, and sustained until the strength of the besieged was fairly exhausted, would figure, not discreditably, in the military annals of any European nation. The insurrection of the United States of North America against our own country in Washington's days, has always been quoted as a wonderful efibrt on the part of militia against trained soldiers ; but it is most probable that if the hasty levies of the Americans had been exposed, not only to. the English battalions, but to well-combined attacks from other European nations as well, the result might have been widely difierent, I am sure. I remember to have read of as much disunion in the American councils as ever these poor Italians have been accused of. It is notorious that there were seasons during the contest when the War of Independence was on the point of failure, although directed by Washington and protected by the Atlantic. I will now state in a few words the aim which I have in view in addressing these few pages to your Lordship. My first pro- position is that England will have deserved well of mankind if she would give her assistance towards such a solution of this Italian question as will lead to its permanent settlement. The only solution which will lead to such a result must involve the liberation of Italy from the grievous oppression, physical and spiritual, under which she is now groaning. My second proposition is that, if we cannot arrive at such a solution in a peaceful way (which is most of all to be desired), it wiU be an enduring stain upon the honour and character of this country if we allow an Englishman to fix a bayonet or pull a trigger against a nation struggling to be free from oppression as foul and intolerable as ever afflicted humanity. I draw this consequence, that, if Austria chooses to retain her present hold on the Italian Peninsula by force of arms, and if the French Emperor is minded to dispute this matter with her on the plains of Lombardy next spring, at the very least the affiiir is none of ours. The Italians know best if they are willing to accept French assistance, and to risk the consequences to them- selves. Let them fight it out, I say, on the south of the Alps in their own fashion — it concerns us not. 12 As my justification for both or cither of these propositions, I propose to give in a few words an outline — 1. Of the present condition of the Papal States. 2. Of the present condition of the Lombardo- Venetian king- dom under Austrian rule, and to show how far the grievances of the Italian subjects of Austria deserve to be characterised as " sentimental." 3. Of the dealings of the King of the Two Sicilies with his subjects, both on terra firma and in his insular dominions, and of the minor States. lla^nng done this, I would discuss briefly — 4. The value and nature of this argument, derived from the faith of treaties, especially the Treaty of Vienna. 5. I would then briefly suggest what the diplomatic action of Europe, with regard to Italian affairs, has been since the settlement of 1815, making particular mention of the discussion which took place during the recent Conference at Paris. 6. I would examine the argument derived from the supposed unfitness of the Italians for political and religious liberty. 7. And, finally, I would, with all the earnestness of the deepest conviction, implore my countrymen to consider what their conduct should be in this matter. Each of these heads I propose to discuss in a separate Letter. I know not if anything that an unknown writer can hope to say will be of sufficient avail to arouse at least the sympathies of free England for the dire agonies of a nation in its great, possibly its last, attempt to liberate itself from most hideous oppression. It will, however, be a consolation to me to reflect that at a critical moment I have been able to stand forth as witness of misery which I have seen and sorrows which I have shared. 1 have the honour to be, &c., &c., &c. 13 LETTER II. THE PAPAL STATES. My Lord, — I have said before, I know not what interest England can have in the thraklom of Italy, still less do I know what interest she can have in the maintenance of the temporal power of the Pope. Even granting that Antonelli's rule in the Papal States were as good as it is in reality foul and tyrannical, why should England interfere to prop up that form of Government upon the inhabitants of the Roman States against their will ? or, which amounts to the same thing, why should England intervene between this oppressed people and the Chief of a Foreign State who is willing to assist them in the hour of their deep distress? Interference or non-interference must be the rule. If we accept the first alternative, why should we not leave the French Emperor to take his own course in the Pontifical States for the benefit of the people ; — if the second, what business have the Austrian Legions in the Legations, and behind the fortifications of Ancona, which they have raised themselves ? Even if we decide for ourselves to stand aloof, I do not see how we can escape from this dilemma. My present purpose, however, is to explain what the true significance is of this Pontifical rule, and what it is England is defending when she directly, or by inevitable consequence, stands between the successor of Saint Peter and the wretched creatures whose sufferings would surely have excited the fervent indignation of the Apostle. On many points, casual travellers in Italy would do well to distrust their impressions. Nature throws so beautiful a veil over human anguish in that lovely land, that a man might travel from Reggio to Trent, and wonder why so much is said about the sufferings of the Italians. Not so in the Papal States, with the exception of the country immediately about Bologna : here you see the result of oppression, in its full and hideous development. The soil is out of cultivation ; the roads are infested with brigands ; the peasantry are as ill off as the Irish peasantry of thirty years ago, even if we go to Connaught for our illustration ; a bar is raised against human progress in every 14 fonn. The policy of modem Rome has been deliberately and unifonnly so directed as to produce the imixnerishment and degi-adation of its own subjects, as the conditions of its own stability. What meets the eye is, however, but Little by the side of what is unseen. Let any one who has lived sufliciently long auKjngst the lioraans to get belund the curtain which priestly power has drawn over the sufferings of the people, but tell what he knows of the internal economy of Roman households, and no man would look liis fellow -creatiu'es in the face, and stand forwjird as the defender of such a system. To do this truly is impossible, mitil modesty and shame ai-e forgotten. The hand would refuse its office were it called ui)on to describe the things that are done by priests in theii* t)wn peculiar domain. I must, for decency's sake, turn to matters which can be publicly discussed, such as misgovernnieut, rapine, spoliation, tortures, murder, and the like. Before speaking, however, of tlie condition of the Roman Stjites as it actually is, I would call a competent witness to describe what it was twenty years ago. When I mention the lionoured name of IMassnno D'Azeglio, no one, I think, will challenge the competence or the credibility of tlie witness. In the year 1H46, tliis illustrious writer published a book to which he gave the title of " Deffh idt'tmi cdsi Ji liomafjna." At page 42 of this valuable work I find the following passage : " The economical condition of the Papal States and its finances ai'e brought to such a point tliat Euroi)e is well aware of its absui'dities and impending ruin ; for that Government not only exceeds the revenue in expenses, but stops up all the; sources of public weal. The prohibitory system injures both 'imports and exports, by duties which ignorance cidls protective — by foolish prohibitions, which instead of favouring national industry, favour the monopoly o{ a few only, by which labour luid i)n»- duction are hampered, by which smuggling is encouraged — a fatal source of coiTuption, of immorality, and hostile to (iovennnent itself, which thus trains a class i»f desperadoes always ready to join those wlio wish to injure it. The eftVct of this system is to imp(»verisli all in order to enrich some: and, to conii)lete tlie absurdity, the collection of duties is fjumed out to a Company, wliose profits too are sqxu'e/.ej from the con- sumers. On the other hand, the (lovernmiiit will not listen to anytliing tluit niiglit tend t«> improve the public weal. It sees ill everything conspiracy, rebellion, revvilutioii. Rome has ^.aid. 15 " I don't beKeve in railroads.' All Europe laughs at this, but the Papal subjects don't laugh. To every other improve- ment, the same obstinate prohibition or difficulties. Joint- Stock Banks, Agricultural or Commercial Associations, for- bidden. Land is oppressed by unbearable taxes, and as there are no means of disposing of the produce, the agricultm-al class is every year poorer. There is no commerce ; and that part of Italy, placed on two seas, on the high road to the East, rich in mmerals, with the most fertile soil, inhabited by a population on whom Providence has bountifully bestowed quickness, fore- sight, energy, strength, and boldness, has two such harbours as Civita Vecchia and Ancona empty. And would to God, that if the Government prevented the subjects from, I will not say enriching themselves, but from struggling on, no one were to rob and grind them down with taxes !— would that the expenses were moderate !" So far D'Azegho, speaking of the condition of affairs in the Papal States in 1846 ; but since he wrote matters have gone on from bad to worse. The apprehensions excited in the Government by the events of 1848-49 have made this systematic tyranny even more tyrannous, and converted their- traditional distrust into the very frenzy of suspicion. A few facts must be patent, even on the most cursory glance cast upon the Papal States at the present time. In the first place, the affectionate loyalty of the people is stimulated by the permanent and systematic presence of two armies of occupa- tion — the one Austrian, the other French. A well-governed country — or rather, a country which is not abominably mis- governed — does not commonly require the presence of foreign bayonets for the maintenance of order. There is a total want of public instruction. The Pope cannot tolerate knowledge in his dominions. There is universal brigandage and open robbery in the rural districts ; aye, even at the very walls of Kome. There is miiversal misery — I mean misery in its most vulgar and appreciable form — want of food, raiment, and suitable shelter. Nor can you say, as you would if speaking of English pauperism, that if there is one person in a union workhouse maintained at the public charge, there are twenty- one out of it, all living in such a manner that they have not the inchnation to appeal to the State provision. In the Papal States, misery is the rule, comfort the rare exception. There is imiversal suspicion and distrust. At Rome, a man dare not converse openly with his neighbour upon any but the most trifling subjects. There are spies in every comer : the police 16 cnn nrrcst without warrant, and banish or imprison witliout trial. If yon can over persuade a Roman to speak out, lie will tell you what the judpnents styled econoniici mean. Who can describe the horrors oi' a Roman prison? Mr. (Jhidstone has told us somewhat of how these matters are arranged at Nai)les. At Rome they ai*e to the full as bad — worse they cannot be tlian the hellish dens in which King Ferdinand is wont to immure his loving subjects. At Rome it often happens that the existence of prisoners is foftjotten ! "NVhen the attention of the Government has been called to the cases of individuals, and there has really been the intention of senduig for them and bringing them to judgment, it could not be done. They were rotting away somewhere — dead or alive, nobody could tell anything about them. Should the case of a political prisoner ever ai-rive at the stage of trial, it is good to remember that the Sacra Constdta, when dealing witli political olfendei-s, never reveals to the accused the names of the witnesses who appear against him, or even allows him to see them; nor do they leave him the choice of a defender : the Court assigns the counsel for the defence. The sentences passed are such as might have been expected from such a form of jirocedure. Twenty yeai-s at the galleys for such an offence as that of lighting a blue light on the anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic, or of hindeiing an individual from lighting a cigar "from partif motives," are surely somewhat out of proportion with these several crimes. I am painfully aware that in the narration oi' such matters a ^n-iter lays himself open to the charge of exaggeration. I wish that considerations of space permitted me to cite facts in proof of every assertion I make. I cannot do so, or this pam- phlet would assume the proportions of a volume. In this instance, however, I will depart from my usual rule, because the fact stated is so incredible — so monstrous. Twenty years at the galleys because one man i)revents another from smoking a cigar! The official journal of Rome is now before me— the Oiomale di Ihma — it is Number 117, for the year ISf)!. The date is ^VedneKday, the ^Ith of May. The victim's name is Pietro Krcoli. His case was tried before the Sacra Coni^ulta. The names of the judges nrv given, aiul the sentence at length, headed by an intimation that the judges retired to deliberate " Inmrato il Nome Sautigsimo di l>i<)," and tluy arrived at the conclusion that Tietro Krcoli was to spend twenty years at the galleys because lie had prevented l.uigi 17 Giamihii iVoni smoking liis cigar! Carlo Einaldi, one of tlie witnesses, deposed that in his opinion Ercoli was joking. By the same sentence Einakli w«s directed to he tried for pcrjnrv on account of that opinion ! But, whilst I am upon this suhject, I wonld mention that, with regard to political offences, the Pope's Government use a little artifice, in order to shift the responsihility off their own shoulders when securit}^ is desired. The truth is, Austria is the Pope's liangman. The Adriatic provinces have, for nine or ten years pfist, been under martial law and Austrian occupation. Any Papal subject in these provinces who may be suspected and denounced is dragged before an Austrian court- martial. He is debarred from all means of defence. Torture is used to extract confession— and then— the halter, or the firing party ! The account of the murders committed in Ferrara on the 17th of March, 1858, by the Austrian troops under Eadetzki's authority, is open on my table : and throughout Italy it is well known that the facts are true. On the morning of that day Domenico Malagutti, a young surgeon of Ferrara; Giacomo Sncci, a private gentleman ; and Lu'igi Parmeggiani, an inn- keeper of the same town, were led out by Austrian soldiers, blind-folded, forced upon their knees, and shot. They had been accused of treason against the Pope's Government, inas- much as they had meditated measures for the overthrow of his temporal power. I do not mean for one moment to assert that any Government, even that of the Pope, has not the full right to maintain its own authority, and to punish all attempts at revolution; but the offence must be proved. In this present case there was no attempt at proof beyond such as might have been used in the Chambers of the Inquisition. These unfortu- nate persons, and nine others, were incarcerated in the citadel of Ferrara for seven or eight months. The examining j udge was an Austrian Captain of Hussars. In the absence of proof this military judge had recourse to the torture of the accused. They were beaten with sticks ; they were kept without food till nature was on the point of givmg way ; they were chained in the form of hoops ; they were compelled to witness each other's misery; they were constantly told that a firing party was waiting for them, and that they were about to be led out to immediate execution. In the night their brutal gaolers Avould break in upon the sleep which afforded them a brief respite from their anguish, rouse them up, and shake before tlieir c 18 startled eyes a hook ami a halter. Kach was told in turn that his c<»mpaiii(»ii had coniVssed, and tluit lie might as well uiaJie a clean breast of it ; or, that if he did not confess, his couipaiiions would instantly be put to the direst torture. To give a grotescjuc c(dour to the whole transaction— there is nobody like an Austrian for such work — tlie examinations were written down in German, of which the accused did not understimd one word, and they were compelled to aftix their signatures to depositions written in characters of which they knew not the significance. The distur]>ances which occurred at Milan, in February, 1853, practically settled then- fate; Marshal liadetzki felt tliat a little bloodshed might teud to keep Italy quiet, and so these wretched men were shot upon evidence taken in the maimer described. The English consul at Ferraia was duly infoiined of these transactions, and his interference was, of com-se, at once sohcited. The poor creatures appealed to their natural Sovereign ; but no help was to be expected in that quailer. The l*apal Government is ready enough either to shed blood, or to see it shed. Italy can remember well how — before the present man's time — CiTi-dinal Ilivarola, Legate of llavenna — he himself— (m the 3lBt of August, iH^-iCt, condemned to various punishments FIVE HUNDRED and eight persons, seven of them to death, and all by one sentence. They were mainly charged with Carbonai*- ism, Freemasonry, &c. On tlie ^»)th of Februtuy, l8.!-->, again Cardinal Albaiii entered Bologna with tlic Austrians — organised a military tribunal, and commenced a wholcside system of shooting and imprisoning, he himself delinuig the crime of treason, and assigning the evidence necessary to support it. It was this worthy who hit upon the notable idea of tlie Swiss reginicuts, who, at the time of which I aitviik, were known, in cold blood, to have murdered fathers of families — inoffensive men ; nay, women luid children. Austriaui oflicers even re- monstrated agahist tlie excesses of these ruftians, but tlie Pope and his advisers stood calmly by, luid smiled approvingly. The system, then, under which the Ferrarese prisoners were left ttj militiuy executi«)ii was not one of yesterday. In the seven years f«dli)wing the events of lMJ-i-l'.», there were <)() capital executions at .Vncona : at liologna, I'.Mt. Some of these men were executed for the most tri\ial crimes: a rob- bery of a trilUng sum. nn infraction of the law about carrying or p(J8sessing in their houses arms, was a sufticient cause for the pmiislniKutof d< nth. hi iUuslration of what 1 have said above 19 of the toi'tures practised upon the poor Ferrarese prisoners, I would add here an extract from a sentence pronounced by the Criminal Court of Bologna, on the IGth of June, 1856. Fifty persons had been accused of the crimes of brigandage and robbery before this Court. Here is a translation of part of the sentence : — " In the examination of this cause, we have had occasion to deplore a series of violent and ferocious (^violenti e ferocij means employed to suggest or extort from the accused the confessions of their crimes." By an edict bearing date the 30th July, 1855, Cardinal Antonelli has restored as a punish- ment the use of the "cavalletto" or " chevalet,'' the laiin eqiiuleus, an instrument of torture used by the Pagan Emperors against the early Christians. The crime of brigandage is very much on the increase throughout the Koman States ; and how can it be otherwise, when the peaceable inhabitants are forbidden to keep arms for their own defence ? It may, perhaps, be worth while to give another extract from the judgment jvist quoted, because it affords official proof of the msecurity of life and property throughout the Papal States : it bears date, as we have already said, June, 1856. " Durmg the years just past, innumerable crimes have afflicted this province. Bobberies, thefts, scalings (by ladder) have taken place everywhere, and at all hours. The number of malefactors, and their audacity, encouraged by impunity, has been steadily on the increase." Human beings, of course, end by adapting themselves to the exigencies of any situation. The Boman farmers and landed-proprietors are in the habit of paying black- mail to the brigands in theii* neighbom'hood, and thus secm-e immunity from their attacks. And in July last several hundi-ed of the most respectable citizens of Bologna petitioned the Cardinal Legate, Milesi, to protect their lives and property, which were often attacked in the day tune in tlie streets of the city, in which are stationed 8,000 Austrian soldiers. Another grief that presses heavily upon these unfortunate States is, that practically, to a great extent, they are governed not only by ecclesiastics, but by foreigners. Sicilians, Lombai'ds, and Tuscans, have been Legates and Delegates in the Provinces. The Legates are exactly lilce Turldsh Pashas— a few foreigners, with unlimited power, over the ijroviuces. On the benches of the superior tribunals are to be found Spaniards, French, and Germans. For ten years, a Genoese was Secretary of State— that is, virtually. Prime Minister. The Sovereign himself is not necessarily a native : how then can the Boman C 2 20 Government be influenced by tbat feeling' of patriotism which, to a certain extent, netiiatcs the measures and insjnres the councils of even the worst (lovernments? All oftioes of any importance are filled by ecclesiastics ; to the laity only belongs the pnvilcf^e of ]iaying taxes. All the ^liuistries — Antonelli is n<»w. provisionally, even Minister of War; all the Embassies and Diplomatic positiims ; all the chief posts at Court CMafjfl'wnhnnn, Maca tro tVi Camera, dx.J; the benches of the following Courts : the Sacra Consulta ; the Rota ,- the Segnatura di Giustizia ; the Tribunale Lauretano, and partly the Tribunal of the R. C. A. and the Criminal Tribunal ; the two gi'eat Secretaryships, ihi Brevi and del Memoriali ; the Ud'icnza Suntisshna ,- the Sacred Congregation DcriU Stiidi ; the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency of the C'ouncil of State ; the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Finance Chamber; the Direction of the Police ; the Direction of Public Health and of the Prisons ; the Direction of the Archives, and many othere. Then there are the separate jurisdictions of the Bishops, with extensive powers (of these there are r>7) ; the Inquisition; the Privileged Congregations ; all Educational Posts ; the Direc- tion of all Charitable Institutions — all, all ecclesiastics ! How- ever, it cannot be too broadly stated, that in the Rome of 18r)9 it is the Cardinal ^linister of State who is all-in-all — and that man is AntonelU ! As I have made mention of these ejnscopal courts, I would add one little fact in illustration of their metlu)ds of proceeding. On the Hth of March, iHoO, the Archbishops and liishops of '* tlie Marche" i)ul)lished an edict against swearing. Sunday or festival breaking, violation of fasting, itc. The ;"> 1th Article jiresciibes that the names of the informers and witnesses shall be kept secret. By the next Article ("»")) the informers are to have half the hne, and if the punishment be not a fine, then the culprit shall pay HO baiocchi (about two shillings) to the infonner. whose name is kept secret. During the period 1811-57 the extraordinary expenses of public instruction have amounted to '.'1*^,(M»0 francs; the charge for escorting the mail, to secure it against the attacks of highwaymen, has been ;21.').