The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-01 00:00:00

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LONDON, TVEDYESDAY, JUY 1: 1.

TUE visit of the Duke of GENOA to this country a•
the present juncture is a circumstance not unilcserv.
ing of attention by those who desire to see the ties of
amity and friendship more closely drawn between
the States of Western Europe. As contrasted with
those which embrace the Eastern half of the coati.
neat, those states enjoy the happiness of being free.
In degrees of freedom it is true they differ widely.
Citizenship in Spain is doubtless a very dirssimi-
lar thing from citizenship in Holland ; and
the right of public discussion in France is
restrained, under the existing Government of
that country, within limits to which no dynasty or
Parliament could induce the people of England to
submit. Nevertheless, it must be owned that the
communities who dwell to the Westward of the
Baltic, the Elbe, and the Adige, possess in common
a greater amount of personal and social, religions
and political liberty, than those whose lot has
been cast a few hours nearer to the rising sun.
Our national sympathies therefore instinctively tura
towards those, who, warmed by our example, and
emulous of our success in working out the great
problem of stable and well•ordered freedom, have
incurred the ill-will of those ancient despotisms,
whose brotherhood they have abandoned. Piedmont,
until of recent years, belonged to the class of un-
emancipated States. Its Government was absolute;
its people were politically treated as though they
were blind and dumb. But a great and happy
change has lately taken place in the dominions of the
House of SAVOY. Tho father of the present King
frankly conceded to his subjects constitutional rights
which they have since loyally and wisely exercised
in a manner which has won the admiration and
respect of the oldest veterans of civil liberty
among their contemporaries. Many excellent and
useful laws,tending to develop more fully the tolerant
and just principles of CHARLES ALBERT'S constitn-
lion, have been passed since the accession of VICTOR
EMMANUEL. The reactionary efforts of priestcraft at
home, and the taunting provocations of absolutism
abroad, have alike been resisted with spirit, without
passion, with inflexibility of purpose, without harsh-
ness or offence. The naval power of a country which
boasts that "Genoa, the Superb," is its chief port
and arsenal, has fitly been made the object
of peculiar solicitude and care ; while the truest and
the best means of securing the materiel of an effi-
cient marine, have been sought in the expansion of

commerce under a reformed customs tariff. The
inhabitants of Piedmont are essentially an industrious
people. In this respect they more resemble their
Swiss neighbours than their Italian countrymen.
The Swiss, in their turn, like those of whom we read
in ancient days, who felt that " their country was
nourished by the King's country," oftentimes sought
to make his minister their friend, in order that they
might obtain greater facilities for the interchange of
goods, mutually desirable and desired. It was reserved
for the present constitutional period to see the rough
ways of the Alpe made plain for peaceful traffic, and
the mischievous barriers which political discrepancy
formerly maintained between the federal common•
wealth and the kingdom of Sardinia swept away.
So long as that kingdom was like Lombardy—a hugs
political

intercourse with a tho.
roughly free country like Switzerland was poetically
impossible. But between two free peoples no such
difficulty, because no similar danger, can exist.
Concealment and ignorance of what is going on
without is unnecessary when coercion and
intolerance no longer exist within. Hence
the establishment of railways and electric
lines where smugglers and gendarmerie hitherto
held their stealthy way. VICTOR EMMANUEL is, SS
he deserves to be, one of the most popular sovereigns
of Europe ; and it is his brother whom we arc now
to welcome as a guest in England. At Paris the
young Duke of GENOA has lately been received with
all the marks of distinction due to his station;
—he will certainly not meet with less considera-
tion here. Throughout the perilous interval
which elapsed between the outburst of the
Lombard insurrection of 1848, and the final defeat
and abdication of CIIARLES ALBERT, England con•
tinned the faithful and solicitous ally of Sardinia.
The part taken by our Government at that time
is not yet forgiven by Austria; neither, we believe,
is it forgotten by Piedmont. Apart, however,
from such considerations, it is manifestly the in-
terest not merely of the Royal Houses in the
two countries, but of the commerce and freedom-
loving of both, to cultivate in every suit-
able way sentiments of mutual friendship and
regard. It is essentially the interest of the only
constitutional State now left in Italy to be able to
look in time of need to the support and alliance of
Great Britain. But it is likewise most clearly and
manifestly the interest of this country to retain the
cordial goodwill of the most commercial and the
most reliable community in the Italian Peninsula.
The avowed and settled policy of Austria is that of
protection : and wherever her influence extends our
merchandise is certain to be either wholly excluded,
or laid under severe and disadvantageous restrictions.
Already she has spread the network of her anti-
commercial system over every portion of Italy, Pied-
mont alone excepted. But the ports of the Sardinian
kingdom are more free to us than ever, and the new
means of intercourse to which we have above alluded
as in progress of formation, render such an inlet for
our fabrics and our wares more than ever valuable.
We do not here pause to glance at the considerations
which, in the event of war, would render the alliance of
Sardinia with this country reciprocally advantageous
—such considerations are too obvious to be overlooked;
but even though we possessed a covenant of Euro-
pean peace, renewable for ever, we should still be of
the same mind as to the duty and polley ct culti-