The Express.
London, England, 1862-09-16 00:00:00

Vie erortoo.

TO COILEJIBPONDENT.
Ldvertitementa tntawdod Ur The ammo" London Evening
TAM'. ...lit be at OM OS" 10, lionvertestreet, by Two
oobck on the day of paldwailow

4 VENT GARDEN.
THIS Emanso, THE ROSE OF CASTILLE. Mks Louisa Fyne,
Yrs. Aynsley Cook, and Miss Susan Fyne , Messrs. W. 11. Weiss, A.
St. Albya, .1. Rouse, Aynsley Cook, and W. Harrlson.—Cundue-
tor, Mr. A. Mellon.—Ogamence at S.

Tel THY WIFE'S PORT/LA[7% Mr. Ferreu.-0171.
ADOLItICAN UO BIN. flews. &ahem nuelatone Ms% Vous&
3elasollver.—ClLOS TCALIA; ar, Love end Jealousy. l'erea
Nana and Senor llasuleau—And ItY 111:1811AND$8 GHOST.

ERINCEPPra.
TEO ivWM, THE LOST usrrint.—KlNG 'LIMEY THE
EIGHTH. Means Charles Etna, Jordan, Peavey, Raymond.
I. F. Cathcart. Everett. Garden. and Meadows : Era. Charles
Kean and Wears Chapman.—And THE TWO POLTR.

BRITANNIA.
,Tins Ermmnve, MAIM GUINEA; or, SLAVE LlFlL—Arous
Hassan and Madame 1. Hama. Mr. C. Burton.-81ng1ng by
Meg, INN Inmo, Sythwy, sad Ptablyton. —A ud BARRINGTON,
THY. GENTLEMAN PICKPOCKET.—Commence '414.

STLETS.
TRIG Evirvige, AZZITA.—A Alter which SCENES IN TEE
CIRCLE. Mdlle. Mewlll, Madill,. Basco, and Young Devereux.
—To conclude with a comic BALLET in which Mb a Annie
Cuellar will appear.—Commence at T.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDEDL
TO DAT —Yarning, 61L Sim.. ..Afterwesa. 7h Slit.
To•WOßßOW—Woratag. Th. 84 10m.

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.

Tar time seems to have arrived for recalling
attention to a distinct statement with regard to
the policy of France in Italy which appeared in
our columns ten months ago. On the 19th of
last November, when the difficulties of the
Rroasotz Cabinet were at their height, we pub-
lished, on authority that we knew could be relied
upon, the following explicit statement :—" The
" project of an Italian Confederation is by no
" means given up. The plan is to divide Italy
" into three parts ; the one a Northern kingdom,
" with Vicros EMMANUEL at its head ; the second
" a Papal State, including Umbria and the
" Marches ; the third a Neapolitan kingdom.
" Venice would then be given to the Northern
" kingdom. The great obstacle to the realization
" of this plan is Baron RICASOLI. But every
" kind of intrigue is at work to displace him ; and
" it is thought if a cabinet could be formed with
" Rarrazzi as its nominal head, the tripartite
" Italy might be formed, the POPE satisfied, and
" the phantom of one Italy sunk in the Red Sea
" for ever." At the time when it appeared, this
announcement not only excited general incredulity,
but was met by the most prompt and emphatic
denial in various quarters. It need scarcely be
said that these official contradictions did not in
the least shake our confidence in the substantial
truth of the statement. But as it had been pub-
lished for a serious purpose, and with a view to
future contingencies, we did not enter upon any
elaborate explanation or defence of the para-
graph. While this brief but explicit intimation
of the French EMPEROR'S secret designs wait given
with the utmost deliberation, and a full knowledge
of the authority on which it rested, we were of
course quite aware that the detailed proof
of its correctness could not be furnished
at once, but must at the best be a work of
time. Having placed it on record, therefore, as
a practical warning, we were content to watch
events, and wait patiently for the explanation
they might supply of what seemed at the time a
rash and, perhaps, unjustifiable statement.
That vindication is now supplied quite as soon
as we expected ; and in a more distinct, obtrusive,
and offensive form than could well have been
anticipated as likely, or, indeed, possible, at this
time of day. All the world can now com-
pare the brief sketch of the French EmrEltOß'S
secret designs in Italy, which appeared in these
columns ten months ago, with the audacious pro-
ject unfolded in M. DE LA GUERRONNIRRE'S third
letter which has just taken Paris by surprise.
The schemes are absolutely identical, not only
in their outlines, but in their details.
Almost the only difference, indeed, is
to be found in the enormous length and wordy-
elaboration of M. DE LA GDERRONNIERE'S state-
ment, his last and moat important letter being
stuffed in even a greater degree than usual with
the rhetorical jargon that passes for political philo-
sophy amongst the underlings of the Second
Empire. As the personal identity of these schemes
is a point of some importance, it may be worth
while to compare briefly their main provisions. The
first, as summarised in these columns nearly a year
ago, was the division of Italy into three States
united in a Confederation—the first a Northern
Kingdom, with VIc?OR EMMANUEL at its head ; the
second, the Papal States, including Umbria and the
Marches ; and the third a Southern, or Neapolitan
Kingdom ; Venice being given to the Northern
Kingdom as a sort of compensation for
its projected dismemberment. The iden-
tity of the second scheme with the first
is not in the least disguised by the
grandiloquent phraseology in which the obsequious
penman of the Tuileries attempts to veil the rapa-
cious designs of his Imperial master. M. Di La
OUBRILONNIERE demands a European Congress to
settle the affairs of Italy, and he gives as the beats
on which its deliberations are to proceed :
" First, the division of Italy into three States
" united by a Federal tie." These States are
in the North a monarchy worthy of the
glory of the House of Savoy, with Florence for
its capital, and to be augmented eventually by '
Venetia; in the South, Naples with the Two
Sicilies, one of the finest capitals in the world,
a magnificent bay, and an immense extent of
coast commanding the Mediterranean ; and be-
tween the two Rome, a Power admirably fitted