(t()0 francs. It has cost just l.OOOL less to escort the Pope's mail than to educate his subjects. What, I say again, has the R«)man Government \o show for its MO(),()(K),(M)(» francs (alumt I l.:.(M».(t()o/.) of public debt? A few millions were spent, nnich against the grain, at the tinu^ of the hostile operations iigaiiist Venice; iilumt :..(i(iO.(M»U (v.Miii.iM»ii/.) 21 on Public Works; 100,000 francs upon Prisons, Extraordinary Commissions, &c., consequent upon the return of the Pope. The Pontifical States have no railroads. The fortresses are without guns or munitions of war; the troops miserable, and imper- fectly armed. In the department of commercial marine we find capital involved to the magnificent extent of 100,000 francs (4,000^.). All communications through the States are difficult; the roads are infested by brigands ; the Po threatens continual overflov,'. The collection of the common taxes costs 81 per cent.; the collection of the revenue from the execrable lotto is 62 per cent.; that from the .monopoly of salt and tobacco 46* per cent. From 1848 to 1857, the expenses of foreign troops to keep down the inhabitants has been about 1,000,000/. From 1814 to 18;") 7 the sum of the revenue of the Papal Government has amounted to 858,265,850 scudi (equal to about 1,880,898,000 francs, or 75,500,000^.). When speaking of the financial system of the Papal States, it must always be remem- bered that ecclesiastical property of all descriptions is free from taxation. The regular expenses incurred during the same period were 887,087,724 scudi. During that time, therefore, the GovernmeDt has spent nearly 80,000,000 of scudi — that is, about 0,000,OOOZ. more than it received. Now all this has been squeezed out of a population rich in nothing but their poverty and misery — without commerce, manufactures, or trade. Whilst turning over books, documents, and notes referring to Italian matters, I came, my Lord, on this passage in Farini, who is speaking of the condition of the Roman States as it was forty years ago : — " There was no care for the cultivation of the people, no anxiety for public prosperity : Rome was a cess-pool of cor- ruption, of exemptions and privileges ; a clergy made up of fools and knaves, in power; the laity, slaves; the treasury plundered by gangs of tax farmers and spies : all the business of Government consisted in prying into and punishing the notions, the expecta- tions, and the imprudences of the Liberals." Farini had been speaking of the political exiles from the Pontifical States — he goes on to sa}'^ : — " A great blunder this in Government, to send abroad a multitude of exiles, who, travelling from land to laud, make a display of their misery, and excite the sympathy of the nations ; expose to view the sores of a State ; give it a bad name in other countries; and, likewise, by the ties of family and of sect, k^ep alive in them its perpetual hates and hopee. "when the A&vont Pontif Pius VII ■ px^ «p his goul 23 to God, on the 20th of August, 1^*2^, the spirit of party was corrodinp the bonds of society, especially in the Four iTCgations, and the Pontifical (rovernnunt had little either of love at home, vr 6f respect abroad." Since that August day, Leo XII., Pius VIII., and (rregory XVI., liave gone successively to theii* account, and Pius TX. now reigns in their place. Austrian soldiers are at Bologna and Ancona. French soldiers parade the streets of Rome with their field -batteries, and with all cir- cumstance of martial an-a}-. But still the PontiflF, on Easter Sunday, steps out on the balcony of St. Peter's, and, with extended hand, wafts his blessing itrbi ct orbi, as in former days. Priam with nerveless hand cast his dull javelin amongst the combatants, who had mounted the breach, and carried Troy. Alas ! ])uc)r niiiu ! I have the honour to be, i^c, «^c, i^c. 33 LETTER III. LOMBARDO-VENETIA. My Loud, — When the Address in answer to the Speech from the Throne was discussed the other day in the House of Peers, Lord Derby spoke of the grievances endured by the Italian sub- jects of Austria as " sentimental." Now, men's ideas upon the subject of sentimental troubles arc somewhat different. Caro- line's indifference, the prolonged residence at Boulogne-sur-Mer of an English shareholder, the rupture of an old friendship, baffled ambition, disappointment on Epsom Downs, may or may not be sentimental troubles according to the con- stitution of the individual. I think, however, it would be admitted upon all sides, that to be tied up to the triangles, and receive six dozen of lashes upon one's naked shoulders from relays of Austrian corporals, is a real personal inconvenience, and beyond the domain of sentiment, I think too, Lord Derby would admit that it would have been some- thing more than a sentimental trouble if, eighteen months ago, Sir Cornewall Lewis had conveyed to him an intimation by post that twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, seventy per cent, of the income derived from his Lancashire estates and other property was required for Her Majesty. JSTor would it have tended to make things more pleasant had a wino- of the Connaught Rangers been forwarded by rail to Knowsley, with directions to partake of the noble earl's hospitality until the demand was liquidated. Lord Derby may, perhaps, call this a sentimental trouble ; but I am very sure that a little more than 200 years ago the unjust and arbitrary demand of about five shillings and sixpence from a country gentleman in Buckinghamshire cost a dynast}^ in England its throne, and a monarch his head. Now, I want to explain in a very few pages what these "sentimental" troubles of the Lombards and Venetians really are. I am perfectly aware that I am laying myself open to that most convincing argument at vestries, " What is that to us? If the Lombai'ds are bastinadoed, flogged, locked up, chained, murdered by military commission, why do they not 24 throw oft' the yoke ? If they arc fit for freedom, why do they not freo themselves ? It is entirely their own aftUir." So, in one sense, it undoubtedly is : wlieu a man is flogged or shot, ho may very properly be said to have a close, almost an exclusive interest in the transaction. We must not, however, lose sight of the important consideration, that there are men and nations who do not take this Cripplegate- within view of human affiiirs, and that now while I write Europe is, according to common belief, on the eve of a general war, mainly because these Lombards are handled in so pitiless a way. But even granting that Austria has a clear and undisputed right to treat her Italian subjects as Legree, the ^Mississippi planter, handled his negroes, still it is important for us to know tlie true state of the case, because it may reasonably bo presumed that the method or system wliich Austria enforces in Lombardy is the system or method which slie would support throughout the whole of the Italian Peninsula. Practically, she does support it in its in- tegrity in the Pontifical States and tlie Two Sicilies, and, to a less extent, in the Grand-Duchy of Tuscany and the two petty Duchies of Modena and Parma. Xow, the most eager stickler for the faith of treaties would scarcely say that the Sovereigns and Diplomatists of Europe, when engaged in their vocation at A'icnna in 1815, bound their posterity to all time to assist Austi'ia in extending such a dominion over the wliole of the Italian Peninsula. Did my space admit, I would have been glad to give a slight .sketch of the leading incidents in the dismal chronicle of Lom- bardy between 1815-48. Alas I for all tlie noble hearts which were broken — for all the fair hopes which were blighted — for all the human agony which was endured during that long period of misrule I I cannot do so now. The \ictims have, fur the most part, carried their sentimental troubles bt^fore another tribunal; and the authors and the instruments of this evil are there too, each one to answer for his share in the work. These sorrows, however, are the troubles of another day, and only so far aftect tlu; present aspect of the (jucstion lus that they are not I'oigutten oi- forgiven. 1 will oiifiu"' uursclf to the briefest summary of the manner in which the Italian subjects of the House of Austria have been handled bince 1848, and of what Ihuy are enduring at the present hour. 1 will leave it tlien to yuur Lurdfsliii)— it you shall sec lit — to cniurtc it upon the attcn* tion of tho English nation with that weight and gravity which any declaration fVom no liigh an authority con at all timet com^ 25 mancl, that Lord Derby's view of the grievances of the Lombards is not quite correct, and that they have but little in common with the sickly sentimentalities of a puling and love-sick girl. ^Yo all of us remember that year 1848. Europe, the old respectable Europe, the Europe of diplomatists and sovereigns, of the Metternichs and the Ferdinands, seemed to be crumbling into dust, at the signal given by a pistol-shot in Paris — at the corner, yonder, of the Rue des Capucines. I remember Paris well in those days, and any man who witnessed that spectacle is not likely to forget it the longest day he has got to live. In Berlin, at Vienna, at Dresden, similar scenes occurred. With these, and with the blame which may have attached to the actors in these bloody dramas, I have nothing to do. There was one town, however, in which the sympathies of humanity Avent with every man, woman, and child who took the side of the revolutionary party, and that town was Milan. Europe knew that it Avas just, right, and proper that the Austrians should be driven out of a city and a province in which they had exercised such fearful oppression, and be dismissed from a trust which they had so grievously betrayed. Well-disciplined battalions for once gave way before the indignation of a people, and for the time Milan was once again free. I need not here tell how the wave of conquest flowed back. I am only concerned just now with the conduct of the Austrian authorities, when, by help of their bayonets, they had regained possession of the province and the town, and when, in point of fact, the chapter of sentimentalities had been once more re-opened. On the 20th of September, 1848, there was published, in the name of the Emperor Ferdinand, an Imperial Manifesto, whicli announced a full and plenary amnesty thoughout the Lombardo-Yeuetian provinces to all persons who had borne any part in the llevokition of 1848. The Emperor was made to declare that his iviU was, that his Italian dominions should receive such institutions as were in harmony with their real wants and the necessities of their national development ; at the same time, that their union with the other provinces of the Empire was maintained. These were only geucial promises ; but the Emperor passed from the domain of vague generalities to more special matter. lie pledged his In^perial word that there should be a bona fide representation of the "Lombard people. These deputics-^freely elected— -wore to have an ef&ctive eoiitrol over the administration of tho province^ Wq may f Vftjit to T;ord IJerby that, up to the pr^^efit; ■re Kavg mh 26 yet got out of the rpj^ion of f5cntiment, for the desire for freedom is biit a sentiment, nltliough the noblest of all. We have now to see how these promises were kept. There has ever been a strange touch of rough humour about the oppression exercised by Austria over lier subjects. It is, indeed, the liumour of the l)arnKk-room ; and the point of the joke ordinarily consists in a military execution, or some piece of practical irony of the like kind. How was the general amnesty to be got rid of? — how were the Emperor's promises to be kept, and yet the old discipline to be restored ? In this way : the Emperor had observed, with much commiseration, that many of his faithful Lombard subjects had suffered from the excesses of 1848. It was but just that they should be indemnified for their losses ; and, equally so, that they who had done the mischief should make practical reparation. Could matters be reasoned out more fairly ? Marshal Radetzki was chosen as the instru- ment of the Emperor's compassion. An "extraordinary" con- tribution was announced upon all persons who had taken part in the revolutionary movement ; and for the purpose of the levy they were told off in three categories. 1st. There were the members of the Provisional Government. 2ndly. All persons who had acted as members of the ^Ministerial Committee. 3rdly. All persons who had acted a conspicuous part on the revolutionary side, or who had assisted it by material or intcl- kctual means. The conclusion was, that if, within six weeks, any person included in any of these three classes had not paid up the sum assigned to him, his property was to be forfeited. The decree was carried out with Austrian rigour ; for in nil laws which have confiscation for their ultimate? object, the Medes and Persians might, with advantage, li»vo taken a leaf out of the book of Viennese statesmen. I would ask the author of the theory of Italian sentimentality to consider what is implied by the execution of an arrangement of this sort — when the denunciation of a renegade Italian and the decision of an Austrian cmployi- are to bo held conclusive as to the mea.surc of guilt. " The jnoperty of oil persons irho had ixtf:i,- i.KCTUALLY amsted the Jiero/iifionari/ morement of 1848 to lie forfeit!'* Such was the o|>ening of the first trench against the Imijcrial amnesty. Well, time wore on, and new events occurred — notably one at Novara — which rllectod the relative position of the .\ustrians and Lombardb ; wliith inspired i»ld Father Rudetzki with tlm belief that tlu> TiOinbardo-Vi'iK'tian ]irovinee8 was again 37 -delivered into his hand. I scarcely blame the old man ; he was but the incarnation of a system. From his pointy of view, he saw that there had been a mutiny, that the mutiny was suppressed, that the offenders were at the mercy of the General, and that he was the General. His fidelity to his Em- peror, his sense of discipline, his soldier's pride, his national vanity, and his conscientious conviction that the military regime was the best for Lombardy, had all been wounded to the quick. The hour for reprisals had come. An amnesty had been an- nounced ; but then it was not to be expected that the Emperor should feed and clothe the unfaithful employes who had turned against him in the hour of Austria's extremity. All such were turned about their business. It is an easy step from fact to suspicion. When all persons in the pay of the Government Avho had actually and notoriously taken part against it were cast adrift, the next step was to get rid of all who had been, or who were, suspected. Suspicion amounted to proof, and proof to ruin. Thus it is that justice is administered in Lombardo-Yenetia when an Austrian Field-Marshal — and he, perhaps, the best of the number — holds the scales. When the public offices and posts of administration had thus been purified, the next step was to attack the professions. The Hospitals, the Universities, the Law Courts, were closed in the face of all youths who had taken part, or who were suspected to have taken part, in the movement of 1848. Thus it was that the Imperial amnesty, confirmed by the Treaty of Peace between Austria and Pied- mont (6th August, 1849), was construed at Yienna and Milan. By the second article of that treaty it was stipulated that Piedmont should pay to Austria 75,000,000 francs for the expense of the war, and to compensate Austrian subjects for the injuries they had sustained in consequence of it. Not one penny — not one farthing of this great sum has ever been paid to any Lombard, although Lombard families by the hundred and the thousand had been reduced to absolute beggary by the operations of the contending armies. The amnesty, indeed, had been proclaimed ; but a measure of that kind, as the term implies, refers only to past offences. There is no such thing as a prospective amnesty. Memory does not look forward, but Austrian statesmen do. They could readily foresee — even without any violent effort of statesmanship — that the day might arrive when a dirty little Milanese boy might, from the purest motives, shout out " Viva V Italia ! " in the square before the Duomo — and then ! Then it might 28 become necessary lo take guarantees for the future, although the past was entirely wiped out from the Imperial memory I Oi; the 18th of August, 1819, the Austrian garrison was celebrating the feast-day of the Emperor. A courtesan, who had found great favour in the eyes of the Austrian officers, thrust I'orth from the window — it was in front of the cathedral these things hai)pcned — a batch of Austrian flags. A parcel of miserable boys — the ordinary refuse of any large city — felt their patriotic susceptibilities affronted by the display, and cast bomo muck or dirt, which they had picked off the pavement, against these symbols of Empire. Austria rose equal to the occasion. The troops were called out, all jicrsons within reach were arrested, carried off to the castle, and summarily flogged by the brutal soldiers: among them were two girls — Ernesta Gatti, aged twent}', and Maria Couti, aged cigliteen.