The Express.
London, England, 1859-07-16 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 16.

WHAT is the Treaty of Villafranea, and how is it
proposed to carry it out, are questions which have
been asked by Lord Cowter of the French Govern-
ment, and the only answer that can be obtained is
that the Government of France is in Italy, and is not
expected back until Monday next. At present only
the buts of a peace, and not the terms of a treaty,
are known to the public. How they are to be de-
veloped, and whether the affairs of Italy are to be
referred to a European Congress, are matters upon
which the Emperors of Femme and Avarua are
divided. Ia any case the English public will
support Lard Joan Russitu. in his declared moo-
lution to have nothing to do with any treaty not
conformable to our notions of the honour, dignity,
and freedom of this country. We encounter from
time to time in Parliament and in our newspaper'
the sentiment that it is essential to the maintenance
of our position as a flret-rate power in Europe to
have a part in all that is done, even when it is that
of which we cannot approve. A similar feeling
possessed the statesmen who preceded CANNING in
the direction of the foreign policy of this country,
and our intimate c oinexion, almost approaching com-
plicity, with the Holy Alliance was the consequence.
But that Minister quickly showed his Ring and his
country that the way to maintain our influence was
to be true to oar own free traditions and princi-
ples, and to let the joint dictators of the Con-
tinent see that we can hold a line of oar own.
It was his constant inculcation—" that our in-
" fluence, if it is to be maintained abroad, must be
" secure in the sources of our strength at home, in
" the sympathy between the people and the Govern-
" meat, in the union of the public sentiments with
" the public counsels, in the reciprocal confidence of
" the House of Commons and the Crown." Eng-

land has abstained from this Italian war on principle,
and it is equally open to as to abstain from the
Imperial pacification, should abstinence be desirable.
Lord ELCHO—singularly happy last night in

turning the laugh against the silly people whose
sympathies are with the mum of Freedom and are
afflicted by its reverses—conceives that our nentra-
.

lay in this war has been prejudiced by the avowed
desire of Lord PALMERSTON and Lord Joint RI:HP
SRLL for the independence of Italy. It was ex-
cusable on his part: Mr. DISRAELI and Lord
MALMISBURT had said the same thing before. Lord
JOHN RUS,ELL quoted against him the contrary
opinion of Mr. CANNING in similar circumstances.

When the Government of France, under a
fancied necessity of doing something to vindicate
its authority in Europe, consented, notwithstanding
its Charter, to do the work of the Holy Alliance and
pat down the constitution in Bpnin, Mr. CANNING,
who protested a strict neutrality, did not hesitate to
say in the House of Commons that he hoped the i
constitutional Spaniards would defeat the French.
He went further, and, carrying his liberal principle,
into diplomacy, declared in a letter recently pub- i
fished that it was not only necessary that our nen- i
trality should be intimated to Prince Marrlanicti,
but that our reasons should be thoroughly explained
at Vienna. It is a crude vain notion that to preserve
the neutrality of our policy we need deny or sacrifice
any part of our character.
Lord MALMESBURT, in asking for papers on the
akin of Parma, said it would be an act of injustice
he the Duchess of PARMA if she were not reinstated
it her position " @apposing that to be the wish of her
"people." This saving clause contains all that the
friends of Italy in this country have ever desired for
its inhabitants. If nationality has been aspired to, it
has not been on mere abstract or theoretical grounds.
bat because the experience of ages proves that the
expulsion of the foreigner is necessary to liberty
end self-development. If the constitution of e
strong Italian State in North Italy has been
desired, it is in order that a guarantee may
be established against the intervention of the
stranger. But the language of statesmen in office
and unattached is often opposite. When Lord
MALMESBURT was Foreign Minister he invariably
placed the mandates of confederated sovereigns,
expressed in treaties, above the will of the people.
This language may be very proper for statesmen,
se being, unhappily, but too conformable to
the evasions of public law prevalent in Europe.
Bat the unofficial mind has immense difficulty in
perceiving how the compacts of kings can bind
populations against their will. When the Lom-
bards voted the annexation of that province to Pied-
' emit in 1848, there were probably ver► few states-
men out of England who did not mock at the trans-
action, and when RADETZKY re-established his mas-
ter's rule at Milan in 1849 by the sword, there were
few thoughtful Englishmen who did not despise the
barbarism and tyranny of a proceeding which was
theless perfectly right in the eyes of the states-
men of Europe. It is the Kings who, teaching by
example that the sword is the source of power,
tempt populations and races to seize it, often un-
wisely, when injustice requires rectification.

RRLIGIOUS LIBERTY IN LONBARDY.—The Press
'lye:—" The Governor of Wiles, representing Victor Em-
manuel. has 'Datelined liberty of worship, reading, and
printing. This le so ordinary privilege. It will do more to
prevent the flii4X of Austrian domination and sacerdotal in-
tolerance than treaty or army or battlements. It will give
the people a taste of eejoyaent which it will he almost
im-
possible entirely to eredio tie at any (attire time, bpanes the
Weser it hasty, the more eataesivtly and Brady it will inter-
: lace and incorpoate itself with the very life of the couple.
What in worthy of remark in this instsnee is the fact that
this le set • proteoaat iiimurrection against a Roman coth
lie institution resting its right on sacred Scripture, and
dmtmeg ita growth how the overthrow of Roman dowses,
bat a vanity civil right towed by Rotuma embolic* fur the
ON of EMMY cratholice. These hays demanded sod vindi-
cated it as a political weasesity of national 'airtime."

The Times aye:—" We are informed that the
Emperor sad Emmen of the Fres& will pay an early vilt
to No lowa, at Angels at Vienna."
_ .

- .
Another member of the Russian royal family is
expected at Torquay—tbe Grand Datheas at Math NICO-
- Ebert to the Emma, of Rusk.

It M exprcted that at th• approaching Cornish
aloha the Bias.* of Exeter grill appear es a abaaat before
the war% la a wee of &erded piesentaboa to a Cordate
Inas.