Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-04 00:00:00

TILT WAR AND THE ELECTIONS

THE Lorough elections are almost all over already,
and their results do not very materially alter the

town representation as it stood before

As was naturally to be expected, at such a conjec-
ture as the present, the war has been made a
prominent topic upon almost every borough hustings ;
and seldom, perhaps, has there been so much misre-
presentation—such a great deal of false colouring—
had recourse to, in order to set the people against
the Government, than there has on this occasion, on
the question of the -Italian war. Sure we are, that
in no assemblies of educated and well-informed per-
sons, would such gross mis-statements have been
hazarded, as appear to have been put forth to gain
the applause of the populace, on this subject, at these
elections. One would have thought, judging from
what seems to have been said, in too many instances,
that Her Majesty's Ministers were actually in favour
of the war, instead of---as is the fact---having done
every thing in their power to prevent it. One would
have imagined, moreover, that not only were they
promoting and favouring this war, rather than
labouring to stop it, but that they were actually
taking a side with Austria, in order to crush the
endeavour to promote Italian freedom. For instance,
at Westminster, the crowd were told from the
hustings, that "in either House of Parliament,
Ministers praised the dignified and consistent con-
duct of the Emperor of Austria, while they
condemned that of the King of Sardinia." And
having found this unscrupulous exaggeration go
down, the hon. gentleman proceeded to argue, with
equal unfairness, that " it said little for the dignified
and consistent conduct of the Emperor of Austria
that in a few days after that statement was made he
had invaded the Sardinian territories, and set at
defiance the professed mediation of this country."
Now, in the first place, Austria was not spoken of

in that way, in either House of Parliament, on the
occasion referred to. In the House of Lords, the
Foreign Secretary did not hesitate to say, that "the
sympathies of England are alienated for Austria,
to a certain degree, on account of the signal differ-
ence between the Governments of the two nations—
the Government of one country being essentially
despotic, and that of the other esentially free." And,
further, it was declared, by Lord NIALMESBURY, that
" it is not on account of her possession of Lombardy
that our feeling of sympathy towards Austria is less
than we should otherwise entertain, but it is because
in her • position in that part of Italy she has not
restricted herself, as we believe she would have acted
wisely in doing, to the management of her own
affairs, and applied herself to the amelioration of the
Government of her people, but has been induced,
through political reasons, to interfere with other
states of Italy, thereby rendering herself unpopular,
not only in that country, but in a certain degree
here also." In the House of Commons, the CHAN-
CELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER also spoke strongly of
the unsatisfactory state of Italy, under the Austrian
system, though he did Austria the justice to say,
that she had acted with great consideration through-
out the negociations for peace. On the other hand,
Sardinia was warmly sympathised with by the
Foreign Secretary, who said that " we have always
admired the way in which she has struggled for her
liberties and the resolution she has displayed in
maintaining the necessity of constitutional govern-
ment. When driven to defend herself too, we have
witnessed her bravely standing forth in arms." She
was also honourably mentioned by the CHANCELLOR
OF THE EXCHEQUER, especially as having " won her
way to the Paria Conference by means which reflected