* It is but right to add, that when the Austrians regained possession of ^Milan tlicy were very liberal in their distribution of " stick." You may flog a woman, however — and therefore be a ruffian deserving of tltc gallows — but because a woman is flogged, it docs not necessarily follow that a nation is ruined. This desirable end is attained by the imposition of taxes and levies, and by ireneral measures wliich do not make one's blood curdle at their to mere mention, but which in the end ruin a country ; and when you speak of the ruin of a countr}-, you mean that thousands, perhaps millions, of your fellow -creatures have perished by a miserable and lingering death. Kow, I wish Lord Derby to understand that a portion of the earth's surface — I am speaking of Ijumbardy — which should be as productive as the Scottish Ijothians, without the efforts expended on ^uit rioughman's Paradise, is strickin with the curse of sterility. It nmst ha\e required mueh ingenuity, infinite pains, to have brought about such a result ; so fertile is the soil, so kindly the heavens, so happy its geographical position. AVell, the Austrians have fairly pitted their efforts against the benelicenco of the Almighty ; and to speak the truth, for the moment they seem lo have got (he best of it. 1 cannot tell how a grain of 5>ecd corn pushes foilh i(s sprouf, lUd into a stalk, owills into aij mr — that is I\iitiirc's secret ; but I can tell \\v\i unl tliu Au^lri.lU Uuvciuiuvnt. \Vg 1i<>|m> !>Or«rbjr U wntlmunlal thouph to oondcroti, nt o pentlvii*^'! iii.' *.•" ^r - 'jovctiimint Uk« thit, fof w))i«h h» li lO t«n(Wr •• • MtfiM*-*'. 29 The keystone of tlie s^^stcin by which the dcvclopmont of an agricultural country can bo first arrested, and finally stopped altogether, is to load landed property with taxes and financial burdens to such an extent that taxation shall overtake the in- come issuing from the land. When the extent of the margin between expenditure upon land and income derived from it is once accurately ascertained, the Financial Minister who is bent on the ruin of a coimtry has secured his basis of operations. Let him regulate the incidence of his taxation so that the land can neither be let at a profit, nor farmed at a profit, and he will have succeeded in striking the soil with catalepsy. This is just what the Austrians have done in Lombardy. In many districts the soil of this province now yields no profit to its proprietors. The terrible significance of this foct vv^ill easily be comprehended by an Englishman accustomed to follow such a conclusion to its remote consequences. On the 22nd of April, 1849, in addition to existing burdens, the Austrians proclaimed the emission of Treasury Bonds {hons du fresor) to the extent of 70,000,000 of Austrian livres, secured upon a tax extraordinary imposed by the same warrant or edict, and to be levied on the real property of the Lombard province. On the 29th of September, 1849, a fresh tax of 50 per cent., in addition to existing taxes, was levied on the same species of property. On the 16th of Ai^ril, 1850, the Governor- General announced the formation of a loan — at first voluntary, but, soon after, made compulsory — of 120,000,000 of Austrian livres. The amount each Italian subject of the Emperor was bound to pay was settled by authority ; in default of payment,his property was seized. The 50 per cent, tax, above-men- tioned, was maintained until March, 1851, and then reduced to one of 33 per cent. ; but this has been maintained throughout as an addition to the ordinary " imjyot fo)wiere." As a little set-ofi" on the side of severity, in order to lessen the grace of this con- cession, there was raised another forced loan of 30,000,000 A.L., in order, as the Government said, to buy in Treasury Bonds. The loan was raised, of course ; a handful of Treasury Bonds was burnt, in order to keep the promise to the eye. The great bulk of them were simply consolidated. Surely, the troubles of the Lombards are somewhat more than merely "sentimental." Another small matter should here be mentioned, though with reference to this matter I am not in a position to say that the Italians were worse dealt with than the other subjects of the House of Hapsburgh. On the 16th of June, 1858, there was announced a forced loan of 500,000,000 florins to be levied upon 30 the whole empire. To the Loin bardo- Venetian kiugtlom was allotted a contribution of 04,071,501 florins, which were duly paid up at the persuasive instigation of Marshal lladetzki. It must, however, be remembered that even iii this levy had beeu equitiibly apportioned, the unfortunate IiOud)ards had been well nigh reduced to atrophy by ri cent and copious bleedings of a similar kind. The result of all this may be seen in any one of the oificial journals published in Lombardy. The number and quality of the forced sales — that is, sales by authority of the proix'rty of defaulters to the tax-gatherers' claims — will afford a very satis- factory index to the condition of the people. And, as I write, I read letters from Lombardy narrating how, to keep soul and body together, the proprietors are compelled to cut down and sell their mulberry- trees — the very means by which, up to this time, they have existed. No wonder that the same letters should fci>eak of the anxiety of all classes to arm and fight against the Austrians. The sequestration of the property of the emigrants from the Lonibardo- Venetian kingdom, was a measure so infamous, that at the time it excited the indignation of Europe. The notoriety of the fact precludes the necessity for dwelling upon it. Ou the 13th of February, 18o3, this infamy began, and it was not until the year 1857 that the authorilias at Vienna were shamed into withdrawal from this disgraceful policy. Any one who should imagine that the mischief done was repaired by the re- versal of the decree, is much mistaken. For three long and miserable years a Special Fiscal Tribunal handled a large portion of the title-deeds of Lombardy, in utter detianco of the principles of justice, or the rule of law, even supposing that the constitution and functions of the Court ,had not beeu tlic foulest violation of both law and justice. Space would fail me were I to endeavour here to relate the trickery with the coined money to which the Austrians are not ashamed to have recourse in the liOmbardo-Venotian king- dom. I pass on to another matter — carefully steering clear of all sentimental troubles — nanxely, that of the conscription. The Austrian levy in Lombardy is now of 15,000 conscripts, in place of 8,000, at which figure the conscription stood before 1848. Tiiu h'jigth of service has been raised from eight to ten ycar.s. The exemptions, such as tliose lor "only sons'' and married men, have been much restricted. The price of a substitute has been fixed by law at 1,500 florins (150/.), a sum, of course, far beyond the reach of any Italian peasant. Kvery year these 31 wretched creatures are marcliecl off to some distant province of tlie Empire, whilst their own native hxnd is kept down by the bayonets of those wliose native hxnd tlioy in turn are called upon to maintain in affectionate loyalty to the House of Hapsburg-h. I know not if I have said enough to show that the troubles of Lombardy are not of that purely sentimental nature which my Lord Derby would impose upon our credulity as the true view of the case. Englishmen, however, may say, " After all, what is this to us ? " Not much, certainly, in the sense that a linen- draper in Hoxton can suffer much inconvenience from the forfeitures, and floggings, and shootings in Lombardy. Thus much, however, at least may be said — if constraint be put upon a negro in the Gold Coast, England sympathises, and rightly so, with tliat dusky member of the human family. An Italian- Lombard is surely as elevated in the scale of humanity as the most promising negro. Why not give him a turn, now we have set the affairs of our swarthy brethren to rights as well as we can ? Again, even if w^e are so bound by the faith of treaties that w^e must not interfere between Austria and her wretched subjects in the Slave States of the Empire, surely w^e are not bound, when treaties are silent, to aid her in extending the same system throughout the whole of the Italian Peninsula. We might inquire, if it be not worth our while to unite with the French Emperor to put an end to these sentimental griefs. I have the honour to be, &c., &c., &c. KoTE. — The taxes in Lombardy have been as follows during the last five years:— In 1854, L. A. 87,410,000 ; in 1855, L. A. 86,720,000 ; in 1856, L. A. 89,407,000 ; in 1857, L. A, 93,500,000 ; in 1858, L. A, 94,800,008. Then add the expenses of collection, amounting to 8 per cent., paid by the communes j about 4,000,000 of L. A. paid for exemption from conscription ; the cost of lodging the troops, for which the Government pays two-thirds only of the expense incurred by the communes, &c. The land-tax in the Italian Provinces is close on 38 per cent, of the income ; in the rest of the Austrian monai'chy it is only 16 per cent. 32 LETTER IV. THE TWO SICILIES AND Tin- ^IINOIl STATES. My Lord, — Having thus said a few words about the Pontifical States and Lonibardy, I would add a few more about Naples — or rather the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies — and with a sugges- tion or two as to what lias been done in Modena, Parma, and in Tuscany, concludo my brief notice of the sentimental troubles of Italy. There is one reason, perhaps, why I need say but little of Naples, and that is, that the liideous extent of the evil has been formally and ofiicially recognised by the Governments of J'higland and France ; and in consequence of the revolting cruelties of King Ferdinand, tlie two nations which stand at tlie liead of European civilisation have declined to hold any furtlier intercourse with him or his Court. "When the ^'stem of Napoleon was broken up in 1815, there were many evil men in Italy who were prepared to work out in practice Metternich's theory of reaction. There was Baratelli in Romagna — there was Bolza in Lombardy ; but amongst all these wretches the palm tor superior villainy must be conceded to Canosa, the chief of the Neapolitan Police. It is inconceivable that such a man should have been allowed to live on day by day. It was he wlio organised into regular bands the satellites of Cardinal Ruffo, and of tlie brigand chief, Fra Diavolo — the hero of the operatic stage, but the vulgar ruflian of real life. From his time until the other day, when the English engineers were tried at Salerno — with such rare intervals of pause as were enforced upon the Court by the temporary successes of the Liberal party — the Government of Naples has been carried on by the police in doHance of the regular laws of the country. Tiie only measure of right and wrong has been the absolute will of the King. We must never forget that Naples has an excellent code of laws, if they were only acted upon, and a tolerable Constitution — (in Sicily there is an old and excellent Const ituli(ui) — but the genthnuii who endeavoured to carry it out in practice, with (he sanction of the King, are now on their way to the United States, after haviiiir tiuluri'd years of torture and sulli-rinir. 33 The G-overnment of Naples, I say, for the last forty-four years, with the exception of the short intervals named, has been carried on by the Secret Police. Recourse, no doubt, has been had from time to time to the mockery of public trials, but these have only proved an aggravation, not a mitigation of the public distress. There are no murders so foul, no atro- cities so hideous, as those which are perpetrated under the form and colour of law. There has been a bloody circuit at Naples for the last forty-four years, and a Jeffreys has never been wanting to a Neapolitan King. From Canosa, downwards, " icno avulso " — a wicked man was ever at hand to take the place of infamy at the Sovereign's right hand. Englishmen may readily imagine to what suflferings from the hands of the police agents the Neapolitans have been exposed, from the following extracts from the Ministeriali, which are orders or circulars directed by the King's own orders to the police. These have been collected, and were made public by mistake in the year 1847. The known acts of the police precisely tally with the instructions therein contained. The English reader may find proof of my assertion in the proceedings connected with the trial of Poerio, Settembrini, and their friends and companions in patriotism and misery. If further proof be wanting, it is forthcoming even in the recent trials at Salerno, although it must be remembered that upon that occasion the eyes of Europe were on the Court, and every eflfort was made to keep the proceedings in something like harmony with justice and law. Poerio's own speech in answer to his villainous accusers is standing evidence that the Neapolitan police have acted in the manner pointed out as imperative upon them by the orders and circvdars of which I am about to speak. Would they have dared to have thus acted save on competent authority ? What authority could there be for such iniquity save the will of the Sovereign ? I am sure that Code and Constitution are silent upon the point. Here are some of the rules, then, which are prescribed upon the police in their dealings with the King's subjects. A mere public rumour of a man's culpability is a sufficient title for his arrest. There shall be Special Commissioners, both temporary and permanent, for political trials, with one lawyer as assessor, without deliberative voice. The decisions of the Commission are without appeal, nor can they be invalidated through any remonstrance or petition for redress. The sentence of the Military Commission must be immediately executed without the 34 Royal siuutiun. The proceedings of these CommUsious are summary, and grounded only on prima facie evidence. The gendarmerie, the Royal Fusiliers, and other privileged corps, as well as the ofiicers of the ordinary police, may exercise the functions of the Judicial Police. All proceedings connected with the impeachment, the defence, and the trial of the accused, are to be secret. For the proof of the crime, the statements of the ofiicers of the police are to be considered sufficient. They may liberate a convict witliout sanction, and detain in prison any individual, even though absolved by the judicial authorities. Flogging is one of the disciplinary punishments of the prisoners. It may be employed within the prison walls, for example's sake, in the presence of the other inmates, on the simple authority of the Council of Three, called in the Manual " hi com- misnionc dcllc Legiiate." The bastinado may be administered by the military, from ten to fifty blows ; it may be extended to a hundred, applied at two different intervals. This punishment may be inflicted not only after condemnation, but as a punish- ment for ordinary offences, as exciting tumults and noisy meetings in the streets. Espionage is enforced, and neglect of it severely punished. The police ofiicers may penetrate into the prisons, and exact confessions or denunciations from men under trial. Innkeepers and landlords must be dependent on the police, and must give notice of all persons who may lodge with them. All private servants must inscribe their names on the police register, and masters must give notice of the motives of their dismissal. The foundation thus laid, I will pass on at once to a few remarks on the King's conduct in the affair of Poerio, Scttembrini, &c., as illustrative of the above maxims. Let it be remembered that the crime of these men' is, that they had acted on the belief that the King's adhesion to the Constitution of February 10, 1818, was not a perjury and a farce. Here are the words of the King's oath : — " I, Ferdinand II., by the grace of God, King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, of Jerusalem, i&c, Duke of PiacH'nza, Parma, Castro, &c., Hereditary (irand Prince of Tuscany, &c., &c., promise and swear to God, and upon the Holy Gospels, to pro- fess, and cause to bo professed, to defend and preserve, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion, the sole religion of the State. " I promise and swear to observe, and cause to be inviolably observed, the Constitution of this monarchy, promulgated and 35 irrevocably sanctioned by us (me) on tlie 10th day of February, 1848, for the same kingdom. I promise and swear to observe, and cause to be observed, all the laws actually in force, and the others wliich shall be successively sanctioned within the limits of the said Constitution of the kingdom. I promise and swear never to do, nor to attempt, anything against the Consti- tution and the laws which have been sanctioned, as well for the property as for the persons of our most loving subjects. So may Grod help me and preserve me in His holy keepiug !" All these professions were lies ; there is not one of them from which the King of Naples has not gone back, with the exception of those which refer to the chapter of Eoman Catholic bigotry. He has trampled the Constitution under foot. He has persecuted to the death all persons who had any share in its administration. He has violated the laws which protected the persons and the property of his subjects. " So may God help him, and preserve him in his holy keeping !" Poor man ! he is now lying at death's door at Bari. There is no wretched prisoner whom he has tortured and kept festering in his gaols, whose fate one would not gladly choose in preference to that of Ferdinand II., King of the Two Sicilies. But I have not done. The King swore, and swore eagerly to the Constitution. He played the fool, as it were, of the time. When the Constitution was in fashion, there was no Constitu- tionalist so liberal as he. It was not forced upon him ; he fondled it, and embraced it, and thrust it upon his loving subjects in the joy of his heart and the exuberance of his patriotic fervour. Here is his Royal Proclamation of May 24, 1818 — mark, pub- lished after the 15th of May : — " Neapolitans, — Being deeply grieved by the horrible catas- trophe of the 15th of May, our most lively desire is to mitigate, as far as is humanly possible, its consequences. Our most firm and immutable will is to maintain the Constitution of the 10th of February pure and unstained by any kind of excess, which being the only one compatible with the real and present wants of this part of Italy, will be the holy ark upon which the destinies of our most beloved people and our Crown must repose. " The Legislative Chambers shall again be immediately con- voked ; and the wisdom, the firmness, and the prudence that we look for from them will afford us vigorous assistance in all those branches of public affairs which have need of wise and useful reorganisation. D 2 36 " Resume, theu, uU your usual occupations ; trust, with effusion of mind, to our loyalty, to our religion, and to our hohj and spontaneous oath, and live in the fullest assurance that the most incessant study of our mind is to abolish, as soon as possible — together with the exceptional and transitory state in whifli we find ourselves, even as far a-s may be possible — the memory of the deplorable calamity which has visited us. — Fkkuinando." I cannot here refrain from adding one little touch as cha- racteristic of the man. "When the trial of Poerio and his friends was going on, a Neapolitan advocate, one Saverio Barbarisi, a prisoner himself, made a deposition in favour of the accused. He related how on several occasions he had had interviews with the King, and conversed with him on the sub- ject of the Constitution. Rumours had got about not very favourable to the King's sincerity, and Barbarisi called the Sovereign's attention to the fact. Here is what followed in the deponent's own words : — " His Majesty, full of just indigna- tion, raised his arms as high as ho could, kept casting his eyes to heaven and then upon me, and said in th:; most energetic manner, ' Don Saverio, I have sworn to the Constitution, and I will maintain it ; had I not been willing to give it, I would not have given it.'" This was lazzarone-time with the Royal actor. I trust, my Lord, you will pardon me for bringing this Royal oath and this Royal proclamation before your attention My wish was to contrast them with the "Manual and Maxims for the Direction of the Police." AVhich was the system to which this perjurofl Sovereign finally adhered — the Constitution to which he had sworn, or the police regulations which he had abjured when he swore to govern in accordance with law ? AVhen !Mr. Gladstone visited Naples in 18-51, according to the best information ho could obtain, the number of State prisoners in the Two Sicilies was from 15,000 to 'J0,000/ The Neapolitan Government tried to diminish this awful total in the eyes of Europe, but signally failed. "When T sj)eak of State prisoners — alas ! what prisons ! "Wretched men, who had had the folly to believe in the oath of their Sovereign, were chained two and two — thrust into horrid underground dens — covered with vermin — and exposed to all the horrors of a most lingering death. Poor Settembrini has described the horrid prison of the Vicaria, into which he was thrown with other political ollenders, but amongst thieves, forgers, and murderers. Some of them had been dragged 37 through the streets, insulted, beaten, wounded, spat upon, and their hair had been torn out by the satellites of the King. Another had been made to sit in a chair in the midst of a square, surrounded, by armed soldiers, who told