Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-27 00:00:00

THE FRENCH IN ITALY.

THE French have made a glorious inauguration of
their new invasion of Italy. The first fight has
resulted in a triumph of their army which, though
leading to no actual advantage, must at least have
the influence of a fortunate prestige. It was a smart
but irregular skirmish, it appears, of several hours
duration; and there is no doubt of the fact that the
Austrians had decidedly the worst of it. They were
under the command of Count STADION ; and not only
were they driven back in their attempt to gain pos-
session of the village of Montebello, but they
abandoned their position on the hills round S tra-
della, and placed the Po between them and the
French. The full details of the affair hav,e already
appeared in our news columns, and need not be
repeated here. They show very plainly, we think,
that Austria, in this her opening encounter, sustained
au ominous reverse. For, independently of the
operations of the conflict itself, when an army not
only does not retain the positions it held after the
battle, but withdraws some fifteen or twenty miles,
the retrograde movement cannot be considered as
anything but a confession of their having been
defeated. It is true that, alluding to the Austrian
accounts, the contending forces were very unequally
matched in point of numbers. " About 15,000 of the
Franco-Sardinian army attacked our troops, number-
ing 3,000, at Vercelli. Our men retreated fighting to
Orfengo. At this place two'other Austrian brigades
hurried to the rescue, and threatened the enemy's
flank, which retired across the Sesia to the western
side of the river." Such was the intelligence
received through Vienna; while that through Paris
informed us, that "at the battle of Montebello the
troops engaged on the side of the allies consisted of
5,000 French only and one Sardinian cavalry regi-
ment. The Austrian force was composed of picked
men of the infantry regiments, the Croats regiments,
and the Tyrolese Chasseurs." But, at any rate, the
Austrians retreated—they were dislodged from their
position, and driven back from the enemy's frontier.
Thus France has made one signal advance towards
the accomplishment of her design of depriving
Austria- of a footing in Italy. To achieve the " inde-
pendence of Italy " to " rescue the Italians from
oppression,"—these are the boasted objects of LOUIS
NAPOLEONS entry upon the battle-field. But what-
ever it be—whether to re-establish them as a nation,
or merely to give them a change of masters, one very
decided step has been taken towards its success, by
this first engagement with the Power that has to be
subdued ere it .an be effected. Of course, it was but
a preliminary affair. But it augurs well for French
triumphs.
A Proclamation respecting a former pretence to
establish Italian independence has been re-produced,
we observe, in the columns of the London press, as
possessing a peculiar interest at the present crisis.
It is that which the ex-King JOACHIM MURAT issued
to the Italian people from Rimini, in Romagna, in
1815. JOACHIM, it will be remembered, was one of
BUONAPARTE'S favourite lieutenants, and by whom
he was placed on the throne of Naples, where he
reigned peaceably for four years, when he was called
upon to join his illustrious. but exacting patron in
his Russian expedition, from which he returned to
his kingdom after the defeat of Smolensk°. He was
again with his restless chieftain in the campaign of
1813 ; but after the battle of Leipsic he endeavoured
to make terms with the enemies of NAPOLEON, a
proceeding which eventually precipitated him from
his throne. Having taken refuge in Corsica, after
the battle of Waterloo, he sailed thence to Italy, in
the hope of recovering his crown ; and on this occa-
sion it was that the Proclamation alluded to was
issued,—soon after which he was made prisoner, and
taken to the castle of Pizzo, where he was shot.
Louis NAPOLEON would almost seem to have
taken his cue from his uncle's prOtege, JOACHIM.
" Italians !" the Proclamation began, " The hour is
come when the high destinies of Italy must be
settled. Providence calls on you at last to be an
independent nation. From the Alps to the Straits
of Scilla a single cry is heard—the Independence of
Italy." It then entered warmly upon the same kind
of argument of the case that is now adopted by the
French Emperor. "By what right do foreigners
pretend to deprive you of this independence, which
is the first blessing and first right of every people ?
By what right do they rule over your finest
provinces ? By what right do they appropriate to
themselves your riches to transport them to the
countries of their birth ? By what right, finally, do
they "tear your sons from you to serve, to languish,
and to die far from the tombs of their ancestors ? Is
it then, in vain that Nature raised for you the
barrier of the Alps `-.) Is it in vain that she provides
you with still more insurmountable barriers in the
difference of language and of manners, and the inviu-

THE NORTHERN TIMES, FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1859

cible antipathy of races ? No, no. Purge the Italian 1
soil of all foreign domination." All Louis NAPOLEON'S
ideas are found in these queries. The following
still more plausible representations may, for ought
that appears to the contrary, have been literally
addressed to them on this occasion also,—at any rate
they are those which the French press has been
employing since the Emperor set out on his Italian
expedition :—" Italians, for a long time you have
wondered that you called upon us in vain. Perhaps
you reproached our inaction, when your aspirations
reached us on all sides. But the proper time had not
arrived." No,—" the proper time had not arrived,"
until all the diplomatic shams had been gone through,
which were deemed desirable to give a decent
colouring to the Imperial policy.

There are two sentences in the Proclamation
which even now have in them a force of truth
as to the ostensible end, however hypocritical
they might be as to the actual means.
"The illustrious men of all countries," the Italians
were told —" every nation worthy of a liberal
Government, the Sovereigns who are distinguished
by greatness of mind, will rejoice at your enterprise
and will applaud your triumph! And can England
refrain from applauding you—that model of consti-
tutional Government, that free people, who reckon it
their glory to fight and to spend their treasures for
the liberty of nations ?" No,—England would not
refrain from applauding any really virtuous and
patriotic enterprise of the Italians themselves, to
assert their independence, and to establish a consti-
tutional Government. But England has no faith in
a Napoleonic enterprise for such an object as a
pretext. JOACHIM MURAT and Louis NAPOLEON
may, in this respect, be estimated very much upon
the par nubile fratrum principle. And although the
latter may, probably, escape the summary fate of
the former, as the speedy issue of his Italian enter-
prise, England has no more hope in the enterprise
itself, on this occasion, than she had on the other.