Pto unite them without subordinating one to Se
other. In a word, the Papacy would be the
central and commanding poyer of the Confede-
ration ; and in order that it may retails that
function, Europe, according to M. Da LA
GUERRONNIEREN proposal, is to guarantee the
Pontifical territory, and to secure a reserva-
tion of the POPE'S sovereignty in the Marches
and Umbria with a fixed tribute from
the revenues of those provinces. This is
quite enough, however, of this precious
scheme, and more than enough to reveal
its true origin. Of course, M. DE La GIIZE.RON-
MERE, at the close of his third letter, places his
band on his heart, and modestly declares that he
cannot pretend to be the interpreter of the Impe-
rial Government, just as in the first he
solemnly announced the inspiration under which
he spoke to be his " own conscience," which in
the jargon of the Second Empire is probably a
synonyms for the Imperial will. But there can
be no doubt that he is now, as he has been so often
before, merely the EMPEROR'S catspaw. He may
be disowned, no doubt, as we hope and believe
he will be. But whether he is or not, there can
be little real uncertainty as to the authorship of
the infamous scheme he has been employed to ven-
tilate. And until the scribe has been formally
repudiated, we shall continue to treat the scheme
as that of his Imperial master.
At length, then, we know the position which this
self-styled friend of the Italians holds towards
Italy. It now appears, as many had all along be-
lieved, that NAPOLEON 111. is the real, the only
serious obstacle to the unity of the new kingdom.
It is ho, and not Austria or the POPE, that has
arrested its progress, and unceasingly plotted
and conspired to destroy it. It was he who
artificially prolonged the siege of Gaeta, and the
military struggle in Southern Italy. It was he who
permitted Rome to become the centre of reactionary
conspiracies, and the rallying-place for murderous
gangs of Southern banditti. It was he who
quietly consolidated his power there under
the pretext of speedy evacuation. So long
as the Italians could be cajoled into tem-
porary acquiescence and inaction by vague
promises that Rome should be evacuated, these
promises were freely given. This time last
year, for example, when the noble, straight-
forward, and patriotic policy of RicAsom had
offended the Tuileries, the agents of the EMPEROR
industriously urged at Turin that the unyielding
firmness of the Minister was the chief obstacle to
the early evacuation of Rome. We now begin to
see what Italy has gained and is likely to gain by a
more subservient policy. The devoted friends and
heroic guardians of the young nationality have
one after another been removed from the scene of
their active labours, from their various posts
of watch and warfare. CAvora is dead,
GARIBALDI defeated, and RicAsou in dis-
grace. Men of less capacity, less firmness of
purpose, and less daring and inflexible patriotism,
occupy their place. Their policy has not been of
a kind to inspire any great respect abroad, and
the enemies of Italy appear to imagine that they
may easily be coerced into acquiescence, if not ac-
tually used as instruments of the basest designs. The
hour is a gloomy one for Italy, and the Imperial
vulture of the Tuileries appears to dream that his
time is almost come, and that he may soon venture
to swoop openly on his long-coveted prey. For-
tunately for the interests of Italy and the welfare
of humanity it is only a dream. Any serious
attempt towards its realisation would be a gigan-
tic and suicidal mistake. We have no fear on
this head. The cool and criminal suggestion
that Italy should once more be divided over a
green table in the interest of the Second Empire,
is chiefly interesting from the light it throws on
the character and designs of NAPOLEON 111., and
the degree in which it will affect his position and
influence in Europe. It simply confirms all that
his worst enemies have ever said, and will suffice
to put Europe effectually on its guard. For the
Italians we have no serious fear. M. DE LA Gore-
actrearaa and his "august inspirer" have been
guilty of a fatal anachronism. Their schemo
would have revolted the lax international morality
of diplomatists of the year 1815 ; and any attempt
to carry out such a rapacious, selfish, tyrannical
programme would expose its abettors not only to
the pity and indignation, but to the contemptuous
defiance, of Europe.