him they had orders to shoot him. Another had been pinioned for five days, his hands being only loosened when he was to consume his miserable allow- ance of bread and water. Another was shut up in a dark and loathsome dungeon hewn in the rock, and most execrable to every sense, as in it was a well into which was emptied all the dirt of the other prisoners. It would, however, be needless for me to dilate upon the condition of the Neapolitan prisons. Mr. Gladstone has endowed them, and the Sovereign who permitted their existence, with an immortality of infamy. The manner in which the conviction of these unfortunate gentlemen was procured — the story of the forged letter nominally addressed by the Marquis Dragonetti from Aquila to Poerio (a contrivance so infamous that even Neapolitan judges could not act upon it) — the false evidence of the Government spy, Jervolino — have been so freely discussed throughout Europe that it is unnecessary for me to dwell upon them here. The King's Judge, Navarro — whose maxim it was, that all persons accused by the King's Government ought to be found guilty — did his work well, and the King found that it was well done. Settem- brini — a scholar, a gentleman, a man of refinement, a man as innocent of the crime of which he was accused as your Lordship's self can be— was sentenced to death. But the King's mercy pardoned him ; he was clothed in a prison dress, and despatched to the island of San Stefano. There, in a room fourteen or fifteen feet square, he was confined with eight other persons — one of them a notorious assassin, one Cajazzo, who boasted that he had murdered thirty-five persons, some of them in prison. Poerio and fifteen others were confined in a small room ; they were chained together two and two, by day and by night, and suffered horrible torment. But enough of this. I would only add a word or two about the method of their recent deportation, and then take leave of this sickening subject. The King pardoned them at last — that is to say, as they had been iniquitously condemned in the first instance, so they were iniquitously banished from their native land under the cloak of mercy. Four of the prisoners included in the pardon were, to be sure, dead; the authorities knew nothing about the matter; but such an occurrence is a trifling one at Naples. What I wanted to say was this, that the illegal deportation of these gentlemen is not 38 without a precedent in the history of Naples. The Neapolitan Government, within our own recollection, has absolutely mhi it5 prisoners — I mean its own subjects, beinf;; in the galleys — to a foreign Government ; sold them as the King of Dahomey would have sold a cargo of slaves to the American agent of a Cuban house. There was a notable occurrence of tliis kind in the year 1819. I extract the account of it from Colletta, Book VIII., chap. ii. : — " In December, 1819, a treaty was con- cluded with Portugal which excited much public scandal and in- dignation. The penal galleys contained an enormous number of criminals (one of the evils consequent on continual revolutions witliin the kingdom, and of the corruption of the times). These were a burden to the finance, and an anxious charge to the police. An agreement was therefore entered into with Portugal to give up all condemned to the galleys for life, as well as those undergoing temporary punishment, and even those who had already undergone a great part of the penalty for their crimes, to be transported to Rio Janeiro. The Portuguese Commis- sioners refused to accept the old, the maimed, the sick, and selected the young and vigorous, as fitter for bodily labour. The Government boasted of their ckmency in having liberated those jjrisoners, though in another hemisphere ; but this act was considered a breach of compact (since such exists even with criminals), and was still more reprehensible on the score of humanity ; for while the infamous traffic in slaves had been forbidden throughout the civilised world, men born free were sent from Naples, and given mcay to gratify a sordid economy.'* That is to say, the prisoners were sold as slaves for the price of their keep.* Need I here recall the massacres of Messina in 18H, and those of Palermo in 1850, conducted under the auspices of General Filangieri? In January of the year just namcnl, six men were arrested by his orders at the place last named, and sent before a court-martial. There was no proof agju'nst them. The court was sitting, wlien an orderly rode in, and drliveriHl a note to the president. It was from I'ilangieri, and thus con- ceived : — " The criminals I send you for tri;il are to receive the punishment of death, and are to be executed lo-day in the Pia/za dclla Fiera Voechia, where the revolutionary outbn nk began in 1S|8, and where the second att(>nipt was made." T: • The lioviTimiiiit of rurinn, iihoul lS2.'i. s.Kl, in tin- snujo maniior, two gouti. men, (H)ii(li'iniiftl, for |)ulitii:Jil crime*, to work in llio iwlt-iuinc« of tlio icUud of .'^.i iliniu. 'I'll!' imini' (ifono of I lit- uTiillinun w.in Miirtiiii. farce of the trial was going on, and the advocate for the defence was, as we should say, upon his legs, when the escort arrived to conduct the prisoners to execution. He was cut short in his pleading. The wretched creatures were dragged off to execu- tion without even being allowed time to receive the sacraments. I have given but a single instance, as knowing that the details of the misery suffered by individuals touch the human heart more than any general allegation that masses of men were united in a common misfortune. Man's intelligence will not absorb at a throb the agony of millions. But in 1848-50 all the towns of Sicily were red with blood. Nor was this a new thing. I will not go back for an instance to the year 1821, when the monster Canosa murdered the Sicilians by hundreds for alleged complicity with the Carbonarist societies. Let us take a case nearer our own time in the year 1837. In that year Del Carretto, the worthy successor of Canosa in all infamy and cruelty, had been despatched to Sicily to celebrate the restora- tion of order in that island. Here is the manner in which he set about his work. I quote from the " Supplement to Colletta," Part II., and need scarcely add that at this time the present Sovereign ruled in Naples : — " Order had been restored in Sicily, but he immediately instituted courts-martial to try the offenders. A thousand of the Sicilians were summarily sentenced to death, and more than a hundred executed. The leaders had escaped, or fallen in conflict, but Del Carretto hoped, by the number of his victims, to strike terror, prove the magnitude of the revolt to Europe, and justify the subsequent acts of the Government, which had been already decided on. Such was the haste with which the executions were conducted, that, in one instance, there was found one too many among the dead. A lad of fourteen perished, besides many priests and women, while, to add to the horror of the scene, a band of music was ordered to play during the executions. Del Carretto passed his time in feasting and dances, to which he invited the loives and daughters of those who had fled or been compromised." But enough of this, I say again. I fear I have detained your Lordship too long in King Ferdinand's shambles. The internal history of Naples during the present century would appear to be briefly as follows : — The re-actionary party, after the great outbreak in France, were driven from the main- land to Sicily, and there remained till 1815. They contrived, however, to keep their faction alive on the terra firma during this 40 period, through the instruraentalitj' of Ruflfo and other agents of the sort. When the monarchy was restored in 1815, they were kept quiet for a time. The members of the (.'ongress of Vienna had recommended clemency as the better system. After 1820, however, things were changed. Under the shadow of the Aus- trian banners, Ferdinand I. and Francis I., during liis brief reign, were able to take their own course, and what a course ! Then came the French Revolution of 1830, and the accession of the present King. There was breathing-time for a few months. From 1833 to 1847 Ferdinand II. threw off the mask, and I think I have given a few illustrations of his ideas of government. In 1848 the tyrant became once more the crouch- ing, cajoling, false lazzarone of his own capital ; and from the 15th of May in that year, when he got up an ^mcutc in the streets of Xaples, and turned his guns and his drunken soldiers upon the people, until now, he has flogged, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered his wretched subjects in his own way. Between 1833 and 1847 there were no less than seven attempts at revolu- tion, all put down — drowned in blood. From 1815 to 1858, the Neapolitan people, for all practical purposes, may be said to have been living under the dominion of arbitrar}' power, supported by military force — the most eftective, perhaps the only reliable, part of that force being the Austrian and Swiss regiments. Police agents and police spies have been the real administrators of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies — the armed force, when wanted to support them, was there. "VVe read of cruelties, such as those which I have recited, in the story of the great French Revolution during the Reign of Terror. The incidents of that time have affixed a stigma upon the French name from which it has not, even now, recovered in the opinion of the world. But we think of thb Septembrists, and Marat, and Robespierre, and the Abbayc, and the not/adcs at Nantes, and the wholosalo /i(si7/(idrs at Lyons, and the frenzied " ^a ira " dances, as of the hideous legends of another time with which this generation has no concern. But such things have been done in our time, and in towns practically nearer to London than were Paris, or Lyons, or Nantes, in 1791-0:^-03, when we take account of the increased facilities of eonununica- tion. Nobody says a word about the massacres of Naples, and Messina, and Palermo ; or, if some one should start up — as did Mr. Gladstone, to his immortal honour — to denounce them, why 'tis a nine days' wonder. A few articles are written in news- papers — a few more in our reviews. The subject is raentiontnl 41 at dinner-parties between the last gossip about tbe Acarlemy and tlie state of the odds upon the favourite for the Derby. Practical England turns aside to amend her law of copyholds, or establishes committees to supply the negroes of the Gold Coast with Wenham Tjake ice and effervescing lemonade ! But ere I bring this Letter to a conclusion I must say a very few words about two other Italian States, Tuscany and Modena, and they shall be very few indeed. It must be admitted that Tuscany, including, of course, the little Duchy of Lucca, is that part of Italy in which not only a foreigner but an Italian can draw the freest breath ; and when we mark what the behaviour of other Italian princes has been, it is better for the sake of their subjects that they should be as the reigning Grand Duke of Tuscany. But even with regard to him it must not be forgotten that he has given a signal example of ingratitude to the Tuscan people. He fled the country in 1848, His own Tuscans brought him back, not as a captive, but as their ruler. It was Varennes over again, but with a loyal people, and an easy throne at the end of the return drive, not the Temple and the scaffold. His own people, I say, with arms in their hands, and with full power to accept him or expel him, brought him back, and took him as their Sovereign once more. How was all this affection, all this loyalty repaid ? Leopold, at the first opportunity, tore the Constitution to. rags, and abolished it by a motu propria on the 6th of May, 1851, at the instigation of Austria ; he filled his towns and provinces with Austrian soldiers, and turned the Grand Duchy into a mere outlying district of the Austrian dominions. I have reserved the case of the Dvike of Modena for last men- tion. I do not speak of the present Duke, but of Francis lY., that very archetype and ideal of a modern Italian ruler. He was the son of an Austrian Archduke, who had married the daughter and heiress of the House of Este. Even in Italy, at a time when severe and oppressive government was the rule, this man was noted for his oppression and severity. I could scarcely make clear to any one who had not a know- ledge of the Italian character the difference between Francis of Modena, who is gone to his account, and Ferdinand of Naples, who is now at Bari. As one is dead and the other living, there is some confusion of tenses in speaking about these two Sovereigns in one phrase; but I prefer the past tense, as the most agreeable in this case to the general reader. Francis of Modena, then, and Ferdinand of Naples were both faithless 42 and Iroachcrous to tlic liiglicst dogroc. A fccLlc ray of truth and honour Imd never penetrated into either of their breasts. They were both very fond of soldiers and military fiddle- faddle, yet both were pre-eminent cowards. Francis took to his heels before his insurgent subjects in 1831, and Fer- dinand fled like a scared hare before General Garibaldi at Palestrina in 1848. Both employed that atrocious villain, Canosa, as a conildcntial agent. Both delighted in human misery — both had huge notions of the dignity of the Sovereign. Both were, intellectually and morally, in strict descent from Judas ; the favourite modus operandi of each being to kiss and to betray. Now for the shades of difference in their character. The PoJicincUo element, which enters so largely into Ferdinand's character, was wanting in Francis. Ferdinand would, at any given moment of his career, have put on a red cap and dance Libi ruls, whose confidence lie had invited. Such is my own readin- of the nuitter; but there are not wanting those who take the more favourable view 43 of the case, and assert that he was a mere spy of Austria throughout. In 1821, this Francis of Moclena, of Avhom I am speaking, displayed a fine burst of the true St. Bartholomew spirit in himting down the Carbonari. He had an old fortress called Rubiera, in which he used to proceed to the examination of his prisoners — his form of procedure being similar to that adopted by Baron Front de Bocuf in re Isaac of York, when the defendant was on the gridiron and the gridiron unpleasantly hot. He used to keep three judges, or rather executioners, at work in this place ; and his great amusement was to step up to the Eubiera, and converse with these gentlemen on the occurrences of the dmj — as we go down to a club. Just before setting off for the Congress of Verona, in order to have his mind clear for diplomatic work, he disposed at this place of forty-three wretched creatures at a batch — his religious feeling revolted at the idea of a priest being hanged, and one of them, Andreoli, escaped the halter, being beheaded. But it was after he had run away from his dominions, and been restored by the Austrians in 1831, that the more beautiful points of his character came out in fine relief. I cannot pretend to set forth at length the hangings and shootings of this Ducal bene- factor to his species ; but I can find space to quote the edict under which he conducted his operations. I assure you, my Lord, in all sincerity and with all respect, that I am not pre- suming to jest with you. I am speaking of a State paper published at Modena on the 18th of April, 1832, in the name and under the authority of the Duke. Here is an extract from it : — "As to the future, seeing that the fathers of past revolutions and of present disorders, prepared long ago impunity for political crimes, beginning, under the hypocritical cloak of a deceitful philanthropy, to lighten the punishments, and mh- mitting the gravest crimes to the same long proceedings and jJroofs which are required for even the smallest crimes ; seeing also that the Liberals not only ask, but insist on a regular jirocedure under the specious name of justice ; and well foreseeing that either from want of proofs, or from want of witnesses, or from their not agreeing in their evidence, or because the crime was not completed, or because the criminal intention is not proved, they will either be acquitted or slightly punished ; " seeing, and fore- seeing all these grave inconveniences, after mature consideration, the Duke enacts that his officers "■ shall put to death uithout trial of any sort all persons they have found in the act of rebellion, 44 FT CETERA ! ! I" The Dukc of Modena, like a fair lady, daintily insinuates his mind in a postscript. This was not all : no trial under the head of "rebellion, et cetera,'^ was to lake place, save before a military commission appointed by the Duke ad hoc. He himself was to discharge in person the functions of the grand jury or the committing magistrate — an immense consolation to his subjects. The Duke winds up with a final provision, which I will transcribe, and then have done with its author, of whom your Lordship must, by this time, be nearly as weary as were his subjects during his most abominable life : — " If the case should happen, that by secret denunciation, and witnesses above exception, to whom the promise is given not to divulge their names to the tribunals, still less to confront them with the accused, the Sovereign was to acquire conscientiously a moral certainty of the crime, then rather than betray the secret, or compromise those who trusting to us have made, or may make, useful revelations, we shall be satisfied with inflicting, as measures of police, an extraordinary' punishment below the ordinary one (to which a person is subject after a trial), always accompanied by banishment." It sounds, my Lord, like a bad joke ; but it is a fact, that our fellow-creatures were proceeded against under the power of this Ducal edict. The present Duke is worthy of his sire. He is the creature, the tool, the slave, the very utensil of Austria — active and industrious in his sub- serviency. He lately made a tour of the Italian Courts, to form an Austrian League ; and more recently he has concluded a Commercial Treaty with Austria, which is a violation of both his own and the Emperor's engagements with Piedmont. I think I have said enough to show what the system of govern- ment pursued by the Italian Princes, when bacJ;cd by Austria, has been. I will now pass on to otlier matters. I have the honour to be, &c., &c.. Sec. 45 LETTEK V. THE TREATY OF VIENNA. My Lord, — I have now to discuss the argument founded upon the faith of treaties. I regret that Lord Derby and his friends should have put this in the van, for I am very sure that if this issue is to be raised we shall very soon drift into a Euro- pean war. To public writers and mere Parliamentary orators, the Treaty of Vienna is a rhetorical expression ; it turns a sentence, but is rarely examined ; it is spoken of as the most familiar thing in the world, when, in truth, it is the least known. That your Lordship understands and appreciate it, I know, because the whole correspondence of your Government in 1847-8-9, as to Italy, is animated by the soundest views of its obligations. Now, the Treaty of Vienna did many bad, unjust, wicked, and detestable things ; but it was not so stupidly or foolishly framed as to guarantee Lombardo-Venetia to Austria. The old warriors and statesmen, the wily diplomatists, and the clever secretaries engaged in it, knew the value of language as well as any men ; they were choice and precise in their selec- tion of words, because their views and objects were clear and well defined. You will find in it all degrees and kinds of obli- gations ; bvit you will discover only one guarantee of territory ; and that territory was not Lombardo-Venetia. It was not even the banks of the Rhine, about which Germany every now and then throws herself into such grotesque and unnecessary hysterics. By the 15th Article the po»r King of Saxony was compelled to cede part of his monarchy to Prussia, and that cession was, by Article 17, placed under the collective guarantee of Europe. There, however, such obligations terminated. Poland was united to Russia ; Cracow was declared to be " for ever independent, free, and neutral ; " Genoa was annexed to Piedmont ; two-thirds of Europe were re-arranged and re-settled in one way or other. But of all the expressions of the treaty, the weakest and least forcible was that used as to Lombardo- Venetia. It was, in truth, a delicate subject ; the Italians had not been consulted; they had no representatives at the Con- 4G gress ; tlie kingdom of Italy had flourished and prospered under a national administration ; Waterloo had not yet been fought. So all the Great Powers did at Vienna was, by Article 103, to " recognise" certain parta of Italy as Austrian, under certain treaties, which it enumerated and partially revived. Austria