The National Register.
London, England, 1815-02-19 00:00:00

116.

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/I'ritat.i, I. icriine f.r he support of that faith to the examples .
One Conduct toward+ Potliwill, Spain. Sicily. and Holland. ,Bnl
ho'w w:• this pompous -profession acted upon? HoW Was the word
of protni-e kept to the Italians ? The Hon. Member then adverted
to a Proclamation issned by Lord W. Beutinck, when he took pos-
sessiou Of Genoa. in April, 1814, in which, among other things, the
Genoese were promised their ancient Constitution shouldbe restored
to them. • It ever there was a declaration issued by one country,
which pledged it to the maintenance of the independence of soother,
it was that which he had now alltidedto. But what were the facts
as they had actually °relined ? The sth of January, 1815, was the
day fixed for restoring the Genoese to all those Cistitntional rights
ond privileges of which they had so long beew deprived ; bat, a tew
days previously to that date, they were informed by a special mes-
senger, who was sent from Congress with the black and iiilifltimo
declaration, that they were not to be independent, that all the de-
claratioo• made by the Allied Powers at Paris were hollow and su-
perficial. and that they were to be the first victims at that shrine
rifsp Within and dismemberment, which those Powers had erected.
On the .28.11 of December General Dalrymple, who commanded at
Centee announced the same .melastelsoly fate. No pretence, not
even the shadow of one, was offered for these proceedings. Unlike.
in that. the mein& of revolutionary France, whose principles the
Allied Soyereigns.seemed to be emulous( of imitating. France. when
she seized upon any State, at least endeavonred to palliate or justify
her conduct, he telling the people she invaded, that their Govern-
ment was rorropt, that they posited beneath the yoke of tyranny,
sad that she tame, in the spirit of fraternity, to liberate them from
their thrsl,loni. There was certainly no fraternity in the conduct
of the %hied Powers towards Genoa, but he supposed it might be
thought not inconsistent with fraternity. In the Proclamation which
General Dalrymple put forth, he did not attempt to tell tire Genoese
.that their Government was a bad one, or that they were unhappy
under it. No; on the contrary, he dwelt upon its excellence. and
comm. sided the regular and correct behavi..ur of the inbahitan/s,
mid yet, coupled with that admission, they were told that they had
been consigned over to the Crown of Sardinia. Was there ever any
melee, so di-graceful and unfeeling? And nailer what authority
did General Dalrymple act? By the orders of his Royal Highness
the Prince Regent He wished to sec the detestable mandate that
thus empowered General Dalrymple ; he wished to know in what
words it was couched; he wished to know by whom the Prime 1I
gent had been advised. to issue an order for overthrowing the bode
penitence of an ancient and a free •tate; and by wham' it watt'
signed After the. disclosure of facts like those, Ministers might, if
they pleased, continue in their threatened silence ; ,they might still
wait till the return of Lord Castlereagh, and the Mime might be
forced to wait for the same event, before it. cotild know whether
there was such a document in the Foreign Ohre, hut he world yen
tore to affirm that not ali the Powers onearthassembled in Congress
had the leeitintate right to place Genoa under the tiornieinn of Sar.
china; and he hop' d the people of the world would assert their rights'
against a combination of usurping powers,
as. they had lately soe•
cetifelly done against a single power which aimed at universal domi.
',lion. He ea. astonished how the word guaraittee could have found
its way into such a Proclamation as General Dalrymple's. when it
was, in itself, the grossest violation of a guarantee thot,had ever
neetirred. Now, were those things which he had stated, true or
false'? Would the Ministers deity theist ?• Would they spew the.
order that had been sent out ; or world they t helter themselves in
silence. and hot presume to offer a defence of a- transaction, which, ,
on the face of it, looked so odious; imaborninehle, and so disgusting'?
Let them do so if they chose. Theirs'wonld be the shame;
and perimps it 'was less shameless not to attempt a defenee;
silence Would be their palliative. lint what was likely to be
the elect of that 'cominCitt Italy? ..
The Genoese received the intdiligence of. their degredntion in that
way which most strongly .mail ed tlitrir • feeihigh, acifording to ihoie
who' best understeld the Itiet*Sk;staselkAer. No ekelaitifilmh; nO
menaces; nro tirdiOn tit* • eteim Thetis ; they heard :there' Ate in
silence—a sileAde-whieli.pitived • tliat.llfieii only waitesk for alit opt•
portenity of (mending' theinseivel, and he' sittertelT:hoj3ed *Mei I
would be able tettosig The eantivet of Airetelit in Italy lisd been;
most verso rdinery. .. Site .conk Ittilieseion of thaterinntry condition: ,1
oily, in • eminence of ofetipnisfitia- entered' dirge Whir the fife '
Viceroy ro ter.4on now spoken of with enthusiti4e by'air dillies ofi
Italians, as dne whose c'hat's tercet herons.' ohd,ifititqty'wffiraitik .4
he swayed by external cietentidencete They believed that he wintld !
not falsity iis promises,- though the Powers With vilitint he negO.'
rioted bad.fatOreft theirs. General. Ilelleientsle took inmsesalon of)
Italy lull* Mtet-kt?polation, in the Obit 'or the Aloes not in. the ,
11K pf , ' 'AR lA* load bide d* ***esti* cqadpO'Of
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