had previously seized on and occupied them ; it was no time to argue and discuss with what right, or on what authority ; the fact was accepted as a fact, and " recognised." Nothing more, my Lord. So long, therefore, as the fact of occupation remains, let it be recognised as we recognise other facts— the existence, for example, of the Devil himself. But to raise this bare recog- nition to the importance and duty of an obligation, is to alter, and not to adhere to, the Treaty of Vienna. Your Lordship's Cabinet, I know, seriously considered this point in 1848, and so read the Treaty of Vienna. But it is much to be feared that Lord Derby and his colleagues in talking so magniloqucntly of the treaty, desire to create an impression that it involves England in a task which the treaty never dreamt of ; and it will be for your Lordship to instruct the coimtry of our true position in the matter. The independence of Belgium we have guaranteed, the integrity of Turkey we have pledged our faith to ; but we arc under no bonds to preserve Lombardo-Venetia to Austria. King Ijcopold and the Sultan can, when assailed, claim our moral and material assistance. Not so the Kaiser. As long as ho can retain Lombardy, we bow to the misfortune ; when he can't, we may lawfully rejoice, without disturbing in their graves the authors of the Treaty of Vienna. But, my Lord, I see with amazement and indignation that both Austria and Prussia, in their recent circular despatches to the small German States on the Italian question, speak of references to the Germanic Confederation. ^Vhat has the Ger- manic Confederation to.do with Italy ? C)h, my liord, what misery, wretchedness, and injustice Germany has in past cen- turies inflicted on Italy ! It had then, however, the excuse of that old German ICmpiro which so long teased, tormented, cursed, and depopulated Kuropc by the wrongs it perpetrated. But that mischief to mankind was swept away half a century ago. Arc we now to permit the Germanic Confederation to rise in its place ? That Confederation was the creation of the Treaty of Vienna ; it exists only under the provisions of that treaty ; it is limited and condned by the language and terms of the treaty ; out of its stipulations tlio Confederation has neither rights nor 47 duties. Now, by Article 54, tlie objects of the Confederation are declared to be the internal and external security of Germany. Is Ital}'", then, part of Germany ? Or, who talks of attacking Germany from without ? And what danger within except from her own bad Princes ? It is bad enough to see the smaller Princes of Germany using their Diet of Frankfort to put down Constitutional liberty and Parliamentary government in Planover and Luxembourg, as we have recently seen. But, for the greater States of Germany to talk of using it to perpetuate the misery of Italy, contemplates such a disregard of the Treaty of Vienna as the world has not yet witnessed. The King of Holland is, your Lordship knows, a member of the Germanic Confederation as Duke of Luxembourg ; and the King of Denmark's representative has a seat and vote in the Diet for the Duchy of Ilolstein. But if the brave Belgians crossed the Scheldt, would Holland have a right to call the Confederation to its defence ; or if Sweden one fine day annexed the Danish Isles, and united Scandinavia, would Denmark be entitled to summon the Diet to its assistance? Why, then, this reference of Italy to the German Confederation ? I appeal to you, my Lord. Is England really bound to support the arrangement of the Treaty of Vienna by force of arms ? We recognised certain territorial and other stipu- lations, and agreed for ourselves to respect them. We never said, and we were never understood to say, that if any provision of the Treaty of Vienna was infringed by any one party to the treaty to the prejudice of any other party, that we would step in and enforce obedience to the compact of 1815. W"e may respect this compact ourselves, we may hold that it is for the interests of Europe that its provisions shall be maintained, unless they are changed or modified by the same authority which first gave them force, but nothing more. The course of events has hurried us away to the midst of quibbles fitter for lawyers than statesmen. The one great, overwhelming, and paramount danger against which the Treaty of Vienna was intended to guard, was the European autocracy of Napoleon Bonaparte. Anathema maranatha ! away with him ! let his place be desolate, and let salt be sown where he has trod. Such was the language and the meaning of the Viennese negotiators. They wanted to eradicate Napoleon and his descendants and representatives altogether from the Euro- pean system. Well, then, if we were now to agree upon that 48 which the veriest stickler for diplomatic propriety would admit was a perfect and teclinical solution of the question, and call a European Congress together to re-settle the affairs of Italy, the Sovereign who would represent France Avould be Louis Napoleon — the nephew of the Emperor whom the Viennese nego- tiators had put to the ban of mankind ; and where would be the place of the King of the Belgians at the Council Board of the nations, as that place was settled by the Treaty of Vienna ? After the events of 1831, when the Treaty of Vienna might be said to be hot in our mouths, it was resolved that, treaty or no treaty, Tlolland must be informed that she could no longer retain Belgium, and tliat upon her refusal Belgium would be torn from her by force. What Power was it which was the chief and most efficient actor in that measure of general police ? I answer, emphatically, England. The French artillery, which played upon the Antwerp citadel, made more noise in the world ; but it was the consciousness that England had closed the seas against him which mainly induced the Netherlands King to acquiesce in his defeat, and in the disruption of the territory which had been assigned to him by the Treaty of Vienna. Of course, the resist- ance wliich might be opposed by so powerful and so military a nation as Austria would be one of the items of consideration, as also the general exigency of the case for the public welfare ; but at least here is a practical example of how the treaty can be dealt with on suitable occasions. Need I refer again to that flagrant instance of Cracow, in which the three great military nations beyond the Rhine treated the provisions of the Treaty of Vienna, and the earnest and long- continued remonstrances of England, with contempt and derision. Russia, I*russia, and Austria, on the day when they seized by violence upon that territory, shut themselves out for ever after from all appeal to the Treaty of Vienna as a rule of European All the Great Rowers of Europe have, when it suited their purpose, disregarded this settlement of 1815. After the in- stances I have adduced, will any one deny the truth of this proposition ? It may be a matter of general convenience to refer to the Treaty of Vienna ; but I am sure, if repeated and vital infringi-ments of its provisions can at all detract from the value of a compact, there can be little virtue left in this Treaty of Vienna. As to the exact limits within which such an oft- violated agreement is entltlrd to our reverence, I profess that 49 my own oyc is not keen cnoug-Ii, nor of sufficient microscopic power, to define them with nicety and accuracy. I find myself in presence of an okl parchment which every one of the groat Powers appears to liavc perforated exactly at its own pleasure. All the comfort we can fairly derive from it is, that it was an agreement suited to the time ; and that if any serious European complications should arise, we had Letter make another agree- ment suited to our time. We had much better, in short, settle our quarrels by peaceful negotiation than by war. You cannot, in very truth, expect that any settlement of this kind should bo of an everlasting nature, although you cannot establish anv Statute of Limitations within which treaties shall be binding, and not beyond. I will not appeal to so eminent a statesman as your Lordship to indorse the truth of such a proposition, but I would ask any Englishman of reasonable intelligence to decide whether our securit}', and the certainty we possess that no other nation will injure us, or attack us, or violate any agreement with which we as a nation are concerned, does not depend, imder the Divine blessing, upon our national wealth, strength, and intel- ligence, upon the valour of our fleets and armies, and not upon the Treaty of Vienna, or any other compact of the kind. "Why cheat ourselves with delusions, or rely upon such vain ideas as that the terms of any compact will bind ambitious princes, or restrain the will of tyrants ? I do not know if I am singular in my opinion ; but I infinitely prefer as a security for our English firesides the Armstrong gun to the Treaty of Vienna. But now let us take the case of the Emperor of Austria, who appeals to the provisions of the Treaty of Vienna as a guarantee for his Italian dominions. IIow has he himself, I will not say out of Italy, but in Italy, respected the terms or spirit of the treaty which he now invokes? It never could have been intended by the negotiators at the Congress that the Italian Peninsula was to be converted into an Austrian possession, yet all the efibrts of Austria have been directed to this end since the year 1815. Agreements have been made with the various Italinn princes binding them to the Austrian system. Austria has promised them aid against their subjects, and too faithfully have these promises at least been kept. Austria has, therefore, violated the letter of the Treaty of Vienna in her dealings with the Italians, as her whole conduct in Italy, for the last forty- four years, has been one long violation of its spirit. I wonder how Europe would take it at the present moment if Victor Emmanuel and France were to do, without further 50 notice, ^^lmt tlie Pope and Austria, tlie King of Naples and Austria, the Grand-Duke of Tuscany and Austria, the Duke of Modena and Austria, the Duke of Parma and Austria, have done us often as they pleased, from 1815 down to our own time. I supjxjse, if it be riglit for the l*opc to call in the assistance of foreigners, it cannot be very wrong for the King of Sardinia to call in the assistance of foreigners. Let us forget all coquetries of language, and maintain corresponding terms, as though we were dealing with an algebraic equation. The King of Sardinia needs foreign protection against foreigners — tliat is to say, Aus- trians — or he thinks so. The I'ope of Rome, the King of Xaples, and ////// (jiKoiti, need foreign protection against their own subjects, or they think so. The King of Sardinia calls in France ; the Pope, the King of Kaples, &c., call in Austria. IIow can that which is perfectly right in all these gentlemen be so very mon- strous and wrong in the other ? It seems to me that when the Treaty of Vienna gave Lombardy and Venice to Austria, it did not mean to give the whole of Italy, nor even the right to occupy the whole of Italy witli Austrian troops at Austrian pleasure. But I liave not yet done with this discussion about foreign troops ; and I require that, in strict argiunent, it shoidd be granted that whilst France confines herself to doing that which Austria has done throughout, she should not be molested. Are not, I say, the Hungarians and Croats in the service of Austria foreign troops h and have they not been lent to Naples, to Home, to Tuscany, to !Modena ? Austria, indeed, seems attached to the system ; for without the Itiilian boundaries, after the ^events of 1848, she imported foreigners — I mean a Russian army — into Hungary, and, by their assistance, rescutnl that pro- vince of her Empire from the curse of liberty. I will now pass to .some particulars connected with the Austrian policy in Italy and the Treaty of Vienna. By the Treaty of Vienna, I'iacen/.a belongs to the Duchy of Parma. Piacen/a had a fortified citadel in whidi, by a treaty supplementary to tliat of Vienna, a riglit of garrison was given to Austria. The city, I say, belongs to the Duchy of Parma by tlie same treaty ; but it was necessary for the Austrians, in order to get the place jierfectly into their power, to get po.sses.sion of the city walls. I shoidd have said tlujf Piedmont has a n ver- sionary riglit in I*iacen/aundercertaineonditions, and as the phiee is close u])on llie Piechuonfese frontier, if is of vital ini])ortnnce to that country lli;.l it should not be luld too tightly in tlu- 61 grasp of Austria, The Austrians bought the walls of Piacenza from the mayor of the city, as belonging to the city, and not to the State. The Sovereign, of course, might have prevented the execution of such a contract, but the Sovereign at the time was Marie Louise, the widow of Napoleon, the daughter of the purchaser, Francis, the then Emperor of Austria. Had she sold the walls, a disturbance might have been made about it, but this was simply the case of a transfer of private property from hand to hand. "When the Austrians got posses- sion of the walls, of course they could do what they liked with their new purchase. They fortified them according to all the rules of good military engineering, and converted the whole city into a fortress. To protect these fortified walls, outworks were necessary. The Austrians quickly took possession of such spots outside the walls of Piacenza as might be suitable for their pur- pose, and thereupon erected large forts. Piacenza at the present moment is, in their hands, a first-class fortress, full of troops, munitions, guns — a standing menace and a real danger to Piedmont. I will now give the provisions of the Supplemen- tary Treaty to that of Vienna which Austria has thus dis- tinctly violated. It was made in Paris in 1817, and England was a party to it. It was agreed (Article 5) that although the limits of the Austrian dominions and those of the Duchies of Parma and Piacenza were by the Treaty of Vienna fixed at the Po, which ran between them, yet as " la fortresse de Plaisance" was important to Austria, '' S.M.I.B. Aposfolique, elk conservera dans cette viUejusqu' d Vepoque des reversions, apres Vextinciion de la Branehe Espagnole des Bourbons, le droit de garnison pur et simple . . . el sa force en tem2)s de paix, sera determinee a Vamiahle entre les hautes parties intercssees, en prenant toutefois pour regie le plus grand soulagenicnt des habitans." When the agreement was signed the citadel of Piacenza only was a fortress. Is it now according to the treaties ? Has Pied- mont no right to call on those who signed that treaty to see it observed by Austria ? I think, my Lord, it would not be difficult to show that the whole aspect of Italy is in flagrant contradiction to the Treaty of Vienna. Of course I am aware that by heaping up minor instances of breach on the side of Avistria I should not make my case stronger, for my true argument is, that from the Po down to Reggio, Italy has been converted into an Austrian province. Indeed, I have often thought when wandering about amongst the Italian towns, and stumbling upon Austrian sentries E 2 52 wherever I went, that perhaps it wouUl luive been better for Italy if the negotiators at Vienna, in 1810, had handed her over bodily to Austria. In that case it might have been that the Italian would have killed the German element in the system of government. Italy, with its 20,000, OOO of inhabitants, might then have become the chief instead of the servant — the mistress instead of the slave. But whilst 1 am upon breaches of the Treaty of ^'ienna, I see in Article 10 1 that it is agreed that Lucca shall be a Duchy, " et conscrvem vne forme ilc Gouronxemcnt hash' sur lea principcs de celle qu'cUc avaif rc^ue en 1805." The Article by which this limited form of Government was settled is to be found in Martens, and it is dated tlie 24th of June, 180."). No attention, however, is paid to this Article ; the Duchy is now governed despotically under the Grand Duke of Tuscany. As one turns over the Articles of this famous Treaty relative to Italy, he can only wonder how few even of the minor details have been observed. It falls in naturally with this division of my subject that I should observe that the most • ridiculous mis-statements have lately found currency in the columns of the English press as to the duration of Austrian rule in Italy. The writers appear to have learnt their old school-lessons about Frederick Barbarossa and the Guclphs and Ghibcllincs amiss. They have mistaken one thing for another — a shadowy feudal authority of the Empire for actual honu fnk possession by Austria. Your Lord- ship, I am sure, will bear me out for the truth of my state- ment, when I boldly assert that, before the French invasion of 1790, the Austrians were not possessors of a foot of land in Italy beyond what I am about to name. Thty had the Duchy of ^lilan — that had been Austrian, mostly Spanish-Austrian, for about three lumdrcd years — and not without interruption. They had, besides, the Duchy of ^lantua — of which the House of Gon/aga had been robbed by the Empire about fifty yeai*s l)efore 1700. I*iedmont, of course, never was Austrian. One just remembers to have read of a war waged with the object of excluding the House of Austria from the throne of the Two Sicilies. The family which, according to the settlement at Utrecht, was, unfortunately for the Two iSicilies, placed over them with sovereign powers, was the rival and enemy of the llapsburghs. The Uepublics of Genoa, Lucca, Vcnieo were not Austrian. The Pope was not Austrian, as \\v is now. Parma and Piacenza were conlirnied to a Bourbon at tlio inmce (tf Aix- 53 la-Chapcllc in 1748. No Austrian was ever there. When Francis III. of Esto married an Austrian Archduchess, it was agreed that on the fuihire of issue the Duchies of Modena and Reggio should go to an Archduke, as an independent Sove- reignty, and never be united to Austrian Lombardy. The same was done for Tuscany. I say that all the arrangements made, down to the Congress of Vienna, with respect to Italy, were made to prevent it from becoming Austrian. And now, in the year 1859, the faith of the Treaty of Vienna is invoked to allow Austria to bo paramount in Italy. I think, my Lord, it will be found that it comes to this, that well nigh every act of Austria in Italy since 1815 has been a a series of disregards of that treaty ; and on those it is that Austria founds her pretensions. Why, my Lord, when the Austrian General evacuated the States of the Church in 1816, he announced in a proclamation, to the infinite disgust of Pius VII. and Consalvi, that Austria gave, as if belonging to Austria — not gave hack — the Legations to the Pope, xiustria must settle lier affairs in Ferrara on a much more modest footing than here- tofore, abandon Piacenza (save the citadel), evacuate the Lega- tions, give up her secret treaties with the Italian States, and do a few more odd things besides, if she ^vould confine her Italian rule within the limits pointed out by the Treaty of Vienna. As the fashion is now to stand up for the observance of trea- ties, I think it right, my Lord, to give you the history of an in- stance of good faith which claims some attention from England. I need not say that Sicily had an old Constitution, as old as the English one; old-fashioned and substantially aristocratic. In 1812, English influence being paramount in that island, a reform of this old Constitution was deter- mined on, with the view of assimilating as much as possible the institutions of Sicily to those of England, whose assist- ance was asked for that purpose ? " England could not be insen- sible to the appeal which was made to her " (I quote from a memo- randum of Sir "\V. A' Court, afterwards Lord Ileytcsbury, then English Minister at Palermo. The memorandum is of the 20th of October, 1814, and was laid before the House of Commons by command of Her IMajesty on the 4th May, 1849, with other documents, which I will quote), . . . " and became the protectress and siq^portcr of alterations founded upon principles so just in themselves, and so creditable to those from wdiom they had originally emanated." But, as that Minister observes in the same memorandum, the work was not completed at the time ho was 54 writing, and lie doclarcd that "England would willingly lend that aid and support which it may be in lier power to afford in any temperate and prudent modification of the Government. She exacts only as a rondilion of this assistance that it be done by the Parliament itself; that it be accomplished in a legal and constitutional manner," Murat being driven from the throne of Naples, the old Bourbon King came over from Sicily in ^lay, 1815, and on the I'^th of June following he entered into that famous secret agreement with Austria that he would not introduce, in the Two Sicilies, such a ibrm of government as would be irreconcileable with the prin- ciple adopted by Austria in the internal government of hor Italian provinces. Protected by the Austrians, the King then went further on the road to despotism in Sicily. On the f>th of August, 181G, an edict was promulgated ordering that taxes should be lc^'ied, though not voted by Parliament (which had never been called together since 1815) ; it was also ordered that any one who dared to question the legality of such an edict should be arrested and imprisoned. The Commons petitioned the Viceroy to call Parliament together. As an example to others, Cosimo Galasso, who had advised the Commune of Misilmeri to petition, was thrown into prison, Avhorc he was kept for the space of two years ; the more willingly as he was a partisan of England, and, as such, had been taken under her special protection, as appears from the following words, taken from the memorandum of the 20th of October, 1814, already quoted :—" England," says the English Minister, " has an imdoubted right to insist that no person shall suffer either in his person or his property for the part he may have taken in the establishment and support of the Constitution ; and the perfect security of these indi- viduals must be considered as ti sine qua iion of the con- tinuance of the British alliance and protection." The Congress of Vienna, whether by chance or deliberately, wishing to secure the possession of both the Neapolitan and Sicilian kingdoms to Ferdinand, acknowledged him as Kiiitj of the Tiro SiciliPS ; and from this the King argued that a new kingdom had been osUiblished, nnd instead of continuing to be Ferdinand IV. of Sicily, he determined to Ih» Ferdinand 1. of the Two Sicilies. This apparent trivial change rendered it necessary that uniform laws — so it was said — and insti- tutions should be devised for lx)th countries. Now, in that case, any Const if ut ion in Sicily was incompatible with the 55 new Treat}'- with Austria, and it was necessary to annihilate the old one. England was committed by the memorandum of the 20th October, 1814, to a Constitution of some sort. Lord Castlereag-h came to the rescue of the two Allies, Austria and Sicily. He wrote, therefore, to the inevitable Sir W. A' Court on the 6th of September, 1816, a despatch beginning thus : — " The necessity which is felt by the King of Naples, and which has been equally recognised by the Parliament of Sicily, of effectuat - ing certain changes in the Constitution of that country" (mean- ing, of course, notNaples, but Sicily), "has been submitted to the Prince Pegent," As a matter of fact, the Parliament of Sicily had never met since the King of that country had become King of Naples. How, then, the Parliament could have equally recognised what was felt by the King of Naples, passes compre- hension. Lord Castlereagh then proceeds to state that the Prince Regent miist decline any interference with the affairs of an independent and sovereign State, except in the case that any of those who had acted with the British authorities in Sicily should be exposed to unkindness or persecution on account of such conduct ; or " if he had the mortification to observe any attempt made to reduce the privileges of the Sicilian nation in such a degree as might expose the British Government to the reproach of having contributed to a change of system in Sicily which had, in the end, impaired the freedom and happiness of its inhabitants, as compared with what they formerly enjoyed." From this it appears that England consented that to a certain degree the privileges of the Sicilians should be reduced, and their constitution altered, but not by Parliament only, as was plainly set forth in the memorandum of the 20th of October, 1814. Accordingly, on the 30th of October, 1816 (as appears from a despatch of Sir W. A' Court to Lord Castlereagh, dated 5th of November, 1816), a meeting of the whole Cabinet of his Sicilian Majesty was held, at which the English Minister assisted, when he made " a formal declaration of the views and feelings of the British Government with respect to Sicily, according to the instructions contained in the despatch of the 0th of September." He adds, on his own authority, the story which had no foundation whatever, that the two Houses " have themselves called upon the Crown to nominate a Commission for deliberating on the proposed alterations" of the Sicilian Constitution. This is simply untrue {Palmicri Storia Costiiuz. della Sicilia, pp. 268 and 311) ; and as there had been no Parliament called together 56 since Ihc one dissolvocl in May, ISl"), it is clear that the story is i^ronudlcss. Sir "\V. ATourt would not p:ivo a copy of this declaration to the Sicilian ^linistcrs, but he allowed his words to be recorded, and th.en consented, as a private individual, and "setting aside his public character," to hear the details of the projected changes ; allliough it passes all comprehension how he could remain aa a j)rivate individual at a Cabinet Council which he entered as an English ^Minister. He takes great merit to himself, especially, for liaving insisted that the revenue fixed by ihe Sicilian rarliament at 1,847,087 ounces (about 24,000,000 fr.) in 1813, should never be increased without the approbation of Parliament. The futility of such a stipulation in a country without any public accounts, and Avithout any means of forcing the Kiug to call together a l*arlia- ment, is evident. In point of fact, the revenue in 1847 was more than 20,200,000 fr. ; it is higher now. But the cool- ness with which the English Minister was humbugged (1 can hardly suppose he knew the cheat practised) is one of the most impudent that ever was known. The revenue in 1813 was, no doubt, 1,847,087 ounces ; but the taxes omomitcd only to 1,287,087 ounces; the revenue being increased by 560,000 ounces (the English subsidy), which, of course, had ceased in 1810. (Papers laid before both Houses of rarliament on the 4th of May, 1840. App., pages 42 and 40.) The very English Minister, who had paid the subsidy from England, was entrapped into considering it a tax on the Sicilians, to whose exchequer it had been paid. Theie is, probably, no j)nrallel to this diplo- matic blunder.* Now, then, will the sticklers for tlu^ observance of treaties deny that the freedom and happiness of the Sicilians is im- paired? AVill they deny th.at, according to the clear pro- mises of 1810, England is bound to interfere? And to whom is it owing that Sicily's freedom and her liberties are destrove Treaty of Vienna. I have shown, or endeavound to sliuw, that this Treaty of A'ienna, • Tlioro Wire two sctsorpniuih luiil — oiiebiforo tlio House o( Comuioii5, tho other luforc bolli ]Iuu8C8 — both on the Itli of Mii,v, 1811). Tlu- fornu-r is n sort of supple- iiionl to llic laltir. Tho Duko of Willinglon, Hhuoontoiulnl tliat Kngliind liml tho lijjht mill (hily (" iiilti fcro, iiiul In force the Kinij of Nnphs to oIbhtvc ttio iinri>c- iiuiit Hlxiut 't..trian CJoverinuent was soon despatching,'- notes of a very 61 different kind to every Cabiuet where tliey could make tlieir voices heard. There was one Sovereign, however, over whose head that tempest of 1848 swept like a passing cloud over the Caucasus. The Czar Nicholas, secure behind his barriers of ice and snow, and with a firm conviction that come what might his well-drilled regiments would remain firm, could afford to despise the commotions of Western Europe. There was no occa- sion why ho should abandon his own fixed notions of govern- ment ; and, accordingly, on the 12th of February, 1848, by the Emperor's order, Count JSTessolrode wrote to Count Brunow : — " In Sicily the Emperor will recognise no changes which, under whatever form or pretext, should bo equivalent to the rupture or weakening of the bonds which unite the two great portions of the Kingdom, the indivisible Sovereignty of which belongs to the existing dynasty." There was a little job at Constantinople which the Emperor then had in his head ; but I verily believe that, in 1848, sentimental sympathy with absolute power pre- vailed more Avith him even than the fulfilment of his long- cherished and gorgeous designs upon the " sick-man's " inhe- ritance. Talk of Scotchmen hanging together, there is no one like an absolute King, when the pinch comes, to help his brother King! Even Francis lY., of Modena, than whom a more beggarly miser never walked the earth except his suc- cessor, could draw his purse-strings to assist — and largely to assist — those two interesting Sovereigns, Don Carlos and Bom Miguel. But to proceed, my Lord. I now turn to an affair of a very different kind. On the 15th of April, 1848, Austria sent a very touching appeal to England for British intervention, to obtain a suspension of hostilities in Italy. On the 14th of May there came yet another, and a more agonized cry from Vienna. That wonderful old fabric of the Austrian monarchy seemed to have given way at last, and for the first time for thirty years and more no one seemed disposed to pay the slightest attention to Prince Metternich. Austria was willing to do almost anything to secure peace. She Avould give up the Treaty of Vienna, she would give up Lombardy, she would, in effect, give up Venetia, retaining only a nominal suzerainty over it. All these offers were despatched post haste to London. It was Italy's moment, but the moment was allowed to slip by ! I usk you, my Lord, with that respect which is due to your long experience and high position in the counsels of Europe — is there not another moment even now? The political kaleidoscope revolved ^vith more than usual rapidity duiin<> that memorable year 1848. Alas, for that good month of May ! we made the gambler's mi.stake, and have paid the gambler's penalty. May expired, and June sot in. The chances were slightly turnmg against Austria; but still the crisis was an awful one for her, as far as her Italian dominions were concerned. She would still make a most earnest bid for ICnglish support, although the fervour of her liberality had even now began to wane. Still, my Lord, as I am taking stock of Austrian declarations, I would very particularly note the assurance sent from Vienna to London in tlie month of June, 18 18, " Should Venctia come again under the Austrian power, that kingdom should enjoy a free Constitution." June soon came to an end — and in July the hopes of Austria luid revived. It was more than doubtful if Piedmont could long nuxintaiu the unequal struggle. Under these circum- stances, the Sardinian King applied for the mediation of France. It was a time for action, not for consultation, or if for consulta- tion, then, of the briefest kind. The Government of General Cavaignac agreed to mediate in concert with England. There was to be a Conference at Brussels. M. de Tocqueville and Sir 11. Ellis were to settle this Italian difficulty. They settled it, even as wc are settling it now. The tide of war had now set in on the Austrian side. It was flood time with her now, where it had so lately been dreary and desolate ebb. Her arms were again in the ascendant ; and now, on the 29th of September, she declared that she would not, under any conditions, resign any portion of her Italian posses- sions. From that time to tho present, I have but little to say of her actions in Italy, beyond what I have recorded in the pi"c- ceding Letters. She has not only recovered possession of her old territories in Italy, but actually extended and consolidated her influence. ^Vere it not for tlie small cloud at Rome, and for the distant nmttorings of the public opinion of Europe, and the Conference of Paris, Austria might well imagine that the revo- lutionary movements of 18 J8 had been a hideous dream. If I refer at all to the proceedings of (he latr Paris Conference, it is rather for form's sake, and to carry my mi-moranda down to the latest date. All Europe knows what was tlie opinion expressed by England and France upon that occasion. The Hpeeltlf propusitiithout the presence of u single foreign soldiei-, Italy would not at the present moment be free, from r^foiuit Cenis to lleggio? I will ventm-o to sny that, if Pic Nuno and Francis Joseph were chatting tojivther on tho subjccl of their Italiuu pofisessioiis, they would both tacitly admit, as the basis of their convowalion, that it is only by foreign bayonets that Italy can bo maintained in itK agonising iidclity tci the Holy See and the Imperial Ci-ovvn. G7 The calculation- has been made by very competent persons of what would be necessary that the Italians might maintain a military contest with Austria upon an even balance of chances. This calculation, I say, has been made by the French autho- rities, who certainly would be rather inclined to understate than to overrate the necessities of the case. In the first place, they must have ten years of indejmidence. The next requisite would be 200,000 disciplined troops— 20,000 of them cavalry; 500 pieces of field artillery; 200 siege guns — and these guns would require at least 50,000 draught-horses. Such is the French calculation. I think I may assume that the argument of the unfitness of the Italians for liberty, either because they have not tried to recover their liberty, or because they have failed in the attempt, has fairly broken down in presence of the facts. Again, "what right have we to assume that the Italians would misuse that golden right of humanity, if their tyrants were once driven from their soil ? It may vn^cU be the case— I think it very probable it would be the case— that the whole Peninsula would not court the dominion of one Ruler, even of a native Prince, Why shoidd it ? Protesting all the while that the particular form of Government the Italians might prefer is no brisiness of ours, I would say that if Naples shou.ld choose to remain as one State, Eomagna as another, Tuscany as another, the world has seen instances of such arrangements carried out with a reasonable degree of success. One has heard of the United States of Worth America, of the United Provinces of Holland, of the United Cantons of Switzerland, and I am not aware that the world has suffered because difterent provinces united for common action in national objects, and chose to retain their municipal independence. After all, everything we know of municii^al independence in modern times has come to us from the Italians. At the Peace of Constance, a powerful foreign monarch was forced to come to terms with the allied municipal Governments of Italy. This was before Magna Charta. It is true enough that even some twenty years ago there were serious differences of character, and to a certain extent jealousies, between the Italian States ; but these have well nigh disap- peared under tlie pressure of a common misfortune. And I am very sure that at no time within human recollection has there been such hatred between a Venetian and a Neapolitan, a Roman and a Florentine, as between an Irishman and an Englishman. F 2 fi8 T fully gvaiil, nioroover, with ouc exception of which I will presently speak, that the experiment of constitutional liberty 1ms not hitherto answered in Southorn Europe. It ha,«?, however, invarial)ly l)oon tried in the presence of Sovereigns eager to put it down, and supported on apt occasions by overwhelming mili- tary power iVom without. I must be understood asmi-rely speak- ing with such weight as may attach to the expression of a single individual ; but I can say for myself that I have known many Italians, in various parts of Italy, gifted, to all appearances, with every faculty for public life (as Englishmen woidd understand the matter) — men of great knowledge and foresight — adepts in the doctrines of Political Economy when that science was some- what contemptuously regarded by ourselves. I believe that, could Italy once be purged of her oppressors, statesmen and orators would not be wanting. Philosophers and historians are there already. If we turn from the civil to the military virtues, I may surely refer to the period when Italian officers held their own amongst the bravest and most capable of the paladins of the First Napoleon — an Italian himself. I know how much weight a well-known authority carries with my countrymen, and I am about to cite a witness who will, I think, be admitted on all sides to be a very competent one as to the facts of Italian affairs. I speak of M. de Sismondi. Although in the preceding pages I have been merely recounting incidents with which I have been intimately acquainted, it will not prejudice my case if I cite the testimony of the illustrious historian of the Italian Ilcpublics. 1 am about, then, to incor- porate into niy own pages the concluding page from that great writer's history. " Such was the work," writes M. de Sismondi, "which the French accomplished by twenty vears of victory; it was doubtless incomplete, and left much to dc desired ; but it possessed in itself the principle of greater advancement ; it pro- mised to revive Italy, liberty, virtue, and glory. // has been the work of the eoalition to destroy all, to place Italy again under the (jailing yoke of Austria ; to take from her, with political liberty, civil and religious freedom, and even freedom of thought ; to corrupt her morals, and to heap upon her the utmost degree of humiliation. Italy is unanimous in abhorring this ignominious yoke. Italy, to break it, has done all that could bo expected of her. In a struggle Ixtween an established Oovernnunt and a nation, the former has all the advantages; it has in its favour rapidity of communication, certainly of infornuition, soldieis, arsenals, lortresses, and linani'cs. The 69 people have only their unarmed bands, and their masses un- accListoraod to act together. Nevertheless, in every struggle during these fifteen years in Italy " (and it has been the same ever since) " between the nation and its oppressors, the victory has remained with the people. At Naples, in Sicily, in Pied- mont, in the States of the Church, at Modena and Parma, unarmed masses have seized the arms of the soldiers ; men chosen by the people have taken the places of the despots in their own palaces. The Italians, everywhere victorious over their tyrants, have, it is true, everywhere been forced back mider the yoke with redoubled cruelty by the league of foreign despots. Attacked, before they could have given themselves a Government, or formed a treasury, arsenals, or an army, by the Sovereign of another nation who reckons not less than 30,000, OUO of subjects, they did not attempt a hopeless resist- ance, which would have deprived them of every chance for the future. Let those Avho demand more of them begin by doing as much themselves. "Italy is crushed, but her heart still beats with the love of liberty, virtue, and glory ; she is chained and covered with blood, but she still knows her strength and her future destiny ; she is insulted by those for whom she feels that she has opened the way to every improvement ; but she feels that she is formed to take the lead again, and Europe will know no repose till the nation, which in the dark ages lighted the torch of civilisation with that of liberty, shall be enabled herself to enjoy the light which she created." So wrote M. de Sismondi in 1830 ; and it would bo an easy task to heap up illustrations in proof of his assertions which should fill, not the few pages which I am able to devote to the purpose, but volumes upon volumes. Let those who have not had the opportunity of following out the subject for themselves, and who have no practical acquaintance with the Italian Peninsula and the Italian people, consult the works of Colletta, Farini, Azeglio, Capponi, Tommaseo, Gualterio, Gioberti, Amari, Pal- mieri, and of other writers of equal authority, and they will soon find if the Italians have not done all that men could be expected to do to work their way from slavery to freedom — from dark- ness to light. The truth is, that since 1815, unarmed, un- prepared Italy has been compelled, in her struggles, to free herself from the grasp of her oppressors — to fight the battle against Europe prepared and armed. Do we not read in the solemn pages of Athens' oldest tragic poet that the twin genii. Forco and Stronj^th, had power to rivet Prometlious to the rock ? There thoy left him in tlio wilderness, exposed to the ignominious attacks of the obscene bird which had been appointed to prey upon his vitals — mangled, indignant, and alone ! A child born in Italy in the year 1810 -would now be well- uigh ibrty-livu yeara of age. When I think of the moral atmo- sphere which that child, that boy, that youth, that man has been corapi lied to breathe, by llcavens, I wonder not that the Italians can be justly accused of certfliii vices, but that thoy have any Wrtue left, and that, like Nebuchadnezzar, they do not walk about upon all fours, and browse, in mute ignorance, ujwn Austrian artichokes. I3e it remembered that the object of their rulers has been throughout to emasculate and corrupt the people. They have been schooled by priests, watched by spies, ai'rested by policemen, and murdered by foreign soldiers. Had I not been familiar with the example of Italy, I might, perhaps carelessly and witliout duo reflL-ction, have written or said that I supposed it was as po?:.sible to educate a nation to vice os to virtue. Thank God, this is not so! Man cannot so degrade his fellow man as to stamp out of his heart all traces of the Divine hand. Italy is a standing proof to the contrary. AVhilst Romau priests and German soldiers have done their worst to break tlie ver}- springs of action amongst the Italians, let us reflect that even these poor Italians may challenge com- parison with anj' European nation for domestic -s-irtuo and integrity — and for audacity, the only jjublic virtue which they can practise. There is an idea abroad that im- morality prevails to a greater degree in Italy than else- where. ^ Veil-in formed persons read their Goldoni, and talk about the cicifiheism, and so forth, of eighty years ago witli a very knowing air. These are things of another day, and long after tlioy existed in Italy, that great moralist, the Prince Ileg(Mit, was practically illustrating his lessons in a very convincing way at home. Nor do I think that the Franco of tho Regency, of Louis XVT.,of tho Directory, or of tho Empire, had anything to boast of in this respect. Take any date you will for the hist two centuries (and lot that date, if you will, be February, lsr>!)), would any Knglifli mother, if it were jjossible to inform siu^han one of the (rue facts of the eaw«, rathrr tiust her son at Vienna or nt Turin?' Frugality, probity, and temi)eranco arc ns much tho • Wo nre ncniululiKiii nt tlio rocnflcc, im H i« pJouNly cnUtHl, of tlie Prinross Clolildc, of o^lr^ FnmcU I. of Au^trin, glvo hi* diiughtor to lh« uncle 71 characteristics of Italian as of English households ; indeed, as far as the latter virtue goes, we might take a leaf with advantage out of their book. But it is said the Italians are iDcriidious, treacherous, false; they cannot trust each other, or they would long since have been able to work out their freedom. I think I have shown that this inability to work out their freedom may safely be referred to other causes. That the Italians to whom the country looks as leaders in any great crisis are more prone to betray each other than the leaders of any other insurgent countr}^, I utterly den5^ It is impossible to quote an instance upon record of any such person betraying his country or his fellows. Of course, while conspiracy barks in cellars, sneaks up the back-stairs, and handles a stiletto, a well-organised police will always be able to obtain information. Ireland has had her " approvers" and England her informers in all such cases. The State trials of our own country, and, notably, one in which t very illustrious ancestor of your Lordship was vitally concerned, furnish very mournful proof that such treachery as this is of aU ages and all countries. Where there is dirty work to be done, in most parts of the world there are dirty hands ready for the job. Whilst we are talking of what the Italians are and how they have been made so, I would say a word or two of how Austria teaches the young idea how to shoot in her Lombardo -Venetian kingdom. I have before me a little work, issued by authority from the Imperial printing-presses at Milan. It is a catechism to be used in the second class of elementary schools. The writer throws off with two clear definitions as the basis of the doctrines which it is his object to inculcate upon the little Lombards. "What is country (iyatria) ?" asks the Austrian Dominie ; and the ingenuous disciple snuffles forth, in genuine academic sing-song, the following reply: ''By counfr// is understood not only the land where we are born and brought up, but also that to which we are united, and in which we enjoy the protection and benefit of citizen- ship !" Bravo, Luigi ! well answered, my son. Now let Beppotellus something about the origin of kingly authority? Beppo replies, possibly with some kind of hesitation, as this is a very high and abstract point, " Emperors, kings, and other siqmiors, have their power from God, because they are the sub- stitutes of God upon earth." Alas, alas, Beppo of my heart, if of this same Prince, that uncle having a tv/fe alive at the time ? Wr.s he— the father who afterwards again even more fully sacrificed that daughter during the life- time of her husband— received with less enthusiasm when he visited us in 1815 ? sifc/t be the substitidcs ! — but it will be time enough by and bye for thee to work out this sum in thy hot Venetian brain! AVe will have the class to tell us something of the duties of fidelity from subjects to Sovereigns: — •' (J. How must subjects behave towards their Sovereign? "A. Subjects must behave towards their Sovereign like iaithful servants or slaves (servi) towards their master. " Q. Why must subjects behave like slaves ? " A. Because the Sovereign is their master, and has power over their property, as well as their life. " Q. Are subjects bound to obey also bad Sovereigns? " A. Yes ; subjects are bound to obey not only good, but also bad Sovereigns." This doctrine is very complete ; but, having thus laid the foundation, the instructor follows his rules of right into their pract^al consequences. Let us see what little Lombardo- Venctian boys must do in time of war : — " Q. "NVhat must subjects abstain from (besides treason)? "A. They must abstain from talking unreasonably of the events of the war. " Q. And why so ? " A. Because, as they arc not aware of the real circumstances of such events, they easily can deceive the populace with their discourses. " Q. AVhat must citizens and country people do, not to be suspected ? "^. They must keep quietly at home, mind their own busi- ness — work find ])nfi/. " Q. ITow must subjects behave when the enemy causes them losses ? "A. They must bear sucli losses with ]inlicnce, and jnit their trust in God and their Sovereign." This catechism is a perfect mine of illustration for Imperial dealings with subject Italy. I will content myself, however, with making one more extract from it, and then pass on to other affairs. It is obvious that the subject of desertion from the Imperial armies is one which recjuires very emphatic in- struction while the future recruit's intelligence is yet in u waxen sLute. (Jur friend, the iJominii-, handles it like a muster :^ — " Q. AVith what temiK^rul ]>un^^hment does fiod cliastisk^ deserters ? "A. Ood i>unishes (U-sci tiTs with .-^iekness. with nuMry, witli disgmcc. 73 " Q. With what other pimishment does God chastise deserters ? "A. With EVERLASTING DAMNATION!" So far of the metaphysical part of the business ; but in order that the young recruit may have some more tangible form of apprehension present to his mind, the instructor passes to the chapter of stick : — " Q. How do Sovereigns punish deserters ? ''A. With flogging, and sometimes even with death. " Q. Is not death too severe a punishment for this crime ?" As may be seen, the Dominie doubts, but the disciple is dogmatic, and answers with emphasis : — " A. The punishment of death is not too severe for deserters, because, having perjured themselves, they sin more grievously than robbers. " Q. How must a deserter under punishment behave ? " A. He must bear it patiently, and without murmuring, or cursing his superiors. " Q. How must he encourage himself to patience during the punishment ? " A. He ought to consider that he has deserved it, and adore Divine justice. " Q. What is the duty of deserters ? "A. Deserters ought to return to their corps. " Q. Why are they bound to do so ? " A. Because by cleserting they have stolen themselves from the State. *' Q. Can you produce in this respect the authority of the Holy Scriptures ? " A. I can produce a passage of St. Paul respecting slaves. Onesiraus having run away from Philemon, St. Paul ordered him to return to his master. " Q. Are parents permitted to send money or dress to their children who are deserters ? "A. No ; they are not. " Q. What is the punishment deserved by deserters who don't return to their corps ? "A. They deserve confiscation of whatever they possess in the country." Let us now leave Italian deserters to adore Divine justice under the somewhat trying circumstances suggested in the catechism, and pass on to other matters.* * Many Englishmen, who, being most concerned for the welfare of Italy, dread above all her (Iclivcrancf from her present masters, and foresee with trepidation the 74 At tbo very root and foundation — deep in the very heart and marrow of tlic (jucstion — lies the fact that it is the Papacy, the presence of tlio vicegerent of the Almighty upon earth in the shape of a petty Italian Prince, which is the true solution of it. I do not believe that in the long run Frencli, Spaniard, or German — any or all of them — would have been able to prevail against the s^'stem of polity which would have arisen out of the imion of barbaric strength ^nth Roman civili sation, but for that wretched bequest of the f'ountcss Matilda's, and the successful game meditated by the Tuscan ITildebrand at Cluny, and played out vrith. such skill, that ere ho rose from the table he liad kept an Emperor waiting at Canossa, barefoot in the snow ibr throe winter days, before ho would admit him to sue for pardon. I do not deny that there have been patriotic Popes ; but the system was stronger than the individual, and has ever been tlio canker or curse of Italy. The Japanese are the only people who know how to deal with the holy head of a theocracy. They keep him in high state at Meaco, but he is permitted to meddle in tlic temporal affairs of tlie country as much as the bright and distant sun which illuminates their islands ; he levies from them no taxes, cidists no foreign troops, makes no treaties, has no prisons, no galleys, no hangmen. Happy, wise Japanese ! From !Machiavelli down to our own time the greatest thinkers of Europe have unanimously put their linger on the Vatican, and said, " There is the evil ! " " There," exclaimed even liord ])erby, " is the plague-spot !" Could an Elba or a St. Helena be foinid for Piti Nono and his successors, it miglit be well. Italy is sick of priestcraft, and for many u century has expiated in sackcloth and ashes its preseuco in her provinces and her towns. And from Italy Ims gone forth the mystery which luis pervaded and enslaveliri t\icir e^vs wbcu they liriiii; to mind \\li;it tho Itikliiias hml lo emlure fi-om tliat wiikeil tymut Napo- leon I., lite rcHpceUully ncjuisled to siurcli the rccoitl* of those tiiiicK, nml jmint o\it niiythinK np)iroiu-hin(; t» this vilo nnil blAsphcinOun tnish nppr^rcd or cvontoU•r:^^ ^ by Nnpolcon'n «>overnmcnt in Italy. 75 Piazza di Spagna, at Rome, in commemoration of that notable fraud of priests — the doctrine of the Innnaculate Conception ? The true faith now-o'-days — in the latter half of the nine- teenth century — is Mariolatry. "When I say, then, that the vices and superstitions of the Italians have been imposed upon them by foreign and ex- traneous influence, but that their virtues are all their own, I think I have said enough to prove my point. Surely if these people are as good as they are under the rule of the Pope and the foreign Emperor, we have a right to expect that, if left to themselves, they woidd be found a useful mem- ber of the comity of nations. It is the height of impertinence or of folly in us to speculate as to what the particular form of government might be which the Italians would ultimately choose as fittest for their wants and most in harmony with their wishes, and because " in wandering mazes lost " we can find no end to our own speculations, to decide that they must still be retained in abject slavery, both of body and soid. At least the Italians are unanimous in their abhorrence of foreign domination. Unanimity in favour of independence is the first step to freedom and self-government. If Europe wdll not leave Italy alone (which would be the wisest course of all) — if there must ever be a league of the European Powers for intervention in Italian affairs — let us intervene on the side of freedom, not of slavery. Let us all agree to respect the independence of Italy for a time, as we have hitherto respected the integrity of the Swiss Cantons, exacting, of course, the reciprocal obligations v>^hich such a recognised neutrality would imply. Give Italy ten years of breathing time, and she will then hold her own amidst the nations of the world, even though no statesmen fiow living would venture to predict what form her Government would have assumed in the year 1870. In 1900 what might she not become ! I have the honour to be, &c., &c., &c. 76 LETTER Vlll. THE CONCLUSION. My Lord, — I have now well-nigh attained the limits within wliich these remarks must be confined. A volume, not pages, might he filled with the recital of the frightful sufferings of the Italian nation. Had my space pennitted, I could 'have cited mitliority upon authority in behalf of foreign interference in the ntlairs (jf this or that nation, and have called the Statesmen and ^liuisters of despotic Powers to testify ntrainst themselves. I have now, however, arrived at the point where I would ask my countrymen to consider what tliey should do upon the whole matter. I think I may assume, as granted upon all sides, that the condition of tlie Pai)al States is so bad that it ct)uld not be worse. Surely England would see, with pleasure, a term put, once for all, to all this misery and oppression. And here, at all events, there is no question (^f the violation of treaties (jr of diplomatic arrangements. Secondly. I think the proofs I have given of the stern and highly-organised injustice of Austria in her own Italian Pro- vinces must at least deprive her of the sympathy of Englishmen should her Italian domuiions be challenged by any other Power, liefore the Austrian Ciisar (even according to the most technical construction of the I^aw of Nations) can call upon tlie signa- tarics of the Treaty of Vienna to stand bf him. he must at least show that his own hands are clean. Wlto xerha equity must do cqxi'itil! Put sujipose the case to be what it really is— namely, that France should now meditate a disregard of the letter of the treaty, while Austria has violated both its spirit and it.s letter for the last forty years and more — are we bound to interfere in her behalf? J am sure it must be a very clear (obligation indeed whi( h would induce Englishnun to a.ssist Austiian troops in butehering the Itidians. Thirdly. 1 have jotted down a few '(N../' from the loiil chronicles of Ferdinand, the King of the Two Sicilies. On tljis p(»int, however, it were needless for mv to dwell, because the English Government- barked in that course by tlie verdict 77 of the English people — has refused to hold luiy fui'ther iuter- course with the Neapolitan King, because of his atrocious mis- government and cruelty. Fourthly. I have ventured to suggest that treaties were made for man, not man made for treaties. Whilst everything else around us is changing, is the Treaty of Vienna to be held the only unchanging thing ? I do not know why the handiwork of those over-cunning old diplomatists of 1815 should be held to be stable as the Decalogue, and binding on the human race to all time. At any rate, the practical common sense of mankind has long since given a very sufficient decision upon this point. When we speak of the Treaty of Vienna now-a-days, we speak but of its shreds and tatters. The despotic Powers of Europe have often enough violated the treaty without the smallest attention to the wishes or feeling of England. I have added, and on the point I would presently say a few more words, that it is puerile to invoke the provisions of the old parchment, when the swords can be readily engaged without any violation of them, ostensible or real. Fifthly. I have enumerated some of the principal diplomatic dealings with Italy for many years past, and have shown that the public opinion, even of the governing classes in Europe, has been gradually gravitating towards the conviction that the status quo in Central Italy can no longer be maintained. The last occasion — and it was a very notable one — when public action was taken on this matter was during the recent Conferences of Paris. The time seems to have arrived when the opmions then expressed by the English, French, and Sardinian statesmen should be carried out in practice. Sixthly. I have endeavoured to show that a not uncommon opinion entertained of the Italians is a most unfair one. It has been received from the lips of those who are most strongly interested in maintaining the delusion. I should hold it to be most probable that the Italians are reasonably well prepared for free institutions ; but, at any rate, this is a point on which it were wise, as your Lordship has contended, to leave the decision to themselves. Take the worst contingency which could happen. Is it possible that Italy could be more useless to the world than she is, even now, as an Austrian barrack, and a sanctuary for a horde of droning priests ? And now what is England to do in this matter ? I believe it just possible that if the English Government were to throw England's sceptre decisively into the scale on the side of Austria, and tlnit woio the l'i'u>suin itt-gcui i<« lend his active co-opera- tiou ou the same hide, Uiu Freucb Einpeiur woiihl he induced to desist from a resolution Avhich is at present iixed. There is, however, great daugt;r in Buch a course. In llie lirst place. I doubt if the English people would sujjport the action of their rulers. I do not believe that Eu-iilishmeu will couseut to ex[)end their blood and their treasure in any such quarrel. ^Vbat have wo to do witli the niainteuance of Austiiau rule in Lombardy ? of despotic power, which has been so foully abused, m Naples ? of the Pope's spiiitual juid temporal pc»sition in the lloman States ? I will venture U) say tlial. did not other considerations stand in the wav, you woubl not fuid an Englishman in ten thousand who would nwers m CJernnmy. It was but a few ycai's baik that the two nations were all but coming to blow.s. They actu»dly con* flouted each other in mui'shal airay, mid iiad it not been that Prussia gavi- way at the critical moment, Germiui blood would have been freely shed by (loiimm luuids on (lerman soil. There is (piile as nnich disruption between a Northern and a Southern (iernian, as between any two ri\:il Stjites in the 79 Italian Peninsula. Besides, granting that Prussia could be brought to join hands A\itli Austria and England in such a quai-rel, tlie irrevocable testimon}^ of history is there to show what the value of Prussia's alliance has ever been as a member of a coalition. It required the captiu-e of her capital, and the subjugation of her provinces, before she could be brought to la}^ her hand seriously to the plough during the last great Em'opeau Avar. The miwortlij^ part played by Prussia during the recent A\ar in the Crimea, has not j'-et passed awa^^ from the recollection of Em-ope. We have, moreover, to take into accoimt, should we decide upon this com'se, that the alliance with France must be considered at an end. A union between France and Russia, with all the inconveniences such an alliance may entail uj^on England, is the natural result of such a polic}-. I discuss such an idea rather for form's sake, than because there is any serious chance that it will be adopted. The English people never will be persuaded to go to war that the Italians may remain enslaved. No Muiister would ask for the support of the country in such a quarrel, and he would never obtain it, if he did. There is, however, a second course Avhich it seems probable enough that England will adopt if matters are pushed to extremities ; and I am far from saying that there is not a good deal to be urged in favour of it. We may resolve tliat this dispute is no affair of ours; that the French and Austrians may cut each other's throats as they may think fit upon the plains of Lombard}^ If there be a stout fight on either side, by the time the campaign is over both combatants, it may faiiiy be supposed, will be so weakened that England and the other neutral Powers will have little to dread from the subsequent efforts of either combatant against the liberties of Europe. We may reasonably say, that although in the abstract we wish well to the cause of Italian liberty, yet we are by no means convinced that it will be much helped by the substitution of the military supremacy of France in the Itahan Penmsula for the military supremacy of Austria. If the Emperor of the French chooses to provoke a war with Austria at the present time, on his own head be the peril ! He does so, not at om- suggestion. Why should we be dragged into an unreasonable contest, when we desu-e it the least ? Truly we will not take part against the Itahans, because we wish them well, and we should rejoice at their deliverance; but we thmk that they cannot succeed without lettmg loose upon Italy the flood of a French invasion. One main objection to such a com'se probably is, that should so liOuis Napoleon succeed (backed only by riedmont mid the in- surgent population) in driving tlie Austrians out of Italy, lie may not impossibly, on the morrow of his victory, he shrewdly inclined to discount it in his own way. France and Italy combined under one military ruler, ns in the days of the first Napoleon, might prove of very serious weight in the future counsels of Europe. Suppose — I put such a case but for illusti-ation's sake — the French Emperor, after purging Lombardy from the Austrians, were to ask from the enthusiasm and gratitude of the people, that his cousin — the one who mamed that young Sardinian Princess the other da} — should be placed at tlie head of a Tjombard Kingdom, would they say him nay ? The danger is, that if the other great Powers of Europe stand aloof from an operation of this kind, they materially detract from theu' own right to be heard when the day of reckoning has arrived. Nor would it be a small matter that England had stood quietly altK)f, while France, at her own risk, had solved the Italian iiioblem. llow much, not only of dignity, but of real power, would England have lost if, a few months hence, Italy should be celebrating her liberation at Milan and at Rome, and the French Emperor alone should be the author of that mighty changi' I And here I would suggest that the policy of llussia as to Italy accords with that of France ; that Russia promoted the Sardinian marriage ; and that after Fi-ance and liussia have settled, without our intervention, the atlairs of Western, they may unite for the same purpose in Eastern Europe. Take the other contingency, that France slu)uld be worsted in the contest. I have yet to learn that England would be the gainer by any alteration which the French people might be pleased to make in their form of Government, Louis Naj)oleon, as far as I know anything of the facts of the case, has in tlic main been a true and loyal ally to England. I give him credit for discernment enough to see that such an alliance offers tlio best guarantee for the duration of his power and Uie stability of his dynasty. And when I compaic the results of the present alliance with those we reaped from our rela- tions with the Monarcliy t>f .Inly. I think we have gained by the change. So far, then, of two suggestions for our conduct. The first, which in the long run implies an alliance with Austria for tlio ]i>ui»osi' »»f buttheiing and oppressing tbe Italian )iioi)le. I 81 dismiss at once as utterly unworthy of regard. Come what may, England won't do that. The second suggestion is for neutrality — a policy which has its advantages as well as its dangers. We may stand still whilst Austria and France fight it out on the plains of Lomhardy. That is certainly a course which may recommend itself to many minds ; but that course implies war with all its eventuahties, and with all the chances that we may be drawn into it at a later period, whether we choose it or not. There is a third course open to us, which implies active intervention, not for the sake of rushing into war, but for the sake of preserving the peace of Em'ope. Peace, I am sure, must be the object closest to everybody's heart; it is the result which I most ardently desire. The question is as to the manner in which this desirable object can be best attained. It can, I think, be readily shown that the best means of attaunng this end would be by a hearty understanding between the Governments of England and France, that there must be an end of the extensive influence of Austria in the Italian Peninsula ; that we cannot, out of deference to her wishes and views, keep a barrel of gunpowder under our noses which may be ignited at any moment; and that, in point of fact, the Neapolitans, the Tuscans, the Modenese, the Eomans, must be left to settle their afl'au's in their own way. If the Austrians reply that this exclusive influence throughout the Peninsula is the natural consequence of their possession of Lombardy, the inference is a very obvious one. Let us, however, not deceive ourselves. If Italian matters are to be discussed at a General Conference of the Great Powers of Europe, it will surely be found that the system of rule adopted by Austria in Lombardy lies at the root of all these Italian com- plications. But for the Austrian Emperor's regiments, the Pope would be compelled, within a week, to come to terms with his subjects. The same proposition may be stated, with perfect truth, of the other Italian States. Austria must be prepared for a fundamental change in her system of Italian administra- tion, or worse will come of it. From a Conference, Austria might obtain reasonable terms. From war what has she to expect — with France thundering at her gates, Eussia hanging at her skirts, and England left to regret that she would not permit herself to be saved ? It is scarcely to be supposed that Austria, which dares much, dare refuse to accept the advice of the Great Powers in the affairs of Italy. In tliat case, however, France would be left to take her own course, with the hearty sympathies of Europe at her back. "NVe should feel that the French Eini>eror had cxhaustc-d every chance of maintaining the peace of the world before he had taken a step which implied war as its natural and inevitable consequence. Should Louis Napoleon be able to show — as he probably will be able to show — that he has left no stone unturned to come to an understanding with the great Powers, mainly with the English Government, for con- certed actions in the affairs of Italy, much of the odium which is now attached in this country to his " policy " will be trans- ferred to the " imjxdicy " of tlie other European statesmen who could have quieted the storm, but resolved to sit still, and let it burst. Has not the French Emperor pre-eminently a right to take action in Central Italy ? He disapproves of the French occupation of Rome. Ilis protest whilst yet a deputy, his letter to Edgar Xey, are there on record to show that he disapproved of it from the first. lie has ever been anxious to withdraw from a position which would have been ridiculous in the eyes of Europe, had it not entailed such tragical consequences upon the subjects of the Pope and upon the Italians generally. The Russian war and its pre- occupations have caused his decision upon the matter to hang in hand ; but the time has arrived when the question must be finally disposed of, and it ought to be disposed of. It is Austria, and Austria alone, who has retained the French troops at Rome. Another very sensible inconvenience arising from the present state of things is, that Louis Napoleon is, at the present moment, and has been for a long time past, a target for the bullets, a mark for the stiletto of every crazy Italian patriot who may please to consider France as a willing agent in the oppression oi Italv. I do not say such a consideration produces much effect upon the mind of a man to whom even his bitterest enemies have not denied the possession of unflinching personal courage ; but as far as it goes, it is something. I pass, however, to considerations which may be more i>oten- tial with the minds of statesnuMi when it is not tlieir own lioads and bodies which are expo.sod to the action of powder and ball. The only argument which I have ever heartl against the pro- priety of rciiuiriiig tiuit the Roman States shall be evacuatetl by all foreign troops is, that there is a certainty that in such a 83 case tlic Roman people would rise the next day and commit excesses of the most frightful kind. "What right liave we to arrive at any conclusion of the sort ? What evidence is there to show that, as soon as the foreign regiments have marched out of the territory, the Roman population would begin a system of indiscriminate pillage and slaughter ? I am very sure when they had it all their own way they did nothing of the kind. I question very much if there be any capital in Europe — I do not except London or Paris — in which order would have been more strictly preserved than it was at Rome when there was a Revolutionary Government within and a foreign army without the walls. It is the height of impertinence on our part to maintain any such conclusion — without a tittle of evidence to support it — to the prejudice of a foreign people. Again I say, that if England would come to an understanding with France upon the subject, Italy, beyond the Austrian limits, might be free in a month's time ; and the peace of the world would actually be preserved, not endangered. It is not neces- sary for us to engage our fleets and armies in any conflict what- soever, but simply to give the world to understand that our assistance or sympathy must not be calculated upon for main- taining the Italian Peninsula in spiritual and bodily thraldom. There is this direct and palpable advantage in such a course, that it would put an end at once to all ambitious ideas of aggrandisement which now, rightly or wrongly, are attributed to the French Emperor. His precipitancy would be tempered by our prudence, and a movement which might possibly be carried on for the exclusive benefit of France, would then most infallibly be converted into one for the benefit of Italy and of Europe. The specific remedy which I then propose is that of a Confe- rence of the great Powers to take the afitiirs of Italy into consi- deration, with a view to a peaceful solution of the difiiculty. Europe has witnessed many Congresses to put down freedom in Italy : why should it not behold one to establish its indepen- dence ? Failing this, I say that France is entitled to our hearty sympathy and good-will if she take upon herself the task of purging the Peninsula of the fearful tyranny under which it is now held. Let the French Emperor be in a position to say, " I have used my best efforts to arrive at a peaceful solution of this question, but in this I have been baffled. I undertake, in the face of my allies, of England, and of the world, that what' 84 ever the result of the coutt^-st may be, France shall aim at no selfish object, nor leave a French soldier upon Italian soil on the morrow of victory ;"und I, for one, will say, Godsjx^cd his work! There is no other alternative. If we would avoid all the hideous contin^nieies of war, war must be averted by the combined and earnest efforts of the statesmen and diplomatists of Europe. Surely, when we are threatened with a great calamity, it is better to make an efibrt to avert it, than to stand still with folded arms and do — nothing. I cannot quite dismiss this portion of my subject without sajing a few words on the certain results of inaction at the pre- sent time, oven were France to recede from her present me- nacing attitude against Austria. The certain result would be, and that ere long, the destruc- tion of the little Constitutional kingdom of Sardinia. In Italy there are two systems in practice. The one formally and ostensibly pervades four-fifths of the Peninsula — it is that of despotism, as represented by Austria. The other is the syst4.'m of constitutional liberty which exists, but in a remote corner of Italy, and it is represented by Sardinia. One or other of these systems must prevail — one must kill the other — they can- not co-exist within the same geographical boundaries. The kingdom of Sardinia — it is not a very considerable one (but it sent us 15,000 soldiers, at its own expense, to fight by the side of our soldiers during the Crimean war, whilst Austria stood aloof) — has for a long while past been compelk'd to keep up armaments beyond her strength — I say, emphati- cally, she has been compelled to do this, or, when circumstances permitted, the Austrian regiments would have been upon her, ere assistance could arrive. Count Cavour has endea- voured to open the eyes of Europe to this truth. Of course, English and foreign capitalists who never consult any other barometer than the list of the Stock and Share Market, say loudly enough, " Why could not Piedmont adhere to the system of peaceful progress and commercial development !^ Therein lay safety ! " Excellent language for Manchcstc-r or Liverpool ; but these gentlemen (juite forget that the Piedmonfese are com- pelled to do what little they can in this direction in tiie presence of an Austrian corpti d'annt't', with its videttes within gunshot, ready to cross their frontier, and to extinguish the last spirk of liberty in every Piedniontese heart li. wlienever a hitch in European politics shall give them opjK)rtiuii(y. 85 I must here quote a few passages from Count Cavour's note, as they throw a strong light upon this point. He writes : — "Three years will soon have expired since the King's Government, while calling the attention of Europe, by the organ of its Plenipo- tentiaries at the Congress of Paris, to thegrevious state of Italy, protested against the extension of Austrian influence in the Peninsula beyond the stijyukdions of the Treaties ; and announced that if a check were not put to it the result might be serious danger for the peace and tranquillity of the world. The repre- sentations of Sardinia -were favourably received by France and England ! " Again, I find a little further on : — " If His Majesty's Government proudly repelled the pretensions of Aus- tria, which demanded modifications in the institutions of the country, it did not assume a hostile attitude towards her, when the Cabi- net of Vienna thought proper to seize a pretext, judged futile by almost all the statesmen of Europe, to break off with eclat diplomatic relations with Sardinia." England and France have broken off diplomatic relations with the King of the Two Sicilies at one end of the Peninsula — Austria has put Sardinia to the ban at the other. For brutal tyranny in the one case ; because of constitutional liberty on the other. But to proceed with Count Cavour's circular: — "But now the extraordinary military mea- sures which the Cabinet of Vienna has just taken, and which are evidently directed against Sardinia, whose armaments are rela- tively very weak, force the King's Government, without aban- doning that reserve, to prepare itself against a danger which may become imminent. Those measures are known to Europe. I think it right, nevertheless, rapidly to recapitulate them." At this point I would answer an objection which has been made to the circular of Count Cavour. It has been urged, that had it not been for the King of Sardinia's address to his officers, and for the Emperor Louis Napoleon's speech to M. Hiibner, on the 1st of January, the additional 30,000 Austrians would not have been poured into Lombardy, and advanced to the very borders of Piedmont. Let me say — and I can never say it with sufficient force — that Comit Cavour is referring to the usual condition of his master's kingdom. Piedmont is like a Swiss village, with an avalanche suspended over its head. What Count Cavour means — and what is the actual truth — is, that at any given moment the Austrians can bring an overwhelming force to bear upon his master's dominions. The rapidity with which the Austrian troop? were concentrated on Sardinia's 86 throshold, is tlic best proof of the truth of his woi-ds. What matters who spoke the word — who raised the signal? — the danger was tlicre already existing on the side of Piedmont, the power to crush her on that of Austria. " In the first days of January, before the King had pronounced the opening speech of the new Legislative Session, the Vienna Cabinet announced, in its official journal, the sending of a corps (Viinnee of .'Kl,000 men into Italy. Tliis corps, added to three others which are established there in a permanent manner, would increase the strength of the Austrian army to an extent very disproportionate with what the maintenance of order and of internal tranquillity could require. " At tlie same time that these troops were sent into Lombardy and Venctia with extraordinaiy rapidity, frontier battalions, which leave their country (mly in case of war, were known to arrive. The garrisons of IJologna and Ancona were reinforced. But, what is most serious, Austria concentrated considerable forces on our frontier ; she collected between the Adda and the Ticino, and especially between Cremona, Piacenza, and Pavia, a real corps of operations, which ccrtuinl\' could not be destined to maintain order in these towns, which are of quite secondary importance. " For some days the bank of the Ticino presented the appear- ance of a country in which war is about to break out. " The villages were occupied by detached corps — everywhere quarters were prepared and measures were taken to form stores. Vedettes were placed even on tlie bridge of Butfalora, which marks the limits of the two countries. I say nothing of the menacing discourse held publicly at Milan and in other towr.s by the greater part of the Austrian officers, without excepting those of eminent rank, for I know that one must not always render Governments responsible for the language of their agents. " But 1 (liink it necessary to call attention to the rcceptiim given at Venice to the troops coming from Vienna, and to the ostentation with which vast preparations have been made at Piacenza by occupying forts which were eonstructetl in defiance of treaties, and which the Austrians have appeared to negli>ct for some time past," It may be, that the King of Siirdiniu was indiscreet — tlie Emperor of the Frendi precipitate — but this does not detract from the truth of Count Cuvour's jxisition, that Sardinia is 87 at Austria's mercy, save she secure the hearty and continuous support of her Allies in the Crimean war. If the public mind of Europe could be freed from illusion, who would be found to be the substantial aggressor in this dispute — Austria, or Sardinia ? I would respectfully submit to your Lordship's consideration, that when England and France accepted the alliance of Sardinia during the Eussian war, they did actually and equitably con- tract obligations towards that weaker State in the hour of her distress. France, my Lord, has behaved more loyally, more nobly, than England in the matter. Suppose, I say, suppose Count Cavour's representation to be true — suppose, I say, suppose that England and France did make the declarations alleged during the Conferences at Paris — will England now stand by with folded arms, and leave Sardinia to her fate ? Already, my Lord, we hear of Victor Emmanuel's abdication, unless his allies come to his support. And now I have done, though I could well wish that the duty of making these representations had devolved upon some one who could have given more powerful expression to the truth. The struggle in Italy is, my Lord, no new one, and it cannot be better described than by the words of England's noblest statesman, when speaking of the parties to our own great civil war : — " Talk as you will," said Charles James Fox, "nobody shall ever persuade me that the cause of tyranny was not at stake on one side, ihe cause of liberty on the other." Austria has done in Italy what Charles would never have dared to attempt in England, though the world is now two hundred years older than when that mis- taken King expiated his policy upon the scaffold, one January morning, 'yonder, at Whitehall. The people of England look to you, my Lord, in this matter. Do not, — for you are powerful enough to prevent it, — allow the glorious name of our country to be dragged through the mud in aid of that unexampled oppression of body and soul which is now in progress throughout the Italian Peninsula. Few statesmen have had so great a hold upon the affection and respect of Englishmen as your Lordship. If ever, now, use your in- fluence to deter them from the horrible iniquity of lending their aid to maintain the Papal and Austrian system in Italy. Surely, without blasphemy, I may say of my country- men, when the agony of so many of their fellow- creatures is at issue, " T/mj know not what they do .'" But your S8 Lordsliip liaa soen it, and known it ; and it is not the will, but the uiulLTstandint^, of Kni^land which is at fault. We arc now at one of the turninp-i>oint8 of liistory. I believe it to be in your Lordship's ])ower, at the present moment, to do more for the liberties of mankind than any other Englishman. Had I known of a name more pure, more honourable — one which carried more wein;ht in England — than that of the distinguished statesman who now so worthily represents the historic fame of the Russclls, I would never have troubled your Lordship with these Letters. 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